Monday, October 31, 2016

Exotic lunches

Bethany is the hardest to please when it comes to school lunches. The other two love bread rolls (BBQ chicken, cheese and mayo for Joss, cheese mayo and sweet chilli for Toby) but Bethany can't settle on a sandwich filling. Pasta and pizza scrolls will sometimes be acceptable and she loves to take soup in a thermos, but it's getting a bit warm for that.

I was excited, last week, when she said that Sydney had brought the yummiest thing for lunch. It did occur to me that it might be a bit exotic, Sydney being from Zimbabwe, and Bethany did start off with "Have you heard of..." which also made me worry.

"Have you heard of devon? You have it with sauce!" So, back to the 1980s we go.


Actually, I am reading a book at the moment with a character whose name is Devon. I know they don't eat devon in America, but I am still having a hard time getting over it. 

Saturday, October 22, 2016

New loves


Bethany and I have caught a bug from Tim; a love for fountain pens and all that goes with them! We have both received a new pen (mine is an early Christmas present) with beautiful inks. I am using mine on the cards I make, and Bethany is writing letters using the stationery she has been given over time. Long live the art of letter writing!


The other things I am absolutely loving at the moment are pure beeswax candles. I buy them from Queen B. They smell like honey and burn for ages. In the spirit of 'do unto others' I have been buying lots of them as presents!


The weather continues to be odd. Tonight, when it is almost November, we have the heater on! I do realise that it will get hot, and probably very quickly. I am prepared for that as long as the pollen disappears. Hay fever is the worst.



Saturday, October 15, 2016

Getting your Ps first go

Usually, at this time on a Saturday morning, I would be in town, picking up Joss from work, having dropped her there earlier. Today, I haven't been anywhere at all! She drove herself to work, and she will drive herself to a babysitting job this afternoon; I am enjoying this very much.

Let's go back a bit, though. After Phil and the kids left we had a few days of school holidays with no visitors and then Sare, Ty and their three kids arrived. It was glorious, noisy, fun. They are always a delight to have. Toby gets a good ego boost from the love two younger boy cousins give, Bethany and Joss experience that love too, as well as that of a little girl cousin. Many games, lots of drawing, so much fun.


As we did last time, we drove out to the Junee Chocolate and Licorice Factory. Much chocolate was eaten and purchased (this did not turn out so well later on, but I'll get to that in a minute) and I took only these terrible photos.



On the Sunday night (why do these these things always happen on a Sunday?) Toby came running out to tell us that Milo was eating Sare and Ty's chocolate stash. I rang my friend, Emily, who is a vet, and she came over. We established that he had probably eaten more than 300g of dark chocolate, which is very bad! We tried to make him sick with salty water, but no dice. We had to ring the vet.

What followed was a bonding experience for me and Milo. I held his ears out of the way while all the chocolate came back up. There were the freckles, there was the ginger, all accounted for and not much changed for having been in his stomach for an hour! It was an expensive exercise, but I think we all learned a lesson......

After Sare and Ty went home, Andrew's parents came for a week. This is when Joss got her Ps! We were all very impressed that she passed first go. I highly recommend a few lessons with a professional.

 We had a quiet week with the parents until Saturday's church street fair. Narelle and I organised and ran the cafe this year, which was a lot of work but good fun. This is the only photo I took. Evie made these Cookie Monster cupcakes, as well as ones that looked like hamburgers and sunflowers!


The weather was beautiful. It was our first day warm enough for short sleeves. The plant stall was great and I bought succulents to fill the beautiful, blue pots we have at our front door. It gets so hot there, I do hope they cope.


The kids went back to school, and Sue and Ron headed home on Monday. Joss spent the week bonding with school friends and getting HSC pep talks from the teachers at camp in Tathra.

This sunset was a million times more spectacular in the real!
One term until the end of the year!