Get Back! Get Back, Jonathan!

And this, folks is why I love Facebook. Ah, just checking my homepage, oh look, a bunch of friends have posted new profile pics. Then I see that Jonathan, a friend of mine from church, has a new profile picture. It's of him... and... WHAT? REALLY? No WAY!

When... how... really?!?!??!

I do some more stalking looking around in his profile and find this. OH. MY. WORD. I am laughing my BUTT off. Especially cause he makes Bob Barker run away in fear. Check out this clip. Yes, Sarah, even you! ;)

Fruit Flies!

AAUUURRGGHHHH!

Is it just me, or is there an over-abundance of fruit flies this year? Seriously! They are EV-ERY-WHERE. I'm blaming this ding dang dong Vancouver garbage strike that's now in, what, the eighth week? The little suckers have lots to feed on, what with there being no garbage pickup and all.

I've tried bowls of vinegar and funnels into a bottle with a little bit of red wine at the bottom. I've tried that bug paper that they supposedly stick to. I've tried temper tantrums. I've tried reasoning with them. Heck, I've even tried cleaning up my kitchen! Nothing seems to work.

Until now. You see, my house is very quickly nearing "fruit fly free" status. And lucky you, I'm going to share my secret!

Don't go calling PETI (people for the ethical treatment of insects!) on me, cause come on, letting them drown in alcohol or acid or letting them get stuck to a big gooey sheet of paper till they flap themselves to death is just as bad.

Follow these simple steps to fruit fly freedom.

1. Be sure you have rid your kitchen counters and sink of anything fruit flies might like to munch on.

2. Get out a cookie tray and cover it with tin foil.

3. Lay out all kinds of fruit fly treats. I find bananas and/or a bowl of vinegar and fruit juice are especially good.

4. Put the tray in your oven in the morning before you go to work, leaving the oven door slightly ajar.

5. Let the little buggers find their feast while you work away gleefully, knowing that your little visitors are on their way to fruit fly heaven.

6. When you get home from work, promptly go to your oven and WHOUMP the door shut. Be quick about it. They can sense you from a mile away and if you disturb them before you get the door closed, they WILL all swarm your face and try to take! you! down! by flying up your nose and making you swat madly in a flailing arm dance that really, no human should ever be seen doing.

Uh, not that I know this from experience. I'm just sayin'.

7. Turn on your oven. 350, 400, it doesn't really matter. When your house begins to smell like banana cream pie, or when the little light goes off to say it's hot, go turn your oven off. The toasted little critters will be no longer.

8. Repeat as necessary.

9. Do that dance of joy, and for the love of all things holy, COVER UP YOUR FRUIT!

NB: If you use a bowl of vinegar and fruit juice, be sure it's oven safe! And don't forget to thoroughly sweep out your oven afterwards, unless you're lookin' for that little bit of extra protein in your chocolate chip cookies!

Sing it, Amen, Hallelujah!

Well, I've joined the church choir. I love singing, and really miss being a part of a music-making ensemble (I played the clarinet and alto sax for years). So I'm slightly intimidated, especially as I had to AUDITION!! (how great would I feel if I got CUT from the church choir???) and as I felt rather over my head the first rehearsal, but I think it's gonna be fun. Lots of choral numbers, and lots of good ol' gospel... I'm looking forward to it! Here's one of the songs we started working on. It's not us, nd I'm not sure how we're doing the solo part, but it'll give you a bit of an idea...

It makes me wanna sway and clap already! hehe!

Three weeks in

I can't believe I'm saying this, but this year's back to school season has been I think the least stressful one yet. And trust me, that's not the way I thought it was going to be.

I spent the whole week before school started in my classroom getting set up. Or rather, going through all the mass quantities of stuff that the previous teacher had left for me to use. She left our school to take a non-enrolling job in another district (which means she doesn't have her own class) and since she wouldn't need it and knew I was new to teaching primary - and mostly cause she's a fantabulously terrifical person - she left me pretty much EVERYTHING she had to use. Posters on the walls. Resources in the teacher cabinet. Art supplies in the cupboards. Toys and mass quantities of manipulatives on the shelves. She even left me her personal collection of illustrated, laminated poems written out on chart paper in perfect primary printing. (Yes, Tammi, I'm taking good care of them!) My room is STOCKED. All I really had to do was go through everything so that I just knew what was there. I can not TELL you how grateful I am for that, and how much stress it has relieved.

And then there are my teaching partners, Vicky and Sharon. One teaches grade one, one teaches grade two, and they are both amazingly helpful. They always have time for me and my myriads of questions. They have given me copies of whatever they are doing and encourage me along SO much. They have helped shape my attitude towards my job this year for SURE. Sharon is constantly telling me, "You know, I think you're going to like this more than you think."

And she's right.

Shhh! Don't tell anybody, but I think I just might be a primary teacher at heart!

I can't get over how blessed I feel. I am SO grateful for the support and encouragement. (and I don't think these three teachers read my blog, so if they do, I'll be slightly embarrassed. But hello! And thank you!)

