Rasita My Family, My Animals, My Food

As expected the kids woke up very early, excited to find their stockings filled with a few small treats and a present each. Actually, Jade was the first one to wake up but she went back to sleep beside me in my bed. After getting them out of the room so hubby could sleep some more, I urged them to eat breakfast and do their chores before waking up hubby and beginning with the present unwrapping.
The only person who was not happy with what they received was Mercedes. She just wanted to unwrap and have what the others had.

My list of presents received:

• beginers sketch kit and instruction book
• brown cheesecloth summer dress
• lingere
• beading stuff (beads, string, pliers, storage box, lizard charms, pretty spacers)
• book
• square bowl (used with today's christmas food)

I think that is it

After this it was time to prepare lunch (8.30am) as we were having a honey mustard baked ham with salad and treats. Yum!
After lunch was rest time and an invite to a friends house for a swim and chat, then they came to our place for dinner (turkey with roast veg, etc) and cake.

Now that all that is done, it is time to prepare for Jade's 7th birthday tomorrow, and attempt to make her a barbie cake.

Sleep? Who needs it! That will come late Tuesday night!

A Long Time Ago....
I used to own a baby bearded dragon. We found it in our back yard and almost ran over it with the lawn mower. I kept it for a week or two before I let it go again. Back then I had no knowledge of light, UVA, UVB or heat, and how they were all essential to a healthy life of a beardy. I kept the dragon in a 20 litre glass fish tank in my bedroom by the window in my bedroom. I remember it was hot because each day I would go out to the vacant block behind us and catch little grasshoppers to feed it. It was a good eater and always ate all that it was given.
It was towards the end of my ownership of it that it stopped eating and I made the decision to let it go again, back where it was found. It was seen a week or so later alive and healthy.

Thinking back to that, the beardy would have been happier had I been able to provide it with a proper UV light. Reptiles (moreso lizards and dragons) are becoming popular and are making their way into normal households as pets. Snakes have been around longer, particularly pythons, but dragons are reasonably new, and still very pricey. You need to have a licence to own any type of reptile but due to the popularity, the accessability of those has become easier and more affordable. Most pet shops even contain food and/or the reptiles themselves nowdays.

I like my little dragons that I have now and it is interesting to watch them in their tank. Hopefully in the next year they will breed so that we will have more little dragons.

I am finished with the catalogue run (now all I need to do is collect all the money) and it feels good. Only a few fiddly things to wrap up (mainly due to people being unable to count) and it is all done.

My itinerary for the next month is pretty busy with guests coming from far north Queensland, and then later in January, guests from NZ.
I was to do a series of 4 art classes during January but I have had to cancel that due to hubby actually getting a contract and needing to work during the day. This is actually a pretty good thing since we haven't actually had a contract in a while. This is the best Christmas present.
Tonight we have our last home group meet up for the year and probably won't get back into things until February, so I have that to prepare for.
This week I also have to get together some last minute gifts, prepare food for xmas day and when we have guests (arriving a few days after xmas, as well as the post-xmas party 2 days after xmas and Jade's 7th birthday the day after xmas). 3 days of parties!!! I will be exhausted after it.

Ok, enough rambling from me, time to get to work and try to wake up!

BTW - Batman Begins is a cool movie, I like how they told the story of Batman's begining.

As I was out on my morning walk (last Sunday morning of delivering catalogues) I saw a baby lorikeet. It sqwarked like a baby and had not yet grown all of it's flight feathers. It was hopping across the ground and could only manage to fly about 2 feet. It was gorgeous. I was tempted to try and find it's nest but due to the amount of trees around the place (and the fact that it's parents seemed to be around) I did not know where to start. I had to leave it where it was and go on my way.

It was still a pretty cool sight and it was the first real baby lorikeet I had seen in the 'wild'.

Note: This picture was taken at the beginning of the year of a rainbow lorikeet that was busy showing off for the camera.

I gave my notice today, so that in 2 weeks time, just before Christmas I will finish my street walking. I will not be delivering junk mail anymore. Apart from being tired of the early mornings, late nights and sitting in a stinking hot garage folding (and summer has only just began), I am tired of sore feet and January is a full month of visitors, art classes (I booked into a series of 4 art lessons run by the local library) and getting back into school. I am finding it difficult to keep up with the house work and school work at the moment and we are only on half days. Plus I have taken on the extra added bit of helping out a friend. I offered to help her learn how to draft simple patterns (for sewing) and the use of my machine. Plus, I my time is worth more then what I am being paid.

I feel relaxed and happy with the decision and originally I only wanted to do it up until Christmas so that we could have that extra money for Christmas (still yet to be paid!!!). Can't wait to get paid as it should be a nice amount and then we get to go shopping, or to the movies and a special outing. Dunno yet. Maybe my zen neeon, dunno yet.

Time to deal with the rest of the day and organise some Christmas decoration production.