Dot Coms I Love

1. Donna Hay Recipe Search

Feeling uninspired in the kitchen? Haven't a clue what to cook for tea tonight? Days like this I call up my good buddy (it's true.....she just doesn't know it) Donna Hay's site, type in a bunch of ingredients I have on hand, and see what Donna suggests!

Last night I typed in chicken, ginger, coriander and noodles.....and ta-da!

Half and hour later we were tucking into a yummy meal and I had a new recipe to add to my repertoire.

Donna Hay is just fantastic - the undisputed Queen of Simple, Healthy and Delicious!

2. Styling You

Nikki Parkinson's fashion and beauty advice is AWESOME.
Why do I love her so much? A......she's Aussie, B........she's around my size and shape (ie not a skinny stick), C......the clothes and products she talks about are actually affordable for the average person and D......I can't get enough of her So You Want to Dress Like Nina Proudman articles....

3. Good Reads

If you love books, this one is a must! Here I keep a track of what I've read, browse reviews and write my own, chat about books with other book worms, see what other people are loving, make a list of what I want to read next.

It's also fun to check out the Listopia section. See what's made it on the Best Books of All Time, Books That Should Be Made into Movies, or how about Romance Novels That Jerked the Tears Right Out Of Ya!

4. They Draw & Cook

This site inspires me no end. Food and Art merged into one.....too fabulous for words!
Just take a look at some of these amazing "recipes as art" then go check out the site for yourself.

5. Making Australia Happy

"Choose Happiness" may sound like something from a Wham revival, but research shows that 40% of the happiness pie chart is entirely within our power to control........we can influence our happiness through what we do and how we think. Just as we train the body to keep below our "set points" for weight, we can rise above our happiness set points.

I came across this site while researching MINDFULNESS - which is something I try to achieve in my own life. Try it yourself!

The site has heaps of ideas and activities to give you control over your own happiness.

6. Kids-In-Mind Movie Reviews

The amount of profanity, sex and violence at the cinema these days gives this protective mother the horrors! Kids-in-mind is the best friend I consult before deciding to let my girls see a movie, especially now that Kate believes she is old enough for M's. Let me tell you, many a day out with friends has been thwarted by this practice - but when it comes to monitoring what our kids are exposed to, we can never be too vigilant.

The site rates all the latest movies, as well as a huge catalogue of older movies you may potentially hire on DVD, giving a detailed account of every scene that may contain stuff you don't want your little darlings seeing.

Now it's your turn - what are your fave hangouts on the www?

SUYS Revamp

I do enjoy my spot on the Design Team for Show Us Your Stuff - the challenges are always something a bit different from other scrapbooking challenge sites, and the best part.......the focus is on HAND MADE elements.

The site has had a snazzy update recently.

A new look plus a simplified format for challenges - just one per month, plus one Young Scrappers (Sophie's Corner) challenge per month.

Check it out!

And have a go at the July challenge while you're there:

this month we're asking you to create a page inspired by this ultra-cool image....

Here's mine:

As you can see, I went with the colour scheme, the newsprint and the circles.

All the papers are old scraps.

My handmade item is the photo mat I created using 9 punched circles sewn down with my sewing machine.

Some Thickers letter stickers and some hand lettering for the title completes a very simple (and inexpensive!) page!

Thanks for popping in.

See you soon!

Almost over

School holidays, that is.....

I have one more day (hopefully of sunshine) to get all the washing done, then it's back to the usual routine on Tuesday.

Here's some of what kept us amused:

Celebrating Princess Mia's actual birthday....

...and constructing all the LEGO she got!

A visit from Mum and my little brother.....which included a paddock bash to find all our new calves....

(that's Mum in the front seat looking spookily like the Queen).

Baking, baking and more baking.....like this old-fashioned APPLE PIE....

for hubby's birthday (his request instead of a cake!).

Trips to the cinema to see....

....both were unbelieveably fantastic!!!

The girls sewed these sweet little dolly kits....

....fabulous felt friends, easy for the girls to make with all the holes pre-punched. A present from their aunty - the kits are by My Studio Girl.

Played multiple tournaments of.....Boggle, Scrabble and Guess Who Mix & Mash.....

and I had a lovely BookFest, finishing....

....and with NO fingernails left after ripping through that last book in one night.....I'm now starting this 750 page brick of a novel.....

....I'm one third the way through and I reckon I'm gonna love it!

Work and meetings carried on as usual.

Thank heavens for a job that lets me work flexible hours!

Love school holidays!

10 weeks til the next!

The Bring-a-Plate Tradition

We've all had a good giggle over stories of non-Aussies turning up to the local hoedown carrying an actual plate with nothing on it. 

A mistake you'd only make once I imagine!

Being a country girl, the "bring-a-plate" tradition is very close to my heart and always honoured with something delicious whipped up in my kitchen. 

None of this stopping at Woolies on the way home from work to pick up a tray of lamingtons - now that would be sacrilegious!

