DIY - First Aid laminated quick reference guide

Here's an easy way to keep First Aid reference material handy, in case you have a need for first aid in your home. I had a newspaper article from the Melbourne Herald Sun that gave directions on what to do in various emergency cases for little ones, so I tore it out of the paper & have had it sitting in my tray on my desk for months. I finally decided that I needed to keep it handy, just in case.

I cut it up to about A4 size & had hubby laminate it for me.

He used Office One A4 laminating pouches

with our laminating machine

but you can easily have it laminated at an Officeworks store. It's now going to sit near our First Aid kit in the bathroom.

I hope we'll never need to use it!

There's a whole variety of First Aid literature that can be found in a lot of the baby/toddler books, parenting magazines, newspapers, pamphlets in doctors waiting rooms & so on, for both kids & adults. Whatever you have that is useful for you, have it laminated & keep it handy, stick it on a wall, keep it near the phone, wherever is easily accessible for you.

It's easy to use, easy to store, it won't tear & if it gets dirty, just wipe it clean.

I hope you never need to use it, but it's good to know that it's there if you need it.

Melbourne International Flower & Garden Show

For the garden lovers out there, this one's for you. Today was a warm (albeit windy) day in Melbourne & we decided to visit the International Flower & Garden Show at the Royal Exhibition Building in Carlton (apparently one of the top 5 garden shows in the world!). We arrived in the morning & by lunchtime, there were quite a few people around so it was a challenge to get about without bumping someone with our pram.

There were many avid green thumbs everywhere: looking at the beautiful outdoor garden displays, getting gardening tips from the experts, buying plants, sitting by the fountain & the lakes, enjoying the decorative flower displays inside the Exhibition Building & admiring the vibrant artwork displayed upstairs.

There were even stalls selling showbags (Burke's Backyard, Yates & Better Homes & Gardens were the ones I came across). Given that I do enjoy my gardening, I couldn't help but buy 1 or 2. There was a variety of goodies inside: vegetable seedlings, various magazines, fertilizers, gardening gloves, pest control, just to name a few.

The little ones weren't left out either. There was a Children's Garden that included a petting zoo, face painting, drawing & a Giant's house, but he was sleeping at the time we got there, so hubby & Little Miss tried catching some bubbles while I took a short break (don't kids love bubbles!).

Although we only stayed a couple of hours, you could easily spend the whole day there & it's probably worth staying all day to ensure you see everything. At $22 a ticket for adults, you may as well make a day of it.

I happily came home with some stunning red long-stemmed roses which were bought for the bargain price of $20 for 2 dozen. I decided to experiment a bit with my camera, & here's one of the photos I ended up with.

I hope you're all having a wonderful weekend, whatever you get up to. Enjoy.

Book Review - "Spotless" by Shannon Lush & Jennifer Fleming

If you're after ideas on how to deal with household cleaning disasters, this is a fantastic book. Designed as a reference book, it's split into room by room chapters, making it easy to find what you're looking for. It's such a handy resource to have & it solves a lot of the problems associated with a household, including cleaning, smells, scratches, mould, & more.

Here are some examples of what you'll find in the book:

how to clean a smelly dishwasher,
how to keep your cupboards clean,
how to remove pen stains from fabric,
how to remove crayon marks from walls,
how to remove lipstick & make-up stains from your sheets,
how to remove yellow marks on clothes,
how to clean a barbeque,
how to stop squeaky floorboards,
how to remove beetroot stains from laminate,
& so much more.


The beauty of this book is that there's reference to a lot of household items (such as white vinegar, talcum powder, salt, milk, bicarb soda & lemon juice) which most of us have in our homes, & that are quite effective in solving a lot of the domestic challenges that come about in the house.

Of course, you can still buy some of the supermarket products which you find useful & that work for you, but it's good to know that, just in case you run out of those chemical products, there's bound to be something in the pantry that will help keep your home "spotless"!

Great Day for a Walk - Right?

I thought I'd share a funny story today, though it wasn't funny at the time!

After a very rainy night & a showery morning, I decided to go out for a walk this afternoon, as it was a warm day, the sun was out & it hadn't rained in a few hours. I put my tracksuit pants on, a singlet top, my runners, organised the pram with water & snack for Little Miss, grabbed my keys, mobile phone & sunglasses, & off we went.

What a beautiful opportunity. I was planning no more than about half an hour around the neighbourhood. 20 minutes into the walk, there was a brief shower but a few steps later had stopped, so I detoured through a different street so I could keep exercising. Why waste an opportunity, right?

