Thursday, December 25, 2008
Season's Greetings.
Monday, December 22, 2008
They tell me it's nearly Christmas
In a reckless spurt of Yuletide enthusiasm, some days ago, I began the procedure for my mini christmas cakes - one of the few really Christmassy things that I do.
The ingredients have been sitting on the bench - like so - for more than a week now. (Covered of course) As usual I have it all a*** about. You are supposed to soak the fruit and nuts in brandy overnight, and then let the cakes (brushed with honey and drizzled with brandy, and individually wrapped) sit for two weeks.
It is only three days till Christmas and I haven't made them yet. Maybe today. And hopefully they will be 'brandified' enough this way. Hmmm.
~~~~
I bit the bullet and invited some people round for dinner on Saturday night. Our kids are friends - their oldest of three girls are good mates with our youngest two girls. They moved here about a year ago, and the kids quickly became good friends - and both families have enjoyed the kids having friends just round the corner. It has only taken me that long to invite them round. When I think about it, they are possible the only people I've invited round in that time. Why? Because the house is such a mess and I was embarrassed. Needless to say it was the catalyst for a bit of cleaning up. The windows are so clean now! It is like a Christmas present to myself to be able to see out of them. (But - only just this morning I heard a thud, and looked up in time to see a dazed rainbow lorikeet flying away. That hasn't happened for a while... there are some benefits to salt-spray coated windows. Also I don't tend to stop in my tracks and gaze outside admiring the clear view of the backyard.)
The girls were told they had to clean up the playroom, or no Christmas tree, so - woo hoo - that got done. (Plus Zoe's swimming costume turned up, as I knew it would.) They also uncovered some toys and bits and pieces they obviously hadn't sighted for some months. I have a great idea for Christmas next year. Santa doesn't need to get them anything. They can just have a big clean-up, and they'll have all this "new" stuff for this year's Christmas.
[Marc also wryly suggested last night that we just wrap up the surfboard we gave them last Christmas and give it to them again, as it barely got used last summer.]
A Recycled Christmas. Do you think it could catch on?
~~~~
Marc has had to go away for work for three days - arriving back on Christmas Eve. He tossed up between an 8 hour drive each way, or a couple of regional plane flights (plus a 1 hr 30 min drive). He opted for the planes. Same amount of elapsed travel time, but theoretically not as stressful. He left early this morning for the 6.30 plane out of Coffs to Sydney - from where he would transfer to a regional carrier to Dubbo. (Then hire a car.) At around 9.00 he rang me. At Sydney he had been called to the baggage service counter; they had left his bag in Coffs! How they can manage to forget to load a bag onto the one small plane at the airport at the time is beyond anyone's guess. Qantas say they will courier it to him - in Mudgee. Too bad about the work equipment he had in it for the work he needed to get a start on this afternoon.
~~~~
Meantime, I suppose I should get happening on some more Christmas-like action today. Ya think? Like taking our 'traditional' family christmas photo. Yep. We are this late with it this year - and even later due to overcast weather for a few days that was not conducive to optimum artistic photography. The sun is shining now, however, so I should go and wake Ms 15 (what? - it's only 11am!)... and we should head for the beach. (Yes, time for another beachy Christmas photo... stay tuned.)
I am determined to waft through these last few days with minimum stress. I've resigned myself to one more trip to the shops. I am supposed to order or buy some seafood. And I have a $60 ham to pick up this year ordered from a butcher. A leg of ham is a bit of an Australian Christmas 'thing' - but don't get me started on the typical Aussie Christmas dinner right now - I'll save that for another post. It is just the five of us at home here for Christmas Day (all relatives are far flung - we decided not to travel, and the relos rarely put themselves out to travel to us at this time of year...). To me a fancy Christmas lunch for just us is somewhat contrived, but I guess we will lash out on some prawns and calamari for the bbq (that four of us will eat), and try and think of something a bit special for Fusspot 15. And hope for sunny Aussie Christmas beach weather.
Labels: Christmas
Monday, November 10, 2008
A Christmas Challenge.
I haven't yet started on my traditional Christmas season rant.. (it is only NOVEMBER after all, and I flatly refuse to think about Christmas until December.) Though with the shops starting to fill again with glittery red, green, gold and silver manufactured crap "Stuff", the hackles have been rising.. and frankly, the despair beginning to ooze into the very fibre of my being.
Soooo much waste. Sooo much junk. Sooo much money spent on stuff we throw away. Or just don't need. Rampant materialism gone mad.
Oh, I know for many, the decorations and stuff raise their spirits and make them happy. I envy you guys. It's so much harder being me at Christmas time. I simply can't get into it... and I'm getting worse. You'd think I might mellow with age, but I'm hardening up.
That said, I do treat it as a time to 'touch base' with friends... (More the end of a year than Christmas, to be perfectly honest. It just happens to coincide!) I have done the homemade card thing ever since Marc and I hitched our lives together to become our own little family unit. With the advent of email and then my ability to construct a webpage, it was a natural progression for the greenie within to transition from extreme paper wastage to an electronic transmission of our end of year greeting, in photo format. Just about always accompanied by a blurb, because nothing frustrates me more than getting a christmas card from someone I haven't managed to keep tabs on during the year AND THEY DON'T TELL ME WHAT THEY'VE BEEN UP TO!
I send out very limited christmas cards now; if you have email, then you aren't likely to get a card from me. And the card is usually just the photo - referring those who actually want to read 'a year in the lives of' to the webpage I do up. Even so... I sigh (and wish they had email!)
And... this is very very harsh.. but sending me a card with just a 'To' and a 'From'... is frankly, just a waste of money. And paper. Unless you are going to send me a newsy letter. (I'm not against snail mail itself, just *wasted* snail mail.)
So naturally I was very taken with Misc Mum's Christmas Card Challenge. I have been on her snail mail Christmas Card list in the past [She was a very organised card sender, and hers would usually be first to arrive, before December! and I was all NOOOOOOO! Not Christmas YET! What are you doing to me girl! ] and so I am extreeeeeemely chuffed that, instead, the sort of money she would have wasted on an ingrate like me is going to go to a far more worthy cause.
Presuming I would still have made her Christmas card list this year ;-) I can feel happy that a dollar or so is being given to charity instead of wasting it on me.
But that is just her money. And I am thinking Hmmmmm. How do I promote this? Sure, you should go on over to her blog, and be convinced, and then write your own blog post, and spread the word...
But also, I challenge you - and myself - to do something similar, and to donate the money you would have spent to buying something that is of fleeting use and enjoyment (and will end up in landfill) to something that really will make a difference.
So if you were going to send me card... don't! Donate something instead to Karen's fundraiser. (Send me an email instead, mind!)
And I am going to take a very deep breath, and tell my extended family to do the same, with what they would have spent on cards, and chocolates I don't even like. (Given my parents won't do any transactions online, I'm not quite sure how I'm going to go about this... perhaps simply ask them to donate to any charity instead...)
Come on. Let's make a difference.
Soooo much waste. Sooo much junk. Sooo much money spent on stuff we throw away. Or just don't need. Rampant materialism gone mad.
Oh, I know for many, the decorations and stuff raise their spirits and make them happy. I envy you guys. It's so much harder being me at Christmas time. I simply can't get into it... and I'm getting worse. You'd think I might mellow with age, but I'm hardening up.
That said, I do treat it as a time to 'touch base' with friends... (More the end of a year than Christmas, to be perfectly honest. It just happens to coincide!) I have done the homemade card thing ever since Marc and I hitched our lives together to become our own little family unit. With the advent of email and then my ability to construct a webpage, it was a natural progression for the greenie within to transition from extreme paper wastage to an electronic transmission of our end of year greeting, in photo format. Just about always accompanied by a blurb, because nothing frustrates me more than getting a christmas card from someone I haven't managed to keep tabs on during the year AND THEY DON'T TELL ME WHAT THEY'VE BEEN UP TO!
I send out very limited christmas cards now; if you have email, then you aren't likely to get a card from me. And the card is usually just the photo - referring those who actually want to read 'a year in the lives of' to the webpage I do up. Even so... I sigh (and wish they had email!)
And... this is very very harsh.. but sending me a card with just a 'To' and a 'From'... is frankly, just a waste of money. And paper. Unless you are going to send me a newsy letter. (I'm not against snail mail itself, just *wasted* snail mail.)
So naturally I was very taken with Misc Mum's Christmas Card Challenge. I have been on her snail mail Christmas Card list in the past [She was a very organised card sender, and hers would usually be first to arrive, before December! and I was all NOOOOOOO! Not Christmas YET! What are you doing to me girl! ] and so I am extreeeeeemely chuffed that, instead, the sort of money she would have wasted on an ingrate like me is going to go to a far more worthy cause.
Presuming I would still have made her Christmas card list this year ;-) I can feel happy that a dollar or so is being given to charity instead of wasting it on me.
But that is just her money. And I am thinking Hmmmmm. How do I promote this? Sure, you should go on over to her blog, and be convinced, and then write your own blog post, and spread the word...
But also, I challenge you - and myself - to do something similar, and to donate the money you would have spent to buying something that is of fleeting use and enjoyment (and will end up in landfill) to something that really will make a difference.
So if you were going to send me card... don't! Donate something instead to Karen's fundraiser. (Send me an email instead, mind!)
And I am going to take a very deep breath, and tell my extended family to do the same, with what they would have spent on cards, and chocolates I don't even like. (Given my parents won't do any transactions online, I'm not quite sure how I'm going to go about this... perhaps simply ask them to donate to any charity instead...)
Come on. Let's make a difference.
