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Christmas Cards

December now and nearly Christmas! A much better week for me, sales have picked up and my office is coming along nicely. The outer roof was finished on Monday so for the first time since we moved here over five years ago, I won't need to have buckets dotted around my office to catch the leaks. The painting is nearly finished and the carpet is going down on Tuesday. Unfortunately the windows will need to be fitted after I have moved back in as there is just not enough time to get them done. I am expecting to move my desk and computer back in next weekend. Hopefully then I can get my house put back to normal before Christmas!

I spent ages yesterday trying to set up a picture for my Christmas cards. I risked life and limb with an Imperial scorpion, she did not want to wear her Santa hat or grab her little sack. That photo sadly didn't work, she very nearly stung me but my daughter thought it was hilarious and took a few shots, no doubt it will end up on her Facebook. When my husband came in from work he helped me set up Stephanie (my beautiful 13 year Old Mexican Red Knee spider), she was a star, she wore the hat, she sat in position and she didn't get upset once. I say my husband helped, obviously from a distance, he doesn't touch spiders (or any other bugs if he can help it). I did have plans to photograph a small Christmas tree covered in various stick insects but as is the story of my life - I ran out of time. I bought the tree several weeks ago but with all the work on my office we had no time to organise the photo session properly.

I only have two more weeks for posting before Christmas. Thursday 18 th December will be my last posting day and then I will start again on Monday 5th January. We are going on a very special holiday to Mauritius at the end of January, to celebrate my 50th birthday in February and my husband's 50th in March. I am over flowing with livestock at the moment but I will gradually be cutting back before the holiday. My daughter and mother in-law will be looking after the bugs for two weeks while we are away.

Well that's the news for another week. I have to get my daughter off to college now, she has been unwell the last few days and as she doesn't have any classes until later on a Friday, I said I would take her in. It's a shame she didn't stay on in the 6th form in her old school as it's five minutes down the road, Henley College is miles away, it takes a good hour there and back, it's just as well I don't post on a Friday. Good luck with all your Christmas shopping, I will be out most of this weekend so I probably won't reply to emails / phone messages until Monday.


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