The Anniversary

("Mother and Daughter" by Willow Tree figurines)

I said to myself that I wouldn't post today because it was terribly cliched and irrelevent.

Today marks the first anniversary of Mum's passing.

I'm not wallowing in a pool of pity (*smile*) but I did find myself a bit quiet and reflective so far today. In a couple of hours, hubs and I are taking a drive a few suburbs over to the beach, and I'm going to take a moment to scatter her ashes in the water. We used to live in this beachside suburb and the last time Mum came down for a visit we all (kids, spouses, grandkids etc) spent lots of time at this particular stretch of sand. It was the last time we visited together - Mum had been living with my sister across the country and money was just too tight (on both our parts) to travel more than once every year or two.

I'm not one to solemnly walk out to the water dressed in black, crying, and giving a speech. That's just not me. I certainly didn't want to make a big deal about scattering her ashes. The urn is quite tiny (each of us four kids took a portion home with us after the funeral). I sort of consider it a private thing and so it will just be me out there. Hubs will hang back at my request. The children don't know that Nana was cremated and certainly don't know that we've had her ashes in our walk-in closet for the last year. They're all at school today.

And because I don't want to have the entire day be negative, afterwards hubs is taking me out for lunch :)

Later this evening I'll ring my siblings. It has been quite a long time since I spoke to my brothers and we're all drifting further and further apart. I think this happens often with families - nothing really happens, you just wake up one morning and realise that you're not exchanging as many phone calls or emails as you used to. I think its about time we all make more of an effort in that regard. There's also a little 'stagnant water' hanging around under that bridge of ours too (LOL) which needs addressing. But not today.

Today I may even drag out Sense & Sensibility and Pride & Prejudice (VHS) and slip into some old memories. My copy of P&P (the BBC version) was a present I gave to Mum for Mother's Day one year when I was a teenager. And the two of us saw S&S at a matinee movie screening not terribly long after :)

If your mother is still with you, give her a call today :)

Cheers,
Lizzie

Our First Date Was At McDonald's

(cartoon © Hugh MacLeod at www.gapingvoid.com)

If I can take some liberties here and insert a touch of saccharin-sweetness to bloggityville, I'm going to extol the wonderfulness of my hubby for a second or three.

The guy is, of course, gorgeous. I never thought I'd be into a guy with a full beard, but there you go.

As I was spooned up in bed with hubs last night, I got to thinking about the very first time we'd found ourselves arranged into the shape of a piece of cutlery. Just for the record, by the way, this story is very clean :P

A high school friend of mine had recently become engaged and the bloke to whom she was betrothed happened to have an out-of-town brother coming down for a visit one weekend. The usual suggestion of a double-date came up and before I knew it, couple + 1 had arrived at my door to pick me up. As I slid into the car, I glanced up, trying to forget about all the usual references to 'wing men' and 'making up the numbers'. I had been expecting the usual scenario of no-spark politeness, but whoa, was I ever wrong. The stakes were suddenly much, much higher. You know when you know you're absolutely the fourth wheel in an arrangement but for the most part you're okay with that because it might be a fun night out anyway? So you go along with zero expectations and still come home feeling like a good time was had by all? That was the set up to this particular evening. And then suddenly it mattered what he thought of me. I silently cursed my hair, my clothes, and the fact that my jeans had a pin-prick hole in the knee. Which he never did see.

The Couple and I had lived in this particular small town for years and the most exciting thing to have happened in the previous year was the opening of the new McDonald's (I briefly worked there as a fifteen year old but - ahem - we'll gloss over that particular gem...) So, naturally, that's where we went to eat. I remember being specifically thankful that we were not seated opposite one another because, well, have you ever tried to eat a Big Mac delicately? There's just no way.

We 'did laps' of the main street for a while (ahhh, the heady days of youth!) and headed back to my friend's house, an impromptu decision made on my part to stay overnight. That whole night, I was a fumbling idiot. Everything I did was mortifyingly embarrassing (I was not to find out until years later that those sentiments were mirrored exactly by the other party).

The four of us lived in each others' pockets for the weekend. I don't think I even made it home to my place until the Sunday night. But at some point new beau and I had to say goodbye and he had to head back off to the town he lived in at the time, several hours drive away.

I felt a bit lost for a few days, and then, in a fit of schoolgirl-itis, decided a letter was in order. So I sent him one, cringing with every word I wrote at the total cliched-ness of it all. But I still sent it. And he wrote back.

Over the next six months or so, there were many letters, but not that much face-to-face time. We were quite comfortable with each other in our notes, but the moment we got together (on a few visits dotted throughout that time) we were like twelve year olds holding hands again. Long story short (well, okay, shorter), leaps of faith were made (on both parts) and we eventually became an official 'item'. Which was rather ridiculous really, as we'd both been professing our love for months via the mailbox. But anyway.

