my weekend away, alone...

so this past weekend, i enjoyed some time away all by myself (well not exactly, but without hubby and offspring)... an old friend was getting married, in coffs harbour, so i jetted off there with the brides mum and sister... 2 flights and who knows how many hours, the 3 of us had finally arrived on friday afternoon, checked in and hiked the half a km through the hilly resort with my 17 kg's of luggage, only to have the wrong kind of room, not a massive 2 bedroom villa, but a tiny motel room... so off i hiked back to reception, a fair amount of money later, we ended up in a beautiful 2 bedroom villa, sorted...

my big bed for 3 days, all to myself...

saturday was a very warm day (40 degrees), so that meant a last minute change of outfit... the wedding was so beautiful, the bride was gorgeous, the place was amazaing (a huge tuscan style villa/mansion)...

the beautiful bride and her father...

loving the coloursplash app on my new iPad

the bride and i

so a lovely wedding, a relaxing sunday in coffs harbour, of course including a visit to the big banana, monday was time to go home... monday morning brought a text message informing me that one of my flights had been cancelled (but which one - coffs to sydney or sydney to melbourne), so it turned out i was to be left in sydney (all alone, as everyone else made it onto other flights home) for 3 hours, which was not all bad, a phone call to an old school friend: "what are you doing tonight, want to have dinner with me at the airport???" and she did have dinner with me, which was fantastic because i hadn't seen her for ages.... so i finally arrived home at 11:30 on monday night, luckily i had tuesday off work...

my 2 year old having surgery...

2 weeks ago i received a letter in the mail saying that my 2.5 year old's surgery for grommets and adenoids had been booked in (after 9 months on the wait list)...

on wednesday my mum came to stay for the night, so thursday called for a spot of shopping... with christmas closing in on us, i thought dragging mum to cotton on kids for the last of elliot's christmas shopping seemed like a good idea... we were in there for over an hour and spent over $700 between us (she was buying chrissie pressies for all the other grandkids too)... while we were there, the hospital called for elliot's pre-addmission appointment, and all was going well until she told me that i could go into theatre with her until she was asleep, and then i burst into tears, i didn't realise how anxious i was feeling about the whole thing...

the hospital wait list in the city i live is quite long (yes, longer than the 9 months we waited), so we were on the wait list for regional hospitals... thursday after mum left, hubby and i packed the car up and were ready to drive the hour and half to the regional town where elliot's surgery was going to be...

we arrived late, had showers and headed off to bed for a good night sleep before her big day, to no avail... by the time i fell asleep it was after midnight, then i saw 1am, 3am, 4am and was wide awake at 5am, worst night sleep ever...

we arrived at the hospital at 8am on friday ready to go... the staff were so wonderful, we didn't have to wait at all, straight through for all the paperwork and meds to be done (luckily, because it's really difficult to tell a 2 year old that she can't have anything to eat or drink)... so once we were almost ready to go through to theatre, the nurse gave elliot some medication to calm her and so she wouldn't realise what was happening (they do this so if they have to have surgery again, they won't be freaked out by it), and that was the funniest thing, it was kind of like watching a drunk friend when they've hit that 'happy drunk' phase...

so off we go, i take elli down to theatre, and start crying on the way, once we're in there, i nurse her while they give her the gas until she's asleep, lay her on the table, give her a kiss, start crying again, and head to wait with my hubby until it's all over...

half hour later, everything was done, and all went perfectly... we went to recovery to wait for her to wake...

so sooki mum had nothing to worry about, after sleeping most of the day on friday recovering, saturday morning she was up and about like nothing had happened at all...

on the drive home from hospital

 

 

 

elliot was good as gold again today, so we had a great day out riding our bikes, doing washing and a little bit of baking... i made some more feta and sundried tomato tarts (i hardly got any of the last batch i made), i also made some cheese and spring onion twists, yum...

 

AND, have you tried the new caramel chips yet, like choc chips, but caramel, i used them and made some chocolate and caramel chip cookies, they are not photographed here as i had to hide them from the cookie monster (elliot)...

