Chatty Saturday

Well, I'm in the mood for a right chinwag. Lots of things popped into my mind whilst I've been doing the bloggy rounds. Although, now I'm here, blogging, I seem to have forgotten most of them which irks me. I'm also aware of loads of replies owed to bloggers on my last few posts. 

Suzanne over at No.38 had her baby granddaughter to stay over. And all her paraphanalia. Including some technology that sorta blew my mind! It's a machine that you programme in how much milk you need and it heats the right amount of water perfectly. Wow. 

In Miss 22's baby days, I fed her myself at first, though having a traumatic C section, plus being a 9lb 7oz newborn, meant I really struggled at first. I had to have her passed to me, then positioned on a pillow to the side to avoid stress on the scar etc. Anyway to any mama out there whoever had sore nipples from breastfeeding, I experienced that toe curling pain of latching on and wept! I think I gave up on day 3, I was still in hospital and had the 3 day blues. My bosoms were RED HOT AND ROCK HARD and fired milk out like the HG's high pressure water power washer when I heard a baby cry. Anyone's baby would set me off. Infact, on day three, the nice midwife ( I had two, they come in pairs, one nice one, one old nasty witch one  , it's the law ) found me in tears, in the shower, unable to move. What's wrong? She asked gently. Through sobs, I told her that Nasty Witch had told me I couldn't possibly mix feed my baby because my milk would dry up, and I'd summoned the strength to go get a shower - anyone who's had a CS will know how hard it is to stand upright and move straight away - I'd got in the shower, got out and struggled to get dry. Well done, said Nice midwife. Why are you crying? Well, says I, my boobs set off and I'm all soaked and I need another showerrrrrrr. I was a right mess! 

Nice midwife sorted me out. Showed me how to express from the sore boob and the HG fed Miss 22 with the, gasp, bottle and next feed from me on the non sore boob. And that is how we carried on. Breast and bottle - quickly switching to formula when we got home. Expressing milk by hand, Dr Miriam Stoppard way, is bloody hard work! So mixed feeding sorted us fine and we carried on until she was about 8 months when it was usually just an early morning feed from me. An aside is I hate the Bfnazis out there who are SO judgey Mcjudgey on mamas who choose to bottle feed. Some mamas doing it don't even have the choice so butt out NCT types!!! Mr 19 was mixed fed too so there! 

Wow, that went far more personal than I intended! What I HAD meant to share was...

In Miss 22's day, we boiled the kettle with freshly drawn water then let it cool down. We made up 6 bottles at a time and they were stored in the fridge until needed. You could only keep them for 24 hours. My ( I can't believe I'm RELATED to this person ) sister used to feed her babies COLD milk. COLD. Call social services!! I had a state of the art bottle warmer. Basically it was an electronic water bath! Nothing that a jug and a kettle of boiled water couldn't do - but it was useful in the middle of the night. 

The thing was, when Miss 22 was born, I still lived at home with my folks as the HG was doing up our house. So he used to make the bottles for me around 10pm every night. The kettle would be boiled at 9pm. Everyone knew they had NOT TO USE THE KETTLE, because being baby number one, if it said Miss 22 had to have freshly drawn water, then freshly drawn once boiled water is what she had. Except...on more than twenty five occasions, my sister would come in with her revolting slimy boyfriend ( who became her revolting slimy husband until she woke up and realised how revolting, slimy, controlling and abusive he was ) and he would, DESPITE KNOWING WE WERE MAKING BOTTLES, switch the kettle back on and brew up, thus setting the whole bottle making process back another hour. So, ex brother in law, you utter arsehole, I hated you then, I still hate you now. 

Ahem. In other news. 

We switched from Sky to Virgin today and the new internet is so fast, I bet this blog post is up n online before I even hit publish! This caused me to properly sort out stuff in my bedroom. We are going to redecorate. There's a factory shop that sells wallpaper and fabric on the outskirts of town but we can get to it quite easily from our house.

We went for a 6km stroll downt canal n back to this place. I saw some wallpaper that wasn't at all what I'd planned in my mind - auberginey colours I fancied. This was yellowy gold, shimmery and a bit floral! Sounds horrible but the HG liked it too! We needed five rolls. They only had three. I had a look round the fabric and didn't really see anything that'd go, that I liked. So reluctantly I left it. At home, the HG suggested we just paper the full chimney wall in this fancy paper . I was too tired to walk back. But I think I may go back and get it on Monday. If it's still there, it's mine! It's extra wide too! Oh and did I mention it's Harlequin, a brand I'd not heard of. A quick Google finds this paper online for a mere £59 a roll!  FIFTY NINE POUNDS. It's £2 in the shop I was in!! It's perfect, just end of a run. It's printed in the factory you see. TWO QUID! 

