I'm Totally Making Coleslaw This Weekend

I was one very lucky gal this Christmas. And my MIL totally upstaged my husband, who, God love him, refuses to hold Christmas in as high of a regard as I do.

When I made my Mock Christmas List a few weeks back I did so more as a joke than to be serious. Hubs tends to approach any gift-giving occasion semi-oblivious to hints and after ten or eleven years of having him skip over my none-too-subtle prods, we've settled into an easy and predictable pattern. He asks me what I want, I make a list, and then he ignores the list. It's a fun little game we like to play (*rolls eyes*, LOL).

So with that in mind, I purposely exaggerated my list. I wrote down things like a big screen TV, new (expensive) perfume and a hard-disk DVD player/recorder to fulfil the joke component, as well as reasonable items such as Amazon spending money and candles, just in case this was the year he was going to surprise me by paying attention :P Scattered amongst these things were also ideas I knew he'd never buy for me in a pink fit, including the DVD Anne of Green Gables trilogy (when I mention my love of All Things Anne his eyes roll so fast and so severely they come close to dropping out of his head, LOL). So, I had all my bases covered, really.

But I wasn't at all surprised (or upset, I should point out) to discover Hubs had forgone the shopping for me this year. In all fairness, we are looking to upgrade our TV in the short to medium term and that will bite a big chunk out of our already-yuletide-depleted wallet. I did, however, make one concession. I bought myself a spoon and told Hubs it was his present to me.
Yes, that's right. A spoon. Clearly, it doesn't take much to keep this mama happy!

I have been on a quest to find the perfect mixing spoon for what seems like a million years. This is where one of my little idiosyncrasies pops up that I must tell you about in order to make sense of the spoon-buying saga. Most people use wooden spoons while they're baking, right? Well I can't stand the feel of the wood on my hands. In actual fact, I'm pretty particular about my hands in general - I can't stand the feel of dry skin on them, and I use lotion several times a day to combat this. Using a wooden spoon feels like I'm rubbing them all over with fine grade sandpaper. Hubs and nearly every other person I dare mention this to either look at me like I have two heads or they laugh outright! And do you know how hard it is to find a NON-wooden spoon sturdy enough to cream butter and sugar together? They're virtually non-existent! I thought I had it in the bag when I discovered wooden spoons with rubber grips, but alas, when I'm mixing up huge quadruple batches of cookies in my super-dooper mixing bowl, even those weeny offerings don't help much. I finally found the above spoon on Christmas Eve, doing last minute shopping in my inlaws' town, and I paid $10 for the privilege. As a Christmas present, Hubs got off lightly (LOL) but as a spoon, it's horrendously expensive. It had better work!

And then. And then folks...

I was handed a very large gift on Christmas morning, from the inlaws. I was that dumbfounded at the size I actually expressed concern over it being for me. It's not that I didn't expect something from the inlaws, but I'm used to smaller (but equally thoughtful) gifts and this was one of the biggest boxes there. Imagine my delight when I found this inside:
This was one of the 'higher-end' gifts I put on my list, the ones that were supposed to be mock ideas! How spoilt am I? I've wanted a food processor for ages, but it's always been one of those things that were just beyond my reach - it didn't seem worth the $100+ to purchase one when we'd gotten away with using a knife and a stab blender for gosh-knows how many years beforehand. I actually had a sudden urge to go home and make coleslaw, just so I could test the cutting blades. I know - sad.

But what do you expect from a gal who is perfectly happy getting a spoon for Christmas? LOL.

Cheers,
Lizzie

So...Who's Already Planning For Christmas 2008?

We are home. We're overtired, over-toyed and over IT, but we're home!

We ended up staying an extra night at the inlaws' home, so all in all I managed to survive six whole days with only a 10 minute email check! Most of this afternoon has been spent unpacking bags and just kicking back, and yes, re-acquainting myself with the 'net - I've gone through three email addresses so far (one more to go), checked a couple of boards, and am now about to sit down with a cup of tea, some chocolate and my Google Reader subs. When I checked ten minutes ago there were 392 unread posts. Good grief!

I'll be checking back in in the next day or so for a more formal Christmas Round-Up post but in the meantime, I hope your Christmas was jolly and filled with all sorts of sweetness. I know mine was - the evidence is clinging fast to my hips. Sigh.

Cheers,
Lizzie

It's A Boy! And A Girl!

I'm - gasp! - having problems - heave! - coming to terms - wheeze! - with the fact that I'm going blogless for the next five or six days, LOL. I was all set to leave the laptop at home because honestly, what good is a laptop without wireless internet? But then Hubs sheepishly wanders up to me this evening and asks me whether I'm taking it.

Turns out he wants to use Baby as his personal hard drive so he can just download the contents of his digital camera's SD card as we work our way through the festivities! It probably doesn't hurt that I also have Photoshop CS2 installed as well - so he can fiddle with the post-production side of things while we're gone.

So whose laptop is it anyway? LOL.

Also, methinks it was possibly a bad, bad idea to let a newly-6 year old Lil' Miss Moo spend her birthday money less than a week before the biggest toy day of the whole year. As well as several gifts from party-goers on Wednesday, she received $20 from her Uncle, $10 from one of her friends and she put in $10 of her saved pocket money to buy these the following day:


Meet Molly and Dillon. We 'adopted' them for half price, which was the reason that tipped me over to a 'yes' in the end. The catalogue said $80 (AUD) full price (we bought at $40) but I found these on ebay for a buy-it-now price of $84 US ($97 AUD) so perhaps we got an even better deal than we thought - they're virtually identical, minus some hair and eye differences. And the best part was, Miss Moo paid for them all by herself :) Boy, was she ever pleased! She's alternating who gets to spend the night in her bed.

Also, if you look really closely, you can see that she is wearing odd socks. This has bothered me no end for days.

And that's a wrap for me folks - see you on the 27th/28th!

Cheers,
Lizzie

Congrats Hubs & A Christmas Story

Firstly, we interrupt our regularly-scheduled blogging activity to bring you the following news announcement: My wildly handsome (of course) and very talented Hubs finished up his 'big deal' training yesterday and cruised in near the top of the class. I'm so proud of him, especially because despite the fact that I know he is awesome at his job, he's been particularly stressed about doing his best over the last four weeks. His job is in the 'public service' sector and this kind of training is absolutely essential, so I'm so happy for him :) Congrats hon!

Of course, yesterday afternoon after his last evaluation session he and his workmates went out to celebrate and consumed their fair share of alcoholic beverages, meaning he had to get a lift home, leaving his car in the city overnight, and not in a parking garage either but on the side of a road near a tram station. We're both hoping it's still there today - he's just left to catch the bus back into the city to bring it home. But with last night's storm, the current status of the car is secondary - I'm just glad he got home safe.

As soon as he gets home (and he doesn't know this yet, LOL, but...) he's driving me into the shopping centre where I have at least a couple of hours of last minute shopping to do before we leave for the holidays tomorrow. I'm hoping by the time we get in there (at least 3pm at this rate) most of the insane people will have finished up and gone home. I've had a hard time this year enjoying one of my usual Christmas pasttimes, which is to wander the shopping centres and malls, listening to Christmas music (I must be old - I'm remembering and enjoying the same Nat King Cole songs my parents listened to 20 odd years ago - and they were 'old' then :P) and just soaking up the atmosphere. I think this has a lot to do with the fact we're still shopping in December, which is, obviously, one of the stupidest things one can do in December.

Oh, and I'm having all sorts of trouble finding these:


To understand why these are an essential part of our Christmas experience, you have to first travel with me back to the mid-eighties...

My mother had this amazing ability to turn three potatoes and a scrawny chicken into a lavish feast on Christmas Day. Oftentimes money was scarce but they somehow managed to pull together a holiday that sparkled. But I'm getting ahead of myself...

Dad was the biggest kid at Christmas. When I was younger I used to have him sit down with me on Christmas Eve while Carols by Candlelight played on the TV in the background and tell me all about the Christmases he spent as a young boy in the Fifties and early Sixties (or, you know, The Olden Days ;P). I asked him all about the presents he got (his favourite was a cowboy suit - a quintessential experience for small boys at the time I gather), the food they ate, the things they did, the people they visited with. I was totally fascinated.

With not much spare money about, my folks were the King and Queen of making a little seem like a whole lot. I distinctly remember one year getting a 'make your own' iceblock (popsicle) mould and being completely and utterly thrilled by that. And a diary with a real lock! The presents were small but thoughtful (and sometimes practical, like the year I received a desk fan and a laundry hamper!) It didn't matter, because what my siblings and I looked forward to the most was the meal.

