THE OBLIGATORY XMAS PRESENTS POST AND OTHER STUFF.

it seems 2009 was the year of the cat, as i seemed to get a lot of kitty related presents; including hello kitty cushion & towel from carl's mum and dad, hello kitty stationery, hello kitty mobile charm & fake kitty bubble bath from various ladies at work, fake kitty hot water bottle & cover from carl's uncle & auntie, cat beret from carl and kitty cat bag from maren, a lovely surprise which arrived this morning along with more zines for the distro.

also, it seems this year was big on cakes; cupcakes & muffins book + gigantic muffin silicone tin from carl's brother, cakes & slices book from his mum and a pony/unicorn cookie cutter as well as a womens weekly cookbook from emma. also pictured: reflective moomin keyring & set of three moomin tins from mama, the brideshead revisited soundtrack on vinyl with booklet with big gay pictures!, tape dispenser + cake tape from carl, and snuggle blanket + smelly candles from carl's parents.

it seems for some reason one of my favourite presents was the most impractical one; a polaroid swinger II gift set from carl, quite obviously found at oxfam. unfortunately it only takes polaroid 20-series film which according to the internets was discontinued in 1970, so i don't think i'll find any even on eBay. ha. but it's pretty. it'll be nice in pictures, like this:

there was also other presents, the usual load of bath stuff, some make up and socks, biscuits, surprisingly little sweets, tiny bottles of booze, blah blah blah. somehow i seemed to get the most presents, again. or at least i somehow had 3 big carrier bags of things while carl and the other boys had one each. how did that happen?

i didn't take many pictures during chrimbo. i was too busy having a nap, finishing knitting purple gloves for carl's mum (an unfinished christmas present that) watching the boys play tekken and swear, and cuddling carl's parents' tubby jack russell, purdy, or as i call her, porky. (it's not their fault, they got her from rspca rescue centre and she was that fat then..) but here's the few pictures i did take.

carl eating a curry of left over beef.

we've been home since sunday now. we went up to carl's parents' house on christmas eve, but it didn't really feel like christmas yet cos i'd actually been to work. i was pretty unhappy about it and it all ended quite bad cos i thought i could go at four when i'd finished doing what there was to be done (i did ask) but when i came back to collect & give presents the boss was all grumpy saying i wasn't supposed to go. wtf. it's not my fault if you don't listen to what i say, and say ok. i'm sure he did. what a cock. so i'm kinda dreading going back cos apparently he's gonna "have a talk with me".

anyway, not thinking about that hell hole, as i'm not going back until NEXT YEAR. monday. ugh. yesterday i did fuck all, except go to the shop and make us lunch and dinner from the cook book emma got me. today i've been better, i've been to the shops to get dinner, done two loads of washing, sort of tidied the bedroom and later once carl's done the dishes i'm going to make some eggplant parmigiana, again from the cookbook. i think emma made me some when i visited her in september and it was nom.

i have great plans for this week, mainly involving cooking (because i have the time and energy for once!) i'm going to be testing a bunch of recipes and work on my cooking zine. i would like to finish it for brighton zine fest. also, i need to get organized, distrowise, get all the pending orders out. also, i want to write some way overdue letters, and maybe work on my website and next issue of YOUR PRETTY FACE, which in my head i'm calling the 'cliche zinester issue' because of the things i'm planning to write about in it. i also want to clear out the flat. there's a bunch of crap i want to get rid of, like the old television & couple of broken monitors and chairs we don't need and i'm secretly dreaming about having a desk in the currently messiest corner of the bedroom for zinestering & perhaps sewing . my mum said she was going to give me money towards a sewing machine as my big christmas present, i just need to find one i like and have my half of the moneys, but i'm really not in a hurry since i have absolutely nowhere to sew.