This week I'm grateful for... play dates

Unsurprisingly, a couple of people unfollowed me after yesterday's post. I'm not supposed to know that, am I? I'm not even supposed to care, right? Okay... moving right along...


This week I'm grateful for...


169. Play dates - I do love shuffling mine off to someone else, but I especially love having the players at our place. The privilege of watching what my Tsunamis get up to with their friends is one I relish. So, yes, I am a Spy Mum (but apparently not very good at it according to Cappers who caught me lurking!)


170. Takeaways - We like a trip to Maccas as a treat (mandatory when we are on the road to Gran and Pops, apparently) and LOML and I enjoy a home delivery from a favourite restaurant most weeks, but that's pretty much it for us and takeaways. But tonight we're off to a mate's place for takeaway pizza and it's just such an easy, welcoming way to entertain that I can only say 'more please!'.


171. Childhood - for the reasons above and all the rest of the reasons that make my heart swell. Watching our children find their place in the world is magic. I recall being considerably less concerned about my own childhood than I am about my children's... there's something in that...

So, what's making you smile today? Add your Grateful post to the list below (and please, we love you, but it really does matter that your post is one about being grateful, not just a random), add the button (grab the code from my sidebar and paste it into your post) and pretty-please add a link back to the list. Then pop over to visit other bloggers who are spreading a little sunshine.



[Image by Anna Moller and found on Momfilter]

This week I'm grateful for... oranges

Fruit and I are wary of each other. Every time I start to think I kinda like it, it tosses me a frigid manadarin or a wanton pear. When it's good, it's very, very good, but when it's bad it is just so darn awful that I start to realise that the thing about a Snickers Bar isn't that it's convenient or addictive 'cos of the high salt/sugar/fat combo... no, it's successful because you always know what you're going to get.

Fruit isn't like that. Yuuuummmmm.... Snickers Bar... sorry, where was I?

But, this week I'm grateful for...

139. Oranges - sorry, Ms Winterson, but they actually are the only fruit that seems to be tolerable most of the time.

140. Baking - flour puffs, oozy dough, greasy hands, fragrant warmth, spoon-licking goodness. Substituting wholemeal flour means it's all good for you, right?

141. My pathetic little heater - yeah, yeah, I know I said last week that I really love the cold. But that was cold days. Not, you know, later at night when you're freezing through your four layers and your feet just won't warm up without a little help. Not then. So, we thought about getting ducted reverse-cycle air-con and I got it costed up and then I realised that my pathetic little radiator heater wasn't as bad as I thought...

So, what's making you smile today? Add your I'm Grateful For post to the list below (and please, we love you, but it really does matter that your post is a Grateful one and not just a random), add the button (grab the code from my sidebar and paste it into your post) and pretty-please add a link back to me. Then pop over to visit other bloggers who are spreading a little sunshine. 





[Image from How About Orange - another fabulous orange that I love to indulge in as often as possible! Thanks Jess!]

Those top toppers in action

Well, the Kindy parents have all been welcomed in style. I worked from home today and ducked out to attend to last minute decorating hassles and the actual lunch. We did most of the (cough) styling the night before so it was an easy job just before the lunch began.

Keen Maxabella lovelies will note that the garlands were recycled from my Australia Day bash. And they have already been snapped up by one of the mums to feature at an 11th birthday party next Saturday. There is satisfaction in my efforts getting more than one outing, I can assure you!

I made the bunting out of oil cloth (the very same oil cloth that I photocopied to make the garlands!). I made the flags a little smaller than usual so the scale looks grander. I like.

Look at those ugly napkins scattered everywhere, wrecking my photograph. Really, I'm sure one pile would have been sufficient, no? And, seriously, who bought the red plates!? *

It seemed that 150 circles was not enough for me in the end. At the last minute I pulled together some little 'food identifiers' that tied in with the cake toppers.

So, project complete. Now... what's next!?

* This is the control-freak in me coming out. I am so not a team player.

This week I'm grateful for... confidence

Three long years of swimming lessons.

By December 2010 he was still clinging to the steps, floaties on, bubble on; fearful, reluctant, stubborn, his hair dry. By January 2011 he is leaping unaided into the deep end to fetch rings at the bottom of the pool. Amazing stuff.

