Epic Fail

like the emails you get with the pictures and the subject line says "Fail". I have no-one to blame but myself and over summer I've put back on what I've lost BUT over the last couple of weeks I've lost a couple of kilos, with all the running around, late night shopping and working longer hours at work. So maybe half a "Fail"..lol

I really can see the funny side of things but at the end of the day I can't keep going down this road, I always say this time will be different but it will only ever be different if I'm different.

Week Two

Well, the wheels fell off and couldn't be put back on. I figured out a few more triggers to my eating habits

Stress - I don't eat when i'm stressed and then pig out, not good.

I don't plan my meals so I eat what I can easily get my hands on.

I sometimes forget to eat because I'm in that "nearly finished" mode so won't eat until I have finished, which is way later than it needs to be.

I tend to pick during the day instead of having set meal times so I feel full pretty much all the time instead of giving my body a chance to digest what I've just eaten

Still filling out my junk journal - unbelievable I know

Week One

Week one has come and gone. I must say I'm feeling a whole heap better, I'm not constantly feeling bloated or like I wanna throw up because I stuffed myself silly.

I still have my cravings - chocolate and chips and pretty much anything salty, which goes into overdrive when it's that time of the month....grr!!!

I tend to eat rubbish when I'm tired - another trigger.

I noticed when I don't take my water bottle, I will buy a fizzy drink instead - which is a complete waste of money. I drink more water then I drink coke zero these days

I eat breakfast, skip lunch which isn't good and then dinner which I try and eat early in the day and of late I haven't had the last cuppa and bikkie just before going to bed. I know doing this is bad but it became a very bad habit and one I'm still working on quiting.

I don't particularly like exercising these days mainly because of the way I feel after but I understand it's a necessary. So instead I try and get out and do things in the garden, weeding, making improvements building up a bit of a sweat. But with the weather improving you just never know - I may and it's not a promise go for a walk...lol.

I've managed to keep writing in my smash book about what's happening foodwise - woop, woop. I was so sure I would have given up by now.

Week two here I come - what you got in store for me

My Junk Journal

I created this journal because I'm sick of being FAT. I try and laugh it off but i'm really not happy, I don't know too many FAT people who are completely happy physically. You just can't do stuff, some things just seem to take sooo much more effort - grrrr!!!

I want to be able to put on a pair of shorts and not have to readjust them a thousand times while out. I don't want to have to go to the next size up and the fact that I can go out and buy the next size up is no incentive AT ALL!! I want to be able to buy a top that falls over my bum and not sit on it so I have to keep pulling it down ....can I hear an AMEN!!

I don't want to have to suck my guts in when sitting at Fast food places with fixed seating - ya'll know what I mean...lol. I pretty much put back on what I had taken so long to take off...grrr!!!

Now back to the why I created my junk journal. As you've probably guessed its about my journey to a better healthier me. I didn't want to make it a year long thing which I would probably lose interest in by the second day. I wanted to do it over a couple of months, taking it day by day, adding snippets of what is going on in my head and maybe getting some insight on the why I eat what I eat and when I eat.

Hope you stick around for a few laughs and a lot of tears.

Little Miss Cupcake

I had some spare cupcakes over from an order I had just finished for a friend at work and Little Miss Cupcake had been pestering most of the afternoon and night to help out. So as a reward for her patience I let her pipe her one with buttercream icing and sprinkles.

Little Miss Gardener

While I was outside re-potting some store bought lettuce Little Miss A came outside and wanted to help. She had spied a pink pot and HAD to use it. So I helped her pour some potting mix into it with a small spade, use her finger to poke holes, drop the seeds in the holes and cover them. I gave her a little drink bottle to water them and no surprise - one swig for the pot and one swig for her...lol. She was so attentive and helpful, can't wait to see her face when they start growing.


After planting her Sweetcorn and Bean seeds we went inside to make labels for her pots. I have some super sized ice block sticks and I helped her write the words and then she drew a picture of each at the bottom.

Next step was to go outside and label each pot. The pink pot is for Beans and the green pot is for Sweetcorn.