From a strict "job" perspective, yes, there's a lot of prep, but it's all fun and low-stress prep. I enjoy the crafty little projects and have fun with finding poems and writing cutsie little rhymes out on sentence strips. I mean come on, my last Friday night consisted of gluing paper pencil labels on writing books, cutting out brightly coloured cardstock stars, and writing out a few poems, all done in front of a movie with a friend and a margarita in hand.

What? School work... relaxing???

And of course, the marking is easy peasy lemon squeezy.

But what I really love are the kids! (as I should!) My class is SO cute! Yes, there are a few behaviour challenges (oy VEY) but still... they are CUTIES! For example...

- Lenny.* He's a very serious little fellow in grade two. He tries his best in his work, is neat and tidy, and is very prim and proper. And obsessed with germs. In PE the other day, another boy asked if Lenny would be his partner. Lenny gave him the cocked-head, one-squinty-eye look with his index finger pointed at the other boy and asked, "Do you wash your hands all the time?" Ha! The partners weren't even going to have to touch each other. And Kiddo, that ball you're holding? WAAAY more germs on that sucker than on your partner, I guaranTEE it.

- Krissie. She's in grade one, and smart as a whip. She usually wears her hair in pigtails, which adds to the cuteness. Her birthday is on October third. I know this because ANY time we talk about birthdays, or October, or the number three (and the number three comes up a lot: One two three, look at me. Three chances. Three reading groups. And you know... counting!) she tells me in her little squeaky voice, "MY birthday is on October third! I'm gonna be SIX!" I tell her the same thing every time. "Wooow! It sounds like you're getting excited!!" I love it!

- Dylan. He's in grade one and has next to no impulse control, but is super SUPER cute. For example, that kid cannot WALK anywhere. He runs. All the time. A little shuffling-foot flailing-arm run. The other day when he was picked up for LAC, he and his thundering feet TORE across the classroom to the door, then realized something. Putting his finger to his pursed lips, he said (or rather yelled, cause just like this kid has one speed - full steam ahead - he has one volume: blaring), "OUP! Ah fuggot tah wuk!" (I forgot to walk.) Instead of the teacher saying, "Go back and walk, please," he promptly turned himSELF around, ran halfway back across the classroom, and then walked to the door for LAC. I just about peed myself laughing.

Dylan aslo has a rather heartwarming habit. Every time I read the class a story, he's sitting "criss-cross-applesauce" on the carpet, and he sits waaay up high, puffs his little chest out, purses his lips into a cutie kid smile, and applauds! Stiff and quick claps a-way up in front of his face. He's the only one, and he does it every. single. time. How can you not love that??? (I've tried bowing slightly and saying, "Oh, thaaank you!" and leaving a pause for the other kids to join in. Anyone? Anyone? Clearly we have some training to do! Teeheehee!)

- Raymond. On Thursday, I was in a rush leaving the house in the morning, and I didn't have time to blow dry my hair. I had to resort to the 'aim the heat vents at my face and comb my hair out with my fingers all the way to work' technique. More effective than you would think, actually. But what it does is leave my hair a little more poofy than I have it usually. Well, usually, it's pulled back. Now when the bell rings, the kids come in and put their stuff away then come to the carpet for reading time. I was talking to another student when little grade one Raymond came up to me while I was talking to another student. "Miss Hillary, Miss Hillary, Miss Hillary, Miss Hillary, Miss Hill - " "Just a minute please, Raymond, I'm talking to someone right now." (ah yes. I AM in primary now, aren't I?) So Raymond just stood there waiting quietly, his little hands clasped in front of him. When I was done, I turned to him with a smile. "Yes Raymond? Thank you for waiting."

Eyes big, he looked up at me. "Miss Hillary, you buuutiful."

AH hahaha! Melt. My. Heart.

"Oooh, thaank you, Raymond, What a kind thing to say!" At which point Dylan, hearing the praise Raymond was getting and not wanting to miss out, piped up. "Yeah! You bootiful!" Laughing, I thanked Dylan, too. And then, for the rest of Thursday and all of Friday, too, Dylan piped up with "You bootiful!" at random times throughout the day. Like just when I've finally gotten everyone quiet in the lineup, or listening at the carpet. I've had to stop saying thank you cause now it's just becoming a distraction. But seriously. I'll take that distraction any time! hehe! Raymond's initial one was the best, though. Adorable.

Oh there are so many more. These kids are awesome!

______________________
* All student's names changed

Happy Fall!

Thanks to James at Points of Light. Click the image to get your own.

Happy Talk Like A Pirate Day! Aaaaar!

Yep! I'm still alive! :D

My class!

It's bright and shiny new, but not for long! It would soon be invaded by kids!!! It'll never look this way again!

The dancing! It's back! I'm happy!

Before last night, I have been dancing exactly ONCE in the last six weeks. It's scandalous, I tell you, SCANDALOUS! I've been taking West Coast Swing lessons for a year now, and am a total addict. So last night, I was really excited to get back into it.

