Challenges

I read blogs that set yearly, quarterly, and monthly goals, but do I do that….😝

Exercise:

Well the spider in my bathtub got my heart beating this morning- nothing like seeing movement out of the corner of your eye! Thankfully they aren’t a big problem to me and my shoe took care of it. My running buddies kept my heart racing! I really do have the best running buddies though! I showed up to a planned 5km run and casually mentioned I needed to do 7km today. They said nothing, just changed the route and kept me company.❤️

We ran the river which meant it was awesome going out as it’s a slight downhill most of the way:) we ran from bridge to bridge which is not usual for me, but was fun. The way back was another matter as it was now slight uphill the whole way and actually some of those uphills weren’t so slight!

My average was a 6:38/km pace and I feel like I slowed down at least a whole minute per kilometer coming back! I must have been flying going down!

I also did a walk this afternoon, again in the pouring rain, to get the Monday Squad Runner mission. It was bucketing down and I could tell because I passed very few people which is rare.

I’ve already surpassed my running miles from last year and managed a nice 100km this month. I am thinking I would like to try for 1000km this year which means I need 101km more. It shouldn’t be a problem. Actually I may need to reassess that goal.

The other thought I had today was about running on Thanksgiving. Chelsea of The Dancing Runner was talking about how she runs before eating turkey and that seems like a good idea to me. I started thinking I’d like to try and do two loops of Burnaby Lake to see what kind of time I could get on a 20km. (I haven’t done a half marathon in 8 years and I’m a little worried I would be as slow as I used to be😏☹️). I routinely do about 12km here. This would be a great goal if I had eight weeks, but Thanksgiving is next weekend! Why do I always wait until the last minute to set a goal??? I haven’t decided if this is doable. If you have an opinion, please share it.

Household:

After a yummy tea, I had to take care of my adult chores. I got my groceries bought, laundry done, food prepared for the week, plants watered and some tidying done. I didn’t get to my teaching work, but decided I’d done enough adulting for the day!

Knitting:

I got my new stash put into Ravelry as I am slowly trying to get all of my stash on there. I also got caught up on entering my projects.

This is the headband I made last night and the cowl I finished the other day. I really like how the cowl turned out. I had made up the pattern and can’t decide if I should put it on Ravelry or not? I’m sure there’s probably tons on there already just like it, so I’m not sure it’s worth it. Again let me know if you have an opinion.

I also picked up the boat Afghan again today, and here comes the second crazy challenge I have set for myself today. My mom had said that they would be home for the week and I am thinking I should get this Afghan done this week so they can take it with them. This is the time of the year they really need it on the boat, so it makes the most sense, however, it also means I need to get three or four more pattern repeats done by Friday! I am crazy! I should have thought of this s month ago, not a week out! It means 31 rows a night and I’d be done in three or four nights. That’s quite the time challenge when each row has 230 stitches!

I think it will be top priority this week, but we shall see! Maybe I can talk my parents into staying a couple of extra days…

Ok, well I need sleep as there was no nap in my life this weekend:(

Have fun!

AJ

A Very AJ Day!

It was a day filled with things I love, but boy am I tired now!!

Knitting:

Well this was the second best knitting day this year! We only seem to have two yarn events a year in Vancouver and this was the second one- Knit City 2018.

I grabbed coffees for Brenda and I (on a side note- the tall at Starbucks seems to be getting smaller!) and off we went to Knit City. We were shocked when we got close and saw how long the line was to get in. It turned out it wasn’t the line we had to stand in, but there was easily triple the number of people than last year!

It was great fun looking through all the booths though some you couldn’t get near. Sweet Fibres seemed to be constantly lined up all day. I wonder what is so special about them? We went through the whole place twice. You should be very proud of me, I managed to only spend $160! Way less than I was expecting to spend! I was disappointed that there weren’t as many sales as there were last year ☹️. I guess they’ve determined they sell enough to not need a sale bin. I did wonder why people would pay the price for some of the skeins, though I almost bought a hand spun skein for $224!

This is what I ended up buying! I loved the stitch markers as they are the first I have seen in colours other than green and purple that are soft and flexible so I bought a variety of sizes. I also bought the scale as I looked at it last year and have determined I don’t like having to clean my kitchen scale every time I want to weigh my yarn!

