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floor cry - swimming team

July 21, 2019

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Dex said...: Constantly repeating McGoooohan in your head... You really do make me happy :D I forgot the most embarrassing one. The new series of Gladiators :) I have been enjoying The Twilight Zone. It's like a little snapshot of creepy 1950s small town America :)

I would definitely watch any amount of TV with you, even Married at First Sight :)

I'm not sure if Freya is back yet as I haven't heard from my cousin but I will definitely try to get as much news as possible when I speak to them so I can pass on the details to you :); 10 April 2024 at 19:29
Dex said...: I bought a Boost and a Star Bar for lunch today :) I haven't had either in ages!; 11 April 2024 at 17:36
Louise Boyd said...: If you could somehow combine a Star Bar and a Boost, I have this feeling it could be a Top Five chocolate bar.
Like a Snickers had a praline-y baby.
Someone should work on that...

I caught some of the new Gladiators a few weeks ago, and I was so happy they still beat each other with supersized cotton buds :D
Jet was always my favourite Gladiator, I even had a t shirt with her on it. Cool kid, sitting right here ^-^
Did you have a favourite?

No Cake Fridge this week :(
And a travesty! I don't think I like Reese's Pieces as much as I used to *cries* and I'm down to ONE Caramac.
Why is the universe being mean to us?!; 11 April 2024 at 21:09
Dex said...: You do come up with the best ideas! I wish you were in charge of all sugar! Have you ever had the Snickers Peanut Butter chocolate bar? I haven't but it's definitely on my watch list :)

I really do think you were a cook kid! And still are :) Jet was one of my favourites too :) I also quite liked Saracen (they showed him in the audience for the final of the new series).

I'm sure you will order me to make up for no cake fridge this week by making me get double another week :) I really do hope you find a new chocolate bar very shortly to replace the Caramacs and Reese's Pieces! You deserve to always have chocolate that you love :); 12 April 2024 at 18:58
Dex said...: Lilliputty! I absolutely loved reading your March monthly! Especially your glorious outpouring in defence of romance literature!

Also, I will also love you for sending me Wyrd Sisters & Expecting Someone Taller on one of our birthdays :); 13 April 2024 at 11:14
Louise Boyd said...: It is my duty to pass along brain-altering literature that makes you snicker like a fool :)
And that also includes romance!
I love that you're not a total bloke about stuff like that, or even just a snob who thinks it's crap because they're not into it.
Truly, my dear, you're a few dozen steps above the rest :)

What is this Snickers Peanut Butter Chocolate Bar you speak of?! I can't find it anywhere!
And unless it's the Creamy one (which I love), I've never heard of it, and I love all things Snickers, so I must be informed immediately!
If it's not a bar like Dairy Milk that's just flat and filled with Snickery goodness, I'm gonna be so upset 0_0

Y'know that cold/throat thing you got? - which by the way, how you feeling?
My mum got it on Wednesday *-*
Not a happy bunny.
But fingers crossed she'll remain patient zero and the rest of us stay lurgy free! :); 14 April 2024 at 18:31
Dex said...: Oh, I think it is just the Creamy Snickers. Sorry, I didn't mean to get your hopes up for a brand new Snickers bar! But I am very glad to know that you like it. It's always very important to me to get your opinion on these things :)

I can recommend Dairy Milk Little Bars. They remind me of the Wildlife bars :)

I really hope that I am not a total bloke about most things. I'd much rather be someone who likes sharing your interests instead :)

I'm sorry that your mum has caught this stupid illness. I always want your family to be okay. I don't have the cough anymore but my ribs are still sore! I wonder if I did get Covid as this is the same thing that happened last time.; 14 April 2024 at 20:22
Louise Boyd said...: Not gonna lie, I'm kinda devastated there isn't a flat bar Snickers in existence, but it's okay, I can deal, or just melt six Snickers together and go feral *-*
...
Get the Creamy ones, though! Unless you're not fond of a chewier nougat, then I'd say skip it =/

I love Little Bars, and yes! They're totally just Wildlife Bars without the fun animals.
They should bring the creatures back, I miss them.
Question: do you eat a particular end of the bar first? Paint pot or paint splash? o_O
Or are you normal and just eat it however it comes out the wrapper? =/

No the 'Rona! What did I say, Dexterous Captain Candyclaws Fungus Epistolean? What did tell you?
...
No getting infected again!
Honestly, you're like a wayward child, just licking everything in sight,*sigh*.
...
:)
Sorry about the ribs, though, bud.

Ps. You're not a blokey bloke at all, totally not toxically male, an absolute champion.
And I promise I'd advocate for you if the woman revolution ever comes and we start building pyres for the men :); 15 April 2024 at 21:05
Dex said...: I'm sorry, I promise I will stop getting infected. Even though it's important to check that things aren't made of sugar :) My ribs are feeling much better today though. I'm just worried that I have given it to my parents. My dad has been coughing this last week...

I will definitely have to try the Creamy Snickers just in case I am missing out :) I'm sorry that there isn't a magical Snickers bar out there for you. Stupid question but have you ever melted down a chocolate bar? I am slightly curious to see what it would be like. I'm sure we would be trying these experiments all the time if we lived next door to each other :)

Lilliputty, I didn't even realise the Little Bars had different ends! Kerry was absolutely horrified when I demolished one of them in two bites! I am a monster :)

If there is a revolution, maybe you could just keep me in a little house with all of our favourite things and visit whenever you like :); 15 April 2024 at 22:23
Dex said...: Mr Kipling Angel Slices was my sugar fix tonight!; 16 April 2024 at 19:42
Louise Boyd said...: Most excellent choice!
Why is there no other cake that tastes like Angel Cake? It's just sponge, but somehow so much more!
Sorcery, I tell thee.
How do you feel about Battenberg?

If there is a revolution, maybe you could just keep me in a little house with all of our favourite things and visit whenever you like :)

You've got a deal, my friend!
Knowing me, though, I'd probably visit and not leave because revolutions are tiring *-*

Two bites.
...
Isn't that the right way?!
The next time you have one, though, you gotta pick an end to eat first. I need to know if you're a canner or a splasher :)

The only time I've melted down a chocolate bar was to make Mars Bar Slice, and I'm gonna be honest, it looked truly disgusting.
Especially when you add the melted butter 0_0
It's worth it, though, for Slice-y goodness!
I wonder what it'd look like if you melted down a Boost =/

Keeping my fingers crossed for parental good health! And Dexertous good health!
Obviously sending you to the Cake Fridge on Friday will solve all ailments :); 16 April 2024 at 20:46
Dex said...: I haven't had Battenberg cake in so long but I'm pretty sure I like it. I mean, it's sponge cake and icing so I can't imagine me not enjoying it :) I will definitely buy some next time I'm in Tesco.

I thought 2 bites was the correct way :) I promise I will let you know if I am a canner or a splasher. Hopefully I will not disappoint you :) It's also the kind of chocolate I would always keep in the fridge. I like thin chocolate to be chilled :)

When did you make Mars Bar Slice?! I bet it was amazing :) And yes, you should make a Boost slice :)

Thank you, Lilliputty. I'm always keeping my fingers crossed for you and your family. And really do wish I could share Cake Fridge with you. I would always brave the revolution to go to the Cake Fridge and bring us both back Millionaire's Shortbread, Kinder Slices, Biscoff Slices and everything else we like to share in our safe, quiet house :); 17 April 2024 at 19:52
Dex said...: I can't remember if I said in my last message that I managed to find a Creamy Snickers to try. They actually sell them at one of the places I regularly go to pick up lunch. I would definitely buy again :); 18 April 2024 at 19:02
Louise Boyd said...: They're good, right?
Not as heavy as a Snickers but still full of nutty goodness?
There is a part of me that wishes there was some crunch in them, though. Just a little.

I would totally put chocolate in the fridge, but I'm so insanely lazy that by the time I wanted to eat it, I wouldn't be bothered to get up and retrieve it *-*
Yet another reason to put a mini fridge in my bedroom and never leave!

Okay, I said I made Mars Bar Slice, but... I just watch Sarah when she does it :)
I think I'd like baking if I had total peace to do it, but our kitchen is basically the heart of the house, everyone's in there all the time, making a mess, hanging out, cooking, folding laundry, etc.
I can't bake in all that chaos. I'd murder them all 0_0

In celebration of your ribs hurting less and my mum's voice coming back, Dexterous E. is being sent to the Cake Fridge!
And you're getting:

- NYC Bueno Stuffed Cookies
- Oreo Nutella Caramel Slice
- Biscoff Rocky Road

I am physically incapable of leaving Biscoff off this list when it's available x_x; 18 April 2024 at 20:46
Dex said...: I would have bought you the all Biscoff Rocky Road as you are the best human! As much as I would have loved it too, I had to go for the NYC cookies today :D

You definitely like your crunch :) Although I accidentally bought the crunchy peanut butter the other week and I really liked it! You really are a good influence on me :)

Or maybe a fridge drawer for the cold chocolate! Someone was saying last week that those were a thing. Or I heard it on tv. Or I dreamed it. Either way, I am choosing to believe they exist :)

I am trying to imagine your kitchen... I always think everything in your house and garden is like something out of Ghibli :) I genuinely think you would make amazing baked goods if you had the time and space!

I'm really glad your mum is feeling better. She would totally deserve cake fridge too :); 19 April 2024 at 21:36
Dex said...: Parents are in Sandness and I still have some NYC cookie so I think I will enjoy my Saturday night in front of the tv in the sitting room :); 20 April 2024 at 14:22
Louise Boyd said...: I'm so glad you got the cookies. I was rooting for the cookies!
Was it just filled with Bueno-y goodness?
Ugh, I'm jealous.
Especially because I ate the very last Caramac in the world last night! *cries*

I had no idea fridge drawers were a thing.
I want one!
Imagine all the awesome stuff you could store in there:

Yoghurt
Chocolate Milk
Carrots
Little Bars, obv.
BREAD!
Kinder Milk Slices (which I never have but desperately want >_<)
Milk for late night cereal cravings

SO many good things *-*

Would you eat toast with peanut butter and bananas sliced on top?
I'm undecided. I think the texture might put me off, but the sweet and saltiness kind of intrigues me...
Thoughts?

Unfortunately my kitchen doesn't resemble Ghibli. I so wish it did, and if I had free rein to decorate it, it would absolutely look like something Miyazaki dreamed up, but it's just kinda... messy, in a lived in way?
Green, with plants in the window and a colourful, illustrative, tiled backsplash where the hob is.
A big table in the middle, and so many appliances. A toaster, an espresso machine, a one cup machine, a Tassimo, a crockpot, a soda stream!
It's too many and we don't have the room! 0_0
Our family doesn't really believe in uncovered surfaces :); 20 April 2024 at 21:34
Dex said...: I will give a tentative approval for toast with peanut butter and bananas... It could turn out to be an amazing combination :) You'll have to let me know!

I do often think that despite wanting things to be tidy, messy in a lived in way really is the way that a home should be :) I love that you have a soda stream! Do you use it quite often? Also, I'm sorry I am such an idiot but what is a crockpot? My mother is absolutely obsessed with her Tassimo :) Have your family joined the air fryer craze? My mother uses one all the time now!

I'm really sorry you have eaten your last Caramac :( I still can't believe they got rid of them! I wish we had a fridge drawer full of midnight snacks to make up for it :) I had a kinder milk slice not that long ago because I was so excited to find them in Tesco! I did think they were slightly underwhelming but would love to find out your opinion :) And yes, there would definitely be BREAD in our fridge drawer :)

The cookie seemed to be filled with white hazelnut chocolate :); 21 April 2024 at 21:04
Dex said...: I hope it won't be long before it's warm enough for you to go back into the garden to read. While Charlie rolls around in the sun next to you :); 22 April 2024 at 20:18
Louise Boyd said...: Rolling around... threatening bodily harm with his tiny fangs... much of a muchness :)
It was actually quite sunny today, and reasonably warm, but Charlie decided to spend it tucked away on the parental's bed instead of getting some vitamin D.
Which I was free to get some book photos without being hunted :)
It's the best when he bombs the photo to sit directly on the book. I love that. It's the best. Not infuriating at all :) :) :)

Dex, you are the first to know, I've decided if that's all the Caramacs I was meant to eat in this life, then so be it! I can totally live with that. It was a couple decades of blonde caramel-y sugary goodness.
And I just discovered that Marabou Caramello, Munchies Gold, and Milkybar Speculoos exist, so I obviously need to check those suckers out.
HOWEVER! A new favourite must be chosen, a new candy bar to go full feral goblin over.
...
Which obviously means I've gotta get my hands on some new chocolate (etc.) bars! :D
Got any suggestions for the grand tasting?

We have an air fryer... but hardly use it x_x
I think it's probably a really useful tool for two people max, but not for creating a family meal. Or maybe that's just us, but yeah... it kinda just sits on top of a cupboard =/
We do use the soda stream all the time, though! Not me, 'cause fizzy drinks give me a stomach ache, but the rest of the fam loves their carbonated water.
We don't have any of the flavoured syrups to make crappy Coke or Fanta, though, because they are genuinely terrible and only appeal to an eight year old's palette ^-^
I'll take my Fanta the regular way, thanks.
It's the best orange drink!

A crockpot's basically a slow cooker. A cast iron pot that's cradled in a heated container which veeerrrrry slowly cooks stew, pot roast, chilli, et al.
We're talking hours and hours.
I'm not a huge fan but the matriarch likes to bust it out every so often to make pulled pork or Coq Au Vin or something of the ilk.; 22 April 2024 at 21:15
Dex said...: I'm sure Charlie knows exactly what he is doing when he photo bombs your book pictures :) Does Charlie has a rota for which bed he decides to commandeer each day? Or does he just take whichever one he feels like? :) I am glad you managed to take some book photos in the garden.

I wish I could find some of the Milkybar Speculoos. They have been on my radar for a little while but I don't know if they sell them in Shetland... It is at times like these that I realise how far we live from civilisation :) I wish we could do the grand tasting together. We would make excellent judges :) Really my go to chocolate bar is a chilled Kinder Bueno :)

Yes, I can imagine that an air fryer really wouldn't do for 5 people at all! I love that the soda stream gets good use though :) We had one when I was growing up but I think my dreams of making my own sugary fizzy drinks were a disappointment :) In the Philippines, they have a version of orange soda called Royal. I'm not sure how it would compare to Fanta but I quite liked it. Although it was in a glass bottle and the weather was very hot so those two things automatically made fizzy drinks seem even better :) Vendors would sell cold Sprite, Coke and Royal everywhere!

My dad does love a good slow cooked stew so I have a feeling he would be very happy with whatever came out of your family's crockpot :); 23 April 2024 at 18:49
Dex said...: Has it been as cold in Blair as it has been in Shetland these last couple of days?!; 24 April 2024 at 18:59
Dex said...: I decided to have a Fanta with my lunch today as a tribute to you :D; 25 April 2024 at 18:50
Louise Boyd said...: Orange drink! Orange drink!
I'm honoured :D
And very intrigued by this Royal you speak of. What kind of fizz does it have? The same as Fanta or something softer like Orangina?
I'm a hard fizz kinda girl :)
But Orangina did used to come in glass bottles, so...

We got hailed on today. I can't remember the last time that's happened, but it was better than rain. It's been genuinely pretty nice here the last couple of days: lots of sun, warm enough to sit outside for a while, my dad even cut the grass - not that I approve! People should cut their grass way less so the bugs have a place to hang out and we, y'know, don't eff up the planet more than we already have *-*
I'm fully expecting some torrential rain soon, though, I can feel it in my teeth >_<
Has it been horrible on the tiny isle?
Wanna trek to the cake fridge and get Raspberry and White Chocolate Millionaires/Kinder Fudgy Slice/Stroopwafel Brownies to make yourself feel better?
I reckon you should. Sugar for the soul :); 25 April 2024 at 21:34
Dex said...: I've looked up Royal and it is the Philippines equivalent of Fanta so hopefully you would like it since it is hard fizz :) Those glass bottles of Coke, Royal & Sprite was one of my favourite things about going on holiday :) I really did miss the UK chocolate though!

It was very sunny here today! I hope this is the genuine start of summer :) Although I have been looking up weather histories for Shetland and Blair, and you always get better summers :) Basically, we will almost certainly go a whole year without the temperature ever getting to 20c, or even anything over 18c!

As it was quite nice today though, I went for the Raspberry & White Chocolate Millionaires as it seemed to suit the weather :) It really does mean a lot to me that you take the time to give me my orders :)

And I would never begrudge you nice weather, no matter how miserable it is up here. You deserve all the sunny days :) I'm very glad you found some time to sit outside. I'm not sure how often we get our grass cut (a neighbour does it for us) but I really hope it isn't too often!

