It's Official

It's finally signed, sealed, delivered....and returned.

Yes, I am officially a member of someone's staff! I managed to scrape a school key out out of them last week and this week I have:

• A pigeon hole that has a pretty pink, typed name tag (the colour that denotes non teaching, non admin staff). I had taped my name to the bottom of a spare one in that row so I wouldn't miss out on stuff...and people have used it. Including my daughter ~ you'd think it was hers.
  
• A letter of offer which outlines conditions and pay. I have signed it and returned it.

The receptionist keeps looking at me and grinning because I'm really allowed to 'come and play' now, rather than just pretending! And I have the perfect balance between being able to still do 'parent' stuff as well. Like being able to go to morning cuppa time.

Sew Lunch-a-Lot

A perfect Thursday for me is a morning of stitching with my favourite stitching friends, and then lunch. Anyone will do, for lunch, but today it was with Dh. That's always a bit special.

This week I think we all hauled ourselves into our little corner of sewing bliss feeling more than a little shell shocked at the events of this week and all feeling very grateful to be safe and sound. As we sat, the owner of the Quilt Shop has had quilts, quilt tops and myriads of various quilt blocks delivered to her by mail and in person to help with bushfire relief. The finished quilts are stunning and will be auctioned online. They are well worth whatever price they end up going for. The money will go to bushfire relief. The quilts at various stages of completion will be put together and given to bushfire victims. I want to get as much of my own sewing out of the way and then I'll set my mind and my machine to that effort.

In the course of the morning we were asked our opinion of Valentine's Day. Being good Aussie women we all agreed it's a very commercialised day that is more 'American' and therefore not widely observed by us practical gals. My opinion? It was important to me when Dh & I were dating. But now that we're married we can express our love for one another any time. And hence the lunch. Yes, there was a slightly ulterior motive involved. Nonetheless, it was a lunch date without having to source babysitting for children as we would for an evening meal.

The ulterior motive was simple. A cafe in Our Town was sold late last year and reopened today, after a few weeks of refurbishment activity. Dh is the supplier for their coffee and so has spent many hours with the new owner, setting up, training staff, installing umbrellas and barries outside etc. The owner had wanted to meet me so we decided to kill two birds with one stone. Lunch ended up being 'on the house'. A very generous gesture and very much appreciated. It seems many townsfolk and locals to the surrounding area have already been in this morning.

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A little fire update for those who really want to know:

The fires in Healesville and Bunyip State Park are a mere 20km apart and the DSE and CFA are working hard to put out spot fires between them and are working on containment lines to keep them separate. Should the two combine we will no doubt have a direct threat warning issued for Our Town. The winds today are North East and as a result we could smell smoke quite strongly this morning. Right now there are Awareness Messages on the CFA incident website but no Alert Messages. There are some little fires that are just being allowed to burn, as a means of fuel reduction.

I'm just starting to think that maybe our 'Fire Box' needs to go with us when we're out and about over the weekend. Maybe I'll send it home with FIL so he can pop it into his little storage room.

Classroom Ponderings

A note on the Lemon Muffins. Use the Simplicity Chocolate cake recipe I posted and replace the cocoa with the zest of one lemon and cook the mixture in muffin pans instead of a cake tin. Voila, it's that simple. The recipe worked fine with regular flour and gluten free flour alike.

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Back to my original post....

Admittedly, I am completely new to working in the secondary school. Even then, I've only encountered up to Year 8 ~ so fairly juniour levels, at that. However, in yesterday's Food Technology class I was completely appalled at the behaviour of the Year 8's. The Year 7's, of course, had their moments, but were by and large respectful and obedient.

I cannot imagine a scenario where turning your back on the teacher and continuing your own little conversation while instructions are being given would be appropriate. Yet, there were a handful of girls who did just that all the way through the class. They offered their opinion of why they thought an instruction would not work and proceeded to attempt to give the teacher their advice to change things. I'm not sure when they decided classrooms were democracies where students should determine for themselves what the rules are. They could not seem to understand the concept of common courtesy and that they were being quite rude.

So late yesterday afternoon I was telling a friend about this class and her response was "well, secondary school should be less about rules and more about kids figuring out who they are". Pardon???

Perhaps you could attempt that style of authority with your own children, but when you have 25 kids who require direction to get from point A to point B in a lesson you kind of need some basic rules of etiquette and discipline so that everyone understands what is expected and what the consequences of non-compliance will be. Surely!

Or maybe I'm on a completely lone planet?

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On the upside, I was able to encourage my Year 7 charge that just because just because story writing is a struggle, it should not be the automatic assumption that the current story-in-progress will be "dumb". The draft was a more than reasonable attempt. Heaven knows, I find story writing a challenge. That would entail coming up with ideas, rather than just following instructions!!!!

Mmmmmm Muffins

I think I've mentioned that I'm eating very little wheat at the moment...almost none. I have a few deliciously enticing pancakes in the freezer now, made from gluten free flour. Last night I felt compelled to bake a chocolate cake to be used in school lunches. It's only week two and already we have resorted to rice crackers and buttered Cruskits. Poor kids! However, in the midst of my baking I decided I didn't want to be the odd one out with nothing sweet & yummy to nibble on.