This lovely quote from Alexa Johnston sums up the feeling beautifully:

"By embarking on baking we link into an honourable tradition that stretches back to our grandmothers and great-grandmothers and great-great grandmothers who filled countless plates with tempting treats for afternoon teas and suppers all across the land."

For me, nothing beats the NO BAKE SLICE for a time-poor domestic-goddess-wanna-be such as I. 

Easy.

Fast.

Scrummy.

And my plates always come home empty (sorry, now I'm boasting!)

I have a nice little collection of these recipes on rotation and I'd love to share a few with you...... 

CHOC PEANUT BUTTER SLICE

In a saucepan gently heat 125g butter, 1/2 cup caster sugar, 1/3 cup maple or golden syrup and 1/3 cup crunchy peanut butter until sugar dissolves. Stirring, bring to boil. Reduce heat and simmer 5 mins until nice and frothy. Stir in 4 cups Cornflakes. Press into lined slice tin. Chill for 30 mins.

Top with 350g good eating chocolate, melted.

LEMON COCONUT SLICE

Whizz up 2 x 200g packets sweet plain biscuits in food processor (I like to use Paradise Rich Shortbread). Place in mixing bowl and add 1 cup shredded coconut, 1/4 cup lemon juice, a teaspoon of finely grated lemon zest, 2/3 cup sweetened condensed milk and 175g butter (melted). Mix well and press into lined slice tin.

For the icing - combine 1 1/2 cups icing mixture, 2 tablespoons lemon juice and 25g butter (melted). Spread over slice with a metal spatula or knife dipped in hot water.

Refrigerate until firm.

MICROWAVE FUDGE

I ADORE this recipe - you can personalise it to your audience, it's not overly sweet, has a lovely smooth slightly chewy texture and it is literally done in less than 10 minutes. A winner with young and old!

Grab a BIG bowl - please hear me when I say, you're gonna want the biggest microwave proof bowl you own cos this mixture will froth up like some weird science experiment.

Tip in a tin of sweetened condensed milk. Microwave on HIGH for 4 minutes.

While the microwave is doing it's thing, break up a family block of chocolate (whatever kind you please) and chop up 90g of butter into cubes.

Add the choc and the butter to the hot frothy milk and mix quickly until smooth and shiny.

Now you can get creative and mix through any delight you choose - chopped nuts, choc chips, marshmallow, honeycomb, lollies - go wild!

Plop into a slice tin lined with foil, gently press flat and chill until set.

For kids parties I like to leave the mixture plain then once in the tin I press mini M&M's over the surface (like I did for Mia's Rainbow Party). So colourful and the kids love it!

OK I've shown you mine, now I'd love to know....what's YOUR go-to recipe for those times you're called upon to "bring-a-plate"?

Funnest Party Games

Princess Mia had her 8th birthday party on the weekend.

It would have to be one of the best and FUNNEST (if that's not a word it should be) we've had - maybe even topping last year's bash.

Mia had her heart set on a sleepover - so with 6 little friends to amuse for 20 hours I made sure I had PLENTY of games and activities up my sleeve.

Here's a mere snippet of what we did (and not a Passing Parcel or Musical Chair in sight!):

DRESS UP RELAY

 2 even teams...

2 similar piles of dress-up items (the sillier the better)...

Put on all the items, run to the end, take off all the items...

Next team mate gets dressed, runs, etc, etc....

Even the boys got a kick out of this one....(what is it with boys and dresses???)

FRUIT SALAD

So simple yet this was the one they played over and over...even the big brothers and sisters joined in.

Place markers in a circle - one less than the number of children

(we used the circular mats from Twister Scram)....

Divide group into fruits (we had just 2: Strawberries and Kiwifruit - more types are recommended for a larger group)....

One person stands in the middle of the circle and shouts out a fruit....

Everyone belonging to that fruit must move off their marker and dash to another - including the person in the middle....

Someone will miss out - they then become the person in the middle who calls out the fruit for the next round.

If "Fruit Salad" is called, EVERYBODY has to run to a new marker....

So much giggling....

So much chaos.....

So much fun!

THREAD THE NEEDLE

2 teams....

2 hoops....

Team members hold hands and must pass a hula hoop along the line WITHOUT letting go hands....

Teamwork and concentration required!

CATERPILLAR RACE

2 teams....

Members of the team stand close behind each another with a blown up balloon pressed between their bodies.....

Must run to the finish line as one unit....

Without bursting or losing any balloons!

Pretty hilarious (in all the excitement I forgot to take pics).

LOO ROLL UNRAVEL
Non-stop hysterical laughter alert!

Thread 2 toilet rolls on a broom handle....

First person to unravel their roll wins!

Even the clean-up was fun!

(Activity not recommended for a windy day, however....!)

SUNSET ACTIVITIES

We turned up the music LOUD....

Broke out the glow sticks....

And the sparklers....

