Vanilla cupcakes (translates to Mummy Doesn't do Icing!)

Today our walk changed a bit, we did the juice and then dashed off. I was ranting and raving all the way around. I had read my Petals reports last night and was horrified that in her maths she had received 0/100.   Why hadn't school contacted us, why did I have to chase this up, how could it be this bad?  I hardly noticed all the beautiful sights that I normally see.

So I had to really just breath and work out solutions. To stop worrying about all the worries that I had and try to get back on a path to fixing things.  I have a couple of things that I need to fix and I am working on the problems ONE AT A TIME as they arise!  Firstly that I need to find more time to work with My Petal's special needs, that it's a priority that has been slipping.

After a quick trip to the school we were informed that it was a typo and that her marks were quite good for my girl and we could be happy to work with this.  Breathing again!  Nice to know that I am not the only parent that has issues.  We spoke with another mum and she was making me feel quite normal again.

I have been busy today and not doing the study that I desperately need. Instead I am baking for the Red Headed Hurricane's birthday tomorrow.

So firstly the cupcakes, for him to take to his class and teacher.

The easiest and great tasting recipe that was given to me by my Petals lovely Prep Teacher.   The amazing teacher Jenn used them when she was teaching her class and had all her helpers and they never failed. So easy and great, I made one addition. This was the first time I used the recipe and i was pretty happy about the outcome.  My Petal announced whilst eating them what flavour are they, mummy doesn't do icing!

Recipe: Jenn's Cupcakes
(please note this amount makes 36)

21 ounces of caster sugar = approx (600 grams)
18 ounes of self raising flour = approx (500 grams)
6 eggs
1 and 1/2 cups of milk (as we are off milk we used an alternative of soy milk this time)
7 1/2 ounces of butter = approx (220 grams)
(- I added 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract or essence)

Melt butter and combine all ingredients. Stir, (beat with an electric mixer for 5 minutes).  Fill patty/muffin pans in a muffin tin, just over 1/2 (as they rise a lot).  Cook for 15 minutes at 180 degrees in a fan forced oven or 17 minus at 220 if conventional oven.
Freeze perfectly!

So next we needed to do dinner. I have some lovely spinach just calling to go into a simple Korma curry with veggies. YUM.  I love being able to pick our lovely supplies from the garden.

We have some more things to plant. Some broccoli, beetroot and more spinach.

So now we have been trying different milks. Our latest ones are;  almond, rice, (soy milky), and oats.

The votes is in, Soy Milky (vanilla) is the clear favourite and the equal 2nd is oats.  We have been enjoying trying all the different ones.  I like the almond, we have bought the one that is unsweetened as I have a problem with too much sugar being consumed especially at breakfast.

Nice that there is so many varieties to choose from.

So off to make the Burnt Sugar cake for tomorrow's night visitors for his birthday.

Next Market

This is the next market that I would like to be going to..... I have exams and I have a weekend elective subject on that weekend, so no going for me!  I was considering dashing there during my lunch break however no sooner would I get there than I would have to turn around and leave and I know that would NOT happen. Thank goodness I love myofascial release and our wonderful teacher, Michael.

I hope someone nice will go there and send me photo's of what I missed.

http://madenthornbury.blogspot.com.au/

Well worth a look!

Ok so as I mentioned I have exams off to study and work on assignments, yes we have another one. That makes 4 now and I am about to get another one from that weekends work!  Did you hear me screaming?

So now that I have established that I cannot go to to the markets, I have found that another fabulous one is on.

http://www.magnoliasquare.com.au/

Hopefully someone else will be visiting this one for me too!

Little Hand, Little Tooth

My plans for making a tooth box or at least decorating one with my boy, have been thwarted a little as the tooth came out before the weekend!  (This week I had school on Friday as well) After being at school all day on Thursday, I was greeted with a lovely smile, cuddles and missing tooth!  Again the mixed emotions happened however he was just so happy and our Petal decided that she was happy to share her tooth box with her brother.  So the problem was solved very quickly.  We then sat down together to talk about the tooth and the experience.  There was no blood, a good sign and he assured me that it was a great and very clean tooth.

Lovely to be greeted first thing in the morning with the same smile, and a very happy boy who was visited by the tooth fairy during the night.   So exciting to watch their amazement that this little tooth has gone and there in it's place a couple of gold coins.

So instead of the box, which I am sure we will do very soon as there is another tooth showing signs of wobbling. My Petal and myself are going to make a bracelet for the Red Headed Hurricane as his birthday in on Tuesday.  I thought it would be good for my Petals motor skills to make something and My Hurricane always seems to love whatever she makes him.  So a quick trip to the material shop after school during the week and I was able to get some trim and some felt which are two necessary items for making this project.  It had to black as he only appreciates what he considers to be "Cool".  This is the same boy that was on the barbie website painting finger nails on his computer (an early birthday present) during the week.

