Lemon Cheer

Well the country is in mourning and while I have no interest in sport, it really is disappointing! So I will resist gently pulling the legs of my online friends, (who are feeling this keenly) and instead I will post about this yummy cake.

Iced Lemon Curd Layer Cake
Delia Smith's Winter Collection, (1995), London: BBC Books, pg. 229

175g self-raising flour, sifted
1 level teaspoon baking powder
175g butter at room temperature
175g caster sugar
3 eggs
grated rind of a lemon
1 Tablespoon of lemon juice

For the Lemon Curd
75g caster sugar
grated zest and juice of 1 large lemon
2 eggs
50g unsalted butter

For the Icing
50g sifted icing sugar
zest of 1 large lemon
2-3 teaspoons lemon juice

Pre-heat oven to 170 degrees C (325 F). Prepare 2 x 18cm sandwich tins, 4 cm deep by greasing them, & lining with baking paper.

Measure all the cake ingredients into a mixing bowl and beat - ideally with an electric hand whisk - till you have a creamy consistency. (I used my cake mixer). Divide the mixture between 2 tins and bake them on the centre shelf in the oven about 35 mins or until the centres feel springy with lightly touched with a little finger.

While the cakes cook, make the lemon curd. Place sugar and grated rind in a bowl, whisk the lemon juice with the eggs and then pour this over the sugar. Add the butter cut into little peices, and place bowl over a pan of simmering water. Stir frequently until thickened. The recipe says you don't have to stay with it but to come back from time to time. I personally couldn't do that because I'm paranoid.

When cakes are cooked, remove them from the oven and after about 30 seconds, turn them out onto a rack. When they are absolutely cold, cute each one horizontally into 2 using a serrated knife. Spread the curd thickly to sandwich the sponges together. You will notice I didn't bother cutting the layers... my tins were slightly too large and thus the layers were too thin for me to cut into two. Heh heh - more lemon curd for me!

To make the icing, remove the zest from the lemon using a zester to get long curly strips. Sift the icing sugar into a bowl and gradually stir in the lemon juice until you have a soft runny consistency. Allow to stand for 5 mins and then spread on the cake. Scatter lemon zest on top.

DH discovered a cool technique to do in Lightroom. It's a kind of grungy, surreal, painty effect.
This is one DH did of DS and his kite. I did the one of DD. Before


and after..

RIP Yippy

The black & whi-puss has gone. I knew it was going to happen soon. He was over 17 years old and his joints were so stiff he could hardly get on the bed any more. I knew his kidneys were packing up because he was drinking so much water. Every week I'd buy his food wondering if this would be the last time.

Last night he had a fit that lasted about 30 seconds. I knew that this wasn't going to get better and I didn't want him to leave us during another fit or in pain, so today he had an appointment. Today he didn't come home from the vet.

I guess one day we'll get another pet. DS has turned out to allergic to furry things so we'll wait and see if that settles down before we decide.

Violent Thoughts

Oh Slug!
Whose moist supple body
insinuated itself through a slender gap
secretively slipping on a mucusoid path
furtively

Oh Slug!
No welcome moonlight
revealed your rasping radular
ravaging my hopeful harvest
of cucumbers

Oh Slug!
I will relocate you, expose you
on this crevassed concrete
for some tightly feathered
blackbird's snack

Preserved Lemons

Ages ago - like last year - I made some preserved lemons. And I have made some more since my lemony friend gave me another big bag and I have used all the previous year's supplies up. She also gave me eggs from her free range hens. They are so free range she has to hunt for them! So I think some lemon curd will be coming up real soon.

Preserved Lemons from the Cuisine magazine (Sept. 2001 28 pg. 56)

6-8 lemons
1/2 cup coarse sea salt (I used rock salt)
1 litre preserving jar, thoroughly washed in boiling water


Wash and dry the lemons. If you use store bought lemons you will have to really scrub them to remove the wax coating (and any pesticide that might remain). Cut a thin slice from the top and bottom of each lemon.

