Jikana Damaru

This week I'm grateful for... books

Aunty Al and her two junior burgers have been up to stay with us this week. What a laugh we all had - especially the children as the five of them tore through the homestead, breaking everything in their path. Yep, that was pretty funny indeed. Aw, what does it matter when both the destruction and noise levels are so high that you just know your children are writing the story of their childhood. When I was young, our cousins would come to stay and we would...

So, this week I'm grateful for...

151. Visitors - I make no secret of the fact that I'm not a big fan of routine. What better way to spice up the week than have fun (and funny) people to stay?

152. Books - Even better when my guests love books as much as I do. Al, Aunty Coo and I decided that what we needed more than a night on the tiles (sorry Woogsy) was a night perusing cheap books at the local Lifeline book fair (as you do). Open until 9pm, by the time we settled the kids, ate some dinner and found the darn place we had all of 27 minutes to snap up approximate 53 children's books each. It was a book buying frenzy, let me tell you. And I'm still recovering from the bizarreness of the Lifeline staff... but that's another post entirely.

153. Little gems - And would you believe that among my 53 snapped-up-in-seconds books was a little gem of a children's book called The It-Doesn't-Matter Suit written by Sylvia Plath and published posthumously in 1996. Sylvia Plath does children' books! How random! I do love a book fair!

So, what's making you smile today? Add your I'm Grateful For post to the list below (and please, we love you, but it really does matter that your post is a Grateful one and not just a random), add the button (grab the code from my sidebar and paste it into your post) and pretty-please add a link back to me. Then pop over to visit other bloggers who are spreading a little sunshine.

[Image by note.worthy found on Flickr]

Blooming Gorgeous Lounge

I love this picture from Monday's post. From the pretty floral plates on the wall to the floral scatter cushions adorning the linen patchwork sofa. I, of course, love the addition of the bird cage hanging from the wall!

Have a sweet day!

here's a little story.....that goes something like this

these two became a family of three as they welcomed their little

who has stolen their hearts

& brought so much joy

& is just so adorable

at four weeks old

she is a little treasure

welcome to the world & may your life be full of happy days, baby girl

And the latest party-ready gal about town is...

Lucky duck Jodi from The Scribble Den has won the Leona Edmiston Ruby dress, the $220 voucher at Shoes of Prey and the gorgeous Silver Birds earrings from Elk Accessories.

Jodie's comment was number 24 on my list and Random.Org told me that that was the number to pick. Woot!

Just a quick thanks to Jodie, Prue and Ziba for their wonderful help organising the giveaway. They were absolutely fab.

Thank you to everyone who entered. Aaah, please don't worry if you're not Jodi (and it goes without saying that most of us are not), I had so much fun planning the prize that I'm already cooking up another fantabulousness giveaway... but you'll just have to wait for the details. I'm super suspenseful like that...

Oh, and while I've got you here... have a happy rest-of-day, won't you. It is FriYAY after all... what are you doing tonight? Me? I'm doing what I always do on Friyay night these days - two hours to get ready followed by a major drinking session followed by grope with a stranger out the back of the pub... oh, wait, that was DECADES ago.

Tonight, I'm in.

Just like all Friyay nights these days.

I say that without a trace of regret.

Bring on the contented homelife, I say! x

What are Bon Bons?

What are bon bons and what do they taste like?

Now that bon bons have become a very popular addition to a candy table, this is the question I get asked most each week.

A bon bon is a chewy lolly that comes in a variety of great colours and delicious flavours. I described it the other day to someone as sort of like the consistency of a cool mint but without the hard shell and the mint flavour. So delicious ...

Flavours and colours include:- Raspberry (Blue), Apple (Green), Strawberry (Pink), Lemon (Yellow) and Toffee (white)

A number of the colours look great together lined up all in a row. You can see here I used the yellow, pink and blue for Sofia's bubblegum party earlier this year.

One of my lovely customers Amanda used green and white for her son Xavier's christening.

If you are looking for bon bons or some other great lollies for you next party drop into the Sweet Style store here and check out what we have on offer. I am always happy to source other varieties and types of lollies for your next party so drop me an email if you are interested - leanne@sweetstyle.com.au.

