Movin' to the country, gonna eat me a lot of peaches

Lately I feel like there aren't enough hours in the day, days in the week etc.etc.

So it was nice to take the foot of the pedal and spend a couple of days out of town.

The kidlets had a ball. 

Finding fresh eggs in the hen house, making sweet treats, quad-biking and toasting marshmallows by the fire.

There was of course a visit to the makers market and Lark with goodies for all.

  

I could totally lose myself in Lark, the shop is like a whimsical dream full of goodness. 

I'm thankful that it is out of town as it takes a lot of will power to not just fill up my car and max out my credit card. I now have a month before my next visit to save my pennies for some more goodies. Woo Hoo

Point and shoot: A not so subtle hint

You may have noticed over the last few weeks there has been a lot of photos of cupcakes popping up, and I may have hinted of a new venture, it' nearly time for an announcement. 

I'm sure if you read between the lines you'll figure out what I'm up to (the photo is a BIG hint) but I'll fill you in more in the coming days as soon as I can get my head straight.

My point and shoot for this week is my first proper PAID job for this new venture

YUMM. I was a little nervous and forgot to take my "good" camera, but these little babies are Lemon cupcakes and Milo cupcakes for a little engagement lunch.

Oh so much to share.

Note to self - find 5 minutes this arvo to share my Daylesford goodies!!!

Things I Love Thursday

Having a bestie that lives just outside of Daylesford.

For those that are not familiar with Daylesford, it is Victoria's spa and retreat centre, and so stunning. Possibly one of the most beautiful spots in Victoria.

Unfortunately there will be no time for spa treatments but a visit to Lark and the Maker's Market are definitely on the cards. As well as lots of brain storming for a new venture.

Warning : A bit of self advertising 

As I speak of new ventures I'm going to plug myself a little here. To help fund my new venture 

and taking on the challenge of making plastic cool, I am now your friendly neighbourhood Tupperware lady. Yeah I hear ya, like I don't have enough on my plate but my current job is a bit further from home than I would like so I'm needing a bit of flexibility.

So please feel free to contact me if you're up for some fun times.

And to counter balance my cheekiness I will even bring along a batch of cupcakes if you book a party...

More Sunny Sunday

Hi, my name is Belinda and I'm a photoholic!

 

We spent Sunday at the in-laws for a birthday celebration.

I have to be honest, I'm not a fan of their chosen location but Sadie loves running around chasing the chickens and trying to get the sheep to the fence. 

I did manage to pass the day buy taking over 300 photos.

Do you think I have a problem????

Point and Shoot Sunny Sunday

Sunny Sunday

followed in true Melbourne style by miserable Monday.

I didn't think this kid could get any cuter. But put her in a Collingwood jumper OMG!!!

And look she has all her front teeth, see such Collingwood supporters do exist.

Holy Moley what a day. What a game. I think I am still in a state of shock.

I thought my heart was going to pop out of my throat.

A draw. ARE YOU SERIOUS!

We have to go through this all again, the tension, the anxiety, the stupid collingwood jokes.

And I am one of those people that is in the midst of changing and rearranging to be able to sit through the match again. 

I did have loads more to share for point and shoot today, but my internet isn't being my friend today, so I'll have to share some more of my sunny sunday a bit later

Serendipity

Serendipity - (ser-en-dip-i-ty) . The faculty of making fortunate discoveries by accident. The fact or occurrence of such discoveries.




Milo cupcakes

I mentioned that I attempted macarons (macaroons? They both seem to be correct). Big fail all around, but I am not going to let my one failure keep me down. I will try and try again, and for every fail it means we get crushed up bikkies to crumble on top of vanilla bean ice-cream. Win




The failed first attempt ( note to self - don't think of comparisons).
I will not let them get the better of me....
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Point and Shoot: GO PIES

I have a confession to make. I am a Collingwood supporter. 

I'm not fanatical by an means but I am trying to keep a lid on my excitement in the lead up to the AFL Grand Final. Although that hasn't stopped me from spending a few bucks on balloons, streamers, a cardboard premiership cup and a ridiculous inflatable hand.

My love of football has waned over the years. The man of the house is a football freak. 

I can't tell you how many tipping and fantasy footy comps he is in and during football season I usually have to compete with the game for a bit of attention!!!! 

This is not helped by the fact that he is a Carlton supporter and despises my team, 

he even commented once that if he knew I was a Collingwood supporter before hand there probably wouldn't be an "us". (How rude)

So my point and shoot is from Friday nights game at the G. 

I was there amongst the 95,000 people having a great time with my lil sis. 

(Rolling out of there after a super healthy dinner of Hot Dogs, hot chips and jam donuts for dessert. Oh boy, oh boy).

One more to go.........

Luckily I have a few distractions to keep me calm this week.

The first is catching up with the other point and shooters over at fatmumslim.

Looking for a remedy

Ok so I am trying to cure a big case of the Can't Be Bothered's.

Got any tips?

I am hoping the weather will help. 

With the temperature (slowly) on the rise it's much easier to crawl out from my doona cocoon at 6 a.m. I'm hoping that will give me a head start before Cyclone Sadie starts her day.
A big spring clean is on the cards. Cleanse, clean and tidy. 
I need to make space (and funds) to create create create.


