You'll either love it or hate it...

This irritatingly catchy song (if you can call it a song) has been in my head ALL DAY. So now I'm going to put it into yours. It's very, very strange... but I'm starting to think that if I'd seen this programme as a kid, maybe I would've eaten more vegetables.

So, at the risk of losing faithful readers of my blog, here is 'There's A Party In My Tummy' from Yo! Gabba Gabba:



There. That's ruined your day, hasn't it? Just think, you'll never get those two minutes back.

Heather and Katie's Week of FUN!

So, we're back from the Canary Islands. I'll try not to bore you too much with holiday stories, but here are a few of the things that happened to us...

Our adventure started as our plane descended into Fuerteventura. There was a LOT of turbulance. Eventually we reached the runway and the tyres hit the ground and bounced up and down quite a lot. A few seconds later, we realised that instead of gradually slowing down, we were speeding up. And then a really odd thing happened. The plane took off again. It was all quite surreal and it was only when I looked out the window and realised how high up we were that I turned to Heather (not the keenest of flyers) who looked really freaked out. We then laughed nervously and decided that the pilot must have landed on the wrong island and had hoped that nobody would notice. Ten minutes later (a very long time when pondering your own mortality- why hadn't there been an announcement?! What was GOING ON?!!) the voice of the Spanish pilot came onto the intercom. The static was bad and his English wasn't great anyway, so the announcement went something like this:

"Ladies and Gentlemen, you may be aware that *static* plane *static* circling *static*. We experienced some problem *static* wing *static* landing. We try again. Thank you."

Well, that's what Heather heard anyway. The rest of us heard 'strong wind' instead of 'wing'. Which obviously changes the meaning a little. Anyway, the pilot managed to land the plane eventually, to much raptuous applause, and so our holiday finally began.

Here are a few pictures from our trip:

1) Heather took this without me realising. You can take the girl out of England...

2) A banana split without the banana. We discovered, after complaining, that it really should have been named 'The Banana Flavoured Ice Cream Split'. Rubbish.

3) We went across to Lanzorote for the day on Friday, and did a bit of dolphin spotting too. Unfortunately none of the dolphin photos came out, so here's a picture of Heather and I after the tour guide gave us blankets because we were cold... (it was a boat packed with tourists, and we were the only two who had blankets... such high maintenance!):

Some memorable quotes from the trip include:

'This is NOT what I ordered.'

- Heather, after opening the curtains on our first morning to discover it was cloudy.

'Don't worry, my little fruitbowl. It'll be fine.'

- A man we overheard reassuring his girlfriend. We burst out laughing.

'Please put other bag on scales. Before plane leaves.'

- Impatient Spanish check-in guy at airport.

(After checking passport photo) 'Come again soon, my darlings. You are welcome here always. *sleazy wink* Don't go home, please don't go!'

- Final security check man proving that they don't seem to take their job quite as seriously over there...

We had a brilliant time!!!

Miracle Jesus

You know those little shops that sell all sorts of bits and pieces, nice for small gifts and tokens of appreciation? Well, there's a lovely little shop in Durham I used to go to when stuck for present ideas. However, when I visited it this weekend, it would seem the owner has branched out into a whole new market niche. In amongst the homemade bookmarks, cute ornaments and those 'Thank You Teacher' mugs (which you can never get enough of), I noticed this:



I thought the 'glow-in-the-dark hands' were an interesting touch. Also, note the fact that this is the 'DELUXE' version. I wonder what the ordinary Miracle Jesus Action Figure does...

Anyway, I had a very nice time in Durham. Last week I went to the Isle of Wight with Year 6 (more on that later), and during Disco Night they played that Soulja Boy song. All 400 children in the hall immediately commenced this intricate dance routine, which left the adults (who had up to that point felt very 'down with the kids'- we'd just taught the younger generation the Macarena moves) feeling very old and slightly freaked out. Apparently the routine is on YouTube. Being the ancient 23 year old that I am, the only word (and corresponding move) I could understand in the song was 'Superman'- and the next day I couldn't wait to show my Durham friends the move I'd learnt. Laura in particular was very quick to catch on:



The Isle of Wight trip was a very testing time for me- I had to face all sorts of fears and look as though I was thoroughly enjoying every second of it, as some of the kids in my group were more terrified than me. The Giant Swing was horrifying to start off with, as I had to go first and the girl sat next to me didn't want to say 'stop' til the swing was at its highest point (if you've seen the video from the previous post, it was raised so it was actually level with the top bar). In hindsight, I should've known better than be paired with her, as her dad owns Adventure Island... By this time two of the other groups were walking past, and they'd all stopped to have a good look. The worst bit was the fact that it was up to me to pull the tiny pink cord, which then released the swing. After the initial 'AAAAAAHHHH' sensation though, it was really good!!!

Going on the Tunnel Trail was the other really scary experience for me. It involved crawling through these wet, muddy, pitch black tunnels which varied in height (I came out with a headache) looking for a golden brick which, when pulled out, would reveal a secret supply of sweets. Needless to say, there was no golden brick. And when I decided to stay in the one small chamber with a light to look after the frightened children, the light went out and I was left comforting all these crying children who I couldn't see.

Apart from that, it was a really good trip, and the Isle of Wight is beautiful. Have officially had enough of children now though...

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!