January 2023 - PLAYWORKEATREPEAT

Weekend Fun

Hi friends I hope you guys had a great weekend. And are all ready to jump into a brand-new week. I’m happy to be back again today on this very rainy and humid Monday evening. As usual, I am linking up with Holly and Sarah and sharing some of my weekend fun. Weekend Fun Saturday Saturday morning I had a few errands to run. So I made a quick trip to the shops and I saw some displays and decorations for the Lunar New Year celebrations. I didn’t have time to stop so I just took a few quick pics. In the evening we went to my aunt’s house and we got to meet my cousin and his girlfriend’s new baby. Isn’t she just so precious? I picked her up for a cuddle and was instantly smitten. I don’t think that I have ever gone so gaga over a puppy before. But I just loved this little one instantly. Isn’t she so tiny!! Her name is Zilla which is short for Godzilla 😂. Here she is having a cuddle with Sam. Zilla is a miniature chihuahua and I can hardly believe how small she is. Here she is asleep in a tiny cat bed. We all had fun cuddling and stroking Zilla as well as being very careful not to step on her. We all froze every time she moved from her tiny bed to her doggie carrier. We stayed for dinner and my aunt made a delicious Chinese dinner to celebrate the Lunar New Year. Then for dessert, we enjoyed some fruit tarts and egg custard tarts. Yum! Sunday On Sunday I caught up with my friend who I met 23 years ago when she worked at preschool with me. She joined us on a one-year contract filling in for a maternity leave position. We clicked instantly and have been friends ever since. Over the 23 years, we have had huge gaps where we didn’t hear from each other. Mainly because she went to live in Europe for a long time. She has been back in Australia for a number of years now and we catch up every so often. I love how we can always just pick up where we have left off. She always makes me laugh so much and is just so much fun to be with. Shopping For Makeup She is also my makeup guru. And I am always so amazed by her knowledge of different brands of makeup. And I love how she’s always so honest in telling me what suits me and what doesn’t. So on Sunday, we zigzagged around the city visiting Sephora, Mecca, Myer and David Jones. My friend had a list of specific products that she was on the lookout for. She introduced me to Chantecaille eye shadow and I was so tempted to buy this colour but I didn’t because I recently bought the NARS palette. Oh, man! It took all of my willpower to walk away. Then we looked at the amazing range of nail polish in David Jones. I was almost in a trance looking at all the pretty colours. And I nearly bought a really nice bronze-coloured nail polish but they were out of stock. In fact, everything seemed to be out of stock. Apparently, there are major issues with the supply chain. Which probably saved me a lot of money! And in the end, neither of us bought anything. But to be honest there weren’t any products that I needed. It was so much fun just browsing and getting lots of make-up tips from my friend. Free Kombucha! They were giving away cans of kombucha in Pitt St Mall. And the young girl gave us two each. We didn’t realise it was kombucha until we read the cans. And we both said at the same time ” I hate kombucha”. But hey it was free! My friend had me in hysterics as I watched her trying to fit her freebies into her LV bag! Lunch We ended our day by going to the QVB and enjoying a nice long lunch while we caught up on what’s been happening with us since the last time we met. We talked non-stop for ages reminiscing about when we first met and all of the funky fashions we used to wear to work. Back then we didn’t have to wear enclosed granny shoes as we do now. We were allowed to wear any type of footwear we wanted. So she and I would wear strappy platform shoes that were all the rage back then thanks to the Spice Girls. Haha, such fun times! For lunch, I ordered a chicken and leek pie with kale and quinoa salad. Because I have an obsession with chicken and leek pies at the moment. And my friend had an Italian panini with a lentil and edamame salad. I tried my free kombucha and it didn’t taste like anything so I was happy to drink it. Plus I was very thirsty! On the way back to the train station I bought some caramelised peanuts to enjoy at home. It was such a fun Sunday! Setting Up The Classroom At Preschool Today it was all hands on deck as we continued to move the furniture around and finish where we left off on Friday. We set up the classrooms and prepared the craft and all the other activities ready for tomorrow when the children start. We had a training afternoon scheduled as well. So we were racing to get everything finished by 2 pm. The day just flew by so fast but I found it so satisfying to declutter and organise the room. I love how spacious everything is now and I think that all the staff did such a great job setting up the learning areas. Especially because the preschool is in an old building that has so many limitations. I’m looking forward to meeting the new children tomorrow. As well as welcoming

