Friday Favourites

Hi friends, and thanks for stopping by for Friday favourites. I’m so glad you’re here! 1 I can hardly believe it’s already Friday, and this week has gone by so fast for me. I’ve really enjoyed my second week back at preschool so far. We’ve met most of the children, with just a couple more to start, and for the first time in a long time, I have a feeling it’s going to be a good year, even though I’m trying not to say it out loud just in case. I’m not entirely sure what happened over the past few years, but things definitely changed after COVID. I’m no expert, but as an early childhood educator, I really felt the gradual impact it had on children and their families, and I wasn’t the only one. I wanted to make sure it wasn’t just me who thought this, so I’d regularly check in with coworkers and people I knew in other schools and early childhood settings. Everyone I spoke to said the same thing. Children’s behaviour was noticeably different, and not in a good way. Last year was the hardest in all of my 35 years working with children and very nearly brought me undone. I usually try to soften things on the blog, but sometimes you just have to say it. It’s been rough! Now I feel like we’re finally on the other side of that, and things are settling back to what I guess life was like pre-COVID. I’m so relieved that many of the reasons I loved working with children are starting to come back. For a long minute, I even wondered if I could keep going. I couldn’t remember who that person was—the one who wrote Six Favourite Things About Working in Early Childhood Education. Anyway, I’m happy and very relieved to say she’s slowly coming back, and that is a big favourite. 2 A while ago, I shared that I had this amazing system for remembering to take my thyroid tablet in the mornings. I’d leave a glass out on the kitchen bench as a signal that I’d taken it. I also loved that it killed two birds with one stone. I took my tablet with a full glass of water, so I started the day medicated and hydrated. What a winner! The system usually worked. But sometimes it didn’t. There were days when I remembered drinking the water but not taking the tablet. And last year, for all the reasons I’ve already shared, I was often not sure whether I was coming or going. And I forgot to take my tablet three days in a row more than once. When you don’t have a thyroid, that medication really matters. Missing a dose here and there doesn’t cause instant drama, but over time, especially when you’re already exhausted and stressed, it can start to catch up with you. Without enough thyroxine in your system, you start to fade and flop like a ragdoll. So I took the advice of a lovely reader who had commented on the post where I shared my not-so-great system and bought a pill organiser. Revolutionary stuff! Do you know why I never bought one for myself before, or even considered it? Because I always thought it was for older people. Ha! How ridiculous is that? Anyway, I love my pill organiser, and this Gen Xer better start facing the truth. Feeling 29 doesn’t make it so 😅 3 I’ll finish off my week’s favourites with this refreshing glass of Aperol Spritz I had on Thursday night at Humphreys Hotel. Cheers to more happy weeks at work, and cheers to the weekend! Happy Friday Linking up with Andrea and Erika

Hi friends, happy Friday! So glad you’re here. Oh my goodness, it is so hot and humid over here. I just got home from work and had to jump straight into the shower before I could even sit down to write about a few of my favourite things from the week. Now that I’m feeling squeaky clean, I can think a little better. Ok, so let’s get into it. Today I have five quick favourite moments from my first week back at work. 1 First up, I’m so happy to share that this week has been a positive start at work. After feeling more than a bit unsure, it has been really nice to ease into the week and feel that things are heading in the right direction. I don’t want to say too much and jinx anything, but I’m tiptoeing my way into feeling optimistic about this preschool year. Phew! 2 Hello, shiny new coffee machine! Normally, it’s instant coffee for us at work, so this feels like a major upgrade. I’m enjoying figuring out which strength and blend I prefer, and yes, this machine stores your own coffee profile. I had no idea this was even a thing. This is my first real experience in the world of coffee machines, as I only have a plunger at home. I’ve had more coffee than usual the past couple of days and had to cut myself off before heading down the road to heart palpitations—yikes! 