Christmas Cards

I've had this big dark cloud looming...Christmas Cards. Tonight I finally sat down and just started getting them out the door. I'll feel so much better when they're gone.

To newsletter or not? I canned the newsletter this year. I had one drafted (it would be our first), however the events of the last few weeks have robbed us of our major news piece, so its just a plain photo in a card. I know... I'm a party pooper. Hopefully next year we'll be more newsworthy. After all everyone just wants to check out how chubby we are now!

I do however think that there should be some rules regarding newsletters. I'm sure we all get those LONG letters that go on for pages and pages that we just skim over and check out the photos. I'm just plain embarrassed for the subjects. I have noticed some great newsletters over the years... I learn from them.

So here's my top ten rules ..noting that I'm a hypocrite because I'm not sending a letter :)

1. No longer then 1 page, or double sided if you have 4+ kids;

2. Include the names and ages of children;

3. Nobody is interested in wordy descriptions - bullet points are fine;

4. Be positive. Complaining about delinquent children is bad form;

5. Be modest - there is a fine line between sharing news and showing off;

6. Use colour - B&W photocopies show you don't care;

7. Include at least 1 photo of everyone -including yourself ;

8. Stick to your own news - don't tell news for your extended family;

9. Get them out at least 2 weeks before Christmas;

10. At least sign it by hand - otherwise it just comes over as a mass mail out.

Be back soon...

Sorry for the silence.

We've had a bit of drama at home, been settling on a new house, my husband has been away on business almost every week .... so combine that with Christmas etc. blogging seems to have been neglected.

I'll be back as soon as I'm above water :)

Why I need a daughter

Things like this beckon me...

Becks

David Beckham is in town. He left Posh at home. That's too bad.

So far, 1 live sighting - Bondi Icebergs for dinner. Party of 4 and he ate salad for entree.

I'll update with any further live sightings.

Flowers of shame

A couple of weeks ago I committed to do the flowers for the Primary Sacrament meeting program. I ran it over in my head... "the Primary colours are one, two, three... red, yellow and blue". Perfect - I'd use that colour scheme. A lowrider for under the pulpit and two larger arrangements for elsewhere on the stand.

Friday night I set my alarm for 4:30am so I could visit the flower markets and get the goods.

Saturday morning rolls around. The alarm is sounding.. I went to bed way too late... it feels like a dagger in my side. I turn it off and decide to retreat to the sofa for just an "extra 10 minutes" before heading out the door. What was once 4:30 is suddenly 7:45am. The flower market closes at 8. Need to implement a backup plan.

Not a problem, the local supermarket has a great range of kinda hideous flowers :)

I become engrossed in the election count on TV and before I know it the supermarket is closed.

Game over?

Not a chance, the chapel has flowers in the gardens! So I roll up early and look for flowers, and look and look.... we're coming into summer, and they're mostly dead. In addition a lady stopped her car on the street and accused me of flower stealing.

This was the shameful result (note: they are not yellow flowers, rather almost dead):

For added effect, they were squirming with insects and I saw at least 2 crawling across the pulpit as the children delivered their parts.

I was so embarassed, and had to wait until everyone was gone before I removed them from the building.

Kevin 07

We have a new Prime Minister. We have been staying up watching the count - I love the political process in motion. And there was great motion, with the Labor party taking victory from the Liberal government after 11 years in power.

Here is Kevin 07... he's quite pleasant looking, whilst retaining a necessary element of nerd.

There are a few reasons why election days are great.

1. Nobody organises anything - so the day is totally free. Voting is compulsory, so everyone is committed to attending the polling place.

2. You may get to meet someone important at the booth - last election (3years ago) we got to see the Prime Minister - I shook his hand... I was giddy.

3. These are all minor points. The best part is the sausage sizzle that the local school is selling. Nothing like a fatty sausage with onions. I even got tomato sauce on my white shirt to seal the deal :)

I need a Christmas wreath for the front door..