Top 50 things I learnt at Blogopolis 2011

Well yesterday was one epic day! Up at 3.30am to fly down to Melbourne for Nuffnang's Blogopolis with the lovely Frills in the Hills and I didn't get to bed until 1am making for one very long day! Elodie got very sick during the day and had to be taken to hospital so it really was a long day and I've never been so glad to be home again. With my little family around me again.

But the conference was amazing and I learnt a lot more than I expected. It also reinforced that a lot of the things I do and have been doing are great and I'm going to keep doing them. And I learnt things that I should be doing to make life easier for myself and my readers. I like that. I'm not good with the tech side of things here at retro mummy so I have a bit of learning to do. And I hope that this condensed version of what I learnt helps my blogger friends out there.

1. I was one of the few who was taking notes with pen and paper. I really need to get myself an ipad.

2. Blogging conferences are so much more fun than securitisation and banking conferences that I used to attend.

3. I was sitting at a table with some very pretty ladies. This is Violet le Beaux. How cute is she? If keira was with me she'd be in awe.

4. I need to get friendly with such things as feedflare, mailchimp, CDN, smush.It, wise stamp, clickbump SEO, AllinOne SEO, lightroom, infographics. I know. Don't worry. I have no idea what these things are either but once I do know I'll share.

5. Establish 5 keywords for your blog that best describe your blog and use those words in your title, content and tag words. Don't spam your keywords

6. Don't attack others online. Amen. 

7. Share your blogposts on twitter, facebook, google +, stumbleupon and so on. Just share.

8. Be considerate to your family and friends when sharing. In other words don't bombard them.

9. Plan your blog posts (this is something I don't do but it could be more time efficient for me)

10. Companies still ask agencies 'what is a blog'

11. you can spot the fashion and beauty bloggers in a crowded room.

12. look into wordpress again so you can host your own blog and not have it removed by blogger. Learn how to use wordpress.

13. I took my knitting but was so busy writing and tweeting I didn't get to do any at the conference.  
 
14. Kit kat and a diet coke is the perfect afternoon tea.

15. Diet coke and a bag of party mix lollies at 10pm in emergency is no party. It's not a good dinner either.

16. Think about setting up a newsletter for your readers. Planning with kids likes Mailchimp for hers. It's a great way to send out your top posts of the week for your readers who might have missed something.

17. 'totes' is a gen Y word. I think it means totally. I am gen X. Can you tell?

18. Ask your readers what they'd like to read on your blog (how about baby number 5, lovely readers?)

19. If you want to tweet all day with the free wifi then pack your charger otherwise your phone will die before you land in sydney and retro daddy will drive to the airport without telling you and you'll be in a taxi home.

20. Problogger is an amazing public speaker and a fountain of knowledge when it comes to blogging.

21. He had my attention when he started his presentation with a photo of his 4 week old baby. And then a photo of his cute boys. Kids. Get me everytime.

22. He said live and breathe your 'brand' aka your blog. Do your tweets etc build your 'brand'? But don't worry, 'tweets happen'. That's funny.

23. Problogger says that a small group of raving fans can be better than a larger following.

24. Don't focus on the readers you don't have! Look after the ones you do have (hi ladies!)

25. Think about what you want people to say about your blog when you're not there

26. Content is key and what people talk about. It should inform, inspire and interact.

27. Childhood 101 said 'Ask yourself what is keeping your readers up at night?' (for me it's a baby, craft and laundry!) I think she meant burning questions that keep your readers up at night.

28. If you want to start working with brands or sponsorship but you don't think you have the traffic don't worry. If you have good content then go for it.

29. Believe in yourself and your blog.

30. Unique visitors to your blog is a good basic statistic that you should be taking note of.

31. Problogger says that sneeze pages are pages that draw your readers in and then they got lost in your blog reading and reading older posts!

32. Get off your blog more and use twitter, facebook, flickr and so on.

33. Befriend your competitors and work together not against each other. Love this one!

34. Reward your readers and those that share your blog. Love this one too. Love my readers

35. When speakers like Childhood 101 get teary. I get all choked up.

36. Nicky of Styling You has amazing skin and hair. I need to pay more attention to beauty products she uses.

37. Ask Elodie or the 'powers that be' to be sick and end up in hospital on any other day and not the one time you fly to Melbourne for the day.

