Three on Thursday

I'm devastated that I forgot to blog yesterday. I don't really know what happened, but I also forgot to upload the fourth episode of my podcast and I didn't realise until this evening. I forgot I hadn't blogged until I opened Blogger to blog today. It's like Wednesday didn't happen. I'm blaming the Y13 marking: I worked on it before and after The Apprentice, to the detriment of my actual life. But, ah well. I nearly cheated and back-dated but I would have known. And I had Y13 parents' evening tonight so it really did have to be done (I didn't find it but, close).

What am I thankful for this week? Mr Z says him but I have already said him and it is ongoing.

I'm thankful for my PT, Jenny. For months now she has not pushed me too hard in our sessions, but she's noted that I've gone back to the gym/yoga in the past few weeks and she set me a killer circuit last night. I have been seeing her now for nearly 10 years and she's very good at knowing how much I can cope with on any given week.

I'm thankful for my lovely work colleagues. I remember when I moved schools and decided I wouldn't make friends because I had enough friends. I'm glad that didn't last. Three weeks until skiing with some of them. Very exciting.

I'm thankful for knitting group. I made a mental calculation this morning on my drive to work, that after this weekend I can't go again until early February and then not until April, which made me sad, though I now see there is a 5-Saturday February - a phenomenon that happens only once every 28 years - so the extra one will keep me going. It is so nice to hang out with other crafters and chat and get help and cheerleading.

Three on Thursday

It's been quite hard to think of things that I am thankful for today, which sounds awful, but isn't. Mainly, I find it hard to narrow it down. There is a lot in my life to be thankful for. So I thought I would make today's post about being thankful for things about myself, in an ultra-narcissistic way.

Firstly, I am thankful that I am healthy - physically and mentally. It's rare that I catch a cold and my body and mind work the way I want them to. I'd always like to be a bit thinner but I'm relatively satisfied with the rest of it.

Secondly, I am thankful for my work ethic. I had a busy day today, with lessons and meetings from 8.30 to 4.30 and only lunch to catch my breath. Thankfully, I am conditioned to the point where I really thrive on days like this and I got a great many small tasks completed that I, weirdly, might have floated on less busy days. Tomorrow is a less busy day but I don't think I'll be as productive.

Finally, I'm thankful for my stoicism. It's rarely impossible for me to put a positive spin on even the most negative of situations and I think this is really important for my mental health - particularly to keep practising it, both positivity and letting go of things that I can't square away.

Long may this continue...though perhaps not the work ethic. I work so much. I know this has been obvious for a while and I keep saying it's unsustainable but, really, this is dawning on me in a more serious way recently. I have terrible work FOMO but I need to get over it: I don't need to do everything.

Three on Thursday

We're continuing to be thankful over at Carole's.

I'm thankful that I've got an exam board meeting tomorrow (slightly less thankful about Saturday and Sunday but they are paying me) because it means that it is my 4th Friday in a row with a little lie in. I haven't had a Friday at work since October 11th and I've only got four more until skiing, and even then one of those is a trip to London. Such is the luck of the calendar this year.

I'm thankful that Father Hand isn't terribly ill. He emailed to say he thought he was, due to him thinking he saw something he shouldn't have in the insurance paperwork inviting him for a scan, but it turned out to be a false alarm. I don't see or talk to Father Hand very much at all these days but I would certainly miss him if he was not around anymore.

I'm thankful for...can I say Korean food? I realise it's all very trivial, but I had agreed to get Korean takeaway from the place by work and bring it home after parents evening tonight, and I was looking forward to it all week. I bought far too much - enough for at least 6 - so there is plenty for my lunch-at-home tomorrow too. It has really cheered up a day which began with a drive to work in the snow (this, in turn, made me hugely thankful that, after 18 months, the heating engineers have finally fixed the heating in my classroom).

As a bonus, I'm thankful that I work at such a nice place. Several of my students told me tonight that I was one of their favourite teachers and the parents, too, were effusive in their praise and admiration. I get super-awkward in situations like that. It's very difficult to deflect this sort of praise and make excuses for why it's not a big deal or not really my achievement, which is my usual method of brushing off such niceties. So, I guess I will just bask in it and allow myself to feel quite pleased with myself for the rest of today (38 minutes).

Three on Thursday

Carole invited us this week to think of three things we are thankful for. It's hard to narrow it down to three but here goes.

I'm thankful for the odd school tradition that means tomorrow is not a teaching day and we will be finished by midday. 

I'm thankful for Mr Z, who is making some nice bread for breakfast (since it can be leisurely) and looks after my rabbits even though I said I would do all the looking after. Turns out, the day is finite! Shocking. 

I'm thankful that my worries are largely trivial, and long may that continue. 

Brief tonight - I need to go to sleep so I can properly enjoy my slight lie in tomorrow morning. 

Three on Thursday

We broke up for half term today. I don't know why we only had a 4 day week and I'm sorry for those of you who don't, but I am so relieved. This is always the holiday I need the most; it's not as bad as last year but I have still limped into it. One of my A-level students is applying to Oxbridge for History - a first for me - and asked me to read a mock Oxbridge exam she'd written today. I wasn't even sure I understood the task myself. Definitely not something to do on the dog day of term.

