Mahwiage is wot bwings us toogevah tooday

I woke up at 6:15am on Thursday, and other than dozing on the plane the whole way to Windsor, I didn't go to bed till about midnight on Friday night. Mental note: sleep is good. Not sleeping is bad. It makes you do all kinds of crazy things. BUT, Red Bull can be your best friend in a pinch. That is all.

Trudy and I arrived in Windsor for Dave and Becca's wedding and were quickly integrated into the pre-wedding insanity (read: fun). The other girls had been there for a few days and had been cooking, organizing, and supporting Becca in all things last-minute related. We were all staying at Becca's parent's house, so in all there were 7 girls who had taken over. We had a blast that night - wine, giggles, foot massages, toasts, fashion shows, and a few other festivities - and getting ready the next day. Hair, makeup, excitement, photos... it was SO fun to be involved in all that, even though I wasn't actually a part of the wedding party. Becca was wonderful at including everyone, even in her formal photos. It was splendiferous, and really was great to be a part of all that fun stuff. That's really what makes wedding so much fun is all the behind-the-scenes stuff.

And the wedding itself, of course, was beautiful. I have TONS of photos (did you really expect anything different?!) which I'll pare down and post when I get home. The wedding was outdoors in a park with a little lake as a backdrop. It was casually elegant - they pulled that seeming oxymoron off wonderfully. The reception was a pot-luck BBQ. Everybody brought a salad or a dessert, and then there were all kinds of skewers grilled on the BBQs. Everyone pitched in, and everyone had a blast. It was a really neat concept for a wedding!

And now Dave and Becca are hitched! Ah-WOO-HOO! I can't wait to see them when they get back from their honeymoon in Turkey! (Lucky!)

After the wedding, Trudy, Jordan, Lloyd (friends from Vancouver) went into downtown Windsor (woohoo!) to party with all the 19 year olds who cross the border from Detroit cause they're still too young to drink in the states. Oh man, they looked like babies! [crying] I'm getting oooolllllldddd!!!

Heh.

We checked out the waterfront then found an Irish Pub with live music and chilled there before going back to Lloyd and Jordan's hosts and having a late night PJ party. We didn't go to bed till about 3:30. Once again with the no sleep. Once again with the Red Bull the next day.

Sunday we blasted back to Toronto and while Lloyd hung out with his old man, Jordan and Trudy and I did some sightseeing. Which consisted of a funky market-style restaurant and the CN Tower. And that was about it. We straggled ourselves down to the waterfront and collapsed on a shady grassy knoll for an ice cream and a wee nap. So pretty much I can say I've seen Toronto now, right?

Ok, so maybe the tower and a small section of boardwalk doesn't quite count. Meh. Whatever. ;)

After meeting up again with Lloyd for dinner with some of his friends from university and chilling back at one of their apartments, we crashed at Lloyd's dad's place and I got up early the next morning to head back south to Grand Rapids...

Holy MACKEREL

I hadn't used that saintly fish expression in a while. I figured it was about time.

I leave in LESS THAN FOUR HOURS for my crazy road trip. Windsor, Ontario for a wedding, Toronto, Niagara Falls, Grand Rapids to see Jean and Anne, Cincinnati to see Sarah, then back to Toronto to see Ann. I! AM! SO! EXCITED! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! But! My laundry is still going, I still have dishes to do, and I have not packed one single thing. Except my "nerd bag" of chargers, camera cords, batteries, etc. But other than that? N-o-t-h-i-n-g.

I think. I. am. going. to. die.

OK, so maybe I'm being a wee tad melodramatic. So shoot me. But seriously. This is the craziest day I've had in a looong time.

I got up bright and shiny early for my last day of summer school (there is not enough room on this blog to contain the WOOHOO that that fact deserves). I plowed through the day, said goodbye to the kids (who still have to go back tomorrow, nyah nyah!), and then set to nearly three hours of packing up not one but two, count'em TWO classrooms from the summer school mayhem. And writing a sub plan for tomorrow. And hauling all my boxes from my now-packed up grade 5 classroom from where I thought I could keep them to where I was actually SUPPOSED to keep them. I can't move them to my new room cause I still don't know what the heck I'm teaching next year. And it may be that I'm back to being stuck in the French Immersion grade 2. BAH. I don't even want to go there right now.

After leaving work at 7:15pm, I began the mad dash - to the mall for shoes to go with the dress for the wedding on Saturday. Then to the insurance place for rental car insurance. Don't need it. Yay! Got back to my car. Frickkin lights left on. Battery dead. Friendly hippie man in Pink Floyd Hammer pants (OK, sure. Whatever floats your boat) gave my car a jump. To Future Shop. I'm now the proud owner of a wireless FM transmitter for my MP3 player. Kinda can't have a road trip without tunes, eh? Drove like a maniac (uhm, mom, I mean, I drove safely and calmly 3km under the speed limit the whole way) to a different insurance place for travel insurance. Squeaked in ONE minute before closing. Headed home. Laundry and dishes everywhere. Threatening to TAKE OVER THE WORLD!!!! No time. Noooo tiiiiime!

