Holiday Day 1

Don’t worry I won’t call every day in sequence!!!

Exercise:

After sleeping for 11 hours, I got up and out the door for my run. It was raining and my legs were still tired from yesterday’s workout, but I got 5.91km done, enough to complete the mission:). I say it was a bad run, but the fact that I ran 5.91km and didn’t think twice about it shows that it couldn’t have been that bad!

I am quite happy that I also got a workout in as one of my goals this summer is to get back to weight training more. I am definitely noticing the lack of muscle I have right now! I did 8 circuits of two exercises each and did each twice. It was a good whole body workout as it included: high knees, mountain climbers, single leg bench squats, shuffles, dips, plank jacks, skipping, woodchops, up/downs, cross country skiing, butterfly crunches, oblique crunches, squat pulses, push-ups, burpees and v sits.

Amazingly, I also kind of got a walk in this evening, though it was more of a stroll than a “walk”. I’ll take it for the first day of holidays though!

Knitting:

My first priority after my run today was to finish the baby tee in time to get it entered for the potions class in HPKCHC. I ended up calling it Sunflower and Sunshine and I’m super happy with it! It also used up another random skein of yarn out of my stash🎉🎊

I followed the free Composite pattern off of Ravelry, although I did the whole sweater on size 4mm circular needles rather than switching needles for the edging. It was super quick and easy and I love how cheerful and cute it is!

Crafting:

I have been working on my rug square, but haven’t quite managed to finish it yet. Hopefully by tomorrow night.

Reading:

I’ve been working on the same book for a while which is odd for me, but I’ve also been listening to Great Expectations by Charles Dickens on LibriVox . It’s good so far:)

Blogging:

I’ve been trying to catch up on my blog reading as I’m currently three days behind. I apologize! One of my goals for summer is to catch up and stay caught up!!!

Socializing:

Lyndsay texted earlier tonight to see if I wanted to join her at the Local Canada Day celebrations. We walked over with her son and it was pretty cool. There were some booths set up and we checked out the paint balling one (you have to be ten) and some clothing ones. Her son got ice cream and Lyndsay got a delicious looking baked potato topped with chicken and avocado. It looked really good! We played bean bag toss which was fun

and listened to a live band- Famous Players out of Vancouver. It was cool because one of the band members is the brother of a parent at my school.

Product Review:

The last thing I have to say for tonight is that I’ve been really enjoying this dairy free, gluten free tzatziki alternative!!

It tastes just like tzatziki and is super yummy. It has the consistency of cream cheese which worked great to spread on sandwiches, put in celery and for dipping chicken into. It was delicious in all three instances!

Well I’m off to work on my rug a bit:)

Have fun!

AJ

Yipppeeee, Freedom!!!

Well the long awaited day arrived- I’m on holidays as of 3pm today:)

Exercise:

I headed out this morning for 10km, but only made 2.78km before I returned home. My legs were sore and it was raining. I know those are both excuses but also knew I could capture the rest of the mission tomorrow. No sense keeping on in misery when I didn’t have to.

I also got a workout in with Lyndsay today. I was again on the bike which is probably a good thing as it really makes me sweat!! I liked how we did intervals and then at certain points we had to jump off and do a weight move on the floor. My legs were definitely feeling it. We did the same routine on the floor, but had to stop at intervals and do cardio. It made the workout go quick, but I’m going to hurt!!!

Teaching:

I didn’t actually teach today, but enjoyed a potluck breakfast with my coworkers this morning and then spent the whole day moving my classroom into my coat room. There has got to be a better solution as this is just too much work. I do however have the awesomest mom ever who came in today and helped me all day!! She has then come up with a solution that will cut down on all this work in the future:). Now I just have to resist going to work next week to try the solution out!

Eating/ Family:

I took my mom and nephew out for ice cream to celebrate the start of holidays, even though it wasn’t particularly warm today!

We tried a new place I always see when I am running.

Of course, I don’t want ice cream right before I run so today was the perfect day to try it.

My mom had a single scoop of sea salt caramel, I had a scoop split between lemon sorbetto and raspberry sorbetto (the only two vegan options) and my nephew had a huge towering pile of sea salt caramel, hedgehog and cookie dough. My mom gave it a 4/5, Gus gave it a 4.6/5 and I would give t a 3.5/5.

