In the last decade or so I have desensitised myself to the point that I am over the most crippling manifestations of arachnophobia, but all that hard work just flies out the window in the face of a fully mature specimen with a legspan bigger than my palm loose in my bedroom overnight. I discovered her in the top of the wardrobe this afternoon, and wasn't game to go to bed until etfb had removed her. Unfortunately she didn't want to be removed, and was unbefknlievably quick moving. We now have no idea where she is, and I'm sleeping in the living room until further notice. I've had a huntsman once crawl into bed with me and walk down my bare skin in the middle of the night, and I would sleep on the couch for a year if that's what it took to avoid experiencing that a second time *gibbers* Damn my soft-heartedness. A swiftly applied slipper would have avoided the problem completely.

A lovely storm tonight. Hopefully it will be the end of the humidity. I'm blaming my less-than-stellar parenting at the moment partly on the heat, although there are lots of other contributing factors. But the Boy Wonder and I had a long conversation about the bad bits of today at bedtime, and have both apologised to each other, and there were many cuddles and "Yuv yous", so that's all right. I need to find the time to do something similar with the BatPup, though, who has decided that nearly-five is an excellent age to switch from easy-going, placid kid to highly-strung prima donna. Sigh.

Mmm, raspberry cheesecake...



Hippo birdies two ewe me!

Quite a productive weekend, really. The Bat has acquired new reasons to hide in his study, but has also varied playing with his new toy with tidying his room and shifting books and comics so that we can give the EDoD a bookshelf for her Collection, as promised quite a long time ago. He has also restored order to the garage, and both of us have cleaned and beautified the back patio and gotten rid of a heap of rubbish with which our children had bedecked and bestrewn it. One tip run was successfully accomplished, and one op shop run was attempted but stymied because by Sunday night all the donation bins are stuffed and garnished with other people's crap. You might think I would remember that by now...

As for my eBay adventures, I am concluding from my first couple of weeks of selling that books are a chancy thing and generally not worth the listing fees, but clothes (especially hippy plus sizes!) and textiles are better sellers. So I might save myself the bother of listing any of the boxes of books, unless they are by really popular authors, and just schlep them round to book shops and dump the remainder at the oppy. But it is confirming me in my feeling that I can still justify (and probably fund) a somewhat reduced op shopping habit by keeping an eye out for vintage fabric and linens, in addition to the stash I'm already selling or have sold.

My exciting moment for the day was finding this Ashford Traditional spinning wheel at the op shop. As far as I can see it is complete, although I will need to buy some more bobbins for it. It even came with hand carding brushes and an instructional video *happy dances*

Now all I need to do is learn to use it. Oh yeah, and learn to do something with the yarn, as well, seeing as I don't knit, crochet, weave etc...

We had Teh Dramas this evening with all the kids wanting to help me make etfb's birthday pineapple upside down cake. The BatPup had been waiting patiently since about 4pm for me to get my act together, so she and I were gathering ingredients and utensils while the Boy Wonder dropped breakable things and stole the ingredients and generally made himself a discomfort unto ye bottom. Then when we started actually making the cake, the EDoD decided to "help" by muscling in on everything I asked the BatPup to do, then telling her she was doing it all wrong. There were Words, many of them spoken at an unfortunate volume, followed by me descending to the level of an eight year old and refusing to speak to her, and the EDoD slamming out of the house and going for a ride to cool off. Sigh.

On the upside, after she had calmed down she came home, sat at the table with us, and ate dinner *boggle* I say boggle because it was Quesadilla Pie made with my Mexican beans recipe, which she has been refusing to eat for the last, oh, seven or eight years. She even had seconds (admittedly, that was because her first serving was a tiny sliver). She said she still didn't particularly like it, but seems to be recognising the truth of my ruling that one cannot be a vegetarian (or at least, not a healthy one) long-term if one refuses to consume any kind of legume... Please, may it last! The BatPup seems to have been progressively infected with the demon Yuk-I-don't-eat-THAT as her sister has shaken off her own infection, so I still have at least one child carefully going through her plate and removing every single piece of onion and capsicum before eating the rest, but at least I have some hope that eventually she will grow out of it too.

After sweltering for days, we rejoiced in the blast of cool winds coming in before the gathering clouds.

A dazzling drying day today.

See, I can still post about my laundry! (especially on bloody hot days when we have all the curtains shut to keep the heat out, and I don't have enough energy to look for anything more interesting to photograph outside). I'm actually really happy with the way this one turned out.

Ethiopian Vegetable Bowl

Lentil Bowl (recipe adapted from here)

1 small onion, diced
~1 tsp each ginger, garlic powder (aaargh, no garlic in the house! Use the real deal if you have it)
~1/4 tsp cayenne
1 c red lentils
water

Saute onion til transparent, add spices and fry for a minute or two. Add lentils and 3-4 cups of water and bring to the boil. Simmer for about 30 minutes, checking the water level occasionally.

Vegetable Bowl (recipe adapted from here)

1/2 large sweet potato, cut into small dice [original recipe calls for carrots but I didn't have any]
3-4 medium potatoes, cut into small dice
~1 tsp each ginger, garlic and turmeric
1/4 green cabbage, finely shredded
1/4 zucchini, cut into small dice (optional)
4-5 shallots, snipped

Saute the root vegetables in a big frypan until they brown, to deepen the flavour. Add spices and fry for a minute or two, then add a little bit of water until it's about 1cm deep. You want to steam the vegetables but cook the sauce off by the end of the dish, so start with a little bit of water and add more if necessary. Cover and simmer gently until the vegetables are almost tender, checking on the water level occasionally to make sure it doesn't stick. Then add the cabbage, zucchini and shallots and stir to coat thoroughly in divine-smelling yellow sauce. Add a bit more water if necessary (only enough to dampen the mix and make sure it doesn't stick) then cover and simmer for five minutes until vegetables are cooked through but still vibrant.

Serve with rice.