Ten's the portion!

Almonds are a healthy snack. But not too many. I hear that 10 are equal to about the number of calories that make up a proper serving size. (I learned that fact after woofing down about 30!)

I have gleaned all kinds of wisdom from the staff at my school about nutrition (erg, not that it shows...). They're the healthiest bunch I've ever seen. And no, I'm not mocking it (contrary to the teasing I get in the staffroom about my blog and the food rants I've posted previously! *grin*) It's a good thing! I've become aware of all kinds of healthy tips and tricks to eating better, and have made (and continue to make) changes in the way I eat because of it.

...saith the girl who just had crackers with either peanut butter or cheese on them for an after school snack. BUT! It was organic peanut butter, low-fat cheese, and whole grain, sodium-reduced, low-fat crackers. Um, at least I'm trying?

All this to say that I really need to kick-start myself into eating better. And I'm thoroughly disgusted with the fact that I haven't even been on one hike yet this season! Wandering in Lynn Canyon park, while fun, doesn't count as a hike.

One of the teachers at my school is in her second round of boot camp. You know, that five day a week crazy insane cardio/calisthenics/core strength/aerobic/toning exercise program that has become so popular (at least in this neck of the woods)? I have to laugh at their slogan - "We kick butt - YOURS!" I first learned she was doing it when she was practically limping around cause she was so sore from her first week. Hats off to her! She goes EVERY DAY, rain or shine, and works her butt off! "Why? WHY do people PAY for this torture?" I ask myself.

But then I get to thinking...

Hmmm... that would be such a good way to kick start myself into a better activity routine. But really? I don't want to commit myself to EVERY evening. I have other things I like to do, especially as summertime is fast approaching. Sooo...

They have a 6am option. I'll be teaching summer school, so I'll have to be up anyway. But seriously. SIX A-M??? Could I really do this? Am I REALLY that crazy? Maybe? It's time to make some lasting changes here. Perhaps boot camp is the way to get things going...

But DARNIT! I'm still gonna eat more than ten almonds!

Hillary is...

10:28am - Hillary is marking. All weekend long. Boooooo.

10:51am - Hillary is amused at seeing moms who post on their kids facebook pages... no! wait! Hillary is marking. Yeeeeeaaah....

1:36pm - Hillary is actually geting work done! Marking AND laundry! Go me!

3:31pm - Hillary is taking a break to go buy dancing shoes. Squeee!

4:57pm - Hillary is wet.

5:12pm - Hillary is back at 'er

6:06pm - Hillary is saying, "Forget this, I'm done."

9:00pm - Hillary is dancing the night away...

1:49am - Hillary is hoping the skin on her feet grows back really quickly. OUCH!

Hillary is NOT entirely addicted to Facebook.... Only mostly. Sigh.

Battle!

Sorry for the overabundance of videos the last few days, but this is incredible. A battle between water buffalos, lions, and crocodiles. I watched the whole thing with mouth agape. Yes, agape. (I'm sure it was extremely cute on my part.) And yes, it's worth the whole eight and a half minutes.

A glimpse into crazy

I'm sitting here in my classroom on a Friday afternoon, a HUGE HEAPING PILE of marking to do before I can even BEGIN reports. Woohoo.

Instead of whine (more) about it, I thought I'd share a few things that made me laugh this week. Beware, they're wacky! Hope they make you laugh, too! (Thanks, Abbey, for the first one!)


If only I could dance like HIM.


It all goes crazy when... Medusa? makes an appearance at about the 1 minute mark. If that combo creates a party like that, WHERE CAN I GET ME SOME???


"... it reportedly trampled at least one workstation and left behind clumps of fur." When you see the three red cars, keep your eye on the far window! Full story here.

This is me... back at 'er.

Buying time till I can write another post

*AHEM* I mean... a quality blog post for your reading enjoyment. Riiight.

So go here. And here. These are the "more" I promised. Have fun! And if you want, go here, too.

And? When the hang did life get so craaaazy? OK, it's always been that way, but I'm goin' nuts here! And of course, I'm entering the dreaded "report card vortex." It's gonna suck me under for a few weeks... But. BUT! There's something fun coming up this weekend that I'm looking forward to.... and that's all you're getting for now. Neener neener!

Details to follow. Maybe. ;-)

Jumping for Joy

More to come...

I'm off to see the wizard, the wonderful wizard of Oz

Well, ok, so I'm not gonna follow the yellow brick road, and I'm not gonna see the wizard, but I AM going away for the weekend, and TOTALLY looking forward to it. It's my church's annual all church camp at Keats Camp on Anvil Island. Beautiful little island, great speakers, meeting new friends, time alone with God, and lots and lots of pictures. I can't wait! And just as an added bonus, I get to start round 5 of dancing on Sunday night. Woohoo!

Too soon

I shed some tears today, too, for a different reason. I found out at lunch today that a student I used to teach music to when he was in grade six and seven died yesterday. He was in grade 9. Fifteen years old. He was playing basketball after school and just died. I heard he had a massive heart attack or a stroke, but then that they don't know exactly what happened. Either way... holy smokes. He was such a nice kid. I totally remember him, even though I only had him for one class a week.

There were a bunch of grade 9's from the high school at our school today, just hanging out, visiting. They all looked so shell shocked, and I thought about what it would be like for them to lose a friend like that, so suddenly. Were they with him? Did they have to watch their friend die??? There was SO much sadness and pain in their faces today. Pray for them, and for this boy's family, would you? They're sure going to be having a rough time over the next little while.

Wow, you know, you think everything is just going to continue, keep happening as it is, then WHAM. Especially kids at that age who feel like they're invincible. I just can't get their faces out of my mind. It's so sad...

Perspective

Tears seem to be very near the surface for me these days, and it's kind of surprising me. I had to leave yesterday during our pro-d workshop more than once because of it. We were goal setting for next year, and as I settled in with my small group of early intermediate staff, they suggested that I should probably go over and sit with the French Immersion Primary group, seeing as that's where I'd be next year.

I think that's when it really hit me that I'm leaving my department of sorts, and that next year will be very, very different. I have finally gotten comfortable where I am (well, not comfortable, that will take years, but enjoying it and not feeling like I'm gonna die every waking moment of the day!), and I really really like the group of staff I'm working with. That's not to say I don't like the new group, it's just I guess things really sunk in, and I found myself overwhelmingly sad. I've put in so much stinking work this year, and next year, instead of being slightly easier because of it, will be even harder. At the break, I couln't even talk to a colleague about it without crying. Seriously. What is with me?

I'm trying to have a good attitude about things. My principal keeps coming up to me and saying things like, "Heeeey, look who it is! The new grade 2 French Immersion teacher!" I know she's trying to be sweet and is excited for me, but I just can't muster up the gumption to be all "woohoo" about this yet. I'm trying, but I'm not there yet.

BUT... It's not all doom and gloom. The kids coming up into grade 2 are really great, and there will be aspects of it that will be really fun. It will be a really good learning opportunity for me. And, as Rebecca in Texas commented in a previous post (she's great for giving me the smack-over-the-head perspective that I so need - she's done this before!), I never know what kids God will be putting in my class because they need to be there. Only she said it much more eloquently: "I just keep thinking, God has something special in store for you. He has planned out your next year and He knows what child needed you to be teaching that class at that moment." She's right. (Again! Thank you, Rebecca!) There's a reason behind this switcharoo. I just don't know what it is yet. Keeping Rebecca's comment in mind makes not knowing ok.

Also, Denney the Beatnik Poet had a post yesterday that also gave me some good perspective. He talked about entitlement, and how it's so easy to slip into thinking that we are owed something. Like I am owed the opportunity to stay doing what I was doing this year. In reality, my job has been a gift that I am so grateful for, all the way along. It has worked out perfectly for me for the last four years. God's given me exactly what I need, and even exactly what I want. What makes me think he's gonna stop providing the best for me now jsut becasue it doesn't look the way I thought it would? Even more, what makes me think I am OWED anything???