Labels: Christmas
Saturday, December 29, 2007
My kind of christmas
We went away on Boxing Day for two nights to visit family.. and are back again today having a very slothful day, but that's ok, because IT'S HOLIDAYS! and we need the sloth time in between the visiting. Worth the 4 hour each way drive which will be duplicated (plus some) in less than a week.
What's important is that "I" survived christmas with the least amount of stress possible - although the cleaning I didn't do still has to be done, and no elves or pixies helped me out in that respect. And there is still more family to visit - thus more packing. (And present buying issues to deal with) Etc. Perhaps we are just prolonging the agony.
But a 'just us' christmas day had much to recommend it. No frantic cleaning. (I keep mentioning cleaning and stress in the same sentence don't I!) No visitors to prepare for. No relatives to pander to or endure. No need to hurry out of bed to get anything done.
I was woken at around 7.10 by the sounds of "Oh cool" coming from the unwrapping of Santa pressies - this year just the floor below us, because I'd banned the christmas tree from blocking the sea breeze through the window in the lounge room downstairs. (There is an open staircase leading to our room - so you can hear what's going on in the playroom quite conveniently - at times (and quite inconveniently and in reverse at others, but anyway..).. The girls had agreed on the civilised time of 7am to open presents, but I think there was some waiting endured by at least two of them who would have been awake with the sun!
The louder of the accolades that woke me were from the 14 year old - so obviously Santa has still got it.
I lay in bed and strained to hear the other reactions, but it was difficult through the sounds of the birds outside (and scratching on the tin roof!) But all seemed pretty happy. They then all traipsed upstairs to display their loot all over our bed, and we oohed and aahed over their acquisitions. Marc at least didn't have to do any acting!
They seemed to appreciate the new soft-top surfboard for all three.. and also the new computer chair (though we have discovered today that I will need to take it back because the seat slopes forward and doesn't adjust. This is what happens when you buy things in the still stressful lead up to xmas day.)
I wasn't forgotten - they did buy me presents! A 'saddle bag'/rack bag/trunk bag for my road bike plus a rearview mirror to attach to my bike glasses. And a mug, which handily replaces the one I accidentally smashed on christmas eve! And a new mouse pad which handily replaces the one I drenched in coffee in the aforementioned coffee cup accident. They got me one with a gel wrist thingy - given my RSI type- no doubt mouse-associated wrist complaints - which is taking some getting used to but is probably better for me.
Then breakfast, and then the beach - just a short stroll from our place - which no doubt I have mentioned before!
For lunch we all bogged in doing a bit to prepare. Cold prawns, and some salt & peppered (and floured) calamari on the bbq. A couple of salads, some cold chicken (roasted the day before) and ham off the bone. All pretty much a toned down version of what many Aussie families have for christmas these days. I think the excuse to buy a leg of ham is one reason why Marc still likes to do the special christmas lunch, even when it's just the five of us. (It's very nice, but I will probably be heartily sick of it by the time we finish it! - but the substance of Aussie christmas fare and the 'leftovers' phenomenon is a topic I might explore separately in another post. Sometime! Except that very soon I won't have to think about christmas for another year!)
By 4.30 it was back down the beach again... and we followed that with a very casual help-yourself-to-whatever-leftovers-you-feel-like for dinner. And put off even thinking about packing for our two-night trip away until the morning.
The highlights package:
<
What's important is that "I" survived christmas with the least amount of stress possible - although the cleaning I didn't do still has to be done, and no elves or pixies helped me out in that respect. And there is still more family to visit - thus more packing. (And present buying issues to deal with) Etc. Perhaps we are just prolonging the agony.
But a 'just us' christmas day had much to recommend it. No frantic cleaning. (I keep mentioning cleaning and stress in the same sentence don't I!) No visitors to prepare for. No relatives to pander to or endure. No need to hurry out of bed to get anything done.
I was woken at around 7.10 by the sounds of "Oh cool" coming from the unwrapping of Santa pressies - this year just the floor below us, because I'd banned the christmas tree from blocking the sea breeze through the window in the lounge room downstairs. (There is an open staircase leading to our room - so you can hear what's going on in the playroom quite conveniently - at times (and quite inconveniently and in reverse at others, but anyway..).. The girls had agreed on the civilised time of 7am to open presents, but I think there was some waiting endured by at least two of them who would have been awake with the sun!
The louder of the accolades that woke me were from the 14 year old - so obviously Santa has still got it.
I lay in bed and strained to hear the other reactions, but it was difficult through the sounds of the birds outside (and scratching on the tin roof!) But all seemed pretty happy. They then all traipsed upstairs to display their loot all over our bed, and we oohed and aahed over their acquisitions. Marc at least didn't have to do any acting!
They seemed to appreciate the new soft-top surfboard for all three.. and also the new computer chair (though we have discovered today that I will need to take it back because the seat slopes forward and doesn't adjust. This is what happens when you buy things in the still stressful lead up to xmas day.)
I wasn't forgotten - they did buy me presents! A 'saddle bag'/rack bag/trunk bag for my road bike plus a rearview mirror to attach to my bike glasses. And a mug, which handily replaces the one I accidentally smashed on christmas eve! And a new mouse pad which handily replaces the one I drenched in coffee in the aforementioned coffee cup accident. They got me one with a gel wrist thingy - given my RSI type- no doubt mouse-associated wrist complaints - which is taking some getting used to but is probably better for me.
Then breakfast, and then the beach - just a short stroll from our place - which no doubt I have mentioned before!
For lunch we all bogged in doing a bit to prepare. Cold prawns, and some salt & peppered (and floured) calamari on the bbq. A couple of salads, some cold chicken (roasted the day before) and ham off the bone. All pretty much a toned down version of what many Aussie families have for christmas these days. I think the excuse to buy a leg of ham is one reason why Marc still likes to do the special christmas lunch, even when it's just the five of us. (It's very nice, but I will probably be heartily sick of it by the time we finish it! - but the substance of Aussie christmas fare and the 'leftovers' phenomenon is a topic I might explore separately in another post. Sometime! Except that very soon I won't have to think about christmas for another year!)
By 4.30 it was back down the beach again... and we followed that with a very casual help-yourself-to-whatever-leftovers-you-feel-like for dinner. And put off even thinking about packing for our two-night trip away until the morning.
The highlights package:
<
Tuesday, December 25, 2007
Oh yeah.. Merry Christmas...
And best wishes to all as we LEAP into a new year!
We have had a very relaxing day. Two swims down at the beach.. and a nice lunch in the middle.
Hope you've had a good day too.
Labels: Christmas
Thursday, December 13, 2007
Based on all the available evidence...
Ms 12. Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to find out whether Ms 9 believes in Santa.
Ms 12's report of her findings - ie. her brief but direct conversation with the target - is as follows:
Ms 12: "Hey Zoe, do you believe in Santa?" (really subtle undercover work there Ali....)
Ms 9: "Yep! Other kids say it's your parents, but I know that's not possible... Mum and Dad couldn't possibly afford to buy all that stuff."
Labels: Christmas
Sunday, December 02, 2007
Why not rename December "Christmas" and be done with it?
And while you're at it, why not claim half of November as well. Let's just change the bloody calendar, shall we? I mean ... Santa arriving at a shopping centre in a surf life saving boat, and kids waving and calling out "Merry Christmas" on the 24th November... ??!!People.. please... get a grip!
Do we really need...
... Christmas in November - as well as all through December??
...TEN percent of our year taken over by the Christmas theme? Shops basically full of trinketty crap. **
... shopping centres chock full of people wandering around with huge parcels and getting in your way? For six weeks! - with the last few days where you need to don battle gear to just get through the supermarket to buy the basics.
... people asking you on the 30th November if you've finished your christmas shopping, and looking askance when you tell them you haven't bought a thing yet... (and that frankly, since we've bought a lot of stuff that we've used to enhance and enrich our lives throughout the year, it's really pretty stupid to rush out and buy everybody more stuff 'just because'.)
Can the 25th December be anything but an anticlimax with a six week lead up of "Christmas Cheer"? (Christmas "ready to strangle someone"...)
I need a new drug. One that will get me through this madness each year. That or a brave pill that might give me the guts to buck the system and opt out completely.
~~
* Photo nicked from here.
** Maybe if we cancelled christmas and all the associated throw-away crap that is manufactured we'd reduce our carbon emissions to a level which reverses global warming in the space of a year... AND if we all donated ALL the money we spent on Christmas rubbish to global aid in developing countries.. wouldn't the world be a better place?
Labels: Christmas
Tuesday, October 02, 2007
Time warp
Excuse me, but what the hell happened to Spring? It was only just winter.. and suddenly now I'm in summer - sleeveless shirts, sunscreen and a bike nix tan already. We seem to have missed a couple of months of 'in between' weather there. I really do like the whole concept of easing from cold to hot over a couple of months, and given that I don't handle the heat that well I really need the chance to get used to it gradually each year.Today topped out at 31 degrees here (almost 90 F) and tomorrow is forecast to be hotter and windier. (Which will make it worse inland - thank heavens for the sea breeze with a predicted NNE wind here.) There are bushfires springing up all over the state, fanned by hot dusty winds (and started by asshole arsonists, but that's a whole other story...)
But for the lack of christmas decorations (and associated christmas induced stress) I'd swear blind it was the summer school holidays, instead of the October/Spring between term vacation.
Suddenly we have the easterly, ocean breeze-facing french doors flung open on all floors. The boogie boards are out, and the younger two hassled me to go down to the beach this morning... Given the temperature, I was more than up for it. The water was probably cooler than the average summer temp (though some summers you can get a cold current through that makes the water colder than today was!)
Just yesterday I raised the dreaded topic of what we should do at Christmas time. (And given the way time is toying with us, it will be here before I can blink.) With all the immediate relatives living many kilometres away, we have spent more Christmases away than home, and the whole thing is wearing a bit thin. On top of the frantic packing hassles (and carting loads of christmas presents up and down the highway), you really need your head read to leave a beachside house at this time of year and head for either the city, the mountains, or even another far more crowded beach.
