It was Red Nose Day on Friday so we were wearing pyjamas to school. Not all the staff joined in, but it seemed like a nice easy one, and pyjamas are very comfy. By the end of the day I was the only member of staff still in them and proud of it!
These verses really struck me at church today, they are Isaiah 43 v 18-19 (NIV):
Forget the former things;Here it is in New Living Translation:
do not dwell on the past.
See, I am doing a new thing!
Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?
But forget all that—
it is nothing compared to what I am going to do.
For I am about to do something new.
See, I have already begun! Do you not see it?
Only a few hours of 2008 left. I hope everyone had a good year and are looking forward to great things in 2009.
I don't really make resolutions - never seems worth it when you break them within a couple days. I thought I would go for 10 targets for the year - not thought of them all yet but I'll add to the list later.
Targets for 2009
1. Read 100 books - tried it this year but only made it to 95.
2. Finish all my knitting projects - I have 3 or 4 half finished at the moment.
3. Finish my tapestry - started it full of enthusiasm and not touched it for months!
4. Get to church regularly - not been too good this year.
5. Use my sewing machine - keep planning to alter a few things so that I can wear them.
Well, that's 5 to start me off.
After hearing the new X-factor single it reminded me how brilliant the Jeff Buckley version is.
Why not join all the people downloading this superior version? If you download it here it will count towards the singles chart - apparently its already in the top ten!
Found this site which looks like a great idea and not too expensive - a dress, top or skirt made to your design and to your measurements. The site is called styleshake. Its good fun designing and I think I may well have to order something when I've come up with my perfect design. Here are 3 of my dress designs:
As a Radio 2 fan, I'm joining in the campaign to get Terry Wogan and Aled Jones to the Christmas No 1. Its about time we actually had a Christmas song instead of just the latest X-factor winner. Join me in buying the single, after all its for Children in Need. You can see the video here.
I've moved out of school into a nice little flat and the best bit is I now have broadband access. So I thought I could get back into blogging again.
Here is my flat:
Not looking quite so empty now I've moved all my stuff in, but its way too messy for photos at the moment!
I had a lovely half term with my parents, even though the weather wasn't great. We had a couple of days of pouring rain but also a couple of lovely days. It was nice to take Mum and Dad to places they had never been to before and to see some more of Dorset. We went to Lulworth Cove and walked over the clifftop to Durdle Door and saw some glorious views.
We also went to Brownsea Island, which is a National Trust Island. It is a beautiful island, with woodland, beaches and wonderful views. There are no foxes on the island so the hens, ducks, geese and peacocks all roam free with no fear of predators. It is also where the first scout camps were held and they still go there now.
The highlight was seeing a red squirrel on Brownsea Island, right at the end to the day when we had given up hope of spotting one! 
When we were on holiday in Dorset we visited Monkey World and we fell in love with a gibbon called Zoey, who I adopted. I've now found out she has just had a baby, look at the sweet photos!
Its been a long time since I wrote in this blog. I had a busy second half of term, not much fun but I made it through with the thought of going on holiday with Suzy and the kids. We had a great time staying at a holiday park just 40 mins from my flat. The kids loved the park, it had a playground, a soft play area and a swimming pool. I think they would have been perfectly happy not to have gone out anywhere, but we managed to persuade them to visit some places and we had a good time. Here are a few photos but you can see loads more here.
Half term is here at last and I can have a rest. I am with the parents for the night then off to Worcester tomorrow to see all my friends. I'm really looking forward to seeing everyone, its been almost 6 months now since I moved. It will be good to go back to my old church and catch up with everyone. Its been a busy week so it will be lovely to relax and have fun.
I'm feeling ok this weekend but its not been a great week due to a lousy cold. Its amazing how fed up a cold can make you feel! I have struggled through and carried on teaching, as any teacher will tell you, its easier to carry on teaching while feeling ill than to have to set work for lessons and deal with the marking, misunderstandings and general mess ups afterwards, after all if they could just get on with the topics without you they wouldn't need you to teach them! I know with the maths if I leave them work to get on with it has to be extremely simple and straightforward or they will get themselves in a muddle without you to guide them. Now I am feeling more alive again and am looking forward to visiting Worcester to see all my friends next weekend and then spending a few days with the parents and having a proper relax. Living in school is great in some ways, no commute and no bills, but it is hard not getting away from my job and the girls. The weather has been great the last couple of days which helps me feel more positive, hopefully it will last and life will seem a bit better.
Only 2 weeks to go to half term, I'm thinking I might make it! Feeling a bit less tired and more positive this weekend, but I have a sore throat so not sure its going to be a great week. Last week I was going to give up teaching but now I think I might stick it out for a bit, but I can't see myself doing this for the next 30ish years until I retire. Maybe a break is the right thing to do, perhaps I'll miss it so much I'll appreciate it more if I come back. It certainly means I have some thinking to do.
