All Things Wonderful

It was just a nice day:)

Exercise:

I have to admit that getting up this morning wasn’t easy! I think it was due to lack of sleep after my night out. My run definitely reflected my night out! I guess lack of sleep and cider don’t fuel a run very well. I at least had company as Dennis was with me and he kindly waited at the places where I could get lost or maybe he waited by the water features so he could laugh if I fell in, but I’ll take the positive, nice outlook:). Though my run was slow, it was a trail run so it was still awesome! I much prefer a trail run over a road run- better scenery, better sounds and better focal points!

The end view was nice too!

I have gotten behind on my squat/push-up/plank challenge and thought I would just restart next month, but I don’t want to be a quitter! So this afternoon I got into plank and managed to hold it for 1:45. I looked and this put me right between day 14 and 15 on the challenge sheet, so I have backed up to day 14 and completed that plank, 135 squats and 27 push-ups. It will take me a week longer, but I’m used to taking longer to do things than others and I figure that’s better than quitting!

I also got a Lyndsay workout done this evening. It was called legs extreme and it really was!!! There were a ton of squats and lunges along with every other way to torture legs. It only took 26 minutes to complete, but there was a puddle of sweat on the ground by then!

I love days where I get all my exercise in:)

Socializing:

I had a cup of tea with my running buddies after my run- the best part of Sunday run! Brenda thought she might be able to come over and knit, but it turned out she couldn’t. At least my house got tidied so then I could play guilt free😁

Reading:

I finished my book today in between projects and cleaning. The cover photo is not how I pictured the characters though which bugged me every time I picked the book up!

When I Need You is the final book in James’ series about the Lund family, or at least to date as I’d love some more. It tells the story of the youngest Lund son, Jensen who plays football and Rowan who is a cheerleader, single mom and coach. She therefore, breaks all of Jensen’s dating rules.

I enjoyed this book immensely. I liked how the family plays a part as usual. I liked how the sex doesn’t happen until the last quarter of the book and a real relationship seems to develop first.

I liked the characters- they were interesting and not annoying; neither is a whiner.

I loved the ending of the book!!! (I’ll leave it there so I don’t spoil anything for anyone).

I would recommend the book for anyone who likes sports romances.

I also finished listening to my newest classic, The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton on LibriVox.  This book tells the story of Newland Archer and Mae Welland, a young couple in New York in the late 1800s. They become engaged before Newland meets her cousin Ellen Olenska, which in the grand scheme of things is probably for the best. It’s an in depth look at the New York upper society of the time, with all its foibles and idiosyncrasies.

This book kept me interested all the way through without being melodramatic, stereotypical or outlandish. It definitely gave me a surprise at the end!

It was an awesome book to listen to as I really enjoyed the narrator Elizabeth Klett. It was easy to follow and easy to put down and pick up as well.

Crafting/ Knitting:

I got my weekly rug square done this morning. It took extra on the weekend as I had a couple of days I couldn’t do anything this week, but so far I have remained on schedule and I only have 13 squares left. There might just be a light at the end of the tunnel!

In knitting, I got a roll brim baby hat done. I’ve done this hat many times in many different colours and love it because it’s simple and yet looks so cute!

This one was done in three colours, three rows each stripe so that it would count for the Potions class on HPKCHC on Ravelry. The pattern is super easy! Cast on 64 stitches and distribute over three needles, knit every stitch for 5″. Next row- place marker after every 8th stitch. Alternate a decrease row ( knit2together before each marker) and a plain knit tie until only 8 stitches remain. Knit2together all around. Do I cord for 3″. Cast off, weave in ends.

I’m really happy with how it turned out and it used up two small balls of yarn so my stash number went down by 2🎉🎊. Maybe when the number becomes less embarrassing, I’ll actually name it.🤣

Well I’m off to start my next knitting project and watch a Hallmark movie:)

Have fun!

AJ

Fantastic Bake Along- Rosemary Muffins

What a day – nice things and a first!

