Friday Favourites

Happy Friday friends. Hooray for the end of a busy week and now let’s bring on the weekend! I hope you are all well and keeping safe. Today I’m linking up with Andrea and Erika to share some Friday favourites with you lovely ladies. #1 My first Favourite this week is meeting up with some church ladies on Saturday. We got together for our annual women’s conference. Normally this is held in the church building but this year because of COVID we met in small groups in different homes and everyone listened to the guest speaker via zoom. We enjoyed a really nice morning of fellowship and each of us received a cute little morning tea pack to enjoy during the scheduled break.  A group of kind ladies from the church had spent the previous day putting these together for us. Inside the pack, we had some really yummy parmesan and fennel biscuits. I’m a real savoury girl so these were my favourite. There was also a chocolate muffin, strawberries, a pink rice bubble bar and a Twining’s teabag. So good!! #2 I just love a sweet smoothie, don’t you? Usually, I just use normal milk for my smoothies but this time I tried almond milk instead just for a change and it was really delicious. The almond milk gives the smoothie a nice subtle nutty flavour. I added a banana, frozen berries and honey. It was a big hit and so filling. Warmer weather calls for smoothies!! #3 Speaking of warmer weather. I was complaining the other day about wearing jumpers and jackets because it was still cold. Then on Thursday, we got hit with some very warm weather! It was so hot in the preschool playground.  But I didn’t mind at all because I’m so excited that we are finally heading into Summer for real now! #4 Look at my shiny little Suzuki. It needed a desperate wash, my friend even commented that the mass of spider webs on the back windscreen wipers would look great for Halloween ha! I couldn’t stand them any longer so I stopped off at the car wash on Monday in the afternoon after work. It’s so nice to be able to see clearly out of the front and back windows. #5 We went out for dinner for the first time in months!! Tuesday night Steve and I went on a date night to our local club. We shared marinated crumbed squid for an entree, then we each ordered big juicy steaks for our mains. Finishing off with a really silky creme brülée for dessert. We were so happy to be able to enjoy eating out again. Yay!! #6 I made my family’s favourite quiche for dinner on Wednesday night. It’s super easy to make and just right for a busy weekday dinner. We enjoyed this with a side of chips and salad. Can’t go wrong with a good old quiche! #7 I know it’s all about Halloween this weekend but at preschool, the kids have started decorating their Christmas bags. Each child gets to take home a portfolio of their work and a gift for their parents, along with a graduation certificate. It all fits neatly inside their decorated bags. We usually start Christmas craft early because there’s always so much to do. It’s such a fun time of the year! #8 I made a quick dash to The Gamesmen on Thursday afternoon to pick up something my son had ordered. The Gamesmen is a small but very popular family-owned business. They sell new and retro video games, board games, lego and popular culture merchandise. This store is a real favourite because I used to take my boys there when they were little. So it brings back lots of memories for me. The Gamesmen has a really cool room that holds a big display featuring a timeline of the history of gaming. I guess you could say it’s like a mini-museum! It’s fun to look at all the games and consoles that were popular in the past. I have to admit that I was a bit of a gamer myself back in the day! This weekend we will be getting together with the rest of my family for Halloween. We will be having dinner and enjoying a spooky movie at my place. So I’m really looking forward to that. It should be lots of fun!! Happy Friday and enjoy your Halloween weekend!!

Hi Friends and happy Friday to you all. Thanks so much for joining me for today’s Friday Favorites post and having a look at this week’s fun moments. Oh my goodness what a super busy week it was!! Jumping straight back into real life after so many weeks of lockdown was a bit of a shock!  Not going to lie, this week was just plain exhausting and I’m not sure I’ve ever been so happy to see the weekend. Yes, it was definitely a hectic week. But thankfully it was also full of so many fun moments. #1 The Kids Returned To Preschool! I blew up a whole bunch of balloons on Sunday night to take to preschool the next day. My plan was to welcome back the kids with signs and balloons. I have to say that I felt very relieved when I was able to fit all those balloons into my tiny Suzuki on Monday morning and take them to work. It’s also lucky that I don’t live very far because it was pretty crowded inside my tiny car. The children were bursting with excitement as they came in through the gates on Monday morning. The parents were so happy to be dropping their children off and many were taking photos of their children standing outside the fence near the balloons. It was just like the very first day of preschool at the beginning of the year all over again! #2 Salad All Week I promised myself that I would begin the new school term by making sure to eat much healthier as well as cutting down on my portion sizes. Lockdown had me sneaking in lots of cups of tea and biscuits. Let’s not talk about all the chips, cheese, and dip at night in front of the TV! So I took a salad to work each day and by day three I just couldn’t look at another cherry tomato anymore. During my lunch break, I found myself staring into my lunch container wishing with all my heart that my salad would just turn into a Big Mac. Fortunately, I managed to plough on until the end of the week and jazzed things up a bit