In pursuit of Health, Wealth and Happiness

Kittikins

Woohoo! I've tweaked my personal statement, put in my work experience and hit send on the teacher training website - so now it's with my referee to write her hopefully very glowing reference

Hoorah! She's written her reference and I've paid and submitted the form, such a HUGE relief to have got it done.

Tete_en_l'Air

Ah Kitty that must feel amazing, congrats on getting it done. Did you find the personal statement hard to write? I guess this is the nerve-wracking bit now...!

Still not feeling 100% but have no plans at all for the weekend so hoping to both get lots done and have a bit of time to actually relax. Had a massive tidy and sort out the other night when I was looking for that receipt so it's nice to wake up in an organised room. So nice to be able to walk around my bedroom like a human rather than a mountain goat. And it makes other stuff so much easier too - for example I might finally get those various buttons sewn on things now that I have the space to do so and know the exact location of needle, thread and scissors!

- [STRIKE]Light wash[/STRIKE]
- [STRIKE]Dark wash #1[/STRIKE]
- [STRIKE]Change bedding[/STRIKE]
- [STRIKE]Make acupuncture appointment next week[/STRIKE]
- [STRIKE]Connect phone and laptop up to new broadband[/STRIKE] (surprisingly hassle-free)
- [STRIKE]Upload new antivirus onto laptop[/STRIKE]
- [STRIKE]Restart myfitnesspal*[/STRIKE]
- [STRIKE]Sort packed lunches for the week[/STRIKE]
- [STRIKE]Update Day Zero List[/STRIKE]
- [STRIKE]Send birthday card[/STRIKE]
- [STRIKE]Check banks and do some major money shuffling[/STRIKE]
- [STRIKE]Dark wash #2[/STRIKE]
- [STRIKE]Wash bedding[/STRIKE]
- [STRIKE]Download photos onto hard drive [/STRIKE]
- [STRIKE]Clear out car and prepare it for winter (oil, windscreen washer, tyres, de-icer)[/STRIKE]
- [STRIKE]Send parcel[/STRIKE]
- [STRIKE]Upload new antivirus onto Dad's laptop[/STRIKE]
- [STRIKE]Send train ticket refund request (for train from London which I was unable to get on as I was still in New York)[/STRIKE]
- [STRIKE]Unpack and actually put things away properly - almost there with this, honest[/STRIKE]
- [STRIKE]Take bags to charity shop[/STRIKE]


What I want to get done this weekend:
- Start PGCE app
- Look at Finance for above
- Change money back (all $22 of it!)
- Send CDs of NYC photos to the girls
- Update petrol record
- Email hotel manager to praise the staff who really helped us
- Leave a glowing review of hotel on TripAdviser and any other site I can find
- EBAY
- Email G, P, A and C (work-related)
- Arrange to meet C, L and C (social)
- Book appt for Groupon facial I bought ages ago
- Start Xmas pressie planning
- Make Xmas card list for me and one for Dad
- Work out how the heck Tesco points actually work
- Cancel NetFlix
- Order parkrun t-shirt (you get a free one when you reach milestones- 50 runs etc)
- Look through books I don't want - are there any trade-ins on Amazon?
- What to do with old dead laptop?
- Make a spreadsheet to track monies
- Make soups for lunches

What will have to wait until next week:
- Sort expenses claim (just need signing and sending)
- Arrange dates for going back into school P
- Book next acupuncture appt - depends on above really

First, another coffee. How is it 9.15 already?!

Kittikins

Hi Tete, I had been putting off the personal statement and had printed off all kinds of help documents from t'internet and a teacher friend had given me copies of application forms she'd written for jobs as extra help, and the plan had been to sit down surrounded by paper and work out a plan.

In the end, I just felt inspired the other night when there was beggar all to watch on TV and I was feeling down that job hunting might be less inspiring than I would have hoped, and it just flowed. I sent it to my mum (former teacher), OH and my teacher chum and they all said it looked good, and mummykins sent it back with some useful amendments and that was it. Phew!

No idea if its really any good or what they're exactly looking for, but I know its as good as I could do, so am happy with that (for now until I find out I won't be interviewed, lol).

I've got an interview next Friday for a PA job in a local school that won't exactly pay all the bills - my redundancy will have to come into its own there - but will mean I won't have to pay for childcare. Apparently I'll have earned too much to get any tax credits to help with that during the tax year, so am really restricted on what I can do as if I have to pay £100+ a week for childcare when doing a full-time job, it's going to be hard to stay afloat!

Oh well.....hopefully it'll just be for a little while til July...........

Tete_en_l'Air

Just to let you know- I'm ebaying like a mofo over here!

ruby_eskimo

Yay! I really need to get on ebay too but can never find the motivation to do it.

Kittikins

Ditto on the lack of motivation to do any ebaying I've got stuff in my kitchen that needs to go asap but cba to sell it. Need to though as I have to clear the entire kitchen out by the end of the month, eeek!!

Tete_en_l'Air

Phew I'm calling it a day. I've got 26 items listed which is pretty bliddy good going for me! If they all sell for the min price it'll come to £272. There are about another 10 things to list but they can wait!