 

 

 

 

here is my cookie recipe (the easiest ever)

 

2 cups of self raising flour

1 cup sugar
4 oz. butter (softened)
1 egg
milk
whatever you want to put in them (choc chips, caramel chips, m&m's)
180 degree oven

mix flour and sugar
add in choc chips (or whatever you want to use)
add in butter and egg, mix
add milk as required to get the right texture (sticky)


either roll into balls or spoon onto lined baking trays, and bake for 15 minutes (should be golden brown)...
let them cook on the tray then move to a wire rack, they might look a bit under cooked when you take them out of the oven, but this will make them chewy, enjoy!!!

baking...

so what a lovely weekend we have had in our house, baking, baking and more baking... first up we started our friday evening with a quick supermarket trip to get some stuff to make macarons (by that i mean donna hay's macarons in a box - awesome)... instead of the ganache that comes with them, we made our own, RED SKIN ganache...

here are 2 of our red skin macarons

so that was friday...

saturday was the first saturday in ages that hubby didn't have to work, and the weather was awful, so we spent the morning visiting his grandparents at their farm, while we were there, i was flicking through magazines and found some great recipes to try, so i added all the ingredients to shop shop on my iPhone, and we stopped in at the supermarket again on our way home to get everything plus our weeks worth of groceries (i only like grocery shopping once a week)...

so once home, with the groceries away and the rain falling, a bit of couch time was in order while elliot had a bit of nap... so after her sleep, she was ready to go, my little masterchef, because i told her we were making smarties cookies... so doing a few things at once, we made smartie cookies, sausage rolls and feta & sundried tomato tarts, all very delicious, cookies are already almost gone, but have put the other food in the freezer, all portioned out for lunches...

feta and sundried tomato tarts

 

sausage rolls

 

 

GIANT smaries cookies

 

 

and as we were spending a quit night in, what better dinner than home made pizza...

 

 



 

 

but the thing i was looking forward to making the most was some cheese twists with puff pastry, but ran out of time (and sunday was too busy), thought i would make them today, forgetting i had to work, oh well, there's always next weekend...



my little helper

So my quilt is coming along, slowly but surely... I've cut out all the pieces, now trying to piece it together, it came with a pattern or you can try your own... I think I'll stick to the pattern it came with, although laying it out has proved rather difficult with a 2.5 year old rearranging the pieces when I'm not looking...

On another note I'm interested to know what you do at Christmas in regards to gift giving, who do you give them to, and how much do you spend???

arghhhhhhhh, please go to sleep...

so the past few days, little miss elliot has decided to play up at bed time... normally she is an angel, 8:00 is bed time, we read a few stories, walk her to her room, put her in bed, kiss her goodnight and leave the room, without another word or sound...

but the last few nights, it has not been so easy, we follow that same routine up until the 'leaving the room' part, she's crying and says she doesn't want to go to bed, and then she waits 5 minutes, and comes out to the lounge room... so, i take her back to bed and then she comes out to the lounge room, so i take her back to bed and then she comes out to the lounge room, and so on, you get the idea...

and tonight *sigh*, i figured she would be really really tired from her lack of sleep and being at daycare the last 2 days, i put her to bed at 7:45 while daddy wasn't home, and she was quiet, daddy got home, still she was quiet... BUT THEN, at 8:15, out she came and we did the same 'take her back again' for a while, that wasn't working so daddy cuddled her in bed for 5 minutes and she was asleep by 8:30...

BUT THEN, just after puberty blues finished (gee i love that show, so sad the season is over), out she came (arghhhhhhhhhh), so now (at 10:10) i have just put her in bed with daddy, and she will fall straight to sleep... i know that some will say it's bad parenting, but it's late and i'm tired too...

i'm going to make a quilt...

yes, i am going to make a quilt... so as you know, i have no hobby, and thought quilt making would be kind of fun to try... i think baking would have been easier, but, someone has to eat it, and unfortunately, it would probably be me...

so i have visited spotlight this morning and got everything i need (well i don't know if i have everything i need because i have NO IDEA)... so for my first attempt, i just bought one of those diy kits, that has all the fabric you need, and instructions enclosed...

so here i go, i've started cutting the pieces already, and i'm enjoying it already... plus it's given me something to do while elliot is sleeping, the house is already clean and i'm waiting for the washing machine...

so here i sit perched up at the kitchen bench, back to cutting shapes, might just make a coffee first...

will keep you posted...

everyone loves a wedding...

