Tis is the Season...

With December starting tomorrow I started making my Christmas cards at the weekend. I have some photos which I had taken back in March when it was snowy here which I am using. I went to a craft shop on Friday during my lunch break and had fun choosing cards and stickers and decorative paper. I've really enjoyed making them and if I may say so myself they've come out looking really good! I've made 15 so far so only about another 10 to go which I'll do over the next couple of days. I like to start sending them towards the end of the first week of December.

December is an exciting month for me with my holiday to look forward to. I can't wait to reach the warm sir and sunshine that is waiting for us in Lanzarote! Going on holiday over Christmas is one of my tasks that I included because it is something that I've wanted to do for a long time. It feels good to have one of the larger tasks coming up as it's something more exciting than swimming twice a month!

You may have noticed (prob not!) that one of my tasks has changed. Instead of having to pay off all my credit cards I have changed it to not using my cards for a month 12 times. Paying off my credit cards is not going to be achievable. My debt is larger than what is a sensible amount to try and pay off in that time scale but I do want something regarding the debt on here as it is something I do want to get on top of. I have now not used my cards for 2 months in a row (including Nov) and it feels good to not be increasing my debt for the first time in years. I now have another 10 months to not use them at some point over the next 22 months. If I don't use them for months than that it will be an even bigger bonus!!

Bit of a set-back

I have just received an email letting me know that I didn't get the job I interviewed for last week. I am very disappointed but am ok. At least I have a job that I normally enjoy and don't mind doing. This was my first application for a library job so I will just have to keep trying. I didn't get any feedback but I will ring and ask for some as that can help for future applications and possible interviews. They had interviewed a lot of people with two days of interviews being run. At the moment there are very few jobs with a lot of applicants so I will just have to keep my chin up and keep applying for jobs when I see them.

Waiting to hear...

Well i had my job interview today for the library assistant post. It was THE shortest interview I have ever had. They asked me just 5 questions and it was over in 15 minutes if not 10. When I was 18 I had a job interview to work in WHSmiths for 4 hours on a Saturday and that interview was a whole day one! When they asked me if I had any questions I was so shocked I was speechless (and trust me that doesn't happen very often!!). I had prepared all these answers to the questions about my strengths and weaknesses and other questions you expect at an interview to find I didn't need them!

Other than the length of it I felt it went fairly well. It did disconcert me a little bit but then my boss said to me that they HAVE to ask every person they interview exactly the same questions so it would only have been the same length for everyone else. I received an email this afternoon saying they hadn't yet made a decision and that I would hear from them next week. This feels quite a long time to me but it's not a straight out and out no so that's one good thing. I will now sit back and try and forget about it and just wait and see. If I don't get it I will ask for feedback so I can use anything useful for future opportunities.

Cross Stitch

About 6 years ago I completed a cross stictch of a bright coloured cat. There is a series of 3 of them and I wanted to do all of them and then make them into cushions. It took me about a year to complete the first one and then I didn't start on the second one for a year or so after that. This is a picture of the completed one:



I haven't done any cross stitching in years. Unfortunately I found it easier to just sit on my butt chatting online in front of the tv instead of stitching. I used to really enjoy stitching and found it quite addictive! I enjoyed just sitting in front of a tv programme while working on a cross stitch. So I picked it back up again a few weeks ago. I have made some progress on the second cat one but still a long way to go. Hopefully having it as one of the tasks for this challenge will give me the motivation to keep going with it!

Swimming

I got back in the pool today after what felt like a long break. The last time I went was in Cheltenham and that was my only swim last month. It was good to be back swimming again although I only did 20 lengths. It is harder to motivate myself to go when the weather is cold. When it's the summer I always want to go swimming just to cool myself down! It's worth really pushing myself to go though as I do enjoy it when I get there like this morning.

One step closer

I have an interview!!! I applied for the library assistant job going at the library in the university I work at and have now been asked to an interview. I am really excited but am trying desperately not to get my hopes up! I would absolutely love to get this job but I know that I can't count on getting it. I reckon that my chances are fairly high, and being an internal candidate can be a help, but there will be other people applying as qualified, as enthusiatic as me and probably with more experience than I have. I have little experience directly in the library but what I need to focus on in the interview is all the relevant experience I have by working in the university for nearly 3 years. I will be very disappointed if I don't get this job because it is something I really want and it will be a step towards my future librarian career but I also need to be realistic about it being the first library job I've properly applied for and the lack of library experience I have. If i don't get it it will be important for me not to let it get me down!

I seem to have gained a life!!