I didn't even realise Orangina was fizzy!; 26 April 2024 at 18:39
Dex said...: I'm being sent for a professional massage this afternoon! Kerry had a voucher so thought she would do something nice for me :) Hopefully I manage to not feel totally uncomfortable! It probably will be good for me. You've probably realised that I am not the most relaxed person in the world...; 27 April 2024 at 10:37
Dex said...: I actually didn't mind the massage at all despite the initial awkwardness!; 28 April 2024 at 18:40
Louise Boyd said...: Nope, nope, nope, nope, nope!
You'd have to pay me a significant amount to get a massage, even if it was free 0_0
Do you feel more, uh... loose, though? Tension free? Twenty years old again?
Remember only hurting when you fell down and not just from waking up? :)
Halcyon fucking days!

How... did you not realise Orangina is fizzy... ?!
Have you had it before? I'm sure you've had it before. Who's been selling you flat Orangina?! That's a criminal offence! *-*
There's nothing quite like the fizz of Orangina, the kind that sorta sits on your tongue for a while and buzzes, and of course best when drunk from a glass bottle. IMO it improves the fizz, but that could be nostalgia talking =/

My brain's an idiot: I know Royal is the same as Fanta, probably exactly the same recipe, but I want some just to make sure *-*
What if it's better?!

It's so miserable heeeeeerrrrreeeee. When will the rain stop?! I know April showers bring May flowers and all, but I want to go outside and sit in the sun and bother the bees and see if the tadpoles turn into tiny frogs :(
Lilliputty's are not made for the rain, we dissolve like sherbet.
Is it still nice in Lerwick? I won't begrudge you it, seeing as your summer's are ridiculous! 18C should never be the hottest temperature! That's just cruel x_x; 29 April 2024 at 17:13
Dex said...: I was pretty sure I already knew your opinion on massages :) I wouldn't say it has changed me into a more relaxed person but it definitely felt nice at the time :) It probably would take several more to get rid of 35 years of nervous tension in my back :)

I think I always just assumed that Orangina was basically orange juice in a glass bottle :) I am going to keep a look out for it so I can see what I have been missing all these years! I think Royal tastes better than Fanta only because it was in a glass bottle and I was drinking it very cold in a very hot climate. That would make any drink seem better :)

I had cake today, Lilliputty! I bought a slice of of some kind of German mandarin cake from this cafe called Pete's (I think the couple who run it are actually German). It was very soft :)

I hope your summer starts very soon! It is definitely one of my happiest thoughts, knowing that you've been outside with your books, enjoying the sunshine and warmth in your garden. I'm jealous of your pond and tiny frogs :) Do you ever hold them in your hand and watch them jump?

The forecast here seems quite nice for this week. Relatively speaking. I mean 11-12c and some sun but that's the most we can ever hope for in April :); 29 April 2024 at 19:31
Dex said...: I hope your April monthly is going okay!

April showers bring May flowers... why have I not heard that before? :); 30 April 2024 at 18:20
Dex said...: Cruise ship season again! I forget that it starts so early!; 1 May 2024 at 17:39
Louise Boyd said...: Ah, the nightmare floating contraptions come to parade for you once again. How frighteningly delightful :)
You're pretty good at dodging tourists, though, yeah? I can see you being pretty squirrelly about your personal bubble.
Yet another thing we have in common ^-^
The first rule of being outside: don't make eye contact with the civilians!

I'm not entirely sure what German Mandarin Cake is, but I asked google and it suggested this:

https://whereismyspoon.co/mandarin-orange-cake-with-cream-and-almond-meringue/

Is that it?
'Cause I'm kinda feeling it, even though I hate cream unless it's been whipped with an abundance of vanilla, and even then the texture/weird metallic tastes grosses me out!
But I do love mandarins, so...
Yeah, I need more information, describe this citrus cake to me, Dexterous!
Speaking of which... I know you've had cake already, but I don't believe in cake being a limited by days/hours/minutes thing, so... cake fridge?
If so, here are your Lilliputty approved choices!:

- Guylian Truffle Billionaires Brownies
- Biscoff Rocky Road

And it's not listed, but the picture's there, so... I'm adding Cheesecake Brownies to the list :)

Dex, Dexterous, Dexxxxxx it was warm and sunny but horribly windy today but I didn't care because I'm loaded with vitamin D and shedding my winter goblin shell :D
The summer goblin shell isn't much different, just you actually see it instead of every inch of me being covered in cotton :)
I'm willing the good weather towards you, it might take a few days, but I've had stern words with the sun so it shouldn't take too long!; 2 May 2024 at 18:14
Dex said...: I probably didn't describe the mandarin cake in detail because it was full of whipped cream and I know you don't like that :) But it was basically just a very soft sponge filled with whipped cream and little bits of mandarin in the cream. Not quite as exciting as an almond meringue :)

Thank you for my orders, Lilliputty. I was hoping you took the view of unlimited cakes :) If they have Cheesecake Brownies, I will definitely grab them! And the only time tourists really bother me is when they get between me and cake :) I can cope with them being around Lerwick so long as I can stay inside and completely avoid them :)

You're no goblin at any time of year :) But I'm so happy that you got some vitamin D today! You totally deserve it! And I hope Charlie enjoyed it too :) Hopefully next time, it will be less windy. You really must have willed that good weather up here because the weather was very sunny today and completely clear blue skies! Maybe summer has started for both of us. I do sometimes wonder what a summer with you would be like :); 2 May 2024 at 22:24
Dex said...: She did have cheesecake brownies! :D; 3 May 2024 at 22:18
Dex said...: Parents are on the boat to Aberdeen tonight to spend a couple of weeks with Freya :); 4 May 2024 at 14:51
Louise Boyd said...: Yay, more Freya tales! :D
Hopefully you'll get to hear all about Egypt in great detail ^-^

The question is, however... were the Cheesecake Brownies good?

Even though I hate whipped cream, I would still give the Mandarin Cake a go, especially if it's Dex-approved.
I wonder if it was tinned mandarins or fresh ones. I love fresh ones but I'm kinda feral for tinned ones =/
Any tinned fruit, really. If the apocalypse comes, I'll be hoarding all the canned fruit and staving off scurvy while the rest of the planet turns into gnarly baked apple people :D
Obvs, I'll share with you. Obviously.

Ugh, the nice weather has retreated and we're back to rainy gloom, but with the addition of gross humidity.
Yuck.
Would you rather be stuck in a dry heat or wet heat? Rainforest or desert?
I'm going dry. Being sticky is so unpleasant *barf*

Ps. A summer with me would be idyllic.
...
If you like lounging around in the sunshine reading books, drinking iced beverages (coffee, cold brew tea, Nesquick, juice if you have a working oesophagus unlike me!) / devouring any and all ice lolly/ice cream that's available and then debating which is the best one by category, trying not to get bitten by Charles (which I failed at yesterday; little fucker sliced my finger and thumb open when all I did was gently poke his paw with a tiny stick! So dramatic!), complaining when even a slight gust of wind alters your temperature, and being eaten alive by midges and mosquitoes :)
I know other people like to, y'know, do stuff in the summer, but I'm very much a move as little as possible and embrace hedonism kinda girl for those three months.
Sound good?; 4 May 2024 at 17:20
Dex said...: I'll hopefully get a video call tonight :)

I do seem to like most cakes so I'm not sure how good a judge I really am :) I think they were fresh mandarins in the cake filling but I'm not 100% sure. I didn't know you had feral feelings over tinned fruit - I'm always learning new things about you! :) I don't have them very often although my mum makes a really nice fruit salad. I could eat ridiculous amounts of that :)

The Cheesecake Brownies were really good, thank you! Very filling though. I almost didn't mind share them as they were so rich! :)

If I had to choose, I think I would choose to live in the rainforest rather than desert... Even though our summers are often ridiculously lacking in sun and warmth, I'm glad we live in a more mild climate. Maybe south of France on the Mediterranean would be better though :)

Apart from the mosquitoes, I think your description of our summer sounds perfect :) Obviously, I would always do my best not to provoke Charles! He really is a monster sometimes! I really hope he didn't draw too much blood.; 5 May 2024 at 17:46
Dex said...: I only got to speak to Freya very briefly yesterday as she was on another call with her dad. She just came through to try and lick the screen :); 6 May 2024 at 19:37
Louise Boyd said...: Like this?:

https://media1.tenor.com/m/WlexMtdsfVYAAAAC/disney-liloandstitch.gif

She's undoubtedly the cutest thing alive ^-^

Fruit salad is one of those things that I love but I can only eat on the first day, because as soon as the fruit goes anywhere near mushy... nope, nope, nope.
How do you feel about bananas in the mix? Yea or nay?

What about Greece for our mild climate destination? Or New Zealand! Excellent accents in New Zealand, and no language barrier, but there are all those deadly critters to contend with. Hmm.
I would also need to live somewhere that has equally as good drinking water as Scotland. If it's anything like England's or bottled water then nah, no thanks.
What's Lerwick's water like? Super fresh?

I made a terrible mistake.
I tried a new product on my face.
Instant rash >_<
It's like there's a rabble of tiny angry bees crawling all over my skin 0_0
Being a sensitive gremlin is tough *-*
I've got yoghurt covered bananas, though, so it's not all terrible!; 6 May 2024 at 20:59
Dex said...: Exactly like that :D

My mother never puts bananas in her fruit salad. I imagine they go mushy quite easily so I am going to guess you're a nay :) I like to think I would be too but we both know that I am an eating machine :)

I think Greece and New Zealand would be excellent destinations for us :) Kerry had a nice holiday on one of the Greek islands so it must have been a comfortable temperature - she doesn't take the heat too well! We were talking about New Zealand in the office the other day with a new person who stayed there for several months. Apparently they don't have deadly critters so we might be okay :)

The water at home is definitely super fresh. I definitely one of the best things about living in Scotland :) But I don't like drinking the tap water at work. I don't know if it's psychological but it doesn't taste very good to me.

I'm really sorry about your skin! I hope the angry bees go away quickly! You were such a big help and so nice to me when I had my skincare problems in 2020. I always remember that.

Enjoy the yoghurt covers bananas. You deserve them :); 7 May 2024 at 19:00
Dex said...: I think I have told you before that whenever we get warm and sunny weather, it is usually followed by mist. Well, it happened again! These last few days, I haven't been able to see much! It has lifted now but unfortunately it has only changed to rain.

I really hope that tiny angry bees have disappeared from your skin.; 8 May 2024 at 18:59
Louise Boyd said...: At least mist is kinda dramatic? You could look broodily across the garden whilst munching on a Bueno :)
It's real warm here, and hopefully sunny for the next couple of days, so I'll try and work some magic and send you the sun.
And a rogue cat to pet :)

The angry bees are now only slightly miffed bees, but the redness is still kinda brutal >_<
I wonder what it's like being able to just put whatever you want on your face without consequences *-*
How is your skin doing these days? And besties don't gatekeep skincare secrets. Especially when it took years to figure it out themselves. I shudder at the stupid shit I did to my face during those years. SHUDDER.

Your mother's a wise woman, bananas in fruit salad are fuzzy, mushy lumps of yuck, and should never be allowed in the vicinity of a fruit salad.
Now, a banana split? Banoffee Pie? Strawberry + banana smoothie? That's when they shine *-*
Oh, and banana fritters! Ever had one? They're obscene.

Maybe we can live in New Zealand - 'cause I feel like they'll have the same sorta humour and I like all their rolling hills, but have a holiday home in Greece?
Maybe another in the south of France?
That could work.
I mean, I'll be burnt to shit the entire time because ghosts shouldn't go out in the sun, but I think it'd be worth it.

I bet the reason you don't like the work tap water is because it's filtered differently.
Like... bathroom tap water tastes not great, but kitchen tap water tastes immense, and it's because of the plumbing. Bathroom tap water's been hanging around in the pipes all day and is all mineral-y and copper-y. Yuck.
So, I bet that it's the same at your work. Which I'm not saying is a bathroom! =/ :)

Ps. Did you get your video chat with Freya, the wondrous screen-licker?; 8 May 2024 at 20:57
Dex said...: I have never had a banana fritter! I've always wanted to try one though. I feel like they would go well with ice cream and syrup :) Do you ever make them at home? Maybe I should try to make them sometime. Or at least a banana split :)

I'm still on the Manuka honey for my skin. Another reason to move to New Zealand :) I really try to avoid everything else. I don't know why my skin suddenly became super sensitive a few years ago! You'll always be my skincare expert though. I'm sorry you had a bad experience this time but you really do know so much about it.

I'm not even going to be jealous of your warm, sunny days because you deserve them all :) I know it's not Greece or the south of France but Scotland on a very nice day is close to perfect for me. And I do enjoy eating a chilled Bueno in the sun lounge while looking out at the garden :)

I haven't seen Freya the last two times my parents have called :( The first time, she was out in the garden, and last night she was talking to her dad on her mobile (it still seems crazy that she has her own phone). They really should just bring her with them when they come home :); 9 May 2024 at 19:04
Louise Boyd said...: They should totally bring her back with them, then you can take her to the Cake Fridge :)
I'm not sure I would've even know what to do with a phone at that age 0_0 Play Snake 24/7?

I will be so impressed if you make banana fritters, because I've never even contemplated trying!
We used to get them as dessert at this Chinese Restaurant in Broughty Ferry when we went there for dinner sometimes; they were hot and crunchy and gooey and perfect. And would totally go with ice cream and syrup! That's an amazing idea!
If I'd had any agency when I was kid, I totally would've got fritters at the restaurant, and walked two shops down to the ice cream parlour and make the best sundae ever *-*

Y'know the only problem with a perfect sunny day in Scotland?
The bugs.
I swear they get more vicious with every year >_<
I feel like that won't be a massive problem in Shetland, though?; 9 May 2024 at 20:40
Dex said...: I remember playing snake on my first phone in the 2000s :) It really was very funny watching her text her friends at Christmas. Just a bunch of random emojis with no context at all :) She also has a tablet for playing games and her dad got her a Nintendo Switch for Christmas. But she seems to enjoy drawing and reading books a lot more :)

Is Broughty Ferry a place you used to go on holiday? I hope you went to the ice cream parlour a lot :)

Sadly, we do get quite a few midges in Shetland. The worst ones are the tiny black flies (almost invisible) that bite! Even hanging the washing outside can be dangerous! I hope it is still too early for them to appear as it's supposed to be a very nice day tomorrow :)

I hope you are still enjoying the sun and the garden and your books :) Those vicious bugs better stay away from you!; 10 May 2024 at 18:38
Louise Boyd said...: Enjoying it so much I got a little burnt on my nose ^-^
Not ideal, but that's what I get for a) not putting sunscreen on - yet another product that gives me grief!, and b) literally angling my face directly into the sun's path like a no good heat-worshipper for a good hour.
Your best friend's not smart, Dex, but she is full of vitamin D :)
Plus, we're getting a rain and lightning show tomorrow afternoon, which'll continue for the next week or so, if the BBC's to be believed.
Gotta bask in the those UVs before the gloom descends!
And we don't even get dramatic mist!
Frogs, though, we got plenty of baby frogs, and they love the rain :)

Why do I feel like Freya would school both of us in regards to gadgets?
It took me like... ten minutes to figure out how to make Mario move in Mario + Rabbids: Sparks of Hope, and I could feel my brain creaking during every second of it!
In fairness, I never game, and Em left me alone abruptly to help my dad cut down a massive branch in the garden, so I think I can be forgiven for not being a gaming savant.
But damn... I bet that'd never happen the Queen Freya *-*
What does she play?!

Broughty Ferry's the town over from Dundee (where yours truly went to uni, as you know), and my dad had an optometrists there, so we used to go over so he could have meetings with his business partner and feed his feral children :)
It's not a bad town, nice pebbly beach, decent fish and chips, but I wouldn't holiday there. No way 0_0
Actually, I'm not sure where I'd holiday in Scotland, I'm kinda inured to its charms =/
Also it's fucking miserable weather! >_<

Ps. I got my first phone at 17, and only because my friends were sick of not being able to get ahold of me.
I've always hated phones, and I'm so bad at Snake, I die so easily x_x; 10 May 2024 at 22:23
Dex said...: I think a better holiday would just be somewhere very quiet, away from everything, where we could watch tv and eat junk food. And the perfect amount of sun so we could sit in the garden whenever we wanted to.

