Okay this is the first time that I have ever done this so I am hoping so very much that this works, it is supposed to be a link for a very short little video of a dog who thinks he is an elephant.
http://video.dailytelegraph.com.au/2111922622/Fred-thinks-hes-an-Elephant
I hope this makes you smile
xoxoxoxoxoxoxo
Wednesday, August 31, 2011
Monday, August 29, 2011
Thankyou Kofi
I feel that now I have had a personal email from Kofi I can call him by his first name, especially as he urged me too in the aforementioned email. He wrote to me to tell me that I am eligible to receive funds from him that he has been holding on my behalf, he just had to make sure that I was safe and that I had a bank account that could not be hacked by others.All I have to do for my trusted friend Kofi, is send him my full name, address, date of birth and bank account details as well as the $30.00 that he would need to transfer over the $250,000.00 that he has for me.
Well you could have knocked me over with a feather that this very busy man who was Secretary-General of the United Nations and possibly the next President of his country had time to email little ol' me about the money that was mine, all mine. I also had an email from the FBI yesterday informing me that Mexican Drug Lords had possibly hacked my bank account and that the money that had been taken and used illegally was mine to take back, again all I had to do was include all my personal details and bank account number and they would gladly reimburse me for my trouble.
Isn't it amazing that these people want to help me, I thank them all for their kindness and effort in locating me, but as for my personal info and bank account details I think you shall be waiting a very long time for those! But please feel free to fill my spam box with your helpful emails they are often enjoyed in the safety of the "read but do not open" section of my email folder, and if you ever need it, I have the email address of some very reputable drug companies that offer cheaper medication for various complaints you may have, they come from some countries that I have never heard of before, but like you, I am sure that they are honest and true!
xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo
Well you could have knocked me over with a feather that this very busy man who was Secretary-General of the United Nations and possibly the next President of his country had time to email little ol' me about the money that was mine, all mine. I also had an email from the FBI yesterday informing me that Mexican Drug Lords had possibly hacked my bank account and that the money that had been taken and used illegally was mine to take back, again all I had to do was include all my personal details and bank account number and they would gladly reimburse me for my trouble.
Isn't it amazing that these people want to help me, I thank them all for their kindness and effort in locating me, but as for my personal info and bank account details I think you shall be waiting a very long time for those! But please feel free to fill my spam box with your helpful emails they are often enjoyed in the safety of the "read but do not open" section of my email folder, and if you ever need it, I have the email address of some very reputable drug companies that offer cheaper medication for various complaints you may have, they come from some countries that I have never heard of before, but like you, I am sure that they are honest and true!
xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo
Sunday, August 28, 2011
Sunshine on Sunday
This was where we stopped for a drink of water and a look at the view this afternoon on our walk, beautiful and so very worth the pain I am feeling right now........maybe!
xoxoxoxoxoxoxox
Saturday, August 27, 2011
Tea a drink with jam and bread
Doe a deer a female deer
Ray a drop of golden sun
Me a name I call myself
Far a long long way to run
Sew a needle pulling thread
La a note to follow sew
Tea a drink with jam and bread
That will bring us back to doe -oh oh oh
And now that I have planted that song into your heads for the next few hours,ha ha ha, I mean my apologies, I will explain the song. For many weeks now I have been exploring things in the kitchen that I have usually been, not so much afraid of,more like reluctant to try, and so armed with the knowledge of a few recipes from the Internet I bravely tiptoed into the world of jam making. Previously I have read that you need to do all this preparation to the jars before you even begin to make the jam and that unless you followed a rigorous schedule and did not follow the instructions to the letter that you would end up with a messy, sticky, yucky, inedible mess that would go mouldy to boot. So after an exhaustive search for a recipe that was so simple a child could do it I walked into Battle Jam!
Many recipes begin with the jam jars themselves, in the past it has been a long and involved process where you must wash the jars in boiling hot water and then dry the jars out in the oven so that they are dry as a bone inside but roasting hot when you put the jam in, it all has something to do with the hot sugary jam exploded whilst going into glass jars and the mould that will grow if you don't get it to the right temperature and you are planning on keeping the jam as a gift for Auntie Beryl at Christmas. One of the sites that I came across simplified the process for those of us who want to eat the jam and not keep them for a few months, it involves placing the jars into boiling hot water from the jug, lids and all, and getting them to sit there for a good while to sterilise them whilst maintaining the original heat, I kept topping it up with freshly boiled water to make sure that I kept them constantly boiled, when you are ready to use them make sure you do not touch the inside of the jars or the lids that way you are super sterile -the same way you are when you have a baby and are looking after their bottles and sippy cups.