I've booked the taxi for 4am. He's gonna call when he's here. Think I can count on that for a wake up call? Heh, no matter. I have a feeling I'll still be up.

Three hours and counting.... guess I really should go pack now, eh?

Hooraaaay for holidays. The prep makes me insane, but oooooh, I can't wait!!!!!

Three Wonderful Things

{Cross-posted at SarahCool, too... is that allowed? :-P I wrote it there, first! }

A while back, I came across a blog that was called something like "Three Wonderful Things." The woman who wrote it posted every day with three things that brought her joy that day. Every. Single. Day. It was such a simple concept that it generated a lot of publicity, and she was getting gazillions of hits a day. I can no longer find it (does anyone know what I'm talking about?), but two things really struck me out of this discovery.

First, it's that huge need we all have to see something joyful, to share in a common experience. I think things like that - so simple, but quite profound - really touch a place in our hearts that needs attention at times. Not that I'm trying to pull out the "media is evil" card, but so much of what we're inundated with is negative, is trying to make us fearful, is overwhelming us. Not just in the media, in life, too. We're busy, we're stressed. Who has time to stop and smell the proverbial roses? This lady did, and it caused a near phenomenon.

But more than that, it really challenged me. Could I find 'three wonderful things' about my day? About EVERY day? Often they were simple, sometimes they were profound. She said at first it seemed contrived. "Walking down the sidewalk in the sunshine." What? Really? But she was (is) all about finding those things in life to be happy about. What struck me was that it's a total mindset shift. And I like where it settled.

So lest I begin to sound like a "let's be happy all the time" kind of head-in-the-clouds wacko, I want to clarify. This is something I'm thinking about in my spiritual life, too. Gratitude. Recognizing the blessing after blessing after blessing that God pours out. Even when life is hard. I often think that it's so easy for me to get caught up in all the dust that my busy life kicks up, that my view of the vertical gets blocked out. I think I'd do much better by sitting still a while, letting that dust settle, and just looking UP.

So from yesterday, here are my three wonderful things.

1. Walking down the sidewalk in the sunshine. Really. After nearly two weeks of cold, grey, rainy weather, I was so grateful for the sunshine. It lifted my mood incredibly.

2. Our summer school principal treating us to a double recess yesterday afternoon. I was able to have an actual conversation with some of the staff that I hadn't been able to talk to previously, and it was nice to get to know them a little more.

3. The eight year old in my summer school class who, when everyone else was suggesting that, no, you can't touch emotions (we were asking deep thinking questions, and we were trying to determine, "What are emotions?"), she said:
~ "Well, some emotions you can touch."
~ Really? Which ones?
~ "Well, you can touch love."
~ Aaah! Interesting... How do you touch love?
~ "Well, when someone gives you a hug, that's how you touch love. And how love touches you."

I nearly cried. I hope you touch love today.

What are your three wonderful things?

It's like I'm FAMOUS!

Cool Sarah Cool asked me to guest post for her while she's away this week. Go check out todays' entry over at her place!

Lucy Bear

No time (or ability - just seeing this picture is making me bust into tears) for words right now. I'm on my way to my parents house to accompany them and my dear sweet puppy dog to the vet to be put down. We've had her for thirteen and a half years, since she was a six-week-old bundle of fuzz. I'd better not forget my kleenex.

This S-U-C-K-S.

BOOOOT CAAAAAMP!

Boot Camp! It's over!!! I lived! Four weeks of working out every day from 6-7am, baby. I was a slug before, and I feel soooo good now. It really was fun - not the "carry logs through the mud with the instructor screaming in your face the whole way" kind of thing. It WAS intense, though. Daniella, the instructor, didn't let us stop for a minute that whole hour. Monday was upper body - oh! the pushups! - Tuesdays was core, Wednesdays was lower body - LUNGE! LUNGE! LUNGE! - Thursdays was cardio (I thought I was gonna DIE), and Fridays was a mix of everything. So basically the pain went in waves down my body each week! :P

Heh, Daniella was definitely my kind of instructor. She has a quirky sense of humour and enjoyed joking around with us while pushing us to our limits. She'd routinely yell out things like, "Squeeeeeze your bum!" or "Feeeeel the jigglies!" or "That's a spic-ay meat-a-ball!"

