I Have To Say...

It's a good thing I didn't do NaNoBloMo this year. You remember NaNoBloMo? Where you do a blog post every single day in November? I did it a couple of years ago and really got my blogging mojo back at the time. This year? Well it's taken me until the 20th of the month to do one post. And even then it's about not posting.

 

I've been busy with work and kids and life and blogging and cooking have taken something of a back seat. A very back seat. But I have some pics to share and some stories to tell so I'll try to be a bit more regular with the posts.

 

Meanwhile, why don't you tell me what you've been up to?

This Kid Cracks Me Up!

I have a theory that Offspring #2 was brought into my world purely to test me. If it's not her asthma, it's her pushing my buttons until I could scream. But she also makes me laugh like a loon which is probably lucky for both of us. Today's efforts were extra funny - especially when you consider that I hadn't seen her since yesterday morning when I left for work - she was fast asleep by the time I got home last night, was gone before she woke up today and I saw her for all of two hours this evening.

 

Her: Don't you get sick of having to share a bedroom with Dad?

Me: Um... no not really.

Her: Really??? I would think you'd get sick of having to share a bed and listen to him snore and fart. (yeah, she's a total charmer!!)

Me: (choking back laughter) No, it's fine.

Her: Well, if you ever do get sick of it, or... you know he farts so bad you think you might die... you can come sleep in my room if you want. I'll wriggle over so you can sleep in my bed. I won't mind. And I won't fart.

 

And later...

 

Her: Mum? Who's your best friend?

Me: Daddy

Her: No. Really.

Me: Yes, really. Daddy's my best friend.

Her: Yuk! No-one has a boy best friend!! I'll be your best friend instead.

 

Bom Bom Bom

I'm probably a bit late to the party with this, but this song has kept the kids and I bopping along for the past week or so. I dare you to listen to it without tapping your toes. Or getting it stuck in your head!

Carnival Day

The school sports carnival that is! The annual sports day was scheduled for last week but a storm was brewing and the school made the (very good!) decision to postpone the carnival until today. Friday was stormy, wet and freezing cold. Today was sunny and warm. Well, warm-ish. We all managed to get just a little bit sunburnt though the temp didn't quite make it to 20C.

 

The kids had a ball. I had some red coloured hairspray and red zinc and decorated the offspring appropriately this morning. They were um... colourful! But so were most of the school.

 

The kids ran and ran and ran. And, like in so many other schools, ribbons were awarded for winning, coming second or third or fourth, and just for taking  part. So there were LOTS of ribbons.

 We had flag races and relays. Tunnel ball and sprints. The kids loved it and so did I. And just quietly, despite them being the ones who ran around all day while I just sat and spectated (and yelled, cheered and clapped) I'm just as worn out as  them.

More Puppy Lovin'

Oh my gosh! Murphy and Pepper are so ridiculously cute. Yesterday was one of my regular days off  and, as they were intent on exploring just about every single inch of the acre we live on - and they're still too little to do so unattended - I got to spend the day outside with them. They kept me entertained all day long with their escapades. Murphy is definitely the leader and took charge of which direction they were heading but he's also a bit of a chicken so if anything moved (like the chooks, or a branch in the wind, or a bird flying over) he darted back to me quick smart. Pepper's up there with the pep! And although she follows her brother around quite happily, if he's doing something she doesn't like she sure lets him know about it. They explored, found the chooks, got stuck under the deck (only because they couldn't work out how to get under a beam, not really stuck), created tunnels though parts of the garden, fell down steps, came to screeching halts on their heads and eventually crashed out for a good two hour nap. Then they woke up and started all over again just as the kids got home from school.

 

Here are some of the highlights...

 

 

Let's just say it's a good thing the fishpond has a metal grate on it! Orignally it was to keep adventurous toddlers out. Now it keeps adventurous puppies safe! Pepper particularly enjoyed laying across it with her paws in the pond trying to catch the fish.

