Target Tuesday

Very cold, dry and frosty.  That's what I noticed when I opened the front door just now.  Thankfully, indoors is warm and cosy and filled with the good smell of freshly baked bread from the breadmaker that has been working its usual magic overnight.  It was white bread this time: recently I have been making a wholemeal/granary loaf but decided I needed a change.  As half of last week's loaf got thrown away, having not been eaten and gone mouldy, I think I will freeze half of this week's, just in case.  I don't get through a whole loaf if I don't have sandwiches for my school lunch.

Marking five year old writing has its plains and pleasures.  The main pain is not being able to read what they've written - I can't make head nor tail of 'bolylsholawa' although I think the 'awa' means 'away', but without finger spaces how's a teacher to tell?  Even in context of the whole sentence it means nothing . . .

But the delight of the whole bunch was this.  Remember the context - the wolf writing a letter of apology to the three pigs, explaining what really happened.
 . . . and I went to the lrst (last) house wiv brix and I bleshchood and I fand my slf on the roof . . .
Must ask mum if they always call sneezes 'bless yous' in their family!

I've remembered.  It's Target Tuesday.  So how have I done?  Well, seeing as I didn't set any last time, no comment, but here's the new ones.
1.  Work on the new Flylady baby step - fifteen minutes of decluttering a day.  Now, I'm realistic and I doubt I will manage that, so I'm making it five minutes of decluttering each week day and fifteen on Saturday and Sunday.  That should make a considerable difference to things which is what it's all about.  Because it's just me, if I tidy up as I go along, surface clutter doesn't happen all that much so we're talking cupboards, drawers, wardrobes, etc.  And that's big job stuff!
2.  Keep up the shiny sink and the swish and swipe, with all that is involved in this.
3.  Get my clothes ready the night before.  Actually, because I'm on top of the ironing right now, that doesn't look too challenging, and I want it to stay that way, so now is a good time to develop that habit, isn't it?  While it is easier to achieve.

Fingers crossed!

Monday morning

I've woken to a very chilly but dry day.  Yesterday's mist seems to have vanished so perhaps we will get some sun today.  I do hope so, it's been rather dull for much of the time and sunshine cheers everyone up, even if it is freezing cold.

In Flylady world, which I hop in and out of, February's baby step is fifteen minutes of decluttering each day.  My goodness, if I managed that - if I managed even HALF of that - my house would be radically changed.  I must ponder on this one.  This month's baby step, shining my sink, is pretty well established now so I could move on.  I've not got into the zoning thing because that seems to assume a stay at home mum (sorry, I mean stay at home mom).  I do what I can, when I can, gradually building up the whole routine thing . . .

I don't think anything special is due to happen today.  This may be Famous Last Words, of course . . .

Every now and again . . .

. . . I find myself in the right place at the right time.  I'd meandered into Facebook when I saw a message from a 'page' I like with a hint that if you lived in Chelmsford there might be freebie cupcakes.  So I clicked on the link (out of curiosity more than greed, honest) and posted a message and was the first to post so won four cupcakes.  I had to go and collect them but it wasn't far away and they do look and smell good.  I'm keeping them for playtime tomorrow so I can share them with June and our two TAs.

The lunchtime frittata was delicious with salad and coleslaw and I heated up some lasagna for DG because he doesn't like frittata.  I've got two slices left for the week ahead, so they've been vacu-packed to keep them fresh and good.  Then I stewed some plums and made plum crumble which was just the thing for a cold, cloudy day.  After lunch, I am ashamed to admit, I fell fast asleep in the recliner and woke just as DD was leaving.  It's just as well she knows what I'm like!  And I'm good and ready for bed now, with all the planning done, printed and ready for the new day, the dishwasher emptied, everything put away, the kitchen wiped over and a shiny sink. 

It's nearly the end of January and I don't know whether I am proud or ashamed to announce that for the first time ever my house has been tidy AND clean for the whole month.  It's not habit yet, but that desirable state is getting closer, I think.  Maybe I am heading for a tidy retirement after living my working life as a messy slob.  Time alone will tell!

