Ruth(playworkeatrepeat), Author at PLAYWORKEATREPEAT

Organisation Tips For A Busy Family

4 Comments / Cleaning and Organising, Life Hacks

Hey everyone! It’s the first ‘Let’s Look’ for 2023 and we are kicking off the series with some organisation tips as the topic for January is scheduling/organising a busy family. I enjoy being part of this link-up with Erika and Shay because it is a great way to share some really useful tips. And it’s also fun to catch a glimpse of how we do everyday life. It’s funny how the seasons of life change. One minute you’re in the thick of it with a million things to try and organise. The next you’re not. At the moment I’m at the stage when life has calmed down in a lot of ways because my kids are all grown up. And I only have one son living at home as my oldest son moved out a few years ago. But I do remember and it certainly doesn’t feel like it was that long ago. When we were so busy trying to squeeze in work, school, sports, homework and everything else in between. Yep, those days were certainly full on, to say the least. And when it was all happening I would feel like “oh my goodness will this never end” and then it does (insert sad face). Anyway here are some of the things that I did to organise my busy family when I was ‘in the trenches’. Some of the things on this list I still need to do because I work full time, my husband works unusual hours and my son has just finished school but will be starting uni soon. So we still have to keep track of what we are all up to as far as chores, appointments and commitments go. Organisation Tips For A Busy Family Write Everything Down It is just so easy to forget things and lose track of what events are coming up. The only way that I could ever remember things was and still is. Is to write everything down! I like to write things in my diary/planner and then back in the day when we had the whole family doing this, that and the other. I would write everyone’s schedule on one big calendar using different coloured pens. And each person in our family had their own colour. I’m a visual person. So writing everything down in different colours just made it a whole lot easier for me to remember who was doing what. Organise Stationery Supplies Stationery just makes me so happy so this was fun to do. I have a shelf in my home office where I keep a whole lot of stationery supplies at hand. There we have all the things that we needed for school such as pens, pencils, spare ink for the printer, highlighters, rulers, erasers, paper, plastic sleeves etc. I could go on and on because even just writing about stationery gives me joyful goosebumps! This shelf was a total lifesaver because it meant that we were never caught out having to run to the shops to grab stationery supplies. Especially things like ink for the printer. We always seemed to run out of ink when a big assignment needed to be printed at 11 pm. Those were the days!! Sam will be starting uni in February so I’m sure that he will be raiding the stationery shelf again soon. Create A Cleaning Routine Finding a routine that suits you will make keeping a clean home so much less stressful. My cleaning routine is different now than it was when my kids were younger. I had much less time when we had so many other commitments like swimming lessons, art classes, hockey, taekwondo, and jiu-jitsu. So I let some things go during the week to save my sanity. Consequently, I spent more time cleaning and doing laundry on the weekends than I do now. It’s just a matter of adjusting and being consistent. Meal Plan Ahem…..confession…..I love to meal plan and I start off strong at the beginning of each school term. But sometimes by the end of the term I slacken off and then I find myself on the struggle bus. But when I do meal plan like a champ then the week is just so much easier! Shopping, sticking to a budget, and of course, knowing what to cook each day is a breeze when I meal plan. Keep A Stash Of Birthday Cards I like to keep a small stash of birthday cards and I will stock up on them if I ever see them discounted. My son and his friends have all recently turned eighteen. So he has been invited to quite a few parties recently. I grabbed a few birthday cards when I saw them on sale at Typo. And they have come in real handy! Have A Place For Everything One of the best organisation tips for a busy family is to keep a place for everything. When school excursion notes would come in I would sign the permission slip straight away, write it on the calendar and then file the note. Because the note always came with instructions for what time to be at school for the bus, uniform or clothing that they had to wear and supplies that they needed for the day. I also have a file for birth certificates, passports, and other important documents. It just makes it so much easier when everything is in one place. Keep Cleaning Supplies In A Caddy As far as organisation tips go this one is great for eliminating unnecessary frustration! Years ago I used to keep some cleaning supplies under the kitchen sink and some in the laundry. I used to frustrate myself by going back and forth gathering my cleaning supplies. Then one day I had a lightbulb moment and I bought myself a cleaning caddy. And now all I do is grab my caddy when I need to clean and everything I need is there in one place. Have A Notepad In The Kitchen For

