The real meaning of Christmas.

Here is another Blog this challenge...


What does Xmas mean to you and your family?

It means being together.
Now that Sd and I are married it means one year in Sydney with my family and the next in Melbourne with Sd's family. My family is tiny and Sd's is much much bigger but overall the 'being together' theme is exactly the same.


Have you got some traditions?

Sd and I have one tradition which was actually started in my family a couple of years ago... it's called 'Christmas Bag'.
* please refer to post photo
It involves climbing into a ridiculously large Christmas gift bag and having your photo taken. We have decided to take the show on the road this year and introduce this tradition to Sd's unsuspecting family. Look out Mornington!


What will you cook?!

As regular readers will know I will not be cooking anything. I'm a cleaning person not a cooking person. Although, I must admit I have had fleeting thoughts of trying to bake a Christmas cake lately. We'll see what happens...
When we have Christmas in Sydney, Sd ( chef extraordinaire ) cooks the Christmas ham. We like to name it.
Last year's ham was called Richard.

Who will you spend it with?

This year is Melbourne year. I will spend it with Sd, his parents, his two brothers and their partners, and lots of their relations.

Got a favourite Christmas memory?

My favourite Christmas memory is when I was about 4. My sister and I used to believe that we were very special because Santa came to us twice. We woke up to lots of exciting presents that Santa had brought down the chimney and then later, when our grandparents arrived, we would go outside to play in the garden with them for a while. When we returned inside, there were more presents from Santa under the tree! It was incredible!
We couldn't get over how lucky we were that Santa came to us twice! No one in our family could work out how Santa had snuck back in. Our grandparents were all outside with my sister and I and Mum and Dad were in the kitchen making Christmas lunch the whole time...It couldn't have been anyone else BUT Santa could it?


How are you decorating??

I am decorating as much and as often as possible. Decorating begins next week actually. There will be fairy lights on the stairs, our gorgeous tree bought last year ( it's very hardy and cannot be 'killed' by cats - we have had a few trees destroyed by our lovely cats) and lashings of Christmas bush and holly.
Christmas bush and holly are vital for a well decorated Christmas as far as I'm concerned!

I'm getting merry just thinking about it!


xx

Guilty Pleasures.

The 'Blog This' challenge for this week is;

Come on! Everyone has at least one! Chocolate? Trashy TV? Magazines? Romance Novels? Designer brands? Maybe it's having a 20 minute shower? Tell us about your your guilty pleasure, why you love it so much, where, when, how and what!

I didn't have to think about this one for long at all!

My guilty pleasure at this time of the year, every year, is Australian Idol.
I will be the first to admit that it is an horrendous show at times! As my husband will testify, it can be very annoying and this year in particular, a little um, underwhelming in the talent department. Future idols seem few and far between in 2009 if you know what I mean... BUT that certainly doesn't mean I wont be watching every single episode. No, I won't miss a thing, even if it means giving the Foxtel IQ a workout each Sunday in order to maintain a happy and healthy relationship!!

I love love love Australian Idol because of the chance that each episode , and indeed each year, maybe someone amazing will be discovered. There is always the chance that one of the contestant's performances will be fantastic. That they will perform better than they have before, that they will sing better than they thought they could - or anyone else thought they could.
It is positively exhilarating when it happens.
I'm quite the cryer when I watch these moments actually.
Just picture it; grown woman, pyjamas, couch , Australian Idol moment , tears , sniffing , husband playing poker online lamenting the day he met her... sounds great huh?
Some weeks these moments can even happen more than once! Other weeks? Not so much.

But still I watch, waiting for THAT moment.

I have downloaded for your enjoyment ( if you are not my husband!) one of those very moments. Actually, I should call it my moment of moments - Guy Sebastian singing Climb Every Mountain in 2003.


Enjoy!.... or not! ;)





xx

Ten things.

Another 'Blog this' challenge...


Tell us TEN things you want to do in your lifetime that you've yet to achieve.
It can be as simple as learning to knit, or bungee jump, skydive, maybe eat a whole lobster or travel somewhere, meet a penpal - anything!



