No photo hunt for me this week, the theme is antique and I don't have anything you could even vaguely class as antique! So here is something completely different; I saw these on Lisa's blog, it seems hard to believe but these are pavement drawings, aren't they amazing? They are drawn by Julian Beever, go and have a look at his website.
My computer chair is looking rather broken!
Its terrible, I have to stay home for another day in my nice warm flat! Still lots of snow around and lots of ice too, so all the schools round here are closed again today. What shall I do with myself? I suppose I should be doing my marking but I hear my knitting calling to me!
Update at 9:45 am : Its snowing again!
Sadly my school is closed today and I have to stay at home, I am so upset!!!!
Here are some views from my flat:
I think the trees look lovely in the snow.
Here's a logic problem for you: on Sunday we have a baptism at church, our minister is recovering from a broken wrist and I am a deacon. Can you work out the solution? I'm feeling very nervous, I never imagined I would ever be "dunking" anyone, what if I do it wrong?
Would you like to support your favourite charity by surfing the net? Everyclick is a search engine which donates money to charity every time you make a search, if you register you can even choose the charity where your money goes. Why help Google rake in the cash when you could be helping a good cause? Go and have a look, it sounds like a great idea to me (and it was the brainchild of one of our ex-teachers!). See a video all about it here. Please tell all your friends and colleagues about it.
Its turned cold here in the UK, winter has properly arrived, but I'm ok because I am wrapped up warm in my scarf and hat which Mum knitted me at Christmas!
I don't think these pigeons are particularly wild, in fact they are very tame,
I couldn't let my sister have all the fun so now I'm knitting a jumper! Sadly annoying things like marking and meetings have been getting in the way of my knitting time, but I've now finished the back and am feeling rather proud of myself.
This week is turning out to be busy and stressful! On Monday we had a staff meeting with the governors to discuss details of the merger and necessary staff cuts, which inevitably left us all a bit depressed. Yesterday was the first of the parents forums, when the parents have the chance to ask questions of the governors about what will be happening to their daughters, to help them to decide what to do next. We have been encouraged to go along to hear the parents concerns so we are better informed about how they are feeling. It was actually quite encouraging to hear the compliments of the parents on our current school and how good they think the staff are, but not so good to hear how worried some of them are about the future education of their daughters. To top a stressful week, I have 2 AS Accounting exams tomorrow morning and I had forgotten just how scary taking exams is! Why on earth did I think doing an A level would be a fun thing to do?!?! I've been doing some last minute revision but I have to say I'm not feeling too confident. If I don't do too well I have already decided that I have a perfect excuse of all the recent stress and meetings! I'm remembering all the usual things I say to the girls about "only doing your best", "stay calm and don't panic" and "if you've done the work you'll be ok", but its not really helping too much. I'd better get an early night so I am fresh and raring to go in the morning and hope the "right" questions come up!
Well, we are now in 2007 and no one knows what this year will hold. What I do know is that in this year I will face a lot of changes. In September my school will be merging with another so everything will be changing. There has been a lot of debate amongst staff, pupils and parents about whether this will be a good thing and obviously this is not the place to raise such issues but it has meant we have all had to have a good look at the future. Whether we like it or not change is coming!
It is time to make choices: stay and deal with the changes, find a new teaching job or take this opportunity to try something new. It would be good if there was a nice easy choice but to be honest all these options will take hard work and courage (I really don't like interviews!). I really wish God would speak through big neon signs, I could do with a very clear sign what to do next!
On Sunday night the preacher spoke on the prayer of Jabez, now I have heard of this before but have been wary because of the hype about it in certain circles. However this week it really spoke to me:“Oh, that You would bless me indeed, and enlarge my territory, that Your hand would be with me, and that You would keep me from evil, that I may not cause pain!” 1 Chronicles 4 v10 (NKJV)
It is slightly different in the New King James version to other places I have read it but I think I like this version best. Maybe all the changes happening are God's way of enlarging my territory, which I actually find quite scary, I like a small familiar territory!
I think I need to hold on to this verse from Jeremiah:"For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." Jeremiah 29 v11 (NIV)
Do you love Christmas TV? Yesterday was a good evening, the long awaited Doctor Who, Strictly Come Dancing and the Vicar of Dibley! Long live the BBC! What was your favourite? I'm a big Doctor Who fan but I think the Vicar of Dibley might have been the best show, I was crying with laughter.
I found this on Lisa's blog. If you really want to get into the the christmas spirit listen to this version of "O Holy Night", I guarantee you'll be feeling good afterwards! (Keep listening to the end, that's the best bit!)
