i was thinking that this morning Jols when I saw your ticker. How quick has that gone??? Hope you are ok hun. :hug:
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i was thinking that this morning Jols when I saw your ticker. How quick has that gone??? Hope you are ok hun. :hug:
yowza! lots of good recipe ideas..i saw a great one the other day if you still need one;
Chocolate Macaroon Kisses (makes 20 biscuits)
3 egg whites
2 cups shredded coconut
1/2 hazelnut meal (ground hazelnuts)
1/2 cup caster sugar
2-3 tablespoons choc hazelnut spread
Preheat oven to 170, line 2 baking trays with baking paper
Put all ingredients except hazelnut spread into a bowl, stir together.
Use 2 tspns of mixture, roll into a ball, place on tray and flatten into 4cm rounds. bake for 8 minutes.
Swap trays on oven shelves, bake for further 6-8mins or until golden, cool for 5 mins. transfer to wire rack.
Sandwich biscuits with the spread
I was going to those as gifts cos a) theyre quick and b)lots for kids to help with
thanks vicky!!
nelly i made rocky road yesterday, yummmmmmy!
hi tara hun!
Hey jols! ;)
Thanks Tara! They sound really yummy!
How is everyone this morning - weekends ok? We were really busy and am sooo tired - DH xmas party at the xxxx brewery on Friday night, Saturday did some shopping and got organised for my Sat pm and Sun pm, I took my team bowling Saturday night, Jake's picnic in the park family fun day Sun morning and I did a bridal shower party Sunday afternoon.... I am truly shattered! This weekend we have a 30th on Saturday night and hopefully that is the end of our crazy weekends!
:kissing: V I know yours wasn't the best :grouphug: Call if you need to - I have a party this morning but am free prolly from 12 onwards.
mmmmm all these yummy recipes. I'll add my fav to the mix.
Forgotten cookies.
2 egg whites
120 g of caster sugar
150g block of dark chocolate roughly chopped
120g cup of toasted walnuts roughly chopped.
1 tsp vanilla essense
Preheat oven to 180 degrees.
Make firm peaks with the egg whites, slowly add caster sugar. and beat until you get glossy peaks. Then gently add chopped chocolate and walnuts.
Line tray and add a heaped teaspoon on the tray for each cookie. Pop it into the oven and then TURN THE OVEN OFF straight away.
I do it in the evening and let it cook overnight. The recipe makes about 30 cookies and they are soooo good.
I wish i could go into the kitchen to bake :(
Ann
Got my appoitnment for another scan tomorrow and another visit to the hospital. Fingers crossed my cervix is unchanged.
DH took me xmas shopping on the weekend. We managed to get almost everything done in 2hrs as he pushed me around in a wheelchair. Slightly embarrasing but hey i need to get out of the house. Ella was good and loved to sit on mummy's lap as we shopped.
I've been feeling this awful pain as if my pelvis is splitting apart. (probably is) Its probably the weight of the babies on my muscles. Last week my fundal height measured 38 weeks (when i was 27 weeks) I'm almost at the same size I was at when i delivered Ella!!
Ann
good girl Ann for taking it easy. and YAY for DH pushing you around in the wheel chair. It's hard to let people take care of us isn't it? Sounds like those little bambinos may be earth bound earlier then expected. I hope the scan goes well today, and that your cervix is behaving itself. The longer those little people are safe within your womb the better. Did I read that they arei ndividually measuring the same size as a single baby on board? They are doing great if that is the case. No wonder you are feeling like a splitting in two!!!
:hello: everyone else. I'm here. just.
Thinking of you for your scan today, Ann. You are doing so so well! :hug:
thinking of you Ann, don't be embarrassed about the wheelchair, you won't need it forever, it's obviously just a help to you right now. Hope you are getting all the medical help you need, carrying twins when you're a slight person, must be very taxing on your body. I'm sure you didn't look a big stature person in the photos i've seen of you. Ouch for your poor cervix. I hope you can keep carrying them a bit longer, before the Grand Arrival!
all these recipes making me hungry! 10.57pm and i haven't had dinner yet tonight! must go get some weetbix to stop the stomach grumbling.
the most cooking i've done in months, was to make a packet mix of muffins, bilby loves them. unfortunately, she wants them for breakfast, lunch and tea (when they're around).
must remember to look at your blog vicky, instead of asking how you are.
kim? you still around hon? not long to go hey?
i'm still working out how to leave dh, set up another place for me and bilby. the logistics are slowing me down, but i hope to conquer that. My first thing must be to speak to a financial counsellor, to find out how much % of your income, it is sensible to pay rent at. The cheapest places i can find, are 50% of my income. i'm sure that is too much (to be able to have money left over for other living expenses).