We found a lovely and easy trim bracelet tutorial that I am sure my girl and myself can attempt quite happily together. She approves of the black and the studs and is looking forward to making something else for her brother.  Her last project that she made was a halloween cushion and he loves it. It's cool!  it has pride of place in his room he is extra proud that his sister made something special for him.

Science is fun!

Yesterday at school pick up my Red Headed Hurricane proudly announced to me that he has a wobbly tooth. His first tooth ever to be wobbly.  I have to say that I was both thrilled and a little sad at the prospect of my Hurricane losing his baby teeth. I am now searching for an appropriate container that both the tooth fairy and the Hurricane will approve of.  It might have to be something that he can make or decorate. I will ask him about this before it comes out.  He was wondering if swimming would be appropriate, if he could risk losing the tooth in the pool? His sister told him that tooth fairies can just find the tooth even if we couldn't. That even if you swallowed them the money would be left and that was the important part.  We recently watched Hogfather, so he has a good idea of the tooth fairies.  We asked him which one he wanted and he replied the $2.00 one!

Recently my Red Headed Hurricane realised that he could combine his two loves; cooking and science.  He borrowed from the school library a book that involved just that and came home very proudly announcing that we needed to conduct some experiments AND that we are having spaghetti for dinner and marshmallows for dessert.  So a quick visit to Aldi's to get the necessary equipment.

1 packet of marshmallows
1 packet of dried spaghetti
plus 2 children

This was a great success and I am sure there will be many more to follow.  I think the taste tests of the marshmallows went down well too.

A moment to consider others.

Something to consider. Please take the time to look at my very good friends lovely blog and comment.

http://tmtfof.blogspot.com.au/

It is not easy being a mum to a special needs child. I have my Petal who has issues and I have lost funding quite some time back. I have to constantly remind the teachers and others that because she looks NORMAL whatever that means, doesn't mean that she doesn't have challenges on a daily basis.  Sports reduces her to tears, it is challenging to encourage her to try tennis when she is just at the stage of catching a big ball.  All our wonderful progress can be undone in a few careless moments when the realisation sets in that she is so far behind her peers in sports and they are speeding ahead of her. That holding a racket and trying to hit a ball is way beyond her level of skills and this is the expectation that is given to her.  

Enough about my rant I have issues like all parents, my dear friend really is being pushed at the moment. Please take the time to share her blog. I appreciate all the wonderful help.

Finders Keepers, Still busy!

Next day was busy again.  We were dashing off to the Finders Keepers at the Exhibition buildings on the edge of the city. We have been before when it was a the Docklands but not for a while and this time one of my very  Favourite bloggers was going to be there. I was hoping that I would firstly get to see her and second have a moment to just say hello and BUY something. I was thrilled to bits that all three happened. It was just such an amazing experience as she was so lovely and her stall was just so colourful and beautiful. I was a little overwhelmed, meeting this beautiful and talented women.  I couldn't even remember the name of my blog! (opps)

Firstly it was great venue. We walked around Carlton prior to going there and enjoyed scrunching through the autumn leaves.  Enjoying the warm weather and the sun.  It was lovely for the children to see inside the buildings. We have been there recently with the visit to the museum and I grew up going to these buildings and different exhibitions with my parents.

Outside we were impressed to see the good food vans. Had we known we would have not bought our own food. In saying that we couldn't resist getting the fabulous cupcakes that were being sold inside.  

Inside was busy. Lovely stalls, so difficult to know which one to go to first, I allowed the crowd of people to dictate and just go with the flow, straight down the middle.  Keeping in mind that I just really wanted to go and find my favourite stall. That I would now be able to reach out and touch things, that they would be in front of me and I could gush like this all day and night, I think the photo's will speak for themselves.  (You will have to forgive me, this stall was very busy and difficult to get a good uncrowded moment.).  I think you can see from the first photo of inside, that the crowds were there and enjoying this wonderful free event.  So lovely to see all the very talented people selling their beautiful and amazing items.

My children were instantly taken with her and her beautiful (Japanese inspired) stall. I loved that they love the people that I love.  I instantly saw a beautiful butterfly ring and I knew it had to be mine, it was perfect and meant so much to me, because of the symbolism of the butterfly AND that it was here.

My Petal decided on some beautiful hair clips and told me later that it was so hard to chose as she loved nearly everything.  I had to agree.  I was just so happy with my purchase and I had to wear it almost straight away.  I had to make the budget stretch a little to include these items and I don't care if I don't get anything for mothers days now except beautiful handmade pieces from my children.

This was the absolute highlight of my day.

Ok so here is a few more beautiful stalls that enchanted me. We made a couple of purchases include a beautiful chopping board for my Red Headed Hurricane.  He has been doing more and more things in the kitchen and needed something of his own to use so that he is not muscling in on my space and area. He will be very busy creating something this week I am sure.

