So. My last post told you I have a new Christmas present. It’s now ready for everybody to see!

I’ve decided you guys can help me unwrap it!!

If you click here you’ll find the present Kelly got for me.

See you shortly

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Kel came around and gave me my Christmas present today.

Yes, I know it’s not Christmas yet and I’ve got 2 presents already! Spoiled is the word you’re looking for!! I can admit it…

Now, remembering I got a laptop from Mark, and he has the desktop what do you think would be the one thing that would fit in perfectly with that?

My very own domain!! All mine…not debambam.net/wench but mine. She’s paid for the the hosting and the name for a year and exported most of the nook to it. Widgets still need to be tweaked, and some plug ins require a bit of fiddling and activating so it’s not ready to be unveiled yet, but that’s happening over the next week or so and we hope to have it up and running for use by Christmas day. Once that happens there will be a link for you to update your blogrolls.

This was merely to skite a little bit, and tell everybody exactly how lucky I am.

How lucky I am and that I know it.

I really am very blessed….

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I have a real love/hate thing that happens with Christmas.

I love being with family and friends, and the general good humor that seems to prevails
I love it because people are different at this time of year. Many are easier to get along with, some more benevolent, others are simply more fun
I love the brave souls who climb into Santa suits {particularly here in the tropics!}
I love finding just the “right” present for someone and the look on their face when they open it, regardless of how small it is {sheer delight for them and for me}
I love watching the wonder on the kids faces as they open the pressie Santa has left for them
I love helping the kids leave cake and milk for Santa, and carrots for the reindeer
I love a traditional Christmas meal regardless of how hot it it, because Christmas just isn’t Christmas without all the trimmings
I love the tree with all it’s decorations
I love Christmas carols. {Silent Night and Away in a Manger have a tendency to make me cry like a baby, but I love them all the same}
I love the lights people put in their yards and around their house
I love reminding people in very subtle ways exactly what Christmas is really about

That’s all the big girl side of me

Then there’s the little girl side of me

I miss my Mum, badly. I mean, I always miss her, but more at this time of year for some reason
I miss the big family gathering we always used to have. Our family is so scattered the chances of having one are very slim
It saddens me that people feel they need to keep up with the Joneses
I hate the way retailers see it as a way to make money and hike their prices up
I detest the endless advertising
I loathe it when people spend money it takes them all year to pay back, only to do it all over again {the thinking eludes me}
I hate the way people think it’s only about the presents and drinking and forget about family and the things that are far more important than any present money could ever buy and forget why we have the celebration to start with

It’s a season of contradiction the way I see it….

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Do you think he’s pleased Christmas is only 2 weeks away?

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A magistrate in Cairns {approx 4hrs north of Townsville} has not recorded a conviction against 6 of 9 males who raped a 10 year old girl, whilst the other 3 were given suspended sentences.
None were given custodial sentences!
Not surprisingly the AG is going to appeal the decision, and on this evenings news it was reported all decisions handed down by this magistrate for the last 10 years will be reviewed.
There are 3 elements here which have me quite stunned.

1. That this magistrate still has a job {noone has called for a sacking!!}

2. The reasoning for the decision was “She probably agreed to have sex with them”

3. This was a female magistrate {well, apparently anyway}

I have just a couple of questions if noone minds?

Why the fuck is this woman still even a registered solicitor {a prerequisite to being a magistrate} LET ALONE a magistrate?
Does the “woman” not have a single compassionate bone in her body for a 10 year old child who has been violated in this way?
How the fuck does a 10 year old agree to have sex with anyone, let alone 9 of them?

Victims rights group are sure, quite justifiably, to get on this train, as will children’s and church groups. I’m forever screaming about these types of events, as are many, many Australians, special interest groups, community leaders, church leaders and indeed every half intelligent individual in the country.

Yet still it continues to happen. Again, and again, and again sentences that are nowhere near sufficient are being handed down from the bench.

What the hell is happening to this world we live in?

People wonder why there are those like myself who consistently call for corporal and/or capital punishment.

If we can’t rely on those who have the power to punish, who the fuck can we rely on?

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If Santa took the year off and people remembered what Christmas was really about?
(I know I made much of my lap top, but keep in mind we only buy each other presents once a year, and not always is it at Christmas time. We tend to just enjoy whatever the occasion is as opposed to anything else.)
Can you imagine the outcry from not only the spoiled little rich kids, but the manufacturers, retailers and those determined to part us from our hard earned dollars?
I don’t know of any other birthday celebration where everybody except the person concerned gets a present!
I have to say if all and sundry got a present on my birthday, except me, I’d be pretty peeved…..

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So. Who’s the luckiest girl in the world I ask you??

That would be me!! Without a doubt.

I’m running a little quiz on what I got for Christmas. I was lucky enough to be able to not only pick it out, but get it tonight!!!

I’m SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO excited!! I’ll be playing all weekend!!!

Care to take a guess???

