Happy New Year!

Happy New Year to everyone out there! Make it as fun or more fun than last year.

I woke up with a lovely sore throat, which is frustrating as I didn't spend my New Years' Eve out partying. We sat around watching ABC Sydney fireworks coverage (not very good at all) and a 4wd Action DVD (much funnier than ABC).
A successful New Years' Eve in my opinion! It was very quiet in the neighbourhood too - just the local fireworks to punctuate midnight.

Personally I love New Years' Day morning. It's so quiet. Like, super quiet. Sitting out on the back patio watching the hubby play with his truck was so relaxing.
Our wonderful daughter woke up at 5:30am (wet and therefore cold!) so I fixed her up and bought her into our bed for a half hour snuggle. Then brekkie at 6:30am, and she went back to bed for her morning nap at 7am ish! I will always forgive her for waking up early if she'll do a morning nap.

New Years' Day itself will be spent at my parents place for a BBQ, just relaxing. I was given a bottle of Moet Chandon for Christmas so I'm going to 'pop' that today and see what it tastes like. I think it's probably not going to be a favourite, but I'll keep an open mind (or is that mouth?).

So, the washing is on the line, the Christmas tree and decorations down and the new year has begun. Bring it on!

Speculating on Speculaas...

I attempted to use my speculaas mold the other day using gingerbread dough, and here's how it turned out.

Hmmm. Next time maybe I'll follow the hints and tips on the blog -  http://www.thedutchbakersdaughter.com/2009/12/speculaas.html
No bicarb soda next time!

And that means I'll have to wait till next year! Although I'm not in the Netherlands,  so I might make an exception.  
I also made some gingerbread biscuits with crystallised ginger on top as a gift.
They must taste alright as my daughter ate one in the space of a second. They are bite sized though!

My final craft for the Christmas period was a robin tree ornament. It's a bit wonky, but that's because I didn't use a template. I think he's sweet.

Now, I have some mushy bananas.I'm sure I saw a recipe for banana bread on that blog...

Toilet training...you have been warned!

It has begun. Sporting cute little training pants, my daughter is being introduced to the idea of controlling her bodily functions. No luck yet, but she doesn't like the idea of a puddle at her feet so I'm sure this will be a relatively short lesson in life.

It's been fairly ordinary on the baby front, just a little teething here and there to keep us on our toes. The weather is now nice and should stay that way from now till March next year at least so that will make the toilet training even easier.Like most babies, my daughter loves getting around in the nude. Wait till she works out she can take her own pants off!
Personally, I'm just taking advantage of the weather to roll up my pant legs and attempt some 'holiday skin' in the mornings. I'm writing this from a chair in the backyard and it's only just starting to get too warm now at 9am.

Bring on the beach weather I say! My daughter was fascinated by the water when we took her early this month and I'm eager to take her in to the water. She loves the pool so loving the beach won't be hard. Can't wait to take her to the dog beach either.

Christmas is shaping up nicely, as we've just got the news that our daughter will get to meet her uncle for the very first time in the flesh. It will be interesting to see if she recognises him from Skype.
That won't be till after Christmas itself though. I've hit a rut with the Christmas craft, but hopefully I'll feel inspired in the next day or two to get going again. Haven't gotten to my lego lately either. I may need another bucket to sort out the little apartments I'm building. I'm lacking windows, doors and standard blocks.

I might just take a nap in the sun now...covered up of course!

Christmas update

Christmas AGAIN! That went quick. Not a bad thing either, as it must mean I enjoyed the year a lot. It's been a busy one (obviously, due to lack of posts) but mostly fun.

Cooking hasn't been anything much lately, with only a few gems discovered in the recipe department recently. One of which was last night's effort - Asian inspired pork belly with stir fry veggies.

The pork crackling was perfect, as was the meat itself. It was all so good, we ate first and took photos second!

And my other little cracker of a recipe was an instant sponge 'cake' that I found on the 'net. 1 and a half minutes in the microwave and you've got a yummy sponge cake. http://lifehacker.com/make-a-surprisingly-moist-sponge-cake-in-the-microwave-1028723713

I didn't have baking powder, so I just used SR flour instead (and no normal flour of course!).
They rose beautifully.

Next post will have some of the inevitable Christmas decorations and general Christmasy goings on...

Spring has sprung

While it may not feel like it weather-wise, spring is definitely on the way here in Perth. I have many of my native plants flowering, with many more indicating that they will soon. 


Once again I forgot to plant the everlasting seeds, so unfortunately I will have to wait until next year to have a truly colourful display.

So, on the left we have my natives (mostly Kangaroo Paws) budding around the bird bath, and on the right we have my mother's wisteria which grows on the patio out the front of her house. It smells heavenly.

My herbs are still doing well and are very tasty. Hopefully they will grow a bit faster once the sun comes out a bit more. Just in case they don't, I've purchased some rocket and some more cos lettuce to boost my stocks. 



We have divided up the Moses in the Bulrushes (Rhoeo spathacea nana) and placed them in amongst the Kangaroo paws and, um, the other long leafed plants to hopefully cover up all the soil. Don't know how it's going to go, but the Moses tend to like the shadier areas when they grow here in Perth. 

This spot gets quite shady in summer, but the limestone wall holds heat so that's why the kangaroo paws have lasted. It used to be sunny all the time, but since the patio went up we lost two kangaroo paw plants. 

The garden outside my daughter's bedroom is looking good. The hubby roughly (but nicely!) laid down some pavers over the weekend and weeded with the help of our nephews. Now we've just got to put down some retic which is desperately needed as that spot gets darned hot! 
I was hoping that the grevilleas I planted a while back would be bushier and thus providing shade by now, but unfortunately not. 

