Mission Crepe: no surrender

[Collymollypuff]

Here ya go...

Another one who never goes anywhere glamorous; love the top, Rose. I would go for the facial, MI, as massages always hurt me - lying back and having my face creamed etc., is my idea of bliss.

I bought a lovely set of babygrows (sp?) for the new arrival, eventually got a suitable birth card (for goodness sake who talks about "your little man", it made me want to throw up). Nearly had a row with DH, who fancied a walk out, because he thought five (5, v) minutes was long enough to look in a dress shop - er, no. Am now enjoying a cup of red bush whilst catching up with Nigella.

Decided on facial. But am now informed I should teach my lot about something about which I know bog all....

Gosh, crepeys rip the threads fast! I had to look for the new one, but they are never far down the page. Nice title.

Mild envy for all the glamorous events being attended, tempered with lots of sympathy for those having a tough time at work.

Everything here is wreathed in mist and rain, but as the Cressethound was spayed on Monday, we wouldn't be going far. She is improving fast and needs to listen to the vet, who instructed me that she should not jump around, and needs to be kept on a lead for 10 days. I will need new elbows and shoulders!

Sorry for those whose teens are troubled at the moment and hope things will be more settled soon.

Trying to stop myself being distracted by trivia. I'm planning a singing event for DH's 60th on Sunday (in four, 4, IV days) & sent invitations weeks ago, with a request to RSVP, so we could choose & order music.

Today I get e-mail from 'friend' (who did not RSVP) which says 'is this happening?'. I am overcome with guilt, thinking I've sent her invitation to an old e-mail address. No, she's had it all along but hasn't yet decided if she'll come. Not going to decide until Saturday, she informs me (by which time I suppose she can be reasonably sure she won't get a better offer).

I've known her over 20 years, she's never going to change, why do I let it wind me up?

Auriga, that, as you know, is spectacularly bad manners. And she's evidently not even a teen!

Apparently the MOBO's are on tonight

Auriga - this would drive me wild. I dont suppose you can say you need to know numbers in advance for organisation purposes and she should have an idea by now. Agree with BTM - she definitely knows better.

NU - I thought Nigella had lost a lot of weight.

Nigella drove me made with her coy sideways looks to camera, and massive faffing about mashing a buggering avocado. Tho no doubt I'll make her recipes, as they are always delicious. Annoyingly.

I am BLOODY KNACKERED. Volunteering Monday morning, first ever teaching proper Monday afternoon. Volunteering with darling teenagers all Tuesday. Volunteering with dear little year 2s this morning, then teaching this afternoon. Must remember how long it takes to collate and staple reams of worksheets. And how long it takes to work out how/why to navigate labyrinthine logging on systems in councils. It could not be more complicated and drove me to the brink.

On the plus side: I'm not working tomorrow or Friday (except planning for next week), I have a bottle of red warming in my handbag, and the man who runs 'family learning' asked if I'd like to do some teaching in his department next term! And 'yes' is the answer - it's pretty much my ideal job.

Lovely top Rose - I'm well jel. I never go ANYWHERE.

Wow - well done Herbs - especially for managing the teenagers.

DD's music teacher has sent me the recording of her GCSE ensemble performance (which was a duet with me, accompanied by him on piano). Cheered me up enormously. Lovely thing to have

Hattie, it's not just the music, I'm offering to feed them all. And need to do all the cooking ahead of time, so I can sing. But this 'friend' is not going to be influenced by minor considerations like that. If she turns up, though, she'll be good company.

Incredibly impolite of your friend, Auriga; I hope you get the numbers sorted out soon. Hatty, my first words to DH were about Nigella's weight loss. You are a star, Herbs, your week sounds exhausting and what fantastic news about a possible new job.

Peace and quiet here as DH has gone out to the AGM of his cycling club.

Blimey, that is a bit (very) rude of your friend, Auriga. How lovely to have a recording to treasure of you and your dd.

Crem, how's the back? Are you resting and trying not to seethe too much? Glad to hear that your dd is coming home for Christmas. I hope your blood pressure subsides soon. I sincerely hope that another work opportunity opens up for you soon. Your current place sounds to be in massive, ugly meltdown.

Here the rollercoaster ride continues. Dd was mostly vile and unreasonable last week, culminating in refusing to come with the rest of us to see my dm and db and his family on Saturday, even though dm had actually written her a snail mail invitation (see, my dm is a funny old combo of dreadfulness and niceness).
However, yesterday dd was actually really kind and pleasant to me when I was extremely upset about something. Haven't seen that for a while. Dh immediately responded by offering her something she really, really wants: insurance on a car and driving practice with him. Well, she had spent 6 weeks refusing to countenance the idea of driving with him and was trying to force me to do it. But she has now accepted that he is the right person for that particular job, not me, (big step forward, given that she was refusing to even look at him, let alone speak to him, 6 weeks ago, and trying to manipulate me into caving in to her demands constantly). They went out for their first drive this afternoon and it was all fine and very constructive. And she said an unprompted and very nice thank you to him at supper. It's also rare for her to eat with us these days, but she has managed two days in a row this week. She is making another attempt at her driving theory test tomorrow. I am trying not to think about the ghastly volte-face there will be if she fails.

