Awesome Play Dough! Step-by-step guide.

This is the second time I make this play dough recipe that I found through a friend on Pinterest.  It's really awesome playdough, nice texture, doesn't feel oily or leave residue on your hands, and lasts really long when stored properly!

Mia and I made some this morning, and I decided to take some piccies along the way.

What you need:
 - 1 cup flour
 - 1 cup water
 - 1/4 cup salt
 - 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
 - 2 teaspoons cream of tartar
 - Food colouring of your choice
 - Saucepan and wooden spoon
 - Little helping hands :-)

What to do:
 Pour in all ingredients - no specific order.

Stir until everything is mixed well.

Once the mixture is mostly clump-free, heat over medium heat.

Stir.  Don't stop stirring.  After a few minutes it will start to clump up.  Don't stress when it looks like it's a bit of a mess and you're not sure how this gooey mixture will ever become play dough!  Just carry on stirring.  I had to switch hands a few times, my arm got quite sore from stirring!

Stir, stir, stir.  Just keep stirring until the play dough is formed - it will form one big clump on the wooden spoon.  (Still quite gooey, it's fine - the kneading gets the texture right!)

Remove from heat, and knead by hand.  It's all warm and squishy, love it! :-)

It makes a nice cricket ball size ball of play dough.

I divided it into two small balls of dough to keep for entertainment when we're at restaurants, and then two bigger pieces to play with at home.

And then...

Play play play, and have lots of fun!

I store them in a plastic sandwich bag tied up, and inside an airtight container, just to be sure.

This is awesome playdough!

Please let me know if you give it a try! :-)

xx

Day 1 on Weight Watchers

I joined the Weight Watchers program yesterday.  It works on a points system - all food has an allocated point value - and I'm allowed to eat 20 points per day.  Veggies have 0 points, so can eat as much of that as I like.  Fruit has a very low point value.  Nuts are high, eeeek!  I like this plan, as it's really very balanced, and easy to do when preparing food for the whole family.

I will attend weekly meetings, where I will get weighed, and the groupleader does a little motivational talk.  I signed up for 12 weeks.

Last year I lost weight very slowly doing it on my own - but at least I did lose.  However, I picked more than half of it up during December! Sob sob.  So hard to lose the damn weight, and then so easy to pick it up again - not fair!

Hopefully the WW program will educate me again about thinking about what I'm eating, why I'm eating, whether I really need it, etc.  And knowing that I have to report to somebody each week and that I've paid for it is extra motivation!

I want to aim to exercise 5 times a week for an hour each time.  I'm trying to incorporate some running into my cardio - but I'm very unfit at this stage!

I want to stop wasting money on weight loss supplements.  These things really don't work.  It really comes down to eating a lil bit less and moving a lil bit more!

Here's to shedding these kg's!
xx

Birthday Party Menu and Piccies

The menu for my three parties was as follows:

10am tea party:
 - scones with cream, jam, cheese and butter
 - cupcakes 
 - sandwiches with fillings: salmon and cream cheese, egg and mayo, and ham and cheese.
 - champagne and orange juice
 - fruit juice
 - variety of tea:  rooibos, ordinary, vanilla chai and cranberry apple tea.

1pm lunch party:
 - spinach and feta quiche, and ham and cheese quiche
 - broccoli and bacon salad
 - peppermint crisp tart
 - chocolate cake
 - champagne
 - wine
 - juice
 - coffee

4pm cocktail party:
 - snack platters containing chicken nuggets, fish smackaroos, smoked sausages, cheese, dip, samoosas, and cherries wrapped in bacon.  Yum yum.
 - wine
 - fruit juice
 - cocktails on demand - my favourite being 'sex on the beach'!

Here are the pics of the preparation and decor:

And pics of my guests!

Birthday Party Weekend!

I had my 30th birthday celebration this past weekend.  I had THREE parties!!  It was fabulous, I had such fun!

The reason why I decided on having three parties, was that when I made my guest list, there were about 24 people on it - and that's too many people to host in one go at our house - and also, when the group is too big, it gets impersonal and I can't really chat to everybody.  And I wanted to specifically have the party at home and do the food myself, and not at a venue.

Therefore - I had a morning tea party at 10am, a lunch party at 1pm, and a cocktail party at 4pm!
It worked out so well.  My inlaws came for the weekend, and they love these kind of things, parties, catering, people, etc!

