The last couple of days have been a bit of a blur.

Yesterday after breakfast Stu said he felt like a kranski. Well that was enough to make me want one too :) We had to get some groceries anyway, so we went to Ascot Provisions for lunch. Their kranskis aren't on the lunch menu, but I asked for one anyway, and got it along with a plate full of vegetables - roasted capsicum stuffed with other vegetables. Was very yummy. And my weeks worth of vegetables right there :)

An afternoon spent pottering and watching Firefly and/or Star Trek. Stu put a coat of varnish on the fish tank stand.

Then to Chay and David's for an utterly delicious (as always) roast chicken and vegetables, followed by music trivia (which I mostly sucked at, but did a lot better in the second round), followed by Sing Star 80s (which I had a lot more fun with than the newer music versions where I don't know half the songs), followed by David and I belting out Queen karaoke songs as only drunk people can :) Got to bed very very late.

Also got up very very late. Late enough for me to feel a bit grumpy about half the day being "wasted" (I tend to feel cheated if I lose daylight hours to sleep :) ). We were going to go for a swim, but decided against it. Instead just watched Star Trek and Firefly for most of the day, did my longstitch, while Stu tidied and varnished.

And now it's now. :)

So. Christmas.

Got up relatively early and got ready (had to finish packing before church because we wouldn't have time after). Headed off to the parents' church. At least we got to sing two traditional carols, which is more than normal.

After church went back to the parents' place where we played some 500 (I won all three yayyy) and some rummy tiles, before Dave and Yvonne arrived. Had roast turkey roll thingie for a late lunch. Not quite the traditional pork, but having Yvonne there was preferrable, even though I know she really didn't want to be there.

So then did the obligatory family photos, including a couple with the extended family :) And then had the big present opening thingie, which was fun, and I think (hope) everyone was happy with what they got.

So then came home, gathered up all our stuff, and loaded some music onto Stu's mp3 player. It has an fm transmitter in it so we could use it with my car stereo. Then headed off to Yass. The road was really quiet actually which was good, although driving straight into the setting sun was somewhat tedious.

Had a very pleasant dinner with Annie and Stu and a relaxing evening chatting and watching the panel.

This morning we slept in quite late (actually I woke up just after 5am and took nearly two hours to get back to sleep). Had a spot of breakfast then took the kids down to the park for a bit. Then came back and Scott and Kerry and Jake and Karen came over and we went to the pool which was exceedingly pleasant. Then came back and watched most of Ice Age and dinner. And now it's 7pm and I already feel like going to bed heh :)

Blogging on the couch on the Blackberry :)

This was in my TopStuff blog, but I'm nuking it, so moving it here.

Just a few of my favourite things :)
This was compiled from stacks of online quizzes, and then sorted into some sort of category order.

I have too much stuff. Just clutter. Stuff that means nothing to nobody except me. I have boxes and boxes full of old uni and school notes. Books, although a small collection, but many from my childhood that I'm never likely to read again. Collections of train tickets, tickets to shows, show programs, toys I've had since I was a kid, and stacks of stuff that I simply never use, but can't bear to throw away. I've had a couple of goes since I've moved here to clean out stuff, and have achieved some success. But I still think I have a long way to go. And the other issue now is that I'm almost certainly going to be moving within the next couple of years, and it'd be nice to be free of all the clutter before I go. Stu did this a while back, and it's inspired me somewhat to do the same. Although I'm not sure I'm ready to let go yet.

I had a thought a while back that I could start scrapbooking a lot of bits and pieces, and write why a particular item was important to me. And use the funky collection of coloured pens I have for some noble purpose. I still haven't decided if I'll do this.

The other thing I'll probably do is take photos of some of the things I have that serve no purpose at all other than memories. I figure if I have a photo of the object, then that'll do me for the memory, and I can get rid of the actual object.

Of course I also can't bear to throw anything out that could be of some use to people, so will probably try and sell what I can on ebay, and donate the rest to charity or whoever else wants it.

So this will be my major project for the next couple of years I think. Just need to be able to break it down into weekend-sized chunks....

So when Aurelius came over last night, we went and hired Garden State because Stu had seen it and liked it. It's one of those rather odd movies, quirky and funny but kinda sweet. Then we took Aurelius home to Will & Javaira's and came back and crashed out.

This morning another sad farewell, although not so sad because it's only two weeks till he'll be down for our birthdays. And then a thousand kilometre commute to work. Aside from the fact that it took most of the morning, the flight is only an hour and a quarter.. I could handle a commute like that. It's all the fluffing around on either end that takes up all the time. But I still think a teleporter would solve all our problems. Well at least a few of the biggest ones anyway :)

Work was a writeoff. TTotM hit with a vengeance just as I got to work, and then I was just so whacked in the afternoon I couldn't keep my eyes open during a meeting on the new website. I'm sure I should have been paying attention, because I'm going to have use it for the project I'm working on.. but maybe Jim will do most of the hard stuff (given it's mostly in lotusscript).

