And we will frantically scrub the horrible white tiles on the kitchen floor in preparation for you.

We are ever-so-grateful to the most excellent Wombat (who we hope will keep the wild parties to a minimum, lest she incur the wrath of the neighbour/s).

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Then there was packing! and gnashing teeth over the toiletries v clothing ratio (far too heavy on the toiletries side).

Then there was foot-stomping and the why can’t we go now.

Then there was more tidying and some mending.

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Because I’d packed away my camera, I took the above snaps with the werk-iphone and while uploading discovered this, which Don noticed on the footpath one recent, rare afternoon when we walked home together.

I’ve had Sister Havana in my head ever since.

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Then after a day doing little else, the InformationSuperHighway rewarded me with this:

And I have been giggling ever since, though I am not one to anthropomorphise, this is totally Donaldo and I at around 2am after a (rare) party – no guesses as to who is whom.

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And then, after a couple of wines, I was inclined to bust out the Shoebox Of Ancient Photographs and force poor Donaldo to gaze upon them.

Oh Bessie & Joe/Frank, you were (and are) such adorable poppets!

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Not a lot achieved but the packing involved impromptu inclusion of uno cards, where in the quiet times we will totally kick Joan’s proverbial.

He is becoming so very bold that I can get within less than a metre of him for photographing purposes and neither of us flinch at all.

Horrid, adorable beast. Am sure we’d love to make a pet of him.

But, last night, I had ghastly dreams of him leaping his way through the screen door and devouring us (or scratching us with his pointy claws), whereupon I woke up shrieking – Don was so exhausted after Too!Much!Golf! that he did not turn a hair.

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Today my beloved and I slept in until 8am(ish). Truly, a Christmas miracle(!) that there was no golf!

We breakfasted, walked down GPR to deliver donations to St Vinnies (which have been hovering at the door for a good month), buy a tomato and capsicum for our cuban black bean soup, pick up a Big Issue for Joe/Frank¹ and grab a coffee from the fab new local cafe.

Then we did some chores and Don visited the driving range (yeah totes quel surprise!).

Then, I read a good deal more of this very inspiring blog – truly people have amazing lives.

Because he is a Very Good Boy, Joe/Frank took the rubbish out and came across a parcel in the stairwell of our (non-secured) foyer addressed to me. Holy!Goodness! Mailman, if you cannae be bothered to walk up the 4 flights of stairs, just leave a card in the sodding mailbox!

Anyway, the fabulous new book is here and after devouring it, I realised I should have had Joe/Frank flag the recipes he did not want to try.

But I am totally down with his suggestions, everything we have cooked from Homesick Texan has been utterly magnificent and is now on regular rotation! You should totally get on board with the red beans and rice: I could eat a plate (more than) twice

Then there was the cookering of the soup:

Eventually, after much wailing and gnashing of teeth and a good deal of bargaining with TheUniverse, I dragged myself out for a run – and probably gained another 200m, but that last 200m was up a giant incline (and hey, every bit extra counts). I was very pleased with myself at the end of it all – though screw you, horrid shin splints!

I’ve recently contemplated seeking the services of a personal trainer again. I was the fittest, slenderest and most gorgeous in my life when personal trainering. Imagine my surprise this morning to receive an email from my beloved Trainer, informing us she was back in town! Truly, this must be some sort of sign!

¹That boy is a voracious consumer of magazines – already we have subscriptions to The Monthly and The Week. It had occurred to me that he would probably enjoy the Big Issue. Further magazine-ish recommendations very welcomed!

I am not sure what prompted it, but I spent the morning reading blogs of mothers with profoundly disabled children.

This surprised me because I am not one to read about disability. I would say that despite having a (very much adored) child with a disability, I (subconsciously) very actively avoid any mention of or engagement with it.

I said to Don that I think this is because Joe/Frank is so high-functioning that it is easy to
fool myself into thinking that he is just like everyone else (and he very much actively strives to be so). Though we of course we interact with professional services when necessary, we mostly keep such things to ourselves. But honestly, on reflection, this does a disservice to all of us.

A good deal to think about.

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After a surly reminder phone call yesterday, I finally collected the folder I’d left on the bus all that time ago.

We then grocery-shopped and headed home to escape the insanity of the crowds which abound at this time of year.