1) I would like to live somewhere in Europe. I have never lived anywhere else other than Sydney and I really want to experience daily life somewhere else.



2) I would like to be able to cook a signature dish. Actually I would like to be able to cook a signature meal. An Entree, Main course and Dessert that I cook well and that other people love and look forward to eating.



3) I would like to learn to sew. I buy alot of clothes from vintage stores, thrift stores and markets and I want to be able to make the changes to them that I envisage but don't quite know how to achieve. At the moment I keep my lovely local dressmaker in business I think!



4) I would like to own a dog from a refuge. I have never had a dog. Just cats. I love love love my cats but there is an empty place for a dog in my heart.




5) I would like to be in a chorus line in a musical. I'm thinking that this particular one will happen in whatever retirement village I end up in!! You never know though...is 36 too old be discovered by a talent scout?



6) I would like to volunteer for a charitable organisation - as a full time job.


and now for a bit of juxtaposition for No.7...



7) I would like to own an Hermes bag (and anything else they have there at the Hermes store they would like to offer me thank you!)



8) I would like to eat a meal at El Bulli and at The Fat Duck. Two of the best restaurants in the world. Unfortunately, I may have to sell my Hermes bag to fund these meals.



9) I would like to be a better gardener. I am ok at it but I think that's in the genes in my family. I want to apply myself and become great at it. Like my mum is and my nan and grandad were.



10)I would like to conquer my problems with anxiety. I am well on the way to achieving that thankfully , but there is certainly room for improvement. I would forgo all the other nine things in a heartbeat to achieve this single one.



xx

Pearls of Wisdom.

This is the latest Blog this challenge. I haven't done one for ages so I thought it was about time...

Pearls of Wisdom - what is the best life advice you've recieved? How did you use that advice and how has it impacted on your life's path? What pearl of wisdom have you passed on to others?


So, the best life advice I've received?

Well,I've received two pieces of advice in my life which I carry with me always. The first is from my dad and has kind of turned into our family creed ;
' Trust no one and wear two pairs of underpants.'
Now I will grant you that immediately you would be thinking that my lovely dad is (a bit) mad and (alot) Monty Python-esque. You would certainly be correct there and I have to say that from a young age I thought that this piece of advice was a bit silly, a bit funny and also quite a bit paranoid and 'cup half empty'.
But it has stayed with me.

The other piece of advice is from my grandad, although it was his daughter - my mum, who passed it onto me;
'Everything in moderation'
I always thought this was a good one, but when I was younger - of course I didn't feel that it applied to me. Other people? Sure. Just not to me!

How did you use that advice and how has it impacted on your life's path?

As I have gotten older I have come to find that for me, both pearls of wisdom are little messages that I like to have in the back of my mind from people I trust that help me to navigate the trials and tribulations of this complicated life.
Dad's sage advice now means to me as an adult, that in life you have to go your own way, whatever that may be. You cant do things you know aren't right for you to please other people. In short, follow your heart. You also need a back up plan! Things don't always turn out how you think or hope they will and that's ok and that happens.
Most importantly though, this piece of advice reminds me to not take myself too seriously. It's all about having a sense of humour. It is in my family anyway.
My mum's advice, now that I have reached the ripe old age of 36, is just a gentle reminder that too much of anything just might not be the best idea. I actually KNOW that now. Hello, 13 years of smoking , LOTS of late nights, crap eating habits, stressful private and work life...
That's all in the (fabulous) past now and I have mended my ways.I'm not a saint - my mum and especially my grandad would NOT approve of any saintly behaviour at all! But I'm much much more moderate now. Now that I am an older lady ;)!!!

Which leads me to the next question...What pearl of wisdom have you passed onto others?