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Random Favourites

17 Comments / Friday Favorites, Home

Hi everyone it’s so great to be back today for Friday favourites with Andrea and Erika. This week feels kind of strange because today was my first day back at work. So yesterday felt like a Sunday and today feels like a Monday except that now it’s the weekend. It’s so confusing! But anyway, I am so happy to be here today sharing a few random favourites. A Few Random Favourites A Trip To Ikea I had a fun trip to Ikea with my lovely friend the other day. Going to Ikea with her is a big favourite because we both like to browse around at the same pace. Which is nice and slow, checking everything out and even going back if we have missed something. I noticed that they have some new furniture like this comfy chair which reminds me of the very expensive Eames chair. I could totally see myself relaxing on one of these. Walking around made us both really hungry so we stopped for lunch. I nearly chose the meatballs like I usually do but then decided on the healthy salmon. I was pleasantly surprised that it tasted so good because I nearly didn’t order it thinking that it looked a bit bland. For dessert, we had orange cake. I also had an iced mocha and my friend had tea. Tea My super sweet bestie went to Melbourne for a week and she brought me back this yummy tea. I really loved the flavour because I could taste the black tea (my favourite) but as I sipped it I could also smell and taste the vanilla and rose petals. I googled who Ruth Crow was and it turns out that she was a social activist who believed that people could go on to achieve great things when they met together over a cup of tea. How interesting…go, Ruth! Delicious Dip Another random favourite is this fetta and olive dip that I bought from the farmer’s market. It tastes so good with wholemeal crackers. Frozen Avocado Slices My aunt told me about these frozen avocado slices. I didn’t even know that you could freeze avocado. We love to eat avocados but they ripen so fast all at once and if we don’t eat them quickly. Then they turn mushy and I sometimes end up having to throw them out. So these frozen slices are perfect! The Last Day Of The Holidays Thursday was our last day of the school holidays and it was Australia Day. My sweet friend who I am very lucky to work with. We both decided to make the most of the last day by treating ourselves to a lovely lunch in the city. We had a look at the shops first and then we stopped off at a bar called Reign which is located inside the iconic Queen Victoria building. I love the decor it’s just so beautiful with great big windows and gorgeous chandeliers. It was so lovely sitting there enjoying some fancy cocktails. It almost made me forget that we had to go back to work the next day….almost but not quite! The cocktail I ordered was called ‘La Vista Azul’. The waiter recommended it to me but I was a bit unsure at first because it had jalapeño as one of the ingredients. He assured me that it wasn’t spicy and I was glad that I listened to him because it was really good. I just made sure to stay away from the big jalapeño garnish! My friend enjoyed a cocktail called Kyoto Rose which looked so pretty garnished with a big bright rose petal. A Long Lazy Lunch Then it was time to head over to the restaurant for our 2 pm lunch reservation. And we had such a delicious lunch while looking at some gorgeous views of Sydney Harbour. We both ordered the barramundi. And the apple crumble. Then we wandered around Circular Quay which was absolutely buzzing with people celebrating Australia Day. And there was so much to see as we walked along to The Rocks. We ended up at a pub where we hung around for a while listening to a live band. Some people were dancing and really getting into the celebrations and enjoying the public holiday. Back To Work Then just like that, our fun summer holidays were over and today I went back to work. During the holidays the carpets were all cleaned so when we walked in this morning. All the furniture was piled up like this! It was a pupil-free day and so we started the day with a very long and productive planning meeting. The meeting finished at lunchtime and our lovely director had lunch catered for us. After lunch, we spent the rest of the afternoon moving the piles of furniture and organising the classrooms. This year I am in a different room because we rotate every couple of years. The classroom that I will be in is much bigger than the one I was in for the last two years. Getting The Classrooms Organised Our preschool building isn’t purpose-built. And it’s actually in an old heritage building which was originally the council chambers. So trying to work out the learning areas can be a bit tricky. But because we are starting fresh in different classrooms. We got creative and made quite a few changes. It meant a lot of moving furniture around but I quite like reconfiguring rooms. The classroom teacher and I were both on the same page and we wanted more space and less furniture. We ended up putting some furniture aside that was looking a bit tired. And we will decide on Monday if we are going to store it or give it away. We still didn’t finish setting up the classrooms but that’s ok because Monday we have another pupil-free day. And the children don’t start preschool until Tuesday. I’m so glad that we have an extra day because it means we can

