Hillary Clinton and My Christmas Shopping List

For some reason today I have been worried about Hillary Clinton's hair.  This is a bizarre obsession that was triggered by me watching her on the TV whilst she was out walking with Julia Gillard (and several helicopters, police, what looked liked the entire SAS and quite a few Alsation dogs).  Julia's hair looked fine but Hillary's looked like she hadn't brushed it for a week.  I then saw her on the ABC, being interviewed by lots of university students, and it looked considerably better.  What happened?  How did one of the most powerful women in the world forget to brush her hair?  Or was it the helicopter factor that gave it a bedraggled windswept look?  And if so, how did Julia escape?  Am I shallow to have noticed this?  Really - I need to concentrate my mental energy on more important things.

I have started to think really hard about Christmas ( a much more productive use of my time than worrying about Hillary's hair)  We are having lots of extended family to The Farm and I am working hard on Being Prepared.  I like to Be Prepared.  It makes me much less stressed.  Plus I know from bitter experience that by the time December comes I will be sucked into the vortex of school concerts, kids parties, work parties, end of school and the ongoing (and by that time seemingly never-ending) harvest.

Each year I have aimed to have my Christmas shopping done by the end of November.  And wrapped up.  I do OK in the shopping department (it's one of my skills).  I always fail miserably in the wrapping department though.  No matter how hard I try, I always wind up desperately wrapping presents on Christmas Eve, sometimes resorting to cutting the sticky bits off  bandaids because I have invariably lost the sticky tape by that stage.

This year Farmgirl has asked for a pet pony and Farmboy wants a pet Harley Davidson.  I am giving you the heads up right now that neither of these are going to arrive Christmas morning.  Like half the children in Australia they are getting Powerwings.  For the uninitiated amongst you (or those with no children)  these are a scooter type arrangement with a V at the back.  According to our local toyshop lady they are going to sell out.  So if you want one, now is the moment!

I love Christmas at the moment.  Mainly because the Farmchildren are at the stage where they believe in Santa without question.  The magic is still very much there.  I think that is why so many members of our family want to come for Christmas.

Other than my ridiculous concern about Hillary's hair and ongoing Christmas plans, things on the farm are going fairly well.  There have been no further snake sightings and the headers are still out there, going around and looking like this.

Big Header, Harvesting

As I have discussed in previous posts, this is a good thing.

Farmboy for PM, The Arrival of Country Style.

Breaking news on The Farm is the fact that Farmboy wants to be Prime Minister.  He has been very interested in the concept of politics recently.  The Farmer and I have tried to explain the way voting works. We think he has got the picture.  He was explaining to me recently that he would do "good things" but only if people voted for him.  He was also not going to let his friends know too much about his plans in case they wanted to be Prime Minister too.  He is quite sensible in considering this (look what happened to Kevin).  Most importantly he knew he had two votes already, his Mum and his Dad.

Incidentally Farmboy has also expressed a wish to marry Julia Gillard.  His Dad said no (and a few other things).

My copy of Country Style magazine has arrived.  I love reading it - it is always full of pretty pictures and makes me see the best side of living in the country.  I particularly like looking at the gardening articles/photos.

This months copy shows a gorgeous evening setting on the cover.  I am concerned about what to do about the mosquitos that would surely be around though.  I guess you would just pop some Rid on and relax with a book and a drink.

Evenings are my favorite time on The Farm.  They are beautiful but not quite this glamorous.  Obviously I just need a few more props.

The first gardenia has appeared in my garden.

It smells beautiful.