Family Life

Hey everyone, it’s time for a quick life update! I just wanted to jump on here and share with you a bit about what I have been up to. And that is–I’ve finally taken the plunge and enrolled in further studies. Yep, it’s happening! I am in the process of working towards a Diploma in Early Childhood Education. So let’s backtrack a little. After finishing school I had my sights set on being a child psychologist and while I was at uni I sort of fell into working in early childhood education. You can read all about that journey here. Now fast forward 27 years (that’s how long I have been at my current job) and things have changed a lot! When I first started, my role as a teacher’s assistant was primarily focused on prepping crafts and handling the messy tasks that come with working with young children. But as time went on, expectations began to shift big time. Nowadays my role is not just about the paint and the glue. Now there’s also a greater emphasis on the educational aspect of childcare. So in addition to the hands-on activities, my role now includes observing children’s development, recording progress and setting educational goals. Recently, I have also taken on grown-up responsibilities like parent-teacher meetings and that sure has pushed me right out of my comfort zone! I’ve also stepped up to teach when the classroom teacher, who also happens to be the director is called away, which happens quite often given her dual roles. Switching up my routine although daunting at first, feels great and stepping into the teacher’s shoes has opened my eyes to a whole new side of things. I have really loved the challenge and the opportunity to learn new skills. It’s fun leading the class and doing group times. I’m learning what works and what falls flat – little kids can be a tough audience! What’s even more inspiring is our new director’s approach. She views us as a team of teachers and has redefined traditional teacher-assistant roles at our preschool. She is constantly encouraging the whole team and her faith in me is so motivating. So here I am doing all of these new tasks but my pay doesn’t reflect this. Why? because I don’t have my Diploma in Early Childhood Education….sigh! My amazing friend and work colleague, she’s such a gem. She has been encouraging me to study for my diploma for a while now. My answer was always the same ” I can’t, I have no time!”. And it was true that between working full time and caring for my mum, I was barely keeping my head above water. Then I started blogging and loved it so much ( I still do) and I just didn’t want to spend a second of my life worrying about assignments and studying. No way! I also didn’t want to pay thousands of dollars to enrol in the Diploma course. But then life changed dramatically and suddenly I had no more excuses. To top it off there is such a shortage of diploma-trained educators that the government made the course free! Can you believe it? So while this has been me on most days ever since I started. I know that it will be worth it when I’m done, and any opportunity for further learning is always a good thing, right? Plus a pay increase would be a welcome bonus,  especially since early childhood education doesn’t pay big bucks! I’m feeling better about things lately and less overwhelmed. It’s been a huge relief to be able to tackle the assignments over the last few days while I am on school holidays. Instead of squeezing in study time before or after work. I even think that the cobwebs in my brain are starting to clear! Yay!! For now, the downside is that I have less time to devote to blogging. While I am still managing to post articles and join in the link-ups. I’m finding it tricky to find time to read and comment on my favourite blogs right away. I really love this community and I want to keep up the connections. So these days I’m mainly catching up on my blog reading on the weekends. I also keep reminding myself that this isn’t forever (it just feels like it sometimes). And I’m determined to finish this self-paced online Diploma in Early Childhood Education done and dusted pronto!  So that’s a little life update today. What’s new in your world and keeping you busy? I’d love to know. Thanks so much for stopping by.  

Hi friends, I hope you are having an amazing day! Today I’m recapping our April Cousin Connect get-together. I meant to share more about our fun night last week. But things got so busy, I ran out of time and I basically just never got around to it. Now that I’m on school holidays I finally have a chance to catch up on some blogging. So here I am on a Tuesday — better late than never, right? As I’ve shared before, our small family had kind of drifted away from getting together regularly. This was sad, especially because we all live so close by. But you know how it is–life gets crazy busy and before you know it, months go by without realising how much we missed seeing each other. Until about two years ago, we were only really catching up for some birthday celebrations and Christmas. Then everything changed after my beautiful mum passed away. It was a huge wake-up call for my family, and it made us all realise how we had let the busyness of life drift us apart! So we decided to make a change. We started meeting up on the first Saturday of every month and that’s how Cousin Connect came to be. One of my cousins gave us the name because, despite some being parents and children, we’re all cousins in the end. It’s a bit confusing but trust me we are all cousins except for an aunt hahaha! April Cousin Connect Anyway, we usually take turns hosting and up until the last catch-up, the host would provide all the food. But with everything being so darn expensive and because we’re saving up for a Cousin Connect adventure. We decided to go pot-luck where everyone brings something to share. And I honestly think it’s the best decision! There’s something special about sharing the load, bringing ingredients and then working together in the kitchen–even if it’s a tiny kitchen like mine. Here we have our charcuterie king preparing the best charcuterie board. He is a master! We had some salad whizzes making Caprese salad and bruschetta. Can you tell we had an Italian theme? I made a big pasta as well as some chicken I forgot to take a picture of. We ate in the cozy courtyard. Then we finished off with a tiramisu compliments of my dessert cousins. We also changed things up from our usual board game and played Celebrity Heads instead. What a hoot and it’s a lot harder than you think! And that was our April Cousin Connect! It sure was a fun night, and I love how we have changed things up. Not all of us can always make it to our Cousin Connects (my son Luke and his partner couldn’t make it this time) but I love that we all make an effort to prioritise our family time. We also try not to focus solely on the food and we always say—It’s not just about the food (even though there’s always so much food!), it’s about coming together regularly! Thanks so much for stopping by!    

