All these things that I have done

Yesterday was the first time in what feels like a really long time that I woke up and felt like I actually had energy and was more well than sick. This has been the most horrible cold season and who knows, maybe this is just a brief respite, but it's really putting me in a good mood. For most of last week, I was feeling pretty overwhelmed by the amount of stuff I needed to do, mostly at school, but also sorting out home maintenance stuff and so on and I feel really pleased that I made the firm decision on Monday that I was going to abide by one of my original stipulations when I decided to try the gym thing and accept that I was not well and that I therefore did not have enough spoons or energy to go to the gym so I skipped Monday and Wednesday without making myself feel bad about it, so yay for positive planning!

One of the things that has been stressing me out, apart from the massive volume of marking that year 6 seems to require, is the fact that my Grenada trip is now pretty close and as part of that, two Grenadan teachers are visiting our school starting next week. I have to host one in my class part of the time, so that's kind of daunting, but also, I have to get a massive amount of stuff planned and ready for when I am away so that my colleagues who are still here don't suddenly have double workload! I spent about a hour of my PPA time yesterday just getting my head around the timetable for the next few weeks because we also have to fit in all our mid year assessments before I go and so I got up to make a cup of tea kind of resigned to doing a bunch of planning this weekend, but as luck would have it, the next few sets of maths objectives are ones that we taught last year as well so I was able to have an incredibly productive couple of hours in which I managed to not only plan, but resource and create the smarthboards for all the maths teaching up to the end of this half term! That took a massive weight off my mind and made me feel just really positive about life and everything - I've missed having bursts of productivity!

So far, I've managed to keep it up today as well. We've had our shower cubicle re-done and as we're not allowed to use it until tomorrow, I have been taking advantage of the dryness to touch up the paint on the ceiling and I'm just about to go up and sort out the floor tile grouting too. I also had a gym session that, while I wouldn't go so far as to describe it as enjoyable, was definitely satisfying. I've managed to figure out a routine for using the elliptical that makes me feel like I am challenging myself but is not too horrible/exhausting and, because I was later than I was in previous weeks, the pool was really quiet - so much so that I'll probably aim for this sort of time next week.

Wow, you can tell I'm tonnes better, because this weekend I have

- taken down the Xmas tree
- tidied up the tech room
- tidied up the living room
- tidied up the walk in wardrobe
- cooked, twice
- done some planning for next week
- got up to pretty much where I was before on Guitar Hero III hard (from scratch to Cliffs of Dover done).
- finished watching Stargate season 8 on DVD
- touched Scrapbook support requests
- checked support@ in case there was anything there I should handle

I still have sniffles and a cough, but I have energy again to do stuff. I haven't got this much done since before Christmas!

So, that was week one. Pretty good, all things told. I posted about a bunch of school stuff on back_to_skool, so for here, suffice it to say that I had a good week, the class are nice and I felt welcome. My mentor told me I'd made a really good impression on the Head because on day one when I arrived and found her and the science co-ordinator helping the science speaker to set up I offered to make everyone a hot drink and bought the Head hers in her office when I got back to discover she'd gone to answer the phone. That's Mum's training shining through for you :) Other lessons in this series include being willing and cheerful with any task the teacher asks you to do and try to be as helpful as possible but don't pre-empt (there's a fine line between using your initiative and making a pest of yourself by doing something *not quite* the way they would have asked for if you'd asked).

Went out to play tennis with one of the year one teachers on Thursday, which was very enjoyable, if totally exhausting! Usually there's quite a few but this week only the two of us made it. I felt a bit guilty for not being very good but next week, some more total novices are going. Anyone else fancy the occasional knock around in the name of fitness? Presumably the more I do it, the better I'll get, right?

I managed the basics in my support category fine but I didn't have the energy to do the investigation that we've got pending right now. I'm going to try to do that tomorrow, but I feel reasonably happy about how that's looking so far. I still think I'm likely to need a co-admin when I'm having to do my own planning though - must sort that out in lj_supportadmin

So, as my brief post from yesterday indicated I plan to make a post per day to my LJ this year. It will be interesting to see how that survives contact with (for example) Glastonbury but it's worth a shot. I reserve the right to do 2 word posts on slow days though :)

Looking back at last year's resolutions, I'm not doing too badly there. The routine thing started well but didn't really stick but up until the last month I would have said I'd got a lot better at making sure things didn't slip through the net. Still worth working on that one. All the others have actually been pretty much achieved, which is a nice thought.

