Wishing you all a very Melsh-y Christmas!
Hope you have an axo-LOT-l* fun :)
*Sorry... ;)
Posts
2021 Topic 3: The Creative Laboratory {Topic Intro}
18 hours ago
Tuesday, 25 December 2012
Sunday, 16 December 2012
12:12 on 12/12/12
Of course I couldn't let that special date and time go by :) I decided to make it my 'moment' for Alexa's December Simply A Moment, and here's how that moment panned out...
I get to my papercrafts class just after 12 noon. The term has actually finished for everyone else, but I had to miss a week back in October due to a fracture clinic appointment - thankfully my broken foot only resulted in one missed class, thanks to a combination of luck, determination, an unfortunate misdiagnosis and a perfectly timed 2-week half term holiday! The building is so much quieter than usual without the other students. It also means I can go straight into my teaching room rather than waiting for the previous class to finish up and leave, which makes a nice change, since they're usually running late. I'm pleased to see that the kitchen area opposite the office is not out of action, as I'd been warned it probably would be; it's due to be refurbished over the Christmas break and the manager had told me that we'd probably have to do without hot drinks today. I'll be able to have a cup of tea after all!
I quickly unpack my supplies from my rucksack and double check that I do have everything I need, though it's a bit late to do anything about it if I don't! I pop into the office to pick up my register and check for messages, and to exchange quick greetings with the volunteers there. I return to the room to find that 3 of my students are already here. We chat about the surprising and very localised snow that fell overnight - the students who have travelled just a couple of miles from the south didn't have any, and as our conversation is repeated as others arrive we discover that only those living in the immediate vicinity actually had the snow that lies thickly on the tree branches visible from the classroom window.
I check my watch to see that it's nearly 10 past 12 now. I'm surprised that more people haven't arrived, though I have received 'apologies' from 1 or 2. It does at least mean that there are plenty of supplies to go round, and I sort them into piles for each individual while joining in the discussion about the progress of our Christmas shopping and plans for Christmas food. Class starts at 12:15 so more students are likely to arrive yet, but it's nice to have a small enough number for once that we can all join in one conversation.
I glance again at my watch. 12:12 approaches. There's a pause in the conversation which gives me the opportunity to say, 'Ladies! May I just draw your attention to the fact that it is now 12:12 on 12/12/12!' They express polite interest, but clearly I'm the only one who really finds this special and noteworthy. That's OK, I've marked it in my own small way, and that will do me. I briefly wonder what I'll be doing next year at 09:10 on 11/12/13, or perhaps 11:23 on 5/8/13 (which, as we all know, is the Fibonacci sequence), then turn my attention again to my smaller than usual class. It's time to begin. Let's make some Christmas cards!
I get to my papercrafts class just after 12 noon. The term has actually finished for everyone else, but I had to miss a week back in October due to a fracture clinic appointment - thankfully my broken foot only resulted in one missed class, thanks to a combination of luck, determination, an unfortunate misdiagnosis and a perfectly timed 2-week half term holiday! The building is so much quieter than usual without the other students. It also means I can go straight into my teaching room rather than waiting for the previous class to finish up and leave, which makes a nice change, since they're usually running late. I'm pleased to see that the kitchen area opposite the office is not out of action, as I'd been warned it probably would be; it's due to be refurbished over the Christmas break and the manager had told me that we'd probably have to do without hot drinks today. I'll be able to have a cup of tea after all!
I quickly unpack my supplies from my rucksack and double check that I do have everything I need, though it's a bit late to do anything about it if I don't! I pop into the office to pick up my register and check for messages, and to exchange quick greetings with the volunteers there. I return to the room to find that 3 of my students are already here. We chat about the surprising and very localised snow that fell overnight - the students who have travelled just a couple of miles from the south didn't have any, and as our conversation is repeated as others arrive we discover that only those living in the immediate vicinity actually had the snow that lies thickly on the tree branches visible from the classroom window.
I check my watch to see that it's nearly 10 past 12 now. I'm surprised that more people haven't arrived, though I have received 'apologies' from 1 or 2. It does at least mean that there are plenty of supplies to go round, and I sort them into piles for each individual while joining in the discussion about the progress of our Christmas shopping and plans for Christmas food. Class starts at 12:15 so more students are likely to arrive yet, but it's nice to have a small enough number for once that we can all join in one conversation.
I glance again at my watch. 12:12 approaches. There's a pause in the conversation which gives me the opportunity to say, 'Ladies! May I just draw your attention to the fact that it is now 12:12 on 12/12/12!' They express polite interest, but clearly I'm the only one who really finds this special and noteworthy. That's OK, I've marked it in my own small way, and that will do me. I briefly wonder what I'll be doing next year at 09:10 on 11/12/13, or perhaps 11:23 on 5/8/13 (which, as we all know, is the Fibonacci sequence), then turn my attention again to my smaller than usual class. It's time to begin. Let's make some Christmas cards!
