New Years Resolutions

Here we go again!

I normally don’t bother writing a list of resolutions as they are broken within minutes of starting the New Year, but I wrote them anyway, just for the fun of breaking rules and feeling like a young rebel again (It’s the young part that you can never get back).

Beginning with the obvious most common resolutions:-

1. Drink less – NEVER!

2. Quit Smoking – Never started?

3. Exercise more - I live in a two story house, so running up and down stairs countless times a day should cover that one. Plus we don’t own a car so have to walk everywhere!

4. Eat healthier – Order extra peppers and pineapple on my Pizza Hut pizzas from now.

5. Win the lottery – I have looked this up, and the odds of actually selecting the exact numbers to win the lottery are 1 in 13983816.00 so I will now let my 5 year old daughter choose the numbers - if the odds are that low it’s not going to make any difference who selects them is it?

6. Travel the World – When I win the lottery, so I’ll have to settle for Chinese and Indian Take-Away, French bread, German Beer and Aussie & Kiwi Wine and visual aids by Google Earth.

7. Write a book – “A BOOK” there…that was easy J

8. Get over 80% in my courses at College - There’s no cheating my way out of this one, so I’m going to have to get my head into the books and study hard! This leads me on nicely to.

9. Reading more – Moving to the UK has already started a healthy addiction to newspapers. But also studying to be a teacher has quadrupled my reading, as I currently have 9 books on the go!*

10. Keep in contact with friends and family more often – I know I promised this one last year and ended up contacting family in New Zealand maybe twice in the whole year, which is very poor on my behalf. But I will try and make a better effort this year.

*Now you know why I like to play mindless games like slingshot Santa and Elf Toss once in a while.

Spinnaker Tower

A festive Spinnaker Tower in Portsmouth December 2007

As you can see I’m not the professional photographer I would like to think I am, but it’s the best I could get with shuddering arms and frost bitten hands!

Spinnaker Tower currently holds top spot on my list of magnificent man made structures, I’ve seen in person. I am not very well travelled, so to some this probably seems quite narrow minded. But hope to travel the world some time soon, although don’t think it will ever drop off my top ten list anyway.

There’s something about this structure that comforts me – I don’t know how to explain it, but whenever I catch a glimpse of her (Of course it has to be a woman – it’s a psychological thing) over the tops of little British brick houses, it fills me with happiness. I’ve even caught myself smiling, after seeing her, when rounding a corner of a building heading to college one day. So here’s to the people behind the design, architecture and construction of a beautiful piece of work…Cheers!

Father Christmas

Who ate my damn pies!!

Everyone knows Father Christmas doesn’t exist! It’s all just a ploy to get children to behave for a month so that parents can have a bit of peace. But they pay for this misconception, as they then have to listen to the children’s demands for presents from this fictional character, which leads to painful blows to the bank account or worse still their moaning and whinging when they don’t get what they asked Santa for, even though they were good!

Either way we can’t win, but continue this canard every year until a child is old enough to join in the deception on younger siblings and later children of their own.

We go through the same fraudulent actions every year, write a letter to Santa and place it on the mantelpiece, then leave a mince pie and alcoholic beverage on the kitchen table. After sending the children to bed and telling them “They have to go to sleep straight away or Santa won’t come!” do we go downstairs and waste some time watching television. Once sure they are asleep we replace their letters with a forged letter from the myth himself ‘Father Christmas’, fill the stockings with the presents hidden in the cupboard, while drinking the rum and eating the mince pie left out, making sure to leave a few crumbs on the plate for effect.

Have you ever wondered though…What if we are making a mistake? What if Father Christmas IS real? It might explain why parents never get any presents from him? Not only is it bloody freezing outside, it’s late and he’s tired, so coming to a house where the parents have devoured his treats is going to piss him off just a little. We are probably lucky he is such a jolly old sole and doesn’t bother coming up to your room, waking you up and telling you what thoughtless shits you are! So spare a thought for Jolly old Saint Nicholas

I am of course going to eat the mince pie and drink the conveniently replaced Strongbow, but I’ll be sure to leave a note on the table telling Santa where he can find some more if he shows up.