Tete_en_l'Air

A little update.

What I want to get done this weekend:
- Start PGCE app
- [STRIKE]Look at Finance for above[/STRIKE]
- [STRIKE]Change money back (all $22 of it!)[/STRIKE]
- [STRIKE]Send CDs of NYC photos to the girls[/STRIKE]
- Update petrol record
- Email hotel manager to praise the staff who really helped us
- Leave a glowing review of hotel on TripAdviser and any other site I can find
- [STRIKE]EBAY[/STRIKE]
- Email G, P,[STRIKE] A and C[/STRIKE] (work-related)
- [STRIKE]Arrange to meet C, L and C (social)[/STRIKE]
- [STRIKE]Book appt for Groupon facial I bought ages ago[/STRIKE]
- Start Xmas pressie planning
- Make Xmas card list for me and one for Dad
- Work out how the heck Tesco points actually work
- [STRIKE]Cancel NetFlix[/STRIKE] - This was so easy I don't know why I didn't do it months ago, wasted £52 on it in total :wall:and haven't watched anything because the choice is pants!
- [STRIKE]Order parkrun t-shirt (you get a free one when you reach milestones- 50 runs etc)[/STRIKE]
- Look through books I don't want - are there any trade-ins on Amazon?
- What to do with old dead laptop?
- Make a spreadsheet to track monies
- Make soups for lunches

What will have to wait until next week:
- [STRIKE]Sort expenses claim (just need signing and sending)[/STRIKE]
- [STRIKE]Arrange dates for going back into school P[/STRIKE]
- [STRIKE]Book next acupuncture appt - depends on above really[/STRIKE]

I felt like I had a REALLY productive weekend but in reality all I really managed was my ebay listing. However ALL my ebay items are now listed so any that don't sell can just be relisted which is easy. I have 34 things on there and a few items already have bids and lots more have watchers so I'm hopeful.

Work-wise, I spoke to my friend's Mam last night (teacher) and she urged me to apply for the Schools Direct route. This is where you get your QTS by working as an un-qualified teacher in a school for a salary of about £15k. I'd spoken to SuperHead P about this a while back but she said that the places are like gold dust so I sort of dismissed it, but this lady said it's worth applying for so I spent a lot of last night trying to find info about that route, but as it's a new thing this year and it's all govt-run, the info that IS there is about as clear as mud, and things as basic as the actual deadline for applications don't appear at all. So I got myself very stressed about it all, eating a whole selection box in the process,and went to bed really anxious (and fat).

This morning I'm feeling a bit more zen and thinking, well, there's no harm in applying - it would be amazing to get a salary to train but I was all geared up to have to save like a maniac to fund myself through it so I'll continue in that vein.

I did a little student finance calculator thingy and it said that I'd be eligible for a loan to cover the full tuition fees (this is a necessary evil I'm resigned to) plus a maintenance grant of £3k-ish plus a maintenance loan of £2k-ish. I didn't know these maintenance grants/loans even existed for PG students so that's nice to know.

I've also got myself another two days in School P next week, told work I'm off to Dublin for my friend's birthday so I'll have to remember to act hungover on the Monday

In current-work news I'm still not a happy bunny. Now that the clocks have gone back there's an accident on the flyover nearly every night, so I've been taking the back-roads to avoid the jams, but driving along windy country lanes in the pitch-dark in wet conditions isn't exactly ideal or stress-free, plus it's further to actually travel when I'm being paid mileage based on my home and work postcodes rather than on what I actually do. I've had an email from HR asking how I'm doing and going to mention this to them, not that I think they'll give a damn.

We've also got some head honcho coming in to see us tomorrow about some 'issues' - she sent an email listing these issues and then praising colleague (the idle one) for how helpful he'd been when I was stuck in NY. I had a bit of a verbal explosion to my boss when I read that, saying that all I've done for the last two years is work really hard - on my own - to keep things going on this project, stressed to death, alongside numerous really stressful personal issues, and a couple of little non-things slip during the period we were moving offices which I didn't even want to do - and she (head honcho) is coming here with her nit pinking and I'm having to defend myself. What makes it worse is my boss is making me not tell the truth about why certain things haven't been done yet - i.e. I haven't got the time because we're woefully understaffed, because that makes the uni look bad (and contracts are up for renewal soon) - but otherwise what's my reason? Anything else just makes me look incompetent.

Phew-whew, little outburst again there. Going for a run tonight to let off some steam!!

Tete_en_l'Air

And updated to do list for my own reference:

- Start PGCE app
- Update petrol record
- Email hotel manager to praise the staff who really helped us
- Leave a glowing review of hotel on TripAdviser and any other site I can find
- Email G, P,[STRIKE] A and C[/STRIKE] (work-related)
- Start Xmas pressie planning
- Make Xmas card list for me and one for Dad
- Work out how the heck Tesco points actually work
- Look through books I don't want - are there any trade-ins on Amazon?
- What to do with old dead laptop?
- Make a spreadsheet to track monies
- Make soups for lunches

ruby_eskimo

I don't know what to say about your current work situation Tete, it sounds awful that you aren't getting the recognition you deserve and you have to lie about why things aren't being done.