Hi friends and happy Monday! It’s great to be back today to recap some weekend happenings. I’m very excited to be on school holidays because term one felt so long! It actually was longer and went on for eleven weeks. We usually only have ten weeks and although one extra week doesn’t sound like much. It sure is in the preschool world! I always think that term one of preschool is a bit like childbirth, you always forget how painful challenging it is! Haha!! Saturday Anyway here is what Saturday looked like. Back to warm and sunny autumn! Earlier last week the temps dropped and I thought that it was goodbye to those beautiful warm autumn days we had been having. Saturday morning I woke up feeling pretty great so I went for a sunny walk and it was fun exploring some new streets around where I live. But from now on I have made a mental note to pay closer attention to the uneven footpaths instead of getting carried away looking at the beautiful trees and the flowers in people’s front gardens. I almost tripped over, but fortunately, I managed to pull off one of those miraculous saves where your legs go everywhere, and you somehow manage to land on your feet. Phew! It must have been a funny sight and although I gave myself a good scare, I almost burst out laughing….almost. I got home around midday and I was hungry so I made some scrambled eggs and a banana, walnut and honey milkshake. Steve went to work and Sam was competing in a weightlifting contest. I was all excited to be at home without having to spend any time thinking about the next working week. I got comfy in a beanbag with some snacks and started binge-watching a new series on Netflix called ‘Bonus Family’. In between the end of an episode and the beginning of another. I checked my phone and saw on my newsfeed that there was a tragedy unfolding at Bondi Junction Westfield. Then about a minute later my phone rang and it was Luke. He was asking me if I was OK and if I was home. He knows that I like to shop there, especially during the school holidays. I turned off the series I had been watching and turned on the regular TV. Sure enough, every channel was covering the stabbing that had just occurred inside the shopping centre. Then my family started checking in on the group chat, making sure everyone was ok. Bondi Junction is only about a 20- 30 minute drive away. It’s a great place to shop and there is always a possibility that one of us could have been there. One of my cousins used to work there a couple of years ago. My warm, fuzzy and carefree mood ended and I sat there talking to Luke, texting my bestie and messaging on the family group chat while I watched the news. We were all equally shocked to learn that a man had just randomly stabbed people in the shopping centre and by the end of the night we heard that six people had died. There are victims still in the hospital including a nine-month-old baby. It’s just so sad and the sentiment is the same everywhere – these things just don’t happen in Australia. But sadly, I guess they can. Sunday On Sunday morning, I woke up with a sore neck and a headache. I have this annoying habit of slouching in front of the computer for hours on end and watching the news with my body all tensed up for most of Saturday evening didn’t help. A while ago I decided to stop watching or listening to the news. It’s the right decision for me because constantly hearing about the state of the world is just so depressing. I’m pretty sure I’ve more than made up for it now! I did some stretching on the yoga mat and took some Panadol and Neurofen. In the afternoon, I started to feel better so I made a quick trip to the shops. Steve and I enjoyed some seafood for dinner. We weren’t celebrating anything but it’s been such a crazy and busy last couple of weeks. So a relaxing Sunday evening is exactly what we needed. We watched the latest episode of Survivor and went to bed at 10.30 which is early for me. I have been burning the candle at both ends and my body has been yelling at me to stop. So even though I am in full school holiday mode and don’t have to worry about getting up early, I’m going to listen and go to bed at a decent time. Pinky promise! Thanks so much for stopping by and I hope you have an amazing day! Linking up with Holly and Sarah

Hi friends, welcome to the March edition of ‘Let’s Look’ with Erika and Shay. It’s time to share what’s inside our grocery carts! I love a good sticky beak at people’s grocery carts (or shopping trolley as we commonly call them). Another thing I find interesting is seeing food products and packaging from different parts of the world that we don’t have in our supermarkets. I guess that’s why I’m so intrigued by crescent rolls and coffee creamer. We just don’t have these two fascinating products over here! What’s Inside My Shopping Trolley These days I mainly do my grocery shopping online. I used to pop into the shops after work and do small quick shops but these days it’s a whole lot easier to do a single online grocery order. Shopping online gives me a huge breather from the daily hustle, particularly since my days are packed with full-time work. I think this small luxury is what’s keeping me sane! Haha! In my shopping trolley, there’s typically a mix of the usual staples such as dairy, meat or fish, fresh fruit and vegetables, cleaning products, cat food and protein items. Oh yes, and maybe a bottle of wine as well! Extra protein products are also a regular addition to my shopping trolley because my son lifts weights, and it’s all about consuming a certain quantity of protein. Hmmm. Me, I just want to be like the people who come from the Blue Zones and live to 100! So I try and stay away from processed food and too many fatty, salty, sweet (and oh so delicious) snacks. But I’m not a sergeant major about it, so there will always be a couple of treats in my shopping trolley. Here is what I ordered the other day.   Can I just say, the price of food these days has gotten crazy!! Anyway, that is usually what I have in my shopping trolley. Of course, it varies depending on what we have run out of and what’s on the menu for the week. What’s inside yours, I’m so curious to know! Let’s Look Here is what we have looked at so far this year In January we looked at how we cleaned our closets. February was all about the little things we do every single day.

