Party Fever

Today has been a bit of a slow day today for us. I'm nursing a lovely new cold that my OH has decided to give me as a congratulations on your new job present. Needless to say that thoughtful as it was I'd like to swap the gift for something which involves a lot less tissues but I'll keep the TLC. Credit to him though he has been my nurse-maiding me back to health and mopping my fevered brow.

We went out for our usual Saturday cinema session with OH's mates (well I suppose they're mine now too). We saw Tropical Thunder. It had a mixed bag on the review front. I enjoyed it and gym life-partner loved it (he was on his 4th viewing I think). OH on the other hand didn't enjoy it and the other mate was undecided. I think though that we were all in agreement about enjoying the TGI Fridays we had for tea to celebrate my new job. That was yummy!

Aspirational Goldfish

Ever since I got my job offer and I've been prepping for work next week I've been thinking about the future. There are certain things I think you start to think about at particular times in your life. Mine so far have been a place of my own to life in with my OH, children but before all that a job. Now I have a job I can move onto the other things. I don't think I'm quite ready for children just yet and we haven't really accrued enough money yet to buy somewhere (we could start thinking about renting though). OH's mum made us smile this morning (well me this evening when OH told me). She suggested now I had a job that we might want to get a double bed! So it's not just me that's thinking ahead. Oh course the logistics of that are a little tricky considering the rooms we inhabit but the idea does sound very inviting.

I on the other hand have been going down the adding to the family numbers route. Whilst children are off the menu for now a pet would be quite nice. We can't really get a cat or a dog or something small and furry as there isn't really room or time for them and some family members have an aversion to certain animals. When I was in town the other day buying clothes I spotted an aquarium shop and went in to look at the fish. There was a £28 starter kit that included a fish bowl, some weed and food, a net and 2 goldfish. A bargain price I thought. However a fish still needs some looking after, feeding, cleaning out the bowl and such which all cost money on a regular basis. So they've become aspirational fish. Ones which I will buy when I have more money to burn and a better place to keep them. Instead for now I've set my sight on some sea monkeys. If you've not heard of them before they're basically little Brine Shrimp. They cost less than £20 and live for 2 years and come with a packet of food that's meant to last a year. So that's a pet that'll cost you £20 for one year plus about £1 a year to feed them once the first year's food runs out. I've had them before and not been as successful as I would have liked but I think I've learned from my success so I'm hoping if I do get some then I'll become a sea monkey expert. I'll make a mother of me yet!

Things are on the up!

Today has been a new experience for me. I went into work to sort out all my details before I start work. Nerve-racking at first but then I just relaxed and I feel like I'm going to enjoy it here as long as I don't let my shyness take a hold.

I'm going to make an effort to try and talk to as many people as possible in the first few days and be as sociable as possible. I was getting really excited when I was reading about school discos and when holidays were and things. The one thing that bugged me when I was on placements was that I was never around to do those things. If there was a school trip then it was the week after I left, if there was a disco or some kind of after school event or weekend thing like a fete then I couldn't go because the taxi picked me up at a certain time and so I wouldn't be there and the school was very often miles away from home so I couldn't just pop back or make my own way (the taxi fare to one of my last schools was £100 a journey because they had to go so far out they expected the return fare as well as taking you out there because they were unlikely to get a return fare).

It'll be nice to be able to say oh I can stay and do a shift on the book fare or do you need people to do refreshments at the disco. I'll feel like part of a team rather than a spare wheel who doesn't know anyone or anything about the area. I'm not too familiar with the area at the moment but I think I know a fair bit compared to placement schools where I spent a month and didn't see outside the school walls.

The best bit of this is that I'll still be working in schools. Back in April/May time I thought that my life wasn't going to amount to much and that because I couldn't continue my PGCE I wouldn't stand a chance of getting to work in a school. Looks like things are on the up.

Shop till you drop

Today I've been out spending the money I just received from my deposit on the house I was renting while at Uni. I've had to have the cheque sent to me twice now since the first one was lost by my ever so organised parents. Mum opened it first and put it in a "safe place" then dad picked it up and mum told him not to loose it and to put it somewhere safe. Only problem was dad's somewhere safes are usually pretty forgettable so he couldn't remember where he'd put it. They turned the whole house upside down looking for it. In the end I was forced to phone the landlady up and ask for her to cancel the cheque and re-send another. Then I made parents promise to put the cheque in an envelope and mail it as soon as it touched their eager little palms.

Anyway, Said cheque has now paid for 4 new tops and 2 new pairs of trousers ready for work on Monday morning. I'd only got my 2 interview outfits with me which wasn't a very good wardrobe and as I can't go back to pick some more things up until next Friday I sort of needed to buy a few things to keep me going. Plus it was a nice treat for all the hard work applying for jobs. I also bought myself a lunch box and a new pencil case and pens and pencils. It feels a bit like the first day at school (well it is I suppose!). I'm getting nervous now. I'm going in tomorrow to sort out contract and things like that and also to sort out which bus routes I'm using to get to work.

I'm knackered now from all the shopping I've done. You wouldn't think that it would take so much out of you but I spent a good hour in one shop trying on outfits. OH, his gym "life-partner" and I went out for a drink after work which was most unexpected as they were supposed to be going to the gym but chose to give me a celebratory drink instead (any old excuse!). It was nice being able to sit and unwind and I'm looking forward to doing that having had a hard days work next week. I think I'll appreciate the evenings more now. Then OH and I decided to be naughty and go for a Chinese takeaway. I had to look for one in the yellow pages on my phone though. You would have thought that having lived here since the early 70's that my other half would know where there was a Chinese takeaway but he apparently doesn't despite his love of them *sigh*.

