Tids and bits - volume ???

Not really sure what volume this is. It's my usual "holy cow I haven't blogged in so long, time to catch up" post. I keep trying to come up with new creative names, but I give up. Tids and Bits it is, I'm just gonna start adding numbers. Let's call this numero uno! :)

So, yeah. Lots going on lately, hence this post is kinda long. I should have included pictures to distract you from this fact. Maybe tomorrow.

First up, one of my very bestest friends, Strudelie-oodle, is back! (er, ok, her name is really Trudy. Her and our friend Becca have all kinds of wierd and wacky names for each other. Becca is Rrrrebecerrrino. Rolled r mandatory. I'm either Hillerbum or Hilla-ree, Hilla-rye, Hilla-roo-rah-ray. That one get's its own song. I feel so special!) Aaaanyhoo... Trudy was in Africa - Niger, to be specific - for six months and she came home nearly a month ago, making all us Vancouverites very very happy! There's been much silliness and rejoicing since her return!

Also, do you remember this? Well, the magazine came last week! Holy shneikie! It really came! I'm famous! :) Well, ok, maybe not, but I'm now officially a published photographer! Woohoo! And man, that picture takes up over half the page! I was shocked! My name's even there... in tiny little letters... hidden in the spine. Oh well, I'll take what I can get!

Next, the weather. I wouldn't be a good Canadian if I didn't talk about the weather. Now seriously, folks. A few weeks back we had crazy insane hail storms for like a week straight. Some areas even got snow. This annoyed a great deal of people. Now come on, don't give me this "Canada (ahem, Canadia) is the land of ice and snow, of course you got hail." This is VANCOUVER. Lotus land. The tropical paradise of the Great White North. We're more like the Great WET North in these parts, but it's TEMPERATE here (what a great selling point! Come live here! It's temperate!). But then, as it always does, it bucked up and got beautiful two weekends ago. Like, nearly 20 degrees beautiful (that's nearly 70F for you American types)! And it was sunny! And glorious! And bees were buzzing and birds were chirping and a choir of angels sang hallelujah. Well, not so much the angels, but was was GORGEOUS!

So Trudy, Laurie, and Becca - who was 39 weeks pregnant at the time - and I went for a hike. Oh yes. We figured we'd stay low to avoid the snow, but alas. There was tons! So off we tromped having a grand ol time. We joked (um, ok, maybe we were a little serious!) that we were going to make sure to stay in cell contact and that one of us should have packed some clean towels. You know. Just in case. The baby has yet to arrive, thank goodness! Delivering a baby wasn't exactly on my list of things to do that day! Eekers!

After the hike, Trudles and I went down to the beach for some yummy Thai takeout, a glorious sunset, and some serious silliness. Marvelling at the flowers, the cherry blossoms, and the balmy weather, we kept shouting, "It's suuummerrrrr!" That is, until we began breathing fire and the aliens blew off our heads. *

Now cut to this past weekend. With visions of our glorious Saturday still fresh in our minds, imagine Trudy's and my surprise to find if dumping with snow on Friday night. D-U-M-P-I-N-G. So naturally, we did what any sane person would do when it snows on APRIL 18. We went out, bought McFlurries, and found a park to frolic in. We built a snowman, had a snowball fight, and ran around catching snowflakes in our mouths. Trudy has a very special and specific technique for this endeavour. As she puts it: "First, look straight up at the sky so that you can see all the flakes swirling around and zooming down towards you. now, pick out a specific flake that's falling. chase the flake and catch it in your mouth! (if you can incorporate jumping and eating noises... all the better!)" Aurmph! Aurmph! Aurmph! Also heard on this snowy, freezing Friday night in April? "It's suuummerrrrr!" Best said with giganto snowflakes on your eyelid.

Seriously. Silliness like this is good for my soul!

In other news, dancing is still trucking along. I'm taking a blues dance class right now from my west coast swing teachers, which is giving me a whole new range of moves and styles to incorporate into my swing. It's great! We learned these crazy dips last Thursday that had me so low my hair was brushing the floor. So awesome! Um, except for the part when I pulled/strained my quad muscle and have been hobbling ever since. But seriously! My hair! On the floor!

Now normally I wouldn't have worried too much about the leg thing, but I've been training since January to run the Vancouver Sun Run - a 10km/6.2 mile race through this gorgeous city. My leg was sore on Friday, but I just thought it was from a good workout. But, er, it was only one leg. It was equally sore on Saturday. I began to wonder if I'd really be able to run the Sun Run, and I was getting really upset. I've been training for this for so long. It's the first race I've ever done, the farthest I've run in my life, and I really, really did NOT want to bail the day before the race. I decided to see how I felt on Sunday morning...

When I woke up, my leg was mostly still a big ball of owie when going down stairs or bending with any weight on it. But no way in heck was I NOT going to do the Sun Run. Off I went in the freezing cold morning (they think it was the coldest Sun Run on record - a wee 4 degrees (39F) in the morning!) to run my little tail off. It was my goal to run the whole way - no walk/run intervals: run the whole time. I really wasn't sure I could do it, as I nearly died on a mini run Thursday afternoon. But I tell you, with over 59,000 other runners, 12 bands playing live music all along the route, and people cheering you on the whole way, the adrenaline and excitement really gets you going! The farthest I've ever run in my life before Sunday was 9km, and that was with walk/run intervals. I ran the whole. darn. thing. AND I finished about 10-15 minutes faster than I thought I would! My official time was one hour and eleven minutes, and I came in 22,747th! hahaha! That's SO hilarious! BUT, I felt like a million bucks at the end. I DID IT! YEAHOO!!! Thankfully my leg didn't bother me, and it's feeling mostly better today, so I'm glad I didn't end my ability to walk for the rest of my LIFE by doing the run. I'm already looking forward to the next race. I think I'm going to head down to Seattle for the Iron Girl - another 10k - in September with a few girlfriends. Gotta beat my time, ya see!

And just cause I'm a sucker for punishment, I finished the Sun Run yesterday (holy cow, was that only yesterday?) and started boot camp this morning. Three days a week, 6:30-7:30am. Work out central, baby. I'm gonna HURT tomorrow.

And with that, I'm off to put away groceries. Yeehaw. If you're still reading, you're my hero! I don't think *I* would be! Ha! You're clearly a better person than I! :)

Ta ta!

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* You're really gonna have to see the photos to make sense of this one. I'll get 'em up soon.

Baby Audrey

One of the things I love about blogging is finding posts - no - finding people like this. Angie and her beautiful family, even through their sadness, shine light and hope through the story of their precious daughter, Audrey. Thank you, Angie, for posting so openly, so beautifully.

So many blog posts, so little time!

It is really starting to annoy me that I have SO many post ideas but just don't have time to sit down and write. I really like sitting down and thinking through a post, tweaking it, getting it jsut right, but that takes so dang LONG that I rarely do it. I jsut don't have time.

For example, this week...

Monday: Work all day, rush off to tutoring, rush off to young adults, do a mini presentation, stay for the evening, out for drinks (and dinner, cause it was nearly 10 and I hadn't eaten yet) till 11:30. Home and work on a power point presentation till about 1.

Tuesday: Work all day, stay till 7:30 prepping , organizing, & planning, come home, do dishes, work on powerpoint, stay up obscenely late again doing something, I forget what. Probably the powerpoint.

