Guest Star: Bruna of Bees With Honey

February 7, 2012 By

 

When I first started tweeting again (I lapsed, that was pre-blog days), one of the first tweeps who continuously engaged with me and #FF’ed me every single week (encouraging others to follow you on Fridays, for non-Twitter people, was Bruna of Bees With Honey. Her blog posts are always warm and sweet like this one about friends, she generously shares her space with fellow bloggers in her weekly series, Let’s Bee Friends and she gives great tips on educational activities you can do with your children in her Mama Teach Us series.

She truly is one of the sweetest people I’ve had the privilege of knowing online. And I love her posts about her 3 beautiful girls! Say hi to Bruna.

I am beyond honoured to be one of Alison’s Guest Stars today. Thank you, Alison, for allowing me to hang out with you in your corner of the world. Your Guest Star series is one of my favourites.

1. When and why did you start blogging?
I started blogging the summer of 2010. Back then, my blog name was Harmless Girl Talk. I started out on Blogger and when making the switch over to WordPress, I changed my blog name to Bees with Honey. Initially, I started blogging simply to document the life of my growing girls. My blog was mainly read by far away extended family. It was a great way to share photos and keep Grandma and Papa up-to-date on the goings-on in the life of their granddaughters.

Eventually, after finding and reading so many other blogs written by like-minded mothers, I realized that I could write about stuff other than what’s happening in the lives of my children. I wanted to write about myself but felt silly. Reading other blogs helped me to see that writing about me wasn’t so silly after all. So many mothers out there were doing just that. So, I jumped right in and since then, have not turned back or regretted sharing my thoughts and feelings with the rest of the blogosphere.

2. What do you love most about blogging?
There are so many things I love about blogging but if I had to pick just one, it would have to be the friendships I have made and strengthened over the last year. I never imagined I would establish genuine relationships with other bloggers simply by reading and commenting on each other’s’ blogs and via the Twitter. For this, I am grateful.

3. Who is your favorite blogger ever?
How cool would it be to pinpoint one blogger I love and adore above all others? I couldn’t even if I tried. I have found and grown to love reading so many Mommy writers that to even name a few would leave out so many that hold special places in my heart. I recently met a group of fabulous Mommy bloggers locally where I live for a Tweetup. It was my first TweetUp ever and it was an evening I will always remember and cherish. The girls I spent so much time tweeting and reading ended up being just as cool in person as they are on-line. I couldn’t have asked for anything more. I will say; however, that the great Mama Kat and Truthful Mommy are two veteran bloggers I have looked up to since I began blogging myself. Mama Kat inspires all her followers and friends with her weekly Writer’s Workshop and Truthful Mommy took me under her wings on the Twitter and taught me the ropes as well as introduced me to so many of her cool friends. For that, I am grateful. There are many fabulous Mom bloggers out there who do great things and help newbies to feel welcome in the on-line world.

4. Is there a post you regret publishing?
I don’t regret anything I write about except that sometime I think I divulge too much detail about my feelings and life. I know I’m not alone in this because so many other Mom bloggers out there do the same. I have to be a little extra careful with my topics being a Catholic School Teacher. I don’t want to do or say something that could jeopardize my job or my reputation as a teacher. You will not find any swearing, bashing or name calling on my blog. This isn’t difficult for me as I don’t normally do those things in real life. The character of ME on the blog is pretty much the ME you get in real life too. No surprises.

5. What do you love most about being a Mom?
I had to think long and hard about answering this question because, truly, there are so many things I love about being a Mother. I love the simple things the most. Hugs, kisses, cuddles, cute faces, sweet giggles, hand holding and those words, “I love you Mom” are at the top of my list. Nothing beats having little people around who love; rely on and look up to you.

6. What’s your favorite time of the day?
My favourite time of the day is kiddie bedtime. What? Seriously, it’s the only time of the day I can finally sit down and take a break. Okay, besides that time, I’d have to say mornings are my favourite because I love waking up my girls with kisses on their noses and have them open their eyes and smile up at me. I especially love morning time snuggles. It’s the best way to start off any day.

