Next stop - exams!

Well I made it through Speech Day yesterday with damp eyes and a little tissue dabbing and an ache in my heart. I am so proud of myself for not giving in and completely sobbing , think maybe the fact the 2 women sitting to my left were was enough to stop me! I don't like change and this one means life will never be quite the same, school brings a routine, a normality. My son does not share my feelings, he is (and has been for most if not all of the year, in fact he has never enjoyed school) ready to move out into the big wide world and start the next adventure in his life and after all the pomp and ceremony yesterday I think I am too. It provided me with the closure I needed and besides I still have the 'horsey one' at school for another 2 years. Heaven help me when she finishes!!! It was a lovely day and as I said full of 'pomp and ceremony' and tradition. I know some don't enjoy this but I love it. The Australian anthem, the school hymn , the prayers, the addresses, the prize giving and the various choir performances. Towards the end the whole school performed 'Dare to dream', what an amazing experience for us parents, it gave me goosebumps. As the year 12's stood before us as we all sang the hymn 'God be with you till we meet again' and then filed out to our applause I was so proud of these young men and women and just know that they will all make the most of the opportunities they have been given.



At the following afternoon tea I took the opportunity to take photos of HS and his friends but not having asked their permission to post them thought I should go with the family shot (few and far between!). The 'horsey one' has promised to photoshop it in photography this week as SH's vest seems to have taken on a life of it's own. I would prefer her to photoshop me thin but she won't be in it!!

Sorry this post won't be of interest to most of you but I need to document it for the future, such an important day in our family. Off to work at the boarding house today, lets hope the girls are well behaved and not demanding!!! Got magazines, gilmore girls, chocolate and knitting packed!!!

Just because....

This photo is 'just because'!!! Just because I like it. This is the new skirt I wore last night, a little 'out there' for me but I enjoyed wearing it and these are the indulgent shoes I bought in the US last year (another useless fact about me - I HATE buying shoes and only buy them when the ones I have fall apart!!!), I love these shoes and wore them for the first time last night, they were so comfy!!!
Dinner last night was lovely, full of formality! The teachers spoke about all the kids individually and you really got the sense they had grown to know them well. One of the male teachers had all the Mum's sniffing as he cried through his speech.
Another big day, HS is off to a breakfast bbq at school early this morning as a 'pirate'! Apparently that is what he wanted to be when he grew up! I am helping prepare the afternoon tea this morning, making sandwiches and cutting slices then it is speech day this afternoon. I need to go and find a handbag that will fit a box of tissues!!

More baking!

As I think I have mentioned before we bake most mornings before school for the lunchboxes and after school treats. One day we may get more organised and do all our baking on the weekend but that hasn't happened for a long while! We generally stick to our easy favorites but last week I had a 'memory'!!! of a cookie we hadn't had for a long while. I went searching and luckily it was easy enough to 'whip' up!!! It is a photocopy of a recipe out of a magazine passed on by a friend who made a batch of them as a gift for me at least 8 years ago. They have the name of 'Gil's giant peanut butter cookies' and best part of all for me is that you put 2 squares of chocolate onto the top of them (4 if you can fit it and are being indulgent!!). The trick is to only use good quality chocolate - luckily Cadbury has been on sale a lot lately ($2.15 per block at Woollies this week, cheaper than cooking chocolate!). They are not truly lunchbox cookies, a little too indulgent but this is a big week for us so I made an exception and I am SO glad I did!!! Yum!




Boarders dinner went well last night. Tonight is the year 12 service and dinner. It is a dressy affair so I have a new outfit and am all organised. I have plenty of tissues packed as this 'whole end of an era' is making me somewhat unsettled and nostalgic!!! Yesterday was casual clothes day so the year 12's decided to wear their pjs! HS left the house in his Mountain Dew pants (the best buy from our trip to the States last year) and his ugg boots, one of which the zip had gone so he 'sewed' his foot into it and then proceeded to swelter!! I had great delight in saying 'I told you so!!!!!'

Phew! Just made it!!