And then tonight, spent over an hour trying to decide what carpet and edge runners to put in all the stairwells. Good thing there were only four of us there, or we'd have never made a decision!

And now, it's time for bed.

For no other reason than because I can!

The server arrived yesterday so I set it up, although had some really strange issues with the network card. But ok this morning go figure. Luc installed the server software without too many problems, so we set ourselves up with handsets and away we went.

Way cool little toys. Even journalled a book *at* the bookcrossing meetup that I picked it up at. Fun stuff. It's going to be hard for me to give back :(

These are 21 things that I want in a lover
Not necessarily needs but qualities that I prefer
      - Alanis Morissette

Or so the song goes. I thought about this entry on the way back from Queensland (when you're in the car for hours on end with nothing better to do). I thought of the first few things but hadn't thought too much about it since then.

Now as I procrastinate over doing USA pictures, I thought I'd put this together. No particular order (although the earlier ones are probably more important).

With all my posting on moon photos, I neglected to post the other boring goings-on in my life (and I *still* haven't done the Friday Q even though it's the easiest one in ages).

So.

Friday Night

Video night at Campbell's. It was a late start and much pondering was done before we started, so it was quite late by the time we got on a movie (Napoleon Dynamite, which was just strange), and afterward we just chatted and eventually wandered home just after 1am (whereupon I took moon photos).

Saturday

Attempt to sleep in. Fail. No matter how late I stay up, I seem to always wake up between 7am and 8am. Did a decent chunk of tidying up, and lego sorting for stuff to sell on ebay. Took moon photos.

Sunday

Attempt to sleep in. Slightly more success. Church, then a bit of a chill out afternoon. I can't really remember what I did. Couldn't have been too important. Then Josh called up to see if I wanted to go to Sizzler with them. Which was utterly unexpected. That's twice in two weeks that lot has invited me out with them. Ate entirely too much, even though on the face of it I didn't eat much at all :( Damned all you can eats are just not good value with a stomach my size! Took more moon photos during the eclipse.

Monday

Attempt to sleep in. Some success. Watched the Anzac Day march for a while and saw my grandfather's battalion, including someone I know from my parents' church who marches most years. Wandered over to Luc's to help at the house. Moved 200 bricks 4 metres. And a bit of general cleanup. Came home and read more of Aurelius' and Pinky's blogs. May have got someone arrested at work today. More later if it actually transpired :) Then went to the parents' for a lamb roast. And suddenly it's 10pm. No moon photos tonight though.

Missed events

I could have seen Campbell every day this weekend. Him and Ric were going to Elixir which would have been fun to go to, but those things just take up so much of the weekend (and with petrol prices the way they are it would have cost me $15 just to get there and back). Then they were going to go snorkling today, which again would have been good, but I'd already said I'd help Luc out. Not that I couldn't have gotten out of that, but ultimately the hassle factor of snorkling put me off, especially since they were thinking of going to the northern beaches.

I'm going to bed now I think.

So tonight had an evening with Peter Jackson (Lord of the Rings). Didn't think I was going to make it though. First was worried that I'd have to pay $45 not $30 because I wasn't a Powerhouse Museum member (Luc had bought tickets based on his id). Then I missed a train and the next one was ten minutes late, so I didn't get to the theatre til after everything had started. And the State Theatre usherettes had *no idea* where the seats were in the dark. So I never ended up sitting with the people I was meant to be with, and even then that turned out to be just Luc as Guy couldn't come. So then Luc raced off to get a bus after, which meant I didn't see him all night. heh.

So anyway. It was a really interesting night. He talked at length about how the deal with Miramax fell through and they had to get a new studio to back the films within four weeks. And how it ended up being three movies instead of two, or even one. And he talked somewhat about his background in making movies as a hobby, and also about King Kong which he's currently shooting. And just for fun, he had a dvd of LotR bloopers which he'd collected. Some of them were utterly hilarious.. like Gandalf done up with brides-maid style hair.. a bunch of setups like that and the usual line fluffups. Fun stuff.

FQ1: What happened the last time you needed help?
Well not the last time, but a funny one.. I was standing outside with the car, and called James inside, and simply said F1 F1 F1. Then my battery died, but he figured it out and came out to help me unload the car :)
FQ2: What happened the last time you helped somebody else?
Me? Help someone else? bwwwaaahahahahahah.. ahem.. :)
FQ3: What happened the last time you helped yourself?
How about helping myself to the scrummy food we had a Bruce's farewell today?
FQ ASSIST: Do something to help somebody today! Got a few extra dollars? Donate it to the Tsunami Relief Efforts (like the Red Cross at Amazon) or some other worthy cause. Don't have a few dollars to spare? Take a minute and use a FREE "click-to-donate" site (like The Hunger Site or The Animal Rescue Site. How did you help today?
I didn't donate today, but I did the other week. One of our neighbours is doing Avon stuff and they're doing a "Heart of Asia" pin. Maybe I'll get one of those.