So we'll see Monday. 

Anyway, the Big Clean saw me unearth this groundbreaking technology - I knew I still had them. I am a Hoarder. 

Our first mobile phone! About twenty years old. This has now been thrown away ( now I've taken a photo of it - Hoarding is a disease you know! ) 

This beauty is probably thirty one ish years old. It still works! The tape, The Smiths, is one I probably made on my tape to tape 'ghetto' blaster. The nearest it ever got to the 'ghetto' was Elvis! 

I am keeping this. For posterity.

Whilst I am 'fessing up. Look see 

I don't use this museum piece, but I can't get rid - I bought this aged 17 whilst on a sixth form trip to Camden Tarn darn in London. We all bought Indian cotton embroidered tassel skirts in black too. This brings back teenage memories aplenty. It was basically like white pan stick for all Souxie Soux wanna bees. 

However - look at all this lot!

I never wear make up. I'm too lazy to take it off. I only wear it when I go out out. You'd think I had the raging social life of a celeb in Heat magazine. I NEVER GO OUT OUT! Sometimes, when I do, I think I look alright, but mostly I tend to go a bit Drag Queeny. I do like a slick of eyeliner and it has to be liquid. 

 Decided to treat us to a trio of trifles. 

Two with sponge for the lovers ( me ) and one without for the haters ( HG )! Strawberry jelly, unashamedly delicious tinned fruit cocktail IN SYRUP, custard, cream and a crumbled flake. Yum! 

Well, I've totally forgotten what else I was going to say. It'll probably come when I've hit publish. Not to mind. 

Lots of love from 

Rachel * watching Sleb Big Bro and loving it* Radiostar xxx 

Day 5 of the Summer

Or, the first Thursday off. 

I've been cleaning, tidying, sorting, pleasing myself, seeing friends and generally just being happy in the  peace and quiet I'm getting as both menfolks are at work. I'm enjoying that rare phenomenona - HTMS 

House

To

Myself

Syndrome 

Sitting in the garden, using one of my birthday presents off Miss 21. 

Looking at photos of my 'Grandpup' - Miss 22 is visiting Freddie when she can and she gets to bring him home on August 11th. Suzanne - I think, you'll be relieved to hear, our puppy ownership plans are on hold for the time being. We will be looking after Freddie in November when Miss 22 and her Young Man go on holiday. That might be the breaker deal! But just wook at his widdle ears!! Can't wait to get my mitts on him! 

I treated myself from my birthday money to a set of these. They had loads of money off on Amazon. Going to try them later today. I've been knitting on circular needles now for ever - and while I still have and use my straights I have to say I prefer circulars. I chose the metal over the wood because I just can't get to grips with wood. The stitches slip too much which is bonkers because logic tells me wood MUST have more friction than metal. But metal works for me. The good thing about this metal knit pro set is they have a stopper system, so no more 'slip onto a stitch holder ' - I'll just  be unscrewing the needles and using another cable!! We'll see how it goes! 

As you can see, the Rhapsody in Blue rose bloomed and then faded to the gorgeous slate blue/purple - though it looks more pinker in the photo than it is in real life! I'll give this one another 12months in the pot where it is, before attempting transplant. The parent plant is suffering out the front, it's leaves are going yellow  and black - dreaded black spot I think due to this bloody damp, warm, humid wet summer. Going to have a go with baking soda solution. One way to avoid black spot is to avoid watering from above. What can you do though about the persistent rain we've been having! If it's not black spot, it could be either overwatering - thanks Northern Summer Rain or extreme heat - thanks Northern Heatwave!! If all else fails, I'll just chop it right back down! It's still a showy maiden though, buds on buds on buds. I'll chuck a bit of Rose food on it today n see if that helps. 

What you are seeing here are my new fancy half price solar lanterns! They said to charge them for 48hours before they'd light up but this was after charging for 4! They made me jump last night when I did the 'last look out of the window'  before bed as I'd totally forgotten I'd put them outside!! I might just get some more if they've still got them. 

