Fabulous:)

It was a great day all around:)

Exercise:

I got up this morning and did a deck of cards workout. I did squats, push ups, crunches and reverse flies.  It went quickly and I like how I covered all of my body,  it just one area.  I wish I could have included cardio but I figure I’d get a visit from my downstairs neighbour if I did that😳

I also got home today in time to go for a run. It felt so great to be running in the sunshine with the leaves crunching under my feet!! It was a fabulous Fall day for a run and actually the perfect temperature too:)

I love how tall my Shadow looks in this picture🤣

This run brought my total for the month to:

I was about to beat myself up for not making 110km when I remembered that my goal had only been 90km so yay me for surpassing that goal:) I am blaming that slower pace on the fact that I did a lot more hill workouts this month! Now I’m going to have to think about what my goal for next month will be. I have a night to sleep on it:)

The other great thing that happened with this run was this:

My goal is to consistently be under 7min which I haven’t done. This is actually the very first time I have managed to attain this. Now I just have to try to do it more often!

I have come to the decision that I will workout before school on Mondays and Tuesdays and then do a run after work. This will be reversed on Wednesday and Thursday with the run before and the workout after. Friday I can sleep in a bit if I’m working out with Lyndsay because that always includes a run and workout. I feel relieved that I finally got that straight in my brain and have a plan:)

I also signed up for an email group that should apprise me of local runs. I found three contenders for December so now I’ll just have to figure out which one would work best. A task best left for another day:)

Teaching:

Today wasn’t as crazy as people might expect. I’m actually thinking tomorrow will be worse because the children will be tired and full of sugar. This morning I had a student being me a coffee crisp mini chocolate bar. It was so sweet and I trick or treated my nephew and gave it to him. I suppose that’s actually a reverse trick or treat:). I had another student who brought me this:

It’s a skull cake pan. I’ve never had a student being me a gift for Halloween before!! Obviously he’s been paying closer attention than I thought if he realized I like baking. I love how the pan is a Wilton but the mom included a gift receipt and I may look to see if I can exchange it for s pan I would get more use out of.

This morning we did a pumpkin investigation where we compared a big orange pumpkin to a smaller peach pumpkin.

It was so cute and so fresh! I was impressed for $3.64. The kids were calm and fully engaged and it was actually a lot of fun! The smaller pumpkin actually had more seeds!

We then spent the rest of the day watching Monsters Inc. and having a parade around the gym in the afternoon when we were all dressed up. 

I was unable to take my costume bag down so I just took the first costume I could reach. I ended up like this (please excuse the bad photo):

The dress used to fit better, but it did the trick:) I even carried my wool and needles with me in the parade. Too bad I can’t knit and walk or I could have been accomplishing something!!

I happily got all the Halloween decorations down and them and my costume put away and the room set up for a new month while the children were watching the movie.  It was probably the best and calmest Halloween I’ve ever had at school:)

Family:

My sister in law had texted that she didn’t need me to babysit this weekend, so I decided to go trick or treat my nephew after school. I’ve done this every year and wanted to keep the tradition, besides I was really missing him and needed a Gussy fix! He showed me his costume and pumpkin:

Gave me a hug and I gave him a treat, so I count the visit as a success:)

Knitting:

Brenda and I had knit night tonight as I can’t hand out candy as I live in a locked building and brenda didn’t want to. It was quite productive as we started working out some of the logistics for our weather scarf next year. I also finally chose a pattern for my Granite State wool and have decided on convertible handwarmers. I only got the cuff done so no sense showing you s picture yet. I also got quite a bit fine on my rug as Brenda was working on a tea towel she’s not enjoying so I joined her in misery and worked on my rug. I realized I don’t love working on the rug because the material is rough and scrapes up my skin:(. I’m going to have to put this on my goal list so it gets done!

Cooking:

I had brought the pumpkin seeds home to roast. Unfortunately Brenda showed up just as I was getting them ready for the oven and somehow I forgot to douse them with oil:( I ended up throwing out 334 pumpkin seeds:(. I just hope my co teacher had more luck than me!

I at least got the pumpkin roasted properly:) I really want to make a recipe for pumpkin chili that I saw on here recently, but now I can’t find it:( If anyone else has seen it and remembers who posted it, could you please let me know:)

Reading:

I haven’t had much chance yet today:( I just looked at my Goodreads and I e only read six books this month. That seems low to me, but then again I’ve never looked before. It will be interesting to see how many I read this month.

Well I’m off to bed so that I’ll be calm and patient in the face of sugared children tomorrow🤣

Have fun!

AJ

Unproductive:(

I just don’t seem to have gotten much done today:(. I really dislike that feeling!

