Friday Favourites

Hello friends and hello December! I think it might be time to hit the panic button because Christmas is only 24 days away. But if you’re like our family, celebrating on Christmas Eve, then we only have 23 days !! Today I have some favourites to share from my two days off from work and as always, I’m so happy you’re here. Thank you! This week felt extra short because I only worked three days and that sure is a huge favourite. I had yesterday and today off, and I think this little break might just help to get me over the finish line. Twelve days left of the school term friends…only 12 more morning alarms. I can do it! City Shopping Well, Thursday was just a fun carefree day and I felt like I was jigging school. Do we even still say jigging these days? That’s what we said when I was a teen. I went to the city with a friend and we were supposed to do Christmas shopping. But we didn’t buy anything for anybody. Instead, we spent the whole time looking at clothes, shoes and accessories for ourselves! I tried on a couple of tops and my friend bought some really gorgeous sneakers with just the right amount of height and bling. When I saw these shoes I had to laugh because back in the day when I first started working at preschool. I would actually wear shoes like this to work! It was the time when the Spice Girls were huge and platform shoes like these were all the rage. It’s funny how fashion trends always come back around. I would rock up in my cute jeans and platform shoes. Then spend the day running around with children and go home with no sprained ankles, crushed toes or broken legs. Amazing! My footwear for work looks more like this nowadays. Boring but safe! We spotted more of these funny bags that I saw the last time I was in David Jones. Haha! I want one! We stopped to chat with the nice sales assistant who was at the room spray counter. They had all sorts of room sprays that would make any home smell amazing. They also smelled good enough to wear! I spotted the pretty Christmas decorations at the QVB. Now I’m keen to go into the city at night and see all the beautiful festive lights. We then had a late lunch at The Grounds in the City. When we sat down the lovely waitress served us a small glass of water each. At this point, I was so thirsty I was hoping for a whole jug of water that I could chug down myself! We ordered burgers and fries because we were both starving and wanted carbs aplenty!! Lunch Date Today I had a lunch date with my husband and we went to a cafe at our local Westfields. Normally our weekdays are a bit like this-“Bye, see you tomorrow” because he works nights and I work during the day. Haha! So it was nice to be able to sit down, enjoy a meal and talk. Salmon bruschetta for me. Fish and chips for Steve. Coffees for the two of us! That’s it for today friends, some favourites from the week. I have really enjoyed my two days off from work and now it’s time for the weekend! I’m hosting Cousin Connect tomorrow night then I’m catching up with more family on Sunday for lunch. We I want to get our Christmas tree up and get my decorating vibe happening – It’s not happening yet (sigh). I hope you have an amazing weekend and I look forward to being back here on Monday. Happy Friday! Linking up with Andrea and  Erika.

Hey there friends welcome to Friday Favourites and happy Thanksgiving to all my friends who celebrated yesterday. I hope you had a wonderful time with your family. Now it’s time to share a few favourites from the week, thanks so much for being here today. On Monday I shared with you guys all about the fun time I had with my girl cousins on Sunday. We got together for a high tea-style lunch, bubbly drinks and a Miss Universe watch party. I had plans to make my own cupcakes and other sweet treats and then realised that I clearly must have rocks in my head. Because first of all, I’m not really much of a baker and secondly, I am always running low on time! So instead of stressing myself out trying to make everything from scratch. I gave myself a break and bought cupcakes, macarons and chocolate hazelnut tarts from the supermarket. The tarts that I bought came in the form of this amazing kit from Woolworths. The kit came complete with the tart shells already made, a piping bag full of chocolate hazelnut filling and crushed walnuts to sprinkle over the top of the tarts. Ha! It was so easy to put together and I almost felt like I had made them myself. They were so delicious! I love the chocolate and hazelnut combo because it tasted like Nutella. So I will definitely be buying this kit again. I found this lovely candle at TK Maxx the other day and it smells amazing! My favourite candles are from Ecoya, but I thought I’d give this one a try. I used my small battery-operated milk frother and made myself a delicious matcha latte the other night. I love this frother because it whips up creamy foam in seconds and makes my homemade drinks feel like a fancy café treat. It was a cozy drink for a cool night. We have a blueberry bush that we planted over five years ago and this is the first time we have had so many blueberries. It’s so exciting when you have things growing in your garden especially when you have a brown thumb like me. One of the lovely preschool families gave us the most incredible gift box full of chocolates as an early Christmas present to the staff. This big box is now sitting in the staff kitchen calling at us every time we walk in! Although I tend to prefer savoury snacks to sweet snacks, this chocolate is truly delicious and worth every single calorie! I have tried a piece of everything and it’s all been so good – so far my favourite has been the