38. I'm not good at being away from my Elodie for more than an hour or so. I missed her like crazy and can't stop squeezing and kissing her since I got home. She looks less than impressed but missed me. Honest.

39. Thank you Virgin Australia for putting me on the earliest flight when I told you my baby was in hospital and for seating me at the front of the plane to get off quickly. For no extra cost. Thank you so much.

40. Sorry to the flight attendant on the 6am flight to Melbourne that you had to tell Liss and I to keep our voices down during the safety demonstration. Sorry about that. 

41.If your readers think you've sold out because you make money on your blog then they are living in 2004 and this in 2011 according to Lady Melbourne. With a family of 6 to raise - I like this lady's thinking!

42. Take a picture of the gorgeous pumpkin tempura inside out sushi roll you have for lunch at Chocolate Buddha before you stuff it all in your mouth.

43. Don't stuff a piece of sushi in your mouth and then try to say something in front of such lovely ladies like Melissa Goodsell. You'll only regret it later. You don't like people talking with food in their mouth.

44. The best bit about a blogging conference is all the lovely people you get to meet in real life! It was great to meet some for the first time - hello Melissa Goodsell, Tammy, Katrina, F is for Fabric, Tarisota, Craft Revival, Violet le Beaux, Chaigyaru,  Kylie, Organised Housewife and more. There were so many people there and it was great to see some familiar faces from the last bloggers conference I went to. There are so many people I didn't get to meet. Next time.

45. My diana ferrari boots just get comfier and comfier and my wrap dress stayed wrinkle free all day.

46. It was a nice surprise to see my Westfield competition and photo up on the screen.

47. I must check out the blog, Waffleizer, about a guy who experiments by putting everything in his waffle iron.

48. 300 bloggers in a room doing the mexican wave is fun.

49. Ask Glowless to share her media kit. Media kits are important and apparently hers is really good. I don't have one!

50. Nuffnang did an amazing job organising such a great conference. The speakers were all excellent and what they had to share was very relevant and inspiring. My brain is overflowing at the moment. Thank you Nuffnang for sending me down.

And that my friends was a snapshot of Blogopolis 2011. I'm sure that there will be more in depth blog posts around the place and I'll share a bit more when I go back through my notes if you're interested. Here was a good slideshow of one of the presentations! I think blogging conferences are perfect for all bloggers because you always learn something new and meet some great people in real life. The end.

PW's Oatmeal Crispies for the thermomix

I love Pioneer Woman aka PW and I love my thermomix. So here are my favourite cookies in the thermomix! I'm off to Melbourne for the day tomorrow for Nuffnang's Blogopolis conference and retro daddy will be in charge of everyone from 4.45am till 11pm. It should be an ummmmm interesting day for him and I figure a container of yummy biscuits will keep everyone happy.  I don't think the twins will be this beautifully behaved all day...... they were waiting for cookies to  come out of the oven.

225g butter
190g brown sugar
190g caster sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
230g plain flour
1tsp baking soda
250g -300g rolled oats
1/2 cup chopped nuts or choc chips (optional)

place sugars and butter into TM bowl and cream together for 1 minute on speed 3. Add in eggs and vanilla and combine for 30 seconds on speed 3. Add in flour and baking soda and combine for 15 seconds on speed 3. Add in oats and choc chips and combine for 30-40 seconds on closed lid position and interval speed. I like to tip out the mixture into a large bowl and chill for 20 minutes then roll into balls, flatten and bake for 15-20 minutes in 180 degrees oven. You can also freeze the dough by dividing the mixture in half, roll each half  into a log, wrap in gladwrap or baking paper and twist the ends. Just slice while frozen and bake for a little longer. I love it when I find some cookie dough in the freezer that I had forgotten about!

You can also find the recipe in Pioneer Woman's fabulous book! I love the book so much!

Quilts for Queensland day!

