Pavlovs_dog starting as she means to go on...

pavlovs_dog

things still going well on the sleep front. Did 6 nights out of 7, and am determined to keep it up as i'm feeling better all the time. Not sure whether it's the clinique products themselves or the fact that I am now cleansing, toning and moisturising twice a day but my skin is also looking and feeling better too. I'm sceptical about whether these teeny tiny bottles will last the month like they are supposed to, but time will tell. This week, I aim to maintain my sleep routine and start focusing on the food i'm putting into my body. Bought a drinks bottle to live on my desk in the hope of drinking more water. I always seem to eat better taking packed lunches than when I eat from the canteen, so hopefully that will be moneysaving as well as healthy.

lovely chilled day yesterday, and lots of pottering to do today to get ready for tomorrow's inset. Even though I haven't really done that much work over the holidays its lovely not to have the "ARGGGH! HAVEN'T DONE X,Y or Z" back to school panic. Feel chilled and refreshed...what's the odds on that feeling not lasting beyond Friday?!

twinklie

I have lots of stuff to do today...pottering wise. Again it's nothing major to do...but just sorting stuff out around the house. I'm not stressed yet either. That said, come Wednesday PM I have no doubt I'll start to feel a bit "argh". Ha ha

pavlovs_dog

survived my first week back. Extreme tiredness aside (which !!!!!!ed up my bedtime routine royally, as one night i was so exhausted I was in bed by 7.30... the next night I couldn't sleep at all :eek:) I've really enjoyed being back at the chalkface. It's easy to forget how enjoyable teaching and being with the kids can be. Honeymoon periods are great, aren't they?!!!

Just phoned Accord in a mad dash to make the 10 required phonecalls BT demands in each monthly billing period to avoid being charged for underuse (nope, makes no sense to me either). Calls are free at the weekend, so I try to do them then rather than paying for the privilege. Our balance currently stands at £128,011.44. will get round to OPing at some point this week. Now HSBC have introduced this secure key anything to do with online banking seems such a faff :cool:

MBPTC news - lost 3lbs in total this week just through eating a lot less junk. I've managed AT LEAST 5 a day every day this past week thanks to my lunchbox. Love my water bottle that I bought too so that's helping drink a lot more each day. Onwards and upwards

gratefulforhelp_2

LOL at the honeymoon period. Glad you're enjoying it.

pavlovs_dog

October already :eek: where has this year gone?!

Had my payrise in September's pay as I've moved one more point up the pay spine. The difference in take home pay is only actually £80odd quid, which was less than I'd been lead to expect. Better a pay rise than a pay cut I suppose :cool:

Going to put most of it towards OPing, by rounding our monthly OPs up to £100. In the new year I intend to increase it further still, but I'm conscious of tying up too much money as we approach Christmas.

an OP of £150 brings us just £65 shy of hitting my £1500 MFW target for 2011. What we've OP'd is just over 2 months' mortgage payments, which is quite good going on our comparatively humble wages. Balance today stands at £127,608.89. That's over £4,300 of equity in 12 months thanks to our OPs.

We're managing to balance that with having a lifestyle too. Got a few ultra cheap days booked in Liverpool for half term. £30 each return on the train and £29 a night for the premier inn. You can't get much cheaper or more cheerful than that!

hope you're all well and enjoying the sunshine. best get back to my marking pile... it's not getting any smaller!

pavlovs_dog

my word I am so appallingly bad at keeping this updated during term time!

Friday was payday so I've just made another OP. £100 means we've broken our 2011 MFW target and are now inching closer to hitting the £1800 target set in MBCTP (about the only target I look likely to hit at the moment, but that's for another thread).

Liverpool was lovely, although it's a challenge to switch off and enjoy instead of thinking about the loooong list of school stuff that needs to be done :cool: Can't believe how cheap a break it was, the only things we paid for once there was food, a train ticket and an orange wednesdays trip to the cinema. would heartily recommend Johnny English Reborn, had me in stitches!

British Gas have kindly decided to lower our direct debit for gas too. I imagine it will fall further still once this winter. Should really siphon off the difference and do something productive with the money. Off to put my thinking cap on (any excuse to procrastinate from the marking pile)

Frugaldom

Congratulations on breaking your 2011 target! It'll soon be time to set out your 2012 targets - where has the past year gone? :eek: Good luck with whatever plans you have for next year.

gratefulforhelp_2

Wotcha Pavlov's. How's the new half term? My new Head of House, who took over in September, when I have been on mat leave since Feb...sent me an email last week asking me to put someone on report!!!!

pavlovs_dog

gratefulforhelp wrote: »

Wotcha Pavlov's. How's the new half term? My new Head of House, who took over in September, when I have been on mat leave since Feb...sent me an email last week asking me to put someone on report!!!!

lol at the email. Of our KS3&4 HoYs, 4 out of 5 are new appointments and are new to the role. Two are promotions and two are maternity covers so there have been moments of similar confusion here.

There are two other members of staff in school with the same first name as me, and they both got married the summer before I started. It caused confusion, because no one could figure out who was the new teacher and which were new married names! To further add to the confusion, a colleague in my department who retired recently used to have a very similar staff code to me, so until people got to know me emails intended for me ended up all over the place! Even now, the three of us are commonly referred to by first name then subject, rather than first name, surname


this week has been one of those weeks that's gone on, and on, and on, and on! It's assessment time so I feel like I'm a marking machine at the moment, which is starting to grate. And as I took pretty much all of half term off, I feel like I have a lot I need to do this weekend. I'm starting tutoring again this weekend too, although I love the family I'm working with, so that never feels like work IYSWIM.

I was informed today that due to trips, strike day etc I only have 30 teaching days until Christmas. It's a dreadful profession for wishing your life away!

gratefulforhelp_2

pavlovs_dog wrote: »

It's a dreadful profession for wishing your life away!

:rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:too true.