Mammabug

Triangle Fold

The largest nappy fold is the triangle.

Basically just as it sounds, you fold the nappy into a triangle, corner to corner. 

You need to boost this nappy, either with another nappy folded into the middle, or with other boosters. I prefer bamboo for it’s absorbancy.

Simply place baby on the nappy and fold the corners in to meet, I usually start with one layer between the legs, then the sides, then the other layer between the legs and secure with a snappi.

The nappy on the baby will look like this.

Book Review: The Land of Painted Caves

The long awaited update in Alya’s life has been released. What started in Clan of the Cave Bear, and has excited us through Valley of Horses, Mammoth Hunters, Plains of Passage, and Shelter’s of Stone has been completed in Land of Painted Caves.

This has meant that all the old books have been released as well. The good news is they have been released in ebook form. The Land of Painted Caves has also been released in ebook form. Brilliant idea, and I’m glad to see this author is keeping up with the times and her fan base.

The book itself is a little disappointing. As a standalone book I would probably have chucked it out. However, as this is the last in a series I am already hooked on and invested in the characters I had to read it. This means that I also know the back story which while restated where necessary to the plot, adds a framework in which to place this novel. As always I really enjoy the historical and reconstructed archeological tidbits that Jean is so good at slipping into Alya’s everyday life.

Enjoyable but not enthralling. Good for the fans, but not likely to pick up a new generation of fans.

Shoots spotted

I checked the garden today and found a bunch of tiny seedlings.

The beetroot, broccoli, and peas are all starting to show, and what may be a single onion (or grass). Looking forward to lots of leafy bits soon

Book Review: The Hypnotist

The Hypnotist is released in Australia in May, and is the first book from Lars Kepler. I got a free copy from the soup to read and review.

There is no Lars Kepler, it is actually the pen name for Alexandra and Alexander Ahndoril a husband and wife writing team. How confusing would that family be Alex and Alex.

The Soup sent the first chapter by email as a teaser. Honestly, after reading that chapter I thought this would be a really crap book, but I would read it because it was free. If I was browsing in a book shop it would have gone right back on the shelf. I did wonder if it may have been a problem with the translation.

However I’m really glad I did read it as it was a great read, the two plots were intriguing – spent most of the novel trying to work out how they were connected.

The explanation unfolds in flashbacks about the hypnotist’s life, leading to a satisfying explanation in the end. The critical cues are all there in plain sight, no pulling rabbits out of the hat, just a lot of miss-direction

Great can’t put down novel, after a slow start. I would definitely read the next book by these authors.

Apple Muffin Cake

I have a muffin mix all ready to go, just need to add the wet ingredients to it. This week I have a surplus of Apples so I made a cake using 2 apples and the muffin mix equivalent to 12 muffins.

One apple was sliced thin and placed in the bottom of the pan, I put a tablespoon of sugar and a desert spoon of ground Cinnamon under the apples – this will be an upside down cake where the sugar has caramalised and the pretty apple pattern you made on the bottom becomes the top of the cake.

The other apple I diced and added to the muffin batter. It took 50mins at 200C instead of the 20mins for muffins.

I though I have gone completely overboard with the cinnamon at the start and would need to chuck it out, or at least scrape the top off – but it almost works. Next time I think I will use 1 teaspoon instead.

Carrots

I found a recipe for carrot soup, and realised I had forgotten to plant carrots in the garden! Shock! Horror!

I immediately remedied this by planting out 4 squares of carrots – 9 plants to each square.

I had also put up the old gate as a trellis for the peas to climb since last I posted, so here is a picture of how it all looks now. I have nails hammered almost in every 30cm, and have run string between the nails showing the square foot (30cm x 30cm) grid for a guide when planting.

April 2011 Planting

On April 30 LittleBug and I planted out the following in the freshly manured garden bed, which by then had been rained on for a couple of days.

Climbing Peas – Greenfeast (2 squares, 8 seeds)

Silverbeet – Five Colour Mix (1 square, 5 seeds)

Tomato – Gardeners Delight (4 squares, 8 seeds)

Onion – Hunter River Browns (2 squares, 6 rows)

Broccoli – Waltham (4 squares, 8 seeds)

Beetroot – Heirloom Mix (4 squares, 12 rows)

Empty squares left: 15

Lets see how they grow, I’ll be keeping an eye out for shoots.

The Soup

http://thesoup.com.au is a word of mouth marketing agency which I am signed up to.

Basically they send you stuff to try, and share with your friends, and you give them feedback about what you like about it, what needs to be improved, etc.

I have had baby formula, crackers, and am about to get a book to review from them.

So stay posted for a book review on The Hypnotist by Lars Kepler a swedish author, should be interesting.

Boy Found – not missing

http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/fiveyearold-boy-reunited-with-mum-20110422-1dqxj.html

How scary is this? A 5-year-old boy was just wondering around the streets at 9pm and no-one knew he was missing… Each parent thought he was with the other one!

Glad to see he is home with mum now, but can’t help thinking of all the horrible things that might have happened. As a parent this ranks right up there as one of my worst nightmares. However a 5 yr old that can’t tell you his full name and address, or what school he goes to? My 3 yr old can tell you his full name and address, and the closest main roads, he would definitely get back home if he got lost.

This gives us something to think about as parents. We need to give our children the tools to save themselves. Teaching stranger danger is all well and good, but we need to make sure they can tell someone (and know who to tell) who they are and where they live incase something goes horribly wrong. Knowing how to dial 000 and more importantly when to dial it is another life saving measure we as adults take for granted, but often forget to teach our children.

Autumn Garden

I finally took the time to get the veggie patch ready for all those winter crops. Here in subtropical Sydney we can grow something all year round.

I should already have my broccoli in, but nevermind. The peas are due to be planted soon. They were a great hit with LittleBug last year. I think two handfuls might have made it into the kitchen, the rest were eaten straight off the bush, but I don’t mind – anything to get them to eat fresh veggies

So today I have been adding a mix of chicken manure, cow manure, and mushroom compost to the top of the bed, lots of yummy organic matter for the plants to eat. The soil level in the bed had dropped quite a lot, as the compost I originally filled it with a couple of years ago has settled and compacted. Hopefully it will rain tonight and I won’t need to water it in tomorrow.

I was supervised by 15 week old BabyBug who made comments like “Goo ahh eee, grunt, grunt, giggle” – which loosely translates to “Manure, isn’t that a fancy name for poo? Here mummy I made some especially for you!”

Joyfulness…