Christmas is over, another year starts and Quinn is 5...

It's hard to believe that Quinn is 5 now! He has really grown up so much, and is so observant. He is especially amazing at being able to recognise things and realise how things are the same or different and how they fit together. He spots people in magazines from movies and can tell that someone in one movie is the same as someone in another movie, even with different hair colour... He is especially good at spotting Jackie Chan... and while that might sound easy because he is distinctly oriental looking - he can spot Jet Li too now.

He also knows Parkinson!? He saw him in the Sunday Times Magazine and said ' That's Parkinson' when I asked how he knew he sassily replied, 'I've seen the adverts on TV!'...

One funny anecdote, on Christmas Day he said to me ' Mom I know why Father Christmas comes down the chimney...', when asked why, he replied ' Because if he opened any of the doors the alarms would go off...' I though that was quite a good reason actually ;)

Shame, the poor guy didn't have a wonderfully exciting birthday, except for 2 families popping by during the day, the rest of the day was spent packing some of his toys (for the move), counting out his money box money, and taking it to the bank, going to the doctor - to get his sore ear checked out , and shopping at Pick'n Pay... He did get a nice cake though, and R85 from his money boxes, which he is going to spend on pool accessories after we have moved .

He got a big metal digger truck and a hulk figurine for his birthday , and another 2 bionicles. So he now has 1 big one and 2 smaller ones. .

Our Christmas was also pretty hectic, with us hosting & catering Christmas Day for the first time - whew hard work! I'm not sure I'll volunteer again soon. I was actually quite glad when it was all over.We also did a lot of visiting, having people staying over and going out for meals etc.


We went to a friend's place in Imhoff (near Kometjie) for new year. They made mussel soup, and crayfish and water melon salad for dinner , which together with champagne made quite a feast! Yum. We also stayed over, which was a good thing because we only went to bed at 4am! It's taken days to recover, but sadly work is back in full swing. I never had much leave just the days around each week-end since the 16th, so I had 3 4-day week-ends in a row, and had to work the middle of each week.

It's now just under 2 weeks to our big move, I have started packing and already have quite a lot done, so the task doesn't seem quite so monumental anymore - yay...

Thankfully I was kept on here at work. I nearly lost my job due to retrenchments... as a contractor I would have just been told to go (and not even have got a package!). It boiled down to my manager's decision. His job became redundant. So they offered him a PM job - basically my job. If he took it I would have been gone, but he opted for the package, so I am still here. So my contract has been renewed for another year *sigh of relief* . I only got the final news on 24 Dec, and my contract was due to expire on Dec 31st, so they kept me on my nerves for a good few weeks! . I also got a nominal increase, but it's hardly worth mentioning. I was so happy to be kept that I didn't even think of negotiating! There's no guarantee that there won't be more cuts down the line, so I am staying on my toes...

I also finally managed to get my tax return submitted just before Christmas. I did have an extension to the end of the year, but after being audited this year I was quite nervous of doing another return. But I think it's going to be ok.