I made a list in yesterday's blog post about all the things that I was going to get done over the weekend, while Adoring Husband was at First Aid Training.
I bet you can guess how many of those things I've done today.
If you guessed 'none', you would be so wrong!!
If you guessed 'all of them', you would also be so wrong!!
I did one of those items on the list.
Let me refresh your memory. I planned on editing photos, experimenting with ginger, cleaning, visiting the motivator and spending long mornings in bed.
I bet you can guess NOW, what part of the list got done.
Yes! I had a long lazy morning in bed. Haha.
It was a glorious Winter's day and I didn't waste it completely. At midday, I jumped on my trike and headed to the river, where I rode along the path and took in the sights.
There were a LOT of families and couples walking along the path, and quite a number of them eating ice cream cones that they'd bought from our local ice cream vendor.
The tide was low and on it's way in, so there was plenty of beach available and people were standing along the edge of the water with their fishing rods and buckets enjoying the sunshine and testing their luck.
The Council Caravan Park is quite full with visiting tourists at the moment and many of them were sitting in groups, in their folding chairs, overlooking the river, discussing their recent travels.
There were many people out on the sand flats at the mouth of the river, throwing sticks for their pets or playing ball or chasing each other through the huge puddles of salt water or collecting shells or just strolling hand in hand with their partner.
Before I returned home, I picked up a few groceries to replenish the stocks of coconut milk & cream that I'd used for the curries on Thursday night.
After my hit of Vitamin D, I hibernated in the lounge room and watched a couple of episodes of Grace and Frankie before the football started.
I've only got one of my tips wrong this week so far, but it's enough to put me out of the running for any prizes in the competition. This means, unfortunately, I'm now just in it for the thrill of beating most of the men in the tipping comp. That's ok too!
Tonight, now that the last game of the day is over, I'm watching one of my favourite movies. "It Could Happen to You" with Nicolas Cage and Bridget Fonda. It's such a feel good movie.
Looking forward to waking up tomorrow and feeling motivated enough to do all the other things on my list.
Nite all.
Saturday, August 27, 2016
All Over Red Rover
Another family holiday done and dusted.
After twelve days of fun and sunshine, Bubbles and Knight in Shining Armour flew home this morning.
The psychotic dogs are missing them very much, especially Jack, who has been absolutely spoilt rotten and molly coddled beyond all recognition.
It's now very quiet in our house and Adoring Husband has a big weekend of First Aide training happening with the SES so I will have the house to myself. I plan on editing photos, experimenting with ginger, cleaning, visiting The Motivator and spending long mornings in bed.
I didn't get a chance to post here last night because we all had a very late night.
We invited Best Cousin in the World and Marco Polo to our place to meet Bubbles and KISA for the first time. What started out as a planned barbecue with salads, Adoring Husband as the cook, ended up being a full day in the kitchen for me, because AH was required at SES training for the evening.
KISA is not a cook, not even on the barbecue, and I didn't want my guests to have to cook their own dinner, so I opted to cook a couple of curries. Curries are not my forte. I cook a reasonable Butter Chicken. That's it.
BCITW and MP are Indian Food connoisseurs, and I did not remember this fact until my pots were on the stove simmering away, at which point, I regretted my decision immediately. *rolls eyes*
Anyway, I did a Beef Rendang and a Butter Chicken, with boiled rice, Naan bread and natural yoghurt with cucumber and coriander. They turned out quite nice, though not as full of flavour as the Indian Restaurants, but acceptable.
For dessert, it was chocolate mud cake with chocolate icing and sprinkled with candied pecans. The pecans were candied with maple syrup mixed with a ginger powder that I made with BCITW's and MP's ginger from their farm.
I marinated slices of ginger in a flavoured balsamic vinegar, then dehydrated it in the oven and then ground it to a powder in the food processor. To taste it on it's own, it was very strong and very hot, with a sweet tangy flavour. Because of the strength of heat and flavour, I only used one teaspoon of the powder in three tablespoons of maple syrup.
I drizzled that mixture over pecans and cooked in a hot oven for 12 minutes. After it cools, the syrup mixture hardens to toffee and then I chop the pecans and toffee into small pieces, and then sprinkled it over the icing on the cake.