Right, I'm going to make a start on the day. Not sure what's in store other than a parcel being collected so I need to be up n dressed! Have a happy Thursday folks :-) I intend to. 

Lots of love from 

Rachel * blissfully lazy* Radiostar xxx 

Day 2 of the Summer

Friday was day 1. I never count the weekends as we get those anyway. 

Guess where I'm going today....WORK! Just popping in to move some stuff in preparation for my new role in September and to do some illicit printing! 

The last week of term was mad! It was so hot. I spent about 50 hours, going through 5000 photographs making the end of term tear jerker Y6 Leaver's videos. It was a great success. Maximum parental crying ensued and the children were sobbing messes! The songs I went with in the end...started with Keane - Everything's Changing and ended with M People - Moving on up. They fit the photos and the children perfectly. I wish I could share it with you! The best reactions went to the Then and Now photos. The children did not know why I was getting them to pose in these certain ways last week ( and some staff came in on them too! ) but absolutely LOVED the end results!! Most of the then photos were from my PHSE lessons in Y1 when I was HLTA ing and we did lots of acting and stuff around relationships and friendships. We also held our Oscars night where the children get dressed up in their finest attire and are awarded their awards. We base them on the Mr Men books so the children each get a title. The hall was decorated, by two parent helpers, out in black and gold. 

The children get to walk up the red carpet. They each read out their Thank you speech and I got so many mentions and Thank yous, my favourite being thanked for being funny! They have mocktails in cocktail glasses with fancy straws etc. They eat and watch montages of their year. At the end, the parents collect them and we release balloons and they plant a tree to mark their time at school. There was also the Leaver's Service in church and then one back at school. 

Even though I never expect anything, this year's cards and gifts were so thoughtful and lovely. All chocolate is gratefully received and wait until you see the innards from the Memory Jar that one of my cherubs gave me. This is the cherub who's parent sent me that lovely email. It had me in tears. 

Awwwww 

The children had written some really lovely stuff in my cards too. I was really touched. 

They will all come back to see us as they always do, looking all grown up in their new smart uniforms. I wish them all good luck! They were a fantastic class. 

Right, it's time for me to dash off to school to get ready for next year. For the first time in years, I'm actually really looking forward to starting in September! Easy to say with six glorious weeks off and a week away in Northumberland to look forward to. A luxury log cabin with Sauna and hot tub. Romantic holiday for three. Mr 19 is coming along! He was given the choice. I'm quite pleased really that he wants to spend his free time with his folks. Probably the last holiday. We've much planned. First time trip to Edinburgh for us too. We can go see Miss 22, her beau and Freddie, the new puppy. My grand puppy she says!! They are only getting him the week we are away and they've both taken time off work. There's absolutely loads of great castling opportunities too. I cannot wait to go. Who needs abroad? 

Ok, I've waffled on enough. Catch you later. 

Lots of love from 

Rachel *chilled out* Radiostar xxx  

Finally!

Finally it's the Summer break! 

I'll blog up the whole last week of school later on next week. 

I came home on the last day a bit dehydratey and a bit heatstrokey so took paracetamol, plenty of water and went to bed! Endoftermitis for sure. 

I'm using a lot of made up words now I don't have to talk proper like! 

Day one of my holidays yesterday and I wasn't 100% so slowly started the big clean. My chum popped round for a good two hour chinwag. The HG came home early from work  and whisked me off to the local ice cream place ( waffle cone, toffee crunch and black cherry ripple for me nom, raspberry swirl, licorice and blackcurrant for him, not as nommy as mine ) Then we went to see my cousin for a catch up which was hilarious. She told us a tale of how she went to London, had to leave her party who were going to meet her at the theatre at 7pm. She'd felt ill so got a taxi to take her to a drop in centre. It as London, it was hot n sweaty, she had a four hour wait. With no time to go back to her hotel and change, so looking delightful, she was totally lost and disorientated, she hailed a cab, jumped in, started telling the taxi driver the whole tale of how she'd been taken ill, now running late, no time to change, and she needed to get to the Theatre in less than ten minutes. He asked her which theatre. She told him. He started laughing. He stopped the cab. She'd been in it less than 30 seconds. She was at the Theatre - it was literally just on the corner of the street where the walk in centre was!!! We had a really good laugh. 

It reminded me of the Vicar of Dibley Christmas special where she calls a taxi to take her next door!! 

