Post Christmas

This is one of my Christmas presents.  It came by a circuitous route from the McTavish clan.  Mummy McT obtained it kind of indirectly through the Book Depository.  They are similar mob to Amazon and I think MMcT would agree with me that they can be recommended.  This book came from the UK to Townsville in 9 days flat - no postage and handling cost, no hidden cost at all.  From a local book shop it was going to cost me about $72AU and I'd even paid the deposit which I later got refunded.  From the Book Depository it cost much less than half that.  It was even less than Amazon, so check them out if you are buying books.

I have been slowly working my way through it.  I don't think it will turn me into a much better photographer, but maybe a more efficient one with a few less stuff ups.  Already, I've learnt a few new things that I didn't know or wasn't sure about even though I've had my camera for more than a year.

Mr Sunshine and I were looking after the McTavish grandkids the other day and I took one or two photos.  (One of my cousin's daughters called me Mrs Kodak Moment a couple of years ago. I wonder why?)

Just as I was snapping this pic. Monkey gave that fleeting quirky little smile.  It lasted much less than a second, but the camera caught it by accident due to my lightening fast reflexes.

That is a remote control that Dragon is holding.  You can just see the tail of the car in the bottom RH corner.  Lion and Dragon love it now that they are old enough to understand the controls a little.  The car is slightly noisy, but not as noisy as the squeals of excitement from Dragon and Lion.  Believe it or not, that is Mr Sunshine actually sleeping on the recliner in the background.  I don't know how he did it.  The boys had a ball until the battery went flat, then we moved on to another game.

I played hide and seek with Lion and Dragon.  This was Dragon's first hiding place.  I'm not sure he has fully grasped the idea of hiding.

One last photo: Lion wanted his photo taken in a super-hero pose.  I'm always happy to have grandchildren stay still long enough for a photo in whatever pose they want so here he is.  Note the beads of perspiration on his forehead.  Super-heroes seem to be able to work up a sweat even inside with the air con on.

Procrastination pays off

Because of a serious attack of acute avoidance behaviour, you may remember from my previous post, the children's room was beautifully neat. Their play table was perfectly set with their bright plastic tea set, but the rest of the house was looking like a paper recycling plant. I hate tax.
The good news is that eventually I found ALL of the group certificates (do they call them that in the USA?), ALL of the receipts, virtually ALL of the information that was required to enable our accountant to complete tax returns for last year for Mr Sunshine and myself, and the last 3 years for Uncle R. I still have lots of paper to put away or put in the circular file, but it is basically sorted. Did I say I hate tax?
The other bonus was when Lion and Dragon came over while chaos still reigned. Dragon wandered aimlessly down the hall as they do. You never know what you might stumble across at Grannysaurus's - a few coins for your money box; some pretty jewelery (pirate treasure), left lying on a dresser; some chocolate carelessly left lying about in the refrigerator. He spotted the play table all set and ready to play and his face lit up and his eyes popped. So Mummy McTavish and Grannysaurus were immediately invited to a tea party. I say invited, but this invitation had no option to refuse. It might as well have been a royal summons. As you can see they happened to have real chips with them to add a little panache to our soirée. Did I say I hate tax?
Anyway the tax is done. The accountant is happy. In a few weeks we will each get some nice cheques in the mail to make it all worthwhile. I know tax is a necessary evil and my problem is not really about the money. It is about the inconvenience, the difficulty I have organising paperwork and the impossibility of understanding the forms without the assistance of an accountant (bless him! he earns every cent he gets and I wouldn't swap places with him for quids). I still hate tax.