Hello Monday

Hi friends I hope that you are all well and have had a nice weekend. I’m happy to be back here today for the usual ‘Hello Monday’ link-up with Holly and Sarah. Also sharing today’s post with ‘Monday Morning Blog Club’ on Sticky Mud And Belly Laughs. Like I always say…the weekend sure went by super fast!!! Friday Night My Aunty messaged me on Friday afternoon and asked me over to her house for dinner. Impromptu dinner invitations are always so fun!! Especially when I was going to be home alone Friday night. Steve was at work and Sam went to his first real concert to see Tyler The Creator. I had never heard of Tyler The Creator before so I googled him and apparently he is a famous American rapper and Sam is a big fan. I don’t mind spending Friday evenings alone anymore. It felt a bit strange at first but now if I know that I will be at home alone then I will make sure to plan relaxing things to do. I think that I might do a post soon about fun things you can do when you are home alone on a Friday night! Anyway, I had a wonderful time at my Aunty’s and she cooked THE most delicious dinner!! I really wished that I had two stomachs so I could have kept eating!! It was amazing!! Then we spent the rest of the evening chatting. My lovely cousins were there so it was really nice to catch up with them too. Saturday I had a nice sleep-in on Saturday and a lazy morning. Later in the afternoon I still had a few household chores that I needed to do. I have this fantasy that if I do my housework and washing all during the week then I will have weekends free. Ummmm…….nope. But I’m sure that if I didn’t have a Monday to Friday cleaning schedule then my weekends would be a total nightmare. After dinner, I sat in front of the TV with some yummy chocolate-coated peanuts and my weekend ginger beer. I watched a couple of episodes of ‘Stranger Things’. I’m up to season 3 and I am really loving it! Oh yes, I also sold my Mum’s orthopedic chair on Facebook Marketplace on Saturday. I bought her the chair after she had a horrible fall way back in February. She only sat in it for about 2-3 days before she went back into hospital and then very sadly passed away. I always want my blog to be a happy place but I also want it to be authentic and honest. So I have to tell you that selling her chair was very hard. Lots of tears hard. Grief is such a weird journey. Some days I find that one minute I’m ok and then the next I’m really not. I miss my Mumma. Sunday On a brighter note, we had a lovely Sunday! My friend celebrated her birthday at St George Motor Boat Club with a big party and we had a fun time! Here I am with Steve, the poor guy only stayed for a short while, and then he had to go to work. That’s the hard part about working in hospitality. We had such a delicious lunch! There were platters of antipasto with pita bread to start with. Then for entrees, we had chicken skewers with tzatziki or tortellini with pesto. The mains were juicy steaks and creamy mash with a red wine jus and corn on the cob. Or tender juicy chicken with potatoes and broccolini. I had to make sure that I ate my corn in a delicate lady-like manner. No fingers!! I was also very conscious of being extremely careful when I was cutting the kernels off the cob with my knife. I didn’t want the whole corn to slip and go flying off my plate. Yes, this has happened to me before in public and it was a very traumatic experience! 😂 Steve and I shared all our dishes. For dessert, I had the pannacotta and Steve had gone to work by then so he missed out on his sticky date pudding. Sadly I was way too full to eat his dessert too. My weekend was a mixture of finishing off some housework and doing a bit of reminiscing. It was also sprinkled with some fun moments too. So I have to say that overall it was a very nice weekend indeed! Anyway, I really hope that you are all well and that you have a great week. Thanks so much for stopping by to have a read. Happy Monday dear friends!

