Thrills, Frills and Drills

to bid farewell.

My dad passed away a few weeks ago. It still hurts. It still seems unreal.

I just could not keep on blogging, without saying good bye to him here, but at the same it it was too difficult to post this. It still is.

I've heard many times, that gobbling up your food is not the ideal way to consume a meal. Rather one should chew his food slowly. This helps one to metabolise better, feel filled before and generally enjoy the meal better. Today I realised how true this is, because as soon as I finish my meal, I start noticing what the kids are doing with theirs, like

eating with their hands
feeding the dog off their plate
soaking their sleeves in the food
spitting out 'hard' bits
not eating at all


So as from tomorrow I am going to chew my food real slow!

I have discovered a passion for home-made bread. Here's how we do it.

1. Combine 7g sachet of yeast and 1 tsp sugar to 125ml warm water. Cover in plastic wrap and wait for bubbles to appear, as shown.


2. Sift 4 cups plain flour. Add 1 tsp salt and 1 tbsp sugar. Make well in center and add yeast mixture, 2 tbsp olive oil and 1 cup warm milk.


3. Mix until it's all guey and sticky.


4. Turn onto generously floured surface and kneed for about 10 minutes until it is no longer sticky. Keep flour close by. You'll need lots of it!


5. Once dough is no longer sticky, pour some oil in bowl, 'wipe' oil with dough all over (so it won't stick to bowl when it rises). Cover in plastic wrap, and cover again with a cloth. Put it in a warm place and wait for dough to rise. Might take even up to 3 hours. This part kills me, because I'm always afraid it won't!!


6. Once dough has risen poke it to let air own. Kids love this part! Sorry camera was misbehaving at this point!


7. Kneed the dough a little, again using flour.


8. Form in whatever shape you like. We made small buns this time.Brush with oil. Cover in plastic warp and cloth, and let dough rise for about an hour or so.


9. Brush with milk to obtain a light sheen glaze. Pop in the oven (200 deg C for about 15-20 mins) and there you go!
Home made bread.

Finally! Cold weather has reached us too! I was so frustrated with the idea of having warm weather in December! This is the view from my balcony. It was raining heavily for most of the day and right now it is very, very windy.





Many Maltese houses do not have central heating systems, and though cold weather last very little, the little we get can be difficult to endure. As I write, I have my gas heater "grilling" my side, and I am wearing a scarf!!

In fact the only aspect which I do not really appreciate about the cold weather is the amount of clothing I have to put on my kids. It can be really though to put on them a vest, a polo neck, PJ's, 2 pairs of socks and sometimes a cardigan as well, after bath time. (Multiplied by 3 of course. Remember my kids are constantly on the move! Needless to say, same goes for going out for school in the morning. Only you have to add a hood, a scarf, a jacket and worse of them all GLOVES! Why is it so hard to put those fingers where they should go? Some times I spend minutes trying to find a finger gone missing inside a glove.

But in spite of it all there is nothing like glowing rosey cheeks, rain beating on the window pains and roasting by a heater!

Let God Arise: Paul Wilbur

Baruch Adonai: Paul Wilbur

This is what is in my heart today. Turn the sound on and make sure no one is asleep!

Last night while we were saying our bedtime prayers, Daniel voluntered to say the Hail Mary. Only he got it a little mixed up with the Our Father, and he came up with

"Hail Mary full of bread"

In Maltese: Sliem ghalik Marija, bil-hobzna mimlija"

I do not believe in evolution. However after reading that a goldfish has a memory span of 3 seconds, I sometimes do suspect that we might be distantly, or not so distantly, related to these cute little fishes.

Sometimes kids do not do what they are told out of disobedience, or out of selective hearing. However I truly believe that most of the time they just forget what they were asked to do in a matter of seconds. Reminding my kids to say their prayer before meals is one thing, but reminding them to eat every 2 or 3 morsels with the plate in front of them is another!

And let's not mention the innumerable hours (literally) spent looking for a toy because "I can't remember where I put it!"

Just yesterday I sent Daniel for a time-out because he was rough with Julia. After he was done I told him to apologise to her. She asked me, "What did he do to me?" A few minutes before she was in tears telling me that he pushed her!!

