Reason

I am a firm believer that things happen for a reason.
Somewhere there is a plan and whilst some things may happen unexpected I do believe if it was meant to be then it would have been.
If it didn't work out then there was a reason why it was not meant to work out, usually because you go on to do something much better.

Take my job for instance.
I got turned down for a job I applied for last year.
This year I got a new job, different company but doing the same sort of thing in a round about way.
However the person that turned me down for the position is now someone who I work with occasionally. So whilst she gets to maybe see that I probably wasn't right for the first job she now gets to see what I am capable of and how with a little bit of guidance and teaching I may have been perfect for the job if given the chance!

For some reason, which I can not explain, last night I decided to check Blogger.
The address is on my tool bar and when ever I am on the internet I see it but I just pass over it.
Last night I felt I needed to view it and this in turn lead to me reading a post over at Notes on Paper.
The post was all about getting into blogging more and how to increase the posts you write.
Now we are not saying that everyone has to write 30 posts a month, just that if you are currently writing 2 posts a month and you would like to increase to 4 posts a month then this post may help you to identify some ideas on what you could write about.

Suddenly I have a series of posts to read to assist me with getting back into blogging.
It is almost as if Julie was writing this post just for me, as an encouragement, a teaching or just a gentle prod in the tummy to remind me that I can do it and here is some help along the way.

Now I have to go off to study and plan. See what is happening in my world that I can utilise and then come at this with some degree of force.

Catch you soon

Planning Ahead

Now that I have finished my Degree I need to move on forward with my plans.
You know the ones....about becoming a teacher.

A few weeks ago I happened to see the application form for the course and realised that I am not ready for the course just yet.

I have no experince and my references would be weak.

So I decided that I need to plan for this course and get active in gaining the experience I require to stand me in good stead to get through the acceptance process when I finally go for it.

The application spoke about getting references from people who know you and have history with you in experience around children etc. Despite having my own 2 little people, this is an area that I do lack.

1 of my references will be my old manager, she has evidence of my education skills within nursing and would happily support me with a personal reference.

However my contact with school experince is limited, so I decided that maybe I need to spend sometime at school, maybe as a parent helper in a class room.

This would allow me to be in a class room setting and work along side a teacher who would hopefully be prepared to support my application at such time as I am prepared to submit it.

Today I approached our Principle to tell him of my plans and see how this fits in with the school.

Now luckily I know him on a personal basis as well so he was all open arms to my suggestion.

He is happy for me to spend 1 day a week in the class rooms next year, maybe even spending time in different age groups to gain experince in all areas of the school.

He also has ideas for some extra curriculum activites he wants to start within school time and thinks I would be super to support these with him, thus allowing me to also add to my experience the ability to coordinate and run a small class activity.

I really liked his thinking and feel this is going to be great for my plans. I love the idea of spending 2 terms in one area maybe Yr 5&6 (10/11 yr olds), then 1 term in another area, Yr 7&8, (12/13 yr olds) and splitting the 4th term between the remaining areas Yr 0-2 ( 5-7 yr olds) and Yr 3&4 (8/9 yr olds). This would allow me to spend a decent amount of time with the age group I would really like to be involved with but also get a small feel for the other areas involved in this type of teaching, cause you never know....I may have an area in mind but actually like a different age group once I have been involved with them!

So I am moving forward with my plans and feel great about them too.

Roll on next year, I am actually excited about it and can't wait for the summer holidays to get here so school can start again next year, with me there too!

End of Year for School

This year has been a fabulous one for my 2 boys at school.
Even though they are both just 6 & 8 yrs old, they have worked hard and made us very proud.
Not sure if this is a good thing to be happening so early because then it leaves a lasting impression of what they need to continue to achieve in the following years to come!!

However we are very proud and have had an awesome year at school with them.
In the week before the end of term Alex had a Grandparent's Day and Flower Show. So mum kindly came over for lunch at the school with Alex and to view all the pretty flower displays they had been working hard on for the day or so before the presentation.
We also got treated to a lovely little singing show as well.
So here are some pictures of the wonderful displays that Alex created this year.

Ben this year has had a young male teacher (22 yrs old) and he has been fabulous. He has created a wonderful class of children who have all been very eager to learn and participate.
This has shown in all the testing the children were put through throughout the year and the wonderful results everyone got.
So sadly we had to say goodbye this term as Ben is moving to another class. The teacher is still going to remain at the school but end of year so next year new grade, class and teacher.
The kids wanted to do something for their teacher to say "Thank you for an awesome year" so a few of the mothers came into the class one day when the teacher was away and asked the children what made him such a great teacher?
Then all their answers were put together on a poster and this was given to him at a class morning tea in the last week of term.

Well, how to make a young male teacher cry, thank him for being awesome and tell him the kids will miss him.
He was so overcome, you could see his heart growing with care and proudness.
He has been an amazing teacher and it has been a privilege to have him as our son's teacher this last year.

