bits & bobs

A quick Menu Plan Monday:

Monday - pasta
Tuesday - Pie
Wednesday - stir fry
Thursday - Vego chilli
Friday - risotto
Saturday - lamb chops
Sunday - roast beef

Had a quiet birthday last week. DS offered to make me a train cake which was sweet of him. I asked him what presents I should get and he was of the opinion that I would like Molly and some other of the Thomas friends! LOL! So cute. I'm sure he'd love me to get them for my birthday just so he could play with them.

In any case, no trains turned up but I still was thoroughly spoiled!

I got a lovely tea set plus 2 matching mugs (not shown).














And a sponge cake from an elderly friend Ena who makes the best sponge in West Auckland.










Had to be quick to get this photo because DD was hovering and eyeing up the cake!!!










Some perfume. Normally I prefer to buy my own but it's difficult to argue against Dior. ;-)









My Mum made me another quilt. I so love the colours in this one. It's really me.





















A cookbook I've been wanting for ages. :-)

A food processor from DH thanks to the Visa Reward shop. I do have one that we inherited from the ILs. It is ancient and the plastic is starting to go brittle & has a few cracks. Plus I managed to break the grater/shredder plate holder trying to grate some parmesan so it only does chopping jobs. Which is fine... but I missed the other options. Anyone want an elderly Braun food processor that still goes? Might be good for a bach. Think I'll see about free cycling it.









Also got some new Cuttle bug embossing folders - Stylised Flowers, Swiss Dots and Perfectly Paisley. A friend gave me some BG Boxer rub ons and glazed brads. So cool!

Spent Friday night and Saturday making some cards. I borrowed some of my friend's Stampin' Up stamps as well as my own stuff.

One thing I discovered is that shimmer sheet goes through the Cuttlebug like a dream and looks awesome!

Cheering time!

Hello blog my old friend
I've come to post on you again

My IRL friend, stamping-guru-scrapping-goddess-extraordinaire Rachel has reached Challenge 8 of Project Scrap Away which is being hosted by Scrap 'n' Crop. Hooray! I am watching what she's doing with this latest challenge which is to use B&W and NO colour. Tricky.

There have been some awesome entries for this Project Scrap Away.

And now she needs some help to get points, so pretty please... here's what you can do.

Go to her blog and leave a comment.

Post about her and Project Scrap Away on your blog.

Leave a comment on the Project Scrap Away blog : Rachel's Friend + a link to your blog.

As for me - I've been doing various things. Sewing some bags, going to birthday parties, making some cards... just busy and not really feeling like blogging much. I have lots of ideas for posts but not much time to sit down to do it! I did make a bag for my Cuttlebug.


















DS has gone up north to stay with his gran and granddad so I have one very bored little girl who doesn't know what to do with herself and who follows me around getting into everything I try to do. She's adding more and more words to her vocab. The latest is "darti" and "guk" for dirty and yuk. (Said most often when changing nappies. In fact, she's started to tell me when her nap is "darti").
DH has got some lurg we've all had... made worse by the fact he's male and won't take any sick days.

So he's in bed (with his MP3 player). He pointed out to me that he now has a gallery up at one of the forums he posts on. "Maybe you'd like to put a link on your blog," he says.

Maybe I would!

My super talented photographer husband's Gallery!

Small children, small space

Small children, small space-1010489
Originally uploaded by pdugmore2001.

Finally finished this layout I've had on my desk for a week or more!!

I have another interview next week. (At least, as DH says I am pulling the interviews!) This one I would really like to get. Please cross fingers and toes for me!

Not feeling groovy

#3 rejection. Wonder how many more I'll get.

I've only been out of the workforce about 20 months.

Seriously beginning to wonder if I am flawed in some way that no one wants to employ me. If that is so, I wish someone would tell me what the problem is.

The last 2 positions had internal applicants who got the position.

Sour grapes? Probably.

Menu Plan Monday

Monday - Carbonade Flamandes (still trying to use up that beer), spinach and potatoes
Tuesday - the old fav, chicken and olive tagine, cous cous, some vege
Wednesday - Shepherds pie, peas & carrots
Thursday - Egg & cauli curry, dal, rice
Friday - Lamb tagine with pears, roasted root veges, sauteed cabbage
Saturday - Spag bog, salad (?)
Sunday - Toad in the hole, with something

I wanted to share a baking recipe this week. One of my special memories from my childhood involve an elderly lady Aunty MR. She wasn't everyone's cup of tea, being someone who didn't suffer fools so well, but she was special to me as a kind of grandma figure as my own g-ma didn't live in NZ at that time. We used to look after Aunty MR, and take her shopping, to church things and she spoiled me a bit. It's nice to have someone who thinks you can't do anything wrong! LOL!

