Peppermint and Lime Tea: Venting

I am not someone who can drink coffee or tea straight after it is poured – I prefer to wait until it is of a drinkable heat, and a very dark colour. This evening I thought I would try a new tea – Peppermint and Lime from Twinings, my go to tea brand. So while my tea is cooling and I eat my dinner (a laughable attempt at being healthy after a day of not – fish and vegetables) I thought I would write a bit, mostly to vent.

Today at work I volunteered to go over a section of curriculum, only to have one of my (much older) colleagues say that someone else should go over it, not me. I’m at the point in my career where I know I am good at what I do and I am confident in it, and I want something to be responsible for – a program, project, assignment. So to hear that from a colleague was very disappointing, not just because I wanted the task, but because it was just another example of how unsupportive that particular department is (I work in two, luckily). Because I teach in two learning areas I often have to divide time up with staff meetings. Some of the staff in one of those areas are not happy with me and another teacher because we teach in two areas and so the assumption is that we can’t fully put our attentions to one or the other. In actual fact me and my friend overcompensate in both subjects – teaching after school classes, writing assessments, collaborating and sharing resources with everyone – while the teachers complaining about us are the “clock in, clock out” types nearing the end of their careers. So it is frustrating to have other people thinking (and telling your boss!!??) that you are not pulling your weight. Especially when it is so abundantly clear that the opposite is true.

I have been listening to some podcasts this week however, one of them Truth for Teachers, and the biggest thing I have gotten from it so far is not to waste time worrying about things I have no control over. So while it is frustrating not to be getting support from colleagues in that department, I can’t do anything about their thoughts and feelings so why waste time worrying about them? I am a good teacher, and I don’t need their validation to remind myself.

Tea is ready! Tea tastes….Surprisingly good. I’m not usually a big peppermint fan but I’m trying to get to sleep soon so trying it out. Hope you remember not to sweat the small things, or worry about other people’s problems!

Review: Pendragon’s Heir

Pendragon’s Heir by Suzannah Rowntree (2015, Bocfodder Press) 

I have always had a fascination with all things Camelot – Guinevere, Avalon, The Lady of Shallot, The Grail Quest. So when this book came up in my BookBub email I was intrigued. Combining Camelot with a Narnia type-story pretty much hits all my buttons, so I eagerly started it a few weeks ago.

This gripping adventure captures the magic and scope of The Chronicles of Narnia in a story sophisticated enough for mature readers. Blanche Pendragon is dragged from Edwardian England to the time of King Arthur… and discovers that Camelot’s fate may depend on her.

Hell is teaching in a heatwave with no power..

The power went out at school yesterday, leaving more than 1000 teachers and students suffering in a 40+ degree day with no air-conditioning.. I don’t know if you’ve ever had the pleasure of being around young adults during hot weather, but there are two things main things to know:

1. They do absolutely no work whatsoever
2. They smell. 

Life Update Time! (Taking Stock Jan 2016)

Life update time! I head back to work next week which I find myself kind of dreading. But I have had a great summer (non-relationship-wise) and I’m ready to take on some new challenges.

 

Cooking: A lot lately as I (again) attempt to change my eating habits. I find that I struggle to enjoy cooking for myself, but I adore cooking for other people! Below are the last two breakfasts I made for my housemate, very proud of them if I do say so myself!

Drinking: Water from an old Mount Franklin bottle. Is that whole “don’t reuse bottle water bottles” thing still a thing??

Reading: Wonder Woman: The Twelve Labours. Side note: How bad ass does Gal Godot look in the Batman vs Superman trailer?!

Wanting: so many, many things. Let’s go with motivation for now..

Looking: at the old Casablanca poster above my desk, finally hung up!

Playing: that Covet fashion game (I’m pretending it’s helping me be more fashionable!), Pandemic and Ticket To Ride . I am OBSESSED with Tabletop at the moment!

Deciding: if I want to go run myself a cold bath. It is SO HOT that sometimes I do that first thing in the morning, just sit in the bath to cool down. The cat has started sleeping in the bathroom (apparently over his previous bath trauma) which goes to show, evaporative airconditioning= NOPE!

Wishing: that my housemate was not moving out in two months, or that he asks me to move in with him (HA!) or that he just gives me a really nice birthday before he moves.

