January Fly on the Wall

Welcome yet again to another Fly on the Wall. I missed out on December's offering, mainly because I was going crazy enough getting Miss K ready for her kindergarten orientation and trying to do Christmas on a shoestring, I figured the fly girls would have to just miss me for one month. But if it makes you feel better I missed you guys too. And my family did as well. So without further ado, lets get into it.



It's the same deal as always guys, each month a group of bloggers get together and share the madness that you would witness if you happened to be a fly on their wall. Below is a list of all the people participating, I'm sure you'll visit them all like you do every month and share the love so I don't even need to tell you guys to do it any more.

http://www.BakingInATornado.com                         Baking In A Tornado

http://www.juiceboxconfession.com                            Juicebox Confession

http://www.menopausalmom.com/                          Menopausal Mother

http://www.someoneelsesgenius.com                            Someone Else’s Genius

http://spatulasonparade.blogspot.com/                  Spatulas on Parade

http://singlemumplusone.blogspot.com                      Searching for Sanity

http://batteredhope.blogspot.com                         Never Ever Give Up Hope

http://www.gomamao.com                                    Go Mama O

http://dinoheromommy.com/                     Dinosaur Superhero Mommy

http://notthatsarahmichelle.blogspot.com          Not That Sarah Michelle

http://www.southernbellecharm.com                   Southern Belle Charm

http://mybrainonkids.net                                     My Brain on Kids

So the first big thing that happened this month was my mum's birthday. She's 21 now (for about the thirtieth time I think) but with money being so tight, I couldn't afford to buy her something to commemorate the milestone. Luckily for me she made it very clear she didn't want gifts this year, which gave me an easy out, but I still thought it would be a good idea for Miss K to make her something. We decided on a paper machè bowl (mainly because the two things we have the most of in this house is paper and spare bowls). Miss K and I spent a good half hour pasting little squares of coloured paper onto a cling film covered bowl before she lost interest and I lost the will to live, so it ended up being a very thin bowl. When mum opened it she made all the appropriate noises and asked Miss K if she enjoyed making the bowl, to which Miss K replied "no, it was boring." 

I was bored, I had a front facing camera and Snapchat. You do the maths.

Miss K didn't seem to get the memo that Christmas ended on December 25, as she kept singing the songs for a good week or so after. Her favourite one was "Santa Claus is going on the town" 

Mum and Miss K were playing "I Spy" one afternoon to kill time.

Miss K: I spy with my little eye, something that has a beard.

Mum: Is it me?

Miss K: Yes!

My little sister finally has a boyfriend

Things I never thought I'd say to my child, the bumper edition

These are all things I have had to say this month, none of which I ever thought would pass my lips as a parent. Live and learn...

Miss K: Be careful.

Me: I know, I know. You think I've never cut a dinosaurs nails before?

Could you get the knitting needle out of your butt crack please?

Don't put your underpants on your head, put them on your legs for God's sake!

Number one, you did wee on my bed. Number two, you got chocolate all over my sheets, which annoys me more than the wee does.

How my family copes with death...

Miss K and I were visiting my big sister Sam when Miss K came into the kitchen where we were chatting.

Miss K: Can I have a drink?

Me: Yes, you can have water.

Miss K then walks over to my sister

Miss K: Mum is being silly, can I have a cordial please?

We were both laughing too hard to say anything.

I had to go to a funeral two days after Boxing Day, as my uncle's brother died right before Christmas. After everything was done and people were getting ready to head to the pub for the wake I went to my aunt and uncle to say goodbye. They thanked me for coming, at which point I thanked them for inviting me... I am the reason we need etiquette books people! Please tell me I'm not the only one stupid enough to do this at a funeral. 

Miss K has slowly been learning her alphabet, and that each letter has its own sound. She's now trying to nut out different words that start with the same letters. It's not always spot on.

Miss K: O, o, donut!

Me: Not quite, but nice try.

Mum and I were watching a cooking show together one night.

Me: Ugh I hate when cooks use nut butter, it just sounds like a euphemism.

Mum: Oh god, you're right.

While watching my nephew play Minecraft

Me: Why is he juggling arrows while jumping on a trampoline?

My favourite memory of the month would have to be the weekend Miss K and I went shopping with her dad. She recently learned that saying certain four letter words out of the blue will always make me laugh, so she decided that the perfect time to show this was in the middle of a packed shopping mall car park. Needless to say her father wasn't impressed with either of us, her because she kept shouting f-bombs, and me because I couldn't yell at her from my position on the ground laughing. We've since had a conversation about appropriate language to use in car parks. 

Well that's it for me, it's been a fun month, and I'm sure I'll have tons more crazy stuff to share with you guys next month. Be sure to visit everyone else and see that I'm not the only mad one here, we're all a little mad sometimes. 

March Fly on the Wall - What the?

Welcome to March Fly on the Wall. In this series a huge group of bloggers (15 this month to be exact) get together and share anecdotes on the little things you might see in their house if you were a fly on the wall.



