Positivism

I've always been a cup-half-full kind of girl. I realise this can be quite as annoying as those who always predict the worst. So if you find positivism a strain you might want to skip this post.

I'm at home still sick. That is not a positive, although it's good to know my immune response is in top gear fighting off those little pathogens.

While a pounding headache is not fun, I'm grateful for paracetamol - God bless it.
And Barkers lemon, ginger, and honey cordial makes the town water taste almost palatable, so I'm grateful for that too.

I've managed to read and despite the situation have enjoyed Ilona Andrews Kate Daniels books so am very grateful for the Auckland public library digital section. What luxury to be able to download a book right from the library without needing to leave the sick bed!

How I love modern life with all its digital files, pain killers, and antibiotics. Now back to coughing up some lung tissue.

The wandering

Once a year The Bloke and I take a day out together to wander about the city, sans children and responsibilities.  Yesterday was the planned day.

Miss A and Miss B are sent off to school and we head off. I wasn't feeling that great with the first signs of a cold coming on the night before. Still, never one to turn down a day where anything can happen, we set forth.

We drove over to Birkenhead point, an area where The Bloke spent much of his adventurous youth. A good reminisce is one of life's small pleasures, and a great way to be reminded how much we have achieved. Especially when the increments can be so slow you can't see them without taking a step back. A bit like getting fat but thinking the dryer has shrunk your clothes until your tactless relative asks when the baby is due!

The view from Birkenhead point

Next we stopped by the newly reopened and renamed  Ravenhill cafe at 98 Hinemoa Street.
Check here for menus and reviews. I read a review in the Herald on Saturday and realised it was the old Cafe 98 where The Bloke and I had our wedding celebration. The cafe is an old butchers shop with 18ft tiled ceilings, old marble counters and a nice covered courtyard at the back. Added bonus, no surcharge on public holidays.

The food was great and the water came in milk bottles, how cute is that? The marble counter tops were a bit cold, great for rolling out pastry,  not quite so good to lean on while sipping a latte.

Next we stopped off at Junk & Disorderly. An unprepossessing entrance hiding a plethora of fascinating finds. This must be the largest collection of second hand and vintage goods in Auckland. It's an old 'L' shaped warehouse STUFFED with...with...with...well stuff.

There are boxes of old postcards next to single chandelier crystals. Old tin toys and industrial lights next to bone china teacups. Art from across the span of time, some of it seizure-inducing (in my opinion), but some pretty interesting. Stuffed animals of every shape and size. Racks of vintage dresses, shoes, hats, bags, and gloves. Surfboards and kitch shell-encrusted lamps next to 80's wedding dresses. Pinball machines, religious icons, lounge suits, cutlery, filing cabinets, old vinyl, mannikins, it goes on and on. The remnants of the 20th century abandoned to their fate.

At the end of the warehouse sits a cute little caravan cafe (sadly not open today) with seating set up around it like Grandma's old living room. Past the caravan cafe lies a corridor, stuffed with more stuff, leading to the ladies loo, painted a pink designed to get you in and out or suffer retinal burns!

By this time I was beginning to feel very sick indeed. And once The Bloke stared calling me Mary, I knew it was time to call it a day.

see ya tomorrow...if I live!!

The Bloke's birthday dinner

It's The Bloke's birthday. What he really really wants is a bbq and a few drinks around the tiki bar. That would be fine if we lived in the USA or England, but in NZ, it's winter...and raining again! So it was an indoor buffet instead. Still I think he enjoyed his celebration, surrounded by all his progeny. Roast pork with crackling, roasted red beet and orange salad, potato gratin, green buttered peas, so good. I made the mochaccino cake which was a hit, and set up a pinterest-inspired icecream sundae bar. Everyone left sated. It was a lovely evening.

                                           Red beet and orange salad

                                          Potato gratin

                                          Mochaccino birthday cake

 
                                          Icecream sundae bar

Wellington for a day

I rose at 4:30am and headed to the airport to fly to Wellington for the day. It is a beautiful day here in the Capital city. If you have never been to Wellington, it is a small city surrounded by beautiful hills looking out to the Pacific Ocean. Nearly everything in NZ is close to the ocean, but it never fails to awe me when I see the vast expanse of water glittering in the sunlight. Have a look at some of the pictures below.

Sunrise from the aeroplane.

The view over Wellington city from Kelburn parade.

and the awesome and HUGE Lord of thd Rings characters hanging in Wellington
airport

Back to Auckland tonight to prepare for The Bloke's birthday dinner tomorrow night!