Pepper attacking the rope swing. Again, this was initially put up for the human kids but... the animal kids have all loved it. Murphy was very hesitant but once he saw how much fun Pepper was having he thought he'd better have a go too.

 

Action puppy-running shot! Have fluff, will run!!

 

 

Awww... who can resist this little face? Ummm, not me!

And finally, all tuckered out and fast asleep by my chair.

And fast asleep on the other side of my chair.

Puppy Love

After processing our anger and grief at losing Betsy in May we entered into the healing stage and started talking about getting another dog. We talked about one dog versus two dogs. We knew we could handle one - we had Max for 12 or so years before cancer claimed him and although Betsy was a handful we were getting there with her too. But we thought two dogs would be good company for each other and I had vague hopes that if they kept each other occupied they might leave poor old Spike the cat alone.

 

We looked at rescue dogs, dogs from shelters and dogs needing to be rehomed but none of the dogs we saw quite 'fit' our family. We decided that perhaps we'd turn out attentions to a puppy instead and concentrated on pups from shelters/rescue groups but again, nothing fit right.

 

And then we found... Murphy and Pepper.

 

 

Not from a shelter or a rescue place. But perfect for us. Nine week old Border Collie puppies who are little balls of fluff full of zip and zing. The came home today and have kept us entertained all afternoon. Even when they've been asleep.

 

 

All together now.... Awwwww!

Birthday Recap

My baby girl turned 7 this week and I may have shed a tear or two. I cannot believe she's seven already but mostly, if she's seven then I really and truly don't have 'little' kids any more.  But she was thrilled to turn seven and when her Nan rang with birthday wishes on Thursday morning the wee girl confided that she thought she had grown a bit taller during the night and was bigger than when she was six. You know. The day before.

We celebrated in our usual epic style. Presents in the morning and a cake to take to school to share with her classmates.

If the cake looks familiar it's because it's the same as the one I sent in for #1 earlier in the year. This has become the cake they both request for school, and I have to say it's a whole heap easier than 30-odd cupcakes!

Thursday night saw the grandparents descend for birthday dinner of the Birthday Girl's choosing - spag bol and garlic bread (of course!!) and a Freddo ice-cream cake.

And today we celebrated just a little bit more with a party at home with her school friends. Ages and ages ago (like six months or more) she decided she wanted a rainbow party so I've been madly pinning rainbow everything on Pinterest and had some pretty ideas to copy. Following our rules of 'as many guests as the age you're turning' she invited 7 little girls to come dressed in their favourite colours of the rainbow and we had ourselves a colourful, food additive laden afternoon. Here are some of the pics...

The birthday girl with her guests

Little Miss 7!

Rainbow cupcakes

 



The rainbow balloon backdrop

Marshmallow rainbow bites

(aka marshmallows with a dot melted chocolate and a smartie on top,

all laid out in the colours of the rainbow) 

Rainbow Fruit Plate

(aka strawbs, orange, pineapple, kiwi, blueberries)

Getting ready to blow out the candles on her rainbow cake

Inside the rainbow cake!

She had a wonderful time and grinned her way through the afternoon. She (and her big brother) are currently coming off a sugar/colour high and I think we're in a for an interesting evening. But that's all part of the fun of a birthday party.

Brocolli, By Any Other Name

This conversation just took place, amongst homework and afternoon tea, at the kitchen bench and I'm still giggling so thought I'd share...

 

Offspring #1: What's for dinner?

 

Me: Broccolini Tart. And maybe braised cabbage and some vegies.

 

#1: Yum! You've made Broccolini Tart before haven't you? (And at my nod, yes) I remember, it was really good.

 

Offspring #2: Yuk!!  I don't like that!! Wait, what's Broccolini?

 

Me: You do like it...

 

#1: You like Brocollini! It's just like Broccoli.

 

Pause while #2 thinks about it...

 

#1: But with an INI at the end.

 

#2: Oh! That! Yeah, I like that.