Probably my favourite bootcamp moment? At about 6:15 in the morning, she led us over to a paved path leading downhill from the schoolyard to the neighbouring park. On one side was a playground, and on the other, the fence and yard of a neighbouring house. She told us to (a) hold out both arms and (b) hop on one foot... "like a chicken" (really? chickens hop on one foot?) all the way down the hill. Demonstrating, she then proceeded to squawk like a chicken all the way down. This royally freaked out the dog that was apparently sleeping right on the other side of the fence. He started BARKING AND BARKING AND BARKING, shattering the early morning silence as we all tried to follow Daniella's lead (um, minus the clucking), but really couldn't cause we were laughing so stinkin' hard. It was really her that made it fun and bearable (even though I was cursing her when she made us run up and down the hill for three minutes!).

So. Results? Visible muscle gained (to me, who had a point of reference before, so no, no pictures! Hehe), 9 pounds lost, 6.5 inches lost in various places, and I'm really happy about the fit test results...

Pushups - the most you can do in one minute: from 22 to 49 (gah! I wanted to get to 50, but the minute was up... aaaand I was about to collapse)
Crunches - the most you can do in one minute: from 35 to 54
Plank hold - as long as you can: from 1:36 to when she stopped us at 3:00
Squat hold - as long as you can: 45 seconds to 1:42
1 km run - 5:42 (ugh, that's slow!) to 4:57 (better, but still slow. Whatever I'm a slow runner.)

I would definitely sign up again (though, uh, how 'bout NOT when I'm on holidays! I'd like to sleep in, thankyouverymuch!).

(Now the challenge will be to keep it up when I'm not actually going to a class! Yikers!)

YEAHOO!

Why yes, I WOULD like some cheese with my whine

I am soooo freaking TIRED. I was tired at the end of May. I was ready for a holiday. Then came the marathon report card season. Then I got to try to muster up the energy for summer school. I haven't even blogged about it... meh. I'm teaching grade 4-7 math in the mornings, with 7 kids (woohoo!) and grade 1-3 reading and writing in the afternoon. Twelve kids. I counted today and realized that I was at the halfway point to summer school being over. You'd have thought I would be happy. Actually, it was incredibly depressing. ONLY HALFWAY????? Holy cow. I need to sleeeep. For a very very long time. I can't even really do anything to take advantage of summer in the evenings cause I've been up since 5:15am for bootcamp and have Z-E-R-O energy left after that and a full day of teaching, and have to be up again early the next day. Yoikes.

BUT. Bootcamp. So awesome. The early mornings are kicking my butt, but said butt (and rest of me) have come a long way since I started. I have muscles! Woohoo! And? Three more days and I'm done... and I can sleep in in the mornings (you know it's bad when you're looking forward to being able to sleep IN till 6:30!) Sah-WEET!

So. Bootcamp: three days left. Summer school: seven teaching days left. Me: Hanging on by a thread.

Come oooon, vacation!

....... Why the heck aren't I sleeping right now???

Brought to you by Statcounter

Just cause it amuses me, here are yet more search strings that have brought you, the googling public to my blog...

* tragic love [sigh]
* fat ankles in fancy shoes [double sigh!!]
* crazy stuff on tape [yup]
* dog paxil [really?]
* how popples get into the pouch [duh - you turn them over and stuff them in]
* what to do if my dog ate a slug [I wouldn't worry. That slime'll make it go right through him]
* pictures of mcdonalds in moose jaw [um, who cares?]
* prostitution in avignon, provence [not the right place for that, sikko]
* magic dancer bootcamp [booyeah]
* teach right way to shoot meth [I'm not that kind of teacher!]
* is he in love or crazy [let me know when you've figured it out!]

The little Canada Day post that couldn't

I should SO not be posting this. A friend convinced me I should. I have a feeling I'll be regretting this...

On Canada Day, my plan was to record a Canada Day greeting video and post it on my blog (somewhat inspired by my friend Ken's post, seen here). But alas, my camera doesn't have sound.

"No problem!" though I. I'll just do a goofy little video where I hold up signs saying what I want to say and then smile and wave and be goofy. So off I went and made a whole series of signs including the ones for when I would "sing" the national anthem, got them in order, and convinced my friend Trudy to film it for me in my backyard. I figure she owed me after DRAWING ALL OVER MY FACE the night before. (Hi Trudles!)

Well here's the reason you never saw it. Er, till now. It didn't exactly work. But it's kinda hilarious anyway... can you tell I'm mouthing the words to O Canada?


The page on my back says, "Proud to be Canadian!" And no, I didn't forget the words! I was just checking that I had the right page!!!

Hillary's in da house

"Why do you always attract SO! MUCH! freakin' action???"

That was the question my dad laughingly asked me, as we settled into our thrones after being crowned king and queen at the improv last night.

'At's right. Someone FINALLY recognized my true royalty. (HA!)

