Aquaman, be mine!

It's been raining off and on for so long, I think I'm growing webbed feet....

I had hoped the week before Christmas would be a bit cruisy. Nope. I had heaps to do. Except Christmas Eve. I did my best to have a little easier time workwise that day. There weren't very many people at work either.

I was up early. Well, not actually early. More like usual time. I thought I would make scones to take to work. They worked, and I took along jam and cream. They went down well.

I was excited for Christmas. I had bought Teen's present and MOTH had instructions to make sure he gave it to her last. He did. He left it to last. And handed it to her and took it back. And handed it to her and took it back. She was getting frustrated and wriggling on the spot waiting for it. When she finally had it and opened it, it contained another wrapped present. Sigh. And it's not even wrapped in crappy paper so I can't tear it! Oh! Oh! Oh! YOU GOT THE SHORTS!!! Oh!

She was very excited. And totally gobsmacked when she found out that I even managed to source them from the surf shop up the road!

We all got lots of great things. I even managed to get a sudoku board with all the numbers on little wooden tiles. Anyone would think I like sudoku hey. *grins* MOTH gave me a bottle of Appleton Estate Jamaican rum. *to die for!* Sunny and Judah gave me the Mummy trilogy and the complete series of American Gothic. A new quilt cover set from Froggy. I washed it straight away so I could put it on my bed. It looks great. A voucher from EB, the game store. A bath / lotion / perfume set. The scent is french vanilla and it is good.

MOTH had a voucher from Big W which he spent on the weekend. Wow. I even managed to get a bottle of ballantyne scorched almonds out of it. *swoon. faves!*

Boxing day saw us at Bestie's place for lunch. She had a baked ham, a turkey, and boston baked beans. I took a little roast pork and duck, salad. There was pumpikin pie with icecream for dessert. Someone bought a gingerbread house. Yummy! *which reminds me, the pieces are still in the car! retrieves from car and eats with icecream* We arrived around 1pm and left at 8pm! An excellent day.

Sunday the Teen left for up north for a holiday with a friend who was travelling that direction. She will be there for New Years, so I hope she stays safe. Her phone isn't working, so I can't check up on her. Heh. It's quiet. I miss her. And I miss Wogboy.

Which means, I guess, that we will be having a very quiet New Year. The Teen won't be around to keep me awake!

All in all.....

... it's been a really craptastic week. I'm tired and so ready for a break.

Wednesday, the Teen broke off with Wogboy. She's 17, nearly 18 but quite sure of what she wanted. And she wanted the whole deal, 100% committment. A home, a family. Wogboy is 18 and I don't think ready for a committment that deep. We hope they stay friends; he was a lovely boy.

Thursday I spent some time looking for a movie for one sibling for Christmas. Monsters v Aliens. A new release, so expensive. I thought I'd see if the local Blockbuster had an ex rental. Well, it hasn't even gone to weekly yet, so not really. I could put one aside for you but you would have to pay full price. Oh yes? Yes. $19.95. Done.

Friday was another wonderful day. While Admin2 is away, I'm also doing her work. One of those tasks is invoicing. I don't do this job regularly, so it takes me a little while. Add to that the system is closing down soon for the New Year. Bright and early Friday had two different sets of people wanting me to do invoices by lunch time. This is a lengthy process at the best of times. One of the managers wasn't particularly impressed to be told that the other invoice took precedence over hers.

As it turned out, the invoice that absolutely had to be done by lunch time took all day to complete anyway. I managed to slip in the other invoices so at least SOMETHING got done by lunchtime.

So glad for end of day to roll around Friday.

Saturday I kept myself busy looking for the last of the Christmas shopping. One dear sibling wanted a particular perfume. Which is old and no longer popular so is very hard to find. She gave me the name of a chain that stocked it, all I had to do was find an outlet.

Oh dear, I've left home without my notes regarding the outlet locations. We went to Mt Ommaney. Nope, not there. But there was a Smiggle store so that solved another dilemma.

Tried Jindalee at the DFO. Nope, nothing there either. But there was a 1st choice so that solved another dilemma and we no longer had to go to Brown's Plains.