Another six months later saw me move out of home and in with him. Ten odd years down the track, and I still think I hit the mark with this one. I think I'll keep him :)

People (obviously the ones who aren't yet married!) are forever promoting marriage as this Hallmark-inspired swooning love-fest. What bollucks. Marriage is freakin' hard work. But then you get his yang cuddled up with your ying (in a very clean way of course!) and you feel like there's nothing on earth you can't handle. There's safety. And contentment. And the knowledge that you'll forgive the toothpaste-encrusted sink and he'll forgive the burnt chops.

Well, the first few times anyway...

So hats off to hubbies, I say. They may not be perfect, but hey, we're not either.

Cheers,
Lizzie

Closety Goodness

I wish my closet looked like this. Or, you know, with a splash of colour here or there. Because there's only so much beige a gal can handle.

No, I'm not talking about the clothes, but the organisation.

When we moved into this house two years ago we were thrilled to discover that the bedrooms all had built-in closets (with the main having a small walk-in). It was a huge selling point for a family who had previously stored all three children's clothing in the one set of drawers.

But for the last two years I've had it all wrong. The built-ins have lots of hanging space and some open shelving as well as four drawers. I had been folding all of the kids' clothing and putting them on the open shelves. The result was an untidy mess that very frequently needed tidying up. The configuration was all wrong.

Last weekend I had one of those lightbulb moments. One of those 'OMG, how did I miss that?' thoughts. I dragged out all the kids size hangers I could find. I went through the kids' closets and completely cleaned them out - everything removed and set aside. I dusted and vacuumed inside. Then I took each item of clothing - the very clothes I continuously spend hours folding and re-tidying on those open shelves - and hung it up.

Wow. The difference is amazing. For starters, I can see exactly what items of clothing are on hand. No more untidy folded piles. And the open shelves are now free to house the various toys that usually reside somewhere on the floor to be tripped over.

I still need to stock up on some more hangers - I had a scant few - but boy, life just got a lot easier. I just take a basket of hangers with me to the laundry or directly out to the clothesline and hang there and then. And simply bring them in and pop them in the closets immediately. No more clothes waiting around in baskets until I get five minutes to do some folding. It's like I just gained another couple of hours a week between not having to worry about the folding and the tidying up of the shelves after the kids have been in there searching for a favourite t-shirt.

I love it when organisation just, well, works. LOL.

Cheers,
Lizzie

That Funny Square Thing With People Inside

I like my TV. There, I said it.

I have a set list of shows I enjoy, and I've been known to get rather antsy if I have to miss them. We haven't yet made the switch to a DVD recorder, so on the days I can't watch a certain show, I tape it on the good ol' VHS. One of the main shows on my list is an Australian nightly half-hour soap called Home & Away. It's on at the same time as another show we watch, so I'd throw a tape in to worry about later.

The problem with this, is that I have to regularly clear the tapes. Which I don't do. Because I don't have the time.

Due to a variety of reasons, I found myself with NINE WEEKS of Home & Away to watch. That's five half hour episodes per week. Two-and-a-half hours. Or, rather, 22 ½ hours of ONE particular show. On top of this, I might also tape an additional 2 hours of TV per week. That's a grand total of 40.5 hrs of TV sitting on my shelf, waiting to be watched. At best, I might clear 2 or 3 hours worth per week.

So you're probably wondering why on earth I kept taping episodes knowing full well I would have trouble finding the time to watch them all.

For, well, forever, H&A was 'my' show. You know, the kind of show you'd get your best friend to tape for you if you go away on holiday lest you miss an important storyline. It was insanity. So for those 9 weeks I kept taping knowing that when I magically found the X hours a week to catch up, I wouldn't have missed anything.

But here's the interesting thing. After 9 weeks were up and I was running out of room on the old VHS tapes, I realised I really wasn't missing anything. It's easy to get caught up in storylines on TV and believe you have a real, honest reason for staying invested in them. That was me. And its so untrue. Even though I wasn't watching the episodes each night, just to keep my head above water I was having to find 2 ½ hours somewhere else in my week. It used to be a fun thing I did on Friday nights when DH was working and the kids were in bed. But stressing over those 2 ½ hours (and in reality, it was more like 4 ½ hours) was positively ludicrous.

I'm not perfect, and I'm still not ready to give up ALL of my TV time, but when I recently decided I didn't need this particular show and threw out all my tapes, I actually felt free, LOL. I just gained 2 ½ hours per week.

So, what activities or interests would you have a hard time giving up?

Cheers,
Lizzie

I Wish I Married a Chef (Menu Plan Monday)

(Graphics courtesy of www.cutecolors.com)

(This is a slightly differently-formatted Menu Plan Monday post - OAMC geared)

Gosh I hate to cook. No, seriously.

Lately our dinners have sort of disintegrated into a mish-mash of leftovers, boxed frozen items and things that really should be served at breakfast (No, not all at the same time!)

And even though I'm participating in Tales From The Scales' May Day Weight Loss Challenge, I haven't really been altering my (bad) food intake. I know I should. But one step at a time! I haven't been resting on my laurels either though - those that have been reading the blog will probably have picked up that my exercise has increased out of sight. I haven't yet added up this week's miles but I'll post about that tomorrow in my Challenge Week 2 Roundup (I finally had to break my 'how many walking days in a row' record today due to rain...sigh. I managed 13 days).

