~ good games for Good Friday ~

It's Good Friday
Always an odd kind of a day.
Particularly today - we woke up with both girls away at sleepovers and the house feels strangely empty - Jack has not stopped asking for them.

We've had coffee.  (Any day is better with real coffee in it).

I've cleaned the office (and thrown away 126 pens - mostly old drug company ones - they make me feel a bit nostalgic for the good old days when we apparently sold our souls for a dodgy pen - now we just can never find a working one).
The boys have sanded and oiled the verandah.
We're ready for a late lunch.

It's a day for reading, jigsawing, watching old movies...we might even end up playing some games - maybe one of these (my list for this week as part of the #52 lists project).

Tonight we'll have fish and chips even though I don't really know why it feels wrong to eat meat today.

What is your Good Friday looking like?
What games does your family play?

 ♥
(ps - it's not too late to start making fun lists - read all about it here).

~ weekend snippets ~

 

We're still keeping our weekends low key.
A visit to Salamanca for apples, coffee, new plants for the garden and a chance meet-up with old friends.
Gardening, so many weeds to deal with.  Gorgeous roses to pick and delight in.  The chaotic beauty of the windflowers.
An afternoon tea with the friends who are family
Roast chicken and parsnips.
Amazing chalk art - we started drawing sea creatures as we talked about his excursion to the Marine Studies Centre this week but we ended up covering all the pavers with colourful art and he practised his letters over and over.
And candles for Earth Hour.

How was your weekend?
 ♥

{all on the iphone - I really must make time to get the real camera out before I forget how to use it}

Linking up with Em and others who share the snippets of their days. 

~ snap it ... breakfast ~

{Sometimes when it all goes pear shaped I have this after school drop off}

{My weekend treats - Pigeon Hole sour dough and raspberry jam}

Breakfast time around here used to be quite stressful  (3 kids, different tastes, ordering from the menu in their head.... )
That is until I introduced the "school days" and "other days" rules - on school days they can choose between weetbix or porridge (and then add extras like fruit/toast), on other days they can choose from the cupboard (usually nutrigrain, rice bubbles, mini wheats or cheerios) and campaign for eggs/pancakes etc as well.  There's always fresh fruit available.  They drink water or milk.
No fights.
Breakfast sorted.

I usually have porridge in winter (topped with stewed rhubarb or stewed apple) and bircher muesli in the warmer months. ( I mix Carman's muesli with grated apple, yoghurt, cinnamon, honey, nuts, dried apricots, craisins and have a big tub in the fridge...yum!).  The Doc has a banana on his way out the door... I still need to work on him.

Do you have breakfast rules?
See some other yummy breakfasts here where we play snap-it each week.

♥

 

~ grateful...every day ~

Last week I found a beautiful, simple grateful post over here and felt somewhat embarrassed about my grudgingly grateful (and somewhat whiny) effort.

I decided to "borrow" the idea and watch for grateful opportunities all week.

Saturday : There are daffodils blooming in our garden already.  So pretty.  No wonder Wordsworth was inspired. 

Sunday : The Doc tried a new recipe (from this month's Real Living magazine) for dinner - Chicken Normandy.  Totally delicious.  Always grateful when I don't have to cook.

Monday : Lily has a new teacher (her first teacher went on long-service leave for 4 weeks and then retired at the end of it so this is the third for the year already).  Apparently she is young, funny, great, cool and really smart.  I'm so very grateful for a renewed buzz in my little girl.

Tuesday : Grateful for the extra snuggles and cuddles a sick little boy loves to give his mummy

Wednesday : A friend dropped a coffee in when she knew I was stuck at home with a sick little one.  And she brought gossip. 

Thursday : Very grateful that the Doc was able to move his day around so he could share the care and I could still do my work for the week.

Friday : Another fabulous new recipe (the lentil soup from the same magazine...this month's Real Life is already covered with cooking spatters) shared with my sister visiting from interstate who we don't get to see nearly often enough. Precious time with family and good food...so much to be grateful for.

I'm linking up with Bron and others over  at Village Voices.

Are you grateful this week?

♥

~ one of those days ~

I sat down to write tonight full of the gripes.

To tell of all the little things that went wrong today - of the spilt milk (but we remembered to say "there's no use crying over it"), the ruined jigsaw, the endless whine of the-not-quite-sick-but-not-well 2yo, the spilt cream  all over my new shoes(the "no use crying over it" line came out again but through gritted teeth), the tissue in the wash.....it was truly one of those days.

And then the Doc came home halfway through my little rant and as I reheated his dinner (and broke to him the news of his jigsaw) I very wifely asked about his day - the telling of the diagnosis of cancer to a bloke our age certainly added some perspective to my day.

And so here is the other version of our day. 

The one when I put on my new shoes and felt happy cos they were the perfect shade of corally watermelon. 

{they came out ok after a wash}

Where a little gift arrived in the post and put a smile on my face.

{thanks Helen}

{pretty lanterns inside the package}

The one where we walked to the park and played and I got to grab coffee on the way. 

{my fix}

The one where little hands picked a small bouquet.

{pretties from our garden}

Where we ended up healthy and happy and I was reminded of gratefulness all over again.

One of those days.

♥

~ my caffeinated week ~

Joining in the wordless fun at faith, hope and a whole lotta love

and my little drummer boys



♥ 

~started badly, ended up ok~

There's been lots not to like as we head out in the mornings this week - frosted up windows, icy roads...and then, this morning as we were rushing out,  this...

and not just my wing mirror - the Doc's as well (and the neighbours)

Grrrrr....

No, not the end of the world and no one was hurt (thank goodness).  

But it will end up costing us $700+ in insurance excess.  

Its the inconvenience,  the sheer bloody mindedness of it that gets me.

I loathe senseless, violent idiotic behaviour.

End of rant

Things slowly got better. 

I had a coffee alone.

I got an email saying I won a prize for my 6 word story over at this lovely blog.

I had another coffee (any day that's a 2 coffee day is ok in my books)

And we head off tomorrow for a girl's weekend which will be full of chat, laughs and bubbles (and more coffee)

♥