Rainbow Party Cookies

Rainbow Party Cookies

I had great pleasure in making some cookies for a Rainbows & Butterflies 5th Birthday Party over the weekend.
Here is the Cookies i made and a quick run down of the rainbows for those who were asking on facebook. 
Master R and I are going to make some more of the rainbow cookie style this weekend but with different colours and styles, we'll post them up on facebook before they disappear.

 Make a batch of basic cookie dough.  Split it up into portions and colour them.  Cover and pop them in the fridge for about hour so they firm back up a little. 

 Moosh all the portions together and roll out into a long snake shape.  (Just pretend its play dough)

 At this point you can roll the whole thing in some sprinkles or the like and they look great. 

Then slice it up to make your cookies.

 Bake them in the oven.   Watch them close because you dont want the browning of cooking to change the colours. 











 Ta dah!   So easy














Try Rolling the doughs out flat and laying out on top of each other before rolling.

This one we rolled in sprinkles and topped with chocolate buttons.

Let me know if you make some :)   Bel x

Top 5 - How NOT to lose those maternity kilos

So i have been 'atempting' to lose the couple of extra maternity kilos that are preventing me from fitting into my normal clothes. If i don't lose them very soon i will be wearing nothing at all this Summer because i refuse to buy any larger size clothing.  

However upon reflection of my week i may have hindered this goal, yes i did all these things. 

Here is my top five of how not to lose weight.

1. Even though all the top Chefs say to "taste your food" whilst cooking this does not apply when nibbling continuously on the same batch of raw cookie dough. 

2. Celery and carrot sticks make fantastic snacks for busy mums on the run.  Cut them up in advance and store in containers in the fridge.  Great idea, however probably shouldn't eat a Freddo whilst chopping up your veg.

3. At 10am on the way home from the school drop and morning walk around the sports ground, stopping at the Servo and picking up a Coke defeats the purpose of walking for half an hour with two kids in five degrees - dummy.   (I'd been up since 4am - i was desperate)

4. Sneaking a cookie in the kitchen as your making a coffee to take back into a room full of kids going crazy does not give you any more sanity.

5. When at the Shopping Centre - walk.   Do not go back down to the car park and drive from the  BigW entrance down about 800m to Woolies.  Even if you have a trolley load of groceries and its 10pm and your tired.

I have failed this week I am sure but i can't tell because the scales in our bathroom were broken whilst i was in hospital having my daughter and i keep ummm forgetting (?)  to get new ones.


By Bel

What happens to your BFF after forever?

My Nan's BFF past away this week and I wonder what happens to you after your longest friend passes away? 

Nan (90) met MY (Myfanwy) (96) back before WW2 she later became engaged to my Grandfathers brother Bev who was then killed in action during the War.   MY went on to marry another lad and had a family and although she never became part of our family technically i think my Nan and Grandfather always considered her so.

To have a friend for so long and although your lives took different directions to always have that friend i think is remarkable.  They didn't have the advantages of free phone calls or the Internet so the effort to keep the relationship for over 70 years indicates to me a true friendship.

I met MY last year (although i guess i may have as a child, I'm sure she knew all about me) at my Nan's 90th birthday party.  MY had been moved into a nursing home a couple of years ago and Nan had lost contact with her. It took a while but i managed to track her down through her daughter who was a Dentist i knew her name and roughly what area she lived in so i just rang around till i found the right one.  Of course her daughter had left the practice two weeks prior but i explained to the Receptionist my need to contact her and she sent her a fax with my details and her daughter rang me that night.  
The reunion was lovely.   Nan didn't know most people were going to be there she thought it was just family so it was a great surprise but to have MY there was special.  My Grandfathers other brother "Dal"(my Nan's brother in law) who is also in his 90's was there and they hadn't seen or spoken for many decades they were so pleased to meet again also.  MY said to Dal "Do you remember me?" and Dal said "My of course i remember you".   How sweet.

To lose your husband or partner is life shattering I'm sure.  Your life and world have been with this person and now they are not there. You rebuild your everyday life without them never forgetting but coping with the fact that they aren't there.  

What if they weren't physically there for most of your lives?
The day to day of life isn't really affected.
Someone so close to your heart yet not close to your life.
Is it still the same loss?  Do you grieve the same?  Do you miss them the same?

I think the longest friendships i have are around twenty years and yes we have all gone different directions and we have different lives. Some i speak to now and then, some regularly and some definitely not often enough!  There is many miles between most of my nearest and dearest friends and I yet i feel when ever we do meet its like it was yesterday. 

Will i have these friendships for another fifty or more years?  I hope so but you never know.
I think i would truly truly be devastated if something were to happen to one of them.

To my BFF's please know that if something were to happen to you, which i pray it doesn't but if it did:

My life would be the same without you yes, but my heart would forever be different.  Memories and thoughts of you forever precious.   xx

Rest in Peace MY thank you for being such a good friend to my Nan.  xx

Do You Offer??

There are some that do and some that don't.

When you are going to someones house do you offer to bring something?
When at someones house on a visit or meal do you offer to do something?
When going to someone else's home for meal or party do you take a gift?
When staying in someones home do you take something or assist?
When staying in someones home do you make or strip the bed etc?

Is it something we were taught as Children or something we have decided on our own?  
Then again...   Perhaps its something no longer thought of at all.

Is it true its not really an obligation or expectation anymore to take something when visiting someones home? 
I have kinda assumed this from my own life experiences - i could be wrong.
I am sometimes amazed in the difference in those who offer and those who don't seem to have a clue.

My sister-in-law whenever she visits always manages to end up doing the dishes, i have a perfectly good dishwasher but she does them anyways. If we're having dinner all together and I'm feeding the baby she puts a plate together for me and gets a drink for me - shes just thoughtful like that.  She'll often pick up coffee on her way to our house because i usually end up providing a meal or something.
She'll always make sure the kids tidy up the toys and even cater to my OCD ways of doing so.

Then there are those who just create more work for me. 

The ones who stay a night or two and don't bring anything, offer to help, make the bed or even pick up a bath towel.
The kids that come over to play (and it looks like a tornado has been through) and they don't even offer to pack away.  
The people that come to dinner. Generally a well thought out meal comprising of more than two courses. I have shopped, prepared and presented a culinary delight as well as run children around, scrubbed my house and well quite frankly put in alot of time, money and effort without completely losing my sanity.  Yet they can't bring a bottle of wine, a block of chocolate or even thank me for such efforts. 
What is wrong with these people!  

All of the above actually happened to me last weekend and I'm still in disbelief of these people. I've spent most of the week in recovery of their visit - washing sheets and towels and packing away toys.  I went to alot of effort to have my house sparkling, beds made perfectly as well as providing four meals to which no one offered to help and nothing was brought in gratitude. 

I am the one who has a newborn surely a little gratitude was warranted?

By Bel x