LisaSmiles 31:365

As John's been away all week we went out for dinner to the Cock Inn (still makes us smirk despite the amount of times we've been!) Delicious food and great entertainment from the boys! Ended the day nicely. 

And, although I slept badly, the day proper began well with a notification that Mark Pentleton had answered my request and recorded the Dogtanian and the three Muskahounds theme tune as part of his 2015 piano challenge! Thank you! It's the sign of a good theme tune or a misspemt youth that I can recall all the words!

LisasMiles 30:365

It was a beautiful morning running in the park. Crunchy snow underfoot and a clear piercing blue sky - so beautiful but I'd no camera to capture it as is left it in the kit bag in case I fell over and smashed it :( Still, my eyes enjoyed it! 

Also smiled when I'd finished the 5.3+ miles when I looked down and saw the amount of mud on my legs. Compared to others, significantly more! I think it's an inherited trait ;)

And for tea I made sausage risotto, a dish I perfected at uni and a recipe that was then stolen by many friends. The boys loved it and it tasted nearly as good as 24 years ago when I first made it! 

Other smiles:

Wasabi pea overdose as I tried to complete some trying, last minute paperwork. 

End of the week. 

Stories of school from the boys. 

John brought Lindt chocolates back from his travels. 

PS someone called Wendy Webb has posted a picture from the park this morning on Twitter so I've borrowed it! Thanks to @Sutton Observer for the retweet or I'd have missed it. 

LisaSmiles 29:365

An assembly on imagining today made me smile. It was fun to plan and, apart from a few chatty kids, fun to deliver too. And it was lovely to see the looks on the kids' faces when I shared these two quotations about imagination. I think there were a few 'dreamers' in the audience and, when I said at the end "and don't forget, if you can imagine it",  a few whispered, "you can achieve it."

I also smiled earlier in the day when two y2 girls sang their role play in the 'frutería' - very cute but also sensible as we'd learned a song that included all the vocabulary they needed. 

And Zumba was a fun challenge! 

LisaSmiles 28:365

Fun with a selfie stick!

And apparently I look like 'a proper scientist' in my glasses. And 'very smart'. In an intelligent way.
Wolf Hall bingo (still no 'Henry VIII standing with his legs so far apart it must be for a bet' much to our disappointment although much lute music and several men without hats!)

Doing my Duolingo Swedish and German whilst relaxing in the bath is becoming the norm. And this was my first sentence tonight. Caused a titter or two as I imagined when I might use such a phrase! 

LisaSmiles 27:365

Enthusiastic colour surveying in Y3. And 98% in Spanish too!
Manic 'row of shops' making in Y6.
Lots of Spanish spoken and written, and several BOOM! moments.

Reduced doughnuts in M&S.
Shopping delivered on time.
Finding some chocolate I'd forgotten I had.
A bath and in bed before 10pm (well, that's the plan!)

LisaSmiles 26:365

Really searched for some smiles today as I'm very tired and I haven't had a good day.

BUT there are always smiles, however small and fleeting.
A child who is not in school and so upset about missing your lesson that they send you a message.
A kid who finds Spanish tricky but works his socks off and achieves far more than he thought he could (and actually more than I expected he might.)
Thanks from a visitor for what I consider to be doing my job.
Dinner with my boys at Nandos then later watching Only Connect and trying to beat each other at the missing vowels round.
Knowing that someone appreciates your efforts to make a change even when it often seems a futile quest.
And some lovely surprise tweets that reminded me that I'm not always a weary fed up grouch ;)

LisaSmiles 25:365

A smiley tap! 

Church - and lots of 'you were great' and 'pleased you're back to normal' comments.

Lunch out with all the family including Bob and his beloved Jesse cowgirl who developed a love of melon over lunchtime.

Managed to squeeze in a run - where I found the energy from I do not know but I managed 3 miles - quite quickly actually!

Going to have an early night - bath and bed with a book I think!

LisaSmiles 24:365

Utterly pooped so a short post.

Safely home and the train journey was quite pleasant with a carriage full of Leinster fans.

My roses ares till alive.

