But I Smile Anyway...

That Monday Feeling!

08 May 2017 77 Comments

by Ritu in Thoughts Opinions & Memories Tags: Blog, Blog Post, Blogger, Blogging, Family, kids, No Sleep, School, tired

I know where I’d rather be right now!

After another night with barely 4 hours sleep, I definitely don’t feel ready to face the day!

And I wasn’t stressing over anything, honestly…or rather I was worrying about Lil Man.

Poor guy is suffering from a migraine since yesterday, and a high temperature.

He wanted to sleep near me so we agreed that once he fell asleep, I would take him to his bed.

Of course the drama queen in our house (not me, cheeky! I know you were thinking that!), Lil Princess decided that it wasn’t fair, him being with me. She went to bed then until 11pm kept coming into my room to say she was unable to sleep.

Finally when Lil Man was asleep soundly, I carried him into his bed. Li Princess appeared to be asleep. Hubby Dearest was still watching TV downstairs, unaware of any Musical Beds being played so far!

But come half an hour later, he came back, “I can’t sleep mummy, it hurts too much!” So the duvet got pulled to one side, and he climbed in.

We all fell asleep… until at 1 am the pitter patter of smallish feet woke me. “Mummy, I can’t sleep, honestly!” Lil Princess had arrived!

Now this should have been the time I marched her back to bed, but in all honesty, I didn’t have the energy! The duvet was pulled up and here I was, sandwiched between two little people!

Then Hubby Dearest showed up.

I instructed him to go take the girl, and sleep with her on the pull out bed in her room! At least this way she wasn’t feeling ‘excluded from this sickness pyjama party!

So off they went. All I could hear was giggling, so had to go and remind him that his daughter had to be up in around 5 hours! then after 20 minutes, more noise as the pull out bed went back.. because Sonu Singh, who had been peacefully sleeping on my bed, thought he would join their party, and went under Lil Princess’s bed, and had started scratching the wood there, disturbing all!

So, after she was settled, Hubby Dearest took the couch, and all was well… until around 2.30 am, when Lil Princess appeared again, at my door.

Too tired, I beckoned her over, and spent the next three and a half hours tossing and turning between these two, getting hotter and hotter!

The alarm went off to soon!

And I had two kids and the cat wedged around me!

Oh Jeez! How am I going to manage today?

Lil Man still hasn’t shaken the temperature or headache so he will be at home with his Daddy. I don’t know quite how I am going to wake my Lil Drama Queen Princess up now…

Wish me luck!

And have a good day Peeps! I hope your night was better than mine!

Spidey’s Serene Sunday – Part 116

07 May 2017 46 Comments

by Ritu in Spidey's Serene Sundays, Thoughts Opinions & Memories Tags: Blog, Blog Post, Blogger, Blogging, Growth Mindset, John Maxwell, Positive Thinking, Spidey's Serene Sunday, Yet

“Sometimes you win, sometimes you learn.” – John Maxwell

What a great quote that Spidey found for me to muse upon this morning!

This speaks so much to me, especially after all the mindset training we have had at school recently.

It’s all about the way you look at things, isn’t it?

So you have all heard the old adage, ‘You win some you lose some.’

The initial quote by John Maxwell is a much more positive way of looking at a situation that didn’t quite work out.

Yes. There are times you lose.

But is losing really a bad thing?

Winning or succeeding is always going to be the goal we strive for, but seeing a situation not reach that goal doesn’t necessarily mean you have to see it as losing or a loss.

Whatever went wrong should be seen as a lesson learned. A way to improve for next time.

Not a negative thought, but a positive reaction to do better next time.

It’s not that we can’t do it, it’s more that we can’t do it yet.

Yet.

That is one of the key words in fostering a growth mindset.

Yes there are things that we can’t do, but if we remain positive and open minded, seeing failures as learning opportunities then we know that we can’t do it yet.

One day we will get there!

So Peeps, enjoy your Sunday and embrace any opportunity to try that ‘thing’ you can’t do yet. Keep trying and you’ll get there!

#SoCS May 6/17 – ‘Inter-‘

06 May 2017 58 Comments

by Ritu in Socs, Thoughts Opinions & Memories Tags: Blog, Blog Post, Blogger, Blogging, Inter, Linda G Hill, Socs, Stream Of Consciousness Saturday

Linda’s #SoCS prompt this week…

Your Friday prompt for Stream of Consciousness Saturday is: “inter-” Use the prefix “inter-” any way you’d like. Enjoy!

Inter-national.

That’s where I’m gonna go with this Stream of Consciousness post.

