Bye Bye 2009!

Well I haven't been around at all, have I?

I'm alive though, reasonably healthy, could still shift a few kilo's that progressively keep creeping onto my body, but I am still about.

I guess I was so boring for so long that blogging didn't seem necessary, my life was moving forward but it was so much of the same old over and over, but I intend to do more in 2010.

I'm really enjoying baking now, every weekend I try something new and I'm slowly getting better, here is a little recap of some of things I baked in 2009:

Big Little Man's Birthday Cake

A batch of girlie cupcakes

Ravin Rabbid Birthday Cake for Little Man

Honey Biscuits

Milk Chocolate Ganache pods

Sugarpaste modelling - "Shaun" the sheep

Macadamia Caramel Tartlet

Mocha and Cream Muffins

Fairy cupcakes

Caramel bites

Chocolate mousse tartlets

Baby Banoffee

Lemon Meringue Tarlets

Chocolate spiced Christmas Muffins

Fruit tartlets

And so I have decided to blog about my baking, share my recipes and my methods - and maybe what ever else takes my fancy!!

Happy New Everyone!

This will be my Birthday Cake in 09:

Thanks to Bakerella

Food Porn of the day:

Unbelievably my food porn is working for me, I have been eating really well the last few weeks and although the scales are not moving fast in the downward direction, my skin looks healthy, I'm sleeping and having lovely dreams (like myself zipping about town in a purple suzuki swift ??) and I actually enjoy exercising again.

The weather has changed and spring looks to arrive early, so this has also motivated me to return into shape. All is good, still stressing about where I want my life to head as I can't be the SAHM forever!

Weight loss and sweets

Can I lose weight or even maintain and continue my passionate love for all things sweet?

Damn I wish you could, but sadly at this point in my life I'm just not in the mood to burn copious amounts of calories through exercise so that I can enjoy sweets. I would rather starve myself all day to save space for sweets, but that doesn't work either unless I like the headaches and torturous cramps in my stomach till feeding time.

So what to do? Enjoy food porn!

The Repressed Pastry Chef is a nice place to head for some quality food porn. And I also enjoy some savory food porn at Exclusively Food.

I must say I'm rather lucky as I also have a blog buddy who takes lovely Food Porn photo's: Jaybird

My life is in the doldrums at the moment, I think I'm on the edge of a mid-life crisis and food is my crutch.

Club Penguin

Where have I been? Other then consuming too much food and freezing, my boys have taken over both computers to socialize on Club Penguin:

It's rather cute and I was told to have my own penguin so that I could "sled ride" and "eat pizza" in the pizza shop with them.

I'm not a real member, so I can not buy my penguin groovy outfits and join in on member functions, but it's cute and if there was a adult version, I think I would join. But sadly adult version are more like dating sites and so I think I'll just continue to giggle at my boys with their over dressed penguins and funny puffle pets.

Edit: Oh Oh I worked out what Club Penguin adult version reminds me of... The Sims Live, does that still exist?

Update on Big Little Man biting issue:

Well it took 2 weeks for the teacher to work out exactly what happened and it really was an accident. I felt awful when I found out as I never believed BLM and grounded him all that weekend, but it's all sorted now and I doubt he'll ever play that way again with his friends.

If Bublé can't help me

I'm depressed and not even Bublé can get me out of it, I'm heading for ice cream and red wine and hope it works!

Why? Big Little Man seems beyond my reach these days, twice this week I have had calls from the school to advise that he has been fighting or as they like to say "caused an unfortunate incident". They continue to advise that academically his a good student, excels even and no trouble in the class room, but put him on the playground and he turns all "Mr Hyde".

Today he bit the thumb of another child, when you ask him what happened it was all just an accident, but really how does someone's thumb get into another person's mouth by accident? Why did the other child let his thumb even get in my son's mouth? 

The Man thinks it's funny, before he headed off for work tonight he told me take care of Little Man and Hannibal - Not funny :(

ummm

I've been trying to get into blogger for the last 10 minutes and it kept bouncing me out, and now that I am finally on I can't recall what I was going to blog about.

I think it was to announce my pure happiness that the school holidays have ended and my son's have gone back to school.

Maybe it was to say that i have found some fitness motivation again and have been getting up at the crack of dawn to go for power walk with Deaf dog (the lack of brain function right now maybe a result of this mornings early rising and my need for breakfast).

