Month: October 2017

Example is leadership (Intro)

~ Fridgesays ~ 29 Comments

Quote by Albert Schweitzer

Being human is complex. I’m not sure I’d actually like to consider myself part of the human race – we’re very often mean, selfish and ignorant. However, I am no different and have had my fare share of moments when I have imparted negativity on others; the awkward time (before I became a Teacher) that I got horrendously drunk at the office party and was a drunken pain in the *insert body part of your choice, to my then boyfriend. The time I was cruel to my best friend and ignored her, I was twelve; that isn’t an excuse and I was a horrid because I didn’t realise how much hurt I had caused her. The thousands of times over the last thirty something years I have spilled vile comments out of my mouth like grenades to loved ones, friends and even the women who carried me in her stomach for nine months (sorry Mum)…

Due to my disability (being human) I can’t promise that I won’t do any of the above things again over the coming days, years or moments. I also will probably experience grenades of negativity from others because other people that I share this planet with have the same disability, the population is increasing ten fold and this means human condition grows.

HOWEVER, what we do have is the ability to slow down. To breath and to make kinder choices, to say nothing instead of the horrendous words and actions we have previously intwined together. How? Well I have never claimed to have all the answers, but I have made a conscious effort for many years to be kinder, gentler and positive. I take my position as a role model extremely seriously, I care about how I present myself,  as I want the girls that I teach to present the best them to the universe. I care about how I make others feel because I believe that karma is something that rhymes with rich and I want my son to grow up with characteristics that matter. So, with my disability in check, I make these adjustments both forwards and back and sometimes I win and sometimes like any disease it takes hold of me.

For as long as I can remember I have collected people. (*Authorities need not worry there are no humans in my basement – in fact I don’t have a basement) Metaphorically speaking I have always been fascinated by humans, people watching is one of my favourite past times. When I was at university my bestie and I would sit in the front of a local cafe with a huge cup of hot chocolate and marshmallows people watch from the shop window. As we were both on a drama degree we would often create scenarios for the people and why they were in town, what they had purchased and usually added unnecessary details like what they had had for dinner and who they were sleeping with.

Much like horror movies, we all seem to be attracted to what we also dislike – my love / hate is humans. So, I have decided to share with you some of my favourite icons with a new series. I hope that my sharing the qualities I recognise in them, you can take something away with you that you see in people around you. Most of them will be famous, some will be personal and a few will be somewhere in between.

I will attach this post to the series titles so that readers will hopefully understand why this series exists, because no matter what our age from zero to one hundred we all need role models  to help us thrive.

One obvious last question – who are your role models, idols, mentors or humans that offer hope? 

The Saturday Sesh #10

~ Fridgesays ~ Leave a comment

Time flies when you cohost a linky. Week ten and I’m loving #thesatsesh more than I thought possible. We really do have a lovely group of people and I was pushed this week to pick a featured blogger – however, some I wanted to select didn’t have the badge displayed and so I couldn’t pick them. If you are joining us please make sure you follow the few simple rules listed below. I love the variety of bloggers that we have, styles of posts and when I read them I literally go from tears of sorrow to tears of joy. You lads and ladies rock.

Always give *Hayley and Mission Mindfulness and quick click to see who she has picked, but my featured blogger is the superb Diary of an Imperfect Mum who I think is nailing it with her Kon Mari of the mind…a few weeks a go I wrote a post begging for comments on how to minimalist my ever growing home (seriously, my living room is a magnet of plastic toys that seems to cascades from my sons room to every corner of our home), a couple of people wrote they had or were in the process of reading the Kon Mari book, a google through the internet got me ‘thinking’ in a KM way however Catie nails it by first dealing with the chaos that are our minds. I’ve seriously always got several million tabs opening in my mind, it make sense to discard the clutter and breath with ease and joy. Plus the last line of her blog – “what sparks your joy?” was like a calling card for this magical princess, my favourite hobby is appreciating the sparkle of life. So many thanks Catie for spreading the joy and reminding us to look after our minds, please grab a featured badge from my side bar should you please.


Lets get this linking going!

RULES:

  • Link up You can link up to 2 posts, old or new by clicking the blue box below
  • Grab a badge Please do add #thesatsesh badge. You can do this by copying and pasting the badge code into the text/HTML area of your post within your publishing platform and its located in my side bar for your ease.
  • Tweet Share your posts on Twitter using the linky hashtag #thesatsesh and tag us in for retweets @fridgesays @mummy_mindful. Follow us if you don’t already please.
  • Comment sit back, relax (its the weekend after all). Please use #thesatsesh and in usual linky etiquette comment on each of the hosts posts, mine and Hayleys, the post before and after yours. If you comment on more, that would be wonderful but FOUR is more than enough
  • Following the rules means you may qualify for our featured blogger announced weekly, plus this linky is run by school teachers so detention for anyone that doesn’t. 

