Ruth(playworkeatrepeat), Author at PLAYWORKEATREPEAT

Sensory Play

Leave a Comment / Insights Into Early Childhood Education

On Tuesdays, I like to look at topics related to early childhood and I thought that for today it would be fun to look at Sensory play. Sensory play is all that messy play kids just love to be involved in. Children love squishing, smooshing, rolling things like sand, playdough, mud, and even your favorite lipstick! However, it’s interesting and very helpful to know that this messy play does in fact play a huge role in children’s learning experience. Sensory play refers to any activity which stimulates a child’s five senses. Touch, smell, taste, sight, and hearing. Sensory play is so important because it helps their brains develop the ability to perform more complex learning tasks. Sensory play reinforces language development, problem-solving skills, cognitive development social interaction as well as fine and gross motor skills. So what are some activities that will encourage sensory play? Here is a list of 6 activities you might like to try with your child 6 Fun Sensory Activities 1. Shaving Cream This is super simple because all you need is a tray and shaving cream. It smells good and it’s easy to clean up (sort of!) Children just love swirling and squeezing the shaving cream through their fingers. Using their fingers, children can write their names in the shaving cream or draw pictures, do lines squiggles, and patterns. At preschool to make things even more interesting, we sometimes add pipettes and food coloring. The children can squeeze food coloring into the shaving cream and it becomes a sensory color mixing experience. How fun is that! 2. Goop All you need to make goop is 2 cups of cornflour and 1 cup of water and mix all this in a large tub. You can leave it white or add food coloring. The kids love this because the cornflour and water mixture has such a unique and interesting texture. It’s kind of solid and then it will turn runny. I can’t lie, this activity is a little messy and takes a bit more effort to clean up but it is well worth it. It won’t stain or damage anything as it washes very easily but I would recommend wearing a biohazard suit, ahem… I mean an apron. 3. Slime To make slime all you need is a large tub, 1 cup of soap flakes, 3 cups of warm water, food coloring, and a whisk or electric beater. When you beat all the ingredients together it turns into a thick foamy substance that looks a bit like beaten egg whites. Kids just love getting their hands right into the slippery, slimy tub. You could also add things like funnels and containers for them to use. Offering two different slime colors will also allow them to mix colors. 4. Rice Play At preschool, we have a really great sensory table always available in the classroom. We like to change it up every week to offer different sensory play experiences, but rice is always popular and on repeat. Sometimes we give the kids bottles and spoons so they can fill up their bottles with rice. Takes a bit of concentration to get the rice into the bottles through the small opening. Other times we have funnels or measuring cups. Another favorite is adding treasure (sequins) to the rice. The kids then have to use their pincer grips to try and get the enticing treasure out of the rice. The more they can collect the more they can take home! 5. Squishy Bags Squishy bags are great for manipulating and playing with. All you need to make one is a zip lock bag, tape, and things like glue, paint, or shaving cream. We make our squishy bags at preschool using cell mix. It’s a non-toxic powder mixed with water that makes a clear gel-like substance. We also use this to make paints and glue. It’s fun to add two different colors for the children to mix for themselves in the squishy bags. Word of warning- make sure to tape up the opening of the bags as best as you can. We inevitably end up with a bag split open due to too much sensory excitement! 6. Sand Trays At preschool, we sometimes bring the sand inside the classroom for some fun sensory play. We use trays half-filled with sand and we provide simple things like sticks for them to ‘draw’ with. Another favorite is when we hide some plastic insects or small dinosaurs in the sand trays. It’s Time To Try Some Fun Sensory play! Messy play can be very educational and these simple sensory activities will give young children amazing learning opportunities. Go ahead and try some, you’ll be surprised how fun they can really be! If you’re looking for some other activities for preschoolers and toddlers, you can find some great painting activities here.