I'll share more about my menu and some pics in the next post. :-)

My sister designed my invite, I think she's very clever!
xx

Happy Birthday to Me!

Today I turned 30!

I had a fabulous celebration - and it's only halfway!  Yesterday I invited some family to come for coffee and cake (and champagne!), today I spent a wonderful day with Wyn and Mia, and then next weekend I will have my 30th birthday party celebration with friends.  Spoilt!

My big prezzie from Wyn was my Canon camera - love love love it!  Got cash from inlaws and Tup, will still get prezzie from my folks when I see them later this week. Got a teapot from Mia.  Pretty coasters from Ouma Popppie. A very special prezzie from a friend was a box with 30 suckers in it - "30 sucks!" Haha! And beautiful earrings along with the box. Vase, pretty bowl and beautiful heart decor from family.  I'm just a lucky bugger!  Already done shopping with some of the cash I got - bought myself a digital photo frame and some clothes.  Super chuffed with the photo frame!!

Wyn and Mia made me a beautiful card - I will cherish it forever. So so special!

This morning I got coffee and a cupcake in bed, and then Wyn made brekkie for us.  After that we caught the Gautrain to Rosebank.  First time on the Gautrain - it was lots of fun!  Felt like we were overseas for a day!  Rosebank was lots of fun, I enjoyed the vibe, and we found the rooftop market, which was supercool.  We had a divine lunch at Piza e Vino, before heading back home.  Luckily Mia had a short nap in her pram while we were walking around.  Then spent an hour snoozing on my bed with Mia - pure bliss!

I received so many phone calls and messages - these blessings will last a lifetime for sure!
It felt like a birthday - just the way a birthday should! :-)
xx

Lucky 2013, Mia!

 

Happy New Year, Mia Jill!

I believe 13 is a lucky number - and I hope it's going to be a lucky year for you, filled with joy, laughter, excitement, adventure, and lots and lots of love.

So many big things ahead of you for this year:  You will soon start sleeping in a big bed and not in a cot anymore.  You will become potty trained, so that you don't need to wear nappies anymore.  You will bid farewell to your dummy.  And you might even start going to school! Oh, my big big girl.

We are with you every step of the way - always remember this! 

We love you so so much.

xx

Here's to 2013!

Magical Christmas 2012!

We had a special Christmas with the inlaws in Bethlehem.  Mia loved the Christmas tree, the lights, the presents - it was such a magical atmosphere!

She wasn't very keen on Father Christmas - who sounded like Oupi, but didn't quite look like him!  She loved ripping the wrapping paper off her presents, and she was super spoilt with lots of wonderful prezzies.

xx

Pietersburg Weekend

We had such a special weekend with my folks in Pietersburg.  Mia is so blessed with so much love! 

We went to the garden centre - Mia LOVED the plants, water features and concrete animals!  Went to the petshop - I nearly left with a puppy.  Mia loved the lil bunnies.  We jumped on a trampoline, and ate ice cream, and looked at donkeys and tortoises.

We swam, braai'ed lots, and really just enjoyed each other's company.

Mia got to open her big Xmas prezzie - a little miniature kitchen!  She adored it, and spent the rest of the weekend "cooking in oven".  It was too big for us to bring home - my folks will bring it when they come here again.

Special times, special memories - I just love this time of year!
xx

I will kiss you forever!

My darling Mia,

You're going through a stage (well, I hope it's just a phase!!!) where you don't want us to kiss you.  You get quite agitated when we do!  If I kiss your face, you claw and scratch at your own face, and shout, "Noooo, not face! Only leg!" And then you offer your leg for me to kiss.

Or else we have to bribe you for a kiss - "Want a choccie? Kiss mommy first!" "Want blommetjie shoes on? Kissy first!" "Want to watch Barney? Kissy first!" Just so that we can get a few precious, special, priceless smooches every now and then!

The latest, if your family try and kiss you, or touch you, or rub your back - you say, "Just look!"  I love this - please always tell this to anybody that tries to kiss you or touch you - except, that is, when it's your mommy!  :-D

I have to let you know this:  I will kiss you forever.  Whether you like it or not...  I will kiss you forever!

You are so, so beautiful, special, amazing, precious, and kissable!
I will kiss you forever and ever.

xx

Yum yum, iced marie biscuits!

Mia had so much fun today, icing marie biscuits and decorating them!