Let me back up, shall I? For father's day, I told my dad that I would take him to go see the improv - a daddy-daughter date. So last night was the night. We went out for dinner first (trying not to totally melt in the heat) and then headed down to Granville Island to see the improv show down there. The theme was "The Improvised Works of Bill Shakespeare."

The theatre is wide and shallow, and across the front there are tables and chairs like in a lounge or something, and then an aisle, then theatre-type seats. I suggested a place in the front row of the theatre seats, in part cause they're good seats, in part cause it would give my 6'4'' dad some good leg room. We settled into our seats, and unbeknownst to me, my dad was kind of hoping that we could blend in a little more. He didn't want to be picked on by the actors or anything like that - he just wanted to sit back and enjoy the show, somewhat invisible.

Well.

As soon as we had sat down, like a tractor beam - *bthzzzzzzt!* - somebody honed in on us - she introduced herself as the stage manager. "I'm wondering if you two would like to be our king and queen for the improv show tonight."

Uhhh.... (OK, well, my dad was like, "uhhh..." and inside I was like "Woohoo! Sweet! Yeah!" Heh. I'm such a wack-job!)

She told us what would be required of us, and basically convinced us (ok, my dad. I needed no convincing) to take on the roles. She brought out our robes - red for me, deep purple for my dad, both trimmed in white - and our crowns - lovely gold plastic with not-so-sparkly jewels - and showed us our thrones. All my dad could do at that point was shake his head and laugh, roll his eyes and make the best of it.

The premise of the show was the the king and queen (hello!) had commissioned a play, but poor Bill had been out carousing and didn't get it done, so now it all had to be improvised, and if the show doth pleaseth not the king and queen, ol' Bill mayeth thus be beheaded. Or something like that.

So we got introduced at the beginning of the show, and for one of the games had to call out "rewrite" for the actors to change the last line uttered, and a few other perks and benefits. But yeah, the spotlight turned on us three or four times during the show for us to do some royal duty or another. We both had fun playing it up.

Like when the group of high schoolers from New York started calling out "rewrite" instead of us, my dad bellowed out, "SILENCE!" and the improv host totally played it up by cowering in fear and telling them, "Thou has aaaangered thy king! [turning to us and bowing low, with the hand rolling wave of a faithful servant] I'm sorry, your majesty. Please take this next scene as my humble apologies..." and on and on. I just about fell out of my chair laughing. (hi Sarah!)

It was definitely a night to remember.

And??? There were prizes, folks! Prizes! At the end of the show, we got two tickets to return to the improv and FOUR tickets to go see a Canadians baseball game at Nat Bailey stadium. SCORE!

The moral of this story is: beware if you're hanging out with me. Life will never be dull! *grin*

Now, knowing that, who wants to go see them some baseball? Or improv? Heh. heh. heh.

Ssssmokin'! [UPDATED]

It's HOT! It's been hot the last few weeks, and it's supposed to get even hotter today and tomorrow. Record breaking temperatures, they say. Up to 35 degrees (95 farenheit), they say Be careful of your power usage, they say. A transformer's already blown downtown from all the air conditioning units working at top speed.

And I'm teaching summer school. With no air conditioning. Longer hours than regular school. Booo. BUT, it's money, which is nice. And I'm taking tomorrow off to enjoy the sun (heck, I don't get paid if I don't work - no sick days in summer school - so I feel ZERO guilt at all) and some time with my very bestest friend in the whole wide world (I really should condense that... VBFITWWW? Yeah, that's even harder to type!) and her hubby and their two cutie-patootie munchkins who I hardly ever get to see cause they live in Iowa. Yes, I am aware that that was pretty much the worst sentence ever written.

So I'm gonna stop writing here and leave you with some pictures of summer fun. Click either picture to view the whole set. There are some gems in there. Don't miss out! :)

Hiking:
And kayaking:

UPDATE: edit: it got up to 38 yesterday. THIRTY-EIGHT! That's 100 degrees, folks. For temperate Vancouver, that's H-O-T! No WONDER I was melting!

The front fell off

Absolutely hilarious. HI-LA-RI-OUS.

Looking ahead

Seeing as it's only one day in to summer school and I'm sick of it ALREADY (Why??? Why oh WHY did I sign myself up for this?), I figured I'd take a little looksie at what the REST of my summer is going to look like.

Weekends: as much ocean and mountain time as I can swing. Weekdays: as full of summer fun as I can make them. Strawberry picking, anyone?

The last Friday in July, I'm flying off to Windsor, Ontario for my friends Dave and Becca's wedding. They are some of the bestest people in the world, and I'm sooooo excited for them. They live here in Vancouver, but are both from Ontari-ari-ari-o, so are getting married out there. Then heading off for their honeymoon in Turkey. Luh-keee.

