The Big Day is almost here............

It's hard not to get caught up in the excitement of the royal wedding.  I hadn't taken much interest in it until recently but now i'm soaking it up.

A wedding is always a good excuse to bring some joy into people's lives.  After all the bad news stories that we have had in the first few months of this year - floods, cyclones, earthquakes etc - it's great to see a couple who are obviously in love and literally have the world at their feet.

All this wedding talk is also bringing back memories of my big day 6 1/2 years ago.  What a special day!

Easter, Birthdays and Anzac Day

At this time of year we have a lot of family birthdays - husbands, stepsons, sisters, fathers, brother-in-laws and of course darling 2 year old sons.  Combined with Easter and School Holidays this year makes it a very busy time.

Yesterday we hosted Easter afternoon tea and BBQ dinner.  I thought i would be a bit more clever than usual and try and prepare a lot of things well in advance so that there was minimal to do on the day.  Doesn't seem to matter how prepared i am - there is always some chaos.  I decided to try some new and old recipes this year:

- mum's tiramisu - always yummy.
- potato bake - a new addition to my repertoire. It must have tasted ok as i spied my brother tucking into a big serve of seconds.
- Devils Food Cake - this doubled as Master 2's birthday cake and was a favourite of mine when i was a kid.  Another one of my mum's loved recipes.
- Caprese Salad - Another newby.  As per Guy Grossi's Woolworths recipe.  Really simple and impressive - bocconcini, tomato, basil, onions and dressing.
- Bunny Biscuits - as per a Woman's Day little cookbook.  Another easy one and Master 5 enjoyed helping me ice them.  He was so proud of his efforts.

                                                           (My famous tiramisu)

Hubby and I enjoy all of the cooking associated with these sorts of occasions. 
Happy Easter and Anzac Day............

Holidays!

Yay!  It's day 3 of my 8 days of holidays!.  Have been so looking forward to it.  It's been a long term for the school kids and a long term for long suffering mum. 

This holiday is going to be a "staycation".  The last few holidays we've had have been either flooded or rained out so we are a bit gun-shy.  Anyway it's a good opportunity to take things easy, sleep in and get some long overdue jobs done at home.  My list of holiday must-do's:

- catch up on sleep and have sleep-ins.  (Hoping Master 2 has that on his list also).
- catch up on good quality fun with the kids.
- catch up on all my women's magazines.
- watch some more "Mad Men"
- just have some time to do 'nothing'.

Alleluia.
Oh well better get stuck into that list!

Technology and Sickness!

The past week has been such a struggle.  Firstly I succumbed to the flu (or something like that). A temperature, the shakes, hot and cold.  Not much fun when hubby is out of town and you have two little boys to deal with.  Blah!!!  Boy was i glad to see hubby when he finally got back later in the week.

An then IT Issues.  So annoying when your pc keeps getting bugs!!!  Grrrrr.  Time for a software upgrade - maybe.

I am so excited about the upcoming royal wedding.  I'm not a royalist or anything but i am a real girl when it comes to weddings and pretty frocks.  I think William and Kate make a lovely couple and i'm sure they will both have a successful marriage.  Only 11 more days!

The pleasures of shopping.

Once upon a time (pre-kids) shopping was a pleasurable experience.  I would go on a Saturday, have lunch, maybe catch up with a friend, look in shops, try clothes on, go to another shop, try clothes on, go back to the original shop and buy the item i originally saw anyway.  That was called browsing. 

Nowadays i go to a shop (with my list of course, no spontaniety) and look for a specific item - it's in the right size, i look semi-decent in it, and it doesn't cost $9999 so i'll take it.  This takes all of about 3 minutes! Then i spend the other hour looking for things for the kids and then i go home because i've had enough.

Shopping used to be so pleasurable.
Maybe again one day. 

On another note, to my million and one followers i will upload some photos eventually.  I'm not the quickest to master technology - but i get there eventually!

Is Blogging the New Black!!

Or is it just me! 

It's taken a year of reading other peoples blogs to finally get the courage (and time) to set up my own blog.  So what have I learnt in that year?  That there is a little community out there.  That blogging is a legitimate way of communicating with the outside world.  I have shared the good times and bad of many of you.  I've heard about pregnancy, babies, holidays and some of the everyday stuff which I can totally relate to.

So a bit about me.  I am a 40 something woman, with 2 young boys and a wonderful hard-working husband.  I work 4 days a week and live in Brisbane.  I love all things real estate, home renovating etc and faithfully read the magazines and websites regularly.  I am a busy mama who just tries to keep the kids fed, clothes ironed and get out the door each morning.  Some days it sort of works.  Some days it doesn't work so well.