Sunday

The first bit of Christmas hit our house last night.
I have been wanting to put some fairy lights up around the window 

that my computer sits in front of. 

Yesterday, I found some that had tiny little lights

and sparkly snowflakes ! 

Perfect !

This afternoon I got to spend many hours in our garden. 

I weeded, pruned herbs and flowers, planted zucchini, spring onions and echinacea , thinned the leeks,

transplanted a chili, watered the gardens and then moved a few things around on the patio!

Like this bird feeder. 

It was out back on the patio but the birds 

fling the seeds around when they eat and we had 

plants growing all up through the 

patio tiles as a result ! 

I've moved it out to the front now. 

It's in a much better spot ! 

Plus, I'll be able to watch the birds from my desk !!

I also hung this bird cage that I got at Target the other day. 

I'm always on the lookout for fun candle holders. 

I love this one.

Especially at night. 

And especially especially with the outside fairy lights lit up too !!

day 8 {melted wax} 365

in the soft overcast light of this morning, i thought i'd try a candle shot



i like it

Celebrate

{routines n junk}

There are not many things in my life that can't be fixed with a hot bubble bath.
Add a candle, even better !

Last night, my brain was getting away from me. Thinking, planning, thinking, planning ...
and I couldn't keep track.
I had a headache too. I think because I didn't drink enough water.
And perhaps a bit too much sun ?

Anyway ... I needed to get the stuff out of my brain and onto a paper.
But I also needed to get rid of the headache !
SOLUTION :
hot bath, bubbles, candles, pad of paper, pens !

15 minutes later
my brain was still
my headache was lessened
and i was off to pack the lunches for tomorrow ...

I'm going to show you but I wanted to tell you all about my new night time routine.
I've always hated doing the dishes after dinner.
Ok, ok ... I always hate the dishes.
But especially after cooking dinner.
I cook dinners that take a bit of effort ... sometimes a lot of effort.
I do it because I love it.
But to have to do the dishes after has always been so discouraging.

A couple of months ago, Rory started doing the dishes after dinner !
Just out of the blue, he suggested that I have the dishwasher emptied before dinner
and he'd take care of the cleanup after dinner.

I'll tell you what ... it is wonderful !
I wake up every morning to a shiny clean kitchen and I didn't have to clean it !!

One thing that Rory has always hated doing is packing his lunch.
We've tried different things but really ... he just wanted me to do it ! :)
I don't mind doing it but the problem always was that I would be too tired after cooking
and then cleaning up to even think about packing lunches at night
and he leaves WAY TOO EARLY for me to do his
in the morning.

So ... this week, I started doing all of our lunches, at night.
And it works wonderfully !!

There's no scurrying around in the mornings anymore !!

And I pack much healthier lunches this way !

Here's the whole lot so you can see ...



I made a big fruit salad at the beginning of the week. It lasted three days.
This is the first time I've done that, I'll definitely be doing it again.
It was so easy to just grab the big container and scoop it into each of our boxes !

I also try to incorporate as many leftovers as possible.

Here's the kids lunches for tomorrow ...
The spaghetti is leftover from earlier in the week.
The foccacia from last night's dinner.
They have fruit salad,
"greek" salad ... it's just tomato, kalamata olives, feta cheese and yellow bell pepper chunks,
a hard boiled egg, and a yogurt.



My lunch is similar to the kids, except I'm having leftover spaghetti with the leftover sauce.
And I'm having crackers instead of foccacia. And no yoghurt.

Rory needs a much bigger lunch.
He works loooooooooooooong hours.
He has lasagna that I pulled out of the freezer.
A ham sandwich.
The tomato/lettuce are to put on the sandwich at work.
(I keep 'em separate ... who likes a soggy sandwich ?!)
Fruit salad, hard boiled egg, crackers, and a bar.



And here we are ... all stacked up in the fridge, ready to go in lunchboxes in the morning !