Module 12 is a long'un, so...

I'm up to Module 12 and it's got 15 topics in it so it's a long module that I'll leave until tomorrow I reckon.

Gonna clear the caches in both me browsers ready for tomorrow's virus scan then I'll take me pill and head to bed for a really early night for a change!!

Achieved so much today!

Just finished studying me 4th module of the day and I passed the assessment so I'm feeling really positive about today, despite the slow start first thing.

Gonna have a look to see how long the next module is... if it's a short one then I'll do that, but if it's got more than 5 topic thingamebob's in it then I'll leave it until tomorrow.

No matter how long it is, I'm feeling really proud of myself 'cos I've studied double the amount of modules I was thinking of this morning!

WTG me!

😃

2 modules and an assessment so far

After a weird start to the day of studying I've finished studying 2 modules and passed the second assessment with a score of 86% (the pass mark was 80%) so I've just treated myself to a bottle of J2O and I'm back in the studying mood now, thankfully, so tomorrow I'll be able to get straight back into it when I've walked the pup.

4 minutes

I gave Steve an hour but it only took him 4 minutes to interrupt me!!

I've got my headphones on now though, so hopefully that'll shut him up while I try and get back into studying today.

Supplements taken

Just taken me supplements so gonna get on with studying for the rest of the day now.  First up, reading through the notes I made on the last module 'cos I've totally forgotten everything!

I give it less than an hour before Steve wants to talk about something and doesn't realise that I'm trying to get back into the studying again after 4 days off, instead of the single one that I was planning!

So far today I've...

• woken up
• come down here
• walked the pup
• checked my email - about half way through now

So now it's time for me supplements then studying all day... wish me luck!  Steve's already shouted at me for asking him again to do the squash he promised to make overnight.

Plan for tomorrow

• Wake up
• Come down here
• Take the pup for her walk
• Check how well my email is downloading
• Take me supplements
• Study
• Have lunch
• Keep studying
• Go to bed

I haven't even looked at the course since Sunday afternoon and I'm out of the studying habit now, so I need to get back into the studying headspace to try and catch up on what I was hoping to do yesterday and today.

😒

 

Had 2 productive hours out of the last 10! :-(

Woke up really motivated, came down and turned my laptop on but there was no cursor so Steve said to shut it down with the power button.

Turned it back on but there was still no cursor so I handed the laptop over to Steve and he took the battery out.

That's when things started to go wrong.

I booted up and had my cursor back.  Yay.  Nothing negative happening yet.

I opened up my email programme but none of my Google accounts were there.

Steve suggested restarting the programme.

This time only my domain email addresses were there but there wasn't a single email in the whole of the programme.

So, I started downloading all my email again and setting up my Googlemail addresses but no cigar with that either.

I went out to see C for the only productive 2 hours I've had today, came home stress free and happy so I started putting in all my Googlemail accounts again.

I've got six of the dratted things and I managed to sort out five of 'em but the sixth one refused to play ball so I was quickly getting stressed out again.

I don't know what I did, but it's working now, just hasn't even started downloading my emails yet so it's gonna have to be another late night with the laptop left on all night in the hopes that by the time I come down in the morning, I can just walk the pup then get straight into studying.

I haven't done any studying since Sunday and I've forgotten everything I'd learnt up to then so it'll be a case of starting from scratch again.

Not happy at all.

29.5 years

Just worked out that I've been vegetarian for almost 30 years... that's three quarters of my life come November!

Over the years the vegetarian food has progressed and expanded so much, thankfully.  30 years ago, if you were a vegetarian the place you were buying from just left off the meat and added more veg or rice or pasta or whatever back then... not any more though!  Now you have entire food brands dedicated to vegetarians and the meat alternatives really are very close to the meat they are replacing!

Just as an example, if cooked meaty mince and vegetarian mince and put them onto two separate plates, even a hardened meat eater wouldn't be able to tell which was which!

The taste is different, so they are more easily told apart from taste, but there are whole varieties of food that are different, like tofu and soya and things like that as well as nut roasts, vegetarian sausages, vegetarian cottage pies, soya milk, "steak" and onion pies, vegetable fingers etc etc and shops are doing their own brand vegetarian foods too!

