AT MY HOUSE...

We have escaped our house and have joined Lou on an extended long weekend at Mum's house with the whole family.

I can't tell you how nice it is to escape reality for a few days and have the aunts, uncles, cousins and Granny there to help entertain the kids! Entertaining 5 kids indoors (mostly) for a few days is not always an easy feat, but with endless games of hide and seek, drawings of masterpieces (thanks Kate), stomping in muddy puddles, the balancing of cards and mini chairs, hilarious dress ups and trick or treating in every doorway of the house, they did a superb job - thank you!

It has been a welcome relief from the everyday which has been quite the balancing act and particularly exhausting of late. I haven't always been managing to balance it all that well.

This weekend has been a welcome relief.

Thank you family.

What has been happening at your house?

P.S. Don't forget my little giveaway. Details here.

THIS SATURDAY I'M GRATEFUL...

This Saturday I'm so very, very grateful for my very talented and very generous little sister who did some fun drawings of a frog, a goose and a bear and made them into a blog header for me. It's only taken me six months of blogging to finally have a proper header!!

She also drew me my very own picture for my regular EASY PEASY DINNER WINNER linky, so if you link in on the occasional Tuesday, feel free to add this picture to your sidebar and link it back here.



I'm quite excited about the new look and I'm very grateful for her time as I know it is precious.
Thank you Clare!!!

I'm also grateful for my sister Lou and my husband for taking 5 kids out for baby cinos in the rain giving me some time to blog and for my wonderful mother for putting up with a house full of mad children for an extended weekend (while still trying to keep the house spotless for potential buyers...).

I'm grateful for all of the rain that is so needed here in Victoria, but I am also grateful that we decided to stay at Mum's house and not go camping as originally planned!

I'd also like to add that I'm very grateful that one can still win a whole game of 5 handed 500 without ever actually winning a trick! All the glory, without necessarily having the skill ;)

What are you grateful for?

P.S. I'm so very grateful for the wonderful community of bloggers that I've come to know in the last 6 months, that I'm having a giveaway! Check out the details here.

MY CREATIVE SPACE...

I love it when kids are involved in the build-up and excitement of getting ready for a party and you know how I love a good mess....

We have been making birthday invitations for a little dress-up party we are having in a few weeks time...

A birthday party for a little frog who is turning 2 and likes nothing more than to carry handbags around all day and rummage through her Mum's shoe cupboard.

Her first word was 'shoe' and I think that says it all!

We also discovered that rolling our hands, and the glittery table, with some playdough worked an absolute treat for cleaning up! Although there will be glitter all over the house in some form or another for quite some time to come....*

More party inspiration in the weeks to come and

if you are interested in checking out my very first giveaway check out yesterday's post.

Head over to Kootoyoo for hundreds of other creative spaces.

* While we are speaking of party inspiration, sparkly play dough works really well as party favors for an underwater or mermaid themed party.

A GIVEAWAY!!

I am so excited to show you some gorgeous artwork of a beautiful and very talented friend of mine!

Jane has just started a new little venture called 'Frankenbelle' which sells, as she calls it, "monstrous beautiful truth". Using scrabble tiles combined with vintage fabrics, wallpapers and other items that match perfectly with the word or phrase, they can't help but evoke reflection. I think she is so very clever & talented!

In the blogworld it seems 'the thing to do' to hold a giveaway on memorable occasions, ie. 100 blog followers (which I now have - how exciting!) so I thought it would be a perfect opportunity to show you Jane's very cool and very inspirational artwork by having a giveaway! Also, as a way to say thank you to all of you in this blogging community who have helped to keep me sane over the past 6 months since I first began blogging!

I will give away one set of 9 postcards which have the words - love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, humility and self-control. Envelopes are included if you'd like to send them as postcards to friends.

I have them stuck on my wall as a constant reminder of these beautiful qualities. They look absolutely fantastic when framed and strike me as being perfect fridge material (particularly the 'self-control' or 'patience' ones!)

