The Baynhams

Thursday, October 15, 2009

Facelift!

Here it is. Our fresh new template!

We've gone for simple and understated. We may tweak things around a little over the coming weeks but for now we are really happy to be able to finally personalise our blog with a header photo. If I can work out how to I hope to change the photo occasionally. For now we just want to make sure that the blog loads correctly and we don't lose any old info. It took 4 years before we felt brave enough to venture away from our basic blogger template, Thanks Mr B for doing all the background "stuff"

Time for a glass of wine I think!

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Pinocchio.

We went along to the Young Peoples Theatre this week to watch a production of Pinocchio. It is a small theatre in the middle of Newcastle and the majority of the cast are school aged children. The shows that they put on are so professional. The backdrops, costumes and props are all made by parents involved in the company.

Some of our friends kids are a part of this theatre but not this actual production. We went along together to watch the play and I got more fun from watching the reaction of our kids than anything else. They were on the edge of their seats and the squeals of excitement and gasps of horror all through the play was unbelievable!

They don't allow flash photography during the show as it would distract the kids on stage. I am so naughty, I couldn't resist taking a sneaky picture in the dark on my mobile phone. I hope no-one from YPT reads this blog. I don't want to be the first mum to be put on their audience black list!

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Wednesday, October 14, 2009

Blog Makeover.

We started this blog back in 2005, using a standard Blogger template. As I have visited more and more of your blogs I am amazed at the designs and individuality they display. For ages now Byron and myself have said we should do a make over of sorts. I know there are many affordable blog makeover fairies out there but being stubborn we are determined to do this ourselves.

We want to keep the basic number of columns and proportions the same so that the formatting on the older posts doesn't look like a kid on a sugar rush! In our family, I take the photos and fix cut knees, Byron being a computer programmer fixes anything pc related. He has been modifying a potential new design and I have been shown how to crop a photo to an exact number of pixels for the header bar. I always crop photos to a size dimension (6x4 etc) so this pixel stuff is new to me. In theory we are not too far away from me giving Byron a few family pictures for him to insert in the header of the new design. I am hoping that in the future I would be able to replace the header photo now and then especially at different times of the year: Christmas, Easter etc.

I just thought I would pre-warn those loyal readers of ours (especially grandparents and those less computer literate) not to think you have lost the link to our blog if someday soon you log on and it doesnt have the familiar colour scheme! For those more seasoned bloggers, Dont raise your hopes too high, compared to some of the unique blogs you have designed and written this will be a simple make over. Sorry to keep you in suspense. Hopefully over the next week we will update the template. Looking forward to your feedback when we do!

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Tuesday, October 13, 2009

Mrs World 2009

Today was unexpectedly exciting! We arranged to meet some friends at a local beach to let the kids play and picnic together. When we arrived we saw a camera crew from NBN.

There was a flurry of activity and excitement at the far side of the public baths. We could see a swimsuit clad woman posing for photos wearing a tiara and holding a trophy while a little girl played nearby.

We had walked in on a photoshoot for Mrs Australia. Not to be mistaken for Miss Australia, this is an International beauty pageant for married women.

The girls squealed with excitement as they ran to get a closer look.

I was also squealing with excitement with camera clutched in my hand as I know a good blog entry when I see it!

The girls obliged with posing dramatically for me as Mrs Australia was photographed in the background, her little girl playing at her feet.

We headed back to our picnic and a suitably unexcited Gareth and carried on with our day. A short while later we saw Mrs Australia walking towards us. She was on her way to a bikini change. Monica, being the brave one among us, said a cheerful "Hi" and the next thing we were all chatting like old friends.

Carin Hillman-Varma, a 30 year old married mother will be Australias entry in this years International Mrs World taking place in Vietnam next month. I'll admit I had preconceived ideas about beauty pageant contestants being stick thin and lacking in personality but I must say Carin was beautifully proportioned in a very natural way and had an easy going nature. She chatted about juggling being a mum, studying law at University and representing Australia in Vietnam next month. She was a good role model for our pre-teen girls who are bombarded by media images of skinny waifs. She posed for photos with them before waving goodbye.

It was fun pretending to be paparazzi for a day!

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Monday, October 12, 2009

The perfect bottle.