The Great Cull

The Great Cull began a few weeks before this blog. Sadly I didn't think to take pictures!
The Bloke's family have a motto they live by "never throw nuffink away". They're English so if you need a translation: never throw out anything. And this philosophy seems to have seeped down through the generations to The Bloke. As a consequence for quite a number of years we have had a storage shed stuffed full of things that we are able to ignore in our day to day lives. Now this could be an advantage, whenever you need something you have it to hand right? Well having something to hand, and actually being able to find it during the one moment in the last decade you needed it, are two different and frustrating things.
So The Bloke and I had a stern talk and decided, if we hadn't seen it for most of this millennium, then we probably could let it go now. And with that The Great Cull began.
A month later and many weekends spent sorting the items, then washing the dirt and spiders off the kids, the shed is done. There is almost nothing left.  When we went through the boxes, we realized we had been keeping the craziest things. A box of home décor magazines...from the 90's, baby clothes, broken crockery, broken rusted out unidentifiable items, old suitcases (not even vintage cool) and so much more. There were also many things that bought back lots of memories and a long reminisce was had and enjoyed.
We all know it's cathartic to let go of the clutter in our lives, but it really is a difficult task. Now that the storage shed is sorted (and being let go, notice given, no going back), it's time to move onto the house. I kept waiting for the perfect time to have a massive cull, but I've realized I will never have the time, and so I have started small and frequent. One little space at a time. The trick is to really thing about the item and decide if you want it, or if it holds memories too precious to release, or you think you might use it one day, or it's just in the wrong place. Think carefully, but don't be too hard on yourself. I believe in de-cluttering in layers. First go the most obvious things, then once the shock of that cull has worn off, go through everything again, and even a third time. Then follow through immediately on either re-homing, recycling, or rubbish binning.

I've started with the kitchen junk draw, doesn't everyone have one?

The junk draw before the cull...

There were lots of things just thrown in here, that belonged elsewhere, lots of broken bits and pieces, and just plain old rubbish, out it all went, until I achieved this...

There will be more yet to go, this is just the first layer, but what a difference already. So remember, don't wait for that large chunk of time to get started, little but little will do the job just as well. Just start, and don't look back.

Yum yum... mochaccino cake

This recipe came from New Zealand Taste magazine's baking issue last year.
It is super easy, just throw all the ingredients into a food processor, whizz for a minute or two, then pour into a tin and pop into the oven. It is a very liquid mixture, so don't get a fright, it is supposed to be that runny.  It makes a lovely tall, moist but solid cake. Great for decorating.

I've made this cake numerous times and always have people coming back for more. I recently made it for the get together after Sunday mass and it was gone within 5 minutes! I didn't even get a piece!

So remember when you make this you may have to hide it from the family so they don't gobble it up in one sitting.

Find the recipe here

A day to get through

It's one of those days that sends more challenges than a girl really feels like dealing with. It started with a toilet training accident by the puppy.

Good thing she's cute as a button!


Not a great beginning. Then came a call from the furniture shop to say our new sofa isn't available in the fabric I chose.
 Next it rained while I was walking with my daughter's class to swimming lessons. But to top off the day, after I had driven to an appointment in the city centre, I got a call from the school to advise my beautiful Miss A had gone this...

This placed every other problem into insignificance. There is nothing worse than knowing your child is hurt and you just can't get to them fast enough.  I motored back to the school scooped up my precious child and rushed off to the dentist who was able to glue the tooth back into place as a temporary fix. I think I was more  upset than she was.
Let's hope tomorrow is a calmer day.

Baking is fun

I love to bake. I'm not always a success at it, sometimes the kids just look at my offering and say "no thanks Mum" while backing away, that's a sure sign it's bin filler! Still, 'never give up, never surrender', is my baking motto. A few days ago, I felt the baking frenzy descend. It was kind of late, so I wanted something simple to make. Consulting my trusty Donna Hay Modern Classics vol 2 baking book, I whipped up a batch of ANZAC biscuits. ANZAC (Australian and New Zealand Army Corps) is an acronym from WWI. The ANZAC's and ANZAC day are hugely important in New Zealand (NZ) and Australian culture. If you want to find out why check out this link ANZAC day . ANZAC biscuits were used to raise money for the war effort and have been a New Zealand baker's staple ever since, for the full story click here . The basic biscuit is made of flour, rolled oats, sugar, coconut, baking soda, golden syrup and butter. The result is a delicious, slightly gooey golden mouthful of buttery goodness (unless you get distracted and leave them in the oven a shade too long, in which case they are hard as rock and need to be dunked in hot tea to be edible!). Find the recipe here and feel free to ad lib, raisins, chocolate chips, nuts, etc.

