I'll Be Back...

...with lots of pictures and news. Just so as you know, we have been REALLY busy. I've got heaps to show and tell and I'm in the process of sorting out my jumbled thoughts.

We've had Baginton Party in the Park, the Small Person's dance show, there's a few crafty things that the Small Person and I have been up to, it's my [big] birthday in a couple of days - eeek!, and we have lots of wonderful Summer plans.

The Summer holidays are already here, so we're already well into enjoying our time together. I love having both the Small People at home. I don't even get tired of it by the end of the summer break. I do not love the idea of homeschooling though (I'm just not disciplined enough!) so the Small Person will be returning to class 2C in September.

In other news, I got my course result back for my Children's Literature course. A pass 3, which is equivalent to a 2.2 classification. Kind of funked me out :( It's the third time it's happened now. I work really well all through the course getting high pass 2s or pass 1s for my written work (for instance, my average for written work on this course was 81%, yet my examinable piece was 63%), it comes to the final assessment and I do something not quite right and get a much lower mark than usual. It's frustrating because I have proved time and time again I can do a lot better, but the feedback doesn't give me any idea where it all went wrong (because it's just vague categories awarded a grade level) and so I seem destined to repeat the same marks for every module.

My module marks affect my overall degree classification, so at the moment it looks like I might get a 2.2. I really need a 2.1 to carry on where I want to study. A 2.2 also doesn't actually reflect my capabilities. If that was the level I worked at, I'd be really happy - a 2.2 is a good level, I just know I can do more. I have 3 more modules to complete for my degree, only 2 of which count towards my classification. I HAVE to get a 2.1 or higher for both of them in order to still get a 2.1 overall degree, I have no chance of a First class honours degree anymore. The pressure is truly on, and I have to admit, I feel a little defeated already. I'd really appreciate it if you could all silently cheer me on over the next year ;)

Woosh! There Goes March!

So, what wooshed by?
Mr Bogert had a birthday, became ill, got better, injured himself several times, recovered and then the small person fell down the stairs. Just a few bruises and some tears - very lucky. Lots of fun at toddler group including photos, an unpleasant disagreement, crafty things and giving out easter eggs. LOTS of coursework, making new uni friends, attending a tutorial and two assignments written, marked and returned. The Small Person has been super busy with dance classes, swimming, apple club, dance exams and an audition, which means I have been busy following her around all of these places armed with hairspray and grips and various kit bags.

It's been a busy little month. It's that time of year where my Open University courses start doubling up again and I lose all sense of time and reason. (This time last year, or maybe a little earlier, I disappeared from bloglan altogether. I'm trying hard not to do that this year!)

My university resides in two canvas bags: one containing the current books for Children's Literature for this week, and one containing this weeks books for Worlds of English, a linguistics course. If I leave the house, one of the bags goes with me. I may not have time once I reach my destination to take anything out of the bag, but it has become like a security blanket. The books must travel just in case there is a tiny 5 minute slot I can cram some reading into. The bags accompany me to bed every evening. They ride on the pushchair to toddler group. They take the bus to town. They really get out and about.

I was aiming to avoid them following me on holiday. I have a one week reading break scheduled for both courses from Easter weekend onwards, the week we are away on holiday. I REALLY wanted to be a little ahead so that I could write my next linguistics assignment ahead of time. I was going to take the Chaos Walking Trilogy by Patrick Ness with me to read ready for my Children's Literature EMA (End of Module Assessment) which focuses on the last book in the series: Monsters of Men, but I always have a book to read on holiday so wasn't really counting it as work. However, I am 2 weeks behind on my Children's Literature course, and although I'm up to date on the main course reading for linguistics, I am 2 weeks behind on the linguistic toolkit that accompanies the course. It's not looking all that hopeful :(

I really don't know how some OU students do it, with kids, two courses AND work ( I don't even have to worr about work!). I also can't believe I am actually just over half way through my degree! Go me!

In a more positive view of Uni work, I got the results back for my last 2 assignments, one for each course. This was TMA05 for Children's Literature (only one more to go now before the EMA) and focused on how illustration works with text in Peter Rabbit (Beatrix Potter) and Voices in the Park (Anthony Browne). I absolutely loved writing this assignment, but could have written so much more. Those darn word limits! I achieved a mark of 85%. Just touching distinction which makes me one very happy student.