I'm thinking also I may have logged on to tell you all I'm going to try to find another cache today.  Little Man and I did set out again on the holidays but I simply couldn't find the cache, it was getting late and as GZ (Ground Zero - caching lingo I can now use!) was in dense bush land and the light was fading quickly.  We will head out there again, but that is one he wasts to search for, so I'll wait for the weekend.

This cache is just a few minutes from the blood bank where I am also headed to today, so I'll see if I can do this one solo... wishing myself luck!

The Cache is discovered!

Whoo Hoo, we headed out again to look for Kayla's Cache dragging along my friend Fishlips and her son's and we found it!

My short 5'3 meant that Fishlips had to hoist Little Man onto her shoulders to retrieve the cache, I'm curious to know what I would have had to do if it was just I and the kids, some possible tree climbing?

With all the excitement, the boys took 3 things from the cache and I replaced them with 3 new items. I'm not sure if this is the norm and am still learning the correct etiquette of it all but we did CITO and logged.  It was great fun, the iphone was very accurate for this one but if we really get into it, The Man has promised to buy us a real handheld GPS.

The Boys with their cache find

What we left in the cache.

YouTube funny

This guy has been around forever, but I saw this last night and it really made me laugh... and I was having one of those crap nights.


and 5 sec of LOL

Geocaching virgin

This article has show me how easy I can geocache with my iPhone 3G GPS function. I have joined Geocaching.com so that I can find the details of hidden caches and the kids and I are going to give it a go!

I thought that we should start with a really close one; Kayla's Cache, in the hopes that we would find it easily as it was local, well I did I hope so!


The boys on the hunt!


A bit of the area we were looking in.

The GPS details seem to get me to the area the cache was in, I stupidly assumed that it would show me exactly were it was and even though we followed the details described.. no luck! We aren't disappointed and the kids seem very interested to go treasurer hunting again. What I think I need is to learn a bit more as there is codes and a bit of jargon I'm just not familiar with but it's was really exciting although all we did was head up and down a dirt track.

Also I was not prepared and think my thongs were not appropriate footwear as the creek area seem a lovely habitat for Australian creatures with fangs.

Picket Fence

When we bought our house we decided that it needed a front fence as we don't live too far from a main road. So my husband put up a picket fence and it was my job to paint it. At the time I was pregnant with Little Man and so 5 years later it still is half painted!

After our adventures at the cycle way and a pit stop at the playground for a "job well done" iceblock, the kids started the bored chant and I needed to get them to do something - why not paint the picket fence!



I was an idiot to assume my 2 could paint the fence without painting each other... the experience has scarred me, it will likely be another 5 years before I ask them to help me paint again.

Bike Riding

It's time! The school holidays are on, the autumn weather, although rainy every other day is rather gorgeous and screaming to be outdoors, so it's time my boys learnt how to really ride a bike.

Big Little Man is way to old to still be on training wheels and I'm tired of his silly excuses. Little Man is slightly more interested but I can't take one without the other. I also have read that the GPS on my iphone may be able to be used for geocaching which is something I've wanted to do for ages - that is another post as I have yet to learn the function of my iphone for it.

So the training wheels have been removed... lets go!

Update:


I am trying the Bike New York method as I've tried all the other standard ways and it seems rather logical and simple:


Big Little Man shocked me and really gave it a go, Little man had hissy fits throughout the training as his brother was ahead of him, was going too fast etc.. They are enthusiastic to try it again and hopefully by the end of the week (I have high optimism) I can put the pedals back on or hopefully by the end of the holidays.

Happy Easter!

I hope that all the blogger people of the world had a wonderful Easter with all the treats that it deserves!

The kids had a great time of course with a big family lunch and all their cousins over, too much chocolate and late nights. Thankfully the easter bunny didn't over do it at all this year and the chocolate supply ran out after 2 days (although there is an entire batch hidden in my wardrobe which they never need know about!)


I put on some delicious Easter desserts of my own and I think sadly this will take more then 2 days to work off my body!

Happy Easter!

Slow but steady

It took me a while but I did give myself heaps of time to make sure that I would have it finished by Easter and I'm really proud of the final result:



Re: The start of Captain Underpants

Clearing the way

Thought I'd keep a record here of all the things I'm setting free from my home and life. I think it will be interesting to see in the end all I de-cluttered.

