Popcorn first post for 2012!

Wow.  It has been WAY too long since my last post!

I see I still have 24 followers.

I'm guessing this is because it's a pain to delete people ;-)

Or maybe you were holding out hope that I just may one day decide to post again!

I have been busy.  VERY busy.  It's called .. a newborn.

I'm sure you understand (since most of you have kids!) although some of you have MORE kids than me and still manage to post most days - SHEESH how DO you DO IT?!

Anyway, like I said, I've been busy - too busy even to be reading YOUR posts which is shocking!  I miss having time to sit back and have a good nosey at all the cool ideas and stories you all write about .. but that explains why I haven't been commenting on your posts!

I have managed a couple times to read over your stuff - but it's a very rare occasion.  In fact I have to pause writing this because newbie is whinging for some more milk ..

...

..and is now half-napping on my shoulder (one handed typing is so much slower!).

So I'll cut this ramble short. 

I just found out a great 'new' invention - popping popcorn in bags in the microwave, but not the store-bought kind!  It's much healthier!  You can put whatever toppings you want on - or none at all!

Get a paper bag.

(mine weren't square-bottomed - I got a pack of 100 Homebrand ones for a few $ from Countdown)

Add a couple Tablespoons of popcorn kernels.

Fold the edge over 3 times and microwave for 3min, or until the popping stops :-)

ENJOY!

So easy and much healthier AND sooo much cheaper than store-bought bags!

(note - this is probably old news to a lot of you since I found quite a few sites with this info on .. but it was new news to me so thought I'd share anyway!)

Hope this year is treating you well so far :-)

Sima J

More pics for you ..

Okay .. so last time I shared a few pics from the Rugby World Cup.

Here are a few more from our adventures ..

Opening ceremony ..

 (yes, the fireworks were at eye level for us!!)

and we could see the sky tower fireworks from where we sat!

Nothing like the NZ anthem..

..except maybe the haka!

This was in our hometown of Whangarei - Tonga vs Canada (well done Canada for winning!)

And then there was the Ireland vs Aussie game .. THE BEST GAME!!!  The atmosphere was electric (esp being surrounded by true Irelanders!)

 (sorry Aussie .. but I'm not really! hehe)

Then there was the NZ vs France game .. on my birthday no less! 

(it was a very MAN birthday .. we had lunch at an alehouse (which was SOooo yum! - here's the link if you're an Aucklander or want to eat some delicious kai in Auckland Galbraith's Alehouse .. I got the chicken pie .. YUM!), got hubster a rugby top and went to a rugby game haha)

GO the might ALL BLACKS yipee!!

So you can guess what we are doing this weekend .. watching the 1/4 finals :-)

Hope you're all on your way to having a fab weekend yourselves!

Sima J

The Whale and the Rugby ..

OKAY so here I finally am again .. haven't quite dropped off the edge of the world just yet!

Soo just a quick post to keep y'all up to date and prove I'm still alive and kicking!

I've been rugby-a-fied over the last month - My husband convinced me that it was a good idea to make the most of the Rugby World Cup 2011 being in NZ .. because who knows how long (if ever) it will be here again?!  So when the tickets went on sale last year we coughed up some dosh to get tickets for all the Eden Park Pool games (5 in total) + the 2 games being held in our lil ol hometown of Whangarei!

(this was Eden Park)

I've managed to waddle my way to all the Eden Park games from some random people's house that we hired a room from to stay in for the night after the games!  (They were LOVELY people by the way thank goodness and the room was nice .. the breakfast even better - HELLO PASTRIES IN THE MORNING!!)  Oh man the ones with chocolate on top and chocolate inside!!  For BREAKFAST .. HELLO!!!

(source)

And no .. I'm not waddling because of the pastries (although I'm sure they don't help!)  I'm waddling because I only have 5weeks left on the countdown to a screaming newborn!  Currently I look like this .. 

(source)

... I mean this .. hehe

I hefted me and my yet-to-be-born child up a TON of stairs to get to our cheap seats at the Eden Park games (after walking about 1.5km to get to the venue!)

You can't really tell too much from this picture but it was at the top of the steps .. 

.. and here is the view once we made it ..

This was the opening ceremony night (and NZ vs Tonga game) - what a beaut of an evening!

Anywho, seems to me I've let you know about what I've been up to enough for now .. Might just have to do a scheduled follow-up blog post so you can wait for the next one .. but not so long as the last one hehe!

Sima J

Fathers Day (a belated post)

Fathers Day was last Sunday here in NZ so I thought I'd post about what we did ..

We dropped off some goodies to my Dad-in-law the day before because hubster had to work on Fathers Day!  We got some DELICIOUS smelling coffee beans from these guys:

You can see their Facebook page here 

They smelled so good it's lucky they even left my house!

And also some soft licorice for the licorice fan :-)

Fathers Day morning I had a small helper in the kitchen to make some waffles!

Add to that some bacon and cream cheese (we usually would have bacon, banana and golden syrup, but there were no bananas)

Turned out pretty darn tasty I have to say (I had tomato with mine which was divine!)

Then he opened his present (actually he did that first, but hey who's keeping track here!)

A dozen beers from around the world from here.

Then in the afternoon I went to my Dad's (aren't I lucky to be near my parents!!)  and delivered some more licorice and some licorice slice (recipe from PaisleyJade here) and had lunch there.