Back home and this time took the effort to check the locations. Annerley. Excellent. Yay for Google maps cause then you can use street view to find out what the building looks like.

It was a lovely drive and we found what we were looking for.

Later I purchased online the tickets for the movie Sunny and I were going to watch on Sunday evening.

Sunday morning was up and baking bikkies for another siblings present. Ok, so her birthday was in August.... I thought I would include the present with the Christmas gift. I finished them and had a go at icing as well. The day was hot and humid though so the icing didn't fully set. I did the runny icing because it sets quickly and a little harder so it wouldn't matter they were all packed in a box. And no fancy bits to fall off either.

I found out that Judah would be joining us at the cinema so purchased another ticket.

Sunday lunch time I cooked dinner ready for Sunday night. I was going out. The others can figure out how to reheat it later.

Off to the movie and when we got there, the session was sold out! SO glad we bought tix online! We found seats; Sunny went out to find Judah when he arrived. Just as the movie started.

At the end, my first comment was ... WOW! It's 3 hours of total involvement, nonstop action and effects combined with a social message.

Amazing. Definitely going to my DVD collection when it's available...

PS. The movie was Avatar.

Today I asked....

... the Gods for a pretty Vietnamese boy to sit next to me on the bus (population density too high for much else really). He wasn't my idea of pretty, but he sure smelled nice. *cheerful*

The week passed by in a blur, trying to get my head around the stuff that Admin2 has left me while she is away. I only ever manage to leave her 1 job while she always leaves me at least one A4 page. I've deduced it's because I only go on leave a week at a time whereas she goes for 6. *memo to me ... get in early for Christmas next year* Two weeks worth. Yeah. That'll show her! *is such a rebel*

Thursday night the Teen slept over at Wogboy's. Friday night he slept over ours. And he was up early the next morning to go to work. I was stalking the halls when he tried to sneak out at 05:30. Ha! Caught!

A chance remark on Friday night saw Saturday morning busy; revamping, rearranging and otherwise getting hot and sweaty. Standing in my snug little study, I lamented the fact that I didn't seem to use it much. It's hot. My laptop always ends up down the other end of the house. Everytime I bring it back, it disappears down there again. I'm a sometimes culprit - I like to watch telly while surfing.

So, Reception is no more. My desk is in the rumpus room *aaahhhhhhh television! airconditioning!* the second couch has moved out to the ex-reception, MOTH's taken over the study. He's very happy with it - reception never even had a ceiling fan. *strange layout in my house. the front half of the house has no aircon, the formal areas don't even have ceiling fans. thankfully the study and my bedroom have one!*

That deserved a break and I worked hard on progressing through Tomb Raider Underworld on my DS.

Sunday morning I pulled out the overlocker. Last time I tried to use it, the lower loop thread kept breaking. I thought it might be needle changing time. But how should the needle need changing if the looper thread is the one breaking? I decided it might be the tension. But I'm not very good at judging which threads are the problem *on my sewing machine too* for adjusting the tension. I had a bit of a go, but I can't tell if it did any good.

I put it away and dragged out the sewing machine. I finally started on putting together the tote bag for the Teen. The instructions aren't the clearest I've read - I couldn't judge how it was supposed to assemble. After a false start which I spent many joyful hours UNPICKING - interspersed with stress relief in the form of the DS - I managed to work it out. Annnnnd the bobbin thread ran out halfway through a seam. *grumble. this happened the LAST time i tried to sew something* But at least this time I knew how to wind the bobbin. Started sewing again and guess what! Looks like the tension on the bobbin is frak'd. It's looping on the bottom of my sewing.

To heck with it! I don't have the cotton to waste on winding another..... this sewing gig is turning out to be more trouble than it's worth!

But Teen is sooo looking forward to having her Beatles patterned tote.....

The Christmas is coming!

And I've finally managed to get my shopping started. I always plan to start at the beginning of the year but there are always more important things to pay for instead. So it never happens and I'm left with a limited budget and little time. Long gone are the days when I could spend $50 per person and not even think about it.

Last week is a bit of a blur. Workwise, it was one of those weeks where you have a good sized list with many a good intention to complete stuff, but it never happens.

Commuting-wise it's been an exciting week!

