Ready for Christmas, baby bird, cheezles

1. Presents are wrapped. Gingerbread reindeer are iced. Ready for Christmas.

2. While walking after dinner, I came across a baby bird hopping across the grass. All the other birds grew up months ago -- a late hatching? Its parents swooped around me; not attacking, just trying to distract me. One perched nearby and called loudly. I thought she was speaking to me, but then I realised the baby had frozen and was sitting motionless. I think mummy was telling it to be very quiet and still. I walked on.

3. Cheezles with cream cheese down the middle.

Clean hair, cool and cloudy, nest

1. One of the nicest tactile sensations in the world: long clean hair, just washed, almost dry but slightly damp giving it extra weight and softness.

2. Walking on a cool (but not cold) cloudy morning.

3. Finding a nest in a bush in my neighbour's front yard. It is just above eye-level, and I can see two little heads. One is cheeping constantly (which is how I found them), the other looks contented -- just fed, perhaps.

Rest, lemon, book

1. I am so into the exercise groove that it feels weird today to have a day off. But my tired body is thanking me.

2. Cold water with a slice of real lemon instead of sugary cordial.

3. Another book in the mail -- number 3 of a series I am enjoying.

Sun, sweat, cupcake

1. Lying on a picnic blanket on long grass with the warm end-of-winter sun on the back of my neck. The bells are chiming above me from the Carillon recital, my husband lies next to me with his jumper shading his eyes -- he doesn't need it to keep him warm -- and the kids are throwing pebbles into the lake.

2. I look at the clock, panting and dripping sweat, and am horrified to find that I am only half way through my group exercise class. But I make it through the second half.

3. A lemon cupcake.

Birds, sunshine, skating

1. A walk in the beautiful late-winter sunshine, beside a lake.

2. Black swans, ducks, marsh hens, a pretty grey wading bird I didn't recognise, red lorakeets, bright green parrots with slightly duller mates, magpies, a glossy crow, what I call a peewit, and a cheeky willy wag-tail.

3. A man zoomed past on in-line skates. He wasn't moving his legs, he was using ski poles to push himself along at quite a pace. Keeping fit for skiing, perhaps?

Story, music, exercise

1. In The Wise Man's Fear by Patrick Rothfuss, Kvothe tells a story around a campfire. Condensed: A boy is born with a gold screw in his belly button. No one knows what it is for -- not his parents or grandparents or the wise folk of the town or anyone he meets in his travels. Eventually he meets with the most powerful king in the world and asks him about the gold screw in his belly button. The king opens a gold box on a gold platter and behold, there is a gold screwdriver. He takes it out and turns the gold screw in the boy's belly button. Once, twice, three times. And the boy's ass falls off.

2. Mopping the floor while my old vinyl Alison Durban record plays "Thank God I'm a Country Girl." Well I got me a fine life, I got my old fiddle; when the sun's coming up I've got cakes on the griddle. Life ain't nothing but a funny riddle ... Thank God I'm a country girl!

3. I worked-out really hard at the gym both days of the weekend and could barely stand afterwards, I am very grateful for the day off exercise today.

Whoop whoop, fruit salad, alone

1. I dismiss the group of people standing outside the doors as smokers having a break and stride into the shopping centre. As I step through the sliding doors, a loud WHOOP WHOOP alarm sends me scuttling back outside. Someone comments that it is a practice emergency evacuation, the second in two weeks, but when I go around to my car there is a fire engine standing outside the other doors. I am glad that I wasn't caught by the evactuation half-way through shopping, wasting my morning. This way, I can just shop when I pick Aiden up from childcare instead.

2. Orange and kiwi fruit salad for breakfast.

3. The first day of term three. I can finally get stuck into my urgent work with no interruptions.

Warm toes, folding, peacock

1. Getting home after being out in near-freezing sleet for over an hour, pulling on an extra pair of socks, and finally feeling my toes starting to thaw.

2. Getting three baskets of laundry folded and put away.

3. Clearing a little display shelf in the kitchen for my beautiful peacock teacup - for when it is not in use.

Curl, weekend, holidays over

1. My freshly-washed hair has a lovely wave in it.

2. It's the weekend! Time with my husband.

3. School holidays are over at last. I've run out of ways to entertain the kids while at the same time trying to get some work done.

Muffins, gym, extension

1. Baking banana raspberry choc-chip muffins with the kids.

2. Going to the gym and keeping my heart-rate up.

3. Another client just gave me an unasked-for extension. The juggling just got a little easier.

Heart rate, weight, soup

1. I remembered to take my heart-rate monitor to the gym for the first time. Exciting new toy, and it made me push myself a bit harder.

2. I lost a little bit of weight since I last weighed myself 2 days ago. Probably just a fluctuation, but still very nice to see.

