Why was Star Wars not on TV over Christmas?!

Oops! So I only got to day 19 of the advent calendar before my parents arrived for Christmas then it was Scifi baby’s first birthday and finally some friends came to visit for New Years. Crazy but fun ten days and not a lot of time for blogging.

Most of Christmas revolved around baby’s first Christmas but I think I actually managed to find Scifi hubby some cool Christmas presents that were scifi related but he hadn’t seen before. Weirdly I think Batman duct tape was his favourite gift…

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New Years always makes everyone look back over the year and as Scifi baby was only a few days old this time last year a lot has happened in the last 12 months. I spent last New Years Eve watching ‘Star Wars: A New Hope’ in hospital with Scifi baby and chatting to Scifi hubby on Skype. We saw New Year in virtually and Scifi baby slept through it all. We brought Scifi baby home on New Year’s Day. This year I enjoyed a glass (or two) of champagne with Scifi hubby and friends whilst Scifi baby slept through it all upstairs – only waking to scream the house down at precisely midnight!

The year has flown by. We’ve had comic con, a ‘Bat’ism, been burgled and met Kevin Smith. I’ve used my sewing machine more than every before making Scifi baby blankets, Batman cot bedding, Batman tshirts for Scifi hubby, a Superman bean bag and Scifi mum has made Hulk trousers too. Scifi hubby has gained lots statues and even more books, toys and comics. I’ve also worked like crazy, flow over 55,000 miles and been away from home for 40 nights.

2015 looks even busier. We’re already planning the first comic con attendance of the year. We have a geek friend and his much more sane wife visiting in a few weeks. Scifi hubby is counting down to July when Batman Arkham Knight gets released and Scifi baby and I will be going away so he can play in peace. There’s books and statues on preorder and, I’m sure, a whole pile of things I’ve not planned for….

Happy New Year everyone!

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Twelve days of Scifi hubby

Happy New Year everyone and welcome to 2013! I’ll do a post looking forward to what’s coming up in 2013 soon but after silence for a few days I thought I’d fill you in on twelve days away with Scifi hubby in true Christmas style…

    On the first day of Christmas, Scifi hubby got
    An Iron Man power band (his main Christmas present although I think he actually prefered the children’s toy version of the power bands which he also got!),

    On the second day of Christmas, Scifi hubby got
    Two Hitchcock sketches (David Hitchcock is an amazing artist that we are friends with. He gave Scifi hubby two amazing pieces he’d done of Batman with the Penguin and Batman with the Joker. The Penguin piece in particular is beautiful, Batman is fighting Penguin in the Iceberg Lounge surrounded by evil looking penguins),
    And an Iron Man power band.

    On the third day of Christmas, Scifi hubby got
    Three Judge Dredd Case files books (to mention just a few!),
    Two Hitchcock sketches,
    And an Iron Man power band.

    On the fourth day of Christmas, Scifi hubby got
    Four Batman pillow cases (and a kingside Batman duvet cover – thanks Mum!),
    Three Judge Dredd Case files books
    Two Hitchcock sketches,
    And an Iron Man power band.

    On the fifth day of Christmas, Scifi hubby got
    Five bottles of booze (Dad took pity on Scifi hubby and bought enough alcohol for Christmas to be easy),
    Four Batman pillow cases,
    Three Judge Dredd Case files books
    Two Hitchcock sketches,
    And an Iron Man power band.

    On the sixth day of Christmas, Scifi hubby got
    Six jars of mayonnaise (I know this sounds crazy but we can’t get Scifi hubby’s favourite brand of mayonnaise where we live so we’ve come home with six HUGE jars of the stuff),
    Five bottles of booze,
    Four Batman pillow cases,
    Three Judge Dredd Case files books
    Two Hitchcock sketches,
    And an Iron Man power band.

    On the seventh day of Christmas, Scifi hubby got
    Seven hours at the comic shop (We have some wonderful, long suffering friends who run an online comic shop. We went to visit for a couple of hours, stayed until 1am, ate them out of house and home and then spent far too much money on yet more comic books),
    Six jars of mayonnaise ,
    Five bottles of booze,
    Four Batman pillow cases,
    Three Judge Dredd Case files books
    Two Hitchcock sketches,
    And an Iron Man power band.

    On the eighth day of Christmas, Scifi hubby got
    Eight balloon hats (my mother’s idea – a kit for making balloon hats. Some hilarious results and a very scared cat),
    Seven hours at the comic shop,
    Six jars of mayonnaise ,
    Five bottles of booze,
    Four Batman pillow cases,
    Three Judge Dredd Case files books
    Two Hitchcock sketches,
    And an Iron Man power band.

    On the ninth day of Christmas, Scifi hubby got
    Nine lead Batman figures (he’s been collecting one of these 120 part magazines which come with lead DC figures. Unfortunately they won’t post them to our house so they all end up at my mother’s. She stacks them in a great pile in the guest room and we collect them when we can. Thankfully this series has just finished, unfortunately there’s a new series starting on Batmobiles. Shhhh Mum doesn’t know yet…),
    Eight balloon hats,
    Seven hours at the comic shop,
    Six jars of mayonnaise ,
    Five bottles of booze,
    Four Batman pillow cases,
    Three Judge Dredd Case files books
    Two Hitchcock sketches,
    And an Iron Man power band.

