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#FridayFiction

December 12, 2014 By John Adams 14 Comments

Short story; Standing by the friendship bench

December 6, 2014 By John Adams 10 Comments

Short story; The Ambassador’s kiss

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I’m John Adams and welcome to my award-winning blog. Since 2011 I’ve been the main carer for my two daughters and run the household while my wife has worked full-time. This blog tells our story. Follow this link to find out more about us.

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#AD We all know about the standard uses of smart t

#AD We all know about the standard uses of smart tech, but what about fun ways to make the most of it? How about using smart lights as disco lights or for summoning children downstairs at mealtimes? How about using door sensors to soup-up a game of hide and seek?

This is exactly what I’ve been doing with a bundle of products from @HiveHomeUK. Picture here is my daughter Izzy sneaking back in to the house and hoping her sister doesn’t notice the door sensor has been tripped!

(Quick note: Hive is having an autumn sale. You can save up to 30% on selected Hive Smart Home device, but hurry up, the sale ends on 5th October.)

I’d always thought about smart tech as a way to increase efficiency and cut down our spending. With a little imagination, we’ve been having fun with our Hive products. After months of lockdown and the stress of homeschooling, it was one way to have some light-hearted fun at home.

The runaway success in our house was definitely the Hive Light smart lighting system. Using the Hive app you can change the light’s colours and Helen and Izzy have had masses of fun playing with them. Changing the light colours has also worked very well when we wanted to notify the children it was time to get ready for bed or to come downstairs at mealtimes.

The Hive Active Plug, meanwhile, has provided us with a night light and helped settle the children at night. Better still, I could set it to turn off at sunrise so we didn’t waste money on electricity.

Do go take a look at my blog for other ways to put Hive tech to good use at home (link in bio). Do though, leave a comment below with your fun suggestions for using smart tech.
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#HarmonyAtHome #HiveHomeHacks #Hive #HiveSmartTech #SmartTech #Family #FamilyHome #FamilyTech #Technology #HiveHub #HiveLights #HomeImprovement #Interiors #Influencer #Pbloggers #Review #Technology #TechReview #Efficiency #SmartApp #UkDadBloggers #LockdownLife #InstaTech #Ideas #Inspiration #Creative

Are you sharing a hone office with a spouse or par

Are you sharing a hone office with a spouse or partner? If so, how’s it going?

Mrs Adams and I have long said we could never, ever work together. Seriously, we couldn’t do it. It would be a big mistake.

Thanks to COVID-19, however, we find ourselves sitting a couple of metres apart in the same home office during school hours (well, most of them anyway!).

I think we both have our eccentricities. Mrs Adams will often read @mumsnet at lunchtime and choose a really bad moment when I’m deep in thought to tell me about the latest comments on the #AIBU discussion thread. Likewise, if no one is around I will quite often work wearing nothing but underwear (...less so these days as my wife is often Zooming colleagues!).

You can read about it all on the blog (link in bio), but tell me, how is shared home-office working out for you? Is it as you expected?
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#remoteworking #sharedoffice #sharedhomeoffice #freelance #freelancelife #workingfromhome #wfh #flexiworking #flexibleworking #homeworking #marriage #relationship #relationships #dadbloguk #pbloggers #husbandandwife #husbands #wifes #family #familytime #funny #home #house #work #working #workingparents #workingmums #workingdads #workingmoms

{.a.d.} It's official! I am going to sit a maths G

{.a.d.} It's official! I am going to sit a maths GCSE exam this November.

Regular followers will know I flunked the exam when I was at school, something that's been an open wound for me throughout adulthood. After months of studying with online tutoring service @pitutor I have registered to sit a foundation paper with a plan to possibly sit the higher paper next year.

When I registered to sit the exam, however, I got two shocks. Firstly, I had failed to appreciate that there was a deadline to enter the exam as a private student. With hindsight, I realise this was incredibly stupid of me. It was incredibly fortunate I got in touch with the test centre when I did as I called just hours before the deadline expired!

The second shock? Well that was the cost of doing the exam. I knew the exam fee was £40. What I hadn't appreciated was that there were invigilator and admin costs on top of this. By the time I registered I was two hundred and fifty quid worse off!

Not, you understand, that there was any risk of me not paying. I've come so far improving my abilities and confidence that I simply had to pay.

Full story is on the blog (link in bio).

Oh, and the picture? That's me sending up #RussellCrowe who played #NobelPrize winning mathematician #JohnNash in the film #ABeautifulMind.

I may need to get the GCSE before I aim for the Nobel Prize ‘though.
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#maths #mathsgcse #mathsexam #mathsexamination #onlinetutor #onlinestudy #maturestudent #mathsconfidence #imamathsperson #numeracy #adultnumeracy #dadbloguk #influencer #dadtribe #pbloggers #ukdadbloggers #nationalnumeracy #education #schooling #student #development #personaldevelopment #learning #lifelonglearning

It’s that time of year! Doesn’t quite feel rig

It’s that time of year! Doesn’t quite feel right though. Still seems very warm for all the conkers and acorns to be on the ground.

Whatever you’re doing this glorious Sunday...enjoy.
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#conkers #autumn #fall #september #september2020 #fun #childhood #family #familytime #parenting #latesummer #dadbloguk #influencer #dadblogger #pbloggers #outdoors #adventure #outside #activekids #collectingconkers #collectingmoments #location #trees #activelifestyle #fatherhood #dadtribe

My view for much of this morning. I took my kaya

My view for much of this morning.

I took my kayak out on the lake. It was great to paddle out, pull in the paddles and sit on the calm waters doing...nothing!

I have come to realise how unrelenting lockdown was. I don’t think I took enough time out for myself at all so I’m planning to get out on the water once a week for the next month or so while it’s still warm enough.

...I also think I’m definitely building up muscle in my upper body!
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#kayak #kayaking #lake #water #aquasports #paddlesports #calm #tranquil #fun #peace #watersports #canoeing #fun #peace #metime #dadbloguk #lockdownlife #blogger #dadblogger #ukdadbloggers #fwis #sitonkayaking #sitonkayak #discoverunder10k #onthewater

A dramatic photo that symbolises a roller coaster

A dramatic photo that symbolises a roller coaster of a week!!

It started off in calm waters on a lake (see the paddle boarding pic on my grid). We then had a small ‘Rona scare. It was a false alarm but, oh my word, I had to get to grips with the ‘Rona testing system and it did nothing for my blood pressure!

Hope you like the pic. Full story behind it is on the blog (link in bio).
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#Sunset #sunrise #sunflowers #canonpics #photoedit #drama #test #dadbloguk #mysundayphoto #flowers #dramaticsky #redsky #redskies #influencer #dadinfluencer #farm #flowerfarm #tranquil #calm #bloodpressure #health #wellbeing #backtoschool #blogger #familylife #pbloggers #familytime #colourful #contrast

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