The mother's were so impressed with his teaching style and wanted to encourage him to stay with it, that they nominated him for the "New Zealand Impressive Teacher's Award". There was 1 overall winner and 29 others recognised. He was awarded one of the 29 recognised.
I was there in assembly when it got announced and to say he was shell shocked was an understatement. He was speechless, gobsmacked and generally unable to comprehend or understand exactly what he had just been nominated for?
He, as most people do, couldn't understand what he had done so differently from anyone else to deserve being awarded something like this?
But let me tell you, he got quiet ones to come out of their shell, he got noisy ones to calm and listen, he got inactive ones to have a go and he got ones with wariness to believe in themselves and realise they can conquer the world if their hearts desire it.

He shall be missed as our class teacher this next year, but here's hoping he is still around when Alex gets to that school grade.

New Blog

I have updated an old blog that I had.
I actually had 3 blogs, the main one being this one 'Life Today' where I ramble on about what we as a family are doing and how life is today.
I then had blog #2 which I kept when we were selling our house in Auckland and moving to Hamilton. I have stopped updating this now, well I stopped 2 years ago.
Then blog #3 was somewhere for me to vent when things got tough, which going by the amount of posts on it, was not often, but it gave me somewhere to yell when Steve got lax with his diabetes and this caused hassle or when I just got annoyed.

Anyway, I have decided to recreate blog #3 and turn it into a blog where I can record my journey to Teaching.
As you may have read here, I am trying to get my Bachelors of Nursing so I can use it in turn to get onto the 1 yr Primary School Teacher Diploma Course at the local University.
So I have decided to keep a blog about the ups and downs as this process emerges.
You can go and find out about my 'Bac to Skool' activities here.
If you want to follow this blog, please remember to add it to your list of blogs to follow.

As this blog was already in use, there were one or two posts already on it.
Some I was happy to delete as they were rubbish and did not need keeping, but one of them was quite significant.

When I was planning our wedding in 2008 my parents were stationed in Dubai and all my wedding dress plans etc were missed by my mum, someone who I would have loved to have had in the country with me at the time to go through it all. Believe me there was many a tear shed, from her and me, at the fact I planned my wedding without my mum in the country.
Whilst I was having my dress made we managed to get some pictures and I had to find a way of letting her see them but at the same time be able to add my comments about it so she could understand.
I couldn't just post them to my main blog as Steve was an avid follower of the blog at the time and checked it daily!
I also couldn't just file them in Word and then email it over and then spend hours on the telephone with her, but I worked out I could write a post about it and then get her to view it, that way she didn't have to download files etc and could easily view it at her leisure.
Mum had found all the material used in my dress in Dubai, I had a cream raw silk dress. The material was about 1/4 of the price there than here, so I got a very expensive material dress for next to nothing!

It actually worked too, she viewed the post and then we discussed it at length on the phone with us both having the post up on the computer. We were able to immediately view the picture that the other one was talking about.

So for memories sake, because I am big on keeping memories, here is the post I displayed on the other blog. Steve has actually since seen this and laughed at the sneeking activities that went on at that time!

Monday 25th August 2008
Wedding Dress

Ok, so this was the easiest way I could show you the dress and give you my comments at the same time.

I was a little unimpressed with the dress when I tried it on last week. Not actually sure what I was expecting.

Anyway, as you can see it is quite plan and boring, although it has not been totally finished off either so that may have something to do with it, it is a work in progress!
I not sure if I like the top and I don't like the seam that runs under the bust.

I do like the shape of the skirt, has turned out just how I wanted it.
The length is also a good length and sits well.

The whole idea of the meeting was to ascertain that she was working with the right size and to also decide on the material for the sleeves. Whether it was the silk or one of the laces you sent over.

The back of the dress is nice, although this is not the greatest picture of it. I am a little worried that it is too tight across the back, but Jodie still has to let the seams out which she was expecting. She is not happy with the hang of the skirt at the back so is going to redo it, even though she did say it needs a good press all over.

This picture shows one of the laces draped over the bodice. Jodie had this wonderful idea that we could use the lace over the bodice, have a cocktail dress with the same effect and think it is lovely. Anyway she likes the lace in the picture and after seeing it, feel that it complements the dress perfectly. Giving it an elegant, ancient old fashion look, so me and so just perfect. I also think that by doing that it takes away from the top the part that I don't like as I felt the top was a little lifeless.

Picture below shows sort of where the lace will come up to. Was interested in having it just hang, but a slight shortage of lace to be able to do that.

Was decided eventaully that we would do the sleeves in the lace as well, blend with the fitted bodice and it all looks so good together. There is a scallopped edge on the lace and Jodie is going to be able to get the edge of the sleeve made out of the scallopped part, so this gives you an idea on that.

Pictures below give you an idea of what the overal picture will look like with the shawl as well.
The colours all match so well I am impressed that we managed to do all this matching across the world.

End of post

Just so you can see what it eventually looked like, here is a picture of the finished dress on the day.
The light in the pictures from above made the dress look quite white and pale in colour when in fact it was cream, as you can see below.

