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In my Monthly Review at the end of August, I stated that I wanted to spend some more time outside. The trouble with this goal is that often I find that the more time I spend outside, the more disorganised things become inside the house.

So I have put together a list of things that I can do outside that will hopefully allow me to balance my desire to be outside with accomplishing household daily tasks.

(1). Fold the washing directly from the line.
I go through phases with this, where sometimes, I will just quickly grab the washing off the line to sort and fold later. Folding directly into the basket is actually a more efficient process as it prevents double handling and the children can play around me while I do this.

(2). Cook outside.
I have done this before with the kids, especially when we make chocolate balls as when they help me, it can get so messy. We have an old school table and chairs on our outside decking that we clean up and use as a work space. There are many other things that we could prepare outside like peeling and grating vegetables.

(3). Eating Morning Tea / Lunch
Now that the weather is better (although today was quite awful and tomorrow looks yuck as well ), it is so enjoyable to eat morning tea and lunch outside with the children. It also reduces the level of mess inside the house that I will have to clean up later!

(4). Play
During the colder months I tend to stick more to inside play activities, but is perfect time to change these play sessions to outside activities. The bonus with this too is that it will work more on gross motor skills, than the fine motor usage required in activities we have been doing like drawing, threading and block building etc.

(5). Computer
I try to avoid being on the computer when the kids are around, but there are occasional times that I need to do stuff when the children are about. I also will work during the day when Possum is at kinder and Babagansouki is asleep. I need to take advantage of the wireless broadband connection that we have and take the MacBook outside and do my work.

(6). Children’s Reading
The daily reading that I listen to after school with the children can be done just as easily outside, as it is done inside the house. A picnic blanket on the grass and making sure that the sun is not in the reader’s eyes and we have a lovely environment for reading.

(7). Christmas Cards
I can easily update my Christmas Card list outside while the children play. I like to make my own cards each year and although I won’t do the actual making of the cards outside, I can certainly write them outside.

(8). Quiet Time For Me
During the children’s nap time in the afternoons, sometimes I will take a small amount of time to read the weekend’s newspaper or have a short rest myself. I find that taking this time to recharge myself actually allows me to be more productive later on in the day. I love the warmer weather and find that it really helps lift my moods, so spending time outside is a beneficial activity for me.

(9). Cleaning and Polishing
I don’t own loads of silver and ornate objects that require specific cleaning, but I do have some that are well over due for a clean or polish. They can easily be taken outside and I can work on them there.

(10). Gardening
This is probably the most obvious activity to enjoy the spring weather, but I am not an avid gardener, so really have to make an effort to take on a task in the garden. To be honest, I tend to leave this stuff for Mr I. The children do love working in the gardening, so need to get into it a bit more.

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