And we did it BIG. Like SEVEN COURSES big.

It actually began well and truly before The Meal, with breakfast. No, actually to tell this story properly, I must begin at Christmas Eve.

A Christmas tradition here in Australia is the televised Carols by Candlelight concert held on Christmas Eve in Melbourne. The Carols have been a part of my celebrations from my very earliest Christmas memories. I couldn't imagine a single year without them, much to Hubs' dismay (he's not a big Carols fan, LOL). It's like (I guess) Thanksgiving without turkey. So we would have some sort of easy meal and kick back with dessert in front of the Carols, chatting as a family and absorbing the anticipation of the next day. At some point the kids would have a bath, get into their pyjamas, hang their stockings and say goodnight, but not before putting out oats and carrots for the reindeer. My next nearest (of 3 older) siblings is 7 years my senior, so realistically, by the time I was fully into Santa, they no longer believed, but they held up the pretense for my sake. Then we'd lay awake for the longest time until we finally fell comatose.

At some point in the pre-dawn hour, we'd wake. The rule in our house was, we could leave our bedrooms at any time after 5 but we were not to wake Mum and Dad until at least 6. While we were waiting, we could open our stockings and play with those things and watch the early morning Christmas cartoons.

At 6, we'd literally catapult ourselves into Mum & Dad's bed and walk over their backs until they got up. I'm so glad our kids don't do that! Then Mum would fix breakfast - bacon and eggs was an indulgence usually on reserved for special occasions, not so much because of the expense but also because it took much longer to feed everyone. But the rule was, breakfast first. Then when Mum and Dad had their second cups of coffee and the kids were set up with a cup of hot Milo, we'd potter into the loungeroom somewhere around 7 to open the presents.

This is where it got good :) Only Dad could touch the gifts, and he would read the names out one by one before handing them out. We could choose to open them immediately or stack them up :) Over the years, the job has naturally fallen to the man of the house - first Hubs and more recently (as we've spent the last three Christmases with the inlaws), my FIL. It's a very revered job, LOL, and mustn't be attempted by a woman - not because we couldn't do it, of course! But because the head of the household has always had that tradition and I love it that way. Each gift must be given proper reverence before moving on to the next. And if you dared to touch any of the under-the-tree gifts before Dad had handed them to you? Well we never did find out - we were too scared to try!

There was the obligatory few hours of gift-playing while Mum got the dinner going. Now, here's where the food comes in. To start with, we always had snack dishes out - always the same three flavours of crackers, the same three types of candy, and always, always pretzels. Then the first course, hors d'oeuvres (and yes, I had to dictionary.com that!) was served somewhere around mid-morning. I still clearly, clearly remember every ingredient we used. There had to be both red, green and white coctail onions sliced into tiny circles, kabana, cheese, couple of different dips, and Savoy crackers (sort of like Ritz) Oh, and smoked oysters or muscles. After this came the second course, the entree (starter). Over the years this changed from year to year but was initially prawn cocktail and eventually evolved into cocktail spring rolls.

Third course was soup. There was an interesting story about the soup (and the reason behind the introduction of asian food into our very-traditional-despite-it-usually-being-close-to-100ºF Christmas day meal). One year Mum was experimenting with a new Chinese cookbook she's received as a gift from someone and came up with a universally adored Chicken & Sweetcorn concoction which we all begged her to intigate as a Christmas tradition. And so she did. That was about 15 years ago while I still lived at home and ever since, wherever we've been, whether at home or at the inlaws, we've served this soup. It doesn't seem at all odd to us now but people often raise their eyebrows considering the next few courses. Yep, we're not done yet!

Fourth course was the main meal. I should point out that the whole shebang usually took the majority of the day, with 30-60 mins between each course to have it 'settle'. It was glorious, LOL. Anyway, while I was at home, it was always turkey and ham (some other traditional Xmas mains down here would be lamb, pork or seafood). Since then I've come to loathe the overinflated turkey prices at Christmas so we've stuck with chicken for basically the same taste at a third of the price. With no Turkey Day here in November, Christmas has the monopoly on turkey-eating and generally speaking, turkey isn't an 'everyday' type of meat the rest of the year (far outweighed by chicken). You can still get it, but it's not like what I hear about in the States - more like turkey mince and the occasional turkey drumstick in the chain supermarkets. Anyhoo, a large turkey can often cost $50-$60 (dependent on size of course) which is excessive if it's just a few people, even though the leftovers would be plentiful. For $20 we can roast two chickens and have plenty of money leftover for other treats. There's always chicken, ham, and sometimes pork and lamb at MIL's place each year, with all the trimmings - roast potatoes, cauliflower au gratin, pumpkin, and various other vegies. If we're at home, we might just do the chickens and buy some deli ham but we always, always have all those trimmings, LOL. Half the fun is making dinner (if by some miracle you're still hungry for it later in the day) or Boxing Day lunch the next day, from the leftovers :)

Fifth course was dessert. At home this meant traditional plum pudding with $1 and $2 gold coins stuffed inside, but we also had fruit salad and icecream. These days, my MIL has started her own tradition - this awesome dessert. Oh good Lord, it's good. So it makes it kind of lovely really - Mum's Chicken & Corn Soup and MIL's dessert.

Now, if we were at the inlaws' house, we'd have main and dessert and leave it at that. Amateurs, LOL.

Growing up, we were onto our sixth course - Cheese & Greens. I have no idea why this one came about or what made it all that different from the hors d'oeuvres, but I know it involved lots of different types of cheese and the green part was....well I can't remember exactly. In my own household years later, I never bothered with this. Even I recognised it as overkill!

And finally, seventh course and the reason for my sourcing the After Dinner Mints - Coffee & Mints. By this stage it was usually around 5 or 5:30 and we'd been eating since 10:30 or 11, usually with a nap sometime between dessert and Cheese & Greens. We'd always try a new flavour or brand of specialty coffee and the choice of mints was PARAMOUNT. No other mint would do. If you've ever tasted Red Tulip After Dinner Mints (and I have no idea if they're Aussie-only), you'll known them as thin, flat squares in little black envelopes. My husband has always ribbed me about my single-mindedness about the type of mint I have to have. It's one of the few 'as per original' traditions we've had since I was knee high to a grasshopper and I will literally travel across town to buy them. The smoothness on the tongue...ahhhhhhhh. I'm instantly six or seven years old, sitting on my Dad's lap showing him this toy or that toy from the morning, the faint smell of the cigar (ick, obviously, but strangely tied in with my Christmas memories) he only ever bought at Christmastime, and of the port he was drinking in the air. I can smell the pine needles from the tree that had to be real year after year despite the fact that the heat brutalized the poor thing and the merest touch or breeze would send needles flying and Mum grumbling and reaching for the broom. I think a little piece of my childhood died the year we finally got an artificial tree. And then later, when I had my own kids, it was just far more practical to have a tree that wasn't going to bury the child in needles as soon as he or she crawled too close, LOL.

So hon, if you're reading this, my bordering-on-OCD Christmas Mint Scavenger Hunt is just my way of clinging to the ghost of my Christmas past :) We may not do the whole seven courses anymore, we may serve different foods now, and I may be married to a man who is almost too practical for his own good sense (LOL), but there will always be a part of me who wishes for the Christmases of my youth. I find it interesting (and very telling) that I remember almost none of the specific gifts I got - even the bigger ones - but I remember the crazy, over-the-top traditions and the smells, sights and sounds (Bing Crosby anyone?) I would die a very happy woman if my own children tell stories such as this one when they're my age :) Well, you know, I hope I'm not dead at age 48, but you get the idea...

And to all my internet friends - may the best of the season be with you as you celebrate with family and friends and if anyone questions why you are still doing the same things you did twenty years ago, feel free to tell them about the crazy, nostalgic Australian lady who used to eat seven courses :P

And always serves the same After Dinner Mints.

No matter what.

(Merry Christmas Bloggityville! Stay safe, warm and hug your loved ones tight, and I'll be back to regale you with tales of our Christmas frivolity on the 27th or 28th :)

Cheers,
Lizzie

Deck The Halls With Grumpy Shoppers...

(picture courtesy of The Polar Express Official Site)

Um...guys?

In case anyone has missed it - we're now just five sleeps away from the Big Day.

And also - I'm once again resolved never to do Christmas shopping in December. Ever. Again. Good grief! Problems with shopping in December include (but are not limited to):

* The kids are out of school around the middle of the month and if their Daddy is working, the little dears have to come last-minute shopping with me. Always bucketloads of fun.