And let the mob run wild.....

Before coming inside.

DINNER & BEDTIME

Pyjamas were apparently the appropriate attire to dine in - by the time I had unplugged the stereo and lugged everything into the house they were all enthusiasically comparing characters on their flanelettes.

SO CUTE!

Party pies, sausage rolls, spring rolls, mini hotdogs, potato gems and salad for dinner...

Birthday cake for dessert....

Then a DVD ("Baby's Day Out" - a classic fave and guaranteed giggle-fest) on wall-to-wall mattresses.....before lights out.

Quite a few of our little guests had never had sleepovers before

so you can imagine their excitement (and my slight trepidation.....)

After a fair amount of wiggling and squirming and whispering and shushing......

they slept.

No tears, no I-want-my-mummy dramas.....

they were a complete joy!

THE MORNING AFTER

A lovely early start (.....groan....) at 6.30 - with a crunchy frost still on the ground.

Pancakes, yogurt and fresh strawberries all round.

Big sisters sent out to hide the Treasure Hunt goodies around the garden.....

while I kept the children occupied by helping them roll up their sleeping bags and pack up their things.

Treasure Hunt conducted....and to make sure nobody got more than their share, the winner was the first back with 6 different items.

A few games of What's The Time Mr Wolf.

Quiet time before the mum's arrived for pick up -

involving a fun little drawing game I remembered from my childhood, I'm calling....

CRAZY CHARACTERS

Everyone sits at the table with some coloured markers and a sheet of paper each....

Everyone is instructed to write a name at the top and draw a head on a neck....

The top of the page folded back, hiding the head but revealing the neck, and the drawings are passed along to the left....

The body is then drawn, connected to the neck that was drawn by the previous artist....

Fold back the paper once again, leaving the end of the body - or hips - showing....

Pass the drawings to the left....

Next the legs and feet are drawn....

The completed drawings are passed to the left one more time then opened out to reveal some very unique characters!

A final group photo on the trampoline....

A pick from the Pick-A-Box
(gotta love the $1 toy section at BigW)....
then home time.

Apparently all too soon for Mia: "Why does my party have to end?"
When a two-day-long party is still not enough - I reckon it must have been pretty darn good!

Death Trap

The trusty quad bike.

Used daily on farms all over the country to muster cattle and get around the property to check fences and stock.

We also use ours to take visitors on 'farm tours', heck...the kids even ride it around the backyard (slowly and with supervision).

We've heard the safety warnings, we know the dangers......but it didn't hit home until last week.

I don't know why, or who was looking out for us, but my husband is still walking around, still breathing, still with us. This was a VERY near miss. My blood freezes when I think about how different things could be for us right now.

The story is fuzzy - concussion does that to a person - but it goes like this:
While bringing in cattle around the edge of the dam, the bike became unstable and flipped. He was thrown into about 2 feet of water, and the bike landed upside-down on top of him. By some miracle he did not drown. He freed himself, righted the bike, eventually got it started again and made his way home to call me up at work "can you come home - I've come off the quaddy and I'm hurt".

Painfully bruised ribs and a huge scare are a small price to pay. He is OK and we've all learned some very big lessons.

P.S. The lottery ticket has been purchased!

The Earth Moved

I was momentarily gripped by panic around 9pm last night.

A slow rumble sounded all around - a bit like a storm brewing, no wait....more like a freight train speeding through the house paddock.  

The floor was vibrating under my feet, the walls were visibly shaking, windows rattling. 

Lasted way longer than a thunder clap - maybe 10 seconds? With no storm forecast....and no trainline within coo-ee of our town - this HAS to be an earthquake.

Sure enough, today's news reported a 4.4 earthquake centred at Lake Keepit near Gunnedah, around 200 kms south of us. Thankfully no one was hurt and no major damage to property.

Last night's panic was very real.

I flinch at the slightest ground vibration.

I have an intense urge to run outside.

This is why........

King St, Newcastle, 28th December 1989.

A major earthquake hit, measuring 5.5.

The Worker's Club collapsed (along with many other shops and houses) - 13 people lost their lvies.

I was a few blocks away, also on King St.

I felt the full force of this 'thing' and experienced the bewildering aftermath of confusion and disbelief that everyone in Newcastle felt that day.

First thought - our building has just been slammed into by a semi-trailer (that was how loud and sudden the noise was).

Followed by - truck accidents do not cause a concrete slab floor to ripple in waves like someone shaking out a tablecloth.

Once evacuated to the street and confronted by a huge mushroom cloud of dust across the road my next thought was - someone just bombed the Worker's Club.

Total realisation really did not dawn until we were finally cleared to leave and I drove my little blue Suzuki out of the city toward my house, 20 minutes away.

I passed ambulance after ambulance, collapsed shop awnings, building ruins, groups of people milling around in shock - it was like something from a bad disaster movie. 

I will never forget it.

Thank god we live in Australia and not San Francisco!