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Introduction

29 Comments / Family Life

Hi friends, today I am joining in with some lovely ladies for the ‘Not Just A Mom’ link-up. The topic for January is ‘Introduction’. So today I am going to be introducing myself and my family and sharing a little more about myself. And also a bit about how I got in to blogging. This past year (oops I was about to say this year). I have been getting to ‘know’ some very sweet bloggers. And so when I saw that the January topic was Introduction. I was happy because this means that I will also get to learn a bit more about them. Me Hi, I’m Ruth and I live in a suburb of Sydney Australia. I live with my husband, younger son and our little cat named Sushi. And I work full-time in a small local preschool as an early childhood educator. During the lockdown, I got very brave and plucked up the courage to start my own blog. Even though I had been toying with the idea for years. I never went ahead with it because I felt that blogging was right out of my comfort zone. I mean what would I say? What could I write about….my boring life…no way!! But I am so happy that I put all my fears and doubts aside and went ahead with it. Because so far it has been such a fun journey and a great creative outlet for me. A big bonus is that I feel part of a really welcoming, kind and supportive community. And to top it off I am also making friends with some really lovely people from around the world. Where Was I Born? I was born In Peru, South America but I have lived in Australia since I was eight months old. So Australia is all I know. I speak fluent Spanish complete with 1970s slang because that’s what my parents taught me. So when I meet someone who is not from that generation I feel really lost because I just can’t quite work out what they are saying. Even though I have a great Peruvian Spanish accent, I find that I can’t express myself very well in Spanish. Probably because I think in English. Over the years I have also discovered that some things just can’t and shouldn’t be translated word for word from English to Spanish. I know because I think I might have accidentally offended some people. Oops! Fun Facts About Me Most of my friends and all of my family call me Ruthie Practically all the kids at preschool think my name is Roof Growing up my nickname was Monkey or King Kong as my cousin kindly christened me. I get cold very easily. Five minutes with the air conditioner on and I need to put on a hoodie. I guess that’s why I am not a fan of winter! But I am a huge Star Wars fan I love good 80s music that you can really dance to. So I can’t understand all this rapper music my son loves and I wonder where did I go wrong? I’m terrified of any kind of insect. Ladybugs were only just acceptable until I saw them under a microscope. Ugh!! I am an only child and I wish I had siblings. My favourite flavour is strawberry- strawberry ice cream, strawberry sundaes and strawberry milkshakes all the way!! I got married at nineteen My favourite season is SUMMER!! I don’t like the beach….too much sand, wind and waves. My nose is super sensitive and I can smell things from a mile away. Not sure if that has anything to do with being born in the Year Of The Dog. I am completely unsporty and my greatest achievement was doing a forward roll. Don’t ever throw a ball at me because all I will do is squeal, panic and duck. My Family Steve My husband’s name is Stephen or Steve as we call him. And his family is originally from Holland. He doesn’t speak a word of Dutch and he is very ‘Aussie’. In fact, when I first met him I thought that he was anglo Australian. And it wasn’t until I met his mum with a very thick Dutch accent that I found out otherwise. And I was completely blown away! He works super long hours in the hospitality industry and I think that he can’t wait until he retires. He loves sports and in his younger days, he played water polo and competed in triathlons. We are probably complete opposites because he loves the beach, sports and he is quite competitive. He also makes me laugh a lot with his stories! And sometimes he reminds me of George Costanza from Seinfeld. Luke My oldest son is Luke and he will be thirty this year. I think he feels that this is old haha!! He lives about forty minutes away with his lovely fiancee. They haven’t set a wedding date and I honestly don’t really think that they are in a hurry to get married. I won’t say too much about him because he is super private. But I will say that he is so sweet, kind and affectionate. He always amazes me with his knowledge of facts. And I love how he keeps me up to date on things that are on trend as far as technology and social media. Sam Sam is eighteen and he is very tall just like Luke. Tomorrow he is going for his driving test and the day after he has a job interview for a part-time job. He is desperate to work so he can save up money to buy himself a car. He has decided that he is going to do a Bachelor Of Nursing at uni. And I think that this is great as he will make a fantastic nurse. He is very calm, compassionate and empathetic. Plus he is not grossed out by body things if you know what I mean. One

