Moving On

When we first moved into this house, I had very mixed feelings. We moved in a rush and really only took it because there was nothing else in the area. We also knew it would probably only be available for a year and that wasn't ideal. I eventually decided to take it on the proviso that we could move again to somewhere I liked after six months.

But day by day, it started growing on me. Six months came and went and I said it was because I couldn't be bothered packing and moving again. Then spring came and we knew if we had to move again in the new year as expected, we really needed to find something soon as houses in our area are in huge demand in the summer. I looked at a few places and passed up a gorgeous house a stone's throw from the beach. Because of the expense of moving. Allegedly.

Then, a fortnight ago, the agent called and asked if we wanted to sign a lease for another six months and I said absolutely. I wanted to spend the summer here and that would take us through to March or so then I could find my dream house. And I was secretly happy. I asked him to let me know when we could sign the papers.

Yesterday, I had some friends over and as I showed them around, it hit me. I was in absolute love with this house. While I was putting the kids shoes on so we could take our guests down to the creek in our yard (we have a slight snake issue ... nothing major but we have a 'shoe rule' for the backyard) I got an email from the agent. Yay! The lease is ready. Except not. We got our notice. The owner is moving back sooner than expected. We've got til January but with the summer rush here, we can't afford to wait. I was supposed to host Christmas here. I planted veggies last week.

While I sat in shock pondering 'house karma', our four year old visitor ran up and said he and Jarvis had found a snake. I thought it was probably wishful thinking on his part becuase despite our recent episode, it's not really snake season yet. Nevertheless, I went down into the yard, shoeless, and there was indeed a snake. Jarvis told me not to worry, it was just a python, he'd patted it and it hadn't bitten him. "See Mum, no bites". I had a small heart attack. Our reptile loving pre-teen neighbour came over to scare it away and found two more. He asked me for a bag and a rope because one was something he hadn't really seen before and he wanted to catch it. It was a brown snake, not unheard of around here but not at all welcome in my yard, especially with Jarvy's snake-patting habit.

It was like the snake came to tell me the house wasn't the right one for us so I felt better about having to move. We haven't had a full summer here yet and I'm not sure I can survive the reptile invasion. I looked at two houses today. We're going to be okay.

Update on Last Week's Confession

So, I found Justine on Facebook. Should I friend request her? She might say 'Jodi who?' Or she might still hate me for being so shallow all those years ago. Or she might tell me her parents own Krispy Kreme and invite me around for a visit. I'd definitely go.

I Heart ALDI - Please Don't Judge Me

I decided before I had Fletch that I would definitely be a disposable nappy user. But it was going to be Huggies. And only Huggies. Every week when I was pregnant, I would add a packet to my groceries in preparation for his birth. The cashiers at Coles would whisper to me 'you should buy the ALDI nappies'. As if! I would never, ever, ever put anything from ALDI on my precious newborn's bottom and besides, I had never set foot in an ALDI store anyway.

At our first (and only as it turns out, but maybe a story for another time) prenatal class, the nurse recommended ALDI nappies. Um, no.

The sister at the baby clinic recommended ALDI nappies. Um, no again.
The girls at Mothers Group recommended ALDI nappies. What is wrong with everyone?
My girlfriends recommended ALDI nappies. (Blocking ears) la la la
I learnt to drown everyone out when the talk turned to ALDI nappies, and I spent most of my husband's pay that first year on Huggies. And I was happy. And Fletch's bottom was happy.
Shortly after Fletch's first birthday, with Jarvy's birth mere months away, I was faced with the financial implications of buying two boxes of Huggies every week and it made me very nervous. I decided to give ALDI one chance. I was sure they'd fail me but that would give Husband time to look for a second job.
I'll never pretend the ALDI nappies are as quilted and soft as Huggies but they are very, very, very good. And we have never looked back. Jarvy even wore them as a newborn - hopefully he never finds out that I favoured Fletch's bottom. Given that they are half the price, I would venture to say they are better than Huggies. And the ALDI wipes? Heaven.

Anyway, to get to the point, for the longest time I only ever bought nappies and wipes there and didn't even glance at anything else. Then one day I really needed peanut butter and didn't really want to go to Coles when I was already in ALDI so I tried the ALDI brand, and it changed my life. Gradually, I added little bits and pieces and I can honestly say, every single ALDI product we have tried has become my family's favourite. I now do almost half my weekly shop there. I must admit I don't often buy their meat or fresh produce, but I am more of a butcher/greengrocer shopper. They look okay though, and cheap, cheap, cheap.