Cut through each lemon vertically leaving about 1 cm at the base i.e. don't cut right through. Turn upside down and rotate. Make another vertical cut top to bottom, again leaving 1 cm at the base. You will have 4 quarters that are all still attached.

Gently open up the cuts in the lemons and fill with as much salt as possible (about 1 T per cut). Hold one cut end together while you fill the other to prevent salt spilling out. I hold it over the jar because I can never prevent it entirely.

Carefully squeeze the lemons into the clean jar, compressing them as you go so some juice comes out, but try and retain their shape as much as possible.

Fill the jar halfway with extra lemon juice if necessary. I find I have to squeeze extra to make up the difference; must be my lemons or something. I add some peppercorns and a bay leaf too. You can also add cinnamon sticks, cloves, dried chillies, toasted coriander seeds, or toasted cumin seeds. Wipe the top of the jar clean with a cloth dipped in boiling water, then seal.

Store in a cool place (not the fridge) for 1 month before using. The lemons release more juice while pickling. Turn the jar a few times during the month.

Before using, rinse and dry the lemons. Remove and discard the flesh, then use the peel as required.

Search here for recipes using preserved lemons.

I also made candied lemon peel with the rinds of the lemons I used to squeeze the extra juice from. I tell you - that stuff is moreish.

Name tag

I've been tagged by Ilka :)
1. Players must list one fact, word, or tidbit that is somehow relevant to their life for each letter of their first or middle name.
2. When you are tagged you need to write your own post containing your first or middle name game facts, word, or tidbit.
3. At the end of your post choose one person for each letter of your name to tag.
4. Don’t forget to leave a comment telling them that they have been tagged, and to read your blog.
5. If I’ve tagged YOU (see below), please join in on the fun!

P - passionate about many things; family, crafts, food, education - the list could go on.
E - embroidery - still love this but it's taken a back burner for a while. Might take it up again when the kids are older.
N - naturally inclined to try and please people which can be rewarding but also can mean I forget about more important things or get frustrated when it isn't appreciated.
N - naughty. sometimes. ;)
Y - (uummm... this is hard) Younger by 1 year than my husband. Ok - I know that one isn't very interesting but I can't think of anything else!

I think I will tag Sharon and Tara.

Local Government

Sometimes we rant at the local government and their decisions. Like when they closed the branch library just up the road from me because it wasn't considered cost effective to run. Now instead of popping the kids into the pram to get some books or make a quick drop off, I have to get in the car and burn some fossil fuel instead. I know they have a mobile library stop there now, but as much as I believe in mobile libraries (in the wild as it were) they are not the same as bricks and mortar. Especially when you have 2 pre-schoolers. I was also disappointed they didn't take my suggestion of setting up a book drop in the local supermarket (situated beside the library site) so people could drop off books when the mobile library wasn't there. I thought that was quite a neat idea and a chance for a great example of community co-operation and initiative.

Not happy people. Not happy.

But this made me happy. Having driven to drop off some books I noticed a small room next to the branch library labelled Cloth Nappy Education Centre. At first I thought it was a weird name for a child care place but upon closer inspection I see it really is as the name suggests. The council is subsidising the hireage of cloth nappies and teaching folks how to use them. I'm impressed that for once our eco-city is putting it's money where it's mouth is.

Busy bee

When I was going to kindy they had a day where everyone came and pitched in to help do things around the kindgergarten. Kiwi's call this as a "working bee". We had t-shirts with "I'm a busy bee at kindergarten" on it. Well, I've been a busy bee at home! So this is going to be a bullet point post.

Birthday boy turned 4 today so we had the party on Saturday. The train cake turned out well. He was totally spoiled. He asked us at tea time "Is my party day finished?" to which we said yes it was. "Can I have it again?" Aaah no. Not until next year. Maybe.

Finished a number of layouts:

Finished sewing up a romper I made originally for DS but decided it was too girly and didn't make it up. Now that I have a girl you know. Just so you're convinced, here is a picture of her in another smocked romper I made, and a beautiful purple hat my friend S knitted. She is the queen of drool right now as you see.