After the wedding, I figure that I'm out east anyway, so I may as well stay there for a bit and do something fun. Will it be a road trip up to Ottawa and Montreal (with a stop at Niagara Falls along the way), or will it be a road trip south to... oh, I don't know... Grand Rapids and Cincinnati? Plans hinge slightly on something beyond my control, so who knows! Maybe I'll just rent a car and see where I end up!

Mental note. Book plane ticket HOME.

After that, I'll have a few weeks chilling out in Vancouver - hopefully with lots of camping, hiking, and beach time - I'm headed to Mexico! I've kinda fallen behind the eight ball with posting about this one. It's been a thought process for a while now...

Back in February, I found out that my church was taking two teams to Mexico - Terrazzas, to be specific, just outside of Tijuana - to build a house for a family living in the slums there, to run some kids programs, and to love the socks off of anyone we meet. At first I was kind of considering it, but pushed it out of my mind with all kinds of excuses...

Naw, it'll be too hot in August. {suck it up, princess}
Well, I only have so much time off, I don't want to spend a quarter of it away and... {and WHAT, Hillary? Helping people?!?! Sheesh}
Well I don't have the money. {not true}
I don't know if I'm called to go. {"Go into all the world..." Sounds like a call to me!}
But that's the stereotypical missions trip: go to Mexico, build a house. {Seriously? That's a reason not to go?}
Blah blah blah.

Yes, I realize how STUPID these sound now.

But the excuses won out, and I wasn't going to go. Then the May team came back, and there was a meeting for anyone interested in the August team, or who just wanted to see pictures and hear about the trip. To be completely and totally honest, I went to the meeting cause a cute boy was going, too.

I AM SO BAD!!!!! SOOOOOO BAAAAD! *hangs head in shame*

So the pics were fun, the stories were great, and I was still not going.

But God didn't really want to leave me alone on this one. He kept pestering me. Like a Facebook spammer, he poked and poked and poked.

You've been wanting to get more out of your own little world. This is a chance to do that. *poke*
You've been looking for opportunities to serve. Well here you go. *poke*
You've been needing a change in the way you hear My voice. I will speak to you on this trip. *poke*
You've always talked about how you'd like to do missions one day. This may be a place to start. *poke*
You have the time. *poke*
You have the money. *poke*
*poke* *poke* *poke* *poke* *poke*

OKAY OKAY OKAY!!!

So I've filled in my application, paid my deposit, and I'm on the team. I head down August 18-25, and I get more and more excited about it every day....


And NO, the cute boy is not going!

Making good

Yikes, it was a busy weekend. I'm only just getting to the "no French" story now...

So Friday was the last day of school for teachers. We had our breakfast, said goodbye to the staff who were leaving, and then people began to disperse - some to rooms to clean up, some straight out the front doors to begin their vacation. I was chatting with a friend of mine in her room when her cell phone rang. She got all excited and flustered, and ran off to take the call...

It turns out she had applied for a job in a different district, and that call was to offer her a job. She was sneaky! She didn't tell anyone about it, including me (well, I knew she was applying, but I had only known for about three days). "See? That's why I kept telling you to do whatever you could to stay at this school. I had this up my sleeve!"

I'm sure glad I listened!

So next year there will be a grade 1/2 class available. BUT, there's a teacher who has always wanted to do primary. Apologetically, my principal told me that we'd have to offer the job to her first, because she has more seniority than me, and if she took it, I'd take her job. And her job? Grade 4/5!!!! Just what I was doing this year (or at least very very close).

Either way, I'll be working with fantastic people - the same team I worked with this year if I do the 4/5, who I love - or another grade one teacher who has been teaching grade one for years and years, and is SO sweet and helpful and friendly and AWESOME. And she's told me not to worry, she has everything - her whole program, and she'll give me everything I need; I can jsut do exactly what she's doing. PLUS, the teacher who's leaving is not enrolling a class next year - it's a district special needs position - so she'll leave me all her stuff that I can use, as I don't have ANYthing for primary. Score!

AND I GET TO TEACH IN ENGLISH!!!!

You have N.O. idea how relieved I am about this.

WAHOOOOO!

And now, back I go to what I SHOULD be doing... getting ready for summer school. Ze kidlets arrive tomorrow. It's supposed to be 30 degrees... It's only about 20 now and I'm already melting. Anyone feel like funding air conditioning for a *ahem* hot elementary school teacher? *wink*

Why you should NEVER trust your friends

Saturday night, three friends came over to my house for an evening of chardonnay and silliness. It was great fun. We had goiter cheese (seriously... what WAS that stuff? It was some kind of soft-ish cheese that smelled like a campfire, looked like a goiter, and tasted like... well, cheese), strawberries, grapes, chocolate, and a few rather large bottles of chardonnay. We played silly games, and were all very sleepy.

Some more than others.

