alifrew

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...

 Finally finished my animal lover badge. I just needed to get the final clause of researching an endangered animal done and I've finally finished the junk journal I recorded it in! Very happy! The next few badges look like fun and I'm excited to get started. Just need to finish off September. Still not done the cake and feel like  I need a different Charly Made Me Do It photo. I've ordered another pile of badges too. Can't help myself!

I've done 4/5 craft projects for craft 1 and have been struggling over the final one. I have a couple of craft kits that I could use that match the brief but when I've started them, they've looked really rubbish and I can't see an actual final product coming out of them. Then my lovely friend had a baby so I'm making a quilt for her, which I had always intended to do. Had another look at the criteria and quilting is right there!! Hoping to see her at the weekend so I should be all set to finish the badge by then. Just need to get it done now. Still have my endangered animal book to finish to claim animal lover and haven't made my scrapheap challenge product yet so looking forward to getting those done. It's going to be a busy few days. Also need to bake a sausage dog cake. I think that work are having a Macmillan coffee morning next week so I'll have to get my bake on this weekend and see if I can make a decent start on the baker badge. I don't usual...

 September has been a bit of a slow month so far as the back-to-school carnage is still taking precedent. I feel like I'm getting to grips with things a bit more now though and finding a bit more time to spend on badges. I've been so tired in the evenings that I've not had the energy to do much. I'm getting into more of a routine of stupidly early mornings now though. I took part in the Bader team chat on Facebook last night and thoroughly enjoyed being able to talk about badges for a bit with other people who are working on badges. People at work find the whole thing very entertaining and are always asking what badges I'm working on and what crazy things I've been up to in the quest for points, but they don't really get it. I'm still battling my way through Madly Deeply for Rebel Readers book club this month but I'm really finding it hard to get into. It was clearly written with the intention of never being read, therefore isn't very engaging. I...

 Well, you can tell school season has started again!! I was staying on top of this blog pretty well and getting a lot of badge work done. I've been so busy since term started that blogging has taken a back seat and badge work definitely hasn't stopped but it has slowed down a bit. I'm still plugging away at the Go Wild badge. I'm struggling for a few clauses on the Nature Lover badge so need to have a really good think this weekend about how I am going to finish the badge. I'm doing ok with palaeontologist and have made a dinosaur reading cushion this evening. That's another clause ticked off and a Christmas present made, so all good there. Need to get that one finished by the end of the month as part of Go Wild so this weekend will be a good chance to get stuck in to trying to finish that one. I've been watching a brilliant program on the National Geographic channel called The Secrets of Elephants. It's part of the Nature Lover badge but I'm going t...

I'm on with my September bonus, with points awarded for the 40th picture already. I'm not sure about the cake one. Might swerve that as I don't eat cake and don't have a lot of baking supplies. However, do I use it for the baker's badge? I made my father-in-law a birthday cake a couple of weeks ago and there will be a Macmillan coffee morning taking place at work soon so I could get a few things ticked off there. Decisions, decisions... I have an old duvet cover that I'd quite like to sew into a few useful items to use around the house. I'm also going to look into reducing waste as much as possible, although we do already make quite an effort to do this. I need to be more focused when shopping as I feel like I bring home more packaging than is ideal. I do reuse or recycle it, but I could certainly reduce it. I need to be more organised with my shopping and cooking, especially now that I am back at work. I am far too inclined to eat toast or cereal because I...

I posted my all-day breakfast waffle picture on the Facebook group earlier this month and then was so busy trying to get super scavenger that the other monthly bonus points kind of skipped my attention. Fortunately I've sorted myself before the end of the month and took my courgette photo this morning and did a bit of charity shop trawling this afternoon to pick myself up an outfit. I've bought something from every charity shop in my town but didn't manage 8 as we don't have that many and I won't be near any others before the end of the month, I don't think. I've not put my outfit on for a photo yet and I've not posted my courgette photo so that needs doing tomorrow. I've been researching a few clauses and getting on with a bit more badging so quite happy with my progress this month. It'll be my last good push for a while as the beginning of the new school year is always a tiring one. Need to keep pushing my outside time for the Go Wild badge, wh...

 I've been putting quite a bit of time into researching some clauses to try to get a few more things ticked off before I go back to work. I'm aiming for one a day but sometimes it ends up being a bit more. I was researching a range of ciphers for the codebreaking badge yesterday and had to give up because one completely stumped me and I just didn't understand it at all. I've had another go today using different websites and I still don't get it. I've also got my husband to have a look so I've had to call it a day on that one. I've done all the others and found it really interesting to learn about them though. I'm really hoping to finish a few badges before the end of the month as I'd like to ramp up my points as much as possible. Bader aren't doing too well in the cup so anything helps! I did a big badge order this week and my 25 point badge has turned up. I'm on 20 points so far and have earned 5 this month for Super Scavenger so I'v...

