Life under a Pepper Tree

I did it! I didn't chicken out! I went back to my boxing class last night. I can certainly feel the pain and aching in my arms and legs today so I didn't wuss out too much.  I think it's been close to 2 months since I last went to the class, and I can honestly say it wasn't my fault! I promise! The instructor decided to go on holidays but had a substitute run the classes for her; all her classes except the Wednesday night class - being the one class each week I actually attended! But in good news, the minute I walked into the class the instructor took one look at me and stated that she thought I'd lost weight! Awesome! We had a bit of fun yesterday afternoon watching a number of bidding wars play out. My hubby decided to clean out some of his old car parts lying around, ones from old projects and random parts without a home.  He listed them all on eBay last week and they all finished up yesterday one after the other over a period of 1.5 hours.  As each item counte...

It's a cold morning here. The heater is pumping, I've got my warm trackies on, and I'm relaxing on the lounge... for now.  It does look like a bright sunny day outside, but I can see the trees and bending in the wind and I just know its cold outside.  Maybe I'm convincing myself its okay to stay curled up today. I've already told myself I WILL go to my boxing class tonight. No chickening out this week! My excuse last week... Well, that glass of wine had called my name. I was psyching myself up to watch the season finale of Offspring. I had my topped up glass of wine, my box of tissues, and hubby had kindly already delivered me a piece of chocolate. I think he must have thought I looked like I needed it! So that was all a good enough reason to not get off my butt and go to the class. But no excuses tonight! I'll now get myself psyched up for the agony I'll feel tomorrow!  As I sit on the lounge and look at across at the dining room, all I see is mess. The b...

I thought for a while that I've fallen off the blogging planet. Just always too busy to sit down and write. But now, my cuppa is hot, Dylan is napping, and I don't feel guilty about the washing still sitting in the washing machine. Ok, just a bit guilty... We've had a shocker of a day yesterday. I had so much washing to do after our weekend away, but Dylan just kept making more for me! He's just on the cusp of outgrowing the 'infant' sized nappies he uses. They say 4-8kgs. At Dylan's 6 month check up he was 7.6kgs fully clothed, so by now he'd be pretty close to hitting the 8 kilos. So almost every nappy change we had yesterday was the result of him wetting through his nappy and onto his clothes.  We went through so many outfits, it would have put some fashionistas to shame! We've just come back from a weekend away up the mid north coast. Our car club has a weekend in Sawtell as a casual catch up, once every two years. We hold it on the alternate...

Well it's been a truly unique week or so! Last weekend we celebrated my Mums birthday with a small party. She was having one of those extra special '0' birthdays. She is the one who always organises the family gatherings, and then mostly is the one who hosts them too. We certainly didn't want her to have to organise her own birthday party, which she would never do, we decided to arrange one for her.  Her partner Mike had been discussing his wish to have a celebration for her for months before the actual day, so we knew we had some time. Somehow those months flew by so quick and we needed to pull our fingers out and get cracking! We knew that being a July birthday an outside event was just not feasible. I told Mike that logistically holding the party at their house, without my Mum finding out would be impossible, and not enjoyable - as they would end up being left to clean up! So I started hunting around for a venue and stumbled upon a gorgeous old building in the main s...

I feel a bit like I've dropped off the blogging planet! I told myself numerous times I should get back on and add a new post. Somehow something else always became more important, more relevant, and more fun! Oh well, here I am now. I will add that I am still rather peeved. A few days ago I did add a new blog post. I had it 3/4 completed with pictures and all.... And then technology (totally not my friend might I add) intervened, and I lost the lot! I was so annoyed. I am still annoyed! So do I tempt fate and try to add in all that I lost?? Hmmm... We'll see! Not even sure I can remember half of what I wrote! Some nonsense I'm sure! I've decided my hair is getting just too long now. Sure it's easy to just whip back into a ponytail and pretend I spent more than 2 seconds doing it in the mornings. It certainly annoys me when I go to dry it. It takes ages. I'm still shedding hair post pregnancy, and so the hairs all over the place are super long. There's cer...

It's been another crazy week. Last weekend I had one of those moments of horror when I realised how old I'm getting! I had a birthday and I can honestly say I did not enjoy it one bit.  I felt old, tired and cranky. The one birthday present I told my hubby I wanted, I did not get. I know that sounds childish and self centred, but I promise it's not as bad as it seems! I really wanted a sleep in! That's all. Just to have uninterrupted sleep until say 8am... at least. Nope. Dylan woke up about 6:30am and as usual hubby somehow did not hear him until we had been up for a good 30 mins, bottle was done and we were ready to have some cuddles and a play. Grrr! The only positive that came out of the day was a lovely lunch with my family. Dylan wasn't very well behaved which made it a little stressful in the restaurant, but as it was his first major outing in his stroller I'm not surprised he didn't fall asleep. Another suggestion for a birthday gift I gave to my h...

It's official! I can now tick off one momentous achievement in my life (and my little cooking challenge!). I made macarons! Yep macarons! Ok so maybe I cheated... A little... They might have been the packet variety produced for Adriano Zumbo. But they were still macarons! And I made them! Jumping for joy!! And for the negative side... They were a bit of a flop. Nothing like the delightful airy soft crispy shell macarons like I've tasted before, but not a complete disaster either. They didn't rise enough, so they didn't have what's called 'feet', (that's macaron speak for those not in the know!). They were also a bit grainy looking, so either over mixed... Or under mixed... I'm not sure which! And some were a bit wonky, not the perfect circles I'd hoped for. But they still tasted pretty darn good. My hubby went back for seconds... And thirds... And fourths!  They were the salted caramel flavour ones and I sure did enjoy them, although I'm not ...