It's all downhill from here

Stopped at stoplight on my way to tutoring last night, I was fiddling with my hair when I saw a curious sight. One hair seemed to be really, really blonde. This is strange, as I am definitely NOT a blonde. Highlights, maybe, but this was even lighter than that. So I isolated it and yanked it out. To my horror, I found that it was NOT just really blonde.

It was grey.

GREY!!!

I had found my first grey hair. It's inevitable, I suppose, but right then, sitting in my car at Clark and King Ed, a little part of me died inside.

*sob*
*giggle!*

Tids and bits - volume ???

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Seriously. Silliness like this is good for my soul!

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

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

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

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

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

Ta ta!

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

Nuttin' much *updated!*

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

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

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

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

GUESS WHAT???

um....

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

*UPDATE*

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

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

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

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

Sah-WEET!

Oh how I love a productive Saturday!

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

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

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

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

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

Today I...

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

Rah rah for Saturday night!

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

Therapy!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

True story

My breakfast today consisted of a bowl of cheerios and a palm-sized slab of gingerbread with lots of icing and covered - covered! - in smarties.

And this, folks, is why Christmas and my butt are motal enemies.

*Editied to add, for my American readers: Smarites are like M&M's, but better! They're not the sugary candy... um... pellets? like in the States*

*Also edited to add: My lunch also involves a cheese ball. I'm going straight to the fat farm, aren't I? Sigh.*

Tis the season

Report cards due tomorrow.
Crazy busy with that and...what else?
Dunno. But feel overwhelmed and house is a disaster area.
Sleep is whacked out. Big time.
Reports will be late (again.) (sigh.)
Still doing the "I am's" but no time to post them in the AM's.
7:59 pm and still at work.
On a Friday.
The kids left at noon.
I spent ONE FULL HOUR sharpening pencils.
Meant to get the kids to do it, but this week was too much of a zoo.
Still have no voice.
It ran away a week before Halloween and I haven't seen it since.
Really should have taken time off Halloween week.
Gonna do it next week. Monday, Tuesday Wednesday.
Five days without talking.
HA! If you believed that, you clearly don't know me.
Five days without talking all day every day.
And lots of hot lemon.
Dang day plans for subs. They're so much work.
Darnit if I'm gonna miss one day of NaBloPoMo.
Even if post sucks.
Ok. Going now.

It's just like Christmas!!!

Oh Scholastic Book Clubs, how I love thee!

Anyone else know what I'm talking about? There is a publishing company here in Canada (are they in the States, too?) that publishes all kinds of kids books, teacher resources, classroom supplies, and so on and so forth. Every month they send out fliers to participating teachers to send home with their students. The kids look through the fliers and, should they so desire, order books. Filling out the forms, collecting the money, and ordering is kind of a pain - just one more thing I've got to fiddle with - BUT! With every order I get free picks depending on how much the total is. I get to pick a book or two for free! Who doesn't love free stuff???

But the even bigger jackpot are the bonus coupons. Again, depending on the size of the order and how many orders have been placed in the school year, I get bonus coupons when the books arrive. The coupons are good for anything that scholastic puts out - furniture, posters, fancy pencils, software, and BOOKS! Books galore!

Last year I did Scholastic for both my class and another class, so I ended up getting a lot of coupons. I wanted to save them up and do a big order closer the end of the year, but by that time, I didn't know what grade I would be teaching. No point in ordering a bunch of intermediate English books if I was going to be teaching primary French Immersion.

So I held off. Till now. I just received my just-over FIVE HUNDRED DOLLAR order of books.

I! AM! SO! EXCITED!!!!!!!

I have nearly 100 books and CDs to go along with 20 of them for listening centers - picture books, non-fiction books, counting books, alphabet books, Caldecott Medal books, Robert Munsch books. Twenty-five books in a series called "The Best Me I Can Be" books - all with titles like "I am a good friend," or "I make good choices," or "I am respectful," or "I am creative." (heh, sound familiar?) I'm SO excited to teach social responsibility through these books! I have a 16 book series on holidays and special days, with posters to go with them. Halloween, Ramadan, Diwali, Easter, Earth Day, 100 Day, Hanukkah, Chinese New Year...

Books! Books! Beautiful books! Oh how I can't wait to dive into them!

Now if only I could find a place in my classroom to KEEP them all!

Oh sweet happy day of joyfulness!

Ok, losing things really sucks. Especially when you KNOW that they are around somewhere, but you just can't seem to find them ANYWHERE. Especially when they are kinda rather important things, like, oh, I don't know, your KEYS. Or things that you just can't get back, like the memory card full of super crazy awesome pictures of the Emerson Drive concert you went to in the summer, pics of your friends from Australia attempting to ride a tandem bike around the seawall in Stanley Park, or of your new classroom all set up and ready to go before the kids came in and destroyed began using it.