Wednesday: Pro-D day - Underestimate how long it would take to get downtown for the conference/goal setting day. Rush into friend's visitor parking at the last minute and get to park for free. (SCORE!) Work all day. Go for run along sea wall. Ok, attempt run along sea wall with nearly 10 pound backpack (purse, coat, clothing, dress boots, litre of water). Dumb community center had no lockers. Walk back. Go to tutoring. Jump dead battery. Drive around for 20 mins to charge it. Stop to buy dessert for dinner & Bible study. Go to Bible study. Come home around 11:15. Finish poweroint. Go to bed past one for the third night in a row. (See that time stamp? That's when I STARTED writing. Why am I blogging now? Cause I'm WIRED)

Up for Thursday? Work all day, including behviour roundtable discussion and earthquke drill. Rush off to Summer school meeting after school. Either go back to work to clean/plan or go home to laundry and more powerpoint/movie maker. Dance lesson at 8:30, will probably stay for the dance till 11 or so.

Friday? Work till noon, go for the run I should have done today, stay till 5:30/6. Either go to wedding shower or drive to Abbotsford (an hour away) for a meeting/info night (related to all these powerpoints!).

Saturday, for the love of all things Holy, SLEEP IN.

Sheesh.

No WONDER I'm so bleeding tired.

Out damn spot!

Tamagotchis.

Some people hate them. Some people (like most of my students) love them. Me, I'm kind of ambivalent. As long as the kids aren't playing with them during class time and they stay in backpacks until recess and lunch, I don't really care if the kids have them at school. I kinda don't get the digital pet thing - play with it, feed it, watch it grow - but whatever.

Well, Amanda* is a grade one girl in my class who has one of these things. I'm cracking down on the class time fiddling these days, and I had to take it away from her just before lunch yesterday. I told her she could have it back at the end of the day. She wanted it for lunch time, but I said no, she could have it at the end of the day.

At the end of the day, I made sure the whole class was aware of the Tamagotchi policy: if you are playing with it during class time, it will go live in my desk until Friday. If I take it away Monday, it lives there till Friday. If I take it away Thursday, it lives there till Friday. (I had the urge to use the Italian term "capiche?" but methinks the six and seven year old ESL kids that comprise my entire calss probably wouldn't get that reference, hey?)

Well, guess who had her Tama-whatzit out again today? I swooped in and took it. "You can have it back on Friday." Amanda didn't argue - she knew the drill. But at home time, she looked up and asked me, "Miss Hillary? Will you take my Tamagotchi to your home tonight and feed it?"

"No, I'm sorry, Amada. I'm not going to take it home. It will stay in my desk until tomorrow at home time."

"But if you don't feed it, it will die! And it will poo. You have to clean it up."

I reiterated that it would stay on my desk, and Amanda went home.

So now, it's twenty after four, I'm working on my supply order for next year (OH, there is SUCH a rant brewing there, but it's best I bite my tongue on that one. *takes a moment to seethe*), and the Tamagotchi just started beeping.

I ignored it, and it stopped. For about five minutes.

It beeped again.

I cast a sideways glance at it, thinking of poor Amanda asking me to take her butterfly pet home to feed it. "But if you don't feed it, it will die!"

I picked the thing up and tried to puch a few buttons to see if I could feed the thing. Ugh. I should have paid more attention when she was talking about it at show and tell. I don't know how to work the dumb thing.

And so here I sit, feeling guilty I'm gonna kill a six year old's little pet butterfly. I don't want that digital blood on my hands!

GAK! It beeped again, and now there's a little skull and crossbones on it. I think it's dead!

Ummmmm, good thing there's a reset button. I'll have to show her how to use that one tomorrow...

_________________
* name has been changed

So sleeeeeepy

What is with me these days? Seriously! I'm out like a light by nine o'clock and can't get anything done. Like blogging. Or dishes. Gah! There's a backlog in both areas!

And so dear bloggie friends, this is all ya get. I've got to go to work. Or maybe back to bed.

No! To work!

*yawn*

Oh and also:

Good news: I finally got back into training for the Sun Run (10km/6.2mi race on April 20) and ran 9km in just over an hour (holy crap! I ran for AN HOUR!) (And yes, I'm ok with being a turtle)

Bad news: MY LEGS REALLY HURT!!!!

The end.

PUMPED!

After this past weekend and the comps, I was wondering if there was really any point in me competing. Not cause I didn't think I could ever get anywhere (ok, well, kinda), but more just becuase I'm not committed to really practicing and improving so that I can win comps. I just like dancing fo rthe fun of it, and there are so many good dancers out there that are better than me. I'm SOOO not a competitive person. It was fun, but I wasn't sure I'd do it again.

Then my friend JR (hi JR!) sent me the scores from this weekend's comps, and guess what??? I nearly made semis! The called back 21 dancers out of 73, and I nearly made it! I was 29th of 73. Wahoo! Ok, so that doesn't sound too impressive, but at Sea to Sky in October I was a waaaaay down at the bottom. 39th of 50, I believe. Nowhere close.

Basically, the judges give you a call back/yes (1), a maybe (2) or a no (3). There were three judges at Sea to Sky, and they all gave me no's. There were four judges at Easter Swing, and I got two yesses and two no's. Score!

Kinda makes me wanna keep competing now! Hooray! Now, when's the next dance event???

Seattle Easter Swing

From 2pm to 2am Friday. From 9am to 4am Saturday. From 9am to 6pm then 10:30pm to midnight Sunday. Two competitions. COuntless performances. One midnight breakfast. Lots of friends. Hours and hours and hours of dancing. Two very sore feet. One fantastic weekend!

I competed in two categories this time around - Jack and Jill (unknown music and random partners) and strictly swing (unkown music but you choose your partner). They were both fun, and extra exhilirating when I was dancing in front of the 'home crowd' and they were yelling and cheering and screaming my name! So fun! I didn't place or even make finals, but who cares! It was a blast!

There was large group of my friends who went down, so it was great to hang with them all weekend, too.

I danced with eight of the pros, which, while fun, is still intimidating. "Gak! He's a pro! Don't screw up, don't screw up! AK! I screwed up! Oh shoot! Oh shoot!" Rinse. Wash. Repeat.

There was one dance, however, that stood out. I was sitting at my table with some friends taking a breather for a while, when a tall handsome stranger swooped down, sat beside me, and said, "Hello. I'm Jason. What's your name?" Stunned, I answered him. With a smile, he asked for a dance: "Hillary, I would love to dance with you." Uhhh, OK! He escorted me out onto the floor, hand on the small of my back, and asked where I was from. He was from South Carolina. Ah, that southern charm!

He was really good, but never once threw me a move I couldn't handle. We played with the music, hit all the breaks, and had a FANTASTIC dance. The thanked me, gave me a hug, and escorted me back of the floor. "Now, where did I take you from?" He complimented my dancing and waved goodbye.

The next day, he saw me in the hall and waved. "Thanks again for the great dance last night."

Ok, um, *swoon!*

Later on Saturday night, I was watching one of the pro category dances, and there he was! Holy crap! He was one of the pros!!! Heh, no WONDER he was so good! But the charm! Wow!

Videos were a big fat ol' no no in the ballroom, unfortunaltey, and there weren't even photos allowed during the comps, but they had a great photographer there who I bought some photos from. Hehe, here's me!

This is my friend Chris and I in the Strictly Swing comps.