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Beating The Winter Blues

7 Comments / Beauty and Self Care

Hi friends today I am linking up with Holly and Patty for the January 2023 edition of Monthly Musings. This month’s topic is ‘Beating The Winter Blues’. Here in Australia, it is summer!! And I am so happy about that. Winter would have to be my least favourite season and it sure is hard sometimes to beat the winter blues. Especially when there are endless days with grey skies and freezing temps. Nope, I am not looking forward to when it’s our turn for winter AT ALL. But I do have some tips for how I beat the winter blues. Before I know it, It will be my turn to be freezing and I will be reading all about my friends in the Northern Hemisphere having a wonderful summer! Beating The Winter Blues SOMETHING YOU DO FOR YOURSELF TO BEAT THE WINTER BLUES I try to get as much sun as possible during the day. I work in a preschool and we spend large chunks of the day in the playground. So when we have those really crisp cold days and the sun is out. I will make sure to sit in the sun and soak up the warmth. The sun really lifts my mood and I miss it so much when we have those cloudy grey days in winter. SOMETHING YOU DO FOR YOUR FAMILY TO BRING JOY OVER THE WINTER I like to indulge all of us with lots of delicious comfort food. Comfort food would have to be the best part about winter! FAVOURITE COZY ITEMS OR GO-TO’S We keep a basket full of our favourite soft cozy blankets in the living room. So when we sit down on the lounge to watch something on TV or read a book they are right within reach. WINTER EXERCISE HABITS OR PRACTICES Other than a very fast-paced walk to and from work which is about 25 minutes each way. I don’t do any other exercise. DO YOU PRACTICE JOURNALING OR MEDITATION? I practice journaling but I don’t do it as often as I would like to. I’m hoping to be more consistent this year. DO YOU LIGHT CANDLES OR USE ESSENTIAL OILS TO RELAX I really like to use both but on really cold nights I prefer to light candles. Either scented or unscented. Anything that gives off heat to help beat the winter blues! BEDTIME RITUALS I like to have a shower and put my pyjamas and fleecy robe on. Then have a cup of tea while I watch a bit of television. I always feel so relaxed after I have a shower and wash the day away. WHAT ARE MORNING HABITS THAT HELP PREPARE FOR A GOOD DAY Confession time…I am not a morning person at all. I struggle so hard to get out of my cozy bed during winter. So once my alarm goes off I have to force myself to get up. But once I’m up I try to make sure I do my morning devotions. If I don’t do them first thing then I forget. I also try to drink a glass of water in the morning. When I do this I seem to remember to drink more water during the day. Then like to get stuck into my weekly cleaning routine so that chores aren’t waiting for me when I get home from work. And also so they don’t pile up for the weekend. FAVOURITE WAY TO SPEND A DAY OFF IN WINTER In my warm cozy home binge watching a favourite show and drinking hot drinks. FAVOURITE WINTER-THEMED MOVIES I honestly don’t have any favourite winter-themed movies. Our winter is from June to August so we can’t even enjoy watching Christmas movies. I think that if I lived in a country where it was winter during Christmas time then I would definitely be watching those! It was fun joining in today’s link-up. Thank you so much for stopping by to have a read. As I struggle so much with beating the winter blues I did a blog post last year all about Ten Winter Essentials that you might like to read. Happy Thursday friends and stay warm!