coconut roughs, YUM! I usually buy the frozen shortcrust pastry for when I make quiche. But they didn’t have any at the supermarket so I bought the flaky pastry instead. The other night I made quiche for dinner and it turned out to be a nice change. The flaky pastry was so crispy and crunchy and I think I preferred it to the shortcrust. This gravy is my favourite because it tastes homemade. It’s rich, savoury and velvety – everything you want in a gravy! We had it with our chicken schnitzel that I made earlier in the week. I have been waiting for eggnog to hit the supermarket and I finally found some on Wednesday. Christmas is coming! I think most of my favourites this week are all food-related! Three weeks and two days until the end of the school year friends and this pretty much sums up how I feel! Yep, I am really looking forward to the summer holidays! We don’t have any plans to go away anywhere but at this stage, I just want to sleep for three days straight! For now, I am just so incredibly happy that it’s the weekend! It’s been such a busy week at preschool with concert practice and end-of-year craft activities. Next week looks like it’s going to be even busier as we seem to be running out of time to get everything done. I have a mash-up of concert songs going around and around in my head. It’s kind of driving me crazy! ” I know a chicken. I know a chicken….and she laid an egg and she laid an egg………..” Happy Friday! Linking up with Andrea and Erika  

Hey there friends! Welcome to Friday favourites, it’s time to share some highlights and best moments from the week. It’s Jacaranda season in Sydney! From late spring to early summer we have the most beautiful blooming Jacaranda trees everywhere. I needed to go to the fruit shop last Saturday and instead of driving, I decided to walk because the weather was so amazing. It was a perfect spring morning and I loved soaking up the sun while spotting the gorgeous Jacaranda trees. Look I found a jar of ginger, lemon and lime marmalade at the fruit shop! I was so excited because I thought I would have to buy it online as I hadn’t been able to find it in the supermarket where I shop. I need this key ingredient for my lime and macadamia glazed ham recipe that I’m excited to make for Christmas. Winning! I bought some toys for Mochi to chew on as she’s teething and had a great time chewing through one of Sam’s charging cords! Mochi loves this Wiggle Worm Catnip Toy and Fresh Breath Mint Stick. The wiggle worm and mint stick have stopped her from chewing through cords and kept her entertained for ages. She chomps on them, flings them around and then pounces on them. So if you have a kitten who is teething then these inexpensive toys are a must-have. They will save your cords and keep your kitty happy. Our older cat Sushi likes them too so it’s a good thing that she and Mochi are now buddies and can share. Speaking of buddies…here they are together on the sofa. I didn’t think I’d see the day when they would be comfortable enough to lay around next to each other. Yay! I bought our first mango of the season and my husband asked if we had won the lottery. Ha! Sometimes the simplest foods are just the best. Banana slices on sourdough slathered with peanut butter and drizzled with honey totally hit the spot! We all love this crunchy peanut butter! On Monday we shared our favourite comfort foods on the “Not Just a Mom” link-up and I couldn’t stop craving a big dish of cottage pie. So I made one on Tuesday. I included the usual frozen corn, peas and carrots but this time I got a bit more creative and I threw in a can of chickpeas and a handful of red lentils to thicken up the sauce. It was very hearty and it tasted great. That’s the beauty of this dish-it’s so versatile that you can add almost anything! On Thursday afternoon I did something totally out of the ordinary and I went to the city after work to catch up with my lovely friend. Normally I keep these adventures for the weekend but we decided to be spontaneous and it felt so good! I left work at 3.45 and was in the city by around 4.30. We were both starving so we had an early dinner at the Westfield food court. We had burrito bowls and a small side of chips. The burrito bowls from Guzman and Gomez looked a bit bland but tasted great. It was funny because we didn’t have a plan or reason for going into the city. Following dinner, we had a good long chat and then went for a wander around the shops. We went to David Jones and on the seventh floor, there was some kind of private event going on in the Christian Louboutin section. With a DJ playing some disco music, the place was buzzing with a whole lot of people dressed up all fancy trying on Louboutin shoes and waiters were serving drinks. I said to my friend ‘Let’s just wander around and try and blend in, fingers crossed we won’t get thrown out.’ Well, we didn’t get thrown out but we didn’t get offered any drinks either (insert sad face). Afterwards, we went to the Christmas section which was way more budget-friendly than the high-end Louboutin area and had fun exploring all the pretty and festive decorations. So many quirky food-related decorations this year. I loved them! As well as some Christmas tree decorating inspiration. That wraps up a few of this week’s favourites! I hope you guys had a great week and are ready for some downtime this weekend. I know that I sure am! Thanks so much for stopping by today. Happy Friday and happy weekend, I look forward to being back here on Monday! *This post may contain affiliate links which means I may earn a small commission if you purchase through these links, at no extra cost to you. Thank you for your support!

