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Hi friends! I’m excited to pop in and share one big favourite for the week, and that is–I finished my placement at this cute long daycare centre!! Wooohooo!! Although I had a wonderful experience and met some passionate, energetic and friendly educators. As well as some gorgeous children who stole my heart. I feel totally wiped out! There’s a good reason why we call daycare centres ‘long daycare centres’ over here: the days are definitely LONG! I’m used to preschool, where we run sessions, and the kids can only attend two or three days a week. The days are much shorter, too, as they can arrive from 8:20 and need to be out of the centre by 3:40. But at long daycare centres, the hours are from 7:30 to 6:00. Some kids are there for full days, five days a week. When I said goodbye today, I felt sad but also relieved and happy that I’ve finished this part of my course. So many mixed emotions. Walking home to start the weekend has never felt better than it did this afternoon! I know all my preschool colleagues are probably groaning because it’s the last weekend before preschool opens after the term break. But I’m excited and can’t wait to get back to my old routine and see all the familiar faces. I’m keeping it short today. I’m excited to be hosting Cousin Connect tomorrow night. So there are a few things I need to get on top of before I can veg out in front of the TV. As Julia Roberts says in Pretty Woman, I want to “be still like vegetables. Lay like broccoli.” Yep, that sounds good to me! Thank you so much for stopping by and I hope you have a wonderful weekend! Linking up with Andrea and Erika 

Hi friends, and happy Friday! I’m excited to be back today to share some unexpected favourites. Honestly, I had no high hopes for this week—working over our preschool break and doing my work placement for my studies didn’t exactly scream ‘fun!’ But this week has surprised me in the best way, and I’m so happy to share some favourites from what I thought would be a not-so-favourite week! After working at the same preschool for 27 years, I felt nervous about going to a new centre. New faces, new routines, new environment—yikes! Luckily, I didn’t have to travel far, as it’s only a ten-minute walk from my house. Even closer than my current workplace—what a bonus! When I arrived, the director was so warm and welcoming. She showed me around the centre, explained the routine, and introduced me to the staff. There was so much information to take in that my slow-processing brain couldn’t quite keep up! This week was all about working with 0-2-year-olds, and after spending so many years with 3-5-year-olds. I had forgotten how much I loved working with babies! Oh, my goodness, they are so cute! Sticky, snotty and sometimes a bit smelly but so incredibly adorable! The educators in the nursery were great, too. Once we got past the initial awkwardness of me being a stranger in their room, we had fun conversations and started to click. And by the end of today, we were laughing about a bunch of random things that happened during the day. One of the things that really struck me is how incredibly young the educators are! In fact, all of them are young enough to be my kids! And I couldn’t help feeling like a bit of a dinosaur! Haha! For instance, today, one of the oldest educators in the centre—the 28-year-old—was reminiscing about her childhood and saying how old she felt. The 21-year-old educator asked her if she had a black-and-white TV back then. I burst out laughing and said, ‘Uhm, no, that would be me!’ Then, when I told them I existed before the internet, you should have seen their eyes nearly pop out of their heads! They were like, ‘What did you do back then?’ I replied, ‘Oh, I just watched the grass grow! we all burst out laughing, but I could tell they thought I was so old that I probably had one foot in the grave! It was so funny! I loved my first week, and the sweet classroom leader said she was sad that next week, I would be moving to the other room to work with the 2 to 3-year-olds. I’m sad, too, as I’ve had such a great time getting to know the babies and the educators. I even felt extra sad thinking about next Friday when I’ll be saying goodbye to the whole centre for good. I never expected to feel this way—not in a million years! After such a surprisingly fantastic week, here’s a list of unexpected favourites Working with babies meant spending most of the day sitting on the floor. I’m so excited that I can still get up off the floor—phew! The daycare centre is beautifully decorated, and now I’m feeling inspired about how I can share some of these ideas with my colleagues I got to cuddle babies! I learned some new songs, and now I have a whole playlist looping around in my head. It was good, but not so helpful when I was trying to fall asleep! I loved seeing the energy and passion of the young educators—it was contagious in the best way! It’s inspired me to bring back my own zing, which has been a bit zapped after all these years working with kids. I got to see how a privately owned long daycare centre operates. Having only ever worked in a non-profit centre, I’ve heard some not-so-great stories about facilities that focus on profit. However, I have nothing but high praise for the quality of care from this centre. The educators truly love the children they care for, and I loved seeing them not only meet their physical needs but also genuinely shower the kids with so much affection! It was so good to get out of my comfort zone in such a big way. I’ve always appreciated my shorter working hours, three paid term breaks a year, as well as annual leave. But this week really reminded me how lucky I am, especially knowing that educators in long daycare centres don’t have these benefits. I finally took my husband up on his offer to cook—I can be such a goose, always wanting to do everything myself! When I got home Wednesday afternoon, Steve had a lovely glass of wine as well as cheese and crackers waiting for me. He also made roast pork with vegetables and gravy for dinner. To top it off, he whipped up some sweet treats! What a champ! Vanilla slice Butter cookies An extra big one just for me! I think he expected me to be feeling down about having to work over the break, and he knows that food always makes me happy! I’ve had an amazing week, but I’m feeling pretty tired, which makes me even more excited that it’s the October long weekend—yay! Working with babies and getting to know the young educators has been fantastic. I can’t believe I’m saying this, but I’m actually looking forward to next week in the 2 to 3-year-olds’ room—ha! Who would have guessed? Not me, that’s for sure! Thank you so much for being here, and I hope you have a wonderful weekend! Linking up with Andrea and Erika