Hi everyone! welcome to Friday favourites. I am super excited that it’s Friday and we can say a huge hello to the weekend. Because friends it sure has been a week!! Up until Thursday afternoon, I probably had zero favourites. This week was mainly all about getting over the huge hurdle called assessment and rating. In New South Wales, this process is a thorough evaluation to ensure compliance with quality standards for early childhood education and care. I know that the preschool where I work is really something special! Our team consists of wonderfully kind, patient, caring, and passionate teachers, many of whom I’m lucky to count as friends. We’re also incredibly fortunate to have the best director anyone could ask for! Our learning environment is truly fantastic, especially since the big renovations over the summer holidays. Despite all the hard work to make sure everything was spot on, the upcoming assessment and rating process has been looming over us like a dark cloud for what feels like an eternity. So, it’s fair to say that most of this week was all about getting ready for the big assessment days – Wednesday and Thursday. Assessment Days The assessment itself was incredibly intense! The assessor was so meticulous as she examined every single little detail and I’m convinced she would make an excellent detective! As she observed she also took notes. At one point she came over to where I was sitting in the playground reading a book to a group of children. I felt so stressed because I could see that she was taking notes as she observed me. I started seeing little lights flashing in front of my eyes and quickly realised that as I was reading I was also holding my breath. Hahahaha!!! I’m laughing now but I wasn’t then. I remember thinking, Oh no I’m going to pass out in front of the assessor, I’m going to traumatise the kids and then we will fail for sure!! Well, the good news is, I composed myself, took some deep breaths and then she moved on. Phew!! Finally, Some Favourites! Thursday afternoon couldn’t come fast enough and I almost ran out of work in the afternoon, I think we all did because we were all so happy that the assessment and rating days were finally over! Now we have to wait for the results and fingers crossed we get the rating we know we deserve. I had booked a hair appointment for 4 pm at a nearby salon conveniently located halfway between where I work and where I live. It was my first time there and stepping into the cool air-conditioned salon felt heavenly after a hot and stressful couple of work days. The staff at the salon were so friendly and welcoming, they had soft relaxing music playing in the background and gorgeous big mirrors and comfortable chairs. The lovely hairdresser listened to my woes as I told her all about my constant battle with frizzy hair and damaged ends. In the end, we both agreed that a partial keratin treatment was the best way to go. I felt so pampered and spoilt the whole time I was there! They even had a refreshments menu and I chose a coffee that came with a cute heart-shaped chocolate. So many sweet touches! Keratin Treatment The keratin treatment was quite the process. I spent about two hours at the salon, the hairdresser applied the treatment mainly to the top layer of my hair, including my fringe. She explained that this approach would help maintain some volume and prevent my hair from looking too flat. However, the downside is- I can’t wash my hair until Sunday, which means that for now, I can’t style it the way I’m used to. Additionally, the keratin stripped the colour from my hair, leaving it a much lighter shade of brown. I’m convinced it’s orange, but my work friends disagree (I think they are being kind). I have to wait two weeks to colour my hair back to the shade of brown that I am used to. But despite the unexpected colour change, the upside is that my hair is now smooth and completely frizz-free for at least six months, and that’s definitely a win!  Treats Today with A&R over we were back to our usual fun relaxed vibe at work. Many of my colleagues brought some treats to celebrate and it was a fantastic way to finish off a stressful week. Thankfully we won’t have to go through this whole process for at least another three years! I’m celebrating a relaxed Friday evening with one of these! Cheers to the weekend! Linking up with Andrea and Erika    