I woke up at 5.55am today and it was glorious sunshine. It's now 6.48am and I'm going to peg out but the sky is looking ominous. No real plans today except a bit of weeding in the garden and sorting out my floordrobe. I'll squeeze in a bit of knitting and bloggy catch up too no doubt. Fingers crossed the hairdressers can fit me in too, though it's ok now as I've all the time in the world! Freedom is bliss. 

Before I go I thought I'd share ... Remember back in October where I said I'd pruned my Rhapsody in blue rose and did what Monty Don told me and stuck the stems in a pot .... Well look!!! A baby rose! It's a bit pinker than its parent, but I feel like it's my test tube baby so it can stay!!! 

Right am off to enjoy my Saturday. Hope yours is awesome X 

Lots of love from 

Rachel *Happy it's the Holidays* Radiostar xxx 

Warning - graphic content.

Written from my sick bed.

Friday

Please ensure you are wearing a gown n mask n gloves to read this post . I'm off work. Doing the bathroom waltz since 3.16am. In scenes reminiscent of The Exorcist, bodily fluids have been leaving my body faster than nutters rushing to get cut price massive TVs on Black Friday in Asda. It's unpleasant. It's nasty. It's exhausting. I have not got time to be ill or off school. I've too much to do. I'm so poorly I'm not watching crappy daytime TV.

Saturday

Well, that's 24hours I never want back. I stopped being actually sick at around 2pm, but the other end's antics carried on right til 6pm until I decided enough was enough and called a ceasefire with some Diacalms.

I rallied a little, went downstairs and had a cup of weak black tea with a Marie biscuit - these remind me of my beloved Nanna. I then watched some Corrie back in bed and dozed on and off. I slept fitfully until 3am.

Here I discovered that my throat was raw and someone let the herd of cows in in the night to trample over me. Coupled with the fact I have muscle fatigue in my sides from the calling for hughie makes Rachel a whiney old wench today.

My phone has been my saviour! Hand held fun, minimum effort required. I can't even pick up my knitting or sewing. No real strength or brain power. ( OK, the brain power is something I live with daily!)

 I've messed about on Candy Crush - level 1032, I was only ever going to get to Level 100. I think I'm the only person to still be playing it. Everyone else in the world seems to be hunting Pokemon. I've cleared my emails. I've done lots of faux online shopping. I've looked and looked at puppies. I've caught up on blogs - sorry if you are here and I read yours and I normally comment - I just haven't had the energy yet. It's 6.41am now and I'm tired but a bit more 'with it'.

I wanted to go get my eyebrows tamed today, get the garden weeded and get some sorting done, but I'm realistic. I'm going to get sweet fanny adams done. Grrrrrrrrr. I hate enforced bed rest. Chosen bed rest/laziness is different. 

It came out of nowhere. Thursday at work was as per. I came home, made roast beef dinner for tea and 30 fairy cakes for my class at school. Fully intending on icing them Friday morning. They requested sheep cakes again as I'd promised them I'd bake one last time. Two kids were leaving. I'd insisted that the class teacher go get a big cake and we'd have a farewell party for them as they were missing out on all the last day shenanigans that'll happen next Thursday. 

Anyway. I've missed that.

It was St. Swithin's Day yesterday. Typically it rained all day thus indicating a soggy summer if the legend is true. On Thursday however, I managed to just go look in the garden and noticed things are in full Summer mode. Including the weeds. I've two ripe tomatoes on my tumblers but the plants look sick. Emergency tomato feed going on later. 

I'm thinking its a miniature one!! I want to go shopping to buy a couple more. The different shades are just glorious in real life. I love on the photo doodle thingy I can match my writing to my flowers! 

So that's my garden news. 

Next... 

If you read my comments on the last few month's posts, you may see a lovely lady called Sadie crop up. She writes one of my must read blogs over at ... 

http://alifeintheenglishrain.blogspot.co.uk/

Anyway, she wrote a post based on this really funny aside about blogs >>>>>>>

http://moreaboutcat.co.uk/2016/06/truths-dont-like-admit-bloggers.html

And I blatantly nicked it because some of  my answers were different to either of the above! Mostly it's all good fun! 

Here we go  ooo when I copied n pasted, one of her photos came up!! Do go see her blog, it is one of the most attractive I've ever seen! So tasteful, pretty and yumptuous! 