This year is going to be the big party so of course I want to organise that and see it go sucessfully. I want to pass my OU course and choose my next one. I want to find out how feasible it would be to start a Guide company and, if possible, get it going. I want to keep more on top of the housework and keep the house looking nice all year round. I want to make better use of the time between getting home from work and when we eat (which has expanded this year as Alex gets home much later than me). I want to start playing my violin again (possibly in the early evening time) and to pass on my cello to someone who will actually get use out of it as, much as I love it, I just don't play it. I want to commission the extension from an architect

I also want to do something about my weight but I'm hesitant about making that an actual resolution because I currently feel rather powerless about the whole thing. I haven't found any strategies in the whole of my period of trying to lose weight (about 5 years now) which I've been able to maintain in the long term. Still, I do plan to go back to my doctor this year and see if she can make any suggestions for what I could do. I also plan to go to the gym after work for a workout once a week. That will need to be straight after work as my gym membership only allows entry until 5:30 and I find lunchtimes are not long enough for me to do a proper workout on the machines. I should be able to find at least one evening per week though. I also plan to cycle to work as much as possible - Fridays are out because of Brownies but other than that only heavy rain or the combination of a strong wind with a very heavy cold (as then I can't breathe enough) are allowed to deter me. Fingers crossed, I guess!

So, yeah. I should actually write entries instead of just thinking of entries more often. *goes to check last update* Hmm, not quite so bad as I thought, but still...

Finally finally managed to shake my cold and am hence in a much better mood. I've even cycled to work again the last two days (still horrible, but at least it's exercise). I put the Christmas tree up on the 2nd, and very nice it looks too. I now have an old fake tree which I decided to replace on the basis that it was getting slightly tatty - I wonder if you can recycle them? Probably not and I should just put it out for the bin men. Charlie has once again decided that the tree is her natural enemy. There is one particular bauble (fortunatly made of cloth) that she loves to grab off the tree and chase round the floor. Last night, she surpased herself and managed to get it into the coal scuttle so that she could combine playing with it with her other favourite game, getting things out of the coal scuttle to chase. She hasn't yet climbed up into the branches but I'm hoping for more cute Christmas photos.

I managed to have a very restful weekend last weekend while Alex and co were at ATP. I managed to paint nearly all the woodwork in my bedroom with the chosen purple colour except for one cupboard door which I forgot. I've been not getting around to this for weeks so it was very satisfying. I'll take pictures soon, honest. I also managed to keep Teasle company (what a nice cat!) and socialize with people as well as watching the most recent Veronica Mars. I'm all caught up now - I had been binging on it and watched seasons 2 and 3 (such as it is so far) in about 4 weeks so now I feel I've got nothing to watch again!

I still haven't written my Christmas cards - I wonder what the last posting date is? As in previous years, I won't be giving cards to folk I see regularly, who will get a Christmas hug instead on personal application.. This, fortunatly, reduces my list to a much more manageable level but I'm still not sure when I'm going to get to them.

We went to see the Prestige last week. Fantastic film and you should all go and see it. I loved the way it all tied together so well - nothing missing and nothing wasted. A very satisfying film indeed. We're going to Pans Labyrinth tomorrow, which I'm slightly more apprehensive about but, based on the Kermode's enthusiasm, I'm giving it a go. Prior to that, Christmas shopping - I really need to get finished off and hopefully, late night shopping won't be as crowded as weekends. We can but hope :) Then it looks like on Saturday I'm going to the Tate Modern to play on the slides (Niall, do I need to confirm that to anyone?), rather unexpectedly! Alex will be at Oxfam, unfortunatly, but it should be great fun all the same.

Tonight is bingo with the girls of OCC, which will be interesting. I've never been to bingo before and I kind of associate it with my Grandma, who always used to do rather well. It'll be good to see the OCC girls again though so I thought I'd indulge my curiousity. Wish me luck!

Why is it, I wonder, that when I run a query as a select to see how many rows it will update it takes 15 secs and now that I'm trying to run it as an update it's taken an hour and it's still running?!*

I've applied for my OU course this lunchtime. I decided on Understanding Society in the end. As well as being interesting in itself I thought quite a few of the other courses in this area sounded good so hopefully this will give me a taster of what they're like as I can imagine them being very interesting or kind of buzzword-y.

