What do you do when it’s raining?

This…

Maverick caught in a sudden downpour.

2 wet but extremely happy little guys.

Oh my, what big herbs you’ve got! (This is my 100th post…eek)

These types of days are my favourite. My husband is home, the kids aren’t screaming and I’ve actually had a shower AND washed my hair.

I’ve changed. I’ve got ideas in my head. I want to be more self sufficient. It’s probably a crazy idea but one that will benefit my family. I need an excuse for my silly thoughts…

Since I’ve changed to Aldi supermarkets from the ever price increasing Coles, (yes I’m naming) I’ve saved a heap of $$. But one thing I love is the specials they have. Last week on a whim, I bought a herb kit. It came with everything, seeds, pots, soil and a little tray to put them on. It even came with chalk to write on the little blackboard on the front. And for $7.99 I couldn’t go wrong. If I stuffed it up, I’d really lost nothing.

Growing fast!

We all know what a shocking gardener I am, here’s proof. But I’ve decided to try again. Within 4 days I had sprouts and it’s been 1.5 weeks and they are growing so fast. Every time I look at them, and it’s a few times a day, I’m amazed at the speed that they grow. Maybe I can grow things?

I’ve only ever grown 1 pot plant (wink wink) before, when I was in high school, and it grew about 4 feet tall. Then it was stolen. But it grew and that’s what matters.

Then I saw they were selling a raised garden bed. This morning I packed up Maverick and headed to the local shops. If you have ever been to Aldi, it’s crazy at the best of times. This morning, it was packed. People were walking out with 5, 6 or 7 garden beds. I started getting upset thinking I’d missed out 15 minutes after the store had opened. Luckily they had plenty left and I got my 1 package.

I’ve done the maths of how much soil it would take to fill it. 325 litres of soil, its about 30 x 10litre bags…that’s about $90 if I get their soil. Twice what it cost! Maybe it will sit in the car for awhile.

But I have hopes and dreams of growing carrots, broccoli, strawberries and maybe a cauliflower. Keeping it simple, but enough so we can eat fresh. I’m not sure it would save up a lot of money, but I would feel better knowing I’d grown it. And quietly, pretty proud.

It will also be a great learning tool for Marshal and Maverick. They will have a great time digging in the dirt, finding food and seeing where it comes from.

One day, I’ll add chickens to my yard. Maybe I should just go live on a farm…

 

Oh and happy 100 posts to me!!!!!!!!!! What an achievement. I just might celebrate with some bubbles (ok I’m going to have a cuppa and blow bubbles thru a straw…)

 

 

Justicemum’s Coconut Puffs – Thermomix

On my quest for the perfect coconut cookie for my boys, I’ve been trying a whole heap of different recipes. Some I’ve replaced ingredients with terrible outcomes and some with pretty good outcomes.

I want to share with you one of my mistakes that was a good outcome.

I call them Coconut Puffs. I was trying to make a normal biscuit and thought “what if…” I probably should never start a cooking session with “what if…” Chances are it will end up in the bin. But not this time. So here are my almost perfect coconut cookies.

My quest continues though….

Justicemum’s Coconut Puffs – Thermomix

What you need:

• 100gm Coconut milk
• 30-50gm sugar (raw is fine)
• 1 egg
• 160gm self raising flour
• 75gm coconut

What you do:

• Pre-heat oven to 180oC. Line 2 flat pans with baking paper.
• If you want you can blitz your sugar but I low the raw sugar taste. If you want to, do this first.
• Add coconut milk and sugar to bowl. Mix speed 7/5 sec.
• Add egg and mix speed 5/5 sec
• Put flour and coconut in bowl and mix speed 4-5/10 sec or until its all mixed up.
• This is a sticky recipe so don’t be alarmed.
• Put teaspoon sized balls on to prepared tray and carefully flatten a little bit. Leave a bit of space between them.
• Place into oven for 10-15 mins. Check afte r10 because you don’t want to burn them. Let cool before munching.

Tips:

Everything I make can be made in any mixer.

Makes about 15 cookies.

I made these another time and added more flour but they were hard balls. Less flour gives them a lovely puff.

Store in an airtight container for up to a week.

As they are nut free I’m guessing they are lunchbox friendly.

You could replace the flour for gluten free if you like, replace the egg for chia seeds soaked in a bit of water, and sugar with rapadura or Stevia if you like. (Please look up the replacement amounts if you replace the sugar as I don’t know this.)

If you want to share my recipes please do, but please give me the credit with a link back here…thanks

A lovely and light cookie. A must for coconut lovers

hop hop hop until you just can’t stop! – blog hopping.

Lately my days consist of some broken sleep, wrangle 2 toddlers, try to put healthy food in their bellies, thinking about having a third baby, cleaning up after them, seeing friends so I keep in contact with the outside world, attempting to keep a decent living area, rethinking my idea of having another baby, grocery shopping, and somewhere in there spending time with my husband. It takes a heap of effort to do it all. Writing has just become another chore.

