pick one : jenny/jenga/jentle/jengi/itchy/jk

reviewed

as the last few hours of 2007 tick by, it's only appropriate to look back at what's happened this year

january
travelled to launceston for andy and penny's wedding
australia day BBQ

february
a new 6 foot tank for the boys

march
ross noble!
harbour bridge turned 75 and we walked all over it

april
Uluru

may
my grandma's 80th birthday party
travelled to brisbane for jesse and marie's wedding

june
debbie's birthday lunch

july
holiday in Port Macquarie
introduction to 'ticket to ride' board game

august
howie went to Kenya
dad went to Mexico

september
armidale & taree to visit grandmothers
1st wedding anniversary
bought all 10 seasons of friends
travelled to tasmania for work conference

october
tim and kirri's wedding
arj barker
nan died

november
welcome kyah sullivan
nan's funeral
howie offered a job with TEAR
schoolies
howie's wisdom teeth removed

december
libby and matt's wedding
bbq of fun
last night of GAP after nine years!
no armidale

this year has been good - in some ways not anything terribly special, but then again a lot of the specialness of life is in the 'uneventful'. and it seems that is how our year is to finish off - perhaps only the two of us! but that's still good coz howie is the coolest. hopefully though andy and penny will join us to farewell 07 and bring in 08.

i am hopeful as i look to 2008. a little scared too of things that i know are going to change and things i hope will change. there's a fair bit of uncertainty. but i need to keep reminding myself that God has it all in His head and i don't need it in mine.

07 on a screen

Flushed Away
Pursuit of Happyness
Miss Potter
The Good Shepherd
Man of the Year
Wild Hogs
Music and Lyrics
Hot Fuzz
Shooter
Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End
Shrek The Third
Ocean's Thirteen
Amazing Grace
Die Hard 4.0
Transformers
The Simpsons Movie
Sicko
Bourne Ultimatum
Rush Hour 3
Michael Clayton
Death at a Funeral
Bee Movie
The Darjeeling Limited

23 is at least double the number of movies i've seen at the cinema in any other year. hoorah for movie money! the perfect gift for the howies.

ev1

we watched 'who killed the electric car?' today. it was interesting. i like docos like this. but probably the people who should watch it (like americans) probably haven't seen it. i think it's more than a conspiracy theory type movie, which makes it pretty sad that electric cars were all but destroyed a few years back.

i would like to own an electric car. even a hybrid. or a smart car. damn dependence on the car. maybe we should get a horse and cart.

ebay way

i don't really like ebay. i understand how people can become obsessed with it, but i don't enjoy the suspense. or being out bid at the last minute.

beep you

i have a strong disdain for men who honk their horns at women walking down the street. what is the purpose? firstly it shocks the bejeepers out of the woman, and secondly it makes the man look like a rude, thuggish idiot.

but today on the other end of the horn was lachie. so that was alright. but i was ready to make a normal reaction if i didn't know the creep. not that lachie's a creep. but if i didn't know him he sure would have been.

mac time

after checking our po box this morning we headed to macquarie centre with the main objective being to see a movie. we had about three hours to kill though. so we wound our way around the centre stopping in various shops but not actually planning to buy anything coz we didn't want to stand in the long cash register lines.

after a disappointing lunch i had a bit of a sit down while howie took his time in city beach. he successfully purchased some new shorts. we go hard with the post christmas sales. a pair of shorts, a drink bottle and a power adaptor. watch out credit limit (if we had a credit card)!

then we were off to our movie. we saw the darjeeling limited.

it was a quite strange movie. very left field. a few big names in it. but still weird.

and we come home to find the indians aren't doing too well with the bat. we thought this was going to be a good game after yesterday's play.

but i am enjoying a bunch of the kfc ads.

unwrapped

the story of yesterday.

husband and i got up at 7am to welcome christmas and open presents - yay! husband did well in picking from the list i gave him and being creative himself - we're going to the beach cricket! so fun.

we had church at 8am, which was nice sitting as a family behind the turnbull family. i like the turnbulls. and i liked the childrens talk. the christmas story told with chocolates.

after merry christmasing people after church we went to my parents house. we hung around, opened presents which is always fun, hung around some more and played balderdash.

then it was off to my aunt's. it was a strange christmas lunch i must admit. took a lot of energy and was pretty hard work from a mental perspctive. but we got there in the end. strange family sometimes. stayed through the afternoon, and of course had more present giving and receiving.

