The Saturday Sesh #5

~ Fridgesays ~ Leave a comment

img_2608

Seriously, I’m not sure that its just having a weekend linky but these weeks seem to be getting quicker and quicker. I guess the one great thing about that is the weekend is here! So its time to be a full time mummy and clean the house for survival for another week 🙂

And of course pick my featured blogger for another week, please check out my cohost’s option, as we both pick a featured post for #thesatsesh by clicking here to see Hayley’s zen blog aptly titled Mission Mindfulness.

It was hard to pick a winner this week but I have a blogging confession – I hate reviews, I stopped doing them myself for this purpose, however Daddy Poppins had me in stitches and I totally recommend his post on cleaning teeth. Yes it is PR related – but also a fab read. Click here if you missed it, because its so well written and a delight to read. (Plus I’m a sucker for a gif / meme)

img_2609

A small plea – please don’t link and run. We even had a blogger last week who wrote a post on the joys of linky’s and how to abide by rules – not link the badge, not comment and it spoils the vibe of what we are trying to create, which is a totally inclusive and loving community of talent and weekend joy. Thanks for coming to play, read and link. Below are the rules incase it isn’t clear…

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
  • 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 (4 in total). If you comment on more, that would be wonderful. 

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.

img_2438



What My Fridge Says


<div align="center"><a href="https://whatmyfridgesays.com/" rel="nofollow" title="What My Fridge Says"><img src="https://missionmindfulnessblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/the-sat-sesh-badge-v-5.jpg" alt="What My Fridge Says" style="border: none;" /></a></div>


			

	


			
				


	

			
Be different babe
		

				

						 ~ Fridgesays			 ~ 32 Comments					

				

		
Quote Anon


During my time at university I house shared with four other girls. We were all pretty amicable and we took it in turns to cook and weekly shopped together. It was during this time that I learnt there are a million ways to cook Spaghetti Bolognese that are nothing like my Mum would do. Adding mushrooms was fine and something I’d consider adding now, carrots seemed very amicable and almost Italian until one chick added what can only be described as ‘bendy’ carrots and we had to have a word with her. Ultimately it wasn’t fair on our stomachs lining and the carrots had escaped the pot long enough to be put to rest in a refuse centre somewhere far away. (R.I.P bendy carrots)


What I learnt was the old phrase of ‘there are more ways than one to skin a cat’ or in this case, cook a mid week spag bog. (Way more animal friendly when using Quorn, sorry cat lovers).


At the moment social media is enjoying looking at gender in young children and making comments on the toys they should and shouldn’t have, I think there is also a blogger who has written about her son being denied a princess Disney experience. So, as a blogger I thought I’d give my opinion on the topic – I couldn’t give a crap.


I don’t care if my son, or any child of any gender, non gender or polka dot gender wants to play with a pink sparkly doll or a transformer. I eat Yorkie chocolate bars on principle that they are advertised as ‘not for girls’ and all I actually care about is that my son is happy and healthy, or any other polka dot child previously mentioned. Be different babe, or don’t be different – it doesn’t matter, as long as you are happy. Some people love to be unique and others strive to fit in, some bubble along in the middle. Ultimately, society will judge (me included, especially after a GnT) and thats okay too. Whats not okay if for me to force my opinion on you to a point where you feel you need to change. Freedom of speech / rights are lovely phrases that comes with A LOT of really important small print. Ultimately you can squeeze it down to several sentences:


    

  • You CAN say what you want BUT you can’t offend someone
    • 

  •  Slander can get you in prison (and rightly so)
    • 

  • If nobody asked you for your opinion keep it to yourself, oh and the classic parenting quote ‘if you can’t say something nice, don’t say anything at all’
    • 



Over the last few weeks millions of children will start new schools, colleges and Universities, over the last month parents have argued with those children as they battle to find ‘the right school shoes’ or the bag that is acceptable. I even heard a child crying in a local supermarket as her Mum was insistent on buying her ‘the wrong’ skirt. She wanted the one with the bow in the middle; don’t tell her Mum but the kid was right, it was way cuter with the bow. Anyway, I digress, the point I’m making is that many of those people will make fake friends as they battle like sardines to find a place to belong, any place – just to feel like they fit in…except they wont belong, the good news is they will form friendships by Christmas that are based on things that matter like shared interests, morals and the ability to make each other laugh, oh and the girl in the supermarkets Mum will be right, the bow will also have dropped off by Christmas and I totally understand why she isn’t paying an extra ÂŁ3 for it.


