Birthdays and more birthdays...

Well I think I went into hibernation with the heat here in Adelaide and now I am finally coming back out. Here is what I got up to in March!
I had a birthday back on 8/3 and was given very practical/frugal presents.
My BF refinished the bench tops in my kitchen which were peeling badly.
New timber on top (I bought some tongue & groove floorboards a few months ago) and then two coats of stain/lacquer and 3 coats of polyurethane later. They look fab - will hopefully post a pic on my blog soon!
My parents got me a torch to put in my car (my request) and it doesn't need batteries! BONUS! It is a wind up one. Also has a built in radio, siren and adaptors to do an emergency charge on your mobile phone. How cool is that! They also gave me some $$.
My best friend had me over her house for dinner and bought me two things that she had, that I had been eyeing off. An awesome circulon dish brush - every time I have used hers I kept asking her where she go it! The other thing is a non-stick Mat for the BBQ - this is like a silicon sheet that you put on the hotplate of your BBQ - especially good when you are cooking marinated items as they don't burn or stick. When it cools down you just remove it and wash it in the sink, ready for next time!
My workmates gave me a cute card and more $$.
Why the $$ you may well ask - well I am taking my family to BALI in August this year - so most people have been giving me money to buy stuff I need for the trip or to add to my savings a/c (I have a separate one) for spending when I get there.
I saw a great digital camera in the K-Mart catalogue last week ($149) with really cheap SD memory cards (1GB for $15) so I put one on lay-by as well as two memory cards.
So there goes all my birthday money
On a side note my other camera which is 4 years old will go to my son so he has a camera for Bali too!

My son's birthday was on Easter Sunday.
All my son wanted for his birthday was a copy of Mario Kart for his Nintendo DS!
I tried to be frugal with my shopping so we ended up with the following:
- Mario Kart for his DS - I finally found a second hand copy for $40 at the local gaming store (after I had walked two larger shopping centres looking for one).
- a small backpack for our holiday and when we go on family bike rides - it was marked down for $16 to $12.
- one of those large "how to draw" folder/collections. There were on special at Big W for $14.95. My son loves drawing and I have realised that even in high school they still need to draw stuff on their assignments.
- some really cool black and white board shorts off the clearance rack at best & less for $5.
So all up I spent about $72 - He was quite thrilled with all his gifts and they were all things I know he will use :)
I made mini choc chunk muffins which he took to school last Thursday - much easier than a big cake.
On the morning of his actual birthday, I made two birthday cakes and some sausage rolls. We had lunch with my parents ( microwave butter cake and sausage rolls) and then dinner @ my ex's house (his Dad) - where we consumed a small part of cake number two - boiled chocolate cake with lashings of cream!
Enough of the calories and birthday - on top of all the Easter chocolate I am trying to inspire myself to exercise more by watching the biggest loser - the trouble is I sit on the couch every night and watch them doing exercise! D'oh!

Has it really been that long?

Wow, when I finally logged in here this morning my blogger tells me that my last post was on 10th February 2008 - 6 weeks ago. So where have I been, what have I been doing...nothing special of note. Celebrated a few birthdays - mine, my dear friend Jo and my son T who turned 12 yesterday. I can still remember the day he was born. I worked full time for a week or two which really threw my life inot chaos! I also helped another friend say goodbye to a very special Lady in her life. She puts it way more eloquently than I ever could...here.
Apart from these things I have basically been living my life, doing things with my family and friends and remembering what is really important to me. Along the way I have still been trying to be frugal and mindful of what resources I am consuming.
I've still been reading all my favourite blogs, but I think I most likely need to update my blog roll a little...anyone want me to add them?
Thank you to those who noticed my absence and left me messages to ask me if I was okay. I appreciate that you all care.
I have some great new recipes to share and I'll try to do that in the next few weeks, unless my life gets all crazy again!
Hoping you all had a safe and Happy Easter. Take care of you all :)

Menu Planning and More!

Well, who would have believed that I had been on holidays all this week! I thought I would get heaps done and I did manage to achieve a few things, but not everything on the list in my head.
I did manage to fit in some exercise, a few swims at the beach, a couple of visits with my parents, helped a friend move house, visits from the electrician and the freezer seal guy and spend part of one day with my best friend (zoe's mum) for her birthday!
I also managed to lose 2.2kg :)
I don't feel so bad now I have listed all of that!

Tuesday I am back at work so I need to organise the following before then:
- Ironing school and work uniforms
- finish a scrapbook for a 40th I am attending tonight
- make sausage rolls for above party
- make biscuits/muffins for lunchboxes
- cook freeze up glut of veggies remaining from my shopping on Sunday (mainly zucchini, mushrooms & plums)

I did manage to menu plan and grocery shop, but since it is already 2.30pm and i really need to get the album finished I will blog tomorrow about it!
Hope you are all having a great weekend :)

Happy Birthday Dad!

My dear sweet Dad turned 78 on Sunday. He loves nothing more than spending time with his children and grandchildren. So I organised to go over for afternoon tea. My Mum made some of her beautiful homemade scones, she bought a cake from the local bakery and I made these fantastic peanut butter cookies - I'll confess I ran out of time so I went with the traditional style criss-crossed with the tines of a fork. Sorry! But they were yummy :) I did have enough time to make extra dough and freeze the rolled balls in my freezer, to be baked for my Christmas hampers. I might try to do the chocolate drizzles on the next batch. Here is a picture of them in a jar as presented to him on Sunday.So what else do you get your Dad? A six pack of one of his favourite beers (Grolsch), a jar of home baked cookies (as above) and a CD of some of his favourite German music (thank you Steve for digitising some of Dad's old records!) He was truly chuffed with the whole afternoon and even had a bit of sing-a-long to a few of his favourite songs!
Love you heaps Dad!