Like Denney said, "Get over yourself! ... [these] are all gifts that will eventually be destroyed, stolen or returned and then I have to ask the question: What is it that I really want: the gifts or the Giver? ... and I'm entitled to neither."

What a crazy roller coaster life tends to be, eh? God seems to like to keep us on our toes.



........ speaking of toes, yesterday's picture and some others are now up at flickr if you'd like to take a peek at the first few shots on my new camera. Click the picture below to be taken there!

If I must spend the afternoon marking...

... I may as well do it here!

Squeeee!!!

May I introduce you to my new toy...


Idn't she puuuurdy???

And some goodies, to boot!*
SahWEEEET!!! This is gonna make learning how to use an SLR camera SO! MUCH! FUN! (An SLR bascially a camera that can be fully manual or fully automatic - SLR stands for single lens reflex and it has to do with how the light gets into the lens)

Aaaand, I FINALLY got my flowers planted. It only took about 2 weeks of hitting up the nursery looking for specific plants and being told, "Yeah, we don't have those yet. Try back in a few weeks." I gave up and went to Home Depot. Then my flowers sat in their little pots on my patio for two weeks, waiting for sun and spare time to coincide. They finally did and now I have pretty flowers on my patio! I took some pics on my now-little point and shoot, but it was dark-ish and, well, not so great. I'll take more on the new camera for some visuals soon!

This weekend also held brunch with my sis - Dutch pancakes and champagne! - shopping on Main St for some funky jewelry, a hike/walk in Lynn Valley with some friends, dancing till I got blisters under my toes (ouch!), then a late night Princess Bride fest with some friends from my dancing class (that movie at 2am is EXTRA great), giving my house a good scrub - down on hands and knees with a brush and rubber gloves...

Hip hip hooray for long weekends! AND, tomorrow (erg! Today! I need to get to bed!) is a pro-d - no school for students... only school for teachers. It's downtown at the library and we're done by 1- woohoooo! It's supposed to be sunny and beautiful tomorrow, so I'm taking some marking - and the new camera, of course! - to Stanley Park for some chillin' in the sun.

A-woo-hoo!

_____________________________
* The big lens is actually from my borrowed camera, my 55-200 lens comes in today

Mission Accomplished

So... judging by the vast array of comments on that last post, it was a widely popular one... ;) Ok, so only I found it funny. Oh well!

Moving right along...

I have officially passed my obsession on to my students.

I've been teaching them West Coast Swing dancing in PE for about the last month, and it's been absolutely hilarious! They've done so well! (Well, after they mostly got over the sheer revulsion of having to touch a girl's or boy's hand. OH! THE HORROR!

Any time we learn a new move in class that is a little bit tricky, or makes up somewhat self conscious (hello, body wave), our instructor brings out a great line, reminding us that it will not be perfect the first time: "You've got to go through the swamp of ugly before you get to the land of cool." I've been using it with my students. Last week, as I was excitedly praising them for how well they were doing (they improved a lot, all of a sudden, it was great), one of my students asked, "Miss Hillary, are we out of the swamp of ugly yet?"

I busted out laughing and assured her that yes, they were well into the land of cool.

I wanted to show them what West Coast actually looked like, and because bringing my instructors in was too expensive/not feasible, I asked around to a few of the guys in my dance class if they'd like to come to my school and do a demo with me. Chris was available, and willing, so he came to the school on Friday (his day off, at 8:30 in the morning - yay Chris!!!). It turned out to be WAY better than just having the instructors come, too, so I was glad!

We split the kids up and taught them some new fancy footwork (syncopations) to try with the moves they'd already learned. He did great - he jumped right in there with me, teasing the kids, helping the not-so-coordinated ones with their steps...

The other grade 5 class came in towards the end of the class and I got a few volunteers to do a demo. They were SO GOOD! And it was sooo cute to see them dancing together! Aaaah!

Then Chris and I did our demo. Yeah, dancing in front of 50 kids was intimidating! But also fun. The very first spin I did, they all cheered wildly, and I almost lost the beat cause I was laughing so hard. I tried taking a video to show y'all, but, er... I didn't think to check the batteries, and got only the first 30 seconds or so before the camera pooped out. D'oh!

Afterwards, I had the kids write thank you notes which we put into a big card (it's more like a book, actually!) for Chris. Their notes cracked me up; here are some snippets from a few:

... I wish you can teach us dancing all day [says the kid who NEVER pays attention and is totally uncoordinated!!!]
... and the fancy footwork you taught us were cool but also hard at first but then easy
... It feels better when we get our own fancy demonstration
... Do you get dizzy when you spin?
... Thank you Chris for Dancing even though you had a day of you SPent time dancing with us
... I liked that you came because Miss Hillary could teach us girls and the boys or girls didn't have to wait. Also because she didn't have to switch her brain [I was constantly switching between leader/follower parts and kept getting mixed up!]
... I never knew there were so many cool dance moves!
... The move that you did with Miss Hillary was cool! lmao (laugh my ass off) :) :) :) :) :) :) [she asked me not to read her note. Of course that meant I was gonna read it, and pronto. "Uh, yeah, you need to change the language here." *sheepish face* "Okay." She erased it and covered it up with smiley faces, but you can still see what was written underneath. Hahahahaaa!]
... You are a wonderful dancer and your in the land of cool already way to go!

Aren't they sweet? One student drew a picture of two people dancing. It's fanTAStic. I love the eyes and sly tipped up grins. Heeheehee!

I don't think most of them will ever admit it, but I think they enjoyed learning this dance! Obsession handoff - complete!

Profile name gone awry *updated*

What NOT to call yourself on an online dating site:

He's got a masters degree and is working part time at a pastroral counsellor at his church. I'm sure he's a very nice guy. But either he's got a quirky sense of humour or he just didn't realize how bad his profile name looks: therapist

(isn't that an Arrested Development episode or something???)

Udpated: OK, so maybe it's not so clear knowing that he's a counsellor first. I just couldn't get beyond separating the profile name into two words, right after the third letter... aw, whatever...

"The joke's not funny if you have to explain it, Hillary..."

Parlez-vous francais?

Last Wednesday we had the what-I-thought-was-going-to-be-big union meeting where everyone picked their jobs for next year. Sigh. All the jobs that were available next year at out school were posted up on chart paper and everyone got a card with their name and a number on the back which represented their seniority ranking. We just went through the numbers. #1 - go pick your job. #2... #3... all the way down to #31, who was right before me. He took the last classroom job in the English side. Bye bye Hillary. The kindergarten job that I had been hoping for was taken at the last minute by a teacher who was coming back from mat leave and decided to switch from grade three. All that was left was a grade 2 and a grade 3 French Immersion job.

So I took grade 2. Basically the grade 2's coming up are little angels and the grade 3's are... well... very much not. So I figure if I have to change grades - SO much work, but hey, every teacher has to do it - and change from intermediate to primary - differnet program, different reports, different creatures! :) - AND change LANGUAGES - in French immersion, every subject is taught in French, no English till grade 4 - then I'll at least take the easy class thankyouverymuch.

I'm trying to have a good attitude about it, but right now, I'm just really... I dunno. Not super happy about it. I think part of it stems from the fact that I am finally feeling a teensy bit on top of things where I am, and everything I have done this year, I have looked back and gone, "Ooooh.... THAT'S how I should have done it," and I just really want the opportunity to do it again, cause I know I could do it so much better. And my classroom is all set up - I have to take everything down and move. And and and.... whine whine whine. I'm trying not to be that way, but right now I just kinda wanna have a little hand-flapping, foot-stomping hissy fit, scrunch up my face and say, "I DON'T WAAANAAAA."

I really have NO other options. I could volunteer to be surplussed and leave my school (it may already be too late to do that), but then I could end up with anything, anywhere, and I'm not quite up for that game. I could keep my eye on the postings in spring transfer and apply for jobs that I want in schools that I want to be in, but there will be so many other teachers who have been surplussed that have priority over me, who has a job already, that there's no way I'd actually get anything at this point. Basically this is what I've got...

