Simple St Trinian's Costume

As I am back doing costumes again (due to being quarantined) I thought I would share some in case people are looking for some inspiration. Many of them I have done just with things I have around the house and my actual clothes. Yesterday I went for the St Trinian's look:

Costume:

• plain white shirt
• black pinafore dress (this one was from Sainsbury's a couple of year's ago)
• school tie (my son's spare one!)
• two pairs of Snag Tights so that I had colour under my fishnets
• plimsolls from Shoe Zone

 

Hair and make-up:

• bunches and big bow hair clip
• plenty of eye liner and mascara with smoky eye shadow
• red lipstick
• gold hoop earrings

Grizedale Forest: Carron Crag

On Saturday the weather was so glorious that we had a 3 generation, plus dog, trip to Grizedale. As I have repeatedly walked on one side of the forest (on the Grizedale Tarn Trail and Ridding Wood Trail), we chose a walk up to Carron Crag. It is described as a strenuous 2 hour walk of 3 miles:

This walk had us following the red sign posts. It took us up a steep rocky path into the woods before reaching the more open forest track:

It was interesting to have a mix of terrain under foot. We were also treated to some amazing views of the Lakeland Fells. Not sure Sherlock was that interested in the views:

Reasons to be cheerful: birthdays, Wii and more #r2bc

I do believe it is Friday which means I'm late, I'm late for a very important date! It is a good job this is one of the most laid back linkies on the Internet... Preparing for being back in a real job and a return to some pre-lockdown activities has caused me to get behind! Lots of these have been reasons to be cheerful though. I hope that you have some reasons of your own to share?

What do you have to do? Easy: 

1. Link up a post about something that is making you happy or grateful. It can be a list, photos or any way you fancy. 

2. Add the #R2BC badge (at the end of this post) onto your post or blog so that people can easily find the linky and join in too if they want to 

3. Share the love. This is the really important bit. Please don't just link and run, comment on at least a couple of posts and why not share with #R2BC too? 

I'll stop by all linked up posts to comment and I'll share on social media too. 

Meanwhile here are my reasons to be cheerful for this week:

1) Belated birthday celebrations

As my dad had to be quarantined after a holiday to Holland we only celebrated his birthday (and my daughter's boyfriend's) with a takeaway curry and a cake made by my daughter:

2) Wii fun

We are having so much fun on the old Wii. It does get temperamental sometimes as its an original so pretty ancient! I am finally getting the hang of Mario Kart - typically there was a disc read failure after I managed my first ever 2nd place:

3) Days out

Now I am mobile again we have had a couple of days out into the Lakes. One trip to catch up with a family friend staying in Langdale and one visiting Grizedale Forest. The sheep seemed please to see us:

Upcycling Bedroom Furniture

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Most of my bedroom furniture is either preloved or just been around for a long time! I can't afford to replace any of it but it is in need of some tender loving care. There are too many signs that it has been attacked by children or just suffered from too many house moves. I kept seeing so many lovely projects done with chalk paint so I decided to buy a can of Rustins chalky finish paint and have go myself. It sat on the side for a few weeks and then I finally got brave enough to try it on on small drawer front:

I liked the fact the only prep needed was to make sure the surface was clean - no sanding! It only took 2 coats of paint to get the desired finish. I just made the mistake of not removing the handle first and giving it a single coat of paint:

@lakessinglemum

Starting to chalk paint some furniture. What should I do with the handle? ##upcycle ##upcycledfurniture ##chalkpaint

♬ Lexi - Nik Makino

Having learnt my lesson I carried on with the rest of the drawers:

Tutoring

 

Lockdown had a big impact on my tutoring business. First of all I lost my GCSE English student as he was no longer going to be sitting any exams! Secondly all my remaining clients moved to video lessons via Zoom. This was a good way to keep up their momentum whilst learning at home. However, it is not as good as face to face lessons. 

One good thing about having all lessons online was a reduction in the amount of paper I was printing off as everything was electronic. Now that schools are back and I am going back to visiting my students all the papers are making a reappearance. I have spent a few days sorting through my papers from last year and planning for the lessons this half term:

Affiliate links Some of my teaching aids were a bit tatty so I have also been shopping for new place value cards and discs. I also supersized my white board to give more room for work. My trusty Usborne Junior Illustrated Maths dictionary will be accompanying me alongside CGP Maths books for my students to work with. Of course I now have the addition of a face mask and hand sanitiser to keep us all safe:

Things won't be quite the same as my students can no longer give me the occasional hug I used to get! Even so I am looking forward to helping them as they keep on with their learning.