Hi, friends, and happy Monday to you! I was super happy to see the end of last week. It wasn’t a great one for a bunch of reasons. But I think that the first week back at work after the holidays is always the hardest so by Friday I was done and so excited for the weekend! I really hope you all had a relaxing weekend and are ready for the new week ahead. As usual, I am happy to be linking up with Holly and Sarah for today’s Hello Monday post. And excited to share with you a few things that I got up to this weekend. Still Doing Lots Of Walking A little while ago I shared with you that Steve crashed his car into a small wall trying to avoid two cats sitting in the middle of the road. Well, on Friday our insurance company confirmed that Steve’s car is a write-off so we will have to get a new car. We’re both very excited about getting a lovely new car as we’ve had the old one for a long time. Now we just have to find the time to go looking for one. For now, Steve is squeezing into my tiny Suzuki Alto and driving it to get to work. Being over 6ft tall can have its disadvantages haha!! I’m really lucky that I’m within walking distance to my work so that’s a huge help and I have honestly been really loving the walk! Luckily there’s a fruit shop along the way and a few petrol stations where I was still able to pick up some Friday night snacks! It’s been raining this whole week and the other day I heard that it will be like this until November! WHAT!! I took this pic on Friday on my walk home. See the grey sky? We are usually so spoiled with brilliant blue skies in Sydney even during the winter. Saturday I had the best Saturday and I think that I appreciated it even more after having had such a busy week. Steve and I headed to our local Westfields together. He went off to get a remedial massage and I went to a nail salon called Nails Boulevard to treat myself to a pedicure. I think that I got the better part of the deal because I’ve had a remedial massage before and they hurt!! They’re very effective but I don’t find them particularly relaxing. A Yummy Brunch Steve and I met back at a little cafe after his massage and my very relaxing pedicure. We had a really delicious brunch and enjoyed a much-needed catch-up. His evening shifts and my day shifts mean that we don’t get to spend a lot of time together. So it was really lovely to enjoy some time eating and chatting. We’ve been married 32 years and he still makes me laugh a lot with all his funny stories about his workplace. I had a lovely frothy cappuccino and THE best eggs Benedict I have ever had! The eggs were poached to perfection, they came with lots of delicious smoked salmon and the Hollandaise sauce was divine! Steve had a Chai latte and the big breakfast. He said his was really good too. Saturday Afternoon I painted my nails in the afternoon. I didn’t get a manicure at the nail salon because working in preschool means that a manicure just doesn’t last very long. I’m constantly washing my hands and just too involved in cleaning up after fun messy play. So I’ll wait until the next holidays and get a manicure done then. Meal Planning I also finally did some meal planning. Hooray!! I used my meal planner from Kikki. K and decorated it with some cute stickers. I’m thinking that if I make it pretty then I might do a better job at sticking to it. Here’s hoping!! Sunday I was so excited to wake up to sunshine and a glorious blue sky on Sunday morning. So I made a quick trip to Bunnings to pick up some plants. I’m just hanging out for spring and I had a real urge to add more greenery around the house. I bought a couple of plants with some pretty colour for the courtyard. I also bought a pot with this cute hanging green plant that I have put on top of the cabinet in the dining room. Can you tell how clueless I am when it comes to what these plants are actually called !! In the evening I made some tortellini for dinner with salad and garlic bread. Then after dinner, I plonked myself in front of the TV to continue watching “Cold Feet”. I’m up to the latest seasons now and I just love this show so much I’ll be so sad when it ends. If you haven’t watched it you totally should it’s so good!! Well, I guess that wraps up my really relaxing weekend after my first week back at work. What did you guys get up to, hope it was a great one! Only nine more weeks until Spring break for us. But who’s counting. 😉 Happy Monday friends      