with some avocado on toast. #3 I went to Ikea to get a few things we needed. Look at this cute lunch bag I picked up for only $1.50. It’s big enough to fit my fruit and lunch container (with all that salad). I really enjoyed looking at all the Christmas decorations they had for sale. I nearly bought this cute little town. But I just couldn’t think of where I would put it in my little house. I’ve already got plenty of decorations. But I might have gotten a little carried away with the number of other things I bought! Ikea is definitely a huge favourite!! #4 Tuesday after work we had a staff meeting. So to keep us all awake and motivated our director supplied us with some treats. I’m happy to report that I resisted the urge to indulge this time based on the promise I had made myself to be good with how much I ate. Plus I knew that we were going out to my friend’s place for dinner that night and I absolutely did not want to ruin my appetite. #5 Mexican Monday On Tuesday My super hospitable friend and her husband are kind enough to have us over for dinner on Mondays for what we call Mexican Monday. Except for this week, it was on Tuesday night because Steve had to work Monday. We could have called it Taco Tuesday but we had nachos. Anyway besides all that, we had a really fun night. This was the first night back together in ages because you know, lockdown! My friend’s husband always makes a very nice Gin and Tonic. I hadn’t had one of these in months! We had a big tray of Nachos with guacamole, cheese, and sour cream. All the good stuff!! Oh yes, and there was also a big salad ha! Blueberry cake and Ice cream for dessert. So Yum! #6 Time For Another Declutter I am determined to go through some boxes that I have in my little garage/office and get rid of the clutter. I want to replace them with new boxes I bought from Ikea last weekend. So far I’ve only managed to do two. Sigh! I’ll keep persevering until it’s done. But I was running really low on motivation, time, and energy this week. Hopefully next week I’ll be on to it with more zing. These boxes are full of my boys’ old books, uni papers, toys, and Pokemon cards. I don’t like mess and clutter but for some reason, I haven’t dealt with this mess until now. While I was sorting through I found these old favourites. I must have read these books to both my boys a billion times. I threw away a lot of stuff just from two boxes but books like these I’ll keep forever. #7 I’ve been so tired when I’ve gotten home in the afternoon. The first thing I’ve done a soon as I’ve walked through the door is made myself a cup of coffee. I only usually have coffee in the morning at work. I didn’t even think caffeine really had an effect on me but I certainly felt more awake after I had a cup. #8 It’s no secret that I love Spring and it’s my favourite season.  I look forward to Spring all winter long but this week the weather has been all over the place. I rolled up the kitchen blind on Wednesday morning and it was a bit blah. It brightened up as the day went on but there was a real chill in the air. The forecast kept predicting rain and gloom with low temperatures all week. I kept wearing all the wrong clothes to work and felt either too cold or too hot. I

Happy Friday Everyone! Hope you all enjoyed a great week and are ready for a relaxing weekend. I know I sure am. Thank you for stopping by today to have a look at a few fun things that happened in my little world. Well, this is the last week I will be working part-time hours. As of  Monday, it will be all systems go as all the kids will be returning to preschool. That’s nearly 40 children each and every day Monday to Friday. Wow! Along with back to full-time work for me, it will be back to school for Sam. He’s excited to go back as he has really missed his friends and I think like a lot of kids, he’s had enough of online learning. He just wants things back to normal. I’ll put the chaos that is about to start next week out of my mind for now. As I’m sure we will all be back in the swing of things like nothing ever happened.  So for now, let’s jump in and have a look at this week and a few fun things I was able to get up to because Sydney is finally open!! #1 A few months ago I promised myself that one of the first things I was going to do post lockdown was to visit my favourite place. I’m referring to Mitchell Rd Antiques and Design Centre. I was so happy to be back, I just love this place so much. It’s a huge warehouse made up of many different stalls all independently owned. Retro Fun I strolled along looking at all the retro furniture, clothes, toys, books. Every time I visit I feel like I am stepping back in time to my childhood and all the fun 70’s and 80’s decor. I find myself wishing I hadn’t thrown so many things out when I helped my mum empty her flat. Mid-century furniture is popular all over again and the price tag for some of the furniture is quite incredible. I’m thinking we should have kept those bright orange chairs I got rid of a few years ago! Look at these fun Orla Kiely shoes I tried on. They were my size, fitted perfectly, and were brand new. I didn’t end up buying them and now I’m really annoyed at myself. If by chance they are still there next time I visit I might go ahead and get them. I just wasn’t feeling brave enough to add them to my shoe collection the other day. But now I can’t stop thinking about them. Does that ever happen to you? Ugh, I am really regretting my indecisiveness. Boo! #2 When we got home from visiting Mitchell Rd Antiques I popped a rack of lamb in the oven. I had left it marinating with garlic and rosemary before we left, luckily I had also roasted the potatoes too. There’s nothing worse than coming home from a fun outing and having to scramble to get dinner ready. The flavors of the rosemary and garlic had some time to infuse while we were away and Oh my