Night two of Christmas prep and tonight it was baking gingerbread.
The Christmas songs are rife… both from the radio, and the stereo courtesy of our Christmas CDs.
All presents have been bought! Well, except for two things, which really I don’t need to get, one is for me, I’m trying to find a special non-alcoholic wine that I heard about…
Of course, being the person I am, if I find there is a spare moment in the day, my mind immediately creates A JOB to fill the void and have me dashing around like a mad woman. 🙄
But, all else is good. I know my January work roster now, and so far I am working only 5 shifts… and then I am on leave! For a while!
😬💖🤰🥰
So the Christmas festive vibes are here, celebrations are nigh, and all I have to look forward to are really good things.
And on a Wintry Sunday, well, you just have to chill and stay home, don’t you?
Baby girl gave me one of her spa messages at midday, where I lay face down on her bed, in the warm heated room, while she gave me a light massage, patting and rubbing my back and shoulders for about 10 minutes, all to the tune of some background ‘sleeping’ tunes she found on YouTube. 😁
It was uber-relaxing, and I finished it off with the biggest laugh, all because of this…
You know how when you finish any kind of gentle spa or face or body treatment, the spa person will say something like “now, open your eyes gently, when you feel like it, take your time…”
Allowing you to slowly stretch up and move gingerly?
Well baby girl stopped the massage, walked over to her ipad, pressed stop on the music, and then said to me “It’s done.”
😆😆😆😆
Oh God, I laughed and laughed. It was actually a great way to end the relaxing session, with a big belly laugh.
And then in the afternoon, I made baked nutella-filled cinnamon doughnuts, because why not?
And following that, spent a good couple of hours (yes! 😲😲) reading, having me time, and just, chilling!
This year’s Good Friday was lovely and great and relaxing in so many ways.
I was Easter baking and cooking, but there was no rush, just nice and easy, no stress.
It was the anniversary of our furry friend Mister F coming to live with us! It’s been 3 sweet, tricky, and sometimes annoying years living with a master manipulator such as this cheeky pussy cat we have come to know and love. But we are absolutely in love with him, ALL of us, and we are constantly amused by his antics, as he is probably amused with us being so amused with him. 😏😻
And I had some time, to read! I really need to allocate more time to myself, even in like, 15 minute blocks. Instead, today I had over an hour (😁😁) and it made me happy to no end.
Of course there was also the Royal Children’s Hospital Good Friday Appeal, and watching it has kinda become a tradition for me. It can be incredibly sad and heart-wrenching listening to some of the stories, and it definitely plants your feet firmly on the ground, putting life into perspective by learning of others illnesses… but it is also uplifting and hopeful, what with the charity and help and good nature of human kind put on show.
I will end on this true fact: children should not be sick. Give so they may grow. 🙏💖
I was more than ready to do bugger all today. I really needed a ‘down’ day to just chill out at home, do washing, cook lots and not go anywhere…
And with the weather as it was today, it provided the perfect backdrop for it. I had no FOMO, because I was all JOMO, spending the whole day just doing house stuff.
I even had the desire to bake and make soup, something I haven’t done in a while… because summer isn’t really baking and soup weather, let’s be honest. 🤷♀️😅
But with the weather turning, and the hours changing and going back, I felt it was more than appropriate to make scones, and then a yummy chunky vegetable soup.
I am still tired from all my ‘home’ jobs (no rest for the wicked even at home) but I feel super good about the week ahead, prepared, satisfied, and ready to go. 💪
During the day I made this delectable new recipe, recently seen on Marion Grasby’s social media, the ‘bounty brownie.’
Basically she uses the bounty chocolate bar, along with a whole lotta coconut and other good stuff, to make this incredible version of the brownie.
This is oozy, gooey, soft, and just OMG. My heart. ❤ I originally made it with Hubbie in mind because he loves coconut with chocolate, but gee, I think it’s an all-round winner.
But that wasn’t ALL. Hubbie got a selection of yummy meats and prawns, mixed grill style, and we got them sizzling on the stove… accompanied with salad stuff and home-made oven chips, let’s just say I was feeling really content.
