Another cake

I have to say my six year old is a little more demanding of what cake she would like for her Birthday. But I have to say I really enjoyed icing this one and was reasonably happy with how it turned out. Unfortunately I just have huge inspiration late at night when there is no shops open (to head out for last minute supplies) But luckily I have a huge corner of the pantry with lollies and cake decorating stuff and was reasonably organised. The white icing is pretty easy to mould into any shape (like play dough!)and much easier to manage than butter icing and really less work. Decorations can be made before hand although I left it to the night before, and I just use normal food colouring to change the colour of the fondant. Happy baking!

I know Christmas is over but you'll get a giggle from this!

Not sure of the origin of this one but I thought you might enjoy.....

Dear Santa,

I've been a good mum all year. I've fed, cleaned and cuddled my
children on demand, visited the doctor's office more than my
doctor, sold sixty-two cases of choc bars to raise money to
plant a shade tree on the school playground. I was hoping you
could spread my list out over several Christmases, since I had
to write this letter with my daughter's red crayon, on the back of a
receipt in the laundry between cycles, and who knows when I'll
find anymore free time in the next 18 years.

Here are my Christmas wishes:

I'd like a pair of legs that don't ache (in any colour, except
purple, which I already have) and arms that don't hurt or flap
in the breeze; but are strong enough to pull my screaming child
out of the lolly aisle in the grocery store.

I'd also like a waist, since I lost mine somewhere in the
seventh month of my last pregnancy.

If you're hauling big ticket items this year I'd like
fingerprint resistant windows and a radio that only plays adult
music; a television that doesn't broadcast any programs
containing talking animals; and a refrigerator with a secret
compartment behind the crisper where I can hide to talk on the
phone.

On the practical side, I could use a talking doll that says,
'Yes, Mummy' to boost my parental confidence, along with two
kids who don't fight and three pairs of jeans that will zip all
the way up without the use of power tools.

I could also use a recording of Tibetan monks chanting 'Don't
eat in the living room' and 'Take your hands off your brother,'
because my voice seems to be just out of my children's hearing
range and can only be heard by the dog.

If it's too late to find any of these products, I'd settle for
enough time to brush my teeth and comb my hair in the same
morning, or the luxury of eating food warmer than room
temperature without it being served in a Styrofoam container.

If you don't mind, I could also use a few Christmas miracles to
brighten the holiday season. Would it be too much trouble to
declare tomato sauce a vegetable? It will clear my conscience
immensely. It would be helpful if you could coerce my children
to help around the house without demanding payment as if they
were the bosses of an organized crime family.

Well, Santa, the buzzer on the dryer is ringing and my son saw
my feet under the laundry door. I think he wants his crayon
back. Have a safe trip and remember to leave your wet boots by
the door and come in and dry off so you don't catch cold.

Help yourself to cookies on the table but don't eat too many or
leave crumbs on the carpet.

Yours Always,
MUM...!

P.S. one more thing...you can cancel all my requests if you can
keep my children happy, healthy and always believing.

*Santa has asked that this gets passed on to all the mummies you
know*

Women's Weekly Article on Mrs Crowe

A great article from the November Women's Weekly on "Mrs Crowe" aka Danielle Spencer. It's comforting to know that no matter who you are we may all go through the same feelings of putting our life on hold while we look after our small children; and this article really summed that up. The article is by Bryce Corbett,here's an extract.

"Danielle Spencer has been let in on a big secret. It’s the best known but least talked about aspect of motherhood: identity interruptus. You can read a hundred parenting books, talk to a thousand mums and still come away none the wiser to the fact that, for a woman, having children means losing track of yourself, confusing for a time a large part of who you are and why you exist.

Sure, plenty of mothers will tell you the whole child-rearing caper is hard work and most will feel compelled to couch it with the qualifier that “it’s all worth it in the end”, but how many of them will admit how their sense of self is rocked? That, in the maelstrom of first-time parenthood, it’s all too easy for a mum’s sense of identity to slip away?....."