Anyway, back to the menu thing.

Down here the weather has well and truly turned for the season. We're talking short, cold, dreary days, more rain that the area has seen in several months (Australia's in the middle of a serious drought and most metro areas have some type of water restriction in place), and the urge to crawl up under a blankie and watch a Victorian-set movie (I recommend Sense & Sensibility - the Emma Thompson/Hugh Grant version :P). Whenever this type of weather happens I get the inclination to cook. Okay, so the urge is to EAT, but one usually has to precede the other in this house...its a rare day that DH will step up to the stove!

So I got to thinking one afternoon - always a dangerous thing - and decided that my disinclination to cook coupled with the whole "OMG its 5pm!" hoopla surrounding dinner prep, is probably a good reason to at least attempt a Once a Month Cooking (OAMC) session again.

Alright, so I've been there, done that before and it has never really stuck. But I'm looking at it a bit differently this time. This time I'm not going all OCD on it. It's merely to throw some things in the freezer so that I don't have to cook when I don't want to. Or that I can - gasp! - hand the reins over to hubs once in a while. Because, you know, his idea of cooking is reaching for the car keys.

The one concession I allowed myself was to order a couple of freezer cookbooks from Amazon (Frozen Assets and Frozen Assets Lite for those of you playing at home) . I'd actually had my eye on these books for some time but never got around to ordering them. I already have The Freezer Cooking Manual by 30 Day Gourmet and have used the principles quite a bit, if not for a full-on OAMC session then to snaffle recipes from. I had a little money put aside and decided to get the new books as a treat to myself. Amazon tells me they'll arrive somewhere between 1st and 9th June. But the meals I'm thinking of doing for this first session aren't from those books. I'm going to do 'family favourites' only, and then supplement throughout the next few weeks with 'tester' recipes from my freezer cookbooks. Then (if it sticks!) the next time I'm due for a session I'll have a stack of new recipes to multiply out.

I haven't yet checked out this week's grocery flyers (they're still sitting in my mailbox, probably saturated by now!) but when I get around to dragging them in I'll see if any of the meats I'd normally use are on sale. I may just do a mini-session this week and another mini-session next week when the sales switch over. But I'm going to have to do something.

Still in the back of my mind is March's disasterous grocery bill of $1300+. Even though I didn't track in April, I'm hoping May will turn out better. And if I can manage to lick this OAMC thing, I expect that figure to tumble in June. I've mentioned before I'd be happy if I could get my grocery bill down to a consistent $1k figure (remember, this is Aussie dollars!). OAMC would blow that figure out fo the water. I remember doing a rough costing one time I tried it, which put the whole total for the month (all meat, and everything else I could think I'd need) at around $600. I'm not kidding myself I'd be able to replicate that, but I figure one really BIG grocery trip of maybe $400, plus a 'float' of $100 per week for fresh produce, extra dairy (my kids drink heaps of milk) and the odd takeaway meal, gives me a total of $800. I can live with that. Perhaps the savings won't be astronomically different to what careful weekly shopping and daily cooking would be, but the savings in TIME would make it very worthwhile.

So far I've got the usual freezer-y type meals on the cards: spaghetti, lasagna, browned ground beef for tacos, hamburger patties, stirfries, Chicken Kiev, Chicken Parmigiana, soup, homemade pizza, Chicken Pie, quiche, marinated chicken for grilling, fajitas, maybe a couple of other things. Sounds like a lot but isn't really.

I'm hoping I can do this over two or three days later this week, perhaps Thursday and Friday, while the kids are in school. The last time I tried to attempt OAMC I still had a preschooler - not an easy job! The next few weeks look to be insanely busy and it would be a wonderful thing to not have to stress about dinner.

Cheers,
Lizzie

Stay At Home Motherhood

Today I was a VIP, along with all the other mothers, for a morning tea in Boofah's classroom. The kids were so sweet, singing songs to the mums, serving us the cakes and slices that (ironically!) we'd been asked to bake ourselves, LOL. Boofah was proud as punch.

It's days like these - the ones with the morning teas, the cake stalls, the parent teacher interviews, the concerts, the assemblies - that I am very grateful that I am a stay at home mum. I'm not going to speak on behalf of all mothers or get into a debate about working vs stay at home mums, but I know in my own personal life, I get such a thrill over being able to be there and experience days like today.

I am also exceedingly grateful to my dear hubby, without which this blessing wouldn't be mine to blog about. We are very lucky - he has a good, solid job that pays enough to allow me to stay at home. It was always the plan while the kids were young, but now, with Miss Moo in school as well, I have reached the 'traditional' time of thinking about returning to work. I'm on a cusp, so to speak. Stay at home mums are expected while the kids are under school-age, but once you have that empty nest back, people begin to question you if you linger in the home. I won't be working this year, at the very least (I am studying...just...though). But the more I think about it, the more I realise that when I do start work again I'm going to start to miss, through work commitments, the things that I was always available to do. Days like today. And that makes me sad. Unfortunately, kids just keep on incurring expenses (LOL) and at some stage we'll reach the point where the cake stalls and classroom reading times end. And then work becomes a very real and needed situation.

