it's beginning to look a lot like i should be doing more Christmas shopping

Greetings all,

A little bit thrilled with this wooden tree from TYPO, but really, it just reminds me that i really should knock over the Christmas shopping for others, not myself.  I'm not spending Christmas Day with any family this year (is it wrong that i feel empowered??) but i have to get gifts to them.  I plan to do up a hamper for each family (5-6 people, 10 families + individual gifts for the children).  Honestly, until i get a date for hand surgery, it's just not at the forefront of my mind.

 I dream, in the future, this hook-laden-tree, will hold the keys to our cars, tractor & quad/ trail bikes.  Isn't that cool & scary at the same time, my children on the road, eeek.  I loathe looking for keys, especially if like on "The Castle" we need to move 4 children's cars out of the way to get to mine!! 

 With Christmas gift hampers in mind, i headed to the Farmer's Market on Saturday to scout for ideas.  Brandy Butter, Puddings, Organic Chocolates . . . mmmm.  With only 3 children doing Little Athletics, i took my solo 3rd girl with me, unfortunately she's the hungriest child on earth & eats her way through the samples like Homer Simpson.  I oblige by buying what she recommends . . . 5kg fruit, juice, lunch & dinner (rolled roast beef) for the entire weekend.  So easy to feed my athletes lunch of Turkish Bread & avocado dip.  I'd never offered my children honeycomb??  Yumbo.  

 Bottom of the barrel $5 lillies, thank you!!

 This little runner & jumper won her hurdles, high & long jump on Saturday.  When we had twin babies, we decided to raise them independent of each other & not compare.  But this year in the same class - who gets to be class captain??  They took it in turns, unspoken agreement to nominate for different semesters (still voted by class mates, they're not dictators!!)  It didn't occur to me until year 2 that actual races . . . with places, would mean direct competition & comparison.  As it turns out, they  take it in turns (on ability, trust me, they zoom past each other without a side glance on the track) winning the 200m, 800m, long jump & cross country each year.  Oh look, you can see her latest missing tooth. 

How is your Monday??  I have to return to school at midday with a swim suit for this clown above who has swimming lessons.  Argh!!  Her sister & brother sensibly wore their suits, ready for the pool & of course, when i dropped them this morning she blankly looked at me & said "no one told me to put my towel & swimming costume in my bag".  Oh those are the Monday mornings you just want to scream, but i didn't, i had two choices: buy a new costume & towel in the city, or go home, collect & deliver.  I went home & blogged.  We live out of town, i'm not making 3 trips, so i'll get back to Christmas shopping list. 

Are you knocking over the Christmas shopping??  Are you actually not religious but everyone expects a gift anyway??  Do you think nieces & nephews over 18 should still get gifts from you??  I have 19 nieces & nephews, time to cull a few, non??  It's hard not to be the token bahhumbug, we have large families & i wonder if they even care, when they get a gift in the mail, among so many others??  I ponder, love Posie

101 ways with sausages, ok 3 ways with sausages . . .

Greetings all,
Now i'm a pretty terrible at cooking dinner.  I can bake for parties, cakes, slices, biscuits, muffins . . . make fantastic gourmet sandwiches & prepare anything you throw at me to chop, clean, mix . . . my first paid job when i was 12 was as a kitchen hand!!  It's just when heat is introduced, it all goes pear shaped.  I do my best to steam vegetables & not murder good cuts of meat, so my children get something edible & healthy for their growing bodies.  There is no 'made with love' at dinner time here . . . sewing it is not!! 

See, when handsome soldier goes away, we miss him & HIS COOKING!!  My husband can cook anything, with flavour, he finds it relaxing, enjoyable, a challenge.  He can make a sponge rise to perfection & roast a leg of lamb to juicey tenderness.  Me, when i cook, i am also supervising  homework, directing children doing chores & cleaning up, at the same time.  There are only so many hours between walking in the door after a long trip home from school & their bedtime.  Don't tell me about preparing vegetables during the day, i do ALL that, i even plan a menu, this is not spontaneous-last-minute-cooking!!  When you lack skills, inclination & passion, it's really hard to get the task right, or . . . tastey.  I know, all you great cooks must think i'm incredibly slack, my mother was a chef, oh the shame of it all.

To add to my kitchen nightmare . . . i froze 3kg of sausages in one huge lump.  I know, i didn't count them out & divide into family portions like normal, i just froze without any consideration for how, when or why they would be used . . . so i had to be inventive to disguise 3 sausage based meals in a row.  I actually view it as dinner anarchy now, rebelling against every other facet of extreme organisation i had going on during my 9 months of solo parenting this year.

First night was BBQ sausages & salad, easy, happy children.
Second night was . . . sausage mince, toss in herbs, tomato paste, onion & carrot, da dah, sausage rolls to toss in the oven on a freezing wet Spring evening.  Extra delicious with Lynwood Chilly Tomato Jam which i picked up at Shop Handmade this week.

On the third night of sausage mince, my true love made for me . . . ground up bread rolls = breadcrumbs for rissoles.  So we had homemade burgers stuffed with salad on a Friday night.

I wonder if Donna Hay could style & photograph sausage mince with any glamour??
Theory of this blog post - count & divide your sausages before freezing!! 
Have great weekends people, Little Athletics has already been cancelled due to rain, so i'm off to the Murrumbateman Field Day (that's a big event in them thar hills on the Barton Highway) & sewing.  Love Posie