Real Job

Today I was told by a student at my school that I wasn't a 'real' teacher. 

I lesson plan. I make schemes of work entirely based around individual students. I track my students progress. I even mark their attendance.

I gave up my career. I gave up my business. I gave up my dreams for the future.

No, I don't have a teaching qualification. But I spend 5 days a week, 6 hours a day in a classroom, and I'm the one leading the sessions.

Yes, I feel very self conscious about having not done a teaching qualification. I often feel like I'm more playing at being teacher than actually being one. But this year I made the decision to make this my career. 

I may not be qualified but that doesn't mean that I'm not a teacher. 

The BEST Flapjack Recipe

I've always loved flapjacks. Usually, I don't follow a recipe, I just bung a load of melted butter, golden syrup, sugar and oats into a tin and hope it comes out right. Sometimes it's perfect, sometimes it's dry; it's a bit of a gamble. 

Sometimes, you don't want to gamble, you want it to be perfect, so I always used to follow the Hamlyn All Colour Cookbook recipe, a book from the 1960's that my mother owned. Now I live on my own, I've found this recipe is hard to find online. Other recipes seem to add a lot of other random stuff, so I thought I'd document the Hamlyn recipe here so I can always find it when I need it. 

Ingredients

8oz Margarine 

170g Golden Syrup

6oz Granulated Sugar

1lb Rolled Oats

Pinch of salt

Glacé Cherry halves

Method

Line a square tin with greaseproof paper. I use a medium size casserole tin. 

Preheat oven to 170*c. 

Melt margarine and syrup in a saucepan until the butter has melted and the mix is bubbling slightly.

Remove from heat and stir in sugar, oats and salt, mixing well. 

Turn into tin and press down with the back of the spoon. Place the cherry halves on top. 

Cook for 30-40 minutes until golden brown.

Leave to cool for 5 mins and then cut into 9 squares. 

Forgive the changes from imperial to metric and back again. It's just easier to flip around than it is to try and find conversions online that change depending on what site you're on. The original recipe calls for 8 tablespoons of golden syrup, but my golden syrup jar says one tablespoon is 21g so that's what I stuck with, because measuring golden syrup by tablespoons is ridiculous. You can do smaller squares if you want, 16 would fit this recipe quite well, I just like big flapjacks. 

Enjoy. 

Independent Woman

Earlier today, my washing machine broke mid cycle. Full of water, clothes still in there, door locked (not that I wanted to open it anyway), and nothing I did made it go again. So I rang my parents. My fathers only suggestion that I hadn't already attempted ("have you tried turning it off and on again?") was to find a man. 

I did not appreciate the sentiment that I should go next door to get help just because I'm a woman. 

At this juncture, I'd like to point out that I fixed the washing machine eventually, getting soaked in the process, but hey, I did it on my own because I AM AN INTELLEGENT, INDEPENDENT WOMAN WHO DOESN'T NEED A MAN.

Then, this evening, I got a message from my ex. Me going to the gym came up in conversation, and he said, and I quote "you're single now, so need to find a nice man. Lol".

Excuse me? Why does me going to the gym have anything to do with any one else? I'm not going to meet men, I'm not going to make myself more attractive to men, I'm going FOR ME, because I want to. 

Regardless of my martial status, I don't "need" to do anything. In fact, a man is very low on my list of priorities at the moment. 

I realise this sounds like I'm man hating. I'm not. I just don't like how the two most influential men in my life over the past few years seem to believe that I am incapable of doing something for myself, whether that be DIY or getting fit. 

I am an strong, intelligent, independent woman.

Public Service Annoucement

Tinned peas are fucking disgusting. 

That is all.

Who am I and what have I done with Heather?

Today is a saturday.

This morning, I was at the gym. 

By 9.15. 

9.15 am.

I could have stayed in bed. I could have slept in without an alarm. But I didn't. I got up early and went to the gym. 

But now I'm sat here in front of the telly with a massive mug of hot chocolate, so at least there is some semblance of self left.