goodness, it was so delicious!! My mouth is watering as I am typing this. We had vegetables and gravy to go with it. #3 Desserts For The Win! Steve always says that after a nice meal like that you need a dessert. I’m not arguing with this!! I hadn’t made anything so we decided to go to Mcdonalds and do a quick drive through for some sundaes and McFlurrys. Drive through desserts are a big favourite. We got back home ate our desserts and caught up on some shows I had taped during the week and hadn’t had a chance to watch yet. So many shows, so little time!! We watched a couple of episodes of FBI and called it a night. #4 Wednesday I caught up with my beautiful friend. Have I told you how much I love my friend? She is so kind, sweet, and encouraging and I am so thankful to have her. The best part is, is that I get to see her at work because we work together four days out of five. Yay!! Anyway, we were going to go for a bit of a walk over this cool bridge that is I guess you could call a walking track. It’s not far from where I live but I have never actually been on it. I have heard that it’s a really nice scenic walk too with a pleasure ground on the other side and a nice cafe. Cafe Fun Well of course it had to rain, so we ditched that plan for another day and met up in another suburb close by. I found a cafe that was actually taking dine-in customers.  Most of the cafes were still doing take away only. We parked ourselves there for the next hour or so and had the best time. We just chatted about everything and it always feels like there’s never enough time because we have so much to say. In between chatting, we took a few breaths and also indulged in some delicious brunch. This was the first time I had been out to eat anywhere since lockdown so it was such a treat. I ordered a skinny cappuccino and my lovely friend had a chai latte which smelt of delicious cinnamon and other spices. We shared eggs on toast and we both agreed that poached eggs with a runny yolk is the only way to go. So yum! #5 Thursday I took my Mumma to get her Pfizer shot. She had been so reluctant to get it. All my family has been really worried about her not being vaccinated and now with everything opened up only double vaccinated people are allowed in shops, restaurants, cafes, and other places. Even some doctors are only seeing double vaccinated patients face to face. Brave Mum! I don’t really blame my mum for being reluctant about the

Hi Friends, Happy Friday everyone! Hope you have all had a fantastic week and are super pumped for the weekend like I am. Our local Farmers’ market opened back up last weekend and so Steve and I will be heading there on Saturday. I am so excited about this, the only places I have been to for the last few months are work, supermarket, fruit shop, and petrol station. I am almost giddy thinking about doing something fun like this tomorrow. So let’s jump straight in and have a look at some of this week’s favourites! As usual, I am linking up with Andrea and Erika for today’s post. Number One Good news everyone lockdown is over and done with this Monday!! As much as I am dreading the mad pace of life and going back to full-time everything ( I may have even had a bit/a lot of anxiety about this). I am so excited to see my son and his lovely fiancee. They can finally visit so they are coming over next Saturday. It’s been about four months since the last time we got together and I can NOT wait. I will for sure be cooking all their favorites and may never let them leave ha! Number Two I was back at work three days this week and we had an extra couple of children attend preschool. There were a total of six! That’s the most we’ve had for fourteen weeks. It was so funny because I’m obviously not used to the noise level anymore. Preschool has been so quiet for so long. Not on Tuesday, it was noisy again just like it should be! It was so cute to watch the kids during the day, they moved around the preschool in a little pack of six all playing together. They made a rainbow slide out of large bricks. They also worked hard together in the sandpit and made a sand volcano. The teachers added bicarb to the crater, then the kids took turns pouring vinegar with food colouring into the volcano. Can you see how it fizzes up and looks like lava? Such a big hit with the children, they had so much fun! Number Three On Wednesday my little Sam turned 17. How did this even happen? My mumma heart can’t even process this. We had a delicious takeaway dinner from “El Jannah” per Sams request. It was so good. Yummy charcoal chicken, tabouleh, garlic dip, and chips. We also ordered a couple of Lebanese pizzas from another place. Mmmmm everything was just perfection and we even had leftovers for the next day and a half. Bonus! We had a Pavlova for Sam’s birthday cake. In September when my mum turned 93 I made a pineapple upside-down cake for her. But for his birthday Sam asked for his favourite a Pavlova. This was great for me because they are just so simple to put together. After being at work more days this week I didn’t have much time. Steve usually likes to cook the base from scratch but this year he’s been so busy working late that it was just easier if I bought the base from Woolworths. Doesn’t it look fancy! All I had to do was whip the cream, cut up the fruit and arrange it nicely on top of the base with cream. Done and done!! It was really delicious, super sweet but oh so good. Pavlova is my favourite too so I’m glad Sam chose this. Even if it’s a mid-week birthday I like to buy a bunch of balloons to decorate the house and then we usually have family over on the weekend to celebrate. This year with lockdown still on it was a different story. There was nowhere to buy balloons, but it was still fun to have a little celebration with just us. Number Four On Thursday I had to make a couple of batches of playdough