2017 has not been the year I imagined. Maybe I had more specific intentions or perhaps the years are always like this and it is simply that I noticed this year. Nevertheless I shall have some intentions for 2018.
Wishing you all the best for the festive season in whatever way you do or don’t celebrate this. Looking forward to sharing 2018 with you.
Well, lazy on my part that is; but not for you. While my fingers may not be a tapping words of wit, my eyes have been a reading so I am sharing a few links for your reading pleasure.
Finally I am delighted to say that I have been putting my relaxing time to use, and have finally finished this shrug for my now not so little girl. As someone who has yet to knit a tension square before knitting a garment I am pleased to say that while I started this a year ago in the 2 – 3 year old size, it does fit my now 3 & 1/2 year old. Though I will be putting it on her every chance I get this summer!
Hope you are having an enjoyable festive season regardless of how you do or don’t celebrate this time of year.
First up the sins of the parents… Or put it this way we have brought the following on ourselves. It would be fair to say that we are partial fond of caffeine. For a relatively recent birthday I gave the other half a home barista course. The deal being that if we wanted a manual machine it would mean that he would have to always make my coffee for me.
Our Christmas present to ourselves this year was a Nespresso machine. We were thinking of wrapping it up and putting it under the tree for our daughter to unwrap for us. But after being purchased last Saturday it has been in constant use.
Now we have already given our daughter a habit. In walking to the markets to buy fruit and veg on the weekend we started stopping at a cafe on the way home. We are regulars now – they simply ask if we want the banana bread (hard to pass up). And baby chinos are just cute. It has been fun to watch her progress from eating with a spoon to drinking just like one of us. Now it is much much worse. Since Saturday we have been making baby chinos at home. We of course tell her she is having coffee and recently when we went out for dinner she asked for a coffee. I swear the waitress looked at us like we were unfit parents!
None of this sounds bad, but I can see a very near future when she shall demand one. Yesterday we had coffee and fruit mince pie at her little table. The day before we gave her one with her cereal. Can you tell I am on leave? Of course she can already tell when the machine is on. Coffee the little voice pipes up. Her father and her are going to be in a constant tussle over the two espresso cups. Not sure she’ll accept a “coffee” in her melamine cup!
Anyway enough about coffee. As is the case in the southern hemisphere Christmas Day is a warm affair. This is our very first time as just our little family. In marking the occasion we sat outside when it was just the two of us while our little coffee addict had her nap. As you can see, a Christmas tree dish, a NZ favourite – onion dip – in a dish of the South Island (if you look closely I marked the location of the section we bought this year!), and a heart dish to mark that Christmas is love. And of course there was wine – a kiwi sauvignon blanc. And by utter randomness in flipping over the bought Christmas pudding to remove the packaging I noticed it was made in New Zealand. So a pretty good New Zealand – North Melbourne Christmas. And in honour of the colder climes and tradition we are having some turkey, it is in the oven as I type – albeit we think we will eat it outside.
So finally in the words of Snoopy, from my favourite Christmas song (Snoopy & the Red Baron), “Merry Christmas my friends”. See you in 2015.
Don’t you love something for free? I do. I especially love winning competitions. So what is on offer here and why? How do I enter? When does the competition close? Is there anything I have to do when I win?
What could I win? Fivestar Locksmiths are very generously offering one prize with two options – you get to choose which one you would like to have.
Why? As a parent, and even before really, security is really important. I know when my other half has been away overnight I double check the doors to ensure they are locked. I don’t even think about it otherwise! So it is really important to feel secure in your own home, or know that your home is secure when you are away on vacation, which is pretty important at this time of year. And as the world has changed our familiarity and knowledge of our neighbours has perhaps lessened. So I liked that Fivestar Locksmiths have recently teamed up with Neighbourhood Watch to explain to neighbourhood communities how to make their premises more secure. For those of you who are not familiar with Neighbourhood Watch, it is a community based crime prevention program which aims to improve the quality of life within a neighbourhood by endeavouring to minimise preventable crime and promoting closer community ties. And as a somewhat recent parent you suddenly realise how important your community is, and that you are a part of it. And as someone who has been involved with the Police in the earlier part of my career, there are so many simple actions we can take to be a little bit safer.
I can also personally recommend Five Star. There was a problem with the lock on the security door at the main entrance to our building. A number of quotes were obtained, and Five Star were selected as the quote was good value. They then did an excellent and very tidy job.
How do I enter? Please answer the question, how many times have I locked myself out? in the comments, along with your contact email address or email me directly at northmelbournemum@gmail.com with your email address. How simple! And if you are feeling generous or know of someone who could benefit from this prize please let them know about the competition.
Can I still enter? Entries will be accepted until midnight 31st December 2013! The winner to be notified in early January.
Conditions (there always is, but only three here!):
To note: This is not a sponsored post. On that note, a big thank you to Five Star Locksmiths for generously donating this prize.
Well I am just managing to squeak in a second post before the month comes to an end, and its not even December! I am tempted to ask for more hours in the day for Christmas, however I would probably just fill them with more chores and not me time which is what I really want, time to do the stuff I want to do, not the stuff I have to do.
So a completely off topic start. Now to topic. What I had not been aware of and which I am quite excited about is that I come from the country that had implemented the first on line passport application process. Yay New Zealand! Now it is still entirely rubbish that we only have five year passports (that’s a whole other story). But as someone who has just applied to renew her passport online, and now received it by courier I am excited. And for once it costs less to do it online than to do it on paper. In contrast to buying bloody movie tickets (and others) online where you are doing all the work and paying for the privilege. In August this year 100,000 folk have already traversed this path, so in some ways I am already a late adopter. It is great to see technology delivering on that age old paperless society prediction. Good on ya NZ!
Am I trying to channel Brittany Spears…no! But I have done it again, and for only $2.99!!
And I’m so excited!
Why am I crazy? Well look what this mad woman went and bought.
Why on earth have I added to my already wool purchase frenzy of the other day? Well I have managed to turn a purchase from the first batch into a finished product in a record minimum amount of time. My delusions of an Esty shop have run wild!
Now this particular scarf is intended as a Christmas present for my M-o-o-L (Mother-out-of-law, instead of in-law). And I think my Esty mad dream may get pushed aside for an even better outcome. I do love having a project on the go and while I genuinely purchased this and the first batch of wool with the intention of seeing if I could sell some items on Etsy, it has suddenly dawned on me that there a whole lot of people in my life for whom I could make a gift for. Now I know the knitting here is not technical, quite the opposite. But it is the thought behind it. And eventually I will run out of people to create gifts for, so really I am just delaying the launch of my Etsy vision (I have the name already to go).
And there is also an absolutely unintended consequence. These will actually be exceptionally cost effective presents. Naturally I am not including my time in estimating the true cost of the present. The fun is in the creation for me.
