For Three

I’m not exactly certain why I did this when there are only three of us here for Christmas, but today I made:

• 2 x pavlovas
• 1x trifle (each component from scratch - sponge, jelly, egg custard)
• 1 x stewed apple and rhubarb
• 1 x apple crumble
• 1 x port wine jelly
• 1 x potato salad
• 1 x wombok salad
• 1 x coleslaw

Christmas morning I still have to put the pav together, roast a chicken, peel the remaining prawns, shell the crab and make the garden salad.

BGWLBH set the table …

My back is killing me from standing barefoot on the tiles all day and I’m exhausted!

Harley has been a little terror because he hasn’t had my attention for most of the day and it’s been raining so he hasn’t had as much exercise as normal.

I had no energy to prepare a meal tonight so I sliced some ham and ate some of the salads that I’d made today. Easy, quick and tasty.

The usual Christmas Eve tradition of watching Love Actually with my Melbourne family including Mr Perfect, Mama Perfect and Vegan Chickie happened just after 7pm. Surprisingly, I made it to the end of the movie!

It’s quite warm tonight and I have the fan on but it doesn’t seem to be cooling me down at all. I’m tempted to turn the air con on.

It’s now after 10pm so I’d best get some sleep ready for another early Harley start to the day.

Nite all and MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Good and Bad

I’ve just spent two hours listening to and watching the reactions of different people all over the world who are watching and listening to John Farnham singing “Help” supported by the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra.

I could watch that video of John Farnham a thousand times and not tire of it. He is astonishingly spectacular and moves me to the brink of tears every time.

Today has been a good day. Tiring but good.

BGWLBH and I had an appointment at the nail salon in Stocklands for 9am so we drove in early and had breakfast at Bean Beat beforehand.

When we arrived at the salon, they did not have us booked in! We even had a card with the time and date written on it! They did nothing to attempt to fix it. No offer of another appointment. No offer of a discount for our next appt (because we are regulars). Absolutely zip.

So I found their Facebook page and hammered them. We won’t be returning.

We’ve booked ourselves in to one of the salons on Main Street for next week.

We stocked up on heaps of fresh fruit for Christmas - lychees, strawberries, blueberries, watermelon, grapes, passionfruit and avocados - as well as some turkey and cranberry sauce.

After a couple of other stops, we headed home, stopping at the post office on the way where I picked up a parcel and got to wish everyone in Foodworks a merry Christmas.

After lunch, I played fetch with Harley, took him for a swim in the pool and then watched my quiz shows on TV. More fetch and more swimming in the late afternoon so I think we pretty well tired him out.

Tomorrow morning Adoring Husband is driving me into Urangan Fisheries to purchase some Christmas seafood and we should be pretty well set for Christmas Day.

Ham, turkey, chicken, prawns, crab, pavlova, Christmas pudding, fruit platter, coleslaw, wombok salad, potato salad, garden salad and more. 

There will be just the three of us so there will be leftovers for days!

It’s almost 11pm and Harley will have me awake in 5 hours so I’d best sleep.

Just this second, we have blacked out, so I’d like to know what caused it because there are no storms about. Maybe an accident? I’ll let you know tomorrow.

Nite all.

Attention

There's a lot of Conspiracy Theorists around these days ...

Well, here's another one!

Early in 1616, Galileo was accused of being a heretic, a person who opposed Church teachings. Heresy was a crime for which people were sometimes sentenced to death.

Galileo was cleared of charges of heresy, but was told that he should no longer publicly state his belief that Earth moved around the Sun.

Galileo continued his study of astronomy and became more and more convinced that all planets revolved around the Sun.

In 1632, he published a book that stated, among other things, that the heliocentric theory of Copernicus was correct.

Even though he was correct, Galileo was once again called before the Inquisition and this time was found guilty of heresy. Galileo was sentenced to life imprisonment in 1633.

So, we are in good company and the truth always comes out in the end.

Harley had me up at 4am again so I took him out to the toilet and brought him back to bed until 5am. 

He received lots of attention today and I played ‘fetch’ once in the morning and again in the afternoon. Adoring Husband played the same game late this afternoon. He also swam in the pool with me mid afternoon.

He still managed to empty a pot of soil in the outdoor area, knocked over my pawpaw tree, pulled the broom down from it’s supposedly ‘Harley safe’ space, steal the plastic clips from the garden frames, peed in my art space and almost successfully pull the mini vacuum from its position in the family room.

He pierced my skin twice during play time and drew blood.

I’ve been watching a few short training videos on dog training and practising some of the ideas on Harley. They are working pretty well but not consistently yet.

Trouble with Harley is that he is not food driven so giving him a treat as a reward doesn’t impress him. I need to use a variety of different systems to train him. He is very intelligent but during the ‘witching hours’ he is uncontrollable!

I still love him.

BGWLBH and I went grocery shopping at the local supermarket so that we didn’t have to fight the crowds in The Bay tomorrow. We still have a couple of things to get.

I won a small prize in OzLotto on Tuesday night and a tiny prize in Powerball tonight but the first division has now increased to $100million for next week. What a nice way that would be to start 2023!

Dinner tonight was chicken with tomato pesto and candied ginger, boiled jacket potatoes, green beans, fried rice and garden salad.

Ugh I can’t stop yawning!

BGWLBH and I have a pamper day booked for tomorrow so I need my sleep.

Nite all.

Christmas Cheer

BGWLBH and I arrived early at the park to set the table for our Christmas break up.

We had gifts for everybody, which BGWLBH made - ceramic bowls and cups filled with miniature succulents and delivered with hand made cards. 

I made a cheese ball with celery, capsicum, candied ginger and rolled in parsley and it went down well, but the banana bread was the hit of the morning and it was all gone within an hour. 