Before I start I'll link you to the rest of the bloggers participating today, so that when you're finished here you can keep reading more fun stuff.

http://www.BakingInATornado.com           Baking In A Tornado

http://spatulasonparade.blogspot.com/      Spatulas on Parade

http://followmehome.shellybean.com         Follow me home

http://www.menopausalmom.com/            Menopausal Mother

http://stacysewsandschools.blogspot.com/ Stacy Sews and Schools

http://batteredhope.blogspot.com             Battered Hope

http://www.justalittlenutty.com/               Just A Little Nutty

http://themomisodes.com                        The Momisodes

http://www.someoneelsesgenius.com        Someone Else’s Genius

http://thesadderbutwisergirl.com              The Sadder But Wiser Girl

http://dinoheromommy.com/                   Dinosaur Superhero Mommy

http://gndisney.wordpress.com                Disneyland in Kentucky

http://www.juiceboxconfession.com          Juicebox Confession

http://www.gomamao.com                       Go Mama O

So I was yawning a lot at work a few weeks ago, which always bugs the hell out of my boss, who is an absolute health nut, and she thinks my lack of energy stems from my "unhealthy lifestyle". But I can't help that I find running around like a headless chicken exhausts me, so I just let the yawns lay where they fall. This one particular day my boss decided to give me some advice.

Julie: You know what you need to do in the mornings? You need to get up and go for a jog.

Me: Or I could do what I did this morning and lie in bed with Miss K watching Dustin Hoffman movies. 

I bought Miss K some googly eyes this month. Guess who had more fun with them?

Number 426983 of things I never thought I'd have to say to my daughter

Would you stop dancing on that pole please, people are trying to get to the dairy fridge. 

Lots of wildly inappropriate fun I might add...

This particular conversation happened whilst walking though a large shopping centre

Miss K: I like circles, they're my favourite

Me: Yeah they are cool aren't they?

Miss K: Like mummy's balls.

Me: Mummy is bored?

Miss K: No, mummy's balls outside, they're my favourite

Me: Oh yeah my balls. I have some pretty big balls don't I? They're awesome

Miss K: No, they're boring.

Me: Hey my balls aren't boring, they're awesome thank you very much. 

It wasn't until I saw an elderly woman smirking at me that I realised that without a bit of context this was a terrible conversation to be having in public. 

Needless to say Miss K was not as amused as I was.

Miss K: I'm so cute mummy.

I hear this at least ten times a day, I'm not sure why she thinks I need the constant reminder.

That doll is creepy even without the googly eyes. This is the scene that greeted me one morning on my way to the toilet.

Me: Miss K, what is daddy's name?

Miss K: Poo head (followed by raucous laughter from everyone in the room)

As a disclaimer, I promise I didn't teach Miss K to call her dad poo head, I don't think I've ever used it as an insult (because ew) so I can't even guess where she got it from, but now that she knows it's hilarious she refuses to learn his real name. In the interests of fairness I will inform you that she subsequently told her speech pathologist that my name is also poo head. 

Turns out I don't need googly eyes to have fun though.  Ten points to anyone who can correctly identify what show this quote is from.

I was brushing Miss K's hair the other day, which was incredibly knotty and sticky. This was the conversation that ensued.

Miss K: Ow mummy hurts.

Me: I know honey but your hair is really sticky. You've gotten food in your hair again haven't you?

Miss K: No! Not food in my hair.

Me: Well it's either food or snot, so which one is it?

Miss K: (proudly) It's snot.

I don't know why that's the less offensive option to her, but this is the girl who insists on showing me every nugget of nose gold she mines.

I also have Snapchat for when I want to bug people with painted pictures of myself... (Bob the Builder is actually Natalie in disguise for anyone who now thinks I have the ability to swap my facial features at will)

So Miss K is still learning to talk, a feat that has been somewhat hampered by several issues including the fact that she is tongue tied. I personally love the way she mangles the English language, so with your permission I'd like to share some of her versions of words.

Delicious - Alicious

Muffins - Nuffins

Sausages - Shaushages (I actually find that harder to say)

Fire truck - Fire...actually I'm not going to repeat what she says here, because it is wildly inappropriate, but if you can think of a word that rhymes with truck but starts with an F, you'll be able to figure it out.  We discovered this one in the middle of a packed car park at a Bunnings Family Fun Day. Perfect timing.

Well that's it from me today little flies, now buzz off and spy on the rest of the bloggers. Till next time.

New Year Old Me

As always I'm a step behind the rest of the blogging world when it comes to timely posting, but I know you guys will forgive me as always because I'm just that awesome.

So yesterday I wrote about what happened in December 2013, and why it was by far the worst month I've had for a long time. But December was only one month. What did I think about the rest of the year I've just had? To be perfectly honest I can't remember the past 12 months too well, probably because I was just too damn busy to stop and store much in my long term memory, but according to my phone's calendar and photo gallery, below are some of the things I managed to accomplish this year.