OK well hasn't this post been long overdue! Righto! So a few weeks month ago I opened all parcels and sorted them. It was quite a job. We now have a grand total of 8 boxes. Woohoo. How can I say thank you! 3 boxes are of completed quilts and 5 are of blocks and quilt tops. Uh oh. That is one big job. And did I mention that quilts and blocks came from as far as Portugal, Spokane (thank you to a lovely group of quilters there who sent me a big box), Singapore, Europe, England, New Zealand and every state of Australia. Talk about coming from far and wide.  

So shortly I will be sending completed quilts up to two lovely ladies in Queensland who have contacts to distribute the quilts in flood affected areas. The remaining 5 boxes will come with me to a quilting day I am going to run in Sydney on Sunday 21st August. The first priority of the day will be to assemble quilt tops. It will be all hands on deck and this is a job suitable for beginner sewers too so don't be scared of coming because you don't quilt. If you can sew a straight line then we need you. Did I mention it's 5 boxes!

So we'll devote the morning to laying out the blocks and making quilt tops. I have decided to make the kids quilts and a few of the bright and colourful quilts backed with polar fleece or flannelette backs and tie them so we can get as many finished as possible.That will be our afternoon job as well as quilting smaller quilts on machines using batting. If you have polar fleece, minky, flannelette, quilt batting, backing fabrics lying around please bring them with you. We need them.

all images from our flickr group here

I have loads of extension cords and power boards so if you have a machine bring it. Don't sew? We still need some people to sort the blocks to make quilt tops, pin together and tie with cotton thread. It's going to be a fun day and think of how many lovely ladies you are going to meet! If you're interested in the quilting day email me for full address and details. If you are in Sydney or nearby and can help with quilting but can't make it drop me a line as I have quite a lot of quilt tops we won't get through on the day.

When: 9am - 5pm Sunday 21st August
Where: North Balgowlah (plenty of free parking)
What to bring: plate of food to share, sewing machine, sewing supplies, suitable backing fabrics

If you've wondered what happened to Quilts for Queensland I hope this answered your questions but if you have a question just ask! It's been one big job but I hope the end of our quilting day will see most of our work done. 

love notes for a knitter

Retro daddy is working away from home at the moment. It's tough for the little ones because he flies out early monday morning and comes home late friday night. Every week.  And we are really missing him. But it was nice to find an envelope in my letterbox this morning- awwwww he printed out a pattern I'd wanted and posted it down to me.

Like a knitter's little love note. And I bought the pattern here because I know you'll ask. So thanks retro daddy. I got about 3 hours sleep last night so this really made my day and was a lovely surprise.

Win a $20,000 holiday with HP & Kung Fu Panda 2

Sponsored by Nuffnang

Oh dear. Every time I am asked to write about anything related to a kids movie I know I’m going to pay the price for it. Because just going onto youtube and watching the trailer turns Finn into a little screaming toddler – take this morning. ‘Muuuuuuuuuuuuuum kung fu paaaaaaaaaaaarnda stop typing, put on da movie kung fu paaaaaaaaaaaaaaaarndaaaa. Muuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuum dooo it’. So I’m just warning you. Here is the trailer....watch it with children in the background at your own risk.

luscious low fat brownies

OK, so once upon a time there was this really healthy young lady and she used to make carob brownies, chocolate tofu mousse and eat quinoa with apple juice for breakfast each day. And she'd been at the gym when the doors opened at 6am. In  the middle of a cold english winter. Yes folks, that would be me. Before children. Before marriage. Those were obviously my healthier (and skinnier) days.

Travis

What happened to Travis? I was on youtube listening to a song (as you do) and thought you know who I haven't heard in ages and loved. Travis

kitchen renovations for dummies

Well the last few days we've been coming to terms with the $33,000 (oh plus gst) quote to to create one big space out the back for our new kitchen. I loved the builder when he came out to the house and said ballpark $20,000 then came back with a much bigger quote. Yikes. That doesn't include the kitchen or cost of installing....just removing walls, levelling ceilings, putting in beams and other preparation jobs. We've never renovated before so this really is renovation for dummies here. We have no idea how much these things cost. But I'm wondering should I have married a builder or an accountant? Not sure about that yet.

