Trying to [cautiously] find my feet again ....

So... I am going to attempt to find my doll business feet again!

I have had a few people ask me about my dolls lately and it really breaks my heart when i have to tell them that i am no longer making them.

Honestly they really do mean so much to me and i get so much out of creating them that I feel I owe it to them and to myself to give it another go and see if I can manage it now!?

I have my girls in daycare one day a week and although that is my ONLY 'day off' and I usually dedicate the whole day to housework I think that it I am really serious about this working then I can do a little extra housework on every other day and then have my one free day for creating my dolls & softies!

I was just reading an article that was featured in Babyology a couple of years ago! That was definitely a proud moment and that has given me a bit of motivation to make this work.

Well ... I'm just putting it out there and hopefully you will see more of me in the coming weeks!

I might even have a new Evie and Henry character to introduce as a bit of a come-back onto the doll making world!

Watch this space .....

14 days ...

14 days is what I have to make all that has happened, and all that i have been feeling a positive thing.

I believe that things happen for a reason. Another baby would have been a welcome blessing but it was really bad timing for us.

Maybe I needed to realise that I can be living my life more than simply being in it.

I have taken up the Skinny-me-tea 14 day detox.

I need to drink a detox tea each morning and then a 'çolon cleanse' tea every second night .... {i am not sure why i am writing in italic.? it is so frustrating because my computer keeps freezing & it wont let me change it} ...

I have just taken my #day1photos -  I will post them all in 14 days at the end!! (my PC is playing up and i cant upload any pics now)

... after some shutting down and restarting of my pc I am now able to change my font from italic but am still having issues uploading photos.

I wil sit down in the next couple of days and try and work out whats going on (its been happening the last couple of posts) #grrrrrrrrrr

:) xX

Today was meant to be a good day ...

Today was meant to be a good day. Today is not. It has turned out to be a sad day.

Today I was going to announce that I was pregnant. I had even pinned a cool pregnancy announcement idea on Pinterest that I was going to replicate once I got the image from today's ultrasound.

I knew that something was wrong. In fact that was my reason for keeping it from most people. I just had a gut feeling that something wasn't quite right.

For the past couple of weeks I haven't felt pregnant. Its been such a bizarre feeling. I started to show SO early and then it all that just seemed to go away. I have just felt over weight for the past 2 weeks, but not pregnant. Kind of the same way that I have felt after both of the girls were born!

I know my body so well that I knew something was wrong. The same reason that I knew I was pregnant so early. I found out when I was only 4 weeks and even then it was too early to detect a heartbeat because the foetus was so small. I was assured that this was completely normal, but it wasn't so.

I have been told I have what is called an incomplete miscarriage. So basically I have not miscarried the baby on my own and have to have it removed. That is and will be the most distrubing thing for me to deal with.

So the most therapeutic thing I have been able to do today is write this blog post and my [late] New Years resolution to myself is that I am going to update and maintain my blog more frequently. I am unable to keep up with my doll business for the time being because I am home by myself with our 2 girls the majority of the time and our house is just too small to have an area that I can leave set up to come back to when I need to. I had even put a plan in place to change the name of my blog and was going to start blogging again ..  begining with the anouncement of my pregnancy. But that was not so.

All is good. I am sure this has happened for a reason. It is better to happen now than for us to have an unhealthy babe.

So with that I will sign out, but I will be back once I have given my blog a make over - and maybe a name change (this has been by far the thing thats made me deal with everything ok today ... oh and maybe the beer that I had before midday today. I got a six pack on the way home from my ultrasound this morning - its ok the girls are in day care)

:) xX

How to make Cake Pops ....

  So I know that I have been super slack in keeping up to date with my blog lately ... for those that dont know - my partner works away most of the time & I am home with our 2 toddlers ... we are getting married too in November (less than 6 months away ... ekkk!!) - so I have had my hands full a bit ....

I thought I would share with you this tutorial on making cake pops!! I have been a bit obsessed with them for some time now & this was my first attempt at making them ....

We have our youngest daughter's 1st birthday coming up in 3 weeks - so I am planning on freezing some & then having them ready to use for her party (that way I can see how they turn out and then use them as wedding favours & will be able to make them a couple of weeks in advance!)

What you need:

Cake (I just made a regular chocolate cake)

Frosting (you can eith use bought stuff or make it yourself - I made up about 1/2 a cup)

Lolly pop/ice cream sticks (I only had icecream sticks so thats what I used)

Chocolate (I used approx 350 grams)

A block of polystyrofoam (I put some aside a few weeks ago that was in a packaging box)

Cling wrap (to go over the block)


STEP 1 :

You will need some cake - I made a double batch of chocolate cake today - I only used one of the cakes though (will probably make the rest tomorrow)

STEP 2:

Once the cake has cooled down you can either crumble the whole thing up using your hands or do what I did & just throw it all in a mixer

You want to aim for the consistency in the photo below - you dont want too many big chunks in it or they will fall apart at the end ...