Exercise:

I got up this morning and did another of sBea Free’s deck of cards workouts. She posts different workouts each week but these in particular work for me because they are quiet. Today it was all about abs- leg raises, mountain climbers, toe touches, and reverse crunches. That’s a good thing as my abs could definitely use some work!

I walked to and from work, though I realized once I got there that I should have driven to take the bins up. Oh well, tomorrow! I love that my routine is walking and that’s what I naturally do:)

The Runner’s Den Tuesday night clinic was moved totonigbt due to Hallowe’en, so I headed over there. It was an interval workout, but the intervals were long and there was quite a run in between them. The run went fine though it wasn’t particularly fast:( What drove me nuts were the people. Some people came dressed in costume (which was cool)

But they took that as an excuse to move down a couple of groups. That would have been fine if they had slowed down, but no, this group pulled the group, didn’t listen, were loud and obnoxious. I didn’t say anything but it definitely wasn’t my favourite run:(

I got an email today that advertised the “My Better Half Run” in February in Seattle. It sounds fun, but I figure that as soon as I sign up and pay that will ensure it’s snowing like crazy and I won’t be able to get there.  I sent it to one of my running buddies, so we’ll see what she says. I really just need someone to be enthused about a run and get me going!!! I do wish runs around here came to my inbox as easily, it makes them so much more attractive if I don’t have to go searching for them.

My other fitness conundrum is what I’m going to do tomorrow. I’ve been loving running in the morning but it is getting very cold and dark. I’d probably get to go further if I went after school and I’d get to run trail instead of sidewalk, however tomorrow is knit night so I don’t have time to do both a run and workout after school. The quiet workout is all I can do in the morning which I’m sure does something but I’m definitely not dripping sweat like I am after a Lyndsay workout, which I can only do when it’s ok to be noisy. I just don’t know which to sacrifice the quality of- my run or my workout?? 

Teaching:

Today was pretty routine I got all the children assessed on the pumpkin life cycle. I sent this out on FreshGrade to parents and one came back to say she thought her son did pretty good. The boy had two in the wrong spot and needed me to question it before he even realized it. It’s tough because I can’t send videos of the other children so parents have nothing to compare their child to. This boy is definitely approaching though!! His mom’s response does explain a lot about his behaviour however!!! I also got the home reading and special helper calendar ready for November. This evening I got the children’s treat bags ready for tomorrow. I wasn’t planning on giving anything but my co teacher got her students treats so I felt I had to. It’s not very exciting, just a pencil, two small erasers and fake fangs. The dollar store didn’t have much selection:(. I had to buy a pumpkin to carve with the class tomorrow, wow, $8 for a white pumpkin! Needless to say my class will be carving a small peach coloured pumpkin 😂 

Eating:

Only one cinnamon bun today but I’m starting to think I’d better take them to work as freezing them obviously didn’t do the trick:( I’m already thinking of eating one for breakfast! I really need to get off the sugar again!!!!!

I have been loving the gingerbread tea today- so yummy!!! I’d recommend it to anyone:)

Knitting:

Haven’t started any projects, just don’t know which one to do:(

Reading:

I haven’t read anything either:(
What have I been doing today??? I haven’t accomplished much:( workout, work, bought treats and pumpkin, caught up on the blog posts, ran, put treat bags together, bed. Hmmm I’m going to blame it on not sleeping well last night- I was too hot and my stomach wasn’t happy!

Well I’m off to read in bed and hope tomorrow I’ll be back to normal:)

Have fun!

AJ

Recharging

A lovely, quiet Sunday!

Exercise:

I met up with two running buddies for a run at Hyde Creek this morning. Brenda had to walk due to her on-going foot issues. She hasn’t yet said her running days are over, but I think they may be:( That might be the toughest thing ever for a runner- deciding that running can no longer happen. I’ll hold out hope for a while longer for both of our sakes😜 I did a 44 minute run out and back.   Felt pretty good for the day after I pushed myself in a 10 km run:) It was so foggy that my other running buddy Dennis who can do circles around me, kept turning around to come back and check on me as he couldn’t see me in the fog. I have met so many wonderful people running! I don’t know if Dennis realizes he checked on me each time we came across a lone male on the path and each time we had to cross a road ( I’m still slightly skittish after being knocked over by an SUV. I’ll cross by myself, but hopefully there’s no vehicles in sight!). It’s just the kind of person he is and I’ve found most runners take care of each other. It’s sure a nice community to be a part of!

The only interesting photo I got this morning. The fog lifted just after this, but before it was like running through pea soup!

My run also served the purpose of a test run for my new sports bra. It seemed to work fine and I’ve now thrown it through the wash so we’ll see how that goes and then perhaps I’ll be off to buy as many more as I possibly can!!!  Putting on a wet sports bra could be used as torture!

