It's FINISHED! (plus two snails)

Well hello!

It's gotten back to me that certain people (Beka) are mourning by blogging absence, even though we see each other a lot. As in, the only other person I see more is my husband (who is totally freaked out about how similar we are haha). 

I admit that I have been putting off writing a post, because I feel like there are so many other things I want to say, so this is going to be a sort of summary post. You will, however, have to visit my other *ahem* healthy living blog to see me with a giant box of chocolates.

Okay, let me get you up to speed, from least to most important:

1. I took lots of photos of a cute snail which I was going to blog about, but didn't. Here's one of them:

2. I've added a "Follow me on Pinterest" button on the sidebar. If you're on Pinterest and you like the sort of things I pin, start following me, and I'll follow you in return! I am just a little bit addicted...

3. I've decided not to take part in NaNoWriMo this year. I already have enough going on without trying to write 50,000 words in one month. My author-friend Lissa, however, is taking part, and will be sharing her progress throughout the month (she also has some of her stories available FREE until the end of October!).

4. I've begun a 21 Day Organisation Challenge (thanks to Beka, who's also doing it). I'll post more about it in the next couple of days. If you want to join in feel free; I'm only up to day two.

5. This is the MOST important update of all...

I've finished my degree!!!*^

*so long as I've passed everything!

^if I passed, I'm qualified to teach anywhere in the world!

As you can probably guess, I am over the moon about this! I started going to uni SEVEN years ago with the intention of becoming a primary school teacher, and now here I am on the other side! If you are newer here, you can read about some of the struggles of this journey here.


Incidentally, here's another snail, made in class while completing my Master of Teacher course:

more pics

And there you are, all up to date!


I'll be back soon with a post about the 21 Days Organising Challenge (warning: there will very likely be lots of pictures).

Hello!

Hi everyone!

Well, I just wanted to pop in and tell you what's happening at the moment in Kathy's world.

University assignments are over for the semester, and now I am on a 4-week teaching prac in a grade 3/4 classroom. I've done one week, so three more to go. By the third week I'll be teaching every lesson except the ones they go out for (like Art and Indonesian).

It's exciting and scary, tiring but rewarding, and completely different to being a uni student.

Uni students: sleep in, minimal contact hours, little responsibility, late nights, and bad time management (half an hour is too short and amount of time to bother doing anything...), terrible eating habits. The following graphic perfectly represents what I go through every uni semester:

Teachers: get up early, non-stop busy for 7-8 hours a day (plus marking and planning later on), duty of care for students and a moral responsiblity to teach them to the best of your ability, time is precious (10 minutes in which to do some marking, organising or notetaking is fully taken advantage of), eating is regular and necessary to get through the day.

Needless to say, my lifestyle at the moment is completely different to what it is usually!

I'll be back soon with some more stuff about books - I'm determined to finish the 30 Day Challenge list!

My Creative Space

Who says writing university assignments isn't creative? Trust me, sometimes it's very creative!

So, this is my creative space at the moment... you'll notice that the photographs don't show much of the table. There's a reason for that, and it is called "Mess."

To see some far prettier and more inspiring creative spaces, follow this link.

Mashed Potato Brain

(Let me preface this post with: Today is pretty much mindless blabbering. Tomorrow, however, there will be pretty purple pictures. Don't give up on me yet.)

The end of the university semester is always a crazy time. Tiredness, stress and assignments combine and turn your brain into mush. Mush, I tell you. Like mashed potatoes, but not as tasty.

I am just so thankful that I have no exams. If you have exams, I wish you all the best!

Study makes me sleepy, and Dougal is always an obliging pillow. And yes, there is a dollhouse next to my microwave, which is on a coffee table under the stairs.

I handed in an assignment earlier today. Next Friday I will be handing in three. The next seven days are going to be like a student's version of hell. Or heaven, if you are a really good, organised student who loves to study.

But once those assignments have been put in the drop-box, holidays begin! Four glorious months on holidays! The plans I have... November is already organised (more about that in another post), camping over New Years is being talked about, plans for skirt making and Christmas are starting to tick over in the back of my brain. And now I am starting to get ahead of myself... one more week of uni, assignments and endless writing first. 