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Neutral Outfits

5 Comments / Fashion Files

For Monday’s styling and fashion inspiration post I thought it would be fun to look at some neutral outfits. Without a doubt, I have to say neutral outfits are my favorite to wear. While I don’t mind a good pop of color every now and then I do tend to stick to neutrals a lot of the time. Whenever I’m out shopping for clothes, I am always drawn to neutral colors. I just think they look so chic and timeless. Over the years I have invested in some neutral-colored staple pieces. Doing this has given me a good foundation for my wardrobe. I can mix and match easily without fear of colors clashing. I love taking fashion inspiration from style icons of the past. Many of their most memorable outfits are mainly composed of simple pieces and often using a neutral color palette. Think of Audrey Hepburn and her slim black pants, ballet flats, and a crisp white button-down shirt. There’s also 1970’s Jackie Kennedy, if you look at what she wore during that decade, a lot is made up of simple neutral-colored pieces and they are still in fashion even today! Another great thing about wearing neutrals is that you are more likely to spend less on current color fashion trends that unfortunately will only last one season. It’s a win for your pocket and a win for the environment. Wearing neutrals also means that nobody will notice if I wear the same white or black t-shirt over and over. The same cannot be said if I was to wear a hot pink one. Here Are Some Of My Favorite Neutral Outfits Number One Here you can see that patterns can be neutral too! These pants are a nice earthy colored tartan, I bought these from H&M last year. They are a nice relaxed fit and I really like the tailored waist and side pockets. The black top is from Country Road and it’s the same style as the cream-colored one I showed you in last week’s Spring outfits post. I love how this top goes in at the waist and gives you a really nice shape. Nude shoes are my favorites, they can be worn with absolutely anything and are just so elegant. I like these pointy-toed ones and I love how the strap gives it a cute detail. I bought these online from Marc Fisher a few years ago and although they might not look it they really and truly are very comfortable. Number Two Here’s another example that neutral does not mean boring. Playing with patterns and textures will give neutral outfits an extra measure of interest. I bought this silk top with the gorgeous detail at the front from Country Road many years ago. I can safely say that I have almost worn it to death. Number Three Beige and black, my two favorite color combinations! I think they look brilliant together. Poor old ‘beige’ has been given a bad rap over the years. It’s been called mean things like boring and draining on the complexion. So poor old beige has been forced to hide under different names such as Cosmic latte, Ecru, and Tuscan. I’ll always be friends with beige but I think the trick is to find the right shade for your skin tone. If in doubt you can always switch things around and wear beige away from your face. So, for instance, you could wear a black top and beige pants or a beige skirt instead. Number Four My good old white t-shirt, here I have styled it with this gunmetal green pants and tan suede slip-on shoes. These colors are earthy and relaxed. See the Rayban Wayfarer sunglasses with the tortoise shell frames. I’ve had them for about 30 years. I saved up for them while I was at uni and even got prescription lenses put in costing me a small fortune back then. But here’s a great example of how investing in timeless classic pieces will keep you in style forever. Heck, I might even request to be buried wearing these. Number Five When I spotted this top at ZARA it reminded me of the Chanel look. You know the classic tweed fabric that Chanel uses for their tops and jackets. I also like the soft colors in the top and while I don’t usually go for embellishments, I was ok about the pearls around the neckline. When I wear this top with a classic pencil skirt like this one I think it looks quite elegant. I hope you enjoyed looking at some neutral outfits for some style inspiration. You can let me know what you think in the comments or you can find me on Instagram.