STEP 3:

Next step is to add the frosting (again you can do this in a mixer but you will have to end up using your hands) to get it properly mixed through)

I made frosting (about half a cup - but you can use more, you really dont need much) - you can always buy the pre-made stuff from the supermarket (ie. Betty Crocker frosting)

 

So I firstly made the frosting (as in the photo below - just so you can visualise how much I used)

Then add it to the cake mixture ....

Mix it together really well



STEP 4:

Using clean hands (obviously) roll even sized balls - I ended up with about 22 in the end.

Put them in the fridge for a few minutes while you set up for the next step.

STEP 5:

Melt a small amount of chocolate in the microwave (do it in 30 second intervals and stir through really well each time)

Once it is melted take the cake balls out of the fridge and get your sticks ready.

I think lolly pop sticks look better - but I only had icecream sticks

Carefully doing one at a time - take a ball, then a stick - dip the stick into the melted chocolate then carefully stick it into the ball (carefull not to poke it all the way through)

You will then need to put them all back in the fridge to set while you get ready for the next step ...

STEP 6:

- You will now have to cover your polystyrofoam block in a couple of layers of cling wrap & set it aside.

- Also melt the remaining chocolate (again at 30 second intervals) in a bowl thats big enough to dip the cake pops into.

- Take the cake pops out of the fridge once they are set and you are ready to cover them in chocolate!!

STEP 7:

Carefully submerge each cake pop into the chocolate & either tap on the side of the bowl or carefully smooth out with a knife.

Once you are sure the chocolate is not going to run down the stick put it in the foam block (you may need to keep an eye on drips and neaten them up a little with your knife!)

Once they are all covered in chocolate put them back in the fridge to set!


STEP 8 (optional):

Decorating!!!

I piped white & dark chocolate stripes onto mine - but you can just drizzle the chocolate over the top or do other patterns!!

I am not completely happy with mine because they look pretty rough - but they are not too bad for a first go!!

Feel free to ask me any questions - and let me know how you go!!

:) x



Wordless Wednesday ...

Deep Fried Friday ...

Arghh .. oh good lord (or Jesus I should say on this occasion) .. I have been trying to proof read this and post it for many days.. so here it is, full of deeeep fried goodness ...

Well I am the first to admit that I am not the most religious person in the world, I did go to an all girls Catholic school for most of my schooling life .. hmm .. maybe that's what has made me not so religious?! After all, having to go to mass as an adolescent child against my will … I mean honestly, there could only be a handful of people that could only embrace it!

Who knows, each to there own I say ...but I do know that each year I look forward to Easter, well, Easter Friday in particular!!

3 years ago when I was pregnant for the first time we were living in Western Australia & I was craving some fresh fish and chips from home.. we are so lucky in Tassie having, and from my own personal experience I may add - we have the best fresh fish and chips in the world!!

Well to me, even though Perth, WA has ocean front views - their seafood (compared to what I’m used to) was pretty crap!!

So being pregnant and all I was desperate for some fresh fish and chips (just like home) so we decided to do what some people would deem "should be illegal" (haha, actual words of one of my health conscious friends a few years ago!! Haha) ... and we bought a DEEP FRYER!!!

Haha!! Not just any deep fryer ... but the best one we could get our hands on (believe it or not they are not in great demand these days and there is not a great selection about)

Our loyal deep fryer (We really need to give this baby a name!!) lives in the box that she came in (in her 'dungeon' I say) and she makes an appearance each year (I wrap her back up in her plastic so she is like brand new every year) ... on Deep Fried Friday!! (Or to those that are religious, the day that Jesus died on the cross ... so I think from all those years of expensive schooling in an all girls school - god, I hope I got that right Sister Doreen & Sister Joseph!!?? I also hope that you are not reading my blog, if you can still read, you must be about 100 by now I would think!?? May god bless you!! x)

Well, that year in WA we had the best deep fried fry up of fresh fish and chips ... and this is now the 3rd year in a row that we have had Deep Fried Friday!!

So although we may not be religious, we appreciate being able to celebrate with our loved ones the goodness of deep fried food ... with sooooo many calories, all golden and crunchy and delicious from sizzling in all that golden fat!!

Hahaha ... I totally don’t condone having a deep fryer as a regular kitchen appliance - but damn, I do love getting our deep fryer out of her dungeon every year for Deep Fried Friday!! And I hope that she will be around for many years to come!!!

So that is what Easter (well Good Friday) means to me ,,. this year we celebrated our deep friend goodness with our little family of 4, my 2 sisters and my brother in-law (& Jimmy's BFF - ironically) - so although we did not praise Jesus for dying on the cross - we praised scientific research of high cholesterol and saturated fat for telling us how utterly bad it is for us & for deeming a deep fryer such a taboo thing to have ... for this we love and appreciate this day every year!!

I hope you all had a great Easter - so from our family to yours Happy Easter beautiful.


May god bless you - or if you are not religious - may you have something to be grateful for (it may even be a deep fried dim sim or two!!
           
