Ladies who lunch

That's been me this week.  Wednesday I went out to the AEON* to catch up with a bunch of people I worked with out there, originally intending to see just one person, and ending up seeing loads of others - everybody misses me, apparently.  It was like a ghost town, with hardly anybody around, which meant we could sit and chat over coffee for an hour with nobody feeling guilty about reducing the August Institution's profit down from its most recent $6 billion result...


On the way back from the AEON*, I stopped in at my favourite fabric shop, Cottage Quiltworks, to get some more Christmas fabric supplies, fully intending to spend no more than $50.00.... ha.  Suffice it to say, I went over the limit by just a little and I got these:

Which I think will make some nice decoration-y things, and are proof that traditional and modern go well together, if you make sure the colours are right (love the blue-reds!)... and this:





Which amusingly has the same title as some erotic literature by Anais Nin, so watch out what you ask for in the shops!




Yesterday I spent a very enjoyable 2.5 hours with an ex-boss, somebody I worked with for a long time, whose company I always enjoy, and we chatted about Italy, travel disasters, life, the universe, you know.  He recently went to Europe with his lovely wife JJ & three lovely children - twin boys of 11 & a girl of 14 - how bloody brave is that?  


Apparently it all went well until the three kids contracted food poisoning in Hong Kong just hours before getting on the plane to come home.  His stories of the progression of each child into the vomiting stage was hilarious - one in the hotel bathroom, one all over their bed, one in the cable car up Mount Victoria - just the way to finish a holiday.  On mature reflection, I think I'd rather just have my wallet stolen.


And now, Gentle Readers, I have the first visit of a new cleaning person today, so I need to go & make myself in the epitome of a respectable Northern Beaches housewife.  I may be some time.


Ciao!


*Arse-end of Nowhere

Ham, anyone?

Not to be too 'scroogely' about it, but this year we didn't inflate the tree.  We didn't spend money on a real tree, we didn't go to the shops & buy a fake one.  We didn't string tinsel or lights, or sparkly baubles.  I did put two holly leaves & a berry onto the leg of the froggie doorknocker, just to get into the spirit of the thing, and I made these


[insert picture here].


Damn, the pictures are still on the camera.  Which is at the Boxes.  Where we were on Boxes Day, and where we will be on Friday night to celebrate NYE, very quietly.  Our tradition, for at least the last five years, has been to spend the evening with Dr & Mrs Box, eating, drinking & playing something wild like Scrabble, or Monopoly, or even Anti-Monopoly, having a 'relatively' early night, then going out somewhere really nice for lunch the next day:

And so it shall be in 2010.


Also, I can't believe we're still eating ham.  And we weren't even the originators of the ham.  That privilege went to my lovely SIL, who certainly made the business requirement of 'supply too much ham at Christmas' achievable.


I got some lovely gifts, MWH* outdid himself this year, aided by the wonderful 'wish list' facilities at various online retailers.  This particular gift has been pilloried by friends and family alike, and I can't work out why - it's fantastic for people who travel a lot, and who don't want to drag phone and camera battery chargers around with them wherever they go:

And then there were the books:

  

All guaranteed to keep me busy for a while... but I have made a solemn vow that I am doing absolutely no sewing of any kind until I go through the small but perfectly formed room and find some things to put into the 'Destash Sale from Hell (IIBIHWID*) - the sight of piles of fabric on the floor of the SBPFR have made me realise that, sadly, it's not like the TARDIS, and I can't keep shoving fabric in it without it starting to bulge at the seams... so, the sale.

I'm only going to get rid of dress-making fabric, though, I have no desire to make clothes for myself anymore - I'd be happy to make stuff for the little kids though, although Miss A is now 12 & no longer interested in homemade anything - although she's not actually overt about it, she was quite happy that the pencil case I gave her for Christmas came from Kinokuniya, and not from my own fair hands... 

Master E, on the other hand, was quite happy to finally get his hands on these:

 

which is pretty good, considering he also had one of those new-fangled skateboards with only two wheels to occupy him for most of the day!

And now, gentle reader, the cricket has adjourned for tea, and I am off to make myself a ham-free lunch!

*If I believed in Hell, which I don't

OMG, somebody pour me onto the couch...

Sound familiar?  Well, the birthday party for MWH was a big success, but I feel like I need a week of sleep... I had Friday off & picked up my friend Kaz from the nearest railway station at 9.00am, then we didn't stop until about 9.30pm that night.  Then we started again the next morning at 7.00am, and poured the last guests down the driveway that night at about 11.00pm... 


MWH got some lovely gifts...

about 5 pairs of thongs - that's about a pair a year for him.  Also about 6 different varieties of beer, some wine and a bottle of, get this, Green Fairy Absinthe... thongs may also be known as 'flip flops' to some of you, and maybe 'Jandals' to others... some of our more classy friends left the price tag on - $6.97 for a pair of nasty rubber black things that have a really bad rubbery smell for the first six months of their lives... and he loves them.

And in the interim, I had about 5 parcels arrive, including 5 yards of this:

 which I think I'm going to turn into a tablecloth & napkins...

Also this, from here:

in the red, the brown & the green - can't wait to do something with it, and this:

which is a pattern for the perfect monogram - I could make one of these for just about everybody I know, as the perfect custom-made gift - from here.

But now, I have to go off & finish the christmas tree decorations I'm making for my friend Deb - she just gave me a Christmas Tree shaped dish, which I've used as the template for Christmas tree shaped decorations - filled mostly with wadding, but with some cloves for that nice northern hemisphere Christmas smell you never get in Australia!

And, because it's only 4 nights before Christmas, I thought a little animal festivity might be nice as an incentive to get the Decorations finished!

"Now, Dasher! Now, Dancer! Now, Prancer, and Vixen!
"On, Comet! On, Cupid! On, Donder and Blitzen!

"To the sewing machine! Stay away from the Mall!
"Now dash away! dash away! dash away all!*

Although, we are in the midst of summer, so this might be a better option - I dare you to go there!

*Unsurprisingly, not the original lyics.