We bought some washi tape for my Petal who is dying to try using it. I gave her a book recently so that she would have some idea and a start.  I really loved this stall. They had a framed picture with a saying... it is something that my petal loves to say unfortunately you cannot see it clearly in this photo.  It says, you look exceptionally lovely today or something along those lines.  I pointed out to my Petal and she loved it.

My boy won the hearts of the Frankie stall and allowed them to give him a lollipop, he then requested another one for his sister.  (He always thinks of her).  We had split up into teams for a bit, so he didn't want her to miss out.  They both went back together and said a big thank you. The girls there were exceptionally lovely.

Whilst walking around we were treated to some great music. It was a lovely Saturday afternoon after a good night.   After finishing up here we decided to take the children to play in the park outside.  It's a great place and they ran around and had a ball. Then off home to movie night, Udon noodles and salty caramel popcorn.

A great finish to a beautiful day.  

(note to self Gluten Free is important when seeing special bloggers) 

Busy!

It has been a busy couple of days. I have caught up with a very good friend that I love to visit. She has a BEAUTIFUL house, constantly evolving as her and her husband are closet designers and builders.  Every time I go there the house has changed and is ABSOLUTELY amazing it doesn't date the colours are neutral and beautiful and the accessories change rooms and places.  At the moment they are building a pool.  My friend did my make up for me, I didn't have any confidence with the war paint that was necessary for that evening.

Then after a quick bit of shopping at a lovely local (well where I used to live) asian grocery and fish shop, I dashed home to get changed and do my hair (well I had a bit of help from my other half) for GRADUATION.  No, I haven't finished my study!  Yes, I have reached a stage where I am certified for massage. So off to the graduation evening. To meet up with some lovely friends that haven't continued with their studies and I have been very dearly missing.

It was a lovely evening of food, motivation speaking, bonding and meeting with some lovely friends.  Dressing up was great fun, a bit of a change from the yoga pants that I have been wearing to school, nice to let my hair down!

We started with such a big group and finished up with not very many. Amazing people that I felt very privileged to get to know, to massage, to study with and to graduate with.

another day

So now that I have a little distance between myself and the disaster that was yesterday. i was able to feel a bit better and have a chat to a beautiful friend who is also realising just how hard study is especially full time and with a family with special needs.  This made me reflect on my decision and realise that I just have to rethink my study plan and do whatever I can to keep going.

So today to do this, I got up did a quick cull of the bathroom. Felt better still, did juice and went for  a walk. So far all this is helping. A bit more venting about how I feel and I am ready to get back on track.

So now a quick blog, nothing to fancy. I was thinking about my massage room a bit more and found a problem with our plan. First problem that we need to overcome and I am sure we will have to get help with is the sound proofing. I cannot have a massage happening and my other half working downstairs and talking on the phone with the entire conversation drifting up from the floor below.  This is not a relaxing, nor professional.  So this is the first hurdle for the rooms.

Well off to do some study lots to do.  Anatomy is calling me!

not everything in life is fair!

Today I had my exam, I was anxious but I know that I could potentially do well as long as I didn't choke or get something really DIFFICULT, and if I did I figured that it would be fair and that I would get something easier to go with it.  I mentioned to my husband the 2 things that I didn't want to get. 2 things that were both very long and very wordy for the referred pain sites and the trigger point sites that would do my head in.   That I didn't have great notes as I was on the table being used as a test person for one of these things.  I was concerned that the notes I had been given were in fact wrong and that I didn't have enough information on this.

I heard others say "walk in the park", they were getting lovely choices. 1 trigger point, 1 referred pain site and some stretches lovely. The way that I hoped. However that was not what happened for me.

When I went in, I received 2 muscles to do. Not what we had been told would occur in the test (we were to receive 1 muscle, 1 referred pain area) however that was fine, I can adjust. I could do it, I then read what I had, of course it was the 2 that I had said to my husband would really stuff me up if I got them one of them and there was both; 11 trigger points in total and so many referred pain sites!  How could this happen? How could others get 1-3 and I got 11?  

So now I am dealing with the failure that occurred and what it means. I choked. I was horrified with what I had to do and that was it, the more I tried the worse it got, so I decided that I had enough and that I needed to just let this go.

I went out at the end and helped others, I even made sure that my study buddy passed and only passed because of my help. So that was me today and now I am reflecting and eating pizza (takeaway no less) whilst brushing myself off and picking myself up and getting on with things or back to study!

what to do?

As I said yesterday I am thinking about my massage room and I am thinking about what I am learning. What I am studying and revising, anatomy going around in my head, massage techniques and ideas.  Recently we have been doing Eastern Influences with our massage.  I have been walking around the house looking at things. Things that I like and things that I need to remove.

Then something seemed to click, the name of my business the colours and what I want to make it look like at home (in my yet to be built room). I don't want it cluttered it has to be a calm space, I don't want it to be too complicated that is not the way that I work. I wanted peaceful and something that reflects what I like.