We got sun today although I'm sure I am not as full of vitamin D as you were :) I really don't spend time in our garden even when the weather is nice. It wouldn't be as nice a place to sit as your garden (which, in my head, is some kind of magical place). I'm sorry about your burnt nose but I'm guessing it was worth it :) Did you get your lightning show?

Do your sisters game much? I'm going to guess that there's one gamer in your family :) My brother is very much into computer games! I do occasionally hear in swearing through the walls when they are not going well :) I'm terrible at games. They just seem too stressful. I wouldn't mind a game where there are no stakes at all. Something like that power wash games I think I told you about :) Freya did ask me to help her with a new game at Christmas and I did a bit better than I thought I would :)

Your dad always seem to be doing something practical :) I meant to tell you, my mother has ordered a small chainsaw for branch cutting... The thought of her using it is slightly terrifying!; 11 May 2024 at 20:09
Dex said...: Apparently Freya's favourite thing is to sit in between my parents on the couch while my mother reads books to her. She calls my mother her reading machine :); 12 May 2024 at 13:40
Louise Boyd said...: Fairy Queen Freya, living the life of Riley :)
A true book dragon in the making!

Dex, I'm so bummed, it feels like everyone else got to see the Aurora Borealis except for me :(
There were too many stupid clouds in the way and I saw no pretty ghostly lights. Not a single one!

Full admittance, I swear beautifully and creatively when I game.
Especially Mario Kart because there are too many fucking walls, and I get trapped by them all >_<
I do kinda love it, though. Platform games are okay, but I get frustrated by constantly dying and being swept back to where I was ten minutes ago.
And I die a lot, as you can imagine ^-^
I'll never play first-person games, though. Too nauseating *-*
The best games, imo, are still Mario Paint and Theme Hospital. And I'll stand by that forever :)
Maybe you should play Animal Crossing, or The Sims! They're waaaay low stakes.
Oh, and Sarah's the gamer (Em kicks ass at Crash Bandicoot, though), but only really Mario. She's got no patience for RPGs; she tried to play Zelda once and got super frustrated :)

I'm going to warn you now... your parent wielding a chainsaw is one of the most stressful things you're ever going to witness.
No contest.
It's fucking terrifying.
Like a nature-shredding Leatherface twirling around the garden.
My advice? Be somewhere else so you don't have to watch x_x; 12 May 2024 at 21:31
Dex said...: I'm really sorry you didn't get to see the lights. If it makes you feel any better, I never saw it either. I did go outside to have a look but our house isn't in the best place. The trees at the back of our garden seem to block most of the view north and we live at the bottom of a hill with plenty of houses above us.

I find it easy to believe that your swearing is both beautiful and creative :) I would definitely want to play Mario Kart with you! I missed out by not having a Nintendo when I was growing up (we were a Sega family). I did get to play Mario Kart on the N64 at friends' houses quite often though :) I have heard people at work talking about playing Theme Hospital and Animal Crossing when they were younger and I have no idea what these games are. I do sometimes think I must have been in a coma at some point :) I've never even played Zelda or any RPGs!

I think my favourite game for the Mega Drive was Streets of Rage 2. Not too difficult and about the only game my sibling and I didn't fall out over :)

Thank you for the advice about the chainsaw :) I am definitely not looking forward to my mother operating it!; 13 May 2024 at 22:52
Dex said...: I forgot to say that I am on holiday for the rest of the week and the weather forecast is excellent :); 14 May 2024 at 13:22
Louise Boyd said...: I think that deserves a wholehearted: FUCK YEAH! :D
I demand you go outside at some point and get some vitamin d, though. Just ten minutes. Do it like a cat and just bask.
Then treat yourself to a biscuit afterwards :)
I hope it'll be as sunny here, as well. Or just warm!
If only so I can torment Charles while he sits in the Adirondack chair my dad bought for my mum like its his own personal throne.

I feel like we had a Sega but I'm not totally sure. We were for sure a SNES family, and N64, then Playstation, and the Wii, never XBOX or Atari, though.
Oh, and we loved our Game Boys! Even me, the gaming dunce of the family, was constantly on it playing Tetris :)
Which is, honestly way too stressful for me *-*
If you ever get a chance to play Theme Hospital, do it. You get to deflate people's giant heads and treat furry people. It's amazing 0_0

Did you ever play games on the computer?
The siblings and I were addicted to Abe's Odyssey and this one where you looked after a litter or kittens or little fuzzy monster things. I can't for the life of me remember what it was called and google is not responding well to my searches, but it existed! We might even still have it somewhere knowing us :) Bunch of packrats.; 14 May 2024 at 21:08
Dex said...: You are definitely supposed to get plenty of sun tomorrow afternoon according to both met office and bbc forecasts so I hope that you and Charles enjoy it :) Those chairs look perfect for garden sitting. No wonder Charles has taken it for his throne :) I followed your advice today and cat basked in the garden :)

I can imagine you and your sisters spending hours competing on Mario Kart on the N64 :) Sadly, I never had a Game Boy. I didn't even have a Game Gear (which was the Sega version). I did have something that looked like a Game Boy except that the only game I could play on it was Tetris. I was actually looking through some old family photo albums today and I found a photo of me playing Tetris on it while on holiday :) Theme Hospital does sound amazing, I can't believe I missed out on it!

I only played a couple of games on the PC. One of them was called Puss - basically a cat having to complete tasks without getting caught by the dogs... The graphics were very basic but it was surprisingly tense! :) Also Top Gun which I used to spend hours on just flying around and not doing very much at all! And a demo of Worms :) I hope you find out what your cat game was called :); 15 May 2024 at 20:35
Dex said...: I bought some Mint Cornettos to get me through another sunny day :); 16 May 2024 at 08:33
Louise Boyd said...: I was gonna say you chose the best flavour, but... is there actually a best flavour when it comes to the Cornetto Triumvirate?
I mean, they're all so good that Cornetto never bothered to expand their flavour range!
Ballsy? Or just self-assured?

Tiny Dex playing Tetris = adorable ^-^
I bet you were sick at it, too :)
I really miss game cartridges. Cds are fine, but there was something reassuringly sturdy about a cartridge. Like... I could chuck it across the room and it'd live! You can't beat that.
Did you have a Tamagotchi? Or the off-brand kind?
Mine was a dinosaur. He did not live long :)

Much sun has been absorbed into my ghostly bones and hopefully even more tomorrow. Charlie's coping the best he can by collapsing into dramatic heaps and mewing woefully until the serfs pay attention to his overheated melancholy.
It's all very cutely pitiful :)
Are you still cat-basking?
I hope so! And you can bask (if basking is available) on your way up Cake Fridge Hill!
Here are your choices, if you accept the challenge:

- Millionaire's Flapjacks
- Raspberry White Choc Millionaires
- Fudgy Malteser Slice

Choose wisely, Sir Knight the Dexterous :); 16 May 2024 at 21:29
Dex said...: I always get the mint one so I haven't actually tried the other two flavours in years! I will need to rectify that shortly :) I actually went into work at lunchtime today as Miss Sprinkles (the ice cream van) was there. I got a Nutella Sundae :) Along with the Fudgy Malteser Slice from the cake fridge (thank you so much for taking the time to give me my orders). It was some day :)

I have a feeling I was a very average Tetris player :) I totally agree with your about cartridges! I could never get into Playstation because of the CDs. Even though I may have thrown cartridges across my room in anger. Such a monster :) I also remember blowing on the bottom of cartridges when they didn't seem to be working :S

I never had a Tamagotchi. Even that was too much responsibility for me :) Although if I'd known I could get a dinosaur...

I'm really glad you have been getting plenty of sun. And I'm sure Charlie always knows how to get your attention :) Hopefully he hasn't also stolen your favourite spot :); 17 May 2024 at 22:11
Dex said...: It was finally clouded over today. I did get a call from Freya and my parents though. They were out walking at the time and Freya was telling them how lucky they were to have her as their guide. I understand that they have lost their way a few times already :); 18 May 2024 at 13:03
Louise Boyd said...: Not lost, just taking the scenic route :)
Fairy queen's always know their way.

It's cloudy here, too. Started sunny and warm, then descended into mugginess :(
And it looks like it's going to continue that way but not even be that warm.
May always tricks me into thinking it's summer when it's not! Every year! >_<
I do think I need a few indoor days now, though, because I simply have to go outside and I'm instantly itchy 0_0 It's like all the pollen and insects flock to my skin and just go to town, and there is not antihistamine in the 'verse that can save me.
The scientists should really work on that <_<

It's the human response to any ailment: blow on it. Be it tech or human, apparently we think hot air will make everything better *shrug*
It's like all Brits think a cup of tea is the answer to life's problems when clearly it's actually hot chocolate!
Why was Dexterous the younger throwing game cartridges across the room, though?!
Were you the teenage stereotype, m'dear? Full of grump and sullen rage for no good reason other than hormones playing havoc with your insides?
I was much the same but mostly a curmudgeonly brat who listened to way too much emo music :)

Since when can you get Sundae's from ice cream vans?!
Please tell me you dipped at least part of the Malteser Slice into the sundae? Please, Dexterous, tell me you dipped the slice! *-*; 18 May 2024 at 21:17
Dex said...: I wish I had thought of dipping the Malteser Slice in the sundae! I really need you with me to advise on these things :) I hadn't been to the ice cream van in years so I didn't know they did sundaes either! I thought it might just be a 99 :)

I wonder which one of us was the more curmudgeonly... Although I'm sure Charlie has us both beat :) I do imagine emo you must have looked quite amazing though! I was more angry old man getting annoyed with technology :) The blowing did seem to work on the cartridges though :) Also, I had two hot chocolates last night!

It really is very inconsiderate of insects and pollen to come along and ruin perfectly nice days! I'm sure you will have plenty more outdoor days over the summer though. The only problem with the sun is that it makes our living room ridiculously warm. 26c according to the thermometer last week. Maybe that doesn't sound like a lot to most people but I was boiling. Much better out in the garden :); 19 May 2024 at 16:13
Dex said...: Here is the Miss Sprinkles facebook page just because I like sharing these things with you :) - https://www.facebook.com/misssprinklesshetland; 20 May 2024 at 18:24
Louise Boyd said...: Sharing or taunting?!
There's a sundae covered in Ferrero Rocher, Dexterous. FERERRO ROCHER >_<
...
You might be a sadist *-*; 20 May 2024 at 21:39
Dex said...: At least I now know what I am getting next time :)

It was Freya's sports day today and she isn't very competitive. When her mum asked her if she could run a bit faster, her reply was 'I cannot guarantee that' :); 21 May 2024 at 21:03
Dex said...: Apparently the Japanese coffee shop has started doing iced coffees so that will be something explore this week :) I remember you explaining to me why Starbucks' frappuccinos are so much better than other iced coffees (the way the milk is treated) but I live in hope that one day we might get something almost as good :); 22 May 2024 at 17:44
Louise Boyd said...: COSTA does the best frozen drinks, my friend. Starbucks is for suckers x_x
But I hope the coffee house makes you something Dex-suitable :) Like an iced mocha that's more chocolate than anything else :) I mean, that's what I would want!
Or something fruity!
I always meant to try one of Costa's fruit frappucinos but I was in there so infrequently that the lure of frozen chocolatey goodness superseded my need for variety. Creature of habit, sitting right here ^-^

I cannot guarantee that.

That... is a damn fine comeback. Is Freya a deadpan comedian in the making?! :O
I'm with her, though. Running fast's for the rabbits. All I wanted to on sports day was go home, which is why eventually the mater would just write me a note to get out of it ^-^; 22 May 2024 at 21:09
Dex said...: I have hardly ever been to Costa. I will need to find one the next time I visit Freya in Aberdeen :) You know how highly I value your opinion. And fruit frappuccino does sound like a perfect summer drink :) Although I wonder if I would also have my need for chocolate override everything else... I will hopefully try the iced coffee at the Japanese coffee house tomorrow.

It has been pouring rain here the last couple of days! I hope it is a bit better in Blair.

I can't say I was ever any good at sports day. I actually can barely remember any of them! I did the round Lerwick race when I was in primary school. I think I came 30 something out of a couple of 100 children :S

Even though Freya is a ball of energy, my mum and dad say that she always just sits very quietly when watching nature documentaries :); 23 May 2024 at 21:12
Louise Boyd said...: She's way braver than me, I get too stressed out watching nature documentaries unless they're entirely free of death *-*
I know it's part of nature but I just wanna watching the critters be awesome and way better than humans without watching them die x_x
Is that so unreasonable?!
I do remember the BBC making a show exactly like that and I swear, it was the best thing ever. So many fluffy babies.

Did you get your iced coffee?
I made a homemade one today to appease my jealousy :) It was... okay.
Hopefully yours was better?

30 out of a 100 is awesome!
I'd've been at least 80 =/ I run on my tiptoes, it's fucking ridiculous. Hopefully if we'd have been running together you'd have taken pity on me and slowed your pace :)

Cake fridge? The weather's so fucking awful I reckon it's deserved:

- Fudge Cornflake Crunch
- Blackberry Oaty Bars
- Tony's Salted Caramel Brownies; 23 May 2024 at 23:37
Dex said...: You probably won't be surprised that I went for the Tony's Salted Caramel Brownies :) And I did get an iced latte today with vanilla syrup from the Japanese coffee house. It was probably the best iced coffee I have had in Shetland :)

I think I am just like you. I hate watching nature documentaries that show bad things happening to animals. Some of these tv shows are very gratuitous when it comes to showing these things and I don't like it at all. I really am very boring when it comes to watching tv - I want everything to be harmless :)

Has the weather improved in Blair at all? We did get a little bit of sun today and it did stop raining but it's still pretty grey. And it looks like it is moth season again. I get so annoyed when they start appearing in the house :); 24 May 2024 at 22:11
Dex said...: I've been re-reading Expecting Someone Taller. You really have introduced me to the best things over the years. Thank you :); 25 May 2024 at 09:07
Dex said...: My parents should be back on Thursday. I imagine they will miss Freya though. I certainly would!

Oh, and I would have totally slowed my pace to run with you :); 26 May 2024 at 12:46
Louise Boyd said...: You'll be the considerate Speedy Gonzalez to my Cecil the Turtle :)

I'd say that Freya should be cloned and mass produced so everyone could enjoy the wonder of her, but nah, she's one of a kind.
Plus, I'm not sure the world could take it. Her cuteness might be too powerful *-*

What I wouldn't give for the Tarnhelm 0_0
I wouldn't even go down the Malcolm route and wish myself spectacularly hot (lies, I totally would), I'd for sure turn myself into a dog, just to feel that level of unfettered joy.
...
But a dog that read and eat chocolate, obviously.
I'm still waiting for them to adapt it to film/tv. They just did The Portable Door and it's fun and all but does it have a Flosshilde? No it does not!

One day I'm going to trick you into buying something with cornflakes in it from the Cake Fridge.
It's gonna happen <_<
Were the brownies as good as the coffee?

What's worse, moths or spiders?
I get massive spiders in my room during the summer, and I'm not super fussed by the eight-legged monsters usually, but when they get to a certain size...
There was one living in the bookshelves surrounding my bed last summer that was so huge I could hear it scuttling around 0_0
We finally came face to face, in the dark, at the top of my pillow one night, and I swear, all the adrenaline available in the world surged through me until I caught the little fucker and yeeted him out the window x_x
I don't mind coexisting but could they respect my boundaries, please?! >_<
And the mosquitoes! I'm covered in bites already! Tiny vampires!

Ps. It's raining more than ever and I am not handling it well :); 26 May 2024 at 20:53
Dex said...: I did not remember Cecil the Turtle. Apparently he always won :)

I would be worried that all of the Freya clones would attack me :)

I imagine if I turned into a dog I would be just like Droopy :) I reckon you would be amazing at adapting your favourite books for the screen. Perfect script, casting, atmosphere, everything :) I would be very happy to live in a world where you were in charge of adaptations :)

The brownies were very good. And went very well with the iced coffee :) I'm still disappointed that you weren't with me the other week when I had cake fridge and ice cream sundae and the thought of mixing them together didn't occur to me :) Next time they have something cornflakey that you think would be nice, I promise I will buy it!

I think I find moths much more annoying but less scary :) And I try to never kill spiders (probably because I am secretly afraid that they will get their revenge). Although the thought of meeting a giant spider at the top of my pillow is terrifying! I don't even know how I would have reaction. Probably just ran screaming from the room :) Well done on keeping your cool!