Christmas Tree

I prefer a simple Christmas tree – One that won’t cause fits with its many flashing lights!

The best part about Christmas is not the presents, the cakes and sweets (you don’t feel guilty about eating as you’ve been dieting all year), the mulled wine and other alcoholic beverages, the holiday and not having to go to work for 2 weeks – It’s when you decorate your Christmas tree - If you have a beautiful Christmas tree…Christmas will be especially beautiful…

…Yeah of course I’m bullshitting; Christmas is all about the rum filled cake, boxes of chocolates, presents, holiday and easy flowing alcohol!! It wouldn’t be Christmas otherwise (although apart from the holiday that combination could be mistaken for my birthday?)

I do like a nice tree though and am especially proud of myself for having managed to get the one we have, with decorations for only £30! Decorating was a minor nightmare as the baubles didn’t have strings and I had to tie them all on, while the girls put them on the tree and pestered me to put the strings on faster! While fumbling with cotton and cursing myself for not reading the small print when purchasing them I remembered an email I received from a friend entitled “Extreme Christmas Tree Decorating”

Basically you have one bare Christmas tree and a canon loaded with tinsel, baubles and a star…I think you get the idea from there. (I couldn’t get the link to show on here so you could have a go, so here’s something festive I found some time ago entitled “Slingshot Santa” http://www.fetchfido.co.uk/games/slingshot_santa/slingshot_santa.htm - I’ve had 200m let me know if you do better!)*

There are of course other less destructive tree decorating methods. I personally like this one and will be giving it serious consideration for next year, although may need some help to drink and collect up that many bottles!

*You probably think I do nothing but play games and Rubik’s cubes by now, but I assure you I am still studying and looking after the kids, I just like mindless entertainment to stop my brain from overloading every now and again!

School Placement

I have decided to put the last two weeks of my school placement into one poetic blog, although don’t expect beautiful, inspirational poetry from me – I can only do the stuff that rhymes, and even that is questionable at times

I am so awash with excitement I am finding it hard to put the whole experience into words, but here goes…

Week 1

The alarm goes off, I leap from bed.
“Come on girls, hurry up” I said
Its school today, I’ve got to go
But still the girls eat their coco pops slow!
Soon we’re off, and out the door,
Becky can’t keep up anymore,
On the pram, she’s pleased to rest,
My muscles though, curse the test,

Once dropped off, I skip and hop,
All the way to the bus stop,
Just in time phew! Wipe my brow,
Just can’t wait to get there now,
Enter the door, nerves set in,
But pass it off with a big grin,
Down to class, to find the teacher,
A friendly welcome, I’m pleased to met her,

Just enough time to talk,
Before kids arrive, in they walk,
Most are stunned to see me here,
I hope they do not sense my fear,
A year six class, of ten year olds,
I hug the radiator, though I’m not cold,
Quiet is ordered, to introduce me,
I feel on show, for all to see,

They take it well, and class begins,
I shake off stares, with nervous grins,
Reading first, I’m quite amazed,
At how well they deliver each page,
Assembly next, line at the door,
Walk together, down corridors,
Classes stay back and teachers leave,
A bit more time for me to breathe,

Not long though, and back they parade,
After the school rock ‘n’ roll band played,
They’re quite excitable after that,
But go quiet when they hear “Math”,
Fractions into percentages,
Oh god I think, can I remember this?
Thankfully though it comes flooding in,
And help children that are struggling,

Soon its lunch, hasn’t time flown,
Then I realize I haven’t brought my own,
So off I pop to the shops,
For a sandwich, and some chocs,
A cup of tea I get real soon,
As I enter into the staff room,
Again more stares, and nervous grins,
To be invisible now I’d give anything,

Back to class, at a trot,
What was next, I have forgot,
Wood and glue spread across the desks,
Reminds me quickly of bridge building tests,
Some grand designs and audacious drawings,
Soon cause despair when it comes to sawing,
Traffic lights are quickly found,
But the structure’s not off the ground!

