But I Smile Anyway…

Happy Monday to you all! Right, the race to Christmas is well and truly on. Are you ready with your drink?

• If we were sipping chai together I’d begin by telling you that I went to my Dr’s appointment on Friday and it was more productive than before. The Locum that was there really analyzed my previous results, and gave me his opinions, then sat back and listened to my catalogue of pain history, before arranging for a referral to a Rheumatologist. He agrees that all my results so far have come back normal, if not better than normal, including any rheumatoid function and inflammation results, and that to dig deeper into my pains, a specialist is needed. Of course, the pains are there, as always, and not helped by my clumsiness. I fell over TWICE on Friday, bashing my knee and shoulder the first time, and the other shoulder and my knuckle the second time. Seriously, a bubble wrap suit would be perfect for me!
• If we were sipping chai together I’d have to tell you how the Nativity is going too! The proper performance is actually today, but prior to last week, all the children had done was sing the songs (a LOT) but they hadn’t ever walked through or performed the play fully at all. On Monday, we started by having a run through that didn’t happen as we had the Flu Spray immunisations happening, so chunks of the children were being taken out. We squeezed into one classroom to have a run through on Tuesday, then didn’t get a chance again until Thursday. For the first time they fully ran through the play, the kiddos did amazingly well! We managed two run throughs, then on Friday we had our first audience! It was a dress reharsal to the rest of the school. I was worried about the children getting stage fright, but, touch wood, they did fantastically! I can’t wait to report back on the official performance today!
• If we were sipping chai together I’d have to whip out my phone and share the Christmassy classroom as it now looks! We have a post office, so the children can write cards to family and friends, post letters and parcels, and even write letters to Santa! I made a little Snowman head postbox for the children’s Christmas cards too! The kids have an advent calendar and they have to answer Christmassy questions to be in with a chance of their treats!

• If we were sipping chai together, I’d tell you that we had visitors this weekend, my sister in law’s sister and her family. The kids had a great time, and we even played board games, which is something that they rarely do with us! I was introduced to a new one to me, called Dobble. Have you heard of it?
• If we were sipping chai together I’d tell you that Lil Man is back to his Cricket District trials, hoping to get on the North Kent squad. I took him this time, as it seems that Hubby Dearest succumbed to the COLD again!
• If we were sipping chai together I’d have to share with you, the beautiful sunrises and sunsets I have been witnessing this week. The colours of the sky are so beautiful, I could just sit and look at them forever!

• If we were sipping that chai together, and possibly reaching for cake or cookies I’d say that, as I mentioned before, it is the performance this week. It’s the first time I have been fully responsible for my own class within their performance, so I am quite excited, and a little nervous too! Then we have a progress meeting with the Head, as well as a Parent Christmas Craft afternoon to organise! Oh, the joys of the festive season!
• If we were sipping that chai together, and possibly reaching for cake or cookies I’d say that I am due my final feedback from my editor too, this week… then I can do those final tweaks, format, sort the blurb out and actually give you a publishing date!

Right, that’s me done Peeps! Let me how your week has been.

Happy Monday to you all! Another week has passed. Where does the time go? And yes, another busy one for me too! Settled with that cuppa? Right then…

• If we were sipping chai together I’d start by giving you the next update on the health situation. I spent most of the week with just dull aches in my knees and one shoulder, but nothing debilitating. I hoped that maybe it was just something viral. The Drs appointmet didn’t give me much more, other than another clear set of bloods, checking off inflammation and rheumatoid arthritis. I told the Dr that I wasn’t in awful pain, at the moment, but the tiredness, and headaches were still around. He said things like fibryomalgia are hard to diagnose, and often a process of elimination. There are meds he could give me, but do I want to start existing on tablets that could end up giving me other side effects? No. I think at the moment I can manage the pains tht creep up. He sent me off with some exercises and told me to take Pops’ advice with some yoga breathing and massages. All was fine… until Saturday. The knees were really painful, but not as bad as that awful day 3 weeks ago. I lay in bed with a hot water bottle on them. The heat soothed the pain away for a while. Then we went to Bluewater on Sunday and all was fine, until I had a sudden pain on my ankle as I was walking around. It came along so suddenly, I just don’t know what is going on. Another visit back to the GP? Who knows when I’ll get an appointment now… Long soak in a warm bath for me and more hot water bottles, along with ibuprofen if needed, I think…
• If we were sipping chai together I’d tell you that school has been good too. We started the week with Armistice Day on Monday. It’s not easy to explain to children aged 4-5, what Poppy Day is, but we tried our best, and they made some lovely pictures of poppy fields. Then Monday and Tuesday evening were late ones for us as it was parents evening time. For the most part, things went well. It just left us all very tired. The next fun thing we did was sensory spaghetti play! I spent a good hour and a half one night, cooking and colouring spaghetti so they could hide letters and numbers in it and try and fish them out using gian tweezers! They loved it! And Friday was Children in Need, as I posted about earlier. The children love it when they get a chance to be involved in anything and dressing up is of their favourite things. What better, than to be able to dress up, and raise money for charity too?

• If we were sipping chai together I’d just have to slip this one in… One of my beauts always brings in pictures and ‘gifts’ for us and this week, I was given a cut out picture from an LOL Surprise magazine. “This is you, Mrs Bhathal!” What do you think? I am starting to feel delusions of grandeur… may just ask you to call me Queen Ritu soon… 😜

• If we were sipping chai together I’d leave the best news to last… I finally revealed my cover! I have been toying with the idea of revealing it a lot recently, but wasn’t sure, especially as I haven’t got a solid publish date yet. But, to be honest, it shouldn’t be long now. I’ll get my final draft back from the editor in a couple of weeks. I just need to write a blurb I am happy with, and add the ‘weird’ pages, like acknowlegements, dedications, about me, and that published on page to the manuscript. I have started formatting, and hopefully any changes to the script will be minor, which I can do in my formatting programme. Then I can let my dear cover designer how many actual pages the paperback will be, so she can send me the relevant cover, complete with blurb and spine. A wrestle with KDP, and hopefully I can get myself set, and announce a pre-order and publication date for you all! But if you did happen to miss it… here is my book baby!

• If we were sipping that chai together, and possibly reaching for cake or cookies I’d mention that I must be really wicked, because, honestly, there is no rest to be had for me here! We will be upping the ante with beginning Nativity rehearsals, to start off with this week.
• If we were sipping that chai together, and possibly reaching for cake or cookies I’d tell you that Lil Man and Lil Princess have another day off school on the Wednesday, so Lil Princess will be coming in to help me for the day, and then I have to take her to the dentist.
• If we were sipping that chai together, and possibly reaching for cake or cookies I’d let you know that I will also be hosting my first ever parent meeting to discuss our Phonics scheme to the reception parents, as this is my subject responsibility this year. And on the same day, I will have to hare out early as Lil Princess and I are off to see Little Mix in concert too! I am already tired, and it’s only the beginning of the week. Hope my aches and pains hold out!
• If we were sipping that chai together, and possibly reaching for cake or cookies I’d also slip in that today, Monday, is our wedding anniversary. It falls on a Monday so there won’t be much celebrating, but plenty of time together. ❤ 18 years… where did they go?

Right, that’s me done Peeps! Let me how your week has been.