A quick update...

1) Quiz night was a success- we made nearly £200! Thanks to everyone who came and supported us, hope you had as good a time as we did...

2) School production was also a success, although standing on stage door in the freezing cold for four hours on Wednesday and Thursday night wasn't much fun. I am NOT putting myself through it again next year!

3) It's the start of the school holidays- yay! I received two beautiful bouquets of flowers from a couple of parents, and lots of chocolate. For the first time in my life, I have more Easter eggs than I know what to do with... I've never been sick of chocolate before, but that time may be coming :-S

4) I've got a busy few weeks ahead. I'm off to the Isle of Wight tomorrow for an activity week with Year 6 (not sure how I get dragged into all these things, but it should be good- fingers crossed for good weather!). Then as soon as I get back I'm going to Durham for a couple of days to see some uni friends who still live there, and a day after I come back from that am off to Fuerteventura with Heather for 6 days! The next couple of weekends after that am also going to Hertfordshire and Durham again (this time for a big uni reunion). So I probably won't be blogging as much as I'd like... I'm not sure how you'll cope either, but you'll have to try.

I'll leave you with one of the many 'activities' I'll be doing next week. This is the Giant Swing. I'm not sure how I feel about it at the moment...

For Ben Still

This week, Ben had his first interview for a teaching post at a local comprehensive school. He's currently doing his PGCE and is in the middle of a placement at this particular school. Anyway, he got the job!!!! So I wanted to make him something really special to say 'Congratulations'. Something with meaning. Something tasteful. Then I saw this and knew I'd found what I'd been seaching for...

I wanted to put my own head on it, but I couldn't as it only had a man version of it (what happened to equality amongst the sexes?!). So I asked permission from the first guy I saw today if I could borrow his instead, and he said yes.

Happy Easter everybody!

Don't send a lame Congrats eCard. Try JibJab Sendables!

Congratulations Ben! Love Katie (and Rich) xx

Things I Should Not Have Done This Week

Ok, so that wasn't one of them- I found this when I was searching for a picture to put on here. Now that I have your attention...

Things I Should Not Have Done This Week:

1) Run over somebody's flowerbed with my car (not even somebody I didn't know, it belonged to a nice guy from our corps who had kindly agreed to host Youth Fellowship last week...)

2) Agreed to be Stage Manager. If I have to move one more flippin' tree... (and no, that shouldn't be my job- I'm somehow involved with the props as well! Such a mug.)

3) Started watching Desperate Housewives. Now I'm addicted. (Not good, especially when I have a million more important things to be doing.)

4) Stood in front of a fitness control freak at Body Combat. If she grabs my arm one more time just to inform me I'm high kicking with the wrong leg, there WILL be trouble.

5) Spelt 'aerial' wrong the top of every single Geography report. That wouldn't be so bad in itself, if I hadn't made exactly the same mistake this time last year. It prompted various Post-It notes from the headteacher, saying things like:

'I think you'll find this type of Ariel is a washing powder.'
'This Ariel was 'The Little Mermaid.''
'This Ariel was, in fact, in 'The Tempest.''

You get the idea.

6) Parked my car under the trees at work. My car now looks as though it's trying to camouflage itself amongst a herd of zebras. Stupid birds.

7) Eaten two of the (rather large) Easter eggs I'd bought for the children in my class. Seriously, what is wrong with me?!

8) Watched a video clip entitled 'World's Worst Mouse Plague'. It led to me having nightmares about mice in my room/at work/in the kitchen for three nights in a row. I think it's given me Musophobia. (If you're feeling brave, the video can be found here. But don't say I didn't warn you...)

Ah, hindsight is a wonderful thing.

Two Things To Entertain You

Thing One

This is an instant form of entertainment, ideally to watch if bored at work (it's only about a minute long). Can YOU pass The Awareness Test?



Thing Two

This one is more in anticipation of entertainment... a quick plug. I asked Rich for a copy of the poster so I could advertise the event on here, and he gave me an all-singing, all-dancing version of it (it's worth pressing play, the music is really cool!)



In case you can't read it properly, we're having a quiz night at Hadleigh Temple Corps. Come!

Two other points to note:

-> Charlotte Still has finally blogged again... (I feel I should be supportive!)

-> Have added a new blogger to my list, as Paul Mitchinson needed replacing (he was rubbish...). When we visited Nottingham Memorial Halls Corps in November, Heather and I billeted with Andrew and Helen Whitehouse, who were really lovely to us. Andrew is DYO for that divison (East Midlands? I've no idea!) and has started up his own blog. Go look!

And the award for Most Bizarre Product Found In A School Equipment Catalogue goes to...

Body Sox. Apparently, these huge lycra sacks 'promote spacial awareness and interaction in children. Once inside, users find themselves in a private domain that lures them into kinesthetic exploration...'

I'm not convinced.

Whilst looking through this catalogue in the staffroom today, I was bamboozled. Yes, you heard correctly. The drama teacher came up to me and said:

'You haven't been bamboozled into being Stage Manager for the school production, have you?'

I reassured her that no, I hadn't. She then smiled and said:

'Oh, so you're ok with doing it then? Great, it will be fine, I know you'll do an excellent job!'

I tried to interrupt with 'I never said...' but she carried on regardless.

'I'll make sure you have some helpers. Thanks, Katie!'

And off she went. As I sat there in shock, trying to comprehend what had just happened, the woman next to me laughed and said 'So, she asked you if Paul had bamboozled you into Stage Management, and then went ahead and bamboozled you herself... I admire her'.

So now I'm Stage Manager. The one job more stressful than Props Co-ordinator (my role last year, after which I swore I would never get myself involved in another production again).

Great.

One year ago today...

... I wrote my very first blog entry (thanks for that reminder, Andy!). I've just been looking back at some of my posts and it turns out I've managed to pack quite a few things in- visits to a number of exciting countries, various road trips, lots of shows, encountered a death defying hamster and even acquired a disorder! And for someone who never finishes anything they start (I officially gave up giving up chocolate on Thursday thanks to a massive bar of Cadburys tempting me at the Matt and Chell's house- not my fault) I don't think I've done too badly with the whole blog thing.

Anyway, to celebrate my blog birthday, I drove to Hertfordshire to visit two of my closest friends from uni, Nuala and Lena. Here they are... (Lena is the one on the left and Nuala is on the right- the one in the middle is Lauren, who is living in Madrid now):

I'd forgotten how effortless it is spending time with these girls, how it felt like no time had passed since we last met, and how they still know me better than I know myself! (For example, few people know that I can't stand tomato ketchup and can only ever manage to drink half a cup of tea- stuff that you only really learn from living with someone.) We spent the afternoon doing stuff we all love and miss doing... eating at Wagamamas, chatting about the old days and watching The Nanny Diaries in our jogging bottoms. It really was like stepping into an old, comfortable pair of slippers. It made me feel a little nostalgic and Durham-sick (as you can probably tell).

By the way, don't go and see The Accidental Husband. I just could not have cared less about what happened to any of the characters. EVEN Colin Firth...