Laura is a genius

 

So about a month ago, Laura wrote a post about evening primrose oil.

I thought, "hmmm, interesting" but when I mentioned it to D, he immediately perked up and said, "okay, where do we get you some?" like I had hormone issues!!!

We went past Clicks about a week later and I got some vitamins for women with a high % of evening primrose oil.

I haven't taken vitamins for years!

And people, these things have kind-of changed my life. I don't feel as irritable and rant-y, so I'm thinking I now should never even think about not having the EPO vitamins nearby....

Not like the Marie Kondo book or Motherstyles, but still significantly enough. (enough!)

I noticed almost right away because about two weeks later, I'd had a period and I had only shouted at the kids once. Now nearly a month later, I've had only two (mild) freaking out episodes.

It's a miracle.

I've only missed taking the tablets two days which is also a miracle.

So thank you again, Laura - you're a genius!


I'm all Zen and my kids tell me I'm the best Mummy ever!

Have you tried evening primrose oil? Did you notice a difference?

This is exactly me... in 17 minutes of pictures

Noticed D reading to the kids, grabbed my camera and took a pic. Then I noticed how beautiful the light was in the sunroom, so...

took some pics of crayons (by the way, have you seen these awesome Staedtler crayons at CNA?)

and then I had to go outside. I found this pine cone and had to take a pic against my gorgeous grey walls (I LOVE MY GREY WALLS). They are almost (!) worth what they cost!

oooh, pretty clouds against the sky!

and look at that bougainvillea!

but wait, I remember taking a pic like this on my birthday - let's see if I can get the same one against a spring sky instead of a winter one. Go look at the other pic - it is unedited. That extreme blue is "winter blue" and this light one is "spring/ summer blue"

I had a little visitor outside at one point :)

when we went back in, there was more reading...

and I noticed my sandals looked cute with my skirt :)

*melt*

the many faces of Kendra

awww, baby girl!

and a brief moment of capturing Connor still!

and then it was biscuit time!

Now all of this took place in just 17 minutes. I knew it was quick but for the purposes of science, I actually went back to check the time of the first one and the last one. 3.29 - 3.46 on an ordinary Saturday afternoon.

17 minutes to stop, notice and capture. It really doesn't take a long time at all.

Tara Whitney wrote a post the other day and she said the thing she's best at is noticing. My heart beat a little faster because I think that's one of my superpowers too - I notice things... pauses in conversation that mean there's something else going on, things left unsaid, things said in a rush because of awkwardness, not intention, and other things too like the way the clouds are extra fluffy today like cauliflower, or the way the grey skies make the angles of buildings just perfect.

Tell me one of your lesser-known superpowers :)

Eco-mobility month

October is eco-mobility month in Sandton. Technically I'm in favour of the concent; the only thing is the people who can use the train and carpool options are already doing so. I drive 30 minutes to my nearest train station and then zip to Sandton in 4 minutes, but the cost of those 4 minutes is R68 (R25 X 2 + R18 parking for the day). And I've tried driving and Gautraining it, and there is no saving of real time, except in the case of bridges collapsing, extreme accidents on the highway, and so on.

Only one loop around the edge was going to be open to private vehicles, and the rest of it was going to be closed so people could cycle/ walk/ use the train, etc.

Glenhove Road

I will freely admit that I dreaded this month happening. I'm not a fan of my very fragile transport routines being interrupted at the best of times and this seemed like people messing about for no good reason.

However, there has been NO difference. I lie - the traffic is actually better. Now, the eco-mobility people sent out a glowing newsletter two weeks in saying the venture is a resounding success.

I'm not convinced. Many people are doing something different to avoid going into Sandton. D's entire team is working from home this month, except for one office day a week.

We were going to do the same but I actually prefer working at the office and not at my hot house (hello, lovely aircon in the Jhb heatwave) with D's loud mouse clicks (!). He says I'm too loud too (I talk to my emails, don't you?). No surprise to either of us because I've always said I would never be able to work with him.

How can they say it's a success when people have changed their habits for this month only? If things continue in this vein and the traffic remains awesome, then yes. But until then, I think it's very premature.

view from the M1 in a completely stationary car

So when there was no disruption to me getting in to work, I just kept going in every day. There was the day the bridge collapsed and the following morning I took the train in, but that has been the only "disruption" and to be brutally honest, how can I complain about sitting in 2 hours 15 minutes of traffic when 3 people died?!

