Homemade + Carrot cake.

Do you bake?

I do....but only if it doesn't require a degree to work the recipe out. I like quick... I like low fat.... & relatively flop proof recipes. This one from my Mum's is all of the above and has been a family tradition since I can remember, which is probably since microwave ovens came out in the 80's :o) Yikes...that means I'm getting on...but younger than my Mum I suppose hehe!
Please note that I am a slap dash baker. I never measure exactly and rather opt for the +- approach, improvising at the end if the mixture needs it. It's more fun that way LOL! Shhh! don't tell Linni she'd be horrified.

Linni's spicy Microwave carrot cake.



Ingredients:
1/4 cup of canola oil
Generous 1/4 cup of plain yogurt
x2 eggs or equivilant egg replacer (I use 2tsp powdered egg re-placer +2Tsp water)
3/4 cup Brown sugar
1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
1tsp baking powder
1tsp vanilla essence
1tsp mixed spice
1 1/2tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp ginger
Generous 3/4 cup unbleached flour
1/4 cup oat bran or wheat bran
x2 cups of finely grated carrot (washed & grated with the skins left on)
100ml walnuts (optional)

Method:
Beat oil, yogurt, sugar.
Add bicarbonate of soda.
Add powdered ingredients.
Stir in carrots.
Add Nuts.

Pour into a greased silicone or microwave cake mold. Tap out air.
I suggest you put the cake mold onto a dinner plate to avoid any accidents with those wobbly molds. (I know from experience that they WANT to fall!!)
Microwave for 5minutes on full power (1000W).

Remove from oven once cooked to avoid it getting soggy with condensation. Leave to stand for 5 minutes then turn out onto a cool plate. Dust with powdered sugar and EAT! I do suggest however that you make x2 or x3 of these babies at the same time because they'll be in hungry bellies before you can say, Lickity-Slurp.

Glad you stopped by, happy nom-nom!

Proud Mama + Mini artist

HEEHEE! I am a proud Mama today.... my little guy together with 14 other kiddo's from Rock Academy School have had their art entitled, 'Water Wise', selected for the Sanlam 2011 art competition.

Love how this little school is so in touch with the happenings outside of their four walls.
Ra-Ra! Rock Academy!

Farewell to a wonderful lady + Life.

I heard the most shocking news the other day. That a friend I had 'met' through the world of scrapbooking... had lost her battle against cancer & had passed away. It was so sudden & unexpected, I feel gutted at just how fragile life really is.

Chris Hertel was a wonderfully special lady who was courageous, inspiring & never once lost her sense of humor even with the trauma of her ordeal. She was always so generous & encouraging, her creativity & love for life always inspiring. She meant the world to family & friends all over the planet. Chris will be missed ever so much. I especially ache for her little family left behind.

In times like these one is forced to ponder the meaning of life all over again. I find myself grateful once more for the grace of my Lord upon I which I grasp onto like a life raft in the raging seas of life. His love for an ordinary, mistake making, not at all perfect person like me brings me to my knees again in relief that I am forgiven & loved unconditionally by the God of Life. Sometimes life sucks big time but I am ever hopeful.

Chris... this is in remembrance of you sweet friend!
Prov 31: 25


I appreciate you joining me in honoring this lovely lady!

Scrap room update + Sick boy.

OK so I have been MIA... but what can I say... sometimes it is nice to fall off the social networking grid & live in the moments instead of always tweeting about them???? Well due to relative pressure...I am back in the land of blog hehe! How have you all been?

We are right as rain here down South...RAIN being the operative word. Move aside freezing temps... we now have torrential rain. Brrr! I am SO not a winter type person. Cold I don't mind but the wet , mud & wind is just plain YUK. Yes..yes...I'll stop belly aching because believe it or not, my life is really great right now. I am super busy with my scrapbooking career... with some SERIOUS happy news on the horizon...as well as great assignments & scrappy projects coming up. Yup! it keeps me wonderfully busy & out of mischief. The other FANTASTIC news is that I am finally going to get my own craft room. Yes you read right, a whole room.... yeeehaaaa! Ehem...yes I have booted the kids out of their playroom to get my craft room but hey, anyone who has been to my home & seen how I am busting out of my scrap area will totally 'get' why we have had to do this. With all the amazing generosity of the Dream Team sponsors & my DT companies, I cannot see the table for the scrap supplies. The next mission will be how to rehouse the kids toys & junk so it doesn't litter the lounge but that's for another day.