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January-What’s Up Wednesday

14 Comments / Family Life

Hey everyone it’s so great to be back for the first ‘What’s Up Wednesday’ in January 2023! I am linking up with Shay and Sheaffer to share a bit about what’s been going on in my little corner of the world. And today it’s all about what we’ve been eating, watching, listening to and wearing. Plus a whole lot more and I am so happy that you have stopped by! January-What’s Up Wednesday **Disclosure: The links provided in this post are affiliate links. I will be paid a commission if you use these links to make a purchase Let’s start with 1. What We’re Eating This Week I have been really enjoying doing lots of cooking during January. It’s been so great not having to rush home from work and hurry up to get dinner ready. Instead, I have been taking my time and enjoying the whole process. So far this week we have had Turkey Bolognese on Monday Tuesday we had chicken and chickpea casserole with cashews and rice. Tonight we are having quiche Teriyaki Salmon with rice and Asian salad are on the menu for Thursday. Friday we’ll probably get takeaway because it will be my first day back at work and it will be a nice treat to look forward to. 2. What I’m Reminiscing About Christmas! Wow, it almost feels like months and months ago when we were all prepping and then celebrating Christmas. We had such a fun Christmas Eve eating way too much delicious food and playing crazy fun games. In case you missed it you can read all about our Christmas Eve here. Although I don’t go back to work until this Friday. I’m already reminiscing about the wonderful time I spent at home during my summer holiday. It’s been such a great January and even though we didn’t go away anywhere. I still enjoyed heaps of fun day trips, hanging out with my family and a couple of fun overnight staycations. Yep, there’s a lot to reminisce about. 3. What I’m Loving Staying up late and waking up late! I have thoroughly enjoyed the freedom of having time to enjoy every day in January. 4. What We’ve Been Up To Lots and lots of lazy days at home. 5. What I’m Dreading Going back to work. Now I must say that I am lucky to have a great job in a wonderful preschool with a fantastic team. BUT going back to the working routine is so hard….boooooo! 6. What I’m Working On Mindfulness! I declared mindfulness as my word for the year. So I have been really conscious about making sure to stay in the moment. Because life is just way too short! 7. What I’m Excited About Going back to work…..haha! No only kidding!! I’m actually very excited about squeezing in one more bit of fun before I start back at work on Friday. My lovely friend and I are treating ourselves to a long lunch in the city at a lovely restaurant tomorrow. Yes, there will be cocktails for sure! 8. What I’m Watching I have been exploring shows on Binge and watching lots of episodes of ‘The Sopranos’. Which I am thoroughly enjoying. We are also watching ‘Blue Bloods’. I have always really enjoyed this show on TV. But we only ever caught episodes here and there. Now that we have subscribed to Binge we have started from the very first episode. And finally, storylines are making more sense. 9. What I’m Listening To Eve St. Jones on Spotify. I have loved loved loved listening to her Jazz and bossa nova renditions of popular songs. Some of her songs are very current and others are classic contemporary favourites. She has such a beautiful smooth voice and it’s so relaxing to have her music playing softly in the background. 10. What I’m Wearing Some days I’ve been wearing shorts when it’s been really hot. Then other days when it’s been cooler I’ve been wearing jeans. The weather has been so weird this summer. 11. What I’m Doing This Weekend I am getting together with my family for lunch on Saturday and on Sunday I’m going shopping with a friend. 12. Favourite Amazon Purchase This Month DVD Case I have been doing a lot of decluttering in January. And I still had way too many DVDs in their original covers which take up so much space. So I bought this fantastic DVD case on Amazon. And now I can fit the rest of my DVDs neatly inside. I like to keep my DVDs because some of them are old favourites that I can’t always find on streaming services. Yep, I love those old cheesy Danielle Steele movies! Grooming Brush Our cat Sushi loves to laze about leaving her black fur behind on the furniture. So I thought that I would give this cat/dog grooming brush a try. Oh my goodness what a great buy this was! I was able to brush out a lot of her loose fur. And one of the best features of this brush is that you press the button at the back and it ejects the fur. PERFECT! Sushi loved it so much and I don’t think that I have ever heard her purr so loudly as did this time when I brushed her fur. When I finished she followed me and was all like……why have you stopped. Funny girl! If you have a furry friend then I thoroughly recommend this brush. That wraps up January! It’s been a fantastic month and thank you so much for stopping by to read about some of the things we have been up to. Take care and I hope that you all have the best Wednesday

