Occasional Blogging

I quite like this occasional blogging... now I've got over the guilt that I can't be bothered most days.

At the moment things are quite good. I am a bit poor due to bad money-management, but it's something to work on and an incentive to generate some more playing work.

I have almost finished teaching - only 2 pupils to go I think!

Tonight we are having spaghetti bolognese for dinner, then we may walk down to the pub as the sun is shining. I have a new favourite hang-out.

http://www.stlouis-cafebar.co.uk/

Oh yeah - Brownies has finished for the term. We had a sleepover in Glasgow HQ - Elmbank Street - for our end of term trip and they LOVED IT!

We went by train - with their sleeping bags etc taken by car. They had to carry their own rucksacks.

The (loose) theme was Summer Holiday - we decorated banners and flags at Brownies... then I left the hall keys at home on the day and we couldn't collect them. Oops!!

On arrival they had a treasure hunt - to find letters spelling 'Summer Holiday'. They couldn't find the D (my husband had hidden that letter... grr).

We then organised bags - put them away and sat down to make Lei whilst the QM went to collect pizzas.

They changed into PJ's for a PJ party. Assistant Guider took over with music, dancing, games as QM & I put pizzas out.

They played games... pass the pillowcase with forfeits (stolen from Guiders.co.uk) and sleeping lions in the dark being a real hit (apart from the girl who cried because one of the others shone a torch in her eyes), which allowed me to set up a projector for Disney's The Frog Princess - set in New Orleans... the place I love!

They did their teeth and settled down to watch the film in their sleeping bags.

By the end of the movie most of the kids had dropped off. Awesome. Only 2 awake at midnight (because one was farting and the other was giggling).

In the morning they didn't want to wake up - they slept til 8am then had cereal and mini-croissants with fruit. They decorated t-shirts, then helped us clean and tidy VOLUNTARILY.

I think it is as TIRING as pack holiday, but is much easier to organise. I would definitely do it again.

Jubilation!

Hello - I have been having a lot of fun lately (and avoiding the very important job of Brownie Accounts, which I plan to tackle today).

On Friday last week I went to Wales, to see my family. I drove after work arriving around 11pm, had some supper and then a chat before bed. Woke early to go for a walk to the beach (3.2miles according to googlemaps). Walking along the bay at high tide in the sunshine Mum & I realised it was a good opportunity for a swim, so Dad picked us up and drove us back to get swimsuits and then we all went for a dip. Sadly the sun had gone in by the time we got there and it was REALLY cold. I managed about a minute of swimming with another 5-10 mins of hanging round at armpit level struggling to make myself dip my shoulders in! After going home for a shower we went shopping. Then my brother arrived. Yey!

We went rockpooling and we had a lovely dinner then I copped out fairly early heading for sleep as I had to get up and drive at 6.30am.

On Sunday I drove back to go to the Girlguiding Glasgow Jubilee Lunch - it was great to see all the girls and guiders having fun - and we had great weather in Scotland. I stayed for a while, met a Guider I needed to make contact with, then headed off to Balmaha to climb Conic Hill with a group of friends.

It was great fun! We had dinner afterwards in a huge swarm of midges at the pub. I counted my bites - 50. I look as though I have chicken pox now!

On the Monday we had a party - using our wedding present bbq.

Tuesday two friends who had stayed over helped me clear up a bit and then we played tunes in the music/spare room.... the room of trumpet.... until lunch was had - left over bbq food - and they headed home. I spent the afternoon doing a bit more tidying before meeting a friend at the train station with her dog for a walk so she could collect her car - left after the party.

I had been feeling a bit disheartened that with all my hill-walking (I climbed one 932m high) and other activity I was not losing weight - about 1/2lb a week max, but this week I have lost 3lb! woo hoo. So it's just a bit delayed.

I wish it were possible to spend more weekends as active as this one, but there isn't time in real life.

Anyway - hope all your Jubilee weekends were as much fun.