I selected this quote for its simplicity and frankly I agree ‘Be different babe’ but if you don’t want to be different thats okay, just don’t feed me bendy carrots.




 



		
	
			

	


			
				


	

			
The Saturday Session #4
		

				

						 ~ Fridgesays			 ~ Leave a comment					

				

		
img_2564


As Autumn colours sweep the UK we are into our first month of #thesatsesh, I’m starting to like this little community for the variety of blogs I get to read. Frequent members are now becoming missed when they can’t come out to play. So gratitude to all that continue to do so and hopefully over the coming months we will expand but also keep the variety of talented bloggers.


Myself and Hayley from Mission Mindfulness both pick a featured blogger each week, so why not give her a click to see who she has picked this week *exciting music makes you want to click…BUT not before you have seen my top talent, this week I absolutely adored Rabbit ideas. Click here to see wonderful Mindful ideas to do with a stunning children book called ‘Giraffes can’t dance’ by Giles Andreae. It literally ticked all my favourite things about life: Giraffes (tick) children’s books (tick) and mindfulness (triple tick). I also don’t think this review has received the credit is due, so well worth a peek.


img_2565-1

Now time for a few rules, because I’m a Teacher and we love a sprinkle of structure.


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
    • 

  • 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, one of mine and Hayleys, the post before and after yours, so thats FOUR in total. If you comment on more, that would be wonderful and Giraffes will dance for you. 
    • 



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


<div align="center"><a href="https://whatmyfridgesays.com/" rel="nofollow" title="What My Fridge Says"><img src="https://missionmindfulnessblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/the-sat-sesh-badge-v-5.jpg" alt="What My Fridge Says" style="border: none;" /></a></div>



img_2438







			

	


			
				


	

			
Tears are words the heart can’t say
		

				

						 ~ Fridgesays			 ~ 53 Comments					

				

		
Quote from Gerard Way


Have you ever been to a funeral, wedding or a supermarket and cried, yet deep down you aren’t really sure why?


I’ve decided that speaking is over rated, which will come as a shock for those that know me, especially my Mum. I have verbal diarrhoea most of the time. That said, my best bits of my day are usually moments of still, calm and peace in a life of chaos and sounds, tick lists and diary plans. It’s in these moments that I find true happiness, it can be seeing the sun rise or set, having white washing on the line (fresh linen is one of my favourite smells), it can be pizza in the oven or even better delivered on my doorstop with no hassle from me, but very often it’s a hug from a friend rather than the words that accompany it that I like the most.


Sometimes I cry and am not sure why I’m crying. I can cry because I’m happy, over excited or overwhelmed. At other times I can’t remember the last time I had a ‘good cry’ and that’s usually the time I decide to put on a romantic comedy and tear jerk my way through ninety   minutes of delight and despair, the cheesier the better and served with pizza is once again a bonus.


When I was learning to live with grief I had a Marmite moment. Perhaps you’ve had one of these? It goes like this:


It was around 11am and I fancied something to eat, I decided on some marmite and toast. As I was buttering the toast I began to cry, I wasn’t really sure why I was crying so carried on buttering and blubbering. As I reached for the Marmite I began to laugh at myself and it was at this point Mr F walked in to find me sobbing my heart out, snot flowing, hyperventilating gasps and laughing all at the same time. His response was priceless and went something like “if you don’t like Marmite just have butter’ this of course made me laugh a little more and eventually in a big hug I was able to explain that I didn’t have a clue why I was crying. He then laughed at me and said it was grief and that it often catches you out at the most odd moments. Since then I’ve always been cautious with Marmite on toast and fully understand that it’s okay to not always know why you feel the way you do. You just do.


I do think those magic tears often allow us to vent emotions that the mouth can’t process. I think they are fundamentally important to our wellbeing and although I don’t cry very often, I sometimes allow myself to wallow in them or break out in laughter tears which always let me know life is pretty spectacular.


Some people don’t cry, ever. I’m not convinced and wonder if they let it out in different ways – perhaps their eyelids get sweaty? Have you ever had a Marmite moment or cried just because? I can’t be the only one…can I?





