Friday Favorites – PLAYWORKEATREPEAT

Hey guys, it’s time to get together with Andrea and Erika to share some of my favorite things this week. Let’s go!

Preschool Moments

Do you know how nice it is to go to work and enjoy the day? I’ve forgotten what it feels like. But now I have two good classes a week, I remember! It’s week five, and I’m getting to know the new kids, and I know they feel the same way about me.

On Tuesday, I sat on the deck with some of them chatting, and soon a few others joined in. We talked about their pets, favorite colors, and how many siblings they have. I love how comfortable they feel sitting next to me, leaning on me and sharing stories. It had been a long time since that happened, and it felt really good.

Back in class, I was sitting on the floor helping the kids solve puzzles. Some of these are very clever cakes! On Wednesday, I was amazed by a little three year old child. He persevered until he mastered the complex 24 piece layered puzzle and could do it himself. Damn puzzles are hard!

After surviving last year, when we all continued to patrol to keep everyone safe, including ourselves. Now, being able to enjoy most of the time playing and hanging out with the kids is the best. I also don’t spend all day mentally begging the clock to go faster. Now I don’t even count the minutes until the end of the day, and time just flies by!

I even had time to get creative with the classroom display. I’m in the process of cutting what feels like a hundred thousand leaves for the family tree on which we will display their family photos. I had a vision of adding fairy lights to add a little magic. Hopefully, it turns out as good as it looks in my head.

Quick edit:

I wrote this last night when I hadn’t spent the day stuck inside because of the wet weather, and I was feeling la-di-da. Today it rained, so it’s a different story. Even though we didn’t have the behavioral issues we had last year, by the end of the day, I was more than ready to get out of there. Wet weather days are never a favorite, but fortunately, the weather is rarely so bad that it keeps us indoors for long. Phew!

Favorite Things

Now, onto some of my other favorite things from my week…

My best friend gave me some mugs for my birthday, and I love them! When we renovated our kitchen a few years ago, I went into full minimal mode and made sure almost everything we bought was white.

I do keep a few special things—a pink mug from my cousin, a red teacup and saucer from another friend, and my blue and white Johnson Brothers dinner plate with the ‘Indies’ pattern, which I love. Apart from that, everything is mostly white.

My friend, who knows me very well, made me laugh when he told me about all the effort he went through to find a white mug from my favorite store, Country Road.

New Watch

I got a fun new watch! A few weeks ago, I was reminiscing about my teenage years and remembered how much I loved my old Swatches. Steve, Sam and I went into town on Tuesday to pick up my birthday Swatches. We’re not good at deciding what we want for birthdays or Christmas. We always fall back on the old line, “I’ll think and let you know,” and then end up confused at the last minute.

This time, I knew exactly what I wanted, but we hadn’t had the chance to go out and buy it. We could have ordered it online, but I wanted to try it first, and this week was the first chance we got.

I can’t believe I chose the fuchsia one. Even my original Swatch from the 80s was gray. I always choose neutral colors, but not this time and no one was more surprised than me!

Keratin Treatment Timing

It’s time for a keratin treatment to fight frizz. It’s been over a year since my last treatment, so I’m overdue. With the very humid weather recently, my hair has been very bad. It was great to sit in the air-conditioned salon after work on a Wednesday, and this time, the two hours it took for the treatment flew by. I love the way they treat you to coffee, Tim Tams and heart-shaped chocolates.

Now I’m in a terrible intermediate stage, waiting for the keratin to do its job. I have to wait three days to wash my hair (tomorrow is the third day, hallelujah) and two weeks to color it. The keratin makes my hair slightly orange, and it lays so flat that it sticks to my scalp. I’ve been tempted to wear a baseball cap to the office since Wednesday, but you should leave it on and not even tie it to avoid creasing. In the end, I still had to tie it back because I didn’t want to scare the kids.

And just like that, it’s the weekend. How did this week go by so fast? I hope you have a great weekend, and I hope to be back here on Monday.