So I’ve joined some Facebook blogging groups to get some inspiration again. It’s great to see so many other women blog and get a following. I just haven’t put in the effort. But now is the time to do it.

I said yes to a blog hop. Joining up with other bloggers, finding out why they write and passing on the inspiration to other bloggers and answering some questions. Kind of like the Lieberman Award I did earlier in the year.

I’ve linked up with another Sydney blogger Georgia from Inner City Stinge who I thought was a new blog to me, but I’d actually come across her work before. Have a read and follow her work, she has some great stuff on there on living in a big city on a tiny budget. What big city living person doesn’t want that information?

So here goes…

When I was asked “why do you write?” I really had to think. I’ve never thought of myself as a writer. I hated writing in school and didn’t do too well. I also attribute this to some really crappy teaching and hanging with the wrong crowd. I remember one school trip to Parliament House and I wasn’t allowed to go because my grades weren’t good enough. What a way to encourage better grades. I think I just gave up there. I moved into art and fashion subjects. I was more creative I guess. I enjoyed those and excelled. Maybe writing is another way I can be creative.

I’ve also found it to be a really good depression killer. After the birth of Marshal, I kept everything in, which I see now I should have spoken up about what happened. Then getting pregnant again and having another birth not to my plan, I have found writing has helped deal with it.

The next question I was asked was “how does my writing differ from other in its genre?”

I don’t think it does. I’m just another mummy blogger who writes about kids, food and all the crap, pun intended, that goes with it. It’s hard to stand out when there are 506,478 other mummy bloggers out there. I like to think people read it because I’m telling it like it is although I like to make light of most situations. I like to believe I hit a chord with other mums or soon-to-be mums. Or dad’s. Or anyone really…

“What am I working on?” Writing wise? Nothing much. I don’t give too much thought in to what I post. I just write about the crazy adventures I go on with my 2 boys, cooking with my Thermomix and anything else I come up with. Personal wise? I’m just trying to be the best mum I can be which is an on-going job. Probably my main thing I’m doing is learning about foods and trying new ones. It’s really interesting stuff. I’ve never worried about food intake before, but now knowing what they put in processed food to make it taste better, it’s really a motivation to eat better and get rid of the added sugars, preservatives and crap. You can read about my cooking on the blog. I’m hoping to start writing more of my own recipes too. Which means more cooking/baking experiments…my little taste testers will be happy.

I’m also working on my home “hobby” Little Pop Rocket Children’s Accessories (shameless plug here). Making dribble bibs, and trying to decide where to go next with it. I have the ideas, just need to put some more time, money and effort into it. Next year when Marshal goes to pre-school, it will be easier.

“Do I write what I do?” Yep, otherwise what would I write about? The best writers write what they know. I find forensics interesting, but I don’t do it and all I know about it is what I see on Law and Order. I’m sure there are zero people in this world that want the latest Law and Order updates…although I do wonder sometimes who wants to read about toilet training and sleep deprivation?

“How does my writing process work?” I just write. I write it out when I think of it and post. If i have a great idea and start but don’t know how to get past the first few lines, then I delete and close the computer. Otherwise I just keep going. I usually only give it a quick proof read before publishing. Also I don’t get a lot of time to write, normally when the boys are sleeping in the day which could be 40 mins to 3 hours.

That said, I’ve been sitting on this post for over a week…

I love to write, I never thought I’d write but then again I never thought I’d be a stay at home mum. Things change people change and if I’m enjoying it, why stop? And if you’re enjoying reading it, don’t stop either.

I’d like to introduce you to another blogger:

Meet Lauren at Createbakemake. She’s a mum and a baker plus more, and tells her stories on her blog. If she loves baking, then she’s got my heart. And I tell you, her food looks AMAZING. Puts me to shame…I might be trying some of her ideas.

 

 

You put your left leg in…

I’ve never claimed to be a good dancer. But I swear, the second you have children, any form of coordination leaves your body. Maybe the placenta steals it…

Today I was dancing with my boys. Well it was more they were jumping around screaming, and I was doing this weird arm wiggle, leg tapping bob. I’m even sure my butt was trying to do something half decent (ok, I was singing ‘shake your booty’ while attempting to shake my booty…I almost booed myself off stage!)

I’m incredibly lucky that the age my boys are at, they just think it’s great that mum is dancing retardedly around the lounge room. They don’t care what I look like. It’s actually refreshing to know that what ever I do, they won’t judge.

I’m sure that time is coming…if I danced like this at their school dance, or worse, their wedding, I’m sure there would be some talk about putting me in a home.

The noise my boys make when music is on is fantastic. It’s wonderful to watch them carry on, jump around and have fun. Even the baby gets involved. He’s learning how to jump (well bend and try really hard to leave the ground, failing, it’s very cute) but I’m sure when he gets his fearless suit on, I’m sure he will be jumping off the lounge and flying around crazy with me and the toddler.

I hope the silly dancing lasts for a few more years. Feels like I’m still young.

