Author: Fridgesays

The Saturday Session #23

~ Fridgesays ~ Leave a comment

Ok, so I loaded up a blog last night and some how it all crashed out?

So todays #23 is going to be short and sweet.

My featured blogger is Mum bore, apart from the name (It gives me serious brand envy) I was completely drawn to her post titled ‘The pursuit of happiness’ I would totally recommend a read. It was a good reminder that happiness isn’t about being perfect (which since I’m writing this in a rush because of some technical hitch, its now become rather ironic to say the least). I particularly liked this line

“we forget that happiness is not a static emotion. Once reached it does not mean that it will remain.”

I often find society is consumed by searching for happiness and in doing so they often miss out on the current gift – the present. Which is totally cliche and blooming true. Anyway, please give Mum Bore the love she deserves and I hope she can collect her badge from my side bar…seriously I couldn’t cope with anymore computer fails today 🙂

You can also check out my cohost Hayley’s featured blogger, we each pick one every week by clicking the link here  . So now to the rules…and lets kick start week 23 with a little more structure, calm and sunshine. Thanks for joining us if you are a regular and if you are new on the block then I apologise for the erratic post today.

RULES

  • Link up You can link up to 2 posts, old or new
  • 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.

Don’t be bitter. Be better

~ Fridgesays ~ 28 Comments

Quote by Habeeb Akande

Welcome fridgesays peeps, this week we are letting go of the bitterness and being better. This sounds simple. In cooking it would equate to a basic sponge cake or a classic scone. However, in my experience the simplest of things are sometimes super hard to make. The sponge can lack a fluffy texture and the scones can be too hard or stodgy.

When I’m feeling bitter (often) it’s easy to compare what others aren’t doing, what they are ‘getting away with’ or just judge with bitterness and disgust, sometimes this can be therapeutic but hold on to the bitterness for too long and if we return to our cake recipes, you’ve just added lemon and lime to a scone and grapefruit to a sponge cake…it’s going to repeat in your mouth, taste ‘unique’ and not be as good as it could be.

My recipe recommendation: It would be easy to say ‘don’t be bitter’ but sometimes a little lime slips into life’s chaotic moments, instead I say, cover that cake in cream and jam.

Jam and cream can make just about anything taste good and in life these are the lovely moments. Instead of becoming bitter of others, reflect on what went well in your day. Gratitude is the cream and jam of life, those little moments of triumph, those sparkles of joy and best of all…they make us better or will at least help us to get to a place where we aren’t moaning about others but are focusing on what we did well.

A better me, makes a better mummy, teacher, friend or family member. So why not leave the lemon and limes for a cocktail and enjoy the cake of life.

The Saturday Session #22

~ Fridgesays ~ 2 Comments

Week 22 saw me tick off the final week before half term (in the UK) however, before I tell you it was like a breeze – it was hard, super hard. In the world of child protection it involves my emotions flying from zero to hero…and then back to zero in minutes, it involves complex phone calls with parents, horrendous Police interviews (the kids not me) endless meetings with social workers and often watching parents sacrificing their souls for the children they adore….

So, my featured blogger this week is ‘View from a beach chair’ – her post on meeting her Foster daughter on a Saturday (click here to read it) made me appreciate the wonderful world of carers that are out there. In a world that can often be so negative, some people love hard. From reading a few more posts it seems her daughter is soon to be adopted and I have nothing but love for this kind of family. Please check it out and show true appreciation, foster care is hard and adoption can often be a battle. For the right people it comes with huge rewards, but early childhood trauma is never a calm sea journey, I salute you all.

Please also make time to see who my cohost Hayley has picked this week – you can click here or take a peek below at the rules and press the blue linky button to read all the fab bloggers who have joined us for week 22. Today my assembly was all about being thankful, and so I would like to thank all our regular bloggers that make time for joining us week after week, you are truly appreciated and #thesatsesh would be nothing without you.

RULES

  • Link up You can link up to 2 posts, old or new
  • 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.