My mom says it was clean, cute, had just the right amount of choices without being overwhelming, and gave a good amount of product. It was also in a cute area that would be cool to explore on a nicer day.

Gus says the ice cream was creamy, tasted as it should have and was a good amount.

I would agree the ice cream tasted good, but I would have liked at least one more option and I thought it was a little expensive.

Eating:

This evening I met up with my parents for dinner at the pub. My dad had a corned beef sandwich and beef barley soup that he, of course, complained about. My dad is never so happy as when he is complaining.

My mom and I shared the two piece fish and chips which were awesome as usual! It is so nice to have this option so close to home!

Reading:

I had received an unexpected email telling me that Kait Nolan had a new ARC available. I leaped on that and read the whole novella,Can’t Stand the Rain this evening.

This is a short novella that tells the story of Delaney and Sean. They have been friends for a while, but can they manage to be more.

I was looking forward to this story as it was foreshadowed in Kait Nolan’s last book. It did not disappoint. I loved how the story started and Sean is a worthy hero throughout the entire story. I also liked how it dealt with the very serious issue of mental health, but still allowed the romantic relationship to be central.

I would recommend this novella for anyone enjoying the Wishful series or lovers of firefighter heros.

Knitting:

I think that since I don’t have to get up at a particular time in the morning. I will now spend some time working on my baby tee as I still have hopes of getting that done before the end of the month!

Grateful:

I keep forgetting, but today seems an appropriate day to ensure I mention what I’m grateful for!

1) family- I couldn’t be happier that I got to see my nephew, dad and mom all in one day! It would only get better the more family I saw!

2) my healthy body- it may not always be exactly how I’d like but I am truly thankful that I can run, workout, work in my classroom, walk, lounge, etc.

3) the smell of the gorgeous flowers my class gave me for the end of the year. It smells divine in my living room right now which is lovely amid the chaos that is reigning in my house right now.

Have fun!

AJ

T-1 Day!

I am almost there. I am almost there. I am almost there. My mantra for the day!

Teaching:

I came into the office this morning to see the most amazing sight!

One of our on-site daycares has made this sign for our retiring secretary. Some people are just so creative!!!

I started the day by putting report cards into backpacks. It was my one job that I had to accomplish today and so I decided to make sure it got done first!

We then put all the grade one students together to create yearbooks. They really seemed to love going around and getting everyone’s “signature”. It was pretty cute to see a few of them try to handwrite!

We had our farewell assembly where we said goodbye to students and teachers leaving. Which was followed up by lunch where we gave gifts to the staff leaving. It’s at moments like this that I appreciate not crying easily as otherwise I would have been a wreck!!!! Sometimes I do wish I got to decide who goes and who stays😜😜

This afternoon we put the grade 1-3 students together in the library for a movie and we all started to tackle our classrooms! I don’t feel like I got much done, so tomorrow better be more productive!! I think the problem was that I was dressed nicely!

I did get spoiled with a gift from my class today.

This all came in a gorgeous tote bag along with a Visa gift card. I love visa gift cards as I have fun “spending” them before I spend them while I try to figure out what to buy:). I have to admit I love the shirt that Lyndsay included in my gift!!! I love her style- her peanut butter might be safe from me, but her wardrobe isn’t! I can see me getting a lot of use out of this shirt!!!

A few weeks ago I gave my co teacher a new water bottle that I saw that screamed her name to me. She reciprocated with a lovely gift!

This also came with handcream that smells divine and that I have been enjoying since I got. I just have to decide if I’m going to leave it at work or bring it home for the summer.

Errands:

I ran home after school and went quickly over to city hall. I dropped off my library books and my taxes stuff! It’s not due untitled July 4th, but I so dislike having that type of thing hanging over my head. It was like a quarter of my brain was being used constantly to try and remember not to forget to do that errand. Easier to just do it!

