2011 August

The Things He Does….

August 16, 2011 0 Comments

Day 356 in my miracles life

Why am i doing this? Read it here….

This week i havent really had to think much about the things he does as he has been ‘doing’ it all! (see sometimes they really are sweet!)

we have a flip book of sayings and quotations in the toilet, now i bet your wondering where this one is going right? Nothing suss, i promise! Anyway every so often he flips through it and finds me the perfect and strangely always appropriate saying and leaves it there for me to read the next time i have a ‘sit down’
dinner on tuesday night was eye fillet steak with green vegetables… cooked to perfection by my husband for me
on wednesday, even though i dont eat sweets during the week, he put a little cookie in my lunch box for work… awww
as much as he hates it he came shopping with george and i on saturday
he helped me make fairy wands for georges party!
even though i know he will never really understand it, he puts up with my crazy and neurotic side and i am not too sure there are many people in the world who could deal with that!
took me for a walk on monday afternoon

You come to love not by finding the perfect person, but by seeing an imperfect person perfectly. Sam Keen

Filed Under: 24. The Things He Does, My Miracles Life Begins, Nine to Twelve Months

What Value Do you Place on ‘things’

August 15, 2011 0 Comments

Day 355 in my miracles life

I know that there is never a time when we arnt learning, that even as adults we learn the importance of things daily, and i understand that different peoples life experiences lead to placing different levels of importance on different things, but sometimes it really shocks me as to the value in life some people place on money and things.

I have been through many heart breaking events in my lifetime, i have felt what it is like to suffer from so far within, hurt from places that most people dont even know exist, i understand that maybe it is easier for me to see things in a different light, to appreciate the things that i do have rather than desiring what i dont have… But sometimes it still really really puzzles and annoys me that everyday i see people i love so much placing so much value on things and in money.

Why do people look at other people and wish they earned as much as them, why do people look at a man who earns $250,000 a year but has no family, no life, nothing but possessions and see that they are successful? Why do people see someone who has a fast car or two as better – simply because they can afford it? What is it that makes people want more and more and more forgetting what they have?

I guess i know it is just the way life is, and i know that i cant change the world, but i wish in part that the people i love, the people that surround me could jsut understand that what they have is everything.

I was part of a conversation over the weekend when it really hit home for me. My beautiful sister in law and mother in law talking about the new babies room and the spare room beside set up just right for my MIL to stay and help with the baby… It was perfect seeing them talking about the magic of a new baby and the plans for mother and daughter to come together and celebrate new life, mother helping daughter just as it should be… But it was then that the jealousy hit me – i dont have that and i never will. I have family that would do anything for me, but i will never have that….

I will never have the relationship a daughter has with her mother, i dont remember what it is like to have a mothers love. And i write this not to be felt sorry for, not for the ‘poor you’ comments, nothing like that, it just makes me think that for that moment that i was a part of over the weekend for that simple second of a mother being excited for a daughters new baby, for a mother to want to give up everything for her daughter… For that moment – i would give everything i own up.

I would live on the streets if it meant that i could have known my mother. I would pass over my car, my savings, my tv, my books, everything that was a possession i would give up, just to have that moment, just to have a relationship with my mother, or even just to keep the people i hold dear to my heart in my life…

To have my husband and my baby with me and in love with me until the day i die, to keep the family i do have safe and from illness, to keep those people that the ones i love love safe from harm and illness… I would give anything that was a ‘thing’ up in a heart beat.

Yes i have been through a lot more than others, infertility really brought true to me what was important in this life time… Being a mother has really reminded me what is important to me. But it still puzzles me why others just cant see it… Why still after so long, why is it that the people that surround me are still so concerned with money and things?

Why so many people cant see that a simple hug from someone you love is so much better than anything that could be bought?

Filed Under: My Miracles Life Begins, Nine to Twelve Months

Wheat Free Pear Crumble

August 14, 2011 0 Comments

On a quest to create something wheat free i came up with the idea of a pear crumble. Now i am not a massive sweet tooth, ok so that is a lie, but i do enjoy on occasion something that is not sugar on sugar on sugar on sugar like last weeks cake… So this week i thought i would turn an old winter classic into something a little less sweet and a little ‘better’ for you… I used ALL NATURAL ingredients, and managed to accomplish something that was completly wheat free! And without a recipe i might add as well…

So if you feel like something a little ‘better’ than the standard, sugar on sugar dessert try my wheat free pear crumble (if you dont like pears simply go for apples instead)

Stuff You’ll Need

1 cup almond meal
1 cup hazelnut meal
1 cup nut butter (i used organic peanut butter – the only ingredient being peanuts)
2 eggs
some coconut

6 pears or apples
1 cup water
vanilla essence

1/2 cup almond meal
1/2 cup hazlenut meal
1/4 cup nut butter
1/4 cup honey

How i did it

Mix the almond meal and hazelnut meal together, then rub in the butter using your finger tips – like any pastry you want a crumble type appearance. Add the eggs and form a dough. Sprinkle coconut on the bench and slightly kneed the dough basically just bringing it all together. Roll out the dough, it wont go quite like pastry and you probably wont be able to place it in one large piece, but if you can – your better than me if not it doesnt really matter, so press the dough into your pie dish evenly. Place in the oven for about 1/2 an hour to chill and set, before placing it in a preheated oven (180 deg cel) for about 20 minutes.

