leggings, yoga and eric

This was the beach this morning...autumnal is the word that springs to mind. There was a definite nip in the air although the gusting wind was still quite warm. The tide was so far in that wet feet were the only option in places. What really got me though was the noise! Crashing waves are the norm but add to that the sound of the wind slapping at the waters surface, awesome. In fact, I was so taken with the whole thing, warm wind, crashing surf and hazy sunshine that I came over all L.A. and thought a couple of yoga stretches would be a perfect end to my morning walk. As I got halfway through saluting the sun, a cold wind whistled across my backside and the realisation struck that I was simultaneousy mooning the beach. My leggings split...I know! It's my own fault for;

1) wearing leggings in the first place

2) poseur posing on the beach

3) being more of a J.Lo than a Jolie!

Which brings me on to my birthday resolution to shift a bit of excess. After a hedonistic weekend full of Brazilian food, birthday cake and champagne the time has come to take a more austere view of my daily consumption levels. I'm trying a foodie approach, i.e. realfood, just less of it. I'll let you know how it goes.

On to the list:

Read: The Industry of Souls, Martin Booth. This has to be one of the most beautifully written books I've had the pleasure of in a long time. The story of an Englishman falsely imprisoned in a Russian gulag sounds sombre in the extreme, however this is an uplifting tale, almost poetic.

Welcomed: Eric, our Korean homestay. A lovely boy who has brought a great deal of laughter into our home; due in part to my attempts to welcome him in Korean. I'm not sure if it was the accent, or perhaps something was lost in translation but it made Eric and the Korean gentleman giggle very politely.

Received: my Grandmother's engagement ring. A birthday gift from my parents that I'm incredibly grateful for.

Ate: at a Brazilian restaurant for the first time. Now they are people who really know how to celebrate a birthday. Huge meat eaters too...absolutely delicious.

Made: With the change in the weather a few more bedclothes needed to be donned so I've added a blue checked wool blanket, flannelette sheets and two vintage flannel pillowcases to the winter weight duvet. It's not quite cold enough for hot water bottles, but they are all stacked ready and waiting. I'm coveting these toasty covers too.



Finished: the desk and managed to take a photo before it was swamped with Year 10 chemistry books. More after photo's to come.

check it out...

Do you like my new socks? 100% New Zealand Wool and so cosy. This weeks premier league purchase.

3 rooms, 7 pieces of furniture, 1 elbow

A whirlwind of activity is the only way to describe the last few days. A rugby tour has nabbed both husband and small child leaving me to prepare alone for the latest addition to the household (I would have liked to pop in a sentence or two about the helpfulness and hardwork of the two remaining children...but I'd be fibbing...enough said!)

The sum total:

3 bedrooms painted, +

3 desks, 2 bedsides, 2 mirrors restored and/or painted, +

1 bed, 2 shelf units, 1 wardrobe inner, 1 blind bought, assembled and fitted, +

2 cushions covers, 2 pairs of curtains, 1 doona sewn, =

1 woman cream crackered, 1 self diagnosis of tennis elbow (although the nearest I've ever been to Wimbledon is an over eating incident involving strawberries and cream), 1 terrifying moment when I thought I'd gone grey overnight, 1 lesson learnt...always wear a headscarf when painting the ceiling, 2 kg's lost (if you find them please don't return) and 1 incredible feeling of achievement!

The carpet is still to go down, furniture has to be moved and the final touches are needed but here are some 'before' photo's and I'll post the 'after' as they happen.

The addition to the household? An eleven year old Korean homestay student...I get a lump in my throat when I think about this. He arrives Thursday lunchtime, straight from the airport, a strange country, unknown family, alone with just a smattering of English and he's only eleven. I struggled when my eighteen year went to the Gold Coast for a week...how must his parents be feeling? Anyway, he has now got a cosy room that he'll share with Alf and I've picked the brain of my local Asian shopkeeper and stocked up on Korean treats.

This weeks list:

Read; Atonement. Hmmm, I have to say I enjoyed Enduring Love far more than I did this. In fact, I preferred the film version and that is the first time that's ever happened.

Watched; Breakfast on Pluto. Please watch this, it's fabulous. the costumes, the script, the lead actor... all amazing!

Found; Coastal Living online magazine. Beautiful photo's.

Ate; A Double Decker! This little piece of English chocolately heaven is now available in my local supermarket. Admittedly, a single bar costs as much as a frozen chicken but just the knowledge that this scrumptious treat is readily available has lifted my spirits enormously. When Twiglets arrive life will be complete.

Missed: Big man and little man very, very much...roll on Wednesday.

april lists...

A very strange thing has happened...I'm alone! They are in Australia, at the skate park, at the library and still in Korea. Right now though, there's no one here but me and I like it.

Watching: In my fathers den. The twisted lives of small town New Zealander's.
I enjoyed this film, although I still think RAIN is unbeaten in this genre. It's left me with a question though, if the actor chosen for the lead is not the same nationality as his character should the film maker
a) insist on a Dick van Dyke attempt
b) attempt to shrug off the disparity (even though it's fairly unlikely that a man would lose all trace of an accent after just 10 or so years away)
c) completely ignore it?

Painting: An old school desk for a brand new bedroom.

Making: I loved my Easter tree so much I've decided that it's needed all year round, festooned with shell rings though rather than eggs.

Baking: Another birthday cake...why were we all born in April? Apricot and almond upside-down

flag!

'Find of the week has just arrived'...just $20, I'm very pleased. It's beautiful, handmade and from the words written on it I'm guessing it's had a noble life on a scout hut flagpole. Its going to be reincarnated as a wardrobe door, more useful than noble I'll admit but still much admired.

happy easter!