Also finished the PIF gifts which have to wait until next month to be sent, after which I shall post some pictures!

PIF recipients

Heh heh - my post with the PIF in it didn't ge that many comments so eliminating those who opted out and my PIFer Janine I only had 3 people left anyway!

So.

Amy and Kristen - send me your addresses and you will get some happy mail. Ilka - I have your address so I shall send a little love your way too! :-)

I hereby give permission to my PIF recipients to refrain from passing on the meme if they don't want to. Especially Ilka because she has already been so generous these past few weeks.

And I'd like to give a big public thank you to Janine and Ilka for their lovely envelopes of goodies that came yesterday and today! I'm excited about their contents... and I really, really want to get scrapping! Just got to get this week of party preparations out of the way and you won't see me for .. uh .. not dust but probably glue and bits of scrap paper! LOL!

Peace

I read this blog called No Impact Man - it's a guy and his family who is trying to live in New York City with as little environmental impact as possible. It certainly makes my efforts to reduce my ecological footprint look puny.

However, I noticed this post today and it resonated with me. Particularly this statement.

When I have less internal conflict, I cause less external conflict. When I cause less external conflict, there is less conflict in the world.

You can read his post but basically he comments about an incident at home that could have easily happened in my house and his reaction was one that I recognised.

I need to work on this.

m m m marshmallows

Some of you may recall the interview with my DS where he mentions marshmallows as a favourite.

We were getting some things for his birthday and he happened to notice an enormous bag of marshmallows on the shelf.

DS: I think we need some marshmallows.
Me: Oh.. why?
DS: Because Daddy ate them all.
Me: Is that so! Oh well. I guess we can get some more.

Then on the weekend he sidles up to me and says:
Have we got 4,5 , 6, 8, 11, 14, 17 marshmallows?
Me: Probably.
DS: Daddy hasn't eaten them eh?

I think he's feeling a bit protective.

This and That

As it turns out, Daddies are better kite flyers than Mummies around here. It helps when you have the kite 'bones' inserted the right way round apparently.

Unfortunately the weekend degenerated from here. Both kids have had colds since the 23rd August. Now, snotty noses are bad enough ... but both of them also got diarrhoea which is not something you want to deal with in the middle of the night with a nearly 3 1/2 year old who readily pukes at the smell of his own ... er .. business at the best of times.

DD had it for a short time, but DS still has it 5 days later. So, we're off to the Dr. Not sure what he can do but it makes me feel better. I am soooo sick of it. And the colds are still here too.

On a happier note, I did manage to weed and rotary hoe my garden and now I'm happily plotting out what I'm going to plant.

We have 4 family birthdays this month but I've got it mostly sorted. Just got to finish off a mini album for SIL and post it off. DS is getting a train theme party and as of this morning I am the proud owner of a Wilton train cake pan courtesy of Millys. So that should make my life a bit easier. No chain saw cakes this year. Not sure what I'll do with it after this birthday but I know a number of other little boys who's mothers may like to borrow it. Maybe DH would like a train cake too.

Now - I've been PIFfed by Janine. So here's the deal possums. I will send a gift (something handmade or something bought) to 3 random people who leave a comment on my blog. The only thing you have to do in return is “pay it forward” by making the same promise on your blog or some other form. So, if you like this idea and a bit of ‘happy mail’, please leave a comment on my blog!

Aside: Garsh - I hope there are still people around who haven't been piffed... if you want to opt out of it, let me know :)

It's a windy day today

So we go to the reserve to fly the kite.

Except it turns out that Mummy is not much good at kite flying.

No matter what she does, it never gets higher than a few metres.

So we come home again.

With promises that Daddy - who might be a better kite flyer - will take Small Boy out later.

Red Bag

Red Bag

Finished the other bag that Mel knitted and felted for me. I kinda like this one even better than the last one though both designs are my own. My sister is a it of a magpie (or magenpie a la Gerald Durrell stories in our house), so I did a bit of beading.

