Tuesday 31 August 2010

Spring Has Sprung, Birthday Fun and Rock-hard Cupcakes?!?!

Just a quick warning before I begin - BEWARE VERY LONG & VERY WAFFLY POST!

tee hee



Thursday - snow. Saturday/Sunday - gorgeous sunny, SPRING weather days. What's going on?!?! Not that I'm complaining. I love both!

The good weather did improve my mood a hundred-fold and it was really nice to get out and about after being stuck indoors all week due to the wind and rain. Well, that's what the doggies thought as they lay full stretch on the grass catching some rays! Wish I could show you a photo, but I forget because I'm so used to seeing them like that whenever the sun comes out. LOL

Pepper was also very hypo - releasing all her pent-up energy by doing continuous zoomies around the yard. I've not seen her so hypo since we moved in here! She'd run around, drop to the ground for a brief rest and off she'd go again, especially if I crept up to her saying "zoomie, zoomie, zoomie"! It was very cute to watch. I love it when they enjoy themselves like that. :D

I digress. On Sunday we decided we'd do birthday celebratory things since we were going to be at work on Monday and complete zombies by the end of the day (besides the fact that most restaurants are closed on Mondays as they only open for the tourist crowd!). So, we headed off to one of my favourite cafes in the morning, FRESH and had a yummy breakfast.

(Click on any of the photos for a larger view)

While waiting for our meals, I managed to be slightly creative with a mobile phone camera (I'm so hanging out to get THIS book, which has loads of great photos you can take with a mobile phone camera). LOL



Then after a quick trip to the shops to get a few supplies, we bundled up the dogs and headed down to the Nepean River at the bottom of the mountains. Testament to the gorgeous spring day was the amount of people out in the parks enjoying the sun. So much so that we had to go to the furthest park downstream in order to avoid the crowds. LOL

We were nicely rewarded with the sight of a small Spring wedding in the gorgeous gazebo (we didn't take any photos because we thought that might be a bit rude!) and sparse crowds scattered around the park. We had a picnic lunch, had a play on the oval and then took the dogs for a walk along the water's edge.



The funniest (and probably most pitiful!) thing of the day was when we tried to cross a couple of bridges/boardwalks that were made out of a metal grid, or grating or something like that (I'm sure there's a technical name for it!!)! Anyway, poor Falcon was scared out of his little brain because he couldn't see what he was walking on (the grid holes were quite large), and I guess for a dog who wasn't created to hover in mid air, that's pretty scary! LOL Moreso for Falcon because he's only got one eye so he NEEDS the safety of solid ground. He spread out his fingers to touch as much space as possible and crawled along the grate on his belly. Or more to the point, I dragged him along the grating on his belly!


Before you go screaming to the RSPCA for animal abuse - let me tell you that this is good socialising for him. He needs to be exposed to as many different situations and objects as possible. I cajoled and rewarded and by the end of the last bridge bit, he was a teeny little bit more confident. A teeny little bit. We did this three times in total during the walk, and we'll definitely be returning so that we can do it more times and he can build up his confidence. Pepper was also a bit nervous and was crawling along on her belly with fingers sprawled out too, but she was less fearful than Falcon and charged along at an almost normal rate as you can see in the picture above (Pepper in front, Falcon behind).

I find it amusing and fascinating when complementing what each doggie is frightened of, and they are definitely frightened of different things. Sometimes Falcon will be all gung-ho with something and Pepper will run like the wind the other way. And vice versa with other things. It's very strange considering they are sister and brother, but I guess like humans, dogs can have different personalities and fears too.

But I'm digressing again! LOL

After the nice walk in Penrith, we drove home and I did some baking. I had this grand idea that I'd bake some mini cupcakes and take them into work for everyone to share on my birthday. It all started well - the pretty little patty pans went into a muffin tin:


the cake mix was made up:


and the cakes went into the oven:


This was where things went haywire. I was following a recipe for regular sized cupcakes, not mini ones and had forgotten to adjust the timing for the smaller cakes. Hence the first batch came out as hard as rocks. *cry*

I wanted to start a second batch, but Gus had booked dinner at my favourite restaurant - Swiss Cottage, and it was time to go. So I had to semi-tidy up all the baking stuff, get dressed and make it up to Katoomba in five minutes!

Dinner was definitely a welcome diversion from rock hard cupcakes. We ate HEAPS of delicious Swiss food.

Entree - (Whoops, sorry! No photo. Wait, let me rephrase that - no GOOD photo. :( It was very yummy though. LOL)

For the main we had Raclette - a very delicious meal of grilled cheese (grilled right on your table!), potatoes, pickles and onions.


We were even entertained by a circus-performer-moonlighting-as-a-waiter!!


I guess the standards for waiters these days are really high if they need to be THAT multi-skilled. LOL

And dessert! Oh my . . .


Eventually we staggered home at 9pm and stubborn mule (or complete sucker for punishment) that I am, I started on the second batch of cupcakes.

