alifrew

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...

 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...