Even 20 years ago you'd be looking to pay through the roof for even the most basic vegetarian food you could find in the supermarket... it wasn't unheard of to pay getting on for double the price for vegetarian foods compared to meat versions of the same stuff, for example, a packet of frozen meat mince was 50p or whatever, but the vegetarian mince was getting on for being £1 or more for the same amount!

Vegetarian foods are still more expensive than the meat version, but it's been getting more affordable slowly but surely.  Steve can get a 2 pint bottle of dairy milk for about £1 and the same volume of soya milk (I'm allergic to dairy so I've got no choice unfortunately) is about £1.50 or £1.80 or something but 30 years ago you'd be paying a double that for a pint of soya milk... assuming you could find anywhere that had even heard of soya milk!!

Eating out is a lot easier for vegetarians too... you at least have more of a choice (usually vegetarian lasagne or mac 'n' cheese) even at the smaller, independant pubs, whereas places like the Harvester has several choices for not much more expensive than meaty food!

People don't look at you as if you're from a different planet when you tell them you're vegetarian now... veganism still causes a few raised eyebrows occasionally, but vegetarianism is getting towards being considered "normal" at last now!

Roll on Novemberish kinda time then it'll be 30 years under me belt!

Just texted Steve so he can't deny I've asked him now

Just remembered that I was going to remind Steve to ask his dad about when it'd be best for him to take me into town to get me eyes tested.

I've texted him so that he can't deny that I even asked now... bet he'll still try to though!  I've got proof that I sent the text within a couple of minutes of him leaving the house though so he can't deny that I even said it again now!  I can prove to him the time I sent the text message to him too!

Taken me supplements

T'was a birruva nightmare to swallow the three of 'em just now but they are done and dusted until tomorrow though. 

The Calcium went everywhere instead of into a paste like yesterday, the Iron got stuck at the top of me throat for a couple of seconds and the Multi got welded to me tongue too!  Tsk!

Supplements taken

Just taken me 3 supplements.

They all went down OK today.  The Calcium got crunched up, same as always but it became a sort of lumpy paste instead of crumbs.  The Iron went down after 2 mouthfuls of squash and it didn't disintegrate today.  The Multi went down first time so I was happy with that.

Hardly fair is it?!

Just got back from spending another day with Steve's family.

He's seeing his dad again tomorrow.

That's twice in 2 DAYS.

That's the same amount as I've seen my mum for getting on for 8 YEARS!

The only reason I moved so far away was on the proviso that we would regularly go over to see my mum regularly.  I haven't seen my mum since the Summer of 2010 yet Steve sees his family multiple times a WEEK!!

I'm seriously starting to get pissed off with Steve's promises that don't actually appear to exist when the time comes.

I asked him to ask his dad about when would be the best time to take me to have my eyes tested.  It's taken 2 MONTHS to find out that his dad is even happy about taking me but I still can't make an appointment 'cos I don't know when it would be best for his dad!!!

I'm giving him until the end of the month to find out when his dad can/can't drive me over there.  If he still hasn't done it, I'll make the appointment and go in Patrick.

I'm so f**king fed up of Steve promising one thing then 12 hours later him denying that I even asked him!!

I've just asked Steve about if he asked his dad today and he's just promised AGAIN that he'll ask his dad in the car tomorrow.  Who wants to take a bet on him forgetting AGAIN?

Just finished module 6

Only one module studied today, but my brain is saying "that's enough for now, I need a break from studying" so that's it until Tuesday now... I'm still on track because of studying 2 modules yesterday, but tomorrow will be the first break I've had from studying for 2 or 3 months on a daily basis with no break at all, even at weekends, so I need to listen or I'll just be reading meaningless words instead of studying and learning.

I'm going to the in-laws tomorrow and my likkle nephew is going too so it's come at just the right time I reckon!

No more studying from now until Tuesday morning.

Rant about my so-called carer

Steve's my official carer now.

He gets paid carer's allowance for being my carer for over 35 hours a week.