Let me just say this. School has just finished (HALLELUJAH!) and all the go-go-go of the year, and in particular the last month, is starting to catch up with me. I'm one tired chicken. AND, I've been up at 5:15 every morning for boot camp, pushing my body to it's limits (and having to at times lift my legs into the car cause they're too sore to move on thier own. And boy-howdy, don't make me laugh after core day. Them abs is SORE!). So there's that aspect of tiredness, too. And, we did a 15 km hike earlier that day. AND I'd had three glasses of chardonnay. And I don't usually drink. And it was almost midnight.

So I fell asleep on the couch during our game. That's right. DURING. I still had my cards in my hand. (Click any picture for a larger view)

My so-called-friends began to plot and scheme...


And then the deed was done...



...along with some carefully placed props


Oh, but that wasn't enough. Nooo. Seeing as I was still holding my cards, and apparently didn't even flinch when they DREW ALL OVER MY FACE and took over a dozen flash pictures, they decided they'd have to go for more. Do you SEE the evil on her face???

I'm surprised they were merciful enough to just paint my nails, and not grace me with silver eyelids or something. It was only for fear of wrath and revenge when I awoke, I'm sure!


It must have been the fumes that woke me up.


And the camera man? Looks sweet and innocent here, but no! He's a black-hearted part of the axis of evil as well!

They told me, "Hey, Hillary! Show us your fingernail!" So I did.

Just you wait, my pretties. One day, when you're least expecting it, I'll be waiting for you. You will rue the day. RUE! I tell you!

Muah hahahaaaaa!

That's when the heavens opened up and the angels sang a hallelujah chorus

How quickly things change. I don't have to teach grade two French Immersion next year!!!!!!! More happy dances for Hillary!!!

More to come....

Never to be the same again

Today was the last day of scool.

After the flurry of handing out report cards and gathering up all remaining belongings, my kids were all lined up at the door. Their hands full, chattering excitedly, they counted the few remaining moments before the bell rang, signalling their long-awaited release to freedom.

As the bell rang, cheers echoed down the hallway. "I love hugs!" I told them. "If anyone wants a hug, I'll be happy to give them!"

"Bye Miss Hillary!" "Thanks for teaching us!" "Have a good summer!" "See you next year!" "We'll come and visit you in your new classroom!" "I'll miss you!"

For maybe two minutes, my world was a flurry of goodbyes, well wishes, hugs, and thank yous. I waved at them as they made their way down the stairs and outside, and after the last student disappeared from my view, I turned around and looked back into my classroom.

The bulletin boards are down, the desks are empty, and the cloakroom is bare - save a few forgotten items: an umbrella, an unclaimed hood from a winter jacket, the odd pencil and scrap of paper. The recycle bins are overflowing with paper - work the kids just couldn't wait to forget - and my desk is a disaster - all part of the packing up process. Remnants from our year end party are scattered everywhere, despite my best efforts at getting everything in the garbage bags. But the biggest thing I notice is that the room is quiet. It is every day around this time, but this time it's a different kind of quiet... my kidlets aren't coming back.

Just like that - *poof!* - they're gone.

That was when the tears came.

It's over. It's time to let them go. My kidlets have definitely left their mark on me, and I'm gonna miss them.

One girl who I've secretly nicknamed "the little ray of sunshine" came back up the stairs as I was trying to compose myself. "Miss Hillary, I forgot to give you this!" She had a flowering plant for me.

"Thank you for teaching me!"
"You're welcome sweetie! It was my pleasure!" I sheepshly grinned and pointed to my face. "Ha! Look at me! I'm gonna miss you guys!"
Seeing my tears, she came over and gave me a great big hug.

These kids, I tell you. They get me every. single. time.

Not that I'm counting or anything... (new posts below - scroll down!)

I totally yoinked this ticker idea from Leespea. It seemed fitting.

Speaking of Duct Tape...

Not only is the stuff good for feet, apparently you can make prom outfits with it, too. Check it out - there's a contest going on, and you can vote for the best outfit. The top ten finalists are up, in outfits and accessories made entirely from duct tape. My guess is it would be awfully HOT in those geddups! Amy from Eliza Jane is backing #3881 (well, her sister is, anyway! ;) ). Check 'em out, and prepare to be amazed. The things people come up with...

Boot Camp Day One

I survived!

Hehe. Well, today was just an evaluation day, mostly. We did measurements (*shiver*) and fitness testing - how many push ups in a minute, how many sit ups, how long can you hold a plank position, a timed 1km run, etc. - then we did an upper body workout. Ho-lee. My arms are like jello. Don't ask me to lift anything. Like, at all. Not even a pencil. Owchie. Oh man, I'm such a wuss.

BUT! That's why I'm there! I got to school super early (boot camp is only about 5 blocks from work), had a quick breaky, and now have almost an hour to get stuff done in my classroom. Contrast that to last week when I was arriving five minutes before the bell. IF that.

