Tea, Pumpkins and Crafting

So I've had a little bit of a (spontaneous and unintentional) blog break. My time has been swallowed up by my new job, lots of baking, a little scrapbooking, some TV watching, pumpkin carving, face-painting and socialising with friends... not necessarily in that order! Things have been busy, but I'm now in the middle of the glorious week off school for half-term (mid-term, as we call it here in Ireland) and I thought it was high time I invited you for tea and a catch up on the goings on in my very exciting life! It's also a chance to join in with Abi's monthly tea party... Better late than never :D So come on in, grab a slice of spiced apple cake with rum buttercream and a mug, and get yourself comfy by the roaring fire...

How is everything with you? My new job is going well, I'm slowly getting used to the insanity and chaos of a classroom with four classes and children ranging in age from four to eight! It's noisy and exhausting, and a bit mad at times, but I'm really enjoying the challenge. In the past five weeks, I've carved pumpkins, read 'Room on the Broom' several times, painted autumn trees and hedgehogs, woven spiderwebs, recited rhymes, sung songs, led a maths trail, pretended to be a banana (!), painted lots of little faces, mopped up a few tears, laughed out loud and stressed a lot! What have you been up to at work recently?

The new job has, however, been sucking up all my time, so crafting has suffered a little bit. The half-term has helped me redress that balance! I've almost finished that crochet blanket I showed you last time  we chatted, and thanks to a lovely day with a friend yesterday, I finished a double page layout that has been on my desk for far too long. I also carved another pumpkin and got the DSLR out for the first time in ages. Good times! Have you been crafting recently?

Something that hasn't suffered in the last few weeks is my obsession with the Great British Bake Off! I'm SO sad that it's over now, but am consoling myself with the masterclasses with Mary Berry and Paul Hollywood this week, and doing lots of baking myself :D Thankfully, the Great Irish Bake Off will be on for another couple of weeks to fill the GBBO shaped hole in my TV schedule!

My goodness, time flies when we get together for tea! Thank you for joining me today :) And thanks Abi for the inspiration, as always. Until next month...

xxx

P.S. Happy Halloween!

At the Moment...

They say times flies when you're having fun... I think it should read, 'time flies when you're hectic-crazy-manic-exhausting busy!' The last couple of weeks have been a whirlwind, with the main news being that I have succeeded in getting a job, a maternity leave cover until mid March. I have just started into my third week now (whew!) and am very gradually adjusting to the massive change in pace and workload and trying to get used to a new workplace and routine. It's a positive kind of busy though, as I appreciate that I'm so lucky to have employment when so many others are out of work. Anyway, as a kind of ease-myself-back-into-blogging exercise, I thought it was high time for a 'right now' kind of post. So here goes...

Currently I am:
Reading primary school textbooks and fairytales to my class (with dramatic voices, obviously!) :D
Cooking lots of Jamie Oliver's meals from his most recent cookbook, the latest being a chicken and chorizo paella (which was divine, if I may say so myself!)
Drinking loads of tea with some coffee thrown in there too, as well as trying to sip more water
Typing school plans and PowerPoint presentations
Surfing crafty blogs, Pinterest and teaching resource sites
Watching Great British and Great Irish Bake Offs, Downton Abbey and Home and Away
Listening to OneRepublic and some radio
Celebrating my county winning the All-Ireland hurling final on September 28th - an EPIC weekend of celebrations!
Crafting a little bit of crochet every now and again (granny stripe blanket as seen above!)
Wanting to get more organised and fit in more time to scrapbook and bake
Chatting to friends on the phone a lot - the best way to de-stress is definitely to vent and rant a little :D
Worrying about getting everything I need done and gaining a work-life balance and mostly, succeeding in my new job
Wearing blazers, dark jeans, light knits and blouses - it's that in-between autumnal time when I don't know if I'm ready for winter woolies quite yet
Needing to buy some black comfy ankle boots for the winter that I can tuck my jeans into... impossible to find!
Thanking God for my friends and family who keep me sane (well, mostly!)

Hope to be back soon with a more substantial post :D
xxxxx