Market Day

Now as you know I LOVE a market. Love them - simply cannot get enough of them. Well, now I'm taking a big step and I'm going to have a stall at one. I know - it's very exciting. I'll be selling (and at the moment making so that explains the even poorer than normal amount of blogging) handmade toys, bags and cot quilts. So the market is on in a week and a half and will have so much more than my stuff. Gourmet ice cream (yes, my dad will be sampling that), bread (and I mean really good bread) and lots more. So at the moment I'm madly sewing. I get up early when Jack wakes up (ouch) and sew for a few hours then sew during his nap and then after he's gone to sleep I, yep, sew some more. It's getting a little taxing. The other night I closed my eyes to go to sleep and I could see a needle moving up and down into a piece of fabric.
Anyway I took a photo of the flyer (it's sitting on my lap which explains the very poor quality) so if you aren't doing anything come along. Actually if you are cancel it immediately and come along to the Arts Precinct of Cootamundra (more impressive than the Paris end of Wagga) on the 22nd of November and give your eyes (and more) a treat.

the cupcake step

Jack's interest in all things culinary has increased since his introduction to cupcake production. He is now convinced that if there's something going on in the kitchen it requires his presence in a supervisory capacity.
The problem is that he's not as tall as the bench. I appropriated a step from Noel and Diane (it was called the Elsie Step, so named as it was used by S' grandmother to get in and out of 4WD vehicles). It has now become the cupcake step. As I stand at the bench preparing something I'll hear a scraping noise as the step is dragged across the floor to the best viewing position alongside me or usually where I'm standing. I then can relax knowing all will be well under Jack's watchful eye. If only they had Jack scrutinising the kitchen at the Coogee Bay hotel.
If there are too many veggies involved or taste testing is not required the step will be dragged across the kitchen once more so Jack can help with the washing up (um, thanks but I've already washed those...) or reorganising the magnets on the fridge. It's a busy life he leads, full of responsibilities.
And yes, I realise that the bench is very messy; we were making gem scones for morning tea.

Who says that males can't multi-task?

We took the ute back on the weekend and so far it appears that Jack hasn't noticed. A lot of meticulous planning went into this. Placing the ute in the car after Jack was already buckled in and a diverting trip to spotlight while S took the ute back to the toy library and got something else.
And what did he choose? A John Deere tractor trike with trailer and a stove. Hmm. Trying to get a balanced individual? Part tough country dude/part gastrosexual with a touch of the metrosexual (that's all down to the hair). I asked S to look for a stove because Jack really likes the one at playgroup. He likes to pop things in the microwave then set the clock to time it. But then he also really likes the pink pram with the little black baby.
And the new toys have been a big hit. A first he sat on one whilst using the other (nice) but now they are getting the separate attention they deserve. Well, they would be if I hadn't temporarily removed the trike from his room. Yesterday he was standing on the seat and flinging himself over the handlebars for his Uncle Andrew to catch him.
And the stove? It's still got the slow cooked muffins in there (they've been cooking since Saturday) but now they've been joined by two sheep. Lamb Roast anyone?

Jack and Jeans

We went to storytime today (for the second time this week - there's a reason for that which I shall explain soon) where we were pleased to see Jeans aka the Professor. We had a lovely time watching Jack scratch in the dirt like a chicken (all the kids were doing it, not just Jack) and then Michael fed some children to a Boa Constrictor. Fun. Sorry no photos of that.
Then we had a play in the park and ate some of Amy's (from the library a true DG in the Nigella mould) raspberry swirl cheesecake (yum) and lemon and almond cake (you see what I mean? delicious).
We saw some ducks (still a little bit scary) and Jack poked a puddle with a stick and we found a playground. Jeans and I did the tag team thing at the top

and bottom of the slide to stop any flinging that Jack might have been contemplating. What fun! Having two of us there also meant that I could have my photo taken with Jack (for all those people that complain that this doesn't happen enough. I think it's quite good really....

Sunday afternoon treat

What to do after you've been to the Junee Show?What is there left to do except maybe have a play under the sprinkler and an ice cream (ice cream is a sometimes food). Lucky supervised the whole procedure but unfortunately (as far as he was concerned) was not allowed to taste the ice cream.

