Saturday ...is... Caption...Day!

You know the drill.... Dazzle me with your Awesomeness and Caption this Here photograph

Head over to Mammasaurus to Caption some moooorrreeee! Or search #SatCap on Twitter :) 

They do NOT get this from me

It may surprise you that I am not an 'Animal-y' person. I quite like cats. And Wild animals. But that's about it. I don't do any sort of crawly creature with a tail, ie: mouse/hamster/rat & I'm scared of dogs. 

On the flip side, my children are Animal MAD. Dogs/Cats/Horses/Iguana's - you name it, they want it.

My eldest daughter has been horse riding since the age of 2... She turned 12 this week and is still as crazy about it as ever.

The last time I tried to get on a horse, I was about her age.  I went off with my horsie friend Laura to go riding on her horse she owned at the time.  Bragging all the way about how my sister loved horses and we were really horsey people, convincing her how much I LOVED horses & that I was such a PRO rider.............

Really?! I was sh*tting myself all the way there.

I popped myself up onto the 'hoist-yourself-up-step thingie', all kitted out in the Gear , and proceeded to throw my chunky, 12-year old self onto the horse.

Totally missing the saddle and landing on the horses backside.

I was M.O.R.T.I.F.I.E.D

Needless to say, I never tried it again.  I think I'll let my girls take the credit for this activity from now on. :)

x Niamh & her beloved Heidi x

Recipe: Yummy Butternut Soup

Today's post is a Guest post, brought to you by fellow South African Kalli-Lee from 'Buttershly Kisses'

Isn't that just THEE cutest Blog name??!!!

Love. Love. Love.

Kalli is sharing with us one of my all-time Favourite recipes: Yummy Butternut Soup - with all this lovely Showery weather we're having, its the perfect comfort food...

Here you go!

Yummy Butternut Soup

One of our family favourites is this delicious, super easy Butternut soup. Great for yucky rainy days…

Ingredients:

A butternut, peeled and diced (size does not matter)

I have used pumpkin before, and it is also quite delish!

Onion, diced

Tbsp of butter

2 Tbsp of flour

Cup of stock (Vegetable or Chicken)

Cup of cream/ cream substitute

You can use milk, but it doesn’t come out as creamy!

Cinnamon/ Nutmeg and Salt and Pepper

Directions:

Melt the butter on high heat, in a large pot. Add onions, keep moving them around. They must be soft and translucent (do not allow them to brown).

Add butternut and coat with flour. Add stock, salt and pepper, and turn the heat down to medium. Allow to cook, until butternut is soft. Add cream, and nutmeg/cinnamon.

You can either blitz the soup with a hand-held stick blender, for a chunkier soup. Or remove and place in a blender for a smoother soup.




Add more cream or milk, if it is too thick; or a touch of flour, if it is too liquid.

Enjoy with some delicious bread (Kerry’s mieliebread, if you like)!

Buon appetito!

x

Summer

 I am a huge fan of Summer. And this is why...

Purdy flowers popping up everywhere. Hopefully in my garden.

 

Trips down to the River 

I have no idea who the child on the Far Right is... but she smiled for the camera. Bless her.

Oh yeah baby - this year I'm SO trying this out.

The BEACH! Oh how I love thee beach...

We have LOTS of summer birthdays in this house :)

Sun, Sun, Sun - Yes please!

Tanning with the babes...

Fruit, Fruit, Fruit... Yayness...

What's YOUR Favourite Season?

Video: In which I do not wish to be outdone by my children

I have vlogged and vlogged and V-L-O-G-G-E-D in the last 3 weeks, but every time I play them back I think my eyebrow is wonky.. or my mouth looks weird.

Today, my kids decided to join the world of Youtube.. a project they could work on together. They had lots of fun and NO fighting between them which was a total miracle.

Anyhoo... I did not wish to be outdone  felt a bit bored while cooking dinner so I made a video for you.

