Hey There, Distraction. Thanks for kicking my arse.

I whipped into my studio/storeroom just after the kids went to sleep, with all intentions of posting a quick, easy chocolate-chip cookie recipe to help use up your extra Easter eggs (cause if you're anything like us, they're still coming out the wazoo and any pleasure gained from eating them has been replaced with a bloated self-loathing. No? Oh, it's just me then. Carry on.) But I got sucked down the internet rabbit-hole and found myself reading my old jewellery business blog, Trove.

I honestly haven't given it too much thought since we closed the business down last year (a move I in no way regret. The timing was just bad for us to have such a big, involved business.) but reading over the journey Sparky and I (and Isy for some of it) have taken did make me feel...funny. I remember so many late nights, so many books scrawled with plans and calculations and figures and collections and sketches and logos, so many big big dreams. I don't think I realised until just now just how close we were to making those dreams a reality.

But that's the only bad thing about dreams becoming reality: the reality part.

The long, long hours, the crappy pay, the time spent away from the kids and Sparky, the hundreds of hours of stress and guilt.

Life is a constant see-saw balancing act, where you need to give and take to keep the overall balance there. Sometimes you tip one way, other times you lean in the opposite direction. Sometimes you even feel stable and balanced.

For us, Trove pushed the balance too far in one direction and made it really difficult to tip back. So, when I read about the excitement and promise that was in our business, I need to remind myself that this quest for a simple(r) life means there's plenty of time for everything, just not at the same time.

*And here ends today's diary entry.

Continue on for a delicious choc-chip cookie recipe, that allows you to use up your extra Easter eggs...

You'll need: 


125g butter
1/4 cup peanut butter
1 cup brown sugar
1 egg, lightly beaten
3/4 cup SR flour
3/4 cup plain flour
1/2 cup rolled oats (I often use muesli if I'm out of oats)
1 cup choc bits or chopped up Easter eggs
a handful of sultanas

1. Melt butter and peanut butter over medium heat. Once combined, transfer to a large bowl and cool for five minutes.

2. Add brown sugar and egg, mix well. Add flours, oats, chocolate and sultanas. Mix well to combine.

3. Roll tablespoons of mixture into balls, place on baking paper lined trays and flatten slightly with a fork.

4. Cook in preheated oven (180C) for 10-12 minutes or until golden. (By around 12 minutes they tend to go quite hard and crunchy. 10 or 11 minutes leaves them chewy.)

Delish, and calorie free when consumed for breakfast. (Not that I ate two.)

My Gift Challenge Begins

A couple of weeks ago I challenged myself to make every gift purchase this year either handmade, homemade, vintage or repurposed. Easter is nearly upon us, and while we're not huge on Easter gift giving here, we do have lots of nieces and nephews and couldn't not get them something chocolatey.

So I decided to make the chocolates myself. I found some cute chocolate molds at House and bought a few packets of chocolate melts. I already had some food colouring on hand, as well as some sprinkles. It was totally time-consuming and totally delicious, but I think it was a success.

Actually, I know it was a success because we have eaten them all and I need to make another batch.

But basically I melted half a pack of melts at a time (in a double boiler situation) and coloured the white chocolate with a couple of drops of green, pink and yellow food colouring, to give that cutesy, traditional pastel feel. I also made a lot of milk chocolate eggs (much tastier than the white chocolate, I have to admit) and sprinkled the backs with different coloured '00s and '000s.

Just a tip, err on the side of underfilling your molds rather than overfilling. They get a chunky looking edge to them if you over-fill.

Apologies for the lack of photos, but I was too busy licking spoons to take many shots. I'll take some of the finished presents though, I promise!

As for packaging, I have a drawer-full of pretty paper and bags I've been given gifts in over the years (who doesn't? I swear those things multiply) so I'm sure I'll find something in there that I can use.

If nothing else, I know this exercise works out cheaper than buying Lindt bunnies for everyone. All up, I made (and consumed) enough chocolate for everyone and it cost around $20, including the reusable molds, so I'm well ahead money-wise. Just a few hours poorer time-wise!