I'm making the effort to keep my blog alive. As I get busier and busier I post less and less!
From now through June and into July I am going to be extremely busy. Tutoring is really taking off and I now spend almost 6 hours a week tutoring,in addition to 15 hours in school as a TA. I'm trying to stick to a couple of evenings a week for the tutoring, I don't want to spend every evening dashing around and preparing rubbish dinners for the kids!
Coursework with the OU is going well, by the end of this month I'll have got through 5 assignments and will be ready to get to work on the project for U316 as well as another TMA for mid June (or was it two...must look at the study calendars before it's too late!)
This weekend was spent examining maths SATs scripts. I spent 6 hours in London yesterday for the training, and 4 hours online (with 3 laptop crashes)this morning marking 15 practice maths scripts to ensure I am good enough for the real scripts, and I was, thank goodness! So now I await the arrival of some 450 scripts (although I have a sneaky feeling one script actually means 3 papers to mark - Paper A, Paper B and the mental maths paper)which need marking over the next 4 weeks. It'll work the brain cells that's for sure, and not something to do late in the evening!
My jogging blog is pretty dead too, what with work there isn't much time or energy to jog, 10 minutes was all I clocked up this week!
Time for tea now, chicken fajitas, then it'll be time to gee Sam up to do some maths and science revision for his June exams. Now where'd I put my whip.....
Sunday, May 18, 2008
Tuesday, April 01, 2008
Que?!
Practising my listening skills with my favourite!
I can get the odd bit here and there and recognise plenty of words, but they speak so fast!
I can get the odd bit here and there and recognise plenty of words, but they speak so fast!
Monday, March 31, 2008
Friday, March 28, 2008
Thursday, March 27, 2008
The power of music.
Listening to KM FM in the car this evening I heard a song that I haven't heard for maybe 20 years - OMD's Souvenir. It evoked some powerful and emotional feelings but I couldn't place my finger on the cause of the feelings. It seems music has the power to stir up old stuff stored away with the cobwebs in the brain, but the brain can't make all the links 'cos the cobwebs are too thick (sorry, heavy stuff!)
I did a quick bit of research on the good ol' internet to find the year - 1981. That didn't help. I was in the US most of that year and didn't hear any music from the UK scene until my return a year later - at that age my music tastes were limited to my parents' choices and my first two cassettes (Police and Madness),otherwise I was only introduced to some music that the kids at school raved about (REO Speedwagon and the like). The brain started to work...I remember having an OMD LP when I started work in 1987. Still no link to what I was doing at the time of the song! I can only imagine that hearing it again stirred up some teenage hormonal feelings stemming from the early to mid 80s, before my first serious boyfriend at 16 (now my hub!)
Therapy over.... I was just really struck by the powerfulness of the feelings and how they emerged from listening to a song that I had forgotten existed! Anyone else experienced this?
I'm off Googling to see what other OMD music now rings bells!
Tuesday, March 25, 2008
The Power of Music
Listening to KM FM in the car this evening I heard a song that I haven't heard for maybe 20 years - OMD's Souvenir.
It evoked some powerful and emotional feelings but I couldn't place my finger on the cause of the feelings. It seems music has the power to stir up old stuff stored away with the cobwebs in the brain, but the brain can't make all the links 'cos the cobwebs are too thick (sorry, heavy stuff!)
I did a quick bit of research on the good ol' internet to find the year - 1981. That didn't help. I was in the US and didn't hear any music from the UK scene until my return a year later - at that age my music tastes were limited to my parents' choices and my first two cassettes (Police and Madness),otherwise I was only introduced to some music that the kids at school raved about (REO Speedwagon and the like). The brain started to work...I remember having an OMD LP when I started work in 1987. Still no link to what I was doing at the time of the song! I can only imagine that hearing it again stirred up some teenage hormonal feelings stemming from the early to mid 80s, before my first serious boyfriend at 16 (now my hub!)
Therapy over.... I was just really struck by the powerfulness of the feelings and how they emerged from listening to a song that I had forgotten existed! Anyone else experienced this?