I kept Miss K alive for another 12 months

So according to the photos on my phone, the last photo I took of Miss K was on 24th December in the emergency room at Sunshine Hospital while she was driving dangerously. (Luckily if there was an accident we were surrounded by trained professionals.) But according to the lump in her bed she's still very much here so I'm considering that my biggest accomplishment to date. Anyone who has kids will tell you exactly how hard they are to keep safe, with their desire to touch everything they shouldn't touch, and jump off all the things you don't want them to jump off, so every day you can get them to bed in one piece is a win. Miss K and I have had a lot of ups and downs this year, a few major changes to our routines and quite a bit of stress and worry, but she is definitely blossoming into a beautiful child (despite her love of temper tantrums) and not a day goes by when I don't feel proud of her.

I finished my schooling

This one I still remember pretty well (probably because I ended up taking my final exam at McDonalds.) I have since gotten my final results, and while I didn't get a perfect score for the exam, I am pretty sure I got enough to pass the unit and I'll graduate along with everyone else in March. I haven't heard anything from my tutor to say otherwise, so I now just need to sit back and wait for my certificate to show up in the mail. I'm pretty proud to say the least that I managed to stick it out with this course, and I will finally have a piece of paper to show people that I know stuff about things. I still don't know if I'll ever actually use my new qualification outside of taking payments from clients, but at this stage that doesn't really matter as much as the fact that I actually managed to finish something.

I got a job and managed to keep it

So for anyone who saw the post I wrote when I first decided to try going back to work, you will know that the last time I worked for my boss I made it through 6 months before quitting and moving to another town over 100 Km away. (Not because I was scared of my former boss, just because the pickings are richer out west.) Well the 6 month mark came and went in December and I managed to ride out the storm and not quit my job this time. To be fair though I had no intentions of quitting this time, and given that I am older and wiser than I was in 2007 it wasn't hard to stick around this time. The work is still challenging, and I see more horrible things in a week than I ever wanted to see in a life time (such is the way when people start fighting over their children), but my boss is super generous, totally understanding about how hard it is to juggle kids and employment, and brilliant at her job, which makes my job easier. I still have to wear a monkey suit to work every day, and now I've been told I'm not allowed to put my hair in a pony tail while at work, so the demands will never stop, but I'm determined to keep my head down and just keep bringing in the moolah.

I started a business

Yes I am still a business owner, even though things are pretty quiet on the business side of things, but I managed to hit a pretty big sales target that Kaszazz give all new consultants and I'm loving all the perks being afforded to me as a consultant. We have officially gone multi-national so any of my crafty readers out there, check out the link and come see the awesome things you can do with our products. (Ok sales pitch over, I'll go back to being a blogger now.)

I got my teeth fixed

So this one I never blogged about, partly because it was too awful to talk about at the time, and partly because I hate my teeth, so talking about them is never high on my list of things to do. But I did get sick and tired of all the holes and pain so I gave in and visited a dentist. Two extractions and seven fillings later I'm still in pain while I continue to heal, but at least my smile looks normal. There was also one fun visit where the anesthetic wore off before the dentist was finished, and being the scaredy cat I am, I didn't have the nerve to tell her to stop playing with my teeth and drug me up again. That tooth took forever to stop hurting, and there is now a lump on the gum directly above it, so I need to go back to the dentist again this week to get her to check it out, but I'll get my teeth cleaned at the same time so it's not all bad. Seriously guys, brush your teeth every day. It saves you a hell of a lot of pain in the long run.

Miss K started day care

I know I swore black and blue that I would never send my daughter to day care and let strangers take care of her, but as always life had different plans for me. My big sister Sam has valiantly taken care of her for the past 6 months while I went off to work, and she did it without a single complaint (ok that's not entirely true, my daughter is a handful) but the strain of taking care of her own two children plus mine did get a bit much in the end. So I decided for her sake, and also to help Miss K learn to socialize with children who she isn't related to, that the time had come to put her into a program. We had a few weeks of orientation in December, which was actually timed perfectly because they came right after Sam's brother in law died, so she was really too busy taking care of her own family and didn't need the worry of Miss K as well. Orientation went super smoothly and Miss K is loving going to day care two days a week. She starts again on the 6th of this month while I'm still on holidays so if anything goes wrong I'm still close enough to deal with it for the first week. Sam's baby is starting school this year as well, so she won't know herself, being totally child free while Miss K is in day care, but she'll still get her one day a week, plus pick ups the rest of the time, so she won't be totally deprived of her time with Miss K. (Her words not mine)