The Saturday Session #21

~ Fridgesays ~ Leave a comment

As we step into a new month #thesatsesh climbs the twenties. Happy February lovely people. I’ve decided that February is going to be fabulous. I’m going big with my goals and looking forward to what lies ahead. Many people find January dull and at time hardwork and so I picked my featured blogger this week because the post made me laugh and is definitely something any parent could relate to, after all it is fabulous February. I do enjoy a poignant post but sometimes a laugh and chuckle hits the spot.

Andy is my featured blogger, his account of Cbeebie’s Bing had me in both stitches and thinking of all my issues regarding children TV – of which there are many. Click here to have a giggle and also consider his moral dilemma, what is a Bing thing?

Children’s TV is odd and mainly why we allow J to watch DVD’s of films. I much preferred it when he was a baby and would happily sit in front of the music channel. The music entertained me and even if Taylor Swift for shaking it off or Eminem was bouncing around the screen, the little dude was stimulated with visual movement and colour *Once again, I realise why I’m never going to win a mother award.

Anyway, please send Andy the love he deserves, his writing style is upfront, honest and he always makes me smile. Now lets unleash week twenty one of #thesatsesh with a splash of rules and a gallon of good will.

RULES

  • Link up You can link up to 2 posts, old or new
  • 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.

Remind yourself that you cannot fail at being you.

~ Fridgesays ~ 30 Comments

Quote by Wayne Dyer.

As we approach the end of the first month of 2018, I felt this quote resonated with every human on the planet who had set a new goal, challenge or New Years resolution. Particularly those who have already hung up their gym pass, quit the diet or has found their soul drowned in another bowl of soup… it happens.

For goal setting targets I’ve written several posts Click here to read why it pays to be stubborn but at perhaps a time that you have ‘failed’ ‘given up’ or realised that dry January isn’t an excuse to drink gin for a month (*I was sad when I heard this too) I want to remind you that you are awesome just the way you are. Sounds sickly I know, but it’s true. You are good at being you. I promise that if you have kids they love our imperfections and all; although I wouldn’t directly ask them. This week I curled my hair and my son (four years old) told me I looked like Rapunzel. As a Disney fan I was blown away – until he corrected me that it was the witch he was thinking of.

I don’t want to bring my children up in a world where perfection is ‘plastic fantastic’ where desirable looks can only be accomplished by a thousand filters and the social media acceptance of an abundance of hearts, likes and comments. I don’t want humans to become robotic and only come in ‘one size fits all’, our imperfections create our beauty.

We all have talents that vary from scientist geniuses, medicinal wizards and international superstars… I make a fantastic roast, can occupy a toddler in a car for multiple hours and give good hugs (not all at the same time), I make a good friend, kind teacher and feel accomplished most days.

As we jump into February I urge you to take five minutes, pour a coffee and write a list of everything you like about yourself. I advise you to be kind to yourself; treat yourself to those new jeans, the shoes or that ‘thing’ that floats your boat. If I was a doctor I would prescribe you with a luxury treatment, a trip to the cinema, or a date night that’s overdue… if you have a new born then I’m adding a hot drink to that prescription. Allow February to be the month you made time for self love, for gratitude for all you do have. I promise it’s more than most.

You’re the best and being you. You’re already winning in 2018, you don’t need to change a thing.

The Saturday Session #20

~ Fridgesays ~ Leave a comment

Ohhh I like the sound of #week20 it sounds ‘accomplished’ this is my favourite word and motivation at the moment. I have to say I’m really enjoying January and will be sad to see it go, alas we must adapt and hit February with the love it needs. I’m also enjoying a few newbie bloggers joining our crew and would love to recruit more. So, if you’ve seen a blogger who may have never taken part in a linky before, or even knows what a linky is, send them our way and we will have them badged up and ready to party. Nurturing new talent is an aspect that have evolved in #thesatsesh linky – also don’t forget its also open on Sundays. So no rush to add posts, take your time and load up as you see fit.

