Naan bread stir fry.

We are still doing FaithBox as a family on Friday nights, and now Catherine's cousin Aziza joins us. Here they are  dressed as toiletpaper Mummies... a bit like sin you see.... it restricts us and ties us up!

What do you do if your brother in law works at a food court and brings you more Naan bread each week than you can eat? Well, you get creative and make a up a dish: I call this my Naan Bread Stir Fry. (It's yummy and tastes like noodles)

Ingredients:

4 pieces of Naan Bread, cut into strips

1 can of Garlic Tuna

Some shredded lettuce leaves.

Fry the Naan bread untill hot. Add the tuna, and heat through. Lastly add stredded lettuce untill just wilted. 

This is yummo, and we had lettuce in our garden so this was a $3 meal!

I'm loving the longer evenings, walking outside at 8pm and still being able to see. It gets even better in summer when you can still garden at 9pm!

Our church holds a light party every Halloween. I made Catherine a Powerpuff Girl outfit this year. Speaking of Halloween... this has never been a kiwi tradition, but the Warehouse, a large chain store, has single handedly managed to bring it in as a holiday, purely for a few extra bucks. As one radio DJ said yesterday... "Well, it's here... I guess we better just get used to it".

And I think to myself...

How come, with just me and Mum in the house we always need to pee at the same time?

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Quote from the radio... "God didn't give us such a powerful organ as the brain so we can sit around and think about how things can't be done

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Being a solo-mum isn't all bad. When Aziza's dad (Catherine's uncle) left his motorbike here after the clutch cable broke, Catherine said to me "Mum, are you going to fix his bike?"

My daughter thinks I can fix anything!!

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Three things I used to do on a Sunday with my Dad.

Go to church. Watch the rugby. Watch the Westerns.

The quote that still sticks with me all these years later , is from High Noon.

"If you don't know, I can't teach it to ya"

(Pronounce this with thick American accent)

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Which leads to a conundrum my Dad used to ask...

"Why does everyone have accents except us?"

Folk Festival stickers, all made.

Well, here are the stickers for selling at the Auckland Folk Festival in January. I think there's some space for a couple more, so ... any ideas? I'm thinking a couple more celtic designs might not go a miss.

Now I'll probably list them individually on Etsy next week.

Oh yeah, back to the subject of nasty nits. My friend Luarna read my blog and rung me up straight away, very concerned :) There's one thing I hadn't tried... good old vinegar! I'm off to try it now. It'll be such a laugh if $3 worth of vinegar does what $70 of expensive treatment couldn't do!

NOTE: It is now 8pm, and yip.... $3 worth of vinegar did what $70 worth of treatment couldn't do!  I am now itch free.... ahhhh. The relief! I may do a quick tutorial. People need to know! Thanks Luarna!

I watched a documentary on Muhammad Ali on Maori Television the other day. I have watched it several times now. My favourite quote when challenging his draft into the army to fight in the Vietnam war said "I ain't got no quarrel with the VietCong... no Vietcong ever called me nigger".

I stumble across the answer to my dilemma the other day. I always think to myself that I was wiser as a ten year old than I am now. The answer? Hang out with a ten year old! Namely Catherine's cousin. Well, shes eight, but so far I have learnt: it's rude to stare, and yelling at people makes them feel bad. Did I need a kid to help me learn that? Yes I did!

I put a phone number on a guys car yesterday and he said "Cool. Now if I p##s people off they can ring me."

I had to laugh.

... driving me nuts!

I was wondering if I should blog this, but I'm pretty anonymous here... so here goes... Catherine caught head lice and gave them to me! Now I treated her hair and hers are gone, but mine won't leave! I think I have super nits. I tried 2 whole bottles of treatment on my hair. It said to leave in 3 minutes... I left it in OVERNIGHT. I think I was even itchier the next day! Then I tried the only thing that worked last year, which was cat flea-treatment! IT DIDN'T WORK. Then I thought I'd try a more expensive kind... that didn't work either. Then I thought I'd try something I heard on the News one time... suffocating them with oil and glad wrap. Nope. Didn't work. 

Do you want to know how desperate I'm getting? Today I put on a gas mask and sprayed my head with FLY SPRAY.... but I can still feel those little critters right NOW. I'll try again tomorrow and leave it in longer. If that doesn't work, the only other idea I haven't tried is dunking my head with Kerosene. If that doesn't work... WHAT CAN I DO????? Shave my head??????

These nits are driving me nuts!

Sticker Designs for the Folk Festival 2012

Well, my Folk Festival programme arrived in the mail the other day, and then I remembered my plan to make and sell some stickers at the trade and exchange next time... so I've made an early start, and these are my designs. They'll all be cut in white vinyl for car windows... or maybe even to stick on a case... who knows?

