A Treasure Hunting We Did Go

We have caught the geocaching bug. Big time.

We had our first go at this fab pastime whilst we were on holiday at Longleat Forest Center Parcs at the end of November. Even though we ended up walking miles, and I mean miles, we absolutely loved it. So Father Christmas treated us to our very own GPS unit, the superb Garmin GPS 60.

It appeals to me in particular because I love all that treasure hunting sort of stuff. It includes the use of a gadget (always a plus), the buying of said gadget (and I am a gadget girl!) but also I'm not really one for just going out walking. I like to walk with a purpose. And geocaching gives me that purpose. It doesn't hurt that it's a hobby that all the family can participate in and gets the children out in the fresh air and excercising to boot.

We are now proud members of the global geocaching world. I've also logged on to the website, Geocaching.com, and I was surprised, nay shocked to say the least, to find that there are no fewer than 2340 cache sites within a 50 miles radius of our home! And that in fact there was one within a 5 minute walk from the house.

We went out on our first trip on Boxing Day, to see if we could find the cache that was within walking distance. This was a multi-cache site, meaning it involves two or more locations, the final
location being a physical container. There are many variations, but most
multi-caches have a hint to find the second cache, and the second cache has
hints to the third, and so on. An offset cache (where you go to a location and
get hints to the actual cache) is also considered a multi-cache. In this case we got to the first location and had to note down the 2 numbers on the nearest lampost. The top figure = T and the bottom figure = B. We then had to note down the number of dragons on
top of the roof of the local chinese restaurant, this figure = D. From this we were then given little mathematical problems to solve and could then work out the co-ordinates for the next cache. And so on. The children had a blast. We got to the last set of co-ordinates (called waypoints) but alas couldn't find the physical cache, even after rooting around in the undergrowth and were just on the point of giving up and walking away when Richard stepped in and became the hero of the hour. He found it!

We were very excited... and then very disappointed. The cache had been moved because of mugglers (non-geocachers who can potentially find/see the cache and take it!!!) and we were then given another waypoint to find the actual cache. This time we failed. It was getting late and getting dark so we decided to make our way home, have a lovely hot drink (a warm winters Pimms for me) and try again another day.

We haven't yet been back there but today we did go on another outing. We took my mum and step-dad too and think we've got them hooked! Today we were highly successful, if a little muddy. What I'm really loving about it is that we are getting out and seeing parts of our local area that we have never seen before. Today we were to be found alongside the Wiltshire and Berkshire canal - we never even knew this part of it was there! And we found the cache... yay! And not only that but we found 2 traceable items, a TravelBug and a GeoCoin. These are items that
people buy (at a very small cost) and that they put out in the world to travel, sometimes with some sort of set goal/agenda (to see the castles of England for example), and the owners can follow their progress. They work sort of like hitchhikers. You pick them up and carry them with you to some other cache. Each has its own unique tracking ID that gets entered online and can then be tracked. Cool. Also today in the cache the children each got to choose a small toy and the owners of the cache had left a Christmas card for the next people to find it (us!). We left a pc adventure game. Oh, and we saw some very sleepy ducks!

We have been bitten by the bug (a TravelBug perhaps?).

Wishing Everyone a Merry Christmas

To those of you I didn't get around to sending a card to (and there are a few on the list that for one reason or another, blame the computer crashing, that I don't have addresses for and due to the lateness of doing cards, no time to get addresses) please know that you are not forgotten, I am still thinking of you.

To those of you I did send a card to but you haven't received it yet, well, hold on, it will arrive, it will just be late. Which for those of you who truly know me, this won't come as such a huge surprise.

MERRY CHRISTMAS ONE AND ALL. And remember, forget all the hype, forget all the commercialism (hard, I know) and just enjoy the opportunity to spend time with your family and perhaps amongst that time spend a little time thinking about the real meaning of Christmas?

Santa's Little Helper

This is a little boy who is just a 'little' excited at the prospect of Father Christmas coming in just 5 sleeps!  Last year he was only 3 and while he got caught up in the excitement of his sisters he just didn't really understand. This year he gets it.
He still has no idea of what he'd like to get from the man in red, which on the one hand is a great thing. He's obviously not got caught up in the whole consumerism side of things, nor is he greedy, wanting this and that. Katarina has sat down with him and made a Christmas list but I think more of the input has come from her. Katarina: "Noah, do you want this for Christmas?" Noah: "Yes" Katarina: "What about this?" Noah: "Yes, OK". On the other hand it doesn't help Father Christmas (or Mother Christmas) on the ideas front either. Oh well, I'm sure he'll be more than content with whatever he gets.

