Happy (Almost) New Year!

Before I start......

**insert usual 'I am sorry, I can't believe I am so crap at keeping up with my blog, I promise to do better and try harder blah blah blahity blah' diatribe**

Actually, just thinking about the above, I am sure at least half of all bloggers everwhere post something similar once every three months or so. So I figure flailing myself with a big stick probably isn't going to do anyone any real good - particularly me.

But I digress, because the funny thing about this is I have had no time to blog lately because .....I have been off doing many a crafty thing! Yay for me!

However the downside to this is that while I have been engaged in all things 'Small Pleasurish' my camera also decided to have a brain fade. So unfortunately the photographic evidence is not up to scratch. So you are just going to have to take my word for it.

(That said, it did suddenly decide to come good two days before Christmas so I can't really complain can I?)

Ok, after all that, here is what I have been up to for December.

The Wonderful World of Baking
I made Ham and Cheese Croissants and biscotti for morning tea with the girls. The croissants were a version of Nigellas' - super simple and oh so yummy. The biscotti recipe was the same one I have used before, but unfortunately I didn't cook these quite long enough so they weren't as good as last time. Lesson learnt.

I also made a yummy double chocolate cake for my darling best friend's birthday. It was one of Bill Granger's recipes and wasn't too hard to make (gotta love that about good old Bill!) and everyone really seemed to like it.

And then it was onto Christmas cooking which took me the best part of a week but was oh so much fun. We didn't have Christmas at our house this year so we didn't need to do anything for the actual day but I made all sorts of goodies to give as presents including iced gingerbread and homemade Fererro Rochers, Rocky Road and white chocolate christmas trees.

Crafty Goodness
I also excersised my creativity by making personalised ornaments for the Christmas tree, designs that I had printed on mugs and homemade reindeer cards using the monkey's hand and foot prints as a base which were a hit.

And something so unbelievable that it actually needs its own category - Sewing!!
Okay, for a little context here, the last time I did any sewing - stray buttons included- was in Year 10. But I was shown a super cute tutorial for a ruffle sleeve top and thought I would give it a go. I did it in a reindeer fabric so the Monkey could use it for Christmas and I must admit I was very proud of the results! So much so, I have ordered more material and am actually going shopping for a dress pattern this week which is something I never considered really doing.


So yes it's been a busy month, and here we are, almost at the end of 2009. I have been thinking of a few changes I can make to Small Pleasures for the new year, and will update soon with recipes for the above and the few photos I managed to take.

Small Pleasures Review for November

In Summary .... I suck :P

The list, to jog my ever fading memory.

• (1) Organise all digiscrap items on harddrive
• (2) Organise all photos
• (3) Prune roses
• (4) Complete one scrapbook page

Out of all of the things listed, I managed to almost prune all of the roses lol.

But you know what? I think I have worked out that usually once I let one thing go, I let it all go. Money. Diet. Me-Time. These things and others seem to go hand in hand. And when I don't feel up to doing any of it is exactly the time I need it more than ever.

Not a new lesson by any means, one I am well aware of but hopefully one day I will start listening to my own advice. Maybe.

But in the meantime, it is coming up to my favourite time of year ever - Christmas! And I am super excited this year already seeing how much the Monkey is starting to understand it and get into it, so very cute.

And I am salivating with a number of crafty christmas projects I am dying to start on. And the best thing is, I have oodles of time to do it in, with me being on holidays from December 8th wohoo!

So it's going to be a bit of a modified SP list this month, one I will post soon once I have prioritised all the lovely things I am dying to have a go at.

Small Pleasures Review for September

Yes, it is well into October I know ;) No huge excuse really, except the Mummy thing always seems to eat up so much of what spare time I used to have! But then again this is what my little blog project is all about - making time for me, so I must make sure I stay more committed to it.

Anyway, September started off great, but ended witha bit of a whimper I must admit!

Completed:
(2) Download PhotoShop Shiny
Done, and I love it! Now I just need to make some time to experiment with it!

(3) Finish reading 'Eclipse'
I actually deserve double points for this one maybe, I did read both this and 'Breaking Dawn' in the end

(6) Rent and watch two DVD's
I really enjoyed this, must do it more often!


Half Completed:
(1) Complete four digiscrap pages
I managed three, not bad, although i could have easily finished a fourth if I had tried.

(4) Weed back garden
I started a bit of this, but still haven't accomplished much. I have done some other gardening though, sprayed all the weeds and tended and planted a few seedlings. I am actually starting to get to a stage where I am motivated to do a bit more in the garden - now it isn't such a tip.