Hi friends, it’s that time of the week again –  Friday favourites! I hope you have had an amazing week and are all ready.. set..go for a wonderful weekend! Today I’m sharing my top favourite things from the past week. So let’s get going and dive into some Friday fun! On Monday night we got together with our friends for dinner at our local RSL club. We met these friends when my husband was involved in a campaign to have our local pool rebuilt many years ago. The council wanted to sell the land where the old run-down pool was. Then turn the site into a block of apartments. After years and years of dedicated effort, persistence and endless meetings the council eventually gave in to community pressure and agreed to rebuild a brand-new pool. Fast forward to today and we are still friends with this lovely group of pool supporters. We meet once a month for dinner and I am a firm believer that if you want to keep in contact with friends or loved ones. Then organising a once-a-month date and sticking to it is a must! Otherwise, life gets in the way and catch-ups never seem to happen. For dinner, I ordered my usual favourite steamed barramundi with broccoli and rice. One of my friends from the group also orders this same meal every month. We always say we are going to order something different and then we don’t. It’s just too good! This jacket from Zara is a big favourite and so are my silver hoop earrings that match the zipper, ha! It’s been a strange spring so far with the temps being all over the place. So this is the perfect jacket for those nights when it’s a bit on the cool side. I wore it to dinner on Monday night. We still had leftover pork and southwest salad from our cousin Connect dinner on Sunday night. So I used these mission wraps and made lunch on Tuesday for Sam and I. That’s the beauty of having leftovers for days…you can turn them into amazing lunches! Another big favourite was walking to work in the sunshine instead of the gloomy cloudy days we’ve been having lately. This battery-powered automatic spray with essential oils was a favourite for about five minutes. I love my home to smell amazing and so I am always looking for ways to do so. I burn candles, make stovetop potpourri from time to time and like to use room sprays. When I saw this automatic room spray on sale at half-price while I was doing my online grocery order, I snapped it up. I put the contraption in my living room and expected to be dazzled by the gorgeous scent that would spray out automatically every half hour or so. Well, the darn thing scared me to death over and over!! It has the worst sound you can imagine. It’s not subtle at all, instead, it cranks up this deep creaking sound and then it makes a loud SWOOSH noise and it’s not a dainty swoosh, it’s an almighty SWOOSH! It scared the cats, me and the rest of the family. So I put it in the bathroom thinking that we wouldn’t be able to hear it anymore. But now when it goes off it still scares me because I think someone is trying to break in through the bathroom window. I’m not winning with this one and I think that I’ll either be dead soon because my heart has stopped or I’ll eventually get used to it. Stay tuned. I treated myself to my favourite Christmas nougat. This is the nougat that I love to find in my Christmas stocking. But before Christmas, I need to make sure that I have sampled a bar every week just to make sure that I still love it when I open my stocking on Christmas Day hehe. I bought this Huskee coffee cup from Amazon a couple of weeks ago and I’ve been meaning to share it with you guys. It’s my favourite reusable coffee cup ever. Last year I got a cute Frank Green cup in pink which was very pretty. But after a while, I discovered that it was not practical. It was difficult to keep clean as you had to pull the inside of the lid apart to give it a proper wash. Then do you think that I could ever manage to put it back together again easily…nope! The Huskee coffee cup is the best! The reason is – it’s just simple! With a snug lid that is so easy to wash, it has great insulation that maintains the temperature of your coffee and it’s comfortable to hold. These cups are made from repurposed coffee husks, reusable and dishwasher safe. I also love its sleek minimal design and with Christmas just around the corner, it’s the ideal gift for any coffee-loving friends! I made it to date night! Despite feeling sick with sore glands and congestion around my eyes and forehead on Wednesday. I managed to plough on and get through a busy day at work. Then in the evening, we enjoyed a lovely dinner out even though I could feel that I was going downhill fast. I took Thursday and today off from work because I ended up getting a throat infection as well as conjunctivitis in my right eye. Now I’m on antibiotics and eye drops. I’m not surprised that I ended up sick as all sorts of bugs have been going around at preschool. The joys of educator life! I installed some updates on my computer (took hours!) and now I have an amazing new moving screen saver. It’s so cool! I feel congested and my eye keeps weeping which is super annoying. But I don’t feel sick enough to stay in bed all day. So it’s been really lovely to have had a couple of days off from work. It’s been great to be

