Relaxed...

Had a very nice family Christmas, sitting, chatting, eating nice food, not having any arguments (though did get thoroughly beat by a 7 year old in his new air hockey game)

Got a nice heap of books waiting to be read, and amazingly enough haven't read one yet. Yesterday was too busy chatting, then finishing off Hogfather which I seem to be making a tradition of reading every Christmastime. Then today I went up to Fe's traditional Boxing Day drop in, and had a very pleasant day there... Then it was home, make and eat dinner (after a little AC) and watch Carnivàle, which is proving interesting enough to keep watching at least for now... Then a little Robo Rally and proofing before bed.

Tomorrow I have to figure out what I am making for the pot luck dinner at MSM's double feature. Got some ideas so not stressing too much, especially as I suspect my local Dewson's will be open.

So much for swimming...

Apparently the pool in my complex needs some work on it (making sure it's all healthy to swim in) and when I went for my swim this morning the gate had again been chained shut. Not sure whether to go find a local rec centre which has a pool, use my parents, or find another form of exercise... I'm planning on walking to the shops and library when it gets a bit cooler, so that will help a little but it doesn't give my arms the workout swimming does, maybe I'll get some weights or something in the January sales, or *gasp* join a gym.

I'm not sure that the gym will give me the flexibility of time that I want though, plus there's the fees, the travelling to and fro...

Early Resolutions?

Never been one for new year resolutions myself, couldn't even keep up a diary (bit surprised I'm still blogging, however sporadically)... But with some time to spare while I'm on leave I'm attempting to keep a little fitter. So far I've managed to have a swim every morning for the past 4 days and I'm planning to keep it up at least until I go back to work, then it will depend on whether I can get up early on whether I keep doing morning swims, or possibly swap to evening ones.
Extending the amount a little every day so as not to overdo things at the start.

World police

After afternoon shopping, went with a group of the MnatM lot to see Team America: World Police. I must admit I went into it with a bit of trepidation, as I'm not really a South Park fan, and for the most part I had the same trouble with it as I do with south park, the crude sense of humour these guys have in general does not resonate with me. However there were some genuinely funny moments (eg. the entering the tavern scene and the montage song), so seeing it once was OK, but it's not on my list of movies to rewatch.

Through the maze.

Well, yesterday a group of us, (consisting of 3 adults who have recently each bought and moved into a house, a 7 year old, a (nearly) 4 year old and and 8 month old - said kidlets belonging to one of aforesaid adults - and me) made what is possibly turning into a traditional pre-Xmas trip to Ikea. This is the 2nd time. One more time and it will become entrenched.

It's a dangerous place, even if you are resistant to the furniture, there are lots of odds and ends that catch the eye as you wend your way around the maze of the store, designed of course so that you go past everything. Unless of course you are so much an Ikea addict as to know some of the secret shortcuts. I was lucky to get out spending under $50, but not all my companions were so restrained. (At that I'm still wondering if I should have grabbed one of the blue star lamps, it was so cute.)

Then most of us also continued round the corner to a little educational toy store, which providentally is moving and hence was having a 20% off all stock sale...

A little wandering around Kmart this afternoon has mostly finished off my Xmas shopping for kidlets (which is fairly significant this year, my normal social crowd is not quite 50% young children, but it's not off by that much.)

So I am in the enviable position of having finished the main part of my Christmas shopping and still have 9 days to go to decide whether to get more personalised presents for extended family (aunts, uncles, cousins etc.) or to fall back on confectionary. It's hard to know what to buy for people you see only a few times a year.

Tomorrow will probably be spent wrapping presents and writing cards and putting said presents, at least temporarily, under (well around) my little fiber optic christmas tree which I dragged out earlier today.