Monday 10th August

Jamie's Friend Comes to Play


Jamie's friend G came to play today, he is from Jamie's old school and is a super little boy, they kept themselves so busy I hardly even noticed they were here playing. Later T and J joined them and they were all playing with each other so well, off to the park, playing on the xbox, back out to the park. At one point they were Guitar Hero Metallica (ing) and all my cushions became the drum kit, great imaginative play!!

I have been getting on with my PTLLS assignments. There are 7 theory assignments, the first and the last are the bigger assignments so Idecided to try and get those out of the way first. Today I've been working on the roles and responsibilities of a teacher and feel as though I have just about cracked it so I'm getting it wrapped up as best I can today and then I can drop the first two off tomorrow. I guess for me for the next couple of weeks it is very much head down and working on this course work. Hopefully I can fit a bit of fun in somewhere along the line too!

Everything else, just about has been left to Mike to look after, I have been very blinkered with what I am doing, and he is coping very well, I'm lucky!



Ciao

Sue

XX

Reading challenge 7/16 - currently reading Controversy by Dillon Burroghs
Jamie's Reading challenge 2/12 - currently reading Astrosaurs by Steven Cole
SLYMI - 1/52

Sunday 9th August

Fairly simple day today, some cricket, some assignment, Jamie out playing a lot and all the usual stuff as well. Today would have been my Dad's 97th birthday, we had a complex relationship sometimes but we both loved cricket and he used to get so worked up when they were not doing well and of course he loved Boycott, Trueman and any of the Yorkshire players! He took me to Headingly, the Oval and Scarborough to watch matches and I saw some of the greats of the time, such as Botham, Viv Richards, Lillee, Rod Marsh and loads of others and they are happy memories.

Ciao

Sue

XX

Reading challenge 7/16 - currently reading Controversy by Dillon Burroughs
Jamie's Reading challenge 2/12 - currently reading Astrosaurs by Stephen Cole
SLYMI - 1/52

Saturday 8th August

The 4th Test Match is on at the moment, and for me that is a really big distraction. I've said before I love cricket and I love The Ashes particularly, so I have been watching quite a bit of the cricket. Jamie has been splitting himself between playing with L on the computer via the telephone and with T and J who came round to play with him and they have been scootering around between each others houses and the park, having tons of fun.

I've made a start on my next assignment, but the cricket is a big draw away from it at the moment - ah well there's always tomorrow.

Ciao

Sue

XX

Reading challenge 7/16 - currently reading Controversy by Dillon Burroughs
Jamie's Reading challenge 2/12 - currently reading Astrosaurs by Stephen Cole
SLYMI - 1/52

Friday 7th August

Activity Land

The kitchen is largely finished now, with only a few bits a pieces to go back up on the walls and it looks good, Mike has worked really hard and done an excellent job. I'll get some photos up as soon as I can. We (well I) decided I wanted to move a couple of things around and so we did that today, I think it works. The magic triangle (cooker, sink and fridge) you're 'supposed' to have in the kitchen is smaller now, as we've moved the fridge and freezer, so we'll see how it works. I guess we'll be going for stuff in the old place for weeks now and trying to put the milk away into the dresser. Some pictures will follow, when the pictures are back on the wall.

I took Jamie and his friend L to Activity Land today, so they had a really good play around amongst all the fun stuff there and they had tea there too. They seemed to have a really good time, and got outside for a play too, even though the weather was not brilliant. In fact on our way to collect L the heavens opened and the rain was running down the streets like a stream and we saw a couple of drains which were struggling to cope - ah the British summer!

I decided to get on with one of my assignments while the boys were playing and stuck myself in a corner with a drink and my books, shut out all of the noise and starting working. It went well and by the time I got home I was ready to put pen to paper, well fingers to keyboard and got my first assignment in the bag, which pleased me no end. It was my assignment on Assessment methods, thank goodness the word count is only a guide as I have gone way over it. I am hoping to drop that assignment and at least one more off on Monday.

Ciao

Sue

XX

Reading challenge 7/16 - currently reading Controversy by Dillon Burroughs
Jamie's Reading challenge 2/12 - currently reading Astrosaurs by Stephen Cole
SLYMI - 1/52

Thursday 6th August

Not too much to say today, as decorating is still ongoing. I made a bit of a boob in the colour choice in the kitchen, so that had to be changed and the natural hessian is now malt chocolate, the natural hessian was just too light and not enough of a contrast to the ivory. Mike said he thought that might be a problem and for once when it comes to colour he was right. Mike's choice of colour schemes can sometimes be a little wacky!

