Fab40 foibles

How are your New Year's resolutions going?

 

 

(source)

 

Resolutions?  What resolutions?

What New year come to think about it. I've slipped back into real life so quickly that it's hard to think that this time last month I was a week away from work, whichever way you were looking.

So, while sparing a thought for how all those janupauseries out there will be celebrating tomorrow night, I'd thought I'd take a look at how my own resolutions are faring.

1. Run 

Well I haven't always done the 30km a week I promised this year, it's been hard in the ice and snow. However I've done more than usual and am finding it easier to get out of the door after work. 

If you want to know my total for this year it's on the left-hand bar, down here somewhere.

 

2. Read

 

Not a tough one, I grant you. The resolutions I've probably succeeded the best. I've read seven books this month, two were great - Oryx and Crake  and Bringing up the Bodies, andSalmon Fishing in the Yemen and quite nice with a good ending.

The rest weren't that great, but I reckon if I can read two excellent books a month then it'll be a pretty good year.

 

3. Not drink on school nights

 

This has been ammended to "not drink on school nights if nobody comes for dinner and it's not a friend's birthday" and so included what some might call "drinking" on what could officially be named "school nights", but only to the very finicky out there, which doesn't count...much.

 

4. Cook

 

This has definitely been happening, although I'm not sure it can be called a success, my son has developed an alergy to stew since I got a slow cooker, and I'm the only one eating the soups Iv'e made, from the yumpcious Covent Garden soup book I got recently.

 

5. Say No

 

I've just accepted another translation for the Mali charity I did work for over the last holidays so that will be a big no to saying no. However with the situation out there they probably need the odd yes.

Related articles

...and Hello 2013

... and a couple of extra resolutions!

...and Hello 2013

 

 

 

 

(source)

 

So, as I'm sure you're dying to hear all about my New Year's Resolutions, here they are:

 

 

1. Run - at least 30km a week and improve my time in the Paris marathon this April.

 

 

2. Read - more books than last year, when I read 78 books according to my goodreads challenge, not the 100 I'd rashly promised when I started the challenge, but not too bad I feel. I'll aim for more this year but more about that later.

 

 

3. Not drink on school nights - I think I have made this resolution every year since I left school, and never kept it!

 

 

4. Cook - a new entry into the resolution hit parade and big surprise for anyone who knows me, but as dad bought us a slow cooker for Christmas I feel it my filial duty to use it at least once a week, watch out Nigella – here I come.

 

5.  Last and probably least, just to please my friend Karen, say NO  more often, to which I replied, obviously... NO.

 

 

What about you? Did you keep last year's?

 

If you’re looking for something more challenging than the usual “stop biting my nails and leaving the bits on the passenger seat of the car”, then why not check out day zero project ? It’s a site where people save their lists of a 101 things I want to do before… 

 

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Goodbye 2012

Goodbye 2012

Wow, what a year. This time last year I was thinking about how to make the year I turned forty count. I think I've managed that.

Every, well most, nights when I put the kids to bed we do "best bit, worst bit", and talk about the high - and lowlights of our days. So here's the equivalent for 2012.

 

Best Bits

1. Running a Marathon

One of my resolutions, not just for 2011 but for ever, since I would watch the London marathon with my dad, he so admired those that made it round, I knew I had to one day, to make him proud.

2. Making over 500 euros for charity.

While running aforementioned marathon. Not as much as I raised for the semi-marathon I ran the year before, but it's getting to the point when my friends flinch and subconsciously place their hands over their wallets when I tell them I have another cunning plan. which brings me to number 3.

3. Running with courir...ensemble

This local charity runs with children with cancer, for children with cancer. We raise money to pay for activities, projects, and healthcare when needed. I am very proud, not only of running with them, but also of representing them at a local charity night, where I had to give a speech ( unprepared I might add) in French too. 

It also means I can do my bit without begging everyone for money.

 

4. Training kids & helping to organise the village race

... and  giving out the trophies, especially this one to my son!

The rest...

There have been loads of other fantastic moments, not least my fortieth birthday, starting a local running club, going on my first ever weekend away with a friend and no kids or husband inParis, a great school trip to Seville, becoming a great aunt, spending a wonderful christmas getting to know my adorable niece Louise, etc.

 

The Worst bits

1. Stopping my on-line pychology diploma

Even though, in my defense, an appalling administration error meant I had to restart the whole thing, while half way through my final coursework, I still don't like giving  something up unfinished. 

I don't regret it enough to start it again, it was just too demotivating. I would like to start a TEFL MA however, if I find the time (and money) later in the year.