8. What could you eat every single day?
This is a tough question. I have lots of every day favourites but if I had to pick just one thing, it would have to be Nutella Hazelnut Spread on toast with a side of vanilla latte. I can eat it for breakfast or as a snack at any time of the day. Yum!

9. Favorite season and why.
Summer, hands down, is my favourite season of the year. I am and always will be a girl of the sun and if I had to re-live my life from the beginning, Hawaii would be my homeland and I would grow up to be a total surfer chick and hang out at the beach every day. I would meet cute surfer boys and ride the ways. Maybe even become a professional boarder. Who knows? A girl can dream.

10. One word to describe you.
Loveable.

11. You’ve recently committed to getting healthy. Tell us how you stay motivated.
As far back as I can remember, I have never had to worry about what I ate. I was always slim and could pack away food like there was no tomorrow without the slightest worry of putting on a pound. Once I hit 40, my whole world crashed with the discovery of high cholesterol levels in my system. Levels so high, my doctor became concerned about my future. Since that moment, I vowed to take better care of my mind and my body. I committed myself to getting healthy and have tried to stay motivated along the way. How do I stay motivated? Besides the fear of dying young from heart disease, I would have to say my fitness savvy sisters really help to keep me eating better and working out. I look to them for encouragement and support and am grateful for the kicks to the butt I get when I get lazy and stray from my plan. They’re like my own personal trainers. Always checking up on me!

12. You started a wonderful monthly link up, Bee Beautiful You – tell us more!
I came up with the idea of BEE Beautiful You one day when I realized that we Moms spend more time complaining about ourselves than we do anything else. We very rarely celebrate how wonderful we are and how much we do for the people in our lives that we love so much.

I read a lot of blogs and often find that as Moms we are so hard on ourselves. As Moms, we set ourselves up for failure with such unreasonable expectations. It can sometime become depressing.

Bee Beautiful You was born to change how we see ourselves as Mothers. Bee Beautiful You makes every Mom blogger/writer wear their positive glasses and celebrate who they are as wonderful and loving caregivers.

Once a month, I write a post about something positive in my own life or about a person in my life I feel warrants celebrating. I invite fellow bloggers to join in by doing the same and linking up their post on my site for sharing. The linky stays open from Tuesday to Sunday – a week – and I encourage linkers to hop around and read other posts, leaving words of praise and encouragement.

Bee Beautiful You is encouraging and supportive – a venue for positive self-assessment and celebration. Everyone is welcome.

Thank you, Alison, for having me as a guest on your blog today. You are a friend and fellow blogger I admire and adore. Your friendship has meant the world to me over the past year. I feel blessed to have crossed paths with you in the blogosphere.

Thank you Bruna, for being one of the best bloggy friends I’ve met since I started MWT last year.  Do visit Bruna on her blog Bees With Honey, follow here on Twitter, Pinterest and like her on Facebook!

Bees With Honey

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Filed Under: Guest Stars

When Your Toddler Makes You Their Bitch

February 1, 2012 By

My second guest this week is one of my favoritest (there is such a word, I say so) people on the Interwebs.

Tracy of Sellabit Mum is funny, smart, beautiful, inspiring, wears gorgeous clothes, has 3 awesome girls (who also wear gorgeous clothes, lucky girls), and visiting her blog almost daily makes me happy (and probably slightly stalker-ish).

I’ve even started stalking following her on her new social media endeavor with Jessica of Four Plus An Angel, Pin Savvy Social on all things Pinterest (because if you follow me on Pinterest, you’ll know about my epic Sweet Tooth Board).

When I was thinking about writers I love who have multiple children, to hold the fort for me this week, Tracy came to mind immediately. I knew she would write something thought-provoking, searingly honest and funny. And she did not disappoint. I love this post. And I love this woman. 

Thank you, Tracy. xoxo

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I will never forget the beautiful moment when Eloise met her newborn baby sister for the first time.  I was just moved into my hospital room from recovery after my emergency C-section, and I was holding baby Esther in my arms. Sweet and little, but now not looking all that little, two year old Eloise stood about five feet away and looked unsure of what to do. So I told her to come up on the bed for a snuggle and to meet her new baby sister.