Our beach at christmas doesn't get a lot more crowded than this.
Where would you choose?!!
Friday, January 05, 2007
Blue Mtns Christmas (5) - one more walk
By Saturday lethargy was setting in.. thanks to this persistent cough, I wasn't feeling much like going anywhere.. and the book I bought and wrapped myself for christmas (yes, I succumbed to the depths this year) was getting exciting. Breakfast.. read.. coffee.. read... Marc getting twitchy... let's go for a walk... read... lunch... nearly finished...finished!
Ok.. now we can go for a walk. C'mon girls... up and at 'em... Do we have to? (Oh.. and here we were thinking you guys kind of liked the bushwalks)... Well, if you don't want to go you can bloody go round to Nana's... OK. Ok. They did. And, we dumped them and set off.. just as another storm announced its presence with a thundery rumble.
Mr Optimist said we should still give it a go.. it was just over the other side of the railway line at Blackheath.. not actually in National Park.. but there was this walk which went down Porters Pass (overlooking the Megalong Valley).. along under the cliff line, and back up again.
Seemed like we were pushing our luck setting out on foot while a storm loomed.. but we kept going, and it provided a brooding atmosphere to our descent. Then, as if we'd descended into fantasy land, the sun came out, and stayed out as we ambled along under the cliffline. As the tracknotes predicted the eastern end of the pass was popular with rockclimbers.. (in fact many of the cliff faces were studded with bolts - something I'm not sure sits well with me, except that I guess this wasn't national park ) and we were entertained by a few as we rounded the bend and started heading up again through a very canyonesque Centennial Glen.
As we reached the top (me wheezing and coughing as if I was running on 3 cylinders - which was probably literally the case).. the clouds rolled in again. Although it is a bit blurry, I like the photo of me (below) on Fort Rock, with the 'weather' in the background. I'm not usually that clagged out after a 2 hour walk (which is down as 3 hours in the guides) - but there is just a hint of drama queen in my genes.
It was a bit of a hike through the streets back to the car, but I was happy that we'd managed to fit in a bushwalk, especially as we'd missed the canyoning. The kids would have enjoyed it.. though I have to say it was less stressful doing it without having to worry about where they were putting their feet. We don't get much time to 'go out' together, and this is more our style than dinner and movies, weird little people that we are.
Ok.. now we can go for a walk. C'mon girls... up and at 'em... Do we have to? (Oh.. and here we were thinking you guys kind of liked the bushwalks)... Well, if you don't want to go you can bloody go round to Nana's... OK. Ok. They did. And, we dumped them and set off.. just as another storm announced its presence with a thundery rumble.
Mr Optimist said we should still give it a go.. it was just over the other side of the railway line at Blackheath.. not actually in National Park.. but there was this walk which went down Porters Pass (overlooking the Megalong Valley).. along under the cliff line, and back up again.
Seemed like we were pushing our luck setting out on foot while a storm loomed.. but we kept going, and it provided a brooding atmosphere to our descent. Then, as if we'd descended into fantasy land, the sun came out, and stayed out as we ambled along under the cliffline. As the tracknotes predicted the eastern end of the pass was popular with rockclimbers.. (in fact many of the cliff faces were studded with bolts - something I'm not sure sits well with me, except that I guess this wasn't national park ) and we were entertained by a few as we rounded the bend and started heading up again through a very canyonesque Centennial Glen.
As we reached the top (me wheezing and coughing as if I was running on 3 cylinders - which was probably literally the case).. the clouds rolled in again. Although it is a bit blurry, I like the photo of me (below) on Fort Rock, with the 'weather' in the background. I'm not usually that clagged out after a 2 hour walk (which is down as 3 hours in the guides) - but there is just a hint of drama queen in my genes.
It was a bit of a hike through the streets back to the car, but I was happy that we'd managed to fit in a bushwalk, especially as we'd missed the canyoning. The kids would have enjoyed it.. though I have to say it was less stressful doing it without having to worry about where they were putting their feet. We don't get much time to 'go out' together, and this is more our style than dinner and movies, weird little people that we are.
Blue Mtns Christmas (4) - "Snow" and "stars"
(It's a desperate Christmas analogy, ok! )
We spent yet another morning slothing (I suppose that is what holidays are all about..).. Marc and the girls went into Katoomba to return the hired lilo (which we tried to do twice the day before). He had suggested that he, Cait and I could get up and do Wollongambe canyon (an easier one) - but the weather forecast was a tad dubious (and I think it was raining in the morning), and frankly, I didn't have the energy left with this damned cough to get psyched up for it.
On his return from the shops he said "I've got a great idea! - let's go to the Glow Worm Tunnel" Ah, nostalgia. We went there once before with a group of friends.. about 21 years ago.. and it was in fact on the weekend we 'got together'. However I am not allowed to go all mushy and nostalgic, so I'll say no more about it in those terms!
It was actually a good idea. Something 'safe' Alison could do with an injured hand, and not too long a walk to risk weather-wise. We had lunch, then as we trundled out to the car we heard an ominous rumble. Bugger... thunder. Oh well.. you never know.. storms can be a bit hit and miss. We set off.
A couple of kms down the road the rain started and we jumped at a few spectacular forks of lightning; we reached the Zig Zag Railway turnoff, and decided to keep going anyway. This particular forestry road is doable in a 2-wheel drive (and we've been along it many other times to some of the other canyons that we do..) It mostly follows the former railway line, so the gradient is pretty mild.
But then as the rain got harder, we realised it had in fact turned to hail! (Marc: "I was just thinking I didn't remember this road having white pebbles") The picture below is blurry, but it's to prove it was there. It was quite deep in parts.. hence my White Christmas analogy. The hail stones got bigger, and we tried to shelter a bit under some trees, thinking it would be a bloody pain to get hail damage just as we have acquired this 4WD that we have spent more on than any other car. They were going 'splat' on the windscreen, so we figured they were reasonably soft... and so we continued, with me muttering "I'm bloody glad we are doing this in a 4WD." It did look a bit like it had snowed. Seriously!
We spent yet another morning slothing (I suppose that is what holidays are all about..).. Marc and the girls went into Katoomba to return the hired lilo (which we tried to do twice the day before). He had suggested that he, Cait and I could get up and do Wollongambe canyon (an easier one) - but the weather forecast was a tad dubious (and I think it was raining in the morning), and frankly, I didn't have the energy left with this damned cough to get psyched up for it.
On his return from the shops he said "I've got a great idea! - let's go to the Glow Worm Tunnel" Ah, nostalgia. We went there once before with a group of friends.. about 21 years ago.. and it was in fact on the weekend we 'got together'. However I am not allowed to go all mushy and nostalgic, so I'll say no more about it in those terms!
It was actually a good idea. Something 'safe' Alison could do with an injured hand, and not too long a walk to risk weather-wise. We had lunch, then as we trundled out to the car we heard an ominous rumble. Bugger... thunder. Oh well.. you never know.. storms can be a bit hit and miss. We set off.
A couple of kms down the road the rain started and we jumped at a few spectacular forks of lightning; we reached the Zig Zag Railway turnoff, and decided to keep going anyway. This particular forestry road is doable in a 2-wheel drive (and we've been along it many other times to some of the other canyons that we do..) It mostly follows the former railway line, so the gradient is pretty mild.
But then as the rain got harder, we realised it had in fact turned to hail! (Marc: "I was just thinking I didn't remember this road having white pebbles") The picture below is blurry, but it's to prove it was there. It was quite deep in parts.. hence my White Christmas analogy. The hail stones got bigger, and we tried to shelter a bit under some trees, thinking it would be a bloody pain to get hail damage just as we have acquired this 4WD that we have spent more on than any other car. They were going 'splat' on the windscreen, so we figured they were reasonably soft... and so we continued, with me muttering "I'm bloody glad we are doing this in a 4WD." It did look a bit like it had snowed. Seriously!
This was an accidental photo when I was sort of attempting to take an mpeg on Marc's camera!... hmmm.
Anyway, lucky for Marc's insistence that we continue, because by the time we got to the parking spot for the tunnel, it was dry.. And it was an easy stroll to the entrance of the tunnel.
The last time we did it we didn't have a torch! - but fumbled our way through with our hands on the wall. Marc produced a 2 x AAA torchlight out of his first aid kit, and that proved to be more than sufficient to illuminate our way as we shuffled through the tunnel.. With the light off, several times, we were treated to the magical sight of glowworms twinkling. Like stars indeed, as glow worms tend to be.
A dry drive back.. and the hail had all but melted. There were still a few patches; proof that we hadn't dreamt it all.
And the glow worm tunnel, as we predicted, was worth a visit. The kids enjoyed it. Pretty cool.
Blue Mtns Christmas (3) So much for the canyoning
THIS is where we were headed.. Bells Creek Canyon. One Marc and I have done before (once at night! - because of the glowworms! - that was the best Valentines day ever, that!), and we felt that it was doable by the girls. No abseiling required, just some climb downs (and Marc bought some new hand line). Wetsuits and lilos, and most importantly Dunlop volleys were the other prerequisites. (Another volleys link.) No way would we take the girls canyoning without a pair of volleys. Because of my ineptitude in pre-buying one more lilo before we left Coffs - and you want the rubberised cotton ones which are harder to come by these days, what with the luxury camping demand for the velour coated variety- we spent the day before trailing up and down the shops in Katoomba looking for one, and ended up having to hire one from an adventure tour company.
Marc had been keeping a close eye on the BOM (Bureau of Meteorology) website, and the predictions were looking good for Thursday.