I met long lost family members

So again this is something I didn't discuss at the time, but I actually got to meet one of my big sisters for the first time. I've mentioned before that my dad had 5 children with a previous wife, and I had met all of them except one. Well the Gods of fortune smiled on us this year and nearly 20 years after I met the first of my half brothers and sisters, I finally met the last one. The meeting was strange to say the least, as I could see the similarities that come with sharing a genetic bond, but given that her and her brothers and sisters were fed lies about our family their whole lives, things were slightly strained at first while we tried to figure each other  out. But my big sister and her partner are lovely ladies, and great mums and I am proud to be able to say I now know them. Miss K also got to meet a missing link in her family tree when Ady and his father finally reconnected after I don't know how many years of being estranged, and things there are going great. We make sure to pop in to visit him every month while we're down visiting Nonna, and while she has no idea we have anything to do with him (Ady hasn't gotten up the nerve to tell her and I refuse to get involved), it is lovely watching him develop a relationship with his only grandchild. He spoils her absolutely rotten any chance he gets, but he also genuinely loves her. He drives trams for a living, and lives very close to the route he drives, so any time a tram passes us as we walk down the street, they stop where they are so they can meet Miss K. It's fun watching my daughter disrupt Melbourne traffic and get away with it. If only she knew exactly how much power she held.

I made some wonderful blogging friends

So for anyone who has read anything before this blog, you'll know I have a blog crush on Karen from Baking in a Tornado. This lady just comes up with the best ideas for blogging, and I look forward to taking part in her blog series every chance I get. I get three chances this month, so I'm over the moon excited right now. But she certainly isn't the only wonderful blogger I've had the joy to cross paths with this year. From Vanessa at Babbling Bandit who writes about her daily struggles with depression with such raw honesty you can't help but feel her pain, to Stephanie at The Pursuit of Normal who makes me feel so much better about my own screw ups, and everyone else I have spoken to this year, (there are too many to mention), I will just say you ladies are all wonderful, and your writing has touched me so much over the year, so thank you.

Well I think that's a pretty good year. I'm sure other things happened too, but if I really gave you a play by play of the entire year, we'd be here until 2015 so I'll leave you now with my absolute favourite photo of 2013, Miss K as a fairy.

Before the new, a bit of the old

Happy 2014 my lovely people, I know I've been pretty absent the past month but things around here have been CRAZY busy these past weeks, and sadly when the chips are down this blog is the first place to get ignored. So thank you all for your never ending patience while you waited for me to get my head above water yet again, and to reward you all I have decided to grace the interwebs with yet another nugget of sparkling wisdom.

So to say that December was the worst month I've had in a long time seems like a slight understatement. There were pretty sad lows, a few health scares and lots of tears. My big sister lost her brother in law to suicide at the beginning of the month, and the whole family are still trying to come to terms with their grief and loss. I knew her brother in law, having gone to high school with him for a few years, and I even did my debutante ball with him back when I was 16. He very kindly stepped in to be my partner when all my other potentials fell through, even though by that stage he'd moved to a different school. As an added bonus, when his big brother finally married my big sister we were partnered together again for the wedding party and I already knew he was a good dancer. It was a life cut tragically short and his absence is strongly felt by everyone who knew him. My heart has broken time and time again for my big sister and my brother in law this month watching them feel such pain and I can only hope the day comes soon that this all becomes a little easier for them.

Also receiving a major hit was my sister in law who discovered in November that she would need to get her leg amputated. She had a bad infection in her foot and it hit the bone. It shouldn't have been so urgent except that she also discovered that she is pregnant again in November (Yay!!) and infections tend to be pretty bad for developing babies, so they had to chop the leg off. No one knew what was going to happen to the baby, whether or not it could cope with the anesthetic and the shock of major surgery, but luckily both mum and baby came out the other side OK and we now get to welcome a new baby into our family later this year. I have already advised I will not be joining her in getting knocked up this time (Miss K is 3 months younger than their daughter) but I will happily watch her swell up from the sidelines.

Then Miss K and I had an emergency visit to the Sunshine hospital on Christmas Eve after she fell and hit her head on the tiled floor at Nonna's house. I didn't see the actual fall as I was in the laundry doing some washing, but Miss K's Nonna insisted that the fall was only minor and took Miss K off for a drive to cheer her up. Unfortunately for us Miss K has a habit of falling asleep in the car, and sure enough she dozed off this time too. For anyone with basic knowledge of head injuries, you'd know that you never let anyone with a bump to the head go to sleep, as you can't properly observe a sleeping baby. Sure enough Miss K woke up with vomiting and dilated pupils and we rushed her to the emergency room to make sure everything was ok. The staff at Sunshine hospital were absolutely amazing, and knew exactly how to examine a sick two year old. There were stickers and bubbles and everything else a little girl could love, and she didn't even realise she was undergoing medical tests. Luckily for us she only had a mild concussion, there were no signs of bleeding to the brain or fractures to the skull so we were given permission to give her some pain killers and after watching her tear around the emergency room in a Cosy Coupe for an hour and a half they were happy enough to let us go home. For Ady and I the visit to the hospital was an awful trip down memory lane, as it was nearly three years ago we made our first visit to an emergency room when Miss K got meningitis. As horrible luck goes, Ady's car broke down that morning so he couldn't even drive us to the hospital. I had to throw Miss K into Nonna's car and get her to take us to the hospital and Ady caught up with us there. Watching him walk up to our bed on the ward was the most relieved I had felt since the whole disaster started and I burst into tears. By then we had been told that she was going to be ok, but I still couldn't relax until we were allowed to go home and I could see my mum. Of course for me, home was still more than two hours away, so it was a white knuckle trip home. Poor Ady tried to make conversation the whole drive but I was too busy waiting for Miss K to throw up again to really talk.