Some notes before watching this..

* I know I have a big lump in my hair - possibly a chunk of food
* My makeup is all over my face
* I say 'UM' a lot
* My middle child lets the cat out the bag about ALLL the wine I apparently drink
* My oven is FILTHY as you will see - oh the shame
* Lets not even talk about that eyebrow

Enjoy :) If you want to see more - Subscribe to my Youtube channel HERE or follow me on GFC.

Much luuurrrve,

Coffee and Walnut Cake: My Own Recipe

I totally made up my own Recipe for Coffee and Walnut Cake, and it TOTALLY rocked!! I'm so proud of it - it came out perfectly....

When I say this is the moistest most delicous-est Coffee cake in the world - I am totally not lying. It is GORGEOUS.. I know, I'm so humble.

So you wanna know how to make it? Course you do.

Ingredients:

125g margarine

3 seperated eggs

2t baking powder

1/2 cup hot water

1t vanilla essence

1 cup sugar

2 cups flour

1/2 cup evaporated milk ( I used regular milk!)

2t instant coffee

How-di-doo-di:

Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius.

Mix coffee with hot water. Let it cool ( I know.... its this simple )

Cream butter & sugar until light

Add egg yolks, beat well

Add dry ingredients, coffee mixture, milk & vanilla essence

Lastly, fold in the egg whites.

Pour into a 9" Cake tin and bake for 50-60 minutes.

Sauce:

Melt the following gently on the stove...

1/2 cup butter or marg

1/4 cup sugar

1/2 tsp vanilla essence

1/4 cup hot coffee

Tiny splash of milk

Pour over the warm cake after it's come out of the oven. Throw some walnuts on top - VOILA!!

The moistest, yummiest Coffee cake EVER! 

Right.. who wants a piece ? (Excuse the bad pics... taken on my phone before it was wolfed down - no time to faff with camera!)

Pretty as a Dandelion..... Huh?!!

Coffee Date with my littlest girl... The conversation goes like this...

Sprog: "Mommeee... I'm as pretty as a Rose"

Me: I know you are my darling, you're 'beautifuller' than a rose

Sprog: "You're pretty too Mommy, maybe also like a Rose"

Me: Awww Thanks Sweetie, only maybe like a Rose?

Sprog: " Ya, or maybe a Dandelion"

Me: Oh.. right.. Gee..Thanks honey...

Sprog:" Hang on, Hang on Mom, NOT a Dandelion, A Dandelion is an ANIMAL!!! Silly me"

Oh my precious child - could you stay SIX like... Forever... pleeeease??

Its... C-C-C-caption Day!

Caption this Beautifulness...

Then head over to MAMMASAURUS to find more, or search #SatCap on Twitter...

Do you follow me on Twitter? You totally should - Click HERE to follow me :) 

Blog it for Babies

The awesome-o Mammasaurus is travelling the country, promoting the 'Save The Children-Build it for Babies campaign' and she's coming to BRISTOL BABBBBYYYY!!!!!!!!!

In her own words...

"From Sunday 29th April to Friday 4th May I am travelling the country bringing together bloggers in fun ways to help fund-raise for Save The Children’s Build it for Babies campaign with a nationwide blogger initiative - Blog it for Babies #BlogitforBabies.

The vision is to bring some fun to fundraising whilst raising awareness, but this is not a case of me this is a case of we. I plan on visiting 2 towns / cities every day for 5 days and whilst there meeting up with groups of local bloggers for some ‘mini-events’."

So............ who's up for an evening meet in/near Bristol on Wednesday 2nd May ?  What shall we do to fundraise for this FABULOUS campaign?

Request to join the Facebook page to chat with us, throw us some suggestions, eat cake.

My MakeUp Drawer - Before and After

So, a big overhaul of the Makeup Drawer revealed exactly this.......

I have no makeup.

It may surprise most of you that I really do LOVE makeup, because really, I wear very little of it. Mainly due to time constraints and lack of creativity.