I'm off Googling to see what other OMD music now rings bells!
It evoked some powerful and emotional feelings but I couldn't place my finger on the cause of the feelings. It seems music has the power to stir up old stuff stored away with the cobwebs in the brain, but the brain can't make all the links 'cos the cobwebs are too thick (sorry, heavy stuff!)
I did a quick bit of research on the good ol' internet to find the year - 1981. That didn't help. I was in the US and didn't hear any music from the UK scene until my return a year later - at that age my music tastes were limited to my parents' choices and my first two cassettes (Police and Madness),otherwise I was only introduced to some music that the kids at school raved about (REO Speedwagon and the like). The brain started to work...I remember having an OMD LP when I started work in 1987. Still no link to what I was doing at the time of the song! I can only imagine that hearing it again stirred up some teenage hormonal feelings stemming from the early to mid 80s, before my first serious boyfriend at 16 (now my hub!)
Therapy over.... I was just really struck by the powerfulness of the feelings and how they emerged from listening to a song that I had forgotten existed! Anyone else experienced this?
I'm off Googling to see what other OMD music now rings bells!
Monday, March 17, 2008
Stunning photography
There are some superb photos on Flickr. This guy does some superb shots of sea and sky.
Friday, March 07, 2008
Work!
I'm going to be very busy after Easter, not only will I be working on my project for my Honours, but I'll be working mornings as a TA at a local school (only temporary til July), and from sometime in May I'll be working as a KS2 maths script marker, something I wanted to do last year. Looking forward to it all!
These last 2 weeks have been particularly busy. Sam has sat 2 modular GCSE exams and has had to put up with me nagging him to revise, and helping him cover what he needed to know for the higher papers. He has one more to sit on Monday and then we get a reprieve for a bit.
In addition, I have gained one more tutee, that makes three! So I spend two evenings a week helping them with their maths and reading, and for one child, preparing specifically for the 11+ papers. This is my vocation! I love it to bits. It's immensely satisfying and I'm glad I gave it a shot!
Finally, jogging my way towards the Race For Life continues, albeit it slowly this week! Mum and I hope to get in a long run this weekend.
Oh yes, and 3-4 pounds down, yay!
These last 2 weeks have been particularly busy. Sam has sat 2 modular GCSE exams and has had to put up with me nagging him to revise, and helping him cover what he needed to know for the higher papers. He has one more to sit on Monday and then we get a reprieve for a bit.
In addition, I have gained one more tutee, that makes three! So I spend two evenings a week helping them with their maths and reading, and for one child, preparing specifically for the 11+ papers. This is my vocation! I love it to bits. It's immensely satisfying and I'm glad I gave it a shot!
Finally, jogging my way towards the Race For Life continues, albeit it slowly this week! Mum and I hope to get in a long run this weekend.
Oh yes, and 3-4 pounds down, yay!
Monday, February 25, 2008
Blog changes and bookmarking
I doubt my blog gets many readers, there are so many blogs 'out there', but if you are one of them, apologies if you scroll down and expect to find a link or something and it's moved...I've been organising! Yes, I have assignments due, and yes, I am procrastinating :) But seriously, I have had great fun today learning how to bloglog and playing with various methods of storing bookmarks online: del.icio.us and blinklist, to name a few. Organising my bookmarks is going to be an ongoing, mammoth task as I have them everywhere! On two computers and a laptop (one computer is on its last legs so that one gets priority!), on Firefox and Explorer (on all 3 machines!),on the two sites mentioned above, and freewebs.com, as well as here on my blog. Careful bookmarking hasn't been a priority over the years, but having had to become more organised for my level 3 course research I decided to bite the bullet and get the whole lot sorted!
Sunday, February 24, 2008
This week went too quickly...