We left Zoe with Nana and Aunty the night before, and were up and at 'em in the morning.. borrowing said Aunty's car (as the route involves a car shuffle.) I was still coughing.. but had been dosing up with antibiotics, cough medicine, and sinus/hayfever tabs. I wasn't going to miss this if it killed me. And the weather was P-E-R-F-E-C-T.
Off we went. We had to drive into Mt Wilson to leave one car, then retrace our steps to our starting point. While this canyon is one of the ones probably closest to a main road, the last times we had done it there was still no track to it, so a bit of navigation and bush-bashing was always required. (In hindsight I wish this was still the case.) Marc thought he'd be clever and see if a fire trail on the map was one we used to meet up with.. but we ended up on the wrong ridge, and so had to backtrack up (I knew it was up because going up brought on the coughing.)
We sidled around to follow the right ridge, and came across a narrow track that had obviously been created by the various adventure tour companies that now take a lot of groups on canyons in the Blue Mountains area. Oh well, easier walking we thought, so we were making pretty good time. Up and down a couple of knolls.. then suddenly Alison trips over, and then we hear the wail as she holds her right hand in her left hand. Initial reaction (as typical parents) was the rolled eyes, an impatient 'let me see', ready to dust her off and keep going. Marc took one look, gasped, and immediately used his shirt to stop the bleeding. She had a gash in the 'webbing' between her pinkie and ring finger, and it continued down maybe 2 cm onto the pad of her palm. She had landed with her hand on a sapling that had been macheted off roughly at ground level, leaving, basically, a sharp stake.
We took another look, and exchanged a look of despair. We couldn't tell how deep it was, but it wasn't the sort of injury you could take canyoning.. in the water, or scrambling down rocks and handlines. We weren't going any further on this canyon. We found a pad in the first aid kit, and bandaged her hand up, and turned back to the car. And cursed the fools that had to hack these tracks in.. Seriously, if we'd been bush bashing, I don't think it would have happened.
Another car shuffle back into Mt Wilson that we wouldn't have had to do.. then back to Blackheath (dump Caitlin) then onto Accident & Emergency at Katoomba Hospital.
By the time she was seen, the gash/slice/cut (whatever you want to call it) didn't look quite as bad.. The Dr did um and ah over what to do... particularly between the fingers. Not deep enough for stitches.. in the end he used glue for the bit on the palm of her hand, and gave her the instructions she'd been dreading - don't get it wet for a week. When you're an 11 yr old water baby, and it's summer, and there's a pool near your Nana's holiday house, and a beach back home, that's not what you want to hear. I had to talk to her about perspective - I mean.. what if she'd broken a leg or something? And as it's turned out, the weather gods have smiled upon her, and treated us all to cool and/or rainy weather even up till today when she could be swimming again! Now we just have to stop her catching balls and the like for another week.
And the canyoning? I guess it'll keep. Next year maybe? Another Blue Mountains Christmas, perhaps? Or at least get down there in January.
Marc had been keeping a close eye on the BOM (Bureau of Meteorology) website, and the predictions were looking good for Thursday.
We left Zoe with Nana and Aunty the night before, and were up and at 'em in the morning.. borrowing said Aunty's car (as the route involves a car shuffle.) I was still coughing.. but had been dosing up with antibiotics, cough medicine, and sinus/hayfever tabs. I wasn't going to miss this if it killed me. And the weather was P-E-R-F-E-C-T.
Off we went. We had to drive into Mt Wilson to leave one car, then retrace our steps to our starting point. While this canyon is one of the ones probably closest to a main road, the last times we had done it there was still no track to it, so a bit of navigation and bush-bashing was always required. (In hindsight I wish this was still the case.) Marc thought he'd be clever and see if a fire trail on the map was one we used to meet up with.. but we ended up on the wrong ridge, and so had to backtrack up (I knew it was up because going up brought on the coughing.)
We sidled around to follow the right ridge, and came across a narrow track that had obviously been created by the various adventure tour companies that now take a lot of groups on canyons in the Blue Mountains area. Oh well, easier walking we thought, so we were making pretty good time. Up and down a couple of knolls.. then suddenly Alison trips over, and then we hear the wail as she holds her right hand in her left hand. Initial reaction (as typical parents) was the rolled eyes, an impatient 'let me see', ready to dust her off and keep going. Marc took one look, gasped, and immediately used his shirt to stop the bleeding. She had a gash in the 'webbing' between her pinkie and ring finger, and it continued down maybe 2 cm onto the pad of her palm. She had landed with her hand on a sapling that had been macheted off roughly at ground level, leaving, basically, a sharp stake.
We took another look, and exchanged a look of despair. We couldn't tell how deep it was, but it wasn't the sort of injury you could take canyoning.. in the water, or scrambling down rocks and handlines. We weren't going any further on this canyon. We found a pad in the first aid kit, and bandaged her hand up, and turned back to the car. And cursed the fools that had to hack these tracks in.. Seriously, if we'd been bush bashing, I don't think it would have happened.
Another car shuffle back into Mt Wilson that we wouldn't have had to do.. then back to Blackheath (dump Caitlin) then onto Accident & Emergency at Katoomba Hospital.
By the time she was seen, the gash/slice/cut (whatever you want to call it) didn't look quite as bad.. The Dr did um and ah over what to do... particularly between the fingers. Not deep enough for stitches.. in the end he used glue for the bit on the palm of her hand, and gave her the instructions she'd been dreading - don't get it wet for a week. When you're an 11 yr old water baby, and it's summer, and there's a pool near your Nana's holiday house, and a beach back home, that's not what you want to hear. I had to talk to her about perspective - I mean.. what if she'd broken a leg or something? And as it's turned out, the weather gods have smiled upon her, and treated us all to cool and/or rainy weather even up till today when she could be swimming again! Now we just have to stop her catching balls and the like for another week.
And the canyoning? I guess it'll keep. Next year maybe? Another Blue Mountains Christmas, perhaps? Or at least get down there in January.
Thursday, January 04, 2007
A Blue Mountains Christmas holiday (part 1)
Let's see if I can summarise the week in a few posts with a few piccies. Ok, so it's for my benefit, rather than being of any great interest to the blogosphere.. but I suppose it's an insight into one particular Australian christmas. We weren't particularly excited to be going away, if you hadn't guessed from my previous entries, but had resolved to make the most of our time in the Blue Mountains. Potentially cooler weather (well, it could hit 30 degrees, but it could drop to around 10!).. and the chance to get in some bushwalking, and, most importantly a canyon. This was to be Alison's first ever canyon, and we were preparing to do one with her and Caitlin that involved liloing through narrow gorges...
We got away around 9.15 on the Saturday morning.. not a bad effort for us, especially considering Marc just got back from OS and then a work xmas lunch the afternoon before, and I was stressed out with packing and coughing. Glad we were heading south, against the flow of holiday traffic. Any towns on the Pacific Hwy not yet bypassed (and with lights) caused bottlenecks.. We shook our heads in sympathy at a couple of jams of a few kilometres. It seemed that so many Sydneyites had left early (it must have been like 4 or 5 am) to 'beat the traffic' that they all ended up leaving together and causing the jams.
The traffic heading our way was heavy, but moving, so we made good time - and even somehow timed our lunch stop in a lull. The newish M7 motorway on the western outskirts of Sydney made the last stretch through to the lower Blue Mountains a dream. I complain bitterly about having to register for a visitor's e-pass, but in terms of driving time saved, it is probably worth every cent. So all in all the drive was fairly painless. Arrived at our friends' place around 5.00 and the kids had time for a swim in their dam before dinner. It was good to catch up with them - these days it happens all too infrequently, living so far away from each other.
With only about half an hour to drive the next day, we took our time in the morning, and mosied on up to Blackheath. Found the holiday house.. dumped our stuff.. then dumped the kids with Nana, aunty and friend, and headed back to Katoomba for the supermarket stock up. We even managed to miss the christmas eve rush despite predictions, so, all in all, that was painless too.
Santa found the holiday house, despite the lack of a christmas tree; the wrapping paper and glitzy gold and silver gift bags/sacks had to do for festive spirit. A very civilised sleep in possible because of the age of the kids.. the two younger ones woke at 7.00, and waited till 7.30 to wake Her Highness up. She protested till I suggested that she was obviously moving from kid to grown up status, and thus Santa would probably not come to her next year!
Round to Nana's holiday house for lunch.. and that was the view from our table; the vase had a bunch of Christmas bush in lieu of a tree. (Yes a very low-key christmas this year..but I'm tempted to continue that tradition in the future, actually...) We managed to keep lunch sensible with just some chicken and ham, a couple of salads. The family christmas challenge this year was to recreate Papa's famous mayonnaise for the potato salad - the absent sister knew how to make it, but the rest of us were novices. A bit of a team effort, Marc doing the beating, and me drizzling the oil in, and success! And a toast to Papa's mayonnaise.
Oh, and Zoe got a (painted) recorder for xmas (what was I thinking?!) With some sisterly tuition, by lunchtime on xmas day she could already play three tunes (and can still only play three tunes!) Naturally they were sent outside to play, so the neighbours must have been cursing the holiday house tenants.
We got away around 9.15 on the Saturday morning.. not a bad effort for us, especially considering Marc just got back from OS and then a work xmas lunch the afternoon before, and I was stressed out with packing and coughing. Glad we were heading south, against the flow of holiday traffic. Any towns on the Pacific Hwy not yet bypassed (and with lights) caused bottlenecks.. We shook our heads in sympathy at a couple of jams of a few kilometres. It seemed that so many Sydneyites had left early (it must have been like 4 or 5 am) to 'beat the traffic' that they all ended up leaving together and causing the jams.