I mixed three bowls of icing sugar, so that she could have different colours.  And then gave her mini marshmallows, smarties and vermicilli to decorate them with.

It's messy...  But so much fun!
Now we have something to take with on our weekend to visit Granny and Oupa!

Mia's Advent Calendar House

Mia got given this beautiful wooden house, as her first Christmas prezzie from my sister-in-law.  It has 24 little drawers, to put sweeties in, and then track the countdown to Christmas.

I'm having lots of fun this year, making a big deal out of all the festivities with Mia.  She loves it!  She loves all the decorations in the shops, she loves our "Father Christmas Tree", and if I ask her what does Father Xmas say, she says, "Ho ho! Meeeeerry Christmas!"

I wasn't sure if this little countdown would work - she'd want to open all the drawers in one go! Or she might throw a bit of a wobbly when we tell her to only have ONE each day...  But she's taken to the concept so well!!  It's our little ritual after supper time.  Wyn takes the house off the shelf, puts it infront of her, shows her which drawer to open, and then puts the house away again. 

She happily enjoys her one sweetie, and then accepts that she must wait until the next supper time!
 :-)
I love the concentration on her little face as she opens her sweetie - she insists on doing it all herself.

 

Fun times!

xx

Mia grew some grass!

Mia got a gift from my mom, from the garden centre.  It's a whole little kit with everything you need to grow some grass - the soil, the seeds, the lil pot.  Mia had lots of fun putting it all together.  She lost interest during the two weeks that the grass took to grow.  Then stared in amazement when the lil pot had "long hair"!  So we trimmed his hair - she held the scissor with two hands and I helped her control it.  So cute! :-)

Pine Lake Holiday 2012

We had a blissful week in White River.  It was so special to spend so much quality time with my hubby and lil girl!

The 3.5hour car trip went really well - thanks to the portable dvd player!  Altho the next thing we need to get Mia, is a pair of earphones - not fun for us to have to listen to Barney, Noddy and Lollos the whole way! 

We had nice weather on the Saturday, and we swam a bit - Mia just loved it.  The rest of the week was really overcast, rainy, and sometimes quite chilly - until our last day, Thursday - and we were able to swim again and enjoy the sunshine.

I packed enough "mobile-entertainment" for Mia so that we could eat out a couple of times.  Had a divine sushi lunch one day, and Mia coloured in, played with playdough, and ate her chicken strips.  Another day we went to Mugg&Bean for brekkie, and Mia was super good there too.  Yay!

Wednesday night was date night - we bathed Mia and put her to bed, and then one of the housekeepers stayed at our chalet while Wyn and I went for a special dinner, it was great to just sit and chat, relax, share a bottle of wine and enjoy delicious food.

Mia watched her first-ever movie:  Madagascar!  With a few minor interuptions here and there where she decided to play a little bit, but for the most part, she lay on the couch and snuggled with me - heavenly!  She laughed out loud at Alex the lion when he rolled out onto the beach and tried to get the sand off his tongue - so cute!

I borrowed a rain jacket for Mia from a friend, and just as well I did - we went for strolls in the rain twice!

There's a nice lil kiddies playground at the resort, so we often went there for Mia to play.

We stopped off at a farmyard, but it was really rundown and not in a great condition - but we let Mia quickly feed the bunnies, look at the horses and goats, and then we got out of there.

A highlight of our yearly holiday for me, is our visit to the chocolatier at Casterbridge in White River, Shautamy.  Oh gosh, I love that chocolate.  They have a chocolate fountain of melted chocolate - I am in heaven when I eat that!

Overall Mia was really good - she still woke up early in the mornings, around 6am, once or twice she spoilt us and slept until closer to 7 - but then we put the portable dvd player on the bedside table so that she could watch Noddy and we could have a lil lie-in!
She was a bit attached to me tho, often when Wyn wanted to help out, Mia wouldn't let him and said "mamma sal!"  But other than that, I can't complain.

The holiday went by way too fast - a week really does just pass in a flash.
xx

Christmas Tree 2012

Oh I love the festive season!

We got into the Christmas spirit today by putting up our Christmas tree.

Our Christmas Tree Traditions are:
 - Wear festive colours - red is a good choice!
 - Wear a festive hat
 - Listen to Christmas music - my favourite is Celine Dion's album, These Are Special Times
 - Nala must take part too!

Wyn is not so keen on my "funny ideas" - so he just takes piccies for us.  :-)

xx