waiting...

job-related news to be announced any minute now;

fingers crossed.

i'll go make something to eat 

to keep me distracted (plus i'm hungry!)

ps. this looks more like a tweet than a blog post 

but not many of my friends have twitter accounts.

xo

hi!

Hello world!

How are you lovely people?

I really hope you're enjoying the new season!

Autumn has been here for a while; it's the time for pomegranades,

pumpkins and chrysanthemums around here.

I'm trying very hard to squeeze some moments of seasonal appreciation in

my otherwise crazy life.

I haven't just been busy lately; I've been crazy busy!

I haven't finished reading a single book since schools started;

I haven't done much progress with my crochet project;

I haven't even cleaned and organised the place properly since summer

and my wardrobe is a chaotic mixture of summer and winter clothes!

(I'm actually working on this today)

The reason I've found some time to be here today is the long weekend ahead,

which means there are no schools tomorrow. Yay!!!

So, do tell! What have you been up to lately?

Though, I have to admit, I do stop by your places on my ... free time(?) - more like free minutes! Somewhere between studying with my first-grader,  preparing my work for the next day and keeping up with the most basic housework requirements, I check on my favourite bloggers whenever I'm online.

Well, this is it for now.

I don't know when I'll be back with a new post but I do come here every day so I'll definetely know if you waved 'hello'.

Take Care!

xxx

flowers for your friday

{via}

Schools start on Monday.

My little man will embark on a new journey.

Hope he has lots of fun along the way.

Happy Weekend!

xxx

my today

While packing her bag in the morning, she remembered that it was Wednesday and there would be some free time between classes to unwind. The novel she was reading was the perfect choice to take along with a cup of coffee at the school yard bench.

12.35. She rang the bell for everyone to go inside after recess and went upstairs to get her book and make some coffee. Just then, she remembered she had promised a colleague to look after his sixth graders while he took care of an unexpected emergency. 'They are good kids', she thought. 'I'll let them play outside, while I read'. Out in the yard again, she looked at the bright sky and thought it was the best possible weather; sunny but not too hot because of the breeze. The boys had already started playing hide-and-seek but the girls seemed quite indecisive as to what to do. They were all lying on the grass, looking at her. 'What are you reading?', one of them asked her. 'The Violets of March, a novel', she replied. 'Will you read to us?' After pondering over it for a moment, she recalled a little extract she had underlined the night before. 'Sure, why not. Just grab me a chair; the grass is a bit too humid for me'. They all got comfortable, using each others' legs as cushions, some closed their eyes, some looked straight at her, waiting for her to start reading.

"Hello, girls!" she said, walking toward the kitchen. In her hands were a bottle of wine and a bouquet of purple lilacs wrapped in brown paper and tied loosely with a strand of twine.

"They're lovely," Bee said, smiling. "Now, where on earth did you find these this early in the season?"
"In my garden," she said as though Bee had just asked her what color the sky was. "My lilac tree always blooms before yours." She said it with an air of amicable competitiveness that only a sixty-plus-year friendship could bear.

After the necessary translation, there were a couple of comments about the two characters' friendship. The girls were amazed at it and two of them looked at each other with warm smiles on their faces. They probably had the same thought of them being still friends in their eighties. 'Go on. Read us some more. What happened next?' the girls asked their teacher. And she went on, reading about a secret diary, or novel. They were mesmerised. When it was time for their next class, they asked her if she could tell them what would happen next, once she'd read the rest of the story. 'I will most definitely do', she promised.

~~~~~~

~ extract (the middle part of the post) from The Violets Of March

~note to self: always have a camera with you! You never know when you'll want to capture a moment!

at work

~~ enjoying what's left of the snow ~~

...

~~ learning how to work with clay by a professional ~~
...

~~ feeling content as i get in the car to drive home and put my sunglasses on after many days of grey weather ~~
...

Have a bright Wednesday!

December 8th - grateful for ...

{ my job }

Choose a job you love, and you will never have to work a day in your life.

~Confucius

arts united

~ nature's art

~a famous painter's art (Monet)

~ my 'art'

~~~~~

I took these pictures this morning.