For those of you that have never seen any evidence of me both starting and finishing a project - 'Do Not Look Away'!!!!!
Tonight is the annual Boarders Dinner at school to farewell the year 12 students before they finish school on Friday. As I work as an MOD in the girls boarding house every 2nd weekend I am invited to the dinner. Each student has a paper bag with their name on it that the other students and the staff can place gifts, messages and often 'study inducing' chocolate into. These are presented to them on the night. For the last 2 years I have wanted to do something a little different but was never sure what, this year I especially wanted to as these students are close to my heart being my son's peers (yes he finishes up as well on Friday but I am trying to ignore that at the moment!!). I saw these little 'Lucky Owls' on Cardygirls blog so bought the pattern at least 3 months ago,got the pattern and thought yes I can do that and promptly did no more, after all I had plenty of time!!! Looked at fabrics in my stash a few weeks ago to make one to make sure it worked and still got no further! Well Sunday was the day when I realised I had to make time!! Although I had planned to use bright colors I made the first one in black and white and was so happy with it I made all the others in the same fabric. I was able to get all 15 (yes 15!!!!) out of 2 fat quarters. They were SO easy and I think they turned out really well. I followed the pattern exactly , even to the point of buying the glue recommended (fantastic, so glad I did) and using dental floss to do the gathering. Of course by yesterday afternoon I still had to do beaks and eyes and this is where I started to become a little unstuck (actually poor choice of word) as I had glue from one end of me to the other!!! All finished last night in time for a photo shoot in the light and delivery tonight. I did manage to have one hiccup, I miscounted so HS misses out but I am sure he will enjoy 'study inducing' chocolate instead!!!




The pattern is 'Lucky Owls' by Jane MacDonald, available on www.bebejapanese-textiles.com The service was fantastic!

Old favorites!

I have had to make multiple 'slices' to take to horse, school or other events in the last few weeks, none of which we have had the enjoyment of eating at home!!! I have made my 'old favorites', a hedgehog and a mars bar slice, both of which I can almost make with my eyes closed and in an easy half an hour or less. Luckily they always seem to be enjoyed and appreciated. Does anyone else have their 'old favorites'???

A few ticks!

Did I get much achieved yesterday??? Nowhere near as much as I would of liked but yes and frankly these days anything crossed off a list is a bonus! I did get the sewing machine out and yes I did use it. All is going according to plan there, the deadline is Wednesday so not long to wait for photos. I will be spending quite a few more hours tonight crafting but so far I am really happy with the result.
A quick dash down to the shops for groceries and a card reader and I just happened to pop into a 'bargain' shop in town that always has lots of baskets. I have a problem area wherever I have that pile of stuff that needs to be dealt with. At the moment it lives on top of the filing cabinet. Well I found a cream basket that does the job and that area looks better already. Of course the photo is not fantastic , sorry!

For dinner we had our home made pizzas. SH makes a fantastic pizza dough and then we all make our own pizza with just what toppings we like. I have half left to take to work for lunch today - Yum - roasted pumpkin, mushrooms, tomato, onion and capsicum, not too adventurous!! We try to make enough for a few balls of the dough to be left in the fridge for after school pizzas during the week

Back to work this morning so best get another load of washing on and iron some uniforms!

Doesn't time fly???

Couldn't believe how long it had been since I last posted when I hopped on this morning! Where on earth does the time go? I seem to be getting more and more time poor. Not really sure why I decided to get back into the blogging rhythm now when the week ahead will be one of the busiest for a long time, it will need to run with military precision!!! More on that as the week goes on! Murphy's law but I decided to post and now my camera reader refuses to work and the cord is missing. It will be an emergency trip to buy one this morning, can't do too many posts without photos! Today is my first day at home for a while and my only day at home for a while so I need to use every minute. The rest of the house is still sleeping so I am enjoying the peace and quiet and trying to tick things off my list - which I must say is very very long!! Am about to get my ironing out of the way while I watch the 7am news and then the sewing machine is going to get a workout, lets hope I can remember how to use it!!!