Having struggled for most of my adult life to do exercise (other than run around after small people or walk to and from the kettle) I started running. With no warning. I mean, it was a conscious decision – nothing was chasing me – but I just randomly downloaded an app and headed to the park. I had been inspired by Kirsty who was about to run the Great North Run.

My first run was made up of 8 x 1 minute runs with 1.5 minutes of walking in between.

It nearly killed me.

When I asked Mr TOPP if he was impressed that I had been running, he told me he would be impressed after my third run. After 17 years together he knows that I have a tendency to give up especially on exercise once the novelty has worn off. Usually after about a week.

I proved him wrong though, and could soon run for a whole two minutes without dying.

It was at this point that we had to clear my granny’s house. After a hard day shifting furniture and packing boxes we all headed back to my mum’s for wine food. My cousin already had a place in the Great North Run 2012, and she managed to convince me that I should run too. She had a place running for Parkinson’s UK, a charity working to cure the disease our grandpa had had. I agreed, but kinda hoped it was just the wine talking and that nobody would remember the next day.

Dagnammit.

I entered the ballot for the Great North Run in January and got through. I contacted Parkinson’s Uk and am now officially part of their team. In the meantime I have run a 5k and a 6 mile race.

This week is Parkinson’s awareness week. Today is twenty years since my grandpa died. Next Sunday would have been his birthday.

I think that this whole thing was possibly meant to be.

I also think that somewhere my grandpa is sitting in an armchair, smoking his pipe, laughing his head off.

I mean – me? Running a half marathon? Pffff.

The M’s make me proud every single day. They are feisty, funny and set to take on the world. I am proud of Mr TOPP and myself for making them that way, and making a happy loving family for ourselves. We kick ass.

I am proud of the fact that I have a 34-36 inch inside leg. I am NOT proud, however, of the words that leave my mouth when I am clothes shopping and find that most shops chop trousers off at 32 inches. This is discrimination against tall people.

But, I digress…

Apart from all the above (except from the swearing in shops, obviously), one of the things I am most proud of is this:

Three weeks ago we had an activities week at school. Somehow, we got lumbered with to spend the entire week with year 9. Any teachers out there will feel my pain.

Anyhoo, we did a whole day on the environment and recycling. One group made teepees from newspapers. Another group made recycling boxes for every classroom in the school.

My group? They learned to knit. With yarn made from plastic carrier bags called Plarn.

No, really.

When I said I was planning to do this I think most people thought things along the lines of:

“PFFFFFFF!”

“What on earth is Miss Tiddlyompompom thinking?”

or even “I always knew she was mad…”

Anyhoo, I decided to go ahead and give it a whirl. What could be the worst that could happen letting a load of hormonal, angry young boys spend an hour and a half armed with pointy sticks?

In the session there was myself, another teacher and two teaching assistants and twelve pupils (I work in a special school). When I told the kids what they were about to do, they groaned. I set up most of them on the plarn making station while I showed the two who wanted to learn to knit how to do it.

After about twenty minutes another couple came over to have a go. By the end of the ninety minutes I had five out of the twelve knitting.

After break I had what on paper was the hardest group: all The Lads. When I told them what they would be doing, they all wanted a go. I could have fallen over.

While my TA cast on for one of them, another watched then cast on himself. Every single one of that group had a go. Some of them gave up again very quickly. But some of them got really, really into it. One lad, who finds it extremely difficult to sit still for any length of time sat for an hour and a half and knitted quietly. Throughout the week, when he found he was getting stressed or anxious, he asked to do some knitting and he calmed himself down. Another lad did’t want to knit, but half an hour in it transpired he knew how to crochet, so I found him a crochet hook off he went.

When I came up with the idea I had no clue whether it would work. In fact, the night before I almost lost my faith and went with an entirely different activity. I mean, who in their right mind would try to teach year 9 to knit with plastic bags, eh?

Well, I’ve never claimed to be in my right mind.

Find out what others are proud of over at sticky fingers.

Big M: We’re going to the tumble jungle when I’ve had my bajection.

Nurse: Oooh, that’s nice. Now sit still for me.

Big M offers arm, doesn’t flinch then turns around and does exactly the same for the second one.

Me: WOW! You are SO brave!

Big M: Can we go now?

********

Mr TOPP: What does cat start with?

Big M: Curly C.

Mr TOPP: Well done. What does frog start with?

Big M: F.

Mr TOPP: You’re so clever! What does hoover start with?

Big M: Q.

Mr TOPP: Um, try saying Hoover.

Big M: Hoover.

Mr TOPP: So what does it start with?

Big M: cheeky grin Q.

Mr TOPP: *sigh*

Eight. Million.

Next month there is a global vaccines summit taking place in London hosted by David Cameron. It would be a wonderful opportunity for him to get something right for once, and so many lives could be saved if they decide to provide the vaccines to the world’s poorest children. You can add your name to the petition here. Go do it now. I’ll wait…

All done?

Nice work.

To help spread the word Maggie of Red Ted Art fame has started a crafty meme. Kirsty and Chris tagged me last week.

So this morning, as I sat with my fully vaccinated children, I asked Big M to draw me a picture of herself. She did, and then she drew Little M next to her.

My children are lucky. They were born here, with access to clean water, food, shelter and health care. As much as it makes me (and them) cry, taking my children to have their vaccinations is something we take for granted. They don’t need to fear measles or polio or any of the other preventable diseases that kill eight million children each year.

