Last Week I Learnt That…#67

• Technology is great but…! We were sent a couple of very short clips of our granddaughter this week. She has learnt how to roll and it was so lovely to see her. Such effort and determination so I’m very glad the technology is there to let us share. Of course, the down side is that we are reminded of the distance between us and how quickly she is growing.

• Putting up the decorations takes longer than you think! Our decorations consist of  a 5 ft tree and some Christmassy ornaments which are placed on our display unit. Not very much at all but somehow dressing the tree takes SOoo long!

• If you see a gift you want to get, buy it when you see it. Hubby left the purchasing and of course it had gone the next day when he went back!

• Letting someone with OCD help with Christmas decorations can try your patience. Yes – this is a hubby story. He offered to put the lights on the tree and as I’m quite short I accepted happily. I said I would do the other trimmings then add the decorations to the tree. Little did I know that I would also have time to cook the tea and write a blog by the time the lights were ‘in the right place’! Bless him!

• Christmas decorations hold lots of memories. We had a lovely hour sitting and remembering where we have got our various bits and bobs.

• I really must take the time to read the labels and instructions on things. Saves time in the long run!

• Christmas lights have a limited life span. We have several set of lights and have been very lucky that they have lasted so long. They are the sort with larger, fewer bulbs which give a really ‘solid’ light. Sadly they are crying out to be replaced now but of course as often happens ‘they don’t make them like that anymore’. Still we will have to be brave next year otherwise it will be pointless putting them up with only a few lit!

How are your preparations for the festive season coming along? Do your lights work?

Last Week I Learnt That ….#63

• Working with enthusiastic people is very energising. I spent a couple of hours with a group of teachers working on 5 Sentence Challenge. It was so good to talk about how children learn and how to motivate them.

• Cheese rolls at 10pm when you are in the middle of adding the scores for a general knowledge quiz are delicious!

• Some people have a knack of phoning at the wrong time. One particular friend always manages to call when I’m in the bath. This week she caught me in the queue to vote for our new Mayor!

• Trying to keep to a routine can be very stressful. We have a set of weekly routines and I know hubby ( with his OCD) likes us to keep to them as much as possible. This week I knew there wasn’t really time to walk into town, have a mooch around, then get back for me to get ready to go to a meeting. We did get it done but rather than the routine helping with stress, I was very hot and bothered by the time I arrived for the meeting!

• Working as a team takes patience and objectivity.

• Time can calm the savage breast. Well, my breast wasn’t savage as much as I was annoyed and upset. As usual, I let rip and folks knew exactly how I felt. I felt a sense of indignation and injustice and was just going to take my ball away so that the game couldn’t continue. However, the next morning, I realized that the one group who would suffer from my actions had not done anything wrong. I will bring my ball back but perhaps only play when it suits me. Compromise?

Quite an exhausting but thought provoking week for me. How did you fair? 

Last Week I Learnt That…#36

• Staying up for 21 hours makes you tired. We went ‘up North’ and really should have stayed over.

• Children exhaust you. I visited a school in Bolton and spent the day popping into classes to talk about 100 Word Challenge. I didn’t have to do anything other than talk to them and let them ask me questions but they didn’t stop talking! I had forgotten what it is like to be in their company and how much energy they each have. I’m still trying to work out how ‘How old are you?’ will help with their creative writing!

• Buying a cheap version of something often leads to more expense. During my visit to Bolton, I gave out some badges I had made. They were stuck onto labels ( I couldn’t work out the sizes to print directly on them) but had used a cheap glue stick. Result? Labels in pieces.

• Wet playtimes never change. As a head teacher I was used to the effect of the rain when children should have been out playing but were consigned to the classroom. Teachers are constantly looking skyward to see if there will be any respite so that they can get that much needed coffee.

