i'm grateful for . . . 'reconnecting'

Greetings all,

This time of year is always special for we Army wives . . . we have just moved to a new city or stayed put for the year, either way, we start reuniting & reconnecting with dear old friends, neighbours & school mums after a few postings. 

 In the past week i have met up with one of my favourite mummies from Darwin, her husband has just deployed for Afghanistan; our fantastic old neighbours from Sydney emailed me from Brisbane, they have had twins; my husband's great mate from cadets has moved to Canberra, 27 years of friendship; my darling friend who used to help me cut fabric in the height of my business, rang from Darwin, she just bought a new home; & my darling 3rd girl ALWAYS makes best friends with girls who move interstate or overseas - she's just met up with her 1st grade best friend & when school resumes, her 2nd grade best friend is back from America.  We've also run into other old school friends at the pool.

 While i've been ignoring blogland (sorry, i love you, i'll be back over at your blogs as soon) i've met up with a gorgeous new bunch of bloggers too.  It's always fun to meet people you have had a bloggie relationship with, in the flesh.  My children gasp "oh, not another 'virtual friend' Mum".  Always welcoming when you bump into people in the street (not randomly, but outside the meeting place) & they look at me & the children . . . "you must be Posie".  Hell yeah, you guys are so much fun, in blogs & real life!!

I'll be realistic, not all Army wives are my kind of people.  There are plenty of rough & scary types + the ones who use their husband's rank as some kind of badge of superiority.  Imagine my delight at one particularly awful one dropping the C & F words at a Tupperware party with young children present, yep, she was the demonstrator . . . i am very glad to rid those warthogs from my life.  As i have somehow managed to never attend a single Sergeant's Mess Function (this is highly rare for a Warrant Officer's wife) i tend to make a couple of very good friends each posting & remain in contact with them.  Those ladies know me, i love & adore them, like old school friends, they are not light situational friends, but the real deal & i'm blessed with a dozen of them.  You ladies rock.  I do love not having to start from scratch with 'my story' & they get me, as they're living the same life!!  We've been through cyclones, deployments, childbirth & moves together. 
This week's new KidSpot i'm grateful for 'reconnecting' with some fabulous new/ old ladies in my life, who i have for a couple of borrowed years, i'm so lucky.  Love Posie

blink & you'd miss him . . .

Greetings all,

Our brush with President Obama is over.  We were a 28 hour pit stop between APEC in Hawaii & East Asia Summit in Bali.  So literally, blink & you'd miss him.

 We saw the motorcade on the way to school, a blur of speeding cars.  So i did some shopping in the city, then i thought i'd stake out the school President Obama was secretly obviously visiting, due to the media & police presence.

 This reporter was so lovely, some sweet grandparents next to me posed for photos with her.  She was even using hair spray prior to the live cross for when the motorcade came whizzing past.  Ooppss, she was sneezing.

 Lucky Campbell High School year 9 & 10 journalism students met with him in the library.  The Federal Police were so funny on ANZAC Parade, chatting to the crowd, sitting on the curb, leaning on the fences, sending SMS on their phones & swinging their arms to stay alert - they are so NOT the Army!!  The funniest thing i saw was a Kia Carnival filled with Secret Service - seriously, a Kia Carnival, they looked like a school mum in a rush.  Ever heard of a Kia Carnival in a high speed chase or rocking up to stop a riot??

 Then the motorcade starts up again . . .

 & the helicopters circle above . . .

 & there goes the President, again.  He so totally waved at me!!

Off he went to Darwin & landed at the Air Force Base we used to live on.  I don't miss aviation gasoline on my washing!!  They're expanding the Army Barracks to include thousands of US Marines, yay, we still have property up in Darwin, so house prices will rise.  The ratio of men:women in the Northern Territory is 5:1, now ladies have hunky Marines in the mix.  Have you noticed that everyone in Darwin is thrilled about the base??  It's going to bring so much money to that beautiful tropical city!!  We'll sell our property so we can build a home but we'd love to have held onto it, so our children can visit their home town in the future.  Love Posie

home baked . . .

Greetings all,

I know, another food inspired post by Posie, what is going on, she's a designer not a cook!!  Well, influenced by the glamazon whom is Faux Fuchsia, who conincidentally posed the blog influence question today . . . i answered with homemade bread making.  Back in the mid 90s when i was a keen newly wed, i used to bake our bread, from scratch, amazingly non-demanding for two people in the humid tropics of Darwin where dough rises instantly. 

 Fast forward 15 years of marriage & 4 children + freezing-cold-dry-yeast-rising-unfriendly-Canberra . . . Faux Fuchsia bakes her own bread rolls (with a red KitchenAid dough hook i'm guessing) so it brought back my passion & effort. 

 Yes, i was baking boobies, thanks children!!

 Mmmm, with homemade butter to boot, they were delicious.  I'd recommend you eat the day of baking, like they're going to last longer than 5 minutes once they're out of the oven??!!  Are you under the influence of Faux Fuchsia too??

While the buns are in the oven, tee hee, i've been piecing together gazillions of multicoloured strips of fabric for a batch of pencil rolls . . . the Handmade Market is 18 days away, eekk & school holidays too, yahoo.  My darling husband is only here for a few more days sob, in the meantime, suffer more delicious food posts. 
As i've mentioned before, when he's home, every meal is a flavour sensation, he's such a great cook, i can't believe he has to eat ration packs like it's WW2 (when really it's a 21st century war) & he won't buy a BBQ for his bachelor pad in Brisbane, he considers that too moved in, it's nearly 2 years.  He doesn't like seafood so that salmon sensation in the last post was in his absence, as he dashed to Sydney on Sunday.  Last night was BBQ lamb with vegetable perfection, tonight it's that amazing tomato/ yoghurt/ butter marinade chicken he does on the BBQ, then oven, drool. 
I do notice the dramatic increase in time i spend at the sink, washing those too-precious-for-the-dishwasher-kitchen-accessories like the KA food processor/ mixer/ blender/ pots & pans, even the garlic press (i have never proposed to be anything other than a bad cook, i use minced garlic from a jar, shoot me).  I can say that i have never fed my children 2 minute noodles, macaroni cheese or potato bake, ever, not even as a side dish, they would refuse & demand meat.  I don't microwave either, man, they won't eat anything from a frozen box in the oven, i just struggle along cooking from scratch, argh.  They're totally into health.  I'm just waiting for handsome soldier to retire & cook full time.  I'm patient!!  4 more years??
What cooking/ baking/ making in your household??  Love Posie