Here are three things I'm excited about for half term:

1. Hampton Court visit to see the Bacton Altar Cloth. This is most likely the only remaining piece of any Tudor royal garment. It was probably Elizabeth I's dress and maybe the one she wore in the famous rainbow portrait. It was found in a small Welsh Church about two years ago and I have been waiting for the restoration to happen so I can go and see it. FINALLY it is time. Sib has made noises about coming to Hampton Court with me; I hope he'll be happy to stand staring at a piece of old cloth for roughly an hour.

2. Having a beer with a new History teacher friend. We met a couple of years ago at a work thing before she moved to a school in a neighbouring county, and she recently got in touch about catching up and talking history and things. I'm keen.

3. It's simple - lounging. All the lounging. In fact, I'm going to bed right now. I've had two worky weekends on the trot and I am in sore need of a listless day that begins with an extended period in bed. Tomorrow is that day. I can disassemble the floordrobe and maybe even tidy the house a bit. Exciting times.

Three on Thursday

(I know it's not Thursday, sshhh...I didn't finish it in time)

Three podcasts I can recommend

1. The Joe Rogan podcast - not that he needs any more subscribers. Many of his episodes are interviews with MMA fighters so you'd be forgiven for scrolling right past, but he has interviewed some really interesting people. I particularly liked Megan Phelps-Roper, Bernie Sanders and Louis Theroux. Also I now follow him (and his dog) on Instagram and he seems really grounded and sensible.

2. The 30 for 30 podcast series on Bikram - much as I love the yoga, this was eye-opening. Well-researched and quite fascinating insight into the bikram community - but also quite an interesting look at how people manage to build myths about themselves in order to become wildly successful. A blueprint, if you will.

3. The Mary Portas Work Like a Woman podcast - I have been a fan of Mary Portas for a long time and I can just eat up any content she cares to put out, but this series is also an interesting insight into working practices and comes with advice for improving things at work and elsewhere in life. I'd love to pick up the book, but the number of unread books I've got just makes me sad so I have resisted thus far.

Hopefully something new for you to listen to there. I'm also open to recommendations!

Three on Thursday

A lovely idea from Carole this week - the rose (best bit of your day), the thorn (worst bit) and the bud (something eagerly anticipated).

The Rose:
We had a new parents' evening and met the parents of our first year tutees. One of them told me tutor time was her favourite part of the week and she looked forward to it more than anything else. So cute.

The Thorn:
I spent much of the day chuckling in disbelief at the amount of work I need to get done. It's not even like it's little niggly things, either: it feels like every job is a time-limited, big, meaty, hour plus task, and none of them are fun: data scrutiny. Writing pupil references. Bidding for trip funding. Evidencing last year's targets even though I am not eligible for pay progression. Then, underneath that, the very important business of marking student work and planning lessons. The piles of paper on my desk are starting to mulch and I think it's only going to be a matter of time before somebody tells me it's a fire hazard and tidying it becomes, too, a can't-put-off task. I might just set fire to it myself. It would be quicker.

The Bud:
Well, I am going to bed as soon as I finish this which is quite exciting. But also I'm having Chinese tomorrow night with Gaz and Kath. I haven't seen Kath for 15 months and I haven't seen Gaz for about 2 years so the catch-up is going to be epic. Really looking forward to it.

Three on Thursday

I went back over to Carole's blog for the first time in a while recently and found a new prompt - Three on Thursday, which seems more achievable than Ten on Tuesday, which I miss but can become quite the time suck. So here we go.

Three things I'm doing to make myself happier

1. Home improvement. 
Done by someone else, and being fussy with it. We live in a permanent state of clutter (this mainly seems to be my fault) and I am not here for it, so we are finally reaching the end of the home improvement project (for now) as the built-in storage under the stairs is being finished and the flooring has been picked out for the hall, enabling me to look at many-drawered cabinets for holding everything we really can't part with. Exciting.
The carpenter we got for the job has been great and I've been bossy. He wanted to put the coat rail at waist height ('We measured your longest coat on it and it's fine') and left to right, but I have insisted on high up and front to back, because I know there are rarely-worn coats I won't need to get at and this is the best use of the space. He wanted to put 5-6 shelves of 30-40cm in the bookcase he's built me to replace the banister but I insisted on fewer, taller shelves because I wanted it more open. I'm not normally someone who is this bossy in this sort of role (though bossy is a natural state for me, so it's odd) but I have stuck to my guns and I'm getting what I want. He seems almost pleased at the direction. Who knew?

2. Prepping vegetables
Lunches are a personal watermark of my work-life balance. School do good lunches that are only £2 but if I'm buying them every day, it's because I'm not looking after myself. So far this term I've managed to batch cook enough veggies on a Sunday to have a home-made salad every day of the week. Granted, my 9-vegetable salad has shrunk to a 4-vegetable one this week, thanks to a busy Sunday, but it'll do. I feel a lot calmer when I can pack my own lunch.

3. Making plans
I've got friends who've moved to Edinburgh and Belfast recently that I'd like to visit. Today I caught myself thinking that I shouldn't visit them both in November because it's too many weekends away. Hang it all. This shouldn't be an issue! I am going to get the calendar out and make plenty of weekend plans between now and the end of the year.

Here's Carole's post on the matter. Thanks for the prompt!