This Saturday I'm grateful for... Birthday Cakes and Patrick Swayze

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So I'm sitting here on my own after a very busy birthday week for this certain someone. This is only one of the 3 cakes Isaac has had this week, and while it was only made from playdough it was just as good as a real one. We also had a dinosaur cake on his actual birthday at home and for his party today I attempted a Buzz Lightyear cake. Come back next week for a picture of that one!

I have been attempting to load all my photos from his party today on my computer which for some reason has almost come to a dead stop - I think I have too many pictures and videos of my smalls on here. Thank goodness Ghost is on so I have a just a bit of Patrick Swayze to keep me company. That man was quite the spunk rat, even with that crazy flippy little fringe he had.

Want to join in grateful Saturdays? Pop on over to Maxabella and sign yourself right up.

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Unfortunately this was not the bathroom that I was forced to spend some quality time in over the last 24 hours! The dreaded lurgy has hit out house and has made its way around all of us - except my husband! I swear he must have an iron stomach given what we had to deal with last night. Our big boy was sick for most of our little boys birthday, I got sick not long after my stint on kinder duty, and our poor baby girl came down with it last night and spent most of the night throwing up in our bed! 13 towels later and at 3am we were all done. I have spent most of today washing masses of bed linen and towels and madly disinfecting everyting I could get my hands on. I did come to the realisation that when you are sick, with your head over the toilet bowl, even at 35, you still just want your mum.

At my house: Isaac Thomas

Apparently this young man is turning four tomorrow! As we are having his Buzz party on the weekend, we needed a whole other cake for his birthday day - hence our dinosaur that I have been slaving over this morning with directions I might add on m&m placement!

Where does the time go?

*Some things you might need to know:

• Isaac was 11 pound 3 at birth - hence those cheeks and squished up eyes. And yes, it was a c-section!
• The cake is from a Donna Hay Kids issue.
• Join in with Lou for 'at my house'.
• I'm posting this birthday pic today cause tomorrow we'll be far too busy opening presents, going to swimming lessons, kinder, handing out birthday treats to everyone we come across and having afternoon tea with some friends so we can munch our way through that dinosaur!!!

This Saturday I'm grateful for... ebay and sisters.

Seriously what cant you buy on ebay!? We have Isaac's fourth birthday and a party coming up this week and since we are being completely commercial with our Buzz Lightyear theme, I have been able to find loads of party goods in fabulously cheap ebay stores! Much better than going to party shops, even when you do factor delivery in. A couple of people even added freebie bonus's in for ordering through them - yay, cause you gotta love freebies. Isaac and I have just finished filling up these Buzz Lightyear Treat Rocketships with goodies for his friends. Dont they look just like the ones from the movie - all waiting in hyperspace ready to be opened!

We've also had my sister here for a very short but sweet visit - on her way home from Cambodia. She gave me the most gorgeous quilt made by lovely Cambodian women and while she was here, bought me the new Maeve Binchy book, helped me make two yummy Christmas puddings, went out late at night for an ice-cream run and came home with drumsticks, gaytimes AND magnums, and even looked after my small people a few times! What a treasure. Thanks Bells - we hope you are having a very happy birthday today.

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And so this is Christmas...

Ok, so not a fantastic shot but still.

I have one of my lovely sisters here at the moment for a short visit after her whirlwind trip to Cambodia and she has helped me make this lovely Christmas pudding. Doesn't it look great?! I follow her easy recipe which I have popped below for your benefit. I tend to soak my fruit in kahlua and for an added bonus we also add a handful ( a large handful!) of choc chips in for good measure. Yum. I'll be serving this up after Christmas lunch with a bunches of fresh raspberries, icing sugar, brandy sauce and ice-cream! So, best start that diet now right?!

Christmas Pudding

1 cup currants

2 cups of sultanas

1/2 cup of raisins

small packet of mixed peel

small packet of silvered almonds

1 cup of alcohol - like brandy, whisky or kahlua

2 cups brown sugar

2 cups of suet

1 cup of milk (mix 1 tsp of bicarb soda with this)

1 cup SR flour

2 eggs

2 cups of breadcrumbs

You will also need a pudding cloth that you can get from Lincraft of Spotlight. They are only a couple of $$'s and it needs to be largish.

Put all the red list in a big bowl with a lid and let is soak for at least 24hours (a week is better)before you mix in all of the other ingredients. Pop it into the centre of your pudding cloth (after you have dunked this in the boiled water to sterilise and wet it) and then wrap it up nice and tight. Make sure you pull the fabric up and together keeping your other hand wrapped around the top of the pudding so there is no air left once it's tied up. Secure tightly with some string and pop into a big pot of continuously boiling water for 3 and half hours. Once you have done this hang it from a big hook to dry it out. It will go all dimply like cellulite, and you may need to seperate any folds as it dries. Then on Christmas Day boil it up for another hour and enjoy!

Hello lover....

Seriously.... is there anything better than a fresh new mazagine and three hours of kiddie free time in which to gently flick lovingly through it's precious pages?

Clearly Frankie is out today.

At my house...

