Beans, Barbies & Babies!

Hi!

Well. Here we are, Monday evening.... Sorry to check in late... it was a busy weekend. A bit of baking, bean dip and much running around. But am here now! Those birds (mainly crows with a few lorikeets) are out there squawking away amongst themselves, probably about how nice the weather's been over the last week or so, no rain for the first time since Sept, so I'd be talking with all my other tree-mates about it too! And yes, the evening is lovely and warm but not killing me with the humidity. Got a cool glass of Jacobs Creek Semillion Sav Blanc Viognier..... eh, it's ok, not bad, kinda sweet, eh, will keep shopping around...... Anyways, a little late but here we are!

So work. Yep. Is good, tho very, very quiet. Every day that goes by I get more and more nervous waiting for the call or the meeting where I suddenly get a ton of work thrown at me... I don't mind but I wish I knew what was coming and when! Otherwise, all's well. I guess it's kinda quiet because lots of folks are still off on vacation (must be nice).... Australia Day is on Wednesday, so that'll be a nice mid-week day off. So I guess it's just wait and see..... Otherwise all's well. Quite like it so far. Ultimately, it's Hooray for gainful employment!

And then there was the weekend. Saturday was busy collecting all the stuff I needed for the 2 child events I had to attend on Sunday. So the rest of the day was wrapping little presents (literally, hooray for small people), baking Mexican Wedding Cookies and making a 3 layer bean, guacamole, sour cream dip thing... a new dip I'm test driving. Seems to be a hit, but then, of course it would, my guacamole rocks! And then I had to clean up the mess from that fun. Plus some laundry. And then that was pretty much Saturday. Amazing how much time it all takes, especially in my teeny kitchen with only a toaster oven and no counter-space!

And Sunday. Was a big, long, busy-ish day. I only know two people with kids and they both had to have their parties on the same day! The first was for Clare and Jason's daughter Sienna, it was her 3rd birthday. That was actually kind of fun. I mean, they're such nice people as it is (in the photo there on the left is Clare holding Reece, the birthday girl, Sienna, is behind the Barbie cake, and hungrily admiring that Barbie cake is her big brother Jack), so it was neat to meet their family and friends (and to see their house during daylight instead of at night which is the time we're usually there for games and pizza!)! But I have to say, kids' birthday cakes have come a LONG way..... that's a real life Barbie doll jammed into that cake, and once the cake is gone, she becomes a gal's "First Barbie". A strange way to do it, but there it is. Must be an Australian thing. And then I had to dash off to a gal from work's place - she was having a baby shower for the little It due in March. That was nice. She got a lot of nice presents and thankfully we didn't have to play any of the retarded games or stunts that these types of parties have declined into. We just sat around, drank, ate nibbles, watched her open neat baby presents, ate and drank a little more and that was that. If I have to go to a baby shower, that's the kind I like to deal with. Thankfully I don't know anyone else in that situation. But yes, by the time I got home from all of that I was way too tired and muddled to write anything. It was all I could do to stay awake for just one episode of that "True Blood" series I'm trying very hard to get through. All I can say is I'm into the 2nd season and it's becoming a struggle. Not sure if I can make it to the 3rd season. And yet somehow, somewhere it's won an award....... Hmmmm.... not for anything I've seen yet...... So if anyone has any suggestions of another show I can get hooked on, please pass it on! And I tried "Rome"....... might still give it one more go, but otherwise, suggestions???

And so there it is. Not so exciting, but that's ok. I don't make New Year's Resolutions as a strict rule, but I had a kind of guideline set for myself this year - that I would try to do at least one cool thing a month. And seeing as in January I spent a ton of money on, well, contents insurance (paid for the whole year in one go. Ouch.) and concert tickets for Feb and March, those sort of took up any fun January would've had. And seeing as January is just about gone, fun is hopefully soon on it's way. One concert coming up, or rather the symphony, actually I'm going to see the Johann Strauss Ensemble with my friend Jan, that's at the end of February. And March's fun will be to go see Chris Isaak (yes, again) at Riverstage (my favorite venue, as you well know) with my friend Kim. So there's some slight excitement coming, though not of the Adventure category. Will work on that. Promise not to look at concert calendars anymore.

So there! I hope you're all well up there! Drop a line, say Howdy, suggest new TV series' I can glue myself to, tell me your news, or heck, even just come on down..........!

BYE!
J!