Christmas is finally over...

Well, I suppose I should update you all on what I did for Christmas. Firstly, I should point out that I had a fantastic Christmas so if the post sounds a little negative its only because I'm tired.

I started my Christmas weekend on Saturday by meeting up with Mum, Dad and Rob and heading down the Tasman Peninsula to stay with Grandma and Grandpa Kingston. Sunday was spent relaxing. We went to Church in the morning and had a really scrumptious Christmas ham lunch- then we mostly just sat around and slept. I wasn't (and am still not) feeling very well because my asthma has been completely ridiculous- but everyone else just really needed a holiday so it was really good that they had the opportunity to just snooze, eat, and not have to do anything.



Monday- Christmas Eve- was our big family celebration so all the aunts, uncles, and cousins (except Christopher who was spending Christmas with his mum) came around to Grandma and Grandpas in the afternoon. Far too much food was eaten by most people, and we handed out all the Christmas presents. In our family we have a tradition that the children (under 18) get christmas presents from all the aunts and uncles but the adults give each other baking. So since I'm no longer under 18 I now have the responsibility of cooking for each pair of aunts and uncles and I get heaps of goodies in return. The next morning when we opened everything up I swapped Dad some bits and pieces out of my cooking that I don't like as much, but this year I didn't have to swap much at all- everything is really yummy.

Tuesday morning was, of course, Christmas morning so there was a huge stack of presents to be opened. Now I suppose you want to know what I got. I got a new mobile phone which I love. Its a pink flip nokia- and I really like it but I haven't taken any photos of it yet so I can't show it to you. The best thing about it is that because its a nokia it is really easy to use so I don't have to spend hours figuring out how to send a text messege.

Mum and Dad also gave me a George Forman grill (or as Rob called it a non-George Forman grill because it is a different brand). I haven't actually used it yet, but I've used Mum and Dad's so I know I'm going to like it. I also got heaps of other stuff from them- including a chocolate making set with everything you need to make chocolates including the chocolate melts.

Rob gave me a puppy dog! Not a real puppy dog, though, but it is nice and cuddly. He also gave me a couple of books and a Veggie Tales DVD. One of the books he gave me is called "Swashbuckling Faith." It is a devotional that uses Pirates of the Carribean to illustrate its points. I took this photo of all my Pirates of the Carribbean stuff.



After we opened all the present and "ooooo-ed" and "aaaaa-ed" sufficiently over each others gifts we went to christmas lunch at Uncle Charlie and Sabine's. There was a huge amount of food- the traditional turkey, ham, and seafood and many salads. Eggnog was also flowing freely, but not for me as I had to drive.



I also got to meet "Scruffy" their new dog. Its a schitzu cross maltese terrior.



After we all ate far too much again and played board games it was time to hit the road and head for home.

When I finally got back to my flat (I was stuck behind some guy who was driving way too slow until the overtaking lanes and then way too fast for me to overtake him- argh!) the next door neighbours cat, Rainbow, was there to greet me so I gave her a little christmas treat of a tin of cat food that Dad gave me.

The first thing I did when I got inside was check the fish- and Jeff had gotten stuck in the ornament again. He does it occassionly but he's normally only there for a couple of minutes before I rescue him- this time he was obviously there for a while before I got home because he had rubbed some of his scales off the back of his head (see photo). He seems fine, though.


I then had to turn to the task of finding places for all of my new Christmas gifts. I only have one or two left that still need to be put away.

Sorry this was such a huge post, but it needed to be to do justice to such a fantastic weekend (even with feeling sick and miserable the whole time).

Hope your Christmas was just as good.

Emma

Merry Christmas!

Its Christmas time again... You know that crazy time of the year when everyone runs around like crazy, stressed out to the max so that they can appear to be organized and relaxed on Christmas Day.

I haven't been running around too madly, but I have managed to do all my Christmas shopping, wrap the presents, and arrange them around my tiny little tree.



I have also managed to complete my Christmas cooking. This year I made Gingerbread Christmas trees.