I am happy to say that I also got a workout in today. It is called the max out tabata and it took me thirty minutes. Amazingly, twenty seconds on, ten seconds off of high impact movements doesn’t seem as difficult anymore. I’m almost afraid to say that to Lyndsay though as she’ll up the difficulty level😳. She had me doing lunge jumps, squat jumps, scissor abs, L sits, tricep dips, high knees, skaters, punching and many more!  Each area of the body had four different moves to target it and it was rounded off with two sets of cardio for a total of six tabata sets. I wasn’t dripping sweat, but I was definitely breathing hard!

Eating:

It seems I am to become a regular at the Coquitlam Grill🤣. Brenda, Dennis and I went for brunch after our run.  Brenda and I were planning on this as we thought it would be just the two of us, but Dennis turned up for the run and decided to join us for brekkie too, and he even paid for it! So not necessary, but a lovely treat! I had exactly the same breakfast as yesterday except my egg was scrambled today. I know that many people probably like to try something new every time they go to a restaurant, but for me with my food allergies, I love it when I find a dish that works for me and I don’t have to spend achingly long studying and deciphering the menu to determine what is going to be safe for me to eat!!

A few days ago I read Pinkiebag’s post about gingerbread tea and today when I had to walk two extra blocks to the next grocery store when the one across the street from me didn’t have my dairy free cream cheese(yes I know I still have it much. Enter than lots of people) , I saw gingerbread spice tea and thought I was getting the same as she had reviewed and recommended. Alas, it was not to be😞I picked up Celestial Seasonings Gingerbread Spice tea. I am not a tea connoisseur as I’ll drink anything, but it seems good to me:)! It definitely had a very strong scent even when I just took the outer plastic off! I must have been hungry when I ran over to the grocery store as this tea is not the only new gluten free, dairy free item I came home with!

I also got all my food ready for the week so I have healthy food ready to go and have no excuses for mindless or unhealthy eating! I want to be back down by the time my mom comes home so we can go shopping!!!

Baking:

Well I had to try out the new Gluten Free and Vegan Bread cookbook I got last weekend so I decided to try the cinnamon raisin buns as I have been in a quest to find the best recipe for gluten free and dairy free cinnamon buns. These were very easy to make, though I was surprised that there was no time allotted for rising when the recipe called for active dry yeast.   The good points: the recipe came together quickly, it definitely rolled up the best of all the recipes I’ve tried so far and it came out as a very nice bread texture. The downfalls are that I don’t like how there were black spots all throughout the dough from the Chia seeds and I found them dry and not cinnamony enough.   I think next time I will use regular eggs because I can and it will eliminate the black dots and I think I’ll try cutting down the flour slightly and upping the cinnamon. I also need to find the maple butter she was talking about! I still ate three which cannot be considered a healthy diet anywhere😞😏😫😖 and I was doing so well at getting rid of those pounds!  At least I’ve put the rest in the freezer now.

Crafting:

I’ve worked a bit on my rug today. Every time I tell myself that doing a thread or two isn’t getting much done, I remind myself it’s more than what was getting done when it was on top of my bookshelf.

I have also spent some time looking through all my knitting books and on Ravelry trying to find a pattern to use my Granite Stare Madeline Tosh yarn for. I have come to the realization it will either be the Dijon tank or a pair of mitts that flip open to be hand warmers. If anyone has an opinion and wants to weigh in on this decision, please do! I’m horrible at making decisions! The yarn is gray and fingering weight if that helps in any way.

Family:

It has been a quiet day so I spent some of it reading my niece’s new IEP (which I will have to avoid talking about with my sister in law as we’re never going to agree).  I also hung out at home today so my cousin could come by and put his antique truck back into storage in my extra underground parking spot.  The guys in my family should be thankful I’m nice as I could make some good money off renting that spot or making them compete for it🤣

Well I wish I had a more exciting day to tell you about but I purposely keep my Sundays quiet so I can feel rested for the week to come!  I got my wish today:)

Have fun!

AJ

Pleasantly Surprised

I was pleasantly surprised several times today!

Exercise:

I got up this morning with the intention of doing 10km. I tried to go with the mindset that this is longer than my usual run so it should also be slower than my usual run. I went out the opposite way as I usually do and was doing pretty well until my brain started thinking that I should try not to be slower than I was last time:(. I tried telling it to shut up that I was still sick (woke up with a sore throat again), but it was determined not to listen to me. I had been smart and changed my verbal prompts to only include mileage, so when I got close to the end I thought I was going to end up with it taking about and hour and twelve minutes. Imagine my surprise when my runkeeper program said, 1:07 and put off fireworks for it being my fastest 10km! It was such a pleasant surprise!!! I will definitely not do the route backwards again though as I like to be able to push myself to make up time at the end and that’s hard to do on the hilly part, though I definitely proved to myself that I could run further than I expected as I picked up the pace at the end! If I hadn’t been so slow at the start I would have made my goal of running consistently below 7min/km.  I don’t think I want to ever find out how slow that is in miles! I must say the view of the hillside this morning was awe inspiring. It kept me entranced for a good 2km of my run. I would have liked to have gotten a picture to share with you, but I was in an industrial area and the mill between me and the hillside would have ruined any picture:(. Besides runkeeper doesn’t seem to like it when I take photos:( Anyone know of a more reliable running app?