In 7 days he has 6 things to do:

1. Do my bra up when I get out of the bath or shower
2. Clear up Mitzi's poo from the back yard on a Sunday
3. Take the bin bag out ready for it's collection early on a Monday morning
4. Take the recycling box out for the same reason.
5. Take the pup out for her walk 'cos I'm just not stable enough to take her very far.
6. He's supposed to cook food for both of us at least once every day.

It's Sunday today, yeah?  He did number 1 after I got out of the shower.  Made a great big fuss about doing number 3.  Refused to do number 2 until I'd taken Mitzi for her walk and he was starting to feel guilty.  I did number 4 myself and put the bag of poo into the rubbish bag he took out this morning.  He hasn't done number 5 at all this week, it's been entirely down to me.  He hasn't done number 6 at all this week either... the closest we got was him making me a couple of sandwiches at lunchtime, the rest of the time it has been totally take-aways.

Of the 35 hours a week of care he is supposed to provide for me, he's actually done about 10 minutes of it.

Me OTOH doesn't get any carer's allowance at all and I do everything for Steve.  I answer the door and phone whenever it goes for him, bring in deliveries, let him in when he comes home, walk the pup so that she gets a small amount of exercise even though Steve's frequently said that he enjoys taking the pup out for her walks... why not do it every day then??  I take the rubbish out to the kitchen, order and pay for the groceries every week, bring the recycling box and rubbish bag in after they have been emptied on a Monday, listen to him rant about having to work 7 days a week including late into the evenings, the TV is constantly on even when Steve's snoring away in his chair and gets grumpy when I ask him to turn it off and that's just on a Monday!!

Steve cares for me for 10 MINUTES a week and he gets carers allowance.
I care for Steve for 12-15 hours A DAY but apparently I'm not entitled to it.

Steve can afford to get take aways and huge boxes of stuff from Approved Foods and Amazon then complains about having to put money (£20 a week) towards the groceries.  This week's shopping came to pennies under £60 yet the only things that were mine cost less than a fiver.  That means that £55 of the groceries was Steve's stuff this week so why's he complaining??

I've got a grand total of £7 A MONTH left to myself after I've paid for the electric too yet Steve's complaining about having no money left for himself!!

Tell you what Steve, you survive on £7 a month for a few months and I'll let you get away with complaining then.  You get more in benefits alone than I do and you've got a job on top of that so shut up about how little money you've got until you've survived on £7 for a few months!!

Money in November

My ESA is due to be re-assessed in November.

My current award is for £460 a month.

I've just done a benefits calculation online and that reckons I could be awarded almost double that on UC - £827 a month!

I would dearly love to be able to go back to work, but my mobility means that I can't even walk to the end of the road, stepping off kerbs is impossible without support on both sides of me and the same again on the other side of the road.  Assuming that I get help with that, the next impossibility is clambering up bus steps without falling over.  Same again when I get to the destination.

That's assuming my memory reminds me that I've got an appointment/job!!

Basically, either way (ESA or UC), as long as I get one of them I'll be OK... just gotta get through the dappy applications again!

😕

Just gotta hope I get one of 'em or I'll be living on less than £220 a month until September 2019 then I'll get nothing at all!
 

Supplements taken

First one of the new Calcium and it was a lot easier to cruch up than yesterday's!

The Iron disintergrated again and the Multi got stuck at the back of my throat for a couple of seconds, so all in all it wasn't pleasant to take them this morning.  😞

Achieved a lot today!

Studied 2 modules and passed one assessment as well as having 2 meals instead of my usual single one, taken me supplements and me prescription, backed up my hard drive and I'm not even remotely tired yet!

Gonna take a few surveys and read my email to calm my mind down then have an early night for a change!

First assessment passed

I was thrown in at the deep end for the assessment... went straight from the end of module 3 straight into the assessment which was module 4!

Meant it took 4 attempts to pass the first assessment and at least 3 of the questions were obviously put there to trip the student up and it worked 3 of the 4 times for me lol

I just hope that the final assessment asks about where the cerebellum is not so that I can click on the brain stem instead of the brain!  *sigh*

Supplements taken

Just taken me three supplements, including the last Calcium, so I've put the last bottle into the drawer now ready for tomorrow.

