My Birthday Cake

My lovely teaching partner Steph baked me my very own 'Cake Wreak'. I should have worked out that something interesting was about to happen, as she wrote on my card: "Happy Birthday. I hope you have a day full of surprises".

So when I walked into the staffroom at recess I was definitely surprised and impressed to find this cake waiting for me...


omg! What a classic. I was laughing so hard. The best bit was that nobody got it, except Steph and I, which added to the general amusement factor as most people sat there trying to work it out.

The Gruffalo

But who is this creature with terrible claws
And terrible teeth in his terrible jaws?
He has knobbly knees, and turned-out toes,
And a poisonous wart at the end of his nose.
His eyes are orange, his tongue is black,
He has purple prickles all over his back.

"Oh help!  Oh no!
It's a Gruffalo!"

It is the 10 year anniversary of The Gruffalo being published and String Bean's class have been focusing on this book in class.

Her teacher asked the kids if they'd like to have a go of making the Gruffalo at home. That is just the sort of thing String Bean loves! She planned it all beforehand, going through her craft supplies looking for just the right thing and then Husband Deluxe helped her put him together.

He has been proudly displayed in her classroom ever since, although he did make it home briefly for a quick leg repair.

Birthday Extravaganza

Wow I think all my birthdays and Christmas' have come all at once. I had the best birthday ever! So much fun. Weekend filled with catch up with friends and family, gifts galore and far too much food. Blergh by the end of the weekend I felt sick from eating and drinking so much *blush*.

Husband Deluxe bought me a gorgeous necklace that I had my eye on. he also got me some new boots and clothes. And yes he is very well trained before anyone asks!

Sinead Buckney: Stars necklace.

A was lucky to recieve a gorgeous pillow slip from a friend. She bought it in Nepal while she was last overseas and to say I love it would be an understatment. It is simply stunning. I figure I'll probably frame it to protect it and hang it somewhere in my bedroom.

The birthday fun continued all weekend culminating with Laksa at Dickson with the girls. What a classic night. I laughed so hard I was crying. Champers and Laksa: mmm perfect.

Crazy Weather

We've been having incredible fog here in Canberra and it's been hanging around for days! Thought I'd share this great photo we got.

Ricotta, Spinach and Bacon Lasagna

We made this tonight, one of Grandma M's recipes. Yummy so decided to post it so I wouldn't lose it.

Ricotta, Spinach and Bacon Lasagna

Mix the following:
* 400g ricotta
* a handful of grated cheese
* 1 egg, beaten
* 4 rashers of bacon and 1 diced onion, fried.
* 1 packet spinach, squeezed

Place half the mix into a lasagna dish, cover with pasta sheets. Repeat.

* Pour over a jar of spaghetti sauce (I just used the Aldi stuff) and top with cheese. Bake till golden.
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This would make a yummy vegetarian lasagna, just omit the bacon (omg why would you want to!)

You could also make this low fat by buying low fat ricotta and cheese, and by trimming all the fat off the bacon (not sure if this happened as Husband Deluxe did that part. Highly doubtful he loves bacon!)

Squealy's New Jumper

Squealy has finally decided he likes food again after half starving himself, as most toddlers do for the past 6 months, and has grown so much in the past months it isn't funny. Most of his clothing is getting to be too small for him as he's quite tall now. Luckily his Nanny sent him a new jumper which is nice and long, keeping out the Canberra winter chill.

My New Baby

Toshiba P300

After drooling after one for a long time Husband Deluxe surprised me with a new laptop....just in time to write my reports. Talk about earning a heap of brownie points. Now I can read in bed, listen to music wherever I feel like it, blog more....hmm maybe not?

Super fast and very shiny....lush.

Mystery Reader

Fuzzy's class put out invites asking for parents to visit their class bring a favourite book to share and a chat about our jobs. An opportunity I was not going to pass up! So on Wednesday morning I hid out in the Piazza and waited for Fuzzy to come out with a friend to find me!

Of course I picked Fuzzy's favourite story: The Gruffalo.

Hiding in the Piazza

His class is delightful and I had them eating out of my palm in 5 seconds. Read The Gruffalo putting on all the different animal voices, waiting for the kids to join in with the predictive text passages. Considering the Director of the ELC is his teacher I figured I might as well do my best, in case I ever decide to apply for a position there.

Fuzzy on the extreme right Husband Deluxe took a great shot!

Buster

Our old boy has now been with us for 13 years and was about 18 months old when we got him. So it's time he got his own blog post. He seems to have aged so much this last year, looking like an old dog now. Going grey round his eyes, that old look they get going round their legs, hating the cold. He is still very active, asserting himself as top dog whenever Charlie happens to visit!

Poker Night

We had the boys over for a poker night, that ended up being a Talisman night instead. Macca piked...man flu or some such. We enjoyed nibbles, beer and many jokes. Was fun having the new laptop as we spent most of the evening playing our fave music picks (as diverse as Satie Gymnopedie to Burn by Jessica someone or other :) ).

The low point for me was being turned into a Toad. Meaning I lost all my collected goodies and was basically not able to do anything......argh b.o.r.i.n.g. Thankfully it was only for 3 turns and then managed to recover nicely.