Houston, We Have A Problem

My random musings this morning have centred around two things.

A very close and dear friend, whose father passed away on Monday night. I feel quite useless and words feel quite inept in trying to express the depth of my heart for her. So I shed a tear or two on her behalf (cos I'm a sook) and pray constantly that God will truly be her comfort and strength, particularly as they travel to attend the funeral.

Interspersed with those thoughts and on a completely different tangent...because life never stops despite us wishing it would for a day or two....I'm feeling very grateful I live in a country where we have Little Fix-It Men who happily take my money when they visit and repair my appliances. Since we moved into this house just shy of 4 years ago, we've had the washing machine, fridge, heater and oven seen to. And the deep freezer really should be seen to, but we've been able to do without it just fine. On Monday I will have someone come and have a look at my dishwasher.

All the indicator lights on the control panel gave up the ghost months ago. But it was still working fine and I just had to remember to put the rinse aid in without being reminded. But now the start button has decided it's had enough as well. You can't start the machine if that 'start' button won't work!!! Being a water-wise Melbournian the dishwasher, of course, was fully loaded and ready to do its work. Today I will have to do those dishes by hand...UGH.

So I will welcome the Little Fix-It Man who comes to visit me on Monday and welcome his experise readily....and then bleed a fair amount of money for the privilege!

I wonder if Mr Busy can 'help' and save me some money again, as he did when the Little Fix-It Man came to repair the fridge!

Child's Play Chocolate Cake

Rel left me a comment yesterday telling me how much her 11yo daughter is enjoying baking Coconut Bread and eagerly looking for further baking excitement and challenge. My own 11yo daughter also bakes this recipe at any moment she can...much to the joy of her father! My 13yo is inclined towards making chocolate cakes. Not the biscuit-eating kind of child, she will always opt for this simple but completely delicious recipe to thrill her own heart...and that of her father (notice a theme going here?!).

Simplicity Chocolate Cake

1 cup self raising flour
1 cup sugar
2 tablespoons cocoa powder
2 eggs
1/2 cup milk
1/2 teaspoon vanilla essence
3 tablespoons butter (about 60g), melted

1. Preheat oven to180C/350F.
2. Grease and line a 20cm ring tin with baking paper.
   
3. Combine all the ingredients in a bowl and beat for three minutes, using either a hand held whisk or a hand mixer.
4. Pour into prepared ring tin and bake for 25 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean.

Variation: Omit the cocoa and replace with grated rind of one orange. Juice the orange and replace the milk with the juice ~ top up to 1/2 up with milk if necessary.

You could line a muffin tray with patty pans and make this recipe into muffins. Bake for 15-20 minutes.

I have also made this recipe with gluten free flour with very pleasing results, particularly with the orange variation. They also freeze and thaw very nicely for lunch boxes.

Menu Planning and Other Updates

This week my younger two children are at Holiday Club, run by our church. We compromise. They get to spend three mornings of the five there. I get to stay home all day on the other two. A reasonable agreement when we live 25 minutes from our church and I have to occupy my time down the hill for a few hours. Today I spent the morning with a beautiful special friend. Tomorrow I will shop and on Thursday I'm planning to spend the morning with another equally beautiful and special friend. I'm very blessed to have the kinds of friends who are happy for me to hang about for a whole morning! Miss Sunshine has also found a reasonable way to spend the time too. I organised to do a kid-swap one of my daughter's for one of a friend's son's.

In between all this socialising, I've managed to push aside the brain fog resulting from not enough sleep to put together a menu plan...

Monday: Forbidden City Chicken, vegies
Tuesday: Potato and Corn Chowder, garlic bread
Wednesday: Lamb Chops, cranberry wine sauce, vegies
Thursday: Baked Savoury Cheesecake, vegies
Friday: Homemade Pizza (a holdover from last night)
Saturday: Beef meatball stroganoff, pasta or mashed potato
Sunday: Roast Chicken, vegies

I will buy extra chicken and freeze a couple of meals in the Forbidden City Chicken sauce, ready for a can't-be-bothered night...or a night when the girls get to cook ;o). I'm planning to use the leftover chicken for my lunches for the following week, seeing as how I'm back at school. Hmmm...will have to come up with something for the kids two of the days while they're with me too.