1. We don’t always find the time to actually read other blogs. 
Not true! Other stuff goes by the by because I'm reading other people's blogs! I don't always have as much time to comment but this is only because I follow so many blogs now! 

2. We also don’t always enjoy blogging. 
Not true. I love blogging. Wish I had time to do it more. 

3. Not all content makes the cut. 
Not true. I write as if I am chatting out loud.  If I think it, I write it, if I've written it, it'll go in. Ten times out of ten I'll hit publish and the ONLY time I go back and edit is for typos. I write so quickly I make loads thanks to autocorrect. 

4. We can’t always help the comparisons. 

Not true. I don't ever compare my blog to other people's because it's pointless! I likes my blog as it is. I'm not interested in copying others. 

5. Sometimes we want to complain. 

To be honest - I wasn't sure on how to answer this one. The other two spoke about posting and then getting no comments etc. I don't blog for other people to comment, if they want to, sure I love it but if they don't, it's not going to stop me! It's MY blog for me! 


6. A good opportunity can make our day. 

Not true - I'm leaving Sadie's answer in because she has it Bob on for me. 
"Not in PR or freebie related ways for me, I have never been sent anything to review, and I'm not interested in doing that. If I buy something and like it, I'll blog about it. If I don't care for something, I just keep my mouth shut. I think that makes it very black and white here, you know that all thoughts are genuinely mine, I'm not getting paid for saying it. If you blog to make money then it's a whole different way of blogging. I'm not knocking that at all, it's just not for me. So simple opportunities are my thing, going out somewhere to eat or visit, and having the chance to take interesting pics rather than the usual flowers and fairy lights."

7. Occasionally, we leave the camera at home on purpose. 
Not true - my phone is my camera, it's always with me! 

8. Personal photo editors should be a thing. 
Not true - ugh, my photos are NEVER EVER EVER photoshopped or enhanced. It's as I saw it. I have been having fun with the doodle thing and the collage thing but the underlying photo are as it happened. I think Photoshopping  to is like lying! Always have, always will. 

9. We’re embarrassed of our older content. 

Not true - newer followers to my blog have missed out on some right corkers I think!! 

10. Sorry we don’t always catch the typos. 
Truth. See point three. But I'm not sorry one bit!!! 

11. We don’t always have the same interests. 

True - it'd be a boring world otherwise. Plus how would I learn new things if I didn't read about them in Blogland? 

12. Our flat lays are the only organised part of our rooms.
Well, I have no idea what a flat lay is, but if it's according to Sadie where you take your photos, my only stipulation is that you don't see any crumbs either on the top where I'm baking or on the floor if I'm laying out knitting etc! 

13. We feel a bit lost without social media. 

True - it's entertaining when one is up all night doing the proverbial through the eye of a needle.

14. We often blog in our pyjamas. 
True. 

15. We also don’t all have a swanky blogging office. 
Is a swanky blogging office actually a thing? Stuff n nonsense. The blogs I read are from just real

day to day life. I avoid all sponsored posts like the plague, some of them are so contrived and to say tenuous link is an insult to tenuous links in some of the ones I've happened across. I also have mixed feelings because I think I write cracking reviews of stuff!! 

Right, that's yer lot. This blog post is about as long as my 24 hour sickness bug! 

Lots of love from 

Rachel *dont get too close* Radiostar xxx 

Flarching

Well, thanks to Sadie, I now know there's a whole new meaning to that word and like Philip, I would strongly urge you NOT to google it!!!!  

MY use of the word came from my beloved Nanna and my mum. I was often told to quit flarching. Especially when my two sisters were in trouble and I wasn't. I'd step up the flarchiness!! 

Quite simply, it's being smarmy! It's being over the top with complements/actions towards somebody in order to gain favour and get your own way!! 

So, my little sisters would be in trouble. I'd make mum a coffee, want to get on her knee, try my best to get on her good side and be uber uber good. Clearly mother would still be irritated and I'd get told off for flarching!!! Honestly! Parents!! Hands up who's flarched?!!! 

Thanks to Sadie, I'm not sure I'd want to admit to it now!! 

Another phrase that now makes me giggle is my way of saying I'm hanging out the washing. I have dear dear friends in Canada who always respond in the same way to when I declare in Spring. That it's a glorious day and I'm pegging out in the garden! I'm not saying what they think it means here! I'm far too polite! 

