'supporting each other through really tough times'

stiltwalker

Have pm'ed you too. Some good stuff there.

Fuddle - Sorry you didn't get it this time but good luck for next year when you will have had chance to do some other stuff and prepare a bit more - you'll get there hun, just keep b*ggering on!

Really positive day here - Had DS's CAF today (big meeting with all involvedas a planning exercise and t see what else needs putting in place). Disabled child team (SS actually turned up and it looks like they are going to react positively to a new referral so will hopefully get the support that we need there! Yay, only been trying to get them on board for 12 months now.

DS then had his orthotics appointment - boots ordered, should hopefully make a big difference to his stability when he is trying to get more mobile.

Then rush back pick DD up from nursery and back home for a visit from the chappie from the charity we've applied to for help with the buggy costs. That seemed to go well so fingers crossed for next week and hopefully we should be able to order the new pushchair soon.

After all that the kids are now bathed and in bed, DH is writing his essay and I am off to the bath with a good book and a glass of chilled white! Think I've earned it today - oh and dinner is a tesco's finest meal deal together with Italian antipasto as starter (YS) and roast potatos (YS ) as I picked the mediterranean veg as the side dish. So totally not OS (well apart from the YS bits) but ask me if I care??? NO it's been a looooooonnng day!!

Catch you all later - Hugs X

[Deleted User]

FUDDLE pet, try not to be too dissapointed, it gives you an extra year to be totally prepared for uni. Do the college course, it will get you back into practise and discipline of learning which will make uni so much less daunting when, and not if, you get your place on the course. I know how dissapointed you must be feeling and I feel for you but, you're a winner not a looser and you'll certainly get there in the end, I believe in you, and when you've had a little bit of time to come to terms with it, you'll be the feisty little battler I know you are, and go for it again. Hugs pet, sending you lots of happy thoughts, Love Lyn xxx.

fuddle

Hey thanks everyone. Onwards with the plan. If I'm successful next time I'll be 38 before qualified.

Those courses look great mccollach, I've Pm'd you too. You're going to be inundated!

Lyn fab find for your DD, her dress. What a lovely thought it must be to know that the money is going to charity too. Your zest for frugal life is catching Lyn, your family can't have helped to pick up the rewarding ways in which to source items of need (sometimes want )

VJsmum

Evening all - I have retired to bed with my laptop as one child has a loud football match on in one downstairs room and the other is singing at the top of her voice in another - pity the poor neighbours (actually scrap that, we have had to put up with much from our neighbours over the years). OH has gone to visit his mother and is coming home later.

I have lost 3lbs this week on the 5:2 diet :T - 5lb altogether in 3 weeks. As someone who has under a stone to lose this is quite something. However today I have been soooooo hungry - I have gone over the 500 calories, though the "over" is veg. I may not be able to keep it up but we shall see. I may only do the one day this week and just be sensible for the others. How is everyone else getting on?

Sorry about the Uni course, Fuddle, but there is more than one way to skin a dead cat. When I decided to teach, I signed up for a 730 teachers certificate - pretty basic stuff - after I had DD. She was about 2 months old and I went one night a week. Within another 2 months I was offered a teaching post one day a week which gave me the confidence to carry on (I know 4 months is very soon after childbirth to go back to work but I was crawling the walls with PND and it was only one day. She doesn't seem to have come to any harm because of it. If fact, I am not sure she knows!), I then did a PGCE a couple of years later and a couple of years after that an MSc. Things happen in a way you don't expect sometimes. My next step is a PhD and, whilst I rather like the idea of being "Dr VJsmum" I am not sure I like the idea of the workload. Definitely do the access course - you never know where it might lead.

Lynne - loved your post. I am afraid I very much DO do hairdressers, make up, going out occasionally (tho not expensively) and, at the moment, do not want to give up the holidays. I envy your contentment.

Positive vibes, Nargleblast.

Good news for us today is that my sister and her OH are going to try marriage counselling, rather than just splitting up. THere is a complicated arrangement of children to consider (two of his from his first marriage, one of hers from a previous relationship but who has been adopted by her OH, and 2 joint) so I am glad they aren't just giving up.

I am coming to the end (I hope) of some intense work commitments - much of which has been on days off. I am not sure I will get all the time back, though I will some of it. It will be a relief to have more semblance of normality - whatever that is.

Still trying to empty that freezer.......

savingqueen

Great bargain with the bridal dress Mrs LW :j What a canny lass you have!

