I wonder how many words this is.....

I have so much to put down here - but I shall attempt to refrain. Instead, I will put most of the best bits here. Suffice to say, our Christmas break was fantabulous and I hope everyones was as great as ours was.

Christmas day.
Kids had a BALL. The terror was beside himself - he couldn't work out what all the fuss was about right up until Christmas morning. He knew something was up; and he even sat on Santas knee. But it all clicked in Christmas morning.



The boy got a bike:



The kids had an absolute ball, and trundled into bed, tired, happy, full as eggs, and all Christmassed out.

The farm. Talk about an ace week. Well, except for two of my sisters in law. I am a pretty laid back kind of person, but the way these people behaved in someone elses house was disgusting. I was vile over it. There were 18 people in that house for 10 days. Those two lazy sods did absolutely NOTHING but whinge. Not a dish, not a meal, not a knife to a carrot. Nothing. Not for themselves, not for anyone else; not even for their own children.

But, on the plus side, they stayed inside and whinged together; the rest of us had a ball outside in the glorious weather. Swimming in the dam, catching yabbies, riding the bikes etc - we all had a great time. My BIL has a new lady in his life (finally!!) and she is simply wonderful. I couldn't pick a better woman for him if I tried. After everything he's been through over the last 5 years, he deserves M. And it is a plus that the entire family love her too!!!

From there, I came back to work for three days, leaving the kids and G living the life at the farm. Yay for work; but whilst down here, I organised our annual camping trip. In the middle of nowhere, for a week, with us and the kids. Another family come with us too - and they are THE most lovely people.

This was our campsite:


and our front yard for the duration of our stay:




Again, another ball was had. Just the simplicity of it, the serenity of it - and the true beauty of it. Every morning, we'd wake for nothing but the galahs screeching overhead, and the sun peeking over the hill, down the river. The days were long, but they were grand. There is NOTHING in this world more enjoyable, in my opinion, than going proper camping with people you adore. The week was one that, yet again, I will treasure. We all left there vowing (yet again!!) to do it more often - but I think we will make a special effort this year.

On coming home, we kicked straight back into the scheme of things. We all missed being at home, but it was nice to get back to normal. Tomorrow is Friday and I *think* I'm just about on top of the 8 ball. Except for my garden.

It's a bit sad at the minute. Obviously being away has caused it some heartache, but it actually turned out better than I had thought. Only a couple of things passed away; but they were on their way out anyway. So, it's just a big clean up of all the northerly winds work for me. It's giving me a chance to clean out all the garden beds, add some saturaid and turn over all the mulch at the same time - sort of like "spring cleaning the garden" if you will.

I got a fair load of tomatoes tonight from my vines - I have a photo all taken to show you, but the camera is out of batteries. So, tomorrow, I shall show you my rewards for all my work over the summer.

I'm going to start looking at winter vegies soon too. I am finding gardening an awful lot of fun - and I feel like I am contributing something to making this world a better place.

Anyway. Onto my goals for 2008.

1. Be more open. I shut myself off so well and so easily - often to my own detriment. Being shy comes across so easily as being elusive - and it really concerns me to think people may think I am elusive or snobby.

2. Committ more time to friendships. I am horribly guilty of not maintaining friendships. I think that shutting myself off has something to do with it in the sense that I can't talk to anyone until my world is ending IYKWIM. I can't say "hey look, I'm sliding down this hill, wanna grab me a rope?" I tend to be more "hey look, I've fallen in this hole, the water is up to my nostrils and is rising fast - wanna give me a hand??" I will give the world to anyone - but I also must realise that in order to be the friend I want to be - I have to HAVE the friends too. Like a give and a take. I'd personally feel uncomfortable if I were continuously opening up to someone, only for them to not say a damn thing about themselves.

3. Simplify. Everything. My life, my weight, my reaosns for being. Everything.

4. Recycle more. Reuse more. At work, at home, in the car; life in general.

5. Communicate more. In verbal, written - whatever. Just get it all down and out.

I bet you wished that I hadn't come back now!!!! :)