Sunday morning

Isn't it staying dark in the mornings now?  It's light now at 6:20-ish but when I woke it was dark and it wasn't so dreadfully early - not for me anyway!  With it being September and with the new term just over the edge of the cliff, not to mention the very chilly evenings, summer is truly over, what there was of it. 

I popped into school yesterday and I'm jolly glad I did as I now feel much more comfortable about the state of the classroom and, in particular, the state of my cupboards.  I might not feel quite so hypocritical now when I urge the children to keep their table boxes tidy.  And I was highly embarrassed when I started sorting the black hole that is called 'under my table' (as in 'just put it under my table, dear') because out came a box which, upon investigation, turned out to be a box of lovely, shiny felt tip pens.  Ooooops!!  They're in their proper place now and will be used.  I also sorted out my table drawers and chucked an awful lot of old stuff away.  Diaries going back years, old notes, pens that haven't worked for decades, etc.  I now have a drawer in which to put the week's sheets rather than having to keep them on my table where they always get lost!  I've set targets for the children for keeping the classroom tidy and I have now set targets for myself, keeping my area just as tidy.  One can dream . . .
And there's three black bin bags full of rubbish!  The cleaners will have fits wondering what's happened to me!  And there will be more to come, believe me!!

Joan, you will laugh at this.  A few days ago, Joan sent me a link to a checklist for the new school year from Flybaby.  Now, Flybaby is American and, my goodness, couldn't you tell!!!  There's no way that particular list would be much use over here except for a giggle or two but the concept - ah, now that's a different idea altogether.  I now have a checklist for the end of each day and for the end of the week, nicely laminated and blu-tacked on the notice board beside my table.  So many thanks, Joan.  I'll let you know.

For dinner yesterday I had the next portion of Hairy Bikers' cassoulet and, if anything, it was more scrummy.  Perhaps partly because the flavours had developed (the rest is now in the freezer but this portion I kept in the fridge), but also because on Thursday I forgot the very last thing which was to sprinkle over some grated orange zest and chopped parsley.  I'm not sure the parsley did a tremendous amount but the zest - oh, my goodness . . .

So - today.  Very last day of freedom.  End of the holiday.  Nice food planned.  Porridge, tortilla quiche and salad for lunch and then soup and a courgette muffin for tea, plus fruit and yogurt, etc, of course.  Sounds good to me.  I hope yours is too!

Friday morning

Last day of the last week of the summer holidays today and the last day of the month as well.  On Monday it'll all be back on the road again (apart from the children - they come back on Tuesday).  I'm getting there with the classroom.  Displays are up, books are out, various rotas are done, order is returning.
My cupboards are dreadfully untidy, too bad to tackle all at once so I have another resolution - to sort one thing out each week.  It could be more than one thing, of course, but not less.  A big thing or a little thing, no matter, as long as it gets sorted.
So today it is things like (checking list) labels on books, sorting out the hymn rota for this half term, tidying and sorting the constructional and other equipment, sorting out a stack of videos someone gave me and tackling my shelves.  Better take some dusters with me!
So I'm nearly there.  With any luck I won't need to go in tomorrow and will be able to come home fairly early on Monday!

I am very pleased to report that the cassoulet I made yesterday was fantabulous.  Absolutely delicious and I could have happily eaten a lot more but was full up.  It's very substantial, containing as it does sausage, chicken, gammon, butter beans and cannelloni beans.  I also added a bit of chorizo (because I had some and love the flavour) and some courgette to the other vegetables and next time I will also add some red pepper to the mix.  It wouldn't all fit into my slow cooker which, admittedly, is small-ish so I took off some of the liquid and added it in the final stage.  There's three stages, the last of which is a simmer up back on the hob after adding the pulses, so it worked fine.
It was definitely rather heavy on the pots and pans, but I would do it all in the same pan if I was going to be at home, which would make a big difference to the resulting detritus.  And really, to be fair, I only noticed the impact because I don't put my non stick pans in the dishwasher!

Now I have to decide about today.  I've dug out an old recipe (from Slimming World, I think) which I remember as extremely delicious and dead easy, called 'Best Ever Chicken Balti' and am thinking about it.  Or I could ring the changes with some salmon baked in a foil parcel - I have broccoli to use up and could roast up some onion, pepper and mushroom or could have a salad with it.  Or I could have another portion of cassoulet - there are five more portions waiting to be frozen this morning.  Oh, I dunno!  Decisions, decisions!!

And I see that a few more recipes from the book have been posted up on the internet.  It'll help pass the time until the book arrives.

Better go and make brekkie and lunch or the day will have gone before I realise it!  Have a good 'un!

A nice, peaceful view from the gardens at Hyde Hall, taken last September.