			

	


			
				


	

			
The Saturday Session #3
		

				

						 ~ Fridgesays			 ~ 5 Comments					

				

		


…and whoosh there goes another week. A huge week of settling back in to old and new routines. If I’ve published this post it means little dude survived his first week at ‘BIG school’ and I’m hoping he thrived.


I started #thesatsesh to get me out of a comfort zone, to make me accountable and to learn new skills. Already I’ve learnt more than I realised, below are my thoughts.


    

  • Coding is like a toddler – unpredictable and at times it does what it pleases.
    • 

  • I love the structure it gives my week, a marker to reflect on the week just passed
    • 

  • A new love for bloggers – seriously some of you are so very talented, its a joy to read your work…
    • 



This leads me beautifully on to announcing who this weeks featured blogger is. Myself and Hayley each select somebody, so please head over to her blog to see who she has picked, just click here. Until #thesatsesh I hadn’t stumbled upon my featured blogger, a Mummy who lives in Japan, Kasmin has a unique writing style and from reading her about me section it seems she was always destine to live in Asia. Her piece is about her son Euan starting his first day at Yochien and I had admiration for her facing this challenge with a a different culture (I’m glad the reception teacher didn’t ask me for cash), well worth a read of Euan and the grasshopper. 




If you are joining this week, then please check the rules below and be generous in your comments and hopefully lovely comments will flow to you.


THE 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
    • 

  • 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. 
    • 



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.


img_2438








What My Fridge Says


<div align="center"><a href="https://whatmyfridgesays.com/" rel="nofollow" title="What My Fridge Says"><img src="https://missionmindfulnessblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/the-sat-sesh-badge-v-5.jpg" alt="What My Fridge Says" style="border: none;" /></a></div>








			

	


			
				


	

			
She’s a Queen bee with a little bit of savage
		

				

						 ~ Fridgesays			 ~ 37 Comments					

				

		
Quote by R.h.Sin


Oh hello wonderful quote! This time we aren’t talking Beyonce (for once) but instead the female ability to flip from princess to distress in seconds. Having conceived a little male monster I can also confirm there is no gender bias here and I have 100% experienced this with him, today he has cried over:


    

  • His cheese wasn’t cheesy enough
    • 

  • Putting on his shoes to go to the park
    • 

  • leaving the park
    • 

  • being asked to pick his toys up
    • 

  • being told its bed time
    • 



and then within seconds smiling and giggling like the dude he usually is.


I’m specifically focusing on female diva’s because I’d like to share some new research that I’ve recently learnt and found totally sparkly. I did the research because I work in an all girl secondary school. This means that with approximately 1,250 uterus’s a hormonal melt down can be happening at any moment (most moments) between the hours of…well all hours.


My Mr F jokes that during my period (yup I wrote the word down) I could literally get away with murder, a quick google and sure enough there are several cases where due to extreme mental and hormonal surges women have killed and not served a sentence because they were ‘deemed emotionally unstable’. Men you have been warned and ladies I’m guessing this doesn’t surprise us. I can usually see a pattern in the older girls that I work with on a regular basis and their menstrual cycle, how they are feeling / the volume of tissues I’m going through in that week.


So I came across an article that led me to another article that I’d love to quote (but didn’t save, sorry) that taught me that the moon and our cycles are at one with each other. Given that the moon controls the oceans tides and spending time with our female bestie means our cycles can synchronise, again it wasn’t a huge surprise – it just wasn’t something I’d ever considered.


*Incidentally while we are getting all ‘moon chat’ (yup thats a thing now) my son is convinced that the moon is made of cheese and you can ‘taste the rainbow’ – the power of advertising…


So, in essence there are four dramatic changes in the cycle of the moon


    

  • Quatre Phase
    • 

  • wax
    • 

  • full
    • 

  • wane
    • 



Of course we don’t all synchronise on the same phase of the moon, so different patterns in fertility and menstruation have different effects and different women. See even the moon is diverse; from Wax where women tend to feel inwards and self-nourishing. It’s meant to be an awesome time to think, to learn, to read, and to plan. So any big plans beyond our uterus, wait for a Wax moon. To a full moon which is meant to symbolise fire, abundance, power and vitality, these are just snippets of whats out there…and now a dash of hope, according to a further google you can coordinate and sync your period to coincide with a better moon cycle for yourself. So if you are having a hard time with mother nature and aren’t part of a Native American tribe where you can go to a hut away from everyone and relax, you can at least move to a more convenient moon cycle.


