chilli

 a busy morning in the kitchen.

while we were in bali last year, we bought a balinese cook book and my favourite recipe that i have tried so far is the one for chilli sauce. its used as the base for nasi goreng and mie goreng but we have it with everything from fish to lamb to chicken and its great on pizza too.

delicious.

meanwhile i had some chicken stock bubbling away and got started on garlic and thyme quinoa patties for dinner tonight.

a parcel came today

we received a parcel in the mail today from usbourne publishing.

at the Christmas breakup for playgroup each child received a book from Santa (chosen and wrapped by the parents). jess's was 'look inside an airport' a lift the flap book which instantly became a firm favourite. only problem was that on one of the pages the flaps didn't lift properly as the glue to bind the pages wasn't applied correctly. 

i emailed usbourne publishing to tell them about it and they very kindly sent a replacement. i am not usually one for making a complaint when i have purchased a product and am not happy with it but i am glad i did this time.

not only did they send the replacement book but also another book, a book for parents about reading to children, balloons, bookmarks, key rings and a small stuffed duck. 

jess was delighted.

i applaud usbourne publishing for their speedy response to my email and their follow up customer service (including a phone call to see if we had received the parcel).

yellow

we have changed to yellow in our colour basket. you can read more about colour baskets here, here and here.

 jess helped me to choose the items this time. we have yellow lids, car, truck, material, paper, cup, blocks and pipe cleaner.

we are now painting with yellow of course.

the painting above is 'tiger'. i love that jess is now giving some of her paintings names.

projects

one month down.

i started project 366 on new years day and i am pleased to say that i have managed to remember to pick up the camera each day so far.

it's really quite enjoyable (i may not say that in another 10 months) finding images to take photos of each day. 

i think my main subjects so far have been jess and the beach. i haven't spent much 'extra' time on the computer because of it. i only check out a few others photos on the flickr group when i load mine on.

i am not sure what i will do with all the images at the end of the year. make them into a book? or frame them all in one big frame? i am not keen on the scrapbook idea that some people use but i am sure some more ideas will come up through the year.

my other project is the happiness project. i am reading the book of the same name by gretchen rubin. maybe about halfway through. i have started a happiness journal where i write one thing that has bought me happiness each day. it may be something very small or something bigger, depending on the day. i think the main point is to be mindful and just to acknowledge it. sometimes i forget to write it down though. that is about the extent of 'my' happiness project at the moment, maybe i will get more into it as the year progresses.

image is 'jan 30 - eggs from next door' from my project 366

glue pot

today we did some pasting.

this was jess's first experience with glue and she loved it.

i think the black paper worked a treat as she could easily see where the white glue was going.

lots of glue but not too much mess.

rhythm

one of the ideas i picked up on while reading simplicity parenting by kim john payne was the lighting of a candle daily, at a regular time.

this is to act as a 'pressure valve' that a small child, who has no concept of time, can count on every day at the same time to give a sense of rhythm to their day. other 'pressure valves' may be things like naps or the bedtime story.

the candle flame is said to concentrate their attention and narrows their focus to a small, golden circle and of course is very soothing.

so i have decided we will light a candle at dinner time and put it out at the end of the meal.

i think it will be nicer in winter when its dark during dinner time. at the moment it is full daylight so it doesn't quite have the desired effect but is lovely all the same.

a long way up

this morning after breakfast we went to a nearby beach to do some training.

there are a lot of stairs to go down but seems to be even more on the way back up.

the beach was deserted, the sky so blue, so beautiful.

i did some exercises using the stairs while jess and her dad played on the sand.

in the mood

i am in the mood to garden.

maybe it was the weather today being a beautiful summer's day. blue sky, fluffy clouds, light sea breeze, perfect temperature, not too warm and not too cool.

it put me in the mood. i know this mood well. when it strikes all i can think and dream about is gardening.

its been quite a while since the gardening bug has struck, but autumn (my favourite time of year) will be with us before we know it.

so to plant some seeds. we need to rejuvenate the vegetable garden. i will make a tray and some newspaper pots tomorrow to start the seedlings off. think i may try them on the kitchen windowsill and see how that goes.

one problem i always seem to have with growing from seeds is that i put them in but never keep up with the watering, so the windowsill should bypass that as they will be right in front of me.

wish me luck.

images via pinterest.

the views

can you see all i write and all the images?

with the 'dynamic views' blogs, if you click on it the page will open up to show the entire post.

i love all the different options for viewing, my current favourite being flip card although i am quite partial to mosaic.

i love the simplicity of this style of blog template.

which is your favourite?

dollshouse

for christmas jess received this lovely dolls house.

it has been played with everyday since.