Below is the Jack and Jill competion. I didn't know this partner. (Anne - this is the shirt I bought when I was shopping with you. I think of you every time I wear it! :) )

They had a "dollar dance" to raise money for a charity - put in some money and dance with a pro. I danced with six of them. Here I'm not having any fun at ALL dancing with Robert Cordoba. Woohoo!

Worth watching

Be sure to have a kleenex handy.

One Two Three and I'm off!

Three things.

One: Happy first day of spring!!! Yes, I know it's almost over. Happy first day of spring anyway! :)

Two: Ho-lee. I was checking statcounter this morning and saw a H-U-G-E spike in hits today. What the? Like as in, six or seven times what I get in a day, all by 11am. What? Turns out that a spring photo I posted last year turns up in google images when you search for first day of spring, and HUNDREDS of people have flocked to my blog today. Crazy! It was a popular image, apparently. (Too bad I can't take credit for it!) Heh. Go to google and try it. It's a yellow flower, blue background, and it says "Think spring." Or, you know, if you have a life, feel free to skip it. Apparently I don't today.

Three: SQUUUEEEEEE!!! In 8 hours I am off to Seattle for three solid days of DANCING!!! Yessirree bob, it's another fantabulous dance convention! Like October's, but BIGGER! And BETTER! Aaaaand, I'm not packed, not showered, haven't emptied my memory cards, still need to do the dishes, and ooooh, I dunno, maybe SLEEP a bit? Heaven knows I won't be doing much sleeping while I'm there!

Lookout feet, here I come!!!!

I'm hoping to get some good video of me dancing now that I actually have a camera with sound on the video. If they're not banned. Hmmm...

YEAHOOOOO!

Won't You Be My Neighbour

From the minute he opened up his door, put on that red, zip-up sweater and 'inside shoes' to when the trolley took you into the land of Make Believe, to the never-changing goodbye routine, Mr Rogers was one of my favourite TV characters. Only he wasn't a character. Sure, maybe he didn't wear the sweaters in real life (or maybe he did?), but he was the same warm, welcoming, caring man in real life, too.

I'd love every moment of that show. I still remember the house - the little mezzanine he came in on, the closet, the bench, the traffic light as you'd go into the kitchen with the blue shelves and table. Mr Rogers would take us on little field trips around the neighbourhood and introduce us to all his friends. Mr. McFeely was a regular, and one of my favourites. "Speedy delivery!" And then of course there was the trolley into the Neighbourhood of Make Believe... Do you remember the puppets? King Friday, Queen Saturday, Prince Tuesday? What about Henrietta Pussycat, Daniel Striped Tiger, or Bob Dog? Lady Elaine Fairchild? X the Owl?

The show holds so much nostalgia for me. I'm only 29, and yet it seems a throwback to a simpler time. I guess that would just be the time of childhood, but I think it's more than that. Kids shows are so different now. Fast, animated (don't get me wrong, I love cartoons), with weird dancing creatures from who knows what kind of planet. Some just reflect a change in times, a change in technology, but still, all those old shows - Mr Rogers, Mr Dressup, Sesame Street, Fred Penner's Place... they were somehow different. Educational. Caring. Not marketed to death.

I was so sad when I heard that Mr Rogers had passed away. That was five years ago - wow, time flies. Today, March 20, would have been his 80th birthday, and Mr McFeely is calling on everyone to wear their favourite sweater in honour of his birthday. Don't have a favourite zip-up cardigan? Then just make an extra effort to do something neighbourly today.

After all, it's a beautiful day in the neighbourhood.

_________________________
Click here for a touching tribute.

I thought a break was supposed to help STOP things like this

I'm spring cleaning yesterday and today. Windows open, get the dust out, bring the fresh in, dust out the cobwebs from the corners, organize the pile(s!) of papers everywhere, down and dirty type spring cleaning.

I just walked to the storage room/hall closet, got the vacuum out, and brought it to the living room - about 12 steps round trip.

I walked back to the storage room to get the broom and brought it out to the kitchen. Maybe 10 steps round trip?

Then I walked back to the storage room to get the vacuum. Yes, the vacuum I just brought to the living room.

I looked left, looked right, racked my brain as to why the vacuum wasn't there. Who could I have lent it to? Did Becca still have it? Did I leave it up at the place I was volunteering last month? (er, yeah, I don't vacuum that often) Gah! Where's my vacuum?

I walked back out to the living room to call Becca and see if she had it.

And tripped over the hose.

Oh! There's my vacuum!

Mama mia!

I ain't Irish, but you can kiss me anyway!

Taken last year in Chicago. And nope, this picture isn't fixed!

The reason I am the way I am *updated with photo*

If you've ever read my list of 100 things about me, you may have noticed #85: "When friends who have known me a while meet my dad, they always go, “AHHH! Now I understand!” "

Well, let me introduce you to my dad, via an email he sent me tonight. Him and my mom are preparing to go on a cruise in a few days...


Hi honey !

We are running around stuffing undies in bags so I guess that means we're really off (off what I'm not quite sure)

It's Sunday aft and we leave Tues morning but this is one more thing off my plate.

Just wanted you to have our "details" so you will know where to scrape up our drippings if we get squished by a giant alien with purple eyes and fed to it's six headed suckling spawn …. *

Some times I just don't know ! <<...>>

I'll include them here and in an attached werd doc fer convenience …

Any Q's call we'll be in n out tonight n tomorrow

Love Dad


Yeppers. That's me dad. He's the bestest dad a daughter could ever want - full of wisdom and love, and would do (and has done) anything for us.

He's just a little bit of a wacko.

*grin*

Weaving a web of lies

Alternatively, "Easter celebrations in Miss Hillary's classroom."

The Easter Bunny paid our class a visit today. He left footprints, fur, a note, and some treats hidden all over the room - one little pink packet of chocolate eggs for everyone. (No way in heck was the Easter bunny going to leave random eggs strewn about for children to collect. That would have resulted in the biggest pushing shoving crying fiasco ever!) The kids, the little scientists, tried to catch me faking the visit, but no way no how. I had an explanation for everything.

A little background. The room I'm in was Mrs S's room for many years, and most of my kids were in her class last year. Come Easter time, the kids were very excited to tell me the Mrs S's pet bunny Scooter in fact WAS the Easter bunny. She brought him to school last year, took him to another classroom, put him in a little pen, and yet still he escaped and left a note and treats for the kids.

"Woooow!" I told them. "You're so lucky to know the Easter Bunny's real name! Not many people know that, you know!"

So of course, today, the note was signed "Love, the Easter Bunny (Scooter)" After the kids were finished their little Easter hunt, we were talking about it back on the carpet.

"You know, Mrs S emailed me last night to tell me that Scooter had escaped. He must have come back to 'his' old class to leave the treats for you!"

- No way! You're faking! That writing is all fancy [I... er, Scooter, had written the note in cursive] and Scooter's writing was messy!

Well what do you think Easter Bunnies DO all year? They make Easter Eggs and they learn to write in fancy printing to leave pretty notes. Scooter was just a young little Easter Bunny last year. He's much older now and has been practicing his printing all year long! He's gotten much better now!"

- Yeah! We learn stuff at school, so does the Easter Bunny.
- Hey! He goes to Easter Bunny school!

- But Scooter is only little, how did he write that note so high up?

Bunnies can jump really high!

- Hey, yeah! First he jumped here [a small shelf] then he jumped here [a child's chair] then up here [onto my chair] and then he wrote the note!