If I try to do glamorous, I just look like Mrs Potatohead trying to ritz it up, which causes me immense stress. So I do my level best to avoid any occasions where I have to dress up. I have been v happy to avoid even the need to dress for work for 17 years and am already sweating at the thought of having to look mildly smart for teaching.

Eh, Herbs, you are a powerhouse. Go you!

Molly, I have cut and pasted your email to the school and will send it to dd's school at least once a week ufn.

Stropps. That was very clever indeed of dh and you to reward good behaviour so damn quick. Brilliant. Like so many Crepey dc, Dd failed her driving theory by 1 mark the first time (cue much rudeness); and then she passed it by 1 mark the second time. Fingers crossed it'll be similar for your dd. I did keep saying to dd: "It doesn't matter, just see it as practice."

Teacher types, when does the ratio of time taken to plan vs time taken to teach get to anything below about 10:1? I'm paid to teach for five hours a week, and do prep and admin for 2.5. ATM, prep takes about two days...

Herbs, well done and - so glad I only teach 4 days of the 5 I work!
Planning time? I can only speak for primary and it got easier after the first year, but you still have the challenges when you change year group every year until you have done them all
DH and his best mate used to do all their secondary planning on the backs of envelopes when he first started (bearing in mind he was the equivalent of todays TeachFirst, having just been taken on with a degree and previously no intention of ever becoming a teacher!)

Stropps, that's great news
And you always look lovely - STOP PUTTING YOURSELF DOWN!!!

about teaching prep...

Just planning would be ok, but it's making the bloody resources...

Auriga, people like your friend give me the rage.

Stropps you is fab mucho bro ... (BTM will add other chill young vibe stuff). But bottom line I loves you :) and you is amazing.

I'm afraid the planning and resources prep is the reason I don't think I would ever manage to teach full-time again. I never cracked it to the point where I had a life when I was teaching full-time and I didn't even have dcs then. However, I admit that this was before the time when all these lovely resources and ideas were available on t'internet and I am also an obsessive planner and resource maker (plus I worked in places where schemes of work were non-existent and appropriate resources were never available for the lower ability groups I worked with). I'm hoping to be faster and more efficient and generally working smarter this time around, but I'll report back about that in a year or two.

Dear lord, I cannot believe what I am hearing about the new SATs stuff at ds's school. Ds is in Y6 and he is coming home stressing about modal verbs and nittering about the fact that his teacher doesn't appear to be able to explain what the past progressive is. The school has effectively axed all subjects other than English and Maths for the Y6s to try and get them up to the standard required for the new tests. Ds is only getting one lesson a week of science, one of "humanities" and one of something else I forget. I presume he's still getting a lesson of French and RE and some PE, but every minute is essentially spent on SpAG. Best way to kill anyone's remaining bit of enthusiasm for learning?

Luckily, tonight ds was out at an old fashioned bonfire night with the scouts and had a good time somewhere in a field burning up guys they made last week, eating sausages and not worrying about modal verbs.

Lol x-posts BD

And yes re education - I look at ds's timetable and despair.. (And wonder about running away with him)

I must also say that I have unearthed an old scrapbook that I made in ye olden days when I used to collect recipes but was too weird to get around to actually cooking food. This week's therapy has been to try out some of the recipes, a mere 20 years down the line. Traditional gingerbread (really a cake) - mmm, vaporised by the family in about 30 mins; chicken, chickpea and chorizo stew - tonight's supper, blardy lush, if I do say so myself. The dcs are leafing through the tragic old scrapbook, salivating and making suggestions. And when we have gone through that book, there is another one in the cupboard...

Talking of ye olden days, I bought this in an Oxfam shoppe, from the Shelf of Wonderment:

www.brookebondcollectables.co.uk/sets/britishcostume.htm

Dh said it was his very one. Oh, the joy of getting cards out of the tea, and sticking them impeccably in a jolly little album.

Oooh, Molly, I have that one! And a lot more of them. I have said to DH that we should go on Cash in the Attic, only in our case it would be Cash Propped Up In The Hall Or Against The Wardrobe...

Stropps, Y6 is a terrible waste of a year of a child's learning unless you have a very talented teacher and forward-thinking school where they don't just do 1950's drill - embedding Spag in the curriculum is working well in some schools - my lovely friend/ex-colleague do fabulous training on using real books to teach Spag... However, with the new curriculum, everything has hiked up a year. It is all because of the bloody league tables, of course and panic about what Ofsted will say about results.

at Molly and MrsS - you could have a stall together!