School Holidays and a Cookie Recipe

A blogging friend of mine recently called herself a very bad blogger. I think I have beaten her in the lack of regularly posting arena by now though.

Monthly trips to Sydney, increased community and family commitments have made my life more crazy than usual and I feel like I just don't have time to stop, otherwise things don't get done. Opportunities to squeeze in some time to indulge in creating seem few and far between, more's the pity.

The children go back to school tomorrow - a few days of relative normality before it all goes pear shaped with yet another trip to Sydney. Since I moved out of Sydney in my 20s, I've never been back there so frequently and I reckon after this year is over I won't be keen to venture forth in that direction for some time.

The first week of the holidays involved a dash to Sydney (see what I mean!), a sleepover upping the normal child tally a bit for a couple of days and a family gathering. I was cooking potato bake and warm vegetable salad for the gathering of 25 people, but had to cook it and get it there warm and ready to eat. I had a slight hiccup or two. The oven decided it was just too full and took forever to cook the vegies. Then I tipped one bowl of the warm vegetable salad over - luckily the foil and tea towel I had covered it with, caught it all and it just looked a little more "tossed" than the other bowl.

The past week however has been blissfully quiet - the girls won't get their heads out of whatever novel they're currently reading so its all quiet there. With the weather so cold, everyone has endeavoured to stay inside near the fire as much as possible but son, at 13, can't help himself and sure enough the delicate household balance goes awry. So there has still been the occasional fight and a definite need to let of steam and energy - followed closely by my declaration to "go outside NOW and run around for at least half an hour"!


I celebrated the end of the holidays today by cooking numerous batches of yummy food. Totally required of course with school due back and a cupboard bare of lunchbox type foods. So I got in and cooked chocolate brownie (above) (I posted the recipe for here it a couple of years ago), a double batch of choc-apricot cookies, a double batch gingernuts (below) and an apple cake. All were made with our own eggs (yay to the chooks finally growing big enough and starting to lay!) and the apple cake was made with Grandma's crisp apples.



In the absence of a piece of jewellery this week, I'm going to share my choc-apricot cookie recipe (pictured at top). I've made these for well over 20 years and they always work out. They were actually tasted by a food editor for an Australian foodie magazine who was visiting my house a few years ago - and she asked for the recipe so they must be good!

CHOC-APRICOT COOKIES

125g butter
1/3 cup castor sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 egg
1 cup self raising flour
1/2 cup plain flour
1 cup coconut - dessicated or shredded
200g chocolate chips
3/4 cup dried apricots, chopped

Beat butter and sugars in bowl with electric mixer till light and fluffy. Beat in egg til just combined. Stir in flours, choc chips, coconut and apricots and mix to a firm dough. (If using your mixer, change the blade to a dough hook, as its a heavy mix).
Please level tablespoons of mixture about an inch apart on lightly greased oven trays and flatten slightly (or just throw them on the trays - they flatten a bit by themselves!). Bake in a moderate oven 20 minutes or till lightly browned. Let stand 5 minutes before removing to racks to cool completely.

Notes: makes about 20-25 biscuits, so make a double batch, otherwise you'll look around and they'll all be gone! Heavenly still warm but watch out for apricot pieces - they retain the heat. The mix is a great basic mix - feel free to swap the choc chips and apricots for something else.

OK, back to the ironing board - I promised myself that I would get it all done these holidays and I've still got a pile to go and only hours left!

Till next :)
Cheers
Annette

A late bunny story, Sydney jewels and hectic holidays

It's been a busy week with Easter and the associated family gatherings, children's piano lessons (even though school is on holiday, piano definitely isn't!) and my rostered morning at the local saleyards canteen (and the baking of the fresh blueberry muffins before I had to leave). In fact I can't believe it's already Friday - half the term break gone already!

I know Easter is past, but I couldn't resist sharing this photo and story that I stumbled upon a couple of days ago.


This is the world's biggest rabbit. Named Darius, he is just 12 months old and at 1.3 metres and 22kg hasn't finished growing yet! Apparently he eats 12 carrots, 6 apples and 2 cabbages a day. Geez, I hope his owner lives on a farm and grows her own veggies, otherwise this big boy would eat her out of house and home rather quickly!

