Ooh Matron

Sarah Jane has no career aspirations, all she wants is to leave school, work as a cashier at Woolworths and get married. Then everything changes and she finds herself wearing a fluorescent pink uniform and studying to get into Nursing School. What inspired this surprising change of direction? What happens when she leaves home to live in a garrison town with a housemate who is a party animal? The big question being, is she really cut out to be a nurse? Let's start at the beginning with Sarah Jane as a sixteen-year-old country girl, a bit old fashioned but who has a mischievous sense of humour and who suddenly decides she wants to be a nurse! "This funny, yet poignant nursing memoir has Sarah Jane's trademark honest writing style which shines through in every story she tells. From starting her student nurse training in Essex to coping with patients in happy, sad and heart-breaking situations. It gives you a young woman's view into the realities of entering the world of nursing in the 1980’s. A highly entertaining and informative memoir which was able to take me from laughing out loud to having welled tears of empathy." S. Brewster

Having it all, but at what cost for a career nurse and devoted mother? When one of my early mentors suggested that my nursing qualification, as a Registered General Nurse, would be my ticket to 'Having It All' I could not envisage what that would mean for me. As a nurse and a woman, who intended to have a family, I did not think too far ahead and any thoughts on how it would manifest itself in relation to my nursing career were limited to family-friendly options. However, this phrase became embedded in my subconscious and would end up influencing my goals, dreams, and aspirations both personally and professionally. For me, having it all was not based on greed or a materialistic wish list, instead, it described the tight rope walk that was my life, a finely balanced juggling act between my career, and my family. The truth was that I had survived a period in my life that physically and emotionally pushed me to the edge, and I was literally saved by the deep-seated love for my children. Now as I looked forward there was a ray of light beckoning and telling me it was time to start over. Might this be my happy ever after at last?

This enticing collection of contemporary fiction is a celebration of our ubuntu: the invisible ties that bind us all together. From ancient forest guardians to modern cultural warriors, from grappling with age-old traditions to championing hair identity, these evocative stories explore the duality of Kenyan life and how to find a way between two cultures, both of which are yours. Chemutai Glasheen' s unforgettable characters are drawn from her early life in Africa with all its richness, diversity and complexity.

Jo Brand is one of Britain's funniest and best-loved comedians. With a sharp eye for the absurd and in her own unique voice she tells her story for the first time. What possessed her to become a professional comedian in the cut-throat world of stand-up comedy after ten years as a psychiatric nurse? How did she deal with late night drunken audiences? Raised in middle class comfort, she left home in her teens to live with someone entirely inappropriate. Her parents were aghast at her behaviour and attempted to rein in her excesses, finally giving up when she demonstrated that she was not headed for the life of a nun. From her early years growing up in a small south coast town with two brothers who toughened her up, to emerging on stage as 'The Sea Monster', Jo Brand tells it like it is with wit, candour and a wonderful sense that life can be ridiculous but there's always a funny side.Jo Brand is one of Britain's funniest and best-loved comedians. With a sharp eye for the absurd and in her own unique voice she tells her story for the first time.

Josh thinks Fizz is dentally challenged and fluent in gibberish. Fizz thinks Josh is the Prince of Handsomeness. They're destined to work together at Marigolds Old People's Home – can Cupid's arrow strike among the Zimmer frames? Thow in Josh's wacky mother with her goats on the sofa and Fizz's goddess-like big sis and one thing is certain. Things will get a LOT weirder before they start making sense – and can the oldies really make their great escape . . . using tablespoons? Being fourteen has never been so weird . . .

Is Sarah Jane playing with fire? Hold on tight, this is not what we expected to happen to the fun loving career nurse we met in Ooh Matron! Sarah Jane's life is set to be turned upside down as she juggles the pursuit of her nursing career with the roles of wife and mother. Her nursing career deviates off course into the aged care sector to accommodate her personal life and calls for a variety of sacrifices and compromises to keep a career and family life on track. It's a journey that sees Sarah Jane dealing with childbirth, bereavement, divorce, miscarriage and child custody issues at the hands of a real life Casanova!

Glass Half Full: Our Australian Adventure Find out what it takes to keep the Glass Half Full, as challenging life events including grief, loss, PTSD and devastating floods, test this expat step-family to their limits. After enduring divorce and numerous child custody battles, Sarah Jane knew that a fresh start in Australia was their only chance of future happiness and that as a family they were making the right decisions. Living the Australian dream in Alice Springs was everything they hoped for until life-changing events started to test the foundations of this resilient family. Using every ounce of positivity they could muster they struggled on and just as they thought the worst was over Mother Nature intervened and washed away the roots to their new life during the Brisbane floods of 2011. This story lets you experience Australian life with an inspirational woman and her courageous family, as they struggle to survive challenging life events and keep their dreams alive. Life is never without its challenges, but how many life-changing events can one family endure before they reach breaking point? Find out in this heart wrenching and touching true story. Two Dogs and a Suitcase: Clueless in Charente Follows the French exploits of Sarah Jane and her family as they endeavour to rebuild their lives in another new country, after spending four and half years in Australia. The title says it all: literally what they have and where they are, but that's only part of the story. Their goal was to focus positively on the present and to start a new, optimistic chapter back in Europe nearer to the children, leaving the dark clouds of the challenges they faced in Australia as a distant memory. Share their experiences as they arrive in rural South West France portrayed through Sarah Jane’s reflections, thoughts and observations about her family and their new French lifestyle. Follow Sarah Jane’s tentative steps into a writing career as they start renovating a rustic cottage while managing the ups and downs of family life. Once again, Sarah Jane will make you laugh and cry as she endeavours to live life to the fullest with a generous helping of positive spin thrown in for good measure. Our Frugal Summer in Charente: An Expat’s Kitchen Garden Journal Meet Sarah Jane, a woman with a reputation for culinary catastrophe who tries to keep her family fed in challenging circumstances in rural France. Frugal living was not part of the plan when they arrived from Australia to undertake the renovation of a quaint cottage in the Charente. However, when life throws them a curve-ball the challenge was set. How would they survive in France with very little money and two Australian cattle dogs. The answer came in the form of 5 chickens, 4 ducks, a vegetable garden and hedgerow foraging! The frugal plan was to save money by any means possible, to enable any money they could earn to be invested into continuing the renovation of the cottage. In true ‘Good Life’ style Sarah Jane attacks this challenge head on by keeping some small livestock and converting a garden, that resembled a meadow, into a French ‘potager’ or kitchen garden.The French tradition of using produce from their ‘potagers’ is renowned for enabling families to create meals that are healthy, cost effective and simple. There are 31 recipes for a variety of food and drinks, included in a month by month account, of how they transformed a neglected garden into a frugal yet productive expat kitchen garden.

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