Now onto the super hard bit! Are you ready? It is really, really tricky! Okay hull your strawberries, wash them before you chop their little heads off so they don't absorb the water, put them into a saucepan, mash them with a spud masher and chuck in sugar that weighs half of what the strawberries do, a freshly squeezed lemon and just for luck I chucked in a splash of vanilla. Now turn the heat on and let it boil for 10 minutes. You will need a big saucepan because it bubbles up really high for what is in there, stir it every minute or so and after 10 minutes it should be golden, I mean you are golden not the jam it will be berry coloured! You can check by placing a spoonful of the jammy mix onto a frozen plate and if it wrinkles it is good, but I had no room in my freezer for even the smallest of plates so I kinda winged it. Yeah not really tricky is it, I didn't think so either. I waited a wee bit before I poured the the jam into the jar because it took me a minute of two to get the jars out of the water and put them onto a towel so they didn't burn my counter or fall over as I was filling them up. Do not be tempted to put your finger in the jam cause it will burn you like there is no tomorrow, remember boiling sugar sticks to whatever goes into it! Once you have put the jam into your jars and put the lids on turn them upside down for a few minutes and they will magically seal themselves, and then chuck them into the fridge (the right way up) and in 24 hours Voila! Jam!
This was my breaky this morning, that is my tea cup with the funny face on it -it looks just like me first thing in the morning! It was yummy, better than shop jam and I might even break my habit and have bread again tomorrow!
Until then my lovelies have a wonderful Saturday!
xoxoxoxoxoxxoxo
Ray a drop of golden sun
Me a name I call myself
Far a long long way to run
Sew a needle pulling thread
La a note to follow sew
Tea a drink with jam and bread
That will bring us back to doe -oh oh oh
And now that I have planted that song into your heads for the next few hours,
Many recipes begin with the jam jars themselves, in the past it has been a long and involved process where you must wash the jars in boiling hot water and then dry the jars out in the oven so that they are dry as a bone inside but roasting hot when you put the jam in, it all has something to do with the hot sugary jam exploded whilst going into glass jars and the mould that will grow if you don't get it to the right temperature and you are planning on keeping the jam as a gift for Auntie Beryl at Christmas. One of the sites that I came across simplified the process for those of us who want to eat the jam and not keep them for a few months, it involves placing the jars into boiling hot water from the jug, lids and all, and getting them to sit there for a good while to sterilise them whilst maintaining the original heat, I kept topping it up with freshly boiled water to make sure that I kept them constantly boiled, when you are ready to use them make sure you do not touch the inside of the jars or the lids that way you are super sterile -the same way you are when you have a baby and are looking after their bottles and sippy cups.
Now onto the super hard bit! Are you ready? It is really, really tricky! Okay hull your strawberries, wash them before you chop their little heads off so they don't absorb the water, put them into a saucepan, mash them with a spud masher and chuck in sugar that weighs half of what the strawberries do, a freshly squeezed lemon and just for luck I chucked in a splash of vanilla. Now turn the heat on and let it boil for 10 minutes. You will need a big saucepan because it bubbles up really high for what is in there, stir it every minute or so and after 10 minutes it should be golden, I mean you are golden not the jam it will be berry coloured! You can check by placing a spoonful of the jammy mix onto a frozen plate and if it wrinkles it is good, but I had no room in my freezer for even the smallest of plates so I kinda winged it. Yeah not really tricky is it, I didn't think so either. I waited a wee bit before I poured the the jam into the jar because it took me a minute of two to get the jars out of the water and put them onto a towel so they didn't burn my counter or fall over as I was filling them up. Do not be tempted to put your finger in the jam cause it will burn you like there is no tomorrow, remember boiling sugar sticks to whatever goes into it! Once you have put the jam into your jars and put the lids on turn them upside down for a few minutes and they will magically seal themselves, and then chuck them into the fridge (the right way up) and in 24 hours Voila! Jam!
This was my breaky this morning, that is my tea cup with the funny face on it -it looks just like me first thing in the morning! It was yummy, better than shop jam and I might even break my habit and have bread again tomorrow!