3 On Monday, I shared that one of the positives of going back to work was that I eat a lot healthier. While I often look at my salads and wish that I had the power to turn them into a Big Mac, I know that this is better for me. 4 Thursday afternoon, Sam texted that he had arrived safely in Bali. Maybe one day I’ll get used to it, because I have a feeling he’s going to be someone who loves to travel. But I don’t love it when my boy is way up high on a plane. Even though I know flying is the safest mode of transport, I can’t help feeling anxious. I’m also not sure if it’s helpful to track him on Flight Radar, but I did anyway. 5 Steve and I went out for happy hour at Humphrey’s. Cheers to Sam and his friends landing safely! That’s week one, term one, done and dusted. This work week went way better than I expected, and I couldn’t ask for more. Well… yes, I can—I want more weeks like this one, please! Now it’s time to enjoy the weekend, which looks like a very quiet one at home. I don’t have any plans, and I think I’m ready to watch the last season of Stranger Things. I’ve been holding off because I didn’t want it to end, but the longer I leave it, the more chance there is of getting spoilers, right? Hope you all have a lovely weekend! Linking up with Andrea and Erika  

Hi friends, it’s time to link up with Andrea and Erika to share some highlights from my week. Let’s go!! One One of my favourite moments this week was sitting on my verandah, soaking up some Vitamin D (good for my bones as I get older), drinking coffee, and jotting down dates in my new 2026 diary that my friend gave me for Christmas. Two The postman came while I was there, and I received a postcard from my cousin, who went to New Zealand five weeks ago. Haha, that’s snail mail for you! I’ve actually already seen her, but it was so nice of her to think of me while on holiday. Three When my boys were little, I would let them pick a box of sugary cereal for the school holidays. Now that they’re grown men and eat men food, I’ve kept the tradition for myself and buy a box of my favourite cereal, Rice Bubbles. I actually don’t even eat cereal except when I’m on holidays, get up late (won’t say how late), and can enjoy it properly. Four I lit this cute candle I got from one of the preschoolers as a Christmas gift. It has a lovely scent, and the little gold propeller on top spins as the flame burns. The temperatures were much cooler this week, which is why I actually used a candle. I can’t even look at a flame on those boiling hot summer days. Five The cooler temps made me crave soup, so I made a chicken and vegetable one. I always add Parmesan cheese to mine after I heat it up. It’s something I learned as a kid from my mum’s best friend. We would all get together at their house, and while my mum chatted, I would play with her daughter, who is now my longtime friend, and for lunch we would have soup with Parmesan cheese. I caught up with her last year at her dad’s memorial. Somehow, we got onto the topic of soup, not sure how, and we both said at the same time, “With Parmesan cheese!” She was amazed that I remembered. How could I forget such an incredible taste sensation? Six I saw a huge jar of pickles at Aldi and took a pic to send to the family group chat. We are a close family divided by our love for pickles. About half don’t like them, and half do. I’m team pickle all the way. But I didn’t buy this massive jar, that would be a bit too crazy. Seven Yum, a glass of Merlot and chocolates on Wednesday evening. We didn’t have any dark chocolate, so we cracked open a box of another thoughtful Christmas gift from a preschooler. Working as an educator has some big benefits, don’t you agree, hehe. Eight My favourite evening this week was when my eldest son and his partner came over for dinner. We started with some mini quiches and crumbed prawns before tucking into some family favourites. I made South American food, which I don’t normally make because there are too many steps and I have to follow a recipe. While we enjoyed our entrees around the coffee table… we watched a YouTube clip of Mark Carney, the Prime Minister of Canada, and his speech from the World Economic Forum in Davos, and oh wow! I think this might be my most favourite of all the favourites. I loved that, as a family, we watched a truly memorable, historic speech, and it gave us hope. And just like that, my five-week end-of-year break is coming to a fast end, bah! I start back next Tuesday after Australia Day. But shhh, let’s not talk about that and just get on with enjoying the weekend. Happy Friday!