That is unfortunately the only exercise I got to today and since my eyes keep trying to close right now, I don’t think anymore exercise will be happening!

Eating:

After my run, I quickly showered and met a friend for brunch at Coquitlam Grill. I always seem to end up here! At least today, I finally found a breakfast that worked perfectly for me! It didn’t feel like too much food, but also felt like a treat. The sunriser jumpstart with only one egg. Yum!!!!

I wanted to make something out of my new cookbook, Gluten Free and Vegan Bread that I got last week at the garage sale, but I think it might have to wait until tomorrow. There is a cinnamon bun recipe calling my name though!🤣

Socializing:

I have done a lot of that today! I ended up spending most of the day with my fri be shopping. She was looking for a Halloween costume and I was along for the ride. We tried Value Village where I found an awesome tunic sweater that is super warm and soft and some new running capris and a long sleeve running shirt. I’m happy with all, but none are the sports bra I was supposed to be buying!!!

We then hit the mall where I managed to buy a mesh back cami sports bra from Walmart for $13! I’m going to try it out on my run tomorrow and if it works well I’m going back to buy it in every colour. Anyone have any experience with these cami bras?? In the past I’ve found that inexpensive sports gear often holds the smell so it’s been a lot of years since I’ve tried one, but I definitely need more and it was he right price!

I also managed to find two room scents for school and work at Bath and Body Works along with some Pumpkin Cupcake hand soap.  Everyone kept talking about Fall scents and I just had to look. There was a 50% off sale though so I don’t feel guilty and I didn’t realize it so it was a pleasant surprise when I got to the till:)

We then hit the dollar store and Claire’s where I managed to keep my visa in my pocket:) My friend did finally find a skeleton costume at Claire’s that she is happy with:)

The other socializing I did was with a guy. Yes, I had a date, a first date. I was really not excited about this date! In fact, I texted my friend moments before leaving to ask why I let myself be talked into these things???? It actually went well. We met at the local park and just strolled around. Thankfully we didn’t see any of my students! An hour and a half went by very quickly!! He asked what my plans were for the night, but I always think it’s better to leave them wanting more so I invented a dinner with a friend. I’ll go out with him again if he asks, even though he is not at all what I was looking for.🤣 I suppose he was a pleasant surprise too:)

Teaching:

I didn’t teach today, but I did run out to the other Walmart to pick up the bins we need for the school’s new stem materials.  The couple in front of me in the checkout were so kind. When they saw my big stack of large bins, they went and got a cart for me so I wouldn’t have to carry them! I love when people confirm my faith in kindness:). I’m just glad that errand is done and it allowed me a vision of this gorgeous sunset too!

Have fun!

AJ

🎶Dance, Dance, Dance🙈

What a day!

Exercise:

I purposely slept for an extra forty minutes this morning instead of going for a run as I’ve been super tired and knew today would be busy. I walked to work and back, but also got a workout in with Lyndsay this afternoon. She had warned me it would be tough and it was! Six long intervals on the treadmill and then six floor exercises with two minutes of biking or rowing in between each. I was literally dripping sweat into the floor around the bike! It was tough because there’s this big mirror in front of me and I was feeling pudgy today and yet it was great because I was keeping up with Lyndsay! I did push-ups from my toes, I did walk outs, side crunch planks, pop jacks, reverse lunges with hops, plank rows, and crazy sit ups. I can’t do them as well as her, but I did every one she did:)

In my walk home, I felt like celebrating life- an awesome workout and a beautiful day!

Teaching:

Today was a busy day. The students were awed at the furniture being changed around this morning, but agreed they liked it this way and that we should try it out for a week 🤣. Perhaps the change contributed to their improved math abilities as they created these equations during calendar today.

Theyvhave definitely improved over the past thirty days that we have been in school:)

We worked on a pumpkin mini book to practice our prepositions off and on today but really, most of the day was taken up with dancing! The staff had a practice at recess and really I enjoy dancing, but feel completely stiff and uncoordinated and like I’m not cool enough to do it 🤣. We then all got to watch the dress rehearsal after recess. The students really enjoyed the staff performance and I was laughing at myself through the whole thing so looked like I was having a great time! The principal taped it and I didn’t look as bad as I thought I would:). This afternoon we managed to get planners and silent reading done before we got called to perform. They weren’t perfect, but boy were they cute! One of the other staff members kept reminding everyone that, “flawed is better than perfect”.