The other assignment was TMA01 for Worlds of English. I struggled with this. Anyone who has ever taken a course with the OU will tell you TMA01 for any course is always an unkown entity. You don't know what the tutor expects, you're new to the subject matter (even if you've taken a course in the same subject previously, it still feels a little alien when tackled on a different course) and you're just generally feeling your way around what you should be doing. This was even worse for me this time. I'm so used to writing for Literature, I found it hard to work out the best way to word my essay and structure it. Linguistics is far more scientific. Harder still was evidencing my words. With Literature you have your texts (novels, poetry etc) to scan and source your own evidence from. With this course I felt that I was just throwing back at them what they've given us in the course books. I can't find my own evidence because I don't have any other texts, and because it is more scientific, the required examples are very specific. I don't have the expertise to draw my own examples from Old English texts. I managed to agonise over what at first glance seemed like a fairly straightforward question. It seems I shouldn't have been as concerned as I was, because I managed to get a mark of 78% which I'm very pleased with. At least TMA02 shouldn't be as daunting now I have a feel for it. I'm really enjoying the subject, but I think I'm going to miss Literature when Children's Literature ends in May.

I will at least have a little more time then though. Back down to one course. Until September that is....

That Happy Feeling

This evening I am in my happy place. Today was TMA04 submission deadline for EA300 Children's Literature, one of the courses I am studying with the OU as part of my degree.

There's always this great feeling right after an assignment is completed and sent to my tutor, even when I don't feel that I've done very well. It's the thought that the stressful week of compiling extra notes, developing and argument, gathering quotes to provide evidence for your argument and sifting through it all to pull a 2000 word essay out of the bag in time (amidst a whole heap of self-doubt), is over. Not only is it over, but I wont be experiencing one of those weeks for at least another 3 less stressful ones! Woo hoo!

So am I happy with work I've turned in? I honestly don't know. I guess it read OK, but I'm very aware of a huge pile of very relevant notes and quotes that are sitting here abandoned due to word count. I didn't even have room to comment on dialogue, which I was sure was quite important. It's like anything you create yourself, firstly you tend to be over-critical of your own work because you can't view it objectively, secondly, you've just spent so many hours working on it, you're too close to it to see it with fresh eyes. I get Mr Bogert to read through, but he always just says "yeah, it's good". I'm not sure if this is because he wants to play it safe rather than offend me, or whether he's not really sure what I should be focusing on in my answer because he's never studied literature. Fingers crossed, I've turned in a good one. I never really do have much idea until the marks come back.

That's the next horrible bit of studying. The happiness of meeting the deadline passes, and instead you turn into this irritable F5-hitting monster as you keep checking the results page!

I am really enjoing this course though, the subjects we are covering are interesting, the set texts aren't so bad either. I would never have picked up Roll of Thunder Hear My Cry for myself, and even after hearing the terrible opinions other people on the course held of Swallows and Amazons, I did actually get into the story. I think it helped that I was prepared for the long drawn out beginning, so I just persevered.

For the assignment I just turned in, I actually chose Swallows and Amazons as one of the two set texts to evaluate. The second was Tom's Midnight Garden - love that book!

So, this evening is all calm and relaxation and a break from study (although I keep feeling guilty and thinking I should really go and pick my other course books up which I am a week behind with), instead I am watching CSI and finishing a crochet project that is a gift and needs to be finished, ummm, last month. Ooops.

Also, I think I actually deserve extra brownie points for wrapping a whole bunch of gifts for various people today ready to give out at the appropriate times. One is even for a party the Small Person has been invited to on 3rd March. Go me with the ahead planning! This may be the first time that I am not hurriedly wrapping the present on the arm of the sofa as everyone else heads out of the door, or worse still, in the car on the way there!

I also forgot to show this little item off:

This is the card the Small Person made for my cousin's new baby. I did some of the cutting out, but she did the design, chose the papers, and stuck it all how she envisioned it. Smart cookie, that little girl of mine :)

Christmas Countdown - 21

We didn't watch a movie tonight because Mr Bogert had a photoshoot at the theatre and we didn't want to watch it without him.

The Small Person had a friend's birthday party to go to at an indoor play centre just down the road from us: Jam Jam Boomerang. It was 4-6pm. We took the Smaller Person along and paid for him to have a seperate play session. It was sooooo funny! He just didn't stop! He loved every minute of it and he played for the full 2 hours. By the time the party was finished and it was time to come home, his hair was soaked with sweat from the effort he put in running around and climbing! He completely tired himself out!

At home he had a bath and went straight to bed - early. And, do you know what? He went right to sleep. I've told Mr Bogert, we need to build one of those in the back garden if it makes bedtime this easy!