* PEOPLE - EVERYWHERE. What took you twelve minutes in May (picking up bread and milk at the supermarket) has now turned into a mammoth negotiation of shopping carts, frustrated people and frazzled nerves.

* December holds the monopoly on bad-spirited people. Everyone walks around with a scowl because K-mart can't figure out how to order in enough stock to cover their super-dooper-60%-off-no-raincheck sale week. Not that I'd know anything about that, of course.

* You're constantly having to slam on the cart brakes when the folks in front of you decide to have an immediate conversation in the middle of the aisle which is already narrowed because stores like to further alienate people by putting up displays within the aisles themselves. And then, of course, the cart behind you slams into your ankles. And then the cart behind them does the same. And then before you know it you're boxed in and the fools in front of you are still oblivious until in sheer frustration you finally have to tap one of them on the shoulder and ask politely through (inwardly) gritted teeth for them to move to the side of the aisle. And then they look at you like you've just requested a kidney donation.

* With the higher traffic, public restrooms are higher than average disgusting. Also, I'm constantly amazed at the state of some women's toilets in a large and modern shopping centre near where I live. You think men are gross? At least they stand up to pee, thus probably avoiding 90% of the use of the stalls themselves. I watched in disbelief today as one woman - uhh, let's just say she needed to use the stall for the other 10% of reasons - purposely didn't flush, didn't wash her hands, and (ick, ick, ick) left a 'present' for the next unsuspecting soul on top of the sanitary bin instead of lifting the handle to put it inside. I stopped my mouth before it hit the floor, mostly because I couldn't be sure I wouldn't catch anything from the floor itself. I had the kids with me today as well - one had already used a different cubicle, but I whisked the other two away to the parents' room with its nice sofa and spotless counters and didn't even feel guilty that I no longer need to use the baby changing facilities. You know how men always seem perplexed as to why it takes a woman so long to go to the toilet in a public restroom? It's because we are so petrified of plonking our katush down on someone else's germs we do that whole yoga-pose-like squat. Or the origami-toilet-paper-seat-cover thing. And that takes us some skills! Not to mention the half gallon of liquid soap we use when we're done. Or is that just me?

* The seriously-inflated commercialism of the season is starting to bother me in my old age (ie, 28, LOL) I've overheard so many conversations these last few weeks that could best be described as Mum and Dad catering to the whims of yet another spoiled child. Now, I'm not saying I'm perfect in this regard either - I do like to spoil the kids a little - but there's a world of difference between what I'm witnessing this week and an extra Barbie doll outfit, you know? And I have to rethink Miss Moo's birthday a little. Do you think she'd notice if we switched it to August? LOL. Between her birthday yesterday and the spending of her birthday money today, she walked away with more toys than I even dreamed about at her age and to be honest, it has made me a little uncomfortable. We'll be approaching this differently next year. Today, for example, she took her accumulated $30 birthday money and $10 she'd saved in pocket money, and bought a Cabbage Patch twin babies set at half price. It was a really good deal for that and I guess I'd rather she spent her money on baby dolls rather than Those Dolls That Shall Not Be Named, but still. And it isn't over yet - the gifts will keep on rolling on Tuesday. Must fix this - it's excessive, I think, but I wonder whether it's always going to seem so with her birthday being less than a week before Christmas Day. I don't want her to miss out on two separate special days (Hubs, with a Dec 3 birthday, felt the 'sting' of having combined presents growing up and hated it - refuses to do it for Miss Moo).

Another thing I noticed with Miss Moo's gifts this year - we stuck to a budget, same as we do every year - all the kids get the same amount - $100 for Christmas (if that seems excessive, it's actually much lower than our friends tell us they spend and probably half that is spent on practical stuff like clothes and books - it all adds up) and $60 for their birthdays. I just ended up with some spectacular mid-year and end-of-year deals this year. I think I'm going to give myself permission next year to buy according to perceived value instead of actual value - by that I mean, if the gift looks like I spent $30 on it but I managed to pick it up for only $10, then I should count myself lucky I saved some cash and not feel compelled to 'spend up to the budget'. Because without the sales, Miss Moo's birthday and Christmas gifts were more in the realm of $250 value instead of the $160 we allow. And that's just wrong.

Back to my list...

* December, unfortunately does not contain an infinite number of days. At some point you'll realise (if you're crazy and have left some/all of your shopping until December) that you're fast running out of time and you end up making sloppy and suspect shopping decisions that will probably end up in someone's regifting drawer as soon as your back is turned. Retailers LOVE folk like this on Christmas Eve. My brother once gave my then 2yo non-swimming son a snorkel and flipper set because he went shopping at the last minute. 'Nuff said.

* You can never get a park, no matter where you go or how early you turn up. Even the food court tables are packed by 10:30 so you have to resort to eating 'lunch' at 10:00.

* And please - spare a thought for the poor parents who will have to put up with endless, repetitive electronic sounds that you thought were so cute in the store, especially considering you were buying them for Someone. Else's. Kids. Leave the electronics up to the parents! Aunts and Uncles should restrict themselves to books, clothes and money :P

December should be a relaxing, quiet month. Kickin' back with a cold/warm drink (depending on where you are in the world) and an old time Christmas movie, munching on your own family's special Christmas cookies and sleepy children trying desperately to stay awake as long as possible. Carrots and oats for the reindeer, a few extra cookies and some scotch for Santa (hey, he likes to mix it up a bit!) and a nice, long snooze before the piglets wake you up at dawn o'clock TELLING. YOU. THAT. SANTA. CAME. LAST. NIGHT!!!

I'm totally giving everyone gift certificates next year, LOL.

Cheers,
Lizzie

Probably Too Late For This Christmas, But...

I have to let you guys in on a little secret I've discovered this week. Before I go on, I need to make mention of the fact that Lizzie's Home does not participate in Pay Per Post and will never do so in the future. And as you can see, the blog is also sidebar-ad free. If someone approached me (and they have in the past) asking for me to mention their product, I'd turn them down flat. It's not what Lizzie's Home is about.

That said, when I stumble across a great product all on my own, I like to share it. Actually, this nifty little item was part of my Cozy Shoebox Swap a couple of weeks ago and came courtesy of JennyV. Many thanks to Jen for putting me on to this great little soy candle I have barely extinguished since Monday of last week :)

Debbie makes all sorts of handmade goodies so I encourage you to check out her site. For my US friends, shipping should be easy. For the Aussie (and other overseas) folk, Debbie and I are in the process of working out the approximate cost of a parcel (she has never shipped internationally before!) The soy candles alone are worth it, trust me. They burn cleanly, the scent of the Sweet Pea variety is fresh but not overpowering like some candles can be and the wax can be washed away with soap and water (you can even re-use the jar!) I also love the fact that they do come in their own little jars - I'm excited that I won't have to mess around with wax squares, tealights and oil burners anymore. Hubs has asked me what I want for Christmas and (as is usually his last-minute custom, LOL) the cash he'll give me will mean I get to stock up on some of Debbie's other products. Hopefully the postage costs will be reasonable, LOL!

Again - no commission, no kickbacks, no free products, nada. Just an honest-to-goodness recommendation for a great product. Check her out (I've even put up a permanent logo in my sidebar - that's how great I think these are).

Cheers,
Lizzie

The Party Wrap

The party is over. And amazingly, we survived. Well mostly - one poor child did end up with a nasty busted lip after a run-in with the swing set. Nothing like the site of blood from a child you were in charge of to get the guilt flowing! (His mother, one of my good friends, was just fine with it but boy, it scared the bejeezus out of me - I thought he'd knocked out a tooth...)

Okay, here's how it played out in the end. All but one child turned up, meaning 7 extras plus my own three. I did have another phone call, about an hour and a half before the party began, from this child's mother who had been planning to attend but had just been informed her kids were probably exposed to chicken pox so they were having to quarantine them - obviously attending a birthday party wasn't on the cards. So in the end, all turned out well.

I'd forgotten exactly how loud 10 children aged 5 through to 8 can actually be. Yikes! Everyone seemed to have a great time. A lot of pizza was eaten. And I spent at least every second minute pouring a drink for a child. One little boy in particular drank so much fizz his belches rivaled a fully grown man. The movie was also a semi-bust, with the appeal of Charlotte's Web being lost of the men of the clan. I'd kind of expected that though, LOL. The kids sort of split up into groups - the girls (6 of them) paired off with Barbies and My Little Ponies and the boys (4 of them) kicked balls over the fence. Much sugar was consumed by all. Good times!