If you'd like to enter the giveaway, simply write a comment below and I'll randomly choose a winner by getting one of the kids to draw one out of a hat. Entries will close midnight next Thursday 4th. November.*

Don't forget to include your email address so that I can contact you if you're the winner!

Extra entry into the drawer if you mention the giveaway on your blog!

To see all 9 of these very funky and reflective prints check out her etsy and made it stores. At least 8 more prints to be added soon. There will more than a few of these packs included in my Christmas presents this year! You can purchase them individually for a very reasonable price or as a set of 9.

* You don't have to have a blog to enter - simply click on the comments button next to the envelope at the bottom of this post, choose the 'Name/URL' or 'Anonymous' option. But don't forget to include your email address.

WORDLESS WEDNESDAY... {almost}

The proud look from someone who caught them all herself.

Her dad - none of them.

Aaah, to still be on holidays...

More Wordless Wednesday fun here.

P.S. I am having my very first giveaway later today - stay tuned!

P.P.S. Keep your easy peasy dinner winners coming!

EASY PEASY DINNER WINNERS #19

I have been finding it even harder than usual to find time to blog, so I actually don't have a recipe for you all this week. Photos of meal times just didn't happen, but that doesn't mean I couldn't do with some more from you all!

If you haven't already, I recommend you go and have a look at some of the recipes from previous weeks that people have linked in. There are some great recipes. I am building my repertoire constantly, thanks to you generous people! I haven't tried them all, but I'm on my way! Last week, we made this roast chicken and we'll definitely be repeating that one - easy and delicious!

Link in below with your easy peasy dinner winners! Please! I'm always desperate for inspiration. Don't forget to link your post back to here so that others can join in the fun!

AT MY HOUSE... {stopping to smell the snails}

At my house I often find myself having tea parties and stopping to look at the small things when I should be doing a whole lot of other much more important things.....

... or should I?

I have a china tea set that was mine when I was a little girl. I have been saving it, still in it's polystyrene packaging, for my children to be old enough to be extra careful with it. This weekend, while completely overhauling the children's bedrooms with new bunk beds and the rearranging and finding of homes for a multitude of things, I took these down from the high shelf and as I did so, a plate dropped and smashed. After all these years of keeping it on a high shelf, away from the little ones, it was me, the extra careful adult, who broke it. I think there may just be a simple lesson in that...

I am constantly reminded of the things in my life that I really should be grateful for and to stop worrying about those unimportant things that I convince myself are important.

What lessons are you learning at your house?

EASY PEASY DINNER WINNERS #18

image

This is the meal most consistently whipped up by the hubby, when he comes home late from work.

Most of the time I am the dutiful wife and have dinner ready and waiting for him to heat up (as he misses dinner with us most nights). We do one meal in this house, no separate kids meal with adults eating something different later - too much effort plus I never know what time he's going to come home and I'm hungry when the kids eat.

On the odd occasion, various things happen (or don't happen) and he's left to fend for himself. He loves to cook, so who am I to interfere?! Sometimes he'll cook this on a Saturday for lunch and Goose loves it. She can't get enough of the dried seaweed...(?!)

It's most certainly easy peasy and it tastes divine!

image

This recipe is based on what he told me - he made it up as he went along, so this is his version.

JAPANESE MISO SOUP

(serves 1)

• 1.5 tbspn red miso paste
• 2 cups water
• tofu cut into 1cm cubes (approx. 6 cubes)
• 2 mushrooms, sliced
• dried seaweed (2-3 small squares)
• 1 spring onion, sliced
• 
  

1. Boil water on stove. Add miso paste and stir until dissolved.

2. Add mushrooms and wait till they cook (a few mins).

3. While waiting, fry tofu in frying pan on high heat for approx 1 minute.

4. When mushrooms are cooked, turn off heat. Add spring onions, seaweed & tofu.

Play around with it. Adding bok choy, udon noodles or dumplings is also delicious!

Obviously just multiply the amounts of liquid, etc. for more people.

Check out this link for all kinds of different miso soup recipes done in all different ways with many different ingredients.

Now it's your turn!

Link up below.

