So Doctors Do Give Out Good News!

So, I think it's fair to say that I don't relish visits to any type of medical person these days. In the last year or so I don't think any of the checkups have left me feeling overly positive, so it was with some apprehension that I took myself off to my GP's yesterday morning for a review of my BP meds.

With everything going on this month, I was not expecting my BP to be behaving (ask Ally Andbag how much I was whinging at the weeknd over my glass of wine that this could be the last wine I ever drank if they put me on more meds!).

So, I nearly collapsed on the floor when I had a fairly normal reading: 120/80! OK, not out of the woods yet (I need it lower than the average person at 120/70 to protect the stent allegedly) but a marked improvement on last month's 148/93! Hopefully that means that these meds are working, but I'm also wondering if a certain bout of healthy eating and getting my shimmy on at the local belly dancing class could be helping?!

LSNED Update

I've been keeping up with LSNED OK, just not keeping up with uploading pics! So, here's a slideshow of Sept 13th - 22nd!

My Week In LSNED

Well, what a week it's been! I could have filled the LSNED journal every day with this learning curve, no make that learning vertical line, I've been on. Long story short, I quit the job! Not one to normally give up so easily but there were lots of health issues that occurred when faced with teenagers telling you that if they see you in the street they're going to kick you in the head, so I'm out! Here's the LSNED pages that illustrate my week:

Monday - first day with my new class. We went to the form room and it took me about 30 seconds to realise this:
There is not a cat in hell's chance that I ever want to deal with these obnoxious, rude, disrespectful little gits! I've been a teenager, I know that they're moody, a bit attitudey and that life basically isn't fair to them, but this lot were a different breed! I only hope that my own children will never show such a blatant lack of respect to their teachers, I would be mortified to think they ever did.

On to Tuesday, I then had my form for Maths along with a new teacher Mark. The poor guy! He was so confident, well planned etc for the lesson and they were awful! I gave out 2 detentions, countless written and verbal warnings and no work got done. Afterwards Mark and I went back to the staffroom and my heart was pounding. Uh-oh, not good. The problem was it wouldn't slow down and I got worried. The odd bit of excitement/stress can't be helped and palpitations will happen, but this wasn't slowing down and I had to do some quick thinking. I went to see the non-teaching organiser and told her I couldn't deal with that class. They said they'd reorganise stuff so I didn't have to.

Lesson learnt on Tuesday though is this:

Whatever decisions I make in the future, my heart condition is going to have to be pivotal in whatever I decide. I don't ever want to end up back in that hospital due to a job, nothing's worth that.

Wednesday I went in all refreshed and ready to kick arse. I walked in the form and screamed at my class! 'I am ashamed, it is unacceptable, it will NOT happen again will it Year 8' etc etc. The little ASBOs actually shut up and said 'No Miss!' Wow, turn around! We went to Maths and they were good as gold. So, maybe yesterday was a one off then?

The prompt for today was to look at the small things you are grateful for. I love my coffee but this week it has been particularly useful for getting me through the day. I also love this thermos mug I got at Disneyland, sums me up on a morning perfectly! Journalling reads:

Today I learnt that I'm grateful for the simple pleasures that get me through the day, like a good coffee.


However, by Wednesday afternoon, after another 2 bad classes I quit. 3 heart episodes in a week is not good and I don't have the luxury of giving it longer to see if it'll get better. They asked me to stay on to the end of the week.

Thursday morning and I had some lovely classes. I was in with the advanced students and the job is so much different when the kids want to learn. Had I made a mistake resigning? Then, after lunch, we had Maths with my newly reformed angelic form...oh my god! What a nightmare! Mark and I spent all lesson shouting, handing out detentions etc. I went back to the staffroom a wreck, couldn't go to my next class (who I'd had a nightmare with the day before). I looked at my timetable for Friday, 4 out of 5 lessons with bad classes. My heart was pounding, I was feeling ill and I could see that hospital getting nearer and nearer. I sent an email saying I would be taking Friday off sick!

So, comes home to my Shimelle prompt, to learn something from your house, something you see everyday. My house was looking so inviting after the last few days and I could have scrapped about the whole place! However, that night I went to bed and Salem came up with me. I hadn't really noticed that he plans his sleeps around me and always comes for a cuddle when I get into bed. After a awful few days it was just what I needed and decided he deserved to be in the famous LSNED journal! Notoriously hard to picture being a black cat it did take a few goes to get decent pics of him, but it turned out fine. Journalling reads:

It's not the soft furnishings that make my house so comfortable. Although the soft furnishings on my bed are very comfortable, it's the addition of Salem that make it lovely and cozy!




So, onwards and upwards! I have a plan but that's for today's page (ie, what I learnt yesterday). plus busy day today as a certain person in our house gets further down that slippery slope to 40, so there'll be plenty to blog about tomorrow!

More Lessons Learnt

Another couple of pages from LSNED class. I think a lot of these pages are going to be about starting work again and all the rollercoaster emotions etc that come with that!

On Thursday, the prompt suggested thinking about your feet and what they do for you. I had my first back to work wobble on Thurs and was very tempted at one stage to do a runner! Fortunately I didn't, I just rode it out and so I congratulated my feet for keeping me grounded:

Yesterday I was driving home thinking about how different my time has been with the kids over the last few days. I've gone from 6 weeks of screaming at them and tearing my hair out 24/7 to having a few precious hours a day where I'm just loving their company. I miss them so much while I'm at work so as soon as I get home we're on a great footing!

So, the weekend, away from work, wonder what non-work lessons there are for me?

What I Learnt So Far...

So, it's day 3 of Shimelle's LSNED class and here's what I've learnt so far.

1st Sept I learnt that sometimes things aren't as complicated as they look. As blogged the other day, I knitted Steggy and it was so much easier than it looked. A week ago I would have been petrified of attempting this but it just goes to show that if you try something, it can be easier than it looks!

2nd Sept was my first day back at work so I learnt a lot. However, I chose this exercise we did about a goldfish bowl. We were asked to draw a goldfish bowl, that was the only instruction; then we passed them to someone else to mark. It was only then that we were given the marking criteria which was to include fish, plants, pebbles, waterline etc. The point being that you need to tell the kids what you expect before and they can't attain 100% unless you tell them that. I thought it was a good way of showing us that.

Today's prompt is to do with feet. Not sure if I want to take a pic of my hobbit plates of meat!

This Week I Will Be Mainly...

...learning new stuff!

Definately going to be a big learning curve for me this week. First of all, I've signed up to this Shimelle class. First time I've ever done one of her classes, a September isn't exactly the quietest month to take on a project, but it seemed relevant for all the happenings this month and I thought it would be good to journal them. Marie and I had a cybercrop on Friday night and made our journal covers:

And I got 30 pages made up ready (complete with white-washed novel pages, sent in the lovely Shimelle kit); 30 pages takes a long timr to white-wash believe me!

The main new thing I'll be learning this week is how to be a working girl again. On Wednesday I start my new job as Maths Learning Mentor in high school. Not only do I have to remember how to work full-time (it's been 4 years!) but also how to teach high school kids and relearn Maths as I'm sure it's different to 20 years ago when I was at school! Add to that the joyous task of dealing with 1100 hormonal teenagers on a daily basis; it's gonna be a big old curve!

As for the rest of the week, I've no idea! I seem to be unable to see more than a couple of days in the future at the moment. May be a good thing, not sure how much more will squish in this head of mine!