Saturday 24 December 2011

Adult Assembly Required

I grew up with out any consistant Christmas traditions.  I don't think I actually missed out on anything, but they're weren't things that we always did or had that we'd look forward too.  I remember my mum made chocolate cherries each year, but there's not much else that sticks out.

I want to do things differently for Baby J.  I want to assemble a collection of traditions and practices that will mean Christmas to J and any future children.

So we have "Elf on the Shelf" - still un-named and didn't get up to any mischief this year, but I have photos of J with it for his first Christmas.

We'll go to childrens service at our usual church tonight, and hopefully the Brewery Riverbank Lights on the way home.

I'd like to start stockings, but next year for that.

Tomorrow we have a single family lunch. Mr Trifectagirl's mother is in residential care, so we're springing her from the home and she will join my Dad and Step-mum and us for lunch at Dad's place. And sister dear may well come, too which is most unlike her.

Food wise, I have a couple of types of cookie that I've made regularlly over the last 20 years which I'll keep up, and maybe add a simple sugar cookie or gingerbread man that kids can decorate for family/friends. Plus the last few years I've made "pudding" muffins, which we'll probably have for breakfast since we have a Christmas Cake and a Pudding that Mr Trifectagirl won in a raffle!

My Mum made a variation on Jamie Oliver's Christmas Bombe for a number of years before she passed, and I'd like to start that again, too.  I may also re-instate her chocolate cherries - glace cherries (brandy-soaked and 'kidsafe' versions), coated in chocolate.

Oh, and I'll try not to get gifts which have any variation of the phrase '(some/adult) Assembly Required' on the box!!! A BBQ for Mr Trifectagirl - set and ready for use on Boxing Day, a toy box, a bike and a swing/slide set are all on the 'assembly' list this year.  Lesson learned - possibly more so later tonight as I get frustrated with constructing the swing/slide!!

Sunday 11 December 2011

Things I've Been Meaning to Do - December 2011

Since it's a crazy month, and we're already a good week in, I won't set any high bars for Things I've Been Meaning to Do this month!

1 - De-clutter my bathroom cupboards.  There's a whole heap of stuff that can just plain go in there.  I also need to do the medicine cupboards and clear out all the out of date stuff.

2 - Work on my budget for 2012.  This seriously slipped this year, so I want to gain control back.

3 - Sort out freezer, and maybe try a few crock-pot freezer meals from pinterest. 

Not a big list, but should be acheivable with the week between Christmas and New Years off work.

Saturday 10 December 2011

TIBMTD - November Wrap

How did I go this month...

I need to make my Neurnberger Lebkuchen since I didn't get it done in October.  Done!! and they'll be eaten by the end of the month.

We bought some storage cubes that need to be put together so I can keep all the extra stuff Mr Trifectagirl buys!!  Done, and slowling filling the shelves.

 I still need to get the shelf for Baby J's room painted and up.  Grandpa kindly painted the shelf, and we are all surprised at how pale it is.  Back to the drawing board!!
My wedding flowers are back from being dried, so I need to arrange to get them framed with a few other momentos from the wedding.  All with the framer, should be back mid-January.

A reasonably successful month!

Saturday 26 November 2011

Thanksgiving

This past Thursday was Thanksgiving day in the US.  I experienced Thanksgiving in 1991 when I lived in California, but it was a pretty simple day with my host family.
 
Reading Facebook posts, blog posts, it's a holiday I wish we had.  Unless you follow a religion and express your thanks during worship, we in Australia don't really have a national 'be thankful' day.  Some may use Christmas or Easter or other religious holiday, maybe ANZAC Day serves the purpose for some, but a day to reflect and be Thankful would benefit the country, I believe. I appreciate it's an historical holiday, based in the country's formation and therefore not really 'transportable', but I'd prefer Thanksgiving to have travelled here rather than Halloween.

There are some elements of Thanksgiving I don't want - it seems like an opportunity for extra family drama.  Getting the meal right for Thanksgiving seems to be more critical than getting the Christmas meal right and there's inordinant pressure on the host household.  Mind you, I've morphed green bean casserole to Christmas (and general use, actually), and want to sneak in marshmallow sweet potato - but Mr Trifectagirl's cardiologist would have his own heart attack with that one!

So, taking the opportunity, I am thankful for...

Mr Trifectagirl - the moment I saw him my reaction was 'that's him'.  And as much as we drive each other up the wall and tease each other, I love him to death.

