Hi friends it’s great to be back here for this week’s Friday favourites. As usual, I am excited to be linking up with Andrea and Erika for today’s post. I know that I say this on repeat but I seriously can’t believe how quickly the week has sped by. And someone please tell me how January is nearly all over!
Back To Work
Today was my first day back at work, I know it’s so weird to start back on a Friday! And this is going to make me all confused. But anyway, that’s the way the school calendar worked out this year.
It was a pupil free day so we spent most of the day rearranging the furniture in the classrooms. We switched things around until we were happy with the way everything looked. We also have a pupil free day on Monday so we can keep prepping and rearranging.
It was great to see all the staff again. While going back to work isn’t really a favourite, it was nice to see everyone and I am excited to see the kids when they start back next Tuesday. On a very positive note, it is probably the shortest working week that I have ever had!!
But First, A Visit To Ikea
On Monday I enjoyed a trip to Ikea with my lovely friend and work colleague. This time we were joined by her sweet daughter and we had a lovely time browsing very casually and taking our time.
We stopped off for something to eat and drink and we chose to sit by the big windows. The Ikea in Tempe is not far from the airport and we saw a couple of planes come in for a landing. I thought that this was very exciting. They were only small planes this time. In the past, I have seen huge jumbo jets. Now that is really impressive! I’m not a fan of flying at all but I love to see the planes landing, safely from my seat inside Ikea.
I hadn’t had any breakfast that day and I was really craving an egg. So I got this shrimp sandwich, it had some yummy mayonnaise and dill with slices of boiled egg. Very delicious! I had been tossing up between getting this or a ham and cheese croissant. The shrimp and egg won!
I also had this fruit smoothie which was really refreshing and tasted great. Must be something new as I have never seen this in the Ikea restaurant before.
I thought that I would only be getting two things that I needed from Ikea. But I ended up with about twenty-two things in my trolley instead and so did my friend.
Here are a couple of things that I bought. This life-changing charging pad
And a container for my dishwasher pods
I didn’t have a container for the pods and I just stored them in their original packaging. It made my drawer look bulky and messy. Now with this container, everything fits in really neatly. All part of my cleaning, organising and decluttering mission these school holidays.
Cheese Platter, Wine And A Movie
Tuesday evening Steve and I enjoyed a small cheese platter and a glass of wine while we watched a movie. It had been ages since we had done this and it was a lovely and relaxing night.
Mid Week Lunch With My Family
My son and his lovely fiancee came over for lunch on Wednesday. It was Australia Day so they were both off work as it was a public holiday. I made a fall apart roast leg of lamb with potatoes and salad. I also made some fresh hummus to go with it all. My family love hummus as a dip and they love it with lamb as a condiment too.
I have a really easy hummus recipe that you can find here. My recipe uses olive oil rather than canola oil, so it’s much better for you and it tastes great too!
We all enjoyed a really fun time together and after lunch, we watched “Encanto”. My boys are all grown up but they still love a good Disney movie. The music was great. It’s very much like the music that I grew up with!
The Dinner Ladies
I was really excited to get my delivery from The Dinner Ladies. To make my life easier this year I have decided to try and have some ready-made meals in the freezer for those super busy nights. I always aim to cook dinner from scratch for my family. I don’t like to order takeaway very much, as I prefer to leave that as more of a treat.
A friend of mine was telling me about how she had ordered from The Dinner Ladies and she was really impressed with the quality and the flavour. When I looked on their website I was really impressed too.
The two friends who started The Dinner Ladies are a couple of mums who saw that there was a real need to supply good quality meals for busy families. They started out small and now their business has grown much bigger. They make fresh meals and deliver them frozen because they avoid using nasty preservatives. Sounds good to me! It’s nice to know that I will have some dinners ready to go on those crazy busy nights.
Capsule Work Wardrobe
I finally got around to putting my capsule work wardrobe together. It will make getting ready in the mornings so much faster. It’s nothing terribly exciting, just a few T-shirts, a couple of shorts, skirts and jeans. I have stuck to a neutral colour palette so that I can mix and match my outfits easily.
Last year I seemed to wear the same two outfits over and over. I would wash my work clothes, fold them and put them back in the cupboard. Then in the morning, I would reach for the same things over and over.
A little preschooler even commented one day” Ruth you wear that every day” Haha! they are so honest!! This year I will dazzle them with my variety of outfits!!
My Favourite Dish
Thursday night I made my favourite dinner, Spaghetti bolognese. I might have mentioned before that I could easily have spaghetti bolognese for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Unfortunately, the rest of my family are not as passionate about this dish as I am.
Nevertheless, they are happy to eat it once in a while. I am excited that we have leftovers so that means that I won’t have to bother with making dinner on Friday night after work. No cooking on a Friday night is a huge favourite. Woohoo!
Hooray For The Weekend!
Ok friends, I guess that wraps up another Friday favourites for this week. After only one day back at work I am more than ready for the weekend!! Thank you so much for stopping by to have a read. I really do hope you have the best weekend!
Happy Friday!!
