Live on £4,000 for a year - 2009, Part 3

slowlyfading

bails wrote: »

It's very quiet on here these days isn't it?

It is

Well, I'm on my 6th nsd of Sept, which is pretty good going I think I'm finally feeling a bit better today, after being in bed most of the weekend. The BF came across, and he slept most of the time too, so we didn't have an exciting weekend lol :rotfl: GD is still in hospital though, looks like he might have MRSA amongst other things. Not looking so good at the moment really

I go to uni on SUNDAY :eek: To be honest, I'm getting slightly nervous about it all - moving in to somewhere where I don't know the people, sharing a bathroom ( :eek: :eek: ) is the thing I'm most worried about! We'll all be post grad students, but still. I've been trying to do a budget for when I arrive, but to be honest I don't know what I may have to pay for when I get there, so that's gone out of the window for the moment.

I hope you're all having a good day, wherever you are!

sf x

grandma247

shaz_mum_of__2 wrote: »

sophiesmum and grandma -Hoping to pick up some preserving jars too everyone else will be loading the bus with booze and i will have empty jars:rotfl:

I hope you find a ton and they let you on the bus with them:T
I have been making marmalade all weekend with the free grapefruits and today i made a very large pan of my ratatouille type stuff and it is all bottled with some in the pan waiting for the steam to vent then I can put the pressure thingy on. I have made just about enough jars to last us from November to the end of March at a rate of one jar a week. I will make another pan full when I get some more jars. BIL brought a load today and I have used all of them. I will give a few of the next lot to family as they all like it but my youngest dd said she can never get it to taste like mine.
Bought some overgrown yellow and green courgettes at the allotment show auction on Sunday plus some banana sweet peppers, chillies, tomatoes, a cabbage and other stuff I can't remember, all for pennies.

grandma247

SF I hope all goes well at uni. A sense of humor helps when you have to share "facilities" I am sure it will be fine. Have you ever been camping ? lots of sharing then.
I do hope your grandad rallies too.

slowlyfading

grandma247 wrote: »

SF I hope all goes well at uni. A sense of humor helps when you have to share "facilities" I am sure it will be fine. Have you ever been camping ? lots of sharing then.
I do hope your grandad rallies too.

I went camping loads when I was younger and really enjoyed it - hadn't thought of that, so thanks I hope so too, fingers crossed x

cw18

Well, yesterday was my first day of 'duty' in the pre-school class this school year :eek:

There were 24 children in attendance, including 6 from last year...... unfortunately I couldn't for the life of me remember the name of one of them!! He's one of 3 lads I kept mixing up last year, and I knew one of the 'names' had moved into reception..... but couldn't figure which of the other two he was :rolleyes2 (Asked pre-school teacher today, so should now have him sorted ) There was also a 7th name I know on the register, but she was absent yesterday.

The 6 from last year were comfortable to see me back, but the other 18 were all initially a little wary...... can't blame them as, depending which hours they do, it was day 2 or day 4 for them but they hadn't seen me before (not even on their induction sessions before the holiday). As I was tidying up around the children (having made the toast) I made sure to chat to them - trying to start where there were groups that included children that know me. As I went round a few of the 'newbies' were happy to be drawn into giving their names, and after a while one lad came up, told me his name, then asked me a question about something - and I reckon I'll have no trouble remembering him (no offence meant here though I guess the following could be seen by some as not being very 'PC') as he's the only non-caucasian child in the class and his name is the same as my elder DS's best friend in primary school. I also had one pair (a boy and girl, both new children) come and ask me for help when the mouse on the class laptop wasn't responding..... the other staff were busy with messy activities or paperwork, so I guess they picked me out as being the one most likely to have time to help - but at least they seemed happy and confident about asking me.

There were still suspicious glances being thrown my way when it was time for 'PE' (they were basically doing stretches to introduce them to the hall and following instructions), so I held back in class to put away the last of the toys and sweep up sand etc before joining them for the last 5 minutes or so.

On return to class we had the normal story/song time (number songs yesterday, and a few children seemed to start to warm to me during this as I was joining in - thank heavens the TA leading the session picked ones I know ). This is followed by snack time......

Well, the appearance of me at each table passing around toast was greeted with great joy by the children. I asked several for names as I went round, and encouraged each and every one to say 'yes please' when asked if they wanted some (they all did) - so I got to speak to all of them.

This is followed by outside play - and one of the new boys came and asked me for help getting his coat on/done up, so looks like I've been accepted there

We then had a story which lead to home-time - and as they were collected I offered out the apples we had for them to take home (part of the 5-a-day scheme). So more contact with the children.

I was happy enough when I came home that things had gone OK - no children refusing to talk to me, or moving to the other side of the room when I strayed into 'their' space



Went to pick up younger GD at 12:45pm today, and the pre-school children were in the playground. The lad whose name I hadn't been able to remember headed straight over to the fence to ask me why I was there, and shortly after I had some of the new children waving to me (mostly girls, all got a wave back) or pretending to shoot me (all boys watching to see how I responded - I 'shot' them back). Some of these new ones then came across and said hello, but didn't hang around to talk - still took it as a good sign though.