Baby J - Baby J is an IVF baby. I'm thankful I had knowledge through BPW Australia's Think Fertility project, that I knew when to start asking questions and advocating for ourselves.  I'm thankful it only took two cycles to get Baby J, and I had an easy pregnancy (Mr Trifectagirl didn't, but I did ;)) 

My Friends, both on line and off.  I've got a great circle of US friends that I've made on-line.  In combination, we've shared infertility and babies and our lives.  We'll circle the wagons when needed much more than off-line friends seem to.   My off-line friends are a small group, and I we don't touch base as much as we should, but have events in place to ensure we do. 

My Job- I love where I work, it's a fantastic program that allows me to learn about all sorts of topics from world experts I never would become involved in otherwise. 

My House - as much as the lack of space is driving me completely bonkers, I'm thankful I have a roof over my head and am able to keep a roof over my family's head.  I just gotta solve this space problem! 

Rolling onto Christmas - decos will be out this weekend, and our Elf on the Shelf should arrive from the North Pole Thursday!

Thursday 10 November 2011

Things I've Been Meaning To Do - November Edition

A new month, and new round of TIBMTD, thanks to Lazy Mom

I need to make my Neurnberger Lebkuchen since I didn't get it done in October.

We bought some storage cubes that need to be put together so I can keep all the extra stuff Mr Trifectagirl buys!! 

I got one shelf up - I still need to get the one for Baby J's room painted and up.

My wedding flowers are back from being dried, so I need to arrange to get them framed with a few other momentos from the wedding.

I'd like to be ready for Christmas by the end of the month!!

Not much else for this month - I'm sure I'll find more as the month progresses!

Sunday 6 November 2011

TIBMTD - October Wrap

1 - Get those shelves up. The toilet one is now at least painted, and the plan today is to re-paint the room ready for it.  Done!!


2 - Sort out my office area and go through paperwork. The piles of paperwork is driving me nuts, and I need to make space for DH's as well.  Done, finally.

3- Not a meaning to do, but due this month - start baking my christmas cookies. They need a couple of months to mature.  I didn't get togetting a new oven and having it installed. Next weekend seems like a possible time, however. this - my oven died, so part of the month was spent getting that fixed.
4 - put more of the boxes around the place into storage - if there is room in the lock-up.  Got one box of baby clothes put away.  We also bought a modular system to make better use of closet space.

5 - cut and sew pants for Baby J - need to do this soon before he out-grows the size I've cut in the pattern!!  Done, and they'll hopefully fit for a month or so. These little people grow so quickly!

A pretty productive month all up -  I'm pleased.

Friday 14 October 2011

Christmas Baking - Nürnberger Lebkuchen

One of my favourite parts of Christmas is the baked goods.  Which is a bit of a problem since Christmas is summertime for me, and heating the house with the oven going isn't the best of ideas!

20 years ago I was an exchange student to California, and while there I picked up a cookie cookbook (Sunset - Cookies, printed Feb 1990) and I make quite a few cookies out of this book, but the one staple is Nürnberger Lebkuchen.  Unfortunately it's not on their website, so I'll copy here.  I'll also list my variations at the end - some are preference, one from a (yummy) mistake I made a number of years ago.  These are the cookies that need to 'mature' that I mentioned in Things I've Been Meaning to Do - October Edition

This is a two-stage recipe, as the dough needs to rest once made. 

Ingredients

1 cup honey
3/4 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1 egg, lightly beaten
1 Tbsp lemon juice
1 tsp grated lemon peel
2 1/3 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp each ground allspice, cloves and nutmeg
1/2 tsp each salt and baking soda
1/3 cup each finely chopped candied citron and finely chopped almonds
About 24 candied cherries, cut in half
6-8 oz whole blanched almonds
Glaze in stage 2 (1 cup powdered sugar and 5 tbsp rum or water stirred until very smooth)

Stage 1
Heat honey in a small pan over med-high heat just until it begins to bubble.  Remove from heat and let cool slightly (very important!!). 

Stir in the sugar, egg, lemon juice and lemon peel; let cool to luke-warm.

Mix flour, spices, salt and baking soda. 

Add in the honey mix, citron and chopped almonds. Stir until well blended - this will be a soft dough. 

Cover tightly with plastic wrap and refridgerate for 8 hours up to 2 days.