Got 2 bottles of 120 Iron left in the box, so I'm gonna put an order in for all 3 supplements in a couple of weeks and put the Iron onto Freegle so that I don't need to worry about getting different things at different times, I can just order all 3 together once a year instead of putting 2 orders in a year... makes sense to me at least!  lol

One more module to study before the first assessment

I'm intending on studying module 3 tomorrow, revising my notes on Sunday, having lunch with my little nephew on Monday then I'll take the assessment between getting home and the shopping arriving.

No matter what happens, I'll be having a bottle of J2O on Monday evening to hopefully celebrate passing the first assessment!

Wish me luck!

Module 2 finished just now, soooo...

I'm thinking the 10-15 hours it quotes on the Alison site is almost certainly a per module studying time instead of the whole course time.

Either way, if I pass this course I'm gonna pay to get the digital diploma to display proudly to show that I still know me onions even though I haven't even worked with children for 15 years and haven't studied them for over 20!

Not sure I approve of the Reggio Emilia schools 'cos they seem to believe that children learn best when they are told to sit down and shut up with very little play or creativity allowed which just ain't right IMNSHO!

I'm gonna aim to study one module a day and take loads of notes so that I don't fail any of the assessments purely because of my brain damage/memory problems.

Shocking difference between 2 children's brains

This is stolen, unashamedly, from the course I'm doing on Alison in Module 2 and I just found it really interesting how different the two images are of an "average" 3 year old on the 50th percentile and a sensory-deprived 3 year old.

These images illustrate the negative impact of neglect on the developing brain. The CT scan on the left is from a healthy three-year-old child with an average head size (50th percentile). The image on the right is from a three-year-old child following severe sensory-deprivation neglect in early childhood. 

This child's brain is significantly smaller than average and has abnormal development of the cortex (cortical atrophy) and other abnormalities suggesting under-development and mal-development of the brain.

It's like with the child psychology course I did on OpenLearn - I did it to prove to myself how thick I was and how much my bullies had been spot on, but not only did I understand it, I enjoyed it and I want to study more child psychology if I'm awarded ESA in November!  It was the "you really can do things as long as you find them interesting!" and a big "screw you" to bullies everywhere!

I'm never going to be a mathmatician or scientist, but as long as the OpenLearn courses were a genuine taster of the difficulty of the 3 levels of Undergraduate study, then I really can get a degree as long as it's not in maths or science lol

That's me 3 supplements taken

Got one single Calcium left to take now.

The Iron disolved on me tongue and the multi was a bit of a PITA to swallow, but all 3 of 'em are down me throat and into me stomach working their magic on my body as I type this!

A child prolly knows more than me about this, but...

I've just had to put a notice on my sites about using cookies on my blogs because of some kind of EU thingamejig.

I know 2 things about cookies:

First they are what Americans (and Canadians??) call biscuits.

This second one is what I need help with though:  Apparently they are some kind of small file that sites put onto the computer of each visitor?  That's literally all I know though!

So, does anyone fancy explaining in very basic and easy to understand language what exactly cookies are, why this is even legal?  Surely if someone wants you to know that information they can give it to the company wants it themselves, or is it a laziness/getting a computer to do boring things kinda thing?  Like with surveys, they match you up to surveys that are appropriate for you, so I wouldn't get a survey wanting answers from a male pensioner kinda thing 'cos they already know that I'm in my 40s and female from the information I gave them when I signed up to the survey site first of all?

The boxes that have your information (like name and postcode etc) - are they cookies please?

The sites you go to regularly, like Amazon, they have a little box that you can tick to remember your log in details on the computer... are they cookies too please?

Basically I'm just after someone to explain to this dumbo what cookies are and why they are included on all my blogs... can you help me?  Please?

Just finished Module 1 after 8 hours, so...

...the 10-15 hours studying actually means... 10-15 hours per module rather than per course!!

There are 18 modules and 4 in-course assessments as well as an end of course assessment too!

Considering I was struggling to make any notes for the first couple of hours, I've now got over 20 pages of them just for the first module!!

I've already taken me prescription so I'm gonna read my email, do a few surveys then head to bed I reckon after only getting 6 hours sleep a couple of nights ago!