We're all exhausted though. I spent most of today getting the house in order for the influx of little people. I still have to vacuum up the popcorn crumbs before I go to bed (we tend to have an ant problem if we're not careful in summer so we're super-vigilant about crumbs) but God bless paper plates! Right before the party started Hubs arrived home after three days away at live-in training. I think he thought it was meant to be an afternoon party because he seemed surprised the party was just starting and not finishing - poor guy. He's had a rough week and a house full of screaming 5 and 6 year olds probably wasn't what he needed. He has just two days of training left, then four weeks of annual leave over Christmas and much of January. Yay. We both need the break.

We leave Sunday morning for Christmas with the inlaws - depending on how my next few days go I may load up some auto-posts but if I can't get around to it, I may have to take about a week long blogging break. So PLEASE come back (subscribe!) and I should be back on the go from around Dec 27 or 28.

Also, Miss Moo was rather spoiled with her gifts today - although two gifts kind of left me thinking 'hmmm'. One was a Bratz doll. We've avoided all things Bratz on principle since day 1 but I can hardly complain about a present, can I? Mercifully, it was at least one of the tamer ones with a somewhat cute outfit instead of one with a mostly--- you get the picture :P. And I just can't get over the macabre amputated feet thing - but that's just one issue in many, LOL. And the second gift of concern was a set of lipgloss (like seven tubes of the stuff) and pre-teen makeup. It was pretty and it sparkled and she loved the idea of it, but I don't think I'll be allowing her to use it. I just kind of have problems with makeup (even 'pretend'/preteen stuff) on a 6yo. Visions of Jon Benet and all that.

Okay, I'm zonked so I'm going to bed. Snore.

Cheers,
Lizzie

Birthday Party Etiquette - Part 2

In approximately 6 ½ hours, kids will start to arrive for Miss Moo's 'proxy party'. Or will they?

As it stands now, at 11am, there are six definites out of 11. And three of them are mine. Two of the remaining three 'yes' kids gave a yes immediately when I called their mother yesterday afternoon. They're thrilled - they moved away several months ago and now go to a new school and Miss Moo hasn't had much of a chance to catch up. Their mum is staying during the party so I'm looking foward to a nice cup of tea (ha, who am I kidding?) and a chat.

But FIVE people simply didn't bother to RSVP at all. I have no idea if they'll be turning up. I have to assume at least a couple of them will. I bought supplies for the full 11 party bags, just in case. I'm making the full quota of cupcakes today. Though I do expect an extra couple to come, I can't help but feel more than a little peeved. I know it was meant to be an easy-going thing, just pizza and a movie, but two thoughts keep running through my head:

First, my daughter has no concept of the difference between a 'full-on' party and this 'easy-going party' thing I've set up. She just knows it as her birthday party. She had the same thing last year and every child (similar numbers) turned up. So how am I meant to explain to her that FIVE of her friends just didn't feel the need to bother? RSVP-ing to say you can't come due to other commitments is one thing, but this? Thankfully Miss Moo doesn't really get what's going on with the whole 'rude people not calling' thing - but I do. And it breaks my heart. And do you know what else? I'm second guessing my whole year - did I annoy Mum A, or take a little too long RSVP-ing to Child B's party? It's ludicruous!

And second, I sort of quasi-planned this party to be a really laid-back event. So seriously, if you can't come, I totally understand. It is six days before Christmas, after all. We're leaving this weekend for the inlaws where we'll be over the holiday, and I have a to-do list a mile long. But I'd never completely ignore an RSVP. I said 'laid back', NOT 'Open House' on the invites. I can't tell you how annoyed I'd be if they all turn up - sounds counter-productive, doesn't it? LOL. I'm totally expecting a couple of the non-RSVP-ers to be on my doorstep come 5:30. But sheesh.

I will tell you one thing though - I will never miss another party RSVP date in my life. Especially not to a birthday party for a small child who has their heart set on having all her friends over to play.

Update, 1:30pm - we've had another yes, at around 12 noon (sheesh...but still). With only four hours to go, I think it's a safe bet the others probably won't ring. Sigh.

Cheers,
Lizzie

Birthday Party Etiquette

(© Grandma George)

The reasons for me not posting for a few days would be instantly evident if you popped your head in our front door right now.

It's the school holidays.

In Australia, the school year ends somewhere around the second or third week of December (it differs between the states - my state finishes up mid-December). We have our summer holidays stretching out over Christmas and New Year's and through until a few days before the end of January (again, there could be some minor discrepancies in the other states), for about a six-week break. In my state, we have a four term school year - terms are roughly 10 weeks each followed by a 2 week break (except, of course, after Term 4, when the 6 week break comes).

School let out here on Thursday. Four days later and the kids are already alternating between the 'Thick As Thieves' and 'You Are Not My Brother!' mentalities. And we haven't even hit the flip-side of Christmas yet!

In other news, Hubs is in his final week of his 'big deal' training at work, the part that strongly 'suggests' (ie, you have no choice) living at the training facility for the week. In reality, it's only four days and three nights, but at 2am last night when I couldn't sleep, I was brought back to the 'old days' where his nightshifts would often see me unable to sleep just because he wasn't immediately to hand. The lovely little mite text-messaged me at 7am this morning to tell me his first day yesterday had gone well. There's nothing like the shrill ear-piercing beep of an SMS alert from the phone you've placed on your beloved's empty pillow to wake you up!

Something is playing on my mind this morning though. Tomorrow is my daughter's 6th birthday. Because this time of the year is necessarily crazy with the end of school activities, Christmas concerts, class parties and so on, I went the easy route for a 'party' for her. We did the same thing last year - invited her friends around for a Christmas movie, pizza and popcorn and just hanging out. I think I may have thrown together some basic party bags but that was about the extent of it. I thought I was being clever - it's six days before Christmas for pete's sake and I know from a mum's perspective the last thing I want to think about right after school breaks out and I'm crazy-busy with Christmas preparations is another child's birthday party to attend. The concept went down quite well last year.

This year, it doesn't appear to hold the same appeal.

Oh, my daughter is totally thrilled with the idea. She just wants her friends around. But the parents don't appear to be on board. Okay, so I probably didn't give anywhere near enough notice - I handed out invitations on Thursday and the 'proxy party' is Wednesday night. But I figured the informal nature of the gathering kind of explained that, as did the whole 'everyone's just as busy as I am, they're gonna appreciate the low-keyness' thing. Um, perhaps not.

I had an RSVP for Monday (yesterday). When I gave the invitations out on Thurday I had one mum tell me right off her daughter would be there and I'm not exactly sure but I'm assuming a second little girl and boy (twins) are coming just from the attitude of the mum on the day. I invited a total of 6 kids that day (still have to ring friend - mother of another set of twins - today, but the short notice won't bother her). Of the 5 that remained (one acceptance on the day), I didn't get a single RSVP by the due date. Even assuming the first set of twins can attend that's still three people who didn't bother to give me a call, two of which are my daughter's best friends!

I'm not sure whether I should be offended at this or not. On one hand I do realise this was incredibly short notice (no matter what kind of party it was going to be) and that - *ahem* - I'm not exactly known for my prompt RSVP-ing skills either (which are totally going to change after this!) On the other hand, auuugh!!! I mean, it's not like I have to cater - I can just add another pizza or two to our order on Wednesday night. But in terms of things like getting enough gear for the party bags? They're not going to be elaborate but I'd still like to know how many of them I have to make up! At this rate I think I'm going to have to just make all 11 (8 invites, 3 of my own kids) and then if folks don't show up, use the leftover stuff for our Lucky Box (ten ticks on their Values Chart gets them a choice of rewards, one of which is choosing something from this box of markers, crayons, stickers, small toys etc).

So the party is tomorrow night. I really hope this doesn't end up being one of those horrid, torturous childhood memories for my daughter - you know, the type - "When I was six, nobody turned up to my birthday party!!!" But what can I do? Sigh.

Cheers,
Lizzie

Christmas Crafting

(© Grandma George)

I haven't had the best track record with Christmas crafting in the past. I absolutely love the 'country Christmas' handmade decorations, patterns of which abound at every corner in Bloggityville, but I never seem to have the time to make the various projects. In actual fact, I totally forget about the whole thing until October (right after my birthday is when I start thinking of Christmas) and then panic because Christmas is mere weeks away. And though those 'weeks' have now turned into 'days' for this year, I'm already thinking about next year.