In the meantime, I'm going to enjoy every single second of baking brownies at 5am and watching their sweet little singing faces. It will all be over far too quickly.

Cheers,
Lizzie

Do I really have to choose between Cookie and Cake?

I found this over at Home Made Simplicity and thought I'd give it a whirl for a bit of fun :)

Lace or Ribbon? Ribbon. Lace reminds me of my nana, LOL.

Mountain or Beach? Mountain. I like trees over sand.

Reading or Writing? Oooh, tough one. Writing (I have a blog, are you surprised? LOL)

Cookie or Cake? Do I really have to choose? Cookie.

Baked or Mashed Potato? Baked.

Side or Back? Side.

Shrimp or Steak? Steak. I don't like seafood much.

Scrambled or Fried? Scrambled. Mostly because I can't flip an egg without it falling apart anyway!

Orange or Apple? Apple.

Spring or Fall? Autumn (Fall). Because I melt in summer and if I choose Autumn, then its a good 9 months until Melting Season. Whereas if I choose Spring, its only 3 mo. See, using my noggin', LOL.

Roller Skating or Bowling? Bowling.

DVD or Theater movies? Each has its place, but I love the experience of going to the cinema. Then again, I can watch chick flicks in my pjs - tough trade off.

Wood or Glass? Wood. Definitely wood.

Blue or Green? Blue.

Chocolate or Vanilla? Chocolate...of course!

Quilt or Knit? Um...watch?

Early Morning or Late Night? Late night. Mornings hurt.

Coffee or Tea? Tea.

Watermelon or Strawberry? Strawberry...but it depends. If we're talking fruit, then only if there aren't any bananas. If we're talking icecream flavours, then only if there isn't any chocolate left...

Lunch or Dinner? Dinner...when someone else cooks.

Cold Cereal or Oatmeal? Cold cereal.

Song or Dance? Song. There was no dancing at our wedding - we're that bad at it.

Carpet or Hardwood Floor? Neither...tiles. Just to be different.

Red or Pink? Red. I'm brunette and red goes with my colouring. Pink, however, would look hideous.

Cat or Dog? Definitely dog.

Pretzels or Chips? Depends on the chip! Doritos, yes. Regular potato chips, no. So pretzels when there aren't any Doritos.

Iced Tea or Lemonade? Neither, Coke...but I try not to drink too much soft drink.

Non-Fiction or Fiction? To read, Fiction. To write, Non-Fiction. I lost my imagination somewhere between the first and second child.

Rose or Daisy? Daisy...no question. It's fresh and unpretentious.

Sunrise or Sunset? The last time I saw an actual sunrise was the morning my second son was born. And only then because the blasted contractions wouldn't let me sleep!

Comb or Brush? Brush. I have long, thick hair. A comb just ain't gonna cut it.

Pottery or Basket? Basket. A million uses. And they don't smash.

Bracelet or Necklace? Necklace...but I'm not into jewellery much.

Pen or Pencil? Pen. Writes smoother. Or keyboard, LOL.

Couch or Chair? Depends. Couch for TV watching, chair for computer-using.

Country or Victorian? Country.

Farm or Ranch? Well we don't call them ranches down here anyway...LOL.

Braid or Ponytail? Ponytail. Though I braid (plait) my daughter's hair for school.

Cash or Check? Cash. I've never written a cheque in my life...we budget through our credit card for most things though.

Chocolate Bar or Jelly Bean? Silly question...chocolate.

Coke or Pepsi? Coke.

Hot Dog or Cheeseburger? Cheeseburger. Hotdogs taste like rubber to me.

Blinds or Curtains? Curtains.

Dress or Pants? Jeans.

Sun or Moon? Hmmm...moon.

Adventure or Comedy? Comedy.

Cloud or Star? Cloud. They make groovy patterns.

Lake or River? Hmmm...stagnant or flowing water...depends. Probably lake.

Half Full or Half Empty? Half Full. Married to a Half Empty.

Truck or Car? Car.

Bath or Shower? Shower. I'm only 5'3" and our bath is still too short for me.

Clothesline or Clothes Dryer? Gulp. 50/50 at the moment.

New or Second Hand? Depends. Clothes, new. Homewares, second hand.

Gum or Lifesaver? Gum.

Email or Handwritten? Email. Sad but true.

July or October? No brainer...October is my birthday month.

Barefoot or Shoes? Shoes. When I step on a millipede (common where I am at this time of year) there's less crunch!

Cheers,
Lizzie

Wordless Wednesday - My Extraordinary Kids

Because my hubby, the amateur photographer, is a certified genius with the digital camera...

The first shot is of Master J, around 7yrs old (taken last year) in a rare non-goofy pose. Those eyes make me think he can read my soul. Next is Boofah aged 6½, absorbing some knowledge. Last is Miss Moo, just three months old (taken five years ago) in the shower with Mama. Yes, that is my naked shoulder on the internet!

Cheers,
Lizzie

Tackle It Tuesday - The Pantry

This is my first one of these. Jumping right in...