    On the tenth day of Christmas,
    Scifi hubby got
    Ten Batman questions (we had a 13 hour drive home and Scifi hubby doesn’t drive so he decided his role was to keep me entertained. Sadly this seemed to mostly involve a Batman quiz app on the iPad which asks ten multiple choice questions about the Batman universe. There’s several problems with this, first, it’s timed so he couldn’t read out the answer options leaving me to guess every time. Second, the app seems to only have about forty questions so over the course of a few hours even I learnt the answers. Third, he felt the need to explain every answer I didn’t know in great detail so I now know the backstory for Joker (the Red Hood), Harley Quinn (a psychiatrist) and Jason Todd (stole the wheels from the Batmobile). Finally it’s Batman so risks making fall asleep anyway!),
    Nine lead Batman figures,
    Eight balloon hats,
    Seven hours at the comic shop,
    Six jars of mayonnaise ,
    Five bottles of booze,
    Four Batman pillow cases,
    Three Judge Dredd Case files books
    Two Hitchcock sketches,
    And an Iron Man power band.

    On the eleventh day of Christmas,
    Scifi hubby got
    (One hundred and ) Eleven Hot Wheels cars (Scifi hubby’s mother has a lot to answer for – she used to buy him a toy car every time they went food shopping. Somehow this has become a Hot Wheel car whenever we go into a supermarket, and this holiday got he got a little out of control!),
    Ten Batman questions,
    Nine lead Batman figures,
    Eight balloon hats,
    Seven hours at the comic shop,
    Six jars of mayonnaise ,
    Five bottles of booze,
    Four Batman pillow cases,
    Three Judge Dredd Case files books
    Two Hitchcock sketches,
    And an Iron Man power band.

    On the twelfth day of Christmas,
    Scifi hubby got
    Driven Twelve hundred miles (hmmm maybe an massive underestimate but it fits the lyrics and I’m fed up with this song now I don’t know about you!),
    (One hundred and ) Eleven Hot Wheels cars,
    Ten Batman questions,
    Nine lead Batman figures,
    Eight balloon hats,
    Seven hours at the comic shop,
    Six jars of mayonnaise ,
    Five bottles of booze,
    Four Batman pillow cases,
    Three Judge Dredd Case files books
    Two Hitchcock sketches,
    And an Iron Man power band!

Now he’s just got to work out where to put everything…

Happy New Year!

20130104-211053.jpgDay two, part one

20130104-211132.jpgDay two, part two

20130104-211206.jpgDays one and ten

20130104-211244.jpg111 Hot Wheels cars

So what is Scifi hubby getting for Christmas?

I think Scifi hubby is hoping I might post what he’s getting for Christmas but he will just have to wait and see. We’re on a grown ups only Christmas so, despite the fact that its nearly lunchtime the presents are still under the tree – to be fair to everyone else this is mainly because Scifi hubby has only just emerged from under the duvet…

So instead of today’s presents I thought I’d tell you about Christmas from a few years ago…

Scifi hubby had seen a huge Batman statue based on Simon Bisley’s artwork that he saw online, bought and then told me it was my Christmas gift to him. It arrived a couple of weeks before Christmas and he laughed as I hid it away as, of course, he knew exactly what it was.

Simon ‘Biz’ Bisley is a hugely famous comic artist who we happened to make friends with a few years ago. What Scifi hubby didn’t know that Christmas was that I had contacted Simon and asked if he would sign the statue. I used to drive past Simon’s house every day on my way home from work so we agreed that I would stop by one evening and get the statue signed. Simon is one of the most disorganized people I know so I suggested that I could bring a blank Christmas card with me so he could send a card to Scifi hubby too.

I bundled the statue into the boot of the car and took it to work. Then followed a ridiculous week of actually trying to get hold of Biz whilst stopping Scifi hubby realizing the statue was in the car. Finally on Christmas eve Biz answered the phone and said he’d be at home if I came round. When I arrived his wife gave me a cup of tea and some Christmas cake whilst Simon nattered away and sketched on the base of the statue. He also produced a sketch he done that day of him and Scifi hubby dressed as Lobo and Batman (below). I couldn’t believe it. I’m not sure any Christmas present will ever top a sketch by your hero of you.

On Christmas morning all the presents were under the tree and Scifi hubby opened them all except the Bisley statue. The line “I know what it is so what’s the point” was heard until I actually had to threaten him to make him open it. I then had to get him to open the box itself which he really didn’t see the point of. Finally the penny dropped. His face as he realised that Simon had signed it was worth all the effort.

Slowly he worked out that meant I had seen Simon so I got quizzed to death. The icing on the cake was the final present I had hidden. He couldn’t believe his eyes when he saw that. I’m not sure what I can ever get him for Christmas that will top that, although he’s still not forgiven me for having tea and Christmas cake with Biz with out him.

