July a month of birthdays.....

Monday July 28th, 2008

The last couple of weeks have been very hectic for me with J away on business for 10 days, J's birthday celebrations, playdates and summer. I've had to take a break from blogging sorry. But I'm now back again with lots of news....

Today is my 37th Birthday - yeah!! - Happy Birthday to me!!
Well for something different I'm going to celebrate it 2 times! (believe me my friends are surprised, its very unlike me to celebrate my birthday, I think this is from 1. living away from family and 2. After many, many yrs of planning exciting events for various global companies I felt burnt out!)

First event was on Sunday 27th, lovely dinner made by J for me. After Miss S went to bed we relaxed and enjoyed a lovely dinner of chicken stuffed with basil (growing almost wild on our deck!) with bacon wrapped around it, served on a bed of white truffle fettuccine with a side of asparagus! - Yummo. Dessert was chocolate molten cake served with a scoop of Ben and Jerry's latest flavor icecream. Plus I was able to enjoy a glass or two of wine, since I've finally now weaned Miss S - yes sad but true, after the last month of constant biting it was time to stop.

The next celebration will be held in mid August a BBQ for about 8 people. So should be busy couple of days. I figure I haven't properly celebrated by birthday in 10 years so time to dust of the party shoes! I'll post pics later.

J turned the big 40 early this month so finally downloaded some pics to share of his big day.

J enjoying his new birthday present with Miss S

Miss S doing her safety test for Dadda

Miss S playing with the box the hammock came in, entertainment for at least half an hour.

J blowing out his birthday cake

Miss S wondering what is going to happen next

Birthday Cake - coconut with key lime lemon filling!

The birthday boy - infront of his rosemary bush from my family

What do we do in the hot weather

Thursday July 17th, 2008

Well it's Summer in Michigan and it's hot - thank goodness we decided to get the air conditioning in the Spring! - yeah. It's not on all day, just afternoons and in the mornings I have the kitchen door open to let in the morning breeze.

Miss S is enjoying her first summer and loves to splash around on her splash mat. Well this is what S does to keep cool. I sit next to her and we have a canopy tent which we sit under after her splashy, splashy time where we eat snacks and have drinks. It's a lovely way to spend the avo together.

J resting on the job!!

Jam Diaster

Wednesday July 16th, 2008

It's jam season, with strawberries on sale 5 lbs for $5.00 I thought what a bargain let's make some strawberry jam. I spent a good part of one Saturday morning preparing the fruit by washing, coring and cutting them up - into chunks since I like good eating pieces in my jam.

J helped when S went to bed for her morning nap - we decided this year to follow the Ball blue book where you add sachet of pectin, in the past we made jam the ol' fashioned way where you cook the fruit for nearly an hour so that it forms a thick, squashy jam and if necessary add some lemon juice; this method has always worked for us.

I guess we wanted to do the quick method and have the jam form by cooking for only 1 minute after it boils then adding it into the jars. Unfortunately it didn't work at all and yes we did follow the recipe exactly and weighed out all ingredients. The jam is not setting instead we have strawberries floating in syrup.

After reading the how to fix it section - it mentioned to leave it for up to 2 weeks and it may form. I'm going to leave it but I doubt it forms. Looks like we will have to recook it till it sets in a weeks time. So lesson learned if it ain't broke don't fix it, the original recipe worked we should of followed that recipe instead of trying to take short cuts by following a new recipe. Oh well.

We now have 18 jars of strawberry syrup!

My moan...

Tuesday July 15th, 2008

I hate rudeness, the other day when I was out shopping with Miss S who was in her stroller not 1or 2 but 3 people refused to open the door for me - grrr. Makes me annoyed that people can be ignorant and refuse to hold open the door. Hay I'm all for women's rights but would it hurt people to hold the door open for a second.

Really I don't understand why people are so rude, when I was growing up I was taught to hold the door open, and say Thank-you and please, Lately I'm encountering alot of young 20 somethings who don't have any manners and understand politeness. Obviously it's not cool to be polite it's a real shame that their parents can't spend some quality time teaching them basic manners.

So next time you are out shopping don't forget to hold open the door for the lady with the stroller. This kind act will bring back it's own rewards to you later.

Monday - cute pic time

Monday July 14th, 2008

This is what happens when Miss S wakes up way to early on the w/end!!

Sunday last day of the week or beginning!

Sunday, July 13th 2008

It's a funny day Sunday - is it your last day of the week or beginning of a new week? I wonder for me it's the last day of the week. When I was a child we would visit God on a weekly basis this was the beginning of the week, now it's the end. Funny how your feelings and thoughts change. Sunday's have always been the day before back to school or work, now it's just another day for me. Anyway before I bore everyone with my ramble I found this fun word site and decided to make a word cloud describing summer 2008 with S.

