Just Christmas

So today is Christmas. Why do I have the time and inclination to put up a blog post on such a day? Well, this year it is the turn of the in-laws to have Christmas Day – our family will gather on Boxing Day to celebrate.

As a result, it is just me and my wonderful husband, and the nutso cat.

I made these cute decorations last year, based on a segment on Better Homes and Gardens, but I've since seen them everywhere on the web.

My wonderful husband is a traditionalist, and so is cooking a traditional Christmas lunch – turkey, roast vegetables, pudding and custard. Luckily, the weather has cooled down, so it’s fine to be having a hot meal in the middle of the day. If it had been yesterday, it would have been stifling – eating a hot lunch when the temperature is in the 30s and sticky and humid is not fun.

This year, we have bought all the makings for our lunch. Next year, I’m hoping that we will be able to supply at least some of it from our own garden. I’d love to try to grow potatoes, carrots, peas and beans. When we have our larger block in the country town, it will be possible, but it will depend on how good a gardener I turn out to be!

Our tree has been up for a couple of weeks, with the presents around. This morning we opened some of them – my best one was a milk frother! Now I can have frothy milk with my coffee – yippee! I love my plunger coffee each day, and to be able to have frothy milk in it is wonderful.

The nutso cat is less than impressed with Christmas.

Enjoy today!

Just Maybe

Oh, what will I write about? Maybe I’ll write about what I do. Maybe I’ll write about what I think. Maybe I’ll write about what I feel. Maybe I’ll write about what I want. Maybe I’ll write about what my plans are.

Today I’ll write a bit about me. An introduction if you like.

Here I am, in my fifties, and still trying to work out what the heck I’m doing. Sometimes I wish I’d been one of those people who had a plan. But then that wouldn’t have been me. And it means that I’ve been able to go with the flow when things happened, instead of being upset because things didn’t go “according to plan”.

I am where I am because I didn’t have a plan, and where I am is mostly pretty good.

We (my wonderful husband and I) are only a few months away from moving from the city (Sydney) back to the country. We are both originally from out of Sydney, and now that we are not tied down to working for a living, we can get out again. We are not going back to our original towns – I’m of the belief that you can never really go back, as it’s never the same, and usually doesn’t live up to expectations.

We can’t wait to get out of Sydney. There is no such thing as peak hour traffic anymore – it is dreadful all the time! And the people seem too often to be angry, or sad, or frightened, and always in a rush. We want to be in a place that we can enjoy, that other people enjoy, and that suits the pace of life we want.

Luckily, we are in the position to be able to retire quite early, when we still have the health and energy to do the many things we want to do. I say “luckily”, but really, we have worked for it, and suffered a bit too. Being made redundant does add money where it is not expected, but it is not a pleasant experience, and knocks around your sense of worth.

So, we are moving out of Sydney, but still close enough to come back to visit friends, and the family that live here. We will also be closer to my Mum, so I can more easily get to her if she needs (it’s a 5-6 hour drive at the moment). And we can have a real vegie patch! I have the idea that I would like some chooks, but the wonderful husband is not too keen. We’ll see.

Just Starting

The hardest part of doing something new, for me, is starting. Once I’ve started, I realise it isn’t so scary, and I can keep going. And that’s what I hope will happen with this blog.

For some time now, I’ve been reading other blogs, and enjoying that immensely. But I’ve also had a feeling that I want to have a voice in the world that isn’t just a response to someone else’s voice,  but my own. If people read this, or not, doesn’t really matter, as long as I am my own voice.

I’ll be making this up as I go along. I don’t know the “rules” of having a blog. It can’t be that hard, can it?

I don’t know really what I will post about. Will I just have a specific theme? Will I just write as a “stream of consciousness”? Will I just waffle on about nothing in particular?

Whatever this becomes, I want it to be just me – Just Joyful. Along the way, I’m hoping I’ll find out more about who that is. And if anyone else comes across my blog, they can find out too!