Both the designs on this bag and the other one are my own, so if you want to use them too I'm cool with that but would like an acknowledgement in your acknowledgements. :-)

One day when I have so much more time (like when I retire, ha ha) I think I'd like to do some stumpwork on bags like these.

i want

this cool reading-in-a-bookshelf-space....

Recently read and enjoyed and recommend the following:

The Birth House by Ami Mckay

Recently read and kind of enjoyed but couldn't quite connect with:

History of love by Nicole Krauss

Zoo, zoo, zoo, how about you, you you?

It was a lovely - dare I say it - spring day and 3 scrapping bloggers ventured out with kids in tow to the zoo. It was neat to finally meet Sharon, and also Andrea along with their delightful children. (Shhhh.... one of which was a superhero!)

We almost saw the new baby giraffe Ntombi, but she turned out to be too shy for the younger members to wait for, so we pressed on.

DS tried to see if anyone was home here, but no luck.

Kashin was out and about, posing beautifully.

The flamingos however... well, they were embarrassed by the attention I think. See - they're pink, and hiding from the lens. ;-)

Eh? Another photo Dad?

I think she's over it don't you?


P.s. The Earth Gems were in my local produce store (Kumeu Produce) ... not the organic shop, so you may be able to find them locally.

Oldies and Newbies

Got out my crockpot the other day to do some corned beef. My crockpot is not one of these nice new ones with a removable pot. It's an heirloom one that belonged to my grandma! I actually don't know how old it is - she doesn't remember it so I can't check with her. Judging by the colour scheme I suspect it was a 70's purchase. But it goes just fine - an indictment on the appliances these days that are made to last for 10 (max) years. Yes. I'm talking about you Mr F&P Dishdrawer. I hope you are ashamed.

I found these at my produce shop the other day - they are called Earth Gems. At first I thought they would taste like yams, but no! They taste like potatoes, but in a crunchy sort of way. :-) Nice to add to my repertoire of veges.

Hot Chilli Chocolate fans might enjoy this. I discovered it at Naturally Organic when I did an order the other day. It's gooooood. Not for your average hot choc drinker because it's a bit different, but if you like something with a bit of spice, then this could be your new love. I notice that Phoenix have some other options in this range too, including a Hot Toddy. Sounds good.

Got Milk?

Small boy thought his sister needed some milk to help her get over some hiccups. Sister wasn't quite so sure...

4 recipes

Tara has tagged me with a 4 recipes tag.

The rules:

1. Let others know who tagged you.
2. Players start with 4 recipes they especially like.
3. Those who are tagged should post these rules and their 4 recipes.
4. Players should tag 4 other people and notify them they have been tagged.

So with no further ado I share with you!

1. Rich Dark Chocolate Puddings With Runny Centres
Serves 4

120g dark chocolate (the best you can afford)

125g unsalted butter

75g plain flour, sifted

175g caster sugar

4 eggs

Melt chocolate and butter in the top of a double saucepan or in a heatproof bowl over a saucepan of simmering water. Remove saucepan from heat and stir in remaining ingredients.

Pour mixture into 4 x greased 200ml moulds (e.g. ramekins or if you can be careful getting them out, Texas Muffin tins). Recipe can be made up to this point and kept a couple of days in the refrigerator.

Bake at 180ºC for about 12-14 minutes. Remove from oven and let stand for 2 minutes before inverting onto serving plates.

The puddings should split and the centres run out; otherwise, just slice down the sides to release. Dust the puddings with sifted icing sugar and serve with mascarpone, whipped cream or clotted cream.

2. Sesame Chicken

From The New Zealand Crockpot Cookbook / Bishop, Joan. (1992). Christchurch: Whitcoulls

1 lemon

1 x 2kg chicken

1 T soy sauce

1 T vinegar

1 T brown sugar

2 T tomato paste

¼ tsp ground ginger

3 T sesame seeds

Cut the lemon into quarters and place inside the chicken. Place chicken in the crockpot.

In a small bowl, combine the soy sauce, vinegar, brown sugar, tomato paste and ground ginger and mix until smooth.