Enjoying: that the cat and I have gotten into a perfect routine this holidays. And that I know all his facial expressions and postures, and he does what I want (finally!) at one word, AND that there has been no inside pooing. Victory!

Waiting : for my younger housemate to come home, so I can tease him about his lady dramas.

Liking: the new organisation of my desk. I cleaned it up nicely yesterday to give me a good workspace. Naturally the rest of my room remains less organised!

Wondering: if I can pull myself together enough to clean up the rest of my room. I-think-i-can i-think-i-can i-think-i-can….

Loving: My boo.

Pondering: waking up early tomorrow to try get into my school routine. ORRR do I sleep in as it is one of my last holiday days?

Watching: The Office (US) S05 E09 The Surplus. About to head into an Agents of SHIELD catch up too.

Hoping: a fairy comes and waves their wand over me and makes me look like I did four years ago. #fatty #badday

Marvelling: at other people’s abilities to be hella into their fitness and health. Very, very envious.

Needing: To find some motivation.

Smelling: the bowl of frangipanis on my desk from my trees in the backyard. Another reason I wanna stay in this house!!

Wearing: pink singlet, green undies, black shorts. And I’m only wearing the shorts because my housemate is due home soon!

Following: Ashy Bines on Instagram and Snapchat. She’s annoyingly perfect looking, and yet so accessible and down to earth about herself and her ups and down.

Knowing: I need to do some more planning and reading for school. My first year teaching HASS (Humanities and Social Studies) so I’ve got a lot to catch up on!

Thinking:  that I want to go on a cruise this year. My Hawaiian trip was cancelled as my aunty changed the cruise we were all going on from one in the school holidays to one during the term! Sad that I can’t go with my family, but the cruise they are now going on is far better value. BUT I do still want to go on a holiday this year sometime.

Feeling: like the weather has cooled down a bit and the air con is actually working properly!

Admiring: friends that are changing their lives and making better choices than me.

Sorting: out my possessions into keep, give away, throw away piles. Biting the bullet, organising, cleaning, the whole thing.

Buying: Too many books that I do not have time to read. It’s a sickness!!

Bookmarking: ideas and things I want to buy for school. I do love me some stationary and resources!

Disliking: that I still get itchy eyes and hayfever from the cat (and all the cat hair and dust in my room!).

Opening: my iTunes to find that all my music has disappeared. Joy.

Giggling: at a photo frame I found this morning with an odd brand name (inside joke hehehe)

Snacking: On nothing at the moment!! Trying to kick the habit and eat regularly enough that snacking doesn’t happen.

Coveting: a house. a car, a boy, a holiday, a size 10 body.

Wishing: to have the resolve and commitment to stick to my plans to change habits, even when I am feeling conflicted and down.

Helping: myself by deciding not to go to the shops to buy dinner and snacks.

Hearing: my text tone go off as my housemate asks me to let him in. The silly boy left his keys at work, so all weekend he has been pestering me to see when I am at home.

Hope you have all had a great start to the new year! Any motivation suggestion slay it on me, I suck balls at motivating myself!

 

Versatile Blogger Award 2.0!

Thanks to Liz at Gilmored I have been nominated for the Versatile Blogger Award! (I like this much more than the first one) I’m a huge Gilmore Girls fan, and a lover of books and have attempted the Rory Gilmore reading Challenge many a time, so her fantastic blog is tailor made for me! Apologies for the ultra late response, I am not yet very good at balancing my work and fun time!

For this award, I am meant to thank the person who nominated me, share 7 facts about me, show the award on my blog and nominate other people.

7 Facts About Me:

1. I love going to the theatre especially to see Shakespeare and musicals. At the moment my all time favourite is Wicked, which I have seen five times, and yesterday actually I just bought my ticket for #6 when the production returns to Perth in a couple of weeks. However The Lion King is (finally) coming to Perth in November so i am predicting a tight race for my affections!

2. I hate eating peanuts or nuts of any kind, to the point where I’m pretty sure I have psychosomatically given myself a peanut allergy. Though I recently discovered that cashew and almonds are okay for me.

