Wednesday 28 August 2013

Celebrations and Cake

The past few days in our house have been full of celebrations and cake.  Last Thursday my eldest headed to school with my husband to collect his little handful of GCSE results.  He had taken three subjects a year early and we all hoped this had been the right decision.  However I guessed the safety net of retakes was always there in our subconscious.  Anyway he excitedly phoned me from school to share the news of an A*, A and a B.  The gamble had paid off.  I am so incredibly proud of him, he worked hard and the results highlighted this further.  We now head into unknown territory of Y11 and sixth form open evenings and applications. I fear the next few years will be a roller coaster ride of an adventure.

With the celebrations over from this exciting news birthday preparations commenced for yesterday and  Monday.  We celebrated my husbands birthday on the beach in gorgeous sunshine on Monday.  We are blessed to live in such a beautiful part of the UK and with the beach just a twenty minute drive away it is our favourite place to escape to.  Yesterday was our younger sons fourteenth birthday.  I really cannot believe that he is this old already! Although he is much taller than me and looks older than his fourteen years.  Having been sent vouchers from family I whisked him off on a shopping trip before we celebrated at home, with more yummy cake and a cider.

Now the realisation has set in that my summer break is almost over as I head back to lectures on Monday. But for now I think I will just enjoy one more day of holiday before the madness and mayhem the words 'back to school' bring with them.

Until next time take care,
Zoe
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Thursday 15 August 2013

A Level Results Day - 20 Years On

I was busily wishing friends luck this morning, as they head off with their children to collect A level results and it suddenly dawned on me that it is twenty years since I nervously headed to school to collect mine.  Twenty years?! How did that happen? I remember opening my results and realising that I could actually go to university.  This was what I had dreamed of, had worked towards and finally it was going to happen.  I headed home to confirm my place, by good old landline, no online confirmations back then.  The excitement was immense, little ol' me heading to a new city, on a new adventure.

My time at Birmingham wasn't always easy but I loved the subjects I was studying, which made the homesickness and money worries more bearable.  Being a student isn't always plain sailing and doing it again twenty years on provides new worries, dilemmas and happy experiences.  I guess it also proves that what we choose to study at eighteen may not be our choice for life.  We don't have to stay on the same path forever.  Also for anybody not opening an envelope full of the 'required grades' please do not panic.  Everything happens for a reason, just sometimes we don't always know what the reason is straight away.  Take a little pause, create plan B. Perhaps the lower grades will give you the chance to change your plans, make real a little idea that's been niggling at the back of your head since filling out your UCAS application.  Whatever your results today, take a deep breath and leap, your next adventure is about to begin.

Until next time, take care.
Zoe
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Monday 12 August 2013

New Term, New You

The new school year has always felt full of promise for me, more so than the real new year celebrations in January. A new pencil case and shiny new school shoes were a delight when I was younger and now the promise of a new notebook is very appealing.  I am sure I am not the only one who relishes the new beginnings of September.  This time last year I was had started my journey through Clearing with my interview looming for my degree.  I can't quite believe that I am now preparing to start my second year.  Making the decision to apply for this degree was not a quick one but the whole process happened very quickly once I had applied.



I will write more about my journey to the big decision another day, but for now I just want to say, don't delay if you have made the decision to retrain. Apply through clearing now and you could be stationery shopping for a new school year too!

Until next time, take care.
Zoe
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Monday 5 August 2013

Fit Not Thin

I was delighted to see that at last size zero was not being celebrated this weekend. A broadsheet newspaper was advocating a fit and healthy image rather than encouraging women and girls to be stick insects.  As a mother of three daughters I am completely in support of The Sunday Times Style magazine's 'Fit NotThin' campaign.  Having decided to get fit, more toned and stronger this summer I am aware of the difference regular exercise has on me.  I feel healthier, happier and am hoping will be stronger soon.  Retraining to do a physically demanding job I need to be stronger as well as protecting my back to ensure I can work for years to come. 

