Dec 6 - Show A Tradie Some Love

Dark Mint Lindor Ball

"He who has not Christmas in his heart
will never find it under a tree."
- Roy L Smith

  I got to work early today.  My offsider had a late night task last night couriering a rellie from the airport so I said I'd do the early shift and open up.  For Christmas the shopping centre is asking staff to park in the furthest car park so that our customers can have the closest ones.  It's a good idea and though it is a longish walk, 33 stairs and then maybe 500 metres, it does give you just a few minutes to relax and breath after the drive before sitting down.  I'm finding it quite relaxing.
  After the first half hour of the day the receptionist arrives and takes over the desk.  This morning she was very very excited indeed.  She has been selected as one of 8 finalists in the Australian Open 'Live Like A Player' competition.  In order to be the major prize winner she needs votes!  So please go to livelikeaplayer.com.au and vote for Kym Clark the Tennis Angel!  She is currently coming second so vote from home and vote from work too!  She is tennis mad folks and it would mean the world to her to win it.
  It was a busy day today, trying to finish off invoice type things and get started on my billing.  It all has to be finished by tomorrow night, sigh.  It's so ridiculous this month.  These are the stupidest set of deadlines we've had yet.  However even with all my paperwork, it was nothing compared to the gargantuan task undertaken by my offsider.

  Today was the day of our inaugural contractor barbecue.  A couple of hours on a sunny afternoon to say 'thanks' to the people who come into the centre and fix things and make things better.  This included our security and cleaning staff, our plumbers, our painters, our electricians, and other such key players in the day to day running of the centre.

  As a result of this momentous occasion she was running around buying meat from the butcher, salad from the greengrocer, cakes from the bakery, general odds and sods from the supermarket and the all important beer from the liquor store.  Like any woman organising a barbecue she was working off a million things and trying to make sure everything was perfect just so a man could stand with tongs in hand and get all the credit!

  The contractor barbecue was wonderful and when the time came my offsider did get thanked as well she should have, for putting on such a great spread.  Others got thanked too, our much loved Duty Manager wielded the tongs along with our lovely Marketing Manager and lots of staff mingled and fetched drinks and encouraged conversation!  There was plenty of food leftover so it looks like we'll be having a barbecue lunch tomorrow too.

  A lot of contractors gave really positive feedback on it, saying it was great to meet some of the faces they often saw but rarely dealt with and to meet each other as they often cross paths with the work they do but don't often get a chance to chat.  Some of the contractors also used it as a convenient time to distribute Christmas gifts to their valued clients and I was very stoked indeed to end up with a bottle of Moet & Chandon!  It's not often that companies remember the chick that pays the bills but it's very much appreciated when they do.

  I had one funny if a little embarrassing moment at the barbecue.  It was nearing its end and I was standing talking with Ops Man J and one of my favourite contractors about an organics recycling project he's trying to get off the ground when an insect flew at me.  I awkwardly flicked my hands at it and the contractor laughed and said he thought I'd got it.  But that wasn't the embarrassing bit... The embarrassing bit happened just a minute or so later when I started to feel an itching sensation in my bra.  An itching sensation that escalated into a being bitten sensation.  I yelped and hurriedly excused myself, trying to keep it together until I was in a quiet spot.  Sure enough there was a beetle in my bra!  I flicked it out, took a deep breath, and rejoined the party.

  When all the guests had gone I helped the Duty Manager clean up and lay away things in the fridge, so by the time I left work it was about 6:30pm.  Rather a longish day for me.  I didn't really do anything once I got home.  I took the neighbour a six-pack for collecting my mail while I was away, even though there wasn't any.  I called Chook and had a catch-up.  I called Gub and had catch-up with her too.  It is less than two weeks until Gub is home for Christmas!!  I'm very excited about that.

  Today's food was:

• Breakfast was two slices of Tip Top Cafe Extra Thick Raisin Toast spread on both sides with Meadow Lea margarine then cooked till crispy in the sandwich press.
• Morning Snack was a 125g punnet of raspberries.
  
• Lunch was a Mountain Bread Chia Seed Wrap topped with 40g of Philadelphia Cream Cheese, alfalfa sprouts, 75g of Inghams Roasted Turkey Breast and Lebanese cucumber.  I also had a white-flesh nectarine.
• Dinner was two sausages each in a slice of bread with tomato sauce and cheese and coleslaw and two pieces of steak each in buttered bread with tomato sauce, two small squares of vanilla slice, one small square of brownie, one small square of fruit slice, one tiny piece of baklava and one tiny piece of rocky road.  Yum!
• Today's advent calendar Lindor Ball was mint flavoured dark chocolate.

  And now off to bed with me!  I have physio at 8am before I head off to work.  Should be a stiff and sore morning.  The back is still a bit iffy at the moment.  Not in agonising pain, but certainly not settled.  I thought losing weight was supposed to help it!  Though admittedly it going out this time probably had more to do with lugging around a 13kg suitcase for a week.  Ah well.. that's tomorrow.  Tonight I suspect a few more chapters of my book need reading!
  Jess