Sometimes things start to come together.  I love the peaceful blue tones of Indigo.   I love this beautiful picture titled very appropriately "butterflies".  It is still very simple at the moment, the ideas are still floating and I don't have the space or the time to spend energy on this however it is starting to come together and that is a really good feeling.

"Indigo is a sedative and it helps to open up our intuition. The colour of divine knowledge and the higher mind. Not suitable for areas for entertainment but for more 'quiet' places. Bedrooms or treatment rooms for example. Some people find indigo is helpful for studying so this colour could be used as part of the decor of a library or study"

I might dye my lovely white cotton waffle blanket a beautiful indigo as well!

I love the simple and beautiful layout in this one. The feature wall with the mirror and the lovely clean feel.  (Very important).

I love the framed feature wall in this one with both natural lighting and spot lights. I have seen a table like this at Ikea that would be perfect for my space. Although this is much more about beauty treatments mine would not be.  I still need to have a space to put all my linen and other necessary things. Is it something that I hide away or do I make this a feature as well. Can you have too many features. I love the look of beautiful rolled fresh towels. Maybe baskets or maybe open shelves?



On a different note. I have been thinking about waste and how much we throw out and what happens and then I was reading a little bit instead of studying (yes shame on me) Not Quite Nigella, i love her blog amazing.... if you get a moment it is interesting the question that she raises "do the supermarkets know what we really want?"

what works!

What I have noticed is that things work well when everything runs smoothly......

The budget ; we are able to even allow ourselves to buy something from the budget, I am not meaning anything big, but something small that we will enjoy.  A treat from the farmers market and couple of plants or something like that. I am still hoping to get the lime tree and apricot tree.

Study and revision and going to classes. I manage to get to all of the classes I get my homework completed without too much stress and then I get to make steady regular progress with my assignments and massages.

HOWEVER when things get complicated then everything starts to spiral out of control and the last couple of weeks have been exactly like that!

Easter and holidays is easy to make the budget blow out, put a speeding fine on top of that and then necessary car repairs or a service that is looming (long overdue), finally some repairs for the house and buying a new stove, well not only has the budget gone but some of the savings as well, thats before we pay for the day to day living expenses and other necessary bills that keep occurring!  My boy being sick has made study and sleep something that I have to juggle and negotiate, other homework non-existence and routines are gone to the dogs.

Then add to this, study with children at home during school holidays and the guilt of not doing lots of things with them.  This time we didn't go to the movies and I am sad about that, we didn't do lots of walks like I played and make things like I had planned.

It is hard to be happy and in control when everything is feeling way out of control and I just want to throw my hands up in the air.

So now we get back to what is important and necessary and we try to recover. If I have to repeat the exam then I repeat, if we have to just be a little leaner with the budget then I will find a way to do that as well or we find another way to add to it. There are other things to sell and other costs to cut and we just keep working on them.

The one thing that I enjoy about making things work more efficient is that we do a cull and we work out what is important.  That I feel like I can breathe again and that things get a little easier. Also that the things that remain start being used for their intended purpose or become more useful and worthwhile.

So on a different note how do you start a business what do you do. I don't mean the study and hard work I mean how do you create a look. I swing from one thing to another each and every day.
Today I like this.....

I think I could create the room around this with the lovely cool tones, the room will have lots of lovely natural light coming in. Then I wonder if this is too serious or too flamboyant and not the direction that I want to go at all. So I look at this and wonder, WHAT WORKS!

Favourite places, favourite things

I sit on the couch curled up or with my laptop on my lap when I am studying, I position myself there because of a few reasons. It is easy, it is light and it is quiet (mostly).  It is also close to food sources in case I do get inspired to do something food wise.  More a distraction than a help for fuel and brain power.

I especially like it that I have some of my favourite things. I have my girls photo's and other family photo's around so they help me and remind me that this is very important, easy to forget when you bogged down with the workload of overwhelmed with the amount of things that you have to learn.

I love it that my dad used to sit in this area, looking out the same window and enjoyed this the most.  It became a morning ritual and a good start to the day. Quiet time with a cup of tea, and his oxygen machine humming away.   He would do this first thing in the morning a softer more diffused light would come through that window, this photo is the afternoon sun shinning through.

I have a lovely vintage table that used to be in my dad's room.  I love the child's chair in the foreground, that used to be mine and has been recovered for my Hurricane to use, my Petal never took to it,  He happily sits in it chatting away to us or watching tv or even reading.

I love the view outside of the gumtree and the plumtree with it's autumn colours showing and the blueberry in a barrel.  I love that this area will be recreated soon to show it's best colours when we make this the path to the business area.  That others will enjoy the view too.  The peace and quiet of the garden. That this part of the garden will be shown in it full glory.  That more care and attention will be given and that areas that need fixing will be fixed.