I arranged PLENTY of friend dates (lunches and a supper), appointments at the dentist and optometrist so I've been maximising the eco-mobility-ness :) Because I've been driving myself mostly, I've gone through nearly 2 audible books (I will finish number 2 this week) and TONS of podcasts.

You know what? I still got things done at work. So now I'm thinking I need to do more of this in and out of the office (I actually like being at my desk, working, with the occasional chit-chat and meetings) because it's the best of both worlds, right?

spying on a colleague :)

On Tuesday there's a scheduled political march in the area so I'll be leaving at lunch, and then on Friday I have my last friend date for the month, so that will be the end of this anti-climactic month. But I'm hoping to take some of the mindset that "I can still leave the office whenever the heck I want" into November and December.

How has eco-mobility month worked for you? (if you're affected)

Otherwise, do you prefer to work at home or the office? Is it even an option?

(in that last horrible job, the only time I'd be working at home is after hours when done in addition to office hours)

PS I bought some vanilla-flavoured sweetener today and am having a normal cup of tea with this sweetener. It's very weird because suddenly - vanilla tea! Really lovely.

Pull up a chair

First of all, thank you for all your really nice and supportive comments on the cop post.

Tonight was Spanish again and the first thing I did once I was back home was empty out my bag to retrieve my wallet. Yes. But I seem to have forgotten my Spanish shoes at the studio. Oy! I need to move things back to my old red bag :)

3 weeks left til exams...



Speaking of exams, I registered today for an industry exam I have to take. My goal is to get it before the end of the year so hopefully I pass first time around. I took a sample question paper today and without even having started working through the material, I got 59% (pass mark is 65%) so there's a little something to be said for having experience.

But it's pure competition because two newer guys were talking about suitable dates for their exams and I thought, I cannot let these whippersnappers beat me to it! :)

I have lots more to say about the whippersnappers (there are 3 in the team)... but I need my head in gear to write that post on careers and such.



Did you all read Cassey's post on my blog?

Go read! She's done an excellent job Konmari-ing and I'm so proud of her.

This weekend I plan to Konmari my books. If I can fit everything on one 3-shelf bookshelf, I'll be over the moon!

***********************

Speaking of blog readers, I ran into MeeA at a school meeting last night and finally saw her lovely family. It's still quite crazy that there are actual people in my neighbourhood who know me and the kids from the blog.

When I happened to mention to someone at work that 2 committee members would be stepping down, he said, "so are you taking over?" and I said, "actually, I would love to" so let's see, but I do intend to get involved.... eventually.



I had a Brazilian blowwave done about 3 weeks ago. Well, it is not right. Right in the middle of my head is a mess of curls. It's usually like this about 2 weeks before I'm due for the next appointment.

Now who likes to fight with their hairdresser? Certainly not me.

But I couldn't take it anymore. So I had D take pics of the freakishly curly hair and I sent them to her.

She was horrified so at some point I need to pop by so she can "sort me out" as she said. All's well that ends well. Except... when am I to find time to go redo my hair? :o

Tell me some work woes, hair woes, or give yourself a Konmari or any other shout-out.

Murphy and the cops

On Friday I met 3 ex-colleagues for lunch and then I was to drive to an eye appointment near my home.

We'd finished lunch and I pulled out my bag to get my wallet to put in my share and then I gasped!

My wallet wasn't in my bag!

I knew immediately what happened.

When I go to Spanish on a Thursday, I take my wallet and phone from my bag and transfer it to my Spanish bag together with water.

I got back on Thursday and since my phone was in my hand (listening to a podcast on the way back), I forgot to properly empty my bag and that's where the wallet was.

there's the driver's licence - bottom right

This has never happened to me (EVER!) in my life.

So someone paid for me and all was well.

Not really.

Because my wallet also has my driver's licence.

I'd forgotten about this on the way from there to my appointment and of course I was stopped randomly by the cops. I wasn't driving badly - there's an app that tests my driving and I got 5 green stars for that trip.

But as I pulled over, I remembered the missing wallet.

I told the cop I'd forgotten my wallet and the licence is in the wallet.

Well, I just checked the app now to see how long I was stationary, and it was a mere 8 minutes.

Guys, 8 minutes of hell.

I don't know what the procedure is, but the cop kept threatening to slap handcuffs on me and cart me off to jail.

I have a licence, I was not driving badly or speeding or anything (I don't ever speed), I was just not in possession of my little card at the time.

