I HATE Laundry !!!

More than any other household/mum/ work job I absolutely hate doing laundry. I am not sure exactly what it is about laundry that I detest, maybe it is everything!!! I have a system, and the system works (if I follow it) but that has not made it any easier.

I have made sure that we have heaps of clothes for Flynn so that we do not run out but still I don't like the pressure of Laundry. I would quite seriously prefer to give the toilet a scrub than I would to have to hang out damp clothes!!!

When we built our laundry I built in a great drawer system under the bench you can see a few of the drawers in the photo- there are 4 altogether and I have them labelled and separated into colours, darks, lights and sheets/towels. This is a great system for us as when we bring in the laundry baskets we are sorting it all out straight away instead of putting it all in one basket. This means when you go to do a load you just grab everything in the drawer and pop it in the machine. Still although this make laundry easier it doesn't make me like it anymore!!!

I don't have a lot of laundry baskets in the house either and I feel like they encourage laundry to just stay there in the basket instead of being put away. I have also found if Flynn gets hold of the basket you end up with clothes all over the floor and you have to start all over again!!

We like to try and fold as we bring washing off the line and we try to do a load a day to stay nice and caught up. But I must say now that I am back working full time by husband has taken over a lot of the responsibility of laundry as he normally gets home just before me, what a shame (not)!!

And so because I really don't like packing the clothes away either I hate to admit that our laundry quite often looks like this-

I made this my photo of the day for Monday as it captures our everyday life, even if it is just laundry!!!

Whats on your kitchen bench?

This was my 365 photo for one of the days last week. It really captures a lot of what is going on in our life right now- which is why I took it-

Its Daffodil day here soon and so I bought some flowers to donate to the cause. Flynn is really into cooking at the moment-hence his little Tupperware containers on the bench, where he can put all the goodies he makes. We are planning Fathers day and so hence the breakfast book out deciding what to make Simon for his special day. Behind that is our bread book from our homemade pizza night the other night.

The recipe books on our kitchen bench change regularly depending on the time of year and what we are doing. Imagine how different this scene will look 5 years from now. There will be no bibs on the bench- and the little bowl behind the cook book stand with dummies and sippy cup lids will also surely be gone.

And so although it is just my island bench in the kitchen it really does tell a story of where our family life is right now, today.

A sea of yellow

Remember my post only a few days ago about the fact that spring is coming ? Well when we were driving home the other day from swimming I saw the most beautiful field of flowers and so we pulled the car over and got out so I could snap a few pictures, so pretty. Just another reminder that the seasons are quickly changing.

My Quiche Recipe

I will admit to have a love for making quiche. It all started about a year ago when I came across this great recipe for quiche I was hooked - I modified it a little to suit my families likes and dislikes and what I frequently have in the fridge as well. The thing I love about quiche is that regardless of how little you have in the fridge most of the time you will be able to whip one up. Mine are usually all eaten by the end of the day but they also serve well the next day for lunches at work. It is also so quick to make and in 10-15 minutes it is in the oven cooking with very little kitchen mess as well.

Ingredients-

2 eggs

200mls thickened cream

Puff pasty (2 sheets)

And any combination of the below ingredients-

3-4 spring onions chopped finely

Chives (fresh or dried whatever you have on hand)

Ham Chopped finely

Grated cheese

Cherry/roma tomatoes

Corn

I do not really measure anything but the above ingredients are probably all about 1/3 cup (except the chives)

I put everything in a bowl together give it a quick whisk and put into the pastry cups. Cook on a 200 degree oven for about 15 minutes. If you are using shortcrust pastry only cook on about 170. These are great to take along to picnics and play dates, most people like them and the kids have no idea just how many vegies they are eating!!!

Our family cannot wait for this great place to open

We are so excited as this awesome new outdoor water park is about to open within walking distance of our house!! They have been building it for over a year now and is due to open Summer 2009, it will be the largest outdoor water playground in the state and even better it will be free. I can see us spending a lot of time splashing around down here this summer.

Sorry about the picture it is pretty crappy but they have the park all fenced up at the moment as it is still in construction phase. I will get some much better photos once it is open. So far it looks like a lot of fun though.

But for the meantime I am going to dream about barbeques in the summer down here and lots and lots of water fun.........

Apple and Cinnamon Muffins

This was the first time I had used this recipe and I was really impressed with how easy and yummy these were! I had a few apples I needed to use before they turned and this is what I made-

Ingredients
2 cups self-raising flour
3/4 cup brown sugar
1tp cinnamon
160ml milk
4 tb canola oil
2 eggs whisked
2 ripe apples peeled and grated



1. Sift flour, sugar and cinnamon into a large bowl.
2. In a separate bowl combine the milk, oil and eggs.
3. Add the milk misture and apples to the flour mixture and mix until just combined.
4. Bake for 18-20 minutes until lightly golden in a 180 degree oven.