at preschool. We had run out and with more kids coming soon we’ll definitely be making this on repeat like we usually do. This playdough is such a favourite, it’s really easy to make and doesn’t need to be cooked. It lasts ages in the fridge and the best part is that it is super soft. All the kids love it and so do we because it doesn’t leave a crumbly mess either. We used to make it using a different recipe but this one is definitely softer and much more malleable. When my own kids were little I always used to make playdough for them. They loved it and would spend ages playing with it. I found it so much better than the store-bought stuff plus it was way cheaper and lasted longer. If you have little kids I really encourage you to give them playdough to play with. It is not only fun and entertaining for them but it also has so many amazing learning benefits too. If you are looking for a playdough recipe, I guarantee your kids will love this one. Number Five Every year at preschool we have a tea towel fundraiser. The kids each draw a picture of themselves and we send all the pictures off to a company called Expressions Fundraising. They then print everyone’s picture onto a tea towel and the parents get to buy them. The parents love them and many buy extra to give to their family members for Christmas. Each year we ask some of the kids to draw the teachers. This is what I look like this year. I’ve got the tea towel with Sams’s picture on it from when he was at preschool and I treasure it. It is such a special reminder. I don’t have one from Luke because he went to a different preschool. I hadn’t started working at my current preschool back then. Makes me teary looking at this. Sigh! Look how he drew us. We both look like angry potatoes. This is the one from Sams

Hi Everyone, thanks so much for joining me for a quick recap of this week. Is it just me or did this week just go by even faster than usual!! I CANNOT believe it’s October and for some reason, I thought that September had 31 days. Luckily my dear Mum who often forgets what day it is cleared this up for me. It’s my last few days before I go back to work after the end of Term break and with all the recent announcements from our NSW Premier, it looks like all Early Childhood centres will be open to everyone from the 18th of October. It will be all systems go again. I have a mixed bag of favourites to share with you today and so let’s jump in with Number 1 My garden is blooming like crazy! I’ve mentioned before that my job when it comes to gardening is to stay well away. Plants and flowers grow beautifully if I just stay clear. I do not have a green thumb AT ALL. In the past, I have tried to grow flowers and vegetables, especially when my kids were younger. I had some success but gardening is such hard work and I was never consistent enough when it came to looking after it. So I have packed up my gardening gloves for good I think. Luckily we live in a small villa complex which means we don’t have to do our own gardening. We have a really good new gardener who is doing an amazing job. My husband actually found him recently through a mutual friend and he’s a keeper for sure. Look we have real live blueberries growing this year!!! The lavender bush has exploded just outside our door. I don’t know what these are called but they are so pretty. I think these are Geraniums Number 2 I found these pitta toasties at the deli the other day when I went to pick up my online grocery order. I usually buy the bigger ones for when I make souvlaki. These were really nice and a bit of a change from regular wholemeal toast. I’ve also been loving this raisin bread. I’m not much of a breakfast eater as I don’t ever feel hungry up until around 10 am. Being at home so much and having access to food all the time means I have also been indulging in yummy raisin toast. I guess one good thing about going back to work is that I’ll be eating less. All we really have in our fridge at work is playdough, and I have to admit that some days I feel so hungry while I’m at work that even that looks tempting. Number 3 Look at my lovely little cat Sushi. She’s 11 years old but she’s quite small. Sushi has enjoyed having us home for the last few months and every day she likes to stand near the tap in our little courtyard and miaow until I turn it on for her. She then likes to have the water run down her back and she licks it off. She also loves the water all over her face which I think is funny for a cat. The other night I went into Sam’s room and I found her on his lap. Sam is her favourite person and she’s usually either on his lap or on his bed. I used to be so strict about letting her go on his bed. It used to be a big no-no but I’ve softened in my old age and now I let her. In saying that, she knows she is only allowed on Sams bed and not mine. She’s clever though, sometimes when I come home from work, I can tell she’s been curled up on my bed during the day. Her black fur on my white quilt cover is a dead giveaway. Number 4 On some nights we have been seriously indulging in late-night strawberry sundaes. Normally I buy the Cottees strawberry topping but I thought I’d give this Hershey Strawberry syrup a try (It was half price)and oh my goodness it’s so good. Incredibly sweet but delicious. We like to add crushed nuts, sprinkles and garnish it with a Kit Kat. Steve and I always share so that way we don’t feel so bad about all the calories. This Hershey syrup is most definitely a favourite! If you want to satisfy a sweet craving this is the way to go. Number 5 Knowing that I will be back to full-time work very soon I have been trying to get motivated to tidy up some cupboards. I sorted out some things in my ensuite but it still looks crowded in there. It is an improvement though. I don’t like mess and clutter but I had let that cupboard get full of things I wasn’t using. So although it might not look like it, I have actually thrown out quite a few things. Number 6 Oh my goodness staying up super late is a HUGE favourite. I love the freedom of not having to worry about getting to bed at a decent time so I get enough sleep. I am horrible at getting to bed before 10.30 pm. and this is something that I am going to have to work on changing before the 18 the October when I’m back on deck full time. Sigh! Some nights I love munching on these plain Smiths chips while I’m watching TV. Number 7 This used to be our garage and a few years ago we had it converted into another little room. Now I use it as my own office and I have spent a lot of time here working on this blog since May this year.  