In jewellery news - if you like looking at gorgeous mega dollar jewels (in particular diamonds), then Sydney is the place to be this month. Sotheby's is hosting an auction on Monday 12 April of Australian Argyle diamond and other fine jewellery items. Then, at the end of the month, Bvlgari is opening a retrospective of their jewels in their Castleraegh Street store from April 28 featuring more than 60 masterpieces from their archives. A visit to Sydney is sounding VERY appealing about now!

In my other wanderings around the web, I was inspired by Melanie - she normally makes bags, fobs and purses but she has recently taken a slight detour into needle felting and has been showing her readers the most adorable toys on her blog recently.

And if you have a blog but, unlike me, don't feel comfortable just chatting away into the ether, then have a read of Melissa's blog where she has some great suggestions on how to find something to blog about.

I did manage some creative time in these hectic holidays - it was night and silence descended early with the children watching an early movie and then going to bed. I just beavered away at my bench, a bright glow amongst the darkness. The photo at top is one piece that was made that night. Although its design is plain, the dark agate stones are just gorgeous - rich, glossy and totally desirable!

Till next :)
Annette

A typical day during holiday time

I can't believe how fast the days are flying past. Our days seem to be jam-packed, even though we're not necessarily going somewhere or achieving much! And I'm sure last holidays I got to just sit back and relax, read a few books and so on.

Take today for example. I got up at around 7am, put a load of washing on, got everyone up and dressed and breakfasted, cleaned up after brekky, encouraged the children to practice their scales, hung out the washing, put all the recycling in the car, picked some roses and headed off to town. I'm basically immobile for almost two hours while I wait for piano lessons to be done and have a quick chat to the teacher. Then off to the garbage tip with the recycling, down the street to pick up a few groceries, a quick visit to some acquaintances that are moving next month, the obligatory chat with people you know that you see in the street and home for a (late) lunch. Half an hour later, my neighbour drops off her 6 month old little boy for a couple of hours of babysitting duties while she takes her toddler to swimming lessons. After he went home I chatted to a friend for a while on the phone, chatted to hubby about his day and then it was time for the dinner, bath, bed routine.

See what I mean?

I must admit, I have also learned about fibreglassing this week and spent a half a day this week helping hubby in the shed. But that's about as much as I have to show for the week! Time is just slipping away and I hate to say it, but roll on school so I can get back into some sort of routine!!

The daily babysitting for the last week or so has been enlightening. I didn't realise how much I had forgotten about children being babies! Rex is a lovely little boy, very content and easy (except for today - but apart from admitting he threw up on me, dribbled on me and grizzled or cried for the whole 2 hours, we won't go there!). I've got back my confidence in dealing with little ones and have also realised that I'm rather glad that stage is over for me!

I started a wish list of things I should have if this babysitting lark continued and the most important one I think is a splat mat! I remember my children having them and they were invaluable to keeping the floor in some semblance of cleanliness! I found some lovely ones at Your Cheeky Monkey. Personally I prefer this one, but I don't think Rex would be too fond of it - this one is more up a boy's alley!

For other things I would probably head off to Swap it Baby, a site I found through the Business Mums Blog. It seems like a great idea for swapping all sorts of child related goods.

Oh, and I guess I must also confess to spending a couple of hours checking out the red carpet at both the Critics Choice and Golden Globe awards ceremonies in the last week. Strapless and one shouldered gowns abounded (again) and earrings, earrings, earrings! So, pictured above is a pair of earrings from my creative time last week - citrine trillions on goldfill chain - delicate but gorgeous :)

Till next :)
Annette

School holidays whizzing past...

The school holidays are going by so fast and unlike last year where I felt as though I had a good rest, this year it feels like I've been very social and haven't had much time to just sit back and chill.

We've alternately had hot hot days or a drop or two of rain in the last couple of weeks. Here's a pic from late afternoon last week - although it looked promising it actually didn't rain much here at all. Maybe next time?



I've been productive at my bench at least with a lovely bunch of high quality gem earrings, pearl earrings and some pearl necklaces, classic and funky, made this week. After I've been away from my bench for a couple of weeks it's so lovely to sit down and let the creativity flow and enjoy the beautiful gems. The top photo is of a pair of fat, white freshwater pearls topped with a cluster of multi coloured tourmaline. Aren't they scrumptious!?

Keeping the creative juices isn't so hard when there are great shows that support handmade. I noticed on Elena's EP Designs site a great show she's attending tomorrow (16 January) in Oakleigh, Melbourne - the Handmade Show. The sub header states "supporting local crafters, keeping the love of creating alive". What a great aim and I hope they do really well. I still hope (in vain!?) for a show like that to come up near here... waiting, waiting.... LOL.