I hope you get some more sun very soon! No tiny vampires here so far but I am sure they will arrive...; 27 May 2024 at 19:20
Dex said...: I see on the weather forecast that you might get thunderstorms tomorrow! But it does also seem to think that you will get nice weather at the weekend :); 28 May 2024 at 15:54
Louise Boyd said...: I'd sell my soul for sun and warmth, right now x_x It's so colddddd.
I wish I didn't get so dramatic about the weather doing this every year. I'm Scottish, I should be immune to its bullshit by now, but it won't stop fucking raining and the goblin inside of me is stomping its foot >_<

Randomly, I'm actually pretty chill about bugs in general, to the point where I'm the one Sarah - who's afraid of all bugs - will come and get me to evict something many-legged/fluttery from her general vicinity.
I had to save her and my mum from a dark purple butterfly in the living room one year. It was hilarious :) Who's afraid of butterflies?!
Would I have to save you from the moths and spiders, Dexterous? Happy to do so, and if you wanted to show gratitude in the form of feeding me, my happiness would increase! :D

Important question: would you rather be attacked by a ten foot Freya or a hundred tiny Freyas? o_O; 28 May 2024 at 21:19
Dex said...: I'm sorry, Lilliputty. I promise that it is supposed to get better where you are. I hope you manage to spend the weekend in the garden with your books and Charlie. And maybe something icy and sweet to drink :)

I think I would let you deal with the moths and spiders just so that I had an excuse to feed you. All I want to do some days is bring you fridge cake and lie around somewhere warm and comfortable :) Do you get a lot of butterflies in your garden? I hardly ever seem them here so I always get very excited when they appear :) Freya doesn't mind bugs at all, so I'm not surprised that you are okay with them too, since you are both magical :)

Hmm, it depends if the 100 tiny Freyas are armed :); 29 May 2024 at 19:09
Dex said...: Parents are back home today. I had to pick them up from the boat this morning.; 30 May 2024 at 16:36
Louise Boyd said...: Does the house all of a sudden feel ten times smaller and fifty times more chaotic? *-*
Glad they got back safe, though!
Hopefully with tales of Queen Freya :) And yes, the 100 tiny Freyas are armed :) :) :)

I think I'd catch your bugs just to get fed! I bet you give excellent treats.
And we do get a few butterflies in the garden, mostly Cabbage, but we've seen a couple of Orange Tips this year, and sometimes an Red Admiral will be knocking about, but yeah... feels like summers used to be filled with butterflies but not so much anymore :(
And ladybirds! I never see ladybirds and it genuinely makes me sad >_<
I did watch a fly harass Charlie in the garden today, though, and that was an entertaining ten minutes :)

Cake fridge?

- Biscoff Blondies
- Jaffa Cake Millionaires (although, I'm really not sure about them!)
- Flapjack Millionaires

The sun has finally reappeared, I am happy again :); 30 May 2024 at 22:07
Dex said...: Talking of being armed, did I tell you that Freya made my parents buy her a garden rake? :)

I will miss my quiet evenings with my feet up in the living room with laptop, tv, tea and sugar :) But at least I will start eating properly again now my mother is back :)

You know so much about everything. I have heard of Red Admiral but I know very little about butterflies except that they look very pretty :) I can even remember the last time I saw a ladybird! I definitely saw a lot more creatures when I was a child climbing up trees :)

I'm really glad that the sun has reappeared for you. Hopefully you have managed to get some vitamin D in the garden :) I can imagine that Charlie does not like to be bothered by insects when he is trying to relax :)

I'm sorry I wasn't very adventurous and went for the Biscoff Blondies although I definitely don't regret it :) I would definitely be giving you fridge cake for every reason I could find :); 31 May 2024 at 19:57
Dex said...: Classic car show this weekend at Clickimin. A lot of old cars going around Lerwick yesterday! I used to enjoy it when I was growing up, and my sibling also wants to go, so I might drop by. That's about as exciting as things get around here :); 1 June 2024 at 16:50
Louise Boyd said...: Classic cars are nice to look at, at least. Modern cars give me the ick. Why are they all so damn ugly?!
Especially the electric cars. They look like something someone read about in a 70s sci-fi novel and translated it wrong 0_0
I'd much rather have a vintage car. My dad's had some interesting old cars over the years, but my favourite was a bottle green Triumph Spitfire. So pretty, and I used to just lie in the backseat when it was parked in the drive at home, but it was an absolute nightmare to keep running =/
Are your family car people? I'm guessing your brother's at least interested seeing as he wants to go?
More important question: is there a gift shop/stall? Because that will always get me to go somewhere I don't want to :) Or cake...

Dex, the tree climber. I can see it. Like a sugar-hyped lemur, scaling bark-y trunks and eating leaves just to see :)
This gives me hope that you weren't one of those psycho kids who pulled the wings off insects for fun 0_0
Genuinely crazy behaviour!

I'm very intrigued as to whether Freya will be using this rake for gardening or something far more interesting... ?; 1 June 2024 at 21:07
Dex said...: Along with the backscratcher, Freya does seem to be building up quite the arsenal :) I will need to be careful the next time I visit! Although I know that she would never do any harm to any creature that wasn't me :) And I like to think I was the type a sugar-hyped lemur that you pictured me as :)

To be honest, I'm not really much of a car person at all, although classic cars are way more interesting than new ones. And I would definitely make an exception for your dad's bottle green Triumph Spitfire. That does look amazing! And I love the image of you lying in the back seat :) I'm guessing your dad must be quite the car person to have owned a car like that. My parents are (or at least used to be as my dad really doesn't drive much anymore) car people. They do have a silver Jaguar that they used to enter in the car show but it just sits in the garage now.

Sadly there was no gift shop or cakes at the car show. But it was quite a nice day and I liked looking at the old engines that they had running outside.

I will make a start on your May monthly very soon. I really do get quite excited when you post them :); 2 June 2024 at 20:57
Dex said...: I had waffles and maple syrup for lunch. Hopefully that is acceptable :); 3 June 2024 at 16:01
Louise Boyd said...: The day waffles (and breakfast food in general) aren't an acceptable food at any hour is the day I burrow into the earth and take a thousand year nap until the world makes sense again *-*

I wonder what you did or what vibe you give off that Freya feels the need to pummel only you... <_<
Are you secretly nefarious, Dexterous? Do you plot and enact evil schemes on that tiny island of yours whilst eat syrupy waffles and maniacally laughing over your dastardly triumphs?!
Are the villain of the story and Fairy Queen Freya can sense it?!
Oh, the humanity! *-*

My dad's a car person, the rest of us? Not so much.
I can appreciate a pretty car, and I definitely have favourites (we had a Subaru Impreza Turbo when I was a teenager, which isn't the prettiest car but damn it went so fucking fast, and I've been kinda obsessed with it ever since. I was so sad when the rentals traded it in!), but I feel no need to hyper-fixate on them or buy endlessly different types =/
Maybe because I don't drive, and books exist... ?
My dad, though, he's a real fan, and I don't remember having a car for more than a few years, ever; most of my life has been spent inhaling new car smell and finding my dad with his head buried inside an engine or tinkering underneath :)
I did like the Mini Coopers we've had. Real cute and safe feeling! As a passenger princess, being driven around in shonkily made cars is kinda terrifying =/ Especially when aquaplaning happens 0_0
I bet your parents' Jaguar is real smooth *-*

There is a part of me that wishes I'd learn to drive, but when I think about it all I feel is abject panic >_<
How do you do all the things at once and not have a mental breakdown over other people on the road?!
And motorways! What the actual fuck x_x; 4 June 2024 at 17:44
Dex said...: Freya thinks I am weak. So she always describes it as training when she attacks me. Apparently, it's for my own good :)

I think your family are the best. Everyone seems to have their own specific interests and be really into the things they like :) I imagine there's always something creative happening in your house! The silver Jaguar definitely needs someone like your dad to take care of it :) It is not in the best state these days. I bet your dad used to be able to just fix his own cars whenever things went wrong :)

You have had some very nice cars over the years, and you definitely know what looks good :) When we have our house, you can pick out a car for us. Even if it's just for lying in the backseat on a clear night :) I have to admit I am not the best driver! I usually just drive in town and try to go at the quieter times. And I hate overtaking! I've never driven on a motorway and I don't intend to :); 4 June 2024 at 18:59
Dex said...: It is 5c here today! In June!; 5 June 2024 at 18:15
Dex said...: I bought some salted caramel chocolate pretzels on the way home :); 6 June 2024 at 18:39
Louise Boyd said...: You always get the best things. If I was with you, I'd probably just let you pick me something :)
Preferably something warm right now, because holy fuck, it feels like Winter, here 0_0 It's summer, ffs!
When you say 5c... do you mean during the day or at night?
Because if it's during the day, that's bananas *-*
Sorry, Dex, I will never live on your island, I'd turn into a popsicle on my first day!
...
I still think you should go get another sundae even though it's cold, however :) :) :)
Or the Cake Fridge! It's up to you! But I think because it's so fucking cold (and is if we need a reason) treats are necessary:

- Chocolate School Cake
- Bakewell Slice
- White Biscoff Millionaires

Is there even a motorway in Shetland... ?
Not taking the piss, I genuinely have no idea *-*

Dream car for dream house?
A Land Rover Discovery.
They're pieces of crap to maintain, constantly breaking, but I love 4x4s :) The bigger the better!
Approve?

Does Freya use her feet when she attacks you? Like bunny kicks? Because that's my move! :D
Sarah won't sit on a couch next to me unless I'm vertical, that's how effective it is :); 6 June 2024 at 21:10
Dex said...: Even though I always want you to have warm weather, I do feel like I can cope a little bit better by knowing that we are in this together :) Fortunately, the 5c only happened at night while I was buried under my duvet, 2 blankets and my dressing gown (acting as a 3rd blanket). But during the days, it has been dropping to 8c. And a lot of showers and wind!

I think I am going to surprise you... I went for the Bakewell Slice over the chocolate. They really did look very good. And in my head, it's what I thought you would have done :)

No motorways in Shetland :) And in some parts, there are only single track roads! Like when going to Sandness, the last 15 minutes of the journey is just one long, winding single track road. If there is a car coming the other way, one of the cars needs to pull into a passing place (basically a little lump of wider road) to let the other one pass. I usually play it safe and pull into a passing place if I see another car coming from quite a long way away as I'm always worried that I am not going to make it to the next passing place before I meet it!

The thought of me driving a Land Rover Discovery is so ridiculous that we just have to get one for us :)

I think you and Freya must have very similar tactics. So many bunny kicks over Christmas! I don't know what I would do if I was on a couch in between both of you! :D; 7 June 2024 at 20:06
Dex said...: I had the leftover Bakewell Slices for breakfast :); 8 June 2024 at 13:17
Dex said...: For some reason, I spent this morning going through some of our old photo albums. Our garden really did look so different. Practically bare apart from the lawn. And it was a wire fence rather than a wooden one. And the garage door was green rather than blue. Sorry, I know this is very boring :)

I also was just thinking how pretty the tree in our front garden is in summer when it is full of leaves. I don't even know what kind it is! Does your garden have plenty of trees? I bet you know what kinds they all are :); 9 June 2024 at 13:18
Louise Boyd said...: Nah, the fam and I've been doing that lately as well; my gran's been looking through some of her things and come across photos of the seasons of the Boyd/Ramsay clan, including when our garden was practically bare as well! With tiny me and the siblings running around it like little lunatics :)
I genuinely can't register the garden as ever looking that way, though, or that there was a hilled field on the boundary of it - full of houses and noisy people now >_<
It doesn't make sense in my head.
We've always had trees though, they've just gotten much bigger and much more out of control =/ We're basically surrounded by Ashes, Sycamores (their seeds get everywhere and it makes the Mater furious!), Silver Birches, Elders, Lilacs (all grown from my great gran's originals), and a few more species I can't remember the names of even though I've been told several hundred times ^-^ (see: shit memory).
I love them, even if they do block the sun, but they're pretty, necessary for y'know... oxygen and various other continuing to live things, and they protect us mostly from the outside world.
A little pocket of Ghibli-esque sanctuary :) With a grumpy, sassy, needy cat and everything.
There's something really appealing about the simplicity of your tree, though. The perfect place to lounge, and read, and "waste" a day doing nothing in the sunshine.
Yeah, that sounds nice :)

I was hoping you'd get the Bakewell Slice because it is indeed exactly what I would've picked :D
You know me so well.
Or I just talk about baked goods too much =/ Either way, fuck yeah Bakewell Slice!
Sarah made shortbread, which is not as exciting, but still so good. I can stand shop bought shortbread, but I'll Squirrel-defend a tin of homemade with tooth and claw... or just hand slapping; I'm not much of a biter and the feel of scratch-length nails makes me uncomfortable ^-^

You wouldn't survive between Freya and I on a couch, no way.
Your headstone would read:

Here lies Dexterous "Captain Candyclaws" Epistolean.
He was bunny kicked to death.
A lot.

...
If you know what I'm referencing, I'll be super happy :)

Ps. If I drove, I think it'd be exactly like you, m'dear. Overcautious and fucking terrified *-*; 9 June 2024 at 17:16
Dex said...: Does Charlie ever climb the trees and then meow for you to get him down when he's stuck? :) I imagine the trees in your garden make it seem like you're in a secret world. Definitely very Ghilbi-esque :)

My dad says that our house used to be surrounded by fields. Although most of the nearby houses have been around since I can remember. The same neighbours on both sides have been there all that time too. We are friendly enough with them although we hardly see or speak to each other. It does seem strange to live next door to the same people for 30+ years and hardly know anything about them except their names! I think one of them is a retired helicopter pilot and the other one is a teacher. Actually, we have a lot of teachers in our road!

Tesco bakery do a shortbread with chocolate chips that I quite like. Even though I am certain that it wouldn't be a patch on Sarah's :) I would be trying my hardest to find something to trade for piece. I don't think I could get by your defences otherwise :)

I'm so sorry I have failed you. I cannot get the reference :( I just know that I will be kicking myself when you tell me.; 10 June 2024 at 19:38
Dex said...: My new favourite chocolate is Cadbury's Little Bars. They are quite like Wildlife Bars, basically a very thin bar of chocolate. Obviously, I keep mine in the fridge :); 11 June 2024 at 18:06
Louise Boyd said...: It's some kind of magic that Cadbury's can use the same chocolate but pour it into different moulds and it tastes as good but completely different to each other!
Like Flakes and Twirls! Same chocolate, different experience!
It's wild *-*
And the Little Bars are so fucking gooooood. Yet another thing you could scoop into a sundae :D

You're forgiven for not knowing the reference. I mean, I'm judging you, but I'll forgive you :)
It's what Buffy has on her headstone the second time she dies:

Buffy Ann Summers
She saved the world
A lot

I'd be so useful in a quiz if it was made up of subjects I love :)

I'm fairly certain my neighbours think I'm dead =/
I should probably go outside at some point...

Ps. Charlie does get stuck up trees, but it's not really stuck, he knows how to get back down, he just like the attention.
Little drama devil <_<; 11 June 2024 at 20:56
Dex said...: Charlie really is the luckiest cat in the world to have a family like yours to pay attention to him. Of course, he completely deserves it too :D There has been a little grey tabby cat wandering around our house the last few days, walking along the window ledge of the sun lounge and staring at me while I am reading in one of the chairs :)

Do you remember The Office when Michael gets a soft pretzel with all the toppings? I feel like that would be us with our ice cream sundaes. I would definitely add anything that you told me to :) Flakes and Crunchies were the main chocolate bars in our house when I was growing up. We used to eat Flakes by snapping them into 4 pieces while they were still in the wrapper and then opening them horizontally :)

With all the knowledge you have gained from books, TV, films and music, I just know that you would be amazing at quizzes :) I really will try to remember that Buffy reference!; 12 June 2024 at 18:56
Louise Boyd said...: I love when cats come to visit (and sometimes stay *looks directly at the fluffy interloper smugly licking his paws*), especially when they're totally chill about it.
Again, it's all very Studio Ghibli. For all you know, that little grey tabby could be your personal tourist guide to the realm of cats!

What ya reading?

Couple of things:

1) How about using the soft pretzel as a scoop for the sundae...? *-*

2) That's the best way to eat a Flake I've ever heard. Minimal mess, a little violence, nom it like corn on the cob sans the buttery chin. Genius!