My first step towards a cure for my Can't Be Bothered's has been enrolling in the 
Small Crafts class run by the ultra cool Elsie and Rachel from Red Velvet

I'm a bit excited about getting stuck into this, I am running a little behind as I only registered a day before the course started so I need to do some gathering but I can't wait to get stuck into some of these projects. The first is a puppet theatre. I can't wait to share my finished projects, and I'm telling you about them so I have to be bothered!!!!

.

Point and shoot: No rest for the wicked

I've lost count of amount of cuppa's I've half finished this weekend. 

 With a house full of kids my intentions of sitting down for five minutes was a bit of a fantasy.

My little house felt like it had a revolving door!!

But as they say No Rest For The Wicked, now where did I park my broomstick?

Busy times make it harder for me to choose just one pic for point and shoot so here's a bit of a weekend round up

• A trip to the maker's market to purchase some goodies, have faces painted finished with a sausage sizzle. Seriously how good does a sausage sizzle smell!
• An afternoon of tea parties, fairy bread and colouring in
• Dutch pancakes for breakfast (Best 19 bucks I've spent at Kmart)
• Celebrating a 1st birthday at a Candy Shop themed party
• Fun times with family and friends

For more point and shoot fun head over to Fatmumslim and hey why not join in

A taste of things to come

Since doing a cupcake class with the wonderful Cathie from melbourne epicure a couple of weeks back I've been a little obsessed. Not only with making cupcakes but with playing around with recipes.

 I've had no complaints about my red velvet but I think they still need a little tweaking. 

I'm attempting to keep my cakes low fat and healthy for little munchkins but still tasty.

I'm sure I'm not the only one that would reach for a chocolate cupcake over carrot, but I promise you, these are REALLY good. Thumbs up all round. I suppose you could even have two!! If I was being totally honest I would admit that I just wanted a healthy cake option so I could load up the cream cheese icing.

Carrot cupcakes

Ingredients

• 225g self-raising flour
• 1 tsp mixed spice
• 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
• 75g sultanas
• 50g brown sugar
• 115g grated carrot
• 1 TBsp olive oil ( I would have replaced this with apple sauce, but was all out)
• 2 eggs, lightly whisked
• 250g yoghurt
• 
  

  Cream-cheese frosting

  
  
  I have to be honest, I didn't measure my ingredients for this.
  I just beat the cream cheese I had and added icing sugar until I got the right consistency, with a drop of vanilla essence. In hind sight I would probably just squeeze in some lemon juice.

Crushed walnuts

Method

1. 
   
   Preheat oven to 160°C (fan forced). 
2. 
   
   Line twelve 80ml muffin pans with paper cases. ( My mix made 12 "normal" size plus 10 minis. 
3. 
   
   Sift the flour, mixed spice and bicarbonate of soda into a bowl. Stir in sultanas, sugar and carrot. Make a well in the centre.
4. Whisk together the yoghurt, egg and oil in a jug. Pour into the flour mixture and stir to combine. Spoon mixture among cases. Bake in oven for 20 minutes or until a skewer inserted into centres comes out clean. Transfer to a rack to cool.
5. To make frosting beat cheese and icing sugar until smooth and stir through vanilla essence
6. Spread cakes with cream-cheese frosting and dress with crushed walnuts.
7. Eat and enjoy
8. Try to stop at just 1

   

Bonus : They get Sadie's seal of approval!!!

For every success there is a failure. I had my very first attempt at making Macarons. BIG FAIL!!!

Point & Shoot: Simple pleasures

Simple pleasures all around for this father's day weekend

• Sharing red velvet cupcakes with friends and finding new treasures at Yarraville Market

• Enjoying a  leisurly walk to the local for breakfast (and not having to wait for a table!)

free rides are the best 05/09/10 12.18 pm

•  The sun peaking out from the clouds in between small showers, a taste of what's to come

• Not being able to decide if it was Sadie's laugh/giggle from being up so high or if it was the look on P's face everytime she held his hair that little bit tighter that made me laugh more.

• Spending time with my nearest and dearest as we nurtured our heavy hearts 

And those simple pleasures continue, as I can finally get around to checking out other 
point and shoot entries because I no longer work Mondays, a big YIPEE all round for that!!!!


P.S. How friggin cute is my new point and shoot button!!!!!

Hey Spring, Peek A Boo I see you

Hey hey spring, don't be shy, we know you're out there somewhere.

I'm under no illusion that you can take away the sadness that winter left us with, but I hope that your sunny beams will make the days brighter.

It seems so much easier to be sad when the sky is grey. If don't mind I'd like for you to brighten up our days, just a little.

We have lots of park dates and outdoor activities planned, not to mention a good dose of vitamin D to be had. So Spring, can you make yourself shown.
Pretty please. xoxo
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

What day is it?

So, I "lost" my point and shoot, missed T.I.L.T.

have a load of housework and a to do list that is growing by the second, but there was nothing more important than a special someone's 5th birthday yesterday.