Hi friends its time to share five favourites on this sunny Friday. Thanks so much for stopping by! One I really love sitting out the front of our house to drink my coffee or any other beverage. But until this week, we didn’t have anywhere to sit. The chairs we’d had there for years went out with the council clean-up about six months ago, and we hadn’t got around to replacing them, so I was using the front steps. This week, we finally got a small three-piece set, and it fits perfectly. Now we have somewhere comfortable to sit, drink, read, and enjoy. Sure beats the steps, which weren’t very comfy! Two You know you’re a full-grown adult when you get genuinely excited about a shiny, clean shower screen, right? About five years ago, my husband got a Karcher Window Vac for his birthday, and I think he used it once. I pulled it out this week and thought, why not try it on the ensuite shower screen? Bingo, what an aaahh moment, and I’m never going back. That Karcher Window Vac is all mine now. Three The other day, it was my turn to pick a movie, actually, it’s always my turn, which is totally okay with me–hehe. A couple of weeks ago, I picked a real dud called A House of Dynamite, so this time I had to regain my top movie-picker status. I chose Everybody’s Fine with Robert De Niro, Drew Barrymore, and Kate Beckinsale. Some of my favourite actors, and the movie was so good! I won’t spoil it, but it’s about a man whose wife has died and who wants to reconnect with his grown-up kids. I think it really hit me because of where we are in life. One of our boys flew the nest years ago, and the other, while he has no plans to go anywhere, I know the day will come. The movie had me sobbing at the end. I haven’t cried this much since I watched Titanic! I don’t usually like films that make me sad, but this wasn’t a bad sad. It was a heartfelt sad. Maybe I could relate because it feels like only a minute ago our kids were little, and now they’re not. Watch it. I’m sure you’ll love it. Four We walked up to a local Japanese restaurant for dinner on Tuesday night. I’d been there before with a friend and had told my husband how good it was. Since we’d just booked our trip to Singapore and Japan on Sunday, we were both excited to enjoy some Japanese food. A little pre-trip treat before the real experience. Only 80 days to go! The countdown is officially on. Yikes! It’s the holidays. Well, I’m still on holidays, so we’re doing things we wouldn’t normally do. Like going to a dessert bar for a sundae as big as my head. It had half a waffle, brownies, and little crunchy things. It was delicious, but I would never go back again. Big desserts scare me, and I was glad we shared. Five This week, my husband and I had a lovely couple of days away in Gosford for our 36th wedding anniversary. Whoa, that’s a lot of years. We had a fun time eating our way around town, and it was great to enjoy a change of scenery. Funny enough, on our way home, I saw something on Instagram that really stuck with me. Someone said the highest form of love is friendship, and that felt so true. Steve and I actually started as friends all those years ago when we met at church. We’re still good friends, and I’m pretty sure that friendship is what carried us through the inevitable bumpy times. Having a good sense of humour has helped too. I love to laugh, and I love people with a good sense of humour—it’s just easier, isn’t it? One of my very first memories of Steve is that the day I met him, he made me laugh a lot, so that was a big win. He will argue that he’s funnier than me, but he’s wrong. Obviously 😉 We stayed at the Hotel Gosford, the same place we stayed a couple of years ago. It’s an old pub that has been renovated, but they’ve kept the original lift that you have to operate yourself. I love that they’ve preserved this historical feature, even though it freaked us out a bit every time. You have to operate the doors by hand, turn the room key, and press the button. So much coordination! The first night we had steak for dinner, and it was so tender. The menu said tender, but they don’t always tell the truth. This restaurant did, and I was so happy. Chewy steak is not my favourite. I had the crème brûlée, and Steve had the cheesecake. They looked so pretty! The next night, we shared a cob loaf and salt and pepper squid as an entree. Steve had the fish for mains, and I had the prawn linguini. It was so delicious I couldn’t stop moaning as I ate, and Steve was grateful there weren’t many diners around. The friendly waitress asked if we were celebrating anything special, and we told her it was our anniversary. She kindly surprised us with a complimentary dessert, dark ale pudding with ice cream. It even came out with a sparkler! What a lovely touch. And that’s a wrap for this week. It’s been a long time since we’ve eaten out at so many different places! It’s my last week of the school holidays, and I can’t believe how quickly the weeks have flown by. They always do during the holidays, Ugh. Anyway, I’m not going to think about it now. I’m going to enjoy the last of it before term one starts. Oh my goodness, I’m really hoping for a better year than last year. The trauma is real! Enjoy your weekend, friends. See you

