Updated blogs

Ok I have been perservering with blogrolling.com for a while now to notify me when my blogs are updated. It seems that it no longer works. None of the blogs I read ever get updated now so it means a manual check which I don't really have time for. I am going to change to another service. Has anyone got any good suggestions??

Cold mornings, hot brekkie

Actually, as much as I hate summer coming to an end and the days getting colder and shorter, the one good thing is I can start eating porridge again. It is not something I ever eat in summer, but there is something comforting about a bowl of steaming porridge on those cold foggy mornings. Plus rolled oats have a double benefit of being high in fibre as well as helping ward off coronary artery disease which I am genetically linked to. Dad had a heart atack at 48, as did 2 of my cousins on his side. Both his siblings died at early ages of heart disease and most of the cousins have high cholesterol. So I was very pleased to see the latest research showing how good rolled oats are in helping prevent this. At the moment as we have an abundance (and that is an understatement!!) of feijoas so I top my porridge with fresh feijoas, a dash of trim milk and an ever so slight sprinkle of brown sugar. Yum!!

Autumn is here...

...and with it the multitude of leaves that also occurs at this time of year. I love the beautiful autumn golds, russets and reds and the sunny clear days, but those leaves just create such a mess. Did try getting the kids to rake them up which went fine then they played hide and seek in the piles so they all got scattered again!!



However, autumn is pumpkin season and pumpkin soup has to be my all time favourite soup. The kids wanted a change from that tonight though so I am on the hunt for a pumpkin and ricotta lasagne. I got 102,000 results when I googled it!!! So I went to one of my fav websites instead and will use this recipe.



Last night was fun. I went to Puppetry of the Penis with a bunch of gals from work. It was hilarious. Nothing sexual at all, just lots of laughs. What those guys can do with their anatomy is just amazing. I must admit I was cringing at times thinking "That's gotta hurt!!" The guys work well together and their comedy routine was very good.

Need to put head down for the next couple of weeks. Another assignment due in on 12 June and I haven't even started writing it. I got an A- for my last one which I was pleased about. Got marked down as I went way over the word limit. I was hoping to get away with it, but 1500 words over was pushing it I guess :-)

Mother's Day in NZ

Well, it's Mother's day here today. The kids are with their dad this weekend but I am picking them up later and we are going out for lunch. They had made me cards which was really sweet so I opened them in bed this morning over coffee.

Went out for tea last night just to our local haunt then onto the movies. There wasn't a lot of choice so we chose Wild Hogs. Didn't feel like anything too heavy as it had been a pretty full on day at work with a couple of deaths so needed some light hearted relief. There wasn't a lot of choice as you can see. Tony was all for The Shooter or 300, but they so do not appeal.

Our local movie theatre has 4 theatres but 2 of these only seat about 60 people so it's almost like sitting in your lounge at home with a bunch of friends. Very cosy! With our town only having a population of 13,500, you are bound to know someone there. And wouldn't you know it, I ended up sitting next to friends of ours, but didn't realise until the intermission!

Along with an abundance of feijoas, my chili bush has grown out of control. I am not sure what to do with all the chilis, but think I might freeze them for future use or perhaps make some salsa. I love chilis, but unfortunately the kids can detect the slightest hint in their meals and you would think I had just served up worms or slugs judging by the look on their faces.

One of the kids feijoa customers dropped in a recipe for this divine Feijoa and Apple Cake which I whipped up this morning.

Apple and Feijoa Cake
125g butter
1.5 cups grated apple
1.5 cups feijoa pulp
1 cup brown sugar
1 large egg
2 cups flour
1 tsp baking soda
2 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup sultanas
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
Melt butter and let cool. Add apple and feijoa and mix well, then sugar and egg and mix. Sift dry ingredients and stir in sultanas and nuts. Add to fruit mixture and mix until combined. Bake in 25cm cake tin at 180 degrees C for 45-60 mins.

Yummy with yoghurt or whipped cream especially when straight from the oven. Mmmmmm!!

I've been tagged

Sara has tagged me with 7 Things About Me.

Here are the rules: Each player starts with 7 random facts/habits about themselves. People who are tagged need to write on their own blog about their seven things, as well as these rules. You need to choose 7 people to get tagged and list their names. Don’t forget to leave them a comment telling them they have been tagged and to read your blog!

1. I love to cook. I get just as much enjoyment from poring over cookbooks as I do from cooking. However, I don't enjoy it when I have worked and need to come home and cook dinner. Then it becomes a chore. I love my days off as I get time to plan and try new things.

2. I love my job as a nurse in intensive care. Even if we won the lottery I think I would still keep working a couple of days a week.

3. I am an impatient person and need things done NOW!

4. Sometimes I like to have really lazy days and do nothing except read or go for coffee somewhere. I can very easily waste a whole day doing not much! Today is one of those days!

5. My absolute favourite food is sushi. I could eat it every day and did when I lived in Japan.

6. I really don't like dogs.

7. I have my belly button pierced.

I'm going to tag Katrina, Megan, Caroline, Kath, Lisa, Floss and Emma

Welcome Dinah and Cookie...

Welcome to the 2 newest members of our family. Dinah is the tabby and about 4 months old. Cookie is the ugly, coloured one but she is so playful and cute. She just cracks me up. There were loads to choose from so we just played with them for a while and the kids picked these 2. Let's hope they have a bit more road sense than the other 2.

A funny thing happened at work today. I was transferring my patient from the ICU to the ward and she had had cardiac surgery. She said to me as we were going up in the lift, " I can't understand why I can no longer see". I had to laugh as she hadn't opened her eyes for ages so I suggested she try opening her eyes. "Oh, that's much better, I can see now" she said. I think I she had used a little too much of her morphine pump lol.

Look what I did today...

I am a nail biter from way back. Am sick and tired of having yucky looking nails so I went and got acrylic nails put on today. Am really pleased with them, but man it is weird having nails now. I needed to keep them reasonably short for work and they feel a good length but I just need to get used to things on the ends of my fingers now.