My pantry cupboard was very user-unfriendly for a good long while until today. After the third consecutive round of ingredients for Tomato & Vegetable Soup were bought because I couldn't remember whether I had canned tomatoes or not, I knew something had to change.

Here's what it looked like beforehand:


Things are just shoved in there willy-nilly. Those big tubs you can see down the bottom hold multiple packages of things like pasta and flour. Down the very bottom (you can't quite see the whole thing) is a shelf where we keep appliances. I think that's my crockpot lid you can see.

And here's what it looked like when I was done:


So technically I just rearranged for ease of finding the things I need. Those big tubs were filled with outdated food and I had to throw out a whole lot of stuff (strike one for Mama), but now I have a canned good shelf (the one above the tubs), an 'everyday' shelf (for things like coffee, tea, spices) and a baking shelf (lots of Decor containers filled with brown sugar, icing sugar, crushed nuts, flour and so on).

Surprisingly, I could actually find the coffee this morning. Always a bonus!

Cheers,
Lizzie

The Alternate Healthier Menu Plan

I've missed a week or two but I'm jumping in again today. Usually Menu Plan Monday would be a no-brainer simply because of The Super-Dooper Eight Week Menu Plan. I'd simply flip to the corresponding week and wha-la. All the hard work is already done.

But tomorrow marks the beginning of Tales From The Scales' May Day Weight Loss Challenge, and though most of our family meals are adaptable with minimal effort, enough of them need a bit more help, so I'm switching to a week-by-week gig for the time being. Here's what's on the menu in our house (side dishes are in brackets):

Monday ~ Chicken Roma (pre-prepared crumbed chicken fillets stuffed with semi-dried

tomatoes and cheese, plus roast potatoes and salad)

Tuesday ~ Parmesan Crumbed Chicken (steamed vegetables)

Wednesday ~ Soup & Sandwiches (Tomato & Vegetable, with toasted ham and cheese)

Thursday ~ Baked Fish with Steamed Vegetables (small jacket potato)

Friday ~ Beef Stirfry (rice)

Saturday ~ Asian Style Chicken Salad

Sunday ~ Meatballs (chips, salad - I'll probably have a low-fat frozen dinner)

Some websites that might be of interest to fellow challenge-takers (these are Australian sites, but should have plenty of good information for everyone).

Taste.com.au - where most of the recipes listed above came from.

Symply Too Good To Be True - Annette Sym is an Australian woman who takes regular, traditionally high-fat recipes (like Lasagna, Hamburgers, Quiche etc) and substitutes lower-fat ingredients to produce 'good' versions of meals that are usually off-limits to a person wanting to lose weight. I've got all five cookbooks and they are my most used.

CalorieKing.com.au - though the listed food database is Australian, you can add your own custom foods according to the unique products and calorie counts in your own countries (It won't be quite as cool without use of the existing database - which is huge - but you might still get use out of it). This site has been invaluable to me. Irrespective of the online food diary side of things, the articles on the site are really good.

Fingers crossed for the start of the challenge!

Cheers,
Lizzie

I Thought Sundays Were For Sleeping In?

I sacrificed one of my extremely rare sleep ins this morning to take the boys to the first session of Auskick for the year. This is a program down here in Australia to teach the fundamentals of Australian Rules football to 5-8 year olds. I guess in a way it would be akin to Little League over in the States? Anyhow, up I got.

This is the second year we've done the program. Last year it was just Boofah having a go, but this year Master J has become very interested in football games on TV and decided he would like to join in.

The thing with organised sports for J is that its a bit of a 'hit or miss' affair. Because he goes to school several suburbs over and catches a taxi to and from (government funded because of his disability and the fact that placements like the one he has in his special ed class are so limited it usually means kids like J have to travel), we're usually unable to enrol him in anything extracurricula - sports, music, kids karate etc - because he cannot miss his taxi home after school. It also makes it difficult for Boofah and Miss Moo, indirectly, because someone always has to be at home to wait for the taxi after school, so that virtually rules out after-school sports for them as well. Daddy has a varied roster so he is sometimes there and sometimes not, but the nature of his work is such that he often does unplanned overtime and the reliability that he'll be home in time is just not there. We tried enrolling Boofah in after-school basketball once and it involved meeting him at his classroom, walking him across campus to the gym (he was just five at the time), getting him settled there, then racing home to be there for Master J, then racing back so as not to miss too much of Boofah's lesson. I was forever fretting about leaving Boofah for the 20 or so mins it would take me to do the round trip home to get J. The coach understood and kept an eye on him, but it wasn't ideal.

However when Auskick rolled around last year, it was something we could finally get involved with, as not only was it on a Sunday, but it was at the younger kids' school oval, which was literally down the street, a five minute walk. Boofah had a great time last year, but Master J wasn't interested. This year he desperately wanted to have a go alongside his brother, and since he so rarely gets to participate in anything like it, we were excited that he finally could.