Hey, there friends it’s time for some quick Friday favourites! Let’s go. 1 Working with my besties makes me so happy! Due to some staffing changes, it just so happens that I am now working with some of my favourite people in the whole world. They light up my days and make me smile all day long. 2 Food always makes me so happy! These olives from Sandhurst are amazing! 3 Fresh fruit and vegetables also make me happy! 4 I bought some chocolates for Halloween next Tuesday. They were on sale at half-price this week at Woolworths. I caved and I bought a bag of mini KitKats for myself….shhh! 5 We had some delicious prawns and mussels for dinner on Wednesday night. 6 Coffee!! I won’t claim that I can’t start my day without it. To be honest I don’t think it has any effect on me at all. It never makes me feel more awake in the morning nor does it stop me from sleeping if I have one in the evening. But I simply love the aroma and the taste. This coffee from Peru is delicious! 7 I love where I live! I live twenty minutes walking distance to my work in a tree-lined street full of houses. If I walk about seven minutes south of my house then I will hit a bustling city full of apartments, shops, cafes and restaurants. It’s the best of both worlds and I wouldn’t trade it for anything! 8 I bought some dark chocolate from Aldi the other day and it tastes identical to the Lindt dark chocolate which is double the price. This one comes in individually wrapped portions making it an even fancier experience. It’s a super quick favourites post today because I’ve had a few issues with my website. Technical issues are not a favourite! I am also posting much later than usual because of these issues. But better late than never, right? Anyway, here’s to an amazing weekend and a much better next week! Linking up with Andrea and Erika

Hey there friends it’s time for some Friday Favourites. Let’s go! 1 My big boy Luke, turned 30 on Monday! Wow, how did the years go by so fast?? He’s a bit taken aback about entering a new decade and getting older. Ha! I’m the one who’s shocked because I have a 30-year-old!! He came over on Monday night with his girlfriend for dinner; it was a fantastic way to start the week. Instead of a birthday cake, I bought some mini cupcakes. We enjoyed them right alongside some delicious chocolate-dipped strawberries. Luke and Bec met our new family member Mochi. She was a bit shy at first but she soon got comfortable and was happy to have new people to play with and cuddle up to. 2 Cold weather in spring is not a favourite. However, this super warm jacket with a hood sure is. The hood came in handy as I didn’t have an umbrella and it started to sprinkle when I walked home from work on Tuesday afternoon. 3 These chai latte sachets are a big favourite and I can’t get them from Woolworths when I do my online shopping order. I went to the shops after work on Wednesday as I had the car that day. Of course, I walked out with half a trolley load even though I went in just to buy the chai latte! 4 These mini frozen yoghurts taste great, are a nice sweet treat and best of all are low in calories. My husband is doing well on his weight loss journey and has lost 5 kilos. Go him! I’m helping him by not buying snacks that are less than healthy and high in calories. It’s all about smart snacking over here these days. I wrote a post all about some scrumptious snack ideas that are not only delicious but also helpful if you are keen to lose weight. The reason why my husband is on a major weight loss mission is because he’s been dealing with excruciating osteoarthritis for years, Now there’s a high possibility that he needs to have a bone fusion procedure in his right foot…shudder! Losing weight will be good for his overall health and help him to recover from surgery better. We will know more next Thursday when we see the specialist. 5 Oops, I digress, back to some more favourites. I found my old Ray-Bans that I bought a really long time ago when I was at uni. They have prescription lenses for distance and even though my close-up vision has gotten worse, my distance vision hasn’t changed much since then. Hooray for small wins when it comes to ageing! 6 My school magazine arrived in the mail yesterday and I’m looking forward to reading it tonight. I love finding out all the latest news on the school as it has grown so much since I was there. It’s also a real trip down memory lane and it’s hard to believe how long it’s been since I finished school! 