Dear Lord,
At this Christmas time we thank you for sending your son into this world for us. You could have sent Jesus in a blaze of publicity into a rich and powerful family to be a mighty king, but instead he was born into an ordinary family and into the most humble of circumstances. We thank you for Mary and Joseph and their willingness to be part of your plan for your son. Help us to remember that you are interested in the ordinary people, that we all have a part to play in your kingdom and that we can all be used to bring glory to your name, no matter who we are or what we have.
Mary and Joseph found themselves in difficult circumstances, having to make the long journey to Bethlehem and then finding nowhere to stay. We bring before you now the difficulties and trials in our lives and we pray for your strength. Help us to remember that in all things you work for the good of those who love you and that you will bring us through our problems. We thank you for your faithfulness to us.
As they looked at their newborn baby it must have been hard for Mary and Joseph to grasp the impact their son was going to have on the world and people’s lives. We think of their joy and happiness and their simple faith in you. We thank you now for all the good things in our lives, our families and friends, we thank you for the time we can spend with them at this time of year and for the joy they bring us. We don’t know what the future holds but we pray that we will trust in you and your unfailing love for us. Even when we can’t see how things will turn out we can know that you have a plan and purpose for our lives.
Help us not to forget that the little baby in the manger grew up to die upon the cross, to be our saviour and Messiah, a light to the world, so that we would no longer walk in darkness and sin but would have the light of God’s love in our lives, the hope of eternity spent with you and the joy of knowing our sins are forgiven. We thank you and worship you for your wonderful love to us all.
Amen
I saw this on Teena's blog.
| What Kind of Reader Are You? Your Result: Dedicated Reader ! You are always trying to find the time to get back to your book. You are convinced that the world would be a much better place if only everyone read more. | |
| Literate Good Citizen | ! |
| Obsessive-Compulsive Bookworm | ! |
| Book Snob | ! |
| Fad Reader | ! |
| Non-Reader | ! |
| What Kind of Reader Are You? Create Your Own Quiz | |
Isn't it annoying when people refuse to have their photo taken?
I made it to the end of term! I know it says 365 days left on my ticker but honestly today was the last day of term. It has been a dramatic end of term in two ways; firstly lets just say we had news of lots of changes coming up at school that I don't think I should really talk about here, I think its going to be a hard year but we will get through it. Secondly we have "play-in-a-day" on the last day, no details are given out until the morning and then each of the houses has to perform a play, a dance and a song in the afternoon. This year the plays were based on Roald Dahl's Revolting Rhymes which meant it was very funny, if you have never read them I recommend them. My house got Cinderella, it wasn't quite the disney version though, Cinderella and Prince Charming don't end up together in Roald Dahl's story! Sadly my house didn't win but we did get a prize for the best costume. Anyway the girls were great and we managed to have a fun end of term.
Just realised how long it has been since I last posted anything. A couple of days after the last post I succumbed to a horrible flu type bug and got sent home from school and took to my bed for a while. People who know me will know I never take time off ill but I guess we all have to give in sometimes and accept that you can't keep going all the time. I ended up missing the staff karaoke final, which was a big disappointment (I would have won!), but at least we managed to raise over £600 for Children in Need. Since then we have had the mock GCSE exams, which I was in charge of, so I have been kept really busy, but only a few days until the end of term!
No one mentions in teacher training one of the requirements of a teacher is to be willing to make a fool of yourself in order to entertain the students or to raise money for charity. Over the years I have been involved in various quizzes, competitions and plays. I try to organise something for Children in Need each year and this week we are having a staff karaoke competition! We are using the SingStar game for the PS2 and at break time each day this week 3 duos or groups get to sing the song of their choice, in front of a crowd of eager pupils, trying to earn the highest score. So far it has been great fun (possibly helped by the fact that I am leading at the moment!) and we should raise a high total for a very good cause. We have the final on Friday, when the top 3 scorers will battle it out to be SingStar Champion! It has been interesting to see the competitive spirit of some of the staff and the ones that, although usually willing to do silly things for charity, won't do singing (no matter how hard I try to persuade them!). I'll let you know how the final goes, but it has been suggested I shouldn't be allowed to win because I've organised the competition. :-(
Here are my gorgeous niece and nephew (and sister). There is 4 years between the two photos, aren't they looking grown up now? A lot of growth has happened between these two photos, I can hardly believe they are both at school and Ben will be 8 at Christmas!
What a great way to waste a couple of hours, change the look of your blog. Then realise it doesn't look like you planned and have to try to sort it out. Then, just when you think you have it sorted, you have a look at it in internet explorer and its all over the place. Then blogger decides it doesn't want to save ... Fun fun fun!! Hope you think it looks ok! :>
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This is the view through the window in the floor at the top of the Spinnaker Tower in Portsmouth. If you look closely you can see past my feet to the people below!