Brush the mixture over the chicken in the crockpot and sprinkle with sesame seeds.

Cover with lid and cook on low for 7-8 hours or on high for 3 ½-4 hours.

3. Sally's Vegetarian "Sausage" Rolls with Penny's modifications

4 thick slices bread, made into crumbs
1 packet walnuts (70g), chopped (or hazelnuts)
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1 chopped onion
1 grated carrot
1/2 grated capsicum
3/4 cup grated cheese
3 eggs
herbs (e.g parsley, thyme, sage) preferably fresh
salt and pepper
puff or flakey pastry sheets

Mix all together, form into a long sausages and wrap the sheet of pastry around them. Cut into "bite" sized rolls. Brush with milk or egg if desired. Bake 180 degrees C until brown.
The filling is also good as fake meat balls with a yummy tomato sauce and spaghetti.

4. Corn Chowder *

3 oz butter
2 large onion, finely chopped
1 clove garlic, crushed
2 teaspoons cumin seeds
4 cups stock (vegetable or chicken)
2 medium potatoes, peeled and chopped
1 cup canned creamed-style corn
2 cups fresh corn kernels (frozen is fine)
3 Tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
1 cup grated cheddar cheese
salt and pepper
3 Tablespoons cream (optional)
2 Tablespoons fresh chives to garnish

Heat butter in large heavy based pan. Add onions and cook over medium heat for 5 mins or until golden. Add garlic and cumin seeds, cook 1 min stirring constantly. Add stock and bring to boil. Add potatoes and simmer, uncovered for 10 minutes. Add creamed corn, corn kernels and parsley. Bring to boil, reduce heat, simmer for 10 minutes. Stir through cheese, salt and pepper, and cream. Heat gently so the cheese melts. Serve sprinkle with chives. Serves 8. * This is a vegetarian soup, but I like to throw in some bacon bones or a bacon hock into the stock as I feel it gives it more flavour depth.

I'm not really a "tagger" as such but if you feel moved to share... feel free to use me as an excuse ;-)

Houston - we have forward movement

DD started crawling forward this week - she's been going backwards for a few weeks but she has finally worked out forward gear.

I've realised how quickly I forget what little babies do... i.e. put everything in their mouths. So far I've rescued play dough, newspaper, bits of Mobilo, and a piece of chipboard from her predations. Having DS spreading his toys from one end of the house to the other is not helping and he cannot seem to be tidy no matter what I do. So I have to be vigilante.

Time Waster

Oh boy - I just wasted an hour making a Simpson version of our family! LOL! You can do one too at the Simpsonize site.

Thanks Amy! :)

Bag No. 1

Ages ago I got Mel to make me some of her special bags so I could give them to my sister and SIL for their birthdays next month. I've finally got around to decorating them. Well the first one anyway!

Ice cream

DS likes to "sell" me ice cream when I'm making tea in the evening. The conversation goes like:
DS: Which ice cream do you want?
Me: ummm... chocolate
DS: Here you are!
Me: mmm..yum yum.mmm..mm [eat ice cream]
DS: Which ice cream do you want?
Me: oh.. er.. hokey pokey
DS: Here you are!
Me: mmm..yum yum.mmm..mm [eat ice cream]

And so on.

These are the cards I made for Lara's challenge from the cyber crop at SBO on Saturday. I had fun but man - those girls can sure scrap 'n' chat fast! I didn't have time to do any other challenges but it was fun all the same.

I managed to muck up the wedding one by spelling congratulations wrong so had to quickly re do it to get in by the deadline.

Oh and see - I used my Cuttlebug. Or Cutterbug as my dad insists on calling it.

I hope someone I know gets married so I can use the card!

7 years (I mean 8) of wedded bliss

8* years ago, DH and I vowed to love, cherish and honour each other before our God, family and friends.

Happy memories! Dh proposed to me on the top of One Tree Hill on Waitangi day 1999. I knew he was going to ask me because he'd told me he would ask some time and that I should have an answer ready. I just didn't know exactly when it would happen. I made him wait a few seconds just to be perverse but he knew what my answer would be anyway! LOL!