7 My Peter Alexander pyjamas are a big favourite as they are so incredibly comfy. Right now, I have two sets stashed under my pillow – one for those freezing nights and another for the warm to hot ones. This week was a rollercoaster in terms of weather. On Tuesday, it felt like winter all over again. So I snuggled up in my winter PJs, bed socks, and an extra blanket. Then last night it was a completely different story and I had to play the covers-on, covers-off game all night. It wasn’t even because I was in the hot flash zone thanks to ” The Change”. Nope, this time it was all about the wild swings in spring temps. 8 This crazy is a big favourite even though she’s being mean to our girl Sushi. We are still working on them getting used to each other and still not much progress but I guess it’s only been a week. She pops up everywhere! She gave me such a fright a minute ago when she jumped up onto my desk. Peekaboo! I guess that just about wraps up some Friday favourites for this week. Thanks so much for stopping by and having a read 😊. I hope you have a wonderful weekend and I look forward to being back here on Monday. Happy Friday and Hooray for the weekend! Linking up with Andrea and Erika.

Hi, friends welcome to Friday favourites! The week just flew by and now it’s the end of the spring school holidays…boo! I have had a wonderful two weeks off from work and should say that I feel rested and excited to return to work. But no-I’m greedy and would love two weeks more! Anyway, here are a few fun things I got up to during the last week of the spring school holidays. Kmart Shopping No school holiday is complete without a shopping trip to Kmart to pick up some cheap storage and home decor. Look! Halloween decor! Most of the shops have tons of Christmas decor but I haven’t seen many Halloween things. Those pumpkins look a bit creepy. I prefer friendly-looking pumpkins like the mugs in the other pic. I spent ages deciding on which pot plant to buy for a plant that I wanted to rehome for the dining room. In the end after going back and forth, I decided on the white one with the black speckles. Choice sometimes stresses me as does lack of choice. Ha! On the way home I stopped off to water my aunt’s plants. It was such a hot day and I hadn’t watered them at all since she went on vacation. But they are succulents so I don’t think they need to be watered often (I hope). But on a hot day like Tuesday, they were probably thirsty and I didn’t want to risk my aunt coming home to dead plants! Lunch Catch Up I caught up with my wonderful friend for lunch. It was fun eating, chatting and hearing about her trip to Melbourne. I had the vegetable fritters and my friend had a dish called avocado heaven. They both looked so beautifully presented and colourful! I enjoyed the matcha latte and my friend’s hot lemonade looked so pretty with the orange and mint garnish. She gave me a sip and it was deliciously tangy and sweet. After lunch, we had a quick look around the shops in Westfield Miranda where we spotted some quirky Christmas tree ornaments. I wondered what a Christmas tree with all these tropical-looking decorations would look like. Very tropical I guess! It would be a perfect fit for our hot Australian Christmas but I prefer traditional Christmas trees with red, green and gold ornaments. A Trip To The Airport My cousins landed back home from Europe on Thursday and my other cousins came back from New Zealand today. It’s nice to know that most of my family are now back home. It felt so strange with all of them away! Anyway on Thursday I took two buses to the airport to surprise and welcome three of my cousins who were flying in at 8.15 pm from the last leg of their trip around Europe. Even if I had access to the car which I didn’t because my husband had taken it to work. There is no way that I would ever try and drive to the Sydney International Airport. It is so busy, congested and just plain frantic. With daylight saving, I felt totally safe catching public transport. I got to the airport before 8.00 pm and it was just starting to get dark. Inside it was so busy with people waiting for their loved ones. I felt like I was watching that famous scene from the movie ‘Love Actually’. People were hugging and cheering when they spotted their people. Then there were tears of joy and little kids running towards their grandparents. Husbands and wives, boyfriends and girlfriends hugging and crying. It was really beautiful to watch and I was tearing up every time I saw a reunion! I waited about an hour and a half and then I finally spotted my cousin and his lovely girlfriend first. I did the big leap, happy dance and ” Hey guys, over here!!”