The table I am using as a desk was actually our old dining room table we bought when we were first married and living in a tiny apartment. I need to get a better chair, this old fold

  I have a bunch of fun things to share on today’s Fun Friday-favorite things for Friday post! Let’s get started with N0 1 I had to take my mum to a medical appointment on Monday and I was feeling a bit stressed, medical appointments are not my favorite. When I got to the doctor’s office this lovely and friendly young girl at reception took my mum’s details and then she asked me if my name was Ruth? As soon as she said this I recognized her instantly. It was Aly one of my former preschoolers from seventeen years ago! That’s right seventeen years ago!!! and we both recognized each other masks and all! I love Aly and often wondered how she was doing. All those years ago she had given me a beautiful little Christmas angel her mum had made. Every year I hung this little angel ornament on my tree and every time I did I would think of Aly and say a prayer for her and her family. And here she was right in front of me all grown up. I’m getting goosebumps just typing this. We squealed, we got teary, we wanted to hug but couldn’t because of Covid ugh!! So we both did a happy dance right there in front of everyone at the doctor’s office with patients all around us wondering what on earth was going on? The great thing is we have promised to keep in contact and get together once covid restrictions are lifted. No.2 The other day I mentioned that I had not been able to buy my favorite shampoo from Aldi. I haven’t been shopping there because they don’t deliver so I’m only shopping at Woolworths. When I got to work on Tuesday morning I found the most thoughtful surprise from my work colleague and bestie. My favorite shampoo and conditioner!!  I am so grateful for her friendship, kindness, and thoughtfulness. She always has an understanding listening ear and offers the sweetest advice and words of comfort whenever I’ve been down. On top of that, she’s just so fun to be around. I love my dear sweet friend! No.3 These veggie Lavosh crackers were half price online from Woolworths the other day so I thought I’d give them a try. They were so good and made a perfect addition to our little cheese platter that I like to have on Friday nights. Friday cheese plates are so fun! These crackers also tasted really great with my hummus and they had a really nice flavor that was just right and not overbearing.  My husband knows that whenever I buy something new to try it’s because it must have been half price. Ha, he’s right! No.4 The length of my hair was really bothering me. Do you ever get like that, where you just have to get it cut/trimmed NOW!  I do!! Anyway, who knows when hairdressers will be able to reopen again. We are still in lockdown for at least one more month if not more. So I watched a few YouTube videos and went ahead and cut it myself. I know it’s not totally straight and I need to fix it but I’m ok with it. I even like it and may just cut it myself from now on. My hairdresser always cuts the layers too short anyway and I’m trying to grow them out. No.5 This pork knuckle is a must-try. I got it from Woolworths, no I don’t get any commission or affiliates from mentioning Woolworths, they just sell great food! When I got home from work later than usual on Thursday because we had a staff meeting I was so happy that I had this in the fridge. All I had to do was rub the skin with oil, sprinkle some salt, and pop it in the oven for an hour. Oh my, It was divine. The crackling worked, I never have any luck when I make roast pork with crackling but I did this time. No.6 I served the pork knuckle with creamy mashed potatoes, green beans, spinach, and this gravy. I like to make my own gravy but on nights like Thursday night, this was never going to happen. So I always have these sachets in the pantry and I must say, you really get gravy that tastes homemade. No.7 Look at this fun bright painting one of my little preschool friends made. He was so proud and I loved it too. It was great to see some of the children at preschool this week, there was only a handful of them. But today the premier of NSW announced that kindy school children will be back to classes from 25th October, so I guess we’ll see what happens. This was a really great week of fun surprises, Thank you for joining me for today’s Fun Friday post where I shared a few of this week’s favorites. I hope you all have a fantastic weekend. Stay safe! Linking up with Andrea and Erika for today’s post