Despite having taken a knock to the head, Miss K did bounce back pretty quickly, and because I was waking her up every 4 hours to take more pain killers, her Christmas started at 2am when she saw her first present, her very own Cosy Coupe, which my little sister Kim had been putting together while we were driving home. It was just dumb luck that she had already spent the better part of her afternoon screaming around the hospital in one the day before so she knew how to drive it, but I'd had the car on lay by for a whole month before Christmas, because I am just an awesome mum.

Pictured: The daughter of the best mum ever!

Christmas went pretty smoothly despite everything I've mentioned above, we had lunch at our place with almost all the family, Ben and Tristan decided to spend Christmas with Tristan's family so we won't get to give them their gifts until they come down for mum's birthday next week, but Ady did get to come and spend the day with his daughter, and watching the two of them play together was a wonderful way to spend Christmas. She got more presents than I could possibly find homes for, including a kitten, which has been named Bertie Beetle (because why not?) and he is quickly becoming one of the family. 

He's pretty cute for a fur ball.

Given that I am very allergic to cats and usually go out of my way to avoid them at all costs, I will admit that he's pretty cute for a cat, and because I am the one who feeds him and cleans his litter tray, I get most of the cuddles off him, but Miss K is trying her hardest to get him to play with her, even if her methods are rough to say the least. Surprisingly enough Bertie puts up with most of her rough housing, only crying when she grabs him by the tail or the legs. I have had to rescue him from her death grip on more than one occasion but I'm sure they'll find their groove soon enough.

So that's pretty much summed up the past month. Ady is still in town, so Miss K has been spending time with him every day this week, much to her delight, and I'm loving it because it makes a wonderful bargaining chip for me whenever she refuses to go to bed. Any time she gets up one too many times I tell her she can't see dad tomorrow if she misbehaves and it pulls her head right in. I've also gotten some much needed quiet time while they go off together so I'm feeling almost relaxed at the moment. Except that we're also trying potty training right now so there's always something to worry about.

Well I'll be back again tomorrow with more gems for you guys, so stay tuned for that. Also I'm taking part in three blog series put together by Karen from Baking in a Tornado this month, the first one coming up very soon, so keep your eyes peeled guys. But until then, as always, stay awesome and happy new year.

Flashback Friday drunken shenanigans

Well it's Friday again, and you lovely readers know what that means don't you?? It means another Flashback Friday, where I go through the vault of all my oooold photos and find some to share with you. For anyone who wants to see my first Flashback Friday, please see here.

So today I'm not going back as far as I did last time, this time I'm going back about 5 years ago to when I was still young and carefree and Miss K was not even a gleam in my eye. They were days filled with nothing more concerning than whether to have pizza for tea again or walk across the road to KFC for dinner. And for a good time my little sister Nat would come over for a night of heavy drinking, and for some reason, photography.

 

That's right, there is physical evidence of us at our absolute worst.

Now sadly because of the large amounts of alcohol involved in these evenings, I don't have a lot of stories to tell, mainly because everything about that period is so very fuzzy. I know there was one night where Nat chased me out of the house with a tube of toothpaste in her hand trying to use it on me as make up, but the chase stopped when I opened the gate on her foot and removed part of her toe nail. 

 

I was too cool for hair moustaches, I wanted a beard.

I had a Playstation at the time, so we'd spend a lot of time playing Singstar, or Guitar Hero, there would be lots of laughing and absolute mayhem. 

 

We look like a pair of Hell raisers don't we?

If we were feeling girly we'd give each other drunken make overs, which went about as well as you'd expect them to go. Occasionally I'd have a boyfriend and he'd be invited into the fold for the evening, and then we'd drink him under the table. I remember one guy, (who I'm still good friends with, and he is a seasoned drinker from way back) passed out on the couch after a quickfire Family Guy drinking game, leaving us to continue our party alone. Given that every other time I've drank with this guy he is able to keep drinking well after I'm finished I was always proud of that night. (Is that a bad thing?) 

They are nights that I will always look back on with great fondness, and just a touch of regret that I've grown up so much in the past few years that I probably won't ever have a repeat of them again. Of course Miss K will never know exactly how well I used to handle my drink, and I'll never look at her drinking sessions in the same way that I saw mine, but I can say with great certainty that those were the good old days.

Well that's my flashback for this week, if you would like to see the rest of the participants, or you want to add your own flashback to the website, you can do so here.