One thing changed: he was visited by our dear friend Confidence.

I think I can do it.

I know I can do it.

I'm going to do it.

This time I'm really going to do it.

Look, Mum! I'm doing it! I'm really doing it!

So, this week, I'm grateful for...

1. Confidence - thank you for showing my boy that he can conquer his fears and learn new loves.

2. My children's school - our second year in a row that you have taken a anxious Kinder child gently by the hand and embraced them with the joy of school life. You are a wonderful bunch of teachers, staff and families and we are lucky to have you.

3. Zooper Doopers - without you I would have exploded in the heat.

So, what's making you smile today? Grab my I'm grateful for... button from my sidebar if you like, add your I'm Grateful For post below and please add a link back to me in your post. Then pop over to visit other bloggers who are spreading a little sunshine. Happy day to you!

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P.S. Michelle from Mummy From the Heart runs a 'Reasons to be Cheerful' linky on Fridays. 

It's like the British version of 'I'm grateful for...' (and 'cheerful' seems such a very British word all of a sudden, doesn't it?). Pop over and link up to say hi.*

* Phew. Managed to nicely resist the urge to write 'g'day' there. I'm inflicted with a terrible urge to say 'g'day' whenever I encounter foreigners. It is not an expression I would ever dream of using in my day to day life. Embarrassing.

The Zanorexic

Since my How to Look Good Naked post, I've been thinking more about body image. You see, even though I've worked out the key to strutting your stuff naked in the bedroom in the presence of your loving partner, I've yet to discover how to strut same stuff in the public space. Hence, I won't be taking part in Carly's admirable, you-go-girls, love-your-attitude I Heart My Body campaign over at We Heart Life. Me doing that would be WTMI for sure. The world is not ready.

BUT.

Weirdly, with clothes on, I have always thought I look way skinnier than I actually am. Back in my mid-twenties a girlfriend and I dubbed ourselves Zanorexics. No disrespect meant to suffers of anorexia nervosa, of course. It's just that rather than being unable to see our thinness, we were unable to see our fatness.

Fiona put our Zanorexia down to the fact that we were corporate workers who spent an inordinate amount of time at our computers... and we have skinny wrists. Looking down at our hands as we typed away made us think 'look at those bony wrists, I'm just so skinny'.

I put it down to the fact that I have always been unbelievably optimistic to the point where I am able to block out anything negative in my life. A sort of lah, lah, lah I'm blocking my ears so it doesn't exist type of thing. I've always found that flat out denial works really well for most things, up to a point.

I've since realised that Zanorexia has a genetic link. My Dad (hi Dad, I know you're reading this!) is also overweight and - up to a point - oblivious to the effect on his appearance. Many men are, of course.

Now, my frequent use of 'up to a point' is deliberate. Even a seasoned Zanorexic like me realised a while ago that things weren't looking good after years of chocolate abuse. But I'm talking over 20 kegs overweight before it dawned on me that 'secret' snacking isn't so secret after all. That's the power of denial, right there.

So, while I'm not exactly ready to bare my self-inflicted elephantitis to the blogosphere, I have recently made the enormous step of taking off my rose-coloured glasses long enough to give myself a hard look in a full length mirror naked.

Let's just say that I am miraculously cured of my long-term Zanorexia and will be taking steps to get back on track immediately. If you like, you can follow my track at 40 Skinny Street where I post most Thursdays on how I'm going.

I'm guessing most of my female friends will find Zanorexia rather alien, but how are you with denial in general? Does it help or hinder in your life?

[Image by Frollein.M]

This Saturday I'm grateful for... MILs

Here in Maxabellaland, Saturday is traditionally a sport, shop, sort the clothes, sweep the floors, strangle the Tsunamis (insert other 's' words here - no pun intended) kinda day. But it's nice to pause to appreciate the things in your life that are positive and affirming, whatever they may be. I thought it might be nice for us all to do a Saturday Grateful post and link up for lovely bloggy visits.


This Saturday I'm grateful for...

1. Maria's cannelloni. One of the great benefits of being married to an Italian is his mama's home cooking. LOML's mama makes the best ricotta and spinach canelloni and guess who's going there for dinner tonight?