Edit: I couldn’t figure out what I had done to bug everyone so no one was reading my post, until I saw that it hadn’t actually posted 5 hours ago like I thought it had🤣

Exercise:

I knew I needed to do my 9km run yesterday morning as I wouldn’t be doing it today, so I headed back out to the dyke. It was a nice morning and there were lots of runners out! I wasn’t anywhere near fast, but I did it and I was proud of myself for that. I’ve come a long way when I don’t think much about going and running 9km:). I passed a girl at the end who was driving me nuts! It was a busy trail so I was staying right, but when I went to go by her, she sped up. I’d have to get behind her when another group was coming towards us. This happened twice and I’d had enough so I put on the turbo jets and passed her. It felt kind of good😂

Unfortunately that was my only exercise yesterday:( I’m going to need to do that plank/push-up/squat challenge again next month I think:(

Crafting:

I got my rug time done while I was listening to my first ever podcast- The Everyday Marathoner featured Kate the Great who is part of my Squad Runner team, so of course I had to listen!

I thought for sure I would get a baby toque done yesterday, but I didn’t even get to pick up the needles.

Baking:

It was time for the Great Bake Along again yesterday. Rosemary muffins were definitely new to me! For this reason I was so glad that Brenna chose them as I’m not sure when the last time I made savory muffins was!

The Recipe was easy to follow and went together quickly:). I, of course, had to make some changes. My three cups of flour is a mixture of buckwheat, sorghum, millet, tapioca starch, and potato starch along with some xantham gum. I used Yoso vanilla yogurt, unsweetened vanilla almond milk, and omitted the goat cheese completely. My dough was very thick, and I had to smooth the tops with my wet hands, but after baking for 20 minutes I was super happy with how they came out.

They tasted good with butter on them, but they tasted even better with hummus!

You should definitely check out the other people doing the Great Bake Along! Tracy’s muffins look amazing!

Sorry I can’t put links, I’m on my phone, about to go for a run!

Socializing:

I did some sewing for Lyndsay yesterday afternoon as her son had blown out the knees on all his pants so I turned them into shorts:)

We decided to take another one of our colleagues out for dinner and a drink because she had had an unpleasant parent experience on Friday. Well, it started with dinner at Taps and Tacos which I’ve been wanting to try. I had the carne asada corn taco and the tuna poke. Both were good, but took forever to come and that was after we had waited twenty minutes to get a table! I can’t believe I forgot to take photos of my food, I must have been having fun. I thought the night was over at that point, but it was just beginning. We then proceeded to hit all four brew pubs in a row!

It was definitely something that I’ve never done before!! It was also a lot of fun to hang out with Lyndsay and Corianne though. They are very comfortable to be with. I can now also say with complete knowledge that Yellow Dog Brewery has the best cider out of all the Breweries!

Well, my run is about to start, even though I’m tired!

Have fun!

AJ

Remarkable Recovery

My day was much better and life made a remarkable recovery today:)

Teaching:

I always try to keep Fridays a little more low key as the children are tired by the fifth day. We did our chalkboard spelling, we did our 3D object scavenger hunt and we created Kandinsky style trees.

Lately I have been loving doing art with my students. It’s probably one of the quietest and calmest activities in my classroom right now, and I love that they are all engaged and I’m not having to police anyone.

After yesterday’s middle finger incident times three, I wasn’t sure what the consequence was going to be. I decided that because I didn’t see it, I would go a little easier this time. I had all three boys tell me a reason we don’t do that and then they had to write down all three of the reasons. None of these boys enjoy writing so I figured this might be enough to discourage them from doing it again, at least in the next 27 days😂

Well at least this proves they know why we don’t do that!!!

I suddenly realized this morning that I needed to get the script out for the assembly next week so I quickly threw that together and gave it to the girls presenting, got the track schedules distributed and my desk cleaned off. In all, I consider today a success!😀

Socializing:

My day was definitely helped by a trip to Starbucks at lunchtime with Lyndsay. She had to meet her husband to trade off the car so I went along. They are hilarious together and between getting away from school for a few minutes and the comedy show of them, it made for a lovely break. We were having so much fun that we just made it back as the bell was going.

Exercise:

I met up with Lyndsay again after school for a workout. She told me that she was going to challenge herself so I decided to try to as well. Our treadmill time was short intervals where the incline went up each time. I’m happy to say I did each interval at 7km/hr or faster which is good for me:). We repeated this sequence twice: first working up in incline and then down. It’s amazing how much easier going down seems!