So as I was saying...my room is painted.... white for the time being. It sort of feels like a blank canvas to me like this. I picked up some second hand 60's furniture & odd deco piece or two. They are almost repainted ..... I'm in-love with my 60's veneer side dresser & telephone table ..... (pic's to follow) I have the coolest salmon pink typewriter & a vintage light that is to die for. *Sigh* I would never have imagined the complete joy this room is bringing me already & it isn't even finished yet. I feel spoilt rotten!!

Last week little Maxi had an asthma attack. It is the most awful thing to have to witness my little guy struggling to breathe. He has recovered now but in case you were wonder where I am going with this I have to tell you a 'funny'. OK so my little guy is struggling to breathe... he is on the couch under the nebuliser & I ask him if there is anything I can bring him to make him feel better. He gestures to my pin board of scrapping supplies, to my American Crafts sticker sheets & asks for two from their summer collection last year when I was on their DT. I ask why & am told it is because they have crabs, star fish, sea shells & all manner of cute beachy things on them, & they make his heart happy. Nothing like a little scrappy-supply-magic to make the sickies feel a whole lot better. American Crafts...what is your secret???

Now on the scrappy front...have you seen that the July/August issue of Creating Keepsakes magazine is out!!! Gracing the cover is a cute page by the talented Nicole Harper. Congrats friend on being the cover girl this month :o)

In the article on page 59 is an article by Mou Saha about 'Hiding extra elements on your page'. I rose to the challenge & created this page using some American Crafts 4x6 page protectors to add extra photographs & journaling. They lay really flat, so one can easily add x4 of them piled on top of each other & get room for an extra 4"x6" x6 items without bulking up your page.
Taking in the good weather by Kim Watson

Taking in the Good Weather: Cardstock: American Crafts (Vanilla), Patterned paper: Fancy Pants (Ledger, Blue), Studio Calico (Topicagraphical, Stripe), American Crafts (Yellow dot), Basic Grey (Cream/brown dot),Stickers: The Girls Paperie, Alphas: Cosmo cricket (Woodgrain elements), American Crafts (Lime), Paper Trunk (Blue), Buttons: Close to my Heart, Fancy Brads: BoBunny & Pink Paislee, Paper tape: Pink Paislee,Page protectors: American Crafts,Stamps: Studio Calico (Smile), Cocoa Daisy (Circle), Ink: Close to my Heart, Pen: American Crafts,Tools: Corner rounder by EK Success, Trimmer & Xacto knife by Elmer's, Border punch by Fiskars, Adhesives: Tombo, 3L, Helmar, Paper & Printer: HP, Software: Adobe,Actions: Pioneer Woman, Totally Rad Actions, Other: Sewing machine, Twine.

I made this page from the left overs from the double page above. I have to say scrapping 11x17" has it's benefits. They use up less supplies, leaving me enough to create another 12x12 page with ease. A page about little Cassidy @ 3yrs with her Daddy, looking adorable.
You make her smile by Kim Watson

 





























You make her Smile:Cardstock: American Crafts (Vanilla), Patterned paper: Fancy Pants (Ledger, Blue), Studio Calico (Topicagraphical, Stripe), American Crafts (Yellow dot), Basic Grey (Cream/brown dot),Stickers: The Girls Paperie, Alphas: Cosmo cricket (Woodgrain elements), American Crafts (Lime), Basic Grey (Cream), Buttons: Close to my Heart, Jenni Bowlin, Paper tape: Pink Paislee, Stamps: Studio Calico (Smile), Cocoa Daisy (Circle), Tickets: Cocoa Daisy, Ink: Close to my Heart, Pen: American Crafts, Tools: Trimmer & Xacto knife by Elmer's, Border punch by Fiskars, Scoring board & Butterfly punch, by Martha Stewart, Adhesives: Tombo, 3L, Helmar, Paper & Printer: HP, Software: Adobe, Actions: Pioneer Woman, Totally Rad Actions, Other: Sewing machine, Twine