Speaking of buzzwords, I'm warning you, the first person to use the phrase "hearts and minds" where I can actually reach them rather than on the radio is going to get a sock in the mouth! It just drives me crazy! It's just trotted out constantly and it's become meaningless. I suppose it's not so much the concept as the fact that it's never backed up by anything that indicates they've actually thought about what that might mean that irritates me. Anyway, consider this fair warning.

As you can see, I am in a snippy mood today. I have that "I'm not quite ill feeling going on where my muscles ache and I have that odd pre-cold head feeling. Who knows whether this will develop into a day under the covers or just go away on its own. I'm hoping for the latter actually as I've a busy weekend ahead. Plus we get a day of non work at an unspecified future point when our new desks arrive because we'll have to spend the day moving our old desks out and putting the new ones together. Yes, I don't know why they're doing it either. Just another part of the glorious mystery that is my workplace.

* This is a rhetorical question.

So the doctors visit was fine in the end. Having nerved myself up to battle for my right to be tested, I went in and did my opening explanation and she just said "Yeah, fine, lets get you tested out. And while we're at it we'll check a couple of things like blood glucose too". Quite brusque but until they've done the tests there's not much point in talking around it, I guess. Anyway. I can't have the test until Monday week because of being in Norwich (after I remembered I was free on Friday I tried to rebook it but they don't have any Friday afternoon appointments) and then after that it'll take a week before it gets back, probably so I still have a while to stew but it's a start.

Spent a very pleasent long weekend. Off to London on Friday to rendezvous with Mum for her birthday\Christmas present - a trip to the Globe, a go on the London Eye, an overnight stay and then to top it off, a day at the National Portrait Gallery. All these things turned out to be fantastic fun, marred only by the complete lack of free wireless networks :( Even the hotel, which I had simply assumed would have one didn't.

( Friday - the Globe, the Eye and the hotel )

( Saturday - National Portrait Gallery and Alex's birthday )

( Sunday - Rocket vs airship and A Scanner Darkly )

So, a busy weekend. Next weekend I'm off to my folks place for a week, while Alex is away with the hippies which should be very relaxing, I hope. In the meantime, based on a check with HR about what the policy covers, I have decided to go ahead and get a doctors appointment to get my thyroid checked on the NHS so I'm heading over for that on Wednesday. We'll see what they say.

I really need to either figure out a way to bluetooth photos to my computer in bulk or get round to transferring everything over the wire - I'm getting quite backed up with images on the camera now. Still discovering nifty features and so on - it's even got a built in photo editor where you can adjust the brightness, contrast, etc before sending the pics to your friends.

Good thing: Have finally (fingers crossed and touch wood) shaken off the squits.
Bad thing: Whole week of being ill/insurance woman/etc has meant that I haven't got any revision done at all

While obviously that's not a huge problem because I haven't booked my exams yet, it's not good because I really need to get on with it and finish the MCSE.

Good thing: Sky have sent me my viewing card for my forthcoming satellite dish
Bad thing: They haven't sent me my contract yet.

It's always possible that the phone conversation etc was sufficient but I'm sure I remember the guy saying that I'd have to send a photocopy of my tenancy agreement with the contract so that they could be sure that I wasn't the previous tenant trying to sneak in under a new name. Hmmm.

Update They have now sent me my contract. Phew. Sorted.

So here I am again. At work if not exactly raring to go. I am so fed up with being ill. It sucks. I had a panic attack last night when I drifted off to sleep then became unable to breath through the nose which woke me up in a panic - I nearly hyperventilated and had to call Alex over to calm me down. Luckily he was just down the road visiting some friends of ours so he was there really quickly and got me sorted out and stuff. I felt bad for having worried him but glad he was there. Maybe I'll try and pop along to a GP and see if they can suggest anything I can do. I already eat a lot of veg and stuff so I doubt it's vitamins but maybe I'm missing something else out.

As a result of illness, had v. quiet weekend. Rented Josie and the Pussycats and X-men to watch again and enjoyed both (I must buy Josie when it's available). Other than that, generally slobbed about at home and then wandered over to Jeremy's on Sun evening to watch Samurai Jack - it's so stylised :) We like.