Family Reunion

The girls are home.

Miss Mischief fell into my arms outside Mr Busy's classroom door...Miss Sunshine collapsed at my feet between his classroom and the office (which are right close to each other).

By all accounts (so far) they've had a marvellous time. Miss Sunshine is relatively unimpressed with the whole idea of surfing. But I'm proud of her, simply because she gave it a go. A couple of years ago she wouldn't have!

And I've inherited a cow, I think. At least Miss Sunshine is impersonating one, with mooing noises emanating from her with great frequency. It's a female version of grunting, I think, but as with many female, even their grunting is more verbose than the male version. In any case, she has not the energy to speak if it's really not required.

Am I glad I'm out this evening. Oh yes, I am! Dh can handle the crankiness that is inevitable as the afternoon wears into evening and bed times approach.

New Idea that Wasn't So New!

Photo from 'Once Upon A Plate'

Turns out the magnificently creative idea I came up with last night is not so new to other people. Ever made some amazing discovery, only to find out you're a little late? Yep. That was me. No matter. Dinner was still tasty!

My inspiration came from a late arrival home, only three of us to feed and a menu plan that stated 'Quiche'. Really, what was I thinking? All that preparation and then waiting for the quiche to cook when it was already well after 5pm? And that's when I remembered those little wonton wrappers lingering there in my fridge, just waiting for its moment to shine. Mini quiches! Of course, what a great idea. I had those wrappers all snuggled up with eggs and topped with spring onion, chopped walnuts, mushrooms and cheese and into the oven in very short order. Jacket potatoes had already gone into the oven and I really then, only had time for those frozen vegies to make an appearance again.

Mr Busy was quite taken with the crispy little corners and simply couldn't understand how eggs do that. It took quite some explaining to get his young mind around the fact that there was a 'pastry' case there too!

Voila, a very quick way to make mini quiches.

Tardy Tuesday's Menu Plan

I had a double whoops yesterday. I realised a little while after I'd posted that I should've posted my menu plan. When I went to look at it, I discovered I'd not yet finished planning this week. Ugh. My shopping day is back to Thursday's, so I'd stopped there...and am just now wracking my brain over what to have on Sunday night for dinner.

Instead of pizza for dinner last Sunday night, we had Red Prawn and Mango Curry, as mentioned the other day. Absolutely divine...and just as good a day or two later for lunch. I wanted to remind my girls that we will miss them as they headed off to camp and I knew they'd think prawns and mangoes in one meal would be a little piece of Heaven. Much more so than a pizza could have expressed. Indeed they were thrilled.

So this week is now looking like this:

Monday: Chicken, mushroom and bacon pie, oven chips, frozen vegies
Tuesday: Bacon & mushroom quiche, jacket potato, vegies
Wednesday: Homemade Pizza, to spoil the girls on their return
Thursday: Pasta with lemon, garlic, thyme & mushrooms
Friday: Pork chops with cranberry sauce, vegies, potato
Saturday: Roast chicken, vegies, roast potato & pumpkin
Sunday: Sweet and sour pork, rice

Mr Busy and I were on our own for dinner last, so he was indulged a handful of chips from the freezer (cooked of course!) as a treat and I felt quite justified in digging out my bag of mixed seasonal vegies from the depths of my freezer. Last time I bought that packet there were more winter things like cauliflower and broccoli. This time there were lots of beans. Fine by me, but Mr Busy thinks them evil and will do nearly anything not to eat the wicked little things. Despite all that fuss I was impressed that Aldi do indeed provide the most in-season items in their frozen vegies and it does, in fact, change with the season. And how luxurious to have carrot sticks I'd not peeled or sliced! Not to say that I will be dispensing with fresh produce, but frozen is definitely better than take away when I have run out of time or energy (or both!).

Must be off to find some tasty little morsel for Mr Busy's afternoon tea before heading back to school. I have a section meeting this afternoon and a little boy needs his sustenance to make it through to dinner time.

With a Long Term View

Last year at a Christian Education National parent partnership conference I took the Camps and Excursions elective. Not necessarily because I wanted more information, but because I was quite disinterested in the other options available. A pathetic reason to make such a choice, I daresay. I've been on my fair share of excursions and have been on a couple of camps as well and I do love them. The tack that was taken at that Workshop was looking at the long term value of education to be found within a camping and excursion program. These experiences tend to focus on character development and investing into the worldview of our students rather than academic learning. The value of the non-academic rose in my view when I learned that we are currently educating children for jobs that do not exist that will use technology that has not been invented yet. Wow!!! All of a sudden those personal development learning experiences seem so much more important.