And that makes me feel unbelievably lucky.

No child is born to die.

********

And now to tag some fellow bloggers:

mocha beanie mummy

kailexness

and one more means 4… and one more

domestic goddesque

speegetti

hello it’s gemma

pants with names

softthistle

The rules are simple:

1) Get your child to either draw or craft a self portrait of themselves now or in the future. Check out Maggie’s self portrait on some tips if you’re lacking inspiration.

2) Sign the Save the Children petition and get everyone you know to do so too

3) Write a blog post about it as soon as possible, including info about Save the Children and the petition. We want as many people linked up AND signed up the petition by Sunday 29th May 2011

5) Tag 8 fellow blogger friends

6) Link up your posts over at Red Ted Art or Sleep is For The Weak

If you want to take part, you don’t need to wait to be tagged: Go get drawing!

I really like the idea of documenting a year in my life in photos. Whether I still really like it by the end of January remains to be seen. I have already told myself that the photos don’t need to be great, and in all honesty will probably almost all come from my iphone. But hey. If you would like to see a tiddlyompompom’s eye view of the world feel free to pop over. If you are a fan on facebook, you’ll probably see the posts in your news feed too.

Hopefully there will be more than 5 photos by the end of the year…

Before we moved house I always said I wanted a tree in our new garden. You can see the whole year in a tree, and there is something very reassuring about watching the tree move through the seasons without fail. Nature carries on year in year out, no matter what is happening to you personally, and I find that strangely comforting.

As it turns out, we don’t have a tree in our garden, but there is one next door and we have a park just metres from our house. I have more trees than I can shake a stick at, and I love them all. Especially at the moment.

]]> http://wherethebrassbandsplay.com/2010/10/tiddlyompompom-thinks-autumn-is-beautiful/feed/ 5 http://wherethebrassbandsplay.com/2010/08/tiddlyompompom-thinks-the-skys-the-limit/ http://wherethebrassbandsplay.com/2010/08/tiddlyompompom-thinks-the-skys-the-limit/#comments Sun, 29 Aug 2010 20:32:55 +0000 tiddlyompompom http://wherethebrassbandsplay.com/?p=3773 Today has been a busy day. This morning we did house stuff (unsuccessfully shopping for curtains), and then this afternoon we took Big M swimming. Then we got home, it was time for tea/bath/bed. Little M took two hours and five (yes count them – FIVE) attempts to put down to bed. By the time I got to pick up my camera ready to take my picture for this week’s gallery it was half past eight.

And getting dark.

Umm, isn’t it still supposed to be summer?

Anyhoo, I was all I have no idea what to take for my gallery picture when I looked out of the window. I announced to a slightly bemused Mr TOPP that I was going into the garden and off I went.

The reason Tara asked us all to take a picture today is because today is the day that Josie, Eva and Sian are heading off to Bangladesh. They’re there to see the work Save the Children are doing in some of the most poverty stricken parts of the world.

As I write, they are up there, in the sky somewhere *waves*

You can help Save the Children, umm, save the children by signing the petition here.

See  the 29th August in pictures over at sticky fingers.

The other week, I had a conversation with Amy on twitter about pilates. She had got all five of her kids to bed and was doing exercise (!). And then a few days later she was on an exercise bike. Seriously, she’s amazing. Anyhoo, I started thinking. If Amy can find time to do exercise when she has five children, I really have no excuse when I only have two. I can’t even pull the “yes but I have a new baby” line as Amy’s youngest is a day older than Little M.

Mr TOPP and I had a conversation the other day about how we want our children to be active as they grow up. That will only come from us, so we decided that we will try to do at least one physical/sporting activity with them a week.Mr TOPP has started taking Big M swimming regularly (Little M and I will be joining them once Little M has had all her injections). Big M does yoga at nursery and loves it, so I am on the look out for a kids yoga dvd that we can do together at home (any suggestions gratefully received). And me? I will be dusting off my pilates dvd and aim to do it at least once a week during the month.

No, really. I will.

If you took part in last month’s challenge, don’t forget to tell us how you got on here.

Want to join in? You are very welcome. Just set yourself a goal for the next month – your very own Personal Challenge for August.

At the beginning of the month, decide what it is that you want to achieve over the next thirty days. It could be anything: losing a couple of pounds, getting the weeding done, making something, learning a new skill. Whatever you like. Putting my management hat on for a second: make sure it is something you can actually achieve in a month. Be SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, Time-based).

Write a post about what you want to achieve and why. Link back to this post so others can join in too – you can use the badge if you like (the code is over on the right there). Don’t forget to put the link to your post on the linky list at the bottom of this post (it’s open for two weeks). Use the opportunity to seek advice from/help out/support fellow bloggers. Then spend the next month attempting to achieve your goal. At the end of the month I’ll be back to let you know how I have got on with my personal challenge and there will be another linky for you to share your success. So come back and tell us how you got on and we can all give you a pat on the back.

Ready?

Set?

Go! Go! Go!

I hope she never forgets.

See more portraits over at sticky fingers.

Earlier this week Tara Cain tweeted about One Day on Earth that will be taking place on the 10th October -10/10/10.

I have watched that video several times already, and I still get goosebumps. I can’t wait to see the end result.

* If you can remember the name of the project (it was the end of the 80′s/early 90′s), please please please put me out of my misery.

********

Don’t forget, you have just one day to vote in the MAD awards. GO GO GO!!