Two Flats

That's what my car had this afternoon. I got a call to pick Taryn up from school as she had fallen and hit her head and was feeling sick. We went straight to the emergency, just to make sure. We came out to find a flat tyre. I commenced changing it and had the flat tyre off and the spare out the boot when a lovely gentleman came to offer help. However, we then found the spare tyre was also flat. Mike was miles away on jobs and so it was Dad to the rescue. He came and tried his spare, but not a fit, so grabbed the best tyre and took it off to be repaired.

In the interim, Mike arrived and took Taryn home out of the heat (she promptly went to bed), then Dad returned with repaired tyre, put it back on the car and I was finally able to head home.

I consider myself very lucky to have a Dad who not only will do those sort of things for his children, but also whom at 73, is still so fit and able to do them. Long may his good health prevail.

Relish It!

After the first couple of tomatoes were ready, we then had a burst of them all ready at the same time. I knew we probably wouldn't get through them all in time, so instead, I made a large jar of relish! Ran out of white vinegar in the process and so topped it up with malt, which has made it a bit stronger and also had no fresh chillies, so used chillie flakes, which made it a little hotter than usual, but overall a good brew and good use of the ripe crop. So easy to make:

Recipe:

1.5kg tomatoes chopped, 4 large onions diced. Place in large pan and sprinkle over 25g salt. Leave overnight. In morning, pour off liquid and add 500gms brown sugar, 3 small chillies (or sprinkle of flakes), enough vinegar to just cover. Bring to the boil, them simmer for 1.5 hours. Towards the end of cooking, mix together 2 Tblspns flour, 1 Tblspn mustard and 1 tblspn curry powder with a little cold vinegar to for a paste. Add to pot at end of simmer and then bring to boil stirring for 5 minutes. Pour immediately into hot sterilised jars and seal.

Yummy Scrummy

A day last week I made these yummy, scrummy cinnamon and choc chips swirl buns. They look great, taste divine and are so easy to make - despite the fact it takes a bit of time.

Start with a basic bread dough recipe. Once you have the bread dough (risen), you roll it out till it's about 1cm thick and in a rectangle. Brush on melted butter, then coat with cinnamon and brown sugar (mixed together), then sprinkle over a handful of choc chips, drizzle on a little more melted butter and roll it up (from the longest side). Cut it into 12 pieces and lay them cut side down into a lightly greased baking tin/dish. Cover with glad wrap and set aside in a warm place till they have risen to about twice their size. Bake in warm oven (180) for about 20 minutes or until golden brown on top.

I have mine with a dash of cream cheese icing, while it's still hot - yum!

In January I posted about my New Year Resolutions and the small format book I was creating to track them. It's title is: 'Time to unlock the Future - 2010 Goals'. As I couldn't decide between a few different titles, it took me a while to finish the front cover, but I had a burst of creative inspiration last night and finally completed the cover and put it together. Here's it is:

Bye-bye comfy Pants!

Today I had to say good-bye to my comfy pants. I'm not talking about baggy sweats, just really comfy pants - you know that pair of pants that fits you just right no matter what, sits just the way you like pants to sit and ones you'd happily wear every day.

Mine were ones that could be worn for casual wear, or because of the material, could be worn with a nice pair of shoes and a dressy top and worn out to dinner. They were those pants that could be washed and hung on the line - dry again in 1/2 hour. If I was ever in two minds about what to wear, out came the comfy pants. Oh and in this recent heat - they were the coolest pants to wear. 3/4's, lose fitting and of a material that breathed.

A few weeks back, I sat on a rather rough edged seat and snagged the right leg when I got up - at the back, about 3 inches out from the centre seam. I tried to kind of smooth out the snag and in doing so, think I broke 1 thread and the snag turned into a tiny little hole and before I knew it, the tiny hole was suddenly a big noticeable hole (probably because of how much wear they were getting!). So today, after 5 years with those pants, I had to throw them out. Sob Sob!

So now (as I don't do skirts) I am left with pants that aren't nearly so comfy and most of them are a little tight - makes getting dressed a little less fun in this heat. The up side of that - I have pants that aren't nearly so comfy and most of them are a little tight, so maybe I'll make a bit more effort to shed the kilos this month. Still sad about the comfy pants though! - Anyone got chocolate - oh yeah - the shedding kilos thing!!!

Cricket - stepping it up!

Taryn had an awesome day at cricket today. Her team played against Ellerslie and they won by 7 wickets. The team played exceptionally well, and Taryn's own personal performance was outstanding. In the first innings, they were fielding and Taryn took 3 catches (one of them in the photo above). Then in the 2nd innings when her team was batting, she set a new run record in her team -27 runs and was also the first person in her team to ever reach 25+ not out (they have to retire at 25 runs in her grade). Her runs included 5 4's!

As the game was drawing to an end, her coach (Renee) advised that she was still short a player for her own team's game (Under 19 Prem) and asked if Taryn would come and act as an additional fielder for them. Taryn was chuffed to be asked, but a little nervous about the thought of playing with and against older, more experienced players. She felt a lot better when Renee said she wouldn't have to bat, just field. However, in their batting innings, the top order batters didn't last as long as hoped and Taryn ended up going in for a bat at number 11, as partner with her coach - How cool is that!. She faced 6 balls. She blocked 3, let one pass, scored 1 run off another and then sadly went out LBW. This was a new one for her, as they don't play LBW's in her current grade, or the under 14's either. She said she felt bad about going out, but I reminded her, hey, you were filling in, batting when you weren't ever expected to and playing against U19 Prem players, facing their fast past and spin bowling at 12!!! You did an awesome job Taryn. Then in their fielding innings, she caught a Prem player out - You just can't get a much better cricket day than that for a 12 year old player. It was an awesome day. Great experience for her and she certainly learned a lot.