I froze mine for future use for lunches etc although I may or may not have eaten one, nice and warm out of the oven first : ).

Spring is coming

I love it when all of the garden starts to let you know that spring is almost here!! It makes the winter days seem warmer as spring is suddenly in the air.

Every Autumn right behind my house they plant Everlasting daisy seedlings which sprout in the Spring this is what they look they at the moment, but any day now they will all burst open and be the most beautiful sea of pink. I just want a little newborn to be able to lay in the middle of all of the flowers and photograph ! Anyone want to lend me one : )

And some bulbs from the garden of course-

Places we go.

I saw a great layout a few years ago in a magazine entitled "Places we go". It was an fabulous idea about documenting the regular places you go such as your local park, shopping centre, where you eat out, swim etc.

So a few days ago I went out on a very raining day and attempted to capture some of the places around our house that we like to go. This will be a great memory to look back on as these places will change as your children grow and start going to school or if you move suburbs or states in a few years. I am going to duplicate this layout for both Flynn's album and also our family album. I will share it when it is complete. I will be typing up some journaling for this one (which I don't normally do) explaining the places and how often we frequent them.

The Main street in our suburb-

Where we do our grocery shopping every week- One of our favourite local parks where we can feed the ducks- Where we go to swimming lessons-

Gosh looking back on these photos I am going to have to go back out on a nicer much sunnier day and reshoot as these pictures are so grey and depressing!!! Oh well at least I know the best spots to go now for shoot #2.

Some swimming fun

Winter and toddlers don't really mix very well do they? The kids love to get out and about and burn of some much pent up energy but it is so cold and rainy outside that is really restricts what you can do on the weekends. We have sadly had to postpone our trip to the Tulip park as the weather would no oblige this weekend at all.

When thinking about what we wanted to do this weekend the idea of swimming popped into my head as the indoor swim centres are so warm!!! And so we gave this a trial today and took Flynn to the pool- he absolutely loved it and it was so lovely and warm in there. We will definitely be making more of an effort next winter to go more frequently.

A certain little person fell asleep in the car on the way home : )-

The best place in the world

Is Daddy's shoulders : ) For Flynn anyway, he loves spending time up there and even sometimes has a little rest, too cute! He has loves being up high even since he was little and Simon was always happy to oblige but now that he is getting older (and heavier) it is starting to take its toll on poor Simon's shoulders. The shame is he cries when you get him down : ( Poor thing.

A few months ago he started backing up in front of Simon and shouting "shoshies" (shoulders) which is very funny. Speaking of funny names for things I started keeping a list in my diary a few months ago of all of the funny sayings and pronunciations Flynn has at the moment. Reading back they make me laugh as soon enough he will be all grown up and we will forget all of those funny little toddler quirks.



What do your toddlers love to do now that they won't in a few years?

Weekend List

Whats on yours?

I am going to a girlfriends to scrapbook on Friday night (tonight), (I need to pack as soon as I get home as I am taking Flynn so I need to take the kitchen sink with me !) Flynn has swimming lessons Saturday morning. We have some flowers to plant in the garden, washing to fold, masterpieces to be painted (by Flynn). Then on Sunday we are going to Tulip Festival (weather depending).


Phew I am tired just thinking about it all but we should be able to have some down time on Saturday night. : )


Anyone else fully packed their weekend ??

Getting small people to look at the camera

It's exhausting!!!!! I will admit to resorting to extreme measures to get Flynn to look at the camera because I was blessed with a child who has been looking away from me and my camera from the time he was about 4 months old, argh!!!!! In the early days it was just toys, bottles, sippy cups, rattles, dummies and funny noises. Now that Flynn is 2 he is way smarter than that and has cottoned on to us and so I am ashamed to admit that I have resorted to bribery and promises to get him just to look at me.

For example last night I was trying to get a bath photo as I do not have a recent one but Flynn would not oblige, and so I resorted to telling him I had lollies. Yes thats right I definitely will not be winning mother of the year for that one !!! But it worked and the poor little poppet kept on looking at me and asking for the promised lollies, in the end I said, "mummy has no lollies left but when you get out of the bath you can have your milk". Well needless to say he was not too impressed with me and sat down in a huff.

So tell me what you do to get your little ones to look at the camera.......

Lollies????-

Containers

Ok well you may as well all know I have a LOVE for containers (if you haven't already noticed!!) I love the way they stack together and make everything look neat and organized. You can label them so you know where to find things, they keep food really fresh and I like the look of them in a cupboard/ shelf etc.

This love for containers spread to my fridge once I started buying Tupperware and I have been containerizing the stuff in my fridge ever since. I like the fact you can see whatever is in the containers and I find it helps us to make sure we use up all of the things we have bought instead of wasting food.