157 days til Christmas

I love Christmas. I love everything about Christmas. The planning, the decorating, the tree, the baking, making gifts, sending cards, wrapping presents, Christmas carols, everything. It's a little different here in the southern hemisphere, where Christmas is at the beginning of summer, but the anticipation and preparation is no less than in the north.
One of the things I love is making decorations. I make simple things that Miss A and Miss B can help with (and because I love the look of homemade decorations).

Last year we had a red and white theme, we bought a bunch of red felt and stripped ribbon from our local haberdashery Ikes emporium,  them Miss B and I cut out felt hearts to hang on the tree, and wound the ribbon around tiny polystyrene rings. See our results below.

Next I bought some fabric scraps from Spotlight ( solid red, red and white gingham, and white with red reindeer). A friend found a ring of fine metal on the road and gave it to me. Miss A took the fabric and ring and created this...

Bring on Christmas 2014.

Marital harmony ... and a sofa

You may think the things that would strain a marriage are likely to be big ticket items like infidelity, dishonesty, conflicting morals, or even conflicting parenting ideas. And these things do indeed cause conflict, but I am here to tell you that choosing a new sofa is right up there in the marital disharmony stakes!

Add into the mix two bored and tired children, and there is an afternoon spent miserably by anyone's standards (did I mention it was also raining?). 

The problem is the The Bloke and I have polar opposite tastes. I love an over stuffed linen covered sofa with a million cushions, while The Bloke likes leather, black, and mid century. *sigh*

So at the end of several hours, as a meltdown was imminent, (the children not me, come on now!) The Bloke and I stagger into one more shop, and there against the back wall sat the perfect sofa for us. We sit on it...oooohhhh it's comfy! But the colour isn't right..."No problem" says the salesman, "just choose another". There's a colour we both like! I feel hope start to seep through me. "How much?" The Bloke asks...it's in the budget, hooray, we'll take it.

With that, marital harmony is restored, and all is right in the world, well our tiny bit of it anyway.

p.s. pictures of the new sofa coming soon

Banana cake

I know some people who would consider baking a cake after returning home from work their own personal torture.  But for me, I find baking relaxing and comforting and nurturing. What could be better than the sweet scent of cinnamon and bananas wafting through your home on a cold and dark winter's night?

This banana cake makes a large flattish cake. It has the consistency of a steamed pudding and would be perfect with a scoop of ice cream and a drizzle (or a deluge) of salted caramel sauce. Find a link to the recipe below.

Banana cake

Small beauties

Sometimes days just seem to roll into the next one, and before you can blink days, weeks, even months have slipped by without you noticing. One of the reasons I started writing this blog was to focus my attention on the little details of life that remind us of the beauty and joyfulness to be found even on the dullest of days. Yesterday as I walked from the bus (saving the environment) to work, I looked up at the still dark sky, it was a wonderful ombre from deepest black to dark navy to deep blue, and all the way through to cornflower where the sun was coming up. The treasure is that you only have few moments to notice and wonder in awe at our world's beauty, then the light changes and that moment of perfection is gone forever. Make sure you take a moment to admire all the small beauties each day offers up.

To be or not to be perfect

I have done cross-stitch for many years and love the feeling of creating something totally by hand. And for a long time I have wanted to learn how to embroider.  It seems such an elegant past time, reminiscent of days when homemaking and all the skills that went with it were cherished in a way that seems absent today.

In that strange way that life hands you something at the perfect moment, I spoke to a lovely lady named Shelley at a local market which runs once a week at the place I work. Shelley was selling beautiful embroidered goods and as we chatted it came about that she taught classes not far from my home. And with that I committed.

Last night was my first class.  As luck would have it, due to a virulent flu bug, there were only two of us so I received a good deal of attention from Shelley.

I learned chainstitch, French knots, and Colonial knots. I started my first project, a small sunflower that will decorate a purse.  As I stitched, ungainly, uneven, slightly wonky chainstitch, I had to remind myself repeatedly that it was my first class and I didn't need to be perfect.  I repeat this mantra to my children constantly to encourage them to persevere and not give up. And it seems it is a lesson I need to learn too.

What better way to learn life's deepest lessons than with needle and thread in hand!