Sunday morning

. . . and I had a lie in - for me, that is! It was past five when I woke up and I slept well all night long. Excellent!! I think the two good long dozes I had yesterday helped me to stay up until ten yesterday evening, which is unusual for me. Looking out, it's jolly cold today and misty too. I can't tell if there's any frost yet but I suspect not, although there may be a little ice on the cars. It's nice to get some proper cold though rather than slightly muggy dampness.


I had a bit of a worry yesterday. I thought my PC had gone doolally. It wasn't letting me into Facebook, Googlemail and sundry other places and my AVG wasn't updating - eeek. It wasn't until the evening that I realised that somehow I had reset the date to 28th February and various sites weren't happy about it. I only noticed this because I wanted to do an anti spy-ware check and it told me I hadn't updated for 29 days, which I knew was quite wrong! :0) So the date was reset, I went to bed with the spyware running and this morning everything is back to normal again. Phew.

I got my steam cleaner and I'm very pleased with it. Goodness, there's a lot of choice out there but in the end I went for Lakeland's own make which is much cheaper than the others (hardly cheap though!) but which had great reviews despite some limitations. When I got home I had to try it out, of course, and am very pleased with the results. The relevant floors are now nice and clean and it took very little effort - the most energetic bit was carrying the thing from one room to another. The main disadvantage is that there's a few bits in the bathroom and loo that the steamer can't get to, but I think I can survive going over those little bits with a wipe!

While I was in town I also went into Wilkinsons to get a radiator drying rack. I have one over my bedroom radiator to dry my bath towel on each day, but it is very old and the plastic coating is now flaking off. That's now in the bin! It was so cheap I can't see it lasting for ever but we will see. If it goes ridiculously quickly I will look to spend more next time. I'm now thinking of getting a couple more for downstairs. I like ironing things like tea towels, pillow cases, muslins, hankies, etc, from damp as they iron so quickly and easily but then they need draping over the radiator to dry off and air. A couple of little racks would be just the ticket. I need to work out where I will store them first though.

After doing all the ironing I could and draping DDs washing on the drying rack (her machine is on the blink), I realised I hadn't done a de-clutter yet this weekend. I wasn't in the mood for anything major so I got the baskets down from the bathroom and went through them, discarding old stuff and wiping over everything. There was so much rubbish at the bottom of one basket it was ridiculous. Now I have loads of space and the jars and bottles that were clustered around the bath itself are neatly in a basket on the window ledge. I have a tiny bathroom so it doesn't take much to make it look messy and it's going to make it a lot easier to clean too!

Today DD and DG are coming. I think I will do a nice frittata for DD and me and DG can have a portion of lasagna that was vacu-packed and frozen a couple of weeks ago. I'll add some grated cheese on the top as it reheats and it should be just the thing for him. I don't normally do dessert but I have some plums that are rather 'over' so I may stew them and have them with custard and maybe a crumble topping, if I'm feeling very energetic.

Well, better get going. There's a dishwasher to empty and breakfast to make and it won't get done while I sit here, will it. Have a good day.

Saturday morning - very early

Typical Saturday morning start.  I'm down early, will have coffee and something to eat and then have another sleep.  I should then wake at around seven which is civilised!

Today is a nothing day, a stay at home and relax day.  There's the housework, of course, but that can be done Flylady style in short bursts.  I don't need to do a food shop this week as I bought a few essentials yesterday.  I am going into town though because after much pondering I am buying myself a steam cleaner.  Just a basic one for sealed floors, nothing more than that.  You see, I'm none too fond of hands and knees scrubbing and ordinary swishy things don't seem to really do the job.  I don't have complicated floors, just lino or tiles.  So I reckon that if I can't treat myself to something like that at my age, then it's a poor show!  I even have somewhere to keep it!

The coffee is ready, I can smell it, so off I go.  I love coffee in bed, it seems so self indulgent.

