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I always walk home from work, and today I thought, why not walk home with me? So here’s an ordinary Friday walk home. Except it’s not ordinary because there’s nothing ordinary about Fridays. Mondays are for getting through Monday. Tuesdays are still a little too close to Monday. Wednesdays, we’re halfway there. Thursdays are Junior Fridays, although I’m not completely convinced. But Fridays? Fridays are special. And because it’s Friday, I always take the long way home. I like looking at the houses along the way, checking out who has done what with their gardens, seeing the new builds, houses for sale and the renovations. Occasionally, I pick a favourite. Friday afternoon house judging. It’s a thing. Come on, let’s go… It feels so good to step outside the preschool gates and onto the quiet, tree-lined street. It was so cloudy this morning, but this afternoon it’s warm and sunny. So warm that I’m having to carry my puffer jacket, along with my heavy bag full of all the things. Spring is definitely showing up now. There’s new colour and growth everywhere I look. Love that! The longer route takes me past the fruit shop, and although I don’t actually need anything today, I still like having a look around. They have a nice selection of things, including smallgoods. I’m so hungry that I’m visualising eating my way through the whole shop. Oh yes, we’ve run out of cashews. I grab a packet. I walk out of the fruit shop and spot yet another Lime bike. A while ago they just appeared overnight, and now they are everywhere. I guess people ride them? This house is for sale, and I immediately wonder what ridiculous price it will go for. The market has dropped, so maybe it won’t be quite as ridiculous as it would have been a few months ago. Now I’m making a mental note to see when this one goes to auction so I can go and have a sticky beak. Is there a nosy Parker in all of us? And then I turn onto one of my favourite streets. I don’t know what it is about this street, but it has good juju. Even when it’s not as sunny as it is today, this street always feels welcoming. Sometimes I see people walking their dogs or young families out for a walk. There’s a guy who usually exercises to music on his front lawn. If the nice Macedonian lady is out the front gardening, we have a chat. It’s a great street! And today it was even more special because you wouldn’t believe what happened. I walked past a house where a young guy was chatting to the homeowner at her front door. He turned around, smiled at me and said, “Do you remember me?” I knew I knew him from when he was a little preschooler, but my brain was frantically flipping through the old mental Rolodex, trying to work out who he was. “It’s Isaak!” He said And instantly, I remembered him. I’m not usually a hugger if I don’t feel comfortable with someone or know them well. But this was Isaak. He was that little kid I remembered, only now he was a young man standing in front of me. I had to give him a hug. And he hugged me back, just like he was still that little boy. He told me he’s 22 now and is a plumber. He was doing a job at the house on my favourite street and introduced me to his coworker. “Look, this is Ruth, my preschool teacher, and she looks exactly the same.” Ha! I loved him even more! We chatted for a bit, then said goodbye, and I walked the rest of the way home feeling happy and nostalgic at the same time. Gosh, doesn’t time just go by so fast? I get home and check out my little plants I planted last weekend. I’m hoping they grow colourful flowers like they did last spring. They’re so tiny at the moment. These girls always greet me at the door, but I’m a little suspicious they know it’s dinner time and aren’t actually greeting me because they missed me. I go feed them. I start tossing up whether I should blog first or do a quick Friday clean and get it out of the way. Quick clean wins, and I grab my cleaning caddy. I put on some SBS Chill because Steve isn’t home. He hates chill music. He left for work just before I got home. He doesn’t love Fridays like I do. Friday is the start of his working week. Main bathroom done. Ensuite done. Quick vacuum, and then I water the plants. The Monstera is doing well, the small plant didn’t make it, and the other plant is hanging on. I can see some new growth there! I turn on the lamps as it’s starting to get dark. Sam gets home from his casual job at the kitchenware shop with more freebies. This time he brings home some earthy coloured plates and bowls. All of a sudden, my all-white set looks very boring. “Mum, are you thinking of changing everything?” “No.” (Maybe yes.) He also brings home lots of dinner knives. Knife anyone? I give everything a wash and leave it to air-dry. Then I make myself a chai latte before heading to the office, which was once upon a time a garage, to start blogging. My positive peas are sitting at my desk believing in me. They’re telling me, “GO YOU”, so I take the hint and get blogging. Now I’m typing away, trying to get finished so I can join the Friday Favourites link-up. Every week I say I’ll write a bit every day so I’m not rushing on Fridays, but here I am, about to finish writing and press publish in real time. I didn’t have to worry about cooking dinner tonight as I have chilli con carne, rice

