Happy new year to all the joyous, vital people reading this. l wish you all an exciting year 2024, may its challenges which always come, be taken with the silver lining they have, and may the excitement of every moment drive you into doing what is best for you, and affecting positively everyone around you.
And when good things happen, l want to hear you from here, clapping your hands with joy and gratitude! (well, it isn't an obligation, you can do it in your head if you want to do it at all, it will count!)
l hope you did have a rest during the festive period and were not overly affected by the high winds and torrential rains we have had. l have had a lovely restful period, not doing markets a week before Christmas allowed me to set up a beautiful tree from my landlords who sells Christmas trees (with excellent wheelbarrow delivery service: he even put it up in a hollowed log for me!) l was able to just do what l wanted to do, go around giving the last chocolate boxes presents and enjoying getting ready for a deserved rest. New Years was spent with Barry and so was the Solstice which we celebrated and used as the day for presents opening, going to a delicious French restaurant in Ludlow after going to the spa for a sauna and a steam. On Christmas day, my landlords were out so l was able to be with my tree, by the fire, able to make as much noise as l wanted, and do silly things. It was great fun and is my favourite way of spending Christmas. l enjoy my own company, you can call me selfish if you like, but l enjoyed thinking of everyone opening their Christmas chocolate boxes and presents! (and l thought of my family in France opening their box) My landlady invited me for dinner on Boxing day so l got to enjoy their company which was very nice. And now... it is time to get the chocolates sales on! l have a few news for this coming year. First of all, what you are all waiting for, the sales of the (very few) leftover Solstice boxes of chocolates, Apostles and Festive prunes, which were very popular and l thank all of you who were able to purchase some, for your customs, as well as thanking everybody else, whatever the amount of your order was. Thank you for enjoying the Continuum Conceits chocolate! Secondly, there are a couple of new products, which l made using the ganaches of the assortments: the frogs, and the Ma's bars (Barry's name for those kind of moulded bars! it was not my idea) .
l let you read about them on the product pages which l spent all morning setting up and l am now exhausted writing about them.
The frogs!!!
Other news: l have at last, decided to stop posting on my instagram business account and what a relief this is.
WARNING: RANT ALERT. Please do not read below if you have a sensitive mind. l know that when l post a blog on this very good wesbite, there are many of you who come and look at the blog, and it makes me very happy. Regardless of whether you read it all, or not. On Instagram, and l have given this account way enough time for it to build, and despite the very popular Observer's reviews, the posts struggle to get 20 "likes" and some sometimes only get 10. My favourite posts, about all sorts of conspiracies which l enjoy tickling the "woke/sheep-like" audience of Instagram with, get even less "likes". Now, it matters to me that freedom of expression is available (which the woman who is in charge of the EU wants to ban) (Van-something, that woman with the brushing who seem a bit like a Hitler without the moustache) and that we are able on our nanny-platform accounts, to voice our views on the world affairs, and health affairs, whatever they are, even if they are "pulled by the hair" ("Tiré par les cheveux" as we say in France) and unlikely to be true. Whether you are concerned about the WEF, Bill Gates GMO cultivars and lab-grown meats, chem-trails, injections, or climate boilings, we should be able to talk about it without getting abuse, but what l found with my instagram account, all l got was "nobody is here". All l got was.. indifference.. l wasn't even getting any abuse, except for Instagram deleting some of my posts and comments "for not following the community guidelines dictated by people who have not been elected, ie, globalists who want us to think only in a certain way" lf l post about chocolate, suddenly l get people waking up: "Oh, Continuum Conceits is posting about chocolates? l will give it a like", so l may be lucky and get 18 likes. And there are all the scrollers, those people who just spend their time scrolling which shows as on "post insight " as "257 accounts Reached". One of those scrollers is my dear old friend in London l used to live with who gets a free chocolate box every year, who just scroll on instagram, tells me he has scrolled and seen my posts, but never makes the effort to encourage by 'liking' any post. (Hum? Could you perhaps... give it a like? No? Oh, ok then, here is your free chocolates anyway because l am very grateful of what you did for me in 2003...l do love you lots!) The thing which really triggers me about Instagram, is, as some of you will know, the race for "popularity": it feels humiliating (yes, l will go that far) to have a very unpopular counts of "likes" on the posts, particularly for a business. It feels like being back at school, being the one who didn't belong with any group of pupils, and often mocked at for "looking" or "acting different". The "Billy-No-Friends". l know about this very well. Maybe you do. There are quite a lot of us l find, who talk about school days with the dread of "not belonging". Some of us are lucky not to fit in large groups, we develop ourselves differently. It does have a silver lining when growing up; however, in my case, the "rebel" is always there, at the back of the mind, waiting to "not-fit" with people generally. Always asking questions of the tendency of the "crowd" is to go a certain way. l had a word with a very talented lady on Instagram whom l asked to do a commission of one of her amazing crystal pendants for a friend ("@Madewithpassionjewellery"and l noticed how her posts were only getting 1 like, 2 likes, and often, 0 likes. So l started "liking" her posts just to help her look more popular, and posting comments so to get her viewers a bit less "shy". She told me how she disliked Instagram's race for popularity also but felt obliged to post on there to show her artwork, and she actually said "Instagram is really rubbish, you have to literally WHORE yourself on camera to get anyone to see anything... Not my style but l have to do it as people like to see the jewelry worn". l have 'liked' her posts regularly several times a day now for a good month, and l have noticed she is getting more comments, and more spontaneous "likes". Who wants