At 4pm, when I should
be in the school run, I’m actually gluing the beak back on a tiny penguin. Having already stuck the belly back on a
humpback whale, and the ears on a panda. It’s a long story.
In the countdown to Christmas, Lucie’s 4th Birthday,
and half her other pals’ too, I need presents! MORE PRESENTS!
I also need treat bags. A tradition I only recently learned
about, along with other mysteries like school holidays, teacher’s gifts and so
on, I am assembling Lucie’s birthday treat bags for her class-mates
tomorrow, and after calling the pre-school I’m faced with the hard fact that I
need TWEN-TY-ONE!!!!!
So each bag has a balloon, a Chuppa-chup, a Kinder chocolate, a
whistle and I found these cute little rubber animals (they’re actually Japanese
designed collectible erasers). But
realising I would come up way short, I bought a five-pack of cheaper imitations that
looked exactly the same…until you open the packet and they tumble out in pieces.
What would I do without superglue?
Just another of those random tasks that falls to a mother that she can’t remember when other women ask “what do you do with your time? why are you always so busy?”
What would I do without superglue?
Just another of those random tasks that falls to a mother that she can’t remember when other women ask “what do you do with your time? why are you always so busy?”
Other random tasks that fell to this mother during the week were nine pre-school
teachers to buy gifts for; four really special ones for her teachers for the
past two years, three less special ones for her new teachers and little presents for all the
casual staff who also do an excellent job
.
.
Then there are the afore mentioned take-to-school birthday treat bags
to assemble, another twelve on-the-day-birthday party bags (where I went way overboard), gifts for our elderly ex-neighbors, a total of six kid's birthday parties to shop for and attend.. then
there was Lucie's first ever birthday party. And this is all outside of the
normal run-of-the-mill Christmas shopping which I haven't started.
I realised that I was getting a bit gift-obsessive when I started
looking for ideas for the council guys who collect our garbage... I know they do a fab job and they're always very forgiving when I wave them down because we've forgotten to put out all the bins. But what did I think I was going to do? - stand on the curb at 5am wearing PJ's and a Santa hat with an arm full of parcels?
Hey, it's the thought that counts, right?
:0)
:0)
And how's this for recycling? 12 failed attempts at a passport photo became this years christmas card!
We've had a mad, busy year, but not 'busy' doing glamorous stuff, no, all very domestic : - lots of visitors in our new home (about 9 out of 12 months this BnB has had some occupancy other than the residents – (I'd love to have a tally of how much time I spent changing & washing bed linen). Don’t get me wrong, we have enjoyed every visitor. It’s just that I’ve developed a serious case of domestic brain where I spend way too much time obsessing over the logistics of visiting and being visited, that it robs me of that usual excitement of anticipation. :0)
ReplyDeleteI've been trying to write and publish here on the rodeo once a week (gearing up to find a paid gig in the New year) and if you noticed I was doing pretty well, but Christmas has taken it's toll on the online story telling biz.
I've had nine Pre-school teachers to buy gifts for, 21 post-birthday treat bags to assemble, six kid's birthday parties to shop for and attend.. then there was Lucie's first ever birthday party - oh my god – a dozen under-four's and their younger siblings, bouncing off the walls on a wild sugar-fuelled ride .. In the aftermath it was as if several toy bombs had exploded all over the house and the garden; plastic shrapnel everywhere.
Gotta shoot - we're off to India just after New Year and I have a huge list of things to get through before then: More sheet changing for our house/ puppy sitters, a month's supply of doggy dinners to weigh up, empty the guest wardrobes which have mysteriously filled up with random junk, the air-con unit has it’s guts hanging out in the hall while I clean the filter, and washing, washing and more washing.. Any way I wont bore you with my domestic drudgery – but when a dear friend, who is living the Hollywood expat-lifestyle in Qatar, sent me a slide show of pictures from her year by way of a catch-up, after I closed my mouth and wiped away the drool I thought ‘no one would like to see a slide show of my past year’. ..
except me :0)
wishing you all the very best for 2012 – take care