Stage 2
Work with a quarter of the dough at a time, keeping the remainder refridgerated.

Roll out with a floured rolling pin to 3/8 of an inch thick on a heavily floured board. Cut cookies with a 2 1/2 inch cutter and place 2 inches apart on lined/greased baking sheets.

Place 1/2 a candied cherry in the center and an almond at 12, 4 and 8 o'clock (like a flower).  Press in a bit as they have a habit of jumping off!  Bake at 375F/180C for 12-15 min or until golden brown.

Remove from oven, place on a cooling rack and brush the tops with the glaze.  Once cool you can glaze the bottom, but I tend not to.

Once they are completely cool and dry, place in airtight containers and store at room temperature for at least 2 weeks or up to 3 months (I store for about 8 weeks).  If the cookies go hard, add a thin slice of apple to the container and cover tightly, storing until they're moist again (about a day) and discarding the apple.

Makes about 4 dozen.

My variations:
I goofed one year and instead of the tsp measures of the spices, I put in Tbsp measures of spices.  I now do that every year!

I don't like citron, so leave it out.  I'll also use flaked almonds in the dough for different texture.

I've substituted Brandy for the Rum in the past in the glaze.

I've never had to do the apple trick.

And in typing up this recipe, I realise I don't need to halve the blanched almonds for the top, which I've always done, getting very, very frustrated at doing it!!

Enjoy!

Sunday 9 October 2011

Things I've Been Meaning to Do - October Edition

1 - Get those shelves up.   The toilet one is now at least painted, and the plan today is to re-paint the room ready for it.

2 - Sort out my office area and go through paperwork.  The piles of paperwork is driving me nuts, and I need to make space for DH's as well.

3- Not a meaning to do, but due this month - start baking my christmas cookies.  They need a couple of months to mature.

4 - put more of the boxes around the place into storage - if there is room in the lock-up.

5 - cut and sew pants for Baby J - need to do this soon before he out-grows the size I've cut in the pattern!!

Not a big list this month, so I should get a fair way through....  Hmmmm

Monday 3 October 2011

TIBMTD - September Wrap

I like this accountability thing - I actually get stuff done!!

Ironing - done, rebuilt, needs to be done again.  This is going to require a routine, me thunks.

Carport clean-up  was not touched.  I'm thinking the wardrobe can be re-purposed when we have a bigger house as either a sewing or study nook (or one side for each - thinking, thinking).  My Dad's council area's Hard Rubbish collection in November should clear a bit of the junk that's out there.

Donations have been shifted to my donations box (with a few other bits and pieces), but I've not gotten anywhere to under the bed.  Baby J is now on the move, so this is up the priority tree! I also didn't get further on the shelves, so that is also a priority.

I got the garden jobs done, plus the mending. 

Oh the mending - two buttons on to items. A repair to Mr Trifectagirl's pants and repaired a pair of my pants - only to find they no longer fit!  Oh well, that's what you get for leaving things a year and a pregnancy.

Monday 19 September 2011

Mr Klutz

What a lovely weekend.  Stunning weather, a friend's beach house, and an opportunity to introduce Baby J to the beach and sea.  

Normally a great photo op.  However Mr Trifectagirl's good digital SLR decided it didn't want to work, so was in being repaired.

The back-up, my trusty little point and shoot digital, was the order of the day.

All good an well, except Mr Trifectagirl decided that he HAD to get shots of the kangaroo that was in the yard of the beach house on Saturday morning. 

And in obtaining the some 16 shots of the 'roo, he dropped my camera.  And broke it.  Bang goes our option for photos of Baby J's first visit to the beach.

Fortunately I remembered the camera on my phone, so we have some shots.  Not brilliant and not close-up, but we have some form of memory.

Oh, and Mr Trifectagirl also managed to drop my phone in the sand!! 

Tuesday 6 September 2011

Slowly, but surely

This post explains some of my Things I've Been Meaning to Do for this month.

About 9 years ago I moved in to my little house.  3 bedrooms, open plan living/dining/kitchen, 3-way bathroom, single carport.  It was perfect for me, and I slowly, slowly replaced my student furniture with new pieces. 

Three years ago my mother suddenly passed away, followed by my step-father 6 months later.  Suddenly I inheritted half a houseful of furniture.  There was not enough room for it all - and my sister is dealing with half of it!! It turns out we also inherited my step-dad's Mother's stuff.  He'd simply packed up her house, and put it in storage on their property.