• My husband is stubborn. Now this is not something that I learnt just last week but it was definitely confirmed again! As regular readers will know he suffers with OCD (see ‘Rear View Mirror Angst’). This means that he has certain routines that have to be followed. So, with it being Spring (yes, I read it was spring in a newspaper so it must be true!) he has sorted out his clothes. This consists of putting long sleeved tops away and bringing out short sleeved items. Now this is OK in principle when the weather is playing fair and doing what it is supposed to do but when everything it completely muddled it can cause friction. He wore a short sleeved top that was quite thin into the bargain on a day when Noah would not have been out of place with his Ark! Result? Hubby has a chill!

• Planning for a holiday is exciting. Even at my ripe old age the thought of travelling to a new destination is so special. We are off to New York soon (see ‘New York, New York!’)and I’m so excited I can’t start to plan. Does that make sense? You know when you have a butterfly head with so many things to think about. I need to really concentrate and start thinking about packing and where we want to visit.

• Resignation is sometimes the only way to get things done. I resigned my position as Chair of a Federation of schools (see ‘Governors – Friend or Foe?‘). Interestingly, it seems to have sparked some action from other members of the Governing body and the Local Authority so maybe it wasn’t in vain!

A busy week with lots of travel in it! How was yours? Did you go anywhere? 

Last Week I Learnt That…#15

• The striking public can cause havoc. Now, that is probably what the intention of the strike was but I was quite surprised. I thought there would be no buses or car parks open. I knew there would be no schools open but what I didn’t think about was that many of those who were not at work would be shopping! The towns (and I went to two) were heaving! Although there was a fear that the day was likely to have an negative impact I think the economy was likely to be given quite a boast on Wednesday!

• Meal planning does not always work. You need to get the meat out of the freezer that morning otherwise the plan fails!

• More haste can produce less speed. As you know if you are a regular reader, the last few weeks have been manic. I knew they would be so have tried to plan ahead. (Doesn’t always work as you saw above!) We only have need of one car most of the time but when life takes a back seat and I’m doing lots of ‘work’ I need to car. Now again Dear Regular Reader, you are likely to know about hubby’s OCD (Rear View Mirror Angst) so I don’t use the car much but I do like to have a go. We set off with me dropping hubby off, only to realize that in my haste to get him to his destination I had not brought my house keys and we would be returning at separate times. Result? We went back to the house and I was dropped off!

• Every cloud has a silver lining. You’ll remember last week about the inspections? Well have a look here to see how it worked out –The Inspector Calls 

• A ‘Thank You’ can go a VERY long way. Staff were very generous with their thanks after the last inspection so I was completely taken by surprise when one of the male teachers said how he had appreciated my support four days later. Life in a school is busy so the fact that he remembered really made my tummy warm.

So, a better week for me. How was yours? 

Do you look around?

You know how there are gender things? Things that boys like & girls don’t & visa versa? Well in our house it seems to have become a bit muddled! Take cars for instance. Normally a boy reserve. However, my darling OH has no interest in cars other than if they get him from A to B.

When we met I have to admit that I was quite impressed when he said he was a computer analyst. In those days the computer industry was held in high esteem with salaries to match (not that I was after the money of course!). He was due to come & pick me up so I imagined the type of car I thought he would be bound to drive. Something sporty maybe. A nice Peugeot or Renault? It would certainly be better than the clapped out Cortina I was driving I was certain. Imagine my disappointment when he arrived in a really ‘seen better days’ Marina!

Since then we have changed the car several times, even buying ourselves a brand new one. He is a little more interested but not so that you would notice really. However, where his passion (!) lies is in comparing car insurance qoutes!

He used to work for a large insurance company & the discount we got meant it was not worth the effort to look elsewhere. Now that we are retired though, it does pay to look around. I suppose it is also part of his OCD to make sure he has IT (whatever IT is) absolutely right!

What’s it like in your house? Do you look around each renewal date or stick to what you know?

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Rear-view mirror angst!

 

 

 

Rear-view Mirror via Flickr

We are a one car family with two drivers. HE has long legs. I don’t! Most of the time HE does the driving but I do occasionally get to have a go! This means that the seat has to be pulled forward & the rear view mirror has to be changed. Obviously, when HE drives again all these changes have to be reversed & that is where the problems begin!!!