                                            The beginning

An adventure

This is the last week of the school holidays, so a little adventure was in order.  Miss A (10), Miss B (8), and I caught a bus into the city to the Auckland museum.  We saw dinosaur footprints, felt a simulated volcano eruption, and examined an enormous collection of bugs, beetles, and butterflies. All this set in beautiful Auckland domain with stunning views out over the harbour.

                      The museum

The view

                                        The grounds

The kids

What's an adventure without a tree to climb!

A beautiful day of adventure and new experiences and sunshine.

Planning Eden

Monday morning, always an effort to lever myself out of bed to join the throng of commuters. Eight hours later and I'm back home. Making the most of the fine, crisp, late afternoon, the whole family went off to the beach for our daily constitutional.

This is the beach today.

The things I like about wintery days, felt cloches, woollen beanies, leather gloves, scarfs so thick they imped neck movement, slow cooked casseroles, mulled wine, steamed puddings...the list goes on. The things I don't like,  wet feet and my garden. There is something depressing about my garden in winter. Actually it's not much better in the summer. Every year I swear this will be the year I take it in hand and without experience or expense miraculously create Eden. Needless to say it's still a work in progress!
When I think about my dream garden, the words 'lush', 'colour riot', and 'magical' are what comes to mind. It doesn't help that The Bloke and I can't decide on a design. This weekend  we visited the local garden centre and found the following inspiration.

leucadendrons

now back to planning Eden.

Winter sunshine

It's winter down-under in New Zealand. The last week has produced gale force winds, horizontal rain and a sudden drop in temperature that sent us running for our winter woolies. Today the clouds and rain departed and the winter sunshine returned. It seems such a fragile and fleeting thing, that sunshine, and somehow all the more delightful because of its fragility. Outside we went, past the farmers market full of shoppers, past the cafes full of people drinking coffee and breakfasting, down onto the beach. The dog was apoplectic with joy, running around in circles chasing her tail and anything else that moved. The children laughed and ran barefoot on the sand. I walked and breathed in the sun-warmed air and thought about how blessed I am.

Amazing how a bit of sun can reinvigorate! So while the great cull gets underway, I thought I would share a recent bit of kitchen DIY. When we remodelled our living space downstairs, opening up the multiple tiny rooms to make a larger open plan area that would feed out o the deck and garden, the old kitchen no longer fit. There wasn't money in the budget for a brand new kitchen, so we bought a kitchen for removal off the Internet for next to nothing. Just bare in mind that cheap second hand kitchen = functional but ugly. I've struggled along for quite a while with this unattractive and uninspiring kitchen with inadequate storage space. Most of my crockery and pantry items lived on two mismatched bookcases against the south wall. Then one day while cruising Pinterest, I found this (scroll down 5th to last picture), pinned by The Vintage Wren. It was exactly right. A bit vintage, lots of glass and white, and lots of orderliness...perfect.
"Quick" I said to The Bloke, "we're off to Bunnings". Two weekends later the bookshelves are gone, replaced by ...

while there is a bit left to complete it, the improvement both practically and visually is vast. Now back to the culling...

Too much stuff

It's been raining for a week, and the wind has been relentless. It's also the school holidays. So we've been stuck in the house with two children, a small dog, and a large pile of washing. Now you'd think this would be the perfect time for some DIY, but the faster I cleared up and tried to get started the faster the kids seemed to create more mess. Feeling frustrated I began to wonder where I could create more storage space. I went to talk to The Bloke (that's a kiwi term for a man). Where I am the planner, he is the creater. This time The Bloke was the creater of an epiphany. "Honey, we just have too much stuff". I looked around at the house at all our things and realised he was right. A cull is in order. Not only is this good for the house and the mind, it also serves to remind me how easy it is to waste money buying stuff we don't really need. For a little inspiration I found this blog 365 less things. So it's out with the old, but not in with the new.



The beach this morning; wild, windy, and very wet.

Starting out

When we bought this house it was a tiny cottage. By tiny I mean microscopic. The house had rotten weatherboards, rattley windows, no insulation, zero garden, and took about 20 minutes to clean from top to toe. But, it was in a beautiful town just 30 minutes to Auckland city, and 200 metres to a beautiful beach.
Fast forward 10 years, two georgous children, a global financial crisis, a renovation that took our tiny cottage by the sea to a double-storied family home and one amazingly intact marriage later. So here I am, a wife and mother, in an almost-but-not-quite-done home, looking for ways to slow it all down and celebrate every day...anyway I can.