Curing Boredom

Because the kids and I had been sick for almost two weeks with a flu that well and truly overstayed its welcome I was stir crazy from being at home 24 hours a day 7 days a week. So this weekend I made an effort to get out of the house and to get the kids out and about as well. Upset I had fallen back into my old pattern of being a hermit I feel like I definitely turned it back around.

 

On Saturday a friend of mine invited me to go to the local racecourse for the Cox Plate with her and some of her friends so despite not having the motivation to put in the effort to do my hair, makeup and find something nice to wear I convinced myself it would be good for me to get out and socialise. Lucky for me she had a very nice dress that I could wear as all of mine were quite old and didn’t really fit me. So we got ready together at her place then headed to the racecourse.

 

Me, Jacqui & Sam at the races

It was a pretty hot when you couldn’t find shade but that didn’t stop it from being an enjoyable afternoon. I hung out with new people and caught up with some friends and it was nice to get dressed up and feel girly for the afternoon, not the daggy mum I am at home. When the races were over I met my husband who had gotten the kids ready on his own at the local Tavern. I admit that I was afraid of what they would be wearing as he has a habit of dressing them in the daggiest of clothes but he had done a great job, they looked very cute, and he proved that he is quite capable of getting them ready on his own. It was a dinner to celebrate my sisters’ recent engagement and was nice for us to get out as a family and the kids loved the attention they got from everyone.    

 

My sons GIANT fairy floss

On Sunday a friend and her son invited us to go to our local markets for the morning and again we jumped at the opportunity to get out of the house. The kids had a great time eating giant fairy floss and riding the little trains. As much fun as I had at the races nothing beats seeing the smile on your kids’ faces and spending time with them, my son was so proud that he had gone on the train without an adult, “I big boy, I not scared!” he boasted when he got off. Then after weeks of feeling desperate to leave the house we all enjoyed just being home for the remainder of the day.

 

This weekend proved to me that if you feel as though you are stuck in a rut and have gotten bored with day to day life it doesn’t take much to get yourself and the kids out of the house and having a good time again. It doesn’t have to cost a fortune it can just be a walk down to your local park, but when the kids and I do get out it we are definitely a lot happier than when we spend too much time at home.

Do you say SORRY?

Do you say ‘Sorry’ when you’ve upset someone or made a mistake or are you quick to defend yourself no matter how big or small that mistake was? In todays world it seems to be ingrained in us that you don’t say sorry, you don’t admit when something is your fault because it may come with consequences and that it is best to cover your ass than admit you were at fault. But it seems we have become so good at not admitting something was our fault and having endless excuses that it has boiled over into some of our personal lives and instead of simply saying sorry and apologising when we hurt someone’s feelings or make a mistake we defend ourselves despite knowing we are wrong even if it means making the situation worse.

This is something I have noticed in some of the people around me lately and although I am guilty of it myself, I am now aware of it and when an incident occurs that is my fault I try to admit it and the situation generally diffuses quickly. Sometimes an honest sorry is all it takes to end an argument or prevent one from even starting. There is nothing more frustrating than someone trying to convince you something wasn’t their fault when you know very well that it was, especially when it is something simple and you can’t understand why it is so important to them not to be wrong?

An example of this is asking someone to complete a simple task such as loading the dishwasher and after you ask they get distracted and it doesn’t get done. If when you asked them why they hadn’t done it they simply said “sorry I got distracted, I’ll do it now” you would generally be fine with it, but if the answer is an excuse in a snappy voice as though you have offended them in some way it can cause an argument which started with something so simple and could have been avoided with one little word ‘Sorry’.

Next time you make a mistake or do something wrong and start to defend what you’ve done ask yourself “is this really worth making a big deal out of or would a simple apology admitting my mistake make this situation disappear?” I think honest Sorry’s would stop a lot of arguments from escalating or even starting in the first place and if you are happy to admit when you are in the wrong people around you tend to notice and start being more honest about their mistakes with you.

It may seem like a simple word but Sorry means feeling regret and sympathy which is why when it is used honestly it can make such a big difference.

Girls Night In

For the last four years I have been hosting an annual Girls Night In to raise money for the Cancer Council to help in the fight against breast and gynaecological cancers. During these years I have lost two family members to different cancers and have also had other family members and friends affected by this terrible and unbiased illness. So, every year I invite my girlfriends and their girlfriends to join me in raising money and to just have a girly night in.

As always, it’s hard to find a night that suits everyone. Between work, previous commitments and some people being away I only managed to get a small group together this year. To make things a bit harder I had also been suffering from a flu all of the week leading up to the night. Because of this I decided not to worry about all of the decorations, food and games and just had a simple get together over a few wines and I asked the girls who could make it to not only bring their donation but to also bring a plate of food.

It was a night full of laughs, funny stories and also some yummy food. We had a salsa & guacamole dip, kabana & cheese plate, asparagus & prosciutto wrapped in pastry, meatballs and I made some broccoli & parmesan balls. It was nice to just relax and be myself without having to worry about trying to entertain anyone. It was also funny how a conversation can change so many times over a few hours and great how a group of people who don’t know each other very well can get along so well.