3.  I love comic books (yes, I’m that girl, actually heading to go see Age of Ultron this afternoon) but in particular Batman and in that universe I am in love with/want to be Harley Quinn. She’s terribly clever, terribly insane and terribly in love with a man (The Joker) who will literally be the death of her!

4. I love to read, I live to read, and often at my own peril. Too many times I have been hooked on a book and “just have to finish it, which turns into me still up at 3am when I start work at 8! At the moment I am reading a series by Andy McDermott (that is okayish, but hooked me on all the archaeology and ancient wonders more so than the character sand the writing).

5. I have never traveled internationally without my family (and then only once) and only domestically (within Australia) once, and that was with my best friend who is pretty much my sister. I have a thousand and one places on my list, but somehow never seem to be able to swing a trip anywhere, and the thought of going alone seems overwhelmingly daunting to me.

6. I have fantasies about being so well known that when I die and people are going through my belongings, all my journals and notebooks get chronicled ala Agatha Christie’s Secret Notebooks by John Curran. I have at least five at the moment that I use (whichever is closest, not a very organised system) and those go back to 2002.

7. I have a phobia of emus (and to a lesser extent ostriches). No idea what this is offically called, or where it stemmed from, just that even as a high schooler I would steer clear of the emus (in an enclosure even) at the Royal Show. Once when I was 13 and had family visiting from South Africa, I stayed behind at attached to my father or in the gift shop when we took the visitors to an open range zoo (AKA kangaroos and emus just roaming around and the visitors get to feed them).

Blogs I Want to Nominate (and adore!)

SusanMcMovies

A Patchwork Life

Bookarahma

The Coffee Chronicles

Paint The Silence

Delights and Dismays

Not A Girl, Not Yet A Post-Grad

The Basic Bitch Bible

Top Ten All Time Favourites (of the last couple of years)

Top Ten Tuesday is brought to you by the lovely folks at The Broke and the Bookish. Long time in between drinks for me, but as I find myself with a spare couple of minutes (read: I am procrastinating a giant pile of marking) I thought I would dip my toe back into the list pool!

I am choosing to do this list on books that I have read (for the first time) in the last 3-5 years, not necessarily books that have only come out in that period. Meaning that if I wanted to, I could include Madame Bovary as I read that only a couple of years ago.

Top Ten Books That Should Be Movies

Top Ten Tuesday is a meme brought to  you by The Broke and the Bookish, which I endeavour to participate in regularly!

In my last week of summer holidays before going to work at a new school, i have been catching up on books, TV shows and movies that I have missed throughout the year. A lot of these movies in particular have been very much not worth the wait, or adaptations of much loved books that have not had that same level of love translated into their big screen outings. So for this week’s top ten, I thought I’d go with books that should be adapted (but only if they are done so exquisitely).

 

Top Ten 2014 Releases I Meant To Read But Didn’t Get To

Top Ten Tuesday is a meme brought to  you by The Broke and the Bookish, which I endeavour to participate in regularly!

This week’s list is releases of 2014 that I haven’t gotten around to reading yet. I tend to re-read a lot during the year, so I usually miss the big releases each year. Case in point, it took me years to read the Stieg Larsson books, not to mention the Twilight series AND I am yet to read a single sentence of John Green (though, to be perfectly honest, I don’t ever see myself reading anything by him!). So without further ado, here are ten books from last year (still feels weird saying that!) that I meant to read but never got around to!

 

Top Ten Most Anticipated (but not necessarily debut) Novels

I decided I would adjust this week’s The Broke and the Bookish Top Ten Tuesday topic from most anticipated debut novel to most anticipated overall. I am a big series reader, mostly YA, fantasy and mystery/crime, though I am attempting to broaden my horizons this year. So without further ado, these are the ten books that I am so looking forward to this year that I will actually buy a physical copy of it!

I have this thing where if I truly love a book/movie/album, I will buy an actually copy of it as opposed to buying it online/ebooking or downloading it using… “itunes.” Lately this has included The Monogram Murders, Gone Girl, Firefly, Star Wars on bluray and The OC.

Taking Stock – June 17th

One of my new favourite bloggers at The Illusive Femme recently did a “Taking Stock” post. Having gone back to look at it and the site from which it originated (Meet Me at Mikes), I’m finding that I really like it (I am a sucker for list posts too) and I also would like to co-opt it for myself. The aim is to do one of these every month, to be able to sort of see how my goals and things have progressed. So without any further ado, here is my first stock taking!

