Learning to make Arincini
I have enjoyed making chocolate tarts and lemon tarts since the school holidays. I’ve given most of them away and even thrown some out that didn’t go to plan. I’m ready to move to the next thing I want to learn how to make on my hitlist…. arincini.
I love rice. It is my favourite food. If I get sick, I crave fried rice. If I want to comfort myself I make risotto. I read a beautiful post about food today:Food Memories: Jill Dupliex. It reminded me of the delicious rice pudding my nana would make that we’d eat with golden syrup and cream. Delicious.
I know the value of rice since Roger Green’s Feng Shui course, which included some Macrobiotic food as one of the branches of feng shui. I remember enjoying a rice ball at the ‘Wild Rice Cafe’. When I heard about arincini, I knew I’d love it.
Darin and I made the risotto together on Thursday night. Asha had friends coming over Friday night so I had some victims to test my food on lined up. I also planned to have brushetta which I have pretty well handled now, just in case it was really bad. Darin fortunately had the night off so he helped me heaps with both and they were yummy. We had the kids and J(8) wouldn’t go near it, but Asha and her mates liked it. I heated up the leftovers tonight for dinner -not bad.
Next time though I want to make the risotto a bit wetter and put more mozzarella in the middle. Still I’m happy with my first try.
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Saturn on the Move
Saturn has been in Virgo since September 2007. Last night I had a flick through my blog posts to check out what changes were around then. It was when my Pa died and Andy went for his holiday to Tasmania that turned into a permanent move:-), big changes indeed! I applied and got a leadership position at school around that time, which is more fitting since Saturn was in my career/work house. Saturn is about hard work, discipline and rules. It rules Capricorn so it’s not an energy I should be too unfamiliar with, having several points on my chart in Capricorn.
Saturn is moving (tomorrow I think) into Libra. I can’t say I’m sad about it to be honest. However it’s moving into my zone of other people, friendships and socialising so I wonder what that’s going to look like. Apparently Saturn is exhalted in Libra which I believe means, is one of the better signs for Saturn to occupy, it’s at it’s best. If tonight was anything to go by it will be a good thing. I’ve just spent the evening laughing and sharing chocolate tart with Asha and Rhonda, which was a hoot!
It was last in Libra in my lifetime from 1980 – 1983, my last years in secondary school! It was also there briefly late last year, but then retrograded back to Virgo, and now moves into Libra, not to return to Virgo for another 29-30 years (being the length of time it takes for Saturn to get through all the signs).
Mystic Medusa has been preparing for ages but recently (and hilariously) Until Saturn in Libra… (I probably should have posted this last night) and then briefly about what to do Saturn in Lib is the Perfect time to….
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Pyjama’s, Cancerian’s and Babies
Today I put my pj’s under my pillow after I made my bed. I’m sure I haven’t done that since I was a kid. I was actually amused when I thought about how I’d done it when I was a kid and then not ever since I left home. They have usually been left on the floor or draped across the bed, on the bathroom floor etc. It’s not a bad idea… I get it now! I asked Darin if he did the PJ’s under the pillow thing when he was a kid and yes he did too. Did you?
I visited one of my Cancerian friends tonight. I have decided that my female cancerian friends have more power tools than most men I know. They are capable around the home and can achieve any home improvement project with apparent ease. Not only are they the caretakers of their family but their homes as well. They can certainly do it themselves. I am always well fed in their homes and comfortable to be me.
My weekend has been great so far. On Friday we got the good news about mum’s tests and I think that has really topped everything else off. My kids have a new sister. It has created huge excitement. Amelie was born on Tuesday. It was kind of weird for me. How do you behave when your ex husband has a new baby. I swung between absolute excitement for my children and reminding myself that it was none of my business really. A big part of me wanted to rush out to the hospital and have a cuddle of my kids new sister… but really that’s probably not appropriate. It would be imposing I imagine. I am really happy for Shane and Di though. I know they will enjoy her and she will be a celebrated addition to the family.
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A Little Ray of Sunshine –
This was one of the songs I used in the clip for Asha’s 21st. I love this song. One of my students used it in a video clip she made in my IT class last year and I remembered what a great tribute it was to our children. It’s true, they are a ‘ray of sunshine’, I am looking forward to seeing Darin’s kids on the weekend. This is an older version than the one I used, but you get the gist!
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If you leave me, can I come too?
Tom went today. He’s flying back to the tropical paridise he calls home early in the morning and staying with Asha tonight. He was very happy to be going too. He wrote on his blog (that has been VERY neglected whilst he’s been up there) that he has promised himself not to return in winter again. That, I must say is just rubbing it in! His braces however mean he will probably have to. I’m guessing he won’t stay as long though. I could tell he was itching to get back there. I am happy for him, but I wonder if I shouldn’t try life in a warmer climate. Only kidding, I’m very happy here with my seasons:-)
I went back to school in a bit of a numb state and was glad to hear the bell go at the end of the day. I have come home and completed a fair bit of stuff that I had neglected while he was here. I think by the end of the week my varied climate life will have returned to it’s natural order.
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I Can be Taught:-)
I had a beautiful Mothers Day. Asha delighted me with her presence and her presents. Her card was wicked, and so much so that she waited until my dad left before she gave it to me. I loved it … as she had predicted. She is the best daughter.
I cooked lunch yesterday for my mum and my daughter. It was a gift to my self esteem, traditionally being a shabby cook! Darin had to work, so I couldn’t rely on him to put it together for me as he so brilliantly does. I was really pleased with my result. The food was great and all hot at the same time, nothing burnt and no stressed cranky feelings.