 I've been researching the three Mesozoic eras this morning as part of  research for the palaeontology badge. It was very interesting too! I've never been massively interested in dinosaurs, but always thought I should look into it a bit. As a primary school teacher, I come across a lot of children who are very passionate about this topic and I like to be able to have interesting discussions with them about things that interest them. Maybe this year I might actually be able to do so!! I've also been to a fabric shop today and picked up some dinosaur fabric so have some sewing to do!! I've also now completed two virtual escape rooms which will count towards codebreaker, bought a courgette as my home-grown ones are ridiculously small and not at all ready to be picked. Now need to place it somewhere ridiculous!! I also picked up another charity shop item to add to my outfit. Need to get a move on with that...

I've finally done it!! I managed to pass the Super Scavenger badge! I'm so chuffed with myself. And hubby really, as he has been the taker of photos and chauffeur to random places to find the items and get the photos taken. I have just ordered my badge, along with a few others as I'm always too excited to order just the one!! I've started work on a few other badges and earned one that I haven't even bought yet, so that's been an exciting order, which I can't wait to receive! I've not done a huge amount of work towards the August challenges yet as SS took over, so need to get on with those before the end of the month. That will be this week's focus, I think, along with a couple more clauses to finish off a badge or two that are very nearly done now. I've got some research to do as well on quite a few badges that I've been thinking about for a while and just haven't done yet. Might make a point of fitting in as much this week as I can. As s...

I've spent the last few days in London on a little trip with my husband and managed to fit in lots of badge activities whilst not really trying to. On our way down, we stopped off to see my in-laws and it's nearly my father-in-law's birthday, so I made him a birthday cake to drop off whilst we were there. That's one more clause ticked off for the birthday badge that I'm doing from last year as I joined Rebels too late to get the Life Less Ordinary badge. We went to the Royal Observatory which helps with the stargazer badge. We also visited the planetarium. I'll be doing reviews for critic as well. The Natural History Museum was perfect for the palaeontology badge as well as giving me dinosaurs in eggs for the super scavenger badge. I had already put a model of a dinosaur in an egg at home but took an extra picture anyway. I was very excited to visit the Spitalfields City Farm as well, which works towards Animal Lover. It was a really well set up and managed farm...

 This scavenger hunt is proving to be quite tricky!! I've had my post returned twice now as the photos aren't exact enough to meet super scavenger requirements. I'm in two minds as to whether to continue chasing it or not. I have really enjoyed everything  I have done to get this far and I don't want to spoil it by pushing it too far. It has been so much fun but with me not driving, I've either had to walk, use public transport or ask my long-suffering husband to drive me. A lot of the things I don't have access to, and don't have children so am not likely to be in a place where I would see them. There is now a limit on how many photos you can take in shops and I don't own some of the other things so it would cost me to buy them and I don't feel like that's a good use of my money. So I'm really undecided about continuing to fight for the super scavenger or just be happy with what I achieved. If it wasn't throwing it down with rain and if ...

I actually think I might have done it! I think I have collected enough photographic evidence to at least put them forward for the super scavenger badge. I've just logged in to my account to get the order number for my scavenger badge order and all the photos I can possibly get are taken. I now just have to hope that none of them are refused for not being enough to meet the clause... We went on a slightly bonkers trip yesterday evening to get the final photos last night and ended up watching a live band rather unexpectedly.  Might just be the beginning of the music lover badge.

I've been out again, hunting down more items for the scavenger hunt. I'm doing fairly well but completely stumped on a few. I'm definitely closer to the Super Scavenger badge but I still don't think I'll get there. I haven't half had a few funny looks whilst I've been taking photos of myself in several dodgy situations. I'm off on a trip out tomorrow to try to finish up. I've started to keep a new diary for the diarist badge as the last one didn't work out too well. I'm not good at keeping a regular diary so I've bought one with prompts in it to see if that helps. I've also got a plain office-type diary to keep a note of what badge work I've done each day. I always think I haven't done anything when I pretty much do something every day so I thought this might help me stay on top of my progress. I also know it will really annoy me to not have anything to write it in, so it will keep me motivated, especially when I go back to wo...

