Not Quite Pinterest Cupcakes

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So recently, I’ve become a little obsessed with cupcakes – to the point where my sister wants to take me off her Pinterest because all I do is pin cupcakes. Of course, this obsession came to a natural point and I actually made cupcakes.

I used this recipe for vanilla cupcakes

I did enjoy mixing it all together, especially since I got to use the food processor I haven’t actually used much in the last 4 years. The only problem was our ancient, send the heat wherever it likes, oven.

There was a slight sinking feeling . . .

With some of the cupcakes displaying a definite dint in the top of them, it was time for a ‘make-it-up-as-you-go’ rescue. With jam!

Then onto icing. I decided to be really advanced and try a cream cheese ‘frosting’ using this recipe. Then I set about decorating the cupcakes – with a different, jam flavoured frosting for the ‘sunken’ cupcakes.

What did I learn from the experience?

Well, I learned that this really is a good recipe, as long as I do the old rotate and switch shelves part way through baking. I learned that I need to slow down when I’m baking to make sure everything is done properly. I learned that cream cheese frosting is delicious, but maybe not the best choice for a Brisbane summer. And I learned that just because they may not look like the cupcakes on Pinterest, doesn’t mean they don’t taste delicious 🙂

Do you enjoy baking? Have you ever used a recipe you found online?

Squirm’s Book Reviews: A Left Handed Edition

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Each week we review some of the books we’ve read together with Squirm

This week I’m taking a slightly different approach. I’m looking at one illustrator, Bruce Whatley, but in particular, I’m looking at his approach to art using his left hand.

Bruce Whatley (actually, Dr Whatley) is a well known illustrator, working on books with his wife Rosie Smith and, notably, with Jackie French on the very well loved Diary of a Wombat books. However, after discovering he could draw with his left hand – his non dominant hand – he began a PhD into how people could draw differently with different hands. He discovered that people drew differently, in his own case he found that using his left hand allowed him to create what he termed as art – but which included sculpture and painting which he hadn’t done a lot of before. (I think his other illustrations are art too, but I’m not a critic). You can see some of his art here and read more about his PhD, including some examples here.

I’ve read two of his books which I know he created using his left hand. I’ll review those today 🙂


Flood by Jackie French and Bruce Whatley

This is a book about the Brisbane floods, a copy of which was donated to every school in Queensland after it was published. I actually bought my copy as soon as it came out, and found myself in tears when I read it. Most of the book is fairly general, it could apply to any flood. But then there’s the story of the tug boat, and it’s drivers, who went out to guide the walk way away from the Gateway Bridges. And the volunteers  all getting in and cleaning – a page where I always stop to see if I can see my husband and myself. And the author’s and illustrator’s notes always make me cry – especially the reference to the boy who insisted his brother be saved before him.

The illustrations are spectacular in this book. They were sketched with Bruce Whatley’s left hand, before applying an acrylic wash which runs down the page and evokes the wetness that pervaded everywhere during the floods. There’s a spectacular use of the exact muddy brown of the Brisbane River through most of the book, before the colours clear up and become bright again as the city returns to normal and the river returns to its banks.

We actually used this book with Year 7s in English this year, talking about personification and as an introduction to biographical texts. There’s a lot you can do with the book. It’s a brilliant resource for talking about floods and would easily match with the videos and pictures you’d be able to find of the time. You could also compare the floods of 2011 to other notable floods. (If you’re in Brisbane, the City Botanic Gardens have markers to show the extent of the different floods.) This book also lends itself to water play, looking at how water moves over different surfaces and what a surge of water can do to the environment. With older children you could interview people about their experiences of the floods and make your own book about it. (They might also have their own flood story to tell). As I mentioned earlier, there’s personification (giving an inanimate thing human movements/motivations/actions) in the book, and you could write your own personification. You could also find stories about other heroes and turn them into picture books.

There’s also art activities. Children could try drawing with their non dominant hand. They could also paint with water colours or watered acrylic paints and see how holding the paper in different ways, or using different types of surfaces makes a difference to the painting.

A Boy Like Me by Libby Hawthorn and Bruce Whatley

This is less of a story and more of a blank verse poem about peace and what it means to people. Through the book, we see different representations of peace, again illustrated by Whatley with his left hand. There’s a real Shaun Tan feel to this book, but it’s simpler, almost gentler, and easier for a younger audience to discuss and understand.