Talking of changes, I spotted this blog scheme on a blog when I was having a wander around the blogosphere and decided it suited me perfectly - lots of green and flowers, two of my favourite things. I like it very much and it gets rid of the little grey bits that used to stick out and annoy me because it made the layout look untidy. A nice bright and fun layout that is not too sweety cutesy, which really isn't me!

Today I posted something which is going to be quite exciting and I will let you in on it in due course, but not just yet!!

Ciao

Sue

XX

Reading challenge 7/16 - currently reading Controversy by Dillon Burroughs
Jamie's Reading challenge 2/12 - currently reading Astrosaurs by Stephen Cole
SLYMI - 1/52

Wednesday 5th August - Possible Spoilers

Book Review - Torchwood Border Princes by Dan Abnett (possible spoilers)

I really enjoyed this book!

"The end of the world began on a Thursday night in October ....." so begins for me the third Torchwood book I've read. All the usual characters are here, as this book is set somewhere around the first series of Torchwood. The surprise is James, the newest member of the team and the relationship Gwen is having with James, behind Rhys back. There are also many disturbances around Cardiff, with shadowy figures, superhuman powers and a monster of a killer robot that makes a Terminator look like a puppy!

As the story continues we find out more about James and his reasons for being there, maybe part of the plot was a little obvious or maybe I just get too into it, but I had kind of guessed what was going on and who James was by just over half way through. The story has some similarities to one episode of Season 2 - but I won't say which! But saying that Dan Abnett has created an interesting sci-fi scenario and some interesting aliens! I wonder if he has written any scripts for Torchwood, now I'm going to have to google it.

The book is well written and moves along at a super pace, just like an episode on the television. You can of course picture it all in your mind so clearly as you are reading. Captain Jack does not seem quite so well drawn nor so infallible in this story as he appears in some of the TV shows. As a fix for those 'missing Doctor Who/Torchwood/Captain Jack times' this book works very well and I would recommend for that reason alone. Very much looking forward to Doctor Who when we get the next special in the autumn.

Ciao

Sue

XX

Reading challenge 7/16 currently reading Controversy by Dillon Burroughs
Jamie's Reading challenge 2/12 - currently reading Bed and Breakfast Star by Jacqueline Wilson SLYMI - 1/52

Tuesday 4th August

Flower Club

As downstairs is in disarray, due to decorating the kitchen I have made sure, upstairs is given a good tidy round today, at least we can be half tidy. The weather is horrid, rain and more rain and Mike is on a driving course, rather than have speeding points on his licence, when he would rather be painting the kitchen! So today everything is a bit bitty and in a kind of uproar!

I was able to escape from it all this evening though as I was at flower club. Jo Williams gave an amazing demo entitled 'My Favourite Things' as you can see from the pictures above and below. As the demonstrators seem to be, she was interesting and a bit wacky. She certainly has a passion for what she does and was full of interesting information about all the plants and flowers she was using, she was very keen on ivy and h???? (I will fill this in at some point - when I have time to find out!), I had never realised there were so many varieties of ivy!

It would be difficult to pick which is my own favourite from her designs, and she had some amazing stands, a couple of which I would like to invest in eventually.

I remembered to buy a raffle ticket tonight which turned out to be a good idea, as my ticket was drawn first and I got to choose one of the designs and went for the all foliage design (above), it really appealed to me with such a wonderful use of colour. A second of my strip of tickets was pulled out too, but I asked them to draw again and give someone else the opportunity of taking one of the wonderful arrangements home.

As always it was lovely to see June and Sylvia. Some of Sylvia's other students had come along and seemed to enjoy themselves, they had all heard of me and some of my work in Sylvia's class, so I went very red! June had also brought me a lovely glass bowl which is the perfect size for a kenzan as a birthday present, which was really lovely, as I've said on a previous email, I have met such lovely people through flower arranging.

Ciao

Sue

XX

Reading challenge 6/16 - currently reading Torchwood Border Princes by Dan Abnett
Jamie's Reading challenge 2/12 - currently reading Bed and Breakfast Star by Jacqueline Wilson SLYMI - 1/52