For a little smile, enjoy the following that I found on Jill's Liv'n Good Jewelry Blog Line 'em up boys :)



Till next :)
Annette

Rainy days and school holidays

My life this week has been a whirlwind of visitors and cooking, children darting everywhere you turn and a laundry mound that is rapidly becoming Mt. Washmore!

Our school term ended last Friday with a talent show at which two of my children participated. My son, who has been playing the piano for six months got up in the very first spot. He was embarrassed - at 11 remember how you got embarrassed about everything? The realisation that he rushed a bit and made a few small mistakes made him (after it was all over of course) want to do it again - but better this time! We had to explain that life is a lot like that - full of occasions where we wish we could do it over again differently! You've just got to give it your best shot when you have the chance.

One of the twins also played a couple of short pieces on the piano and considering she's only been playing for less than three months, was very brave to get up there in front of the whole school and associated parents!

Since then, the weather has been, whilst not bitterly cold, definitely wintry and drizzly. The washing hung on the line for four days as it just never cleared long enough to dry it. Children on holidays + mud = more dirty clothes, so the piles of laundry have been steadily rising.

We've been inundated with visitors which is fairly unusual. One of the things about living out in the middle of nowhere, is that most people don't visit very often at all. It's just too far out of their way to pop in. Things must have changed, or maybe they're bored with the wet weather too, and we've had people in and out every day this week.

This has also meant mounds of cooking. Over the past few years I've managed to reduce the amount of time in the kitchen (outside of mealtimes) to only cooking a batch of biscuits every so often to keep the children and husband happy. Well this week I've done deserts, roasts, some of my 'special' meals, biscuits, cookies, scones, pancakes..... And just to add to it, hubby brought in a huge bag of grapefruit to make into marmalade.... *sigh*.... so 17 jars later....

Needless to say, there's not been much time for surfing around the web and checking out other blogs and sites. Although I did get time to see the gorgeous work of Gretchen of Chichiboulie. Gretchen lives in the north of France with her family and does some gorgeous design and illustration work. To look at her art makes you feel young and fancy-free (like a child on school holidays perhaps!?) Do have a look at Gretchen's Boulie Blog - it's beautiful!

So the upshot of the past week is that I'm basically feeling over-domesticated. I'm ready to hide my head in the sand to get five minutes peace and my bench is looking very neglected - even though new stones have arrived that are just screaming out to be made into something. Perhaps next week will be quieter?



The picture for today is a necklace I managed to make BEFORE the school holidays - I love the slightly eclectic and rich combination of oranges, yellows with a touch of green and red. Made with carnelian, sardonyx, agate, sunstone, citrine, garnet, prehnite, calcite and freshwater pearls in green, bronze and russet.

Full of impact, life and colour it's perfect for taking my mind off the semi-feral children that come with a term break. Do you agree? :D

Till next!
Cheers
Annette

School holidays

Eeeech, school holidays - who would consider that three not so little people could get so under foot and so unruly in their first break of the year! Well, I should have remembered the school holidays - although they were in the pool most of summer, and drat it, it's a tad too cool for that now. Oh well. Only another 11 days to go.... *faint*

Needless to say I haven't got an awful lot done in the jewellery department, so this is a picture of a necklace from my creative burst last week. I had a great response to the red bamboo coral recently - and here is some sponge coral and orange freshwater pearls - aren't they bright! Sponge coral has a softer, more matte finish than the bamboo coral but would still look great to brighten up dark winter colours and quite brilliant with white in summer. I had to throw the picture of the matching earrings in too (below) - a little bit of glorious colour!



I've always thought I could so easily get addicted to other crafts... I had a look at Assential Scrapbooking's site and yep, I reckon it wouldn't take much to tip me over the edge and buy all those interesting looking bits and bobs!

I can't believe its almost time for the BAS (quarterly tax) to be done again. This quarter is always the worst, as I feel like I've only just finished the last one - since its due so late, because of the Christmas period. Rather nice of Mr. Taxman to take Christmas holidays into account! Anyway, keeping tax related, I found the best quote on the Always Wired Bead Lady blog...

Be wary of strong drink. It can make you shoot at tax collectors… and miss. ~Robert Heinlein

*giggle* :D

Till next!

One step forward, three steps back.

