Tracy Engelbrecht's Blog, page 16

Five Things #9

1. Getting off arse and doing something always feels much better than doing nothing. Or talking about doing it, or imagining doing it. I've always wanted to do something important, something worthwhile, something REAL, besides ensuring papers are stapled and filed correctly. I'm trying to make that happen now. More to come as soon as I know. I wrote a bit about it on my Parent24 blog – rather than repeat myself, you can find it here.

2. Layla will be 9 years old in 3 weeks and has sent out her birthday invitations. I haven't done much about it yet. For shame. She's having (apparently) a Hawaiian party complete with erupting volcano cake and palm trees and grass skirts and and and… Professor Google says for the aforementioned eruption we need dry ice, only a small piece mind you. No idea how much such things cost or even if we can get a tiny piece or only industrial sized crates. Or how many thousand leagues we'll have to travel to get it. I must make this cake, I believe. With lava. And maybe little plastic human sacrifices to toss in for effect. I may join them. Actually, I'm making her sound more demanding than she is. She has no need for ponies or jumping castles or fancy party packs or Puddles the Clown. As long as there's a ukelele and a bit of smoke out the cake she'll be happy.

3. It is so close to the end of the year I can taste it, just over that inconvenient, not un-large hump where time slows to the speed of fudge, aka My-God-Isn't-November-Over-YET? I love holidays and Christmas and chaos and even the last minute shopping trolley-rage. Nothing says Happy Holidays like the sight of two sweaty, hysterical mothers beating each other senseless with wilted celery over the last fresh cream in the shop.

4. Change calls me. Things that need changing are suffocating me – I've kept my head above water for so long, managing to ignore it, keeping it down, carrying on with the everyday, because "it has to be this way for now". I don't want it to be this way, I never have, and the ignoring is becoming harder. So. Now what? I'm not sure. But no more sitting on bum. See point 1.

5.  Something else that calls me – often – are chips. As they're doing now, from their mocking vantage point over on top of the microwave. I shall resist. For a bit.

Ho ho ho

…. and no, by that I don't mean ME.

I am so far from ho-ish I've emerged onto the other side into the realm of gracious old lady in tweed with a gleam in her eye hinting at a colourful yet mysterious past, but that's about it.

It's just less than 6 weeks til Christmas. *thunderclap & ominous wolf howl* Are you scared yet? If not, you should be. It looms.

I haven't even begun to think about it yet (except for Layla's lava lamp lava lamp i want a lava lamp mommy, a pink one, don't forget!), but luckily for you, I HAVE already come up with a cunning plan for quick easy juicy fun prezzie for the readers in your life.

From now til, um, I dunno, what's sensible? – say 16 December, signed copies of The Girl Who Couldn't Say No will be available for 80 bucks for SA buyers. That's lots off. Like, LOTS, dude.

Signed ones. For people who like to read. And like to laugh. And people who don't like to read, but do like to laugh, even. It's easy to read, not too many big words (mostly they're 4 letters long).

Unfortunately, for those of you who like to read but don't like to laugh, or don't like to do either, I've got nuffink. Maybe next year. Solly hey.

Anyway. If you want one, click on the Say Hi page and let me know. I shall respond forthwith.