"You can call me Sue"

Sunday, 3 July 2016

Sometimes life drifts slowly by when in fact it has zoomed past me.

I swear if I blink another week will pass me by. And then I discover that it is now July? How did that happen? The weather has been decidedly shite of late, lots of the wet stuff, warm, but RAIN!

The other week, not last week, but the one before, little George and Wayne left us. Both lads were booked in for their de sexing ops so we said our goodbyes and had our last cuddles.

Then I got a call saying "can you take Wayne back", the vet couldn't find one of his nuts!! This meant having to have a bigger op the following week, so while picking him back up I was given a brother and sister, Sushi (girl) on the left and Dylz (boy) on the right. They moved in to the kitty condo and the three of them just got on with it.

Pretty cute but I have to admit that three kittens are a lot of work and make an awful amount of poo. The kitten season is nearing an end so these may well be the last babies for a while.

For some odd reason I seemed to wear black and white more than once, which isn't like me when the weather is dull. The rain was starting to get to me, which is also not like me. I was brewing a bug but didn't know it.

A dear friend of mine, Vicki turned 50 on the Friday of that week which meant good fun pressies were a must. I had arranged with her hubby to just drop in on the day with out her knowing. What they both didn't know is I had managed to get another of our friends down from Auckland!!

Denise, Vicki and I have know each other since our youngest kids went to kindergarten together, and those little ones are all turning 21 this year. We had such a great afternoon/evening with Vicki and her family, there was family out from Canada that we got to meet as well. Yay for good friends I say.

The weekend passed by with me unwell, but I figure it was natures way of telling me to get my shit together and chill. The weather was wet so it was a good chance to stay under a blanket and catch up on recorded tv programs.

This week we said goodbye again to Wayne, he had his surgery and recovered well, thanks to his surrogate mother Oscar. I even found Wayne trying to feed off Oscar much to his disbelief and shock at the entire experience. Them nipples are as dry as!! These two really did love each other.

Meanwhile, Big has completely taken over the house and lays on the floor like this in the evening. Little Sushi got sick so I have been giving her antibiotics daily. As for Dylz, he just wants to be cuddled now that his full on playmate has left. Dylz goes this Monday and Sushi will be on her own until she is well and gets her op.

This week was incredibly busy for me at work so I only got to visit a couple of Op shops on Friday. The Hispanita Shoes were $4 and the magazines were free. That was all I walked away with. My op shopping mojo just wasn't with me, or maybe there just wasn't much on offer to excite me.

From there I went country.

It was time for a catch up with Dawn and see what she had been up to on the creative side of things. I also had some stuff of my own that I had made ages ago to under glaze. All will be revealed when finished. These Cat bird feeders are brilliant. I think they would look amazing hanging along a fence.

Most of this was in the process of being made last time I visited so it was wicked to see them all finished and ready to be sold.

The tiny Shadow Windows are super cute.

I fell in love with the Planted Totem, was it the spots, the stripes, or just the entire look?

The Dr Seuss style wall hanging is just so cool.

I love the bright coloured houses, these are an oldie but a goodie, she just hasn't made them for a while.

BUT OMG!! These Shadow Boxes are the best, and I get the feeling they are going to sell out fast. The detail is amazing.

In fact, I bought a second off her!!

Yesterday and today the sun finally came back. So nice to finally get some washing line dried and hopefully the ground will dry out a bit too. The garden still has fat sparrows, falling leaves and the odd bit of colour sneaking through.

The Spares rugby was in town today and right next to one of the older cemeteries in Hamilton. There was a flock of birds in there that took flight to the larger trees that border the rugby ground.

Such a distraction from the game for me.

The good news is, his team won their game, the sun continued to shine for the rest of the day. The temperature sure did drop of this evening and I am guess a bloody good frost will happen over night. Makes everything look pretty magical and it should kill off a few dirty bugs going around.

Have a good weekend everyone, and remember this:

Tuesday, 21 June 2016

Slap on an apron and lets do some baking!

I was supposed to bake some muffins for the lads lunches yesterday but with NO EGGS this couldn't happen. So today when I got home armed with the necessary eggs, I knew it just had to happen. I have an old favourite cook book that has seen better days, but it is full of favourite lunch box treats.

Good old Alison Holst, a kiwi favourite of simple pimple easy peasy things to bake. My kind of baking.

With some Bananas past their best by and more than ready to be put into baking, Chocolate & Banana Muffins were the order of the day.

Step One: Put 2 cups of self raising flour, 1/2 a cup of caster sugar, 1/2 a cup of chocolate chips and 1/2 a teaspoon of salt into a large mixing bowl and give it all a stir. This lot are called the Dry Ingredients.

Step Two: Help yourself to a handful of chocolate chips to make sure they are up to standard. Quality control is of the utmost importance!

Step Three: Make yourself a hot drink as this baking lark can take some time.

NOTE: Repeat Steps Two and Three as many times as you require.

Step Four: Melt 100 grams of butter and set aside to cool off slightly.

Step Five: Mash 3 bananas and put to one side. By now you probably need to implement Step Two again as your sugar levels have probably dropped.

Step Six: In another bowl, yes more dishes, put 1 cup of milk, 1 teaspoon of vanilla essence or extract, 1 beaten egg and those mashed bananas.

Step Seven: Now pour the melted butter into the bowl and give it a bit of a stir up so everyone gets to mingle and blend, let's call them the Wet Ingredients.

Step Eight: Add the Wet Ingredients to the Dry Ingredients.

Step Nine: Now you get to do some mixing, but only until the Dry Ingredients are dampened, you don't want it all smooth.

Step Ten: You can either grease your muffin tray or use paper cups like me. As I live in a house full of males it only seemed right that I opted for some pretty Pink ones.

Step Eleven: Spoon the mixture into the cups and then put into your pre heated over set at 220*c.

Step Twelve: While your muffins are baking away, put that jug of yours on because you will now need to follow Step Three again.

Step Thirteen: Presentation!! Make sure you have your freshly baked muffins well displayed so your family can be amazed and impressed with your efforts in the kitchen, which also proves you haven't sat around all day drinking tea and reading magazines!!

Step Fourteen: The taste test, the most important step in the entire process. You may as well be first in as you know they will not last much longer than a day. Mind you, I would rather the baking got eaten than grow mold!!

I pre rewarded myself by going to a couple of Op Shops on my way home from work today. I love embroidered things so the cloth was destined to be mine at $1. The skirt on the right is far too small for a buxom wench like myself but I only want the embroidered part. It is going to get revamped tomorrow as the light has blown in my sewing room so I will wait for the day light.

I threw this little lot together today as it was a grey old day outside indeed. Yesterday was unbelievably gorgeous and WARM!! I made the most of that weather catching up on washing and taking in my garden through my macro lens.