We then hit the floor for dumbbell work. I really needed a 15lb and 18lb set of dumbbells but they don’t have them:(. I did most work with 12lbs, but did manage to do a few moves with 20lbs- definitely a challenge for me:) We did burpees, squats with shoulder press, v-ups, more squats, rows, and more squats and burpees. Ugh I’m going to hurt tomorrow. It is fun to have company though:)

It’s funny but after I work out with Lyndsay, I always want to do more later that night. It definitely energizes me and gets me hooked on exercise!

Crafting/Knitting:

I at least got my half hour on my rug done, but have some more work to do as I am only halfway through my square for this week.

I did however get my purple tabard finished finally!!😀😀 I am super happy with it, except for one mistake I made. I’ll see if anyone can find it. If anyone points it out, I’ll take it apart and fix it, otherwise I’m leaving it. The vest turned out big enough to wear over a long sleeve shirt, but not sloppy big and because it is out of pure wool, I think it will be super warm this fall and winter:). I have to say that the buttons are my favorite part! They were even packaged in such a cute way!!Now I just have to figure out what to do with the little bit of yarn left, about a quarter of a ball??? I also was happy to finally get a second class complete in HPKCHC this month!

Blogging:

I never realized how busy I am in May!!!!

I have to say sorry to everyone as I haven’t been able to keep up with reading blogs this week. I will try to make some progress over this long weekend, but the sunshine may tempt me outside. Thanks to everyone who still stops by to read and I promise to get back on track soon (probably next Saturday once the track meet is over😛)

Reading:

After a week where all I have wanted is silence when I was home, I finally got a bit more of Age of Innocence listened to on LibriVox tonight. I’m on chapter 26 so I only have 8 chapters left! Yay!!!

But for now I’m off to work on my rug and watch a Hallmark movie:)

Have fun!

AJ

Another Day,Another Dollar

Just a normal day with an irregular event at the end.

My walk to school this morning:)

Teaching:

Normal day- I ran around like a headless chicken trying to get everything done! I got in trouble again- seems to be a regular occurrence lately:(

We had a science experiment where one little boy threw part of it down the drain, had three boys using their middle finger at lunch and then had kids decide I said to go play on the playground… uh no I didn’t!! Quite the day!

Exercise:

I got out for a run after work but it wasn’t particularly good:( Note to self- don’t eat veggies and hummus just before you go for a run🙁

Socializing:

I had a date tonight. We met at the local pub for a drink. I have to say that right from the start I suspected he was high:( ugh! The funniest part was as we were walking out, my friend Lyndsay’s husband was walking in.🤣. I wonder what he thought of my date? I don’t think he was worth the blisters my sandals gave me:(

Well I’m off to bed to try and make up for my lack of sleep last night!

Have fun!

AJ

Busy Auntie

It was such a busy day. I don’t feel like I’ve sat down until now!

Teaching:

I started with track practice this morning. We had to finish that up early (which I later got in trouble for) and head to a staff meeting where we got told that our principal is being moved and we are getting a new principal next year. I’ve heard mixed reviews on the new principal so I’ll refrain from judgement until I’ve worked with her.

We didn’t do anything too exciting- workout Wednesday, sorting geometric shapes, writing our pen pal letters, and doing the student’s self-reflection on the year. It was interesting to see what they remembered from the year.

Exercise:

I at least got an L boot camp in today as I’m not feeling like I’ve gotten much exercise lately. We did a new style of workout. There were five 4 minute stations where you did three moves. In between we did a minute of cardio- either running, skipping, step ups, jumping jacks or high knees.

The stations: burpees/ half get ups/ plank skiers with a push-up in between

Bench hop overs/ mountain climbers/ torso rotation

Lat pull downs/ wall balls/ squat touch downs

Banded straight arm raises/ banded squat and side leg lift/ power squat with front raise

Reverse squat with hip/bench v sit/ banded side steps

Family:

I rushed home to grab my car and went over to pick my nephew Gus up. I was hanging out with him tonight as my brother and sister in law are at the Paul Simon concert. We walked over to watch my students play baseball as many of them are on the same team. It was cute to see them all play, but we only stayed for half an hour as I didn’t want to make a pest of myself.