Yes indeed it’s finally Friday and it’s fantastic.Hooray for the weekend! I hope you are all well and safe. Thank you so much for joining me to have a look at some of the things we got up to this week. Again it was a quiet low-key week but with a sprinkle of very funny moments. ~1~ This week we started off the week celebrating Steves’s birthday! Of course, we couldn’t have anybody over to help us celebrate because of the lockdown. But we did enjoy dinner together. Steve’s birthday was actually on Tuesday but Monday was his only night off from work and the only night we could all have dinner together. We decided to leave the cake for his actual birthday on Tuesday. We ordered Thai food for the occasion and it was delicious! ~2~ I have been staying home as we have all been ordered to do so. The only places I go to are work and the local fruit shop. I am trying hard to avoid supermarkets so I had my groceries delivered on Tuesday. I deliberately picked Tuesday so that we would have a nice fresh cake delivered with the groceries to celebrate Steves actual birthday before he went to work in the evening. This is what I got! Bahahahahaha!!! I saw this and  I couldn’t stop laughing. I don’t think I have laughed so hard in a long time. When I was doing my online order I saw that this was a mango and passionfruit cake. Steves two favorite ingredients. I was so excited at my discovery that I didn’t bother to check the size and just added it to my cart. He did love it though and we all enjoyed watching him eat it!! ~3~ We gave Steve some nice soft Peter Alexander pajamas for his birthday. ~4~ I washed all my fruit and vegetables that arrived with my grocery delivery before I put them away. I just love the look of a pile of fresh fruit and veggies! ~5~ Wednesday afternoon, I went for a walk and on my way home I stopped off at our local fruit shop and I picked up this delicious bread to go with our pasta that I made for dinner. Fresh bread and butter to go with pasta YUM!! ~6~ Thursday morning I woke up to this little face. Ha! she’s so cute and funny. Sushi knows she’s not allowed on my bed so she will sit on the wooden bedhead because that doesn’t count right? ~7~ I tried a new shampoo. It’s not a brand I am familiar with but I thought I would give it a try as it was half price from Woolworths. I usually buy the Aldi shampoo with Argan Oil but I haven’t been shopping at Aldi because they don’t deliver. The new shampoo was ok but it didn’t leave my hair as soft as the Aldi one. The Aldi shampoo is my favorite! ~8~ Thursday I tried to get most of my household chores done because I was working on Friday. I just love this shower cleaner. The orange smell is my favorite. I have been using it for a while now and it’s a keeper. This day I gave the bathrooms a deep clean. I have this routine where I will clean my bathrooms every day to keep them fresh all week but I give myself the weekend off. You can read about this here. I leave the deep cleaning to when it’s needed. ~9~ I tidied up my washcloths and hand towels. Seeing them all neat and tidy is a big favorite. Thank you so much for joining me today for a very short quick look at my week. Today the Premier of NSW announced that we will be locked down for another month taking us until the end of September. So I guess most of my days will be very low-key. But I am still staying positive and really looking forward to spring. I hope you all have a fantastic Friday and enjoy your weekend!! For today’s post, I am linking up with Andrea and Erika!    

Hi everyone! Yes, it’s finally Friday!! My goodness, we are racing towards the end of the year so fast. We have had a very warm week here in Sydney. The weather has just been absolutely glorious, with lots of blue skies and sunny days and temperatures reaching around the mid twentys. It’s making me excited for spring, with only a few weeks to go!! We are still in lockdown, and I think I really need to stop saying ‘we are still in lockdown’ and just accept that this will most likely be going on until November. As it is becoming apparent that there is no way we are getting out any time soon. The Covid cases just keep going up and up! But let’s move on to brighter topics and be grateful that it is indeed finally Friday! Here are some big favourites for this weeks post. ~1~ On Monday night we treated ourselves to some delicious dessert from Oliver Brown. We used Uber eats to order in. Oliver Brown serves up THE most delicious hot chocolate ever. It has just the right consistency and sweetness. Sam and I both ordered some hot chocolates. Steve and Sam had a New York cheesecake each and I got a blueberry friand. Everything was super delicious and it was just such a lovely indulgence, I guess being in lockdown means we are trying to enjoy treats like this just for fun! ~2~ I’ve been playing Words with Friends and I’m really loving it, especially when I score big points on one word! Now that it is finally Friday and I have the weekend I will get back to more of this favourite game! ~3~ These salt and vinegar chips are my favourite and I have been snacking on these all week. I just can’t seem to get enough of the salty vinegary flavour! I have been eating these delicious chips since I was a kid in primary school. Whenever I had some pocket money I would buy them from the school canteen. I usually keep my snacking for the weekend but this week I caved. ~4~ I worked three days this week, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. The most number of children we had was on Tuesday and we had a total of five! They have been busy building all sorts of interesting things with the magnetic tiles on the lightbox. I just love the lightbox we have at preschool, don’t the colours of the tiles look pretty? The children also used these colourful cubes to make a rainbow wall. Last week I did a blog post about lightbox activities and you can find it here. ~5~ Another favourite moment this week at preschool was reading to a couple of the little boys. They don’t often like to sit still for too long, but they were very still when they listened intently to ‘The Gruffalo” ~6~ A couple of the girls continued making ‘Gruffalo worlds’ in the block corner. This week they used the fluoro coloured scarves! ~7~ The children did some sponge painting using stencils with pretty patterns. Look at the lovely colours! ~8~ I am so happy that my plant is actually growing. I have been really making