...but we got alot done. We:
iceskated (yes I did, and didn't fall over once!)
saw Cinderella at the Brook Theatre (Kate, two school friends "Go Miss Thurston, wooo!" and I)
revised (Sam)
studied (me)
did homework (Kate)
played (all of us...Cluedo!)
read (Kate and I)
caught up with friends
exercised (Kate, mum and I)
did the garden (I planted radishes, chives, spring onions and carrots and did a whole lotta digging and trimming. Totally chilled out as a result)
chose new library books (Kate and I)
Facebooked (me)
Piczo-d (Kate)
ebayed (sold more than bought for a change!)
ate takeaways (too many!)
and generally had a jam-packed but cool week.
Kids go back to school now and I must get more study done....two assignments due before we go to Spain and a whole lotta reading (KE312...I dumped S339 before it got started) and research (U316...gotta start thinking about my project). All good fun.
iceskated (yes I did, and didn't fall over once!)
saw Cinderella at the Brook Theatre (Kate, two school friends "Go Miss Thurston, wooo!" and I)
revised (Sam)
studied (me)
did homework (Kate)
played (all of us...Cluedo!)
read (Kate and I)
caught up with friends
exercised (Kate, mum and I)
did the garden (I planted radishes, chives, spring onions and carrots and did a whole lotta digging and trimming. Totally chilled out as a result)
chose new library books (Kate and I)
Facebooked (me)
Piczo-d (Kate)
ebayed (sold more than bought for a change!)
ate takeaways (too many!)
and generally had a jam-packed but cool week.
Kids go back to school now and I must get more study done....two assignments due before we go to Spain and a whole lotta reading (KE312...I dumped S339 before it got started) and research (U316...gotta start thinking about my project). All good fun.
Thursday, February 14, 2008
Motivate me and give to a good cause!
A short and sweet blog posting, the first one this year in fact. Sorry Bloggers, been too wrapped up in the start of a new study year with the OU, with GCSE revision (my son's), Facebooking and job hunting. More on all this another time, but for now, take a look at:
http://tina-raceforlife.blogspot.com/
http://tina-raceforlife.blogspot.com/
Saturday, December 22, 2007
As the year draws to a close...
..I have been looking back and thinking that it has had more ups and downs than a yo-yo!
But that's life, and I only have to look at the photos that I took over the year to remind me that it really wasn't such a bad year, and that things got better as the year progressed.
Christmas is nearly upon us, Christmas is being spent with family this year.
I am missing escaping to the sun and hate the cold weather, and where I once poo-pooed the theory of S.A.D now I'm starting to think there is such a thing!
Still, I am looking forward to next year and have a new set of books from the OU to start. I have decided that, while I have no work to speak of, I will go for Honours (a 2:1 or a First if all goes well) and signed up for S339 (Understanding the Continents), and, in case that goes pear-shaped, U316 (Environmental Web). I'm rather apprehensive having had almost a whole year away from serious study and am hoping that I will get back into the swing of things in January.
Seasons Greetings to anyone who's celebrating Christmas, may it be a happy, peaceful and safe one.
But that's life, and I only have to look at the photos that I took over the year to remind me that it really wasn't such a bad year, and that things got better as the year progressed.
Christmas is nearly upon us, Christmas is being spent with family this year.
I am missing escaping to the sun and hate the cold weather, and where I once poo-pooed the theory of S.A.D now I'm starting to think there is such a thing!
Still, I am looking forward to next year and have a new set of books from the OU to start. I have decided that, while I have no work to speak of, I will go for Honours (a 2:1 or a First if all goes well) and signed up for S339 (Understanding the Continents), and, in case that goes pear-shaped, U316 (Environmental Web). I'm rather apprehensive having had almost a whole year away from serious study and am hoping that I will get back into the swing of things in January.
Seasons Greetings to anyone who's celebrating Christmas, may it be a happy, peaceful and safe one.
Thursday, November 29, 2007
No ordinary November!
What a month!
17th Nov: letter arrives saying Katie failed her 11+ by 14 marks. Shock. Everyone, from family to school, expected her to sail through it because of her strong verbal reasoning and writing skills. Tears(Katie)and stress(me)all weekend...why did we decide to push the decorating through to finishing that particular weekend...simply because we never expected the result we got! Still, the stress got the paint on the walls at a spectacular rate and did I take out my frustration with that paint roller!