In between making some cookies and eating some cookies this afternoon, baby girl and I had a dance lesson.
It was a heap of fun. I often forget how fun dancing actually is, and when you’re teaching someone some moves, it turns into a lot of laughs.
She had mentioned the Macarena earlier that day, and so I said quite randomly –
“let me teach you some dance moves.”
First dance lesson, we went over the Macarena.
I learnt this one back when I was like, 12, 13? This was the BOMB. I knew all the moves, and turns out I still do. We had fun with that, before moving onto…
The Nutbush.
This one gets the heart going. You gottta step, step, to the other side step, step, then there’s more stepping, kicking, knee-ing, and then like a star jump, twice.
It may seem complicated, but you just gotta get out there and throw yourself into it.
The next one I fumbled with before I remembered it properly.
The Bus Stop.
You move to the left…
And then you move to the right…
Then you do like a turn to the left, a shimmy, and like the Nutbush, you end up facing a different direction.
But the lyrics say a different thing ENTIRELY.
This one has nowhere near as much jumping as the Nutbush, or as many hand actions as the Macarena, so it’s kinda low on my list of choreographed dances that you do at a party, but still fun.
Baby girl was wanting to keep up, but losing concentration and kinda doing her own thing since it all seemed so complicated… so I put on a popular party dance that I knew she would LOVE.
You wouldn’t have known from the day we had today, that the past year has been difficult.
I was baking, cooking, and blaring Christmas songs from the stereo like it was nobody’s business.
Baby girl and I painted our nails red and gold as we started watching the traditional Carols by Candlelight this evening.
We then drove to see some neighbourhood Christmas lights which were spectacular… but none were as sweet as those that shone from our front yard, from under the sparkling stars above.
The day had set on another Christmas Eve.
And it was busy. It was joyful. It was crazy happy. It was festive.
It was everything I had dreamed of it being, and yet it had been such a massive unknown months ago.
I AM SO GRATEFUL.
I know there are those who can’t have any semblance of a normal Christmas this year… and so I send a prayer to them.
I pray that they feel the love, warmth and goodwill coming from all corners of the globe, telling them to hang in there.
Amazingly, I was happy to spend the day in the kitchen.
I enjoy cooking. I enjoy baking. I like finding new recipes, experimenting, and watching it all come together, the product of my hands putting it all to work.
I’ve been devoid of passion as of late, but I’ve been working through it, and getting by, bit by bit. This makes me proud, as having significant setbacks, it is then no mean feat to get up and keep trying. It has been freaking hard, but like my whole covid series, I am ‘getting there.’
Today, I made a yummy lentil soup that I got from my bestie’s nutritionist facebook page. I’ve made it before, and I’ve been wanting to make it again, but like I said, the whole lacking passion thing was a bit of a killjoy for getting anything done, much less making a soup I enjoy.
But I didn’t stop there. I made this apple cake recipe that I found months ago, and back then I even bought the granny smith apples I needed…. only to have Hubbie eat them when I never made the recipe, because you know…
LACK OF ALL PASSION.
But I bought those 4 granny smith apples again this week. I was feeling better, my mental clarity was improving, my emotional stability was settling, and it was all coming together, very slowly, once again…
So I made this today:
I actually wasn’t sure if it was baked properly, and kept it in the oven perhaps longer than I should have, until I read the facebook comments on the video and realised it was kinda like an apple crumble, and therefore was allowed to have that gooey kind of soft texture running through it.
Anyway…. YUM.
I am absolutely pooped from baking and cooking and washing dishes most of the day, but I feel really good too.
Today, I did some washing. Hung it in our backyard.
I baked some muffins. Scents of banana and cocoa filled the walls within our home.
I ripped out old plants and dying branches from flowers that desperately needed a good prune. I tidied it up…
To make our home look more pretty.
And it was all the more convenient and timely, that I did these random, but interconnected odd jobs, as the theme unifying it all was that of the home.
Tending to the home.
Using the home.
Filling up the home.
Because on this day 4 years, we bought this home.
I made the winning bid.When I think of that day, I have to shake my head in disbelief sometimes. It was 4 years ago, but many parts of that day are still so clear to me, even now.
