That week between Christmas and New Year when you don't know what day it is

Apparently, it's been a week since you last heard from me. (*Insert surprised/shocked emoji) I'm unsure how that happened. It's like I blinked, and Poof! my holiday is very quickly fading into history. No! Wait! I'm not ready!

I spent the last week "making", as is one of my interests.

One of my Kindy kids in Blackwater used to always ask, “Can I make?”.  Unbeknownst to him (I assume) he was using a seemingly incomplete sentence to perfectly explain his idea.  That verb is by far the most important word in that sentence.  For him, the process of doing was the actual goal, not the product at the end, so there was no need to state what he wanted to make, just that he wanted to make.  I have adopted that, because adding the word ‘things’ after it changes it to appear frivolous and unimportant.  Also, I don’t always know what I’m making until I'm finished.

Firstly, I made my Christmas Lego.  I knew what I was making here because of the beautiful instruction book.  Lego is one of the very few things that I actually follow instructions for.  I bought it for myself from myself.  Since he was about three I have been buying Lego for Cody, and building it was something that we did together, partly because he needed help and partly because I freakin’ love Lego.  It became apparent last year that our days of Lego team builds were over when he built Buckbeak from Harry Potter completely on his own and I sulked.  This year I didn't even try to help him with his Fawkes set because I have my own House at Pooh Corner!  If you knew me when I had my Ford Laser you might remember the Pooh stickers and figurines that lived in it.  What's not to love about a character who is kind and thoughtful, endearingly naive, and has absolutely no qualms about existing on a diet almost completely of sugar. If it was chocolate instead of honey I would have moved in years ago! Anyway, it took me four days to actually get it completed and it's a thing of beauty. Delayed satisfaction is sometimes a goal, but, in this case I may, or may not have been too busy eating to build. (Full of cheese and don't know what day it is could be an apt description of me.)  

I gave it some thought, and this tree has surpassed Newt Scamander's suitcase, the previous title holder of "Best Lego Ever", to now have that honour. (Lego does not endorse this. I made it up, and it's 100% my own unqualified opinion.  I will defend it though.  Not with a logical argument or anything, just because I say so.)  Here it is on top of another Christmas gift, the new toolbox in my ute.  (There's only one, maybe two actual tools in there.)

Another thing I made this week was a mess in the kitchen. One of the most challenging aspects of parenting for me has been preparing meals... Every. Single. Day. I used to enjoy cooking, but it's become such a chore that I haven't really enjoyed it for quite a while.  I think having people to cook for who like what I cook might have helped.  This week I made a few pavlovas, a couple of different rabbit dishes and found a good use for a double cream brie that was apparently a bit too strong for Dad.

I usually come home with the makings of several antipasto platters. Dad insists on mispronouncing antipasto, possibly to keep it in line with the formerly used "horse's doovas" (*Insert eye roll and sideways grin of quiet indulgence). I always get cheeses from the "Entertaining Cheese" section of the supermarket and chuckle to myself at the visual feast that label conjures...

A wedge of Camembert tap dancing on breadstick legs holding a pretzel cane with one gherkin arm and a cheese stuffed pepper hat in the other to Putting on the Ritz and landing on an actual Ritz cracker for the big finale.

Anyone else? No? It's probably just me. I'll keep my appetisers and floor show to myself.

Anyway, I put the aforementioned strong brie in puff pastry parcels with pear, bacon, mixed spice and a small smackeral of honey (see what I did there?).  If I had a red onion some finely diced pieces would have gone in too, but I didn't, so we went with this.   Flashest ham and cheese toastie I've ever made, but it got the seal of approval from my fussy eater.  Probably because there was nothing green in it, unless you count the skin formerly covering the pear...

I also made an introduction this week.  I put Stan on Mum's phone and connected it to the Chromecast plugged into the loungeroom tv.  She's binge watched Yellowstone to catch up to the rest of the World who is anxiously waiting to see what horror Taylor Sheridan will force us to endure after Monday night as we wait for Season 5 to air and provide answers to the "What will happen next" question. To my knowledge she hasn't fallen asleep in front of it (big ups to Mr Sheridan's engaging writing), but she's battled some WiFi Rage when the Internet decided to have some time off over the Christmas season and Kevin Costner chewed through most of her mobile data. I don't know where we go from here – it’s a pretty hard act to follow. Most likely just back to work.

Happy 2022 everyone!

It’s been quite a party, ain’t it?

Purple Fairy