2. My drip irrigation system. I am watering the garden right now. Look at me watering.

3. Tuckshops. There is a place on earth where you can still buy something for 20c.

What's making you smile today? Sign up to the linky and enjoy visiting other grateful bloggers today.

[Image via weheartit, is, of course, scrummy, loveable gelato which sums up my Italian MIL to a t.]

This Saturday I'm grateful for... rainshine

Here in Maxabellaland, Saturday is traditionally a sport, shop, sort the clothes, sweep the floors, strangle the Tsunamis (insert other 's' words here - no pun intended) kinda day. But on Maxabella loves... I thought it would be grounding to make Saturday my 'grateful' day.

This Saturday, I'm grateful for...

1. Rain. It's rained and rained and rained and rained around here lately. Which, ho hum, is good for the dam levels and the farmers and the trees and all that. I love it though, because it cleans things up nicely so that when the sun breaks through, everything sparkles.

2. Birthdays! I had the best birthday yesterday. Brand new bike = West Side Story at the Lyric Theatre with the handsome LOML = Bourke Street Bakery cookbook = fun crazy desk thanks to my awesome workmates = Tsunami sleepover at the Nonnis = happiness.

3. Honesty. Doesn't matter if I don't like or agree with what you have to say. I respect and admire you for saying it.

[Image by Metin Demiralay]

Things I learned this week including the existence of sigh macarons

1. There really is no business like show business. Especially at the circus.

2. The 1,2,3 method of disciplining Tsunamis really, really works. I only just acknowledged this. We've been using the method (1 = reminder 2 = warning 3 = consequences) for over a year and just this week I suddenly realised that these days most of the time I don't get past '1'. A reminder of what good behaviour is all about is all it takes.

3. When 1,2,3 fails, there is always 'putting on my cranky pants'. If you're at your wits end and the kids are mental, putting on the cranky pants ("I'm putting them on right now", "no, not the cranky pants", "yes, those cranky pants are coming out of the cupboard and my leg is going...", "nooooo don't put on the cranky pants, Mum!") is a great way to diffuse a mess into humour and it actually really works. Of course, when the cranky pants do go on, mum has to be really, really cranky to make the whole thing work. Those pants are the biz.

4. The number one reason why people are unhappy in their job and don't feel empowered* is because they don't feel heard. Listening and showing that you understand a grievance is all it takes to make people feel better about their jobs, even if you can't fix the actual grievance. I think this is something we can bring to the home front too... Talk to me, I'm here for you and I'm really interested in what you have to say...

5. Macarons are everywhere. Everyone is talking about them, eating them and making wedding cake towers out of them. I had never even heard of a macaron until this week (although, are they the same as the Italian macaroon of which I have eaten ample?) I fear for my 20 year diet...

6. There are some emailing lists out there that you join for life. No matter how many times you hit 'unsubscribe', their little email shows up right on time. Are you listening, BandT magazine???

7. Just-turned-two year olds can leap from the top of a bed onto the floor and land neatly like a gymnast. Thank god.

8. Many people out there really do want to just wallow in their misery. I'm not talking about depression, I'm talking about whinge, whinge, whinge and nothing done to change their situation. Makes me frustrated and heart-broken.

9. It's National Tree Day in Australia on 25 July.

10. Tumblelogging is superfast blogging, a cross between twitter and traditional blogs. Check it out at tumblr**.

Tell me, what did you learn this week??

* I actually hate this word with all my heart and soul and I'm sorry I used it.

** Although, should you choose to do so I will not be by your side. My life is far too slow for tumblr. I am already struggling with the pace of twitter. They are like trying to have a conversation at a party.

Oh and don't forget to join in The July Chronicles: What's on your fridge? Linky open until 31 July.

Things I learnt this week including how to make a pinwheel

The weather has been grey this week and my mind has gone grey with it (fortunately my hair has not followed suit). Along with the fabulous weather that broke through on Wednesday, here are a few bright sparks from the week that was.

