how long has it been?

Yeah - I've neglected this blog for ages.... you know what.. I'm not even gonna go there. Lots has happened since my last post in April (?!) and I couldn't begin to cover it all.

In 1o points:

1. We lost many of our furkids. We are now down to three permanent residents. However, that said, we've just taken on a foster - pregnant female (was) ... so we currently have Shi (mummy) and her ten darling 5 week old babies. They are separated now (rats become sexually mature at 5-6 weeks, so we separate a bit before 5 weeks to be safe). We're trying to adopt out as many as we can - but I think we'll keep a couple + mum.

2. D and I went for a trip (in Sept!) to visit my brother in Perth. We had an awesome time, and also saw the Phoenix play (read: horribly lose) while we were there.

spooky pic of my bro @ Freemantle prison on a night tour!

the beautiful Combo

It certainly gave D and I inspiration to do a whole lot more "real" travel when work and finances allow!

I promise I didn't make him carry the bags alll the time!!

3. I got a new job... or perhaps two new jobs since I last posted. I'm still within the same company, but I've now moved to IT. Which is amusing for some, as I'm not exactly an IT guru. I'm doing ok - and really enjoying the change. There are some big changes afoot in my company - so its an exciting time to be involved.

4. I'm still Guiding.. its been a full on year and I'm really proud of our girls. We've been on two camps this year and have achieved so much! We awarded four senior Guide awards and our unit has grown from 20 at the start of the year to 35! This is awesome - go Girl Guides! Its especially cool because this year we celebrated 100 years of Guiding!

5. D and I have the camping bug I think! We've been slowly acquiring gear so that we can go away camping on our own! Our car getting broken into and all my camping gear getting stolen didn't help matters - but we're getting there. We've got leave in Feb next year, so hope to go away and "rough it" for a week.

6. The whole weight-loss thing isn't going so well right now... I was really good, but I rolled right off the wagon! Back on I jump - I'm back at the gym and trying to eat well - December is the worst (yet best) month!!

7. I've still been baking up a storm and have had some great success with new cupcake variations. I'd like to get into the habit of baking a new thing once a week... so I can take pretty pictures and feed my work-mates!

chilli-choc cupcakes with chocolate ganache icing


birthday cake I made for a colleague's daughter

8. I've bought D a couple of cook books (I know, I know, gifts for him that are really for me!) and we're trying to cook two new things a week. Its been fantastic and we feel all chef-y! I definitely need to make/find us some funky aprons to style us right.

borscht (beetroot soup)

sweet potato frittata

9. I removed my 101 list... it was big! and long! I think I need a shorter list - both in term and number of items. I haven't deleted the list - I still want to work on it - but it was daunting and made me not visit my blog. So watch this space for my new short term goals!

10. I finally gave in to Facebook - so if you know me in real life - look me up! I hear its cool to have lots of friends. I've even uploaded some photos.....

That my dears, is it for tonight!

x x xM

vege bean soup + green tea custard...

Today I made some yummy vege soup for dinner, and also to freeze for lunches. I basically just threw in all the veges we had in the fridge into a soup. This includes; celery, carrots, capsicums, canned tomatoes, and spinach! Once it had simmered away, I pureed it up and added some cannelloni and butter beans. I made enough for 6 servings - and only 1 WW point per serve! (That is, if you don't add that teaspoon of ricotta....)



It doesn't look that pretty - but its tastes damn good.


While I was on such a domesticated bender, I made some green tea custard for dessert. (Low in points too!!) The photo REALLY doesn't do it justice - it was much brighter green in real life.



I have plans for green tea related things... and also for adzuki bean related things....



M

random blossom

I don't have any pictures today, so have a photo of a random blossom I took in Spring.

Life has been a bit 'arrrggggh' lately. I have so much to do and find myself re-prioritising every five mintues.

I'm still obsessed with making cupcakes, though I've realised I have to find people to give them to BEFORE I make them. Otherwise I end up taking truckloads of cupcakes into work and pissing off all the people on weight watchers!

Speaking of WW, I have started going to the actual meetings. I probably won't stick at the meetings - but it is a good start to get me motivated. (I'm too stingy to pay forever.. and I am more than a wee way from my goal weight when it will be free!) We'll see how it goes.

M

inarizushi

Tonight I made inarizushi for dinner, (I also made enough for bento tomorrow and to freeze a couple). All I can say is YUM. They were absolutely delish and so easy to make! I got the recipe/inspiration from JustHungry. JustHungry (& JustBento) is an awesome blog for Japanese style food. That said, there are lots of fantastic non-Japanese style recipes too. I highly recommend a trip over there to check them out.

Despite being REALLY good (I did go out to Flying Burrito Brothers for a work dinner one night - but I didn't have dessert!) I haven't lost a lot more weight. I think I've only really maintained last week's 4kg loss. I'm consoling myself with the thought that I would have been perfectly happy with two weeks of 2kg weight loss - so whats the difference!

My daily walks home with Natalie have been really good and we've walked in lots of different weather! Boiling hot sun to gale force winds and sea spray. Last week I took my camera on one such day and took these snaps: (which meant I had to run to catch up with Nat!)

bento time

A group of friends and I have started some kind of Weight Watchers/healthy eating escapade. My approach has been to eat as much as possible during the day - but all low in WW points. This has meant that I've started making bento again! Our bento are no where near as cutie cutie as the ones below, but they do the trick. Somehow, cucumber in the shape of a flower just tastes better. It looks like it takes ages, but it doesn't really. I probably spend 30 minutes each evening putting together lunch for D and I.

Natalie and I have also started walking home! I've been really good and haven't yet gone off the rails! So far I've lost 4kg!!! (only 1 week in). It seems everyone lost heaps of weight the first week, so we'll have to see what the second week brings.

Our house is still a big mess from moving - we've been here a month(!) and I haven't finished unpacking. I really just want it all sorted. Today is Wellington Anniversary day so I'm going to try and get into it today! D went to work so hopefully I'll make some progress :)


Pretty sunset I snapped from our veranda

M