Today:
A big Frij - some sort of bottle esky (why did I keep this?) - C
A broken pasta maker - B
5 x Handbags - C
V- Smile Game System & 6 games - R
A box of cutlery, glasses, toast plates - C



C= Charity item
B = Bin Item
P = Pass on to someone I know
R = Offered on Freecycle

De-clutter

Under the advise of my brother I decided to de-clutter my wallet. Whilst we were in QLD in January and having a drink at the pub he questioned why I needed so many things in my wallet. He showed me his wallet, 1 debit card, 1 credit card, Medicare (health card) & his drivers license - that's it, other then cash & a tiny photo of his family. The Man then showed his wallet and rather the same, just an extra boat license. They bet me that I couldn't do it, he had challenged his own wife and she couldn't, I was up for the challenge!

Firstly I had to downsize the purse, which I didn't really mind as this was shopping, and who doesn't love shopping for accessories! Now this was very hard to do as most women's wallets have oodles of space and equally enough little pockets to store more then my aimed 4-5 cards, eg:

So I end up settling for a rather male style wallet until I can find something more girly (which will likely just mean a colour other then black!)

The first week was torture, I swear I needed my Woolworths everyday card, that's why the check out lady asks for it all the time, no? No! I didn't need the 5% off this store card that I have never been back to again, and do I really want to be reminded that I had to drink 10 coffee's before I get a free one? No! It was hard but gezz, now that I have managed for the last 2 months, I feel free! Some cards of course I do need but only on occasion and so they live in the old purse and I just take them out if I know I'll need it that day.

I've tried several times to declutter the handbag, this is tricker then the wallet, especially if I carry a big bag, but I'm getting there, I have to keep reminding myself that I don't need a mini makeup bag in there, that 1 tissue is enough, not entire packet etc..

Now, as I stood in front on my pantry, I have decided I need to just de-clutter my day to day, then I'm going to head to the wardrobe and cupboards. I'm going to get rid of the clutter, make space and NOT fill it with more crap.

I'm aiming to de-clutter my life! I'm not an emotional fester person, I generally let things go that annoy me, but my life is rather plain at the moment, heading in a very straight line and I don't like it. I'm not looking for wild excitement but something, if I every find it I'll share.

Why I shared all that I just don't know, but I do feel proud that I can manage on a wallet with 5 cards!

How many cards in your wallet?

Still about

But not doing very much at all. Just thought I would pop in, I really ought to blog more... just lazy and my life is so boring, I don't wanted to torture anyone else..

I have been tagged

I've been tagged by Carlton to post seven things about myself...

She is my one and only blogger follower so I feel rather honored, and it's been donkeys since I have been tagged.

The Rules:
1. List these rules on your blog.
2. Share 7 facts about yourself on your blog.
3. Tell 7 unspectacular quirks about you.
4. Tag 7 people at the end of your post by leaving their names as well as links to their blogs.
5.Link the person who tagged you.
6.Leave a comment for each blogger.

Seven Facts about me:
1. I'm 5'3 and feel it as 50% of the 6th graders at my son's school are taller then me.
2. I love gadgets.
3. I hate cleaning the house, ironing clothes, anything domestic - thus a bad SAHM
4. I love my husband, even though I complain about him endlessly
5. I can talk almost anyones head off (or so everyone tells me)
6. I donate my platelets/plasma every month, I feel it's all I can give honestly to the world.
7. I can not eat store made pizza since losing my weight, I instantly become sick with one bite.

Seven Unspectacular Quirks about me: (gezz I thought the facts about me were rather unspectacular)
("Quirk"= A peculiar behavioral habit)

1: I had to look up "Quirk" to ensure I gave the right answers, I do that so I do sound like an idiot.
2. I hang clothes on the line by who owns them, each member of the family gets one side each.
3. I brush my teeth whilst in the shower.
4. The only way to enjoy Vegemite is together with Banana and cheese - grilled!
5. I don't go to the hairdressers, "once bitten forever petrified"
6. I can't help but look at myself in anything reflective, eg building windows etc. It's nothing vain, I just do.
7. I will always turn something down in a store if I know I can get it cheaper somewhere else - miser?, maybe that's a fact?

I'm meant to tag 7 others now, but I don't have that many blog friends, so if your reading this and you haven't done this tag before and find it interesting and want to do it, go right ahead!

Pretty Dresses

I love dresses and I'll use any excuses to buy one! My father is turning 70 in 2 weeks time and my mother is organising a party - the best reason for a new dress!