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10 Fun Things

Healthy Banana Bread Recipe

6 Comments / Recipes

This healthy banana bread recipe is very simple to make because you will only need to use one bowl. Hooray for less washing up! It’s a great idea to make this banana bread when you have really overripe bananas as it will give it that delicious natural sweetness and extra banana flavor. Therefore the more ripe the bananas are the sweeter the banana bread will turn out. I usually use about 2 bananas for this recipe but if you would like it even sweeter you could definitely add 3. Importantly, if you are looking for a gluten-free option you could use gluten-free flour instead. Furthermore, the great thing about this recipe is that if you make it with gluten-free flour you can still keep the same measurements for the rest of the ingredients. I use rapadura sugar instead of brown or white sugar because it has a higher mineral and antioxidant content than other refined sugars. Rapadura sugar contains Vitamins A,C, B1,B2,B5, B6, and Niacin. I am a big fan of wholemeal Spelt flour because it has more fiber which helps the body to slow down its digestion. This in turn means that it helps reduce spikes in blood sugar levels after eating. To jazz things up I also like to add walnuts to this healthy banana bread recipe but you could also try other ingredients like sultanas, or chocolate chips. Go ahead and make it, it’s really good and easy! See how you just need one bowl to add all the ingredients. The mixture is ready to go into the loaf pan This loaf pan is fantastic and it is from USA Pan Bakeware. Its dimensions are 9x13cmx7cm Banana bread mix ready for the oven Out of the oven and ready to eat after it’s cooled. Recipe For Healthy Banana Bread Ingredients 1 1/2 cups wholemeal spelt flour 1 large egg 3/4 cups rapadura sugar 1/3 cup butter melted 2 or 3 very ripe banana 1 teaspoon vanilla extract 1 teaspoon baking powder 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon ground 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg Method Preheat oven to 175 C or 350 F Prepare a loaf pan with butter and line with baking paper In a mixing bowl combine melted butter and sugar Mash the bananas and add to the butter and sugar mixture Add egg and vanilla and stir Mix in the baking powder nutmeg cinnamon and flour Pour batter into loaf pan Bake for 35-40 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean Remove from oven and let cool completely One Last Thing If you are looking for more recipes using healthier alternatives, you can find my recipe for gluten-free orange cake here

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20 Things You Can Declutter Right Now!