a huge effort to look after it so I’m very proud of myself as this is not one of my strengths. This little plant sits nicely on my kitchen shelf and I love how it hangs down, definitely a favourite. ~9~ My family has been enjoying playing ‘Bananagrams’. This is a fun and fast game where you have to race each other to build words. I love playing family games and I’m really looking forward to when my whole family can get together again to play. ~10~ I walked into Sams room and saw his new keyboard. Look at all the pretty lights! What a surprise as I had no idea it lit up like this and I can now finally understand why he was so excited to buy it. This just about sums up all of this week’s favourites, a short and sweet post for today where I am linking up with Andrea and Erika. I’m sure you are as glad as I am that is indeed finally Friday and we can move on to the weekend. Hope you all stay safe and well!  

Hi, Friends, and Happy Friday to you all. Thank you for joining me again for this week’s Friday Favorites. As usual for today’s post, I am linking up with Andrea and Erika. ~1~ As we are still in lockdown my hours of work have been reduced to half. Therefore I was only rostered to go into preschool on Monday and Friday this week. I feel like I blinked and bam the week was over.  What a short working week for me!! Not at all like my usual full-time load. Of course, I was happy to see my work colleagues and the handful of children we had attending. Only four on Monday and two on Friday. I enjoyed my coffee in this cute coffee cup. Most of the staff drink either tea or coffee and we use these safe non-spill cups in the classroom. I like my pink glittery one, it is definitely a favorite and puts a smile on my face, especially on Monday mornings! All the preschool staff got to choose the design and colour of their cups when we ordered them from a shop called Victorias Basement. And the other day, one of my work colleagues commented that she thought the design and colours we picked reflected our personalities. Ha! I thought that was interesting and very true! ~2~ Tuesday I had my first shot of the Pfizer vaccine. I was feeling ok about it until I was in the waiting room reading the consent form about all the things that could go wrong and then I started to panic. I know, I know there are risks with everything but it still freaked me out. Afterward when my first vaccine shot was over and done with I felt a huge relief. That feeling of relief is a real favorite! My next dose is in six weeks’ time. The Delta strain is hitting us so hard in Sydney and the case numbers and community transmission is unable to be contained at the moment. Therefore we are all being urged to get vaccinated so we can move forward and get out of lockdown. ~3~ I used some delicious fresh parsley we have growing in our garden for the dinner I was cooking. Fresh herbs are always a big favorite but I am the first to admit that I am not a gardener. If anything the further I stay away from any plants the more they flourish. A while ago when I was trying hard to actually grow and maintain a herb garden. I planted some parsley. Of course, I failed to look after it and it soon died. Somehow the parsley plant must have gone to seed and planted itself. As a result, we now have parsley growing in the garden and not the original pot plant. It’s also growing in between the bricks Ha! ~4~ We ate some yummy pizza for dinner on Wednesday night. I picked the Capriciosa and the Mexicana. They both had lots of olives which we all love. The Capriciosa also had anchovies and I really liked them, funny as I don’t usually go for anchovies. ~5~ The Australian beach volleyball women’s team got through to the Grand Final of the Olympic games! I was super excited about this. One of the girls on the team is Indigenous Australian and the other girl was born in Peru. I’m originally from Peru too! Both of the teams played a great game but the USA team was so strong! Congratulations to the USA on their Gold Medal win and congratulations to the Aussie girls on their Silver Medal win! I was at work on Friday and we sat outside in the winter sunshine to watch the game on my Ipad. It was just myself, the other staff and two little friends. I loved hearing them cheer for the Australian team “Aussie Aussie Assie Oi Oi Oi” Ha! one of them even asked me “Do you think they can hear us, Ruth?” Awww so cute. Definitely a favorite moment for me this week. ~6~ I walked into preschool on Friday morning and I was met with this beautiful Gruffalo World! Apparently, the two children who attended the previous day had set up their own ‘Gruffalo world.’  They used some materials the classroom teacher had provided and in addition, they also helped themselves to some loose parts available around the classroom. I love how the children used the splats and the colorful cubes from the lightbox. They collected the shells, sea creatures, and butterflies from the preschool shelves. I always appreciate how well resourced our classrooms are and I love how we value children’s play. At our preschool, we try really hard to provide inspiring and aesthetically pleasing materials for the children to use.   ‘The Gruffalo” by Julia Donaldson is a huge favorite at our preschool, and it’s one of my favorite stories too! ~7~ My cat ‘Sushi ‘just loves this cat food. It’s her favorite, so that makes it my favorite too as I know she will eat it all up. She just goes nuts for it! and she will purr and purr when she sees her food being poured into her bowl. So if for some reason I am running late to give her dinner, she lets me know with lots of incessant meowing! funny girl!! That wraps up this week’s Friday favorites for me. Thank you for stopping by for a little peek into some of the things that are happening in my corner of the world. Hope you all have an amazing weekend and stay safe!  

