Still eating mince pies...

Just put some in the oven It's used up the pastry, but I still have a rather large amount of mincemeat left...

I have a sudden craving for beetroot

Come round to my garden - I still have loads of last year's crop......it was the only thing that grew well last summer

Thanks- Tesco was closer

I quite like the greens of beetroot cooked with a bit of garlic

I'm not sure I'd dare to eat the greens. I know they are edible, but I get a nasty skin reaction to the leaves resulting in hours of itching.

urk, that does sound nasty.

That said, I've got a contact allergy to prawns (raw prawns make my hands itch like mad) but absolutely none to the cooked things. Don't blame you for not risking it though!

To be fair my stomach doesn't like the root that much either which is a shame as I love the taste. I'm just careful not to eat it too often.

Makes a good base for making apple strudel - which is the main use I put my home-made mincemeat to...

Tip half a jar into a muffin mixture - really lovely served warm

Facebook is the bane of todays society I am so tempted to get rid of that thing right now....

Life without Facebook is quite do-able, Louise!

I miss you being on fb, Barry!

Great person though you are, dq, I'm still not inclined to return to fb!...

Yep, I'm going to live without facebook as of the end of the week

I still have an unstarted Christmas Cake. I might take it along to my piano group on Friday. I don't have anything to play so may as well take some sustenance to share! Or will they all be on diets by now?

The diets have probably been and gone by now, so I shouldn't worry about tempting people. It is only polite to share cake and if they ain't got no will power that's not your problem

W

Aw willobie

Have been thinking about leaving it for a while now, looked yesterday and the great majority of people I talk to on there I talk to on here too so I won't lose touch

I use facebook in a semi-professional capacity and it has brought me a lot of fantastic contacts and even some direct business. I follow galleries, other artists, exhibitions, collectors etc instead of people who post about what they had for breakfast (soooo boring so I've 'dropped' them). I log into facebook about four times a day for updates on work-related things.

I just feel I have to defend facebook because a lot of people are unaware of the fantastic networking tool it can be for businesses like mine that are quite physically isolated. But I do also stay in touch with friends and hobbies and interests I have outside work. The trick with facebook is to make sure you are using it to your advantage and not as a mindless gossip rag


edit: If anyone wants to join me on facebook and see my latest work just drop me a PM for the details.

lottie, I'm with you when it comes to Facebook. I think it's all in how you use it, I have many friends and relatives abroad and it's so nice for me to be able to keep up with them - who is where, who had another child, what new baby's name is, etc. It's lovely for sharing photos when used right- provides very granular access lists so i can specify exactly who can see my stuff. I also won't friend anyone whom I don't know in real life and anyone who regularly posts rubbish (I am particularly annoyed by people who invite everybody on their list to dubious events halfway across the world) gets removed.

However, if you don't know how to use that level of access control it's a real pain - and it is not necessarily simple to figure out - and they keep changing how things work so I can't blame people for just saying, hang it already, I'm getting off Facebook.

We've just had a (very small) earthquake here!
The desk shook for a couple of seconds - very scary. Now trying to find out whether it was a small local one or a big one a long way off...

Edit: 5.1 magnitude epicentre near Parma.

It's great that facebook works for you and many others and I hope it continues to

However, I've also seen the damage it can do.

For me it's time to get rid, simple as

Piced up my reading glasses yesterday. Now I know how bad I could see without.

Yorkshire Tea, yum yum

I wanna pizza

Liver and parsnips go together a lot better than they have a right to

Gravy or no gravy?

No gravy. Just salt and pepper and a couple of bashed cloves of garlic.

So do I now. A pepperoni one...

Looks like Im the only person to have been posting in last 40 mins or so ! Where is everybody ?

(edit one min later Ah! Schraeubchen has joined in)

But Schraeubchen has to leave. Hope you will get more company soon.
Have a nice day!

Just been finishing a bland tasteless meal from the hospital cafeteria. I can't type and eat!

OH has just mentioned that he really enjoyed seeing Nigel Kennedy in concert last week and would like to go and see more live music.

I'm trying to thaw out from an afternoon at the beach.

I keep pressing F9 instead of F5 to refresh web pages - too much time with large spreadsheets I think.

Had a rejection letter from my latest interview today. Only it didn't actually say I hadn't got the job - which I already knew from the actual interview. It sort of apologised for sending me to the wrong location but didn't say anything about the 3 hours I was kept waiting to be interviewed What I actually found really insulting was that they said that my farce of an interview had given them valuable experience and that I shouldn't be put off from applying to them again (the words "barge" and "pole" suddenly spring to mind).

Oh well, best file this under "Experiences never to be repeated" and cheer myself up with some cake.

They clearly don't deserve you.

Hope you won't have to go to too many more interviews.

The Lost encyclopedia is fascinating, shame it's too heavy to take with me tomorrow.....

.... it's this little thing called "work" - I've heard people talk about it, not sur ewhat it is...

Hello floot. Can I still operate you?

I hope so: I'll need some support!

I'm not playing the piccolo...

I apologise in advance....

pointy stick...

Has that been in hiding or have you been lax?

Need to do my theory and want to go play piano again ...

I had a dream last night about having a violin lesson ...

Will that be next after the saxophone? (I'm not mis-remembering am I, it was you who lately succumbed to a sax?)

I dreamt last night I was being murdered. So glad that the process of dying always wakes you up, it was one dream I was quite happy to get out of!

Edit: (Dying in a dream, that is! Obviously I have no idea what actually happens in the process of dying!)