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A Nice Weekend

13 Comments / Hello Monday

Hi friends it’s so great to be back again for today’s fun Hello Monday link up with Holly and Sarah. As I always say…Monday sure rolls around fast! Last week I shared with you guys that it was hot and sunny. Well, this weekend was the complete opposite! It was rainy and cool. Ha, the weather is so unpredictable here and sometimes it feels like we seem to get all four seasons in a week! Anyway, it was a really nice weekend where I hit the right balance of getting out to do some fun things. As well as spending time at home. I like weekends like this! Saturday Saturday morning the sun was trying really hard to get out from behind the clouds. And it looked like it was going to be a warm sunny day. But as the day went on it got really cloudy and then the rain set in late in the afternoon. We did manage to make the most of the morning when the weather was fairly decent. And Steve and I made a fun trip to our local Farmers Market in Ramsgate. As we walked along to the entrance of the market we went through a park with a creek. Normally we spot little fish and ducks. But this time we saw these huge jellyfish. We were so surprised because we had never seen jellyfish there before. Do jellyfish even live in creeks??? I guess they must. The farmers market was buzzing with so many people. I didn’t really need any fruit and vegetables but I was hoping to get a family-sized chicken and leek pie. But the stall that is usually there selling delicious pies wasn’t there this time. Chicken Pie I was really craving a chicken and leek pie. And after I didn’t find one at the market I decided to just make my own when I got home. Luckily I had all the ingredients anyway and all I needed to get was some leek. In the afternoon after Steve went to work, I got busy making a chicken and leek pie. We had it for dinner with mashed potato and salad and I was so happy with how it turned out. I will still get a pie from the market next time (hopefully the stall will be back). And I’m thinking that I’ll probably get a beef and mushroom pie. Because I like to pop one in the freezer for a quick meal during the week. And as I will be going back to work soon. I just want to make sure I have a few easy meals for those busy nights. After a yummy dinner, I couldn’t resist munching on a peanut butter M&M cookie. I made them last week and they have been such a huge hit. You can find the easy recipe right here. The Sopranos Saturday evening I watched a few episodes of ‘The Sopranos’. I know that I am way late to the party but I had never watched this series before. When it first aired on TV it didn’t really interest me much. Recently, I heard great things about it from a friend of mine. I always thought that it was a serious show about the mob. But surprisingly for me, it also has a good dose of humour! My friend was right. It really is a great show and I’m enjoying it. I just wish Tony Soprano didn’t work in a strip club because there are a lot of strip club scenes that make me cringe a bit. Oh yes, and there’s is also a lot of swearing. But apart from that, it’s great 😂 Binge Sam was super keen to watch ‘The Last Of Us’ which is a new series based on a game that he loved to play on Playstation. But it wasn’t showing on any of the streaming services we had. You can only watch it on Binge. So after a bit of convincing I agreed to subscribe to Binge BUT only if we unsubscribed to two other streaming services. My goodness, otherwise we would have had way too many. We ended up deciding to get rid of Britbox and Stan because we really weren’t watching anything that was on either of them. While Sam was trying hard to sell me the idea of subscribing to Binge. He was showing me ALL of the great shows that I was missing out on. And he did a great job because there are indeed a whole lot of shows that I was interested in and The Sopranos was one of them. Another show on Binge is ‘Game Of Thrones’ and I think almost everyone in my family except for me has watched it and loved it. I have always been curious about ‘Game Of Thrones’and felt like I was missing out. So I started watching but I only got about halfway through an episode. It just didn’t really grab me at all. Maybe I should try again just to satisfy my FOMO. Sunday Sunday was Steve’s swim club morning and I went along to watch the races. It was such a cloudy and drizzly morning. I mistakingly wore shorts expecting the day to warm up but it didn’t and my legs were so cold. Luckily I did wear a sloppy joe (I think my North American friends call it a sweater but we call it a sloppy joe. Haha I will have to write a post about all the different names we have for things here in Australia) I ended up putting a towel over my goosebumpy legs and enjoyed the morning. After swim club, Steve went to work and I went to my aunt and uncle’s house for lunch. I forgot to take a pic of lunch but I remembered to snap a photo of these delicious mini pavlovas we had for dessert. They were so good! My two cousins were there too and it was so great to catch up with

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Word Of The Week-Fast

5 Comments / Family Life

Hi everyone I’m so glad that I can join in this week’s Word Of The Week link-up. My word of the week is FAST. Because this week has just gone by so fast! I think that I have been feeling super conscious of the days flying past because my summer holidays are coming to an end. Waaaaahhhh!! And I’m pretty sure that the working weeks never ever go by as fast as holiday weeks do! End Of The School Holidays I mean it only feels like a minute ago that I was wishing my work colleagues a happy summer holiday. And now next Friday I will be back at work again. The summer break really did go by so fast! Even Christmas and New Year feel like distant memories now. Is it just me or does time seem to go faster the older we get? I remember when I was little. Waiting for fun events like birthdays felt like an absolute eternity. I wish for those days back because now I feel like my birthday comes around so soon. A New Job I think that a big reason why this week felt like it sped by particularly fast. Is because my younger son Sam got a part-time job and he is so excited. In fact, we were all excited for him! He had been waiting to hear about a job that he interviewed for last week. Monday and Tuesday went past and he hadn’t heard anything so he assumed that he was unsuccessful. Then on Wednesday, he found out he got the job. After that everything seemed to go by super fast. He had another meeting with the boss Wednesday afternoon. And then three hours of online training on Thursday. The next thing he received his uniform as well as his roster and he started work on Friday! I think all our heads were spinning by the end of the week. He also got his tax file number in the mail which was really lucky because he needs it now that he is working. He had been told that it could take up to 28 days to arrive in the mail. So I’m glad that it arrived much faster than expected. I think that we all got caught up in the frenzy that goes along with starting a new job. The excitement of the last few days made the week feel like it sped by even faster than usual. So now I have exactly five more days until term one of preschool begins. And I would really like those five days to go by really slowly! Fingers crossed!!