Oh my goodness, I sure am glad it’s Friday! Life happened, and I ran out of time earlier this week, so I missed blogging for What’s Up Wednesday. But I’m happy to be back today, linking up with Andrea and Erika for another round of favourites on this cold and wintry Friday—brrrrrr! First up, my biggest favourite for this week is that my cousin is on the road to recovery. She had major surgery on Monday, and we are all relieved it’s behind her now. Phew! I have been worried about her ever since she started struggling with her health. So it’s such a huge relief to know she’s moving forward. For a minute there, I thought we might have to postpone our January trip since we’re going with her and her family. This would have been completely fine as her health comes first. But she wouldn’t entertain the thought—not even for a second! Haha, she’s super excited (we’re all excited!!) so when she found out about the surgery. She made sure the doctor knew that our January trip was a top priority! Luckily, everything has turned out fine and we have just the right amount of time for her to be well enough to go. We visited her in the hospital on Wednesday night, and she got the all-clear to go home on Thursday. I grabbed some inspiration from a post I did back in June about meals to make for others and made some Greek chicken and rice to take over for her first night home. It was a small way to make things easier for her and her family. I got these aluminium trays with lids to transport the food. They’re great because they save the hassle of returning containers. Gotta keep it simple! Last weekend, the weather was amazing and a big favourite was walking along a local reserve and seeing pretty views like this. But for the last few days, the weather has been like this. I guess that’s spring for you! No matter—warmer days are sure to come back soon (I hope!). When it was warmer, a few days ago. I thought, great! We’ve hit smoothie weather, and I made a banana and strawberry smoothie with an extra dollop of honey because I love sweet smoothies! But it’s definitely hot chocolate weather tonight and sadly I’ve run out of Swiss Miss hot chocolate as well as marshmallows. Yikes!! I guess I’ll just have to tuck into some Cadbury hazelnut chocolate instead. As well as some chippies! It is Friday night, after all, and one of my favourite things to do is watch something on TV while munching on snacks. This time, I have normal-sized packets of chocolate and chips instead of my usual small single-serve snacks, so I’ll need to practice some self-control… hmmmm. Another favourite is that today was the last day of term three! I won’t get a term break this time, though. But that’s okay because I’ll get my practical placement out of the way. I’m taking advantage of our preschool break to fulfil my course requirement of working with babies and toddlers at a local daycare centre. It stings a little (okay, a lot!) to miss out on two weeks off from work. But I’m trying to stay upbeat and motivated (she says through clenched teeth). No, really, I am! Hehe. I’m keeping it short today because I’m wiped out and feeling a bit congested—surely I can’t be getting sick again! Nope, I refuse to get sick again. I’m going to rest and take it easy over the weekend because I’ve got babies to cuddle next week! Thanks so much for being here, and I hope you have a wonderful weekend!

Hi friends, and happy Friday! I’m so glad the weekend is here because, to be honest, this week has felt a bit off. Maybe I’m still not fully bouncing back after COVID, or maybe work has just been, ahem… extra challenging. Either way, I’m ready to shake it off and move forward into the weekend. Here are a few things that were good about this week. My dishes were sparkling, but my dishwasher needed a clean. So, I used this dishwasher cleaner to sparkle it up and get rid of any funky smells. Because a clean dishwasher is a happy dishwasher! Ribs courtesy of Steve’s work and a salad I threw together meant Tuesday night’s dinner was a breeze! A while ago, I shared that my friend gave me a cutting from her beautiful plant when I visited her in Avoca. Miraculously, I managed to grow it into a luscious plant without killing it! Look at how beautiful it was. Fast forward to a few months later, and at the beginning of winter, we were hit with days of relentless rain. Because of that, I hadn’t gone out to the courtyard to hang any washing—thank you, clothes dryer! Finally, after about a week or so, I went outside, only to see that my pot plant was filled with water that hadn’t drained. And horror of horrors, my poor plant was dying! I did everything but give it CPR to save it, but it was too late; the roots had rotted. But the good news is that before this tragedy, I had taken another cutting to plant and give to a friend. Here it is today—see the little roots sprouting! I’m going to replant it even though I’m a bit scared it might not grow. But this weekend, I’ve decided to be brave and plant it. It’s spring, after all, so the weather is on my side, right? Gulp! Hopefully, I can grow it again and finally give my friend a plant! Cross your fingers for me, please, and I’ll keep you posted! I was sitting on a beanbag, and we were watching an anime called Vinland Saga. I turned around and saw Sam with the two cats, looking cozy. The cats aren’t besties, but they are friendlier towards each other these days. They also share a common favourite-they both love Sam! We got some sweet treats from one of our preschoolers who turned 4, and let me tell you, sweets are always a welcome favourite! Steve now has Wednesdays and Thursdays off from work. So when I got home on Wednesday, I did something I never do: I sat down with him and had some snacks before dinner. I don’t usually sit down when I get home because it’s so hard to get back up again to tackle “all the things.” But I enjoyed the break, and it felt good to pause—and yes, I did struggle to get moving again. But that’s okay; it’s good to be flexible and live in the moment! My inspiration to live in the moment came from an Instagram reel I saw last week. Haha, I scrolled through so much social media while I lay sick in bed and I even saved a collection of reels for future reference. It’s a good one, and it really hit home that these are indeed the good ol’ days! I’m excited to sleep in tomorrow and enjoy a slow morning. We have plans to go to Ramsgate farmers market in the morning. Then, in the evening, I’m going to see my cousin perform at the Spring Latin Dance Fest. It should be a fun Saturday followed by a quiet Sunday. Thank you so much for being here, and I hope you have a wonderful weekend! Linking up with Andrea and Erika