Thursday 30 August 2012

Trips home are becoming very different

We recently went back home to Adelaide to celebrate my big sister's 40th Birthday.

It was an 80's theme, this is us! I said later "the 80's were not kind to any of us!"
Me on the left, big sister on the right
We dont have our parents in our life and we have had to be a huge support for one anther over the years beacuse of this. And I think we have had done pretty well.

As you may know Hubby & I packed up and moved our family to Melbourne to pursue careers with our company. It has been tough the past 4 years but we have so far survived. But not having ANY family here at all has been really hard and also sad. I am alot closer to my family than my hubby is with his, so I guess he finds it hard to understand.

So back to my sister's birthday, she had a huge party and lots of people. There were many of my Dad's family there that my sister has kept in touch with and also our "adopted like" family that I have stayed in close contact with. But there was a few times during the night I found my daughter and I just standing by ourselves with really no one to turn to and talk with. I felt really sad, not just beacsue my family is very disjointed but I felt sad that my daughter was in a room with cousins, aunties and uncles that she had only met for the first time that night and probably will never see again. I thats not what family is meant to be about.

I know I cant change what happen with my family, but I am going to make sure I keep my little family as close as possible and always in contact with one another.

The other thing that really got to me that night was the lack of friends I have. My sister has so many frineds, she is the kind of person that walks into a room not knowing anyone and leaves with a whole new group of people in her life. Wonderful stuff! For some reason I just cant do that and dont have what she has.

Now I dont want to play the violin too loud just yet! I do have friends but again the few good ones I have are back home and we hardly see each other anymore. And now as we get older we are all going our different ways, moving or tracvelling, etc. So anyways...it just made me a little sad to reflect on my life and what it has become since moving away.

I bet you are thinking - Just move back home!?

That is also now a hard thing to do. Daughter E has started school now and has made some really good freinds, we have a house that we need to fix up big time and we want to earn some decent money to help our kids get off to a good start. And some of my friends are about to move overseas/interstate and I would not be seeing them anyway.

Sigh....and...Huff

I dont have any answers, but I dont have many questions either.

I think this is just life, it is what it is and everyone grows up and on I guess.

Friday 24 August 2012

50 Shades of WHATEVER!

Last week I was doing a nice leisurely shop for last minute things before we head home to Adelaide for a few days.

Baby O was sleeping soundly as I cruised around and it was actually nice to be able to stop, pick up items and look at them properly. There was no crying baby, no 6 year old hurrying me up to head down to the toys or god forbid the Donut Place.

So I got what I had to get, then thought seeing this trip is going so well I should scoot past the Books and see what is out and maybe pick one up. Then I could add it to the collection on my bedside table.

Well I didn't get right into the book aisle in lovely Big W as there were about 3 deep around the end of 50 Shades of Grey. Now I found it very odd that these were mum and daughter couples arm in arm giggling and saying things like "god dad wouldn't be up for that" or "mum Peter will be thanking me later for reading this".

I have now spoken to heaps of friends and family about this book and seriously everyone I have spoken with is or has read this book. It was the book club pick for one of the mum's I spoke with at school and they even went as far as all doing a sketch of "Christian" to see what everyone thought he would look like...Geez!


Am I the only one left on the planet who does not care about this book at all?

I am not open about sex, I don't like to talk about my sex life with groups of people, I'm not a dirty talker (much to the disappointment of my hubby) and I'm not into reading this so called "Mummy Porn". Sorry just not me!

NOW, one book that I did actually read only a couple weeks ago was Bossypants by Tine Fey.

OMG!!! Yes I'm using OMG...this book was brilliant. I love Tina to bits and wished I had of picked it up sooner.

If your a fan of Saturday Night Live, 30 Rock (I'm a huge fan) or any of her movies you will seriously love this book also.




Thursday 9 August 2012

Oh for the love of Chicken!

Of late I have been cooking 2 dinners each night to work in with me trying to loose some baby weight.

It has proven to be a massive pain the ass to do this - cooking 2 meals that is.

