Mission complete...

Every year for work I need to get 6 updating points so I can be accreditated for the next year.  Tomorrow is the last day for an online workshop that is compulsory this year and is also worth 3 points.  I've got 4 points already from other workshops I've been to this year and now finally I've finished the compulsory workshop too - with a day to spare!  That means all points accrued - yeah.

I'm a "last minute" person.  I try not to be but it just comes naturally...I used to think it happened after I had children, but upon reflection I can remember preparing accounts the day before a meeting, typing minutes up just before the next meeting (something I'm still guilty of), buying the birthday present on the way to the birthday party etc., way before children came along.  I do sometimes get my ahead of myself and finish work way before I have to.  I must admit that it does feel good and I feel like I'm then free to do whatever I want with the time I have spare.

So what will  I do with my one day spare this time - well obviously, blog and read more of  "Committed'.

A weekend with women

After spending last weekend with none of my girl friends I had the pleasure of their company yesterday.

I started the morning with cricket at Callington.

Callington is a small rural town about 20 minutes up the freeway from where I live.

A small cricket club who often rely on younger boys playing in the next age group so they can field a team.

They are also one of the only clubs who run a canteen for Saturday morning cricket.

I really enjoy watching the boys play cricket on Saturday.  I especially love playing cricket at Callington

because of the

Egg and bacon sandwiches



Kanmantoo bacon and free range eggs. Mmmmmm

Every so often a train rattles past on the tracks behind us - well the only exception so far has been when I took this photo!

I spent the some of the afternoon preparing and cooking the bbq for the club in the evening.  More time spent with girls...

and yes I am a messy cook...don't ask me how I got the back tiles covered in stuff...

and yes we had wine and bubbles to drink...and I know I'm not the best photographer in the world but maybe i'll blame the camera or maybe the bubbles...

The only thing missing, music, but that's only because the juke box ate my money.

PS by the time we went home it was dark...lovely day with lovely girls.

"Committed" by Elizabeth Gilbert

How could I not choose this book for my choice this month.  I did say I wasn't being original - I chose "eat, pray, love" when it came out. 

The funny thing is I didn't even know this book existed until yesterday - obviously the publicity machine isn't working too well in "the hills".  I researched so many books on Tuesday and Wednesday night as I really wanted a book with a Christmas theme but had no luck finding one that sounded ok and was available at the library.  I said to Richard before heading off to work that I was just going to walk into the bookshop and the first thing that grabbed me was "it".

So I headed off after work, stopped at the library to, surprise surprise, "return a book" and there it was in the "hot read section".  I was so excited - rushed over to the bookshop and right at the entrance was a whole display of them.  Had a quick read of the blurb and then rushed over to Target to see if they had the book cheaper - wahoo - $9 cheaper.  It was my lucky day.

I so enjoyed "eat, pray, love".  Haven't been able to watch the movie yet tho - not sure I quite saw Julia Roberts as Elizabeth Gilbert so that's been a bit of a block - maybe when it comes out on DVD.  Fingers crossed I enjoy "Comitted" too and more importantly "the bookclub girls" do as well. 

Now, I've got 4 weeks to plan dessert.

Enjoy the sunshine this weekend and think of me as I cook another BBQ for the cricket club this time with my girl friends helping and some bubbles.

PS  Our front cover for this book is prettier and more romantic looking than the one above.

Oh yes...

Oh yes...

"Marley and me" finished with 20 hours to spare

New book chosen with 5 hours to spare.



Bookclub tonight.  We're meeting at one of the local pubs for a change.  So we'll have some champagne, some chatting about the book, a little dessert with hot chocolate and then the reveal of the new book.  All I can say is, while it's a new release, I haven't been original....

? ? ? ? ? ?

Oh no...

2 more sleeps to bookclub and it's my turn pick the next book.

Oh no I haven't finished this book.

Oh no I haven't chosen the next book.

Aaaahhhhhh



A womanless weekend

One of the best things about the weekend is catching up with my girl friends.  Doesn't matter what season it is, whether the boys are playing football, cricket or volleyball, I can always rely on catching up with one, two, three or more of the girls on the weekend.  All was looking good for the usual catch up and on top of that seeing another friend on Sunday for afternoon tea.  Wahoo!!!  Lots of girl stuff which is very exciting when you live with all males. Then... a 20/20 cricket carnival thing happened. 