I've got a job!

I'm in complete shock at the moment. I finally have a job! It almost doesn't feel real. I can't wait to start though. From the website and the tour I had today it looks like a really great place to work. Although now that the interview nerves and shock of the job offer have worn off I'm getting a little bit nervous about my first day and my very first proper job.

I have to say it was a real good buzz being able to ring people up and tell them the good news. Especially my parents. I've had to wait until 8pm to tell my mum as she's been at work all day and I swore my dad to secrecy. When I said hello I think she thought I'd not got it and so she was gearing up to keep me bolstered for the interview I was due to have on Thursday. But then I shouted "I got it!" and I think she was genuinely shocked, surprised and happy for me.

Speaking of the interview on Thursday. I rang them up before my interview this afternoon to say that I would be attending and then had to phone them back and apologise and say that I was now unable to attend.

All those hours of filling in boxes have finally paid off and I'm glad because it was starting to grind me down. I know that the positions I had gone for before weren't entirely ideal for my set of experience so I'm glad to know that when I finally did get a go at one that fitted the bill that I got it. So if anyone out there wants some encouragement that you can get a job then I'm in a good mood to give some uplifting advice. Keep chipping away and you'll get there eventually.

Secretly I think my job success was down to practicing my teacher voice on OH last night! ;). Oh and the wonderful reference one of my previous employers/friends wrote for me (I think she was beginning to wonder if she'd ever get asked for one).

I've had some celebratory Krispy Kreme Donuts and a bunch of flowers from my OH (isn't he sweet :) ) but I plan on something a little bigger at the weekend.

Do you have a teacher voice?

Today's post is a little short owing to me having a job interview tomorrow and spending most of the day and this evening trying to prepare for that. It's a job I'd really like, good location, school looks good too and it's the age range I'd like to work with so I'm keeping all my limbs crossed for it and working supper hard to be prepped ready for it.

Luckily my cold symptoms seem to have worn off now so I won't be lurgified tomorrow at my interview. My OH's on the other hand are still there. He's croaky and grouchy. The grouchiness forced me to use my teacher voice on him earlier because he got all crabby with his new Star Wars game and me because he said I was saying it was easy. Co-incidentally if anyone knows how to get past the Raxus Prime level on Playstation 3 where you have to defeat that mini boss robot then please leave a comment (and don't say it's easy otherwise I might have to use my teacher voice on you- it's not pretty!). He must have played that level a million times now. He got past the boss at one point but then fell off the bridge and got very cross (hence me needing my teacher voice).

Everyone always asked me when I was training if I had a teacher voice/stare and I said yes but I can only do/make it work when I really need it. Suffice to say that I think my OH learned how scary it was the hard way!

Sunday catch-up

Today has been a catch up day. Since we spent most of yesterday in London, we'd not watched all our usual programs on Friday and we were both nursing a cold. Although OH more so than me but isn't that the way with men!

He let me lay in till almost 12 after promising me he'd wake me up when he got up. Although I was thankful he left it till 9am before he came and checked on me this time as he'd apparently woken up somewhere around 6.30ish (eek! and on a Sunday as well). I was feeling a big dog-eared and fancy laying on a little longer so said to come get me at 10 at the latest. Unfortunately he got distracted and then fell asleep so was a few hours late on that promise. I forgave him though because he was a poorly little bunny.

Tonight is Charley night (No it's not the night we casually entertain the idea of taking drugs). Charley Boorman  (sans Ewan McGregor *sob sob*)  has set off on another one of his expeditions around the world. This time he's doing it "By Any Means". Charley and his team are trying to use as many different modes of transport to get from the U.K to Australia as possible. Although I'm not so sure that their is much difference between sleeper train in Iran and a sleeper train in India so I'm deducting them brownie points for just adding a country in front of it! This week's episode saw Mungo the cameraman injure his knee. I seem to be seeing a lot of knee injuries this week. Last weekend my sister managed to damage her knee blackberry picking. I know blackberry picking! It doesn't sound very dangerous does it! But my sister can make any activity into an extreme sport when it comes to injuries!

Then having watched all there was to watch on live television we scowered the watch again service and found a programme called something along the lines of world's strictest parents. It was about supposedly unruly teens getting shipped off to a new family for a week who were supposed to turn them into cherubs again with their strict parenting. Personally I didn't think the kids were that unruly and what they needed was for their parents to sit down and listen to them and in some case get them some counselling. Their were 2 teenagers. One 16 year old girl whose parents had broken up and a gay lad who seemed to be going on some sort of anger rampage. Both from what I could deduce were angry because they couldn't express themselves. The girl was feeling like she couldn't trust anyone because her parents had broken her trust and the lad was venting his anger all the anger he had from being taunted about being gay at his nearest and dearest who had given him their full support. At first I thought it was going to be a little bit like wife swap when the family they'd chosen to take on the troubled teens turned out to be a strict Christian family in America. I had visions of the father and then gay teen coming to blows over his sexuality. They did come to blows but not over that and by the end of the programme I was left feeling that the American Christians weren't as bad as I thought they were going to be. They actually genuinely cared about the teens.