Then I met Mr Trifectagirl, when he moved in he had his stuff, plus the stuff from his parents place.  So in my little house, we now had the equivelant of about 3 households of furniture, kitchen gear, spare electric cables - the whole kit and kaboodle. 

Then Baby J was on his way.  More stuff.  And even more since he arrived!

To deal with all of this, we have a lock-up unit, which is full to the brim - but we keep squeezing in more.  The house is still over-full, but it would be so much worse without the lock-up.

My carport was also full.  So my car has lived in the drive for about 2 years.  Passing some furniture onto a student friend, plus a sizable donation to a charity helped start clearing that. So what's in the photo on my TIBMTD post for September is a massive improvement on the original!! It's still got one massive wardrobe I haven't been able to off-load, but it's a good start - although I'm thinking about re-purposing the wardrobe for crafts/sewing.  Need to think on that one.

Next place to attack as one of my TIBMTD is under the beds - we have boxes of stuff from my Mum's place.  Crockery, nick-nacks, photos, all sorts.  Baby J's rooms is the worst, so at the top of the list

We're slowly, but surely, whittling away at our piles of stuff.  I think TIBMTD will play a significant part of this project!!

Things I've Been Meaning To Do - September

My list is pretty long this month - I'm being more adventurous even though I didn't do such a great job last month.


This is the ironing pile.  I think items on the bottom are from last month.  It's not toooo bad - the clothes are piled on a chair.

Try and do somthing about my carport - my poor car has been on the street for close on 2 years now.  The wardrobe needs a new home, there's a bunch of stuff to go in hard rubish and some just needs to go in cleaner storage.

I need to deal with the donations that are on the bed in Baby J's room, and deal with the boxes of stuff from my Mum and Step-Dad's estate that are under it!

The weed mat in my vegie patch has given up the ghost, so I need to put down newspaper to smouther them, and then figure out the next step.  It's spring here, so I need to get moving on this pretty quick.

There are two hanging baskets in this picture. They are under where they need to go back up.  I just can't seem to get to it!

And from last month, I still need to do some work on the cross-stitch for Baby J's room, do the mending, get the shelves up and probably a miriad of other bits and pieces!

Here's to a productive month.



TIBMTD August - How did we go????

1 - Clear the mending pile. Since I have a pair of pants on the pile that's been there well over 12 months, I really should do it!!   Nope - didn't get there. An the number of times I wanted to wear those pants this month.....

2 - Get the shelves I bought for the toilet and baby J's room sanded, painted and up. This requires my fathers help (Mr Trifectagirl isn't the most 'handy' of men).  Sanded, but not painted or up.  But my Dad has bought the paint for the one in Baby J's room, since it's the same as their bathroom colour.

3 - Do some more on the cross-stitch I bought for baby J's room. It's sitting in the corner of the living room, taunting me.  Not touched at all.  Actually, I tell a lie.  It's no longer sitting in the living room since we got a new sofa, so I technically touched it, just didn't do any of it.

4 - Do our wedding thank yous. I've ordered them, and they'll hopefully be here by the end of the week. This SHOULD be acheivable!!  They arrived and are now just about all out - they should be finalised today.  Yippeee.

5 - Get my kitchen mixer tap replaced. It's been leaking a while now, so I want it fixed. I've requested this as a birthday present from Mr Trifectagirl and my dad (one buy the tap, the other pay the plumber), so it should be done this month!! Does outsourcing count??  Outsourced and done!!

Saturday 27 August 2011

Getting Productive

Ever since I moved into my home, I've wanted to have my garden more productive than it has been.  I've had some veggie beds, that have been reasonably productive, but I've wanted more. I'd love a mixed orchard.  But for some reason I've been too scared to plant fruit trees.  I think it's to do with the outlay and fear I'll kill them.

Plus I've had a distinct lack of room. 

That problem was recently dealt with by my father, who took to two bushes that really didn't do anything for me botanically with a chain saw.

So now, after some 9 years, I've finally got two trees after a trip to the garden centre.  I found a miniature twin-grafted stone fruit tree - peach and nectarine.  Plus I got a twin graft lemon/lime.

Now to hope I don't kill them and I get to enjoy the produce. 

Monday 8 August 2011

Bad day at work

Yesterday we had the family lunch for my birthday.  I picked a particular restaurant as I wanted the Paella.