Peel your pears and dice. Place in a saucepan with the vanilla and water, if you like fruit a little sweeter add some honey at this point. bring to the boil then turn the heat down and simmer for about 1/2 an hour until the fruit is cooked through and the water has reduced.

For the crumble simply place the almond meal, hazelnut meal nut butter and honey in a bowl and once again use your finger tips to create a crumble.

Once the base and the pears are cooked place the pears in the base and crumble the crumble mixture over the pears… Cook once again for about 10 minutes or until to crumble is golden and crunchy…

Serve with some gluten free cream or ice cream… or like i did with a little honey drizzled over the top… nomnomnom… (its very nutty though, so if your not a nut fan… )

Filed Under: Cooking, My Miracles Life Begins, Nine to Twelve Months, Sweet, Wheat Free

What Do You Think?

August 12, 2011 0 Comments

Which One Sounds and Looks Better?
1) Foi, Espoir et Amour
2) Amour, Foi et Espoir

View Results

Make your own poll

Filed Under: 10. Another Tattoo, 30 before 30

No Naughty Noodle Omlette

August 11, 2011 0 Comments

I was hungry, and bored with veal and broccoli for lunch (sorry Mrs Trainer….) So i came up with something different, that still to me seemed healthy!

The recipe uses these new noodles that my trainer found, that are only about 20 calories per serve, with little to no carbs, and no fat… How you say?!! Have a read up on them here, it really is quite interesting – however, i am so used to not eating carbs that they dont really make much different to my everyday eating habits, and i just whipped this one up cause i thought it may fill me up some more!

Noodle Omelette

Stuff you’ll need

1 pkt Miracle Noodles
2 whole eggs
4 egg whites
Broccoli
Cauliflower
Mushrooms
Onion
Any other vegies you so desire

How i did it

First chop all the vegies up evenly. Heat some oil in a pan and fry the mushrooms until brown and moisture has come out. Fry off the onions, then add the rest of the vegies and stir fry for a minute or so.

Remove from the pan and set aside for a minute. Drain the noodles (they are stored in liquid) and add the the eggs and egg whites, whisk the noodles and eggs together with a splosh of cold water. Re-heat the pan with some olive oil in it, make sure the pan is well coated or the eggs will stick. Pour the egg and noodle mixture into the pan and cook for a jiffy before adding the vegies and cooking for another jiffy. Once the omlette is mostly set place under a preheated grill for yet another jiffy…

Then WOOLA! Done and ready to be eaten

Filed Under: Cooking, Everyday Foods, My Miracles Life Begins

As The Weeks Go By… 50 Weeks

August 10, 2011 0 Comments

Day 350 in my miracles life

Are you upset little friend? Have you been lying awake worrying? Well, don’t worry…I’m here. The flood waters will recede, the famine will end, the sun will shine tomorrow, and I will always be here to take care of you. -Charlie Brown to Snoopy

Filed Under: As The Weeks Go By..., My Miracles Life Begins, Nine to Twelve Months, Wordless Wednesday

The Things He Does…

August 9, 2011 0 Comments

Day 349 in my miracles life

There is one thing on my 30 before 30 list that means more to me than the others…. Some of the things on my list are simply ‘things’ that i have wanted to do for a long time and others are ‘things’ that i hope will make me a better person, maybe a more grown up and responsible person for my daughter… And to be honest most of the ‘things’ on my list are things i want to do so that my daughter grows up knowing and feeling like she is part of a stable and loving environment, so that my past and the things in my mind that haunt me are not passed onto her.

But this one item on my list, number 24, and actually number 23 as well, i believe will make the relationship i have with my husband stronger, and it is something that i think a lot of relationships miss out on. We get so caught up in the day to day routine of life, with the monotony of complaining, of feeling like we are so hard done by, of dwelling in the past, of simply just living the same thing day in day out, that we forget to appreciate what we have and the small things that our partners do for us.

Number 24 on my list is to tell my husband i love him everyday, and i dont mean just that standard ‘i love you’ i want my i love you to be the kind of i love you where i actually sit down and think about why i love him and say it out loud. Some people may think that a relationship is doomed if you have to sit down and think about why you love a person, but i think in a world where we are so caught up in day to day routine, where people come and go, in a world where sometimes all we hear is the negatives, i think it is important to simply point out the positives that may just be staring you in the face and realise that most of the time the positives outweigh the negatives, it is just that we forget to remember the good things people have to offer to us.

