Do Something Funny For Money!

Eager to live up to the motto of this year's Comic Relief/Red Nose Day event and of course help my school raise lots of money for a good cause, I decided to do a few funny things in aid of charity.

I have long wanted to learn and perform in a version of 'Thriller' and I managed to persuade several colleagues and students to join me. It took me a couple of hours to teach myself the choreography and then a few rehearsals to teach to others. We were the final act at the charity concert and I'm proud to say that we brought the house down. (I also sang Peggy Lee's 'Fever' with another teacher, sorry no pictures and definitely no video footage!)

Not content with the effort made on Thursday evening, I made the decision to go to work on Friday wearing pyjamas! I taught a full day's lessons wearing them, much to the amusement of colleagues and students alike. I have to say, that I felt incredibly comfortable and think that this may well be the way forward in dressing for work!

On an important note, I managed to raise some money for charity and help make a difference to a few people. I'm able to accept post-event sponsorship, so if you feel you are able to give anything send me an e-mail and I'll point you in the direction of my donation page.

Snow Day

Yesterday I crossed my fingers for snow, not enough to cause destruction, but enough to cause a day off work. I wasn't completely surprised to wake this morning and find a blanket of snow covering everything, it had been forecast over a week ago; but the forecasters don't always get it right, do they?

I have a policy of not driving in these conditions if I can help it and called upon the services of The HoF who lives close to me. I was hoping that he would take my suggestion to call work and say we couldn't get in, but he insisted on picking me up and driving in. To cut a long story short, we didn't make it very far; driving at two miles per hour in thick snow seemed to help him make sense of the situation. I was back home and playing in the snow in no time. At about the same time I discovered that my school had been shut and I needn't have bothered trying to get there in the first place!

Me and my Sons had a snowball fight and built a snowman, although I was only able to stay outside for periods of ten minutes before needing to defrost myself inside. Our efforts were rewarded when we found out that our respective schools will be closed tomorrow too. Just what are we going to do!

My List of 99

I saw this post on Brunsli's blog and decided to give the list a go. On account of my being an English girl and never having visited the States there are few things that I am unable to tick off...
(those I have achieved appear in bold)


1. Started your own blog
2. Slept under the stars
3. Played in a band
4. Visited Hawaii
5. Watched a meteor shower
6. Given more than you can afford to charity
7. Been to Disneyland - Tokyo and Paris, do they count?
8. Climbed a mountain - fall down them whenever I'm skiing!
9. Held a praying mantis
10. Sang a solo
11. Bungee jumped - contemplated it in my youth, but I now recognise the dangers associated!
12. Visited Paris
13. Watched a lightning storm at sea - although I have been a storm at sea, remember?
14. Taught yourself an art from scratch
15. Adopted a child
16. Had food poisoning - an experience I don't wouldn't wish upon anyone
17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty
18. Grown your own vegetables
19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France
20. Slept on an overnight train
21. Had a pillow fight
22. Hitch hiked - No and not likely to happen
23. Taken a sick day when you’re not ill - don't tell anyone!
24. Built a snow fort
25. Held a lamb
26. Gone skinny dipping
27. Run a Marathon
28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice
29. Seen a total eclipse
30. Watched a sunrise or sunset
31. Hit a home run - does it count if it was on the Wii?
32. Been on a cruise - a mini one
33. Seen Niagara Falls in person
34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors
35. Seen an Amish community
36. Taught yourself a new language - everyone knows I'm trying!
37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied
38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person
39. Gone rock climbing
40. Seen Michelangelo’s David
41. Sung karaoke - as recently as last week
42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt
43. Bought a stranger a meal in a restaurant
44. Visited Africa
45. Walked on a beach by moonlight
46. Been transported in an ambulance
47. Had your portrait painted
48. Gone deep sea fishing
49. Seen the Sistine Chapel in person
50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris
51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling
52. Kissed in the rain
53. Played in the mud
54. Gone to a drive-in theater - I have always wanted to do this
55. Been in a movie
56. Visited the Great Wall of China
57. Started a business
58. Taken a martial arts class
59. Visited Russia
60. Served at a soup kitchen
61. Sold Girl Scout Cookies
62. Gone whale watching
63. Gotten flowers for no reason
64. Donated blood
65. Gone sky diving
66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp
67. Bounced a check
68. Flown in a helicopter
69. Saved a favorite childhood toy
70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial
71. Eaten Caviar
72. Pieced a quilt
73. Stood in Times Square
74. Toured the Everglades
75. Been fired from a job
76. Seen the Changing of the Guards in London
77. Broken a bone - the same one, twice!
78. Been on a speeding motorcycle
79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person
80. Published a book
81. Visited the Vatican
82. Bought a brand new car
83. Walked in Jerusalem
84. Had your picture in the newspaper
85. Read the entire Bible
86. Visited the White House
87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating - I dont envisage this ever, ever, ever happening!
88. Had chickenpox
89. Saved someone’s life
90. Sat on a jury
91. Met someone famous
92. Joined a book club
93. Lost a loved one
94. Had a baby
95. Seen the Alamo in person
96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake
97. Been involved in a law suit - and won
98. Owned a mobile phone
99. Been stung by a bee - several times!