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Summer Holiday Favourites

6 Comments / Friday Favorites

Hi friends wow I can hardly believe that it’s Friday already! And I think that I must say this a lot but I’ll say it again…..this week has sure gone by way too fast! As usual, I am linking up with Andrea and Erika and today I will be sharing with you some of my summer holiday favourites. Well, my summer holidays are quickly coming to an end and this week has been my last full week of school holidays. I honestly cannot believe how fast the last four weeks have flown by. And it feels like only yesterday that my colleagues and I were all excitedly wishing each other a Merry Christmas and happy holidays. After locking up the preschool on the last day of the term. I start back at work on Friday next week which is going to feel really odd! And it means that I will still be confused about what day it is. Because it’s just totally weird starting work on a Friday. Don’t you agree? But that’s just the way the school calendar worked out this year. Hmph!! Anyway, we have a pupil-free day on Friday and then come Monday it will be all hands on deck as we welcome back the children. And I’m sure that they will be all ready and excited for a brand new year of preschool. But before all the back-to-work madness begins. It’s fun to look back and be grateful for a wonderful break from work and take a look at some of my summer holiday favourites! Summer Holiday Favourites Being At Home! I am the biggest homebody. I just love being at home with no pressure of having to be anywhere at any particular time. Some days I was in my pyjamas until midday! I Watched A Lot Of Shows Because I didn’t have to worry about getting to work in the morning. I stayed up super late watching shows that I have been really wanting to watch for a while. More Time For Blogging I love blogging but because I work full-time. It just means that I don’t have as much time to devote to it as I would like. But during the holidays I blogged more often and I also had time to read more of my favourite blogs as well. Yay! Cooking Was Fun I have to admit that after being at work all day. Coming home to cook can be a bit of a drag. Especially on the weeks when my meal planning has gone out the window (oops!). So being on holiday and having time meant that I really enjoyed my time in the kitchen. I even had time to bake some goodies like peanut butter M&M cookies. Banana bread I also felt like a total hero when I made creme caramel the other day! Shopping Days It was great going out with my lovely friend to enjoy some fun shopping trips. We got to hang out, shop, chat and eat lunch together. Time For Decluttering As much as I like to organise and declutter consistently. Things just tend to pile up, especially after Christmas. So it was really great that I had the time to go through drawers and cupboards. Sort things out, and donate, recycle or throw ‘stuff’ out. Here’s the pile I got rid of! Family Time We are at that stage in our family life where work and other commitments get in the way of us being able to sit down to have dinner together. But for the last few weeks, we have been eating lunch together as a family on most days. This is because Sam has also been on holiday after finishing school and my husband doesn’t start work until late afternoon. Eating together has certainly been one of my biggest summer holiday favourites! Self Care Another one of my summer holiday favourites was having time for self-care. I loved painting my fingernails while I listened to music. It was also great to try out some face masks and hair masks. And soaking in a warm bath with bath salts was an absolute treat! I was pretty bad at remembering to drink water though. It’s easier to remember to drink water while I’m at work because we all remind each other. Thank you work friends! Sleeping In I think that at the top of my list of summer holiday favourites is the luxury of being able to sleep in. I’m pretty sure that I have caught up on all of my lost hours of sleep from the past year. And I may even have one less eye bag. Winning!! Telephone Chats It’s interesting how I have become used to just shooting off a quick text to friends and family. But during these summer holidays, I was actually able to have proper telephone conversations! Is it just me or are they a thing of the past? It seems that these days it’s all about quick texts. Which is totally ok because I get it. We are all busy! But it was really nice to spend time chatting on the phone without feeling rushed. It has been wonderful having time to unwind and enjoy the simple luxury of just being at home. I have had a really fantastic summer break and even though I haven’t gone away anywhere. I have relished every second of being at home. I am feeling really positive about 2023 and looking forward to what the rest of the year will bring our way. I hope that you all have a great weekend and thank you so much for stopping by. Happy Friday!