Saturday, 15 December 2012
Project 366: November
A rather overdue look at November's daily pics!
1st: Getting used to having the cast off! Still a fair bit of swelling and bruising :(
2nd: A lovely visit from Ruth and her The Boy Child :)
3rd: A lovely Skype chat with Amy :)
4th: The Tomboy did the reading in church, and did it beautifully!
5th: Fireworks, captured from our doorstep using my new zoom lens :)
6th: First Christmas choir rehearsal of 2012! (Sadly, also the only one I managed to get to :( No Christmas choir for me this year, though I look forward to attending the carol service tomorrow evening at least)
7th: Iris folding with my papercrafts class
8th: Physiotherapy begins!
9th: I managed to get to the theatre to see a performance of The Sound of Music, in which a pupil (the daughter of a friend of mine) played Marta :)
10th: We went out as a family for the first time in weeks! Mexican food at Chiquito's, yum
11th: Remembrance Sunday
12th: Some prep for teaching probability to my Year 6 group
13th: Hooray for online shopping! A batch of Christmas gifts arrived
14th: I made it to a real, actual shop - bought a couple of things then settled in their Costa corner with a gingerbread latte :)
15th: Final preparation for a group presentation on educational theorists as part of my TA course
16th: A much needed quiet day with plenty of putting my feet up!
17th: A kind friend brought round a homecooked dinner for us in a cute Red Riding Hood basket :)
18th: Amy's sermon in church was beautiful - encouraging yet challenging yet supportive
19th: Struggled at work :( But everyone was very kind and looked after me well
20th: A tiny treat to help me through the day!
21st: The physiotherapist was pleased with the progress my ankle had made :)
22nd: Origami with my papercrafts class
23rd: The Asda delivery
24th: My darling The Doctor, engrossed by a football match on TV
25th: Currently (at the time!) re-reading The Lord of the Rings
26th: Got a £5 off voucher for our next Asda shop, yay!
27th: A beautifully packaged order arrived from Julie :)
28th: My final appointment at the fracture clinic, and I managed to get a quick snap of my x-ray on screen!
29th: Lots of lovely people have been helping us out with lifts, particularly with getting The Tomboy to and from school
30th: *blush!* Slightly embarrassed that I won TWO prizes in the raffle at the school's Christmas Fair - if I'd been there in person I'd have asked them to put the second ticket back and draw again, but as I wasn't The Tomboy was all too eager to claim the prize on my behalf!
1st: Getting used to having the cast off! Still a fair bit of swelling and bruising :(
2nd: A lovely visit from Ruth and her The Boy Child :)
3rd: A lovely Skype chat with Amy :)
4th: The Tomboy did the reading in church, and did it beautifully!
5th: Fireworks, captured from our doorstep using my new zoom lens :)
6th: First Christmas choir rehearsal of 2012! (Sadly, also the only one I managed to get to :( No Christmas choir for me this year, though I look forward to attending the carol service tomorrow evening at least)
7th: Iris folding with my papercrafts class
8th: Physiotherapy begins!
9th: I managed to get to the theatre to see a performance of The Sound of Music, in which a pupil (the daughter of a friend of mine) played Marta :)
10th: We went out as a family for the first time in weeks! Mexican food at Chiquito's, yum
11th: Remembrance Sunday
12th: Some prep for teaching probability to my Year 6 group
13th: Hooray for online shopping! A batch of Christmas gifts arrived
14th: I made it to a real, actual shop - bought a couple of things then settled in their Costa corner with a gingerbread latte :)
15th: Final preparation for a group presentation on educational theorists as part of my TA course
16th: A much needed quiet day with plenty of putting my feet up!
17th: A kind friend brought round a homecooked dinner for us in a cute Red Riding Hood basket :)
18th: Amy's sermon in church was beautiful - encouraging yet challenging yet supportive
19th: Struggled at work :( But everyone was very kind and looked after me well
20th: A tiny treat to help me through the day!
21st: The physiotherapist was pleased with the progress my ankle had made :)
22nd: Origami with my papercrafts class
23rd: The Asda delivery
24th: My darling The Doctor, engrossed by a football match on TV
25th: Currently (at the time!) re-reading The Lord of the Rings
26th: Got a £5 off voucher for our next Asda shop, yay!
27th: A beautifully packaged order arrived from Julie :)
28th: My final appointment at the fracture clinic, and I managed to get a quick snap of my x-ray on screen!
29th: Lots of lovely people have been helping us out with lifts, particularly with getting The Tomboy to and from school
30th: *blush!* Slightly embarrassed that I won TWO prizes in the raffle at the school's Christmas Fair - if I'd been there in person I'd have asked them to put the second ticket back and draw again, but as I wasn't The Tomboy was all too eager to claim the prize on my behalf!
Friday, 14 December 2012
Hands free!
Notice anything about this photo?!