The only other thing we managed to accomplish today was art. Unfortunately the awesome art project I had chosen off Pinterest no longer had directions attached to it, so I ended up putting the image on the smartboard and then doing more like a directed drawing lesson. The students were awesome about it and it turned out pretty good🙂

Or at least better than the other grade one class🤣 (excuse my competitiveness)

Well I’m going to continue taking it easy on my couch tonight as tomorrow seems to be shaping up to a busy day! I had been thinking I would leave today and go over to Vancouver Island to spend the night at my brother’s place because it is my nephew’s birthday on Wednesday and then go down Island and spend the day with my parents before coming home tomorrow night, but just talking about this plan wore me out at lunch, so I decided to stay home and it’s a good thing since I now have plans tomorrow:)

Have fun!

AJ

How many timers are too many???

It didn’t go as planned, but it definitely had its high points:)

Exercise:

For some reason I find it easier to get out of bed to run up a hill than to go for a normal run. Part of it is that I feel perfectly safe in that area and the other part is probably that I know it will be a shorter than normal run. I did the hill in 13.5 minutes which isn’t my best, but considering my lack of movement this week and diminished lung capacity, I’ll take it, though I am starting to think about how I can add on to make this run longer.

I walked to and from work today, (not the best picture, but all the red trees on the corner looked so cool!) but missed out on any other workout:(

Teaching:

Today my students were for the most part lovely! We had hip hop first thing and instead of helping we told them we were assessing their participation and focus. I should have said that at the start of the week as the first thirty minutes were amazing! I hope they’re that good tomorrow!!!

My class also worked amazingly quietly until lunch time! Wow! I could hear myself think:)

I learned my dance at lunch, or maybe I should say I attempted to learn a dance at lunch. I figured out I can either move my feet or my arms, but seem to be unable to do both at the same time. Tomorrow should be interesting as I felt incredibly stiff and uncomfortable-ordinates with no one watching,  never mind with 250 people watching me😫

It was a spectacular afternoon so we took the children outside at the end of the day. They definitely deserved some playtime after all their hard work today! 

(Couldn’t resist going outside when this is the view from my window).

I spent some time rearranging the furniture in my classroom after school. I like one area better, but seem to have just moved the problems to another area:( I’ll have to see how it works with the children present and maybe a solution will present itself!

Eating:

Last night after I finished my post, I decided that I needed to step up and use my slow cooker. I keep saying I’ll use it more but I never do. Part of the problem has been the timing, but I found a solution thanks to a friend of mine. I love oatmeal, but the last time I tried to make it in the crockpot it burned because I obviously sleep more than the recipe author does. A friend of mine suggested a light timer, and… it worked awesome! I threw the ingredients for Slow cooker oatmeal in last night, and set it to cook from 2am to 7am. When I came home from my run, I had delicious, hot oatmeal waiting for me. Now if I could just have a timer on the teakettle too, life would be great! I wonder what else I could put a timer on and how many timers are too many???🤣

I also was offered the opportunity to go out for dinner tonight at the last minute.  My co-teacher realized she was on her own tonight so we decided to go out together. We stayed local and went to St. James Well.  I had sangria and the fish and chips and it was as yummy as ever, but it definitely didn’t help with the eating healthy plan for the day:(. I don’t think I want to face the scale in the morning!

Reading:

Last night I also finished my book What it Takes after I finished my blog post. I finished reading the tenth book in the Kowalski series by Shannon Stacey.

I have really enjoyed this series, and this one didn’t disappoint either! It is the story of Laney who comes to work for the Kowalskis after a bitter divorce and Ben who has returned to the area and was a childhood friend of the family.  Ben and Laney obviously end up together, but what wa super great was that this book was set during a Kowalski family camping trip so, as a reader, you got an update on everyone in the family. From the description of the camping trip, I think I’d like to join their family! It was a very sweet read and I would recommend it to anyone who enjoys family, medical, series or post divorce romances. It was definitely another winner from Shannon Stacey!

Knitting:

Well knit night was fun but not super successful! I started a lace weight sweater and after completing twenty four rows of complicated lace pattern, had four extra stitches:(. I frogged it and I am thinking I might start the every way wrap instead as it is something I could wear right now! I’ll let you know what I decide.

I’m sure I’ll probably think of a zillion other things that happened today that I wanted to tell you about, but my eyes keep wanting to shut so I’m off to bed!

Have fun!

AJ

Jam-Packed!

A jam packed day!

