Thursday, 6 December 2018

Advent Adventure 2018 - days 2-6

Hello my dears, no, I haven't forgotten about Advent, or about my blog.  I have been alternately busy and sick over the last few days though.  I'll cover those events along with the relevant days for you:


December 2nd



- Lindt chocolate square.

- Bayliss & Harding scented candle.  I'm not sure that I can identify the smell, it's subtle and sweet, a bit vanilla, and maybe a bit of musk.

- Yankee Candle "Spiced White Coco".  I think it smells a bit like baking gingerbread. Yankee Candle say it has the following fragrances: Top: White Cocoa
                                                                                     Mid: Salted Caramel, Sweet Cream, Nutmeg
                                                                                     Base: Butterscotch

- Kiss makeup pink lip tint.

- Ilchester cheeses Edam cheese (which I forgot to include in the photo)

- T2 Lemon Sorbet tea, which despite having a very ill advised colour combination for the packaging, making the brewing instructions remarkably difficult to read, tasted amazingly like Refreshers sweets.

- Homespun Wonders sparkle sock yarn in a lovely brick red colour.

This was on Sunday, and to be honest, I wasn't convinced that I'd bear any resemblance to an actual human on Sunday when I first woke up.  In the end though I did manage to get up and take part in dice rolling shenanigans.  It was very late by the time we'd finished, and everyone had headed home, so I figured that I could leave my post until Monday.


December 3rd



- Lindt chocolate square.

- Bayliss & Harding Midnight Fig & Pomegranate fragranced bath fizzer.

- Yankee Candle "Sparkling Cinnamon".  A lot more subtle than I expected, slightly fruity, but obviously smells of cinnamon.  Yankee candle say it has the following fragrance notes: 
                                                                                                               Top: Cinnamon Stick
                                                                                                               Mid: Clove, Cardamom
                                                                                                               Base: Bay Leaf, Cedarwood

- Kiss Makeup silver nail polish.

- Ilchester cheeses Cheddar Cheese.

- T2 China Jasmine green tea.  Which is really subtle for a green tea, and tastes mostly of the Jasmine.

- Homespun Wonders merino sock yarn in a beautiful fuchsia pink.

Monday was a busy day.  It started with Stephen taking the car in to have 2 new tyres put on.  Initially I'd planned to go with him, or at least get up when he did and do some housework while he was out.  I failed to do this, and instead remained in a state of semi-comatose exhaustion until sometime after midday.  
We then went to visit Dominey and her family, and me moulted on by her 2 incredibly cute and friendly golden retrievers.
Then we drove to Newcastle.  Meaning that there was no time for me to squeeze in a blog post.


December 4th



Sadly, Ring-a-rosie did not produce an advent calendar that I could buy, but as I was in that part of the world, and I needed some plain black 4-ply, I figured it would only be fair to drop in and pick up a few more mini-skeins for the mitred squares blanket while I was at it.  I'm in love with this bundle of greens!



Our reason for being up North was to celebrate Stephen's birthday by visiting Barter Books in Alnwick.  It's a second hand book shop, in an old railway station, with a model railway that runs on top of the bookshelves.  They allow dogs into the bookshop, they have comfy chairs scattered all over, and real log fires.  They also have a strange little cafe that spans all of the old waiting rooms, also with real log fires.




Alnwick also has a Wool shop.  I'd never been to this particular wool shop, despite visiting Alnwick many times.  I felt it was my duty to visit it.  I left Stephen in the book shop, and I walked to the wool shop.  Google Maps said it was an 8 minute walk. It took me about half an hour, and I was shattered when I got there!  The proprietor kindly allowed me to sit and rest for a while before perusing her wares.



Nope, this didn't come out of my advent calendars.  But it's become a tradition that I buy myself a cheap Christmas mug with a penguin on it sometime in December.  I especially like this penguin, because he's very excitable.



This was not in my advent calendars either.  But it was in the supermarket when we were looking for a roast chicken.  Obviously.



We had our roast chicken with dad, and watched Antman and the Wasp, then we set off back to Sheffield on what would turn out to be a bit of a nightmare journey.