Of course, six weeks with no dancing and that means I'm tripping all over my feet, but hey, what are you gonna do? It was fun to see all the 'regulars' last night, many of whom gave me "hey welcome back, I haven't seen you in a long time" kind of greetings. Cool!

Maybe my second or third dance, J asked me to dance. Now, J is SUPER fun to dance with, even if he sometimes turns on the smarm a bit too much. But he's a smokin' dancer and easy to follow, so I always get a kick out of dancing with him. So he asked me to dance and I prefaced it with, "Ok, but I haven't danced in a month and a half, so BE NICE!"

Well.

That was pretty much an invitation for CrazyGoNuts. It was all I could do to keep up with him, and once he spun me SIX TIMES! SIX! How I didn't fall over is beyond me! And it wasn't West Coast that we were doing. I had no idea what dance we were doing (I thought maybe lindy?), I was just trying not to die. BUT, he dipped me and I didn't nearly knock him over like I did last time he tried that. Yay me! Turns out it was East Coast Swing.

"Thanks, that was fun! ... but what WAS that?"
"That was east coast!"
"Aaaah."
"Yep. You kept trying to do West Coast, but I wouldn't letcha."

Schooled!

But that was NOT the biggest schooling of the night. That one was just funny.

About halfway through the night, Myles and Tessa showed up. Who the heck are Myles and Tessa, you ask? They're the Canadian West Coast Swing Champions. Baaaasically the swing gods of Canada. And regular freakin' people, but apparently I am not good with celebrity. Heaven help us all if I ever end up talking to someone famous.

OhMyGoodnessILikeTotallyKnowYouAndOhMyGoshICan'tBelieveYou'reActuallyTalkingToMe
AndOhWaitMyChanceToSaySomethingIntelligentIsNowLoooongGone.

The following words actually came out of my mouth last night: "Wooow! This is so exciting! I've only ever seen them on YouTube!" (here and here, for example)

WHAT KIND OF A NERDBALL AM I??? Hehehe

So they are PHENOMENAL. But they are also not stuck up in the LEAST and go out and dance with everybody, of all skill levels.

People like me.

Tessa asked me to dance (she leads, too). It was totally fun - she's hilarious! - but TOTALLY intimidating. Woah. She asked me how long I'd been dancing. I told her a year, but really really wished I'd said about half that, cause 'member what I said up there about tripping over my feet cause I'm rusty? And about not being good with celebrity? Well put those together and 1+1 equals, oh, I don't know, about 3782 on the scale of awkwardness.

She lead me in a little run-and-slide move thing, but I slid too early. Ever the student (shut up and dance, Hillary!) I was all, "Oh, now, see, I slid too early there!"

And that, folks, is when I got schooled by Tessa Cunningham:

"Yep! That's because you don't wait for your lead!" *hangs head in shame* hehehe

Aaaand, so it's official. I am now signing up for their lesson series. I've been told it's really good for people who have been dancing a while to not just learn new moves but also to correct any bad habits. Like not waiting for the lead.

At least it wasn't just me who finds it intimidating to dance with her. She danced with a friend of mine right after me, and after that he walked towards me and we both gave each other the "Holy Crap! was that ever intimidating!" look and proceeded to talk about our respective foibles.

Sheesh. ONE day hopefully I'll be cool enough for this NOT to be a big deal. *arms flapping, spoken in a squeaky teeny bopper voice:* I danced with Tessa! I danced with Tessa!" I'm rolling my eyes at mySELF here, don't worry. hehehe!

Ah, but was was SO nice to be back dancing again. My big toes full of blisters beg to differ, but I'll beat them back into submission soon enough.

Starting tonight! More lessons! More dance! Bring it on!

Too much! TOO MUCH!

Too much to post! Mexico... first day/week of school... pictures of my classroom... I'm behind and overwhelmed by my hobby. Not cool. For once I'm NOT overwhelmed by my job. (Yet?)

So instead I'll send you here for some hilarious Love Poetry. Haikus and limericks and free verse, oh my! Be sure to read the comments, too. They're almost funnier than the actual post.

And WHATEVER YOU DO, do NOT click THIS.

At least I'm known for something

Recently googled, resulting a hit on my site:

mouth * bigger than anyone

BIG NEWS!

I've been eagerly awaiting the brochure and the ads for the next episode of Survivor - even more so than the other seasons. Why's that? Oh my goodness, it's the biggest secret EVER, and it's been SO hard to keep...

I'M ON IT!!!!!!!!

Man, it was SUCH an experience! The challenges... the people... You know, I really enjoyed spending time with my tribe. I'm not allowed to tell you when I was booted, but I made it WAY longer than I thought I would!

The brochure and the ads are finally out. There they are - pictures of ME! Even some of the photos are mine - credited to me right there on the brochure! Man, such memories. Looking at the photos, I REMEMBER those people. Her... her... him... MAN what an experience.

