Mistletoe's Musings

Well here we are at the end of January, during which I have posted every day for the Nablopomo challenge. I have to say it's been a bit of a struggle at times, but the day has come when I feel proud to have succeeded.

The transfer window closes today and Sunderland so far have lost Darren Bent and now Paulo Da Silva has gone to Real Zaragoza for an undisclosed fee. We have gained Sulley Muntari on loan from Inter Milan to the end of the season and bought Stephane Sessegnon, a Benin midfielder, from Paris Saint-Germain for £5 million. I don't expect any last minute deals so we will enter a critical two months in our season. By the end of them we may be on the brink of qualifying for the Europa League competition.... or not.
( Some stuff about The Bullet in the Brain )

Now I should really go to the shops because my watch needs a new battery. At least the sun is out though it is not very warm.

Bugger! Bent has scored on his debut again. Which is all right for my fantasy team. Berbatov, my other forward has scored 3! Ha. In your face Benty. And, in spite of having only one fit striker on the books, Sunderland won! Away! Well done Kieran Richardson who scored the two goals. Disappointingly, we gave away a penalty late on, so did not keep a clean sheet, but we kept the lead which was just as important and are now 7 points clear of the team in 7th (Newcastle) and only one behind Tottenham who are 5th. I am pleased.

Bruce was very philosophical about signing anyone. We have only 5 games in February and March while there are 8 games in April and May. By then Welbeck and possibly Campbell could be fit so they will bolster the front line.  The next 3 home games are Chelsea (3rd in table), Tottenham (5th in table), Liverpool (not in top half but on the up since Dalglish took over) which will go a long way to decide what sort of season we have had. I am well pleased so far and if we continue in the way we have at home (only 2 defeats all season) the away games shouldn't hold much to fear. Europe? I don't think Bent will get near that with Villa.

Been to the shops today and got another top in the sales which will look very nice with a vest in the summer at the cricket. Purple and grey hoops it is. Also got meat and cheap petrol, well, cheaper than where I live. It was £1.25 a litre which is 2p cheaper. The weather was manky, that horrible drizzle that gets on your glasses.

I have nothing to say about this week's Bones other than what I have commented elsewhere. I shall wait until there is an episode where I can really say something positive. 10 out of 22 seen and I haven't enjoyed any of them really.

I have been hard at it all day, yes all day, making icons. Nearly done after a great deal of faffing about. I have 2 that I am not happy with out of 15 which isn't too bad and 5 Artist's Choice still to decide upon. Leaving them overnight was a good plan as it allowed me to look with a fresh eye. Plus I was able to mull ones I hadn't settled on so that they turned out quite well. I have had two slices of toast and a mince pie and that is all. So I am making spag bol in the next hour. At least I remembered to get the mince out first thing this morning because the next time I looked at the clock it was 12.40. What?!? Where did the morning go? Well now you know.



Have you seen the new pictures from the Fox do of David? To be frank I don't think they're very flattering. He looks tired and his hair is wrong.
Observe:



Some were better.

 

Thanks  to setje at The Boreanazists.

Sunderland have a new signing! David Milliband the Labour Party leader's brother has joined the Board. Niall asked him. Hmm. Well he is the MP for South Shields and he does have connections abroad, so Quinny is covering as many bases as he can. Derby day soon. I can't wait. And Bones day next week. Squeeee.

In the meantime I gave No Ordinary Family a go. I can't decide what it is trying to be. It's not funny; the special powers are uninspired and the supporting cast is irritating. I watched two episodes and already I want to strangle the daughter. The lab assistant is Daisy with dark hair. They even used the rooftop from Judas on a Pole as a setting.  It needs to settle on a specific route. There's a DA who wants to live life vicariously; a suspicious lady cop (who immediately got killed off); a nefarious Scientific Company with a dodgy CEO; a nasty teacher who belittles the hero's son and a couples counsellor. Oh and the mysterious assassin. All in just two episodes with a bit of bitchy PTA thrown in.  At the moment it is too scatter gun and derivative: The Bionic Woman meets Superman the non-flying version. At least he leaps tall buildings with one bound.  Incidentally, how likely is anyone to run from wherever to Arizona without hitting a car? She did have a close encounter with a bike in her housing development but no one was hurt. So that didn't last long.

Lie to Me starts from the beginning of Season 3 again this week, but it has lost its charm for me. Has it been cancelled? Last I heard it was mid-season and on hiatus. So that means I have nothing to watch.

Off to cook now.

2011 that is. Flushed with the success of November NaBloPoMo I have decided to do it again. How rich my life must be.



That is the theme of the month, so I will attempt to mention friends, real and imaginary, each day.

Let's kick of with imaginary friends i.e. I think  of them as my friends and they don't even know I exist: my sporting heroes at Sunderland AFC. After a disappointing Christmas period with two defeats, order was restored today when my boys thrashed Blackburn 3 - 0. Another clean sheet marred only by the fact that my Fantasy Football defender Onuohua was unfit, so I didn't get 3 points there. However, the team did and that moves us up to 6th only 4 points behind Chelsea. Admittedly, we have played 2 more games than them, but one of their games in hand is against Man U and we've already played them twice.