Anyway, as she got older I used to take care of her at our annual church retreat because she needed help to get around. In the room where she was staying was another elderly lady called Dolly. Both Aunty MR and Dolly were excellent cooks and I think there was a bit of rivalry between them on this score. One day, Mum told me that Dolly wanted to give me a recipe for a Date & Ginger Slice. I wasn't especially interested at the time, but I went along anyway to their room and wrote it down.

Dolly recited it from memory. So here it is in her own words - a little bit of old fashioned baking from a lady who has long since left the earth, but whose slice lives on in my recipe book, and now on the "Internets". And maybe into your life too :-)











Dolly's Date and Ginger Slice

Melt in a pot, 1/4 pound (115g) butter. Take off heat. Add 3/4 cup brown sugar (pressed down firmly). Add 2 eggs, beat well. Sift 1 cup of flour, 1 tsp baking powder together. Add 1 cup crystalised ginger and dates (chopped). Mix with the butter, sugar and eggs. Pour into a greased tin (I use a sponge roll tin). Break caramello chocolate squares over the top (halve the chocolate squares). Bake at 180 degrees C until golden brown. Cut while warm.

In the photo you'll see I've used chocolate chips instead of the caramello squares. I must say the caramello squares are the better option. Truly.

What do you think?

Do they look like my husband more than me? I can vouch that I gave birth to them! But sometimes (like when I'm scanning DH's photos) I think they look more like him.

DH @4yrs

DH @9-10months

DD @ 1yr DS @4yr

Me @ 1yr

DIY Stamp Cleaner

So, I observe a certain company sells a stamp cleaning kit thingy.

Thinks *But I'd rather spend my money on stamps*

My solution:

Go to Mitre10 and get 2 speed brushes: $16.88 x 2
Go to Payless Plastics and get 1 spritzer bottle: $3.60
Go to Foodtown and get a Huggies Wipes Travel container: $2.70 (I think)
Total: $40.06




OK - so it only saved me something like $.300 but I thought it was a good idea at the time.

I put a very dilute solution of my Next Generation detergent in the spritzer. It works fine.

I actually was looking for some softer speed brushes that have a sticky back but they didn't have any in the store I went to. I was going to stick some plastic to the back so I could wash the pads when needed. The ones I got can be washed just fine, but they have a hard aluminium backing. I would have preferred the softer ones.

Another Entry for Dare 48: Sing O Sing

Since I had the stamp stuff out I did another one. Missy Moo also likes to sing. She picks up books or bits of paper (like here) and sings away just like we do at church. Hence the title. ;-) She also will sing grace to herself if we don't seem to be getting to the table to eat fast enough for her liking.

Again - I stamped the background paper and clear embossed it. Not the nicest of music stamps but it was the only one I have that had music on it.

The stamped element didn't turn out exactly as I planned. I needed my friendly stamp guru!

I wanted to stamp a butterfly stamp into some melted UTEE but I pressed a bit too hard and so it wasn't quite the "seal" effect I wanted. Since this was my second attempt at making it and it was 10.30pm I was getting a bit fed up with it and didn't want to do another one. (The first attempt stuck to the stamp because I left it on too long). So I filled the butterfly shape with beads, microbeads and some clear glaze.

The big butterfly is made from some shimmer sheet I've had for ages in my stash. Plus some sequins (from Lara) which Missy Moo had tipped out that morning and spread from one end of the house to the other. Bling carpet!!

I am loving inking my Cuttlebug embossing folders right now :)

NB: The original journaling had some info in it that I didn't want to share online, so I fudged it a bit in PS for the purposes of blogging. So I know it looks a little odd here, but IRL it looks fine.

For my birth junkie friends

moar funny pictures

Saw this one at LOLcats and couldn't resist re-captioning it. hee hee

Entry for NZ Dare 48

I thought I blogged this from Flickr so hope I don't end up with a double post. Hmm.
Anyway - the dare requires stamps to be used on your background paper and on an element. I stamped a daisy stamp on the lower left corner and embossed it with clear embossing powder. Then stamped again with a purple colour. Then made some pop up elements with some more stamped daisies. I should have scanned this LO rather than photograph it because the light isn't the greatest (been a cold, wet day) and you can't see the blue behind the dots so easy.