saturday was such a beautiful day, the sun was shining, the birds were singing, a gorgeous spring day, and even better when you have a lovely garden wedding to go to...

elliot spent last week at mum and dads while hubby and i had a busy working week and then a wedding to go to (she was there for 6 whole sleeps), and boy did we sleep well while she as there... she missed us terribly by the end of the week and told nanny that she was ready to go home, awwww, but i'm sure we missed her more than she missed us...

but it was nice to have some time away from her, catch up on some sleep and enjoy each others company and remember what it was like before she came along, but we certainly wouldn't change things now for anything...

so the wedding we went to was absolutely beautiful, the bride was stunning and a great and fabulous time was had by all, maybe we all had a few too many wines...

so this is the dress i wore (that i previously blogged about hubby not liking it), but all done up, he actually did...

so the only bad thing about the day was.......... shoes... shoes that sunk into the ground in the garden where the wedding was, shoes that hurt my feet, shoes that made to feet swell (like when i was pregnant)... a shoe change between ceremony and reception, what a great idea, so then hubby and me could dance the night away...

is this week over yet???

what a week... i have been running around like a madwoman, trying to get things organised for a busy working week next week...  one of the girls from work is getting married next weekend, and i can't wait, it will be an awesome wedding, but with her on holidays, that means lots more hours at work for me, and while i'm at work, elliot will be heading to my parents place for a bit of a holiday, for 5 whole days, so trying to get everything done, before i have to be at work all day every day, and have no time to do anything else...

so this week was terrible, on wednesday, on my way to work, i had a bit of a car accident, i didn't see the other car and drove right out in front of her, thankfully no one was hurt (except for my poor car), and luckily elliot was not with me at the time... but my insurance company have been awesome and my car is already on the mend (there was hardly any damage to her car), but i felt awful about the whole thing, but these things happen i guess...

this morning elliot has woken up with a burning temp, so she is asleep on the couch, hopefully she'll be feeling better soon... so i'm thinking all today's plans are now out the window... we were off to watch my brother in law play in his first ever grand final in footy, and then out for dinner to celebrate my uncles 50th birthday, so we'll see how little miss is feeling later...

so i'm busy making lists of all things i need to do: grocery list, things to pack for elliot for her little holiday to nanny and poppy's house, all the things that i need to do this week (which will be easier seeing as though i'll be on my own, as opposed to dragging a 2.5 year old around town running errands)...

hubby is at work this morning, we're missing him, he's been so busy at work that we've hardly seen him for weeks, starting very early, working late, and going to be early to get up even earlier to do it all again, and working weekends too...

very much looking forward to having some family time tomorrow...

i need a hobby

yes, i really do need a hobby... i find myself getting a bored at home sometimes, when the housework is done, i'm waiting for the washing machine, and elliot is sleeping... like right now...

i've decided i'd really like to have a go a quilt making (or making a quilt (just one), and see how that goes)... my mum said that once i've made one i'll want to keep going because the first one probably won't be very good and i'll want to keep going to perfect it...

but the thing is, i have absolutely no idea how to make a quilt, i don't know what to do, how to do it or where to start, so my mum is organising for me to meet with a craft group in the small town where she lives, so they can give me a step in the right direction, which i'm pretty excited about...

i've also thought that i'd like to try knitting... i've recently discovered pinterest and found a beautiful hand knitted blanket out of the biggest wool you have ever seen, apparently you knit it with poly pipe instead of needles... my mum is a very experienced and awesome knitter (she knits all elliots cardigans, and the most fabulous hats), so maybe i'll leave the poly pipe blanket to her and try some fab knitted cushions that i also found on pinterest...

elliot in one of her many hand knitted hats from nanny

 

 

so i think a trip to the patchwork shop is in order to see what it's all about, and a trip to visit mum for knitting 101...

