Baby Tristan! *Updated with a link to more pics!*

My very bestest friend in the whole wide world's three beautiful boys! Mattias (3 years, 2 months), Keiran (16.5 months), and Tristan (four days as of today!). Mmmm, I love these kiddies SO MUCH! Don't you just want to smoosh their little cheekies? (click either pic to embiggen) More pics are here.

Nuttin' much *updated!*

Ah, procrastination is a wonderful thing. What? Leave me alone, it's Friday afternoon, the kidlets are gone, I just went for a run and finished my lunch! And I have to let my brain settle before I start report cards (which are due today and I've barely started. Eek.)!

So it's official. February was a suckity month for blogging on my end. I blame LG, the company that made my shoddy monitor. I'm in a bit of a pickle now, cause on Wednesday morning I called them to find out where the heck my monitor was (no, not the one they shipped to Winnipeg, the one that sent me after that. Attempt number... what, 4? at getting a working monitor?). Turns out there was no record of that one, either, so they set up yet ANOTHER exchange. I got the email that it had shipped yesterday while I was at work. Hooray! Aaaand then when I got home I had a computer monitor waiting for me where I pick up my mail. Um. Turns out the one that went to Winnipeg made it to my house after all. Hehehe.... whoops! Sooooo... now I have another one coming, too. GAK! (I'll see which is the better one - I might be getting a new model instead of a repaired one - and just keep the better one! Ha!)

Watch, I'll plug in this new one and find out it was never the monitor after all, but a dying video card. Yipes.

But really... enough about that. That's boring.

GUESS WHAT???

um....

OK, it's not that exciting, but I'm excited about it, so YAY ME! I decided a few months ago to train for the Vancouver Sun Run, which is a 10 km (6.2 miles) race that happens in April. I've never run 10k in my life and, er, I had become somewhat of a slug over the last six months. In ability and... shape. Ew. But I'm loving the training now and can't wait till my run days! Hehe, I'm such a nerd. I'm already looking past the 10k and wondering if maybe .... MAAAAYBEEEE I might - MIGHT - potentially train for a half marathon in the fall. ACK!!!! That is probably T-H-E craziest thing I have ever said IN! MY! LIFE! But I wanna do it, mostly because I've always thought I never could.

I kinda have this thing about doing things I never thought I could. I love proving myself wrong and challenging myself to new heights, blahbitty blahbitty blah. For example...

Climbing black tusk? Done.
Grouse Grind? Done.
Learning to dance? Done. (and doing!)
Boot camp? Done.
10k race? In progress.
Half marathon? AAAAAHHHH!!!!!!!!!

Anyway. That's the plan. I'm looking forward to it!

In other news, Thursday afternoon held one of the cutest things I've seen in a very long time at school - the grade one and two dance show! My class and the other grade one class and grade two class have been doing dance together every Thursday afternoon for about 6 weeks. Last week I taught them all a few dance moves like step slides and that crazy thing where you put your hands on your knees, open and close your knees, and cross and uncross your arms. This week we did a review of all the moves they'd learned and let them get into groups and make up their own dance. It was pretty much a gong show, but in the cute kind of way. Six and seven year olds - especially the boys! - aren't so great at organizing themselves, but they were having fun dancing to the music.

After about 10 minutes, we all had everyone sit down on the gym floor and each group got to perform their dance up on the stage. I played them one minute of the Macarena and they danced their little hearts out! The girls were all in little circles holding hands or in a little line copying each other and they boys were doing the crazy uncoordinated spins on their backs. One group had so much kicking and flailing that I honestly thought somebody was gonna get a kick in the face. There were no casualties, and the other teachers and I were just cracking up at how into it they all were. I'm a dumb dumb and didn't bring a camera, so we're going to do it again next week and video tape it so they can see themselves on TV! And cause it was so darn cute we want to see it again! Cause it's all about making them dance for our own entertainment! tee hee!