The recipe I used for the chocolate cake mentioned omitting the cocoa and replacing it with orange zest. Well....I had a hankering for lemon and had just picked up a nice bag of lemons for $1.50. So I am now enjoying lemon muffins made with gluten free flour. Ahhhh...to enjoy a muffin without the heartburn!!

They're nicely hidden away in the freezer and were made in two sizes. Regular and mini. Perfect for school recess snacks ;) I can now verify that they defrost beautifully by recess time and are lovely and moist. The gluten free flour has a slightly different texture because of the rice flour, but given the choice between something a little different and nothing, I'm going for 'something'.

Simplicity Chocolate Cake

1 cup self raising flour
1 cup sugar
60g melted butter
2 eggs
1/2 cup milk
1/2 teaspoon vanilla essence

2 tablespoons cocoa powder

1. Preheat oven to 180C/350F.
2. Grease and/or line a 20cm ring tin.
   
3. Melt the butter and combine all the ingredients in a mixing bowl. Mix gently with a wooden spoon or spatula until all ingredients are well combined.
4. Pour mixture into prepared tin and bake for approximately 25 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean.

** Omit the cocoa powder and replace with lemon or orange zest.
** For muffins, pour mixture into greased or lined muffin pans and cook for about 15 minutes or until cooked.

This recipe would be perfect for the beginner cook. Miss Sunshine makes a chocolate cake from a recipe similar to this. She does so well, I'm not usually allowed to go near the making of chocolate cakes. Last night she was in bed and the kitchen was all mine.

Quick Update

The map above is from the Department of Sustainability & Environment (DSE). I think if you click on the picture you might get a bigger view. Or you can click here

I'm about to run out the door to school, however, a few of you have asked to keep updated on our safety with fires still around.

There are two that we're keeping tabs on. I'm not too concerned about them this morning, as the wind is ENE and it rarely comes from the west. Should that change I'll be getting edgy again. One fire to the south east of us is a little closer than it was, but still a safe distance away. The Kinglake/Yea fires have spread down towards Healesville. I think that is the smoke I see over the Ranges. Again, unless the wind comes from the west, we should be fine.

Menus on Monday

It feels like something that is of a ridiculously inconsequential nature when so many people have lost their homes. And yet, the practicalities of life require attention.

Here's a peek at what will be on our table this week:

Monday: Roast chicken, vegies
Tuesday: ??
Wednesday: Chow Mein (made with rice noddles)
Thursday: Sausage Sizzle at GB (blech)
Friday: Pan fried fish, salad or vegies
Saturday: Quiche, salad
Sunday: Pork & Feta Rissoles, salad, potato wedges

I have no idea what to do on Tuesday. The girls will be out for dinner so it'll just be the 'boys' of the household and myself. I have this insane feeling that I should do something a little bit special for them, but I just can't get past that idea. I'll also only be feeding three instead of five. Quite unusual in our home! If anyone has any ideas for such occasions that you'd like to share, I'd love to hear from you.

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This morning Dh told me of the death of the director of a Christian campsite in Marysville. My BIL knew him. I have a friend who is out fighting fires today and another who works for the DSE, who will no doubt be involved as well. The weather may have cooled, but there is still a fair amount of wind. As I drove to school this morning, I could see the smoke on the other side of the Yarra Ranges.

The fires nowhere near over yet and we are still keeping ourselves informed. The fires over the Ranges are ones we are concerned over. I'm just about to find a map and have a look at their position and consider wind directions, for our own safety.

I'm staying close to my computer, the radio...and settle myself to some sewing. I just couldn't concentrate on anything on Saturday!

The Day After the Night Before

Thank you to each one of you who popped by to leave a comment expressing your concern and care for me and my family. We are just fine and quite safe right now. Melbourne has, however, got a new record. The hottest day recorded in ANY Australian Capital city. I could've lived an entire lifetime and not wished to have experienced that one!

However. It is not without a sense of relief and not a small amount of guilt that we are nice and safe in our own home. There are many Victorian communities who have been completely decimated, devastated and consequently displaced by bushfires yesterday and overnight. The closest one to us is perhaps less than 50km away. I had prayed yesterday morning for the Lord's protection over the Dandenong Ranges, where fires ravaged this area in 1983. While we have enjoyed that divine protection others have not been quite so fortunate. And so I am left wondering why we were so blessed when others have not been. Not that I'm complaining!

Having said all that, the risk was gravely high. Had a firebug decided to wreak his evil havoc in my area, we too would have suffered the losses that others have endured. I spent the day peeking out windows. Evaluating the winds. Going out the front to look up the mountain and determine that there were no fires up there. Standing at the top of the back steps to ensure the debris floating through the air was just leaves and not ash or embers. Outside again when darkness began to envelope the sky to the north. The north is where fires would come from on a hot north wind day. After a late night, I forced myself to catch a nap late in the afternoon, but I just still felt edgy.

If you have a moment, please pray for those who have endured the loss of homes, possessions and in many cases, loved ones. There is confirmation of at least 65 deaths and there are areas where police have not yet been able to get to because of ongoing fire and radiant heat. My heart feels so heavy for these families.