The weather was very mild, there were not too many people about, I took my sound bar and played Christmas music and we had a delightful morning that lasted until lunch time!

Harley stayed at home with Adoring Husband and I think they both slept the entire morning away.

At 4pm I took Harley for a walk around the block to meet my rear neighbour whose granddaughter was visiting and wanted to meet him.

On the way, an ‘across the road’ neighbour stopped mowing so that she could meet Harley. The Mayor of Burrum stopped in his ute to meet Harley. We spent 20 minutes with the rear neighbour and her grand daughter and on the final leg we ran into another neighbour who was walking her dog.

Harley was very well behaved the entire time.

I made honey, garlic, chilli lime chicken for dinner with sweet potato chips and balsamic tomatoes and zucchini. Delicious.

After dinner, we all jumped into the car, Harley included, and we drove around looking for Christmas lights. There were a few impressive displays and after about 30 minutes Harley got too restless so we conceded defeat and drove home.

Now I’m feeling exhausted and need sleep.

Nite all.

Preparations

Dr Kerryn Phelps’ vaccine injury

We are making Christmas all about the food.

A menu has been planned and we will decorate the table to reflect Christmas cheer, we will fill our bellies until we can’t move, laze in and beside the pool listening to a playlist of Christmas songs,  probably nap the afternoon away and eat leftovers for the following three days!

All of my gifts are wrapped and either sent to their respective destinations or they’re under the Christmas tree waiting to be ripped open on the day. Even Harley has a present to open!

BGWLBH had an early appointment at the dentist so she was gone by 7am.

Adoring Husband and I had fish for breakfast. We spent some time in the garden and Harley helped me pick off the remaining yellow grubs and caterpillars from the cucumber vine.

We watched fluffy Christmas movies on Netflix for a good portion of the day.

I made dinner (green chicken curry) early because BGWLBH and I had planned on attending Carols by Candlelight in the church grounds. In the end I decided that I didn’t want to go. I think BGWLBH was disappointed but I just can’t cope with people. I feel betrayed by almost the entire town and I don’t feel like pretending to be nice to anyone.

Tomorrow morning is our final coffee catch up for the year and we are all bringing a plate. I hope everyone turns up because BGWLBH has gifts for all.

Nothing new to report but I can’t believe it’s Christmas already! 

Nite all.

Cut Deep

Adoring Husband and I decided over the weekend that not so psychotic dog, Colli’s quality of life had reduced considerably and it was time to set her free.

He phoned the vet this morning to discuss whether Amanda could come out to us or if we needed to make an appointment and take Colli in.

We had two choices.

Today at noon or 16th January and we had to go into the vet.

BGWLBH drove me into The Bay with Colli on my lap while AH stayed at home taking care of Harley.

AH was very sad and cried a lot.

Knowing what was coming, we drove in silence.

I held it together until I walked through the clinic doors and all my strength left me.

BGWLBH waited in the reception area while I took Colli into the room.

As we waited for the vet, I explained to deaf Colli what was going to happen and I told her through my tears that we loved her and I thanked her for giving us 16.5 years of unconditional love and that soon she would be free of pain and meeting up again with Jack and Ruby.

It was a different vet because Dr Amanda wasn’t in today. 

She was lovely but I wished she was Dr Amanda.

It was quick and peaceful.

As I requested, the vet left me alone with Colli and I shed some tears before wrapping her securely in her blanket and carrying her out to the car where I lay her in her bed to take her home for burial.

We drove home in silence.

Adoring Husband and I cried together and while I kept Harley inside, he dug Colli’s grave. Together, we said goodbye to her and he took her outside to bury her.

It has been such a sad and traumatic day.

RIP little Colli.

Nite all.

Farmgate

My plan to have Harley stay in bed til 5am certainly did not work today.

Not so psychotic dog, Colli, was shrieking at 4am which was Harley’s signal that the day had begun!

I was asleep at 9pm. 

My bladder woke me at 11pm.

Harleys bladder woke me at 1am.

It was time to wake up at 4am.

Ugh.

The days seem so much longer now that I’m out of bed at least 6 hours earlier than I was pre-Harley.

Today I discovered Harley’s name on Santa’s naughty list …

It’s exactly where it should be! Although he wasn’t too bad today.

He got to play fetch a number of times, which wore him out.

This morning I found some yellow grubs eating the cucumber leaves so I spent about 20 minutes scouring each leaf and capturing the blighters in a plastic bag, along with a few caterpillars and some other spotted beatles.

I prepared bacon, eggs, mushrooms, tomato and grilled banana for breakfast.

The next 3 hours was me wrapping Christmas gifts that need to be mailed out tomorrow

BGWLBH and I spent an hour in the art room, although I didn’t get much done on my pelican and have nothing to show you. 

This is art by BGWLBH …

At 1.30pm we decided to go check out Farmgate which we’d heard was a great little stall at Raintree Acres that sells local fresh produce, teas, jams, honey, breads, healing balms and creams and other assorted goodies.

We spent around $70 between us and decided to drive the streets of Raintree and check out the local area.

There are some lovely homes and properties there and BGWLBH decided it was the place for her. There are two properties currently for sale. One of them is way over her budget and the other one is not listed on the realtors website yet.

I watched the cricket with Adoring Husband during the afternoon.

My plan of chicken wings and vegetables for dinner was thwarted when I discovered that the chicken did not last for four days in the fridge! Luckily there was leftover crumbed chicken from last night which went very nicely with the roasted veggie mix and coleslaw.

Number One son called tonight.

He has been dating M&M for 4 months and they are talking about living together! He is spending Christmas with her family and seems to be very happy. That’s all can hope for.

Look at this cute little poppet …

That’s my Hazey, now 20 months old. Time sure flies. She’s a real cutie pitootie.

I need sleep now.

Nite all.