17/52

A portrait of my children, once a week, every week, in 2013

Ruby :: she could stand in the shower until the hot water ran out

Cole :: morning milkshake in the autumn sunshine

Eliot :: I was taking photos in Ruby's room and they came over to pull faces and giggle through the window, E mostly staring at his own reflection

My favourite from last week (and usually every other day of the week) came from Lamb Loves Fox. I looove seeing this gifted mama's talent in my feed every. single. day.

Enjoying the 52 Project each week with Jodi

spoiling me

I have never bought a decent handbag. My sister worked for Sportsgirl HQ for years and through their buying and designing for new seasons and lines, they were privy to sample sales and freebies every other week. She was wonderfully generous in passing on these freebies, and chunks of her wardrobe when new season samples needed to be squeezed in. I would estimate three quarters of my wardrobe came from my sister. I'm not complaining. I think every handbag I have had over the past five years came from Sportsgirl. And was free. And now, my sister has moved to a fancy pants high end fashion label and the freebies are no longer. Sob. I have to PAY for clothes. Gasp! And handbags. This would be perfectly okay if I could actually find a handbag that I liked. Wow there are some hideous bags out there. This is not one of them.

Isn't she beautiful? I think she should be delivered to me in bed this Mother's Day, by my precious smalls, preferably sometime after 10am. Too easy. After years of not paying for beautiful handbags, I shouldn't worry about the price tag and indulge a little.

Before I put her in my basket and head to the checkout, I need to know - what's the best handbag you've ever had? I need details, people. I need to know if there's something better out there for me. It has to be big. You know I have to fit all that kid guff in it, drink bottle, snacks, matchbox cars, as well as my camera on some days. Help me out ladies!

stuff + nonsense

This week feels all over the shop. Wednesday and Thursday were holidays and my brain has been hurting trying to remember what I am meant to be watching on the box each night, having to stop and think what day it is. Life is so tough.

Wednesday was a student free day so we could attend semester one progress reviews at school. I was proud of myself that I managed to hold it all together as her teacher told me what a delight she is to teach and how wonderfully she's doing, surpassing milestones she would expect at this stage. You know that stinging eyes/weird mouth movement thing you get when your kid does something incredible whether miniscule or monumental? Yeah, that. We celebrated with lattes (she likes to call her baby chino a latte), sushi, jam donuts, and new painting books.

Kate made me think I should revisit my childhood, and perhaps introduce the kids to toffee apples. She's such a good influence.

I tried Pip's tuna bake for dinner tonight. I've made tuna mornay and tuna pasta bake, but never just tuna bake. The kids were divided but we adults agreed it was delicious. I substituted carrots for the celery, added dill, used smoked paprika through the mixture as well as on top of the crumble and mixed parmesan and colby cheese. This one will be great for the occasions when I feed the kids early and eat with hubby after they're in bed.

Can someone please explain to me why you would take your baby out on a freezing cold day without anything on their feet? This has ALWAYS pissed me off. Even before I was a mother. And now with the weather turning, I am seeing it so often, I just don't get it. I have to stop myself from going up to ask the mother - who of course is rugged up, top to toe - scarf, cardi, SOCKS AND BOOTS. I get that itty bitty socks get kicked off. That's why they invented onesies - with feet! Heard of them? Ingenious! I want to buy a truckload and walk around handing them out to parents of babies with blue feet.

We got NBN this week. I do believe the husband used the word lightening as we tested it out. The weird part is the wires and boxes that are installed. You know on the ad, they make it look all nice and neat, on the OUTSIDE of your house? Big fat liars. It has to be INSIDE your house. It's ugly. But apparently it is becoming the norm to have them installed in your garage where you don't have to witness the ugliness. So that's what we did. So far, I'm a big fan.

Are you watching Elementary? My goodness, I can't get enough. Jonny Lee Miller is fabulous. Maybe I meant delicious. Deliciously fabulous. And Lucy Liu, equally so. Never did I see a ponytail with so much bounce. Captivating viewing. Even just the ponytail. I usually have to hide behind a blanket at some point during the first five minutes when they find the dead bodies, but apart from that, I love it. I will be bitterly disappointed if he should never confess his undying love for her.

Eliot drew on the wall yesterday. I should be impressed it has taken nearly six years before one of my children thought it would be a good idea to draw on the wall. Hurrah! I've been told by those in the know, that GUMPTION is what I need. It's on my shopping list. I'm a little sad the pencil tins have to be put out of kid reach for a while..