OPTIONAL EXTRA: Come and play in our IG community by using #thesatsesh for photos of your weekend or perhaps connected to a post you’ve linked. Follow us on Instagram @fridgesays and @mission_mindfulness_blog and we will keep up to date and follow you back.

Lick the lid of life :)

~ Fridgesays ~ 16 Comments

Strangley there is a lack of yoghurt quotes in the world, so I pinched Muller yoghurts slogan from a few years back. 

Warning: this is a ramble that was going around in my head which I attempted to share with Mr F but he told me I was jabbering. So I thought, fine I’ll share my brain with the world instead.

I decided today that humans are basically the same as yoghurt. (Yup, this was the point that the Mr walked away) There are high brands and basic ranges, logos and cool kid varieties, that can come in awesome wrapping and even sometimes in a squidgy tube, some have character endorsements to make them even cooler #princessdisney

It must be sad to be a basic own brand yoghurt. Surely you’ve still got all the calcium goodness that the others have, in the pot you’re still made of the same ingredients, but some supermarket dude has labelled you as not worthy of a sufficient price tag as other pots.

Then there is the privileged and organic variety, the cows were perhaps treated better from birth and fresh grass meant that the yoghurt is superior and has more stuff than most right from the start. The price tag is high and picking this kind of yoghurt makes the consumers feel like they are saving the world one spoonful at a time.

Ohhh I should probably add that organics best friend or close relative is the probiotic branded kind. It’s like the fitness freak of the yoghurt family and even refuses to be eaten with a spoon. Instead it insists ‘on the go’ and is drunk from a sleek mini bottle. It’s more than a yoghurt and is promoted as a deity.It can cleanse your bowel, shuffle your ph balance to optimum ph-ness AND save you from 250 types of cancer you didn’t even know existed.

I wonder if like humans the yoghurts on the shelves look at each other and compare packaging. Or perhaps the more refined yoghurts read the labels of the lower price yoghurts when they aren’t looking to make themselves feel better (“ohhh he is high in sat fats and I’m not even sure why sour cream is in this isle?”). Firstly, I agree my imagination is at times rather ‘unique’ but judging packaging on yoghurt is just as absurd as us judging each others hair, occupation, cars, holidays, or how the couple across the road have afforded an extension and holiday (I’m not bitter). I’m not saying I don’t do it, I’m just acknowledging that it’s a weird thing to do if you look at it from a distance.

I also fully understand (within the mind set of yoghurt) why being a shop discount brands must be tough. For starters (let’s judge for a bit longer) your packaging is so basic it cracks, your lids loose and you sit opposite the smoothie with fricking bobble hats on. If I were yoghurt I’d want to have a brand, a place to belong. Perhaps even an advert on TV? I’d want to be low fat and have all the taste of full fat…I’d want to be yoghurt heaven…and then I gave it some more thought and I realised that I’ve overlooked a yoghurt that’s much more me…

The best yoghurt I’ve ever had was on holiday. It wasn’t over priced, it probably was calorie horrific but you can’t beat authentic Greek yoghurt. It’s thick, creamy and utterly tasty; so much so it doesn’t really need anything with it, it stands alone. My preference is a little honey but is also nice served with fruit or a dessert – human wise it works well as a team or individually. It’s authentic, it doesn’t have fancy labels, hype or need to be promoted. The taste has depth and clarity and most importantly its not trying to be anything more or less than it is.

So after my yoghurt rant I’ve decided we all should be aspiring to be us, full fat or otherwise…

  • Labels are man made and only read by people that doubt themselves.
  • True character doesn’t need media attention
  • Greek yoghurt is awesome
  • Own Brand yoghurt is essentially the same on the inside as all the other options – give it a try
  • Perhaps if we all knew our own self worth we wouldn’t need to judge the packaging of others
  • I like yoghurt 🙂

Sorry if you are lactose intolerant and had a reaction whilst reading this yoghurt rant. 

*Whatmyfridgesays takes no responsibility for this because its a made up rant with no ingredients, preservatives or other things found in foods that I don’t really understand.

The Saturday Sesh #9

~ Fridgesays ~ 5 Comments

whoop – we made it to half term! Well done everybody.