Today I'm going on a course 'How to deal with hostile parents'. I wonder if it's going to be answers on a postcard?!! The rest of the school is having a day of transition up to the next class. I'm not required to be there. My role next year is changing and it's going to be very very odd. I'm not going to be class based! I'm going to be full time pastoral support/early interventions officer!!!! We've not bashed out my title yet!! But it's what I've been leaning towards for a long time. One to one support for those who need that extra help accessing the curriculum for numerous reasons. It's going to be hard leaving the academic side. I'm not quitting Maths and English altogether - I'll be doing this in 1-2-1 support, but only in little snippets! 

I'll miss the life in a classroom. I'll not miss the stress of being in Y6. I'll not miss endless cover supervision - though I'll still be called upon to do this ad hoc. Keeping my oar in so to speak. 

Anyway ..it's done nothing but rain hard Oop North lately. Really hard rain. It's wrecking my blooms! A lot of my plants are going rusty! But yesterday I managed to get out side to sit for just half an hour and noticed my Delphs blooming. Not en masse yet grrrr. But looking good. Lots of blooming weeds sprouting. But a quick hoe will see them off. 

Andy Murray's tennis match was a great thing to watch and in celebration of him winning, I made a cake! 

Well done Andy!! 

Talking of cake, it was our Summer Fair thingy last Thursday and I was one of three manning the cake stall. To say people went mad for my rhubarb and custard cakes is quite truthful! 

Two mums were actually 'fighting' over the last one! Feedback was that they were really really good! 

It's basically a basic sponge mix with custard powder replacing 50g ( 2oz ) of the flour. 

Once cooled, take out some cake from the middle, add a teaspoon of stewed rhubarb and pop the plug of sponge back in. 

Then make custardy buttercream using butter, icing sugar, custard powder and milk. Swirl or smudge on and add sprinkles! 

I also used some rhubarb essence from Lakeland in the sponge and some custard essence in the buttercream. 

I also made chocolate fudge cakes and ginger buns with cream cheese icing topping. I called them ginger cheesecakes! 

The top chocolate ones made me laugh out loud - I thought I'd make them into butterfly cakes, but because the chocolate fudge cake was slightly sticky and my chocolate fudge topping a tad stiff I couldn't set them at jaunty angles! So I added an extra splodge of cream and little candy beans and called them bat cakes!!! I think I've invented something for Halloween! It took me two trips to get this little lot to school

 The fair was open for two hours. The cake stall made £115 profit! The whole fair made £800+ 

All for a good cause! Our school!! 

Right, need to get a wriggle on. I'll be late for my day of learning!! 

Thanks for all your comments on my last post X 

Lots of love from 

Rachel * Last Monday but one get up* Radiostar xx 

STRRRRRIKE!

School's shut. The NUT are on strike. My Union isn't, so technically I'm working from home. It's SATs results day. I expect a really low set of results countrywide. I was still going to take a cherub to their High School to experience the full on lunch canteen and then at home time,  going on the school bus ( kill me now!). However, a phone call yesterday stopped play and I have an unexpected day of freedom. 

So, naturally I've been awake since 4am mulling over everything and anything. I got up as normal and did the normal morning normals. Packed lunch/washer/dishwasher/etc/etc 

I've picked out a pattern for a tunic top. I measured my self ( ugh that was BRUTAL ) and will cut out the pattern. I may then actually get some material and pretend I'm on the sewing bee!! I fell asleep in it last night but I do know who won. Congratulations to her, but she was my least favourite of the finalists. < far too smug early on >  I've not 'felt' this series as much as the others. Also 9.30pm was TOO late!! I do love the new lady judge. I think the makes have been a bit 'trying too hard' this year. 

Next,  I've a  knitted waistcoat to knit the bands on. I will do this in front of some trashy TV.

 I've Asda coming with a huge online delivery betwixt 1 and 3. I might make a start on the baking for the cake stall onThursday. 

My friend at work has insisted we go all posh on the cake stall this year, so nice crisp new paper tablecloths. Cake stands - the cardboard ones I bought( £1.20 Home Bargains)  as extras to all our pot n slate n wire ones we are using. I must look mine out actually. Have you seen it anyone?? Hmmmm. I'll have to add 'hunt out the cupcake stand' to my list. Bunting, doilies, cake bags and boxes! We'll have to put the prices up!! 