I was thinking this morning how COOL it will be to finally be able to announce it to the blogosphere! Hehe, you can all see me in live action! WAHOOO. It'll be on the season after this one! SAH-WEEEET!

...

So I'm fully awake now, but it took quite a long time of groggy figuring to realize that, no, Hillary. No, you weren't actually on Survivor. But all the memories were there! Not of the camera crews, but of the people, of playing games, of getting voted off. But not at tribal council. I even remember the CLOTHES I was wearing - one of the photos in the brochure was of me in an old green shirt I have, and my maple leaf baseball cap.

But come on, when would I have done it, anyway? Well, remember? I took a year off after university, that's when I applied and went.... noooo, that's when I moved up north to the land of ice and snow! :P Aaaaand, that was six years ago. But really. It took a loooong time to realize that I had just had a crazy, whacked out dream. You know what was the final dose of reality?

I was fully clothed in the pictures!

hehehe!

Neglect and Insanity

Ok, so it's been over two weeks since I posted anything, save a quick paragraph saying basically nothing... I was away for that first week, but since I've gotten back from Mexico, life has been hurtling by at breakneck speeds, and while I've been on the computer a lot, it's all been processing and uploading pictures from the trip. So. Before I get to Mexico, here's a weekly wrap, a la Nello, minus the fancy shiny sparkling title thingy...

* I've been in to school every day this week getting my new classroom ready to go. Moving, cleaning, organizing, planning... and chatting, let's be serious! I think it's finally starting to sink in that I've got 23 six and seven year olds coming at me in four days time. I think I'm getting excited about it. And terrified. The outgoing teacher has left me SO! MUCH! STUFF! There are posters on the walls, cabinets full of art supplies from her own collection, books, centers activities, and about 25 poster sized poems that she has painstakingly written out, illustrated, and laminated. (I'm under strict instructions to guard those with my life.) She has SAVED MY BUTT like you don't even know by leaving me a classroom full of stuff. I am so grateful!

* My friend Cathy is in town from Australia with her boyfriend Grant. I haven't seen her since she stayed with me two years ago, so we've been hanging out as much as possible this past week. Church and lunch with friends, hanging out downtown, renting a tandem bike and riding around the seawall in Stanley Park, playing Scategories... and we're going kayaking this afternoon. Yippee!

* My very bestest friend in the whole wide world, Rachelle, and Nathan and their 2.5 kids were in town this week, too, so I met up with them to go see Emerson Drive at the PNE (fair) on Monday night. Free concert! Sweet! It was a great show, minus the weird slow covers they did in the middle. But that lead singer is STRANGE. He kept going up to the other musicians, bending over, and what looked like nibbling on the neck of the guitar, violin, whatever. Ok, so it wasn't nibbling, but it looked really weird. Now about that fiddle player. H-O-T stuff. I'm referring to his musicianship. Clearly.

* The "twenty somethings" from the Mexico team got together on Thursday night for a bit of a reunion before Emilie went back to school in Ottawa. We had dinner, drinks, homemade chocolate chip cookies, and just general hilarity till the wee hours of the morning. Lesson: if you're up till 3:30am and get up at 7:15, it will be very difficult to function all day long. Just sayin.'

* Summer Wedding #3 - Mike and Laura! On less than four hours of sleep, I finished up in my classroom and went to Mike and Laura's wedding. They've been together for so long, it was really fun to see them tie the knot! She was beautiful, of course, and it was a very classy affair. Between the wedding and the reception, some of us went down to the beach. In all our wedding finery, we stuck out just a wee tad, so were approached by a dude in a clown wig and horrible peachy-plaid shirt. He gave me a rose and asked me to sign his shirt. Gotta love stags. The reception was fun - lots of funny speeches. And Mike's a doctor. So lots of doctor friends. Cute, single doctor friends. And I left half way through the dance. What is WRONG with me? (hehe) I was DYING from only 4 hours of sleep, THAT'S what. I'm so lame! ;)

Pictures from said events to come. Right now I've gotta go get my butt in a kayak!


Aaaand, PS. HOLY COW, it's SEPTEMBER. Already. Woah.

Update

Member how in this post I was talking about my church's isues with City Hall requiring them to stop our meal and shelter programs? Well I wrote that the Friday before I left for Mexico, and while at the airport on Saturday morning I saw this article on the front page of the Vancouver Sun. I cringe at the title a little bit, but it's other than that, it's a really good article! Go check it out!

Home!

Oh wow. I'm home.

What. A. Trip. Tijuana slums. Building a house in three days. Dozens of cute CUTE kids. Issues in short term missions. The beach. Dead Sea Scrolls.... What an amazing, amazing trip. That's about all I have energy for right now. More to come over the next... well... week, probably. Stories! And pictures! It's good to be home, but a little overwhelming.

But for now, I'm going to SLEEP! Buenos Noches!