My "meal plan" calls for either Fish or Chicken which is great as I love both. Fish more so than chook usually.

The rest of the family are not too keen for fish. My darling daughter picks and chooses when she is "allergic" to it. But can polish off a fillet of Salmon no worries.

So chicken has been on the menu a lot! But we have all been loving it!

You might have seen over on my Facebook page some Chicken Wraps I did a little while back. Well they have been on the mid week dinner menu. Along with a tandoori spiced chook with roasted veg. I took all the skin off my piece of chicken, below is a photo of my hubby's plate. The veg was Beetroot, fennel, potato, carrot and spinach...YUM! Some dishes have been poached chicken in Asian broth and grilled chicken with some steamed greens. Again YUM for me.

But today I cooked something a bit more naughty, I am going to have to run extra far to work off this meal. I have done Deviled Chicken Wings.

If your in your thirties or older your mum may of had this in her repertoire. Its a chassis dish of stick wings that taste like the sauce from another old school meal - Meatloaf!

Now the reason I made these is because my hubby saw on Master chef Matt Preston do sticky chicken wings. But he used a can of Coke! I think gross, tooth decay and sugar overload. So was not going to be making them that way for my boy!

I tried to remember what was in the sauce this is what I came up with.

Deviled Wings

1 Can Chopped Tomatoes
2Tbs Soy Sauce
3Tbs Kecup Manis
2 Cloves of Garlic Crushed
2Tbs Tomato Sauce

I put all this in a small pot and bought to the boil. Then put the stick blender in there to make it a smooth sauce.

Easy hey!

I think the best thing about this is Chicken Wings are $2.99 a kilo where I get them from. So 1kg does our family easy. Such a cheap meal! I did chop the wings into 3 pieces, so you end up with what seems 100 wings.
This is before the oven

Now to cook them I put the wings into a baking tray and poured over the sauce. Then into an oven of about 160, covered with foil for about 45min. I then took the foil off and cooked for another 45min, turning every now and then.

After the oven
This is NOT in my meal plan at all, but I couldn't resist.

Serve with some rice and a napkin for the sticky fingers.



Enjoy!!

C'mon Aussie's, C'mon

Like most of you we have been watching the Olympics flat out.

At my daughters school they had a launch day and really got behind making this a big event for the kids. I'm sure most schools would be doing something along the same lines, but this is our first year so we are all a bit excited!

So my little one was happy to don the Green & Gold and really get into the spirit of it all.

Not a fan of the flash on the camera.
She was that excited that she made sure that my phone alarm was set for 5.30am for the opening ceremony.

Dedicated!!

So there we all were bleary eyed and up watching the opening ceremony. Which I thought was really good!

I got into the spirit of it by making up some Green & Gold pancakes for the family! I did have a photo but it got deleted by accident :( It was very creative of me!

What I have found these game though is the really harsh comments and disappointment that is coming out of commentary team and even some athletes.

I am not a sports person at all so I cant understand how winning silver or bronze would be so disappointing. But really guys lighten up! You're the best in your field in your country - that's why your at the Olympics!!!

We the public watching think you're just ace and take our hats off to you.

On the other hand I don't take my hat off to the Channel 9 Swimming commentator's. I have vented a couple times on Facebook about this so I wont be so harsh here today, BUT...they were probably the worst I have have even seen and heard. To be honest the whole coverage on 9 has been a let down. I had to ask my hubby what channel even had the games as there was no hype into the lead up, no major countdown, nothing. I guess that was the first sign of what was to come.

I was at a friends place last weekend and they have Foxtel...OMG what a difference. We watched some trampolining (my daughter loved!!) and had so many choices of what to watch!

Guess that is the way of the world now, you have to pay for a decent service.

Well I am not sad about the lack of "gold" our athletes are bringing home. They are just great examples to show you're kids of what hard work can get you. And I don't believe you always have to have the top prize to be tops!

On another note I am devo that Being Lara Bingle has now finished...honestly liking that show. You can hate me now if you like!