Yummy yummy Apple Slice

This slice is amazing. Just like the yummy cakey apple slice you buy from the bakery. Seriously.

I found this via Pinterest. Pop on over to the original source and see her tutorial (with pictures) on how to make it or here is the recipe.

Apple Slice
2 cups plain flour
2tsp baking powder
1/2 cup sugar
125g butter
1 egg
1 tin of apples (no added sugar) or 2 cups if you really keen and make it yourself.

1. Preheat oven to 180C and prepare your tin (something around this size will be fine 27x13cm tin
2. Place flour, baking powder, sugar and butter in a food processor and give it a whizz.
3. Then add the egg.(Note: If you don't have a food process I used my hand held whizzy stick thingo. I think you could also rub it together with your fingers but i haven't tried it). (Another note: the mixer is very crumbly).
4. Halve dough and roll out one portion for the base of your tin.
5. Put the apple in next and roll out the second portion of pastry for the top.
6. Brush the top with some milk (which i forgot to do) and sprinkle some caster sugar over it.
7. Bake for 25minutes
8. Cool in tin (apparently if you try to cut it before it's cool it will crumble everywhere).

And just to prove that it is easy and can look like the pics from the original site here's my piccy of my slice.

mmmmmmm mmm mmmmmm mm.

Enjoy.

Winter rolls

Winter has definitely rolled in. Unfortunately, it has rolled in and then around my waist, spread over my bum and down my thighs *sigh*. Needless to say I have been thinking a lot about diets and exercise and if 'thinking' equaled calorie burning, I reckon I'd be pretty skinny by now, but alas it does not, no extra calories have been burned (note to self: thinking about exercise whilst eating last nights leftover golden syrup pudding does not balance out the calories *bigger sigh*).

Soooooo, when I saw the Curves 1 month subscription donated to the kinder silent auction I knew it was for me. Yay, $25 well spent.

Tomorrow morning, at 6am *gasp* I have my introductory appointment and first session.

Problem: I am not a morning person.
Solution: prepare EVERYTHING tonight.

My keys, voucher, ventolin and water bottle are in a bag on the kitchen table, my shoes are together at my bedroom door and my gym clothes are on, yep you read that right, they are ON. I am sleeping in them, so when my alarm goes off at stupid o'clock all I have to do is roll out of bed, put on my shoes, pick up my bag and hope that my eyes are open by the time I reverse out of my driveway.

Wish me luck.

Maybe I'll ever blog about it, who knows.

Start weight 70.8kg.

Potty training

Miss A. declared today, at the ripe ol' age of 2 and a 1/2 that she is wearing UNDIES. Oh dear, oh yeah, oh.... I'd don't know how I feel about this. Such a bitter sweet event. Yay, I'll save $$$; yuk, I just had to clean up poo from the floor, her legs, her undies and the potty. Anyway, how i feel about this is a little irrelevant as she has decided she is ready and so I will suck it up, get out the Pine-o-clean wipes and go with it.

On a more positive note i found the coolest rewards chart ever. Made in a collaboration between Maddie from Lil' Magoolie and Mari from Small for Big

How good is that!!! Click on either of the links above and you can download the chart which can be used for anything... chores, temperament and POTTY TRAINING. Brilliant. There is also a boy one. Also on each site are different links on using positive reinforcement and the chart itself. Get goin' and head on over.

So, yay for positive reinforcement, yay for superhero's and YAY for awesome rewards charts (but boo for poo on the floors - oh well I feel a little better about it all now).

So goodluck everybody and if you'd like to give me some tips, I'd love to hear them.

xo Kellie.

Playground finder

If you have an iPhone, live in Australia and have children then you need this app - "the playground finder app".

Today I had to attend an event to do with a fundraiser for my kinder, and it was not in my neighborhood. So instead of dragging the kids there, boring them (and probably myself) half to death, then dragging them home again, I thought we could make a day of it and visit a park. So naturally I visited www.playgroundfinder.com, one of the most helpful websites I have EVER come across. So imagine my feeling of absolute delight when I saw they'd made it into an app.

Basically it is s catalogue of parks around Australia that have been ranked and reviewed by families who have visited them. It tells you if there's toilets, seats , bbq's, shade, bike paths etc. it also shows you on a map where it is and you can read reviews from other parents. SO good. And if you're really keen, you can even add parks that you have found.

So there you go if you haven't already, then go and check it out.

Here are some pics of the app and where we went today. Fantastic.

Ps. If you have any favorite apps helpful to parenting little ones, I'd love to hear from you.

"Calm Down Dinosaur"

Something has happened to my boy. My boy who last year i would have described as 'quiet' and 'gentle', a boy that was not fussy, did not back chat and was overall, pretty much a sweet heart. My little boy has turned... 4 years old (dramatic music... ba ba buuuuuuum). Someone told me the other day that little boys have a surge of testosterone at about the age of 4 and i just googled it and found this...

