alifrew

 Just a very quick one to say Merry Christmas to all those who have been and will be celebrating this occasion. Peace and happiness to all x

  Ok, the school year is FINALLY over and it's Christmas and badging until the end of the year! Nothing more and nothing less! I have so many badges that just need a little bit to finish them off and a couple of additional things I can do to get some more points. I have one more badge order that I want to do at the beginning of January and then I am imposing a ban until I have earned all the badges I have started but not finished, or bought and not got round to starting yet. The only other badges I am allowing myself to start are ones linked to the quarterly challenges. I need to get a move on with my quilt as well. Very few badges have actually been sewn on as it's a pain to change the bobbin all the time and I want the thread to match the colour of the badge. It's going to be a very busy and mismatched quilt but I'm ok with that! Goals for next year are to complete a few patches with the aim of becoming an ultimate rebel at some point. I'm also going to take part ...

Badge work has been very slow this month as I am absolutely wrecked!! School is still in progress and we have another two days until we break up. Hoping I make it...  I've managed a few clauses of the winter challenge and a couple of bonus cup points. I am trying to drive the idea out of my head that December is about to finish. It isn't! The end of term isn't the end of the month! I'm really hoping that a couple of good sleeps will give me a bit more energy and I'll be able to crack on and finish a few badges that need one more bit doing and get a few more points. I need 18 this month so still have a fair few to go! I put in an order with one of my favourite scrapbooking companies for some paper that I thought would make a brilliant scrapbook for my fictional detectives and that turned up today so I'm looking forward to getting stuck into that. The supplies are beautiful so it should be great fun. I am very excited about setting up my new reading journal for ne...

Well, last weekend was my first ever rebelfest and it was absolutely amazing! I thoroughly enjoyed every single session and joined in with as much as I possibly could. There were a few things that I didn't take part in but still watched the sessions. All of the talks were really interesting and it was lovely to join chat groups and meet a few new people too. I put in an order with the badge store to guarantee my place in the cup next year and am very happy to have been able to get another Bader badge so I'm ready for another year. I've also volunteered to run some of the book club sessions so I think that will help me with the new Rebel community badge due out next year. There are a few more badges that I'm interested in as well and I'm giving myself a tough slog for next year with the 1000 hours outside, as I don't think that will be an easy one to go for... I bought the 75 cup point badge and also decided I'd go for the 100 point badge as well after finish...

It's been a bit of a poor month in terms of points this month. The craft fair pretty much took over and I just haven't had the time. I know that this happens; I'm just a bit gutted that I haven't got more done. I still have my poster to do for the science badge, which is tonight's job, and I'm hoping to finish a couple of other badges that just need a teeny bit finishing off. Can't see it all happening tonight though, and it definitely won't if I sit waffling here instead of cracking on... 

I have thoroughly enjoyed completing my random acts of kindness for November points. I have been playing the world rice game, having seen it in the group and earned a good few bowls of rice. I like to support a local rescue who boarded my rabbits when we went away on holiday once (and I ended up adopting another one from them!) so sent a donation of food, toys and treats to them. I went out tonight to leave a book for someone to find and on the way home, saw a big pile of dog mess on the pavement. It was not of a consistency to have been picked up in a bag so I made a couple of trips out with a kettle full of water to wash it down into the gutter and leave a clear pavement. Four acts of kindness for the rebels! I've also started my science fair badge this evening with a chromatography experiment using giant skittles. I haven't made my poster yet but will do tomorrow. I had a big badgemin session this evening as I feel like the craft market has completely taken over this month a...

 I have finally made a bit of a start on this by reading 'I am Malala'. It's taken me a while to get started on this one but what an interesting book. I borrowed it from the library at school as I have a few children in my class who I think would get a lot out of reading it and I've noticed that if they see me read a book, they will ask a few questions about it then ask to borrow it when I'm finished. They will have to wait a while though as my husband has borrowed it...

 I finished watching Bodies this evening as part of TV critic. I thoroughly enjoyed it, despite getting fairly frustrated in the beginning as I didn't feel like I was getting to grips with it quickly enough. It had been recommended by several people at work so I'd started to watch it with my husband and we found it very interesting in the first couple of episodes but expected things to be made a bit clearer far earlier than they were. It held our interest though. I loved the way it was split across different time frames and, in particular, the way the characters all met up in the end. The acting was fantastic and I found myself exclaiming out loud a couple of times which I only ever do if I am completely caught up in something. Poor Detective Whiteman... Overall, I thought it was a great idea, very well-executed. The only thing that might have been done better was the casting of the young actor who played Elias. The actor they cast was a brilliant actor but looked nothing even ...

