New Year - New Look!

'BLOG' urr what's that? I think I've been suffering from amnesia or something of that ilk! No seriously, it's been a long time since I've blogged and for many reasons but the one that preoccupied me the most occurred at the back end of November.

My parents were involved in a four vehicle pile-up on the M62. Thank God, they had their Angel with them (Daddy calls the Angel 'Toyota') and although injured and taken to hospital they are on the mend. But it made me realise how easily things could have turned out to be so different. Anyway, their car is a write-off and having got them home, I've been helping out where I could and more recently, ferrying them around. Dad has decided to start looking at new cars but he still swears that they owe their lives to the robust build of the Toyota.

I had planned to have our Christmas decorations all up and ready to 'switch on' the first week of December.

Er....... Late! but better late than never I say!

The tree was up with its lights on but no decorations for several weeks. We had so many problems with the lights. It's a pre-lit tree with over 1000 lights and some worked, some didn't, then they did then they didn't. My poor husband sat for many an hours sorting them out - he's 'Part P' qualified to mess with electrics thank goodness, and very talented. So after sticking at it with the patients of a Saint and me tearing my hair out and having minor breakdowns every 15 minutes when his latest endeavors failed, he finally won the battle and this was the result........

We added another 120 lights which are programmable and it was ready to decorate but it was the last week before Christmas that I made a concerted effort and got everything done. Three trees decorated, one in the hall, one in the lounge and the third in the dining room. It looked pretty good in the end!

Christmas Eve, our German Shepherd dog 'Diesel' went to the K9 Therapy Pool in Middlesborough. Instead of swimming he had a lovely hot bath and then went in the drier. He came home all lovely and fluffy, very shiny and full of hell!!! I think you could safely say he hates being bathed and loathes being groomed.

It was a real rush in the end to get everything ready for the family arriving on Christmas Day. We sat up into the wee small hours wrapping pressies and putting them under the tree. We did manage to get a few hours sleep and then it was all systems go to get the turkey and pork in on time.

Now, I'm extremely lucky with Stuart being in the Kitchen business and I myself having previously been a Kitchen Designer, to have a really well equipped kitchen. So the turkey dully went into the built-in oven and the pork into the oven of the range cooker which, as I closed the door having safely installed the joint, suddenly shut down and all the lights went out! Panic, scream and another minor break-down while I got my brain into gear (it had only had a few hours down time after all and like the oven, really didn't want to work). The pork was retrieved and quickly put into the second small oven in the built-in unit but this left me with a dilemma as to where I could roast the veg, I do so hate microwave ovens for anything other than warming things up. Anyhow, Stuart tried changing the fuse which had no effect then I messed with the timer - the oven came on and promptly went off again. But after much fiddling it became apparent that it was the fan element that was causing the problem so I re-set it to conventional cooking and we were up and running again. Dinner was somewhat delayed but we enjoyed it in the end.

After dinner, we all sat back and opened the stash that Santa Claus had left around the tree and then we watched 'National Lampoons Christmas Vacation' on DVD. It always guarantees to leave you holding your ribs and wiping the tears of laughter from your cheeks and it didn't disappoint.

A great day was had by all........... But next year I'm going to be ready! (I wonder how many times I've said that)?

The New Year was heralded in last night in a quiet way. We decided to stay home and ordered a Cantonese banquet which we laid out on the coffee table in the lounge and sat on the floor stuffing our faces and drinking bubbly.

So today we have had the first day of the New Year and 2007 has started relatively quietly. I hope that it will be a year where we will all enjoy better health and if it remains uneventful, that will be just perfect.

In honor of the new year, I'm changing the look of my blog......... It will definitely be more arty and I will make a real effort to post more regularly. I have some more pictures of Christmas to post but for now I will wish you all a very Happy and Peaceful New Year and leave you with this........

stand quietly and listen

to your inner voice which sees

through life and its illusions

for it isn't what it seems__________

excerpt from: Journey thru Maya

Linda O'Brien