saturdaysnippets

Saturday snippets

17th November 2018 by Jax Blunt Leave a Comment

{musing} I was doing so well with blog every day November, then I hit a day where I didn’t know what to write and I was really really tired so I went to bed and that was it. Stopped. How do other people pick up when they falter? (not even asking how people don’t falter. I always falter.)

{eating} fridge bottom feast. This is what we call it when we eat all the left overs that have collected over the last two or three days. I hate throwing food out but we so often have bits that aren’t enough for more than one or two of us and then they don’t fit with what else I’m cooking and there you go. How do other big families manage this?

{thinking} 6 year old might be the hardest age to parent. Or is that just my children? It’s when they really start to exert themselves and so often it seems to be in such a needlessly confrontational way.

{reading} A Ruin of Kings. And wishing that kindle arcs can be a complete pain.

{working} on Saturday. Again. Why has the tech taken to breaking when I’m there??

{wishing} for things I can’t put into words. Like peace on earth and more honesty in corporations and politicians and more kindness everywhere but in both bigger and smaller ways.

{contemplating} Minecraft curriculum. Anyone tried anything they like?

Snapshots

Big has gone to visit a school friend who is at uni. Not sure about this independent children lark quite frankly. (NotSo)SmallTeen is continuing to expand his musical repertoire and took a bass with him on Friday for the first time. Smallest lost two teeth in one day, don’t think either of the older two have managed that before and Tigerboy decided drawing on a computer screen was a good idea. (he was wrong.)

A list in snippets

3rd November 2018 by Jax Blunt 2 Comments

{cooking} pizza. Honest. I’m not blogging at all, you can’t see me, la la…

{enjoying} BEDN which has completely revitalised both my blogging and my blog reading. I’ve missed both, so this is a real bonus. I only expected to kickstart the writing, not the enjoyment if that makes any sense.

{listening} to a wider variety of music, having signed us up for a family spotify account. I’m calling it an educational expense given that both the older kids are doing music courses at college these days.

{reading} actually, I haven’t started anything else since I finished Fated a couple days back. Hm. Must pick something up. But what am I in the mood for? (Really I want to read the next Trudi Canavan trilogy, the Traitor Spy, but the first one still hasn’t come into the library for me, and I even visited the secondhand bookshop and they don’t have it.)

{writing} I’m doing nano, ish. By which I mean I’m committing to trying to finish one of the two manuscripts I’ve been working on quite literally for years. In fact, one of them is older than my children. (This is possibly not something to be proud of.) For a variety of reasons, some similar to those mentioned by Rachael in her #BEDN post today, I’m struggling with both the ideas. But am determined to complete, even if I can’t find an agent/ publisher who will take them. At that point, I guess my best bet will be to self publish. Exciting!

{decluttering} gradually. Probably best not talked about too much tbh.

{pondering} how many of these points I can get away with?

{snapshots}

Big and Small (aka NSSmallTeen in various places these days) are fairly established at college these days. I’m not entirely sure whether he still technically counts as home educated, I probably should follow that up at some point. He’s definitely getting a full time education either way. Smallest is beginning to struggle with the cold in much the way her older siblings do – have bought several pairs of thermal tights for her. By contrast, Tigerboy is bouncing round in shorts. He’s taken up trampolining, appropriately enough, and has already achieved badge 2. I’m impressed.

And that will have to do you today, given it’s past time I was making pizza.

Saturday Snippets 28th July 2018

28th July 2018 by Jax Blunt 1 Comment

{learning] about work. Bit of a shock to the system, but I’m sure I’ll adjust.

{reading} How To Bee by Bren MacDibble. I started this months and months ago and somehow put it to one side and didn’t finish it. I’m working on finishing things now, and this was an easy choice to finish. It’s a brilliant read – a children’s novel set in an Australia devoid of bees, where some poor children take their place. Told in the voice of a wannabee (see what I did there?) it’s described as beautiful and fierce which is a pretty good description of the protagonist Peony. Read it.

{watching} Captain America: Civil War. We’re working our way through a whole bunch of superhero movies at the moment, but this is not a family friendly one. So it’s an evening feature 😉

{enjoying} a day out at Sax Music Fest where (NotSo)SmallTeen was playing with Ipswich Guitar School. He absolutely loves performing and had a great time – it was a fab day out, if you’re in the area I’d recommend popping it in your diary next year. While three of us were there, Big took the youngest two down to the carnival – we’re all making memories this summer.

Snapshots

Big is working on her 20 year plans (her story, not mine) – good to see 🙂 (NotSo)SmallTeen is, as mentioned above, getting more stage time in. Smallest has decided she likes the idea of beautiful handwriting – hints and tips for working with left handers gratefully accepted. Tigerboy enjoyed a trial of Doodlemaths, but raced through and built his robot in double quick time and now can’t see any point in it any more. Maybe gamification isn’t always the answer after all 😉 (Remind me to brush up on extrinsic v intrinsic motivation sometime soon.)

Saturday Snippets 21 July 2018

21st July 2018 by Jax Blunt 2 Comments

{Thinking} it’s been a really weird and sad week in the blogging world with the sudden death of Kate from WitWitWoo. The way the community has gathered round to support her sons and build each other up has been fabulous. Check out #bemorewitwitwoo on Instagram to catch up.

I don’t remember which conference/event I met Kate at. She’s one of those people you feel like you’ve always known, and I’m still trying to process the idea that she’s gone. Doesn’t make a whole lot of sense.

{Eating} lemon and rosemary roasted chicken. (Got a new Gino book – healthy budget eating. )

{Watching} This is Spinal Tap. (It was in the 90 minutes or shorter section on NowTV. )

{Reading} The Kindness Method. And I’ve got a lovely new Foyles notebook so I can write my plans in it.

{Practising} my drawing again. I’ll crack portraits yet.

Snapshots.

Fab beach trip to catch up with home ed friends who moved to Scotland but were back for a visit. Turns out Smallest can swim if it’s the sea. Small is practising for next week’s gig and Big had a lovely trip to London to see a kentwell friend.