Categories
teaching Writing

Amused…

Who was it that said ‘pride goeth before a fall’? Not that this is the same, entirely, but I guess it’s similar. No sooner than I published that post about ‘swimming, not sinking’, I was inundated with busy-ness. [Yes, I realise that I spelled that word incorrectly. It was intentional.]

Kinda have to smile, really. I was so excited about life returning to ‘normal’ – and then my parents disappeared overseas, leaving me to house-sit; dozens of Japanese and Chinese students – and teachers – arrived at school; chess tournaments were competed in and children won trophies; Year 6 students Stepped Up for a Middle School experience; two staff accompanied me on a three-day conference; and the list goes on…

all of which meant that I haven’t blogged in three weeks, but it feels more like three years.

Sigh.

On the upside, there’s one week left until school holidays. And I’m spending that week with a couple dozen Year 9 students on camp. Currently writing this on the bus – cramped because I cannot BELIEVE how little leg room there is on this thing! I can understand why my folks were bemoaning their flight-from-England, if this is all the space they had. I’ve been on this bus for less than two hours and already I’m feeling claustrophobic.

So Year 9 camp should be fun – perhaps – and there may even be time to write a little. At least there’s no meals to cook, no house to clean, no cherubs to look after. I hope. Although more than two dozen 13 and 14 year-olds may not be preferable to my own three…

I’ll let you know!

Have a wonderful week, dear Reader!

— KRidwyn

Categories
Life

Happiness…

Is seeing your kid smile at how well she performed during last weekend’s Eisteddfod – piano section.

Two x daughters; two x performances each.

That’s four smiles.

(Kinda makes all the nagging and the expense worthwhile.)

Have a great week, dear Reader!

– KRidwyn

Categories
#blogjune Blogging challenges family anecdotes

Once Upon A…

I’ve managed to get Miss12 and Miss9 hooked on the TV series Once Upon A Time.

Yeah, I feel a little bit guilty about that.

But only a little. Deep down, I really like how they want to watch the story unfold, along with me. We talk through character motivations, discuss plot twists, and to tell you the truth, they’re better at finding plot holes than I am!

For Mother’s Day, *they* bought me Seasons 2 to 5 of the series. We’re just gone halfway through Season 4 now. Frankly, that’s a lot of episodes. A lot of time, snuggled on the lounge, with my girls.

And I love that.

Have a great day, dear Reader!

— KRidwyn

Categories
#blogjune family anecdotes teaching

touching wood…

#blogJune, for me, meant that it was vomiting bug season. Weird, I know, but last year was the first year since 2011 – when I started #bloggingJune – wherein I was *not* dealing with my cherubs deciding to catch said bug. I held my breath (metaphorically) throughout the whole month, and was glad that not once did I need to clean up after a child.

This year, we’re now almost halfway through the month, and again it would seem that we may not *touch wood* have the ‘pleasure’ of a vomiting bug visit.

I’m okay with that.

I *was* at home with a sick Miss9 today, however her racking coughs and running nose seemed to clear significantly from the good food, bed rest, and Mummy company, so I’m hopeful she’ll mend quickly. She’s my healthiest, strongest kid, so it wouldn’t surprise me if she’s up and running around as per normal by tomorrow.

Which is good. What with the amount of plates I’m juggling in the new job at the moment, it’s kinda needed that I be there, rather than at home, at the moment!

Anyway, that’s where I’m at, at the moment.

Have a great day, dear Reader!

— KRidwyn

 

Categories
#blogjune family anecdotes teaching

Data woes…

So Mr8 discovered the game Diep.io several weeks back. He loved it, and got Miss12 and Miss9 also hooked on the game. I don’t get the appeal, but they like it and it seems harmless enough – a very non-graphic shoot-em-up game, from what I can tell.

