The end to another year...

Can you believe that 2008 is just a few days away from being over?! How can this possibly be? I remember when I was young, always hearing the 'older' generation always talking about how quickly time passes and remember rolling my eyes in a mocking kind of way thinking, 'how ridiculous'! I guess I have reached that same category as part of the 'older' ones as time literally does just slip away far too quickly, each day, each week, each year. I can't believe it has been two years since we moved up here also! I had a brief vacant moment in the kitchen earlier on thinking that it could only have been one year for sure. I had to think really hard to work out that it is actually two!...anyway, sorry, just went into one a bit there...let me just adjust my crochet blanket over my knees, have a cup of tea and then I shall continue...

Anyway...I really hope that anyone reading this has had a wonderful Xmas. We had a lovely little one, just the four of us. The children woke us up very early Xmas morning and Ian and I were knackered as we had a late night Xmas Eve. We stayed up cooking and preparing! Everything from the turkey, a chocolate yule log, some rocky road, potato salad and the trifle. I had it in my head this year that I would do it all, I wouldn't do the 'easy' thing and get a ready made log etc...I saw the rocky road recipe and just 'had' to make it...it ended up costing me about 5 times the amount as if I'd just bought one...and I'm not even a huge fan of rocky road...Ian still shakes his head about it. Once I get an idea though in this maze inside my head, I have to do it to satisfy my curiosity and my desire to create. Well it all turned out O.K. The log was very time consuming and I'm sure I turned a few hairs greyer after getting the 'roll' right and dealing with chocolate ganache that was melting in the Queensland humidity and wouldn't spread properly...Ian certainly knows the right things to say though when the following day I was feeling a bit kind of 'down' about it not being perfect, and he told me that it was more than perfect because it was made with my love and goodwill and enthusiasm. How beautiful! Just what I needed to hear. Yaz was the 'gift person' this year and handed out all the pressies from under the tree. I remember when they were younger, we had huge mountain fulls under the tree, now the presents seem to be getting smaller...still costing as much, if not more, but it definitely decreased in floor space this year. Yaz got the phone she has so desperately desired for so long, plus some clothes, jewellery, a straightener, wii games etc...Bailey got a wii fit, games, a microscope, clothes, book etc...and as a joint gift they got a wii 'rock band', which I think our neighbours have now realised we have it! Yaz is the drummer, Bailey the guitarist and Ian or I on the vocals. I haven't even had the chance to try the drums ot the guitar yet...mind you I have been pre-occupied with my new singstar game and my Dawn French book...plus other treats. Ian also got a wii game...like the big kid he is...plus a blue tooth for work, cd, dvd's etc...so we were all utterly spoilt....again! As usual we ate WAY too much on the day. Why do we do it? Although I must admit, since Xmas, tonight was the first night that I had to cook as we've been spoilt with all of the left overs! The day itself was fun and relaxing and went very quickly. I spoke to my family twice during the day...I do miss them!...and we finally got hold of Ian's parents in the evening as their Xmas was just beginning. Next year we dearly hope to be over there with them celebrating Xmas. It's been way too long and we miss you all sooo much!

Boxing day we all got up a bit late and then gathered some food together and headed to Nicky and Seans for the day. Again we ate heaps, had a drink or two and played singstar and went for a walk. We didn't get home until around 9.30pm and we were just so full and so tired from two days of non-stop eating rich and junky food, too irrisistable to turn down!

I feel like I've piled it on over this past week so back to the healthy lifestyle I was into before-hand and back to the gym again. Xmas always seems to take it's toll in this way with me, but oh does it feel so good getting here!

So as of tomorrow I head back to work until New Years Eve and do it all again, this time without as much junky food but more alcohol and a few days off work. We are heading to Charmayne and Mike's for New Years Eve so there's no doubt that there will be lots of drinking, singing and dancing. Bring it on!!! I keep saying to Ian that 2009 is going to be our year...I pray that my prediction will be spot-on! In fact I hope that 2009 is everyones year. There seems to be a lot of people that have had a terrible year this year for one reason or

another so I wish everyone only the very best for a happy, healthy and prosperous year and may everyones dreams come true! xxx

Xmas love to you all xxxx

I have yet again left out a week of updating this blog. Life has just been very hectic all round. We have had my brother and nephew up for just over a week. Unfortunately I still had to work so I wasn't around as much as what I had hoped but we still had a great catch-up, especially Yaz, Bailey and Julian. They all got along so great. We took them up to Bribie Island on the weekend and it was so beautiful up there. Shane and Julian loved it too. Unfortunately the airconditioner in my car has gone and we were stuck in stand-still traffic in the hottest part of the day on our way up and it was sooooo boiling hot! We just literally dumped our stuff on the sand and ran into the water. Shane borrowed the car when I had to work so he took Yaz and Bailey down to the lagoon a couple of times and out to lunch one day. Yazmin and Julian also had a day out on their own and went into the city on the train to do some Xmas shopping. On the Friday night Shane and i made some cocktails and enjoyed drinking those, sitting out the back feeling very relaxed indeed.

