One Bowl, One Milo Cake

I just made the easiest little cake there ever was. If you can count to 4 your have already aced it!

4 minute prep.
3 minutes in the Microwave.
Maximum taste!

One Bowl Milo Cake

You will need to mix into a small dessert bowl:

4 Tablespoons of Milo
4 Tablespoons of Flour
4 Tablespoons of Sugar
4 Tablespoons of Milk
4 Tablespoons of Oil
1 Egg

Pop the mixture into the microwave on max strength for 3 minutes.
Top with Ice cream and some dry milo.

So Delish.  It is even Kaibear approved

ENJOY!

Valentines

My darling neighbor (have I blogged about how awesome my neighbors are in Boston?) recently told me "I love how you just LOOK for a reason to celebrate".

And is she so right.

Luckily for THIS holiday I did not have to look far! Valentines celebrations are always widely advertised and a big hit.

I wanted to do something simple and cute for Kai's class mates. I would have loved to me more creative on the teacher gifts too, but, I just ran out of time, and had to commercialize their gift.  I was thinking of keeping it to just the principle, his teacher and the class assistant, BUT when I showed Kai the gifts he said, and teacher ... and teacher ... and teacher ... and so began a very quick scramble to add the other teachers on the list too.

Here we go:
PS:  The pictures are not edited.  So please excuse the quality.  I am working on honing my skills. Be patient with me.

Class presents: 

Hessian (Burlap) bags with a red painted heart, ribbon draw string filled with chocolates. 

To make: 

Start by cutting your Burlap/Hessian to size.  

I did not want to make the bags to big, so kept it so about 10 cm across (this includes the seam allowance) and about 15 cm high.  

The reason why I love working with this material is how easy it is to cut, and measure. You literally don't need to mark anything.  Just measure and then pull out a thread where you want to cut. 

Once you have pulled the threads of your selected cut lines, simply grab a sharp scissor and cut along the lines. 

Tip:  I keep a little scrap note paper, to keep track of my quantities as I go.  So as I cut a couple I just add the number, that way I don't have to keep counting my bags. 

Next up. Stenciling the hearts. 

I start by creating a stencil.  The heart shape is so easy to do.  I start by cutting it out of a piece of paper. Measuring it on the bags, to make sure its the right size. 

I then trace the heart onto a thick piece of board, and cut it out with a exact-o / craft  knife.

Alternatively you could also use a punch (if you have one that will go thru the material you want to use for your stencil.) My punch did not penetrate the board, and I did not want to use the limited amount of old X-RAY material that I do have.

Tip:  Run the blade along the inside of the stencil to smooth the edges out once you completed the cut. 

I took one A4 piece of hard board.  ( I keep the backing board from note pads etc, specifically for these kind of projects). I made 4 stencils out of the A4 board.  -  Keep the stencils, they are re-usable. 

Now that you have your stencil.  Its time to pain the little bags.  I have used normal School poster board paint as well as acrylic paint.  Both work perfectly.  These bags are a once off in my mind, so I am not looking at the paint lasting through the washing machine etc.  

Grab an old news paper and fold it open on the first page.  You want to be able to page over after painting a set so that you don't have leakage from the previous bag. 

I set the bags aside to dry on fresh news paper and let them dry over night.  Honestly time wise, an hour or two should be find, but I had the time to let it dry well overnight. 

Tip:  I did not have time to paint all the bags in one sitting.  Squirt a little bit of paint at a time into the paint pallet, so you don't waste. Also you do not need to wash your brush between sessions.  Wrap it nice and tight into a zip lock and pop it in the fridge.  Once done. Wash. 

I did not get a pics of the sewing bit.  But essentially I just folder the bags in half, and over- locked them around the edges, about half way up.

I then threaded a piece of ribbon in using a plastic embroidery needle, and Bob's your uncle!

I filled the bags with a couple of heart choccies, and a gold coin, which I had left over from another project.  I made sure each one had the same amount and size choccies in.

Last bit of work on this project was to add a tag.  I opted to hand write 25 cards. (I know I am insane, just felt more personal ...)  You could print them! I punched a hole in the top corner and threaded it through the ribbon.  

The card reads:  Friends make the best valentines.  Love Kai B 

All in all it did take a while to do, as there were many different aspects, but they turned out so great, I am happy I took the time to make them.

Next:  Teacher Gifts. 

As I said above I did not have time to be to creative, with the teacher gifts. I simply bought cute chocolates from "Clicks". Added some ribbon and a note. The little chocolate set is for the principle, his class teacher and the class assistant. 

Card reads:   Thank you for your love, all year round.  Happy Valentines day, Love Kai B 

For the rest of the teachers, I cut some board, punched a hole, and stuck a chocolate heart down with some glue dots. 