The traffic heading our way was heavy, but moving, so we made good time - and even somehow timed our lunch stop in a lull. The newish M7 motorway on the western outskirts of Sydney made the last stretch through to the lower Blue Mountains a dream. I complain bitterly about having to register for a visitor's e-pass, but in terms of driving time saved, it is probably worth every cent. So all in all the drive was fairly painless. Arrived at our friends' place around 5.00 and the kids had time for a swim in their dam before dinner. It was good to catch up with them - these days it happens all too infrequently, living so far away from each other.
With only about half an hour to drive the next day, we took our time in the morning, and mosied on up to Blackheath. Found the holiday house.. dumped our stuff.. then dumped the kids with Nana, aunty and friend, and headed back to Katoomba for the supermarket stock up. We even managed to miss the christmas eve rush despite predictions, so, all in all, that was painless too.
Santa found the holiday house, despite the lack of a christmas tree; the wrapping paper and glitzy gold and silver gift bags/sacks had to do for festive spirit. A very civilised sleep in possible because of the age of the kids.. the two younger ones woke at 7.00, and waited till 7.30 to wake Her Highness up. She protested till I suggested that she was obviously moving from kid to grown up status, and thus Santa would probably not come to her next year!
Round to Nana's holiday house for lunch.. and that was the view from our table; the vase had a bunch of Christmas bush in lieu of a tree. (Yes a very low-key christmas this year..but I'm tempted to continue that tradition in the future, actually...) We managed to keep lunch sensible with just some chicken and ham, a couple of salads. The family christmas challenge this year was to recreate Papa's famous mayonnaise for the potato salad - the absent sister knew how to make it, but the rest of us were novices. A bit of a team effort, Marc doing the beating, and me drizzling the oil in, and success! And a toast to Papa's mayonnaise.
Oh, and Zoe got a (painted) recorder for xmas (what was I thinking?!) With some sisterly tuition, by lunchtime on xmas day she could already play three tunes (and can still only play three tunes!) Naturally they were sent outside to play, so the neighbours must have been cursing the holiday house tenants.
Friday, December 22, 2006
Classic quote for the season...
Zoe, aged 8, on Wednesday. At their last Kids Touch clinic, they had Santa come to give out lollies. A young bloke dressed up as Santa (so, no, not the most realistic jolly old Santa I've ever seen..)
Zoe brought her stash of lollies up to show me, and said, "The pretend Santa gave them out. You can tell it's not the real Santa."
This from a kid who has never sat on Santa's knee!! (I gave up asking a few years ago...!!) She knows her Santas though.
Zoe brought her stash of lollies up to show me, and said, "The pretend Santa gave them out. You can tell it's not the real Santa."
This from a kid who has never sat on Santa's knee!! (I gave up asking a few years ago...!!) She knows her Santas though.
Tuesday, December 19, 2006
Keeping up appearances
I was going to cast aspersions on.. um... Santa's M.O. - but that wouldn't be PC. Would it? But honestly... You would think after ... so many.. years, Santa would have the equal distribution of prezzies between 3 siblings in one family all sorted. Wouldn't you? Hmmm. You'd be wrong. It's a random escalation of purchases fest here. One each of this sort of thing. One each of that sort of thing. Repeat until it looks like it'll fill one of those gift bags each. Mostly 'fill up the bag' stuff.. but hopefully a couple of 'oh cool!' things. Until the sighting (and purchase) of an 'oh, Child X will love that' item .. but then the score needs to be sort of evened up.. quantity-wise.. and sort of size wise, because you can't have one sack/bag appearing to be overflowing, and one half empty looking. Can you...? (And then what if the X item is something a bit on the large side?)
I'm going insane. I'm also starting to think I've not removed things from 'hiding' places, when I have. I took a list with me to town this afternoon, but lost it, and so forgot stuff. So still one more trip to town required this week... Plus what feels like a kazillion and one other things.. that I could be doing now, but it's 10.30 pm, so I'm not starting anything else now.. that would just be stupid.. when I can blog instead. And wait and see if I catch Marc online.
When I think about it, it's not as bad as Rootietoot's list. Well.. at least I have more than one day to do my list. And I don't have to flea dip any dogs.
I did get to cross stuff off my list today. I did achieve.. I did, I did. Mainly in terms of getting a few parcels sorted and sent, and the snail mail cards done and sent. Not as much as I would have liked to achieve...but still. I plead general unwellness and still having a few coughing fits. I think I feel a bit better.. but I'm still not "well". I must have looked shite because I got an 'early mark' from netball this evening. (Very strange that nobody said anything about me not being at the lunch on Sunday... guess they didn't miss me.)
I have three more days to:
mow the yard
vacuum the house
change/wash sheets on all beds
several more laundry loads, by the time Friday comes around
make mini xmas cakes (which I should have done already...and would scratch if I hadn't already soaked mixed fruit and almonds in brandy)
post birthday present to nephew
sort lilos/air mattresses (for canyoning...)
finalise present shopping
write a packing list for girls (and supervise packing)
write a packing list for me (including food/condiments, sheets/towels for holiday house)
get girls to stop slothing/fighting/saying 'it's not my turn to do that' and HELP ... for god's sake
stop eating bloody shortbreads (leftovers from Ali's homemade batch)
wash car/vacuum
sort someone to collect our mail
do the actual packing
get through kids Touch tomorrow afternoon..
and 3 x swimming squad classes on Friday afternoon.
Oh there's more.. but that will keep me going till I revise it...
Maybe I'll come back and put that strikethrough thingy through it all... so I can see that I am getting somewhere.
The hilarious thing is that, when the school teachers got their card (the photo stuck on a silver card with transparent photo corners).. plus their gifts (the girls decorated plates with porcelain pens, then we bake them... Ali had the most wonderful teacher this year, so she put 'Best Teacher Ever' on hers..).. and one of the teachers apparently said 'Your mum is SO organised!'... when the reality is that my house is such a disaster zone, currently I'd be embarrassed to have any visitors step foot inside....and given that I don't work, I have no reasonable excuse for being in this state. Only that I'm a walking disaster zone. We haven't even put the tree up this year, and I simply cannot face doing it when we are going away. The older two don't care.. but Zoe does.. and I feel bad about that.
So shhhh... Don't tell anyone I'm actually going nuts. I'll just keep trying to keep up appearances.. making it up as I go along...
I'm going insane. I'm also starting to think I've not removed things from 'hiding' places, when I have. I took a list with me to town this afternoon, but lost it, and so forgot stuff. So still one more trip to town required this week... Plus what feels like a kazillion and one other things.. that I could be doing now, but it's 10.30 pm, so I'm not starting anything else now.. that would just be stupid.. when I can blog instead. And wait and see if I catch Marc online.
When I think about it, it's not as bad as Rootietoot's list. Well.. at least I have more than one day to do my list. And I don't have to flea dip any dogs.
I did get to cross stuff off my list today. I did achieve.. I did, I did. Mainly in terms of getting a few parcels sorted and sent, and the snail mail cards done and sent. Not as much as I would have liked to achieve...but still. I plead general unwellness and still having a few coughing fits. I think I feel a bit better.. but I'm still not "well". I must have looked shite because I got an 'early mark' from netball this evening. (Very strange that nobody said anything about me not being at the lunch on Sunday... guess they didn't miss me.)
I have three more days to:
mow the yard
vacuum the house
change/wash sheets on all beds
several more laundry loads, by the time Friday comes around
make mini xmas cakes (which I should have done already...and would scratch if I hadn't already soaked mixed fruit and almonds in brandy)
post birthday present to nephew
sort lilos/air mattresses (for canyoning...)
finalise present shopping
write a packing list for girls (and supervise packing)
write a packing list for me (including food/condiments, sheets/towels for holiday house)
get girls to stop slothing/fighting/saying 'it's not my turn to do that' and HELP ... for god's sake
stop eating bloody shortbreads (leftovers from Ali's homemade batch)
wash car/vacuum
sort someone to collect our mail
do the actual packing
get through kids Touch tomorrow afternoon..
and 3 x swimming squad classes on Friday afternoon.
Oh there's more.. but that will keep me going till I revise it...
Maybe I'll come back and put that strikethrough thingy through it all... so I can see that I am getting somewhere.
The hilarious thing is that, when the school teachers got their card (the photo stuck on a silver card with transparent photo corners).. plus their gifts (the girls decorated plates with porcelain pens, then we bake them... Ali had the most wonderful teacher this year, so she put 'Best Teacher Ever' on hers..).. and one of the teachers apparently said 'Your mum is SO organised!'... when the reality is that my house is such a disaster zone, currently I'd be embarrassed to have any visitors step foot inside....and given that I don't work, I have no reasonable excuse for being in this state. Only that I'm a walking disaster zone. We haven't even put the tree up this year, and I simply cannot face doing it when we are going away. The older two don't care.. but Zoe does.. and I feel bad about that.
So shhhh... Don't tell anyone I'm actually going nuts. I'll just keep trying to keep up appearances.. making it up as I go along...
Labels: aarrrgghhh, Christmas, daily, sick
Sunday, December 17, 2006
Done.
This is it. The photo has lost quality along the way.. but I'm beyond worrying about it. It's not that important anyway in the scheme of things.
We wish you a Merry Christmas!
How about those moving thingies, eh. Copying and pasting Javascript is so cool.
Marc has left for the flights to KL. He didn't wake me while he packed this morning. Once he did, to kiss me goodbye, and I needed to get up to go to the loo, then the coughing and sneezing and that started, so I didn't get to sleep in any longer. Which is a bummer, because I reckon I could do with it. I'm not feeling on top of the world right now. Headache to add to the mix. And we were going to hit the shops. Arrrghh... crowds... ugh.
