I am in possession of 20 rather lovely festive Moo Postcards fashioned from my very own Christmassy photos all of which I am set on dedicating to my fabulous bloggy friends. In fact, not only dedicating… but SENDING.
Of course, to do so means I need to have your addresses to which I may send them… so… if you are one of my regular readers and I’m NOT likely to see you at the office or in my neighbourhood this Christmas leave me a comment in my email and the first 20 18 will be the lucky recipients.
Oh, and on a security note, don’t leave me your address in the comments, just let me know you want one and I’ll send you an email to follow up… Or just send me an email to the address above…
Oh, Jay and Kerri? You’re already on the list!!
By the way, and if you want to return the favour… I’ll add my postal address to the email because I LOVE getting Christmas mail… *grin*
And So it Begins
I bought my first Christmas gift the other day, one for Lil’ Sis and her hubby. (Yeah, like I’m going to tell you what it is…)
This is a good plan in terms of budgeting. If I was really smart I’d be putting cash aside and doing the bulk of the shopping on Boxing Day, in the sales. Particularly as the family Christmas is not happening until I get to NZ in January… But when I see something I’ll pick it up now just so that I don’t miss out.
Truth is I’m pretty crap at present buying. I can buy for kids; for them I’m a big fan of educational toys, and my nephews love to read so that’s always an easy mark – books.
I’m good for vouchers too, when you’re rubbish at present buying vouchers are your saviour. I LOVE to get vouchers, it’s like getting free money, but there seems to be a bit of stigma attached to them when you’re buying for someone else, like they’re a cop out because you can’t think of what to buy, or worse, that you can’t be bothered to make the effort. Fact is when you’re rubbish at figuring out what to buy vouchers save your life.
This Christmas, I have a cunning plan for the kids, making my own gifts. But again, can’t tell you much about that… Having figured it out though, I need to do some thinking about everybody else…
I guess what I’m getting at is that Christmas is coming and I’m planning ahead.
At least for now…
The Cat’s Pajamas
I alluded to Ratbag earlier, he was my ginger tom, the first pet I had that was mine alone. And I had to wait till I was an adult until I had that exclusive pet to owner relationsip!!!
I got him as a kitten, I can’t even remember his early days, sheesh, let’s face it was a loooong time ago.
He was ginger, of course, as far as my Dad was concerned there are only two tolerable colours for suitable cats. Ginger and Grey. Some of that rubbed off on me (until Tinker and Taylor the black and white bandits) and so my first choice for feline family was a stocky little ginger tom…
Ratbag was the only name that worked, which for those who may need a translation, is an english description for someone a bit naughty, a bit cheeky. If I remember correctly it is a lot more affectionate in its NZ usage than it is in the UK. Still, it’s a good name, and he totally deserved it…
I kept him as long as I was living away from home, and before I went to the US… so around 2 years… when, of course I phoned home and asked if they’d be willing to foster him till I came back.
Actually, you know that sense of unreality that pervades the days preceeding long distance travel? All the packing and planning and before you know it the time has come to leave and it doesn’t all feel real? Well I was leaving off on my big oe and we left home the night before my flight out of Auckland so we didn’t have to get up so early in the morning. It was a family excursion… Sis and Lil Sis and Hun came too all piled in the back of the car, nudging each other trying to find room… man, in those days it was 6 of us in a station wagon with bench seats… these days no one would put up with that!!! 8 seaters all the way!!!
Anyway, we piled in the car and as we were about to leave I couldn’t find that darn cat so I could say goodbye…
That was it, Niagra Falls… leaving, may never see him again… sob, sob… (Actually, that’s pretty much what happened. Dad and Mum split up while I was o/s and the cat went with Dad. When Dad moved north Ratbag took very unkindly to being moved again and split too.)
Anyway, that was much later, at the time Chrisp made this decoration and hung it in his honour that Christmas. He was very much a part of my family and was always the first thing I asked about on phoning home!
Garfield
As I had arrived in the US in the July it was October [end of] when the three months from hell came to an end.
The close of business between Sherry and Pom and me was phased in slowly…
Initally I had thought it prudent to go the bold and have a chat to them about how I was feeling… So I got them together and told them… actually I might have taken the cowards way out and written them a note… that I was unhappy and had a couple of suggestions to make the whole situation work a little better…
As you may expect we had a rather intense exchange, where I indicated that I needed some time off during the day and a bit more support at the daycare centre… So it was agreed that things would stay the same but for 2 hours off in the middle of the day.
This was bit of a farce given that we lived semi rurally, I wasn’t able to drive and the bus ran once an hour… sheesh… So I got further jaded and on one Saturday, having had a gutful, I wrote them a note tendering my resignation and left the house for a day at the mall (see below!).
When I returned all hell broke loose… I was told in no uncertain terms that I was unwelome but that I had to stay and work out my one month’s notice. Where I had been promised a bed upgrade I was informed that the in laws from the UK were coming and I’d have to make do. And in fact, during that 3 week period my stuff was gone through, the new employer I had been fortunate enough to secure was called and bawled out for stealing their nanny and I was basically ignored…
Actually, the nanny I had replaced 3 months earlier came back after I’d given notice to work alongside me for a time. and, as it became apparent they couldn’t wait for me to leave I called the Resucers the week before Halloween and asked them if I could take them up on their previous offer of a port from the storm should the need arise.
They came at once and whisked me home with all my gear, installed me in the bedroom which had been completely cleared as if to accomodate a long-term guest and all at once I was made to feel right at home. We then left the house for a long visit through one of the local parks and some time out, ostensibly to prove that there were some rather nice American folk if you just know where to look!!
And, as it happened, I stayed with the Rescuers, calling the prospective employers declining their kind offer of a job, feeling rather as if I was trading one noose for another and remained for the rest of my year in America at the Rescuers haven!
The Garfield decorations reference both that Halloween and actually a teenage love affair with that cat. I believe I identified most strongly with his struggle with lasgne but I have quite a collection of Garfield publications in NZ in storage… quite what I’ll ever do with them I don’t know but in very short order the Rescuers managed to cotton on to all the things I loved and these decos were included in that magic ’88 Christmas I had with them.