Being Prepared

Its funny how a moment in the past ( or in my case many moments) can prepare you for the path your life takes. My elder brother was born with serious eye problems. It resulted in many years of hospitalization, visits to doctors and a barrage of teasing from kids. He normally wore an eye patch after surgery or very thick glasses. Being younger I never really realized the extent of the medical side of things but boy did I know all about the teasing and bullying. I became his little champion. I gave it back to them as he never seemed to have a comeback to the teasing and taunts. During a friendly wrestling between us the glasses snapped. I ran screaming to my parents that I had just killed him.....so connected were those glasses and my image of his life. We've come a long way since those days but some things never alter. I recall that at one of his earliest jobs the boss was as bad as the playground kids that he thought he had left behind at school. Today he still has issues with his vision and sadly his sight is deteriorating This hasn't stopped him being extremely successful in his career or traveling the world extensively. It has however robbed him of finding security in a relationship. The preparation of having someones back and standing up to small minded people who are quick to criticize what they don't understand has been very good training for my present position. My daughter was born with a rare genetic syndrome, Cohens Syndrome.I'll always have her back simply because I love her. This weekend we are traveling a long way to meet up with other families from all around Australia who know my life inside out, even though we have never met.They too have a child, or in some cases children who also have the same syndrome.Thanks to the power of the internet I have been able to connect with people who know my world......I can't wait. As there are less than 1000 diagnosed cases worldwide we will been in very rare company. And finally my daughter who struggles to connect with this world every single day will be welcomed to her world and just maybe she will find a friend.

My Fathers Hands

With just a whole lot of pride and a great big whoosh of love we celebrated my dads 80th birthday.

With 80 years of hard work behind him it's now time for him to sit back and enjoy these years.......perhaps for some but not my dad.

He would modestly describe himself as a carpenter, but he's achieved so much more. He painstakingly built our family home with every year seeing a new modification, we had a cellar under the house that was the envy of all.

Every relative and friend have called on him over the years to add to their homes time and time again. I have fortunately been the recipient of his skills and proudly know that my house is strong, safe and secure.  Built with my fathers hands.

At 80 you will still find him labouring long and hard on a building project and now my son has a house in need of work so of course there he is at it again.

I think he was a bit in awe of our gift to him but like the skilled craftsman I know him to be it wasn't long until he had conquered a new puzzle.

Happy Birthday Dad xxx

Enjoy your new technology 

Brushes Down

I seem to make snap decisions based on barely any thought to planning. That's how I seem to get things done, leave me alone with an idea and progress is slow. So three weeks ago I decided the inside of this house needs painting. Got the painter, got the quote and can you start on Monday?
Excellent everything in place, colour decision was made almost on the spot, so ok let's do it! ( well the painter, not me I am not a painter)

The only problem was that a gazillion tonnes of stuff needed to be cleared, moved, stored. Surprise was that three quarters of a gazillion tonne was tossed out....not even missed.

 I'm all loved up with the colour. The colour I chose was "Sandy Day Half" with white skirting boards, white picture rails and a dazzling white ceiling. Spring cleaning to the max.

Getting Dirty

At the moment I am in happy holiday mode. I am also mourning the loss of my previous email account that was hacked and sadly now lost, goodbye my friend I knew you well. Many attempts were made to retrieve it but alas defeat.....as a consequence I have not blogged in some time.  So it's full steam ahead with holiday projects, number one project an addition to my vegetable garden. Just love digging in goodness and waiting for my little seedlings to grow. Hello salad soon! Would definitely add a photo IF I could figure out why Dropbox has abandoned me.....any clues?

Making a list.....

Yippee I'm finally on holidays with two weeks of  no work  (of the paid variety). However the lists have been formulating in my head of all the jobs to do.....and having transferred the list to paper it's looking pretty full. The top of the list is a massive cooking extravaganza to create all the amazing recipes I've been hoarding waiting for the pace of life to slow down........ Vegie Mama is a huge inspiration, Diary of a Recipe Addict  will definately be visited  as well as attempting some recipes  by   Baby Mac ......fingers crossed (or burnt). As well as there will be lunches with friends, a few looooooong walks, movie viewing, chucking out all the accumulated really useful stuff  that belongs to my kids who have moved out spring cleaning (in winter) house maintenance, vege gardening, exploring new blogs and my favourite, a few late sleep ins. Just need the body clock to adjust. And I will finally plan my trip away next year......Bonjour Madame France.

Are you a list writer? 
Does it ever all get done? 

Drooooool

I am so doing this.......................the sooner the better.

Chocolate Filled Strawberries

www.lilyshop.com

  Ingredients

15-20 strawberries (the larger the better)

1 bag of Milk Chocolate chips

Directions

1. Cut the stems off your clean strawberries and carefully scoop out the top of the berry. The deeper you scoop the more chocolate it will hold. I used large strawberries so I scooped about an inch down.

2. Pour the entire bag of chocolate chips in a glass bowl and heat in the microwave for 30 second intervals. Make sure to take your bowl out every 30 seconds to stir the chips. Continue until all chips are melted.

3. Place your strawberries in an egg carton so they sit straight up. You could also use little Dixie cups. Now you can either spoon your melted chocolate into the berries or use a funnel or piping bag. I used a little baby spoon and it worked fine. Your choice.

4. Place in the refrigerator for about 10 minutes until they harden a bit. Enjoy!

Note: As someone noted there is a small chance that salmonella could be found in an empty egg carton so if this concerns you it is safer to use an ice cube tray or mini muffin tin to hold the berries while the chocolate hardens.

 

Callate!

I had an urge to consume Mexican food this weekend, it had been in my thoughts all week as I pushed through a draining work week.Finally it was Saturday night, lets go eat. Thoughts were of chimichangas, enchiladas, nachos, tacos, tortillas...........This diminished within two minutes of our arrival at the restaurant. It was packed, good sign it must be a popular restaurant.
However the customers were many, many groups of women out for a good meal and a catchup, we were about the only couple. The big thumbs down for me was the NOISE. Now I can have a chat with the best of them but the level of competing voices in this place was off the Richter scale. These ladies weren't chatting they were screaming. All necessary in order to be heard over the volcano of noise erupting at the next table and the next one and the one over there. It became a painful rather than a relaxing meal time.
We ate. We tried talking but after the tenth time of "What did you say?" we kind of gave up. The food was so so. Incredibly there was a baby capsule on the floor next to us with a tiny little baby in there somewhere. I'm not sure if it ever cried or was just as overwhelmed as me and just endured. The most amazing thing was that at a table near the doorway a group, consisting of a few teenagers and some parents, had an equally puzzling reaction as mine. The one whom I supposed was the mother of some of the teenagers at one point screamed, pushed her chair over and fled the restaurant! Her husband ran out after her leaving the teenagers just sitting there. He then arrived back and the whole group then left.
All in all a complete opposite of what I had been pining for all week. I suppose as well as a "dining" experience we got to witness "true-life' drama. So we eventually left bellies full and ears ringing. I suppose then it came as no surprise that as we walked to our car my partner slipped on some wet leaves and landed on the concrete pavement with a slice to his hand. Tonight on the dinner menu I am serving up nachos without a side dressing of mayhem and madness.

The picture to accompany this story is a wall hanging on the wall that I faced during dinner, her expression and the finger says it best.