*&^%$#@ EBAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

My next overlocker auction ended this evening. Half an hour before I went to place my final bids!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It was AEDST (Australian Eastern Daylight Savings Time) and we are ACDST (Australian Central Daylight Savings Time) a fact which escaped me because the last auction item was here in South Australia! AND it went for within my price range.................
>:-(
grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

It looks like I am not meant to have an overlocker............

Back to the drawing board.

And In The Grey Corner....

Thanks to all those bloggy mates with advice on the job dilemma.

Here is the story.

Four years ago I was in a lovely school doing a fulltime job which I really enjoyed. I taught little kids with learning difficulties to read and spell, blundered my way through some Gifted and Talented groups, ran the school's standardised assessment program, liaised with parents, co-ordinated Special Needs and took a group of Y9 boys for Additional English (extra help instead of French). It was great. I loved the staff, my kid went to the same school so transport was not an issue and I got to help out in the primary and secondary musicals which I loved.

Unfortunately, the teacher who had been on leave for two years came back and I had to find new digs. Thus began my strange and unforseen journey into secondary teaching, a journey which has not been without angst and frustration but which occasionally offers glimpses of vivid white light at the end of the tunnel. I am challenged by the secondary kids but I am also motivated and inspired from time to time. I love the staff where I am and I am familiar with the routines and surroundings.

Last week they first school rang to tell me the job had opened up again and would I be interested?

Time and money are big questions here. My current job is 0.76 EFT and this other one would be 0.8-full time. However, my current job is increasing to 0.93 next year and having done the calculations it's only about $70.00 a fortnight more to move.

Some people have suggested I do a pros and cons chart and indeed I have already done one. There are equal amounts of bullet points in each box.

The real question is.....can I be fagged moving? Do I need this upheaval? I don't think I'm in the mood for change despite this post. The trouble is that was Term 2. Since then there has been The Musical and somewhere along the line this year I have let go of a lot of control issues both at work and at home (stop sniggering those of you who know me). I am settled and comfortable.

I am still undecided.

Some Are Lucky, Some Are Not

You know when you're standing in a field and looking over the fence and going, "Gee it looks good over there in that neck of the woods. Boy I'd like to get over there. My life would be SO different if only I could get into that field."

And then someone opens the gate?

And suddenly you're not sure why you wanted to go there in the first place and your own, mud ridden, bumpy patch seems very comfortable, thank you very much, and why on earth would you want to leave?

Well that's how I'm feeling right now.

Any advice? It's job related by the way ;-)

PS: The Weather Widget Is Asleep Again

It currently says 27C.
Well, yeah! Here under the air conditioning vent MAYBE!!!! I wonder where their thermometer is???????

Bloody Ebay

Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.

I lost my overlocker in the last 10 seconds of the auction. Small Boy was by my side and giving me advice on the way.
"30 seconds to go...now you can get worried A"
"OK should I up my maxi,mum bid now?"
"Put it up to $100.00"
"oooo I don't know...that might give too much away, I can just put a max in and be ready to press the button.."
"you should refresh every 10 secs"
"OK"
..............

"Alright Small Boy, we're down to the last 5 secs....OMG I'VE LOST IT.....
"Quick....up your max! I TOLD you to go to $100"
"OK but OMG I"VE PRESSED THE WRONG BUTTON...."
"QUICK QUICK............."


Too late.

I think I may have sworn.

My highest bid was $98.89 and she won it for $102.50 :-(

I say 'she' of course. I just can't imagine men bidding on overlockers although I guess it must happen.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
I have other news to share about a job offer but I'm off to see A Free Family in this disgusting heat so that will have to wait. The Small Boy and his Dad have left for sailing and No2 Son was dragged out of bed too. He is sailing with last year's champion this year so he is feeling pretty good about himself. Last week they won and Himself and Small Boy came second!

I shall have to come up with some 'names' for their boats so I can report race results more quickly, with less key strokes that is.

Hmmmmm.....let's call them....

Jester: Skipper; Himself, Crew; The Small Boy
Gunshot: Skipper; Dee, Crew: No 2 Son
The Other One: the main competition..previous State Champion.

