Of lizards, fairies and cake. Lots of cake.

They grow up so quickly.

Not long ago he was holding out on making his grand entrance, causing his mother a whole lot of pain and delayed relief, keeping everyone waiting....waiting...

And now all of a sudden he is five.  A big, grown-up preppie in the class next to mum, with tastes and likes and personality by the bucketload.

I love my nephew and on Wednesday he had his birthday.  Today was the party.  I love a good party and there is nothing better than a five-year-old's party.  There was even a jumping castle!  How cool!!!

My contribution was the cake.

Inspired by this cake...

Nothing says five-year-old like a lizard cake.

A mulit-coloured lizard at that.  With an abundance of sugar icing balls just right for chomping!

It was his sister's birthday last month.  She, unfortunately, had her party cancelled.  Not postponed...cancelled.  I can't begin to imagine what she did that got her party cancelled.  And after the invitations had been sent too.  She must have been reeeallllyy naughty!

Anyway, I didn't get to do a cake for her then.  So I did one now.

And she loved it.  She called me tonight from her mum's iPhone (young ones and technology!!) and told me that it was too pretty to eat and that she was freezing it so that she could keep it forever.  Glad you like it little one!

But truly, just eat it.  I'll make you another...!

I consider it my prerogative as an aunty to be able to flout rules imposed by parents.  Particularly rules regarding cake!  Now....to tell mum that one...!! 

In My Kitchen: March 2012

Better late than never, I'm joining Celia and her In My Kitchen Posts a little later in the month than I would have liked! But you can't win them all and with so much new stuff going on around these parts I haven't yet settled into anything that could resemble enough of a routine to become a habit, and that is impacting on my ability to meet my own deadlines!   Oh well!

Soooo....with not a whole lot happening In My Kitchen this month, I give you none-the-less....

...some yummy, just-picked strawberries.  Nothing tastes better than a little sun-warmed piece of heaven!  My strawberry plants are currently going crazy with the flowering and fruiting, another reason to get out into the outside while the sun is shining and there is still a little warmth left in the air!

In My Kitchen....

...the chillies are strung for drying and looking pretty.  The string on the left was my second go at it - my technique improved as I went on!  These chillies were a surprise find at the end of the veggie patch, the bush having come up on it's own behind the biggest weed known to man!  I don't mind finds like this at all!

In My Kitchen...

...is a gift from a special friend that reminds me of good times and lots of laughter.  It doesn't remind me of the date though. 

In My Kitchen...

... is the best sign in the world and one very appropriate to my kitchen!

What's happening in your kitchen this month?

Saturday afternoons

A bit of a ritual seems to have formed in this house recently.

It tends to happen on a Saturday afternoon around about 5pm (or earlier, depending on the week that's been).

The wine is poured (or scotch depending on your preference), the cushions are pulled out to protect soft bottoms from hard chairs, and the nibbles are gathered, arranged and devoured with gusto.

The venue is the front deck. Protected from street view by the trees in the front yard, the LOML and I then chat about the week that was, the week to be and everything else in between.

I love it. I treasure it. I look forward to it each week.


Happy Saturday afternoons folks!

Loving the weeds

'Blasphemy!' I hear you say.  Well, call me what you want but I'm putting out my new theory - born from a lack of energy, motivation and enthusiasm but completely understandable once you hear me out. (hear me out, okay).

So it's been a while since I've been able to get down to the veggie patch.  Days, weeks, heck months even.  As you can expect, the weeds have gone crazy.  Every day as I walk down the back stairs or look out the back windows I am reminded again and again how completely lazy I am for not doing something about them sooner.  I am also reminded how often it rains here on the weekend - fine during the week, perfect even, yet Saturday has a tendency to herald a thunderstorm mid-morning followed by 48 hours non-stop rain.  Monday - fine.  Of course.

Today, today was different.  The sun was out for a start.  Glorious weather that it was - warm, sunny with just a hint of autumn in the air.  Divine.  At 4pm it was too nice to be inside so I ventured into the veggie patch - armed with a wheelbarrow and some new gloves - ready to take on anything coming my way.

Now is when I have to tell you my theory (OMG I hear you say, you took long enough!) - here it is....wait long enough for the weeds to grow to say, mid-thigh high and then when you go to pull them out, it's a lot less work because the whole 'survival of the fittest' thing has done it's work nicely and only the biggest survive, denying sunlight to anything below it.  Pull those suckers out and there is empty space all around!! Amazing!

Who'd have thunk that laziness pays off!!??!!!

Of course, the pulling out of these monsters is made soooo much easier following days of rain which make the soil nice and soft.  I know, I've done it the other way and there was nothing nice about that!

So there you have it.  What some would call utter laziness in the field of veggie garden upkeep, I call smarts.  Thanks weeds.  Loving your work!

Tomorrow should herald the planting of seeds and the fertilising of anything still surviving and left to live another day.  

Tomorrow could also be raining.  We'll see. 

Making me smile

I love weddings.  They make me smile.


These last few nights I've spent an abnormally long time on you tube looking at wedding dances, cos they make me smile.  


These are my favourites and I'd like to share them with you to put a smile on your face too!  

are you smiling too? :)

Marching along

And so another month has begun.

I can't believe how quickly the first couple of months disappear every year.  First thing it's new years and then the next, it's Easter.  Insane.

I had a customer tell me once that the years seem faster the older you get because you get slower.  Sounds true enough to me and explains a whole lot!

The LOML and I are viewing this year as a Transition Year.  A year of change to get us to where we want to be.  Not that we're 100% certain of what that entails or where it will be, but it won't be what we've been doing that's for sure!  My new job fits in with that plan nicely giving us the small amount of financial security that comes from a predetermined salary as opposed to the how-much-shall-we-sell-today insecurity that comes part-and-parcel with selling things people want but don't need in an area where income is spent first on booze, then cigarettes, then food and then bills.  Giftware is rarely on their register.  Hence we're changing tact.

I'm looking forward to this year.  Much as I was last year but this year I'm hoping for a little more.  I do hope I'm not let down - that's the problem with raising your expectations, there's always the risk you will be let down but still this year I live in hope.  Truly, I shudder to think that things could get worse.

So in the meantime I'm enjoying life day to day.  Enjoying the minimal responsibility that comes with only having to answer phones, handle the mail, keep the photocopier full of paper and type a few things in my day.  Enjoying the sleep in on weekends that seems like at least three hours but is only about one.  Enjoying this lovely summer-is-officially-over-autumn-is-on-its-way weather while it lasts.  Enjoying life really.  Enjoying life as it is right now, rather than life tomorrow.

It's making me a little bit excited about the future and where we are headed.  And that's exciting.  I haven't felt like that in far too long.  Far too long.

Here's cheers to tomorrow!