Not Such A Pleasant Discovery

So...

Kidney Stones.

Well, that seems to be the general verdict from everyone I talk to.

Not a whole heap of fun. And everyone who says they've heard they can be worse than childbirth or a broken bone? Yeah, they're right.

Maybe this turning 40 thing isn't quite that much fun, after all.

Christmas Photo Dump

Like so many others, we alternate whose family we spend Christmas Day with - this year was with Hubby's family and Boxing Day was spent with mine. So two huge days of celebrating, eating, drinking, presents, more eating and then a bit more celebrating.

Here are some of the shots I love most from the past couple of days. They aren't all great shots but they make me smile.

Merry Christmas Eve!

Santa himself came to visit this evening - handing out lollies and kindly escorted by the local volunteer fire-brigade. I love living somewhere that does that.

And the kids have opened their Christmas Eve present (pj's and a Santa hat), the aim of which is to bring the excitement levels down just a notch but this year it seems to have had the opposite effect.

We've left the carrots and bucket of water out for the reindeer. There's a plate of home-made Rocky Road and a nice cold beer waiting on the table for Santa. And the stockings have been carefully hung in their traditional place on the back of the couch.

And now I'm going to wait for my own little elves to fall asleep and then I'll finish wrapping all the presents with the Carols In The Domain (or whatever one it is that's on tonight) on the tv in the background.

Whatever you're doing tomorrow, I hope you're sharing Christmas with loved ones and that you all have a wonderfully Merry Christmas. Much love to you all from the house on the hill xx

On The Other Side!

Wow! After what seemed like a week of celebrating (and,  let's be honest, actually was a week of celebrating!) I finally hit the big Four Oh yesterday and what a day I had.

Hubby, after seriously outdoing himself with all the party stuff, totally surprised me with his gift. He's sending me off to see one of my bff's from Red Dirt Central who now lives in Queensland! He made secret phone calls across the country, booked the tickets and threatened the kids with certain death if they spilled the secret. And then he handed me my birthday card, waited for the tears and calmly handed me a tissue. I am SOOOOO excited! The big trip is in a couple of weeks but I reckon Felicity and I will burn up the phone lines between now and then.

We had a family lunch with more pressies and another birthday cake - this one was a pile of delicious custard filled profiteroles...

And I got a couple of nice pics with the kids.

After a short rest we headed off to to dinner at another bff's house. And enjoyed another birthday cake, this time made by the very gorgeous daughter of the house who is turning into quite the chef. The photo really doesn't do the cake justice but it was beautifully decorated and ever so delicious.

And so the curtain finally draws to a close on my fabulous 40th birthday. It was the most fun-filled, love filled, wonderful birthday and I've had the most amazing time celebrating it.

Downhilll Slide

Today I've done washing, tidied the house, helped supervise a pool party, finished the Christmas shopping (and if I haven't got it all now, it's not gonna happen cos I'm not going back again). I do still have the food shopping to do and might duck out after the kids have gone to bed to get that out of the way.

But right now? I'm about to crack open a bottle of wine and enjoy a last drink on the last day of my thirties. And when I wake up tomorrow I'll be in a whole new part of my life. If, as 'they' say, life does begin at 40... I say bring it on!

Almost 40!

It's my birthday later in the week and, as most of you know, it's a big one. The big Four-Oh! And in order to celebrate in a way that we'd be sure to remember for years it was decided that I'd have an 80's themed Formal do. Hubby went a little bit crazy on a Chinese website buying all manner of party extras - strobe lights, laser lights, mirror tile stickers and then set to work making the back deck into party central.

People. It was AWESOME!! I haven't laughed so much, danced so much or had so much fun in years.  And since just about every single photo of me has me holding a glass of bubbly I think it's fair to say there may have been champagne involved!

I had my hair done in the afternoon so that it was suitably 80's in style - big curls and all swept upon one side - and slathered on the blue eyeshadow and blue eyeliner.

Hubby made the most spectacular decorations.