Happy Friday, friends! I’m wrapping up the week by sharing a few things that made it feel extra bright. Here are this week’s favourites. A Small Joy This lollipop brought me so much joy the other day! I was craving something sweet and found this little treasure in my work bag. It was a Halloween treat from my fun, treat-supplying friend and colleague I’ve shared about before. She’s such a cravings lifesaver. I’m so glad I deliberately carried it in my bag for a day when I really needed a sugar fix. A Product I’m Loving You know, when you wish you could go back in time? That’s me, every time I look at this little bottle of room spray from the Hearth & Hand with Magnolia range I picked up in LA. Why oh why did I buy just ONE? What was I thinking? In my defence, it was only day two of the trip and I didn’t want to overload my suitcase too early. We were at Glendale Mall, I walked into Target, and just about lost my mind when I saw the Magnolia range I’d only ever seen on Instagram. The scent is like nothing I have ever experienced before. It’s pomelo and smells fresh, warm, a little fruity, and I absolutely love it. Every time I spray it, I instantly feel like I’m back in that Glendale Target aisle. This room spray is basically my LA trip in a bottle. Luckily, my travelling cousins recently came back from Ohio and brought me another one, so I’m rationing it like it’s liquid gold. A Favourite Moment My aunt hosted an early Christmas get-together last weekend, and you should see her house all decorated for Christmas. It is AMAZING! I shared some photos on my Instagram if you’d like to have a look. My Christmas spirit has been a little dim this year, but after seeing her place, I think I got a spark back. I love how much my aunt loves Christmas, and I do too, but for some reason, up until last weekend, I just wasn’t really feeling it yet. We had a delicious charcuterie board followed by dinner, and by the time we got to desserts, we barely had any room. After dinner, some cousins headed off to the Metallica concert, and the rest of us listened to music and painted Christmas rocks. We used a cute kit my aunt had bought that’s meant for kids, which was perfect for us “big kids.” It came with paints and Christmas-themed instructions. Do you like my Santa rock? Haha. I’m feeling more excited now, especially after we started planning our Christmas Eve get-together that night. Since then, my aunt has sent me a bunch of Instagram reels on how to decorate for Christmas, which has helped a whole lot, too. Something I’m Learning I love Canva and have the paid version, which I use for this blog as well as for preschool resources and other preschool-related projects. I’m still discovering all the incredible things you can do on this app. I’ve been trying to figure out how to bulk-create things like end-of-year certificates for the preschool children. I could type each name out individually. But I figure that since we do these certificates every year, it will be a really useful skill to know. I also started working on the children’s Christmas cards using Canva at work today, but I’m not completely happy with them yet. Once I get going, I just can’t stop because I want them to be perfect. I really need to calm down! A Fun Outing Steve and I went to IKEA yesterday to “find out” how to get a replacement light for our oven we bought about four years ago. Haha, I could have found this info online or over the phone easily, but I totally agreed with him that these things are better done in person. 😉 It was so fun wandering around, and it was amazingly quiet for a Thursday night. The best part was the Christmas section, where I bought some wrapping paper, cards, a Christmas-scented candle, the VINTERSAGA mulled fruit drink and a big star lamp for our window. Oh yes, and we also picked up frozen meatballs. You can never leave IKEA without the meatballs. Something I’m Looking Forward To Tomorrow the Danish Christmas markets are on, and I’m going along with a group of friends. It’s a tradition now, and something I look forward to every year. I’m sure the markets will give me a great big boost of Christmas spirit! What are you up to this weekend? I hope you get to enjoy a little festive fun too. Thanks so much for stopping by. Linking up with Andrea and Erika