I added the same note as for the other teachers. 

That ladies and probably ladies only, wraps up Valentines 2016. 

An Update is overdue

I happen to click on the "view blog" tab top left ... Ghastly!
Things are so out of date.  The tabs, the house updates etc, even the who I am has changed.

I will work hard to remedy that.  I am thinking of adding some tabs, removing some. Just give the blog a fresh new look.  One that reflects who I am in this stage of my life, better.

I want this to be a current up to date journal of our journey, as it use to be.

I wont put as much pressure on myself to churn out posts left right and center. Rather I want to ensure that the posts I do put our here in blog land is quality and well documented.

Two things I am working on for 2016, besides hightailing it out of Africa and eating healthy, is photography and a potential desk top design course.
Both the above goals will assist in making this blog a neater, happier, and more organised space.

I was toying with the idea of starting over, of just dropping this blog and making a new start, a clean slate, but in truth, this is part of how I have evolved and how I have moved.  It would be sad to let it all go.  To not be true to who I am, and was.  So ... I will use this space.  Let it evolve.  Let it grow with me and my family. I think we are all living such a wasteful life.  It's so easy to toss away things that no longer work.  I want to go old school.  Fix it. Make it better. No more living a BIC life. (All BIC products are throw away).

I look forward to a new adventure here, to a new look, and a new vibe.

Here is to change. All round.

Am I ready to leave ?

So things here in my beloved country is bad. So So Bad.  There are people who cling to the hope that things will turn around.  There are people who write long blog posts about why we should stay.  Stay, else it will all fall apart.  Well Mr B and I have just realized for the sake of our child, we need to look at possibilities.  There was a blog post recently where a lady wrote about why you should stay for your child.  You should let them be children here and so on. They must learn to look after their fellow man.  But you see thing is, and this is a post for another day, but here in South Africa fellow man means black only, no one is looking after the white people and children.  That is scary, because what will become of child?  Will he have a future? Will he get into a varisty?  Probably not.  Face facts, Face reality. 

Mr B and I keep saying to ourselves and the 2 or 3 friends we have shared the fact that we are looking with, that we are just looking to see what is out there, to see if there is a possible future for us somewhere else.  In my heart though.  I know.  I have checked out. I am ready to go. I am ready to leave for Kai.  Am I ready to leave my awesome large family home?  My dream House?  Am I ready to have a conversation with my mom, where I will turn her world upside down!?  Am I ready to tell my sister, I am taking her godchild, whom she ADORES away from her? Am I ready to go live in a country foreign to me, foreign to my soul, where I know no-one?  Am I ready to face the fact that when we go, and anything happens to myself or Mr B, child will have no family to fall back on.  He will probably be shipped back here?  No. The answer is a loud, capital letter HELL NO.  

Reality is that staying is as scary as leaving. The longer we wait, the less our money is worth.  The more the house market plummets and the less we will get for our house. The longer we wait the older we get.  The older Child gets.  The longer we wait the harder the transition will be, for him, for school, for us. 

So my prayer my mantra my focus for my family right now is this:

*Universe, take the wheel.  Steer and guide us to where we need to be.  I know what ever happens, where ever we end up, will be right and perfect. 

I am trying to say this mantra to myself, every time I think of a new fear, both of staying and of going... when I say it, I feel a sense of calm wash over me.  I have faith.  Mr B and I have always, always believed in the universe, in fate.  In the fact that there is a upper hand steering our lives, in the right direction at the right time for the right reason. 


My two biggest stresses in all of this:  
1. My Mom.  Once a long time ago I said to her, well I we decide to go overseas you will just have to come with.  She said, no way I am to old to start over.  I get it. So where does that leave us.  You must understand that she is insanely attached to Child.  Obsessed.  More than any normal gran.  #trustme
2. If all works out, and we end up in the far far away, what if something happens to myself or Mr B.  Who will look after Child?  We have two sets of friends in the country we are looking at currently.  So he will be safely shipped back here to my sister.  His godmother.  But But But


So here we go.  I am holding on tight.  I am closing my eyes and squeezing them shut for most of this, and just doing what we need to go be informed and hoping that it all works out. 

Overandout
Mrs K

It's been a while

Its been a while, so so much has happened and changed.
What has not changed is that I dislike my job so much.  I am currently in the market for a big change. 10 Years in and I am done. So done.
I am feeling so down in the dumps about my work situation and what it is doing to my family.

What is good though, is that I have been able to really be creative, the last 1.5 years.  I have really honed some skills and starting to build a very small private business on the side for myself.

I may share some work here soon.

Sharing it here will be a nice private portfolio of work.

I may just do that.