I'm still a bit slack on the bonus points and Science Fair badge this month thanks to my craft fair prep but I've been doing fairly well with self-care. I was given a v particular and detailed mouthcare routine by my dentist to help reduce possible side-effects on my teeth of a medical condition. I've been for a check up today and have made an enormous difference already by following the routine stringently every day. I'm really pleased as it hasn't been easy. I've also been following my skincare routine fairly well daily and making very good use of all my tropic goodies. My skin is looking and feeling lovely. I now need to remember the additional weekly things regularly! I've not done so well with the night time improvements because I get too carried away with the book I am reading, but I also feel that I am doing very well improving my reading habits and branching out thanks to my reading challenges, and you can't win em all... I think things will impr...

 It's been a quiet weekend on the badging front. I'm so busy trying to get ready for this craft fair that everything else is going out of the window really. Two more weeks then I can try to get more done. Do need to sort out something sciencey to do and sort my bonus points though. I can finish My Collection this month when I've displayed all my books somewhere. I'll have been doing this blog for six months as well so that will be my writer badge too. I need to finish builder and detective and have joined buddy groups for historian  and rebel historian and not done even vaguely enough work on either of those. I've been doing well with a few other badges that are just on the go in the background. Critic and TV Critic are progressing nicely. Foodie is one I didn't intend to do but seem to have begun anyway, as is baker. I'm trying to get these finished before starting any others, except the monthly and quarterly ones as I've subscribed to those, therefore ...

 Another lovely evening chatting with fellow Baders. It's always nice to chat Rebel stuff with people who totally get it, but also a good feeling to have done some badge work this evening. I feel like it's taking a bit of a back seat at the moment as I am making things for a craft fair at the end of the month and it's not leaving me with a lot of spare time. I'm still doing little bits, like watching certain programs and doing the self-care and my collection stuff, but will need to devote a good chunk of time to it if I'm hoping to get any points at all this month... Which, of course, I am!!!

 It's been a bit of a quiet time as far as badges go due to an approaching craft fair that I am busy preparing for. I did finish the Halloween badge and I got the bonus points for Bader with a Viking long ship and some pretzels but I've been fairly quiet other than that. I need to try to finish off a couple of badges this month and make some progress on the ones I've begun but am still a long way off finishing. I finished Farmer this month by making my own butter and I used the pretzels I'd made to meet the bread clause. I think that was my only merit badge in October. I am in a couple of rebel groups for some badges and need to move on with those as part of the 2nd birthday badge. I have done a bit towards each of the badges but not enough really. Hopefully December will see a bit more progress. The Science Fair badge will be exciting and I'm looking forward to whatever experiment I choose to do. The random acts of kindness is a beautiful idea and I can't wait ...

 I've finally downloaded the badge tracker from the Facebook group and spent a very pleasant few hours this afternoon filling it in. It should hopefully help me see where I am up to a bit more easily than having to flip through an A3-sized book every time. I will continue to use my book but I'm hoping to sort some badgemin this week whilst I am off work and make sure I get some badges finished this month. I've not got any bonus cup points yet so that needs sorting and I am part-way through many badges that just need finishing.  I'm in several groups for rebel buddy and I haven't done much on either of those badges. One is Rebel History, one is Detective and one is Historian. I'm reading a book about the wives of Henry VIII at the moment and it feels like it is taking me a long time to get through it. Hopefully now I have some time off, I can get it finished and use some of his wives as the inspiration for a clause or two. I'm using Taylor and Rose for my fic...

Spent a lovely evening chatting with fellow Baders about our current badge work and progress towards the Halloween badge and the birthday badge. That's one part of one of the birthday badge clauses completed as you need to do two rebel meet ups. I should have done a fair few by the end of the quarter as there will be three rebel reader meets by then.  I'm doing the virtual rebel fest and I'm still toying with the idea of getting a ticket for the Stockport meet up. I'll join any other Bader meets as well, and I'm assuming there will be a few.  I've been  a bit slack with badge work this month so far and my reading has also taken a massive dip. I'm spending way too much time on my phone so need to have a word with myself and pick it up. I've also started watching Schitt's Creek, which is partly badge work as it's for TV critic, but it is stopping me from getting on with other stuff. Work has been pretty tiring but I have a week off now so need to m...