OK so I am not going to overwhelm you today & blog two weeks worth of blogging! I'll stop my novel now but do not fear (although maybe you should) I will be back tomorrow.
Thanks for stopping by!
Happy Monday to you all.
KJ

Rough time!

We have had the biggest storm since 2001 hit our coast line this weekend it has left 100's homeless...& countless wet, cold & waterlogged. The clouds & dramatic skies were quite something...we even had an electric storm which is unusual for Cape Town.

This image I found on this site, it has live web cams all over South Africa. Seeing live images is quite cool actually.

The bonus was the surfers had GIANT surf to play in.....only downfall being they were warned to be on the look out for stray logs that were loose in the ocean after a ship lost it's cargo in the storm.

Bummer.....you pluck up the courage to paddle into a monster wave like this, only to be hit in the head by a large floating object...together with the sharks & the freezing water....I don't know about you but it doesn't seem like a whole lot of fun to me?

My kids on the other hand thought the rain, hail & freezing temperatures were great fun....& decided to experience it up front & personal....out side. You might be thinking...woman you are MAD!! but my thoughts are...what's the worst that can happen, that a hot bath can't sort out?

Anyway guys...that's all for now. I MUST get some scrappy projects finished.
Have a super day!
KJ
XXX

Weekend pic's.

We had a bit of a quiet weekend this last one, having a ton of school homework for Cas to do. She is 10years old in Grade 4 & sometimes is faced with really difficult projects & assignments to do for homework that are way beyond her capabilities unaided. Boy, with the amount of parental help needed, I wonder if they actually end up learning anything from the exercises? Needless to say I took NO photo's, so I will share a couple from the weekend before last. Get comfi...because there are quite a few.

Max caught on film inside the dirty washing bin....he had dragged it into the dining room & climbed into it, when I took this pic. How blue are his eyes?

My bloke got a surprise visit from the courier the other day....his birthday pressie had finally arrived. It was a 6x11 inch Wacom tab....his glee is evident on his face. This baby is an absolute must for any serious designer...(OK I don't quite qualify but maybe I'll get to play on it a little too?)

Tersh went surfing with the epic swell that hit the Cape that weekend. We went with him for an outing & had a blast. Max built sand castles & played in the sand, I took a million photographs.

He tried his hand at sand surfing...& had already informed us that as soon as he can swim properly in the sea, he wants to learn how to surf.....oh dear!

Running down sand dunes was such fun for big & little alike!!

Tersh hitting the waves....he is such a babe in black rubber heehee!

To end the weekend off perfectly I tried my hand at homemade cinnabun's. They turned out FANTASTICALLY!! & were really easy to make too. These are going to become a firm fav in our home, I just know it!

Well guys I hope you enjoyed looking at these pic's, as much as I did taking them.

(PS: if you need the recipe for the cinnabun's let me know)
Cheers for now.
KJ
XXX

Almost!