Time is up, clean and put away,
Some bridges finished, others in disarray,
Some children have gluey hair,
Others sticky tape on chairs,
They grab their coats and wave goodbye,
The chaos over and I’ve survived,
So after thanks for a great time,
I go home happy and have a wine.

Week 2

The alarm goes off, I leap from bed.
“Come on girls, hurry up” I said
Another day at school today,
But still they moan and yawn away,
We’re off again and out the gate,
And not surprising Becky flakes,
On the pram, she gets again,
My muscles ache from last week’s pain!

The bus is late today, a shame,
My frantic running was in vain,
But off to school I go at last,
I can’t wait now to see the class,
No nerves this time, I’m keen and bold,
Its Christmas activities, I’ve been told,
The school split into fourteen groups,
And set off around the school like troops,

Santa puppets, carol singing,
That is just the beginning
Toy trains, sleighs, drama class,
Plastic windows, stained glass,
Christmas cards and poetry,
More hand puppets look like trees,
Decorations glitter and curl,
Food at Christmas around the world,

So much to do, the day goes fast,
Before I know it’s the end of class,
Thanks again I manage to squeak,
Roll on Wednesday next week!

How to solve a Rubik’s Cube

I couldn’t stop myself from buying one of these when I spotted it in the shops for only £2.99!

Like a child at Christmas I tore it from it's wrapping and began twisting and turning. It has been 3 months now and I still haven't solved the damn thing (I almost wish I hadn’t touched it now!), so have turned to the internet for some help, which brought up this…