Then, holidays!

Who's a Terrible Student?

(yeah... this is kind of a motivational post for me as I enter the final two weeks of semester)
 

"I'm a terrible student."

I have said - and thought - this sentence about myself many times.

You know what? 

I really have to SNAP out of it!

Why?

Well, to start with, it isn't true. 

The truth is, in my third and last year of my Bachelor of Arts, I was on the Dean's Roll of Excellence. That means, in essence, "quite successful student."

The truth is, in 2008, I recieved Second Class Honours, Upper Division (basically, the second highest grade you can get) for my Honours thesis. I wrote my thesis in one month. At one stage, I had to write over one thousand words a day. I edited it on the morning of the day it was due. Crazy.

The truth is, the expectations for a Master of Teaching are so different to those of a Bachelor of Arts. I actually have to research now, and it's harder to get higher grades.

The truth is, the important thing is that I'm passing, and passing well. (So long as you don't include that essay I failed last semester... oopsies!)

The truth is, I find it really hard to start on an assignment two weeks before it's due. Give me three days notice, however, and I can pump it out. And get a distinction. People learn differently. People also approach learning differently. I can't judge myself against another student. We're different.

You know what?

I am a pretty awesome student.

After six and a half years of uni, I should be.

Me and Mr M

I find it strange that I can be motivatived to do things that are unimportant and of no lasting value (such as eating a whole jar of nutella), but when it comes to writing an essay by a certain due date for a subject I need to pass so I can get the qualification I need in order to actually earn money, motivation quietly slinks away to go hide in the corner.

Thanks for that, Mr Motivation.

(In the past, my husband has tried some wacky things to try to motivate me. Filming himself in the mirror and playing the video as punishment for lack of productivity was one of the most extreme. Despite the genius behind the idea, it failed miserably.)

I have eaten all the nutella in a fantastic procrastinating effort, instead of doling it out every 200 words as a reward.

Knitting Night, which usually works without fail, has failed. (I know - what is wrong with me?)

Even the husband, whose extreme grumpiness determination for me to do well has not managed to scare motivate me to churn out the words I need.

Despite the extreme uncooperativeness of Mr Motivation ("I refuse to leave my corner!") I am determined to get it done before I go to bed tonight. Only 600 words to go!

I'll show you, Mr M.

Never Never Never Give Up

In April 2009 I went on my first practical experience in a school, as part of the teaching degree I was doing. I thought it went beautifully: I had good feedback throughout and the lessons I had done went well. 

Nearly two weeks after finishing and being thrilled, I was told that actually I had failed - completely and irrevocably.

I cried. For about 3 months.

I have almost always wanted to be a teacher, even playing 'schools' with my siblings. It seemed as though my dreams had been shattered... my confidence was completely broken and I had lost direction... how could I fail my teaching prac? Everyone had always said I would be a great teacher.

The university did not do anything to revoke the unfair assessment (yes, it was unfair). I found out that my degree would take an extra year, all because I failed a 2 week prac.

I tried to continue in my course, but could not function for trying not to burst into tears. I decided to defer for a semester, and thought seriously about quitting entirely.

I could not shake the feeling that I needed to go back, even though I did not want to because I had been so adversely affected by what had happened. It took almost 8 months before I finally handed in my application for acceptance into the new Master of Teaching course. After submitting the application I cried because it was so emotionally difficult for me to do.

I remember thinking, "God, if you want me to do teaching, you need to give me the desire to do this or I will fail again." 

God heard my prayer. One day, towards the end of January, I realised I was starting to get excited about returning to university and studying teaching again.

Today, I completed my first practical experience for the course. I passed with great marks. 

I am so happy, so pleased with myself and so thankful!

When I failed the prac last year, I could not cope with the thought of returning to try again, but I did, and I succeeded. It was hard won, and others would have given up, just as I nearly did.

There might be other negative experiences while I do this course, but I believe I am meant to be a teacher, and by God's grace I will persevere and I will complete what I have set out to do. 