You're going to make toffee apples too, yes?
Do babies with bare feet irk you as much as me?
Are your ugly NBN boxes installed in your garage too?
Do you share my love of all things Sherlock?
Are you experienced with GUMPTION?

we will remember them

'Mum, you know that when we eat Anzac biscuits we should remember the soldiers that died in the war.' ~ Ruby, 5

They shall not grow old, as we that are left grow old.
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning,
We will remember them.

Lest we forget.

meatballs

Ruby's favourite. And one of my favourites to make.* Anything that's quick, easy and tasty gets a good run on the dinner rotation round here. There's just something about squishing wet mince between your fingers, no? I feel a little closer to Jamie and that's never a bad thing.

I don't remember what version I made before Jamie's 30 Minute Meals meatballs. Who cares. The 30MM version was tasty and we were happy. Then Jody posted her best ever spaghetti and meatballs and I had to test them out. Every one of Jody's recipes I have tried has been delicious, and these were no exception. The only things lacking for me were the zesty lemon tang and hint of mustard I was used to from Jamie's meatballs. So since then, I've been mashing the two together. It goes something like this.

Jamie + Jody's Meatball Mash Up

500g beef/pork mince
2 cloves garlic, bashed and chopped
1 egg
1/2 cup fresh breadcrumbs
1/2 cup parmesan
chopped parsley/basil
good heaped tablespoon of mustard (I use dijon)
zest of 1/2 - 1 lemon (add some juice too if you like more zing)
lug of olive oil
salt + pepper
dried chilli flakes, optional (of course you could use fresh, but I prefer to use dried for these because I can control the heat for the kids, whereas with fresh, sometimes they're hotter than you think!)

//Mix everything together in a bowl using your hands. Roll into small walnut sized balls. If you added the lemon juice as well, you may find it a bit too wet. If so, add some more breadcrumbs.

//Heat some oil in a heavy based pan over medium heat. Add your meatballs and brown, a couple of minutes each side.

//Add two tins of diced tomatoes into your pan plus about a third of a tin of water (I buy the tinned tomatoes with basil + garlic). Wait for your tomatoes to bubble and add your stock of choice - I use one of those Continental Stock Pots. Perhaps because I quite like Marco Pierre White. Maybe I have a thing for chefs.
//Knock your heat back to low-ish and add some more finely chopped parsley/basil, salt and pepper, dried chilli flakes if you like. Have a taste - if it's too tomatoey, add a teaspoon of raw sugar.
//Give everything a gentle mix, making sure your meatballs are covered by the sauce.

//Cover (I leave the lid slightly ajar) and allow to bubble while you cook some pasta or rice.
//About five minutes before they're ready, add a few shakes of balsamic vinegar - a trick I learned from watching one of Jamie's shows. I do this with my lasagne sauce too. If your sauce has thickened too much here, just add a bit of water to loosen it up.

//Serve with a generous pile of pasta or rice, cracked pepper and more parmesan. Watch gleefully as the kids inhale it.

*Perhaps a favourite because each time I make it, I am reminded of my nephew's arrival into the world, as this was what I was doing when I got the call that he arrived unexpectedly early - with no name - hence the Baby T scribble. Clearly I was having a very organised day if I was making meatballs at 11.15am!

weekend love

There was sleeping, a proud little Star of the Week, partying, crafting, Guess Who-ing, more watching and more riding. And now we're back to the start of another busy week.. though a shorter one between a student free day for parent/teacher interviews preceding Anzac Day, so it should be a good one.

Autumn has set in, the rain is falling, the flannels are back on all the beds, the heater is humming..

How was your weekend?

Linking up with the very-soon-to-be mother of THREE, Em

16/52

A portrait of my children, once a week, every week, in 2013

Ruby :: watching her brothers in the bath, post birthday party - stalling - if she got in, she knew her face paint would disappear..

Cole :: catching up on the news

Eliot :: he stumbled out of his room - late, eyes barely open, collapsed on the couch with me

Last week's favourite was from Sisilia. Oh. My. Goodness.

Enjoying the 52 Project each week with Jodi

what the cuss?