I bought the bag as I like having project bags and my oldest brother always says, “sucks to be you”, so this reminded me of him!

The pattern is gorgeous and I like how the lace is on the front and the back! Brenda bought another simple sweater pattern that I will use the blue yarn I bought for.

The last skein of yarn is my favourite colour and the same colour as the $224 skein that I couldn’t bring myself to buy. I was going to make a triangle scarf out of it, but think I’ll use it to make the other sweater pattern my friend bought.

I am extremely happy with what I bought and have no buyer’s remorse:)

One of the neatest parts of the show was seeing all the knit goods everyone was wearing! It just made me want to get home and knit!

This evening I am working on the boat Afghan for my parents as the new month for HPKCHC doesn’t start until Monday. Oh, it was so cool that the first person I saw, actually the woman who sold me my ticket was Mel who is the lady I met last year at Knit City who told me about HPKCHC. Maybe next year I should volunteer to help at Knit City. That might be fun:)

I have decided that I want a scarf/shawl to wear with t Shirts. If anyone knows of a good pattern, please let me know!

Eating:

We had planned to eat at the food trucks at the show, but they only had five (I don’t think they were expecting the number of people the got) and they were horribly lined up. We ended up going to Pasta Polo so my friend could have the carbonara that she has been craving. I did try something slightly new this time. I had the shrimp and scallops marinara:)

I also ended up going out for Pho today as well. I feel like I don’t need to eat for a week!!

Running:

The fun wasn’t over with the knitting show as I met up with my friend Sarah and her dog Kula for a trail run. We did 1.5 loops and it was so awesome to be out in this gorgeous fall day! Of course, I saw a student right at the start, but that was fine, just a quick hello. Sarah fell, but was fine and I managed to stay on my feet:)

We also had a quick look through chapters and the grocery store, but I managed to come home with nothing:)

Now I’m tucked up on my couch and I’m hoping everyone else had as good a Saturday as I did:)

Have fun!

AJ

What?! Another Week Gone?

Today was a very non routine day, but it went pretty good regardless of that.

Knitting:

I got a bit of time to knit this morning:) I was very determined to finish my cowl so I could deduct another three skeins from my stash before tomorrow’s event. I managed that tonight and I’m surprisingly happy with the result. Now I just have to decide what I’m going to do with it! I wanted to show you, but it is a white cowl blocking on a white towel right now so it will need to wait until it is dry.

Teaching:

Today we had another assembly right at nine am for orange shirt day. It was fine, but I tuned out so I can only imagine the children’s response.

We got our Friday journals written. It is neat to see what the children remember for the week. Playing outside, the Terry fox run, writing about the run, and writing our Fall bucket lists were some of the highlights.

We also had our first fire drill where I had three little people who needed to be corrected:(

This afternoon we decorated a Terry fox shoe with our buddies and had a compliment circle. There was marked improvement in the children’s ability to give compliments:)

Eating:

I had my last berry kale shake this morning as the kale is all gone. I had two tangerines, a veggie sushi roll (lunch lady very kindly dropped this off to make up for yesterday), my southwest chicken salad, and a ton of appetizers! I need to eat healthy this weekend to make up for that!

Socializing:

We had a staff social after school at a local Boathouse Restaurant. A lot of the staff were unable to make it and it was a weird vibe. I was only able to eat edamame off the happy hour menu so that’s what I had.

Slightly disappointing when I thought I’d be having dinner. What was even more disappointing was the service! It was atrocious!!! The only thing that came quickly was the bill and for the first time, I left no tip!

I get the impression that some of the people left to go elsewhere with other staff members. I actually ended up doing that as well as I had carpooled with two women. We stopped at Brown’s Socialhouse and shared a lot more appetizers!

I hope that our staff is not fracturing already, but it wouldn’t really surprise me:(

Reading:

I didn’t get much time for reading today, though I did get some more of Great Expectations by Charles a Dickens listened to on LibriVox 🙂

Blogging:

Finally, I made 1000 followers today which amazes me. Thanks for following me along in life:)

Have fun!

AJ

Try Again

It was a good day though I really have to resist getting caught up in the drama at work!

Teaching:

We started the day with our Terry Fox run. It was a different route this year, but it still seemed to work pretty well.