a bit after 6pm, the three of us 'kids' raced off back to our house to watch the simpsons movie, so that it finished before the start of the the panel. debbie hadn't seen the simpsons movie before but had bought it for howie for christmas. soon after it begun tom joined us. good old tom came bearing two awesome gifts. we love DVDs.

and so continued our evening with the coming and going of the panel's christmas wrap. which could have been funnier.

and that pretty much was christmas. although it will be extended with the (hopefully) imminent arrival of debbie and cathy's presents.

i really like giving people presents - particularly if you know you've gotten them something really good. we're all pretty fortunate and this time of year emphasises that i reckon.

but once a year

happy jesus' birthday everyone. i hope you and your loved ones have a very happy, safe and peaceful day.

two disappointments

firstly my package from US hasn't arrived after ordering it four weeks ago, so debbie won't get christmas presents from howie or me, and cathy won't get hers from me. that is a giant poo. hopefully the package does arrived sometime in the not too distant future.

and secondly, we saw bee movie today.

it wasn't as good as i might have hoped it would be. i thought there would be more funnies - both obvious and subtle. we were both a little bored in it. but it was fun seeing sam while he was working at the cinema.

trains trains and trains

making pancakes

mmm

with real maple syrup

3801 nerds

josh with a winner of a pancake

getting the game started

victory will soon be mine (and howie's)

good buddies

fun for all!

moving places

so last night was my last ever gap. it was good fun - big end of year christmas party with lots of games and fun and laughter and food. it is a bit sad to be finishing but i'm also quite at peace about it. which is good. plus i beat lachie in singstar with s club 7's dont stop movin. oh yeh.

this morning joshy and sam came over for some pancake goodness and ticket to ride. it was a very close game! howie and i tied first on 107, sam came next on 106 and joshy on 104! i will blog some photos tomorrow morning. we also exchanged christmas presents which meant getting to play cranium: 2nd edition. sam and i kicked butt! woo!

i am feeling quite under the weather today. my cold has moved more into my throat and mucus producing areas. so it's not very fun. my ease-a-cold isn't doing a very good job. and i think maybe howie is getting it now too. which is poopy.

tick tock

oh boy can i not wait til today ends.

i'll be on holidays by 11pm. oh yeh. sweet sweet holidays.

deck the halls

i just put up our christmas decorations, and here they are...

here

here

and here

yep - we are hardcore christmas lovers.

scratchy

i have the beginning of a cold. it's in my throat and back of my nose. it's been almost six months since i had a cold - why did it wait until summer and almost the start of holidays! colds really should work around their victim's schedule.

i hope my ease-a-cold tablets go beyond the call of duty and kick the germs out. it would be nice to be well for the different events coming up in the next week or so.

our growing boys

this is piney

this is hammy. i think he looks like a puppy

pineapple saying hi, and ham doesn't really care

they are good friends, nice to each other

they're getting so big!

a big one

the big news first - i got to drive a 12 seater transit this weekend! ohh fun. it felt huge. particularly because i'm quite short and only just reached the pedals. but it was fun driving it.

anyway, we had our end of year youth camp up at lake munmorah. it was very muggy and sticky, but it was good fun. having been at the site for like three hours, deby and i came back in the arvo for zoe and tom's engagement party. which was also good. lots of people, lots of food, lots of fun.

back up at camp again we had some dins, had some sharing and prayering time, and played capture the flag on the beach in the dark.

i had to sleep on our stupid lilo. i'm so excited about our bed tonight.

today, as is the case with every GAP camp, everyone was so very tired, so we were all just really lazy at the campsite and the beach.

it was a good fun weekend. everyone seemed to enjoy it. and i didn't get sunburnt which was good. although some people were very pink and sore.

we got back to sydney safely this arvo, and after another adventure with james and deby to return the vans, i came home and had a much desired shower.

church tonight was a little bit of a struggle for the eyelids, but i got there. and now we're watching waveaid. but i reckon bedtime will come pretty quickly.

ends and exhausts

tiredness is quite high on the list of things i am feeling.

i have youth group tonight and then an overnight camp starting at 8am tomorrow morning. it should be good fun, but i'm feeling old and tired. tonight is my second last night ever of youth group. it's quite weird after nine years of involvement, but i'm ready to hang up my boots. i am thankful for the last nine years - the things i've been taught and learnt and the people i've got to work with and hang out with. lots of cool young people over the years who i now count as friends. it was well worth it.

i'm excited about the possibilities of next year. but i'm more excited at this present time about holidays starting in one week. three glorious weeks of holidays.

as howie has mentioned we have also now paid for our UK and Dubai trip flights. and got about $1500 off the price we thought we were paying this morning. sweet.

lots of things coming up in the next year. lots of changes and big events. i hope that these upcoming holidays are refreshing.

