Procrastinating

The Gods of procrastinating have answered without being asked...

Add whatshouldwecallme.tumblr.com to your quick links and prepare to enjoy the next a few hours of your life.
 
Warning, it contains saucy words and risqué content. Which might be why it's so funny. Let's not question how immature that makes me. And almost everyone I know...

You know it's Xmas when..

Starbucks bring out their range of super disgusting latte flavours.

 

The praline mocha was sickly to the point of diabetic-coma inducing, and the gingerbread latte tasted of one of my burnt baking endeavours. But despite knowing better, you can be sure I'll be trying the toffee nut and eggnog flavours this week.

 

You also know it's that time of year when Michael Buble emerges from his cryogenic chamber to unleash his velvety eggnog smooth voice on us all for a few weeks. Then he retreats, having earned enough royalties to fund his cryo egg's electricity bill for another year, not to be seen or heard from again until the next jolly season.  Maybe Michael Buble is really Santa?

 

I have made a sort-of start at making Xmas decorations, mostly out of leftover wedding arts and crafts materials! 

 

 

This one was just shredded raffia jammed in the top of an empty glass bauble I bought in a pack off Amazon.  I'm going for the clunky white and wood look this year.

 

 

 

This was a wedding gift for friends who got married recently - they've been together for 7 years but this Xmas will be their first as a married couple.  My aunt bought us a special wedding Xmas bauble for me and Chris and I really love it, so I wanted our friends to have a wedding gift that isn't just relevant on the wedding day alone.

 

I just printed out onto nice hammered white paper some lines of text - their names, seasonal phrases, the names of their pets etc and sliced them up into strips.  I curled each strip around a pencil first to give it a natural curve, then fed them one by one into the top of the bauble. It took a few goes to get the paper to line up nicely against the glass, and if you overstuff the bauble it just becomes a messy tangle of illegible words.

 

I'm going to have a go at making a rustic Xmas wreath at some point, I have a leftover polystyrene ring from Hobbycraft that didn't make it in the centrepiece design preliminaries...

The Big Shoot

For Chris' 30th birthday, I bought us a Clay Pigeon Shooting session at The Big Shoot Aylesbury. Seems only right I give it a quick review...

 

Location: a village called Long Crendon, about 10 minutes outside of Aylesbury town. As you're driving down a narrow country lane off the main road you wonder where on earth you'll wind up. The end of the lane tucks away a beautiful farmland surrounded by nonchalant and possibly deaf cows.

 

We purchased 40x clays per person, which I think is just right as you're only just hitting your stride at around 25 so 30x might not be enough (packages come in 30, 40 or 50 shots). You don't just stay in one spot either, you'll each cover 10x shots at different bays with the clays being fired from different angles, so there's plenty of variety for even a slightly more experienced shooter to still find a challenge in it.

 

The tutor was funny but very professional, and made us a hot cup of coffee on arrival as we were the only ones that session.  He talks you through the gun and how it works, and remains stood behind you to offer advice on your aiming and a stable hand on the back of your shoulder if like me, the shots take you off your feet a little bit.

 

Bringing out the big guns

 

 

Great time, good value, highly recommended for special events or just something different to do with friends. We went on a Tuesday morning and inadvertently ended up with a private lesson. Whereas at the weekends their popularity rises to groups of up to 20. Not surprised, shooting stuff is jolly good fun.