Zoe decided to make 'snowflakes' as her 'cards' to her friends.. so she is busy producing confetti. Easy enough to vacuum up. Thank you to E. for the inspiration via the parcel of goodies that arrived recently!
Now to hassle #2 about what she is doing for friends and teacher. (She has just come and asked me if she can make shortbread!)
(And what #3 is doing for her teacher..?)
And to wake up DQ.
And to take something for this headache.
Merry Christmas.
We wish you a Merry Christmas!
How about those moving thingies, eh. Copying and pasting Javascript is so cool.
Marc has left for the flights to KL. He didn't wake me while he packed this morning. Once he did, to kiss me goodbye, and I needed to get up to go to the loo, then the coughing and sneezing and that started, so I didn't get to sleep in any longer. Which is a bummer, because I reckon I could do with it. I'm not feeling on top of the world right now. Headache to add to the mix. And we were going to hit the shops. Arrrghh... crowds... ugh.
Zoe decided to make 'snowflakes' as her 'cards' to her friends.. so she is busy producing confetti. Easy enough to vacuum up. Thank you to E. for the inspiration via the parcel of goodies that arrived recently!
Now to hassle #2 about what she is doing for friends and teacher. (She has just come and asked me if she can make shortbread!)
(And what #3 is doing for her teacher..?)
And to wake up DQ.
And to take something for this headache.
Merry Christmas.
Labels: aarrrgghhh, Christmas, daily, sick, sooking
Friday, December 15, 2006
At least I have smooth legs.
I may be going slowly insane, but at least my legs are no longer hairy. I've been waxing them myself at home for over a year now ... (ever since I gave the beauty salon the flick because of what they did to my eyebrow.) I prided myself that I was saving money too. I've come to realise I have really been just redistributing my payments. An hour of contortionism each time (and not a particularly good job either..) and I've actually been contributing to the chiropractor's superannuation fund instead.
So a couple of days ago I walked by a local salon.. only $12 for a half leg wax (as opposed to the $17 or more I used to pay.) What the heck, it's Christmas, I thought. I booked in.. went yesterday. Ten minutes and it was done.
I wonder why I've been bothering myself all this time. Even if the woman wasn't particularly friendly or talkative. 10 minutes!!
Waxing my legs is one of the few girlie things I still bother with. (I shave under my arms, and shave the worst of the bikini line.. and that's all. I'm such a dag.) I usually feel MUCH better when my legs are smooth.. it usually gives me a boost. It just didn't really work yesterday (and it's not really working today).. probably all those worms I was eating...
And all the coughing.
And all the christmas shopping doing my head in.
At least THIS made me laugh. (See, there's a good reason why I don't colour my hair!!)
And yesterday I got THIS for my nephews. To share. At half the price it is going for there. Progress.
But, anyway, this is how crazy I am:
I loathe all the overdone Christmas stuff.. right?
But, I make those cards... and do up a webpage.. and a spiel. And it takes hours. Because I fuss around with it all.
Then the girls start bringing home sixty million cheap cards from friends which have just 'To X from Y' written on them. And they go 'Bloody cards.. what a waste of trees ... what is the point of them?' (I wonder where they got THAT idea from?) And so.. what are they going to do instead? Make treats - little xmas shaped biscuits/cookies/chocolate truffles. For all their friends.
Do I need a kitchen mess all weekend? No. So why oh why?
It's true.. I am crazy.
This morning I was all set to go to a Master Class presentation at Cait's school. 9.30 the invitation said, to see the 'best of' powerpoint research presentations the class had done. I dressed up in decent clothes... Thinking.. a couple of hours there.. then I'm back home and into the domestics. Hey yeah.
I also felt good that I had this to go to at the high school, because the primary school and high school end of year presentations clash next Monday morning. Both are at 9.30 am! Doh! Cait is getting something (the usual walk up and across stage, collect certificate, shake hands, walk straight off and sit back down in audience. But at least one of the other two will get something also (got a letter from school - just don't know who it's for!).. Alison is playing flute in the band... and is also in the running to be elected to the SRC, which will be announced.
So I will go to the primary one... and Cait is cool with that.
This morning when she reminds me about the Master Class presentation, she says 'I'm on last... it possibly won't be till after lunch.' AFTER LUNCH?!!! Like I have the time to sit there for 4 hours?! Hell, no, I have all this pre-christmas panic stuff to do! Plus mow the lawn. "Text me around recess and let me know how it's going." (It's 11.00 and I haven't heard...)
And I've been such a busy bee. Not. I have been sitting on the computer for 2 hours. Some of it is really important stuff.. like the christmas letter spiel. Riiight. And to do any domestics I need to change out of my decent clothes. And I'm still in them. (And it's raining so I can't mow.)
I'm just, basically... insane. But at least my legs are smooth.
** UPDATE. 1.15 pm : I took a punt on the timing.. went up to the school.. the teacher slotted her presentation in before lunch, so I was out of there in less than half an hour. Happy days.. now I have time to do some domestics.
So a couple of days ago I walked by a local salon.. only $12 for a half leg wax (as opposed to the $17 or more I used to pay.) What the heck, it's Christmas, I thought. I booked in.. went yesterday. Ten minutes and it was done.
I wonder why I've been bothering myself all this time. Even if the woman wasn't particularly friendly or talkative. 10 minutes!!
Waxing my legs is one of the few girlie things I still bother with. (I shave under my arms, and shave the worst of the bikini line.. and that's all. I'm such a dag.) I usually feel MUCH better when my legs are smooth.. it usually gives me a boost. It just didn't really work yesterday (and it's not really working today).. probably all those worms I was eating...
And all the coughing.
And all the christmas shopping doing my head in.
At least THIS made me laugh. (See, there's a good reason why I don't colour my hair!!)
And yesterday I got THIS for my nephews. To share. At half the price it is going for there. Progress.
But, anyway, this is how crazy I am:
I loathe all the overdone Christmas stuff.. right?
But, I make those cards... and do up a webpage.. and a spiel. And it takes hours. Because I fuss around with it all.
Then the girls start bringing home sixty million cheap cards from friends which have just 'To X from Y' written on them. And they go 'Bloody cards.. what a waste of trees ... what is the point of them?' (I wonder where they got THAT idea from?) And so.. what are they going to do instead? Make treats - little xmas shaped biscuits/cookies/chocolate truffles. For all their friends.
Do I need a kitchen mess all weekend? No. So why oh why?
It's true.. I am crazy.
This morning I was all set to go to a Master Class presentation at Cait's school. 9.30 the invitation said, to see the 'best of' powerpoint research presentations the class had done. I dressed up in decent clothes... Thinking.. a couple of hours there.. then I'm back home and into the domestics. Hey yeah.
I also felt good that I had this to go to at the high school, because the primary school and high school end of year presentations clash next Monday morning. Both are at 9.30 am! Doh! Cait is getting something (the usual walk up and across stage, collect certificate, shake hands, walk straight off and sit back down in audience. But at least one of the other two will get something also (got a letter from school - just don't know who it's for!).. Alison is playing flute in the band... and is also in the running to be elected to the SRC, which will be announced.
So I will go to the primary one... and Cait is cool with that.
This morning when she reminds me about the Master Class presentation, she says 'I'm on last... it possibly won't be till after lunch.' AFTER LUNCH?!!! Like I have the time to sit there for 4 hours?! Hell, no, I have all this pre-christmas panic stuff to do! Plus mow the lawn. "Text me around recess and let me know how it's going." (It's 11.00 and I haven't heard...)
And I've been such a busy bee. Not. I have been sitting on the computer for 2 hours. Some of it is really important stuff.. like the christmas letter spiel. Riiight. And to do any domestics I need to change out of my decent clothes. And I'm still in them. (And it's raining so I can't mow.)
I'm just, basically... insane. But at least my legs are smooth.
** UPDATE. 1.15 pm : I took a punt on the timing.. went up to the school.. the teacher slotted her presentation in before lunch, so I was out of there in less than half an hour. Happy days.. now I have time to do some domestics.
Wednesday, December 13, 2006
*Cough cough.. sniffle.. sob*
Damn cough. It's been hanging around for a couple of weeks now. One of those ones that don't take you out completely, but wear you down gradually and insidiously. With cough medicine I'm managing to sleep ok, but I'm paying for it in the morning, (where you have to cough up all the crap sitting in your lungs...) with coughing fits where I just about throw up. Inexplicably, after one of those attacks, I feel like bursting into tears.. even though I know it could be much much worse. It eases off during the day then.. then hits again at night.
Needless to say it's not doing much to inspire me to any heights of creative thinking in the present buying department. And it's thrown me right off any niggling urges to vacuum or clean bathrooms... or to get out and burn some calories. I've been going to my swimming classes (simply because I've missed too many already..) and I can swim ok till we have to swim hard, and then it brings on another coughing fit.
Randomly, amongst the coughing, I'll have a hayfever-like attack of sneezes.
All in all it's an assault on my very weak pelvic floor muscles that I don't really need. My abdomen hurts with each cough now.. but somehow I don't think it's the right sort of ab crunch that will transform my belly from the jelly that it is. My lower back hurts with each coughing attack as well. Lucky I have a chiro appointment today. No doubt my propped-up sleeping posture is contributing to my problems in that area.
Then I need to hit the shops, and miraculously come up with solutions to the present (as in 'gift') dilemma. I am only buying for the kids, and my nephews, and I've got nothin'. NUTHIN' ! Totally stumped. OK.. I'll scrape by with the girls...though it won't be an 'ooh ahh look what Santa brought me christmas morning.
But the boys?! No effing idea. This is ridiculous.. world gone mad.. noone NEEDS anything. Somehow, I don't think a little card saying 'For your Christmas present this year we've donated money to buy a starving kid in a poor country some FOOD' is going to cut it. [Now that I've put that in black and white, I'm seriously thinking of doing something like that with the girls.. but I wouldn't DARE do it as a replacement for a present for my nephews.. the fallout would be unbearable.]