My featured blogger is Captain Bobcat or more specifically Eva. Her values of eco living and travel shine through her posts. Hit the link and check out where this wildcat has been….I had serious photo envy. I’m not sure if it was food envy from the churros, the blue sky or the first line where she says she went on holiday with just her hubby, but it wasn’t long before I was on a holiday website planning our next trip. As I wrote previously, I adore January…but “please come back sun, we miss you vitamin D” As always my cohost the lovely Hayley from Mission Mindfulness also selects a feature blogger, so click the link above and see who she has elected from week 19.

For new peeps joining, please follow the rules below – for team satsesh regulars, please don’t let the team down and forget to comment, badge up or tweet me an Hayley up. Its an honour to share so many talented posts.

RULES

  • Link up You can link up to 2 posts, old or new
  • 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.

Don’t raise your voice, improve your argument

~ Fridgesays ~ 27 Comments

Quote from Desmond Tutu.

As I read this quote I couldn’t believe the depth of truth in so few words.

When I began working in a school I had the opportunity to work with a experienced teacher called Violet. She was originally from Ghana and she controlled the class with consistency and a whispered voice. To see her teach was an honour. The loudest and most brutal child from London was putty in her hands. To hear her they had to listen carefully. Plus, as I quickly realised – she was always right. She didn’t need to raise her voice, there was an inner calmness and it was magical to watch.

In our home voices aren’t usually raised (unless I’m singing) we tend to bicker it out, not that I’m sure this is any better? However, in the classroom I only tend to raise my voice to give instructions, particularly when the students are absorbed in the previous activity.

This quote is going to find its way on to my classroom wall. As I work in an all girls school they can be LOUD. Teenagers are often full of opinions and willing to express their distaste should anyone disagree. It makes sense that we are at our most vocal during our teen years, as we find our way through societies behaviour patterns, rebel and with a little magic come out unscathed in our mid twenties.

As I age (like a fine wine) I have become quieter (but in no way quiet) the hot air of my twenties is behind me. I cringe at some of the arguments I’ve had in the past and can see that with age comes a better understanding of ourselves and as Desmond suggested – an improvement in argument.

This week I’m going to consciously listen to arguments and how loud the voice of the weaker disputer is.

The Saturday Session #19

~ Fridgesays ~ 3 Comments

Whoosh and other week speeds past. This week I have totally won at life, why I hear you cry from the far corners of the globe? Well basically Ive successfully juggled work and play. I’ve ticked my to do list, as well as made time for myself and some indulgent moments, I am definitely enjoying 2018 and long may the successful juggling continue.

Which connects me beautifully on to my featured blogger from week 18. When I read her blog it seems to me that she is living fiercely, boldly and with risk…not to mention enjoying the journey – Rose Tinted Ramblings of a life less ordinary , these attributes are certainly something which I find magical. Plus, she drive a pink car – whats not to love. Click the link above to read about her first solo exhibition. Despite loving every second and going for it, she also captures her anticipation and anxiety beautifully. Often anxiety is seen as a mental health issue and connected to worry, but I really do see anxiety as showing you care and when used to drive the vision of you dreams, its often complimented by accomplishment. This lady could teach the world a thing or two.

Hayley, my cohost has been utterly greedy this week and gone for two featured bloggers, by clicking here you can take a peek at who stole her heart.

Without delay, lets launch week 19 of #thesatsesh and get this party started. Here are a few quick rules and normal linky etiquette.

RULES

  • Link up You can link up to 2 posts, old or new
  • 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.

Make it pop like pink Champagne.

~ Fridgesays ~ 32 Comments

Quote from the lyrics of Ariana Grande. I’m totally using this quote as an excuse to open a bottle of pink bubbles (you know for photography authenticity)

I have a secret, which if you ever met me isn’t the greatest secret ever. In my head I am a fairy. When I first met Mr F he named part of my personality as ‘Fairy’, this is the ditzy blonde, petite and often totally mistaken element of me, this is the part of me that didn’t realise that cars gave way on roundabouts in the UK to the right…until I had at least ten years of driving experience (I just thought people were kind) and Mr F pointed this out…ops! Fairy is also identified when I sing the wrong lyrics out loud incorrectly clueless to my own error, when I suddenly realise that things aren’t pronounced or therefore spelt how I thought they were for the last thirty years; examples include ‘Ham bags’ (leather…meat, it made sense in my head?) or that I drove through Blackwall Tunnel for several years oblivious to the Thames water over my head.