I have watched him over the time we’ve been together and I noticed he does a fair bit of preparation in advance and then times it beautifully and calmly in the final hour. So I imitated his style, getting up early and preparing everything and then I just calmly could focus on setting the table and being calm and happy. That is the thing about cooking for others that has always defeated me. I have felt really stressed about it and by the time those who are to be fed arrive, I am not really in the mood for conversation. I hate that. It defeats the whole purpose!
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Blissful Weekend
Just when I thought winter had crept in, this weekend was a sunny, welcome one. It kick-started for me on Friday when Asha surprised me at school bringing a box of delicious muffins for me for lunch. I got to show her my new office and we caught up. She popped around after school and I am really pleased she is going to be around for a couple of weeks while she does her placement here.
Darin got home early so we had a great Friday night together. The kids came Saturday morning and I have enjoyed their company for the weekend. I love hearing them talk to their nanny in Sydney on Skype. Technology is so fantastic for keeping people in touch. We went to the park and enjoyed the weather. We fed the ducks and they had another fish, this time no carps lost their lives. It brightens my time having these three little people around with their unique personalities.
I talked to Tom tonight. He sounds well. I saw some photos on facebook taken by one of his friends who went to visit. I miss him. This is probably the longest time I have gone without seeing him. He won’t be home till after his birthday now.
This week will be busy. We have a Marist basketball carnival at school so there will be plenty on. I feel very happy at work now. I got a laptop from school on Thursday. Now I can leave mine at home and not have to lug one around as much. I think the improvement in technology at school has also added to my enjoyment. I have been waiting for this for so long. On Friday one of my students created an excellent documentary for his Local History project. It excites me to think what they will be able to do now they have the tools. I think there is greater independence and engagement in their learning.
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Lazy Day
Today I have achieved not a thing. I have totally been recreational. We shopped this morning. A leisurely stroll. I bought some sun glasses. I have been wearing Tom’s mirrored thingys since the swimming carnival (when I snapped mine and had Darin delivered me a spare pair belonging to him) and as much as the students at school say they are cool when I wear them on yard duty, I feel silly in them.
I watched two chick flicks when Darin went to work. Asha came over and got a foot massage in the middle of ‘The Proposal’. She threw me off the predicable plot, which made it more enjoyable. It was funny because I have a massage oil and a body wash that is in the same kind of bottle and I mistook the bottles. So we washed her feet first:-). It was funny and kind of appropriate because it’s Easter. She went to my new hairdresser and her hair looked great. After she left I watched ‘Julia and Julie’, it was lovely. I totally agree with her sentiments about butter:-)
I bumped into an old friend today that I started teaching with 10 years ago. She has two children now. I am so delighted because when I worked with her that was her big dream, to have kids and she really didn’t think it would happen. It did. She looks very happy and alive.
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Small children, small problems
I remember when my kids were little. I was tired. The sleeplessness blew everything out of proportion and I felt my life was over at times. In all seriousness, it was never going to be the same again, so I was partly on to what was going on! Many of the older wiser people around me would say to me small kids, small problems. My pa, my dad and my elderly neighbour Laurie I remember clearly, saying this to me. I felt like screaming at the time. I felt unravelled and as though they had no idea. Now I can see what they mean.
Tonight I collected the kids while Darin was at work. The middle child, E (5) has started school this year and she was obviously overtired (almost the end of first term) and upset when her mum left her with me at Karate, which is J (8)’s new activity. My own experience with my kids told me that it would be fleeting and I was ok with it. I couldn’t help but feel for her mum though. I remember clearly that separation stuff. It felt so heartbreaking to leave a crying child, begging for you to stay. It happened at childcare, at the start of school for one of my children and sometimes when they went to thier dad’s or when they were coming back to me from thier dad’s. It was hard. Now it is me doing the crying as I wave goodbye to my ‘adult’ child.
When your kids are small, they wear you out. You worry about all kinds of things. It is nothing compared to the powerlessness of having adult children. I miss them. I am proud of them. Even when they are home, it will never be the same. I will never sleep that sleep knowing they are safe in thier beds, no matter how tiring the day has been or how late it was when they eventually got there.
I enjoy being able to put a smile on Darin’s kids’ faces with a chocolate or a trip to McDonalds. It’s still tiring, but I have perspective now and it makes all the difference. I love and appreciate the simple things like kissing a hurt better, a tickle or a rhyme to light up a small chocolate stained face. Tonight we watched ‘Free Willy 3′ …ah the memories…. and they are not so big they scoff at me shedding a tear:-).
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Drenched
I got soaked walking from my office to my car after school today. I was saturated to the bone and the coolness of that has stayed with me all night. I have been super active and handled lots of tasks that I’ve been too hot and bothered to attend to all week. I was on bus duty tonight and watched the dark clouds get closer and closer until as the last bus pulled in the rain dropped on the few remaining in the yard.
I’ve been back at school over a week. I like it. The senior campus is different and so far in a good way. I feel very indulged to have an air conditioned office. The students have been most pleasant. I am glad I took this risk no matter how threatening it seemed at times.
On a personal level this week has been crazy. Unmentionable happenings have settled, and all I can say is I am glad they are behind me. Issues that have been lingering since April last year have been resolved this week, but not without a share of worry. I am just glad everything has turned out as I hoped and I feel a level of freedom from stress that I haven’t felt for a while.
My daughter has found and began to settle into a new place, which is another source of relief for me. I hope to visit her on Sunday. We have Darin’s kids this weekend, yet I am sure they won’t miss me for a few hours on Sunday! I really can’t wait to see her new place and make sure she doesn’t need anything.
I’ve changed ISPs this week so anyone emailing to my optusnet address … Í won’t get it! You can use the contact form on this blog if you want to find me:-)
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