Recipe - Potato, Chicken and Leek pie

Hello again and welcome to another recipe Monday. For all of my Aussie friends, sorry that I didn't get this posted in time for your dinner tonight, but there is always tomorrow night. And given that it will be Tuesday, maybe you'll be in more of a mood to cook. I never feel like cooking on Mondays, sadly my local pizza store has also chosen Monday to be the one day out of the week that they don't open, leaving me absolutely no choice but to throw something together so that Miss K doesn't stare at me like a starving lion.

Now the recipe that I am about to share with you is definitely not something that I'd cook on a Monday, it's more like a Friday or a Saturday recipe. I need a lot of energy in me before I tackle anything as challenging as a pie. (For anyone who isn't completely impotent in the kitchen, you can do this every single day, I just have special needs as a cook.)

Ok so to make a potato, chicken and leek pie, you will need several things first.

2 sheets Shortcrust pastry for the base (or 2 sheets puff pastry if you prefer puff pastry and are happy blind baking it, I have given instructions for both methods.)
1 sheet Puff pastry for the top
500g chicken breasts diced
1 leek sliced
3 - 4 medium sized potatoes diced
1 and a half cup roughly chopped mushrooms
2 tablespoons of plain flour
1 cup chicken stock
1 cup cream
Salt and pepper to season
Milk or egg for the pastry crust

Serves 4

To make your pie:

Pre heat your oven to 200 degrees celsius (390 degrees farenheit) or 180 degrees celsius (350 degrees farenheit) if you have a fan forced oven.

If you are going to blind bake your bottom layer of puff pastry, do it now. It is fairly simple, just grease your pie dish and lay down your puff pastry sheets so that the entire tin is covered, including a lip at the top. Trim off any excess pastry. Pierce the pastry in several places to prevent it puffing up while it cooks. Place a sheet of greased baking paper or tin foil over the pastry (greased side down) then cover the top of the paper/foil with a layer of pie weights, or a generous amount of rice, making sure that the coverage is heavy enough to keep the pastry flat. Bake in your pre heated oven for 15 minutes, then remove the pie weights/rice and paper/foil covering and bake for a further 10 minutes until golden brown. If you haven't placed enough pie weights or rice on your pastry and it has puffed up, just press it down lightly before returning it to the oven. 

In a fry pan pre heat some oil, then cook the chicken for 5 minutes until it is lightly browned.
Add the leeks, potatoes and mushrooms, and cook for another 5 - 7 minutes until the leeks are softened.
Mix the plain flour into a small amount of water, to make it easier to combine with the other ingredients, then pour the liquid into the fry pan. Cook for another minute stirring.
Add the chicken stock and cream and bring the mixture to the boil.

If you are using shortcrust pastry, grease your pie dish now and line it with a layer of short crust pastry, ensuring that it has a lip. Trim off any excess pastry.

Spoon the mixture into the prepared pie dish, and brush the edge of the pastry with milk or egg.
Place the top sheet of puff pastry and press the edges down with a fork or your fingers.
Cut a small slit into the top of the pastry, then brush the top with egg or milk to give it a nice shine. Remember that the heat from the mixture inside will make the pastry quite soft and fragile, so you need to be gentle when brushing liquid on top so that you don't tear it.
Bake for 25 - 30 minutes until the pastry is golden brown.

Now that right there is one slice of pure delicious. Sadly it didn't last long in our house, but I always take that as a huge compliment.

And now it's your turn. Go and make this pie and impress your friends and family with the ancient art of pie-making which is really being lost in this day and age, especially with the freezer section of every supermarket full of row after row of machine made pies. 

Well I'll be back again tomorrow with another life hack, but until then, stay awesome.

Flashback Friday

So today's post is for a new linky party created by the lovely Melissa at Forgetting Mess, Pausing Time. We have been asked to dig through all our old photos and post a new one up each week and tell the story that goes with the picture. Now I am very lucky to have an awesome big sister who put all our old family photos into the computer a couple of years ago, so all I had to do today was dig through some CDs today and I found all the old pictures of me as a kid.

This photo was taken at one of our houses in Horsham. How country does that look? from the crooked gate in the background to the water tank on stilts. I think the giant structure next to the tank is even a windmill. I only have a few vivid memories from our time in Horsham, as I was only 4 when we moved to the other end of the state, but I always have a feeling that life up there was pretty carefree. (How could it not be? I was a baby.) The back yard seemed massive to me as a kid, I know that besides that in-ground trampoline that I'm sitting on in this picture there was also a large vegetable garden nearby. I think there was also a jungle gym somewhere else in the yard. But that may have been at another house. 

