But I Smile Anyway…

Can you believe we’ve clocked up nine weeks of Lockdown?

Got your drink?

• I was in school on Monday, and a bit tentative, as there would be chats about the possibility of going back into school with reduced classes as of 1st June. The teacher I was with hasn’t been in at all because of living quite far away, and having a little baby at home. He was a little nervous, but we had a good day, making butterfly feeders and going on minibeast hunts.
• I came home with the worst migraine on that day, and admit to a meltdown of epic proportions because no one at home wants me to go back to work, I don’t feel safe to yet, but I need to, for my dear pupils. The conflict in my mind awful.
• Tuesday, we had another Zoom meeting to discuss the new plans if and when we come back to school on the 1st June. So many questions, so many discrepancies… I can’t even…
• I attended a webinar on Wednesday about how we could possibly saafely return to an Early Years Classroom, and it fills you with confidence when the person advising you, is not even convinced we arae doing the right thing…
• On Thursday I was back in school pretty much all day trying to set our classrooms up for the reduced amount of children who would be attending as and when we open. It was sad. Having to block certain areas up so the children wouldn’t feel tempted to touch things that could become germ harbours. Oh, and a cleaning station too.
• Enough about school. Seriously! I managed to finish a writing course the other week, and it was a lovely surprise to open the mail, one day to find a real certificate to show I had passed! I must be a writer!

• And I also got my results for the first four modules of my calligraphy course, as well as completing the remaining six. I am definitely now expert, and still finish any practice with ink all over my hands!
• I’ve been reading plenty, and spent a few days able to sit out in the garden as I worked, as the weather has been glorious too!

• I also reached a great Amazon milestone for me, which was 40 reviews! Super excited! Then someone who read it, was gushing to me, and she told me she had already recommended it to several of her friends. I’ll let you in on a secret. I was always worried that people from my background might not like it. Maybe they’d think I was taking the mickey, or not portraying characters well, but the fact that they have really loved it as well. I am overwhelmed. And they want more! so I aam trying (struggling) to write more on book two, which is most definitely happening.

• The weekend brought with it, high winds, accompanying the sunshine too. We had gardening time, walks out and some of the household even went to play tennis (not me – I don’t do sport!)
• We ordered our first Chinese takeaway in around ten weeks. It was lovely to eat after for so long, but definitely highlighted that we are more happy eating home food nowadays than takeouts. But there are days that you just have no inspiration. Days like that, I provide sustenance that looks like this…

• The biggie for the week was Pops celebrating his 74th birthday. Obviously we couldn’t be together, but Mum made him a cake, and we ensured a present was delivered on the day for him too. I cannot wait until the day we can see them, and I can get a Pops hug…

• Oh, and that BoZo… BoJo, had his moment in the press today, and seems determined to send the babies back to school come the 1st… I am so unconvinced… but what to do? Add that to them sending the official guidance for Early Years Settings and reopening, on the Sunday of the bank holiday weekend in the half term week… Perfect!

This week, we are on official half term. Somehow, none of the keyworkers require care, so the school is officially closed all week (not great if we need to do any more last minute setting up, but there is still the chance that come Thursday, or, knowing the Govt, Sunday night, that they may do a u-turn on schools opening.

I can’t do any more than what I already have, so I have to make sure I try and relax as best as I can, before what will be a highly stressful time for us all, as we worry whether we are doing the right thing or not. I shall be reading, and writing, if all goes well, this week! And grocery shopping, cooking and cleaning, as usual…

What have you been up to?

Stay safe, my dear friends!

Eight darn weeks of Lockdown…

Got your drink?

• This week I wasn’t on the school rota, meaning no reason to go out of the house, other than grocery shopping. But there is always work. to do, so along with helping my Team Teach to set up a class blog, we added posts so our class and parents could get in touch, and get additional support for tasks. Some more online learning and keeping track of what the childen have been doing, along with planning for the next time I am in, kept me busy.
• And we had our first team Zoom meeting which was cool. I am a people person, and I crave conversation. Online chats are fine, but being able to see and speak to others was great. I am sure there will be more to come!
• Obviously the big thing that was on my mind, and the minds of plenty of other educators, was the possible reopening of schools. I know, as the lower level of teacher, we don’t have full access to all that is being discussed, and we will be presented with a plan of action from our Academy Trust, and Senior Leadership Team, but what I an hugely aware of, is the amount of conflicting information that is being sent to the above individiuals, making the decisions even harder. One of my neighbours is a head teacher and we have had a brief over the road conversation about the stress she is feeling with everything. The ‘will we/won’t we?’ cloud has been hanging over my head all week.
• Adding to my own personal stress and worries, I am dreaming about it. One night I woke up and recalled my dream which was set on the first day back, and Hubby Dearest came with me (Goodness knows where my own kids were!) to an old building which is not our school. I had been given no plans or idea as to what we were doing, and was presented with a group of five children, some from my actual class, some not. Then papers were thrust in my hand with some resources, but I kept on losing the kids, who were sneaking into different rooms. It was all very odd, and I don’t doubt that the unsurity I feel towards everything, is what played through the dream.

• One thing I have been doing, when school work is complete, is cooking and I managed to make Hubby Dearest his favourite Shahi Paneer again, this time to perfection! Then I tried to make pakoras, or bhajis, which are little gram flour fritters with onion, potato and spinach, and spices, deep fried. They actually tasted pretty good!

