A new year, six days on.

So, the holidays are officially over and my beloved Lee has gone back to work. I'm home by myself (kids are with Grandparents) and I've been busy. About a week or so ago I set out 45 goals for myself to achieve by the end of the year. We're at Day 6 and I'm pleased to say that I've completed 4 goals and am about to start another.

Goals completed:

13. Sew myself a skirt. Accomplished January 5, 2014Ta-da. It was harder than I am used to and it took 2 days to complete. But it's done and I'm proud of it. It's made of a heavy denim material that I got from Spotlight. Spotlight is now to me what Bunnings is to Lee.

17. Organise the DVD library into order. Accomplished January 1, 2014. It took hours and a fair amount of help firstly from Connor and then Erin, but it's done. Due to us having so many boxed sets I had to resort to a double layer system (back row for singles and front for sets) which I hate, but there was no alternative. Ben 10, for his part, made the move to Connor's room because I just had no room for the Umpty Bazillion copies owned by our son.

What you see here is not the whole collection, but merely I to Dinosaurs. Okay, to be honest, there's no firm order. The singles are sorted alphabetically while the sets are placed according to where I have room, plus, I found we had so many documentaries of prehistoric times, it made more sense to give the dinosaurs their own space.

24. Clean the front windows. Accomplished January 6, 2014. No photo, but yes, as of this morning all front windows are cleaned as is our bathroom window. I've actually decided to extend this to the whole house. There are 12 sets of windows and 3 sets are done.

40. Watch an "Alien" movie. Accomplished January 1, 2014. An easy one to start the year off (although, I did complete the DVD organisation first). We watched Alien 4 (the one with Winona Ryder). I enjoyed it heaps because it was actual Science Fiction rather than SF/Horror. I'll watch that one again.

And, as of today, I start studying Introduction to Forensic Science. I am so excited about this as it's waaaay outside my usual areas of study. Lee and I are heavily into "Community" at the moment, so I can't wait to meet my study group :) Yeah, I'll probably be Shirley what with all the kids and the baking, and speaking of which, here's my newest muffin recipe. I love it when I find odds and ends in the fridge that need using up.

Choc Chips and Coconut Muffins

50g butter or marg melted but not hot
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 egg
1/2 cup coconut flavoured evaporated milk
1/2 cup light evaporated milk
1/4 cup peach juice
1/4 shredded or dessicated coconut
1 cup choc chips (I had about 1/2 cup each of both white and milk choc chips so added both)

2 1/2 cups Self Raising flour

Mix together butter and sugar. Stir in egg until just combined. Add both milks, peach juice, coconut and choc chips. Mix to combine.

Fold in flour.

Bake 15-20 minutes 180C. (I did them for 18 minutes and found them to be lovely and crispy on top but a little dry in the middle, so check at 15 minute mark).

These were absolutely delicious and rose beautifully.

Onwards and upwards.