Word of the moment...

Serendipity... 

the phenomenon of finding valuable or favourable things not sought for

It's my word of the moment...

serendipities

serendipitous

serendipitously

Thank you Horace Wadpole, I do quite like this word.... 

So, what word do you just love? What is your word of the moment? One that makes you smile as it finds sound and shape rolling from your lips. 

I have a few  okay lots and lots of words that I just love.

As a child I remember loving to learn and discover new words (yes, I was a bit of a nerd growing up... )

I'd love how if you said a word over and over it would seem to lose it's meaning and sound foreign and wrong.

My mother's first language is not English and I think this contributed to my fascination with words and their sounds... I'd spend hours pondering inconsequential thoughts like, who decides that a word means what it means and sounds the way it sounds. Followed by pondering's of how that same word could sound so different in a foreign language yet have the same meaning (and okay, I know now as an adult that these questions have legitimate and real answers but as a child these thoughts were my unanswered D&M's).

So, indulge me and my word fascination, share with me, and do tell, what one word is your word of the moment?

I'd love to know! 

Relegated to eye candy only... plus a bit of a revamp!

So yesterday I did a spot of baking...

Hummingbird Cake - Oh my goodness how I LOVE hummingbird cake. It is so, so easy to make, smells divine all the way through the making and baking process and also tastes sensational. But, alas today's hummingbird was relegated to the ranks of EYE CANDY ONLY!

But WHY? (and my brain screams in answer - in the style of the line from the movie, What happens in Vegas... "YOU KNOW WHY!!!" 

Its just that since November last year I've been on a bit of a mission to strip off extra weight that I stacked on during both my pregnancies... and we weren't talking a few baby blubber kilos here... try having peaked at over 40kgs in excess of my pre-baby weight... that's a MASSIVE 88lbs that I let past the keeper under the misplaced guise of "eating for two" and then life with children took hold and I never seemed able to find my former fit, motivated, and slim self... I seriously thought she'd packed up house and disappeared over that far away, rosy tinged horizon, forever to be prefaced with, "Back in the good old days..." 

Now, I'd lost and gained and lost again on a bit of a rollercoaster of sorts for a bit... but last November, circumstances led me to be mentally, slapped in the face with a dose of reality... I was fat, over-weight, unfit and at the heart of it quite sad because of it all.

So, with a bit of hard work, some running, gym and an awesome eating plan I'm now back within a few kilos of my pre-pregnancies weight... I want to be back into running fun runs and more again whilst also maintaining my new found healthy self... so long story short = Hummingbird Cake is now eye candy only (for looking not for eating!)

Recipe link following - but take heed, I do not follow instructions or recipes (my own included) with any rigidity and use my 'calibrated eye' ☺ for measures along with a substantial dose of guestimates and tend to mish-mash and collaborate recipes!

To access, read and print the recipe for my Hummingbird Cake please click THIS LINK.
If you end up baking it be sure to let me know what you think - my taste buds will thank you for the vicarious enjoyment!

I also did some long overdue and needed revamping...

About a month or two (maybe three) ago I picked up a great four drawer filing cabinet from the local secondary schools carpark sale... Apart from visual imperfections the cabinet itself was in pretty good nick and was lockable PLUS was an absolute STEAL at only $35!

Now as I said visually it was in a bit of a sorry state... old blue tack, yellowed and cracking sticky tape, gummy labels and some superficial scratches and scuffs.

But with a dose of elbow grease, eucalyptus oil (to clean all the gummy, sticky delights), some spray-n-wipe (to remove any traces of the oil) and a couple of cans of el cheapo discount store spray cans of super red gloss and my bargain filing cabinet has a new lease on life and I can finally clean off and file the mounting piles of chaotic papers on the computer desk.

Check out my 'hot red' filing cabinet... I almost feel so proud that I have the urge to give her (yes my filing cabinet is a girl) a name - Crazy, crazy I know... but tell me you haven't given inanimate objects about your place a name or gender before?

I realised whilst painting her that lately I've a bit of a thing for red... there's flashes of it popping up everywhere about the place (I even redid the house numbers when I did the cabinets and once I get them back up on the front of the house I'll give you all a peek)...

Oh and just because I can (plus being somewhat slimmer I'm not such a camera phobe anymore - or maybe I'm just getting older and not caring so much what other people think of my exterior! Plus, I guess  it's about time I actually showed my face around here from time to time... here's me:

And LOOK - flashy red phone cover... oh how coordinated am I? Now if I could only lug my filing cabinet about I'd be oh so stylishly matched  ☺hahaha... (sorry it is getting pretty late here and my lame-o lack of humour, or rather lame-o attempts at humour are a little embarrassing I'm sure).

Boy, looking at that photo I really must clean that mirror... can you see all those smudges - I had to go all grey-scale just so it wasn't as appallingly obvious!

Well, to wrap it up tonight, some brilliant words I love, tacked with a photo I took tonight on my phone (you know, the one with the flashy red cover - cause it goes faster... oh my, I really do need more sleep! My insomniac self apologises... but continues - and yes, my ellipses abuse is in full swing tonight).

