Author: seasidesparkles

There has been a real autumnal feel to this week, the colours, chill and events of the season are evident everywhere. We spent a lovely Sunday at the local nature reserve, walking through the woods among the crispy fallen leaves and looking out for deer and  today I’ve been to the children’s harvest festival hearing all the old harvest favourites with a few new songs added to the mix too. With my new phone there are few photos for this week’s post, lots are still on my old phone. However there should be enough to give a feel of the week.

READ

As well as the blogs I follow, the only reading I have done this week is my magazine, The Simple Things. I really like this magazine with its focus on seasonality and simplicity and quality writing and illustrations, its refreshing not to wade through pages of glossy designer clothes sections, tacky free gifts etc..

LISTENED

I very proudly listened to the children singing at their harvest festival. Little Man sang a number song about acorns and squirrels and Little Miss performed a rock and roll harvest, complete with sunglasses and hand jiving! The older children spoke about poverty in this country and their statistics were shocking, 20% of the school’s population could be affected by poverty. The food collection this year was for our local food bank, a sad indication of the state of our nation and the growing disparity between rich and poor.

Little Miss has also started guitar lessons and has been diligently practising so I have heard the tune Falling leaves many time s this week.

I have also listened to a beautiful song I wasn’t Expecting that by Jamie Lawson.  Its a real tear jerker of a song, with a heart breaking story running through it.  (Post script, I’ve just seen this video for the first time, so original and if possible even sadder than the song!)

WATCHED

I saw the final of the Great British Bake Off and loved that the winner was Nadiya, she was sassy, bright and extremely talented. Whilst I haven’t watched every episode this series, 8pm is a bit early to settle down and watch tv, I have been following it on Twitter and in the papers. It is such a quintessential British programme and a delight to watch. I also though Nadiya’s words following her win were brilliant.

On Saturday afternoon, whilst Mr S was painting the hallway, I cuddled up on the sofa with the children to watch the Book of Life, this film was fantastic, a great story with wonderful animations.

    

I have also watched the Jenny Maizel tutorial for her first module of #Sketchbookclub, a project on houses. It was very informative and inspiring and I have started the project, so far I have done the pencil drawing and am currently doing all the detailing with a fine liner pen. Next is the painting which I’m a little nervous about but I am loving doing something artistic, normally I’m a crafter so drawing is a new skill to develop.

MADE

Lots more home cooking this week, an autumn vegetable crumble, mushroom stroganoff, a variety of soups and a chestnut and vegetable pie. I love chestnuts but seem to use them simply in Christmas meals so it was a real treat to have them in this week’s shopping. I also made a lovely rich bread and butter pudding with left overs. My new meal planning and fortnightly shopping is having a really positive effect on our meals and cost.

WORE

The coats, hats and scarves have started to emerge this week. I’m very grateful for hats, I’m trying to keep off the hair dye until my next appointment to improve the condition of my hair but its getting very grey now. Part of me is liberated by not having the monthly hairdresser appointments to hide my roots and is tempted to reveal the real me the other part is feeling quite old and frumpy with the colour, its 12 days until my next appointment when hopefully we’ll be trying a more natural dye, the dilemma is to go light or back to my natural brown.

And lastly

I have had an odd week this week as my bank card was cloned and tried to be used fraudulently. My bank HSBC have been excellent, they noticed odd activity, contacted me and sorted it efficiently. They had declined all the fraudulent payments from my account so the only inconvenience was not having a bank card for two days. Since the incident, I have been busy updating security on my computer, but the bank don’t know how the card was cloned. I had a couple of odd experiences at the end of last week in a shop and at a cashpoint, so perhaps it happened here. However it is all sorted but was a cautionary tale of how easily fraud could have happened. One of the first apps on my iPhone was my bank app to keep a careful check on my account.

It’s been a nice and easy week, routines flowing smoothly and everyone where they should be at the right time. Magic! I’ve had a little potter in the big town and it’s been unseasonably sunny and warm all week, simple things make me happy.  Sunday saw a family trip out to a local museum which was excellent and with a fantastic gift shop, I really enjoyed the day.

READ 

I was quite relieved to read the Virgin London Marathon commiserations email this week. I only ever want to do one marathon and London is the dream. However as it will be my only marathon I want it to be the best experience ever. My running at the moment is purely recreational, three times a week with no real plans in place and if I had got a place I would have needed to devote everything to it. I’m not sure that in the next 6 months I would be able to do that, I would have if I had got a place but perhaps it’s time to get into the best possible shape and break the 2 hour half marathon before the ultimate challenge.

I also read and re read the Letterbox contact letters I wrote to the children’s birth family. Its an annual job but it doesn’t get any easier  trying to find the right tone and words.