- These footprints aren't real! You just used flour! [icing sugar, actually. Darnit! They were paying attention to ingredient names when we baked bread earlier this week!]
- Yeah, it's the same as Santa's footprints!

No, that's not flour! Those are bunny prints! Santa and the Easter Bunny share the same magic, so that's probably why their footprints look the same!

- Ooooh! Maybe the Easter Bunny hopped all the way to the North Pole and got some magic from Santa at his workshop!

Yep! That's probably what happened!

- Wait! This bunny fur isn't real! It's the same as the cotton balls we used to make our bunny box tails yesterday!

Nooo! It's different! I bought that fluff because it looks just like real bunny fur! It really is close, isn't it?!

- But Scooter was BROWN, and this fluff is white!

Oh, yes, but in the winter time, bunnies grow extra fur under their normal fur to help keep them warm. Lots of animals do that. Now, because Spring is coming and it's getting warmer, they lose all that fur. That's what all that white fluff is - it's warm cozy wintertime bunny fur!

- But Scooter lives in Mrs S's house! It's warm there all the time, so he doesn't need the extra fur!

Yeah, but bunnies still do that, it's just what they do.

- But then he'd be hot.
- Maybe Mrs S has a special fan to keep the bunny cool, then she'd be freezing.

Haha! She WOULD be!

- But...
- Isn't...
- Why...

[I cut them all off.] Tell you what! Mrs S is going to come and visit after Spring Break, why don't you ask HER about the Easter Bunny. Ok, boys and girls, it's time for Calendar. [and time for me to stop being the reason you're going to need extensive therapy when you're older!]

Guess I'd better point Mrs S to this post so we're on the same page when she gets bombarded with questions about bunny school and Scooter's special fan, hey? Tee hee hee!

Hooray for Spring Break! It's officially started!

Fun with nutrition *Updated*

There's just something about FOOD that makes learning fun! You may remember last year's McDonald's experiment. HOO BOY that was nast-ay. We're not getting nearly that gross this year. With the little ones it's all about learning to classify the food groups... which resulted in my effective, yet somewhat creepy teachable moment in the lunchroom today: "Woooow! Look! Our lunch has all four food groups in it! Everybody point to your grain product! Point to your meat! Where's your vegetables? Uh oh! Lenny, where are your veggies? Ok, everybody point to your milk product! Hooray! All four food groups! This must be a healthy lunch!" [This must be a scary greasy mystery meat 'chicken burger' whose stench makes me wanna hurl. And this, folks, is why TEACHERS, not hollywood types should get Oscars.]

But I digress.

We've rocketed our way through fruits and vegetables, grain products, and meat and alternates. Milk products is next and by hook or by crook, I'm fitting it (and Easter, and St Patrick's Day, and the rest of the sexual abuse prevention kit, and a spring time art activity) in by Friday. GAK!

But oh what fun we've been having! For the fruits and veggies group, we read the book "Stone Soup." Everybody brought in their favourite veggie, cut it up, and we made soup from a stone, learning that sharing makes all things so much better. (aw!!) They LOVED cutting the vegetables... but hated the soup! Only one kid ate it. Monique,* one of my little know-it-all grade ones [who, when other kids were giving words like "ball" and "box" for words that started with the letter B, came up with "blush" and "beauty"] suggested, "You know, it probably would have tasted better if you had used chicken stock." Right.

So. Stone Soup. They all loved it, and learned a lot about vegetables from it. Er, too bad they didn't learn that vegetables taste GOOD. Better luck next year.

For grain products, I hijacked my friend's bread maker and today we made bread! They were SO excited to put all the ingredients in, see the dough rise, and then eat the fresh, hot bread, complete with butter and honey. Mmmm! The whole hallway smelled of fresh bread all afternoon! (Better than the cabbage smell that filled it when we were making our soup last week. Er, sorry guys!)

We intro'd meat and alternates today, but I'm not really sure what to do for that one. "Here kids! Let's sample a pork chop and some ground chuck!" Er, no. It's ok, we don't have a lot of time, anyway. Maybe I'll think of something for next year.

But milk? Oh THIS one is going to be fan-tastic! I was just gonna give them all ice cream as a treat till I learned this super-stupendous fact: Did you know (you probably did, cause you're already smartie mcsmartiepantses, but I'm learning all this as I go and it's SO FUN!) that you can MAKE ice cream simply by putting a cream/sugar/vanilla mix into a small ziplock, putting the small ziplock into a large ziplock with ice, and shaking it for 5 minutes?!?!?! Can we say, most awesome activity EVER? (even if only for the fact that 5 solid minutes of shaking a heavy bag will tire out my overly-hyped up orangutans? That's gotta be the best part!)

Now the question is, do we do that on Thursday, which will be tricky to be ready for, or on Friday, when we've also got our classroom Easter Egg hunt planned? (Heh. Maybe we should talk about "foods to limit" on Friday, too. "Ok, kids, now chocolate and candy are foods to limit. AND THERE'S OODLES OF IT HIDDEN ALL OVER THE CLASSROOM! GO FIND IT!"

*** UPDATE ***

Um, DUH!!! Clearly I missed the glaringly OBVIOUS. Seriously. Hip hip HOORAY for AfricaBleu for pointing it out to me. Meats & Alternatves + Easter + "Gee, what on earth am I going to do for an Easter activity" = DYE EASTER EGGS!!!! What? Seriously? I didn't think of that??? I was even at school yesterday wondering how he heck to make paper Easter eggs for art and reading the nutrition booklet thingy that was weirdly obsessed with talking about eggs instead of other meats/alternatives. And yet I didn't connect the two. Riiiiight. HOO-RAY for AfricaBleu.

See? That's why I love you people! You save my LIFE.

Friday can not come soon enough

I'm ready. The kids are ready. Even the cherry blossoms, crocusses, and tulips are ready. It's time for spring. More specifically, it's time for spring BREAK. Ho-lee. I'm hangin' in there by a thread, I tell ya. The kids are nutty, I'm overtired and out of patience, and everyone's getting on everyone's nerves. Last week was IN-SANE, and this week's shaping up to be the same. Good thing it's chocolate sale time and I can hoover back a box of chocoalte covered almonds or minty meltaways after school every day. (Um, did I just admit that? Yes, Yes, I believe I did.)

Three and a half more days.

I! Can! Do! It!

I hope...

I'm a big ball of random

Coming up to Easter time, there are a lot of chocoalte bunnies around. Every time I see one THIS SONG rolls through my head. I thought of finding the video on YouTube to share with you (cause I'm generous like that!) and found that there was quite the controversy with this song. They made it, took out a line ("I don't love my mom or my dad, just the bunny") and then apparently still got flack, so made a "New and improved" version. And then YouTube commenters are all up in arms: "What, you change evil a bit and then it's ok? It's still idolatry!" Wha?

Anyhoo.

The mostly original version:


The New and Improved version (and can I say... I LOVE JEAN CLAUDE!)



Well, I'm off to eat the bunny....

(um, no really. My mom gave me a dark lindt bunny on Tuesday. I'm having his ears for breakfast.Hence why I was thinking of this song...)

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!*

Rebirth, part four: Closed

[ If you're new around here, check out installments one, two and three of Rebirth to make a little more sense of this entry! ]

It was January 15, 2006. I was on a huge high from buying my new (to me) and issue-free car after my Beastmobile got munched. I called my mom to tell her about my car, and she mentioned a teeny weenie little announcement in their church bulletin: "Due to geological concerns, Camp Kawkawa will be closing down at the end of January." And with that, my high came crashing down. That was it. No more information, no warning, nothing. Closed.