Instructions

Pieces: There are three types of pieces on the cube: Centre pieces are located in the centre of each face. Corner pieces have three colours and are located at the corners of the cube. Edge pieces have two colours and are located between the corner pieces.
Faces: There are six faces on the cube. They are defined by the colour of their centres. For example, the face with the red centre is called the 'red face.' The faces also have names based on how you hold the cube: * F (Front) looks at you.* B (Back) looks away from you.* U (Upper) looks at the ceiling.* D (Down) looks at the floor.* R (Right) looks to your right.* L (Left) looks to your left.
Rotating the faces: Note in the following examples that an apostrophe (') means turn the face counter-clockwise. If there is no apostrophe, turn it clockwise. A 2 after the face name (e.g. D2) means to turn the face 180 degrees. It is important to turn the face clockwise or counter-clockwise as if you were looking directly at it. * F = Front face clockwise, 90 degrees* B' = Back face counter-clockwise, 90 degrees * D2 = Down face, 180 degrees
Piece/Square Positions: Sometimes the instructions will refer to a specific piece or square on the cube. The notation is the same, so whether we are talking about a piece or a square needs to be taken from context. Some examples of piece positions:* UFR = the corner piece between the Upper, Front, and Right faces * BD = the edge piece that lies between the Back and Down facesSome examples of square positions:* LFD = the square on the Left Face that is near the Front and Down faces* DB = the square on the Down Face that is near the Back faceEnough talk. Let's get started. Steps
Form a plus sign: Turn the cube so the white centre is on the U face, it will stay this way until Step 5. The goal is to put the white edge pieces around the white centre, so it forms a 'plus sign' on the white face. There are so many ways for the cube to be scrambled that it's nearly impossible to write detailed instructions. Here are some hints instead: Find a white edge first, and then find a way to get it to the top. Don't just rotate faces randomly and hope for it to happen. White edges in the middle layer can be brought to the top in one 90-degree rotation. Just make sure it doesn't take the place of a white edge already in place. White edges on the D face can be brought to the top in one 180-degree rotation. Rotate the D face until the edge piece is directly under an empty edge slot in the U face. Keep white on the U face. This is the most common mistake on this and subsequent steps. Don't give up on step 1! Extend the plus sign to the middle layer centres: Rotate the U face until two of the white edge pieces (two arms of the cross) line up with the colours of the centres in the middle layer. Two should be correct, two should be incorrect. If they are all correct, move on to Step 3. Turn the whole cube so one of the incorrect edges is on the front face, and then apply F2. One white edge should now be on the D face (look at it). Note the other colour of that white edge; this colour is X (it could be red, green, orange, or blue). Now rotate the D face until the X part of the edge piece is directly beneath the X centre; then rotate the X face 180 degrees. Now the white/X edge should have returned to the U face and another edge piece should be on the D face (look at it). The edge piece should have white on the bottom, then the colour connected to it is called colour Y. Now rotate the D face until the Y edge piece is directly beneath the Y centre, and then rotate the Y face 180 degrees. You should now have a white plus sign on the top, and all the edge pieces are above centres of the same colour. Don't forget to keep white on the U face. Complete the top layer: Find a corner piece on the bottom layer that has white in it. Note the three colours of the corner piece. They should be white, then two other colours, colours X and Y. Now rotate the D face until the white/X/Y corner piece is between the X and Y centre pieces (note that we move it between the X and Y centres because the colours of the piece are X and Y). Turn the cube so the white/X/Y corner piece is in the DFR position. From here there are three possibilities for the corner piece: The white square is in the FRD position, apply F D F'. The white square is in the RFD position, apply R' D' R. The white square is in the DFR position, apply F D2 F' D' F D F'. Repeat 4x. If a white corner happens to be in the U face, turn the cube so the corner is in the UFR position, then apply F D F'. Now it is in the D face so you can put it in using the combinations above. After you have put in all four corners, the first layer of the cube should be complete and the colours should match up with the middle layer centres. Complete the middle layer: Find an edge piece in the D face that does NOT have yellow in it. Look at the square on this edge piece that is on the D face; this is colour X. Note the other colour of the edge piece and label it colour Y. Turn the cube so the X face is the F face. Rotate the D face until the edge piece is in the DB position. From here there are two possibilities: If colour Y matches the centre of the R face, apply F D F' D' R' D' R. If colour Y matches the centre of the L face, apply F' D' F D L D L'. If an edge is in the right place but flip-flopped, turn the cube so the edge piece is in the FR position while still keeping the white face on top; apply F D F' D' R' D' R (this is the same as the first possibility above). Now you can put it in using the above combinations. Repeat this step until the top two layers look completely restored. Make a plus sign on the yellow face: First, turn the cube over so yellow is on the U face; it will stay this way until the cube is solved. Note the number of yellow edges on the U face. From here there are four possibilities: Two opposite edges. Rotate the U face until the two edges are in the UL and UR positions, making a horizontal line. Apply B L U L' U' B'. Two adjacent edges. Rotate the U face until the two edges are in the UR and UF positions, making an arrow that points to the back-left. Apply B U L U' L' B'. No edges. Apply one of the above combinations to kick two edges to the top, and then use the other combination to put the other two edges in place. Four edges. You're done. Go to the next step. At the end of this step, you should have a yellow plus sign, just like the white one made in the first step. Complete the yellow face: For this step, blue is going to be your front face. A finished corner is one with yellow already on the U face; unfinished is one without yellow on the U face. Rotate the U face until an unfinished corner comes to the UFR position. There are two possibilities for the corner: It needs to be rotated clockwise (yellow is on the F face), apply F D F' D' F D F' D'. It needs to be rotated counter-clockwise (yellow is on the right side), apply D F D' F' D F D' F'. After you've corrected one corner, the cube is going to look screwed up, but this is okay. It'll fix itself. Keeping blue as your front face, rotate the U face to bring another unfinished corner to the UFR position, then repeat as many times as necessary. After this step is over, the entire yellow face will be finished. Position the remaining edge pieces: Rotate the U face until exactly one edge piece matches the colour of the centre it touches. (If this is not possible, apply R2 D' R' L F2 L' R U2 D R2 and try again. Note that this is the same combination as below.) Turn the cube so this matching edge is on the left face. Now make sure the front edge matches the right centre. If it doesn't, then apply U2 and turn the whole cube counter-clockwise 90 degrees. Double check that the left edge matches the left centre and the front edge matches the right centre. Apply R2 D' R' L F2 L' R U2 D R2. At this point, the cube should be finished except for the corners. Complete the cube: Usually there is already one corner in the correct spot If there are no correct corners, apply the below combination randomly then you should have one correct corner. Turn the cube so this correct corner is in the UFR position. Apply L2 B2 L' F' L B2 L' F L' . This combination may need to be applied twice. You're done. Throw a party.