Coffee at Under Pressure.

And huge smiles as I had a blast being Lisa Stevens: eccentric bohemian charity commissioner in a MurderMystery event at church. I didn't do it but many thought I had had a hand in it thanks to my dislike of the birthday girl, ongoing (mutual) flirtation with her husband (my ex who left me for her 20 years previously) and the fact that the Reverend pack ham was in love with me. Jude was in it too and was very pleased that someone though it was him.

The only thing that spoilt it was my failure to take ANY photographs :(
However, this one from yesterday is mighty fine. 

I <3 Moby! 

LisaSmiles 23:365

I found these ladies at BETT and couldn't resist! That should be my motto! 

Dave and his Post-it glasses made me smile, as did my stint on stage as 'random waving woman' in a demonstration of how to code! 

And I hope I brought smiles to others with my cupcakes. 

Lots more smiles but saving them for another day!

LisaSmiles 22:365

I saw this from the DLR and thought it was a Christmas tree. Then I walked past it later on the way to Canary Wharf and discovered it's the maddest set of traffic lights ever! 

Another smile caused by a mystery letter that awaited me on arrival at my hotel. In a large First Class Priority stamped envelope, I found this...

Complete with a wax seal. 

On opening it I discovered £100 voucher for Lululemon from LateRooms with whom I'd booked. Lovely surprise and funny as we love the cycling team Lululemon, often calling a fantasy/velogames team after it. 

LisaSmiles 21:365

Had a trying day but there were smiles along the way.

A lad in Y3 greeted me with a huge ¡Hola! and said "I'm here! I like Spanish. Yippee!"
Another older lad who finds Spanish hard gave me his work with a huge smile at the end of the lesson having completed it all correctly with minimum help whilst his (complacent) peers who thought they knew it were still asking 'what am I supposed to do?'.
Cupcake baking makes me smile - even if the mixer breaks mid batch - and eating them makes me smile even more.
Wolf Hall was very good. It scored 58 points on the 'WolfHall drinking game/bingo' card, largely due to lute interludes and needlework. Still waiting for 'Henry VIII standing with his legs so far apart it must be for a bet' which scores a whopping 10 points!
Off to BETT tomorrow after school.

LisaSmiles 20:265

An excellent parents' evening for Isaac this evening; everyone very pleased with him, glowing in their praise and confident in his future success. Made all the more fun by a game of buzzword bingo - only our "wild card word" ludicrous was unticked by the end as UMS, revision, thorough, course work, full marks and conscientious each scored at least twice.  We're getting warmed up for Wolfhall "drinking" games tomorrow ;)

Murder Mystery rehearsal was cold but decidedly amusing. 

And the day finished with Duolingo whilst soaking in the bath. 

Now trying to resist the temptation to eat the chocolates left by Mr S by the bed....

LisaSmiles 19:365

Sometimes TimeHop throws up some great memories. Here's TeachMeet BETT *SIX* years ago! Looking forward to seeing Mark at the end of the week; Tess is otherwise engaged with lovely little people at the moment but we 'catch up' on FB! 

Started the day acting madly - for a reason - climbing on chairs, dancing and singing and generally making a fool of myself. All to prove a point about eye witness accounts for an RE lesson!

Jude was overjoyed that I stopped on the way home to pick up his NERF gun and consequently battle broke out as soon as I got home with upstairs turned into a war zone, missiles flying all over. A truce was called for tea but I suspect hostilities will erupt once more tomorrow! 

LisaSmiles 18:365

So I'll keep running, eating, talking, singing, worshipping, shopping, writing, travelling, teaching and spending time with friends and family. 

LisaSmiles 17:365

Another exercise related post - HIT this morning was very hard work but very satisfying. I managed to sprint properly this time after being less than 100% for the last two and held my own I think.
Unsuccessful charity shop trawl in search of a costume but I'm sorted now - thank you to those who offered help and encouragement!
Touchwood this afternoon and the obligatory Joe and the Juice visit :)
Curry for tea :)))

And I'm on track with my German and Swedish Duolingo!