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Peanut Butter M&M Cookies

11 Comments / Recipes

These peanut butter M&M cookies are full of melt-in-your-mouth sweetness and deliciousness. They are colourful and I guess a great way to describe them is ….FUN! You just can’t help feeling happy once you take that first bite right into the gooey centre full of peanut butter. And because they are also packed with M&M’s these cookies have a delicious crunchy element too. You honestly can’t beat the delectable peanut butter and M&M’s combination. It’s an absolute winner every time! One of the best things about this recipe is that it is easy! So these peanut butter M&M cookies are perfect for baking with kids. You’ve probably heard that cooking with children has so many learning benefits. From basic maths skills to literacy and fine motor skills. Cooking is a perfect way to teach children these concepts in a fun and hands-on way. Not to mention the big boost of confidence your kids will get from spending time in the kitchen with you! Peanut Butter M&M Cookies Ingredients 2 cups plain flour 2 teaspoons of baking powder 2 teaspoons of cornflour 1/2 cup of butter 3/4 cup of brown sugar 1/4 cup of granulated sugar 1 egg 2 tablespoons of milk 2 teaspoons of vanilla extract 1/2 cup of peanut butter. Either smooth or crunchy 1 cup of chocolate M&M’s. You can use mini M&M’s or normal-size ones. Instructions Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F. Line a baking tray with baking paper and set aside. Mix all dry ingredients together in a bowl (flour, baking powder, cornflour) then set aside. Using another bowl beat the melted butter, brown sugar and granulated sugar until combined. Add the egg vanilla, peanut butter and milk and mix until well combined. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and fold the ingredients together gently until combined. Carefully fold the M&M’s into the cookie dough. Using your hands roll even balls of cookie dough and place them on the prepared baking tray. Flatten the cookies out to desired thickness. Bake for 10-12 minutes. Once cookies have cooled for approximately 5 minutes. Transfer them to a wire rack to finish cooling completely. Notes Cooking time will vary slightly depending on the thickness of the cookie dough. If you prefer a thick cookie then the cooking time will be 12 minutes. If you flatten your cookies out then you will need approximately 10 minutes of cooking time. You can use either smooth peanut butter or crunchy peanut butter for this recipe. I prefer crunchy peanut butter for added texture and crunch. For this recipe, I used mini M&M’s but I think regular-sized ones would be ok too. Make sure to fold the M&M’s in very gently as the colour of the M&M’s tends to run very quickly. Cookies will stay fresh in an airtight container for up to a week at room temperature. Make peanut butter M&M cookies for your family or give them to your co-workers and they will love you forever. They also make lovely gifts to give to your friends during the festive season. Just wrap them up in cellophane bags and decorate them with a pretty ribbon. Peanut butter M&M cookies are so crunchy and colourful that they are sure to spread happiness and joy with every bite!