About 2 minutes later, & about a 10 minute walk from home, the showers started again....& then became rain. Well, my Baby Jogger pram was put to good use. My beautifully blow waved hair was getting wet, I was getting wet, my sunglasses were getting wet (what did I bring them for?). Being a 10 minute walk away from home became a very quick 2 minute jog in the rain.

The moral of the story. If you're going to be outdoors & don't have a quick way of getting back home, don't go too far. More importantly, even though there's sunshine, look up at the stormy grey clouds in the sky before going on that well-intentioned walk. Those clouds are the warning sign telling you to stay home & have a cup of coffee & a biscuit instead!!

PS. Toddler in pram was kept wonderfully dry but jogging mummy was wet & sweaty with frizzy hair!

Recipe - Orchard Crumble

This is an Annabel Karmel toddler recipe that is absolutely scrumptuous. It's super easy to make & is delicious to serve for adults as well as kids. Give it a try:

• 2 large sweet apples (such as Pink Lady), peeled, cored & diced
• 2 large pears, peeled, cored & diced
• 85g plain flour
• 45g unsalted butter, cubed, at room temperature 
• 45g demerara sugar (I used brown sugar)
• 3/4tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/4tsp salt 
• 4tsp granulated sugar (I used raw sugar)

Preheat the oven to 200 (180 fan-forced).
Put the fruit into a small saucepan & cook gently for about 15 minutes until soft.

Put the flour in a bowl & rub in the butter until it looks like crumbs; add the demerara sugar, cinnamon & salt.

Remove the fruit from the heat, stir in the granulated sugar. If you're making this for toddlers or small children, you can use less sugar, or leave it out, as the fruit is sweet & the crumble topping has a bit of sugar in it.

Divide the fruit mixture into 4 ramekins

& sprinkle them with the crumble topping.

Bake for 20-25mins.
Cool to warm before serving with a little vanilla custard, or just on their own.

They were so good, that I made an adult version for hubby & I by adding a bit more sugar & putting a dollop of vanilla ice cream on top. Some double cream would also be perfect on top. Yummmmm!

Tip - Cleaning Stains from a Rug

I was so annoyed with myself today. Little Miss has a new cream coloured rug in her room & I make a point of being careful not to get it dirty when I walk in there. Well, don't ask me how, but I somehow managed to get soil stains on her beautiful rug today, & I was beside myself.

Hubby asked me if we have a carpet cleaning spray (we don't), but I just kept staring at the black stains on the rug. There would have been about 6 or 8 blotches staring up at me.

It took several minutes before I gathered my thoughts & remembered I had seen Sharon Lush on A Current Affair, talking about stain removal around the home. She kept mentioning bicarb soda, white vinegar & water, so I decided to experiment, as I needed to act quickly.

Here are the details:

Put half a teaspoon of bicarb soda on each stain &, with a brush, lightly start to brush on the stain in one direction, then in another direction, so as to displace the soil embedded in the pile. You can brush a bit harder as you go.

If it's a light stain, it should disappear.
If it's persistent, put another half a teaspoon of bicarb soda & repeat the process.
This removed most of my blotches, but unfortunately I had 2 tough ones that didn't want to go.

That's when I used the vinegar & water solution.
Mix 1 part vinegar to 3 parts water in a spray bottle & spray the stains lightly. Grab the brush & brush lightly (as before) in different directions but without being too harsh so you don't damage the rug, until the stain finally disappears.
It's a bit of trial & error, but it did seem to work for me.

Once it's dry, give it a good vacuum (I'll be doing that tomorrow), & it should look as good as new.

Just wanted to share. Do you have any great cleaning tips you'd like to share? Any triumphs that came about after a moment of panic? Feel free to leave me a comment.

My new George Clooney coffee machine

I love a good cup of coffee (cappucinos & cafe lattes are my favourites), but a good home-made cup of coffee is rare. I haven't had a good one in quite some time....until now.

Hubby was generous on the weekend (he had some rewards points he wanted to use up!) so while we were all out on a shopping trip, he decided to also purchase a DeLonghi Nespresso Latissima+ coffee machine, which I lovingly refer to as the George Clooney coffee machine.

This coffee machine is wonderful. You pop in a coffee pod, press a button or 2 (depending on what coffee you're making) & your latte, cappucino or short black is ready so quickly that there's no time for multi-tasking.

Cleaning the frother is ultra-easy, as all you need to do is press a button & it's done for you. Any milk left in the frother can go straight in the fridge, to be used within 2 days.

