How did we get to the last month of summer so quickly?

1. A takeaway coffee at noon on a Monday? 
   

   Yes please.

2. The miracle of earring back discs that help ‘lift’ where heavier earrings sit in your earlobes.  Game changers.  Mine are from Uberkate.
   

   via Uberkate

3. Swimming carnival day for Master SSG.  Full points for pluck and giving it a go.  Our children really are our inspiration.
4. A busy day and a busy night.  Thank goodness it’s Friday tomorrow.
5. Friday afternoon grocery shopping.  Made for people with more stamina than I have right now.  I reckon it’s going to take me weeks to build up to getting that second wind for the Friday afternoon grocery run.
6. Beef Bourguignon made with herbs from the garden.  Domestic Goddess moments are good for the soul.
   

7. Sunny Sunday vibes.
   

8. A day home with a snuffly child.  Getting all manner of things done.  Including booking said child in to the dentist.  Mustn’t forget to book my appointment too.
9. The child is on the mend.  We’re both resting at home.  We also both can’t wait to rejoin the rest of the world tomorrow.
10. When one of your favourite activewear stores has a 40% off sitewide sale that starts at 6pm.  How convenient.
11. What glorious weather!  Lucky to have caught a bit of sunshine whilst I was out and about for work today.
12. Happy Lunar New Year! 
    

    Noodles for dinner and not a stitch of housework to be done.  Both for good luck purposes, of course.

13. A rainy day in.  Perfect weather for giving me the nudge to get this year’s Woolworths Discovery Garden started.
14. I made it Galentine’s Day this year … and bought myself the Famous Kmart Pie Maker.
    

15. Popped my ear savers in the post for mum in Perth.
    

16. What a beautiful day for some laps and for stepping out in short activewear tights as pants!
    

17. It’s never been a better time to be a treadmill traveler…. iFit has hit the South of France! 
    

    My hopes and dreams have been fulfilled and it’s only February.

18. Lemon wedges on work paper towels.  Work life as art
    
19. Feeling like I’ve nailed this work / mum / life balance thing today.  I was on the road for work at 7am.  I repeat 7am.  School drop off was done and dusted before 7am.
20. Conference Life in 2021.  Joining virtually while supervising your child in the next room on their iPad. 
    

    While you both snack.

21. Fun Nutella fact
    

    the amount of Nutella produced worldwide in one day is equivalent to nearly three times the weight of the Statue of Liberty.  Can you tell I was helping with maths homework today?

22. “Do the best you can until you know better.  Then when you know better, do better.” Dr  Maya Angelou.
23. Kept my standing date with the pool today.
    

24. I’m always reassured by the presence of leftover Woolies rotisserie chicken in the freezer.  It makes the best last-minute protein component for ‘healthy’ microwave macaroni cheese.
25. Words.  Lots and lots of words.
26. Early start, loose ends tied.  Bring on the weekend!
27. I’ve finally made a start on Jane Harper’s latest. 
    

    www.janeharper.com.au

    Predictably, I have not been able to put it down.

28. The sun’s returned for the last day of summer.  Hurrah.

Just another post swim refuel stop.

 

It’s time.  I’m having hot cross buns for breakfast in early January and I derived great pleasure on Friday morning in fixing the latch on the front gate with my own hands using odds and ends hardware I had stashed away for odd jobs such as this.

It’s been just on three weeks of deeply relaxing, pottering around doing not much at all staycationing and I’m ready to head back to work on Monday morning.

The highlights of this go slow reset have been about something I’ve come to appreciate more and more as I approach the second half of my fabulous forties.  We’ve found joy in the little things around us.  I’ve also created space.  Literally as a result of a staged clean out I’ve done of the house over the last few weeks and also spiritually as the new order in my surrounds has worked its wonders on me.

But we’re all about the visuals and accompanying text on this blog so I’ll get back on track now.

If you haven’t made Recipe Tin’s Lasagna and Garfield’s favourite food is your thing – what are you waiting for?

While Garfield is American and hence likely to favour the ricotta cheese sauce way of doing things, Nagi’s recipe features a bechamel sauce made with a roux, milk and cheeses such as paremesan and mozzarella (your choice).  The ragu is well worth the effort, mine was on the stove for close to 2 hours by which time the mince was so very tender.  Nagi’s tip of alternating the way you lay down the lasagna sheets (horizontal then vertical orientations for example) really does help the lasagna to keep its structural integrity as you cut it.

Me being  me, I soon found things to fill the space I created in the great declutter.  The French Beauty Company is an Australian based etailer that brings the best of French beauty to your doorstep without the taxes and delays of ordering from European based sites.  My order arrived beautifully and securely wrapped with an abundance of samples as well.