I thought I would scan ebay as I have found some great items in the past and stumbled on this dress:
But as you can see the final price was way beyond my means and as it was a full length dress I was worried my short stature would mean it would be dragging all over the floor.

The seller has another dress which is shorter and a gorgeous red!

Considering the price it's sister dress went for and that it is also a size 8, I thought it best to head to the stores and see what they had to offer... and I found this:
The photo does it no justice, but I like it, it's falls above the knee, so I'll match it with my black knee high boots and maybe ditch the red tie for a black belt.

iPhone blogging

I was curious to see if I could blog on my new iPhone, well looks like I can! Typing is rather painfull hitting one key at a time, but if I'm stuck in a place without a book or music (although this thing is also a iPod), well I can blog anywhere, like right here in bed!


Tonight I am in the process of make an Easter gift for my son, an Captain Underpants doll. Whilstin the craft store getting my supplys I purchased some "invisible thread", thinking what a super idea. Well let's just say invisible things are not that easy to work with! It is incredibly hard to find the start of the thread on spool, don't attempt to thread the needle over anything other then black and just because your needle is moving in the places you want don't assume the thread is following.

I'm sure the invisable thread has it's advantages but the moment I am just getting a headache, best to just go to bed!

I note the iPhone doesn't spell check, my apologies. I'm sure my grammer is all over the place too. Let's see if I can add a photo.

Okay this is the doll I am in the process of making:


And this is the reason I am making it:


Yes you did read $421 US dollars, so far mine has cost $3

Not much going on

Just thought I'd pop in and say Hi - "Hi"

Well as the title states not much is going on in my life, even though I'm not working my time seems to sucked away between kids & husband, attempting to exercise and volunteer at the school.

Thank you for the condolences on my kitty, he is really missed, you never realise till they are gone. It was sweet driving up the driveway and see him on the front porch, and the way he wrapped himself in my legs when it was dinner time, but so it is and I'm glad I have the memories. Remember that, it is all we ever truly have, memories, so fill your lives with good ones!

A love lost on Valentines

Milson "Millie" 1997-2009

My feline companion passed on tonight, he was getting on and I knew his time was coming, but one never really wants to think that way. I went to give him his dinner and he was at the bottom on the front steps, looked liked he'd slipped down them as he was wet on one side (it has been raining heavily here), his was breathing but it was labored and he meowed when he saw me. It is Saturday night here all the vets I knew of were long closed, emergency after hours answered but it was too late. Life passes so quickly.

The boys said good bye and so too I.

Goodbye Milson, you have been around through 4 dogs lives, my marriage and birth of my boys, 12 wonderful years of fond memories.

iPod + Cooking = :x

Happy Valentines all!

Well The Man is working 5 back to back night shifts and even though we never celebrate valentine, I thought I would bake him a Lemon Meringue pie. Straying of the main subject, I do like Valentines as we tend to go out of the way to buy ourselves gifts, (note, not to each other as the holiday would assume!) The Man hooked himself up to satellite TV so he can watch Premier league in the wee hours of the night and I picked up an iPhone to play with in the wee hours of the night! Once again, Happy Valentine!

Back to point - or the title:
So here I am ready to make the Lemon Meringue pie, I have all the ingredients out and my iPod blaring in my ears (so I can't hear the boys fighting) and as I start I realise an egg missing... Did I take a 3rd egg from the fidge? Did I image I only took 2, I swear I took 3 but only see 2. So off I storm into the playroom to interigate the boys when I slip - fly - arse up then very hard down on my way... I found the missing egg!

iPhone

Now I have my new mac, I think it's time to upgrade my mobile phone and yes I want the new iPhone. But I can't justify it when I don't work and The Man thinks that all I will use it for is Facebook....

but I can get it for just $10 more then my current mobile plan...

Little Man: Big school boy!

January 29th 2009

Reading Jigglies

As much as I love electronic games, I find that I always head back to the old time entertainment of reading and I really wanted to share this love with my boy's. So since their births I have been reading to them and when they could walk and point we headed to the library so they could choose some stories of their own liking. But as Big Little Man found a love of electronic stimulation (get your minds out of the gutter), the Wii, X-box and NDS, his interest in reading started to wane.

What to do? Find a book that will make him stop and see books are just as interesting and fun. I spent a few hours at Borders and searched the web for books boy's of his age read and there is a wonderful array of them, so off to the library I went with my list and came back with these three:
Zac Powers is a tween spy - every little boy's dream!