Woohoo! I feel great! Er, we'll see how I feel after Friday. THAT might be a wee bit different!

And Sarah, camping stories and pictures will be forthcoming! Probably not till tomorrow. Suffice it to say, it was AWESOME.

Quick but oh so sincere

Oh MAN! I've been so busy that I haven't even had time to throw a big "WOOHOO" party on my blog. And there's a few good reasons for a WOOHOO party. I'm celebrating in my heart!

Numero uno: I'm finally finished the beasts that are my report cards. THAT deserves the biggest WOOHOO of them all. 6 teaching days till summer! WOO!! HOO!!

#2 - It's officially summer! Well, er, that was yesterday. I'm behind. Oh well.

Reason three: on Wednesday I got re-connected with an old friend, and met a super cool new one! :) More to come on that later. You know, when I have time.

partie quatre: I'm going camping this weekend for one of my best friend's staggettes! Yaaaay! And I just got new camping pots (which are better quality than my actual kitchen pots. I wish I was kidding.) The one thing that might take this off the woohoo list? It's supposed to rain all weekend! Eek!

Gotta go, I haven't even packed yet! YIKERS!

A little bit glamour, a little bit Red Green

Last weekend I bought dancing shoes. I figured that I've been dancing now for nearly 10 months, it's probably about time I bought proper shoes. I had done a little bit of looking around, and knew what I wanted: strappy, black, with a low-ish chunky heel. The heels were critical. I can't even stand in high heels, let alone walk, let alone dance! I kinda like my ankles. I prefer not to break them.

I found a store in town that had what I was looking for, and so when the right size came in, I scooped them up.

As soon as I got them home, I put them on. "Ooooh! Preeetty!" Not one to have really had strappy fancy shoes before (what is wrong with me?) I don't think I'd ever seen my feet look so pretty! *giggle*

It was perfect timing, as I was going to a dance on Saturday AND had my lesson and dance on Sunday. Sah-weet!

Off I went to the dance, a little wary of blisters, but I had worn them around the house during the day, and they felt great. And they were great. OH what a difference suede-bottomed shoes make to spinning. I could twirl and twirl and twirl! And I could slide! One of my favourite people to dance with, Chris, and I did a bunch of that, it was SO much fun! Side by side, arms around each other's shoulders, we'd step, step, run-run sssllliiiide, one foot out in front of the other, both of us totally laughing and having a ball. I mean, uhm, looking like serious professional dancers. Yeah.

That is, until about halfway through the evening, when that pain on my heels became unbearable. I was dancing with another friend - Dancin' Dave - and with the first step, I was wincing. He asked what was wrong, and I told him I had brutal blisters forming on my feet. He whisked me over to his magical dancing bag which he keeps stocked with protein shakes, bandaids, and a plethora of other random emergency supplies. "Yeah, I just have the small bag tonight," he told me as I marveled at the fact that he had come so well prepared. "In my other bag I've usually got a sewing kit and a few extra women's heels and tools to fix them, too." Dancin' Dave is a miracle man!

So, my bandaided feet all set and ready to go, I kept on dancing. And dancing. And dancing. But bandaids were just not gonna cut it. My shoes decided to munch up my feet pretty good that night. Munch munch munch! I'll spare you pictures of the holes they wore in the backs of my heels and across my toes. It's not pretty. And it hurt like FIRE.

I had to wear capri pants so the hem of my pants didn't touch the open blisters - like FIRE! FIRE, I tell you!!! - and I didn't wear closed-heeled shoes for a full week afterwards.

Tonight is my dancing lesson, and I need to be prepared. So off I went to London Drugs to pick up round two of foot care (round one were the bandaids and blister pads I tried for last Sunday's class that all just rolled off and caused even more pain on my mangled feet. I gave up on the dancing shoes half way through the lesson.). Round two - pad the shoes, not the heels. I bought these sticky foamy pad thingies that glue in to the back of the heels and supposedly keep your feet from slipping and prevent (more) blisters, and little gel strips that glue onto the underside of the straps. I have so much gunk glued into my shoes right now it's not even funny.

Why all the effort, you ask? Cause the shoes are PRETTY and they help me SPIN and darnit, I WANT PRETTY FEET when I'm dancing! (That, and the shoes were NOT cheap and are not returnable.)

There's the glamour. Black strappy shoes, red painted toes, spinning girl out on the dance floor. But where does the Red Green come in, you ask.

For those of you not familiar with Red Green, he's Canada's favourite handyman. (Click the link. It's great!) Some of his favourite sayings? "If the women don't find ya handsome, they should at least find ya handy." And, "If it ain't broke, fix it till it is!" Those of you who know Red Green know that he has a "secret weapon:" Duct tape!

