I probably won't be on the computer much after today - it's a busy time for all of us! So am leaving this message to you all now....

I'd like to wish all of you on Minti a very Merry and safe Christmas, and all the best for a bright and prosperous New Year! I hope Santa is good to you all and you all enjoy yourselves!

luv
Lee

It's official - my 'baby' girl (Jess) has now graduated from primary school **sob**. It doesn't seem so long ago that she was starting kindy and now she's off to high school. She had her year 6 farewell on Thursday night and she looked so grown up. I did her hair and make-up and did a good job, if I do say so myself. Jess said she received many compliments as to how nice she looked. She had a good night, enjoying a nice meal and having fun dancing with her friends.

Only one week left of the school year. Is it just me, or do the years go quicker each year? lol. I swear, this year has flown by so damn quick, if I had of blinked I would have missed it! Ben will go into year 3, so goes from the infants part of the school to primary, and Lauren will be in year 2 already. They're all growing up so fast! Slow down already! lol!

I had a BBQ last night with friends and it was yummy! I think I'm proof that women can cook a good BBQ, lol. Well, I've had a good teacher - my Dad is an awesome cook on the barby. Not that all men are that good at cooking them, even they think they are. Like, I was with a guy a couple of years ago who thought he was a great BBQ cook and loved to cook them, but he was crap at it. He would put all the meat on at the same time, such as sausages and steak, so over-cooked the steak. He was shocking! I know I cook a BBQ better than he did! Last night I cooked steak, snags, and rissoles I made. With that, I made a potato bake (yum!), cheese pasta, and salads. I had too much food but I'd rather have too much than not enough! I take after my mum (who's deceased) as she would always have enough food to feed an army whenever we had parties, BBQs, etc, when I was growing up.

Speaking of food, it's lunch time, so think I'll have some left-over potato bake. I love that stuff! And it's so easy to make! See yas!

Good morning to you all! I'm quite happy today as I've finished my Christmas shopping - yay! - and my hampers arrived yesterday so I have shitloads of food in the house! I'm still trying to fit everything into the cupboards, lol.

I love getting the hampers. The money I don't need to spend on food I can use for Christmas presents. On Thursday I was able to get my kids layby out due to this. I am a bit peeved with the company, Castle. One of my hampers was to include a Pork Shoulder roast but it was not there. I rang them and they said they will credit my bank account with the cost of it which is $18. The woman I spoke to said it would be in my acocunt within 1 to 2 hours. Well, that was yesterday and it isn't there yet. I have to wait til Monday to contact them now as they're not open on the weekend, grrrr! With this busy time they should be available on the weekend.

In my last entry I mentioned I won a prize with That's Life magazine. Well, some of you may already know,  the magazine made a major stuff up. Apparently there was a printing error, putting winning words on all the game cards. Whoever bought the mag won! They have now recalled all the issues with the card on it. I should have bought a few extra issues, lol. Well, I'll be getting my prize. Whoever did win is entitled to their prizes.

Lauren is not well this morning. She was sick earlier, getting it all over her bed and on herself. I was still asleep when she puked - Jess got her up, ran her a shower, got clean clothes for her, and made sure she had some water. I told her she should have woken me! Jess said she wanted to let me sleep, bless her, but I told her if any of my kids are sick, wake me! My kids are more important than sleep! I thought I had heard the shower but it wasn't on for long so I thought it must have been the toilet flushing that I could hear. Anyway, I gave Jess a big hug for doing all that. Lauren is OK, she's laying on the lounge watching a movie. Jess said she's had a bit of the runs the last few days so I guess they've picked up tummy bugs. Lauren hasn't had a temperature and hasn't thrown up any more, but she hasn't eaten either.

Well, my washing is finished so better go hang it out. I also have to wash the puke out of Lauren's sheet - ewww! I so hate puke! lol.

Have a lovely weekend everyone! Chow. xx

I'm excited! I've won a prize thanks to That's Life magazine. This week's issue has a game card in which you need to match Christmas words or phrases with those within the magazine. Well, one of my words matched, winning me a Castle Hamper! Yippee! **does happy dance**

I get my own Castle Hampers delivered on Friday and can't wait! I usually get Chrisco but decided to give Castle a go this year. I just liked the contents of their hampers. They had more that I would use. Both these companies have great hampers, it's just personal choice as to which hampers suit better. Anyway, tomorrow is my shopping day but the only food I will need is fresh fruit and veg and bread. The rest is all taken care of in the hampers! This means I can spend the money I'd usually spend on food on the kids Christmas presents.

I'm not sure when I will receive my prize. All claims need to be in by Dec 29 so I guess after that. I don't mind when it is - it will come in handy, especially just after Christmas!

The silly season is upon us again. Where did the year go? I'd like to vote that we have Christmas every 2 years instead of every year - it just comes around too damn quick!

We decorate our homes, covering everything in sight with tinsel (stand still long enough in my house and you will get tinselled too! lol). As you put up these wonderful decorations, you curse to yourself about the work involved in both erecting and dismantling all this Christmas glory.

Shopping is such a joy. Why can't we just find one store with everything we need, with a free checkout when shopping is complete? Because that only exists in fantasy land. Back in the realms of reality, you have to go into numerous stores to find all the right gifts and line up at checkouts for god-knows how long. Then there are the other shoppers to deal with. Don't you just love the ones who block the whole aisle with their trolley? Like, the put the damn thing across the aisle, rather than use some common sense and put it to one side, and you have to nearly yell "excuse me" before they realise someone wants to get through! I'm sure these type of shoppers leave both their brains and their hearing at home!

Christmas Day arrives. The kids have you up at the crack of dawn - how are you supposed to be 'merry' when you are sleep-deprived? Within 1/2 an hour the loungeroom is covered in wrapping paper and toys. Then the little darlings want breakfast. By the time that's all over and all cleaned up it's time to either prepare for the onslaught of the rellies, or head off yourself to some rellies house.

Lunch is a grand affair with all the Christmas meats and side dishes. By the time everyone is more stuffed than the turkey, there's enough food left over to feed a third-world country for a year! The men, by now rather intoxicated, laze half-asleep while the women get the wonderful job of cleaning up.

Between the decorating, the shopping, the lack of sleep, the mess, the rellies, etc, etc, it makes one wonder: why the hell do we do it? The answer is simple: because we love it! We love the silly decorations. We love the battles of getting the right gifts for the right people; we love putting on a huge spread on Christmas Day; we even love the rellies; we just love it all! After all, that's what Christmas is all about!