Some of the images used to represent peace include a heart, a soft figure, wings and birds. There’s also a use of clouds – both white and fluffy, and dark and full of rain to represent peace and the lack of it. The colours are soft throughout the book – a mix of yellows, blues and pinks.

This might not be the book for everyone, though. It is blank verse, a form of writing which some people find difficult, and might be tricky for young children. Then again, it might be a great way of introducing children to different types of poetry. You could connect this book with Shaun Tan’s The Red Tree and look at other kinds of poems and rhymes. You could also discuss why Bruce Whatley chose to use figures without a lot of detail and play around with drawing your own. One of the images has a love heart in the chest of the figure, so you could talk about what other qualities could be inside us and how they could be represented with other images. You could also make lists of things that are peaceful or make your own peaceful place in your house or garden.

Have you read a picture book about a real life event or person? Or one about a concept? Share it in the comments

Wordless Wednesday – A Night Off

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Last night, I went to see A Chorus Line with my mother, sisters and aunt. Which meant leaving Squirm and Mr Pilot at home alone for the first time. Boy was I pleased to come home and find Mr Pilot all in one piece 🙂

Squirm’s choice of drink for the night

Mr Pilot’s refreshments for the night

All dressed up and ready to go

A really awesome show

Linking up with My Little Drummer Boys

Linking up with Twinkle in the Eye

Owning Our Words – Taking Responsibility as Bloggers

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“Words are, in my not-so-humble opinion, our most inexhaustible source of magic. Capable of both inflicting injury, and remedying it.”

Albus Dumbledore, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part Two

As bloggers, we use words endlessly. We write 300 word posts here, 500 word posts there. Our words have immense power, they can make people cry, make people laugh, inspire people to do something to change the world.

These days, our words are not confined to the neat little world of our blogs. They spill out onto the comments of other blogs. They spread thinly over the 140 characters of twitter. They are shaped into Facebook statuses. We are building worlds of words around us all the time.

As a teacher, we were spending increasing amounts of time talking to children about their digital footprint. We talked about the importance of safety and privacy. We talked about never posting anything which they wouldn’t want their parents or grandparents to see. Nothing they wouldn’t want the police, their teachers or their principal to see.

It’s good advice for bloggers, I think, though in our case, we could also think about if we’re comfortable with our children or, down the track, our grandchildren, seeing what we write.

I tend to be careful with language when I talk. I try not to swear, mostly because I was always worried that it would become a habit, and I’d slip up in front of the children I was teaching. But I’ve also become more aware of language which is used, day to day, which puts whole groups of people down. I’ve adjusted my own phrases and words, and where I can, I’ve alerted others that their choice of words may be harmful. Yet, the other day I saw an image posted and shared on Facebook, with casual use of a harmful word – retarded – and I chose to say nothing.

Maybe I was feeling a little burnt that day, or maybe I was feeling like a little fish in a very big ocean, but for some reason I kept silent. But the word stayed with me. It nagged at me. It annoyed me. It tapped me on the shoulder and reminded me that it was still there, that it wasn’t going away.

This word has come back into fashion in recent times. It’s thrown out there casually, used to mean stupid or foolish or bad. Of course, at the same time, it maintains a link to people with disabilities, so the user is – consciously or unconsciously – inferring that things are stupid or foolish or bad and similar to a person with a disability. Of course, this inference comes to a natural conclusion that people with disabilities, particularly Downs Syndrome, are stupid or foolish or bad.

Recently, there’s been a campaign in the United States to end the casual use of this word. It points out that this word is harmful and lazy. Lauren Potter, an actress on Glee, has been active in this campaign, making a PSA with Jane Lynch

There’s also some brilliant posts on this topic:

The Word “Retarded” is Not Cool
If you ask people not to use the word ‘retard’
Is the R-word Just a Word?

As bloggers, we have the ability to use our words to really do things in the world. We also have the ability to use our words in ways that harm others. There’s also times when we fall into silence, not wanting to stand out on our own, not wanting to make waves, especially if another blogger is bigger or more popular than we are. But, really, that’s not good enough. It’s time to stand up and say that words like that are not acceptable to post or share on our blogs. Not acceptable to post or share on our twitter accounts or through our Facebooks.

It’s not acceptable to stay silent any longer.