Here's the list of ALDI items we can't live without :

Mamia wipes - we might be out of nappies, but I still use a ton of wipes for some reason?
peanut butter
raspberry Jam
Scotch Finger biscuits (my boys won't eat the Arnott's ones)
Cavallo biscuits (trust me, eat them)
chocolate (European chocolate for $3 a block!)
chicken crackers (waaaay less salty than others)
pasta sauce
brekky juice
paper towels (the best ever)
yoghurt
cheese slices
frozen strudel
pizza bases (in the bread aisle, you may never order pizza again)
baking staples (sugar, flour etc)
school snacks - tiny teddies, muesli bars etc
juice poppers

I do pick up other things from time to time but these are the things I can't live without. And neither can you. It's not about money, it's about filling your cupboards with great stuff. Did I mention Cavallo biscuits?

Tiramisu

I love anything coffee flavoured. Coffee ice cream, coffee cake, coffee (obviously), and tiramisu of course. I do like the cake version but I prefer it as a trifle. However, I generally have huge trifle issues. No jelly, ever. No soggy bits. Eat as soon as possible after assembly and I can't bring myself to eat a trifle someone else has made. I don't know why but it makes me sweat even thinking about it. I'm pretty much the same with tiramisu so the recipe I give here is made my way but you could soak the biscuits more or leave it overnight. Your choice.

I make the traditional raw egg version and it really is the best thing. If eating raw egg creeps you out, stop reading now. This recipe makes enough for 6 generous serves, but probably should be served to 8 (or 10)! It is a very simple and forgiving recipe so I'm never precise but will give you the approximates I use. Feel free to experiment. It will still be awesome!

1 pkt Savioardi sponges
1 cup strong coffee
big slurp of coffee liqueur (3 tbsp?)

200 - 250g mascarpone, depending on the package size you can get
2 eggs, separated
1/2 cup caster sugar
more coffee liqueur
200 mls thickened cream, whipped

cocoa

With a hand mixer, whip egg whites til foamy and gradually add about 2 tbsp caster sugar. Beat until glossy.
In another bowl, beat remaining sugar with egg yolks until fluffy, pale and doubled in volume.
Beat mascarpone into yolks and add liqueur to taste.
Fold whites gently into yolk mixture.
Finally, fold whipped cream in.
Taste. Taste again. Taste again. Panic that you won't have enough mixture to make the dessert.
In a shallow bowl, mix coffee and liqueur.
Dip Savioardi into coffee - soak them for a second if you want. I don't.
Add a layer of Savioardi to your serving bowl - the one I use is about 20cm and 8cm deep. It takes 3 layers.
Add a third of your filling and gently smooth.
Continue until everything is used, finishing with filling.
You can eat it straight away like I do, or refirgerate it overnight.
Just before serving, dust liberally with cocoa.

Let's have a closer look :

Really simple, really yum.

My Garden

I've never had a garden before. We lived in houses when I was growing up but I never really noticed the gardens. I've lived in flats for the last 20 years and have been lucky to keep a pot plant alive.

We moved into this house in January this year and it has more garden than you could ever want. Nobody had lived there for a while and it was a pretty hot and harsh summer, so it was a bit sparse but we weeded, pulled up dead stuff and watered and watered and watered. Winter came and everything was so lovely and green but I'm not a gardener and didn't really know what was planted there.

This spring has been awesome. Every day, something new appears. It's a bit of a hodge podge but I really love it.

We have these :

And these :

And some of these :

And tons of these (I love them) :

And we also have one of these :

Yes, that's my porch roof. Yes, I sit under it every day. Yes, that's my lounge room right through those doors. Yes, my kids leave the doors open every time they go out. Yes, it's September. Yes, snakes are supposed to be hibernating.

We might move back to a flat this summer. Still deciding.

Philoperous

My boys love Harry Potter and Jarvy's favourite book is the Philoperous (philosophers) Stone so you can imagine my delight when I realised he was a bit of a Philoperous himself!

Me : What is the meaning of life?
Jarvy : Huh?
Me : Why are we alive?
Jarvy : Because nobody killed us yet.

Me : If a tree falls in a forest and there is nobody to hear it, does it make a sound?
Jarvy : Mum, ask me serious questions.

Me : Which comes first, the chicken or the egg?
Jarvy : Ummmm ... the Chicken.
Me : But how did the chicken get there?
Jarvy : It walked of course.

My boy is certainly a deep thinker.

The Christmas Layby. Never Again.

I have always been most organised with my Christmas preparations. I keep an eye out through the year for the perfect gifts for my family and friends. I’ve always finished shopping by September and usually have everything wrapped by October – I buy cards and wrapping in the New Year sales. I keep spreadsheets for shopping and referencing previous gifts.

This hasn’t happened the last few years as I’ve had the two children (instead of one or none!) and last year I even had to send the husband out on Christmas Eve as I had forgotten so many things. The gift wrap did not match and it all made me feel very itchy. I vowed it could never happen again.

Last year started off well. In June, the major stores all had their mid-year sales and offered Christmas lay-bys. I’d never noticed these before but they seemed just the thing for me. Do all your shopping in one go, have six months to pay for it and not have to store everything at home.