3) How did you eat the Crunchies? I'm a firm believer in the sucking method *pauses for snickering* :)

I wasn't gonna send you to the Cake Fridge this week, but then Almond Croissant Blondies were listed and Dex, my dearest friend, my soul-weirdo... I need to know if that's good or a terrible mistake 0_0
I need to know!
Guess you gotta eat cake again. For science :) :) :); 13 June 2024 at 17:02
Dex said...: I love that Charlie just decided to make his home with you :) One of these days I imagine he will lead you to some magical hidden place in your garden :)

I was very conventional with my Crunchy eating. Just bite and consume :) I'm sure I must have tried your sucking method though *also pauses for snickering* to see what the honeycomb looked like. The sugary experiments I do for science :) And of course I will study the Almond Croissant Blondies. They definitely sound intriguing! Thank you for choosing for me again :)

You know how to perfectly utilise so many things when it comes to eating sundaes. A natural talent for it :D

I'm just being very boring and reading another Poirot novel. Such an old man :); 13 June 2024 at 18:49
Dex said...: Thank you so much for recommending the Almond Croissant Blondies! The result of my scientific experiment was Nom Nom :D; 14 June 2024 at 19:07
Dex said...: Lilliputty, there is still no sun here, and the weather forecast for next week is so depressing. And I see Blair has a thunderstorm warning for today! Can we move to the south of France soon? :); 15 June 2024 at 10:40
Dex said...: Pancakes for breakfast today. With golden syrup of course :); 16 June 2024 at 12:40
Louise Boyd said...: The breakfast of heroes and villains alike. I approve this first meal of the day wholeheartedly! :)
Y'know, I've never understood the way they show pancakes on tv, with the massive stack and the tiny pat of butter?
The stack I get, because more pancakes the better, but why aren't they spreading the butter over the pancake? Why does it just sit there?!
It makes no damn sense *-*
Almost Croissant Blondies make perfect sense, however, and you gotta tell me more about them!
Consistency!
Texture!
Flavour!
I know I've made you climb that hill for many a variety of baked good, but this is the first time I've searched for a recipe (which I found, bless Pinterest).
I must know everything! 0_x

Another use for a Crunchie Bar (and chocolate bars in general: crush them up in a bowl of ice cream as a homemade, and better because you control the amount of toppings, McFlurry.
...
Now I kinda want a bowl of vanilla ice cream with golden syrup glugged over it, and Crunchie mixed through.
That sounds fucking amazing *-*

We need to move to the south of France immediately, Dexterous, I can't take this shitty weather any longer, it's genuinely depressing the shit out of me.
I need vitamin D or I might actually die x_x
Me and Em and Charles genuinely huddled in the cold in a patch of sunlight on the deck yesterday, just to feel a modicum of joy.
In June!
In Summer!
What actual fuck?! >_<

Ps. I learned a new skill: darning socks.
And it's really fucking satisfying :D; 16 June 2024 at 18:12
Dex said...: Darning socks! I have no idea how to do that but it is a ridiculously useful skill to have! Was it difficult to learn? Plenty of my socks could use darning :) And I love that you enjoy doing it. It makes me very happy to know that :)

I really hope you and your sisters make the Almond Croissant Blondies. I bet they will be even better than the ones I had :) I really wish I could describe them adequately but it was like a sentient Almond Croissant had just eaten all the fudge and almonds :)

I'm surprised that Charlie didn't demand the entire patch of sunlight. He must really love you and Emily :) I definitely would have been trying to steal a small space but I don't know if Charlie would accept that :) It was slightly better here today in that it was relatively warm and we got a little bit of sun, but still mostly grey and showery.

Vanilla ice cream, golden syrup and Crunchies... You come up with the best combinations :D I may actually try that this weekend! I never understood abut the butter on the stack on pancakes either. I would put butter on each of the pancakes as I made them so the butter would melt each time I added another pancake to the stack :); 17 June 2024 at 19:04
Dex said...: I went to the Japanese coffee house for lunch. I had the strawberry pancakes and a Nutella cookie :); 18 June 2024 at 17:02
Louise Boyd said...: ...And I had toast and cereal.
I think you win!
Was there a drink to go with? Or are you one of these people who can eat with lubrication? o_O

...it was like a sentient Almond Croissant had just eaten all the fudge and almonds :)

:D
Best description of a baked good.
I want to eat a sentient Almond Croissant bloated with fudge and nuts!
...
Not a sentence I ever thought I'd think but it makes so much sense *-*
Unfortunately, there were no magical blondies made this week, but there was a lemon meringue pie.
Which Sarah did an awesome job of making, but... yeah, I still don't like it. Lemon desserts are so hard to get by me.

You gotta love Scotland. Rained all day with the sun shining bright.
I think that might be the worst thing it can do; it's like a giant tease looming down on you :(

Ps. Re: the darning.
It was weirdly satisfying and relatively easy, but finicky, to do. Stuff like that always makes me happy, but most of all learning to do it myself.
I often feel like I have youngest sibling syndrome, where I kinda rely on others to do things for me, or have them teach me, instead of just having a bash?
Which is majorly frustrating and pretty insulting to myself, so I just decided to YouTube it and see what happened.
Good things happened :) :) :); 18 June 2024 at 20:52
Dex said...: Toast and cereal is still an excellent breakfast :) Jam on the toast? Also, what kind of cereal? I need to know these things :)

I had an iced coffee with my Japanese pancakes. Although it really wasn't the weather for it :) Things are looking slightly more optimistic from the weekend onwards... Sometimes at home I do end up eating without a drink, and then make a cup of tea 15 minutes later. Hopefully you keep yourself well lubricated when you eat :)

I already know that I would have demolished Sarah's lemon meringue pie :) I think I am the opposite in that I really like lemony desserts. I guess we'll just have to be jealous of each other :)

I agree about sun and rain! Especially when it's showery rain so you think it's okay to go outside but then get caught :)

I can easily imagine that you learn very well! You can talk to me about darning as much as you like and I would never get bored. Knowing that you enjoyed learning a new skill and that you get a lot of satisfaction out of it really does make me extremely happy :); 19 June 2024 at 19:14
Dex said...: My parents have visitors tonight (Freya's godparents are visiting Shetland) so I have barricaded myself in my room :); 20 June 2024 at 18:36
Louise Boyd said...: It's the millennial form of defence against the people-pocalypse.
See the postman? Hide.
Hear the phone ring? Deaf until it stops.
Friendly home invaders? Barricade the bedroom door and remember to bring snacks.
Good work, Dexterous, now you just gotta wait 'til the friendly zombies retreat!

The toast was sadly jam-less, but there was Marmite and enough butter to sate a butter connoisseur.
The cereal was Special K Oats & Honey, which is like the "healthy" tasting version of Crunchy Nut Cornflakes, and I mixed it with my homemade Muesli (I'm an old lady apparently).
This is basically what I've been eating for lunch for the past six months (with varying cereals). I get waaaaaay obsessive about lunchtime foods. I could probably go the whole year eating just this and not get bored *-*
There must be liquid, though. I cannot eat without liquid, and I'd make sure you didn't either if I was in proximity! Gotta keep Sir Dexterous well lubricated :D
Do you ever feel weird about drinking certain things with certain foods?
Like... lunchtime is green tea, and never water, but dinner is only ever water. Can't drink coke with dinner, but pre-dinner is fine. Can't have coffee with lunch, or dinner, or even a biscuit. Coffee must be consumed on its lonesome.
...
Sometimes it's really fucking clear that I'm unhinged :)

I think... I'm tempting fate here, but... it's officially... summer?!
Evidenced by the fact that while clutching two cans of Pringles - no reason, it was just happening - I crouched like a goblin in the last patch of sunlight this evening, amongst the cow parsley and poppies and bugs, just to bask in it a little longer.
This is the sort of behaviour you can expect from your best friend. No apologies ^-^

Ps. I would darn your socks for you. But only because I like you.; 20 June 2024 at 21:56
Dex said...: I hardly ever get parcels but my sibling seems to get them every day. And he never hears the door when the postman knocks so I usually end up being the one to sign for them at the weekends :S Obviously, when I first see the postman arrive, I will retreat away from the door and hope they just leave everything on the table in the sun lounge without needing to interact with me :) Stupid question but do you have a door bell? Or even a very fancy door knocker? :) We don't have anything. We just have to listen out for the sound of knuckles hitting glass :)

I used to like Marmite and butter on toast as well :) Although I only ever used to have it when we visited our relatives in West Kirby. They were the kind of people who used toast racks :) And at tea time, the food was all put in the middle of the table and then dished out. At home, we are very much a plate up in the kitchen and then bring through family. I do tell you the most boring things :)

What is in your homemade Muesli?! I love very much that you do things like that :) And I totally get having the same thing for lunch every day. I love having a routine :)

You are definitely my favourite kind of unhinged :) I like that you have these rules. And I do remember you telling me that hot drinks with evening meal is just plain wrong :) The one food/drink combination I will never do is fruit juice with chocolate!

Summer has quite yet started here but it is definitely getting warmer. If only there was a bit more sun! But I'm really happy that it as started in Blair as you totally deserve it. I think the image of you with two cans of Pringles, crouching in the last patch of sunlight will be one of my favourites :)

'I would darn your socks for you. But only because I like you' - that is one of the nicest things anyone has said to me :); 21 June 2024 at 18:48
Dex said...: The weather is definitely improving here day by day. Still not full blown summer but getting there :) I really do love the thought of you basking in the garden this summer with sun and books and cold drinks and Charlie :); 22 June 2024 at 11:30
Louise Boyd said...: I'm totally your brother in this parcel/postman situation =/ And I'd absolutely make you get the door while I hid :)

No fancy door knocker or door bell, just a rusty brown, wooden door. The postie usually uses the letterbox to knock with, and I genuinely hate the sound *-* I don't even like the sound of knocking on wood, but I think that's a delivery dread thing instead of the noise, tbh. But the letterbox? *shudder*
I wish we had a door knocker, though! The siblings and I really wanted to get a golden bee-shaped one a few years ago but with the way the door, you'd have to put it at knee height and no one's gonna stoop down for that >_<
I probably would've still gotten it, but I was outvoted <_<

Lilliputty's Homemade Muesli Recipe:

- Rolled oats (I use Tesco's, they're nice and fluffy)
- Dried fruit (whatever we have but usually raisins)
- Assorted nuts (cashew, Brazil, walnut, hazelnut, pecan if I'm feeling fancy)

And I'm thinking of adding seeds, but I don't know, they might not show up, flavour-wise?
But... yeah! Dead simple, and the dried fruit adds enough sweetness so I don't add sugar anymore.
I do occasionally add crumbled up biscuits though ^-^

Toast racks offend me for reason *-*
We are not a toast rack family, but we are a put everything on the dinner table and serve ourselves family, which can be kind of chaotic when there's seven million things on the table and not enough room for your plate.
We are also condiment people, which occupies, at minimum, 30% table real estate :)
We have so many, it's bonkers.

Could you do fruit juice with fruity chocolate... ?
Like orange juice and Terry's Chocolate Orange?
I feel like that could work, maybe elevate the orangey-ness!
Or a quality street Raspberry Cream with Cranberry and Raspberry juice!
I think this needs investigated...

Your daily Charlie news: He ate a petal off his nose and proceeded to spit it out, then stare at it like it did it made him eat it.
He's so weird, I love him so much.; 22 June 2024 at 21:37
Dex said...: I'm sure I would have stooped down to use your golden bee door knocker. We will definitely get one when we finally have our own house and you always make me answer the door :) We actually haven't had a letterbox in years but I think I felt the same about the noise. Instead, we have a large plastic box outside the front door. The only annoying thing is that it used to blow away across the garden in strong winds. I have it weighed down with a case of tonic water at the moment :)

You know how I feel about dried fruit but I wouldn't think twice about accepting your homemade muesli mix. I just know that I would enjoy anything you had made :) What kind of biscuits would you crumble over it? Digestives? Also, you have to tell me about the condiments :) Favourites? Anything quite unusual? I love learning these things about you :)

I mean, I suppose I could try these chocolate and fruit juice combinations you suggest. For science as always :)

I love Charlie news! That dastardly petal, tempting him into eating it. I can picture it so clearly :); 23 June 2024 at 12:34
Dex said...: Can Charlie jump far? In my head, he is a surprisingly good jumper, even though he gives the impression that he thinks that the wall should be brought to him :); 24 June 2024 at 18:49
Louise Boyd said...: My little guy used to be a good jumper, and remains quite resentful of the wall not coming to him like it should, but he's a bit older now and kinda wary of heights.
It's very sweet when he tries to jump on the kitchen table because first he has to put his little paws on the edge and peer over to gage the distance, only then can he jump.
The best view of this is when you're on the other side of the table and all you see are ears, eyes, snoot, and paws :)
Update on the petal eating: we've moved onto rogue feathers. The boy loves floor salad *-*

So... will you drink the tonic water at some point or is it solely for weighing down purposes?
Are the Evas crazy for tonic water? The Boyds are, except me =/
I like its freshness, but the bitter tang puts me off. If you could get a decent cloudy lemonade with the same zing and bubbliness to it, I'd be all over that.

Condiments often seen at the dinner table:

- Ketchup (obvs)
- BBQ sauce (sweet for dad, normal for Sar and I)
- Chilli Sauce (genuinely can't live without; add it to bacon sandwiches, with roasties, on burgers, etc)
- Lingham's Chilli Sauce (the richer cousin to regular chilli sauce)
- Tobasco (yuck)
- Hoisin sauce/plum sauce (necessary with Asian food)
- Mango chutney (Em's homemade stuff only)
- Sriracha (again, not for me, but apparently good on scrambled eggs)
- Burger sauce (like a Big Mac in a squeezy bottle)

And some other things I can't even remember.
Some nights I wish I had a little trolley to cart them all back to the fridge =/

Ps. Any biscuit I can find!; 24 June 2024 at 21:38
Dex said...: No wonder you love Charlie so much. I can imagine him sprawling all over the kitchen table once he has made it there :) I hope he doesn't start coughing up feathers :)

Oh, I don't like tonic water at all because of the bitter tang! It tastes even more bitter to a sugar monster like me :) I don't know why we have so much in the house. My mother is the only one who uses it and that's only for gin and tonic :)

I love your lists :) I had no idea you had such a thing for chilli sauce. You are always surprising me :) I would never have thought of adding it to a bacon sandwich. I will definitely have to try it sometime! Anything else you would recommend putting it on? :) I don't actually know if I've tried burger sauce!

Hopefully one day you get your little trolley :); 25 June 2024 at 19:14
Louise Boyd said...: I read "your little trolly" as "your little pony", and now a trolley won't suffice, only a pastel coloured pony with magic powers will do *-*

Somehow, just by existing, I've ended up with another face rash.
No new products, no touching anything weird, just my body being offended by its very existence 0_0
What the fuckity fuck?! I hate this buzzy feeling all over my skin, it's so hard not to scratch >_<
I've got this suspicion it's a heat rash, we reached 25C yesterday and it was kinda yucky and stifling, so my pores have probably gone we're Scottish, what's this hot nonsense about?! and instantly rebelled.
Sigh.
I long for warm weather and then it does this to me!

Chilli sauce recommendation:

Falafel

I don't know if you've ever had one, or are interested in having one, but if you smoosh them down on a miniature garlic naan bread, throw some veggies on top, and them drizzle (smother) some chilli sauce on top it's really good.

One more Charlie update, because he's just being crazy adorable right now: I woke him up and he screamed in my face.
Not a cute scream, a fuck offfffffff scream.
...
He still hasn't forgiven me x_x

Ps. Gin and Tonic is one of the few alcoholic things I enjoy.
But it's better with lemonade :)
Sugar fiend fist bump?; 25 June 2024 at 21:35
Dex said...: You will always get a sugar fiend fist bump :)

'...only a pastel coloured pony with magic powers will do'. You do remind me of Freya sometimes :D

I'm sorry about your skin, Lilliputty. I'm sure it is just the heat. God only know what would happen in Shetland if the temperature ever reached 25C! We would probably all spontaneously combust :) Is there anything you can do to help calm down the itchiness? You definitely deserve to enjoy the warm weather without it having this kind of effect!

I am slightly jealous though. It is actually very grey here today! And actually quite dark which is ridiculous for June. We should be getting almost perpetual daylight at this time of year! We certainly pay for it in winter :)

Falafel, garlic naan bread, veggies, chilli sauce... Your food is so much better than mine :)

I will never ever get tired of Charlie stories. He really is some creature :D; 26 June 2024 at 19:24
Louise Boyd said...: And how is the tiny wonder with fists of fury known as Freya?
Are the kiddos on holiday yet?
Will she be off on an adventure? Though to be fair, I'm sure wherever she is will be an adventure :)

Don't be too jealous, the temp dropped nine degrees and it hasn't stop raining -_-
Although, maybe this'll be good for my face! I'm so blotchy, Dex. So blotchy x_x
I thought it was only babies that got heat rash, but I guess because I have the sensitivity of a baby I'm still susceptible?
Either way, so itchy!