(5) Finish monkey's Baby Book
Once again this is mostly done *sigh*. The annoying part is I have done everything I had control over, I am just waiting for the HTC to write his bits and I have had a terrible time trying to get photos from Snapfish (huge mix up - long story) to finish off the pages.


So I guess that gives me a score of 4.5 out of 6. Not as bad as I thought I guess?

The focus for next month is going to be very simple - I need to have a huge digiscrap focus as I want to finish the Monkey's First Year album.

Small Pleasures for August - Rundown

Ok, I seem to finally have some time to take a breath! And realise that my SP for last month were dismal ;) But still here is the rundown!

Completed
(1) Go to the zoo for Monkey's birthday
I am going to be slightly 'creative' and count this one even though it didn't eventuate as it was through no fault fo our own! I had my heart set on a zoo trip for her birthday for ages but considering it was 14 degrees and pouring with rain it wasn't really going to cut it so we went to a play cafe instead which she loved. Will post pics soon.

(3) Bake trial ladybug cake
I wonder if I should get double points for this considering I baked two trial cakes - and lucky I did too as I needed it! Turns out a huge dome shaped cake with triple the recipe takes a long long time to bake. And normal red food colouring will not make huge quantities of white buttercream icing the right shade of red! The trials were very valuable though as it all worked in the end.

(4) Bake ladybug cake for party
Done and done successfully I think! Thanks to the nine million trials as stated above ;)

(5) Complete photocollage for party
I ended up doing this in three month intervals and it was quite effective. I ran out of time to do it as a true scrapbook page though which was probably a good thing as I would have been the only one to notice it!

Half Completed
(2) Bake birthday cupcakes for the day and baby group
Cupcakes for her birthday were a hit, and I was pleased with how they turned out. I did fairy cakes for her actual birthday and ladybug cupcakes for her party. I did also bake and freeze some for baby group but I didn't get to go today so they are still in the freezer.

(6) Complete Monkey's Baby Book
I did update it somewhat but then realised it was hard to fill out all the birthday parts! So still need to finish this off properly.

Not Completed
(7) Read a book
Considering I spent almost every waking hour baking, this had no chance of happening

(8) Complete two scrap pages
As above ;)

(9) Get proper update for PhotoShop Shiny
I didn't do this because in the end I decided my gorgeous mixer would be a better use of my birthday money and I don't regret it for a second. Am going to be getting this in a couple of days though as I have saved up for it now. (Go the budget!)

(10) Buy external harddrive for digiscrap files
Some as above! But next on my 'save for' list.

The month in review:
Basically shocking! 5 out of 10, but hey, there's always September.

Now off to catch up blogging about those that actually did happen ;)

Review for July

I know, I know, a few days late but it's the first second I have really had to myself! My birthday turned into a bit of a week long celebration, my best friend planned a surprise dinner at her house Saturday night which the HTC managed to keep secret till we pulled into her driveway, and a few family and friends over Sunday morning for morning tea. And then the Monkey and I are off to this afternoon to coffee with the work girls as well! What a social butterfly huh ;)

Anyway, I think I did pretty well this month in hindsight!!

Completed:
(1) Download twenty new recipes
I tried to get a good range in the end, downloaded a few from my favourite chefs, mostly lovely chocolatety baking stuff from Rachel Allen and Nigella Lawson. But I did also extend my collectiona little and found some slow cooker and budget recipes to try out.

(2) Tidy study
I loved the feeling of accomplishment once this one was done! Of course now I will admit, there are a couple fo things I need to file and tidy again ...what's new! But I am planning on keeping on top of it this time.

(4) Bake cupcakes for my birthday
I am calling this one, even though I didn't officially complete it as written. I did initially want to bake cupcakes, but in the end found a divine chocolate cake recipe from the CSR packet would you believe! So I made that instead. Will post that recipe and what else I have been baking soon.

(5) Fill green bin with weeds
I am chipping away at this, a little bit at a time and am slowly getting there! We have an empty green bin now and gorgeous weather forecast for the next few days, so hopefully I can make another dent in it this week.

(6) Organise and print photos for Monkey's collage
Done, now I just have to put it together, which will be on my August list.

(7) Buy new baking items
Okay, my plan was to take some money from my birthday and splurge on new baking stuff for myself. Realistically I did buy a couple of things but more out of need than anything, considering as I was mixing my 'Chocolate Heaven Cake' I realised that I didn't have a pan anywhere near big enough (That thing was a whopper!!). So I did go out and grab a new pan as well as an oven thermometer and skewers. I was also lucky enough to be given a lot of baking stuff for my birthday which was lovely!

(8) Print and send Monkey's birthday invites
All have been sent out and I have had some wonderful feedback on them, very glad I made the effort.

(9) Organise all digiscrap items
Boring job but thankfully it is finished and everything is so much easier to find now.