God does not give us dreams or desires for no reason.

Never, never, EVER give up!

Beanies, Markets and Deadlines

I feel like I am the white rabbit from Alice in Wonderland: I am late, late, I am very, very late!

Is it just me or has the year been in fast-forward mode for everyone?

My main concerns at the moment are university and the upcoming Handmade Hobart Market, which is only two weeks away! OH NO! 

 One of the beanies I have made. And wonder of wonders, is that actual money I see?!

I am making beanies for the market and I am starting to feel like they are coming out my ears. The problem is, I still need to make more - many more! I am making my seventh now, but out of those seven, only three are for the actual market. Out of the rest, two were presents, one is mine and the other is pre-sold.

This is one the neckwarmers I have made for the market.

I want to make seven or eight more beanies, as well as a few more neckwarmers to add to the three neckwarmers I have already completed. The question is, can I fit this in alongside the two university assignments due right before the market?

The answer?

I have to!

But oh my, I am looking forward to semester break! (Only seven weeks to go!)

Kathy xx

Crochet Makes Things Better

Today I got some of my university assignments back. The feedback on one (on literacy) said that my conclusion was "particularly valid". Naturally, I had to read my conclusion to see what brilliant thing I had written, to discover that it mentions knitting and crochet. Awesome! Here is part of the knit and crochet friendly conclusion so you can see for yourself:

"Now, I realise that even though in general I am literate in English, I am very illiterate in other areas. For example, languages apart from English and even Australian slang, not to mention American slang. I also realised that I am literate in reading knitting and crochet patterns, both in the English form and their international form which consists of symbols. I now know that literacy incorparates far more than I thought it did."

If you were not convinced before, you must be now... knitting and crochet (though crochet more so, of course! hehe) really do make everything better! (Another edit of the essay would improve things yet again...)

Oh, and the bunny in the photo is a variation on my Amigurumi Pig pattern. Would you like a pattern for him?

The Trials of Teacher Training

Someone: "So, what do you do?"

Me: "Oh, I am at uni studying to be a primary school teacher."

Someone: "Wow, sounds good! Is it hard work?"

Me: "Yeah it is actually, much harder than my Bachelor of Arts was."

Someone: "Did you have class today?"

Me: "Yep!"

Someone: "What did you do?"

Me: "Oh, played with playdough... the usual."

True story! (Not the conversation, just the playdough playing.) I love studying to be a teacher!

I Am Totally Impressed by Utas

There is something at the University of Tasmania that is new, green and tasty. It is not hidden away behind the horticulture building and it does not involve a concrete slab building. 

What is it?

Why, it is the new organic food co-operative and community garden! 

Source: Community Wholefoods

Source is on university property, right near the hub of uni life (that is, the uni bookshop, bar, newagency and the ref - a cafeteria of sorts). It is a straw bale and timber building (love), has a pizza oven and a rather large community garden. So many pumpkins, tomatos and beans! The cauliflowers are growing well too. 

 A pretty vegetable picture! 

These are actually from Woolworths (a huge supermarket chain).... though the zucchini is from someone's veggie garden, so it might be organic!

Inside the store you can buy organic veggies and fruit (some from that very garden) as well as organic honey and other things you would find in a health food store (agave nectar! I really want to get some). 

This centre also has a green recycling system, meaning that the wastes from the ref can are now getting turned into compost. (Though if they used all the waste food that would be a MASSIVE amount of compost... I wonder how much they are actually using?)

If you become a member you get a discount of 20% on everything there, but I'm not sure abouut joining as it seems to have more responsibility associated with it than most other memberships do (such as doing volunteer work sometimes). It is a co-op, after all. Also, the prices are very competitive. I did not see any that made me think, "they're crazy, asking that much!"

It is going to be so much easier for me now if I want to buy something organic, seeing as I am already at the uni a couple days a week. I leave you with the objective of Source:

The provision of low cost, local, organic and minimally packaged food to members in a manner which provides them with a hands-on education in how to live more sustainable in an urban environment.

Sounds good to me!

