#SoCS | But I Smile Anyway...

#SoCS March 2/19

02 Mar 2019 21 Comments

by Ritu in #SoCS Tags: Blog, Blog Post, Blogger, Blogging, Cele, Linda G Hill, School, Socs, Stream Of Consciousness Saturday

Linda’s #SoCS prompt…

Your Friday prompt for Stream of Consciousness Saturday is “cele-.” Find a word that starts with or contains “cele” and use it any way you’d like. Enjoy!

Celebration time!

Yes, that is definitely the thing for us this weekend.

Yesterday we were on tenterhooks, waiting to find out what school Lil Princess would get a place at.

On that news that morning, there was a report about how over 100,000 children wouldn’t get their first choice of schools, and that there was even a shortage of places in secondary schools.

Apparently, in her year of birth, there was a baby boom. That was 11 years ago. Surely the government had access to birth figures and should have been suitably prepared… Seems not.

So, even though I was pretty sure she would get her first choice, especially as her brother is already there, there was still a worry.

And it appears that our county is one of the latest to send out the offer emails. Most letters were posted to arrive this morning, or emails sent to arrive in parents inboxes in the morning.

Not Kent.

No. We were advised that after 4pm the emails would start to arrive, and if you applied by paper form, your letters would be posted today and so you wouldn’t even know until tomorrow!

And I was impatient, checking my phone at every break to make sure nothing had sneaked in early…

Then at lunchtime, one of her peers’ mums, who works at the school, told me her husband had had THE EMAIL! And it was only 1.30pm!

Well, my brain went into overdrive then. Why had we not received notification yet? Had I sent the application in properly? What if she hadn’t got into her first choice of school?

It wasn’t long before, finally, that message pinged up.

She got in!

To the school we wanted, the place she wanted, and the same as her brother.

That allowed a wave of relief to wash over me.

So we have to celebrate her good news this weekend.

(Then we can start silently panicking about her SATS tests in May…)

The Friday Reminder and Prompt for #SoCS March 2/19

#SoCS Feb. 23/19 – Critic(al)

23 Feb 2019 30 Comments

by Ritu in #SoCS Tags: #SoCS, Blog, Blog Post, Blogger, Blogging, Critic, Critical, Linda G Hill, Stream Of Consciousness Saturday

Linda’s prompt for SoCS this week…

Your Friday prompt for Stream of Consciousness Saturday is “critic(al).” Use it any way you’d like. Have fun!

Sometimes, it’s easy to become your worst critic.

Actually, scratch that. Unless you are supremely overconfident, it is human nature to be critical of yourself, and usually, more so that anyone else.

Self-doubt is one of those things that creeps up on you, and it is a slippery slope to that great place – the Wallow Pool – if you aren’t careful.

We are often so busy looking at ourselves, or our work, with a negative eye that we tend to tune out the words of encouragement that are being sent our way.

So, my message to you all today is to try and open your mind, your ears, your eyes and your heart to the good stuff that people say about you.

It’s often a much better opinion of you than you actually hold!

The Friday Reminder and Prompt for #SoCS Feb. 23/19

Stream Of Consciousness Saturday – #SoCS 2/16

16 Feb 2019 57 Comments

by Ritu in #SoCS, Thoughts Opinions & Memories Tags: Blog, Blog Post, Blogger, Blogging, Limerick, Linda G Hill, poem, Socs, Stream Of Consciousness Saturday, Yawn

Linda’s prompt for SoCS this week…

Your Friday prompt for Stream of Consciousness Saturday is “yawn.” Write about the first thing that comes to mind when you think of the word “yawn,” when you sit down to write your post. Enjoy!

There was a smart man from Lawn
Over whom, the ladies would fawn
But his wife confessed
She was not impressed
And quietly stifled a yawn

You she, she had spent three years
Perfecting her claps and her cheers
For his rote learned tricks
That impressed all the chicks
But bored her simply to tears

Still, she had to pay him his due
Because from him it was through
That she lived like a dame
And his fortune and fame
Came from tricking them all, old and new

The women would come from miles
To be flattered by his comments and smiles
And if they wanted to pay
Who was she to say
She just gathered the coins into piles

To them she was just the maid
Dressed rather plainly and staid
But she knew the score
He loved her more
Of losing him, she wasn't afraid

You see, our young man from Lawn
Was simply his cunning wife's pawn
When he'd made enough money
She'd gather his 'honey'
And one day she'd simply be 'gorn'

Ritu 2019

(gorn - gone - artistic licence!)

The Friday Reminder and Prompt for #SoCS Feb. 16/19

#SoCS Feb. 9/19

09 Feb 2019 15 Comments

by Ritu in #SoCS Tags: #SoCS, #StreamofConsciousnessSaturday, Adverbs, Blog, Blog Post, Blogger, Blogging, Linda G Hill

Linda’s #SoCS prompt this week:

Your Friday prompt for Stream of Consciousness Saturday is “ends with -ly.” Start your post with any adverb that ends in “-ly.” Bonus points if you end with an adverb too. Have fun!

Seriously? Words that end with -ly? Well, okay then.
Finally I am back, taking part in all the challenges I used to! 
I've thankfully got off to a good start!
It's stream of consciousness, so I mindlessly tap away at the keys.
What I am writing is making no sense, honestly.

The Friday Reminder and Prompt for #SoCS Feb. 9/19

#SoCS Dec. 29/18 – Ask Another

29 Dec 2018 41 Comments

by Ritu in #SoCS Tags: #SoCS, Ask Anyone, Blog, Blog Post, Blogger, Blogging, Linda G Hill, Squat, Stream Of Consciousness Saturday

Linda’s prompt for SoCS this week…

Your Friday prompt for Stream of Consciousness Saturday is “ask someone else.” Either ask someone for a prompt word or, if you can’t, turn on a TV or a radio and choose a word from the first sentence you hear. Enjoy!

Squat.

Yes, that is the word I chose after switching on the TV and finding Deuce Bigalo: Male Gigolo on the screen!

So, what can I write about squat?

Diddly squat. I do like that phrase… Where did it come from? Apparently it is thought to have come from the US, where the word doodle might have been used first – meaning poops. Then doodly squat turned to diddly squat, meaning the least amount, or not knowing anything at all!

But I lie… I do know about squatting.

It’s apparently the preferred way to go back home… except I wasn’t born there, so I am happy to sit atop my ivory throne and do the do, if you know what I mean.

Though the West has certainly caught on to the fact that squatting is the natural way to go, and just yesterday I saw an ad for a squat stool, rather like a child’s toilet stool, to help them up when they are toilet training. This time it’s for adults, and you are supposed to put your feet on it when you go, whilst sitting on your ivory throne (because you are too modern for the real squat, you know!) so your legs are squishing up against your body, rather like if you were squatting... And that is supposed to be the next best thing…

Jees, did I really write about toilet habits?

Sorry, that is true Stream Of Consciousness for you!

I could have just told you of the aches and pains caused by me trying the exercise version of the squat, in the 30 day squat challenge a few years ago… but that would just have been tame… and no, I didn’t get the buns of steel!!