The trouble is, the game can only be played over the internet. And I didn’t realize exactly how much data it was using. Cue cries of frustration when suddenly I was out of data – with over two weeks before my data allocation was renewed! [To be fair, I don’t think the game uses *that* much data. But playing it kept Mr8 busy while the girls and I watched ‘Once Upon A Time’… so, in retrospect, it *may* have been the sheer amount of time he was playing the game which may have been the issue here…]

I’ve been out of data before. Generally, it’s not too much of an issue.

But this time, I was in a pickle. I’d gone ahead and changed the assessment items for the Year Eight English classes, you see – made it all blog-based. Which meant to mark my kids’ work, I needed to view it over the net… and, of course, this is rather difficult to do when you’re out of data!

Whoops.

But I get my monthly quota renewed tomorrow. And then it’ll be all guns blazing – because my reports are due tomorrow as well! Arrggh!!!

Have a great day, dear Reader. And wish me luck with speedy marking!

— KRidwyn

Categories
Christianity Random thoughts teaching

Some recent ponderings…

“Wolf! Wolf!” cried the boy. It was just a bit of fun, getting the villagers to run up the hill; relieve him from the boredom of looking after sheep day after day after day. Sure, they got mad at him, but hey! it was something different. Different was good; even being yelled at was preferable to boredom.

“Wolf! Wolf!” he cried again. The yelling continued. This time, it was harder to hide his smirk. Furious, the villagers tramped back down the hill again.

“Wolf! Wolf!” he cried once more – but this time, in fear. The wolf had come, and was ravaging the sheep. The villagers, wise to his tricks, paid no attention. And later, when the sheep were dead, the villagers’ anger at him knew no bounds.

The problem here? Besides the dead sheep: the boy hadn’t thought about what name he’d been making for himself. He’d thought his ‘game’ was just a bit of fun. Just jokes; perfectly harmless. And yet – what had eventuated? He’d made a name for himself. ‘Liar’, ‘untrustworthy’, ‘deceitful’. No-one believed him, even when he told the truth.

The question ‘what name are you making for yourself’ is one I’ve been discussing with my students recently. Our words, our actions, our attitudes towards others, define who we are. People recognize us by them. What impression do we give others of ourselves? And are we happy with the name we are making for ourselves? At the end of the day, are we going to be satisfied with the consequences of the choices we have made?

One of my favourite Bible verses is 1 Tim. 4:16. It says, “Watch your life and doctrine closely. Persevere in them, because if you do, you will save both yourself and your hearers.”

If I profess to be a Christian, I need to watch that my life reflects this choice. Timothy tells me to watch my life – my choices, my attitudes – closely. And to persevere in this watching. So what name am I making for myself? Is my life one which reflects Christ’s? I’d invite you to ponder this question with me, and with my students, this week.

And have a wonderful week, dear Reader!
— KRidwyn

Categories
#AtoZchallenge Blogging challenges family anecdotes

H is for ‘hammer’

Which is what I used for a goodly part of the day.

After my early morning gym session, my time spent gardening, and then ensuring that my three cherubs *were* in fact up and had broken their fasts, our friend Charlie arrived – he of the building and installing our lovely kitchen a few years ago. He arrived laden with cabinets and toe kicks, ready to install the internal shelves of the cherubs’ bedroom wardrobes.

Cue the hammer. And my part in today’s labour (because no, the gym session and the gardening weren’t enough) which involved the demolition work of the old shelving.

Whoa. The lovely gentleman who built our house, built it GOOD. As in, I swear he had shares in the glue company. Shelves were coming off ATTACHED to their shelf supports (quick flashback to the demo of our original kitchen, where we just decided, rather than chipping off the tiles glued to the gyprock, to just cut out the whole section of gyprock and replace it with new stuff).

So, several hours and an equivalent number of knots in my back muscles later, the cherubs all have new wardrobe internals. They’re happy. I’m happy. And sore. And a little more broke than I was yesterday.

Oh! Note to self: go pay Charlie!