OR…Get a knife, pick off coloured squares and glue them back on in order!

Christmas Carol Service

Yesterday we attended the Alverstoke Infant School Christmas Carol Service at St Mary’s church. After finding a small pew on the north side of the church we sat down and waited for the service to begin. By the third song I realised we hadn’t chosen the best seat in the house, as we only just managed to see Kate singing, after standing on tiptoes, and pushing right up against the wall to catch glimpses of her behind a column in the middle of the church! I raised an arm every time she looked our way and eventually she spotted us. So all was well…you don’t know the ear bashing I would have got from her if she thought we hadn’t come!

Most of the songs were preformed by the children, but there were a few everyone was asked to join in to sing. Not being the most confident singer I tend to mime or sing very quietly at this stage. And it’s a good job too as mine ended up like this;

Oh Come All Ye Faithful - A revised version for parents at a Christmas Carol Service

Oh come all ye faithful
Joyful and triumphhhhh….(Evil glare at child messing around while singing through teeth)..ant!

Oh come ye, oh come ye, just…sit…down! (In a stern whisper)…ethlethem

Come and be hold…it right there (Still trying to whisper) him
Born the King of Angels

Oh come let us adore him
Oh come back here and sit down
Oh come back here NOW!...him
Christ the Lord

At this stage you drop the leaflet, grab child now wandering off in the aisle, and sit them back down on pew, while muttering and pointing finger at them.
Hastily grabbing the leaflet that has now fallen to the floor you try and catch up with the choir that has already begun the second verse.

…of Angels (making sure not to catch eye contact with children on this word)
Sing in exultat…stop it!
Sing all ye…don’t you dare get down…of Heaven above
Glory to God
In the high…EST (Another evil glare at child and gruff voice)
Oh come let us adore him
Oh come back here by Jesus (now thinking oops should have rephrased that)
Oh…will you just down and be quiet for a minute
Christ the Lord.

Mind of a Goldfish

Whenever I venture into the depths of Gosport, I find myself looking around for houses to let, and inadvertently houses for sale.

We are renting a two bedroom house and, as you can imagine, with three children it’s getting a bit tight. So we need to find a three bedroom (at least) house, to let at preferably the same rate, is near the schools we have now got the children settled into and not too far from the ferry and access to Cosham …a lot of factors to consider, which is why its proving a difficult task*

I, like many people am a daydreamer at times…well a lot of the time in my case! One of my regular daydreams involves house restoration, new builds, barn conversions, interior decoration; landscaping the list goes on. I sit at home pretending to be an architect with my £9.99 copy of 3D Virtual Home Designer, while dreaming about owning the finest home, full of the top gadgets and furnishings**, but alas it is just that…a dream. So I spend a little more time on my virtual tour around my virtual home, asking my virtual children sitting at the virtual table to finish their virtual supper, so I can put the virtual dishes in the virtual dishwasher.

