So on the weekend we celebrated Christmas with Scott’s family, which Sophie affectionately called Christmas With The Smiths.
Christmas With The Smiths, all set up and ready to go!
It was a lovely day and one where I finally came out of the blogging closet to my in-laws.
Yep, it’s been 3 years since I started this blog and it’s taken me that long to tell them about it. Long story short, telling them about it was met with lots of supportive comments “So you write things and sometimes get paid for it?! Well done you!” (BIL) and a few random questions “So is a blog something I would find on the internet when I logged onto it?” (MIL)
Later that day, after we’d consumed our body weight in ham and kept ourselves hydrated with gin, my Sister In Law, who we will call Amanda, for that is indeed her name, struck up a conversation with me about a reality tv show she had just started watching. I can’t remember what it was called (funny how gin seems to make you a bit forgetful after the event!) but it was all about panning for gold.
“Oh I’ve done that!” I loudly announced (funny how gin also seems to make you speak at a level much louder than usual during the event!) “In fact, I’ve got the gold sitting upstairs somewhere”, I continued.
“Really?!” said Amanda, waving her glass around wondering why Guns hadn’t refilled it yet* “How much did you find? It’s probably worth a lot of money!”
“Oh it was when I was a kid. Mum & Dad took us to some gold panning place while we were on holiday. I didn’t get much. It’s probably about the size of my fingernail.”
That’s me, panning for gold, while old mate who ran the show and my brother look on
“Holy crap! The size of your fingernail?! You’ve probably got a thousand bucks worth of gold sitting upstairs” was Amanda’s excited reply.
“Um, well when I say the size of my fingernail, I should point out that a) I have very small fingernails and b) the tagline of my blog is ‘never let the facts get in the way of a good story’ so….” I trailed off before taking a large gulp of gin and wondering how big the gold actually was.
“Oh, ok. So it’s probably more like the size of a grain of rice?” laughed Amanda.
“A very small grain of rice” I replied, before telling Amanda that I’d have a look for the gold nugget grain of rice and blog about it for her.
So this morning, I opened the box I have sitting in my wardrobe that’s full of childhood memories:
Hoarders Anonymous might be calling
I rummaged through the cane box in the middle (a birthday present from Mum & Dad when I was 7…I’ve always loved good storage!) and this is just some of what I found:
From left to right: my tutu I wore in the only onstage ballet performance made during my very short lived attempt to become a ballerina, the plate I ate out of as a baby, an autograph book (remember those?!), a set of Russian dolls (I would spend hours lining those things up!), a cross stitch K (made for me by my Aunty/Godmother), a bag of badges earnt while a brownie (good times), a headless angel made in Grade 2 with a note attached wishing Mum & Dad a very Merry Christmas (my Year 2 teacher made me write that note numerous times because, in the words of Miss Mann, my writing “looks like pig slop” which was followed up by a whack on the head. School in the early 80’s was a bit brutal), my first (and only) pair of ballet shoes and my Pretty In Pink Barbie doll which I bought with my own money back in 1982 (she cost me $15, which took all year to save)
Anyway, also in that box was the gold!
BINGO!
With not one but SEVERAL grains of rice sitting inside!
Um…
I mean if that doesn’t have the producers of the gold rush show knocking at my door for a cameo appearance, I don’t know what will!
So if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to head down to my local bank and ask the lovely lady behind the counter to weigh it for me* but before I do, let’s all have a laugh at my expense have a stroll down memory lane with some hilarious photos I found while searching for my gold…
Superior Bun Action
Here I am, all tutu-ed up and ready to dance like an elephant around a stage. If you look closely, you’ll see that Mum has also made her way into the photo via her excellent photography skills!
Safety First People! Those animals look fierce all fenced in like that!
Here’s a photo of my brother feeding the animals that were also at the gold panning place. Please note my sensible approach to feeding the animals (i.e.: pull those socks up and stand back as far as you can because animals petrify you and you really don’t want to be anywhere near them, let alone smiling for the camera)
Has anyone seen my winnie blues?
And here’s a photo of me with my Grandma. She was dead set posh back in the day, which is obvious from the very fancy ash tray to her left.
Well said Betty!
And finally, here’s a message from my Grandma that she wrote in the autograph book I’d forgotten I even had. She passed away a few years ago now, but I reckon she’d be all over this blogging thing if she were here today!
* may or may not have happened. May also be excellent examples of this blog’s tagline.
How about you? Ever panned for gold? Or let the facts get in the way of a good story? Either way, I’d love to know!
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