Life's Simple Pleasures

Inspired by the contents of our post-box today:

- Receiving a handwritten card / letter in the post (so much more heartfelt when someone's taken the time to put pen to paper especially for you)

- Toasting whatever I'm trying to toast just right (your mileage may vary on this one but for me it has to be lightly crunchy on the outside, still soft on the inside - not a blackened sooty crumb in sight.)

- Finding the book you've been waiting for, and forgot about, in the library.

- A warm pug on a cold day.

- A warm hug on a cold day.

- Snorting at Vapo-Rub you when you're ill and congested and generally feeling a bit pathetic.

- Finding the perfect homemade waffle recipe - nothing doughy and dense on my weekend breakfast plate thank you very much!

- Being amidst the cockney cacophony that is the Cheung family.

- Discovering that my newly developed skill with crochet means I could feasibly have an army of Totoro running amok in the apartment before this year is out - this brings on a bigger grin than you could possibly imagine.

- Finding significant coinage in my winter coats.

In other news, despite still being not particularly gainfully employed or having a proper diagnosis for whatever it is that's up with my brainwaves, I've now got my 4th holiday for the year booked and am very much looking forward to hitting Brussels's Christmas Market with my beloved Mum and Aunts.

The Male might be a little bit miffed at not being able to get in on the waffles / chocolate / beer / frites bonanza that the trip will undoubtedly be, but hey he's got to save for his Z4 / thin-as-an-iPhone-hugearse-TV / girlfriend's Mulberry knitting Bag.

Christmas Shopping (yes already) for Toddlers

With apparently everyone's bout of popping out babies (something about wanting to hibernate in January seems to have encouraged a load of babies to arrive in September *ahem*) I've decided on two things:

1) I'd like a daughter. I know it's a faux pas to announce this sort of stuff but sod it, I do. Plus, you know - I gotta be able to buy Sylvannian Families again for a daughter. Or have a slightly peculiar son.

2) I have the urge to buy Duplo for toddlers, i.e. my Godson, but Male's insistence that it's for retards makes me hesitant even though I spent many hours happily playing with my Duplo set as a little kid. I did move on to Lego eventually, once I could be trusted with all the little bits.

There must be a guide to buying presents for other people's children - my inclination would be to advise people not to buy anything instrumental (parents would probably not appreciate being drummed / whistled / triangled at at 4am) or anything 'arty' (parents would also probably not appreciate having to scrub off ink / paint stains from the walls / sofa / curtains / ceiling.)

I'm still leaning towards Duplo for him, whilst wishing he had a little sister on whom I could lavish Sylvannian Family donkers upon. little...