My students were super excited and I even had two dads come out and run/ walk with us:). It was perfect timing for me as I wasn’t sure how I was going to finish the Squad Runner mission, but this worked perfectly:)

We also had an assembly before the run where Terry Fox’s niece Kirsten came to speak. It was cool, but the principal started it when two classes weren’t even present yet:(

I got through reading with a couple of more students to determine their reading levels. It’s a long process, but I can’t do much else until I get it done.

It was another good math lesson, though it didn’t quite go where I expected as the worksheet didn’t match up well, so we just went with the children creating movement or people patterns and that went well!

Finally this afternoon we wrote about the Terry Fox run for our hallway writing and the children did a really good job!

It was another amazing day with the children:)

After school though the teachers were quite upset as there were rumors of an assembly tomorrow for orange shirt day. It turned out to be true and supposedly it’s on the electronic calendar (didn’t know we even had one) and we discussed it at the staff meeting (not one teacher recollects this???). Oh well, we’ll go sit in the gym tomorrow morning and see what happens.

Eating:

I have had a berry kale smoothie, a larabar, apple slices, southwest chicken salad and a baked potato. I was really upset at lunch because they messed up my lunch lady lunch again. It was gluten free pasta but not dairy free. Thank goodness I had thrown my salad in by mistake!! 😖

Exercise:

I walked to and from work, got my run in with the children this morning, and then had my first night of Athletic Yoga again this evening. I’m doing it to spend time with my friend Corianne. As long as I think of it as a workout class and not yoga, it’s good. It is quite the workout though and I think I’m going to be sore tomorrow!!!😳

Knitting:

I am still working on my cowl. I knit about 6oz of yarn in 30 minutes so it is going to take me about two hours and forty five minutes to finish this. I had better carve that time out before Saturday morning!!

Blogging:

I have to apologize and ask for everyone’s patience as I’m getting behind in reading blogs. I set aside recess and lunch to read blogs usually, but I’ve been using this time to redo some posts with less pictures so I can continue to have pictures in my new posts. It’s unfortunately putting me behind:(

Well, here’s hoping for another good day tomorrow!

Have fun!

AJ

Three in a Row

I’m almost afraid to see I had another great day in case I jinx myself!

Teaching:

We managed to get printing down, introduced patterns (probably my best math lesson ever), and did some wonder questions about Fall. I had one child away who was diagnosed with autism today, but it was just a great day!

I was super impressed with their “wonders”. I think this is the best it has ever turned out for me!

Reading:

I finished The Unlucky Lottery Winners of Classroom 13 by Honest Lee.

This book outlines how the teacher and children of classroom 13 share a 28 billion lottery win and don’t learn anything.

The book is a very easy read and I think boys in grade three would find it funny. It is very surface with no deeper thinking required. There is minimal character development as you get just the main characteristic of each student and some are quite stereotypical. It is simply a listing of what each student does with the money. It does however outline what happens to many lottery winners.

Shopping:

I picked my mom up after work and she kept me company as I did my errands. It’s not exciting but it’s quality time and I actually get more done with her along than I do alone! I got gas, groceries, a cable I need for work and looked for shoes. Not bad for two hours. I am working on creating a list for when she gets home again.

Knit Night:

Tonight was knit night at Brenda’s place. She has sent me home with a huge bag of yarn from her friend so I will have to have a look through that.

I have been working on a cowl and got lots done on it tonight- only one skein left to do.

I also got a small, super warm cowl done, which will go to the Christmas market. Not super gorgeous, but super warm!

Well, I’m off to bed! I’m trying to keep the routine that is giving me these good days!

Have fun!

AJ

They’re Home

It was a pretty great day right from the start to the end:)

Teaching:

My day started with being busy getting the special helper calendar and printing books ready for both grade 1/2 classes. My co teacher is home ill and she was worrying about these two things so I got them done so she could quit thinking of them and start getting better!

When I went to pick up the children at the door, one of my grade one boys gave me these:)

It was such a lovely start to my day!!!