I've been watching LOADS of Sprinkle of Glitter's Youtube Vid's - seriously this girl knows her sh*t , AND she totally cracks me up. She talks to nail polish. Yes. She does.   HOW have I not found her sooner? Totally in my world.

Anyhoo... I thought I'd show you THEE makeup drawer, Before & After.

Bit of everything... total mess... Embarrass-a-ramo...

Found a use for my Smelly Draw Paper stuff and my Glossy Boxes!

Is that It??? For Reals??

So I managed to save:

5 Black eyeliners... FIVE?! I don't even wear eyeliner..
1 Lip Pencil that needs to be sharpened ( Need a sharpener to accomplish this)
3 Makeup sponges which Dave mistook for Cheese.
1 Bronzer - possibly the best item in the drawer
About a gazillion bangles I forgot I even had

This can only mean one thing.

MAKEUP SHOPPING IS ON THE CARDS.......... whoop whoop!

Saturday is caption day....

Ya know the drill.... caption this!

Head over to mammasaurus to find more or search #SatCap on Twitter, then congratulate me on how FABULOUS I am for blogging this from my phone!

Hoppy Easter!

F is for FACE

My Face.

My face is in total agony. You may remember this post about me contemplating whether or not to face my fear and actually go in to the dentist for a checkup.

Well....

That appointment meant I needed FIVE fillings..

3 of which I had last Wednesday as in 10 days ago - and OH.MY.SWEET.LORDIE am I in pain. I reckon I've got a trapped nerve, but I've been back twice and they can't find the problem. I've had a second opinion - still no solution.

Eventually after actually stating I would prefer to BIRTH A BABY through my MOUTH than have this pain, I was prescribed antibiotics for Sinusitis .

Sinusitis............. are you kidding me???!!!

24 hours later and I can tell you this ain't no Sinusitis..... this nerve has taken.over.my.life.

I'm not one to moan, but Be-Jeepers.... believe me when I say this is on par with actual labour.

And Oh, would you look at that?! It's Easter weekend. Which means no doctor or dentist till Tuesday.

Face labour until Tuesday??????????????   Pass the Scotch.

Pinterest Challenge #3: Little Bookworms

Well that went well. Looks like I lasted 1 whole day on the Blogging from A-Z Challenge... Fail.

But fear not! I shall link this post up too with ... D for DARING to Craft!

The gorgeous Louise over at Sew Scrumptious is hosting this month's linky, go over and say HI! And link up your Pinterest-inspired projects of course.

So here's what I was inspired by on Pinterest...The sweeeeetest bookmarks...

Click HERE to follow through - Sweetfelt on Flickr

And here's how mine came out

We've made a whole bunch. Naturally. They make fab presents with a new book :)

And yes.. That is our favourite...... The Magic Faraway Tree!

So, what did you make this month?

Blogging from A to Z

So there I was... flicking through my Emails, when I saw this email from the lovely Cat's Blog over at Cat's Yellow Days , about the 'Blogging from  A to Z Challenge' ...




And I thought..
Hey! This is exactly what I need right now to kick my blogging butt into action this month.  So here we go..
Day 1: (today) blog about something, ANYTHING you like to do with the Letter A. Tomorrow, do Letter B, and so on and so forth for the whole month.
Because I'm a bit slow at catching on to this whole thang, I present to you... A Blog post! Yes, this very post you are reading right now is my first entry.
I know you're thinking....... Cheat, cop-out, Lazy Cow. But that's ok - we have an understanding. I'm cool with that.
Anyhoo - this is my A Post. Tomorrow I shall be Brilliant, Bold, Beautiful, Busty & Brave and Bash out a Blog Post Beginning with a B (did you see what I did there? I'm so bloody clever sometimes)
I know you're looking forward to it. Make cookies, bring tea and I promise not to Bore You with my Blogging.
Mwah x