Unfortunately I don’t think I can pull the same rabbit out of a hat twice but fingers crossed Santa brings him some nice presents to make up for it.

Happy Christmas everyone!

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Away in a (plastic Playmobil) manger

We’ve been putting the Christmas decorations up today and in the midst of it all I found the nativity scene. Christmas is a classic example of how toys are taking over our world – although I must say this is one time of year when I actually love it.

Many years ago, for our first Christmas together we bought a tree, decorations and an angel. To be honest the tree was so small I think it was still wishing to be a Christmas tree when it grew up and, like lots of things that we bought in our early days, the angel was far too big. Somewhere I’ve got photos of this tiny tree with a huge angel balancing on the top like one of those bobble head toys.

We’re not putting a tree up this year so the accumulated toys/decorations (the entire Muppet ensemble, Jack Skeleton, Shrek, Donkey, Batmobile on ribbon, glass Santa on a motorbike, aliens etc) will have to stay in their boxes for another year. There’s a blog post there for next year…

I also insisted that we bought a nativity scene that first Christmas. I was looking at graceful wooden ones like my parents had when Scifi hubby appeared with a plastic Playmobil set. Somehow I let myself be persuaded that this was a great idea so for the last 13 years out comes the Playmobil and cue the predictable jokes about the camel shagging the donkey.

I’m still amazed that Scifi hubby hasn’t corrupted it yet and had some fun like these people clearly have with their nativity scenes…

20121216-205957.jpg Our nativity scene

20121216-210042.jpgScifi hubby hasn’t considered adding a dinosaur – yet…

20121216-210115.jpgOr adding Batman and Star Trek toys…

20121216-210149.jpgOr a full Star Wars theme…

20121216-210221.jpgAnd ‘shhhh’ please don’t tell him about this – even I draw the line at a bacon and sausage nativity!

I’m leaving Scifi hubby… for a week

I’m travelling to the US for a few days for work so Scifi hubby is going to be home alone. I actually travel quite a lot but not usually quite so close to Christmas. This is a dangerous time of year to leave him alone as there are sales in all the shops and a string of emails advertising discounts at most of the online bookshops.

So the big question is will I get home to find:

    A. A spotlessly clean house, the cat brushed and purring on the sofa, dinner cooked and waiting for me and the Christmas presents all wrapped?
    B. A depression on the sofa from where he has spent the whole week, pizza boxes in the kitchen and a new high score in Call of Duty?
    C. The credit card maxed out, a huge pile of cardboard from parcels and a small army of new Batman toys (alright then “collectibles”) and books/comics?

20121206-072018.jpg Scifi hubby home alone?!

What do you want for Christmas?

I dread this question every year. My birthday and our wedding anniversary are quite close to Christmas too so it suddenly seems to be the question everyone is asking. I love the fact that family and friends want to buy pressies but I honestly don’t know what I want. I want them to surprise me with something perfect that I REALLY want but that I don’t know I want and certainly not something for the house or practical, unless of course that’s what I want and don’t know about… I’m not easy am I?

Scifi Hubby on the other hand has an endless list. So much so that people spend a lot of time trying to buy him something surprising that’s not on it! There’s been some great gifts over the years:

    The Batman snow globe based on the 1990s cartoon series which gave us problems as it has too much liquid to put in hand luggage but was too fragile to put in the hold.
    The ‘Profanasaurus’ which had Scifi hubby giggling like a 13 year old over Christmas dinner and made my mother keep asking him to read out why he was giggling – some words parents should just not know (just like they only ever had sex twice – once to conceive me, and once for my brother).
    A Skelton Pear Jam Tshirt which I got him for our first Christmas and he still has years later although its become PJs now.
    Signed Simon Bisley statue – more on this later…

We really don’t need presents. We go to see people at Christmas because we love seeing them not because of the cool things we take home with us. However if you really feel the need to buy presents then here’s some top tips for 2012:

    Scifi hubby’s Amazon wish list is up to date. And yes he really does want a whole series of comic books. Actually (Mum take note) it’s a route to a very quiet Christmas as, combined with some Southern Comfort, he will sit in the corner and read them quite happily…
    Don’t try buying Scifi hubby ‘clever household’ scifi presents. I’ve got a house full of lightsabre chop sticks, Batman bedding, superhero coasters, Superman bathmats etc (many of which were gifts and I love them, we just don’t need any more).
    Don’t bother with Star Wars – trust me he will have it already.
    Don’t forget dinosaurs – Scifi hubby is really a five year old so loves dinos.
    I’ve now got an up to date Amazon list too but don’t buy things from it as they are almost always cheaper elsewhere.
    Everyone will think that all the Mr Potato heads on my Amazon list are a mistake, they’re not. I actually quite like them and have a growing collection (maybe I’m becoming a secret geek?)
    If you see something and it makes you think of me then that is what to get me. Don’t ask me if I’d like it (just keep the receipt in case I don’t!).
    I’m starting a diet in January (I know, again). So please don’t buy me a tonne of chocolate.
    NO MORE MUGS.

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