He did wonderfully :) There's always concern with anything new that his disability will mar his understanding of the instructions or purpose of the game. Apart from the fact that he is totally unco-ordinated (which is absolutely irrelevant in this setting, LOL) , he did remarkably well. There were several occasions that I needed to step in and form his hands into the positions that they needed to go in for the move/kick/catch but I was so pleased he seemed to be enjoying himself. I'd previously telephoned the program co-ordinator to give them a heads up about Master J's disability, something I always do out of courtesy in situations like this, and they were lovely. Boofah was wonderful too - at nearly-7 he is 18mo younger than his brother but took on a 'big brother' role, holding his hand, making sure he understood the instructions, staying by his side. None of the children are aware of the specifics of Master J's disability (when the time is right, we will, of course, hold nothing back) but I was so proud of both my boys today.

Miss Moo, though eligible to join in this year now that she is five, had already decided she didn't want to, so while this was all going on, she happily played on the (nearby) school playground and occasionally wandered over to where we were on the oval to chat.

And so, even though it was an early start (for a Sunday anyway :P ), and even though next week I won't get a Mother's Day sleep in, it was a lovely morning.

Cheers,
Lizzie

How Much Sugar Is Too Much In A Cookie?

Scattered Mom over at Notes From The Cookie Jar has a recipe blog - Recipes From The Cookie Jar. I thought I'd try out her no-rolling-out Sugar Cookies today. Scattered Mom, you'll feel quite chuffed, no doubt, at the honour of having your recipe de-virginise my new mixing bowl, LOL (which, by the way, performed great - it will be plenty big enough to triple most standard recipes - alot of the reason I wanted a bowl so large).

I'm always after new recipes that use low cost pantry ingredients. Brownies and Triple Chocolate Chip Cookies and the like have their place (I'm thinking right next to a cup of tea, perched on the coffee table in front of Grey's Anatomy, but that's just me...) but in terms of everyday baking, we just can't justify the 'special' ingredients very often. Case in point: I have a killer World's Best Choc Chip Cookie recipe that uses three BAGS (250g/8½ oz...each) of choc chips, in each of milk, white and dark chocolate. Each bag retails down here for $3.30. That's $10 just for the chocolate chips - and a bag of ready-made cookies in similar quantities might only cost $3. The cookies are GOOD, but financially-speaking, it makes no sense. We still throw in a few of these 'treat' recipes but more so around the holidays, Mother's Day and for gifts.

I'm quite impressed with Recipes From The Cookie Jar's Sugar Cookies. The only thing we did differently was that we had no sour cream so I just left it out. The first batch that made it through the oven were made as directed and they were big, LOL. I reduced the size of the second batch. And they were sliiiightly too sweet (even by my standards, which, let me assure you, are HIGH!). I doubled the recipe so next time I'll just put in 2 cups of sugar instead of the (doubled) 3 cups.

But they are so moist and chewy - lovely. I can see myself using this basic recipe (minus the sugar sprinkled on top) to try to replicate Subway's White Choc Macadamia cookies...I've never been able to get a cookie so large without it losing its chewiness.

Scattered Mom, when my kids get home from school in a couple of hours, they are going to LOVE you, LOL.

P.S. The plate above is a side plate, which gives you some indication of how big these turned out :) The second batch were about half that size.

Cheers,
Lizzie

Apron Strings

Does anyone know where I can find a free, online pattern for an apron in a similar style to the above? I mean, I could fudge my way through using my own made-up instructions but I work best to a plan, LOL. It'd pretty much just be a skirt really. I thought about using snap fasteners instead of the long ties at the back. Strangely, my concern was that the ties would get tangled in the wash! And maybe I'll throw in a bit of modification in the form of an added bib - not sure yet. Bottom line, I need help! If you know of any free pattern sites (I've already trawled the net and keep coming up with the same ol' patterns over and over in 'butcher' style - not what I'm after) or have suggestions or tips, throw me a line :)

(photo courtesy of My Vintage Kitchen)

Cheers,
Lizzie

Bargains!

I had a great day today. I met up with a friend for lunch and managed to score myself a couple of things I'd had my eye on, with a little bonus to boot.

We started off at the Salvation Army thrift store. I love to go thrift-store shopping (down here we call it 'op-shopping', *grin*) but don't get to go all that often. This particular thrift store was on the 'nicer' side. Lovely, wonderful ladies, the kind that throw in 'a little something extra' when they make up your bag at the cash register :)

I've been looking for a few items for a while now, kitchenware mostly, so I was checking out the shelves of glassware and the like when I spotted this little cupboard. Now, as is the case with most second-hand stores, you get what you get. It could be mint condition one day and not fit for sale the next. It's part of the fun...almost like a lottery. I noticed the little cabinet was in mint condition so I snaffled it up. It turns out that the store had received several identical cabinets brand new from a business that was closing down. In original packaging, bubble-wrapped and all. The price? Ten dollars.


Now before you wonder why I was so excited about a ten-buck teddy/doll wardrobe, these kind of cabinets retail in places like Kmart down here for $40. There's no way I'd have spent $40 on a cupboard specifically to house Miss Moo's doll clothes, but for $10, it gets squirrelled away for her birthday/Christmas come December. She'll go bonkers over it :) And, they have some cradles of the same brand awaiting assembly (they like to put a couple together for display) so I'm going to swing by next week to grab one of those as well. Both items are really solid wooden contraptions.