Over time this process of containerizing stuff when we return from our food shop has become a quick process. In the early days we would spend about an hour doing it, now we have it done to about 20-30 minutes for a big shop. That is the pantry, freezer and fridge containers.



This was a big shop we are normally not quite this full but in the interest of showing you my fridge organization-

Setting up stations in the kitchen

When we are having a really busy day ahead on the weekend I like to set up as much as possible in the kitchen the night before. This system works really well for me as I don't have to think about all that extra stuff in the morning- it also means to can have your husband/ older children help out in the morning when you are getting ready.

This system of getting things ready the night before is often useful for things like clothes and bags as well- this is just adding another thing to the pre-planning list. I find I have a clear head at night and often a lot more energy to be able to think all of these little things through. This kind of planning helps me to get to get to my destination on time.


My breakfast all planned out-So in this picture below I have Flynn's breakfast all laid out and also his lunch with his lunch bag. I find this saves me so much time in the morning as I don't have to think of what to pack and what to make for breakfast.
I hope this idea might give you some help in the morning getting out of the door!!

Keeping up with 365

This project is a constant- you really have to be diligent in keeping up with printing the photos and also completing the journaling I am about 2 weeks behind on my journaling at the moment so I am going to make sure I allocate some time this week to get up to date again-which is where I like to be with it!! If you get too far behind it can all become incredibly over whelming. Here are a few recent pictures.

Story time at night- showing books and toys is great as these change so frequently. We had to have all the toys at story time this night.

Flynn trying to get his toy car to start with his "keys"- I think toys are a great memory to capture as in 6 months your kids will surely be playing with something else and have different favourites.

A Dinner Party

On the weekend we had some good friends over for dinner. We had a curry night which we had been meaning to do for ages. It was a great night and I loved having a night off from the cooking and leaving it to my husband Simon (I just made dessert). I love the opportunity to entertain friends it is such a great way to all catch up together.

I love the creative part of setting the table and deciding how to lay it all out. It is one of the best parts of the planning for me. I decided to use small flowers cut down and out into small glasses for the centre of the table tonight. It was really easy and adds a nice touch.

See cute flowers-

So for dinner we had Rogan Josh curry with Jasmine rice and homemade Naan bread, Roti and Papadums. Dessert was chocolate fudge (I will be posting the very rich recipe for this during the week) and Mars Bar slice. Both we very yummy and you really only need 1-2 pieces as they are so rich.
We made some great cocktails here is one of them -

Ingredients-

Passion fruit syrup

Cranberry juice

Crushed ice

Bacardi

We didn't really measure anything we just made it to taste but it about 30mls of Bacardi, 2 tbs passion fruit syrup and then the rest in cranberry juice. Shaken in a mixer then pour into glasses with ice. Yum!!

Hope everyone had a great weekend !!

Cooking meals in bulk #2

I few people emailed me and left comments wanting some ideas for what kinds of meals I like to cook in bulk to here it is : ) Below is a list of some of what we have got in the freezer at the moment (if you want the full recipe email me and I can include it is a later post).

Thai Fish curry

Spaghetti Bolognaise

Home made pumpkin soup

Chilli con carne

Chicken cacciatore

Home made sausage rolls (snack)

Rogan Josh Curry

Chicken pasta bake
Veal Tortellini
Meatballs

All we have to do then is pop the meal on defrost in the microwave and reheat it. Then we cook up the rice/ pasta if it is not included in the dish already and steam some vegetables or add a side salad.

As I pre- cut all the vegetables the extras take no time at all. I also pre- make up my salad at the start of the week so that's done as well (You can add the dressing on the night).

Old fashioned Scones : )

MMM I love scones and have not made them in forever. So last weekend I went into the kitchen and made these- One of the problems with making scones is that it is so easy to over work the mixture and then end up stiff. So when I saw this recipe I thought it would be perfect- it is such a time saver to not have to cut up the scone mixture.

Ingredients-
3 cups self raising flour
2 tsp baking powder
2 tbs icing sugar
200mls thickened cream
125mls cold water

Plain flour for dusting
Jam and double cream for serving

Sift together flour, baking powder and sugar into a medium bowl
Add cream and water, cut and fold the mixture until it forms a ball.
Tip onto a baking sheet and knead lightly until the mixture is slightly springy
Make sure you do not over work the mixture.

Fill a casserole dish with the dough to about 2cms thick and "cut" into squares as per the photo.
Bake in a moderate oven for about 15 minutes.

Eat warm from the oven with jam/cream yum !!!!!!