For more of the article head to the link below or grab a copy of the November issue.

http://aww.ninemsn.com.au/news/inthemag/8113154/danielle-spencer-so-much-more-than-mrs-crowe

The Cake!

Well work is seriously taking up too much of my time and I've been working from home heaps and doing some very long awaited spring cleaning! Throwing out mags I started reading years ago! It's a very cleansing experience. Well back to the 1st Birthday cake. I was pretty pleased with how it turned out considering the disastrous week leading up to the family celebrations! My oven kept tripping the power so we needed to call in the Electricians. My hubby in his wisdom decided while they were here to tear up the place and get a heap of other things done. Not what I need with a bucket load of visitors on their way in few days. Electrician fixes our switchboard and things should be all hunky dory with the oven so I start baking biccies for the party when black smoke comes billowing out and a big bang! Oh nooo disaster! It's 5 mins to 5pm I have Buckley's chance of finding an oven man to try and do a repair it's Friday the next day slim chance of finding someone in time. Looks like I'm going to be cooking sausage rolls in an electric frying pan - let alone what will I do about the cake I haven't started! But Miracles happen sometimes. I get onto the best local Mr Oven fixit man first thing Friday morning what a fluke! He's in the next suburb and can fit me in first thing. Unfortunately fixing doesn't come cheap! A few hundred dollars later my oven's burnt out motor has been replaced and I'm in the business for getting this cake baked! I used a dolly varden tin and the basic butter cake recipe out of my cooking bible my Day to Day Cookery book from High School. I also like the daisy cupcake recipe from the Crabapple cupcake book. The icing was super yummy also from the Crabapple cookbook the Vanilla buttercream frosting. I made the faux cupcake case from fan folded scrapbooking card. The butterflies I made with a butterfly cookie cutter and "Orchid White Icing" I bought the roses from a cake decorating shop. Best of all the kids loved the cake. I just needed to sleep after such a long stressful week!

Paid Maternity Leave

Paid Maternity Leave is something I have been very passionate about. Particularly with my third child where I received no maternity leave, wasn't eligible for the baby bonus by a small margin (as the Rudd government brought in means testing) and at the end of the 12 months leave, was made redundant from my part-time role (luckily I got a new job the next day!) Let's put it this way Mum's and careers haven't been given a fair go in the past and it is still continuing to occur! Let's hope that the new schemes that have been put forward will help a lot of mother's and families to spend a bit more time at home with their new additions and allow them to keep there employment.

This is the letter I wrote to the previous PM Mr Rudd prior to the Parental Leave Scheme being approved......

Sent to Prime Minister Kevin Rudd 25 March 2009

I am expecting my third child and currently work part-time. I am disappointed to find out that the maternity payment is now means tested and I will not be eligible for any payment. I will not receive any maternity leave payments from my employer just the statuatory 12 months unpaid leave. So as a result of the government's change I am not going to receive any financial assistance for my third child even though I received the payment previously. This payment was a great help to my family’s budget and helped to pay the bills while I was on unpaid maternity leave. I may be forced to go back to work within the first twelve months of the birth of my third child as a result of this change. It is very unfair and most families appreciate this assistance and many will now miss out. I was under the impression that this payment was in lieu of any government/employer funded maternity leave payments. So much for fair rights for women! We have all of the same hospital expenses we have incurred for our first two children as well as the costs of extra car seats etc. these will now greatly burden our family budget while I have no income during my maternity leave. Very disappointed! I thought that you wanted to help working families? Our family is definitely at a disadvantage as a result of the government’s decision.

Please find below a letter I sent to the Australian Women’s Weekly back in June 2008 in regards to maternity leave which my interest you.