First, we struggled to get J's pram in without creating a hazard for waitstaff.

The Paella takes an hour - Mr Trifectagirl forgot to let me know that - he'd enquired when he made the booking.  As we were on set time for accessible transport for Mr Trifectagirl's wheelchair bound mother, we didn't order the Paella.  So I didn't have the meal I wanted for my birthday.  The poor waiter felt pretty bad about that, and tried to swing it for us - no go.

Next, I decided to order a cocktail.  Their take on a mojito.  The poor kid serving then had to tell me that they'd run out of rum.  He felt really bad, so I got my sangria on the house. 

The kitchen was slow on one of the entrees.  It was steak tartar served in a cleaned sardine tin.  Two people on the table ordered the same meal.  We think they actually had to wait for a tin to be cleaned!!

Thankfully mains and desert went off without a hitch, but I really felt sorry for the guy - he started to get more and more deflated each time he came to our table.  Particularly since Mr Trifectagirl emphasised it was my birthday lunch! 

I hope he had a better evening service.

Tuesday 2 August 2011

Things I've been meaning to do (August 2011)

After following a link from an on-line friend's blog a few months ago, I read the "I'm A Lazy Mom" blog.  Each month she and other readers list odd jobs they've been meaning to do.  I've decided to get on the band-wagon as I need some form of accountablility to get off my behind!

So, here we go:

1 - Clear the mending pile.  Since I have a pair of pants on the pile that's been there well over 12 months, I really should do it!!

2 - Get the shelves I bought for the toilet and baby J's room sanded, painted and up.  This requires my fathers help (Mr Trifectagirl isn't the most 'handy' of men).

3 - Do some more on the cross-stitch I bought for baby J's room.  It's sitting in the corner of the living room, taunting me.

4 - Do our wedding thank yous.  I've ordered them, and they'll hopefully be here by the end of the week. This SHOULD be acheivable!!

5 - Get my kitchen mixer tap replaced. It's been leaking a while now, so I want it fixed.  I've requested this as a birthday present from Mr Trifectagirl and my dad (one buy the tap, the other pay the plumber), so it should be done this month!!  Does outsourcing count??

Lets see how I go!

Friday 29 July 2011

And I only spent...

Hardware stores and garden centres are dangerous places for me.  I rarely get out of them without having spent a small fortune.  Plants are the most leathal sections for me. 

Today I had to go down to get some dowel so I could put together a mobile for baby J's room, plus some other bits and pieces for that project.  And I wound up with some veggie seedlings in the mix. But at about a $20 spend, it's one of the cheapest trips I've ever had.

Not bad since I've been known to drop $200 on a single plant in the past (thankfully it's still alive!!).

Tuesday 26 July 2011

Little Friends and Dodgy eyes.

I took baby J to playgroup today.  I enjoy playgroup - it's an hour and a half of entertainment each week I don't have to think of.  And there are a lot of cool toys (my opinion, not baby J's!!).  It was the first day of term, and there was a mum with her 9 month old boy O there for the first time (it was our second visit). 

It's the first time I've seen two youngsters take a shine to each other.  O kept crawling to J, J was attempting to roll in his direction.  Awwww.  My baby has his first little friend.

This followed Mr Trifectagirl taking J to the doctors this morning after we noticed that he has a turned-in eye.  The doctor was quite concerned, and advised to get it looked at quickly, so we hope we'll have a specialist appointment next week.

Although concerning, my parents went through the same thing with me.  My turned in eye was corrected by surgery when I was two.  Hopefully we've caught it early enough so that we don't have to deal with surgery.

Sunday 10 July 2011

My Favourite Things

It's the simple little things.  These are my top three, long-standing favourites.

Like a warm washcloth to take the day off my face.  I always feel my shoulders relax and I'm able to wind down to go to sleep.  "Melting" is the best way I can describe it.

Clean sheets on the bed.  This is pure heaven.  And I get really annoyed when Mr Trifectagirl gets in before I do and takes the 'newness' away.

The pleasure of gardening, and seeing garden bed cleared of weeds.  It's easy to see progress and get a great deal of satisfaction.

Baby J of course has added the joy of baby giggles, baby kisses and baby smiles.  But these are part of what makes me, me.

Friday 8 July 2011

My Bridget Jones Day

Ok, today has been somewhat Bridget Jones-ish.

