Pop on over to Hugh’s blog where he’s having the mother of all blog parties to celebrate the pre launch of his book, Glimpses. (It’s gonna be a great read!)
He’s a huggable ball of fun and I’m sure his party will be epic!!
What?
You still here?
Go there!
NOW!!!
#Glimpses – Prelaunch Blog Party
26 Nov 2016 4 Comments
in Thoughts Opinions & Memories
#SoCS Nov. 26/16 – Pretty
26 Nov 2016 12 Comments
in Challenges, Thoughts Opinions & Memories Tags: Blog, Blog Post, Blogger, Blogging, Linda G Hill, pretty, Socs
Linda’s SoSC prompt this week…
Your Friday prompt for Stream of Consciousness Saturday is: “pretty.” Use it any way you please. Enjoy!
You know what? It’s been a pretty mad week.
School has kept me even more busy than usual these last few days. It’s been Observation Central over here!
On Monday my co-teacher was being observed, so I had to be the supportive side-kick (as always!). And she did fantastically, as I expected, getting Good, with a side note about supportive colleagues!
On Tuesday, I was observing my line manager, but not in the context of judging her. We are piloting a new scheme in school, Lesson Study, where you are put into teams of three, and plan lessons, which then are observed, but you pick three pupils and predict their learning curve over the lesson, then see whether the intended learning outcomes were achieved. It’s a pretty tough thing to do, especially as no one really knew what they were doing! And the third member of our team was sick, so it was just me observing the other member of my team. Even more interesting as I was off sick last week in the meeting where they planned the whole lesson!
Wednesday was my turn to be observed… Last year both our observations were done as tandem ones, where we were observed together, working as a team. This year the Head Teacher decided that we needed to be observed individually. So… this was my first solo observation! I was bricking it, no lie! After doing my input for the session, we got going. On one side I had one assistant making cupcakes, with a group. On another, I had the other assistant doing a shape activity, and going on a shape hunt. We had a regular volunteer in too who was starting the process of creating dough decorations with the children… not so good to look at yet, but eventually they will be pretty ornaments for their parents to keep forever! My co-teacher pottered in the background so she didn’t interfere in my observation, but kept the stray kids busy making shape monsters! And I floated around, seeing which kids had recalled the shape names we were learning, and observing them in play.
I haven’t had the written feedback as yet, but the verbal feedback was pretty positive, so I can breathe a sigh of relief!
Happy Saturday!!!
Mystery #writephoto
26 Nov 2016 43 Comments
in Challenges, Thoughts Opinions & Memories Tags: #WritePhoto, Blog Post, Blogger, Blogging, Mystery, Sue Vincent
Sue’s weekly photo prompt…
Do you feel like the adventure and fun almost seeps out of you as an adult? The older you get, the more cautious you become? Things you wouldn’t have thought twice about in the past now involve several layers of consideration before you even contemplate having a go…
That was my thought process while writing this week’s piece.
It was a strange opening.
Totally misplaced in this woodland, where everything was so rustic. Even the staircase we had descended to reach here was very primitive.
Yet this entrance looked new, very modern. The stone framing the doorway looked like almost new breezeblocks, but there was still an air of history, and mystery surrounding it.
I could have sworn that it hadn’t been there before. We used to play here so much as youngsters, surely we would have seen it?
As children, I am pretty sure we would have been the first to explore. But the opportunity never arose.
And now, 20 years later, here I stood, almost rooted to the ground with an innate sense of fear coursing through my blood.
I couldn’t go in there! What if something was lying in wait? What if we found something awful? A dead body? No, I couldn’t take the risk. Better not knowing, than unearthing something you wish you had never known!
I wasn’t that same person anymore, not that devil may care child who thought nothing of disappearing into dark holes and caves.
No, this was a mystery for some other person to explore. We made our way back up the stairs, but I couldn’t help but shoot a final glance back at that entrance…
Ritu’s Healthy Eating -Week 16 #icandothis
25 Nov 2016 38 Comments
in Thoughts Opinions & Memories Tags: #icandothis, Blog, Blog Post, Blogger, Blogging, Health, Healthy Eating, Slimming World, Weight Loss
Another week, another lot of naughty eating mixed in with plenty of good stuff!
This week I made two lots of soup, roasted pepper and tomato, and roasted veg soup. I ate a few portions over the week at lunch and froze plenty too!
Being as it was our anniversary weekend too, I had a takeaway… and over the week I have been a little sneaky… a few extra Maltesers here and there too!
But something must be going ok because…
I lost another 1lb!
16lb off with Slimming World, and a total of 21lb! That’s a stone and a half!
Phew!
I’m so pleased with myself, I am off to eat Maltesers!!!
2 Year Blogiversary
25 Nov 2016 95 Comments
in Thoughts Opinions & Memories Tags: Blog, Blog Post, Blogger, Blogging, blogiversary, Thankful
Searching my archives, I came across my first post. Checking the date, I realised that OMG! It’s my 2nd Blogiversary!
Two years!
And how apt that in this week I also managed to gather my 2000th follower!
That’s an average of 1000 Peeps clicking follow each year!
Little did I know that when I tapped out that first post, 2 years ago, how much this whole WP community would come to mean to me!
I have ended up with an amazing network of international friends, and my blogily, those ‘sistas from other mistas’, and ‘bruthas from other muthas’!
(I even rewrote a classic, We Are Blogily, and sang it, here!)
I have been encouraged to stretch my creativity. This resulted in me releasing my first poetry anthology, Poetic Rituals, available on Amazon.
Just click here…
So many amazing reviews from you all!
I’ve learned new skills, IT based and otherwise! I take part in regular challenges, I write, unabashed, about things that strike a chord.
And the best thing?
You read them!
Earlier this year I was even blessed to have come second in the Best Blog Award at the Annual Bloggers Bash Awards in London!
And I was able to meet a whole host of like-minded bloggers who were just as lovely in person as they were online!
The encouragement we get from each other to write, to push ourselves, is just phenomenal!
I am often asked why my blog is called But I Smile Anyway…Well this little quote sums it up perfectly. I hope my blog is a ray of positivity in an increasingly negative world. Everything seems a little easier to handle when you have a smile on your face!
I want to take this time to say “Thank You!” to each and every one of you that has followed my journey. I hope to be here for many more years to come, and hopefully finish at least one fiction project too!
Cheers to the first 2 years, cheers to the weekend, and here’s to many more smiley years to come!