Here she is holding her Beans pot

Here she is holding her Sweetcorn pot

Baking Challenge - #1

Apple Cake with Lemon Icing I got this recipe of a blog but can't remember which one now. Using simple ingredients that can be easily found in your pantry.

Ingredients:
4 Eggs
2 C of Sugar
3 tsp of Vanilla Essence
1 C of Oil (any kind)
2 C of Flour
4 tsp Baking Powder
1/2 tsp Ground Ginger
1/2 tsp Cinnamon
2 C freshly chopped apples - sprinkled with sugar
Pecan nuts - recipe doesn't specify how many

Method
Combing eggs, sugar, vanilla and oil
Add flour, baking powder, cinnamon and ginger
Fold in apples and nuts (I used walnut pieces)
Pour into greased or lined tin and bake aprox 1hour or until done

Ice or not to ice up to you - I used lemon icing and then sprinkled shredded coconut over the top

Feedback:
Texture nice and moist but I think next time I'll add a bit more cinnamon to boost up the flavour.

Baking challenge revival.

I'm going to revive my baking challenge again. I'm doing the odd bit of catering here and there so its a good time to start challenging myself again. So I hope you pop in from time to time to see what I've been up to and I'll also be adding the odd picture to facebook.

Catering Gig

from left to right: Chocolate Crunch, Chocolate Cake, Carrot Cake and Chocolate Crunch

Had my first catering gig last week and the feedback was awesome. Here's a photo my niece took of the what I had baked for a shared morning tea from some staff who were leaving.

Dads favourite spot

Al and the boys were doing some much needed property maintainence when I was summons to take some photos of Phoenix. But I couldn't resist snapping a few of Al sitting in my dads favourite spot in the garden.

Patiently waiting

At a recent Bowls Tournament Little Miss A sat down on the edge to watch Phoenix bowl. As you can imagine this "moment" didn't last long.

Elton John Impersonator

Lotto Winnings

No...don't get too excited we only won $84.00 on Lotto strike our ticket had 2 numbers in a row which made us winners. Hubby then decided to buy some scratchies with our winnings (without my consultation) and we all got a card each.

Now I don't usually scratch mine straight away, I tend to leave it for a bit maybe a week or two if not more before scratching that scratchie card itch...lol. But because my hubby is soooo impatient he scratched it that night only to find to his disgust I had won $50.00 - WOO HOO!!! best scratchie I never scratched ever; thanks darling.

Lawn Bowls

Where possible we encourage our children to try different things so we were quite surprised but pleased that Phoenix had signed up for lawn bowls representing the school. Training sessions are held at the New Lynn Bowling Club as well as interschool tournaments. He even made into the squad that went to Tauranga for a two day tournament - not bad considering he had never played before.

Zaine and the dead duck

I know this picture seems morbid but it really isn't. Someone had place a dead duck near our driveway and we thought - great! what are we going to do with it? Al encouraged Zaine to help lay the duck to rest, why you ask? well he doesn't get out much and Al thought it was good opportunity to do what I like to call "community service"

Touch Rugby Tops

For the past I don't know how many years we have been running a touch team and this is what our washing line looks like on a weekly basis unless we can con one of the other players to take them home to wash them

Easiest Cookies ever - part 2

Last week (18/7-23/7) child no.2 school basketball team took part in the Regional Basketball tourny and of course I did my bit by doing some baking for the boys. I wanted to make heaps but didn't want to compromise taste or my reputation as a baker...hahahaaha and these cookies seemed ideal. If you check out my other post you will see I have changed the recipe and made an extra note in red at the bottom.

I couldn't get my hands on Chocolate cake mix so I improvised and used vanilla cake mix as my base. Each recipe can make between 30 - 40 biscuits, to achieve this I used a round ice-cream scoop then cut each one in half, roll into a ball and flatten slightly on the baking tray, this way you get fairly even sized cookies.