  

I am blessed to have a fantastic Dad who has always been here for me - and now in the next generation what a blessing my husband is being to my kids too - lots of loving all round :-)

Sima J

My Blue Owl ..

Wow.  Check it out .. TWO posts already this month and it's only the 6th!!  Must be a record for me lately!

Probably has something to do with the fact that hubster is at squash, kids are in bed, and there's nothing on tv hehe!

AND also has something to do with me being CRAFTY again today!

I finally got round to making Master 8yr HIS soft toy (since I had told him I would make him an owl when I had time).

It turned out pretty okay I think!?  (again, no pattern was used, I just made it up as I went along!)

He has been named Bilbo Baggins, Bombur, and Bob alternatively.  (We are currently reading The Hobbit as an out-loud book in the evenings - hence the first 2 names .. dunno where Bob came from though?!)

Sima J

A rabbit and a cow ..

Wow ok so I really have to stop making a habit of this posting once a month.  Although I guess it's better than posting once every TWO months right?!

Anywho I have been doing a little bit of creating!

After dreaming all night about buying red-with-white-polkadot things for Leonie (her fav colour combo) I woke up with the inspiration needed to finish off an idea I had had a few days beforehand.  Sadly for NZ the lovely Leonie from Kiwi At Heart is moving back to aussie :-(  BOO HOO!!  She has become a great IRL friend after meeting originally at a Whangarei Bloggers Meet up back in February (thanks to Jacksta-B's organisational skills .. seen here)  So I thought, being the crafty person she is, I'd better make her something to take with her .. and help with moving in some small way!

After thinking about what I could make, and looking up at my stack of suitcases .. I remembered what was handy when I was travelling .. red ribbon tied to my bag made it really easy to spot and differentiate from all the other bags as they came through the conveyor belt.  

Luckily I had some red-with-white-polkadot fabric already so I whipped up a pattern for a tiny rabbit to attach with ribbon to her bag (one of the MANY bags aye Leonie hehe).

Here is the first draft:

 I thought I was being really clever by sewing the ribbons in from the ears .. what an egg I am .. I sewed them to the INSIDE of the ears (if you look close Leonie, you'll see remnants of the ribbons hehe)

So .. DON'T DO THIS: (if you wanted the ribbons to come out of the ears, pin the ribbons ON TOP of the fabric, not between!)

Here is the finished product pre-ribbon attachment .. with his little pearl tail (you can't really tell his size, but he's about the length of my hand .. I have small hands so about 15cm:

Hello I'm Leonie's rabbit!

 I sewed on a long piece of ribbon so it can be tied securely to the bag:

 Of course, when my kids saw what I'd made THEY wanted one too!  I thought to myself "sure thing - it didn't take too long to make that one .."  BAD IDEA!

I went to sort through my fabric to make another teddy and found some left over cow-print fabric from a jacket I made LONG ago and thought it would be a GREAT idea to make a cow for Master 2 1/2.

REAL clever me thought it wouldn't be too hard to make a quite large one.  (said with sarcasm)

It took me the rest of the morning to make Mr. Moo aka "cuddle" - and halfway through I was thinking "why oh why did I ever start this!!"

Luckily for me it has been well loved already and it's pretty good if I do say so myself considering I had no idea what I was doing and made it all up as I went along!

Here is the final product (this one's about 60cm from toes to head):

SOoo that's enough posting for me today!  Hopefully I'll get a bit more on to it this month and do at least ONE more before the month is over!

Sima J

My first August post!

Wow.  I looked back and from doing 6 posts in June I've dropped to 2 in July and now it's August already .. I'd better post before September is upon us!  Maybe I'm just weaning myself off in preparation for baby number 3 due Nov?!  

Even though I have been doing lots of things I haven't really been inspired to post!

I did finish another quilt - yay me!

Here it is in it's finished glory:

I am so glad it's finished - I LOVE that feeling when you make that last stitch and see the look on the persons face when they get it (not that I've actually managed to get it to them as yet .. I have that to look forward to!)

I now have to get my A into G and get onto finishing the next quilt that I have all cut out and ready to sew up - one very similar to this one.

I haven't exactly been feeling very energetic these last few days as I've come down with a cold/flu thingee.  Every time I get sick I always feel sorry for myself and woe is me - and then I stop and think about how much better off I am than SO SO SO many people.  GOSH I live in such a blessed country!  I have access to medicine, fresh water etc. etc.  so how dare I complain!!  And there are so many people with life threatening conditions and here I am moaning about a COLD!  Suck it up (I say to myself) and be GLAD that you are ill - because it makes you realise how much you really are blessed!

Anyway enough rants and ravings - I'll leave you with some of the views I've seen lately:

Miniature train ride in The Waitakeres, Auckland for my nephew's 2nd birthday - the kids loved it - and the adults too!  See here for details - I highly recommend it!!

This was a waterfall we passed under:

 The Waitakere Dam at the top end of the journey:

 You did have to walk up a heap of steps if you wanted to get up to the top of the dam (I think it was 80 steps!) I took a photo of them because I was so proud of myself for getting up them with my preggy tum!

These photos were from a sunny day last week when my neighbour and I and our kids and the dog all made the most of the (chilly) sunny winters day at one of my fav beaches, Matapouri (I was going to get married on this beach, except the weather had other plans!).

How lucky am I that this is a 20min drive from my house!!!

 Sandy tongued dog hehe

My fantastic older son is so helpful to his younger brother *aww*

SO anyway blessings galore - I hope you can find the silver lining in your day too!

Sima J