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Author: Kellie O’Brien

  • Aussie Giveaway Linkup #92: Easter is…

    Aussie Giveaway Linkup #92: Easter is…

    For some reason it’s only just hit me this week that Easter is but two weeks ago. We’re not even organised. Not that the girls get an awful lot at Easter.

    But tell me: How did that happen? The last thing I remember was people grumbling about supermarkets stocking Hot Cross Buns two days after Christmas. And now it’s here.

    I do love Easter though. Thinking about it always prompts me to think of this moment (below) – and then I smile. I’m not sure how long we’ll be able to get away this one for.

    Are you organised for Easter yet?

    I’m sure there’ll be quite a few Easter giveaways in the linky today. Get clicking!

    Aussie Giveaway Linkup instructions:

    If you’re a blogger or business wanting to take part in the Aussie Giveaway Linkup:
    1. Only link directly to the giveaway post/s and include the prize and end date in the linky tool below. Link each giveaway separately. If you need to delete it, hover over your link, wait until the red “x’’ appears and click.
    2. Giveaways must be open to Australian residents and be run by Australian-based bloggers or businesses.
    3. Grab the button below to add to your post.
    4. A new list is added each Sunday so bloggers need to add their links weekly.
    5. Start entering the giveaways! Entry is at your own risk. We do not take responsibility for unfulfilled prizes or a blogger/business not abiding by their own terms and conditions.

     



    Aussie Giveaway Linky
    Hosted by Three Lil Princesses



  • Nan’s spiced oat cookies recipe

    Nan’s spiced oat cookies recipe

    If there’s one strong memory from my childhood, it’s Nan’s cooking. The smell. The taste. The licking the bowl! You knew that was coming, didn’t you?

    As I said a few months back, Nan gave me a big grocery bag full of old recipes to scan, including her mother’s group recipe book. Some recipes she let me have and others I made her keep, because I’m sure others in the family would love them one day. Plus, who needs to keep hardcopies when you have Genius Scan on your iPad.

    As a refresher, here’s that mother’s group cookbook she had all those years ago (Nan’s now in her mid 80s).

    Nan's cookbook

    I do love the first page inside the book.

    Recipe happy home

    Nan admits she didn’t cook much from this book, but mostly from the scrappy exercise books filled with handwritten recipes now splattered with batter and grease. Some of the pages have dog ears and the ink has started to fade. Most of the recipes I can make out though.

    Over the coming months, as I get time, I thought I’d share some of those. Here’s the first one – which didn’t last long in the cupboard after they were cooked:

    Spiced oat cookies

    Spiced Oat Cookies

    INGREDIENTS:
    ¾ cup oats
    1 cup plain flour
    ½ tsp baking powder
    ½ tsp salt
    ½ tsp bicarbonate soda
    ¼ tsp nutmeg
    ¼ tsp cinnamon
    ½ cup marg/butter
    ½ cup sugar
    ½ cup brown sugar
    1 egg
    1 tsp vanilla essence

    METHOD:
    Pre-heat the oven to 190C.
    Cream butter until light and fluffy. Gradually add the two sugars. Beat the egg well and then add to the mixture with the vanilla. Fold in the dry ingredients. Mix until combined.
    Place a teaspoon full of mixture onto a greased baking tray. I find lining a tray with greaseproof paper works a treat. Nan would probably prefer to smear butter all over the tray instead.
    Bake for 10-15 minutes.
    Allow to cool, before removing to a wire tray. Store in an air tight container.
    Enjoy!

    VARIATION:
    Add a dessertspoon of cocoa
    Add ¼ cup of raisins or cranberries

    Feel free to pin, tweet or Facebook the recipe – after you’ve cooked it, of course! 🙂

     

  • Aussie Giveaway Linkup #91: A little overexcited

    Aussie Giveaway Linkup #91: A little overexcited

    Ella

    Sharing some highlights from our week again (because we know every Saturday night you’re dying to know, right!):

    • I got all excited about the sticker club chain letter, went out with Ella and bought the stickers for the No. 2 on the list (a little boy) and came home this afternoon to discover we’re meant to buy for No. 1 on the list (a little girl). I’m sure she wouldn’t be too thrilled with Cars stickers. Tomorrow I start again!
    • According to those of you who follow the Three Li’l Facebook page, it’s been confirmed that spaghetti bolognese is ALWAYS better the next night. I knew I wasn’t alone.
    • When Holly (2) was playing “shops’’ at child care this week, the other kids were ordering grocery items, like tomatoes, carrots, potatoes and cheese. Holly went up to the counter and ordered “a babyccino, please’’. Oh dear. I must admit, at home she often asks if I’d like a babyccino, comes back with a tiny tea party cup and then  says “$20 please”. A rip off, I tell you.

    Do your kids have a babyccino obsession? Or just mine?

    Aussie Giveaway Linkup instructions:

    If you’re a blogger or business wanting to take part in the Aussie Giveaway Linkup:

    1. Only link directly to the giveaway post/s and include the prize and end date in the linky tool below. Link each giveaway separately. If you need to delete it, hover over your link, wait until the red “x’’ appears and click.
    2. Giveaways must be open to Australian residents and be run by Australian-based bloggers or businesses.
    3. Grab the button below to add to your post.
    4. A new list is added each Sunday so bloggers need to add their links weekly.
    5. Start entering the giveaways! Entry is at your own risk. We do not take responsibility for unfulfilled prizes or a blogger/business not abiding by their own terms and conditions.