*cough, cough... sniffle... sob*
Needless to say it's not doing much to inspire me to any heights of creative thinking in the present buying department. And it's thrown me right off any niggling urges to vacuum or clean bathrooms... or to get out and burn some calories. I've been going to my swimming classes (simply because I've missed too many already..) and I can swim ok till we have to swim hard, and then it brings on another coughing fit.
Randomly, amongst the coughing, I'll have a hayfever-like attack of sneezes.
All in all it's an assault on my very weak pelvic floor muscles that I don't really need. My abdomen hurts with each cough now.. but somehow I don't think it's the right sort of ab crunch that will transform my belly from the jelly that it is. My lower back hurts with each coughing attack as well. Lucky I have a chiro appointment today. No doubt my propped-up sleeping posture is contributing to my problems in that area.
Then I need to hit the shops, and miraculously come up with solutions to the present (as in 'gift') dilemma. I am only buying for the kids, and my nephews, and I've got nothin'. NUTHIN' ! Totally stumped. OK.. I'll scrape by with the girls...though it won't be an 'ooh ahh look what Santa brought me christmas morning.
But the boys?! No effing idea. This is ridiculous.. world gone mad.. noone NEEDS anything. Somehow, I don't think a little card saying 'For your Christmas present this year we've donated money to buy a starving kid in a poor country some FOOD' is going to cut it. [Now that I've put that in black and white, I'm seriously thinking of doing something like that with the girls.. but I wouldn't DARE do it as a replacement for a present for my nephews.. the fallout would be unbearable.]
*cough, cough... sniffle... sob*
Labels: aarrrgghhh, Christmas, sick
Tuesday, December 12, 2006
Oh the angst...
Each year about the time that I finally get stuck into 'creating' the one 'tradition' I do at this time of year (ie. the photo of the girls, and then the 'blurb') I usually read some article or blog post or comments on blog posts that slam them as self centred, pukey, obsessive pieces.
So I 'angst' about it for a while, but then I usually still do them and send them out because a) at least some friends and family seem to like them... b) I enjoy a well-written 'year that was' blurb from others.... and c) I am a spoilt brat who has the time to do them because I don't work (and like any excuse to avoid housework.)
Some detractors comment that 'if you haven't seen these people during the year then what's the point?'.. and criticise the yearly christmas card list review and cull. The "Stuff them, they haven't sent me anything for a few years." sort of thing.
I have debated this within myself a few times, and each time I've come out the other end deciding that, through life, you accumulate a lot of friends.. and it's just not possible to hook up with them in a meaningful way every year, particularly when you tend to be geographically far-flung. But there are always some that you can not see for years, and then find you can chat, chat, chat as if it was only 10 weeks and not 10 years since you last spoke!
So if Christmas means nothing else to me, it does mean letting people know that they're not forgotten. I had, at one point, a great poem that summed this up, but blowed if I can find it right at this minute.
I live in hope that others don't mind reading our news, and are maybe inspired to send me their news. And I try not to be too pukey and self-obsessed.
Last year in my xmas letter I made a 'toast' to catching up with 'old friends' in the new year; and stuff me if it didn't happen. This year has been quite remarkable in the number of old friends we have had the enjoyment of catching up with.
So I shall remain strong, and keep on doing what I do. And keep on making my toast 'Here's to catching up with new and old friends in the coming year.'
I also do it for myself, because, self-centredly, yes, I love to read back on my 'yearly summaries'. It's amazing how you forget what you did, what the girls were up to, what you did, and what you were aiming to do in the following year.
Pixie referred (in the comments here) to our 2004 chrissy photo as her favourite.. so I thought I'd share the last few years of our photos since I was capable of putting them on a webpage. Reverse chronological order. You can see the progression of graphics abilities... with variations in inspiration. And it's a chance to rejoice in our gorgeous girls - a nice change from my usual grumblings and whingeing about them!
This one for 2003 said 'Wishing you a magical Christmas...':
So I 'angst' about it for a while, but then I usually still do them and send them out because a) at least some friends and family seem to like them... b) I enjoy a well-written 'year that was' blurb from others.... and c) I am a spoilt brat who has the time to do them because I don't work (and like any excuse to avoid housework.)
Some detractors comment that 'if you haven't seen these people during the year then what's the point?'.. and criticise the yearly christmas card list review and cull. The "Stuff them, they haven't sent me anything for a few years." sort of thing.
I have debated this within myself a few times, and each time I've come out the other end deciding that, through life, you accumulate a lot of friends.. and it's just not possible to hook up with them in a meaningful way every year, particularly when you tend to be geographically far-flung. But there are always some that you can not see for years, and then find you can chat, chat, chat as if it was only 10 weeks and not 10 years since you last spoke!
So if Christmas means nothing else to me, it does mean letting people know that they're not forgotten. I had, at one point, a great poem that summed this up, but blowed if I can find it right at this minute.
I live in hope that others don't mind reading our news, and are maybe inspired to send me their news. And I try not to be too pukey and self-obsessed.
Last year in my xmas letter I made a 'toast' to catching up with 'old friends' in the new year; and stuff me if it didn't happen. This year has been quite remarkable in the number of old friends we have had the enjoyment of catching up with.
So I shall remain strong, and keep on doing what I do. And keep on making my toast 'Here's to catching up with new and old friends in the coming year.'
I also do it for myself, because, self-centredly, yes, I love to read back on my 'yearly summaries'. It's amazing how you forget what you did, what the girls were up to, what you did, and what you were aiming to do in the following year.
Pixie referred (in the comments here) to our 2004 chrissy photo as her favourite.. so I thought I'd share the last few years of our photos since I was capable of putting them on a webpage. Reverse chronological order. You can see the progression of graphics abilities... with variations in inspiration. And it's a chance to rejoice in our gorgeous girls - a nice change from my usual grumblings and whingeing about them!
This one for 2003 said 'Wishing you a magical Christmas...':
Labels: Christmas, reflections
Monday, December 11, 2006
A mixed bag.
Generally a great weekend, with only this persistent cough, and non-specific uptightedness during Saturday that I realised mostly came from discussing our christmas travel plans with my mother, to spoil a nice low-key normal family weekend. Like managing to pull out one or two ear wax flavoured sweets out of an otherwise yummy flavoured pack of Bertie Botts Every Flavour Beans. Left me with that 'errgh' taste in my mouth until I got some more of the sweet tutti-frutti candy flavoured ones! Metaphorically speaking of course. In reality it was me sort of grumping around with clenched teeth for a few hours wondering why I was feeling all sort of shitty. In amongst a few precious 'Wouldn't be dead for quids!' moments.
Marc and I got up early and went into the community ride. I did very well waking up early - no moanings or grumblings at all.. though he thinks I could do better by actually getting out of bed before him. We were in bed before 10.30... surprising how much easier it is to get up if you've had a reasonable amount of sleep. (And then in the afternoon I went up and had a nap! Me.. a daytime nap?! Unheard of... Who said a leopard can't change its spots?)
Home by 9.30.. phone call from my mother. "Are you up yet? Because I thought too bad if you're not because I wanted to go shopping."
"Yes, we were up at 5.00, and we've been into town on a 30 km bike ride."
"What?"
(I repeat myself.)
"130km?"
"Um, no Mum... it's only 9.30!.. we only did 30km in that time! .
(So much for acknowledging the achievement of having done what we did.)
Then:
"Ah, so got your email about coming here on your way home from the Blue Mountains."
"Yes." (I sent it after we made the Decision that Had to be Made)
"So, we'll have a family get together New Years Eve"
"Yes, ok."
"So did you want to stay more than one night?"
"Ah.. no... we want to get home". (To the beach... seriously what's there to do in the hot, humid northwest suburbs of Sydney apart from sitting around feeling hot?)
"Oh. Ok"
(Why is it anything I decide to do always seems to come up short... )
And then it was discussions about christmas present ideas for the kids, of which I have none. But it's not really acceptable to think that. Somehow.
I suppose anyone reading that will wonder what is wrong with me. It's the tone that gets to me more than anything. And the bottom line is that I'm a terrible nark who doesn't get all warm fuzzies from the compulsory family get-togethers... and is getting more and more tense about her mother as time goes on. It's decreed. It's in the genes. I'm not sure how to shake it off.
Marc was a busy boy all weekend.. and managed to install the cargo barrier in the Landcruiser.. Every now and then I had to be his 'gofer'... but he's the one with the 'high level of technical proficiency' recommended on the instructions.. Another Daddy job well done.
And we went down to the beach for a late swim both afternoons... Highlight of the weekend really.. body surfing with Dad... followed up by a BBQ. Saturday night, after we enjoyed lamb steaks for dinner, he exclaimed "It doesn't get much better than this!" The girls thought it could if we'd done the beach in the morning as well, but we told them the Mummy and Daddy time, riding our tandem, without them, in the morning was quite perfect! Hah.
But the surf was great. OK, not the best waves ever, but catchable. After so many years not being able to go in the water at the same time as him (because of baby/child supervision issues), it's great being able to get out there, and, with some tips and encouragement from him, get better and better at catching waves. Zoe is right by herself in the shallows (too much of a wuss to come out). Cait is out the back with us, and Alison comes out if they take a boogie board, and/or there isn't any seaweed. I had hoped that a couple of goes at the ultimate 'saltwater gargle' might improve my cough. Jury is still out on that.. I felt great on Saturday night, but it's still hanging around.