Missy Moo is obsessed with shoes so I wanted to record this. She will try on any shoe around including my ugh boots which come up to her crutch. One of her first words was "shus" for shoes.

She also says "cacka" (cracker), car, "vish" (fish), "kit-teh" (kitty) and of course, NAAAOOOOO! She calls every truck, large car or van "Jarge" (George) after George the steam roller, one of DS's collection. This annoys DS intensely and he will correct her saying, "No Lydia! George has rollers! That one is a truck." Heh heh. I hope she keeps doing it.

Crafter in waiting

Crafter in waiting

Missy Moo reading the Spotlight flyer.

She already drives me nuts likes to help when I'm scrap booking, stamping or card making.

Made some pita bread the other day. I did the dough in the bread maker and then cooked them on my pizza stone. It was cool how they puffed up into pillows.

Menu Plan Monday

Monday - Lamb chops and veges
Tuesday - Savoury vego tart plus this salad from Arfi Binstead (yum!). Bit of a "girls" tea but DH even suggested the tart as our weekly vegetarian meal so I took advantage of it! Think we will have sago for dessert. Somewhere I've seen a coconut sago pudding that I want to make.
Wednesday - G's coming to scrap with me all day so I am making Osso bucco in the crockpot and we shall have rice and some vegetables with it
Thursday - Chicken Cacciatore, taters, broccoli
Friday - Lamb shanks tagine, cous cous, yams
Saturday - Mussaman chicken curry, rice, some sort of suitable vegetable... just can't think of which one at present
Sunday - Fish cakes, salad/leaves from the garden

On Saturday I visited Eco-Organics and was impressed with the quality of their produce. I am hoping to try out their box scheme but I need to test how long a box lasts before knowing how often I'd need to get a delivery. The people there are friendly too and told me their boxes of vegetables are "guaranteed" so if there is any issue with them, they want to know.

I managed to get lost on my way there... stupidly I thought I knew where to turn off but instead of checking on the map like I normally do, I just got in the car and drove. And ended up halfway to Helensville. So... after some self-flagellation and mutterings about wasting petrol, I looked at the map and found where I was supposed to be. Got there in the end I guess. It should have taken me about 30 minutes. Still, can't get much more local than that in terms of vegetables. Unless you grow your own, which I do a bit.

Also on Saturday I went to Mum's Stampin' Up party. *deep breath* I want it all.

However, fiscal constraints meant I treated myself to 2 measly items while breaking the coveting commandment every second. I did consider having a party myself but a) my friend G is going to have one which I will probably go to and b) I have no friends everyone I would invite was at Mum's or will be at G's party. So there didn't seem to be any point!

BTW, the demonstrator was Rachel Knight and she was very nice. She demo'd 2 cards (beautiful) and we made another. The stamp set I bought was the Baroque Motifs one, and some of the Brocade Background paper. I so, so, so wanted the scallop punch but I just couldn't get it this time.

Mum got it though. Maybe it might like to have a holiday at my house doncha think?

Bag and Good

Made this bag using this free pattern from Ottobre. I thought my Cuttle bug might fit in it but I'll need to adjust the pattern size a bit for that to happen. It does however, hold my dies, embossing folders and the sandwich layers at present.




















Found this new magazine in the supermarket the other week. It claims to be NZ's first carbon neutral magazine. It's a very interesting read for me since I like to find ways to live more sustainably. One thing I found from this magazine is a vege box outlet up at Kumeu (i.e. 20mins drive from here) that grow their own vegetables organically. So I'm going up to check out their shop and hopefully sign up for a box of seasonal organic vegetables. :-) Wellington & Wairarapa folks can sign up for something similar through the CSA program down that way.

Wanting a worm farm now....

Vegetable Gougere

I made this last week and reminded myself again how yummy it is. I reckon you could make individual ones of these too.

75g plain flour

salt and pepper

150ml boiling water

55g butter

2 eggs

55g Gruyere cheese, finely diced (I use cheddar and grate it)

Filling:

85g butter

handful of basil leaves

1 tsp finely chopped chives

about 570g mixed (baby or cut up small) veges (e.g. carrots, mange-touts, broad beans, turnips, broccoli florets, spring onions, courgettes, baby corn)

Heat oven to 200 Degrees C. Sieve the flour with some salt and pepper onto a sheet of greaseproof paper (lunch wrap is fine). Measure water into a saucepan, add the butter cut into pieces. When butter has melted, bring to boil, remove from heat and add sieved flour. Beat, over a moderate heat, till mixture leaves the sides of the pan. You can do this with a wooden spoon or an electric hand beater.

