Joining Sticky Fingers for The Gallery... the theme this week is Sunshine.
Bombala 2008.
Travelling home to Canberra from the south coast, we stopped the car at a park in Bombala for a break. Julia had recently had her 2nd birthday. She had so much fun playing in the sunshine on this old tractor that it was hard to get her back into the car to continue the journey.
Christine xx
I posted this photo on my Facebook page last week after making a batch for Julia's school lunches. There were several requests for the recipe, so here it is. Pikelets are so quick and easy to make!
Apple Pikelets
Makes about 30
2 tsp butter or margarine, melted
1 egg
1/2 cup apple puree
1 cup self-raising flour
1 tbs sugar
2/3 cup milk (plus extra if needed)
Beat egg lightly with butter in a large mixing bowl. Stir in apple puree. Add flour, sugar and milk and stir well to make a thin batter. Heat a non-stick frypan. Drop tablespoons of batter into the pan and cook for 2-3 minutes each side until golden brown and cooked through.
A few tips:
You don't really need the butter in the batter, but I think it gives pikelets a better texture and a bit more flavour.
The pikelets will keep a lovely round shape if you don't make the batter too thick.
I use a Swiss Diamond frypan. I don't have to use any oil or butter in the pan and they colour evenly due to the even heat distribution.
If you have a mushy banana that needs using up, these are great as banana pikelets too. Just mash the banana and use instead of the apple puree.
Enjoy!
Christine xx
My photos from the third week of the May photo a day challenge from Fat Mum Slim.
15. Love
A special note from Julia. "I love you the whole week and I especially love you lots and lots"".
16. What I'm reading
This book is fabulous. If you haven't read The Bloggess, start now. THIS is the funniest blog post I have ever read.
17. Snack
Grapes - something sweet and healthy (for a change).
18. Something I made
Julia designed and I made it... her crazy rainbow beanie for The Mad Hatters morning tea at school this week.
19. A favourite place
Austria... my husband's birthplace and a beautiful country. We would love to revisit some day!
20. Something I can't live without
Organisation. Somewhere to write down all the stuff I have to remember to do and somewhere to put all the notes about things I have to do.
21. Where I stand
Julia recently asked me if two girls could get married. I said yes, of course they can. Maybe by the time she is old enough to find someone special for herself, there will be equal opportunity for all.
Christine xx
Listography is back with a monthly theme. It's such a pleasure to join once again with Kate Takes 5 to share the top 5 things I love about kids.
1. When you forget how to program the dvd recorder, they will always take over and fix it for you.
2. They don't care how you look first thing in the morning and will always give you a huge smoochy kiss to wake you up.
3. They believe everything you say. For some time I had Julia convinced that everyone had a spare head just in case they broke the one they were using, and hers was kept on the top shelf of our wardrobe. Highly amusing.
4. Ice cream is worth more than all the money in their piggy bank and is close to being a tradeable currency in my house.
5. They can be cute and fun sprites or mischievous imps, but they are just so utterly adorable when they are sleeping.
Christine xx
Joining Sticky Fingers for The Gallery ... the theme this week is Picture Postcard. Congratulations Tara on 100 weeks of The Gallery - I am so happy to be a part of this photographic journey of memories!
I like to take photos. I especially like to take digital photos because I can take 5 or 6 shots of the same thing and usually one will turn out OK. But it is still most unusual for me to take a photo that could be considered picture postcard perfect. Amazingly I have managed to fluke a few beauties in my travels and this is one of my favourites.
This photo is taken overlooking St Gilgen at Lake Wolfgang (Wolfgangsee), a lake in the Salzkammergut area of Austria. We visited in 2005. Although the day wasn't sunny and warm, to me this picture captured the iciness of the perpetual snow on the peaks, and beautiful succulent greenness of the landscape.
Christine xx
I am so excited to be part of Collaborate for a Cause again this year! Did you see my last C4AC blog post? Now here is a sneak peek of a second collaboration to show you...
You can find out more about this exciting handmade charity auction event on Facebook at Collaborate for a Cause. Bidding on the auction will commence at 8pm AEST on July 27th 2012. Don't miss out - it's going to be amazing!
Christine xx
Joining Sticky Fingers for The Gallery ... the theme this week is Morning.
The beautiful colours of dawn over rooftops in Inverness, Scotland.