• I read plenty, new books, older books that had been on my tbr pile for a long while, and arcs too… in fact, I read so much that I managed to hit my annual Goodreads Challenge target already, in May!

• Other than that, I have managed to get a few more words down, partially WIP related, some for the Story A Day In May challenge. And I got results back for my first two calligraphy course modules, passed with 100%!

The rest of the week, has been the same as the rest, daily waking up, working, eating, reading, writing, feeding others, cleaning, video calling family… And repeat…

This week, I am in school with the Keyworker kids on Monday, with a different partner teacher, so that should be fun, then we will be getting details of the tentative plans for the future… waiting with baited breathe. Then, as of Friday, it is officially the end of term, though we still need to be open for the keyworker children. At least that means the kids don’t need dragging, kicking and screaming to their computers in the morning, to log into their Google Classrooms. What the rest of the week holds, I have no idea…

What have you been up to?

Stay safe, my dear friends!

💜

Honestly, who thought we’d still be here, in lockdown, as we hit the tail end of April? Well, have you got your drink ready? I know we’re on lockdown, and the days and times are just blurring, but no, I’m not suggesting anything stronger than a coffee, or my choice of Chai, unless, of course you are reading this later in the day!

• Monday arrived, and another morning in school.We’ve got to grips with the planning we need to do for the next few weeks, so my team teach and I set about spending the morning formulating more plans. It is really hard, as we can only choose activities that require minimal ‘teaching’ as such, so no real new topics, but things that parents will be able to access with the children. Remember, they are 4-5 years old, so it’s not like they can do remote learning in the same way as older children. That was probably the toughest part of the planning. But we got it done, thankfully. Only thing was, we decided. against reading the stories and recording them, as it would be quite time consuming… I was a bit gutted to be honest. I was looking forward to it!
• I was rather excited as the folding desk I ordered got delivered early too! Everyone else has a place to sit and work; Hubby Dearest has taken over the dining table with his millions of monitors (okay, there are two, and a laptop) and the kids both have desks in their rooms. But I have nowhere proper. I can sit on my bed, or downstairs on the sofa, though neither of these places have scope for me to sit with a notebook beside my laptop. So the next best thing was a folding desk. And it arrived! I am very happy with it. Just needed to order a better chair, as the folding one I had was okay for short periods, but not really a good office style chair, and that came on Saturday too, so I am already looking forward to sitting properly to do my online learning, and writing! The only annoying thing is having to put it all away every night, so I got a lovey desk tidy into which I can slip everything I use reguarly.

• Tuesday was Asda day, as usual, and I got all I needed, but flour and eggs are the main things that are hard to find at the moment. I think I am okay for both at the moment, but I hope these things get sorted sooner, rather than later!
• I was in school on Wednesday with the children, and there were literally TWO kids! So we had a child each to look after. It was still fun, we did lots of little things, like play board games, and gardening in the allotment, but time went really slowly…
• Thursday and friday were spent using my lovely new desk doing online courses that we have been suggested to try and do on days we are not in school. It all counts for CPD, or continuous professional development, so I am happy to do it, but that does mean less mental energy and time to actually write.
• Talking of writing, I have been in a real creative dip again. I opened my manuscript several times, but shut it down, just as many, because I wasn’t inspired, and what was coming out (which wasn’t much at all) was pure rubbish. Instead, I concentrated on reading, some arcs, and some books that have been on my kindle for a while, asking to be read. Something good came out of the reading though. I read books by authors I admire and respect, with extremely high readership levels, and as I read some of the books, I realised that there are times when these established authors don’t actually write fantastically, just okay. They don’t always have these fully developed character arcs, or they don’t explore certain situations in the detail that I have come to think we should do. Sometimes vocabulary is lazy, or repetitive. Yet their books still sell. I came away from one book feeling like I was, possibly, doing a better job… Maybe I need to get back to it…

• On Friday, as I mentioned in my Spidey post, yesterday, I managed to fall over pretty spectacularly in Lil. Man’s bedroom, while fixing his curtains… I fell backwards from his bed, flat on my back, with him and Sonu, the cat, watching. Avoiding his laptop was luck, but my shoulder struck his dumbells. I’m okay, but I think there was a little delayed reaction to it, from my body. It seems to have triggered a wave of exhaustion in me, and more ovbiously, the aches and pains that were caused by the fall. So that meant I was knocked for. six all weekend. my get up and go totally disappeared… but I still managed a few silly TikToks 😜I’ll share my two favourites for this week.

• And on Sunday, I finally caved and got Disney+ so we watched the new Lady and the Tramp (I loved it!) and the live action Aladdin (for the second time. Watched it in the cinema before, and loved it!)

Yet another week with days blending into one another. It breaks it up to speak to both sets of parents every night, but the conversations are very samey, because none of us have done anything different. We may get excited to share that we went grocery shopping, but that’s about it! Still, thank goodness for video calls. It is always great to catch up with my Finndian family too. I hate that I am not able to be there physically, but at least the video calling means that we can see our nephews growing up, and build a relationship with them, despite being in a different country.

And now, here we are back to Monday. I am not planning on going into school until Wednesday. So there will be online learning hapenning, and hopefully, writing too! And though I didn’t record stories for our school, I might still do it for my nephews!

How has your week been?