I’m going to jump straight into my featured blogger this week because she is totally new to me and I love her positive vibe. Her name is Nikki and she is a Mum to three kiddies – her blog (from what I can see) was written after her son got his angel wings in August 2017. Life with Lennon is a series of posts about Lennon in life and how her piece of heaven transformed the families life. Hit the link above to read how much respect Nikki and her family have for the people that work at the hospice. I can heavily relate due to my own little chick spreading her wings a little too early for anyones liking. Gracie didn’t go into a hospice but her journey has led me to work with several families who relied on hospice care. I’m still perplexed at how such individuals can create a vibrance of life in such fragile circumstances – they really are a set of unappreciated heroes. However, Nikki phrases it much better than I could and her blog is well worth a read. She is totally on my christmas list as one of the new bloggers in town to watch ,absorbing as her message is full of hope, love and appreciation.

Nikki, should hit Hayleys blog to claim her badge, but you might also wish to take a peek and see who she has picked as her featured blogger. Seriously, I feel so blessed to have begun a journey with Hayley with this linky which allows me to see the talented writing of our regular bloggers – we totally appreciate you. Anyway, read the rules below and lets get linking peeps!

RULES: 

  • Link up You can link up to 2 posts, old or new
  • Grab a badge Please do add the # thesatsesh badge. You can do this by copying and pasting the badge code into the text/HTML area of your post within your publishing platform – if you don’t have the badge then you won’t be selected as a feat blogger.
  • Tweet Share your posts on Twitter using the linky hashtag #thesatsesh and tag us in for retweets @fridgesays @mummy_mindful. Follow us if you don’t already please.
  • Comment sit back, relax (its the weekend after all). Please use #thesatsesh and in usual linky etiquette comment on each of the hosts posts, mine and Hayleys, the post before and after yours. If you comment on more, that would be wonderful but FOUR is more than enough. 

OPTIONAL EXTRA: Come and play in our IG community by using #thesatsesh for photos of your weekend or perhaps connected to a post you’ve linked. Follow us on Instagram @fridgesays and @mission_mindfulness_blog and we will keep up to date and follow you back.

Now hit that blue button below and let week #9 begin.

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Do the universe a favour and don’t hide your magic

~ Fridgesays ~ 38 Comments

This quote is from Yung Pueblo, a wonderful young writer and creative energy.

Fine, I picked the quote because it has the word magic in it, but it also spoke to me and reflected a journey I am constantly in. Recently in the UK we have announced GCSE results, as a teacher its my job to analyse the results my pupils got, celebrate the good and recreate it, critically analyse the negative and make sure the next cohort do better.

I had two pupils in my class that were capable of getting a B grade, but they got a D. I wasn’t surprised as they had both disengaged at various parts of the course / school life. This was their choice. They didn’t take up offers of revision sessions before or after school, they didn’t come to Saturday revision classes, they didn’t answer questions in class and on the surface I believe they received the grade that reflected their effort.

However, in doing so they didn’t show the universe what they were capable of. They didn’t sparkle, or shine. In front of them stood and opportunity and they let it slip. Does it matter? Probably not, not in the grand scheme of things. I’m sure they will reflect on the course and find blame on myself as a teacher, on others that distracted them, ill health, boyfriend/relationship issues or something, somewhere…but will they ever realise it was actually down to them not being prepared to show the universe they had extra sparkle?

Despite my career path I loathe examinations. That aside, it made me polish my wand. Reflect and learn. At first, it made me look at my other classes, recognise similar patterns and in the last few weeks I have moved seating plans, made phone calls home, set bespoke pieces of homework and then I applied this thought process to me. To today and what I did, or didn’t do yesterday. Exams are a unique way to pigeon hole a success at a given time, but actually each of us choose to shine and some of us are living much like our mobile phones, with low battery. 

What can I improve on tomorrow that I didn’t do well today? What would make me 2% better, kinder, happier, healthier…the list could go on. I really believe the list should go on. We never nail life, we should be nailing aspects each and every day. Make today better than yesterday and show the universe so much sparkle it will wish it had sunglasses. Have an awesome tomorrow 🙂 


 

The Saturday sesh #8

~ Fridgesays ~ Leave a comment

Week eight has whizzed passed and I’m on serious countdown until half term. However, as always I’m counting my blessings and enjoying the triumphant feeling that the weekend gives a working Mummy.

As always we have read all of your posts from last week, commented and picked our featured bloggers. However, we have decided to add a new rule – you can’t be a featured blogger if you don’t share the badge on your post or site. This is simply good linky etiquette and as always our Teacher brains are sticklers for rules. Click here to see who Hayley has picked or keep reading to see who mine is.

