One year has gone past FAST!

This Sunday, Bubbles & Spanky celebrate 1 year of Marriage!

It has been a wonderful year, with lots packed into it, as we are sure the next couple of years will be as well.

The Boys
Patrice, RyRy, Bubbles, Lucille



The Girls
Kate, Megs, Spanky, Jess (The Zookeeper)

Spanky with her parents - The President & First Lady

COOKIES!!!

We have this wonderful recipe that makes LOTs of choc chip cookies! Its called Biscuits for the Masses, and it makes over 80 cookies. It freezes well too, so we generally have a bag or two (of around 20-30cookies) in the freezer all the time, cause you never know when you might need them.

We needed to take something baked with us on a swimming weekend recently, and as Spanky was sick the whole week before hand, she didn't really feel like baking cupcakes then having to decorate them. So instead she made a batch of these cookies.

They have dark, milk and white chips in them and are so very very yummy.

If only i had some with me right now! They would sure cheer up this dark winter-like day.

Making Magnets

As part of The First Lady's Christmas present, we got her some Christmas magnets from a store on Etsy and also got ourselves some.

from DRLjewelry

Spanky liked the look of them and wanted to know how to make them, so looked up on the internet how to make them. She then ordered some supplies from another Etsy store and once they arrived she started to make some.

They have turned out really well, and are not to difficult to do and are making great presents for people.

Making these has helped to fill in a couple of hours over the last few weekends where we've had an hour to kill here and there, but not enough time to really fit a big project in (like trying to catch up on all the Bones episodes that have been recorded as its been on twice a week!).


The plan is to maybe try and sell at some markets, and see how they go. Having been to a number of markets over the last couple of months, we haven't seen anyone else selling these or similar things.
Just need to think of a market name..... & decide to do it.

Also tried something different:

The new Camera

For Christmas Bubbles & I got ourselves a new camera.
We spent some time researching and also asking others what they were using.
We finally settles on a Nikon D3100. We got a bundle deal for it that included a 18-55mm zoom and a 55-300mm zoom (and a SD card & 2 lens filters). We also got Bubbles sister, The Zookeeper, the same thing as she is heading off the Africa soon and trusted us to have done our research. It helped to be buying two of them as the price of the extras come down a bit.

After getting the camera, we had to get a bag for it. I had seen some bags on Etsy that i really liked the look of and they are a bit different from the normal that you get at camera shops.

We wanted to get something that Bubbles & I were both happy to be seen carrying around, so it couldn't be too girly and i didn't want just plain black.

We settled on something from Stash . So, Bubbles chose the fabric that he liked (and i ok'ed), we picked the size we thought would be good (fitting 2 lens, the camera, the small digital camera, extra batteries & SD cards etc) and ordered it. It arrived about 2wks after we placed the order, so that was pretty good from the US. We are very happy with it, it is constantly taken with us when we are out and about (Dog school, swimming events, park visits etc).

Medium Camera Bag

Fabric we got the bag in

We also got a strap cover just for something a little different. We decided on one from HappySnapz from Etsy. And got 2 others ones as well (one for The Zookeeper, and another for Cousin Steph).

I have read the instruction book (and keep it in the camera bag just in case) and have been playing around with all the camera settings. The puppy is now very used to having her photo taken!

Changing the Name

Spanky has been going through the process of changing her last name. It has been fun to do.

Bubbles went and got the Marriage Certificate last August (not bad as we got married in April and we were away for the rest of April and all of May).

Changing over the Medicare and private health insurance details was nice and easy, they just wanted to see the Marriage Certificate. That was fine, but we really on go into these two places about once a year and it was 6mths after we got the Marriage Certificate that she remembered to take when she went to the shops at Doncaster to do the name change.

If you change over your name on your passport due to marriage you can have it done for free if its within a year of the wedding. Great, bonus! Can do that on an ADO from work. Sounds reasonable hey? until you try and find a day to take and ADO. November? nope. December? nope not with Xmas break coming up. January? nope. February? nope sorry too people on leave. March? ok. now just gotta fill in the form on line, print it off, have some photos taken (and hope they are approved, or we have to go through this all again - when i can next get another ADO), book an appointment at the Post Office and go have the interview.

Someone had told us that to do the bank accounts you need to have your drivers licence or passport done first. Finally got around to going into a branch and checking - just need the marriage certificate. Mind you it was the first time in over 6mths the Spanky had been into a bank branch (good old internet banking & hubby who does most of that type of thing!). So, just have to remember to bring the certificate to work and get it done at lunch time. or on the ADO.

Now, the drivers licence. Why couldn't it be something the can be done online? who wants to sit in the VicRoads office with a hundred other people for the morning waiting for their number to be called up? Spanky could go do this on her ADO.

All those other cards and accounts will have to be done as they come in the mail next to remind us the name is incorrect  - who wants to try to remember them all and go from place to place to change them. Not Spanky. and NOT ON THE ADO!!!

Which is tomorrow.....

Introducing Giggles into our Adventures

We'd like to introduce Giggles into our Adventures.

Spanky has known Giggles since Giggles was about 6 years old, while for Bubbles its been about 8 years.

We swim with Giggles and have known her family for a long time.We are the people who gave Giggles her Giggles name. It is at the point that lots of people call her Giggles or Gigs rather than her real name. Even Adults. We're happy with it.

So, Giggles joined us on an adventure down to Sorrento (the beach) for the weekend.

We picked her up on Friday arvo, jamed her stuff into the car (Giggles mum and us were impressed at how much the little Honda Civic could hold) and on our way went!

Welcome Giggles!

Spanky driving

Maggie trying not to sleep

We were hoping Maggie would sleep in the car, and had specifically taken her for a play with Bonnie for an hour in the hope that she would sleep, but she seemed to think that her back seat buddy (Giggles) would do something that she would miss if she went to sleep - so she kept one eye open for almost the whole 2hr trip, and only snoozed the last 30min.

The reason we went down to Sorrento, was that a number of people from swimming were swimming in the Sorrento ocean swim (not Bubbles or Spanky, but Giggles was), and one of the familys had a beach house there that everyone was staying at.

Saturday morning saw us take Maggie for her first beach visit and swim. She had to be encouraged into the water with treats, but soon was ok with it all. She can swim fine and was having fun after she realised it wasnt too bad.

After lunch and a visit to the shops, we took Maggie back for a second swim and Giggles came with us this time. No treats were needed this time to get her into the water for a swim, infact as soon as she saw people playing water cricket out on a sand bar, she was swimming out to them ready to play.

On Sunday, everyone headed down to the beach to either watch or participate in the Swim. Everyone who swam did well and were happy with their swims.

Maggie was very well behaved and meet lots of dogs & puppies.

We headed home after some lunch, and were all very tired by the time we got home.

Spanky started back at work the next day, but Bubbles was home and says Maggie slepted all day for the next 3 days as she was so tired from the big weekend.

Happy Birthday Miss Jessica!!

So this week was Miss Jessica's (the Zoo keeper) Birthday!

I was appointed cake baker, with the request of Cake Balls (as per Bakeralla.com).

So, as soon as i got home on Monday from work i quickly mixed up a Betty Crocker Devils Cake mix and popped it into the oven with just enough time for it to cook before i had to go to a meeting.

I was off work sick on Tuesday, and after sleeping the morning and some of the arvo away, i spent an hour working on the cake, which really didnt look like a cake!

So, Wednesday night, off Bubbles, Maggie and i went to have dinner with The Teacher, Golfer, Bonnie and Miss Jessica with this:

It went down well!