A whole lot of viewing pleasure

Our DVD collection (excluding music DVDs):

Addams Family Values
Alive
All Aussie Adventures
Arj Barker Live
Back to the Future Triology Boxset
Bad Boys
Bill and Ted's Bogus Journey
Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure
The Blues Brothers
The Bourne Identity
The Bourne Supremacy
A Bug's Life
Cars
Casino Royale
The Castle
Catch Me If You Can
The Chaser's War on Everything 1.1
The Chaser's War on Everything 1.2
The Chaser's War on Everything 2.1
Chopper
Clear and Present Danger
The Color Purple
Dave Hughes Live
Dead Man Walking
Death to Smoochy
Die Hard Collection (Box set I-IV)
The Dish
Do or Die
Dodgeball
The Emperor's New Groove
Empire Records
Enemy of the State
Ferris Bueller's Day Off
Forrest Gump
The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air (First Season)
Friends - the complete first season
Friends - the complete second season
Friends - the complete third season
Friends - the complete fourth season
Friends - the complete fifth season
Friends - the complete sixth season
Friends - the complete seventh season
Friends - the complete eighth season
Friends - the complete ninth season
Friends - the complete tenth season
The Fugitive
Futurama - Season 1
Futurama - Season 2
Futurama - Season 3
Futurama - Season 4
The Best of The Glasshouse
The Godfather
The Godfather Part II
The Godfather Part III
Gone in 60 Seconds
Lano and Woodley Goodbye
Grease
The Great Escape
Gumby's Greatest Adventures
Gumby 'Christmas with Gumby'
Hey Hey it's Saturday... by request
Hey Hey it's Saturday... by request 2
High Fidelity
Hotel Rwanda
Hot Fuzz
Inspector Gadget - Original Series Box Set
The Island
The Island - Lano and Woodley
Kenny
The Kid
Labyrinth
The Best Bits of the Late Show
Lethal Weapon Legacy (Box Set I-IV)
Liar Liar
Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels
Look Who's Talking
The Lord of the Rings; Fellowship of the Ring
The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers
The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
Madagascar
Malcolm
Mary Poppins
Matchstick Men
Memento
The Muppets Take Manhatten
Ross Noble Randomist
Ocean's Eleven
Ocean's Thirteen
Ordinary Decent Criminal
Patriot Games
Pirates of the Caribbean
Ransom
Robin Hood Prince of Thieves
Rush Hour
Scream 2
Shrek
Snatch
Snatch
The Sound of Music
Speed
Striking Distance
Summer Heights High
The Terminal
Thank God You're Here Series 1
Thank God You're Here Series 2
Three Kings
Thunderstruck
Toy Story
Toy Story 2
Traffic
Training Day
Trainspotting
Two Hands
US Marshals
Wayne's World
We Can Be Heroes
The Wedding Singer
Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory
While You Were Sleeping
Zoolander

yippee ki ay

i have been waiting many years for this...

today marked the purchase of the die hard box set.

and all four movies are in two disc edition with heaps of special features. oh yehhhh.
and all for under $70. impressive.
and bought with christmas money. yes.
although i did miss out on my free bonus stubby holder.

so i am a happy chappy

holiday plan #2531

well after many emails and phone calls exchanged with the travel agent, it seems that cyprus isn't going to happen either. unless you have a spare $5000 to give each of us. stupid out of the way countries.

so we're just going to stay a little longer in scotland with the family, and then have an extra night in dubai. bit of a bummer, but it's all good. i still get to visit two brand new countries, which is exciting!

and it'll still be nice to return to that side of the world. and to meet some more howies!

postman pat

this time of year is always good fun. i love receiving mail. whether it's christmas cards, or christmas present orders, or bills.

and we get to have the joy twiceover, with our po box and at home.

mail is the coolest.

cyprus

just to be a little random, howie and i are looking at going to cyprus next year on the way home from scotland (seems the family reunion trip is back on).

you see, the dilemma was that i wanted to go to netherlands and show howie around the place. howie wanted to go to greece for some sun and to see kostas and eleni. so we tried to fit in both. but it doesn't work. so rather than compromise in a logical way, we compromised by picking somewhere neither of us have been. although i did realise that cyprus could be quite similar to greece, so i feel a little ripped off. only a little.

but that would be fun! so far i have heard good reports from people who have been there. have you? what did you think?

cooking up a storm

we had a little BBQ today. it was good fun despite the muggy weather.

