December: In Review

Better late than never, hey? I've had this written on my harddrive for a little while now.

I'll be back with January shortly.

What books and/or magazines did I read this month?
Books
• Robert Muchamore – ‘Brigands MC’
• Stephenie Meyer – ‘New Moon’, ‘Eclipse’, ‘Breaking Dawn’ (yes, again!)
• Bryce Courtenay – ‘The Story of Danny Dunn’
• ????? – ‘Blood Ties’

Magazines
• ‘Australian Photography’ – random issues from John’s Mum

What movies, television shows, plays, etc. did I watch this month?

Movies
• ‘New Moon’ (The second in the Twilight saga) – I was extremely disappointed!

Favourite TV shows
• Survivor – Samoa
• The Amazing Race
• Martha Stewart Living (yes, I know….!)

What fun things did I do with my family and/or friends?

• Our family Christmas celebrations in Mackay
• Work Christmas Party at a lovely restaurant here that I’ve never been to
• Another family Christmas celebration in Rockhampton
• The ‘normal’ Christmas celebrations in Baralaba (including travelling to Moura and Taroom)
• New Years Eve celebrations in Rockhampton – a really, really wonderful night, having a BBQ and drinks with family

What gifts did I give and/or receive?

• Christmas gifts given:
o Handmade Christmas placemats (I loved making these)
o Sooo much other stuff – wall photo canvases, SLR camera bag backpack, car dashmat, car floor mats, Karcher pressure cleaner, Howards Storage World voucher, personal DVD player, digital photo frame and lots of knick-knacks

• Christmas gifts received:
o Masterchef cookbook
o Numerous books: Lonely Planet Guide – Mediterranean Europe, The Story of Danny Dunn (Bryce Courtenay), The Last Song (Nicholas Sparks), I Alex Cross (James Paterson), The Lost Symbol (Dan Brown), and a couple of others I can’t remember the name of!
o New pair of thongs
o New Scanpan foodsafe knife and chopping mats (love this knife!)
o Food processor
o Various clothes/pajamas
o Egg poacher (been wanting one for ages!!)
o Wii remote control charger – the one with nothing to plug in or anything (you just sit the remotes on top and they get charged like magic!)
o Other bits and pieces…

What special or unusual purchases did I make?

• Well, our new car arrived – ‘Mr Q’, a Ford Focus XR5 Turbo! Love it love it love it
• More Christmas fabric at Spotlight’s sale
• An Apple Macbook Air – very cool
• Some other fabric for a secret project
• I found some tops that I really like at Susan Gray and they’re a great price, so I bought a number of them in different colours

What illnesses or health concerns did I have?

• I got sunburnt while out on a construction site for a couple of days in a row – naughty me

What were my accomplishments this month?

• Cooked a roast chicken and roast potatoes (my first real roast chicken!) from the MasterChef cookbook – first time I’ve used ‘real’ garlic in cooking
• Did a fair bit of sewing, mainly for Christmas items
• John decluttered the laundry and the garage
• I made a fair bit of Christmas crafts – very relaxing

What were my disappointments this month?

• Seeing as though I didn’t make my Christmas cards well in advance so that I could send them out in December, I wanted to make them IN December – not accomplished.
• Our house in Melbourne that we’re currently building is STILL not finished.
• Losing Ellie – my 1988 Ford Laser. Her replacement was most definitely an upgrade, but it still sad… my first ever set of wheels!

Anything else noteworthy to include?

• I made all of my own Christmas tags in Photoshop. After seeing some by Ali Edwards and Cathy Zielske on the net, I realised that I could make them myself and not have to buy any.
• Continued work on my ‘Me: The Abridged Version’ scrapbooking album (a class by Cathy Zielske has inspired me in this one).
• Mum and Dad’s new house is all unpacked and they’re well and truly settled in now.
• Our neighbour’s dog had puppies – 4 of them about a week before Christmas. They’re gorgeous!
• Although I don’t make ‘New Years Resolutions’, I do believe in setting ongoing goals for things I want to achieve throughout the year. My main one is, surprise surprise, to get healthy.

Things to aim for next month? (Most of these are carried over from last month…)

• Replenish my ‘stock’ card supply with some effective but simple cards that I can have on hand to send when I need them (or just want them).
• Declutter my scrapbooking room cupboard to make more storage space.
• Sort out the linen cupboard and the kitchen cupboards.
• Get the business books up to date.
• Continue to work on John’s around the world trip album (from where he went on the trip before we event met, but I’m making a very simple album for him with his photos and little tidbits of journaling). The album is very very simple, using only cardstock and photos, and generally stamping or computer printing for the titles. Each country/region has its own colour groups (ie France is blues/grays, Scotland is greens/white, Italy is terracotta type colours, USA is red/white/blue etc). I have all the photos printed (and have had for probably two years now) and the cardstock is bought and sorted, but I’ve only finished about 8 pages (and there’s likely to be probably 40 when finished).
• Post regularly on my blog, in nice, clear posts (take inspiration from Fiona).
• Make a start on trying to get my photo editing up to date.
• Make a start on just generally organising my life. I would ultimately like to have a nice routine where: at the end of each month I sort through the photos from that month and file, edit and print them; I get the business books up to date ready for the new month; everything on my scrapping desk gets tidied up and put away. Just little things that get away from me if I don’t make time to actually do them regularly.
• Again (and hopefully for the last time – having this as a goal I mean, not actually doing it for the last time): join a gym.