Birthdays, birthdays, birthdays!

January and early February means birthdays in my house. My husband and both boys.

It also means cake and lots of it.

Last year the toddler asked if he could have a birthday. By asking, I guess I mean, demanded a party. Seeing as we hadn’t had one for him yet, I said yes. He wanted a Thomas party of course. Sure, why not! How hard can that be?

My husband hit a big milestone and the baby turned 1, so we decided on 1 day, 3 parties. We also thought we would include a naming ceremony for the baby…the planning started. The stress kicked in!

All week I’ve been shopping, baking and making. I decided on making the cakes for my boys and getting a friend to do my husbands.

So the toddler wanted a Thomas party, he got a Thomas party.

It was a shame to cut it up.

He’d never had 20 people sing him happy birthday before, I think he liked it.

So after the masses of kids left we moved onto the baby’s birthday and naming ceremony.

Yes I made that cake too. When we were lighting the candles, my husband had the baby in his arms. After we sat down, we noticed the baby had grabbed a handful of cake.

I guess if you can’t grab your own cake on your birthday, then when can you? He enjoyed it.

Then we celebrated the husbands birthday with a massive BBQ and cake.

No, I didn’t make this one…I smartly outsourced the task. And glad I did. It was a fantastic cake.

So we BBQ’ed and ate food and cake and had kids running around until 9pm until everyone crashed in a heap.

Today the clean up started. Lucky most was done yesterday, but there was still plenty to do. I have a fridge full of leftovers (yay no cooking for a few nights) and a bench full of cake (my mouth says yay but my body says nooooooooo).

I love my boys and glad I got to organise such a momentous day. But never again. I’m exhausted.

Happy birthday to them.

(I also want to wish my father-in-law a happy birthday for mid January. Sadly he passed away last December. We miss you very much, especially on family occasions like this.)

Cheap entertainment.

How adorable are kids and balloons?

We have a few balloons around this time of year due to birthdays. The baby loves them. He gets up on his knees and launches himself on it. Most of the time he just bounces off. It’s funny to watch.

The toddler is just as amazed with them. Last night we had 2 huge balloons for them to play with. They were the size of the baby.

The fun he had with them…priceless!

I love seeing them so happy, and if a packet of $2 balloons brings so much joy, then I will keep packets of them in the drawer.

One bad mother

I read somewhere the other day that a mum thought she was a “bad mum” because she hadn’t put her 4 year old in swimming lessons. I read this stuff all the time. ‘Timmy can’t to count to 100 and he’s 3″ or “Francis is 2 and can’t tell the difference between blue and green” or “Jane can’t play Beethoven on the piano and she’s 4”. Ok maybe a big stretch there…

But it got me wondering, am I a “bad mum”? My toddler has never done swimming lessons, we only went to a few sessions of gymbaroo, he doesn’t have music lessons, there is no second language classes, no sport lessons, no pre-school…the list goes on.

WHO CARES?

Honestly, if not enrolling my children in 101 activities before they go to school makes me a bad mum, then I guess I’m a bad mum! I figure when they start school they will have enough to worry about. There will be the music, sports, language classes. There will be the learning, the stress of homework…

What there won’t be is me. There won’t be mum 24 hours a day, giving praise, giving hugs and kisses.

Now, don’t think I don’t want what’s best for my kids. I do. I want them to succeed in everything they do. But by letting them play and use that imagination, I believe I am doing what’s best. I let them get naked and play in mud and water. I take them to the pool. To the park, and to story time. I let them crawl, climb and get grubby. All this is the foundation for learning. What can someone else teach him that I can’t?

If you ask the toddler what did we do this morning, he wouldn’t be able to tell you without some help. But show him 25 trains and he could name them all. Give him a drum stick and a bowl, he will make a drum kit and bash away for hours. Leave him with blocks and he will sort them into colours and be able to say all the colours. He can count to 10, with help. He will set up his shop and sell you toys for 2 million dollars each! He can climb up almost anything, and then have no fear and jump off.

I don’t think he is missing out, I think he is having the best time learning by himself. He’s forever asking “what’s that say?” I’m 100% sure he will be fine. He will learn ‘normally’ and I hope he enjoys being a kid for now. If all I can offer him right now is the chance to play, then that’s what I’ll give him. Growing up and classes will come later, when he’s ready.

Ball art fun…

We did some painting..

It was fun, except the toddler wanted nothing to do with it.

The baby has a go…

Glad it’s non-toxic…

At least I wasted an hour setting up and cleaning afterwards…

The tale of the spatula

The spatula has many uses in my house. My husband uses it as a back scratcher, my toddler uses it for a guitar and I actually use it for cooking. And yes, it does get washed between uses.

Yesterday, the toddler was using it to hurl balls around the house. It looked like fun, of course I wanted to join in…until I got too close and took a spatula to the face.

Now I have a small cut to my cheek. I’m guessing this is one of the many toddler/mum related injuries I’ll be receiving…

I did say “small.”

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