As the Secretary/Treasurer for the local cricket club I thought I would do the "right thing" and volunteered to help Richard and another committee member in the canteen on Saturday.  Why not it was only one day... Well it started as soon as I got home from work on Friday - Richard in a bit of panic, local butcher had his phone off the hook, could I go down there and order the sausages.  Oh and while I was out could I get the serviettes, onions, sauce and soft drink.  I spent Saturday morning cutting up onions and then off to the butchers for the sausages and supermarket for bread.  Up to the cricket, helped set up the canteen, stocked the fridge, cooked, cut more onions, served... and then early afternoon all called off due to rain - great come back tomorrow. 

Back again Sunday and yes the sun shone so the boys managed to play all day.  Spent most of the day by myself as it wasn't that busy...tried to read more of "Marley and me" in between customers and cooking.  I think I managed about 20 pages.  Wasn't an overly exciting way to spend the weekend but didn't mind because that's what you do when you're part of a committee and made sense really as most of the committee were in the teams to play cricket.

What I really really really missed was seeing my friends. I spoke for about 10 minutes to one of the other mums but then had to go and cook more sausages, other than that the only other women I spoke with was about "onions or no onions" or "turn left for the toilet".  No girl friends, no chit chat, no afternoon tea with my friend just boys, balls and boxes...would I do it again...of course I'll just make sure I have some girl time lined up for the evening.

Oh and guess what, we won't be having sausages and onions for a very long time in this house.

The Dreamer's Dictionary

I had one of those dreams last night.  You know the ones, where they are so real that when you wake up it takes awhile for you to realise that you have been asleep and dreaming. 

Some of the books on my bookcase belonged to other people but the oldest book I've got that I bought is "The Dreamer's Dictionary".  It's easily 25 years old and in my twenties I checked it after every dream.  Not only did I check it but my friends frequently called me to interpret their dreams.  "Hey if you're coming over bring your dream book, I had a great dream last night".  So my dream book and I became a twosome.  Every time I remembered my dream first thing I'd do in the morning is analyse it.  It has bought me comfort after a bad dream and many laughs.

Poor book doesn't get consulted much these days but I wouldn't part with it.  I've had others but this one is special...it doesn't have either cover, is yellowing with age and has got that old book smell and I love it.

Sweet dreams and you know where to come if you need to know what your dream means...

Cooking books

We have 3 companies that deliver books to work, parents get to have a browse and purchase if they want.  Depending on sales, Kindergym gets to choose some books to the value of 10%, which we then put away for our raffle.

This is one of the best cook books I've bought from the book displays.  The recipes are sorted into sections:

breakfast and brunch

quick snacks

children's meals

marvelous melts

wonderful wraps

comfort food

This cook book is one that I've probably used the most out of all the cook books I've bought.   It has some great recipes but do you know why this book is worth every cent I paid for it?  It has one piece of advice that has saved me soooo much time and mess:

"Line an electric frying pan with baking paper and pour olive oil on top..."

That's all, just "line...with baking paper".  How simple is that?  So so so much easier when you're cooking schnitzel or anything that has a habit of sticking to the bottom of the pan - that just about covers all my cooking.  When you've finished cooking just pick up the baking paper and put it in the bin, the pan just needs a soapy wash, no scrubbing or soaking.  I did learn the hard way tho that you can't put baking paper under the grill - well unless you're 'flame" grilling something.

Marley and Me

I've started reading the book for bookclub - "Marley and Me".  A friend told me to read it with tissues.  Just what I need, a book to make me cry, but then I thought about it and decided to get straight into it cause we all know that on a bad day even a sooky television commercial can make me cry. One sad moment already, but hey I was having a good day when I read it so no tears. 

We're lucky enough to share our lives with 2 puppies - Julius and Lulu.

Julius the Blue Heeler X

Lulu the Kelpie/Doberman X

Julius was 8 months and Lulu 3 months when we bought then from the Animal Shelter in April.  Julius had been hit around by his previous owners so is terrified when visitors come to the house or if we go for a walk and there are lots of people around.  Lulu would just like to love everyone.  We've been having visits from a dog trainer to help us help Julius with his behaviour when people to visit.

Lulu loves to steal toilet rolls and they have ripping good fun.



And just like Marley, they've grown...