This was always going to be a bittersweet celebration and a string of too many firsts without someone special, but it was still a celebration none the less.

 

We wrapped up 5 special presents for the birthday girl and I made more than 40 cupcakes for her "party". The kids all but snorted the ice cream cake and everyone had (last minute) lollie boxes to take home.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BEL BELL

WE LOVE YOU XOXO

T.I.L.T.

Things I Love Thursday

Lovin' Rachel Zoe's new shoot for Harper's Bazaar.

Lovin' Marc in a kilt even more

Hurry up Foxtel and start airing The Rachel Zoe Project!!

What are you lovin' today?

Point and shoot and shoot again

So in the interest of getting on with things I have a couple of point and shoots to catch up on.

Friday night we had some things to do and loving a good multi-task decided that dinner and organisation could be done together. So off we trotted, shopping and dinner at IKEA.

Yup we sure are fancy!!!!

While there the kidlets decided they should test out ALL the furniture they possibly could.

Am thinking of renting them out.

KIDS FOR HIRE able to test furniture durabilty. Try before you buy!!!

I love a bit of last minute planning and found myself doing a cupcake workshop with one of my besties on Saturday morning.

The lovely Cathie from melbourne epicure was our teacher and she was ACE.

I have brought some of her goodies at various markets before (Pear tart YUMMO!!!)

so I knew we would be in for a treat, and right I was.

It was all about decorating, as far as I'm concerned a good icing can turn an average cake into the best ever. We made all the fondant decorations and I think I may be at least one step closer to being able to use a piping bag like a pro.

I am proud to say that these cupcakes made it all the way home without me even being tempted to sample just a little bit. That is probably more to do with sampling the cream cheese icing tests, than willpower.

My will power wasn't so strong when we stopped at the baking shop on the way home though.

I walked into the shop with a set limit in my mind. A quick trip to the ATM across the round and I doubled my limit within 3 minutes and then to top it off I parted with some more money today as I get totally professional with an oven thermometer and a "proper" piping set.

Needless to say I can't wait for the next round of birthdays to show off my skills!!!

Getting on with it, not getting over it

Write delete, rewrite delete again.
I've had moments over the last two weeks where I could write for hours as tears have flown. It has felt therapeutic. Then the moment passes and I don't want to share my thoughts. At all, with anyone. And I wonder how much I want to share in the wide open space of the world wide web.
I thought about deleting my previous post and hiding away as my family rallies together to get through this time. Then I want to write everything.
Where, why, how.
I want to write the questions, especially those that can't be answered.

I have no shame in crying, geez I cry watching most TV shows (damn you Chuck Bass). I also have no shame in laughing as we remember stupid things.
I have done a lot of both in the last few days.
But there is a point, after losing a loved one, that you have to start living your life again. Meals have to be cooked, clothes need to be washed and bills have to be paid. Then guilt feels like it is creeping over your grief. There will also be a point at which I will have to slow down and stop keeping myself busy.
I'm sure there will also be a point that I will be able to watch the news without feeling anxious about any reports of car accidents.
Before it affects you the road toll is just numbers. You may think about the tragedy for a moment, but that report is usually followed by a light hearted funny animal story and your thought process has switched. When one of your loved ones is included in that toll it changes everything.

As time goes by things may get easier, there will be less crying in the shower, certain songs will bring smiles rather than tears and memories will come easily rather than trying to force myself to remember moments.

So as all cliches ring through my head it's now time to get on with it.
But we'll never get over it.



- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Ciao for now

The first time we met I had just stepped of a 26 hour flight from the UK .

I heard that you were really nervous to met for the first time and you had good reason.

As soon as I spotted you I saw the cheek in your eyes, and you had the look on your face like the cat that stole the cream, after all in my absence you had knocked up my lil sister.

You were the bogan in the trackie pants hangin' for a fag, I was the freak wearing a cowboy hat over my black and pink hair.

In the time I was away my family of four had grown into 5 as my parents treated you like their own and in a split second you went from being a complete stranger to my brother (and tormentor).

A week later that family grew to 6 when we welcomed one of the greatest joys of my life. Jemma Dorothy.

It's no secret that you took to fatherhood like a duck to water, which was pretty lucky seeing that Abby Reese arrived 4 years later with Bella Charlotte only 2 years behind. You couldn't crack it for a boy but wouldn't have had it any other way.

So you weren't perfect, either am I as you would be reminding me as even now I procrastinate over writing this.

You were a perfect Dad though and an amazing Uncle. I hope I always remember the look of pure joy on your face when Sadie learnt to say your name and then continue to say it over and over because she new you were laughing at her.

"Wonald Wonald Wonald"

I promise she will know how much you adored her, just like we will tell your beautiful girls every day how much you loved them.

I could go on for days but you'd be over all this "sappy shit" by now.

So mutha fucka I guess it's ciao for now.

I'll make sure your cupboards are full of malteasers and biscuits and that ice cream is always eaten straight from the tub. More importantly I will always be there for all your girls.

"Catch You Fuckers at A Bad Time"

Ronald Stuart Page

07/03/1978 - 01/08/2010

R.I.P.