7 Comments / Cleaning and Organising

Decluttering your entire house might seem like a massive task, leaving you feeling overwhelmed or even a bit frightened. A good way to begin is by simply clearing out items you no longer use or need. This easy starting point can make a world of difference. To make this process smoother for you, here is a list of 20 things you can easily declutter right now! Let’s simplify together and make your home feel more spacious and serene. Are you ready to dive in? Let’s get started! 20 Things You Can Declutter Right Now! 1. Stained, Warped, or Old Plastic Containers I think that it is so satisfying to get rid of old plastic food containers and it’s a good starting point to declutter your home. I don’t know why but these things just seem to multiply over time. Indeed it’s a good idea to just go through all your plastic containers and get rid of any containers with no lids or any random lids that have no containers. 2. Odd Socks Why oh why do we always end up with odd socks? I just don’t get it, because I have a consistent routine and I make sure I wash, fold and put my clothes away without letting them pile up. And yet I still somehow manage to end up with odd socks over time. I have stopped holding on to my sad odd socks and now I just get rid of them regularly. If I haven’t found their matching pair after a month I probably never will so out they go! 3. Books You Have Read and Will Never Read Again Just the other day I went through my bookcase and did a merciless declutter. I had so many books just taking up space and accumulating dust. I got rid of heaps of novels, textbooks, and cookbooks I had not looked at in years. 4. Worn out Underwear Any bras, socks, or undies with holes just need to go. End of story! 5. Shoes You Haven’t Worn In a Long Time Donate any shoes that might look good on you, but hurt so badly your feet are still traumatized. Who knows someone else might have the right kind of feet for these shoes. 6. Clothes That Don’t Fit Anymore Sometimes we hold onto clothes just in case they might eventually fit again but chances are they might not. Consequently, even if they do fit they might not even be in style anymore anyway. 7. Old Greeting Cards A few years ago we had to empty my mother-in-law’s house as she had sadly passed away. I found a huge amount of greeting cards and reading through them just depressed me. Therefore I promised myself that I would never want my kids to have to deal with that. So now I have a rule. If it’s a birthday card it’s allowed to stay up on display for about a week then it gets recycled. Christmas cards all go once the season is over. I have only kept a select few cards congratulating us when our children were born. 8. Paper Clutter Grrrrrr paper clutter!!! It just makes me go bananas. Papers all over the place give me anxiety. So I make sure I recycle them quick smart before they feel too at home. I’m talking about receipts, newspapers, two-for-one pizza coupons, and personalized junk mail from real estate agents telling me that one hundred people are dying to buy my house. I don’t think so. 9. CD and DVD cases This one is actually on my declutter list. I want to put my DVDs in those pocket binders and the good news is that CD and DVD cases can be recycled. So I am super keen to get onto this decluttering task as soon as possible because it will free up a lot of space. 10. Old Chargers Get rid of any chargers you don’t need because you no longer own that particular device. 11. Old Sunscreen Say bye-bye to any sunscreen that has expired or is older than three years because it won’t give you adequate sun protection. 12. Old Mobile Phones We have a company called MobileMuster which is an Australian recycling company that keeps mobile phone products out of landfills. They have special drop-off points conveniently located in places like Officeworks and many Telco companies. Old mobile phones can be dropped off at these locations. 13. Take Away Menus These can be popped straight into the recycling bin because you can easily find menus online. 14. Old Hair Products In my constant quest for sleek shiny hair, I had amassed a large number of hair products promising me the earth but delivering very little. Some of them didn’t even smell nice anymore, I gave a big sigh and threw them out. 15. Old Makeup Yes, that’s right throw out old makeup, it’s not healthy to keep old makeup. 16. Mugs These seem to accumulate over the years so it probably doesn’t hurt to get rid of the ones that aren’t needed. 17. Old Sheets or Quilt Covers A few months after my oldest son moved out to live with his fiancee I went through the linen cupboard to declutter it and I got rid of sheets, mismatched pillowcases, and yes his Mickey Mouse quilt cover too. Boohoo! He didn’t need that anymore. 18. Wire Hangers These can’t be recycled but they can be returned to dry cleaners, donated to charity, or posted on share sites like Facebook Marketplace, or Gumtree. 19. Old Manuals These days it’s easy to find manuals on the product website, but if you’re like me you might still prefer the hard copy. Just make sure to recycle any manuals that are no longer needed. 20. Plastic Produce Bags I have switched over to reusable produce bags but I used to have a heap of them that I had guiltily stashed at the back of my cupboard. I took all of these to my