On Getting a Refund – And Other Reasons To Shop Elsewhere

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Would you eat these? We couldn’t

The sausages were inedible. Within minutes of putting them under the heat, my husband noticed that there was a lot of fat in them. Then one of them burst, spraying oil across the kitchen. Mr Pilot started collecting the oil in a measuring cup, getting about half a cup out of six sausages.

He hadn’t intended to buy them in the first place. He’d gone to Coles looking for a barbecue chicken, but they didn’t have any of those. We’d had a bad experience with sausages a while ago, and had avoided them since. But surely we wouldn’t be so unlucky to have the same experience again. After all, these were the expensive sausages.

But, suddenly, there we were on a Sunday night, our dinner massively reduced to some salad and a small portion of creamy pasta. And as a breastfeeding mother, you can bet that I was annoyed to have such a small meal on my plate. As Mr Pilot retrieved the receipt, I tweeted about our problem, getting a response from Coles that they’d be happy to refund. No problem, I thought. Last time this had happened, it had been quickly resolved with an apology, a refund and a small discount voucher to make up for the inconvenience.

This time, I stood for ages waiting for someone to serve me at the service desk. It used to be that there were always two people nearby because the service desk was between a regular register and the express register. Often the express register attendant would see to the service desk between customers. But the express registers have been closed, self serve registers put in another spot, and now there’s only one person in the area.

When I was finally served, I was treated with suspicion. It was like I was there to make trouble. Phone calls had to be made. Then the money was refunded. No apology, no voucher. And to make matters worse, I know the woman who was serving – her child attends the school I was working at. But she was obviously stressed, trying to do two jobs at the same time. And I left feeling like I’d been let down by Coles for a second time.

There was a time when Coles was the only place I’d do my shopping. Woolworths brought in self-checkout (though they kept express lanes), cut down their check out staff, and made it so I couldn’t use my debit card without incurring a charge. At my local Coles, there was usually lots of check outs available, a great express service, friendly staff who were interested in helping me and I could use my debit card. It was an easy choice and I’d go out of my way to shop there.

But then things started to change. The deli suddenly had problems offering the range they used to have. The self-serve checkouts went in and the express lanes went out. Mr Pilot mentioned that we primarily shopped at that Coles because of the great service and was assured that they’d actually put on more staff. Which might have been true for a week or two, but definitely isn’t evident anymore, with only one or two registers open apart from the self serve. Plus one of the self-serve machines couldn’t take $2 coins. Then the debit card restriction was lifted at Woolworths. Then there was the sausage incident.

Suddenly Woolworths looks just as good as Coles. In fact, sometimes it even looked better, with more registers open and an express lane option still available. The staff were friendly and the range was similar to Coles. (Something not available at any of the local independent groceries, unfortunately). So, while I’m not boycotting Coles, I’m not going out of my way to visit them. I no longer feel the compulsion to walk to the other end of the shopping centre to do my grocery shopping. If I’m near Woolworths, that’s where I’ll shop.

It’s not too difficult to keep me happy as a shopper. I like the conversations you can have when you shop, so I like being able to go through a checkout. I like that they (mostly) know how to pack bags better than me, and they don’t have a squirmy or screaming baby, so can pay more attention to it. I like the products I want to buy to be available and in good condition. And when they’re not, I like to get an apology. Without these things, my loyalty is lost, and I will look for other places to shop.

Has a shop ever lost your loyalty?

Fat from the sausages

The Great Library Tour: North Lakes Library

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Adventures of a Subversive Reader

North Lakes is the kind of library that should have been completely awesome to visit. It was large, big windows with lots of light, funky looking bookshelves in the kids sections. But something was just ‘off’ in the feeling of the library. Something made it into a place I probably wouldn’t want to spend too long at.

Maybe it’s because it’s a temporary library. North Lakes Library used to be located on the Corso, right near the shopping centre in what would probably be called the ‘heart’ of North Lakes (which is a developer created suburb in Moreton Bay Region). Recently, the library was sold to Education Queensland and now forms a second campus for the massive North Lakes school. (I believe their seniors work out of there). The Library was moved to a temporary home, the second floor of a commercial building, while they wait for a new one to be built. (I’m also a little miffed that the building of a new library to replace a new building will go ahead before Strathpine gets their new library – which is desperately needed. Tells you a little about which parts of Moreton Bay Region are more valued.)