LISTENED

Little Miss lost her first tooth this week and listening to her excitedly reading aloud her letter from the tooth fairy was priceless. The letter went to school and was read out to Grandma on the phone too. Little Miss’ reaction to the tooth fairy visit was just perfect.

I also listened to Stevie Wonder’s Songs on the Key of Life. It’s the perfect Summer album so on my journey to big town with the sun streaming through the window I played it at full blast, what a stunning album.

WATCHED

Strictly Come Dancing is my absolute favourite television programme and nothing makes me happier on television; the costumes, make up, dancing and atmosphere are perfect viewing. I was so excited for its return and it didn’t disappoint. My early favourites are Jay, Anita, Katie, Peter and Ainsley. I also caught up on the iPlayer with SCD It Takes Two, the perfect fanzine. I was particularly interested in the costume segment as I thought they were stunning.

MADE

Amazingly, I made risotto for the first time ever this week. I enjoy cooking and make a lot of rice dishes but have never made risotto. I’ve no idea why I’ve never tried it before, I think I was worried it was a little complicated but it was simple to make and delicious.

I also made a retirement card for my Dad. He retired on Wednesday after more than 50 years working, which is simply amazing. He has always had such a strong work ethic that it’ll be strange to see him pottering around at home. We phoned him on his last morning at work, the children said they would be looking forward to him being there to play with them when they come to visit, I’m looking forward to that too.

WORE

Whilst its not so much wearing I did try on lots of clothes on my shopping trip, the beauty of a child free trip gave me the time to experiment and put together different pieces. I’m trying to develop my look, it needs to be casual and fit in with my life style. I wear jeans for work but at other times am not really a trousers girl, my legs are a bit short so I tend to stick with skirts, tunics and dresses with leggings or thick tights. I ended up with a new White Stuff skirt and v neck black jumper to be paired with the obligatory leggings. I also bought a cute pair of Converse pumps, I love my winter boots but it’s nice to have something a little lighter too. I find it difficult to find a comfortable and flattering flat leather shoe so I’m hoping the pumps will be a winner.

I’ve also worn new make-up, buying a new foundation and lip stick from Benefit on the ‘big town’ shopping trip. I had booked a treatment at the Benefit salon and am well impressed by my eye brows.

It feels that this week has been sponsored by Bach Rescue Remedy but it definitely wasn’t designed to be! I was reminded of the quote this week that life is what happens when you’re busy making plans. I had organised my diary for the week and although I had added a few extras such as play dates to our routine as I had no big plans for my non work days it seemed a workable and sanity saving plan. That was until, we received notice at work of a mock Ofsted inspection by our School’s Improvement Partner and my free time fizzled away into a list of admin to do. This is what I hate about my job, the inspections and pressure on providing data to prove our strengths. I work with special needs students, success to us is not GCSE grades, its helping a child to communicate, supporting them to develop basic personal care, giving them the skills to stay safe and function in the adult world. What I love about my job is the work we do and the positive difference we can make. How can I put into figures the amazing work we do? It is sadly a necessity in this results driven culture and I spent my time not on the content of the lessons but on figures, graphs, predictions etc.. This is wrong, demoralising and irrelevant. Judge us by the passion and spark you see in the classroom, look at our curriculum, our extracurricular opportunities not figures and graphs. Of course, despite the extra work, I was not observed on the morning I was teaching during the 2 day inspection, too much time is spent analysing data and not in the classroom. We will receive feedback next week and I will reserve judgement until then…

Away from the additional stress from work, this week has been full of some lovely little sparkles all bathed in some periods of warm sunshine which helps to make us all a little happier.

READ

I really enjoyed the Saturday Times LFW edition of their magazine last Saturday. I got to sit in the sunshine watching the children play in the garden and read it in relative peace. There were two articles which were brilliant, interviews with the designer, Diana Von Furstenberg and the Vogue photographer, Grace Coddington both strong, determined and talented professionals. Both made comments I could really relate to, the first from DVF that she always knew the type of woman she wanted to be and the way she explains it is not the job she wanted to do, but the characteristics, attitude, lifestyle she wanted to have. Coddington argued about the danger of being attached to one’s phone and missing life, so true.

LISTENED

I do love Woman’s Hour but thought it was a standout programme on Thursday. A piece on fashion with Jane Shepherdson appealed it was not about high end fashion but on sustainable fashion. I loved the can you wear it 30 times rule? There was also an interview with JoJo Moyes on the sequel to Me Before You, which was a brilliant book and I’m looking forward to reading After You. There was also an informative piece on Nell Gwynne and then a brilliant cooking piece with Lorraine Pascal. Her enthusiasm was infectious and she made me smile trying to answer questions whilst nibbling on the mixture. Today’s episode was one where you would just love to join the women for lunch!