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Fine Motor Skills

1 Comment / Insights Into Early Childhood Education

Children need plenty of opportunities to develop their fine motor skills before going to big school. One reason for this is so that they will not struggle when it comes time for them to learn to write. If the muscles in their little hands are weak they will find tasks such as holding scissors and pencils difficult. Another reason why children should have good fine motor skills is that it is important for their independence. They need to be able to do things like tie their shoelaces, button up their clothes, and open tricky lunchbox lids. So What Are Fine Motor Skills? Fine Motor skills are the ability to use the smaller muscles of the hands, fingers, and wrists in coordination with their eyes to manipulate objects and tools. Children need precision and coordination in order to master their fine motor skills. Therefore it is really important that they are exposed to many activities designed to develop fine motor skills. 7 Activities For Children There are many simple fun activities that kids can do either at home or preschool which will help them develop their fine motor skills. Here are a few~ 1. Playdough Manipulating, rolling, squeezing, and pinching playdough will give little hands a fantastic workout! I’ve got a fantastic recipe for super soft and long-lasting playdough here. 2. Threading Threading activities are incredibly useful for developing fine motor skills in toddlers and preschoolers. It’s a good idea to start with larger chunkier beads and then work towards threading smaller beads. Threading beads onto pipe cleaners are also an excellent fine motor activity, especially for younger children. Items like straws and pasta are also great to use for threading. We have these ‘Pop Beads’ at preschool. The children have to push hard to join them together, they are quite challenging. I know this because many times I end up having to pull them apart when its pack away time and they are not easy!! 3. Painting Painting activities are fantastic for building fine motor skills. There’s good old finger painting where children give their fingers and hands a good workout. Painting with a paintbrush will help children to develop their pincer grip. 4. Stickers Stickers are a great fine motor activity because they can help strengthen hand-eye coordination and manual dexterity. Peeling stickers off a sheet can be a pretty tricky business. Placing the sticker onto a piece of paper also requires hand control. 5. Clothes Pegs These are great for building up strength in children’s fingers. At preschool, we have quite a variety of activities with pegs such as peg dominos and counting peg games. We also encourage the children to hang up their own paintings onto the drying racks using pegs. 6. Tongs and Tweezers Moving items from one place to another requires a lot of hand-eye coordination. The kids at preschool really like a simple water trough activity that we do. We fill a big water trough with some water and add some colorful plastic fish. The kids then need to use the tongs to take the fish out of the water. It’s like fishing using tongs. We also use pompoms and large tweezers for the children to move between containers. This is another engaging activity that gives their hand muscles a good workout. 7. Pipettes Using pipettes is a great and fun way for children to work on their pincer grip. We do a fun color mixing activity where the kids are given cups with primary-colored water paint. They then have to use the pipettes to transfer the paint onto paper towels. An Important Thing to Remember First of all, children need to get really involved in whole-body movements and use their gross motor skills so that they build up their big muscles. Then this will assist them to build up their small muscles for fine motor activities.

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black top and midi skirt for spring outfit

Spring Outfits

7 Comments / Fashion Files

