i'm grateful for . . . 'reconnecting'

Greetings all,

This time of year is always special for we Army wives . . . we have just moved to a new city or stayed put for the year, either way, we start reuniting & reconnecting with dear old friends, neighbours & school mums after a few postings. 

 In the past week i have met up with one of my favourite mummies from Darwin, her husband has just deployed for Afghanistan; our fantastic old neighbours from Sydney emailed me from Brisbane, they have had twins; my husband's great mate from cadets has moved to Canberra, 27 years of friendship; my darling friend who used to help me cut fabric in the height of my business, rang from Darwin, she just bought a new home; & my darling 3rd girl ALWAYS makes best friends with girls who move interstate or overseas - she's just met up with her 1st grade best friend & when school resumes, her 2nd grade best friend is back from America.  We've also run into other old school friends at the pool.

 While i've been ignoring blogland (sorry, i love you, i'll be back over at your blogs as soon) i've met up with a gorgeous new bunch of bloggers too.  It's always fun to meet people you have had a bloggie relationship with, in the flesh.  My children gasp "oh, not another 'virtual friend' Mum".  Always welcoming when you bump into people in the street (not randomly, but outside the meeting place) & they look at me & the children . . . "you must be Posie".  Hell yeah, you guys are so much fun, in blogs & real life!!

I'll be realistic, not all Army wives are my kind of people.  There are plenty of rough & scary types + the ones who use their husband's rank as some kind of badge of superiority.  Imagine my delight at one particularly awful one dropping the C & F words at a Tupperware party with young children present, yep, she was the demonstrator . . . i am very glad to rid those warthogs from my life.  As i have somehow managed to never attend a single Sergeant's Mess Function (this is highly rare for a Warrant Officer's wife) i tend to make a couple of very good friends each posting & remain in contact with them.  Those ladies know me, i love & adore them, like old school friends, they are not light situational friends, but the real deal & i'm blessed with a dozen of them.  You ladies rock.  I do love not having to start from scratch with 'my story' & they get me, as they're living the same life!!  We've been through cyclones, deployments, childbirth & moves together. 
This week's new KidSpot i'm grateful for 'reconnecting' with some fabulous new/ old ladies in my life, who i have for a couple of borrowed years, i'm so lucky.  Love Posie

any excuse to buy little extra luxuries . . .

Greetings all,
I paced my Christmas shopping so evenly & well in advance this year, i feel quite entitled to indulge in a few little luxuries. 

Thank you for asking, my facial/ massage/ eye brow wax went wonderfully, i didn't want to leave!!  Thank Martha from JellyShane for some sober advice, my eyebrows do NOT look like Nike ticks, i'm so sorry you had to go through such an ordeal.  I even managed to wash my new hair do & dry into a cute style today, there is hope!!  & fear not Monet Paisley, my hair is streaky blonde, it just didn't look like it in the photo in my dark lounge + swimming over Summer, it will go even streakier!!  I just don't have time for colour maintenance.

Anyway, sticking to handmade style or handmade-craft-enabling themes in my indulgence . . . i've had a bit of fun.  Check out the Plushka festive bunting for the treadmill, precariously positioned/ pushed out of the way for the Christmas tree. 

Apparently it's quite westie/ redneck to have a treadmill in your living area, but i like to run & watch television, "would you rather me be fatter??"  No, thought not.  When we build our own home, of course, there will not be a treadmill in the lounge, but the Army just wouldn't provide us a house with a wing for the gym!!  Let's move on . . .

 tonight i picked up some Tupperware from a party last week, hopefully my slicing of vegetables for homemade cooking will improve immeasureably, like my spelling!!

 Too cute, had to buy 4 of these handmade Christmas trees for my 4 made-by-me children.

 Can anyone resist a stationery store??  I hit the 3 biggies at the Canberra Centre tonight while my girls were at parties in town, Typo - comedic thrills; Kikki-K - compulsory pieces; Smiggle - cheap cheer.

 More cards, ornaments, ribbon, twine, stamps, books . . . argh!!

 Ah, today my husband took me to Poacher's Pantry for lunch.  Our little 'last day of school celebration'.  We planned to buy a Christmas ham there, smoked on site, but they only had HUGE ones & we're not having Christmas day with our immediate 40 hungry-ham-loving family members, so we'll settle for a smaller leg from a farmer's market instead.  We did leave with some goodies from the pantry for our parents, like truffle chocolates, marinades, preserves & sauces + freckles, the extra expensive & sugary type which you can only eat slowly!!

Oh, had a great idea this afternoon - to arrive at school early with a disposable camera for our eldest daughter to take shots of her friends on the last day of primary school EVER.  Best. Mum. Ever.  She liked me for a whole half hour after that, then things went back to normal preteen-mummy tension.  I actually said to the teens-in-waiting . . . i hope you're taking notes & you don't bother to be so challenging.  They were on their way to a Friday night party anyway, they'd agree with anything i said!!  Happy weekends, love Posie
EDIT: my husband went back to Poacher's today & picked up a small ham, turkey & more Freckles!!  All is well for Christmas day at our place, table of 6!!