Christmas Has Finally Arrived

In our home. Late, I know, but better late than never (this should be my motto).

I'm struggling with the inevitable battle that most 'working from home' people go through, at least in the beginning, of getting the home/work life balance right. It's too easy when your email 'pings' to, kindly, let you know that you have mail not to just want to take a quick look. I mean it could be urgent. Couldn't it? The answer is almost invariably that it's NOT urgent, but hey, one day it could be! Add to that the fact that the phone can and does ring at any time of the day or week and you can probably well understand that I, at times, feel I am living and breathing work 24/7. It's easy to forget that I am only working 15 hours a week.

It is further complicated because Noah is still only at school for half days so I am having to get everything done in the few hours of each morning when he is at school (I can forget even attempting to get any of my tasks done during the afternoon hours when he is at home, suffice it to say he is a little trying in the afternoons!). And by everything, I do mean everything. Cleaning, laundry, tidying, food shopping, work, Christmas shopping... the list goes on... and no time for 'me time' anywhere amongst it.

The upshot of this is that whilst I have done the Christmas 'Thank You' cards for our church I haven't managed to write a single one of my own. In effort to get them out in the post before Christmas I am trying to cut a few corners by completing address labels on the computer (this way I'll have them all ready for next year too) and I'm leaving out the whole 'To' stuff and just signing them from us. Phew! I may just about manage it.

I've also had our Christmas tree (keeping cold outside) for over a week now but, after a couple of false starts, I finally finished decorating it yesterday. This isn't as late as you think as we traditionally put our tree up the weekend before Christmas, so just a couple of days late.

I love a nice Christmas tree. It has to be real. I have to decorate it as it has to look 'just right', LOL. Poor children, although they do get to put a decoration on themselves at the end, a sort of crowning glory. Aren't I kind?

Now it feels like Christmas. We have our tree (and beautiful it is smelling too), we have all our special German decorations, like our Weihnachts Karussel (Christmas Carousel) but all those of you who know me will notice one glaring omission, especially on the tree.

There are no candles! I can't find them. I know I bought a load whilst we were in Canada. I know exactly where they were stored (in the drawer of the dining room side unit) but can I find them? I managed to find some small candles on line yesterday, ordered them and am hoping they turn up in time for Christmas Eve, which is traditionally when we light them for the first time. I know. Real candles on a tree=danger. But we've had real candles on
our trees for years and as long as you are sensible it really is OK. Honest. And it looks FAB to boot!

If I don't get to post again before Christmas, which with my current track record isn't looking good, then a MERRY CHRISTMAS AND A HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ONE AND ALL.

Journal Your Christmas

"Manifesto: Noun. A declaration of one's intentions.

Starting December
first, I will keep a Christmas journal. In it, I will write something every

day to reflect on the holidays of my past, enjoy the holidays of the present
and dream
about the holidays of my future. To some, this will be a stack of
papers and trivial
scribbles, but not to me. I am taking back my Christmas,
I am letting it be something I
relish and, most importantly, I am giving at
least fifteen minutes every day to myself no
matter how crazy this season
becomes. I hope you will share, encourage and understand
as I make something
with my own hands, my own words and my own memories.

I may post some or
all of my entries here. Other artists are doing this with me, and you
can
see there work here. Or
you may join
us.

Above all: enjoy the season. I will."

Now, I was supposed to post this on the first December obviously so you can imagine how well I'm managing to keep up with the whole 'giving at
least fifteen minutes every day to myself' side of things. The fact that it is now the 8th December and I am only now just posting the manifesto stating that I'm doing this will give you some small indication of what I've done so far. Yup, nothing. I hang my head in shame. I have got a book to journal in to and I have written up some notes from the daily prompts but have done nothing else. I am therefore taking it with me to do tonight at the PaperArts crop in the hope that I might be able to do something towards catching up.

Apart from that I've been very busy. Not much scrapping getting done but I have got a class in the pipeline to prepare for and a couple of CJs to complete, oh, and I have started on writing out my Christmas cards so who knows? I may actually get to send some this year (a whole other story for another day).

Anyway, that's all for me at the present as I have to go now and buy some presents!