Exercise:

I did manage to get out of bed for a run this morning. After writing last night and talking with a friend, I realized there was a neighbourhood five minutes run away that I could do laps around. It worked pretty good, though I need to figure out how to add two and a half minutes to it as I was short this morning:(

I walked to and from work and I also did a bootcamp workout after school with the staff. We did high knees, v sit-ups, bench press, bridges, frogger jumps, walking lunges, jumping jacks, wall sit, skiers, bench up and overs, plank jumps, skipping, and reverse lunges. I was so tired before we started, but it’s amazing how much energy I get when the music starts! It was a great workout and worth cancelling my massage for.

I have been going to the same RMT for about eight years, but her hours have changed since she now has two kids. I have her last appointment for the day at 3:30 which is really tight. I love the direct billing that company does, but don’t know if it would be weird for me to start going to a different RMT who works there??? Thoughts??

Teaching:

My students again started the day with a hip hop lesson. It’s going to be interesting as they are still teaching them new parts and the performance is on Friday! I’m just glad someone else comes in to do this for the week as no one would want to see me try to teach dance! I have to start learning my dance tomorrow😳😳😳😳

There isn’t much teaching time left in our morning so we crammed the language arts in with the math. It made the day go quickly, that’s for sure! We also got to some more pumpkin learning this afternoon. Today we learned that pumpkins are a fruit, not a vegetable and that you can eat pumpkin flowers!!! I knew about the fruit, but not the flower eating!  Good thing I teach so I learn these new things, 😂!

One of the little girls in my class was celebrating a birthday today. This year I am giving the children a birthday certificate with a lollipop attached( and no I don’t normally give food rewards). Many students bring a treat to share with the class. I mention this because sometimes it feels as though parents think I operate a party store. I’ve been sent full on cakes that need to be cut and served on plates with forks! This is not my job people!!! The parent of today’s birthday girl had a brilliant idea- a bag of strawberry twizzler licorice. All I had to do was open the bag and hand one piece to each student😁 The mom is a teacher too and it shows!  I want to celebrate children’s birthdays- turning six is a big deal, but please don’t make my job difficult!

We also had a baby shower at lunch for a teacher who is in maternity leave this year. I had to help set up for it this morning as the woman who was supposed to ended up taking the day off as her son was sick. Not quite what I had planned for my morning, but I wasn’t about to leave my co-teacher to do it on her own!!Her son was so cute! It was nice to get my baby snuggles in, but was very rushed! It was nice that another retired teacher showed up so we got a visit in with her too:) It’s amazing how relaxed these retired teachers look! I can’t wait to look that way!

I also spent time after school inventorying and organizing some supplies the school had bought last June. Ugh all I did was create more work for myself as I now need to go buy bins and create a sign out for the different materials:( one day, but not today!

Eating/cooking:

I tried out a recipe from Cook and Enjoy Recipes for Feriel’s stir fried mushrooms on toasted rye bread. I of course needed to alter it slightly to be gluten free and dairy free but this just meant using gf bread and a dairy free Brie cheese I had instead. It made for a very yummy breakfast and was super fast! It took longer to toast the bread than to put the dish together. Of course, I might be slightly biased as it had garlic in it and I love anything with garlic!!!

Lunch was a great because I didn’t have to make one, just take gf bread to work. I tried a new bread. It was Canyon Bakehouse Deli Style Rye Bread. I had been looking for some fancy bread to take, but this was the best I could find at the IGA after my run last night. It was good! Tasted just like rye bread and made for awesome open faced sandwiches! I’m glad I brought the rest home. It held together well, didn’t crumble into pieces, was not overly dry or grainy and made for a solid sandwich base! I like dense bread sometimes so this hit the spot today! I would recommend it:)

I ate a lot at lunch today, probably because of the social situation. I wasn’t happy with myself for that, but I am happy that I’ve refrained from overeating tonight so hopefully it all balances out:)

Knitting:

None happening today. I figure my hands deserve a break and hopefully I’ll find a project to start with the lace weight yarn I have tomorrow. All suggestions are welcome, though I’m looking to make an article of clothing, not a shawl:)

Reading:

I am going back to my book now so that I’ll hopefully finish it tonight and be able to review it tomorrow:)

Ugh I just realized I can’t read yet as I need to tidy up as knit night is at my house tomorrow😳

Have fun!

AJ

Onward:)

A pretty good day for my first day off the couch:)

Exercise:

Well I managed to get up and do a workout this morning. It was another of Bea Free‘s deck of cards workouts. I had to do sumo squats, push-ups, bicycle crunches and punches. These workouts really do work well for my Tuesday morning when I don’t think jumping around would be appropriate or quiet enough for my neighbours! I walked to and from work (they cleared my path) and I got myself out to run club tonight.

