Friday, October 23, 2009

Time for a rest...

Hi ladies! I trust you've all been well, and enjoying your days where ever you are and what ever you may be doing? Firstly I'd like to thank all of you who took the time to leave a comment regarding our sweet little Mia BonBon. We read all of your comments and want you to know that we appreciate you all so very much! LuLu is still missing her little mate and still looks for her at times it seems, but life is settling into a new routine for us all with out little Mia. Like life is for all of us these days, life has been pretty busy here at our little Jacaranda Cottage. Princess is nearing the end of a very important year in her schooling career, and she has her annual dance concert coming up in a couple of weeks too. It's been a whirl of school exams, dance exams, dance rehearsals and costume fittings for us lately so I have decided to take a little break from blogging for a bit. It may only be for a week or two, perhaps longer, I'm not sure. I just know that I am feeling completely worn out lately and have lost my blogging mojo. I hope that after a good brain and body rest that I'll be back to feeling all inspired and ready to show you something fun again here at Jacaranda Cottage.

Before I sign off though I wanted to share with you my latest finds......

This white wrought iron out door setting was an absolute steal at $20. I have been looking for one for the longest time and recently I just happened upon a lady who wanted to get rid of them. She was happy to give them to me for free, but I just couldn't take them for nothing, so I offered her $20 and she was tickled pink with that......and so was I!


Then I popped into my favourite local thrift store to have my weekly poke around and seeing nothing of interest I was just about to head out the door when out of the corner of my eye I saw these two little lovelies.......


and all for the costly sum of $2 each! Cute hey? Just goes to show that you never know what you'll find if you're prepared to look!



Well my dear friends, it's about time for me to sign off. I'll be back soon, just need to recharge my inner batteries for a bit, so please don't forget me ok?

See you soon..........love and hugs ~ Amanda xxx

Wednesday, October 14, 2009

Mia's gone...

Mia BonBon 14th May 2009 ~ 14th October 2009


Our darling little girl, our Mia BonBon, crossed over the Rainbow Bridge this morning at 10.25am. We are heartbroken. Rest in peace sweetheart, we love you.

~Amanda.

Tuesday, October 13, 2009

Mia update & a question for you...

Good morning ladies! Sorry for the delay in posting an update about Mia, I just haven't wanted to talk about it until I could fully wrap my head around it. After taking Mia in for her ultrasound, bile acids tests, and in depth blood analysis last Thursday, we got a call from the Specialist last Friday with the results....and they weren't good. Mia's liver condition is inoperable. There's nothing that can be done for her except helping to control her liver disfunction by diet and meds. So ok, that part I can deal with no worries, have gone out and bought all her special food and have been cooking her up fresh pasta and veggies each day too. What I am having a hard time accepting is that they told us that Mia's condition is really, really bad. Her liver looked to them like the liver of a dog who was already very old and at the advanced and last stages of liver disease.......not like a 5 month old puppy like Mia should have. They've told us that Mia could surprise us all and live to a ripe old age, but say that is highly unlikely. The 3 Specialists in the room with us told us that she was very close to death the day we rushed her in to see them, and to just take her home and love her and give her a good life............



well, there's no doubt that we will certainly do that! Our darling little Mia BonBon may or may not have a long life, but I guarantee that it will be the most wonderful pampered and fun life that we can possibly provide. You'll have to excuse me if my blog becomes flooded with Mia and LuLu posts from time to time, but since this is our family blog I want to capture as much of them together playing like healthy young puppies while I can and preserving it on here for our family records.

So I have decided to just live in the moment with my babies and enjoy every moment I have with them. We're doing everything we can for her, so now it's time to focus on the fact that we still have her here with us to love and enjoy, and we'll deal with things as they come, not dwell on the sadness of it all.


Changing topics completely...............I have a question for you all. In the new year we will be having a double surprise party at our house for my mum who will be turning 70 and for our beautiful daughter who will be turning Sweet 16. I have the invitations all printed out and ready to post off later today, and if everyone who's been invited is able to attend then we would have 80 adults and 20 children. My question for you is this, no not am I CRAZY?! We already know the answer to that one! lol My question is do you have any tips for me on catering to that many people all by yourself, and do you have any wonderful recipes to share that you can make in very large quantities?

The party will be held just after New Year's, so that's right in the middle of summer for us aussies. We're planning to have a BBQ with steaks, rissoles, kebabs, chops, and sausages done on the grill. I am planning to do other dishes like lasange, a couple of different quiches, spaghetti bol, a chicken curry, and lots of different salads. Now, what kinds of salads? Also desserts, do you have any really delicious desserts that keep well in the heat and are easy to make. I need recipes for mains and desserts that I can make mainly the day before, so that I don't have everything to cook on the day, and they will need to be able to keep well in the heat once they are put out on the night. Also if you have any tips on having an at home party for 100 guests, then I would really appreciate that A LOT! I'm used to being able to cater for 40 people with out any worries all by myself as we do this at least a couple of times a year with family get-togethers, but 100 people......well that's keeping me up at night in a slight PANIC! lol

Ok ladies, it's time I got moving and got some chores done. I hope you're having a wonderful week my dear friends. Hugs for you all.......love Amanda xxx

Wednesday, October 7, 2009

Yes darlin' we do need them.......

and they are TREASURES, not junk......contrary to what my husband believes! LOL!


