363. The Spoils of Success - Christina Sinclair: Salty Sam's Fun Blog for Children

January 28th, 2022

Salty Sam’s Fun Blog for Children

Number 363

The Spoils of Success

Hello Everyone

And welcome to part four of my how to find success ideas…

Sometimes the quickest way to make a new start in your life is to change your surroundings.

When what you see what around you is different, you feel different.

How could you do this?

PRlZE ONE – a good environment

Could you tidy your bedroom, move the furniture around, get a new hairstyle or start making important plans while you are on holiday?

You could add things into your environment that make you happy like: flowers from the garden in vases, or nice music, or pictures of people you like.

This can mark a new era in your life.

When you have a tidy and ordered desk/cupboard/bedroom/school bag/pencil case, you feel tidy and well-ordered yourself.

You feel calm and ready to start new projects.

You need to be successful in small projects before you can start tackling bigger ones.

PRlZE TWO – personal growth

As you move purposefully towards your goals you will find yourself growing as a person.

Replace the bad with the good.

PRlZE THREE – giving yourself your own pep talk

Keep telling yourself this is possible over and over again. You will believe yourself after a while. Be a kind friend to your brain. Give it kind words and encouragement. Be your own cheerleader!

Everyone has their own inner dialogue, and it has a tendency towards being negative and self-critical. Sometimes, bad thoughts are useful because they are warning us that we need to take action to change a situation.

Sometimes, bad thoughts do not serve us and help us at all. The quickest way to delete these thoughts, is to replace them with better ones.

And these new thoughts need to focus on solutions to problems, what is going right and what you can be grateful for.

Forgive yourself and other people for mistakes made. This liberates (frees) you.

lf you hate other people for things they have done to you, it is like taking poison and expecting them to die. Bad thoughts in your head can make your body ill. lf you can’t use the word ‘forgive’ then just say – let it go!

This is all very difficult to do, but you will get better and better at it, if your absolutely force yourself to practice. Say out loud what you want to think even if you don’t believe it at first. This sounds strange, but try it out.

To achieve your goals is wonderful, but to know how you have become stronger and more capable as a person in order to do this is wonderful too.

You must become a good-quality person to achieve great things.

That means being strong and wise and making sure that you treat other people in a good way.

ln order to create a life that you like living, you have to make sure that you are the person you want to be first.

PRlZE FOUR – having a good attitude

Keeping a good attitude is really important. lt is much more likely to make you a success.

Admire successful people.

Don’t be jealous of them. lt eats you up inside, but it doesn’t harm them.

PRlZE FlVE – follow in the tracks of successful people

Find out how they became successful, and learn from them.

lf you can read biographies of successful people, you may be very surprised to find how many problems and struggles and delays and tough times they had before they became successful.

When you see people who have done well for themselves, you might think that it happened overnight. This is because you only see the success and not the journey they travelled on before they got there.

Sometimes people who start from poor beginnings do very well in life because they learn how to push against adversity. You may have to struggle to get what you want.

Nothing in the world beats persistence.

PRlZE SlX – take stock and use what you have

When you are looking for success, you always have to start where you are with what you have.

You can start by deciding to eat good food and have enough sleep.

These are quick and easy things to start with.

lf you are in a time in your life where you are under a lot of strain and you can’t change things straight away, at least you can eat healthy foods and take exercise to support your body.

lf lots of things are happening and there is a lot to do, at least you can eat healthy foods and take exercise to support your body.

PRlZE SEVEN – show an attitude of gratitude

Some people get a better start in life than others, but a lot of people who make it really big have had really humble beginnings.

They are grateful for what they have and learn to fight for more – but not in a nasty, greedy way, but through hard work and showing kindness to others along the way. They don’t forget to look after their health, wealth and family as they work hard to move forward.

The more you learn how to do this, the better you will get at it.

The more you focus on what you do have rather than what you don’t have, the happier your life will be.

The happier you are, the more you are likely to draw other good things towards you.

PRlZE ElGHT – climb the staircase one step at a time

To move forward, you have to always be looking at the step in front of you.

You may not be able to see the end of the path or staircase you have chosen to climb but you can always find the next step if you think carefully and know in which direction you ultimately want to go.

lf you know that you want to achieve something, try to find the most fun way to do it.

lf you want to lose weight, join a dance class or go swimming – what kind of exercise would you most enjoy?

lf you want to learn to play a musical instrument and you can’t afford to buy one, might a member of your family have one in their attic that they don’t want anymore? lt never hurts to ask.

lf you want to pass exams, would it help to sit with your friends and test each other? Would it help to write out revision notes on coloured cards with coloured pens rather than just looking through piles of notebooks?

Would it help to learn maths if you played games with numbers?

lf you want to learn how to swim, could you join an after school club?

lf you want to learn a new skill, can you find a book in the local or school library to help you?

lf you want to learn more vocabulary, find a beautiful notebook and fill it with the new words that you find and lots of lovely pictures to make it beautiful.

lf you want to improve your reading, could you ask an older brother or sister or cousin or neighbour or parent or grandparent to help you?

