I'm A Kindy Mum!

Not much time today. I was kindy mum this morning and choppped up the fruit for morning tea then helped the kids make crabs out of paper plates and some photocopied legs and eyes that they had painted horrific and garish colours. I ended up with glue everywhere but it was fun and Offspring #1 loved me being there. He kept telling the other kids "That's my Mum" and when I called the name of the kid who I was going to work with next he'd tell them "You need to go to my Mum now, she'll help you." So sweet. Most of the kids were very sweet and we had lovely chats about glueing and painting and crabs and being at the beach BUT a couple are right little monsters. I'll be ever-so-gently steering #1 away from them LOL.

Here is a photo of Red Dirt Central taken from the originally-named Radio Hill - it's the highest point in town where the big dishes are to catch the tv and radio reception. You can see one section of the town, then the mud flats and beyond that the ocean.

Question Of The Day: What is your favourite part of helping out at your child's school/kindy/day-care centre?

Apologies

Sorry for the missing blog entries over the past few days - real life just got in the way! Hubby worked all day Saturday. He was gone before 8am and arrived home around 5pm to a frazzled wife, a little boy missing his Dad and a very grumpy baby. What a great welcome, NOT. I planned to cook some fish and make fried rice to go with it but I should have learned my lesson by now. Usually I'm a pretty good cook (okay, maybe not the most modest comment...) but fried rice is absolutely beyond me. I cook the rice several hours ahead of time just like I'm supposed to, I check and re-check the instructions for cooking fried rice, I even follow all the instructions and I end up with a big gluggy bowl full of slop. It went so badly this time that I made Hubby swap tasks halfway through and I took over bathing Offspring #2 while he attempted to revive the rice. Upon my return to the kitchen he delivered the bad news. The fried rice was beyond all help LOL. We still ate it, #2 enjoyed throwing hers around the place and did manage to get some in her mouth, Hubby and I added lots of sweet chilli sauce and, because we added sauce, Offspring #1 added tomato sauce to his - I know it sounds revolting but I can tell you that it looks even worse! However he ate it all, declared it to be a yummy dinner and told me that I was a "bery good cooker".

Sunday was an all-day scrapbooking crop day for me. The kids got to spend some serious quality time with Hubby and I got to spend some serious scrapbooking time away from them all. Needless to say, we all had a great day. I got lots done but have some finishing bits and pieces to do then I'll share some pages.

Today has been a "lets find the floor" kind of day - lots of tidying and cleaning with a bit of playing and a friend dropping in for a cuppa this morning. So while not a really fun day it is a satisfying one.

Question Of The Day: What can you absolutey NOT cook?

An Afternoon Tea Treat

Banana Walnut Bread
(From The Australian Women’s Weekly Cakes and Slices Cookbook)
















125g butter
1 teaspoon vanilla essence
¾ cup castor sugar
2 eggs
1 cup mashed banana (about 3 bananas)
¾ cup self-raising flour
¾ cup plain flour
½ teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
½ cup chopped walnuts

Grease 2 x 8cm x 26cm bar pans, line bases with paper; grease paper.

Cream butter, vanilla and sugar in a small bowl with electric mixer until light and fluffy, add eggs one at a time; beat until combined. Stir in half the banana with half the sifted dry ingredients and half the walnuts, then stir in remaining banana, dry ingredients and walnuts; stir until combined. Spread mixture evenly into prepared tins. Bake in moderate oven for about 45 minutes. Stand 5 minutes before turning on to wire rack to cool. Serve buttered.

Keeping time: 2 days.

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Hubby’s boss drove through Carnarvon last week and bought a box of bananas back to Red Dirt Central, to share amongst the staff. A very generous gesture, especially considering that bananas are selling for $12.95/kg at the supermarket. Sadly we left it a bit long to eat them so they ended up becoming cake instead! I know, any excuse LOL.

I have made this cake lots of times and it is a terrific recipe – quick, simple and pretty much no-fail. The only thing I do differently is make one square loaf, simply because I only have one bar pan and haven’t got around to buying another one. It cooks in the same amount of time. I had to laugh at the recommended keeping time – it never lasts that long here.

