Category: Wang

A puzzling thing

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I bought a puzzle for Mum a while ago that I thought we could do together when she was down here in July. Obviously we were too busy buying furniture and playing house to do the puzzle, so I whipped it out a couple of weeks ago and the 4 of us got to work on it. I had fun sorting out all the side pieces from the guts – the corners are especially fun to find, aren’t they!? Then I put the frame together. I may or may not have lost a bit of interest for a while after that…

We all had a go at it one afternoon and it started to take shape.

And this is where Hubs and Mum’s enthusiasm kicked in! They really got stuck into it. This is, of course, after Dad and I “sorted” the pieces by colour! šŸ™‚ (That’s our story and we’re sticking to it!!) Can you see what it is slowly becoming?*

And I believe this is about how we left it last, though, it looks like Mum and Dad have done a bit more on it on the side…
Once all the fun stuff was done, and only the sky was left, Hubs all of a sudden found other fun things to do! Ha ha. I’m sure we’ll finish it off in the next few days, if Mum and Dad haven’t already!
*For those playing at home, it’s the Arc de Triomphe

Keeping occupied

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So while we play the waiting game, Mum and Dad and I have been getting out and about (while poor poor Hubs is stuck doing work – make sure you give him lots of sympathy for his very very hard life! I love you honey!! šŸ™‚ We headed out to Mt Beauty and Bright on Saturday and had a lovely time visiting wineries and breweries. Oh yes, those lemon, lime and bitters sure were something else! Obviously I let Dad do the beer tasting (okay okay, I had a couple of little sips) and Mum partook in a glass of wine. It was nice being out and about, and they even took me on a few bumpy roads to try and “start things off”. Alas, to no avail.

Dad with the first lot of tastings at Sweetwater – this was actually quite disappointing as the beers were mostly flat and not very cold. But if it makes a good story…

Next up, Dad tried a spot of fly fishing
But only managed to catch a couple of foxy ladies šŸ˜‰
We then stumbled upon the Bright Brewery – this was much more impressive, with better beers (on tap) and a sampler tray with tasting notes. Mum took over driving after this place… 
We had a lovely day out and about, listening to old road trip tapes (The Bushwackers, Bullamakanka, Supertramp, Pink Floyd) and with Dad falling asleep in the back of the car on the way home. The weather was glorious and the company, wonderful as always. Hopefully Hubs will have time to join us on the next trip!

Self portraits, belly shots, and new hair

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I decided to get my hair done last week, since I won’t have a lot of free time once Littlefoot joins us in the outside world. I haven’t dyed my hair in almost 18 months, and was in need of a bit of a cut, so I got the works done. And I feel like a million bucks! I found a great hairdresser who uses natural hair dyes with no amonia, and who did exactly what I asked for and didn’t charge an absolute fortune – they are just so hard to find! I’ll certainly be going back to her (eventually). I think it’s hilarious that It’s only taken me 30 years (okay, 15 years of actually trying) to find a hair style that I really like and that I know pretty much exactly what to ask for when I walk into a hair salon. Getting the hairdresser to actually do what you ask for is another thing, so that’s why I was so excited about this one!

I also decided to try my hand at some self-portrait belly shots – this is harder than it looks! I got a couple of okay ones, but would like to practice the whole self-portrait thing a bit more and learn how to frame a bit better. Oh, and a nice mirror would actually help I’m sure. The first 2 are my attempts. The next 2 are the belly shots Hubs took of me just before we went out to dinner with Mum and Dad at Rinaldo’s (delish!!) last week.

From the front

And the side
From up high
And down low (too slow! ha ha ha ha)
We’re really enjoying using our new camera. It’s a sony something-or-other and it’s great for not only pointing and shooting (my kind of photography) but you (read: Hubs) can do lots of other cool things with it as well. I’m sure I’ll be able to explain what those things are some day, but for the time being, I’m just happy to use it in auto mode, much to Hubs’ horror! Hee hee!

A wife of my own

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Mum and Dad have been here for a week now and it’s so lovely having them around. We’ve been hanging out at their place in the evenings which means I can just relax and not be looking around thinking “I really should be doing insert jobs here.” I really do liken it to having a wifey of my very own! Mum and Dad have been cooking for us each night and topping up my juice and mineral water and making sure I’m comfy.  

“Would you like to have a nap?”
“Are you hungry? 
“Can I get you anything?”

Aaaaaaah bliss! It’s nice to be spoilt like this I must say. And I’m taking everyone’s advice about getting plenty of sleep and rest while I can. Mum and I have been hanging out at our place during the day, getting things ready and just pottering around. Poor Hubs has to go to work every day while we stay at home, baking and resting. Though, he does benefit from the baking, so it’s not all bad for him! Last week we made a yummy orange and polenta cake – there will be an encore this week – and today we’re making a pudding for dessert tonight, and I’ve just made a batch of home-made Kahlua. I do like this whole “lady of leisure” thing!

Thank you to everyone who has been sending emails and texts wishing us luck for the birth – you’re all very kind and it’s lovely to have all this support. And of course, everyone will be informed when the big day arrives!

Our mammoth weekend – day 6

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I’ve decided to include Tuesday in our weekend as it was a public holiday for the Melbourne Cup. After dragging ourselves out of bed around 10am, I whipped up a batch of double choc-chip cupcakes. We had arranged to meet our friends Maddie, Jade and their son Rupert for a bbq lunch down at Merriwa Park. It was quite a nice sunny day but ended up being a bit chilly when we got there. We had a lovely time playing with Rupert and talking about baby stuff and labour and all things along those lines. It was such a great end to an amazing few days!