My new Basic Daily Plan includes a section in the afternoons for projects. With no more study commitments when school starts up again in late January, I have a little extra time on my hands. I purposely arranged my day to get the housework out of the way by lunchtime because experience has taught me that I tend to hit a brick wall come 1 or 2 o'clock in the afternoons. And I've really wanted to get back into using my hands (and not my poor, tired, overworked brain!) for my creative outlet for some time now. So I'm going to make an effort to pick up some craft projects during that window of time once the new school year begins in late January, 2008.

Sometime over the Christmas break I'll actually sit down and make myself a crafting 'schedule'. Please don't read too much into that, LOL - it's more a rough guide with perhaps a theme per month - January for ornaments, February for Xmas-themed stuffed decor, March for napkins and other table linen and so on. Yes, most of the time they'll be Christmas themed, LOL. No apologies! I might mix things up every now and then with a non-yuletide endeavour but hey, I love the season and if I don't start in January I'll be having this exact same discussion right here come December 2008, so...best get cracking!

In reality, I may not have the time or energy to deal with too many projects through the year but I think two per month is do-able. For ornaments, perhaps two sets of something. I can always gift the extra come the silly season again. And I only have - oh, I don't know - four thousand ripped-from-magazines and printed-from-internet patterns to try out. I don't think finding enough projects to keep me occupied will be a problem!

Cheers,
Lizzie

We have CRITTERS!!!

(© Grandma George)

One thing that people very quickly learn about me is that I am not the park-ranger type who loves all creatures. I'm actually mildly disturbed by some of the less cute members of the animal kingdom. Scaley things are high on that list, as are geese. I know, geese can be cute - but have you ever had one of them chase you? Scarred for life!

By far, my two biggest animalian fears are tiny snakes (yes, I hate them worse than the big ones) and mice. My children will never-in-a-million-years be allowed to own rats, mice or boa contrictors as pets (although, don't big snakes eat mice? That would solve at least half of my problems!) And if they move out of home and buy some, Mama won't come visit.

Hubs laughs at me whenever he hears the original story as to why I'm deathy scared of tiny snakes. Seriously, it's too gross to soil Bloggityville with, but let me just say, there's one scene in the book version of Kiss The Girls that never made it to the movie. And it involves small snakes. And I seriously feel like vomiting even saying that much...auughh. It's the kind of thing that burrows deep inside and you won't ever be able to get rid of it.

So which of my two biggest fears do you think decided to pay me a visit today? I'll give you a clue - it wasn't a snake (little bugger wouldn't still be alive, put it that way!)

Nope, today for the first time since we moved into this house 2 ½ years ago, I saw a mouse.

Correction - Master J did. Because it came flying out of his wardrobe and gave the poor kid a coronary. Not a good situation for an ASD kid who tends to fixate on things. For the next twenty minutes I had to explain to him over and over and over again why he could still sleep in his bed tonight.

Oh, but that's not the end of the story. No sirree.

As I was walking bolting to J's room upon hearing The Scream, thinking he'd, you know, broken a BONE or something, the THING flew between my feet (*hyperventilate*) and took off down the hall.

Straight. Into. My. Bedroom.

I didn't follow it. Call me yeller if you like but I have a family history of heart disease and I didn't want my autopsy to read 'frightened to death by a mouse'. Although, it would be memorable, don't you think? I had an uncle that passed away (many, many years ago) from a blow to the temple with a golf ball and we still bring that up at Christmas :P (It might also explain why no male from my side of the family plays golf now...)

Did you see what I did there? I'm trying to change the subject. I have trouble even finishing a POST about rodents. I'm in serious trouble! Anyway, back to the story...

Master J has found the highest point in the house (the benchtop) and is perched there with his knees drawn up tight, quivering with what is obviously the beginnings of a new found phobia (okay, so my reaction didn't help matters either, LOL). I immediately text-messaged Hubs because, well, that's what you do when you see a mouse, isn't it? He takes care of the mice, I take care of the spiders (who says a man can't have his own critter neurosis? LOL). A marriage made in heaven, obviously.

Fast forward about an hour. I've since picked up the younger two kids from school (J had today off) and we're sitting on the couch in the family room going through their copious school books and projects and handmade Christmas decorations (being that today was their last day of the school year, we're talking most of a small forest worth of paper) and I see a tail. A TAIL. Behind the TV cabinet. Then the tail becomes the whole furry body.

It stares at me. I stare back, suddenly aware of the capacity of my bladder. I summon up most of my courage (weak though it was) and made a face at it. It scampered somewhere underneath the cabinet and I haven't seen it since. I'm not sure whether I should be offended that the sheer contortion of my face scared it off or impressed.

I'm choosing to play a little fantasy on a loop in my head. In it, the rogue mouse is a loner, a James Dean type who likes to live alone. This of course goes against everything I ever learned as a small farm child, but I'm clinging to this nonetheless! It's better than the alternate ending, which is news footage of plague mice crawling over grain in a barn. Because I've seen that in real life too. Mice are communal little buggers, LOL. So I'm sticking with James Dean. I'm also hoping James Dean removed himself from my bedroom and went for a stroll about the house (mouse-sized cigarette danging from it's disgusting little rodent mouth, no doubt) before showing up near the TV in the family room later. The possibility of having seen two completely different mice on the same day would just about make my head explode.

Hubs will be taking a speedy trip to Bunnings (hardware superstore) at his earliest 'convenience' (ie, whenever I break down from the sheer stress of it all) to pick up traps and poison. In the meantime, I actually have to take care of the many stacks of papers and loose stuff in our bedroom and double check that James Dean never made it to the food pantry.

If ignorance is bliss, then I really wish I was still ignorant, LOL.

Cheers,
Lizzie

Cozy Shoebox Swap ~ Finally!

Okay, so I'm forty-seven different kinds of late with my wrap-up to the Cozy Swap. My swap partner, Jenny, knows that I got the parcel (although, understandably, our swap took a little longer than the 'within US' swaps did, even though we both posted by the November 10th deadline) and that I loved it. I suspect by now she also realises I suffer from a severe form of December-itis, LOL Here are the links to the box I sent her: here and here. They arrived right around Thanksgiving I think and her box to me arrived around the same time down here - I'm so sorry this has taken me so long to post about this Jen!

Jen's shoebox for me was awesome. So, without further ado, here's the stash in all it's delightful glory:


Oh, and that candle Jen? AWESOME. I want more. I'm totally serious, I would ship these down to Australia. I was/am a big fan of Time & Again's wax squares for oil burners but the two shops in my area which have sold them in the past informed me in the last month or so that there were problems getting enough stock into Australia and that they wouldn't be able to do it for a while, if ever. I made Hubs do an ebay search, I was that desperate. This gorgeous little handmade soy candle totally solved that problem AND - this is the best part! - the scent is DEE-licious. How did you know I liked Sweet Pea? Did I tell you that in the initial email? I can't remember! Also, I don't know how this works, but the scent is also faintly reminiscent of pine which, of course, is so cool at this time of the year. I actually lit it for the first time two days ago (I didn't want to spoil it, LOL) and my first thought was "Woah, this smells like Christmas!" I know - strange, but absolutely perfect :) This was one of my favourite parts to the box - seriously, go check out Debbie King's website Cottage Hill Soaps. I've had this little 8 oz jar burning non-stop since Monday and the soy wax has held up great. In case you're wondering, I'm not earning a commission! I just love them that much.

See this?

Jenny and I both tried hard to pop in something unique to our area and this disc ornament made me smile. I, of course, got to insert the requisite Vegemite, LOL (BTW Jen, did you taste it yet?) Here's the ornament in pride of place on our tree:

Jen, I haven't tried this next thing, but the smell was heavenly when I opened the package:


It's a herb neck roll that you can heat in the microwave or cool in the freezer. I may have mentioned once or twice or eleventy-three times that I suffer from headaches. Is it sad that I want a migraine to test this puppy out? LOL. Great timing though, because in the New Year I'm (sigh sigh sigh) going to have a red-hot go at drastically reducing the amount of sugar and junk in my diet and I know the sugar withdrawal headaches will be FIERCE. I did already have a homemade heat pillow which my MIL gave me to put in my hospital bag when I had my daughter - who turns 6 in a week, LOL - but it was threadbare and stinky. Again, another example of perfect timing!

This next thing, I'm not so sure about. I can't figure out whether to be happy or exasperated with this scrumptious cheesecake recipe. Must make this BEFORE the New Year! Darn you resolutions!