So I haven't quite managed to achieve half of the list, I need to get to work on putting that right!

Posh Party Portrait

I attended the Christmas party of a very exclusive London hospital yesterday, it was held in a plush hotel in Park Lane. This company spend an awful lot of money on their staff functions and their 'more than £180 per head budget' seriously overshadows the fund I have to organise my work celebrations! One of the little extras they had on the evening was a caricature artist and of course I jumped at the chance to have mine done. I am not convinced by it's accuracy (but then caricatures aren't meant to be), but I do love it!

Twitterbug

Yes, I have caught it and can now be found twittering my every move (well not every single one) for those who are interested. It's a great way to get up-to-the-minute (almost) updates of those you know and those you don't!

If you want to keep up with me, check this out.

What are you doing now?

Come Dine With Me

I am fast becoming addicted to this programme! So much so that I have even considered taking part; I went as far as to see if they were looking for contestants in my area, (perhaps luckily) they weren't. So how does it work? Over the course of a week, five strangers, who consider themselves to be good cooks, host dinner parties for each other. At the end of each evening the other four give their host marks out of ten. Following the final dinner party the contestant with the most points wins £1000. I have thought about what my menu would be if I were on the show and I have a few ideas. But I wonder, if you were hosting a dinner party for people you didn't know, what would be on your menu?

BTW, you can catch up on past episodes here and if you just want recipes, they are here.

I am still here!

Life has been very busy and for one reason or another I haven't got round to posting all of the blog posts I have written. I will be posting them below (in date order!) until I catch up with myself...

Imagine our surprise when...

...picked up the keys to our new house, entered it and found this


and this





and this





and this!

Will your hair grow?

Yes!

Somebody actually asked me this question!

Back to the slopes

You'll remember that my first time skiing was last year; you'll also remember that I had a really good time (see here, here, here and here) and that I invested in a few lessons while I was there. But, for some reason, this year, I didn't enjoy the skiing as much as I had anticipated. It could have been due to the absolutely freezing conditions; yes I know it's meant to be cold, but we were buying additional items of thermal ski wear on a daily basis (my purchases included this very handy ear-muff/head band thing). It could have been due to me spending a lot of time worrying about what was going on back in England with the new house purchase.

However, I suspect it was largely due to the fact that my skiing just wasn't up to scratch. I spent such a lot of time on my bottom or taking my skis off and walking down the mountain! And of course there was the day I thought my number was up...

How old is too old to wear a bib?

This delightful accessory is provided when having the speciality fish broth at a lovely little restaurant in Briancon. The dish is only served on Fridays and is popular with both locals and tourists; I used my best French to book our table as soon as we arrived in town. The substantial broth contains a variety of seafood and fish and lots of potatoes, it's served with rustic bread, cloves of garlic, garlic mayonnaise and Gruyere cheese. Whilst it does have the potential to be a bit of a passion killer, it is absolutely delicious and perfect comfort food to eat after a day in the snow.

BTW, look at how burnt my cheeks are!

Je peu parle Francais!

Not entirely in keeping with the sentiment of my last 'tagged' post, I managed to spend a little time brushing up on my French. Although I had every intention of working on my language skills on a daily basis for six weeks in preparation for being in France, living life got in the way and I found myself having to do final cramming sessions two days before heading to the airport.
I am pleased to report that whilst in Briancon, I did a very good job!
Although I was able to converse on a basic level with some confidence, I came across lots of people who wanted to practise their English; so I often found myself in conversations that took place in two languages!
I use the Instant French system, which works towards the student learning a bank of words that can be used in everyday situations. I have to admit to paying very little attention to the grammar, which means that I use my word bank to construct sentences as if I were speaking in English. Of course this is not the right way and certainly not the way I was taught at school; but I seem to make sense to the people I'm talking to and that's all that matters, right?
In the future I would like to enrol myself on a course, when I can find a window of time in my very busy life!

On the move

After all of the house hunting, we finally decided on a house that suited us. Our offer was accepted and everything is in the hands of the solicitors. The house will need some work doing to it and we won't move in until June; but it has the potential to be a great family home. As excited as I am, I have been brought down to earth by the amount of work that we need to do before moving. This includes packing up all of our belongings and putting the bulk of them into storage; I guess the plus side to this is being able to throw away all of the stuff that we really don't need. I have to admit to being 'a bit of a hoarder' and I have no doubt that my family will be grateful for the clearout that this move will force me to do.

Tagged (Parts Three and Four)

This is not the first time I have been tagged, in fact it is the third and fourth(see here and here)! I am by no means complaining :-)

Here are the rules:
1. link to the person that tagged you, in my case, Sisterlocks Convert and Still Waters.
2. post the rules on your blog.
3. share six non-important things/habits/quirks about yourself.
4. tag six random people at the end of your post by linking to their blogs.
5. let each random person know they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.

I guess as I've been tagged twice I should share twelve things, but I'm not sure that I can think of that many that you don't already know!