Its an exeat weekend which means all the girls have gone home. No boarding this weekend and no lessons to teach tomorrow. The school is lovely and peaceful and I can get up late in the morning. The only problem is its been a busy week, I am exhausted and I have a pile of work to get done by Monday. At least I can get a good night's sleep tonight so hopefully I will wake up bright and cheery tomorrow. Today I am fed up with teaching and marking and trying to get mathematical knowledge into brains! I could give it all up right now, but I know that this is mainly the tiredness talking. Still the hours here are not great and I could really do with not feeling exhausted all the time. I've been working it out and I teach a couple of hours extra per week in this job, which of course generates extra preparation and marking time. I could deal with working later and saturday mornings better if it came to the same amount of time that I'm used to! I keep telling myself it will get easier! The benefit is longer holidays, but that doesn't actually help much in the middle of the term. This blog post is turning into a real whinge, maybe I should stop and go get some sleep, I'm sure I'll feel better in the morning!!!
One more week down, half term is getting closer! Its been a busy week, with a Maths area meeting to go to along with the normal teaching, and several teachers have been off so I've had lessons to cover too. So I've got a bit behind with the marking and had to spend all afternoon trying to catch up. Thankfully it was lasagne for supper tonight, so I decided to have it with the girls instead of having to cook for myself. I have to weigh up the convenience of having food cooked for me with the privacy and quiet of staying in my flat! Mainly at the weekends I opt for peace, but I couldn't resist lasagne! Tomorrow I get to go to someone from church's house for a proper sunday lunch which will be good. Next weekend is an exeat, so the girls go home friday, no saturday school and a quiet school, can't wait! After that only 3 more weeks to half term.
I started knitting club on Monday and now all my form have gone knitting mad. Unfortunately most of them have little or no idea so I'm spending my time casting on and trying to sort out mistakes! I'm casting them on 20 stitches but one of them had got to 39 stitches in approx 8 rows! It is quite sweet to see them sitting in the classroom knitting in their free time. I'm now having to get some new needles as I've run out!
I'm exhausted and we have only been back at school for one week. Partly its the shock of getting up early again, I'd got used to lazing around over Christmas!
At least this week has been easier than last term, its so scary starting a new job. I hate not knowing the girls names and not being sure where I should be and what I should be doing. I had been at my last school for 10 years so I knew the routines so well I didn't really have to think about them. Getting used to a new way of doing things has been tough and people forget to tell you things so its been a case of learning as I go along. At least now I know everyone's names (the joy of being in a small school) and the general routine of the place, even if I am sure there will be some new surprises this term. I've had evening duty this week, which isn't fun, but at least that is one done this term, and tomorrow I have a couple of hours on duty with the boarders, so not a completely relaxing weekend.
On a positive note, I start knitting club on Monday - there is some great enthusiasm at the moment but we will see who sticks with it, at least it gives me an excuse to spend a lunch hour knitting. I just finished a new jumper, I will get a photo of it to post, its very purple and made with Wow wool (a thick chenille type wool) so should be warm and cosy. I'm very pleased with it, I'm getting the hang of sewing up now so the seams of this jumper are much better than the last one. Next I need to sew up a cardigan, but that involves picking up lots of stitches for the front band and putting in a zip so I have put it off! I bought a book about knitting from the neck down, so my latest project is on circular needles, but the rounds are so long it isn't growing very fast which I find a bit frustrating.
It has been pointed out that it is a long time since I did anything with this blog. I blame a lack of time and internet access! However, now I have my laptop, I have made a new year's resolution to get back to blogging and keep anyone who is interested up to date with my news. Not sure that there is anyone out there interested (except family)!!
My life has changed a lot since August. I'm now in Dorset, getting used to a new school and new flat. Its been hard work and I'm missing my friends, but I'm slowly settling in and everyone has been very friendly and helpful. Its tough adapting to a new school though, especially as I was over 10 years at the last one. Its been hard going from day to boarding
too, teaching til 5-30 and saturday mornings has been a bit of a shock to the system. Teaching the younger ones has been different but mainly I'm enjoying the change. More activity days and dressing up (see the photos), days off timetable and the girls miss lessons for music, riding and dance lessons. Time will tell how it will go here, at the moment I spend much of my time exhausted but it should get easier as I get used to the place!
A strange and emotional day today. The last proper school day, tomorrow we just have prizegiving in the cathedral and then a party back at school. No lessons today, I taught my last lesson on Thursday, the girls were all out on trips on Friday. I got some lovely presents and cards from some of the girls, one of them who is leaving even wrote all her teachers really sweet notes about how much she would miss us and what great teachers we are (that was the point I was closest to crying today!), I'll be hanging on to that to remind me when I'm finding it tough to get used to my new school.
Today we had final assembly, which included all those little traditions I have become used to over the last 10 years. Every school has their own traditions and you become rather attached to them. I was determined not to break down and kept biting my lip to keep back the tears. I had to go up and get a bunch of flowers (we already got presents at the staff leaving do over a week ago now). There are so many of us leaving this year with the school merging, that it was nice not to have too much attention on me, but we all got our acknowledgment and farewell. I coped quite well even though loads of the girls were crying, in fact there was some quite loud sobbing! I did ok until we got to the school prayer and hymn, when I was struggling to keep singing. Then just when everyone was getting very emotional the fire alarm went off! It gave us all a chance to recover ourselves whilst waiting on the tennis courts to discover it was just a fault with the system, though some have suggested it was the ghost of the first headmistress (she wouldn't be happy with the merger and the school going co-ed!), I'm not sure about that but it was certainly strange timing to happen right in the middle of the school hymn.