But if I have to be honest, I cannot not mention the fact that both my husband and I do have memory deficiencies too. My husband is very organised. In fact he takes care of things like paying the bills and children's vaccines. His problem is with dates mostly. I think the good Lord has been extra gracious to him, because his mom's birthday falls on the 14th October, our anniversary is on the 14th December, my birthday is on the 14th January and of course St Valentines is on the 14th of February. But in spite of this, I still have to remind him of his mum's birthday, and I suspect that she reminds him of mine!

As for me, well, suffice it to say that all my friends by now have got used to me not answering text messages, because if I do not answer the minute I receive the message, that's it. I won't. Ever.

Often I find myself opening the fridge, staring at it for a couple of minutes trying to remember what I wanted from it. Or I find myself in a room, not really knowing how I got there in the first place, let alone why I got there. Or how many times do I come back from the store to realise that I forgot to buy an item? And there was something else I wanted to mention here, but I can't seem to remember what it was...

Well, just another swim around my bowl now, and off to bed :)

A time to do laundry,
A time to prepare big meals and bake cookies and cakes,
A time to mop the floor, vacuum the carpets and dust the furniture,
A time to buy things,
A time to blog and go through the Internet,
A time to work,

But that time in not today. Not for me. Not anymore.

Today is a special day.

Today it is the Lord's day.

Today is a time of rest.

Come unto me all who are weary and burdened, I shall give you rest (Matt: 11:28)

So today instead of thinking about the ridiculous amount of laundry I have to do, we will get dirty as we go for a nature walk and enjoy God's creation.

Instead of grabbing the mop or broom, I will grab my husband's hand and thank God for the beautiful calling to be a wife and mother, and ask Him to strengthen our marriage.

Instead to sitting at the computer, I will sit at the Lord's feet for a little longer.

Instead of buying things, I will thank God for His provision, which never fails.

Instead of putting the apron on, I will put on a good dress and participate in Mass, and eat at the Lord's table.

And as I open my eyes in the morning, the first thing that will come to my head, will not be my to do list, but a song in my heart:

While my heart is still yearning to honour God more, especially on His day, and my mind is still trying to figure out how to do it, I would like to share with you some pictures which tell some of the things we are up to...

These are some shots of one of the greenest and most beautiful spots is Malta. Buskett is definitely my favourite place for a nature walk.





Last week Emma was awarded the "Pupil of the Week" badge. Each week a different pupil is awarded, as an encouragement and recognition of their efforts.


While Daniel may need fake horns and shiny nose...



... his ears shine naturally! Just like Rudolph's nose. The picture doesn't do justice to the redness of his ears. Every evening we jokingly say "Oh look, Dan's lit his ears up!"

I am going through a major mind-set change. There are many issues in my life that I am trying to re-think. And this typically sends me in tilt!! I would like your help with one of the major issues in my head right now:

How do you keep the Sabbath (Sunday) holy?


This is for Maltese readers (can't really translate because it won't make sense in English)

Il-bierah ghedt lil Julia "Isa halli issa mmorru tas-Sliema". Qaltli "Il-quddies?" Ghedltilha "Le tas-Sliema". Julia: "Sliema ghalik Marija?"

...is seeing this ...



...and this (just to give you another perspective)

and instead of grabbing my hair is despair, I grab the camera because this could make an interesting post!

If you are wondering what on earth happened to my living room that day, it was not hit by disaster. That is actually one of my children's favourite game. No not dumping the living room, but build their own camp/ home/ castle/ boathouse/ who knows what!

This is the question that has been on my mind these last few weeks. And I still have not reached a final decision! I am a terrible creature of habit, so once something is gone from my schedule, it is very difficult for me to pick it up again. Blogging is one such thing at the moment. Much of my computer time is taken up by preparing school work for the kids. Also many things scream for my attention, just like everyone else, right?

But then again, some things about blogging are too precious to just let go. Like the honour of having someone taking interest in what you write, and the joy of reading kind and encouraging comments. And the great privilege of being welcomed in the life of the blogging friends made along the way. I am so grateful to the ladies who graciously let me in and share with me their joys and sorrows, successes and failure, exciting discoveries and funny episodes in life. Many have been so inspirational to me. I have come to see new perspectives, new ways of life which have changed me profoundly I must admit.

So I will try to keep on blogging, without letting it become a burden.

Thank you for reading this.

PS Forgive the messy header. Will need Ken's help to work on it.