Bad Mummy

No, nothing too awful happened. I just broke my promise to Offspring #2. Just???? Yes, I made a promise to her and I'm about to break it right now. Right here.

A friend made some seriously fabulous, seriously rich, seriously from scratch, totally decadent chocolate mousse. I didn't think the kids would like it much (not just wishful thinking!) mostly because it was sooooooo very rich. Boy was I wrong. They LOVED it. And I took photos that showed how much they loved it. And #2 allowed my photo-taking interference provided I agreed to show those photos only to our mousse-making friend. I was under strict instructions: "don't put them on your blog Mum! I mean it!!!"

But... this shot was too gorgeous and I couldn't resist. And so I broke my promise. Bad Mummy.

Easy Summer Dinner

I made this a few weeks ago and it was the perfect easy dinner for a hot summer night. We've been sweltering through a heat-wave for the past few days, 40C+ for several days and hot, hot nights, and this would have been just the thing - if I'd remembered. Doh!

Hubby particularly enjoyed this meal. It was light, refreshing with all the summery flavours through it and filling enough that he felt like he'd been fed. There's nothing worse than a light summer meal that's so light it leaves you hungry! I made a slightly modified version for the kids - minus just about anything with flavour - so they were happy too. The recipe uses a bought cooked chicken but I cooked up some chicken I had in the fridge instead and it worked out great.

Tex-Mex Chicken Salad

from 3 ways with... by Ross Dobson

Mash 1 avocado in a bowl with 125g (1/2 cup) sour cream and 2 tablespoons lemon juice and season well. Put the shredded meat and skin of a barbecued chicken in a bowl with 1 red onion, sliced into thin wedges, 2 large tomatoes, chopped into bite-sized pieces, 1 handful pitted black olives, 1 large handful chopped coriander (cilantro) leaves and stems, 3 tablespoons jalapeno chillies (in brine) and 3-4 handfuls shredded iceberg lettuce. Toss to combine and top with dollops of the avocado dressing. Serve in warm taco shells.

Another New Favourite Book

This post is going to be a little bit shorter than I'd planned. Offspring #2 decided to smack full-tilt into a door late this afternoon. Much blood, much screaming and and unscheduled trip to the doctor later and she has a nicely split lip, cut gum and bigger lips than even she normally has. Think Angelina Jolie lips with silicon lip injections. Yep, that big. Luckily she didn't need stitches and was sent home with steri-strips holding it all together. My poor little possum is feeling very sad and sorry.

And onto the book... I read Marcus Zusak's The Book Thief this week and fell hopelessly in love with yet another book. I'd go so far as to say it's the best book I've read since The Time Traveller's Wife. And you know how much I loved that one.

The book opens in 1939 Nazi Germany as Liesel, who is to become the book thief, and her younger brother are being taken to live with a foster family. The novel's narrator is Death but rather than being sombre and morbid he is funny, kind and even loving. The story spans the war years and tells of Liesel's life with her foster family, her friends and her love affair with books.

I did find it a bit hard to settle into initially, more to do with the style of the opening chapters than anything else. But once I was in I couldn't put it down and just read and read and read. I loved this book. The descriptions were gorgeous, Liesel's journey was inspirational and Death himself was such an entertaining narrator.

Go. Borrow this book. Buy this book. But most of all just read this book.

Bit and Bobs

Yes, I'm still here and no, you haven't been abandoned. Gee, working three days last week just about did me in. And before you all have a go at me... yes I fully accept that I'm a total wimp. In my defense I did have twelve or so weeks of holidays where I didn't do very much so a week of working, getting kids to school and from school and after school activities, and everywhere else they needed to be, attending parent info sessions for each kid at the school, entertaining, arranging play-dates and whatever else needed to be done left me completely and utterly stuffed!

But I did a bit of cooking and made some tasty new dinners, a seriously fab baked cheesecake and some yummy cookies. Those recipes will be coming along shortly. Or on Thursday, when I'm not working.

I also oversaw the delivery of 16 tons of crushed limestone and now hubby is working very hard making his own limestone block retaining wall and work on the house has begun. There's lots of work to do and it's going to take a long time to get done. A seriously long time. Like pretty much forever. Probably the kids will grow up, move out, get married, have their own kids and we'll finally have an extra bedroom for the grandkids to sleep over. But don't tell hubby I said that. Photos will be forthcoming at each and every exciting moment. You'll be well sick of the reno pictures before I'm sick of the reno's. Although I'm already sick of the dust - it's a little bit like living back in Red Dirt Central with a fine coating of dust over every single surface of the house!

At night when I was too tired to go near the computer for very long (though I did try to do twitter updates so you'd know I was around) I ploughed through some of the books on my bedside table. I went a bit crazy with my requests from the local library and then they all came in pretty much at once. Our library allows you to borrow up to 10 books at a time for three weeks on each card. I used up all of my card and most of Offspring #1's. I was almost pleased when I couldn't get into a couple of the books I'd borrowed simply because it meant I was finished with them quickly and could get onto the next one. I know, I'm an idiot. But I did find a couple that I enjoyed and one that I loved. Loved. LOVED. I'll do a post on that tomorrow.

And when I was having a quiet play on the computer I found a couple of new blogs that I'm loving to bits. I'm going to add them into my sidebar and do proper introductions just as soon as I can (hello Bush Babe!).

I also got my hair done and it's blonder than last time and getting really quite long. The blonde is to hide the white. An intersting side-note - redheads don't tend to go grey, we go pure, sparkling white. Like Tweety-bird's Granny. I figure it'll all blend in together until the white eventually takes over. The long is just because I feel like it. It's kinda my last hurrah before I turn 40. And have white hair.

And I've spent the past week chasing a mouse who has taken up residence in my house. He is driving me insane! He successfully evades traps, seems immune to lavender and bay leaves (mice don't generally like them and they can be a good natural deterrent) and has become quite brave about sticking his head out of little hidey-holes when he thinks we're not watching. I've now stuffed every hole I could find with steel wool and ordered hubby to kill the little bastard. Enough Mrs Nice Mummy, fair means or foul that mouse is going.

Now I'm going to sort school bags, lay out uniforms and generally get things organised for the morning.

Work

Yay! I've got some work over the next couple of weeks.

After finishing up my last job in December I was on paid holidays until the end of January so technically I wasn't unemployed until just a couple of weeks ago. I've panned to do relief teaching a couple of days each week but of course school has only just gone back so no-one's off sick or out on courses, therefore I haven't had any work. It's exactly as I expected and to tell the truth I haven't minded too much - it was nice to spend the first couple of weeks getting the kids sorted out with school, especially with Offspring #2 starting kindy. But... by yesterday when both kids were at school and all my chores were done by 10.42am I was going a wee bit stir-crazy.

Then this morning's phone call came - would I help out in a slightly sticky situation for 6 or so days? Um.... Yes please!!!

And the money I'll earn will pay for the tree-lopper I've booked, the pest control man, and the 16 tonne of crushed limestone that is being delivered today. Very nice timing indeed!