The keys have been lost for about a week and a half, and I've been using my spare set, hoping and praying that my original set is in the house somewhere (and not in the hands of some ne'er do well who is waiting for just the right time to come on in and ROB ME BLIND). I've looked through all the pockets in my jackets, all over my table and desk, and all manner of other weird places where my keys might possibly be. I've gone through my purse at least a dozen times.

And the memory card? I've looked in every camera case pocket, both cameras, all over my desk and shelf, and among all the stuff on my kitchen table. It's been missing for at least six weeks. I've even gone and bought a replacement card.

You're probably getting the idea right now that my house is not exactly perfectly tidy and clutter-free, and that if I kept it neater, gee, maybe I wouldn't lose things so often. Well, normally I DON'T lose things, and, well... SHADDUP!!! :P

Anyhoo.

Last night as I was digging around in my purse for my spare set of car keys, I grabbed a key and pulled it out. Lo and behold, THERE WERE MY ORIGINAL SET OF KEYS! What the??? SCORE! How I managed to miss them the 55 billion times I looked through my purse is beyond me.

My theory? They went on a secret vacation to Mexico and only just got back. They didn't want to get in trouble for running away without so much as a note, so they slipped back stealthily into my purse when I wasn't looking. Yep. That's DEFINITELY what happened.

And then, just now, as I was checking email, a wee little corner of blue plastic caught my eye on my desk. Could it be? I lifted off the papers it was hiding underneath, and VOILA! My memory card! Apparently the paper monsters on my desk decided to eat it, but were unable to digest it, so kindly spat it back up for me, pictures intact and everything.

Woohoo! I'm doing a wee little dance of joy!

Now, as all things happen in threes... I'm gonna start looking for that million dollars I'm SURE I lost around here SOMEWHERE!


~ This post has been brought to you by the EXCESSIVE USE OF CAPITAL LETTERS.

How to have an awesome day

Step one: Go to a professional development conference that is totally inspiring and get some renewed enthusiasm and refreshed sense of purpose, and be delighted with a musical group that pretty much solidifies the desire to go to Africa. Soon.

Step two: Go back to work and put on the new CD of said musical group and clean the heck out of your classroom. Clean and uncluttered (ok, LESS cluttered) is SUCH a good feeling.

Step three: Take not one, but TWO hours of dance classes. (Rhonda! I missed you there!)

Step four: Head out with some friends to a coffee house to see two friends play a gig. Tap your foot, laugh, and enjoy the casual atmosphere.

Step five: Join said friends and other various cool people at a dessert house and have Belgian chocolate tea. Chocolate tea!

Step six: Arrive home to a warm, cozy house, do a wee bit 'o bloggin, and fall asleep.

Oh yes. This is livin'!

Ideas and Odes

So I know I haven't been doing much but posting videos and such lately. My head seems to be so full of thoughts lately - I get an idea for a blog post once every 3.2 seconds, I swear! - that it's overwhelming to write it all down! That and I've been busy like a madwoman lately.

Here's some snippets of what's going on in my mind lately. These thoughts are sooo underdeveloped. I wish I had time to chew on them,, write about them, mull them over. For now, they're snippets...

- Mexico. Yeah, yeah, I still haven't written anything about that. It's apalling, really. I find that the farther away in time of the actual event, the more it is impacting me. It certainly gives a new frame of reference for what we have and what we take for granted. And it's made me think a lot about Missions. Doing them, issues surrounding missions, how to continue to contribute in my daily life...

- Rich. Connected to Mexico, I guess, are a whole bunch of thoughts about wealth. We talked about it at Resonate (the young adults meeting at my church) tonight, too. Some thoughts that stick in my mind: We have to be careful not the think that OUR world here in North America reflects THE world. And all those bumper stickers that say "God bless America?" (which could very well say "God bless Canada") We already ARE blessed. Beyond measure. We are blessed so that we can pass that on. How exactly am I doing that in my life? (answer: I'm not - not nearly enough).

- Thanksgiving. For us Canadians, it's coming up this weekend. I spent an hour after school today writing out Thanksgiving songs and poems to work on this week. Thank you for this, thank you for that... and you know, it struck me: just who are we asking these kids to thank? It makes me think of that little poem we used to say at school camp:

Oh the Lord is good to me,
And so I thank the Lord,
For giving me the things I need
The sun and the rain and the appleseed
The Lord is good to me
Johnny Appleseed
Amen.