We can't all do great things, but we can all do small things with great love ~ Mother Theresa

I'm headed off in a few hours for Terazzas, near Tijuana, Mexico. A team from my church is headed down for a week to build a house for one family who is living in total poverty. If people are lucky, they live under propped up garage doors, but most live in less than that. The house we will build is small, but adequate, and I've been told when we actually hand over the keys to the family, there is rarely a dry eye to be found. In addition to building the house we'll visit an orphanage in the 'slums' along the river to play with the kids and pass out gifts that we're taking down with us, and run some children's programs in the afternoons. I really don't know what to expect farther than that, but I know it will make a BIG impact on my life.

It's true, that short term missions trips are often more impacting on the team than they are on the people the team is going to serve, but we ARE going to be making a HUGE difference to one family. Maybe it sounds cliched, but I'm really honoured to be able to be able to be a part of this team. The quote in the title of this post is really the theme of this week. It's not so much about the house, which really is a small thing for us to do, but about doing what we're doing with great love.

I am SO incredibly excited. I'm looking forward to hanging with the kids, getting to know my team, actually building a house from start to finish in four days, and eating some goooood Mexican food. But more than that, I'm looking forward to getting to see God in a new way. That song I posted a few days ago kinda describes the way I am feeling these days, and I'm looking forward to experiencing God afresh this week. I also think that it will be sooo good (and sobering) to get out of this stinking rich place and get some perspective on the way people live in the rest of the world. We are SO privileged here, and we don't even know it.

It's gonna be an amazing, challenging week. I can't wait.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~
As I've been mulling this all over today, I got an email telling me that my church was in the news again today. It's different, but there is poverty on the home front, too. This may be a little different than my usual posts, but it's important, and it's something that I'm becoming more and more aware of...

So, some background. My church runs two meals a week for homeless and under-privileged people, serving about 200 people per week, and running a once-a-week shelter for about 25 people. Recently, the City of Vancouver has told us that we may not be able to continue these programs, because they don't fit the city's definition of "what a church does." Basically, the city is classifying these programs as "social service" use and not as "church" use, and so may require permits (which mean beurocracy and large fees), or they may be discontinued altogether because of zoning regulations. It's not even a money issue: it's an issue of the city dictating the functions a church is and is not allowed to fulfill. A major function of the Church - not just mine, but in the global sense - is the care for the "orphans and the widows" - those less fortunate than ourselves. But the city isn't seeing things that way.

We've been in the news a bit recently, but there was a segment aired on CTV this morning about this whole issue. Read the brief article here, then click the link on the right of the article for the TV clip, too. Check it out! If you like more in-depth reading, you can try this.

People from many different faith communities, and many who don't adhere to any particular group, are pretty stupified at the fact that a church is potentially being denied the ability to serve to poor, and have developed an organization called "Faith Communities Called to Solidarity with the Poor" that is working to have City Hall expand the definition of what a church does to include things like social outreach programs. Their fundamental belief states that "solidarity with the poor, the practice of compassion and justice, is fundamental to the vocation, identity and mission of the church / faith communities." (taken from here)

If you agree with the above statement, regardless of your belief system, this organization has started a petition you can sign if you so choose. The petition is open for Vancouver City residents only, but if you live in Vancouver and wouldn't mind taking a minute, go here and download the petition form, fill it with signatures, and drop it off at City Hall! Thank you in advance! It would be your small thing done with great love that really will make a difference! :)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Well, I don't know if we'll have internet access where we're going, so for now, I'll say...

Adios! Hasta luego!

Road Trip 2007: The Final Frontier

Or, you know, the final part. But I like "frontier" better. Anyhoo...

After leaving Grand Rapids (now two weeks ago, oh how behind I get!), I set off to visit SarahCool in Cincinnati. That's spelled with two N's, dont'cha know. ;-)

But. BUT! En route, I planned on making a few different stops. I had heard Ann Arbor was a pretty little town, so I wanted to go through there. But should I go east and south or south and east through Michigan? Well, a quick gander at google maps and I had my answer.

KALAMAZOO?!?!?! Really? There's actually a real live Kalamazoo? Dude, I wanna go THERE!!!!! I was rather excited by this fact. It's a neat little town, too. I dropped by a little festival, grabbed lunch and wandered around a bit. And got lost. In Kalamazoo. Now there's a headline I wouldn't have minded: "Lone tourist plucked from the streets of Kalamazo, cold, dehydrated, but with giant grin on face. Can't seem to stop saying 'KALAMAZOO!!!' "

I decided to had to have a souvenir, so what better to pick up than a KAZOO from KALAMAZOO? Good thing I did, too. It provided absolute minutes of entertainment in the car on my driving days. Apparently it also turned me into a pirate.

After Kalamazoo - KALAMAZOO! Go on, say it, it's fun! - I stopped in Ann Arbor and wandered around downtown for a bit. It's a very cute little town. I took some pictures, wandered the campus of Michigan State, and caved to the sweet pull of the Ben and Jerry's shop. Oh sweet Banana Split ice cream, where have you been all my life? Sheeshers, it's sure a good thing I did boot camp last month. Cause road trip = sit on your touckas and eat junk. Mmmm, banana spilt ice creamy goodness type junk.

