Re-posting recipes

Just thought I would warn you that over the next few days I will be re-posting a bunch of recipes.

In my infinite wisdom I originally put them online as pages - subpages to be exact - and not all of the lovely templates here at Wordpress display pages and their subs in an attractive manner.  So, to prevent any ugliness if and when I choose to change the look of the blog again (and to reduce the unnecessary clutter in the pages section of my Dashboard) I will be re-posting the recipe and then deleting the page.  Hopefully this won't be a cause for concern for anyone, but I thought I would pre-warn you before the recipe onslaught begins.

For reference, here is the list of what will be re-appearing shortly:

• Apple crepes & a basic crepe recipe


• Buckwheat noodle salad with grilled tofu and roasted peppers


• Chickpea burgers


• Lemon and ginger cheesecake


• Lentil shepherd's pie


• Tunisian pepper and potato couscous


• Wild Blackberry cobbler

New Look for 2009

It's fair to say that I like to have things change about a bit and this blog is no exception.

This year I have moved to the "Neat" template with my own custom header.  Only one sidebar this time, but that might cut down on the visual clutter (eventually).

Also, I promise to be more present in the near future.  I have been a little preoccupied over the last few weeks as Mr OWW has been away in Europe on business and isn't due back until tomorrow.  I've also had family stay and that obviously takes priority over indulging in OWW.

I still have another month or two of books to post about, and I promise (once the digital camera has returned from it's holiday abroad) to post something passable for a cross-stitch update.

In the meantime, thanks for your patience and hopefully the gaping hole will soon be filled with blog posts.

New look dashboard

I quite like it.

It will probably take me a while to get around to finding everything again, but the grey and blue look is my kind of colour scheme.  Probably a lot of "pink" and "neon" blog owners out there crying over their keyboards at the blandness though.

On other unresolved issues I'm still getting 'interesting' links in my "click" list, some of which are not particularly palatable.  Supposedly they are from my "related posts" section - which, as far as I know I turned off a week after they introduced it.  Still, if that's the only glitch I have to suffer here at WP.com, then all is right in the world.
If those of you who visit see the "Possibly Related Posts" addenda at the end of any of my posts, could you please drop me an email or leave a comment.  Personally I have never seen any, but that's what the WP support staff seem to think is generating my unsavoury outgoing links.  I'd like to know one way or another for myself if some folk are seeing things I'm not.  [That's not to say my loyal readers are too fond of the drink, now.]

Oh, and for those who are not WP.com bloggers (or about to self-host WP 2.7), then this post has probably been a bit puzzling.  Don't worry - it's not you, it's just me rambling on about the stuff behind the blog.   By way of making that up to you, I shall be posting my November books review shortly, so see you then.

A quiet life

Yes, the blog has been very, very quiet for some time now.
A total of two entries for the whole of October and up until now only two for November.

It is almost as though I have gone on an anti-NaBloPoMo couple of months.
Although if I tell the honest truth this really is a continuation of my loss of mojo.
Since I can't currently take Bruce's advice and whisk myself away to a Tuscan villa, much as I'd love to, I guess I will just have to blog about the writer's block.

First a few home truths about Ms Oh Waily.

1. I am predominantly an introvert.
- That has nothing to do with how much I can talk, however.
2. I like routine.
- Not that I am averse to nice surprises involving food, travel or other luxuries.
3. I tend to be lazy and/or prefer being comfortable.
- Have you seen any mention of running recently?

Those three big personality traits tend to lead you down the path to being a stay-at-home, stay-at-home mother.  Unsurprisingly this is not conducive to new experiences and therefore new blogging topics.
Either I am completely tragic or just currently in a deeper-than-I'd-like-it-to-be rut.
Obviously I'd like to think it's just a rut.

Therefore, working on the premise that it is simply a rut that I need to lever myself up and out of, here are a few spanners about to be thrown into the introverted, routinised and lazy world of Ms Oh Waily...

• Ms Oh Waily plans to join a gym again (crèche willing).


• Miss Oh Waily may join a bilingual playgroup on Saturday mornings. The entire Oh Waily family may be about to begin learning Mandarin as a result.


• Ms Oh Waily may cave in and send Miss Oh Waily to daycare two days a week.

The last one of these is a bit in the air as I have mixed feelings about it.  On the one hand, it'll be great for the little Miss to get out and socialise regularly and in a new environment with other littlies.  On the other hand it's stacking up to being a wrench for Ms Oh Waily - not to mention the cost of it.  Right at this minute the scales are balanced evenly, so the decision remains to be made on this.

What does all this mean for you, the reader?

Hopefully more blog entries, although if I do rejoin the gym it may be a few weeks before the aching disappears enough that my fingers can do their keyboard gymnastics again.  And maybe the odd word or phrase of a *foreign* language might slip in to our conversation too.  We'll all just have to wait and see.

I'll keep you posted.

- - -

A quick request to those multi-lingual readers out there - and I know there are a few of you - what recommendations do you have for encouraging bilingualism and what stories of success/failure do you have to share?   Did you learn your second or third language as a child or an adult?  Do you have first-hand pros and cons to learning earlier or later?