Hello, happy new year! I'm writing this in TextEdit because I have a new computer that doesn't have my bloggy-bloggy software on it. And if there's one thing I've learned from associating with techno-boffins it's that you must always write in TextEdit if you're planning to paste something into a website. ALWAYS! If you use Word, then you'll break the Internet and society will collapse and you'll inadvertently publish some code that triggers a nuclear attack on Rockall. Use TextEdit to write your blog posts. Just use it! Or Notepad. That works too.

Anyway, things went downhill like a lardy bobsled after we last spoke. The boy and I caught a horrible virus that made us wheeze and simmer for weeks on end, operating a tag-team coughing rota that meant no one could sleep and everyone hated each other a bit. While this was happening, we each had to meet our mag deadlines and deal with some tedious passport-related drama and a flat inspection, so once again it hasn't been the jolliest of Decembers.

In happier news, I had a birthday. Thank you everyone who sent lovely cards and gifts, you are clearly awesomepants. Chris gave me some stylin' half-height Hunter wellies and fancy BeneFit make-up that smells like watermelon. Nice. I will make him take a photo of me modelling these items. This is my sixth birthday noted here at the Ribble. See? 26, 27, 28, 29, 30. I get older, my hair gets bigger, and I keep going back to Pizza Express.



In Christmas food news, the chilli jam seemed to go down quite well with the Tap! gang, and we made two batches of mince pies so delicious that they make me want to cry. The mincemeat tastes nothing like shop-bought stuff. You can taste all the individual fruits and spices, and it's much less sweet. Check out the recipe in Delia's Happy Christmas for next year.

Here's our iced cake. The stars look a bit like starfish.



And I made two half-cakes to give to our parents. To make up for the missing halves, I created 'magical' woodland scenes.



Cheers to you! x