Do these make you happy?

Surprise!!!! At least that's what they'll all say as they jump out of the box and onto Rosie's bed. Quick as a flash they will start making mischief. One at least has an idea to hop into her coat pocket and call out cheeky things to her tutor this week when everyone is being quiet in class. Miss Happy's cheeks light up if you give her arms a good tweak and the one with the big smile has a very goofy laugh. I know because I tested them all myself and had a very happy play time before I sent them away. Like I said getting a parcel ready is probably more fun for me than forRosie who gets it.
OOPS - that's a bit hard to see. I haven't yet mastered turning a photo around. What you can see are 2 new facecloths, some dried apricots, herbal tea and 3 pinky bars. One for each of the flatmates.So here we are - all good to go. Well I better hop away too. I'm off to Wellington myself this afternoon. 3 days at a union conference. Hope it's fun. have a great week. Marg

All Work and No play makes a student's life dull.

And what might these strange things be?
These are meat skewers with pictures of native bird puppets taped on the ends. They took my fancy when they came as an ad in the stationery order at work. I thought Rosie might like to make stylish fruit kebabs with these and impress her friends or if not she could put on a little puppet show to amuse her flat mates. What do you think?


Can you read the label on that jar? It says quince paste and it comes from an amazing place just out of Oamaru near Dunedin called Riverstone kitchens. It's a cafe and shop and also on the property are 4 huge barns stuffed full of kitchen and garden stuff for people to buy. It's the kind of stuff that all looks lovely and then afer you look at it all you ask yourself if you'd really want to own any of it - and mostly you dont.
However - the food they make you really do want to buy and especially all the jams and pickles and of course quince paste which is an all time favourite in this house.

So what else went in the parcel this week. Somethingthat no self respecting mother would put on a blog - some new undies for rosie- and boring things like a packet of rice crackers to go with the paste and a disposable camera just for fun .Oh and a small box of those guerlin shell shaped chocolates.

Soon I am having a short holiday. When that happens I am going to teach myself how to add all the extras to my blog that other people do - like show other interesting blogs they are reading and learning how to follow blogs and add links and stuff like that. Im getting excited already.
Have a great Week. Marg

Would madam care for some more to drink?

This last weekend Rosie came home , albeit briefly, so the parcel was able to travel in comfort as hand luggage back to Wellington. Never mind the hand luggage, I hear you say , get on with telling us what sort of flour went into the gluten free banana loaf. Ok, well since you asked it is a mixture of ground almonds, rice flour, potato flour and cornflour. Was it delicious? - apparently so and so was the fudge.

As luck would have it, I too, was in Wellington this last week for work for a couple of days and I stayed at the flat. When I was listing the secret ingredients of the banana cake to satisfy the flatmates curiosity, there they all were laughing around me. What on earth could be so funny?
Rosie had predicted that when I arrived one of the first things I would want to do was to tell them what the secret flour mix for the banana loaf was. And I did. I hate being so readable. I am going to work on cultivating a much more mysterious persona from now on.


You may not have loved the feet but I definitely adore the pigs. Cant you just hear the waiter asking madam if she would care for more to drink? The second hand shop close to work has many cabinets of salt and pepper shakers at super cheap prices. looks like Rosie is starting her own collection. She didn't know she loved them so much but she does now. Great thing is she can dump them or leave them as a gift for the new flat mates if they don't appeal. What fun it is to buy and not to keep. Have a great week. Marg

Crazy feet and Lemon Honey

Hello - what do we have here today? Not much food for the tummy but some soul food perhaps and much amusement by me finding this weeks offerings. Even better for me is enjoying junk shopping and not keeping what I buy. You may not believe it but I'm at that part of my life when I'm trying to get rid of things. Experts call it simplyfying and decluttering. I can truthfully say that one of the best unexpected consequences of getting a divorce was literally ending up with only half my possessions. Not that I'm recommending that necessarily as the best way to de clutter but for me it certainly helped. - physically and mentally.

What you can see up there is a little old camera case - perfect for a modern day digital camera , some more damp rid for one very damp flat and a tub of locally made calendula cream - all made with natural ingredients - great for eczema, chapped hands and dry skin and really cheap. Just $6 for that little pottle.

As for that smiley fellow to the left.He is on the side of reusable grocery bag given to me at the 4 square shop where Rosie works over the summer. I got it for free because I bought$20 of groceries. I thought she might like a reminder of that summer work which paid such a pittance.

Don't you think these little salt and pepper feet are hilarious? I find myself wondering who would use them, and who seriously ever owned them?

These are the lemons I used to make the lemon honey. It is so delicious. You cook it up in the microwave. It takes about 15 minutes from start to finish. It very nearly didnt get to the parcel because it was so tasty. If you'd like the recipe I'll gladly share it.


So thats it from me " a parcel a week"

Have a great week.