 

2. Work

While not exactly a "worst bit", I still love my job, the extra hours, new classes, and bigger class sizes meant that this school year has been a manic, and very steep learning curve, with me getting half of my work in on time by the skin of my pants, not a situation that I enjoy.

3. being a bitch

Yet again I have got angry and said really horrible things to people close to me. Things that hurt, a lot. I don't know why, when I'm so controlled at work - I would never, ever say anything to a challenging pupil or a colleague when I want to punch him for example, I can't just learn to keep my mouth shut.

The rest...

I won't go into all the times I've snapped at my husband and the kids, not had time for people who count for me, the speeding fine(s), spending money I shouldn't,  and maybe the greatest sin of all...

...all those books I left half-read and didn't finish.

 

 

 

 

 

The Top five songs I grew up with

 

Back to school means back to all those good habits I told you about the other day.

 

That is why I was just grazing a few favourite blogs in the staffroom when I came across Kate’s new listography, one that had my name all over it, songs we grew up with.

 

I have absolutely no problem finding five such songs, as everyone who knows me knows I listen to the same songs all  the time, adding a couple of new ones every year at the most.

 

The problem will be choosing only five among them, but rules are rules.

 

Number one will have to be ...

 

 

I remember it from Swing into Shape, where I went with mum and her friends, all in bright and various colours of leotards, leggings and leg warmers, enough to give a migraine to any but the hardiest.

 

It was also the final song at the disco we had on the last night of our primary school trip to the Isle of Wight for a week. I was wearing my best outfit – grey and pink striped batwing top, matching grey and pink rara skirt, pink tights and leggings. I looked amazing; to this day I can’t understand why Adrian Cook didn’t declare his undying (and non-existing) love for me on the spot.

 

Number two must be something by Stevie Wonder, or something by Randi Crawford,  or the Beatles.

 

 

 

Not that this was my generation I insist, however whenever my dad was decorating a room, (and it seemed to be a Seven bridge size project) I would sleep on a mattress in the middle of pots of paint, wallpaper and glue.

 

As he would work in the evening I got to stay awake later than usual, reading Swallows & Amazons and listening to dad’s choice of the day on an old tape recorder, flecked with a bluer shade of pale or something similar.

 

Number three is ...

 

 

Already a big fan of the Material girl since I had seen ‘Desperately Seeking Susan’, I would hum along to this at the school disco on Friday nights as my heart broke watching Francis Ktenedis  snogging someone else.

Number four would have to be...

 

 

 

Not because it is a particular anthem of my life but because I still remember it being number one on the chart show that Sunday evening after receiving a fab tape player for my birthday. I sat there for an hour, hunched over the machine of my dreams, turning the tape with split second accuracy.

 

When you listen back to this tape you can hear my bother flush the loo during Bonnie Tyler, and mum yelling me down for dinner while the Phils debated the difficulty of their shared girlfriend.

 

Last, but not least is my hands down winner.

 

 

I was lucky enough to realize at the time that the summer I was 19 would be one of the best moments of my life. My BFF and I ended up au pairs in the same family ( the kids were so tough, our cleaning and cooking skills so crap it took two of us…)

 

The summer was spent swimming in the sun all day and partying with sexy French boyfriends all night.

 

The fact that I’m still with my sexy French boyfriend (and friends with BFF) over twenty years later makes this song extra special, in fact when the local school kids sang it at their end of year show I promptly burst into tears, of happiness I hasten to add.

 

If you want to check out which songs were in the charts at special moments in your life then hop over to Mine of useless information to find out.

 

 

New Term's Resolutions

(source)

It’s the first Sunday evening that’s felt like a Sunday evening for a loooong time, and although the kids don’t start until Tuesday, I’m back at work tomorrow.

 

I quite like my usual Sunday evening routine, it’s very therapeutic after what has usually been a pretty hectic weekend - ironing in front of a DVD, and getting stuff ready for the next morning.

 

It’s the only time I watch films so I can spoil myself,  at the moment I’m  folding my way slowly but surely through Glee, and will be looking out for something new soon, any suggestions gratefully accepted.

 

Along with Mr. Shuester’s antics this evening I also thought about my new term’s resolutions, as this is also a spanking new school year I get to make a few extra ones.

 

I’ll be up every morning before the crack of dawn to walk the dogs before work…

 

 

… I will spend my breaks at work catching up on marking and planning, and not randomly surfing the web with a glazed expression and an instant wipe-clean concentration span…

 

 

… I will go regularly to running club, even the Sunday morning 8am killer one…

 

 

…I will write and blog regularly and not gaze at random rubbish on the net instead…

 

 

… I will be pleasant to everyone I meet, especially at school pick up when I’m absolutely knackered and envious of the mums who have the energy to chat with each other while I avoid eye contact with every member of the human race, including my own children…

 

 

…and this year I will keep every resolution, forever, honest.