Wherever you are in your cycle or if you’re a gentlemen tip toeing around the female members of your household, bare in mind the moon may have a part to play in her temporary moment of savage and she’ll soon be back on top and a Queen Bee. I guess we can also just be too tired and a little hungry, having days where we don’t want to play and thats okay too. In this corner of the internet I will always preach that we all need to be a little gentler to ourselves no matter what our race, gender, religion or postcode…or today how the moon causes us to feel.


Moon hugs.x




 


 

			

	


			
				


	

			
The Saturday Sesh #two
		

				

						 ~ Fridgesays			 ~ Leave a comment					

				

		


img_2436


The end of August bids us farewell and #thesatsesh is back and ready to play again, still new and getting in the swing of things but definitely feeling humble to the awesome range of blogs about. *Thank you for playing.


Myself and my co-host are each selecting our own featured bloggers (double the winners guaranteed), so head over to Hayley’s blog at Mission Mindfulness blog to see who she has selected. My pick is a blogger I’ve read for a while, its The topsy Turvy Tribe . The post made such an impact on me I found myself not only contemplating the concept of Home – but once again, do we really need all the ‘stuff’ we accumulate? No, Im not sentimental so have been known to throw out just about everything if it isn’t glued down, but I really would like to become minimalist – whats holding me back? Sparkly things of course! Anyway, congrats to The lovely TT tribe and please grab yourself a badge at the bottom of this post. (* the crowd goes wild)




The basics: 


    

  • We are open for 7am Saturday GMT and close at 8pm Sunday GMT
    • 

  • All posts on all topics welcome, we want this linky to be totally inclusive to all.
    • 



Now for the rules (please take a peek below), having never been a host before I was shocked at the number of bloggers who either linked and didn’t comment or didn’t share the badge, needless to say #thesatsesh is a inclusive community so please share the love and if you have any issues please email us and we will do our best to help (Click here)


    

  • 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
    • 

  • 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. 
    • 



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.




 








stases featured 


What My Fridge Says


<div align="center"><a href="https://whatmyfridgesays.com/" rel="nofollow" title="What My Fridge Says"><img src="https://missionmindfulnessblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/the-sat-sesh-badge-v-5.jpg" alt="What My Fridge Says" style="border: none;" /></a></div>


			

	


			
				


	

			
There is a strong shadow where there is much light 
		

				

						 ~ Fridgesays			 ~ 44 Comments					

				

		
Quote by Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe.


To my little dude,


Our diary is always a whirlwind of dates, appointments and activity and there is a huge transition that is dominating the pages in September, you start school.


From the moment you were born and placed in my arms you have been transitioning, it has been a blessing to watch. I cannot underestimate this, many parents are worried for the loss of their babies, the independence of going to school can be concerning and I often hear comments like ‘It feels like only yesterday she was born’ or ‘He isn’t ready for school’ for you im excited to see your world grow and skills expand. I’m extremely at home in the school environment as Mummy is a teacher and this feels a blessing and a curse – I know the highs and lows like the back of my hand.


At four years old your humour is a magnet greater than any computer could create. Just this very evening we laid on your bed and you played me twinkle twinkle on your harmonica – it sounded dreadful, but your laughter was infectious as you broke out into a variation of the song which began twinkle, twinkle chocolate bar…” this is a gift that it precious, don’t let other children’s comments curve your humour.


At the moment you wear a combination of clothes and then you usually like to add an accessory or twenty from various Marvel characters, following fashion is fine but I’ll always support your creative flair and imagination.