I knew I wasn't gonna hit Cincinnati on Thursday, so I drove till I got tired and crashed in a roadside motel - notice I didn't say crashed INTO - then drove the final hour to Cinci the next day.

I had a few hours before I met up with Sarah, so I wandered around downtown a bit and took in the sights. I apparently took in some famous Cicnicnnati chili, too, without knowing it was famous. Mmmm, cheese coney. (I'm sorry, arteries!) I met Sarah at her work, recognizing the building from her blog posts. Now if THAT don't make a gal feel like a stalker....

The weekend was totally full but also really relaxing. I met a bunch of her girlfriends on Friday night, then on Saturday, Sarah took on the role of tour guide and showed me all over the city. She told all kinds of stories about the various places she's lived and worked, and I learned all kinds of neat-o information about the city. Like, for example, it used to be called Porkopolis. hehehe! And once I got the story of Skyline Chili, we went there and had a 4-way - spaghetti topped with chili, red beans, and habanero cheese, served with a side of oyster crackers. Yum! From downtown to Eden Park to Findlay Market to the mushroom house to ... many other places (Sarah, help me out with neighbourhood names!), it was a great tour! Sunday we took in the National Underground Railroad Museum, which was really interesting. As the Ohio river is bsically the border between the North and the South, that whole region played a really important role in the escape of slave from the South on their way to Canada. See? Ya come here and ya just might learn something! :-)

Roll your mouse over the pictures for a caption, or click for a larger view.
Saturday night we headed over to Sarah's aunt and uncle's place for a BBQ, which was SO MUCH FUN! They were funny and hospitable and sweet and welcomed me in right away. Yay!

Highlights would have to include Sarah's haircut:

Sarah: My bangs are crooked! SAM! You should cut them!
Sam (Sarah's 16 year old cousin): I dunno...
Sarah: Yeah! Totally! You just cut your dad's hair! Do it! Do it! Do it!
Sam: ... Ok...
{gets scissors, heads outside}
Sarah: SAM! Be careful!
Sam (who is masterfully pulling out Sarah's bangs and cutting just tiny bits off, doing quite a good job, and had just given his dad a very good haircut 45 mis before): [snip snip]
Sarah: AAAHH!!
Sam: [snip]
Sarah: Oooooooh!
Sam: Well YOU asked me to!...
Sarah: Eeeeeek!
Sam: [snip]
Sarah (fanning her face): OK, I'm hot. Stop! I wanna go inside!
Sam: [snip] There! I'm done.
Sarah: PHEW!

Also, pretty much Sarah's whole family hates her cat, Flora. I was caught in the middle of a Flora fight...

Sarah: Oh Flora! She's so sweeeet!
Sarah's family, eyes glinting, hoping to pull me over to the dark side: So! Do you hate Flora, too?
Hillary: uhhhmm....

Who WOULDN'T love a sweet creature like this?

What you DON'T see in the picture are the lasor beams of hate coming from her eyes. I was clearly in HER territory, and she was mad. BUT, Sarah.... She loves YOU, and that's what's important. And she had kinda sorta almost warmed up to me by the time I left. For example, she let me get close enough to pet her abuot 7 times. Some of those times she even knew it was me.

For the record. I LIKE Flora. She's got definite spunk and she makes her mommy happy. I just won't get too close to her. ;)

So. Cincinnati is cool, and chillin' with Sarah was a blast! It was fun to see a little slice of her world! I really am so grateful for my blog girls: Anne and Jean and Sarah!

Now it's just a matter of plotting to get them HERE for a visit! Muah hah hahaaa!!!!

Monday morning bright and early (5:50am, to be precise!) I started off for Toronto. Nine hours later (!!!) I arrived, took in some of the zoo - lions and tigers and bears, oh my! - and chilled with my friend Ann for the evening before catching an early flight back home.

Windsor, Toronto, Grand Rapids, Kalamazoo, Ann Arbor, Cincinnati. Nearly 3000km. Lots of pictures. Good times with friends all along the way...

Makes for a very happy Hillary!

Routine

Sometimes a song plays in the background, and you're going about your business, barely aware that it's there. Then suddenly, WHAM! The volume hasn't changed, but the lyrics are screaming at you, touching your heart, bringing tears to your eyes. How many times have I listened to this album and never really heard this song? Truth, conviction, and love, all reaching out and stopping me in my tracks...

Routine
by Sheree Plett

Has it been six days already since you
got your Sunday shoes out,
since you grabbed your untouched
Book of Life?

The same old routine
finds you in the sanctuary;
you say your fake hellos and pretend
all is well.
You bow your head before a Father
that you don't really know...

And the bells ring
and you know it's time for you to pray,
chant your amens and halelujahs.
Glued to your wooden pew,
involved in your unconscious praise,
the cliche stained glassed windows
veil your eyes
to see beyond...

Has it really been that long since you
opened your eyes
to see that you're captivated by
old loves and lies?
How much longer will you submit to your illusions
to narrow your path to a Father
that you don't really know?

