from somewhere in my imagination

Blog Love

Today I am in Melbourne with over 250 other bloggers for the Nuffnang Blogopolis conference.

A few months ago I changed my blogging focus and direction.  I've always loved writing so it made sense to turn my blog into a place for me to write more, and so I am, and I love it.  You can read all about my blog, my way here.  I am really excited to be learning more about blogging and bloggers at the conference and I am sure that I will come home on Sunday energised with plenty of ideas buzzing around and possibly a slightly sore liver from a cocktail or two too many ;)

Given that I am spending the day with bloggers I thought it an opportune time to share some of my favourite blogs with you, and I hope that you will share some of your favourites with me too!

I have had a long time crush on Mel (I've been reading nearly as long as she's been blogging).  She truly is the craftiest of crafty mumma's.  I love the stories and ideas that she shares and I adore that she seems to love colour just as much as I do.  The fortnightly newsletter Mel and Tamar are producing, Teapot, has so many fun ideas and projects in it.  I am super excited to be meeting Mel this weekend.

Kate is one of the most beautiful people I have ever had the pleasure to meet.  She is warm, generous, creative and has a great sense of humour.  Like me she smiles, alot.  She also has lots of kids and a playdate with Kate + kids means lots of girly dressing up and giggling.  Sebastian hasn't quite decided which twin he's going to marry just yet, he loves them both ;)  Kate blogs about life, creating and living to 100.  Her honest writing has had me in tears (both happy and sad) many times over the years.  We have lots in common, particulalry our desires for simple-green-creative living.

Like me, Morgan is a fairly young mumma of 4 (except she has the opposite, 3 boys + 1 girl).  I came across Morgan's blog one morning when I was blog hopping and have been a regular reader ever since.  Morgan hosts a fun, weekly Meme small style and will be co-hosting a sew along with me in September.  I think that we are both a bit silly excited about it :)

Fig + Sage

Is a blog by two Californian born sisters talking about all things beauty & fashion that are organic and good for you.  Totally up my alley.

Creativity & Love

Jodie is a Mumma to 6 and is awesomely creative.  I love her colourful creations, home decorating and writing style.

Christy is an amazing creative.  Her She art classes have inspired a few of my scrapbooking friends to dive head first into the worl od mixed media.  Her creations and ideas are totally inspiring and make me want to get all messy with paint and mediums every single time I read her blog.  Her blog definitely inspires my inner artist.

Danielle's blog is one of my daily reads.  I love her op shop finds, outift inspiration and all around cool style.  Her writing is honest and I love that she is just herself.  Really looking forward to meeting her this weekend.

Fat Mum Slim

Chantelle's blog makes me feel happy.  I love the things that she posts about and her style of writing.  I started reading right around the time she travelled to Disneyworld earlier in the year for a blogging conference and was completely inspired to change my blog focus...and I did, right away.

A Little Bit of Me

Lauren is my sister.  She fits right in a blogging category all of her own.  She's a 20 something creative type studying and currently a little bit addicted to the gym, perhaps she's found some cute boys there?  She posts lots of inspiring tidbits and things about herself. 

Salvation Jane Home

You might remember Jane from such shows as all together now and neighbours...well she also makes over furniture, designs gorgeous interiors, bakes cakes, collects coloured glass and is releasing her own range of soft furnishings soon.  Do you think I'm jealous much ;)  Her blog has lots to visually delight and who knew actresses were so honest and down to earth :)

So there you have it a short list of 10 blogs I love to read, by no means is this a full list but they were the first 10 that came to mind as I was mentally preparing for Blogopolis.

Don't forget to share your favourite blog links with me!

Happy Weekend

Tatum xx

 

Reasons I've Never Outgrown Playschool and Never Will

Playschool  and I are about the same age give or take a year or two.  I grew up with them.  Benita, John and Noni were my favourites.  These days Andrew, Alex and Justine take the cake.

There is a brand new series on ABC in the mornings at the moment and they have a brand new presenter.  On her first day I felt sooooo excited for her.  Working on playschool is pretty much my idea of a dream job.

Over the years, irrespective of my age, I have always been happy to sit down and watch.  Whether it was when I was a kid myself, then when my younger sisters Lauren and Jess were at playschool age I'd watch with them.  Especially Jess, she had videotaped episodes that she would happily watch all day long (and I'd watch with her...I'm 14 years older than she is!).  These days Playschool is the one show I will stop what I'm doing, snuggle on the couch, and watch.  I know I'll still be doing it as neices and/or nephews and grandchildren come along in time.

Playschool is a timeless concept.  It's kind of like watching kindergarten.  Kindergartens are one of my favourite places on earth.  Paint, playdoh & the making table...bring it on.

They have the most awesome imaginary play.  The can turn a cardboard box and a loo roll into pretty much anything.  Their stories are fun and funny and the role play is so much fun to watch.  I love those occasional little jokes that go over the childrens heads.  Not sure if they are intentional or it's just my bizarre sense of humour.

They make up new words for songs like no one else, not to mention the singing and dancing.  Wokka wokka wokka like a helicopter anyone? They have a huge repetoire and I LOVE to sing along.  Few things in life make me happier than when a child or two is singing and dancing along with playschool.  The dingle dangle scarecrow is my personal favourite.  I love to sing it extra loud.

It spans all ages.  It is the single TV show that will captivate all of my children at the same time.  I don't see this changing anytime soon.

Most of them actually aren't very good singers.  I'm not either and I love that they sing loud and proud.  I'm particularly impressed that Justine Clarke has added a whole other side career singing kids songs with a terribly flat voice.

They cook stuff, and eat it.  It always amuses me when they make something that clearly tastes particularly bad but have to eat it and pretend it's good anyway.

