christmas shopping & a play

Thanks to so many for your get-well messages and encouragement. I really appreciate it.

Today was a great day. I finally seem to be kicking this chest infection in its wretched little butt and so I ventured out to do some Christmas shopping with Phi. I already have his (may I just say, totally kickass) present, so it doesn't matter if he's around to see what ends up in my shopping trolley. I'd tell you what I got him, but he occasionally reads this blog, so shhh...mum's the word. I'll tell you later. Anyone who knows and puts even a hint in the comments will be vaporised. *stern look*

We did some pottering in Autobarn and then headed for a new shopping centre that opened last month, with no idea that torrential rain was waiting. It was absolutely bucketing down, and I was watching so carefully for any kind of break in the rain (so we could run from the car to the shops) that I totally forgot that small, but rather important thing of turning off my headlights. Ack! Needless to say, we spent the half hour after shopping waiting for the roadside assitance guy to come give me a jumpstart. The rain was still crazy and we drove home slowly through streets awash with rainwater. I have to say though - I love the rain. In spite of the hassles it caused us, it also broke the heat and humidity and left us with a cool, pleasant night to sleep in. If I'd just a tad more visibility I would have enjoyed the drive home, splashing through the huge puddles that covered the road, sending water flying.

Speaking of water, one of today's buys was three huge water guns for Gangsta Girl, Drummer Boy and the Keyboard Kid. The weather's so hot at Christmas time that I'm sure they'll immediately be put to good use. My shopping's moving along. It isn't even December yet and I already have more than half of the presents I need to buy. I do need to post a couple of presents overseas this week, but apart from that I am way ahead of schedule. This has NEVER happened before! (To illustrate the point, for Christmas this year one of my friends is getting the present I never got around to posting last year!) Heck, the way I'm going, I may actually get Christmas cards sent this year. That's how weirdly organised I am! I'll make the most of it while it lasts.

Tonight I went to a performance at church that some people put on for the kids. It was a pantomine style production called, 'The Real Story of Thor'. It was actually pretty funny. Prince Charming was hilarious. He explained to Thor that unless someone sings a song about you, your exploits will be forgotten - which is why he has three minstrels following him about in case he has an adventure, so they can write a song about it. Sadly though he was a total coward and an inept fighter, so he stopped often during the adventure to tell a minstrel, "don't write about that." Thor fights trolls and makes his way through thick fog to the dwelling place of the immortals, facing their 3 challenges to receive immortality. There's a princess (Rapunzel, whose hair they put to good use getting down a cliff face) for good measure, who ends up in love with Thor because Charming is so useless. Good fun.