Monday, December 31

New Year's Eve 5.30pm

It's pretty quiet around here, apart from the call of the Tamagotchi. The girls are away for a couple of days and Tom is having a nap. Because the girls are away I am answering the calls of not one, but two, Tamagotchis. It's nerve wracking because I don't want to be responsible for their deaths.

As well as that I am having my annual New Year meltdown. I don't really know why it happens, something to do the pending fresh start, a new beginning full of promise and a lot of angst about how badly I am likely to fuck it up. As well as a healthy dose of overwhelm about what I still want to do in my life. I have no valid reason to think I will fuck it up, although I can say I've managed it a few times in the past. However, 2007 has been a fairly good year in many ways, not least that I managed to complete two qualifications that have been hanging over my head for some time. I also finally left my job to go it alone in my business. The girls are happy, healthy and a constant source of entertainment and Tom and I are doing fine with no plans to become a divorce statistic anytime soon. Of course there have been low points but I won't dwell on those.

Whatever the past has been, at this time of year I still always manage to feel a bit lost, a bit apprehensive and a bit directionless. So this year I've decided to do something different. I'm going to sit down and make some lists. Not resolutions, because we all know those are made to be broken. Just some 'I'd quite like to...' or 'At some stage I may...' type of suggestions to myself. A short list of possibilities for 2008. Because the best thing about the future is possibility and really.....the possibilities are endless. Stay tuned.

Wishing you a happy and abundant 2008!!

Friday, December 28

Three days later....

....the trifle is finished, most of the leftovers are eaten, the nativity is packed up and the bin men just came and emptied our rubbish bin of all the paper and packaging that was filling it. Thank you bin men.

Christmas was a huge success, after the present opening (at 6am) the day was spent eating, drinking, playing several thousand games of Cluedo, Snakes & Ladders, Go Fish and Old Maid and generally relaxing. I can honestly say it is the most relaxed Christmas I have ever had. No long drives, no visitors, no cooking for a crowd. It was lovely. I missed my sisters as I always do at this time of the year but it was bearable (unlike the Christmas I spent crying in the bedroom at Tom's parents' place - but that's another story).

My presents were all great (he pretty much kept to the list I had provided) so I got, among other things, a new Bodum (yes, I know, a bit practical despite what I said about practical gifts, but something I really wanted) a copy of Nigella Feast (as I've previously mentioned I hate to cook but I like reading recipe books and watching cooking shows on TV - I know, I don't understand it either and T is totally bewildered by it). I also got a computer game. Don't be shocked - I'm not killing aliens or assassinating politicians. It seems strange to even me that I wanted a game. However I have heard many positive things about this game called Civilisation so I wanted to play it. Apparently it is a game of skill and strategy and that's something I enjoy so I am venturing into the world of computer games. I'll let you know how that goes....if you don't hear from me again you'll know I'm hooked.

Currently Tom and the girls are playing cricket in the back garden while I blog and take care of the Tamagotchis. Both of the girls got one for Christmas and Hannah is very good with hers. Aislin, being only 4, has limited patience with its demands, so I find myself regularly answering its call to feed it, play with it or clean up its poop, so that the little bastard creature doesn't die. Fortunately all of this is electronic so no actual feeding and cleaning is necessary - just some button pressing. Yet another aspect of motherhood I didn't see coming.

Tuesday, December 25

Repeat the sounding joy....

Merry Christmas to you and yours.


Wreath


Monday, December 24

Angels

Every Christmas eve should have a couple.....

Saturday, December 22

Just some bits and pieces

The party yesterday was fine, the rain held off and a good time was had by all. The rain started again after the party and hasn't really let up since - but this is good. There ends today's weather report. If my (often silent) readers wonder if I'm obsessed by weather they'd be right. I can't help it. In winter it's because my Scottish blood craves cold and rain (and snow really but I'm not completely stupid, I know that isn't going to happen). In summer it's because I am dreading the hot days, I don't like the heat, it makes me miserable. It's worse right now in our in-the-process-of-being-renovated-so-as-yet-not-airconditioned-house. I even have a 'weather' label on this blog. God I'm sad.

Next....

This morning I looked around my (unrenovated) lounge room and wondered what the hell visitors from another planet would think if they stopped by this morning. The tree in the corner covered in lights and strange ornaments (trust me they are strange), the elf sleeping in a shoe box under that tree (long story). The group of middle easterners and livestock crowded round a baby in a water trough that is sitting on the side table. And me, still in my PJs alternately drinking coffee, separating squabbling children and typing madly on this little square thing. Humans are bizarre. Just an observation.

Also....things I never thought I'd hear my husband say....

.....'Perhaps I'll just meet him this afternoon and go for a game of golf...' Excuse me? Golf? In all the years I've known Tom I've never heard him say anything good about golf. He mocks golf. He is scathing in his attitude to golf. However today, apparently, he is meeting an old friend (who is back in town for Christmas) and they will play GOLF. When I stopped laughing I asked him if he actually knows how to play golf. It seems he knows how, he just doesn't like it and can't do it very well. How I wish I could be there to witness that. Tom playing golf is to me like the cat cooking dinner. Unnatural and unlikely.

A little about Tom's gift buying capabilities...

First, because I know he reads this blog. Tom, I love you. Now....on with the mocking. In all the years we've been together Tom has given me many gifts. The first, was a thank you and goodbye gift when he was leaving to live in Darwin, we had agreed not to do the long distance relationship thing so we broke up. After vacating his flat, he'd been staying with me in the lead up to his departure, so he presented me with a beautifully wrapped gift. I opened it in eager anticipation, this was something I could keep forever, a momento of the time we had together, so sad, so tragic would be our lost love... and in my old age I would open a box of dusty treasures and settle my rheumy gaze on.....this coffee mug. Certainly a nice coffee mug, a beautiful mug in fact, fine procelain with a naive art image on it. But really, a coffee mug as a symbol of our short romance? Perhaps not. However I did love that mug until it broke. I'm not good with fragile stuff. To cut a long story short he didn't stay in Darwin, he came back 3 months later and, well....here we are.

The years in between have been filled with gifts, some beautiful, some ghastly, some strange and puzzling and some downright disappointing. Among the beautiful are the Yves St Laurent pyjamas, the journal bound in fine Chinese paper, good quality photo albums, books and a few years ago now, my first digital camera. All of these puntucated by such presents as the 4 litre casserole dish, the cheese grater (a microplane grater mind you), the dustbuster and the winner.....the chess set (don't ask, I have no idea). It's not that he doesn't know me, it's more that we have a different view of gift giving, all of those things are items that I have said I wanted at some time or another. To him if it's practical and you have at some point mentioned you'd like one, then it is fair game in the present giving stakes. For me, unless I have specifically requested a practical item, gifts should be something I wouldn't buy myself, perhaps a little impractical even, a luxury item ...indulgent. When I say I want a big casserole dish, I mean at some stage I will buy a big casserole dish. Anyway, it is always an adventure and while I am now careful to create a wish list and leave it in an obvious place there is still always the possibility of a 'surprise'. Ahem. Roll on Tuesday - I'll keep you posted.

So there you are, just a big pile of nothing in today's post. I can now spend the rest of the day getting on with my Christmas preparations, happy in the knowledge that I have once again provided the internet with my pointless musings.



Friday, December 21

Summer?

We knew last night a storm was coming....

And this morning, down came the rain....

The wattle tree is dripping.....

And the spider has moved out....


And we're going to an outdoor party this afternoon. Uh oh.








Wednesday, December 19

Elfing my children...

...just to ensure plenty of material for their therapist in years to come....

Check it out here