So today I got a massive craving for cheesecake, but I didn’t want to have to walk half an hour to the supermarket to go buy it. Not being swayed by my laziness, I looked online for a simple cheesecake recipe; I mean how hard could it be?

The answer to that is not very, all it entails is cream cheese, double cream, sugar, digestive biscuits and butter. Realising that I had most of these ingredients in my cupboards, I decided to make my own.

I got the base down really easily, it was simple because of my fantabulous blender, and it was all ready for the cheesy creamy filling. But no matter how much I mixed (I even called in the troops to come mix when my wrist started to hurt) it still wasn’t becoming the nice smooth substance that I needed.

Despite this I still poured the goop over the base and put it in the fridge to set. I will admit I am absolutely dreading tasting it, however it will probably satisfy my cheesecake craving if it is especially disgusting. But you never know, it could turn out to be awesome…yeah, I’m not buying that either.

Pictures will be up tomorrow of my first ever attempt at cheesecake.

The site is going through some superficial changes at the moment, to make links prettier etc. So I’m sorry if you get caught up in my trial and error html-ing (my web designer should be tucked up in bed right now, and she’d be able to do this 10x faster and with much less ‘oh crap how did that get there’).

Although it will be worth it in the long run!

When it comes round to Christmas/birthday time, people are always asking you what you would like to receive. It’s like being on a gameshow where they give you 1 minute to decide what you would really like to receive. If you can’t decide within that time then you get the booby prize…a £10 gift card to WHSmith.

But in the run up to Christmas there are millions of adverts, on TV and in the shops, showing the perfect gift for you. Yet it completely leaves your brain when you are asked what you would like. This is why lists are a very good thing.

With a list you can just whip it out when the situation calls for it, and confuse your loved one by making them choose what to buy you. Hence you are the creator of an evil game where they have to either a) ring up other relatives and organise who buys what, or b) they have to just randomly buy from the list, and hope nobody else gets you the same gift as them. It makes present unwrapping even more tense for those who go for option b *evil cackles*

But every year I make these lists, whether internal or external, of all the items that I could possibly want for Christmas (whilst still keeping them within a certain budget). These are usually things like the complete series of Angel on DVD or a New England Patriots’ Jersey, i.e. items which I am not likely to buy for myself throughout the year.

However I get these little fleeting thoughts all year round of items which would be useful to me, but since they are fleeting thoughts then I always forget to buy them (and hence are not items I would buy myself). But since my birthday and Christmas are so close together, I’ve got no chance of getting them anytime soon; plus if I asked for these items then my loved ones would laugh as if it was some big joke, and I’d end up with that gift voucher all the same.

You see all I want for Christmas (no, not my two front teeth this time!) are a back scratcher and a nail file. Not too much to ask is it?

I want a back scratcher that even though it leaves your back feeling like it should be bleeding, it’s still been satisfyingly scratched. If it could come with a holster too, so that I could satisfy my scratching urges whilst on the move, then that would be perfect.

And a simple cheap nail file…if you can’t get a single one then I’ll take a pack of three…I’m not fussy. I just need to stop my nails from becoming so squiffy that I fear putting on tights in case my nail gets ripped off in the process.

So anytime anyone wants to buy me a gift in the next few years then please think of back scratchers and nail files. Even though I say I want a Nintendo Wii with Motion Plus and Wii Fit…I really do just want Superdrug’s finest nail file.

There is the one thing that I am really craving at the moment; a proper night of sleep. I’ve listed all the things that could be/are probably causing me to resist the sandman’s charms…and although some are fairly decent presumptions, others are…well…you’ll see.

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1. Time Zone – Since getting back from the US I managed to sort out my sleeping pattern, right before it decided to go all caflooey on me and leave me sat up at 5am wondering where all the night time went.

2. Stress – This could be from any random part of my life, since I never really register that I am taking on too much at once. Yet all I have at the moment is my work for Uni…and my lack of sleep is fuelling my writing right now…so not necessarily worrying.