First, we've had an ongoing problem with our fridge.  The door just wouldn't stay shut, was it was working overtime to keep cool and as a result, freezing everything at the back. 

Our first solution was to put on a baby lock, This worked for some 6-7 months.  It was the first baby-safety product we bought.  But in the last couple of weeks, this has started to be ineffective.

So today we finally got a fridge-guy out to figure out the problem.

He did. 

Quickly.

The old set up:


And he did this:


Yes, he shifted a tub to the middle so it didn't jam against the drinks holder in the door.  And charged $77 for the privelidge.  Mr Trifectagirl and I feel pretty stupid that we didn't figure this out in about 12 months!!

Then my day got better. 

We menu-plan in our house.  It means we know what we're having and the grocery shopping list and expense is kept under control.  Tonight is a soup with Chorizo sausage, fennel, carrot, chickpeas and celary.  I've made it before and it's lovely. 

We have a friend who regularly gives us veggies out of his garden, and the last bundle included a fennel and a rather large carrot.  Bonus, I think, I can use these in the soup (actually, the menu was planned knowing these were in the fridge).  Now, this rather large carrot happend to be a purple variety.

Little did I know, purple carrots bleed.  A lot.  A bit like fresh beetroot.   My bright, colourful soup now looks quite interesing.  The stock is purple, the veggies and chickpeas are a purple-grey colour.


Fortunately the flavour still seems ok.

Tuesday 5 July 2011

Honeymoon Wrap

I just realized I haven't done a wrap of Mr Trifectagirl and I's honeymoon last week.  It was lovely.  We managed fantastic weather, although one day was particularly cool and the fog rolled in really early.

Mr Trifectagirl used his relationship-building skills to score us an upgrade to a suite at our hotel.  I was embarassed, but pleased with the result.   The staff were fantastic with everything, including sterilizing J's bottles each day for us!  Mr Trifectagirl has sent very positive feedback on our experience and stay to the international office.

We learned that prams do not go onto Melbourne trams particularly easily.  Which was a pain.

We did a walking tour of Melbourne's "The Golden Mile" and learned so much about the city - it was really worth doing.  We had the opportunity to catch up with an old friend who moved to Melbourne some 8 years ago, albeit briefly.

The main aim of the trip was to go to the "Tutenkahmun and the Golden Age of the Pharohs" exhibition.  And unfortunately we were disappointed.  I'm glad I went, but an exhibition a number of years ago at the Art Gallery of South Australia which from memory was much better.  This exhibition was speccy, but the Adelaide one seemed to be more comprehensive on recolection.  The highlight is actually the teddy bear I bought for J - dressed as King Tut, and named "Tutty Bear".  It falls into the clasification of 'so bad, it's good'.

The highlights of the trip had to be the flights there and back.  J flew really, really well.  Especially since he cut his first and second teeth on the respective flights!  J's first tooth at 4.5 months.

Grandparent and Playgroup Fun

Grandpa and Auntie J have been away for about a month, and they arived home today.  They were amazed at how much J has changed in that time.  They've been in Scandinavia, and bought J home a beanie with a troll and 'Norge' written on it.  J's now being called Norge (rhymes with George) by Mr Trifectagirl.




After visiting Grandpa and Auntie J, Mr Trifectagirl and I took J to baby playgroup for the first time today. Mr Trifectagirl spent most of the time on his phone, while I was down on the floor playing with J and the other babies.    There were lots of toys for a little boy to play with, and he seemed very popular with the ladies (young AND old!!). 

There was a group story, and songs and then we headed home.  It was enough to plum tucker out a baby boy, so he had a nice long nap when we got home.

Friday 1 July 2011

Hi Ho, Hi Ho

After my employment contract concluded conveniently at about the time I wanted to start maternity leave, I went back to work today.  Yes, a Friday. 

One of my (former) colleagues is going through a rough patch personally with an unwell teenaged daughter, and there is a rather large backlog of paperwork that needs to be completed for a project.  This is something that I have done a few times before, so I got a call a couple of weeks ago to see if I could do some temping.  Yep, I'm happy to head back to work now, and it is stuff I can do from home if I want to. 

This week Mr Trifectagirl and I were on our honeymoon, and we got home last night.  Mid-honeymoon I received a text asking how soon I could be in, which was today.

I have the ability to work part-time at my own flexibility, which is fantastic.  Monday is MIL's birthday, so I'll only go in for the afternoon.

