The Birthday Cake That Nearly Wasn't

I was going to make a princess fairy castle birthday cake for my little princess' 3rd birthday last week.

It was supposed to look like this one...
(image credit)

I had it all planned out to perfection (thank you women's weekly cookbook) but of course when it came to crunch time, I ran out of eggs, my square cake tin vanished off the face of the planet and I was prepared that I would once again have to call on Aunt Sara Lee to come to the rescue, just like last year and the year before that.

In a hopeful last ditch effort I raided the recently barron chicken's coop and my thoughtful feathered babies had bestowed two whole eggs upon me! I then set to work attempting a slightly smaller and now round bottomed fairy princess castle cake.

Hours of careful sculpting and ice cream cone balancing later, it looked exactly like someone had thrown up an un-iced wedding cake.

I then did what any other self respecting mummy would do and threw a tantrum, ate half a block of chocolate and had a coffee while the husband shook his head at me saying helpfully 'you do this every year.'

So avoiding the urge to hurt him physically I returned to the kitchen and flicked through the book hoping to come up with a way of saving the cake that my last two eggs had made.

Then I saw it. On the back inside cover was a tiny glimmer of hope - little pictures of the front covers of all the WW books on the market, I had found the answer!

I looked at the two squarish slabs placed awkwardly on the top of the round bottom and my mind did that picture -anagram thing you always see on The Simpsons, I held the round cake on top of the two squarish slabs and smiled, I was saved.

After some freezing and some fancy skewer work, I iced the cake and then proceeded to cover up the dodgy icing with tiny 1/2 marshallows, added some more decorative lollies/ cover up flowers and I was done.

Taa Daa!

and while it might not be up to the proffessional standards of some of you amazing mummy- blogger-come-birthday-cake-queens, I am bloody proud of it :)

Are you a mummy-blogger-come-birthday-cake-queen?
Do you hate baking as much as me?
How awesome is my toadstool?

Isolated

I have said it before and I will say it again, I love living in the country - I love the smell of fresh air, the quietness of the darkest nights and the amazing wildlife.

But it's not always sunshine and lollypops though, there are some down sides too, for example when it rains for weeks, this is the causeway that separates us from the rest of the world:

The water level has come down now but unfortunately the day my husband decided he would be able to make it through it was higher than the picture. The result of that little decision has left me car-less and isolated as he needs to borrow mine to get to work.

If I lived in town then that would be annoying but livable, but when you live 1.5 km from the bus stop, 10km from the village and 40km from the nearest country town with a Woolworth's then its a real pain in the proverbial.

Its also a pain that the local mechanic is yet to call us back on if we should be calling the insurance company or not, in his defence he only has two staff and is suddenly burdened with 28 cars to look at that all made the same mistake that my husband did!

But after swearing about leaving my umbrella in the car that my husband has taken to work today  I was once again grateful that I lived in the country as a neighbour saw me trudging down the road this morning in the pouring rain with four children in tow and kindly gave us a lift to the bus stop and brought me back up.

Its that kindness I love, the always helpful attitude of country folk that you just don't get in the city!

And the sunsets are to die for...

When it takes 3 to make a baby

image credit

This time 12 months ago I would never have imagined that I would be planning to start an IVF cycle.

But here I sit today, eying the phone on my desk that still lies where I put it down yesterday after calling my doctor to make an appointment for a referral to the IVF clinic.

My children were conceived the old fashioned way, and I admit that it may have been a missed pill or two that started that particular ball rolling, and roll it did – 4 pregnancies, 4 healthy babies, I am very, very blessed.

So I have 4 kids, why on earth am I getting referrals to IVF clinics? Well last year I wrote THIS POST about how I was potentially going to become an egg donor for my SIL.

Sadly SIL’s final attempt at IVF using her own eggs was unsuccessful, so now we are officially heading down the egg donation path. There are lots of appointments to make and doctors to see and I am nervous and excited.

For those unfamiliar, there is a fair bit involved in the whole IVF procedure, needles, hormones, bloating, operations and as I learn about it all it really makes me feel for my SIL and so many other women who have been through the process over and over again for years only to get that dreaded “I’m sorry...”  phone call.

I have never been a fan of the two yearly “grease and oil change” as a friend puts it, so I am aware this process will put me out of my comfort zone in that department, but frankly if a little bit of discomfort can bring a child into this world then I think its defiantly worth it!

We are hoping to start the first cycle around May and I am so hoping that this will work for them first time round, they are an amazing couple and will make wonderful parents, it’s about time they received some positive news.

If you are interested in egg donation the IVF Australia website HERE is full of great information for donors and recipients.

Have you or anyone you know donated an egg?

Are you a donor recipient?

When the show can't go on

The rain has come back with vengance to our usually drought ravaged part of the world, there are newly formed creeks winding their way through once bone dry paddocks where bewildered sheep stand isolated on little mounds of sodden clay hoping for a little sunshine.

The rain has turned my dam from this (taken a few weeks ago)

Notice the position of the white pump float

To this (taken this morning)

Look now it's in the middle!

The causeway that seperates us from the rest of the world has become unpassable and we are now unable to get to work and school.

We are very lucky though, we are purely work-in-the-big-smoke-hobby-farmers who live on a bit of a slope and all we have to worry about is the ducks who incidently don't mind a bit of wet weather!
 But we must spare a thought for those on flatter ground who depend on the land to make their living.

10 years of drought and now it's flooding.

Our little town was supposed to have it's annual show this weekend, I joined the committee last year and have been very excited about my 'first show', but after it became clear that the sun wasn't going to play nice for us, we had to officially cancel this morning.

Nope, this time the show can't go on.

To all of those with new swimming pools in your yards and overnight water views, stay safe, stay dry and start to gather your tools, it may be time to start building that ark after all.