Who knows when, but they changed it to "Oh the earth is good to me..." It makes me sad. Be thankful, be thankful... Oh how I wish I could point to the Giver of every good gift.

- The voice of Jesus. I went to a seminar given by Gordon T. Smith this weekend on learing to listen to the voice of Jesus. That probably sounds all freaky-deaky to some of you, but it was really down to earth. He talked about basically four ways that God speaks to us. First, he tells us he loves us. Everything hinges on his deep, unconditional love. "Even while we were still sinners, Christ died for us." Second, he calls us to turn - away from sin, to confess, to live by who we were created to be. Third, he calls us to truth - to know truth, to speak truth, to teach truth. "You shall know the truth, and the truth shall set you free." Finally, he calls us to listen in times of choice. How do you know what God is calling you to do? How do you know it's God?

Man, that is such a pathetic summary for a Friday and Saturday workshop that left me feeling like I was trying to drink from a fire hose. Sooo much stuff there. Overwhelming. I'd highly, highly recommend two of his books (I've heard him speak on both topics and own both books. I'll be reading them shortly) - The Voice of Jesus and Courage and Calling.

- Professional development. Speaking of drinking from a firehose... Part of being new to a grade and a whole program (primary) is that I tend to overload myself with workshops and professinal development. It's good, becuse at this stage of the game, even workshops that seasoned pros go to and are like, "meh, I know all this" I drink up. I'm enrolled in an eight session after-school literacy workshop that meets once a month, and am also one of four staff who will be spending three full days at seminars dealing with "Understanding by Design" and "Differentiated Instruction." Basically it's about how to plan for teaching so that students actually UNDERSTAND what you are teaching, instead of just following some crazy set of rules that they've memorized. Good stuff, but sooo intense. In one sense, I love the learning curve, but in another, it's utterly exhausing. Oh well, at least for that last one I get to go spend one day every few months at a fancy-shmancy golf course with super-nummy catered food.

BLAM!

Sorry. Just trying to wake you up. I got all boring and rambly for a minute there.

Ok, now for the fun stuff which was the actual point of this post, but apparently I needed a brain dump tonight.

This here is an ode to all the mommies out there. You have amazing, amazing jobs, and you also have the incredible capacity to laugh at yourselves. Perhaps through tears at times, but laughing all the same. Hope you enjoy these.




(watch it right to the end credits!!)

Thanks to Jean and Vodkarella for posting these!

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.

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.

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

Bits of Randomness

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

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

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

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

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

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

Welcome to Vancouver.

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


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

Fitful

Really, now. This has GOT to stop.

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

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

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

Yeeeeah....

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

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

Right-o.

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

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

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

Tanning in the Iowan Sun (now with translations, see bottom!)

Before I left, I told my students that I was going to be going to Iowa to visit my very best friend in the whole wide world a waaay down in Iowa. One student piped up with giddy enthusiasm, "OH, Ms Hillary, you're gonna come back soooo dark, trust me!"

Right-o kiddo.

The sun has been out (except for a crazy wind and hail storm that, combined with me being half asleep, reading a book based on the Wizard of Oz, and having crazy dreams, had me convinced I would have to go running for the basement to escape the imminent tornado), but not so much for tanning.

Instead, I've been learning to decipher two-year old speak and helping change explod-o diapers.
Let me give an example (of two-year-old speak, not exploding diapers. This ain't a mommy blog yet! ;) ). See how you do in deciphering them.

"dubuh-ded cackah"
"paypah dah"
"bibud wed dahg"

Mattias has a spray bottle that he likes to go around spritzing everything with. Apparently he likes spritzing himslef in the face, too!

And Keiran is just like a little elf! A cutsie wootsie cuddle pie if ever there was one.

Mattias is extremely fortunate to have such talented entertainers at his every whim. Just look at that chicken dance! We are sooooo HAWT!

A good time is being had by all....
______________
"dubuh-ded cackah" = Farmer Jed's Tractor
"paypah dah" = Paper draw
"bibud wed dahg" = Clifford Red Dog

and I forgot one... "buh-guk sooz"= firetruck shoes (his runners have fire trucks that light up on them). He says lots of other words, too, but these are the fun ones! And he loooooves 'cakahs' and 'buh-guks,' so we hear those a lot! :-)

A breath of fresh air

I went down to Stanley Park today to get down to the beach, to walk, to enjoy the sunshine, to take some pictures, to clear my head a bit. I realized I needed to allow myself the time to just relax and do something I enjoy doing. I need to do way less of what I usually do, which is fret about the work I have to do, and not really do the work and not really relax, either. More work. More play. Less fret. It's a recipe for a happier Hillary. I need to spend more time doing things that make me happy.