1. Guinea pigs do not like zucchini. At least, the GPs who are currently holidaying with us won't touch the stuff.

2. A pregnant guinea pig looks exactly the same as an unpregnant one. We know this because we started the week babysitting 2 guinea pigs and now we are babysitting 3 guinea pigs.

3. Even a dedicated, super-experienced chocolate devourer like myself found it tough to get through an entire Bill Granger self-saucing chocolate pudding (but don't worry, I punched through to a brilliant ramekin-licking finish). I'll post the recipe on Easy Sunday so you can give it a go yourself... dare you.

4. The brilliant Old Spice - The Man Your Man Could Smell like commercial was shot in one take. Plus that's a CGI fake hand with the Old Spice rising up out of it like a Phoenix... Of course it is! Even the man my man could smell like couldn't produce a can of Old Spice out of thin air. Or could he?

5.  My new gardener (I just love saying that!), tells me that the reason most people don't garden is really because they don't like getting their clothes dirty. He reckons if you just had specific gardening clothes to change into, getting into the garden would be a breeze (I'm sure there was no pun intended). He's right, don't you think? To motivate yourself in all things, you just need the right stuff.

6.  Draw! Pilgrim taught me how to make a pinwheel, which I think is essential knowledge for any mother of youngsters.

7. If you have bed wetters and you're not acquainted with Brolly Sheets, let me introduce you to your new best friend. Now, technically this isn't something I learned this week as we've been using Brolly Sheets for over a year. BUT, at 3am on Monday this week when the pull-up dam was busted, I learned just how much they truly mean to me.

8. Epstein-Barr virus is the virus responsible for glandular fever, but it’s not the actual virus that causes the symptoms of glandular fever, it’s how the immune system responds that makes people sick. If people are exposed to EBV early in life, their immune system doesn't react. It's those of us (I had GF in 1993-1994) who are exposed later in life that suffer. And you can get reactivations, too.

9. We are all creative beings, but convention often strips us of our ability to think, to feel, to be our true self. So often our instinct is to 'correct' our children, when really we should nurture our instinct to 'respect'. Allow your children the freedom to express themselves in the way that feels right to them. If the sky is green in their world and the grass is blue, then that's a rather marvellous world, don't you think?

10. The chicken is the closest living relative of the Tyrannosaurus-Rex. Really.

Did you learn anything new this week?

[Image]

Wasabi Horsekicks

There's a reason Wasabi is a horseraddish. When you eat too much it's like getting kicked in the head by a horse. What a rush and entirely legal!

I love everything about sushi and sashimi*. The bite size pieces (bite size presumably if you have a mouth like Julia Roberts.) The care needed to create each bite. The colour and order and general asethetics. The almost vom-worthy idea of eating raw fish but you eat it anyway.

I've never been to Japan and I'm fairly certain they don't serve all their food on little trains. But how good is that! You walk in, you start eating immediately. Or, if you're Cappers, you walk in, you watch the little dishes going around and around and around and around and eventually the authentic Japanese crumbed calamari makes its way around so you knock over 2 soy sauce bowls, 48 wasabi packets and three plates of inari to get to it, you start eating immediately. Your mother grabs the plate off the train before you start circling the restaurant.

I'd eat sushi/sashimi for lunch everyday if it wasn't so darn expensive. And strangely unfilling. You eat and eat and eat and suddenly the $3.50 per plate doesn't seem such a bargain afterall. That'll be $78, m'am, says the cute-in-the-way-that-all-Japanese-girls/women-are-cute waitress. 78 what, dollars or yen? you reply in witty disbelief. Cute waitress rolls her eyes, looks pointedly at your gigantic figure. You hand over the cash. Darn you, sushi / sashimi.  Darn you for making me love you and exposing just why Australian women often get old and fat.

* Covering myself here. No idea which is which. Think sushi is the rice one and sashimi is the fish-only one. Too lazy to google it.

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I added this post to Life in a Pink Fibro's Weekend Rewind on 4.12.10

Easy Sunday: Super scrummy muesli bars

Cappers, The Badoo, LOML and I are in love with these little bars of happiness. I can't say I managed to persuade Maxi-Taxi to love something so healthy (it's got 'green bits in it'). But next time I'll probably leave out the pepitas and add more oats and tanis and hopefully that'll win him over.