Eating:

Gus was starving as all 11 year old boys are so we walked over to Subway and then had Menchies. I avoided the subway, but enjoyed some gf/df mango sorbet.

I love hanging out with Gus! We had a quick game of darts and for the first time ever he beat me!

Have this cutie who won’t leave his lookout!

Reading:

I finished my book, What You Need, last night.

I had a difficult time getting into this book, but once in, I was hooked. It’s a great read that moves fast! I enjoyed the characters and the family dynamic is interesting. It almost needs a family tree at the beginning of the book! I’m glad I finally read the first one as I’ve already read others in the series.

He’s off to bed and I’m off to watch some chick flicks on my brother’s Netflix:)

Have fun!

AJ

Ugh How Do People Put Up With This

I’ve had a headache all day and I really don’t know how people who suffer migraines or headaches do it!

Teaching:

Today was crazy at work because I had to organize our school’s participation in the track meet. Trying to figure out at least two events for each child who wants to go, but they have to have met the standard in that event. I’m ready to pull my hair out!

I am definitely cutting back on what I volunteer to do at the school next year as I feel like I miss out on giving my students time and attention:(

Exercise:

I got a 6km run in after school, though it doesn’t seem to have helped my headache. It was super hot today (yes I’ve been drinking tons of water) so I made myself go right after I got home from school because I knew that if I sat down, I wouldn’t want to get up again!

Crafting/ Knitting:

I got an hour done on my rug today and I am 3/4 of the way done the back of my tabard. I’m behind where I wanted to be on the tabard, but at least I’m making progress:)

Reading:

I finished Cooper’s Charm last night.

This story is about Phoenix and Cooper. Phoenix has been through a lot and is trying to put her life back together. Copper has also suffered but is a little further in the healing process. When Phoenix comes to work for Cooper, they’ll tackle healing together.

I liked the characters and the instant family quality created in this book. The characters are diverse and multi-faceted and yet funny and quirky, like real people. The staff at Cooper’s Charm instantly invite the reader in and make you feel at home. I felt like I was sitting at the store having coffee with them.

The pace of the book was awesome! It didn’t lag in the middle where books often do as Ridley and Baxter’s story took centre stage there. Yes the big action was within the last twenty pages, but I didn’t feel like I was plodding along to get there.

Finally I would recommend this book for anyone who likes realistic romance or outdoor adventures.

Well on that note, I’m going to go crawl into bed and hope this headache goes away!!

Have fun!

AJ

Lazing in the Sun

It was a quiet day for me, but went according to plan.

Exercise:

I had company on my run this morning around Mundy Park. Dennis stuck with me even though I was running slow due to stomach issues. It was nice to have the company, I always forget how much faster runs go when you have something other than running to concentrate on. I managed to do 54 minutes, a little more than the 50 I needed to complete the mission. I think that 54 should count for 154 because that entire park is uphill both ways!!!! It’s funny but I find “cardiac hill” easier as it’s very steep but short so I can get up on the malls of my feet, drive my knees high and power up it, but the hill at the other end of the park is long and low and it kills me every time!

It’s a nice park to run Sunday morning as I get my dog fix as it’s off leash time. I just wish the people were as considerate as the dogs. It drives me nuts when groups of people spread out across the entire trail and then don’t pay attention and move aside when someone else comes along. I just want people to be considerate towards each other- imagine how awesome the world would be if this was common practice!!!! (Sorry there’s my rant for today)

I got my plank/ push-up/ squat challenge completed today. I admit I’ve missed a day here and there but we’re still in the realm of what I do regularly so I figure it’s ok:)

I also got a Lyndsay workout done this evening. It was called skip to it and I had to do a minute of skipping between each 3 sets of exercises. I did burpees and skaters, lateral raises and cross mountain climbers, shoulder press and squats, and fill sit ups and plank hip dips. Yup every part of my body feels worked!