Little Apples Giveaway

Oh look! It's nearly the end of July and I haven't announced my June giveaway winner. Why is my life so crazy busy! Why am I so crap at drawing giveaways. Ok. Focus. Priorities. The winner of the June giveaway was a toughie - so many worthwhile entries. I settled on Pamela and her touching entry - she will be making a quilt for her new friend Leanne who is a young person living in a nursing home.  Can't wait to see what you make Pamela.

And what about July's giveaway you say? How about a Little Apples Layer Cake! I love this range. It is so much fun. Haven't had a chance to quilt with it yet. Haven't had a chance to quilt fullstop. But what I love about layer cakes is turn it over and it has diagrams of all the different combo's you can make. Love it. Would love some time to use the Layer Cakes I have in my stash but I'll get there. One day.

So all you need to do is just make sure you're a follower of my blog or start following now and leave a comment to enter and I'll draw it early August. Promise. No, really. I do. And everyone can enter, where ever you live in the world.

my jaffa muffins

Operation 'no chocolate' hasn't been going too well here. Monday - I cracked open a block of milk  chocolate, it was so good and my fellow sweet tooths - Keira and Tillie - helped me out. Now it's Thursday and I'm making muffins with choc chips. But these only have a little bit of chocolate so you can get your chocolate hit without going overboard. I bought a couple of cookbooks last week but I didn't have half the ingredients for the choc orange muffins so winged it. And they were delicious. Super moist, not too sweet but when you eat them hot you get teeny tiny pockets of chocolate. Enough to keep me happy.

a precious photo

I don't think I even need to put any words with this photo. It just says so much. The hugest of huge thanks to my uncle brian for taking this stunning photo of Tillie and her beloved great-grandma betty. He and my dad both share a love of fancy cameras and taking lots of photos. This was taken at a family get together for my cousin's 21st and the two of them were sitting together.

Since grandma betty doesn't read my blog I can tell you that I'm going to get a copy, frame it and surprise my grandma with it. You know how grandma's get about this stuff! They love it. Like soaps or a box of chocolate. I know she is going to love it. Tell me though....are some of your favourite family photos just the random ones that aren't overstyled portraits but are just natural and capture it all. Because I'm going to frame this myself I love it so much.

and more things I haven't told you lately

Well, I always have fun sharing total random things with you that don't make it onto the blog:

- I need to lose 2 kilos that I've gained recently
- It seems odd then that I bought 3 chocolate cookbooks on monday  at the mall
- I'm blaming those choc chip cookies with 250g butter in each batch
- I rejoined the gym after a 3 month break because I was having major zumba withdrawal symptoms
- I did try jazzercise but I didn't get to shake my booty enough
- the kids are happy because they love the creche at the gym
- they actually cried and screamed after rejoining when they realised they weren't going that day
- I generally iron uniforms and pack the school bag just before midnight each night
- I've decided to grow my hair out a little
- I cut a good 5 inches of keira's hair off
- I love it short with a big navy bow on the side for school
- I am the canteen bookkeeper at school to do my bit
- Keira would prefer I was on canteen so she could have free lunch 
- she is allowed sushi on a friday from the canteen
- I'm only allowed to watch real housewives of NJ when retro daddy is away
- I still love my thermomix
- I'm working on more low fat recipes so my jeans aren't as snug
- keira has not stopped asking me for a furreal dog called Cookie.
- my frown lines seem to be getting worse this year. I've been looking at Restalyne
- I'm not kidding but I'm too chicken and it's expensive
- I watched Joy Luck Club on Foxtel and cried and cried
- the twins love this. You might want to leave the room.
- there are days when 4 is enough for me
- Elodie is still the easiest baby in the world to please so long as you keep the food comin'
- I've had the builder in already to do the quote for our new kitchen.
- It's going to require the removal of 4 walls, 2 of which are load bearing and removal of an ensuite
- I've told retro daddy to keep working. Hard.
- when retro daddy is away my secret to bed time is piling all of them into my bed
- two at the bottom, three at the top
- the key is not to let myself fall asleep
- Elodie sleeps next to me every night and I love it
- retro daddy doesn't like it. I don't know why because surely it is a natural contraceptive!

