It's time to begin.....

Kakiste

Annual Musings. 
This time last year I owed a smidge over 30k. During 2020 I have paid off around 12k.
Less than 19k to go now so in 12 months time I should be comfortably below 8k with a view to having my DFD around August 2022.

This time last year I realised that size 20 clothes now fit me better than size 18; I hit the gym hard and stopped snacking last January and I'm currently a size 16 which is the best shape i've been in since having my daughter in 2014. Whilst the gyms closing 4(!) times this year hasn't helped with my target of getting back to a size 14, I havent put more than a few lbs back on since my gym classes stopped at the end of October- I'm going to continue to do all the home exercise into the new year so I dont backslide. 
Finally I finished my probation in my lovely new school and got a payrise of 5k p/a. 
A good year for accomplishments. Now roll on 2021

Chrystal

Wishing you everything that's good @Kakiste for the coming year.  XX

Honeysucklelou2

Well done on each of those accomplishments- shows determination! Best wishes for 2021!

Kakiste

Back to work. Lovely to see all my colleagues again, though we've been banned from congregating in the staffroom which whilst completely understandable is a bit rubbish as the social contact with others in work was something that made last year really enjoyable. 

I've got a banging migraine today from not sleeping properly for the last two nights, our mattress is shockingly bad and needs replacing urgently. I pay council tax over 10 months not 12 so I always have an extra amount of money in Feb and March. I'm considering using the February amount to buy a new mattress with (There's a local wholesale company that do doubles for £110 that has good reviews.) And it's looking as though I'm going to have to replace my phone handset as well. I've had it for nearly 6 years (It's an S6) and I'm on a SIM only contract- I don't think I'd ever get another phone handset on contract again it's just such a waste of money. But my charging port went really finickity a few months back and so I have to be really careful with how the charger is plugged in otherwise it doesn't charge, my SIM card broke over the New Year so currently my data/calls/texts don't work, I've ordered a new SIM which should be here by the weekend but even after a factory reset my phone has now randomly started turning itself off even when it has plenty of charge- so it looks like it's jiggered. So I've priced up a few refurbished handsets to use my March council tax break to pay for; it's looking like with the amount I'd get for trading in my current handset I could upgrade my phone to an S9 for £130 which the council tax more than covers. 
 
However on the positive side, my difficult year 11s have just been lovely in English first lesson and I've got my favourite class for history after break. 

Kakiste

New SIM has arrived but hasn't changed anything- it's the hardware that's bust. Which makes sense given the phone is 6 years old. My friend is loaning me his old handset which I can pick up on the way back from work tonight as a stop gap until I can buy a refurbished one. At the moment I'm locked out of internet banking which whilst fine (I have enough money to cover everything so there's no immediate issue) I'm finding it very stressful not being able to see how much money i've got, I used to deliberately avoid looking at my balance because it was such bad news, now I check it at least once a day if not a few times and not being able to do so is quietly stressing me out because of the old implications of not looking. 
*gives head a wobble*
But I know everything is fine. I'll have it all sorted once I get home. 

Kakiste

Picked up phone- SIM worked. Checked my bank! And then immediately relaxed as I saw everything was fine. 
I'm not sure if I've mentioned on here yet, but I got a new kitten a few weeks ago (Always had 2 cats but one of them was run over and killed in 2019 which sucked.) The new kitten is adorable, also the runt of the litter (other cat was as well) and super friendly. My older cat is loving playing with her and they keep chasing each other round and snuggling up together. Also kitten and daughter love each other to bits- not quite sure which one follows which round more often! 

Anyhow, took kitten for her first injections this evening which was going to cost £70 and was budgeted for. The lovely receptionist point out that if I downloaded their app right then and there I could get a huge discount voucher and it ended up costing me £24 instead! So that was nice.

ladyholly

Wow that was some discount. Well done and congratulations on your kitten.

Kakiste

So exams will be cancelled again this year. That means another £1500 of lost earnings as I obviously won't get paid to mark if there are no exams sat. 
Rubbish. But it's not the end of the world. I'm in a much better position than so many other people. It looks as though our school may be firebreaking again; one of the houses have had 4 kids test positive (my entire form However myself and my TA have tested negative twice so it wasn't us that infected them. So we've closed to day kids and any kids who usually go home every weekend have been sent home. So far today I have taught..... 2 students, but i've spent the rest of the morning making up english and history work packs for those who have gone home. Still got the lively year 8 classes in so my afternoon will at least be taking up with some teaching. 

Kakiste

So I've had a lateral flow covid test every day this week and all have been negative, so I'll have two more on Monday and Tuesday to take me up to the 10 days and then I will have escaped infection from my form (who are all very bored in their house, enough to do some work!) It's been an odd week. Today I've only taught two lessons which contained a grand total of 4 students (2 in each class) and I'm free from now until the end of the day. I'm getting a lot of paperwork done! 

This afternoon i'm writing a new curriculum map- trying to tie everything in with other documents so it's more "cohesive" *blinks slowly*

Oh and my oven's been broken since last week- not been a massive issue so far as i've got the hob, microwave and slow cooker but I really really want pizza! I'm going to see if they can get someone to come out tomorrow when i'm home. 

Kakiste

Totally didn't get the curriculum map done as my brain just wouldn't engage with it at all, in the end I lesson planned for all next week and put up two new displays so used the time productively at least.