At 12.15am, whilst watching me curse as I smear my thumb with cream cheese icing instead of the cupcake I was holding, Gus asks why I put myself through this. Good question. I cringe when I think of the answer/s, if I can even come up with a reasonable answer!

But luckily for me the second batch of cupcakes turned out . . . okay. Not the best, and they certainly weren't the prettiest (ever tried icing cupcakes after midnight and as the icing is starting to set?!?!), nor the best tasting, but by that time I didn't care.


Last cake iced and put in the fridge and I tumbled into bed just after 1am.

Sigh.

Must be the old age, or even early senility that is making me do such crazy things. Oh well, at least Gus enjoyed them. That's good enough for me. :D

Until next time my lovelies!

*hugs*





PS. If you made it all the way to the end of this post, CONGRATULATIONS!!! You deserve a really big hug!!  

*HUG*

Monday 30 August 2010

Monday Giggles - The Birthday Edition

Happy Birthday to me
Happy Birthday to me
Happy Birthday to meee-eeee
Haaaaaaap-py Biiiiiiiiiirthday to meeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!


Yep! Today is my birthday! And for your Monday giggling pleasure, I present to you several cakes that I'd rather NOT have given to me on my birthday! Enjoy! (or not. . .)

All photos courtesy of Cakewrecks.
(Click to see larger photos.)

How rude!


Maybe if the baker used thinner icing, they could fit the whole greeting on the cake?!?


Erm . . . I think it's a butterfly . . . with a moustache . . .


I know I'm getting old, but I haven't quite "crashed and burned" yet!


Arrggghhhh! Stomp on it! STOMP ON IT!!!!


Must be a coloured icing shortage. . .


Hmm . . . I'm pretty sure either my brother or I had a t-shirt in the 80s that looked like this!


ARRRGGGGGHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!

Okay, enough of that. Now THIS is what I'd love for my birthday cake - Gus, are you reading this?!? LOL



*hugs*

Thursday 26 August 2010

Wow, It's Snowing!!!!

It's been freezing here in the mountains today, and guess what?!? It's snowed!!! Okay, so it still isn't cold enough for snow to collect, but we've actually seen snowflakes, WOW!!!! *happy dance, happy dance*

Okay, I know all you Northern Hemisphere readers are shaking your heads and tutting at me, but I was brought up on the very mild temperate COAST of Australia, so I'm not used to seeing snow at all. LOL That's what makes it exciting! :D

I wish I could take some photos, but at the moment it's pitch black and very windy, so the snow tends to look more like huge drops of rain. And I don't want to get my camera wet. :P

*hugs*

Monday 23 August 2010

Monday Giggles

Welcome to another Monday Giggles!

If you are a die-hard Star Wars fan, please go no further. What you see could ruin your love of Star Wars forever!

For the rest of us, enjoy!!!

vvvvv scroll down vvvvv





















When Darth Vader meets Hello Kitty:



*hugs*

Thursday 19 August 2010

Today is a Special Day

What's special about today?

It's my dearest, darling husband's birthday!


Gus, I know you're approaching that awful age involving the numbers 4 and 0, but it's not so bad. Just think of all the gazillions of people older than you!! If that doesn't help, here are a few quotes to encourage you further:
  • Growing old is mandatory. Growing up is optional.
  • In some cultures, the elderly are actually respected and revered.
  • You're not that old until you can't read this in writing anymore
  • Don't think of it as getting older, think of it as becoming a classic.
  • Count your blessings, not your wrinkles.
Besides, there's still one year of your thirties left. Enjoy it (while it lasts!!)! LOL

It was nice having you at home today, even though you were hiding away in the Media Room actually doing work! Next year I think you should take the day off completely! I hope you had a great day anyway and enjoyed dinner, despite finding out that your first choice wasn't open!! Remember we're in the sticks now, not everything is open when we want it to be. LOL

Happy Birthday dear husband of mine.

Love you lots. xxx

*hugs*

Monday 16 August 2010

Monday Giggles

Welcome to another installment of Monday Giggles.

This one is for all the scrapbookers out there. Enjoy!


You Know You're Addicted to Scrapbooking When . . .
  • You reach into your purse, your family scatters - they think you are reaching for that dreaded camera!
     
  • You see something metal in a parking lot or on the floor and you go back to pick it up. It turns out to be some sort of buckle/pop tab type of thing, so you pop it in your pocket, and think - yeah, I can put some ribbon through that.
     
  • You purchase every scrap magazine that hits the shelf, even though more than half the layouts in some are NOT your style.
     
  • You dream about layouts or crops.
     
  • You buy scrapbook "stuff" and have no idea how you are going to use it but think, "I will use it someday."
     
  • When you start scanning kids clothes because they would make great inspiration for a scrapbook page.
     
  • When you spend all day at work/school sketching layouts instead of working/studying.
     
  • You know you're addicted when you find an awesome piece of paper and actually DRESS your child up for pictures in clothes to MATCH THE PAPER.
     