Staycations are here to stay by the looks of things, Sydney.  With border closures and international travel requirements in a constant state of flux – staying in place just seems like both the right and least stressful thing to do right now.

My fellow Sydney-siders have done the city proud and together we’ve accepted our fate with good grace.  I was at our local Westfield the day after mask-wearing was made compulsory for indoor activities throughout Greater Sydney and everyone I saw was dutifully wearing their face mask. In addition, we all checked in with the Service NSW app when required and kept our distance from each other inside.  I feel for the food, beverage and retail businesses out there as they struggle to comply with the rules, keep their outlets adequately staffed for both their original business as well as the new Covid related roles of more frequent cleaning plus face the challenges of slowdowns in the delivery of their stock and supplies.  Hopefully, wearing masks keeps everyone safe while allowing businesses to remain viable and keep their staff on.

We’ve gardens of all sorts growing at home.  The terrariums are still very much alive.  The aisles of KMart delivered this $10 underwater crystal garden to the dining table and we’ve enjoyed watching our crystals grow, seemingly by the hour.

Day-Glo blue and green seem to be the official colours of this staycation.

Slime made with glittery Elmer’s Glue is so 2020 (thank goodness).  2021 appears to be the year of Zuru Bunch O Balloons.  This nifty launcher gives accuracy to wayward throws and ensures your balloon hits its target (a tree stump in our case) with a satisfying thwack before this splat.

All sorts of challenges have been accepted and achieved.  Master SSG can now tie shoelaces (using my trainers as practice).  A whole new world of shoes awaits him now.  Just in time for the new school year.

After a few tears and lots of unpicking, I’m well on the way to mastering the Bulgarian crochet stitch.  It was dayglo green to the rescue again because I think adding a few rows of stitching in this superhero colour has given my throw a bit of definition.

Flitting back to ‘back to school’ for a minute.  Did you know that denture cleaning tablets work a treat on drink bottles?  They’re especially useful for the kind whose tops are a combination of stainless steel, plastic and rubber because the tablets clean everything effectively without risk of damaging any of the components.  

Ecosa make only one kind of pillow and it’s a winner.  It comes in a reusable vaccum pack which you can use to take it traveling (when it’s eventually possible to be a Sydneysider to do so again).  After the pillow inflates fully, simply unzip the back of the protector and add as many of the included inserts as you need.

It’s a wonderful feeling not quite knowing which day of the week it is.  Not even the miserable weather (past, present and sadly forecast for the foreseeable future) is dampening my enthusiasm at being time fluid for at least another week.

The things that are making me smile the widest right now happen to be those that have a bit of glitter about them.

Our indoor fairy lights that were first put up for Christmas and then Master SSG’s birthday and New Year’s look like staying up right up until the end of this month.  There’s something magical about the twinkle of fairy lights against such mundane things as security doors, the laundry basket and the top shelf that houses the emergency torch and toilet rolls.  

We popped some New Years Eve poppers in the garden last week.  I’m leaving that glitter exactly where it is for the same reasons that the fairy lights are still twinkling over around the door to the laundry room.   Everyday magic.

Visiting the Tramsheds has become one of our ‘Christmas and New Year in Sydney’ traditions.  We visit each year with our favourite people.

Glitter at a more mundane and sobering level.  Face masks are now mandatory in Sydney.  We were fortunate enough to find them, still at half price, at Woolies on Sunday.  Along with a half price box of Godiva chocolates – it is they that bring the glitter to this photo and hence its inclusion in this post.  

Yes, they would be Hot Cross Buns in the top right-hand corner of the photo as well.  Choc chip brioche.  In times like these, the likes of me could do well to hop off their high horses about Hot Cross Buns on the shelves in January and give into their comforting charms.  I wonder if this means that Godiva Easter Eggs won’t be too far away as well?

Have you started on the Hot Cross Buns yet this year? Desperate times and all?

Be well.

The fact that Master SSG was able to lead as normal a life as possible within the restrictions imposed on his life gave the long weeks of this year shape and shade and moments for me to just be present and share his joy and enthusiasm.

Our travels this year featured such destinations as

our literal backyard

It became a treat to be out doors and this saw us biking and scootering more than we normally would.

2020 was the year of the scrubs for me, it’s made getting ready for work such a breeze.  Might never go back to normal work clothes and a face full of makeup….  Ever.

That moment when you get to walk down the road for some coffee and not much else at work.  Love those.

‘Keep on keeping on and not forgetting to stop to smell the roses every once in a while’ work.

And through it all, ‘remembering to smile extra hard to that smile reaches your eyes because your mask hides your lips’ work.

