Chugging along

Still chugging away

* Spent ALL day on the computer 'desk top publishing' stuff for Christmas

* Put together a 2005 calendar for parents - using collection of recent
photos - feeling pleased with the results.

* Had calamari - ok - squid rings for dinner with the best fish and chips
ever

* Shopped with Dh for a large container to fit all his beer bottles
in ( new hubby/hobby here lol!)

* Dh is brewing his first batch of home brew beer - EVER! He is incredibly
excited. This was a birthday gift from moi!

* Dh is now checking his 'brew' every five mins or so - he just goes and watches
the container, and then checks the temperature umpteen times - oh well!

* Got upset in the shops - can't seem to read labels
anymore like I used to. My normal glasses are too strong, so have to take them
off, or peer over the top of them each time I want to read a price label.
Grrrr... I am in bifocal denial mode!

* DH is off at work - (nuff
said!) So, off to read other blogs and catch up on emails
which I have been neglecting lately due to all the other stuff I've had to do. See you all tomorrow.

Busy is the best way to be

I used to have a porcelain plate with the motto - "Busy is the best way to be" printed on it, I think it was a strawberry shortcake plate. It got smashed by DD when she was little as she attempted to do a backflip on the couch next to the shelf it was displayed on. The plate is gone, but the message lives on.
Over the last two days I have been living up to that motto, and the hours have flown by. Here is one of the reasons why:

Its my Xmas parcel corner. I should say was, as this morning all the parcels were posted. Stefani - the big envelope is for you! So look our for it in your mailbox.

DH's hands putting on the finishing touches to the parcels.

The queue in the post office was tiny today, but the posting process is now almost painful to conduct. After filling in customs forms at home to save time later, I had to produce ID papers to prove that it was really 'me' posting off the packages, then we went though the weighing process, form filling, stamp sticking and labelling, and finally after deciding if I wanted insurance or not, deciding on the tariff preferred, I handed over the boxes. Apparently its all in name of security! With much tutting from the lady behind the counter about living 'in these uncertain times' and I was outta there!
Met up with DH who was in the beauty salon having his massage' - the gift he received from the DD's for Fathers Day. He came out floated out with a silly grin on his face looking more relaxed than he has been for ages. I manged to whip that smile off in less than 5 minutes with my agenda for the rest of the day. (sorry - not!) Between you me, I'll be glad to have a day at home tomorrow, so look out for an update later.

The most brilliant idea I've ever seen!!
Food for every taste...

Jane had a system for labeling homemade freezer meals.

She would carefully note in large clear letters, "Meatloaf" or "Pot Roast" or "Steak and Vegetables" or "Chicken and Dumplings" or "Beef Pot Pie."

Everyday when she asked her husband what he wanted for dinner, he never asked for any of those meals. She decided to stock the freezer with his various requests. What he really likes.

In Jane's freezer now you'll see a whole new set of labels. You'll find dinners with neat little tags that say: "Whatever," "Anything," "I Don't Know," "I Don't Care," "Something Good," or "Food."

No more frustration for Jane because no matter what her husband replies when she asks him what he wants for dinner, it's there waiting.

Thats what friends are for.

Off to do the quiz and see if I have enough frfriends. More on friendships later.

Time to blossom - its almost summer
Strange isn't it - that here in sunny OZ, flowers are blossoming, bees are a buzzin, things are happening in the garden, while on the other side of the world friends in UK and USA report that fall is almost upon them. Strange or wonderful? Believe it or not? Make up your own mind on this one.
With the first signs of summer and better weather, taking an evening walk and you may be nasally assulted by the 'smells' of summer - aka the barbeque out in full force. I love the smell of a bbq-ing food, as it wafts in the breeze, conjuring up happy meals - no, not the Mc'donalds variety, but of families bbq-ing together or having a party. Its nice.



We had our first summer bbq friday just gone. 5 chefs hats to the cook, alias - DH. In Oz, its almost the mandatory role of the male - to do the cooking on the BBQ for his family. Dh did us proud - with flaming sausages, crispy golden burgers, makes your mouth water just reading this. We had three different types of salad combo's, but as usual we over catered, and now we have been eating it 3 days in a row - guess who gets out of cooking for while -so I ain't complaing!

97 days till Christmas
Now Playing: Its starting to look a lot like Christmas
With teeth chattering from excitment - I have to ask - will YOU be ready in time??

Quiz Nite
Last night DD junior and I went to a quiz night. It was a church youth thing, organised as a bit of fund raiser,and it turned out to be a fun raiser too. If you 've never been to a quiz nite - then this is how it goes. You organise yourself to sit a table with people who are Mensa life members, mini Einsteins all with an IQ of several hundred points or more. At least then you stand a fair chance of winning a quiz and walking away with a table prize. All this aside, it was good fun, especially for everyone who was there. It was great to see young people having a larf, quaffing nothing stronger than tea/cofee, eating ridiculously huge portions of cheesecake, and using their brains - all at the same time!


