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

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!)

brrrr!

It looks so lovely outside but its freezing! I'm struggling to type! Unfortunately, I have some "homework" to do for work, but I have been tempted by the Impossible quiz (see below) a few times.... I might go for a walk and clear my head and then get stuck into work.

I am making pumpkin soup in the crockpot - it smells LOVELY. D is out playing football again - hoping for their fourth consecutive win! Hopefully the soup will be ready by the time he gets home. :)

happy birthday marie

It is D's mum's birthday today so went we out to their place for lunch. HAPPY BIRTHDAY MARIE!!

I'm still attempting the Impossible Quiz. I've made it to 88 but there was a bomb that went off before I could finish the question.. back to the beginning!

I'll crack it if it kills me!! :D

I went out for dinner + cocktails with some work buddies last night. We had a really good time. Dinner was at Thai House on Cuba St and then nextdoor to Goodluck for cocktails & sake. I love the atmosphere at Goodluck, I could have easily stayed there all night.

my "pad thai" dinner


ambiance at Goodluck


sake, sake, sake...

It was a great night, and very cool to hang with some work mates who I don't see often. The cocktails at Goodluck are very very good.

D has convinced me to make him chocolate pudding in the crockpot, and is calling from the lounge "its smells good honey, is it ready yet??" I'd better go check.

Happy Long Weekend!

M

fantastic stew

The stew turned out fantastic!! Very yummy! And so cheap! Cost us less than $10 for 4 meals for us and many for the furkids! We had some pastry leftover from when I attempted a home made mince pie so on Tuesday night we turned some of the leftovers into a delicimo pie. It made us feel oh so domesticated! Sadly, I forgot to photograph our fantastic creation. However I am sure there will be many more tasty stews.

I've been frequenting a forum set up by Trade Me Messageboarders to store all the wonderful recipes that get posted. There is a whole tread on crockpot recipes! Its great to get ideas of the types of things that you can just chuck in the crockpot. I can't wait to make vege soup!

I've been speaking with my brother online recently (& finally!!), I really want to go and visit him. He is living in Perth, working and enjoying the higher wages that Australia offers. Its funny, we fought like cats and dogs when we were young but I miss him so much now. And as much as he doesn't say it, I know he misses us (me) too. I've been working on a special package for him full of things to remind him of home. Its been a work in progress since his birthday in March so I really need to get a move on.

Speaking of family members, (who I know my brother dearly misses) this is our family dog Cleo:

She is 13 years old and such a sweet girl. She lived with mum in Nelson til Feb last year when she moved up to Wellington to live with my dad. She's lived with every family member at some stage or another. She's getting on in age and I don't know how much longer we'll have her. I think I'll go and spend some time with her this weekend. :)

Well D is home from football training so I better go give him a hand with the dishes....

Oh and before I forget... I got to the short short list of a job I applied for! Its down to me and 1 other. If the other is who I think it is, I'm not sure what my chances are. That said, I'm not 100% what I want to do yet so I won't be too disappointed if I don't get it. There was a very large number of good quality applicants so I feel very pleased to have least made it to the short short list! I'll let you know :)

meh

Well its been another weekend of non-accomplishment! My dear friend K came to visit from Nelson which was great. Its always good to hang out.

K, S and I rented Marie Antoinette to watch on Saturday night. It was good, but not a fantastic watch. Much time was spent with us trying to remember 5th form History and trying not to get confused between the French & Russian Revolutions. While I understand the point of the movie was to tell the story of Marie Antoinette, I feel the film would have been improved by showing an indication of the struggles and starvation of the French at the time.


I really must make more time to read about history, I always wish
I knew more about stuff!

It seems it is time for D and I to tighten out belts as it were.. things are D's work aren't looking so good, and he could be out of a job very soon. He's looking for a new job of course, but we can't afford to live on my income if it doesn't happen quickly! I've promised to give him a chance to find a new role before making any drastic decisions (sell the car, disconnect the internet/TV, stop eating...) but I do still worry how we'll cope.

On a more positive note, D and I bought a SlowCooker/CrockPot today. (on sale of course) the plan is to make cheap yummy meals in the Crock Pot that we can freeze and reheat. Tonight we are making a beef, lentil & vege casserole. So far it looks yummo! Should be done by breakfast time! Stew for breaksfast anyone? (I did joke about plugging it in in the bedroom so we could wake up to the smell of fresh stew.....)

Furkids aren't doing so well either, with three on meds. Wocket is on meds permanently and is doing OK. Hiro seems to be constantly sneezing, so has ABs which will hopefully kick in sooner rather than later as I'd hoped to have him and Ando neutered by now. And D's lil favourite Kaida has developed a severe rattle, so we've started her on doxy tonight. I suspect the change in season has something to do with it and I have plans to start them all on manuka honey and elderberry tincture as suggested by a good friend in the States. Manuka honey is just plain good, and elderberry is supposed to be good for lung congestion and respiratory issues. Sounds like just the ticket!