And the bells ring
and you know it's time for you to pray.
You chant your amens and halelujahs,
glued to your wooden pew,
involved with your unconcious praise;
the stained glass windows veil your eyes
to see beyond...

And bells ring...

Yipeee!

I FINALLY know where I'll be moving my boxes for the upcoming teaching year!

Though of course, saying this, there will be all kinds of changes the last week of August and first week of September, and I'll probably end up moving again, but for now, at least there is a definite plan. Saying that here probably guarantees that it will change, but hey.

As of right now, I'll be teaching a grade 1/2 split in September.

Ah, summer

Time for sitting out on the patio, sipping cold drinks. Long days, sunshine filled moments, hot weather... or so the story goes...

Some friends and I decided that we were going to go for a hike on Saturday. We decided on heading up to Elfin Lakes just out of Squamish. I had been there before last year, but nobody else had, and I didn't mind doing it again. I mean, with memories of a place like this (picture from last July), who WOULDN'T want to go back?!? The trail was long (22km "A half marathon!") but not too strenuous, and high enough that we would already be hiking in the high alpine (instead of just climbing to it). There are sweeping views of mountain ranges and lakes, and we'd be hiking through meadows filled with red heather and wildflowers. At the top are two pristine little lakes set against a pretty spectacular backdrop. Yippee!

The day was kinda cloudy and unsettled, but we were promised breaks of sun, so we set off, not letting a few little car glitches atop us: Um, why is the temperature needle a-waaaay up past the "I'm about to explode" mark? I just had a coolant leak fixed yesterday! And 2 km into the 16 km gravel road up a mountain into nowhere, Ooooh. Gas. Below the red. Ummm... it's ok, we're on a hill, the gas gauge just LOOKS that empty. Uh huh. {to self: wellll... it's all downhill on the way back, we can just coast to a station if need be. Provided we get UP. PleaseGod pleaseGod pleaseGod} Pshaw. We made it. (ThanksGod ThanksGod Thanks God!) There was a little bit of snow last time we went, but not much, and we WERE pretty high up. I anticipated a little bit more this year, as it's not been a realyl hot summer. No problemo.

Ha! This is SO not gonna help with the stereotype that Canadia is the land of year round ice and snow, but here goes anyway.

We hit the first little patch of snow about 3/4 of the way up. It was just little, no worries. But the last quarter was mostly snow with patches of clear ground. And when we got to the lakes? Well, they say pictures are worth a thousand words, so here's what we saw:


Yeppers. See all that snow? STILL IN THE LAKE??? Ho-LEE!

Last week when I was still in Cincinnati (holy cow, that was only a week ago? That part of the story is still coming...) it was HOT. And HUMID. Like, 35C/ 96F degrees hot. And "my glasses fogged up when I stepped outside" humid. Six days later, I was looking at lakes covered in snow and wandering the wilderness with a wet a$$ from tobogganing down a slushy snowy slope. In August.
Good times. Good times.

Here are some more pictures from our day of hiking. Roll your mouse over them to see the caption, or click on them for a bigger view. Click here to see the whole set.

Road Trip 2007, part trois

Oh man, I've fallen off the blogging bandwagon for a bit here. Been too busy whooping it up and driving all over creation...

My stay in Grand Rapids with Anne and Jean was awesome, of course! The first day I was there, I headed to Jean's house and hung out with her and her kiddies - seriously about the cutest kids you've ever seen. We had lunch, where I was grilled by Jean's 6 year old son, Sam, about what I was going to eat on my sandwich so he could copy it - I'm THAT cool! - and played all kinds of fun things downstairs. Basketball, colouring with Alina, who's three, jumping rope, tickle fights, lots of spinny rides ("Just one more! Pleeease???")... TOTALLY fun!

I of course had my camera out and so decided to show Sam how to take photos. It turned into a photo shoot extraordinaire, with exclamations of, "AWESOOOOME!" and "YOU LOOK LIKE A MOVIE STAR!" after every photo. The random photo of Anne's ear I think is my favourite.

That afternoon, Anne and I went for a pedicure and a wee shopping spree, and can I just say, she is the best shopper EVER. She finds deals on cute stuff like nobody's business. She is my hero! I got a whole load of stuff for SO CHEAP. Sah-weet!

Wednesday was beach day. What a production! It was the most glorious beach day I've had in quite some time, let me tell you. Anne made a PIE for the day, THAT'S how fantastic it was. Well, I kinda helped to make the pie. And kinda screwed it up. Nothing a sieve full of blueberries, flour, and brown sugar can't fix, I tells ya. Heh. Heh. Oh man, I'm such a dork. It still tasted great... a little extra sugar never hurt anyone!

Anne has friends who have access to a private beach on Lake Michigan, so we pretended to be residents and took our beach umbrellas, chairs, cooler full of yummies, and all things beach related down the stairs to claim our very own piece of heaven. White sand, blue water, a lake so big it reminds you of the ocean, yet without any pesky shells or barnacles to cut your feet or salty water to make you all... er... salty. And the water was WARM! (Yes, Anne and Jean, it was WARM! ;-) ) We sunned, we slept, we swam, all afternoon long. Gloriousness, I tell you. Sheer gloriousness.