Chores:

I stopped and did my grocery shopping on the way home and am very proud that I bought mainly just fruits and veggies! Otherwise I only bought protein and some rice Chex cereal. I am going to have a healthy week:). It probably helped that my stomach was still unhappy and so I didn’t want to even think about food !

I even got all my veggies cut up and my fruit salad made so I’m ready for the week:)

I roasted cauliflower and broccoli. I just drizzled them with oil and then put on garlic, salt and pepper. It was supposed to be for my dinners, but I ate it all! Amazingly, I loved the broccoli even more than the cauliflower!

Knitting:

I didn’t have to do anything on my rug today so I’ve been working on my tabard. I had finished the front last night so today I have gotten about halfway through the back. I had wanted to finish it, but unfortunately I discovered a book on my kindle app😜. I did however, finish up a skein so I can deduct a second skein off the hideous number I have in my stash:)🎉🎊

Reading:

I have spent a lot of time reading today. It’s a book from NetGalley called Cooper’s Charm by Lori Foster and I’ve been enjoying it. The review will probably happen tomorrow as I can see myself staying up to finish it tonight, though I’ll regret that about 9am tomorrow morning😜

Blogging:

I got a funny email from a blogger I follow. Fred Bailey has a great blog that features gorgeous photos. He also happens to be a friend of my parents and I admit I had the upper hand in that my mom had introduced me to his blog and I knew who he was. He wrote to apologize that he didn’t know who I was until today. Fred, you never have to apologize for that!! There are many people who know members of my family and have no idea I exist! For example, my oldest brother had a best friend B since grade four- B’s sister, didn’t know I existed, even after 40 years!!! What can I say, I’m the quiet one who stays home and reads my book😛. Definitely go check out Fred’s blog though!

Well I’d like to say I’m going to go finish my tabard, but I just made myself a chai latte and honestly, I’m going to go finish the book:)

Have fun!

AJ

Sunshine and the Living is Good:)

It was a lovely day!

Friends:

So yesterday when we were working out Lyndsay’s babysitter had cancelled on her. I volunteered to be at her place for 6:30 this morning so she could go do her second job. It really wasn’t tough as Brady slept until 7am and then we played Go Pup (the paw patrol version of Go Fish). Her stepson showed up at 8am so I could leave instead of taking Brady to the gym. It wasn’t a bad way to start the day:). Had the company of Emmy the crazy cat!

Exercise:

I headed out to meet Sarah for a trail run. Of course, I forgot to wear my new trail shoes:(. We had a great double loop through Bert Flynn Park. A few weeks away and I had forgotten how hilly that park is!! Kyla did circles around us and still looked cute!

I followed this up with a quick run around the high school block to add a bit of time to get to fifty minutes of running this morning.

Beauty:

I admit to having a one hour nap when I got home to make up for the early morning. I then went and had a pedicure, brows and eyelashes done. It was lovely as I go to a friend for these so we got a visit in too. Glad my feet are no longer embarrassing!

Socializing:

This afternoon I headed downtown to meet up with a close friend for the afternoon. We headed to Granville Island for the Smashart festival. There were a ton of new murals

Plus a beer garden and food trucks! We didn’t partake as I already had plans for dinner, but I have to admit I was pretty excited to see Hello Sweets!

All of their ice cream is plant based and I could have had a cherry cola float!!! Alas, I was good…

We wandered around looking at stores. I really loved a lot of things that were in this store:

But they seriously need a sale section!! Everything was just so expensive! They had a neat book about the bad girls in history and another- a diary with a Jane Austen quote for each day. I also saw gorgeous thank you cards I wanted to get for my SIL because they said Merci and she is a French immersion teacher who is really good about sending thank you cards, but they were all way too expensive:(

We lined up for an Aquabus to take us over to the Main Street area to where we had dinner plans. There was great people watching from the lineup!

Eating:

When I had been talking to my co-teacher about how I was going downtown today, a parent had suggested a vegan restaurant to try- Virtuous Pie.

It was doable so Emily and I headed there for dinner. It was so good. I had no worries about my dairy allergy and everything could be made gluten free too so it was like Christmas. I got what the parent had recommended which was the Stranger Wings pizza and I had a cider along with it.