On Friday we did something we have never really done before with Max. We went to friends for an 'official big peoples dinner'. We did honestly....! Admittedly, I was hugely skeptical that it would work because Max would be with us and he'd be alone to entertain himself because their two children sleep out every Friday with relatives (couldn't imagine what that must be like :o) So I started preparing him mentally for the change in routine from lunch time.....that we were going out & he'd have to go to sleep in Daniels bed whilst we have dinner. He was bathed and encased in winter woollies, all necessary bedding & sleep friends. Everything was going right according to plan.
We arrived at Nikki & Adies place to the aroma of baked lamb & fine fare...& still at this stage I more than optimistic that it might just work. Max's normal bed time is a 1/4 to 7, now that he has given up sleeping in the arvi's (much to the Mama's dismay), so I assumed he would go right on to sleep as soon as we got there.
HA! fat chance.....another of our friends was there too with his little boy Zack (6 & 1/2). I saw our night of relaxed adult conversation slipping away before my eyes. Max now re-energized by his little friend proceeded to dominate the airways....he jabbered nonstop through hors d'oeuvre & right through dinner. It wasn't until they put Shrek 2 on that things got quiet.
All in all we got about 1 hour of 'big people' conversation about life, our relationship with God & rising food & fuel costs...you know the stuff we ought to talk about. I thoroughly enjoyed every rationed minute of it whilst savoring baked lamb in a salt bread crust, steamed veg, herbed potatoes & mini seeded bread loaves....all made & prepared by Adie (a man of many talents). Over vanilla coffee the movie finished.....it was now 21:57 & Max was still wired. He was getting more super charged by the second, meant it was our signal to exit...fast before a wave of mass destruction hit their designer home .
So we downed our coffees, packed up our charge & left. Full of fabulous hospitality & fed up of listening to the motor mouth in the back. We couldn't get home fast enough.... shimmied him into bed & caught the late night re run of some James Bond movie from yesteryear. Eye opening stuff I tell you....I had no recollection that 007 was such a man-slut! (excuse my language...but there is just no other name for him :o)

So I am almost convinced that there might just be life after kids after all. Hahahaha! (my hubbies mantra...'we'll do it all again when Max is 15') I don't think he's quite there yet & needs more convincing. I am prepared to give it a whorl tho'....hey maybe I'll change my stasis of cynical parent yet.

To change the subject a bit....I just had to share with you, this scrappy love I received in the mail from my sweet, honey of a friend, Paula. It is the most beautiful die cut 6x12 mini album for Max & Cass, I have ever seen. I can't wait to get started on it. Thanks my friend...you are a 'STAR'!!


Well that's the end of my riveting post...I hope you are all relaxed & comfy somewhere, enjoying this amazing Sunday.
XXX

Britches too big!

I forget that because Max has such an advanced grasp of spoken language, that he is only just 4yrs old after all. The little wise nuggets that pass from his lips, often leave me astounded. Like the other morning.....he woke up early & snuggled in bed with us for a bit before we got ready for the day. In the dark he whispered to me, the following:

"Mama...I was thinking....I don't think Bambi (he had watched Bambi #2 that day before on DVD) realised that those hunters were tricking him. He was confused by that whistle that sounded just like his Mum calling. But it wasn't his Mum because his Mum was dead....she was in heaven after those yucky hunters shot her. And he froze...just like this (he proceeded to act frozen stiff)...even though his Father called & called him to run away. Then his Father boofed him over & he remembered to run into the forest. Mama,afterwards, I think he was embarrassed that he froze.......hmmm yes, I think he was embarrassed!!"

Words like......realised, confused, embarrassed......weren't words I expected to hear from his mouth until he was in at least grade 2. I have now realised (haha!) that we must never underestimate the power of spoken language in the form of stories, they absorb & assimilate every word spoken to them. Maxi is proof of that.
So during one of those tear-your-hair-out moments when my articulate 4yr old is having a hissy fit in the library because his favourite book is out & all the mommies in the vicinity are looking at me with that look of absolute pity & disapproval. I will endeavor to remember that he uses the words realised, confused, embarrassed in every day sentences. :o) :o)
XXX

Stolen moments!

I got a call from Maxi's teacher asking me to fetch him from Play school early. That he had been complaining of a sore stomach & back all morning. He had mentioned the same symptoms for the last couple of days but without fever or the obvious toilet visits I didn't want to medicate him. Shame, today he was really struggling with uncomfortable cramping, so a quick visit to the pharmacy for Buscupain, Probotics & Electrolytes (all for a whopping bill of R98.70) I settled him on the couch with a DVD. Afterwards he pottered around, while I did stuff around the house.

