So I decided I wanted to have a Christmas Dinner party with my friends.  The whole shebang, three courses, several forks on the table, etc.  I wanted to be traditional, but who wants three courses of hot food in summer.  So I've made my own tradition.
The table setting can be seen at my husband ljdonarim 

The menu is as follows:

Starter
Chilled Cucumber Soup
A light, but creamy chilled soup, with refreshing cucmber and cumin

Champagne Cocktail
For a festive fizz

Main
Roast Lamb leg
With garlic and rosemary

Roasted vege
Potato, Kumara, baby Beetrot, pumpkin with a cheesy crumb
Served with garlic yogurt sauce, and Feijoa and Ginger chutney

Greens Peas

Dessert
Jellied Christmas Pudding
Just like Christmas pudding, only chilled and jellyish.  A cool twist on the traditional.

Follow up with large quantities of alcohol and good company.

I had a Halloween party last night.  Somthing I hope to make an annual event in our house.

I created decorations, made sugary food, dressed up, and asked all my friends to come along and have some fun.
Don dressed up as Hugh Hefner, and I as a playboy bunny.  From that moment on the house was "the mansion" (in Don's dreams anyway).

It turned out to be a fantasic night.  Thanks to everyone that made it, and made the effort to dress up as well.

I had wanted to do prizes on the night but hadn't been organised enough to print out certificates or anything clever like that.  So instead I am going to do them now.

Best dressed - 3_2_1_letsdance as the Murloc
Best couple - Martyn and Penny as the demon and demonhunter
Scariest - Lemuel as the vampire
Best effort - Sam for the sheer amount of time it took to wrap him toilet paper (Mummy)

Prizes in the mail?

For your entertainment here is a photo of Don and I.  I will e-mail people their photos and if you want others just let me know.

I am endevouring to become more eco-friendly.  I know a lot of my friends will appreciate this but others may roll their eyes.

At the last house I lived in I had a compost bin - it wasn't the best as I could only put plant matter in as it wasn't enclosed and I didn't want to attract any more animals than we already had. 
I've been living in the new place for several months now but have not made a new compost bin, but now I am.  I "rescued" some old palates from outside the empty lot next door and I have broken them down.  Now I am putting them back together in a small but solid cube (lid included) to make a new and improved compost bin.
This new and improved model will be able to take all the bio-degradeble waste that the house produces which will decrease the amount that goes onto the side of the road each week.


This is the work in progress

The other thing I have done that I have been meaning to since we moved is start a new vege garden - this was back-breaking work but I got there.


Here's a small sample.

Last but not least I have some other interesting things that will be better in the long run.
Check out onyabags.co.nz for some very cool ideas on space saving, long lasting bags (including ones for putting fruit and vege in) and buy the new "Green" magazine - that's what finally inspired me to get things done.  I'm also investigating bio-degradeble bags for bin liners.

I know it won't happen overnight but in the long run the benefits will be worth it.  Hopefully it will rub off on the guys I live with!

It turns out not to be my week (or three).......
I have another flu/cold/diease.  When I can't stop shivering because I am so cold (which is apparently because of the fever) I'm so tired I can't move. 

This time I have taken decisive action and not gone to work.  My usual failing is feeling obligated to return to work before I am completely better.  This time I am not going back to work until Monday - I can take it easy and actually get well.  Hopefully this means that I will be a better friend and be able to attend this or organize things.  This pleases me very much as I truly enjoy the company of my friends! (good thing eh?!)

I got inked!!

I finally got the guys to get my first tattoo.  It turned out larger than I expected but I still think it is very awesome!
It definately hurt but I was okay until the colour went in.  Then I also bawled!

I was thinking that when I have kiddies I would get mini mini versions of this done around this one to represent them.



Let me know what you think.

What philosophy do you follow? (v1.03) created with QuizFarm.com

You scored as Utilitarianism Your life is guided by the principles of Utilitarianism: You seek the greatest good for the greatest number. “The said truth is that it is the greatest happiness of the greatest number that is the measure of right and wrong.” --Jeremy Bentham “Whenever the general disposition of the people is such, that each individual regards those only of his interests which are selfish, and does not dwell on, or concern himself for, his share of the general interest, in such a state of things, good government is impossible.” --John Stuart Mill More info at Arocoun's Wikipedia User Page... Justice (Fairness) 85% Utilitarianism 85% Hedonism 80% Existentialism 65% Kantianism 40% Divine Command 25% Strong Egoism 10% Apathy 5% Nihilism 0%

I have flatmates.  2 of them.  It didn't always used to be this way but a bigger house means more money in expenditures so flatmates help out.
I like my flatmates.  I like that in total I live with three males.  There is no bitchiness with males.  But there is also no cleaning........