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Time

12 Comments / Family Life

Hi friends I am really happy to be able to join the ‘Word Of The Week’ link up today. The reason why I am blogging on the weekend is that I have time! So my word of the week is….. Time Adjusting I wasn’t used to having spare time and it has taken a lot of adjusting. Up until March last year, I cared for my elderly mum. And I wouldn’t ever change the time I was able to do that for the whole world. When she passed she not only left a huge hole in my heart. She also left me feeling lost with endless chunks of time and I hated it! When she was alive I used to wish for more hours in the day so that I wasn’t always rushing around. Trying to squeeze in full-time work, household stuff and care for her. I don’t think that I did everything successfully as I was always frazzled, and not as patient as I wish I could have been. In the weeks after her passing and life returned to ‘normal’ I would get home from work and I would just sit there wishing for my usual afternoon routine that involved caring for my mumma. I used to joke with my colleagues when I said goodbye after work and say “see you tomorrow, I’m off to do the night shift now”. Oh, how I longed for those days and I still do! Masking Up until about a month ago, I think that I was masking my grief by being extremely busy. I did everything I could just to stay busy so that I wouldn’t have to think or feel. Then I would fall into bed and sleep….isn’t sleep a wonderful temporary relief from sadness? In May last year, about a month after my mum had passed I redid her bedroom and changed it completely. Seeing it the way she left it just hurt too much. So I emptied it and painted it all white. While I was busy working on her room I found that I didn’t have time to think. I made sure of this by listening to audiobooks or playing music very loudly. And I didn’t stop there I went on to paint my bedroom the hallway and the dining room. All while I was off from preschool and on term breaks. I did everything possible to stop myself from thinking. And I was determined to fill up any spare time that I had by doing something that required me to stay very very busy. I thought I was doing great by being so productive. Go me!! So when I had my phone consultation with the grief counsellor and she asked me what I had been up to. I rattled off a very long list of all the things that I had been doing. I expected her to congratulate me and tell me how amazing I was and how well I was coping. Maybe I thought, just maybe she would even say that I was all cured of grief and good to go. But no…..she was very quiet. Then she gently said, “don’t you think that you might not be giving yourself time to grieve?”. Guilt Initially for me having any spare time equalled feelings of guilt. I know that this probably doesn’t make much sense. But all I could think of was how could I enjoy any spare time when that meant that my mum was gone. It’s crazy what grief does to your thinking, isn’t it? Time Everyone always says that time heals. I agree, time does heal but I’m not sure that you can ever be completely healed after you lose someone you love very much. I had pretty much exhausted myself over about six months and then I got sick with Covid. And that pretty much stopped me in my tracks. I was so sick I could hardly move and I had all the time in the world to think. I recovered from covid and then I had to face my grief. Dang! I have spent a lot of time thinking and feeling lately. And I have spoken to many close friends who have helped me immensely by sharing their own experiences dealing with grief. I have prayed, I have cried……a lot. And now I am starting to find that I am not so afraid of spare time anymore. This past week is probably the first week where I have done things because I wanted to and not because I was desperate to fill up time. I have taken my time cooking meals and I actually enjoyed the process. I have done decluttering and organizing. Not because I felt scared that I had nothing to do but because I actually felt like doing these things. I have even wasted time and not felt guilty! Truly a first. Some Final Thoughts I’m naturally a happy person and I don’t like being sad. But I never fake my feelings. If I’m sad you’ll know about it that’s for sure. Now as I reflect back on the past few months I know that I have come a long way. While I was going through my ‘busy’ season I still found satisfaction in doing what I was doing. I mean I’m glad that I did paint most of the house. I did enjoy the fun times with my family and I was happy when I went on all the special outings. But I think that the whole time I was doing all the things. I had a yucky feeling of guilt in the pit of my stomach. I felt guilty about having time to enjoy life. It’s taken a lot for me to stop thinking like this. And slowly with a whole lot of reassurance, I am starting to believe that it’s ok to have time and it’s ok for me to take this time to do things that I enjoy. Yes, now I am sure that my mum would

