Keeping up with the Jones's

Well, I am certainly not keeping up with this blog!!!  Must try harder...

One of the conversations I have had recently with my fellow mature students is the lack of distinct fashion in modern students.  The fashions worn by people here at University of Worcester are fairly homogenous with no distinct groups.  In our day (i.e. the '80's) there would have been goths, nerds, 'Daddy's got a lot of money' girls/lads in designer gear, hippies and the standard student 'uniform' of Doc Martens, leggings and an oversized jumper.  There would have been a fair number of berets around too!!!

There are people in my lectures with facial piercings and tattoos and a huge range of hair styles and colours but they just don't stand out at all.  Is fashion in general too mixed?  Are tattoos and weird hair just too much of the norm these days?  Has the current trend of individualism just diluted the 'message' that fashion used to state?  Do we not like to belong to a particular group these days?

I am sat here in the library, typing this post wearing a Uni sweatshirt and Blush ears.  That is my fashion statement of today. 

Maybe I can teach the teenagers a thing or two, eh?

Tar Sands

Wow, what an eventful few days I've had.  I'm changing my degree pathway to Biology and have been to Shared Planet (Saturday only).

I met the most wonderful young woman called Crystal Lameman-Cardinal who's a student in Alberta, Canada.  Her people, the Beaver Lake Cree Nation, are really affected by the Tar Sands production over there, something I hadn't heard much of until now.  She told us how it was affecting her community, especially the children and old people. 

The one thing that really resonated with me was the fact that the water is contaminated and they have water delivered in bowsers that they have to boil.  The contaminated water makes the babies and old people ill if they consume it.  It reminded me of when Denis was a baby and the water in Worcester became contaminated.  We had a bowser for a few days and I was worried that he was going to be ill from contaminated water in his bottles. 

I went to see her afterwards and told her the story.  I also told her I would help in any way I could.

Prepare for me to become a Tar Sands campaigner - and a bit of a nuisance.

Healthy foods

It's back to Uni with a vengeance and another heavy lecture from Denise.  We chatted in the break about the Food Hospital programme on Channel 4 and how people still don't realise how much our food intake affects our health.

Had pizza for tea.  Now I have a headache.

Healthy food reminds me of this:
http://www.savagechickens.com/2011/07/radish.html

Teaching - again!!!

Okay, so the first lecture after Reading Week and I'm 'teaching' my fellow students again.

I first wanted to become a teacher in Primary School.  'What do you want to be when you grow up?' they asked, constantly (doesn't that question really annoy you?!).  I wanted to become a teacher or an astronaut, and definitely a mother.  I kept the last option quiet as you weren't supposed to opt for that if you were bright.  You were supposed to have a career in mind.

By the time I was 16 my biological clock was ticking away and by the age of 18 I couldn't walk past Mothercare without getting awful pangs of longing.  In my twenties I abandoned the idea of teaching as I hadn't got a degree and was stressed out with motherhood (thankfully, I had the good sense to wait until I was settled before properly planning a family) so I didn't think I would cope with the stress.

In my thirties I tried and failed to get involved with children in church and Scouts - I was still far too stressed and my depression and anxiety ran wild.  As usual, I was trying to run before I'd even grown legs and constantly thought of myself as 'cured' of my depressive personality, even though I had a long long way to go.

Now I'm forty and at University and 'teaching' my fellow students, giving advice and generally encouraging them, even though I know no more than them (and usually less).  I get embarrassed and laugh and they laugh as well, saying they appreciate the advice and support.  It's an odd situation all 'round.

Off to the Careers section tomorrow afternoon to do a little research on teaching.  Worcester's a good Uni for a PGCE, so that's not a problem, but I need to make sure I'm on the right degree pathway if I want to go into that field.

Hmmm, interesting.

One word Monday - Juggling

NaBloPoMo November 2011 Writing Prompts 

Monday, November 7, 2011
Making family time is important to me. How do you balance your children, relationship, and work life? (Guest Post by Ricki Lake, who can be found on Facebook or Twitter @RickiLakeShow)

Badly

Things I'd forgotten I had

I'm spending the afternoon rearranging my copious amounts of craft 'stuff' and have found loads of fabric and notions I'd forgotten I had.  I'm not sure I'm going to manage a complete rearrangement as there's so much of it but at least I've made some inroads.  All the fabric needs a wash as it's all creased and dusty but at least I'll be able to sort out exactly what I've got and what fits with the Christmas pressies I'm making.

Spent the morning reading Quilting for Dummies.  I should be reading Biochemistry for Dummies to make sure I've done at least a little reading in Reading Week/Directed Study Week/Half Term or whatever.  Never mind.  There's always tomorrow...

Button pictures

Further sorting of buttons happened this morning and I managed to take some pictures.

This is my 'before' button stash:

And this is my 'after' button stash:

 Highlights of the new collection:

Push through buttons

Glass buttons

These gorgeous mother-of-pearl buttons

These buttons have the name of the shop on them (from designer clothing?)

These are some sets of buttons I have sorted

All these buttons were given to me earlier this year by a friend who's twin sister had died from leukemia - she passed on all her sister's craft materials including buttons, elastic, embroidery supplies and patterns.  I now have to find good uses for all of these lovely items.

Steve says if I sew a button on something every day then I'd be going for years.  Hmm, that's an idea.  What about National Button Sewing Month - NaBuSeMo.