I enjoyed tea

and crafted some bean-bags to toss about with J/F – as recommended by his new OT

After sewing up, we very badly and uncoordinatedly (as is our way) tossed them about. Much hilarity ensued.

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Then we enjoyed the wonderful evening. I love the long days at this time of year, and am utterly intrigued by the arctic bloggers who are experiencing days of 2 hours of sun! Is completely unfathomable to me!

Almost as excellent is that I have one moar work day remaining for the year! Yay!

Much, much less excellent is that Joe/Frank and I seem to be coming down with colds. This is so very much NotYay! I cannot even say.

Poor Joe/Frank is much sicker than I and has taken to his bed red-nosed, glassy-eyed and full of spoot.

I am trying to ward cold off with a combination of alcohol, denial, vitamins², positive-thinking and drugs.

Because I am employing the positive-thinking, I am confident there is sufficient time remaining for this to resolve itself and for us to be glowing with vitality when we fly out.

Today I ventured out early to buy maiden aunt and grandfather the usual stash of comestibles for xmas and while out I picked up some icy block moulds (including rockets!).

A couple of punnets of strawberries later and we were ready for our first (strawberry) paletas!

(had to top one up with a dash of greek yoghurt)

Holy!Goodness! I cannot wait to try the spicy pineapple (p.32) or the yoghurt with berries (p.40)

So simple. So summery. Golly I wish we had thought of this before we spent all of that dosh on the ice-cream maker (which we’ve since disposed of).

shame

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We had a couple of styrofoam containers on the deck filled with soil (from last year’s failed cucumber crops), but otherwise laying fallow.

I transplanted the rosemary into one of them and came out one day to find …

Tomato plants!

Sprung from who knows where or what?¹

Today, I harvested what I could (and returned an equal amount of worm-tainted ones to the soil).

Wee tomatoes!

I am willing to wager that they are horribly tasteless (just like their parents).

But let us hope that they do not go the way of the bin (I totally see a 2012 not-resolution in this).

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My maiden aunt (the only family I am in contact with) generally sends hyper-religious (which is how she rolls) Christmas cards. This year saw a change in tack and one which I could totally get on board with.

local (to her) charity card

The star is full of seeds for planting(!), appears to be hand-cut (and hand-stamped) and the back says:

Far be it from me to get all preachy on your nether regions, but some people have such challenging, difficult lives that, if you are doing well right now, it might be a nice idea to cast some of your good fortune to those who might not be so blessed and to the small, hardworking charities who are not raking in the bazillions of dollars.

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Oh well, at least it was a day (which I could ill-afford in terms of things which need completing) away from SML.

Afterward I could have attended the TeamCareerDeath Divisional post-luncheon drinks. But, I don’t know, somehow the idea of spending time with people (most excellent friends or no) who had been hard-core drinking for 5.5 hours really did not thrill me with fantastic pleasure.

Instead I ran back to SML to collect my marvellous new recipe book (which, of course, had arrived in my absence), came home to my lovely husband, donned¹ my fabulous runners and did another circuit of our surrounds (maybe 100m further than last time²).

After my face lost some of the glowing beetroot colour, we ventured out to Japanese, which was excellent as always! If you are in our land … do yourself a favour³.

And now we are home and it is very quiet, very relaxed and very pleasant.

Don is already on hols, and the weekend stretches out before us like some sort of wonderful, relaxing, full-of-potential thing which stretches out.

Buying fabulous gifts for anonymous people is something I excel at and fortunately what with the TropicalHoliday, there are no presents to buy for the immediate fam.

And so I headed off to unnamed store¹ with no plan in mind, and ended up with the most perfect gifts at the most excellent price.

yo! and only later I discovered that they light!up!

And admire my superior wrapping! And adorable cards from … the Post Office!

Truly, I should be some sort of exhorbitantly paid PA.

My team, on the other hand … it took over an hour and not inconsiderable angst to end up with … some exotic chocolate.

Some sort of Glee thing, of which I have no comprehension, but I like the punkness

Super-hero shorts for her baby brother

I commented to the fam at large “this gladdens my heart, when I was Bessie’s age I spent all of my downtime pursuing crafty endeavours”

To which Bessie responded, “yeah, but you did not have the internet”.

Truer words were never spoken.