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First Week Of 2023

7 Comments / Friday Favourites

Hi friends, it’s great to be back today. Can you believe that the first week of 2023 just passed? I know that I can’t as it feels like we only just finished celebrating Christmas! I hope that you all had a fantastic New Year’s Eve. Mine was really low-key and exactly what I needed. I spent some time with special friends and then I got home early to watch the fireworks on TV. You can read all about my New Year’s Eve here. Well like I only just said the first week of 2023 has just flown by. And a big challenge for me is that I have to keep reminding myself to write 2023 instead of 2022 and stop myself from saying ‘next year’ because it is next year! Anyway, I guess it’ll take a little while and then I’ll get used to it. So this past week was just wonderful. Gloriously boringly wonderful!! Apart from one fun outing, I have just been at home all week doing all the mundane tasks and loving every single minute. It is just the best feeling to not have to be anywhere or do anything. I have been cooking, decluttering and organising as well as watching some of my favourite movies and TV shows. The Finale So let’s begin this week’s recap and talk about one of my all-time favourite shows…… I had to say goodbye to The Doctor on Monday night when I watched the final episode ever. The ‘Doc Martin Christmas Special’🥲. I won’t give away any spoilers but I will say that I loved how it ended. It was just perfect….sigh. If you haven’t watched this show you really should. It’s a brilliant combination of drama and comedy. I only started watching it a few years ago. It never interested me when I used to see it advertised on TV and I remember thinking that I probably wouldn’t like this type of show. I couldn’t have been more wrong! Then I think one night my husband was flicking channels and started watching it while I was playing Candy Crush. I was obsessed with this game at the time. And it sparked my interest because something funny happened. So we both started watching it from season one and we have been huge fans ever since. I think that I will go back and start watching it all over again from season one. I just can’t imagine my weeks without my favourite doctor! Afternoon Treats After decluttering and organising I have been rewarding myself with little treats like this Oh, it’s so good to sit down and have a cup of coffee and a cinnamon roll. Late Breakfast On Tuesday morning I made everyone pancakes for a very late breakfast. I have been going to bed late after enjoying some TV. One of my big goals is to go to bed early but that goal starts when I go back to work! So on most days, I have been eating breakfast after 10 am which is when I usually start to feel hungry. I always skip breakfast on work days because I feel sick just thinking about food any earlier than 10. After that then food is pretty much all I think about all day long! We had our pancakes with Queen Pure Canadian Maple Syrup which was incredibly delicious. But I can’t say that it’s any better than the usual Woolworths home brand that I buy. The only difference is the price. This one was $9.00 and the home brand is $6.00. I bought the other one to try but because they taste the same I’ll just get the cheaper one again next time I shop. Seafood Steve and I went out to enjoy a big seafood dinner on Wednesday night. The seafood was amazing but the weather was pretty bad so this was the view from the restaurant. Cloudy and rainy again. We were going to order dessert but there was nothing on the menu that we were keen on. So I suggested we just go home, watch a show and have some apple pie that I had in the freezer. So we did just that. I popped the pie in the oven and then when it was cooked we all enjoyed hot apple pie and ice cream. Nom nom! Shopping In Bondi Junction I caught up with my bestie on Thursday and we spent the whole day in Bondi Junction wandering around the shops. We visited Williams Sonoma, West Elm and Pottery Barn. You can only find these shops in Bondi and Chatswood here in Sydney. I bought a packet of blueberry muffin mix and I am excited to make them soon. It’s been raining and cold the last couple of days so it’s perfect baking weather. We then went to look at the shops inside Westfields and I convinced my friend to go inside Louis Vuitton and Chanel. Haha! I have only been inside these super high-end shops a couple of times just out of curiosity. We looked at some small card wallets and they ranged in price from $800-$900. Then we went and had a look at some of the clothes. This jacket was priced at a cool $16,000 It was funny visiting these stores because there was no way that I was going to buy anything. To be honest I can’t say that I even liked the products in Chanel. They are just so over the top with all the embellishments and not my style at all. Which is a very good thing considering the prices! Lunch Afterwards, we went to the food court and enjoyed some lunch. It was so fun eating and chatting. I love my friend! We both ordered the avocado, pesto and goat’s fetta toastie. It was really delicious. More Shopping Then we went to Zara and tried on a few things. I ended up buying a really nice pair of grey pants. We looked at some cute puppies in

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Cheap And Fun School Holiday Activities

8 Comments / Discovering NSW Australia

Looking for some cheap and fun school holiday activities. Then look no further because here is a list of some really fun activities that will be sure to keep the kids entertained without breaking the bank. Cheap And Fun School Holiday Activities VISIT AN ART GALLERY OR MUSEUM Take your kids to visit an art gallery during these school holidays. Looking at art will boost their creativity as well as open their world to endless creative possibilities. Many art galleries will also run some fun and educational activities for free during the school holidays. Do a bit of research and find an art gallery that offers this and make a day of it. Museums are a great way to keep the kids entertained during school holidays. Once you pay the admission fee you can spend the whole day exploring. Fun and interactive museums like The Powerhouse Museum in Sydney also offer school holiday activities. The great thing about museums and art galleries is that you can visit them on days when the weather is either too hot or too cold to enjoy and outdoor activity. GO ON A PICNIC Get the kids to help you pack a picnic lunch and visit your local park. You can also take some ball games or a frisbee and enjoy some good outdoor exercise. GO ON A NATURE HUNT Pack some snacks and water bottles. Then take your children for a nice long walk around your neighbourhood to collect nature. Before you set off you can talk to your kids about some of the things that they might want to look out for and possibly collect. And make a list of these things. For example rocks, twigs, flowers that have fallen off trees or plants, leaves, pinecones etc LOOK FOR INSECTS Grab some insect-hunting essentials like bug catchers, binoculars and magnifying glasses. You can find a whole world of insects in the garden. And children will be mesmerised for ages as they look out for some tiny creatures HAVE A MOVIE NIGHT Clear the loungeroom floor and get comfy and cozy with some beanbags, cushions and pillows. Then make some popcorn and ice cream sodas to enjoy while you watch a fun movie. This is a great activity to do with young children as they will enjoy staying up later than usual. And it is also a perfect activity to do with your teens. GO TO THE BEACH If you are a beach-loving family then the beach is a great place to spend the day. Pack some sand toys, sunscreen and sun protection. And remember to keep everyone safe by swimming in between the flags. ORGANISE A PLAY DATE WITH SOME FRIENDS AT THE LOCAL PARK Other parents will also be looking for cheap and fun things to do in the school holidays too. So why not go ahead and meet up at the local park for one big playdate? The children will have the best time playing with each other and the parents can also enjoy some fun conversation. Best of all nobody will be left with a messy house to clean up afterwards. HAVE A WATER FIGHT You can find some cheap water guns and water balloons at the two-dollar shop. Who doesn’t have a great memory of an epic childhood water fight? COOK Cooking is such a fun activity with an enormous amount of educational benefits for children. And it is a very cheap school holiday activity that your children will certainly enjoy. You and your kids can bake a nice sweet treat for afternoon tea or you can make something that everyone will love eating for dinner. PLAY WITH HOMEMADE PLAYDOUGH Playdough is another activity with amazing learning benefits that will keep your kids entertained for hours. Best of all you can combine this activity and the cooking activity for a win/win!! You will find a fantastic recipe for the softest playdough ever here. LEARN TO DRAW If you have a keen drawer or a child that needs a confidence boost when it comes to drawing. The school holidays are the perfect opportunity to develop this skill. You can find an amazing variety of drawing tutorials aimed at children on YouTube. Drawing together is an excellent way for your children to see the benefits of developing a new skill. HAVE A CRAFT DAY Pull out any craft items that have been hiding away in the cupboard and spend the day getting creative with your kids! You can also raid your recycling bin and use cardboard boxes to make some amazing box constructions. DO SOME SCIENCE EXPERIMENTS AT HOME Go online and look up some cool science experiments that you can do at home during the school holidays. There are a great variety of kid-friendly experiments that only require regular household items. VISIT A BOTANICAL GARDEN Spend the day exploring a botanical garden where you and your children will discover an oasis full of living plants. You will see a collection of extraordinary plants and you can have fun trying to pronounce some of the unusual names! The Royal Botanic Garden in Sydney also runs some fun school holiday activities that you might want to check out. MAKE A KITE Spend the day making a simple kite and then get the kids to burn off some energy by going to the park and flying it. GO BOWLING Go to your local bowling alley for a few hours of fun. Some bowling alleys offer competitive holiday deals that you can take advantage of to keep costs down. TAKE A TRIP ON A FERRY A great way to see some sights is to take a trip on a ferry. Riding a ferry is such a memorable and thrilling experience that children will remember forever. VISIT YOUR LOCAL LIBRARY The library is a great resource to visit regularly. Local libraries also offer free school holiday activities such as movies, storytime as well as art and craft activities. Libraries are warm and welcoming spaces

