And will you succeed? Yes indeed, yes indeed!
Ninety-eight and three-quarters percent guaranteed.
Dr. Seuss

It's My Life - Bon Jovi

Here is one that we all enjoyed shouting out at the top of our lungs at some stage.....have a super weekend people!

To tell or not to tell?????

Okay then...work. There have been some changes lately. There is a new position that has opened up, assistant to my boss - deputy team leader if you will, specialist knowledge something or other, I did not pay much attention because I do not have superb knowledge of our processes (a requirement) YET and there are people on my team who are WAY ahead of me in that department. So I was somewhat shocked when I had my one to one today and found that my boss would like me to apply if a certain other person does not. The certain other person has been there for two years and rightly deserves the position but is not sure he wants to take it on. I also got my test results back, and although it was not the 100% I got for my last test (Sanctions) it was a relatively good 78% - and then I found out that my Call Quality Monitoring came in at a whopping 97% - who needs Fridays when so much good news comes on a Thursday!!!

Mmmm maybe I need to read more Seuss!!!

So the writer who breeds more words than he needs,
is making a chore for the reader who reads.
Dr. Seuss

Remember:

Today you are you, that is truer than true.
There is no one alive who is youer than you.
Dr. Seuss

A long walk for short legs...

I have nothing to say, to be horribly, perfectly honest I am tired of writing this stupid diary. It is one way traffic, I have assurance from friends and family that it is read, and by the comments I do know that this was the case...until December (summer holidays in SA see) and my lack of interest became glaringly obvious (the lack of posts) but sadly I am really not inspired to write.

I keep meaning to do a post about the two wee boys who walk 2 km's from the luas to school - and I DO mean wee, 5 and 7, MAYBE 6 and 8. BREAKS MY HEART. As I am walking to the luas in the mornings they are headed towards my house...and the school not far from there. Seriously, the older brother clutches the little guys hand and keeps him safe, you can just see the responsibility in the set of his young jaw. I am so lucky, can you imagine being that parent with no option but to allow such littlies to make that journey ALONE? I have not seen them since Christmas so now I wonder where on earth they have gone to, maybe they finally get to go to school in a nice warm car...getting dropped off at the door. I hope so I really do.
And yes...I have pointed them out to my children, who get a lift to school with their father and moan if they have to walk the 1 km to the bus stop on the odd occasion that he cannot take them. That sure put a stop to their protesting!

And look at that, another blog post is born...hmmm wasn't all that bad I guess.............

Forever Young Rod Stewart

I dedicate this song to my children....as written by Rod Stewart for his. Brilliant lyrics and we can all follow his sentiments to make the world in 2009 a better place!!!

Wire to Wire - Razorlight

Love this song! The official video is also awesome, sadly the embedding has been disabled on youtube...but here is a link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CDA_I4zQGfM

Pizza Parlour

Recession....budget = family time....I have realised we can put a positive spin on our current situation. Starting off with the return of Friday night pizza, and no not the slip out of a box frozen variety, but the I know every ingredient in this pizza HOME MADE concoction. My last dabble with yeast was so long ago that the sachets I found in the kitchen cupboard expired in September last year, funnily enough coinciding with the start of my job.

I popped into Super Valu on my walk home from the luas for the yeast and bread flour - a grocery item I have not noticed on the shelves at Aldi, my new favourite shop in THESE times. I was going to buy the ham, tinned tomatoes, mushrooms and bacon too until I saw the prices and realised that a walk to Aldi AFTER my walk home with the dough fixings would be well worth my time and effort.

By the time I got home from all my shopping excursions - by foot, thus saving petrol and being eco friendly, it was already 18h15 and I had not even started the dough! Luckily my ever faithful Magimix was able to assist, as much as I enjoy the kneading process sometimes a girl just has to take advantage of modern conveniences! Another handy little trick I have learned is to aid the rising process...cover the bowl with clingfilm, microwave for 10 seconds and then stand for 10 minutes. Repeat the process 3 times and 30 minutes (yes and 30 seconds to be pedantic) later your dough is ready to be rolled. Nigella Lawson comes through too with a fantastic pizza base recipe in her "How to be a domestic goddess" book.

While the dough was rising the secret weapon was bubbling away on the stove, to make a good pizza fantastic it all starts with the tomato base....according to my family anyway. Toppings are important too but that red sauce is crucial.

