While getting ready for bed the other night I heard Luke call out to me from the bathroom but since his mouth was full of toothpaste I didn’t understand a single word.  However I could easily recognise the urgency in his voice so I was up and there in a flash.  What I saw was motion in the bathroom corner and upon closer inspection I realised it was a Greenstripe Frog.  Just like the blue tongue lizard and the 64 mice we have caught this month, I have no idea how it got into the house but I had to get it out.  I discovered it had quite a good hop on it but our bathroom is tiny so capturing it didn’t take much effort at all. I had a good look at our uninvited house guest and then released it amongst the ferns in our back yard. It was a real shame the kids were asleep because we often hear the frogs but this was their chance to actually see one.  Oh well, no doubt another animal will make it’s way into the house… how the hell do they all get in?

While carving up a roast chicken the other night I called Luke over to break the wishbone with me.  A little pulling then “snap” the bone broke and lo and behold I had actually won.  I then had to confess to Luke that I didn’t even bother making a wish because I didn’t think I would win… now that’s extreme pessimism!

I loved Mary Poppins when I was a kid and my girls have now discovered that they enjoy this wonderful tale as well.  Singing, dancing, cartoon characters and of course that tongue twister made up word:

Supercalafragalisticexpealadotious

My eight year old tried to spit that monstrous word out and I can assure you it wasn’t easy for her.  It sounded as if she was chocking on a hairball while speaking dutch.  I’m sure she’ll get the hang of it though, what child doesn’t?  Mary Poppins really is a timeless classic and I hope it lives on forever!

I was absolutely shocked when my eight year old told me that a girl in her class had her periods, that seems awfully young to me!  At eight I remember playing farms with my animal figurines and really enjoying imagination play by myself. Menstruation was the furthest thing from my mind and tampons were those funny looking things in my mothers bag, the things I so often wished were lollies!  That of course is due to my ’sweet tooth’ and has nothing at all to do with this topic… so I’ll get back on track now.  Out of curiosity I Googled the average age of a girls first period and got the answer of twelve, now that’s more like it!  I feel as if our family has shifted maturity levels lately but I wasn’t quite ready for periods and boys and God help me… dating.  Hopefully I have a few more years of giggles and innocence before moving on to puberty blues.

Walking down the hallway I noticed movement near my kids bedroom door.  I assumed it was just a mouse but then realising the movement was too slow to be a mouse I went in for a closer inspection.  Well smack me silly there was the cutest little baby blue tongue lizard staring at me. I moved to pick it up but it hid behind the kids bookshelf so with the aid of a net I got it out and picked it up.  The kids came to have a look and then we released it in the back garden.  It was a nice distraction to the day but it got me thinking.  If a Blue Tongue Lizard can somehow get in the house (when I close both the front and back doors) then no wonder mice find it easy to live and breed in here.  Where the hell are they getting in? I just hope my next wildlife visitor isn’t of the venomous variety!

The other day I was pulled from my sleep (on a sleep in weekend) at what seemed like the crack of dawn by the neighbours kid screaming.  These kids scream ALL day and this early morning screaming was not amusing!  It just went on and on and on ” mum… MUUUUUM… MMMMMMMUUUUUUUUUUUMMMMMMMYYYYYYYYY” and on and on it went.  After 5 minutes of constant screaming I started to think that maybe something was wrong.  These particular neighbours don’t talk to anyone in the street and all my other neighbours have said that they know nothing about them.  With all the crime shows I watch my mind started to run away with ideas of  domestic violence, murder and suicide. Surely a responsible parent would have calmed the child down by now? On and on the screaming went, there would be no sleeping in for us that morning.  After 15 minutes of this child screaming for his mother I turned to Luke and said “maybe they practice controlled crying?” to which he responded with “I’ll jump the fence and practice controlled beating!”  Sounded like a good idea to me.

On a recent weekend visit to my mothers house I seemed to have packed way too much for such a short stay.  However despite my large suitcase and two smaller bags I some how managed to forget the shampoo.  No problem, I’d just borrow my mothers… or at least that was the plan.  Here I was having a shower, my hair was wet but ‘ooops’ I forgot to ask for the shampoo.  What was I going to do? call out? not wash my hair? But then I noticed the liquid soap dispenser… that will do!  I lathered up then rinsed, bingo… all done.  Sure my hair felt a little dry afterwards but dry was better than oily.   When I told my husband what I had done he simply shook his head and said “You’ve hit a new low”.

I love cheesecake and I love chocolate so it’s only natural the two should meet in the most delicious recipe ever… Chocolate Cheesecake!!!  I have tried quite a few recipes and in true Frankenstein form I have taken bits and pieces to create a masterpiece… “It’s alive!”… not quite but it sure is easy and mouth-wateringly scrumptious.

Ingredients

* 1 cup chocolate biscuit crumbs (crush them using a blender)

* 1/3 cup (80g) unsalted butter, melted

* 500g cream cheese, softened

* 1/2 cup caster sugar

* 200g chocolate, melted (microwave for a minute or so to melt)

* 1/2 cup thickened cream

* 1 heaped tablespoon gelatine

Procedure

1. Combine biscuit crumbs & butter together in a bowl then press into a baking paper lined base of a spring fold pan.  If you don’t have a spring fold pan simply use a normal cake tin completely lined with baking paper, that way you simply lift the cheesecake out using the excess folds of baking paper.

2. In a large mixing bowl beat cream cheese until smooth.  Add sugar, melted chocolate and cream then mix until well combined.

3. In a small bowl dissolve the gelatine in a little bit of warm water then pour into the mixing bowl and continue beating for a minute.

4. Pour onto the crumb base and set over night. Decorate with whipped cream and grated chocolate or just dig in as it is… yum yum!

Tim Tam base alternative

To make this even yummier add 3 or 4 Tim Tams to the biscuits you crumble for the base.  Just remember you won’t need the full amount of butter if you do this because the Tim Tams (or equivalent biscuits) have a soft cream center which help hold the crumbs together.