Fix-it-Friday

It is yet again time for fix it Friday hosted by Jo at Tangled Me
I have just completed my first week in school, and am feeling quite positive about the whole thing, particularly as I don't have much to do this weekend, all my lessons for next week are planned!

I'm finally getting used to getting up at 6.45am, and am actually starting to enjoy driving to school and seeing the sun rise; it's been beautiful all week. Today is meant to be the big day we get snow, and what a disappointment it's been. So far there is not even a scattering of snow on the ground!

Anyway here's my contribution to this weeks fix-it-



A cute little pointy kitty. If you want to make your own then you can find the pattern here at Wee Wonderfuls.

If you do make one then my advice is to be really careful turning it inside out and stuffing it, I did rip mine in a couple of places and had to rescue it, which has lead to a few untidy bits.

Just keep swimming, just keep swimming...

Life is getting busy again. I just started full time on my second placement. I will be taking over a Year 8 and Year 7 class starting next Monday, I can start planning as soon as I know where they are in the topic. I also have a mountain of meetings this week. I was meant to go climbing tonight, then when I double checked I remembered I have a meeting tonight, so had to cancel. I then have Rainbows tomorrow, followed by a meeting with my mentor, followed by I think another meeting on Wednesday. Crikey!

On a more exciting note I have nearly finished my blanket, all the leaves are sewed together thanks to my Mum, and I am just finishing off the border. On the down side, it's tiny, the book describes it as a a cot blanket, it would barely be big enough to cover a doll in a doll cot let alone for a real baby! The solution is to knit another 3, yes 3, and sew them all together so I actually have something of a decent size.
That however can come later. I have had my fill of purple wool and a leaf motif.

fix-it-Friday

Well the time has come for fix it Friday again.
Now this week I actually have something physical to do! this activity is what I did with my Rainbows this week as I wanted something nice and simple. There is something strangely addictive about these spinners, and even the 5 year olds were good enough with the scissors to cut them out. If you have older kids then you can still make them but turn it in to a science investigation, maybe make the wings shorter or make it heavier... just time how long it takes to fall from a set height.

Anyway, here is your pattern, just right click and save the image and print it at a suitable size, you want it about the length of an A4 sheet.


To make it cut along all the lines I've drawn on blue (this can be a useful tactic with smaller kids to make sure they don't get it wrong)


Then fold the 2 side flaps in


Then fold the bottom bit up


and the two side sections around the "stem"

and fasten this bottom bit ll up with a paperclip to add weight so it falls the right way round.

When you have folded the wings, one in each direction you will have your helicopter, feel free to add colour. If you make one I'd love to see a photo, leave me a comment or send me an email hilltopkatie at gmail dot com


Edited to add, yes I am slightly early, however I know I won't get time tomorrow... please forgive me, the date is right though!

Album cover

Niobe at Dead Baby Jokes has got a meme up where you create your own album cover.
Basically you go to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Random and the title of this page is the name of your Band.
Then go to http://www.quotationspage.com/random.php3 and the last 4 words of the last quote is the name of your album.
Then to get your artwork go to http://www.flickr.com/explore/interesting/7days/ and pick the third picture across.

Next go to photoshop, or if you're me Powerpoint, asssemble all your elements and either save or take a screen shot of your album and post it.



If you try it leave a comment or if you don't want to fiddle about with photo editing just leave a comment with your band name, album title and a description of the photo.

Some food

As I'm currently just cooking for myself I'm finding more and more that I can't be bothered to cook. When it's just for you, and you've already filled your small freezer with leftovers it's often hard to get motivated when you're tired. However today I made a concerted effort and cooked my ever reliable (apart when I forget they're in the oven) chocolate chip cookies, and a recipe for pizza I'd seen on a cooking programme this morning.
The cookies were wonderful, the pizza a real disappointment, so much so I'm not even going to share the recipe. The dough itself was good, though I should have added more salt, but I should have trusted my instincts on the topping. the recipe just recommended that you drain a can of chopped tomatoes, however as I'd suspected this was really acidic and had none of the mellow tomato flavour I like on pizza. It was then topped by a ball of mozzarella, which I always find a little bland on it's own, but again I trusted the recipe, and guess what, there was nowhere near enough cheese and it just wasn't cheesy enough!
I've got half the dough in the freezer so next time I will trust my instincts and will make a cooked tomato sauce, and use cheddar as well as mozzarella.

Apart from that the leaf count is up to 32, so only 16 to go until I can look forward to ironing them all and sewing them together!

I've also got to work on applying for jobs, and crikey it's hard work talking yourself up for 3 pages in an application letter!

Fix-it-Friday

Jo over at Tangled Me has this great idea going where you share something you know or know how to do. Now what I know most about is probably climbing and that doesn't share too well on a website, however I've recently started knitting, and one of the inspiring sites I've found is Knitting Iris, she has such wonderful socks, made out of such wonderful wools. So much so that she has inspired me that it cant be that hard and my first lot of sock yarn and a learn to knit socks instruction kit is in the post, because knitting my blanket isn't enough!

Goodbye

This Christmas I lost someone very dear to me. I had forgotten how much he meant to me until I sat down and thought about it. It was his funeral today, and I couldn't make it. I don't remember a time when this person wasn't in my life, he babysat me, took me on outings, remembered my birthday and Christmas and just did all the things a wonderful grandparent did. He engraved my name on my walking stick in beautiful copper plate writing and I remember being so proud of it.
and now he's gone.

I'm so sorry I couldn't make his funeral, but I have been thinking about him, and how much he meant to me, and how much I regret not popping round to see him more on visits home from university.