A Poem and Some Thoughts

Here is the poem:

The ravenous rhino
Is big, strong and tough
But his skin is all baggy and flappy
Which means that there's plenty
Of room for his lunch
And that makes him terribly happy.

- Rumble in the Jungle

Now that I have your attention, here are some thoughts (which are completely unrelated to the poem):

- This week has been really busy for me. I feel like I haven't sat down and relaxed for a long, long time (if I have actually sat down and relaxed with anyone reading this, then you may keep quiet). I've somehow managed to involve myself in both the Songsters and the Timbrels at Hadleigh, which has meant that suddenly there is always somewhere that I'm supposed to be... For example, we had a festival last night which lasted nearly 3 hours without a break. Great fun was had by all!

- I've also had Parents Evening, which went really well. It was very hectic and stressful but it was worth it to hear all the nice comments. I did feel a little sorry for the parents with appointments after 9pm, as I'd been talking non-stop for 3 and a half hours by this point and was starting to come out with complete rubbish. I'd start a sentence by saying something like 'Fred needs to learn that different mathematical vocabulary can mean the same thing, for example add and takeaway'*. As I was knocking back orange juice by the wine glass, one parent even asked if I was actually drinking Buck's Fizz...

- Yesterday I had a really fun day out in London, and was very lucky to experience the Hard Rock Cafe for the first time! I'd recommend it to a friend. So if you are a friend, then you should go. But beware of the desserts... I'd just been fitted for a new uniform in the morning and paid quite a lot of money, only to find that it no longer fitted in the evening.

- This next little while is also going to be very busy, with trips to Warwick, Newcastle and Nottingham all within two weeks. So apologies if I don't manage to post very much. But I will try.

- Haven't been to the gym for ages. And eaten out a LOT. I feel like I've let myself down a little bit...

- Finally, a 7 year old child said this to me a little while ago now, but I found it really funny. Here is October's Quote of the Month:

'What is the point of putting a word in the dictionary when they don't even know what it means?'

I take the dictionary and look at the page. It states:

'doubtful - not sure'

Love it.

* The correct term would have actually been 'minus' or 'subtract'. There, don't you feel like you've learnt something new today?

As This Seems To Be An Acceptable Form Of Blogging...

Sorry for lack of posting.

Parents' Evening this week. Been manic.

Just got back.

Exhausted.

Update soon.

Check these guys out...

Yesterday, I was trying to explain to my friend Nuala what timbrels are. Every Christmas, the Timbrelletes (the younger, more attractive version of the Timbrels at Hadleigh) perform a jazzed up routine at the Seevic Celebration Weekend (which by the way, if you haven't been to, is worth a visit). Last year we did the Blues Brothers, the year before we did Lulu's 'Shout'... you get the idea. It's all good fun and we enjoy it. But it's difficult to describe it to non-Salvationists. Waving a tambourine around just doesn't seem to justify it. So I looked up 'timbrels' on YouTube and found a really cool routine by a bunch of young people at Northern Summer School 2006. I thought I'd share it with you:



There's a big debate underneath the video on YouTube about whether it's an appropriate routine/music choice for the final festival, but I personally don't really care about that... they obviously worked really hard all week and put their heart and soul into it, and if it wasn't suitable then I'm sure it would have been cut from the programme!

Update on the health kick:

- Gym going really well. Been three times this week. The Legs, Bums and Tums class was led by some sadistic female instructor who had the energy of a hyped up Duracell bunny... am feeling the pain today!

- Been to McDonald's twice this week. That's twice more than I usually go. Ugh.

The One Where Katie Realises Two Very Important Things

Realisation Number One

Now, I've never really been one to watch what I eat (the 'eat like a pig' comment from a previous post pretty much sums that up), and I'm quite happy with the way I look. However, lately more and more people have been implying that if I carry on eating the way I do now, and carry on doing the same amount of exercise (i.e. nil), then I will be a bit of a heffalump by the time I'm 30. Add that to the fact that I am completely unfit and rather lazy (although I think the former statement may possibly be due to the latter), and the conclusion was obvious. I need to join the gym. I'd also quite like to see more of my friend Stacey, who is great at going to the gym. So this post marks the start of a whole new, healthier, gym bashing, no-more-McDonalds me. We'll see how that works out...