LisasMiles 16:365

A bright crisp morning; perfect for a run - 5.4 miles. And I did enjoy this morning's run. Far more than last Friday when it was out and back, and the wind was howling!

Jude's trainers arrived much to his delight.
I made it to school to retrieve my folder just in time before the building was locked up for the weekend.
Tea was delicious.
John came back from Budapest.

LisaSmiles 15:365

Catching Reception rehearsing for their class assembly was lovely - they sang me their ¡Hola! song.

Great face pulling in PSHE - some very scary 'jealous' faces! 

And a fun staff meeting doing ceramics. My effort is currently drying. Not sure what it is as we were just learning joining techniques. However, I'm sure it'll become something! 

LisaSmiles 14:365

I was not smiling last night when I saw the snow and contemplated a drive to Handsworth this morning. Nor was I smiling for much of the journey, firstly due to iced and then due to the odd driving of other road users when there was no snow or ice on the road but they insisted on driving as if there was.
I did smile when I got inside school, although the biggest smile was when I left school to discover that all the ice had melted - yippee!

An INSET day so no teaching - and it was a good one that kept me engaged which is a bonus!
Home at a decent time.
Time with my boys.
And a bubbly bath.

LisaSmiles 13:365

How much fun can you have with the packaging from a shoe rack? Judge for yourself! #pillowbubblewrap #bigbox

Then there was the eagerness to write sentences in Spanish demonstrated by y6 who wanted to make rows of houses and knew they couldn't until they'd done the writing. And, even better, how arming y6 with scissors can, even with clear instructions, be a recipe for paper carnage! 

LisaSmiles 12:365

A day of talking animals and zoos, a fire drill at lunchtime thanks to someone's toast and lots of laminating whilst watching Broadchurch.

LisasMiles 11:365

I decided to tackle Cardiac Hill today on my run. Seemed a good idea at the time as I wanted to go in the park and needed to be out by 4 as it would be getting too dark by then. Unfortunately the wind was in my face much of the way and it was hard work. Just about to lose the ability to breath, I looked up and a pony appeared ahead of me, wandering across the road. As I got closer, his friend was munching nearby. The wild ponies that live in the park are very shy and I've never seen them there before so it was quite a surprise, but a pleasant one. Unfortunately I didn't have my 'phone with me so no picture but I took one in my head!
Other smiles today:
finding various small cuddly creatures hidden around the house.
becoming riveted by the darts final - never thought that would happen!
the smell of clean washing.

And finally incredulity at this snippet of Fox News - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hwq8Bwr9wUg - turned to amusement at the hashtag #FoxNewsFacts on Twitter as people came up with other preposterous facts that Fox News may(or may not) have broadcast!

LisaSmiles 10:365

We went out for an 'we survived the first week back' meal this evening. 

A little umbrella in my dessert made me smile - so twee! 

I stuck two in my hair and Isaac told me I looked "like some weird umbrella rabbit". 

When we left, Isaac got into the back of the car where Jude wanted to sit so, before Isaac even had time to make full contact with the seat, Jude cannonballed him over to the other side of the car, taking possession of the preferred seat. 

Earlier in the day I went for a bike ride, smiling at a cat, a mouse (or rat - it ran across the path too quickly and it was quite dark!) a fox, five dogs and three swans. 

And watching Would I lie to you? over lunch made us all laugh, especially Lee Mack and the spider, and David Mitchell and the goldfish. 

LisaSmiles 9:365

A run on a very windy but rather lovely day. 

Core class during which I managed to plank for a minute without nearing collapse - although my running V sit left s lot to be desired! 

A positive message from a colleague. 

A trip to IKEA resulting in the purchase of some hats, meatballs and fairy wings. And a puppet that I say is a dragon as it has a fiery tongue but the boys say is a dinosaur as it has no wings. 

Finally, hilarity over a video about dogs and socks. 

