Wednesday, June 27, 2007

This is getting silly!

Another interview today, a job share, I had to do a sample 10 min pe lesson and then an interview

Lesson - went really well, both Head and class teacher said how good it had been and what a good teacher I was

Interview - I felt it went really well, in the feed back the Head agreed

Experience - "You are very good, have all the experience and attributes we need"

But.... they didnt give me the job because the job share teacher thought she would get on better with the other candidate!

Sunday, June 24, 2007

What frame?

This week my photo course module was all about framing your subject, using natural frames. Yep, sounds easy enough but ....


when you live here and your main outlook is this

then there really isnt much in the way of natural frames.

In a postive frame '(ha ha) of mind I set out in search of that perfect subject to take though - despite the rain.
I tried taking the brook through the wooden fencing
but decide the banks made a better frame.

Of course the rubbish laying in the bottom of the water doesnt make it that wonderful a shot so I tried further afield.I couldnt get the angle right on the church spire and kept having to miss all the interesting bits in order to get the trees in as the frame

The church yard should have yeilded better results but when I finally found a frame to take the cross, the composition meant it ended up too low down


and I actually prefered it without the frame.



In desperation I tried macro and taking the shot through my key ring - but reckon I could make a better job of it in photoshop with a black vingrette.
So ...I have given up for this week and look forward to next weeks module.

Not off on me hols.

Well it seems that our mate cant get the same weeks holiday as us and Martin cant change his to meet the weeks our mate can have so our week on the canal ways of Yorkshire are off for this year. We may manage a long weekend in gay Paree instead, we will see. A bit of a disappointment as I was already on that boat meandering along the waters.

This week has been so long - I am just so unhappy working at the Nursery. Don't get me wrong the people and children are lovely but there is just too much internal politics which seem to trying to involve me. Plus I am so physically exhausted - in some ways teaching is so much easier, but for the pittance I am being paid it just isn't worth it. Anyway my psoriasis has flared again, so after a chat with hubby I have decided NOT to take up a permenant contract if/when it is offered.

As well as that I have an interview for a part time teaching job which although a little further away than I want to travel, great. Please let me get through the interview this time.

Monday, June 18, 2007

Father's Day

We had the kids round for a BBQ - which their father had to cook!

I was very tired as the white monster puppy had been up since half five and t Laura and Wayne had taken us to Zizzi's for dinner the previous evening, but not until 9.30 so we didnt get to bed much before 12.

And then I managed to throw the glass bowl of strawberries and raspberries (my first crop) all over the patio so only ice cream for desert.

I bought my dad chocolate - the fruit and nut kind. Turns out he cant eat the nut one with his one tooth but that will teach him not to say 'nothing' when asked what he would like for father's day.

Here's the card I made him - design from Its a Creative World site but I made my own paper in photoshop


Wednesday, June 13, 2007

Painting with light

That's the title of the photography course I have been
doing online and this week we had to find different angles or zoom in to take our pics. At first I was very confuddled over what was expected and I am still not sure I have got it right but I did manage a bit of painting with light ....look at this!



Taken by hanging the camera by its strap over the edge of the pond wall, amazed at how the light caught the inside of the lily. And by using macro and portrait mode I was able to get in close and create a short depth of field.

Monday I really was fed up with working at the nursery - the people for the most are great but the lady I work with most of the time can be a right old moaner which can get you down after a while, plus I am used to running my own classroom, not being the class skivvy which is what I ended up being Monday..cleaning, making the snacks, serving dinner..not exactly what I spent 5 years training for. So I came home Tuesday and hit the 'net for something better. There still isnt much going but I did find 5 jobs to apply for, and this morning I got a message to say one of the schools phoned with an appointment for an informal look round. Yes I know most schools do like you to look round but to actually phone YOU to make the appointment. So fingers crossed it at least means they are interested.

Tuesday, June 12, 2007

Something for the weekend?

Due to some huge mix up with stock ordering Martin had to work stock Friday night so Saturday left me at a bit of a dead end as he was snoring in bed not to be disturbed. Since my computer is in the bedroom I couldn't get online, couldn't print out stuff for my scrapping and couldn't do any housework because of the noise. So Kelly and Ollie took pitty on me and invited me over to Sittingbourne for a cup of tea and a trip to B&Q. They were buying stuff to fit in a bathroom suite as they only have a shower and my baby sooo misses her baths!

I got to be the 'list' holder as it was a pretty long list, paint, tiles, plumbing gear, screws (I reckon you need a degree in screws to buy the correct ones) or and cat flea stuff! By the way hon your cat's fleas bit me several times.

