I’m sitting at a table that is not my own, surrounded by people who can look after themselves, looking at treetops and the ocean, listening to the wind and the rain, and loving the buzz of activity around me. I am lucky enough to be in an AirBNB on the Sunshine Coast for two nights with seven other mums and zero children. We all love our kids of course, but we love them even more when we can recharge with wonderful people. We have been here for less than 24 hours, but we have already completed a puzzle and the second one is underway (yeah, we are living LARGE!!), some have taken beach walks (and saved sealife!) we have been out for dinner, cooked a delicious breakfast, spent time and $$$ at an op-shop and have laughed and shared all the things.

How lucky are we? I know we are all so grateful for the people who are looking after our kids this weekend – all 18 of them! – a collective thank you to all of you from all of us!!

So what else? I’ve done a few bits and pieces around my house which has been fun! My study corner was in need of a bit of a makeover, with the blinds falling off and everything looking a little untidy. Before, and after I took the old blind down:

The kids had fun with my desk while it was in the middle of the loungeroom!

And my new blind!!

I put everything back in place, and from the outside, the power cords were really annoying me. Plus while I’m sitting at my desk, I have always been a little worried about what passers-by could see!!! So I found some cool wrapping paper and this was the result!

Such a change, basically zero cost and I’m really happy with the end product. I have a list of things I’d like to do around the house, just little changes that will hopefully make a difference, and this was one of them. Done!

I also made this cake for my friend’s son’s birthday. I’ve been wanting to do one of these “anti-gravity” cakes, but my kids have always wanted characters, so when the brief was “something chocolatey” I took full advantage! Quinn helped as well and I was very happy with how it turned out.

We have a few May birthdays coming up, including Julius turning four (huh??) and Dad’s 70+1. Being up here with a bunch of mums is a wonderful way to start a new month.