The next day I had an antenatal check-up and my doctor took one look at me and told me I looked exhausted. And I really really was. I got home around 11am and crashed til after 2.

It was totally worth it though.

Lady in red

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I’m currently writing some posts about our mammoth weekend, but am having photo-accessing-issues (so what’s new!?) so just to keep you entertained, here’s some I prepared earlier. Hubs took these shots of me outside our unit when I was all dolled up for our dinner at Brown Brothers for a conference Hubs attended a few weeks ago.

Where’s the bump?

Oh there it is!

We had a sensational evening with amazing food (truly. AMAZING!) and lovely tastes of a couple of wines and we were at a great table with very interesting people. The conversation was enthralling and not all about medicine! The guest speaker for the night was a gentleman who used to be a doctor down in Antarctica for 9 months of the year, and now recruits said doctors for long (9 months) and short (6 weeks) stints down there. Of course, Hubs couldn’t wait to chat to him afterwards!

Truly a wonderful night to remember. (Did I mention how awesome the food was??)

Bringing back the Macaron

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Hubs informed me the other day that Macarons are “back in vogue”. I wonder if thatĀ happened before or after I baked them a few months ago, and then again a few weeks ago. I don’t like to say I’m a trend setter, but that seems like too much of a coincidence if you ask me…

You see, the thing about macaroons, is that they are a LOT of effort, but the reward is seemingly worth it because they are just so damn good. These are pretty muchĀ as far from “3-step-baking” as you can get. The first time I made them, they were a bit of a novelty. I doubled the batch as Hubs’ cousins said that the recipe didn’t make that many. It took me all evening to make them and probably half of them were fit for other people’s consumption, and the other dodgy half were consumed by Hubs and I over the next week or 2.

A few weeks ago I volunteered to provide morning tea for our staff meeting here, and decided to make my stock-standard pumpkin choc-chip cookies and choc-dipped strawberries andĀ some cheese scones. I thought I should make one more thing so decided on macarons. I had all the ingredients, so why not?

Why not? WHY NOT??? Cos they take freaking FOREVER!!! It’s one thing to have a whole evening to cook them,Ā but to try and fit them around cooking and preparing 3 other things was not one of my finest ideas. At one stage when I was half-way through making them, andĀ making noises of “I can’t BELIEVE I did this to myself”, Hubs said something along the lines of “I did think you were being a little adventurous/optimistic/CRAZY baking those.”

Here’s the process, simplified as much as possible: Mix dry ingredients, beat egg whites, mix all together, put into awesome piping tube, pipe 3cm circles (that look like little turds) (sorry, that’s gross) (but I’m leaving it in), bang baking tray down to flatten them in to 4cm turds circles (this didn’t work very well for me),Ā dust withĀ icing sugar,Ā bake for 10-15 minutes or until slightly brown on top, cool on tray, then take off baking paper. Repeat until all mixture is used (I made about 70 “halves”). In the mean time (cos you have nothing to do while they’re baking… yeah right) make or reheat your ganache. The first lot I made I used the jaffa ganache I had leftover from Hubs’ birthday cake and it really added a great flavour to the finished result. Then you match up the halves into equal sizes, (and end up with 10 random ones at the end)Ā and spoon in the ganache and put them together.

And in pictures:

See? Just like that. This is certainly a recipe to make when you have time and patience andĀ a good playlist runningĀ on your media PC. But as I mentioned, the end result is very impressive and delicious and I got thumbs up all round for my baked goods. I don’t think I’ll be making them again in a hurry. (har har…)

Back to Woolies for Wifey

/ Renae / 1 Comment

It’s not my fault. It just kinda happened. It doesn’t mean that I’m not still annoyed at Woolies for what they did to me, but the thing is… well… The Coles at Wang is rubbish. It kind of just crept up on me how rubbish it actually is. In the mean time, Hubs and I decided to give the Commonwealth Bank the flick and have changed all our banking to ING. And lo and behold, Woolies accepts our ING Direct Debit as you can choose the “savings” option. Go figure.

Do I lack commitment to “the cause”. Yes. Should I continue to shop at Coles for the principle? Perhaps. Am I going to? Probably not. The Woolies down here is just SO much better and nicer and has the products that I want and is right next door to work and church so I can swing by on my way home if needed, or do my “big shop” after church on a Sunday.

I know, I know, I’m justifying myself to make myself feel better. But hey. What are you going to do?

The force is strong within me

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I don’t know what it is about being pregnant, but it increases the earth’s gravity both within me and around me. Things that used to stay in my hands are now spontaneously attracted to the floor at any given moment. (Especially pens, my hat, vegetables, pots and pans, tubs of yoghurt… you name it…) Getting up is becoming hilarious, with me giving signals to Hubs to give me a push every time I want to leave the couch. If we were still sleeping on the futon, I would never get out of bed. Bending over is becoming an Olympic sport for me, and often when I drop things, I just leave them on the floor and either ask Hubs (very nicely) to come and pick up after me, or do a big emu parade at the end.

Pregnancy has also increased my clumsiness, though I didn’t think this was possible. It’s gotten so bad that Hubs is actually noticing all the clanging and banging that goes on when I’m in the kitchen, whereas before, he would just tune it all out. Though, he may just be more concerned as he knows that these days, dropping a few carrots on the floor can reduce me to a puddle of tears, snot and incoherent babble.

Having said all this, I am absolutely loving being pregnant. I have had a seemingly very easy pregnancy, with no real unpleasant symptoms or side effects that I’ve read all about. I do still have 9 weeks to go (is that it??) so anything can happen, but while things are going so smoothly, I’m just going to enjoy it.

And be okay with constantly dropping things.