Dear Woman’s Weekly,
I am writing in, to put forward some of my thoughts on the great maternity leave debate! I am a mother of two and currently work part-time. With my first child I received no paid maternity leave. I did however receive the first rollout of the baby bonus. I returned to work part-time in between my first and second child, and because the company I had worked for had been taken over by a UK company, I was given 6 weeks maternity leave at a part-time rate.
There are so many reasons that women should be entitled to paid maternity leave. For most absences from work, there is some sort of paid leave and why should having a baby be any different? Firstly I believe that some government professions such as teaching and nursing require staff to work no later than 36 weeks gestation due to legislation/WPHS; their may also be some restrictions on the timeframe for returning to work for these same WPHS reasons.
I would think that most women if given a choice would prefer at the very minimum to not return to work in the first 6-12weeks after the birth of their child, to allow their recovery and to care for their new born. Women are usually not entitled to take any accrued sick leave for their maternity leave absence from work, and whilst they are not sick spend at least 2 days in hospital as a minimum.
Women are forced to use their annual leave and long service leave in the absence of paid maternity leave. Some employers, whilst they offer paid maternity leave, they do not pay the full amount until the employees return to work even though they have given a full year (12months) of service prior to the commencement of maternity leave.
Australia is one of only a few countries in the OECD who don’t offer some sort of Paid Maternity Scheme and although we have had the baby bonus for the last 4 years - this will now be means tested so that many hard working families will not receive this.
I support both stay at home and working mothers. Both of these groups of women work equally hard to nurture the Australian adults of the future. So I propose for stay at home mothers to continue to receive the baby bonus even if it is paid in installments rather than a lump sum amount and should be equivalent to a minimum of 12 weeks paid leave. For working mums to be - why can’t they receive a tax refund in lieu of the baby bonus equivalent to 12 weeks paid maternity leave? That way it is not seen as a burden to the tax payer but a way to help all Australian families.
In the process this may encourage women to return to the workplaces they are leaving behind and we may even give women the right to choose when they return to the workplace, rather than being forced because of their financial situation. Sadly the majority of many working women’s pay goes towards their hefty childcare fees.
I believe the Association of Professional Engineers, Scientists and Managers Australia (APESMA), has told the Productivity Commission's inquiry into paid maternity leave that primary care-givers should be given 28 weeks paid leave, including two weeks before a birth.
Interesting times ahead! And I haven’t even mentioned how difficult it is for women to find part-time work in a professional capacity at the end of their maternity leave or the fact we need a change of mindset from employers for more flexible working arrangements for parents and a more practical approach for the provision of childcare.
Thanks for a great read and please keep us informed on the fight for paid maternity leave in Australia.


PS I read this great article on the ninemsn website - this might be of great interest to your readers:
http://optuszoo.news.ninemsn.com.au/article.aspx?id=578071&rss=yes&_cobr=optus

I look forward to hearing your feedback and am hopeful that something will be done to bring maternity leave or a fair baby bonus for all mothers to fruition - despite the current economic crisis. There is no excuse for not moving forward in this area.

Yours faithfully,

Here is the Schemes for your perusal - The media really haven't given the public an in depth probe into these schemes and the pros and cons. So here are the links so you can see for yourself:

Labour Party Scheme

http://www.familyassist.gov.au/payments/family-assistance-payments/paid-parental-leave-scheme/working-parents-eligibility.html#5

Coalition Scheme

http://www.liberal.org.au/~/media/Files/Policies%20and%20Media/Community/Paid%20Parental%20Leave.ashx

It looks as though Maternity Leave payments will finally come to fruition and no matter who wins the election on August 21, the real winners are families who are about to embark on their next family member in 2011!

