Perfect night in

Tom's perfect night in = couch and AFL.

But to be fair we are flicking between the football and iron chef. Go challenger!

The garden I planted....

Before:After:
The weekend before last I was given some plants by my mother's cousin's girlfriend. She had a lot in her yard and was more than happy to share some with me - which was very nice of her. I planted them under the coral tree in the backyard. Above are the before and after pictures. The plants look great and have made an instant garden.

New bedside tables and bedside lamps

This week we were lucky enough to score some bedroom tables from Tom's parents. These ones didn't suit their new house so they have upgraded to some modern cubic ones. Since our house is old, the bedside tables fit right in. I love them they are just right for our bedroom.

Clearly once we had new tables we "needed" new bedside lamps. To be fair we only had one bedside tables to start with. Tom had it over his side of the bed and if I wanted to read in bed I had to have the big light on. Not an ideal situation. However all is good with the world now that we have one each. I have half a dozen books that Ness lent me so I will be able to test out the new lamp very soon.

Gold Qantas Frequent Flyer

I am very excited because I am only 25 status point off becoming a Gold Qantas Frequent Flyer. I am not sure exactly why I get so excited about this but for some reason I do. And I will be thrilled when in a few weeks I travel again to Sydney,Canberra or Townsville and get enough points to obtain Gold status.

Gold status entitles me to free Qantas Club membership. Which would be wonderful but I am already a member of the Qantas Club so I don't get that. It does mean that I get more frequently flyer points when I travel - except when I travel with work. And since most of the travel I do is through work that doesn't really help.

So essentially I get no real benefit from achieving Gold status. Now you might think that this knowledge would dampen my excitement. However I can assure you that is not the case. I am still hugely excited about it and no doubt I will post again when I do achieve Gold status.

Happy Mothers Day

Mothers day started early this year. Not with breakfast in bed or flowers & chocolates but with getting ready to go to church. Church was good; there were lots of skits and a short sharp sermon by one of the members of the congregation. She is the same woman who took the easter service and is a very intelligent and eloquent speaker.

After the social chatter than inevitably follows church Tom and I came home to finish the preparations for lunch. We had my Mother and Father, Grandmother and Brother over for lunch. Lunch was chicken, zucchini slice, salad and fresh bread. It was great. And followed by rhubarb crumble which turned out very nicely. I just finished the leftovers a moment ago.

RHUBARB CRUMBLE Serves 6
INGREDIENTS

1 big bunch rhubarb, cut crosswise into 2 cm slices, leaves discarded
1 1/4 cups sugar
6 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
1/4 cup packed light-brown sugar
1/4 teaspoon finely grated orange zest
1 cup all-purpose flour

METHOD

1. Preheat oven to 190°C.
2. Stir together rhubarb and sugar in an baking dish.
3. Cream butter, sugar and orange zest, then rub through flour until the mixture resembles coarse bread crumbs.
4. Crumble mixture over rhubarb in baking dish
5. Bake 30-35 minutes
6. Cool for 30 minutes

Serve with vanilla ice cream or yoghurt.

I highly recommend it. It is lovely and quite an easy recipe. After tea, coffee and rhubarb crumble we played Mexican Train Dominoes and I won. Yay! And then my family went home and left Tom and I to change into tracksuit pants - essential Sunday afternoon wear - and watch tv for the afternoon.

The May Long weekend

Three days in a row without work are welcome this weekend. We have been so busy. We ate out every night except Wednesday so the long weekend and especially tonight at home doing nothing are especially welcome.

Last night we went to the Pizza Cafe at UQ. It was great. The Pizza was a little bit more expensive than I remember ($13.00 each) but that didn't matter. I had Pizza P as always. They have changed it a little bit - the potato on it seems to have seasoning on it and there is bacon as well as pancetta. It really is a great pizza. Tom had a chicken one with capsicum and feta cheese. It was really nice too.

Today Tom and Dad laid some more pavers in the BBQ area and started on the next retaining wall and I went to the west end farmers markets with Mum followed by Coles by myself. I was exhausted by the end but I think Tom is even more tired than I am having shoveled road base and moved pavers/blocks for most of the day. It looks like tomorrow will be more of the same.