It was spicy buffalo cauliflower bites, crisp shallots, vegan blue cheese drizzle and shallots. It was amazing! I ate half and brought the other half home because I wanted to have some of their ice cream for dessert.

I had the peanut butter cookie dough ice cream and it was so yummy and delicious! If we hadn’t been walking, I would have bought a pint!

Overall it was an absolutely awesome day and now I’m going to finish it with some knitting and a Hallmark movie:)

Have fun!

AJ

Better Late Than Never

Knit night really does do me in! I fell asleep immediately:(

Teaching:

We spent almost all of the day creating our Mother’s Day cards and gif wrapping. I got the idea from my nephew as he was making this card, but maybe I should have kept in mind that he’s in grade five, not grade one! On the other hand I was super impressed with what they created!

The only other thing we accomplished was a pre-test for our subtraction drills!

Exercise:

I met up with Lyndsay after school for a workout. I combined my walk home with my walk over and ended up with a few minutes to sit in the sunshine:) I love working out with her because she always pushes me to do more than I think I can! We did intervals alternating between the bike and the treadmill- boy was that tough! I obviously need to spend more time on a bike! We then hit the floor- three sets of everything-8,10,12 reps. We did tricep extensions two different ways, goblet squats, get ups, v ups, and lunge and press. I thought we were done and she pulled out one more set!

At least I got rewarded with a quick steam. We unfortunately had an annoying guy in the gym- banging weights, talking on his phone, talking to himself, and another annoying guy in the steam room! Grrrr!

Knitting/Crafting:

I ran around tidying when I got home from my workout as I only had twenty minutes until knit night started. It’s amazing how much you can do in twenty minutes (and how often I waste that amount of time too!). I finished my rug square for the week, got caught up on my temperature scarf (which is actually starting to look nice as it kind of goes in bands of colors), and managed to knit two rows on the tabard and have to rip them out. I guess I better save that project for when I’m not visiting.

Movie:

We started watching The Queen with Helen Mirren. So far there have been some funny parts and it’s been interesting. I just find myself keep thinking, “what does the royal family think of this movie?” I really like Helen Mirren in it though.

Well that was my whole day!

Have fun!

AJ

Birthday Shopping

I had some quality time with my nephew which always makes my day?

Exercise:

I got up early for another run to finish the 15km mission off, but I have to admit I didn’t do much more than what was required. I ran for about fifteen minutes and it was nice to know that that was all I had to do!

I also got my squat/plank/push-up challenge done tonight after missing yesterday. I did 1 minute plank, 105 squats which I split between plié and regular and 24 push-ups.

I also got a Lyndsay workout done. It was a nice surprise as when I turned to it, I saw it was 20 second/ 10 second tabatas. It almost felt like a holiday:). There seemed to be a lot of arms in it!

Now I’m just waiting to hear if I’m working out in the morning or after school tomorrow.

Teaching:

Wow my class was all there today; that definitely doesn’t happen often! It was a pretty normal day of learning about setting using the story “The Three Little Pigs”, learned about the corners, faces and vertices on 3D objects and then observed our tree in Spring this afternoon. I was really impressed that the children took their time to draw the tree this time and the results were much better!

I spent my lunch hour at the teacher supply store buying art supplies. It was not my favorite way to spend the 40 minutes, though wow I can spend money fast!

Family:

After school I picked my nephew up to take him shopping for his birthday present as I hadn’t known what to get him. I wanted to just buy him books, but that wasn’t allowed so we compromised on the next two Squish books and a bow and arrow set. At least he’ll be outside getting some exercise!

I also picked up my niece’s birthday present and something more for my sister in law.

We stopped at Boston Pizza for dinner. If this is what he eats at 11, I’m not going to even try to feed him at 16!!!

He ate the wings and pepper one bacon pizza.

I ate the carrots and celery along with a green pepper, Mushroom, black olive and shrimp pizza on a gf crust and with no dairy.

We were both stuffed!

It just struck me the difference between what he eats and what I eat🤣

Crafts:

I did about an hour on my rug this evening, though as I was doing it, I figured out it takes about five hours to do one square.

Well I need to go find buttons for my Mother’s Day cards tomorrow. My nephew gave me a great idea!

Have fun!

AJ