                                   :) xX

　

PS. I am doing an 8 week experiment and have banned myself from SUGAR!!!Arghhh!! I am forever telling everyone not to feed our babies sugar and highly processed crap - so I am practising what I preach and banning myself from it so I can see really how much difference it makes!! I will keep you posted!

I did it for 7 days and lost 3.5 kilos and felt like I was on top of the world - allowed myself chocolate over Easter (which was the plan all along), but am now going to stick to the 8 week experiment! I am pretty excited about it after the amount of enery i had last week, and only after one week!!)

Here's some food for thought .... 1 teaspoon of sugar shuts down your immune system for 5 whole hours ... imagine what a can of coke (with 18 teasponns) would do to your body!!Just sayin' !!

My CRAPPY day ...

FINALLY I have 2 children in bed!!!!

So today has been one of those days ... well, I shouldnt write off the whole day - maybe just this afternoon!!

I think the majority of this afternoon I have had both girls (Miss 9 months - Audrey & Miss 2.5  - Evie) screaming (usually both at the same time)

Audrey is teething so badly that I can't even get a few feet from her without her getting absolutely hysterical!! I feel for the poor little babe, she seems to be in so much pain. I also feel for myself. I would say that out of the whole day ... lets see she woke at 6.30 am and then went to bed tonight at 6.30pm - so that's 12 hours ... hmm, she would have been literally attached to me for I would say about 8 hours or so, give or take during the day!!!

I mean honestly how can this not drive a person to absolute insanity!!!!!???? Arghh, constant sucking on my boobs ALL day!!!! The only way that I could even get her to sleep was to just sit there & let her suck ... and suck .... and suck ALL my energy out of me .... then when she would finally start to nodd of I would gently get her off me only for her to stir and latch straight back on .... dont get me wrong, breast feeding is a beautiful thing but you have got to be kidding me!!

Well anyway - this has gone on all day, infact it has been going on for quite a few days actually ... when someone looks at me any moment of the day, 9 times out of 10 I have a baby attached to my boob!! Bahaha!! Yep lovin' life!!

To get back to my story ....

Hold on ... I can hear Evie screaming out about something (be right back) ...

Well that took me about half an hour to get Evie back to sleep (her special cuddly toy "Coco"  has mysteriously disappeared god dammit & she is not settling well without it! I have searched high & low for it too!! Arghhh!! Her screaming woke Audrey up, whom I had to then feed to get her back to sleep ....

... ok, so where was I????  Oh yep, So I managed to get Audrey to have a quick nap in her own bed this afternoon (it only lasted 20 minutes - but 20 minutes with free boobs is like freedom right now!! woo! Haha) ... our house looked like (& still does) a tornado has gone through it, but I needed to get out in the fresh air to get a bit of sanity back. I havent picked up dog poo for a couple of days (we have 2 crazy dogs) so I thought I may as well do something while I was outside.

It's been such an amazing day today that Evie was pretty stoked to get out in the fresh air too. We put her sandles on and she toddled off while I set about on my mission to pick up the poo. Now she is such SUCH a Virgo and cant deal with getting dirt/mess on her ... within a few minutes she was carrying on that her shoes were dirty (they were not) so she took them off and keep toddling about. I warned her that she might tread on something without her shoes on but she didint listen (never does).

Well I ended up picking up a MASSIVE bag of poo and was just about finished when ......  ARrgHGHHHHGHGHGHHHH ....... the worst scream that I had ever heard, it sounded like Evie was being murdered (she is SUCH a drama queen) .,.. I immediately went into protective mum mode ASAP & ran to her as fast as I could, flung the bag FULL of shit that went flying trhrough the air & bolted to her ... only to find that she had stepped on a nail ... ,literally just stepped on the bloody thing ... it HAD NOT gone through her foot, it HAD NOT even hurt her .. and it was tiny!!!!

For god sakes ... I brushed her off, threw the nail away (that I doubt would have done any damage had she of stepped on it anyway) and then looked back at my now  EMPTY bag of poo ... NOOOoooo - there was, and still is SHIT all over the place!!  And I must have flung the bag with quite a bit of force becuase it has actually splattered in some places so I am now going to have to literally scrap it off!! Bahaha!! FML!!! (Just incase you dont know what that acronym stands for ... its Fuck My Life!! Hahaha)

To make matters worse Evie's massive overreaction had woken up her baby sister ... so I did not have time to pick all that shit up!! Infact I am just about to do that now. I am just trying to work out if I clean up all the mess from the tornado first or the dog crap!!

Even though I dont smoke I do have one single cigarette stashed in our junk drawer and I am going to smoke it right now ... before or after the tornado of toys and the dog shit I am not sure of yet!!??

Bahaha ... I can see the funny side of things now but I tell you what today I was ready to ... well I am not really sure?? Do they have some sort of a helpline for poeople like me?? When I was little I remember there used to be all those stickers on pay phones and about the place for the number of the kids helpline ... well I needed the equivilent today!!

HAHAHAhhaha .... oh  fuck me!!!!

Has anyone else had a CRAPPY day!!?? Please do share!!

:) xX