Happiness Is…

A little girl and her reflection

Things I Know About Living Apart

We are about half way through Luke’s contract that has him working away and while there are many things that I prefer having him home for, Skye and I have settled into our own routine pretty well now so this week for Things I Know I am sharing what I know about being married part-time.

• We get channels that play things other than football
  It’s five hundred versions of Real Housewives of somewhere at our place this week, with the occasional visit to Geordie Shore.
• A box of Drumsticks last much, much longer when you don’t have to share

• Our bedroom is no longer a site of chemical warfare
  Monday to Friday I can stretch out across my whole bed and not have to worry about surprise assaults on my sense of smell if I lift the sheets – you all know what I mean
• The novelty of seeing Skye’s eyes light up when Luke comes home for the weekend will never wear off.

So what have you learned this week? Hop over to Yay For Home to read about all kinds of useful things people have learned recently.

A Month of Meal Planning

In the constant pursuit of saving money on the weekly groceries I have made a number of changes over the last few months such as making a weekly menu plan, cooking in bulk and freezing future meals and on a couple of occasions attempting to convert myself to Aldi, which you can read about here and here. All of these tactics have given us some relief both financially and in time saved so I thought I would take it a step further and try to plan a whole month of meals buying as much as I can in one transaction. I have found a number of great pages that do this as a standard procedure, especially Stay At Home Mum, the secret to living on one wage.

Here is my plan of action for the next 4 weeks:

Lessons from Cleaning The Car

Yes I really am writing a post about cleaning the car. Mostly because its something I never really do. I realise that my shiny big truck does not stay that way on its own, and since I am the one that drives it, I probably should take better care of it, but honestly as I am the one responsible for the majority of cleaning around here including but not limited to randomly positioned bottle caps, play dough ground into the carpet and grotty bottoms, I just. don’t. care. Even this time the cleaning only happened out of necessity thanks to Skye nearly crippling me every time I get her in and out of the car with all her wriggling.

Rekindling The Motivation

Last week Clever Baker Friend and I attended a networking evening to give us the chance to meet some other local WAHM businesses and of course get the word out about Push Delight canisters. The event consisted of a meet and greet mingle followed by a presentation on marketing and ended with some very generously donated lucky door prizes. Of course no networking evening is worth attending without the promise of sweet treats, thankfully we were greeted by this on arrival – YUMMO!

Father’s Day Celebrations

10 points for imagination for me today sharing our Father’s Day celebrations over the weekend but I just have to! Thanks to our lovely Family Day Care we had the mandatory hand made card, I know they are often daggy and even an bit ugly but I really love this one. It’s the first hand print we have of Skye – what have I been doing?!?!

Grateful For... Family Day Care

Before I begin this post I will put my hand up and say yes I am one of those women, you know, the ones that only have 1 child, does not go to work yet still sends her child to day care. Truthfully I think that the whole family is grateful for it. I have a designated day to tackle things that are just not practical while Skye is buzzing around, or easier to do solo, I don't have to wait till the weekend when we should be enjoying time as a family to do them and most importantly Skye has the chance to mix with kids her own age and learn things I may not have the knowledge or facilities to teach her.



I love the Family Day Care she attends. It is no more than a 2 minute walk from our house, the kids are all sweet natured as are the parents and the Day Care Provider is everything you could ask for, she treats the children as her own, ensures that all procedures and paperwork requirements are strictly followed and very clearly loves opening her home to provide this service.

Skye's face lights up each Thursday morning as we get dressed and pack her bag. She can't walk there fast enough and excitedly bashes on the door when we arrive. If I felt that she was distressed by being there and did not enjoy herself of course I would not continue to take her, but she is so proud of her latest paintings and new skills she has learned that I know it is worthwhile. The fact that she cannot leave without giving her carer a cuddle and receiving a stamp on each hand just reinforces to me that I am doing the right thing.



The structure and programs associated with Family Day Care are far more involved than I realised. I had assumed that Skye would just spend the day playing with a small group of other children and maybe do some painting or play dough. But it is so much more than that. Her progress is tested and recorded each week and I receive detailed feedback on her acheivements. I never feel that there is any judgement of her abilities, merely a record if where she is at. The activities change constantly and can be adapted based on input from the parents. They are taught basic behaviours such as sharing and patience (which is no mean feat when you are talking about toddlers) in a practical real life environment. Skye's language skills have certainly developed quickly thanks to the older children in the group and she learns independance by not having me constantly within shrieking distance.



Knowing I have this day each week to get on with other mummy business has had such a positive impact on the whole family. I don't get anxious about trying to get some time to myself anymore and I am always surprised that I miss her and look forward to picking her up at the end of the day. I feel refreshed from the break and ready to embrace mummy duties again which can only be positive for all of us.

I am absolutely grateful for Family Day Care and hope that her first steps into the education system will make the later transitions easier for all of us to handle.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Happiness Is…

A little girl playing on her new slippery dip.

Lamb Souvlaki Wrap Kit

We love a bit of Mexican fare around here, be it Taco’s, Burrito’s, Enchilada’s or Chicken Wraps its pretty regular on our meal plan. We even like turning the leftovers into Pizza when we get the chance, but every now and then I look for something equally easy but slightly different in flavours. When I spotted the Souvlaki Wrap Kit at Aldi recently I thought it might be just what we were looking for.