My girlfriends frocked up appropriately.

And the boys did their part too. (I made Hubby shave off his beard so he could rock the Magnum mo. I have a thing for Magnum. Hubby's darn lucky I didn't make him wear high waisted tight shorts to go with his Hawaiian shirt and Magnum mo!)

And we took to the dance floor with the seven hour playlist of 80's music, admired ourselves in the mirrored wall, exclaimed over the lights and laughed ourselves silly when we couldn't see each other when someone got a  bit over-enthusiastic with the smoke machine.

A friend of a friend make the special request birthday cake that was a work of art in itself. I was thrilled with it. And it tasted great too.

I had such a fantastic time that I suggested to Hubby we should do it all over again soon. Like maybe for New Year's Eve. He rolled his eyes, shook his head and walked away laughing. I'm gonna take that as a 'yes'!

Almost There

The end of the school year is just two days away and we're all looking forward to the holidays. Sleep ins, family time, lots of playing and some nice treats in the middle. I've still got lots of Christmas stuff to get organised but I finally got the teacher's presents done...

I went with the Cookie Mix In A Jar again this year and, with half of them distributed today and the rest being delivered tomorrow, they have been very well received.

Diary Of A Week That Was

Wow! I know we're all saying it but the weeks are flying by at the moment.

Monday: House chores, food shopping, baking for Tuesday night, Carols by Candlelight at school. Late night for the kids.

Tuesday: Grumpy kids from late night. Work, race home to throw together pavlova and collect other baked goods, kids and Hubby then across to Mum's for dinner with a truckload of rellies (relatives for those unfamiliar with the Aussie version) who are in town for a wedding. Late night for  the kids

Wednesday: Even grumpier kids from the night before. Work. Catch up on washing, ironing

Thursday: You guessed it, kids are still grumpy. Start out for work before realising that the 'unpleasant' start to my morning was actually a tummy bug of sorts. Ring boss, go home. Alternate between couch and toilet. Ick.

Friday: Kids are slightly less grumpy (thanks heavens!). Final school assembly of the year that goes on and on and on. House chores. Fast food filthy Friday. Made a start on wrapping the Christmas presents.

Saturday: Early start for swimming lessons, a bit of shopping, Santa photos, Offspring #1 to a birthday party, house cleaning, more washing, collect #1 and out to dinner for a friends 50th.

Sunday: Sleeeeeeep in! And now on the with rest of the chores, food shopping because I'm working most of the week, baking, finishing off the teacher gifts for school and I rather suspect Hubby's going to have me out raking leaves at some point.

My Gappy Girl, Part II

Rather sooner than I was expecting, but after much (MUCH!) wobbling Offspring #2 presented this smile to me this afternoon. Okay, smile might be stretching it a bit.

This year's Santa photo is gonna be fab. And thanks heavens the family photos we had booked in the lead up to Christmas happened last weekend. You know, when she still had teeth in her head!

And The Winner Is....

With only six comments (and only five valid ones - sorry Dr Alice, I'll get to your request in the next few days!) Hubby was given the honour of rolling the dice to come up with the winner.

Congratulations Anne!

Your prize is in the mail. Happy Shopping!

Prize-a-palooza Take III

The third and final competition, courtesy of Mums United and Soup, is up and running. It's open from now until 6pm Perth time, tomorrow (Friday, 2nd Dec).

What's up for grabs? A gift card for Kmart, valued at $100. The idea is that you'll use it to purchase things that will help you be more active - whether that's sports equipment for the kids, new work-out gear for yourself or some fun pool toys. And considering that Christmas is just a few weeks away I'm thinking this is pretty good timing.

What do you have to do? I'm going to make you work for this one. You need to answer a couple of simple question to be in the running and I'll be drawing the winner at random. 

Who can enter? As long as you're in Australia, you can enter. Just leave your answers as a comment.

Questions 1: Tell me one recipe that you've tried from my blog.

Questions 2: How did it turn out?

Questions 3: Would you make it again?

See, easy! Good luck!!