Goodbye 2005

Okay a 2005 wrap up. Tonight we will be enjoying a lovely meal with the BIL and SIL and will see 2006 in, on some fabulous mediterrean style food and very good wine, it bodes well.

The kiddies will be coming too which is nice, one of the reasons why we prefer the stay at home New Year Eve's these days instead of the wild and euphoric lead up to the New Year which used to culminate in a long and depressing journey home as you wait and wait for any available taxi, all the while longing for the comfort of your bed until finally you hit the road and start walking the however many kilometres it takes, along with all the other revellers desperately seeking a haven from the city. Been there done that, don't feel the urge to revisit.

We had a few firsts in our household this year, we threw Elliot a 7th birthday party, it is also a last, what a labour of ..? don't think I would call it love, but we did it for love I guess. I swear our marriage nearly came unstuck on the preparation of this party. Small things like what games to play, why are the medals your making costing us $50! who was invited.

Some advice, don't let you child invite every child in the class because you will definately get the ones with ADD, instead make it a careful choice based on the local gossip about who is better behaved. Two, no more mixed girl and boy parties, while the girls didn't have ADD, they have other attention seeking behaviour, sore tummies, ant bites, nothing that a lie down and some ice and some soothing comments won't fix, but time consuming nevertheless.




Aside from that party, the children continue to grow and be a source of happiness and challenge to both of us. Gabriella's personality is sooooo, what can I say we are enamoured of her, she is acrobatic, daring, funny, cheeky, beautiful, loving and openly affectionate. She recently embraced the concept of the "Ya You" (Love you) as Elliot first did.

Now Elliot, he is becoming quite the wit, and I love his clever ways of making us laugh. For Christmas he gave us a book of his work, I will quote the opening page which is a MEME, or as it is in his book ME ME ME:

Happy, clever, thinking me
Friendly, quiet, shy me
Sporty, smart, super me
Me, Me, Me

I agree with every word. He also began a new tradition this year of each of the table guests toasting and saying some kind words about the birthday person. We have embraced it each birthday and some lovely heart felt things have been said to each birthday person that probably would not have been said otherwise, I hope we will continue with this tradition always.

Work, I have six more months on my two year project then who knows, I wish I knew what I wanted out of my work . My biggest challenge will be getting HR to recognise that I was transferred at level, (they can't find the paperwork of course and have only recognised me on a six month project as this stage), so I have to get them to accept that in six months time they must continue to pay me, because my old department has accepted that I have moved on.

I am hoping for more holidays, more trips than this year, mainly because Gabriella is older. And more importantly my Mother returned to within a 70 kilometre radius and not the 10000 she used to be. I had a relaxing week with her and the kiddies before Christmas, it was nice to be 'mothered' again.

We will be catless in 2006, our dear old cat Grizzie died last year and she now rests under one of my mother's azaela bushes, she was part of a cat swap performed with my best friend. Grizzie died in a fall we think. Sylvester will be returning as my friend's problem neighbour appears to have moved away. I think we have had our share of cats for a while now, maybe one day.

I have considered starting a business, but who knows what will happen, it takes effort. We also toyed with the idea of moving to Tasmania. P is super keen especially after the heat of the last two weeks (maybe one airconditioned room would be good!). His work has changed and isn't as challenging as it used to be, so he needs to think about changes too. I don't know if I am game enough to leave the bosum of the family, and some of my closests friends and pioneer it out down in Tassie.

We will enter the New Year with a freshly painted hallway, I fear we went too strong, I imagined the colours of a stuffed olive, the red on the end, the green on the walls, hmmm it's strong is all I think at the moment especially when the rest of the house is currently quite subtle, we may have opened up a can of worms. It was because of my beautiful new painting by an artist called Deann Cumner, my painting is entitled "What an Angel" and she is stunning. I also would like something by this artist especially that first painting because I spent a few years of my early twenties in a romantic white Laura Ashley dress.


Laura Ashley's Quinces

P liked her work too, but my periodontal work in 2006 has priority and is about the cost of one of her works.

We are planning to attend two gastronomic events, Tetsuya's hopefully in February 2006 and then Vue de Monde in August 2006.

So on that note of the expectation of wonderful things to come, (though getting to the healthy gums won't be so wonderful) I would like to wish any of my kind readers left, best wishes for the future and a toast to your health and happiness. I promise more sporadic posting, I can't imagine giving it up altogether but I can't promise to be as regular as I once was either... but then again who knows?