Until then my lovelies have a wonderful Saturday!
xoxoxoxoxoxxoxo
Friday, August 26, 2011
If you build it, they will come!
Once upon a time there was a movie with Kevin Costner (when he was much much younger and not as hunky, he was way to skinny in my opinion) and he built a baseball field for baseball players who had passed so that they had somewhere to come and play. The saying has since become a well used one and whilst some people use it to refer to buildings or architecture that is something special I am using it for something completely different. My different thing is FLEAS! My "build it" is our poor, poor dog, and the "they will come" is the amazingly humongous amount of horrendous little jumping buggers that are swamping her little body, and to make it all the more fun for her they have caused a horrible rash to appear that has turned her into a half bald excuse for a dog. She has lost patches of fur from her hind quarters and it looks like she has done battle with the Demon Barber of Fleet Street and had won by escaping through a window! So today after a trip to the vet to buy some very highly priced flea killer ( my stock tip is to invest in a flea and tick control company cause I think that apart from Apple you are pretty much guaranteed your money returned two fold with these companies!) the poor puppy was shaved so that we could get all the fleas off her and make sure that the flea treatment was absorbed into her skin properly, she used to be a fluffy Maltese cross who had lots and lots of fur and has now become this:
Yes she does look like a very sad puppy now, but with luck in 24 hours we will be flea free and we will be able to have her sit with us without feeling the jump of little feet on any bare piece of skin, well at least that is what the Frontline people say will happen, I, on the other hand, have my doubts, but I am always willing to be proved wrong.
Well my friends have a wonderful Friday and a sleep filled Saturday morning, at least that's my plan! xoxoxoxoxo
Thursday, August 25, 2011
Okay world I get it now!
My Goodness but I am so ready for the world to slow down for a wee bit, in the last few months it feels like my feet have barely stopped for longer than 5 minutes. I have done so much but haven't really achieved as much as it feels like I should have, but then I imagine that a lot of people feel this way, I must be in good company then.
I have, in these past months, turned 40! -once upon a time I thought 40 to be old and so very far away but now that I am here I realise that my young self should not have worried as 40 seems to be quite okay and fairly reasonable from where I stand. Perhaps when time travel is invented I can go back to my wee self and assure that me that no one cares that I shouldn't have worn frosted eye shadow, or that the girls that made my life a living hell at school really were just horrible girls and they all grew up to be horrible people and I will turn out just fine thank you very much! Ah youth I would not pay to be there again for another go around. My parents were supposed to come and celebrate the big 40 with us but there was a small issue with an ash cloud in their part of the country and torrential rain with flooding in our part of the country, so with much sighing and a tinge of sadness it was agreed that we would postpone the celebration for another time, but my wonderful partner and kiddies took me out for a lovely family dinner that made it all better.
We have shivered through a rather wet and cool winter and we are starting to see the little buds of spring popping up to say hello and it promises months of sitting at the beach and enjoying late spring/summer evenings with the sounds of children playing a cuppa in one hand and my knitting in the other. It has also prompted some spring cleaning which has played havoc with my joints but has made my cupboards look sparkly and new.
With the change in weather has come some changes in the kitchen, I have thrown fear to the wind and have ventured into cooking things that have previously terrified me....namely my nemesis dum dum dummmmm PASTRY! Now in my childhood my grandmother would knock up a pastry that was flaky and beautiful and I would stand beside her watching and helping, you would have thought that I could copy what she did but no, apart from a choux pastry, I don't think it counts as they teach you how to make this one in school, I could not conquer the pastry battle -it would win and win and I eventually shied away from the victor and allowed it the victory. But then I watched the contestants on Masterchef just knock up pastry like it was so easy anyone could do it, so with sleeves rolled up and breath held I returned to the battleground with a steely eye, a bucket load of determination and a fall back pastry in the freezer just in case. Recipe in hand I started the Sunday dinner of Chicken Pot Pie, I laid out my ingredients and slowly began to create the pastry topper, I did all the recipe said but was very unsure when I placed it in the fridge to rest but I persevered and when the pie went in the oven it really looked like a proper pie. 45 minutes later a beautiful thing emerged and was placed on the table, the first cut was terrifying but it looked all right and when everyone tasted it the verdict was that it was just like the shop ones only better. A big relief for me and also the realisation that I can do this, now that I have done it once nothing can stop me and since my foray into the world of pastry begun I have also mananged to make some little rhubarb tarts with beautiful homemade sweet pastry.
