This and That...

this week.

HOME
The Princess and I finally finished clearing her room. We left the hardest thing for last, her wardrobe and china cabinet. What a job! We carefully wrapped everything in bubble wrap and tissue paper and itemised each item, cataloguing who gave it to her and the occasion. She has lots of things that have been passed down to her from great-grandmothers and lots of beautiful treasures that have been made for her. One day she may want to pass things down to her own children and her cousins' children. I told her it is her responsibility to do so, she looked thrilled. Not!

Some of her precious things were absorbed into the house, such as a beautiful handmade cross my Mum brought her back from Armenia. We popped it into a frame and added it to the cross wall. Funny story about the cross wall, one of my students visited me at home last year and asked why I had lots of T's on my wall-haha

I had angst doing her wardrobe as it was the last of the 'little girl' stuff in her room, she, on the other hand, had no such qualms! 

The Cowboy bought an atomiser last week whilst picking up his prescriptions. It changes colour and matches our fake KMart candles in the living room. We have eucalyptus in it, for our health, of course.

The After. The Before housed a china cabinet, clothes squished into a corner, stuff on the shelf and boxes on the floor. Her shoes didn't actually fit in there. Girly, she is not.

Real life is crooked. Don't worry, I will be getting my spirit level
 out tomorrow and realigning myself.

Armenian Cross

fakery

SCHOOL
The first week of Term 2 is done and dusted. I am loving being back and am really enjoying the little people I work with. Their enthusiasm is infectious and they are hilarious without meaning to be. This week I introduced them to my 'pizazz' words (oral language - words of the week) which are lovely big words that make their writing sparkle. When we talk about the 'pizazz' words we mime sparkles with our hands. So cute! 

READING

I finished reading the Homecoming by Yaa Gyasi and can't recommend it enough. Such an incredibly powerful and moving story. I participated in my first online book club discussion at 6am NZ time one morning. It was so good and I didn't feel out of my depth as the questions were generally opinion based so I was able to contribute quite well, plus I had time to think about my responses. The May book is The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society which I am hoping arrives from Book Depository this week. In the meantime, I am reading The Spaghetti Giraffe which I saw on my Associate Principal's desk and borrowed. It's quite a different read to the Book Club novels haha

WATCHING

Our latest Netflix binge was The Sinner. If you love a good thriller/mystery type story you need to watch this. It is an incredibly well written and well-acted series which twists and turns in every episode and just when you think you have it figured out it changes again. 

Don't judge me but I am also obsessed with watching 'How do I Look' on Bravo from Monday to Friday at 3.30 to 4.30pm. I love a good makeover!

FAMILY
The Cowboy is on his second lot of antibiotics. This chest infection has really knocked him around.
My Mum and one of my Aunties have been in Auckland staying at Domain Lodge while my Aunty has some treatment at Auckland Hospital. They came for a visit on Friday, it was so nice to see them and fun and I loved seeing what they had bought for their latest craft projects. The bonus was they brought down a big bag of Feijoas for the Cowboy, who loves them, I don't, and homemade pickles and relish made by the Aunty. Her beetroot pickle is the best, I have been spooning it, read that as heaped and plural, onto my frittata for the last two nights!

FOOD
It was the Cowboy's birthday on Anzac Day (25 April) and because he was so sick we stayed in. I cooked him a nice dinner, steak which I marinated using this Chelsea Winter Teriyaki Marinade. It was for chicken but worked well for steak. I must make the chicken dish though, it looks so good!I used to have a fabulous Teriyaki marinade recipe that I got from a lady way back in my past called Mrs C. It was the best, but I have lost it. Grova, if you are reading this, try the Chelsea Winter one, I reckon it's close to Mrs C's.

a really good girlfriend would have made ganache and decorated with raspberries. Mine is the slack girlfriend version.

I also made this enormous Annabel Langbein chocolate cake. Mine was enormous because I didn't have the right size springform tin so I cooked it in my 25cm one. It was too easy, put all the ingredients in a bowl, beat, pour and cook. I didn't make the ganache icing or decorate with raspberries, instead, I did plain chocolate icing and one candle haha. It was still really good though.

FOLLOWING
I love following travel vlogger/Instagrammers and the best by far is this girl here, findingx. She is super clever, super funny, super gorgeous, has a super obsession with cheese and does life super well. I may be ever so super biased because she is actually my god-daughter! Seriously though, she puts so much into her content, and what I really love is she doesn't do the ordinary. Last weekend she glamped in a treehouse tent. Amazing! And you really want to check out her Iceland photos and stories. Incredible!

Last time she was in NZ she visited and I grilled her about behind the scenes of her travels. It was fascinating and an eye opener as to how much time, energy and personal expense goes into what she does. She also has a full-time job!

You can find Alexx on Instagram and on her website.

God-daughter, I hope you don't mind that I stole your photo xo

RANDOMNESS
I finally got around to dyeing my hair so don't need to 'Spray away the Gray' for a few weeks.

I also bought this 'device' because after my hair stylist cut my hair she gave me lovely big wavy curls and I want to replicate them. I researched first because that is what you do when buying a device and this one had the best reviews from real life ordinary people like me! My hair device came from Farmers, reduced from $70 to $30, I do love a good bargain!

Oh, and the L'Oreal Sugar Scrub I talked about last time. I used it last week and did it all wrong. I scrubbed without wetting it and aggravated my skin. I now have big acne type breakouts on my 53-year-old face. Great!

My new device.

THE WEEKEND
Is it sad that the highlight of my weekend was buying a new front door mat and glowy spring pegs for my laundry and that both items make me very happy!

My life happiness comes from a doormat

As my 7-year-old students would say,"have an amazing week".

Thanks for reading.
Rachaelxo