"That looks pretty good on you darling... it kind of holds in all the.. er... loose.. er ... bits..."

Yup.

I takes my compliments anyway I can get them these days. Squeezed into a wetsuit that almost takes my breath away... (Plus I quite possibly worked off a few hundred kilojoules just in the sheer physical effort of getting it on. Thus is the nature of wetsuits when you have a figure like mine.)

Ms 14 and Ms 12 and I have been op-shop shopping for wetsuits so that we can go canyoning next week. (Like this... ) Since last year's aborted canyoning attempt Alison has grown out of the wetsuit she was going to wear; we're not in a position to borrow one that Cait borrowed last year; and my old one (that I really had to squeeeeeeze myself into anyway, but which does actually fit Cait) has blown a seam somewhere in the vicinity of one's gluteus maximus.

Why do we need wetsuits? Well the water in the creeks in these canyons is BLOODY FREEZING! The ends (and the journey), though, are so worth the means. But I guess you'll just have to take me at my word on that.

So anyway.. the luck?

Ups and downs, first, with repairing the torn wetsuit. On Monday I dropped it in to an alteration shop , and they said it could be done by this afternoon. $20. Fair enough and Phew...! Marc had been getting antsy about how late I had left it to sort out the wetsuit issues. (Never mind that Christmas shopping kind of gets in the way of stuff like that!!)

Today I scheduled my trip to town for the afternoon, so that I could pick up the wetsuit. Around 11am I get a phone call. It can't be done (boss lady who does the wetsuit repairs is not in - sick.) Oh Damn! It's either bodgy repairs by me, tonight.. or wetsuit shopping x 3 not x 2. No stress there. (And not much eyerolling by Himself... *snorts*)

Lady Luck then decided to take some notice and sprinkle a bit of stardust my way.

As we got out of the car at the shops, I grabbed one of my 'environmental' shopping bags. What the heck is that in it? OOOH! My lost cycling glasses clear lens - in its little bag!!! Once again proving two personal hypotheses of ours in regard to lost items. The first is 'It's always in the first place you looked'. (And the second - and more my M.O. than his) is "It'll turn up. I hope!" You know when you have a leaden feeling inside you.. niggling and gnawing away at you? Well, I've had that for a few weeks now over this lost lens.. so this find today is uplifting.

Eldest two daughters were made to make the decision re their cousins' xmas 'gifts' (so we got vouchers from a computer game store.) And they decided on the type of chocolates for their grandmother and aunty. Tick more stuff off the shopping list.

And the op shop amateur hit pay dirt for once by finding one wetsuit (a Rip Curl one no less) for 10 bucks! - the one I have squeezed into in that pic. And then two more for the other two for $25 each. Bargain! Cait's is short legged/singlet style, and a bit gapey, but she can also wear the wetset top we found in a 'freebie bin' in someone's front garden last week! She and I did try a swap when we got home, but hers - actually being the one that elicited my darling husband's comment - was so firm around my middle it made me feel slightly sick. This other one requires assistance to get into, but at least I can breathe in it! And I don't have to do any last minute bodgy sewing tonight.

And we are putting in a bit of a prayer to Lady Luck... After Alison's gashed hand last year, we are naturally a bit worried that something similar might happen again. So yesterday she goes for a rare ride on her bike, and comes back bleeding! Lost control riding down a grassed lane and careered into a raggedy thicket of bamboo. Limps home sporting a bit of a punctured arm (from which Marc had to tweezer out a bit of bamboo.) We hope this is her traditional January 'fall' out of the way - so that all we have to contend with now, canyoning-wise, is the weather.

My back has been a lot better today, although hauling myself in and out of a wetsuit - twice - has put some strain on it. (Go figure!) My knee has not twinged, and my ankle has not jabbed. A positive trend in any case.

So, I am in a slightly better mood this afternoon than I was 24 hours ago. I've cleared the 'runway' in the kitchen, and written packing lists for everyone. Yesterday I was struggling to imagine being packed by late morning Thursday ... right now I feel like it can be done, and without too many tears.

So, we are off tomorrow. I may or may not manage to log in on Marc's laptop when we are away - but I probably should prove that I can live without blogging for a week and a bit!

Wish me luck! And I hope to be able to tell you all (three or four of you anyway!) about our canyoning.

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