After collecting GD from her teacher, we stopped at the rails again so GD could have a quick chat with a couple of the children she was with last year. While she was chatting the teacher came over to ask me something - and as result I'm now also going to be helping out on a Wednesday morning...... starting tomorrow!! She said she felt bad asking me as I already do the one morning, but needed someone for either Tuesday or Wednesday morning (another helper is happy to do either/or, and both sessions are the same children as a Monday morning - no more and no less) as the 'Tuesday morning lady' is now doing Tuesday & Wednesday afternoons. She made sure to say there was someone else (who doesn't currently help) she felt she could approach, but thought she'd ask me first.


I'm taking this as a sign that she's happy enough with what I do and the way I interact with the children - which must be a plus when/if I start applying for registration as a child-minder or foster parent :T

Now I just need to seriously put my back into sorting the house :rotfl:



Not a greal deal else going on here this week - though I did decide this morning to include some books I bought back in Jan & Feb into my budgeted spends (can't actually believe I hadn't done so back then ). So my 'Anything Else' budget has taken a bit of a retrospective hammering, but at least I'm still not showing as overspent for this point of the year

Skint_Lynne

I think you have done a good job today cheryl, it sounds as if the children have really taken to you. They can be funny wee creatures!

It will stand you in good stead for your future plans. I wish that I could do a job like that, I love being with wee ones. My mum says that's because I have never grown up myself. :rotfl:

I have noticed myself that it has been quiet on here, maybe some folks are still on holiday or are just getting back to work.

I have been away a lot of the time, so have not been on as much, I'll make the effort and try and post each night.

Not much to report today, still trying to keep on the straight and narrow.

grandma247

Cheryl it looks like you had a lovely day. great news about the extra work too. Maybe next year might not be as bad as you thought?
I am another one that hangs back if I don't know the kids. I find if I do that they eventually come round because they are interested in what I am doing.
Two of my grandchildren were very stand offish when they were very small (because I did not see them much) and one I refused to babysit after the first time when he was about 5 months because he cried so much. I felt it was not fair to put him through it.He was not happy anywhere but home. They are both my most avid fans now and constantly pester to go to grandmas.


Well I got 19 jars of ratatouille done this afternoon and have some "canned" coleslaw salting ready to be rinsed and bottled, also am sitting here cutting up more runner beans to bottle whilst trying not to cut myself.

Maybe it is quiet because everyone is busy preserving? or gardening,or maybe sorting out chicken runs.

bails

Good luck with uni SF, I'm sure you'll be fine once you've settled in. It will be a busy and challenging year but hopefully will lead to a career you enjoy. Hope your grandad improves soon too xx
Sounds like a good day Cheryl! You obviously enjoy the work and are a real help to the teachers.
40th birthday celebrations sound fun Shaz! :T
Maybe everyone is busy preserving and gardening etc Grandma. Where is SM?

Busy planning lessons here with intermittent internet, need to get to a cafe to print off the work and then go to a photocopier to make copies. We don't know how lucky we are with the resources in English schools! The teachers here don't have access to anything so if they made any resources it would have to be done by hand, and with no budget for photocopying or anything, it just doesn't happen. I''m trying to leave behind some useful resources for them to use in future years.

Getting a little impatient to be honest, as I'd prefer to be focusing on the Everest trip at mo. It's not going to be a walk in the park and I'd like some time to gear myself up for it mentally as it's a really big deal after my illness. Still, just today and tomorrow to get through then school is over for about 5 weeks! We fly at 6.30am on Friday so need to be up about 4 :eek: We'll be there by about 7.15am and will then start our first day's walking! I'm SO excited and a little nervous too, but even if we can't make it this time at least I'll have tried
Have a good day everyone; looking forward to hearing how aeb and the little ones are doing xx

grandma247

Good morning. lovely and sunny here, 1 lot of washing out and another load nearly done. here are some pics of yesterdays work http://yfrog.com/bbcoleslawjx
The red pepper soup was wonderful.

Hi Bails you sound as though you are enjoying yourself.

slowlyfading

Good morning everyone

Well, today is another no spend day for me. I don't have any plans to go anywhere, and I'm trying to save as much money as possible before leaving here, and so having as many no spend days as possible is a great way to do that! Tomorrow I am going shopping for last minute bits and pieces, so I'll probably end up spending quite a bit there, but its all stuff I need. Some conditioner, shower gel, stationary stuff and some basic food shopping. So, that'll add to my budget a bit, but I'm going to try and get the least stuff possible, but still.

My BF bought me a laptop bag, and it came today in the post, and its lovely! It has 3 different sections, and its a shoulder bag so it sits nicely. I had been looking for a while for a suitable bag, and this should have room for a slim folder, plus other stuff, so it'll be good once I'm in school I hope!

Bails, it sounds so exciting where you are! Good luck on the Everest trip, it sounds like a trip of a lifetime! And don't be disappointed if you don't get to the top - you've had a go, and that's the most impressive thing!

Have a good day everyone xx