Ruth(playworkeatrepeat)

Hi friends, welcome to this week’s edition of Hello Monday where we link up with Holly and Sarah to share some of our weekend highlights. My weekend was a nice mix of a fun and busy Saturday followed by a very relaxed and lazy Sunday. Then as usual it all went too fast and here we are again ready to begin a new week. Saturday Saturday morning I wrapped up a few household chores left over from a busy week. I’m relieved that I don’t have to do mountains of chores on the weekend. I try so hard to make sure I get on top of everything during the week. But of course, there’s always something to do. Ugh! I’m excited that I’ve kept up a nice routine of meal planning and ordering groceries online every Saturday morning. Then I schedule them to be delivered in the afternoon. Same-day delivery is the best! After all the household stuff I went out and caught up with some friends for morning tea at 11. We had so much to chat about so it felt as if the morning flew by in a flash! I ended up leaving my friend’s house just after 2 because I had to get the car back for Steve to go to work at 2.30. In the afternoon, my grocery order came and after I packed everything away. It was time to head to another friend’s house for dinner and games night. We had gazpacho as an entree. I had heard of it before and knew that it was a cold soup made with blended tomatoes, cucumbers onions and garlic. But it was the first time I had ever tried it. Then it was Greek-style roast chicken, vegetables and salad as mains. So good! To finish off my friend made a spectacular-looking mango cheesecake. When she brought it out we were all oohing aahing. It tasted amazing too! Then it was time for some games. We played Taboo first and then moved on to Cranium. Games nights are so much fun and there was the usual funny yelling and laughing till our sides hurt. It was a fun night with our group of friends. Sunday I needed a Sunday like the one I just had where I did next to nothing. Apart from going to church in the morning I just camped out on the sofa and watched TV with Steve for most of the day. We watched a few episodes of Grand Designs then we moved on to two movies. One was American Underdog and the other was Ford Vs Ferrari. I stayed awake for the whole of the first movie. But after a glass of wine with dinner it was lights out for me and I slept through most of the second. And that was my weekend, some fun times and a good dose of downtime. How was yours, I hope it was a good one! My friend is looking into the issue with my website. As I shared with you on Friday, some comments are not going through and coming up with either a blank page or a weird message that says ‘Error 403’ or something frightening like that. Fingers crossed that everything will be working as it should very soon. Tech woes always do my head in! I hope you have a great week and I look forward to being back here on Wednesday.

Hi, friends! Wow, that weekend sure flew by in the blink of an eye, and now it’s Monday again. I’m here to link up with Holly and Sarah and share some of the fun I had celebrating my birthday over the weekend! Cousin Connect We had a late cousin get-together this month because some cousins were away and we decided to reschedule to mid-February when most could come. My aunt hosted and cooked up a storm. Even though we ate so much we could barely move, we still had a tonne of food left over and we all agreed that it looked as if we had barely made a dent! We finished by playing Jackbox TV games and we had chocolate birthday cake for dessert. Can we all agree that four candles on a cake are plenty when you are over a certain age? Haha! The Rocks in Sydney On Sunday (my actual birthday ) the four of us went to The Rocks for lunch. It was an incredibly hot and humid day, starting off sunny before turning cloudy. When we got off the train at Circular Quay we saw a massive Royal Princess Cruise ship. I’m always amazed by the size of those huge vessels, to me they look like moving apartment buildings. We’ve never been on a cruise, but if we ever did I’d be happy with just a short getaway. Maybe one day. I spotted a Sydney tourist bus along the way. If the prices didn’t start from $65.00 a ticket I’d definitely hop on for a ride! Birthday Lunch We ended up at The Fortune of War pub. A guy was playing guitar and singing some well-known tunes and I really wanted to sit outside but it was just too hot. Poor Steve looked like a human fountain, so we decided that it was better to go inside and eat in the air-conditioned restaurant instead of the steamy courtyard. We all ordered fish and chips! Dessert At The Opera Bar Afterwards, we walked over to The Opera Bar for dessert. Everyone ordered a ricotta cheesecake and I also had a frozen coconut margarita which tasted like a deliciously refreshing slushie with a kick. We sat indoors, which turned out to be a good choice as it was cooler than outside. Then not long after it began to pour down rain, such strange weather! We found a cozy booth and I loved the way they had decorated the length of the bar wall with potted plants and vases. We came home at around 7 pm, just in time to watch Married at First Sight. It’s one of those shows with so much drama and topics that always leaves me wide-eyed and almost horrified. Yet I can’t stop watching! We had ham, cheese and tomato melts for a light dinner after a big lunch. Then Luke went home, Steve went to bed and Sam and I stayed up way too late watching a movie. I didn’t want my fun birthday weekend to end! It was such a perfect weekend and I struggled so badly to get up to go to work this morning! But I made it through the day and I have promised myself that I’m going to go to bed at a decent time tonight. Thanks so much for being here today! I hope you have a wonderful day.

