Sydney Shop Girl

A Sentence (or Two) A Day: August 2018

The August 2018 edition of A Sentence (or Two) A Day inspired by Jo Tracey’s Sentence A Day posts that she does on a monthly basis.
  1. It’s my birthday month!  I can already see that it’s going to rapidly unravel into a month of self gifting.
  2. Said goodbye to my mum and aunty today as they head home to Perth.  They’ll be back soon but saying goodbye is always sad.
  3. My mum to be work friend was so chuffed with our gift as she heads off on mat leave. Received a beautiful thank you text from her which made me smile today.
  4. Massive making and baking session for my nephew’s 3rd birthday party tomorrow.  It was nearly a massive cake fail but I managed to salvage things with some heart shaped shortbread biscuits I had on hand.
  5. Balloons make everything better, even sunny days that I thought could not be improved upon.  Was a lovely morning celebrating the birthday and also catching up with old friends.
  6. Closure.  Had a debrief with a work friend about a situation we’ve both been managing over the last couple of months.  I’ve discovered that it had happy and very unexpected outcome. A huge weight is off both our sets of shoulders as of today.
  7. My work here is done.  Figured out my City 2 Surf outfit.  

    Now all I need to do is get over this cold before race day Sunday.

  8. Recipe Tin Eat’s sweet and sour cocktail meatballs were a huge hit in today’s lunchbox.  Master SSG loved the ketchup, soy and apple cider vinegar based dipping sauce.  I just covered the baked meatballs with all the sauce, refrigerated the night before and quickly reheated a few in the microwave on the day of lunchbox packing.  

  9. A good mail day!  My new shampoo and conditioner arrived, just as I was down to the last drops of my current bottles.  Oh, and this sun!!!  Loving it.  
  10. Admiration and all the healing energy in the world for a friend who’s going through a serious health issue.  And doing so with her perpetual smiles and kindness to others.
  11. It’s the day before both my birthday and the City2Surf.  I have only one thing on my mind – CARB LOADING!!!!!!!!
  12. The Big Day.  Great weather, best pace for 14K ever AND birthday celebrations with my brother, sister in law, nephew and Master SSG.  Feeling lucky, spoiled … and a bit sore.
  13. Even more sore today.  Avoided the stairs like the plague at work today.
  14. Ooohh it was nice doing laps in the pool today.
  15. Loving the fact that it’s becoming a bit sunny and warm in the afternoons right now.  Roll on springsummer!
  16. Had my BioScan today and was pleasantly surprised at my body composition.  All the hard work is paying off!  Trying to focus on things beyond that number on the scales can be a challenge at times.
  17. I always feel such a sense of achievement when I switch my computer off for the week and turn the desk calendar over to the coming Monday’s date.
  18. Post run bacon and egg roll.  

    No explanation necessary.

  19. Having a quiet day in as the wind outside does its thing on the laundry.  
  20. What a day.  I can’t think of anything else to say, I’m brain dead.
  21. It’s Tuesday and that means pool time.  Leaping out of the pool always makes me feel like sprightly.  
  22. What a day.  Second time this week.  Weekend, where are you?
  23. I went on a mad dash through the shops today in search of a pair of checked shirts for tomorrow’s Fiver For A Farmer fundraiser.  Target came through for me.
  24. What a day.  Third time this week.  Not the best record to have achieved but at least tomorrow is Saturday.
  25. FaceTimed dad in Perth for his birthday.  It was a lovely day where I managed to get through a fair bit at an easy pace.
  26. Had a leisurely lunch and play date at my bestie’s house.  Here’s to good friends and good bubbles!
  27. I am so embarrassed.  I drowned my work pager after my expensive stainless steel water bottle leaked into my bag.  Yes we still have pagers at work and yes I had to the walk of shame to switchboard to get a replacement.  This is only the second time in my working life that this has happened to me.
  28. Went back to the shops to get the security tag removed from the pocket of some pants I bought on the weekend.  I went through an entire shopping centre without setting off any security alarms!  What the?!?!
  29. Loving my new Urban Decay Naked eyeshadow palette. 

    I got it for half price too!!  I have a sneaking suspicion that if I’d only just gone and bought this OG Naked palette in the first place, I wouldn’t now be sitting with the first three volumes in my bathroom cabinet.  Oh well…..

  30. Did Master SSG’s new passport interview today and was suitably nervous.  And guess who nearly let the team down regarding the paperwork?  Me.  I signed my signature two different ways…  Very grateful to the Australia Post staff member serving me because she’s managed to fix it for me.  Fingers crossed.
  31. How did this happen?  Tomorrow marks the first day of the last single digit month of the year.  And you know what that means…. endless weeks of (even more) good times ahead!
How’s your August been?

