Life has a way of taking over and the last few months have been so busy. We had some sad news: on 1st August mother-in-law passed away after a brave fight against vascular dementia. When we'd been to visit her in Hong Kong last April, we could see how much she had deteriorated and we knew it wouldn't be long before The Lord called her home. At the time of her passing, we were on holiday in Italy at my mother's and so had to wait three weeks before we could go out for the funeral. It was a bitter-sweet visit both in Italy, where some very good friends came to stay for ten days (they cheered us up so much), and then in Hong Kong, where we were only able to be for five days before rushing back to the UK in time for me to start back at school.
Since then I have been hard at it tackling new schemes of work, departmental self-evaluations and getting to grips with my classes. There have been after school meetings to go to - sometimes two a week - and they make me tired for the next day and often the rest of the week. But I have been following a new weight-loss regime with Slimming World and it's working brilliantly in that I've managed to lose 10 pounds since the beginning of September. I've got a long way to go, but it's an encouraging start.
Now that I'm back on Bravenet, I'll try to be more regular in my posts as I really do enjoy blogging and keeping in touch with you all. Here's a pic of DH and I taken in the Hong Kong Museum of History last April.
I’m back! And here is Charlie who has reverted to “summer mode.” He’s been going AWOL since the warmer weather arrived. At the time of writing I haven’t seen him for two whole days! Wish I knew where he went. Could be the woods at the back of our garden? They’re probably full of field mice. He’s a lad, isn’t he? Can’t help worrying about him…
What have I been up to since the New Year? In order to keep blogging, I’ve decided to keep my posts short so I’ll fill you in bit by bit. One thing I have been doing is researching my family tree. It’s been quite addictive and time-consuming. I’ve gone back five generations and discovered enough to form the basis of several family sagas. Trouble is I haven’t got time to write them, LOL! I’m still working on my WIP every now and again, but school has been busier than ever. Also, we had to make a flying visit to Hong Kong during the Easter break to visit mother-in-law, who hasn’t been at all well. I’ll write about it in my next post.
I've been so busy with work, family, etc. that blogging has had to take a back seat the past few months. I am fine, health-wise, just frantic so please don't worry! I just wish there were more hours in each day...
Now that my teaching load has lessened a bit with some pupils on study leave I'm getting more work done in school time, so I hope to be able to catch up with you all again very soon. In the meantime, take care and I'll "talk" to you soon.
It seems incredible that it has been three weeks since I last posted. The final week of the holiday I spent rewriting the WIP. Three chapters had to be cut, but I made up the word count by padding out some of the characters and their relationships. I'm pleased with how it's going and only wish I had more time to devote to it.
I went back to school on 7th January and it was busy, busy, busy. Nothing new in that but by the end of the week I’d come down with a sore throat and by last weekend it turned into a heavy cold. So I wasn’t up to much beyond a bit of marking and preparation. I had to take last Tuesday off as I had spent Monday night coughing and woke up with my head pounding. The cough went down into my chest and became a productive cough with a lot of catarrh (yucky!) but I’m feeling much better now. If only the weather would improve: it has been foul for weeks with non stop rain and wind. Very depressing. Hopefully, spring is round the corner and we’ll get some sunshine soon.
I’ve posted the above pic before of blue tits and a robin on a bird feeder. I have bird feeders and coconuts with suet and seed in them hanging on the Japanese maple by our pond and I love to look out on the birds. They’re very clever and only feed when the cats aren’t around. (Our Charlie Cat has been staying indoors a lot recently as he’s a fair weather friend and has developed a winter paunch through lack of activity. It's almost comical!)
As for me and my paunch, I rejoined WeightWatchers and lost five pounds last week, which is a real boost to my morale. I don’t find it hard to lose weight but have never managed to keep it off. This time, I’ve set a more realistic goal which I hope to be able to maintain.
Now I promise I’ll try and be more regular with my posts as I don’t want to lose touch with all of you out there. How have you found the start of 2008? Do you suffer from the 'winter blues'?
To all of you I wish everything that you wish for yourselves and love, peace and goodwill in 2008!
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