  Hooray for Friday and I hope everyone finds themselves well! I am linking up today with Andrea and Erika for a look at some of this week’s favourites!! ~1~ Look at our favourite girl, she looks so small. Soon our Sushi will be turning ten and we just love her so much. I honestly think she would have to be the friendliest cat ever. She loves to have a ‘chat’ and If you say “Hi Sushi” she will always answer back with a meow. Ha! look at my work shoes, they are not the fanciest but definitely the most comfortable for running around preschool all day. Every evening around 10 pm Sushi will come over to where we are sitting on the lounge watching TV, she will hi-five Steve and stay for a nice long pat. Isn’t she clever? This has become a favourite evening tradition!  ~2~ I thought this year it would be fun to celebrate Christmas in July. Some years when I am feeling exceptionally festive, I will put up little trees in everyone’s bedroom. This year I used one of the little trees as a table decoration for our impromptu Christmas in July celebrations, I just added battery-operated fairy lights and they gave off a really nice glow. I set the table with Christmas linen and even found some old crackers that hadn’t been used. We had Christmas music playing softly in the background and feasted on a delicious roast chicken dinner with all the trimmings. Presents for everyone! Nothing expensive or fancy. I just wrapped up a couple of favourites for each family member. Sam got a big jar of Mayvers Peanut Butter and a bag of chocolates. Steve got liquorice and a car air freshener. And I got my mum a new notepad and her favourite chocolates, Ferrero Rocher. ~3~ Lockdown means everything is so quiet as hardly anyone is out and about, consequently the days just seem so long. This week, I worked three days at preschool and I found myself joining in going around and around the obstacle course with my little friends. We had three children come to preschool on the days I worked. Usually, we are run off our feet trying to keep up with all the things and there is always a constant bubble of noise and excitement until the last child goes home. Until lockdown ends the pace is most definitely going to be much slower. I’m really looking forward to the day when things are back to ‘normal’. But I will admit, not having to rush around is definitely a huge favourite. ~4~ We ventured out to the front garden and the children watered the plants. We’ve got some Bok Choi and Silverbeet growing. The children love tending to the garden and they get such a kick out of watching everything grow and once the vegetables are ready we pick them and use them in our cooking experiences. In the past, we have cooked noodles with the bok choi and added some soy and honey sauce. This is always such a hit and a great way for the children to appreciate how food grows. In addition, another big bonus is that it also tempts the fussier eaters to try vegetables they normally wouldn’t. I looked up and noticed that our wattle tree was blooming. I love this as I see it as a sign that spring is on its way. Later that day we received a delivery of some new toys for our lightbox. I love new toys as they are so shiny but not for long when busy little hands get to work building and playing. ~5~ On Tuesday evening after work, when dinner was all done and the household chores were under control, I treated myself to a nice hot cup of tea in my favourite teacup! Quite a few years ago I received this beautiful teacup and saucer as a gift from one of the preschool mums whose last child was finishing up with us. So of course, every time I use it I think of her and her lovely boys, who are now teenagers ~6~ To go with my tea, Steve and I shared an almond croissant. What an absolute treat! ~7~ Olympics, Olympics, Olympics! When we are home, we have the television on all day and night watching the Olympics! ~8~ On Thursday while I was at the local fruit shop picking up some things we needed as well as ingredients for my homemade hummus. I spotted this almond nougat at the checkout. Apparently, I must have an almond obsession. I couldn’t resist and now I understand the battle the poor little children have with all those tempting lollies and treats that are always found at the checkout. ~9~ Another favourite this week has been avocados as they have just been so incredibly cheap. I’ve added them to sandwiches and salads plus we’ve made some good old guac! ~10~ I fried up a couple of eggs and look. They randomly came out like the shape of Australia! How funny, must be because of all that Olympic spirit we’ve got going on around here!! That wraps up Friday Favourites for me this week. Thank you so much for stopping by and I truly hope you all have a great weekend.