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Currently In January

12 Comments / Family Life

Currently in January – Hey, friends welcome to the first edition of Currently for 2023! As usual, I am linking up with Jennifer from ‘Overflowing With Thankfulness’ for today’s post where we will be looking at what we are currently… LOVING RESOLVING ORGANISING ANTICIPATING EATING Currently In January LOVING I absolutely love being on summer holidays. Apart from all the fun get-togethers that we just had over the Christmas period. I don’t have any big plans and instead, I have a few small plans scattered here and there over the next few weeks. This means that I have all the time in the world and that is what I am loving the most. I have time to declutter and organise. And time for all my household chores without feeling like I am running out of time trying to defuse a ticking bomb. I also have time to enjoy cooking. I mean I had almost forgotten that I enjoyed cooking. How funny! In a nutshell, I am just loving all the everyday mundane tasks. RESOLVING I have decided that moving forward I want to be mindful. If you know me then you will know that this is no easy task. I could probably write a book on 101 Ways To Catastrophise In Thirty Seconds Or Less. And as a Christian, I should be better about trusting that nothing happens outside of God’s will. In 2022 I started taking some steps towards being more in the moment. And one of them was to stop watching the news! I never loved watching it but I used to have it on in the background in the mornings. As well as in the evenings. So my day would begin and end with hearing all about the things that were going on in the world. And 99% of it was just plain discouraging if not downright frightening. This year I am also resolving to be consistent with doing my morning devotions before I start the day. If I don’t get to it first thing. Then soon enough I fall off the daily devotion wagon. I want to fill my head with hope and promises. And I want to embrace what my sunny smiley colleague always says to me at work. “Positive vibes only Ruth!” Haha, she’s so lovely! ORGANISING Having all this lovely free time also means that I have time to do what I love to do. Organising my home! At the moment I have set myself the goal of organising one thing around the house per day. Depending on how motivated I feel. So on the days when I feel super motivated, I want to tackle big things like the linen cupboard. Which I did the other day. On the days when I am feeling like I’m not in the mood then I will empty out one drawer and organise it. I declutter consistently yet still stuff seems to accumulate especially after Christmas. I have this monthly planner that helps me organise and plan out my blog posts. So I am working on writing down all the monthly linkups as well as potential topics along with some ideas. I get such a kick out of decorating it all with different coloured glitter gel pens and stickers. My high school self would be so proud of me! I also love what the tab at the bottom of the planner says. ANTICIPATING I am anticipating that next week I will have a very relaxing and fun time with my husband. We are going away for an overnight getaway to celebrate our 33rd wedding anniversary! Yay! EATING Christmas ham!! I think we have eaten so much ham that we are all good to wait until December this year before we look at ham again. It’s funny that no matter how much I love Christmas food and party food. After eating so much of it my body just starts craving normal everyday food. I had a tuna (not ham) sandwich the other day and it tasted magnificent! I have also been eating yummy summer fruits like nectarines, peaches and mangos. This morning I made some pancakes and enjoyed them with some berries and maple syrup for a very late breakfast….simply delicious! Thanks so much for stopping by today to read about what’s happening currently in January. I really enjoy being part of this fun linkup because it gets me thinking and reflecting on what’s happening in my day to day. I hope that you have a wonderful week.

