A Christmas Vow *Warning* This Blog contains no Joy

Due to the fact that I hate Christmas I have lost all creative ability and thought to myself "self, hmmmmm, bit of a problem here"
I hate Christmas for so many reasons but my family are not with me on this so I am kinda spoiling it for them. I doubt that I have enough time to book in a therapist to work out my deep hatred for this time of year so I will have to take some positive action and break away from the December blues. The sad thing is that it isnt just me and once you get a flock of Christmas haters together the whole December Blues turns into an End of Year Disorder and there are so many people that subscribe to this way of thinking with so many gripes and griefs and misgivings that it all spirals into a month long of bleakness.
So enough Gripes
Enuff Grief
and no more misgivings.


I vow and declare that I will make every effort to complete all tasks required of me this month and I will Harden the *&^% up (as Chopper Reed would say) and stop wallowing.
Today I finish an order I should have done 2 weeks ago!!!
Oh, and I JUST received a notice from my son saying he has a xmas concert today at 12:00pm. Argh I HATE Christmas Carols. I dont even relate to them, it doesnt snow here, Im not religious and I am not joyous.....................ok ok my positive attitude starts... ummm..................OK im working up to it, it starts...........................sigh.............almost there......it starts ..........erk this is gonna be so outside my comfort zone.... ...........IT BLOOMIN' WELL STARTS NOW!!!!!

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The weekends! Blink and they're gone!

This weekend I weeded my secret garden.

I admired my mini grove and thought "What water restrictions?" I have never watered anyhow and 2 years ago this was grass. Now I have a mini grove.

I got my printer working brilliantly..

I got my 6 year old to paint his first canvasses

I got my teenage daughter to do some canvasses

(red hot chilli peppers blasting in the background)

Almost finished

And then it was Monday again(insert sad face here)

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SIMPLIFY ME FRIDAY

And so it was done!

I didnt need to think about where to start simplifying, I already knew. I am fortunate enough to be in the position to get away with this philosophy most of the time 'if it aint fun, dont do it!" (Thanks Dear M for making that possible)


So I called the lovely E from my club and I asked her to take over the Newsletter and at the Thursday meeting I will resign my position from the committee and hand over the keys. Brilliant. Took me a year to do that. I wont be making toys for charity anymore. Its time I spent the time making money to contribute before we become charity cases!!

I will wind down all other things that I think are obstructing my new path and be commitment free by Jan 30th next year. Its already in motion.


For the next year I will say no to everything except chocolate, gifts and shiney sparkley tools. If I find anything moderately boring or obstructive I will treat it with the disdain it deserves and disregard it. My business is top priority in 2008 and everything else will have to wait..that rhymed!

Now to put it into action...well its on a blog right, therefor its as good as done right!! I HAVE to do it now!! Right??

Enough chatter, we all know people read blogs for the pictures!

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This is what was today

The oven cooks with such ferocity that even when turned down 20 degrees less and minus 15 minutes in the oven the pies came out with carcinagenic crusts. My husband saw them through pumpkin pie lusting eyes and disregarded the blackey brown bits and still insisted late last nite that they are fine to take to his friends at his old work. I went to bed and pictured my impending shame. The women I was to hand them to was reknowned for her skills at EVERYTHING, especially cooking. I fell asleep with scenarios of the handing over of the pies running through my head. At about 6am my Dear M came and kissed me good bye and may have whispered I love you but all I heard were these magic words "you dont have to take the pies in, im sorry I asked you to do it" I was so relieved and then I thought " omg he saw how burnt they were and didnt want to be embarrassed" Who cares. My public humiliation was averted!

So I get up as usual. I rush to the shops at 7am to get a Joyce a card, make kids lunches, make sure Z is going to go sit his exam today which he wagged the other day(stress levels rising as I type that) and finally all 4 kids are off to school, some with odd socks, but all with lunches in hand. No teacher will be pestering me today because a kid forgot their lunch and I wont have to ask a teacher when they call " is my kid dying, if he isnt dying, if its not life threatening, if its not something that is REALLY important, then please dont call, I work too ya know" (thinks back to a time a teacher called me out of a meeting and wanted me to rush to my sons aid because he got a shoe wet.........)

So off I go, thinking Im late. I hand Joyce her birthday card and she says in her lovely Yorkshire accent" its nawt me birthday teday luv, its next week" ... So she insists I leave the card there, the card that reads "belated happy birthday" and I choof off to the craft shop with her and realize I am not late, im half an hour early... so we wait...