BUT... here's where I try to convince myself... I don't really know what's around the bend. I may really enjoy it! Grade two's are CUTE. And there are FOUR teachers at my school who have taught grade two immersion at my school before, one of whom I will be teaching with next year. They're all great, and they're all willing to help me. And if I have to make such a big change, at least I'm doing it in my own school where I have friends and know people and have that support as opposed to starting all over in another school. I think it'll still be good for my teaching, cause I'll have to be way more organized than I was this year (no more, "whoops, I forgot to photocopy this... you just work quietly, I'll be right back...") and I'll have to become structure queen. That'll be good for my teaching overall...

Sigh.

And then again, who knows. We've packed our classes to the brim in our proposed school organization, and actually it doesn't even work unless four students leave our school. And because of these cuts, most schools are in the same boat, so they may end up releasing funding for some schools to have another division (class) after all, and we may end up re-organizing with another English division. I'm not counting on knowing anything for sure until September. Ha, or given what happened LAST fall, even October.

Road trip to Montreal, anyone? Or perhaps I should head back to France this summer after all! It seems I should begin brushing up on my French.....

Scallywags, Snakes, and Sewing

That's what my day consisted of. I had some academics planned, but that all went by the wayside. There were FAR more interesting things to do!

The whole morning, my students watched Treasure Island with the resource/learning assistance teacher. All except the kids who were behind. I was the big meanie teacher who have them a list of like 15 recent assignments on Friday and told them that if they weren't done, they'd be staying with me for the duration of the movie to get caught up. And forget heading to the movie once they finished. Once the movie started, if you were in, you were in, if not, you'd be working. So I suppose the scallywags were in the movie, but also could be applied to the 10 or so kids who got to stay back with me to finish their work. Yaaarg.

After recess until lunch consisted of snakes. About 10 of them, to be specific. Live ones. The "Snake Guy" came from the something or other society for the protection of reptiles and talked a little big about the snakes, answered some questions, then let the kids hold them and play with them. Highlights? Might have been the snake that wrapped itself around one of my kids' head like a headband then tied his tail in a knot. Or perhaps the snake that crawled into the desk and tucked himself into a student's zippered binder. When we pulled the binder out of the desk, the snake was through all three binder rings, and had begun trying to escape by turning around and trying to slither out the same way he got in.... and then proceeded to get stuck. We had to perform a reptilian rescue! Dah da-da daaah! Another super cool thing was watching as one snake slithered its way out of its skin right as we were watching. I have a few long sections of intact snakeskin that we'll look at in a microscope later this week. Very cool!

We spent the majority of the afternoon learning how to cut fabric from a pattern, thread needles, stitch, and tie off the thread: we're making mini pants and shirts for one of the characters in our novel. I don't know HOW many masses of tangled thread I undid this afternoon. It was pretty funny to watch them try to figure it out.

Good times. Good times.

Eh, we'll do academics tomorrow...

Happy Mother's Day

Just thought I'd share some of my favourite pictures of my mom with you!

Now that I'm older, I'm getting to appreciate my mom more and more. I'm enjoying becoming friends with her, too, not just bein' the bratty kid. (Well, I'm sure I'm still bratty sometimes! Hopefully just in the playful way! *grin* ) She's been a great example for me, and I am SO thankful for her. I hope that when I have kids one day, I can be as great a mom to them as she has been - and continues to be - to me!

Mom and I went kayaking in and around Bowen Island.
The matching hats? Purely coincidence! Go Canadia!

A few years ago, mom took up rowing. This is SUCH a fantastic picture of her!
I hope I'm that much of a hottie when I'm her age... which is, of course, 39!
(hehehe... mom, is this where the "still bratty" kicks in???)

Love you gazillions, mom!

~From your "Hillary Duck"

No WAY!

This guy catches sunglasses with his FACE. Oh the many talents we humans have...

Friday afternoon thoughts (song link added)

I posted my last post immediately after hearing the news about my job. Then driving home from work on Friday evening, I had so many thoughts rolling around in my head that I flipped on my little voice recorder and started talking them all out. Sometimes I do that - kind of a verbal diary for when I can't write. Just like looking back on a journal, it's interesting to go back to it. But this time, after listening to it when I got home, I decided to turn it into a blog post. Why not? But I only had time to get it out now, so I've been feeling kinda guilty all weekend, reading your comments and well wishes (thank you!) knowing that I was ok with things, but just not having the time to post! Such is the way things go sometimes. Life before blog!

So here it is, word for word (ok, minus most of the ums and the and random comments to traffic muttered as I made my way through the Friday streets). This is probably one of teh most personal things I've ever posted. And remember, this is verbal, people. Don't judge me for my grammar and lack of varied vocab on this one! Cause you know, it's so spectacular usually... ;) I didn't know I was gonna be sharing this with the world when I was saying it!


Friday May 4, 6:30pm

Here I am driving home, listening to Carolyn Dawn Johnson's "Into You" [seriously, go listen, it's fantastic! It's at the core of my newly develloping dating manifesto. But that's another post for another time...] and then earlier, sitting in my classroom with the light streaming in - bright beautiful May day... and... just being really happy. Norah Jones playing, doing my marking, really happy and content, enjoying the content of grade 5 - the Cariboo Gold Rush, all of that stuff - then finding out about my job and taking a bit of a nose dive and how that was temporary, in-the-moment... and now... I kinda have my head wrapped around teaching kindergarten now. Thinking that, you know? This might be a good thing, and it might be... yeah, just what I needed. I feel like I'm too harsh with these kids - with my grade 5's - and wanting to, um... enjoy the little-kiddieness of it, and kindergarten? .... yeahHA! I'm gonna have to! And me thinking how I don't know how to assess how my grade 5's are reading exactly, and in kindergarten, I'm gonna learn those skills... and that... it's gonna be GOOD. And I think a lot of the things that I've been wanting to learn as a grade 5 teacher, I think a jaunt in kindergarten will be good for me. It'll be... alright, it'll be a lot of work. Won't be a lot of marking, but it'll still be a lot of work - prep, and things... but I'm finding I'm ok with it as I'm driving home, and listening to that song on the radio...

... and feeling like the biggest weight has come off of my shoulders, um, especially after having talked to [the boy of previously alluded to boy stuff] this week. Talking to him... really gave me... I hate to use the word, but "closure" and I feel like can continue on now, and I feel like I can... I can finally feel like that's all behind me now. Yeah, it's amazing, I feel like the biggest, biggest weight has been lifted off my shoulders. And I think that a lot of how I've been feeling over the last year has been emotionally sucked up by what's been going on with him - either liking him and not knowing how he felt, or going on dates and being so crazy excited I can't think of anything else, or in agony over what's gonna happen, or what has happened, and then being hurt and then mad about it and everything, and I've been thinking, it's put me in a bad place, in a sense. Not him, but the situation. I really feel... I don't know, I've just felt really selfish for the last year, like I've been... too sucked up by my own stuff to be as interested in other people, and I haven't liked who I've been over the last year, and I feel like that's all different, now. I feel like I have more emotional energy to think about other people, and... I just feel so much lighter.

And the other thing I was thinking about - so I guess there was the school stuff, and then the boy stuff, and then there was the... blessing stuff.

Melissa commented on my blog that good things happen to me. She goes, "Good things happen to you, Hillary."

And you know what? They do. [and this is where I started to crack] And I am SOOO blessed in my life - thinking about my job, thinking about my family... thinking about, you know, how blessed I am to have been in this school, and that I probably will be able to stay... and how blessed I am thinking about this settlement and thinking about my retro pay last year, and how great that was, and how easy it is to lose track sometimes of how blessed we are. And I just think that... like... what have I been looking at??? I've been SO tied up in all this, you know, gross stuff, lately that I haven't been able to focus on the good stuff, and... it's time to change that.