Realisation Number Two

I rarely acknowledge the fact I have great friends. I say 'rarely', I mean 'never'. Mostly because their egos are big enough as it is. But, to give them credit, one or two are particularly good at buying me awesome presents when I'm feeling a little rubbish. So here goes.

My friends are pretty cool.

Cumbria- The Least Eventful Youth Weekend Ever

This weekend, we went on a mini youth retreat to a cottage in Cumbria. I say 'mini' for two reasons. Firstly, only 6 of us went, which is a rather small proportion of our youth group at Hadleigh. And secondly, it was only for two nights. By the time we'd driven 6 hours to get there it was pretty much time to come back. But we had fun. As away weekends go, it was really, really chilled out. We didn't really do much of anything... saw a few lakes, drove around a LOT, had dinner in a lovely little town called Keswick and watched tv. It was great!

Now, Rich took along his camcorder to record some of the exciting things we did. However, as nothing really exciting actually happened (he managed to miss the few interesting moments, such as a car which crashed driving up a wall on the mountain, but he did capture a good five minutes footage of an empty coke bottle), I look forward to see how his video turns out! I thought I'd capture the excitement myself on a 30 second video on my phone... I've never recorded anything before and certainly never been able to upload anything onto a computer, so I'm feeling a real sense of achievement right now. The fact that the video has no real purpose is irrelevent, I'm just so proud I managed to do it that you can all share in my triumph with me. And I would also just like to announce here that my new phone is awesome.

The others all said that it sounds like I'm recording a video for infant school children. I can't help it if I lapse into teacher mode sometimes (although I like to think I don't actually sound like that in the classroom).

So... ladies and gentlemen, I am proud to present to you... Cumbria!

Such a happy, excited bunch of young people. Could we BE having any more fun?!

Kids say the stupidest things...

This week, we have had...

Child 1- (opens mouth wide) Look, I've got my first cup of tea.
Me- What?
Child 1- Cuppa tea. Mum said. It hurts.
Me- Oh. Cavity.
Child 1- Yeh, that's it.

Child 2- I had such a big fever yesterday that my temperature was almost full up!

Child 3- Ahh I've lost my rubber. Mum is gonna kill me.
Child 4- (matter of factly) No. It's against the LAW.

Child 5- I'm so cold I've got duck spots.
Me- You mean goose pimples.
Child 5- No, duck spots.

And this is the best one:

Me- Does anybody know why we sweat when we get hot?
Child 6- Because when it gets really hot, a bit of your face melts.

It's quotes like these that make my job worthwhile...

A Post with No Real Purpose

I just feel like I should post as I haven't for a couple of weeks and wouldn't want people to stop checking my blog as its never updated. Only two things to mention really:

1) The other Year 2 teacher and I have been having a whale of a time coming up with our school Christmas production: 'jesus@bethlehem.com'. It's based on a great children's book, all about what would have happened if Jesus had been born today. For example, there's a band (called 'Band of Angels'... hehehe) singing '21st Century Boy' and the three kings travel to see him by private jet. Yep, it's gonna be great. If anybody knows where I can get hold of a life jacket or one of those masks that drop out of the ceiling (oh dear, am having Grease flashbacks) please let me know.

2) We went on our Monopoly Day on Saturday. I'm not gonna say too much about it, as that would be stealing John's thunder (that, and I don't have any photos to make it interesting). But I do want to share a couple of things that I learnt from the day:

• Never, ever go to Old Kent Road after dusk.
• Don't take your children to Hamley's. Ever. Luckily I didn't have to learn from my own mistakes on this one, it was enough just observing other peoples' children.
• The phrase 'Katie, you eat like a pig' can refer to the fact that I eat a lot, not that I gobble down my food in an un-ladylike manner. That caused much confusion and upset.

It was a really good day, and we all had lots of fun... was also really nice to finally meet Anna! Might post again about it once John has updated his blog.

That's all for now!