I am so super stressed about my first exam and wondering how on earth I am going to learn everything that I need to by Tuesday, not feeling confident at all. It seems the more things that I try to cram into my head the more that others fall out. I am clueless with the dates as well. I was hoping that the Finders Keepers Market was on today and have just realised that it's next week, so too my Graduation from my first course.

Our kiddies stayed at Nan and Pops last night and this is giving me time to study but the stress of not having them there is not making me happy. I think a quick phone call is in order.  To hear the lovely sweet little voices, telling me how much fun they are having, away from their stressed and uptight mother.

Study

Yesterday my other half had a family funeral and I had organised a day of study. I had a lovely offer from another good friend to take the children into the city and meet up later for dinner so I jumped at it.

So in the afternoon i had two fabulous and very clever study buddies visit and we inflicted pain on each other learning the trigger points for 19 muscles (upper and lower body) and then the referred pain for each trigger and then the exercises,  assisted and self stretches.  I am doing now a lot more sports orientated course and I think that is why i am struggling. I miss the relaxation and the gentle flow of the massage.
 
Lots of study occurred, lots of stretching and concentration. We even had a chance to brainstorm about the lack of massage room and of course when we thought of a solution my other half came and claimed that. Stating that to take clients down through the bedroom into the other room would not be suitable. I give up, it would seem that whenever we work on an idea he will then give us the information and not before. So my study buddy immediately took this into consideration and thought about our new room and walked around the house, looking at the other rooms.  Then his mighty brain started looking at what would work and what wouldn't.  Clearly I am not happy to move the childre. I have spent a lot of time getting their rooms to this stage and although not quite finished they mostly are. I am not happy about spending the time starting from scratch so that was out.  Then we thought about what it would take to build another room and where to put it. Firstly we thought about downstairs as we are eventually going to build there, then we came up with the plan of building a double room directly out from the deck area, not our main deck that is yet to be completed but the other one that I use to hand washing on. A small area that would be perfect.  It means that we don't have to have the access through the house, that we can put water on to that area for my massage room and my other half could have the downstairs part.  A win win, without him claiming my new space.  Which would seem like it would happen every time.   i think this would value add to the house as well.

So the next steps are to, draw up something, get quotes and to apply for a business loan. In my spare time!!!!

Back to Study I have an exam on Tuesday and if I find a moment I am hoping to go to the Finders Keepers market. Have a lovely sunny Friday.

Dehydrating

I have been spending a bit of time talking to people about dehydrating, they have been trying our fruit and enjoying,asking questions and looking for a machine.  After a trip to the farmers market on Saturday morning we came home with a few extra punnets of fruit. One was strawberries, we love them and another was figs. We thought we would give them a try as well. Dried figs sounded too good to pass up and 4 punnets for $8.00 was just too good to resist.

The dehydrator has been humming away today in the background working on the figs.  I am going to add the strawberries to it later on tonight after I have made the banana muffins.  I have visitors tomorrow and I wanted to have something to eat for a snack after we worked hard on revision for our exam next week.

My of my guests is a veggie so a quick decision and look at our ingredients and we decided on a pasta  and salad. I have some lovely cheese without the animal rennet from the farmers market.  The last time he visited we were unable to offer any cheese sadly this time we have 2 varieties.  One for the salad feta and one for the pasta sauce romano.

More culling has been happening around the house although it is not obvious to most it is to us.  I am aware that I am feeling a little (or a lot) overwhelmed by the lack of space, including in our room that had managed to keep most of my Hurricanes toys behind the bed.  So today that was the line that was drawn and the toys found homes elsewhere. NO MORE TOYS in our room.  I am always amazed at how they seem to breed and multiply at night time.

More thought or more discussion happened about my massage room and where it might go in the house. I am so sad that I have lost the room but in other ways I am actually happier that a better room might be found or created.

Today we had a meeting with the dietician for my Petal.  Discussing her weight, her intake and her food that she eats.  She was weighed and measured and is in a great extremely healthy height to weight range. This is wonderful news.  We also talked about milk and alternatives. I have to watch her calcium intake however there are SO many other foods that can provide calcium that we don't really have to worry as she is happy to consume almost of the others in suitable quantities.  I was not happy when she told me I had to give her cows milk when I saw from the list that the alternatives were straight after and the quantities were about the same.  So in saying this we are continuing with Soy and Rice milk.

We used some rice milk today to make a proper coffee. The milk frothed up quite nicely and was sweeter than cows milk.  It tasted a bit like rice pudding, did it taint the coffee? No!  Did it taste the same, no.  Our other favourite is the vanilla soy milky which is just like vanilla custard in taste and so lovely. I actually enjoyed the muesli so much more the other morning when it was added to it.  My others half's favourite is the organic soy milk from Aldi's, a very cheap and good alternative too.  I am not so great on the taste but I would be willing to try it and have it in the cupboard for emergencies quite happily.

Curry is calling!

Have a lovely day.