. Then we waited for my other cousin who was further back and wooohoo we were all finally together!! We caught an Uber back and I heard a few fun snippets about their trip. It felt like a preview to our cousin connect gathering that’s happening tomorrow night. I can hardly wait! Sam Turned 19 Today is Sam’s birthday and the four of us got together for an early dinner. Sam chose a favourite Chinese restaurant that we used to go to every year for my mum’s birthday. He said he wanted to eat Chinese food in honour of his late grandma. How sweet! We even ordered all of the dishes that she chose every time. We had lemon chicken, chicken chow mein, sweet and sour pork and boiled rice. It was a fun time and here they are teasing their dad about something. These two make me laugh when they get together. We gave Sam a card with some money because he didn’t know what he wanted when I asked him. So now he can buy whatever he likes. We came home to sing Happy Birthday and eat cake. It was a great week that went by all too fast (I think that I say that every week). I’m excited about the weekend, especially our family get-together tomorrow night! Next week it’s the beginning of the last term of the school year. As hard as I find it going back to the routine and the early starts. I have to admit that term four is always my favourite. It’s not just because it’s the last term of the year, it’s also because it’s the most fun! Before we know it we will be right into all the Christmas crafts and end-of-year celebrations. Now I just have to remember this when Monday rolls around!! Have a great weekend friends and I look forward to being back here on Monday. Happy Friday! Linking up with Andrea and Erika              

Hi friends and welcome to Friday favourites! Today I’m excited to be sharing some spring school holiday favourites! So get ready to be bombarded with a whole bunch of sunny pics! 1 I started the week shopping with my super fun cosmetics guru friend. 2 We spotted these hilarious shopping bags and now I know that I want one of these for Christmas! 3 We both bought the same jeans! I love the flared 70’s look with the two front pockets and they were reduced from $79.99 to $49.99. I also had a $10 Myer voucher so I got them for $39.99! 4 After all that shopping we were both starving so we stopped for lunch at a cafe in the QVB. I ordered the delicious chicken and leek pie with Mediterranean salad because I have a clear obsession with chicken and leek! 5 On Thursday I caught up with my lovely friend and her dad for lunch and a visit. Earlier this year my friend gave me a beautiful painting her dad the artist had painted. It wasn’t signed, so when I went to visit him, I took my treasured painting for him to sign. I love going to see him but I always feel sad saying goodbye. 6 I went to Williams Sonoma and loved their Christmas table setting and famous peppermint bark display. I’m still having trouble getting my head around the fact that it’s that fun time of the year again when the shops are full of festive decor! 7 We had a fun game night with some friends. We started by playing Speed Monopoly which wasn’t so speedy because two of us couldn’t get the hang of it. So we switched to Bananagrams and that was way more fun! 8 I had a fun Friday with my cousin and her kids. I also got to meet her sweet mother-in-law who is visiting from Ohio. I could listen to her speak all day long because I just love her accent! The first stop was Ikea to pick up a couple of things and of course to look at more Christmas things! 9 The next stop was a visit to The Grounds Of Alexandria. They always have the best themes and this time it was all about Candyland! It was so warm and sunny! A perfect spring day. Burgers and fries for lunch. They have a florist inside The Grounds. These rainbow roses were so beautiful. 10 Our last stop was Costco, so many favourite places to visit in one day! More Christmas decor. This giant Christmas Mini Mouse was over $1000, we said hi and bye! This week was full of so many spring school holiday favourites. I had the best time hanging out with some of my favourite people and to top it off, the weather was amazing! I don’t think that I will have such a busy second week of the school holidays but you never know! I do however want the time to slow down a bit because before I know it I will be back at work! But I don’t want to think about that just yet! Thanks for hanging out with me and letting me share some of my favourites today. Happy Friday everyone! Linking up with Andrea and Erika      

