The story of the travelling pork roast.

We are very fortunate that we live close to both sides for families. This means on a Sunday night you will find us at Mum O’s house enjoying a Sunday night dinner.

Last Sunday night Mum O cancelled dinner as she was going to be away and wasn’t sure what time she would be back. I decided I was going to cook a pork roast, complete with crackling, and roast veggies.

Hubby and Miss 6 did the grocery shopping on Saturday morning and purchased everything we needed. Sunday morning I dried out the rind and returned to the fridge to continue drying out.

Once we got back from Hubby’s football game I pre-heated the oven to 240, boiled the kettle, pouree it over the pork, dried the pork, lathered it with olive oil and covered the pork with salt flakes.  I wanted crackling!!!

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I decided to watch a Facebook video I’d been meaning to watch whilst the oven came up to temperature. As I watched I thought I saw a flickering light out of the corner of my eye. I then thought maybe the fan from the oven was blowing the tea towel on the oven and returned to my video after checking what temp the oven was at – 200. Ok – not long to go. 

I the saw more flickering and decided to keep my eye on the oven. Yep!  The oven was sparking and then the temp started dropping!  My oven died right when I was cooking a roast!!!  

Plan B – take roast to Mum O’s and cook it there!  So my baking tray and I headed off in the car with my laptop and diary to do some work whilst it cooked and some “quiet time” from the kids. Win/win!

Mum O had just arrived home so once I had her ok to intrude, in the roast went. After all my efforts getting the piece of meat ready the crackling didn’t crackle!  Off it came and under the grill it went. Came up a little burnt but tasty enough. 

Once it was all cooked, I grabbed a towel and took my roast home again!

Did I enjoy it – sure did. But now we need to decide whether to repair our oven or purchase a new one.  Should I cook a roast for the first meal in our new oven should we go that route?

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Just what the Doctor ordered…

Ever since the school bell rang at 2.50pm on the last Friday of Term 2, I was dreaming of today. The only day in the school holidays where we were going to be able to stay home in our pyjamas all day. And I mean all day, showering and putting on a clean pair of pyjamas. 

The kids woke early so I set them up with some morning telly and headed back to my warm bed. We then ate breakfast at around 9am. 

10am saw the kids crack open Connect Four and then we all played The Game of Life. Mr 4 lost interest in this one. I opted to live my opposite life. No marriage. College education and career as a Rocket Scientist and kid-free. Purchased my dream country home – the only part of the way I played the game today that I would love to do in real life lol!

Lunch saw us indulge in a cheese platter. So yummy!

Mr 4 and I headed off to our beds. He had a lovely long nap. I was going to nap too but I “accidentally” binge watched the balance of The Handmaid’s Tale – whoops. 
We reconvened for a game of Monopoly Jnr. A little tanty from Mr 4 because he wanted a “Chance” card 🙄. 

I tried a new recipe tonight for dinner. It came up on the Aldi Facebook page recently and it had me at garlic + chicken + cream. It was delicious. I served it with rice because despite telling our kids thousands of times that mashed potato is just mashed up chips, they still won’t eat it.  Here’s a link to the recipe. 

Today took a little planning. When I said it was the only day we could have a pyjama day, I meant it. I’ve worked through the holidays so we were out the door by 7am on the Monday/Tuesday/Wednesday. The Thursdays were taken with plans already and last Friday we had swimming lessons still for Mr 4. Swimming for Miss 6 and Mighty Kickers for Mr 4 on Saturdays and football for Hubby on the Sundays.  I was determined to keep today free. 

I was unexpectantly home this last Wednesday as Mr 4 had a tummy bug. I cleaned the house and did all the washing.  As I was moving between tasks I was thinking to myself how grateful I would be on Friday, having all this done. Nurturing the house on Wednesday so it could nurture me and my family on Friday. I was grateful and our home certainly nurtured us. 

We’ve showered and put on our clean pyjamas and the kids will be going to bed shortly. There have been tantrums and minor injuries and the usual tears that come with sibling relationships but there have also been lots of cuddles, love and laughter shared today too. And that has been nourishment for this tired Mumma’s soul!

Have you managed a pyjama day lately?  Was it really needed/overdue?  Tell me what you love doing on a pyjama day. 

PS – watch The Handmaid’s Tale through SBS On Demand – wonderful series!

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The next generation…

Miss 6 “I wish my bedroom looked like yours, Mummy.”

Me “Why?”

Miss 6 “Because your room looks so tidy all the time and mine looks messy all the time.”

Well as I am sure you’ll guess, my tidy/organised/decluttered heart of mine nearly exploded. This was my first “client” to practice patience and understanding on! This was my moment to shine – okay – getting carried away lol!

I asked Miss 6 to look at me. I wanted to commence our “consultation” stat before the moment passed. I wanted to pass on some wisdom. I wanted Miss 6 to know this…

“This is your room. This is your space. This space should be a reflection of you and who you are. If you do not like something, then it shouldn’t be here. It shouldn’t be in this room. Even if Mummy/Daddy/Grandparents/Aunties/Uncles/Friends bought it for you. If you do not like it, then it does not stay.”

Growing up, I was pretty much allowed to have my room as I wanted it, but I wasn’t allowed to just throw things away if I didn’t like them, especially if one of the people mentioned above had bought it for me. Mum kept so much of my stuff from my childhood and handed it all over when I moved out of home. Most of it has been discarded. Some of it is sitting in my roof waiting to be dealt with. I don’t want this for my children. 

I wanted Miss 6 to know that she doesn’t need to feel guilty about discarding items. If they don’t bring her joy, then it’s time for them to go. The biggest lesson I’ve learned from reading Marie Kondo’s books. 

So, we started. We gathered all her soft toys. She wanted to move most of these to the playroom. We pulled everything off her dressing table and wall shelves. I grouped like with like and she chose which rocks/sea shells/necklaces/bracelets/craft items etc etc that she wanted to keep. 

We then gave everything a wipe over and started placing everything back. I also let her decide where things were to go, only making suggestions if it was an item her brother may try to break and suggesting it go up high. 

She is now very proud of her room and gave her brother a tour when he woke from  his nap. 

Do you take this approach with your kids?  Had success?  Do you think this may be an approach you’ll try?

As I’ve mentioned before, I’m all parenting/wifying/studying/working at the moment. The housework has not been at the top of my to-do list. But this takes its toll on me and I couldn’t ignore it anymore today. So, some more before/after shots for you 😲😲😲

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