 

What about you, do you make resolutions at this time of year? What? And will you keep them?

 

 

5 things Granny could do that I can't

 

(source)

 

The other day I came across survey results claiming that women today can no longer perform certainly skills that were taken for read a generation ago.

So, I’m going to answer the same questions and then invite you to do the same, tag-style.

1. Make jam – no, can only just make a jam sandwich. In my defense I don’t actually eat the stuff either.

 2. Sew a button on – well, I have actually got a sewing box, which I find embarrassingly grown up. I can manage to get a button to stay on a garment using thread, but mostly I use the safety pins to hold race bibs on, or clothes together.

3. Make clothes – my mum used to make me skirts and stuff when I was younger, I’m pretty sure my daughter prefers H&M to anything I could make her, especially as it would probably involve an awful lot of safety pins/ maybe Sid Viscious’ mum had a similar problem.

 4. Knit – my nan used to make me knit dishcloths when I stayed at hers, but it stopped there fortunately. I do actually have a friend who knits pretty groovy stuff, I can always outsource her if needs be.

 5. Embroider – alas, yet another motherly talent I’m lacking, I don’t even sew name labels on my kids’ school stuff, I fine an indelible pen does the job fine.

On the other hand I do have the odd skill up my sleeve that Granny, or even my mum,  didn’t have;

1. Widgets – not only do I know what they are but sometimes, (only sometimes mind) I can even get them to appear on my blog, and I’m not even very techno-savvy.

 2. Change a fuse – In our universe it’s Husband who sits in bed screaming like a proverbial girl while I go & do the dirty work. He’s got in right of course, but then I think about how if we ever split up I wouldn’t have to chop the legs of all his trousers, I could just take out a few light bulbs and flick the mains  switch instead.

 3. Check for oil in the car – or in fact get the bonnet up, after having a car that needed a litre of water to drink every 10 miles (like myself!) I’ve learnt a lot. I don’t think my mum even put petrol in her car herself, when she had one that is.

 4. Run, marathons at that – definitely something you didn’t see very often a generation ago, although there’s a retired lady in my village who still runs rings around me in our village race.

 5. Speak a foreign language – not something any of my ancestors accomplished, well the recent ones that is, the older ones probably had Norse or something off to pat. Useful too, living abroad and all that.

 

So that’s me ladies and gents. What about yourselves? What granny tasks can you manage or not? Let me know in your comments or add a link to your post.

Holiday survival techniques - 5 things to do when your kids bicker

 

The days may be getting shorter but the summer holidays are getting long,so here are some helpful hints to avoid the little angels ending up on the barbecue before bedtime.

1. Go to the loo & take your book – they’re often worse with an audience, if you shut the door the noise isn’t so bad and you can get ahead in your holiday reading.

 

2. Invite a friend or two – dilution sometimes works, and even if it doesn’t you can look forward to the day one of yours gets invited back.

 

3. Head it off at the pass – when they start give them a chore to do, if they don’t work it out and calm down at least you’ll have the dishwasher emptied and their rooms tidied.

 

4. Take the dog for a walk – alone. Depending on their age of course, if they’re old enough nip the dog round the block for a justified breather, my dog is exhausted, I have thighs of steel and they’re still bickering when I get back, but it was a lovely 20 minutes.

 

5. Divide and conquer – there are two ways of doing this, if they have any sibling loyalty then punish one of them quite hard, the other will leap to their defense. If they don’t be really horrid to both/all of them and within minutes they’ll be huddled together moaning about how mean you are.

 

So that’s it for the Do’s, here are a few Do Not’s:

 

1. Do not threaten things that will damage your own sanity, for example banning TV, Ds for the day  or even worse, you’ve heard of the saying “shooting yourself in the foot"?
2. Do not think that tiring them out in the day is the answer, it isn’t. They’ll just be knackered, grumpy and horrid all evening, and so will you.

 

Finally, when things get really bad, imagine you’ve just received a phone call saying they’ve been in an awful accident, and be happy they’re bickering – it’s character building after all, for them of course - not you.

 

How to do something really Big and Scary

 

(source - le dauphiné)

Last Sunday, as tradition dictates, my family participated in the village race. The previous year my daughter and myself ran and this is the second year that I have trained a bunch of lion-hearted kids to smash their personal bests in the children's race, you may detect a little pride here - you're not wrong, you should see these angels fly!