It's getting me ready for the modules and courses I'm going to take with the OU if I'm awarded ESA in November.  If I'm not awarded it then it'll kill me because there's no way anyone can live on under £220 a month that I'll get from PIP until September 2019.

No, I'm not being melodramatic, just honest.  Brutally honest.

Supplements taken

Just taken me three supplements... got two Calcium pills left then it's time to start a new tub/bottle!  Unfortunately the Iron and Multi haven't run out at the same time so I must have started taking them at different times.  I'll need to order some more of the Calcium when I've opened the new bottle but it's frustrating that I can't order all three at the same time.

Not to worry though, that's just how things roll with me sometimes!  lol

Namehog V TSOhosts

Got 3 emails from TSOhosts yesterday afternoon saying that they have re-set my password.

I'm like "huh?"

I went to the Namehog site this morning and the TSOhosts bods have bought out Namehog and they really haven't made a good first impression on me!

They've set all the domain names that I cancelled to auto-renew, I couldn't do anything without accepting their cookies and I couldn't put my debit card into my account for auto renewals.

They've lost a customer now.

I was with Namehog right from the start... getting on for 20 years and they were fantastic.

I contacted TSOhosts about the card not being accepted and apparently it's a known issue that they are working on and will be fixed "shortly".

Well they will "shortly" lose a customer and I'll give them a single star review and recommend everybody avoids them.

Steve's happy with FastHosts so I'm seriously considering changing to them instead 'cos you can pay monthly instead of annually which is more expensive but less of a shock when you get an invoice for £1000 every year for each domains and hostings!

I'm gonna give TSOhosts until the end of the week to sort out the known issue then potentially move to FastHosts.

Sleep

I finally got to sleep some time after 2am.

I woke up at 8.30am.

I'm more awake, alert and ready to start the day after less than 7 hours sleep, yet when I sleep for 10-12 hours I'm totally wiped out, tired, can barely keep my eyes open and generally feeling bleh... how is that even possible??

Surely after more sleep you feel better and more awake, right?

So why am I not asleep until lunchtime?  Why do I feel more awake with less sleep than I do with more?!

Ho hum!

Tomorrow's studying

I'm guessing that because it took 35 hours to finish the DLU course, my tutor won't have expected me to finish it already, so I'm gonna work my way through a short Alison.com course tomorrow that only lasts for I think it was 3-4 hours.

Then I'll aim to be finished all the free courses by September so that I can totally clear my memory and enrol for a module on childhood and child psychology module starting in October and goes until July but doesn't have an exam just 4 eTMAs so I can work my way through that just to see if my memory is good enough to start a level 1 OU course and take it from there.

For the first time in my life I genuinely think that I'll take things as they come and the module will give me a taste of a Level 1 course so that I will be able to tell if my memory is up to it yet.  I'm not going to pressure myself, I just need to go at my own pace and hope that the OpenLearn courses were a genuine taste of the difficulty level of each course!  If they are then I'll be fine on all the undergraduate courses that don't involve maths and it'll only be the post-graduate courses that I could start to struggle.

I'm not thinking that far ahead though, I just want to get all the free courses over and done with, then see if I get awarded ESA then I'll take it from there.

And it's finished!

I started the course yesterday morning and 35 hours later it's finito!

Some of the questions were a bit confusing because they asked for answers to things that hadn't been covered yet and a couple of links were dead links too, but for a free course I learnt a lot!

Just gotta wait for it to be marked now and I bet I'll fail!  lol

Not bad going for 35 hours studying with brain damage though!  😁

Taken me supplements

The multi got stuck halfway down my throat which made me retch and it's why I can't take capsules or larger pills.  They are all done and dusted for another day now though, thankfully.

Why rather than what I'm studying

Just watching an interview thing with Noel Fitzpatrick (aka the SuperVet) and one of the questions from the audience was what was he like as a vetinary student.

Apparently he was a geek at University, which is fair enough, but the partial sentence that really struck a chord with me was to work out why you're studying, rather than what you're studying.