Socializing:

I had organized a dinner with five of the women from work that I enjoy spending time with. (I found out organizing events is not my strength!!!). We decided on the patio of a local pub as it would not be as loud as inside and shared a ton of appetizers and some pitchers of sangria. It was the perfect ending to the day!! I’m not sure I’ve laughed that hard in a long time. It really does make a difference going to work with friends!!

We were so cold after our patio time that we had to stop three doors down at the coffee shop to get tea to warm up!!

I just want to know why my chai latte with almond milk ( my favorite milk substitute as it really seems to suit chai) is so plain compared to their fancy coffees??? Is tea being discriminated against at this coffee shop? 😜🤪🤣

Two of the ladies made a stop to pick up some dessert to go with the hot beverages and this was the perfect ending to a fun evening!

Knitting:

I came home and got busy again on my baby tee. I am finally past the chest and onto the body! I guess the third time really is the charm:). Hopefully I will finish tomorrow because I am going to be so productive all day tomorrow!!!

On that note, I better get some sleep so that comes true!

Have fun!

AJ

T-2 Days

I fully believe we are all capable of more than what we think:)

Teaching:

Wow my students were squirrelly today! We had workout Wednesday, watched grade two reader’s theatre performances, emptied all of our desks and extra supplies and then watched the movie form of Charlotte’s Web as we finished the book yesterday. I actually had to stop the movie twice to talk about behavior!!! Grrrr😖

Even with all of this, I had a better day than the kindergarten teacher who had a student fall on the playground and break her arm. We learned the teacher is squeamish. Thankfully there’s always chocolate around!

I did get another gift today that I loved! The mom was telling me that her son insisted on this gift!

It really is perfect as I say this to the children often! I’ll be keeping this mug🤪

Exercise:

I had boot camp with Lyndsay today and boy was it a good workout! We did one minute of cardio- frog jumps and hops, then moved onto our tabata.

Medicine ball single leg deadlift with hop

Banded plank in/outs- banded iso squat with lateral raises

Bench single leg lunges

Banded iso squat with tiptoe abductor squeeze- banded jump squat

Iso v sit with rows- mountain climbers

Stability ball hamstring curls- stability ball hip bridges

Burpees -swings

Overhead tricep extension – reverse fly

Galway through we stopped for another minute to do more cardio, but I got mine running back and forth to my classroom twice. I had forgotten the gift we had gotten Lyndsay for doing this for us- pedicure, wine and baileys.

When I got home, I got an alert that my mission today was 6km for 200 points! I figured I would walk it, but then figured out I had to run a bit because I had Knit night. I told myself I just had to run ten minutes, but amazingly I ended up running the whole thing. The human body really is capable of so much more than we allow it!

I stretched and rolled lots in the hopes of not being sore tomorrow!

Knitting:

I just took the yellow baby tee project to work on. I once again got halfway through and realized I had a hole where there shouldn’t be one. I am now on my third tome starting this project:(

Brenda was showing me the projects she has finished lately and they are gorgeous!!! I also got to see her stash which I have been very curious about! It’s a nice, reasonable size, not overwhelming and she could put a good dent in it by knit city in September:)

I am absolutely exhausted and so am off to bed!

Have fun!

AJ

T-3 Days

The end is almost here and everything just keeps speeding up!

Teaching:

Today we glued the last six art projects into our portfolios and designed the cover. I spent my recess break gluing the covers on as I’ve learned not to have the grade ones do that. This is a year long project where every art project the students do gets glued into a big coil bound book. It’s tough, it’s frustrating, but when I heard a parent after school say it’s her favorite memento, it’s worth it!

The rest of the day was taken up with the grade five leaving ceremony. I have mixed feelings about this as to me, this is not a graduation, but simply an expectation. I don’t mind highlighting students and I’m glad we don’t do awards or anything, but I guess what bugs me the most is that they have the processional music playing, etc. I think it should be a bit more fun because they are just leaving a school, not graduating. This class today was neat though as they were he first grade ones I taught at this school:). I’m going to miss some of these kids!

I am already being given some year end gifts at school. I think the first one I was given today may be my favorite gift ever!

I am called Miss B at work so this is perfect and even cuter as it is made with my student’s thumb prints:). I love the parent knows me well enough to give me a succulent that is tough to kill.