I’ll stop digressing and move on…On my walks I pass one particular house for sale. It’s not a perfect house by far, but my mind still begins running through the check list of pros and cons:

Pro - Location is great for school,
Con - Busy Street outside the front door,
Pro - Many convenience stores nearby,
Con – It’s in heart of Gosport, which is a nightmare to drive into during peaks times of the day.

Walking past houses takes 30 seconds, so I’m already half way up the street by the time I resurface from this daydream debate. At this point I realise I have done this before, and not just once. I’m like a goldfish, forgetting that I have had this very same argument with myself repeatedly! Of course I laugh it off and promise myself I won’t do it again. A little while later I’m walking back down that street and guess what…


* Ironically as I write this I am listening to music and the Bee Gees “Tragedy” has begun playing…the words “Tragedy” and “You’re going no where” being constantly repeated and seemingly emphasised!

**I’m also an avid Grand Designs viewer, which feeds my hunger for a fantastic house! Kevin McLeod you have a lot to answer for!!

Caught up

So that’s about us all caught up on my college experience so far. Just the school placement experience to go - Coming soon!

Week 10

These weren't mine because they are too big!

This is my last lesson at college this year, as we are all attending our school placements for the last four weeks before the end of term, which I should add I’m am very excited about!

Today we studied classroom observation skills, since that is what we will be doing from now. What should be looking out for and how we will relate this to our earlier knowledge of Piaget and other theorists.

Towards the end of the lesson the Tutor stressed that the Journal would be our own, so we have the freedom to create whatever we wished, although pointed out she will know who have and haven’t put the effort into it!

This takes me back to my GCSE project in Agriculture…I started well, planning to compare the difference between red and green cabbage and parsnips and carrots. The idea was to see how different growing techniques would affect their development. Unfortunately the enthusiasm faded, when the garden was full of tree roots and rocks and the fact that not even grass would grow smashed any hopes of growing vegetables here! I think I ended up with 1-3cm long carrots and parsnips and absolutely no cabbages! Sufficed to say my data collection and statistics were slim, leaving me with a mere five paged journal of pictures and a few descriptions of the vegetables (which were stolen from a gardening book!) It was a poor effort and the teacher commented as much at the time.

So with that in mind – I’ll have to pull my socks up this time!

Week 9

Ok class pay attention!

The lesson itself is a blue this week, and I only have a small pile of handouts littering my desk to show that we were actually taught something.

I put this amnesia down to the fact I had to do my presentation today…

Presentation

My presentation is a language game – I have drawn a shape onto cards, (basically a square, a circle, an Isosceles triangle and various others). I want one person to describe the shape on the card to their partner without saying its true name. Their partner has to draw the shape from the description, recognise it and spell the its name correctly Easy you may thing, but this game is designed for 9 year old children, whose language hasn’t developed to the stage of adults and is supposed to enhance the way they use language – Well that’s what I read anyway.

Having waiting four weeks to test it I was fully prepared for the ordeal (in fact I had been waiting so long I had almost forgot what I’d prepared!). For once I wasn’t nervous as I gathered my paperwork and walked to the front of the class. Although my legs were telling a different story, since they suddenly felt like a pneumatic drill trying to break through the floor boards into the room below. Disguising this from the class by stepping from one foot to the other worked for a while, but it moved to my hands and my writing became a squiggly mess on the white board, thankfully no one noticed as it was still reasonably legible.

I managed to compose the shuddering that was now beginning to take over my body, took one deep breath and turned to the class.

“Hello I’m Mrs Loveridge and today we’ll be playing a linguistic game”

“This game was first tested on children of West Indian origin by Wight in 1979 and is suppose to encourage and enhance the use of language skills”

“Firstly I would like everyone to pair up and then I will explain how the game works and the rules”

“I have here in my hand some cards, on the back of these cards are shapes. I want one person from each pair to take one of these cards, look at it without showing their partner, and then describe the shape on the card to them without actually saying it’s name or using visual aids, such as drawing invisible shapes in the air – Then I want that person to write the name of the shape they have just drawn onto their page”

“Are there any questions” “No…right away you go”

Nerves had all but gone by this stage. The shuddering was under control, except for my big toe that was still having a little dance in my shoes.