I know that last post was whiney... I don't care anymore. Blogging that stuff gets it off my chest and makes me feel better once it's out.
Catherines first day back at school tomorrow, and my Datsun's almost ready for its WOF (warrant). Also, summer is definitely here... long days and time for gardening in the evenings again.
Also, my Folk Festival program arrived! Time to veg out in a tent and listen to live music. And I'm totally sussed with finances this year... I've been saving up! God is good, and life is good too, as long as I don't let people (Mum) get me down and remember I'm not responsible for her moods!
Let me end on a happy note. Jesus is coming soon... no more crying, pain or sadness. Everything you dreamed your ideal life would be... I can't wait!

Bigger things

I bought myself an mp3 player yesterday... and now I wonder, "why didnt I do that sooner??". I can walk around in my own bubble and block people out if I want... people meaning certain family members. That sounds pretty stink, I know, but I'm just not a person who enjoys constant chatter and I need some SPACE. Just the other day I was getting all resentful about the fact that I haven't been able to listen to a certain CD I own for over 3 years because I can't enjoy it with Mum in the house. And she never leaves... EVER. Unless I take her somewhere. Every now and then I look on Trade Me for rental property in the nearby streets and every time I come tho the same conclusion. I can't afford $300 a week on rent alone! So I go back to my (currently) 12 year plan. I won't elaborate, but basically I hope to be dependant free by the time I'm 45. That used to depress me. Now it gives me hope. Times flyin' boy. (It used to be my 18 year plan).

In the mean time I'm trying to be happy in my situation. I've come to the conclusion that all my introspection hasn't done me any favours and my prayer lately has been "Lord, show me the BIGNESS of life". Ie. life is full of stories. I want to think about bigger things.

Yehaa!

And the whole country says
PHEW!
We've won the Rugby World Cup after 24 years!
As soon as the final whistle blew, the neighbours started letting off fireworks, and cars drove past beeping.
What a match!
We won!
YEEEHHAAAA!

The Spring has sprung

The grass has riz
the boid is on the wing.
The boid is on the wing?
But that's obsoid!
The wing is on the boid!

Check out the compost bins my Dad built! All made by him, in brick and corrogated tin. Spring is here and it's time to get gardening!And check out the view from my Uncle's bach in Tarawera. We stayed there 4 days. My uncle came up on the last day and gave us a little history tour.

See this little lean-to? (little hut). Well, before they built the bach, my grandma and granddad would sleep in there, and my mum, aunty and uncle would sleep outside on mattresses under blankets and oil-skins! My Uncle (who is now 65) said he didn't know why they put him on the outside, because he was the littlest and right next to the big black bush.

They used to drive there, and when they arrived the kids would be waiting in the back of the Chevy while my Granddad hacked a path through the bush to get there!

The bach they actually have there now was my Uncles first apprenticeship. (My Granddad was a builder and my uncle followed in his footsteps.) My uncle said the ground was volcanic ash and my granddad dug out the gravel by hand with a shovel. I asked if they'd used an architect and he said no, Granddad and his parents had drawn up the plans themselves! That's pretty cool for having no higher education. 

Where the f--k is Webb Ellis- for the 2011 Rugby World Cup from TV3 Sport

This sums it up really.... 24 years since we won the first World Cup.... and we've only got France to beat and we've finally done it again.

Please note the lyrics... "..we're thrashing everyone and we go and lose to France!"...it's true! We've been the best team in the world ..um.. FOREVER.. but we keep losing the cup!

And to fill you in... we've already beaten France in the Pool play.. but as they say, "unpredictable France". On any given day they can win, no matter how poorly they've played they can pull something off.

Let me repeat... ONE MORE MATCH AND WEVE WON IT!

Comon' boys... you can do it!

PS. excuse the bad language in the clip... but its funny anyhow :)

What a day!

 Well, I went to get my Datsun's Warrant of Fitness the other day... it failed on a MULTITUDE of things, and I was travelling by train to the mechanics to get there and back.... well, I had to pick it up today. I was supposed to be babysitting Catherine and her cousin today, so I caught a taxi  instead so I wouldn't be leaving them with Nana too long...

NEK MINUTE

I go to pick it up... my mechanic tells me I need a new battery, so he gives me a jump, I decide to leave straight away (instead of warming it up first), drive down the road and STALL... at the LIGHTS! so there I am stranded. "Need a push?" ... a couple of guys come out of there house, and two other guys jump out of their van and push me through the lights to the opposite road. There I am parked thinking, lucky I joined the AA for such an occassion... try my phone and it's not working anymore for some reason.

Well, my mechanic had told me to go to pick a part and get a second hand battery... so I decide to walk there even though its raining... so 25 minutes later I get there, and they tell me that they have no new ones at the moment! At that piont I'm thinking I should have called my mechanic... I've known him for years and I think I can trust him (still getting over my trust issues )...and also thinking, why is it I have no one else in my life I can call on at times like this??? Something I think I need to work on.

So I walk to the train station...20 minutes away and train home. "Are you girls alright?" "YEEESSSS" Ok good. Set up lunch and feed the girls. 