Surprisingly, the ginger could barely be tasted, so next time, I will add a couple more teaspoons of the ginger powder.
After dinner, and while we were affected by an unknown number of alcoholic beverages, we played Cards Against Humanity. It started out very even, with each of us winning a game. I'm sure MP hit the lead there a number of times, but in the end, I was the victor! Which just shows how sick my mind is!
A good time was had by all and Adoring Husband came home in time to join in for an hour before he had to go collapse in bed.
Everybody went to bed, except for BCITW and I. We sat up talking until 1.30am (I'm certain that she wanted to go to bed at least an hour earlier, but was too kind to tell me to shut up and go to bed!). I could have written a blog post because I lay in bed for almost two hours not able to sleep. It was almost 3.30am when I finally fell asleep.
We drove the kids to the airport this morning, washed the car in The Bay, did a little grocery shopping and came home with just enough time to enjoy a coffee and some nibbles before getting ready for the club.
Tonight, I won $80 on the keno, two pots in the 'lotsapots' and a pie pack in the raffle, which consisted of a large curry pie and a large apple pie direct from the bakery.
I arrived home in time to watch my team, the Brisbane Broncos, defeat the top team in the competition, the Melbourne Storm!! Yeeha!!
Now, it's well after midnight and I am off to bed. I'm exhausted.
I can't believe that I did not get one photo of Bubbles and I together while she was here!
Nite all.
After twelve days of fun and sunshine, Bubbles and Knight in Shining Armour flew home this morning.
The psychotic dogs are missing them very much, especially Jack, who has been absolutely spoilt rotten and molly coddled beyond all recognition.
It's now very quiet in our house and Adoring Husband has a big weekend of First Aide training happening with the SES so I will have the house to myself. I plan on editing photos, experimenting with ginger, cleaning, visiting The Motivator and spending long mornings in bed.
I didn't get a chance to post here last night because we all had a very late night.
We invited Best Cousin in the World and Marco Polo to our place to meet Bubbles and KISA for the first time. What started out as a planned barbecue with salads, Adoring Husband as the cook, ended up being a full day in the kitchen for me, because AH was required at SES training for the evening.
KISA is not a cook, not even on the barbecue, and I didn't want my guests to have to cook their own dinner, so I opted to cook a couple of curries. Curries are not my forte. I cook a reasonable Butter Chicken. That's it.
BCITW and MP are Indian Food connoisseurs, and I did not remember this fact until my pots were on the stove simmering away, at which point, I regretted my decision immediately. *rolls eyes*
Anyway, I did a Beef Rendang and a Butter Chicken, with boiled rice, Naan bread and natural yoghurt with cucumber and coriander. They turned out quite nice, though not as full of flavour as the Indian Restaurants, but acceptable.
For dessert, it was chocolate mud cake with chocolate icing and sprinkled with candied pecans. The pecans were candied with maple syrup mixed with a ginger powder that I made with BCITW's and MP's ginger from their farm.
I marinated slices of ginger in a flavoured balsamic vinegar, then dehydrated it in the oven and then ground it to a powder in the food processor. To taste it on it's own, it was very strong and very hot, with a sweet tangy flavour. Because of the strength of heat and flavour, I only used one teaspoon of the powder in three tablespoons of maple syrup.
I drizzled that mixture over pecans and cooked in a hot oven for 12 minutes. After it cools, the syrup mixture hardens to toffee and then I chop the pecans and toffee into small pieces, and then sprinkled it over the icing on the cake.
Surprisingly, the ginger could barely be tasted, so next time, I will add a couple more teaspoons of the ginger powder.
After dinner, and while we were affected by an unknown number of alcoholic beverages, we played Cards Against Humanity. It started out very even, with each of us winning a game. I'm sure MP hit the lead there a number of times, but in the end, I was the victor! Which just shows how sick my mind is!
A good time was had by all and Adoring Husband came home in time to join in for an hour before he had to go collapse in bed.
Everybody went to bed, except for BCITW and I. We sat up talking until 1.30am (I'm certain that she wanted to go to bed at least an hour earlier, but was too kind to tell me to shut up and go to bed!). I could have written a blog post because I lay in bed for almost two hours not able to sleep. It was almost 3.30am when I finally fell asleep.