Taken in 2003 through a little window in a B&B. My Mum and I were catching the early train to London that morning, hence the early start. I am not really a morning person!
Christine xx
Photos from the second week of the May photo a day challenge from Fat Mum Slim.
8. A smell I adore
Hot chocolate. Or any chocolate really!
9. Something I do every day
Every night before I go to bed I check on Julia. She is usually sleeping soundly just like this. When I pull the covers up she barely stirs. But sometimes her arms reach up to me and she gives me a sleepy cuddle and a tiny "thank you Mummy" before drifting back into dreamland.
10. A favourite word
Love. I can never hear enough of "I love you Mummy".
11. Kitchen
The centre of my home.
12. Something that makes me happy
Finishing a craft project! And Julia of course.
13. Mum
This is one of my favourite photos of my beautiful Mum.
14. Grass
We don't have any grass at our house. We moved here during a drought and at the time it would have been silly to plant grass only to watch it die. It's something we don't regret as there are definitely better things to do than mow lawn! Julia's garden pictures usually include grass, sky and flowers.
Christine xx
It's back for 2012! If you haven't yet seen this wonderful Facebook page, or missed out on all the fun last year, it's called Collaborate for a Cause and once again it's bringing the Facebook handmade community together for a charity auction event with a difference.
Created by Jen Kennedy of Ainslee Fox, this page is all about promoting fun and friendship through collaboration on a handmade item for the auction. Collaborating Facebook partners create a handmade item for the auction and choose a charity to which the proceeds of their item will be donated.
Once again I am thrilled to be a part of this fabulous idea - my own Mini-Me Handcrafts will be collaborating with several gorgeous ladies to create some very special handmade pieces. I am proud to support Raising Hope for Brittany with the proceeds of my contributions.
Here is a sneak peek of one of my items...
Bidding on the auction will commence at 8pm AEST on July 27th 2012. Please take a look at Collaborate for a Cause on Facebook for more information, and get ready for an even bigger and better charity auction than last year - definitely the most uplifting and wonderful auction the Facebook community has ever seen!
Christine xx
The May photo a day challenge from Fat Mum Slim has just started and here are the photos from my first week.
1. Peace
This is a card which Julia made for me for Easter. I see it when I am wandering around my house, thinking it's so very, very peaceful now that she is back at school for the new term.
2. Skyline
This fabulous country skyline photo was taken just down the road from my house. I love living in Canberra!
3. Something I wore today
This necklace was given to me by Julia for Christmas a few years ago. She calls it my "fairy jewels".
4. Fun!
We often play games together on the weekend; it's fun family time! Here we are playing Killer Bunnies (one of our favourite games).
5. Bird
Two little crochet birds.
6. Me
This is me showing off a crochet head wrap I just made.
7. Someone that inspires me
Julia... this photo shows her joy at completing the cross country run at school. She inspires me every day to be the best Mum I can be.
Christine xx
Julia was very keen for me to crochet something for her this week, so I decided that rainbows would be fun.
She loves her new rainbow scarf and fingerless mittens and they were very easy to make. She wore them to school this morning and they were greatly admired by her friends in the playground!
I found some lovely ideas at The Green Dragonfly for the mittens and scarf but adjusted the patterns slightly to suit my own crochet style.
Rainbows always make me smile - do they make you feel happy too?
Christine xx
Hooray! I have made it to the end of April for the photo a day challenge from Fat Mum Slim.
22. The last thing I bought
Julia's fabulous Tekilou boots which I purchased from eBay (thanks for the tip Ilja!).
23. Vegetable
Yum - broccoli is a favourite in our house.
24. Something I'm grateful for
I am so grateful for my wonderful little family. And I love this photo.
25. Looking down
This is what you would see at my front door if you looked down.
26. Black + white
This is one of my favourite photos of me, taken on my wedding day.
27. Somewhere I went
This is part of the magnet collection which decorates my fridge. We seem to collect a fridge magnet every place we go!
28. 1pm
It's 1pm... if I had time I would read one of the many books that are stacked on my bookshelf.
29. Circle
Julia has been making fairy rings next to her bed for the past week, in the hope that the fairies might leave her something in the circle.
30. Something that makes me sad
Sad and romantic movies make me cry... this is one of my favourites.
Christine xx
