One week and 420 out of 1736 squats done! My knees are protesting but at the suggestion of The Unicorn I did my squats with a leg band yesterday. Doing exercise like that with a restrictive band around your thighs makes the target muscles work harder and puts less strain on the joints. Not that you guys are interested in exercise mechanics! Side note comment to Kdaddy’s comment earlier in the week. Squatting with a straight back is harder for women because their centre of gravity is different. Not that you guys are interested in exercise mechanics! What is important is that I am now targeting the butt more effectively. Let me know what you think of today’s pic. My plan is to [...]

It is a wet start to Friday of Week 6. Many things are flitting through my head as I eat my beans on toast and contemplate the weekend ahead. At the top of the list is my timetable. At school it is week B. Which means my Friday is full of double lessons with no planning time. Friday of week A, by contrast, features a double planning session after lunch. The holy grail so to speak. The uptick of this is that I will only have one more Friday B in this contract. A few things have settled in my brain this week. Now that I am over the hump of the term I am looking at the few short weeks in which [...]

This set of TMI questions was posted on 1 March in 2016. I hope you enjoy the re-hash 1. Tell us your top 3 flaws and shortcomings. Hypercritical of myself, forever saying sorry, very bad at not telling people what their Christmas present is. 2. Who do you look up to the most:– Professionally?– Sexually? I have a couple of “Teacher Heroes” who I was privileged to work with when I was a beginning teacher. They supported and encouraged me and modelled how to be an awesome teacher. Sexually I can’t think of one person in particular. I usually admire women who don’t let the opinion of others shape who they are. I can think of a few, and I am glad they [...]

The Australian National Breast Cancer Association is a not-for-profit that raises funds for research into this disease. In Australia, the pink branding is widely recognised and there are many corporate sponsors. But there are grass-roots movements as well. This year The Unicorn and I are participating in the “Squat Challenge” A month-long challenge that involves doing 56 squats every day. As an added challenge, one of our pole fitness instructors has suggested that we do 9 squat jumps for the 9 people who die from this cancer in Australia every day. Yesterday being March 1 we started. I am proud that my current total is 90 (yesterday and half of today’s quota). I am not sure if I will be doing 9 squat [...]

Last week I felt like I was on top of it. I wrote some posts and started reworking a story. Life was happening for me. I even suggested to Mr Jones that we should take Velella out for the weekend. Last week was dazzling, and I was ready to enjoy some time on the water. When I stepped on board, it felt as if it had been months since I had been there. That tentative familiarity I had started to build was gone. I was back to trying to remember where things are kept and reminding Mr Jones to put his shit away. The weekend was one of those magical times when the weather gods smiled on us. We had some amazing sailing, [...]

Photo by Photos by ERRN on Pexels.com This set of questions was originally posted in 2016 on TMI Tuesday 1. How many people do you really trust? It may sound cynical, but not that many. Possibly none. At least, none that I trust totally without question. Some of that is on me. Some of that is on the human race.2. What are you excited for? On 2 April, I am boarding a cruise ship headed for San Francisco, I am excited to spend 22 days being pampered and focussing on nothing but writing and exercise, followed by another 21 days exploring great National Parks of California and beyond. 3. Have you had sex today? It is 6.30am. Sadly, no. I gave Mr Jones [...]

Photo by Joaquu00edn Ponce on Pexels.com Hello Thursday. The day we have sport. The whole day is about sport. Even though there is four non-sport lessons beforehand. All everyone thinks about is sport. We get to dress differently. We have shortened lunch breaks. We spend the day talking to kids and each other about where to go and which bus to catch. Reassuring them that it is OK we won’t die of heat stroke. Asking ourselves; Why do we have to do frigging sport? I am active, I like being outdoors and doing things. I have my sport, or rather fitness activity. But school sport? Please Kill Me Now!!! At what point will schools stop punishing more than half their staff and students [...]

I once had a conversation with a guy at a club about dress code. This man owned his own concreting business and, according to him, had enough money to live life on his terms. He also thought that a swinger’s club asking him to wear a collared shirt and dress pants as a minimum was bullshit. Fast forward to last weekend. We are dressing for the house party I may have mentioned earlier, and I find myself advising Mr Jones to wear something other than the pants he wears absolutely everywhere at home. Pants which he finds infinitely comfortable and I find infinitely unattractive. As I explained to Mr Jones. Effort equals results. If you turn up to a party looking like you [...]

Good morning from a busy cafe in a wet and cool regional city, a 90-minute drive from our home. I have made an error, and we have arrived 30 minutes before the allocated time. Giving me time to have some thoughts and type out some ideas and reflections. The night before consisted of a gathering in a three-bedroom hotel apartment. About twenty people gathered in varying stages of undress and entertained themselves like adults. The first part of my evening was following familiar paths. I found myself on a bed naked with a man a little younger than me. He was reasonably attractive, bald, and slightly awkward. Yeh I have a type. We enjoyed a good session. I messed up one bed and [...]

Photo by Ann H on Pexels.com I have made it to Friday of Week 3!! At my last school, the Student Services Officer had a pair of special earrings for the occasion of Friday. Today I wish I had a pair as well. This week has been particularly long. The regimen of getting up at 5.30 – 6am every day has hit home, and I have found myself struggling to wake up some mornings. Not this morning though, three solid night’s sleep in a row is all my brain can handle. So I head to school with only a few good hours of sleep. On the upside, it is raining. This last month has been hot! We have watched storms go past without [...]