What To Get Your Mother for Christmas

What to get your mother for Christmas ?

This a question which I always find it hard to answer , especially when it come to my mother as she doesn't want chocolate again , I know who in their right mind turns down chocolate but obey her I must. Also she doesn't want smelly stuff, clothes perfume or a nice pair of cosy slippers and if I dared even think about buying her one of those foot warmers that you plug in , she would disown me. Though quite honestly if anyone was to get me a foot warmer I would be really, really grateful!

My mother keeps calling me in peak hour , which is not good when you are a pensioner , so i keep reminding her not to do this ! I tell her that if she does want to call me then she do really have a phone package that allows her to do this. I am finding it is a bit of a groundhog day when it comes to this as I tell her to call her phone company to sort it out , she promises she will and yet it is not happening.

I feel that if she was on line with a phone package that combined with broadband then it would suit her down to the ground , so the first hurdle is to suit out a tablet for her . A tablet would so much better as quite frankly a computer would freak her out so the easier to deal with the better, it is 2014 and a gentle nudge is needed to bring her into the modern age.

And the prices of electronic tablets now is so reasonable (you can find many deals online at Tesco) don't feel like you are breaking the bank when you purchase one , so a whole family owning electronic  tablets is not unreasonable. So as soon as I get my mother on line I feel a bombardment of emails ensuing !  in combination with the phone calls no doubt. Also owning a electronic tablet will allow my mother to use a digital camera as at the moment she is using an old school camera. The world at her fingertips is a modern miracle at the the fraction of the price in comparison with a laptop or PC. I expect she will also be teaching me some technical tricks as well and who even know she make even get into blogging !







Written for Tesco

Easy Christmas Pudding Cookies

It is the time now to start preoaring for Christmas , it helps lighten the load and possible expense if you can get in hand some of the items you wish to share or consume over the festive period. And with this cookie dough you can freeze it up for up to a month , perfect for when you need that festive sweet fix, also an ideal rainy day activity to do with children if some how they get bored of their Christmas toys.




Ingredients

100 g softened butter
140 g caster sugar
300 self raising flour
2 beaten eggs
100g of bashed up plain chocolate

Method

Preheat the oven to 180c

Mix 100g softened butter and 140g caster sugar in a large bowl with a wooden spoon

Then add 2 beaten eggs and 2 tsp vanilla extract and beat quickly to combine . 

Sift over 300g self raising flour and stir until the mixture is well mixed  adding the bashed chocolate at the very end. 

You might need to get your hands in at the end to give everything a really good mix and press the dough together. You could use a cookie cutter but this might prove hard depending on how bashed up your chocolate pieces are. In the end I shaped my hard and I am sure little ones would enjoy doing this as well. Press into chocolate buttons to represent the currants of a Christmas pudding. 

Place in the oven on a greased baking tray for around 12 - 15 minutes depending on your type of oven.
Leave to cool down.

Melt some white chocolate and drizzle over the cookie.

Wait for this to set then out of rolled icing craft the leaves and berries of holly.

LG Brings The Cinema And The Music Flow Wireless Multi Room Experience To The Home

Your living room or front room as some people call it is the one of the hubs of the family, so you want to be snug in there , it has taken me a year and a half to achieve this. I ordered a sofa, this then in turn became faulty , repairer came out couldn't do it ( not like the upholsterers of old). New Sofa ordered and on the same day they were going to take the old faulty one away and graciously place the new one in pride of place and then film viewing pleasure could commence instead it didn't.

The old one was whisked away with no problems and then the new one was going in its place that was until the chuckle brothers couldn't get it to fit through the doors. It was like trying to watch Burt and Ernie from Sesame street also attempt to trying to get a sofa through a living room door. Do I live in a quaint little cottage I hear you cry no I live in a modern detached house with super wide doors that can accommodate a wheel chair if not a Boeing 747.

So

The multi room way of listening to music is becoming all the more  becoming all the more popular , keeping pace with our need to be entertained what ever room we are in. The speakers come in three different sizes . LG HS6 Wireless Sound Bar bar (£500) LG music flow wireless multi- room speaker hub two LG HS63 complete the magical line up. The LG HS6 Wireless Sound Bar doesn't just sound great, it allows me to synchronise the LG multi-room speakers together so that you can listen to the same song throughout your house or a different tune in each room. Which is marvellous when Mr T is playing his Coldplay songs (grits teeth ) which he can control with the Lg music flow app on his phone.