A message from my Nan

Ever felt like the Universe was trying to send you a message? In this case I had a fairly good idea where the message was coming from, I was just having a hard time understanding it. (This is where it gets spooky for those who need to sleep with the lights on LOL) My Nan hangs out with me a lot. She points me in the right direction when I can’t find things, she passes on messages about stuff I need to know and she gives me hints to make me think about stuff a bit more. Sounds great doesn’t it? It is great, just a bit strange because she died nearly 19 years ago. And sometimes she doesn’t exactly make her meaning clear. Ever since she died I have known that she is with me. Sometimes I see shadows behind me, other times it’s just a feeling and there are periods of time where there is nothing at all. But she’s always there - guiding me, passing on information and, like I said, sometimes making me think things out a bit more carefully.

Some background
Last week some friends sent a text to say that their baby had been born – a boy they had named O_. “Lovely,” said we, “that’s an uncommon/old fashioned name, I bet he’ll be the only one in his class.” And that was that. Two days later I met a new boy in Offspring #1’s class and his name is O_. “How funny,” I thought to myself as I drove home. “Two O_’s in one week” and then it hit me. Nan’s last name for the majority of the time I knew her was O_! “Hmmm…” thought I. “I wonder what she’s trying to tell me?” As I dusted the photos that afternoon we had a little (one-sided) chat along the lines of:
“Nan, I’m not sure what you are trying to tell me. I need a few more clues. Can you help me out?”
Fast forward a couple of nights and Hubby and I were watching a movie. I sort-of recognised one of the actors and scanned the credits to see who it was – you guessed it, his first name was O_. Getting spooked but still no closer to understanding I pondered on it a bit and had a stern chat with Nan. Tuesday night I was on the computer reading a few of my favourite blogs. I opened one and it began with “This weekend O_, ? and I went to…”
So I picked up the phone and rang my mum. I asked if there was anything that I needed to know. Were she and Dad both okay. Were they not telling me anything about Dad’s recent surgery? Was Mum okay? Nothing – they are fine. Was everyone else in the family okay? Yes, everyone is fine.

Wednesday was Offspring #2’s first birthday. As I took her out of her cot I whispered "Happy Birthday" and used her full proper formal name. Nan's name. We named her in honour of my Nan and while #2's ‘official’ name is Nan’s we call her a different version of it. Finally, I understood the message. Nan was just trying to wish her a happy birthday and, at the same time, let me know that she’s watching over my babies.

Question Of The Day: Have you ever felt like the Universe was trying to send you a message?

Happy Birthday Baby

Offspring #2 is one today. And she is sick with some sort of gastro bug! Life here is very exciting – open a birthday present, change a nappy, open another present, change another nappy! It’s not quite that bad but it’s not exactly as much fun as a first birthday should be.

We opened presents before Hubby left for work - #2 still doesn’t get the idea of present opening (we had trial runs with her birthday party and then Father's Day!) but the paper is fun to play with. As people asked me for present ideas I put out the call for ‘girly’ stuff – her big brother has bazillions of cars, trucks, racing tracks, etc and she loves them. There is absolutely nothing wrong with that but I was looking to open up some other avenues. Now she has 6 dolls, lots of pretty dresses, some really cute shoes and a couple of sets of pretty hair clips. Yep we’re getting girly in this house.

We’re having a special birthday dinner tonight. I’m making Chicken Pizzola, which I haven’t made before, and a birthday cake for dessert. I know it’s a bit over the top to have two birthday cakes but she’s got to have one on her birthday (even if she can’t eat any because she’s not feeling well!) and we all know that while a first birthday is all about the child whose birthday it is, but a first birthday celebration is for the rest of the family LOL. I know Offspring #1 will have a great time singing “Happy Birthday” and then blowing out the candle for his sister. And I’ll get to take more photos for scrapbooking! And Hubby will just grin and bear it LOL.

Happy Birthday baby!

Question Of The Day: How did you celebrate first birthdays for your kids?