Monday we are having friends over for lunch so the house will need to be spic and span. We are having a BBQ and I am making a Toblerone cheesecake for dessert. I make it with corn in it - which I am allergic to - so that I can't eat it. So far that seems to work.

Buses and The Big Smoke

Well, due to a change in my husbands employment circumstances (READ: Tom changed jobs) we are now catching the bus to and from work each day. I am quite enjoying it. It is nice to have time to relax together each day.We get on the bus early enough to always get a seat and so far have always been able to get two seats together. It is nice to sit together each day and mellow before and after work.

As yet we have been out for lunch only once. So far Tom has only showed interest in the one place for lunch - which happens to be the cheapest (and freshest) place to eat in the city - Harry's place in Rowes arcade. But there are so many others on offer. My favorites are Ye oldie worldie (clearly not the real name of the restuarant), the Theodore club(no this is not a strip joint - it is an rsl style club in the city - former run by the masons), MYO in Anzac Square and Saffron. I suspect there are other really good places to eat in the city but I don't know about them. I was keen on Bay Swiss too but after the food poisoning incident I am less keen. So I am hoping over the next few weeks/months Tom will let me show him all my fav spots for a good meal. Otherwise I suppose I will have to settle for the $2.50 ham and salad sandwich from Harry's place which lets face it would probably be better for my budget and my waistline....

BBQs and upset stomach

We had Tom's family over for breakfast this morning. I got up early and made blueberry muffins while Tom set the table and got everything ready. He did bacon, eggs and little sausages on the BBQ. It was great. We also had orange juice, a fruit platter and copious cups of tea. All in all it was a great meal and it was lovely to catch up with the family.

For lunch we went to the pool area at Cam and Ness's place for Cam's BBQ lunch (see the theme arising?). Cam and his uncle cooked a great BBQ with some really tasty steak and sausages. Everyone took salads to share and there were some great salads there - people were a lot more adventurous than my boring green salad. There were about a billion different cakes for dessert including the Toblerone Chocolate Cheesecake Tom made for Cam last night.

Unfortunately I started to feel sick with an upset stomach just before dessert so we missed out on trying the cheesecake. I won't lower the tone to describe my symptoms, but suffice to say I have not been too well but am feeling ok. I came home and had a shower and sleep. Now I am in my PJs on the couch - resting. Not exactly how I wanted to end the day, but it has allowed Tom to watch lots of football so it isn't a total loss. :)

Easter Sunday

What a lovely day it is today.

We went to church this morning, for the first time in a while. It was a great service, the sermon was short and sharp, the skits were really well done and several of them were very funny. Tom's parents did one of them and it was great. In character, Tom's mum suggested that she and Cam should go caravaning around Australia which was hilarious because I know she hates the thought of that.

Then we went to Suzy and Dan's place for morning tea. Suzy put on a lovely spread including several different types of toasted hot cross buns and some lovely fruit loaf. They used all the nice things they had been given as wedding gifts which was great.

We stayed to watch their wedding video. I was surprised how good it as. I though it might be a but drab because the main videographer was a bit of a tool. But it was great - Suzy and Dan chose the music and that really made it. Plus the footage he got of everyone was really good. Some of the thing they did were a bit corny but other things, like speeding up the footage of the boys getting ready, was really clever. I was in it quite a bit and was pretty happy with how I looked - and really it is all about me!

This afternoon we are having a rest and Tom is watching the football. Essendon is playing Fremantle. Tonight we are going over to Tom's parents place for dinner. Some of their family friends with small children in tow are over from Sweden so it will be nice to catch up with them and see the kids.

Happy Easter everyone!

How long do you want to be loved? Is forever enough? Is forever enough?

Preparation for Suzy and Dan's wedding over the last few weeks and watching Wife Swap tonight has got me thinking about marriage and what it means to me.

I think getting married was the best and most worthwhile thing I have done in my life. I often tell my husband how happy I am to be his wife. To me being married has meant being very happy.

Marriage means being part of a team and having someone who will always be on your side. It means having someone who will help you out and watch out for you. It also means being responsible for helping and watching out for that person back.

I am always sad to see couples who don't help each other or consider each other in decisions. It is sad.

My absolutely favorite TV couple are Allison and Joe Dubois from Medium. I like them because they are nice to each other and help each other out - there is a lot to be said for that.