Cooking meals in bulk

To save time and energy we cook most of our night time meals and Flynn's meals in bulk. It saves both time and money and makes life a lot easier. We normally have about 6 weeks worth of meals in our freezer at any one time. We have a few freezers and have split them up into different uses. The main freezer in the kitchen holds a lot of our meals, our small garage drinks fridge holds a lot of Flynn's meals and our deep freezer in the garage holds meat and vegies. It works well for our family as it make meal times in the house a breeze. On a busy night we are able to just defrost the dinner and then cook up some rice/pasta.

Pancake Recipe

We make pancakes/crepes or waffles on the weekend it is one of our family traditions. We love having a special breakfast on the weekends it is such a treat to take time having that first meal of the day after a busy week. I normally don't eat breakfast in the morning, I often eat it at work.

I use the recipe from the Marie Claire kitchen cookbook for my pancakes which is super easy there are only 4 ingredients and its really quick. It makes about 9 medium pancakes which is just right for our little family.

Ingredients-
1 cup self-raising flour
2 tbs caster sugar
2 eggs
3/4 cup milk

Sift flour and sugar together in a medium bowl.
Make a well in the centre.
In a separate bowl whisk together the eggs and milk.
Add the egg mixture to the dry ingredients and whisk until you have a smooth batter.
Allow mixture to sit for 10 minutes and then spoon batter into a heated pan.

Simple, easy and super yummy for a weekend treat!!

Flynn loves them as well he has 3 and still asks for more, little piggy!!
I will be making crepes next weekend so watch out for the recipe : )

Getting close up.

I have read a few blog posts this week about getting close up when taking photos. I have never really given it a lot of thought before but I do love to get that close up shot with my SLR. That is one of my favourite things about having my new camera.

This is especially helpful when you are photographing flowers/ nature which I love to do. It allows you to play around with the various camera settings and have a good play without having to worry about the subject moving/ having to smile !!! I took these around the house on Saturday.

So go and have a look around the house today and see what you can find, its a great way to get some practice in!!

I blinked

I am not sure what happened but in the last 2 years I feel like I blinked and suddenly this little baby is no longer. He is a little boy now and has such determination and strong will. He has amazing vocab and communication for his age and loves talking. He is a fantastic eater and will devour just about anything you put in front of him.

But still, I don't want him to grow up. It is going way too fast and I feel like no matter what I do to preserve these precious memories the time just flies by way too fast.

I am not sure exactly what happens that day they turn two but I swear Flynn looked older and more knowledgeable that day.He is growing into such a gorgeous little boy and we are so proud of the little person he is becoming already but it is still so hard to let go of that little baby!!

A Beautiful Layout

I stumbled across this layout on a website the other day and I absolutely love it. To me this sort of layout is the essence of scrapbooking. Telling your story, your way. This is going to be such a great memory to have in many years to come. I am going to so a similar layout this year for fathers day for Simon on fatherhood.



I love that the focus is on the words and the photo and the story and not necessarily the product, I love that.

Cheese and Tomato Layer Muffins

This is a savoury muffin with a bit of a twist. The sauce in this muffin helps the mixture not to dry out and they are a lovely change from a sweet muffin. They are great in lunch boxes as well which is what I made them for.

1 egg

3/4 cup water

2 cups self raising flour

1/2 tsp salt

1 1/2 cups grated cheese

3/4 cup tomato cooking sauce

Combine all ingredients in a medium bowl except tomato cooking suace.

Half fill prepared muffin pans with misture.

Put up to 2 tsp of sauce in the middle of each muffin.

Like this-

Cover each muffin with remaining mixture.

Bake at 200 for 15-20 minutes.

Some more weekend adventures

We like to organize family adventures/activities for our weekends. We normally stay close to home on Saturday and potter around close to home at the park, library, pool etc. On Sunday we try and do something together as a family activity.

Even though we live in the "burbs" we are only 5 minutes from the most beautiful countryside. We have wineries/ farms/ chocolate factories and breweries. It is such a great area with so much to do, as this is so close to our house we are trying to make sure that we make good use of it and try to go somewhere different each weekend.

And so this weekend we went to a new coffee roasting place. This place is amazing!!!! They have been open down soth for about 9 years now and have this new shop/cafe in the swan Valley. They make the BEST coffee, they are called Yahava for anyone who lives in Perth and loves coffee it is must visit. They grind all their own beans and have tons of variety to choose from.

And what an awesome view-

We also went to our local library on Saturday- Flynn loves books-

We didn't realize until we got there but it was actually daddy story time today which was great timing. The kids read some stories together which was fun.

Email.

I have set up an email address for the blog so if you have any questions just drop me an email : )

superorganizerblog@gmail.com

Have a great day !!

Some photo's

Here are a couple of my recent POTD : )

Our first tulip popping up yay!!!! This made my day,

Running errands-

Spring cleaning in the kitchen-

Simon deep in thought -

Flynn loves sitting in the front seat of the car and playing !!