BUSY BUSY!!

WARNING: Long Post Ahead
Stop the world, I want to get off ....
I really love Christmas but the lead up is just so busy. It has been about 3 weeks since i have actually had the time to sit down and update my blog. I had a few minutes here and there to lurk around ad have a quick read of others but no time to do my own.
Now what have i been doing with all my spare time, or should I say non-spare time!
Besides being "flat out" at work organising holiday bookings and just the usual run of the mill at this time of year; i have been
trying to organise plans & paperwork for Council to get things underway for our pool. What a pain ... they make you jump through hoops, just another thing i really don't have the time or will for but we'll get there and the end result will be worth it.
I hosted a trivia night for the local fire brigade a few weeks ago ... all went well! Another job ticked off my list.
Two weeks ago we went to a wedding. My dear friend has found happiness with a great guy who treats her and the kids really well. The wedding (which was more like a big party) went off really well and we all had a great time. I done the cake which was a bit stressful but very happy with the end result (as was the bride & groom) so that was all good (sorry, didn't take any pics ... to pre-ocupied)!
I have at least managed to get some scrapbooking done. Last Sunday i attended a scrap day with SCRAPBOOK'n'BiTS and completed one of their Maya Road calendar kits using MR papers and some of my pics from our holiday. This is the first of my scrapbooking efforts ever that i am going to leave on display in my house! This will look lovely
sitting on the timber cabinet in the front loungeroom 'cause this room is blue (this is where i took these pics, hence the background).
I also done a gorgeous little teeny weeny mini album (also a MR kit) that came with a little window face chipboard box. Just finishing off the box and will post pics when done. This for a friend of mine for Chrissy with pics of her new granddaughter. I had lots of fun doing pink scrapbooking as all of mine are usually 99% boy scrapbooking.
Christmas shopping .... well that's another story! Only started last Thursday. I have never left my shopping this late. I am normally finished by the beginning of Dec 'cause i can't stand the christmas crowds. But this year lack of time and organisation means I'm just gonna have to grin & bare it!
I have an interesting story regarding one Christmas present ... oh, the joy of Santa Claus. My son found this fandangle Transformer in a product catalogue (that came with another Transformer he received lately) ... i am assuming you know what a mean - one of those figurine thingys that can be converted into other characters etc. Well ... we rang every Toys R Us store from here to Timbuktoo (sp?) and a couple of weeks ago in sheer desperation i did a yellow pages search on the internet for all Toy Stores in Australia and rang independent toy stores from here to Tasmania, Perth & back ... you get my drift!! No Luck. So, i had a heart to heart with Blake and explained to him that daddy & i really tried to find this Transformer because we were hoping to give him this for Christmas, explained the searching we had done etc etc. and basically this thing is almost non-existant and we could try again next year in March (for his birthday) when the Xmas rush is over ... he was fine with that. BUT ... a few days later (in his wisdom) he came to DH & I with a solution/theory. He had decided that he wanted absolutely nothing from us, and nothing else from Santa other than this darn Transformer and he was sure that given the fact he was being non-greedy, non-demanding and only wanted ONE thing, Santa would come to the party ... cause [quote] "Santa can do anything"!! HELLLLLPPP!! So we went to plan B .... i searched the internet through EBay and any other online shopping site in Australia ... no luck. BUT ... did find one in America. The things we do .... I just had to bite the bullet .... taking into account currency exchange rates & air postage of $50 ... this was quite an expensive exercise ... and then, pray beyond all hope that it arrived in time!
... hopefully you are still awake ....
I am soooo relieved 'cause it arrived yesterday ... YEAAAAH!
I am going to have one very excited little boy on Christmas Day .... and .... if this doesn't enhance his belief in Santa nothing will!!!

Now for the rest of the family .... hopefully, i'll get a chance this week to go with my 'shopping list' and just do it! Sounds good in theory anyway!! Oh, and by the way, Blake is receiving other presents too!!
Well, so far this weekend we have attended: 1 sporting presentation, 1 birthday party, 2 christmas parties and we leave this afternoon at 3pm to attend another birthday party .... phew ..... no wonder i don't get time to do anything!!

Well, hopefully i'll have time to blog again before Christmas,
Happy shopping and organising everyone.
Cheers,
JULIE x