3. Spicy Thai soup with noodles for lunch.

Popcorn, Clash of Kings, lemony

1. I see the movie Kung Fu Panda 2 with my daughter, and when she gets up her seat is covered in spilled popcorn.

2. Being enthralled by A Clash of Kings and knowing there are lots more books in the series to buy and enjoy.

3. Lemony garlicy chicken and rice for dinner.

Beanie, tidy, teacup

1. I buy Aiden a new beanie and he wears it as we walk to pick up his big sister from school. He has never even seen a Ben 10 episode but he loves the character anyway - his beanie is green, grey and black with a spiky wool tuft on top and a picture of Ben 10. The flaps keep his cheeks warm, but his nose is rosy pink.

2. A friend brings her kids over after school for a playdate and I rush around first tidying up. I enjoy both the visit and having a clean kitchen.

3. My beautiful new peacock teacup - bought in China - gets its second public airing. I have been using it nearly every day, but it is great to show it off.

Better, plan, fog

1. I've had a nasty achy flu, but I am feeling a lot better today.

2. The stressful planning for out trip to China seems to be done: passports, visas, plane tickets. As long as I don't think about the plane part (scared of heights/flying), I am starting to get excited.

3. Second day of winter, and this morning Canberra was shrouded in a cold but beautiful bank of fog.

Warm, crumpets, clean clothes

1. Tim gets up and turns up the heat so the house will be warm by the time the kids and I get out of bed.

2. Crumpets with honey for breakfast.

3. Day two of having a new clothes dryer after months without and I have caught up with the dirty laundry.

Diet, Hand-in-hand, Reminder

1. Starting a new diet today - feeling mentally ready. Just eating healthily, nothing complicated. Tracking calories. Easy so far. 2. An elderly lady steps off the path with a smile to let me and my two children walk by hand-in-hand without letting go of each other. 3. Jasmine writes a note to the Easter bunny, to make sure he knows she can only have white chocolate.

Baskets, work, pasta

1. Last day of term one and a week until Easter: the kids both come home with little cardboard baskets they made at school/preschool, full of little chocolate eggs. Which they promptly eat. 2. Worked hard today and feel I got quite a bit done. 3. Home-made elegant lunch of tagiatelle ribbons with bacon, mushrooms and garlicy cream.

Bed, wedding, lemon

1. Back to my own bed. I think I post this one quite often, I guess I hate hotel beds! But tonight I get to snuggle down in my very own comfy bed. 2. My cousin's wedding yesterday was lovely. I got to catch up with a lot of relatives who I usually only see every second year at Christmas. 3. The taste of cold water with just a hint of lemon cordial.

Erotic romance, lemon rice, hail

1. A new freelance job - editing an erotic romance novel. Much more fun than academic texts. 2. I make lemon rice and the kids have three helpings each. 3. Interesting weather: a cool morning, warm afternoon, sudden dark clouds, hail, back to clear.

Dream, jacket, kids

Bad news from an aquaintance of mine. Her daughter used to play with mine when they lived near us, so although I never knew her that well we shared the occasional cup of tea and chat. She is currently on chemo for breast cancer, which is bad enough, but yesterday one of her three sons died. I'm not sure of the cause; but he experienced toxic shock, lapsed into a coma, and died quickly. I mention this on my 3BT blog because I haven't written here for a while and things like these really remind you to apprieciate what you have.

1. I dreamed that I was married to Ellen DeGeneres but I had to break up with her because I'm not gay. Kind of funny. Do I compare myself to the lovely Portia De Rossi? Hmm, they both have 'De' in their names.

2. Chilly morning, light rain. I run back into the house to get Aiden's jacket that makes him look like the two-headed-dragon from that movie.

3. Two healthy, happy children.

Bark, chat, work

1. The satisfying CRUNCH of a thick piece of bark under my foot.

2. A friend comes over for tea and a chat, and her kids and my kids play together beautifully as usual.

3. Earned some freelancing money today.

Time, strawberry, trellis

1. My youngest child, Aiden, is starting preschool this week. He started at his new childcare centre last week, and in total I will now have FOUR days a week, 9-3, with no children at home. I say 9-3, but of course with travelling time it is a bit less than that, but anyway it is a wealth of time. I have my freelance work, of course, but nothing on hand today; so I have had time to do a little housework, a little gardening, a relaxed morning tea. Shopping, a cafe. Nothing exciting, but I was by myself with no one to look after and no time constraints. Yay!

2. Half a strawberry, warm from the plant. I avoid the half that some other creature has taken a bite of. So incredibly much better than bought strawberries. We haven't had a lot of strawberries in the plant's first year, especially when shared between four people, but they are already spreading vigorously ready for next year.

3. I put up a trellis in the second vegetable bed which is still almost empty, ready for the peas to climb up. The sun is too hot to put in the pea seedlings, they can sit in the shade until later. The first vegetable bed is a riotous tumult of corn, tomatoes, lettuce, chives & squash. A butternut pumpkin plant spreads its arms over all, winding between everything else. A single pumpkin, now bigger than my fist, swells over the side.