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New Years Eve Weekend Recap

12 Comments / Hello Monday

New Year’s Eve Weekend Recap Hi, friends welcome to the blog in 2023! Today it’s all about our New Year’s Eve weekend. And I have to tell you that I am so excited that it’s a brand new year. I don’t think that I have ever felt so happy to welcome in a new year before. Normally I feel a bit melancholy and wish that we were still in the holiday season. But like I shared with you guys on Thursday my word for 2023 is Mindfulness! So I am staying in the moment. And feeling delighted to be back here with you guys for the first ‘Hello Monday’ linkup of the year with Holly and Sarah. New Years Eve I hope that you all had a lovely New Year’s Eve. Up until Thursday, I had no plans and I was quite happy just to stay home and go to bed early. Steve was working New Year’s Eve and Sam was heading into the city with his girlfriend to see the fireworks. In the end, a friend of ours invited a small group of us over to his place for a very long lunch. Steve was able to join us until he had to go in to work and we all ended up having a really lovely time. We had some delicious roast chicken, potatoes and salad. For dessert, my friend brought the most amazing tiramisu. She added some crunchy toasted almonds and it was just perfection! Fun Movies We usually get together before Christmas to have dinner and watch a Christmas movie. But we ended up running out of available weekends and so we missed our traditional catch-up. We made up for it by watching ‘Love Actually’ together on New Year’s Eve. I really love this movie but I have to admit that when I first watched it I was horrified by the nude scenes. Now they don’t bother me as much because I guess I’m used to them. That night my friend had me in stitches when she told me a funny story about a friend of hers who watched the very censored version on an aeroplane many years ago when the movie was first released. So he had no idea that there was even an uncensored version and recommended it to all his church friends including the pastor and youth leaders. Before we watched Love Actually. We watched Shaun The Sheep -‘The Flight Before Christmas’. I love Shaun The Sheep! After the movies, we had some refreshing gelatos and then we called it an early night. I got home around 10 pm and Steve texted me to say that he would be home at 12.30 because his workplace wasn’t as busy as they had expected. Great news for me!! And I decided not to go to bed and I waited up instead. I probably wouldn’t have been able to sleep anyway. Because people have been letting off fireworks near where we live almost every night since before Christmas. This is surprising since backyard fireworks are illegal here so I don’t even know how they had so many. I watched the spectacular Sydney fireworks on TV. And then I heard even more fireworks happening right near my house so I ran out and saw this. A backyard fireworks display! New Years Day We don’t typically do anything special on New Year’s Day. We thought about going out for brunch but in the end, we couldn’t be bothered so we just had a very lazy morning after we woke up late. I had a real craving for an iced coffee so I made my own whipped coffee and it was so good! It’s super easy to make and it satisfied my iced coffee craving instantly. You can find the easy recipe right here. I also made some ham and eggs. As you can see I didn’t have much luck keeping the yolk from breaking but it still tasted good! Packing Away Christmas In the afternoon I got down to packing away the Christmas tree and the few decorations I had put out this year. Normally I keep the tree up until the 6th or 7th of January. But this year I did it early because I just wanted everything packed away and back to normal. Plus nobody was home to stop me hehe. Usually, Steve and Sam are the ones who ask me to leave it up longer. But Steve was at work and Sam was out so it was bye-bye to the Christmas tree. This year I managed to get my tree back in the box without the box bulging at the sides. I was proud of myself! I took my time putting it all back and then I also rearranged the cupboard where I keep some of my Christmas stuff, toys and games. While I was rearranging things I pulled out one of Luke’s favourite old toys that were handed down to Sam. I like to clear and declutter but toys like this one I won’t get rid of. Too many sweet memories! I also took the opportunity to declutter my linen cupboard. Here I sprawled everything onto the lounge because I wanted to watch ‘The Deep End Of The Ocean’ with Michelle Pfieffer while I set to work. I have seen this movie many times before. But I like watching something familiar while I do chores. Sunday Evening The last time I made lasagna I froze some so I was glad that I didn’t have to cook. Especially after I had spent the afternoon busy getting things organised and put back. After dinner, I sat down to watch ‘Notting Hill’. I had seen it years ago but I couldn’t really remember it much. It’s such a lovely movie with the best ending! Ahhhhh……I love happy movies. I also opened a box of Cadbury favourites and had a couple of picnic bars. Yummy. It was a perfect way to end the weekend except that I spent the

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Happy New Year!