I know the driveway was really long, and the school bus stopped right outside our letterbox. I don't know if I did it every day, but I remember walking with my big sister to the end of the driveway in the mornings and waiting with her till the bus came to take her to school. As I walked back to the house I could always hear the Magpies and various other birds singing. It always seemed so peaceful and remote. We went mushroom picking with dad, and had picnics of Barbecue Shapes in the row of trees at the back of the yard. There was a shearing shed somewhere nearby that had been condemned, and we weren't allowed to go anywhere near it, but it never stopped us. We used to climb up to the roof that had partially collapsed and slide down the planks of wood (I think it was the roof anyway)

Mum and dad ran a trampoline centre somewhere in town for a little while, which is part of the reason why we had that trampoline in the back yard. I remember spending weekends playing at the centre with my big sister and little brother. There was a caravan park next door and if we were really good (or really bored) mum would let us go to the kiosk there and buy a lolly. I preferred the quiet days at the trampoline centre, because it meant that we were allowed to play on the trampolines for as long as we wanted. A great game was jumping from one trampoline to the next, till you reached the end of the row. The trampolines at the centre had rubber matting over the springs, unlike the one in our back yard, so you couldn't hurt yourself, nor could you climb underneath the trampoline. Of course we weren't meant to climb underneath the trampoline at home either, but that never stopped us. I know my big sister used to throw balls down there and make me retrieve them. Once I was well underneath the trampoline, she and my little brother would start jumping. I remember eating dirt more than once as I dived on the ground to dodge the feet coming towards my head. It sounds mean, but we would laugh about it once I was back up again. Just another one of those strange games children play.

It was such an idyllic life that I lived the first four years of my life, lots of room to move and play, and because it was so remote we were basically free to do as we pleased all day. I actually went through the town part of Horsham a few years ago on a trip to Alice Springs with my mum and uncle, but there was nothing there that I remembered. But the town never interested me as a child, I had everything I needed in my back yard. 

Well that was a fun trip down memory lane. If any of you want to join in the fun, you can find all the details for Flashback Friday here. 

Life Hacks Episode 3

Well here we are again at another episode of Life Hacks. In this series I give you a heap of quick and easy tips designed to make your life just a little bit quicker and easier. If you are the kind of person who still types www at the beginning of every web address you visit, then pay attention because this series is for you. (Little side note and nothing to do with today's episode, stop typing www at the beginning of every web address, seriously you just wasted 3 seconds of your life by doing that. You'll get to exactly the same place if you just start typing the address after the www. Go ahead and try it, I'll stand here and wait for you.)

For episode 2 click here

Now today's life hack is something that I know everyone has to deal with, and that is preventing clogged drains in your kitchen. Thanks to our laziness, most of us just tip every little bit of fatty, dirty, food infested water straight down the sink, and then curse our stupid plumbing when it all comes flowing back into the sink after you turn the tap on full.

Image source http://www.freedigitalphotos.net

I told you you can't flush an entire pumpkin down the sink!

Now there are many ways that you can actually prevent all that nasty fatty scrappy gunk from being washed down your sink. You can always tip fluids out into the garden, or go out and buy a tiny strainer for your sink, or you could use something that you probably already have in your kitchen and are about to use to scrub out your pot anyway. 

So to safely empty a dirty pot of crud into your sink without blocking your drain, you will need the following

1 pot full of scummy water (or a whole sink full of dirty dish water)

1 steel wool

1 rubbish bin

Now I Googled steel wool before I wrote this because I'm never sure if these life hacks will translate into other countries, but I'm very happy to find out that Australia isn't the only country that sells steel wool. So way to go the rest of the world, you can do this too! However the type of steel wool you use may end up producing different results, I have used a very coarse steel wool that is already well loved, so there is plenty of room for the water to drain out of it while the scum and crud stays put.

So to save your drain and your sanity, plug up your drain with a piece of steel wool BEFORE you start emptying the water out. If you are emptying a pot, this is simple, just plug up the hole. If you are doing this while the sink is already full of water, it is still simple, just make sure you use two hands, one to pull the plug out, the other to jam the steel wool into the drain hole.

Voila! one plugged up sink hole, and a perfectly timed drop of water splashing into the sink. How awesome is that?

Note that I have taken a photo before anything is tipped down the sink, because truly that is a nasty sight. Once you have emptied all the water, take the steel wool over to your rubbish bin and shake all the crap out into the bin where it belongs. If you are a squeamish person who can't stand the thought of actually touching a dirty scrubber feel free to use gloves while you do this, or even better find someone else to do it for you. 

The beauty of emptying out water in this manner is that while it saves you from having to unclog your drain in the future, it also helps keep our waterways cleaner and reduces the amount of work that water treatment plants have to do once your dirty water reaches them. It truly is a green tip you can feel good about doing it.

Well there you have it, another short cut for you done and dusted. I'll be back again tomorrow with our next episode of Spotlight on Mental health, and for once it isn't a family member i begged to write something for me so be sure to tune in tomorrow for that. 

Recipe- Toasted Banana and Nutella Sanga

Hello again my wonderful audience, I am back with another super dooper awesome recipe for you guys to share. Now I am feeling incredibly lazy today, which explains why I am so late in posting this recipe, as well as why I have chosen a simple meal to share with you guys today too.

So as you can tell from today's recipe, I'm showing you guys how to make a toasted sanga. For any of my audience who doesn't call Australia home, this term may confuse you, so to confuse you guys even further, I'll tell you that I'm either toasting sandwiches, or an Abyssinian Ox. I'll let you guys decide while I post this picture.

