Nan

Happy Birthday Myst - have a great day !!!

What can I say - Happy Birtyday Neon !!!

Hope he gets lots of rest and is back with us when he's able.

Happy Birthday Coby .. .have a great day !!!!

I don't know that I have any special woman to add to the list. I think all women are special. However I would like to see the day when women are given exactly the same opportunities as men. We are getting there but still, in some countries, cultures and even in our own western worlds, there are situations where women are not treated equally. I'd like to see more women CEOs of large companies, and in high management positions. Apparently at the moment it's something like 12% of women in high powered positions in business. As a woman, I celebrate my womanhood and the achievements I've made in my life. I am one of the lucky ones who has had a family, great employment and a husband who supported me (and did the washing up etc.) when I was working.

First, we survived being born to mothers who drank while they carried us and lived in houses made of asbestos. They took aspirin, ate blue cheese, raw egg products, loads of bacon and processed meat, tuna from a can, and didn't get tested for diabetes.... Then after that trauma, our baby cots were covered with bright coloured lead-based paints. We had no childproof lids on medicine bottles, doors or cabinets and when we rode our bikes, we had no helmets or shoes, not to mention, the risks we took hitchhiking. As children, we would ride in cars with no seat belts or air bags. We drank water from the garden hose and NOT from a bottle.... Take away food was limited to fish and chips, no pizza shops, McDonalds , KFC, Subway or Nandos. Even though all the shops closed at 6.00pm and didn't open on the weekends, somehow we didn't starve to death! We shared one soft drink with four friends, from one bottle and NO ONE actually died from this. We could collect old drink bottles and cash them in at the corner store and buy Toffees, Gobstoppers, Bubble Gum and some bangers to blow up frogs with. We ate cupcakes, white bread and real butter and drank soft drinks with sugar in it, but we weren't overweight because....... WE WERE ALWAYS OUTSIDE PLAYING!! We would leave home in the morning and play all day, as long as we were back when the streetlights came on. No one was able to reach us all day. And we were O.K. We would spend hours building our go-carts out of old prams and then ride down the hill, only to find out we forgot the brakes. We built tree houses and dens and played in river beds with matchbox cars. We did not have Playstations, Nintendo Wii , X-boxes, no video games at all, no 999 channels on SKY , no video/dvd films, no mobile phones, no personal computers, no Internet or Internet chat rooms...........WE HAD FRIENDS and we went outside and found them! We fell out of trees, got cut, broke bones and teeth and there were no Lawsuits from these accidents. Only girls had pierced ears! We ate worms and mud pies made from dirt, and the worms did not live in us forever. You could only buy Easter Eggs and Hot Cross Buns at Easter time... We rode bikes or walked to a friend's house and knocked on the door or rang the bell, or just yelled for them! Mum didn't have to go to work to help dad make ends meet! SPORT had tryouts and not everyone made the team. Those who didn't had to learn to deal with disappointment. Imagine that!! Getting into the team was based on MERIT The idea of a parent bailing us out if we broke the law was unheard of. They actually sided with the law! Our parents didn't invent names for their kids like 'Kiora' and 'Blade' and 'Ridge' and 'Vanilla' We had freedom, failure, success and responsibility, and we learned HOW TO DEAL WITH IT ALL ! If YOU are one of them! CONGRATULATIONS! You might want to share this with others who have had the luck to grow up as kids, before the lawyers and the government regulated our lives for our own good. And while you are at it, forward it to your kids so they will know how brave their parents were.

Happy Birthday Odd .. enjoy your birthday !

Happy Birthday Sirloin, have a great day !!!!

I do that !!! I have my "everyday" dining stuff and my "good" set that only comes out for dinner parties. And yes the good set is stored up high out of the way

Happy Birthday eXonyte, hope you have a great day !!!!

Where there's a will, there's a way Hope that ankle heals well !!!

Happy Birthday Crysta! Have a wonderful birthday !!

Happy Birthday Code !!!! Hope you had an excellent day

Wow that sounds really good, I'm going to give it a try over the weekend - thanks

I think some of those old saying explanations are great ! They are things we hear every day and never give a thought to what they really mean. I wonder if there are any more we could add to the list .. I bet there are

That's one seriously scary looking room Casa !!!

Happy Birthday Blondie - have a fantastic day !!

Happy Birthday Simple - have a really lovely birthday !

Happy Birthday Dawn! Have a great day !

Happy Birthday tomcat !!! Have a great birthday

I guess it's my turn - I'm the resident Aussie at koach.com - which means nothing really other than I live in a really beautiful country and like most Australian's I'm fairly laidback about "life" and don't let the little things get to me most of the time. I have 2 beautiful grandaughters who I share with their mother and father. I ride horses now and then, teach riders now and then, love a good chick flick, nice music and fast cars. I've found a really great chat home here at koach.com and made some nice friends and learned a lot about "the other side of the world".

This one was requested and again is really easy. Apples Sugar Small amount of water 1 clove Peel and slice the apples and place in a saucepan with a small amount of water and the sugar, add a clove. Cook over a low heat until the apple mixture is cooked - a few chunks of apple in the mix is good if you like it that way. remove the clove Get some frozen puff pastry, defrost a couple of sheets and cut into circles. You can choose the size of the pastie that you want to make and then double it for the circle diameter. Place the pastry circle on a board and then place a good amount of your apple mixture in the centre. fold each circle over to resemble a half circle and crimp the edges. sprinkle a little sugar (demerara sugar is great if you have it) over the top of each pasty. Cook in a moderate oven for about 20 mins or until the pastry is golden and has risen. You can eat them warm with cream or ice cream, or room temperature just as they are. When out of the oven

Here is a recipe for lemon butter, it's easy to make and so good on lots of things. You can use it on toast as a spread, or put it in little tart cases with a dollop of cream on top, or like my daughter, just eat it straight out of the jar Recipe for Lemon Butter: 4 egg yolks 1 cup of sugar 100 grams butter or marg juice of 3 lemons rind of 2 lemons beat eggs with sugar and put in a saucepan with butter and lemon juice. Stir over low heat until the mixture is the consistency of honey , add the lemon rind. Store in jars in the fridge.