Kathy xx

Little Things

Drying cherry tomato seeds.Checking the progress of The Onion that Wanted to Grow.Wondering how long it will be until the rose bush outside my kitchen window will burst into all its yellow glory.Sticking my thesis around my loungeroom wall...... so I can edit it more easily.
It's been a good day.

Thesis Update No.1

As you might know, I am doing Honours in English this year. Well, it is officially four and a half weeks to go until the thesis is due. I thought I would put my blog to some actual use and turn it into a motivational tool by posting updates on the progress of my thesis a couple of times a week. No doubt my mind shall gradually go crazier and crazier as my thesis progresses, so I shall try to report on that too :)

Anyway, after that little introduction, here is my first update:

Progress on thesis: 600 words out of 12,500 are written, though perhaps 50 to 80 of those are still in point form. But I am counting them anyway! It's my Right!!! Also printed out an article (which I still have to read) and thought some more about how I want to structure the main body of the thesis. I am fairly happy with the current plan of doing a close reading (of two children's novels by Nan Chauncy) and then applying theory to the close readings to come to a better understanding of how the texts work and the impacts they have upon children's perceptions of Tasmanian Aborigines.

State of Mind: Relatively calm, considering the personal crisises that have been taking place (all totally unrelated to the thesis) and the looming deadline. And considering I have a 5000 word essay to write AS WELL!!! by the 13th of October. Yup, thats 17,000 words I still need to write in 4 1/2 weeks. Well, 3 1/2 weeks really because the thesis needs to be finished early so my supervisor can go over it and so that I can get it bound. That's nearly a thousand words a day!!! Okay, I think I need to update my state of mind since writing this paragraph. Now feeling ever-so-slightly overwhelmed. Ah well, I'm sure I'll get over it!

Days left until the due date (24th October): Thirty. Yup that's all. 30. Three-zero.

Issues: Somewhere between now and the 11th of October I need to buy a nice black cardigan/cute jacket and dress shoes and a wedding present! I love weddings but this is really awkward timing. I need to buy some new pantyhose, too.

Good Things: My husband bought a new ink cartridge for our printer so now I can print out stuff at home. This will be really helpful when I come to editing my thesis (if I have enough time for that haha!) because it is so so so so so much easier to see mistakes on paper than it is on a screen. Don't ask me why. Another good thing is that once I get this in I will have four months of holidays. And while I am writing it I can eat as much chocolate as I like and not feel guilty!

Optimistic Requests: Can someone send me brownies??? Or chocolate mud cake???

No Excuses... I'm just lazy

My last post was on the 1st of May. That is more that 2 and a half months ago! I don't have any reason for abandoning the blogging world... I had no life-threatening events take place and I didn't forget how to use my computer.

Okay, so I do have one excuse: I had 3 massive essays due on the 26th of May (2 essays that were 5000 words each and an annotated bibliography that was 3500 words long), but since then I have been on holidays!!!

I admit it - I have been a very, very lazy girl.

My dear bloggees, please forgive me and don't abandon me... posts are on their way!

Uni's back... what more can I say...

Today is Tuesday. Uni went back yesterday. I am thrilled. So thrilled. By what? By the 9am starts and the 3hr seminars. By the set texts and the 3 to 6 seminar readings for each seminar each week.

It's not really that bad. But boy, I have SO MUCH reading to do this year! I wrote out a timetable yesterday, and according to that I should be reading right now. Oh well! And I don't really have that many hours where I am actually at uni. This week and next week I have about 15 contact hours. But in weeks 3-8 I only have 6 contact hours (with an extra 3 hours in three of the weeks, but most of them are for watching films). In week 9 I have 9 contact hours, and in week 10 I have 3 contact hours, and then - apart from essay writing - I am finished for first semester. But even though I don't have many contact hours, the amount of reading and researching does turn it into a full time job - one you can't forget about when you get home :( I am determined, however, to keep my evenings as free as possible. I will need to have that break time! (It will also make great panic time for when I am feeling overwhelmed!)

My camera is still uncharged because the silly charger won't work (grrr). I'll have to do something about that soon so I can stick some more photos up. For the moment though, we will all have to make do with cartoons. This one illustrates a typical morning for a typical uni student:

Of nieces, reading and clean toilets...