And hoo boy, is that stuff good for everything. Including blistered feet. Blister pads roll off? No problem! Sick 'em on then cover 'em up with duct tape! Works like a charm. No way no how that duct tape is gonna slide off. Dancing tonight? No problem! I'm SET!

Update! (cause ya know... you really wanna hear MORE about my feet...) Holy smokes! Even the duct tape slid off eventually. But I could replace it and it lasted me another 4 or 5 dances. Score! I have small blisters accross my toes again (the gel bits under the straps rolled off as I was putting my shoes ON. Don't waste your money) but those are bearable. My heels are a little sore, but good. Yay!

OH! How I love dancing!

Enlisted!

Oh WHAT have I DONE???

It was early this morning, I was still foggy with an ever-growing lack of sleep. I've been himming and hawing for two weeks about this, and so I did what I seem to always do in situations like this: think to myself, "Oh what the heck? GO FOR IT!"

I just enlisted for Boot Camp. Five days a week of intensive cardio/core strengthening/aerobics. At SIX. A. M. For four weeks. It starts June 25.

I. Am. Going. To. Die.

It's been nice knowing y'all.

Late afternoon daydreams

It's that time of the day when shadows grow long and the light turns golden. I'm sitting here in my classroom long after everyone has gone home, only the sounds of the custodians - garbages scraping, vacuums whining - and a radio playing somewhere down the hall - music indistinct but still audible, echoing down the large empty corridor - to keep me company. I've been working on marking and reports for hours now, and I've let my mind wander...

I find myself looking out the tall, paned windows, a blue sky and evening light reflected off rustling leaves my only view. That, and a large fly who keeps trying to escape, crashing head first into the window over and over. Funny, I seem to be able to relate.

Every so often I see a plane flying by, climbing, climbing, into the blue, it's body gleaming in the sun. I imagine it full of passengers, bound for... where? Hawaii? London? Taiwan? Oh how I wish I could be on one of those planes, taking off for some unknown adventure in a faraway land.

My papers are spread out all around me - rows and rows of grades, percentages, evaluations. Marked work and piles left to be marked. My giant mug of green tea - is that my third, now? - needs to be refilled. I'm counting on the jolt it gives me to keep me awake.

I can't help but marvel that in two weeks this room will be empty. Not just of the kids, but of any trace of me, too. I change rooms along with the change of jobs next year. Funny how much this room has started to feel like home (perhaps cause of all the extra time I've spent here this year? Sometimes I've wondered if it would have just been better to have brought in a cot!) But of course, it's because of the kids.

Right now, I'm tired and stressed out, and they definitely have moments when they're driving me nuts, but I had a first taste of goodbyes today when one student left for Mexico. I helped him clear out his desk in the morning, and in the flurry of the day, kinda forgot that he was leaving. It wasn't until shortly before I dismissed them that I remembered. He was already at my side.

"Bye, Miss Hillary. Thank you for being my teacher this year!"

Oh my goodness! I wasn't prepared for this. What do I say? I wanted to say so much - encouraging words to send him off, a final word of wisdom to impart (ha!)... As he walked out the door after my bumbled goodbye and good wished for a wonderful summer, it really hit me that I have to say goodbye to these little monsters in two weeks. Let them go. This is my first class - they're special. I can only imagine what that last day will be like. I highly doubt I'll make it through with dry eyes.....

That fly is back. Thunk... Thunk... Thunk... He's not gonna get out of here by flying into that window any more than I'm gonna get done by continuing to daydream. Off I go to get another cup of tea and get back to work.

Or maybe I'll just sit and stare out the window some more. After all, it's a classroom in the summertime. That's what the windows are there for.

Yes, I KNOW how lame this makes me

After I got home from work yesterday (past 8pm - MAN, I can't wait till report cards are done!!!), I checked my crackbook facebook account. Oh, yay! A new friend request. Who could it be, who could it be??? It's been so fun catching up with all kinds of people that I haven't seen in ages, so I was looking forward to the surprise.

And surprise is was!

Tessa Cunningham?!?! Requests to be friends with ME???

OK, yeah, yeah, so most likely none of you know who Tessa Cunningham is, so let me enlighten you. She and her... husband? partner? man-dude? live in Vancouver and are Canadian West Coast Swing champions. She's one of the biggest wigs in the Canadian swing dance scene. HO-LEE!

Now I KNOW that this was a generic add, as I had just joined a west coast swing group and I've never actually met her, but it still was totally fun. I mean, er, clearly my dancing reputation has travelled all the way to the Canadian champs. Yeah, that's it... HA!

Tessa and her partner, Myles Munroe, are around at swing events all the time and are really down to earth people, I'm told, so I'm looking forward to meeting them one day. For now I can pretend that I really DO know them.

She's on my facebook, I mean, come ON! ;)

See Myles and Tessa in action here and here.

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!