[Mama_Knowles]

I glad to hear Imogen did well. : )

[meleliza]

oh, doesn’t it, Nicole? I am working and planning and saving very hard to make it happen. This is my favorite cousin and I want to be there.

Lattemama, we will be sampling some Swedish goodies tomorrow, I think. We’re going to the Swedish Historical Museum for the St Lucia procession! I think there will be a little market there too. I’m looking forward to it.

Ladies, tell me more about how Australians celebrate Christmas. I’m trying so hard to wrap my head around summer at Christmas.:)

[needlewoman]

Congrats to Imogen, and yes, Mel, I’m happy to contribute to your understanding about an Australian Christmas. It’s sad but true that we down under are more easily able to grasp the idea of a cold Xmas, than those in the northern hemisphere can comprehend a warm one. This has a great deal to do with the fact that Oz was settled (or occupied depending on your point of view) by the British (and the Irish, and the Scots), and our Xmas cards still have pics of snow etc on them. We tend to go in for a lot of denial here about the seasonal reality of ‘the season’. Will tell you more soon; it’s way too late here just now.

Way to go on cooking LM, and rounding your chickens up, N. Do they have an assignment to do on their trip? Did the younger girls miss them?

[Nicole]

Hugo has a write up to do on the trip as he volunteered to do that but that is all Fee. They had a blast.

The trip was taken with two other schools and our teachers discovered that our students are very well behaved…….

[Tamara]

It’s really nice to know that your kids are better behaved than others on a combined trip. The teachers must’ve felt good about that also.

Imogen was voted year six house captain for next year on Monday. They are having four house captains as the structure of intake into high school is transitioning to accommodate the national curriculum and to bring us in line with everyone else. So there will be both year sixes and sevens heading to high school this time next year.

We are all very excited she has finally been chosen to exercise her leadership skills.

Noah is going to get a certificate on Friday for excellence in learning. It means he got top of the class in a subject. I know it is definitely not maths! But my bet is it will be History.

[with love Heidi]

Congratulations to Imogen and Noah!

[with love Heidi]

This evening while helping my friend with her mending pile she handed me a dress, The Dress Was Very similar to the new Playtime Dress except it had set in sleeves. She mentioned her mother had made the dress for her. And now many years later we were sitting on the other side of the world fixing it so her youngest could wear it. I was thinking about the connections caused by sewing, the connection across time and space and to people not regularly with us. I suspect her mother had no idea where the dress would end up, so where will our creations go? And what connections will they make?

[Jane]

I hope y’all don’t mind me “tooting” my own horn here a bit. I haven’t been sewing as much as I’d like lately because I have picked up a new hobby, I’ve started running. Is anyone else here a runner? My reasons for starting are many fold but my reasons for continuing are the love of it. Since I ran my first steps in June, I’ve run four 5K’s and a 10K race. I just recently took the leap and signed up for my first half marathon. I’ll be running the Nike Women’s Half in April in Washington DC. I am SOOO excited. I’ll be running for Team in Training raising money for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. I have a blog and FB page about my training, etc. if anyone is interested.

http://pages.teamintraining.org/md/nikewhlf14/JaneSims#home

https://www.facebook.com/pages/See-Jane-Run-for-Team-in-Training/180997882098598

We are having a snow day here today. I had on my training plan to run but I might take the time to sew some Christmas things since big brother and hubby are home to entertain the little one.

Jane

[meleliza]

Actually I’m trying to figure out what do this winter when it’s too snowy and cold to get out. I hate treadmills and I don’t have time for the gym. I don’t train for marathons or anything, i just don’t have that kind of time, but I’ve always been a runner. I ran track and cross country in high school and while i wasn’t any kind of star, I enjoyed it. I go on and off these depending on pregnancy or other stuff. Some winters, I give it up until the spring and some winters I just push through, however cold it gets. But now I have to get out in the morning and be back before the boys need to leave for school at 7:45. In the dark and cold, that can be tough! this year lready looks like a snowy one. I don’t really want to stop altogether, but I also don’t want to be out when it gets below freezing. So I don’t know, maybe a good video instead?

[Jane]

Meleliza,

I had to get a treadmill. Once the days started getting shorter, I was running out of daylight to run and don’t fancy running in the dark. I don’t mind it. I have it set up in the basement facing the television so I can watch whatever while I am running. Right now, my favorite training program is Duck Dynasty. 😉 It makes the time go a little faster. I have also taken up yoga to ease the winter training a bit. I’m enjoying that too, although the day after a class isn’t always pleasant. 😉

Jane

[meleliza]

I do the treadmill at my parents when were there in the summer. It’s really hot and hilly in Georgia and not nice to be outside. My basement doesn’t have enough headroom for a treadmill. And as big as our house is, I don’t really have room for it. I’d hate to have it in my bedroom, which is taken over with sewing anyway, and it would be just weird in the living room or dining room or anywhere else, you know? I think I would suffer through it for the winter if I could fit one somewhere. Maybe it we get the basement cleaned out and I could fit the sewing down there I could get a treadmill in the bedroom for just few months.

What exactly is the deal with duck dynasty? I really really do not get it. But I don’t like reality tv at all.

[Jane]

Duck Dynasty…I wish I could tell you what the appeal is, but I haven’t a clue. I watch it when I’m on the treadmill because it doesn’t require thinking. I tried watching Downton Abbey while running but had a hard time keeping up with the story because apparently I can’t think and run at the same time. 🙂

Jane

[Tamara]

Jane that is too funny! We women are meant to be able to multi task.

[Sarvi]

I wish I had a treadmill. I really have no excuse, I just prefer other things to exercising and haven’t yet found anything I can sustain for longer than a year before I lose interest. I think my best hope is to just keep starting again and again until I get so sick of the effort of re-starting that I stick with something just to avoid the nuisance of starting afresh.

[meleliza]

It’s not always fun, for sure. And I do not count exercise as me time. I just put it on the list of stuff that has to get done, like laundry or the dusting.