We are Geelong, the greatest team of all....

Not my personal opinion but a line from the Geelong team song, Geelong being the team that won the AFL Grand Final on Saturday.

I know, it's not relevant to most outside Victoria and really, I have to say it's not that relevant to me either.
But hubby being an avid AFL fan and having no tv at the moment (due to using media center and an upgrade to windows 7 means an upgrade is needed for the video card.....or some such thing) he packed up both kids and went across town to a mates house to watch the game.

Without me.

Woohoo, relaxing kid and hubby free afternoon, here I come!!

So I managed to ignore my pc for the most part and I got some actual, real things done.

Organised some fabric and my WIP stash in my new basket storage system (....freezer baskets that I broke the law to scavenge off the nature strip during hard rubbish collection week, hard core criminal that I am...)



Finished one of the WIPs...



And tidied up the remainder of THIS mess which came about after a friend of ours, The Nut Bloke, asked if I'd make some cupcakes and ice them in football team colours for his market stall on Grand Final Saturday.

They had to be made and decorated on Friday, because The Nut Bloke was picking them up Friday evening for a Saturday morning market.
I ended up working on Friday, kids in tow, so I made the cupackes at work then raced home to decorate them. Hence the mess.
H is enjoying one of the rejects with some good ol' chocolate ganache, after the order went out.
And yes, he's standing there in his jocks, despite the fact it rained nearly all day and maintained a top temperature of about 10c.

And in the the ensuing rush and fluster I forgot to take a picture of my football coloured cupcakes. Decorated in stripes of either blue and white buttercream or red, white and black buttercream. Of course.



Wednesday tomorrow, baking day. Hmmm, what to make?
I'll be sifting through these sites for something that tickles my fancy, cupcake or otherwise:

52 cupcakes

Lick the bowl good

Cookies and cups

Mommy? I'm hungry!

Quirky cooking

and

Crazy about cakes

Have a look at the photos of Ashley's cupcake decorating party at the above blog, such a great idea for a party.
I wonder if I could adapt it to boys? At what age would something like this stop being cool for boys? I know H who is 4, would looooove to do this, but when he's 7? Or 10? Hmmm.

We've got the sickies, bleck

The lil' fella is under the weather, waaay under it seems, eyes running, nose running and an awful sounding chesty cough.

But I have to share these photos from a couple of days ago when he was definitely feeling more like his usual self.

From the child who eats chalk, crayons (though not since I found out crayons have petroleum in them) and anything else he can pick up off the floor and out of the garden that will fit in his mouth.....when IS that stage supposed to be past, I'm pretty sure at 17 months he's meant to beyond that....

We have, mmm mmmmmmm, sand!

And just so you know I didn't actually force my own child to eat sand and that he did it of his own free will, here are three pictures:

In case you're wondering, I do feed this child actual, real food.

Oooh, chocolate!

I decorated my latest cupcakes in the ever popular chocolate ganache and don't they look drool worthy?
They tasted impressive too, mmm mmmmmmmm.

Never made ganache? It's extremely simple:

Chocolate ganache

400 grams cooking chocolate, chopped
1 1/2 cups cream

• Bring the cream to boil in a heavy based saucepan.
• Place choc in a bowl and pour the hot cream over.
• Leave for 1 minute to soften, then stir using a small spatula.
• For a smooth surface, dip cupcakes in immediately.
• For a fluffy look, let it cool then apply with a knife.

If you want to make a chocolate sauce, just add more cream.


I've made some caramel cupcakes too, and they were delish, as expected. The cupcake recipe used this homemade caramel that I made and the caramel frosting should use up the remainder of that batch of caramel. Except, I may have to make more caramel to make the frosting because, ahem, I don't think I have quite enough...


Standby for the caramel cupcake recipe because they were gooooooood.
Note were...

See what I got!

One of my younger sisters, The Slightly Mad Quilt Lady, has sent me a piece of gorgeousness for my birthday.

Have a look.....

It's a beautifully made felted wool sweater bag. Fully lined, with fabric handles and a rosette of flowers and leaves artfully sewn on the front.

It is fabulous, I couldn't stop smiling when I opened it up, it's just yummy on so many levels!
Useful, recycled, beautiful, unusual....sheesh, it makes me feel like I really need to pull my finger out and get stuck into some projects. Which I do, of course.

Quietly putting aside the fact that I am behind on family birthdays by more than one or two months...


Get thee to they sewing machine!

Are you a chook lover?

I fell across Clucky when I was online today, located at Melly and Me...

How cute is that???
Not sure if my sewing talents stretch to Clucky, but I have a chook loving, softie making sis who will fall in love with this feathered friend for sure! Miss Lottie, I'm looking at you!

Really good chocolate cupcakes - finally!

I think I have finally found a really good chocolate cupcake recipe. I have tried quite a few but never found just the right mix of flavour, texture and perfect dome-ness....and this recipe has all three.

See? They're chocolaty....

And perfectly domed.

Un-iced as yet, I'm thinking maybe some chocolate ganache will top them off nicely. They don't have any actual chocolate in them as they are flavoured with cocoa, so a rich topping will bring them to just the right level of gorgeous chocolate-ness.

Now, if you want to try the recipe out, may I suggest you add the sour cream into the wet mixture before you add the flour. (The recipe does not state when to add it.)

And a stick of butter is about 113.5 grams, so for 3 sticks of butter I used 340 grams.

Wednesday is my serious baking day because that is the day I have both boys in daycare, as a leftover from when I was working out of home. 

It's my recharge day, my sanity day, the day that as much as I love my kiddies, I REALLY look forward to. The house is filled with silence. Things stay where I put them. I can pee in peace. I don't need to wipe noses and butts and break up fights. Or haul the baby up from sitting on his older brother. Again. 
It's also my clean the house day and my 'important things that require concentration so no kids around' day.

The rest of the time my life is filled with this...



and this...



and quite a lot of this lately too...



And this, if the ladder is left anywhere accessible after fixing the sliding doors that have been slid too enthusiastically one too many times...



I'll stop there shall I?

They're always on the go, my little munchkins, and they wear mummy out. Especially after the all-nighters my lil guy has been pulling lately.....but that's another story.

Let just say, I REALLY LOOK FORWARD TO WEDNESDAYS!

Story stones

I came across this little tutorial on Red Bird Crafts for story stones. A very sweet idea and fairly flexible I thought, so H and I have been working on some of our own.

You will need these....

And some of these...

The tutorial used Mod Podge which we don't have here, so I used good old PVA glue.

We made the alphabet, here's some of it...



The glue goes on white as per below but dries clear.



I also managed to produce good old Wendell and Clunk (not quite finished here)

and the possibilities are limitless.

Now H is collecting rocks whenever we venture from the house, with an eye as to what he can turn them into. I love it, as I am a rock collector from waaaay back, and we have geologist relatives on both sides. 

Our collecting ground has a finite and not very diversified supply though, it is the street side rock garden of a local block of units.


Oh and remember how I said the lil guy loves to sit on top of his older brother every opportunity he gets? Here is evidence:

With his wispy blonde hair and innocent expression I sometimes think a halo and wings would not look out of place, but in reality a tail and horns might be more apt. 

They would go very well with his raising-the-dead screech....