Since starting this challenge and with my friend doing a 101 things in 1001 days I seem to be doing lots of things. I got a little confused the other day when I looked in my diary and there seemed to be writing in it! I'm not used to being so busy and it suddenly dawned on me that I seem have actually found a life from somewhere!!

There are lots of things that I'm doing that aren't part of my list but are cool things to do and I would quite like to blog about them. I enjoy blogging as it keeps a record for me to be able to look back over and remind me what I've done. My 101 friend has started a life list blog which is all the things she wants to do not on her 101 list and as she inspired me to do my 30 things challenge I have taken another leaf out of her book and started another blog for all my other things! I have called that blog To 30 and beyond as I have no particular time scale to do them in and I may do them before I'm 30 or I may just wait until I'm 70! Either way I plan to do them either because they sound like fun, I think it may be a challenge worth doing, my friend talks me into it or because I've always wanted to. It will follow a very similar lay out to this blog but of course will be inifinite in length as it will be to update throughout my life!

Take a look here if you are interested! http://to30andbeyond.blogspot.com/

Edinburgh Festival

I am very excited! I have just booked a youth hostel in Edinburgh for four people for a weekend in August next year. This will be to go to the Festival. I have two friends who have said that they would like to come and my sister has said she'd love to but can't say for definite yet as she has 3 children so all depends on family holidays etc etc. I decided that I'd book a place for four as you can book rooms just for four people. That way we won't need to share with strangers! If my sister isn't able to make it then we'll either find someone else or cancel that place.

It is exciting to book things in advance. Knowing that I have things in place gives me something to look forward to and get excited about!

Rainforest Foundation UK

The Rainforest Foundation is my choice for November's charity donation. I saw on tv the other day that Sky tv are raising for a rainforest charity at the moment and it gave me the idea. I haven't given to Sky's promotion but looked online to see what charities are out there. The Fainforest Foundation doesn't just campaign for the Rainforests but work with the local communities as well. I thought that it looked a pretty sound charity so they are the ones I chose!

End of October

I have had a good October. I ticked off a couple of my tasks and enjoyed myself doing them. I loved the Cheltenham festival and will continue going to literary festivals when I get the opportunity. There seems to be a lot of them around!

I didn't get my swims in though for October. I did go for a swim once which was when i was in cheltenham. For some reason I have been feeling very tired over the last couple of weeks. I think the clocks going back didn't help. Anyway because of this I've not been swimming for the second time. I will aim to go an extra time this month to get up the number. I'm not going to beat myself up about it because that's not what the list is about! I have enjoyed going swimming and I will continue to do so and that is what counts most!

I have been doing a lot more in my life because of this list but also as my friend is doing the 101 challenge and I've been doing lots of things with her. I am living life to enjoy it. I love being out and about doing things with friends and today I went to Oxford. I had a great time. We went to the Castle and I got freaked out by a man dressed as a monk pretending to be a ghost!! We then went to Christ Church College and had a look around there. This is where parts of Harry Potter was filmed but I was more interested in just taking a look around the place. I tried to imagine being a student at a university like that but couldn't quite get my head around it! The library wasn't open to the public but it looked amazing through the windows! I would like to visit the Bodlein library but unfortunately it's not open on Sunday's to the public so that will have to wait for another time!

The most exciting achievement and working towards a task was the library job at work coming up. I would love to get the job but am trying not to get my hopes up too much. I handed my application in on Friday and the closing date is tomorrow. I will hopefully hear by the end of the week, if not the beginning of the following week, whether I've got an interview or not. Not to blow my own trumpet but I will be surprised if I don't get an interview as I did meet all the criteria in the person spec and I made sure I referred to all of them in my application. Getting the job though is a different matter! Anyway whatever happens just having the opportunity to apply for it has been exciting. I wasn't expecting to get in to a full time library job so soon in the challenge so if it does happen it's going to be a very happy bonus!

My best achievement for October has been not spending any money whatsoever on credit cards. This has been the first month I've done that and will aim to not spend on them again over November. With Christmas coming up I'm envisaging it's going to be tough but I will just rein in spending on myself!

I now have November to focus on. This month I will be choosing another charity to give to and hopefully get in at least 2 if not 3 swims. I don't have any other particular plans for any of my other tasks this month. I've got my brother and his wife coming to stay for a weekend this month and we're going to a football match so I won't have any spare money to do anything else special. Having said that I am hoping to book a youth hostel in Edinburgh for the festival next year. I have got two friends who are up for coming and I've seen hostels cheaply for a room for 4 people so I'll find one other person and pay a deposit for it. You need to book early for somewhere to stay over the festival and the deposits are minimal so there's not much to lose to book it now!