Hi, friends welcome to the February edition of ‘Share Our Lives’, hosted by Adrienne, Dara, Jen, Joanne and Sarah. The topic for this month is ‘How You Met Your Significant Other or Best Friend”. So I’m sharing how I met my husband, Steve. I have to admit that I had a giggle when I saw the topic. Firstly it feels like it happened a hundred years ago. Secondly, because it’s kind of a funny story. A long time ago, at a church camp far, far away in a small town called Bundanoon, I first met Steve. Now, here’s the thing: he is six years older than me. This doesn’t seem like a massive age gap now, but it sure did when I was a teen. So, when we first met I was 14, and he was 20. There was absolutely ZERO connection or romantic interest or even a single thought about anything to do with any of that AT ALL. I’m emphasising this because when my kids found out how we first met they teased us incessantly. “‘Dad!! She was a kid!!!’ Hahaha!!” Anyway, there I was at church camp way back in 1984. I was having dinner with about 60 other kids from the youth group. I can’t recall how it happened, but suddenly, Steve appeared and sat next to me and my friend when it was time for dessert. He was one of the youth leaders, always friendly and hilariously funny! Whatever he was saying to me had me in stitches and I couldn’t focus on my canned fruit and ice cream (when it comes to food, I don’t forget the details!) Then, out of the blue, he said to me “You don’t want that, do you?”  and he picked up my dessert and ate it. Looking back, I must have thought he was incredibly charming because no, I didn’t mind that he just devoured my dessert right in front of me. Now of course I’d probably pummel him to the ground if he ever dared. So for the next few years, I vaguely remember seeing him at church and youth group. He would usually bring along one of his girlfriends who were all very nice. Except for one who was scary. My friends and I would giggle and wonder who ‘Pootie’ was dating now. That was his nickname back then but that’s another story. Then when I was 18, by pure chance, we were paired up to go door-to-door handing out free Bibles. It was 1988, and Australia was celebrating its bicentenary. Churches distributed special bicentenary bibles to share with the local community. So we spent hours walking from door to door chatting the whole time. I felt so comfortable around him and I loved that he made me laugh a lot! I guess it was after that, we started hanging out more whenever we were at youth group. Then a few months later he asked me to go for a drive and a picnic. I was so impressed that he packed lunch. He brought along cheese and ham on the softest bread rolls I had ever tasted and even some sparkly apple juice. See, I told you that I don’t forget details about food. We dated for about just over a year and then we got married in January 1990. It feels like I’ve known him forever (because I have) and we’ve gone through fun times, happy times, sad times and incredibly tough times. While I know for a fact that we haven’t always made each other laugh. Now we are in that sweet spot in our marriage where the kids are all grown up and it doesn’t feel as if we’re in the trenches. We enjoy each other’s company and we like to hang out together. He still makes me laugh a lot, but I know that I’m funnier! I don’t have any photos of us dating! We dated in the dark ages when there were no mobile phones and cameras and film was expensive. So we only really took photos on special occasions. But here is one of our engagement party and the other is at our wedding. Thanks so much for being here today! I hope you enjoyed learning a bit about how I met my husband.