An award :)

Mim - over at Mim's Muddle has kindly awarded me with a bloggy award:

The Love My Friends Award is given to those bloggers who aspire, inspire and share the most beautiful of human attributes: art, wisdom and friendship. Deliver this award to eight bloggers who must choose eight more.

Wow - that is something to aspire to for sure... art, wisdom and friendship.

So here we are with my picks:

Rachel - my IRL friend who lives in KL at present. Very much admire her crafty productions, value her friendship and chats about parenting, faith, family etc. So annoyed I was sick this weekend and couldn't entertain her before she heads back.
Sharon - fellow scrapbooker/Twitterer/food lover, excellent photographer, mother to two boys and fellow book club member
Janine - I enjoy reading her posts, seeing where her creativity is taking her and what she's making and her honest blogging.
Kristen and Amy - my online friends who I met on a parenting forum before DS was conceived and with whom I've shared numerous milestones, discussions, worries about parenting. They both have green aspirations like me. I really, really want to meet them IRL someday, somehow. Both explore photography as a form of creativity.
Mel , Em & Hen - who make me laugh, faithfully comment on my blog and Facebook, share the book club books, parenting "issues"....

I also have a number of non-bloggy friends who I am grateful for their friendship, their creativity and just for being there.

Power Igor...

And we have life! Yes I am still alive. Ha!

Prepare for bullet point posting:

1. Finished the A-Z of New Zealand album for a colleague leaving for Australia. Actually more for his kids who were born here. Couldn't let those tender NZers forget their NZ heritage now could I? A few of the pages. Sorry about the awful light but I finished it the night before I had to give it to him and had no opportunity to take a photo in daylight.

2. I planted 2 kinds of corn this year. Indian corn and the usual sweetcorn. The two obviously cross fertilised and we got some kernels reverting to the old fashioned corn. Tasted fine though and looked pretty. :-)

3. Went to the Steam Festival at Glenbrook. DS had a great time with all the steam technology. DD and I had a ride on the cart pulled by the Clydesdales (Guy, Jill and Star). Oh boy it was hot that day! The steam train caused a grass fire and our return trip to the station was delayed by it - having left lunch in the car we were sure hungry by the time we got to eat it. We ended up driving into Waiuku to eat because there was very little available shade and so many people! A great day though. I got lots of photos for Lianne's NZ photo calendar project.

4. I've been awarded some blog awards by some generous ladies. Thank you!

Rachel gave me the Kreative Blogger award. I'm going to give it to Vicky because I want to be like her when I grow up. I really admire her creativity, her style and her dedication to what she believes in. She may not "go in for" these awardy type things but that is ok too.

Ann gave me the Marie Antoinette award. It's for "telling it like it is" I understand. So I'm going to award it to Sandra. She and her blog-hijacking husband are not afraid to put the tough things of life on their blog.

Yvette very sweetly gave me the Fabulous blog award. I'm going to award it to Sharon because she constantly delights me with her photos and layouts. I know she thinks she needs more practice with her photography but I think (and her other readers probably agree) that she has some great stuff appearing regularly.
And Bronny has given me this award which comes with some rules!


We have to say one nice thing about the man in our life. Hmmmm. Well, I wouldn't like to be without him that is for sure. He puts up with my strange foibles, makes me laugh, still thinks I'm hot despite 2 babies and being over 30, and supports my coffee/chocolate habit. Hee hee!
And we have to list 6 ways I measure my success in life. Well that is kinda personal - I'll probably sound a bit religious but... the main way I measure success is if I'm living up to the spirit of Christ's teachings.
But there are some others.
2) if I've made somebody's life better
3) if I've taught my kids to be good citizens
4) if I've learned something new
5) if I've been able to find blessing in something I find difficult to do/live with/deal with
6) if I've been able to find time for prayer/meditation

Now I'm going to award this one to themommykelly. :-)

I am going to post separately about the January reading Round Up and the Book Club Book. Stay tuned.

Hanging on

by the skin of my teeth until I finish work Thursday afternoon.
Who knows if I will blog anything worthwhile between now and Christmas. Haven't even thought about the November Reading Round up - I think I did read something though.

The kids and I put the tree up and I took photos for the SBO challenge but never got time to make the LO for it. I'm giving up on the rest of the challenges - it's just too hard for me to get time to do it. In my more frustrated moments I consider packing up all my scrapbooking and sewing and giving it away because I despair of finding time! But... mustn't give in to self-pity.






Last week was insanely busy with work and school Christmas parties left right and centre. I did get the Christmas cake made, some chocolate panforte made for presents and on Thursday I made the Christmas pudding (aka the Scarlet w*ore of Babylon). True, I did have to get up at 1am to turn off the oven when it was cooked but it is done!