My life is good. And I'm really grateful for it...

Aaand, it's the start of a beautiful weekend, and I'm NOT behind in marking for the first time since September - while I've got a lot to do, I'm not behind - and I've got a fun night tonight, and a beautiful day tomorrow, and time with friends, and time for marking, and time to buy some PRETTY FLOWERS! and put them in my garden! and do a photography workshop, and then my dancing class... and...

Life is good. And I am grateful. And... the school thing? Ehh... I'll be alright.

The! End!

What goes up must come down

I really should be more leery when I get good news. It always seems that bad news is right around the bend. Like when I bought my new (to me) car after my accident. My excitement level shot through the roof. Then I got home and found out my beloved Camp Kawkawa was closing down forever. Seems the geological experts thought there was too great a risk of the mountain falling over onto the camp. It honestly felt like a death.

So yesterday I found out about my settlement. Today I found out that my school is losing two divisions due to declining enrollment - freaking Vancouver housing prices, nobody can afford to live here anymore and they're all moving to the 'burbs. And other than some temporary positions and some French Immersion jobs (which I could do, but I really don't want to), I'm low woman on the totem pole. No biggie, everything gets shuffled around, I thought, I'll be fine.

I started to realize that I may not be fine when, while photocopying some stuff down in the office I got asked into the principal's office and invited to sit down with both her and the VP. Turns out I will not be teaching grade 5 next year - barring some miracle (which may still happen). And depending on what the people above me choose to do, I may be surplussed, which means I'm out of the school altogether and working as a permanent teacher on call. I still would have full pay, full benefits, and be accruing seniority, but I'd be all over the place and would be placed as soon as possible into any job that opens up.

There IS an in-between option, which is taking one of the positions at my school that will be freed up by people leaving - a two primary French Immersionclasses, or English kindergarten. Or bumping people who are lower than me from their jobs, which I am loathe to do (don't worry, L - I won't bump you!). But that's a huuuuge shift. I really don't know if I have it in me to do another year like this one. New grade. New language. Practically new creature (comparing a grade 5'er and a kindergarten kiddo). I don't know if I've got it in me. This year has almost done me in. I just want to do it again so at least I'm a little bit ahead of the game. It makes me want to bawl just thinking of having to start all over again. And possibly having to leave my school. I love it here...

Wednesday after school is the big meeting where we go down the seniority list and people pick the jobs they want from the projected staffing for next year.

I have some big thinking to do. And praying. I REALLY don't want to leave my school. I may have to...

And yes, I realize how ironic this post is right after my big excited whoop-dee-doo less than three hours ago about taking a road trip this summer with the grade 5 cirriculum in mind. Phooey.

Hehe, I may have kids asking about fake hair and wrinkles after all!

There's gold in them thar hills...

Ok, so this is probably interesting to nobody but me, but we're doing a unit on the Cariboo Gold Rush right now, and it is SO COOL! I'm sitting here in my classroom finding old archived pictures for the kids so that they can see what life was really like, and have some images in their head of how things were back in the 1860s for people arriving from all over the world, taking steamships and paddlewheelers up the Fraser River, taking mule trains and stage coaches up the Cariboo Wagon Road, and striking it rich up in the interior of British Columbia... it's really really cool! I've never studied about this before (well, that I remember, anyway!) and I'm having a blast. The novel we're reading - Cariboo Runaway - is really historically accurate, I'm finding. Even the stagecoach line that the characters take was actually a real company. And online is a veritable treasure trove of photos and original documents, like an actual mining licence or steamer ticket. Wowee!

And this is where I have realized that I am a teacher through and through. You can still travel the Cariboo Wagon Road, stopping at various historical points all the way to Barkerville - the 'capital' of the Gold Rush in B.C. And I want to do it! Take a road trip. Mostly for fun, but think of all the photos and stuff I could collect for my students next year! Aaaand yes, I realize that that would be letting my job even dictate what holidays I would take in the summer. But Oh! It would be so fun!

Ok, back to work. Yes, I realize this post makes me a humungous nerdball. But I'm hoping that my discovering this stuff, too, as the kids do, will make it all the more interesting for them!

Litterally jumping up and down

No, really. I am about to POP. KA-BLEWIEEE! I! Am! So! Excited!

'Member my Beastmobile? (really, go check it out!) And then when Beasmobile got shmooshed and died? And the resulting whiplash (that still kicks up every now and then, grrr)?

Well I just got an email from my lawyer - a longtime family friend - with the final settlement amount, AND IT'S TWICE WHAT HE TOLD ME HE WAS EXPECTING TO GET!!!!!! Nope, not enough exclamation points yet. !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It's even more than what he told me he'd START negotiating at!!! Wow-ieeee!

I'm going to be able to cut my debt in HALF! And I do believe I'll stick thumb to nose, wave fingers, and give the big PPPBBBTTTHHHHH! to teaching summer school this summer. Either that or take a wee holiday guilt-free after summer school ends (but no jetting off to Europe again for me. Most of it is going to ye olde student loans).

Oh happy day!!! Thanks, God! Thanks, Lawyer! Thanks guy-who-put-my-Beastmobile-out-of-its-misery!

I'm off to do a few more happy dances. Not even Mr. Photography Instructor can ruin THIS day!

YEAHOOOOOO!!!!

Booyeah!

How I will be defined in the dictionary...

hillary -- [adjective]: Visually addictive 'How will you be defined in the dictionary?' at QuizGalaxy.com

One reason I'm glad I teach grade 5

Two recent stories from friends of mine who teach grade one and two gave me a reason to be glad I work with the older ones*...

A few weeks after colouring her hair, a grade 1 student asked my friend, "Madame, is your hair real?" Bewildered, she answered, "Of course it's real! See?" and pulled on it to prove it. "Oooooh," said the student, "Then do you colour it because it's turning white?"

hehehehe!!! (L, you're still a hottie, don't worry!!)

And another friend a while back was getting her kindergarten class to do self portraits. She was sitting on the carpet with the kids and drawing a picture of herself as an example. When she was done, one of the kids pointed out, "But Madame, you forgot to draw all your wrinkles!"

Nothing like kids to help boost your self esteem. *grin*

* Aw, who am I kidding, those kids are CUTE!!!

Bits of Randomness

ummm.... ok, so that little rant on Thursday night was a tad extreme. I wasn't planning on ranting when I said "stay tuned" either. A combo of the day I had had an the frustration of the class, and YIKERS. Raging Hillary.

I'm not a rager, really! I promise!

Aaaanyway... as I was driving to work yesterday, I heard a sad little story on the radio. Some famous person or other had been getting a bad rap (wrap?) for giving their dog Paxil a while back. But it's got people thinking (not terribly intelligent thoughts, but thinking nonetheless), and apparently they're now coming out with a brand of Paxil for dogs. So many dogs apparently are having this separation anxiety, or whatever it is when dogs freak out because they're left alone too much, that they want to develop a sort of Paxil for Pooches to calm them down.

Really? Are we really such a self-centered society (duh, yes) that we have to develop doggy drugs for people who want the perks of having a dog, but aren't willing to actually care for it properly? "Hey! Look at my cute little puppsy wupsy! ... walk her? spend time with her? Nooo, I don't have time for that. But it's ok! I just pop her Puppy Paxil. See how calm she is?" Sad, I tell you. Very very sad. If you want a pet, take CARE of it, for heavens sake.

On the brighter side... as I was driving to the theatre last night for Improv (hilarious!), I was following the most curious vehicle. It intrigued me and made me laugh and captured my attention for the good five minutes or so that I was behind it. I don't know why, particularly, but it totally brightened my day.