Just after I had come home from dropping Shane and Julian off at the airport, I got a phone call from Mum with some very sad news. My cousin in England, Robert, had died in his sleep. He was only 38 and had everything going for him in life. Obviously everybody is just devastated and I just can't get my head around it. He now leaves behind his son and soon-to-be fiancee, plus his parents, brother and 2 sisters. It's never a good time for something like this to happen but it's the week before Xmas and his birthday is 31st December too, the day he was going to propose to his girlfriend. It's all just so sad. Xmas will be very different from now on for all of them now. Our love and thoughts go out to my family and Roberts close friends etc...

We are now pretty much prepared for Xmas, just the food shopping to go. It will be a very quiet one this year and hopefully we will get to chat to all of our family either on the day or Xmas night. Xmas is the day that really hits home just how much you miss the people that you love. I coouldn't get Yaz into having a photo with Santa but little Bailey was more than happy to and had a good old chat with the man himself too, letting him know all that he wants for Xmas. He was a very cool Santa too, making him laugh and hi-fiving him etc...

Last night we had a wonderful night around at Mike and Charmaynes, where we had some lovely Indian and a few drinks. Mike's Dad is over from New Z ealand at the moment and he was such a laugh and loved getting up for a bit of a dance, so he kind of started us all off really and by the end of the night, Ian was doing a very convincing Tom Jones impersonation which left us nearly peeing ourselves in hysterics! If only I had a video camera handy! Speaking of cameras, our digital is packing it in for whatever reason and all of the photos I am taking are turning out blurry so I haven't been able to take many lately at all.

Anyway, I guess my head's not really with it at the moment as I have a total blank and have nothing else to say except that we wish all of you a very Merry Xmas. Please keep safe and tell everyone that you share your life with just how much you love them. That's the greatest gift of all...and it's free!

The End!

This week has seen the end to my college at long last. After two and a half years of studying, I am finally free. I had my last two exams this week which was a nightmare having both on but I managed to get through them and now never have to go to college ever again. My time now belongs to my family who have been neglected for such a long time due to me always with my head in the books and never quite 'there' mentally. They have also inspired me and encouraged me when I didn't think I would do well enough etc...so I thank them dearly for helping me achieve my dream! I must admit I never thought I would ever have my own business, let alone help people by working in the health care industry. We went out for a lovely meal last night to celebrate too as I have decided not to go to my graduation in a couple of weeks for a few reasons.

This week Bailey had a 'learning celebration' on at school where the Yr 3 students performed a few poems, songs and then some line dancing. We got to have a look at their work they have done in the last term also so it was great to see how Bailey has been doing. They were all very cute!

I took Yaz and Bailey into the city on Saturday to meet our favourite radio celebrities-Hamish and Andy. They have just brought out a cd for xmas, which we bought before hand for them to sign which Ian will be getting for xmas. We lined up for about 2 hours before we ended up meeting them and it was such a scorcher of a day. We were standing in the full on sun for that length of time in the hottest part of the day so felt very drained and hot afterwards. We did have suncream on but we still got a little burnt. Anyway, it was worth it as we got such a buzz out of meeting them and they personalised Ians cd too. The four of us just love these guys.

Today Bailey and I went to Moreton Island for my work's end of year party. We had such a great day, although have come home quite burnt even though we applied suncream at least 6 times during the whole day. The Queensland sun is just soooo strong and maybe we need to get a better suncream? It's a 30+ but obviously not the right one for our skin types! We just hung out at the island all day playing in the beach and going to the resort pools etc...It was the perfect day too. A long day but a fantastic day. Ian and Yaz could've come also but it was very hard to convince Yaz as she likes to go places where she knows people and there were no girls there her age anyway. If Yaz wasn't going then Ian wasn't so it was just the boy and I. We just love it over there. I am so thankful that we moved up here as we have all of this at our doorstep and it is just paradise!

So that's about it really. The week ended perfectly, my college has ended and we celebrated the end of the working year too. Hard to believe really! Now I can concentrate on doing some Xmas shopping, getting back into the gym...especially since all the good food is just around the corner!, and Shane and Julian are arriving this Wednesday for just over a week and we can't wait. My house will certainly be very full, but full of fun and happiness, the perfect thing just before Xmas!