I caught him on camera, quietly sitting in the kitchen on his red dot mat (he had dragged through from his bedroom), with his electrolyte juice, a bowl of pretzels & the biggest story book in the house, reading. By the end of the day he had perked up considerably.
This picture I managed to capture from the outside, through the glass sliding door without Tersh or Max seeing me. It is always a great feeling to see how dedicated Tersh is to his little boy in the evenings before Maxi's bedtime. They were playing rough & tumble and cars in our room (please note the chaos). Max is definitely on the mend by the amount of activity happening. A far sight better than the early part of today.
This is a pic of our supper roasting...chicken, small onions & washed, unskinned potatoes with steamed veggies. It looked so yum that I had to take a photograph of it. Only when I downloaded the photo's did I notice myself in the left hand corner...turned out quite creative I think.


Well you lovely lot I must get back to my scrapping. Have a grand day!
XXX

'Art' you cute!

I have been trying really hard to get Maxi to engage in crafty activities. I have to keep them focused on subjects that he relates to otherwise his attention span is about 1 minute....so yesterday we made a mobile for his room. It was of planets, stars & included rocket & the little Einsteins....right up his alley, so much so that he did it happily with me for most of the afternoon.

He started off the exercise by by covering himself in stickers.....I call it part of the 'mental preparation process' needed to psych himself up for a craft session. We then coloured in all the relevant bits 'n pieces...& he did quite well actually considering his usual modus operandi is to scribble. We then stuck all the paper onto card board....with the amount of glue he used...they will never come off. I then cut the pictures out, tied fishing gut to each of them & he helped me tie everything to a reshaped wire hanger. Viola! a gorgeous mobile which he proudly tells everyone, we made together.

Fig. #1Fig. #2
Fig. #3

A a gift to encourage him in his love of space, our solar system & planets; I found Maxi this amazing wall chart. He educates both Tersh & I every opportunity he can, about what the names of all the planets are. When I was his age, I didn't even know what space was, let alone what the names of all the planets are. Times have definitely changed. LOL!Don't you love bright colours....especially if they are fat envelopes that are jet setting overseas as we 'speak' :o)

Mad house!

Here in the Watson household we are frantically preparing for Maxi's 4th birthday tomorrow. He is so excited he could pop....hence the new anthem being sung at full volume whenever any of us remembers:

"It's MY birthday!!!It's MY birthday!!!"

Last night this is what the kitchen looked like at 9.30pm.....

but by this morning I was able to shimmy Maxi off to school with Aunty Sarah, armed to the teeth with delish looking cupcakes.

Leaving me to quickly head off to buy party boxes for the kiddies grub & sparklers because what is a rocket cake without sparklers???? Yip....I have been commissioned by Max to make him a rocket cake. Each year the kiddlets get to choose a cake, which T & I make & decorate with love & complete dedication.

Faithful fans I will keep you posted!!
Have a fab! day!!!

Great time.

OK....so blogger wasn't working yesterday! VERY IRRITATING!!!! nothing would load...text or otherwise. Today it works....I dunno!
So here goes....again... hahaha!
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------O
Hi there everyone.....hope you are all well & happy?? We had a fun full weekend of much kuiering (translation~visiting) & getting out & about, so I just wasn't up to blogging much. I have a million & one pic's to post, so grab a coffee, get comfie & prepare yourselves for a 'Watson' expose'.

On Saturday, we ventured down the West Coast to a Farm stall/Petting Zoo for lunch with the children. They had such fun playing ....while we ate delicious fare....relaxed & generally recharged.

Yum!! lemon/meringue pie....Tersh's fav! Not my thing I am thankful to say!

Treats for the kiddlets.....candy floss for Cas & a cookie man for Max.

On Sunday....we ventured up the mountain to Tokai forest for a family picnic. It was idyllic! There was not a breath of wind, the temp's were perfect & the kids were on their best behaviour. They played, I took photo's & we walked & walked. The fresh air really clears the mind. It was a great way to prepare for a hectic week for Tersh.

Well now that you are all saturated with photographs of the Watson's, I hope you are enjoying your week.
XXXXX