The weekend before last, Fantastic Mr Fox was on the box and I thought the kids would enjoy it, so set the DVR to do its job. Every now and then the guide gets its knickers in a twist and gets the times muddled. Of course this happened that very night - recording an hour of the show before Fantastic Mr Fox and only an hour of the actual movie. It is really quite sad just how disappointed I was the following morning when we made this SHOCKING discovery. For some strange reason, the kids didn't seem to mind. They watched that hour of this fabulous movie, over and over, over and over.. later in the week they spied it as we passed the movies in Kmart and we all cheered with glee that we would find out just how fantastic Mr Fox would turn out to be. This is the part where I confess we do not own one single Roald Dahl book. I heard that gasp. Never fear, this will be fixed very, very soon.

My goodness this is a fabulous movie. Yes, I realise it's about four years old. I remember when it was released and thought how much I'd love to see it. But I had a one year old. And had my head in the toilet, pregnant with another. Heading out to the flicks was pretty low on my agenda. Maxolon was high on my agenda. Even though it barely took the edge off. I digress.

The adult humour in this movie is absolute GOLD. If you've seen it, you'll know what I mean. If you haven't, a reliable source recently informed me you can pick it up at Coles for less than a tenner. Since having the whole movie, I think I would be lying if I said it hadn't been played once - every day. What the cuss? Ahuh. Mr Fox really is that fantastic.

Other fantastic stuff? This.

If I had a side bar, it would totally be on it. And I must take my cue from Foxy - what the cuss? I was so bloody shocked when I got the email confirming I had been chosen as part of the Top 100 Finalists of Voices 2013. I remember standing in the kitchen reading it. And then reading it again because I must have read it wrong. But no, it's true, look at my face in there amongst all those beauties. Totally chuffed, totally thankful to all those who have sent congratulatory messages the past few days. I'm really humbled to be amongst such a talented bunch of women. Some are friends, some are friends who write my favourite blogs, some are simply huge inspirations in the blogosphere. Humbled indeed. It feels like a really warm pat on the back for all those late night ramblings I spit out onto the keyboard, simply freeing my head of a little (much needed) space, to help me through another day of this little journey called Life.

Other less fantastic stuff? Drivers who speed through school zones. Yes, I just changed the subject. Keep up.

I think I drove through four different school zones today, twice. And every time, without fail, cars passed me easily and disappeared quickly. And to make it worse, the majority of those drivers had children in the car with them. What the cuss? I don't get it? WHAT IS SO CUSSING HARD ABOUT KEEPING YOUR SPEEDO AT 40KMPH?? WHERE IS THE CUSSING FIRE?! I felt the need to go all redneck, roll my window down, hang out the side and yell - WHAT THE CUSS ARE YOU DOING? I felt that would be a bad example to set the one or two children I had in the backseat so I refrained. It makes my blood boil. It's like they knew their kid was safe, so why bother obeying the road rules to protect someone else's? It must have been SO satisfying arriving at their destination THIRTY SECONDS faster than if they had slowed down to obey simple road rules and protect innocent children.

And while I'm all what the cuss? about everything, just a little community service announcement. Oxford Dictionary style.

Definition of apostrophe

noun

a punctuation mark (‘) used to indicate either possession (e.g. Harry’s book; boys‘ coats) or the omission of letters or numbers (e.g. can’t; he‘s; 1 Jan. ’99).

Origin: mid 16th century (denoting the omission of one or more letters): via late Latin, from Greek apostrophos 'accent of elision', from apostrephein 'turn away', from apo 'from' + strephein 'to turn'

Many people are uncertain when to use an apostrophe, and this confusion is probably increased by the fact that it is often omitted in company names (e.g. Barclays Bank). The apostrophe should be used when indicating possession (Sue’s cat) or the omission of letters or numbers (he’s gone, 1 Jan. '09). It should not be used in forming the plural of ordinary words, as in apple’s and pear’s or I saw two dog’s, or in possessive pronouns such as hers, yours, or theirs.

Don't you feel better? Cuss, me too.

*If Kidspot were lining up Top 100 Finalists for Most Disjointed Post, I would totally be in.

weekend love

I must confess my laziness when it comes to teaching Big to ride her bike without training wheels. We've been saying for well over a year.. we better get rid of those training wheels! Yep. Wheels came off, hubby gave her a push, she yelled LET GO!, and away she went. Like, not even a wobble. Yep, should've done it a year ago. Middle gave it a go too, but he's a bit of a speed demon and still too busy looking at the scenery instead of where he's going.. I don't want to bust up that beautiful face just yet.

Way to rub salt into that lazy-arse parenting wound, my darling!! The joy on your face as you rode away from dad, was unforgettable.

Did you learn anything new this weekend?

Linking up with Em