It's been a week of mixed achievements - I finally put aside a day to start completing orders and repairs and felt so wonderful after a day full of finished jobs (and ticks on my list) that I came to a grinding halt.

Oh well.

Plus I have gained a few more orders in the last couple of days so I really need to get into the studio...but the children have just started the school holidays, the house looks like a tornado has been through it (no, just three children feeling footloose and fancy free) and I have a client booked in to visit in about 48hours time! Hmmmm.

A couple of orders in my partially completed and to-do piles are for weddings. I love weddings and all that they entail although it can be a very stressful time for the bride and groom. Stacy, a fellow blogger from Skwiggazine, is preparing for her imminent nuptials and has selected a retro black and white theme which should look great.

Jewellery is just one of the things that the bridal party need/want but I've found brides either take one of two approaches - either they leave it completely up to you or they micromanage the design process. The first can stress me as a designer as I worry that they will like it and it will be "right". The second can also stress me as what they are thinking of may not actually work. Ah well - human nature is a funny thing.

I thought since I've been working on bridal orders I would include a picture from a wedding I did a little while ago. To emphasise the detail of the plunging back on this dress we did a long silver chain from which hung natural peach toned freshwater pearls that alternated with faceted rock crystal topped with a little green peridot. The chain wrapped around the bride's neck once and then hung down the back, glinting, sparkling and swaying when she moved. The great thing with this design is that the bride has been able to wear it just wrapped around her neck as a 'normal' necklace in a multi-strand version with or without a drop. Do you like it?

Random acts of kindness and a pearl and gem necklace

It's the last week of the school holidays and we made a mad dash to the coast for a few days to catch a little summer weather and let the children go to the beach - a rarity reserved for once or twice a year. We also managed to catch up with two sets of good friends that moved that way a couple of years ago and our children are still 'best friends' regardless of the distance. Its wonderful to see them pick right up where they left off and play and play and play and play.....

I was saddened to hear this week of Heath Ledger's death. This Australian actor obviously had a lot of talent and ability. He appeared kind, down to earth and was from a normal Aussie home in Perth, Western Australia. He even attended the same school as one of our family members, which makes his death a touch personal. His death is still being investigated but it certainly brings a dose of reality to our lives - we never know what is around the corner and we should make the most of every day.

Along this line, I vote for some random acts of kindness to make the world a better place to live! I found some great examples here at the Rainbow Designs blog. Have you done any of these? I am pleased to report I have done the majority (though am yet to pay for someone else's toll!!) and I can guarantee they will make you feel better! Go on, try one :)

I haven't made any jewellery this week although I keep looking at my bench longingly. With children back to school next week, perhaps I will have some time to sit there then. In the meantime, I have posted a picture of a piece made a couple of weeks ago in a summer frame of mind. You all know I love pearls and this necklace combines them in the wonderful colours of lime, palest pink, white and lolly pink. Scattered throughout is some rose quartz, rock crystal quartz and peridot gemstones and it is finished with a simple sterling silver toggle clasp. Do you like it?

Holidays here we come!

Woohoo! Its THAT time of the year for us - our annual holiday. We have had such a busy year, I am really looking forward to it! The stresses of last week have faded and even though I still have a mountain of things to do before we leave, the end is in sight!!

Last year we bought a house in the small village of Woodgate, just above Hervey Bay in Queensland. We went there for our holiday this time last year - we had friends in Maryborough and Bundaberg and wanted to stay in a place mid-way between them, so I pulled out hubby's maps and looked for beachside towns. Woodgate was one I found, along with a few others. Some quick research on the 'net showed that it was a small village that still showed signs of its beach shack past, had reasonable rentals for the holiday season and was perfectly placed.



We rented a house across the road from the beach and it only took a day or two to fall in love with the place.
We spent a good proportion of our holiday looking at houses for sale!



By the end of the week we had bought a house!!!!! Some things are meant to be. It is an older house, one street back from the beach, two storey to catch the sea breeze and quite lovely inside. We flew up for the settlement and spent a week painting, getting it spick and span and ready for holiday tenants.


When we bought it:














After our week sprucing it up:










So, it has been 10 months since I have seen it and one of the reasons I am really looking forward to the holidays. Of course it may mean more painting and work, but its so nice to work on something that is all ours (well, ours and the bank's!!!!)

No posts for me while I'm gone, but as I come back and get caught up in a swirl of going to the Lovedale Craftfest, I am seriously thinking about taking some bits and pieces with me to work on :)

Catch you on the flip side!