I found out a week later at the farewell that the camp had had a geological survey done in hopes that the 20 year building ban on the site would finally be lifted and that they could finally expand and build, having acquired the evidence that the site was indeed safe from landslide risks and other geological activity. It turned out that the survey found just the opposite, and that there was absolutely nothing the camp could do. It's not like they ran out of money and just needed a big fundraising drive. No, the mountain might fall down. Who's gonna send their kids? Any takers?

Hands were absolutely tied, and everyone - in complete shock - made the decision to close the camp.

Armed with a mighty stash of kleenex, I attended the farewell. I took part in some of the activities, but then went off on my own and walked the site. From waterfront to dining hall to field to campfire to cabins to chalets to archery and riflery, to heibertisme, and finally to campfire. Every square inch of that place held vivid memories for me. Some fun, some painful, some deeply profound. I stopped in each place, for each memory, and cried. But I also prayed, committing those memories, those people, that place to God. It was all His, anyway.


Finally pulling myself together, I went back to the dining hall for the last function that would ever be held there. I remember it as a place that was filled with life - sunlight streaming in, the lake glistening down below, the ear-splitting din of a hundred kids eating and laughing and (more often than not) banging cups and plates and utensils, counsellors doing all manner of wacky things to get their hands on a much-appreciated piece of mail. The dining hall was alive in my memory, but on this day, a frosty, gloomy, January day, that life was dimmed. It was good to see people I hadn't seen in years, but, like at a dear friend's funeral, you wished you weren't seeing them under those circumstances. We hugged, we cried, we prayed. We shared memories and photos, and reassured each other that Kawkawa wasn't really the place, but the people, and that it would never truly be gone. And we only half believed it.

And then we sang. Amidst the sorrow, we worshipped. We didn't understand why God was allowing this to happen. Why God would let such a place used for His glory, such a powerful ministry, come to such a sudden and sad end. But still we knew that God is good, and that He had a plan. If He would let Kawkawa close, surely He had something better in mind, though none of us could imagine what. But we continued to sing.

One song hit me hard. Did I really believe what I was singing?

Blessed be Your name
In the land that is plentiful
Where Your streams of abundance flow
Blessed be Your name
And blessed be Your name
When I'm found in the desert place
Though I walk through the wilderness
Blessed be your name

Every blessing You pour out I'll
Turn back to praise
And when the darkness closes in, Lord
Still I will say
Blessed be the name of the Lord
Blessed be Your name
Blessed be the name of the Lord
Blessed be Your glorious name

Blessed be Your name
When the sun's shining down on me
When the world's "all as it should be"
Blessed be You name
And blessed be Your name
On the road marked with suffering
Though there's pain in the offering
Blessed be Your name

Every blessing You pour out I'll
Turn back to praise
And when the darkness closes in, Lord
Still I will say
Blessed be the name of the Lord
Blessed be Your name
Blessed be the name of the Lord
Blessed be Your glorious name
Really? Could I really sing "Blessed be your name?" Really? And then came the words, like a punch in the gut:

You give and take away
You give and take away
My heart will choose to say,
Lord blessed be Your name
Through my tears I pleaded. "Lord, you gave us this camp. WHY now do you take it away? We've just renovated the chapel, we've just done all this work on the grounds. We have to turn a hundred kids away every summer. Why? WHY now do you yank this way from us? Help me. Help my heart choose to bless your name now. Cause I don't understand. I know you have a plan, somehow, but I just don't get it."

You give and take away
You give and take away
My heart will choose to say
Lord blessed be your name...
I drove the two hour drive home alone. I couldn't get that refrain from my head. That, and the words "Closed." "Over." "Empty." "Gone." What would happen to the buildings? Would they just be left to waste away? I pictured the forest taking over, moss growing on the roofs, the walls rotting away. "You give and take away, you give and take away. My heart will choose to say, Lord blessed be your name." Could they sell the land? Who could buy it? It's not like they could build houses there, with the geological risks. What would camp become? "Closed." "Over." "Empty." "Gone." I thought of my conversation with Paulette, a beloved year-round staff person there. We both simply could not picture that once noisy, boisterous waterfront quiet. Still. "You give and take away." I thought about how I had always dreamed I would send my own children there one day. "Closed." "Over." "Empty." "Gone." I arrived home absolutely emotionally wrecked. While it was good to have a chance to say a proper 'goodbye,' it was among the saddest days of my life.

I cried every day after that for at least two weeks, and then sporadically for a few months after that. It honestly felt like a death. It's the hardest thing to describe, but that place, those people... the impact that camp had on my life... I couldn't believe it was over.

Time, as it does, eventually took the intensity of emotion away, but Kawkawa was still on my mind a lot. I began a website where people could write in with their memories, tell stories of their time there, acknowledge people who had made an impact on their lives, and write about the ways their life was impacted by their time at camp. It was my way of keeping camp alive, of doing something to deal with what felt like the loss of an incredibly significant part of my childhood and my spiritual development. Slowly, over the period of about a year, I came to grips with the fact that Camp Kawkawa - my haven, my "God place," my was gone for good.

I remember telling God that day that he had sure better have a bigger plan. Cause this plan sucked...

Hillary: A whole new brand of crazy

That it. I've officially snapped. Lost it. Flipped my lid. Cracked. Gone cookoo.

I went to Superstore tonight and blew my entire month's budget on groceries (it's so CHEAP here! OOH, I need that! Wow, I can stock up on this!). I have had two days of parent teacher conferences on top of being out nearly every (or is it every?) night over the last 8 or 9 days. I've been getting waaaay to little sleep. And tonight I went crazy.

I love yogurt. L-O-V-E. It's one of God's gifts to mankind, and I have been known to eat an entire container in one sitting. And it was cheap at Superstore. So I bought a lot. Six tubs, to be exact. And two tubs of cottage cheese. Have I mentioned that I live by myself? Seriously, if ever I become lactose intolerant I will cry forever.

I got home, and I was really tired and my feet hurt and I was cold (it's been freezing here the last few days, and I was in a skirt, so yeah, chilly), so I whipped off my boots and socks and put on my cozy PJ pants and pink fuzzy slippers. But I kept my coat on, cause well, it was warm.

Then I called my friend Jason. He's really quite nice, despite what that picture might tell you. We were chatting, I was putting away my groceries, and talking about how I MIGHT have overdone it in the dairy department - which, coincidentally, I'm pretty sure doesn't have it's very own herd of cows in the back, so why did it smell like a farm? No, really. It reeked of cow a$$. Grody.

Anyhoo, I was proclaiming my love for yogurt when I knocked one of the containers off the counter and it landed SPLAT on the floor. Hardly any spilled (hooray!) but the container split away from the rim. So clearly it had to be eaten down so no yogurt would ooze out while it was in the fridge. So in between sentences I gulped down about 3/4 of the container. Hey, I was hungry! OK, not really, I have an addiction. I need help. I was making fun of myself and my affinity for fruit flavoured milky goodness to Jason when I decided that I really should remove myself from the source of dairy temptation.

Of course, woofing down mass quantities of yogurt in record speed is not so good for the stomach, and all of a sudden I felt really really full. Which struck me as rather funny. So I laughed. "Oooh, I'm so full! I ate too much yogurt! My poor tummy!"

