almost there

late nights, painting, cleaning, scrubbing, painting, moving things, finding homes for things and more cleaning. Today the photos were taken of the house and I can't wait to see them (and share them). But till then here are a few shots of one very clean house!

and this would be the 'no lying on the couch until the photos are taken on Monday' shot!

Early to bed for me tonight! If you're following my facebook page then you will see there has been drama after drama today but I'm going to think about it all tomorrow. I'm just exhausted!

Power of Moms Sydney retreat giveaway

I first found out about Power of Moms when I started reading the gorgeous blog, 71 toes. A few of you told me that I had to start reading 71 toes since I love large family blogs so much. And I did. And it quickly became one of my favourites. And I discovered Power of Moms along the way and wished that they would come down to Australia. And then I heard rumours. And then it was true. They were coming. So I booked myself as soon as tickets went on sale.

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Power of Moms is a retreat for mums (well we're aussies here so we're mums!). Some time out for yourself (don't I need some of that), to learn how to strengthen your family and get together with lots of other like minded mums and learn from them over the weekend.  Now I'm sure that everyone goes for a different reason. Me? Well I'm a full time mummy and plan to be for life. And I want to get organised. I feel like I went from 1 to 4 children in no time and have no household organisation at all. I'd like to start a few more family traditions, be a better mummy, teach my children about money and that they can't have everything they see (I give in way too easily to my little ones to keep the peace) and of course I would like a little time out for myself. I think of it like personal development for this mummy.

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The Sydney retreat is being run from Friday 16th March to Saturday 17th March in Glenhaven (north - west Sydney). On Friday the sessions will run from 1pm - 6pm and be followed by dinner and on Saturday the sessions will run from 9am - 5pm and include small group discussions. I like that I can go home after each day and you have the choice of attending Friday or Saturday or both. I'm doing both! The lot! Everything!

And I'm so very excited to be giving away a free pass to attend either Friday or Saturday of the retreat to one of my lucky readers. Woo hoo! All you need to do is spread the word by sharing a link to the retreat on your blog, facebook or twitter page and leave a comment here telling me that you've done it. Too easy. The link is here. And if you're already going then let me know too. I know about 2 people attending so wouldn't it be nice to know a few familiar faces before we go. And if you don't win then be sure to buy a ticket. I know it's going to be a great weekend.

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Now you can find more information on the retreat here (including the schedule) and there is also a Gold Coast retreat too (9th + 10th March) if that's a little closer to home.  Naomi of seven cherubs will be giving away a pass to attend one day of the Gold Coast retreat so keep an eye out on her blog next week.

And let the countdown begin.............................I'm so excited.

happy australia day

Well it's Australia day here today. A day off work for most, but not retro daddy who is up working in Brisbane. So we are having a home day, George the renderer is working some magic where the old kitchen was pulled out, we are going to bake a cake, have some sausages in bread and some lamingtons (well the 4 that are left from yesterday) and hopefully I'll get some time to clean too.

So Happy Australia Day everyone..................I hope you enjoy this very australian knit as much as I do. So very 80's. It comes from a big woman's weekly craft book that I picked up at an op shop. The sad thing is that I remember in primary school when this style of jumper was very fashionable.

dream houses

Warning! These houses are all seriously over budget but I could spend all day looking at luxury estates. They are however in the area where I'd like to move the family.

Well I can't believe that this time next week our house will be on the market. People still can't get over the fact that we are selling just after renovating. I know. I hear you. But really it's the best time to sell while everything is all sparkly new and not trashed by 4 little people. And trust me they are expert trashers.

And the one question everyone asks is where are you going? We've been a little hush hush on our search area because we might have to move to get the space we want. And then when I have said where I'd love to go, some people have turned up their noses at us, some don't want us to move anywhere from here but most agree that it's lovely out there. And you know what, it's our little family that comes first and we are growing at a fast rate and just need more space and lots of it. And if we can do it in Sydney in a lovely big house then why not move. I've found 2 amazing schools for my little ones too.........

But of course I love to go way over budget and pick pretty houses out there and dream about living in them. So these houses are all semi rural and in my dreams. Way out of budget (you'll need at least $3m for these babies) but dreamy and perfect for a large family. Just not perfect on the budget.