     



    Aussie Giveaway Linky
    Hosted by Three Lil Princesses



  • A new take on the horror chain letter

    A new take on the horror chain letter

    Chain letters send shivers down my spine. Mostly because in the late ‘80s I was petrified I was going to die in 27 days if I didn’t send a letter to 15 of my friends within a week. Oh, the torture. Especially because I didn’t have 15 friends to send it to. I didn’t sleep on the 26th night and nearly died from exhaustion by the 27th.

    It got worse in the ‘90s when I was supposed to send a letter onto 12 friends in a bid to receive 36 pairs of underpants. I received one flimsy white g-string. In the early ‘90s I was in high school. And certainly not wearing g-strings.

    Fast forward to yesterday, when I opened the mailbox to see an envelope addressed to Ella. Ordinarily, Ella runs to the letterbox, discovers all the letters and eBay parcels are for me and becomes bitterly disappointed. At age five, to see her own name on a letter was just the best thing since email. Not that she’s ever received an email.

    Sticker Club Chain Letter

    This is what the Sticker Club chain letter said:

    Dear Ella
    Welcome to the Sticker Club! Please send one pack of stickers to the person listed in the #1 spot. Next, move my name to the #1 spot and put your name in the #2 spot. Then send the letter to six friends.
    If you cannot do this in 6 days, please let my mom (yes, it said mom) know because it is not fair to all the other kids who have participated so far. Within 2 weeks, you should receive 36 packs of stickers!! This is a lot of fun and exciting to see where your stickers come from. I also LOVE getting mail, don’t you?
    Thanks for participating!
    Your friend,
    PS. To the parents: Please take the time for this quick project. It is worth it to see the smile on your child’s face when they open their mail.
    To make it easier, we have enclosed a blank letter for you to copy. Before you write on it, make 12 copies. One for each of the six friends you are sending it to and six blanks to make it easy for them as it was for you. You only need to buy 1 pack of stickers and 7 stamps.

    I have to agree, getting mail really is the best. And to see the excitement on Ella’s face over just a letter, I can’t wait to see what happens when she receives 36 packs of stickers. That’s my kind of chain letter. Apart from the bit where I have to peel 36 packs of stickers off furniture, walls and carpet.

    Did you ever do chain letters as a kid? Has your child been involved in any?

  • Aussie Giveaway Linkup #90: Musical edition

    Aussie Giveaway Linkup #90: Musical edition

    Ben Milbourne Charlotte Best

    We’ve had a few highlights this week:

    • As you know, Holly (2) is potty training. When we picked Ella up from school today. Holly piped up within ear shot of everyone: “Ella, I did a poo today. It was THIS big’’ (cups her tiny hands as if she’s holding a football). Thank goodness Ella’s in Prep and not Grade 6.
    • We had a tough afternoon at Ghost Rock Vineyard at Shearwater in Tasmania. We listened to music by Ross Wilson, while sitting in the VIP area and eating food cooked by Ben Milbourne and Andy Allen from MasterChef. Oh, and Andy’s girlfriend, Home and Away and Puberty Blues star Charlotte Best. From the photo above, it looks like Charlotte was chief berry washer!
    • I wrote a piece earlier this week about the whole Sydney shopping centre banning screaming children. Promptly followed by having to follow my own advice the next day when Holly threw a terrible twos tantie in the school car park. I must have jinxed myself.
    • Ella lost her first tooth. Oh, the excitement. You would have thought she’d won the lottery. I guess, $2 is like $2 million to a five year old.

    OK, your turn. What have been the highlights of your week?

    Aussie Giveaway Linkup instructions:

    If you’re a blogger or business wanting to take part in the Aussie Giveaway Linkup:
    1. Only link directly to the giveaway post/s and include the prize and end date in the linky tool below. Link each giveaway separately. If you need to delete it, hover over your link, wait until the red “x’’ appears and click.
    2. Giveaways must be open to Australian residents and be run by Australian-based bloggers or businesses.
    3. Grab the button below to add to your post.
    4. A new list is added each Sunday so bloggers need to add their links weekly.
    5. Start entering the giveaways! Entry is at your own risk. We do not take responsibility for unfulfilled prizes or a blogger/business not abiding by their own terms and conditions.

     



    Aussie Giveaway Linky
    Hosted by Three Lil Princesses



  • Aussie Giveaway Linkup #89: Bad language edition

    Aussie Giveaway Linkup #89: Bad language edition

    Holly1

    Using every method to shield the girls from bad language, it seems two-year-old Holly has been the first to crack an expletive.

    When Julian was about to put two legs into the same leg hole of the night nappy – Holly’s legs, not his – Holly piped up with:

    “No, you silly doofus.’’

    Followed by a rather cheeky grin, then 10 minutes of hysterics!

    Holly2

    Do your kids have silly words they use? Or just mine?

    Don’t forget to sign up to our eNews for exclusive giveaways not available on the site.

    Aussie Giveaway Linkup instructions:

    If you’re a blogger or business wanting to take part in the Aussie Giveaway Linkup:

    1. Only link directly to the giveaway post/s and include the prize and end date in the linky tool below. Link each giveaway separately. If you need to delete it, hover over your link, wait until the red “x’’ appears and click.
    2. Giveaways must be open to Australian residents and be run by Australian-based bloggers or businesses.
    3. Grab the button below to add to your post.
    4. A new list is added each Sunday so bloggers need to add their links weekly.
    5. Start entering the giveaways! Entry is at your own risk. We do not take responsibility for unfulfilled prizes or a blogger/business not abiding by their own terms and conditions.

     



    Aussie Giveaway Linky
    Hosted by Three Lil Princesses