Hi friends and welcome to the February edition of What’s Up Wednesday. It’s time to share a little of what we have been up to during our fun February. It’s the last month of summer and we’ve soaked it up big time! So let’s jump right in shall we? WHAT WE’RE EATING THIS WEEK On the menu this week Monday – Chicken casserole and rice Tuesday – Spinach pie with leftovers from Monday night Wednesday – Teriyaki salmon with Asian salad Thursday – Chilli con carne Friday – Spiced mango chicken with veggies Saturday – Pesto pasta Sunday –  Chicken schnitzel with roast potatoes, veggies and lots of gravy WHAT I’M REMINISCING ABOUT I think that I’m reminiscing about how quickly time flies! It’s March next week and it only feels as if we had Christmas about five minutes ago! I can’t help but reflect on all the fun we had during the summer school holidays, and now here we are, already five weeks into the new school year. WHAT I’M LOVING I’m still loving the hot weather and I know it won’t be long before the seasons change and it will be our turn for some cold weather. WHAT WE’VE BEEN UP TO February has been all about getting back into routine. I went back to work after the long summer break, Sam started back at uni and he is now in his second year studying for a Bachelor of Nursing. Steve just kept ploughing through the busiest time in the hospitality industry. I guess you could say that we are well and truly back into the swing of things. I’ve adjusted my meal planning routine and it’s working great. I meal plan and online grocery shop on a Saturday morning and I’m hoping that because I am enjoying this. I will keep it up and not fall off the meal-planning train halfway through the year as I usually tend to do. Goals!! Along with the usual work-related stuff we have also enjoyed some fun times and I’m back to looking forward to the weekends. This is something I try not to do because I really want to be grateful and enjoy the little sprinkles of joy every day. But I still count down to Fridays! Can you see a big contradiction here? haha! Some of the fun February moments we have been up to include- Our monthly Cousin Connect dinner. Valentine’s Day treats Celebrating my birthday with a nice family lunch in the city at the old Fortune of War pub. Dinner and games night with friends WHAT I’M DREADING Our preschool received the news that all the staff have been waiting for since last year. We are going to be assessed and rated next month. In NSW preschools, assessment and rating are all about ensuring top-notch quality! Preschools are evaluated on their educational programs, safety measures, staff qualifications, and management practices. After the assessment, preschools receive ratings, ranging from ‘Exceeding National Quality Standard’ to ‘Significant Improvement Required’. We have always received an Exceeding Rating which is fantastic but it’s no fun being observed by the department for two whole days. So I’m already dreading it and feeling nervous knots in my stomach. All the team are, and we can’t wait until it’s over! WHAT I’M EXCITED ABOUT Do you remember the British boy band from the 90s called FIVE? They had fun hits like “When The Lights Go Out” and “Everybody Get Up”. Well, they are coming to Sydney to perform the second weekend in March and Steve and I are going to see them. Over the years the five band members have disbanded and then reunited. Now the band is made up of three members but it’s still called five. Which I think is kind of funny but maybe that’s just me. Anyway, I’m excited to go and see them perform and it should be a great night reliving my 30s. WHAT I’M WATCHING I’ve been really getting into European shows lately. One of my recent finds on SBS Australia is ‘The Shift,’ a Danish series set in a maternity ward. It’s a great show full of interesting characters and engaging plots without too much drama. I used to love shows full of action, and adventure with a good dose of drama. But my preferences have shifted and lately, I prefer less drama and more good storytelling. I’m excited to hear they’re making another season and this time it will be set in a pediatric ward with new characters as well as some old favourites.  I think European shows offer a fresh perspective and they are different from what I’m used to so it’s been a nice change. WHAT I’M LISTENING TO My older cat snoring! She is twelve years old and has had a hard time adjusting to our new kitten, Mochi who is just like a toddler who can’t keep her hands to herself. She is constantly invading Sushi’s space and loves to jump all over her and annoy her! I think Sushi gets exhausted from so much hyperactivity around her. So now she’s enjoying some quiet time here in the office/garage as I type away. She is peacefully sleeping and snoring so loudly! WHAT I’M WEARING I’m still wearing lots of summer clothes but I can feel that it’s beginning to cool down a little in the mornings and evenings. But having said that, tomorrow we have temperatures forecast to reach as high as 38ºC. We are definitely on the brink of transitioning into Autumn and the weather is going to be all over the place again until the cold weather sets in. Hmmm, I’m not a fan of the cold! On the upside, I guess cooler weather means I get to wear my favourite pair of comfortable Levi’s jeans that I’ve had for 18 years! WHAT I’M LOOKING FORWARD TO NEXT MONTH We have been discussing the possibility of going on a big overseas trip with some from our cousin group. However,