Don't forget to link back here on your post so that everyone can join in the fun and get some new easy peasy dinner winners!

THERE IS A SEASON...

"For everything there is a season,

a time for every activity under heaven.

A time to be born and a time to die.

A time to plant and a time to harvest.

A time to kill and a time to heal.

A time to tear down and a time to build up.

A time to cry and a time to laugh.

A time to grieve and a time to dance.

A time to scatter stones and a time to gather stones.

A time to embrace and a time to turn away.

A time to search and a time to quit searching.

A time to keep and a time to throw away.

A time to tear and a time to mend.

A time to be quiet and a time to speak.

A time to love and a time to hate.

A time for war and a time for peace."

Ecclesiastes 3:1-8

FREE TEA & CAKE in DAYLESFORD

Some lovely friends of mine - the very same ones who organised the funky little backyard market that I participated in back in May - now have a shop! They've done such a great job and I'm very proud of them.

The official opening is on this Sunday in Daylesford

If you are in the area, and I know some of you are, they'd love you to join them for tea and cake and peruse their handmade goods...

Their stuff is just gorgeous and you won't find it anywhere else. Definitely worth a drop-in if you are in the area.... there will be tea and cake after all!

- Makers Collective Opening Launch -

from 11am onwards

Shop 7, Village on Vincent

121 Vincent St

Daylesford

"The Makers Collective is a group of friends who make things locally and by hand, to creatively express a different way in a world of imported and mass-produced goods."

Addition: The Makers Collective is open every weekend from 11-3.

ALFALFA SPROUTS

We've been making more alfalfa sprouts at our house

and I've been doing a bit of 'guest blogging'.

If you'd like to make some too, go and visit my lovely sister Lou at Buttons by Lou Lou for the instructions.

Thanks to all the great recipes that you've all been adding to Easy Peasy Dinner Winners - I'll be sorted for meals for the week! The linky will be open for the whole week, as per usual, if any one else would like to join in.

EASY PEASY DINNER WINNERS #17

ORIENTAL BURGERS

adapted from here.

1 egg

1/4 cup breadcrumbs

2 tbspns milk

1 tbspn soy sauce

1 tspn garlic powder

1/4 cup shredded carrot

1/4 cup finely chopped celery
1 small can corn kernels
1/4 cup diced capsicum

1/4 cup finely chopped spring onion

1/4 cup chopped fresh mushrooms

500g chicken or turkey mince

bottled plum sauce to serve

Mix together all ingredients. Shape into patties and roll in breadcrumbs. Place in oil in frying pan until cooked.

Addition 10/11: We have been wrapping the burger in iceberg lettuce which has been a big hit with everyone.  If there are any leftovers Goose takes them to school (with lettuce too) for lunch the next day!

You could serve it in some bread or a roll with salad or just with a side salad. Yummy either way. Or you could go the extra mile...

This fun plate, that Bear got for his birthday, has provided endless entertainment most nights... this was my husband's effort tonight.

Now it's your turn!

Link up those easy peasy recipes that you've been meaning to link up for weeks. You've got all week.

P.S. Next few weeks I promise some vegetarian recipes, as I know a lot of readers of this blog are vegetarian.

THIS SATURDAY I'M GRATEFUL...

for my gorgeous family and friends who made my birthday this week extra special and relaxing.

I find at this stage in my life with all the crazy busyness in our lives that I appreciate more than ever those simple things in life that I once took for granted.

Never again will I not appreciate with all of my being such things as sleep, time to read or just sit and chat, a meal (or a special cake) cooked by another, a handmade or well-thought out gift from someone who loves and knows me well.

Scaling back to the basics you can often find the most important things of all.

When I find myself focusing a little too much on the negatives and feel all too often that I'm drowning in the mundanity and frustrations of motherhood, I look at this blog and I see that there are so very many positives in my life and those positives made up of very 'everyday' things are actually the things that I savour more than anything.

Those other things that I wistfully dream of, are but a 'flash in the pan' and fools gold.

For more gratefulness head over to Maxabella land.