Who am I kidding? The blog I didn't have time to write

I constantly have ideas popping into my head of great posts to make and I jot them down on post its, in my one of three notebooks and on old business cards I carry around in what I call a handbag (really a bag with so much stuff I can't find anything in it type!) and also in my mobile. But getting the time to blog them is really rather hard. When I started my blog I was a mum of two, had just started a new part time job after my second lot of UNPAID maternity leave and thought my life while hectic, was going to move in a new direction. Well that certainly was the case, but not quite in the way I had expected. My best friend decided to move O.S. There were lots of farewell do's and I also scored her sofa bed, so decided to turn our spare room where the relies come to stay into more of a play room. That way we still had a place for people to sleep if they stayed over. The room took a while to get organised as we ebayed the old bed etc. This led into Christmas, Christmas parties, shopping and a holiday at the beach. I also had a goal to start to get into better shape. So what better way to start than a brisk walk, with a little jogging on the beach each morning. The problem with this however was I felt terrible. The festive wine tasted terrible, I felt really sick each morning, then I started to feel sick at every meal time. This just wasn't right. A girlfriend urged me to take a pregnancy test but I wasn't hopeful given we had received fertility treatment with our first two children. I took the test on New Years Day and to my utter shock and excitement baby number three was on the way. What a wonderful Gift! Now this explains my utter slackness in 2009 as I dealt with the worst all day "Morning sickness" the most intense of my three pregnancies. Who was I kidding I had created the blog I didn't have time to write! Well I have another years worth of invaluable insight to give and would love to share. Even if it has taken a little while to get back to it as they say. I have just gone back to work after my third lot of UNPAID maternity leave to another new Part-Time job. I am looking forward to this challenge juggling work, home life and enjoying every minute (well mostly) of the time I spend with my three tiddlypeeps.

Contemplating the next Birthday Cake

My third tiddlypeep is turning 1. I can't believe how fast the year has flown! Once again it is the countdown to the birthday celebrations with family and friends. And the big decision what to do for the cake? I am thinking a big cupcake. Not too tricky but a little different. I have bought some icing roses, edible glitter dust to decorate the cake. This will be the 9th cake that I will embark on for my three kids. A great place to search for ideas is Google. Just type in the theme, character or item such as "Butterfly" or "Buzz Light Year" and you will be overwhelmed with all of the fabulous ideas people have shared on the web. I thought I would post the pics of all of the Birthday Cakes I have made so far to help out with ideas. Start collecting your ideas a couple of weeks prior so you can obtain all of the lollies, colouring etc you need prior to the day or so before when you embark on the cake making and decorating. I usually make the cake in the afternoon and ice the night before the party. For a little less stress order your sponge cake/slab from a supermarket for less hassle. The Belle & Snow White cakes are icecream, very easy to make! Use a dolly varden tin line with cling film and baking paper and freeze the icecream of your choice in it a few days prior. The morning you need the cake and hollow out the top so you can insert your doll (a doll with removable legs is ideal) then ice with a cream and icing sugar mix (checkout the Women's Weekly children's birthday cake books for tips) pop back in the freezer minus the doll until just prior to serving. I wrap the doll in cling film or paper towel ice the body and pop in the fridge. Then I pop the two together just before I put the candles in and present to the Birthday princess. So goodluck with your birthday cake creation! The joy on your little persons face is worth the late night before - I am usually up till midnight as usual. PS In all your excitement about making the cake don't forget to wrap their birthday gifts!

Quineoa Fried Style (Similar to Fried Rice) - great for leftovers!

Take your leftover Quinoa or cook up a fresh batch (I had cooked mine in some stock made from Vegeta)

Then fry an egg or two like a pancake (with a little salt n pepper) and chop into small pieces.

Fry some bacon and chop up.

(I used a nonstick pan so there was no need to add any extra oil)

Then saute celery (chopped), carrot (cut with the peeler) and mushrooms chopped (you can use any veges you may have) in a clove of garlic and a little soy sauce add in some marinated peppers (capsicum).

Then add your Quinoa, egg and bacon heat through and serve this was delicious!

A tip: If your kids won't eat combo type meals , I cook some extra bacon and egg for their dinner so you're not really making two meals!