Here I sit, in lil old England born and bred, yet I’m not English.

British, I call myself, or a British Asian. Some say British – born.

Yet my background has a little more colour than your average Brit.

Yes, I was born here, but to Sikh parents.

Who moved here from Kenya.

Who were born in Kenya.

Who’s forefathers came over from the Punjab in India to help build the railways in Africa.

So there is a huge Kenyan influence on my upbringing, and life. I spent many summers there growing up, so I was able to cultivate relationships with all the family we had out there.

But I’m also Indian.

That’s a part of me I can’t hide. My skin tells that story. And whatever anyone else thinks, that is a part of my heritage I am proud of too. From the clothes we wear, to the music we listen to, the food we eat, to the way we practice our religion, it is all part of me.

So… Am I a British person, a British Asian, a British Kenyan, a British Kenyan Asian…?

And while we’re on the subject of international family, my brother lives in Finland, married to a Finnish girl, with a beautiful Finnjabi/Finndian son! Another dimension to add to our family!

On top of that, my extended family have managed to spread far and wide… From India, they dispersed to Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda. Then there came the UK, Canada, the USA and Australia. Obviously we invaded Finland, but there was already a branch of my family in Norway and Sweden! Dubai is another place!

(Oh and I didn’t mention that my ancestors from my Pops side many generations previously, were apparently Muslim, so there is probably a Pakistan link there too! Sikhism is a relatively new religion and most families were either Muslim or Hindu before they converted to this new religion, so it really annoys me when there are Sikhs clashing with Muslims… unless you have researched it, you don’t know if your own roots were in Islam!)

Inter-national connections, that’s what I have!

It’s The Little Things…

05 May 2017 43 Comments

by Ritu in Thoughts Opinions & Memories Tags: Blog, Blog Post, Blogger, Blogging, Hidden Gem, Kind Words, Teacher, Teacher bag

Sometimes a chore, a job you have dreaded doing, can result in a little gem appearing.

I have a special bag that I take into school. Not my handbag but my ‘Teacher Bag’. For those of you that don’t know, it is that Mary Poppins-esque bag which holds all manner of things from resources, to special story books, spare stationery to energy boosting snacks and all sorts of other things.

But the thing is I don’t just have one. Yes, I only take one in to school, but at home I had two others, jam packed with use~~less~~ ful ~~tat~~ resources.

So finally, the other day, I decided that enough was enough. I had to go through them and streamline! The one I carried daily was giving me a back ache and I didn’t use 75% of the items in there daily. They were in there ‘just in case’ and for the last year, that ‘just in case’ moment hadn’t come. It was time to go minimal!

When I tipped the bag contents out, along with crumbs and bits of unreadable paper, there were balloons, water beads, and handouts – lots of handouts! Then the second and third bag revealed around 7 packets of tissues, screwdrivers, hand sanitizer, hair brush, and more handouts! (and resources obviously!) There was a file (or 4) filled with paperwork like class lists (4 years old, so a tad out of date!) and more resource and lesson ideas.

Oh I had fun. The bin was full, and I managed to go from thee bags to two. One is my everyday bag, and there is still more to come out of it, to be filed at school, and the second is my extra school ‘stuff’ that will come in handy one day, but I don’t need it every day!

But my best find?

A character reference about me which had been written by the children in a leaving class a few years ago! It brought a lump to my throat to read, to be honest.

I’ll show you, and hope you can see why!

20170504_184602

Ritu’s Healthy Eating – Week 39 – #icandothis

05 May 2017 42 Comments

by Ritu in Health, Thoughts Opinions & Memories Tags: Blog, Blog Post, Blogger, Blogging, Cravings, Health, Healthy Eating, Slimmig World, Weight Loss

It’s been another week of eating ups and downs. And it pains me to say that I had another 0.5lb gain, though I am still not over that weight ceiling I set myself!

I had fully expected to to to my bhangra class too this week, but I had some severe stomach pains on the Tuesday which meant that I thought it best not to push it on Wednesday.

I have decided that I have to be sensible now and not buy any naughty things that will tempt me to much. This last month and the munchy madness that has accompanied Pre/during/Post-Easter has meant that I have redeveloped a taste for the sugary treats that I always loved before.

I had managed to wean myself off them all, and kept a selection of treats that I knew were ‘allowed’ for me, but as soon as I ate ‘wrong’ things, I was like a recovering chocoholic falling off the wagon in a spectacular way!

Even now if I eat something I shouldn’t, my brain is telling me to have another… that eating double mentality of mine needs to do one!

But, I have been good too, as the meals below show you!