Short blog post:

Films watched since blog started, Doubt (6/10, some great acting but not an absorbing enough plot or group of characters), Revolutionary Road (7/10, ditto but with a better plot) and Hotel for Dogs (8/10, very very funny!).

Have added £1 for each film to my savings pot and £1 for finishing reading The Reader (slight adjustment to previous rule of £2 for each challenge completed, I will now also add £1 for bit part challenges).

Things that have happened today and yesterday

Found out today that both Mike and I have won free return flights with Jet2 - however I haven't had a confirmation email so we can't send off our booking request yet. Jet2 have said there will be a letter in the post so fingers crossed I get that through soon and we can book a holiday - hopefully to Dubrovnik as I will be able to scrub #26 off my list!

Yesterday I spoke to O2 about my cashback for staying with them (£150). They had BACS transferred it into a very old bank account that I no longer use! Stupid people. So now I have to wait for that to bounce and then they will send me a cheque. So they have until 19th February to send me that or I will be writing a very firm complaint letter. When I receive it it will go against my loan, in order to achieve #9 sooner.

Going to see a play tonight, True Love Lies at the Royal Exchange. Free tickets, won a competition. Going for 2 for 1 food at Gourmet Burger Kitchen first so it should be a very cheap night out :)

#9

#9 Become debt free (bar mortgage!)

Just worked out that if I carry on making the overpayments at the rate I have been, I will definitely be debt free by Christmas this year! The overpayments are fine, not a struggle at all, so it's great to know I will definitely have this sorted before next year :)

#3

#3 Take Understanding Children course with open.ac.uk

Just signed up to the "Understanding Children" course at the Open Universtity. Only 10 credits but will be a nice reintroduction to studying. I eventually want to build an open degree in Psychology and Childhood Studies which should hopefully give me a good grounding for when I want to take my PGCE somewhere down the line.

Rice

#46, #91

#46 Learn basic sign language
#91 Become first aid qualified

Have just emailed my HR Manager to ask whether my name can be added to the list of people wanting to be trained next time the opportunity comes up. Fingers crossed :)

The Reader

Finished my first book yesterday (1/101): The Reader by Bernhard Schlink




You might know this from the recent film starring Kate Winslet and Ralph Fiennes.

Amazon review here.