For anyone who guessed I was cooking an Ox, you are awesome, PM me now, we need to talk!

Yep I am so lazy that today my recipe is a toasted sandwich. But this is a toasted sandwich that takes a certain amount of skill. Because it's one thing to smear some Nutella on a piece of toast and walk to the lounge room while chewing on it. It's another to combine the Nutella with hot melty banana and eat it without ending up looking like a two year old who is still learning to eat properly.

This is usually how I look after eating one of these bad boys.

Ok so to make my favourite breakfast/lunch/snack/comfort food, you will need the following.

2 slices of bread. 

Margarine or butter to lubricate the bread

Nutella or other similar choc-hazelnut spread

1 medium to large banana

1 Sandwich press or grill

So to make a toasted banana and nutella sandwich, first spread your butter/margarine/olive oil spread/Nuttelex on both slices of bread

Smear a generous amount (read; shitload) of Nutella on one slice of bread

Mash the banana and spread it on the other slice of bread

Slap those two babies together, being careful not to spill any banana, that stuff is precious.

Put the sandwich in the sandwich press, or under the grill until the bread is golden brown and crispy, and the banana is nice and warm and soft

This bad boy feeds one, but don't be surprised if you start getting hungry eyes from everyone within a ten metre radius.

image source http://www.freedigitalphotos.net/

I'm so hungry I'm going to stab this melon....ladies

Well that's all from me for now, I'm off to go do something productive, like make another toasted banana and nutella sandwich. Later y'all.

Life Hacks Episode 2

I would like to start todays post by expressing my sorrow at the tragedy in Boston today. My thoughts and hearts go out to everyone in who has been affected by this terrifying attack. I am still of two minds whether to even post anything today, but if it is indeed an act of terror as the news reporters are stating, then the best thing to do is go on with our lives and refuse to give in, so with that in mind I would like to welcome all of you to the second episode of Life Hacks.

For episode one click here

Now today I am going to show you guys how to fix something which is the bane of my existence, and something I am sure everyone has had the frustration of dealing with at some point in their lives to date. Scratched CDs.

Pictured: enough scratches to give you a whole head of grey hairs

This one can be fixed with just a few items that can be found in most households, depending on how yellow your teeth are. Intrigued? Keep reading to find out more.

Ok so to repair a scratched CD you will need the following items;

1 scratched CD

Several cotton buds (cotton swabs or Q Tips for my overseas friends)

1 tube of tooth whitening toothpaste with Bi-Carb

Don't judge my choice in movies, or the fact that this one is so well loved. I love me some classic Disney

Now just for a little side note, technically I could send this DVD back to the Disney company in America, and they will replace it for me with a brand new, completely unscratched copy for a minimal fee, but given that I don't feel like mailing my DVDs to America and then waiting weeks and weeks before I can watch The Sword in the Stone again, I'll stick with my method. 

Ok so back to repairing our scratched discs. I mentioned above that the toothpaste has to be whitening toothpaste, and that it must contain Bi-Carbonate Soda. This is important, because it is the Bi-Carb which actually gets rid of the scratch. Why can't you just use plain ol' Bi-Carb? I guess because this way your discs end up with a minty fresh smell once the scratch is repaired. 

So on to repairing the gray-hair inducing scratches. First load up your cotton bud with a small amount of toothpaste. Then start buffing at the scratch, using small circular motions. You will need to buff all the way up and down the scratch in this manner.

Soon this disc will have a sparkly smile and a new lease on life

Now this method can take a little while to complete, depending on how deep the scratch is, but it is important to persevere because it really does work, and can mean the difference between being able to watch a movie, or throwing it into the bin forever. (Although for some movies that may not be a bad thing. I'm looking at you Disaster Movie)

Ok so once you've buffed the scratch rinse the disc under cold water and check your progress. Again if it is a particularly deep scratch, you may need to repeat the above step several times.

Don't forget to rinse with mouthwash to kill the 99% of germs found in your mouth.

Now one other thing I must mention before you fly into a panic when you see it is the micro scratches. Because Bi-Carb is an abrasive, this method will leave a cloudy patch of micro scratches on your disc once you have removed the initial scratch. While this patch is not pleasing to the eye, it does not affect the ability of the disc to play, unlike the massive scratch you started off with. I tried to take a picture of the CD I just cleaned, just so you could get an idea of what it would look like, but evening light plus reflective surface plus terrible photographer do not make for a very clear image. 

Hopefully pointing it out to you makes it a little easier to see it past the blur and flash.

And there you have it. One way to rescue your CDs and DVDs from extinction. 

Well that is all for now, as you can tell I have a lot more scratches in this disc to buff out if I am going to get to watch it before bed tonight, so I'll leave you until tomorrow where we return for another Spotlight on Mental Health. Until then, stay awesome.

*Edit* I have since discovered that car wax may be able to do the same thing. Is anyone willing to test this for me??