I'm studying because I want to learn new things and keep my brain active while I'm disabled.  The brain damage has taken most of my memories and I honestly can't remember 5 minutes in the past, let alone anything further in the distance than that.  Yep, totally serious.

Sooo, the reason that I'm studying is to prove to myself that I still can.  That I'm still a passionate person and that just because I'm disabled doesn't mean I can't learn new things.

If I hadn't become disabled, if my brain hadn't been damaged, then I wouldn't have even thought about studying at University level because I would have told you I was too thick and I'd be kicked out in my first week there.

I've taken loads of OpenLearn courses which are University Level short courses and I did well with them.  A few of them were even Post-Graduate courses and I coped OK with those too.

I'm not thick, I just need to have more confidence in myself... need to tell my bullies that they have bugger all control over me any more and that if I get awarded ESA in November then I *will* study with the Open University as long as I choose a course that doesn't have an exam because I know, in my heart of hearts, that right now I would fail because of my brain damage.  I'm not saying that'll be my future, just for a few more years while I re-build my memory through studying is all.

You controlled me for too many years, Bullies, but not any more.  From now on, the only person who tells me what I'm capable of achieving is me and only me.

Started on another course this morning

More than a week after I applied, I was accepted onto my first course with DLU this morning and I've just finished my first assessment with them too!

Just submitted the first unit for marking so it's too late to do anything about it now!

I'm aiming to do one unit a day if I can but I can pretty much guarantee I'll have forgotten today's unit by the time I wake up and come down here tomorrow 'cos of the dratted brain damage!  Tsk!

Ho hum!

I bet he'll complain about it tomorrow too!

Out of a shop costing £59.45, 40p is for the carrier bags which takes the total down to £59.05 yeah?  Take off £4.20 for my drinks and £25.35 for the mutual stuff leaves £29.50 purely for Steve's stuff.  Over £25 for Steve's stuff than my stuff and he's chosen brand name stuff like Toilet Duck (his choice to increase the price of the mutual dooberries) and Go Ahead bars (purely for him) as well as 2 Onken yoghurts costing £1 each (for him only too) as well as 2 malt loaves purely for him that are brand name (Soreen) and Galaxy Minstrels (for him only) and sausages, doughnuts, 3 lots of cake sandwich stuff etc yet all that I've added is 6 bottles of Sainsburys own brand pop.

Nothing else.

Steve's reasoning?  He put £20 towards the shopping "so we can afford more stuff".  I've put £50 a week aside for the shopping yet my stuff comes to less than a fiver!!

Maybe it's just my maths, but going by Steve's reasoning he should be adding an extra £21 every week *on top of* the money he puts in for his extra's so that it's fairer!

I've got nothing against him adding things to the shopping, but why add brand name stuff when there is the same stuff for less on own brand things?!

Just taken the pup for her walk

I think she's feeling her age because we only went up and down twice today and she's 8 years old so maybe her bones are aching or something?

Supplements taken

They all went down OK this morning!  Even the Calcium crumbs went down pretty easily without going everywhere in my mouth!

Book review: 3 hour dad by Adam T Hourlution

✰✰✰✰✰ out of 5

Just finished reading this book and it's an adorable but very quick read!

It takes you through the rapid change from fun-loving, innocent, twenty-something who is more interested in completing his Star Wars figure collection than saving money for the future all the way to a brand new dad with the overwhelming responsibility it brings.

The author takes the reader through everything he was feeling, right from the first phone call in the middle of the night telling him to get to the labour ward fast all the way to unpacking all the new things for his surprise new baby!

It's a quick must-read for anyone who thinks it will never happen to them... it can and does as this book proves.  Set yourself up with a savings account just in case you need it and move any leftover money into it... better to be safe than sorry and all that!

Supplements taken

Just taken me 3 supplements... the Calcium went everywhere when I crunched it up and the multi kept refusing to be swallowed so it was only the Iron that went down easily!

"chocolate fairy dust cake" for lunch today

Got us a chocolate cake with soya milk in it so that I can have it instead of just Steve.