 

Easter Monday and Tuesday (just Tuesday)____

Another day of visiting my other half's family.  This time we have quite a few all meeting at his mum and dads place.  (although we didn't know that everyone was).  Shame that we didn't as we didn't have presents and things (except at home).  It made it a little interesting.  I don't like being caught out like that.

We finally got to meet the new addition to the family little Grace. (SO cute)  She was all smiles and only just 2 and 1/2 months old.   I was pushy and asked to hold when they were busy preparing for a feed, so she was not a happy camper then.  I did get to play with her for a bit and got lots of smiles.  (Yes I would love another baby, no I am not going to have one!)  My business will be my new baby.

My Red Headed hurricane was very busy that day, trying to keep up with all the older kiddies and especially the female cousin.  I get a little cross about my boy being treated like that. I have to bit my tongue and not say too much.  I try to just watch and not interfere in the play too much. I found myself stepping in quite often to protect both my boy and my girl.   Not a new situation.

My Hurricane was busy getting creative after the other children left.  He did a drawing of a car carrying vanilla extract.  He knows that I am not a chocolate lover, that I do LOVE vanilla.  So this was an important item and the car had been built to carry these items and be protected in their own capsules.

I love the thought that goes into his creations. I am always waiting for the next, although he is reluctant to do too many for me.  My Petal happily creates so many lovely drawings for me.  I have files and files of the precious papers and love messages.

It's funny how different children are!

It was a lovely visit really. Always good to catch up with family.  Nice to sit down together to a meal and enjoy each others company.  I am sad at how changed my other half father is. He has been removed from his medication and the changes were quite acute. It would seem that the medication is only continued if significant change occurs and unfortunately there was not enough improvement in his memory and facilities.  I directed him to my Hurricane and he didn't know which one he was. I saw the hesitation and confusion and realised that this was the reality of the situation, that people and things in the present are slipping away and the only things that are left are his past and people long gone. He is going on a medical trial whatever that means I am yet to find out the details.

So next day after a busy few days is Tuesday. A normal Tuesday away from Easter and cold.  Very COLD!  I had a good friend come and visit. That was wonderful, we scheme, we brainstorm, we vent and we laugh at what the children do. I feel normal when I am with her.  I feel less overwhelmed and more focused.  The troubles of the world seem less confronting and more moveable. I enjoy hearing how she deals with things and take on what will work for me.  My lovely amazing friend pointed out something that I had considered, that if my other half is starting a business he will need an office.  I realised that the only room available or not was the one that I had ear marked for my massage.  So it wasn't a perfect choice, especially with having to go through the bedroom to get to it, but it was going to be a great set up, I will have to reconsider this very carefully, it looks like I am giving it up!  I would like the set up to remain the same, I think it needs to change as it won't work as it is however I am sure that this will have to wait till we have some funds or take out a business loan to make the improvements. (Something I am a little reluctant to do. The one thing that has enabled us to keep our head above water whilst being retrenched is the fact that we DON'T owe any money).

We had a lovely lunch together she makes a salad look so lovely and taste even better. I don't have that flair I will have to watch her put it together next time normally I just help. I am still happy with the thai flavourings and I think I am wishing for the warmer weather again.

It was over to quickly the visit.

An amazing thing happened today.  I have long since been sad and given up finding my mums lovely pastry recipe.  I never asked her for the recipe before she died (I did ask about her mushy peas) and I realised after she was gone that I had not found it.  Something else that had disappeared from the house.  I think it has upset me the most. I remember my mums lovely, jam tarts, her apple and sultana pies and her mince pies but had no idea how to recreate them. Then today my other half bought me a piece of bank paper with my mums writing on it. At first I thought it was a shopping list (she often did that) and then on second glance I realised that it was pastry ingredients.  A simple recipe hand written on a bank paper, (My mums choice of paper as it was free and readily available).  After all these years of hoping and trying to find it here it was in my hand. I cannot begin to explain how happy this made me.  I am not even sure if it's the recipe that my mum used for all her pastry however just having this has made a big difference to me.  I had given it up for lost and gone. I had looked on the internet for something and not found the same and here it was.  A lovely lovely piece of bank paper.

It was a lovely present from mum for easter. I think we will be making mince pies early this year even earlier than Christmas in July!

Happy Easter Sunday

Today the kiddies awoke to far fewer presents I think the easter bunny was having a tough year or maybe it was a good decision?  We ran out of time and found that we had to compromise also the budget was tight and stretched to breaking.  I am so over trying to juggle everything, time and money!

They were VERY happy with what they received. (I think I have to be careful to not let my perceptions interfere with how they feel)  Some clothes, a large Kinder surprise egg and some lovely little eggs that the bunny had left in the garden.

They always dash around and find the eggs with a little help from us, I never get tired of watching this ritual.  Then breakfast is hot cross buns and lots of little chocolates.  A lovely start to the day. I leave the chocolate eating to Daddy and the kiddies.  I do enjoy the hot cross bun with jam and banana, something that my dad and myself always shared, sitting on the front step of the house or down the coast.