The LG brings life to the moves which I adore in 4.1 channel surround sound, An active wireless sub woofer frees you up even more.

I am so glad that I no longer have wires trailing round my living room with my previous sound cinemas systems , I did have a entry level sound bar of a completely different brand but was like a mouse squeaking really where as this sound system I can really hear the rich undertones of the sound . Films really come to life currently we are working our way through the hobbit films before we go to see the final one at the cinema, then as Christmas approaches of course a marathon session of Harry Potter is a must.

I'd like to thank Joesbloggers and Currys for sending the sound system. All thoughts words and opinions are my own .

Suspended Coffee ~ cup of human kindness

It's #BlackFriday if you hadn't notice by the ten squillion emails about said subject in your email inbox , sell, sell, need need . The world has gone  bonkers , deals to be had , thought you didn't need it well you do now ! Like the sofa adverts of this world , surely everyone has a sofa by now ? Consumerism can eat at out soul , a black most descends and very often we are convinced that you need the item wether we really do or not.

I crave adventure , I crave familiarity   I don't however crave the contempt of some of the human condition , never overly opinionated am I . Now that's not to say I didn't partake of some Black Friday deals but sensible buying was my mantra.

Human kindness for me this week was a suspended coffee, not a coffee that is somehow suspended but a charitable act. I went to my regular haunt when in town , my regular haunt is the cathedral tea rooms where often I'm the youngest by decades , none of this matters.

I ordered a jacket potato and a cup of tea , the jacket was my first meal in a week through illness , I felt rough as houses but my illness is nothing comforted to the suffering of some. I bet you are wondering still want a suspended coffee is ?

There was a shabbily dressed man sitting at one of the tables , doing no one  any harm , before I realised what I was doing I hid my phone . Moe shame me ! How dare I presume ! The waitress came over to him and asked 

" Would you like another suspended coffee?"

The chap shook his head and just quietly sat.

I was gripped.

Finishing up, I went to the till and brought my son a flapjack to take home and asked

" What is a suspended coffee please ?"

The young waitress answered me 

 "When people come in for a coffee for themselves, they also pay for one or more for someone who can't afford one. Perhaps they're living rough or on the streets, or just very poor. There are more and more these days with the cuts. Someone in that situation is welcome to come in and ask if there are any suspended coffees available, and if there are, they can have one"

The price of the suspended coffee was £1

I brought one.

That was a lesson I was happy to learn.

Of course they can have tea if they don't like coffee .

Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade The Ultimate Colour Pop #MacysParade

Macy's Parade is the the ultimate colour pop , a show stopping burst of colour that once coloured my world in 2007 and to this day it has stayed with me. The ultimate parade there is nothing like this world like it and the feeling of elation and joy that is instilled within you when you watch it is second to none.

You stand practically cheek to cheek with people , it is a very long parade and you do shuffle bit , no doubt seasoned watchers will be able to offer you tips and tricks and the best paces to see. What inspired em to take my family that was the film Miracle on 34th street ,and if you haven't seen the film then do put it on your to watch list.

Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade has been a tradition since 1924 , for us the magic started when we stopped to watch the skaters glide by at the Rockafellar centre with the biggest tree that you ever did see there. It is here you begin to grasp that over 3.5 million descend upon Manhattan to see the grittiest parade on earth more than 1.550 dancers and cheerleaders are involved, 1000 clowns and 30 parade floats.

Tips for a Great Macy's Parade visit

The inflation of the balloons in itself has become a big event this takes place in the read around Columbus Avenue and 79 Street literally tens of thousands people descend upon this area around the American Museum of Natural history which in itself is well worth a visit. This was another visit inspired by Night at the Museum ! I would avoid taking a pushchair in the area as it would be a night mare with the crowds. 

You can get caught up with jostling for the best spot , but you know what as long as you see the balloons while you are there relax and enjoy and sing along with the crowd.

Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade was a once in the life time adventure for us as a family and it ignited a spark of wanting to go back to New York . This must be why so many people sing about it and so good that they named it twice , being part of this American tradition was truly magical never had I had such an enthralling time in a city.

Goodness gracious it's Dolly Parton ! Queen of country music !

I do love Bright lights Big City!