I also got given a chocolate flower. It came in this giant box

But only had this inside.

I thought about returning them to the store as the gift receipt was attached but ended up just putting them in the staff room instead. These chocolates did come with this super cute side gift though which I will enjoy:)

Exercise:

The only other thing I got done today was a run because I fell asleep on the couch after school. I met Dennis for a run out at the dykes. I didn’t plan it, but I did my fastest 5km to date! He had me doing a 9.4kms/ hour speed for the first 2.5km!!! As someone who usually happily runs between an 8.4 and a 9.1, this was fast!!

What I really noticed on my run was that I need to get back to doing more weight training as I am definitely not as strong as I was. Thankfully, I should have time for that, starting in three days!😀

Crafting:

I only did a tiny bit on my rug tonight so that I could tell Kathy that I did work on it, but I would also have time to work on my knitting as that has a timeline.

Knitting:

With only a few days left of the month, I am trying to get my regular four classes submitted for HPKCHC. It’s going to be a bit of a stretch, but I may just make it. Tonight I finished another yellow and white baby cap. This one was made using just one strand of Cherub baby DK in white and yellow. I casted on 54 stitches and did 9 row stripes for 6 inches. I then began to decrease by knitting two together at the start of each needle. The cap went really fast and I’m happy with how it looks. Even better it used up the ends of two skeins so I am definitely in a new number for my stash🎉🎊

It is now way later than I planned to be up, so I’m off to bed!

Have fun!

AJ

Hither and Yon

It just seemed to be a very busy day, though that might have been just because I had no downtime after work. I think as I sit here writing this that this might be the first time I have sat down today!

Exercise:

I did a short thirty minute run this morning though it was still slow and painful. I wonder how long my quads are going to make me pay for??!

It was nice to get out before it was hot or busy. I’m back to looking forward to being able to run in the mornings!

Teaching:

It just seemed like I was always in motion today!! My co teacher was away so that always throws me off a bit. We hid our rocks today and many have already been found. It was neat to see the older kids make a big deal out of it for the little guys. We played outside, went to music, watched four horrible shadow puppet plays and then made kites for ADST this week. This was our last session and it’s been really cool to see the children working on these projects. So many different solutions!

Health:

After school I had to go directly for a massage. My RMT suggested I don’t use a third of my weight in weights again🤣. I’m just hoping the massage will help!!!

Crafting/Knitting:

I had to put a picture of this dress in that a grandma made for a birthday present, isn’t it adorable!!!

I didn’t get anything done on my rug today because of my evening commitment that went longer than normal, but I did start another cap to use up the last of three skeins:)

Socializing:

It was quick home and then back out for a retirement party for our secretary. It was nice to see so many people and the food was way too good! I think I may have scarred a few of my co-workers with how sick I got last week as they were very concerned about what I was ordering. It’s nice to work with people who are also friends!

I really liked the looks of this charcuterie board but there was just too much cheese to make it work.

Instead I had steelhead salmon curry. It was super yummy and though I didn’t plan to eat it all I did and now I’m stuffed!

Blogging:

I’ve had reports that people have to go looking for my posts, that they no longer get an email alert about them. Does anyone know how to solve this problem?

I finally had two minutes to go on my computer at work and found a ton of tags in my spam folder. I’m sorry, I will get to them ASAP now that I know they are there!!

Well sitting down was nice, but I’m going to go lay down and let my eyes close.

Have fun!

AJ

Fantastic Bake Along- Maple Nut Scones

It was another lovely day:). I could get used to this doing whatever I want🤣

Exercise:

My run was to be at a local park that is all uphill, both ways!!! I got there and decided that perhaps it would be wise to just walk today as my quads and calves were still very sore. I don’t want to do anything that will keep me from running for a longer period!! I walked the perimeter route with Brenda and Dennis and then came home after grocery shopping and walked part of the inlet trail to finish up my 8km for the day. There must have been a race for the local middle school kids as there were chalk messages all over the inlet path. It was neat because I recognized some of the unique names of children I have taught! This one was my favorite:)My legs actually felt okay walking, though I’m still in pain trying to go up or down stairs. I must have really done a number with those lunges! It has until tomorrow morning to recover!