Hi friends! I hope you’ve all had an amazing week. I’m excited to be back to share some of my favourites from October. It’s an October Favourites edition! Which feels just right, since (can you believe it?) it’s the last day of the month. Oh, and by the way, Happy Halloween! I’m pretty sure I say this all the time, but whoa, didn’t the month go by so fast! We said cheers to the first day of October with a yummy snack of salami, crackers and halloumi. Spring School Holidays In  October, I had a relaxing school holiday break and enjoyed the gorgeous spring weather. First on the holiday agenda was a fun catch-up with friends for lunch. The Royal Botanic Garden Sydney I also did a day trip to the Royal Botanic Garden in Sydney, where my funny friend and I admitted we do not have a great sense of direction. To be fair, the garden is huge! We ended up using my phone to guide us to where we wanted to go. My iPhone has this feature where you hold it up and giant blue arrows appear to show you which way to walk. They reminded me of the arrows in a Mario Kart game, hehe. Here are a few pics of the beautiful gardens. Pamela Allen Exhibition After the Botanic Gardens, we went to see The Pamela Allen Exhibition. Pamela Allen is a children’s author from New Zealand who made her name in Australia. She wrote Who Sank the Boat? and Alexander’s Outing. We read her books to the children at preschool all the time. Such classics! After a big day out, you really can’t go wrong with a chicken and leek pie. It was so nice to sit down, eat, and chat. Cousin Connect In October, my aunt hosted Cousin Connect. Most of us managed to get together before some of our travelling cousins went overseas. October is Birthday Month Our younger son turned 21! We got lucky, and all five of us, the three of us plus my older son and his fiancée, had time off work during the day. At the birthday boy’s request, we went to see a movie and then had burgers and chips for dinner at a place called Mister Gee. We saw the Leonardo DiCaprio movie One Battle After Another, and it was so good I didn’t fall asleep once! In October, my eldest son turned 32. He came over our way with his fiancée, and we had dinner at a Chinese restaurant, Lilong. Then it was back to our house for cake. Let me tell you about the funny cake incident. Since Luke moved out, he’s always come over for his birthday dinner — but this year, we were all less than amazing at communicating. I didn’t want to assume he was coming in case he had other plans, and he figured I’d automatically know he was coming over. So when he rang me while I was at work and said, “Hey Mum, I’ll be coming over at 7,” I was of course super excited… but we hadn’t actually planned dinner or a cake. I rang my husband and he came up with a plan: we’d go out for dinner, and he would ice and decorate a banana bread he’d baked and pass it off as a birthday cake. No one would ever know. Well… everyone figured it out immediately. At the very first bite: “Hey, isn’t this Dad’s usual banana bread? He’s just put lollies and choc chips on top!” Hahahahaha!!! “He thought we wouldn’t notice!!” It was very funny, and now we’ve made it official, Luke will be coming over for his birthday dinner every year, and next time he’s getting a spectacular birthday cake! A Day of Action In October, some of my work colleagues and I went to a day of action in the city. We’re standing up for fair pay for preschool staff and against the Premier of NSW, Chris Minns’s proposal to turn community preschools like the one I work in into long‑day care centres. If it goes ahead, I know I’d seriously be looking at my options. Community preschools are different to long day care centres. They mostly run during school hours and only during term time, focusing on the year or two before school. They offer more structured play-based learning, are not-for-profit, usually run by a parent committee, and have smaller groups with long-standing staff. One of the reasons we have less staff turnover is because we get term breaks. There’s no way I could work in such a demanding environment without those precious term breaks. I really don’t understand why the Premier wants to mess with something that works so well. Some of the signs I saw at the rally were very clever! Mochi Ran Away Last weekend, Mochi, our indoor cat, ran away! She got out into the courtyard and hid behind some pot plants. We didn’t notice and accidentally left her out there, which gave her the perfect opportunity to jump onto the neighbour’s garage and disappear into the neighbourhood. We walked up and down our street, knocking on doors, but she was gone, and we were so sad. I Googled “how to get your runaway cat back”, and it suggested going out late at night or early in the morning when everything is quiet and calling her name. So at 2 am, I went outside and did exactly that, and she appeared. I waited until she came to me and then gently picked her up. Well, I may have gently-ish grabbed her because my heart was pounding! Phew, what a relief to have her back home again. And that was a glimpse at a few of the things from our October. Thank you so much for stopping by today. I hope you have a wonderful weekend.

