Australia Day - Balnarring Cup

Yesterday was Australia Day - a day the Nation celebrates annually which commemorates the arrival of the First Fleet at Sydney Cove in 1788. We have a public holiday to celebrate the day and the same day is shared by the Balnarring Cup - the big horse race for the picnic racing season at Balnarring Picnic Racing Club.

So we packed up the trailer with shelters, tables, chairs, food and grog and headed down to the races for another relaxing day watching the horses run and catching up with family and good friends.

The day started out quite cold and overcast....

Bacon and eggs for breakfast once we were all set up.



Everyone started to arrive, cricket was played, chatting and catching up, face painting, lollipops, some drinks (of course) and now and then there was a horse race !


























As far a winning riches on the nags - that didn't happened but it was a good day!!

My Family from WiddlyTinks.com

Furry little things.....

Alex is definitely an animal lover.... especially when it comes to her rabbits - Muffin and Cookies & Cream.... both were meant to be small rabbits when we brought them but I think the pet stores got it wrong!!

Muffin is about 1 years old now and yes she is on a lead as Alex likes to take them both for a walk around the garden!!



Cookies & Cream is about 9 months old and has huge thumper feet.



Alex isn't the only animal lover in the house I must say - Oliver loves his guinea pigs, Rocket and Patch.....

My Family from WiddlyTinks.com

Menu Plan Monday (22nd Jan - 28th Jan)

Last week we had a huge spanner thrown into the works with Noel losing his job - this week and here on in until he finds employment we really need to pull in our purse strings and budget/plan properly.

Thankfully though, we have a huge freezer which is full of meat etc so eating through that shouldn't be a problem and thankfully with the 52 weeks of Organizing challenge our kitchen cupboards have been sorted and I now know what is in the pantry, more importantly I now know what I don't need to buy each week!!!

On the House of Murray Menu Planner this week is:

Saturday ~ T-Bone Steaks with Baked Potatoes

Sunday ~ Roast Beef and Yorkshire Puddings, Vegetables and Gravy

Monday ~ Eggs, Beans, Sausages and Chips

Tue ~ Cottage Pie

Wed ~ Balnarring Cup - bbq at the picnic races

Thu ~ Stir Fry Beef with Noodles

Fri ~ Saffron Chicken with Steamed Rice and Vegetables

Baking - Chocolate Zucchini Cake

As you have probably gathered by now, I LIVE for menu planning! By menu planning it ensures that we have a weeks worth of meals organised which is especially useful Monday through Friday when there is not much of the day left after finishing work, picking up the kids from school and having to deal with the tasks of homework, clothes washing, showers, etc., and to do without the hassle of worrying WHAT we are cooking for dinner each night. Honestly if I left deciding what’s for dinner until I go home we wouldn’t eat until midnight!!

I know that our week starts on a Saturday but that’s just for the ease of fitting in with my grocery shopping which is normally done on a Friday night or Saturday afternoon. As usual more great menu ideas can be found at Menu Plan Monday over at I’m An Organising Junkie, don’t be shy pop over and have a look at other’s menu plans. You never know you may just find something different to have for dinner.

Some recipes for things we cook can be found over at our cooking blog, A Dash Of Flavour, normally posted after they have been cooked or just click on the links for each meal when they appear.

Happy cooking,

My Family from WiddlyTinks.com

52 Weeks of Organizing - Task # 1

Okay so I am behind but pleased to say I have completed task # 1 of Org Junkies Organizing Challenge for 2011. I do have a list of 52 things to achieve this year and will tackle these in no particular order but the first thing I really wanted to do was to sort out my kitchen cupboards. With Noel recently losing his job and us instantly going down to one income I needed to be more organised when it came to shopping, overspending and buying multiple items purely because I didn't realise I already had a jar/packet in the cupboard.

So this is what they looked like before:




And two full garbage bags of out of date foods, empty packets (yes there was empty packets in there also!) and some foods that would never be used this is what they look like now:





Besides having cleaner, healthier and organized kitchen cupboards I also now have a list of what is in there, what has used by dates etc. With this in mind my menu planning should not only be easier but cross fingers it will be cheaper!

Watch this space while I clean and declutter my house!

My Family from WiddlyTinks.com

Wesley's birthday

We caught up with Jamie and the boys yesterday which was great as it was recently Wesley's birthday on Thursday.

They came over for lunch which became dinner due to the fact we were running behind all day!! (I guess it was just one of those days - I know we have all had them, right?)

Anyway we had a nice afternoon.... the kids played well and I must say I got lots of hugs and kisses from both Wesley and Angus. We had a beautiful roast beef cooked on the weber and 36 yorkshire puddings which disappeared almost instantly.



Checking the progress of the next dozen Yorkshire puddings....(yes my oven light is broken!!)

Caught - Yorkshire Pudding bandits in the kitchen!!!

This followed by a Berry and Coconut Birthday cake ensured that none of us were hungry afterwards.

Great catching up with the boys as usual :)

My Family from WiddlyTinks.com