it's an 'eco' dolls house that has a wind turbine, solar panels, recycling bins and rain water storage. i love that all the furniture is simple and came with the house. its very user friendly for a nearly two year old.

the dogs often come to visit and everyone is put to bed. the family (and dogs) all clean their teeth, have showers, make dinner and sit on the couch. 

love.

energy bars

a link to a great recipe came up on pinterest for energy bars yesterday and just had to try them.

you can find the original recipe here.

super easy, very quick and requires no baking, perfect.

i changed it a little to suit what i had available and omitted the chocolate chips (who needs them anyway!) i used wheatgerm in place of the chia seeds and puffed kumut in place of the puffed brown rice cereal (using the same measurements)

i think i will experiment some more with this recipe and add things like sunflower, sesame and pumpkin seeds, different nuts and sometimes add some raisins or dried apricots. as long as the dry ingredients are in the same measurements it should still turn out okay. tahini or peanut butter could be used in place of the almond butter.

everyone enjoyed them even the littlest who kept coming back for more.

no bake energy bars, love them!

felting

i think i may have found a new craft to indulge in.

it looks relaxing.

i have seen so many great felted items on the internet lately and have been keen to get into making some. i thought i would start small and see how i go with this needle and wet felting kit i found on Etsy.

i love these felted rocks, actually i think its the colours that i love.

thinking of making a little collection of eggs for an easter display similar to the ones pictured below. 

so sweet.

planning

shopping day tomorrow.

i like to be organised as it is such a big day when we go to 'town' to shop.

i have been making lists.

getting the schedule organised (in my head).

i began making a daily meal plan a couple of weeks ago which i talked about here. it went well and i found it very helpful. we pretty much followed the plan, only straying away when the weather was too warm for what had been planned.

so this afternoon i made another list of what we will have for dinner for the next two weeks and shopping list is at the ready.

20 months today!

our littlest one turned 20 months today.

we spent some time at the beach and playing tea parties with the teddy's.

what a fun time!

getting things done

often there are things that i think about doing and for one reason or another just don't get to them.

not today.

i finished off jess's two aprons. the quickest of jobs. one simply needed a bit of velcro ironed on and the other a couple of ties sewed on. it took me all of five minutes, i am sure. they had been hanging on their hooks unfinished for the last three months!

i made this gorgeous little pin cushion out of some scrap material. have needed one for so long and every time i sew i always think "oh i need a pin cushion... now!"

job completed.

then i sorted out my embroidery cottons which were shoved into a plastic bag and all tangled up. i then wound them onto some clothes pegs. 

organised.

happy!

counting

i actually never thought i would do it.

counting calories that is.

my personal trainer has recommended it and as i would like to lose at least five kilograms, if not a few more, so i thought i would give it a try.

boring i know but once you get the hang of it, it does seem easier to keep to a reasonable amount of calories each day.

it's been going well and i now don't have to look at the book to know approximately how many calories i have consumed during the day.

at first i thought i would get hungry but seem to be able to cope on 1200 calories per day.

i still haven't had any sugar (as such), its been 3 weeks now. a small amount of dried fruit and half a teaspoon of honey on my fruit in the morning is about as sweet as it gets for me. thinking about it now i realise that i haven't even really craved it.

better stop thinking......

more colours

quite a while ago i was looking for ideas and activities for toddlers and came across this blog post.

colour baskets i call them.

the idea is to introduce one colour at a time for a period of a week or so. all the items should show most of the colour being introduced. for example if i were to put a hat in, it would need to be prodominately red. not a bit of red with other colours on it. that would make it confusing.

we have introduced blue already and are now onto red. we used blue paint when introducing the colour blue and now of course are using red.

when i have finished introducing the primary colours i intend to put all the items into one basket for some colour sorting activities.

books

these are some of the books jess and i have been reading this week.

a look inside an airport 

by usborne books

(fabulous lift the flap book, one of jess's current favourites)

ten little fingers and ten little toes

mem fox

(we often get this one from the library as its a firm favourite)

whoever you are

mem fox

almost an animal alphabet

katie viggers

(gorgeous illustrations, limited edition book bought of etsy)

the gruffalo
julia donaldson and alex scheffler

(we have taken a liking to this story. i had heard it was one to read but couldn't see the attraction from the  cover illustration but its the story that counts)

the beeman

laurie krebs and valeria cis

(lovely story about honey and bees by barefoot publishing)

how to catch a star

oliver jeffers

lost and found

oliver jeffers
(we love oliver jeffers books especially lost this one about the lost penguin)


oh and i should add in (although not in the photo)

catflaps

lynley dodd

(jess loves anything to do with cats at the moment and must say 'cat' a hundred times a day)