just another morning here

These are worth a mention here as well I think. I don’t do half as much browsing of blogs etc. as I used to, but there are a couple that I’ve been following recently and are going to get added to my links list.

Nurtured by Love is the first - one I came across via a Suzuki violin email list, but they are also an unschooling family and I love some of the posts about general education. Quite inspirational. Also induces the green-eyed monster in me as I think I would love to live in the Canadian mountains!

Behind the Child is the second. Can’t remember how I found it, I think I’d read an article about a book (When the Bough Breaks) which linked to it. Anyway, it is a blog written by an adoptive and foster mum of special needs children - entertainingly written, and I like it for all sorts of other reasons too, especially now given my sphere of interest at work.

And now I must get up, the open air orchestra concert has been cancelled due to the heavy showers forecast for today, but that means we have a rehearsal as usual …

Sometimes I just can’t be bothered with twitter, the moment has passed, or I know I won’t be able to fit my sentence into 140 characters so it’s just not worth trying. Or I decide it’s just not worth wasting a text over whatever random thought I had. So here’s a collection of things I might have said this week had I got around to it.

Yesterday
Lots of people at work in a hoo-ha about the strike. I have sent off my unison application form so will be joining in with whatever strike action ends up happening.

Feet feeling very vulnerable today as I’m wearing flipflops at work, unusually. This is due to having driven not cycled because of leaving early for violin exam, and knowing that Tuesday mornings are swimming sessions. Still, it leaves toes at risk of all sorts of accidents!

Lady at Miscarriage Support Group brought in all her Fimo craft stuff to show me. She makes some lovely jewellery pieces and has offered to do a workshop for me and the girls over the summer if we can organise ourselves.

Today
Woo hoo, today is our last proper Wednesday of the term - next week we’re at the Donkey Sanctuary and the week after we’re on strike, then the Wednesday after that is the first day of the holidays!

Steve brought home the industrial carpet cleaner from work, thank goodness, the kids’ bathroom was beginning to smell like an old people’s home.

Breathed a sigh of relief to go back to Suzuki violin after a month of solid exam preparation - started book 3 tonight which was fab. Playing mainly by ear is so much easier than anything else!

I find Wimbledon so boring. Can’t decide which is worse, watching Wimbledon or watching Steve race virtual cars around virtual tracks. Not to mention listening to random Italians on PS3 headsets talking to one another throughout the race

Strictly speaking, this was Sunday’s performance, but it’s taken me until Monday to get the video online.
These are my three favourite musicians in the whole wide world, doing their thing at their piano teacher’s concert yesterday.

The last orchestra rehearsal of the year was on Saturday; we have concerts next weekend and then that’s it until September. After orchestra all the kids went to the cinema to see Prince Caspian, in various combinations. Abbie and Joe went first, with a friend from orchestra who also lives round the corner so we share transport occasionally, then after the chamber rehearsal Anna went to join some school friends who were at the cinema for a birthday party. It did feel something of a milestone to leave my youngest two children at the cinema on their own - I then had a couple of hours all to myself, which was very nice

Home then to clean out guinea pigs, get some washing done, and generally relax for the evening.

On Sunday we didn’t have a morning church meeting so got a welcome lie in. Steve went off to work to catch up on some paperwork, dropping the rest of us in town. Bagged a new geocache at the station, then shopped a bit before meeting Steve and coming home for lunch. Then in the afternoon we had our piano teacher’s end of term concert to go to, followed by a late afternoon outdoor joint church meeting including a BBQ tea. Both those events happened at the kids’ school, which was good as I didn’t have to drive anywhere!

Only a few weeks left until the end of term now - and counting, I need a proper holiday, a weekend just isn’t long enough!

Steve had to answer a tie break question today, which was:

What song best represents your driving style?

Answers in a comments box below, please … and then I’ll tell you what I said. Not sure it would win the competition though! You can do what song best represents Steve’s driving style and then another song for your own driving style if you like, as I suspect they might be different

And so another week rushes by. Lots of coughs and sneezes here this week as well as our fair share of sore throats. Oh, and a near-death experience of flu for the man among us, obviously a mere cold isn’t good enough for him

On Tuesday Abigail had a special trip up to an event at the University; from what I gather it was a Devon County event for schools to do with generally being green and environmental issues. [yes, I am informed - a Travelwise Schools' Event.] She and three other friends from their school Environmental Group got to go - lunch was laid on, so that was a treat. She enjoyed herself so much that she forgot to come home after school and visited the book fair instead, spending someone else’s money in the process!

Needless to say, Come Straight Home Unless We Have Arranged Otherwise has been added to the ever evolving list of after school ‘guidelines’ for the kids, along with Don’t Light Candles Unless An Adult Is There, and Raiding Of The Snack Box Prohibited Until Mummy Gets Home. I have been somewhat surprised at the mischief that can happen in the 10 minutes between when they get home and when I get home!

All of this week Anna has been madly doing last minute rehearsals for her Year 6 Play - Roger Ravenbeard, Scourge of the Oceans. Performances began with dress rehearsals in front of other classes on Wednesday, then they had two real performances on Thursday, and the final one on Friday night. Anna was playing Mrs Ravenbeard, Roger’s mother, and was on stage almost all the time. She did really well and we enjoyed watching the final performance, not to mention the takeaway with Grandma and Grandpa afterwards.

Not much to report on Josiah I don’t think … still working hard on music exam stuff, and he received multiple compliments from his accompanist at our rehearsal on Wednesday, so that was encouraging.
Steve and I not up to much other than work either; he’s been working on Gran Turismo racing and not improving all that much.
I’ve been trying to keep up with housework (constant battle! think I’ve caught up a bit tis week but it won’t last long!), and attempting to fit the odd cache in here and there.

Wondering about joining a union. I simply hadn’t got round to thinking about it until now, but everyone’s been talking about it today, mainly because Unison, which a lot of our staff belong to, is striking next month. The strike seriously affects our school, which is due to close for a couple of days, as it can’t operate without the TAs. I think that being a member of a union is a good idea, simply because if anything happened you would have the union’s backing in terms of insurance/legal help etc. More important than ever when working in a special school like ours where you are more involved with personal care of children and you are regularly working with children on your own, one-to-one - you are potentially in a fairly vulnerable position should anything happen to a child in your care.

I’m not sure, however, that I particularly agree with striking. Especially when it affects the children. Even if I agree with the issue at stake (pay, in this case). Then again, is there anything else one can do that has an effect? Does striking itself have the intended effect? So - even if I did join the union should I/would I strike?

Anyone got any comments?