Like many parents of young kids we don't go out as much anymore. Babysitters are expensive and unless we are invited to a specific event we generally don't use one. What we do enjoy doing though, after the kids have gone to bed, is making a nice dinner and sitting down with a bottle of red and some candles. Making time to do this once during the week means we actually have to sit and talk. Shock, horror, no tv to fill the silence!

Usually by the time the kids are in bed we are feeling tired and so a quick and easy favourite dinner is baby herb potatoes (5 mins in the microwave) salad (from a bag) with a few cherry tomatoes and some fetta cheese, drizzled with some dressing (out of a bottle) or if I'm feeling particularly domesticated maybe some homemade dressing (Olive oil, balsamic vinegar and a few cloves of garlic whizzed with the handheld blender) This can be done while the steaks sizzle for 2 mins each side in a small frying pan. Start to finish this meal takes about 15 minutes to prepare and about as much culinary skill as making toast!

Choosing wine in my opinion requires the most skill. Which vineyard? Which variety of grape? Which year? It is so important to balance the subtle characteristics in the bottle with the delicate variety of green salad in season this week. I have put a lot of effort into simplifying this process for those of you that may need a little direction in this area. I am gracious enough to share my secrets here:

I select my wine by....

....choosing the prettiest label.

And so when I walked in to my local wine shop this week I had no difficulty. My perfect wine was there in front of me.

Someone has obviously researched the way people like me choose wine and come up with the perfect solution.

Make the whole bottle look pretty!

Cheers!

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Sunday, October 11, 2009

Grumpy old men...

It's Sunday afternoon. A day for chilling out and relaxing. Yesterday and today my alarm went off at 6am to wake me for work at the Blue Hospital. I was running the Medical ward today which scared the pants off me but it went fine... apart from the grumpy old men. There seemed to be a disproportionate amount of them on the medical ward. I put on the calm soothing voice and smiled through my teeth as I made beds, helped with showers, changed dressings, dispensed tablets... At last 3.30pm arrived and I handed over the drug keys and waved goodbye to those grumpy old men and headed home... to my very own one!

Yes, Mr B did a marvellous job looking after the kids this morning while I was working. He fed them, stopped them from killing each other and managed to cut the grass. Oh yes, and twisted his ankle playing frisbee on the reserve. By the time I got home he was hobbling around on an ankle the size of a watermelon. Before I had a chance to change out of my work clothes I was strapping and bandaging and handing him pain tablets. Fortunately there is a big car race on the tv this afternoon so he is lying down resting his elevated foot, poor man. Something tells me I'm not quiet done with grumpy old men today...

Lets vote: Who do you feel most sorry for: Mr B or me?
Votes in the comments section below!

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Saturday, October 10, 2009

Tomatoes continued...

I have been having fun in recent months on a website called Picnik where you can edit and add text onto your photos for free. You can also make great collages. Many of the photos posted on my blog over the last week have been edited using Picnik first. I know I have already posted some tomato photos but I can't resist just adding this one last collage...

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Friday, October 09, 2009

Tomatoes

The kids are on school holidays this week and the girls have had party invites and play dates leaving myself and Gareth to have some quality time together. What do you do with a 6 year old boy? Well today I took him to meet Byron for lunch and he walked hand in hand between both of us grinning from ear to ear. He doesnt often have our undivided attention and he was making the most of it.

Next stop was a more boring one at a huge fruit and veg shop. I guessed wrong. Gareth thought he was in seventh heaven as he loaded up the trolley with melons, bananas, mangos (our first of the season, they smelt heavenly!) apples, pineapple, cucumbers, tomatoes and then...

... the icing on the cake, he saw some plants on sale,
TOMATO plants!

They were pale and scrawny and looked like they were in dire need of some TLC. Gareth decided he was the man for the job and begged me to let him buy them. How could I say no.

When we got home it was getting late. I was hungry, dinner needed cooking. All Gareth wanted to do was dig holes to replant his tomatoes. He was so enthusiastic it reluctantly rubbed off on me. We got out the big spade and made the holes and he carefully turned the plants out from their pots and sat them in their new home and squashed the earth in around their roots. All we need to do now is wait for the bumper crop of tomatoes that we are sure to harvest any day now...??!