Homemade museli bars

1 cup rolled oats (use the 'quick' chopped up variety so the bars aren't jawbreakers)
1 cup desiccated coconut
3/4 cup wheatgerm
1/4 cup sesame seeds
1/2 cup sunflower kernels
1/2 cup pepitas
1 cup sultanas
125g butter
1/2 cup honey
1/3 cup brown sugar

Lightly grease and line 3cm deep 16cm x 28cm baking pan with baking paper.

Toast oats, coconut, wheatgerm, sesame seeds, sunflower kernels and pumpkin seeds in a frying pan over medium heat, stirring for 8 - 10 minutes until golden. Transfer to a bowl and set aside to cool. Once cool, stir in sultanas.

Cook butter, honey and sugar in a small saucepan over medium heat, stirring for 3 -4 minutes or until sugar dissolves. Bring to the boil, reduce heat and simmer on low. Simmer without stirring for around 7 minutes. (Here the recipe called for some complicated thing involving small balls forming when you drop a little of the mixture in ice-cold water, but I didn't bother.)

Add caramel mix to dry ingredients and stir until combined.

Spoon mixture into pan and use a large metal spoon to press down firmly. Press and press and then press some more. Allow to cool and then unlike in the photo above, I cut them into 3cm by 1.5cm little bars, wrap each in al foil and then into an airtight container. They keep for over a week this way and I can't see any reason why you couldn't freeze any extras.

Recipe is adapted from one at taste.com.au and I used the photo from there by Steve Brown as for the life of me I can't find my camera (cue panic!).

Things I learnt this week, including the mother of all lentils

A bit of a slow week I'm afraid. You will note that I kind of ran out of learnings at about point 7, but pressed on regardless...

1. Storybird is a really sweet site where you can create storybooks using existing artwork and themes. Delicious.

2. After singer/songwriter Lori Lieberman saw Don McLean singing his composition "Empty Chairs" in concert, she wrote a poem titled "Killing Me Softly with His Blues". Which became the basis of Roberta Flack's hit "Killing Me Softly with His Song." Thank you Don.

3. Drinking one bottle of water has the same environmental impact as driving a car for a kilometre, which is interesting considering that a litre of bottled water generally costs more than a litre of petrol.

4. For some parents (not naming any names here) it's practically impossible to stick to the 'no children in our bed at night no matter what' rule. Which sort of means that that parent (identity protected) really shouldn't make sweeping statements such as 'no children in our bed at night no matter what', especially to said children.

5. Environmentally-friendly laundry detergents (EFLD) do not offer the same hospitality to your clothes. I have yet to find one that actually cleans. If you know and love one, please recommend and I will try.

6. I am feeling particularly bad about my inability to find an EFLD because I learned this week just how much in love I am with my (new) dryer. It is the king of Dryer-Person relationships and I have never been happier.

7. Clinical Psychologist Lyn Worsley has developed a programme called "The Resillience Doughnut" which helps to build resillience in children. The programme uses the formula "if something is working, do more of it" and Lyn dictates an insightful, common-sense approach that is easy for parents to apply straightaway. I found her talk amazing.

8. It's not just beans. Too much fruit will make you toot.

9. Making a statement like 'too much fruit will make you toot' instantly lowers people's perception of your intelligence level.

10. Trying to pass brown lentils off as 'baby chickpeas' doesn't work. It results in not a single lentil being eaten and you will also find yourself having one of those conversations involving questions such as 'how old are the chickpea babies?' and 'are they brothers and sisters?' and 'where is the baby chickpeas' mother?' (stuffing her head into the gas oven, most likely).


Did you learn anything new to share this week?

[Colourful lentil image: allproducts.com]

Easy Sunday: Afternoon tea delight

The Badoo's Birthday afternoon tea. I've never hosted an AT before but I highly recommend it. Yummy things to bake and yummy friends to bake them for.

It was wet outside, but we were cosy and content by the fire (note artful picture of kindling above.) The Tsunamis and their friendly Cyclones went nuts in the bedrooms (why oh why do they have to get EVERY toy they've EVER owned out of EVERY cupboard when the Cyclones come over?). Lots of fun stuff to tidy up later.