"Is it something that makes your life better?"

That's a question a friend asked me a while back, and it's become a really good measure by which to judge whether what I'm doing is worthwhile (not that I remember to use it, but hey, it's a process!).

So let's take a look at today, shall we? It was a beautiful day. Sunny and clear after many days of grey. And, sorry to all you socked-in-by-snow-and-freezing-your-tushies-off folks out there, but it was warm. (I even saw a few folks out in shorts, one guy in sandals! Crazy!) Despite all the downed trees, the park was still, well, Stanley Park. There's a reason it's called the jewel of Vancouver.

It was BUSY today, too. But with the business comes the kids, comes the families, comes the "Give me another underduck, daddy!" and the "Look mommy! A jellyfish!" and the run-skip-and-jumping and the kisses on the tops of toussled-haired heads.

I love watching families playing together.

I love being by the ocean.

I love taking out my camera and just shooting whatever.

I love looking at the incredible, glorious place that I live.

I love hearing God saying, "I love you."

Was it something that made my life better? Absolutely!

It never ends - an after school tale *updated*

3:00 - Bell rings, students are dismissed

3:03 - I snag the seven kids who I have to talk to after school. I get one down to work - he owes me 15 minutes for wasted class time today.

3:05 - I explain the social studies assignment to the three kids who missed the explanation while they were in band, and the one student who was away all day at a First Nations conference.

3:12 - I determine why S, my extremely academically low and highly HIGHLY distractable student was asked to stay after school after their grammar class. She totally lost focus and did nothing all class. Huh. Quel surprise. She's been driving ME batty the last two weeks with fiddling with stuff in her desk, doodling, talking to her neighbour, and just generally not paying attention. Then when she goes to do her work? "I'm stuck." After school today, I begin by assuring her she's not in trouble with me (or else she'll totally shut down) and we ask what are some of the things that make her lose focus. We check in her desk and determine what things are a distraction and what aren't. We develop strategies and rules for her to help her stay focused. Pencil and eraser on the floor during lessons. Pencil crayons, scissors, pencil sharpener on the bookshelf by my desk for her to get when she needs them. Comic books and toys OUT of her desk. Hands are to be on top of desk at all times. Let's see how tomorrow goes.

3:26 - We finish up and I tell S, "OK, see you tomorrow!" She stands there staring at me. "Can I leave now?" "YES! haha, You're freeee!" I cringe inwardly. She doesn't realize I just said she could go.

3:29 - My friend arrives from her kindergarten class downstairs and we head out for a coffee, walk, and a long overdue hang out session. Mmm... chai latte. Even better was catching up with her. We're in the same building every day, and seem to have said no more than two sentences in a row with to each other for two months!

4:13 - Arrive back in my classroom. Check email, respond to a few, chill out for a few minutes.

4:30 - Make a step by step instruction page and worksheet to try to rescue my students from 2 digit by 2 digit multiplication hell. Photocopy it. Make overheads. Realize I've made a huge boo boo on the last page. Try not to rip all my hair out right then and there. Take apart packages, fix the master, recopy the last page.

5:47 - Make a list of what HAS to be done tonight. Marking for tomorrow. Shopping. Making a lab report page, complete with instructions for each station, observation tables, and follow-up questions.

5:54 - Plan the week's French lessons.

6:12 - Stealthily make my way down to the office. I am supposed to be gone by 6. Not gonna happen. Photocopy French vocabulary packages. Photocopy workbook pages.

6:26 - Head back upstairs to fill in day plan for tomorrow.

6:39 - Gather materials for science lab tomorrow.

6:52 - Write a few post-it notes for students telling them things they need to do right away tomorrow morning (cause I KNOW I'll forget!). Try to remember where the heck they sit. Leave the notes on their desks.

6:58 - Find custodian and tell him I'm leaving. An hour later than I'm supposed to be gone. AGAIN. Make a light comment about "yikes, I'm trying to be out by six, I swear!" Get chewed out by the king of rants. THE. KING. Once he gets on something, he doesn't stop. Ever. But, I can't complain much, cause he usually just lets me be.

7:04 - Get in my car and head to Home Depot.

7:18 - Arrive at Home Depot and wander the isles of the building supply section looking for items of varying surface texture. Find a few things and stop to mentally plan out my friction lab for tomorrow.

