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!