Littletree’s Little Business

Littletree’s entrepreneurial talents have been full-speed ahead lately; in addition to her usual brownie and muffin selling, she’s been making loads of earrings and selling them, frantically saving up money.

Faster than I ever would have guessed possible, she had enough to buy herself her current coveted item – an iPod Touch. Well, this was also expedited by Apple bringing out the 5th Generation iPod Touch, and phasing out the 4th Gen ones, which meant that they suddenly became very cheap in stores, and she’s very happy to have it, regardless of being “last year’s model”.

First there was the great unboxing

And the magical moment of peeling off the screen cover

And voila!

Of course, then I had to spend a couple of hours installing iTunes on her computer and reminding myself how much I really hate iTunes and wondering why it has to be so damn difficult…

But I’ll chalk it up to an educational experience.

And Littletree is stoked; listening to music, playing games, messaging her friends, reading e-books, and learning stuff. She even bought herself a cute cover for it.

Now she’s redoubled her savings efforts, with the goal to buy a better telescope.

An Elven Adventure

Littletree has taken to Dungeons and Dragons – I suppose it was inevitable, what with all the geekery already going on in that child (remember we’re talking about a kid who wanted scale plush microbes for her birthday and who thinks drawing up molecular structures is a fun afternoon).

I asked my parents if they could send up some of the old books and dice we played with when I was young, and Littletree got a Player’s Handbook and her own set of dice from the Google SecretSanta at Christmas…

And away she went creating a character.

Lindy, the Ranger Elf.

Lindy has Autumn-ginger hair (oddly, about the same colour as Littletree’s), is fairly short for an elf (go figure), is a skilled archer, and wears leather armour. Lindy also has a keen sense of perception, and a strong connection to nature. She has great skill in climbing trees and in healing (sound familiar?)

So we go on little adventures, and the learning never stops. So much mental arithmetic, reading, statistics, calculations, as well as spatial awareness and strategy. Fun times!

C is for Cookie

Littletree has been doing some workbooks lately, and one of them – a phonics workbook, of all things – included a simple recipe for simple sugar biscuits.

So off she went, measuring,

Sifting (I love the old fashioned retro sifter I found at an op shop!)

Rolling out dough and cutting shapes

and lo! Biscuits!

She even did the dishes :-)

And it was educational too – we learned that it’s better to put two trays in the oven that squish everything together to make it all fit on one tray… and we learned that if you put a leaf-shaped biscuit too close to the bum of a bunny-shaped biscuit it comes out stuck together looking like a squirrel-shaped biscuit!

Conversations with Littletree

Don't get advice from

rocks, they always talk in

riddles and it's impossible

to get a straight answer.

Trees, on the other hand,

will tell you what you

need to know, but they

ramble on and on and on;

they never get to the point.

-- wisdom from Littetree

Half My Life

Now that the new year has passed, my dreadlocks can count their 17th birthday, and I realised (actually a couple of months ago), that I’ve passed the point where I’ve had them for more than half my life.

Given that I started them at sixteen-and-a-half, and I’m now thirty-three (and a half), so here’s a tribute to an epic journey – they’re not quite as long as they used to be – a few years back they were to my ankles, but that proved to be a hazard, so I keep them hovering around knee-length (for more history and dreadlock Q&A, see this old post on my Fifteen-Year-Dreadversary). 

One more trip around the Sun

Now that we've all survived another trip around the sun, and as we embark on another, entitled, 2013, I want to wish everyone a Happy and Awesome New Solar Revolution

Naturally, being a “new year”, I’ve been having long discussions with Littletree about what a year actually means – one trip around the Sun for the Earth, and how different cultures mark the start of each year at different times, and how different calendars calculate such things. And that rabbit hole of research led us, like so many things, to learning about the Sun, and the NASA website…

She pointed out the same thing I remember saying to my mother when I was about her age – what’s the point of calling it a “new” year, when every day starts a new year. And for each person, a new year really starts on their birthday.

Magic Yule

Littletree woke up on Christmas morning to find some special surprises under the tree! So we snuggled in for breakfast in bed and the great unwrapping

There was a Spirit Hood from our wonderful friend Miri (check out her awesome hand-crafted hoods HERE). This one was made especially for Littletree, in a scruffy cat style – absolutely perfect for her.

A special friend sent a pair of binoculars – really good ones! Littletree is so excited about it.

From AquaCat she got two crystals, a ruby heart

and a clear quartz crystal ball

From me Littletree got something she’s been ogling for a long time – a Swiss Army Knife – especially with a magnifying glass.

So much joy and excitement!

Then we got up and made egg nog for brunch – extra special with local eggs and organic cream

So rich and so YUMMY!

Even BooBoo got a tiny bit as a special treat. He said MRAO!

We relaxed, played some games, watched a video, and then had our Epic Christmas Seafood Feast

Lobster and prawns and big salads!

Littletree went out in the afternoon to play with some neighbourhood kids while we cleaned up, and of course, rounding off the day with home made Irish Cream and tiramisu.

Happy Day!

Epic Christmas Baking

Getting ready for our epic Christmas feast, Littletree and I spent the day baking. See – I knew it would be a bad idea to introduce her to baking; now she’s hooked. And the worst part is she can read the recipes herself now. Oh, what have I done!?

First things first – making gingerbread dough… because that is the first step in the creation of a gingerbread house.

The dough turned out nicely, and left to sit in the fridge for a few hours.

Meanwhile… we made tiramisu

I love tiramisu, but it’s quite a process to make it all from scratch – lots of different mixing bowls and layers to prepare, but it’s always worth it.

Once that was in the fridge to set, we got out the gingerbread dough and started rolling it out. We discovered a great tip – roll the dough between sheets of baking paper.

I found a nice stencil online for the house shapes, but it was so ridiculously not to scale… that turned into a nice geometry lesson; Littletree had to get out a ruler and calculate the measurements and angles.

Then we discovered that the best way to cut the shapes and transfer them onto the baking tray was to actually leave the dough sandwiched between the sheets of baking paper and cut it out with scissors. Works a treat, and easy to put right onto the baking tray as-is!

After the shapes were baked and cooled, we had the epic mission of making up royal icing (epic because in the humidity, my icing sugar had solidified into a solid rock and I had to grind it by hand with a mortar and pestle back into powder form.

And then came the assembly!

After a quick lesson on how to properly handle an icing bag and nozzle, I stepped aside and let Littetree have at it.

Despite a few sticky accidents learning experiences, she got the hang of it, and the gingerbread house was made beautifully, complete with a cat on the roof.

For some reason, I never took a photo of the finished product… but none of it would have been possible if not for AquaCat coming round to do all the dishes

All set for an epic feast!