Right. Off to commiserate my ebay loss with The Free Family!

What I Would Like To Write About If I Had Time

The Hen Night.
The Wedding.
The recent visit of an old friend from Teacher's College.
The two day course on Maths I have just done.
The overlockers I have bids on.
My sick husband (it's like sleeping with a combine harvester...all that tossing and turning).
The school fees for the Baby Angel's new school for next year :-(
My wonderful Mum and Dad who are helping out with the above.
The heat................
Work.
Year 11s leaving this week.
Exams. Reports. Marking.
Marking
Marking
Being made chairperson of the Industrial Relations Committee hahahahahahahahahahahahahaha

Missing In Action

I admit it. I've kind of been living at ebay and facebook lately! I don't know what's the matter with me; I don't feel like writing. Maybe it's the weather? Over 37c again today and forecast to last til Saturday!! :-(

I'm currently in the market for an overlocker (serger for you US types). I lost out on one the night before the big wedding because I was so busy sewing the BA's dress that I forgot to check on the auction progress. I've got a lot to learn about this ebay thing. Turns out that one didn't do rolled hems which are apparently a big plus and certainly would have been a good thing on the BA's dress (I felt the hem I had painstakingly hand sewn looked neat but heavy; rolled may have been better) so maybe it was for the best.

I've tried to do a little research on the various brands but there's remarkably few user reviews. It's also tricky to find out whether the second hand machines on ebay do the rolled hem and whether they have an automatic setting or need a cumbersome needle and plate change. Predictably, companies are more keen to tell you about their current models.

There's a Janome Mylock 654D (I think) going and I'm in the running but I'm trying to decide whether to go over the Au $150.00 mark. Postage has to be considered as well. Does anyone know this machine and whether it's worth it?

Aside from that I had a very interesting weekend catching up with a friend from Teacher's College whom I hadn't seen for 20 years! She had tried to find me some years ago, phoning everyone in Sydney with my maiden name and asking if I lived there. I was deeply touched. Finally she found me on 'friends reunited' which lists people against their schools and training or tertiary institutions. I signed up for that site in 2000 and am still listed under my maiden name.

I picked her up from the airport on Friday night and we had a wonderful catch-up at the BA's netball match (they won and she played VERY well). Unfortunately, with a sleepy BA on my hands I had to drop her at her accommodation that night and meet up again the next morning.

Boy we can talk!

We talked all through the morning, all through lunch (Italian), all through my drive by tour of the city, scenic trip through the hills to my place, tour of the house, drive back to the city, pre dinner drinks, dinner (Thai) and nightcap. By 11.30pm my eyes were rolling in my head but I attempted to continue carrying on a conversation, surrendering only when I started talking about staircases in my sleep whilst sitting upright at the table!

I camped responsibly over on her couch and then took her to the airport in the morning, after MORE talking.

Well, we had a lot to catch up on :-D

Back to school today and I'm on a course about Numeracy Support for two days. So far it has been quite interesting and challenging. Much of the basic stuff I am familiar with but the challenge is how to apply it to disenfranchised teenage learners.

And just because I have been lazy of late and because you haven't heard much from my classroom babies, try these little beauties from the recent Y8 test on Co-ordinate Geometry and Line Graphs.

A graph is presented showing the weight and length of puppies on the y and x axes respectively. Pupils are asked to order the puppies according to length and then to order them according to weight. Surprise, surprise the order is different. The final question asks:
" Is it true that longer puppies are always heavier? Give a reason for your answer."

Here are some of the responses:

" No because it says Spot 's length is long but he ways (sic) the least of all of the dogs.
I had a dog really short but he weighs a lot."

"Not all the time and it depends what dog it is."

"No because Oscar is the heaviest dog and he is not the longest." (errrrr yes he is.....)

"If a puppy is longer than another it's going to be heavier because it has more fat and skin and bones."

*sigh*

Now I'm off to mark the Year 10 Taxation and Depreciation/Interest tests.

Wish me luck............