Busy busy busy! Not long now and the pace is hotting up in the social calendar, in the countdown to Crimbo! Did loads this week, including a very enjoyable theatre trip, remembering one of my favourite childhood films. Well okay, I was 14. The 1976 film ‘Bugsy Malone’ by Alan Parker, is one of my all-time favourites. Loved the story, was amazed at the children’s performances, including Jodie Foster as Tallulah, and brilliant, brilliant songs. Masterpiece I think. So it was a pleasure to go see it at the theatre this week. See below!
Plus lots of outings with family. Plus of course as mentioned previously, this year’s early Christmas weekend with the kids!
Lollipop and her little family came down last weekend, hubby Nick, four-year-old Phoebe, and baby Jasper stayed with me on the Friday night before we all decamped to Brad’s in Fulham the next day. First we had a big Christmas dinner, (with chicken, worked well!) Then we all took the kids off by tube to the museums to look at the dinosaurs and the blue whale. They’re a bit young really, and it was really busy and really hot! But it was nice to do something different (see Vlog below). Back to Brad and Carrie and Blake and Kaleb‘s house for the evening, played Linkee, one of my favourite board games & stayed overnight (I was in a bedroom with the two 4-year-olds!) It was a weekend filled with lots of hugs and snuggles and jokes and fun and laughter. Nothing like it. Not much sleep though LOL.
Then on the Sunday, after walks and playground fun, we went back to my sister’s for a lovely secret Santa. One of the uncles did the honours, and the kids looked out through the back window waiting for Santa to come for the mince pie, the carrot and the brandy and leave a big bag of secret Santa presents for about 12 little ones!
They were so funny! ‘Santa’ pretended to eat the carrot and throw the mince pie to Rudolph up in the air, then waved goodbye and picked up the present bag to take with him. Noooo! said the kids! So panto, it was absolutely brilliant.
Then it was home to mine, saying goodbye and tidying up. It’s always lovely to have them around me, it’s always stressful though with little ones. But soon enough, they will all be bigger and these years will be a distant memory. Little Jasper is almost walking, answers dada a lot! Kaleb is walking and almost talking but understands a lot. And the two little girls played like a dream. I will have Brad with me (at my sister’s as usual) on Christmas afternoon, with his family, and then on the 27th I will be going to Wales for two nights, to be with Lauren down there for a change, this time.
We even managed to take a really cute picture of me and my kids, and their kids, all dressed up in matching pyjamas, with the two little girls as gingerbread men! It’s the exclusive over on the newsletter this week. (You need to subscribe to get it each Friday – just go down the bottom of this page and click on the ‘newsletter’ button, you’ll automatically get an email each week when the new blog is posted.) It was also quite nice to get back to normal again after the visit. But then I miss them enormously as soon as they go.
Lovely times ahead and lovely times in the past :-). But by the end of Monday, after a double shift at work as well, I was completely knackered! LOL
QVC Blog Post!
As newsletter readers will know, I have been asked to do a list of last-minute presents on QVC, see the homepage for more. And also, a new blog post for the presenters section (Read it here). Individual presenter blogs are not coming back on a regular basis, but there will be occasional ones like this one. See the homepage for more, from December 17. And don’t forget to check out all of the great deals considering you can xmas shop with QVC until the 21st of December!
SNIPPETS
Bugsy Malone
This week saw the second trip to the theatre within around a week, with mum and sister. I’ve always had a soft spot in my heart, as many people did, particularly since the characters were all played by children in the original Alan Parker movie from 1976. Well the current Alexandra Palace theatre production did the memory of the original proud. Some incredible singers, great staging and choreography, I would really highly recommend it. If I can, I will take little Blake there if I can find a matinee she can attend. Very impressive! Mum and sister enjoyed it as well, although it was flipping freezing. See the funnies below for how I coped! Another good time was had by all.
Special Shoot
We were looking ahead to the New Year this week when I was booked for a special video shoot. It’s always great fun to do something a little different than normal. And several of us presenters got dressed up for the occasion. Nearly didn’t make it in time, tho,’ – it took me two hours in the traffic to get to work that day (almost twice the normal) including 40 minutes to go less than a mile either side of the Chiswick roundabout! The traffic in London is getting appalling, even worse than usual. I wish I had a helicopter! Anyway, the end result of the shoot will be revealed around the 13th of January, be sure and watch out for it on QVC!
Christmas tree of the week
Well I guess it’s this one, and probably the biggest one I will feature this year – slap bang in the middle of the Ally Pally foyer! Huge, and smells lovely of Christmas trees, natch!!
Watch – well lots of people are talking about it but I can’t say I’m very enthused about the new fly on the wall series, you know the famous one that’s been in the news, featuring one very high-profile narcissistic celebrity and their long-suffering spouse, intent on regaining power after a fall from Grace… but haven’t we seen too much of it in the media to be bothered!? So I won’t be watching… the series called Trump the Comeback. LOL. (Just kidding. Or Harry and Meghan’s “truth“, either… except maybe fleetingly.)
One I definitely will be watching is the fifth series of ‘Strike’ on BBC1 Sunday the 11th at 9 pm – based on the J. K. Rowling/Robert Galbraith books about detective Cormoran Strike and his sidekick Robin. As Strike and Robin investigate a woman’s historic disappearance, they come up against a fiendishly complex case with a psychopathic serial killer and witnesses who cannot all be trusted. They learn that even cases decades old can prove to be deadly.
Having loved every single one of these, I will be settling down with a nice cup of tea and a warm blanket, to enjoy them and have a little binge watch when this really hectic time is over!