I love my little boy, but it was fantastic going back to work.  I guess I need to contribute/earn through paid employment as part of who I am.

Sunday 26 June 2011

Honeymoon Plans

Tomorrow morning, Mr Trifectagirl, J and I all head off on our 'little' honeymoon to Melbourne.  Forget "Honeymoon baby", baby is coming on the honeymoon!

We've had some concerns over the last week - the ash cloud from the Chilaen has disrupted flights two weeks in a row, and if it makes a third pass, it will disrupt our flight to Melbourne.

I've found some things I didn't think to think about when booking accommodation.  We've booked into a 5-star hotel, non-refundable booking.  And in the last couple of days I've thought of 'how do we heat bottles?' (room service, apparently), and now 'how do we sterilize bottles?' - we're going to take the equipment, but will probably not sterilize for a few days.

I'm sure we'll figure it out.

Tuesday 14 June 2011

Getting my Vitamin D

We have a glorious day today.  Crisp and cool, but bright blue skies.  Finally, after a dreary start to winter. 

About a month ago my father kindly trimmed two bushes in my yard for me.  Trimmed with  a chainsaw. Which made for a rather large amount of prunings to be dealt with.

I was able to get one lot in the green rubbish collection that week, but not the full load.  And it's taken all this time to get the last of it binned up to go to the verge for collection tomorrow.  I've also been able to deal with some of the grass that has invaded the garden beds.  Overall, my back yard looks a whole lot neater.

Since the weather is lovely, I put J in his rocker, covered him with a blankie, and took him out with me.  He's been rather cranky today, but once I got him out, he settled quitely and watched the clouds in the sky and me potter around him.  Mr Trifectagirl and I really need to get him out in the sunshine and fresh air more than we currently do.

I still need to get the front yard done, especially the roses, but that can wait for an empty bin tomorrow.

But for the mean time I must make further use of this weather, and get through the mountain of laundry I have!!

Monday 6 June 2011

What's next???

The wedding is over.  After about 18 months of planning, I am experiencing the flatness I was fore-warned about.  Most couples may jump into their next project of baby-making, however we've been there, done that.  So I don't know what to do!!

The day went really well, with only two glitches - the organist had the wrong time and the MP3 player 'lost' our first dance song, so we went with the first thing that seemed reasonable!! 

I was really pleased how the whole thing went.

My hair and makeup were amazing, dress was gorgeous, my brides maids were a fantastic help.

The splashes of orange around the wedding - flowers, veil edge, additional net under my dress, centerpieces - all worked really well.  It was fun catching up with everyone, and I tried hard to get to everyone (but I know I missed quite a few!! - I hope they forgive me).  

It was lovely being married by a minister we know, in our 'home'.  We really felt that he loved marrying a couple he knew, rather than a couple who picked his church.  It was a really quick service - about 25 minutes all up!

Baby J however was rather bored with the whole affair. He slept through the ceremony (probably a good thing), and through the reception.  And woke up when we got back to our hotel room, and then partied by blowing raspberries at the ceiling for a couple of hours (while Mr Trifectagirl and I lay there giggling at him, but kinda hoping he'd go to sleep so we could after a long and tiring day!)

Now to wait a month or so for the professional photos!!

Thursday 2 June 2011

In 48 Hours...

In 48 hours I'll be just about ready to head to the church to marry Mr Trifectagirl.  The weather forecast is rain in the morning and cool.  We've had late cancellations., and we've had a change in cars due to mechanical issues.

And as of this morning, FMIL doesn't seem pleased with some of the plans. 

We had intended to fund the wedding, and a European Honeymoon ourselves.  However, as Mr Trifectagirl's been out of work for about a year, we have considerable budgetary constraints and in order to get assistance from my parents to fund the wedding, we've had to drop things we wanted to do totalling about 1/3 of the original budget.  Part of the cull included the coursages for FMIL and my step-mother, and flowers for the reception.  The lack of coursage is what seems to have miffed FMIL.  We're also not getting our big honeymoon, which would have been over and above the wedding costs.

Thankfully our florist includes a throw-away bouquet for me, and a spare button hole for Mr Trifectagirl, so we'll give her one of those (but haven't told her this).  We'll make the call on the day.  I'm thinking the spare button hole pinned to her jacket since my father is getting one. 