• My earliest childhood memories are of being at Nursery at the age of two. I can remember not being allowed in the paddling pool because I had a cold and having to watch all of the other children having fun in the water :-(
• I have a passionate dislike for Okra.
• I am really struggling to find facts to share! (does this count?)
• I like Root Beer, but it's hard to find over here. MacDonald's used to sell it, but haven't done so for years. I guess the closest thing in taste is Dr Pepper, but for me it's not close enough.
• I enjoy watching crime investigation series'; from Columbo to CSI, they all hold my attention.
  
• I once ruined a school production when I burst into a fit of laughter that lasted several minutes. I was playing Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz and my teacher wasn't very happy with my lack of professionalism!
• I have always felt it useful to be able to speak another language. At the moment, I am trying to brush up on my French skills for a forthcoming holiday; I also have 'teach yourself' kits for Spanish and Italian which I intend to work my way through.

I honestly can't think of anything else to share that I haven't already or that I am saving for future posts. So that, as they say, is all folks.
I am posting this so late in the day, that I am sure that there isn't any left to tag.
However if you haven't been tagged yet, consider yourself tagged by me and I'll look forward to reading your post!

"Aah Miss, your hair looks sick"

I'd better start by explaining that sick means bad when bad means good.

To be honest I thought my student was taking the mickey out of me when she said this; after all I think my hair looks a mess at the moment. She told me that she liked the way my hair had a nice afro shape to it and I explained that said afro look was due to the fact that my roots need 'doing'. She finished by saying "come on Miss, your hair looks really nice, I like it more than I did before and I really liked it then". At this point I smiled and thanked her.

Who was I to argue, after all, I like it more now than I did before.

However there is no denying the fact that my hair needs to be done. I have no time at the moment to do it myself and can't seem to get an appointment with my hairdresser. With another show on at work in a few weeks, I can see it being Easter before I get my hair sorted!

Something I've learnt this year

Ok, ok I know we're only a week into this year, but it's a while since I've done it.

Buying a new house is soooooooo stressful!

This is what we are doing at the moment and it has me absolutely zapped. We have seen 11 houses in the past 4 days and I must say, that bar one house, we really enjoyed it. Thankfully we've managed to get a short list from these and fingers crossed, our new home is amongst them. But the tiring part is dealing with Solicitors, Financial Advisors and Estate Agents, don't even get me started on Estate Agents. We have become their new best friends and they seem to have us on speed dial; they all have the perfect house for us, in fact they all have several of the perfect house for us!

The process of packing up our current home has begun; we are trying to get rid of all of the stuff we have acquired over the years, that we don't need to take with us - isn't it amazing how much 'stuff' you can accumulate over time.
I am a little nervous about moving, it will be a new house, new neighbours and for us a new area; not too far away, but enough for me to notice.

For the first time in, let me see, in a year, my hair is taking a back seat!

Shame on them

I was intrigued when this story first broke; man goes missing, he's presumed dead, five years later he turns up alive and 'well'. My suspicions were roused by the fact that he was able to give important information about himself, his name and D.O.B, but he thought that he might be missing. Intriguing, but I guess it could be possible to remember your name and nothing else and from that summise that perhaps you are a missing person and should get yourself to a police station. Yes, you are right, Mel was not convinced by this story!
When John Darwin's wife Anne began to speak to the press, I had the distinct feeling she knew more than she was letting on (or that she was not happy that her husband was actually alive); she was shocked by the news and would be returning t the UK at some point! Surely ones first instinct in this situation would be to rush the side of the loved one once thought lost; instead she seemed 'happy' to stay in Panama.
Her tune changed dramatically when stories like this emerged in the news, along with pictures of the couple said to be taken last year, it was clear that they were in it together.
All the time that I'm following this crazy story, I'm thinking what about their sons ; how do you, as a parent, allow your children to go through all of that pain and torment? Believing for all of that time that your Father is dead and then to find out that not only did he fake the whole thing, but that your Mum was in on it. Awful, truly awful.
There are other cases of (mainly) men who walk out of the door and leave everything behind; most of them a little publicised than the Darwin story.

Kiva

Some of you may recall my previous post about the organisation that facilitates loaning money to businesses in need; I loaned to three people and they are all in the process of paying back. kiva have now set a loan amount limit of $25 (roughly £12.50) as a result of the growing number of people wanting to help these worthy entrepreneurs.
I discovered today that Kiva offer Gift Certificates; the recipients can choose who to loan to and then once it's repaid they can loan again or get their gift back.
I have decided to buy some as Christmas presents; if you find yourself stuck for gift ideas, you might consider them too.

A quick distraction

Great. As long as they are not students from my school!

What the blazes!!!

I was driving along listening to the news headlines when I heard about this; at the time I was a little concerned. When I got home and heard the whole story, I was absolutely irate. Not only is there a possibility of my very important details falling into the wrong hands, but information about my children is also lost in transit.
Until the discs are found, millions of people are at risk of becoming the victims of identity fraud; this could happen today, tomorrow or in many years to come. I have had my credit card cloned before and it was a horrible experience. The knowledge that the loss of this personal information could result in similar situations occurring is very worrying.
Apparently I am going to receive a letter from this government department, apologising for the situation; unfortunately this will provide very little comfort.