And that is what has been going down here!

my bitty bump is too bitty

Oh dear, I decided to knit this pattern called bitty bump as it was a quick knit that was supposed to take me 3 hours. I had visions of a blog post bragging about me finishing something in 3 hours and my super cute elodie modelling it. WRONG. Oh so wrong. It's taken me almost a week, still isn't finished and is like a tight shrug on my dear little elodie. Delicate little flower that she is.

So I will be finishing this and wrapping it up for a newborn who is still little. Unlike my elodie. The pattern is Bitty Bump and I bought the ebook as I just love that you can make baby garments from super chunky yarn like Malabrigo and the like in no time at all.  I used Bendigo Mystique. Thankfully the bitty bump pattern goes up to a size 4 and I might just have to try that size and hope it fits one of my girls.

apple + maple syrup flapjacks

I hoped to share this recipe with you all this morning but school is back and that meant I had 50 million things to do. I do love baking things to go in keira's lunchbox but lately my one cup cookies have been coming home uneaten. So I went through a couple of cookbooks and found an old faithful book called Great Healthy Food for Vegetarian Kids which I picked up for $5 a few years ago. The recipe is for apple flapjacks but you see I've never had flapjacks before so I wasn't sure whether the consistency was right - these are cakey, moist and super yummy. I also think they're pretty good for you. And you could make them lower in fat and vegan just by swapping the butter for something like Nuttelex Lite which is a vegan/dairy free margerine. I  say this because I did have the low fat vegan margerine in the fridge but went the whole hog with the butter.

120g butter

3 Tbsps maple syrup

150g  brown sugar

280g rolled oats
30g pumpkin kernels/sunflower seeds

1 small apple grated (leave the skin on to make them more nutritious)

pinch of salt

In your TM bowl place butter (cubed), maple syrup and brown sugar. Heat for 2 minutes at 90 degrees and speed 2. Pour in remaining ingredients and on closed lid setting combine for 15 seconds on interval speed. Alternatively, if you don't have a thermomix then melt butter, syrup and sugar in a saucepan and stir until combined and melted. Remove from heat and add in remaining ingredients and mix well. Tip into lined square/lamington tin and bake for about 25-30 minutes in a 180 degree oven until it feels set on top. Mine took close to 40 minutes but my oven is slooooow. Leave to cool for 5 or so minutes in the tin then lift out by paper and leave to cool on rack. Cut them into bars/squares. Enjoy.

The original recipe called for golden syrup but I just use maple syrup in everything now because golden syrup can be such a PITA when it gets stuck in the bottle so I gave up on it and much prefer maple syrup.  And guess what happened - I made these and keira loved them at home but doesn't want them in her lunchbox because of the green things. So back to my books...........

cheesey pizza scrolls

I'm feeling a little ordinary today. Don't feel too sorry for me though because I had a great night out minus the rest of the family at a gorgeous friend's birthday party. And I overindulged in everything and am paying the price today. Retro daddy came downstairs and said did you know you haven't taken your make up off.  Yes. I do. Thankyouverymuch. But it's not a good day to be feeling ordinary because school is back tomorrow so there are things to organise and that library book we still can't find. Honestly, that's the reason I stopped going to the local library because I'd spend forever hunting down library books.

Anyway, I really felt like something hot for lunch and had wanted to make these for keira's school lunch. I know you will love this recipe and have put directions for the thermomix and without a thermomix. The recipe comes from A Taste of Vegetarian for the thermomix and is called Cheese Scone Pizza Scrolls. I've tweaked it and think it sounds so better as cheesey pizza scrolls. But just do yourself a favour and don't leave out the tomato paste like I did.