Baking:

I am once again doing the Fantastic Bake a Long that Tracy hosts. She is the star baker this month and chose these Maple Nut Scones.

I always enjoy making scones as they are a quick baked good that goes well with tea, though my gluten free, dairy free ones often seem dry and I also often make them too thin. I was curious to see how these would turn out for me.

I, of course, had to make a few adjustments to the recipe due to my allergies. I will tell you about my substitutions, but otherwise I just followed the recipe exactly.

For the flour I used Bob’s Redmill Cup for Cup flour. I like this brand as the results are usually good when I don’t have time to make up my own flour mixture.

I didn’t have any vegan cream as I’ve only found that in the US so far, so I used regular coconut milk in the scone recipe and vanilla almond milk in the glaze.

I also used Earth Balance Vegan Buttery spread for the butter. This is by far my favorite butter substitute so far:)

The recipe went together quickly and I am happy that I remembered to make them smaller and thicker at the last moment.

I had to bake mine a little longer- about 18 minutes, but that was my only change, through I should have waited longer to put the glaze and nuts on, but I was just too impatient to try them!

They turned out amazing! I have to admit I ate two today😣. I will need to take the rest to work so I quit eating them. I tried them warm and cold and they were good both ways. I’ve never had such flakey gf/df scones before!! I think this just became my go-to scone recipe and I am already wondering if I could change the flavoring and still have them turn out. Something to try for sure!!!

Crafting:

I got 1/3 of my rug square done today. I just couldn’t concentrate on it as I had a knitting project I wanted to finish! I know Kathy would like a progress picture, but I think I’ll wait until I finish this square.

Reading:

As I was working on my rug, I finally got back to listening to Great Expectations by Charles Dickens on LibriVox. I feel as though I probably have read this, but I obviously don’t remember much so I’m enjoying it.

Knitting:

I have been very busy knitting today as it is getting to the end of the month and I had only done one project for HPKCHC this month, plus I wanted to get to a new number in my stash!

My friend Brenda had made a sleep sac back in November and when she saw how much white baby yarn I had (after I gave her a skein for a project) she suggested I do one too. I needed to either do two stitch patterns or two colours. Well I tried doing stickinette and double moss stripes and then stockinette and basket weave stripes and didn’t really feel like either showed up well, so I looked and found the same yarn in yellow and went with yellow and white stripes. I have to admit, I wasn’t sure about this project, but now I am super happy about it! It reminds me of summer sorbet, but it would be great for a winter baby as both the sac and cap are knit holding two strands of dk yarn so they are thick and warm! I used the pattern Baby Cocoon and Cap by Kim Kotary which is a free pattern on ravelry. I only changed it by holding two strands instead of one and doing stripes. I used Cherub baby dk yarn.

I love the end result and I love how quickly it Knit up!! Done in a day:)

Other than knitting and baking all I really got accomplished was my tub drain cleaned out of my hair and my dishwasher loaded and turned on:(. I guess one of these days I should really do something important around the house, rather than my hobbies🤣

I saw this on Facebook- maybe I should try following it?

Well, that’s it for me today.

Have fun!

AJ

Sweet Saturday

A little change of plans…

Exercise:

I got up this morning to do the hour of running I needed to do. I did Burnaby Lake and every step was painful! My quads still haven’t forgiven me!! I probably should have just walked, but I eeked out 7.3km in 45minutes and I was happy to be done!

Knitting:

My yellow baby tee I was knitting on last night is in timeout as I will most likely have to rip it out and start again:(

So today I worked on a cocoon (baby sleep sac) in yellow and white. Super easy pattern and because I’m holding two strands of yarn, it’s going to reduce my stash number quite nicely!

Crafting:

It was only late this afternoon that I realized that I hadn’t worked on my rug. I am nowhere near done my square for the week and here I was hoping to get back on track. Maybe next week or perhaps the week after when I’m on holidays and can devote more time to it. For right now, I’m going with the fact that I have much more done than I did at the start of the year.

