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Thursday, November 25th
I suppose you don't need to hear how busy I've been, or how uninspired I've been feeling, or the feeling that it all starts to sounds the same day after day - you know that because I haven't been blogging for a while. A long while. The busyness hasn't changed much, nor the lack of inspiration, but I'll give it another go.

Christmas is in one month, exactly. That is just amazing to me. This year is just one blur of events that ran from one to the next.

I've been wanting to get some custom boots made for winter and kept putting it off thinking I've got plenty of time. I just realized yesterday morning that I don't!
The boot-making experience was interesting. He took about 15 different measurements of my feet and then traced them. Then we got to talking about design - I'd found two pairs on the web that I liked and got him to copy. But, I still had to choose the softness of leather, the color, the grain of leather, for both inside and out! Then onto selecting heels, soles, zippers, stitching and detailing. It'll take about a month for them to be made and I'm very excited. They weren't cheap, which is to be expected, but considering how difficult it is for me to find boots I was more than okay paying the 1,800RMB per pair. For custom made, butter soft, fit-me-perfectly, super comfortable, designed-by-me knee-high boots! And, technically I get a refund since they're from Santa!

Today I went to get tickets for Harry Potter. It opened here last weekend as well. But you can only buy tickets on the day you actually want to watch the movie - uuugh! So now I have to go back tomorrow morning and probably end up standing in a line. Double uuugh! At least it's right by the school so I don't have to go downtown.

I am almost finished my bookclub book. Probably one of the most frustrating and confusing books I've ever read. But, I was determined to finish it. The problem was I kept on having to read everything twice, at least, because it was either so boring I fell asleep, or so confusing I didn't know what the hell was happening. I'll be celebrating when I'm done with this one!

On Saturday night we're going to a Chili Cook-off. It was organized by one of the local pubs and benefits Hopeful Hearts. I'd better warn Rory to take some heartburn meds beforehand!

Friday, November 26, 2010
This morning I got the movie tickets and ran some other errands. Nothing exciting, except the wonderful weather! Still plodding through my book. I'd hoped to finish it yesterday but fell asleep reading it. I didn't even have to stand in a line at the ticket theater. And, we're the only people booked for that show! I had to check that she booked us in the right movie "Helly Powta" as she said is "velly good".

Yesterday afternoon I made Pumpkin Spice muffins, and I'd got some cream cheese frosting leftover from a Carrot Cake I'd made previously so I slathered some of that on top of them. Oh my gosh - they were good! I've put them in a Tupperware and stashed them away up high so I can't reach them! That's as close to Thanksgiving as we're going to get in this house this year!

This weekend we're putting up the Christmas tree. I have no hope whatsoever of it making it to Christmas. Toby has stripped every plant I owned. Even the pathetic little grapevine stalks the homeowner planted years ago - they're now twigs poking out the ground. My big spiky plant in a huge pot by the front door is no longer. It is also a big stump. Rory suggested we just stick a pole in the corner of the living room with a star on top because that's what we're going to end up with!

Saturday, November 27th
Last night we went to see Harry Potter. We were seven white faces in an ocean of Chinese. Firstly, when we got to our specific theater there was a sign for a Chinese movie outside it. Reluctantly, we went in and sat in our assigned seats, hoping and praying I'd booked the right movie! All the trailers were Chinese, which may seem obvious, but I thought that if it were an English movie showing that they might've put on at least one English trailer. Anyway, the movie started and it was Harry Potter and it was in English. Phew!
Before we went into the cinema complex Rory and I had been walking around the mall checking out all the new stores that were there or coming soon. We stopped to watch some workers fitting out an area. It was still bare bones and Rory was quite intrigues watching the workers as he's going through the very same issues with their new downtown building - dealing with safety, building codes, etc. we were commenting on how one guy was up a tall ladder, no hard-hat on, only sunglasses, welding and hammering away on the ceiling.
Half way through Harry Potter we hear this banging noise which was very annoying and it lasted through the rest of the movie. It was the guys we'd been watching hammering away on their ceiling of the second floor, which was directly below the movie theater. It was like we were in the middle of a construction zone! Very, very annoying. Even the Chinese, who tend to be quite calm, were getting annoyed. Well, nothing could be done about it so we persevered through the movie. Then at the vey last ten seconds of the movie, at the final scene, the lights go on! Uuuh? The cleaners are already standing waiting for us all to leave our seats and the movie hasn't even finished!

Sunday, November 28th
Maxine had a basketball tournament yesterday at their school and their team did so well. They won all their games - by huge margins - over 30 points in each game. I think they were all a bit surprised! They played really well together as a team though and it showed in the scores.

Sydney, Rory and I went to a Chili Cook-off last night that was organized by one of the local pubs, benefiting Hopeful Hearts. We had no idea what to expect and I'd never even met any of the people before. So, we were pleasantly surprised to find a few familiar faces - most of them from the international doctors clinic! The manager of the clinic was there with his Chinese girlfriend who was barely wearing anything! We wandered around chatting to all the different teams, and one of them was from Fort Worth - their chili was really good! Seriously! About an hour into the evening the TV crew arrived. CRAP! I did not know about this! There was no way on earth I would have gone had I known. They interviewed all the chili groups and then it was my turn! YIKES! I thought I done a pretty good job of ducking an diving around all the big chili pots, chefs and guests, but no, they still found me. One of the chefs kindly acted as my interpreter although I had a pretty good idea what the interviewer was asking, but had no way of answering! Of course Rory and Sydney thought this was absolutely priceless. Sydney was sat in the corner recording it all on my i-phone! Luckily I hadn't had any chili or it may not have stayed down! I told my doctor, who was also there, that she might end up having to resuscitate me!