Hi friends welcome to Friday favourites! It’s great to be back again linking up with Andrea and Erika for a recap of the week and to share some favourites. So let’s get started Monday Monday was a pretty good start to the working week. I felt tired after a long day but I was happy that it was one of those very busy but satisfying days. We had a pretty good day at preschool and I think we have finally hit that time of the year where I can actually see that the children have made so much progress. Even the ones that have needed that extra bit of patience and attention are getting the hang of things. By now we also know their unique little personalities and can understand their needs so much better than earlier in the year. I think it’s taken longer for our groups to settle this year. It kind of makes me wonder if it’s because of COVID. Two years ago, these little ones were stuck at home in a bit of a bubble. So who knows? But I sure am glad to see progress even if it seems to have taken longer than in previous years. Tuesday Tuesday was Talk Like A Pirate Day at preschool so we organised some fun craft activities around this. The kids made pirate hats and eye patches. We also had a treasure hunt and learnt some pirate language. ARRR! Wednesday I worked a half day because I had my last follow-up appointment with the thyroid surgeon. He was very happy with how everything had progressed. My voice is now back to normal, it was a bit croaky for a long time. My scar is also slowly fading. He reminded me to apply sunscreen, especially now that the days are getting so warm. Luckily I have been doing this every day as part of my quick morning makeup routine. I was happy that I got a chance to thank him and his amazing surgical assistant. Before the operation, they spent so much time talking me through the steps and reassuring me. I know that they must perform hundreds of these operations. But they honestly made me feel as if I was the first person in the whole world to have a thyroidectomy. This was my last appointment with the surgeon and I have now been officially discharged, bringing this chapter to an end. It sure does feel fantastic! Grocery Shopping After the appointment, I went to Aldi to buy their boneless spiced mango chicken. It’s the best and I love it because it’s not spicy at all. The chicken comes marinated in a deliciously sweet but not too sweet marinade. Best of all it’s boneless and it makes a fantastic easy meal for a busy week night. I can’t get it anywhere else and I don’t go supermarket shopping very often anymore because I usually order online from Woolworths. So It was a nice change to browse up and down the aisles and look at the special buys. In the end, I filled up my trolley with some old favourites and I did an unexpected mini grocery shop. It seems that I can never leave a supermarket with just one item! Wine Time After my appointment and a visit to Aldi, I got home earlier than I typically would have on a regular workday. Just as I got home. I saw the delivery guy dropping off our box of wine. Ha, perfect timing! Every three months we get a surprise selection of wines from different parts of Australia through a company called Naked Wines. Date Night At Home Steve and I had a date night at home that evening and enjoyed a cheese platter and some wine from the perfectly timed delivery. We have both been very good about staying away from too many snacks. So this was a nice treat! Later that evening, we decided to watch a movie and I chose ‘Max Payne’ because it stars Mark Wahlberg and we like his movies. But this one was a real disappointment. We even gave it a good forty minutes hoping to like it but in the end, we gave up. The plot was weird, it made no sense and the characters were unlikeable. So we went back to another episode of Blue Bloods before we went to bed and that was much more satisfying. Thursday It was a warm morning and then it got so cold in the afternoon. It was a bit of a shock but I guess that’s spring weather for you. Luckily I am now remembering to wear layers. I spent the beginning of the week peeling off my layers as the day got warmer. But on Thursday I spent the afternoon putting on layers as it got colder. In the end, I was wearing my thick winter jacket in the preschool playground. And I was so thankful that I hadn’t taken it home but chosen to leave it at work, just in case the weather turned cold again. which of course it did! Friday Today it felt like winter all over again because it was so cold and windy in the preschool playground. But a couple of my lovely fun coworkers brought some end-of-term treats to share. Food is the key to my heart and it made my day! We were rushing around in the afternoon making sure that we packed and put away all the equipment, toys and bits and pieces. The race was on to leave work and start the end-of-term school holidays! Yes, I am now off from work for two glorious weeks and I am so excited! We don’t have any travel plans but I have a few fun activities lined up. Most of all I’m just so ecstatic about not having to wake up to the sound of the alarm yelling at me! That brings me to the end of my recap of the week. Now I’m off