Apart from the fact that I'm not hiding as much as usual (but I'm not thinking about that in case I change my mind again and retake it from much more behind the camera....) - look!! No crutches!!
This doesn't mean I'm free of them completely; I still need them for now while I'm outside, particularly if the ground is uneven and/or icy, and I'm still wearing the ankle splint to go outside too, but while I'm indoors I can now get around pretty well without any help :) Hooray!! Real and definite progress!!
Thanks everyone for your kind words of support, sympathy and encouragement throughout this long process. I'm by no means fully recovered yet, and I'm not going to be rushing anything (the last thing I want is to set myself back at all!) but I've come a long way in the last 2 or 3 weeks in particular, and it feels so good to be starting to get back to normal :)
Thanks also for bearing with me during my recent blog amnesty. I'm back now! I picked a fairly arbitrary point earlier today and have tried to comment on any new posts since then, but I've been reading even when I haven't been commenting so I do feel that I've kept up with your news and projects at least :) I must also thank those of you who've been kind enough to send me Christmas cards - I've been completely rubbish and disorganised this year but I will be sending some, just a bit late, sorry.... UK friends, yours might still arrive before Christmas, but a big apology to my overseas friends who will probably be receiving their cards in the New Year now! I mainly blame the fact that I've been unable to get to the Post Office, but actually I've not been able to motivate myself to write the usual lists and keep on top of writing and addressing cards, despite having more time available to do so this year.... So, I am sorry about that x
I've been keeping up with my Journal Your Christmas pages, so I hope to share those with you at some point; I've also enjoyed and got a lot out of the 12 Days of Christmas photography workshop so I definitely plan to show you some of those photos, and my collage of Project 366 pics for November is all set to post tomorrow. It's good to be back! I look forward to getting properly back into the swing of things as soon as possible :)
Speak soon! xx
Apart from the fact that I'm not hiding as much as usual (but I'm not thinking about that in case I change my mind again and retake it from much more behind the camera....) - look!! No crutches!!
This doesn't mean I'm free of them completely; I still need them for now while I'm outside, particularly if the ground is uneven and/or icy, and I'm still wearing the ankle splint to go outside too, but while I'm indoors I can now get around pretty well without any help :) Hooray!! Real and definite progress!!
Thanks everyone for your kind words of support, sympathy and encouragement throughout this long process. I'm by no means fully recovered yet, and I'm not going to be rushing anything (the last thing I want is to set myself back at all!) but I've come a long way in the last 2 or 3 weeks in particular, and it feels so good to be starting to get back to normal :)
Thanks also for bearing with me during my recent blog amnesty. I'm back now! I picked a fairly arbitrary point earlier today and have tried to comment on any new posts since then, but I've been reading even when I haven't been commenting so I do feel that I've kept up with your news and projects at least :) I must also thank those of you who've been kind enough to send me Christmas cards - I've been completely rubbish and disorganised this year but I will be sending some, just a bit late, sorry.... UK friends, yours might still arrive before Christmas, but a big apology to my overseas friends who will probably be receiving their cards in the New Year now! I mainly blame the fact that I've been unable to get to the Post Office, but actually I've not been able to motivate myself to write the usual lists and keep on top of writing and addressing cards, despite having more time available to do so this year.... So, I am sorry about that x
I've been keeping up with my Journal Your Christmas pages, so I hope to share those with you at some point; I've also enjoyed and got a lot out of the 12 Days of Christmas photography workshop so I definitely plan to show you some of those photos, and my collage of Project 366 pics for November is all set to post tomorrow. It's good to be back! I look forward to getting properly back into the swing of things as soon as possible :)
Speak soon! xx
Sunday, 2 December 2012
Blog amnesty
Hello, my lovelies - how are we all? :) I get the impression that we're all finding life quite busy right now - I sure am; as my foot improves I'm able to start doing a bit more again (yay!) and I've also started working on Journal Your Christmas and a photography class with Cheryl Johnson, both of which I'm enjoying immensely :) It means that when I am online I tend to be checking out both class forums, especially the latter as I'm learning a lot from my classmates as well as the class notes. I have however been reading all your blogs - I'm just finding that if I stop to comment then I don't have as much time to read, so in the interests of getting up to date I'm declaring another blog amnesty to maximise my reading time, and I'll start commenting again soon.
To make that fairer, I'll probably take a few days off blogging myself, too - though I'll have plenty to share when I come back, including November's Project 366 pics, JYC pages and (I hope!) some improved photos thanks to Cheryl's class!
For now, here's a quick silly pic, with thanks to The Creative Beast for the link :) Yup, it's me - ish.... ;)
To make that fairer, I'll probably take a few days off blogging myself, too - though I'll have plenty to share when I come back, including November's Project 366 pics, JYC pages and (I hope!) some improved photos thanks to Cheryl's class!
For now, here's a quick silly pic, with thanks to The Creative Beast for the link :) Yup, it's me - ish.... ;)
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