7:36 - Am snapped out of my daze by two customer service reps at the paint counter. "Can we help you?" Realize I've been staring absentmindedly into my cart for who knows how long, muttering to myself and counting on my fingers. "Oh! No, thanks. I'm planning a science lab for my students tomorrow. I was just thinking through some stuff. [in an over-enthusiastic voice:]We're learning about FRICTION!" As if they care. Kick myself for looking like a crazylady and sounding like such a dork.

7:48 - Go through checkout and realize I am SO. HUNGRY. No time to cook when I get home, so I apologize profusely to my body for what I'm about to do to it.

7:51 - Drive through the window at McDonalds. At least I got a side salad with my burger? And skipped the pop/sugarwater? But I did get a small fries, I am so weak!!!

8:03 - Arrive home and woof down my meal. The banana, bran buds, and yogurt I had for lunch just wasn't holding out. (Yes, I've succumbed to my school's bran insanity. They've sucked me in.) Check email, read some blogs while I'm eating.

8:19 - Begin this post.

It is now 9:04. I still have to mark a class set of story outlines, make the lab report, and... and... and... oh shoot, there was something else... [checks list] RIGHT. Stamps. Cripes. I've been forgetting those for almost a week now. There's no way I'm going out again tonight.

Mental note: roll up rubber-backed carpet for lab tomorrow. I have to pack a lunch, too, cause I have to work through lunch tomorrow to set up the lab.

Marking, here I come!

... if I don't collapse at my desk first.

*updated* - It's 11:28pm. I give up. No lab report yet. I suppose I can get up early... or make them write it out themselves. Now THAT'S a recipe for a gong show. Stupid story plans aren't finished either. A friend called shortly after posting, I talked to him for about half an hour, then decided my dishes really needed doing and my brain really needed a break from school stuff. Now here I am staring blankly at my pile'o'marking and my brain is rebelling. Or sleeping. My vote is with the latter. Methinks I'll make my body catch up with my brian.

*updated again* - 6:17am. *YAWN* OK. Lab report. Here we go.

*final update* - 7:56am. Lab report printing. Holy SMOKES, I've got to GO!

Bits and Pieces

Bloggger is getting sneaky. I went to sign in and they're trying to force me to switch over to the new beta-but-not-beta-anymore version. This scares me. Those of you who have done it, have you had any problems with custom stuff in your template and everything? What do you love? What do you hate? I WAS going to post some "Help! How do I NOT switch yet?!?!" comments, cause it looked like there was going to be no choice. But ah-HA! I wormed my way around switching this time. Bah. I don't like change, apparently....

... which leads me to my next point. It's becoming increasingly obvious that I need to get a hair cut, and stat (yeah yeah, "Shut up and DO it, Hillary," I know, I know. I have no regular hairdresser. This apparently is traumatic for me.). But I'm becoming a danger to people on the dance floor. I think some of the regulars that I dance with have adapted some of their moves to avoid getting whipped in the face with my pony tail when I spin around. I don't think that's a good sign!

And about the dancing. Yes, I've raved about it before, but I'm definitely hooked, and L-O-V-I-N-G it. So glad I went for level 3. We're learning all kinds of fancy shmancy stuff. This is evidenced by the names for the new moves, which are getting more and more complicated. Gosh, what was tonight... a neck wrap two hand cross bow side split double back half whip non fat extra shot or-ange mocha frapp-a-chi-noooo ... no, wait... that went wrong somewhere along the line... Who knows WHAT they're called, but they sure are fun! A few of us even went out to a real live dance LAST night, too! Hehe. It was kind of intimidating at first, but super fun! But my FEET hurt tonight, let me tell you.

So the rest of my week was much calmer, after Tuesday's near breakdown. This first year teaching (well, with my own class, anyway) is an interesting beast. It jumps up and tries to gobble me whole sometimes. I'm slowly but surely learning to beat it down. ah-HA! Take THAT! Anyway, thanks for all your kind words, it was much appreciated!

The day after my freakout I left work early and went for a walk along the beach, and took some time just to chill out, watch the sunset down at Kits Beach, and take some time to breathe. Venting, my time at the beach (there's just something about the ocean), and an encouraging conversation with a friend (thank you) definitely helped me get back to "ahhhhh" levels again.

The weekend has been fantasterriffic, too... a swanky launch party for a friend's website on Friday night (oh WAIT till I tell you about his site... SO cool!!!), tons of marking on Saturday, dancing, church, more marking, more dancing... oh yeah, baby! And, as much as I whine about having to prep for a sub, I'm taking my half day lieu day Monday afternoon, so I'm done tomorrow at noon. Gonna go back to the beach, go for a run in the sun, and settle in for some more marking, trying to dig myself out of the pit of behind-ness I seem to have gotten myself in.

*does a little happy dance*

Lookout! Here comes Monday...