playminxie's Profile

Normally when something British is preferred over American, I agree with a nod and a benevolent smile. But in this case you are selling yourself short - I've been a G&T lover for years and my favourite gin to use is Rogue Brewery's spruce gin. It has a beautiful smooth taste and its flavours still come across clearly through the bitterness of tonic.

I come from a family where Christmas was never a big event. On the flipside, for my husband it's huge and since we will have a couple of months old baby and both sets of grandparents with us this year, I expect he will go a bit overboard.

We have already agreed that once the little one's a bit more aware of what Christmas is all about, we will teach him the meaning behind it and keep ourselves disciplined regarding the volume of presents, and will have a list for the rest of the family to pick from.

I will have to steal the want/need/wear/read though :)

We are due our first baby in a couple of months and it is staggering what some baby sites consider essential when you Google for advice.
I agree - each baby is different, so we haven't turned down any hand-me-downs yet but I will be quick to pass things on if they don't work after a few tries.
We also wanted to stay disciplined with stuff since we drive a small car that we love and plan to do road trips in, small child in tow, making us more stubborn about clutter control since most people's advice seems to be "get a bigger car".

I have two cats, an open plan living/kitchen area and work 9 hours a day - how do you train them NOT to jump up on the kitchen surface in my absence?

Cats are cats, they do whatever they want and then cuddle up to you to make you forget about their cheekiness. That's why we have them as pets :)

Our cats love the heat emanating from our respective laptops but the more annoying habit one of them has is rubbing his eyes all over the corners. Kitty eye goo all around - gross.

I paid for Cal Closets to do our 3' and 5' reach-ins and have moved into a house since that has 2 custom fitted closets in the master bedroom. I don't have that many clothes but even so with a custom closet they are kept in a much better condition because there is space to properly store them, be they folded or hanging. In a simple closet with the builder's basic wire shelf all our clothes just looked like the dog's dinner. Sweater avalanches anyone?

No regrets for paying the money and to be honest, CC were cheaper than I expected.

Our two cats sleep with us, one of them under the covers at some point every night. I had every intention of NOT allowing them on the bed when we got them, but that lasted all of one night.
They are no longer allowed in the bedroom during the day but when it's around bedtime he practically orders us to go to bed. Sometimes it's fun in the morning to see who's harder to get out of bed - my husband or the cats. They all give me the stinkeye...

We have a Nespresso machine (our second one). In the past I was very quick to poo-poo coffee out of pods, but now I'm a convert to this particular brand.
Having said that, a really well made coffee from a proper espresso machine would still win for me. But I can't beat the convenience for my before work cup of coffee, especially with the milk frother.

I dislike the trend for mismatched china. It offends my sensibilities :)
I went for a more mainstream collection and only got place settings for 6 people. Denby White FTW! I got about half my stuff as wedding presents, I've been adding to it ever since as and when I had money. But I only get stuff I know will be used. We're not tea drinkers so why bother with a teapot?
Then again, I'm probably no longer a "young person" in Debenham's eyes...

I love the Paul Smith rug! It's a 'one day...' purchase for me - mainly due to lack of funds but also because of two destructive Burmese.