to be the first one to like an "unpopular" looking post? Nobody! Oh, humans!!! Is it that tiresome if you enjoy someone's photo or post, to give it a like? (l do recommend her jewellery, she is really talented) So, after my last post on instagram which was a re-post of an article about Google going to test new censorships on all its platforms before the USA elections of 2024 (so the candidate they dislike gets no publicity or only gets negative publicity, whatever they are planning to do) gets only 4 likes, l got very very peeved inside. Really, really really peeved. l started saying inimaginable things at all those ghost-like people who spend all their days on instagram, posting pictures of their latest handbags, their dinners, their cats, or photos of themselves showing bums, cleavages, lipstick or muscles, (usually with sunglasses on) and thought to myself "THIS IS IT. l am stopping posting on here, it will give me a holiday, and free me from this feeling of feeling l am not being heard, and that nobody is interested in joining the Resistance." So, l posted one last post about the Resistance during WW2 where l explained that the resistants in France under Vichy were not at all liked by the general population, just like the "conspiracists" today are laughed at, mocked, bullied, particularly by mainstream media and their work-mates/families (and the nanny platforms who are still trying to censor, despite it being "all made up rubbish", because they are scared the general public who doesn't look further than what the tele tells them, may suddenly start thinking for themselves and asking questions!!). Of course, with time, many facts the conspiracists were talking about years before, are shamelessly being accepted as truth in certain mainstream media newspapers or channels, today. Without any apology to the ones who first divulged this "misinformation" which is now accepted as "true information", but were coerced by the same media, then. So, l am DONE with Instagram. Hooray!!! As you know, l do not and will not lower myself to having a Facebook account (which when l was on it with my fake personal accounts,[l didn't want to be seen on there] felt even worse than Instagram: l felt obliged to be on there to keep in touch with some old friends who aren't anywhere else but eventually thought if those friends couldn't be bothered replying to my emails, then, they were no friends at all so what was the point of staying on there? Other than making Mark Suckerberg look popular? This was good riddance!!). After this good decision, l told myself "l am going to spend more energy on my website blog, on organising chocolate ideas, and stop worrying about having to post regular pictures on my instagram account to try and look like the latest fashionista chocolatier who is desperate for comments." l also have my Continuum Conceits youtube channel where l enjoy myself with the chocolate, (or with flood videos like the other day!) or what happens in the kitchen, and that, l do not suffer from the "social media insecurity syndrome" that Instagram gives me. It doesn't matter on youtube if nobody watches the videos, on the opposite, they are mainly for fun, and l learn to speak and practice being in front of a camera which is good fun. If nobody watches them, it means l can really be silly and l love that. As l know l don't need to worry on this blog, about looking popular or not, since the chocolate is appreciated by you who is reading all the way up to here - and as l keep warning you, you do not have to read my ranty blogs. It makes me happy to express myself, and l know you are all very discerning on here. You have more than 2p worth of brain cells. (l have about 3p worth, my 1p extra is l don't post pictures with designer sunglasses on so nobody can see how red my eyes are from the cocaine habit) l will do my best not to rant any more this year on this blog but just bring you news of fluffy rabbits and tasty chocolates products. (it isn't a promise... but l will do my best...) As l keep telling myself: what we focus on grows, so personally, all l want to focus on, now l got rid of this bad-friend of instagram, is the joy of the present moment, feeling elevated emotions, feeling the gratitude for all your positive thoughts and the positive thoughts you will have towards other people, and yourselves , in your lives. l keep seeing the Earth beautiful.. Nature, vibrant, cleansing itself in the most miraculous way, with the help of humans and may those of us who are very clever with inventions get heard about their free-energy which the whole world could have, without pollution, without needing batteries, and all the possible ways we have to live in relative wellbeing, without costing so much on the Earth, while spreading kindness and joy around us. This earth is there... and once the Resistance needs to be no more, l look forward to the best years the human civilisation can share with itself and the world, and possibly with other lives we cannot perceive, yet. Happy new year, 2024. And beyond!! Alexandra PS: l apologise about my mis-use of the "..." or the '...'. l know one is the quote a person says, and one is another meaning, but l can never bother to remember which is which so l just use them in any irrational-looking way, to the great peeving of those literary people who understand the use of the different brackets. In French, the brackets are lower to show it is a conversation << they look a bit like that>> unless l am confusing this as well... Anyone who has a quick way to differentiate the 2 is welcome to post in the comments and l will do my best to remember it. It would be best not to be peeving due to lack of education with brackets. Thanks in advance. PPS: l am sharing the news with you that l am embarking on a 4 year homeopathy course with my very good classical homeopath Christopher Jacob - l joined his free introduction course which he is doing this month again (if you are interested), and it was so fascinating, it makes so much sense... that as well as following his treatments, l am helping myself by learning about homeopathy. It is so so fascinating, particularly with Christopher. Right now, l am hunting for "Guiding symptoms of Our Materia Medica, " by Constantine Hering, if anyone has the set, and yuo don't need it, l would be happy to purchase it from you. To have a day a week of study will force me to be more organised about the chocolate business, and l am already enjoying this in advance. l can tell you it was very challenging to have one day a week where l had 2h course in the middle of the day, during October, November and December! One days work lost, which meant l was forced to organise more efficiently, which l was very much needing to practice!...