Hi friends! So good to welcome back Monday for this week. Especially as it’s my first Monday of the winter holidays!!! I’ve got a few things to share with you on this dreary, rainy Monday. First of all Happy 4th Of July to all my lovely friends and family in the USA. Hope you are having a wonderful long weekend. Getting My Steps Up! Indeed I have been doing a lot of walking last week and I have even closed my rings a couple of times or gotten really close! Go me!! But first I have to admit that the reason why I have been doing more walking is that we only have one car at the moment. Poor Steve was coming home from work in the early hours of the morning last weekend. There were two cats in the middle of the road and he swerved to avoid running them over. But then he hit a low brick wall. He was fine, the cats were fine but the car wasn’t and neither was the wall. So now we are waiting for our insurance company to deal with everything and Steve is using my car. Luckily I am within walking distance of my preschool. Friday Family Dinner We got together for our usual first Friday of the month family dinner and although not everyone could make it. We still had a blast and ate some yummy food too! Cold Feet I have been binge-watching this very funny British show over the weekend and I am loving it!! When it first aired back in the late ’90s or early 2000’s I think that I started watching from season five. So I kind of know what happens but it’s been great to start from the first episode. I’m into season two and I started late on Friday night. Oh, the joys of school holidays. Binge-watching guilt-free !!!! Tea!! I have been having endless cups of tea to keep warm. I usually have my hot drinks from a mug. But on Saturday I was so sick of all the rain and cold weather, so I cheered myself up by having my tea in this fancy tea cup and saucer. Bunnings I could use the car in the morning before Steve needed it in the afternoon to get to work. So I made a quick trip to Bunnings to get some paint and a few other things. I really want to get stuck into painting my bedroom. It’s the prep work that doesn’t excite me though! I also bought a new toilet seat that I am going to try and install soon because the old one is broken. This toilet seat has got weird bolts etc that I know I am going to have to wrangle with. Dinner With Friends Even though it’s blowing a gale and raining so heavily. I am still going out tonight for our monthly catch-up with friends at our local club. We always have a fun time eating, chatting, and drinking some really nice bubbly. But first I am going to try and get that new toilet seat on!! So I’m going to sign off quickly today. I hope you all have a wonderful week! Happy Monday!

Hi friends, I hope you are all well and were able to enjoy a great weekend. They always seem to go by so fast, don’t they? I am happy to report that I am feeling well again. The antibiotics have done their work and my sinus infection is gone. My head feels clear and I no longer need a tissue box stuck to me. Yay!! I felt so much better on Friday and I was super relieved that I didn’t have to miss out on a few fun events that we had planned for the weekend. A Trophy! Ha! not a trophy for me but a trophy for my husband. From October to March, he swims with an amateur swim club. This year he won a trophy for the 50m freestyle championship and the presentation night was on Friday night. Because Steve had to work he wasn’t able to go so I went to collect it on his behalf. He was relieved that by Friday evening I was well enough to go to the presentation night. He was just itching to get his trophy home and place it in his special trophy cabinet. Yep, he has a trophy cabinet. I have never won a trophy in my life and if you know me you’ll know that I am the least sporty or competitive person ever. Steve is the complete opposite, hence the trophy cabinet! Anyway, it was fun collecting it for him.  Two Birthday Parties on Saturday! My Uncle’s 80th Saturday I was so happy to go to my uncle’s 80th birthday lunch. Although we are not blood-related, my uncle’s mum and my grandmother were besties all the way back in the 1930s.  The bonds of friendship have lasted down three generations and now we regard each other as family. He and his lovely wife who I refer to as my aunt have children around my age and we all call each other cousins. My uncle is such a sweet, kind, and gentle man. So it was really lovely to be with the family and celebrate. My aunt is an amazing cook and so we had a really delicious lunch! We finished off with a really yummy birthday cake filled with caramel and fruit. My Aunts Birthday After my uncle’s party, I raced home and quickly changed for the next party which started in the evening. This party was to celebrate another aunt from another side of the family. Again more fun, more food, and more cake! I really should have fasted for three days before so that I could have eaten more!! This aunty loves to dance and so that’s what we did for most of the night. We danced until my feet were sore and it was such a fun night of salsa and conga lines!! I wish that I had remembered to take more photos. We stayed until almost everyone except the immediate family had left. We pitched in and did a bit of cleaning up and then didn’t get home until 1.30 am. Sleepy Sunday After such a festive Saturday we all just slept in. I got up a bit earlier than everyone else and did a few chores. With such a busy couple of days, I hadn’t done much laundry. So I got onto that because I’m sure you all know that the laundry can quickly snowball into a huge mountain if you miss a couple of days! Here was one of my big piles that needed