I think you’ll like the staff and you already have many friends to play with in your class. You’ll have opportunities that I could never give you to socialise and learn, I really want you to grow in your own way, not with my regrets or desires forced upon you. To make this easier I’m going to make a few promises…


    

  • I promise not to make you do a extra curricular club because I did it, or Daddy did it…you can pick
    • 

  • I promise that as you learn to read, I will still read to you as long as you want
    • 

  • I promise to listen to you talk about your day, rather than hurl questions at you as I walk through the door
    • 

  • I promise you that as you grow older and forget things I will never drop a PE kit / lunch box to you, save your phone credit. Resilience and organisation are self taught by error.
    • 

  • I promise not to show my anxiety over your first few weeks at school.
    • 

  • I promise to help you in any way I can to fulfill your potential, but your happiness is paramount.
    • 

  • I promise to back you up when issues arise. As long as you are always honest with me.
    • 

  • I work full time and will rarely be at the gates, but if you need me I will always be there. I will also be there any time I can, when our school diaries don’t synchronise.
    • 



When you are older, we will look back at this September as a small step on a wonderful and exciting journey that you are taking. It’s not always a parents duty to be next to you, but I will always be a shadow.


Love you to the moon,


Mummy x


P.s. Good luck to the staff trying to get you to sit still and hold a pen.



			

	


			
				


	

			
The Saturday Session #one
		

				

						 ~ Fridgesays			 ~ 5 Comments					

				

		
Welcome to #thesatsesh linky party designed for a weekend of chilled blog reading and joy. Ive teamed up with Hayley from Mission Mindfulness Blog to create a mini world of blog reading pleasure. I asked her to join me on this adventure as her blog is all about bringing calm to the masses and with my motivational sparkle we are a winning duo, we also happen to be teachers – so detentions for any of you that break the rules 🙂


Im totally out of my comfort zone, so I’m practising what I preach; until last week I thought coding was voodoo and widgets were from some mystical land… I still think this but I’m looking forward to using them and developing my own skill set, plus I love reading a variety of blog posts, with this in mind the linky is open to all bloggers and all topics.


Myself and Hayley will each pick our favourite post each week and share it with you in the following weeks post, so lets get this party started. Click the inlinkz below and make sure you are happy to follow the rules, its sad when people come to a party and don’t bring a plate – so make sure you don’t link and run. If you have any issues please email #thesatsesh here


The linky goes live at GMT 7:00am and closes at 8pm on Sunday evening. Perfect if you’ve had a hectic week and haven’t had the chance to give your blog the promotion it deserves


What My Fridge Says


    

  • 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
    • 

  • 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. 
    • 



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.


Lets get this party started, click below and add your posts to the very first #thesatsesh linky.








 




 




sat sash 


<div align="center"><a href="https://whatmyfridgesays.com" rel="nofollow" title="sat sash "><img src="https://whatmyfridgesays.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/img_2314-1.jpg" alt="sat sash " style="border: none; height: auto; width: 200px;" /></a></div>


			

	


			
				


	

			
You gotta nourish to flourish 
		

				

						 ~ Fridgesays			 ~ 41 Comments					

				

		
Every now and then I see a quote and it lights my universe. 


At the moment I am planning kitchen renovations and I wouldn’t mind this little quote hanging somewhere? Food for thought (See what I did there)


Nourish according to the dictionary means ‘to provide food or the opportunities for people to grow and be in good condition’ 


If I’m honest when I see the word nourish I think of food, but what else do we need?


Self belief: if you can dream it, then you can make it happen. This is essential not just to be able to flourish but to be able to sustain any kind of growth (and that includes happiness) 


Drive and desire: these are easy to have and harder to actually make happen. Usually because they require us to get out of our comfort zone and perhaps even take a risk or two. I’ve found since becoming a parent that often the risk is scarier because of my son. However, surely the dream is always ultimately the better finish line for him to see me arrive at?


Tribe: a good family, neighbours, work colleagues and friends all help to make a little ‘you’ community. When the chips are down, don’t panic – team ‘you’ will be there like a giant pillow of love and comfort – looking around and it’s a bit sparse, no problem, sometimes the harder moments let us know which team members require demotion. 


Wellbeing: be it physical or mental you need to make your health number one. Balance is key to this; I’ve written thousands of posts on the issue so for more info read everything I’ve ever written, pretty much – give or take a gratitude post, oh…


Gratitude: a sprinkle of thanks and a piece of humble pie can not only make you a favourite amongst your tribe but you’ll find you manifest and receive even more than you thought possible…seriously BeyoncĂ© and all the big divas are always thanking the people that surround them. 


P.s. Not such a big diva as Queen B but thanks for reading and I hope you leave a little more nourished. If not, what area do you need to step it up in?