Sweet 16 - and Terminal Cool!

Shocking news - I'm going to share with you today dear blog readers that I am a mother to a 16 year old! I know - it's soo hard to believe - being as youthful and gorgeous as I am ... just ask my son .... if he really wants something badly enough he has to say 'Please, darling gorgeous, sexy mum!' ..... and like he means it! Well, as you maybe can imagine that's not strictly true but it's a fond memory of ours from his primary school years when my girlfriend and I spent some time behind the canteen /tuck shop counter and these were the magic words required by our own children (not the rest of the school population!) to get an extra treat of an icy pole or some such. At the time they thought it was hilarious - now as I'm sure you can easily picture this fond memory conjures an eye roll..... mind you when something is desperately wanted he rolls out a version of this suck up - and of course it works *fluttery eye blinking, grin*

Now I just threaten him that I'll show up at high school in a bright pink, voluminous frock with my hair in a pair of pig tails - or bunches as we used to call them in the olden days.... I am scary, I say with pride, because I have been known for my consistency in child rearing matters .... also I'm usually very cool in that I don't space invade him with his friends .... I've made that a personal mission as I still have my nervous twitches from my own childhood - picture this, my loud and colourful German, bald father wanted to come to the teenage disco and step in and 'tap my foot for a while' .... so that's another family joke around here! Needless to say there are some devastating holes in my childhood experiences because there was no way I was going to attend with that hook! Mind you - that was probably the desired result at the time - and I've just realised something else shocking - my father followed through in these matters too! Oh, no! I'm a bit of a chip off the old block after all! (I think I should re-title this blog piece as the Ridiculous quantity of exclamation marks in one blog!! ... or Suzy's needs a shrink!)

Anyhoo... the point of this blog was to show off my cake making skills and the use of a family heirloom - not vintage just yet but will be one day .... the little plastic train candle holder on the cake. I bought that for my son's first birthday and I used it on his second and third and fourth birthday. For his fifth birthday I lashed out and spent a fortune on a massive, professionally baked Thomas the Tank Engine cake - and he was crushed because all he wanted was his little plastic train. Well, it's been sitting in the party box for years so I dragged it out this year as the birthday candle blowing ceremony was participated only by our immediate family - so I didn't embarrass him in front of his friends - just blogged about it instead *grin*

Naturally I let the icing on the cake drip over the edge on purpose - just to give it that authentic, Fabulous Frau/Mummy Bear lovin' from the oven, home made look... plus this chocolate icing is sooo yum - matches the cake.....


And this pantry picture is a special one for my lovely Witchy friend Susan at the Witch and the Wardrobe because in the past she has despaired at the state of my pantry - now my pantry can sit proudly, having jumped right out of the closet for all to see .... and amazingly I've done it right because it's stayed this way for ages. Don't you vintage girls just love the little ceramic pot next to the spice racks? This is special to me because my mother-in-law gave it to me years ago - I think it was her mother's - and I've always loved it. For years and years I've kept food die and some other little bottles inside but as it was made in Japan and looking at the gorgeous cane handle I wonder if it was meant to be serve rice? Probably.
And to close, this is where my little boy ended up - Terminally Cool! That was a phrase I used to bandy around in my past life behind the scenes in television as some of the film crews strutted around - usually dressed like the were headed out to round up some cattle - same, same some cynics might say - they were great fun. I love this pic so much I made them into cards and magnets which you can check out at my website in my cards and stationery department.

Thanks for visiting - cheers, Suzy ;)

An Echidna, a mini-schnauzer and the bush night sky

I've gotten into the habit of an evening stroll down the back of our acreage with Hans, my one year old mini-schnauzer and the other night I saw an animal scurrying in the bush and I wasn't sure if it was a wombat or an echidna.

I found an echinda and I was very excited, haven't seen one here since around the middle of last year and that was close by outside our bedroom in the garden bed.

Hans and I ran back to the house .... well, okay 'cantered' and grabbed the camera. I was thrilled to find the little fella hadn't moved far but unfortunately he had no intention of showing his face. But nonetheless here is a pic of a real, live echnida in my backyard - mind you only just because it was a couple of metres from the fence line.

I've included a couple of shots of the night sky - so beautiful and I'm grateful to have taken them - but I'm cross at myself at the same time because the light was pink and divine 10 mins before - the time it took me to get my camera!

I've also included a couple of shots of the same pic because I've edited one of them to make the contrast stronger to show you the kookaburra sitting on the 'old fence post' - he was there when I ran past to grab the camera and still there staring at me when I returned so I had to try - even in the failing light.

Just a quickie to share with you lovely people!

Suzy ;)