I was going to go down to a slower pace group since I’ve been sick, but Paul the owner said he thought I should stick with my usual. I did end up being fine as it was short intervals tonight.

4X30 seconds

4×60 seconds

And then repeat this another three times with only thirty seconds rest each time, even between sets. It was a good workout, but note to self, don’t eat cucumbers before a run!😫

I’m a little worried about tomorrow morning when I’m supposed to get up for a run. It’s so dark at 6:15 now and only about 4 degrees.  I’m trying to avoid the gym until there’s actual snow and ice, but I’m not sure how I’m going to get myself out there? Don’t really like running in the dark by myself. I did remember to ask Paul to put the word out that I’m looking for a 6am run buddy. We’ll see tomorrow, I guess.

Teaching:

No tears today🎉🎊🎉🎊😀

My school has a hip hop teacher for this week. Each grade group learns a different hip hop dance and then on Friday there is a performance. I have even been roped into participating in the staff one😳. I have to admit my students ranged from amazing to oh my! You look at a few and it’s tough to keep a straight face! In actuality though, they do amazing to learn and perform a dance in a week. I don’t think I could do that! Actually I know I couldn’t 🤣

We also had a visit today from our two kindergarten teachers from last year. It was great to see them and even better to be able to ask them questions about the children. I really missed having that articulation in September this year!!!!

We finally started out pumpkin unit this afternoon. We have two Jeohovah Witnesses in grade one and so won’t be doing “Halloween” activities, but we figured we might be safe with pumpkins. It was hilarious when I asked the children what colour a pumpkin could be as we were “scientists” today so we were going to colour them a “realistic colour”. Several children said blue! I thought they were talking about the blue pumpkins people put out to signify they have non candy treats for children with allergies, etc, but no they meant blue. My co-teacher explained the book they read yesterday said that pumpkins can be blue. I guess I learn something new every day!

We took the children outside today since it was just such a perfect Fall day! 

I know I’ve shown these trees before but they were just so beautiful today, I couldn’t resist another photo!

Eating:

I dug into the third of the Black Sheep Vegan Cheeses that my mom brought back from the Oliver Wine Festival for me. This one is called Voursin. It was delicious!!!! It has such a yummy, herby taste and was perfect on the cucumber slices!  I would highly recommend this cheese if you’re looking for a non dairy goat cheese alternative as that’s what it reminded me of. It would be perfect for a cheese board! I’m going to have to look into seeing if the company delivers when I’m done these last two cheeses!

Knitting:

I finished my handwarmers just after I finished my blog post last night. I’m actually wearing them right now as I was cold when I came in from my run. I am very happy with how they turned out and love the colour!!!! These might be my new go-to ones.

Pattern:

I’m sure there’s a pattern out there, but I didn’t look for one. These would fit a 7-9 year old. I casted on 30 stitches and split between three needles. Did six rounds of knit one, purl one ribbing. Then did 20 rounds of knitting, however, on every fifth round I did a cable of six stitches. I alternated between a front and back cable. The cable was always done on the last needle. On the 20th round, I knitted three stitches, cast off 4, Knit to the end of the round. 21st round was Knit three, cast on four, Knit to the end. I knitted fifteen more rounds and then did six rounds of k1,p1 ribbing again and casted off. For the right hand the thumb hole was done at the start of the round. For the left hand it was done towards the end of the second needle. Sorry I wrote this in an awkward manner, but you’ll get the idea!

The other exciting knitting news is that I got a new project bag! One of our education assistants at school was on a BC ferry this weekend and came across a bag she thought was perfect for me. I have her the go ahead to get it for me and today I got to pick it up at school. It’s so cute! I’m very happy with it and while I hope it will work for a knitting project bag, I know I’ll get use out of it elsewhere if it doesn’t.

Well I think that’s everything that has happened to me today. I hope you all had a good day too!

Have fun!

AJ

A Lump on a Log🤣

A very quiet day, but I can say that I feel better🎉🎊🎉🎊

Exercise:

Absolutely none! I thought about going for a run tonight, but I could hear/see my mother in my head. She probably wouldn’t say anything but would look at me with that, “are you crazy” look, so I will wait to exercise until tomorrow, but I am so getting back to my routine tomorrow!!!

Reading:

I finished the book, New York Actually by Sarah Morgan. It is the fourth book in the series “With Love From Manhattan”. I’ve really enjoyed this series because it once again has a group of friends that feature largely in each book. This book was the story of Molly, an advice columnist who relocated to New York from London after a career ending scandal. She meets Daniel who is Manhattan’s leading divorce attorney.   Daniel borrows a dog from his sisters (who are dog walkers) in order to meet Molly in Central Park where she walks her dog Valentine every morning.  Molly and Daniel decide on a fling because Molly believes she can’t fall in love. Life and love ensues.

