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!