My daughters are, as I type, hopefully having the time of their life and enjoying activities like canoing, snorkeling and something or other else. Tomorrow they'll be surfing. They'll be learning much about the things they love to do in their leisure, the things that scare them senseless and they may discover what they can accomplish if they are daring enough to try.

It's going to be rather peaceful at our place for the next couple of days!

Rediscovering Aldi

When a person finds themselves a little time-poor, things like shopping in two supermarkets is often one of the easiest things to dispense with. Certainly, I found myself making that choice. The silly thing is, that Aldi is just across the hallway at the Shopping Centre I frequent. My perception of the time I had was a little skewed by the inevitable fatigue that comes at the end of the day when you've been at work the four previous days.

Last week I decided to see just how much of my shopping could be done at Aldi and how much it would save me. In my defense, Aldi had slowly crept up in price so that many of their products were very similarly priced to that of Safeway's 'home brand' products. Our greedy Australian supermarkets have been making some 'permanent' pricing reductions of late and Aldi has reportedly joined in the action.

For the first time in many months, I found that I was able to shop within my budget quite easily, even though it included a couple of extravagences like frozen prawns and mangoes. While I still found that there were some items that remained similarly priced to Safeway's equivalent, there were a large number of things that were significantly cheaper, like mangoes, potatoes and milk.

What does all this mean for a busy mum who is often feeling quite bedraggled and drained by Thursday evening? It means I've rediscovered an incentive for commiting myself to the pursuit of financially wiser grocery shopping. I really didn't need more than $40 worth of groceries from Safeway and it wasn't so painful to go to two supermarkets, after all.

On a side-note. The prawns and mangoes were delicious in the form of 'Red Prawn and Mango Curry' on page 15 of 'Nigella Express'. Definitely worth chasing the more affordable frozen prawns and mangoes in Aldi! Yes, my obsession with Nigella continues unabated and I have tonight's episode recorded and ready for me to watch later.

Vogue 7302

I fell in love with this skirt pattern when I saw it on a mannequin in Spotlight, quite some time ago. I bought the pattern and then gagged in horror as I saw that my preferred view (B) requires 6.3m. Oh my. At an average price of $15/m that would end up around the $90 mark, just for fabric.

I was reading a recent post by Imogen at Inside Out Style that really resonated with me. She suggested examine some favourite pieces of clothing and ask yourself why you love that item so much. I happen to love skirts that have plenty of femininely flowing fabric that come to just below my knees and have a more fitted waist. Gathers and pleats just don't suit me. But a waistband free fitted style with flare is just my thing. I have a few skirts with variations on this idea and I adore them above all others.

So...tonight I'm going to find time to pop over to Spotlight whilst I'm on a shopping errand nearby and see if there's any fabric a little cheaper and somewhat usable. After all, Spotlight is not know for its quality fabrics...but it's the only option I have close by.

Don't you think Penelope would love a little job to do?! She's been so quiet in the corner, of late.

Shrove (Pancake) Tuesday

Frances from 'Left Handed Housewife' and Mr Busy's teacher both reminded me very late in the peace, that yesterday was Shrove Tuesday. Seeing as how we're ahead of some of the world, it's Ash Wednesday here...the first day of Lent.

It's funny you know. We don't go to a church that makes a big deal of Lent. Indeed, Ash Wednesday, where I live, has more to do with a significant bushfire day back in 1983. Despite my lack of observance of these religiously traditional seasons, I still usually make pancakes on Shrove Tuesday? Why, you ask? Partly because it's fun. We like pancakes and in our home they are a treat...not something that is eaten regularly. But also, because it does remind me that Easter is coming. Whilst Lent isn't a big deal for us, Easter surely is. Not just because we overdose on chocolate for a few days either. No. I'm one of those super sooky people who sit in church over Easter and really should remember to bring tissues, to save myself the embarrasment of using toilet paper to swipe at tears that seem inevitable. The fact that Jesus thought I was special enough to have a relationship with, and gave His life up so that I could have that privilege always completely overwhelms me. The magnitude of that thought is so incredibly humbling and I'm tempted to feel completely unworthy of that kind of love.

The more rational, unsooky and pragmatic side of me whops me over the head and reminds me that if God thought it was worth the life of His son so that I could have a relationship with Him and eternal life then one shouldn't argue and should just accept that amazing gift for what it is.

So I will enjoy some pancakes and revel in the love of a God who loves me so purely and so unconditionally despite who I am. And now I'll go find some tissues for the inner sook that continues to rise to the surface.