Goodbye Summer, Hello Autumn

Good morning all, is it just me or does it feel as if Summer has waved goodbye and Autumn has stepped forward to take its place?

I've had to resort to wearing jumpers and boots over the past few days and am seriously considering bringing the duvet out of it's slumber and slinging it back on the bed ~ time to pack away summer bed and bring out the winter coverings.

One discovery I have made though is the joy of a soft jersey skirt for the more comely (as we call it in our home) figure ~ I had never dreamt that this item of clothing could afford such comfort, it's quite the revelation, so obviously I bought myself two (one in dark grey, the other in black), I also found a wonderfully comfortable ankle length flared denim skirt too ~ so that brings my new skirt collection up to 3 ~ Tara, my love, what on earth have you started? 

So, although my fondness for wearing jeans, trainers and hoodies is still very much my usual daily attire due to it's practicality when living with 3 dogs, I have decided to occasionally enjoy the freedom of skirt wearing too.  

I must say, it feels really rather odd to wear and I feel strangely self conscious when out and keep expecting someone to stop me and ask me what I think I am doing going out dressed in a skirt which I know is bizarre.

I have also added two more kaftans to my collection, two very soft jersey ones which I love to wear around the house, my husband keeps sniggering at me and asking me when I will be buying the head-wrap to go with them as he feels I am emulating Margo from The Good Life (cheeky).

Yesterday I had my first ever "live" classroom experience via Nisai Virtial Academy for the parental tour and to then fill in the online registration form for Tara. The lady who gave me the tour was lovely, friendly with a great sense of humour, you could hear the smile in her voice which bodes well for Taras new academic journey. 

The virtual classroom is easy to navigate and has two interactive boxes, one where the pupil can privately talk to the teacher to ask any questions without their peers knowing and the other box where the pupil can chat with their peers and teacher alike throughout the lesson.  The microphone is controlled by the tutor who will pass it over to the pupils if they wish to answer a question and speak to the class (they click on an icon to put their hands up) but if they are shy they can opt to type in the box instead of speaking. 

All lessons are recorded and stored for a year for that students to watch over as much as they like and use for revision purposes too. There is also another part of the site where students can hang out and chat together and join clubs. It is entirely safe as the email addresses given to the students to use can only be used within the Nisai Academy and student areas. 

I did have some trouble submitting my registration for Tara though because we are paying privately we have to source our own exam centre, and as Tara has ME we are needing a home invigilator so that she can take her exams at home.  As yet I have no clue how to organise this and the lovely folk at Nisai have assured me that they teach many children with ME who choose this option and they will help me sort this out BUT the registration wouldn't go through which had me pulling my hair out because of this.

However, problem soon solved after I contacted my on-line tour guide who managed to put it through from her end and we will complete that one section at a later date *phew* ~ so Taras headset will be on its way today, we are having our connectivity test on Friday of this week (as we are having new broadband installed on Thursday) and then she will have her induction on Monday 1st September, classes start on Wednesday 3rd September. 

This is enormously exciting as Tara will be "in school" for the first time in almost 5 years and taking two GCSE courses.

On Wednesday, as a final holiday treat, we are taking Tasha and Tara to West Midlands Safari Park as a belated birthday present for them both. Unfortunately earlier this year both girls were unable to fully enjoy their birthdays due to being too unwell and we promised as soon as we could to take them out for the day. Keisha and her boyfriend will stay at home and dog sit for us as they will be packing and preparing for their trip to Leeds Festival on Thursday morning. 

I am very impressed with the Safari Park as I rang up to book tickets and was told to do it all on-line instead to get the 10% discount on all tickets, then we only have to book two more tickets for the girls under the disabled box which then means myself and Dave would get in free as their carers. It's very rare being disabled has perks but this is one of the few and so we booked tickets for both theme park and safari.

My job for today is to buy goodies for a picnic for us to take along with some goodies for Keisha and Jack to have at home.

Then my list of what I have to remember to take with us; blue badges, two wheelchairs, student card, picnic & blankets and most importantly of all ~ camera to take snaps to remember the day. I know the girls are particularly looking forward to seeing the monkeys and so with that in mind we have just taken our roof box off as apparently the monkeys have learnt how to open them and we wouldn't want something like this to happen to us (or any stowaways coming back with us!).

So, here's hoping for some good weather tomorrow and that the rain holds off until later in the afternoon. Have a great week all.

~ Blessed Be ~
x~X~x