By the time I got home, via a trip to see my parents and get my instructions for this week - yes I am dog sitting again while they are on a break to Norfolk for a few days, so I have to be shown how to water the plants and feed the hound for the umpteenth billion time - it was past 3 o'clock and Martin was just waking up. Just as well as I had a splitting head ache and ended up crawling into the bed he had just left and falling asleep. This didn't get shot of the headache and so I had to go to my bessie mate's BBQ still suffering. Still its amazing how good a cure 3 pints of cider can be.

We finally got round to discussing holidays, and because I can't find any narrow boats operating in parts of Ireland we haven't already visited we have now opted to take one out on the Yorkshire Dales and up into the Pennines. Its sometime since we holidayed in England so will be somewhat different but I am looking forward to booking something and going now. Some of the photos on the net look stunning and to be honest on a canal barge it really doesn't matter what the weather is like.

As I had hoped to persuade Kelly to take me to Hobbycraft but had ended up at B&Q I talked Martin in to rushing over there after golf on Sunday. He wasn't too keen but couldn't think up an excuse. I bet he wish he had as I ended up spending £85 but what bargains. I got a whole alpha die set (upper, lower case, numbers and punctuation,) 6 other smaller dies, a heap of felt squares (which I have since discovered can be cut in the die machine) loads of ribbon and the hugest bottle of PVA glue.

Thursday, June 07, 2007

An extra zero

Have you visited Its a Creative World yet? You really must, the girls are providing a wealth of interesting, beautiful, thrifty and practical projects that are described in fantastic detail. And tomorrow they promise TWO exciting offers to celebrate their first week anniversary!

Today I finally got a response to the interview I went to 11 days ago. As I guessed from the lack of news I didnt get the job but to rub salt in the wound the letter apologised for not ringing me but the telephone number on my application form came up as unknown. Reasonable excuse on the face of it as when I checked I had accidently leaned on the keyboard and put a zero in front of the phone number, but ....

ALL local calls round here are 6 not 7 digits, and start with 27 so it was pretty obvious what the correct number should have been and would have been worth trying.

I dont have a common name, they had my addy, how long would it have taken to open the local phone book?

Both my referees could have given a contact number, they also had my work number

why wait 10 days to write and then send the letter second class?

AND WORST OF ALL my correct phone number, addy and email was on the CV I had also sent them!!!!!

Tuesday, June 05, 2007

Missing e


This hound is growing at a rate of knots! 14 weeks old already and look at the size of him.

One of the girls at the nursery where I am supplying is getting married in July. I overheard her talking to another member of staff, asking where she could get stamps of the letters L and N for her wedding stationary, so I chipped in, offering to lend her some of my alpha's. When I turned up with a small pile of alpha stamps yesterday she asked why I had so many, so I explained about my little scrapping hobby. Since she had shown such an interest I took in my half finished 12x12 album of my daughter's wedding plus the nearly finished mini album of Helen's wedding. The whole staff were really impressed, one even suggested I did it professionally and another said they would be bringing in all their photos for me to scrap LO
L

As a staff, as we have to cover looking after the children all day we dont get together all in one go at any time during the day so I left the bag with my work in for anyone to go enjoy. I was over the moon that they were all so interested but sadly when I got home tonight I discovered that the letter stickers on the front of the mini album were peeling off and the 'e' in Helen had disappeared entirely. I dont have another so it looks like I am going to have to replace the whole title! That will teach me to get the diamond glaze out earlier. In the meantime a photo of my newly dyed and highlighted barnet - not a very flattering photo (taken by Laura) and my hair is a bit in need of a brush but at least it shows the colours.

Sunday, June 03, 2007

Mini Album


I have finally made a start and I am quiet pleased with the result. The mini book instructions can be found at Craft TV weekly
The papers so far are from a small freebie digi kit,(Country Velvet Back Pack )
Created by Marcee Duggar one of the weekly freebies from The Digital Scrapbook Place, which I printed out (finally now the printer is happy again). I then heat embossed some of the flower stems with silver as the wedding colour theme was blue and silver. The flower is a sizzlet which I then hand painted so it matches the brides bouquet.
I run a neat little action I found online on the photo which scrolls the corner of the photo
It is all straight but scan isnt.

Tilt and Turn


Kelly (my eldest daughter) moaned at me yesterday because I had not linked her blog on mine. I admit I am pretty lax at putting blog links up, but over this week intend to rectify this. To make up I shall upload some of the shots I took of her and her new(ish) hubby as I tried to get to grips with this weeks module of the photo course. Tilt and Turn. MMmmm not sure I have the hang of it yet.



I want to make a mini brag book for Kelly's best mate of the wedding event, but am having the worlds most awful job matching those lovely bridesmaids dresses and flowers with a range of patterned paper. Having spent a few too many hours yesterday looking at both 'real' paper and digi kits in the hope of a perfect match I attempted to print out my own using my new copy of Photoshop CS3 but the printer is having its own hissy fit, demanding new ink in all 6 colours!