there was sam, ben, cathy, grant, zoe, deby, james, lachie, debbie, will, eva and lachy. tamara and aaron popped in a bit later on. and there was a lot of meat.

the verandah was the place to be if you could bare the sweatiness

deby and snowy enjoyed our swing set

there was eating

and much merriment.

after most people had left, and it was just sam, ben and lachy, i noticed a twitter from prawn announcing the hailstorm he'd just witnessed. so off to bom we went, and we predicted that we were pretty close to the line of fire.

sam and i were out on the verandah, and saw a rather large white thing wizz past us - and so it had begun! it was awesome. well it was for me, because my car was undercover. but sam, ben and lachy were off in a flash trying to outmaneuver the falling projectiles, some bigger than golf balls, and somehow protect their cars. sam took a tarp - i don't know what the other boys did. but all of them got pretty hammered by hail.

in the end it receded back to marble sized hail and the brunt of the storm had passed.

soon after tamara and aaron arrived. his car hadn't fared well. we inspected the other cars, and only one dent between the three of them!

but it was full on!

mr and mrs frazer

yesterday was a stack of fun. yay that matt and libby are married! and yay for getting to hang out with such a fun bunch of people!

for those who are photo inclined please go here. for those who get bored easily, read on for a smaller selection of photos, if you can be bothered.

the ceremony was very lovely, traditional and sweet, held at st matthias near centennial park (lachie got a sweet park).

here is the bridal party - notice the plethora of purple, libby's fave colour!

me and my beautiful sister after the ceremony

mr and mrs frazer

we were so hungry (especially deby and me) that we had to have a maccas stop at coogee between the ceremony and reception

and then we killed some time mucking around on the headland with photos

lachie and me on the terrace of the crowne plaza

will and debs

deby and lachie, a little later in the evening

fun!

yay for matt and libby and a fun wedding with fun peoples.

the only sadness was that howie has been quite ill the last few days, and he didn't come to the wedding because of that. which was poopy. his body isn't very happy with him at the moment. which is pretty helpful as we're having a bunch of people over today for a BBQ! get better quick husband.

cackness

omigoodness so much fun and laughter was had this afternoon and evening.

libby and matt are now mr and mrs.

and tomorrow i will blog photos.

pretty in pink

sometimes i wish i was more of girly girl so i knew how to dress up and look pretty for pretty events.

but then, most of me is glad i'm not a girly girl. coz that would be lame.

you can't have it both ways!

O Tannenbaum

dave blogged a photo of his christmas tree, so i though i would blog a photo of ours

he probably wins. but hey, our tree is very no-fuss!

rain and hay

it was cool waking up throughout the night to big thunder and heavy rain. besides the waking up part. and the middle of the night part.

my parent's neighbours had their downstairs flooded after yesterday mornings deluge. primarily because a developer has levelled the property over the back fence and didnt do anything to stop the soil washing away. so most of it ended up as mud under 30cm of water in their downstairs rooms. ouch. the developer put hay bales all around his property yesterday afternoon. talk about too little too late.

special

libby rang me tonight to ask me to pray at her and matt's wedding this weekend. which is lovely and honouring. and also a bit scary. it's special to be able to share in particular ways in peoples special days.

but now i'm doubley worried about what to wear!

rainbow bright

as the hail storm came through this afternoon, howie and i had our very own rainbow in our backyard.

we'll have to go down and check for the pot of gold near the clothesline.

christmas cards

8 done, 84 to go

wii and grass

sammy came to visit today with his wii. that was good fun. because we like sam. and because wii is fun too.

then this arvo i mowed the lawn. my that is sweaty work. i hadn't done it since dad had glandular fever, and i've never done it at this house. i'm quite happy to leave that job to howie. although i do have to get the whipper snipper out sometime this week to finish it all off. stupid garden.

low key

for obvious reasons, our weekend is pretty low key. since we got home on friday night, i've been out of the house once for a trip to the pharmacy. howie's been in bed mostly.

he's going ok. in a bit more pain today and feeling weak. he's a bit of a puffa fish. they had to shatter one of his teeth to get it out, so one side of his face is more sore and swollen due to that. he'll also have to have xrays to make sure they got all the fragments - here's hoping!

i've been doing a bit of cleaning, catching up on some stuff, reading etc. not much. nice to slow down. i'd like to stay home with him the next few days, but alas work beckons. it's fun being a nurse. getting his food, his meds, his icepack, pillows, water, asking 'can i get you anything?', 'are you feeling ok?'. hehe.