I walked around the class to shake the last of the nerves off, while checking that no one was cheating and of course to see how they were coping with the task, as expected surprisingly well, but they are mature students after all, so made my way back to the front of the class.

“OK…Is everyone done?” “How did we do?” “Good…Right, You get a point if you drew the shape that is shown on your partner’s card and they get a point for having described it well enough for you to draw correctly. You also get a point for recognising the shape and writing its name and 1 last point for spelling the name correctly”

“Right I’ll take those cards back and give them a shuffle”

“Now we’ll swap so everyone has the chance to get four points, so if the other person from each pair would like to collect a card…when you are ready you can start”

Again I walked around the room – that big toe wasn’t going to give up easily! The class knew what they were doing now so were flying along…maybe I should have asked them to pretend they were 9 year olds - That would have made it interesting? One or two did question the fact that a 9 year old wouldn’t know what an isosceles triangle was. Although I don’t know for sure, I think they will be surprised to know they do actually! As they were finishing up I headed to the front of the class again.

“OK…all done? “Right how did we do…Tally up your scores”

“So who got 4 points?” “Well done and 3 points?” “Good…did anyone get lower than 2 points…excellent – You are all smarter than a 9 year old” LOL

“I’ve got some handouts of the shapes you have just drawn and a few others for some information on the shapes”

“Well thank you for playing and I hope you enjoyed it”

Everyone applauded as we did for the others a few weeks ago, while I quickly returned to my seat. The tutor asked the class for feedback on the presentation…it was surprisingly good! Phew thank goodness it’s over.

You’re probably thinking if she’s such a nervous person giving presentations why on earth does she want to be a teacher? Well for a start it’s different when you are giving a presentation to adults, they are worse than children for criticism, as you can sense the sarcastic tone in their voices. Children are by no means little angels, but they haven’t had as long to work on their sarcasm.* The other problem is not having the knowledge of what I’m teaching – I’m sure if I knew what I was talking about I would be a lot more comfortable in front of a class.

*I recall a piece on Russell Brands, Ponderland television show about how mature children thought they were. One girl was having an argument with her mum about not getting a job and how she needs to be sensible about her choices in life. The girls replied, I am sensible, I’m not like dead yet.

Week 8

A strange morning for me as I’m not my usual energetic self…it is Wednesday after all? My body feels like a piece of metal and the bed is now a huge magnet pulling me down. My eyelids are dragging two lumps of invisible lead, while trying to expose my, sore and hazy, eyeballs to the sunlit filled room. I can barely muster the energy to even reach across ½ a meter and stop the alarm that has been whining away for the last three minutes…what’s wrong with me?!

Eventually the hamster began winding that wheel in my brain and it all came flooding back…I’m not going to school today, even if I wanted to! After a heavy emotional sigh I dragged myself from the pull of the bed and went to check the little spew fountain this morning (If you have been reading in previous posts you will recall the fountain of yuck – my daughter caught a spewing bug and was projectile vomiting all over the house last night!), she was as pale as ever, so it’s confirmed, absolutely no school today, another heavy sigh and I shuffled my feet back to the room to get dressed.

The problem with having sick children or being sick yourself is not just the fact you have a house that smells like spew, you can’t do anything, and you can’t go to school, but you also can’t lay-in in the morning. As much as I would have loved to crawl back into my magnetic bunk, I had to get up and make the numerous phone calls to inform folk we would not be going anywhere today.

While the girls sat tucked up on the sofa watching television my thoughts were with my class, as I still haven’t done my presentation and they will all be finishing there’s today. We didn’t get to present them last week as we had too many debates about boys underachieving and winding up the 4 boys in our class, so ended running out of time.

Maybe I’ll get the teddies out for another practice before next week?