Is the near perpetual daylight difficult to deal with?
I think it sounds kinda nice =/

Seeing as the Cake Fridge is on summer break, what you gonna get instead?!
Any interesting sweet purchases lately?
Kerry replenished your supply of strawberry pencils/straws/laces... what are they called?!; 26 June 2024 at 20:59
Dex said...: I think the schools finish tomorrow so I am very jealous of everyone starting their summer holidays :) I haven't really had any Freya updates in a couple of weeks. I'm still hoping they decide to come up here but knowing my cousin, they will be going somewhere much more warm and exciting. Can't say I blame them :) They might be going with my parents to the Philippines for Christmas. I think that is the plan at the moment but they are very unpredictable. Freya likes it though. She calls the farm her kingdom :) Did I tell you my parents are going back there for another few months (probably November to March)? It will probably be a regular thing now they are both retired.

It was very misty here today. The sun has just come out but the forecast for the next few days does not look promising at all. You definitely wouldn't get a heat rash here :) I imagine your skin is very nice which is probably why it is so sensitive! I still remember when we went on holiday and my brother got very bad sunburn. He's got very pale skin and could barely move for a few days :S

I actually like the perpetual daylight. It's much nicer than it getting dark at 3pm :)

My strawberry pencil of choice at the moment is Haribo Balla Stixx. Kerry did buy quite a few packets to give me when I am moody :) I don't know what I will do without cake fridge. Maybe get more pancakes from the Japanese coffee house. I saw the last time I was in there that they also do Nutella cookies :); 27 June 2024 at 18:46
Dex said...: Summer holidays have officially started! I'll still be at work but it is usually quieter when the schools are closed.

I had meringue, strawberries and cream for dessert tonight. The meringue had a chocolate base :); 28 June 2024 at 18:22
Dex said...: I really hope your skin isn't quite so itchy now. It is very unfair that the sun has given you a heat rash and then decided to disappear!; 29 June 2024 at 18:00
Dex said...: I hope your June monthly is going okay, Lilliputty :); 30 June 2024 at 11:38
Louise Boyd said...: Walks back in like a house cat who disappeared for a week and acts like nothing happened (based on a true story)*

Hi! :D
I've written and coded so much over the past five days that I think I have tennis elbow in my right thumb.
Which can't be normal... right? *-*
But it's finished! I'm free! Until the end of July where I do it all again at the last minute because I am nothing if not reliably stupid ^-^
How's Dex been without me? Horrendously lonely? Lacking in nonsense? Hopefully filling the void with baked goods? - as if you'd need a void! :D
Did you know that Tesco have Oreo Stick Sandwiches? And Boost Ice Cream Sticks? And their own brand Cookies and Cream Ice Cream Sandwich?!
...
I may have spent some time on Tesco's website today as I sat huffily inside in the shade as the sun shone at 19℃ outside.
:(
The rash is still rashing.
You gotta outside for me Dex, get my share of Vitamin D so I can vampire it off in when I stop being one of the undead.
Or at least get the Nutella Cookie 0_0

Waittttttttttt! No Freya for Christmas?! :(
I mean, it's impossibly cute that she calls the farm her kingdom, but noooooo, who will she practice her fighting skills on?!; 1 July 2024 at 18:35
Dex said...: I only care that the house cat is back and okay :) And very happy that she's brought home a month of things she has enjoyed :)

Your poor thumb! It definitely deserves a rest until the end of July. I hope that it knows how much the monthly is loved by certain people who can't get enough of the things it posts :)

I always rely on you to keep me up to date with all of the Tesco ice cream news :) I will be keeping a look out for all of those things! I wish we were both enjoying ice cream sandwiches in your garden in the sun :)

I really would get both of our shares of vitamin D if there was actually any sun up here from which to get it! I promise that as soon as it appears, I will be out in the garden collecting enough for you to vampire :) In the meantime, it will just have to be the Nutella Cookie :)

I will very much miss fighting with Freya :); 1 July 2024 at 19:02
Dex said...: We actually saw some sun today for a couple of hours!; 2 July 2024 at 19:01
Dex said...: You'll be glad to know that I managed to get myself a Nutella Cookie today :); 3 July 2024 at 16:32
Louise Boyd said...: And what's the verdict on the Nutella Cookie? And remember, it's all about the details: size, thickness, chewiness/crispness, ribbons of Nutella or puddles, devour-ability!

I know it don't recommend that many shows to you these days, mostly because I feel guilty constantly forcing Fantasy on you when I know you're a murder mystery man (!), but you've gotta watch Delicious in Dungeon, Dex.
It's an anime on Netflix about a D&D party who travel through the levels of a monster-filled dungeon to rescue one of their mage (also sister to one of the party) who was eaten by a dragon.
Also they cook up the monsters they kill into awesome looking meals.
It's so fucking good, Dexterous; funny, weird, wholesome, and the fight scenes kick ass.
If you still have Netflix, you gotta watch it!
And if not, I'm sorry for telling you about an amazing think you now cannot watch *-*

Hopefully you'll get a video chat with Freya so she can't beat you up through the screen. I have faith in her tiny ass-kicking abilities :); 3 July 2024 at 21:33
Dex said...: Size: not big enough, of course :)
Thickness: a decent thickness for its size
Chewiness/crispness: definitely more on the crisp side which is what I prefer
Nutella: very full and I'm sure it would have formed puddles if it hadn't ended up in my mouth :)

What would be your ideal cookie? :)

I hope you know that you can recommend anything to me. I never ever get tired of listening to you telling me about the things you enjoy. My mother still has a Netflix account so I can easily watch it on the tv in the living room :) Funny, weird and wholesome does sound very much like my kind of thing :) Do you have a favourite character? So they fight monsters and then cook them?! I imagine the cooking scenes are almost as fun as the fight scenes! You really do watch the best things :)

I really do miss getting attacked by Freya :); 4 July 2024 at 19:10
Louise Boyd said...: That sounds like a damn good cookie, but we differ on crispness, I'm all about the chewiness, but with slightly crispy edges.
I bet you'd like the Pan-Banging cookie:

https://www.thevanillabeanblog.com/pan-banging-chocolate-chip-cookies/

It's where you jostle the pan the cookies are on every few minutes while they're cooking so the cookie spreads out and gets ripples in it.
Crispy but with enough bend.
Sounds very Dex appropriate!
Me, though? I'm take a classic NYC stuffed cookie *-*

I'm not telling you my favourite DiD character until you've watched it, I want to see if we match :)
But I think I know who'll pick. I have an inkling ^-^; 4 July 2024 at 21:12
Dex said...: I would absolutely monster all the Pan-Banging cookies :) Although I'm sure I would cope with a classic NYC stuffed cookie if offered :)

I hope we match :) But you do know me so well and should definitely trust your inkling :) I promise I will start watching it very soon. I just need my mother to log into her Netflix account on the TV! I really miss some shows (especially Schitt's Creek) but I was starting to worry about how many things I was paying monthly, and I was using Prime a lot more. I hate having to think about these things :)

Are you still doing your yoga? I am managing to keep going with my exercises but I sometimes think I should start doing yoga to try and relax a bit more!; 5 July 2024 at 21:53
Dex said...: Looking at the weather forecast, we might get a nice day on Tuesday...; 6 July 2024 at 15:06
Louise Boyd said...: It's laughable how shit the weather is, absolutely fucking hilarious.
Right now it's pouring with rain, but I've got my window cracked because it's warm enough to make the house stuffy.
...
Not cool, Scotland!
Positively shitty!
Let's hope that nice Tuesday makes itself known, otherwise I fear we might dissolve into a pile of bones from lack of vitamin D =/

Y'know what I wish? That there could just be one streaming service, like Prime, where you'd pay for that - weekly/monthly/yearly, whichever suits your needs - and have access to everything. Even the American shows we can't get over here (my need for Hulu is desperate at this point *-*).
Instead of having to pick and choose from twenty different streaming services just to watch a few good shows in a pile of mediocre crud.
I bet way more people would pay for that instead of this expensive mess the tv/movie industry is in now.
Sarah has this friend who, like everyone else, can't afford all the streaming services, so she buys one a month, bombs her way through everything she wants to watch, cancels it, and buys a different service, and repeats the process.
It's a pain in the ass way to do it, but it's probably the best way!
And I'm so attached to tv, ever since I was a kid, tv time has been like going on an adventure without having to move a muscle, I'm not sure I could do with out.
Imagine my brain being left alone without entertainment... yikes *-*

I don't want to be aggressive, but... DO YOGA! IT'S FUN! AND KINDA HURTS AND MAKES YOU FEEL LIKE AN UNBALANCED GOBLIN WITH ABSOLUTELY NO STRENGTH IN YOUR ARMS OR LEGS. BUT IN A FUN WAY! :D
Genuinely, though, it'd actually probably make the exercises you do now become a lot smoother because your flexibility will improve.
At least, that's what it did for me. Some of the stuff I was doing in workouts didn't seem possible until I started yoga, because your core gets really strong without you knowing from holding the poses, so moves like a Bear Crawl Kickthrough end up still being hard but mentally/physically easier to do.
...
Yuck, I sound like a fitspo person. Kill me x_x
I don't even really workout like that anymore, only now and then, it's mostly low impact or pilates I do these days because sweating is gross and I hate cardio, it's horrendous ^-^; 6 July 2024 at 16:59
Dex said...: I'm sorry Lilliputty. I was hoping Blair would be having slightly better weather than here. I hope you see the sun very soon so you get some vitamin D and huddle with Charlie in the evening rays :)

It genuinely gives me a warm feeling inside to think about how you feel when you are watching a tv show that you love :) You definitely deserve access to all of the tv shows! I'm very impressed with the method of Sarah's friend but she really shouldn't have to go through so much effort to be able to afford to watch the shows she wants to. I was trying to explain to a 25 year old at work the other day what it was like only having 4 channels while growing up. I felt so old :) Did you have Sky when you were growing up? I didn't so the only time I got to watch Cartoon Network was when we went on holiday :)

I should try the Bear Crawl Kickthrough just to see how unfit I am :) And you can always be as aggressive as you like when it comes to making me do things that are going to be good for me :) Definitely if you think it is something that works and I will enjoy, that really is all I need to hear to make me want to do something :); 7 July 2024 at 19:55
Louise Boyd said...: Nah, we didn't have Sky, either, except for when Freeview first became a thing and there was a Sky channel? Which is where I watched and recorded Buffy after Sky took it from Channel 4.
Used to drive my dad crazy because he doesn't love Fantasy (surrounded by Fantasy/Sci-fi lovers, the poor guy) and you couldn't change the channel back then while you were recording, so he had to sit through weekly episodes of vampire nonsense :) He didn't whine tooooo much.
Not as much as when The Tenth Kingdom was on and I basically velcroed myself to the screen :D
To be fair, I think I did everyone's head in with that, it is not a good show, but I loved it, still do *-*
Never had Cartoon Network, though, and I was desperate for it! And on holiday we were never in the hotel rooms long enough to enjoy it!
I bet your parents didn't route march you around various cities and called it "fun", I bet your holidays were real chill and blister-free *-*

I think the sun's victimising me, first it gave me heat rash (which is clearing up, thank fuck!) and now every time I step outside it disappears behind a cloud.
Every. Damn. Time.
I've tested it out, multiple times.
How do you get the sun to forgive you, Dexterous? Do I flip off the moon and tell the Sun she's a superior orb? I must know!
I need light 0_0; 8 July 2024 at 17:23
Louise Boyd said...: Ps. 25 year olds don't exist, their a figment of our incredibly young imaginations, you were talking to a potted plant, I'm sure of it.; 8 July 2024 at 17:24
Dex said...: I can't imagine there is any escape for your dad from sci-fi and fantasy. Not in your house :) Except to maybe his record room. Or maybe I am imagining that he has one of those. I'm just assuming it is a dad thing :) My dad likes to escape to his music room to listen to classical music. What side of sci-fi or fantasy do Emily and Sarah come down on?

I had never heard of The Tenth Kingdom but it definitely looks like something you would love :) And I do love the thought of you recording Buffy from the tv :) Our house still has a lot of vhs tapes of stuff we recorded in the 1990s. Not very exciting though. Mainly documentaries, classical music concerts and sitcoms.

I don't think I would ever describe holidays with my parents as chill. They are very stressful when it comes to holidays. Both in planning and execution :) I used to like when they would leave me at a hotel or resort while they went to do something more active :) Did your parents never want to do a relaxing holiday? I reckon you and I could plan a good one :)

We did get a little bit of sun today but certainly no way near enough! I really hope you get at least a week of sunny afternoons and evenings this month to bask in the garden with your books and Charlie :); 8 July 2024 at 21:48
Dex said...: We actually did get a decent amount of sun today :); 9 July 2024 at 18:25
Louise Boyd said...: Curse you!
...
But I hope you enjoyed it :)
It's gotta get sunny enough so the Sundae Truck reappears and I can "force" you to get the Ferrero Rocher one!

I don't know why I'm stuck on this, but I must know what sitcoms you were recording.
Frasier? Seinfeld? Friends?
Or were they British? Vicar of Dibley? Father Ted? Men Behaving Badly?!

My dad unfortunately does not have a record room. I'd love him to have a record room. If only so I could lock him there and keep him out from underfoot ^-^
The man gets everywhere! And so messy. Are your parents messy?
I genuinely think my tidiness is a direct reaction to living in chaos my whole life *-*

What would our perfect peaceful holiday look like, Dexterous?
I think the most relaxing holidays we ever took were with the entire family in a place called Carradale, in a big rented house near the beach.
All we did was run around the garden with Cariad, explore the woods behind the house, get obscenely sandy at the beach, and watch cartoons on the crappy tv in the living room.
It was bliss :)
It was also, however, the same place I fell face first into a brook :D Accident prone since birth.
Any iconic holiday moments like that, Fungus?

Sarah - 90% fantasy, 10% sci-fi
Em - non-descriminating; 9 July 2024 at 21:25
Dex said...: The sun has disappeared again but you have my word that I will try the Ferrero Rocher sundae the next time Miss Sprinkles appears at work. I mean, only since you insist :)

It was my dad who did most of the recording so it was mainly old British sitcoms like Blackadder, Father Ted, Red Dwarf. If I recorded anything from the tv, it would usually be a cartoon like Spider-Man or X-Men :) I don't think I owned any US sitcoms until I bought the first few seasons of Frasier on dvd while I was in first year at uni. They definitely got me through a lot of nights on my own :)

I would say my brother and father are quite messy and they never realise how messy they are being. So a lot of time is spent cleaning up after them. My mother is quite tidy except when she is undertaking some kind of project around the house! But she always tidies up after herself. I think I would really like your tidiness :)

Your holidays in Carradale really do sound idyllic. Could we just have a holiday like that? And I always love when you mention Cariad :) Also, you fell face first into a brook?! I can't say anything like that has happened to me on holiday :); 10 July 2024 at 21:02
Louise Boyd said...: I did. Fully face-planted in it :)
I'd dropped Em's Daffy Duck lip balm in it while we were playing with sticks on the little bridge over the brook,and because kid's have no sense, I thought I could lean over and suddenly have magically long arms that could reach it.
...
I did not suddenly have magically long arms.
But I did escape injury free! Which was a minor miracle.
You're obviously less accident prone than I am, my childhood was just a sea of bruises and scrapes from ridiculous incidences *-*
Hopefully our mutual neatness on holiday would keep me safe from tripping over anything and landing in a puddle of limbs!

I appreciate your mum's form of chaos. Like... if you wanna fuck shit up and then tidy up after you're done, by all means, go right ahead, I fully approve of that message!
It's the monsters who make the mess and leave it for the neat freaks to twitch at before they finally give in and tidy it up.
Not so fond of them <_<

I tried to watch Red Dwarf a few years back and it legit caused me pain.
It's so sad when tv doesn't stand the test of time :(
Rimmer's salute will always be a thing of beauty, though. Always.; 10 July 2024 at 21:13
Dex said...: I would have let you drag me through that sea of bruises and scrapes, and even into brooks face first :) I'm sorry you didn't have magically long arms :)

My mum is on the boat tonight for Aberdeen because she has a hospital appointment tomorrow. So I have taken the day off work to look after my dad. He has had food poisoning this week! My mum won't see Freya as they are flying to Crete on the same day. She is a very well travelled for a 6 year old :)

The one bad thing with my mother is that she will choose the oddest times to be very active!; 11 July 2024 at 19:08
Louise Boyd said...: All the good health vibes for your parentals! - I don't actually know what's worse: food poisoning or going to the hospital =/
And that Freya soars safely through the clouds like the little dragon she is!
She's gonna be so warm in Crete. Warm and happy and full of ice cream. Are you jealous? I'm jealous *-*

If we could have a do-over for our childhoods, I'd definitely hunt you down and take you to Carradale so we could chase after Carrie in the surf and scurry away from jellyfish (so many jellyfish on that beach, terrifying), and you could sedate me for the plane to the Philippines so I could try Royal and get eaten alive by hungry bugs :D
There'd be ice cream as well, though, right?
Holidays need ice cream, it's the rule.; 11 July 2024 at 21:22
Dex said...: Thank you, Lilliputty :) My mum was in Aberdeen just for a check up so she will be back tomorrow morning. While my dad has been on a diet of soup and biscuits :)

I would feel much more motivated about going to the Philippines if I knew that you and Freya were coming with me. I would even look forward to it! Very much so :) I can't remember what ice cream there is though. Surely somewhere that hot must be full of ice cream! And we could make ice cream floats :) Could we use Royal for that or do floats have to be Coca Cola?