Chocolate chip cookies
- Vanilla cake mix + chopped nuts and chocolate chips

Peanut brownies
- Vanilla cake mix + 4 TB of cocoa + roasted peanuts

Chocolate Afghans
- Vanilla cake mix + 4 TB of cocoa + 2 cups of semi crushed cornflakes. Add your favourite chocolate icing and place walnut on the top.
** these were by far the favourite of the bunch. My husband said he had to hide them from child no.2.

Easiest Cookies Ever - You tube Recipe

Recipe
Ingredients:
2 packets of Cake mix (12oz - Home brand)
2/3 C of Vege Oil
4 Eggs - room temperature
2 Cups of Choc chips an - your choice

Method:
Sift the cake mix
Add all other ingredients
Add chocolate chips and/or nuts - your choice

Scoop into balls and flatten slightly on a baking tray
Bake for 8-10mins depending on your oven
* Very economical, can be doubled and great for school lunches

You can also check out youtube for the recipe based on an 18oz box of cake mix

Date Scones - Edmonds Cook Book

Pineapple Upside Down Cake

Ingredients:
3 TB firmly packe Brown Sugar
25g Butter Melted
Can of pineapple rings - reserve a 1/3C of the pineapple juice
100g Butter Softened
1/2 C Caster Sugar
2 Eggs
Finely grated zest of 1 Lemon
2 tsp Coconut Essence - not essential, I've made it without and it tastes fine
1C of Self Raising Flour - add a bit of baking powder if you don't have any self raising

Heat oven, grease/line cake tin. Sprinkle brown sugar and melted butter over base
Drain pineapples and reserve 1/3C of juice. Then arrange on the base over the brown sugar and melted butter.
Place the second measure of butter and caster sugar in a bowl and beat until pale and creamy.
Beat in Eggs, one at a time. Stir in Lemon Zest and Coconut Essence, then fold in sift flour alternately with the reserve pineapple juice.

Spoon mixture of pineapples, then smooth the surface.

Bake 35-40mins or a skewer comes out clean.

Note: Double the mixture so you have a thicker cake.

It's a new day

hi all,
sorry for my absence a lot has been going on since my last blog post. To cut a long story short, I had some health issues, financial issues, personal issues - you name it I've had it. I figure there is always someone worse off and after having some time out at Camp, talking and sharing with friends, it has no only lightened the load but helped me to refocus on what's important.

To that end this blog will now be about me and my family and all the stuff that comes along for the ride

February - Week 3

Here we go again... I must say one thing I have re-discovered is when you plan (somewhat - in my case), there is very little waste. You really want to use up what you have. We have started going back to the Fleamarket on a Sunday for our veges, as there are savings to be made eg...
Capsicums - $5.99 p/kg compared to $11.99 at the local green grocer. Gala apples $2.99 p/kg (good ones) doubled again at the local green grocer.

Baking: Coconut Bread and Walnut and Date loaf

We've have gotten off to a good start
Monday - capsium filled with cooked mince, veges, pasta sauce with a side order of potato Salad.
Tuesday - Chicken Fetticini with white sauce and mixed veges
Wednesday - Left overs
Thursday - Chicken Nibbles, salad and pasta
Friday - Fish and Chip pack from our local - late night after softball
Saturday - BBq at a friends
Sunday - Toasted Sandwiches

Review: Things got a bit hectic towards the end of the week. The more we cook at home the less we want to spend on takeaway. Seems a bit senseless to go and do a fortnight's worth of shopping and then go eat out 3-4 days a week, no wonder we never had any money...lol.

It's a good feeling to still have money in the bank to use on essentials. Oh and my $2.00 purchases have decreased by 80% - I'm sure my locals are gonna go out of business because of it...lol.

