Cute Cupcakes!



I've discovered cupcakes! It's not that I had never had them before but this weekend I found a really good, cheap and easy cupcake recipe that has no butter in it at all so that makes it super cheap (and I like a good bargain). I have had fun mixing bright coloured icing and popping yummy lollies on top. The ones above have just been finished. We are having dinner with a family that has a 2 year old so thought he might like some. If my 40 and nearly 13 year olds love them then I'm sure he will.

Now, I know you all know I am on a weight loss journey. One of the things I like about Weight Watchers is that there are no forbidden foods. Everything can be eaten as long as you count their "point" value. These cupcakes work out at just 2 points a piece including the wee lolly on top so they are good value as far as I'm concerned. I tried to convince my nearly 13 year old that he might like decorated cupcakes for his birthday but they're not that cool (apparently). He has opted for a cake in the shape of a basketball boot so I will be busy working that one out. Who knows what the nearly 11 year old will choose. Could be anything so I will mentally prepare myself for cake baking, decorating and any accidental licking of the icing bowl that may happen. Guess I'll be counting lots of points in the next couple of weeks :-)

Yo naci en este pais.....Ecuador!

A friend from Ecuador put this wee video on his face book page and I just loved it! It reminded me of "home" and put a smile on my face. The words of the song are in Spanish but it basically says "I was born in this country......" I know that for all intense and purposes I am a kiwi but my heart must have been reborn in Ecuador because, to this day, I still think like an Ecuadorian and do things like one as well. My family just laugh at me when they point it out. Most of the time I don't even recognize it as being different. Funny how life's experiences change you :-)

Enjoy a slice of my "home". I will!

Marriage!

When you've been married a while it's quite easy to forget each other in the busyness of life. We've been married 16 years, 4 months and 27 days (give or take a few hours :-) and at times we barely recognise each other. Of late I've decided that our jobs are pretty sucky. Even though we work in the same office, share the same home, attend the same activities together and share the same family there are days when we do not actually see each other or even speak to each other. It has been hard! We have taken each other for granted and have failed to put our relationship first. That has made for an often unhappy and even stressed life.

We discovered that the church we attend was offering the Marriage Course. It is a 7 marriage enrichment course so we jumped at the opportunity to put our relationship first. It runs on a Monday evening so the boys are fed and left behind with someone to care for them while we switch off our cell phones and dedicate a couple of hours to each other. It is run with a fancy 3 course dinner at a candlelit table for two. Nice and cosy. We don't have to talk to anyone else but our spouse which is just lovely. We've had one night out and are eagerly looking forward to the next 6.

I hope that this course will not only give us more tools in our marriage kit but will help us to set aside regular time together to just hang out, enjoy each other's company and not be so obsessed by ministry and kids needs.

Bring on Monday evening!!!

I LOVE lists!

I've realised something about myself of late. I LOVE lists! I guess it's nothing new to me. I have been well aware that my life functions much better when I have a list or a plan of things to do. There are lists at home and at work and unfortunately they have very different things on them. Then there is the list of things that I carry round in my head. A list of things that I'd love to do but haven't got the time to do.

I'm also a sneaky list person :-) When I'm having a bad day and feeling that I haven't achieved much on my list then I write on things that I have already done just so I can cross them off! It's a great feeling to see little black lines scribbled all over a clean piece of paper.

For the past 2 weeks we have been back in Palmerston North. It was initailly supposed to be part holiday and part catching up with family, friends and supporters. In reality it ended up as part catching up with family, friends and supporters and part work. We have come home totally exhausted! Today is my first day back in the office and as I rolled over in my sleep at 3AM the lists suddenly began to haunt my dreams. For over an hour I tried to ignore them, putting them in their own separate "list" compartment in my brain, but all to no avail. There are times when my "list" brain takes over and that's all I hear......the many, many things I need/want to do.

So, here I am at 4:30Am, up, awake, drinking tea and watching trashy tv all in the effort of trying to crowd out my to-do lists in my brain. Surely there is something seriously wrong with that! I'm off to see someone today who will hopefully help me put my lists into perspective and help me prioritse them. Then I'll have lists of lists and that sounds more manageable :-)