In pursuit of Health, Wealth and Happiness

wendz86

Hope you manage to get the reference Tete. I hate it when people don't reply, they could at least acknowledge!

Eek about the nits I remember getting them at school

Tete_en_l'Air

Yes go lighter Birdie I'm at the hairdressers on Saturday and am going to go a bit lighter for the festive season ... but might have to go a bit darker in the new year because if I do (fingers crossed) become a student from next September I won't have the spare cash to splash on hairdos! Plus I'll be spending all my money on nit shampoo by the sounds of it :eek:

Right I've been doing the money shuffle. I still have a couple of things for sale on ebay and a couple of non-payers but everything else is now sold and posted and I've made about £350 after fees which is pretty good, esp considering I was going to shove most in the charity shop just to get it out from under my feet! So I've added that into my savings account and onto my sig. What my sig doesn't show is the petrol claims I've been putting aside since I moved offices. I'm trying to just swallow up the extra mileage and save all the claims I make, so far that's £428, so my total savings are now at over £1000, with nine months to go (IF I get a place of course!!)

I also just got a Clubcard credit card - got it to take to New York just in case - but now I'm going to try and spend a little on it each month to boost my points. Of course I fannied on and missed this month's payment deadline by a day and that's cost me an extra £12 :wall:

I worked out how to use clubcard points the other day and managed to stop £2.50 worth from expiring - I added another £1.50 and bought a £10 voucher for a beauty website. There are some OPI nail polishes on there for £11 so that's a Christmas pressie for my friend for the equivalent of £2.50 (not counting the £2.50 that was going to expire) so that's pretty good. Also bought my Dad his pressie from Argos last night and they're doing a free £10 voucher for a £100 spend so that'll be a free pressie for someone, just have to work out what. Also, I don't think I mentioned that I did eventually get a £10 credit on Play for the O2 voucher which I lost when the trainers I ordered were out of stock, so that'll go in the Christmas fund as well.

Phew. I feel better for writing all that down!

Birdie85

Super money stuff with the discounts, savings, vouchers and ebay sales! Well done! :T (We'll ignore the £12 fine )

Tete_en_l'Air

Phew, well after a very fraught evening of emails and phone calls back and forth my reference is done and my application is IN. Eep! Really thought I was going to be thwarted at the final hurdle there after all the effort of getting into schools and so on, so it's a mega relief that it's in, but am also now nervous as anything as it's out of my hands!

Got a lot of Christmas shopping done online this afternoon so that's a relief too, managed to do it all as MSE as possible using codes, student discounts, Quidco and free deliveries, saved about £30 in the end I think.

Tete_en_l'Air

Well it's been a while since I updated so just checking back in. I had a letter from GTTR to say that my application has been sent to my first choice provider for consideration but that's all I've heard so far.

After all the stress of the last few months - finding schools to go into and getting the application done, it's all been a bit of a whirlwind - now that it's all done and I can breathe, I've come out in SEVERAL cold sores. Not altogether surprising but miserable nonetheless.

I also broke a tooth on Saturday night and was scared to death that the dentist would just rip it out but I went along to my appointment this morning and she just smoothed out the rough bits (so it was a bargain £17.50) but said that in the long term I'll need to think about a crown. If I get it done on the NHS it'll be £209 but they only do silver ones; I could have a porcelain one for £350 which I'd prefer to be honest. Not very MSE but even though it's a molar I'd be so self-conscious of it, it's worth the extra I think. So that's something else to get saving for.

I went for my Groupon facial on Friday evening and it was amazing Had a full back neck and shoulder massage, plus really involved facial including steam and hot towels and a hand massage to boot! 90 minutes all for about £20 I think I paid. They had a special offer on for a half price second treatment too so I've booked myself in for January

Ummm, and I think that's about all there is to report. Work has calmed down a bit now that we have a new girl in post so I've been able to catch my breath a bit there too so that's nice. Ooh and off to see the nativity at School P tonight Can't wait!

Kittikins

Yay, I have had an invitation to attend an interview at my first choice uni - phew! I was feeling very fed up, that they didn't want to meet me, but yay, they do

Got some hopefully great ideas for a book presentation, need to read and inwardly digest the EYFS and KS1/2 curriculums (surely curricula but not sure, oops!) as that might take me til February!

Have you booked your QTS tests? Both my uni choices give interview preference to people who have passed the tests, so it would be a good idea to tackle them asap if you can.

Hope the cold sores etc clear up and you feel 100% again soon. I'm still coldy and poor DD has gone away to my parents for a rest as she's sick with a nasty sinus infection

Kittikins

Hi Tete, how's tricks? Merry Christmas

Tete_en_l'Air

Helloooooo *calls out into the void*!

Happy new year and hope you had a lovely Christmas! I'm back at work today - happily on my lonesome, radio on, taking it pretty easy, sorting some 'personal admin'. Lots to update on, not sure where to start.