And I've even found time to go and check out the Christmas lights around Hobart with Ayden (although this photo is actually of the house just down the road from Mum and Dad's- its not a very good photo because just as I was taking it the lady who lives there yelled out "Merry Christmas"and startled me so I left).


Anyway, to all my friends out there I hope you have a fantastic Christmas with your family.

Emma

I'm Celebrating

Yes I'm celebrating.

I applied for a "summer research scholarship" about a month ago, and yesterday I found out that I got it. Even better- two of my friends that applied also got one.

It involves me working with a research team at the uni over the summer break and getting $3,000 in return. Its going to look great on my resume and it means that I don't have to look for work over summer- which is fantastic.

Then last night I went to help do a letterbox drop for Church (advertizing our special service this week) and found out that Hannah had been accepted in to Law!!!! We spent the rest of the night bouncing at each other.

Yesterday, was a fantastic day. Everything went perfectly all day- I'm sooo happy!

Lament for a Laptop

I had a trusty little laptop.

It was always by my side

Until one day quite recently

When it just up and died

It had been a good computer

A real faithful friend

It did everything I asked of it

Right up until the end

I missed my old computer

And my mood - it was quite bleak

So very soon I gave in

And for another one did seek

With some expert advice from Brother

(And my dad to pay the bill)

I got a newer model

The old one’s hole to fill.

The new one came with demos

Of games of every kind

Some just to entertain you

Some to exercise your mind.

I especially liked “Chuzzles”

A gorgeous little game.

And also “Virtual Villagers”

Where survival is the aim.

All these new, fun demos

Did help my heart to melt,

But other things were missing.

At least that’s how it felt.

Most noticeable was Office.

Its absence is a problem.

I miss Word and PowerPoint.

What will I do without them?

So now I must buy Office

Without breaking the bank

But finally that’s possible.

www.itsnotcheating.com.au, I thank.

But there is some more good news-

A fantastic competition

With prizes for the greatest blogs

That give this deal a mention.

When I heard this great news

To my new computer did I run

To write a blog to enter

A poem just for fun.

If my blog did win

I’d think it was quite funny

Because www.mycanvascard.com.au

Would give me lots of money

But if a better blog is found

And I don’t win the money

Contiki might give me a trip

To Europe with my Honey.

To win this fantastic trip

I now have to rely on you

Because to win this prize

Many comments are the cue

So go ahead, don’t waste time

Write me a little comment

And if I’m really lucky

I might win a great prize from it.

What a legacy my old laptop

Would then be able to leave

If I ended by winning a prize

When I started out to grieve.

Update on Fidget

She is doing much better now. She's been eating small amounts and drinking milk, but it takes a fair bit of encouragement. In fact, because she's feeling better its much harder to give her the tablets now because she has enough energy to fight it.
She should make a full recovery by the time she's finished her course of antibiotics : )

I think she felt better when I told her that I'd just come back from the doctor and had to have a needle and antibiotics too (I have bronchitis- again!).

My poor little pusskins..

My cat is sick.

She was fine yesterday morning but when we got home from Biblestudy last night we realized that there was definately something wrong with her because she was not acting herself and she wasn't grooming herself. Then we also noticed that there was a small amount of blood in her urine. That was at about 10:00 at night and she seemed to be resting comfortably so we just let her rest for the night.

I kept an eye on her until about midnight and then went to bed. Dad woke me up this morning at 7:30 when he left for work and told me that she was really lethargic and didn't even watch the garbage truck when it came by (normally she runs to the window to watch it, but today she didn't even care).

When the vet clinic finally opened I made her an appointment and we took her to the vet (the one I used to work at). It was the first time she has been in a car for about six years, but she was pretty good. She was very good at the vet clinic even though she was being poked in all her sore bits and had a thermometer shoved up her bottom.

The vet said she was dehydrated (I allready knew that) and she had a fever (allready knew that too) and that she had a bladder infection (my guess at diagnoses). She was given an antibiotic injection and sent home with tablets and strict instructions to get her fluids up or bring her back for sub-cutaneous fluids (injected under the skin).