Making: A Sailor Moon cross stitch that I will probably either frame or cushion.

Cooking: Curry, gnocchi and lots of pastas with “empty the fridge” (i.e. anything that is in the fridge goes in) sauces.

Drinking: Lots of green teas. I usually go for the ones with lemon in it, especially the Lipton pyramid ones, but I like Twinings too.

Reading: Jurassic Park, Friday Night Lights, Kavalier and Clay, The Infernal Devices and Meg Cabot. Too many books? Impossible!

Wanting: Summer, regular employment, a single digit sized body.

Looking: Forward to getting paid next week so I can pay off my car (finally)!

Playing: Cluedo on the computer, Lana Del Rey on the stereo and basketball when it’s not raining outside.

Deciding: whether or not I should brave the storm and head to the gym tonight.

Wishing: I was in Brazil for the World Cup.

Enjoying: Reading in bed with popcorn and green tea, listening to the wind and rain outside.

Waiting: for those ever elusive interview calls.

Liking: watching the World Cup with my brother at two in the morning.

Wondering: how to drum up some motivation to get me out of bed on days like this.

Loving: how I spent five of the last six nights ♥

Pondering: if I should re-read ASOIAF now that the fourth season of the show has ended.

Considering: getting my hair cut into a fringe again (when I can afford it).

Watching: Nigella Feasts and Rugrats on the iview.

Hoping: I get a job by the end of the month!

Marvelling: at the unpredictability and sheer wonder and magnitude of the World Cup. Portugal and Spain both losing by four goals in their first games? Singlehandedly bring countries to their knees.

Needing: to quit being lazy and just do the things I am supposed to be doing!

Smelling: A mix of Sunkissed Glow (yes, the Jennifer Lopez perfume) and boy, on the jumper I am currently wearing.

Wearing: Han Solo blue T shirt, black zip up hoodie, grey track suit pants (that I have somehow owned and been able to regularly wear since 2006), pink bonds socks.

Following: Sarah Jessica Parker, Poppy Lissiman, Lena Headey on Instagram.

Noticing: That I really need to clean my bedroom.

Knowing: I need to get my stuff together, stop waiting for someone/something to magically rescue me from my current predicaments.

Thinking: about boy, buying houses, somehow finding out I am the heir to an obscure European country ala Mia Thermopolis in The Princess Diaries.

Feeling: Despondent and frustrated, but yet determined.

Admiring: my friends and anyone with careers/houses, Jennifer Lopez and Diana Taurasi.

Sorting: My life. Unsuccessfully.

Buying: Friday Night Lights dvds, socks, books and Vanity Fair.

Getting: frustrated at myself for recognising what I need to be doing and yet still no doing it.

Bookmarking: ASOIAF theory essays, Grantland articles and a profile on Lana Del Rey.

Disliking: having not enough hours in the day, current living circumstances, current lack of organisation.

Opening: my window a smidge to smell the rain outside.

Giggling: at the boy.

Feeling: slightly more motivated, because of thinking about boy. It might be inherently anti-feminist of me, but I would do anything for that man and he inspires and motivates me.

Snacking: waaaay too much. Just finished a bag of popcorn, and I have a drawer in my nightstand filled with oat bars and cheese dips to put in my bag when I go out.

Coveting: A hot European or South American holiday, or body.

Wishing: for a teaching job that still allowed me to be able to stay up until four in the morning. Ha!

Helping: out in my household by taking down the (wet) washing so it doesn’t get more wet.

Hearing: The rail on the roof and windows, and hitting the patch of ground outside my window.

 

Hopefully I remember to do this once a month. I think it’s an interesting iteration of all those Myspace quizzes (you all know the ones I mean!) and hopefully allow me to sort of examine myself and how I’m going at the time.

Today is also Tuesday, and at last check I have now missed two Top Ten Tuesdays, back on track with them soon hopefully. As you may have gleaned I have been having a slight motivation/laziness crisis as of late. Hope you are all having a good month though, and watching a lot of the World Cup!

Love,
Andrea