Dad had a scan earlier in December and we got the results on the 21st. Not the best. The tumour has grown again after initially reducing in size following chemo then stabilising following a period of no treatment. Obviously not that stable though. So he starts chemo again on Friday. He did well on it last time and it didn't affect him TOO badly so fingers crossed it'll be the same. The specialist was talking about another form of treatment which is an option but is much more aggressive and he said that it can extend a patient's life by up to four months - it was pretty shocking and horrible to hear him talking in such short timescales and having it relate to my Dad, especially considering how well he's been 'in himself' for the last six months or so. Anyway, after the doc described the frankly pretty horrific side effects, Dad decided to stick to the milder treatment he's been having and we came away trying to be as positive as possible and just carrying on as normal. What else can you do? It's hard though as it's always in the back of your mind. I had a go at him yesterday as he'd annoyed me and then felt awful because we should be being nice to each other, you know?

I haven't heard anything about my application yet but wasn't expecting to over the holidays. I did my skills tests before Christmas and passed both THANK GOD - I was in a right old panic the night before about the mental arithmetic but the practice obviously paid off. Just glad that I've got them out of the way (and didn't have to pay to resit!). When is your interview Kitty? What will you have to do for it, I know you mentioned a presentation? I was chatting to my cousin's gf over Xmas, she's currently doing her secondary PGCE and she said she had to do lots of written work in her interview so they could check her handwriting! :eek: I should have been a doctor with mine, not a primary teacher!!

As we were chatting she also asked about bursaries for primary (she got quite a good bursary as she got a 1st ... even though she's nowhere near as intelligent as me, she's lovely and everything but this only strengthens my view that not all BAs were created equal...) and when I said I basically get nothing except the means tested amounts towards living expenses (about £5k part grant, part loan) she was really shocked and said, "I'm not being funny, but what are you going to do for money?" and it panicked me a bit. I've just been thinking in my happy little head that I'll save up now and be frugal for the year and it'll be fine but her shock shocked me a bit. I guess I need to look at what I spend each year on certain things (car, phone, contact lenses.....) and divide it between the number of paydays I have before Sept and put it aside so I have those little piggy banks, plus save whatever I can extra for general living expenses? I do have my ISA money if all else fails - better to spend that than get into debt and that plus the living allowance will come to about £10k which should easily be enough to live on.

We got a minuscule pay rise in December and it was backdated a few months so I've stuck that unexpected £66.68 in my savings, plus some Christmas money. I did a little bit of shopping in the sales but wasn't feeling the love really so I've just stopped looking and put it in the bank.

I just booked a little weekend away with my girls in February for my birthday - we're staying in a posh little hotel and going to the Bally (the Nutcracker, bit Christmassy for Feb but never mind, I've never been to the Bally and it's on my Day Zero list!) - the hotel and tickets come to about £100, plus we'll be having afternoon tea, eating out and maybe going dancing? I'm also looking for a spa offer for me and my pregnant bestie for her 30th - hoping to find maybe a half day spa plus treatment poss plus food for £130ish for us both (might be wishful thinking, esp as we can only do weekends!)

Apart from the above and a possible trip to Dublin in April, there's not a lot I want to spend money on. I made a few resolutions over on my blog which include wanting to make more clothes this year, crochet and knit certain things and read more. Happily I'm such a hoarder I have more than enough fabric, wool and books to keep me going til the end of the decade so hopefully I won't spend too much on keeping myself occupied!

Last thing - weight! I weighed myself this morning: 11st 4 1/4 - being very honest as I need a kick up the bum. The number is actually lower than I expected as I'm feeling really chunky, my clothes feel tight and I look about 4 months pregnant. I want to lose about 15lbs, my happy weight is between 10.2 and 10.4. My birthday weekend is 40 days away so that's a good incentive to have made a good start, especially as my girls are all skinny and gorgeous. I'm not going to drink again til then either, had way too much Port over the festive season!

I'll stop waffling now - going to check my banks and reevaluate my sig for the new year...

shrimpy_80

Really sorry to hear that your dad didn't get good news Tete, I have been thinking of you over Christmas and hoping that your absence wasn't due to bad news. As you say, its good that he responded well to the treatment last time, I will be keeping my fingers crossed for you both. I know what you mean about being nice, but at the same time I think its good if things are normal too, I'm sure your dad wouldn't want to think that you were tiptoeing around him and he clearly knows how much you love him, which is what matters.

Well done on passing the skills tests too! Must be a huge relief to have them out of the way. I think it sounds like you have a really good handle on the money situation so I wouldn't panic too much.

I think I'm going to hold off on the losing weight for a couple of weeks as we have such an immense amount of chocolate in the house still, its ridiculous!

Birdie85

We're like that too Shrimpy! Everyone knows that I don't want chocolate for Christmas but we still somehow end up with loads as everyone buys me 'just a little' (and a lot for OH!) which really adds up! I'm just going with the tubby girl flow this week and going to try harder from next week! Seriously need to lose about 2 stone though so need to get a wiggle on! :eek:

Sorry about your Dad's news Tete, I had been wondering how he was doing. I hope this treatment goes well for him and he's around for a long time to drive you up the wall!

Well done for passing the skills tests! So exciting to think that you're well on the road to your new career!