* * * * * * * * * *

My mobile phone lasted an entire three days, instead of just one. Not as good as the five I was hoping to get out of it, but it is lasting a little longer now.

* * * * * * * * * *

I've just received my fabric parcel from Provincial Patch. They were just beautiful to deal with and can happily recommend them to all the Aussie's. Had I known where they were I would've had Dh stop in there last Friday ~ he was a way up there on business that day!!!! Stay tuned for a finished quilt block! I have made myself a deal though. I must do some school work before I sit down to more stitching. I really want to get this group of subjects mailed off this week and it won't happen if I keep stitching away instead. First thing's first!

The Obsessed Stitcher & Her Mobile Phone

I feel like I need to apologise for the amount of Stitching I've been babbling about this past week! But take a look at that picture...isn't my obsession warranted? OK, maybe don't answer that. I think it's warranted. Tail Feathers has me desperate to get back to it and now that two of the three pieces are done I just sit and stare at them with a great deal of pleasure. I love them. Acutally, what really gets me is that scalloped edge around the tree. I could just look at that all day long LOL. I'm awaiting a parcel of fabric to do the applique on the 3rd piece and then create the full block.

But then there is this little pile..and the picture only shows part of it. But you get the idea. At the end of the couch there is this growing little pile of stuff, so that I don't have to get up too often once I've committed to a bit more time stitching! I think this is most evidenced by the mug (my favourite, from Retreat back in April) and the two phones! Dh was away Thursday night up in northern Victoria, so where I would normally ignore the mobile, it joined my pile too.

* * * * * * * * * *

In an attempt to be more interesting to the non-stitching world, I discovered a new trick to get more life out of my mobile phone battery. It had gone from lasting a week to lasting barely 2 days, so it has been constantly dying on me. Very frustrating. This began happening after I had been charging the phone and it had not fully charged before Dh unplugged it to charge his own phone. I've always been very careful to fully drain my battery and then fully recharge it to keep the longest battery life possible....even though they say the new types of batteries don't have a memory. I'm here to tell you, they're wrong.

When I was at my BIL's the other day, one of his employees suggested that I should drain the battery (easy done!), take it out and place it in a plastic bag (or wrap it in cling wrap, as I did) and put it in the freezer overnight. Apparently this erases the empty-full memory that it has and allows you to fully charge it again.

I did this Thursday night and charged it back up yesterday morning. I still have a full battery!!! I am in hope that it has indeed worked. I'll let you know.

Mid-Year Clean Up

I'm not so much a Spring Clean-er, but rather a Whenever-I-Have-The-Inspiration-Clean-er. I'd been looking at my pantry for months thinking "I must get to that". Finally, thanks to some inspiration from Meredith at Like Merchant Ships I found the inspiration and desire I needed to delve into this dark little corner of my kitchen. Meredith had posted about her pantry dilemma here and then posted over the next day or two to reveal her progress.

On Tuesday, Miss Mischief and I completely emptied out the pantry. Mr Busy, in his usual intelligent manner, asked if I was going to leave everything on the bench now. "Oh yes, it's far more convenient to have everything out at my fingertips" I replied sarcastically. And then I gave him 'the look' that says: that was a pretty silly thing to say buddy. He merely giggled. Must get to cutting his hair.....

I shooed him out and cleaned the shelves and floor. Then we started putting everything back in. Tidily. Taking time to consider why I put things where I do. Thinking that I don't want to throw everyone off-kilter, or forget what I'd done with something. But I do have a wheat-free spot on the shelf now. I got rid of o-o-o-o-l-d ingredients and some things that had been stored in there for no reason other than Dh didn't want to get rid of those items and I didn't like them so refused to use them any longer. There's nothing worse than ugliness in the kitchen and I'm too old to persevere with things I hate. I think I've gotten to the age where I pursue things I love.

Do you know, I now have space on the very top shelf (not pictured). All the light globes and batteries are in a container. All the candles are in a container. The potatoes are on a SHELF!!!!!! Usually they stay in their bag on the floor amongst the rubble that congregates there.