Hey there friends welcome to this week’s Friday favourites! I hope you all had a great week and are ready to welcome the weekend with wide open arms! I know I sure am because, to be honest, this week wasn’t really a big favourite. It was full of ups and downs, but I guess life is like that, right? Anyway, I sure am glad you are here today! Thanks so much for stopping by and joining me as I share a bit about my week. Monday The week started off promising. I was all motivated in the kitchen on the weekend and I made a silverbeet, feta and ricotta pie for Monday. Over the weekend I also managed to get on top of some preschool work that had been hanging over my head. I felt a huge relief to get that over and done with. Getting the work done on the weekend meant that I wouldn’t be scrambling during the week. There is just never enough time during busy preschool days. Then Monday was just an ordinary day at preschool until I started to come down with some kind of tummy bug during the afternoon and by the time I got home…..well you get the picture! So I took Tuesday and Wednesday off from work. Wednesday Wednesday turned out to be the worst day of the week because my aunt and cousins lost their beloved dog, Leo. For the past two weeks he had been battling with illness and my aunt had to take him for multiple visits to the vet for treatment. On Monday Leo wasn’t himself, he was lethargic and off his food. Then he really seemed to perk up on Tuesday night, he ate and seemed to be doing better. We were all relieved and hopeful that the antibiotics he was prescribed were doing the trick. So it was such a shock when he passed away during the night. Steve and I raced over to my aunt’s house when she rang, distressed and upset after she found poor Leo on Wednesday morning. We helped her to take Leo to the vet where he will be cremated. My cousins are holidaying in Europe at the moment and so they were on video call. Well, you can imagine how upset they were and it just about broke my heart hearing them say goodbye to their beloved Leo over the video call. Here is Leo the Belgian Shepard enjoying Christmas a couple of years ago. Stomach Troubles Part Two I didn’t eat much on Tuesday or most of Wednesday because of my upset stomach. It was just vegemite on toast and plain crackers for me. Then Wednesday night I was feeling better so I foolishly ate a normal meal for dinner. That turned out to be a huge mistake because it sent me right back to square one in my recovery… ugh. I did go to work on Thursday because I had no other symptoms and I went to see the doctor on Thursday afternoon. I was exhausted from Dr. Googling and stressing myself out. The real doctor recommended I give my stomach a 2 to 3-day rest and only eat plain things like toast, crackers and apple sauce. To be honest, by then I didn’t feel like eating anything because I was too afraid of the consequences! A Very Warm Spring Day The days are getting really warm now and I love that. However, I failed to take the advice of wearing layers when transitioning from winter to spring and wore all the wrong clothes to work on Thursday. I wore my long-sleeved top, thick winter pants, socks and winter shoes. It was really cool in the morning but as the day went on it got so warm. By the afternoon I was so hot and uncomfortable that I rolled the legs of my pants up to my knees. It was lucky that it was just the kids and my coworkers around because it wasn’t my best fashion moment. But at least my legs cooled down a bit. Kids Are So Funny! During my lunch break my funny colleague had us in stitches telling us about one of the preschoolers in her class and his version of the song ” I’m a Barbie Girl”. He was singing it in the classroom and it went something like this… “I’m a Barbie girl in a Barbie world……..You can brush my hair and bash me with a chair” Hehe, I’m not sure which version is worse. This one or the original ?? News Crew Almost Came to Preschool On Friday morning our preschool was going to be on the news! There was a media announcement about Child and Development Checks the NSW government are introducing in 2024. These checks would be done within preschools aiming to to identify any concerns and offer support to children before they begin primary school. Our preschool had been selected as the venue to host this announcement. Anyway, we had known about this exciting event since the beginning of the week. Everybody was extra busy on Thursday afternoon, cleaning, tidying up and generally making sure that the preschool was ready. We had chased up all of the parents to sign not one but two consent forms. One from the preschool and one from the government. So it was kind of a big deal! We were all looking forward to hosting a TV crew, a journalist and government officials. We were even set to arrive at work a whole hour earlier than usual for a 7 a.m. start. I had picked out a decent-looking preschool outfit because there was no way I was going to be hitching my pants up to my knees in front of any camera crew! Then our director messaged us at 6:30 a.m. to say that the whole thing was cancelled because the government minister who was set to host the media release was sick. Pfft……what a letdown! Talk about highs and lows.