We're having a slow Saturday after a wonderful Friday evening -

it was the end-of-the-school-year event yesterday at my school;

lots of fun.

One of my classes performed a little play in English;

I'm very proud of them - they did great!

Another class gave me a little plant (see pictures above).

We (teachers and our families) went to a taverna afterwards.

I really can't remember the last time I had so much fun!

~~~~~

Now I need to see if my pastitsio is ready to get out of the oven (yum, yum!)

~~~~~

Have a beautiful weekend!

xxx

The Simple Things - School Project

( if you aren't familiar with 'the simple things idea'

you may read this and this and this if you like.)

~~~~~~

Oooh! I'm so excited! Totally over the moon.

About a month ago when Christina organised another 'simple things' day

I pondered about it a little:

"finding happiness and beauty in the little things

is actually huge; being grateful for what you have,

not taking anything for granted,

learning to appreciate whatever surrounds you,

makes you a better person.

These are values I'd like my students to have.

In a time and era that they have everything they want,

I want them to be able to look around and find joy

in the little things."

So I asked Christina if it was ok with her to use her idea with my classes

and of course she said yes.

At first they were a bit numb.

"what's our new grammar and vocabulary?

will we be tested on this material?"

"No,no,no. Now we're talking about you.

We're using this foreign language we've been learning

on a real-life project"

And then they got it.

We talked about it as a class -there was a handout with ideas to get them started;

then they made their personal lists,

and finally, working in groups, they made posters with a couple of ideas from each student.

I brought this idea to four of my classes-

students aged from 10 to 12, third and fourth year of studying English.

They loved it!!!!

They were so enthusiastic about it and so proud of their final lists!!!

and they made me happy oh so happy.

There were 'computer games' and 'TV' of course

but there were also things like

'helping friends' and 'a warm hug' and 'books' and 'a colourful picture'...

And can you see the little drawings? Aren't they cute?

I'm telling you, they loved it!

I love every single idea they wrote,

the colourful posters they created,

all the fun they had...

But most of all I love that I got them thinking about what really matters.

I bet they all were a little more grateful for the lunch they ate with their families

when they went home after that.




xxx

Dear God...

... please?

(details on the book here)

Take Care!

xxx

Day Off!

It's the National Elections day this Sunday, which means primary schools are closed on Friday and Monday because they are used as voting centres. So we lucky teachers have these two days to ourselves. Yiiiipppeeeee!
Now, I'm feeling much better today, thank you very much, and enjoying my day-off. Little one went to school as usual - hubby took him- and I had the morning all to myself, pyjamas and all.
My best friend was working in the afternoon so she came over for coffee, little cheese-pies that she brought and chit-chat. (picture of muffins is irrelevant actually, just wanted something to mark the laid back beginning of the day)
Then it was major ironing expedition. Yes, true; an expedition: me against mountains of creased clothes and linens. So far, I've won a few battles but the war is not over yet.

.........................................................................................................

On a different note, I've been meaning to show you this dish the whole week but didn't find the time to. It was Sunday's lunch. I made this recipe last year for a buffet gathering I organised and everyone loved it. So I knew what to cook for Sunday as soon as I saw two lovely tenderloins at the butcher's. I hadn't thought of taking pictures from the very beginning but it's easy-peasy.

Follow me...

Ask your butcher to prepare the loins so that they can be stuffed and rolled. Stuff them with feta cheese, red peppers and green peppers. Season according to taste. Roll them up, spread some butter on them and sprinkle with dried oregano and thyme (fresh would probably be better!) Chop any veggies you like -I had carrots and zucchinis, season, sprinkle with some olive oil and wrap them up in baking paper

Put the 'parcels' in a pre-heated oven for about one hour and a half.

Tear the paper up at the top, grate some yellow cheese on them and put them back in the oven till you're satisfied with the colour.