And so, in my style, in the only way that i know how to express myself these days, i am going to write “The things he does” each day, just so that he knows, and so that others know, that no matter how much he annoys me, how insensitive he can be, that no matter how many times i say ARGGG! That the other things he does, truly outweigh everything else, and that at the end of the day, he means more to me than he will ever know…

Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. Ephesians 4:2

Filed Under: 24. The Things He Does, 30 before 30, My Miracles Life Begins, Nine to Twelve Months

Clouded.

August 8, 2011 0 Comments

Day 348 in my miracles life.

Have you ever felt like everything is clouded?

Today it seems like there is a cloud in front of my eyes and i just cant concentrate or think straight, and i dont know what it is.

I am not sure if i am tired and weary from the days away, or if this is something different… I just dont know, it is like i am standing in the middle of a crowed space and everything and everyone is just passing me by at super speed…

I’ve never felt like this before & its a little frightening.

Filed Under: My Miracles Life Begins, Nine to Twelve Months

3. Delicious Disaster…

August 6, 2011 0 Comments

Sooooo number 3 in the quest to bake 30 things chosen by other people was meant to be this a delicious looking lemon layer cake…

I mean what could be better than three layers of cake separated by lemon curd covered in beautiful icing – right? RIGHT?! NOTHING….! & my gosh was this yummy…. HOWEVER, the disaster part comes into play somewhere along the lines of icing….

You may have noticed by now i am not an icing person, most of my cakes are without, i like a good moist cakey cake minus the icing, so as such i am not very good at making icing, and i think today really proved that i must, i must i must be more patient before icing and eating the cake!

Stuff you’ll need for the cake (recipe taken straight from here)

1 cup butter, at room temperature
2 cups sugar
4 eggs
3 cups sifted self-rising flour
1 cup buttermilk
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

How i did it

Preheat oven to 180°C. Using an electric mixer, cream butter until fluffy. Add sugar and continue to cream well for 6 to 8 minutes.

Add eggs 1 at a time, beating well after each addition. Add flour and milk alternately to creamed mixture, beginning and ending with flour.

Add vanilla and continue to beat until just mixed.

Divide batter equally among prepared pans. Level batter in each pan by holding pan 3 or 4-inches above counter, then dropping flat onto counter. Do this several times to release air bubbles and assure you of a more level cake. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes or until a tester or toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.

Stuff you’ll need for the lemon curd (recipe taken straight from here)

8 egg yolks
1 1/2 cups sugar
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) butter
3 lemons, zest grated and juiced

How i did it

Place the ingredients in the double boiler over boiling water. Don’t let top pan touch the water. Cook and stir until mixture begins to gel or thicken ever-so-slightly. Remove from heat and allow to cool. Cover and refrigerate it to thicken. (see that refrigerate thing – really do that, me thinks that is where i got unstuck, i was impatient and didnt let it go to a thick jelly consistency)

Stuff you’ll need for the Royal icing (taken straight from here)

4 egg whites
1/2tsp.lemon juice
2lbs.confectioners sugar

How i did it

Combine egg white and lemon juice in a bowl and add small amount of sugar until the icing is completely smooth and forms a peak.

Putting it ALL together to create one massively DELICIOUS disaster…

Place the first cake on a cake plate, spread lemon curd all over, place the second cake on top, spread more lemon curd all over, place the third cake on top and pour a whole lot of lemon curd on top… Place in the fridge…. Keep checking on it to make sure it is still there, scooping the dripping lemon curd from all surfaces of everything and licking everything…. (no no dont be silly your curd will work just fine, so it wont make a mess and you wont have to lick it up!)

Once the curd is set around the cake, pipe on the royal icing… And hope that it doesnt look like this!

Looks good…

Looks good….

Ekkkk, bit leany…

Ahhh, its sliding…

ITS SLIDING OFF… AHHHHH!!

*giggles uncontrollably*

Nomnomnomnomnom…. But even if it does, not too worry cause it tastes like a dream! (i have 4 people who will back me up on that )

Filed Under: 2. Make 30 recipes chosen by 30 people, 30 before 30, Cooking, My Miracles Life Begins, Nine to Twelve Months, Sweet

A Change of Pace…

August 4, 2011 0 Comments

Day 344 in my miracles life

This morning for the first time in quite a while, i feel happy, content, and so in love with my daughter it is unbelievable.

Maybe it is the change of scenery, maybe it is the change of pace, the outdoors, the view, the feeling that i am somewhat on a mini holiday, who knows – maybe it is the fresh air, but today i feel different, lighter, happier…

Could it be the tablets? Could it be that the doctors were right? That i just needed something lite to take the edge off? To take the sadness from my heart so that i could clear my mind and work through the underlying issues? Could it be that there is a chemical imbalance somewhere there in my mind

Could it be that with new clarity i will simply realise that i really am happy, that the things in my past has truly made me a stronger person, a better person, a more loving and caring mother, a person who knows what it is to hurt and can help others because of it?

It is better to want what you have than to have what you want. Proverb

Filed Under: 20. Conquer the Demons of my past, 30 before 30, My Miracles Life Begins, Nine to Twelve Months