Sexy cake mixer

I have a soft spot for KitchenAid stand mixers. My mixer was the first thing I ever bought with my first paycheck at my first "big girl" job after graduating from college. It makes me so happy to see it in a little place of honor in my pantry.

But move over white KitchenAid...there's a new, much sexier mixer in town. In celebration of the 10 year anniversary of their "Cook for the Cure" partnership, Susan G. Komen and KitchenAid have released a new stand mixer in the funnest color to date - raspberry Ice.


You don't seem to be able to buy this beauty anywhere just yet but you can enter for a chance to win one here.

How hot would that thing look in an all white/gray/black kitchen?

It's not over yet...

Phew, the day is yet to be over, but I'm tired already!  After doing the usual chore list - we set out for a lovely woodland stroll.  This time I took my camera - woohooo!

The aim was to go stick hunting to help us build our scarecrow, fairy garden and mini sailing rafts. As you can see from the pictures, mission accomplished :)

Kira had fun too - she was even laughing ;o)

Lunch when we got home, consisting of Malt Loaf and Jam Tarts, rather scrumptious. Chelsea then went off to the kitchen to make cupcakes which we will be decorating later. There are always willing volunteers to help with the cleaning up afterwards...

Tiegan meanwhile was reading...

and not even cake mixture can lure her away from a good book, she does make me smile :o)

First cupcake of the day.

More will follow...

Another good day...

My day started at 6am, when I donned coat, hat and gloves, and headed out the door with Chelsea.  Have I told you that she has a morning paper round? Well now you know. She doesn't do it alone - the mornings are too dark, and to be fair, the bag is too bloomin' heavy! So, either myself or Lee accompanies her, with dog and often another child in tow :o)  Actually, I enjoy the early morning walk.  I love the feeling of walking the streets before many awake. I enjoy the quietness, the lack of traffic, the good morning welcomes from fellow dog walkers as we meet. It's nice :o)

This morning it was cold though! Not that it was very noticeable as we were walking.  But when we got home, into the warmth - wow, what a difference. 

Once we had gathered ourselves together again, and recovered from our morning exercise, we started "doing stuff".  The children read books, watched documentaries on War, did drawings, talked (alot!), played on their playstation, worked on their lapbooks, and visited various websites (gaming and "educational").  Tiegan went to Brownies, and Chelsea baked a delicious cake :o) 

Doesn't it look yummy?  And mmmmm, it tastes divine.  I ate it still warm from the oven, with a cuppa, and it was just delicious.  I imagine it to be equally as nice with custard as a desert.

Chef Chelsea assures me that the recipe is as follows:

300g Self-Raising flour.
200g Caster Sugar.
200g Butter
3 Eggs.
2 Ripe Bananas.
2 Handfuls of Raisins.
2 Drops of Vanilla Essence.
Icing Sugar to Decorate.

Cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy.
Add the eggs, and whisk.
Add the vanilla essence and flour, stir.
Mash the bananas and fold into the cake mix.
Bake in the oven for 15-20 minutes until cooked throughout.

Enjoy!

{Photos and School Madness}

At last, the promised pictures. First the armwarmers - I did these like simple gloves with just the thumb hole. It was my first attempt at cable knitting, and I'm really chuffed with the results and the quick knitting time. Next time I will make them a bit longer.

Here is a photo of the Chocolate concrete cake; scrumptious with custard. Hard on the outside, deliciously soft on the inside.

Needless to say we have none left now.

I have had a nice couple of shopping trips recently - buying things that I never usually bother with. I have bought new make-up, costume jewellery, and 2 hats. I love hats. I used to wear them alot when I had long hair but when it was shorter hats never seemed to suit, so I stopped wearing them and stupidly got rid. Now my hair is growing again and (although it's still purple) hats seem to suit me again - well I think so anyway ;o) Chelsea is just adoring this new found mum as she is thoroughly enjoying doing all the "girly stuff" together, something that we have never really done before apart from the occasional painted nails session. As vain as it sounds, and as much as I hate saying it, the more I "look after" myself, the more self confident and better about myself I feel. I have always been a take me as you find me sort of person, and to some extent I still am, but I have been making a bit of an effort these past few weeks with my hair and make up, and feel a whole lot better for it. I have never gone the "whole hog" with the make up, never used foundation and all that stuff - just a bit of eyeshadow and eyeliner and maybe a touch of blusher and lippie. Amazing that so little can do so much :o)

As for the school madness in the title of this post, well I've just been listening to my local radio station when they reported a story about school children being threatened with exclusion if they have hair gel on their hair. ???!!!???!!!

More can be read here : http://www.geminiexeter.co.uk/Article.asp?id=902636

{Fathers Day}

Unfortunately, Fathers Day hasn't been very successfully celebrated this year. The children couldn't do their usual breakfast in bed for daddy routine, as my own dad came over at something ridiculous o'clock and got us all out of bed. Why? Because the men are working on our car today. Bless 'em.

I had invited my parents over for dinner, so the morning was spent preparing the roast and vegetables. I then got on and did the 4 baskets of ironing that I had successfully managed to ignore all week. I keep promising myself that I will keep on top of the ever growing piles by doing a little ironing each day, but I never do. Then I am full of regret when I have to spend 2 hours doing it all in one sitting. Ho hum. One day I will learn.

Other than that excitement, we have had a fairly pleasant day. Whilst the men have been out working oh so hard under the car, Tiegan and Callum had reading time with big bro. No, not the channel 4 version I'm afraid, just dear Joe.

I uploaded a door hanger on my craft blog that I had made as part of a blog challenge team I'm a member of. Whilst working on the laptop, I couldn't resist taking these pictures of my little handsome chap - looking rather battered at the moment with an impressive looking battle scar.




and one of Tiegan looking deep in thought...


Of course Fathers Day hasn't been completely forgotten in the household. Yesterday the girls and I (with Callums assistance of course!) baked Chocolate Chip Oat Cookies and Coconut Slices. Both turned out to be rather yummy and we only just managed to save some for the Daddys. I should have taken photos of them, but I forgot, so you will have to make do with the wrapping:

My dad went to pick up my mum just after lunch time, and the afternoon was spent playing games and chatting.

There was lots of giggles and laughter.




and Kira loved the extra attention.




I have started to implement a no TV during the day rule, as I was finding that the children were watching more and more each day. I'm not against TV as such, but got a little frustrated when I noticed that the children weren't bothering to think of what else they could do, but just went and switched on the TV instead. I really think today has benefitted hugely from this new rule, and noticed that Joseph in particular was much more sociable. He will often take himself off to watch the small set in the Dining Room whilst the rest of us are in the living room. I wouldn't mind if he was going to watch something special, but he just sits aimlessly flicking through the channels before checking out what is available to watch on the replay service. Today though was very different, and we all sat together chatting. One of the children suggested we play a game of hangman, which we did and I hugely enjoyed playing along. We had quite a laugh together, it has done me the world of good :o) My mum and dad looked as if they were enjoying it too, and as simple as it was, it was such a special family time.

I captured these pictures of Tiegan today and I just love them.