I am yet to work out how to make a hot chocolate, but I've been told it can be done. I'm sure you could even make a cup of tea, but I'll have to experiment a bit. My first task is to learn how to make a baby-cino for my Little Miss, so she can join me when I have my "mummy-cino".

Thanks to one of my gorgeous girlfriends, who happened to visit last week, & who recommended her Nespresso machine. A week later, after quite a bit of research, I'm finally enjoying cappucinos at home.

A special thank you to George....oops, I mean hubby! And the red colour makes it extra special.

Has anyone else bought or received anything lately that has made life easier or sweeter? Feel free to share. I'd love to hear about it.

A Family Outing - Mt Dandenong

Hubby & I took our Little Miss to the Dandenongs for the first time on the weekend. It was a perfect sunny day, & the area was abuzz with people: young families, elderly couples, young couples, tourists, cyclists, locals, & the odd motorbike rider or 2. We stopped at Sassafras & Olinda. Here are some of the highlights from our day:

Tea Leaves - a store full of tea, coffee, teapots, infusers, mugs, chocolate-coated coffee beans & more. If you enjoy your tea, or know someone who does, it's definitely worth a visit. It's at 380 Mt Dandenong Tourist Rd, Sassafras, next to Miss Marples Tearoom (another fabulous place which we didn't visit this time around, as our pram was very likely going to be in everyone's way on a busy Sunday afternoon).

Olinda Cafe - a spacious cafe which also has a produce store where you can sample jams, relishes & other yummy local produce. The cafe menu was quite good & the staff were courteous, fast & helpful. Easy access for a pram. 17-19 Olinda-Monbulk Rd, Olinda

Westminster Gifts - my favourite store in the Dandenongs. It has such beautiful gifts, you could spend quite some time in there, as I usually do. They had some lovely French music playing (so I bought a cd), lots of French inspired gifts (I bought one of their canvas prints of the Eiffel Tower), bridal & baby gifts, Venetian masks, ceramics, lace, & so much more. It's a very pretty store. Hubby stayed outside with Little Miss, so she couldn't grab or break anything. It also gave me some valuable time alone to shop. 381 Mount Dandenong Tourist Rd, Sassafras

The Dandenongs are a great day out (or half a day in our case). It's a relaxing day, whether you choose to do some shopping in one of the many little shops, have a picnic, hike on one of the many tracks, have breakfast or lunch, or just take a leisurely stroll. It's beautiful any time of year.

x  Kathy  x

Book Review - "What To Wear, Where" by Hillary Kerr & Katherine Power

For all the women out there who wear the same tired, uninspired clothes every day (especially mums who live in jeans & sneakers all the time), here is a book that will help you re-think your style choices. This book has tips & ideas on how to put clothes together to make your look seem effortless but fashionable & relevant.

Designed as a reference book, it alphabetically lists various occasions & has photos of the authors dressed in clothing that they recommend for each occasion. The authors also include tips on what not to wear, which is very handy. There's also a section at the back about their must-have wardrobe essentials.

Pick up this book & it'll show you what to wear for a number of different occasions, including: a job interview, a wedding, a concert, a kids' event, a family reunion, a first date, a barbeque, & even your daily errands.

You don't have to refer to it every day but, at those times when you're stuck for ideas, or when you know that the jeans & sneakers look has reached it's use-by date, you can flip through this book & get some great ideas. All the hard work is done for you. It might even help you find inspiration from the items in your wardrobe that haven't been worn in a while.

x Kathy x

Christmas Recipe - Vanilla Shortbread

This delicious recipe is one I found on the packaging of some Bakers Secret cookie cutters I bought several years ago. I tried it for the first time a few days ago. It's so simple & the shortbread is mouth-watering. Try it, just in time for Christmas....

• 150g unsalted butter, softened
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla essence
• 210g plain flour (sifted)
• pinch of salt

In a large bowl, beat butter, sugar & vanilla until light & fluffy. Using a wooden spoon, stir in the flour until smooth & well combined. Form a ball (I use my hands here) & refrigerate, covered, for a 1/2 hour.

Preheat oven to 150C


On lightly sugared surface, roll out dough, one part at a time, approximately 1cm thick. Use any biscuit cutters to cut out cookies. Place 2cm apart on non stick baking tray (I also use baking paper on the tray).

Bake for about 20mins, depending on your oven, or until light golden brown around the edges (I have an old oven with no fan, so it takes about a 1/2 hour for them to cook). Transfer to a wire rack to cool. 

For an extra treat, sprinkle with vanilla flavoured sugar whilst still warm.

Makes approximately 18.


Enjoy!!

x Kathy x