I helped on the buffet table, putting food out, collecting plates as they were emptied and helping with the washing up later. It was good gossiping with the other mums stuck on washing up round the back, although we did find some time to consume and 'sample' some of the cakes too! I also 'helped' my dd's table to score some points, as their group was the youngest there, so they needed some serious assistance with a few of the questions. I thought some of the questions were ridiculously difficult or is my IQ slipping? OK, here's one - at what temp does water boil? Well thats easy - when it starts bubbling!
Another one - ok try this - What country starts with an A but doesn't end with an A? I got that one! ( not telling - post your answer in the comments box if you dare!) Oh, here's a tricky one - which singer had a hit in 1968 and he was the oldest singer in the UK charts? I'm not sure I knew what the name of my school was back then let alone the name of pop singers, so this was another point in the quiz that we missed out on.


DD's table still came last in spite of all the 'help' they got from me - but judging from the smiles on their faces - they didn't care as they'd had a good evening aswell. And so to bed.

International Talk Like A Pirate Day
Now Playing: What shall we do with the drunken sailor

Today is - International talk like a pirate day. So in the spirit of the ocassion, time to have a bit of blogging fun, me hearties, Cap'tn Krissie here...oy me hearties, now I'm feeling like captain Birdseye or something! LOL!! OK - if its talk about pirates then lets talk about pirates paradise which was in a small Cornish fishing village of Polperro in Cornwall UK - pirates used to sail along the coast there and hide their 'booty' of whisky and stolen goodies in the caves. I visited this town on holidya a few years ago,and 'walked'into one of those caves at low tide. They are 'cavernous' to say the least - lots of room to hide treasure chests and the like - Perilous places - safe-ish at low tide, deceptive and dangerous as the tide roars quite unexpectedly and quickly that could put anyone at risk. Still it was good to get a 'window' into the life of a pirate. Arrrr, so thats your lotfor today - so hoist the jolly roger and lets hit the tide. If yers dont leave a comment for me today - then you'll be walking the plank you land lubbers!!



P.S If all pirates looked like Johnny Depp, then even li'l ol' me could be persuaded to shin up to the birds nest in a storm! Ahoy!

To those who I know, and to those who are only passing through

Maybe some people just aren't meant to be in our lives forever, maybe some people are just passing through. It's like some people just come through our lives to bring us something; a lesson we need to learn, and that's why they are there ~ Unknown

Full speed ahead

I've noticed groundhog day creeping into my life ever so slightly over the winter months. My daily routine has been the same. The car drives in the same direction. We have the same repetative rota of winter meals, on and on it goes in ever decreasing circles. On Sunday we had one of the first warm sunny days in months and I felt the cobwebs mercifully melting away

Over here in Australia, between now and Christmas, we have an empty calendar celebration wise - sadly, we do not celebrate Halloween, (individuals do but its not a national thing)

We do not pause for Thanksgiving. From now on ? its a downhill run, and from here I can already see the tops of the Christmas trees. Oh, and is that a sleigh bell I hear in the distance?

The Christmas Grand Plan site informed me that there are ONLY 102 days till Christmas, With that in mind, and the adrenaline rush that followed, I set off to a new shopping 'maul' to look at new stuff with Christmas gift possiblities in mind.

Since we simplified (click on link here) our lives, gifts have been kept to a bare minimum. The DD's mostly get a ca$$h boost to their coffers, as buying gifts for them has become almost impossible. Much easier to part with some ca$h rather than buy gifts they won't like or need.

Dh usually gets a small gift, friends receive smallish gifts too.

We used to give the kids stocking fillers, which they enjoyed when young, once they became teenagers though, they emphatically told me to stop with this tradition!

Christmas ends costing us a ridiculously small amount in $$ terms, but that does not include food shopping. We do spend a bit more than we usually do on food/nibbles/gourmet treats over the festive season, but we also have summer here so it becomes a Christmas/ summer food combo. I will write about our Christmas trads closer to date.

Since I love to be so organised, all that is left to do is to wait for the gift wrap to arrive in the shops and then I plan to beat all the crowds and post cards, packages nice and early!

Just watch me ! Planning to be first in that Post office queue this year!

Still on the To Do list:

sort and wrap overseas gifts

post early to beat the rush

xmas cards are addressed and ready to go

Find/buy those last minute gifts before they are snatched up in shops

finish my annual online newsletter for family and close friends

buy summer wardrobe for DD junior

Look for suitable prom dresses for DD junior while they are available in shops over the summer season! ( more on THIS topic grrrr! another time)

Exit one whirling dervish holiday planner!