Well, apparently this registered in my over-tired burned out brain as HIH-LAAAAWIOUS and I totally cracked up. A lot.

And then I started laughing because I was laughing. And then I started laughing harder. And then harder. And then harder.

"Oh...
No...
I..........
Think....................
I've............
Officially.............
Cra.....a.....a.......cked!"

I wheezed to Jason through my hysterics. And then my wheezing was funny, so I laughed some more. Then my ribs started to hurt cause I was laughing so hard, so I laughed some more (trying to ignore the nervous laughter from the other end of the phone...which also made me laugh some more.)

There was no stopping me. For at LEAST five minutes I was rolling around on my bed laughing at my laughter, tears STREAMING down my face (apparently my new mascara is not waterproof, as evidenced from the tracks of brown-black down my cheeks), wheezing a few sentences into the phone.

I finally regained enough composure to actually walk somewhere and do something other than laugh my guts out and I clicked through a link on a blog post to this. Which made me nearly blow Jason's ear out as the laughing fit started all over again. (Why did I think a good thing to do while trying to escape a lughing fit while on the phone would be to check a blog? Who knows. It's not like I was thinking clearly!)

I finally calmed down and went to take a look at myself. Eyes red and puffy from laugh-crying so hard, mascara streaks down my face, small bit of yogurt on my upper lip (apparently I missed?). Puffy winter coat, baby blue flannel PJ pants covered in sheep, and pink fuzzy slippers. Hiccuping insanely from the marathon laughing fit.

Nooooo, THAT'S not the picture of a lunatic at ALL.

Heh. heh. *eye twitches* Heh.

Dancy Dance

I guess times are tough for Elijah Wood after the Lord Of The Rings trilogy ended...

Sah-WEET!

Oh how I love a productive Saturday!

A big goal over the Christmas holidays was "Operation Get Rid Of Lots Of Stuff." Like, furniture, and recycling, and rubbermaid storage bins in my room, and old computer junk, and stuff like that. So I got all in a tizzy and hauled all the stuff that was previously being stored in my room and other nooks and crannies out into a big ol' giant pile in my living room, to be driven off with glee to the various places it all needed to go.

And then my car died, effectively halting my ability to haul stuff around.

So there it all sat in my living room. For nearly three weeks. That is, until last night when I had a complete and total dance geek party party of awesomeness in which I invited a bunch of dance friends over and we mocked watched the DVDs from Sea To Sky, the dance convention we all went to back in October. (I say mocked because they are the most poorly made DVDs I have ever seen. No scene selection, only snippets of the dances, bad sound, weird angles that don't allow you to see, I dunno, the DANCERS. Gah. Don't even get me started. Ok, so I started already. Whatever! They're better than nothing, I guess, and were still a good excuse for a shindig.) Click on the picture to see the insanity in my living room. See that white triangle in the bottom left corner? That's a wee bit of the spare single bed that was propped up against my couch and didn't quite make it in the photo. GAH!

Nothin' like having people over to motivate you to get cleaned up. Unfortunately, having only gotten my car back Thursday night, I didn't have time to take any of the pile of junk in my living room anywhere, so it all got dumped back in my bedroom. Sigh.

BUT! Today! Oh sweet day of productivity! I got rid of SO MUCH STUFF and got SO much done, and even did some building and some electrical work. Ok, so my electrical work consisted of plugging in my computer monitor, but hey, it sounded good for a minute there, didn't it?

Today I...

- slept in. Very important, and newsworthy because IT NEVER HAPPENS.
- piled all my crap-to-be-gotten-rid-of on the kitchen floor and outside the door to my suite.
- talked to Rachelle, my very-bestest-friend-in-the-whole-wide-world (yes, she always needs to be referred to as that. It's the law.) and soon-to-be-mommy-of-THREE-boys, for about an hour during said piling of crap-to-be-gotten-rid-of. Enough hyphens for you? No? I-didn't-think-so.
- unsuccessfully tried to stave off cramps-of-death with gigantesque dose of Happy Pills.
- dropped off dead bulky computer monitor and dead DVD player at the electronics recycling depot. That in itself was great cause they have been sitting in my room for at LEAST a year and a half.
- went to Purolator to pick up my new monitor and send off the smells-like-burning, good-thing-it's-still-under-warranty monitor back to maker-of-stupid-monitor company.
- went to Future Shop to return the loaner monitor and happily got a chunk of change put pack onto my oh-so-overused credit card.
- balked at my body, because just as I thought I was going to keel over and die from previously aforementioned cramps-of-death, the clouds parted, the sun shone down (no, really!) and my body flipped the ok-you-were-writhing-in-agony-but-now-you're-completely-fine switch and all was right with the world.
- celebrated with a grande non-fat no-whip peppermint mocha from Starbucks.
- drove to the other end of the city to get my car Air-Cared so I could renew my insurance, which expired six days ago. Yes, I had temporary insurance. The car passed. Woohoo! (Darn well better have for all the work that was just done on it!)
- went to renew insurance.
- came back to dead car. AURGH!!! Apparently 10 minutes of forgetting to turn my lights off was enough to drain the battery.
- flagged numerous random people down in the Superstore parking lot asking if they had jumper cables. More than one person went to open their window and then changed their mind, forcing me to scream though the glass. Cause apparently I looked like some crazywoman who was going to dive through a cracked open window into their car and EAT THEM ALIVE.
- finally found Kindly Dude to jump my car, blocked someone from the recently-vacated parking spot beside me so Kindly Dude could park there and resuscitate my car, and thanked him profusely. Mental note. Put jumper cables that are hanging in storage room BACK into car. Right-o.
- drove to Ikea to buy a dresser (goodbye chunk of change from the monitor) - part three of my holy-cow-I-can't-believe-I-haven't-blogged-about-this new bedroom set-in-the-making. Suffice it to say for now that I am in love. With furniture. I need help.
- came home and nearly broke my back hauling massive box of wood out of my car and into my room.
- assembled said dresser-of-awesomeness.
- plugged in my replacement monitor. (See?! Electrical work! And last Saturday I strung 75 feet of coaxial cable all through my house so I could have TV in my room! IN MY ROOM! For the very first time in my life. Gloriousness, I tell you, gloriousness!)
- wrote a long detailed blog post about a mundane day of errands.
- am going to have a glass of wine (or two or five) while I unearth my bed from all the junk I had to pile on top of it in order to build the dresser.
- have decided by default to go to neither the dance nor the Recycle-Your-Not-So-Great-Christmas-Present party, opting instead for PJ pants and new furniture.

Rah rah for Saturday night!

Also? Yes, I realize what a girly-girl post this is. And I love it! tee hee hee!

RSVP

Whenever I plan events/parties/dinners or whatever, I like to use Evite for the invitations. It sends a message to people's inboxes and then they click through for all the details and to RSVP. It's handy, I've used it for a while, and I enjoy it. One of the features is that guests RSVP's are posted on a message board/wall thing-a-ma-bob and they can choose "yes," no," or "maybe" and leave a message for you should they so choose.

