All the Cs .. cute, Christmas, chocolate & crochet

I've discovered a really fun site on the net that I want to share with you, also a very easy and very more-ish recipe which is great for this time of the year as its ideal for 'take a plate' Christmas functions.

First let me show you this ....



Its been so much fun for the past hour or so making magazine covers for my family. When you're done, its easy to copy and paste into an email, or save the image as a .jpg file on your computer. Ýou don't have to register or anything like that and its so easy to do. Here's the link if you want to amuse yourself for awhile. The gorgeous baby is, of course, my grandson who is now 7 years old. I think he'll get a chuckle seeing his pic on the cover of this mag.

The silly season is well and truly here and I got my first (secret) Santa present yesterday. I received this lovely teatowel and a veggie peeler wrapped up in pretty paper and tied with a bow ! It will be very useful as some of my older teatowels have become a bit grotty and need replacing.



We had a lovely morning tea and of course everyone brought a 'plate' (with food on it of course) to share. If you're looking for an easy, no-cook, no fuss slice recipe, try this ..

Peppermint Crisp Slice

1 tin condensed milk
2 peppermintcrisp bars
1 x 250g Marie biscuits

Crush biscuits, add chopped bars and condensed milk. Mix well and press into a slice tin. Melt 125g cooking chocolate and 50g copha. Pour over slice.

I lined my tin with baking paper and it was very easy to lift out. By the way, I dare you to stop at one piece !!!

On the crochet scene, I've been hanging out for my order from Bendigo Woolen Mills to arrive. I have three balls of their "Luxury" machine washable wool on their way and I'm dying to get started on another baby blanket which I hope to have ready for our CWA craft competition in March. I'm going to use this pattern again. Its from Leisure Arts "Our Best Baby Afghans" and I used it for this gift for one of my DD's co-workers about a year ago.



Think I've rambled on enough for tonight so I think I'll go make a cup of coffee and have a piece of that Peppermint Crisp slice that keeps tempting me every time I open the fridge.

There's a Bear in There

I pop in here every day to get to the link for Jessica Watson's blog as I'm following her progress around the world. Figured it was time I wrote a little so you don't think I've fallen off the perch ! By the way, if you're interested in reading Jessica's blog about her attempt to sail around the world solo, the link is just under the blog archives on the right hand side of my page. Its a very interesting read and I wish her every success. I'm sure she'll make it ok. What an amazing 16 year old.

Anyway, I haven't any crafty stuff to show you at the moment. I've only made a dishcloth to go with my secret santa gift at a Christmas party I'm attending in a few weeks. Its very Christmassy looking in white, green and red. So as not to have a post without a picture, I'd like to introduce you to my little friends who sit by my computer.





How cute are they ? The roses are still blooming and our Leonardo da Vinci had so many flowers on it, the bush was leaning almost to the ground. I think I'm going to have to get a stake to keep it upright. Here's a few I picked yesterday.



Because you've twisted my arm, I'll finish this post with a Nanna brag. Here's the boy and his dog(s).

There's no Snooze Button on my Cat !!

Feeling sorry for the poor little thing, I let her sleep with me last night because my dd and sil have gone away for the weekend and she normally sleeps with them. Big mistake !!!! After fussing around for ages, she eventually settled next to my head on the pillow - this was well after midnight. Then, at the crack of dawn, the meowing and nudging started until I eventually gave in and provided the pats she so desperately needed. Then the dog alarm went off at precisely 6.30am which is her usual feeding time. (My dd is up at that time getting ready for work.) And all this is happening to me on a Sunday - the day of so called REST !! So, after feeding the dog, having my breakfast (well, I figured I might as well have it seeing as though I was up) .. then locking the cat out of my room, I went back to bed, only to be woken by a phone call from my next door neighbour wanting to know if I had electricity as they didn't ! What is it they say ... no rest for the wicked ?

Isn't it lovely now that the warmer weather is here? My flowers are starting to come out and are looking good. One of my rose bushes has five beautiful blooms on it at the moment with lots more buds ready to come out. Here's a couple of pics of my roses.





This next pic is of a tree in my backyard. I have no idea what it is but it blooms like this every spring.



The wall of my front courtyard is covered with these pretty little flowers which I think are called Banksia Roses. I'm not a gardener so not sure of the names.



Finally, here's a flower from a bush which thrives in a very shady spot around the 'other' side of my house.



Haven't been doing too much knitting or crochet of late but am now starting to make a few things for our CWA fete which is in November. Here's a hat and a few dishcloths I made last week.





Actually the dishcloths are so soft they could be used for facecloths. I might package them up with a bar of soap and tie them up with a pretty ribbons. We have lots of offices nearby and the girls are always checking out our fete for secret santa gifts.

Only 55 days to Christmas! Haven't been to the mall lately but I bet the decorations are out already.