We grabbed pizza in town at a little diner and headed home for some more serious hanging out. After a lazy morning Thursday, I was off to tootle my way down to Cincinnati...

Discuss

Posts about the rest of my trip will follow (I'm home now), but for now, here's a video I found via the Beatnik Poet. I'd love to hear your thoughts - girls AND guys - c'mon, guys, I know you're out there! I'd love to hear your thoughts/reactions/yays/nays. What do you think?



Cheryl James: We Follow Your Lead

Never has a justification of blogging been so important

Whenever you mention to someone that you have to use the 'facilities,' it's inevitable that somebody slyly tells you, "Whatever you do, don't think of rushing water!!!" Hardy har har.

Well can I just say this? Pretty much the worst place ev-ar to arrive at after a three hour drive and a very, very large tea is NIAGARA FALLS. I was hopping around like a maniac, battling THRONGS of people, wanting to scream at the world, "I hafta pee, I hafta pee, GET OUT OF MY WAAAAY!" But really, they wouldn't have heard me over the gush of millions of tons of water hurtling itself off a horseshoe shaped cliff.

It was a potty eeemerrrrgency.

But don't worry. I survived. My pants were only wet from the spray of the falls, I promise.

So. Err... moving right along...

After returning to normal human status once again, I really enjoyed the falls. I was considering skipping them for the sake of time, but I'm glad I didn't. The falls are spectacular. The surrounding crowds/town/hotels/casinos/rides/lookout towers/attractions/shops/midway/and various other money-munching monsters were a complete gong show, but hey, ya don't have to get pictures of that! *grin* I wanted to do a trip on the Maid of the Mist or the walk under the falls, but time was short, so I just enjoyed them from the top. Still pretty awesome.

After Niagara, I began my 9.5 hour trip to Grand Rapids. Just driving, it really should only have taken 6.5 hours, but I probably made about an hour's worth of stops (including one 15 minute detour when I somehow ended up on the wrong highway and had to backtrack - d'oh!) and T-W-O H-O-U-R-S at the border in Sarnia. Shooot.

There's a bridge to the states (as there are in lots of places, but I've never seen that, so it was kinda novel for me. Yes, I'm easily amused.) that was a toll bridge, so there began the ginormous lineup. An hour and a half of me battling sleep - I was there in my 4-6pm energy dip, and had been driving already pretty much all day - being bored out of my mind, and having no clue how far I still had to go, I FINALLY arrived at the booth, passport out and ready to go. But noooooo. This was just the TOLL booth. There's another lineup on the OTHER side of the bridge for customs.

Craaaaap!

It took two hours to get through altogether. I know that's not a huge deal, but I'd already been on the road since 8:30am, and it was about 7:15 when I finally got through. Raga! It would have gone by slightly faster had I not been the subject of a rather lengthy interrogation at the border:

- Where are you headed today?
Well today I'm going to Grand Rapids, then in a few days I'm headed to Cincinnati, then I come back to Toronto next Monday.
- And what is the purpose of your visit?
I'm visiting friends! :)
-And how do you know these friends
Uhm... well, I know them through my website.

And that, folks, is where things all went wrong.

- Your website? What kind of website?
It's blog.
-What's a blog?
Well, it's kind of an online journal of sorts. I write entries, and people read them, make comments... the people I'm visiting and I have become friends via that...

She continued to drill me... Well what's your common interest? Don't blogs talk about politics?
What kind of entries do you write? Really? You have time for this in your life? And why would they be interested in reading about your life like that? I've never heard of this, explain it again? How did these people find your blog? What would I google to find your blog? And you trust them enough to go to their houses? Etc, etc, etc.

I had to explain about blogging, commenting, and blogrolls, justify once again why I do this, assure her that I HATE writing about politics on my blog, give her to topis of my last three or so posts, tell her what my friends did for jobs ( was sure to mention that they all work or voluneer for CHURCHES), how long I knew them, tell her about my trip to Chicago in March to visit the same friends, exactly what to google to find my site, what it was called, and on and on. It was taking a long time, so a second border guard came into the booth to check in and see if she needed backup. I heard them debriefing as I drove away: "So she's from Canada, and is meeting friends from the inter.... " I'm glad they let me through. She was sooooo skeptical!

Friendly border guard lady, if you're reading this, hello and welcome! Thanks for letting me visit my lovely friends! Feel free to keep reading!

There was still three hours of driving once I got through, which I passed by using my steering wheel for resistance and gave myself a good arm workout as I drove across the state of Michigan. My arms were actually sore the next day! Sweet!

I finally arrived safe and sound at Anne and Andy's, where Jean was also there waiting for me. I knew which house was hers cause I recognized if from photos she'd posted on her blog! So funny! It was like I had been there before.

And so began the Grand Rapids part of my adventure...

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!