And so retro daddy asks me at the end of the day - were any of those houses you sent me on budget. Most days I answer yes, some days no. I was so carried away with the huge estates.

come dream with me....and would you like Pimm's with that? Have you seen a more beautiful tennis court setting?

All of these lovelies came from realestate.com.au. I spend a lot of time on there searching for retro daddy. 

cinnamon roll city

If you were on facebook today then you'd know I made cinnamon rolls. Man, they are good. Too good. I use PW's famous recipe which is available on her website here or from her book. I have to say that making these the second time was so much easier and faster than the first time and I've taken a picture of each step in my new kitchen (it was certainly a lovely baking experience) and put some helpful tips!

First up, get all the ingredients out and ready. Pick up some bbq/alfoil trays to bake your rolls in. It makes it easier to store in the freezer and give away. Yes we use homebrand products here. I never realised how many until I looked at this pic.

Find your largest saucepan. I had to upsize twice when I first made the rolls but this time around went for my largest pan and did all my mixing in it and proving too.

I took some time to admire my subway tiles. I will definitely be putting these exact tiles in my next kitchen. I just adore them.

Clear out and wipe down a big space while your dough is proving. This is where it was so much easier using my island.

melt a 250g stick of butter before you get your dough out to roll it. It just means once your dough is ready that your butter, cinnamon and sugar are all ready to go.

I just use regular sugar in my rolls and they were great. The recipe doesn't specify caster or regular sugar so I'm happy with my finished result.

get out some clean tea towels to cover over your rolls when they are in trays as they will prove for another 20 minutes in their trays while the oven preheats.

to make the icing you will need 5 cups of icing sugar. I made my own in the thermomix but do it in 3 batches as it's a lot of sugar in the bowl and the bowl starts to warm up if you take too long on the high speed. I left out the coffee today without even noticing so don't feel it's essential. I didn't do the recipe in the thermomix because the quantities are so huge and I knew they wouldn't fit but there is nothing stopping you from reducing all the quantities.

Now I ended up with over 60 rolls from 6 trays. That's a lot of cinnamon rolls. We ate 2 trays today. What? Are you judging me? Don't judge when it comes to cinnamon rolls. There are 6 of us and 1 growing in my tummy. I also gave one tray to a friend up the street and popped 3 in my freezer.

Now to freeze them I bake them, glaze them, leave them to cool for 20 to 30 minutes, cover tightly in foil and pop in a plastic shopping bag and freeze. They stack up nicely in the freezer and make the best breakfast, brunch or afternoon tea. You'll also be the best guest ever if you go to someone's house armed with these. Put them in your friend's oven and wait for the compliments.

I know the recipe looks like a lot of work but if you're having a home day they really are worth it. I baked these surrounded by most of our furniture as our new floors are going down and I had a few tradespeople here so it was a great way to beat the noise and chaos. And I used just over 1 stick of butter today and I think spread over 60 rolls is ok. But don't make these if you're on a diet, you'll never be able to stop at one..........or two.

the slow way to knit a baby cardigan

I've come to the realisation that I am definitely an all in one knitting fan. Don't ask me to knit anything in 5 pieces like my current baby knit! I started this in march and it's still going. It's been dragging on. Some nights I knit a couple of rows and then realise I still have the other side to do or the other sleeve and my eyes get tired so I put it away. But it has special memories as I knit the entire back piece while my mum was in hospital for the last time.

Thankfully I'm now in the home stretch now that I'm up to the last sleeve but it's been a struggle to get this finished. And let's hope I'm having a girl because this was supposed to be for Elodie as a size 6 months but it won't fit my delicate little flower now. And if you're a patient or fast knitter then the pattern is from Patons Book 1306 Retro Babes (Australian Patons btw).

But to keep my spirits up I've already picked my next project, an all in one raglan cardigan from a cute little book 60 Quick Baby Knits. It's a great book if you love knitting in 10 ply for babies. Quick. The ravelry details on that cardigan are here.

progress on the house

Well you might have noticed that things have been a little quiet here on retro mummy but that's only because behind the scenes we are madly emptying rooms, packing up stuff and cleaning. I can't believe that the house goes on the market in 2 weeks and we still have bits and pieces that require painting, new floors to be laid, the old kitchen to be rendered, a gardener to tidy up the gardens and a house to be cleaned top to bottom.