She was really good on the way back home and just sat in her box except for when we were about two minutes from home she couldn't wait any more and went to the toilet in her box and made the car smell.

She seemed really glad to be home when we got back and glad to be out of the box she soiled.

Now we have to manage to get her to drink something.

The escapade to the beacon light...

I know that I haven't posted much recently (not that it really matters because only a devoted few actually bother logging on and checking my blog anyway). Finally I have some time to get some things done-like sleep. I slept amazingly well last night- no nightmares- no stupid confusing dreams- and I slept all the way from 10:30ish to 7:30 in the morning- thats the longest I have slept in absolutely ages.

Anyway, I suppose anyone reading this will be wanting more interesting news than my sleeping habits. Probably the most exciting thing is that I passed all my exams and my results are as follows:

Functional Biology of Animals ~ Credit
Evolution, Ecology & Society ~ Distinction
Plant Genetics & Molecular Bio ~ Distinction
Marine Microbiology ~ Distinction

Not too bad but I really would have liked at least one High Distinction.

Anyway, in other news...
I am currently at home (I should clarify- I am currently at my parent's house in Exeter rather than in my flat in Hobart). I got here late on Saturday arvo and plan to stay for about a week although I will probably go through to Rob's place in Devonport for an evening at some point and maybe stay the night there.

Something else that you might not know is that I have recently spent a week on Bruny Island with some friends of mine. It was really nice there- spent a lot of time on the beach.

Martin, Chris, and I set off on an expedition to get around the point of the beach to go to a beacon light. The first time we made it to the point but didn't know the beacon existed so we didn't quite go far enough.

The second time we went back but couldn't make it all the way because the tide was up too far which pushed us up on to the rocks and we gave up because of the lack of shoes (rocks and bare feet didn't work).

I can't remeber what happened the third time, but again we tried and for some reason failed.

The forth time we tried a new tactic- we decided to don our board shorts and go the entire way around in the water. This time we were attacked by a kelp forest and Martin stepped on something rather spikey in the water which made pretty red stuff come out of a hole in his foot so we got out of the water and turned back (again we got heartbrakingly close). I also got a hole in my foot, but it didn't bother me until two days later when apparently it was infected and then it bothered me a lot. My foot got doctored and bandaged and I was ordered to wear shoes on the beach at all times so I didn't get sand in it.

Again we went for a walk on the beach and because Chris and I were both wearing shoes this time we decided to make one last attempt on the light at the end of the point. Unfortunately, Martin wasn't wearing shoes and again we had to abandon the mission and turn back.

I have some very awesome pictures that I should upload, but I have to charge my camera before it will stay awake long enough to download all the pictures. I have some great ones of Martin playing mussel golf (its played by picking the largest mussels you can find, pulling them off the rock, and hitting them as hard as you can into the water with a big stick- it involves a lot of missing!)

A lot of the time while we were attempting to adventure to the beacon and such like things I felt very much as if I am now finally old enough to be able to do all the things that the Famous Five did before they were 10- I mean they had their own island complete with a castle and rowed out to it all by themselves and stayed there for a week or two eating tinned peaches and drinking ginger beer and solving some mystery that all the adults were too stupid to solve... and they were only 10!!!! I did mention this to Martin, but he never really read the Famous Five (poor deprived underpriviledged childhood it must have been- probably never read The Magic Pudding or The Muddleheaded Wombat or Winnie the Pooh or anything) so he didn't really understand at all.

The very best thing about Bruny was the hammocks on the front deck. There were two and Martin and I claimed one each very soon after we arrived and we both spent a very considerable amount of time in them over the rest of the week. Only problem was that I discovered that if you get in straight after you finish eating your cereal it makes me rather seasick. Martin discovered that if you eat breakfast in the hammock you don't have that problem : )

The very worst thing about Bruny is the fact that I came home covered in mosquito bites (and sand, but that washes off).

Anyways, I'd better get on with it or I'll get all off schedule for the nothing I've got to do today.

Emma