At my house this week:

We are in full party prep mode for a young man's 4th birthday next week! Eeek!

I am attempting to return to work! Double Eeeek!

And I am getting sucked in by cute photos of the smalls!

Isaac's kinder recently had those Vision portrait people in where you pay $12 for a family photo in a frame and then when you go to pick it up you get suckered in to buy the rest because there are some dreadfully cute pictures of your poppets and they all happen to be looking normal, with smiles on their faces and in the direction of the camera! And you know how hard that is to do yourself! Could you have left this sweet picture behind?

Join in with 'At my house...' over here.

Point and Shoot: Alice in Wonderland Birthday Party

Sunday 17th October, 2010 3pm-ish

We went to my friends little girls first birthday on Sunday - a lovely Alice in Wonderland inspired affair. See that gorgeous Mad Hatter cake that the wee little person's mummy made?! She is such a clever, marvellous lady.

Want to see what other people get up to on their weekends? Head over to FatMumSlim and join in with point and shoot.

Feeling hooked?

My husband wants to know what has come over me, since crocheting granny squares appears to have taken over my life. Each night after the smalls finally fall asleep, out comes my bag of wool and off I go, oblivious to anything around me. I cant tell you the last time I read a book or watched the tv properly or even visited blogland for a thorough read of my favourites! I was warned this might happen - the crochet addiction! Do you have it? My new favourite shops are Spotlight and Lincraft! I have bought a book with 200 different granny squares in it! My friend told me about amigurumi's which I am keen to try next! I read over here today about about how crochet feels like swimming - graceful and meditative, and tis very true. The wee granny square rug above is wonky and full of errors, but I MADE THAT! And Oh, the Satisfaction it gives me! It's heading to a sweet baby girl who is turning 1 this week to use for her dollies.

In my endless googling for crochety things, I came across this great blog, Attic 24. Well worth a look as she gives marvellous instructions for making lovely things. Check out the wonderful granny stripe rug she has made. Just beautiful.

Point and Shoot

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Saturday, October 9th, 11.30am

We went to a wee party on Saturday - and who doesn't love a good pinata whack to get their frustration out! Isaac certainly enjoyed it. What we didn't love was the dirtly old man who turned up, plonked himself in the middle of the playground with his unleashed yappy little dog and proceeded to smoke 2 cigarettes! Ick, ick, ick! Who smokes these days? Especially in a park with children?

Oh, and I couldn't resist trying out the whole animated picture do-dad that Poppet in the Post does on Fridays. I cheated and used it here just for something different.

Want to see what other lovely bloggers got up to on the weekend? Head over here and join in yourself.

Mmmmmm, Stationary!

Some advice please - since clearly my brain has been out of operation for the last six years! I'm thinking of applying for a Christmas job at Kikki-K, but what on earth does one put on a resume when you haven't worked for the last 6 years??!!! Clearly, I would mention my teaching experience (as that's where my love for stationary was really set in stone) and may even mention my hundred years of experience as a checkout chick, but really that's all old news now! I have no work references cause I haven't worked! Sure, I can put my best friend down as a personal reference - I am sure she has lovely things to say about my parenting skills! And what on earth goes in a covering letter these days?

HELP!!!

Wouldn't you like to work at a shop that sells that lovely birdy blue set?

Ramblings....

Gosh I love finding things on the internet! Seriously. I could sit here all night, kids in bed, coffee my my side, tv flickering in the background searching for things I'm not sure I want till I see them.

Look at this lovely chore chart for instance:

Head on over to draw! pilgrim to print out your own FREE copy! Yay!

And sticking with my slightly green imaged theme, gosh I wish I could find these shoes in my size - lovely green Keds wedges. These size 10's are available on ebay at the moment.

And just a wee side story - why is it always the way that when you have no money you find lovely new clothes to buy? I headed out sans smalls this morning for errands and came across mountains of things I could have bought given an endless supply of cash! Grrrr, to Sussan for not letting me layby the lovely dress on sale in your shop! The husband has me on a tight budget at the moment as I have been lucky enough to be driving a brand spanking new car - a beautiful black Chrysler Grand Voyager! So, while I have no lovely dress or the above perfect shoes to match, I am driving a swish new car with loads of buttons and leather!

Wishing and dreaming...

Please. Will someone come and look after my three smalls so I can go to this? Oh, and if you could spare me a $1 or $3 so I could buy nice things that would be great too. Cheers, Sonia

Point and Shoot: Jemima's granny rug

Sunday night, October 3rd, 2010

Jemima is modelling my first attempt at a crochet granny square rug, the height of comfort and fashion for Play School toys at the moment! Yay for me! Dont look too close as it's pretty raw but it's a perfect size for Jemima and her friends. She didn't really need it last night as it had been a beautiful, warm, sunny Melbourne day and our house stayed nice and toasty all night. Lucky I left it with her though, as she had to pull it over her eyes several times during Offspring when Nina started to get a bit naughty with her sister's ex-boufriend and then the man she really loves who has decided to forget about his missing wife showed up to declare his undying love for her whilst she was still in an intimate state!

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