Voila! A lovely dish for an autumn Sunday with the family.

Buon appetite!

Have a wonderful weekend!
xxx

Edit * How do you like my mosaic? I used Picasa 2.

October

Happy October everyone. This is my birthday month; I'm forty. Wow! Forty! (now I sound like my son here.)

Anyway, more on that in two weeks.
Now, you may wonder why I'm posting these pictures here. Well, October began with a cold out of nowhere - I wish I was asked by the little fellow- the cold that is 'Is it a good time for me to pay a visit?'. 'No, it isn't', I would answer. 'I've a 4-day weekend ahead and lots of housework planned, plus a long-delayed visit to the hairdresser'. But no; colds appear unannounced!!! How rude!
Anyway, after spending two hours in bed -don't be misled by the photos; I only read a couple of pages before falling asleep; it took more time to take the photos- and after taking a painkiller for my awful headache, I was up and about ready to spend some time with little one.



I've been looking for something to decorate this box with for ages. It's got the perfect size and depth for all his crafts and gifts from his first pre-school.

And then I remembered this decorative roll of paper I bought a couple of weeks ago for his room. (see what a good nap can do to absent-minded people?) So I used it to cover the lid (is this the right word?) while little one was looking through his crafts for the100th time.

Here are some of the things they made. Lovely Mrs Sophia and lovely Mrs Ritsa were wonderful; extremely creative and so imaginative.

These cards were gifts from his teachers on his birthday and name-day. They have a photo of him inside. Click to see the details- they're fantastic.

An Easter card and a Mother's Day card

A May wreath, a poppy, a cloud, a swallow, a bird (some details are missing-can you guess why?)

So, what do you think? Do you like their new home?

Have a fabulous month!

xxx

When Time Passes By!

Hello blogpals! How are you doing? I haven't been able to decide what to blog about - so many things, so little time - that's why I decided to show you a bit of this and a bit of that.

The picture above shows my son's buddies. We played 'school' with them one afternoon. Well, like mother, like son. I do hope he chooses something else though -it's soooo exhausting. (tough day yesterday; I'll spare you the details as this is my place to focus on the bright side of life - see banner)

Well, "don't you just love New York in the fall? Makes me wanna buy school supplies". I know what you're thinking: "has she gone nuts? N.Y. isn't in Greece". No, I haven't gone nuts, not yet anyway!!! :)
That's a quote from my favourite film.


Haven't you guessed yet?


No??!!


REALLY????


Who said it? You, sitting in front of your laptop?
You're right. "You've Got Mail"!!!
Sorry if I tired you with that but I can't help it; it makes me happy.

So on that note, I stayed up late Monday evening, night rather to sort out my material - I should have done it during the summer break but I couldn't (some of you know why).
I beautified my folders...

... and added smiley stickers on them.

One more thing I like doing when the weather becomes cooler and we don't go out as much is to leaf through my museum books. I have a whole shelf of them. The painting below is...

... from the Vincent Van Gogh museum in Amsterdam. I'm not satisfied with my pictures these days. If I manage to take some decent ones I'm thinking of making a museum series with, say, one museum a week, with links to their websites and everything. What do you say?

* -* - * - * -

Little one wanted to play with his 'professions' puzzle. He's had it for two years and never gets bored with it. I don't mind doing it again and again as we talk about more things every time and he enriches his vocabulary (teacher talk, sorry!)

These are my two favourite pieces:

the watering can

and the mail ( I loooove getting mail - but you already know that!)

Finally, I proudly present you little one's latest crafts from pre-school.

He didn't use to draw specific images, just fill the paper with colour in a second and leave -sometimes with amazing results if I may add. But now he's making faces. The line for the mouth is supposed to be straight; this is not a sad deer!!! The colourful stripes have the days of the week written on them.

I still haven't bought wooden pegs for his display as you can see. I'm looking for the little cute ones.

Although it's still Thursday I'll wish you a Happy Weekend as I know I won't have time to post anything else. I'll see most of you at your lovely blogs though!

Take Care!