Cheesey pizza scrolls

120g cheese (I use vintage light cheddar)

120g cream cheese

280g bakers/strong flour

1 tsp baking powder

1tsp bicarb

pinch salt

200g natural yoghurt

filling

handful fresh herbs (I used basil, mint and parsley)

2 cloves garlic

1 tomato

50g pitted olives

50g tomato paste

Preheat your oven to 180 degrees. Place cheddar in TM bowl and grate for 10 seconds on speed 8 and then leave aside for later. Place cream cheese into bowl and mix for 5 seconds speed 5. Add in flour, baking powder, bicarb and salt and mix for 5seconds on speed 7. Add in yoghurt and with dial on closed lid position, 30 seconds on interval speed to knead.

Tip out onto a well floured baking mat or baking paper. It's really important that you have it floured because it's super sticky and I didn't flour up my baking paper so take my advice. Now dust your fingers with flour too and press your dough out into a rectangle. This is a scone dough and is sticky so don't stretch it just press out.

Now make your filling by chopping your herbs and garlic for 5 seconds on speed 5. Add in the tomato and olives and chop for another 5-10 seconds on speed 5. I liked mine kind of chunky but you could have it fine if you wanted just by chopping it for longer. Now if your mixture is watery and mine was then drain it out. I didn't. You want to do this.

**Now spread the tomato paste over your dough. Um I forgot this step so you want to do this. Now sprinkle half of your grated cheese over the top, then your mixture and then you want to roll up into a long roll. Cut into pieces and place in a greased baking tin and have the scrolls touching each other. Sprinkle with the rest of your cheese and bake for about 25 -30 minutes until cheese is melted and started to look golden on top. Now once I realised that my filling was too watery and I left out the tomato paste I moved the scrolls to another tin which is why they are looking a little um rectangular. And then I spread with tomato paste and put extra cheese on. So they were extra cheesey and extra delicious. You would never know I'd made a couple of serious boo boos.

OK so you don't have a thermomix. Sorry. You want to grate your cheese. In a bowl or mixer combine your yoghurt and cream cheese then your dry ingredients. Combine then knead gently until it comes together. Tip out onto floured surface and press out into rectangle. Make your filling in your food processor or by hand by chopping your garlic and herbs and then adding tomatoes and olives. Make it as chunky or as fine as you like. Drain any extra liquid now before you follow instructions above from **. Enjoy.

And in case you don't believe that I'm a multi tasker here I am with baby in her ergo doing my baking.

 

 

Anyway, give these scrolls a go. They are so good and I'll definitely be making them on a regular basis! Keira and I had two each and we must save some for daddy who is in the office today!

my crazy life

I think this photo pretty much sums up life at our house. I had taken Elodie upstairs to get a few cute photos in good light of the cute jumper she was wearing. Before I knew it little voices were gently calling screaming out my name!

So when the kids are all grown up and can't remember what it was like growing up...............I'll just pull out this photo.

handmade hand me down

One of the lovely things about making things for your little ones is handing them on to the next baby. Take this sweet jumper modelled by Elodie. It's the placket necked jumper from Last Minute Knits and I knitted it up in Charisma which was a Bendigo backroom special. See, you aussie ladies need to get yourselves to Bendigo and that backroom. I don't lie. Ravelry details are here.

Unfortunately, when the twins were babies I shrunk this little number in the wash. Then while I was clearing out wardrobes this week I found it and just in time to get some wear from it before Elodie grows out of it.

Then I realised Elodie was wearing pants that I had made for her. So I don't feel too bad that I haven't been making as many clothes for my little ones as I would have liked. As you can see we had some fun accessorising. Tiffany silver teether that was given to Keira and lives safely in it's box and pink ear muffs from obaibi. 

Retro daddy didn't let Keira buy pink earmuffs from Gymboree last winter and I lived to regret it as she's been asking me for a pair ever since. They suit her sweet little face. I also love that she's wearing a poncho crocheted by her grand mummy, my own mummy. I will treasure it so much now that she's gone and am so happy my girls love wearing it.

Anyway, you crafters know the pride that comes from making something and seeing it worn. Now I feel like casting another placket neck jumper I love seeing it so much. It's a lovely pattern both to knit and wear.

suzy hausfrau

The very lovely Suzy Hausfrau sent me this gorgeous book in the mail recently. And if that wasn't enough a voucher to spend in her lovely store. Suzy, not her real name, left her job to be home and set up and run her very own online store. Well done. It's a big decision but you've got to love the internet which enables us busy mums to make some money on the side. And can I just say it's so great to see a local stockist of MillaMia books and yarn as I really love their books and style. 