It was a little Vespa or something scooter-like. The driver was a girl, judging by the long skinny blonde braids coming out from beneath her helmet. She had striped blue and teal and white and turquoise and purple legwarmers on, and a large backpack strapped to her back. Strapped to the backpack and nearly twice the height of her head was a longboard, brightly coloured wheels spinning with the wind. She had one of those Canucks flags* flapping off the back of the seat, and a Rainbow Brite sticker on the fender. Just over that was one of those Jesus fish bumper thingies, but the one that says " 'N Chips" on the inside. I swear I would have noticed more had I not had to turn off. It was hilarious.

Welcome to Vancouver.

And finally, as I do every morning, I check my For Better or For Worse comic feed. Here's today's. All I can say is.... yep. You bet.


* Go Canucks Go! Aw, I'm such a bandwagonner. I only follow hockey in the playoffs IF the Canucks are in, but after that ridiculous 4 period OT game in the first round and the spectacular game 7 win last week, I'm in! Pretty much it's a fun excuse to drive around and honk your horn obnoxiously after a winning game. Heh. Down with the Ducks!!!!

RRRAAAUUUUURRRGGGHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!

Nearly every. single. minute. of today made we want to bang my head against a wall.

Car frustrations. School frustrations. Student frustrations (oh my goodness, I nearly LOST it today). Time crunch frustrations. Mess frustrations. Professional practice frustrations (as in, what the heck am I doing???). Parental frustrations (the kid's parents, not mine!). Food frustrations. Technological frustrations. Weather frustrations.

And then there was my photography class.

Ho-lee crapoli.

I keep hoping it's gonna get better. And it gets worse. This guy CAN. NOT. TEACH. He is the worst instructor in.... well, ANYTHING that I have ever had. Ever. He is all over the map. He is totally unclear. He gives NO background knowledge about what is actually going on in the camera, he just gives us whacked out scenarios (like taking a picture of the sun and making it look like a star. Making daylight look like night. Why? For what purpose? Or taking pictures of the TV screen. "Cause what if you don't have a picture of that good looking guy or girl on the screen?" Seriously? Huh?) and settings to make them work. But he doesn't explain WHAT the camera is actually doing.

This is supposed to be a beginners class (as evidenced by the fact that he has told us ALL THREE WEEKS that to take pictures we need film in the camera. Yeah. Ya think?) And yet he hasn't even TOLD us what aperture actually IS. Luckily I know a little bit from a few mini lessons from a friend a while back, so I can KIND of piece together what he's attempting to tell us. But tonight he totally lost me. Something about hypermode? And how it relates to depth of field? I think if I had a digital SLR it would be at least a little better cause I could take pictures and try stuff out in class to try and figure out what the hang he's talking about. But oh man.

And don't try to ask the guy questions. Oh, he gladly takes them. But there's just one teensy little thing. HE DOESN'T ACTUALLY ANSWER THEM. Last week he did not answer ONE single question I had. He just yabbered on about whatever he thought was kinda sorta maybe related. I was persistent to the point of near b!tchiness in trying to get an answer. I kept it polite and turned it around on me ("I'm sorry, maybe my question isn't very clear...") but WOWZA that took some effort.

I would just stop going, but there's JUST enough info I can pinch out from this otherwise colossal waste of time - perhaps 15-20 minues of the two hours is productive - that I'll stick with it, agonizing as it may be. And it's not just me. Everyone else is equally baffled at how this guy can continue to run this course. Oh man. It is B-R-U-T-A-L.

What if he finds my blog, you ask? Well, he makes absolutely ZERO effort to even TRY to learn our names, so he wouldn't know it was me anyway. I was asked for my surname on the first night so he could check the list, and now I'm "the little AE-1* girl." Yippee. [*AE-1 is my camera model]

OK. Now I feel bad. He's a jolly fellow, and really friendly. As a person, he's great. Kinda like a jovial older uncle. And he knows his stuff. But as an instructor? He's-a makin' me cray-zay.


Aaaand... nowI feel the great burning need now to take out some positives from my day. There has to have been something... hmm....

Oh yes. My kids totally cracked me up today in PE. We were playing skittle ball, which is kinda a combination between bowling with bean bags and dodge ball. They were flinging bean bags across the gym right left and center, and trying to knock down the wooden skittles (kinda like bowling pins) and trying equally hard to hit their opponents feet to get them out. They were SO INTO it, and it totally made me laugh. I had to get in there and play, too. Most of my time was spent running like a flailing fool back and forth along the front lines making "nah na-na nah boo boo" faces at the other team, trying to either distract them or make them try to hit me with the bean bags. At one point I was laughing so hard I couldn't even stand up straight. I'm sure they all thought I was insane.

Good.

Like I always tell them, "Hey! You'll aaalllways remember the crazy ones!"

Funky CLICK!

Yeah, that title sucked. So sue me.

I can't believe I haven't talked about my two new classes yet! I think I mentioned I was taking them, but I'm three weeks in already! Yikers!

First of all, my west coast swing obsession has spilled over into a new area, and I signed up for a new funk dance class offered by the same studio. Funk is basically a mix between hip hop and street jazz - veeeery different than West Coast Swing, for sure. And what a workout! Each week we learn a new routine, which is usually fine, but those suckers get LONG and apparently I have some kind of memory issue and either the latter part of the routine just doesn't stick with everything that's in my head already, or the beginning gets blasted out of my brain as new moves come along. I apparently have about a 16-24 beat memory. Kinda too bad when the routines are 32. It makes for not-so-funky me. But still totally fun. Hopefully by the end oft he class I'll have a modicum of the funk attitude. Right now I'm just awkward white girl.

OH! And I ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY PERCENT made a totally and complete FOOL of myself in front of my kids last week. I was intro-ing our dance unit - I'm passing my obsession on! - and so I told them that I'd show them a bit of the routine I had learned in my last funk lesson. I TOLD them that I was just learning this dance, and that I wasn't very good, and that I'd probably have to stop in the middle to remember what came next. Buuuut, for some reason I still thought it would be a good idea to show them. So I did the first 8 beats or so, which included a lot of jumping down and up and a body wave and shoulder jabs and all kinds of things. Two beats into it they were laughing. Cracking up. IN HYSTERICS. They couldn't stop laughing. Which made me laugh. And feel a wee tad stupid. But is WAS pretty funny. But seriously. They couldn't. stop. laughing, even long after I ceased humiliating myself in front of 27 11-year-olds.

Until I reminded them that, "Hey, this is what YOU are going to be doing!" That shut 'em up pretty quick. Muah ha haaa! It was pretty amusing!

Then there's my intro to photography class. I have borrowed a friend's SLR camera and I have been really wanting to learn to actually USE it, so I signed up for a class. I have it tonight, so as I need to leave for work now and I'm sure I'll have better fodder for continuing this post after I get home, I'm gonna stop now.

Stay tuned....

By golly, so THAT'S how we can fix this climate conundrum!

With apologies to the great (and very intelligent!) bloggers who live in Arkansas...


Click for a larger view. If you dare. Thanks Brad, for sharing.

Fun Times in Grade 5

I haven't blogged too much about school/work lately, but we've been doing some really fun stuff! (At least, *I* think it's fun!) But here's a warning. If you're weak of stomach, you may want to skip this post!

A few weeks ago in Health and Personal Planning, we finished a nutrition unit where the kids logged everything they ate or drank for a week (supposedly), the compared that to the Canada Food Guide. We learned about nutrients, food groups, serving sizes, and how very, very bad fast food is for you. I showed the movie Super Size Me. I didn't have time to preview it, though 3 or 4 teachers assured me that, other than one or two "S-words" and him puking out the window of the car, it was totally fine. (I would really rather not have had the swearing, but the message of the movie was too good to not show it cause of that.)

Well.

They neglected to mention the part where his girlfriend is recounting the effect Morgan's all-Mickey-D's diet was having on their sex life. In rather graphic detail. Unfortunately we didn't have time to complete the entire video that day, so had to cut it short. Right after that part. Soooo, the kids went home with, "Yeah, he has a really hard time getting it up... I mean, the sex is still good, but it's not what it was... He's just too tired... I have to be on top all the time..." being the last thing they remember from the movie. Yes, I DID make a mad dash from the pack fo the class to hit the stop button, but it was too little too late. Whoops.