Firstly, Google maps informed me that the A1(M) was closed, so we'd have to head south on the A19.  Fine, we've done this before, the A1(M) has been a world of roadworks for several years now.  Then we hit roadworks on the A19 that Google hadn't warned us about.  Roadworks that involved every lane being closed, except the one that deposits you neatly in the middle of Durham, with no diversion route posted.  OK, so apparently Google didn't know about this particular road closure, so let's see what our options are... basically, get on the A66 and head back to the A1(M).  Which turns out not to be closed, and never to have been closed.  However, it is shrouded in a thick layer of fog, as demonstrated in the above photo.  Then as we approached Leeds, a message popped up on the overhead signs saying "A1 closed from A369" Where in the Hells is the A369?  I end up finding it on the map where it starts in Leeds, and following it until it intersects with the A1 - just north of Doncaster, and several junctions north of our turn-off.  So, M1 it is then.  All the way to Meadowhall, where we encounter a rolling road-block... Feeling a bit like the Fates didn't want us to get home!  

Of course, we did make it home eventually, taking almost 5 hours to complete a journey that should have taken a little over 2.  Obviously, Advent calendars weren't uppermost in my mind at that point.  In fact the only thing in my mind was bed!




- Lindt mini Lindor.

- Bayliss & Harding scented candle (as previous).

- Yankee Candle "Snowflake Cookie".  I think this smells very sweet, like vanilla and toasted marshmallows.  Yankee Candle says it has the following fragrance notes: 
                                                                                 Top: Fluffy Marshmallow, Whipped Vanilla Icing
                                                                                 Mid: Warm Cinnamon, Nutmeg
                                                                                 Base: Sweet Buttercream, Sugar Cookie

- Kiss Makeup pink curly hair tie.

- Ilchester cheeses Applewood cheese.

- T2 Jade Mountain green tea.  Smells very strange, like nuts and biscuits, tastes like green tea with hazelnuts.

- Homespun Wonders BFL sock yarn in a lovely variegated green colourway.


December 5th





- Lindt chocolate square.

- Bayliss & Harding Prosecco Fizz fragranced soap.

- Yankee Candle "Spiced White Cocoa".

- Kiss Makeup white curly hair tie.

- Ilchester cheeses Cheddar cheese.

- T2 Geisha Getaway green tea.  Delicate and fruity, I really liked this one.

- Homesun Wonders sparkly sock yarn in a variegated orange and white, that reminds me of a ginger tabby cat.

I had fully intended on getting up to date with the blog on this day, but instead I had a migraine, and slept most of the day.


December 6th





- Lindt chocolate square

- Bayliss & Harding Midnight Fig & Pomegranate fragranced bath fizzer.

- Yankee Candle "The Perfect Tree".  So it turns out that I must have been suffering nasal hallucinations with the pale green candle on day 1, as today's candle is undoubtedly the real Perfect Tree, and smells even more like a pine forest on a rainy day.  This means that the candle I burned on December 1st must have been Macaron treats.

- Kiss Makeup bright pink lip gloss. I'm not a fan of glosses, my hair just sticks to them all the time, but I can't deny that this one looks quite impressive!

- Ilchester Cheeses Red Leicester cheese.

- T2 Morning Sunshine black tea.  Quite a strong morning cuppa, with a hint of fruitiness about it.

- Homespun Wonders BFL sock yarn in a gorgeous variegated purpley-pink colourway.


This morning was spent entirely at the hospital being poked and prodded, and having a lot of holes put in me in an attempt to get some blood off me.  After 2 nurses, and 4 different needles, in both arms, and the threat of using the back of my hands (shudder) they eventually managed.

This afternoon has been spent winding yarn into cakes, and catching up on missed cheese, chocolate, tea, and candles, while knitting many squares.



This is the final square on row 3.  I feel like I am making good progress!

Well, I'm up to date again, but it is very late, and well past time I should have been in bed. Hopefully, I'll see you all again tomorrow.

Night night my dears.


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