I remember the well wishes I received the morning of the auction by some amazing family and friends.
I remember driving up with my Mum and baby girl… and being so nervous, that both Mum and I had to stop at a servo to pee on the way.
I remember arriving 15 minutes into the inspection before auction. I remember the street being FULL of cars. I remember nosy neighbours walking off, having had enough of a sticky beak, not caring to see who would get the house.
I remember NOT ONE auctioneer approaching me as I wandered through the house for the final time before the dum dum daaaa! moment.
I remembered my sister seeing the view from upstairs and saying “it’s a great house” but saying it in a way like “shit, it will be competitive.”
I remember my bro-in-law saying similar words, saying he’d overheard a lot of interested parties talking about it.
I remember all of us standing outside in the front yard, with the strong Winter wind blowing around.
I remember baby girl running around the yard as the main auctioneer started his spiel, referring to her in his opening monologue.
I knew then, that that was a GOOD SIGN.
I remember him motioning to the water views behind us, while I secretly cursed him – “don’t remind them of the views!”
I remember him saying that the winning person could celebrate on the main street afterwards at one of the many cafes, and the desire was so strong in me then, because we had been to those cafes and those restaurants. We had walked those streets, we had holidayed here, and we had done our research.
We were ready.
I remember the auction beginning, and Mum standing near baby girl, watching her run around while mumbling under her breath that the price was going too high.
I remember my sister positioned closer to the nature strip, creating a barrier so that baby girl couldn’t escape.
And I remember my bro-in-law standing behind me, ready to whisper words of advice.
I remember staying quiet for a long time.
I remember the TOTAL SATISFACTION (this is SO clear to me) when I put up my hand, and made my first bid.
The auctioneer looked at me, and his expression conveyed something else.
I had come in later. He knew I meant business.
And I remember how when I made the second, third bid, one of the agents made a beeline to me, thinking he could now help me.
Huh. Where were you guys INSIDE the house?
I had my own agent behind me 😉
I remember holding that winning bid… and the auctioneer urging others to jump in… while I begged in my head “please no, just let it be over…”
Then, IT WAS OVER.
There was clapping. There was cheering. People around me were genuinely happy.
And we were over the moon!
Inside, a familiar face! I saw the agent I had been talking to leading up to that day… He had been hiding out with the owners, of course.
I signed contracts with shaky hands, and snapped a photo of the interior, with the price tag, to Hubbie.
HE WAS OVER THE MOON.
After celebratory photos with the auction board, we headed to the main street.
Mum, sis, baby girl and I had our celebratory coffees and treats.
And when we got home hours later, Hubbie was on cloud nine.
I remember all this so fondly, and I don’t think I can ever forget such a momentous day for us.
A day where we realised our big dream of sea changing, a day when we made it.
And so when baby girl snapped a sunset from my phone this evening (I’ve trained her well) I didn’t think much of it…
‘Til I previewed it later.
It was blurry. Much like a memory can be. But there was that lawn. I could still see that sign in my head.
The guy who was standing to the left of me… the two ladies on my right. The family of four who I thought of often, comprised of a couple with their two young girls, who walked off half-way through the auction…
I hope they found their dream house, just as we found ours.
Now there were different plants, different colours, and different people coming in and out…
And 4 years on, there’s no place we’d rather be. 💖🏡🌅🥰
I had the ingredients for these bikkies on Saturday, but after the time, effort and dishes required to do mysweet potato gnocchi, I was feeling like I didn’t wanna do any kind of cooking/baking task anytime soon.
Only the thing was, these Anzac biscuits are the easiest to make.
Either way, I had a break on the weekend, and today on this cloudy and rainy day, I whipped these up really quickly.
Now I’m no massive Anzac bikkie fan. But when I come across a recipe that –
a) I have the ingredients for, and
b) is soooo easy
I just can’t help myself. It’s like the recipe is calling me.
These gave off the most wonderful smell as they baked in the oven, and the crunch and deliciousness were most definitely there when it came time for taste-testing.
As I get progressively more and more ‘over’ store-bought sweets, I am so happy to now have a massive batch of these guys to keep my coffee company over the next week. 😉
carcrashgratitude 