Oh gosh. It's nearly three o'clock! I guess I really should get something done in my classroom, hey? Dang report cards! I DON'T WANNA!

*UPDATE*

It's now 5:51 and I still haven't started reports. But wowiee, my class is the cleanest it's been in a loooong time! And really, it needed to be done. I haven't been able to see my desk or teacher table in weeks! Now I've actually got SPACE to work!

That's my story and I'm stickin' to it!

[PS. Please don't point out how pathetic it is that I'm at school at ten to six on a Friday night, and probably will be here till about 8. I know. It's baaaad. I blame report cards. And the messy eleves. And politicians (cause hey, EVERYTHING's their fault!).

Huh? What's that sound? You screaming at me to get to work? ok, OK OK!!!

RIGHT NOW!

Right this very minute as I type my very bestest freind in the whole wide world is having her baby #3!!! If he's half as cute as hit two big brothers, this world's gonna be in some big trouble! :) Welcome to the world, Tristan!

Uhg

I was gonna write a more meaningful post today, but my monitor is (still) broken (again) and keeps blinding me in the face. It's making com - (arg! blinded!) - puter using extrememly frustrating, which is part of the reason I've not been out to visit y'all lately. My old one kept going black. I'd turn it off then on again, and it would work for precicely one second before it went black. Then I got a replacement (yay for warranties, I think) and the r - (arg! blinded!) - eplacement one goes totally white after thirty seconds or so. Longer if it's been off for a while, shorter if it's been on) Off, then on, then I've got 30 more seconds to do what I have to do. Thirty times the usage, but the flash of light, then dark, then light in my eyes twice a minute gives m - (arg! blinded!) - e headaches. Good thing I've got more computer work than EVER I have to get done soon - report cards, big power point presentation, handout booklet for a big unit for my class and two others... ugh! (arg! blinded!)

I DID actually call them and have them send my a third monitor, but they managed to ship it to somewhere - (arg! blinded!) - in Manitoba instead of to me. Good times. Apparently there's a NEW, not refurbished, different model on it's way and should be here supposedly sometime next week. Till then I'm stuck with this baby. (arg! blinded!)

Whine whine whine. And yes, I'd like some cheese with it. Mmmm. Cheese. I've kinda inadvertently stopped eating it - partly for health, partly cause I just need to go shopping. I miss it.

What? OK, craziest post ever. (arg! blinded!)

The good news? It's been clear and sunny for four days in a row, and I love it! I went out to Lighthouse Park with a friend on Sunday and wandered around - it was glorio - (arg! blinded!) - s.

ok, that's it. I've gotta get off this thing before I get another full day long headache. Have a happy day!

(choosing labels when, you guessed it - arg! blinded!)

On a primary teacher's desk

- yellow squishy ball with a happy face
- hastily scrawled day plan for Monday
- broken popscicle stick with a student's name on it
- bag of mixed nuts to curb that pang of hunger late after school
- gold glitter glue
- a stack of notes from students over the past week
- 7 bits of confiscated lego
- pink plastic jem/"wishing stone"
- 4 plastic baskets
- growing stack of paper in the "I'll deal with it later" pile
- bumble bee pen
- message from a student's doctor to call him
- sheet of half used heart stickers
- jar of pencils
- stack of Scholastic order forms
- baby gift for a teacher about to go on mat leave
- bag of Valentine cards for a support worker who's been away
- stack of reading strategy cards to photocopy
- digestive cookies for a student who regularly comes to school without breakfast
- random strip of red cellophane
- magic wand
- three pennies
- a whistle
- my tired head wishing I could have a nap!

Make of it what you will

Happy Valentine's Day!

Crazy cool!

So I just ordered myself a brand new waterproof digital camera - FOR FREE! Go Airmiles! I'm so excited! FOR FREE!!! And, just as I was about to go to bed, I got an email from a staff member at the international Town and Country magazine who wants to use some of my Paris photos in a travel feature they're doing!

