Smorgasbord Posts from Your Archives -#NewSeries February 2021- ‘Pot Luck’ and Do You Trust Me??

Posted on January 9, 2021 by Smorgasbord - Variety is the Spice of Life.

Since this series began in January 2018 there have been over 1000 Posts from Your Archives where bloggers have taken the opportunity to share posts to a new audience… mine.

The topics have ranged from travel, childhood, recipes, history, family and the most recent series was #PotLuck where I shared a random selection of different topics.

In this series I will be sharing posts from the last six months of 2020

It is an opportunity to showcase your writing skill to my readers and also to share on my social media. Which combined is around the 46,000 mark. If you are an author your books will be mentioned too, along with their buy links and your other social media contacts.

How to feature in the series?

All I need you to do is give me permission to dive in to your archives and find two posts to share here on Smorgasbord. (sally.cronin@moyhill.com)
Rather than a set topic, I will select posts at random across a number of subjects from the last six months of 2020.
As I will be promoting your books as part of the post along with all your information and links so I will not be sharing direct marketing or self- promotional posts in the series.
If you are an author I am sure you will have a page on your blog with the details, and an ‘about page’ with your profile and social media links (always a good idea anyway). I will get everything that I need.
As a blogger I would assume that you have an ‘about page’ a profile photo and your links to social media.
Copyright is yours and I will ©Your name on every post… and you will be named as the author in the URL and subject line.
Previous participants are very welcome to take part again.
Each post is reformatted for my blog and I don’t cut and paste, this means it might look different from your own post.
If I do share a post which contains mainly photographs I will share up to five and link back to the original post for people to view the rest.

N.B – To get the maximum benefit from your archive posts, the only thing I ask is that you respond to comments individually.. thank you.

To show how your post will look when featured… here is an example from the last series in August 2020 featuring a post from Pete Springer.

The Humor of Life by Pete Springer

Today, I got quite a laugh when I opened the mail and found an unexpected check waiting for me. What’s so humorous about that? Shouldn’t I be planning on where to spend my good fortune? That’s where the funny part comes in. If you look closely, you will see that the check is for six cents. I’m sure I’ve never received a smaller check in my life.

Most people would not be bothered by something so trivial, but then I’m not “most people.” Moments like these are what make life hysterical. How often does the postage cost more than the check itself?

As American radio broadcaster Paul Harvey used to say, “And now, the rest of the story.” Most people hate the process of buying a vehicle because they don’t like high-pressure sales tactics. I can still remember buying my first vehicle (a pumpkin orange, 1973 Chevy Nova) from King Richard’s Cars. After that experience, I realized I needed to get better at the car buying game. I wasn’t in control, and I didn’t like that feeling. Since then, I walk into a car dealership much more informed and in control of the negotiations process. A few months back, I wrote about my latest car buying experience. Waging War at the Car Dealership

One of the biggest consumer rip-offs is the old interest game, and yet so many of us continue to play. Banks and other lending institutions are modern-day loan sharks. Rather than donate thousands of dollars of interest over the next four-five years, I decided to pay off my loan as quickly as possible.

My wife wrote the last check to settle the balance, and the pink slip should be arriving any day. In the meantime, we must have slightly overpaid, and I was issued my six-cent refund check.

I can hardly wait to go into my bank in the next couple of days and hand over my check to see the reaction from the teller. “Would you like that in cash or deposited directly into your account? How would you like your money, sir?” Now that’s a tough decision. Should I ask for a nickel and a penny, or six pennies? Maybe I’ll ask for a dime and offer four cents in return.

Okay, I know what you’re thinking. This guy has too much time on his hands if he’s thinking about all of this useless stuff. What can I tell you? That’s the way my mind works.

It’s just that life offers us the best humor if we’re paying attention. Who would have dreamed fifty years ago that we’d be paying over a dollar for a bottle of water? Who knew I’d have to stay on hold for over thirty minutes with the cable company to figure out what’s wrong with my television remote? (More than likely, it’s the guy operating it.)

One of my favorite types of humor is irony. I recall reading a newspaper story of a traffic cop who got his license suspended for failing to pay his parking tickets. What’s better than reading a Facebook post written by someone who’s complaining about how useless Facebook is? One of my favorite real-life stories of irony involves a good friend of mine. He now manages the same apartment complex he once was evicted from. Priceless!

In the meantime, keep an eye out for me. I’ll be the guy on television in a few years doing an Infomercial about how I turned my six cents into millions. The good news is you’ll only have to pay $99 to find out how you can do it, too, with my “proven system.”😎

©Peter Springer 2020

About Pete Springer

My name is Pete Springer. I taught elementary school for thirty-one years (grades 2-6) at Pine Hill School in Eureka, CA. Even though I retired over three years ago, my passion will always lie with supporting education, kids, and teachers.

When I came out of the teaching program many years ago, I realized how unprepared I was for what was in store for me in the classroom. My college education focused mostly on learning theory rather than the practical day-to-day challenges that all teachers face. Thankfully, I had some great mentors to lean on to help support me in the early part of my career.

I have made it my mission to pay it forward to the next generation of teachers. I was a master teacher to four student teachers, and I have several former students who are now teachers, including one who teaches at my former elementary school. That is pretty cool!

While I was teaching, I decided that one day I would write books for children. That ship is now in the harbor. I took some writing workshops, found a critique group, joined SCBWI (Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators), and I’m nearing the end of writing my first middle-grade novel. I’m writing for middle-school boys, as I don’t feel there are enough good books for that age level.

One of the recent reviews for the book

D. W. Peach A valuable resource for new teachers

I was impressed with this highly accessible, entertaining, and informative read. A long-time educator, Springer shares his practical experience and the wisdom gleaned from working with children within the educational system. My impression was that the book is geared toward new teachers as it offers ideas about setting up a classroom, dealing with colleagues, administrators, students, and parents.

As an early childhood mental health counselor, I was most interested in Springer’s thoughts about discipline. I was glad to discover a thoughtful, holistic approach to children and their challenges in light of the stressors in their lives. Springer highlights a number of strategies that would be helpful to parents as well as to educators.

Most of the chapters provide concrete and anecdotal examples of Springer’s approach in action. He touches on cultural diversity, grief, problem-solving, and other life experiences that are part of a child’s broader education. My favorite chapters were Memorable Students and Funny Moments at School. These two chapters are testaments to his success as an educator as well as to the joy and value of teaching in general.

Read the reviews and buy the book: Amazon US – and: Amazon UK – Website: Pete Springer WordPress – Twitter: @OfficerWoof

So if you would like to be included in this series of posts from the archives then please email me on sally.cronin@moyhill.com with your confirmation that you are happy for me to select two blog posts to share.