But most importantly I was lucky enough to have my sister help me raise money by taking donations at her workplace and together we raised nearly $250.00 which I am very happy about. Apart from being a great excuse to catch up with your girlfriends, having a Girls Night In to raise money for such an important cause makes it well worth the effort every year. I would definitely recommend hosting a Girls Night In, it can be as big or small as you want and you can put in as much or as little effort as you like. If you are interested you can register at: http://www.pinkribbonday.com.au/host-your-own-girls-night

 

Thank you again to those who donated money and to the girls who turned up and made the night so enjoyable.

 

 

30 Year Anniversary

CONGRATULATIONS to my Mum and Dad on celebrating their 30^th wedding anniversary today. That’s thirty years of memories and milestones, two daughters who love them both very much and two grandchildren who think the world of them. My sister and I decided to help them celebrate by putting on a morning tea and inviting close friends and family to join us over the weekend. 

I was lucky to have my Aunty visiting who knows how to make and ice cakes so she gave me a lesson in cake icing and together we created and put together mum and dads anniversary cake. I'm so happy with how it turned out and everyone seemed to enjoy eating it.

My sister and I made the decorations for the table ourselves. We made a 3D Gold number 30 which turned out to be a bit more difficult than we thought it would be but it looked good on the table. I also printed out photos of my parents over the years and hung them up on some string with little white pegs. Using a Print Shop program I created a page of words that described some of their milestones and places they've been over the last 30 years.

We also purchased a tier assembly kit from ebay and bought some cheap plates which my husband drilled holes in the middle of and he also put it all together for us. It looked great on the table with little muffins on it. We also had pumpkin scones and pizza scrolls that my sister made and also a cheese platter and of course the cake.

My parents do so much for my sister and I, especially me with my kids. It was a nice morning and great to catch up with some people I hadn't seen for a while.

Now my parents are off on a road trip from Queensland to Melbourne for a well earned holiday, so I wish them safe travel and know they will create even more memories for their next anniversary milestone. 

Cake Creations

Although I am far from a cake decorating expert, I have made a number of them for friends and family for birthdays and other occasions over the last few years and thought I might share some of them with you. I still need to work on my icing technique, but was happy with how these turned out.

One of my first attempts at making a 'special' cake was for my sisters’ birthday a few years ago when she had a sports themed birthday. To go with the theme I made her a cake that looked like a pair of sandshoes.  I found the idea in a book from the library and personalised it from there.

 

 

For my Best Friends birthday I made this simple cake with a bow and gift tag on it. I simply cut out the strips of the bow and used rolled paper to hold its shape until the icing went hard. And the swirls were wrapped around wooden spoon handles.

 

I surprised my husband for his birthday one year with the below fishing cake. The boat isn’t great because I didn’t give myself a lot of time to make it but he was happy with it. The rocks were chocolate stones I bought so everything was edible except for the fishing pole which was made from a bamboo skewer and string.

 

Probably the most time consuming decorations I’ve ever made for a cake were for my sons first birthday under the sea cake. I died the icing myself and created different creatures to put around it including a turtle, crab, octopus, starfish, clam, seahorse and various shells, seaweed and coral. I was happy with the result but probably won’t attempt so many little elements again. The sand is just brown sugar that I fluffed up and separated with a fork.

This next cake ended up being a lot of icing but that didn’t stop everyone from eating it as it was the first time I ran out of cake for everyone. I made the airplane solely from icing and used marshmallows to prop the wings up so they didn’t break off. Then I used white Icing for the clouds under the plane and marshmallows cut in half to decorate around the bottom of the cake, which also hid my not so great cake icing skills.

 

For my mother in laws 50^th I offered to make a cake for her and because she loves trees and gardening I knew I had to incorporate that into a cake somehow. I bought the flowers from the supermarket but made the leaves from icing. I rolled the green and blue base icing together for the background and piped the tree using chocolate icing. This is one of my favourite cakes I’ve made, because although it was fairly simple I think it looked great when I was done.

 

Frogs have been something I’ve modelled from clay since I was in primary school. I learnt how to make them at a clay sculpting class one school holidays and have enjoyed making them since. So it was only natural that I would attempt to make one from icing. I will admit it was a bit of a nightmare, I used a Twix chocolate for the log and it and my frog kept wanting to slide off the cake so I slowly had to glue it back together each time with more icing. Also, as you can see my writing could use some work but despite this my Nan who loves frogs was in hospital for Mother’s day so my family and I surprised her with this cake!

The last cake is a rainbow butterfly that I made for my daughters first birthday. I made two separate cakes and cut out the shapes of the wings then covered the individual wings with white icing. I then rolled different coloured icing to outline the wings markings and filled them with coloured sprinkles. It was another relatively simple cake that turned out just how I’d imagined. 

I can’t say I enjoy making cakes enough to make them all of the time but I definitely enjoyed making these for some of the people I care about. It feels good to spend time making something that everyone enjoys and makes people smile.