Froglet

Good morning! Hurray for no vaccination side effects! I did my first days in school with children this week which were fine. I'm struggling to balance the workload with being part-time though and consequently am avoiding it and then doing nothing useful at all! I know it's the start of term and there are always lots of 'set up' type jobs but I am feeling slightly overwhelmed by it all. I have been exploring this week - I decided to try and liven up my walks (I've promised myself to do a daily walk every day in September even if it's only 10 minutes) and have discovered the joys of a canalside path which feels beautifully nature filled. I saw dragonflies and moorhens and lots of deep red hawthorn haws as well as discovering a lovely new bridge just down the road from me! Have a good weekend/week ahead everyone!

I am much more about autumn - have spent a happy hour looking up autumn baking recipes, wondering where I put the many pumpkins I've crocheted over the years and pondering some patchwork autumn cushion covers...

Fingers crossed for some time in the garden this weekend Sunnyday. I have had an INSET then volunteered a morning just to see how the person who does the other half of my week does things. I've had lunch with a friend (which turned into a 3 hour long catch up - we were being kicked out at the end of it! I made a courgette cake for the first time. I will eat it all so have decided to deliver a few slices to some old colleagues. Other than that I'm going to spend a little time today getting my head round things for next week when I'm back to work properly. No specific plans for the weekend but I do need to spend some time doing serious thinking about presents for the many family birthdays I have this month! Have a good weekend all.

It is lovely to hear that someone enjoyed a book I recommended. If you're interested the others (in order after Dear Mrs Bird) are: Yours Cheerfully Mrs Porter Calling Dear Miss Lake I've had a long time of reading but not having the energy or inclination to read new things. Although Mrs Bird (and the others) aren't a new to me book I have been reading so much more widely recently and find myself getting excited about new books again - it's lovely! And on that note - The Eights by Joanna Miller was another good one!

I feel I should confess - I am a very artistic swimmer! 😉 I’ve had a bit of a flat week really - not done much of anything and have just felt a little out of sorts. I’m hoping it’s just a little back to school anxiety and will disappear shortly. Am going down to my sister’s with mum and dad in about ten minutes - it will be lovely to see them all and catch up. It was probably about 5/6 months ago that we last saw each other. By the way - have any of you read the ‘Dear Mrs Bird’ books by A J Pearce? Really, really recommend them - funny, moving and satisfying. The paper version is good but if you ever do audiobooks this is one where they have it ‘just right’! Have a lovely weekend everyone.

Seconded!! It's only since I stopped being full time that I realised just how important a proper break is! Plus you've had coffee and cake and grandchildren time - that is definitely an achievement!

I'm enjoying the temperature change too Sunnyday. I have had a last minute house guest - a friend's dog so have been doing twice daily walks and really enjoying the freshness in the air - especially first thing. Zigzag - how's your mum getting on? I've been in to school for a few hours to help set classrooms up for September and have made a coffee cake - I haven't made one for ages and had a sudden taste for it - I may have eaten far too much of it. What I haven't done is any of the house sorting out that I'd planned so feel I must do some of that next week. Have a lovely weekend all!

So sorry to hear about your mum Zigzag. Sending my wishes for a good recovering.

So sorry to hear that Sunnyday. Hope it’s not as long as you’re fearing.

Hi all, I just remembered what day it is! I am currently sitting on the sofa in a darkened room (having not opened the curtains in order to keep the heat out). It definitely helps but like you both I'm not good with heat plus I'm missing seeing the daylight! I've had a lovely week - time with my niece was good, we completed 4 crochet projects between us - I was so impressed at how much she's improved since I taught her in the autumn. Apparently she and her friend at school both do crochet and sit on the field crocheting together. She doesn't recommend it as you get bits of dry grass in your wool! There's a TA at school who's helped them and showed her how to do a granny square. We had one day out and then her last day was a 'crochet day' at home. My nephew got his A-level results yesterday and did brilliantly and got into his first choice of uni. We're all very proud of him but it's also a big change coming - I think my sister is going to need some TLC when he goes. I forgot to tell you all that the week before I made my first ever strawberry jam. So this week I invited a friend round for 'afternoon tea' in my garden - I made the table all pretty and she'd brought shortbread and cakes while I made scones and lemonade and we had a lovely time catching up with each other. Next week I am continuing the sorting and clearing - including emptying the bath so the plumber can actually get to it! Have a great weekend everyone.

Good morning! I feel like I need a drum roll here... My spare room is empty and clean! Admittedly much of the 'stuff' is in the bath because I have a very small house and there was nowhere else to put it! I can't use it at the moment as the hot tap's not working - a plumber is coming in a week and a half so that's my motivation to get it emptied! I'm popping over to mum and dad's to borrow a camp bed and will then set it up to make a lovely bedroom for my 9 year old niece who is coming to stay for the first time on Sunday. I've done various bits of browsing about things to do together and some crochet will definitely be on the agenda as I taught her how when I stayed last autumn and she's going to do some baking as we're going to invite granny and grandpa for tea and she's doing pudding! Once her visit is over I'm going to continue with sorting and maybe even start decorating the spare room - or at the very least visit B&Q!

My timetables aren't detailed - I just split the day into 1/2 or 1 hour chunks and allocate a task or two to that slot. I've found that planning to do the same thing for more than 2 hours inevitably fails but I give my permission to stop after the allocated time even if the task isn't completely finished and I make sure that I plan in 'down time' too. So the other day I had something like 11 - 1.00 sort spare room, 1.00 - 2.00 lunch/reading, 3.00 - 4.00 ironing/tidy living room etc. Sometimes if I'm really procrastinating I set my timer for 15 minutes and just do a task for that long. Mainly because I'm not really on Facebook and the whole idea intimidates me!! 😆 I just accidentally discovered an old episode of Bake Off where they were making Viennese whirls - now I want to bake something...

Thanks for that - I'll look them up.

I still have a TDL although it doesn't have school stuff on it so often. I am still a master at procrastination and today resorted to writing myself a timetable so that I actually got something done. My spare room is making slow progress although I still seem to have a ridiculous amount of stuff. I have various bits to get rid of but even the charity shops in town are disappearing now and I have no idea where to take the 'too good to throw in the bin' things!

That's not nice at all Zigzag. Rest assured - if I ever come to stay I am the kind of person who tries to leave a place even neater than it was when I arrived! I've just been browsing places in Northumberland for a September getaway - no luck so far!