Morgan had just been talking about how he was tired and was having a hard time doing other tasks before this, so I desperately tried to emphasize that part of things instead: "See? He's not getting enough NUTRIENTS and he's TIRED all the time, and has no ENERGY to do WORK and EXERCISE. That's what happens when you don't have enough NUTRIENTS! Think of the NUTRIENTS! The NUUUUUTRIENTS!"

I cringe at what the dinner table conversations would be that night. "So, Johnny, what did you learn in school today?"

"Gee, mom, I learned that if I eat McDonalds I won't be able to get it up."

Soooper.

Hopefully the next thing we did in the nutrition unit redeemed me... swiping the idea from another teacher who had done this a few years ago, I decided to show the kids what was really in a Big Mac Meal. It was thoroughly disgusting. They loved it.

Step One: Buy Big Mac, large fries, and a coke.

Step Two: Bring to school, making kids all drool, beg for a fry, ask me why I'm torturing them, etc. Set up meal on cart in front of class. Ask them to predict how much fat will be in the meal. (Yeah, kiddoes, it's NOT gonna be 95%. Sorry.)

Step Three: Dramatically tear up burger and place in blender with saucy bun, wilted lettuce bits, and congealed "meat" in plain view. Add fries for effect, and some coke to juice it up. Don't forget to squeeze out a few pack of ketchup into the mix. Try not to laugh as cries of "Eeeew!" and "That's disGUSTing!" and "Yum! Can I try some?" (there's one in every class!) erupt from students.

Step Four: Read blender settings. "Hmmm... which setting should I use? Blend? Chop? Puree? Whip? ... LIQUEFY!!!" Students will burst out chanting "Li-que-fy! Li-que-fy!" You will be amazed at how quickly burger liquefies. Try not to puke. Add remaining fries for visual effect and blend fully.

Step Five: Pass around blender for students to see and smell. When met with cries of disgust, simply say, "What? That's what it looks like in your stomach?" Laugh when student comments, "Yeah, but we don't have to SEE it when it's in our stomach!!!"

Step Six: Pour into pot and send students down to staff room to stir concoction until it is boiling. This process will separate the fat from the rest of the putrid brown goo.

Step Seven: Pour goo back into blender and let congeal at the back of the class for the rest of the day. Put in fridge overnight. The next day, examine mass quantities of fat globules that have formed throughout.

Step Eight: Never eat another Big Mac ever again. I tell you, the stench of that thing still lingers.
N-A-S-T-Y.

Who says learning can't be fun? .... er... and revolting?

Procrastination

Oh no they di-in't!!!

There are very few things that flip my b!tch switch. I do not normally go on a random rampage when things tick me off. Few things really tick me off that much - I like to think I'm fairly laid back. Hopefully those of you who know me aren't laughing your collective butts off right now. I'd like to think that's fairly accurate.

But, there have been a few shining moments when somebody has done something really stupid or really wrong, and something in me just screams to let them know about it.

Like when I chased down and told off a driver who ran a red light, nearly mowing me down as I crossed the crosswalk - ironically enough carrying the two bags full of the contents of my very recently totalled Beastmobile. Totalled, I might add, by someone who ran a red light.

Or the time I was driving home from work after a sucky, stressful, kids-making-me-want-to-wring-their-necks kind of day, and some punks were walking along the street pelting rocks at cars. One hit the side of mine. The new one. The glorious replacement for the Beastmobile. I was in a pissy mood already, and that was the last straw. I wheeled the car over to the side of the road, unbeknownced (sp???) to the punks, as they were walking the opposite way and were nearly a block away by then. I once again chased them down, and, upon seeing the head punk launch another projectile at the oncoming traffic, screamed, "HEY! Yeah, YOU! WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING???" He grunted something about it just being chocolate. What the? "I don't care! You're gonna cause damage to someone's car! You just hit mine!" sputter, sputter, lame excuse, lame excuse... "Come on!" I carried on. "GET SOME RESPONSIBILITY!"

Seriously? Get some responsibiltiy? Did that really come out of my mouth? That just may have been my most school-marm-ish moment ever.

But I mean, come on.

So today I got home from work and checked my messages. THIS is what I heard:

Ok, first off, it's pretty hilarious. The drawl on that guy is spectacular. But still... advertising? On my voice mail? The message had been playing through my whole greeting, and it wasn't even done when my answering machine (bless it's soul) cut it off. SHEESH!

They're not the first ones to do it. I've had random companies leave ads on my voice mail before. And it's not right! Ads on magazines, fine. Ads on TV, fine. Radio? Sure. Billboards? Whatever. Flyers in the mail. Kinda annoying, but I suppose accepted. But on my voice mail? Not that that's sacred or anything, but still... there really isn't ANYwhere where one can escape stupid spam. Come to think of it, I suppose it's more spam than advertising.

Whatever it was, it really annoyed me, so I made a phone call. I told the customer support dude (while making it clear I wasn't mad at him, and thanked him very much for his help at the end of the call) in no uncertian terms that I did NOT appreciate advertising on my answering machine, and take my number OFF whatever list it was on, and that that is NOT a marketing ploy that is ok with me.

On the other hand, "Ah coould wee-ehn thahyat!" Maybe I should go play a hand or two!

Yaaaaarg!

Fitful

Really, now. This has GOT to stop.

Lately I've been having kinda strange dreams. Most of them I can kinda see where they come from, because they are at least in very small part related to something that's happening in my life - minor things that take a bizzarre twist in the dream.

Like doing laundry for example. I had a load in the dryer when I went to sleep last night.

Then all of a sudden I am flying to Amsterdam for the wedding of somebody I don't even know and my plane leaves in an hour and a half and I'm not even packed and I have wet clothes in the washing machine of a high school laundromat. I'm trying to figure out what to wear and am asking advice from the friend who I'm going with while her friend is telling us that we should just go naked, cause that's what they do in Belgium. Belgium? I thought we were going to Amsterdam. For some reason I don't even have anything to wear to the wedding, and ALL my clothes are still wet in the washer. I go back to put them in the dryer, but it's lunch hour at the high school and all the dryers are taken up by pimply faced kids who are drying the afghan blankets their great grannies have knitted - and two of the dryers are fiulled with mac and cheese - and WHAT THE HECK AM I GOING TO DO MY PLANE LEAVES IN ONE HOUR. It is CRITICAL that I get on this flight. Oh, AND, I've made dinner at my parents house and have to get all the dishes washed before I go, and figure out what to do with the knee high tweety socks my cousin stuffed in the closet so they didn't stink up the whole room when she was sleeping over the night before.

Yeeeeah....

Or how about this one? Yesterday I drove past the little parking lot of the scuzzy little neighbourhood pub that's just around the corner, and I recall thinking that since the video store moved out of that complex, I haven't been in there. (The lot, not the pub!)

Suddenly I'm IN that lot, standing beside the open door of my car, which isn't parked, just sitting idling in the lot. I don't know how I got there or why my dad is there, either, but there we are. We were having some discussion about something when he started singing/chanting "tilly tilly tilly" or "toobie toobie toobie" or something like that over and over. He was just being silly... playful banter or something, but I was trying to talk to him, and he wouldn't stop. I even pulled out the, "OK, I'm really serious! Stop it!" but to no avail. So I start screaming at him. "Pleeease stop! ... Stop it ... stop it ... STOP IT!!!" Still he continued. I ran away screaming and crying in frustration, taking off around the building, bawling and raging and so entirely frustrated. I was heaving, I was so upset. I ducked into the pub for a few minutes to calm down. But I was so upset that when someone asked me what was wrong (it might have been my mom...) I just burst into tears. By the time I went back out, my dad had parked the car and was sitting inside like nothing had happened.

Right-o.