Going,

going,

gone.

The Junee Show

Today we went to the Junee show. We thought Jack would like it (he went last year but was of course considerably younger) and I wanted to see how my entries had gone.You see on thursday I had a bake-a-thon and made Blackbottomed cupcakes (Belinda Jeffrey's wonderfully evil recipe), Elise's White Chocolate and Macadamia Nut cookiesand Garn's Lemon Cake. Unfortunately the lemon cake imploded and I didn't think it was worth entering in the show with a huge crater in the middle (though it still tasted good). The cupcakes and cookies were judged to be up to standard and I whisked them over to the showground on Thursday afternoon. The deadline was 5pm and they are VERY strict about these things, so strict in fact that when I got there at 4.29 there was no one there to receive my entries. The only people around were volunteers assembling the displays. After some head scratching and general discussion it was decided that I should leave my cakes and cookies in the office (not safe in the pavilion - the 'show people' might eat them) with my details and entry fee (twenty cents).
I also tried to enter a quilt and a toy elephant though I had a feeling I was pushing my luck. The sewing deadline had been the day before, but when I tried calling the steward's phone number I got a fax machine. I left them there just in case with more twenty cent pieces and notes on scraps of paper.So the first stop today was the pavilion where we found Narelle, Jack and Josh and my entries proudly bearing their certificates. The cupcakes (that I dodgily entered as muffins - well they were cooked in a muffin tin and people do insist on calling them muffins, which to be honest I find annoying but decided to overlook just this once for the sake of the competition) won first prize. Narelle and S both suggested (and quite uncharitably I thought) that maybe there were no other muffins entered in that category. And the cookies (yes, biscuits I know) won second prize in their section.No sign of the sewing, but I half expected that due to the lateness of my entries. Last year when we went to the show there was a dearth of craft and cookery items were pretty light on as well. It seemed not many people had had a go and in the cookery it seemed to be the same one or two women competing in each section. This year was much better. Lots more quilts and toys and cakes and a much better vibe.After the pavilion we had a look at the rides. Jack really wanted to go on the bungee trampoline and the woman who was running it assured us he'd be safe but we decided against it. He had a go on a boat ride which, whilst looking almost bored, or maybe nonchalant is a better description, while riding and steering his boat, he screamed blue murder when it was time to hop off. Maybe he was just taking his steering duties very seriously, if only he'd been driving the Pasha Bulker, the Ex-xon Valdez or the Titanic....
He liked the look of the dodgems (next year?) and definitely didn't like the look of the pony, even though they were introduced and the pony was really quite friendly as far as ponies go (ie. he didn't bite). Jack had a go at sideshow alley (not the shooting...next year?) but I opted for the mickeys and not the clowns. My issue I know, but an issue shared by many, many people all over the world. He won a fairly crappy little plane but seemed quite pleased.We gave the showbags a miss (though I did contemplate getting the Bob the Builder one for Dad) thereby saving ourselves a lot of money, and headed over to the animals. We had a brief look at the dogs which were really just like that funny movie Best in Show. Great Movie. There was a very excitable Alsatian pup who took a while to settle down so he could trot around the ring, then just when things were looking promising and the judge was nodding her approval, he stopped to poo. His owner looked mortified, but the judge couldn't resist a chuckle. We ducked into the poultry pavilion (!) and saw some prizewinning cocks (sorry about that) and then wandered over to the the cattle, some lovely Murray greys and Herefords, and then on to the vintage cars and baby animals. There was a goat (Jack was not impressed) and some chicks and these puppies. I liked the sign more than the puppies, who were of course very cute.
After a banger sanga (aka sausage sandwich) and another boat ride for Jack, it was well and truly time to go. We didn't enter Jack in the Junior Junee Showman as we didn't think it was fair on the other kids and one blow-in in the family winning prizes was more than enough.

Lucky and Jack

There's a new video on youtube. You can just click on the top picture on the video bar on the blog. Yes, that's the one to the left of this post.
Jack and Lucky playing together is very amusing. Luck starts jumping around and then Jack giggles. I think it's worth watching the vid just for that laugh, but then I am biased.