Then because one cupboard is not enough of a clean-up we attacked Miss Mischief's wardrobe. On the promise that once it was done we would visit Savers (a huge 2nd hand shop) to replenish anything we would now see was lacking, she began. To my delight and slight horror, Miss Mischief turfed a huge garbage bag FULL of clothes. She only had half her clothes left. All things that fit and she likes. You know what? We don't need to go to Savers. She has plenty of clothes ~ she just couldn't find them amongst the things she didn't wear anymore.

The clothes have gone to a good home. My children joyfully thought we should be rid of the bag immediately and a trip to their Uncle and Aunt's place is always met with joy and enthusiasm. An employee of my BIL's has two girls and happily took the bag home with her yesterday.

Savvy Spending and Fabulous Finds

Over the school holidays I have more time to spend popping on and off the computer for moments here and 1/2 hour there. It's amazing where your clicking can take you, and boy have I found some great things over the last week.

I've mentioned Altered Cutlery just in this last week. Lis is not a prolific poster, but she's a South Australian lass with some great Slow Cooker recipes. I'm about to get into some menu planning so I'm going to be sitting here with her blog in front of me. My new copy of 'Nigella Express' will be dog-eared by the time I'm done too.

Just yesterday I got online out of desperation, looking for the Moda 'Patissiere' range of fabrics. Specifically jelly rolls, honey buns and charm packs so I can make my Tail Feathers quilt. I was feeling a little sad at the idea of not being able to use 'Patissiere' so I went looking for Aussie suppliers. Well...what a site I found. Provincial Patch has a great selection of patchwork and quilting fabric and sells online at a fraction of the price of retail stores or other websites. They use Paypal, or if you're an Aussie, you can send through an email order and pay direct into their bank account. I am excitedly awaiting my shipment to arrive in the next couple of working days. Kerri tells me they had set aside some 'Patissiere' range products just for Natatlie's quilt.

If you're interested in dressing your specific figure shape, the Inside Out Style blog will be a great source of information. I've spent far too long reading back over past posts. What intrigued me most is that Imogen's definition of an hourglass figure comes with two different definitions, actually. There is the X and the 8....depending on whether you carry your weight lower on your thighs, or up on your hips. Imogen is also a fellow Melbournian and willingly answers reader questions on her blog.

When you're reading through an image consultant's blog and she keeps reiterating that one should invest in really good, well-fitted undergarments, it begs the question. What is the right undergarment for me? Ahhhh...as women everywhere know, being fitted is not always all it's cracked up to be. Especially when you go to a professional fitter and even they get it wrong. Yep...I could get onto a rant about this one! A girl could then be forgiven for going on a little virtual shopping tour without the trauma of going to a big shopping centre and having to say "No, I'm just browsing thank you" a million times over. If you're a fan of any of the brands Triumph own (eg. Triumph, Bendon, Lovable, Elle MacPherson etc) then you'll find some significant savings at Indulge Fashion. I'm talking savings of 30%. So if you're an Aussie, again, this might be worth a peek at. I've not used this site...but the savings made me think I would!

What's your favourite online find...for cheap shopping or freebie information and stuff?

One Stitch at a Time

Miss Mischief is part way through a stitchery and is doing a magnificent job. I forced....errrr....encouraged her to use her own money. She doesn't like to spend paper money, believing that to be a gift in itself. But I promised her this is what money is for ~ spending it on something you absolutely adore. So she bought some threads and a frame and whilst she was doing her choosing I traced the design onto some calico with the lightbox at the shop. She's in little-girl heaven.

Meanwhile, I've finished my stitching from Saturday's Sewing Day. It's very cute. I daresay I shall sew on the borders and frame this, rather than making it into yet another pin-cushion. A girl can only do with so many and I have one that I love and works well already.

I also remembered to ask about Pattern 1 of a 10 part block of the month that I've not-so-patiently been waiting on! Now that the rain has cleared I'm going to nick back and pick up the threads. For all my one and a half boxes of embroidery threads I don't have any of the ones I need! I have, however, done the tracing and ironed on the stabliser fabric. I can't wait to get started. On a day like today perhaps another 'Little House on the Prairie' episode is in order?!

I love Natalie Lymer's designs. A touch of whimsy with a splash of variegated thread here and there seems to catch my attention every time. Why try to resist?