Turn mixture into a warmed bowl; add the eggs one at a time, beating well. Stir in all the cheese. (You can sprinkle more on top later if you like.)

Place spoonfuls in a 25cm circle on cooking paper. Bake in oven about 35 mins till well risen and golden brown. Try not to open the oven door in the first 20 mins.

Remove when cooked, cut into half and lift off the top.

Herb butter: Melt butter in a small pan, add roughly chopped basil leaves and chives, heat gently on a low heat for 5 mins. Whiz in processor (I never bother). Keep warm till needed.

Trim and prepare the veges; cook as required (the suggestion is to steam the different kinds each in a little foil package - I bung them all in together). Turn warm veges onto a bowl, pour over the herb butter and stir, spoon the buttery veges into the pastry case and put the lid back on top.

Entry for NZ Dare #47

The dare this time was to scrap a moment from everyday life. So I gave the camera to DS and he took a photo (actually several) of me, his sand pit, the bucket, the flower pot. I then recovered the camera and took one of the two sand monsters.

In Lightroom I used a pre-set called Matt's Vividity for the 2 main photos - something that isn't really evident in the picture of the layout. I wanted to give them a bit of extra punch. I thought at first I would make them a bit grungy but decided against it after seeing the effect on screen.

Two memes, two tags

Shannon suggested this one (and I like the quote she includes):

“Thirty five is a very attractive age;
London society is full of women who have of their own
free choice remained thirty-five for years.” ~Oscar Wilde

1. Where is your cell phone? Handbag
2. Your significant other? Rod
3. Your hair? dark Blonde/light brown
4. Your skin? Winter "pink"
5. Your mother? Is using a space chamber... she's got bronchitis and asthma poor soul
6. Your favorite thing? Only one!!?
7. Your dream last night? Oh dear... a bit censored I fear.
8. Your favorite drink? Coffee or ginger beer
9. Your dream/goal? To stay sane
10. The room you're in? Lydia's room which doubles as a computer room
11. Your ex? There's 2 of 'em... no idea where they are now
12. Your fear? Of failure
13. Where do you want to be in 6 years? Still around
14. Where were you last night? In my bed.
15. What you're not? Patient
16. Muffins? Blueberry bran
17. One of your wish list items? New Cuttlebug embossing folders
18. Where you grew up? Auckland
19. The last thing you did? Bath the kids
20. What are you wearing? Moleskin
21. Your TV? Don't have one
22. Your pets? None at the moment.
23. Your computer? PC
24. Your life? Fine, bit stressed
25. Your mood? tired, want to read my book in a bath
26. Missing someone? nope
27. Your car? Mitzi
28. Something you are not wearing? Wouldn't you like to know.. oh ok, a hat
29. Favorite store? Millys (but I have many others)
30. Summer? Love it
31. Where? At the beach
32. Like someone? yes (Doh)
33. Your favorite color? Red
34. When is the last time you laughed? At Lydia's grumpy face
35. Last time you cried? Last week?
36. Who will/would re-post this? Dunno
37. Whose answers are you anxious to see? Anyone’s!

And Beverley tagged me with this one:

5 things found in my bag:

1. My Eco-bag

2. My Mooncup

3. A nappy

4. Wipes

5. Hand cream

5 favourite things in my craft room:

1. My Xyron

2. Cuttlebug

3. Patterned Paper

4. Fiskars circle template and cutting thing

5. My new scissors

5 things I have always wanted to do:

1. See a kakapo

2. Go to India

3. See Paris

4. See a whale

5. Swim naked

5 things I am currently into:

1. Scrapbooking

2. Sewing

3. Parenting

4. Cooking

5. Chocolate

5 people I am tagging:

Whoever feels inclined!

Menu Plan Monday on Tuesday

You'd think since I've had this menu planned from last week, that I'd get it up in time. But no. Next time I'm going to pre-post it!

Last week went well. I remembered how much I like vegetable gougere so I'll post the recipe later in the week.