So I organised a babysitter and headed off with my marked catalogues. Just like every other person on the planet apparently. The stores were chaotic, the good stuff was sold out (the cynic in me wondered if it ever existed), the staff were rude and frazzled and the lay-by lines were loooong. But I persevered and filled a trolley for November birthdays, stocking fillers and tons of other stuff. And then I waited in line. For a really long time. Luckily, that made my fervour for the Christmas lay-by cool down enough to realise that not everyone I know would really want a Christmas gift from Big W. Let alone from the Big W Mid-Year Sale-a-Thon. So by the time I reached the check-out, my trolley was almost empty.

A few days later, when the trauma wore off, I felt slightly smug that I had at least a portion of my shopping done, and someone else was storing it for me. All I had to do now was make my fortnightly payment. And do the rest (the majority) of my Christmas shopping – but I was a bit in denial about that.

But that was in June. Then in mid-October and I only had $8.00 left to pay. I couldn’t figure out how to stretch that out over 5 more fortnights, so it looked like I would be storing the junk after all. Why junk? Well, in June Ben-10 and Batman were the heroes of the day. By Christmas, they were dead to us. So I essentially had a trolley load of unusable DVDs, pyjamas, underwear and books. And I still had to do the rest of the shopping.

Not sure what this year's plan of attack will be ... am I thinking about this too early?

I Confess ...

Not sure if I'm enough of a bad-ass to make this a regular feature, but we'll see how I go.

A couple of the blogs I browse puport to be 'Confessional'. Ooooh, juicy. Or not. I'm not going to out them (they're awesome) but when I think of confessions I don't think about Oklahoma sunrises, Frito-smelling dog paws or the cutest two-year old you ever met.

Before you get excited, I won't be confessing anything that will ruin my marriage or send me to the slammer but I do have a few things I need to get of my chest. It's all about closure baby.

Many, many years ago, we had a milk bar near where I lived. Teenagers went there after the movies for milkshakes and sometimes, if we were lucky, we bought hot chips after Brownies meetings. What I remember the most though, was the endless glass-fronted cabinet full of lollies. We would walk up and down and choose one of those, one of those, one of those and they would go into a little brown bag. Lollies used to be two for a cent, so I'm guessing twenty cents would have filled one of those little bags and lasted me all afternoon. Were lollies bigger then or was my mouth much, much smaller? There were also bigger white bags but I realised even then that I would never be the recipient of a white bag full of lollies. It would have made my head explode.

Anyway, around the same time we had a girl at our school, who I will call Justine - partly because of the Duggar reference I am about to make but mostly because it was her name. Now, obviously, Justine was not a Duggar. It was the late 70s - Michelle was still a cheerleader and Jim-Bob was just a young Christian looking for love. But Justine could have been a Duggar : super long plait, Liberty print smocks, sensible sandals, weird. And on top of the Duggar similarities, she smelled like wee. A lot.

But (and here's where the story heats up) while looking like a Duggar and smelling like a nappy, Justine arrived at school several times a week carrying a bag of lollies from the afore-mentioned store. Not the brown bag, the white one. Full. In the morning.

I'm not sure how the next bit happened but somehow I had to ask her why she always had the lollies, how much they cost etc. And she told me that her parents owned the shop and she lived there. Lived there! And then she said I could come over after school that day and have as many lollies as I wanted. I was in, no matter what it cost in social-standing.

I could barely wait for school to finish and as we walked from school through the shopping centre I was dreaming of what I would eat first and if I might be able to take some home, and maybe whether I could fill a bath tub with cobbers and float in it. I know that Justine was talking to me but I couldn't tell you what she was saying.

When we got to the shop, she walked past it and I thought we must be going in some secret entrance round the back but she kept walking. I asked her why we weren't going in and she told me she didn't really live there, she stole coins from her mum's purse most mornings and bought the lollies.

I stood there, in the middle of the Homer St afternoon rush, flicked my Farrah Fawcett fringe, turned and walked away without a word.

And I've felt awful ever since.

If this is the lamest confession you've ever heard, I would suggest you stop reading my blog asap as there's plenty more where this came from!

Lashes

I wasn't sure if Fletch was cute enough when he was a toddler, so I made him wear false eyelashes.

I didn't really. These are his. He certainly doesn't get them from me.

School Holidays - YAY

School's out. And I have a week off. I haven't been this excited about school holidays since ... well, since I was at school. I had a week off last holidays but we went on a massive road trip so it was pretty hectic. This week, we have nothing on. Except swimming lessons. Every day. An hour away. In peak hour. But except for that - nothing.

I get to spend time with him :

And him :

Wait. Sorry. I mean these guys :



It's just that when I look at them, I still see babies. It was only five minutes ago, wasn't it?

But babies, toddlers, boys or teenagers (that's what they think they are), I can't wait to do nothing with them for the next ten days. Except swimming lessons. Every day. An hour away. In peak hour.