A good day completed with John just arriving home :)

LisaSmiles 8:365

I made the acquaintance of another y2 class this morning and had some very interesting conversations! I seemed to puzzle some of them which amused me whilst others told me their life stories as soon as they met me.
Conversation at lunchtime turned to extra digits - I think we got there from binary but not sure! - and Joe's tale of the two thumbed perfume seller had us crying with laughter.
And after school - ZUMBA! How I've missed trying to beat my lack of rhythm and coordination into submission! I hope Miranda and the Zumba mums would be proud of me - I wore my vest with pride and although there was no bull fighting or 'dulce de leche', I did my best! 

LisaSmiles 7:365

A loooong day but a good one. Lots of marbles awarded and only 1 lost - an achievement for a Wednesday afternoon! I even had groans from some when I told them it was time to pack away, and that's not usual!

I had a laugh as I played pied piper to an assortment of children who needed picking up; I seemed to gather more as I walked along, starting with 4, losing 2 then ending up with 6 by the time we reached our destination. I'll take my recorder next week!
And we all ending up in hysterics in Isaac's room earlier whilst he was trying hard to do his homework; can't remember why we were there and what was so funny but I remember the laughing!

Six years ago today I posted this picture with the caption 'I'm surrounded my lazy men!' 

Times have changed! Have to say that none of us have been on the WiiFit for ages but John cycles, Isaac cycles and rows and Jude goes to his spinning / exercise class every week as well as Boys Brigade so they're not so bad! 

LisaSmiles 6:365

Things that made me smile today:

Back to school (second time this week) and shoehorning the entire school into the hall for assembly. A child suggesting that one of the Headteacher's New Year resolutions was to "drink more" had us giggling! (If you add "water", they were correct. 

A child misunderstanding what I said by taking me literally and thinking that their teacher would actually tell me to go away and not teach their class - he was quite indignant on my behalf. 

Two unexpected lads were my stars of the afternoon. Don't know what happened to them but I like it! 

And I fitted in a run before tea. A short one but that's Jantastic kicked off! 

Today's picture was actually taken in Vienna but I'd forgotten about it. 

New uses for coffee stirrers!

LisaSmiles 5:365

A trying day at work was made better by smiles from some of Y4 who I haven't taught since October and by a parcel on my desk when I arrived T work. And on my return home there was a bunch of flowers from our cleaner which made me smile. 

Still wish this had worked though - a genius idea if a little wishful! 

LisasMiles 4:365

The first LisasMiles post! When I'm running this year I've decided to make an effort to enjoy my surroundings more, and to pause to take photographs. I made a start yesterday, but that was before the run not during it. Today I stopped whilst out running, not because I was tired or needed a break, but because I wanted to capture the view. The park is so lovely, even on a cold misty day!

In other smiley news, Jude correctly counted the number of times that the word 'follow' appeared on the screen at church during the service this morning, and won a banana. He was pleased to win but not so pleased with the prize as the 'advertised' prize was Smarties! Love his face! 

LisaSmiles 3:365

Marshmallow toasting over the bonfire with lanterns hung in the tree.

Park Run this morning was wet and muddy but a sense of achievement to get up and running! 

An addition to the lounge made up for taking down the Christmas decorations. 

And I thoroughly enjoyed the last liqueur cherry in dark chocolate, and the last Lindt truffle. 

LisaSmiles 2:365

We've been doing some tidying today and came across Isaac's books from Nursery and Reception. We had a giggle at his pictures and wonky spelling and then I found this which made me smile and cry!

I love you too!

And some words of wisdom too. 

(In case you can't read the first piece, it says:

"My mummy likes to play games with me. We are playing snakas and ladders. I love Mummy so much that I waod like to cuddle her.")

LisaSmiles 1:365

Today's smiles:

A lie in. 

I made biscuits and everyone liked them. 

Being deafened by husband and youngest as Tottenham scored five TES against Chelsea. 

My nephew is here for a sleepover and enjoyed his dinner including 8 carrots! 

Watching a film together.  

Twitter conversations with people I haven't spoken to in ages. 

A tidy desk! 

And I know I've shared this already on my website but this comment from a 104 year old Spanish lady when talking about good and bad things in life strikes a chord - 

"Lo importante es sencillamente eso - vivir."

(The most important is simply this - to live)