On Friday I made some gift Christmas cakes and lemon cordial. Saturday was the daycare Christmas party and Missy Moo once more demonstrated how different she is to her brother. While he clung to me like a burr, she was up on the stage boogying to the music. Even Santa didn't bother her. Here she is (in the red dress) singing about Santa Claus... he's outside ringing his bells.

I then went to find some summer clothes for the kids because DS only has about 3 pairs of shorts that fit him that don't have holes in the wrong places! And Missy Moo really doesn't fit size 1 anymore however much I try to deny the fact she is growing up. DH needed a couple of new go-to-church-shirts too; the Barkers outlet store had buy one get one half price so I managed to sort that out easily.

Saturday afternoon we went to a wedding.


DS wanted to know what it was all about.

Me: We have to get dressed to go to the wedding.
DS: Whats a wedding?
Me: It's when people get married. You know, like Mummy and Daddy did.
DS: Why?
Me: Ummm.. well, Fred and Julia fell in love and so they decided to get married.
DS: Why?
Me: *inside: aaaarggghh!! So they can't be accused of living in sin? They want to make it legal? They felt like a party?* Just get dressed okay? It's at the beach and there will be sausage rolls.

The latter mention of sausage rolls was a mistake because he then spent most of the ceremony asking me where the food was and when he could eat it.

And there were no sausage rolls.

Fortunately there were sufficient sandwiches to cope with his appetite. I think he's having a growth spurt. He ate 4 helpings of lasagne last night.

Missy Moo enjoyed the cupcakes, and they both liked the beach.





Now the lovely Rachel has kindly awarded me with this Kreative Blogger award. Thank you!


The rules for the award are this:
.
1. The winner may put the logo on their blog.
2. Put a link to the person who sent you the award.
3. Nominate 5 blogs.
4. Provide links to their blogs.
5. Leave a message for your nominees.

I'm going to have a think about this one and get back to ya!

A new day, new possibilities

It's good to wake up to a new day :-)

Last week Janine very kindly gave me the Funky Blog award! My first award in the blogosphere! Wheee! So now the idea is to pass it on to:

Lara - for starting the XY card blog. Anyone who has had to think about making cards for the males in their lives will find this a useful resource! Submit some of your cards for display on this blog and we will all thank you.

themommykelly - who is currently on bedrest (since 12 weeks into her pregnancy). I know she can't respond etc, and hasn't blogged for a while but I personally have enjoyed her Flaunt It Friday meme, and am awaiting the next installment of her story when she was a novice nun.

It was difficult to choose! I enjoy reading quite a few blogs these days :-) To you I give the Pineapple Lump Marshmallow Egg prize for Pure Pleasure!
For someone who usually does not allow any chocolate with less than 60% cocoa solids pass her lips, I am a little embarrassed to confess that I am glad to see these back in the shops.

Yes, it galls me that Easter isn't until the end of March and we're already seeing merchandise for it. But I do like these things. And hot cross buns. So I bought some.
*Hangs head in shame*
I blame Janine for bringing these to my attention last year. Hee hee!

Sent my CV away to a job yesterday. Will wait and see what happens.

Mel asked for the Malay Beef Curry recipe so here it is. I actually made it on Tuesday as we had some unexpected visitors coming. It was good. It would have been better if I'd totally followed the recipe and browned all the spices as well as the onions. But I was in a hurry after my dramatic morning and wanted to get it all in the pot.

Malay Beef Curry
(from 100 Ways to use slow cookers and crockpots / by Simon & Alison Holst. Dunedin: Hyndman Publishing)
For 4-6 servings
1-1.2kg gravy beef, cubed
2 T gr. coriander
1 T gr. cumin
1-2 t chilli powder
2 t Chinese five spice
1 t turmeric
3 T canola oil
1 med. onion, quartered and sliced
4 cardamon pods, squashed
1 x 5cm cinnamon stick
1 whole star anise
6 cloves
4 med. potatoes, cubed
3/4 cup coconut cream
1 cup boiling water
2 T cornflour or 1 T arrowroot
2-3 T lemon juice
1-2 t salt
1 cup frozen green beans or peas, optional

Turn slow cooker on to High to pre-heat.
Trin any obvious fat off the meat, cut into cubes then place in a bowl. Measure in the first 5 spices and toss everything together so meat is evenly coated with spice mixture.

Heat half the oil in the large frying pan. Add onion and cook until soft, then add half the spice-coated meat. Cook, stirring frequently for about 5 mins until meat is lightly browned, then transfer to slow cooker. Heat the remaining oil and brown rest of meat before adding to the slow cooker too.

Add whole spices, potatoes, coconut cream and water to the slow cooker. Stir to combine, then put on the lid and cook on LOW for 8-10 hours. Stir the cornflour or arrowroot and lemon juice together in small bowl and add to slow cooker, adding salt to taste. Turn slow cooker to HIGH and stir in peas/beans at this stage, and cook for 30 mins longer. Serve as is or over steamed rice accompanied by Malaysian roti.