 

Sometimes they leave me giggling like a crazy woman and they have no idea why. Then they look at each other and wander off together as if agreeing to leave the crazy woman alone for a while.

The Best Laid Plans...

My work days got moved around a bit this week and I ended up with 5 days off in a row. Total awesomeness.

 

 I had grand plans. Grand. Plans.

 

I figured I'd spend the first day getting all the chores out of the way - you know, the grocery shopping, clean the house, a couple loads of washing - then I'd have time for fun. Friday was going to be all about me with a shopping trip and hair cut on the cards. Then the weekend would be free to do fun stuff with Hubby and the kids and I was even thinking we might call on our teenage babysitter and fit in a date night too.

 

But... yesterday morning I did something to my back. I have no idea what that something was but it has resulted in me being barely able to move. And, oh my word, the pain! So all the plans flew out the window and now I'm on the couch watching daytime tv. I saw the physio yesterday. She helped a little and ordered me home to rest, rest, rest. She also told me to pass the message on to Hubby and the kids that they needed to wait on me hand and foot - they're doing a pretty good job but it's kinda frustrating watching them do stuff differently to how I do it. .

 

So now it's back to the tv, pinterest and blog reading. And pain killers. I'm counting down till the next dose.

A Day Of Utter Crapness. Erased.

It was a day that began with a complete and utter Mummy-meltdown, quickly followed by some particularly appalling Mummy-yelling. Then came the shoving the kids out of the car at school drop off followed by the kind of heart-breaking remorse that leads me to believe that (a) I am well overdue for a good night's sleep and (b) I am hitting pmt-hell again. After a bit of a cry on the way to work I sent a message to the boy-child that read: "I'm sorry I yelled at you this morning. I love you. Mum xx" It made me feel marginally less guilty and I hoped it would make him feel better too. I was very happy (and somewhat relieved) to get a message on my way back home that read: "It's okay. I love you too and I'm sorry I didn't do what u asked. xx" Aaah, mummy-relief. And yes, I cried some more and realised all over again that pmt and lack of sleep are just not pretty.

In the middle of the day more crap stuff happened. And that made me cry too. But not till I was safely in the car on the way home. It wasn't work related, just happened while I was there. And it's nothing that can't be fixed but, what d'you know? The whole sleep/pmt thing made it a hundred times worse than it really was.

But a phone call from the lovely Felicity in Queensland was as welcome as a warm hug and cheered me up no end. And a facebook message checking up on me from the lovely Anne, who promptly organised a GNO (otherwise known as a Girls Night Out) that will involve dinner and a feel-good movie, reminded me that BFF's rock. ROCK!!

And I remembered that a day of utter crapness is nothing. Especially when it's compared to the hugeness of love from forgiving offspring and supportive BFF's.

Almost There

Oh. My. Gosh.

What a month it has been. I've stepped up to be the acting boss, worked almost full-time (with a few days of seriously long hours), juggled kids, cooking and housework, employed a nanny/babysitter to help out a few afternoons each week and seriously thought I'd manage to blog somewhere in there too. Yeah, you can all stop laughing now.

Thank goodness for my ever-wonderful hubby who has totally stepped up and filled the void.

And thank goodness for our new nanny/babysitter. I feel kinda stupid (and little bit try-hard-y) calling her the nanny but she's more than just a babysitter. The kids already love her and so do I. She keeps then in-line ensuring they do boring stuff like chores and housework (*edited to say... not housework! HOMEwork!! LOL) and also manages to keep them amused doing fun stuff like taking them for walks, playing board games and teaching them how to make microwave chocolate mug cakes for afternoon tea treats. And she brings in my washing. Super bonus! 

The real boss is back next week and I'll be back to my regular hours, regular job and am looking forward to things slowing down just a little. And then I'll have time for all the normal things, like trying out new recipes, blogging and playing with my kids.

It's An Oldie

Last night's conversation with my wee girl was a slight variation on an oldie, but a goodie.

She was looking at her reading book, impatient to get on with her nightly reading, while I was putting the last of the washing onto the airing rack in front of the fire.

