Killer Recipe

This recipe has now become a staple of our little household... enough to eat once a week and freeze the rest for the next... I have been cooking this for a few years... keep getting frightened I'll lose the recipe so now it's time to share...

Chilli Beef

1 tablespoon olive oil
1 onion, chopped
1 chilli, chopped
1 clove garlic, crushed
250g or 500g mince (doesn't make a difference really!)
2 x 400g cans chopped tomatoes
400g red kidney beans, rinsed
1 teaspoon ground coriander
salt and pepper
bocconcini cheese
boiled rice, bread to serve (preferably pita)

1. Cook onion, chilli, garlic in oil for 2 min
2. Add mince, cook for 5 min, drain off excess oil
3. Add tins of chopped tomatoes, kidney beans, ground coriander
4. Simmer as long as you like (5 minutes minimum)
5. Serve with rice and bread, garnish with bocconcini

From Donna Hay Issue 26 March/April 2006

Mark's favourite!!! xxx

"Getting ahead in a difficult profession requires avid faith in yourself. That is why some people with mediocre talent, but with the inner drive, go much farther than people with vastly superior talent" --Sophia Loren

Addressing Position Criteria: Computer Coordinator

Many of the teaching jobs I have been applying for have been asking if I am able to 'support the computer coordinator.'

Sure... I think I've done bits and pieces, but if I'm asked in an interview, well, according to the NSW Department of Education, what is a school computer coordinator meant to be doing?

There doesn't seem to be anything official... but I found this!!

May help any position-seeking teachers...

http://www.waggad.det.nsw.edu.au/DO-Internet/technology/cc_role-statement.htm

Looking for a new job, NSW teacher style...

How can I write this without sounding jaded, whingey, and just good 'ol fed up? Oh that's right, I am actually all of the above, so you'll just have to put up with the tone, sorry.

In the world of work some of my friends are known as 'mid career' by now, some, are referred to as 'middle management' or even above that. They have company Amex cards, company cars, drinks on the office tab and the occasional gift or financial reward.

I am a temporary teacher. Who wants more. I simply want the security of an ongoing job with view to permanence.

It's that time of year again. I'm writing reports, finalising selective high school applications, attending meetings and parent interviews. Everybody is looking forward to Christmas, the holiday break. I've been congratulated for a good job well done this year. However I am staring into an abyss of uncertainty and potential unemployment. And it sucks.

So get off your bloomin' arse! You say...

And I have! I've applied for 11 permanent jobs in 2 weeks. Registered with two agencies, and have attempted to register with The Catholic Education Office (just need to find 2 university transcripts and a JP for that one...)

And haven't heard a single thing... except for one agency, who says to call back next year...

And I'm wilting. I love my current job, every term I feel even stronger and more able to develop my role. I love (most of) my colleagues, and am becoming more involved in external school activities as my confidence grows. My current school has done wonders for me, I know that.

And I know the drill with the 'NSW system,' no worries there. My current school does not owe me anything, if anything I owe them for everything they have done for me! Once I'm finally in a permanent job I'm set for life so I should just hang in there and put up with it! And isn't there a teacher shortage? (So that's why I hear about the 100+ applications received per advertised teaching position right now?)

But it's been 5 years of waiting, I'm over 30 now, and my friends are having kids. And why do my older colleagues insist on my 'doing time out in the country?! I had my name down for that for 3 years, and nothing happened... what am I doing wrong? Or is there something wrong with the system?

But in the meantime I'm worried about paying the rent... and that I will become a purposeless wandering ghost of a casual teacher... I got into all of this because I actually wanted a career, not just a job to fill in gaps...

So I'm spending each day afraid to check my phone, and if there's a missed call with a message, I cross my fingers and wish so tightly that it might just be about a job. But... so far it's just been mum, or the bank calling, and I'm really hoping it will change.

It's easy to feel like you're failing in the NSW Education System... you really do feel like you're stranded on an island sometimes, where communication is impossible or you are deemed irrelevant.

I don't expect a medal, but after 5 years of temporary teaching, even having the phone answered at the other end of The NSW Department of Education feels like a small victory.

When will I feel like I belong (to the system) and that I am making a contribution (to my career?) hmmphh.

In honour of my mate Leng, who does this most days, Today :-

I'm reading: Off the road - by Carolyn Cassady (yes, it's Kerouac related - reading because I'm bored and can't find anything else in this house of books at the moment)
I'm listening to: fleet foxes
I spoke to: many staff at David Jones Sydney because my bag kept setting off the security alarm
I watched: not much actually, a bit of The Bill on ABC1, also various ice addicts argue and generally scream on Macleay St Potts Point
Today's mantra: I will find a new job for 2009
Today's success: Getting the Christmas shopping done for people I work with (numerous and awkward, and certainly within a budget)
Today's challenge: Not buying whole new outfit from Saba or an antique ring, all sparkly, who am I kidding, I'd never buy that but they looked stunning!
What inspired me today: People exercising around the city, I'd love it to be me, I'm off to a great start!
Today's selfless act: lending my car to Mark so he can visit his mate Adam in Canberra (but hnestly, it didn't take that much effort!)
If i wasnt here, id be: well today, I'd be down the coast. Probably in Currarong, in the little house. Rain or shine, it would suit me, the silence and isolation, the crickets and wet grass... and Mark...

xx

The quest for the perfect morning routine

I was just going to compare my actual morning routine to something that (I believe is) is more ideal. But then when I read what I do in the morning, well I'm pretty happy with it! So I'll leave it at that. It's sure to get worse if I have to commute or have kids, so I can read this again in the future and I'll feel better. Anyway.

Actual:
Wake up at 7am to sound of Mark's phone alarm, which I attempt to refer to warmly as 'The Caribbean Man.' Snooze 2-4 times, depending on how long I want to cuddle Mark. Get up, and do things in this exact order (which I honestly believe, somewhere in my mind, optimizes my time. It probably doesn't.)
Switch kettle on, turn computer on. Go to the toilet. Apply deodorant and come back to kitchen to pour tea or coffee. Enter computer password as I am walking back past. Dress, brush teeth, come back to kitchen and put last night's washing up away while tea/coffee brews. Pour tea/coffee and drink in front of computer eating banana and reading news and trash. Rush around in circles a bit, maybe add some makeup, then leave.

When reporting, surprising things happen.

Today I was writing my school reports and something came to me quite suddenly - about three minutes later I had written a whole poem on my spell check sheet!... the joy of spontaneous writing, if only it would visit me more often.
I shouldn't ruin my poem with a long explanation, I suppose a tiny bit of my subconscious managed to spill over the rim of my psyche for a moment, and memories of me 15 years old are suddenly back. Not with nostalgia, mind you, it was what is was. I thought I should send it to my ex and facebook says I did not have permission to contact him - smirk. Here is the poem -

River.

Sometimes I think of the river
It’s low smell, three o’clock
The pooling of dank water
Warm, salt insects

Of the wind rushing my skirt, perched
That wouldn’t really touch me
The trees rushing by one colour
And silence I could see

The cool grit smell of evening
Inhaled smoke and bitter
The lights on mum’s car waiting
As grass cut at my feet

You wave and I still smell you
The stubble and the water
It was so sweet and salty, then.
My river time is through.