What?!?! SO COOL! I'm still skeptical, but I think it's for real! (ok, so I know that's an oxymoron, but whatever!) Wowie! Neatarama!

Bitter beans and washing machines

I have never been a coffee drinker. I've always thought it was foul stuff, and did my best to avoid all forms of it: in ice cream, in desserts, in candies, and in the ever-popular liquid form.

This fact explains why I recoiled in disgust when, last August in the San Fransisco airport, I ordered a chocolate caramel frappucino but without the coffee, and they forgot the "without the coffee" bit. One sip and BLECH! "Uhm, excuse me, I ordered this without coffee," I politely told the barrista, who fixed me a new one right away.

But as that one mouthful of frappucino sank into my tastebuds, I realized, "Hey, actually, that's not half bad..." I was halfway through my complaint to the barrista when it occurred to me, so I felt like a bit of a dweeb. The drink I ended up getting, in fact, was kind of gross, and way too sweet.

So I decided to give it another shot when I got home and tried out Starbucks' caramel mocha frappucino with only half the regular amount of coffee and an extra pump of chocolate. (Don't yell at me about the sugar/fat content, I know, I know!) And you know what? It was not bad! So for the rest oft he summer, that became my drink of choice. I even got daring on a warm September day and nixed the extra pump of chocolate.

And that was the end of me and coffee for a while. "I'll enjoy a treat every now and then, but I'll never be a full on coffee drinker," I told myself. Especially not one of those people whose drink orders take three minutes to rattle off and use up every square and then some on the side of their cup.

But then Christmas came along, and what with all of Starbucks' specialty drinks, I decided to give it another go. Grande peppermint mocha, with only one shot of espresso and an extra pump of chocoalte and extra pump of peppermint. Zah-ZING, was that ever a sugar high! I could barely taste the coffee. Perfect!

For Christmas, I got two twenty dollar Starbucks cards, so I treated myself to my cup of sugary goodness way more than I usually would have (hey! can't say no to free!), and eventually weaned myself off the extra pumps. But no way no how was I about to go all double shot. Blah!

At one point, I tried a regular cup of coffee at a workshop I was at, but smuggled in a pack of hot chocolate mix and stirred that into the cup. One sip told me it was not for me. Too bitter! TOOO BITTERRR!

But then, one day, with my clearly non-coffee drinker bumbling ordering skills - I ordered my peppermint mocha and forgot to specify the one shot. It was bitter, but you know... not entirely bad.

This continued for a few weeks as I slowly got accustomed to the ever-increasing taste of coffe in my otherwise lovely drink.

And then today, standing at the counter for the first visit to a Starbucks on my way to work (do we sense an addiction develloping here, folks?), I heard myslef: "Hi, I'd like a grandenonfatnowhipextrahotpeppermintmochawithextrafoam please."

And even though when they told me that they were out of peppermint syrup, I panicked and asked for an extra pump of chocolate instead ("... um, actually, make that two!"), I realized that I have officially become a coffee drinker.

Or have ALMOST become a coffee drinker. I'm pretty sure real coffee drinkers don't slosh their drinks all over themselves EVERY. SINGLE. TIME. they get in or out of the car.

I guess there's always room for some progress. Let's just hope there's also room in the wash!

Sigh.

Gung Hay Fat Choy!

How I celebrated

Buah ha haaaa! OK, not really. Melissa made this picture for me (by yoinking a pic from my Flickr and applying her mad skillz to it!) and it totally cracks me up! As if the original picture wasn't crazy enough!

I can't tell you just yet how I celebrated - it involves another blog post I don't have time to write right now. But here's a hint: that series is called Rebirth for a reason!

The shaft

As in, I totally got it! :P

"All three of my babies were born on special days," my mom likes to say. My brother was born on Thanksgiving. My sister was born on Epiphany. Sounds lovely, doesn't it? But me? I got GROUNDHOG DAY.

The Day of the Rodent.

Oh well, me and Punxatawney Phil will really be livin' it up today! Woohoo! *giggle!*