WATCHED

I watched the children have lots of fun in the late season sunshine. We returned to the Aquarium on Sunday, as when we went earlier in the summer we were given free return tickets for September. It was another great day out. The animals were quite animated, probably enjoying the sunshine too and we had lots of fun on the rides too. There is a great water flume there and we went on it lots of times, we shrieked a lot and got soaked but as we dried quickly in the sun, it was all in good humour.

There’s been lots of play in the garden too, the children are great at creating new games. Little Man’s play date was on a bright and warm afternoon so they played happily in the garden which creates less mess than indoors!

MADE

Our food shopping and menus have been frustrating me for a while. We have tended to do one big monthly shop complemented by weekly fresh pickups as needed. Mr S is often in charge of the food shop and I dislike the weighting of convenience foods to fresh ingredients. So, I have made a plan for fortnightly shops and have planned menus so we know what we are having and shop accordingly. This has been working well, Mr S has conceded that he is preferring our meals and the fresh food, I enjoy cooking and I think in the long term it will be more cost effective. This week’s menu has included a pie, stir fry, curry, omelette and casserole and herby dumplings all made from scratch. I have also been looking at the children’s tea choices, they have a hot meal at school but as the cold evenings draw in, I am looking at more soups, toasted snacks etc.. the challenge is to fit the food in around their busy schedules.

I also made my first Christmas order this week and wrote my first Christmas lists detailing presents bought and ideas.   I like being this organised it helps me enjoy Christmas and all the preparation.

WORE

Shorts and sunglasses, thanks to the sunshine. It’s a lovely feeling being able to wear my shorts so late in the year. Part of the culture of living at the seaside is that our clothing reflects our coastal lives and sunshine is beach time and appropriate clothes, eg shorts! I’m not sure if I wore shorts in an urban town that it would be so acceptable. I love my shorts and flip flops so am happy to extend summer as long as possible.

Next week the diary is looking organised and manageable and I’m hoping for a trip to ‘big’ town for some much needed shopping. I am also hoping to start the Sketchbook course created by Jennie Maizels , I’ve downloaded my first module on houses and am very inspired.

It’s been a good week this week. Working my normal hours with no overtime definitely makes me a more relaxed and happier Mum and wife, I’ve had my hair done, watched a film one afternoon, waited in for the gasman and spent a day pottering and organising.

READ

I finished Life After You, it was readable but not a book I would readily recommend. I have also started to read a Vintage clothing book which is well illustrated and interesting and providing some much needed inspiration. I tried to do a Next order this afternoon but nothing excited or inspired me in the catalogue, everything looked so dull and ordinary that I left the site without making a purchase.

WATCHED

I watched the British film Pride on one of my free afternoons and it was brilliant, one of the best films I have seen in ages. The true story of the lesbian and gay community and a welsh mining village set during the miners strike, stunning.

LISTENED

Lots in this category this week, some good runs with a blast of Miss Swift as my accompaniment, some excellent episodes of guest editors on Women’s Hour and some excellent political analysis of Jeremy Corbyn’s election as Labour leader.

I am delighted with the result, he has the opportunity to redefine not only Labour but party politics and whilst I don’t think he will ever be PM, sadly the press will ensure that, I think he could heavily influence the art and culture of politics in the coming years. Good luck to Corbyn, British politics needs a politician like him, I think we are all bored of the bland, anonymous politicians whom seem to blend into one regardless of party.

The last listen is jingle bells, last weekend was one of my favourite weekends of the year, Folk festival. It’s one of these odd weekends which always seems to be hot and sunny and there’s a fantastic atmosphere in town with hundreds of folk groups dancing and playing music. However as most folkies wear bells on their shoes, sticks and as part of their costumes there is always an echo of jingle bells around town this weekend.

MADE

A joint make this week from Little Man and I, his first homework of the year was to make a jointed puppet. It was a lovely activity and he talked about all the different parts of the body and added the heart and brain.

I have also made progress on a computer game, Inside Out’s Thought Bubbles. Normally I am indifferent to computer games, Tetris, Snakes etc.. all passed me by but this game which Little Miss chose for her tablet is addictive. It has taken me days and lots and lots of games to pass my nemesis of Level 23 but I’m zooming up the levels again. It’s a great distraction.

WORE

After over a year of trying to grow my hair longer and very little progress I took some professional advice and have chosen a shorter style. My hair has also been over coloured and is damaged so I have made the very difficult and challenging decision to leave off colour for another 6 weeks. I am now wearing a shorter hairstyle with a few silver highlights, it does make me self-conscious and a little uncomfortable, I am just hoping that its worth it over time!