I do know I'm supposed to keep it with me when I'm driving and like I said, this was the first time ever... in 16 years of driving... that I didn't have it.

So yes, I was expecting a fine, fair enough, but not these threats to throw me in jail.

Eventually he let me go.

I was so shaken and the car was parked on an uphill, so when I tried to take off, it cut out, and he shouts at me, "see, you don't even look like you have a licence". Very rude!

Anyway, I drove off, turned the corner, and burst out crying.

I drove straight home, collected my wallet, and was 15 minutes late to my appointment.

Never again. I'm going to be OCD about checking my bag.

But really, what happens if someone just stole your wallet?????

Has something like this ever happened to you?

I think I need to get me a Legalwise policy!

{Friendship Friday} 3 really nice things, and ideas for friend dates

I've just finished a book (I'll tell you all about that on the other blog properly) and the main thing I learned is that the things we tell ourselves are the way we perceive our lives.

So yes, I had about 4 - 5 months that were hard friendship-wise, but that's not the only things that have happened.

There have been much more good than not-so-good things.



In the last 2 weeks actually, 3 really nice things happened:

1. I invited and met up with someone I used to work with in that crazy job. We keep in touch and we got together earlier this year too.

Anyway, we had tea and a scone (by the way, straight after work on a Friday is a great time to meet a friend for a tea - some Fridays most of us could get off a little earlier, and an hour takes you home still "normal" time if you plan nicely), and good conversation.

I received a whatsapp (of course!) later thanking me and she said, "thank you for showing me how to do this friendship thing". I was blown away. Isn't that nice of her to say?!

2. Then I had a half-day seminar last week and I knew I should use the time while out of the office to meet someone for lunch.

I invited a friend who works nearby to meet me for a late lunch/ tea and remarkably (because these things usually don't work out - we always have to meet on the weekend) it worked out.

She also said "thank you so much for inviting me". She's actually exactly like me with friendship - most always the initiator and interestingly, she mentioned at our lunch that she'd pulled back from a lot of people (strengthening those boundaries) who weren't reciprocating.

3. Last but no means least, I finally met Terisha who many of you follow and are followed by on Instagram. Terisha and I have been missing each other in Ballito and at concerts for ages, so I just thought it's high time we actually met as she lives near me.

We did that on Monday straight after work and it was so lovely to finally meet.

Yes, Terisha is as sweet and encouraging in person as she is online.

We're getting together again soon for a crafternoon with some other ladies :)

******************************

Many people tell me things are too big a schlep. I agree, they can be if that is your mindset (but I don't buy it in most cases), but did you notice the theme of attaching a quick something to something already happening? All these dates lasted maximum 1 hour 15 minutes.

I was going home anyway for two of these so I detoured about 1 - 2 km off my normal route to meet up with friends, and for the other, I was in the area, half way between both our offices.

Something I like to do is make a date straight after gym, near my gym. It's win-win (if I take a fresh T-shirt) - it forces me to not skip gym and it's perfect because I need to eat something anyway.

A friend told me she makes early Sunday evening dates from 6 - 8. It's usually wasted time because you're faffing around at home (true) and there is time to meet a friend and come home to prepare for the week. Husband watches kids (not babysits!) and gets to spend quality time without the mother.

Where in your normal routine can you attach a little friend meet-up to a place you normally go?

Books I read/ listened to in September

I realised when I updated my Goodreads that I hadn't written about my September books so here we go:

Apologies that everything is all over the place - maybe I need to take a proper picture of each book because any photo is better than this, but anyway.

September was one of those months that ran away from me - I think I looked at my goals for the first time around the 24th (the public holiday) which is shocking.

1. The Flavours of Love - Dorothy Koomson

I adore this author's writing. She always writes about strong, black women which is really nice, and her characters are usually set in Brighton (hence my fascination with Brighton Airbnbs). I enjoyed this one but not as much as all her other novels - i don't know if that was a product of my scattered-ness... I think so because the writing was impeccable and I see I took 8 days to finish which means I was too busy. A Koomson novel usually takes me 2 days tops and I'm done.

2. The Reunion - Joanne Fedler

Now you all know about my special interest project - friendship - so I adored this one. The author is apparently South African and has lived in Australia for a long time. I found myself re-reading bits, and marking pages with post-it flags . Such interesting insights about motherhood, and how the parenting journey changes as your kids grow, and obviously about friendship. (Jeanette, you'll really enjoy this one) It turns out I'd read a previous novel of hers in 2010, and also really liked it.

