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A crazy 700kms driven in a 24 hour period.

Dear friends celebrated their 40th in Wodonga so we left the girls with my parents and made friends with the freeway. A mad dash but worth the effort.


Home again with our babes. Family dinner finished off with homemade choc chips. There is also some vanilla icecream in the freezer, we could sandwich them together, but I think that idea would give daddy heart failure!

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A new selection of fabrics for another baby quilt. I fancy something a little different than my appliqued favourites for this baby. My friend is quite unique and I've chosen something that isn't my first instinct but which I like very much. I'm thinking a more simple square quilted design with lots of white to keep it fresh and perhaps even a gingham style backing. Just have to bind the first one, quilt and bind the second and then.... I can move on to this one.

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The only day I don't have a coffee shortly after waking, is when I've had too much fun the night before. This morning I drank tea, but my man drank coffee.

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For Ella's 8th birthday we bought her tickets to see Taylor Swift and Wednesday night was the long awaited night. It was super loud, the screaming crowd more than the music! Poor love must have been coming down with something though and about 1 1/2 hours in she felt terribly sick so we had to go out. By that stage she had a fever so we had to go home. It was fantastic though, and we had a great time, although of course the next day there were tears over not staying to the end. Worst possible timing, but absolutely no control over these things.


So Ella was home on Thursday and again today. I start work early on Friday's, getting to the office for just after 6am. By 9am I had a headache the likes of which I've never experienced before. I think it may have been a migrane. I felt like I was going to be sick. I had to keep my eyes closed as the light made me feel sick too and I couldn't move, that made me feel sick as well. My gosh it was dreadful. I had to leave and come home and as my mother in law was here I went straight to bed and slept for a couple of hours. Just horrid, my sympathies to those of you who suffer from them regularly because it's just ghastly.

Our afternoon has therefore been spent in the position you see; the girls together on one couch, me on the other, watching part one of Deathly Hallows, doing not much else. Some days you just need to do nothing much at all.


PS I don't know whether it seems strange, I can't say the words in person as I'd like to, but today is my brother Michael's birthday, so it's special to us. He would have been 55 years old today. Happy Birthday love.

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This long weekend included:

A cold for me which meant an unheard of daytime nap on Saturday;
A disappointing viewing of the remade Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy;
Some wedding and pruning in the garden;
A playdate with dear friend for Ella; Homemade pizzas one night, Geoff cooking the other, family dinner tonight;
Ella's finishing of the final Harry Potter book and our long awaited viewing of the first Deathly Hallows movie;
Two lots of breadmaking, three cakes baked and 6 batches of pesto;
Some special shopping for a special friends birthday tomorrow;
Sewing for mum;
Two sisters playing together amazingly well for the whole long weekend;
Lemons and pomegranites "borrowed" from a neighbour who lives on one of our area's "farm sized" blocks.

An exciting weekend spent tripping around Melbourne, no. A weekend spent with my special gang, just hanging, just being, quiet moments, a greatly appreciated extra day together.

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www.photoboother.com.

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It's hard to find good bread, in a supermarket at least, around here. I love real bread, but we don't have anywhere super close where I can just pick up a loaf.

I'm not into grain breads. I can handle it for a sandwich but not for toast, it tastes too much like it's "good for me", if you know what I mean. I prefer a piece of white bread, nice white bread, doused in butter and jam.

Because I can't find a commercial loaf I'm happy with I'm going to tinker with recipes I have until I find a low effort loaf that's good for both toast and sandwiches. Most of the recipes I've used in the past are for heavier, denser loaves and the girls aren't so keen on them. This first attempt is a Simple Milk Loaf from Dan Lepard's book. I'm resisting the desire to slice the crust off hot, it smells so darned good.

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The weather, well what can you say. We're almost at the point of putting on the heater while the ran pours down outside.

Some of my family live in the NE and last time they had floods my eldest brother's house was badly damaged. Mike was with them then and well and they couldn't have managed without him helping them. This time they're sandbagged and ready, but they'll have to manage alone, hopefully they'll come through without damage this time.

Back into bread making around here if the weather stays cool and it's close enough to Easter to start cranking out a few hot cross buns. Yum.