I've a Lakeland order being delivered sometime too. But most of all, I'm looking forward to....

Going into school and getting the Y6 Leaver's display up in the peace and quiet! It'll only take me an hour in a childless school. When the children are in, it could take anything up to three days!!! I will also work on the video I do, which is guaranteed to make all the mum's, dad's and grandparents cry! 

I use photos right the way from reception to Y6 but this year I have a genius plan!! I've had the unsuspecting Y6s recreate some of the photos I've picked out hehehe can't wait for them to see it!! 

I choose poignant songs for maximum blubbfactor too!! 

Reach by S club to start it all off, nice and jolly. 

A bit of something Take Thatty upbeat 

Then I move in for the jugular

Run by Snow Patrol or Leona Lewis and then mega tissue moment 

Somewhere over the rainbow - either Eva Cassidy or the calypso version that they used on ER when Dr Mark Greene sadly died.

**************************************************************************************************************************

Sorry, it's still raw. I needed a moment to gather myself!!

Ahem. 

 I'm open to any ideas for the soundtrack. I usually think - oh that's a good one, in the middle of the night and then I've forgotten by the morning!!! I also add very witty hilarious captions! 

Right it's 7.35am. Time to get the day restarted! 

This was the other day after a really hard rain! The photo does not do it justice. 

And I don't know if any of you are or want to, but I might...

 Saw that on Twitter. One of my best friend's mum is a member. We may join in her memory. She was diagnosed with an inoperable cancerous brain tumour 10 weeks ago. Life is really really unfair sometimes. She's still here. The prognosis was 8-12 weeks with palliative care. Up to 6 months with gruelling chemo and radio therapy and all that entails. The lovely lady decided it wasn't worth it. She wanted her time left to be free from hospitals and The Side effects from chemo. It would never be successful, the type of tumour she has is untreatable. I won't go into gory details right now.  Initially 21 weeks ago she presented at A and E with a stroke. 11 weeks ago she collapsed with seizures and had a scan. Black Betty ( the tumour ) showed up. 10 weeks ago we heard the inevitable. So day to day they are just getting on with it. I go to see her and she's delightfully sweary. My friend and I communicate mostly by text - we use tumour humour to get through this. But it's really shit. Her dad is also going through Bladder cancer treatment. Yanno folks, live every single day how you want to because you really are lucky. 

The lady is a prolific crafter - so talented in all she touches. She's bequeathed all her wool, needles n patterns to me. I've said I will knit for her great grandchild come the time, as she won't be here. But look what my friend has made for the funeral. It's gorgeous. 

 Bloody cancer. 

7.45am now. Still swithering over that puppy....

Another question for you. I used a word yesterday that my colleague had never heard of. My Nanna and mum used it all the time and consequently me! 

Do you know what it means? 

'Flarching' (v) to Flarch 

Hehehe now 7.47am 

Lots of love from 

Rachel *loves a good strike day but could really do with a strike fortnight* Radiostar xxx 

Ignoring the rough and loving the unexpected smooth

Well well well.

Out the blue I received an email from a different parent and wanted to document it here. 

Obviously I've taken out names and any identifying pointers but the sentiment is clear. 

And yes you were all so right with your much appreciated messages of support. 

School is shut on Tuesday due to the Teacher's strike. So that means 13 'nasty get ups' left! 

Most of the staff are equally as knackered and I know non education workers can lament on and on about people who work in school always being on holiday...but unless you are in that mentally draining environment which gives you a different tiredness to physical tiredness, you truly don't and can't ever understand! I do love my job and will miss my class bigstyle. Don't tell them - but after two years of dishing out equipment I've got them all a personalised pencil with From Miss 'Radiostar' on them! 

Anyway, the email...

I just wanted to say how grateful I am for your amazing support. We couldn't have got this far without the support you have given and are still giving both my child and me. I honestly don't know what I would have done if you hadn't offered your unwavering kindness and support. My child will do brilliantly at high school and I have you to thank. Their confidence and self esteem is amazing me at every step of this transition process. They're growing into an amazing young person. 

Please remember how much of an impact you have had on my child. You deserve more than a thank you but this will do for now. 

 Lots of love from 

Rachel *pass me the tissues* Radiostar xxx 

Ps. 

Haul from Hobbycraft sale...

Lovely lovely shiny metallic half price thread! Not sure what it's for yet.....

And this just might be coming home with me...... Watch this space!