These last two dreams were both from last night, but there have been others in the last few weeks. I don't remember what was happening in those ones, but I remember tehy were other highly, highly stressful, frustrating, and/or emotional situations.

The problem with these dreams is that they are so real that I WAKE UP still feeling stressed out from the dream. Each time, I wake up with a raging headache and I'm all tense and my tummy feels funny. As if I don't battle being stressed out enough, my dreams are adding to it. ARG! How do I stop this?

Off I go to take an advil or two. I have to recover from my sleep before I start my day.

New!

Sah-WEET! It's done - a brand new shiny blog template (hit refresh if you can't see it)!!!

I've been wanting to change my blog for quite some time. Yes, perhaps I've been a little obsessed with "new" these days. New hair, new seasons, new classes, new outlook. But hey, it's spring - why not, right?

And now, may I point out (just cause I'm tickled that it all came out ok! Humour me in this "Look, ma, I did it!" style announcement :P )...

- New header. Hopefully it's not too huge anymore. And it shouldn't overlap with anything important. Let me know? Thanks to Brad and Paul for teaching me about transparent backgrounds and for tweaking the image.
- New sidebar. Yup, it's officially an orchid theme. My landlords gave me the flowers, and I used them as inspiration! And it's all flipped around and everything! Hee hee! Plus, the sidebar is waaaaay less cluttered now. Check out the photos, the links, the blogroll - they're all up to date
- New drop down menus. Just click the boxes and they'll expand. Faaancy! Thanks to Jenn, from whom I yoinked the code.
- New footer. Scroll down. Waaaay down. It's even pretty way down at the bottom! hehe

Here's the old template and the old sidebar (ew!), just for kicks and giggles. OK, OK, I'll stop now. Thanks for putting up with me! :D

Loadin' up

First term was crazy. I was brand spankin' new to having my own class, and it was pretty overwhelming. It still is, but I've at least slipped into an "oh my gosh, I'm going to DIE" routine, and I'm getting kinda used to that feeling now. Heh. But first term, I was also trying to do quite a bit - involved with a few things at my church, taking my west coast swing dancing class, and spending quite a bit of time with one particular person... It was all good, but it was too much, so for term two I decided that I would cut out all extra cirricular activites (not people!). Except the swing, cause we all know by now that I'm pretty much addicted!

So term two, I had no classes, no involvement at church, just time for a breather and time to focus on school. Except that that almost killed me, too. I am learning that I need to have at least something going on. Swing didn't seem to quite do it, as it's on Sundays, leaving my weeknights free still. I was really not a happy camper with nothing to do. Like, really not at all.

Soooo.... near the end of term two (early March?) a few things changed - including the boy situation, which flat out got decided FOR me - I decided that I need to pick up a new activity.

Ah, but what to choose? Helping with Alpha at church again? Italian classes? Funk dance? An intro to acting class? Photography? What to pick? What to pick?

I got it all narrowed down to two, but still couldn't choose, so I picked 'em both! AAAHHH!!! I'm really excited about it (but I hope that this doesn't swing the pendulum back into the crazy zone again!).

As of this week, I am now enrolled in something I never thought I would do - funk dance - and one I've always wanted to - photography. And of course, swing continues, too. It feels pretty good. I love doing new things, and I get a chance to do something with my body (wow, is that funk class a WORKOUT!) and with my mind, both of which are rather creative. Whodathunkit?

All I have to say is, BRING IT!

Your input, please! *updated*

Well as you have seen, I've been changing up my blog template lately. I wanted something more springy... My landlords gave me those orchids you see up at the top there yesterday (from their surprise wedding on the weekend! How cool is that???), so I contorted myself in all manner of directions and took a few photos - you should have seen it: I was standing on my counter, one leg bracing a light balanced on the chair, one hand on the camera, one hand on the ceiling so I didn't fall... a studio photographer I am not! hehe! I kinda like the banner, but there's definitely too much white in the template. Springy green as a background? I'd like that, but it looks funny with the orchids. I could keep the banner background white, but a big white box on green looks kinda funny. I could jsut get rid of the borders for the sidebar and the content and have it all white... or something totally different! Suggestions? Anyone? Anyone?

*Yep, that header is H-U-G-E, particularly on lower resolution screens. I'll change it, but probably not till the weekend. Till then, um, happy scrolling?

Things that make me happy

My rule for this weekend was that I was only going to do things that make me happy. And boy, when you decide to do that, moments just pile up on top of each other and overwhelm you! It was really such great weekend!!

The first thing that made me happy was getting my reports in on Thursday after school. YAAAY! I was officially free to enjoy the weekend. (I'm just going to pretend that little stack of marking isn't staring back at my from the basket on my 'dining room' floor - where I tried to hide it!) Sleeping over 12 hours on Thursday night also made me happy!

Friday morning I went to my church's Good Friday service and was really struck again by Jesus' sacrifice, and by what it meant for where I'm at in my life right now. It was nearly audible (nearly! I wasn't hearing voices or anything!), him saying, "Hillary, I died so you wouldn't have to carry all this. Lay it down. Let me take it." How freeing it was to just give it up. I'd been trying to carry way too much, and I don't need to. God is SO good.

A bunch of people went out for brunch afterwards, walking through the neighbourhood of old heritage homes - beautiful gigantic homes along tree lined streets, the warm breeze and cherry blossoms filling the air. I had a good conversation with my friend Lloyd on the way there, which really built me up and encouraged me. He is one of those people who is just generous in every way, and every time you come away from talking with him, you feel good.

Brunch was great, and after that, I went home and began shoveling out the masses of paper that had seemed to breed and were threatening to take over my desk! There's nothing better than the windows and doors open, the sweet smell of the jasmine flowers outside my door wafting in, and doing a good, hearty clean-up. It felt sooo good to be able to see my desk again! hehe! I might post before and after pictures, but then you'll know how bad it really was!!! EEK!

Oh who am I kidding? Here ya go, before and after...


Afterwards, I headed out to another friend's house for a big Easter dinner (the one that would have been way less fun that hanging out with charm-boy) and guess what? It was SO much fun! Lloyd cooked a HUGE dinner for about 10 people - turkey AND ham! - and we ate, drank, and made merry. I learned that I'm still not very good at holding my liquor. A glass of wine, a chocolatini (mental note: buy chocolate liqueur!!!) and a daiquiri, even over two hours or so and a with a large dinner, and I was NOT ready to go home for a few hours! I suppose that would definitely fall into the category of "things that make me happy," albeit in a slightly different way! Ha!

Saturday was more of the same - brunch with my grandparents, more house shovelling - you know, taking care of all those little corners that you don't usually get to but that stress you out when you see them? Ah, it felt good. Then my friend Brad called and informed me that I was going to his house for dinner with him and another friend. :D I was treated to another yummy dinner (thanks, Brad! It was scrumptious!), and then Brad and Ian came back to my house to watch a movie while I cooked and prepared Easter dinner/lunch for the next day.

With no extended family Easter dinners this year, and my mom having hurt her back a few weeks ago, I offered to have my immediate family over to MY house for something to eat after church on Sunday. I made it very clear that I was not doing EASTER DINNER, but that I would make "something to eat after church." The EASTER DINNER label was a little more than I wanted to take on at this point in time. But Sunday turned out to be great, too! My parents came to my church (which was their church when they were growing up, and all the way till I was in grade 4), and shock of all shocks, my brother and sister came too! (If you're reading this, K & B, I'm really glad you came, it was nice to have everybody there!)

Church was AWESOME - I love the way my church tries to incorporate the diversity within our congregation. The readings, the art, the decorations, the music, the sermon, the testimonies - all were triumphant declarations that Christ is risen! AND? We even sung the song that I posted yesterday morning! Yay!

Lunch went well (no-one got poisoned! ;) heehee!) and we had a nice afternoon just goofing around and talking. It was neat to have the whole fam to MY house! My mom says this officially makes me a grown-up. I say, "Noooooo! I don't WANNA!"