Image result for hard boiled eggs
via Google images
They’re not currently recognised as a superfood and to my knowledge no celebrity or influencer is currently endorsing them but I am loving hard boiled eggs right now.  I have a couple for lunch as well as an energy bar and some fruit a during the week when it’s all too hard to make or buy myself a proper lunch.  
I douse them with ketchup then sprinkle some pepper on top and then dig in.  I like that eggs are an easily digested and filling source of protein.  They’re also as close to unprocessed as my kitchen gets. 
Master SSG seems to like them as well.  He has one for morning tea a couple of times a week.  They’re quick for him to wolf down before joining his friends in the playground and if I can pack one less pre-packaged item of food in his bag each day then that busy mum guilt lessens just that little bit.
The only down side is the fact that egg yolks are high in cholesterol.  I’ve done my research though and it looks like anything less than three eggs per day is safe for most adults.
Image result for matchstick
via Google images

There is one thing I don’t like about some hard boiled eggs and that’s the grey rim you can sometimes get around the yolk.  As usual, Nigella Lawson had the solution on one of her cooking programmes many years ago.  She places the eggs and a match in a saucepan then fills the pan with water until the eggs are just submerged.  She then heats to lot until the eggs reaching a rolling boil (ie you can hear the eggs clanking around in the saucepan) before removing from the heat and letting the lidded saucepan stand for 10 minutes.  When the time’s up, just drain and let your eggs cool before peeling.  Voila, no grey rimmed yolks!

Related image
via Google images

I’ve been pondering about getting one of those fancy egg boiling machines but we don’t get through enough eggs each week to justify adding another piece of equipment to my already nearly cluttered kitchen bench tops.  Plus, I do like that soothing sound of boiling eggs on the stove.

Do you like hard boiled eggs?  Do you have an egg boiling machine?

I blame you, Christian Hull.

Discerning readers, behold the magnificence of Kit Kat Gold.  Don’t those fingers of caramel infused white chocolate look just a bit like bars of gold?
I’m not normally a white chocolate fan nor do I normally go out of my way to try new Kit Kat varieties but when Christian is in raptures about something, it’s a bit difficult to resist.  After all, this is the same man who’s been getting me through Book Week preparations….
What can I say? Kit Kat Gold is Gold with a much deserved capital, glittering ‘G’.  It’s got that perfect combination of almost toothache inducing sweetness with a burst of caramel flavour all wrapped up in finger of chocolate with that necessary addition of crunch from the wafers.  Basically, it’s the perfect snack for any time of the day that you can justify because you ran sometime earlier that day.

I took my obsession to the next level by decorating a cake with it over the weekend.  Just a tip for young players, you need 3 packs of the large ‘share’ (is that really a verb you associate with limited edition Kit Kats, I wonder?) packs to circumnavigate an 18cm round cake.

Just as an aside, it might just be me but Kit Kats are awfully fragile these days.  I tried to chop individual fingers to line the sides of my cake and most of them broke when I cut into them.  Not that I’m complaining that much because I do now have bowl of fractured Kit Kat Gold fingers and as we all know, there’s no  calories in broken Kit Kat fingers.  Tim Tams roll the same way.

The butter cake I made featured vanilla bean paste and I’m definitely a convert to this pricey alternative to essence or extract.  It gave both the cake and frosting a delicious flavour that was pretty close to patisserie level good.
My recipe is from this month’s free Coles magazine.  There’s a whole series of perfect cake recipes and this butter cake and frosting was the first one in the article.  Coles’ recipe is a keeper for me.  The cake has a lovely texture, soft and dense.  It’s great as a foundation for the over the top frosting and decorating that comes with having a youngster in the house.  Two thumbs up for us.

In other news from Coles, did you know that the humble Lucas’ Papaw ointment is now a behind the counter substance?  You need to ask for it at the front counter and it’s stashed away in a shelf under the cigarettes.  Fortunately, you don’t seem to need ID for the Lucas’.

Had Kit Kat Gold sprinkled its goodness on your life yet?

Why would Papaw ointment be behind the counter all of a sudden after all these years?  Conspiracy theories please.