We may need to consider extending some shade cloth from the shed to the house just to take the punch out of the summer sun that hits my daughter's window...More 'renovations'! 

The joys of owning a house and garden. Wouldn't swap it for the world. 

Shopping online - convert or slave?

I have previously shopped for groceries online, but it's been a while and only tried it as a passing fad. At that time of course I wasn't running around after a baby. 
With the terrible (but much needed) rainy weather in the last few weeks, I just couldn't face up to loading the poor mite into the car and around the shops when I could order online and get delivery for $11. 

The search system for my chosen store had improved over the few years since it launched, so things were a lot faster than my first attempt. 
So, convert or slave? Well, I think a bit of both. It was sunny today and really I had no excuses. I could have gone to the shops. But hey, for the cost of $11 delivery, I got exactly what I needed. Nothing extra in the 'trolley'. AND I got to spend more time with my daughter and mum. The washing also got done and I had time to read a little also. A very small price to pay for all that pleasure achieved, I think you'll agree!

Currently I'm watching Masterchef - Masterclass. Gary is making friands. He was talking about waiting until the liquid has reduced to a syrup. This always annoys me as it NEVER reduces for me, regardless. I follow the instructions when it comes to 'reducings' things religiously as I know it never works. It could be to do with my stove top...the lowest setting can still keep things on the boil! I seem to work around it though. 

My little girl is consistently going to bed at around 6pm which is fantastic because I get to cook properly again. 
She's having fun pushing the pram along at the moment when we're out...the confidence to walk is growing daily.

Left: My daughter assisting with the washing...but it's not dry yet sweetie!

Now...off to do some more online shopping investigating?

Model Railway (Lego) show Part 2

Finally got the pics! And a gorgeous one of my little girl. This was taken in May at a trip to the park just up the road. Camera shy she is not. If she becomes a model one day she'll make a fair whack out of it!

 Ah, Ikea! You can't escape it. The fire station is a genuine, purchasable Lego item. Not tempted though.

 Restaurants, a rave party, ferris wheel etc. Fun and games.

 

 The detail these guys go to is extreme to say the least. Obviously these are not available off the shelf at your local toy store! Amazing work. Speaking of which....








...you want detail? I thought this was Fremantle station, but then realised when I got home that it was actually Perth station, but parts of it have been knocked down to 'trim' the station to what it is today. Complete with transperth buses(!).

Some more photos can be found on my pinterest board 'Lego!'...http://pinterest.com/sethathoryunet/lego/
Unfortunately pinterest only lets you load one photo at a time...?!

Nearly 1 year

My daughter is nearly 1 year old! I can hardly believe I've survived (just) her first year of life. Best part is, I'll forget over time and she'll never know.

What's news? Well, she's just starting growing again I think. She's sleeping through the night still, but the last few days have taken a while to settle her. We think she might be in pain as she rubs her mouth/sinus area quite a bit so the panadol has been getting a work out in the evenings.
But who knows? I'll try her without the panadol tonight and just see if it's 'look at me mum' crying instead of actual pain.
That will last until about 9pm, when I would probably give in and give her panadol just so I can go to bed!

We have a new friend at our house - he arrived in the last couple of days and visits regularly. No, I'm not having an affair, it's a territorial New Holland Honeyeater! He keeps threatening our back window - hopping up and down along the window on the ground fluffing himself up and pecking/scratching at the window. He's doing it right now as I type.

Good thing I touch type and type fast! My daughter is trying to help...

Model Rail / Hobby Expo - 2013 Part 1

Another Lego/Life update

Left: At work/full construction mode. Music is pumping (has to be 80's/90's dance music though). 

I lose this Sunday arvo's construction time to my husband and daughter. Not sure what we're doing, but I'm sure I can find some way to kick them out of the house for a while...maybe not. 

 My darling daughter is currently sleeping very well during the day and at night, bless her heart. We keep thinking more teeth might be coming, but nothing happens. I guess they'll just pop out of nowhere after a night of hell. Or possibly just pop up with no notice at all!

Left: Jamie's 15 minute meals - Herb Greek chicken and vegetable couscous...or something like that! Super delicious. Homemade tzatziki in the middle.


Below left: Hubby's omelette with fresh parsley on top, also uber yummy. 


I'm hoping to cook up some vegetarian sausage rolls (recipe courtesy of a friend, you know who you are!) for my hubby's birthday get together this weekend, and of course I've still got to make the brownies for his Saturday morning bike ride crew. I really hope they eat them all - his work guys didn't eat all of the last batch so I got stuck with them. This is both really good and really bad! 

On that note, my health and fitness is super awesome at the moment. I'm really stoked with where I'm at. Only 2 more weeks of the Foxy challenge left, and I'm hoping I can beat my 2.4km run time that I originally completed about 4-5 weeks ago. I should be able to beat it; by how much is the real question! 
I've started on the Les Mills RPM class too - I may get to two classes a week but we'll see. Hubby is wanting to get back to climbing so that will probably take a good chunk of time out of my gym time. 

Last but not least, my Lego house update! Going well. Bathroom/powder room completed. It's ok I guess, but it's the best I can do with the Lego I've got. Oh, and I added some rowers! Because I could. 





Left: Upstairs complete? At least for now.

Right: The bathroom/powder room. I have no 'indoor' doors in my Lego collection so I had to construct cleverly located walls to ensure everyone had privacy when using the bathroom!














Left: The bathroom/powder room. From the stairs. Yeah, the stairs suck. I'm going to have to work on those...maybe in the next house building attempt. 

Right: The rowers. Complete with coach with megaphone on the bank. Don't ask me what they're going to do when they get to the garage wall. Use your imagination. It is Lego after all!!