***editing to add that there's a problem with blogger. I typed out a big long bit about each photo, but all of my words didn't publish! ARGH!!!! Well it took me over an hour to do this post, so I'll go crazy if I try to type it all again (can't remember half of what I rambled on about anyway!). Suffice to say that this post was just to show you some newly thrifted treasures and how they match some of things we already have. Ok, I'm off to have a break down...and a coffee......argh!













Tuesday, October 6, 2009

Some sad news...



Our darling little 4 month old puppy, Mia BonBon, was diagnosed with a failing liver yesterday after an emergency trip to a Vet Specialist. We've had Mia since she was 9 weeks old, and she's been a happy healthy little puppy (had all her scheduled Vet checks and immunisations) until yesterday when she started acting very strangely. Naturally I freaked out thinking that Mia might have a tick and raced off to the Vet. Our local Vet checked her over and found no tick, then they did some tests and were quite concerned that she might have canine meningitis and that it was causing her to go blind in her right eye all of a sudden.




The next thing I knew we were on our way over to see a Specialist (who stayed back after hours to see us since it was night time by then) to have some more tests done. After a couple of hours there having tests done, they told us that they believe that Mia's liver isn't functioning properly and with out treatment it would no doubt fail her. Well those of you who have been with me for a while now, and who can remember us losing our precious Paris Fifi last Christmas to cancer, can imagine just how devastated we would have been.




We were able to bring our beautiful Mia BonBon home, and she's on 2 different medications and a special diet until we go back to the Specialist on Thursday to have more in depth tests done. After the next lot of tests we should know exactly what we're dealing with, and how to handle things like a lifetime of meds and diet so that our little lady can live a long and happy, and relatively healthy life.




Things were looking pretty bleak for a while there, but we have high hopes that things will work out very well for Mia, and that she'll be back to her old playful spunky self again in no time!




So if you feel so inclined, we would really appreciate it if you could say a little prayer for our sweet little Mia BonBon....and for her very stressed out mummy too. I'll update when we know more, until then....I hope you're all having a lovely week my dear friends.

See you soon..........love Amanda xxx

Saturday, October 3, 2009

Sweet dreams.....or a nightmare?

Hello ladies! I thought you might get a laugh out of these photo's, especially those of you with little dogs. This is how our baby girls, LuLu and Mia, wake up Princess each morning. They stand outside of her bedroom door squeeeeeeeling with excitement and racing back and forth from the door to where ever I am in the house to let me know that it's time to get Princess up and moving for the day. As soon as I open the door LuLu and Mia spring up on the bed and start waking Princess up in the most loving and gentle fashion possible......


trying to give her a big sloppy kiss......


times by two!


all poor Princess can do is brace herself for a whole world of lovin'.....


and some ear piercing yapping.......


eventually realizing that it's useless to try to fend off a couple of long skinny warm wet puppy tongues......


Princess gives up the fight to sleep in a little longer.......

and embraces the LURVE......


Wishing you a happy weekend full of lurve and kisses too (even if they're not the canine kind. Or should I should especially, not even!) lol.....Love Amanda & all her girls xxxx

Wednesday, September 30, 2009

Aunty Claire's Scones....oh boy!

Hi ladies! How is everyone today? I hope you're having a lovely day where ever you are. Today I thought I'd make some scones for my husband. John works really long hard hours (he's the head Manufacturing Machinery Engineer for a large international company) so that I can be a stay at home wife and mother.......which I LOVE being/doing! So every day I always make sure that both my husband and daughter have a clean, tidy house to welcome them home, and that they have something delicious to eat for both a main meal and a sweet. My Aunty Claire makes the best treats, and everytime we visit with her and Rexy there's always something heavenly to temp our taste buds! One of John's favourites that Aunty Claire makes is her scones topped with raspberry jam and freshly whipped cream..............



so that's what I decided to make for him tonight......


the recipe is so incredibly easy.......


and quick to prepare, so I thought I'd share it with you too.....


of course I think things always taste even better when they are served with something a little special....like this sweet little spoon. Can you see the strawberries on top? So cute! lol


Aunty Claire's Scones......

3 cups self raising flour

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 cup of cream

1 cup of lemonade (or 7 UP or Sprite)


Combine the mix with a knife (to air ate)

Place tablespoon size (I did a fair size bigger than that though, and I got a bakers dozen out of this mix) on to prepared (lightly greased) baking tray.

Bake on 220C (425F) for 15-20 mins using the second shelf in your oven (not the top shelf).

Cook 10 mins, then turn tray and cook for a further 5-10 mins until scones are golden and feel cooked to the touch.

Serve with jam and freshly whipped cream.

You know the old saying that the way to a man's heart is through his stomach? Well it is certainly true with my husband!


Wishing you all a wonderful day! See you soon..........love Amanda xxx