Having baby J really has realy  helps deciding on what is really important, and what isn't. The biggest thing I've learned in the planning, is that the most important thing is that we're married at the end of it. 

Thursday 19 May 2011

Kissing Babies

Mr Trifectagirl is actively involved at the local level with the Australian Labor Party.  The Federal Cabinet, including the Prime Minister, today held local community consultations, followed by a "meet and greet" for party faithful this evening.  Mr Trifectagirl wanted to go, wanted me to go, and for us to take J.  So I agreed to go.

Once the Prime Minister actually arrived and walked into the room, it didn't take long for her to see baby J, a bee-line was made for us.  The proverbial polititian kissing babies - even if it was an in-house event.

The funny thing was, J and I were watching the Prime Minister on the news just prior to leaving.  And when she came over to us at the event, it seemed J actually recognised her! 

Other than that, I personally found it a pretty dull afair.  My mother was active in the other side of politics, so I grew up being dragged to these sorts of events.  Different political persuasion, but same old type of event.

Thursday 12 May 2011

23 Days and Counting...

My wedding is in 23 days.  Now where are we at??

The final bridesmaid's dress arrived from the USA this morning, which is a weight off!   I still need to make wraps for the girls, who chose strapless/shoestring strap cocktail dresses for a mid-winter wedding.  My dress is with the dressmaker for alterations, and she is also making my veil.  I had hoped to make my own, but I do not have the skill to sew such a fine material.

My florist is set, make up artist booked, we're basically at final payments stage for the cake, cars and reception.  For bonboneirie we've opted to do donations to two charities: Oxfam Unwrapped and Small Change for Change.

We still need to buy the paper to print the Orders of Service, but the content is ready.

RSVPs close tomorrow - and we still have a reasonable number to reply.  We get the fun job of picking the menu tomorrow morning and getting table lay-outs finalised.

I'm still waiting on my necklace to arrive at the store, and then I need to find earings to go with it.  I had found a pair I loved, but unfortunately they don't colour match to our grey and orange colour scheme.  On the up side, our wedding bands have been made, and are stunning! 

Mr Trifectagirl and I need to do a recon mission for photography locations.  We have a few ideas that are not your usual locations for our city, it's just a case of when we go to what location.  Plus we need inclement weather options! 

Looks like we're just about there!

Saturday 30 April 2011

Jumping on the Bandwagon

After following a number of my IF (infertility) friends, I've finally decided to jump on the blogging bandwagon.

The trifecta is having a great home/place to live; fantastic relationships (romantic as well as friends and family); and a job you love.  So far in my experience, I've never had all three at once, but in the majority, it's pretty good.

About 12 months ago, Mr Trifectagirl and I were preparing for our 2nd IVF cycle.  Baby boy J concieved that cycle is now 11 weeks old - and I am still generally sleep deprived and the house isn't the most organised!  But he is a joy and now full of baby giggles and big smiles most of the time and is adored by Mummy and Daddy.  What J doesn't enjoy is the stress Mummy's projecting as she finalises plans for her wedding to Daddy in 5 weeks time!  I have figured out that the fabric shop is one place J really doesn't like.

Wedding plans for Mr Trifectagirl and I's wedding are coming along well, albeit with a few stressors.  I'm starting to worry that some on-line orders may not make it in time - specifically one of the bridesmaid's dresses.  But local suppliers are slowly being bedded down, and paid for!!  Having a winter wedding does have it's advantages for short lead times and supplier availability.  Poor Mr Trifectagirl is now dealing with a stressed bride-to-be rather than a hormonal pregnant woman.  He's really not had a good year!

Our home is a small three bedroom place without enough storage, or even floor space as I start to consider J getting mobile sometime in the future.  There wasn't enough before J came into our lives.  There is even less now.  Both Mr Trifectagirl and I would love to move to a bigger home, however that requires jobs...

Mr Trifectagirl has been unemployed for about a year, but has two interviews next week.  Of course, after nothing for ages, he gets two interviews for the same day... at the same time.  That's now been sorted and he has two interviews on the same day at different times.  

I  miss working and the routine that goes with the structure of a work week, but am not looking to return to work until at least later this year.  When I left my last position, it was the end of my contract, so I will need to look for a new position when I want to start.  So, the job/career element of my trifecta is currently on hold.

So, of the trifecta - Home is ok, relationships are great (even if a tad stressed at the moment!), and job is non-existant.