Her: Mum, what does S-A-Y say?

Me: Say.

Her: Yes, what does S-A-Y say?

Me: Say.

Her: Yes, say?

Me: Yes. SAY.

Her: Mum! What does it say????

Me: Say!

Her: Well if you're not going to help me, don't worry about it!!

And she stomped off down the hallway while her dad and I laughed ourselves silly.

Then I called her back and we looked at the word together and sounded it out and worked out that S-A-Y really does say... say.

Day One. Done.

We made it out the door with a minimum of fuss, I got to work on time (a few minutes to spare even!) and we're all set for tomorrow. School clothes are laid out and school bags are packed just waiting for lunchboxes.

I got in to find a massive MASSIVE list of things to get through. A huge HUGE list of instructions to be followed. And the usual enormous ENORMOUS number of emails that are always waiting after a few days away from work. But I ploughed on and made a good start on it all so in all it was a good day.

Then I came home to make a quick and easy oven baked risotto. And because I wasn't paying attention I grabbed the regular white rice instead of the arborio and... well... the yummy dinner we were going to have wasn't quite as yummy. I saved it but it was neither pretty nor delicious. Oh well, there's always tomorrow.

And tomorrow the term start for real.

Reality Bites

The ironing is done, school clothes are sorted and put away, school bags (and pencil cases) have been checked, cleaned out and restocked. Yep term starts tomorrow, and with it, I start an acting position that involves higher duties and more work hours for the next five or so weeks.

In a strange quirk, both kids are looking forward to returning to school. Poor #1 was sick with the flu the last week of term and through most of the holidays while the rest of us have had varying levels of head colds over the past couple of weeks so the holidays have, for the most part, been necessarily fairly quiet. The promised play-dates didn't happen and there were no sleep overs (apart from at Nan and Pop's while Hubby and I ran away for a couple of days) so I think both #1 and #2 are pretty keen to see their friends.

I've got a couple of meals in the freezer for this stint but haven't done nearly as much as I would have liked. I guess I'll just have to spend next weekend getting a bit more sorted out.

And the hardest bit is that tomorrow morning I'll be sitting at my desk reading through what needs to be done earlier than I woke up this morning. That's gonna hurt. It's gonna hurt bad.  

iPhone Madness

I finally caught up with the rest of the world and got a smart phone last week. Hubby and I checked them all out and were torn between the Samsung Galaxy and the iPhone but finally went with iPhone for a whole bunch of reasons.

The first couple of days were... ummm, trying. It took me a little while to get my head around the workings (and less than a week later am only just sussing out some parts of it!) but have finally worked out how to answer the darn thing - yes, that was an entertaining few minutes - and have dived into the world of apps. The 10 year old boy-child has been very supportive and helpful with the games side of things and hints from other blogs have helped too. I'm seriously in love with Instagram, the Coles app has some great recipe ideas and the Where To Eat app is very informative.

So, if you're an iPhone junkie, what are your fave apps? What should I be checking out? And have you got any hints for the phone itself - maybe shortcuts or stuff that seems really simple now but took you a while to figure out? I'm the first to admit that I'm totally resistant to new ideas until I get my head around them and then I'm a total convert. So c'mon people, lead me down the path of conversion!!

And We're Home Again

We got home late this afternoon, collected the cat from his boarding kennel, picked up the kids from their grandparents house and I had the washing machine going not long after. Just a couple of days away leads to a whole pile of laundry needing to be done!

But...we had the most wonderful time and our trip to Must really was one of the highlights. That alone was worth the three and a half hour drive! The food was outstanding, the service was spectacular and the wine menu has to be seen to be believed. One of the things I really loved was that they sold drinks by the bottle, the glass or the taste. A 'taste' was half a glass - perfect for someone like me who is a total lightweight when it comes to alcohol so has no hope of finishing a bottle (and quite frankly a couple of glasses is quite often more than I can cope with) but would like to try a couple of different wines.