And it goes on! Here's a cute little chicken notebook! And I'm still excited! I may use this for jotting down recipes. I have a thing for brand-new stationery so I may just leave it on my kitchen bench and stare at it for a while, LOL. Also, kudos for choosing spiral-bound!


Now I'm assuming Jenny doesn't think my feet smell (LOL) but this one is greatly appreciated anyway - though the shoebox swap's theme was 'cozy', it's anything but cozy weather at the moment where I am. It's sandal weather. Hence footsie-pampering stuff being a very good idea after a season or two stuffed inside sneakers!


This swap was the first I'd ever participated in and it was just wonderful. I began emailing Jenny while we collected stuff to send and I've found an awesome friend. I love hearing about Pennsylvania and the moose thing? Here's the Aussie equivalent:

Thanks again Jen! And if you want to see some of the other swappers (you know, the ones who actually posted within a day or two of receiving their boxes!), check out With All That I've Been Given.

Cheers,
Lizzie

Differences Between the US and Australia # 1

(© Grandma George)

Just out of curiosity - what are some of the prices you guys are paying for petrol (gas) in the States? Or elsewhere if you want to join in. I'd love to find out.

In my area, we're currently paying an average of $1.40 (AUD) per litre. Sometimes it dips, sometimes it peaks. They're saying it might get as close to $1.50 per litre by Christmas. I remember being with my Dad when he filled up our car as a teenager and seeing 80c per litre - and I'm only 28!

For ease of reference, here's how that $1.40 breaks down in US dollars:

1 gallon = 3.785 litres
1 gallon = $5.30 AUD (at $1.40 AUD per litre)
1 gallon = The equivalent of $4.66 USD once you factor in the exchange rate.

Is this average across the States? If you want to chime in with a figure, try to work it out based on the current average gas price in your area (and tell me the area, LOL) but leave out factors such as price cycling (more expensive on weekends etc), major price spikes or discount fuel vouchers.

Cheers,
Lizzie

Lizzie's Link Love ~ December 11

Good morning everyone!

It's been a while since I've done Lizzie's Link Love, so here's a Bumper Edition for you!

And yes, today is an Exclaimation Point Day! (LOL)

Creating a Mail Centre from Declutter It! (that exclaimation point wasn't mine, LOL)

Bean Bag Toss from Days To Come.

Make Your Own Car Organizer from Mayfly.

Find out the current time anywhere in the world from World Time Server. This is especially handy if you have a lot of net-buddies from across the world like I do :) I haven't a clue about the different time zones in the US, for example.

Baked Apple Doughnuts (yum) from Scribbit.

If you hate the thought of torn-up wrapping paper from Sew, Mama, Sew!

The 1 Cor 7:5 Challenge from The Diaper Diaries (be sure to read all the weekly links down the bottom of the post - your husband will LOVE you!)

Organized Toys from The Lazy Organizer (the picture alone makes me want to go and buy multiple plastic containers :)

Happy clicking!

Cheers,
Lizzie

Menu Plan Monday ~ December 10

Gosh, it's been such a long time since I've done Menu Plan Monday. I haven't even remembered to change the menu box thingamy in my sidebar, which is still linking to a MPM post from late October, LOL. I'll get cracking on that. No, seriously!

I haven't been concentrating on menu planning much at all lately because of my insane study schedule in the lead up to the end of the year. Now that that's mostly over, I'm hoping to build up my posting again, including participating in all my listed carnivals. Well, that's the plan anyway.

On to the menu! I'm going grocery shopping later this afternoon (I'm writing this on Sunday) so this week's menu has eight meals.

Sunday ~ Takeaway!
Monday ~ Spaghetti Bolognaise (garlic bread, salad)
Tuesday ~ Country-Style Chicken & Tarragon Pie
Wednesday ~ Corned Beef in Crockpot (potatoes, vegetables)
Thursday ~ Homemade Hamburgers
Friday ~ Fridge & Freezer Fare (leftovers/meal previously frozen)
Saturday ~ Parmesan Crumbed Chicken Fingers w/ Sweet Chilli Mayo (Potato Hash w/ Bacon)
Sunday ~ Roast Beef/Lamb (depending on what's on sale today - plus baked potatoes, vegies, gravy)

Baking This Week ~ Cheese Straws, Choc-Caramel Ravioli (for a dessert some time this week - trying out a recipe), Cupcakes (for Miss Moo's end-of-year class party/birthday), Homemade Mini Pizzas (for Boofah's class party), Wholemeal Cheese & Chive Scones (to try out the recipe), Chocolate Pecan Scrolls (for Hubs to take to work for morning tea for the guys), plus some dry mixes from Make-a-Mix which arrived a couple of weeks ago - the Muffin Mix was a hit :) A lot of baking, but some of it will be done today (9th), some in the middle of the week (class parties) and some on the weekend (dessert/scones) so not so bad.

I'm An Organizing Junkie hosts Menu Plan Monday.

Cheers,
Lizzie

I Am Alive!

(© Grandma George)

I'm still here! I hope you guys haven't all unsubscribed!

Oh boy, this week has been C.R.A.Z.Y.

Hubs is working ridiculously hard at his training course. He's doing really well but the realities of this particular type of training is starting to wear him down a little I think. He's out of the house before 7am each day and usually doesn't come in until 7pm or sometimes later. He's used to rotating shiftwork (which works for me too, as he's sometimes home in the mornings, and sometimes not - lots of time to do errands together) but while he's training its all dayshift. He walks in exhausted every night, has something to eat, studies a little, and is in bed again by 9:30 or 10:00, virtually obliterating our 'just us' time. So I'm missing him quite a bit :) It's all good though - I'm very proud of him :)

Yesterday Master J attended the Variety Club Christmas Party here in my city. This is an awesome event organized by a wonderful charity. The kids get to be waited on, there's entertainment, the whole works. It's a big event - hundreds of kids get to see Santa and receive a gift. The companies and individuals who donate both money and toys always astound me. J has been going to parties like these with his special ed classrooms over the last several years and they absolutely spoil the kids rotten. Guess what the lucky little boy received this year?


I know! This is the same toy which last year prompted a Target store near me open an hour early to deal with the queue that was forming! Now, though J is nine and ordinarily this kind of thing would be a bit too young for him, he adores this gift. It kept all three kids in riotous fits of laughter for a full hour yesterday afternoon - Mummy on the other hand, lasted just 15 mins before I designated it a 'bedroom toy', LOL. Love Elmo, but good grief!

Later in the evening we headed down to the younger kids' school for a Christmas concert. Daddy wasn't home yet (read above reference to very, very long days!) and J was none too fussed about attending, but Miss Moo's gracious teacher allowed us to come and go from the (air-conditioned) classroom as the concert was going on and J was mostly cool with that. It didn't hurt that I allowed him to take his Tamagotchi and Deal or No Deal electronic hand held game whatsit. I was waaaaay in the back of the crowd but I managed to get a couple of moderately okay shots to email to the relatives thanks once again to Hubs paparazzi-style lens (not good 'nuff to print however).

I think the last few weeks have finally hit me full force. You know how you don't really realise you're zooming toward the brick wall, or even feel the impact, but boy, do you ever feel the aches afterward? That's what I'm like. I was out nearly every day for the past two weeks (I found it easier to sit at a shopping centre food court to study - strange but true) and then when that finished up last week I somehow found my momentum continuing via necessary errands and Christmas shopping. I was out Monday to pick up my Hubs' birthday present (he's THIRTY folks! He got a camera store gift voucher because - hello? - wives aren't allowed to touch the hallowed equipment that is a tripod worth almost four hundred dollars, apparently). Tuesday I had to go pick up his suit (auugh, gorgeous) from the dry cleaners, which, when you don't drive and catch the bus everywhere, tends to evolve into an all day expedition anyway, so I figured I may as well do a little Christmas shopping while I was out. Wednesday (yesterday) I was planning to have a quietish day at home but had a call from a friend early in the day and we ended up meeting for lunch (and more shopping). BTW, trust me, I'm not going overboard on the gifts, LOL...most times I go out to look at things that I've seen in catalogues (I'm a touchy-feely shopper - mail order just ain't gonna cut it) and then either don't like it or it is sold out (isn't that frustrating!).

Today is the first day I've been home (apart from the weekend which doesn't count because I picked up my usual Mummy Job with everyone underfoot) alone in AGES. And with no study commitments either! It's a Christmas miracle! So I'm slothing out, eating turkish delight chocolate and pottering about, and thoroughly enjoying it. I may even lay down for a quick nap. Decadence is my middle name you know.