So with Mr Bogert of picture taking and the Smaller Person fast asleep, The Small Person and I watched "Kirstie's Homemade Christmas" (both episodes)  and did our activity.

Our activity was to decorate the Small Person's special tree with all of the decoartions she has been given since she was born. There's some very special and individual ornaments on her tree. Some of the ornamnets were bought in the first couple of years of having the tree to fill it out a little, just like we did with the Smaller Person's tree last year, but there are only 6 truly special ornaments on her tree, and the 7th will join it on Christmas Eve.

We also ate pancakes which deserves a special mention in itself, especially seeing as one of the first things she did this morning was taunt her poor Daddy with the fact!

My genius (if boring) plan for once she had gone to bed was to do some study for EA300, my Children's Literature course I'm am doing with the Open University as part of my degree, and have a look through my new course books that have just arrived for U214 which I start in February. That didn't happen. I made a cu of tea, sorted gifts and wrapped everything apart from the Small People's gifts whilst watching "It's a Wonderful Life". Before I knew, it was gone 11pm and Mr Bogert was home.

I felt guilty and read my U214 course guide in bed. There, I've done something studious!

Nearly here...

Only 4 sleeps 'til Christmas!

Practicing Returning to the Real World

Mr Bogert is back in work, and we have less than a week before the new school term starts and the small person is oficially in Year 1.

I am choosing to ignore the fact we still have school items to buy. I am choosing to ignore that this also means a return to toddler group and the small person's out of school dance and swimming classes. I am choosing to ignore the fact that our living room is filled to the ceiling with the contents of the small person's room, ready for ditch or keep sorting. I am choosing to focus instead on practicing the organisation that used to be part of my day, before a thing called 'summer holiday' hit the Wishes house. Organisation was an essential tool in just surviving the week!

So today we (yes, we. The small person is capable of chores at her age) have been sorting washing, and putting wash loads on. We have been doing the washing up and putting it away. There has been ironing, toy sorting and general commands flung about the house.

I have also been soup making. I love soup making, it's so easy and most soups you can freeze for future use. Today I have made Sweet Potato and Pepper:

1 red pepper
3 other peppers
1 sweet potato
1 onion
1 stick celery
1 clove garlic (crushed)
500ml veg stock
1 tin chopped tomatoes
a little oil

Chop and slice all of the vegetables into small pieces.
Cook all veg in a large pan with the oil until softened.
Add the stock and tomatoes.
Simmer for another 5-10 minutes
Blend for a thick smooth soup. (or you could mash the vegetables for something more textured)

See, simples! (and it doesn't hurt that the colours look so pretty in the pan as they cook).

The organisation will continue this afternoon (and knowing my luck, into the early evening) with more washing and ironing, the sorting of clothes and putting away, and a huge chunk of homework for me and the small person. I have an assignment due a week on Thursday, related to the character, Othello, and Wilmore, a character from Aphra Behn's The Rover, and only have a vague floating idea, which I can't quite catch hold of.

The small person has her summer holiday project to finish to take into school. She has been keeping a diary/scrapbook of everything she's done over the holiday. She's managed to fill one book already! She really has done a wonderful job. It's something we chose to do, not set by school. It's been a great way to keep her occupied, practice her writing and spelling, give her space to draw, and also to reflect on her day. It will be really nice to look at when she's older too.

I'm also waiting in for a delivery. Not a crafting delivery, but it's still exciting to me. It's the delivery of my course books for October start course: EA300 Children's Literature. Then I just have to stop myself getting carried away with those books whilst I still have work to do on my current course! *(EDIT - lovely books have arrived! Sooooooo, much to read.)

In between all the mundane life stuff, I've been crocheting. It's something that is intended as a gift for someone, so I can't go into too much detail. It's white, and it's a simple project, but it does mean I am crafting on a regular, non-emergency basis again! Yay for the crochet! :D

Answers to yesterdays riddles:
"There was a king who had 7 daughters, each of the daughters had a brother. How many children did the King have?"
The King had 8 children: 7 daughters and 1 son, because each daughter shared the same brother. 'They each had 1 brother'.


"2 fathers and 2 sons went fishing together. They each caught a fish and brought it home. When they got home, they cooked the 3 fish. How can this be?"

There were 3 generations of family: a grandad, a dad and a son. So the Grandad and the dad are both fathers, and the dad and the son are both sons. 3 people, 3 fish.

Happy Tuesday :)