We drove the kids to the airport this morning, washed the car in The Bay, did a little grocery shopping and came home with just enough time to enjoy a coffee and some nibbles before getting ready for the club.
Tonight, I won $80 on the keno, two pots in the 'lotsapots' and a pie pack in the raffle, which consisted of a large curry pie and a large apple pie direct from the bakery.
I arrived home in time to watch my team, the Brisbane Broncos, defeat the top team in the competition, the Melbourne Storm!! Yeeha!!
Now, it's well after midnight and I am off to bed. I'm exhausted.
I can't believe that I did not get one photo of Bubbles and I together while she was here!
Nite all.
Wednesday, August 24, 2016
Pausing the Binge
I am not binge watching tonight! Tempting though it is! I need a good night's sleep. Frankie and Grace will have to wait.
Surprisingly, after yesterday's activities in Bundaberg, the kids are feeling the pain today. They discovered muscles where they forgot they had muscles. Even more surprisingly, Adoring Husband and I are not!
Our own Australian version of Cards Against Humanity arrived in the mail today, so we played for a few hours this afternoon. Best Cousin in the World is visiting us tomorrow, to meet Bubbles and Knight in Shining Armour, so we plan on introducing her and Marco Polo to the game. I hope that their sense of humour is as sick as I imagine it to be!
AH and I spent the morning in The Bay attending the yearly financial planner appointment. Quite dull really.
The weather has turned from glorious mild Wintry sunshine, to overcast with intermittent downpours of cool rain and bursts of gale force winds. Tomorrow is going to be 5C cooler than today, which is fine by me. I LOVE the cooler weather. It will be nice to lie in bed late again tomorrow and perhaps Adoring Husband will bring me coffee to start my day on a perfectly wonderful note!
Tomorrow marks the beginning of a busy few days for us, so I'd like to start it in my happy place :)
Right now, it's time to drag the psychotic dogs out of Bubble's and KISA's room and put them to bed. Then it's time for me to follow suit. My pillow awaits me.
Nite all.
Surprisingly, after yesterday's activities in Bundaberg, the kids are feeling the pain today. They discovered muscles where they forgot they had muscles. Even more surprisingly, Adoring Husband and I are not!
Our own Australian version of Cards Against Humanity arrived in the mail today, so we played for a few hours this afternoon. Best Cousin in the World is visiting us tomorrow, to meet Bubbles and Knight in Shining Armour, so we plan on introducing her and Marco Polo to the game. I hope that their sense of humour is as sick as I imagine it to be!
AH and I spent the morning in The Bay attending the yearly financial planner appointment. Quite dull really.
The weather has turned from glorious mild Wintry sunshine, to overcast with intermittent downpours of cool rain and bursts of gale force winds. Tomorrow is going to be 5C cooler than today, which is fine by me. I LOVE the cooler weather. It will be nice to lie in bed late again tomorrow and perhaps Adoring Husband will bring me coffee to start my day on a perfectly wonderful note!
Tomorrow marks the beginning of a busy few days for us, so I'd like to start it in my happy place :)
Right now, it's time to drag the psychotic dogs out of Bubble's and KISA's room and put them to bed. Then it's time for me to follow suit. My pillow awaits me.
Nite all.
Tuesday, August 23, 2016
Bundy Tuesdy
After another late night (or should I say early morning) of binge watching 'Grace and Frankie', I struggled to get out of bed this morning. REALLY struggled.
We agreed, last night, to leave home at 8.30am to reach Bundaberg before 10am.
I got out of bed at 8.20am, showered and dressed and was sitting in the car by by 8.45am, which I thought was pretty good going.
There was a lot of traffic on the road, and also a lot of roadworks, but we had a pretty good run, stopping along the way at Childers to get coffee, before reaching Bundaberg by 10.20am.
The Bundy Bowl and Leisure Centre was our destination, where we planned a family fun day.
First game off the rank, was Jurassic Putt Putt ...
Knight in Shining Armour won that round. Thanks to one VERY VERY bad hole for me, I came last!!
Next game was 10 Pin Bowling ...
