So I'm going to smack myself about the face with some stuff that makes me feel happy. Blessed. Grateful.
One of Clem's favourite things in the world is making gingerbread. He's my little Gingerbread Man.
It's all about the tasting along the way... thankfully they're cooked in a good hot oven!
The recipe we use is Excellent Gingerbread Men from allrecipes.com and I completely recommend it as easy, quick, kid-friendly and always a success.
We were testing out Christmas shapes. I managed to volunteer myself to help something like forty kids at Clem's Kindy make gingerbread on Monday. Daunting, but if I keep myself in the right frame of mind it should be joyful and memorable, as well as inevitably frustrating, noisy and messy! I know it will mean a lot to Clem. Also to another little boy who turned up at Kindy last Wednesday even though it wasn't his regular Kindy day. He thought gingerbread was happening then and he didn't want to miss out. Eek, the pressure is on!
With Clem in his final pre-school year right now, I'm feeling a sense of almost-panic about wanting to eat up every possible moment of fun time with him. I fully realise he will work this to his very best advantage, and we will be making an awful lot of gingerbread in the next year. Bring it on.
Oh, and I'm going to throw in this photo from a couple of weeks ago, just because it makes me smile. Snark banished.
- Jane x
OMG, I followed you here from the post you mention above. Love your blog and the photos are just beautiful. ummm, we all have busy lives, and blogging is only one way of managing the details, thoughts, emotions. I understand the need for housekeeping, but don't get the need to announce it. It's like calling a friend and saying "Hey, you aren't exactly what I want right now so I'll be dropping you for awhile"
ReplyDeleteI sew, and blog about it. I travel, and blog about it. I love to treat myself to beauty routines, and I blog about it. I am retired, and I.... :-) I don't really blog for the followers, but for myself.
Oh Mary, thank you so much for taking the time to pop over and comment! I can't believe I let that post get to me so much but yes, I totally agree with what you say below. One of the main reasons I blog is to keep a kind of archive of my sewing and family things. I've made some lovely, lovely connections with like-minded people, but it's a small-and-perfectly-formed number. Anyway I'm going to check out your blog now because it sounds like JUST MY THING haha!
ReplyDelete- Jane x
I remember that final year of pre-school panic, the heart wrenching feeling of it all. Excellent gingerbread, I think we need to try these today :).
ReplyDeleteHi Jane,
ReplyDeleteI too clicked through from 'that' post. I too agree with Mary's sentiments, it is a bit rude to tell people you don't like what they do. I love blogs that encompass a variety of topics, it means I get to know the person behind it the blog. It has certainly provoked a lot of thought though, and that in itself is a good thing!
Thanks Brumby, I feel really silly to have let the comments of someone I totally don't know and whose opinion really shouldn't matter to me, irk me like that. Everyone has different personal tastes, and thank goodness! But when phrases like 'make the grade' and 'live up to my expectations' are used, it sounds judgemental. Provoking thought and discussion can be good though, you're right. Thanks for dropping by here :)
ReplyDeleteHello Jane, I have popped over as well from that blog post . I understand that not all blogs are for everyone but I agree that to announce this so publicly and denounce what others blog about doesn`t seem right ( trying to be nice here!) At least the deleted blogs weren`t named I suppose. Anyway nice to have found your blog. I have lots of chooks too and love my `girls ` also sadly know all too well about fox attacks.
ReplyDeleteHi Crafty Mama, yes I thoroughly recommend that gingerbread recipe! And thanks for sharing my feelings about the final pre-school year :(
ReplyDeleteHi Janine - nice to have discovered you too! Well I seem to be discovering a few lovely new blogs through this anyway :P
Oh I hate log induced snark! I am now feeling very nosey and want to know which post you are referring to. Regardless, thank you so much for the re ipe recommendation and as always your photos of your boys always make me smile. Good luck with the full class, I'm sure it will be great!
ReplyDeleteHi Carla :) I would feel excessively snarky to name the blog post here but if your email was connected to your comments I could let you know on the quiet, haha! Honestly though, I'm sure the post was not intended to be offensive, it was just a bit thoughtless in how it came across, I think. Anyway yes thanks, I am hoping the gingerbread-en-masse goes okay!
ReplyDeleteYou know, I don't think I've ever had gingerbread. Theres always gingerbreadhouse nights at the local churches/schools, but with an egg-allergic son, its not something I can freely bring home, and its certainly not something I ever remember my mother making. I think I need to search out an egg-free recipe. (and I'm studiously trying to avoid thinking about what might be making people snarky in blogland because then I'll just get down)
ReplyDeleteHi Sarah, the gingerbread recipe I mention has only one egg in it and it might be quite possible to use a substitute? You might have some egg-substitute tricks up your sleeve. Perhaps two more tablespoons of golden syrup might be worth a try... and cut down a little on the sugar. In fact I'm not even sure that eggs are in real traditional gingerbread recipes, ones that go really hard and can be hung on Christmas trees etc. This recipe is so quick and good with kids because they can do most of it themselves e.g. the butter is rubbed in; there's not even a need for a mixer. Oh yeah and don't concern yourself with my snark, totally not worth your precious time m'dear!
ReplyDeleteSorry to read about the snark, it sounds from the comments that it's a well deserved snark, there is no need for rudeness I have little time for it. Glad you sound to have baked your way out of it, I hope the cooking session when well at Pre-school you are brave!
ReplyDeleteOh and I LOVE Clem's nails. Beth/The Linen Cat
Snark is powerless before GINGERBREAD. As it should be.
ReplyDeleteJane, you know I'm with ya! But while I do aim to please my readers to some extent, I'm going to assume that all (35) of them like children, random tangents, and fun photos! After all, that's what I look for in a blog. :-)
Hmm, now I'm curious...but mostly that's just because I'm nosy...
ReplyDeleteNow snarkiness be gone!
Oh and thanks for the gingerbread men recipe. I can't wait to make some with O.
oh these photos of your boys are so gorgeous!
ReplyDelete