Mummy Guilt (or...foray into the full-time workforce)

It always amazes me to see that little blog counter still ticking over when I haven't posted in so long. I do have a good excuse this time though...I have re-entered the world of full-time work for the first time in fifteen years!
I have always worked part-time or casual jobs between birthing babies but this is my first full-time role in a decade and a half!
A month or so ago our Church Campus pastor asked me to step in as his new PA while his current (incredible) PA goes on maternity leave. I prayed long and hard about it as it was a huge decision....an awesome, humbling opportunity - but a massive change for our family.
But, in the end, I decided to bite the proverbial bullet and go for it! I have been training for three weeks and start officially on my own on Monday...*exhale*....yikes! Plus I will continue to teach scrapbooking classes on a Monday morning and a monthly Saturday.
The kids are all at school this year, and Rich has some flexibility in his job, which makes for an easier time. However...we are having to make some big changes to how we operate.
First big challenge was the change in the way I dressed every day.
Suffice to say that I have gone from looking like this...

...to EXACTLY this....seriously!

This little number was already a busy member of our family but has been utilised with increasing frequency lately.

A great little tip for all those busy working Mums...try turning it on before you go in the morning. Amazing what forgetting to do that just the once will teach you...imagine doing it twice. Yep, that's right *sigh*.

I'm drinking plenty of this...

Doing a whole lot of this....

And trying to avoid this...

So far, so good. I have a little pang of guilt every now and then but then I remember that I have been a full-time, school volunteering, taxi driving, hands-on mother of four for a long time and that this is a new season.
After all, it is only a maternity leave position. How long could that possible last?
...Mine only lasted fifteen years ;)

Roast Pumpkin, Bacon and Feta Frittata

Every now and then a recipe comes along that becomes a family staple. This recipe is one my sister Tracey first introduced to our family and it has become an absolute favourite. I make this every few weeks for my lunch during the week, or for a light, yummy dinner with a salad. It's the perfect recipe for a pot luck dinner or to make for a friend who is under the weather....which is what I am doing right now, prompting me to post this :)

My sister actually won a contest with this recipe recently for Philadelphia light cream for cooking!

These photos were taken on the day she created the recipe entry...recipes are nothing without photos don't you think?

Roast Pumpkin, Bacon and Feta Frittata


INGREDIENTS
½ cup (40g) finely grated parmesan cheese
600g pumpkin, peeled, chopped coarsely
1 tablespoon olive oil
6 green onions (green shallots)
4 bacon rashers, chopped coarsely
1 clove garlic, crushed
6 eggs
2 teaspoons cornflour
½ cup (125ml) cream (Philadelphia light cooking cream of course!)
salt and pepper
100g fetta cheese




METHOD
1. Preheat the oven to hot (200°C). Coat a small baking dish with cooking oil spray, sprinkle the base and sides with half of the parmesan cheese.


2. Combine the pumpkin and oil in a large baking dish. Bake, uncovered, in a hot oven, for 15 minutes. Cut the green onions into 1cm pieces. Add the bacon, garlic and shallots to the dish and bake for a further 15 minutes or until pumpkin and bacon are browned lightly.


3. Spoon the pumpkin mixture into the prepared pan. Reduce the oven temperature to moderate (180°C).


4. Whisk the eggs and remaining parmesan with the combined cornflour and cream in a medium bowl, season with salt and pepper. Pour egg mixture over the pumpkin mixture and sprinkle with crumbled fetta cheese.


5.Bake, uncovered, in a moderate oven for about 45 minutes or until set. Stand frittata in pan for 10 minutes before turning out.


6.Serve warm or cold with salad, if desired.

AWOL

I've been AWOL, I know. We have just returned from a whirlwind week away in Sydney. My husband and I are the children's Pastors for the Hillsong Church Brisbane campus and we had our church's annual conference last week. It was a brilliant week of speakers such as Bishop TD jakes, Andy Stanley and Judah Smith...incredible stuff.

We work in the Kidsong program where we look after all of the conference delegate's kids for the week....over 1000 of them! 

Rich and I ran the outdoor programs with big scale games like 'World Cup Soccer' on the program. I am still trying to get the grass stains out of our clothes from that game!

Before I left I managed to create a few layouts at a small crop with some great friends. It was lovely to catch up and scrap away with a lot of laughs and good food to share :)

Miss Mikaela with some beautiful Bo Bunny papers. This Mamarazzi range is stunning. I know the title strip has the American spelling of Colour but I loved the quote so much I went with it ;)

I have been loving the look of these Studio Calico papers. Perfect for Lethal Ethan's Sports Day layout :)

This is my layout for this month's July Cybercrop at Little Scrapbook Shop. I set a challenge to use a word that defines you - a word that is descriptive of what you believe, stand for or just simply describes you. The challenge also asked to use the dictionary definition of the word and a self portrait on your layout.

This last layout is one I created for our gorgeous little friend Danielle who's birthday party I photographed a few weeks ago. I made this layout for her and framed it for her bedroom as a reminder of her wonderful day. I hops she likes it!

I have a few new projects going up at A2Z Scraplets this week and will share them as soon as they are released. I also have some new class projects for work to share as soon as I have photographed them. 
In the meantime I have loads of washing to catch up on from our week away. The kids have a pupil free day tomorrow and Rich has a day off so I may enlist some laundry assistants ;)
Got a good tip for removing those stubborn grass stains with minimal effort?