Socializing:

Last night my close friend mentioned that our twenty year class reunion was tonight. I really didn’t know if I wanted to go as I was super shy in school and it really hadn’t changed much! I talked to my friends Anna and Emily in high school and I still do. Em was super involved and knows tons of people so was for sure going, but I hemmed and hawed all day. I finally decided to go do that I wouldn’t then need to ask her so many questions.

It went about how I expected. I talked to about five people and that was it🤣. The only good thing that can be said was that I was happy with how I looked!

Sorry 😐 to before makeup, but it was nice to go back like this rather than the fifty pounds heavier I was the last time I saw all these people!

Well I’m off to bed!

Have fun!

AJ

1,2,3

It was a productive day where I actually got everything done I wanted to.

Teaching:

I got a day to deal with some administrative stuff. This isn’t normal in my district, but is way too complicated to explain, but I had a day with a TOC where I had to be at school, so I made it worth it!

I got the report cards copied, stuffed and the reports filed and collated. I officially don’t have to touch them again until I give them out on Thursday.

Between recess and lunch I got my students’ hallway writing books made up. After each event this year I have the students write about it and put it on their clip in the hallway. I have to admit I do this every year because I love being able to see the progress in their writing in the book.

After lunch I grabbed two grade four students and made up the children’s year-end gifts. It took longer than expected but is at least done!

With the hour I had left, I started on my co teacher’s report cards, but only got them stuffed and filed. She’ll have to collate them.

Exercise:

After work I had arranged to meet Lyndsay to do the crunch again. I made her promise to leave me if I couldn’t go fast as my quads are still killing me. I did better than I expected and we got through them four times. She also figured out it was the single leg bench lunge with 30 pounds of weights that did my quads in. I sure hope they recover soon!!!

Knit night:

Brenda cams over for knit night last night. I got caught up on the temperature cowl and I got down to the sleeves done on the baby tee I am making. I thought I would finish it off after she left, but only managed to screw it up so now I think I have to start over:(. I haven’t dared look yet today!

Well I’m off for a run.

Have fun!

AJ

Summer!

It was so nice today to wake up before my alarm, feel rested and actually have time to work on my rug before school. Maybe I’m back on schedule finally or maybe it’s just the effect of summer arriving:)

Food:

With my crazy trip through the natural foods market, I have some new food products to tell you about:). The first is an apple streudel

The first cut through the pastry was a little tough and it seems a bit thick, but the taste is okay. The Apple inside is a little bland and could use some cinnamon and other spices included.

I’m glad I tried it, but I don’t think I need to buy it again. Not that I needed to buy it this time either🤣

I’ve also tried a caramel cake.

It tasted good and I liked the different textures in it, but it was way too rich for me!!!! Another thing I don’t need to buy again. I find it so funny that there end up being very few products that I feel the need to try again once I’ve tried them.

Teaching:

It was a busy day. We wrote about our field trip yesterday. It will be our last hallway writing for the year so I can now make up the booklets. I love doing this as I can see the progress the children have made since the beginning of the year:)

We went and watched the talent show from the other grade one class and since most of their children decided to pull out, some of my children performed a second time. There was a violin player who was amazing!

This afternoon we went searching for rocks and coloured on them with our felt pens. Thank you to Linda for having some awesome painted rocks pictured on her blog a few weeks/months ago. I showed them to my students and they went to town. I have to admit my favorite was the one that said, “Be The Nice Kid”. I meant to take a picture of some of them, but I see I forgot, so I’ll try to do that on Monday when we hide them for others to find.

We also worked on finishing Charlotte’s Web, but haven’t quit made it yet:(

Friendship:

After school I helped out with Lyndsay’s son’s birthday party. A few months ago he was begging for a track meet party and I helped come up with a few ideas during a workout one day. When he invited me to the party, I told Lyndsay I would come help out. I’m not a very good guest though as I forgot a gift and he had a smash cake, which I forgot to take three toothpicks out of😣. Poor kid! I think they all still had fun though.

Crafting:

I have to admit I did my half hour this morning and haven’t done anything since- just too tired!

I am going to head for bed as I got an upsetting notice in the mail today and though I am trying to tell myself not to worry, I continue to do so. Hopefully I’ll forget about it soon as I can’t do anything about it!

Have fun!

AJ