folding. We skipped breakfast like we sometimes do on a Sunday and I didn’t make it to church. But we enjoyed lunch together and then Steve went to work. Sam did some school work and I pottered around the house doing a few things. In the evening I made a beef casserole for Monday night’s dinner. After a big Sunday lunch, we didn’t feel very hungry for dinner so I just made ham, cheese, and tomato toasties. Yum, a hot toastie is always so good on a cold night! I am so happy that I made the beef casserole and won’t have to cook on Monday night. I feel like a hero when I am ahead with a meal!! My meal planning has completely gone out the window! I started off strong this year then life went haywire and now I’m off track. It’s my goal to get back to planning my weekly meals because it does make life so much easier! ********* That’s All Folks Well, that wraps up my weekend. Saturday sure was a fun one!! We have two more weeks left of preschool before the winter holidays. But who’s counting? 😉. I hope you all had a great weekend and are ready for a brand new week. Thanks for stopping by to have a read, I always appreciate you taking the time to do so! Happy Monday friends! Linking up with Sarah and Holly

Hi friends hope you all had an amazing weekend and are refreshed and ready for a new week ahead.  As usual, I am linking up with Holly and Sarah for today’s Happy Monday post. It was a great weekend and I was able to enjoy some really fun times. But it wasn’t super busy so it was a great opportunity to do some things just for myself. I think it was a perfect balance for me this weekend. Friday Night I made some fun Friday night plans for myself and I think that I will do that from now on. Over the last couple of months, I have kind of felt a bit lost on Friday nights. I’m happy that the working week is over but then I start to feel melancholy because I usually find myself home alone. Sam is often out with his lovely girlfriend, Steve is at work and I miss my Mum. On Friday nights we would often watch something on television together because I was less busy. Anyway, this Friday my plan included a shower by candlelight! I know, I know!! I should have had a spa bath but I just can’t quite bring myself to sit still for that long yet so a shower it was and it felt great. Then I had dinner by tealight in front of the TV. It was a cold night and I really enjoyed my pork knuckle roast, mashed potato, veggies, and gravy. With a fancy can of coke of course! While I ate I watched “The Devil Wears Prada”. Such a fun movie that I have seen before but not for a while. I love Meryl Streep in every movie and this one is no exception! After dinner, it was time for a steamy cup of hot chocolate with a pink marshmallow and a cream biscuit. Oh so delicious! I finished off the evening with a face mask in bed while I did a guided meditation on Youtube. Ha! I felt like I had a date with myself on Friday night! Saturday Saturday morning I woke up and there was my little cat looking at me! She was hungry for her breakfast. At midday, I headed out to my lovely friend’s son’s birthday party. He turned four and he had his party at a play centre near my home where my own kids celebrated some of their birthdays when they were little. It was all about Spongebob and my super clever and creative friend organised THE BEST party decorations I have ever seen!! She transformed that party room into something truly spectacular!! Look at these amazing party favors!! If I was four and received one of these I would have just about lost my mind with excitement!! There was even some delicious food for the grown-ups and I seriously could NOT stop eating!! I love these two so much! Here I am with the gorgeous birthday boy and his sweet sister. It was such a fun party and I had the best time. Saturday afternoon I dropped in to visit my aunty and we had a chat over a cup of coffee and some wafer biscuits. Then I went home to make some chicken schnitzels. I pounded the chicken and was about to organise the egg, flour, and breadcrumbs. But when I went to the fridge there were no eggs. Not a single one. Sigh!! I quickly drove to the local petrol station and picked up some eggs. Isn’t it annoying when you are committed to making a dish and then you find yourself short of an ingredient!! Grrrrr !!!! Anyway, it was worth it in the end. The schnitzels were delicious but they were a lot on the chunky side. I need to pound much harder next time. Sunday Brrrrr I woke up on Sunday and it was really chilly. The sky was a beautiful radiant blue but it was so cold and windy. I went to church for the 10.30 am service but I didn’t get home until 1 pm. It was such a lovely morning and so I just stayed chatting for ages. I got home and had lunch with the family, then Steve and I watched an episode of “The Office”. We are up to season 8, It’s still funny but I miss Steve Carrell in it. Steve went to work and I tackled this mountain of folding before heading out for a pedicure. I have only had three pedicures in my life but now I am completely hooked. It’s such a treat!! I got home at around 6 pm and then my Woolworths shopping arrived. I packed it all away, had dinner, and watched the final two episodes of “Anatomy Of A Scandal” Are you guys watching this? It’s really good and it has such a cool twist that I did not see coming. If you haven’t watched it yet, you really should! I guess that just about sums up my fun yet relaxing weekend. Thank you so so much for stopping by to have a read. I really appreciate it! Hope you all have a fantastic week. Happy Monday Friends! Sharing on  