We played two games and Adoring Husband won that round by a long way! It was a lot of fun, but I've decided that it's NOT like riding a bike (although AH might disagree).
Next, we tried Laser Tag. AH and I have never attempted this activity before and I have to admit, I was dubious and hesitant, but it was actually a lot of fun. Adoring Husband said he's never seen me run so much and we are all preparing ourselves for sore muscles tomorrow after 30 minutes of fast and furious war games!
Unfortunately, the packs on two of our vests didn't register any activity, so Bubbles and I didn't get a score for our efforts. Knight in Shining Armour won that round, even though only he and AH got a score.
To compensate for our failed packs, the girl gave us $20 worth of tokens for the games arcade, where, between us, we won 264 tickets, which we traded for a number of dinosaur related toys and will give to Chicklet at the next visit!
We left the leisure centre at about 1.20pm and drove around the corner to The Waves Sports Club in search of some lunch.
What a nice club it is! The staff were all very friendly and welcoming and the atmosphere was lovely. AH and I both had Veal Scallopini with salad for lunch, which was GF and delicious. Bubbles and KISA shared some hot chips and cheese/bacon/garlic focaccia bread, which they seemed to enjoy.
The bathroom at the club was so classy and beautiful, I was tempted to take a chair in there, just to sit and feel the ambience!
We left Bundaberg for a good run home, stopping again at The Drunk Bean in Childers for another of their delicious coffees.
The psychotic dogs were very excited to see us arrive home at around 4.30pm.
I think the day well and truly wore us all out, but I believe that 'Grace and Frankie' may get another workout tonight, if I can just find my second wind!!
I'm about to cook up some quick tacos for dinner.
Nite all.
We agreed, last night, to leave home at 8.30am to reach Bundaberg before 10am.
I got out of bed at 8.20am, showered and dressed and was sitting in the car by by 8.45am, which I thought was pretty good going.
There was a lot of traffic on the road, and also a lot of roadworks, but we had a pretty good run, stopping along the way at Childers to get coffee, before reaching Bundaberg by 10.20am.
The Bundy Bowl and Leisure Centre was our destination, where we planned a family fun day.
First game off the rank, was Jurassic Putt Putt ...
Knight in Shining Armour won that round. Thanks to one VERY VERY bad hole for me, I came last!!
Next game was 10 Pin Bowling ...
We played two games and Adoring Husband won that round by a long way! It was a lot of fun, but I've decided that it's NOT like riding a bike (although AH might disagree).
Next, we tried Laser Tag. AH and I have never attempted this activity before and I have to admit, I was dubious and hesitant, but it was actually a lot of fun. Adoring Husband said he's never seen me run so much and we are all preparing ourselves for sore muscles tomorrow after 30 minutes of fast and furious war games!
Unfortunately, the packs on two of our vests didn't register any activity, so Bubbles and I didn't get a score for our efforts. Knight in Shining Armour won that round, even though only he and AH got a score.
To compensate for our failed packs, the girl gave us $20 worth of tokens for the games arcade, where, between us, we won 264 tickets, which we traded for a number of dinosaur related toys and will give to Chicklet at the next visit!
We left the leisure centre at about 1.20pm and drove around the corner to The Waves Sports Club in search of some lunch.
What a nice club it is! The staff were all very friendly and welcoming and the atmosphere was lovely. AH and I both had Veal Scallopini with salad for lunch, which was GF and delicious. Bubbles and KISA shared some hot chips and cheese/bacon/garlic focaccia bread, which they seemed to enjoy.
The bathroom at the club was so classy and beautiful, I was tempted to take a chair in there, just to sit and feel the ambience!
We left Bundaberg for a good run home, stopping again at The Drunk Bean in Childers for another of their delicious coffees.
The psychotic dogs were very excited to see us arrive home at around 4.30pm.
I think the day well and truly wore us all out, but I believe that 'Grace and Frankie' may get another workout tonight, if I can just find my second wind!!
I'm about to cook up some quick tacos for dinner.
Nite all.
Monday, August 22, 2016
Shop til we Drop
Adoring Husband had a busy day today, so the kids and I went in to The Bay for some retail therapy.
