Crunch

I saw a box of croutons in the supermarket a while ago, they were over $4.00 for a very small box and nowhere in the contents did I see "bread".

We had some gorgeous bread on Saturday night, but didn't eat it all. Some turned into breadcrumbs, the rest was cut into cubes, tossed in olive oil, salt and finely chopped garlic and toasted in a moderate oven for 10 minutes. No additional cost, only additional yum to tonight's salad dinner.

4 days left

until I turn 40. I only have four more days when I can say that I'm in my 30's.

We celebrated with Geoff's family on Saturday night, at my brother in laws house. They have a lovely house and pool, but for some reason I didn't feel inclined to strip down to my togs and go for a dip. I imbibed cool liquids instead of bathing in them, because that's what you do when you're almost 40.

I have 4 days to make a list as Christie did on her birthday las year. There's plenty I still want to do, I've only just scratched the surface. In terms of life achievements though, I feel I've already done my best work.

11 years

later and he still buys the most thoughtful gifts of anyone I've ever known.

What was I doing this time 11 years ago, gosh was I eating breakfast, or perhaps already getting my hair done? In terms of remembering all the details it seems a long time ago, but in terms of a life shared, it feels so brief. Thank goodness lifetimes are long.

xxx

What's Hot + What's Not

Hot

I'm loving these illustrations by Linotte. I haven't purchased any ...... yet.

I'm loving pedicures. I am a come lately to such things, but go regularly now and have to say, having nice clean, neat, painted toenails (something I would NEVER find time to do myself) is becoming a necessary indulgence.

I've just started the third book in the Millennium series. I'm even reading in bed, which is huge, given how much I love my sleep.

What's Not

Taking Leila to a paedeatric dermatologist this morning, for a problem that is not really a problem any more, but that's not really a surprise given it took about 4 months to get in to see him. Having HUGE hassles finding the place due to numbering changing sides of the road in Kew, seeing him for about 7 minutes to hear nothing I didn't already know, $160.00 thank you.

Ironing. I'm no good at it and I don't like it. I resist ironing anything that can be folded. There does come a point, however, when you can't ignore the overflowing basket(s). I've ironed this morning, like a good little woman, I watched the whole of Dr Phil while I did - that's an hour of ironing!

The squabbling that has become a regular occurrence in hour house. The girls are at each other all the time. I was going so insane this morning I walked out and slammed the door shut, went for a quick walk around the court, breathing fast and deep through the nostrils, before coming back and saying that I wouldn't tolerate it any more. The little one winds the big one up no end, but she has her moments too. I have 3 older brothers, the nearest is 9 years older, so I didn't really do that sibling thing - any tips for survival?

From our garden

I'm always more enthusiastic about the summer garden. So far this year we have strawberries, 4 type of tomatoes, eggplants, zucchinis, cucumbers, peas, beans, capsicums and basil. I'm sure I can squeeze in a bit more....

Soft seat

This has been on my to-do list for ages. We spend a lot of time on the front verandah between now and March. It's comfy enough, but I do like a soft seat. Foam from Clarke Rubber was a surprising $41.00 - I thought that quite expensive. Material from IKEA around $26.00 - gorgeous heavy canvas. Not a completely neat job - I wanted something I could get off easily enough to wash - which meant an opening on the long side rather than the short to avoid fighting to get the foam back in each time. I used large press studs because they were to hand, doing it again I'd give valcro a whirl.

Overall verdict - quite pleased.

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRGGGGHHHH

On a tip from Claire I signed up for the nanowrimo for November. I have gotten out of the discipline of writing for, well far too long, tonight I was motivated. A great idea, the words poured out. Unfortunately I didn't read the instructions well enough and after typing directly into their word count screen, promptly lost my first 250 words. I LOVED those words and now I can't get them back. The anguish of it all - they'll never be that good again, thank god I didn't leave it until I'd done more.