So Eloise climbed up on the bed and then knelt on my incision and then I basically slammed my hand into her chest to stop her forward movement and threw her up in the air with my free hand while yelling “MOTHER F*CK$R HOLY HELL”  as loudly as possible, all while never letting go of baby Esther.

It was truly a beautiful moment.

So pretty much for the next year Eloise demanded nearly 120% of my attention while baby Esther sat and cooed in her bouncy seat while I played Eloise’s bitch, as to not damage her for life for how I made the introductions to the person who would now be sharing her mother for the rest of her life.

Well played, Eloise. Well played.

So here’s the thing. For me. Going from one child to two children was not difficult.  Mainly because you are usually guaranteed of one good child. Now if you end up with two whiners…….I seriously cannot help you. But your odds are good to get a gem.  Eloise was high-maintenance……”spirited” if you need that term, and the new baby, Esther just sat there and nursed and slept and pooped and giggled and got are chubby-wubby, cutest OMG I could just nibble on her all day.

And this made me lucky because I could focus all of my attention on Eloise. I’d throw a boob to Esther on occasion and life was good. I also took very few baby pictures of Esther, as gosh I hope she doesn’t ever find out that I wasn’t that perfect doting parent.

I knew that Eloise loved her sister but I also knew that she kind of loved her mom more. So I did what I needed to do.

And then this amazing thing happened. Esther moved. Like crawled and then walked and talked and could play games and build blocks and play baby dolls and then I sat there one day and watched these two little girls playing together and realized…

I NEVER HAVE TO PLAY CANDYLAND EVER AGAIN.

And I think about all of those emotions we have when we bring another baby into the home. “Will little Tommy feel bad?” “Will Anna be jealous?” “Do I give Mary enough of my time?” “Do I play favorites?” “Will this day ever end?”

And now realize that none of it, none of it matters because YES YES to all of those and NO NO to all of those because as parents of multiple children you cannot be all that or be all there or be everything to everyone all of time….

…..and in the end you pretty much gave those kids the best gift you will ever give them….

….and that is a sibling to grow old with.

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Filed Under: Guest Post, Second Child

Tasty Thursday: Chicken Rissoles

January 26, 2012 By

Sometimes, you just need something crunchy, savory and fried.

Yes, health freaks, you can leave now.

A couple of weeks ago, I made these chicken rissoles from my trusty cookbook for some Turkish food. They used to be a staple in our household until I got lazy and made pasta with sauce from jars. Don’t judge.

However, they are actually really easy (you know me, I never cook anything that’s hard). You really should try these. I think kids may like them too – they sure are better than them frozen chicken nuggets.

 

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Ingredients

For the chicken rissoles:

1 slice white bread, crusts removed

1 lb/ 500g chicken mince

1 medium onion, finely sliced

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp pepper

1/2 tsp paprika

2 tbsp lemon juice

2 tbsp finely chopped parsley

4 tbsp feta cheese, crumbled

1/2 cup/ 125g flour for coating

Oil for frying

For the yogurt & lemon sauce:

1 garlic clove, crushed

1 1/2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

1/2 cp/ 120ml thick yogurt

3 tbsp lemon juice

Salt and pepper to taste

Method

Soak the bread slice in a little water. Squeeze out the water and crumble into a bowl. Add the minced chicken and remaining ingredients, except the flour and oil.

Mix well to combine, then knead with one hand to distribute the ingredients evenly.

Take a tablespoon of mixture, with wet hands, shaped into a ball and flatten slightly.

Coat rissoles in flour, shaking of excess.

Fry in a shallow layer of hot oil for about 3 minutes on each side, or until golden brown. Place onto absorbent paper to drain.

Serve hot with yogurt and lemon sauce.

(To make the yogurt and lemon sauce, place all ingredients into a bowl and whisk until smooth and well-combined.)

This makes for a really yummy snack or appetizer.

Enjoy!


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Filed Under: Cooking, Recipes
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