Sunday 22 April 2012

Birthdays


It’s been a lovely weekend here at home.  Saturday was Beth’s 19th birthday which made me feel very old as I was 19 when I had her.  I could be a grandma now!!!  That is a very scary thought!!

We had a little party for her on Friday evening as is customary, and she had her (also customary) black forest gateaux (which didn’t get dropped on the floor, one custom I am quite happy not to continue!!).  She seemed really pleased with it and wasn’t too disappointed that her presents hadn’t arrived in time.  Hopefully they will turn up sometime this week as I ordered them back at the beginning of the month.  I did get her an e-voucher for Nintendo which was in her card so she has something, and then she has to wait until August for the fourth item as it isn’t released until then.

On Saturday afternoon I had a quick run into town with Ellie and Sophie, partly to get Millie’s birthday presents and partly to try and cheer Ellie up a bit as she had some devastating news in the week and was very upset on Saturday morning.  A wander round the shops and a hot chocolate and cake in Costa seemed to help a little.

Sunday was a lovely lazy day.  The weather has been appalling recently so I stocked up on firewood on Friday and we’ve had the fire burning most of the weekend.  We didn’t bother to get dressed today and just chilled out for the day and ate hot cross buns. 

Tomorrow it’s going to be Millie’s birthday tea after school.  Her birthday is actually on Tuesday but she’ll be at her dad’s on Tuesday evening so she’s having her birthday here a day early.  After a lot of whinging I let her have her presents this evening and she was delighted with them.  It now gives me the dilemma – do I give her the ones I still have hidden away or not bother????  Actually, it doesn’t really, I can’t wait to see her little face when I get them out for her tomorrow as she now thinks she’s had everything she’s getting…..  J
I said in my last post that lots of things has happened since my previous post way back in September.  Well, one really big thing is I have started a degree with the Open University.  For the purposes of transitional fees (because I started studying before the fees went up I am eligible for my fees for the next 6 year to stay at the current rate and not have to pay the increased fees) I have had to declare exactly what degree I am doing.  Hopefully I’m not going to change my mind, but I am doing – fanfare please – a BA (Hon) History degree!!

I signed up in August last year to do an Openings module which is aimed at people like me who have not studied for a long time and who need an introduction to University level study, particularly with the OU.  I was slightly nervous, years of being made to feel like I’m stupid and having my confidence eroded had left me thinking there was no way I could do something like this.  I can’t remember what it was now that prompted me to do it but whatever it was, I decided to get myself signed up before I could talk my way out of it again.

I did Y180 Making Sense of the Arts and thoroughly enjoyed it.  It was a lot easier than I expected, not nearly as scary as I thought it would be and was fantastic for my self-confidence.  The main thing it taught me was that yes, I bloody well can do it and no, I’m not stupid at all.

I’m currently doing a level one module (equivalent to the first year of a degree) and have just registered for my next module, a level two based on the rather wide period of 1400-1900 which I’m really looking forward to starting in September. 

If someone had told me a year ago that in 12 months time I’d have signed up for a degree and would be part way through my second module I would never have believed them!  What a difference a year makes!! J