 

we'll see hiow i go...

fathers day

fathers day has been and gone, well almost, but hubby has just gone to bed, to get up for a 5:30 start... he does so much for our family that today was such a wonderful day to spoil him, and show him just how much we adore him...

our day was very busy, but so very enjoyable... we started the day with hubby having a bit of a sleep in while elliot and i went and got the newspaper and maccas for breaky, which we all ate in bed... then it was time for elliots favourite part, presents, which of course, she opened most of them... she spoiled her loving daddy with the usual socks and jocks, some favourites choccies (i think she's already eaten most of them, or given them to the dog), some jamie oliver steak knives, tix to see carl barron, and a painting elliot made of a tree, using her hands as the leaves (and then i painted in the trunk and branches), i think this was jase's fave present...

after breaky and presents we laid in bed listening to some tunes, which we love doing, but so rarely get the chance... after we were all up dresses and ready, we went to the local gardens and had a picnic lunch, some bread rolls, fruit platter, yummy cupcakes, and macarons... elli also had fun running around the playground... then home for little miss to have a sleep, while hubby and i had a relax on the couch...

then we enjoyed some gardening in the sunshine, then went to jase's dad's for a pizza dinner with the family... unfortunately i didn't get to see my dad today, as he lives too far away, but we'll catch up with him soon...

another great fathers day, and wishing all the fathers out there a very happy and special fathers day...

macarons...

what's wrong with plain teddy bear biscuits??? nothing at all, they're tasty, but my 2.5 year old would prefer to eat expensive delicate french biscuits, yes, macarons... with fathers day on sunday, on need to get some for my hubby, to pack in a picnic lunch, as they're his faves too, but will have to hide them from elliot, because she will either eat them all before sunday, or tell him where they are hiding... so off to my favourite cake shop to get some today, red skin flavour of course, delish!!!

i will be buying them of course, because all of my attempts to make them myself, end in a fail... those people on all the cooking competition shows make them look so easy, but not for me, but one day i will master them, practice makes perfect, doesn't it??? if only almond meal wasn't so expensive, because i have been going through it like milk...

yay to donna hay (i love her), for bringing out macarons in a box to make at home... i've tried them once before and they weren't too bad, but definitely learnt some tips for next time...

when i finally can make them myself, i will...

christmas is coming...

yay, christmas is coming... i absolutely LOVE christmas, more so now that i have a little one to share all the excitement with, this year she will be almost 3, so it should be even better...

i like to be a bit organised so i have been busy making lists and more lists... i already have a wardrobe full of presents ready to ship to my parents place as that's where we will be spending christmas this year... hubby and i alternate between our families each year, we have to do it like this as our families live about 3 hours away from each other, so it's just too hard to share christmas with them both, but hey, it's all about compromise...

one thing i love about christmas is gift wrapping... every year i get an idea in my head ow i want the presents to look, but it never looks as good as the ones in the magazines, so i have been scouting for some beautiful vintage paper on e-bay, we'll se how the pressies under the tree look this year...

with lots of people to spoil with christmas gifts, the costs certainly add up, that's why i like to get things sorted a bit earlier (rather than the mad rush the week before christmas), and i can look at the pressies under the tree for a whole month, as our tree goes up on the first, but this year i imagine myself re-wrapping presents, after little miss elliot unwraps them for me...

so my lists continue to grow, but the hardest part, thinking what things to put on those lists to buy for everyone *sigh*...

my 2 year old needs a sleep in the daytime...

well we've certainly had a very busy few days at our place... a 30th, 2 first birthday parties and a visit to my nieces school for her 'special friends' day, all this has meant elliot hasn't had a day sleep for 3 days which = one very tired 2 year old...

it seems that she's been running on sugar from all the lollies and cakes at the birthday parties she's been too, but definitely exhausted and grumpy, hopefully bed time will come soon for her...

and quite frankly i'm exhausted too, me and hubby have had a busy weekend too, me dragging elliot from party to party and hubby has been busy doing some of those jobs outside around the house that he was finally able to do because the rain seemed to hold off over the weekend... and we sat up way too late last night, catching up on episodes of dexter that we haven't seen yet, and of course, we keep getting sucked in (one more episode), and then it's after midnight...

our day at my nieces school was wonderful, elliot had an absolute blast playing with the kids and following her cousin madison around... she enjoyed reading about 100 books (flicking through about 3 pages and returning them for another one), sitting with the kids having her sandwich for lunch, and playtime outside on the playground, it makes me think she'll be at school before i know it...

and now to get all the washing done that i usually spend all day monday doing, but didn't get started til after 3 o'clock today, so i'm certainly running behind time today...

easy, yummy dinner tonight, enchiladas...

did you know about cleaning filters???

