MOTHER AND DAUGHTER ..... and Uni results, an exciting day ...

MOTHER 

and 

DAUGHTER

Willow Statue

This is what my daughter gave me for Christmas and I just love it.

These statues are so pretty. 

Just quietly there were a few tears when I opened this one.  She has a beautiful heart my Miss 20.

And she gave me a lovely pair of gold sleepers which I am now wearing all the time.

I am a frog collector, my friends know I collect them.  Not real frogs, although not from a lack of encouragement on the part of miss 20, who thinks I should definitely have real frogs.  Still thinking about that one.  Just different frogs in varying forms.

Don't ask me why I love collecting them, but I just think there is something nice about them.  Although I'm sure not everyone's cup of tea.

I got two frogs for presents this year.  

So here's the other frog I got ....

There is a standing joke between some of my single friends and I that one day we will kiss a frog and he will turn into a handsome prince.  She even gave us all packets of red lolly frogs a couple of years ago and said we had to kiss them and they would turn into handsome princes.

Looks like I've been led astray, either that or she actually believed that fairy tale.  Either way there hasn't been much luck to date.

I just thought this guy might have finally been the lucky one.  Oh, well, back to kissing lolly frogs.

 

Ooooops !! A slightly creased towel.  Did want to take a photo before she used it.  This is what I gave Miss 20 for Christmas ....... Eeaw from Winnie The Pooh.

Miss 20 loves Winnie the Pooh and especially the character of Eeaw.  She and Eeaw are very alike, at least according to her.  I think she relates to his rather anxious and depressed nature, and the fact that he never seems to have many friends. You should have seen her face when she opened the wrapping on this present.  She was so happy. 

It has been a busy and yet, relaxed week.

We had a lovely Christmas day and spent it together as a family.

We had two births in our extended family ...... a great niece and nephew .... one born just before Christmas and one born today. 

Christmas has been and gone and we are heading into a new year.

I am so looking forward to the year ahead and in the next week I will start to set out my goals for the coming year.

Today I got the results of the first Uni assignment that I handed in and I got full marks.  I was so excited.  Like a little kid in a toy shop.  I was so excited I wanted to cry.  I got such good feed back from my Tutor and I was so relieved and excited to know that I had done the referencing perfectly.

So today and this week have been excellent.

Such a good mark and feed back has motivated an otherwise slightly lacking in confidence individual to keep going in her studies.

..... I know it's only the start, but it's the start of the future ....

Hope you have all had a good week.

What are your plans and goals for 2012 ?

What would you love to achieve ?

THE ROAD TO HIGHER LEARNING .....

 Well today is the start of a new beginning for me .... studying.  I've enrolled in a Bachelor of Behaviour Studies (Psychology) through Open University Australia and my first subject is "Learning and Communication Behaviour".  I picked the easiest subject first as I didn't want to tackle anything too hard at this point.  Decided to start in the shallows before jumping in at the deep end.  They suggest doing this subject first before doing any of the other subjects as a way of easing into the degree and study in general.  Good thinking I say.


I have been excited about doing this subject and degree ... that was until today when I went online to have a look at what I needed to do.  Yikes ... shock to the system ... so much to learn, not the least of which was firstly how to navigate the website.  Looking through the website was a bit of a challenge ... navigating it was somewhat of a mine field.  Hope I have some hair left after this week.  Needless to say with perseverance I did it.  I haven't conquered it entirely, but a few more times on the site should see me beat this challenge. My new motto is I WILL CONQUER THE UNI WEBSITE.

I really want to enjoy this experience.  I want to keep on top of my assignments and that's the plan.  I know that I'm capable of doing this.  There are of course the usual little niggles of doubt, which I'm sure is normal.  The discussion boards have been full of new students expressing confusion at what they need to do, and the feeling of being overwhelmed at this point in time.  It seems I'm not alone in my feelings.  Phew, thank goodness for that.  I don't feel so alone after all.  You know how it is, you start to wonder if you are the one with the problem, but then when you find that many others are feeling the same way, you realise it's the general consensus.  Except for those that are doing their 2nd or more subjects.


There are so many messages to read on the discussion board .... I can't keep up with all of them, so I chose just a few that I can keep track of.  


What has really surprised me are the varying ages and circumstances of the participants.  Some are young  without children, some are young mums, some are working and in their 30s and others are mature age students like me.  Some only left secondary school a few years ago and others haven't studied for many years.  I figure that we all have a lot to learn and a lot to offer.


So what am I learning out of all of this ...... that things are still a challenge at any age and that I'm not alone in my learning challenge.  You're never too old to learn ..... one guy is about 70 years old.  That there are lots of others students out there willing to help you and give suggestions.  Find some other students to study with ... to bounce your ideas off and for them to give you feed back and ideas.


Will update from time to time on how I'm going at Uni and how I'm progressing with the study.  Now for my first tutorial on Thursday.


Yay to Higher Learning.

YAY!! My Uni information pack finally came.

Well my Uni information pack finally came today from Griffith University in Queensland...stacked with all the information that I need for my course and I start next week. I like getting parcels in the mail. Actually it would be nice to be studying in Queensland...

I am really looking forward to starting. The subject looks really interesting, but I'll tell you more about that as I go along. I'm sure that there will be challenges along the way, but I am looking forward to the challenges. I guess my life will be just that little bit busier now.

Will keep you posted with my progress.

Now I play the waiting game

And now starts the waiting game...... I got all excited about doing the whole Uni thing and now I just feel like I am in limbo. Silly me should just enjoy this peaceful moment (you know the calm before the storm) where I can gather my thoughts before the onslaught starts.....but no not me.


Now I'm waiting for all the info to turn up on my doorstep. I just want to get started. I wonder if I'll still be this anxious and excited about the workload in a month to six weeks time. Think I'll probably be more 'anxious' than excited.

For this subject Australian Studies: Images of Australia....I have to do 2 x 1500 word assignments/essays and an exam.....now the essays don't bother me so much as the exam. I hate exams. I had hoped to choose a subject that didn't require you to do exams !! Silly me for actually thinking I could do that. Better get used to the idea of exams quickly because I have to do it - like it or not.

It will be so nice to have my mind active again. It's been some time since I started my degree, but I finally think I am ready to get moving and finish it.

BACK TO STUDY

I'm going back to finish my degree. Have been thinking about it for ages, but .....well let's just say that I have been procrastinating. I have been looking at doing it through Open University Australia and yesterday I took the plunge.

I decided if I didn't do it then and there I was never going to do it. I was talking to a friend the other night and she was doing some work on an assignment from her foundation studies course at Uni - I was sitting with her, helping her to work with the assignment and suddenly I realised that I really wanted to go back and do my degree. I was enjoying helping her and was enjoying the idea of exercising my mind again. One thing this friend said to me was "you just have to start somewhere, if you start somewhere you'll eventually get where you are going." ...you know what she is so right.

So here I am back on the Uni scene. I am not going to worry about whether I can get there or not and I am not going to worry about how I'll go, but I am going to start and work at what I will be doing.

I have enrolled but now I just have to wait for all the information and bookwork to come in....all the do's and don'ts and all the stuff I need to know so that I do all the right things.

I look forward to it all with excited anticipation. Will keep you updated on my progress through this journey.

There are so many things I would like to do in my life, but I'm not sure I'll ever get around to all of them.