Happy Sunday

Party's and Gifts

Saturday July 12th, 2008

The other w/end S attended her first birthday party for a playdate friend who was celebrating his first birthday. I was surprised S was such a trouper lasted 3 hours and seemed to really enjoy herself. S was the only girl - yet again! - looks like she won't be short of dates when she is older, like 21!! - lol

I made the gift for the b'day boy - a "no sew blanket" in Disney "Cars" theme and placed the blanket in a drawstring bag made of tonka car/truck material. The blanket was completed by 90% help from my Mum and rest help from my little bro - Thanks for the help, otherwise I wouldn't have had it completed in time. Instructions for how to make the no-sew blankie

Opening of presents - oh look it's our pressie!!

Mum and Dad with B'day boy

Let him eat cake!

S inspecting the balloons - hmm - yes they are ok!

_____________________________________________________

Today is another important person's birthday - my dear hubbie - Jameson, who is turning the big 40. We are going out for a posh lunch at a nearby restaurant and will have his cake at home. I'll post pics of his cake later.

Happy Birthday J - May you have many, many more - Lots of Love from C & S xxx

Friday Photo

I think I'll have a little rest!

Prizes and Surprises...

Thursday, July 10th 2008

I received my prize tote bag the other day from Lisa at http://thetinhouse.blogspot.com/ for contest info - see previous post re contest. What a lovely surprise, since I had forgotten about receiving the tote bag, and Lisa's handwriting on the envelope looks like another Aussie gf's writing. Well I'm extremely happy with the bag - Thanks a million Lisa, very impressed with it! - tempted me to use an ol' pair of J's jeans to make a tote.

I'm now using it to hold my knitting - my latest knitting project.The jean pockets are great to store my tools - tape measure, crochet hooks (to fix dropped stitches - still trying to master that technique sometimes I just undo rows instead!), pieces of wool, labels from the wool, stitch holders etc.

Thanks again Lisa for the lovely tote, I'm enjoying using it and the bonus extras are gone!!

Pics of bag below:

Front of tote

Back of Tote
With lovely lining
& added bonus some Aussie chocs!
Perfect storage

Finished Projects

Wednesday July 9th, 2008

Finally finished a couple of projects that I was working on for S - yeah! Love it when projects are finished - see previous post re beginning of project - http://10minutecoffeebreak.blogspot.com/search/label/Knitting

Blocks

Making S's blocks became a family affair - Thanks to Mum for sewing the blocks together, straighting my very tight knitting (well it's a learning curve) Dad who cut the foam for the blocks, my little bro who sorted out the patterns and color scheme for each block. J supervised the whole process! Picture of finished blocks below

S playing with her blocks

Booties
I also knitted a pair of baby booties for my gf who baby is due within the next couple of weeks. Big thanks again to Mum for sewing them together for me. They turned out a tad big - for 3 inch foot, so he (they know it's a boy) can wear them in the winter. Actually they look like footie boots lol! Pictures below

Now I'm knitting a striped cardigan for Miss S - I'll post later about that.

Oh boy it's Monday.....

Monday, July 7th 2008

Oh how the w/end just flew by for me. Actually the last couple of weeks have been a total blur for me. So much has happened... Let's see.

My family arrived from OZ - first time for them to meet Miss S. A lovely time was had with S meeting Grandpa, Grandma and her Uncle. It's a shame they don't live closer the 20+ hour flight is abit far to just visit for an evening! Let's hope we win lotto!

Sitting with Grandma

S giving Grandpa an Eskimo kiss - a lucky few get this treatment!

After my family left we drove to Traverse City (4 hr drive w/out S) - our first break away with Miss S. Our mini break ended up being only 2 nights (we had originally planned 3 nights, 4 days) after Miss S decided to scream bloody murder each night when going to bed. In order to solve this problem we drove around the town for 1hr - 2 hrs until S finally feel asleep. On the 2nd night we decided it was too much for her and us and packed our stuff so we could leave the next morning. Sorry my holiday pics are not very exciting - our plans of visiting the beach and vineyards went amiss when we decided to leave early.

Leaving home

Driving to "Up North"

My new project - helped make the hours fly by during the drive.

S enjoying her first bath away from home

Separation anxiety

S is going through separation anxiety at the moment, unfortunately we have now resorted to letting S CIO (Cry it out) - I know alot of people are against this but after J and me cuddling her till she fell asleep (40 mins each) and having her wake up the moment you lie her down into her crib, the decision was made lets try CIO. Tonight will be our 3rd night.

S needs to relearn how to fall asleep for all her naps and night sleep, time and patience are now needed and the later is again being tested. I thought we had just gotten over this hurdle of sleeping - we had this problem at 2 months which lasted till 4 months of age at that time it took up to 2 hours of walking and rocking for S to fall asleep. I'm hoping this week will help with everyone gone and her routine going to back to normal, here's hoping that S can get back into her old habits of sleeping - like a baby!