Fuddle - sorry you are disappointed love, I would be too. However I'm a believer in fate and 2014 will be better in all sorts of ways (that you don't know yet ) to start your degree. In the meantime you will have lots to do so don't think you are getting off easily! You can do your access course (and maybe the free online courses Mcculloch kindly posted about) and that will put you in good stead for the uni course. You will feel more confident and prepared for uni - you will probably be glad you did it when the time comes. If you do feel you have time on your hands to fill (doubt it with a family and houshold to run too!) you could always consider some sort of volunteering role linked to nursing, maybe in a hospital? You can also hone your OS skills to perfection ready for when you have less time when you are studying.

Those childminding stories (well not stories as sadly they were real ) were heart rending. I can't think too deeply about it, too upsetting. All we can do is our own little bit really. I know that at least I can bring some stability and affection to the lives of those kids at school and help them in their development. Its not enough though is it but its all I can do for them.

We had beef casserole for dinner with a cobbler topping which I have only done a couple of times ages ago. DS8 picked the top off (had made some mash for tomorrow so he had that instead) but the rest of us liked it, so easy to make. Also made some twinks for the first time - a batch makes loads! They went down a treat and I have another tub hidden from DH who is a devil with biscuits.

sq:)

mardatha

Does anybody here live near Stansted airport? Can you tell me how far it is from the airport to Stansted Hall?

Own_My_Own

mardatha wrote: »

Does anybody here live near Stansted airport? Can you tell me how far it is from the airport to Stansted Hall?

On my Google Map it says it's 4.4 miles , roughly 10 minutes in a car.

HTH OMO xx

stiltwalker

Fuddle - my DH was 44 before he even started his degree! He's rapidly heading towards the end of his second module (OU so equivilant of end of 1st year) and he will be 50 when he gets his degree and he wants to be a TA for kids with specific learning disabilities as he is profoundly dyslexic himself. I feel that with that and as a man wanting to work within a primary setting he stands a good chance of finding a place, and knowing him he will be really good at it - as an example of not letting it beat you he cannot be bettered - his spelling is in the bottom 4 % of population and some of his other score are below the 15 the percentile however with adaptations such as dragon voice and a lot of bl**dy hard work he is getting essay scores of between 60 and 70 on a history degree (so not much reading and writing there LOL). He (and I) feel that as a good example of finding your own strategies there are few better examples. He was a training sponsor at work and was asked a while back to train a new member of staff - he was told new bod was dyslexic so he would have to fill in the paper work for him which DH did then as he handed it to line manager he said 'hope you can read it ok it's just my handwriting is not so good as I am dyslexic!' He has told them at work, it's just that he has his own coping strategies so well worked out and so well integrated that people either don't realise or if they know, forget!

I'll be 38 by the time I finish my degree as well and deending on how the kids are doing and how intensive their appointment schedules are I may not even be able to start looking for work then - still they say 40 is the new 30!

Molly41

Fuddle - I think I have mentioned that my DD is also very dyslexic ? She was turned down for Uni a couple of years ago but has done/ is doing the Access course and is doing brilliantly.

She was accepted at all 5 of her uni places:T:T:T

DD has grown in confidence and has developed some brilliant coping strategies. She was so depressed when all her friends went off to uni at 18 and she had to stay home and get a job for a year - that was tough. However she picked herself up and got herself a place on the Access course and has never looked back. Im convinced she would never have coped with Uni without it.

When I discussed it when she was down - often...... I always emphasised that there are many routes to education, to never compare herself to others and to plod on with her way of learning.

fuddle

Molly I did remember what you said about Access last night and it was a comfort. I will get there, I'm determined. It's just a little knock back. Littlest will be 6 next year and eldest will be 10 so it gives me another year of sports days and performances that's me putting a positive spin in it anyway.

I woke at 5.30, still sore throat but if course it was on my mind. I decided to look for volunteering roles and found one with local mental health charity. It's to run a toddler group for parents with mental health issues. I've applied so we'll see. I have also found a local volunteering agency thy are based over the roundabout from where I live so... Plenty of scope to get out there in the local community and get more experience in working with children and their families.

My new friend is taking me to show me the poundshops/cheap shops over the river and I believe there is a Lidl. Happy as it will mean when I find my bearing I won't have to drive into the big town centre.

Have a good day everyone. Onwards, and if we can be bothered, upwards! X