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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!

A Belated Half-Birthday Post

Those of you who know me well will know that I do love a good half birthday. I've never really grown out of them, and only recently realised that other people have. For example, I turned 22 and a half on 11th July. And this blog turned, well, 0 and a half (or 6 months, if you will) on 1st September. I completely missed it. So I thought I'd make up for it now by doing the classic 'Things I've achieved' and 'Things I'd like to achieve' post. I'll go back to January though as it's hard to think of lots of things I've achieved since March. The list will probably be brief...

Things I've wanted to do that I've achieved so far this year:

• Saw 'The Lion King' in London for my birthday, something I've wanted to do for years. Also saw Stomp, The Sound of Music and Les Mis. I'm doing pretty well on the musical front.


• Went to Riga and Hamburg (I wouldn't say either of these were an ambition of mine but they turned out to be two of my favourite days of the year so far...)


• Was the Props Co-ordinator for a major (school) musical production.


• Rode in a limo.


• Reached the 2nd floor of the Eiffel Tower without having some kind of panic attack.


• Passed my induction year in teaching and became a 'normal' teacher.


• Went snorkelling and rode on a banana boat!


• Passed my driving test (on 2nd January, that one just made it onto the list).


• Started a blog. Never thought I'd keep it up, but turns out that anything that stops me being more efficient on the work front is a winner.

I'm bored of that one now. Onto 'Things I would like to achieve...'

• I still want to ride an elephant. How achievable this desire will be over the next 6 months is unclear.


• I would love to see 'Wicked' and 'Avenue Q'. Not hinting there at all...


• I would like to somehow gain a sense of direction. I'm hopeless. A bit like Dory from Finding Nemo. I forget where I've been, how I got there, where I'm going... every day is like a new adventure for me!

Hmm, it would appear that I am currently lacking ambition. Although I'm quite impressed at how much I've done this year... really didn't feel like I'd achieved much until I wrote it down. Actually, I'm going to add:

• Get paid to stay at a Hilton hotel and eat lots

Just because I found out today that I'm doing that one as part of my job (going on a one day course). So one down, two to go! Woop woop.

Here's to the next six months...

A Very Frightening 5 Minutes

Lately, when I wake up in the morning, I have been suffering from sleep paralysis. It's never happened to me before, but during the last month or so it's been happening pretty regularly. Never when I first wake up, but only when I have a lie in and go back to sleep, or have a power nap in the afternoon. Basically what happens is this...

I think I'm awake. I try to move, but I can't. As I try harder to move, concentrating all my energy into moving one arm, the deeper I seem to be sinking in this indescribable feeling of entrapment. Then I start to panic. I feel as if I can't breathe, my energy is gone and my body is exhausted. Eventually, I manage to force myself to move a finger, and then it kind of disappears and I can move. It can sometimes last for up to half an hour! It's frustrating and sometimes terrifying.

Anyway, I googled it yesterday. I went onto this website entitled 'Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis'. I skim read the first paragraph, and it described EXACTLY what I was experiencing. 'Phew!' I thought to myself... 'It's not just me'. Then I scan to the bottom of the page and pick out the sentences 'disease involving degeneration of motor neurons' and 'progressive fatal illness'. I nearly burst into tears right there and then, before going back and reading the end of the first paragraph...

'If you've had one of these experiences, then you've probably had a glimpse of how it feels to have a fully developed amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.'

Thank goodness. I then left the Website of Death and visited the next one on the list, which immediately says:

RELAX! You are not going insane or dying. Sleep paralysis is not harmful. Read 'The Terror That Comes In The Night' for more information.

If only I'd read that one first. Off to Amazon we go...

Oh, and just for your information... Sleep Paralysis is actually 'a natural bodily function that causes us to be paralyzed during sleep. It prevents us hurting ourselves or others during dreams. It's when it follows us into the waking state that it becomes a disorder'

Wow... I have a disorder!

By the way, has anyone else experienced this?