Happy Friday, friends! We made it through another week, yay! I’m already so excited to sleep in tomorrow. This morning I woke up before my alarm went off, and for a split second I thought it was Saturday. Then I realised I was very much mistaken. Don’t you hate it when that happens? Haha! Anyway, I’m here to share a few things that made me smile this week. Thanks so much for stopping by. 😊 Last weekend, we went back to the Opera Bar, but this time with some friends. Sparkling wine, delicious food, and plenty of funny stories made it such a great Saturday, and it was so much warmer than I expected. I still took a thick jacket just in case I got cold. It’s that time of year when one minute you’re boiling hot and the next it’s freezing again. I carried my jacket around for most of the day, but when I needed it, I really needed it! That first gust of chilly wind made me very glad I hadn’t trusted the weather app too much. On Monday, I worked from home like a grown-up. When you work in early childhood, you don’t get to be in a city office, dress up for work, or even drink your coffee while it’s still warm. Working remotely doesn’t really exist for us, just one day a term to do developmental summaries, and I’m happy to take it. After a full day on the computer and feeling like my eyes had gone square, I organised some of my song visuals into my pretty pink binder. The summaries were mostly done, so this was my little reward. I haven’t changed much since high school, even though it’s been umpteen years since I finished. I’ve always preferred making my binder pretty over doing schoolwork. I nearly forgot to show you my Monday lunch. Steve made a cheesy omelette with ham, tomato, and avocado, and we had half each. Yup, I definitely enjoyed my work-from-home day a whole lot. Look at these bright yellow flowers. They’re right outside my front door, and every time I walk past, I get so happy to see them. Hello, pretty flowers! It was R U OK? Day on Thursday, and some of the staff brought treats. I convinced Steve to watch Breaking Bad! He didn’t need much convincing since we’re all enjoying Better Call Saul. Breaking Bad is such a good show, and it’s my second time watching it. It’s been about 10 years since I first saw it, so I remember some parts but not everything. I did remember the bathtub incident, though! Oh my goodness!! We went back to Lilong because we just can’t get enough of their delicious Chinese food. My work buddy supplied me with some yummy snacks. And those were a few of my favourite things about this week. How was your week? I hope it was a good one. I’ll be back on Monday and really want to get back into blogging a bit more regularly. I’ve been in a bit of a funk, and I’d like to shake it off. That’s the goal. Wishing you a very happy weekend!

Hi friends, it’s that time again to share a few favourites from my week. I’m linking up with Andrea and Erika for Friday Favourites, and I’m so happy you’re here 😊 Getting my shopping delivered and not having to do the weekly grocery run in-store is such a favourite. We have about three Woolworths nearby, so getting a delivery time slot is never a problem. I paid the yearly subscription fee for Delivery Unlimited, so as long as I spend over $70 (which is not hard with grocery prices), there’s no delivery fee. Woop woop! Our first Monday-of-the-month catch-up with friends at our local RSL for dinner was fun. I always used to order the steamed barramundi with broccoli and rice when the previous team ran the bistro, but now the menu has completely changed. It’s mainly all burgers, pizzas, steaks, and fish. The grilled fish with chips and salad was delicious, and I liked that they gave me a decent amount of tartare sauce. I love my sauces, well, most of them. Not BBQ sauce; it’s too sweet. I wore this to dinner on Monday night. Look, no socks! It was cool, so I still needed a coat, but not cold enough for my usual woolly socks. I almost felt naked! I made this chicken dish the other night. It was a hit! And yes, Steve has been really happy to cook dinner a couple of nights this week on his nights off. Last week, I shared that I sometimes have trouble letting go of control in the kitchen. My friends always tease me when they find out I have a chef husband and don’t let him cook. Times are a changing, friends! Another sign that spring is slowly coming along. This lonely yellow rose is growing in my front garden, and I can’t wait to see more pop up soon. God keeps growing these every year, because I have no green thumb. I had to pop out of work for an hour for a follow-up doctor’s appointment. I was so anxious leading up to it that I couldn’t eat a thing. Yikes — I really need to do something about this doctor anxiety before I give myself a heart attack. I felt dizzy and faint all morning. When I finished with the doctor, I felt my soul re-enter