Christmas baking

Once again, my blogging has not been as regular as I'd like. Perhaps if I actually posted more often, people would read my blog? I am going to try and update in the orderish that things happened..

Before Christmas, we did a bit of Christmas baking. You know, for Santa. (god that seems sooo long ago now) I baked some Stained Glass Cookies. They turned out quite well, despite my terrible photos. They looked pretty and according to D, tasted good.

I also baked some carrot cupcakes for Santa's reindeer

Yes, those are fake carrot lollies on top. Like I was going to peel down REAL carrots!!

Christmas was great this year, we spent the morning with D's family and the afternoon with Sconey and a bunch of friends. We played games all night and ended up eating our Christmas roast dinner at 2am! It was fantastic Christmas fun.

M

another birthday cake

Here is the football field cake, I made for my darling husband D. I am still very slack at posting at the moment - I'm soo busy!

Hopefully I'll catch up soon. Guides has nearly finished for the year, so that gives me a couple more free nights!

Apologies to those that have tried to get in touch with me and have been a bit ignored.. I love you really!!

M

tired and burnt

Well two guide camps later, I can cross off item 32 - Go camping and stay in a tent. I am VERY sunburnt (can't understand why - I lathered on the sunblock) and very tired. But we all had a great time! We got a wee bit of rain the first camp weekend, and then this weekend it was gloriously hot (thus the sunburn). I learned lots of new things about camping with Guides and really enjoyed hanging out with the girls.

Life has been a bit chaotic lately with things very busy at work, all the camping preparation and just general busyness. D has a bit of a cold, but managed to play cricket this weekend and go to the Phoenix game. (I was at camp - so D took his brother). The Phoenix drew with Sydney FC - one all. A wee bit of a disappointing finish as it was 1 - nil to us until 92 minutes - when Sydney were a awarded a penalty shot. That said, a draw is better than a loss!!

We received a package from our favourite online ratty store this weekend also. Full of new hammocks for the crew once we have finished their new cage....(not quite sure when we will have that done...). The Ratclub store has a fantastic range of rat related supplies, including an awesome range of bedding and hammocks. Its fantastic not having to visit a pet store!!

I'm off to spray my burns with after sun stuff and head to bed.. early start tomorrow....

M

exciting lithops news & old school games..

My lithops is growing so quickly!! I was hoping that it would divide in two, but only two replacement leaves appeared. (old leaves die). Maybe next time...

While with the in-laws this weekend, we dragged out the Monopoly board. I haven't played in years and forgot how much I love playing board games. I was the banker so I got to have fun with a big wad of cash. There were the usual heated moments (especially with siblings playing!) and arguments over what was and wasn't a good property deal.

D and I don't own a set, so I am going to keep an eye out at the Garage sales etc...

M

pinata cake

This weekend we had the birthday celebrations for D's sister, Sandra. To be honest, I'll be quite glad when this wee spate of birthdays is over! That said, there was a new addition to the October birthday calendar with the arrival of this wee bundle:

Isn't she cute? She is our 10 day old niece. She was a very big baby, weighing around 10 pounds and she was born with that thick wad of hair!! Congrats to her mummy and daddy.

On with the birthday-ness..

This is the 'pinata' cake that D and I made for Sandra...

The "treasure" cake inside:

and the pinata shell (chocolate with LOTS of different sized M&Ms)



and after Sandra had smashed it (as opposed to blowing out her candles):

It turned out pretty awesome. Very colourful and fun for Sandra to smash up! So here is a belated...

Happy Birthday Sandra!!!

M

labour weekend

Labour weekend seems to traditionally be a weekend of crap weather. Well not this year! Its been absolutely gorgeous. And now that summer is on the way and we've turned our clocks forward, it is 6pm and still sunny as. I love it! Roll on summer!!

I haven't posted for a wee while for a few reasons. Firstly, I got struck down with the flu and it was horrible horrible. I was very tired, grouchy, and snotty. I also started my new job (at the same time as getting the flu) so I have been very busy busy at work. I also now go to Guides twice a week, once to my training unit and once to my permanent unit. Still, no excuse not to blog. And especially no excuse to ignore my 101 list. It will be April 2010 before I know it and I really really wanna complete this list.

So for the tiny amount of people who actually read my blog, apologies. Lots of updates to come :)

Another birthday has been and gone so a bit belated:

Happy Birthday Ron aka Father-in-Law!

We went to the in-laws on Saturday for lunch and cake. D and I made a train cake!! I've always wanted to make one. Sadly, I didn't get any really good photos of the cake. It turned out HUGE at 1 metre long. D and I had a blast making it and Ron seemed to really like it. I'm sure they will be eating cake for a week! I think next time we make this, we might just do the engine!

Each carriage has different cargo. One has mini marshmallows, one has fruit jellies, and one has oreo 'wheels'. Our niece Abby loved it.

Ron is really into model trains and the family put together to get him some new trains for his railway track.

It seems D and I have become the birthday cake makers of the family. Its D's sisters birthday next so we have a special cake in store for her!





After the birthday celebrations we visited my dad and his family. Dad cooked a lovely roast beef (which admittedly I didn't eat much of - too full of cake!). D and I watched 'Toy Story 2' with our cute little nephews Latrell and Lazereth.

D and I in our Phoenix gears

D and I being the staunch Phoenix supporters that we are, headed off to the game last night against the Central Coast Mariners. Unfortunately it was a loss, but still a really good game. The Mariners are at the top of the table and we definitely game them a run for their money. It was one all at full time and then the Mariners scored a second goal in overtime. I have my reservations about the yellow card happy ref and his decisions (or lack of). At the end of the day, it was the Phoenix's defence that let us down. One of the goals was literally walked in by the Mariners' player. All that said, they are our team and we love them. (And Perth lost this weekend so we aren't bottom of the table!!).

gorgeous weather for the football

It has been a weekend of football, D and I headed to our nearby park and kicked a ball around for an hour or so in the sun today. We really enjoyed ourselves and plan to do it on a regular basis. D is playing his indoor football game at the moment (I'm supposed to be preparing dinner...)

Speaking of food, I only have one bento to post. We've been quiet slack these past weeks and really need to get back into the swing of things. Maybe this week can be the first week of my regular posting of bento! (Item# 87 on my 101 list)

mini meat patties (made+ frozen specially for bento), mini vege fritatta, toast onigiri, cucumber flowers, laughing cow cheese wedge, and wine gum lollies to fill the gap.
lime flavoured jelly, mandarin slices, and tamarillo.
peanuts and raisins, and some durian chips.
citrus herbal tea and an instant miso

M

Quick post to say ...

Happy Birthday Aunty Sandra!

Hope you've having an awesome time and enjoy your surprise!

M