Leopard print cake pops

I recently reviewed the book Pop Bakery by Claire O'Connell and when I saw the stylish leopard print cake pops inspired by nail artists I knew they would be perfect for Annie: a gal who loves leopard print and flouro pink! Her birthday was on Tuesday so at the weekend I made my first cake pops.

The only change I made to the recipe in Pop Bakery was changing the flour to gluten-free flour and I used a very bright pink edible dust on mine. I wrapped the sticks in silver washi tape and tied pink bows around them. I packaged them in lace print cellophane bags from Jusco.

Making the chocolate cake balls was relatively simple but coating them in chocolate was a bit tricky to get smooth as my cake balls started to spin on their sticks. Next time I make them I will try inserting the sticks into the cake balls and leaving them to set in the fridge before coating them. I am hoping that will hold the cake ball firm on the stick so the cake doesn't start spinning as I coat them in chocolate.

They tasted great, lovely and moist and looked cute! Will definitely be making more cake pops, such a fun treat! The best bit; Annie loved them!

Have a sweet day!

They drive a white van

I had this post scheduled to go up tonight, but I thought I'd post it earlier because there's lots going on over at Mama Mia about Stranger Danger today. I didn't edit the post, just hit 'publish' early. It may or may not be relevant to the discussion at MM.

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It always amuses me when Maxi-Taxi begins a sentence with "I can't go to sleep because..." What's he cooking up now? I think to myself. This better be good. And invariably it is.

The other night he told me that he couldn't go to sleep because he needed to run around the house ('do laps'). I said, "It's sleep time now, Max. Not time for laps." He said, "But how am I supposed to sleep in all this energy?"

The kid has a point.

Another night he couldn't sleep because his heart was too soggy. "I'm scared and when you won't sit with me, my heart gets soggy," he said. I sat with him. I'm weak like that.

He's a sensitive soul, so you have to tread carefully when issues of monsters, robbers, spiders, the moon and anything else likely to go bump in the night come up. One false move and it's matchsticks for the rest of the night. Which is why I found myself on eggshells when the issue of Stranger Danger was raised.

"They come and get you in a white van," he said. "They snatch you off the side of the road when you're waiting to cross at the lights. Even when you're good, they get you."

What are they telling them at that school? I wondered, crunching away on my eggshells. We've always had a relaxed approach to 'Strangers'. You can talk to anyone you like as long as Mum or Dad or another grown-up you know is with you. We didn't want our children growing up thinking it's okay to be unfriendly or, worse, fearful, just because they don't know someone. It's not okay to live your life in fear that a random tragedy is going to happen to you. Strangers aren't to be feared at our place, rather they often offer a lovely exchange in the middle of an otherwise frenetic day.

Of course, when you're by yourself, you aren't allowed to even notice them.

I raised the white van kidnappers at the P + C Meeting the next night. "What are you telling the kids about kidnappers in white vans?" I asked.

Mirthful looks were exchanged between teachers. "It's always a white van," one said in amazement. "We give them a thoughtful, educative chat about coming to the front office if they are not collected on time after school, they discuss it amongst themselves and the next thing you know the story about the stranger in the white van is doing the rounds again. That white van has been circling the school for decades."

Hmmm... needless to say, that bit of schoolyard folklore meant that Maxi-Taxi couldn't sleep and was threatening to boycott school the next day. I had to turn him around quicksmart by asking him why anyone would want to take a kid? Especially one that doesn't sleep, doesn't listen and doesn't eat their vegies? He couldn't come up with a single reason.

So, the next day he goes to school and all was well. When I saw him that evening his eyes were wide and he was leaping out of himself with excitement. "Mum, Mum! MUM! A Stranger approached me today."

"Really, an actual Stranger? Where were you? What did they say?"

"I was in the playground and a lady came up and asked me where the Mandarin classes were held," he said breathlessly.

"And what did you say to her?"

"Well... I said to her 'Do you drive a white van?' and she said 'no', so I told her they were in the library."

Oh, Maxi.

How do you approach 'the Stranger thing' with your children?

Do you think they listen?

[Image via weheartit - yes, I know it's a red van and this post is about a white van, but I couldn't find a pic of a white van that didn't look like... well, a pic of a white van. It's that simple.]