Have a great day, dear Reader 🙂

KRidwyn

Categories
#AtoZchallenge Blogging challenges Christianity Random thoughts teaching Work

C is for ‘clever’

As a mum to three cherubs under 12, and also as a Head of School with over 100 ‘cherubs’ aged 11 to 14, I find myself ‘praising’ kids a lot. It helps, you know? Builds rapport, which in turn assists in ‘training the child they way (s)he should go’ (nod to Proverbs 22;6, if you were wondering).

But I find myself often using the same words. This wearies them – the words, the kids, and also me – and thus forms the topic of today’s post. Synonyms for ‘clever’. If only to keep myself from going stir-crazy!

So. ‘Clever’, according to my handy MacbookPro thesaurus, has four different meanings.

Clever – as in intelligent – could also be: bright, smart, brilliant; talented, gifted, precocious; capable, able, competent, apt, proficient; educated, learned, erudite, academic, bookish, knowledge, wise, sagacious. Also brainy or genius, if we’re being informal.

Clever – as in shrewd – I could use: astute, sharp, acute, quick, sharp-witted, quick-witted; ingenious, resourceful, canny, cunning, crafty, artful, wily, slick, neat. And informally: foxy, or savvy.

Clever – as in skilful – dexterous, adroit (I love this word!), deft, nimble, nimble-fingered, handy, adept; skilled, talented.

Clever – as in witty – quick-witted, amusing, droll, humourous, funny, sparkling, entertaining, scintillating (love this one, too!)

Which one did you like the most? And – here’s the kicker, if you choose to see it as such- will you use it in a compliment to someone today?

[In case you were wondering, this set of 26 ‘A is for’ posts is a part of the global A to Z challenge, where consequential letters of the alphabet are used on an a daily blog posts in April (with Sundays off for good measure). My topic for 2017 is ‘word of the day’. Feel free to tune in tomorrow for ‘D’ 🙂 ]

And until then, here’s me wishing you a scintillating day!

Yours,

KRidwyn

Categories
family anecdotes teaching University studies Work

One week in…

I posted late last year about my new job for 2017. Well, I’ve been in it a week now. And what an INCREDIBLE week it’s been!

You see, the position I’ve just started, Head of Middle School at Caloundra Christian College, is the position I held nine years ago. I absolutely loved it; of all my teaching jobs over the years, it was my absolute favourite. I resigned from it at the end of 2007 because I was heavily pregnant with she-who-is-now-Miss8. Yes, I *could* have just taken maternity leave, and resumed work after a period of time, but I didn’t know how many more children Hubby and I would have (he-who-is-now-Mr7 arrived just 14 months later) and I felt it wouldn’t be fair on either the school or the Middle School students, to have an on-again-off-again Head of School. Not with 11 to 14 year olds. At that time of life, they need stability, not more uncertainty and inconsistency!

So I resigned, had Miss8, and later Mr7, and started my Masters. Ran a business. Taught contracts. Raised kids. Finished my Masters, closed my business. Scored permanent part-time work.

And then I saw the position advertised. *My* position!

Went for it.

Got it.

And am LOVING it!!!

Plus, now that the child-bearing thing is done and dusted for me, this position is what I’m planning on being in for a very, very long time. I’m smiling broadly about that one. Feel free to smile along with me!

And have a great week, dear reader 😀

-KRidwyn

 

Categories
family anecdotes Random thoughts Reading

On New Year’s resolutions…

I posted a few weeks back about one of my 2016 resolutions: to read through the Bible throughout the course of the year.

Well, I did that 😀

 

I must admit, it’s been a few years *cough decades* since I’ve actually kept a New Year’s resolution, so I shan’t be brave and recount my 2017 resolutions here for you now.

I’m just going to share one of my favourite images with you all: fireworks over the Sydney Harbour Bridge.

Every New Year’s Eve, I wake up the kids at 11.50pm and we watch Sydney’s fireworks on TV. We love it. I love the hope that comes with the new year, the thoughts of the journey ahead with all its innumerable possibilities. The world is our oyster, and all that jazz.

Here’s hoping that the resolutions you make are ones you can keep too, dear reader!

And Happy New Year 😀

KRidwyn

CC image courtesy miquitos on Flickr