I also bought this little canvas print from my new favourite store. I discovered this little gem of a place just the other day and it is filled with gorgeous French/country style furniture and homewares, and though the items are new, they're without the snooty price tag. I did splurge a bit on the print at $26 (I have a little Mad Money set aside) but I just loved the print when I first saw it.

Later on, my friend and I were at the shopping centre and decided to try our luck at the public transport kiosk. They often have a little display set up with new timetables, staff members to answer questions about routes etc. They have a ticket validator machine there, rigged up in a sort of competition - you 'validate' your ticket and if you win, you get a free multi-trip ticket (I just bought one of these for $13.80 not long ago and saved $5-$10 on what I had been spending getting to and fro on the bus system). Well, my ticket came up a winner, meaning I scored another multi-trip ticket. It's an 'all-times' ticket and is actually worth $22 (whereas my purchased ticket is only valid 9-3 during the day). I won't need to buy public transport tickets for quite some time :) Quite chuffed about that really! It was a nice day out :)

Next on my 'to find' list is enamel canisters. They have them new at My New Favourite Store (no, its not called that, LOL) but I was gobsmacked at the price! Yet I've looked elsewhere and enamelware seems to be rather expensive...I guess because its quite durable and the type of canisters I'm after are almost seen as a decorator item. I looked up some on ebay when I got home today and positively drooooooooled over these:


The 'buy it now' price? $120! I've got that much in my kitty, and then there's Mother's Day coming up, but sheesh! There are other sets by the same seller/ebay store, and you can buy the laundry tub and coffee/tea/sugar set separately as well, but each of those are still going to set me back $50. The seller also had those cute little 'homekeeper' boxes in enamel. Sigh.

I know, I have a disease, LOL.

Oh, and I picked up a copy of Anna Karenina for $3 at the thrift store - I've never read it. Gosh knows how long it will take me to get through it, LOL.

Cheers,
Lizzie

The Family Mixing Bowl

I bought a mixing bowl today. Okay, so it was a really big salad bowl, but you only know that because I told you. It’s a mixing bowl, okay? Right.

I was looking for a large, solid, crockery-style bowl in which I imagined mixing copious batches of Mama-ish delights. You know, cookies, cakes and brownies. All the good things in life.

I wanted something cutesy, maybe with a pretty little pattern on it. I imagined myself poised over it, apron firmly tied around my waist (should I mention that I don’t actually own an apron?) and wooden spoon in hand, spreading the love. Or the icing, at least.

Turns out, ‘cutesy’ was oh so last season daahling. (Yes, actual words from a kitchenware salesperson today!)

I looked everywhere. The best offerings I found weren’t half as big as I wanted, and the worst was a mustard/baby poop-coloured monstrosity the likes of which would have graced my grandmother’s kitchen. Which is okay, if you’ve inherited such an item and have the memories of Grandma’s apple crumble to back it up. When you are forced to buy poop-coloured kitchenware...well, its just sad.

In the end I found a perfectly plain crockery salad bowl. It didn’t look cute at all. It looked bland. It looked, well, boring. And it was made to house salad. I’ve never made a salad that big in my life. I drove home lamenting the pseudo-loss of my old fashioned (but trendily modern at the same time) pastel-coloured, grooves-in-the-sides piece of culinary beauty. You know the ones I'm talking about.

But then when I got home I looked at plain, simple ol’ mixing bowl sitting on the benchtop. And thought to myself, wow, what a blank canvas. What sticky little fingers are going to slide along the bottom of the doughed-up bowl and make a dash to mouths before Mama sees them? How many batches of Fudge Brownies are going to cycle from bowl to oven? What about the meatballs and pasta salads? Or my mother-in-law’s Anzac Biscuits?

Because a mixing bowl isn't just a bowl...it's a legacy.

This site has a wonderful post about the value of the family mixing bowl. The pictures are exactly what I was looking for and couldn't find in the stores near me!

Cheers,
Lizzie

Why May Is Difficult

(Please note: This is a very long post. It didn't start out that way :)

I've been contemplating the onset of May for a good couple of months now. May will be filled with a hefty chunk of difficult moments.

This is a picture of my mother, who died in May last year after suffering a heart attack. She's holding Master J, who was about six weeks old, at Christmas 1998.

On the 13th is Mother's Day. I last spoke to her the day before Mother's Day last year.

On the 17th, she would have turned just 56.

The 30th marks the one year anniversary of her death.

My mother wasn't the healthiest of souls - she was overweight and she smoked. Heart problems were always going to be number 2 on a list of possible serious health implications as a reasult of her lifestyle. But 55 is young.

We'd lived through the Early Morning Phone Call before. Six years ago (and two weeks before our wedding), my father suffered two successive heart attacks on the same day. My father lives half an hour from town, alone (he and Mum had separated a year or two prior), and 'town' is a 'one horse wonder'. The silly bugger walked to the main road after his first attack to flag down the ambulance. True to his nature, his determination is what counted in the end - the ambos weren't entirely sure where his property was and may have missed the turn off. On route to the hospital he had to be revived twice.