Oh Gigi, I didnt realise you had definately decided to leave him...I'm sorry about that.
gigi will that include rental assistance that you will get as a single mother, and the single mother pension? Check out with centrelink what your entitlements are - not sure if you already ave but this may help... and maybe some form of public housing may be available now for you to use as an interim thing? not sure just throwing ideas around.... Congratulations for making a decision and working a positive course of action :hug:
We just has a lovely day at refcliffe w V, her family and a friend of mine and her litle girl. So much fun I wish we all lived closer together!
Taralee, i really don't want to become a single mum, i don't want bilby NOT to live in the same house as her daddy. THis is the last thing i choose to do. i feel i ahve no choice now. This relationship has deteriorated to such a point, i don't know what else to do. No communication, a great deal of actions from dh, that demonstrate lack of respect to me and this family. Unhappy living conditions that need to change, and his attitude is complete head in the sand. No goals, no shared goals. No budget at all, just living in denial constantly. I cannot live with this much uncertainty and anxiety. we are so cramped. bilby's behaviour is showing the results of that too.
but as much as i think the best thing is to go, can't see it happening due to
$$$$. hard to feel anything but trapped.
Nelly, i have gotten my figures from Centrelink, my figures already include the max amount of rent relief. I doubt i will get public housing. the public housing stocks are so low, govt has been selling off trust homes the last decade, and not replacing them. You can only get one if you're "catergory one" which i'm not, and even then you have to wait up to four years.
i won't be offended if no-one keeps reading from here on in, i just need to put down my thoughts, like a sounding board, helps me to see it in black and white, so don't feel you have to read this.
i saw a woman on tv tonight, her DD has bone cancer, just had a leg amputated this week, they are Category One on the Housing Trust wait list, have been told they have to wait four years to get housed.
in the meantime, they are living in the private rental market, (awful pidgeon infestation, poo everywhere, disease risk, vermin type situation, landlord won't fix it inspite of oncologist advising it must be fixed for health reasons) and they have to stay there, cos rental market is so high and fussy, the mum (single mum to 2 kids) says landlords don't like to rent to single mums, so she feels she has to stay, in the unhealthy situation, rather than be homeless (while the four years passes).
this does not fill me with optimism. This woman is in extreme situation, and SHE can't get public housing, bilby doesn't have cancer, i'm not escaping DV, i'm not in drug rehab, we are not homeless, so i'm not catergory one. I understand why there are catergories. but it's so obvious, the list of people needing housing is MUCH bigger than the actual number of housing available.
i spoke to a counsellor today, who said, me paying 50% of my income on rent would be very financially dicey. Private rents can increase unexpectedly, and any increase would cripple my budget, so he thinks 50% is not very do-able. Many private rents have gone up by 60% in last three years, no sign of them not going up more.
the financial advice is to not spend more than 30% of your income on rent. Does that mean you would have to have $1,000 coming in each week, to fit that? If most properties i see (at the bottom end) are around $300 to rent that is?
i know i need to make a change for bilby and me, to improve our lives, my head is spinning with the money bits.
reasons to stay
- dh is a good dad to bilby and loves her to bits
- bilby loves her dad
- i have no other support to help look after bilby, other than dh
- financially it will be super tough, to even meet needs. i will need to buy washing machine, fridge and a bed, bare minimum. prolly a small telly for ABC kids (my sanity time). i cannot imagine having computer or internet if i moved out. ($$$) so all my cyberspace pals would disappear into the ether - and by god, i would miss you all so much.
reasons to go
- bilby and i will have a chance to eat at table and chairs
- i can play kids cd's for her, using my old boombox that i currently have nowhere to put becos dh insists on having a 1970's sound system, wired up to stuff i don't understand (that i can't work)
- i will set up our home with easy access to outdoors and make the backyard safe for her to go and play in (he blocks the back door with a recumbant exercise bike that he doesn't use - weighs a tonne or else i would move it myself). we could do outdoor stuff like painting and mucky stuff, not shut up in airless dark unit all the time like we are now.