12 Comments / Friday Favourites

Hi, friends I just wanted to jump on the blog quickly to wish you all a very Happy New Year! I have really enjoyed linking up with Andrea and Erika and joining in the Friday Favourites linkup each week. And I always appreciate you guys stopping by to have a read. I would also like to say a huge thank you for your lovely comments. They always make my heart sing! However, you are ringing in the New Year. Whether you are out partying, staying at home in your PJs in front of the TV or blissfully asleep. I hope that you have a wonderful evening and I pray that in 2023 you will be blessed with peace, joy and happiness. As well as faith, strength and perseverance through any challenging times that may come ahead. I’ll leave you today with a few thoughts about the New Year and I look forward to being back here on Monday. Happy Friday and Happy New Year!

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Goals For The New Year

15 Comments / Beauty and Self Care

One of the nice things about being on summer holiday is that I have more time to do things that I enjoy. Such as blogging as well as reading other blogs too. It’s the best feeling not to have to squeeze in these two fun things between working full-time and doing all the things. So today I’m excited to be joining the Monthly Musings linkup with Holly and Patty where the topic is Goals For The New Year. To be honest I have been counting down the days until 2022 is over. I thought 2020 and 2021 were tough. But for us as a family, I would definitely say that 2022 has been way harder. I am so ready for a fresh new start and I am actually excited for a brand new year. So let’s begin with our first question which is… Goals For The New Year DO YOU MAKE RESOLUTIONS/GOALS FOR THE NEW YEAR In the past, I have been super vague about any resolutions and goals. Maybe about ten minutes before the new year rings in is usually the time when I have started thinking about goals for the new year (not very intentional of me!). But not this year. This year I feel completely different and I have been really reflecting on some things that I want to change/improve or stop doing. I want to be much more hopeful and excited about the gift of a new year. I guess this is what happens when you get kicked to the ground by a bad year. DO YOU HAVE DIET/EXERCISE GOALS I started walking to and from work last year. And it has been great for my mental health as well as for some exercise. I also went along to a dance class towards the end of the year which I really enjoyed. So I’m hoping to go regularly next year. Dancing is my favourite type of exercise because it’s so much fun that it doesn’t feel like exercise at all! DO YOU HAVE PERSONAL/PROFESSIONAL GOALS FOR 2023 One of my personal goals for this year is to go to bed earlier. I am such a night owl! But I really need to get more sleep both for the sake of my well-being and to eliminate that full set of luggage that I have under my eyes! As far as professional goals for next year I really want to get on top of how we document the development and progress of the children at preschool. Up until this year, documentation was not really a big part of my role at preschool. But that all changed this year and going into next year I will be doing more. I’m totally up for the challenge now that I am getting my head around the process. DO YOU USE A PLANNER? PAPER? ELECTRONIC? COMBO? For me, it’s a planner all the way! I love planners (or diaries as we call them here). My super sweet and thoughtful bestie gave me a Twigseeds 2023 diary. This gorgeous diary is illustrated by Kate Knapp who is an Australian artist and author. She uses pencil, ink and watercolour for her beautiful illustrations. I have started writing things inside my diary. It brings me so much joy every time I open it! The cute images always make me smile and the quotes are just so inspiring. It’s a happy diary for a happy new year! DO YOU HAVE A WORD OR PHRASE FOR 2023 My word for 2023 is RING IN THE NEW YEAR OR ASLEEP BY 10 PM For as long as I can remember I have always stayed up to ring in the new year. And for the past few years, my husband has had to work so I stayed up with my mum and my son. We would always wait for midnight and say “Happy New Year” then watch the midnight fireworks on television followed by the movie starring the Village People “Can’t Stop The Music”. I’m not sure why but they always play this movie on TV after the midnight fireworks but they do. This year things are different and so I’m going to go to bed by 10 pm. I want to get on top of my personal goal of going to bed early from day one 😉 FAVOURITE THING TO DO ON NEW YEAR’S DAY I don’t have a favourite activity or tradition for new years day. To be honest I kind of feel a bit down on new years day. Because after so many weeks of anticipation it means that all the festivities are over. So I’m looking forward to any ideas and suggestions. ANY TRAVEL PLANS FOR 2023 Other than a few overnights stays here and there to celebrate anniversaries and birthdays. Nope, we don’t have any travel plans. THINGS/EVENTS YOU ARE MOST LOOKING FORWARD TO IN 2023 2022 was a year of changes and endings. So I’m looking forward to new beginnings in 2023. My son finished high school and he will be starting uni next year. He’s so excited about getting his license, getting a part-time job and studying for his chosen career. So I’m excited for him, a bit nervous (ok…a lot nervous about the licence bit anyway) but I’m excited too…..really I am 😬 WILL YOU BE WATCHING ANY BOWL GAMES ON NEW YEAR’S OR AROUND NEW YEAR’S? American football isn’t televised here in Australia. I think that you can only watch it on paid sports streaming services. I have caught a few bits and pieces of the game on the news, documentaries and movies. It fascinates me to see all the gear that the players wear for protection. Here in Australia, we have rugby league and the players don’t wear helmets, padding or anything. I’m pretty sure that they only wear mouthguards. I’m not a fan of this sport but my husband is. I always cringe when the players smack into each other…..shudder!! That wraps up the fun topic of