My birthday is coming up, so I sent out the evite earlier this week, and a number of people have replied. It seems it's a popular weekend, so there are a number of people who can't make it. Ok, fine. What gets me are the reasons. No word of a lie, here are the resaons they can't make it:

* Awesome initiative. I'd help out but I will be in South America. Have fun!
* I am so sorry but I am in Ontario for the first two weeks of Feb!
* Hillary, I'd love to come, but will be in Africa. Hope you have a fantastic day!
* Hi, unfortunately I'll be in Mexico, dancing on a cruise boat. Want to do it there? :) Have fun!
* Sorry, we'll be at Big White [a ski resort about a 4 hour drive from here] skiing.

Ok, forget my birthday, lemmie go with one of THEM! Sheesharoonies!

Tormented

Aurgh. It's 4:49am, and I can't sleep. I've just had a terrible crazy dream that I get my car back today (this is true - yay!) and all of a sudden it's doing all kinds of awful car things - smoking and steaming and buzzing and clanging and all the lights on the dashboard come on at once. They're not wild fantastical things that a could never really do, it's just getting it back from the mechanic and everything goes wrong... again. You know you've been having car issues when you're woken up by bad car dreams. Bah.

I have to be out the door in precicely two hours. But I'm wide awake (and had been long before I started writing here!) I need sleeeeeep (she types while yawning). Oh today is not gonna be a good day. Hillary McSleeps-a-lot. I don't know if it's a good thing or a bad thing that I'll be in a workshop all day. Not having to be "on" all day means I won't snap at the kids from being over tired... but it also means I won't have the kids to keep me awake. Which could result in embarassment. Oh joy. OK, back to sleep. Or to tossing.

Oh sweet sleep why do you elude me when I need you most?

Would you rather... *updated*

As I walked into my classroom this morning, Lenny* - one of my grade two students - and his friend Tyra were playing a game of "Would you rather..." As I fumbled for my keys, this is what I heard.

L: Would you rather... get married and after you are in the bed, pee your pants... or.... eat five rattlesnakes and throw up?

Well now, what would YOU choose?
Oh man. These kids crack me up!

* Update: ok, you HAVE to read the comments. They're hilarious! *

Therapy!

I start therapy today! Woohoo! (We always knew she was crazy!)

No, no, not THAT kind of therapy. VOICE therapy! Ever since teaching music, I've had issues with my voice. I lose it constantly, and even after a day of teaching, it is often hoarse.

I went to the Voice Clinic in December and had a consultation with a speech-language pathologist and will have another appointment in February with an ear-nose-throat specialist, both who have been doing a study on occupational voice use. The SLP told me that women (check!) who use their voices for their jobs (check!), particularly in large rooms (check!) with high celieings (check!), lots of concrete and windows (check! check!), and relatively noisy environments (check!) are much more susceptible to having voice trouble. This is also compounded when the person is talkative (triple check!), outgoing (check!) and has a busy, active life (check!) that might have them out at restaurants, dances, or in the outdoors freuently (check! check! check!).

Soooo basically, my lifestyle and occupation means that my voice doesn't have a chance. Good times.

And also, she thinks I probably have slightly higher than normal acid reflux when I sleep, compounding my voice and throat issues (which, she tells me, is probably why I cough all. the. time. or need to clear my throat so much even when I'm not sick! Hallelujah! An explanation!). She gave me a list of foods to avoid (um, chocolate, nuts, spicy foods... yeah right!) and told me to elevate the head of my bed 4 to 6 inches so I'm sleeping on an incline. Guess silk sheets are out oft he question, hey? I'd slip right out the end of my bed!

The good news is that the SLP is writing up a report that recommends I have an FM system in my classroom (hooray!). I get to have a little Brittny Spears mic on when I teach and it gets amplified through the entire classroom. Everyone I've ever talked to who has had one of these things says it saves their voice incredibly AND really imporves the behaviour of the students. I figure it's cause there are four speakers mounted around the classroom, and it jsut makes it seem like I'm EVERYWHERE! Muah ha ha!!!

But also, the SLP runs a seven-week, fourteen hour group therapy session for occupational voice users. I'll get to learn all about how my voice works and how to take proper care of it. It's covered by medical, so I'm there! Hip hip hooray, finally an end to my voice woes!

But giving up chocolate? It ain't gonna happen. Ha!
_______________
* ok, I know therapy is a GOOD thing and has done a world of good for many, many people. Please don't be offended by my 'crazy' joke, I'm just trying to poke fun at myself!

Car Talk

But not of the ranting kind...

From Wikipedia...

If the gasket fails, a variety of problems can occur, from compression loss (leading to power reduction, or a rough engine [uh, yeah! chug-a-lug, baby! But hey, at least I saved some cash on going for a massage!]), to exhaust gases being forced into the cooling system, leading to the engine overheating [the needle up past the red "OK, I'm really really hot and might blow up at any minute" zone is a BAD thing, right?] and increased engine wear due to the motor oil being mixed with antifreeze. Coolant can leak into the cylinders, causing the exhaust to issue steam [great heaping billows of white noxious steam, yeah] and the catalytic converter to be damaged. If a very large amount of coolant does this, hydrolock can occur, causing extensive engine damage. Sometimes, all that may happen when a head gasket is blown is excessive steam erupting from the tailpipe [excessive is an understatement, baby!] and the engine may act and drive like normal... [though apparently with the damage to my head gasket, my mechanic is stupefied that the thing could even run.]

Driving with a blown head gasket (if possible) can cause additional extensive damage [Here's hoping the rest of the engine isn't shot, now! Heh... um? Pretty please?] due to overheating or loss of lubrication.

So. July. The water pump blew, causing the car to overheat. Water pump fixed.

November. There was a problem with the fan, which blew the new water pump, causing the car to overheat. Or something. Fan fixed. Water pump fixed.

First week of January. Computer that regulates the fan was screwy, causing the fan to work inconsistently, causing the water pump to break, causing the engine to overheat. Computer fixed. Fan fixed. Water pump fixed.

Second week of January. All this overheating caused the head head gasket to blow (actually it blew a while back), causing the water pump to blow, the timing belt to go wonky, and a host of other things. Head gasket fixed. Timing belt fixed. Host of other things fixed. Water pump fixed.

Found out that every head gasket ever made for this model of car/engine has blown. They have since redesigned it, but lucky me, I still get to pay for it. The parts are expensive, but the three days of labour my mechanic has put into it? All he's charging me is $100. This fix is costing me HALF what it would cost me normally because my mechanic is my hero! How he makes his money, I'll never know.

Actually, I do.

He'll probably charge some other poor shmuck an arm and a leg next time HE goes in. A poor shmuck like... maybe my dad.

Um, neener neener?

Pitching tents... or something like that

Oh this SO cracked me up today! Ho-lee hilarious, batman! Better some humour after my big sob story below. Watch it! Right now!



And supposedly this is what the guy sent around in an email afterwards:
"All I know to say is..'Thank God for His GRACE!!!' After talking with God about this whole thing, He let me know that when it happened... all of heaven fell to their side, they started beating the ground, with tears streaming down their face, and Lot was running around pinching himself, and all the heavenly hosts roared with laughter...just like you did!!!!"

Return of the Beastmobile? AUGRH!!!

Ladies and gents, life is on hold. Strict, strict budget for things like entertainment and eating out. No travel. Maybe getting rid of the cell phone. And you KNOW things are bad when there will be no dancing lessons, either. Commence crying now.