We arrived early in order to have a pre-dinner drink - we were thinking a cocktail - but decided on a wine instead. We were going to go with a Chardonnay from one of the local Margaret River wineries but were easily persuaded to go with a taste of that and a taste of a French Chardonnay. Hubby and I shared both and Oh.My. Goodness. I thought the WA Chardonnay was quite lovely and then I tried the French one and it was heavenly. From there we went onto a Champagne from Spain - partly because I love my bubbly but mostly because I'd never had a Spanish bubbly before (very nice!) - then back to the French Chardy for me and a French Cab Sav for Hubby before I finished with an Italian Moscato and Hubby topped off the evening with a Cab Sav from Argentina. Talk about around the world!

As someone who sticks pretty well to Australian or New Zealand wines (with the odd French Champers for extra special occasions) having the chance to try wines from all over the world was amazing.

The meal was just as fabulous. We'd decided not to start with an entree - we'd had an entree with pretty much every meal while we were away and I was determined to have dessert with this one. I simply can't do three courses so had to sacrifice the entree. Oh the sacrifice! My duck leg confit with spiced pears and braised red cabbage was fantastic and Hubby declared that his 30-day aged sirloin beef was, if not the best he'd ever had, pretty darn close. Followed up with a creme brulee with caramelised banana and a coconut icecream this really was a meal to remember.

And, yes. We'll definitely be back. And luckily the original Must is up here in the big smoke  because while this might be a once in a while kinda restaurant for us, we're both determined that it won't be a once in a lifetime one.

We Really Must

Today we slept late, enjoyed a yummy breakfast and then hit the road. We checked out a few camping sites, that we could stop at with the kids over the summer, and then moved onto the wineries. Several tastings (and a purchase or two) later we ended up at one of the local breweries for lunch. A shared tasting plate was perfect and showcased some of the delicious local products. A bit more site-seeing took us through to late afternoon when we felt that a spa and a bit of a relax was in order and headed back to our B&B.

Now we're off to dinner at Must - this was always part of my plan for our getaway and we're both really looking forward to a fantastic experience. Click on the link and check out the menu (as well as the venue and the wine!).

Tomorrow we head back home, but not before we hit a couple more wineries and enjoy lunch somewhere to finish of our little 'break away from the world'. This has just been total bliss and I really hope we'll make the effort to do it again. Maybe we'll have to hit up Nan and Pop for babysitting again in six months or so...

I've Run Away

Run away with my husband that is. We've taken off for a couple of days and are enjoying some 'us' time. The kids are having a mini-holiday with Nan and Pop while we spend some time catching up with each other. This is the first time we've ever left the kids for longer than a night. It's also the first time we've gone away together, without them. So exciting.

I booked us into a fancy-schmancy B&B - king sized bed, a spa, a balcony out to the forest, and all a ten minute walk into town. Lovely.

We've been to a winery for some wine tasting and then for a delicious lunch, wandered through the town we're staying in, been out for dinner and booked tomorrow night's dinner at a restaurant with a seriously fab reputation. And now I'm gonna go snuggle with my gorgeous husband. And yes, 'snuggle' might be code for something else...

Ten Days

Ten days till I have to be back in my office, that is.

Yeah baby!

Hair Cut Regretsky

So I got my hair cut on the weekend. If you consider how I wore it for a long time...

it's still quite long.

 

But if you consider how I've worn it for past couple of years...

It's really quite short.

It's in a bob, of sorts that sits just on my shoulders and I love, love, love the length. But the cut isn't quite doing what it should and, quite frankly, it's not doing me any favours. I've spent the past few days filled with the dreaded Hair Cut Regret.

So tomorrow I'm going to ring my hairdresser and book an appointment for her to have another go at it. I can't entirely hold her responsible for how it looks - she did exactly what I asked for so this time round I think I'm going to have to find a picture and attempt to explain what I want in words rather than waving my arms around and saying lots of, 'well you know' and 'um just whatever you think really'!