Friday Favourites – PLAYWORKEATREPEAT
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 a lovely reminder of what an incredible time that was for Sydney. I remember watching those Olympics and the unbelievable excitement around the city like it was yesterday.
We watched a few games before the exciting Australia vs Italy game came on, and the crowd went wild.
We won and made it through to the semi-finals that are on this weekend.
Steve went with a friend to see the men’s game on Thursday night. The Australian men’s team made it through as well. Go Aussies!
Because the preschool children were so interested in why I had left on Wednesday, and this term we are doing show and tell, I made a one-minute video of the game to share with them.
They had lots of questions, like, “Miss Ruth, is that you in the pool?”
Ahem… no children, Miss Ruth would probably drown!
Anyway, that was a little peek into my week. I hope you’ve had a good one too.
I’m off to make a pineapple cake. Yes, I’m cheating and using a packet mix.
I’m usually much more of a savoury snack person, but I’ve been craving cake all day. And Friday evenings are for special treats. Right?
Enjoy your weekend, and I’ll see you back here next week.
Linking up with Andrea and Erika
PakarPBN
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