In honor of Spring finally arriving here in Sydney I thought I might put together a few Spring outfits. I’m just so excited that Spring is here, and I have really been enjoying the clear blue sunny skies and seeing the lavender in my garden blooming. Today, I picked some to put in my cute vase that sits on the hall table. The bees were feasting on the pollen so I had to be super careful when I picked a few sprigs. See how pretty the lavender looks in the vase? Anyway, let’s move onto some ideas for Spring outfits. Let’s Look At Six Spring Outfits Outfit Number One I bought these slim straight jeans from Witchery a few weeks before lockdown and I haven’t worn them yet! I really like the highrise silhouette because it makes my waist look thinner. The straight cropped legs fit really nicely and the raw edges are not too raw. Do you know what I mean? I’ve seen some that look severely frayed and I think the jeans end up looking a bit shabby. Any white top with faded denim washed jeans is such a classic look. I think this outfit looks clean and bright and so good for spring! It gets super hot here in Australia so these jeans are just perfect to add to my list of spring outfits, especially right now and in the coming weeks when it’s still cool especially in the mornings. The pointy patent leather shoes give the outfit a bit more of a sophisticated edge and so it looks a little dressier. These jeans would also go well with boots, loafers, sneakers, or even sexy stilettos. It just depends on the occasion. Outfit Number Two This next outfit is super relaxed, casual and comfortable. The skirt reaches just slightly above the knee so it isn’t too short and I like to wear this skirt with sneakers. Again, this is a skirt I bought from Witchery. I don’t receive any affiliates for mentioning Witchery, I just really like their clothes. The cute skirt has fine black checked lines running through the fabric and so I think it looks good with a black t-shirt. I have worn this with a white t-shirt too but I think I prefer black. The black t-shirt is from Uniqlo and I like the scoop neck. It’s a nice change from the usual round or crew necks. Crossbody bags are unbeatable! They are so handy for when I’m out and about and I need my hands to be free. This lovely bag was actually a Kris Kringle gift from a work colleague a few years ago and the logo says it’s from Jag. I love the neutral color because it goes well with any outfit. The black piping around the bag is also a cute detail that goes nicely with the black top. Outfit Number Three This next Spring outfit has my favorite neutral color combinations. The wide relaxed stone-colored pants are very comfortable. The high-rise fitted waist, zipper, and button make the pants have a slightly more tailored look. The rusty-colored top has a really cute neck detail. See how it is stitched nicely around the neckline to give the whole top a drapey look. I wear this outfit with the top tucked into the pants to give a more fitted look. I also read somewhere that if you wear looser pants it’s a good idea to wear a more fitted top. Vice versa when wearing a loose top it’s probably a good idea to wear more fitted pants or skirts. I think this makes sense. The rusty suede sandals go so well with the top. I’m always a bit conscious to not look too matchy but I like this combination. Outfit Number Four I used to never wear pink, then all of a sudden a few years ago I started liking pink and I shocked myself! But I can’t get enough of this dusty pink now because I think it just says spring! I picked up these pants from ZARA last year and I really love the cut and fit. They look way more expensive than they actually were and they don’t wrinkle, what a bonus! The creamy-colored top is from Country Road Australia. It’s probably a bit hard to tell from the photo but the cut of the top makes it look nicely fitted when I wear it. I bought this one a few years ago, the good thing about Country Road is that they often bring out the same or similar pieces each year but in different colors. So last year I bought the same top but in black. I love my little Furla Metropolis bag. My handbag expert friend introduced me to the Furla brand a few years ago and she encouraged me to spend a slightly eye-watering amount on this little bag. It’s very cute but very little so I usually wear it when I don’t need to carry much. Outfit Number Five I’m not into a lot of animal print but I quite like this snake print blouse from Country Road. It has nice flutter sleeves and a gathered front. It is very loose and comfortable so I like to do a front tuck into the black shorts for a little shape and definition. The shorts are from Witchery and they are made of a nice thick satin elastane fabric. They are not too short and they fit smoothly without looking boxy. They make a nice going out pair of shorts. Outfit Number Six Another dusty pink favorite, this top is made of a polyester satin fabric with a gathered front and button detail. It’s pretty, feminine, and can easily be dressed up or down depending on where I am going. The top is quite long and wide even though it is extra small. I always wear it tucked in and because the fabric is thin it doesn’t look bulky. The shorts are the same as