 

For godsake, it's a SHOE birthday cake, okay?

Zia knows her niece so well. Sparkle shoes. Matching. The Badoo is in heaven (wore them to bed last night.)

My first ever batch of scones. I always thought scones were beyond me (they give ribbons for good ones at the CWA), but I found the simplest recipe for Lemonade Scones and I highly recommend you give them a go. Delish.

Easy-Peasy Lemonade Scones

2 cups self-raising flour, sifted

1/4 cup caster sugar
1/2 cup thick cream
1/2 cup lemonade
2 tbs milk

Preheat the oven to 220°C. Lightly grease a baking tray.


Place the flour, sugar and 1/2 teaspoon salt in a large bowl.

Add the cream and lemonade and mix to form a soft dough. Turn out onto a lightly floured workbench and knead lightly until combined. Don't knead too much - the less handling you do with scone dough, the better.

Press the dough flat with your hands to a thickness of about 2cm. Use a 6cm round cutter to cut out 8 scones, place on baking tray so they are almost touching and brush the tops with a little milk.

You can reform the remaining dough and cut another couple of rounds. Then, in the interests of not wasting precious lemonade scone dough, I make a 'runt' scone with any remaining dough (omit the runt if you're baking for the CWA.) Bake for 10-15 minutes until lightly browned. Serve warm with your favourite jam. And butter. And chantilly cream now that I think about it...

Things I learned this week including the evils of yoghurt

This week has brought a few surprise learnings. And, frankly, for some I really should have known better!

1. Online shopping combined with PayPal will bring your finances asunder. It's just too easy to spend money in the grown-up version of Willy Wonka's chocolate factory.

2. Handy tin, but Moxie tampons are almost impossible to unwrap. Not sure what one is supposed to do with an unwrappable tampon, but you'll be pleased to know that I didn't find out.

3. Apparently a box of tampons needs its own website these days. Including a page outlining 'the collection'.

4. Nits prefer to hang out around the ears and at the nape of the neck. Who knew?

5. Megan Morton does not seem to be embarassed about the fact that she calls herself a 'house whisperer'.

6. Formspring.me is a site where you're asked random questions and you can share your answers. I have no idea what you would actually do with it, but this is what I learned.

7. Week 7, Term 2, Year Kindergarten: Maxi-Taxi isn't 'applying the required amount of effort to his studies'. Parent -Teacher interview has been set up for next Friday to 'discuss strategy'. Oh, Maxi-Taxi.

8. You can't return something at Myer without a receipt. You can 'exchange for something of the same value' but you can't just get your money back. I think I kinda knew this, but I never keep receipts that aren't for tax. I wish I was one of those people that keeps receipts that aren't for tax, but I'm not.

9. A tub of Ski Delite Berry Basket Yoghurt has 41% of an adult's daily ration of sugar. 41%! My teeth nearly fell out of my head on the spot. I let my kids eat that stuff in healthy snack proportions!! I'm on the prowl for a lower sugar version (that doesn't contain 900 sweetner numbers and doesn't taste so yoghurt-tart that little mouths pucker). Do you think I can find one?

10. When goats give birth it's called 'kidding'. That's a joke, right?

Did you learn anything new this week?

Choc Chip Heaven

 

My 'Sydney Food' (Bill Granger) recipe book falls open to page 11. It's the home of the ULTIMATE Chocolate Chip Cookies recipe. I'm not sure where you stand on Aussies calling biscuits 'cookies' but these babies ain't no biscuit.  They're lush, chocolatey, melty, chewy cookies. I hope Bill won't mind me sharing his divine recipe (I noticed that there are many, many other postings of it all over the 'net so I don't feel so bad). I've added my very helpful commentary. The bad cookie photography is all my own.

Bill Granger's Chocolate Chip Cookies

125 g. (4 oz.) unsalted butter, softened

1 1/4 cups tightly packed brown sugar (don't substitute whitey sugar as brown is the key to the divineness, me thinks)

1 teaspoon vanilla essence

1 egg, lightly beaten

1 ½ cups plain flour

½ teaspoon baking powder

a pinch of salt
1½ cups of chocolate bits (but, you know, the more the merrier!)