We dashed out (late as usual) to visit my other half's brothers family (don't try to say that 3 times fast).   Oh my goodness were they spoilt.  We all were! The presents, the food and the company was wonderful. My sister-in-law aways finds some wonderful things and amazing bargains.  I like her discoveries at Aldi's especially.  My other half was impressed with the lovely large bottle of eucalyptus oil and I liked the raspberry bubbly.  This was served with the amazing amount of smoked salmon (so good and so decedent) cream cheese and the largest mini toasts that I have ever seen.  My Red Headed Hurricane was especially happy with the Brie and the largest mini toasts ever!

My amazing sister in law makes things. All sorts of things as she is very creative and very clever.  She does quilting which is way beyond my level of skills.  I admire her amazing creations and look at the books with her and wonder how on earth the do all of these things. I must admit that I like the more modern ones than the traditional ones.  I do however appreciate all the work and labour that goes into anything that is hand made.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                         

(I am sure the photo does not do them justice, however there is a coat hanger, 2 aprons (loves owls) and a pot holder, done using a quilting technique)

I thought I would take a photo and include this to show you only some of the beautiful things that she so very kindly donates for the mothers day school. It has lifted the bar so very high for the other mothers and  myself.  It also means that everyone now gets beautiful presents from the school stall.   I have seen mothers talking to other mothers, asking for one of her lovely creations to be held aside so little Johnny or Little Mary can buy it when they come.  I laugh when I hear all this and relay the messages back to her.

It was such a lovely day.  Busy again and with another busy day tomorrow.

get together

Today we went to the Zoo, not just to see the animals although we did enjoy that but to be with very special friends. A meeting of some lovely twinless mothers and our surviving twins. One mother had come from Tassie with her partner so it was very important that we get together.  It is always a little anxious before we meet but exciting as well.  It's an amazing experience to be with other mums that you don't have to say anything to, they just know.  That the get together is always bittersweet, with one of each of our precious children missing from the picture.

The children had a lovely time and played together so well just amazing to watch the bonds in spite of the age differences between all of them.  We sat comfortably and talked about all sorts of things an amazingly easy meeting.  The women are strong, brilliant and intelligent. They share ideas and thoughts about all sorts of things, then we share a couple of photo's.  I especially love this one of My Petal and her wonderful friend. (Thank you my beautiful friend for allowing me to use this photo)

My beautiful friend and her son bought their trolley (Beryl) for the zoo. What a great idea, you can pop the coats, the blankets and the food straight in, it's easy to push and makes things so much better. We copied and bought our lovely trolley too; it has seen better days so we are going to see if we can make some simple improvements.  Wheels and paintwork as we are very reluctant to retire him (Barry). He has been faithfully used for many markets over the years and will continue with that too.

At nearly 5 metres tall, makes it a bit of a stretch on the neck.

 

My Petal likes to call this one a Leprechaun!

We all loved the butterflies, I think because they hold such a special meaning for us. How lovely to have them dancing around us. My Petal kept trying to find the one that looked most like Lily or what she thought of her angel sister.  We decided that the one that kept hovering around her was the one.  So lovely to see them all together.

Later on we meet up for dinner with another wonderful twinless mum, her survivor and her other son and that made the night complete. We all sat together and talked about sorts of things, like we had been friends for years instead of just meeting and finding things in common as we explored.  Nothing that I would have predicted however we were reluctant to end the night. My Petal wrote everyone little thank you notes and how much she enjoyed meeting them. It was a great day and lovely evening I wish that they happened more often. I think a trip to Tassie or Queensland is in order once I finish study.

Homework is calling.

Costal Visit and Good Friday

Yesterday was just lovely.  We dashed off to the coast before lunchtime and even stopped at an Op shop along the way. One that I have wanted to visit for a few years but are never there on the right day or the right time. It is a beautiful church, with the op shop in the adjacent building, then another building holds the books.  Normally I don't get so very excited over the books as I did yesterday. No, I didn't buy any for me however we found some lovely books for both children and for my other half. The shop itself is run by a lovely lady that was a librarian and its very easy to see at first glance that she loves her job and it is much more than that, in saying that she wasn't there on the day we went but she will be back.  I am looking forward to our next visit when she is there.

Bellbrae Bric-a-Brac
1 School Road
Bellbrae 3228

Open Thursday to Saturday

Next stop the organic shop and fruit and veggie shop some snacks to add to the picnic we had packed. Always find some lovely things and we grabbed some extras for the Thai salad that I was planning for good friday to go with the salmon.   We also purchased a lovely big box of apples to continue our juicing routine.

We were very disappointed to find the winery shut however in the end it really didn't matter.  It was just such a good day and a lovely picnic that the wine wasn't missed. (too much!)