It’s been one of those nose to the grindstone kind of weeks for me.  I haven’t had time to smell those proverbial roses.  Just as well I’ve got photos and screenshots from the week that was to remind me that life went on beyond the little vacuum that my life can sometimes become when work goes nuts.
I helped out at school this week!  Actually, help is a pretty loose term because the other five mums and grandmas helped Master SSG’s class with their craft project while I kept my friend’s three year old company at a spare desk.  We had a lovely chat about his recent trip to the aquarium as we both watched his favourite videos from the visit.  Penguins.  They bring people together, they honestly do.
After the crafting, we got to listen to the class recite a favourite poem before meeting the class pets which include several stick insects (including one that miraculously rose from the apparently dead), the worms in their farm and … Elvis Snipper J, the class yabbie.  Elvis SJ resides in this restrotastic tank that’s shaped like a television.  I couldn’t squeeze the aerial into my photo.  Elvis’ tank gets bathed in different coloured light which you can control with the flick of a knob.  I love that Crust Station billboard!
Bunmi Laditan is a blogger and author whose contributions to social media make me think, laugh, cry and believe in a way few ‘influencers’ manage to do.  I initially started reading and laughing in solidarity with Bunmi’s Honest Toddler posts and progressed to reading her books on the similar theme of survival parenthood with a large slice of sharp humour.
More recently, I’ve discovered Bunmi’s live Facebook chats about spirituality and how she’s confronted her own demons and past trauma.  Bunmi speaks and writes with a warmth and beauty that’s an unexpected contrast to the tone of her parenting memoirs.  She speaks of finding peace in the God or higher being upon which you fix your moral compass and she speaks of the challenges of staying true to this as you foolishly seek approval and validation from the things and people around you.  I often struggle to follow more traditional podcasts on Christianity but Bunmi is so eloquent and has a context that I can relate to.  I’ve been listening and thinking along with her over the last few weeks since she’s started her live chats.
Our ‘Little Shops’ highlight this week is FINALLY getting the Tim Tams to add to the collection.  I’ve also been arranging a few postal swaps with fellow obsessed mums.
Image result for jack prime minister grandson
via Google Images

 It’s been one of those weeks in Australian politics and former Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull’s grandson Jack captured the mood perfectly at his granddad’s final press conference as the departing Prime Minister.

The memes and quips have been flowing thick and fast all week.

Really, in times like this, there’s not much you can do but laugh about it.  And read the fake news websites for satire that’s painfully close to the bone.  And remember that no matter how long your week has been, at least you weren’t living out the drama in Canberra on a personal level.
There has been lots to smile about this week but none of it made it to my camera roll.  The many wonderful people in my work and personal lives have been there for me.  My then being able to pay it forward in return.  But this is a photo that definitely captured a happy moment this week.
Urban Decay have discontinued their OG Naked eyeshadow palette.  In the spirit of fair pricing, Mecca Cosmetica honoured the half price discounting of current stock that has taken place in the US. So I got my hands on a palette for the relatively nice price of $41.50!  

How’s your week been?  What’s made you smile or deep breathe?  Are there pictures to go with or were the moments captured in your memory and heart instead?

Be well.

My excitement for spring is building with each of these August weekends that pass.  It’s this weather. I can’t get enough of it.

The bare branches overhead don’t look so bleak now that they’re framed by blue and dare I say it, warmish skies.

It’s a lovely time the year to be a morning person.

I discovered a new (to me) cafe in Potts Point called Coffee, Tea and Me.   Sadly our favourite spot Marcelle up the road in Kings Cross appears to have closed for good and its premises are up for rent.

Coffee, Tea and Me is a rough diamond dressed in shabby chic.

The floor length front windows offered me a glimpse of the area’s famed Art Deco residences and apartment blocks and my mind couldn’t help but drift off into a daydream about the chic and artistic people who’ve been living in the area since those buildings first appeared.

 My coffee ready, it was time to return to 2018 and its obsessions with protein balls….

99 Problems and Jordan Game 6 are among the intriguing names for the versions sold at Coffee, Tea and Me.  I’ll have to google the Jordan reference. 

I’m back.  Game 6 of the 1998 NBA Finals was Jordan’s last game with the Chicago Bulls and their victory remains the stuff of legend.

Closer to home, my love affair with a local legend is still going strong.  Bowen’s, your bacon and egg rolls and my post run appetite are a match made in heaven and we’re going to be together pretty much forever.

This weather also never fails to set off the ‘glass half full’ centre of my brain.  To my mind, when I walk around under this sun, I feel as if I’m on holiday and not simply working through the weekend to do list.

Master SSG is feeling the love for the winter sun to a similar degree.

He’s mastered the flying fox at Tumbalong Park and he’s showing an interest in tennis.

There’s a couple of things he could teach his mother a thing or two about.

How’s the weather where you are right now?

Looking forward to it warming up?

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