We decide to go to the review panel and I hand in my review letter stating why she deserved to pass and quoting her Year 5 level 5s, and we start to visit selective and non-selective schools.
The very next day, I get a phonecall from the Admissions Manager at the council to say there was a software error and Katie did in fact pass, with 80 marks above the pass mark and with the maximum score for her writing. Relief! Joy! Excitement! Hurried up to school to give Katie the news, quick hug from her and off she trotted to tell her friends. Teacher opened a box of Celebrations chocolates for the class, bless her.
All sorted, visited half the number of schools now and Katie is ready to choose her favourite.
This week we found out that someone had cloned our credit card and had a whale of a time! What a time to have a credit card cancelled, right before Xmas. Thank heavens I signed up for Tesco's card a few months ago to save for OU courses! So now I am in a muddle searching for receipts so we can tally up what we spent and what is fraudulent.
The run of bad luck continued yesterday when I decided to put a tenners worth of unleaded in my diesel car! It took me a trip to Maidstone and a school run to notice it was spluttering a bit but I put it down to the cold. On my way to collect hub from the station is suddenly dawned me that I might have used the wrong pump. Oh dear, or as son said, " big do-do's". Abandon car in car park and ring mum to collect hub and get car mechanic's tools and some empty cans and a can of diesel.
Two hours later the dinner I left to keep warm in the oven is pretty much ruined while hub and car mechanic friend empty the tank and put in diesel. Car starts and doesn't splutter or smoke. I think I have been lucky, but I'm still wary when I start the car and when I am driving. Fingers crossed for the next few journeys.
What will the rest of the week bring? Hopefully nothing, if, as the saying goes, things happen in threes.
I'm staying home today and doing boring stuff like ironing and washing, and looking forward to destressing at hub's Xmas party on Saturday.
17th Nov: letter arrives saying Katie failed her 11+ by 14 marks. Shock. Everyone, from family to school, expected her to sail through it because of her strong verbal reasoning and writing skills. Tears(Katie)and stress(me)all weekend...why did we decide to push the decorating through to finishing that particular weekend...simply because we never expected the result we got! Still, the stress got the paint on the walls at a spectacular rate and did I take out my frustration with that paint roller!
We decide to go to the review panel and I hand in my review letter stating why she deserved to pass and quoting her Year 5 level 5s, and we start to visit selective and non-selective schools.
The very next day, I get a phonecall from the Admissions Manager at the council to say there was a software error and Katie did in fact pass, with 80 marks above the pass mark and with the maximum score for her writing. Relief! Joy! Excitement! Hurried up to school to give Katie the news, quick hug from her and off she trotted to tell her friends. Teacher opened a box of Celebrations chocolates for the class, bless her.
All sorted, visited half the number of schools now and Katie is ready to choose her favourite.
This week we found out that someone had cloned our credit card and had a whale of a time! What a time to have a credit card cancelled, right before Xmas. Thank heavens I signed up for Tesco's card a few months ago to save for OU courses! So now I am in a muddle searching for receipts so we can tally up what we spent and what is fraudulent.
The run of bad luck continued yesterday when I decided to put a tenners worth of unleaded in my diesel car! It took me a trip to Maidstone and a school run to notice it was spluttering a bit but I put it down to the cold. On my way to collect hub from the station is suddenly dawned me that I might have used the wrong pump. Oh dear, or as son said, " big do-do's". Abandon car in car park and ring mum to collect hub and get car mechanic's tools and some empty cans and a can of diesel.
Two hours later the dinner I left to keep warm in the oven is pretty much ruined while hub and car mechanic friend empty the tank and put in diesel. Car starts and doesn't splutter or smoke. I think I have been lucky, but I'm still wary when I start the car and when I am driving. Fingers crossed for the next few journeys.
What will the rest of the week bring? Hopefully nothing, if, as the saying goes, things happen in threes.
I'm staying home today and doing boring stuff like ironing and washing, and looking forward to destressing at hub's Xmas party on Saturday.
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