3. Now you see her - Joy Fielding

Normally I love these psychological thrillers but this one felt a bit far-fetched and wasn't very credible. Still, it was set in Ireland so Ireland, the character, was great. The actual main character annoyed me too much.

Don't bother with this one...

4. The Secret Between Us - Barbara Delinsky

This was my first book by this author and I enjoyed it well enough. I'd read another (and in fact, have already done so) but it's nothing earth-shattering. The characters are likeable, the story moves along at a good pace, and there's nothing implausible, so it's a solid book.

5. Boundaries - Cloud/ Townsend

I love the Boundaries book. It's one of the best books on Boundaries I've read.

One of my favourite chapters was the one on boundaries in friendship which I wrote about last week. Those of you who said you wanted time to think, I'd love to know what's going through your mind.

I listened to the audible version of this book but I recommend just reading a physical copy. It feels much longer when read because of the narrator, who is not either of the authors.

This one I recommend a thousand times over.

Bonus - if you do want to listen to something particularly charming and delightful, there are two podcasts by two favourite authors:

Cecilia Ahern
Marian Keyes

YOU WILL LOVE THEM!

(seriously, you know I never steer you wrong - download those podcasts and prepare to be delighted! and then come back and tell me how much you loved them)

So what did you read during September?

PS I'm listening to Roisin's podcast now :)

So how was your weekend?

Everyone's blogging about their weekend and I figured Tuesday is about the very latest you could still be talking about a weekend!

I actually had an extremely nice (but some parts weird) weekend.


Planning

On Friday night, I sat with blank calendar pages from Handmade Home (Laura, if you don't already use her stuff, you'll love them) for October - December, my iphone and my Outlook calendar, school newsletters and I wrote down every single thing happening over the next 3 months.

It's a royal mess - surprisingly the weekends are all not too bad, but there's a lot going on, and I just felt like if I left things all over the place, something was going to fall through the cracks and either a friend would be sitting somewhere waiting for me while I was home :) or similar.



Free time

Our gym is undergoing a renovation and doesn't have a kids' section so I go to gym, D goes grocery shopping with kids and then they come home, change into swimsuits and he takes them for their lesson (it's literally 2 minutes up the street), and basically they're back from swimming and I'm home, showered.

We had just 3 hours together and then the 3 of them went to watch the cricket. Now I don't like the heat (this is very well documented) and my aim this summer is to avoid heat headaches at all costs.

I lay around reading, then transferred photos to be printed onto a disc, and got those printed at the mall. I also bought pillows! I have a thing about a comfortable bed, and nice stuff because I spend 8 hours a night in that bed and the least I could do is have lovely pillows.

When I got home, I read again and had a snack.

and (here's the weird bit) more free time

Somehow, I fell asleep and woke when the gate opened and I heard D say, "shh, Mummy may be sleeping".

Best: Kendra came to lay with me on the couch - we had the best snuggles!

The kids wanted D to make supper which he did (topic for another blog post) and I went to do my photos while getting the kids bathed and pyjama'd.

Do you celebrate "going out" anniversaries?

D and I had our 23-year anniversary of going out on Sunday. MIL took the kids and car seats at church - they went to lunch, play and then back to our house, and D and I joined them all after lunch and a movie, The Intern. Go see it - it's a Nancy Meyers one - she is the genius behind 3 of my favourites of all time (Something's Gotta Give, It's Complicated and The Holiday).

And then I had compliant children for the Sunday photo, plus K wanted to go for a photo walk.

All round perfect.

So the weird bit is that the kids are suddenly super independent. They always have been good (that's one of our parenting goals - to raise independent kids) at developing new skills, but suddenly it feels like they don't even need me/ us.

They make their beds, dress for school, pack their bags, sometimes make their lunch (another blog post too), one day a week they make their supper, I mean, who are these kids? Really, they feel like they're 10!!!!

But they do still need me to sort out their brother/ sister, and read "difficult" books. And cook proper food! And take them for dates.

So there's that.

Now tell me, how was your weekend? If you already wrote a post, tell me how much free time you're getting these days? Are you using it well?

(I ask because I'm 24 minutes from finishing a book..... and I cannot wait to start blogging about this one too. Have you read all my Konmari posts?)

If Christmas is to be, it's up to me

I read this blog post the other day called Blogging for no one, and I liked so many things about it.

The one thing that really made me think is where she says after years of you going with your family to your parents or grandparents' house for events, there comes a time when it switches over and because the parents are too tired/ old/ whatever, you have to make the plans if you want your family to get together.

