Apple muncher's number crunching

Karmacat

apple_muncher said:

I am eating quite well.

Getting enough sleep.

Meditating.

Exercising hard.

Seeing my counsellor.

Reading for fun.

And am still rather a mess.

Cor, what would I be like if I wasn't doing all those things...?!?!?!

It does make you think, doesn't it ... good for you for doing what you can, though.

apple_muncher

Just had a very good meeting with dc's senco. Phew.

apple_muncher

Had a long visit to the W0rks with dc today. It was long cos we had to keep waiting for other people to move away so we could look at things... But we did get a bunch of stuff we were looking for. And also several items we didn't know we'd been looking for!

Am pottering on making things for the upcoming 2 fairs.  Air dried clay will help. So long as I don't run out of stuffing...

Karmacat

I love your focus on your craft work, it must feel great  

apple_muncher

It is great, karma! I'm so pleased to have a couple of fairs this year. And they're both school ones and I've done them before so know the ropes. I opted not to do an outside one in Dec! Ok, it runs for 6 hours and they got over 1000 people through last year, which was the first time they did it. But it's outside. For 6hours. In December. In a field.

Watched a load of rugby yesterday on Prime. Happy times 😀

Dh spent hours replacing some pipes in the downstairs loo. It's a very small space to work in and he did get rather wet. But he persevered and managed it so the place can hopefully dry out a bit. The laminate floor is rather uneven... I've currently got a wash going of all the towels that got sodden in the process.

The last 2 days have been pretty good days for dc, and my own anxiety levels have dropped accordingly. But each day is a new one and stuff just doesn't carry over from previous ones. Which is good when they previous ones have just been totally sh****y.

This coming week I need to finish off 3 elephants and a forest of cmas trees (each one needs decorating, a stick/pencil sewing up them as the trunk, a base to stand in/on [hence the clay, to make 'plant pots', as the cotton feels are very light and I think the trees will fall over]). And price lists, labels. And get cash out. And set up the z3ttl13 thingy dh bought me for payments. And work extra, as it's orals week and the other teacher has never done them so I'm going in for half a day to do them and she can learn.

It's a day-to-day approach with dc, but we are learning new things every day, and how to not just cope, but hopefully make life better.

The other teacher is leaving at cmas, which is quite a disaster. But it is up to management to sort things out. Given that she teaches y11, 12 and 13, they need to get an experienced teacher in. I've been looking at the timetable to see where I could do extra (esp y11+13). But as the three people I've talked to about it have all pointed out how I'm only just coping as it is and that it really wouldn't be sensible or healthy to take on more, then I'm going to try very hard to not offer...! If I did do extra, it would mean going in for a sizeable chunk of my current two days off. Both of which I need to stay sane. I reckon I could do it for a short time, ie a few weeks. Maybe. Hmmm. Probably not, really! But management need to sort it.

Enough wittering on. Time to wake the child and find out what today's plan is...

apple_muncher

Cotton reels.

f0xh0les

For the outdoor one, I think I would fill thermos flasks and use a hot water bottle up my coat all day!!  We have a lovely street Xmas market fair thingie just up the road from me, the road is closed off, all the cafe's do a raring trade, loads of independent sellers, it is about 4 hours.  Mind you, it has not been too brrrrr yet and it is just over  a week til December......

Karmacat

You need that time off for yourself and your family!  Don't offer.  Don't offer.  Don't offer.  Stay with the Christmas trees with pencils for trunks!  DC has been okay the last few days, remember what it's like when they need absolutely *all* your time and attention and thoughtfulness.

VintageHistorian

I agree with Karmacat, don't offer. You'll just be giving management a space to kick the can down the road and open yourself up to pressure to "just keep it going a few more weeks while we sort something out", and before you know it you'll be expected to go the extra hours until the summer.

apple_muncher

Don't worry, I'm not about to offer! Though I do/will feel bad for the Y13 exam group as they were the first ones hit by covid exam cancellations... However, my Dep Head has emailed me to tell me that they weren't able to catch other dept member on Fri, but guessed what it would've been about. So I'm going to drop in and see them first thing tomorrow and have a chat...

Had a lovely day. Dc had asked to see some old friends, both kids are autistic, they all get along v well. So I messaged the mum. And at the same time, one of the kids was messaging dc to arrange a meet up! So, we went round to them for a couple of hours and all had a fab catch up.

The afternoon saw 3 elephants get stuffed and 2 sewn up. The rest of the trees also got stuffed. About 8 trees got a star sewn on. Then I needed to rest my hands.