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It’s The Weekend

2 Comments / Family Life

It’s the weekend! How did the week fly by so fast? I find myself saying this all the time but this week it really and truly did!! I have so many fun things to tell you about. It was a week where I was really blessed with kindness from some of my favorite people. Number 1 Yes, it’s the weekend but it’s also finally Spring and I am so happy! Spring is my favorite season and I just love how the days are getting longer and the flowers are starting to bloom. There’s a real sense of joy in the air once we hit September. Number 2 Last Saturday I made some chicken wraps with Mexican corn salad and tomato rice. I really love this Mexican corn salad and I have made it many times before. It’s a real on repeat favorite. Unfortunately, I didn’t have all the ingredients that give this salad its zing! Not going to the supermarket regularly means I am constantly running out of things or I don’t have all the ingredients I need. This Mexican corn salad needs coriander but I didn’t have any so I had to use parsley from our garden instead. I also didn’t have any red capsicum so I substituted it with tomato. In the end, it was still good but not great. However, we did enjoy it plus I even high fived myself for being creative and flexible. Ha! if it wasn’t for covid I would have been running out to the shops for all my missing ingredients! Number 3 Sunday was quite cold and we ordered some lunch from ‘The Fish Box’. It’s a small fish and chip shop about ten minutes drive from where we live. I had the clam chowder and so did Steve. It comes with this delicious bread bowl. It was so hot, creamy, and tasty that I didn’t want it to end! Sam had the fish and chips which he thoroughly enjoyed. Lunch from the ‘Fish Box’ is definitely a family favorite! Number 4 Sunday afternoon I was getting some things out of my wardrobe ready for my fashion and styling blog post when I pulled out this top complete with tags. I had completely forgotten that I had bought this. How does that even happen? I guess maybe because I haven’t gone out anywhere for so long! Anyway, I was really surprised and happy to rediscover this top and I look forward to wearing it once lockdown ends!! Number 5 I worked on Monday and it was nice to see the two children who attended preschool. It was a lovely sunny day for the last day of winter and the day seemed to go faster than when it’s cold and miserable. I love the preschool where I work but honestly, it must be the coldest place on earth in winter!! My friends had planned a trivia game on zoom for the evening but first, my friend surprised me by bringing us dinner. That’s right she brought over dinner complete with entree AND dessert. She’s so kind! Later on, she joined us on zoom and we played trivia with her, her husband, and another friend. It was a fun night even though we lost, I have no clue about Greek Mythology!! Number 6 On Tuesday Sam had an appointment for his first shot of Pfizer. We headed to the local aquatic center where they have set up a big vaccination hub. The NSW Government is setting up easily accessible venues and doing everything possible to get everyone vaccinated as soon as possible. The vaccination hub was impressively efficient and so well organized. There was some navy personnel helping out with marshaling and directing. When Sam was finished we walked out and we were given a bottle of water and a chocolate. How nice was that!! Number 7 Sam received this in the mail from his school teacher. I thought it was such a lovely kind gesture and I was so touched by the lovely note. Sam goes to an independent Christian School and after this year he only has one more year left. I can’t believe how fast time has flown by. It feels like it was only yesterday when he was starting school! sigh. We are very happy with his school and we will be sad when he finishes. My oldest son went there too, so this school has been a big part of our lives for a long time. Number 8 Look at this!! I found this on my doorstep, and I was so completely surprised and emotional. It was from a very kind and thoughtful friend and her beautiful daughter who I had the pleasure of having in my preschool class a couple of years ago. This just made my day, I was so overwhelmed at their kind gesture and I got very teary when I read the card. I really miss them and sadly I haven’t been able to catch up with them because of Covid lockdown grrrrrr. I have such a special bond with my friend’s daughter and am super excited that her little boy will be in my class next year. Number 9 I was so happy to go to work on Friday, that’s right I was happy because it meant I got to work with my bestie. I hadn’t seen her in nearly two weeks. We are on a roster at work because we have very few kids attending this term so this means I see less of her than I usually would. She was so kind and was able to get my little cat her favorite cat food from a supermarket close to where she lives. For some reason, I had been unable to buy this saucy cat food (Sushi’s favorite) from my local supermarket. She also ordered this cool mouse and pad for me. I love how they match and they were super cheap from Kmart. I got to see her and get all

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chocolate chip cookies and a glass of milk

Healthy Chocolate Chip Cookies

5 Comments / Recipes

I was chatting to my lovely friend the other day and she mentioned she was looking for a healthy recipe for chocolate chip cookies as she had been craving some. Well, that got me thinking and so today I thought I would share this recipe with you. These cookies turn out soft and chewy in the middle and crispy on the outside. Best of all they are very delicious and my family gave them a big thumbs up. This recipe contains walnuts as an option. But if you are allergic to nuts then you can leave them out. I did add them to my batch of cookies because we really love nuts and don’t have any allergies. Another great thing about these cookies is that they don’t have butter or eggs in them, so this means they are lower in fat than other chocolate chip cookie recipes. I do hope you try this recipe for Healthy chocolate chip cookies and enjoy them as much as we did! Recipe for Healthy Chocolate Chip Cookies Ingredients 1 and 1/3 cups Oat Flour 1/2 teaspoon Baking Powder 1/4 teaspoon salt 1/3 cup Rapadura sugar 1/2 cup chocolate chips 1/3 cup chopped walnuts (optional) 1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract 2 tablespoons melted Coconut Oil 3-4 tablespoons Milk Directions Preheat Oven to 175 C In a bowl combine all dry ingredients together. Add wet ingredients and mix well Make the mix into a large ball and refrigerate for 30 minutes With damp hands roll out approximately 12-13 small balls of cookie mix and place them on tray lined with Baking paper Bake for 9 minutes Remove the cookies from the oven and leave them on the tray to cool Notes I didn’t have any Oat Flour in the pantry so all I did was whizz some oats in my mini blender, easy peasy! It helps to have damp hands to roll the mixture into balls. This way the mix won’t get stuck to your hands. If you don’t have any Rapadura sugar you can use coconut sugar or brown sugar instead. One last Thing If you’re looking for another delicious and healthy recipe you should try my Jam Drop cookies