Had the first slice yesterday and while it was stronger/darker chocolate than I usually like, it was good to finally have a slice of proper cake that didn't make me ill so I'm gonna have another slice for me lunch then a burger for tea... now that all bar one manuscript is edited, I'm gonna have me tea and an early night for the first time this week then start studying either tomorrow or on Monday, depending on when I get the materials sent to me... achieved so much in the last few days!

So proud of myself!

Pupils 1 v Teachers 0 lol

The hubby has just sent me this link about Scottish kids cheating in a literacy test - WTG kids says me!  lol

Supplements taken

Just taken me 3 supplements... the Iron was a PITA to get down so it melted, the multi was a struggle to swallow and the crumbs of the Calcium went everywhere in my mouth too!

😞

Haven't achieved much today unfortunately

I walked the pup this morning then came home and typed out 2 synopses and edited a single manuscript but that's been it for my entire day!  😞

Taken me 3 supplements

They all went down OK this afternoon, which is good that I didn't have to get bloated with squash from trying to swallow them today, so I'm a happy bunny.

Easily pleased, me!  lol

What a shock!!

Just had someone come to the door saying that a savings policy that I thought was cancelled when we had money problems is almost ready to be paid out 'cos it matures in July and I'll then get £4,700 which is a total shock 'cos I could have sworn that I'd lost the money I'd paid in when I cancelled the policy... I certainly haven't paid anything into it for a few years so being told that the policy was still running and that it's almost matured was a total shock!

It means I can pay off BC in full and still have £2,000 left over!!  That means I'll be totally debt free and I can work on rebuilding my credit score as well as being able to have money to fall back on while I'm waiting to hear about ESA in November.

In theory, even if I don't get ESA I can cancel all my direct debits and use the money for groceries and stuff each week for 30 months.

I hope I do get ESA in November though, 'cos there's no way I can work so I will, in theory, be living on PIP until September 2019 then I'll be penniless, but at least I'll be out of debt!!

Taken me 3 supplements and...

...I've just realised that there are 5 more courses on Alison.com that I want to do!

So, plans for this week are to do loads of editing of my manuscripts today and tomorrow then carry on studying!  I honestly thought I'd finished all the courses and was feeling lost without things to do, but my to-do list is huge now!  lol

Just taken me 3 supplements again

They all went down OK this morning, thankfully.

I'm in a foul mood though and I don't know why!

Supplements taken, but...

Just taken me 3 supplements but the multi was a PITA to get down today.  Got 9 days of Calcium left, so I'd best check I've got some more!!

Got 2 bottles of Iron, 1 of Calcium and none of the multi so I'll need to put in an order for the Calcium and multi soon, just to be sure I don't run out!

Virus free and backed up for another week

The virus scan has finished... seems to take 26 hours to completely scan my entire hard drive.  Backed everything up again too, so if something catastrophic happens to my hard drive, everything is up to date as of about 15 minutes ago.

Just taken me supplements and...

...all 3 of 'em put up a fight today!  😞

Supplements taken again

Just taken me three supplements again.

The Iron disintegrated but other than that, things weren't too bad today, fortunately.

Supplements taken and more details about getting 20% off

Just taken me 3 supplements and they all went down pretty easily this morning.

If you want to get 20% off at Simply Supplements, just use my name (Amanda George) and email address (amanda.k.george@googlemail.com) in the referred by a friend box, give it a couple of minutes and the 20% will automatically be applied to your order!

Intrigued by my posts about taking me supplements?

If you're in the UK and you're looking for a fantastic supplement provider and you want 20% off your first order, I can't recommend Simply Supplements highly enough!

Just use this link or my name (Amanda George) at the checkout et voila!  They even cater for vegetarians (which a lot of other places don't) and they are happy to answer any questions about any of the supplements they sell... I've been buying all my supplements off them for 15 years and wouldn't go anywhere else now!

They even do supplements for pets and offer a student discount too as well as frequent offers and sales... you really can't find a better place for supplements online!

Supplements taken

Just taken me three supplements and it was the multivitamin that was a nightmare to swallow this time, so I'm now bloated because of all the squash I had to drink to swallow it!

It's taken 30 years, but...

I've never been good at maths, but I woke up this morning knowing my 9 times table!!

