I had the best week ever.  Before Luke left for Alberta, he bought me a laptop and an external hard drive.  I accidentally called it an eternal hard drive, which I like a lot better.  It sounds so much more hopeful.

After that field day, I received an e mail from Tami Williams, the host of Shaw Cable channel 11 here in Kelowna, saying they wanted to film me baking.  She and her nice cameraman, Greg, arrived promptly at 10:00 last Thursday, December 8th. 

They were here for perhaps ten minutes when Tami exclaimed that she loved me so much, and this love fest pretty well continued unabated for the next two hours.  I think what she found particularly wonderful was the fact that she discovered we both suffer from potty mouth.

We were both in hysterics for large parts of the shoot, which hopefully to God will appear funny to the viewer.  At one point I said, “Now for the sticky hell of the fruit” to which Greg said, “Can we please think of a word other than hell?”

All three of us stood there for a few seconds, brainstorming words, but nothing appropriate was found.  I can’t remember what we eventually went with, but I must say I’m looking forward to seeing what kind of fool I’ve made of myself this time.

Tami said they now have a total of about 45 minutes’ worth of footage for the Shaw Cable information channel.  So I’ll be looping with several other stories, each hour, for the week before Christmas.  Don’t laugh, but you’d be amazed at the number of people who watch that, and who’ll race into the stores begging for fruitcake.

And here’s a surprise, Nicky’s one of the people who watches the info channel on Shaw!  I told him Tami was coming, and he actually knew her.  I told Tami, and she was thrilled, and said, “My one fan!” and wrote a note to him with her lipstick on the mirror in his bathroom.  Adorable, or what?

You’ll find this very hard to believe, but in the midst of all the baking and bark-making mayhem, I’ve managed to chip away at Christmas-related matters as well.  On the weekend I made a few batches of cookies, and wrapped gifts.  I packaged the gifts to be mailed or shipped by Greyhound, and off they went this morning.  Hurray!

I bought the tree on the weekend, and got it home in the Honda.  You have no idea the amount of needles I had to vacuum out of that little trunk afterwards.  I’m pretty sure that tree was cut sometime during the summer.  Anyway, what’s left of it is now all nicely decorated.

Due to working day and night like an indentured servant, I’m very happy to report I’ve been able to shed a couple of unsightly pounds of flab.  I need to, as on December 24 I’m going to be like a hungry shark let loose in a tank full of boogie-board riding politicians.

There are now 12 days left, and with any luck my supply of fruitcakes will hold out.  I’m still making bark daily, as several people who just ordered, have re-ordered!  I think there’s something deadly about the sugar-coated almonds in the soft, tempered chocolate, and mixed with the sun-dried cherries.  You see why I need to lose weight, don’t you?