All h*ll broke loose. I mean, I was two weeks off getting married, an event which normally necessitates a large dose of fatherly input. My mother was a cook on a cattle station waaaaaay up north of the country at the time and dropped everything to come 'home'. Though they'd separated when she left, she moved right back in to help care for Dad. Thankfully we didn't need to alter our wedding plans (we would have postponed had Dad not been well enough to attend), but in terms of living life on a razor's edge, we'd been there, done that.

Despite giving things a red-hot go, Mum and Dad separated for a second time a couple of years later. Mum moved in with my sister, who lived across country, and slowly made a life for herself independent of a partner for the first time since she was 18. I didn't often get to see her due to the distance involved and the cost of airfares, but we did manage to have a family reunion of sorts in the early part of 2005. It was the last time we saw her. And the last time she saw my kids.

The phone rang in the wee hours on May 30 last year, and hubby grumbled and groped for it. I was instantly awake. There's something so absolute about an early morning phone call. Nobody calls at 7am unless someone has died. I thought it was Dad. But my sister told me Mum had risen early for work (she was a cook at a mining site in Queensland by that stage, staying for a week on-site and going home to my sister's house on weekends) and was in the kitchen preparing a cooked breakfast for the miners when she collapsed. She was sped off to hospital after being treated by mine personnel.

My sister spoke to her via phone while she was in bed in hospital. She was groggy, but she understood what had happened. It was after this that Sis had called the family, waking everyone up. It was a school morning anyway, so I got up and went through the motions of preparing the kids. Then there was a second phone call.

Mum, ironically, had virtually mirrored Dad's experience. Both had had two heart attacks about an hour and a half apart, both of a similar type. Dad's heart had just been that little bit stronger.

I had last spoken to her a full two weeks before she died. I rang her for Mother's Day, but knowing that Sundays meant a long drive back out to the mining site for her, I got in early on Saturday (it was difficult to catch her during the week while she was working, so we reserved phone calls to the weekends). We nattered on about not much in particular. I hadn't bought her a Mother's Day/Birthday gift yet but I was going to go shopping that week and post it up to my sister's house. I forgot.

I intended ringing again the first day I knew she would be home after her next on-site stint at the mine. Only she worked through that weekend. It didn't seem important at the time. It seems odd to describe it now, not speaking to your mother for two or three weeks at a time, but it was normal for us, and neither of us was peturbed by it at all. Life happens.

The next thing I knew, she was dead.

The funeral was intense. Hubby and I packed the kids off to their other Nana and Poppa for the week. It was just so expensive to fly up at the drop of a hat that we just couldn't justify bringing the kids. Our whole family converged on my sister's tiny little house at the foot of a volcano. Where she lives is right in the midst of a tropical rainforest type environment. She literally walks out into her front yard and has to crane her neck to look up the mountain. A skip across the way and you'd find the Whitsunday Islands.

So we were all there, trying to organise a funeral. I put up with a horrible aunt (whom I've always had issues with, *smile*) asking incredibly impolite questions about how big our house was, how much we paid for it, and so on. We chose music. A Rod Stewart song for the seating and Fly by Celine Dion for the service. I, naturally, wrote the eulogy. Can you imagine it? Having to condense your own mother's life into two type-written pages? People tapping you on the shoulder asking if you remembered to include Great Aunty Gertrude's anecdote or the name of Mum's first pet?

The night before the funeral itself, there was a viewing. I let myself get swept along with everyone else and went into the little room. I made it three steps inside the door and howled. Later that night, I tried hard as I could to drink myself into a good mood (which, for me, isn't all that difficult - two drinks is all it takes *smile*). In retrospect, I would not view a body again. It was not real.

At the funeral, I read the eulogy I'd written. (Later, the same nasty aunt had the audacity to pick it to pieces for not specifically naming Mum's siblings. I was going for something different - not a biographical account but more that it was my own feelings and thoughts).

It wasn't a totally bad week. I got to see my sister, her husband and their two kids for the first time in two or three years (they have always been northerners, and we've always been southerners :) A group of us were all staying at the same holiday park and gathered in the cabin every night to play cards for money, which was a lot of fun :) And on the day we flew out, the day after the funeral, we even managed to swing by a bowling alley for an impromptu (but very fitting) game or two. My mother was an Australasian Champion and competed professionally in her early twenties :)

Mum was cremated and each of us four kids took some of her ashes home in a little urn. I kept wondering what would happen if security at the airport took issue with this little bottle, not believing it actually was her ashes. I walked through security probably looking completely guilty :)

Mum has been in a safe place here at home for the past year. I'm not one for displaying ashes and the urn is really quite itty bitty anyway. In a way, its quite fitting - Mum made it to virtually every corner of the country because of how far flung her kids ended up :) But I think its time to scatter the ashes. Probably this month - it does seem appropriate.

P.S. Thanks for indulging my little pity party here, LOL. Happy happy joy joy tomorrow, promise :)

Cheers,
Lizzie