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A Hot And Sunny Weekend

13 Comments / Hello Monday

Hi everyone it’s so great to be back today on this very hot and sunny Monday. I am excited to be linking up with Holly and Sarah for today’s ‘Hello Monday’. Oh wow, it was such a hot and sunny weekend with temps reaching 29°C. But I’m not complaining at all because I love the heat. And also because I spend the whole of winter wishing for days like the ones we are having at the moment. Shopping I spent most of Saturday shopping! In the morning my aunt and I went to Costco. I love going to Costco, it’s such a huge novelty for me. Our closest Costco is about thirty minutes by car. And I don’t have a membership but my aunt does. So she kindly takes me along for a trip usually every school holiday. I tried to hold back and not go nuts and buy too much. But I did stock up on things that we were running low on at home. We shared a trolley and in the end, it was quite packed! I also bought meat because prices at the local supermarket and butcher have just gone up so much in the last few months. And the prices at Costco were about $3.00 a kilo cheaper for some cuts. I like to make sure that I incorporate chicken and fish into our diet so we don’t eat a whole lot of red meat. So it should last us for a good while. My son was excited when I came home with his favourite BBQ sauce! These bottles are huge compared to the ones I can get from the local supermarket. And they work out to be about half the price too. We go through a fair amount of this sauce because my son loves it so much. I’m surprised he doesn’t just stick a straw in the bottle and drink it! I had been looking for some casual shorts and T-shirts when I went to the city the other day. But I couldn’t find any I liked. I wanted to replace the ones that I own because they are all starting to look a bit tatty. So I was super happy to find these. More Shopping In the afternoon my aunt dropped me off at home with all of my goodies from Costco. I had a quick bite to eat and then I walked to our local Westfields to shop some more! It’s about a good 25-minute brisk walk and it was so hot and sunny. By the time I got to Westfields, I was all sweaty and quite glad to be inside in the cool. I had a quick look inside Kmart and I bought another soy candle just like the one I showed you on Friday. I also had a look in the stationery section and saw these. But I was very strong and put them back on the shelf. Because I don’t think that I need any more planners for this year. I have to admit that it was tough letting go. “Hi, I’m Ruth and I’m addicted to stationery and planners!!” I got a really nice oil diffuser from Tk Maxx with a Christmas gift card that I received from one of my lovely friends. It changes into so many different pretty colours. I also bought this facial massager. It’s supposed to be good for temporarily getting rid of fine lines and puffiness. I would prefer permanent but I’ll take temporary! Pizza! Saturday night my husband got off work early because it wasn’t busy. Yay! So he brought home a pizza and we watched ‘Father Stu’ with Mark Wahlberg. It’s based on a true story and while it was very inspiring it was also sad. Sunday A good friend of ours came over for lunch and I made enough chicken schnitzel for days. I figured that if I was going to go to all the trouble of crumbing etc I might as well make a big batch. We had the schnitzel with salad and cheesy potato bake. My sweet cousin popped over too. And I was so happy to see her! She had some lunch with us and then we sat down to watch the Miss Universe pageant live on YouTube. The boys didn’t need much convincing to join us haha! My cousin and I have great memories of watching the pageant with my mum. She was a huge Miss Universe fan! In the evening after everyone had gone home and Steve went to work. I treated myself to a bath with some bath salts from my friend’s online shop called Aroma Of Earth. She makes and sells a range of really lovely sustainable beauty products. It felt so good to have a good soak! I spent the rest of the night reading some blogs and sipping tea. I made myself a pot of tea and drank it out of my favourite cup and saucer. And that was just about all that I got up to on this hot and sunny weekend. How was yours? I hope you had a good one and are all ready for a brand-new week. Thanks so much for stopping by to have a read. Happy Monday! Sharing on

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Grown Up

9 Comments / Family Life

Hey everyone, It’s great to be back today for ‘Word Of The Week’. I was looking for a word or words that described this week the best. And then ‘Grown Up’ popped into my head. This week has been all about my younger son accomplishing a bunch of “mundane but necessary tasks” which is what a grown-up has to do. Along with that, this week has also been about us as his parents getting used to the fact that he is now actually a grown-up! Boom…..my head just exploded! Turning Eighteen Sam turned eighteen last year while he was still at school. So even though he was officially an adult. Everything still felt the same. He was getting up every morning just like he had for the past thirteen years. Putting on his uniform and going off to school. Now his school life is all finished. And because there is no more school. This week things were a whole lot different. We didn’t have to worry about making sure that he still fitted into his school uniform and school shoes. He usually had a major growth spurt over the summer holidays. And I remember when he was about fourteen. I made the mistake of assuming that he was ok to wear last year’s school shoes. Well on the first day of school, his feet had grown so much that he ended up having to wear his dad’s black shoes to school! A Grown Up No there was none of that to worry about. Instead, he spent most of the week working out how to apply for a tax file number. Then he had to navigate his way around various government sites trying to verify his identity. Just so that he could access his documents. It turns out that everything is so much easier if you have a current passport. He doesn’t so in the end, he had to show up in person at Services Australia, wait in line and sort out his application with a real human being. I wasn’t much help because everything has changed so much since I had to do all that way back in the olden days! We just filled out endless forms using a quill… I mean a pen. Then we posted all the forms and good old trusty snail mail did the rest. I’m pretty sure that this is what my oldest son did too. My kids are eleven years apart in age. So to tell you the truth I can’t even remember what my oldest did! More Mundane But Necessary Tasks Then there were job interviews, one workplace trial, university enrolment, a driving test, and a couple of other mundane but necessary tasks. I had to laugh when Sam said to me “why don’t they teach us how to do all this stuff at school”. I agree! Why don’t they? It’s been interesting, to say the least. Watching my boys grow up. One minute they had a bunch of teeth missing then the next minute they were super tall with facial hair. It just happened so fast and yet so slowly at the same time. Linking up with

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