Easter tree, Easter egg cookies and mounds of chocolate to come...gotta love Easter!

This is perhaps the best recipe I've found for cookies that are delicious as well as easily shaped and iced. I've added a little lemon zest for Easter but ginger or cinnamon is fabulous at Christmas.

200g butter, 200g caster sugar, 1 tsp vanilla extract plus any flavourings you fancy, 2 tbsp honey, 1 egg, 400g plain flour.

Cream the butter and the sugar, mix in the vanilla, egg and honey and then the flour until you get a dough.

Cover the dough in clingfilm and chill in the fridge for half an hour.

Use plenty of flour on a board and rolling pin and roll the dough out until it's about 1cm thick. Cookie cut or go freehand if you're brave enough. If they are for the tree this is when you skewer a hole for ribbon in the top.

180deg for 12 minutes more or less...I prefer to keep a close eye on them and grab them out of the oven once they are golden.

Cross your fingers, I'm bidding on a beautiful old desk for the new room and I've only got 17 minutes left to wait. It's all go on the decorating front as we have a student arriving in two weeks and he doesn't have a room at present. It's more fun when the house is full to brimming, don't you think?

william the conker

The first annual beach hut conker championships was held last night, good times.
The first rule of conker club, there are no rules. The second rule, no sulking if dad smashes your conker. Somethings never change though... did you ever have to give up your cornet because a wobbly toddler let his ice cream splat to the pavement? Same principle applies when your hulking teenager demands a rematch, I'd shined mine with pledge and used turquoise string too...oh, well.

We've had some great game nights here. I love cards, scrabble, monopoly and cluedo, the list goes on and on. We have a games cupboard that is crammed to bursting and there's always room for another op shop jigsaw, even if it's missing a piece. Our best games though are usually spontaneous events...guess the ankle, walk the plank, fish flapping, get dressed for chocolate (that last one's not kinky, it just involves putting on a hat, scarf, gloves and goggles before you devour a chocolate bar using a fork and spoon). We've even been known to engage in thumb wars, arm wrestling and who can sing the loudest. Admittedly, that last one only really gets going once the Port comes out at Christmas.

I'm off now to ice my Easter Egg cookies, I'lll pop in a photo later.

weekend away

Sometimes you don't realise how good something is until you leave it behind for a while. I've just had a working weekend in Christchurch and even though it was a lot of fun, it was wonderful to come home.

think, thank, thunk...

Calmer now but still sad and cross. It was entirely my fault, I drove full pelt into the back of Slaps car...could it get any worse? I was rushing, as usual, and in my haste put the car into forward not reverse and whilst looking over my shoulder flew head first down the driveway, BANG! How I cried. My beloved Beatle...mangled, but I'm not forgetting the opposition in this driveway derby. I'm going to whisper this so it doesn't sound so bad...his boot no longer opens and for a Project Manager that is akin to stealing a doctors stethoscope or burning a painters brush, you get the picture? However, I'm trying to find the lessons in this and then move on and the overriding note to self is 'SLOW DOWN'.
I think it's a problem we all have on occasion but it's a particular failing of mine, this need to cram as much into every day as possible. So starting today, now, I'm walking not running. I'm going to try and banish the words 'multi-tasking' from my vocabulary. Bearing this in mind I'm not going to ice my brothers birthday cake, whilst listening to Alfie read,whilst putting a wash on, writing a shopping list and setting the table. Alf and I are going to sit down quietly with a glass of milk each, talk about his day and then read as much of his book as he'd like to, complete with funny accents (it's The Hobbit and everyone knows they talk like Worzel Gummidge).

It's still beautifully warm and sunny so I'm going to make the most of the amazing Autumn we're having and dine al fresco tonight. I'm roasting a leg of lamb with garlic and rosemary so the perfect side dish is greek-style baked veggies:

3 onions
6 cloves of garlic
enough potatoes for 5 greedy's cut into fat fingers,
a lemon
salt, dried oregano, 2 sprigs of rosemary and olive oil.

Peel the onions and then cut into wedges.
Jumble the potatoes, peeled cloves of garlic and onions in a roasting tin. Pour over the lemon juice and a little peel, sprinkle with salt and the herbs and glug in that olive oil. I enjoy getting my hands dirty here and making sure all the veggies are evenly coated, but a wooden spoon would suffice if you've just had your nails done.
Bake in the oven at 200 degrees C for about an hour. Shake the tray every so often. The dish is ready once the potatoes are tender, crispy and golden brown.


It's late now and the kids are in bed, the washing up is done and I still feel calm but invigorated. Does that make sense? Cooking dinner to the sounds of Chilled Ibiza was fun... chopping, dancing and drinking wine.
I turned off my mobile and the TV, delegated a little and relaxed a lot. I thoroughly enjoyed the preparation of our meal and not just the eating and it seems to be spreading as we all sat outside for far longer than normal just shooting the breeze. Homework, the gym, text messages, the accountant, all forgotten for a short while. I think Alf summed it up best when he said,
'This feels like holidays'...

Will it last? Gosh, I hope so.


Brown paper packages tied up with string and a homemade tag for a lovely 'little' brother.
Happy Birthday bro!

better now...

Thanks for your concern...I really appreciate it! My pride has taken a bit of a bashing as the accident was all my fault...the car is mangled but everyone is safe and sound, and that's the main thing. However, it has made me sit down and do a little thinking. I'll be back soon once I've thunk!