 The eagerly-awaited scavenger hunt has been released!! I really wanted to try for the super scavenger hunt badge but I doubt I'll manage it, looking at the list. I'll give it a go but I'm not going to hold out too much hope. Really proud of my 12 points for July. I feel like that's quite a good effort for my third month of being a rebel. I completed reader and scrapbooker, did all three activities for the July bonuses and attended a virtual meet up with the rebel readers. I also did BKS so that made a great points total for this month.  Rebel plans for this week include trying to collect as many things on the scavenger hunt list as possible, clearing out my wardrobe for a charity donation and trying to finish craft 1. I have one more craft to do and a scarf to finish. I'm pretty close with the scarf so that should be do-able. I need to put some time into some of the research sections of the badges I am working on. Now is the perfect time to get stuck in, whilst I a...

I joined in with The Rebel Readers online book discussion for the first time today and had a great time. I joined the group as soon as I heard about it in the Facebook group and have read all the books but haven't managed to join any of the online meet ups until today. I had a thoroughly lovely time discussing the book and am looking forward to the next one already. My soap-making kit arrived today so I'm looking forward to having a go at that soon. I'm making good progress with my quilt too and have finished sewing all of the quilt blocks today. I 'm currently trimming them down then need to bind them together to finish the top. After I've quilted it, I'm going to have a go at using a self-binding method and a baby blanket as the backing. Slightly nervous but very excited to see how it turns out... I've done a fair bit of knitting over the last week and have nearly finished the scarf I started as part of the craft badge. I need to see my friend soon to glaz...

 I took my houseplant for a walk last night! Yep, I went to the beach on the north-west coast where some of the filming for Andor was done and took 5 photos of the plant at various filming locations. Also ticked off a few more BKS clauses by making the houseplant a sandcastle, going on a swing and a slide and having a picnic of favourite childhood foods. In other news, my Advanced Reader badge has started as I have chosen a challenge - to read 75 books from my TBR list. I have a bookcase in the house which is FULL of books that I have bought or borrowed (mostly bought) and not read yet. Some of them I have even bought twice and not read, as I discovered when I did a big book clear-out at Christmas to make space for new purchases. This isn't an ok situation, so I need to make a big dint in this as I know I will continue to buy more. I'm not banning myself from buying more books as I recently bought an e-reader and don't have a huge pile of books on it yet, and I also take pa...

Well, the summer holidays have started and the weather so far has been pretty rubbish. It's given me some time to do some badge work, which is great, but is also limiting outdoor time which is stopping me from getting on with a few things, annoyingly! I made my dinosaur fossils and absolutely love them. I want to try to replicate something similar with the children at school next year so need to to come up with an idea where they can make their own. They'd love it. I still need to paint mine but it's a clause well on its way to being ticked off. I've also put a fair bit of time into my scarf and it's now more than halfway through. That's a great one for Craft 1. I had thought about doing calligraphy with this as part of the diarist badge and do a gratitude diary but I've been rubbish at keeping up with it regularly. I need to work out a way of doing this well... Instead of calligraphy, I'm going to do quilting and have made a start on a baby quilt for a ...

I'm starting the palaeontology badge this week and have been doing a bit of research into how to make my own fossils because this sounds very exciting. I've been getting prepped to do a lot of badge work over the next six weeks and I think the fossils will be the first one. Plaster of Paris has arrived, as have my dinosaur toys and I picked up some modelling clay on the way home. The weather forecast doesn't look great for the weekend so I think badge work will win!! Although perhaps not Big Kid Summer... I went to watch Six! The Musical last week so I'm going to review that for the critic badge and try to organise a few more things to watch/listen to so I can get working on that in earnest. I've finished the reader badge, strictly speaking, but I'm in the middle of a book and want that to count towards it so I'm not officially finishing until tomorrow then I'll claim it. I've done everything else and started in April, so just need to document all my...

Work has been pretty bonkers recently so haven't done as much badging as I would like to have done. I've only got one week left before a big holiday though, so should get plenty of time to get stuck into a load of badge work whilst I am off. I'll be finishing my reading badge tomorrow, which marks three months since I discovered rebel badges. I started the reading badge the day I read about it in the book as I had unplanned surgery the day after my first book turned up, so was a bit limited in movement. Reading fit the bill perfectly though. I'm very slowly working my way through Big Kids Summer. I tried rum and raisin ice cream today. I know it's not a particularly exciting choice but it was the only one the ice cream van had that I had never tried. Really didn't like it!! Won't be having that again. Raisins in ice cream? No. Just no! Determined to try something more pleasant before the end of the month.  I had to pop into town today so I bought some water ...