Tons and tons of stuff needs to get done around the home though, so nose back to the grindstone Friday. We've not yet put up our tree (we have a standing date of 4th December as Hubs' birthday is the 3rd). I have to buy the biggest box of bulk Christmas cards I can find (I could do without the kids giving a card to each and every child in their combined three classrooms, but apparently they cannot - we're talking 60 odd kids!). Boofah comes home last night with another note for a last minute Christmassey thing - a Kris Kringle gift exchange in his classroom to the value of $4. I was all set to tell him no (apart from the money side of things, do we really need to be encouraging MORE over consumption these holidays?) but then he piped up with an offer to pay for the gift himself out of his pocket money so I figured it was fair enough. I've also half set myself a goal of clearing out the spare/fourth bedroom/gym room before Christmas as part of Boofah's Christmas surprise - it's to be his room eventually - but do you think my schedule will open up to allow me to start? Um, no. And his and his sister's current room (they share) looks as though our weekly rubbish removal was poured in through the air-conditioning vent.

And I still don't feel guilty about the napping!

Cheers
Lizzie

Can I Fall In A Heap Now?

I'm so ridiculously tired right now. It's 1:17 am. But I'm so, so, so happy. I just (yes, just now) finished my absolute last regular assignment for my course. After four years (part time, although the 'part' of the 'part time' was rather subjective at times) of forehead bleeding (see quote in right sidebar, LOL) and stress and deadlines and pain and good marks and bad marks and grumpy lecturers and good lecturers and fanTAStic lecturers, here I am. At the end. Well, almost. But close enough!

I do have a larger project with a due date not until mid-January, but today's assignment was the very last little yellow envelope I'll ever have to post off. With this other project still on the burner I don't feel as though I can celebrate finishing the course just yet, but gosh, it feels SO GOOD to be done with the hard slog.

This larger project? A portfolio of all my writings on autism. As most of you know, its a whole lot easier to write about something you're passionate about anyway. So much of what I've written on special needs before has come so easily and quickly. I'm hoping the last half of the project will be the same.

Just had to share this momentus occasion with SOMEBODY. Even if it is now 1:21.

Totally worth the raccoon eyes tomorrow.

Totally.

Cheers,
Lizzie

Biting My Tongue (aka, Lessons On Not Swearing)

Okay, so you guys know how pressed I am for time this week right? And how I have twelve bazillion assignments that need to be posted, like, TODAY. And how I was doing pretty good because I had hand-written out everything and today was going to busy but not particularly taxing because all I had to do was type out everything? WELL...

Last night I made a start. Got a full assignment typed out. Started a new one.

Folks, if you're ever in this situation, please pay careful attention to what I'm going to say next:

DO NOT simply cut the existing text out of a document and start typing the new document up in its place (because you're too lazy to click two extra times to open a new document) while thinking to yourself, "Oh, it's okay, I'll just do 'Save As' through the file menu when I finish up for the night."

Because you won't. At dawn-o'clock when you're finally finishing up because you start falling asleep at the keyboard and bruising your head, you're not going to remember it. You're just gonna click the little disc icon and stumble to bed. And then you're going to wake up in the morning ready to print the assignment you've typed up the night before and discover your mistake.

And then you're going to have to really, really, really remind yourself that you don't swear.

That's an hour plus worth of work down the drain. But it could be worse. Here's why it's not.

* I was so tired last night I didn't throw out the screwed up pieces of paper from my notebook. If I'd thrown them out last night, they'd have been covered with the remnants of this morning's porridge by now. As it were, they're still right here where I tossed them last night.

* It was a relatively short assignment! I've written 25 page RSI-inducing behemoths before. Last night's was just 2 and a bit pages. So even in my desperation, the situation is not dire. I cannot even begin to explain how panicked I would be if it were the former.

So this is fixable. Annoying, but fixable!

Cheers,
Lizzie

Frugal Friday ~ November 30

Good afternoon/morning all!

This is my first Frugal Friday but it's a good 'un. I had to hit the local shopping centre today to do some errands - jeans shopping (auggh) and a little Christmas shopping too. But that's not where the frugal part comes in - and we'll just gloss over that for the time being, okay? Good. LOL.

Around the holidays, when they know they can guarantee lots of visitors, our city's public transport company sets up a stall somewhere in the shopping centre with information on timetables, route changes and the like. They also have one of these machines nearby:

It's a promotional game where you slot your ticket into the ticket validation whatsit and the wheel spins on the screen and you're playing to win another ticket to the value of whichever ticket you've just used to play the game. Make sense?

I nearly walked past the stall today. I was literally on my way to buy a multitrip bus ticket (the stall is info-only, they don't sell the actual tickets there) and I decided to run my current ticket through the machine. I usually carry two types on me - a black 'interpeak' ticket, valid for travel between 9 and 3 on weekdays (the majority of my bus travel occurs then because it is within school hours) and a red 'peak' ticket, valid for travel anytime. I'd just used my last trip on my black multitrip ticket, which is worth $14.80 for 10 trips, so I only had my red one, and it only had one trip left on that too.

Wouldn't you know - I won! This isn't just a couple of bucks either - because I'd validated a full price multitrip ticket, I won a full price multitrip ticket:

Yep, I just saved almost $27.

A single trip 'peak' ticket is worth $4.10 so it's much more economical to buy the multitrip tickets in advance (you save $14.10 over the ten rides). You could therefore say I saved myself $41.00 today instead of $27 but I'm thrilled with anything extra in my pocket at this time of the year :)

I'll probably still go ahead and buy the interpeak ticket (those tickets are worth $2.50 each so you save a little over $10 buying a multitrip ticket) but I'm glad I've got this baby in my purse :) I use the black tickets quite frequently, about once a week, but the red tickets last me around 6 months.

Crystal at Biblical Womanhood hosts Frugal Friday. Check her out!

Cheers,
Lizzie

Thankful Thursday ~ The Lesson

It's all pretty simple this week. I'm thankful I found this verse, also known as my new 'scripture motto', LOL.

"No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it." (Hebrews 12:11, NIV)

This is a page straight out of my book this week :P And it's so true - it is painful!

I'm thankful that in the last week I've been given the grace to accomplish (or at least make serious inroads into) something that seemed insurmountable just a few days ago. I've been a little study machine this week, firing off assignments left, right and centre. It feels good, but it has taken its toll on my health. I'm thankful that I've been given the best reminder possible to get off my takookus when I'm meant to next time!

I'm thankful for a wonderful husband who has put up with a fair chunk of irrationality and stress from his wife these last couple of weeks. I'm so proud of him - he went to work in a suit today. Okay, so that's not why I'm proud, LOL, but I'd be lying if the sight of the man (who normally wears very casual gear as specified by the type of job that he does) in a classic pinstripe didn't get the neurons firing! It almost made up for the fact that he wrenched the blankets off to wake me up this morning, LOL. I really, really wanted him to stay home for a bit longer... (oooh, that's a bit naughty, isn't it? Forget I said that!)

Can I also be a tad shallow and say I'm thankful that I hit Toys R Us at 9:30 this morning instead of 11:30 like originally planned? It's the first day of a sale and the big ticket items are usually all gone in two or three hours and as I was leaving the store (with about 85% of what I went in to get - and the rest was available, I just left it there - I'm a very touchy-feely shopper so I gain ideas from the catalogues then go in search of stuff to touch, LOL) I overheard two separate arguments between shoppers and Toys R Us staff. Our Toys R Us store can be a little finicky with having enough sale stock and it was a bit rough that things were not available only an hour after opening, but sheesh. Anyway, I'm thankful I got out of there quickly!

I'm thankful I'm slowly getting through my shopping list for Christmas. It's a bit tedious but I refuse to pay, for example, $30 for a board game when I know it just went on sale for $10, know what I mean? So when I see something that fits the bill in a catalogue I try as hard as I can to get there on opening day of the sale. With fourteen thousand other people, LOL.

I'm thankful for the smile on Master J's face this afternoon when I presented him with his much-anticipated Tamagotchi version 4.5. Part of the reason I battled the insanity of the Toys R Us endeavour was to grab one of these on sale. He saved up for it himself so it's not a Christmas thing. J gets into these things, Electronic Child that he is :)

For more Thankful Thursday participants, pop in to Laurel Wreath Reflections.

Cheers,
Lizzie

Where Are All The Good News Stories?

