So Kristy, what did you do on your days off?

When I began my Nursing degree I never really contemplated the fact that Nursing = shift work... and the impact that it can have on your lifestyle. Now that we are a married pair of shift-workers, it makes it doubly difficult to organise days off together, let-alone catch up as a couple with our friends. So whilst, Adam and I missed out on going out on-the-town Saturday night, or having dinner with friends on Sunday - because we worked the weekend through - the upside is that we have had Monday and Tuesday off together! So what did we do on our days off?
Well, I have a never-ending, always evolving list of things to do. There is just sooooo much that I need to do, and even more that I want to do. The battle for me, is to stop myself from turning the things that I want to do, into a chore. I think I am very slowly getting better at this.
If you want to get technical, Monday wasn't actually Adam's day off - he finished work Monday morning (Damn night duties!!!), but Bestman Buck was up and hence so was Adam. He chose not to sleep after his shift and instead stayed awake to spend quality time with Bucky before he made his way back to Canberra. Which of course means a whole lot of Marvel vs Capcom, mingled with episodes of Seinfeld.

Whilst the boys did their thing, I did mine. Among other things, I made appointments, had a blood test, filed a years worth of bills and paperwork, and started this year's tax. Here is Leo helping me sort through a years worth of receipts -

At Adam's request (and because I am such an awesome wife), I baked a chocolate mud cake. Sounds impressive, but truth is - it was a packet mix I had in the cupboard.

I had originally bought two of these packet-mixes back in April, to bake Adam a cake for his birthday, but I decided to give him a cheesecake instead...

Yep. That's over 10kg of Jarlsberg - Adam's favourite. Two and half months later, and we are just over half-way through it. Hence, the Betty Crocker chocolate mud-cakes have been in the cupboard ever since.
Being that Monday was a day off, it would have been nice to bake a real cake from scratch, but as I said earlier - I was busy blitzing through my to-do list and wanted to get it done quick and make more space in my kitchen cupboard. 10 minutes at best, was all it took to prepare and mix and get it in the oven.

I really didn't need to use my MixMaster. It was total overkill. But its so pretty and any excuse to use it, is a good one if you ask me. So I poured the mix into the pan and popped it into my dodgy oven and jammed the door shut with a tea-towel.

Set my super cute timer...

...and put the beaters on a plate for the boys to enjoy between battles.

An hour later I pulled the cake out of the oven. Did the skewer test and success! Maybe I am finally getting to know my oven. I let it cool for 10 minutes and come back and it looks really sunken. Please, don't let me have stuffed up such a basic cake.

But I ice it with the pre-made packaged icing in the silver packet. And you know what...it's not bad. Super easy and tasty to boot.

I picked up those flowers from a little fruit and veg store after my blood test. I can't remember what the flowers were called... but they were cute and only $5.50 so they came home with me. They have quite a pungent odor, to the point where I have to move them off the table to eat.

I only have a few vases and none of them were the right size for these flowers. I felt like Goldilocks. This vase is too small, this vase is too big...but unlike Ms Locks, there wasn't one that was just right. So I made do, by tying a ribbon around them to stop them from separating and looking...well...dumb.


My lack of vase options lead me to thinking about some ideas I came across whilst pawing through the realms of Pinterest.
You see, alot of people on Pinterest have an obsession with DIY and I definitely have that in common with them. The result - Tuesday we went thrift shopping! That's American for op-shopping.
We had a bunch of fun and came out with some great little purchases.

Adam instantly fell in love with the retro esky for $15. I remember Rossco having one the same make and colour. The table is retro and more attractive in real life than the picture depicts. It needs a little bit of a clean up - but was a bargain at $12. The table was bought to go with the old TV ($8), which we bought to be able to set-up our Sega Master System and MegaDrive. California Games, here I come.
The rest of our thrifty finds are a bunch of vases in various colours, shapes and sizes; a serving tray and one of the Chronicles of Narnia... All of which I plan to use for DIY purposes. Hopefully, it will all work out awesome and I will be able to show you my success on here!


Adam's just finished cooking dinner. Time to dine. 


Sweet Dreams. See You Tomorrow.