Sometimes people don’t know what you are thinking or upset about unless you tell them.

Create you own projects – make them fun.

Make moving forward enjoyable rather than a chore. Remember that to get really good at something often takes a lot of practice.

When you do things in this way, you will find that you are much more able to keep to your plans for your own growth.

Success happens when preparation meets opportunity.

PRlZE NlNE – live large and in charge

To be successful as an adult, you must take responsibility for your own decisions, look after your health, learn how to save money, be nice to other people, keep learning new things all the time and keep trying to turn bad things into good.

Liking what you do for a living is really important which is why it is important to try and do well at school.

Keeping a balance in all areas is good too.

There is no point in being really rich but lonely, very brainy but have an unhealthy body because you live off chips and fizzy drinks, be good at sport but no ability to get a good job.

PRlZE TEN – enjoy the ride

There is no point in just living for tomorrow and not enjoying the ride along the way.

Enjoy the process as well as the results.

Look at what you have achieved and not just what is still to do.

Celebrate your successes and give yourself time off to relax and lots of treats.

So l hope you enjoyed these posts and they got you thinking.

You may find it helpful to write all the information from these four blog posts into a notebook and read through what you have written over and over again to really get everything into your head.

There are a lot of things to remember in order to live a successful life.

Write in and tell me what your goals are if you like; and your successes – they may give other people inspiration too.

lf you like my blog, please support it by telling all your friends and followers about it.

Thank you!

And see you again next Fun Friday!

Love and kisses

Salty Sam

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www.christina-sinclair.com

Bill and Bob’s Joke of the Week

Bill: l used to think that l was a wolf.

Bob: Oh, really?

Bill: Yes, but l’m alright noooooooooow!

Salty Sam © Christina Sinclair 2015

Unauthorized use and/or duplication of material from this blog without express and written permission from this blog’s author and owner is strictly prohibited.

Links may be used to www.christina-sinclair.com

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desk THE SALTY SAM NEWS DESK

This week Miss Pringle gave her class an English test.

What mistakes can you find in these sentences?

They didn’t read there e-mails this morning.
Don’t lay out in the sun for too long.
He is taller than I.
He is standing between all the trees.
I can’t hardly manage to lift it.
I didn’t know nothing about it.
Each of the boys had their homework marked.
He said me about it.
She past me in the corridor.
They hanged their coats up on the hooks.
People used to be hung for murder.
I think your going to be happy with your birthday present.
I could care less.
She is more pretty than her sister.
There are much fewer here.

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PLEASE CONTACT:

christina.sinclair.ads@aol.co.uk

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Quick Quiz

Walt Disney had a terrible job persuading banks to lend him money to fund his dreams when he started his business.

He had to believe in himself when nobody else would.

ln the end, he built one of the most successful businesses in the whole world.

Can you recognize some of the characters that featured in Disney’s cartoons?

C _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ a
S _ _ _ _ _ _ g B _ _ _ _ y
S _ _ w W _ _ _ e
M _ _ _ _ y M _ _ _ e
D _ _ _ _ d D _ _ k

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lt’s the Weekend!

HOW TO MAKE AN lN-THE-BLACK MONEY BOX WlTH DRAGON GUARD

‘Being in the black means’ that you have money.

This phrase comes from the days when bank statements were printed in black and red ink.

The money you had was shown in black ink and the money you owed showed on the list in red ink.

This money box is covered in double cross stitch worked in black metallic yarn to give it a real sparkle and it is edged in gold.

It looks really smart and you will be too if you start saving your money in it.

It has lots of room for coins and notes.

If you are left-handed, you might want to position the money slot on the left side rather than the right.

This cute little dragon will guard your savings.

If you want to sew him to the top of the box, secure him in place before you construct the box.

You will need to buy 2 sheets of plastic canvas to make this box.

You will need 2 sheets of 7 mesh 10.5 by 13.5 inches/26.7 by 34.3cm

Mark all your cutting lines with spare lengths of yarn and triple check your counting before you cut any panels.

First cut your panels:-

BOX

SIDES 2 panels 27 holes wide and 33 holes tall

2 panels 15 holes wide and 33 holes tall

BASE 1 panel 27 holes by 15 holes

INNER SKIN OF BOX

SIDES 2 panels 25 holes wide and 32 holes tall

2 panels 13 holes wide and 32 holes tall

BASE 1 panel 25 holes by 13 holes

LID

TOP 1 panel 29 holes by 17 holes

SIDES 2 panels 29 holes wide and 6 holes tall

2 panels 17 holes wide and 6 holes tall

INNER SKIN OF LID

TOP 1 panel 27 holes by 15 holes

SIDES 2 panels 27 holes wide and 5 holes tall

2 panels 15 holes wide and 5 holes tall

Cover all the outer panels with black metallic yarn using double cross stitch – but be careful to leave a gap to put in a money slot (6 by 2 double crosses)