I'm not really one for passing on advice to others. Not sure why. I guess I tend to think that I have so much more to learn in life that I feel like a bit of a wanker handing out advice unless I am 100% positive that what I am advising is 100% right for the other person.
However, hopefully, in February I will become a mother for the first time. It has taken me 3 years , 3 miscarriages, and a cycle of IVF to get to this point.
I am going to have to be supplying a few pearls of wisdom here and there to my son or daughter.
I will definitely pass on these ones that have meant something to me, and I will also pass on the one that I have come to know is true on the long journey I have been on to meet my child;

Have faith that if you try your hardest and never give up, you will never have regrets in life.
And if you're very lucky, what you need will come to you.


xx

Fifteen facts.

This is the latest Blog This challenge;

Tell us fifteen facinating, far fetched, frightening, funny or frivilous facts about yourself. Those bits of trivia that are floating around in your life.

Can you eat 10 burgers in one sitting? Do you sleep with your eyes open? Can you tie a cherry stalk into a knot? Speak 5 different languages?

All those things that you've bored your friends and family with for years - We want to know.


1) I can recite , word for word , each episode of 'Fawlty Towers'.
My sister and I loved this TV show SO much that our parents bought us the audio tapes and when we were 6 (her) and 8 (me), we had them on high rotation in our shared bedroom.

2) I will not eat bruised fruit. I have no valid reason. I just wont.

3) In the last couple of years ( I am 36 now ) , I have come to realise that I am shy. I can't believe that this revelation has come so late!!

4) I harbour an intense desire to sing and dance on Broadway , in a chorus line.

5) I love to watch any kind of cooking show. I watch the Food channel on Foxtel like there is no tomorrow. I do NOT like to cook.

6) I love leopard print , however only in small doses.

7) I cannot read a map. To make matters worse, I have no sense of direction either.

8) I can remember the birthdays of girls who I have not seen since high school. 20 years ago.

9) I work in retail and regularly envisage getting out a baseball bat from under the counter to combat vile customers.

10)I cannot speak another language. If I attempt to speak any foreign language, for example ordering something in a restaurant , I immediately start channelling Kath and or Kim.

11) I am obsessed with my two cats. Obsessed.

12) I love to eat Asian food - any kind, anywhere, anytime. Not chickens feet though.

13) Sometimes I feel like I am 17 and sometimes I feel like I am 60. The 60 bit is usually when I am listening to AM radio.

14) I have been doing my Certificate IV in Training and Assessment for 3 years. That will indicate to you how soul - destroyingly boring it is. It should take a few weeks.

15) I met my husband at Barons ( a seedy old bar in Sydney ) at 4am.
I think it is quite an achievement that from those humble beginnings we have come this far.

xx

'Blog this' challenge.

"If I were to invent something to make life easier or more fun for me...and WHY.. "
What is the bane of your existence?

I would like to like to preface this with one thing - I love to clean . I do . Although not for hours and hours - alone.
To make my life easier and more fun while I clean our house, I would invent a roster system of people I would like to converse with while cleaning. They would come from room to room with me and chat with me about all kinds of things. They would also perform any cleaning/tidying tasks I would like them to. The way the roster would work would be that when I am ready to tackle the household chores, I send my chosen conversationalist an email and they arrive 15 minutes later. They stay as long as necessary.

My list would be constantly updated, and my conversationalists would always be available. They can also be living or dead.

My current list looks like this;
* my grandad, Bob Conlin ( passed away 1988) - we have ALOT to catch up on...
* Andrew Denton - I want to hear about his 'Enough Rope' years and maybe some behind the scenes goss?
*James Valentine - love his sense of humour, his quick wit and his outlook.
*Sammy Davis Jr - I want to hear all about the Rat Pack, and he might sing me a few songs if I'm lucky.
* Jim Henson - I would like to understand his creative process and find out more about how he saw the world.
* Amanda Keller -She's hilarious .
* Ellen DeGeneres - She's also hilarious and we could maybe fit a dance in when we finish the cleaning.
*Judy Garland - we could sing songs together and she could tell me all her stories.
* Harold Holt - curious to know what happened and I might learn a bit more about Australian politics !!;)

* Jack McFarlane ( character from 'Will and Grace') - time would just fly!!