But there is nothing like a tight deadline to get us working. And by us I mean retro daddy and myself because trust me my little darlings are nothing but mess makers. The girls room was looking amazing but at least the toys have been culled so there isn't too much they can pull out. And this would be homeboy Finn who has decided he is a rapper and breakdancer today.

To add to the work, half of the downstairs is receiving new timber floors which means everything has to come out for the new floors to go down. And of course retro daddy will be in Brisbane when the floors go in. But I'm feeling more positive that we are going to pull it off. The craft room has never looked cleaner.....or emptier.

And even our bedroom is looking lovely. This is the Sheridan bed set that retro daddy wanted for Christmas. When we first put it on the bed I wasn't in love with it as much as I thought it would be but we went back to the shops for more pillowcases and now I love it.

And so do the kids. Since someone always ends up in our bed each night.

And even my chest of drawers got a big makeover. Gone are the teddies and jewellery boxes (yes I keep my favourite teddy bears on my dresser, don't all grown women?) to the kids room and replaced by some perfume and beauty products (and the baby monitor, of course).

And even under the stairs which normally collects junk and dust got a total makeover to store wine and spirits. I have to laugh when I look at this because neither of us are really big drinkers and the spirits are all used for my baking and cooking.

And I look forward to showing you photos in 2 weeks of an immaculately clean show home of a house!

The Farmer's Wife Sampler Quilt

Well it all started here.....................when I found this quilt on pinterest. I remember Kristine had been talking about the farmer's wife sampler quilt on her blog but I obviously thought it was a project too big for me. But I'd been thinking I'd like a big project for 2012 now that I'd finished all the paper piecing of my hexagons.

found on my beloved pinterest here, original source here. Oh the picture with her grandma, adorable!

Isn't it stunning? I tracked the book down and knew I had to have it and it comes with a CD that has the piecing templates. All 106 of them. But what I realised is that I don't have to make all of them and that I could turn individual ones into different things if I wanted. But when the book arrived I realised the real joy lies in reading the letters. The letters from 1920's farmers wives (from the US by the way). Here is a little excerpt from one of them:

My daughter, married to a farmer, would be the real centre of her home, the real partner of her husband - and each would be so happily busy in their little world that love triangles and divorce mills would have small chance at them..............

The letters are so sweet and traditional and I'm itching to take the book up to bed tonight and read it cover to cover. Definitely one for the craft shelf (or bookcase if you're like me). You can find more details on the author's website here and the flickr group here is full of inspiration too. I picked up my copy on fishpond for $20 something but I see it's on amazon here.  You won't be disappointed. Trust me. A lovely book that I've instantly fallen for.

my days

The worst part of selling a house has to be the decluttering. Going through every room emptying it of 'stuff'', sorting said 'stuff' and making the room look pretty. This task is made even harder when 4 little people surround you all day, everyday.

Just when I think a room is looking good the kids come in and undo the good work. And I learnt the hard way that once I've packed a box of toys - GET IT OUT OF THE ROOM  AND DO IT QUICK! Many a box has been emptied after me. So far, my craft room is my biggest challenge purely because the amount of stuff is so big and because I had 2 interconnecting rooms and now have 1. But progress is being made. And this girl just gave up waiting for me to cook her lunch today and fell asleep next to the stove.

But at least I know how to cheer myself up when the decluttering and cleaning gets to me. 5 trays of choc chip cookies straight out of the oven. Obviously I mean baking them all not eating them all. Because 5 trays would be a bit excessive now wouldn't it.

This is the Thermomix choc chip cookie recipe. So good. So much butter. But I figure 250g butter spread out over 5 trays of cookies can't be all that bad.

3 hour meatballs

Ok, last recipe for the week. Promise. Now technically the name for this recipe is Italian meatballs. But I'm calling these 3 hours meatballs because that is how long you need to set aside to make these babies. Definitely a weekend meal but so worth it. I can honestly say that this was the best pasta sauce I've ever had and if I had an italian nonna (and I don't! I have a scottish grandma and an australian nana) then I'm sure she'd be proud. All the kids including elodie loved these, retro daddy just liked them and I adored them and couldn't stop eating them. The other great thing about this recipe is that I got 2 dinners out of it. We ate ours with salad and crusty bread and the next night I reheated the sauce, added some grated cheese and mixed in spaghetti. So good.