Even with an ominus start to my day I got the list sorted

Bracelet fixed and delivered to craft shop,

Joyces Birthday card delivered early

Joyce delivered early,

Oh and Joyce is going to be 83 not 84!!!


Ink cartridges in the printer.... After I bought 2 BLACK ones by mistake and had to spent my last pennies buying a color one....of course I opened the second black cartridge before I realized it was black, hence, no refund.That was yesterday. Today I spent an hour in the troubleshooting manual trying to get it to work. Refills are evil and I blame them for this printer drama.

Awesome. Job's done!

Job for tomorrow

Simplify life

Blog ya tomorrow

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This is what was Wednesday

Good Grief. 37 degrees. That shouldn’t be legal!
I have 7 pumpkin pies to make today for Thanksgiving tomorrow. M gets 3(he is going to share it with the kids I hope), his work gets 2 and his surrogate mother from his last work gets 1 and a friend gets 1. It’s so lovely of him to get his wife to make pumpkin pies for everyone from him. I don’t mind the accolades. Not much else I will be famous for. I could make any kind of pie really and they wouldn’t know because Aussies don’t generally know what the &^%# a pumpkin pie is. My first thought was “what??? You put a pumpkin in a pie, you people are sick? But then M responded the same when he saw his first 4 & 20 meat pie, “what??? You put ground up cow and gravy in here, you people are sick!!”
My husband is from Ohio, hence the epicurean shock from both sides. We may look vaguely similar and we make speak our own versions of the English language that some times need translation but trust me, there are vast cultural differences between me(a dinky die true blue aussie) and my dear M ( something about yanks here)
So I learned to make pumpkin pie and my dear M developed passion for meat pies. I personally can’t stand pumpkin pies. But I share my passion for meat pies, clearly, my bouncy hips and girdle can attest to that!!!

So today is pie day!
Next..I also need to get a new cartridge because I buggered the one we refill. I could buy a new printer for the cost of the cartridges and I will have a little cry on the inside when I pay for it. Hopefully I will remember to NOT clean the copper flat thingy bit with a harsh scratchy no name paper towel. OK ok I read the instructions but ignored them.
I have a Newsletter to print out!! It’s late!! They might sack me! Now there’s a thought. No more committee meetings, no more editorial duties………… Nah, I couldn’t do it. I’m just being a whinger. Mental note to self *you are out of printer paper too* Foine!! Add that to today’s list.

Email just in from my mum
Hi Melanie,
I’m planning to come over about 12.30 – should be good for weeding etc. and rain is supposed to ease by afternoon.
John has made you a curry. I will make something for the children so that you can have a cooking free day.
Thanks
Mum

BEFORE

INBETWEEN

THE GARDNER , Jobs Done!!

Awesome!! Don’t ya just love mums! She is thanking me for letting her come over and weed my garden, fertilize it and plant vegies in it? Wow, I hope my kids don’t think I will be gratefully exploited when I am older. I will bake her a pumpkin pie as a thanks to her and my step dad. What a good step dad eh? He makes me individually served curries because My Dear M is epicureanly challenged and won’t eat Indian food or any thing foriegny looking.
Ok so make that 8 pies

Next on list
Get a card for Joyce’s 84 Birthday. Wow! 84. I don’t know what kind of cake to make her because she is a diabetic. I guess I could get a cracker and attach a candle to it. Everything has sugar in it. I really wanted to get her something fabbo but what do you get an 84 yr old that already has everything, including a speedy scooter that I try to race on foot but cant. I can’t make her anything. She is one of those people that could probably make it better anyhow and I will look like I am handing her a show and tell piece from kinder by comparison. While I am making sugary pumpkin pies I will come up with a sugar free birthday idea.

Next on list
A lady was perusing one of my handmade bracelets in the craft shop and she wanted to buy it so as Murphy’s Law would have it, the darn thing broke when she tried to undo it. It wasn’t an undoing one anyhow but nevertheless she still wanted it anyhow. I was chuffed indeed. She also mentioned some one else might be interested, so please make more. YAY
Make 8 pumpkin pies
Get Ink cartridges
Printer paper
Card for Joyce
Idea for Joyce’s present
Fix bracelet and modify
Make 2 more to replace it in shop.
This all has to be done TODAY. When, I don’t think I heard you right? TODAY
Ok ok
Gtg bbl ttfn omg!!

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