I think Carradale with you, Freya and Cariad would be my perfect holiday :); 12 July 2024 at 19:56
Dex said...: My parents should get to see Freya again in August. They are going down to West Kirby to see my uncle but will stay for a few days in Aberdeen.; 13 July 2024 at 14:12
Louise Boyd said...: There needs to be a name for when you give me Freya news.
Like... The Freya Headlines or The Freya Gazette or The Freyonichle!
She'd have her own little intense musical intro as well :) With a dinosaur roar at the end!

Speaking of news, how are the parentals? Dad feeling better? Mum all good?

Surely you'd put sorbet in Royal?
Raspberry sorbet in orange drink? I could really get behind that *-*
Although, a scoop of plain old vanilla (Häagen-Daz only because it's the best one) floating atop some Fanta doesn't not appeal...
I think we've gotta workshop this.
And it all depends on whether you're pro ice cream floats at all!
I am, but I'm aware it's kinda niche. For example, Sarah thinks it's blasphemy :); 13 July 2024 at 21:21
Dex said...: Maybe an intro a bit like the MGM lion? Except the lion is Freya :) It's probably a good thing that I don't live in Aberdeen as you would be getting a daily Freyonichle :)

My dad seems back to normal, thank you for asking :) Back to eating all of the chocolate buttons :) My mum was just away for a routine check up so it wasn't anything serious. She's had this long term issue with her lungs so has to go to Aberdeen every once in a while. It certainly doesn't seem to restrict her activities :) Sorry, I haven't asked about Sarah in a while. Is she doing okay? Hopefully no more overnight stays at the hospital.

Sorbet in Royal... You really do come up with the best ideas :) I'm going to have to buy some Haagen-Daz vanilla ice cream. If you say something is the best, I take that as the ultimate seal of approval :) And I am definitely pro ice cream floats :); 14 July 2024 at 17:49
Dex said...: Our summer weather is getting worse, if that is even possible!; 15 July 2024 at 19:09
Louise Boyd said...: Freya would make the best MGM lion! :O
Obscenely cute and fearsome - everyone would subscribe to The Freyonichle!
It would be full of ocean facts and dinosaur facts and lessons on how to be kind and also how to beat up your cousins and get away with it ^-^

Glad the parentals are doing well, and Sarah's fine, a fair few doctor trips for the aftereffects of last year but she's doing good :) Baking bread every weekend, calling me bitch affectionately, the usual Sarah stuff :)

Do you think an ice cream float would work in reverse? By adding coke to a milkshake? Or would it just be gross and foamy 0_0
I think I need to know.
And your thoughts on Vanilla Häagen-Dazs! Which is yummy but not the best flavour in the selection, that aware goes to Cookies & Cream, Pralines & Cream, Strawberry Cheesecake, and Dulce de Leche!
Although, I just checked the website and they have alllllll kinds of flavours I've never tried before.
I've made a list of ones that need tried and I'll be really sad if they're not available in the UK:

- Rocky Road
- Dulce de Leche Churro
- Irish Cream Brownie
- Peppermint Bark
- Pineapple Coconut
- Bourbon Praline Pecan
- Butter Pecan
- Bourbon Vanilla Bean Truffle
- Chocolate Peanut Butter

NEED!
Also the mint choc chip because it's arguable the best flavour in the world.
...
I might be hyper-fixating on this because the weather sucks her also and I need to feel joy *-*
It was so nice from this morning to about 4pm and then the thunder and lightning started and everything sucked -_-
We're definitely being punished for something, Dexterous =/; 15 July 2024 at 20:46
Dex said...: I really do wish I could tell you more often about Freya's adventures :)

Sarah deserves all of the good health with what she went through last year! I love that swearing is such a big part of you and your sisters showing affection for each other. I bet you all do it so eloquently too :) And I always wonder if your house smells amazing with all of the baking. Please say that it does :)

You really make the best lists! We should make it our mission in life to try all of those flavours :) Some of them sound amazing! And you know how important it is to me to know your favourites in everything :) I will definitely be looking for Cookies & Cream Haagen-Dazs to enjoy at the weekend :) I really hope that you have some in your house at the moment!

Thunder & lightning?! That really is crazy! I hope you and Charlie got some time in the garden beforehand! Surely you will get a full week of sun at some point!; 16 July 2024 at 19:47
Dex said...: We finally had some sun this afternoon :); 17 July 2024 at 17:37
Louise Boyd said...: Two things:

1) Our house does smell pretty fucking amazing daily, but it's usually from dinner rather than baking. Currently it smells like Laksa and it's making me hangry *-*

2) The siblings and I's slur-based, affectionate back and forth is so not eloquent 0_0 In fact, the less articulate the better! If it devolves into arms slaps and "bitch-faces" then you know we're on form ^-^

I don't know how to show love any other way, though 0_0 Nice terms of endearment give me the ick.
I always know I've found my people when I can call them weirdos and dickheads and it be received with a smile :)

It was sunny here today, too! So I hopped around the garden and took book photos with my Charlie helper until it went away.
My bones feel better :)
Did the sundae truck make an appearance? I'm guessing not, otherwise you would've regaled me with tales of how life-changing the Ferrero Rocher one was.
Alas, you'll just have to get that tub of Cookies & Cream. Woe is you :D; 17 July 2024 at 18:41
Dex said...: I had to look up Laksa as I didn't know what it was. You always get me to learn new things :) Your family really does have much more exciting food! And I just knew your house would smell pretty fucking amazing :D

Hopefully you know you can always call me those things :) I really wish you sat next to me at work as having you there to make fun of me would really get me through the day :)

Lilliputty! I missed the sundae truck! It came to work on the Friday I wasn't there! My parents are going to Sandness this weekend so I may just have to spend my Saturday in the living room with a tub of Cookies & Cream :)

I'm really glad you got some sun. You and Charlie totally deserved it!; 18 July 2024 at 18:31
Louise Boyd said...: You may have missed the sundae truck, my dear, but the Cake Fridge's back and it's full of wonders!
Your choices are:

- Flapjack Millionaires
- Fudgy Frosted Brownies
- Almost Croissant Brownies

And they would all go perfectly with a tub of C&C ^-^

In this situation where I'm with you at work, am I also an employee or some kind of office pet?
Because if I'm a pet, then yes, I would torment you until you payed attention to me or gave me a snack to shut me up.
If I'm an employee? I'd turn into a total dweeb who would work diligently, with headphones on, only moved for hydration and sustenance, and didn't speak but did pass notes.
A fun workmate? Not so much. I like tasks, y'see, and I get hyper focused with extreme tunnel vision.
Especially with things like inputting data. My OCD brain loves that shit *-*
At least you have Kerry to keep you entertained!; 18 July 2024 at 21:32
Dex said...: I was so happy when I saw you had Almost Croissant Brownies listed :D

I think I would love both the snack demanding pet and the hyper focused task machine :) Kerry does struggle with the noise in the office a lot of the time. There are some very loud people. And an annoying shredding machine! I manage to cope but Kerry says it's because I am extremely unobservant :) She is the kind of person who notices everything, like a younger Miss Marple. She does enjoy that comparison as she is a big fan :)

I'm so glad it is the weekend and my parents are in Sandness so I will hopefully get some time to myself. You definitely deserve some time to yourself as well!; 19 July 2024 at 18:48
Dex said...: I went to Tesco this morning and got my C&C Haagen-Dazs :); 20 July 2024 at 12:33
Louise Boyd said...: It's gonna be such a bummer if you end up not liking it XD
That'd be crazy, though, it's the best one.
I hope you like it, but at least you'll have the Almond Croissant Brownies. Or were they devoured in three bites already? *-*

Kerry and I have the same sensory issues it would seem, and it's a total pain in the ass. People clicking pens is one of the biggest offenders, and I swear, it makes me fucking murderous 0_0
But when I do it? Totally fine :)
Does Kerry have a way to cope? Headphones? Deep breathing? Horrible hexes?

It's 20℃ and raining heavily.
So.
Humid.
Kill.
Me.
x_x; 20 July 2024 at 21:13
Dex said...: I think we both know that there was very little chance of me not liking the C&C :) I did take the Almond Croissant Brownies to work on Friday to share but I managed to consume the leftovers yesterday :)

I definitely agree with you about the clicking pens! Kerry does wear headphones sometimes although she prefers not do it too often. A combination of sore ears and needing to hear what people are saying :) Wednesdays and Thursdays are the worst as the shredder is constantly in operation for about an hour and half each day :S Her other coping mechanism is drawing pictures to scare me :)

That sounds like a more extreme version of our weather this weekend! It's not quite so warm here (maybe 15c) but the rain was torrential yesterday evening. It reminded me of Philippines rain as there was no wind and it seemed to be coming straight down in very heavy droplets. It has stopped now though and the sun is out with a breeze. I really hope you manage to cope okay with the humidity.; 21 July 2024 at 12:20
Louise Boyd said...: I'm trying my best not to be a little bitch about humidity and 20℃ days with grey skies because at least it's warm!
And I'll take no sun but t shirt weather over wearing autumn clothes in July <_<
Poor Charlie's just as bummed out as everyone else, though. He's such a sad boy, right now, loafing about the place and being real stingy with the affection.
He hasn't scented me in weeks >_< Not even a head bump. Just weather-based distain.
It's actually quite upsetting 0_0

You're a better human than I, Dexterous, I'm not sure I would share my Cake Fridge spoils with my fellow mortals.
My stomach would need the almond-y goodness too much!
Also, squirrels don't share food ^-^
Did the Cookies & Cream survive the weekend or did your stomach need the cookie goodness too much?

Sore ears from headphones is the worst *-* I feel her pain.
What exactly are you shredding, though?!
Is it nefarious Shetland secrets? It is, isn't it.; 21 July 2024 at 21:26
Dex said...: I'm sorry, Lilliputty. I'm sure Charlie's lack of affection is only temporary. He'll be back to head bumping you in no time :) I didn't realise he did that. That really does sound like such a Charlie thing to do :)

I do like some of the people I work with, although I admit it is sometimes difficult to share my Cake Fridge spoils with them :) It is probably better for my health that I share them though, especially as I also ate half the Cookies & Cream :) I also had a Bramble Tart for lunch today. It was a lemon flavoured tart with whole blackberries :)

Our plans for world domination :) But I really have no idea how some people in the office are still managing to use so much paper!; 22 July 2024 at 20:12
Louise Boyd said...: I kinda miss paper sometimes, y'know?
I make lots of lists, digital and paper, but it's always the paper ones I stick with. There's just something about physically writing something down and ticking it off that you can't get with a screen.
The idea of handwriting a whole essay like we used to do actually gives me the shivers.
No fucking way.
My wrists would give way *-*

A Bramble Tart? That... sounds bloody delicious, and I don't even like lemon desserts!
You're always saying I pick the best things, but Dexterous, that's inspired.
Were the blackberries good and wersh or more on the sweet side? I kinda like when they're really sour and almost inedible but... I love sour things *shrugs*

There was about ten minutes of sun today, so we coaxed Charlie Bear into it and he was noticeably happier.
This bloody country is giving my cat seasonal depression!
I think we're gonna have to get him a SAD lamp 0_0
And maybe one for me, too 0_0; 22 July 2024 at 21:32
Dex said...: I think I feel the same way about paper, especially for lists (making and reading them). I still much prefer making my lists in an old fashioned notebook :) I wonder if they still make kids do paper essays at school! Anyway, your hands do get a very good work out when making up your monthlies :)

The Bramble Tart was really nice. And I had to look up what 'wersh' means :) The blackberries were a bit on the sour side which I like too, especially as the other parts of the tart were quite sweet :) I didn't know you liked things to be quite that sour. I'm always learning new things about you :)

We had some sun today as well. I wish Charlie and you were here to enjoy it. You both deserve to be happy this summer. And we could have gotten some Miss Sprinkles today too. She turned up at work this afternoon and I had the Ferrero Rocher sundae since you said I should :) Vanilla ice cream, chocolate sauce, 3 whole Ferrero Rochers and a flake :D; 23 July 2024 at 19:54
Louise Boyd said...: Goddammit, why was I born on the big island instead of the little island where there's yummy sounding sundaes?!
Life is cruel -_-
How would you rate it, though? Out of ten. Or stars. Your choice!

I do love sour things but, like the Bramble tart, I do prefer it to be tempered with something sweet.
M&S used to do these fizzy lemon fish-shaped sweets, and they were so sour, almost uncomfortably so, but the sweet part would kick in eventually and your face would go back to normal :)
I always used to ask for them as a treat when I was little if were in one of the stores.
I don't think they make them anymore, though, just Peppa Pig bullshit :(

NOTEBOOKS!
Fuck me, I love a notebook *-*
I've got so many and never use them because I don't want to fuck them up. It's so stupid 0_0; 23 July 2024 at 20:50
Dex said...: I wish you were here too. I definitely would have gone outside to get you a sundae :) I would give it an 9/10 or 4 stars, just because I wanted a tub full of of Ferrero Rocher rather than just 3 :D

It was very warm here today. Kerry was on leave so I had a walk to the cafe to get another slice of Bramble tart. It was just as good as last time :) And a coronation chicken roll. That tends to be my go to choice of filling.

One of the things you might have missed living on a tiny island is M&S. I feel like I've missed out on fizzy lemon fish-shaped sweets! They sound like they would have been my favourite thing :) I never got the fuss about those Percy Pig sweets. People here used to make a point of bringing back some when they had been away :S

There is a very small chance that Freya will be here on our birthday...; 24 July 2024 at 18:06
Dex said...: Hopefully my first comment posted okay as the 'post a comment' window seems to have changed quite a bit!

I like having notebooks that I can neatly tear pages out of so I can go on pretending they are brand new :); 24 July 2024 at 18:09
Louise Boyd said...: :O
Don't you tease me!
A Freya-shaped birthday visitor?! You lucky bastard :D
I guess you're in for extra feisty birthday whacks if she makes it!

The ideal Ferrero Rocher sundae would have them roughly chopped up and swirled through the ice cream, obviously.
Also a little pyramid on top.

I can't remember the last time you told me you ate something savoury 0_0
Maybe the spicy ramen bowl that physically attacked you? (ps. I had ramen for dinner, it was also spicy, I am in pain x_x)
Does this mean I'll have to call you Captain Candy Sometimes Savoury Claws?!

