I'm a teacher!

So last Friday I went to Uni for the last time: to collect my certificate. I passed. I qualified. I'm a teacher at last!

It's been nearly four years since I made the big leap. But how different my life is now. 

Yesterday I enjoyed my first day off (no school now until September besides the odd day here and there).  I took my Mum to Reading. We browsed. We ate. We argued with the rude staff in Zara. Then went to White Stuff instead.  Later the pleasure of being able to actually collect Dylan from school at 3:15 and then a nice hour at the park with his bike. Later some relaxing and cooking at home and making a few plans for the weekend. I'm going to see my favourite band U2! Cannot wait ...  It's my present to myself for passing all my training.  

Things are good.  It's been a long long road but I'm feeling happy. 

5:2

I've not posted on here for a while, been so busy with various things. One of which has been researching and reading books by Marie Kondo which has led to some much-needed decluttering. 

But this post isn't about that. It's about finally making a definite decision to try the 5/2 diet. I've read and read Michael Mosley's books and others about quitting sugar and so on.  If people's posts on various social media pages are to be believed the 5:2 appears to be the way to go. 

So here I am. Day Two. Yesterday I consumed:

Handful of blueberries

Half a can of mixed fruit 

Some roasted chicken with peppers

2 cheesy triangles

A few strawberries

4 cups of tea 

Not bad for a first day. Probably a little over. BUT I had run 7 kilometres in the morning. So actually feel more fired up about that! It was my first longer run in 2017 and I needed to show myself that the 10Ks in June and July are feasible.  It hurt and I walked a bit but I did it. And knocked about 500 cals away :) 

So today I've weighed and taken photos and will do a photo and weigh once a week. 

54 days until my birthday and I've planned all the fast days into my diary. 

The rules for me are:

Plan ahead what I will eat on FDs 

Only 2 slices bread on non FDs 

Less sugar

A run 3 times a week

20 sit-ups a day

A glass of water on waking up

Alcohol at weekends only 

Healthy dinner at lunchtime to take to work 

Let's do this! 

Becca 

teacher training

Half way through my teacher training year and it's absolutely flying past.  This week has been good. I've been in year 1, teaching time, talking about timelines in history and getting the kids to jump up and down for a minute :). Also had our first proper "Art" training and we were let loose with paint and brushes to make a colour wheel.  It was very relaxing and I loved it!  Funny how doing something as simple as that is so therapeutic. 

Christmas hols

Finally the holidays are here and I've completed my first full term as a trainee teacher!  Just two more to go. It's been really good and I've enjoyed the Friday sessions at Reading uni a lot.  It is however completely exhausting and I have found I value my sleep more than ever.  Honestly don't think I will be seeking a full time position when all this is done but maybe four days a week. Need some time for "me" otherwise I would probably make myself ill with working and looking after the boys.   But when I look back on my old life in sales this job is far more rewarding and although the money is crap I'm not in it for the money these days. 

Teacher Training

First week of teacher training at Reading Uni and it has been pretty full on with lectures about theory, standards, policies and so on. But met some nice people and it's been good to do this part away from school.  It's back to school next week to year 3 for a few weeks. 

I found out that I'll be back at my old school for my placement in January which will be a huge help logistically as no more need for morning breakfast club for a few weeks anyway. 

I can't quite believe how far I've come in the last 3 years and it has been quite revealing as to how unsuited I was to my previous work - I had literally been putting up with it and putting on a face. Acting. For the last 15 years or so.  We were discussing values today in the lecture and had to discuss which values we hold ourselves relating to the teaching profession.   It was interesting but not surprising that the three of us all mentioned kindness, doing to others as you would like done to yourself an the concept of being 'Christian' without necessarily being religious. The need and want to instil a sense of kindness in young children and to just want to help others. To want them to grow up respecting that other people may not share their ideas but not to undermine those ideas or berate them.  The feeling that I had at school in the 70s and 80s was that I adored school. I never wanted to leave.  I want other children to love it as much as I did and to make it fun to come to lessons. 

We also discussed the 8 teaching standards and how we need to show evidence of meeting these over the next six to eight months. 

So I'm slowly getting my head round everything.  The student loan money has come in so as long as I can make it last we should be ok. 

The boys are finding going back to school ok - although mornings are tricky. They don't ask about my day and that is hard sometimes. Not having another adult to come home to and offload to, celebrate successes with etc.  But J is being helpful and it's good to hear D has been enjoying his lessons more now he's in year two.  In two years' time we will be preparing for Joseph to start taking driving lessons - he is already quite sensible and mature in lots of ways but in others he still struggles a lot and meltdowns just happen for smallest things. 

He's been taking the dog out though and it's evident that having Sam around is good for both of the boys.  Benjy too had even started touching noses with Sam! 

Clean Eating

So while I was on holiday with my new kindle in Mallorca I decided to buy Alice Liveing's book to see what all this clean eating fuss is about.  I was inspired by it and have been busy trying out all sorts of foodie recipes since we got back. 

1. Easy avocado and mackerel on sourdough bread.  Score 5/5 for taste. Quite easy to make and full of good fats. Not sure why but sourdough bread and rye feature quite frequently in the book. 

2.  Scrambled eggs with smoked salmon. Again very easy. 

3. Super-easy chicken nuggets with a twist.  I dipped the lean chicken in egg and rolled them in a mixture of oats and Cajun spices before frying in coconut oil 

4.  Sweet potato fritters with egg and avocado. Yum. 

5. Frittata made with salmon, courgette, peppers, onion. These were delicious and ideal for my packed lunch when I wanted a no-bread option. 

Also I've made banana and cinnamon muffins which weren't from the book but I found the recipe online and added oats and used agave nectar instead of normal sugar. And replaced butter with coconut oil. 

So far so good and feels like we are all eating much more healthier. 

I forgot to mention the breakfast!  This is sooo easy and so delicious.  Chopped nectarine and banana fried in a little coconut oil with a dusting of cinnamon, on top of a small bowl of Greek yoghurt and a dash of agave nectar. 

Will write more when I've done a few more recipes as I'm interested to see how I will manage taking a packed low carb lunch to work each day. 

Euro road trip

Last Sunday we drove about 350 miles through France and Belgium to get to Holland where Dylan is going to spend most of his school hols. 

We had a nice day and walked around the lake, had a meal in the hotel and then on Monday J and I drove south to culemborg to meet Diana and have lunch. 

We then went to Antwerp (not such a nice city) and Bruges (a nice city) before heading home. Despite the rain it was a good trip and the new Vauxhall Meriva was good to drive. I like having an automatic!