The town itself was extremely busy when we arrived just in time for lunch.  We wandered around and had a lovely time looking at all the wonder things.  Next off to the beach for our picnic and adventures.  We didn't leave the beach until almost dark and getting cold.  The day itself was just lovely and warm and the children enjoyed the water so very much, making lots of friends as they do.

Afterwards we dried off, popped on clothes and jackets and went for a walk all around the beach, caravan park and town.  My Hurricane stopped me half way through the walk and told me that he could see that I had already lost weight.  Nice sentiments and made me smile. We sang, we collected shells and then threw them back into the ocean and walked and kept walking until we were too hungry to walk any further.

After dinner we drove home, with 2 sleeping children and a reasonably quiet trip back.

Today we awoke to the smell of spice, my other half had got up early and started work on the hot cross buns. It has become a tradition on good friday and we are so happy about having some for our visit to the Zoo tomorrow.

A lovely visitor arrived just after they came out of the oven and was happy to share some with us.  So lovely even better than last year if possible.

Later after chatting and having many shows from our children it was time for dinner.  A lovely lazy day with great company.  We had an excuse to lash out a bit and get salmon, so crispy skin salmon was the feature with thai style salad and oven chips.  A set up from our usual fish and chips.   A really love treat for all of us and our visitor even surprised us with french champagne.  A real treat! We even used the lovely vintage plates that were a gift from my brother and mother.  Normally we would do a dessert as well however the hot cross buns were still there sitting waiting and calling to us so more of those were devoured.

(even thought the salmon looks a bit dark in this photo I can assure you it wasn't and it was beautiful, I do promise to get better with the photos.  Taking at night time is a bit of a challenge to date.)

A bit more homework and then off to bed.  It was a lovely Good Friday.  I am so excited about Saturday meeting new friends and good friends at the zoo and then later for dinner some more lovely friends it just doesn't get better than this.

A good day.

Today was one of those good days, it wasn't great (expectations are way too high for that), it certainly wasn't bad by any stretch of the imagination.

It started off with a cuddle with the kiddies.  That always makes for a good day, tickles follow of course.  Then muesli as I managed to make some last night ready for today. My Petal was dashing off to her sewing lesson. This has become a school holiday tradition and something that she looks forward to so excitedly.   This one was for a fairy cushion.  So of course she was extra happy, anything to do with fairies makes her happy. This is what she bought home later on today.  A big smile and Amy!  Amy lives on her bed now. It's wonderful to see her efforts and she gets so very happy, each time they finish one project and take it home. Everything they do themselves with guidance and support. My Petal has made friends each time and the other girls have been happy to help her when the teacher is busy. The class size is just 4 so they are never too busy for long.

When leaving home on the way there, I noticed the nasty man's car was back in the driveway. That didn't make me happy however I also noticed that a couple of young men in suits were there as well. So I instantly started to think maybe real estate agents. Not long after everyone was gone again. The nasty man hasn't been there for a quite a few months now.  The women and her children have continued to be there but that is it. It has been wonderful not being forced off the road or the many other torments that the horrible man did.  So this had the potential to be another good thing.

Then I had my lovely pregnancy massage to do and that was wonderful. I even got paid for it so that was extra good as I now have a bit of money for the coastal visit tomorrow.  This is now 6 massages that I have been paid for either with money or goods. So another good thing.  I had a lovely time with my very special friend.  I miss her so much and it was great to do a little catch up (never long enough I was hoping to do cupping as well however we ran out of time after the massage) and watch her and her beautiful daughter relax.  She requested that I buy the house across the road when it comes up for sale and she could rent it. I would love nothing more than to have her there.  I can imagine that we would get up to so much mischief never sleeping... you get the picture. All my very close friends live quite far from me. It would be lovely to have someone wonderful in the same street!

Next time I have these lovely visitors I am going to bake and have this ready, for some reason I didn't even think of this and I was sad afterwards.

Later on that day we went for a lovely walk to the shops.  It was such a lovely day we needed to walk not drive.  Great to get a bit of exercise.  We bought some food and things that we need for the weekend and Friday nights dinner. ( Especially for the visit to the Zoo on Saturday. ) A picnic I think will be in order.   Meeting up with a some lovely twin-less mothers from interstate and here.   I am looking forward to seeing these lovely and amazing women.

I was looking for a pair of  pj's or something that I could use as suitable night attire.  No luck but I have a plan!  Actually that is not true, I found some beautiful ones, silk/cotton and covered in butterflies.  However at nearly $200 and made in China, I absolutely refused to pay that much and I wouldn't allow my very generous other half to spend our hard earned savings on these either.  I cannot possibly justify this at all not matter what. I am not going to immediately go back to bad habits with the prospects of work and earning a bit.

I cannot believe how busy our Easter has become and I am wondering when I am going to fit in my much needed homework and study for the exams.

Dinner time, I have everyone has a good day too!

Ps I forgot to say that I managed to cash in another survey earner and get another $25.00 in the account.  Every little bit counts.