This week it was a no brainer for me – Karen at returning to the love of learning really captured my heart with a topical issue, attendance at school. I have to say I am responsible for whole school attendance at work, I fill out the nasty fine forms and know that attendance and attainment go hand in hand. I also in true hypocrictal style will be filling out a form for my son who has started reception as our school holiday terms don’t match (due to working / living in different counties). What I adored about Karen’s piece which is often missing from media attention is her personal anxiety over the issue. To me it explored what a good Mum and role model she is versus’s the huge financial sacrifice of holidays in term time. Where do you sit on this issue? Personally I feel like the tourism industry has been avoiding this for too long and rather than attacking education we should probably be demanding tour operators to scrap peek / off peek prices that in some cases are absurd. Anyway, Karens post is worth a ponder.

RULES:

  • Link up You can link up to 2 posts, old or new
  • Grab a badge Please do add the # thesatsesh badge. You can do this by copying and pasting the badge code into the text/HTML area of your post within your publishing platform. You will need to have the badge on your page/site to be chosen as a featured blogger.
  • Tweet Share your posts on Twitter using the linky hashtag #thesatsesh and tag us in for retweets @fridgesays @mummy_mindful. Follow us if you don’t already please.
  • Comment sit back, relax (its the weekend after all). Please use #thesatsesh and in usual linky etiquette comment on each of the hosts posts, mine and Hayleys, the post before and after yours. If you comment on more, that would be wonderful, but four is perfect. 

OPTIONAL EXTRA: Come and play in our IG community by using #thesatsesh for photos of your weekend or perhaps connected to a post you’ve linked. Follow us on Instagram @fridgesays and @mission_mindfulness_blog and we will keep up to date and follow you back.

 

What My Fridge Says
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Owning less is better than organising more

~ Fridgesays ~ 32 Comments

Quote by Joshua Becker

This quote resonated with me as I have a dream. To live in a minamilist house with a few precious objects. White clean lines and quality rather than quantity…

The current reality is a three bedroom house full of plastic (seriously my child is a plastic magnet), dog hair and crap that I might need ‘one day’. I’m not a hoarder or collector and I’m not a fan of ornaments, I like objects to have purpose SO WHY DO I OWN SO MUCH STUFF? I don’t go shopping that often and over the last few years I have refused to shop in many high street shops swapping quantity for classic pieces that are better quality, I even have a charity bag on the go all the time….still we have stuff everywhere? 

My house is like some sort of Bermuda Triangle of stuff, it seeps in through the cracks and clutters the side boards and surfaces. I’m purposely using the word stuff as I’m not sure what we have… most of it is practical, used and loved and I’m even thinking of moving house as an excuse to chuck it all (the actual reality would be a million boxes I’d never get around to unpacking and probably the purchase of even more stuff)

So, for once I don’t have the answers, not even close. Instead I’m asking you for advice on how to minamilise before I suffocate in stuff and drown in a pile of a toys. My living room looks like Toys R Us and only the bathroom is clutter free; even then I have to keep an eye on the ratio of bath water to plastic toys in my sons baths. Work surfaces that I clean are filled in an instant, Paper flows through our letter box like the scene from Harry Potter – the irony is that only one local take away will actually deliver to our village, so why do I need 65 flyers of exotic food that I can’t order? Then, why do those flyers get stuck on sideboards around the home, poked in corners and laid on the bottom of our staircase for days, weeks and in some cases months. 

Sorry to rant, although I do feel better – they say writing is therapy after all? In this case any practical tips would be welcome in the comment section, because honestly owning less would be so much less organising… 

Love a Minimalist wannabe x 

The Saturday Sesh #7

~ Fridgesays ~ Leave a comment

TThe nights have drawn in and the leaves are falling, whilst I love seasonal change it can bring with it uncertainty and challenge. I am feeling the effects of the full moon today (writing this 05.10.17) and longing for the new moon to enter later this month 19th October. The more I read on moon cycles, the more I can see how my life seems to reflect what the moon is doing. So, if you have had a chaotic week, pick up a mug of something warm and know you are not alone in a week of chaos and uncertainty (seriously this week can do one!)