Maybe it was that the non-fiction area seemed kind of sparse? Some nice books, but not a lot of them.

Then there was the children’s section. It should have been great. Lovely big, purpose built, facing out bookshelves for the picture books, forming little alcoves which should have been perfect to curl up into. Neatly organised shelves for the children’s novels, young adults books and children’s non-fiction, with cool stripy shelf ends. Big sofas and a range of small chairs. And toys.

Except the toys were the problem. They were everywhere, spread in all directions across the floor. There was no one there playing with them, it was just a mess, and a slightly dangeous one at that. It was also something I’d never seen at any other library. In the other libraries with toys, the toys were kept neatly and safely, creating a feeling of pride which was missing in the North Lakes children’s section.

So somehow, this was the library which should have ticked all the right boxes, but managed to feel pretty uninviting. I’ll be interested to see what the new library looks like when it gets rebuilt, but I don’t think I’ll be rushing back to this one.

The best parts of North Lakes Library

  • Lots of sofas
  • Bookshelves facing outwards for picture books

Important Information about North Lakes Library

5 Discovery Drive,
NORTH LAKES, QLD 4509

Open seven days a week. See website for details.

Parking available.

While we were there . . .

We’d just come from Redcliffe (which is a quick drive away), so we didn’t stay long. There is a big shopping centre a couple of streets over. I believe there’s also some nice walking paths in the area. There’s not much around the general area of the library – it feels like a very commercial area.

Squirm’s First Christmas: Sorting the Presents

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Squirm will be four and a half months old for his first Christmas. This mean that he won’t have a lot of understanding of what’s going on. Nevertheless, though some parts of this Christmas will be more for us than him, there are some traditions that we want to put in place from the beginning. One of these is to do with presents.

You may have seen some people talking about presents for children with “Something they want, something they need, something to wear, something to read”. This is similar to our ideas. No doubt, Squirm will get plenty of lovely presents this year, but we don’t necessarily want to add to that pile – we don’t want to live in a glut of toys (we don’t have the room for that) and we want Squirm to grow up understanding that Christmas is about more than presents.

Our presents will be slightly different though. We’ll give a toy (something he wants), an outfit (hopefully made by me), a book (from Santa) and a donation in his name. (We’ll choose a different one each year. This year we’ll give to the hospital where he was born and spent time in special care)

Of course, with that sorted, it was time to think about toys. We knew we wanted

  • something that’ll last
  • a preference to natural materials
  • something that’ll allow him to use his brain
  • something which can be used in more than one way

With that sorted, it was time to do some searching online

 

Greek Alphabet Blocks from Honeybee Toys

These are gorgeous. I love the colours, and the Greek alphabet makes me laugh because I studied Ancient Greek language at university. Problem is, this is more like a present for me, than for Squirm. Maybe if I stick it on my list . . .?

 

 

Soopsori Rattle Blocks from Tree Frog Toys

 

These are gorgeous and meet any possibly criteria when it comes to being environmentally friendly. The only problem is, Squirm has lots of rattles already, and probably doesn’t need any more, even if they’re as lovely as these.

 

 

Im Toy Tutti Tunes from Hello Charlie

 

Now this looks like a heap of fun. Of course, my sister has already promised (threatened) to buy some instruments for Squirm, and I wouldn’t want to steal her thunder.

 

Of course, I finally found the perfect present. What is it? Well, you’ll just have to wait until Christmas to find out 🙂

What present traditions did you have as a kid? What present traditions does your family have now?

Why Fake Pregnancy Jokes Are Not Actually Funny

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Last year, one of those ‘breast cancer awareness’ memes went around Facebook. One of those ones where you post a cryptic status based on something like your birthday, then pass it on, making sure ‘the men’ don’t find out. These are stupid on a whole lot of levels (like doing nothing to promote breast cancer awareness). This one was particularly cruel, though, encouraging people to post a status that they were ‘x week and craving y’. Pretending they were pregnant.

So, what, you might think. It’s just a joke, it doesn’t mean anything.