it's so very cold where i live, that i am often running two heaters, a toasty warm gas heater, and a split system.. i was telling my friend the other day that when i go out, i leave the split system on (as i don't like leaving the gas one running when i'm not home), but it doesn't hold the temperature in the room... she asked me when i last cleaned the filters, "filters, what filters???", so apparently you're supposed to do that once a month, oh really, well i've had the split system for 3 years and have never done that...

so they filters are now cleaned of 3 years worth of dust, and it's working a treat, sooooo hot in here now...

weekend over...

so another weekend done and dusted... another busy one for me... spent saturday morning taking two year old elliot to her cousins 6th birthday, which she wasn't too impressed with, a 2 year old girl doesn't really want to play pass the parcel with a handful of 6 year old boys, but she did enjoy the party food, or to  be honest, licking sauce off party pies, sausage rolls, cocktail frankfurts, etc...

saturday night was wonderful, left elliot home with daddy and was off to a hens party... dinner and wine with some girlfriends first, then off to have some serious fun... enoyed probably a few too many kahluas/jam donut shots/vodka slushies, but had a fabulous time, except for a pair of very painful, but very fabulous black patent heels, when will i ever learn...

the hens party was in the basement of a nightclub (i don't even know how many years since i've been to a nightclub), when our party time was up, all the patrons came down stairs to dance the night away to music that would make your ears bleed, but it really brought back memories of when i was 18... being the middle of winter (and being the cold place i live), i couldn't believe what the young girls are wearing these days, bums hanging out, boobs hanging out, i felt seriously overdressed in clothes...

but then it came to me, as i walked to the taxi, in the rain, in the cold, carrying my shoes, you really don't feel the cold when you've had way too much to drink, those were the days...

friday afternoon ritual

aaaaaaaah, friday afternoon is here, my fave time of the week... elliot has gone down for a nap, so i have 2 hours to do what i usually do on friday arvos... there's always 2 things that i do on friday's during her nap time, number 1: watch private practice that i taped last night, coz i just can't stay up that late, and number 2: supercoach, yes supercoach... quite frankly, my fantasy football team sucks, but it's something i enjoy doing... so after these things are done, that leaves me with about half an hour, and filling that time today, mopping the floors... but elliot's little dog salt, has come in and put muddy paw prints all over the clean floors, maybe i'll have to mop again, *sigh*...

wednesday 8th august

the calendar is filling, it's getting to be that time of year, weddings, parties etc etc... bought a fabulous new  coloured print shift dress for a friends wedding, my friend renee loved it, but hubby "hmmm, you're not really wearing that are you?", of course i am, it's beautiful, so i told him, i don't care what you say, i'm wearing it anyway, but i add, "you need you wear you black suit so it goes with my dress", but he wants to wear a grey suit, and doesn't care what i say he's wearing the grey suit, guess i had that one coming...

monday 6th august

soooo very tired today... my two and half year old daughter elliot is unwell :-( which meant her sleeping in bed with me and hubby last night, cough cough cough, and then woke up with conjunctivitis, poor little thing... so off to the doctor to get some anti-biotics... but even unwell, it hasn't stopped her tearing through the house like a tornado, and playing tea parties (no thanks elliot, mummy has already had 15 of your cups of tea), and she's not very good at pouring the tea (water from her drink bottle), because now the lounge room floor is COVERED in water... now she's down for a nap, so off i go to clean all the spillage...

sunday 5th august

so the first weekend in august is always a busy one... our annual cousins reunion, spent with my mum's cousins, which also extends to her aunts and uncles, and nieces and nephews... the rules however state that you must be under 1, or over 18 to attend... is always a good weekend, with some trophies to be one, the most interest being an old ceramic fruit tree, which once belonged to mum dear aunty betty... so i left little elliot at home with her daddy (as she is 2 and a half, therefore not eligible to attend)... a great weekend was had by all, lots of awards given, and the most popular among my facebook friends, was the award for consistent drinking over the 3 days, which was awarded to my dear nana shirl...

as my husband didn't come, what a darling staying home to look after the little one, i carried on his tradition of pinching the cousins microphone... Yes, there is a microphone, and you can't make a speech unless your the one holding it... they're a crazy bunch that for sure, but they're my family, and that's why you love them, xo...