Now on to the linky, Hayley my cohost and I pick a Featured blogger each week, a way of sharing the love for the posts you read, giving a little more exposure to #thesatsesh community and also allowing us a moment to reflect on some talented writers. To see Hayley’s pick, click here and for mine, look no further than the talented Teri at The Rhyming Mum, yup when I am having a rant, she adds a poetic twist that this week left myself and Hayley nodding and loving every moment. Her post titled A letter to pre- mum me can be found by clicking the link. It reminded me of how harsh we are on ourselves and that that never seems to change, from teens to twenty somethings we are critical and at times mean, an extract from her work sums this up beautifully…

Be comfortable in your skin.
Stop stressing about whether you’re too fat or too thin.

Your body is amazing and it will perform miracles soon.
So stop looking at it with such doom and gloom.

Stop trying to stay friends with people who don’t care.
One day you won’t even realise that they’re no longer there.

So whatever the Moon or my crazy life is up to this week, I will thank Teri for her words of truth and be a little kinder to those I meet – including myself. (Please collect your badge from Hayleys site Teri), now onwards with this weeks #7 link up

THE RULES

  • Link up You can link up to 2 posts, old or new by clicking the Inlinkz blue box below this paragraph
  • Grab a badge Please do add the # thesatsesh badge. You can do this by copying and pasting the badge code into the text/HTML area of your post within your publishing platform
  • Tweet Share your posts on Twitter using the linky hashtag #thesatsesh and tag us in for retweets @fridgesays @mummy_mindful. Follow us if you don’t already please.
  • Comment sit back, relax (its the weekend after all). Please use #thesatsesh and in usual linky etiquette comment on ONE of each of the hosts posts, mine and Hayleys, the post before and after yours. If you comment on more, that would be wonderful but making time for just four is more than enough. 

OPTIONAL EXTRA: Come and play in our IG community by using #thesatsesh for photos of your weekend or perhaps connected to a post you’ve linked. Follow us on Instagram @fridgesays and @mission_mindfulness_blog and we will keep up to date and follow you back.

What My Fridge Says
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There is beauty in simplicity 

~ Fridgesays ~ 28 Comments

Quote Anon.

A while a go I was nominated by my blogging bestie Hayley from Mission Mindfulness to share my five favourite things. The post link was originally started by Mumzilla and as I’m a huge fan of anything that can be linked to gratitude, I thought I’d give it a go. Except I’m not really a fan of ‘stuff’ if anything I’m trying to move the mindset of my twenties that shopping is life and stuff makes me feel good… 

What’s even weirder is upon reflection, I couldn’t think of five things? Now as many of you know shoes are a thing I do enjoy. They didn’t make my top five though because I would never want to pick a particular heel over another, each pair has an outfit or occasion which would make it number one (*As you can see I’ve still got some work on being materialist)

These are the things I have selected, in the background is…


1). My yoga mat and block 

Why? I love yoga and I’m secretly competitive with myself and enjoy the progress I’ve made. I indulge in one to one classes each week and it makes me feel amazing. It’s my time to be ME. I’m not mummy, teacher or any other demand, it’s just my body mind and mat coming together. If I’m honest it’s my therapy into the week ahead. 

2). Hashtag Amazing Mug 


One of my pupils bought this for me for no reason other than she saw it and thought of me. It was an unexpected gift of delight and imbedded my belief that teenagers are just as thoughtful as any other generation. I do say “hashtag amaze” all the time and so it’s also very me and appropriate. 

3). Crystals 


This piece is Stilbite and Apophyllite (technically two pieces intwinned together) and lives on my bedside table. It is known for being good for meditation and used to contact guardian angels. It can help anxiety and stress but mainly I adore the fusion of the two crystals and think it’s pretty beautiful. Mother Nature is an awesome power house. 

4). Candles by Neom 


Can you tell I’m a female in my thirties? This scent is perfect. I usually go for a light cotton linen scent in candles, this is just a little different, more indulgent and my absolute favourite. It’s usually reserved as a Christmas gift and it lasts for such a long time. It’s like heaven in my living room. 

5). Engagement ring 


I do love a sparkle and picked this myself from an amazing selection of jewellery shops in Barbados. The stones around the edge are diamonds and the centre stone is a type of Amethyst that’s comes from the region. It seems to alter its colours in the light. Mr F and I met, feel in love and got engaged on this wonderfully little island so it’s more than just a ring to me. We recently returned in 2016 for our sons first holiday and I don’t plan to stop ever returning. 

Isn’t it funny how simple the objects I’ve picked are? Perhaps humans aren’t so complex after all? (Who am I kidding) 

To keep the gratitude and reflection going I’ve selected three more bloggers. However, if you would like to take part please do. 

My nominations:

Alana from Burnished chaos

Jess from Prosecco Mum

Miss Anon from The Single Swan