  • You know you're addicted when your husband runs into the local eatery yelling "I need water....my car's on fire!" And your first response is, "WAIT! I have the camera!"
     
  • You plan vacations around scrapbook stores or drive 175 miles to a scrapbook store.
     

*hugs*

Wednesday 11 August 2010

Boo to Blogger - Stuffed Up Comments

Sincere apologies to all those who commented on my LO in yesterday's post. For some reason Blogger decided to REJECT all the comments instead of PUBLISH them. They then disappeared off the face of the earth, never to be seen again. :(

I won't ask you all to re-comment. Only if you want to. But thanks so much if you do!

*hugs*

Tuesday 10 August 2010

Rumble Layout

I did a layout last week that I want to share with you all. It was done for the UKS Sketches SG.

This was the sketch (from the Scrap-a-gogo Create & Co blog):


And this is my version of it:


More close-up photos:




Supplies used: Basic Grey Max & Whiskers, DCWV cardstock, Autumn Leaves "Pete's Dog" Clear Stamps, HeroArts "I Love My Dog" Clear Stamps, title printed and cut out (font used was Graphic Attitude), green DMC embroidery thread, white & black pens, silver brad.

I'm not completely happy with it as I think it looks very boring, but I'm very short on ideas for dog embellishments and how to make this layout look any better. Leave me a comment and let me know what you think. :D

*hugs*

Monday 9 August 2010

Monday Giggles

Welcome to another installment of Monday Giggles!

Sit back and enjoy!


Nieces and Nephews

A woman, who was pregnant with twins, got into a car accident and went into a coma. She was rushed to the hospital where doctors delivered her twins to save them. But as she was in a coma and her husband was overseas on business, her brother was the only one present to name her children.

When she came out of the coma, hours after arriving at the hospital and found out that her brother had named the twins, she was very worried. Her brother was not very bright, and she didn't think he would have done a very good job of choosing her kids' names.

When he came in to see her she asked, "So what names did you choose for my children?"

He replied, "The first born was a girl."

"Oh," started the woman, "and what did you name her??"

"Denise," answered her brother.

The woman was very surprised, and very pleased, "Hey, that's not half bad!" She exclaimed to her brother. "And what did you name the second child?" She waited excitedly to hear the name her brother had chosen for the other child.

"Well, the next born was a boy," her brother informed her.

"Yes, and what did you name him??" inquired the woman.

Replied the brother, "Denephew."


*hugs*

Saturday 7 August 2010

Chocolate Enriched

I've been passed another blog award, yay!


The rules are I have to thank the person who gave it to me, tell you 7 things about myself and pass the award on to 5 other bloggers.

So here we go - a big THANK YOU to lovely Lisa at A Little of What You Fancy! for this award. (And big apologies for taking so long to put it up!)

Now for the 7 things about myself:
  1. I have an "innie" belly button.
  2. My netbook is called "Mini-me".
  3. I love 80s music!!!!!
  4. I lived 3 years of my childhood in Tamworth - Country Music Capital of Australia.
  5. Following on from #4, I am not overly fond of Country Music.  To this day I am still not sure if living in Tamworth affected me or not.
  6. I had braces as a child, but my teeth have gone all wonky again so the years of being tortured and having a "metal mouth" didn't amount to much.
  7. And finally, I am not fat. I'm chocolate enriched. LOL
And now I pass this award onto these five lovely ladies:

* Emma at Just Me
* Jackie at What a Scrappy Life
* Sue at Suzy's Sanctuary
* Amanda at All Kinds of Wonderful
* Elaine at Essex Crafter's Diary


Until next time!

*hugs*

Monday 2 August 2010

Monday Giggles

Welcome to the second installment of Monday Giggles!

This comes from ihasahotdog - one of the funniest blogs I have ever seen.

Enjoy!

(click to see a larger photo)


*hugs*

Sunday 1 August 2010

A Pinch and a Punch . . . and the Tiling's Done!

Welcome to August! (August?!?!? Good grief. Where has this year gone?)

August 1. The Horse's Birthday. In the Southern Hemisphere at least. I've always wondered why it was called the Horse's Birthday. Thanks to Yahoo Answers (LOL) I now know! Apparently it's do to with horse racing and standardising the ages of horses. Fair enough.


It's also Wattle Day in Australia, where the Wattle trees are supposed to start flowering. No one has told the Wattle trees though, as I've noticed a lot of them have already been flowering since as early as mid-June!!!


The flowers sure are pretty though, but not so good if you have hay fever, like Gus!

So, onto the other matter of "Done Tiling". On Friday the tiler FINALLY showed up. Of course he blamed the Kitchen company for not ringing him, but I think he was also a bit dodgy to begin with. Never mind, at least it's all done now and I can look at the nice tiles we chose instead of ugly, crumbly plasterboard!!


There's only one thing left to do now - decide on the new handles. That's really our fault it's taking ages because we can't decide which ones will look good with the existing doors. Hmm . . . watch this space. LOL

*hugs*
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