DOUBLE CROSS STITCH

Come up on the odd numbers and down on the even

1 7 3

5 6

4 8 2

TO MAKE UP

Cut a slot for your money in the top of the lid and inner skin of the lid before you start constructing the box – it will be easy to see where to cut the hole between your stitching on the outside of the lid but then you can mark the inner panel by sewing two short lengths of yarn through both panels and then pulling them apart
Sew the dragon onto the top of then box at this point if you want to – it might be easier to just go ahead and construct the box and then rest the dragon on the top of the box
Sew around the money hole in yellow yarn making sure that the inner skin is in the correct position – then you will have the outer and inner lid top panels sewn together

Sew the inner skin sides to the inner skin top using white yarn – do not sew up the corners
Then fold these side panels down to give yourself room to work
Sew the sides of the lid to the top of the lid and sew up the corners using yellow yarn
Then sew around the rim of the lid using yellow yarn
Sew the inner side panels of the box to the base of the inner box (don’t sew up the corners) using white yarn
Sew the sides of the box to the base and sew up the corners using yellow yarn
Push the inner skin of the box into place and sew along the rim using yellow yarn

TIP

Make sure all your yellow stitches lie in the same direction to give a neater appearance to the box.

DRAGON FRONT (KNIT ONE)

Using 4mm knitting needles and light green yarn cast on 8 stitches

Purl 1 row

Knit 14 rows of stocking stitch

Change to dark green dk yarn

Knit 8 rows of stocking stitch

Don’t cast off

Cut off the yarn leaving a length of about 20cm and thread this through the stitches on your needle and pull the knitting needle away

DRAGON BACK (KNIT ONE)

Using 4mm knitting needles and dark green yarn cast on 9 stitches

Slip 1 (knit1, purl 1) repeat the last 2 stitches to the end of the row

Repeat the last row 23 times (24 rows of moss stitch)

Don’t cast off

Cut off the yarn leaving a length of about 20cm and thread this through the stitches on your needle and pull the knitting needle away

DRAGON BASE (KNIT ONE)

Using 4mm knitting needles and dark green yarn cast on 20 stitches

Cast off

Sew the knitting into a spiral – sew across it several times to make a solid disc

DRAGON LIMBS (KNIT FOUR)

Using 4mm knitting needles and dark green yarn cast on 6 stitches

Knit 6 rows of stocking stitch

Don’t cast off

Cut off the yarn leaving a length of about 10cm and thread this through the stitches on your needle and pull the knitting needle away

DRAGON EARS (KNIT TWO)

Using 4mm knitting needles and dark green yarn cast on 5 stitches

Knit 2 rows of garter stitch

Continue knitting in garter stitch

Decrease 1 stitch at the beginning of the next 4 rows

Cast off the last stitch

DRAGON SNOUT (KNIT ONE)

Using 4mm knitting needles and dark green yarn cast on 10 stitches

Cast off

Sew the piece of knitting into a spiral

Embroider 2 French knots (wrap the yarn around your needle 2 times) using red yarn to make two nostrils

DRAGON TAIL (KNIT ONE)

Using 4mm knitting needles and dark green yarn cast on 5 stitches

Slip 1 (knit1, purl 1) repeat the last 2 stitches to the end of the row

Repeat the last row 17 times (18 rows of moss stitch)

Don’t cast off

Cut off the yarn leaving a length of about 10cm and thread this through the stitches on your needle and pull the knitting needle away

DRAGON TAIL TIP (KNIT TWO)

Using 4mm knitting needles and red yarn cast on 3 stitches

Knitting in garter stitch decrease 1 stitch at the beginning of the next 2 rows

Cast off the last stitch

DRAGON WINGS (KNIT TWO)

Using 4mm knitting needles and dark green yarn cast on 5 stitches

Knit 2 rows of garter stitch

Knitting in garter stitch decrease 1 stitch at the beginning of the next 4 rows

Cast off the last stitch

TO MAKE UP

Sew up the side seams of the body and head right sides together using over-sew stitching
Turn the body and head the right way out
Pull the top of the head shut then stuff the head and body
Sew a strand of dark green yarn into the back of the neck and wrap it around the neck a couple of times, pull tight and secure the yarn into the centre back of the neck
Insert the base into the bottom of the dragon
Sew into place
Sew the snout into place
Sew along the side seams of all four limbs using over-sew stitching right sides together and turn them the right way out – this is a tricky job but you can use a yarn needles to help you
Tightly bind the wrists and ankles twice around with dark green yarn and secure the yarn
Stuff the arms with the ends of the yarn left over from the knitting
Sew the limbs securely to the sides or bottom of the body so that they point forward
Embroider two black eyes onto the face
Pinch the ears at the bottom and sew into place
Pull the tip of the long green tail in and bind some yarn around it to make it more pointed
Then sew along the underside of the tail using over-sew stitching with wrong sides together
Sew the two red tail tips together (wrong sides together)
Insert the tip of the green tail into the red tail tip and sew in place using red yarn (you just need to put a couple of stitches through the two tips)
Put a little stuffing into the top end of the tail to make it a touch bigger and then sew it to the base of the back
Neaten the edges of the wings if you need to by running yarn around the edges of them in a yarn needle
Sew the two wings together and then catch stitch the top and bottom of this seam to the back of the dragon