The Amazing-ness of Perception

All in all , it's been a good week. An exceptionally good week. You may recall me saying Mr. P had some temporary work a few weeks back. That ended nearly two weeks ago. They called him last week to offer him a full time  job and he starts tomorrow. Yay! It's something completely different to what he's been doing for the last 25 years , so he's about to experience a steep learning curve career wise. It's a challenge,  but one he's looking forward to.   I am looking forward to being able to buy fabric again with impunity.

I've been thinking about perception today. Sufficed to say a quilting process was not going well, but instead of getting annoyed with myself , I just shifted my perception of the quilt from  " Yuk "  to  "Indy and Lola are about to have the coolest dog blanket ever ". I'm over stressing out about being perfect all the time.  So I finished the quilt, washed it in really hot water and chucked it in the dryer  to antique it up and voila. It actually doesn't look too bad now it's shrunken and deliberately puckered!

I didn't pick the cherries last Sunday because Mr. P told me he found two dead starlings under the tree and the cockatoos haven't been round (maybe they're all dead too ) so I started wondering if those cherries are poisoned. My Dad ate 5 cherries and didn't die but this is the dude that ate mouldy lamingtons and survived. I'm giving it a miss. Just in case.    

I morphed into Betty Crocker over the weekend. I made my own bread from scratch yesterday. (Thank you for the recipe Little Miss Sunshine ) This bread is seriously good even if my yeast was somewhat doubtful. New yeast is on the shopping list. This recipe is definitely a keeper.

Last year at Christmas I decided at the last minute to make something with chocolate in it and raced down to the shops to get some baking chocolate only to be confronted by empty shelves and only el cheapo chocolate left. This year I got prepared for those last minute baking urges.

And then I made smartie bark ...

And peppermint crisp shavings to go into hot chocolate and coffee...

And then today I decided to make truffles. White chocolate with apricot and dark chocolate with vanilla. Seriously good. I had these for dinner. Really.

I'm ready for Christmas. I need to  do my final grocery shop at the last minute so my rocket doesn't wilt and my feta doesn't dry out.  The ham is in the fridge and ready to be eaten (if I can resist until next Saturday morning - we always do ham and eggs for Christmas breakfast).  I'm working this week so I'm hoping to relax and enjoy the lead up to the big day since Christmas Day for us will be spent elsewhere. We're having everyone here Christmas Eve but I'm keeping that simple with BBQ snags, baked chicken pieces, crusty bread and salads. If you're in the vicinity feel free to drop in.

I'm not sure when I'll be back here again this week, so just in case I'm not- Happy Holidays, Merry Christmas, or have a good week. I hope you all have a wonderful time with family and friends and  relax and enjoy the season. Best wishes to you and your loved ones from the whole Pyjama Clan.