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Another Year Of Christmas Cheer

16 Comments / Christmas

Hi, friends It’s a wrap for another year of Christmas cheer! Can you believe it’s all over already? I know that I can’t! After so many weeks of prepping and planning. As well as panicking a little (maybe a lot) about leaving some things until the last minute. BOOM! Christmas came and went. And today I’m back here in full holiday mode not knowing what time or day it is to recap our fun Christmas Eve. Christmas Eve Our family follows the South American tradition of celebrating Christmas on Christmas Eve. This year my lovely cousin hosted all of us and she did such a brilliant job! It’s not easy hosting so many people! Christmas Margaritas We kicked off the evening with some refreshing margaritas. My cousin’s husband played bartender for a while. Even though he broke his left hand a few weeks ago he still managed to shake up some spectacular margaritas for us. So Much Delicious Food! Everyone brought a dish or two and we had so much delicious Christmas food. One of my cousin’s brought this amazing cheese platter. My aunty supplied some empanadas and they were gone in a flash. We had so many yummy salads to go with the turkey, pork and ham. After weeks and weeks of cool to cold temps. Summer finally showed up this weekend in a big way! So the salads were perfect. I love a traditional roast with potatoes and veggies. But it’s just too hot here in December so we just do the salad thing. Karaoke After dinner, we pulled out the karaoke machine that I borrowed from preschool. It’s so fun to sing even when you can’t sing! Games! My cousin asked me to organise some games for our Christmas Eve festivities. A few years ago I introduced some minute to win it style party games for our Christmas Eve celebrations and they were such a big hit. Then for some reason or another, we didn’t do them last year. But this year they were back on and oh my goodness we had such a blast!! I didn’t realise how competitive my family is!! And I think that next year I might need to enlist a referee because there might have been a bit of cheating going on! So I wouldn’t get all confused I made up some cards with instructions for the games that we were playing. And I made sure to put all the props etc that I needed in individual bags. This way I could keep the games flowing along smoothly. We split up into two teams and each team chose a name which I won’t mention here because they may or may not have been slightly inappropriate hehe. I also used the karaoke machine to blast out some fun music after I called READY SET GO! We had the song by The Vengaboys ‘We Like To Party’ on full blast while the games were going on. Everyone was so pumped and my two youngest cousins who are 12 and 10 just about lost their minds with excitement! Here Is A List Of Some Of The Games That We Played 1. Shake That Box This is where you tie an empty tissue box filled with some jingle bells to your waist with a belt. Then you have to shake and wiggle until all the bells are out of the box. The first player to empty their box wins! 2. Don’t Look Back Each team has two players going head to head. One player holds a party hat while the other player throws cotton balls over their shoulder for their team member to catch. The team with the most cotton balls in their hat is the winner. 3. Hot Dog Challenge This game requires one player from each team. And it’s definitely not about how many hotdogs you can eat! You need a hotdog tied to a long piece of string and each player has to tie the string around their waist. The hotdog needs to be behind them and the string has to be long enough so that the hotdog dangles just above the player’s knees. Oh yes, I forgot to mention that you also need two rolls of toilet paper. The players need to spin around 4 or 5 times and then aim to crouch down and place their hotdog inside the toilet roll. The first player to do so wins! 4. Unwrapping Hershey Kisses Did you know that you can only find Hershey Kisses in specialty candy stores here in Australia? And I paid $9.00 for this bag! But I have to say that it was most definitely money well spent for this fun game. All you need to do is unwrap Hershey kisses ONLY using a toothpick. No fingers! Everyone played and the team with the most unwrapped Hershey Kisses after a minute won. There was so much cheating going on with this one that in the end both teams scored equally! Naughty naughty!!😂 5. Marshmellow Stack This one was nice and easy because all you need is a bag of big marshmallows. Then a player from each team has to try and stack a tower of marshmallows. The highest tower wins! It’s much harder than it sounds because they topple over so easily. 6. Ping Pong Santa Hat You need a lot of ping pong balls, a table and Santa hats. For this game, you have two teams and one person from each team will be at each end of a table. One person holds a Santa hat and the other player bounces a ping pong ball on a table and their team member needs to catch the ping pong ball in the hat. The team with the most balls wins 7. Tortilla Slap Another easy game that only requires a packet of tortillas. A player from each time has to battle it out by playing scissors, paper rock. The winner then gets to slap the loser with a tortilla! Best of

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