February - Week Two

Monday - leftovers. I had flan and coleslaw. Al had left over pasta, canned salmon and tomato, Oldest child he ate with my mum and the youngest child had noodles -punishement for being last to have dinner and the kitchen was closed.
Tuesday - Home made hamburgers
Wednesday - Savoury muffins
Thursday and Friday - both take out nights, i know, i know. Cannon starjam group was performing at the Halberg awards and then Friday I worked O/T and we got home very late from the game.
Saturday - Chicken nibbles and hot chips, it's so easy just to pop down to the local takeout and we jus surrounded by them. My will was weak and I couldn't resist...lol. Sad but true
Sunday - no take out, simple meal of eggs on toast...yummy

Review:
Yes we fell of the wagon...and it's so easy and so wasteful to be spending hard earned cash on takeouts. Next week we are back on the wagon, a few lapses doesn't mean we should give up completely.

Simple Savings - War on Debt: February

Simple Savings - War on Debt.
I've decided if I'm going to work towards financial independant I need to start NOW. The other week I printed off the War on Debt calender for 2011. Each month you are faced with a challenge and asked the same three questions but the answers are based on the challenge for that month.

February is: "NO SPEND CHALLENGE" - this will be a tough one for us so I decided to pick one thing that we waste money on and for us that's Takeaways. We are totally guilty of not prepping dinner before we go out.
What will we do? - No takeaways for dinner
How will it improve our lives? Reduce impulse spending and improve our overall health
How will we remember? Discuss what we are going to have the following night and prep what we can before hand.

The story so far.... Week One
Tuesday - Stuffed Peppers, I used the "food in a minute" recipe, very delicious but next time I'll use a meat based filling instead.
Wednesday - Lamb rissoles, coleslaw and potato salad
Thursday - Sliced paua, veges, pasta in white sauce
Friday - Fish and Chip pack (B) $5.50 to go with the left over salad
Saturday - Scrambled egg salad in a bread roll
Sunday - Tomato and Cheese Flan and coleslaw; I adapted a recipe from in the Recipe Mag
** We slipped on Friday but any other week we would have spent way more than $5.50.

REVIEW -
After only one week I feel more in control and it helps having the family on board with the idea. I said to a friend the other day - how can I expect my children to be financial independant if I can't do it myself. I definately not rushing things as it's going to take sometime to break the habits of a lifetime.

2011 - Bucket List

Since turning 40 a couple of years ago - recently I've had lots of OMG moments where I could see myself sitting in a chair with a crocheted lap blanket staring out a window thinking, where did the time go.

Sooooooooooooooo to that end this year for me is one of action or at the very least the start of some action and I've created a Bucket list - like the movie, but no I'm not dying anytime soon. I want to have one of those lives like the male character in the movie "Death becomes her" - a must see you haven't. I won't go into the plot - would take longer than the time it would take for you to watch it.

A bucket list is a list of things you want to do before you die or in my case a list of things I want to achieve in 2011. Thats's why I said "I'm not dying anytime soon - paragraph two.

I'm not sure how much of the list I will get done by the end of the year OR which order it will be done in. I may add things or take things off, it will be a work in progress.

What is on my Bucket List?
* Sowing a Winter garden - been meaning to but never got round to it
* Clearing the back section or my new orchard with dwarf fruit trees - I want Aiko and any grandchildren to experiencing the joy of picking and eating fruit straight from the tree.
* Total make over of the area leading to my front door.
* Making my own cheese
* Making more jams, relishes and preserves
* Make my own butter
* De-cluttering - this will be forever on the list
* Reduce debt
* Get to Vegas not Rotovegas Las Vegas - U.S.A
* Get more paid photography work

Wholly Cow

On our way home from Hamilton after Cannon's Starjam performance. We stopped in a local Farmers market for a look-see. As we walked around Al couldn't resist this stand with its "Flinstone" sized meat products. After buying his T-bone steak he cheekily asked the owner if he could have a photo with him so he could remember this manly moment forever.

Flowers

The girls from my Better Scrapbooking group got together and brought me some flowers when my father passed away, it also came with a really nice tag which I've put away with other memorablia that I will some day make mini album with with. That's if I can stop crying long enough to make it.

Papa Ted

Ted had come from Raro for Dad's Funeral which also gave him a chance to do a little of grandpa and grand-daughter bonding unfortunately Aiko didn't warm up to him until the day he was leaving to go home.