With the end of 2020, we’ve reached the end of a tunnel that seemed endless when this all began.

We’re not out of the woods yet and that elusive rainbow after all of this is still a way off.

We made it!!!!  Not even the pandemic can put a dampener on my love of December and all the joy its celebrations bring.  Along with the joy, there’s been a fair bit of self-reflection this month.  It’s been quite a year and I’ve come through it changed in many ways.

1. For the first day of chocolate this last-minute mum cobbled together one of the last advent calendars available at Woolies plus a box of Christmas Lindt (just in case the compounded chocolate in the calendar didn’t quite cut it).
   

2. Making up for lost time with my own advent calendar which arrived in the post today.
   

3. Treadmilled alongside the penguins in  Antarctica this morning.
   

4. What a difference! 
   

   Changed the bulb in my desk lamp to this Cool Daylight with Eye Comfort option and the world instantly looked brighter.

5. Brilliant ideas all round today.
   

     Things I can do to the backyard and ways to decorate a home made ice cream cake. Master SSG’s birthday party is getting close and the pressure is on!  In the nicest possible way.

6. And that’s a wrap.  My last weekend working for 2020.  Looking forward to weekends being spent on nothing but fun stuff and celebration for the rest of the year.  
7. We made it to Speech Night!! 
   

   It’s been quite a year for Master SSG, well done!!!

8. Nearly done.  I’ve only got a couple more presents to buy.  Oh and the Christmas Lunch menu to plan.  So not really nearly done, then.
9. Whatever we put out to the world, we will eventually receive back.  Just not necessarily via the original recipient of our energy and intent…  Listening along and thinking in response to Jay Shetty today.
10. 2020, the year that keeps on giving.  Mostly bad giving but consistency is key, I guess.  I’m breathing and it’s sort of helping.  Another day that needs to end on my yoga mat.
11. It’s Friday and takeaway pizza is on the agenda tonight.  Happy days.
12. Our annual Christmas get together and gift exchange. 
    

    From the White Christmas Sangria to the pure joy and relief of having survived the year that was, it was a very special Saturday afternoon indeed.

13. Here’s hoping that my high efficiency today will pave the way for a smooth final Monday at work before some annual leave the week after.
14. Further wise words from Jay Shetty’s ‘Think Like A Monk’ on Audible this morning.  The duality of being alone.  At times it can be a painful and hollow loneliness. At other times, a beautiful and deeply fulfilling solitude.
15. Last visit to the hairdresser for 2020. 
    

    Ending the year with fabulous hair – a daring few shades lighter than I began the year with.

16. Mesmerized by the dense mist that covered Sydney this morning. 
    

    I could feel it on my skin as I walked through it.

17. I finished listening to Jay Shetty’s ‘Think Like A Monk’ today.  I’ve been challenged and (dare I say it) changed in so many ways by Jay’s interpretation of Buddhism in the modern world.
18. My last day at work for 2020.  As far as I’m concerned, this marks the end of the business end of the year.  So I’m farewelling the year that was in a very fitting manner. 
    

    Bye, bye 2020.

19. Busy, busy, busy.  But at least the garden looks the better for it.
20. A small, COVID safe 8th birthday celebration for Master SSG today. 
    

    Despite the rain.  Grateful, as always, for my friends and family for being here for us.

21. The first Monday of annual leave. 
    

    Just the excuse I need to have leftover party food for dinner….

22. Pottering around the house under the soft glow of my fairy lights.  It really is beginning to feel a lot like Christmas.
23. And I’m done. 
    

    I’ve bought all the food I need for Christmas lunch.  Feeling so ahead of the curve but trying not to gloat.

24. The luxury of time this Christmas Eve. 
    

    An entire day to get started on my desserts for lunch tomorrow.  Feeling very fortunate to have this time off when so many have been called back from annual leave to assist in the management of the latest Covid wave.

25. It really was a Merry Christmas for us this year. 
    

    The differences and challenges made it more personal and meaningful celebration for me than how I’ve observed today in years past.

26. A day in splashing about in the backyard, modelling Fimo (remember that stuff??) and making pizza subs for lunch. 
    

    My inner child was left very content by today while my present self snagged a few online bargains from the online Boxing Day sales in between activities.

27. Rush of emotions this morning. 
    

    The tree’s come down, the decorations packed away.  I hadn’t expected Christmas to be as special for us as it was this year.  Until next time, memory-laden tree decorations.  Until next year.

28. Hot chips with extra chicken salt after a day at the pool. 
    

    The perfect antidote to what’s going on outside.  There’s a storm brewing.  An ominous one.