Knees, rest, fragrant

1. I walk up and down a steep hill for exercise and an elderly man passes me in the other direction, walking his dog. "Is up or down harder?" he asks. "Up," I pant. "I think down is harder, it's hard on the knees," he replies. I'm glad my knees are still young enough to cope with down.

2. I'm tired so Tim gets in the pool for Aiden's swimming lesson and I get to sit on the side and read.

3. Beef bourginon is in the slow cooker all day and the house smells yummy. Tim makes mashed potato to go with it, so I have nothing to do at dinnertime but relax.

Better, healthy, underwear

1. I had a cortisone injection in my shoulder yesterday which, as expected, made it a bit worse for a few hours - but now it is feeling quite a lot better which is wonderful.

2. Grocery shopping with the kids (last week of school holidays!) and I buy them morning tea but decide that I am not hungry, only thirsty, so I buy a juice instead - which of course I share. I am proud of myself for not buying junk food that I don't even really want. And the kids have a cheese roll and a sushi roll (each has one thing) so nothing too unhealthy there either.

3. I recently found some underwear that I really like, so today I bought two more sets of three and I can now throw out some of my old pairs.

Sleep, movie, chocolate

1. I've slept a bit better the past few nights. It's wonderful to not be so exhausted.

2. Saw the movie "Tangled" for the second time with the kids and this time we didn't miss the beginning. Fun movie.

3. Chocolate. Always chocolate.

Writing, view, strawberries

1. I actually wrote the first words of my novel today. I have been gradually thinking about plot and characters for a couple of years now, and i wrote a draft of the prologue a long time ago, but today I went to a cafe with a friend and we both sat and wrote. 866 words in an hour - the start of chapter one. I want to get the first draft written this year. It's very exciting to have some words on the page.

The view we had from the cafe was mostly mounds of dirt and wire fences, they were doing work on the park over the road, but beyond that was the lake; glistening blue-ly in the afternoon sun.

While waiting in my friend's front yard for him to be ready, I noticed some strawberries hiding in the bushes. They always say they have too many to eat, so I snaffled them. Ripe strawberries straight from the stem - fabulous.

Chat, clean-up, comfortable

1. I see a very pregnant friend (due 5 days ago) for the first time in a while, we have a nice chat and a cup of tea.

2. With 10 mins before friends come over, the kids and I do a lightning clean-up of the pig sty. It is amazing how much you can do in 10 mins, even if two of the group are only 6 and 4 years old. The house looks so much better tidied up.

3. The strapping the physio put on my shoulder yesterday is really helping: I slept a bit better last night and have been more comfortable all day.

Worms, childcare, koala sex

1. I dug all the leaves and dirt out of the gutter in front of the garage. It had needed doing for a long time - it was clogged up and breeding mosquitos. Most of it was at the stinky composting stage, but there were so many worms! The kids and I carefully transported them all to garden beds to turn the soil for us.

2. Orientation visit to Aiden's new childcare - he seemed to like it ok. Even though home is "funner".

3. Oprah's first hour in Australia saw her witnessing koalas mating. I've never even seen them awake!

Soil, plums, book

1. Planting out some new seedings. The soil is sun-bleached grey on top, but crumbly rich black underneath when I dig the holes.

2. Our neighbour's heavily-laden plum tree hangs over our back fence. I don't know these neigbours, but I am sure they won't mind if we eat the plums over our side. They are very small, but ripe; greeny-red skin but deep red inside. I have 2, Jasmine gorges herself on 13. Aiden has one bite and that is enough. I bring a bowlful inside for later.

3. A book I have been on a long waiting list for is at the library for me. My turn at last.

Home, email, nap

1. Home! We just spent a week at the beach then the weekend at my father's for a visit, but after a 6 hour drive home (plus stops) it was so good to be home. And I look forward to my own bed tonight.

2. Checking my emails and the blogs I follow.

3. An afternoon nap almost the moment we get home. Lovely.

Pasta, dinner, Fiddler

1. I watch my friend's husband making pasta - I chose fettuccini - it goes through the machine over and over, getting thinner each time.

2. Not having to cook tonight! The four kids have their dinner at a little table out in the courtyard while the grown-ups sit inside with wine and home-made pasta.

3. My husband is away for the night and I feel a bit lonely, but "Fiddler on the Roof" comes on TV to keep me company.

Reassurance, swim, TV

1. My student-physiotherapist puts his hand reassuringly on my back while his supervisor talks about the reality of my shoulder problems. I think he is going to be very good at his job.

2. My first swim of the summer; the afternoon has turned overcast but the water is not too cold at the local pool, it takes me about 20 mins to get neck deep but then I am fine.

3. We finally get a set-top box that lets us watch all the extra free channels, going up from 5 to about 12. I know I didn't really need any more TV, but it is fun to have some more choices. I watch an English home make-over show.