I liked the primary presence that the animals had in this book. The book actually opens with a sequence around Valentine. I think it was supposed to make you think it was a man she was talking about, but I knew it was a dog immediately so it came across a little cheesy.  I also liked how Daniel was multifaceted, though parts of him were a bit of a stretch. It seemed weird to me that Molly believed she couldn’t live, not that she wouldn’t, but that she couldn’t.  Overall, it was a fun addition to the series, but definitely just for fun!

I think people who like dogs, city life or a strong friendship in their romance books would enjoy this book.

Now I just have to decide if I can count my trashy romances and chick lit on my A-Z Reading Challenge????

Baking:

Yesterday I had liked a post by The Recipe Hunter for Belinda’s Easy Mostly Healthy Muffins.  I decided to try them out this morning as they looked super easy and I had kept dry toast down so it was time to try something else 🤣.  The muffins were very easy to put together and called for one cup of whatever mix-ins you wanted. I combined walnuts, raisins, chocolate chips and coconut as I always seem to like combination baking best.   I had too much batter and filled not only 12 large muffin cups, but also about two inches in a loaf pan. I cooked the muffins at 325 which it called for until they smelled done. The muffins released from the muffin cups very easily and were cooked all the way through. The cinnamon and vanilla ensured that they smelled really good!  They tasted fine (a little on the healthy side), but my one complaint is that they don’t hold together well. I kept two down today and froze the rest so we’ll see how they do after they’ve been frozen, but maybe it was the mix-ins I used.  I’ll have to try them again and see if I get the same result.

Knitting:

I have been furiously knitting away this afternoon to finish a pair of handwarmers out of this purple yarn that I absolutely love. I wasn’t going to post until I was done and I’m more than halfway through the second one. Unfortunately I just figured out I put the thumb hole in the wrong place on this second one so I’m going to have to rip back about five or six rows and figure out where it should go! I guess that will teach me for putting the cables in! Need the cables to be on the back of the hand, not the palm!!

Grrr!

Well I’m off to tink and then knit. Hopefully tomorrow I’ll have a more exciting day to tell you about!
Have fun!

AJ

Still?!

A pretty quiet day of recovering. I’ve had enough of saying I’m sick so by tomorrow’s post I had better feel more myself!

Exercise:

I got a short run in this morning along a local trail. I did loops around my running buddies who were walking because they were sick. I probably should have taken my cue from them, but I was going slow!

This was my only exercise as I spent the rest of the day on the couch.

Socializing:

I’m calling this section socializing rather than eating because I haven’t managed to eat anything but ginger ale and one tea today:(

We tried a new coffee place after our run called Creekside Coffee Factory. I don’t drink coffee, but their coconut chai tea by Mighty Leaf was lovely. What I liked best about this coffee shop was how quiet it was! You could actually speak in a regular voice! You didn’t have to yell to be heard. It drives me crazy how loud coffeeshops and restaurants seem to be. I’m sure this makes me seem old, but I’m usually out with friends and it would be nice if I could actually converse with them. The inside of the coffee shop was very nice and invitingly decorated too.

I had book club tonight which is one of my favourite events so I had to go. I usually love it because it also gives me the chance to cook something g new because our food is always based on the theme of the book. Unfortunately, I couldn’t even stomach the thought of cooking today so I just took chips and salsa. When I was sitting at book club not eating any of the goodies laid out before me, I came to the conclusion that I’m sick:(

I had some of the chips and some more ginger ale. I was hoping they would work like saltines but they didn’t.

I always love to meet up with the girls and hear about what’s happening. It was a small group this time and only two of us had finished the book, so it turned more into just catching up. We both had a hard time getting into the book, but ended up loving it!

I didn’t have much to say as the girls were discussing shows they watch on Netflix. Some of them sounded very interesting, not, more like I could lose brain cells watching them!  (Of course some people would say that about the hallmark movies I watch on occasion too). Lol it reminded me that I’ve never been a big tv watcher. I was always reading a book as a kid and now I actually manage to exist without cable or Netflix. The only time it somewhat bugs me is when people have conversations that I can’t contribute to, lol.  I think I can live with that though!

Reading:

I’m working on the next Sarah Morgan book in the series, New York Actually, but haven’t finished it yet so I’ll keep my mouth shut for now:)

Knitting:

I loved some purple wool I found in my coffee table basket but knew it would be too scratchy to wear against my skin, so I’m making a pair of handwarmers out of it. I think it will be perfect and super warm for that! I haven’t finished this yet either.

Well, I’m going to go collapse on the couch with my book and knitting and try not to think about my stomach!  Maybe this would be one time it would be good if I had mindless tv to watch, but I’ll rely on a mindless trashy romance book instead:)

Have fun!

AJ