Keira quickly took the book off me and has 'told' me in no uncertain terms what I will be knitting her. Um Keira I've never done fair isle before so a dress might be a tad too ambitious! But I can't decide what yarn to buy as they are all delicious. As you know I have a soft spot for everything pink and girly and I love the bright vibrant girly colours on offer like this one.

Back to the book. Wonderland is stunning. Baby to size 7 and a few size 8 in response to reader requests for larger sizes.  And since I have the other two books by MillaMia I have plenty of choice now since the complete set lives at my house. Because you can never have too many craft books. But if that wasn't enough, the yarns are to die for. Super luxurious and something special. I love this wool/silk yarn.

Be sure to pop over to Suzy Hausfrau and have a little look. Enter her giveaway here  to win $100 voucher for her store too. Nice prize. And she offers free postage in Australia which is great! Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhh I love this colour of this yarn too! I think a cute lace kerchief or little lace cardigan for keira would be in order here.

It's a lovely store and I love seeing other aussie mums setting up their own stores so they can work at home and be a mum at home. It's a great life. I won't lie it's a lot of work and late nights but well worthwhile. Mind you with all these yarns at home I'd be knitting in my free time or patting the pretty yarns. Thanks, Suzy Hausfrau. I'm going back to read Wonderland and pick what I'm going to make first.

crafty mail

Oh boy! Don't you love it when you are psyching yourself up to cook dinner, put out the rubbish bins, tidy the loungeroom, bath the kids and you walk out the letterbox and it looks like a parcel is in there. Woohoo you know it must be for you but you totally forgot you bought something............and now it's here. Oh what joy when I checked the mail today. I still didn't know what it was until I ripped open the envelope as I bought it ages ago.

It's a cute sampler kit, something a little different but will look lovely in my craft room. It looks like the kits have sold out and you can just buy the pattern now. And don't you even think about asking me when I'm going to find the time to make this. I think this might go to the 'curl up in bed and craft' pile.

best ever cold frittata

Now normally I like my frittata hot but this is so good cold. Retro daddy says so and he's a little bit critical of my food. It's one of my 'throw together with what I have in the fridge' dishes but it really works. And it was soooo good to eat when we were delayed on our trip to Echuca. The kids had hot chips in the backseat as they weren't interested in it but of course that just meant more for us.

small red onion, diced
3-5 rashers of bacon, sliced
6-10 mushrooms, peeled and sliced
10 eggs
150mls cream
handful fresh parsley
1/2 -1 cup grated cheese

Saute onion in some olive oil in a frypan then add bacon to the pan. Fry until just golden and add mushrooms and saute a little longer until mushrooms are soft. In a separate bowl whisk eggs and cream together, add in bacon and mushroom mixture, fresh herbs, season with pepper then pour into lined square/rectangle tin and top with grated cheese. Bake about  25-30 minutes in 200 degree oven or until golden on top.

Eat hot or even better eat cold. So good. As you can see I made this in a foil tray lined with baking paper so we could take it away with us the next day. Just refrigerate if you're going to eat later. I also added a few frozen vegetables to fill it out like broccoli, carrot, cauliflower and you can do the same!

home day

Home day, cleaning day, pyjama day, we're not going anywhere day. Whatever you call it - we're having one. The roll of garbage bags is out and I am determined to work through every room and get rid of stuff. We don't need any groceries today and we certainly don't need anymore 'stuff' in this house. These are photos of my craft room in happier days.