I have also been creating my own line of hand knitted animals that I hope to sell on Etsy and at the markets here around Christmas time, they have been a bit of a trial and error process but I have finally managed to create a pattern that is all my own and, I even wrote it down so that when I have a day where I can't remember why I walked into a particular room I can at least knit something.
These are the animals that I have made so far, I have been trying to make Australian animals but I really couldn't resist an elephant and I am sure that no one will really mind that I made her. They have all been made using pure wools, pure alpaca or pure cottons, I have really made an effort to use natural fibres to ensure a soft fluffy and cosy critter, but I have used man made fibrefill to stuff them with so that they can be washed and you can be sure they are kiddy friendly.
I apologise for the mammoth size post and I hope that I have not bored anyone too much, I do have so much more to share and now that I am computer able I hope to be able to share it all with you.
Until then my lovelies,
xoxoxoxoxoxox
I have, in these past months, turned 40! -once upon a time I thought 40 to be old and so very far away but now that I am here I realise that my young self should not have worried as 40 seems to be quite okay and fairly reasonable from where I stand. Perhaps when time travel is invented I can go back to my wee self and assure that me that no one cares that I shouldn't have worn frosted eye shadow, or that the girls that made my life a living hell at school really were just horrible girls and they all grew up to be horrible people and I will turn out just fine thank you very much! Ah youth I would not pay to be there again for another go around. My parents were supposed to come and celebrate the big 40 with us but there was a small issue with an ash cloud in their part of the country and torrential rain with flooding in our part of the country, so with much sighing and a tinge of sadness it was agreed that we would postpone the celebration for another time, but my wonderful partner and kiddies took me out for a lovely family dinner that made it all better.
We have shivered through a rather wet and cool winter and we are starting to see the little buds of spring popping up to say hello and it promises months of sitting at the beach and enjoying late spring/summer evenings with the sounds of children playing a cuppa in one hand and my knitting in the other. It has also prompted some spring cleaning which has played havoc with my joints but has made my cupboards look sparkly and new.
With the change in weather has come some changes in the kitchen, I have thrown fear to the wind and have ventured into cooking things that have previously terrified me....namely my nemesis dum dum dummmmm PASTRY! Now in my childhood my grandmother would knock up a pastry that was flaky and beautiful and I would stand beside her watching and helping, you would have thought that I could copy what she did but no, apart from a choux pastry, I don't think it counts as they teach you how to make this one in school, I could not conquer the pastry battle -it would win and win and I eventually shied away from the victor and allowed it the victory. But then I watched the contestants on Masterchef just knock up pastry like it was so easy anyone could do it, so with sleeves rolled up and breath held I returned to the battleground with a steely eye, a bucket load of determination and a fall back pastry in the freezer just in case. Recipe in hand I started the Sunday dinner of Chicken Pot Pie, I laid out my ingredients and slowly began to create the pastry topper, I did all the recipe said but was very unsure when I placed it in the fridge to rest but I persevered and when the pie went in the oven it really looked like a proper pie. 45 minutes later a beautiful thing emerged and was placed on the table, the first cut was terrifying but it looked all right and when everyone tasted it the verdict was that it was just like the shop ones only better. A big relief for me and also the realisation that I can do this, now that I have done it once nothing can stop me and since my foray into the world of pastry begun I have also mananged to make some little rhubarb tarts with beautiful homemade sweet pastry.
I have also been creating my own line of hand knitted animals that I hope to sell on Etsy and at the markets here around Christmas time, they have been a bit of a trial and error process but I have finally managed to create a pattern that is all my own and, I even wrote it down so that when I have a day where I can't remember why I walked into a particular room I can at least knit something.
These are the animals that I have made so far, I have been trying to make Australian animals but I really couldn't resist an elephant and I am sure that no one will really mind that I made her. They have all been made using pure wools, pure alpaca or pure cottons, I have really made an effort to use natural fibres to ensure a soft fluffy and cosy critter, but I have used man made fibrefill to stuff them with so that they can be washed and you can be sure they are kiddy friendly.
I apologise for the mammoth size post and I hope that I have not bored anyone too much, I do have so much more to share and now that I am computer able I hope to be able to share it all with you.
Until then my lovelies,
xoxoxoxoxoxox
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