As for me, I learned that the sunblock you put on for morning cricket - even on a cloudy day, will not last through till 6pm, no matter how cool you feel because of a nice wind blowing!

'Tiny' rays of sunshine

That is what this child brings every time she comes for a visit and last night when she came with mum for Friday night scrap was no exception. I know I'm biased, but she is truly just a scrumptious baby.
She is one of the most most placid, happy babies I've come across. Well actually she's wasn't so placid last night when mum tried to put her down for a sleep - she much preferred being in the studio with us, but she did go down much easier second time around and woke up happy as can be again after her sleep. I love having her around. Miss V, you're welcome here any time.

Clearing out the house

As part of my new years resolution in the 'Home' department, I have been clearing out the house of excess items that are just taking up space. So far, the op shop has had 3 large bags of clothes, 1 large box of toys, a box of knick-knacks, a couple of pictures and some other odds and ends.

Friends/Family have also taken a few bags of clothes (some of the items were near new, as Miss Taryn had so many clothes, some hardly got worn) and a couple other items - this is the most gratifying, to know someone else can and will benefit from the items.

I have also sold off the black table I removed from the studio, a screen/shade house and currently on trademe (with reserve already met) is our old phone system. I'm hoping to keep this up over the next few months and have a long list of more items for trademe. I guess this is kind of good too, as it puts a wee bit of cash back in our month ridden pockets.

Not sure I've done enough yet for anyone else to actually notice a physical difference, but the storage areas are certainly getting cleared out and I am feeling much better about the house too. Long may it continue!

Tiny Giggles

This was taken a few weeks ago when Miss Wendy and Vienna came for a visit. It is just so darn cute, but took me a while to figure out how to rotate the video (I took it in portrait format), save it and then change the file type to one that blogger would accept. Isn't she just gorgeous!

Right up his alley!

After discovering we had a leak and getting the wonderful people from Leak Detection Services out to pinpoint its probable location, we had to dig up our cobblestones and a few feet of sand/earth to locate the actual leak itself so that it could be fixed. One area of cobblestones came up quite easily, but the second set were proving more difficult. There was one cobblestone right in the middle that was already badly damaged, so Mike thought he might as well smash that one so that he could gain access to the others.

So, who do you think he called to do that job.....here's Jayden smashing away at the cobblestone, which of course was right up his alley!

Chocolate Helps

Ok, so eating chocolate is not part of the plan to be healthier this year, but when you get a $440 1/2 yearly water bill with a warning notice that you might have a leak, then have to pay the experts $135 to find said leak (under concrete and cobblestones) and they find not 1, but 2 and you then learn you are going to have to rip up all your cobblestones in about a 3 metre block, pay for a plumber to fix the leak and then try and restore the cobblestone (which have been in place for 20+ years and you know will never go back down the way they were)...chocolate does actually help. Momentarily anyway. (I did however manage to restrict myself to a small 25g Sante bar, which was a good idea, cause if I had started a king size block, we all know there would have been none left to share!)

A Day Baking

I spent a few hours in the kitchen the other day, doing a bit of baking, as I hadn't done any for weeks (mainly due to the heat and the lack of desire to be in a hot kitchen).

I knew I wanted some corn bread, so started there and thought I may as well do some other stuff at the same time.

So I popped out onto the deck and picked a couple of capsicums from my capsicum plant and off I went.

First I made the corn bread - yum. Still wasn't as good as Ma's, but it was nice. Had it for lunch with salad and some peach and mango chutney. Whilst that was cooking, I mixed up some savoury muffins. Couldn't find a recipe, so I just started with a basic mix and went from there. I added onion, corn, bacon, capsicum, herbs and paprika. They too were super yum. Might have to write down the final recipe (as a variation), if I can remember the quantities.

Then I moved onto the sweet stuff and made banana cake. I like mine plain, Mike likes his with cocoa (to make it a chocolate banana cake) and chocolate chips, so I made a compromise and just made it with the chocolate chips. That really hit the spot for afternoon tea. Would have been even better with a dollop of cream, but I resisted - New Year's Resolutions and all!!!

So my plan is to try and bake at least once a fortnight, so that every other week, the kids get home baking. I'll keep you posted on how that goes.

A change is as good as a holiday

Sometimes you just feel like a change and that's exactly what I felt like this morning when I logged into my blog, so I spent a couple of minutes and changed the background and colours on the blog. Not sure yet if I really like it or not, but will wait a few days and see if it grows or me, or if I feel the need to change it again.

If you want to jazz up or change the look of your blog - it's easy (and free) if you visit www.thecutestblogontheblock.com They have heaps of free backgrounds to choose from.

Lover of all animals

Jayden has always loved animals (although a few years back he did also like to torment our cats!). My cousin Barbara was given a goat and so we went to Kaukapakapa to see here and the new addition to her lifestyle block. I wasn't sure how Jayden would react to a goat, but I needn't have worried. He got out the car and went straight over to pat it (after a quick pat of Monty - his favourite dog). He is always telling us that we need to go live on a small farm so he can have lots of animals. Wonder how long he'd last once he realised the work involved in caring for a number of different animals???