Wednesday 7 October 2020

WOYWW 592

 Hello and welcome to my blog for another edition of What's on Your Workdesk, courtesy of the lovely Julia.


This is my desk as it was yesterday morning - covered in some lovely goodies - Birthday presents from my boys. A mixture of stamps, stickers and stencils and then a fiendishly difficult 3D Hogwarts jigsaw.


Here is my desk yesterday evening - utter chaos as I play in my art journal - the stickers, ink pads, and stamps are all over the place, and you can see my mug of tea (half-drunk at this point).


This is the art journal page that I was working on - a very autumnal spread.  Round here the leaves are beginning to turn on some trees, although most are still green. I think they will all be turning in about a week or so.




I have been keeping my Hobonichi weeks diary up to date this week, so here are the latest pages from that.




I had a lovely birthday yesterday consisting of a treat breakfast and presents in bed before Alex went to school, then a wonderful 800m swim in the lake with a friend..


...who brought cake for afterwards!



Tim took me out for a lovely meal at lunchtime, and then I had the afternoon off to read, craft and relax before Alex came home and we had birthday cake and watched a film. A pretty perfect day.

I hope that you are all keeping well and staying safe.  At  uni we have a lot of students who now have COVID (thankfully with mild symptoms) or are self-isolating due to housemates who have it. As a result all teaching plans are changing daily. To make matters more complicated, the postgraduate students haven't returned yet. They start at the end of October - by then Sheffield may be in local lockdown! I have no idea how my teaching this term will go so I am having to plan for both live on-line sessions and face-to-face sessions.

Take care and stay safe. With love and God bless,

Caro

xxx

26 comments:

Neet said...

This is going to be a very hard and unpredictable term for you. Thinking of you and including you in prayer.
So glad you managed to have a lovely birthday it sounded like a wonderful day from start to finish and worked really well with that lovely cold swim starting it off and snuggling warm by the tv with the family at the end.
Loved both the birthday cake (Terry's chocolates?) and the journal and very impressed by your keeping the Hobonichi weeks diary up to date.
Belated Birthday Wishes
Neet 8 xx

Lunch Lady Jan said...

Happy birthday Caro, I'm so glad you had such a great day! Good luck with that Hogwarts jigsaw, lol! The picture diary is looking good, well done for keeping up with it. It must be a nightmare trying to work out how the uni teaching is going to work out, good luck with it all.
HUgs LLJ 11 xxx

Sue said...

Happy Birthday Caro. You looked like you celebrated in style. Birthday Hugs, Sue. xx

Mary Anne said...

Once again, fabulous diary and such a joyful page in your art journal. I love it. And a chaotic desk is a joyful place right up to the breaking point when it tips over into un-usability :D

Your birthday sound perfect, maybe minus the lake-swim, unless that lake is somehow HEATED LOL!

Happy WOYWW!
Mary Anne (2)

Susan Renshaw said...

Wishing you a belated very happy Birthday!
Love the Autumnal spread in your journal.
And after swimming in the lake you deserved that cake!!
Happy woyww! Susan #7

Zsuzsa Karoly-Smith said...

Ooh, your boys really spoilt you! Happy belated! Love the cake and the jigsaw will look awesome when completed! Lovely records in your diary too with all that swimming - if you're not careful you're going to turn into a duck LOL! My husband works in higher education as well (though research, rather than teaching) - lucky for him, they're allowed to work from home - saves him a 110-mile round trip to Bristol each day. I think on-line lectures should work quite well! Especially if students can record it to refer back, replay, etc. I think that would even enhance their learning - provided that they put the work in! Have a lovely post-birthday week! xx zsuzsa #22

Helen said...

Things are changing so fast its hard to keep up . What gorgeous gifts enjoy! Stay safe. Helen #1

Felix the Crafty Cat said...

New goodies Caro, brilliant but you must show us how you use them. Always love to see you enjoying the water. Pleased you had a lovely birthday treat, the cake looks scrummy. Things are not good in Universities at the moment and it must be very difficult for everyone involved but guess we knew it would happen. Have a lovely week and a very happy and safe woyww, Angela x16x

glitterandglue said...

Hi Caro. My goodness - just look at that desk! Absolutely laden with goodies - and not a glimmer of any uni work... Good for you. So glad you had such a fantastic birthday yesterday. Congratulations. Wild swimming wouldn't be my personal choice, I admit - but glad you enjoyed it. Yes, life must be so very different for students and lecturers these days, with everything changing daily. Uni life should be so very exciting - away from home, new situations, new friends, (I still meet with my college friends after almost 50 years!), excitement... only to end up in lockdown and isolation with people you have only known for 2weeks. Hard!
Take care. God bless.
Margaret #3

shazsilverwolf said...

