Beautiful Orange

It's been cold and grey and... well, lovely really! But a burst of orange for brekkie today really brightened my morning. Wishing you many bright mornings and a little bit of orange in your life.... xxx

Kite Festival

A beautiful morning and a great introduction to Transylvanian pancakes!

Watch Telly Tonight!

Ooh, ooh - urgent blog post: please watch what I am sure is going to be amazing viewing tonight on SBS at 8.30! It's called "Go Back Where You Came From"; it's all about some people with stinkin' attitudes towards asylum seekers making the journey that refugees make to Australia, but in reverse. They have to make the harrowing journey back to Iraq and some other turbulent places. Guess what? They change their attitudes. I think it's going to be very powerful and I wish, wish, wish everyone would watch it. Watch a sneak peek here. xx

Prawn and Pomelo Salad

We got a pomelo in our fruit and veg box last week and I didn't know what to do with it. I looked up recipes with pomelo and I'm glad I found this one, because it was YUUUUMMY. Here's the link to Prawn and Pomelo Salad. (I only used half a pomelo, one chilli, less limes and palm sugar and served it with jasmine rice. I also used a lot more prawns.) My favourite part was the finely sliced kaffir lime leaves. Jimmy's favourite part was the dressing. It's not a drink, ya dork!! Must have been the palm sugar.... nice and sweet. ;o)

Speaking of food, we are moving closer towards vegetarianism - with a bit of vegan thrown in - after reading "The Face on Your Plate: The Truth About Food" by Jeffrey Moussaieff Masson. Not exactly a light read, but certainly a compassionate and confronting one.

Just Tell Them I'm Busy!

This is a very embarrassing story, but I feel it is worth telling, despite the humiliation. The other morning, I was in the bathroom, minding my own business, when to my dismay I heard the screech of brakes, heavy footsteps running up to the front porch, a loud rapping of knuckles on the door and the cry of "PARCEL!" Oh no!

The kids raced to be the first one to open the door, oblivious to my urgent instructions: "Wait! Don't open it! I'll be there in a minute!"

Kees opened the door wide and confidently piped up, "Don't worry, Mum's coming, she's just DOING A POO!"

Aagghh.

So you see, you don't need to feel too sorry for him about that cake incident.

Beautiful Things

a beautiful gift

thank you, Matt

hidden fruit

berries and a blue, blue sky

Mr Cool

Wow, check out Mr Cool. Being cool is pretty important to this four year old. "Was that cool, Mum?" "Do I look cool, Jim?" are popular refrains around here. And how on earth do they work out that wearing their hats backwards is cool? What else is cool? Motorbike shirts, definitely, the bmx jump track, for sure. I am working on the very PC: "Everyone is cool in their own way, dear. You decide if you feel cool; you don't need to ask somebody else," etc etc.
Anyway, Mr Cool really lost his cool when Mummy and Daddy doled out a little "consequence". I can't even remember what the offence was - I think doing something naughty and then lying about it - but the punishment was an indignant, "No dessert for you, young man!" Well, okay, just a tiny dessert then. I wasn't proud of this sort of on-the-spot-food-deprivation punishment, but it just came out, so then I had to follow through. Matt served it up that night; you can see the pieces up there. Oh! It still makes my eyes water with guilty laughter to remember Kees' face! Bottom lip trembling, a little devastated squeaking sound, eyes beginning to water....it was tragic. But so funny. He didn't know we were spying on him. Matt was doubled up with silent laughter. It sounds so mean, doesn't it! But sometimes, us big kids (parents) just need to get a little of our own back. To have a good cacking laugh with Matt was a real release. Judge me if you want, but don't worry, I'll be back to guilt-riddled, anxiety-laden perfection-striving again tomorrow. xx

Our Power Bill

You might remember that we recently got solar power put in? Well, ours is not even in the optimum position (it's on the western, rather than the northern side of the roof) but guess what our bill is now? About $35 a quarter! And this quarter, it was $36 credit! It was really worthwhile. If you're considering installing solar, I urge you to go for it!

On the Needles...

Ponies and carrots

Magnetic fishing game

Cath Kidston handbag

Wedding gift cushion covers

Alas, friends, it has been too long! As I mentioned, I have lost many photos and am still getting my head around (stupid, STUPID) Windows 7 Photos (where you can't even tag stuff, let alone edit it) so blogging has just been in the Too Hard Basket. Plus I can never seem to think of anything interesting to write. So, I'm not actually promising that I do now have anything interesting to write, but it's time to get back in the game. And I'm missing you guys! Above are some things I've been sewing. (Of course this writing was supposed to be at the top. No cut and paste in Blogger! Sigh.) xx