Qualifications

I am a Registered Nurse.
Have been for about 15 years.
I did my nurse training in England, back in the early 90's. I trained to be a nurse because the careers lady said she thought I had people skills and that this would be a good qualification to have when working with people. I never actually planned to go to work in a hospital, but once my training had finished, it seemed the most logical place to get work, plus having just spent 3 years in a hospital training you really could only see jobs in one place and that was, of course, the hospital.

Now degrees were not that important back then, nursing was just a qualification that you gained and then went to work.
Over the years they have now started deciding that nursing needed to be recognised and made into a profession. So that meant that they have started making nurse training into degree courses so it is recognised through education facilities like Universities/ College.

Over the last 10 years or so I have watched a lot of colleagues (including Steve, who completed his a couple of months before we got together) convert their training into a Bachelors of Nursing but have never felt the urge to do it.

Finally my time has come!
I have decided to convert my training into something that will be easily recognised and allow me to carry on to do other things easily.

I actually want to give up nursing and train to be a Primary School Teacher.

Even though I am thoroughly enjoying my new job at the hospital, I am sadly bored with nursing.
I still love caring for people and helping them through their frightening experience they may have with us. I still love speaking up for people when they are unable to and fighting to ensure they get the best possible outcome.
I still love being there for people and knowing that I made their experience whilst unwell in the hospital a better experience and let them know that someone really was looking out for them and cares.

But I now want something else. And in this day and age that ability to retrain and do something else is just at our finger tips if we are prepared to work and fight for it. In days gone by, you trained as one thing and that was what you stayed as for the rest of your working life. Nowadays people are spending 20 years in one profession and then suddenly deciding to have a total change, retrain, and then spend the last 20 years working at something totally different...and loving it!

Unfortunately here in New Zealand they do not have a nursing course like I originally did, so nothing to compare it to. I know I do not have a degree, and know that my training was not the equivilent to a degree, so have had to go through the process of finding out exactly where I sit and how much more work I have to do to obtain a degree.
I finally found that information out today with the help of a lovely lady at the local College that does the Bachelor of Nursing Course.
She thinks I can get prior learning recognition and therefore all the nursing papers I have done since my training can go towards it. Which generally means that according to her I need to do 1, yes that is right, 1 more paper/module and I will have enough credits to be recognised as having studied to a degree level and be awarded my Degree in Nursing.
Shame that once I have it I will use it to go on and do something other than nursing!

So I am now in the process of completing the required paperwork to register at the local College on the Bachelors of Nursing Course and will then wait for them to let me know officially what they wish me to complete to obtain my degree.
She spoke of the module I need to complete and it starts in July and finishes in November. It will have a few contact lessons, but not many, and then the rest is done through assessment and assignment, which I think I can manage.
So it looks like, with a bit of luck, that I will finish the year with turning 40 and succeeding in having a degree. Just like my mum did. If she can get a qualification at 40ish then why can't I 20 years later?

Quite an achievement really, one to be very proud of.

Cat Training

How do you train a cat??

We have placed a cat door in the garage because ultimately the cats will be outside during the day and also have somewhere dry when we go away over night etc.

The cat door is in situ but now we have to get the silly things to actually use it.

We have shown them the door several times, we have pushed them through it and also enticed them out of it.

We have shut up all the garage so the only way out is via the cat door but alas they must be too stupid to come through it!

They quite happily sit in the garage and stay there.

Ok we have only done this for an hour or so, so not sure what will happen if we left them there all day and then they decided they needed to wee etc.

Probably find we would come home to a mess in the garage somewhere.

So if any of you have any wonderful ideas on how to teach a cat to use a cat flap, then much appreciate a few pointers!

How Big is the World?

This is a question a class in Winsconsin are currently asking in their computer class. How far will an email go if you send it to 3 people you know and then they send it to 3 people they know?

With the wonders of the computer and internet people now know and communicate with people all over the world.

I remember when having a friend in a different country was a very special thing indeed because you had to really know someone to know them. People nowadays have friends all over the world, who are just as special as my friends from when I was younger, but it is a lot easier to keep in touch with them now. You can communicate with them everyday, whereas we had to wait for letters to get delivered and then for the letters to be replied too.

Man this makes me sound very old, like I am talking about pre war time, but I was only born in 1970. Man how life changes in such a short space of time.

The class have sent out a very short email:


SUBJECT: For our school

To whom it may concern: Starting on Monday, February 25, 2008, the Computer Literacy Classes at Cuba City High School, Cuba City, Wisconsin, are going to pass on this letter to see how far across the world we reach.

Please write to our teacher, Mrs. Cohen, with your city, state/province and country.
The email address is:MrsCohensClass@gmail.com
We ask that you forward this piece of mail on to at least 3 people.
It would be better for our experiment if you send this message to people who are not local to your area.

Thank you for participating in our experiment.
PLEASE DO NOT FORWARD THIS MESSAGE ANY LATER THAN MAY 1ST, 2008.

Yes I kindly replied telling them where I live.
This is what I got back:

Thanks for sending us your name and location.
This activity shows the students how easy it is to connect in our global world.

Mrs. Cohen
Cuba City HS
Cuba City, WI
USA

I hope their map of the world on the wall of their classroom has a button / pin in just about every place on there.