Monday - beef & beer casserole I got from Nigella's How to Eat book, mashed potatoes and leeks, spinach salad
Tuesday - chicken curry, rice, some sort of cauliflower curry
Wednesday - Corn and bacon chowder (recipe here), home made bread rolls
Thursday - Lamb steaks with garlicky tahini, roasted veges (eggplant, courgette, capsicum), pita, yoghurt
Friday - Roast pork and the normal roast accompaniments. Plus apple sauce I think depending if I do the Fennel/rosemary/garlic one I normally do or not. Or maybe I'll do it anyway.
Saturday - Mussaman curry, rice, stir fried veg
Sunday - oxtail soup, home made bread, some sort of dessert

Hmmm... all very carnivore this week. Will have to bear that in mind for next week.

Happy to Travel

Happy to Travel
Originally uploaded by pdugmore2001.

For the celebrity sketch challenge at the Sketch Book.

Care: LO for Paper Pesto Sketch Challenge

Care
Originally uploaded by pdugmore2001.

Papers, card stock and ribbon are from the SBO kit I won :-)
Journaling reads:
I had to laugh when I discovered this little scene.Lydia was crying and Tim decided she needed some milk, so he tried to feed her himself. Although it is funny, I do love his sense of empathy for his sister's needs.

I struggled with a title for this one because all that came to mind was that saying, "Useless as tits on a bull" which I didn't think was appropriate! LOL!

May Reading Round Up

Well, June is bustin' out all over so I'd better do my monthly reading round up. Last month was kind of busy and I found myself with 2 books which I just couldn't finish which is rare for me since I usually stick it out to the bitter end.

Books

The River Wife by Joni Agee

A family saga set in 19th century Missouri. The story begins with a young lass being chucked out of home because she's pregnant to her lover. They get married and as she begins to discover more about her husband's family history, she sees many parallels with her own situation. Apart from the irritating "history repeats" side of the story I enjoyed this book. A kind of interesting ending, and not one I quite expected. Strong women are featured in the book plus some intriguing twisty men.

Maps for lost lovers by Nadeem Aslam

This is one that I couldn't finish. An ill-fated couple are murdered because they break Islamic law and live in sin. This book is about love, Islam and the background/after-math of their choice. It also seemed to me to be about the restriction of women's freedom and living in an alien culture. The author writes some beautiful passages. In the end I couldn't finish this book because there seemed to be so many hopes crushed and lives ruined because of repressive belief that it got a bit much for me. I imagine for some women that this story would be a reflection of their reality.

A rare interest in corpses by Ann Granger

A typical "gothic" Victorian detective/thriller story. I confess I did enjoy it despite the predictability of the plot. It was quite fun to think to myself "Any moment now and she'll find some diary of the murdered girl" and lo, the next chapter she did! Heh heh!

The Island by Victoria Hislop

On the verge of making a big decision, Alexis heads to Greece and while there manages to find out about her mysterious family past. She discovers the history of her grandmother and how love, leprosy and exile has affected her family. Not much character development in this novel, and some of the events are rather contrived/convenient. I did enjoy it though - it is a romantic sort of book and good for a relaxing read.

Kitty by Deborah Challinor

Banished to the other side of the earth because of an indiscretion, Kitty finds herself in Paihia, Bay of Islands, New Zealand with her aunt and uncle (a minister). Set during the period when the Treaty of Waitangi was being established, Kitty tries to settle down into her new life of sobriety and teaching the local Maori children how to be good, decent Christians. (Said with tongue in cheek). Naturally there is a hunky man in the picture with whom things get off to a bad start. Owing to circumstances outside their control, they are thrust (inevitably) into each other's company having to flee to Sydney, Australia. I do like reading stuff set in New Zealand - especially places I've been to. Again, not much in terms of character development but a nice, romantic read for a Sunday afternoon.

Burning Bright by Tracey Chevalier

A family of chair makers end up in London after being commissioned by a circus owner to make some furniture for him. A "sideways" story about William Blake (he lives next door) and the period where England was feeling jumpy about the Revolution over the Channel. The son of the chair making family makes friends with one of the local girls and the main story is about their personalities, reactions and relationship. I liked the settings, the local flavour and descriptions of the period. A good read. Loose links with Blake's Songs of Innocence and Experience. The ending is a bit up in the air but in a good way.

Stalking the green fairy by James Villas
A "foodie" type book. This is the other one I didn't finish. I got fed up with the author's attitude actually. Didn't enjoy his repetitive style of writing either. It's difficult for me to respect someone who "disses" folk who seek quality food, promotes bulk buying but then admits that most of it goes to waste because he doesn't use it up in time and chucks it out.

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