So this summer I have started The 30 Day Shred, which is proving physically challenging as well as running four times a week with Amber, my ten year old.  I will also be making sure I continue with Pilates.  All this activity has also inspired my husband to start running again, so he heads off across the fields opposite our house, most mornings, with our eldest son.  Meanwhile our younger son works out regularly to ensure he is at peak fitness, due to being on the rugby, hockey and Athletics teams at school.  Just as Jo Whiley said in her interview in Style, active and sporty children won't be rushing to try smoking. Another worry of mine as the mother of teenagers. So a healthy, fit lifestyle for all of our family can only be a good thing and with major newspapers championing realistic body shapes, I hope my daughters will be confident in their bodies.

Until next time, take care,
Zoe
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Encouraging Entreprenurial Spirit

As the summer holidays approached the chair of our primary school PTA came up with an innovative idea to provide the children with a challenge.  They were to be given £2 and had to make it grow during their school holiday.  Ideas were plentiful amongst our three daughters and soon we had a list of money making schemes. As Lucy is no longer at the primary school she wasn't initally included in this scheme, but not to be outdone by her younger sisters I ensured she had permission to join the money making initiative.  Obviously with some children living at quite rural addresses and not all parents are eBay or Etsy savvy, so selling cakes, crafts and other items would prove difficult.  Therefore the idea of a 'Mini's Market' on the village green once a week was born.  So far we have attended two markets and will be attending for the rest of the holidays, weather permitting.  The first week saw Amber making and selling plaited friendship bracelets, Lucy teaching children to decopauge and Kitty selling ready to paint plaster of paris magnets she had made. This week Kitty made playdough to sell, Amber made hairbands, with a little help from me and Lucy made cloudy lemonade, which sold out. Fellow pupils were there selling cakes, flowers, chocolate lollipops, icepops and more! Whilst manning a market stall isn't everyones cup of tea, other children are offering car cleaning services to family and friends and one boy has a busy DVD rental service.

Amber and her stall at the mini market.


The thing I love most about this initiative is watching the children plan their products, gaining an understanding that they have to buy products to resell or ingredients or materials to make their products.  They are learning valuable business skills, from customer service to accounting to reinvestment and producing the goods.  But of course the thing they love most about their Thursday markets is that they get to play with their friends on the village green and in the stream whilst their fab mummy's man their stalls!

Until next time, take care,
Zoe
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Friday 2 August 2013

Hello

Hello and welcome to my new abode.  A new space to be me, to be creative as a writer, a little space to escape my very busy life.  As my five children grew up and didn't need me as much I started to think about what I wanted to do next, who I wanted to be.  I am still on this journey, but the most important job of my life is being a good mother.  Whatever I do my children will always be my priority, yet I also needed to be more than a mother. Hence the decision to change paths in my career, to help more people and push myself academically too. So last September I started a degree in radiotherapy and oncology.  A full time job in itself, hours of commuting when on clinical placement and swapping writing deadlines for essay deadlines. Yet I have loved every moment and taking the leap was the best thing I have done in several years!  Whilst I cannot write about my actual training I will be writing about the trials, tribulations and joys of retraining.



The simple things in life and living a creative life are also important to me.  However I have realised that over the past year my creativity had been packed away whilst I concentrated on my new career path.  Now on summer break from lectures and clinical placements I have had time to stop and ponder.  I realised writing is a huge part of my creative life aswell as making things for our home and for my children.  So here I am, a new blog, just me, no sponsors, no businesses vying for product placements.  Somewhere I can be me, share my journey of retraining, finding myself again.  There may not be pretty pinboards in every post like my previous blogs, just some good ol' honest writing.

As I head towards turning forty I seem to be setting myself goals, to make me a fitter, better person, so I am sure I will be sharing this with you all too!

So a whole blank page awaits me, an exciting adventure ensues................

Until next time, take care,
Zoe
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