This year both children participated, hubby was marshall and I helped at inscriptions and the bar (fancy that, hey?).

The same people have been organising the race for years, and have rightly decided that they'd done enough, unfortunately as no-one was ready to take the responsibility it looked like the race would no longer take place.

So I volunteered.

I know what you're thinking. I've been having nightmares ever since, my husband shakes his head and mumbles something about piss ups and breweries whenever I mention it. I now realize the reason I was never insomniac was because I didn't have anything to worry about.

Unfortunately the great oracle in the sky, google, had nothing useful to say about my quest, so I've written my own, here it is-

How to do something really Big and Scary

1. Don't panic

2. Write lots of lists - and keep a notepad by the bed ( and the loo)

3. Open a file - computer and physical

4. Start with the easy stuff

5. Ask for help with the difficult stuff

6. Do everything at least a week before its deadline - helps with number 1. too

7. Ask for advice

The race isn't until this time next year so I'm starting with numbers 7  - what do you suggest?

 

10 Reasons to Smile :)

(source)

Having just read Ron Gutman's "Smile : The Astonishing Powers of a Simple Act" I have learnt some amazing things about the power of  a little grin...

1. Smiling makes you happpy.

This may seem pretty obvious but if scientists are talking about it then it must be serious. fMRI (functioning magnetic resonance imaging - pretty coloured brain scans) have shown that smiling modifies neural processing, which "turns on" the "happy parts" of your brain.

2. Smiling makes you run faster.

Smiling helps a more rapid return to the baseline of cardiovascular activity, which in turn boost energy, I don't smile much while running, will try and let you know how I get on.

3. Smiling reduces stress.

By reducing stress-inducing hormones and replacing them with happiness hormones such as endorphins and oxytxin.

4. Smiling helps you skydive.

Yep, it relaxes muscles and helps skydivers hold a natural position in a somewhat tense situation, can't imagine myself smiling while leaping out of a plane but there you go.

5. Smiling helps you live longer.

Michigan University studied baseball card photos and found the biggest grinners lived longer.

6. Smiling increases the length and quality of marriages.

A Berkeley University longtitudal study showed the happiset smiles in college yearbooks translated years later into the greatest feelings of wellbeing and longest-lasting marriages. Whether the thought of your marriage lasting another fifty years makes you smile is another matter.

7. Smiling is good for business.

Waitresses get up to 140% higher tips and clients are more satisfied with smiles. According to Howard Morgan entrepreneurs who smile a lot a more likely to get funding, wonder if that works with payrises??

8. We look more attractive, people think we are friendlier, politer and more efficient when we smile.

Which explains why everyone shouts "cheese" on photos, we all want to look as good as possible when preserving that moment for eternity.

9. Smiles are contagious.

I know from experience this is true, if I walk into a class of grumpies who are wishing they were anywhere else, I pretend to be looking for something for a few minutes, and smile to myself and to anyone whose eye I catch, sloowly the atmosphere changes for the better.

Unless I'm in a bad mood too, in that case I punish the first one to blink.

10. Smiling forces you to concentrate on the here and now.

Which is, according to the gladness gurus, where it's all at.

So, remember...

 

 

If this post has made you smile, then pass it on, here's how.

 

5 April Goals

 

(source guardian.co.uk)

Following the leader, here are my goals for the month to come;

1. Prepare for the Geneva marathon

Which takes place on the 6th May, I'm way behind in training due to illness, work, etc. So now's the time to get it done.

2.Organise our weekend in London 

We're off on Friday, and as well as visiting family I want the kids to see some important stuff they've never seen before, any suggestions?? I also get to sort out what to do with my best friend on "our girls go wild in Paris weekend - 40th birthday edition" for the week after. Again, any suggestions welcome.

3. Read two books

Any books - you know I'm open to suggestions don't you? I'm way behind on the 100 books in a year challenge I'm doing, in my defense I only joined in March, but being late is no excuse is it?

4. Write more

Like running, it's the proverbial mean and nasty circle, being tired and run down means I do less, which makes me feel tired and run down, once I've got started I see it out until the end, and feel much better for it afterwards.

5. Use the holidays as a trampoline to bounce back to work afterwards

Experience has taught me that motivational ups and downs are par for the course, I know after two weeks off (starting now, woop woop!) I will feel much more motivated, after having got over the draining "exams-marking-reports" end of term. I'll need it, next term will be pretty busy and I owe it to my pupils to deliver some fun stuff and help them through what will be a difficult period.