I was up at 6am getting ready for the big day. Wasn't nervous at all, just happy and hoping it would all go well.

DH on the other hand was not okay. Waiting to "go down the aisle" I asked the venue manager how he was... "He's a nervous wreck"! While we said our vows he was blinking back tears, and luckily his groomsman had a hanky because he'd forgotten one! It's a memory I cherish because DH isn't very good an expressing emotions in words. I didn't cry during the ceremony but I did during my Dad's speech. *sob*

7 years isn't that long really but it feels like it's always been this way... in a good way. So much has happened and we've weathered a few storms that have happened between us and around us.

I can't say I "renew" my vows each anniversary because I made that commitment once and intend to stick to my word. But it's good to reflect.

And if we can find a baby sitter we'll go out to tea tomorrow since DH had to go to Wellington today for work and has to stay the night.

And I'm such a dork because I'm timing this post to be published at the time of our ceremony!
*Edited to get the correct number of years!!! It's 8 Doh!

Amy's new store

Blogging friend Amy has just opened a new Cafepress store with some cute baby stuff. The store is called Cute as a Bug. I particularly like the "instructions" t-shirt! :-) But there are others there that are cool too. Pop by and have a look.

Wallabies and trout

DH wanted to go and photograph some steam because the theme for his photography club this month is steam. So we spent a night in Rotorua. (AKA Roto in our household). I waved in your direction Karen! :)

Small Boy was intrigued by the thermal activity. "We saw the boiling mud! It was boiling!", he told my parents who joined us. He inspected each pool and hole at Kuirau Park and took a deep sniff each time to "smell the steam".

We visited Paradise Valley Springs on Saturday while DH and my Dad went to Orakei-Korako. The wallaby and the trout were the only creatures he would touch or feed. I suggested we catch a trout for our lunch, but he rightly pointed out, "But Mummy, we need a fish stick!".

Indeed.

Honey I cloned the son...

A bit of photoshop fun...

A tripod, wide angle lens, 3 photos, and 3 layers in photoshop. Erase the bits to reveal the 3 ratbags!

Aaaack! Imagine having 3 of them! Scary thought.

Nourish

My entry for the NZ Dare competition.

Journaling reads:
Each morning before your sleep you like to drink a little milk. I enjoy this particular time as I relax and enjoy an island of calm in our busy day.

I was going to write a poem about it and I think I still will, but I need some time to muse about the words first.

Letter sounds

Small boy is working on his letters at kindy so we have conversations about it.

DS: What's K for?
Me: ummm... K is for king and for Kelly [his swimming teacher]
DS: What's for garage?
Me: G. G is for garage.
Me: T is for....
DS: Tim! *giggles*
Me: What's Mummy's name?
DS: Penny!
Me: P is for Penny. What's Daddy's name?
DS: Sweetie!
Me: *cracks up*

Botheration!

Rats! DH has managed to lose all my special brushes in his upgrading of Photoshop. I shall have to go looking for them again.

Got any special ones you recommend? Leave a linky in the comments and I'll collate them and make a section on my side bar for them so I don't lose track of where they are.

Here are some that I like:
Misprinted Type
Spyglass
Deviant Art
Scrapjazz post about brushes

BTW - for some reason I'm having difficulty leaving comments on Wordpress blogs. It might just be my laptop/Firefox... so I am reading and trying to share the love but it's a bit sporadic!!

Photoshoot Disaster

Tried to do a bit of a photo session yesterday with the kiddos but it was mostly a waste of time. Small Boy was so busy being "helpful" taking pictures with his "camera" that it was annoying, and Small Girl would not smile. Most of the shots aren't sharp because the target or my hands were moving.

However, Small Girl is now 6 months so I thought I'd better record it. She is sitting up well and is working on her top 2 teeth. Won't be long and she'll be crawling judging by her tummy time behaviour these days.

I must get out to some better venue than my lounge and my dodgy black back drop....