Some of my friends call me a real life Monica (from friends).  I'm a clean freak, I like to get my way, I can't just leave things lying around.
So a lot of my evenings and weekends seem to be spent cleaning up around thes males.
I thought we had sorted out a system.  Me and one guy cook, the other two clean up the kitchen and put the dishes away (we hve a dishwasher so it's not like they have to actually do those).  So last night I cleaned the kitchen, emptied dishwasher that had been sitting there all week, did a general tidy, and then starting on the washing.....I think there is something wrong with the system.

One of our flatmates doesn't seem to want to listen to me.  I ask him to do things like pick up such and such that he had left out but he doesn't do it.  If Don asks him to he does it.  That makes me really sad.  I don't understand why he has something against listening to me.

We decided that since we all have a lot of crap that we would share the cost of storage.  We all have stuff in there.
Expect that two flatmates also ave a very large amount of stuff in the double garage.  Enough stuff that means that only on car fits in it and then only just.  We have had some problems with feral cats coming in.  They had peed, and I'm sure, pooped somewhere in amongest those boxes.  It smells bad.  I also spent a really long time cleaning up in there a while back.  It's now so much worse than when I started.

I just wish that I could talk to all the guys and not feel like I'm being a demanding bitch.  I wish that it was as simple as someone cooks the other cleans up.  I wish people would pick up after themselves and think about who else it might effect.
The whole things is making me really down.  Don wonders why I don't really want to leave our room - it's because it's my sanctuary away from the mess.  It's something I can control and don't feel bad about it.
Am a bitch for wanting these things?

So there I was, bored out of my brain enough to read yesterday's paper.
Page 5 was "Eco issues".
The most amazing article and now he most amazing website.
It's all about the chain of production and how we are still using a linea model instead of protecting our resources.  The cool thing about this, because I know we have all heard it before, is that it makes sense and is fun.
You really need to check out this website www.storyofstuff.com and watch the 20 min move.
After reading the articl (and the one after it about the major drought in Spain) I went out and got recycling bins.  Our new home didn't have any and the guys I live with are terrible.  I also lectured flatmates on recycling paper rather than just putting into the bin.
Now if only I can get them to clean up after themselves.........

I think this weekend I am going to set up a new compost bin in the backyard.

Rather than fobbing it off we need to think about ways we can make our lives more sustainable.  I for one am thinking of having children in the near future and I want them  to still be able to have the experiences that both my mother and I had.

That's my rant....please listen.

Unfortunately Monday has come around but this time when people ask me how my weekend was I can say "fantastic!".

On Friday night I set up the laptop and a spare LCD screen in our bedroom and started watching the first season of Supernatural.  It's a cool series if a little cliche.  Don joined me and we kept watching until 4 in the morning!! And this from the nanna.

On Saturday I cooked and baked up a storm for our guests.  We had a 30th birthday party/Housewarming/Games Night.  It was geek central which was very cool.  Sam was happy as had an epic session of the WoW boardgame.  Much Halo was played as  several Xbox consoles were joined together.

On Sunday I managed to get lots of washing clean and dry (which hasn't been easy recently because of the rain).  I cooked a massive roast chicken meal with all the trimmings for Mother's Day and both my parents came over.  I succeeded in getting Mum slightly toasted on lots of Feijoa wine.

Wedding plans are starting to fall into place so I had a great weekend and didn't feel too stressed! YAY!

I've decided that I'm a home body.
I've spent the last week in Christchurch on training (very exciting!) and have decided that it sucks being away from not only my friends but my family too!
But at last I am at home. Back to reality, dirty boys, and untidy house. And I am sooooo happy

I'm not sure about this one. I'm more inclined to agree with the Moya rather than the Millennium Falcon.
Surprise surprise Don's turned out 94% for SG-1!

Which sci-fi crew would you best fit in with? (pics) created with QuizFarm.com

You scored as Millennium Falcon (Star Wars) The world around you is at war. Fortunately you know how to handle that with the greatest of ease. You are one of the best at what you do and no one needs to tell you that. Now if only the droids could be quiet for five seconds. Moya (Farscape) 75% Millennium Falcon (Star Wars) 75% Serenity (Firefly) 69% Babylon 5 (Babylon 5) 69% SG-1 (Stargate) 63% Nebuchadnezzar (The Matrix) 63% Galactica (Battlestar: Galactica) 63% Heart of Gold (Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy) 56% Enterprise D (Star Trek) 56% Bebop (Cowboy Bebop) 56% Andromeda Ascendant (Andromeda) 44% Deep Space Nine (Star Trek) 38% FBI's X-Files Division (The X-Files) 25%

Squee
My friend used it and now I'm stuck thinking about it.  In fact it keeps going around and around my head.
I want to know when I can use this word and in what context.
I will have to let you know if I ever do get excited enough to use it.

On another note......
I HATE weddings.  Which really must be saying something as I am trying to organise my own at the moment.
Nothing seems to be going quite right for me at the moment.  Nothing is coming together and the date keeps getting closer.  And to top it all off I have to live up to the other weddings that people have been going to (Thanks for the added stress Lord_Reluctant ) :)