A pedestrian dived across the road between cars and scared the heck out of the bus driver. At the next stop - a couple of metres up the road - the pedestrian jumped on, spoke to the driver and jumped off again. *shrugs*

Friday afternoon I was desperate to get home. Even more so than usual. Been a tiring week. Tootling along on the motorway and the driver MISSES the exit. Wonderful. Actually to confess, I didn't even notice. I was reading. I sensed the agitation of the passenger beside me so looked up. Unfamiliar territory. Sweet. I went back to my book. We had to detour out of our way by at least 15 minutes; thank heaven I had my book.

Saturday I talked MOTH into checking out the Sara Lee outlet. The Teen was sleeping over at a friend's place. I sent her a text to let her know we would be out. And therefore not able to pick her up.

Jumped in the car. It wouldn't start. Uh oh. Not a good sign! The battery needed charging. Luckily we have Jawsome's car! It's much sportier but I can't say I like it - no aircon! ANND the doors auto lock when you get a bit of speed on. The first time I found that out, I didn't hear the lock and then couldn't get out of the darned car. Must have looked real bright! Oh, and you can feel every bumped. Darned sport suspension....

Anyway, we checked the directory, jumped in the nonstarting car and went precisely nowhere. Jumped in the other car and we were off. I couldn't wind the window down fast enough.

We got over to Daisy Hill but by then, had forgotten where the shopping centre was supposed to be. Uh oh. Brilliant. No directory. No GPS. MOTH thought the map showed it back toward the suburb we had just driven through. Buggerit. We kept on, topped the crest and lo! There it was. It was airconditioned and lovely inside with plenty of things to tempt. Not necessarily a lot cheaper than the supermarkets markup. Certainly need to consider if it's worth the fuel to get there.

While there, a butcher from around the corner stopped by with samples. We detoured via the butcher on the way home for chilli beef and honey, garlic and herb sausages.

Back home to put the goodies in the freezer. Hurry hurry traffic! It's darned hot and I can feel myself cooking in this oven on wheels. I figure that at least dinner and dessert will be ready if we get stuck.

A call from the Teen. Help! I'm terribly hung over and it's too hot to walk home. Can you pick me up? The MOTH decided we would do that and go and finish the shopping we were supposed to do that morning....

The Teen has purchased herself a pair of Ed Hardy bikinis. They were supposed to be a size small, but they were not! I always thought the Americans underestimated their sizing by 100% or similar??

The sides of the bottom are held together with 3 metal medallions about the size of 10c pieces. We thought removing one of the medallions might help? The links holding them together broke during removal. Dang. We needed to find replacements. I needed to stop off at one of the local shops for a Christmas present for one neice.

We hunted high and low for a replacement link. Imagine a wide metal staple that's been through the stapler with no paper and you have an idea.

Eventually, after spending money on something else we may have been able to adapt, MOTH managed to charm a possible replacement out of ..... someone .... for nothing. He used three of those loops to fasten them together. Here's hoping they work! Although I think it could be alright - Ed Hardy swimmers, like most these days, are to be seen in not for getting wet!

They manage, but the material is still cut too wide.....

Sunday I wrapped presents, did washing, did baking. Apart from that, I didn't move from the relative cool of the rumpus room.

Whew. Back to work Monday for a bit of a break!

I remembered, I remembered!

Yes. It popped into one of the vacant spaces inside my head with no prior warning. Just *pop* and there it was....

I was walking to the bus. Grumbling. Which is purely a totally unexpected thing. *grins* I was grumbling about the woman in front of me towing one of those backpack/suitcases on wheels. They are so NOT appropriate in a crowd! You see the person and you can judge their position so you don't walk into them, but the case is below your range of vision and you KEEP getting your feet tangled in the thing!

HATE THEM!

Or is that just me???

Anyway, I was trying not to trip over the woman with the case when I became aware of another woman who had pulled over to lean against the wall. On the other side of me was a tall man fishing around in his pocket.

As we came level with the woman leaning on the wall, he pulled out a phone. Hello? he says. The woman turned - she was on the phone. Tom! she called, he looked at her and they fell about laughing.

Couldn't have planned that better if they had tried, could they.