My car has fallen under the curse. The evil, evil curse of the Beastmoblie. Those of you who have been reading this blog for over two years have read the posts about my old car. There were scores of them. This post is the best introduction, and one of my finer song re-works. When the Beastmobile (aka a 1989 Olds Cutlas) finally bit it in November of 2005 (thanks to a dear sir who felt that he didn't really feel like stopping for a red light), it was joyfully replaced by a beauteous issue-free 1994 Civic with a piddly 94,114 km on it. 59,480 miles, for you Americans out there. :) And it's been glorious. Only the routine oil changes and a scheduled timing belt replacement at about 100,000 km.

Until now.

Last winter my trunk began leaking. So much so that when I braked, you could hear it sloshing around. Off I went to my parent's house so that we could drain it and run a space heater in it to dry it out while it sat dry and toasty in the carport (I only have street parking). It was a few months till I could get it into the body shop to have the leak fixed, but eventually I did, and voila! No more leak!

This summer, though, my car began to overheat, so I took it in. It needed a water pump. Ok, fine, that's expected. I got that fixed and a few other odds and ends and forked over around six hundred and fifty bucks. Oof. Oh well, such is the cost of owning a car.

Of course, having just replaced the water heater in July, one would not expect that the cooling system - including a problematic fan that wasn't an issue last time - would have to be done AGAIN in November. Such was the case, however, when I began to overheat on a long drive out to the valley (which reminds me, I really need to write a few posts...). My mechanic - God bless him - charged me no labour. Still it was five hundred and twenty bucks for parts.

As summer turned to fall and fall faded into winter, the weather got wetter. So did my trunk. Just a bit at first, but come the full-fledged rainy season, it was back to a sloshing pool of rain water in the back of my trunk. Goodie goodie gum drops. Now, having the folding seats that I do, there's a little flap of fabric that rests in the trunk. All the better to soak up the water and bring it into the seats, my dear. This I discovered as I picked friends up for Christmas dinner and they arrived at my parents house with wet a$$es. Classy. All the subsequent driving around I did over the holiday involved folded up towels in the back seat for people to sit on. Double classy.

Over the last week of the holiday, I noticed that my car would chug a little bit when it was idling, and sometimes there was quite a bit of really nasty smeling white exhaust. But only sometimes. Then, last Friday, it chugged so much it felt like I was sitting in a massage chair and as I dropped off my friend Becca, it filled the neighbourhood with noxious smelling white smoky exhaust. I only has about 30 blocks to home, so I tried to make it. The temperature guage was up higher than the red and I was billowing massive clouds of smoke as I went. When steam began to billow out from under the hood, however, I pulled 'er over post haste and walked the remaining fourteen blocks to my house. Of course, not before opening the hood to find that the small amount of water in the overflow resevoir was boiling. So let's recap, shall wee? I had water in my trunk and no water in my engine. You'd think they'd learn to share or something. Geez.

I waited till the next morning and drove it straight to the mechanic to be parked there over the weekend. No chance I was gonna drive around with it ready to blow at any second. Of course, the drive there was without incident. Anyway, there it sat, to be looked at on Monday. Two guy friends of mine both told me - independently of each other - that from what I was describing, it sounded like a blown head gasket. Now I don't know much, but I know that THAT is expensive. Like really a lot. Oh happy fun times of joyousness.

I called to check in with the mechanic after school on Monday (yesterday) and he told me that one of the things that had puzzled him last time was still acting up - the computer that controlled the fan that helped to cool the engine. So he changed that. I asked about the head gasket, and he told me that while all the symptoms pointed to exactly that, he could find no evidence of a blown gasket. No mixed fluid anywhere, nothing on the spark plugs, and he drove it all over the place all day long and never once did it chug or smoke for him. He did everything he could and couldn't make it do what it was doing for me. Typical. He got the other mechanic at the shop to look at it, too, and he couldn't find anything either. He told me that when gaskets blow, they blow, and it's not intermittent, so he was very confused. Head gaskets are a very common fix, but he had never seen this problem before in all his years of working on cars. Goooood. That makes me feel SO much better. Yerg. Ah, but of course! We forgot that we're talking about one of MY cars.

He told me that he really couldn't bring himself to fix something he wasn't convinced was broken, so we'd leave it at the computer and the other tweaks he'd done and see how it fared. He was cautiously optomistic that this was the final fix. So off I went tonight after work to pick it up. And to unload another five hundred and twenty bucks. What are we at now, about $1700 since July? No problemo, I'll just go pick it off the money tree in the back yard... Oh right. I DON'T HAVE ONE.

While I was at the shop, I asked, "Well, just in case this isn't the final fix, how much would a blown head gasket actually cost me?" He told me that under normal circumstances it would be a couple of thousand dollars (CHOKE! COUGH! SPUTTER!), but that he'd have pity on me, and I shouln't worry, it would be painless. But the car is probably fixed now. So home I went with my probably fixed car.

Of course I watched the temperature guage and exhaust like a hawk all the way home. Temperature? Fine. Exhaust? Normal. Chugging? Non-existent. Woohoo!

That is, until about the last 8 or 10 blocks. Was that a cloud of white smoke I saw, or am I just paranoid? And I'm starting to feel that slight chug... or is my mind playing tricks on me? I pulled up to my parking spot and let it idle for a minute.

POUF!!!

And there is was. Billowing cloud, chug-a-lugging engine, crying Hillary.

Let's see how much my mechanic's pity is gonna cost me THIS time. Oh yeah, and that trunk leak is still not fixed, either. It's not like THAT can be left alone forever, either. Good thing I just got my Christmas mastercard bill and bought myself a bedroom suite, too. Anyone got some excess wealth they'd like to share?

Frickity frackity flappity FLIP!!!

Pardon me while I go cry now.

Conversations

H: [after making some strange face or sound or both] Oh Brad, why am I so weird?
B: I stopped asking that a long time ago.
H: Oh come on, you've met my dad, you're supposed to know the answer to this.
B: Oh right! It's genetic! ... I get my bad sense of humour from my dad.
H: What?!? You've got a fantastic sense of humour!
B: Yeah! I don't know where I got the good part from!

New Year's Prayers

Three years ago I went to a Christian retreat center for New Years Day and I came across these two prayers. I don't know who wrote them or where they came from, but they particularly struck me, so I wrote them down and come back to them every year. As I go and spend some time on them today, I thought I would share them.

~~~

Father, I surrender the past year and give it up to you. I give you my failures, my regrets, and my disappointments, for I have no more use for them. Make me now a new person, forgetting what lies behind and pressing on toward that which lies ahead of me. I give you all my hopes and dreams about the future. Purify them by your spirit so that my will shall truly reflect your will for me. As I stand on the threshold of a new year, encourage me by my successes, challenge me by the power of your word, and guide me by your spirit.

~~~

You keep us waiting. You, the God of all time,
want us to wait for the right time in which to discover
who we are, where we must go, and what we must do.

Thank you for the waiting time.

You keep us looking. You, the God of all space,
want us to look in the right and wrong places for signs of hope,
for people who are hopeless, for visions of a better world
which will appear among the disappointments of the world we know.

Thank you for the looking time.

You keep us loving. You, the God whose name is love,
want us to be like you - to love the loveless and the unlovely
and the unlovable; to love without jealousy or design or threat,
and most difficult of all, to love ourselves.

Thank you for the loving time.

And in all this you keep us,
through hard questions with no easy answers,
through failing where we hoped to succeed,
and making an impact where we thought we were useless,
through the patience and the dreams and the love of others
and through Christ and his spirit you keeps us.

Thank you for the keeping time
and for now, and for ever.
Amen.

(click for full size)