A nice week.

My boss has been out of town all week. It really makes a huge difference to the workplace. Everyone is just getting on with their work but at the same time really enjoying themselves.

Nate, Oli and I went with some of our friends to the pub last night. It was great hanging out with someone you don't see enough and them getting along with people you do.

Work is really busy but its going well. Lessons I thought were going to bomb didn't so overall its been a great week.

I'm being observed teaching tomorrow so I'll let you know how my week ended.

Thinking of all of you.
xo
Melissa

Au Natural

New hair do photo is below.... watch out though... its long and my natural colour.

Had a good first day back at work. Nothing interesting to say except I bough the new Norah Jones CD on the off chance it will be as good as her first. Since her second wasn't that great.

Talk tomorrow.

xo

M

ps i'm not photogenic so i hope you understand how many photos were taken in order for me to choose an ok one.

Back to the daily grind

Half term is over :( but that is ok. I am going to make a HUGE effort this 1/2 term to not let it get me down. Its the most serious time of the year for me as I have to get children who are not going to reach their intended targets for the year to them before their exams.

I'm going back to work with a new haircut, a new cold and a new bounce in my step. Hopefully being more positive about myself with make this term more enjoyable and mean that I have more organisation in my life.

Oli is going to be working from home as well so it will also allow me to get to work earlier since I won't be tempted to wait for him and go in together.

Also I'm in the process of filing against the illegal bank penalty charges that I was informed about over the half term so I might find myself in a financial windfall which would be nice for a change since for the last 2 years its been a rough time financially.

On that note I'll also say that I only have 2 more loan payments so that is very exciting! (I've been paying it off in Huge installments for 2 years).

OOOOO wait before I go I got a new mobile phone over the half term as my free upgrade! Its well cool. It's a Nokia 7373 and I love it dearly. Its got a neat swivel opening system that is very chic!

Nate is coming into town in the next couple of days and I'm so excited! I wish more people from Canada would come and visit. Even if its for a couple hours seeing people that really know where you come from is so nice!

On that note I do have a free phone number for anyone that wants to call me from Winnipeg for no cost to them. E-mail me and I'll tell you the number.

Anyways its late here and I still need to blow dry and straighten my hair before bed.
Hope there is someone out there reading this.... I still can't believe my niece doesn't deserve and nice comments.
xoxo

Spooky

I woke up on Sunday looked at the picture of my Grandma and Grandpa Baker and suddenly felt this urgency to call my Auntie Gwen. This wouldn't seem strange to some but it did to me since I've never in my life called my Auntie Gwen. She is the wife of my Great Uncle Reg who died last summer of a terminal illness.

As far back as I can remember our families were not close yet I could not shake this feeling that I needed to call her. Since it was about 3am in Winnipeg I decided that it would be best not to. Instead I waited until about 3pm when my dad called me to have our Sunday chat.

In passing I said "Dad how's auntie Gwen." He was very surprised I would ask that and said "Not good from what little I know. Why?" I explained everything as I was overcome with emotion. He gave me her number and I made the weirdest phone call in awhile to her. She wasn't in but called me back later.

Basically the sum of the ending of the story is that on Saturday she got her tests results back. She has a problem with the valves in her heart. Her doctor has told her that she isn't to do any excercise or anything stressful until her operation for a pace maker. She wasn't sure when that was going to be though. She also said that she hadn't been listening to her doctor.

I can't help but think. (read my mind here, its too horrible to say)

I know that to anyone who does not have faith of any kind this sounds really stupid but its happened so many times in my family that it seems more crazy not to believe that sometimes we get warnings.

If you want more info about the warnings let me know.
xoxo

ps I can't believe a picture of Deneige didn't even get 1 comment. You guys are tough.

House cleaning

I think there is something to be said about music from the 60's and 70's. I found this really good online radio station and found myself cleaning without stress or dislike all day yesterday. So much so that I even cleaned out my 2 fridges and washed them up.

I mentioned it to Jess last night and she didn't seem surprised at all. Is there a component to the 60's and 70's music that subconsiously makes people want to clean?

In case you don't know my niece is really cute! Here is some proof!

The Big Snow

It has snowed a lot here in England in the last 2 days. Wednesday night dropped over 4 inches of snow and then again today there was a little drizzle of snow.
School was closed yesterday so I stayed at home and worked my backside off but I did take some time to make a couple of snowmen. Here are some pics :)






ps like my pj bottoms? was too excited to play in the snow to get dressed

Hi!

I feel as if I've not said hi in awhile.

I've been really busy the last couple of weeks. My friend Jess was moving house and things took awhile to get her new flat sorted out before she could move out of her temporary residence (my place) to her place. So between helping her pack, move to mine, move out of mine and into hers, and helping unpack its been nuts. Dont' get me wrong I don't mind helping out its just been busy.

This week we have also been doing practice exams for my students (6 yrs-7 yrs) they will be writing their formal exams in May. The exams are called SATs (Standard Assessment Tests) and they are bullshit but in order for them to do well the kids need proper preparation.

Oli and I haven't done much at all so I don't really have anything to write about so I guess I'll just chat with you all later.

xo