Oh my word.

This is weird because as we know Christmas is coming up (did I just say that? I was blissfully ignoring Woolies' displays of lovely caramel corn) and I had a flash of something (guilt? God?) in church that maybe we should host.

Oh dear.

I'll let you know how that all pans out.

The twins are 6 now and there's only so long I can use them as an excuse. In fact, they're actually really helpful these days.

Do you do the plans for your family get togethers yet?
Are you hosting Christmas this year? (feel free to ignore me!)

{Friendship Friday} Boundaries in friendship

I listened to Boundaries (one of the best books on the subject, if you're interested) last month and wow.

Just wow.

I'd read this book maybe 8 years ago so it was great to have a refresher.



I really recommend the book. I wouldn't get the audible version - the narrator sounded exactly like the guy from Medical Detectives.... so just get the original book and read it, a chapter a day :)

There are different sections - boundaries in marriage, work, kids, with yourself, friends, God, church, etc. They speak about some of the boundary situations in friendship, like compliant-compliant, where both parties are too nice to say what they really feel, and so on.

There was a ton of aha moments for me but today I want to talk about some things from the book and from a podcast.
 

1. I listened to Megan Tietz as a guest on a podcast, so I investigated her podcast. It's too long and chatty for me (!) but I did find an episode on friendship which I devoured.

On that podcast, her co-host said that she is always the one to make the plans, do the inviting, etc. so she's used to it and hasn't really given it much thought. But then she had a moment where she realised that a certain person she'd kept inviting always sounded so pleased and happy to be invited but could never make it, but this person never said anything like, "well, I can't make that date, but how about this one?"

They joked a bit about that and she said it took about 10 invites before she realised this person was just not into her!

Confession - I am like that lady. I am also usually the initiator (that's why I love when others do the initiating) and I'm sure I'm so focussed on making the plan that I'm not picking up signals that people are just not that into me.

I can think of at least 2 - 3 examples where that has happened... 



2. A work colleague once said to me that the way she tests (not in a bad way, just if she feels like she's putting in a lot of effort and doesn't feel reciprocity) a friendship is she stops contributing as much for a time. E.g. texts, emails, calls.

Sometimes the other person contacts her back and all is well.

When it doesn't happen, she considers that relationship unequal and she (unlike me) has strong friendship boundaries, so she has a "oh well, that wasn't a very strong friendship then" attitude to it all and lets it go.

(at this point I gasped!)

She actually said to me, "stop doing so much" and "if the fire's only there because you're adding wood, will it die if you stop or will others add some wood too?"

Hmmm. I didn't even want to think about it when she said this but then -

This is exactly what the Boundaries book said.

And here is where I go wrong - I think, "but I need to make more effort" but do I?

The book said ultimately it is good even if your friends don't stoke the (friendship) fire, because then you do know that your friendship wasn't one of connection but was one of convenience because you were always there, reaching out. It required no effort of the other person.

He makes the point that in a relationship (spousal), you would never want your partner to be with you simply because it's convenient. You'd want them to want to be with you for YOU - who you are, your special gifts, spark, energy, enthusiasm, etc.

So true.

 

3. Back to that podcast.

The lady I related to lives in LA and said that travel is a challenge for them due to the distances but they make it work.

And you know what? I've been making excuses all the time because of friends and distances but this is Jhb and we're used to travelling 30 minutes to get anywhere, right? Moreover, some people travel further.


Two of my work colleague travel from one end of Jhb to the other, and from Pta to Jhb regularly to visit their friends, and vice versa.

I'm prepared to travel to meet up with friends and (now, since Boundaries and that podcast) I don't think it's unreasonable to expect reciprocity.

Where am I going with this?

Just that I realise I've had some boundary issues and I need to work on them.

Your thoughts?

PS This post is far too long. At some point we need to talk  some more about how social media affects friendship. Here's the podcast for those who are interested.
PPS these are recent pics of some friends

Photography with kids, and some of my little dreams

Some of my little dreams are to 1) have a photography workshop and 2) to teach a class/ workshop on doing photography with your kids

Interestingly, normally, I'd just get on with it and do it, but I've tried so many things that have "failed" that I'm feeling very vulnerable these days. If you pray, pray with me about this.

I have been asking God lately why he's given me all these dreams - big and little - of speaking and encouraging and so on, and even though I've persisted so hard and long, I see not much light, you know?

