Reflective

My baby's still in bed. Awful night, more crying and temper tantrums. Who'd have thought that a little boy could make so much noise. I dreamed lots last night and I'm in a bit of a reflective mood today. In fact have been since hearing of the horrific events of Haiti from last week. I wonder why we need a tragic event like this to make us stop and take stock of the important things in life? I think it makes us realise how fragile our existence is. There are awful things going on in the world. War, poverty, disease. Natural disasters. Living in New Zealand I am very aware that a large magnitude quake could happen at any time. What can we do about it though? Nothing. Have plans for the worst case; store emergency supplies and discuss a plan of action. We don't know when something might happen. We go about our daily lives and have a small thought of our mortality every now and then.

Then something like Haiti happens and we stop and think a bit more. Get more pensive. Hug our children for slightly longer than normal. The human life is such a fragile thing. Piper Alpha disaster. Princess Diana. Tsunami on Boxing Day. September 11. Reports of countless war torn regions. Samoa Tsunami, which was almost too close to bear. And now the poor people of Haiti. Many things in my lifetime.

Unfortunately these events will continue to occur. We cannot do anything to stop them. But we can help; make a donation, volunteer, donate items. Please stop today and spare a thought for the people of Haiti. For those in War torn countries. For the poor, sick, diseased and those in extreme poverty in the world. Hug those you love, tell them how important they are. Think about what you can do to help someone in need. Small or big, every bit counts.

Bakin' bread

Give us this day our daily joy..ahem, i mean...bread.

This here is the third homemade loaf to eventuate this week. My mother-in-law loaned me her bakers oven a couple of years ago and i've used it intermittently. We used to only get through a shop bought loaf every 3 days or so. Now with two guzzle gut rascals and Mr (I inhale bread) Stef (i must think of a better blog name for him...) its more like every 1.5 days. Our freezer is measely and small. I daren't go to the supermarket every day. I can pop in for a $3 loaf of bread and spend $50 - how does that happen? Our financial advisor, if we had one, would go to an early grave. So, I am trying to get into a rythym of baking bread. Simple steps. Honestly. Simple. It's just a breadmaker after all...

• Ingredients ready and prepared as per the instructions. Easy.
• In they go; wet ingredients first. Done.
• Dry ingredients next. A doddle.
• Close the lid. Next!
• Press start. Okey dokey then.
• 5 mins later - open lid, check it's mixing.
• 5 mins later. Open lid again, prod dough. Too hard, add more water.
• 5 mins later. Open lid. Curse that the dough is now too wet. Add more flour.
• 10 mins later. Be proud that i've left it 5 more mins than last time. Open lid.
• 10 mins later. BEEEP. Dough cycle done. Open lid, check dough. Hmm, is it okay?
• 30 mins later. Remove dough from pan, hand knead, hand shape and put in loaf tin.
• Leave said bread to rise, observing its rise every 3-4 minutes until done.
• Preheat oven
• Place loaf in hot oven.
• Check baking process every 3 minutes until done.

Now surely the key of having the breadmaker is to let the machine do everything? Yes? NO! Sorry. Didn't mean to shout. That's what your supposed to do, but I'm Stef. I'm the control freak. I can't just press start and leave it to do its thing and have a baked loaf ready for me in 3 hours. Nooooo. Nope. I don't even trust the blasted machine to bake the bread for me. I've got to remove the dough, knead it a few more times myself, shape and bake it in the oven. Yes, I open the door to the oven every 5 minutes too. Wrong I know, but I told you C-O-N-T-R-O-L freak.

Maybe just freak.

I'm taking baby steps to rectify this. One day, I will do the following.

• Ingredients in, wet first, dry next, lid closed, press start. Leave house. 3 Hours later. Fresh bread

For now I'm content that there's actually been 3 loaves baked this week. I'll call that an achievement and leave it at that shall I?

Milestones

Two very important milestones happened this week.

This. Doesn't he just look like a little man out for a stroll on his own?

And this.

Her: "Look Mum. No trainer wheels!"

Me: "And no shoes darling. You'll hurt yourself" *cringes*

Him? Well, he did it all in his own time two months after his sister did it. He's a whole 14 months old on Friday (where did that time go?). Wouldn't be prompted. Wouldn't be coerced. Just had to be left to it.

Her? She did it all in her own time. Wouldn't be helped. Couldn't be watched. Tenacious and determined to achieve her goal. She's was 3 years and 7 months yesterday.

Our determined, stubborn, independent kids. I can't imagine where they get it from.

Monday

Some people get the monday blues. Mr Stef did over the weekend. Back to work for him after over 2 weeks off. Bronchitis and 10 days of antibiotics meant his "holiday" was not the break he wanted. Poor him :(

7:07am. Back to work he went. YAY!! I get my house and my daily routine back. I'm happy. Not just happy that he's off to win the bread. I'm free. The clean freak has gone. I can get on with my domesticated bliss. I will do things only when I want to. He won't know I've gone out and left dishes on the worktop. That there are unswept crumbs on the floor. That a washing hasn't been put on and hung out. I'm FREE!! *waves arms*

8:36am. I miss him. He's gone. Off to win the bread. There's dishes on the worktop. Crumbs on the floor. The washing machine is looking very empty. We're all still in our pj's. Come back honey, all is forgiven.

I'm a lucky girl ;)

habits.

Regular writing is hard to make a habit. I have a hard time making things a habit. That's a lie. I can make habits easily, usually bad ones.

I have a bad habit of;

Nagging Mr Stef, Miss E and myself when I procrastinate
Spending too much time procrastinating
Eating too much chocolate in one sitting
Leaving folded washing for ages before putting it away
Putting everyone else first, myself last
Making a mental to do list then forgetting what i've got to do

You see?


Here's the list of good habits I'd like to start;

Write more on my blog. Honest, from the heart blogging.
Bake fresh bread every day
Excercise regularly (less talking, more doing)
Write a to do list every day
Do what's on my to do list

So, new year, new habits. Anyone with me? Hello....? Okay, i'll make a start on my own then. Maybe. Tomorrow. The day after...

Bringing out the Scots in the Scot

In my quest to develop my skills as a Domestic Goddess (I am far from qualified yet!) and after the new batch of ginger beer was bottled, I had a notion for a soda scone with roasted cheese. Now if you're Scottish, you'll know what I mean. If you're not, then let me explain. I was brought up on toasted soda scones with melted cheese on them. It's kind of a comfort food and a bit like cheese on toast only better. As I can't just pop to the shops to buy some I hunted for a recipe and found one that was easy to follow here. The only problem I have with the site, and you can call me pedantic, is that they are described as "Scotch" soda scones. Now correct me if i'm wrong, Scotch is a drink....Scot'(s) is a person from Scotland? Agree? I digress, back to the scones. Here's a couple of pics;

Now, doesn't that look like the real thing? It was, only better. I thought of you Dad whilst enjoying, I know you'd approve :)

a couple of birthdays

I've had a bit of a sabbatical from here. Nothing really, just haven't had much joy to talk about lately. Stresses of daily life and concern for mum have kept my body and mind too active to sit down and have some clarity to write properly.

But...here I am. Our beautiful little boy was one on the weekend. I spent most of my birthday (the day before) icing his birthday cake and preparing for a family pot luck dinner with the in-laws. I went all out this year and felt inspired by sis in law P to try something other than a round or square cake. I don't sing my own praises often, but this I was chuffed with. Princess E helped make the blue icing and lick the various implements clean; resulting in a suitably blue toned face. Isn't being a kid just great?

Happy days, happy babies, happy parents, happy home :)