A tisket a tagit

I've been tagged by Ruth! :-) These tag thingies remind me of the stuff we used to do at school with our friends.

My roommate and I once: ate a "midnight feast" which consisted on pickled onions, chips and licorice bullet lollies. eeeuw!

Never in my life have I: been to a tropical island.

High school was : a mixture of great times and some big time cringe factor moments! LOL!

When I’m nervous : bite nails, jiggle my legs, pee a lot

My hair : is getting darker as I get older. I used to be much blonder.

When I was 5 : I was living in England and went to Primrose Hill Primary School. I had a friend called Anunga who was from Africa - we used to feel each other's hair. Mine was long and blonde, his was tight black curls.

When I turn my head left : I see the laundry on the clothes horse and a pile of scrapbooks.

I should be : doing housework or scrapbooking or sewing

By this time next year : I'll be another year older.

My favorite aunt is : is not really my aunt but a close family friend.

I have a hard time understanding : some maths concepts

You know I like you if : I tease you

My ideal breakfast is : Hmmm.... that depends. Yoghurt and muesli is good. Can't go past Toast and Vegemite either. Porridge is good especially with naughty cream and brown sugar. But I wouldn't say no to bacon, egg and pancakes either.

If you visit my home town : you won't find it hard to get a decent coffee

If you spend the night at my house: Small boy might get into bed with you

My Favorite blonde is : my family

My favorite brunette is : my family

The animal I would like to see flying besides birds : pigs? Nah... imagine the mess on your windscreen.

I shouldn’t have been : spending money

Last night I: Went to bed round about 10ish and Small Girl woke me at 1am for a feed.

A better name for me would be : Hey! Small Boy called me a Good Mummy today.

I’ve been told I look like : Brooke Shields - it's the wide mouth ;-)

If I could have any car, it would:be so much better than the one I drive now!!!!

Mystery Revealed

The mysterious parcel has been opened! It revealed this! I am thrilled!

I've been throughly spoiled this birthday. Not only did I get my highly-desired-above-all-others cake mixer in Empire Red, but I also was given this by my folks....
Yep... that's a Cuttlebug (+ 2 dies and 2 embossing plates). I was totally surprised about this one. I hadn't asked for it because it seemed a bit OTT to ask for. It was on the wishlist for 20 years down the track. So it was a beautiful surprise.

And... my friend gave me a voucher for Shop'n'Crop; someone else gave me chocolate (mmmm).

I am the most spoiled birthday person. Hope I don't sound too mercenary- I'm just really stoked about it all! . DH made me a card using PSE and one of his photos. The words he put in the card made me cry --> in a good way. ;-)

I've made my birthday cake with the mixer and now I am going to order some goodies so I can play with my Cuttlebug. Small Boy has been also delighted with my gifts and has been haranguing me to use this so he can "help" me.

Turning 34 has been pretty exciting! :-)

What inspires me?

Mel has a meme going - write down 6 random things that you love. Not people, but places, buildings, art works, inspiring places etc.

1. Children's clothes - I think since I've got kids and make layouts for them, I tend to see inspiration in the designs and colours. Related to this point - fabric stores.
2. Interior decorating stores - particularly the fusion stuff that we're seeing these days. It appeals to me.
3. Fruit, veges, plants, flowers, the beach etc - I like looking at what nature puts together and how.
4. Old houses like Highwic, Alberton and Katherine Mansfield's Birthplace. I like to touch the walls and think of the life people lived there. How people played in the gardens, made love in the bedrooms, conceived their children and maybe even died there. How the kitchens once buzzed with activity. Cooks laying out their ingredients for making jam from the fruit they got from the garden.
5. Universities. I feel most comfortable in academia and get a "buzz" from learning. Related to this point - museums, libraries and their collections. I'm the one who can spend ages looking at beetles pinned on to polystyrene! I love the smell of the stacks in the library. I could spend a happy morning pulling out files at a herbarium to look at their contents.
6. The written word - novels, poetry, my Bible, even blogs have a place inspiring me.