Afternoons like that, though, make me appreciate where we live. How lucky we are to be able to just wander down to the beach, and to enjoy a surf with hardly another soul around. And possibly because he is away so much these days, I really treasure the times we spend together - just him, me and the girls. Both those afternoons, standing there drying off in the late afternoon sun, I felt that all was right with the world.. well.. my little world anyway. Pity you can't bottle that sort of thing up and give it away as a Christmas pressie. Pity you need to wrench yourself away from all that, and refocus on the angst of some thing to buy my kids and my nephews for Christmas.
I didn't actually achieve much else, apart from vaguely supervising Alison's packing for school camp (ironing name tags on her clothes at nearly midnight and discovering smuggled lollies in her toiletry bag!) Did manage to stay away from the blogging, which is probably a good thing, considering how long I've been fiddling around here this morning.
Yesterday we also managed to take the photo for our annual Christmas card. Which I get prints of for the 'luddites' (and friends who I know really like to have a real card.)
But I also put it on a web page... to save the trees.
Sneak preview?
See. I do work up to a bit of Christmas Spirit. TM. Tracey style.
Marc and I got up early and went into the community ride. I did very well waking up early - no moanings or grumblings at all.. though he thinks I could do better by actually getting out of bed before him. We were in bed before 10.30... surprising how much easier it is to get up if you've had a reasonable amount of sleep. (And then in the afternoon I went up and had a nap! Me.. a daytime nap?! Unheard of... Who said a leopard can't change its spots?)
Home by 9.30.. phone call from my mother. "Are you up yet? Because I thought too bad if you're not because I wanted to go shopping."
"Yes, we were up at 5.00, and we've been into town on a 30 km bike ride."
"What?"
(I repeat myself.)
"130km?"
"Um, no Mum... it's only 9.30!.. we only did 30km in that time! .
(So much for acknowledging the achievement of having done what we did.)
Then:
"Ah, so got your email about coming here on your way home from the Blue Mountains."
"Yes." (I sent it after we made the Decision that Had to be Made)
"So, we'll have a family get together New Years Eve"
"Yes, ok."
"So did you want to stay more than one night?"
"Ah.. no... we want to get home". (To the beach... seriously what's there to do in the hot, humid northwest suburbs of Sydney apart from sitting around feeling hot?)
"Oh. Ok"
(Why is it anything I decide to do always seems to come up short... )
And then it was discussions about christmas present ideas for the kids, of which I have none. But it's not really acceptable to think that. Somehow.
I suppose anyone reading that will wonder what is wrong with me. It's the tone that gets to me more than anything. And the bottom line is that I'm a terrible nark who doesn't get all warm fuzzies from the compulsory family get-togethers... and is getting more and more tense about her mother as time goes on. It's decreed. It's in the genes. I'm not sure how to shake it off.
Marc was a busy boy all weekend.. and managed to install the cargo barrier in the Landcruiser.. Every now and then I had to be his 'gofer'... but he's the one with the 'high level of technical proficiency' recommended on the instructions.. Another Daddy job well done.
And we went down to the beach for a late swim both afternoons... Highlight of the weekend really.. body surfing with Dad... followed up by a BBQ. Saturday night, after we enjoyed lamb steaks for dinner, he exclaimed "It doesn't get much better than this!" The girls thought it could if we'd done the beach in the morning as well, but we told them the Mummy and Daddy time, riding our tandem, without them, in the morning was quite perfect! Hah.
But the surf was great. OK, not the best waves ever, but catchable. After so many years not being able to go in the water at the same time as him (because of baby/child supervision issues), it's great being able to get out there, and, with some tips and encouragement from him, get better and better at catching waves. Zoe is right by herself in the shallows (too much of a wuss to come out). Cait is out the back with us, and Alison comes out if they take a boogie board, and/or there isn't any seaweed. I had hoped that a couple of goes at the ultimate 'saltwater gargle' might improve my cough. Jury is still out on that.. I felt great on Saturday night, but it's still hanging around.
Afternoons like that, though, make me appreciate where we live. How lucky we are to be able to just wander down to the beach, and to enjoy a surf with hardly another soul around. And possibly because he is away so much these days, I really treasure the times we spend together - just him, me and the girls. Both those afternoons, standing there drying off in the late afternoon sun, I felt that all was right with the world.. well.. my little world anyway. Pity you can't bottle that sort of thing up and give it away as a Christmas pressie. Pity you need to wrench yourself away from all that, and refocus on the angst of some thing to buy my kids and my nephews for Christmas.
I didn't actually achieve much else, apart from vaguely supervising Alison's packing for school camp (ironing name tags on her clothes at nearly midnight and discovering smuggled lollies in her toiletry bag!) Did manage to stay away from the blogging, which is probably a good thing, considering how long I've been fiddling around here this morning.
Yesterday we also managed to take the photo for our annual Christmas card. Which I get prints of for the 'luddites' (and friends who I know really like to have a real card.)
But I also put it on a web page... to save the trees.
Sneak preview?
See. I do work up to a bit of Christmas Spirit. TM. Tracey style.
Labels: Christmas, daily, introspection
Thursday, December 07, 2006
Letter to Santa...
Oh the agony. Do I join the Christmas Resistance Movement?
"You know holiday shopping is offensive and wasteful. You know Christmas "wish lists" and "gift exchanges" degrade the concept of giving. You know Christmas marketing is a scam, benefiting manufacturers, stores, and huge corporations, while driving individuals into debt. You know this annual consumer frenzy wreaks havoc on the environment, filling landfills with useless packaging and discarded gifts."I know all this... So will I join.. or will I "cave in and go shopping."?
And, the reality is that I will cave in and go shopping, because I am too gutless! And I can't do it to my kids. Particularly when Little Ms 8 knows Santa comes every year. He finds us whereever we spend Christmas, despite the fact that she has never sat on his lap, and probably still wouldn't, even if you paid her. Funny how the older two are not about to let the cat out of the bag.. they have heard about this 'scaling down' of santa sacks thing that can happen once you let Mum know you're a cynic. They will keep Zoe believing till she's 18 if they can.
As a bit of a protest over the years I have never encouraged the writing of wishlists to Santa by the children, because I believe it engenders a too much of a 'want, want, want' ethic (Plus it took the pressure off having to succumb to buying crap that I didn't want them to have.)
I have also always scorned the writing of lists of what I want (for christmas or birthdays). If my loved ones are incapable of paying me enough interest throughout the year to pick up on some idea of some nice surprise gift.. and if I have to write down the exact details of whatever it is... then I may as well just go get it myself. I refuse to feign surprise over a present that I have all but gone and got and wrapped myself.
So, in the most outrageous display of double standards, particularly after this post, I am going to cave in to the 'tag' put out by rootietoot and then northern girl. This is a self-centred 'I WANT' letter to santa!!
Dear Santa
Well, yes, I do feel a bit of a fraud writing this to you. As Northern Girl says, there isn't anything I actually need. And there are billions of people out there who need a whole lot more than I do. I am leading a very fortunate life, and we are managing to equip ourselves with most things that we'd like, sooner or later. .. and not necessarily just because it's Christmas or a birthday. (Mind you, if the elf magic extends to dabbling in genetic modification for humans , then a housekeeping gene as Blair requests, would be top of my list. Seems there could be a few of us, so you might be able to work some miracle with a bulk order. If you can't do a new gene, then maybe a genie would do the trick!)
But.. materially speaking... these are some things I would be deliriously happy about if they appeared in my living room on Christmas morning. Slight problem with some of them, as we will be away in a holiday house.. and transporting them home might be difficult. Let's be hypotheticial then...
I'd love a new tandem that is as cool as our Co-motion triplet. A Co-motion or a Santana (a touring model rather than a road bike) would be nice. (And if you dropped it off, it would save all the hassles of getting one freighted over from the US, or some other far flung country, and if we miraculously came by one of them, we'd just give away our old tandems so as to convert someone else to the wonders of tandeming.)
I also wouldn't mind a single road bike. I've kind of got the 'go fast' bug now from riding our Santana road tandem.. and my MTB is a bit slow on the road. (I still want to do some dirt road riding... so I don't really want to get rid of my MTB!...)
While I'm talking bikes, a new bike jersey or two (maybe a cool one from Team Estrogen.. pick one that caters for larger sizes and not stick figures though!).. oh.. and I need a bike pump that will fit on my mountain bike. (Either that, or we need to put the bottle cages in a new place, and there are clever bottle cage brackets so you can stick the bottles behind your seat.)
From bike riding to camping.. we are trying to get ourselves set up to do some 4WD camping, and the next thing we need are roof bars for the landcruiser. Then one of those Thule roof pods.. And if I could get one of these Drifta kitchens, I'd think I was Christmas!
In terms of more normal requests though, like a lot of people, I'd love to upgrade my camera. My current one is only 2.1 megapixel, with 3x optical zoom.. so I'd love something better than that. Surprise me.. I'm not really technical, so too many options will just confuse me, but with more megapixels, and more zoom, I might turn into a better photographer, hey.
(There's another side of me that would like one of those really small, slim digital cameras so that I'd always have it with me, and be able to take lots of candid shots - which is really more the direction I'm destined to go with my photography...)
And if I don't deserve any of all of that.. (which I probably don't because I deserve a kick up the backside for so many reasons) well, there's always the latest book by Fiona McIntosh, or Kate Forsyth.< I've been tempted to buy them in the shops recently, but felt too guilty to do so. My conscience has a limit.
I could say chocolate and wine, but I'd really rather I didn't get tempted with all of that. It's going to be hard enough as it is. And if I want to look the part on any bike I am riding, then what I really need from you, Santa, is a magical dose of willpower so that I can tackle 2007 with a new outlook - and far less time spent sitting on my backside writing and reading blogs!!
love
Tracey. Aged 44.
TAG! dear reader (if there's any more of you!) - You're it. Your turn.
Labels: Christmas