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Label Maker

5 Comments / Cleaning and Organising

When I pull out my label maker I know that it means I have finally reached the last step of organizing a particular task. For me, this is probably the part I like the best. The reason is that it allows me to be creative with my labeling. I really enjoy looking through Pinterest and Instagram because I get so much cleaning and organizing inspiration. There are so many ideas for how to label the things around the home and I think some are more practical than others. But in the end, I guess it’s just all about personal choice and preference. When I was looking for labeling inspiration earlier in the year. I kept seeing the Cricut, it’s all over the internet and I nearly bought one but then decided not. Who knows I may change my mind and buy one eventually. For now, I own two label makers to label my things and I really like them both. They serve me well and they label things clearly. The Good Old Dymo Letra Tag Handheld Label Maker I have had this label maker for years and I probably use it the most. The letters are very clear and it has 5 fonts, 8 box styles plus 2 line printing. I find this labeler easy to use because it is light and compact plus it is powered by batteries. I also use this label maker to label all of my son’s school things. Like his books, folders, and stationary equipment. I know he’s a big boy but I still love to label his things. Spice Jar Labels This label maker is also great for labeling my spice jars. The jars are quite small so consequently, I had to make sure that the lettering was clear and I think that this label maker did the perfect job! Labels For Files I have labeled all my files using this label maker. I can easily adjust the size of the letters to suit what I need and I think that this is a winning feature. The Dymo Organiser Xpress Embosser Pantry Jar Labels Earlier this year I wanted to use something a bit different for labeling my kitchen things. I was happy to keep the spice jars labeled with the Dymo handheld label maker but I was keen for a bit of a change for the jars in my pantry. On Pinterest, I kept seeing pantry jars labeled using this Dymo organizer Xpress embosser and I was sold. I love the retro look, reminds me of when I was a kid. In Primary school, my friend Donna had these same embossed labels on all her belongings, she’ll never know how much label envy I had!! Custom Made Vinyl Labels Labels For Hand and Dish Soap Bottles When we had our kitchen renovated I wanted everything to look clean and fresh with minimal clutter. (You can read about my kitchen organization here.) I was on the lookout for some pump bottles for my dishwashing liquid and hand soap. The online stores I looked at didn’t have any I was happy with. In the end, I found the perfect glass pump bottles at Ikea. I really like the silver nozzle and I think they look just right in the kitchen. While I was in the process of looking for pump bottles online, I stumbled across an Australian company called Blissful Little Home. They sell all sorts of really lovely organization products and custom-made vinyl labels. Furthermore, the best part was that I was able to choose my own font and size from quite an extensive selection. So I went ahead and ordered the labels for my pump bottles and they turned out to look way better than I expected! It ended up costing me a fraction of the price of some of the options, I had been considering. Vinegar and Oil Bottle Labels I also ordered These really cute and super functional oil and vinegar bottles complete with the vinyl labels. I was determined to get rid of the ugly mismatched bottles in the pantry and I was really happy that I had found these ones. The bottles pour beautifully and they also don’t leak so this means I don’t get any sticky pantry shelves. I thought I’d show you how I’ve labeled some of my things. While I am currently quite happy with my labels, who knows maybe I might be tempted to change them in the future. Because I am just constantly seeing so many beautiful labeling options. In case you are interested here is the Link for Blissful Little Home

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