- i will use a carport/garage for it's intended purpose (car will be in shade) instead of it being 100% full of adhoc junk of dhs' that he won't let go of and is a hazard to trip up on if you choose to walk thru the garage
- it will jolt him into going to couples counselling
- i will no longer for liable for debts due to his extremely late tax returns
- i am hoping i would qualify for bond assistance from housing trust (for private rental market) - cos that would be close to $1800 to come up with - no way coudl i do that.
gigi you are doing really well and I am impressed with your research - I am so ad hoc I do things without finding out consequences and limits etc.
Here is a dumb question for you re public housing - does that include housing commission? I just see (and know from DH side in Syd) people in them that don't appear to be category one and yet they get a new place once they tire and wreck the one they are in. (Gee back to BIL and his exP) How does this system work?
Good that you will qualify for Bond assistance bcos that is one of the biggest costs of moving. I wish you lived near us you could have our old couch, fridge etc which we use but don't necessarily need. DO you have friends that maybe you could share house with in the interim, mayb see if anyone on BB knows of anything? With the property market crashing into recession that should start to free up rentals too I would think.... anyway just musing aloud.
Take care and vent away! xxxxx
oh Gigi :hug: hun I think a mediator for you & your DH maybe a good plan. Contact relationships Australia and see what they can do. Often they can help with budget and relational issues. The hardest thing will be to say "If you don't do this, I will have to leave" and mean it. Ultimatum's suck, but you may have to let him know how serious this is & hiding his head in the sand won't help.
ARGH someone get a big stick so we can all go down there & poke him really hard until his brain starts working again!!!!
:( I wrote i really long post back to you Gigi and its gone :( GGRRRR!!!!!
i only just realised it didnt show up even tho i wrote it yesterday :(
Nelly, i have rented for 24 years, never trashed anywhere, but also never kept references from landlords, I've been renting from a housing co-op since 94, and it's all in dh's name since 2002, so god knows what i will do for refs.
the economic woes of our economy is not showing up in the rental market (to me). Multiple people go to rental inspections, you all have to interview with the agent, and impress them enough to be the one chosen to tenant. it is competitive.
rents have risen 60% in three years. there are many more people wanting to rent, than there are properties available (the seller's market).
i am not in a crisis situation, so cannot qualify for "catergory one" public housing, and even catergory one people, have to wait three years to be housed. (i mean people escaping domestic violence and other crisis situations).
i've had a brain injury and tend to be honest to the point i miss out on stuff, cos i am very straight forward. I am not smart enough (or dishonest enough) to "work" the system. I guess "street smart" people know how to wreck placees and still get housed again. I would be mortified if i ever got a black mark against my name, honour goes deep with me.
it's lovely of you to offer old whitegoods, furniture etc - it's the thought that counts hon, no way it's going to happen from thousands of kms away! but thanks so much for the kind thought.
I don't think i know anyone who has a spare room. Most of the lovely big houses here have been demolished and loads of little units been built in their place. Used to be the city of quarter acre blocks with one house on it, big gardens. Now it's all changed to tiny blocks.
Christy
today dh asked very pointedly "are you looking at the for rent section?" when i was going thru the FOR RENT ads with fluoro pen and street directory in hand. He has assumed i am looking for place to rent FOR ALL OF US.
Taralee - whatever your long post was going to be about - thanks for the thought - it's such a pain when your words vanish into cyberspace! AFTER you've put all that effort in. (i've done it many times). but i appreciate your thoughts hon.
Vicky - how are you going with MIL? and DN? and DH?
anything been sorted out about the girls going down to Melb?
Luaa - hope you're resting and feeling as comfy as you can get with two tapdancers inside your belly.
gigi I hope you can find something and sooner rather than later. How are you coping with the heat?
I have had a big bake off today - shortbread, choc fudge, choc balls, choc baileys balls, biscuits and two sponge cakes. Now dinner then some meringues - I have not been able to separate an egg today hence why I had to make sponges! Maybe I will have more success tonight!