What have I been doing?

I have been busy as usual recently so I thought I'd give you an update of recent news from where I am.

Sunday saw the family gather at a very posh hotel restaurant (by my standards anyway) to celebrate my lovely Nan's 90th birthday. Nanny Linda, as she is known to my children, is a very special lady. Would you guess that she was 90? She lives alone and still drives herself around to her various activities which include WI, tai chi and lots of weekends away. Her first love is her family, though, and she is a very active great Grandmother. We had a good lunch in beautiful surroundings and I took lots of pictures which I plan to put into a mini book for her.

I got the results for the French AS exam I sat in January - B. I'm happy with that, but I am going to resit the oral paper when I take the A2 in June to try to increase my overall mark.

I've had 2 very positive Parents' Evenings at both children's schools. R is now in Year 5 and seems to be getting on brilliantly with his teacher this year and, despite being the youngest in the year and having a physical disability, he is holding his own academically and becoming more independant and organised. M is a bright little cookie and her Reception teacher, who she's been with for 2 years now, had nothing but praise for her. Always lovely to hear, especially since I have had some very difficult Parents' Evenings about R.

With 2 houses and 2 growing children, we have been feeling the strain a bit financially. I have run out of ways to economise so I've come to the conclusion that I'm just going to have to work harder!!!!!
I'm currently on a 50% contract which is 15 hours teaching a week, spread over 5 days. I've started the ball rolling to maybe increase my hours next academic year, though how this will pan out, I don't yet know. I'm also hoping for some occasional cover work at R's Saturday morning drama school. (I am a qualified drama teacher, although I haven't used this qualification for years).

In the same vein, you might have noticed the Adsense adverts which have appeared on my blog. This is another experiement to make a little more cash. I am not permitted to encourage you to click through, but I would welcome any feedback you can give me. Are the ads annoying? Do they change what you think of this blog? Do any of you have experience of using AdSense?