The other good point about this was that all three forwards scored, so my man Darren Bent is back on the goal trail after firing blanks for 5 games. Yee ha. Danny Welbeck got the first and Gyan the third late on. We have the FA cup next week so a little respite and a chance for some players to get fit, although we have held our own with key players missing. Today we were without Turner (long term knee injury) and Lee Cattermole (suspended) yet still held out very well. We are away at Aston Villa midweek, who are sputtering so we could have a chance there. After the cup it's Newcastle at home. This is a key game after the drubbing we took at their place. Mind you that seemed to affect our lads very positively as we went on to thump Chelsea in our next away game. I am sure that Bruce wants to put things right for the fans at home though.

The next home game after that is Chelsea. I would be delighted if we could do the double over them. The other two key home games are Tottenham and Liverpool. Good results there and we have only Man City and Arsenal away that would worry me. Europe here we come? 5 of our last 10 games are against teams in the bottom 6 which have their own pitfalls when teams are desperate for points. However, we are not the old Sunderland who had nothing to play for, or relegation to stave off ourselves. This could be the start of something big!

Here are some silent highlights of the greatest night of football I ever witnessed at the Stadium of Light. 2 goals from Niall Quinn; 2 goals from Kevin Phillips (the first, one of the best goals I have ever seen live) in 1999 against the team that put 7 past us on the first day of that season. Memories are made of this.

I am ignoring Booth's mid-life crisis by returning to his days of wine and roses with a couple of episodes in Season 2. Tomorrow will be the time to post though because this cold means I have to go to bed because the thinky thoughts are fuzzy.

There will be wimmen!!


Oh, here's a couple of icons I made.

         

I guess Booth's not the only one to feel the strain!


In other news Jordan Henderson has been picked for the full England squad. Good lad!!

I shall have to watch the game which is the match choice on Sky Sports at 8.25 but Liverpool 2 Sunderland 2 was littered with controversy. Last season's beachball fiasco pales into insignificance as the first goal scored by Liverpool came from Torres leaping on a ball that Michael Turner was back heeling to our keeper for him to take the free kick from the right place. The referee let the game go on and they scored. Steve Bruce went as far as to call it "unsporting, unfair and not in the rules of the game", but he said nothing that would cause him to be fined for disrespect to the referee.  Apparently the referee, the controversial Stuart Attwell (aged 28), made some poor decisions. Even the BBC man at the game couldn't account for some of his decisions in the second half. For example, he allowed the game to go on while Agger was on the pitch with a blood injury which is not allowed. He added 6 minutes injury time and then wasted time himself running the length of the pitch to book Mignolet for time wasting. Pah! He is well known as a poor referee and I expect he will be demoted for a period in the lower divisions.

Cattermole did not get sent off, Bent scored twice and we apparently played very well. We shall see.

e.t.a. Farcical. I shall now watch Match of the Day to see what all knowing Shearer has to say.

e.t.a. Not only was Shearer incensed but he said Gerrard should have been sent off. Even Alan Hansen (ex-Liverpool) said the goal should not have stood and Sunderland played very well. (!) Dave Bassett on the other hand on Football First said there was nothing wrong because he kicked it from the right place. Well the referee didn't know that because he wasn't looking and his assistant chickened and supported the ref's first choice which was to give it. I don't know why they weren't offside as there were no defenders goalside, but that's probably too erudite for him. Controversial whatever side you're on.

First a new mouse invasion! Currently it was a loner, but I have only had one night and one trap so we'll see what happens tonight. By they're cheeky buggers. I have a humane trap so I don't have to deal with little bodies and so on. When I opened the cupboard where the trap was I saw it had sprung. Shining a torch the creature was pretending to be dead. Or it could have been asleep because its eyes were tight shut. But when I got the trap into clear sight, there it was staring at me with its beady little eyes. Actually it was really cute looking. so I wrapped the trap in the kitchen towel and took it down into the garden and opened the trap door beside the hedge and left it. When I came back from the doctor's the mouse was gone.

Nothing alarming at the doctor's just some blood taken and an ecg which was normal. The blood was fasting blood so I had to go without food and drink from 9 o'clock last night until 10 this morning. That first cup of coffee was nectar I tell you! Had scrambled egg on toast since then and another cup of coffee, Starbuck's Colombian this time.