Except, maybe someone on your friend’s list is going through infertility. Every month is a struggle for them, and it’s hard work to be happy for the people around you who just seem to fall pregnant automatically. When you’re going through infertility, you see pregnancies everywhere – it’s like magic. So, suddenly you see friends announcing pregnancies, with cryptic messages, not even bothering to give you a call to tell you first. And then, after everyone’s congratulated them, they say – no I’m not pregnant. It’s just a joke. Now you’re upset, and you feel foolish. And nothing’s been done to raise awareness of breast cancer (which, by the way, can cause infertility).

It’s just a joke, though. It doesn’t mean anything. Your feelings don’t mean anything.

Another blogger put together an elaborate version of a fake pregnancy joke. They used cryptic messages and images to get people all involved in the story. Then they posted a status on Facebook that they were expecting. Except it wasn’t a baby they were expecting, it was Santa.

I don’t think the blogger meant to upset anyone. I think she’s a genuinely nice person, who maybe hadn’t thought of the joke from this point of view. But when I pointed out that it might be funny to some people, but it might be hurtful to others (especially if friends or family are following and feel bad they weren’t told) I was immediately told that it was just a joke, it doesn’t mean anything, it was all just in good fun.

Your feelings don’t mean anything.

Humour is not an excuse to make people feel bad. Jokes about race, disabilities, rape – they’re not funny, and they aren’t clever. They’re a tool people use to put other people down. Yet, constantly these jokes are defended because it’s just meant to be funny. It doesn’t mean anything.

And when someone speaks out, when someone says that a joke can be hurtful, they’re put down, their feelings disregarded. And less people speak out. Less people say anything. The ‘humour’ goes on, unquestioned.

Infertility is silent enough as it is. People don’t talk about it. People don’t want to hear about it. So when someone talk about it, points out that people going through infertility are people with real feelings, don’t silence them. Acknowledge that there might something you may not have thought of, resolve not to cause that kind of hurt again. It doesn’t mean you’re a bad person, just that you may not have thought of something from a certain perspective.

Because everyone’s feelings mean something.

I Breastfeed and I’m Proud of It

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The first time I fed Squirm

Breastfeeding is probably the top controversy issue of early parenting these days. There’s constant research being published – and then being publicised by media outlets that haven’t read them properly. There’s a constant stream of articles criticising pro-breast feeding associations. Then there’s still places in Australia where women are threatened, insulted and intimidated when they feed in public.

The other day, at my ABA meeting, we talked about how hard it is to get a positive breast feeding message out there. If you talk about breastfeeding at all, in general conversation, you run the risk of being accused of making other people guilty. And one mother added that she’s constantly being bombarded with stories about how other people can’t breastfeed. Just the other day I had to breastfeed at the counter at Spotlight (because the woman serving me was letting everyone else’s purchases be put through before mine – despite the fussing baby!) and was treated to a 5 minute speech on how ‘natural’ it was while making it rather clear that I shouldn’t be making other people feel guilty.

Truthfully, I’m proud that I breastfeed. It wasn’t easy. I missed out on a natural birth, missed out on skin to skin and didn’t get to try and feed until 8 hours after Squirm was born. Although he latched on and fed well at first, we had big trouble for the rest of the week. I kept being told that what I was doing was fine, but he just wouldn’t feed! It took a lesson with a lactation consultant and a lot of feeds to even start to get comfortable. Then we had a painful oversupply problem, complete with Squirm gumming down on my breasts in an attempt to stop the milk flowing so freely.

I’m proud that I persisted. I’m proud that I researched breast feeding so I had some idea of what was going on and how to fix it. I’m proud that I talked to people when I needed to.

And I think any mother who tries their hardest to breastfeed should feel proud about it too.

But I also think that there’s a lot of places where different systems are letting us and our babies down. Media reports sensationalising breastfeeding make people cranky and less open to thoughtful information let us down. Hospitals which make it hard for parents to have skin to skin with their babies let us down. Baby food companies who promote feeding from four months, when the WHO recommendations are 6 months – and then provide posters to doctors surgeries – let us down. Even the old saying ‘almost everyone can breastfeed’ lets us down. I think it should be changed to ‘almost everyone can learn to breastfeed – but they need all the support our collective societies can provide’.

The other side which needs to be considered is that there are people who find breastfeeding prohibitively difficult. PCOS, CFS, fertility issues can all cause difficulties. In these cases, we need to support the parent to do the absolute best for their baby – and themselves. And we need to have the honest conversations about it – the way we do other medical and care issues affecting babies.

How do you think we could promote breastfeeding better in the community?