Love my shiny sink...

Love, love, love my sink shiny...

Yes I realise that this is from the Fly Lady... She loves to get people to shine their sinks... The way I look at it is that when a meal has been eaten, it is not the end of the meal so to speak... From this week the boys and I have been trying something much better...

When we finish eating at the table we put our dishes in the sink as normal. We have always done that. Nothing worse than the table cluttered as far as I am concerned... Nice and tidy is how I like it... But now we also do the dishes straight away and then the sink is tidy as well...

This means that when we retire for the night we have a completely tidy kitchen. The peace I feel when having the house all tidy is amazing and would not give that up for anything... The boys love it too off course as they have a calm mum and then in turn they are as well. Win, win situation all round. So needless to say, I love it that I can get up in the morning and there is nothing out on the benches. I love it. :) The boys are getting the hang of it and it is something that I have been building up to slowly as not to overwhelm them... Now to train Russell... :)

Cheers Damaris

Kiss and a Cuddle...

Happy seeds planted, Happy Home grown... I like that :)

For the first day of the month... In this home we don't do the Pinch and Punch. I like to keep it positive and make sure I do it with my boys every month. I do it with other kids as well if I happen to see them on the day... Other kids have now picked up on it and do it with their own families...

At first some people laughed and thought I was being a little on the sad side. Most minds I have changed over time... It is good to be positive and to try and instill that in your children. There is enough sadness and mean things that happen out there I certainly don't want to bring that into my home. :)

Cheers Damaris

Our Family...

Our family...

Here is a photo that was taken by that photographer in May for another school's fundraiser...

This is us right now. :)

Cheers Damaris

Boys being boys...

Dylan and Joshua playing pool and pulling faces...

Earlier this week I did a kid swap with a friend... I got Dylan and Margaret got Timothy for two nights... I love doing these as Timothy just adores Margaret and gets along with her boy James, sooo well. Dylan and Joshua also get a chance to catch up and play together. Something that both kids don't normally get much of a chance to do. Both their siblings have disabilities...

I must admit I felt really bad as I had forgotten Timothy's Mediation so he was with Margaret for two days without anything... But apparently he was really well behaved. He is growing up that's for sure. :) He had a wonderful time there as always and was sad to see me arrive to swap kids back... Lucky for him I got a coffee before we left so he was not so pushed to get out the door. :)

Joshua and Dylan played at the creek and I also took them to see Toy Story 3. We all had a ball. It was fun. I had made dinner earlier in the day as the movie was on at 4:45pm so we only got home just after 7pm.

Both nights the boys were good with going to bed as well and slept all night. They got along really well this time which I am happy about too... I can see though that they are very different... It is really starting to show. They are both 11, with two days separating them but they are certainly very individual, which off course is a very good thing...

One thing that they did love doing also is playing pool... Boy did Joshua get flogged. hehe
I was going to challenge them both as I am soooo good at it myself. (Not) but ended up running out of time. Never mind, there is always next time...

Cheers Damaris

When is it gonna get done???

Can't wait till these are up and being used...

Hopefully this weekend I will finally have a towel rack, two toilet roll holders and a couple of hangers for hand towels... I can't wait. :) And they are Stainless Steel too so won't rust. Yay!

I got this set from IKEA but didn't realise till last weekend that it doesn't come with any screws. This means that we have to get some from town on Friday... And all three have a different size requirement... How silly is that. :(

Never mind. After living here nearly 3 yrs I want them up and being used... About time don't you think? I do...

Cheers Damaris

Just the three of us...

A Symbol, My two sisters and I, there for each other, always...

My sisters are very, very important to me... Don't get me wrong I love my brothers just as much but there is a very special bond that Tina, Lis and I have and I am very proud of that... Not many sisters have that from what I have learnt over the years...

This is a statue that Lis gave me when she was first moving to London all those years ago, seven from memory... It has been broken but she mended it again. It has always come with me from house to house having a place of pride on a shelf.

This house is no different. I love this statue and I love that there are three of us in it... One for each sister. :)

Cheers Damaris

Ohhhh I am sooooo relaxed...

Lovely Anthea at Sherwood Forest Park... Oh what a picnic lunch. Divine. :)

View from the back gate of her unit...

An Oriental Lilly starting to open up...

I have just come home from spending the day yesterday and most of today with Adam's mum Anthea. Oh what a treasure she is. I had the most lovely time. It was soooo relaxing. I loved going for our little walks and loved seeing Sherwood Forest Park again after such a long time. Allot has changed. Allot has not...

I must say I find her most fascinating and we the only time we didn't chat and giggle is when we were catching our breath. It was fabulous...

Again Thank You Anthea for having me. I had a wonderful time. I hope you did too. :)

Can't wait for the next time. :)

Cheers Damaris