Hi everyone, as always I am grateful for the weekend, especially after such a busy working week. But this weekend went by super fast! My wish for time to slow down did not come true but that’s ok. I’m happy to be back for another Hello Monday post where I am linking up with Holly and Sarah. Friday Night Friday night I was done! So exhausted that I could hardly move. After work, I did manage to do some chores though because I know that If I don’t get onto them then they will just snowball into the weekend. It was so cold on Friday night so I made a delicious cup of hot chocolate. I was really craving something super sweet so I even added more sugar to it! (I know, I know) I wanted to watch a movie but because I felt so tired I made sure to watch something that I had seen before so it didn’t matter if I fell asleep or not. So I picked one of my very favourite movies “Footloose”. I have watched this movie so many times and I never get tired of it. I had such a huge crush on Kevin Bacon when I was a teenager! Anyway, I had just started to watch it and I was about ten minutes in and my son Sam came out and joined me. So I started the movie from the beginning, made some popcorn and we watched it together. By then I was wide awake and Sam enjoyed the movie too. Now we’ve made plans to watch “The Breakfast Club” soon. ’80s movies are the best!! Saturday Saturday morning I had a nice sleep in and then got up to make breakfast. We had scrambled eggs, bacon, hash browns, fried tomatoes, and toast. I like to use a non-stick pan to make the scrambled eggs otherwise it’s just a big old pain in the neck of a mess to wash up if I use another pan. I also use a spatula instead of stirring the eggs while they cook. They turn out so yummy and fluffy this way. Hmmm, enjoying a steamy cup of Tetley tea in my new favourite mug! Saturday Night Saturday night I made a quick trip to Ikea and picked up a couple of things. Just a super cheap couple of LACK tables for the new “Hang Out” room.   I also picked up these cute tea light holders. I love tea lights, especially on cold evenings! Feeling super motivated I put together the LACK tables and a simple desk for Sam’s room that I bought. Lucky I found this drill tool thingy we had at home which made the whole process of putting things together much easier and quicker. Sunday I skipped church on Sunday and I had a big sleep-in because I had gone to bed super late. Sam had a bad earache late Saturday night. Why do these things flare up at night? We did have a telehealth consult with a doctor on Saturday and she gave him a script for antibiotics. I ran out to get the script at the local pharmacy which thankfully was still open until late. I didn’t get to bed till after 2.30 am. A Delicious Lunch With My Family My Aunty and Uncle invited us over for Sunday lunch. I went by myself because Steve works weekends and Sam was sick. My cousin was there too and I had the best time. Nothing beats a great conversation with family after a yummy lunch. I love my aunty, uncle, and cousin so much. They have been so supportive over the last couple of hard months. When I got home Sam was still not feeling great and he had bleeding in the ear! So we headed straight for the after-hours GP at our local private hospital. After a two-hour wait, we saw the doctor. Lucky I took my computer and did some blog work while we waited. Sam took his computer too and did some school work. The nice doctor confirmed what Dr. Google had said….he not only had an ear infection but he also had a ruptured eardrum. Sigh!! Sunday Night We headed home after the doctors but stopped at Kmart first. Sam had to buy a tripod for his school assignment. He has chosen Drama as one of his HSC subjects and he needed a tripod to film something that apparently I have to be involved in too??? He didn’t feel well but these things need to be done because it’s his final year of school and this film he is doing needs to be submitted by Wednesday. Praying for miracles!!! After we got home I marinated and baked this chicken breast on Sunday night. My plan is to chop it up and add it to my salad for my work lunches. I am a bit tired of eating canned tuna every day!! So happy with how it turned out! I will make sure to share this recipe for the marinade soon. *********** I guess that wraps up our weekend. It wasn’t great because poor Sam was so unwell but it was still sprinkled with lots of special moments. And for that I am grateful.  I really hope you all had a fun one! Happy Monday friends!!