Set out in my van to go to the Datsun, thinking 'I didn't realise how comforting my van is'. Pick up the battery, take it to Auto One who tests my battery and sells me a new one. Go home and girls want to come along, so I get there, put in the new battery, start it straight away to move it closer to the footpath and flood the engine. NOTE TO SELF: Warm up the engine 10 minutes before doing ANYTHING.

Go back to my mechanic (He did emphasise to me "tell me what's going on!!", so maybe I should?)...go to him "what do I DO? should I call the AA?" "Nope... I'll be there in 15 minutes".. go there...wait... starts the engine and it starts straight away.... "how much for that?"... "don't worry about it" he says. My mechanic ROCKS.

Drive home and drop off the girls. Train back to Middlemore... 20 minute walk to my car, not raining this time.. 

NOW.... start the engine GINGERLY. 

WARM UP THE CAR A FULL 10 MINUTES.

GET A FULL TANK OF PETROL.

Go to the testing station to see if I can get my Warrant.

It fails.

I need a clamp for my battery, and my brakes still need realigning. 

Go to SuperCheap Auto. Get clamp.

One more visit to my mechanic and I should be all legal.

Maybe after our trip to my Uncle's bach next week. :)

SMURF CAKE - tutorial

 I've had a number of hits people looking up my smurf cake instructions I made a year or so ago. These were very sparse though, with no pictures, so I have decided to remake the cake to show you better how I did it. The second one didn't turn out as good as the first, but maybe you can learn from my mistakes, and remember, it works... the first one turned out great!

Here's how I did it:

1. I baked a cake in a meat tray as I don't have a rectangle tin. Once cooked I cut off the top and the sides and turned it upside down. Instead of using a crumb coat of butter icing I used jam.

2. I iced the cake with butter icing. Recipe: 2 cups of icing sugar. 50 grams of butter. Hot water.... mix together to a nice consistancey. Once the icing was on I smoothed it out with a knife dipped in hot water.

3. I printed out the template (bottom of this page), and traced around it with a toothpick. I filled in the eyes and body as best I could.

4. I made a stiff icing using icing sugar, black food colouring and a small amount of boiling water to make a very stiff icing. Then made a piping bag out of waxproof paper by folding it into a triangle and cutting off the tip.

 NOTE: this is where things didn't go so good this time. You have to make sure you make a nice thick line with the icing so when you fill in the runny white and blue icing won't spill over the top of it.

5. Then I made a very RUNNY icing, using icing sugar and hot water. I used a spoon and drizzled it into the gaps. Then I added blue food colouring and did the same with that.

 So here's how the second one went. Not as cool as my first one, but you get the idea.

And here is the smurf template. right click on this and save it and print it out on an A4 sheet of paper. 

Here is my original instructions.

How to make a 6 panelled skirt, size 6 child.

 My daughter is taking drama classes at the moment, so here is a very theatrical skirt, it's pattern and it's tutorial.

The pattern is in pdf, and can be found here. Print out the 6 A4 sheets, cut out the rectangles and tape together, then cut out the pattern pieces.

Step ONE: Cut out the pieces. There should be 6 skirt panels, 6 pieces for the frill, and two waiste banc pieces.

Step TWO: Place the frill pieces together and sew into one long strip, then sew remaining edges together to form a circle. The pieces are sewn short sides together as shown.






Step THREE: Sew the panel pieces together by placing right sides together (that means the side that's going to show outside), and with the short ends all at the top, so the skirt flares out at the bottom. Here are four pieces sewn together. All six need to be sewn together, then the first piece and the last piece sewn together to make the skirt.

 Step FOUR: Turn the pieces over (you should have two pieces now.... the skirt piece, and the frill piece) and iron the seams flat.

 Step FIVE:  Pin the frill to the skirt. Do this by pinning right sides together... pin so the panels match, then gather the rest into a frill.


Step SIX: To attach the waiste band, sew the two pieces together to form one long band. Then pin to inside of the skirt, wrong sides together.







Step SEVEN:  Fold over waisteband to the front, tuck under a 10mm seam and sew down, leaving a gap in the front to thread through some elastic. To thread elastic through, attach it to a safety pin and push it through the waiste band. Tie the elastic in a knot, then sew down the gap if you wish.

Stumble...

I'd just like to share a cool website I stumbled upon... if you havn't already heard of it, I highly recommend it.

STUMBLEUPON Click on that link and it will take you to a page on ideas for becoming a better writer.Then click the 'stumble' button, it will take you to something else. Login and you can set your own interests. I have no ambitions to become a writer, but literature is one of the things I added as an interest, and I find I enjoy reading ways of overcoming writers block, even so!
This is really the best on the web. I read articles on womens lib, art, writing... allsorts... hidden stuff I wouldn't otherwise come across or even think to google. I usually google stuff like "how do I change the oil in my car" or "how to decorate cupcakes"... but really, Stumble takes you to the cream of the crop. I highly recommend this site :)