Bendigo Woollen Mills - debrief

Ok well it's no secret that I love my knitting and I love Bendigo Woollen Mills. I often share what I've been buying or knitting. More buying than knitting usually. So the wedding in Echuca did mean a visit to Bendigo was essential. It had been 4 years since I'd been at the Mill and it was just as enticing as ever.

the outfits

OK, so it's no secret I looooove dressing my littles ones. I would have loved to make the girls outfits but I know my limits time wise and it just wasn't going to happen. So I started with a great winter dress and worked  from there. This is a smocked dress from country road, made in a stretch knit so there were no wrinkles and not too fancy so we can wear it again. I was then lucky enough to pick up this little faux fur vest from Okaidi in their clearance.

my big fat country wedding

Well we're home from our little holiday in the country to attend a family wedding. And I think we've come home fat! Retro daddy declared he's gained 2 kgs over the weekend. Ouch. I blame our love affair with country bakeries. There is something so good about walking into a bakery in the country - for me it's all about the vegie pies, neenish tarts and my all time favourite -  vanilla slice. And so we were in heaven down in Echuca. Thank goodness I don't have any bakeries like that near me. Or I'd be in trouble. I'm also going to blame eating our annual consumption of McDonalds in 4 days. I think that has something to do with it. Or the big family dinner on Saturday night - tim tam cheesecake anyone?

So yes it was all about the food but really the wedding was all about family and getting together. Retro daddy has 6 brothers and sisters and we just don't get together all that often. And there are lots of cousins to play with so my little ones are already asking when we're going away again so they can play with them all again.

The wedding was lovely. How could it not be in such a beautiful church. My own parish church looks very ordinary compared to this beauty. And we were sitting in the front row so I managed to get some great pics and soak it all in. Why were we in the front row you ask? Because we were late! It reminded me of a scene from 4 weddings. The bride had just stepped out of the car smiling and there we come running through the church gates flying into the church late. Everyone was sitting down and we had to walk in the side and take the last seats available. We had been looking at a slow clock in the house so we left home at the time the wedding should have started. Oops.

Tillie decided to have a big tantrum during the ceremony. She decided that a random group of children in the church were her cousins and she wanted to sit next to them. Retro daddy was letting her be noisy and I was giving him death stares. It had been a bad morning for Tillie. Everyone else was so excited to get into their new clothes for the wedding but she was not into it at all. She spent almost an hour pulling her cardigan off and howling. Her lovely new french cardigan. Then of course at the end of the day she didn't want to take it off and travelled back to Sydney wearing the same outfit. You can't win with that girl.

After mass it was onto the church hall for a lovely little reception. A great time to catch up with everyone. Elodie slept through it. Such a good girl that one. The highlight was getting most of the cousins to sit together for a photo. Oh and daddy since Finn is a Daddy's boy.

Now this was a big family wedding as the groom is one of 7 and the bride one of 8. Yes, I know what you are thinking. Good catholic families. Yes, you are right. I love being part of a large family especially when there is a lovely crafty lady in the mix. And that means lots of children. So thanks to some lovely girls and ladies all of the children were entertained with colouring, disney dvd's and their own food for the whole reception. It was wonderful. So wonderful that no one wanted to come home. Even Tillie didn't want to leave.

After the reception we had a quick break before we headed to Julie's little town for a big dinner with the family. The restaurant put on a huge spread for us and it was just delicious. I loved that the chef had baked a lemon curd tart and sat it on the restaurant counter still in it's pan so you couldn't resist having a slice for dessert. My little ones had a ball with their cousins but it really was a late night and we were back in the car before 9pm to head home and get ready for the big drive home.

And that was the wedding! There is nothing like a wedding whether you're 20 or 40 something. Don't you agree? It's always a special event for everyone involved. But we travelled over 2,000 kms over the weekend and today I'm taking it easy. There are suitcases and bags to empty, clothes to wash, groceries to buy, things to put away, photos of my Bendigo haul to take -  so thank goodness for school holidays. We're staying in our PJ's till lunch and taking it easy!

p.s I just loved being in the country. I'm ready to pack my bags and head down to live near Julie. I even had a dream that a shop opened up for me to open my own retro mummy store. Coming back into Sydney with all the traffic and crazy drivers was a bit too much after those quiet country roads.

p.p.s another highlight of the weekend - all of that coaching I've been giving Elodie to say mum mum finally paid off. Now she can't stop - mum mum mum mum mum!

p.p.p.s thanks Julie for the extra photos!