Hey there, friends! I hope you all had an amazing week! I’ve been all over the place with blogging lately. I haven’t really been posting regularly or following any kind of schedule or pattern. But I’m glad to be back today to link up with Erika and Andrea for Friday Favourites. I joined the Share Our Lives link-up on Monday and chatted all about my favourite current music, so I didn’t do my weekend recap. I thought I’d do that today and share what we got up to last Saturday. Last Saturday was the 150th anniversary of Hurstville Public School, and to celebrate, they had a big fair. My husband went to Hurstville Public School, so we were excited to go along with our son and his girlfriend and see the place where so many of his childhood adventures took place. Over the years, we’ve heard plenty of stories about his school days, and some of them have become family favourites that we still tease him about. I’ll just say that he was more mischievous back then than he is now. Our sons find this particularly hilarious because anyone who knows him today would probably describe him as a bit of a goody-two-shoes! But we know better. Haha! First stop was the school hall, where they had all the school memorabilia on display. When we spotted the naughty book with all the students’ names who had been given detention, you should have seen Steve’s face! Luckily for him, the last entry was 1966 — way before his time. I’m guessing they must have had another system by the time he was at school. There were quite a few food trucks, and the smells made us hungry, so we stopped for an early lunch. Then wandered around all the stalls. We checked out the grounds and saw one of the original buildings. I think there are quite a few original buildings, along with some newer additions, but they were all blocked off. Seeing this building made me wonder what it must have been like 150 years ago. There must have been so much open land around back then, and it’s so different now with all the high-rise apartments in the area. We live about a seven-minute walk from the school, and I’d never actually been inside the grounds, so I was surprised by how big it was. Spotted a few vintage cars they had on display. Saw the ponies. We sat down for a while to watch the current students perform dances and play in the bands. Before we knew it, we’d been there for hours and decided it was time to head home. On the way out, Steve bumped into a friend he didn’t even know had been in the same Year 6 class as him at Hurstville Public School. Oh my goodness, we were in stitches hearing all his stories! I won’t go into detail, but they involved the principal, the cane, his mum at the principal’s office, and then having to face his dad when he got home. And it was all over footy cards! I mean, it sure must have been traumatic for him at the time. But on this day, hearing him tell us the story, we were all laughing so hard. Poor guy! Sounds like school was way stricter back then. Do you think so too? Anyway, it was a fun way to spend last Saturday. Reminiscing and laughing about school days. Time goes way too fast, doesn’t it? Thanks so much for stopping by. Happy Friday 😊

Happy Friday friends! I feel like I blinked and we’re at the end of another week. How does that happen? When I was thinking about what I wanted to share today, I realised that, as usual, it’s the little things that end up being my favourites. The simple moments that give my ordinary week a little zing. So here are my Friday favourites… A Coffee Date It had been ages since we had walked down to a café that specialises in Portuguese tarts. And oh my goodness… why did we wait so long? These little tarts are so good! I only had one, but  I could have easily eaten three. No problemo! A Meal I Loved This Week Is there anything better than coming home to someone else cooking dinner for you? I think not. I’ve shared before that I kind of like to do everything myself. Some might call it being a control freak… I prefer to think of it as being very helpful 😜 The funny thing is, while I absolutely love being cooked for, I can sometimes find it hard to hand over the reins in the kitchen (or anywhere else… yikes!). I’m not quite sure why… maybe it’s a little bit of only-child syndrome. But this week I had a staff meeting and arrived home later than usual, so my husband took care of dinner. Veal Chasseur with vegetables was on the menu that night, and it was delicious. Something I’m Wearing on Repeat Thank you to the fashion gurus for finally letting us breathe again and giving skinny jeans a rest! I’ve been loving wide-leg pants for a while now, and my current favourites are my JW Anderson Uniqlo jeans. They’re so comfortable and easy to wear, and every time I put them on I have a major fashion flashback… yep, I’ve done this fashion cycle before. Back when I was at uni in the early 90s, my uniform was basically straight-leg jeans with plenty of room, a simple top, and black loafers or sneakers. I’m that old that I’m now wearing the same trends I wore the first time around. Oh, and see that leather belt? I’ve had that belt for ages! It’s a Country Road one that I bought in 1989 with a lot of my hard-earned part-time job money. At the time it felt like a big purchase, but I remember thinking it was worth it because I really, really loved it. And you know what? They’re right when they say “buy once, buy well.” Thirty-seven years later and I’m still wearing it. I’d say younger me made a pretty good investment. Something I’m Enjoying Watching The Other Bennet Sister! It’s so good! And it stars Ruth Jones (Nessa from Gavin & Stacey), which made me even more excited to watch it. Do you know what I always say? “I can’t stand period dramas.” And yet here I am… hooked again. Seriously, what is wrong with me? Because clearly I’m lying to myself. I’ve loved The Gilded Age, Downton Abbey, A Woman of Substance, All Creatures Great and Small, and The Durrells, so I think it’s time I admit the truth… I’m Ruth, and I love a period drama. A Little Unexpected Gift Walking home the other day, I found a little bunch of wattle just lying there on the footpath. It was like a little gift, and I have no idea where it came from or who had picked it, but there it was, just waiting for me to find it. Sometimes it’s the smallest things that make you happy, isn’t it? I took it home and put it in a little crystal jug. Anyway, that’s it from me this week. I hope you have a lovely weekend, and I’ll see you back here soon. Linking up with Andrea and Erika