They read books and tell stories and generally encourage children to indulge in being children every single day.

I look forward to continuing my love of playschool for many years to come.

Are you a playschool lover?  Do you have another favourite children's TV show?

Have a sensational weekend.  I'll be getting my sparkle on at Nuffnang Blogopolis.  Looking forward to hanging out with some old mates, meeting some people I've *known* online for years and making new friends and connections.  Next week I'll be back a hugely inspired blogger no doubt!

Tatum xx

Chicken Soup

This time two weeks ago we were on our way to NSW on a site visit/interview to a mine near Muswellbrook.  We had been waiting for an offer, or not, until late yesterday.

On Sunday night I was sitting eating chinese in Chinatown in Sydney with Lauren, Ali & Lou when my babies rang to say good night.  As soon as Charlotte got on the phone she burst into tears.  For the two weeks of holidays she had been bottling up something a classmate had said to her on the last day of school.

One of the other girls in the class was leaving and another child had told Charlotte that the girl leaving 'had never liked her and didn't ever want to be her friend, she just pretended'.  Funny thing is the girl saying this to Charlotte has been at the school for all of about 4 months, compared to the 4 years Charlotte had spent with the girl who was leaving.  No matter, it cut and it cut her deep.

It was a horrible thing to be sitting in a whole other state on the end of the phone with tears rolling down my cheeks needing to hold her close and knowing that something needed to change.  The message was repeated to Charlotte by the same child again on Monday.

On Monday night I didn't sleep.  I had much to much whirling around in my head.  I am eternally greatful to Ali who chatted with me into the wee hours after I'd been tossing and turning in bed trying to turn my brain off.  Over the past months there has been alot of thinking about Charlotte and changing schools. 

It is a fairly unique situation in that we plan on moving before the 2012 school year starts and she is currently at a small school with a great teacher who we love but there are only 6 girls, total, in her class and, through no fault of her own, she doesn't feel like she has a single proper friend amongst them.  My biggest concern was that if we just tried to 'wait it out' the situation would get so badly under her skin and make her so miserable in the months ahead that the damage done to her self confidence would potentially take years to reverse.

Tuesday morning I arrived home to four very excited to see me children and a semi formed plan of attack in my mind.

I organised a visit to the other school in town for Wednesday morning, which went well.

By the afternoon there was still no answer on Muswellbrook and I was starting to become quite anxious, not to mention the running nose and sore throat that was creeping in.  Not something I want to have set in before I head off to Melbourne for Blogopolis tomorrow.  I needed some Chicken Soup.  Both for the oncoming cold and for my soul.

And I got it.

Steven arrived home with the news that we were not moving to Muswellbrook.  Despite being excited at the prospect and having met so many lovely people that live in the area last weekend I felt relieved.  Relieved that we finally had our answer and relieved that we could move forward and start properly planning for the second half of the school year.

We sat Charlotte down and properly talked to her about changing schools.  The first response my my sweet.beautiful.darling girl was one of concern for the one other girl in the class she does feel comfortable with.  That got my tears rolling.

She approached things in a sensible manner and made a list of the good things and bad things about each of the options.  Her gut reaction was written all over her face.  There was a glimmer of thoughtful smile.

This morning I visited the principal at her school and told her I was moving Charlotte and the reasons why.  Then I let her teacher know, that got my tears flowing.  It is such a hard hard thing to take our child out of a class with the most perfect teacher for her, but like I said, it's a fairly unique situation.

So I am sitting here with new enrolment forms to fill in and my baby girl will be starting at a new school on Monday.  It's a good thing.

As for that chicken soup in the photo, that was our dinner last night.  And I'm not sure if it was the soup or the fact several weights have been liften from my shoulders but I am feeling so much better this morning.

Asian Flavoured Chicken Soup

Ingredients

Stock

1 whole chicken (preferably organic) with thighs, wings and legs cut off.  Leave the breasts on the carcass

1 carrot, halved lengthways

1 red onion, halved

3 Star Anise

Soup

200g dried noodles, I used some thin wheat ones (fresh hokkien would work nicely too but you will need a 400g packet...I think that's how big they are)

2 carrots, peeled and grated

a good 5cm knob of ginger, peeled and grated

1 bunch spring onions, cleaned and cut into 1 inch lengths

1 tin baby corn, drained

2 long red chillies, sliced

Light soy sauce, to serve

Method

Stock

Making the stock is something that can be done earlier in the day or even a day or two ahead.  Making it ahead will give you the opportunity to cool it in the fridge and easily remove the fat off the top.

Fill a large saucepan with 3 litres of water

Add in your cut chicken, star anise and vegies.  Bring to a simmer and leave it to bubble away for about 45 minutes, until the chicken is completely cooked through and the stock is a light brown colour.

Remove chicken and set aside

Strain stock into a large bowl or jug and discard the leftovers

Cool stock in the fridge until the fat had solidified then discard.  If you don't have time for this step you can skim some fat off the top with a spoon but that is much tricker ;)

Soup

Remove the meat from the chicken.  Discard skin and bones.  For the soup I just used the white breast meat, I saved the rest (well the bits Jasmine didn't eat) for sandwiches.  I'll be honest, the dark meat on a poached chicken smells pretty yuck.

Chop the breast into small pieces

Bring water to the boil in a saucepan and cook noodles.

Divide cooked noodles, chicken, grated carrot and ginger, baby corn, chilli and spring onions between bowls.

Reheat the chicken stock and add to each bowl.

Splash in some light soy to serve.

Slurping is essential...and if you decide to drink the soup from the bowl and your bowl has chopstick holes don't be a donkey like my husband, make sure they are turned away from your mouth :)

Have a lovely Thursday.  I am walking ever so much taller today.

Tatum xx