29. Thank you, Two Tags for helping me embrace the bike shorts trend … the third time it’s returned in my lifetime.  I reckon this will be my last crack at it so I’m going  out with a bang!!
    

30. A bittersweet ‘goodbye for now’.  We bid some special people a temporary farewell and prayed for their safe journey to their new home.  The tears prickling behind my eyes all day couldn’t be restrained any longer as we hugged goodbye after dinner tonight.  Always in our hearts and thoughts and fortunately only a quick regional plane flight away.
31. And now we are eight. 
    

    Grateful that through thick and thin and despite everything the year has given and taken – I’ve been able to keep my special little person safe and well.

Those decorations with their special memories and their own stories to tell have been boxed up ready for our next Christmas which will be as special as the one just gone.  Because despite or perhaps because of the year that was, our Christmas weekend was every bit as special as it was different to Christmases past.

Apologies in advance for the litany of cliches and truisms that I’ve drenched this post in.  I’m one week deep into some annual leave, the living’s been easy – mimosas have been had mid-morning and dessert has done for lunch.

This Christmas was magic.  That ‘joy in the every day and in the ordinary’ kind of magic.  I was apprehensive as I shopped and planned – wary of the fact that it would be a holiday celebration apart from many of the people that make Christmas for me.  However.  When you have a nearly eight-year-old in the house who shrieks and jumps at you daily about just how excited he is that Santa’s nearly here – well, you just fake it ’til you make it and Google reindeer footprints at 4am Christmas Day so that you can draw the real deal on Santa and Rudi’s thank you note.

Or perhaps it wasn’t magic that made this Christmas for me but time instead.  An embarrassment of it.

Time on Christmas Eve to take all day to make my desserts and have everything well chilled in the fridge ahead of lunch the next day.

Time at breakfast to ponder the new-fangled rectangular shape of savoirardi.

I’ll admit, the new shape does add a certain precise geometry to trifles in a round dish.

Time to sit back at Christmas lunch.

Sangria and prime position next to the cheeseboard?  I was definitely living my best life.

Don’t worry, there was some proper food in between the cheese and dessert.  Tray baked salmon with risoni and broccolini plus oven-roasted chicken.  It was the perfect food for the weather (grey skies, a bit of rain and cool), the leftovers were manageable and neither were a stress to prepare.

Similarly, dessert was two made ahead options and cut fruit.  All on point in the colour department.

Master SSG did the honours and decorated the jelly cake with glittering sprinkles.

The cousins came for the day and I was on Aunty duty.  After a coffee run, that much-needed coffee sat with me as I came to grips with Fimo all over again.  The cars stood up well to baking but I think a couple of the tyres look a bit flat now.

Lego was built, with practically no involvement from me.  Which explained why I dipped in and out of the online Boxing Day sales throughout the day – with quite a few purchases to show for it.  Things like new pillows, pillow cases, photo frames and bath mats….  Exciting things.

Except when it came time to set up the backyard slip and slide.  Yes, the boat did float in the splash pool end of the slide!

These fancy water balloons fill from the tap using a hose attachment.  Filled balloons just drop off their straw when they’re filled and ready to throw.  I had a bit too much fun doing the filling.

Pizza subs using leftover bread rolls are a Friday night dinner I remember fondly from primary school.  I think we used pots of tomato paste way back in the 80s.  These days, pizza sauce comes in a very convenient squeezy packet.  And there’s a special pizza cheese blend.  It was Coon back in the day.

We didn’t stop all day.

But when we had to, there was popcorn, dry clothes and fluffy towels waiting.

Time has even been found for some crochet.  I’m learning a shell stitch at the moment.  It looks more complicated than it is in an ombre yarn.  It’s a very restful stitch to crochet.  The repeats are easy and while the turns are a bit tricky at first, they make sense in the context of the pattern which makes it easier to remember what to do.

Did you receive the gift of time this Christmas?  

So many of us have had plans and traditions disrupted this year.  I hope you’re still managing to enjoy the season in a way that’s special for you.

It’s Christmas tomorrow and I can’t wait.

Merry Christmas to you and yours!

I’m three days into my three week staycation and life is good.   I can feel my batteries recharging with each wander up the road to the shops for coffee and lunch.  The stubborn knots in my mind and body unkinking as another day passes without my having to deal with the traffic and the myriad tasks and problems that make up an average day at work.

The ‘to-do list’ of my days right now are governed by the weather or whatever catches my attention at that particular moment.  

My dollars treadmill is still the centre of attention at home.  It’s been used as a supermarket conveyor belt (switched off and under adult supervision) on more than one occasions and it’s even taken me back to Paris….