"Hormones play a large part in that much loved phase in the life of so many four year olds boys when activity levels surge, and vigorous physical play, and a fascination with super heroes becomes the main stay of the boy's play. Around the age of four, boys' testosterone levels in the blood, suddenly double and that little boy changes quite suddenly and dramatically into a strong active child with limitless energy and a fascination with rough and tumble and very boisterous play. Mercifully for the boys and parents, this hormone level drops around the age of five to normal levels." (source: The PreSchool Directory).

OMgosh... there is no mercy in being told this will last a whole year. This is exactly what has happened.

This week I have seen tantrums like i have never seen before, objects be hurled across the room, stamping of feet, flapping around the floor like a human blowfly. I have had all  my buttons pushed and at time watch my boy stomp and shout and pout and thought 'you know what, i'd really like to do that now too'.

So last night I turned to the place that all cyber saavy mum's turn to for creative wisdom and inspiration... Pinterest. I remembered that i had seen two 'pins' that just may hold the answer: 1. "21 creative consequences for disobedient children- Some of these are AWESOME and some are just plain HILARIOUS - but probably effective" and 2. "Teach your kids to work! 43 chores young children can (AND SHOULD) do (18 months to 7 years old)" both pinned by Modern Parents with Messy Kids (click on the links to see any of these articles or visit MPMK's blog - it's great).

After my son's first session of whinging about not being allowed to have cake for breakfast this morning, followed by the stamping of feet, throwing of a board game and then a brief smack from me (yes, I smack occassionally, and no I don't want to hear you're opinion on it - unless of course you do to) I was standing at the sink, composing myself when inspiration hit ... I have devised a plan, whether it works is not the point, the point is that we are going to try something new.

Enter the "Calm Down Dinosaur" jar...

So the theory is that as my son starts to fall into a fit of doubled testosterone, 4 year old paroxysm, I will say "Calm Down Dinosaur" and he will get his jar, shake the <beep> out of it, then watch the glitter settle (consequently settling himself).

So, what do you reckon? Do you need one?

Simple, here's what you'll require:

•  A jar with lid
• a prop to stick in the jar a.k.a. a dinosaur
• glitter
• water
• & a whole lotta hot glue

(The rock was to slightly elevate the dinosaur & the sticks were for extra dramatic affect).

1. wash your props so the glue sticks well (esp. if they're sticks/rocks)

2. glue all props to the inside of the lid of your jar

(FYI: the rock was too heavy so we ended up using a piece of wood and once it and the dinosaur were stuck to the lid there was no room for the sticks so we glued the stick to the side of the jar).

3. let your glue dry (admittedly, i did not wait long).

4. fill your jar with water and add glitter.

5. hot glue around the rim of the jar and screw the lid on)

Done.

So, here's hoping. I was somewhat pleased to hear my son tell Daddy that he had made a "dinosaur calm down jar". Only time will tell. Good luck peeps.

But seriously, look at this kid, at the end of the day he'll always be my sweetheart.

 

#FEBphotoaday - day 6 7 & 8

Day 6 - dinner

Day 7 - button - I love my draw of buttons

Day 8 - sun - my son & a sun.

The Shanny-poo Doorstop

Ok, I'm back to brag... I have been looking for an excuse to sew with hessian and finally I found one when my girlfriend told me that she needed some doorstops because 3 of her doors keep slamming shut and scaring the bejesus out of her little dog (who then sulks for the rest of the night). It also happened to be her birthday the following week (now that i write this, I am wondering if she orchestrated the whole thing... hmmmm, sneaky).

Anyway, clearly a cute hessian doorstop was needed. So I got to spotlight, bought the hessian that i had been perving on for months and go sewing.

I've listed some instructions below, for those interested.

1. The instructions are simple. Make yourself a square and triangle template out of cardboard (my square and triangles were 16cms high and wide). Click here to download a template.

2. Trace 1 x square and 4 x triangles, using your templates, onto your fabric with one of those disappearing-ink-pens and cut them out.

3. Sew two triangles together and then the other two triangles together. (One side of your triangle will be 16cms but the other two will be longer, keep this in mind when your sewing them, as you want the 16cm side free to sew to the square - obvious, but frustrating if you only realise after you've sewed them).

4. Sew your two sets of triangles together to make a pyramid.

5. Sew three sides of your square to the bottom of the pyramid, leaving one side open to fill.

6. Fill with something heavy (wheat, rice, beads, whatever...)

7. Slip stitch closed and embellish.

Yay. So I've made one, but she needs 3... I'm thinking she may need a hessian pear doorstop too, so that just might be my next post.

Hooroo and happy sewing. xo.