A couple of hints:

1. It fits into a carry bag

2. It sits on my lap

3. It’s grey and black

4. I’m using it RIGHT NOW!!

I have THE most generous husband in the world! Me! Moi! Yours truly!! How lucky am I huh???? If he doesn’t buy me another present for the next decade I won’t give a damn!!! Cos he bought me THE one thing I wanted most in the whole wide world!!

C’mon!! Guess! I dare you…

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♠ If you yelled for 8 years, 7 months and 6 days, you would have produced enough sound energy to heat one cup of coffee.
♠ If you fart consistently for 6 years and 9 months, enough gas is produced to create the energy of an atomic bomb.
♠ The human heart creates enough pressure when it pumps out to the body to squirt blood 30 feet.
♠ A pig’s orgasm lasts for 30 minutes {lucky damned pig…and gives a whole new meaning to the expression happy as a pig in shit!!}
♠ Banging your head against a wall uses 150 calories an hour. {so head bangers aren’t just tossers then? they’re on a weight loss program!}
♠ Humans and dolphins are the only species that have sex for pleasure. {you would have hoped for the pigs sake this was the case for them too!!}
♠ On average people fear spiders more than they do death. {I’m one of them }
♠ The strongest muscle in the body is the tongue. {Hmmmmm…..}
♠ You can’t kill yourself by holding your breath. {So the next time little Johhny throws a tantrum, let him!}
♠ Americans on the average eat 18 acres of pizza every day.{With Ozzies stubbies would fill those 18 acres}
♠ You are more likely to be killed by a champagne cork than by a poisonous spider.
♠ Right-handed people live, on average, nine years longer than left-handed people do.
♠ In ancient Egypt, Priests plucked every hair from their bodies, including their eyebrows and eyelashes.
♠ A crocodile cannot stick its tongue out. {it’s not it’s tongue that concerns me!!}
♠ The ant can lift 50 times its own weight, can pull 30 times its own weight and always falls over on its right side when intoxicated. {drinking little bottles of…? I’ll bet the government paid for this research!}
♠ Polar bears are left handed.
♠ The catfish has over 27,000 taste buds, that makes the catfish rank #1 for animal having the most taste buds.
♠ The flea can jump 350 times its body length, It’s like a human jumping the length of a football field.
♠ A cockroach will live nine days without it’s head, before it starves to death. (Creepy!)
♠ The male praying mantis cannot copulate while its head is attached to its body The female initiates sex by ripping the males head off. {I always wondered why they did that!!}
♠ Some lions mate over 50 times a day. {hmm…do I want to be a pig or a lion in my next life??}
♠ Butterflies taste with their feet. {and you thought they were just friendly didn’t you??}
♠ Elephants are the only animals that can’t jump.
♠ A cat’s urine glows under a black light
♠ An ostrich’s eye is bigger than it’s brain.
♠ Starfish don’t have brains. {and I know many people with this same deficiency!}

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Do you remember when you were a kid and your Mum and Dad lined you up against a door frame to measure how tall you were at that point?
Well, this cartoon gives a whole new perspective to that little excercise…

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Tis almost Christmas. Again.

{I’m not too sure where the year went. Mind you, me being clueless on the matter made not one whit of difference to it’s passing! Time is like that. No respect for anyone or anything. It continually marches on, regardless of our dismay in relation to it’s speed} But I digress. My apologies.

As you would be aware, I love Christmas and the associated time with family, watching the kiddies open their presents from Santa and the general good mood that prevails when we get together. It makes us appreciate the things that matter, all the small crap is forgotten and we just enjoy each other and the season.

One of my biggest bug bears about Christmas is the commercialisation it attracts. The whole biggest, most expensive present thing gets right up my Christmas nose. It’s like a damned disease!

Last year was wonderful. Kelly and Zoe were home to live for a while and the delight of having one of the kids in the house Christmas morning just added to our enjoyment of the day overall. This year it will be just us in the morning but we’ll spend most of the day with 2 of the girls and 3 of the kiddies. This will be sufficient, as much as would like to have the others with us as well. We can’t have everything now can we?

So. This year we’re not getting carried away with pressies. Not that we ever really do. I’m a great believer in the thought being the most important thing. There have been times when we’ve lost the plot and gone mad, but these have been few and far between.

This year will be about what Christmas really means. Family, spending quality time together and, for me anyway, reflection. It’s been a big year one way and another. Kel and Zoe are off to Sydney just after New year too, so I want to make the most of the time we still have them here in Townsville.

Anyhow, I’ve been trawling the net this weekend just gone and found a wonderful quote that will reside here at the nook until after Christmas. Given my thoughts on the commercial crap that accompanies every major celebration, I thought this was particularly relevant.

Helen Keller was a remarkable, inspirational person, and this quote is what could be termed typical for her.

This will be my mantra for, at the very least, Christmas this year, and resides in the side bar under “my reality check”

“The best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or even touched - they must be felt with the heart.” - Helen Keller

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