Preheat the oven to 180 C (350 F). Put the butter and sugar in a bowl and beat until light and creamy. Beat and beat and beat because the lighter and creamier, the better the cookie. Stir in the vanilla and egg. Add the flour, baking powder and salt and mix until just combined - this will seem like way too much flour, but just keep folding and folding, it will all come together. Fold through chocolate chips.

Place spoonfuls of cookie mixture on a lightly greased then lined baking tray, allowing room for spreading. Bill says to cook for 15-20 minutes, until they turn pale gold, but (depending on oven hotness) I say cook for no more than 11 mintues so you get the light crunch on the outside with the doughy, softy yummo on the inside. Experiment to see what you like best.

Allow to cool on the tray for 5 minutes before putting cookies on a wire rack to cool further. Makes about 16, depending on how big you go! Will keep in an airtight container for a week.

I made a double batch yesterday (that's Cappers devouring the wooden spoon in the photo above). Cook half right now and then roll the rest of the dough into a cylinder shape, wrap it in baking paper then cling film and then put it in the freezer to keep for up to a month. When it's time for cooking, just slice the dough, put on the baking tray and into the oven for 14 minutes instead of 11.

OMG, I need to go and eat a CCC immediately!

Things I learned this week including getting lost

1. If you urgently need to see your doctor you need to book the appointment approximately 3 weeks in advance.

2. A binding contract can be defeated in court if the way you acted whilst signing the contract was contrary to what was outlined in the contract.

3. You shouldn't eat food, even if it's healthy, while crossing the road if you want to be safe (this from Cappers who was visited by Healthy Harold at daycare).

4. Even if you haven't seen a person for decades, if they die you will still feel the loss in your day to day life. (Vale Val.)

5. Sticking it out with the TV show Lost for the past six years - even though you've hated it with a passion for at least 2 of those 6 years- will not pay off in the end.

6. Albert Einstein died of a brain aneurysm, which seems kind of fitting.

7. Peas do not taste good because they look like alien eyes (thank you Maxi-Taxi).

8. Returning your child to pull-ups at night if they've wet the bed for an entire month is a very good idea.

9. It's too late in the year to plant Hyacinth bulbs that haven't been in the fridge (I planted them anyway).

10. Copyscape is a website that helps you find copies of work from your website across the web. So if you're a writer and someone is plagiarising your stuff, you can find out about it.

[Image: oreganlive.com]

Things I learned this week including uses for a banana

So, I put the Friday rant thing out there last week thinking that I'd just, like, rant each week, but I don't like it. Last week I was in the worst possible mood and this Friday is different. Today is sunny, I'm working from home (look at me working!), the house is reasonably tidy, the children are all tucked away in their real lives, life is good. So, I think the rants will be occasional and haphazard - just as rants should be.

Instead, each Friday I'm going to record the things I've learnt in that particular week. A good thing to remember. So this week, I've discoved...

1. You can't substitute bread flour for plain flour when making chocolate chip cookies. The biscuits go flat and biiiiiig. Taste yummy. Look not-yummy.

2. Small girls should not be allowed to decide that they will wear a size 3 snugglesuit (all in one) to bed when they are 4 1/2 years old. Remember body-suits that buttoned below? Image if that bodysuit was 2 sizes too small and you get the idea.

3. Elwood moved its t-shirt manufacturing offshore to the child-labour supporting Philippines so we don't buy Elwood anymore.

4. Jennifer Garner doesn't shave her legs.

5. There is an American website called Please Rob Me that uses information from Twitter, Four Square and the street directory and lists the houses that are not currently occupied - just in case you want to rob them. They claim they are "raising awareness about over-sharing".

6. You should bury banana skins around the root line of your roses to improve the bloomage factor.

7. Express Post doesn't necessarily deliver metro to metro overnight. And there's nothing you can do about it.

8. No matter how particular you are about keeping finance records, if you use a shared spreadsheet with your colleagues the spreadsheet will not match the actual spend.

9. It is possible to do nothing and things will turn out okay in their own good time.

10. Waking your child in the middle of the night to go to the toilet so they don't wee the bed later is a total waste of time.

Now, back to work!