Hi Caro, trying to plan teaching must be so difficult, with changes almost every day. Good to see you had such a lovely birthday, that cake looks delicious! Great job with the diary too. Stay safe, Have a lovely week, Hugs, Shaz #5 X

Diana Taylor said...

Happy belated birthday - what a lot of lovely looking goodies you have there! It looks like you are going to be kept very occupied in the coming darker evenings, especially with that jigsaw - just the words 3D make me shudder with horror! Your pages are great and I'm really loving the autumn colours. Lovely photos of your birthday too.
Have a great week,
Diana xx #14

Twiglet said...

Your teaching sounds a nightmare Caro - I don't know how on earth you cope with all the restrictions/complications of it all. I don't even like to think past this week - goodness knows what will happen in the next few weeks. I just hope you keep away from the virus. I'm so glad you had a lovely birthday - we make the best of what life throws at us don't we!! All the best. xx Jo

Crafting With Jack said...

Oh that cake looks tasty! Glad you had a lovely birthday Angela #25

Felicia said...

Caro, I was sucked right into your desk today! Your boys are the BEST! So precious that they understand your love for all things crafty and gift you with goodies! It's the best! I love reading your blog, it seems so comforting and "homey" if you will. Not sure what it is, but you have such a lovely spirit and seem to surround yourself with the same in your environment, family and friends! Hope your birthday was as amazing as it seemed to be from your photos, how special!! Blessings to you for the rest of your week! Felicia #27

Belinda said...

Happy Birthday, Caro! You sound like you had a wonderful day and your cake looked delicious! It sounds like a day I would want on my birthday. I love being able to squeeze crafting and reading into my day. I am so happy when you share photos of your Hobonichi weeks diary because it is a reminder I need to update my scrapbooks. So keep them coming sister!!
Have a wonderful week!
Belinda #30

Kathryn Frantz said...

Hi, Caro!
Virtual teaching is different. Rather common place now I think. I taught for the State of Idaho before I retired. I had students from many locations all at the same time. We called it “classrooms without borders” and this was before zoom!

Just stay well, and Happy (belated ☹️) Birthday! What a great day!

Happy Wednesday!

Kathryn

Sarah Brennan said...

So glad that you had a good birthday Caro. Great goodies and journaling. I will be teaching my first google classrooms lessons on Friday. Good luck with the rest of term. Stay safe and happy WOYWW. Sarah #4

StampinCarol said...

Glad you had a wonderful birthday celebration! Family, friends, cake...
Great goodies on your desk! Your diary is so cool.
Have a wonderful week!
Carol N #24

Karen said...

Let's like you had a fun birthday ~ This whole virtual schooling is a nightmare for everyone ~ sending blessings your way ~ Love, Karen#33

My name is Cindy said...

Wow this year is so challenging for everyone trying to get anything done (I am secretly very glad I am retired). Glads you enjoyed your birthday and you certainly deserved cake. I think another week will really see the trees start to turn down here, everything else in the garden is actually having a second wind, just a shame there isn't enough sunshine to bring all the flowers out. I need to pull some of the 'bedding' out to start putting bulbs in soon but its all lush and full of bud! Happy WOYWW, stay well, stay safe, Cindy #13 xx

Tracey@Hotchpotchcreations said...

Happy belated Birthday Caro, looks like super pressies to me. I know you will use them well. Lovely Autumnal pages, the leaves are holding onto their greens around here too. Must be so hard to keep up with the changes at Uni, wishing everyone well.. as everyday is a new day. Happy WoywW Tracey #6 x

Julia Dunnit said...

I agree, sounds as if you had the ideal birthday. Cannot believe though, that the number on your cake is correct. You look at least ten years younger and i should know, I’m really in my 90s!!!! Love the look of your desk, its home for me, and the birthday presents are wonderful, aren't your men thoughtful. I have to say that I wouldn’t be a teacher/lecturer for anything at this point, you are all doing double the work just to present any sort of curriculum, it must be very hard to prepare everything only to have change it and adapt to something new every five minutes.

Ellie said...

Awww those are such nice pressies, love the spread you made using them. Stay safe!!
Ellie #14

Lynnecrafts said...

Happy belated birthday, Caro, it looks like you had an excellent day.
It must be very challenging trying to work out what is going to happen with your lecturing and with your students.
I hope you can continue to enjoy your happy place for swimming for as long as possible this autumn. It looks v cold already to me!
Take care, stay safe and happy WOYWW

Shoshi said...

Happy belated birthday, Caro. The cake looks amazing and it's at times like this that I wish I still ate cake lol!! I'm glad you had such a nice day. I shouldn't fancy the swimming though - it must be absolutely freezing now!! Rather you than me.

Happy belated WOYWW and God bless,
Shoshi x #18

LuLu said...

I just had a birthday too - Happy Birthday, Libra! Like your desk!
Peace,
LuLu Too Beaucoup