Captain Underpants is a superhero but is really just a hypnotized school principle - again another kids dream come true!

and this funny little book which reminds me of a very modern Dr Seuss with a bit of wacky humor that make mum's laugh too! Highly recommend this book (and it's twin "The Cat on the Mat is Flat to any age group!)

We really enjoy the others, but Captain Underpants makes my son jiggle with excitement, I bought his first copy (one he could keep) and his eye's glowed, his hands waved about and he was on his toes...he jiggled!

So I think I'm satisfied that as a parent I have done one thing right as each night both my son's beg to read another chapter and best of all he does the reading and I sit back and enjoy the stories!

Happy Australia Day!

Today many Aussies throughout the country are turning on their BBQ's, icing the beer and wearing silly clothing adorned in the colours of the Australian flag. I'm even wearing my Australian bikini, with the southern cross sadly stretch far too much over my increasing large buttocks.

I was game this year and woke the boys at 5.30am to go and see the rising of the Hot Air Balloons, Little Man really enjoyed it but Big Little Man just wanted to go home and back to bed...oh well, time for a beer I guess!

Meltdown

(104.9ºF)
Today's weather and we still haven't hit the worst month yet... errr, so hot!

Facebook v Blogger

After reading's Nod's Blog post about Facebook Reflections it made me have a few of my own.

I like them both but find them very different. One huge factor is this blog is mine and very private, I only share it with people I know who would truly understand why I have it (so about 2 people) and to those of the WWW who I don't have a physical link with (although I do feel that I have made some very nice personal links with people I would not know if I didn't have my blog).

Face book is a wonderful friend connector, I do use it quite a bit but in rather flash moments, post my status, scan others status, posts some pic's. I don't think I have lost any face to face time, but may have actually gained a few extra's as I caught up with school friends that were only memories. It was a wonderful tool to re-connect in this way and now we just keep in contact the old fashion way.

Maybe if Blogger prompted my status you would all find more random bits and pieces on me like those that I left on facebook:

"?? is a big loser at bingo but enjoyed the company!"

"?? had a wonderful day at the beach."

"?? is considering upgrading her imac.... hmmm."

"?? house is already 40°c as she is baking a cake - HB to The Man!"

"?? & the boys had a wonderful day in the Blue Mountains"

But again, I come here when I have something to say or need to get something off my chest I feel I cant share with others, for a good bitch and a yarn... it's my online journal, and I like it!

I also don't like how some people share a little extra personal info then they generally would, like Nod's friends divorce or today, my friends announcement that her Grandmother died. I don't think I would have ever needed to know that as we are friends but not that close (like I wouldn't be told about the funeral details to attend etc) but I felt obliged to post my condolences just because I now knew about her loss.

So I'm still hanging out here, sorry people, the boring blogs will be here for the long run!

The in-laws...

Now they are driving me a little batty. Every year at the same time they all go on diets, and every year its a new diet that is the best diet and will work.."this time"... I think they are just diet suckers and don't want to put in the hard yards of exercise and healthy eating on a daily basis, that in general is how I lost my 30kilo's, I did use calorie counting but no fancy methods, like eat nothing but proteins for 3 days.

So they have spurred me to get right back into my health and lose this nagging 5 kilo's that I had gained and that have been following me for the last 6 months.

This is the diet they are following: Body Trim, it may very well work and good luck to them but hard yakka is my way and I'm off to do just that.

I'm also going to use my Wii fit game more, I really enjoy it telling me that my wii fit age is in the 20's but I like the yoga parts and find the stretching makes me relaxed after a workout. I'd also like to see my Mii a little trimmer!

QLD January 2009

The start of the long drive to Queensland

8 hours into the trip


Big little man just being told that there is another 5hrs to go as we took the wrong road

From Blogger Pictures

Little Man 13hrs into the trip

From Blogger Pictures

New Year Fire works at Tellebugera Beach

From Blogger Pictures

The 2m Python that is slowly killing my brothers chooks

From Blogger Pictures

The cute but noisy Green tree frog in Mum's tree

From Blogger Pictures

We went to Dreamworld and on this crazy ride (This is not my footage), which took my breath away and put my stomach in my mouth - literally!

And the view from the top:


It was a quick holiday, but packed full of sun, surf, family, shopping, food, wine and fun!