Hi friends, and welcome to another Friday catch-up! It’s Friday evening over here, which is always such a fantastic feeling. I can’t help myself and seem to look forward to Friday evening all week long. Then I tell myself I really shouldn’t wish my life away by counting down to Friday, my next term break, summer, or even Christmas. But then I think, is there really anything wrong with looking forward to things? They don’t have to be big things either. Maybe it doesn’t mean I’m wishing my days away. Sometimes it’s just nice to know there’s something coming up that I’m excited about. Anyway, that’s enough from my inner wannabe philosopher. Let’s have a look at what’s been happening around here this week. Back To Routine Back to work means back to the old routine of squeezing in the chores around work. I actually don’t mind this because I have a hard time sitting still, and I’m pretty sure that even if I had all the time in the world, I’d probably still find projects to do. It’s funny because sometimes friends will say, “Oh gosh, I don’t know how you work full-time and stay on top of the housework.” I guess I’m just used to it. If I stopped and thought about it for too long, maybe I’d go on strike, haha. But no, on top of having plenty of energy (maybe too much energy… or maybe it’s the thyroid medication), my family are pretty good at pitching in without being asked. They aren’t messy and don’t have a lot of stuff. I think my husband could have easily been a monk! Our house is also small, and we try to keep things minimal. I’ll tell you what part of my routine has slowly slipped away this year. My laundry routine! I used to set the timer on my washing machine before I went to bed so it would start the wash cycle at around 5 am the next morning. Then it would be ready to hang on the line when I got up. But the drum in my old washing machine started to go kaput, and when it got to the spin cycle, it made such a terrible noise. It sounded like a bad jumbo jet engine! It definitely would have woken us up, and the neighbours too, especially the ones I told you about on Monday with the huge house right outside my courtyard. So I started only washing in the early afternoons and during the day on weekends. It just meant I was out of whack, and I no longer had the wash, hang, fold routine that had worked so well for so long. Instead, I was doing most of it on the weekends. And you know how much I love doing housework on the weekends… zero per cent! Anyway, I did get a new machine not long after the other one died. But somehow I still never got back on track until this week. And now I’m back with my laundry routine that works so well, and it looks like this weekend it will actually be under control. Hoo….ray! And if I hadn’t shared enough about laundry already, this week I bought some new laundry pods because they were half price. I nearly didn’t get them because I was still buying the ones with the beautiful lingering scent that I took with me on our trip to Japan in April. Every time I washed our clothes, I was transported back to the Airbnbs we stayed in. I have a real thing about memories and scent. There’s something about a particular smell that can instantly take me back to a place or a moment in time. Does that happen to you? Anyway, it’s been three months since our trip, and nostalgic me was finally ready to let go and try a new scent. And you know what? I love this one. Change is good. A New Kitchen Favourite This week, my younger son, who has a part-time job at a kitchenware shop, surprised me with a cast iron enamel pot. He said he remembered me saying how much I wanted one. What a good egg. So, I made a pot roast. We have been eating this roast on repeat because it’s just the perfect winter meal. Previously, it was a bit fiddly having to sear the meat, then transfer everything into a baking dish and continue cooking it in the oven. But now, with my new cast iron enamel pot, I can do everything in one pot and pop it straight into the oven. Voila! No extra dishes and no transferring everything around. It made the whole process so much easier. It even cooked faster, too. A Water Polo Afternoon and Evening Wednesday, I took the afternoon off work as I had some time owing. I went with my husband to watch the Women’s Water Polo World Cup quarter-finals at the Sydney Olympic Park Aquatic Centre. My husband looooves water polo and actually used to play back in the day. His whole family are very much into the sport, and his nephew was even part of the Australian Olympic team at the Paris Olympics. He picked me up at midday while we were outside in the playground. The kids who spotted me leaving wanted to know where I was going and why I was going. They were all like, “Oh my goodness, a teacher has walked out of the gates!” It made me laugh because, in their little world, seeing an educator leave in the middle of the day is a huge deal. They think we live at preschool! Really, they do! First, we had lunch at Allawah pub Then we jumped on the train to Sydney Olympic Park. Around an hour later, we arrived at the aquatic centre. At the entrance to the pool was a timeline of some of the great moments from the Sydney Olympics 26 years ago. It was such