Each time we left a shop with arms full of shopping bags, Knight in Shining Armour would take the bags to the car and we would start again!
Because of this tactic, we didn't feel like we did that much shopping ... until we arrived home and began emptying the car!!
It felt like the week before Christmas .. you know how you rush out to buy those last minute gifts? The car was chocka-block!!
I ALMOST bought two pairs of shoes. Common sense prevailed.
It was a full day of shopping and I think that I almost wore the kids out ... rookies. I'm yet to find anyone who can outshop me and still have energy to burn haha!!
We have a day of fun planned for tomorrow, which I will explain in full at the end of the day and I hope to have some interesting pics to share as well.
Last night I binge watched 'Grace and Frankie' on Netflix (thanks to Bubbles) and I still have more episodes to watch. It stars Lily Tomlin and Jane Fonda and Martin Sheen and is only available for viewing on Netflix. What a great show! I watched it for four hours!
Thanks to the Cronulla Sharks football team, I missed a perfect round in the footy tipping this week (along with 11 other people!). Not happy Jan!
I'm off to watch some more G&F (even though I have a big day tomorrow) because I'm hooked.
Nite all.
Each time we left a shop with arms full of shopping bags, Knight in Shining Armour would take the bags to the car and we would start again!
Because of this tactic, we didn't feel like we did that much shopping ... until we arrived home and began emptying the car!!
It felt like the week before Christmas .. you know how you rush out to buy those last minute gifts? The car was chocka-block!!
I ALMOST bought two pairs of shoes. Common sense prevailed.
It was a full day of shopping and I think that I almost wore the kids out ... rookies. I'm yet to find anyone who can outshop me and still have energy to burn haha!!
We have a day of fun planned for tomorrow, which I will explain in full at the end of the day and I hope to have some interesting pics to share as well.
Last night I binge watched 'Grace and Frankie' on Netflix (thanks to Bubbles) and I still have more episodes to watch. It stars Lily Tomlin and Jane Fonda and Martin Sheen and is only available for viewing on Netflix. What a great show! I watched it for four hours!
Thanks to the Cronulla Sharks football team, I missed a perfect round in the footy tipping this week (along with 11 other people!). Not happy Jan!
I'm off to watch some more G&F (even though I have a big day tomorrow) because I'm hooked.
Nite all.
Catch Up Sunday
Can you believe that I stayed in bed til lunch time today!?
I had an early night, but slept til 9am and then stayed in bed until after noon, reading and playing games on my iPad. It was especially nice because of the mild Winter weather.
By the time I got up, I had just enough time to do a baked Sunday dinner of butterflied lamb with veg and gravy, before getting ready for drinks at The Blonde Bombshell's house.
Bubbles and I spent a couple of hours enjoying the company of my good friends before texting Adoring Husband to come pick us up. We took the Cards Against Humanity game with us because I thought we would all get a good laugh, but Chef Pat was in attendance and her poor eyesight prevents her from reading ... I don't think she would have enjoyed sitting on the side lines watching us play this crude game.
We all had a light dinner and then laughed over some more Cards Against Humanity.
I've enjoyed my day of rest.
A big week has been planned for the remainder of our time with Bubbles and Knight in Shining Armour, so I'd best get some beauty sleep. It's after 1.30am!!
Nite all.
I had an early night, but slept til 9am and then stayed in bed until after noon, reading and playing games on my iPad. It was especially nice because of the mild Winter weather.
By the time I got up, I had just enough time to do a baked Sunday dinner of butterflied lamb with veg and gravy, before getting ready for drinks at The Blonde Bombshell's house.
Bubbles and I spent a couple of hours enjoying the company of my good friends before texting Adoring Husband to come pick us up. We took the Cards Against Humanity game with us because I thought we would all get a good laugh, but Chef Pat was in attendance and her poor eyesight prevents her from reading ... I don't think she would have enjoyed sitting on the side lines watching us play this crude game.
We all had a light dinner and then laughed over some more Cards Against Humanity.
I've enjoyed my day of rest.
A big week has been planned for the remainder of our time with Bubbles and Knight in Shining Armour, so I'd best get some beauty sleep. It's after 1.30am!!
Nite all.
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