Isn't the sky awesome? I love how the steeple bell tower is silhouetted... I'd stopped at the intersection with my phone hanging out the car window to snap this pic because the sky just looked so emotive and this Les Miserables quote suits it perfectly I think!

With that, I'm off to try to get some sleep because before I know it the sun WILL be rising and with it my two terror munchkins at the crack of dawn I'm sure!

Moments in time...

OLD POST ALERT - This one post, for reasons unknown to me right at the minute, has been lurking, unpublished, waiting for me to realise it's been sitting, patiently unread in drafts for the last 20 days... 

Today has been a day of moments...

You know the ones where you spend the next half hour or so just pondering, toying and reflecting on it...

Travelling to a nearby town today on a country road my girls and I were nearly cleaned up by a car that failed to giveway at a crossroad... It was one of those moments where everything seems so focussed and etched. For me these moments happen in slow motion snap shots, as if each second is processed by my brain in photos taken every second - or split second - but whilst everything visual is going slow thankfully my body and reactions seem to still keep real-time. Well I swerved (thankful there was no other car about), tooted the horn - which seemed to snap the other driver out of his far away reverie only to have him lock up his brakes... hmm, I pondered that moment for a while after it had passed, thankful for having had prior defensive driving skills and for still having my reflexes!

And I guess that led to moments later in the day, driving home just looking across the many paddocks and orchards with the sun beginning it's decent to the horizon, feeling in awe of nature and all the beauty around us. Sound sappy? Well, yes but it's true. . . how amazing is everything around us!

Oooh and while I'm on about moments I'll share a funny moment I had in the middle of the night a few nights back . . . My Little Little Miss M has never been much of a sleeper . . . ever. She'll be three in a month and a half but still has nights where she wakes and comes into our bed. I don't so much mind the snuggles although her propensity to toss and turn and take over the bed (not to mention the fact she does not like to sleep under bed covers) means very little sleep is had from the time she climbs in. On this particular night she must have had bad dreams or something as she was inconsolable- but not quiet whimpering inconsolable, more the scream and thrash about like someone is pulling your hair out whilst sticking bamboo reeds under your nails kind of screaming . . . all in the dead of the amplifying night!

Anyhow, she's screaming and thrashing about, hubby had retreated to the comforts and distance of the couch and the two pillows between which my head were sandwiched between were useless for muffling the sound. So failing all other methods of trying to calm her I decided in a last ditch effort to put my phone on speaker and play a sleep meditation app I have on there. Well, the strange soothing voice must have cut through her crazy episode and before the fellow could even say, "Breath in deeply and exhale..." a second time she abruptly stopped the screaming, kicked off the duvet and promptly and silently got out of my bed and walked out of the room. I was puzzled and intrigued and more than just a little unsure of just what she was up to so I got up to follow...

Well, she padded straight down the hall back to her room, securely pushing the door closed behind her and climbed back into her bed and went to sleep!

Obviously my little night monster does not care in the slightest for my sleep meditation tapes! I am positive that in the dark before exiting my bed that there was an over-exaggerated eye roll and that if she could have enunciated and verbalised that there would also have been an exasperated, "Oh brother! I'm not listening to this crap!"

Heehee... as crazy as my munchkins can make me feel, they are super funny and cute and adorable and individual and special and... and... and... I could go on and on.

Now, onto other topics...

Woohoo . . . I've fallen for Instagram now that they've finally released an android version!

Check out my new widget on the sidebar to see some of my first Insta-snaps :) Not sure if I'll keep it there but at the moment I'm liking it . . . although it is now my new 'time sucker/vacuum/abyss/blackhole' of the moment (and at present I'm 'insta-snapping' anything and everything at random)!

Oooh and yes, I must rustle up some of those photo's of my finished tomato sauce - it turned out yummo, and I think I just may be addicted to making home made sauce now!

Hey, how's that a photo free post!

Are you serious? Look I hate mopping as much as the next time poor mum out there but really???

Cleaning Mop Slipper Shoes - Clean Floors As You Walk 

Anyhoo, maybe by the look of my floors I need a pair of these . . . or not!

At the moment I have a great big, HUMUNGOUS pot of home made tomato sauce bubbling away on the stove . . . 

This is the first time I've attempted home made tomato sauce and I'm using a recipe of my mother in laws. The upside? It smells somewhat divine in my kitchen right now. The not so upside? It's as watery as anything (and it this is due to my own error in preparation - I'll tell you about it when I do my big tomato sauce reveal ☺ ) and my google escapades lead me to believe this can be solved by more simmering . . . not so bad you say . . . well one suggested simmering for approximately 12 hours!!! It's already past midnight and I have no desire to spend the night stirring my pot. Is it bad to just turn it off, sit it in the oven and revisit it early in the morning? If I had a massive crock pot I'd just throw it all in there . . . hmmm.

Hopefully my next post will be showing off some gorgeously bottled and delicious home made tomato sauce!!!