I heard in church the other day that Jesus had a ministry of 3 years and I have probably had 3 good-ish years, so is that it?

The things that go through my mind!



 Anyway, something I LOVE doing with my kids is to go on themed photowalks.

It can make a walk you've done over 50 times interesting when you look for different things.

On my birthday this year, one of my first pastors left me a birthday message on FB and said, "hope you find beautiful things to take photos of today" and I thought YES!

So we went on a pattern photowalk.

this is my neighbour's wall. She is the one with the beautiful bougainvillea at the top of this post. I sneak pics often. Also, I ADORE the colour of this wall. It's slightly greener in person and is GORGEOUS in any light. Almost every day when I get home, I say to myself, "OHHHHH, I adore this wall"

I so adore these themed photowalks. Let me know if you take one with your kids soon.

Which is your favourite pattern?

PS Our friends said to us, "oh, I LOVE your purple wall" and I literally screamed, "NOOOOOO, it's grey!!!!!" LOL

{Project Recipe} 7 dishes I "tried" recently or Getting out of a food rut

I so loved trying out recipes last year and my goal for this year is also to try 25 recipes.

Ha!

We'll see if that happens, but I did very well during August and September

So I thought I should tell you about those recipes to encourage you to also try/ toss the recipes you're never going to make :)



1. Well, I told you about the disaster that was the cauli-pizza....

2. And then there was a microwave chocolate cake for my birthday.

There's a story to this. The kids wanted me to do little cakes for them to decorate with caramel and smarties, and I thought I'd try this for my birthday. But I used a dish too small so we had a little microwave incident... and so two cakes - one rock-hard and one kind-of okay but basically, I still won't try that ever again.

(my colleague said to me at work, "I still don't know why you'd even TRY to do a MICROwave cake" so there's that, and I agree. God made cakes to be baked in an oven and that's the way we will do it from now onwards... once I recover from the microwave incident)

3. Fudge with white chocolate

I have a really, really bad track record with fudge. Really bad.

I followed Se7en's instructions but I think I may not have stirred and cooked long enough (who has an hour to stir?!). Anyway my fudge didn't set and I can't throw out perfectly good tudge (toffee/ fudge) so I left it in the fridge.

Last year I rescued a batch by turning it into fudge brownies. Gosh that was delish. But this time I scraped it back into a pot, chopped up two slabs of white chocolate, stirred that in, and lo and behold, the fudge set!

It was DELISH.

Never fear, Se7en and I have big plans to make fudge one day. And if it works, I am "retiring" on a good story :)

That was August!



And then in September, my kids went off mushrooms.

Now D and I have always had chicken a la King in our regular rotation, and I make it really nice too!

But suddenly the kids don't eat mushrooms so I said to them, "listen, Daddy and I eat chicken with mushrooms, and you two have eaten it for 6 years so since you don't eat mushrooms now, which vegetable would you like? And they both said, "BROCCOLI!" (like twins... together....with equal enthusiasm)

So I picked up a packet of that Knorr cook-in dry sauce and made a

4. Chicken and Mushroom Pan

(it had BROCCOLI - lots!)

I cut the mushrooms small and they had a big moan at first, but I told them to just taste the sauce they wouldn't even notice the mushrooms.

Thankfully, one said, "this is DELICIOUS" and the other one did too, and that solved our little problem.

I have another packet in the pantry....

5. Thai Chicken Curry

This was another cook-in sauce and while acceptable, it wasn't WOW so I won't buy it again. Though, EVERYONE ate it without complaint (but we each had a big glass of water because it's spicy) and all was well in the world.

6. One Sunday I made doughnuts (every time I make them I use a new recipe on the internet!) - they're all good.

Unsurprisingly the kids were eager to get the Sunday photos done so they could have their tea and doughnuts :)



And last but not least....

7. Sausages with tomato and baked beans

Laura's been inspiring me with her Weigh-less meals. W-L encourages lots of legumes and I do love it, so I experimented and made a dish with onions, sausages, two cans of tomato and a can of baked beans. It made a TON - we've had this meal twice from the same batch with very generous servings (my kids love anything with sausages and tomato), and I have a big helping left.

Only thing is I can't tell you exactly which spices I used - probably garlic, salt, sugar, this Ina Paarman spice and possibly some Robertson's Italian herbs.

This is a definite keeper.

So out of two months and 7 recipes, 2 wins is not bad as stats go :)
Have you tried any good recipes recently?