Hey everybody! How are you?????

I just want to say thank you to the people who prayed for Julian and his job interview this afternoon. He seemed quite happy and peaceful afterwards, so lets just keep praying and trusting that he'll get this job! He should be hearing back in about 3 weeks.

And take look at my gorgeous new neice, Isla. She has the most amazing long thin fingers! Everybody is like, 'Oooo, a pianist.' I have only seen her once, while she was still at the hospital, and she is my sort of baby: cute, quiet and accomplished at sleeping :) She was born a week ago, and I am sure that by the time I see her next she'll look completely different. *sigh*... they grow up so fast...

I don't really have anything exciting to share (besides, of course, Isla's birth), though I was rather silly today! Uni starts on Monday, and what did I do??? I bought 7 books in the Anne of Green Gables series!!! I am so pleased! All up they were only $31.50 (I found 6 of them in a second hand shop for $5 each, and asked for a deal, so essentially paid for 5 and got 1 free. The other one I got from another second hand book store for $6.50). I have read all of them except one: Rilla of Ingleside, so I am looking forward to reading that :)

While we are on the subject of reading, I have now read two of my texts for uni (No Road (bitumen all the way) and Voices of Marrakesh) and am powering through In Patagonia. So I am pretty happy with myself.

I also bought some toilet cleaner today, which is great as before I had to ue Handy Andy and that is not really meant for toilets. So at the moment the toilet smells beautiful - like lavender! Feel free to pop in and have a smell!

Catch ya lata xx

Julian's Getting Old!

Well, it was Julian's birthday today. We didn't do anything particularly special, just hired out some dvds and I made lasagne and a desert ('preserved' apricots with a jelly layer over the top. It was really yummy). Sorry I don't have any photos, the camera charger has decided to stop working (rather selfish of it really...). We do have a scanner, but somehow I don't think scanners and jelly should ever meet.
Tomorrow I am buying the rest of the books I need for uni (which starts in less than 3 weeks! I'm beginning to think Ahh! Honours! What have I gotten myself into?!?!?), so I won't have any more excuses! It's gonna be an interesting year. One of the good things about having a blog is that I have been writing, which will make it just that little bit easier when I start studying. So often students don't do any writing of even reading over the summer break (which is like 4 months long - gotta love it!) and it takes them about 1/2 a semester to get back into the 'rhythm'.
By the way, I bought Julian The Bourne Ultimatum for his b'day, with some money I got by selling some of his fantasy books. Oh, yeah, I kept the extra $10 :)

Hello

Compared to yesterday I have nothing exciting to share, but that doesn't mean I can't have a ramble...

I got my Bachelor of Arts certificate thing in the mail today. Julian was very excited, but I have been hanging out for some books (for uni) that I ordered, so I was a little disappointed. Julian doesn't really get it, but I am sure some of my fellow ladies will understand! We also did a little tiny shopping: we had $42 MAXIMUM to spend because of bills etc... but we did it! I prayed before we went: please let the things we need be on special! Guess what!?! Seven of the sixteen things we bought were on special (the mince was on special AND marked down by more than $3!). In total, we saved an estimated $7.50! Isn't God good!


Em (who I made the kiwi jam and lemon butter with) and I are both doing the Honours this year, and therefore have the same books to read. One of the books (Writing Machines) looks like it will be quite difficult to read (let alone understand!), so we made a 'pact' to both read it by the 17th of Febuary. So far I have read the blurb... Em has read the blurb and the preface... so she is 4 exhausting pages ahead of me. Lucky her!! I really should read some tonight, after I watch Forces of Nature on tv... and whatever else is on... and by then I'll be too tired... There! I have my night sorted!

Hey Hey!

Hey, while you are here, why not make your way over to the right side of the page and vote in my "I went to uni and I..." poll. If you didn't go to uni, don't be put off! Rather, do one of these two things:

1. Substitute 'uni' for work training, school, or something else like that (you get the idea...)
2. Imagine you went to uni... how would you like to think of your time there???