If you recall from the last video on our socials, we forgot to add lemonade to our dramatic play restaurant corner – a travesty! 🙀How this went completely over our heads beats me. (Which also reminds me to do something about those non-lemony aprons ASAP!)
Backstory: Sometime in January, a group of my girls from Šentjur pointed out we were missing menus for our dramatic play sessions. They nagged and bugged until I caved. While it was group effort on their part with menu offerings, at their insistence my only job was to pencil the calligraphy framework for poshness and presentation, while the colouring in and decorating was entirely their doing.
And we got good mileage out of those menus, we did!
But with each play session, it never occurred to any of us to order a glass of lemonade – what with being surrounded by lemons and what-nots, right up until the end of our last play date in June!
Perhaps it was summer’s heat that bubbled it to the surface, because what’s summer without a cool glass of lemonade, right?
Right! So after racking my brains as to what to do with the 1st batch of campers next week, I figured we’d just go all out and build the entire lemonade stand, goddamit! Why not go for the whole damned building🤷🏽♀️Time to play for real, no more drama!
I had thoughts of even Nara Smithing it and heading out to the woods armed with chainsaws and axes to chop down the tree which we would’ve planted only 5-7 business days prior of course, for wood to construct the wooden crates, but HA! jokes on us, as we already did that last year…💁🏽♀️*yawn*
After having grouped kids according to age for this year’s camp, best getting the younger ones out of the way for starters, it brings with it a whole new challenge as to keeping them engaged, because the thought of dragging 3rd & 4th graders tu pa tam doesn’t necessarily make me want to do cartwheels. It makes all the sense to keep them busy with hands-on projects, and this one in particular, being a fun way to help them practice social and entrepreneurial skills , only this time for real. From set-up all the way to execution, they can learn teamwork, decision-making on how to design the stand, not to mention entrepreneurship and hard work making and selling the lemonade, and responsibility in cleaning up afterwards.
Plus, it’ll be a perfect addition to our classroom dramatic play corner🤗
Attempting to bring this creative vision to life has been no mean feat. Had me running from one home depot to the other all week, searching for the right -sized crates, poles and securing solutions (because ain’t nobody power drilling or hammering down nothing🙅🏽♀️) that will enable us put away and reuse with ease. Then bits and bobs to make it all come together.
It didn’t help that my yellow OCD went into overdrive at the sight of a pack of ridiculously expensive yellow brushes. Even the store assistants advised me to go to Tedi to find cheaper ones, but that’s exactly the kind of negativity I don’t need in my life sis.
💛💛💛💛💛
Today, I concluded that, Slovenia would have had a much higher chance of winning the Euro cup than finding a packet of yellow balloons. I mean, every other colour under the sun existed in Tedi, Kik and Mueller except for a pack of plain yellow balloons. Is there even a God?
Hence, settled for multicoloured ones that’ll have us fishing out the yellows and banishing the rest into some unknown clear plastic container for future use. Win-win, I guess.
Yesterday had me working out the right triangle sizes for banners to cut down on prep time when the kids get into it, after which I punched in holes and strung them up to see how they’d hold up against the wind. 3 holes did the trick.
I know I could probably find and print out some pre-made ones on Pinterest, but why make it so easy for them when we could Nara Smith it from scratch.
It even afforded me the opportunity to practice my free hand lemons, which I might add is not looking too bad. Tisa would be so proud🤗
As I was checking out of Impus with my crates the other day, out of the corner of my wandering eye, these babies stopped me DEAD in my tracks 🫢🍋🍋🍋
HELLO LOVER 😍🍋🍋🍋🍋
Bear in mind that, my 6th graders gifted me with a gorgeous one just 2 weeks ago ( the umpteenth one because I swear at this point, I’ve lost count of how many dispensers I own. ) BUT none of them are plastered in lemons like these, come on!!!! I wish you’d stop judging me. The universe clearly placed them right in my path and meant for them to sit perfectly pretty on our lemony lemon lemonade stand! Can you see it all coming together? Oh, can you?🤗
I have a love-hate relationship with spigot drink dispensers. It’s a clear cut case of getting what you pay for. Of all the drink dispensers I own, the most expensive glass one is the only one that has stood the test of time, but the cheap plastic ones will drip, drippity drip, drip into oblivion … every. single.time. But I believe the camp gods are with me on these ones🤞🏾
Finished the day strong putting together a lemony box to store our earnings.
The plan being to have parents, wards, passers-by, anyone really, come to our stand on the last day to purchase and make us a killing- half the proceeds of which we will donate to an animal shelter or charity of sorts. The other half, the kids and I will split equally amongst ourselves💁🏽♀️ easy peasy, lemon squeezy😎
So, if you’ll be in our neck of the woods next Friday the 12th, do stop by between 12 noon to 4 pm and be a sport! It’d be an absolute refreshing delight!
Looking forward to our fresh start on Monday morning🤗
Alas! The season we’ve all been waiting for is finally upon us! School’s out, the sun- along with the occasional torrential downpour continues to blaze brighter and hotter than ever. The heady intoxicating scent and sizzle of neighbourhood barbecues permeates the senses, and the mosquitoes which belong in hell continue to live freely amongst us and assault our persons. And as such, life goes on. Whether it’s life’s great big bovver boot doing you dirty, or you’re perched on an exotic beach downing dirty martinis, it’s still charging ahead full gung ho!