And the new season's fixtures came out while I was there. Not a bad start: Birmingham at home and West Brom away and a nice no jitters run in at the end. I feel even more optimistic than usual. Boxing Day is Man Utd away so that'll be on the telly as no doubt will the first day fixture between United and the Magpies. Ha ha ha. August 12th here we come. More glorious than usual (grouse shooting season starts on the glorious 12th)

So Argentina are showing their pedigree a bit more at the moment against South Korea, leading 2-0. I think they may have peaked at just the right time after a shocking qualification run. My worship of Messi proves accurate as usual and Maradona seems to be using him correctly now. Of course if things go pear-shaped who knows how the mamager reacts. As I type. Messi has just beaten 5 men on the edge of the box and missed the chip wide. Goalie beaten all ends up. And S Korea have just scored! Shocking defending.

Portugal were disappointing and Ronaldo got the pet lip on. Thanks to Danny Baker here is an unexpected lookalike. I like Danny Baker and the silly yet amusing show he does on Radio 5. Last night somebody noticed a palindromic scoreline: Ned 0 0 Den Good eh?
Anyway here is the lookalike which may not come across thanks to poor choice of images on my part. Still, the pose looks the same.



          Cliff Richard 1962                                           Cristiano Ronaldo 2009

So there we are. Beautiful weather today so the mouse will be getting a suntan. Hope he was the only one in the house.

Frosty wind did indeed make moan.

I am an excellent driver. Rang parents this morning and we arranged an exchange of washing, calendars and food at high noon at the Park and Ride car park in Durham. So out with the trusty broom to clear the snow - 3 days worth - off the car. The snow at the side of the car was up to the top of my boots;  that's 10 inches. A paltry 8 inches on the car itself. Back to incidentally first foot for myself to pick up the parcels and out to attempt to get the 50 yards to the road. Heh heh. Man along the road in VW yesterday? 20 minutes. Sara in Peugeot 206? 90 seconds. I rule.

The snow had already started to fall, but I was out now, so away I went. Roads OK until Iveston where the frosty wind came into play blowing the snow off the fields to make a hazardous 150 yards. Negotiated that safely and then a very picturesque drive to Durham in flurries. Thought: this will be bonny driving back. Got into car park, which hadn't been cleared, with 20 minutes to spare. Exchange safely made I headed back.

Needless to say, things had worsened at Iveston where the road was white and the negotiating lasted for 3/4 of a mile. Decided I might as well do Morrisons while I was out so did a bit of shopping and then tippy-toed down the 3 hills home. I only got stuck when I was trying to park and ended up at a 90 degree angle across the road unable to get the momentum to back in. A car arrived trying to get out of the cul de sac, but I did not panic. I merely changed my mind, drove forward, backed up and let him out before I drove into the parking bay a bit further on and parked in the deep snow. I rule twice!!!

It is now snowing a blizzard AND it is FA cup 3rd round day. The York City bus is apparently stuck on the M62 trying to get to Stoke. Our non-league opponents, Barrow, sensibly travelled yesterday and only had to get from Middlesbrough cos they never would have made it today. I'm just pleased I haven't got a ticket because I wouldn't like to get back here at tea time.

So, the man over the road is clearing his drive. I can't imagine why. There must have been a snow plough out because there is now a single track available on the road - if you can reach it.  Oh, he's move his car so he can get at a different car in the garage. They are strange people, obsessed with vehicles. They own 4 I think and he got rid of his caravette that I don't think they ever used for a holiday.

First , miss_margaret , your card came this morning. It's all sparkly and glittery and lovely on my mantle. Thank you!!! I will have to get my card holder out after all as I have more cards than I expected, so that will be the Christmas decorations done apart from the candles and ornaments that I will get out in the morning.

Went as far as Tesco to get the veggies because it was sub-zero when I got outside and I didn't fancy skating up and down the street in town. Snow obviously has not gone and trekking back and forth to the car to unload my gifts while the windscreen thawed was lovely because the snow was making that crunching sound underfoot. Heee.

It is now snowing the blizzard we were expecting at 3 o.clock. Total whiteout. and the road has disappeared. I can hear the wind gusting too. Goodness me! We haven't had this much snow before Christmas for years that I can recall. I would say two inches already in minutes. Small boys are now ruining it by running about on the grassy bit outside and churning all the snow up. This makes it very difficult to walk across because it will freeze in lumps. Grrr.

I don't know why they can't do it in their own garden. They had already turned it into a mud patch through playing football on it when it was waterlogged. I will complain to their parents if it doesn't recover.

So I hope the lads will be safe coming back from Manchester. We scored three goals and still lost and had another man sent off. It was allegedly Mark Hughes' last game in charge of Manchester City, although that remains unclear. He apparently waved farewell to the crowd anyway. Now Radio 5 are suggesting Roberto Mancini is about to be announced as their new manager. Money, and billions of it, talks. Still 3 goals and no points again is a bit of a blow.

However, not as much as those delivered to Liverpool and Manchester United who both lost too. Portsmouth, who are bottom of the league, saw off Liverpool who barely had a shot and had a man sent off. Meanwhile Man Utd lost 3-0 to Fulham. Ha. Lots of other games off to frozen pitch and snow problems. I wonder if we are going to have a white Christmas?

I have my lamp lit. It looks very classy.