Happy Monday! It was my birthday the other day and I thought I might do a list of things you don’t know about me. Then I was contemplating whether or not to do a point for every birthday year. But I then thought that might be waaaaay too long. So instead I just stuck to 25 things you don’t know about me. So here goes…… I love salt and I will usually always add it to my food whenever I am eating. My mum always cringes when she sees me doing this and warns me about the possible state of my kidneys. My nose always runs whenever I eat, I googled it one day, and apparently, it’s called gustatory rhinitis. Maths terrifies me and I am afraid of numbers in general. My brain just seizes up whenever I have to work out anything to do with numbers and I don’t have enough fingers to count with. I have never won a trophy or any kind of award because I am the least sporty person in the whole universe. I did win a packet of plasticine in Year 2 for a spelling contest. I dodged three security guards and a long line of fans so that I could get to meet Ricky Martin. I love McDonald’s but only eat it rarely. My go-to order is always a big mac, large fries, and a strawberry thick shake or coke. I love watching my favourite movies over and over. My family can’t understand this but I think this is perfectly normal. The beach is my least favourite place to go because there’s so much sand, sun, and water. My cousin won tickets to a meet and greet with Keith Urban as well as front row tickets to his concert. She took me along and I had a great time. Although I am sure he is a very talented man I am not a fan and I did not know a single one of his songs. I had to wear a special pass sticker for the meet and greet. When I went to the ladies’ room a Keith Urban fan noticed it. She asked me if I had met him. When I said yes she asked me if she could touch my arm because I had been so close to Keith. Luckily I didn’t mention that I got to give him a peck on the cheek and a quick cuddle! I want to be an early riser but I just can’t, probably because I stay up way too late. Whenever I get a coffee at Starbucks or wherever I always say my name is Sam. It’s just easier. On the topic of names, the kids at preschool all think my name is either Roof or Woof and I have even been called Bruce. This cracks me up! When I was young I really disliked being the centre of attention. I only just managed to cope with my friends and family singing me happy birthday. I shook like a leaf and thought I was going to be sick when I walked down the aisle on my wedding day. I’m much better now though and would probably cartwheel down the aisle. That is if I knew how to cartwheel. I had my oldest son in a public hospital which means you get seen by any doctor on duty at the time. I had a gazillion stitches so I remembered the doctor’s face really well. A couple of years later I was at my friend’s wedding and when we were seated at the reception table. I looked up and the same doctor was sitting directly opposite me. Of course, he didn’t recognise my face because it was probably the only part of me he hadn’t seen when I was lying there on the hospital bed. I dislike chocolate cake, ugh. I love chocolate bars with nuts or other fillings but not cake! I went to an all-girls private school from kindy to year 12. So I was super shy around boys. I speak fluent Spanish but I’m stuck on 1970s Spanish slang because that’s what my parents spoke when they migrated to Australia. Whenever I talk to a visiting relative they think this is hilarious and I can hardly understand what they are saying because I am not familiar with their current slang. If I’m anxious or stressed I can’t eat, my appetite just leaves me completely. I don’t have any brothers or sisters and I wish that I did. I cry really easily Growing up my favourite book was “One Child” by Torey L. Hayden. I read it over and over and it inspired me to work with children. I love stationery. Pens, pencils, notebooks, notepads, sticky notes etc all bring me joy. I have an amazing sense of smell. This is both good and bad. I can’t eat spicy hot food. I panic and think I am going to choke and die in front of everyone. I am a pretty good whistler and I can whistle Mozart’s Serenade No.13 in G major. Happy Monday Friends, thanks so much for stopping by and I really hope you have the best week!   My cousin and I at the Keith Urban meet and greet. It was a fun time and he was very friendly. Linking up With Holly and Sarah for today’s Hello Monday post