No better timing than the present to wax philosophical by musing that regardless of life’s curveballs like the weather, ill health, the moon, dire straits, or your idiot ex, everyday the sun is shinning on your face and not on your grave is by far, the most wonderful day that ever was.
For this, gratitude is an absolute must, and libation must be poured (though I prefer to drink every last drop of mine) to whatever deity one subscribes to: Jesus, Allah, Mother Nature, Tito, Mary mother of God, one must always be thankful. *inhales deeply* AMEN🙏🏽*sips* CHEERS 🥂
And now, *proceeds to rant*…
OMFG! The past few days have just been absolute meh! And no matter what I tried to get out of the slump, nothing seemed to be working up until sitting down to pen this post.
It finally reached a climax yesterday after staying up way past my bedtime (This old birdie likes to turn in by no later than 9) to watch the Slovenia-Portugal football match. Never in my life, had I been so emotionally invested in a football game like I was with this one. It had my heart racing, had me cursing like a truck driver, in tears even, and the next morning, cranky as one of those bitches that work in the tujici section of uprava enota.
I then spent the next day- today, as useless as the leader of the free world: A straight up two and a half hours of my life watching TikTok videos 😢(I feel like I’ll need to see the Holy Father and do penance for that one. I’m disgusted at myself🙇🏽♀️) then fell asleep on one of the bean bags in the classroom after 2 cups of strong, black coffee. The second cup took me right TF out. It was brutal. Then I woke up feeling like I’d been run over by a truck, and tried to do some spadework in preparation for summer camp but realised I was fooling no-one , so went home to cook and wolf down an entire small pot of jollof rice and pen this post.
I miss the kids😩our spontaneous mini-dance sessions, most of all were just what the doctor ordered for whatever woe-is-me emotions that tried would try seep through the cracks, rendering me indefatigable for hours on end, and now I have to chase that high by dancing alone in the kitchen🙄and I can’t believe I’m writing this myself either, but the hustle and bustle of running around like a headless chicken, constantly worrying about lesson preps, the sound of printing paper, the daily soul-snatching plight of what to have for dinner, and coming home exhausted to my eyeballs and passing out on the weekends, I miss it all!😭I guess I’ve reached that sweet spot in middle life of just not knowing how to switch off and be present. It’s an old-time classic story: During the school year, bitch, complain and yearn for idle days like these, then when they finally arrive, I want to blow my brains out.
But then, I’ll be reminded of an esoteric teaching or two from some long dead ascended master of spirituality from the far flung east about one’s TRUE SELF and inner peace and lotus flowers and shit like that (mostly Bruce Lee quotes, really) and then all will be well again and sanity restored.
Other times, I’ll take a hot shower, don my silkiest, fanciest robe, a tiara (no, seriously a tiara, yes👑), sit on my terrace and very slowly and intently have a cigarette. Just the one. Try it. (No, not you kids, please!) Works a treat, but not lately.
Flowers always win. If the kids aren’t bringing me some, then I’m buying myself a bunch and it’s an instant pick-me-up!
I visited my friend yesterday, and she cut me these from her garden😍
Božansko or what?! 😍
Going through my phone and looking back on pictures from the last week before school let out for the summer, and all the stuff we got up to, warmed my heart immensely.
Summer plans and buckets lists were the order of the entire month!
Not to mention the tests. Remember the overly dramatic reversed teacher role-playing l mentioned in this post, which I let them indulge in come June? Well, they had a field day shoving test papers in my face, breathing down my neck and happily flunking me at it- the highlight of their entire school year.
Somehow, I couldn’t spell a simple 4-letter word ‘Vlak ‘(Slovenian word for train)😩I will never live that down.
But it was all tempered by the utterly zesty end of year gifts they bestowed me with🥰
Ajla, bless her heart, went and raided her closet and absolutely insisted to her mom that I must have this blouse🫢🥰🍋
My heart, exploding into a tiny million pieces💥💛
Another darling addition to my lemon totes collection.. with a a key holder pouch to match🤗🍋🍋 had me in a zesty spell!
Ulalaaaa came through with pancakes and they were warm, and finger-licking good, and hit the spot , just like they do every.single.time.
Bless this child!🫶🏽
And just this Friday gone, she invited me over to hers for even more pancakes! After which she and her sister presented me these lovely lemon plates with lemon body care to boot. I was over the moon to say the least!
This here teacher is eternally grateful, and I miss my space but most of all, the kids, sorely.
Prep work for summer camp is well under way and it’ll be all systems GO the next 3 weeks during which I’ll be pinning for my bed and idle days again, so ramping up on the summer self care, and soaking up the sun as much as I can.
Haven’t registered your child yet? You can still do so here, as there’s still a handful of slots still available! Summer camps are the best way to embark on adventurous activities- the tried and true tested form of self-care available for kids before September rears it’s big head and they go on to become adults and realise adulthood is a scam😅
For unforgettable memories this summer, I await your young ones with eager anticipation🤗
Do the damned thing and have yourself a wonderful summer!