I think I may have solved the mystery of the missing childhood badges!! I was messaging my sister this evening and she mentioned that she had a pile of old Brownie and swimming badges from when we were kids. I am pretty sure that this is the bag I have been looking for!! I highly doubt that there are two of them in existence. I remember speaking to her about them after Mum gave them to me as I thought she might like to show them to her boys (my nephews). I must have taken them up to hers to show her and left them there. She is going to dig them out for me. I have also found my hexagon quilt template and made a start on cutting out some themed hexagonal fabric for the badges I have earned so far. I'm so excited about making this quilt, especially now the thought of some of those old Brownie and swimming badges seems like more of a possibility. I've got a few fun patches to go on there as well and am constantly on the lookout for any relevant ones. Feel like I used to see them ev...

Not managed to find my hexagon template or my brownie and swimming badges yet but have made a purchase of a few other badges and put some fabric through the wash that will  be the backs of my hexagons so feel like a small start has been made. If I'm honest, I've not done a great deal of looking. I did intend to this weekend but it didn't happen. I did sleep a lot though, and that's self- care!! I started watching Schitt's Creek last night, which will be something to review for my TV critic badge. Need a real push on the historian and rebel historian badges as I'm in groups for both of those and I'm not doing much towards either of them. Need to fix that over the next week or so. I've done a bit more on the detective badge which is another I'm in a group for and I'm hoping to do a bit of research this evening to take that even further. Might have a bit of a researchy evening for all three badges and make myself feel like I'm doing something. A...

 It's been a busy few days at work so I feel like badge stuff has taken a bit of a back seat this last week or so. My new badge order turned up, which was  very exciting and has really spurred me on to make a start on my quilt. I have a hexagon quilting template and would like to make individual hexagons with a mix of different fabrics, linked to whatever badge is sewn on them. I want to mix it up a bit as well so it is more of a life quilt and not just a rebel quilt, so I need to pull the house apart to see if I can find my old brownie and swimming badges. My mum gave them to me years ago when she found them in a drawer and I can't remember if I've put them somewhere random or thought that I would never have a use for them and put them in the bin. Desperately hoping I haven't but fear that may be the case as I had them in one place for ages and they now aren't there but I have no idea where I might have put them. The search will be a good excuse to have a tidy up a...

 I claimed the gardener badge in September, as I am a regular grower of fruit and vegetables and had already prepped a lot of seeds before discovering rebels in April. I grow a variety of different tomatoes from seed, always trying a few new ones every year. I like to experiment with  a range of different cucumbers and courgettes as well. I ended up losing a lot of seed starts due to unexpected surgery right at the heart of the planting season, but managed to pull enough together to be able to grow a decent amount.  At some point, I intend to document each of the badges I have earned and the specific work that I did for them as part of this blog. I'm hoping to claim the writer's badge next month as I started this blog in April, therefore it will have been six months. I'm not really counting April as I don't feel I did a huge amount that month due to being very new to Rebels, so I'm not planning to claim until the end of October. I'd like to ramp it up a bit for ...

Managed 24 points last month so very happy with that one. I've spent a bit of time this weekend updating my badge book and getting thoughts in order for October. I have a whiteboard in my dining room that I used to use when I was teaching from home during lockdown if I needed to demonstrate anything. It became a Badge Board yesterday and contains a long list of things I'd like to get done this month to tick off some clauses. I'm currently working on quite a few badges and need to put some serious time into those this month. I'll have a week off work so need to put that to good use. I'm hoping the weather will improve a bit as I'd like to get some more geocaching in before winter hits properly. I've really enjoyed what I've done so far but don't feel like I've got into it enough yet. I am due to finish a couple of badges next month that have been long term ones. I discovered Rebels in April but part way through so a few of the badges I started the...

I think it's been another good month, points-wise. I've not totalled them up yet as I haven't filled in my form, but I feel like I've done quite well. I got all the bonus points for September as I completed all of the challenges. The sausage dog cake proved particularly challenging!! A baker, I am not!! I completed Go Wild, which involved completing three wild badges. I already claimed one last month but finished the other two in September so will  be claiming those. I also finished Craft 1, Gardener and Animal Lover from the merit badge section so have those to claim too. Scrapheap Challenge was a great one and has definitely been one of my favourites. I was working on the first birthday badge as I couldn't do Life Less Ordinary. I only joined rebels in April and by the time I had worked out how everything worked, the badges had already sold out. I was also a bit limited through April and May after surgery so would not have been able to do many new things for the f...