Ring-bound notebooks? Good, very useful, aesthetic bullshit ^-^
If it isn't lined/graphed/bulleted, have a ribbon marker, and a pocket in the back that I'll solely use for post-its, then I'm no interested.
...
This is why I'm not allowed near the stationary -_-

Re: the Post Comment button

It looks exactly the same to me *-*

Ps. Peppa Pig can go fuck itself :)
Tastes of nothing. Bad texture. Makes adorable piggies looks weird and creepy.
Give me Haribo or Starburst any day of the week.
Or fizzy Chewitts!; 24 July 2024 at 21:10
Dex said...: There's nothing definite but my parents are going to West Kirby for a couple of weeks in August and they might bring Freya back with them on the boat on the 26th, so arriving in Shetland on our birthday :)

I think your idea of a Ferrero Rocher sundae would be my perfect sundae. Do you ever make sundaes at home? I reckon you would come up with the best combinations :)

I love that you always know exactly what you like :D I actually don't use ring bound notebooks as they are not a left hander's friend :) You probably have some amazing notebooks lying around :)

Note to self: buy fizzy Chewits next time in Tesco!; 25 July 2024 at 18:56
Dex said...: I really hope that Blair is getting more sun and that Charlie is being more affectionate :); 26 July 2024 at 19:49
Louise Boyd said...: Oh! The comment section has changed!
I might hate it 0_0

I'm happy to report that the fuzzy baby boy is back to his normal level of grumpy and now lets me pet him without glaring at me like I buried his favourite toy (a small catnip filled beaver named The Beav) in the garden without the proper burial rites.
It's so niceeeeeee. I feel loved again *-*
I think we're meant to be getting tons of sun the next couple of days, so hopefully the love-bombing will continue :D

!!!
Hold the fucking phone!
You're a lefty?
Why didn't I know this?!
...
For totally normal reasons, but still!
We'd be the perfect seat mates in school because I'm a righty ^-^

I'll be keeping my fingers crossed for a Freya visit, mostly for you, but an itty bit for me :); 26 July 2024 at 21:03
Dex said...: Learning that Charlie has a favourite toy named The Beav really has made my day :D I definitely wish I could be there with you and Charlie in the garden with your books and the sun. Although the weather here really has been okay. A decent amount of sun which is all I can reasonable hope for :)

One of my vivid memories from my first day of primary school was being told to sit on the left hand side of the table so I didn't keep bumping arms with my right handed desk buddy :)

I will definitely be taking a few days off work if Freya does come to visit :); 27 July 2024 at 10:09
Dex said...: Did I ever tell you that one of the games that Freya likes playing is the back tracing game? Where you write a word on someone's back with your finger and they have to guess what it is. She is very good at guessing :); 28 July 2024 at 12:23
Dex said...: I really hope the weather in Blair this week is as nice as the forecast says it is :); 29 July 2024 at 19:02
Dex said...: I may have bought more C&C Haagen Dazs...; 30 July 2024 at 18:08
Dex said...: It does seem pretty definite that Freya is coming up here for our birthday :D; 31 July 2024 at 16:56
Dex said...: I am looking forward to making a start on your July monthly tonight :); 1 August 2024 at 17:01
Louise Boyd said...: I hope you enjoy it because it's the sole reason I disappeared off the sloped side of the universe for a week *-*
One day. One day I'll learn not to leave everything 'til the last minute, but I fear I might be dead by then and hopefully living my bed afterlife in the the library of my dreams and won't care!

I guess that means it's a very Happy Birthday to us! Little Freya on the tiny island :)
I wonder if she'll bring the puffin toy with her or a new plushie will be on the agenda; maybe a Curlew? Or a Black Guillemot!
Shetland has good birds ^-^

I think in celebration of a Freya birthday, a trip to the Cake Fridge is in order.
You choices are!:

- Milka Oreo Brownies
- Flapjack Millionaires
- Tunnock's Teacake Millionaires

And I don't know how you feel about lemon, (I think... pro?), so I'll throw the Lemon Meringue Pie Blondies in, too!
I would not suggest eating those with Cookies & Cream, though =/; 1 August 2024 at 21:09
Dex said...: I'm sorry that you have to stress about your monthlies. I really do enjoy them though :)

I do like lemon desserts but you probably won't be surprised to learn that I went for the Tunnock's Teacake Millionaires :) I did take them to work but there weren't many people in so I got to take quite a lot home. I'm sure they will go with the Cookies & Cream :)

I will get a book about Shetland birds for Freya. I think she would enjoy learning about them :); 2 August 2024 at 19:01
Louise Boyd said...: Surprising! I definitely thought it'd be the Milka Oreo Brownies.
Over a decade of friendship and I still can't predict your every decision! Gotta work on that, being your overlord and all ^-^

I love how much Freya seems to get into the things she takes interests in. Like, it's not just that she enjoys them, she takes time to actually learn about them.
I cannot remember the last time I did that, if ever 0_0 I'm like a friggin moth when it comes to my likes, flapping around taking sips from everything but never getting drunk on knowledge.
She's so cool >_<

I saw this last night and my brain's been stuck ever since:

https://www.pinterest.co.uk/pin/32721534788746021/; 2 August 2024 at 21:07
Dex said...: Clearly if I didn't exercise some self control I would have bought a box of both :) And even though you give me options, you know that you can always order me - I know you would never steer me wrong :D

I hope Freya never loses that. It genuinely always amazes me how many different things you find to enjoy each month! But I think you definitely enjoy learning about the things you love :)

Lilliputty! That may be the perfect dessert!; 3 August 2024 at 12:18
Louise Boyd said...: I know, right!
I would absolutely demolish it. ... Over a few days because I am not wasting a single molecule by upchucking.
You could even do that yourself really easily just by buying a pre-made pie case, chocolate ice cream, and a tub of marshmallow fluff!
Will I do that?
Probably not.
But it's nice to think about *-*
Which I do according to the number of desserts Pinterest is suggesting for me these days.
You repost one Gingerbread Tiramisu and the algorithm decides to visually torture you >_<; 3 August 2024 at 21:12
Dex said...: When I retire in a couple of years (I refuse to acknowledge I have 20+ more years of work), I'm going to buy a house close by and spend my time practising all of the desserts you share with me, then inviting you over for dessert and film nights :); 4 August 2024 at 12:12
Dex said...: The sun finally disappeared here today but I won't complain too much as it has been appearing very frequently over the last week. Also, we are getting a vending machine at work!; 5 August 2024 at 18:17
Louise Boyd said...: Dessert and movies nights in Dex's Dream House, sounds magnificent! :D
I'll bring the antacids, 'cause this girl gets tummy aches!

A vending machine? That feels dangerous in the vicinity of Captain Candyclaws 0_0
What if you go full food-bear and raid its entirety for your cave?
I could see it happening. I could also see you getting obsessed with one thing in it and them having to resupply every day *-*
Goblin behaviour.
I approve!
I wonder if it'll have cereal bars in it ← my university diet.

The sun has well and truly fucked off here, all we're getting is grey skies and rain, rain, rain. It's hurting my soul :); 5 August 2024 at 21:20
Dex said...: I'm definitely a goblin when it comes to sugar :)

I had a quick look in the vending machine when I was leaving work as they are now fully stocked and operational! There are actually 2 vending machines - one for cold drinks and another for snacks. Coca Cola, 7Up, Rubicon, Fanta, Pringles, Kit Kats, Galaxy bars, Haribo (Tangtastic & Giant Strawbs), and I am pretty sure there were some cereal bars but I will double check tomorrow :)

I wonder if we will get another week of summer... My parents should be going away on the boat next Tuesday night so I will take a few days off to enjoy the peace and quiet at home. And I will take a few more days off to spend time with Freya when she comes back with them :); 6 August 2024 at 19:35
Louise Boyd said...: Rubicon! What flavours?! Lychee and Guava are, in my humble drinking opinion, the best, but I haven't tried their Rose Lemonade (one of the best soft drinks of all time), and according to the website they have black cherry & raspberry.
Consider me intrigued *-*
This is why vending machines are the best, and why I probably survive of their contents very easily.
I mean, I'd be insanely ill and probably die a good thirty years before I'm meant to from scurvy, but y'know, one does what one must when faced with the glory of the vendy machine.

Freya! Freya! Freya!
:D
I'll keep my fingers crossed and beseech Helios to bless Shetland with all the sun for the tiny queen.; 6 August 2024 at 21:25
Dex said...: Kerry is always saying that I am not observant or curious enough about things. Which is the complete opposite of her :) I will definitely check the Rubicon flavours tomorrow. And it was the Kellogg's Nutri Grain cereal bars. Not sure how I feel about those! I like the Cadbury chocolate chip cereal bars :)

I would absolute love a vending machine if you were the one getting to pick the contents. I bet you would make up the best vending machine ever :)

I've already booked my days off work so I can spend them with Freya when she visits :); 7 August 2024 at 18:52
Dex said...: I had a mini pavlova for my lunch today. It was only meringue, whipped cream and berries but I enjoyed it :); 8 August 2024 at 18:57
Louise Boyd said...: And where did this magical mini meringue spring from? Knowing you, I wouldn't be surprised if you got it from the vending machine!
Which by the way, if they have the Kellogg's Nutri-Grain Chocolate Bakes, then they're worth getting.
Could they be improved by a smothering of Nutella? Yes. But as cake that isn't directly called cake... not half bad!

I've been legitimately thinking about what I would put in a vending machine and finding it actually quite hard!
Like, does my vending machine obey the law of packaging and freshness?
Because if not, that changes everything! *-*
Except there being a constant supply of Snickers, Beef Hula Hoops, Snyder's Honey Mustard Pretzel Bites, Apricot and Yoghurt Natural bars, Caramel Wafers, and Dr. Pepper.
Those are non-negotiable.

Cake fridge?

- Biscoff Rocky Road
- Dairy Milk Brownies; 8 August 2024 at 21:17
Dex said...: I bought the mini meringue from a place called Pete's (I don't think there is an actual Pete - as far as I can tell, the owners are a German couple). It's the same place I get my coronation chicken rolls and mandarin cake and chocolate mole cake (basically a mound of chocolate cake, cream and strawberries) and blueberry slices... :)

I will definitely try the Kellogg's Nutri-Grain Chocolate Bakes if the have them. You know how highly I value your opinion on everything :) And I have never had Snyder's Honey Mustard Pretzel Bites or Apricot and Yogurt Natural bars but I am going to add those to my shopping wish list :) As far as I'm concerned, your vending machine should be allowed to contain anything you want and I'd want to try them all :)

I went for the Dairy Milk Brownies. They looked so chocolately that I just had to have them :); 9 August 2024 at 20:28
Dex said...: I bought meringue, cream and strawberries this morning to make my own Eton Mess. I feel like it is the one dessert I have a chance of making successfully :); 10 August 2024 at 10:01
Louise Boyd said...: I wait with bated breath to see how this Eton Mess pans out!
My fingers are super crossed for your success :D

I had to look up Mole Cake and now I'm furious I've never had one >_<
And kinda intrigued by the version with bananas.
I mean because... sometimes bananas?

Okay, if I have free rein with my vending machine? Then it's gotta be filled with Tiramisu and the best chips on the planet.
Because I'm a classy girl :)
What would be in yours?

Ps. I would've gone for the Dairy Milk Brownies, too ^-^; 10 August 2024 at 22:28
Dex said...: I think your finger crossing really helped, Lilliputty. Thank you :) The only problem is that I can now see myself making Eton Mess all the time!

I wish you could try the Chocolate Mole Cake. Especially with bananas :) I would definitely be bringing you cake every day if I could. But I'm sure your sisters will make something very soon to make me extremely jealous :)

Just as well there isn't Tiramisu in the vending machine at work as that would be consumed daily :) What are the best chips you have ever had? I think I would fill the vending machine up with freshly baked doughnuts and warm pretzels that you could choose toppings for :); 11 August 2024 at 20:49
Dex said...: I was given a free chocolate cupcake at Pete's today as the mini pavlova from last week was slightly broken when they tried to put it in the box! I was very embarrassed as they really didn't have to - I don't mind broken meringue at all :); 12 August 2024 at 18:58
Louise Boyd said...: Don't you just love it when people give you free food *-*
I mean, it never happens to me because I'd have to leave the house for such generous offerings, but still... amazing >_<
Was it the kind of cupcake that has an obscene amount of icing on top? So much so you could cut the bottom off and sandwich the icing between the two halves and make a mini cake?
That's the bestttttt.
And I'd be real bitter about it, but Sarah made me fruity nutty soda bread and a chai latte today, so I'm pretty happy ^-^

It's only fifteen days until our birthday and I am panicking 0_0
Tell me a Freya tale while I deliberate over what to get your impossible to buy for ass :); 12 August 2024 at 22:53
Dex said...: Cutting and sandwiching a cupcake to turn it into a mini cake really is the kind of thing that makes me think how ridiculously lucky I am to have you :D I wish such an idea had occurred to me! The cupcake I had was a chocolate cupcake with chocolate cream on top with a whole strawberry and filled with what I am assuming was a strawberry jam. I very much enjoyed it even though I know wish I had turned it into a mini cake :)

Your sisters really are the best (and ridiculously talented at baking).
And you definitely deserve to have so many things made for you :) I love chai lattes but I never tried one until I found out how much you liked them :)

I wish I could tell you more Freya stories but all I have heard is that she is excited about coming here :) I'm going to try my best to do everything I can so that she wants to come back :)

You know I never expect anything on our birthday, and if you do send me anything, it can be the smallest thing imaginable and I will still be so happy to get it :) It's not very much at all but I do have a not very good idea of something to get for you but I am still debating it in my head :); 13 August 2024 at 18:45
Dex said...: Parents went away on the boat last night for hopefully two weeks at home of relative quiet :); 14 August 2024 at 19:41
Dex said...: I hope you and Charlie have been getting plenty of sun :); 15 August 2024 at 16:55
Louise Boyd said...: There's definitely sun (although Charlie's curiously absent; likes to hide, that boy) but it's too wet to sit anywhere it's shining >_<
It poured for hours and hours, and then BAM! Sunshine!
Scotland's weather is so schizophrenic.
My weather app says it's sunny-ish in Lerwick? It's the BBC, which always lies, but I'm hoping it's not this time?
You need vitamin D maybe more than I do *-*

Now, this is controversial and situational, so it can be an altered opinion, but... I'm not fond of chocolate and fruit.
I'm not against it, per se, I just don't often enjoy it. That muffin sounds pretty immense, though... Did you eat the strawberry first and then monster then rest of it?
Next time, you gotta turn it into a mini cake, which to be fair, I can't take credit for, that honour goes to Anne Hathaway who I saw talking about it and decided then and there she was a fucking genius.
You gotta have the right mount of icing, buttercream, et al., though, by which I mean a gargantuan amount.
If the cake you're giving me isn't liberally filled and thickly iced on ALL sides, then it does not pass the Lilliputty Dessert Test.
Slather it on, please, make me ill with buttercream 0_0
...
Cake fridge! Cake fridge! Cake fridge!
I might be a little hormonal with no access to cake, so you gotta eat it for me, Dexterous. Fulfil my cravings!
Your options are:

- Fudgy Crunchie Slice
- Lemon Meringue Pie Blondies
- Biscoff Brownies
- Teasers Brownies

Make me proud, Fungus.

You have a "not very good idea" of a gift for me?
Dex, I'm frightened!
But also, this gives me free reign to fail :); 15 August 2024 at 17:17
Dex said...: I'm sorry to tell you that the weather here today has been pretty miserable. Grey and raining all day. The forecast for the weekend looks a little more promising though... I hope you find somewhere dry to sit outside in the sun with Charlie demanding affection :)

I wish we could spend our days in the lab doing Lilliputty Dessert Tests. I would definitely bring along the Teaser Brownies I bought today :) I imagine quite a few people don't like chocolate and fruit together. I'm just a complete monster when it comes to cake :) And I did eat the strawberry first before monstering the muffin!

You could never fail when it comes to presents :); 16 August 2024 at 19:00
Dex said...: My parents made it down to West Kirby to visit my uncle. My other cousin is also visiting them with his family so it is a bit of a family reunion (it has been quite a few years since they have seen any of them in person). I've been asked to do a video call with them tonight...; 17 August 2024 at 09:46
Dex said...: One of the things that Freya says she wants to do when she visits is to see the puffins :) The end of August might be too late for puffins so I hope she is not too disappointed!; 18 August 2024 at 09:40
Dex said...: I had a video call yesterday with my other cousin (the son of my dad's older sister), his wife and two children. They are visiting West Kirby as well. I don't think I have spoken to him or his wife since about 2010 when they came up to Shetland for my parents 25th anniversary. It was really bad snow that year so they ended up missing the party and being stranded somewhere in Scotland but made it up a couple of days later. I definitely feel like I have been a terrible relative by not making any effort to keep in touch!; 19 August 2024 at 19:39
Louise Boyd said...: If it makes you feel any better, the Boyd/Ramsay family is collectively shit at keeping in touch.
Abysmal, in fact; I've got family I've never spoken to, and most I haven't seen in decades.
Anti-social behaviour runs rampant in my gene pool :)
Also, video call makes me so uncomfortable. I can talk to someone face to face fine, but over a screen? Creepy and I hate it.
I'd do it for Freya, though, and you, I guess :)
Maybe there'll be some rogue, outlaw puffins still hanging around when she makes it to the island. Or they'll all magically flock to her because that's what happens to fairy queens!
Where do the puffins hang out? What's a group of puffins called?
...
A circus.
A circus of puffins.
I was hoping for something like a puffle of puffins. Hmm.

Apparently we're getting the tail end of a hurricane in Scotland.
It's been raining for twenty four hours.
Charlie keeps glaring at it like he has the power to stop it with his brain.
It's so cute >_<; 19 August 2024 at 22:17