Merry Christmas from Jimmy!

How cute is this pup??? and just one more notch in that 'Mother of the Year' title I am aiming for by agreeing to take the 'horsey' one and Jim to have his Christmas photo taken!!

Winter weather!!!

Lots of bits and pieces to tell today, none particularly exciting. We are having the most ridiculous weather. It is meant to be Summer and that means warm and sunny but instead it is cold and wet and windy! So wet and windy that I have unexpectedly been given a whole weekend to stay indoors and try to start and finish the Christmas cards and wrap the presents!! Baseball, tennis, puppy school and a horse event were all cancelled! Must admit I'm the only one smiling, the rest of the family are disappointed. Have to also admit that it is now Sunday and I didn't get one single Christmas card written yesterday although I have written the letter to go into them which is often the hardest part, condensing a whole year into a few pages! Freddy is spending all his time inside curled up fast asleep looking very cute as this photo shows.
Jimmy on the other hand is testing the friendship. I have threatened to give him away, even pay someone to take him these last few days! The 'horsey' one did say if he goes so does she, mmm, should I suggest she start packing??? I am finding it a little frustrating that it is only my things that he eats and finding this possum wool glove that my Mother-in-law brought me back from New Zealand last year does not help! and no I did not leave it hanging around, he actually went into my wardrobe and took it from a shelf!! It hasn't helped that we have had to walk in the rain the last few days. It has been a bit harder to wear him out as much as normal. We took this photo last week after one of his walks when he struggled to even get home!

I was so spoilt last week to receive a parcel from a blogging friend in Norway 'Anne Heidi'. I have sent her some magazines during the year. I received some 'coffee' coasters, some Christmas sweets, a little Christmas doll and two of the most beautiful pewter decorations to hang on my tree, a flag and a jumper. It was such a bright moment in a busy busy week!

My darling SH brought home an exciting package during the week. After many months of will we, won't we, can we justify the cost, should we... we finally purchased our very favorite new appliance ' a Kitchen Aid mixer'. We had to order it in as we wanted to choose our color, we finally settled for 'pistachio green' - a bit hard to see in this photo. While I was out for dinner on Thursday SH and the 'horsey' one christened it by making the first batch of shortbread for the season and were super impressed, the best shortbread ever apparently and after too many tastings I'd have to agree! (for those in the States , Kitchen Aid's here are very very expensive!)

Headed off to Ballarat for the day on Friday as the 'horsey' one had her first orthodontic appointment. It went well, we don't need to be reviewed for 12 months but in that time she needs to have 9 baby teeth removed. They don't fall out by themselves and are stopping her adult teeth from coming through.

Thank you to everyone for your prayers for Aunty Jan, please keep them coming. She is not doing very well. It is very aggressive and progressing a lot quicker than expected. She is in hospital although they hope to stabilise her enough in the next few days to send her home with palliative care services.

Prayers please......

Prayers are needed please for my Aunty Jan. She has been sick since June with pneumonia and fluid on her lungs which keeps building up. She does not enjoy the best health anyway being a diabetic. After many hospital admissions and doctors appointments she has now been diagnosed with terminal cancer. The original cancer is Ovarian and she now has numerous secondaries. We were told she would enjoy Christmas but would not celebrate Easter with us. It is now doubtful that she will still be with us at Christmas this year. She lives with another Aunt and although does not have her own children has a large extended family who care about her. Mum arrived to stay with them to help out last weekend. She will stay indefinitely. They live 12 hours drive away, it is just so far. I am torn between rushing up there, my family, the silly season and work commitments. At this stage I am planning to go between Christmas and New Year but unfortunately I may need to go earlier. I am hoping that her faith will give her some comfort and courage to face the days ahead.

Teenagers !

Last week was the kids last week of school before starting summer holidays (not that we are having summer weather!!). They had exams the previous week so it shouldn't of been a hard week, finishing off a few projects, being introduced to subjects for next year, sport, films, Christmas and end of year celebrations. My darling 'HS' decided to make it a little more interesting......They attend a private school which has many rules and regulations including ones about hair......for boys it must be short (but not too short) above the collar and ears and sideburns if in fact you can grow them may only be a certain length, no product is to be used and no artificial coloring. My son is blessed with a good head of hair unlike his mother, sister and grandmother (we have a straight thin excuse for hair!), it grows quickly thickly and with some curl. He can also grow facial hair at a far too rapid rate for a teenager. He started the school term with a fresh haircut but decided a few weeks ago he was growing it all of summer to see how long it could get. Hence when the Principal lined them up after assembly last week he was issued with an order to get a haircut before Wednesday, have a decent shave and present to the office! We weren't told this until Wednesday morning when he attempted to make his hair look 'shorter' and hence he failed inspection. What followed was messages to me (at work) that he was NOT getting his haircut no matter what the consequences - sorry sunshine , sometimes in life there are things you just have to do that you don't want to! an appointment was made at our hairdressers and SH delivered him and supervised although obviously not well enough as HS was told the next day it was still not good enough and he would need another haircut! Let me point out again this is all 2 days before school finishes for the year but in aid of the schools Carol service on Thursday night and opening of the new sports centre on Friday afternoon. Anyway with enough of the forbidden product we avoided another cut and he made it through without being frogmarched down to the barbers by the Principal's secretary which has happened in other years. My sigh of relief was short lived as HS decided if he had to have his haircut he would have what he wanted so I get home from work on Friday to this

If he was looking for a reaction from us he didn't get it! SH actually thinks it looks better than what he had before. His hair grows so quickly that by the end of January he will probably need another cut. Think he will grow tired of the maintenance needed with product (putty I'm told) to keep it looking like this. Having said that I am sure Grandma will react on Christmas Day and not favorably - should be fun!!

I've got mail!!!

I received a parcel today from April (Cake makes the world a better place) in the UK . She was my swap partner in the Christmas Decoration swap organised by Indigo Blue. How lucky was I? She sent me a cross stitch card and 2 cross stitch decorations. They are just so cute. I bought a new little Christmas tree today so they have pride of place on that. We have decided we won't put up our big tree this year due to Jimmy. He eats and plays with everything ,often destroying the item in the process!! This little tree will sit in the middle of our dining table where he just can't reach!