We came home and put up the Christmas tree - at 10 O-clock at night! I talked Rory into it, telling him he wouldn't be able to see the lights in the daytime. I think he knew he was done for at the mention of Christmas tree! It looks okay. It's not exactly "our tree" - its one we got from someone leaving Singapore before we left and they'd already been given it by someone else. So we have a well-traveled, fake, third-hand Christmas tree. I have to admit I cried a lot putting up the tree. I know it sounds so stupid but I really miss my Christmas stuff. I love decorating for Christmas. I miss all my pretty glass ornaments, all the ones we'd made and collected over the years, my tree turner, the pretty tree-skirt. I just doesn't look like "our" tree. I made a wreath for the front door and only then realized I don't have a wreath hanger and you can't get them here. We have a metal door so we can't exactly drill a hole either.

Maxine didn't come to the chili cook-off...she and her friends threw a surprise farewell party for one of their friends that are leaving to go back to Australia in a few weeks. They ended up sleeping over and crawled home around noon today. She spent the rest of the day, and still is, doing homework.

Sydney went to a birthday party at noon today - bowling. So, Rory and I went out to get some Christmas decorations. Its hard going - most of it is really cheap crappy stuff - the shinier and glitterier the better! We managed to find some simple wreaths to put on our front gates. From there we went to the plant nursery to find something to put in our pots outside our front door. I was looking for a small pine tree or Christmas tree but there was nothing. Plenty of poinsettias and cyclamen for indoors though. I came home with three poinsettias for the living room. I hate poinsettias.

Thursday, December 2nd, 2010
Had a China day today. Got only one thing on my list done, after visiting numerous stores.
I was looking for some small glasses, suitable for eggnog, or smaller cocktail-type drinks. I went to the restaurant supply store and although they had them on their display shelves, they couldn't, or wouldn't, order them. It wasn't like I was only wanting six - I needed thirty! Then the tablecloth place wanted me to order sixty tablecloths, minimum, when I only wanted four! This is after I'd asked them about it the last time I was there. It wasn't a problem then. You can't get any tablecloths here - the ones they have in stores are usually gold and shiny with lots of flowers on them. Ick! I just wanted plain red tablecloths. Red. In China. You'd think that wouldn't be a problem. Then, I went to the flower shop to order flowers. I was looking for something simple - red and white, with some greenery. Well, they had thousands of pink and white stargazer lilies - that's all. They couldn't get anything else either by next Wednesday - huh? This is a flower shop? I asked them, if I gave them a picture could they order the flowers and copy it? No. Then they wouldn't do an arrangement of white flowers because those are for funerals. By this stage I was ready to tell her that a funeral may be taking place if she wasn't careful! I eventually ended up at "fake IKEA" where I got some glasses and serving spoons. So, after a full day of running around, no tablecloths, no flowers, no gravy boat. I think I might just enjoy a cocktail in my new glasses - make that thirty cocktails.

Sunday, December 5, 2010

Happy Birthday Rory! Where ever you are!

Rory left for Budapest this morning. Train to Shanghai and then flight to Frankfurt and then to Budapest. He'll be gone for a week, back next Saturday.

Last night was the Winter Ball. I think a lot of people just couldn't really get enthusiastic about it this year. Maybe it was because the organizers didn't have a clue what they were doing and left it till the last minute to start selling tickets. It didn't leave much time to have dresses made, plus a lot of the husbands ended up away on business since they hadn't announced the ball date till just a month or so beforehand. I got to wear my royal blue dress, and Rory looked very dashing in his tux! We had a fun time, thanks to the wonderful people on our HUGE table - a twelve seater! We almost had to climb up onto the table to reach the breadsticks! The food was okay. Probably not dishes I would have chosen for a large event with a fixed menu. Oysters to start - I think only two people at our table ate theirs. Then quail - same reaction. At this point we were planning a trip to the McDonalds across the road! Next was salmon which was good, and then fillet steak which was also good. Dessert was ice-cream and poached pears on top of polenta. It's sounded strange to begin with but the vanilla polenta was really good. Once again, the music was terrible - mostly Neil Diamond and ballroom dancing songs. It was nice to watch the people who can dance for a song or two but after that it got really old, fast! I think I recognized one maybe two songs the entire evening. Thank heavens the people at our table were lively and fun!

Monday, December 6th, 2010

I got a couple of batches of fudge made this morning and then spent pretty much the rest of the day at school. It was the first day of our weeklong sale of Hopeful Hearts things. We're trying to get rid of a lot of our stock - so it doesn't have to come back to my house!
We did pretty good - sold out of bag organizers, book thongs and wine bottle gift bags are selling fast, sold some aprons and cookbooks too. Made over 3,000rmb.

I made honey flavored fudge today. It's very honeyish! I like it, but in very small quantities which I suppose is a good thing!

This evening I peeled all the shallots, about 2 pounds of them, for a sauce to go with my beef tenderloin. My eyes were watering so much I couldn't see what I was doing. I've got to roast them tomorrow morning. Hopefully they won't stink out the house too much. At least I'm doing them a day in advance. After roasting they get pureed and then added to port and beef stock and boiled up into a yummy sauce. I'm doing this for my book club meeting on Wednesday.

Maxine and Sydney are doing exams this week. Sydney had French today. It went "so-so" apparently. Maxine had English and I got the same reaction from her.

No other news. Just a busy day working the sale.