(11) Complete 3 digiscrap pages
I am very proud to report I finished six! Of course having a couple of spare days due to holidays and the Monkey being at child care helped. It does feel like I did them all at once though and that I haven't done any digiscrapping in a couple of weeks due to all of our germy goodness, so I hope I can grab some time to play around again this month.

(12) Bake two items
Well at final count I think I baked seven. A few family and friends wanted to catch up for my birthday so I decided on doing a morning tea so I could have fun baking before hand. I made Pizza Scrolls, Cheesy Twists, Almond Biscotti, Chocolate Heaven Cake and Scones, as well as the two less successful batches of cookies I made earlier in the month. I will do a big recipe update soon to catch up.

(13) Read a book
I finished the second in the 'Twilight' series called 'New Moon'. I find these books interesting, there are parts that really interest me, but also times that I find them less convincing. Even so they are a fun read. I meant to read 'The 10 o'clock question', a book that the HTC bought as well but didn't get a chance.

(14) Organise recipes
After spending forever trying to find a new and shiny way to record them ont he computer, I gave up and reverted to a ring binder which works just prefectly, thankyou very much!

(15) Complete two Jessica Sprague tutorials
I am a little disappointed as in hindsight there aren't as many tutorials as I thought to work my way through, but I did complete another couple of them. Nevermind, now I have my gorgeous PhotoShop shiny I am going to sign up to one of her online courses soon - I can't wait!


Not Completed:
(3) See a movie
I did have two offers from friends to go and see 'My Sister's Keeper' which is one of my favourite books, but in thinking on it I couldn't bare to do it. It's funny how stories such as this suddenly seem so much more heartbreaking once you have a child of your own. That along with my gorgeous MIL going through chemo at the moment, I just didn't think it was something I could face right now.

(10) Go out to a nice dinner for my birthday
Unfortunately we didn't have the dollars or time for this, with us all being sick and the budget particularly tight at the moment. But we did have a gorgeous dinner at my best friend's house which could almost be counted I think, even if I didn't organise or plan it?!



So in summary, my SP score went from 6.5/ 9 last month to 13/15 this month - yay for me! It does still feel like I have been neglecting it a bit though due to us all being sick, lucky I got a heap done at the start of the month because otherwise my score would have been zero :)

Welcome, July!

Today is my first day of holidays and I am loving it! Not officially of course, holidays don't start till the end of the week so my first real day that I should be at work and won't be is Monday. But this is definitely another huge bonus to working part time - two and a half week holiday breaks at a time.

It also feels great that my first work-free day is the start of July, and my new SP challenge, so I have a bit of time to update all of this and start working on my new list. But first, off to see how I did for June.

For reference, my June SP list as follows. I have added my notes below. By my reckoning I completed 6.5 out of 9, not too bad I think!

Completed:

1) Blog daily
I must say, I am quite proud that I completed this one. I knew I would be fine on my non-work days, but really doubted whether I would have the time or energy after working and doing the Mum thing in the evenings on Mondays and Tuesdays. I was organised though and had some blog ideas ready to go so I could post quickly once the Monkey was in bed. Either way though, a success!

2) Read a book
I read Twilight which was pretty easy to read I must admit, even though quite long. I did enjoy it though and am about a third of the way through the second one now. I did want to go back to some old classics etc in my reading this month but I think it will have to wait till I finish the series now, I want to see how it all turns out!

4) Complete two Jessica Sprague digiscrap tutorials
Done and done! I did do a couple of simple ones in the end, I want to try something more advanced next time.

(7) Bake two sweet items
Success! I made both the Nutella Cookies and Apple Pie Cupcakes, both which I was really pleased with

(8) Make Monkey's birthday invites
All finished (if at the last minute!) and I really like how they turned out. Now to print them.

(9) Create and upload Small Pleasures banner
I finished this but realistically would like another go at it, it's not exactly what I wanted. And I need to find a way for it to fit on my blog header properly!

Half Completed:
6) Bake two savoury items
Half points for this one I think. I did my sausage rolls but never got to the second one.


Not Completed:
(3) Complete three digiscrap pages
Okay, a huge failure on this one! Although I did plan on having two Monkey-free days to do it in which didn't happen due to my crap scheduling. But even so, I could have attempted it but wasn't that motivated. I think after concentrating so hard on getting digiscrapping done for the Monkey's album over the last few months I am a bit digiscrapped out.

(5) Try out one new dinner recipe
I got the ingredients but never got around to trying it!


But I guess the main point of all this is to remember why I even started SP, which was to give me a chance to focus on doing the little things that make me happy. And I must say, this blog has really helped me to do that and I am loving it.