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Wednesday, October 07, 2009

Sweet Dreams Baby.

It doesn't seem long ago that I rocked my little Millennium baby to sleep and tucked her into her baby basket next to our bed at night. She seems so grown up now in the day time. Running through the house like a tornado.

But when I go in to check on her at night when she is sleeping fast and cuddling her teddy she looks like my little baby again...

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Tuesday, October 06, 2009

Coffee snobs...

We took delivery of a big bag of coffee beans last week. They were roasted on a coffee farm in Byron Bay on Tuesday night, couriered to our friend David on Wednesday and then exchanged hands on Thursday morning in the school car park.

I wanted to leave the bag in my car boot because I got a caffeine hit every time I sat into the car and inhaled. Mr B did not understand. He wanted the caffeine in a cup so he could inhale the rich deep smoky vapor deep into his bloodstream via his lungs.

He says he hasn't got an addiction...

I'm not so sure...

I am about to Google "Coffee Snobs Anonymous"...

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Monday, October 05, 2009

4 years ago today...

4 years ago today we stepped off a plane to begin our new lives "Down Under"

The last 4 years have been sunny and happy with only the occasional rain storm. When the rain poured down I'd like to think we splashed in the puddles.

We are very fortunate to be living such a great life in such a wonderful country. Life is what you make it and our life is good!

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Sunday, October 04, 2009

Lazy weekend.

It is a public holiday weekend here in Australia. We have had a wonderfully lazy morning because outside is rain, rain, rain.

Funnily enough this time last year it was raining too. We went camping for the very first time. You can re-live it here.

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Saturday, October 03, 2009

Sexy Specs ??!

I'm getting old. As you may have worked out from the previous post I need glasses. I'm 36 now so I guess it is all downhill from here (sigh!) Shall I wait for the giggles and ridicule from family and friends or shall I just start the ball rolling here and get it all over and done with?

So I look like a librarian. Unluckily I don't have long enough hair for a neat bun that I can undo to shake my long sexy tresses out when an attractive man comes to borrow a book on "How to make your woman feel like a princess"

I am however still practicing and perfecting the serious-but-sexy pout behind my "shhhhhhh" finger.

Maybe when the kids go to bed tonight I can get Mr B to help me sort the bookshelf out alphabetically....

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Friday, October 02, 2009

Stressed to the eyeballs.

Have you ever heard that expression before? It's one I have heard used in Dublin where I grew up but I don't know if it is one used in other places? I guess it is supposed to mean that you are stressed from the tips of your toes all the way up. Occasionally my head is so full of "stuff" that it feels like my eye balls will pop out, luckily it hasn't actually ever happened!

I went to the optician at the weekend so we could all have our eyes tested. The three kids got a clean bill of health, Byron ordered some prescription sunglasses and then it was my turn. As I read the lines of increasingly smaller text I knew I wasn't seeing as far as I had on previous check ups. Last year I was told I was "borderline" for glasses and I was guessing this year I had stepped over that line.

What I wasn't expecting was the optician to look deep into my eyes and ask me if I was sick? Apparently I have some nodules on the skin inside my eyes that he said were found on immuno-compromised people or people who had had a run of coughs and colds. I have been lucky this winter and have escaped most nasty bugs.

Then he asked me if I was stressed. Stressed! Did he have an hour to talk, or two, or three? Yes, the last year has been a bit stressy. When the only bread winner in the family lost his job and it took three months to get money coming back into the bank account, I got stressed. When I went from being a stay at home mum to working shift work as a nurse, I got stressed. When I have a pile of laundry threatening to avalanche down on me every time I open the laundry room door- yes I get stressed. Now show me someone who is stress free? Because I want them to be my new best friend. They can share their chilled out zen with me and I will share my laundry with them! It's life Mr Optician. Am I truly more stressed that your average mum dragging three kids in for an eye test?

And so I end this blog rant and rave with plans to go some deep-breathing-positive-affirmation-chanting-yoga-meditation-something-or-other knowing that I, Gina, can truthfully say:

I am Stressed to the eye balls!!!! AAARRRGGHHHH!!!!!!

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Thursday, October 01, 2009