Happy Birthday Billy-Bob!

March 31, 2009 / Renae / Leave a comment

Last Tuesday I was sitting at my desk at work and I had the sudden urge to book a flight back to Brisbane for the weekend. Hubs said it was a-okay (anything to keep me from crying!!) and so operation “suprise Godson Billy-Bob and Billy-Bob’s Mum for Billy-Bob’s 2nd Birthday on Saturday” sprung into action.

Now I’m actually a vault when it comes to keeping other people’s secrets, but when it comes to my own secrets, I’ll keep quiet for about 5 minutes before I hear myself saying “now I’m not telling many people, but….” or “don’t tell anyone, but….” and so I spent a stressful few days trying to keep it from B-B’s Mum. But it worked! I surpised the crap out of them! It was very exciting:

Me and B-B’s Mum (we’ve known each other since we were 2 years old)

With B-B

And B-B’s Dad. Make a wish!

We had a lovely day at the park on the river, after which I went to my Nanny and Grandpa’s place for lunch, and because they knew I was coming, there was of course pierogi! Yummy!

Saturday night I had some time with my bitches (I’ve been missing you guys!!) and Sunday we had a 4 hour brunch at Mum and Dad’s with my cousins and a few other family members and friends. My parents don’t do things by halves though. As usual there was SO much food!

I got to catch up with more of my bitches in the afternoon (no, seriously! I miss you guys!!) on the way to the airport, and all in all I had a very relaxing weekend. Thanks to everyone who came to see me! And sorry to those I didn’t tell! It just ends up being too full-on if I try to see everyone all the time! You know I love you!

It’s a learning curve

March 13, 2009 / Renae / Leave a comment

Hubs and I have been married just over 1 year now and there are a few things I’ve learnt along the way. Some things I’ve worked out for myself, some things have been taught by Hubs, and there have been some pearls of wisdom shared by people in the know along the way. Here are a few I’d like to share with you:

1. Pick your battles. This is one I’ve learnt via all 3 of the above ways. I used to fight all of the little disagreements that we had, and realised it got me nowhere.

2. One of the best, most important and most appreciated gifts I can give Hubs is my undivided attention. Even if it’s for 5 minutes in the morning before I head to work, it makes him feel like the most important person in my world and starts our day wonderfully.

3. Respect for each other’s differences. Just respect in general really, but Hubs and I are quite different in a lot of ways, which sometimes means we don’t understand where the other is coming from. I’ve learnt (the hard way) to take a step back and try and see things from his perspective. And if I can’t, I’ve realised that’s okay.

4. Safety first. Hubs has created in our marriage, an assurance that we are safe together. And I don’t mean physically, I mean emotionally. There is nothing that I’m afraid of telling him. I know that no matter what I say, no matter how crazy, unrealistic, irrational, no matter what, Hubs will listen and not judge me. I know that I can share all of my hopes and dreams and disappointments and fears and craziness with him, and he will not only embrace it all, he’ll love me even more for it. I hope I do the same for him, though my impulsive tendencies sometimes get in the way, but I’m learning! Which brings me to my next point:

5. Take a deep breath and don’t react to situations/comments/actions straight away. This one I’m learning from Hubs. There have been quite a few times in our relationship when I have reacted without considering intentions/motivations (not just Hubs’) behind things, and more often than not there has been a misunderstanding and I end up looking and feeling slightly foolish.

So that’s about all for now. I could go on and on but I don’t want to share all my wisdom in one sitting! What a journey it has been so far, and what an adventure our life together will be!

And here’s some photos, cos you know, everybody likes photos!!

Hubs and I on our honeymoon in Vanuatu with our hair braided (my scalp got SO sunburnt!!)

A week later when we took the plaits out:

Happy 90th Harry!

March 2, 2009 / Renae / 1 Comment

A couple of weeks ago, Hubs and I had the pleasure of attending Hubs’ grandfather’s 90th birthday. We had a great time catching up with family and friends, and meeting some new people as well – mostly family I didn’t know about! Here are some happy snaps from the day:

Wifey, Alma, Geoff (Hubs’ Dad), Harry, Hubs

Harry & Alma and their 2 sons Geoff & Wayne

Grandad Harry has dementia, but he seemed quite present for a lot of the party. Even though he wasn’t quite sure who some of the people there were, he could comprehend the stories being told by some of his old Navy buddies, and even corrected a couple of details along the way! He’s still pretty switched on when it comes to cheeky comments (on our wedding day I told Harry that I had just married his grandson, and asked if that was okay, to which he responded “well with you looking like that, I reckon I’D marry you!) but day-to-day things he struggles with a bit more.

Grandad & Grandson

Harry & Wifey

I’m so impressed with the longevity in the family! Both Nanna Alma and Grandad Harry are 90 now, and they had a few relatives there who were also in their late 80s and 90s. Not to mention my grandparents as well! I hope to have a loooooooooooooong and happy life with my lovely Hubs, and genetics seem to be on our side!