However, my definition of me as a fairy is magical. I have secret powers. Technically, we all have these powers but I harness them whilst many wallow in misery and self doubt…the secret power I possess is that I fully believe that the thoughts I have become my reality. I notice my thoughts, pay attention to them and go out of my way to avoid negative people. I am mindful in how I perceive others and more importantly myself. I don’t let myself indulge in ‘mindLESS’ entertainment on TV. I continuously cultivate my mind daily. Some days I am successful, other days I don’t always fully succeed – but I always go to sleep reflecting on what I did do well.

A few weeks a go I went to a funeral of a lovely member of my family. She was such a huge character and as I reflected on how grateful I was to have had her in my life. I realised that in other conversations around the room people chatted of mundane tales of life and that the highlights were sharing tales of her that made us laugh, giggle and reflect. Stories that stirred a ‘Pop pink Champagne’ reaction within us. Listening to the fizz and delight of life (seriously how lovely is that noise), perhaps you are more a ‘cold pint with moustache’ kinda dude or a warming ‘mulled wine’ worldly woman – what ever life’s tipple is, shouldn’t that be a daily goal for us all? * I’m not suggesting we all become alcoholics, this is just an analogy, I am suggesting that we make time to enjoy life even in the bleaker moments.

As a Fairy, I am 100% a pink Champagne popping princess. This analogy isn’t about financial wealth, but to me a quality product, with an edge (its pink), with a beauty, vitality and energy (the pop), an energy that makes others who sample its delight feel special. A treat. For me an indulgent necessity.

Pink Champagne is chilled, it knows when to make noise (back to the pop again) and when to settle in the glass, when to tingle of the tongue – best of all, it looks at life through rose tinted ‘glasses’ and always makes me want to dance. Its this description of life that I aspire to.

What’s your tipple of life?

The Saturday Session #18

~ Fridgesays ~ Leave a comment

img_3301Whoop! Couldn’t wait for 2018 and #18 to coincide, it just seems right some how? The numbers are aligned and after a cluster-f*ck week at work (seriously child protection can be hard on the heart) I am celebrating this weekend…all weekend. I am celebrating for no reason other than why shouldn’t I? Mr F is currently bemused by my desire to sparkle, dance (in the kitchen), open Pink Champagne and generally savour every moment. I’m not letting his negativity stop me, why….because we all have so much to celebrate, which leads me effortlessly on to my featured bloggers post.

This week I have selected Jules from Siena Says and her post titled ‘Is it bad taste to share the Christmas haul?’ perhaps an odd choice in the middle of January…nope, its pure genius and I love reading posts and thinking to myself ‘why didn’t I write that’. Jules was our last linky lover this week and I’m so thrilled that she made it to the party with minutes to spare. Her post isn’t really about Christmas but how ‘people’ over share on social media, at times glamorising there lives and also what they have / haven’t bought for their children. *I feel at this point I should own up to posting a champagne cork on my IG feed @fridgesays moments before writing this and now feeling like a hypocrite (cringe) however her words are powerful, on the topic of ‘under the Christmas tree photos she writes…

I find it all in very poor taste and it does smack of a growing ‘look at me’ culture, (but then that is the nature of social media whether we like it or not!) I worry about the values it is teaching our young people, it fosters a deep seated importance placed on consumerism and ownership of things. (Siena Says) 

whilst Jules grabs a featured blogger badge from my side bar, you might also find time to see who Hayley at Mission Mindfulness has selected. For anyone who is new to our linky, Hayley is my cohost and we are both Teachers – So brace yourself for the rules and lets get #thesatsesh #18 going!

RULES

  • Link up You can link up to 2 posts, old or new
  • 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.