my body and, suddenly, I was starving. As a reward for surviving the dreaded appointment, I treated myself to sushi and ate it in the car before I went back to work. Thursday night was date night at Ikea, haha! Hot dogs for two, followed by chips and gravy. For dessert, we had soft serves–cheers! This time, Steve waited for me at the cafeteria while I walked the Ikea maze after we had our fancy dinner. It’s funny how you can always find things you didn’t know you needed—like this high pillow I got just for me. Steve asked, “I didn’t know you needed a pillow,” and I said, “Well, no, I really didn’t… but you weren’t there to convince me.” Lucky for him, I passed on the small Bluetooth speaker, brown glass vase, floor lamp, and footstool. And that’s a wrap for a few of my favourite things this week. Oh, it’s been a week! I wish I could share everything, but I can’t because it’s all work-related, and I’d like to stay employed. Some days have felt like living in a crazy sitcom. I’m grateful I can call it a sitcom and not a horror movie of a week, thanks to some of my amazing work colleagues. They’re a mix of personalities, sweet, kind, funny, supportive, and full of ideas they’re happy to share. And there’s one who is just downright hilarious. She can make even the worst days feel like the best days. How good is that? It would be so great to introduce them to you so you’d see exactly what I mean. I’m lucky to call them not just colleagues, but friends, and that’s my favourite thing of all. Hooray for Friday! I hope you have a wonderful weekend.  

Hi friends, welcome to Friday Favourites. When I sat down to write this post, I could almost hear crickets chirping, because that just about sums up my week. I don’t want to be a downer, but I think my only favourite this week is that today is finally Friday. But in the spirit of keeping things positive and chipper, I’m going to dig deep and find some more favourites. I’m usually a glass-half-full kind of person… after I’ve had a little panic first. I guess that’s why I like this link-up—it makes me look for the favourite parts of what’s sometimes a week you’d rather forget. More Rain And speaking of weeks you’d rather forget—let’s start with the weather. It rained all week. All. Week. I tell you!! And yes, that’s annoying: the washing can’t dry on the line, the house feels damp, and it’s just generally gloomy. But when you work in childcare, wet weeks are a whole other level of misery. I don’t think we got to play outside at all this week. And this year, we have a bunch of lively children (read between the lines, my educator friends) who need about 50 hectares to burn off all that energy. On the upside, even though it was a tough week with wild weather and wilder children, I work with some genuinely lovely people, and I’m lucky enough to call some of them my friends. They’re the ones I can roll my eyes at and laugh with when we’re in the trenches. Soup So, what’s another favourite? …thinking…thinking… Oh yes! I finally pulled out the leftover leg bone from our Christmas ham that had been taking up space in the freezer and decided to make split pea and ham soup. I had to do it before we hit summer—otherwise, what’s the point, right? At first I was annoyed because the bone didn’t fit into the pot, so it was sticking out. And I’d started making the soup at 8 pm on Monday night. Who does that?? Me, I guess—once I get my mind set on something. Anyway, in the end, the soft bits from the end of the bone came away, and the whole bone slid snugly into the pot. It simmered away for a couple of hours. After I pulled out the bone, I blitzed it and ended up with the creamiest soup. I’ve been eating it for lunch all week, and although it’s not the prettiest soup, it sure tastes good! You could also call it my farewell-to-winter meal. In a few weeks, I can say, “Goodbye winter, see you later—don’t let the door hit you on the way out.” Aldi Favourites Another favourite this week? My husband went to Aldi to buy more of the porcini mushroom Trangioli that I talked about last Friday. It was that good—he went grocery shopping! I took the chance to add a few more things to his list, and even slipped night-time face cream on there. The wonderful thing about Aldi is that they don’t stock major choices. So I was pretty sure he’d get it right. He came home with the regular cream instead of the one labelled “mature” (so yes, technically me). I actually prefer the regular cream because it’s lighter, and when I told him I was proud he got it right, he admitted he was scared of buying the “older ladies” cream! Haha! And that’s a few things that made this week a bit brighter. It’s supposed to be sunny and warm tomorrow—hard to imagine when it’s pouring right now. Anyway, fingers crossed the weather bureau has got it right. Wishing you (and me) a bright and sunny weekend!