Happy 90th Harry! We look forward to celebrating 91 with you next year!

Cooking with Nanny

February 24, 2009 / Renae / 3 Comments

I’ve written about my Nanny and Grandpa previously, and they have had such an amazing life that I could do a hundred posts about them. Today I would like to tell you about Cooking With Nanny. Nanny has been cooking for a very long time. She learnt to cook a lot of dishes when she was growing up in Ukraine, then some more when she was in Germany during the war, and she has continued to learn since being in Australia.

Of course she has a few staple dishes that we LOVE, and today I’m going to tell you about Cooking Pierogi with Nanny. When we were up for Christmas, Hubs and I stayed at Nanny and Grandpa’s place just before Christmas and I wanted to get some photos of us cooking together. Hubs did one better than that, and did some videoing without me knowing! It was such a lovely surprise when I got to watch them later!

First of all, you mix up the ingredients for the dough in an old saucepan that Nanny and Grandpa bought in Germany, around 60 years ago. Nanny doesn’t really measure things. It’s more like “2 big spoons flour, a few egg, some milk.”

And then you knead it like so: (listen to the audio! Classic Nanny!)

Nanny has the most amazing hands – they have been through so much, and I’m sure would have many stories to tell.

After kneading the dough (then letting Nanny knead it properly) you need to do some rolling. I’m pretty good at this part:

Next you cut the dough (it’s actually more like pasta) with Nanny’s aqua cup. It makes the perfect circle size for the pierogi. (Funny audio again):

And finally, the making of the pierogi. You put a heaped spoon of mince (hand-minced, prepared by Nanny the night before!) Again, listen to the audio. Priceless!

This is what they look like “raw”:

Then you boil some water and cook them in boiling water for 12 minutes:

Then put a wad of butter in the fry pan and go to town! This is the step that just makes them soooooooooo goooooooooood!

Oh! And for extra fatty goodness, don’t forget to fry up some bacon (til it’s super-crispy!) to put on top! Ta daaaaaah!

I really want to try making them myself down here in Melbourne. That really should be a New Year’s resolution!! Watch this space!

Bruiser

February 22, 2009 / Renae / 2 Comments

I’m going to show you the photo first, so you can marvel at the coolest, biggest, most impressive bruise I’ve ever seen:

The funny thing is, we don’t know how Hubs got this bruise!! We assume it’s from the Parkour we’ve been doing but Hubs can’t remember actually injuring himself. Well, no more than usual! It’s been over a week and it’s still going strong! What a worry!

What the?…

February 19, 2009 / Renae / 1 Comment

Hubs standing next to the biggest pineapple growing out of the ground at Newman College. Can’t wait for it to ripen!

Cookieeeeeeeeeeeeeee!

February 12, 2009 / Renae / Leave a comment

Mnaaaaaaaaarm narm narm narm………

Now I know that Hubs isn’t actually holding a cookie, but the expression on his face, the madness in his eyes, and the crazy teeth just screams COOKIE MONSTER to me!

We attended a Christening on Sunday and were invited to the champagne and nibblies afterwards where there were not only miniature people running around (aka kids – and LOTS of them) but they also had these miniature chocolate crackles. They were the cutest sweetie I’ve EVER seen!!!! And Hubs got so excited by this tiny treat that I just HAD to take a photo! It went down a treat!

See the resemblance?

AFL Grand Final (better late than never!!)

February 10, 2009 / Renae / Leave a comment

I blogged last September about the fact that the AFL Grand Final was coming up, but I never followed up on that piece of information! The final was between Hawthorn and Geelong. Hawthorn had had a solid season, but Geelong were the hot favourites to win back-to-back premierships.

Hubs and I ended up going over to our friend’s place for lunch, beers and footy – what a great combo! It was a beautiful Melbourne Spring day – about 28 degrees (I was wearing a summer dress!!) and we were excited!! We had decided to back the underdogs because that’s a lot of fun, and plus we were also watching the game in Hawthorn. It was a really close game and heaps of fun to watch! Here’s a snap from the day (of course!):

Me, Hubs, Cal & Nathan.

Although we really enjoyed backing a winning team (St Kilda are unlikely to deliver the goods for us) the real winner on the day was the company! Thanks guys for a great afternoon!! (Aw shucks!)

Karaoke of the dodgy variety

February 5, 2009 / Renae / Leave a comment

This is a karaoke fail:
(Background: We were promised karaoke by a friend who was in town, and karaoke to me means an awesome night at a pub singing your lungs out. Instead, we rocked up to karaoke booths, waited half an hour for our own booth, paid by the hour, paid $7 per beer, couldn’t find any good songs, and found this sign outside our room…)