Must also give a quick mention to quite a compulsive new series called ‘Rosie Malloy Gives Up Everything’, on Sky Comedy. I watched four half-hour episodes back to back. Sheridan Smith is outstanding again albeit playing a similar character to one she played in a show about a wayward teacher not long ago. She is a great actress. There’s also the BAFTA nominated series, back again, featuring Billie Piper, ‘I Hate Suzie Too’. Starts 20th of December.
Meanwhile at the cinema I must find time to go and see the new one about the Harvey Weinstein scandal, ‘She Said’. Or take Blake to see ‘Matilda the Musical’!
Funny – Feed the Birds
Talking of keeping warm, when we went to the theatre this week my mum and sister were rolling up at me, partly because of what I wore in my effort to keep warm. It looked okay until I put the Oxfam shop hat on – which I bought after the afternoon tea with the girls on the day the temperature dropped suddenly – and my Joules Mac, to keep the warmth in, over the top of my Marla Wynne 18% wool jacket, +4 layers under that!! Mum thought she was very funny, singing a little song about it on the train – go here to see it!
When I got back I also did my regular Thursday night Facebook live, #thursdaybantz. If you missed it you can watch it here!
Funny 2 – Sellotape Woman
Also thought I would show you this, not only did I forget I’d been wrapping presents by sticking Sellotape on my leg, I actually went out like it, until niece Izzy pointed it out when we were at the tea room! Trust me! LOL
Funny 3 – Down n out inside QVC
And finally yet another one: in an effort to keep warm (I avoided coming down with something this week, just, thank goodness), in a very cold presenter area this week, I looked like this. I came off-air, after an hour in a very cold studio for the Gatineau launch on Monday, put a zip up Hoody over my Frank Usher jumper and 2 vests, but still wasn’t warm. So I added a long Nina Leonard coatigan. Still wasn’t warm, so I added a scarf. Still wasn’t warm, so I added a wrap around my shoulders… It was 40 minutes later before I had warmed up. Well, we all need those warm clothes nowadays, don’t we – that’s for sure. Even if I do look like a pigeon lady or a bag lady LOL.
Podcast
Go here to get the latest Inside QVC podcast from Will, and the current one if you haven’t listened yet :-). The new one on Monday is with designer Paul Costelloe. Paul tells Will about his work with Diana, Princess of Wales; being involved in London fashion week for the first time; and how the landscape of the industry has changed! Don’t forget there’s a massive back-list to catch up on, too!
Vlog – Did this one from the natural history museum, yes it’s dark but being there brought back so many memories of happy times when my kids were small, and also when I was small. Star of the show, ‘dippy the dinosaur’ is on tour, but back where he belongs, for the time being! See it here.
Books of the Week
How about these for something new? Bit of non-fiction for you. Bought a couple of these by David Jason, for some of the men in my family, containing some funny and interesting insights into behind-the-scenes memories from his time on ‘Only Fools and Horses’. Plus, top of the charts: the new cookbook from Jamie Oliver – all great gift ideas! And finally a new one by a speaker I saw at a conference, looking at the history of some of the famous streets in monopoly! Very interesting so far. Thought I’d show you something a bit different this week 🙂 hope you like them :-). Any recommendations for new authors for me? Let me know :-).
QVC TOP DEALS FOR THE NEXT SEVEN DAYS
Friday (today) – go to qvcuk.com and search ‘today’s special value’ to see and buy what’s left of the SFIXX set of 2USB rechargeable 120 lm motion sensor lights.
Saturday – then at midnight Friday, I will be launching the Liz Earle fine fragrance face and body gift collection, superb set featuring your favourite fragrance, mine is number 15, obviously! And a quarter of a litre of limited edition cleanse and polish! I may be taking my make-up off at the end of the 4pm show, so don’t miss it, and I’ve also got the 6pm Saturday evening. What a great night!
See it in Caroline archer’s tweet, here.
Sunday – Shark bring us another vacuum cleaner.
Big deals ending Sunday night
Go to this section of our website each week to discover the current ones which often end on Sunday nights if there are any stocks left!
This week it includes:
Big deals are available on air for usually a week, they may be longer online if stocks last. Occasionally they last a couple of weeks but there are new ones every Sunday night so come back again and see them on the link above.
Next week should include:
– Earth origins Emmalyn suede house slippers, on extra channel
– Prai ageless throat and décolletage jewelled collection, on the beauty channel
– Lock n Lock insulated shopping trolley cart with stair climb wheels – sounds interesting and not too expensive either.
– And on style, a beautiful Finery dress in the Karah style.
– And more…
Now back to the today’s special values for the rest of the week –
Monday – Homedics bring a new massager — a compact sports massager called Myofascia
Tuesday – ‘cozee home’ are back with the luxe sherpa oversized lounge hoodie – sooooo warm for winter
Wednesday – it’s the seven-piece ‘let’s go disco’ collection from nails Inc. Includes a colour a bit like mine, and the dramatic holographic glitter as well! (See link to video below).
Thursday – Paul Costelloe have a bridal crock satchel bag, and guest Sam Ovens presents her first today’s special value! Don’t forget to listen to Paul’s podcast with Will, see above.
Friday – cozee home are back again this time with the huge, warm, velvet soft and ultra fluffy, thickly filled bedspread. Really good value and super warm as an extra layer on the bed this winter. Don’t miss it, it’s really good value! (See link to video below).
Friday 9 pm – and Estée Lauder bring us The Saturday TSV deal – a bumper Christmas present idea, still in time for the big day – a four-piece collection. Superb value.
Go here to see more about nails Inc, cozee home, and Estee Lauder deals!
Next week – Lunches galore with friends, an outing with granddaughter Blake, and supper with niece Izzy at a carvery. (I’d better get back to doing lots of swimming! Well, when the threat of a cough has subsided!) LOL. Plus finishing all the wrapping and the cards… Well that’s the plan 🙂 Have a great week.
Best wishes
Debs