I grated cheese, sliced vegetables, drained artichokes and anchovies while Kirstin fried up the bacon into a nice salty crispness. I measured the dough into 4 equal portions and we all set about making our own pizzas. The kids were only interested in the bacon so we decided to let them hog it (ha ha). I had bought little cooked shrimps anyway so I knew that Malcolm would not be too bothered by the bacon. We all set about rolling out our dough and smothering it with the tomato sauce before part baking the strange shaped discs in the oven, Malcolm and I had got greedy and divided our portion of dough again as we wanted 2 different lots of toppings on our pizzas! We learn something every day and the thing I learned was that there is nothing quite like the gathering in the kitchen and preparing tasty and kid friendly food together, oh and there is nothing quite like fresh basil on a pizza....AFTER it has come out of the oven.

And remember, if you decide to go for Jessica's bacon, avocado and basil (she put hers on before baking) put the avo onto the pizza AFTER it has come out of the oven! One more thing....make a bunch of bases, par bake them and have a "Bring your own pizza topping" dinner with friends...recession puh!
















The secret is in the sauce....















Four little dough balls...















Busy little bees















Say CHEESE

And this Friday the song is...

IN THIS CITY - Iglu and Hartley





And if this does not make you tap your foot, bounce in your chair or jump up and dance....well then this song does not affect you the way it does me!!!
Not to mention that some of the lines have a particular appeal and Dublin is a place that so far "I have had nothing to fear in this city..."

A BUDGET????

The word strikes fear into my heart. I have enjoyed earning and SPENDING my money without much though these past few months. Of course there is a recession so tonight we sat down with a piece of paper and did a budget. Gulp. We get to save a lot of money every month...no really it's true. The problem with saving all that money is that I cannot go off and happily spend money on the sales without much thought...but I cannot wait to see that bank balance rise so I guess save it will be. Anyway it is only a 6 month plan for now, even the kids are on board and they will receive a monthly allowance which they need to use for clothes, toiletries and socialising...right now they think it is awesome, let us see what they think in two months time!!! Growing up.......sucks.

Monday Eye Catcher

Happiness is always a by-product. It is probably a matter of temperament, and for anything I know it may be glandular. But it is not something that can be demanded from life, and if you are not happy you had better stop worrying about it and see what treasures you can pluck from your own brand of unhappiness. - Robertson Davies

Kirstin's Late Friday Song

So....I have been battling to find a song, something with a message or some sort of hopeful tale but I am coming up empty handed. The song I finally settled on happens to be one of Kirstin's favourites and it was the tune that finally got us girls up on the "dance floor" on New year's Eve, not that it takes me much to get up and start moving but that is another story...we actually danced to the song using You Tube - you can see it in the background on the computer....





Flo Rida LOW

Friday Song

Well I missed th Friday song yet again - Lizle sent me a suggestion via text message but sadly it was not on youtube. I am trying to find a GREAT song, an inspirational song for the start of 2009 but sadly nothing has appealed so far. I will just have to keep looking...

RIPPER...

I had to work on 31 December. This meant that Malcolm, Adrian and Nicky had to do the shopping for my cheese board, a very foreign experience for me as I am usually the one doing the shopping and getting the house ready for a party.
Fortunately we got to leave work at 15h30 so the three shoppers joined me in town and we went to Kehoe's for a couple of drinks before heading home to get ready for the evenings shenanigans. I unwrapped cheese, arranged crackers and got ready for the evening, we made the mistake of making pizza for dinner, if we had known how big the mountain of food would be once everyone brought their contributions I think we would have foregone that option!

When it all first kicked off we had 4 screaming children under 8 and it has to be said that it seemed like the adults would be outnumbered, but the other adult re-enforcements soon arrived and the balance swung back into our favour. The 12 + age group snuck off to the quiet relaxing attic while the youngsters watched DVD's and played with the doll house. a few altercations were dealt with and I made Kaprioskas, a cocktail made with lime wedges, brown sugar, vodka and ice, a party starter of note. Once all the adults were nicely intoxicated the music got louder and before I knew it I was dancing with the under 8's and having a grand old time. MUCH later in honour of my little sister I hopped onto the coffee table and did an honouree Tracy dance - she will be so proud!At 04h00 we said goodbye to the last guests who were leaving and made beds in the lounge for the bodies that were staying, seeing all those sleeping people in my lounge is a weirdly satisfying sensation for me.













January 1 only began at 11h00 for our household and we had coffee and a delicious panettone for brunch and then Nicky and I walked to the store to buy fixings for a roast lunch. I could not find a big enough beef roast so I ended up buying a small fillet of lamb, a beef roast and a chicken....I made broccoli and cauliflower cheese, crunchy roast potatoes carrots and parsnips and sweet corn. We feasted and celebrated the beginning of a New Year and finished off with Irish coffees and bread and butter pudding....now the diet has to begin, I am sure I have gained at least 3 kg's over the festive season!