3. Lack of Exercise – I’ll be the first to admit that I am lazy as hell…yet this week I haven’t had the energy to even feel human let alone go for a nice relaxing jog. Still waiting for my Wii to come back in stock…still waiting…

4. Illness – It’s always suggested to me that I could be coming down with something…which in itself is a distinct possibility. HOWEVER I am normally carrying some sort of illness, and am usually coming down with something (hey, I managed to get 3 viruses one on top of the other alright!)…and it doesn’t usually affect my sleeping.

5. Heat – The boys in my house have a tendency to turn on the heating but not turn it off. This does not suit me at all, mostly because I like my sheets to be cool when I get into them (kinda hard when you sleep in the same bed as someone else, and they’ve been going to bed before you all week long). Which leads me onto…

6. Waffle’s Darn Computer – This thing gives off heat like you would not believe, and has a huge fan that sounds like an airplane taking off in the bedroom. I just wish that the cruel people who suggested that fan to him had thought of me in the process…

7. Alcohol – Could this be stopping me from sleeping? Most of the time alcohol makes me drowsy, give me a few beers when I’m already ready for bed and my head will hit the pillow within seconds. Yet despite enjoying a beverage or two with my meal, it seems to now not be having the desired effect. (And yes I do know that alcohol isn’t recommended for insomniacs…but hey, no one is keeping me away from my raspberry cider!)

8. Fireplace – In my bedroom there is a sealed up fireplace that seems to still be connected to the chimney. So on a particularly windy night, the innocent gushes of wind get enticed into our chimney, with no means of escape. It howls and wails as it tries to get free…not ideal sleeping conditions believe me.

9. Paranoia – Okay so this is a new one for me. Never have I ever started panicking about whether my bladder is too full for sleep…until now…what…the…hell… It seems that in my head I’ve been so preoccupied with getting to sleep and nothing interrupting it once it has happened, that I’m paranoid about what level my bladder is at. Geez! Isn’t that like the best thing in the world to be thinking about right when you’re going to bed? Eh hem…doubtful.

10. The Point of Sleep is… – So this one only shows up once time creeps its way past 4.30am. “There’s no point in going to sleep now is there? It’s almost time to get up…no point in wasting your time on useless sleep.” = My sleep deprived brain craving attention.

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So that’s a nice 10 reasons why I may not be able to sleep. It’s been good to waste 20 minutes doing this, instead of twiddling my toes and thinking up dance routines involving singing frogs for ‘Kiss the Girl’…(note to self: need to find better songs on my iTunes). Tomorrow night if I can’t sleep, I’m doing my uni work, and will clean my house…might as well become properly integrated into my waking hours…and put them to proper use.

Okay since I’m bored and all hyped up I was going to upload the rest of the New York photos, and include what we did before getting on the plane home…however technology doesn’t seem to be on my side.

My phone USB cable has decided to go for a walk, and didn’t leave me a note telling me where it was going. I have a feeling that it could have told Waffle where it was meandering off to, yet Waffle is dead to the world (what with it being almost 3am), so it shall have to wait until tomorrow.

Yet for the moment I can tell you what I’ve been up to in the last few days. To be honest, it’s been mostly sleeping, suffering from jet lag and avoiding the ice in the outside world.

I got a surprise on returning to my house…don’t worry it was a good surprise…my housemate Adam was back from Nottingham! After jump hugging him…he informed me that my food shopping had arrived early. And Adam being the amazing guy that he is, didn’t question why ASDA were giving him food, he just put it away for me. Not many housemates would do that for you!

Don’t get me wrong, it was an amazing holiday, and I am very grateful to Edmund for taking me on this once in a lifetime trip for my 21st birthday…it’s just so damn good to be home with my friends.

We’ve had many laughs in the past few days about ‘froufrou’ chocolates (i.e. any chocolates that have a key to go with them are just too posh for Adam or Joe to comprehend)…smuggling pain killers that shouldn’t be taken by alcoholics into the country…and we’re also planning an English outing for my birthday, Christmas and New Year sometime this week…I’m sure much fun will be had by all.