Friday evening

I wasn't going to post again today but it's been quite a day, one way and another.  I wandered into school a bit later than usual to find a bit of a mini-crisis going on.  Rather a lot of staff away for various reasons, all with supply sorted beforehand (thank goodness) and then one of my team who turned up and went straight back home again - she has, I think, what I had, and she really should not have even attempted to come in.  I am glad she lives locally so didn't have too far to go home.  The problem was that the teacher who organises supply (my co-coordinator in KS2) is not in on Fridays and the office staff, who would usually know, hadn't arrived either.  Then I realised that the head was out most of the day and the deputy was off unwell too (it's the term for illness, isn't it?) so guess who was in charge of the school!  Yup, that's right.  Definitely NOT what I went into teaching for!  Ho hum!  It does make me appreciate the skills and courage of those who do become heads though.

Fortunately, lovely supportive office lady turned up, knew who to phone and did so, bless her.  Lovely supportive Y5 teacher, who has a student at the moment, was able to do registration for class without teacher and was brilliant (but then he is a brilliant teacher, full stop, and should go far).  Supply turned up and took over.  Mini-crisis ended.  I'd have taken the class myself but I was booked with performance management stuff all day! 
Now I must make sure that I have the details regarding supply teachers in case it ever happens again!

Apart from two Bad Boys (not so bad really) at lunchtime, things were as smooth as they usually are and I was able to get all my meetings done and dusted.  I was able to use the Head's office, which helped a lot.  It was really good to catch up with people, especially K, who worked in my class last year and with whom I got on so very, very well.  We share the same quirky humour and the same heart for troubled children.  I miss her . . .

I can't go into any details here, but at lunchtime something happened which was a HUGE relief for me and over which I have shed many a tear since before Christmas, not to mention flash-backs and nightmares.  I am so glad now, so grateful and thankful.  What a great start to the weekend. 

And the mini-Mantle of the Expert was a fantastic hit too.  Thanks, Andrea, you're a star!

Now it's the weekend.  Nothing much planned apart from some Lakeland retail therapy and the usual and much enjoyed Sunday lunch with DD and DG.  Isn't life great sometimes?

Friday morning

What an interesting and encouraging day it was yesterday.  J and I started off with no great hopes: it was time for the so-called and dreaded 'unaided writing' where the children have to produce a piece of extended writing (after suitable preparation, of course), which is then assessed against a levelled marking grid.  We've not asked them to produce much in the way of extended writing before so we were a bit apprehensive.  However, their efforts and the outcomes both delighted and surprised us.  We must be doing the right thing in literacy lessons after all!
It was a fun subject based on what we've been doing for the past two weeks.  You have to take on board that the Big Bad Wolf (from the Three Little Pigs) was a totally misunderstood character.  He never meant to upset the pigs, he couldn't help damaging their houses but they were so fragile (Materials and Their Properties!!) that they just fell down when he knocked on the door/sneezed.  As for the third house, when you sneeze so hard that you land on the roof, what can you do but climb down the chimney . . .?
Anyway, the task was to be the wolf and write a letter to the pigs saying sorry, explaining what happened and saying what nice thing he was going to do to make amends.

There were lots of funny moments in their writing but the one that amused me the most was what two or three did.  On the whiteboard I usually write my WILFs - What I'm Looking For - in a little list under the heading WILF.  Two or three letters ended up with 'Love from the Big Good/Nice/Friendly/something similar WILF'  Ooops!

After school it was Mr Skittleman.  Mr Skittleman is basically a local party entertainer chap who is brave enough to head up events involving nearly the whole of the Infant department.  It is run by our Friends of the school association and is very, very noisy indeed.  I'm surprised the hall roof didn't fly off.  When I left they were having a dancing competition with Y1 jugging around and the other two years watching and cheering.  Oh, my!!

Today should be good too.  It's a mini-Mantle of the Expert day for Y1.  Teachers will know what that is, or you can Google it.  They are going to be a house design company and they will receive a letter from the wolf asking them to help him design a house for the pigs because, of course, there are three of them living in a house built for one so it's all very difficult and, because he feels responsible, he wants to help them.  As it's my SEN day and I'm leading performance management, I won't get to see much of the fun at all.  Ah well!

And finally - it's cold outside again.  There's a heavy frost which is quite a surprise after the mildness of yesterday.  Wrap up warm time.