(© Cute Colors)

(This is one of those rare posts where I'm going to drop all the usual Bloggityville 'shinyness' and just speak directly from my heart. There may be readers who are offended by what I'll have to say on this subject but please understand that I'm not being critical of anyone in particular - just The System in general. I hope you will understand that I'm offloading here and I don't intend to offend. This is just my experience and my opinion :) Also, this post is very long. You've been warned!)

My husband likes to visit 'clip and link' sites on the net when he winds down after work. This evening he was doing just that and called me over to watch a video of a disabled man singing The Star Spangled Banner at Fenway Park. Quite possibly this might be more of a well-known story in the States than down here, but the basic gist of it was, this lovely lad was singing the national anthem in a very off key voice until the whole crowd kind of got behind him and continued to sing along with him - thousands and thousands of voices helping this guy out. It was great.

This reminded me of the Jason McElwain story, a video I've watched dozens of times since the story broke, and led me on a bit of a YouTube Tour of Autism.

To be frank, I'm disturbed by what I saw. Autism-related videos on YouTube (and autism stories in the media in general) seem to fall into three basic categories:

* Autistic savantism (ie, Rainman)
* 'Shock & Awe' stories about how Little Johnny is so severely affected by autism Mum and Dad just can't possibly cope any longer (and most heartbreaking of all, the stories of parents who have injured - sometimes fatally - their autistic children)
* 'Cure & Blame' stories - the MMR debate, chelation, Applied Behaviour Analysis therapy (ABA), the autism 'epidemic', how my son's autism was 'cured' and similar stories.

I've always had a problem with the way mainstream media depicts autism. It's either tick box A, B or C above, nothing else. What bothers me most is that for those who haven't had autism touch their lives, or don't associate with disabled people generally, these three categories are all they ever hear about autism. Insensitive people, on hearing that your child is autistic, will either launch into a story about how their neighbour's niece's son plays the cello like a pro at age three, or recount a newspaper story where some poor folks down there in Boondockville tied their autistic child to the bed, or spew forth some diatribe on how they don't immunise their kids because they're afraid the vaccine will 'give' their kids autism.

Can I just pause for a second and say, this hurts the autism community far more than you know.

Let's start with savantism. The occurrence of autism currently stands at about 1-2 per 1000 people (as distinct from Autism Spectrum Disorders, or ASDs in general (of which autism is one condition), which is 6 per 1000 - I'll be focusing mainly on autism as a separate condition distinct from the more general term 'ASD'). Of that number, only five, possibly ten percent of autistics show savant qualities. And yet what's the first thought you have when you hear the word 'autism'? Rainman. A seriously large chunk of 'autism airplay' in the general media goes toward perpetuating the myth that if not all, then at least the majority of autistics are savants. Not all savants are autistic (though roughly half are), but the percentage of autistics who are also savants is very, very small.

Secondly, stories of infanticide and horrible, horrible abuse stories of non-coping parents burden my heart greatly, but there's also a small part of me who hates the media for portraying it at all. The general public already has cause to think of autism in a negative light, but these stories only serve one of two purposes. You either sympathise with the parents involved, or you don't. Speaking from the middle of the ring here, there's no excuse, not a single one, not autism, or ADHD, or intellectual disability - nothing whatsoever will induce me to sympathise with the parents involved in these stories. In 2003 in Australia, a mother smothered her 10 year old autistic son and she only received a five year good behaviour bond. This particular link disturbs me even further because it is literally filled with excuses. I'm not saying the circumstances surrounding this poor family weren't harsh - they were, and if anyone should understand that, it would be me - I, like many, many thousands of other 'autism parents' battle frustration, confusion, advocacy issues, bureaucracy, funding bodies, early intervention services, stress, exhaustion and yes, even depression on a frequent basis. But other parents don't crack like this woman. We might scream and cry and throw a (well-deserved!) hissy-fit when our funding is cut, or we have to literally force the school system to provide the necessary services for our kids, or (as one dear internet friend and fellow 'Aussie autism mum' puts it) 'wipe poo and toothpaste from the walls', but we don't take it out on our children. Get angry at the system, not the child. I will back you a thousand percent, I will sign any number of petitions lobbying the government for more funding, heck - I'll even march in a picket line if you need me too. But don't expect me to feel sorry for this woman.

'Cure & Blame' stories are almost the worst of the lot. For the record, here's what I believe about autism: Autism is a brain development disorder characterised by impaired social function and communication. Note I said 'impaired' and not 'absent'. Another common misconception about autistic children are that they're all slowly rocking in a corner, unable to form meaningful relationships with people. This is just plain ignorant. The single most important thing I long to tell each and every misguided, ignorant and scare-mongery individual out there is that autism is a spectrum disorder. There's a whole arc of symptoms and two people, both with an autism diagnosis, will never be exactly alike in symptoms or behaviours. Autism just doesn't work like that. Pigeon-holing autistic children is one of my pet peeves, and right about now is where my Advocacy Mama hat comes out of the closet, because whenever I describe autism to anyone not familiar with the details of it - and, by the way, I'm always, always happy to answer questions, as are most 'autism parents', so please ask us and stop staring at our children! - I always slot in something about it being a spectrum disorder.

Take Master J for example. His diagnosis was 'autism' - not Asperger's, not PDD-NOS (where an individual might fit some of the symptoms on the autism checklists but not 'enough' for an confirmed diagnosis). Over the years, we've been blessed to discover that he is high-functioning and in the 25% or so of individuals with autism who do not have an intellectual disability. Think about that for a moment. If you had 100 autistic individuals in a group, three-quarters of them would have some form of mental impairment, from slight to severe, as if the decreased ability to socialise and communicate wasn't enough! J meets our eyes, speaks wonderfully (with maybe a slight rearrangement of words sometimes, Yoda-style, LOL) and has friends. He'll always be different, he'll almost certainly be special-educated for the remainder of his time in school (though his special ed class is within a mainstream school), and it is highly likely he will either remain living at home indefinitely or at best, in a small-group living arrangement (like a retirement village of sorts, but for disabled folk) But God, we're grateful for him.

I don't pay any attention to the MMR debate. I don't believe in chelation (heavy metals? auugh). I don't believe there was anything I could have done to prevent it. I believe there's a genetic component. I believe in my son, and I believe that the 'cure' stories can often do more harm than good. Autism cannot be cured - it can only be researched, managed, lived-with and enjoyed - I know! Enjoyed! It's possible, LOL. When I hear of people 'curing' their child's autism with dietary intervention, I want to scream. You can manage the symptoms of autism with dietary intervention (usually a gluten and casein (dairy) free diet) and it can have a remarkable difference on behaviour and communication, but because I believe that the cause of autism lies in the DNA, I find it almost offensive to hear the word 'cure' and 'autism' in the same sentence. For the record, we have tried the dietary route in the past with J and yes, there was improvement - but how much of that is autism-specific and how much of the 'no additives, colours and preservatives' approach is just plain good parenting sense? If we restrict chemical-laden foods for J, then we do it for Boofah and Miss Moo as well, and it has nothing to do with the autism. I should pause to point out that the GFCF diet is much, much more complex than simply 'no additives'. The theory follows along with the idea that gluten and casein-containing foods affect the body of an autistic much the same way as heroin affects an addict. You'll often hear stories of autistic kids who crave bread, pasta, yoghurt, milk and cheese (we called them The Magic Five in our house). Once they've had their 'hit' of gluten, their behaviour settles until the feeling wears off and the merry-go-round begins again. So in this circumstance I absolutely support dietary intervention - if that is what you've determined works for your child. But I don't think it can cure him or her - just make the condition a whole lot easier to deal with.

When we were newly-diagnosed, the one thing I couldn't find in any of the (many) books on autism on the shelf, or in newspapers or on TV, were positive, normal, average, everyday stories about kids on the spectrum. They seemed to only ever fit into the three categories described above, and that was more than a little depressing. If you're not a 'cure' advocate, and your child isn't a savant, and if you just plain don't want to hear stories of woe and sorrow, you're not really left with much. Which is why stories like that of Jason McElwain have always touched my heart. A good news story that was focused on the individual, and not the autism. It wasn't a 'cure story' and there were no debates on causes. We need more stories like those.

And thus ends my soapbox session for November. Back to posts on menu planning and housekeeping and - oh, I don't know - cupcakes tomorrow, I promise, LOL.

P.S. I highly recommend the essay "Don't Mourn For Us" by Jim Sinclair, an autistic adult. The link is in my left sidebar. This essay, read first when we were newly-diagnosed, changed how I viewed autism.

Cheers,
Lizzie