And then? Sunday evening? What better happy-maker than to go for a walk on the beach with a friend? I called my Vanessa up and asked her if she wanted to head out with me.

"Uhh... it's kinda rainy here."

"Eh, it's ok. It's not raining here, we should be ok."

Except.

This is Vancouver, and rain hurtles in pretty quick in these parts! By the time we got to the beach it was POURING! Well hey, that's ok! It was easy to find parking!

Vanessa and I ran around at the beach in the POURING rain, laughing at the ducks and taking goofy pictures of ourselves. In a "Oh, what the heck? I'm supposed to be doing things that make me happy, right?" moment, I took a flying leap off a grassy knoll - and then anything else I could find - and landed with both feet into a colossal, sandy, muddy, and rather deep PUDDLE!


(click any image to make it bigger:you can read the rock and see the splash of my insane puddle jumping shenanigans!)
Let me just say this: PUDDLE JUMPING MAKES ME VERY VERY HAPPY! I repeated the act a number of times, creating little sandy lakes inside my shoes and making my jeans so wet I had to cinch up my belt another notch so my pants wouldn't fall off with the weight! Vanessa was content to watch the craziness unfold, so she was the official photographer. AH! It was glorious!

Especially when it was finished off with hot chocolate, whipped cream - dry pants!! - and Amelie, the most happy-making movie ever! - back at my house afterwards.

Today I allowed myself to sleep in and just wake up when I woke up (8am! grr... I'll have to work on that!), and I'm headed off to Home Depot's garden center to buy some baby flowers to plant in all my pots on my patio. I didn't do anything with my patio last year, and I missed it. I'm going to go make a little garden. Inch by inch, and row by row, I'm gonna make my garden grow...

And those? Those are all things that make me happy. Have a great Monday!

In Christ Alone

I was going to add my thoughts in and around the lyrics of this song, but it really speaks for itself. It is one of my absolute favourites; it makes me cry almost every time I sing it. It is the whole arc of the gospel in a single song, and I love it.

No power of hell, no scheme of man, can ever pluck me from his hand. Till he returns, or calls me home, here in the power of Christ, I'll stand...


In Christ alone my hope is found
He is my light, my strength, my song
This Cornerstone, this solid ground
Firm through the fiercest drought and storm

What heights of love, what depths of peace
When fears are stilled, when strivings cease
My Comforter, my All in All
Here in the love of Christ I stand

In Christ alone, who took on flesh
Fullness of God in helpless babe
This gift of love and righteousness
Scorned by the ones He came to save

‘Till on that cross as Jesus died
The wrath of God was satisfied
For every sin on Him was laid
Here in the death of Christ I live

There in the ground His body lay
Light of the world by darkness slain
Then bursting forth in glorious Day
Up from the grave He rose again

And as He stands in victory
Sin’s curse has lost it’s grip on me
For I am His and He is mine
Bought with the precious blood of Christ

No guilt in life, no fear in death
This is the power of Christ in me
From life’s first cry to final breath
Jesus commands my destiny

No power of hell, or scheme of man
Could ever pluck me from His hand
‘Till He returns or calls me home
Here in the power of Christ I’ll stand


Happy Easter!

How NOT to ask a girl out

He’s already asked me a few times to go out for drinks with him. I’ve been busy with report cards, so haven’t been able to go. This was the latest:

I.: whats happening with you tonight?
Hillary: heading to a friend's place for dinner
I.: and later tonight?
Hillary: not sure, I imagine it'll be the whole evening at my friend’s place
I.: well i'm heading out to an irish club/pub in cloverdale [a suburb about 45 mins away]
I.: u interested in going after? u can bring ur girl too
Hillary: ?
Hillary: oh, the friend... it's about 10 people, my friend Lloyd is cooking an easter dinner for a big gang of people
I.: oh wow
I.: ur not going to leave early then
Hillary: no, heading out to cloverdale probably won't work
I.: ur not wanting to come out with me?
Hillary: what?
I.: u should come out tonight is what i'm saying
Hillary: no, I think this'll be the whole evening, and I don't want to head all the way out to cloverdale later on in the evening.
Hillary: simple answer: sorry, but I already have plans
Hillary: there, that was way less complicated! :P
I.: or way less fun
I.: one or the other
I.: :(
Hillary: you sayin' my friends are boring?!? :-O
I.: naah
I.: i'm saying u should come out to enjoy my company
I.: that's all

OK... #1 – it’s over MSN. You at least CALL a girl if you want to take her on a date. Duh.
#2 – he’s asking just a few hours from when he wants to go out. Nuh-uh. You want a date? You give me notice. Read the Rules.
#3 – he tells me my plans are going to be less fun than heading out with him. Um, HELLO??
#4 – apparently his company is so desirsble that I really should cancel my plans and be amazed by his stellar charm. Not, “I’d really like to get to know you better.” Not “I’m looking forward to spending some time with you.” But “u should come out to enjoy my company.”

Yeah, I don’t think so, buddy.

NEXT!

How Deep The Father's Love For Us

How deep the Father's love for us, how vast beyond all measure
That he should give his only son, to make a wretch his treasure
How great the pain of searing loss, the Father turned his face away
As wounds which mar the chosen one, bring many sons to glory

Behold the man upon a cross, my sin upon his shoulders
Ashamed, I hear my mocking voice call out among the scoffers
It was my sin that held him there until it was accomplished
His dying breath has brought me life; I know that it is finished

I will not boast in anything: no gifts, no power, no wisdom
But I will boast in Jesus Christ; his death and resurrection
Why should I gain from his reward? I cannot give an answer
But this I know with all my heart, his wounds have paid my ransom

~ Stuart Townend

It's half FULL, dangit, half FULL!

I'm getting kinda sick of seeing that video up on top of my blog, but I really can't think of much to say. What? Hillary speechless?

How about this... stay tuned for pictures of pretty much the best science experiment ever. Um, well, there's nothing exactly scientific about it, but it will be good for teaching my kidlets a lesson. And it will be gross. Even better.

Speaking of those kidlets... while writing my reports (still ongoing...) I came accross a few kids for whom I just have nothing to say. Yeah, that's right. I said "for whom." Point is, every time I go to try to write the little personal comment at the beginning of their report, my brain comes up blank. "So and so is a cheerful... nope... friendly... um, not particulary... polite... umm... hard working... heck no.... ah ha! 'energetic.' That's one of those words that is good-but-kinda-not-really-but-still-is-ok. Yay! That'll work.... oh crap! That's what I said last term!"

I feel terrible that I can't think of something positive/personal to say about some of these kids. It's only one or two, and it's really not that there's nothing good to say about them. I just can't seem to put it into words. Arg!

Which kinda leads me to my next thought, I suppose, which is that I feel like I've been a little miss grumpy-puss lately and it's starting to affect how I see things. I need to start whistling that little Monty Python diddy again: "Always look on the briiiight side of life! Doo doot, do-doot do-doot do-doot!"

So... starting right now, here are three things that made me smile today:

1. I noticed for the first time this year that glorious strip of cherry blossom trees that stand up against the backdrop of the North Shore Mountains on my way to work. In the mroning, the sun is on them, and it's bee-oot-i-ful!

2. I got a lovely email this evening from Pam, one of the other grade 5 teachers in my school. She astounds me with the amount of kindness and caring and generosity she showers on people every single day. I am SO grateful to have a co-worker like that. She is incredible. (and no, she won't see this)

3. One of my kids totally made me giggle today when he gave me a box full of Easter chocolate as a little gift. "Full" of course, being a bit of an overstatement. What it actually was was a leftover box from some chocolate easter creatures that he got and promptly ate, then tossed 4 or 5 little chocolate eggs - you know the ones, all wrapped in foil? - inside to rattle around on the bottom. He gave it to me, then said, "Uh, yeah, sorry, I ate the real ones.... but those eggs are good, too." Ha! He cracked me up!