The Week that Was

It was the week without Kevin, which meant a somewhat easy routine with the girls. It was the week Bailey enjoyed some car rides….

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and I found the first blossoms on our ornamental pear tree…

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mind you it’s still mainly bare….

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It was the week the weather finally warmed up enough to enjoy being barefoot in the garden…

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and to enjoy the late afternoon sunshine…

Enjoying the late afternoon sunshine

It was the week of wondering just how long before the first strawberries will be ready to eat…

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It was the week of making banana chocolate muffins…

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Mexican spuds…

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and homemade bread…

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It was the week of a cold, wet start to the school holidays…

Wet start to school holidays

which meant I could make more soup…

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and start to make some plans for the school holidays…free printable found here…

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It was the week I went lounge shopping with my Mum & Dad….

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and Christy tried sewing for the first time…

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It was the week of dogs and guinea pigs in the garden… I hope Bailey wasn’t wondering how tasty Jasmine would be :-)….

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and it was the week Kevin returned from San Francisco and life returned to normal….

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It was also week I gave my blog a new look…. it’s a pre-done one but I thought it was so ME :-)…

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It was also, unfortunately, the week my hands and feet started feeling swollen and sore again and my heal spur returned :-(. I’ve already made an appointment to see my Doc again next week. I need some answers and want to know what is going on, even if there is no cure or treatment.

Goodies from the States

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Today Kevin returned  from a week in San Francisco. It was a work trip with a day of fun day either side. I must be training him well because he came back with over 100 photos. Here are a few of my favourites. And yes, they segway-ed up and down Lombard Street.

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He came home with a whole lot of the goodies I had requested… my fav foods and 5 BIG water cups (since everyone fights over the one we have 🙂 ).

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He also got some chocolate body parts for Halloween….

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and some HUGE inflatables and clings….

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Spring Clean the Family Room

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With the imminent arrival our a new lounge for the family room, the girls and I got stuck into giving it a good sort out and clean. I forgot to take before photos of the shelves but you can see them in the above photo.

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The girls went through all their books and we ended up with 3 full bags to donate.

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Dad helped me move the lounges out and once I’d cleaned the floor the girls decided it was a great place for a dance practice.

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Then just when I thinking the new lounge might not be coming today it arrived. And I LOVE it!!!

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It turned the family room from this….

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into this….

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and this…

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into this…

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It makes the room feel so comfy and cosy and the girls have already been hanging on the lounge reading, knitting and watching TV. I can see myself using this room as well because the loungeroom can get quite cold and the view is much nicer from this room….

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Spring Clean the Recipe Cupboard

I didn’t get much done around the house this week but I did find a bit of time to sort through the recipe book cupboard.

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I pulled everything out and sorted – books to donate to the library (so I can read them again if I want), books to donate….mainly kids party cake books…

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books to look through again before making a decision… with so many recipes now available online I really need to cull the collection – esp. those that don’t have photographs as I find I very rarely will select a recipe that doesn’t have a photo.

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and all the loose recipes to be sorted, culled and put into the correct binders…. I really do collect too many. In addition to these I have lots put in evernote as well.

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I then put all the keeper recipe books back in the cupboard… on the right are the kids cook books….

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Finally the binders (which I need to make labels for) are put in. I’m not sure what it says about me that the soup/salad/mains folder is not as full at the baking folder … well I do really  :-). Beside the microwave is my FAVOURITES recipe binder and new cookbook (to remind me to use it).

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