I'm far from fast, but I can, for the first time in my life, work out what the answer to any of the 9 times tables without a calculator!

Steve asked me a couple of multiplication questions at random and while it took me a few seconds, I got them right without any kind of calculation device in sight!

He asked me what 8x8 was and I didn't have a clue, but I got the 9 times table questions right each time!

I'll never be a Countdown contestant, but I'm so proud of myself right now!

Fourth course on Alison

Just finished my fourth course on Alison.com and there was another error that meant I only completed 90% of one of the modules until I did the assessment, went back to the topic, read it for at least the fifth time and this time it actually worked!

They obviously don't test their courses before they release them to the world!  Tsk!

Hardly fair, is it?

Just completed my third course with Alison.com and got 12 questions wrong on my first attempt at the assessment so I failed.

Got 7  wrong on the second attempt so failed that one too.

Scraped by with 2.5% above the pass mark on my third attempt and took module 8.

It answered 8 questions that the assessment had asked all three times.  The only reason I scraped by on the third attempt was that I already knew the answers based on a previous course.

If the assessment had been at the end of the course I would have got 4 questions wrong but would still have passed first time on what was supposed to be an assessment of what you had studied throughout the course, so why are so many questions being asked about something you don't even study until after you've taken the assessment??

It would only take a few minutes to change the html for the assessment to be moved from the end of module 7 to the end of module 8 and it would be fairer on future students too!!

Such a good girl!

Mitzi gets a VivaDogs box every month with toys and stuff in it.

There was a pack of wipes and food with this months box.  She's on a diet atm so I put the food onto Freegle but if nobody wants it today then it'll be binned tomorrow.

She's a spectacular pup though 'cos I've just wiped her down with one of the wipes and she's white again now!

She wasn't sure at first so I didn't force her but she was a brave little pup and eventually let me wipe most of her body apart from her legs and chest.  I don't want to force her into something so new to her so I just did her body and face then binned the wipe.

Mitzi was an amazing girl though... just stood there and let me do it!

Just stood there and let me do it!

Supplements taken

Just taken me three supplements... the Iron kept refusing to go down for some reason though!

Power cuts

Just had 2 power cuts which meant our internet, TV and landline phone were all out of action and our laptops were quickly using up battery power too!

Apparently Steve only gets an hour on his battery but I get 5½ hours on mine!!

Just unenrolled from last night's Alison course

The Alison course that I was whining about yesterday has been unenrolled from now... I was wasteing my time on it and because I couldn't remember what I'd learnt yesterday I failed the first assessment.

I'm gonna concentrate on the courses I'm passionate about now - childcare and mental health, nothing else.

😞
 

Third Alison course is taking forever!

It's a business course that was supposed to last 6-10 hours but I haven't even got through a third of it!!

There's an assessment too that I'll have to take but I can't even remember what I learnt this morning, let alone after 36 hours!!

First Alison.com course finished

Just scraped through the Alison.com test on my first course with a score of 88%.  I had to get 80% to pass.

I know what to expect now though and I'm about to start on my second course which only takes about an hour so I'll be able to have an early night tonight, thankfully!

Just got back from walking our senior pup

She seems to have something programmed into her that means she only poo's when she's out with Steve... maybe she knows that I need to bring her home to get the long handled pooper scooper but Steve can bend over with a carrier bag 'cos that's what happens when she's out with him?

Supplements taken

Just taken me 3 supplements again and I'm trying to put heading tags in the HTML that I've been learning on a course, but it hasn't been working so Steve's in control now!  lol

Supplements taken

Just taken me 3 supplements and I'm belching for England now!  lol

Beltane

I hope any fellow Pagans have a blessed Beltane today... bright blessings!

Family walkies this morning

We both took the pup out for her walkies this morning... I took her for 50% of her normal walk with me then Steve took her for 50% of her normal walk with him so she went for a decent length and it was more interesting for her too!

She did 2 wee's and a poo which Steve cleared up and put into our back yard ready for picking up and putting into the rubbish bag on Sunday evening ready for Monday's pick-up by the rubbish collectors!

She seems to be a bit sore or doddery in her legs so maybe she's starting to feel her age now and we shouldn't walk her as far?