This recipe comes from Monday Morning Cooking Club but I made some changes because I thought 5 onions in one dish was a bit too much!!!!!

meatballs

1kg mince

1 onion, finely chopped

2 eggs, beaten

2 slices bread made into breadcrumbs

1/4 cup water

1 bunch flat leaf parsley (or use whatever herb you have going, basil would be delicious)

sauce

about 17 roma/plum tomatoes (make sure they're ripe)
10 cloves garlic, peeled
1/2 cup olive oil
1 onion chopped
1 1/2 cups white wine (optional, replace with stock if you prefer)
3 cups stock ( I used chicken)

OK, first we're going to make the sauce. Wash and halve the tomatoes and lay cut side up in a roasting dish, add in the peeled garlic cloves, pour over 1/4 cup olive oil, season well with salt and pepper and roast in 160 degree oven for 1 hours. I moved my tomatoes around a couple of times during the hour to make sure they were all cooking.

Now in a large bowl combine your mince, parsley, onion and eggs. Make the breadcrumbs from bread and soak in the water for a few minutes. Add into mince mixture, season well and set aside while you make the sauce.

In a large saucepan cook the coarsely chopped onion in olive oil until soft. Add in the raoasted tomatoes and garlic. Add in wine and bring to boil for about 5 minutes. Add in the stock then simmer for 1 hour. Now puree your sauce with a hand stick blender or food processor. I did mine in 2 batches in the thermomix on speed 5 until completely pureed. Return the pureed sauce back to the saucepan, bring to the boil again and then simmer for 10 minutes. You want to stir it a few times. Season really well (trust me you can't stop eating the sauce by this time).

Now your sauce is ready for meatballs. So wet your hands and roll your mince into little meatballs about the size of a walnut. You don't want them too big. Drop them into the tomato sauce (carefully!) and bring the sauce back to the boil. Now cover the saucepan and simmer for about 30 minutes. Check that the meatballs are cooked through and serve with salad and crusty bread or spaghetti with lots of cheese.

And this is what you end up. Very delicious homemade meatballs in a rich tomato sauce. I loved it with a simple salad and the crusty bread. The bread soaking up all that delicious sauce is to die for and is my preferred way to eat it whereas the kids preferred theirs with pasta. Either way I promise that you will not be disappointed and I'll definitely be making this again soon.

red chicken

One benefit of the school holidays is that I'm not rushing around doing school pick up in the afternoon. So I'm spending a little longer in the kitchen on dinner. And everyone is enjoying the benefits since it means trying new things. And if is there is one thing my little ones love for dinner - it's chicken. I found this recipe in Monday Morning Cooking Club and knew I had to give it a go. I had no idea how popular it would be. Finn had 3 bowls - yes 3! It's economical, easy to make and super tasty. And once you've got all the condiments in your fridge and pantry then you can make it again and again.

1/2 cup plain flour
1 tsp smoked or sweet paprika
2 medium chickens
oil for frying

sauce
1 Tbsp brown sugar (2Tbsp if using canned tomatoes)
1tsp tabasco
200ml tomato sauce (or 300g canned diced tomatoes)
2 tsps worcestersire sauce
1 cup water (use slightly less if using canned tomatoes)
2 tsp dijon mustard
1Tbsp soy sauce
1/2 cup white vinegar (I used apple cidar vinegar)
1 onion finely sliced

Preheat the oven to 200 degrees. Cut each chicken into 6-8 pieces. Mix the flour, paprika, salt and pepper and pour over the chicken and coat the chicken well. You can do this in a bag. Heat oil in a large frying pan on high and fry your chicken. Mmmmmmm make sure it's crispy on each side. It starts to smell good and the kids will be asking if it's ready yet. It's not. Now you're not cooking your chicken completely just getting each side nice and brown and crispy.

Place chicken in an ovenproof dish. Make up the sauce in a small bowl and pour all over the chicken. Cover the chicken with foil or a lid and bake for 30 minutes. Remove foil/ lid and bake a further 30 minutes. I boiled some rice during the second 30 minute cooking time. Your chicken should be cooked right through and your sauce will continue to thicken up once removed from the oven.

This makes a huge dish with 12-16 pieces of chicken so you might get some leftovers.....if you're lucky! But definitely give this a go as I know you're going to love it.

p.s sorry for the photos! Just as I went to photograph my lovely crispy chicken I realised that my camera was out of battery!