We wrote out Fall bucket lists today. I have to say thank you to Mildlygranola as her Fall passport post was a great example for my students. I’ll have to take some photos to share with you as they came up with some good ideas:)

This one is mine:)

This afternoon we wrote out what we see, hear, smell, taste and touch in the Fall. All but one group did really well. The fifth group was too busy poking each other to get anything done!🙄😖

As we were heading out the door to play this afternoon we saw the principal showing a student and parent around. This usually means we are getting a new student. One of my little boys turns to me and says, ” don’t worry Miss B, they aren’t our problem cause our class is full.” 🤣🤪🤣🤪

We did get a new fridge today, but we were all super disappointed that it didn’t come in a box:(

Eating:

I’ve had a berry kale shake, a hard boiled egg, southwest chicken salad, larabar and seafood marinara today to eat. Can you tell I am a creature of habit when it comes to food? Actually I just get full so quickly that one dish lasts me all week!

Family:

I heard the best noise at 11:15am, my mom’s text alert- they had landed at home! I was super happy they were home and arranged to meet them for dinner. I did end up picking them up and we headed to a local pasta house- Pasta Polo. I like this restaurant because it is nice and quiet. You can actually have a conversation with people!!!! It also has a good selection of food without having a novel for a menu. There are starters, salads, pizza, pasta and dessert. Thankfully they also offer gluten free pasta and pizza base so I have some choice:). I forgot to take a picture of my seafood marinara

But here it is from a different trip to this restaurant in March. Talk about creature of habit! I should really try something new!

Actually I did try one new thing tonight- a lavender lemon drop martini. Not really my thing, but neat to try:)

Knitting:

I am yet again back to my quest to use up stash yarn. I have started a bowl of my own creation. We’ll see how it goes. I wish I could stay up knitting, but I should go to bed so I’m patient again tomorrow. See how long I can keep this “good day” streak up?

Have fun!

AJ

Like a Kid

I can run really fast when I need to:)

Teaching:

My day with the children went really well. I don’t know if it was because I felt very teacherish and good in my outfit, because I had that extra sleep yesterday, or if it was because I reminded myself of my goal to be calmer in my classroom this year? Whatever the reason, I hope for more days like today. It did surprise me as my co-teacher is away so I was feeling slightly off this morning. Amazing how routine oriented I am!

We got our calendar done, jobs chosen for the week, a cut and paste activity on bucket dipping versus bucket filling, music class, planners, silent reading, a lesson introducing Terry Fox and some outside playtime. LOL looking at this list- maybe it was a good day because we only did one piece of work!

After school we were supposed to have a dairy foundation workshop, but it turns out each grade group has to be done separately. What a pain! I probably won’t bother to try and set up a younger age one as I wasn’t impressed with this!

I did take advantage of this change and left work as quickly as possible!

Exercise:

I stopped on the way home at The Runners Den and the owner helped me to find a pair of shoes to try now that I can’t get my beloved ASICS GT 1000 anymore:) I ended up with a pair of Saucony runners. I would have been fine if I’d left with just this, but somehow a new sports bra and Smartwool top ended up in my bag too🤣

My students seem to be running off on me as I came straight home, put my new stuff on and went for a run! It was beautiful and sunny and I had a really good, short run. I ended up doing 4.15km with a 6:33/km average. I can live that:)

Eating:

After my run I finally got to come home and have dinner:). I’ve had a berry kale shake, a hard boiled egg, my southwest chicken salad, a larabar and a baked potato today:)

Reading:

I finished the ARC that Kait Nolan sent to me of her newest Wishful book called, You Were Meant For Me.

This is the story of Mitch Campbell that series followers have been waiting for. It details his romance with Tess Peyton.

I still love the family and town dynamic in this book. They are realistic characters who meddle and speak their minds, but they’re also amazing for being there for each other.

I also especially liked the dynamic between Tess and Norah. Their feelings are inevitable and realistic.

Mitch is a swoon worthy hero who shows his gentlemanly behavior right from the first page. He’s sweet, strong and has dimples- how much better can it get?

The ending of this story is very romantic and satisfying!

My one complaint is that the book started with a lot of coincidences. I realize the world is a very small place, but this seemed a little too small. Thankfully I got pulled into the story and got over this feeling quickly.

Thanks to Kait Nolan for the ARC in exchange for an honest opinion.

Knitting:

The only other thing I have done this evening was knit. I seem to be slightly obsessed with destashing before the weekend. Today I used some bubblegum pink to create two headbands. It wouldn’t be my first choice of colour, but I think it might go over well with the girls at my school.

I really liked the XO pattern called Hugs and Kisses Headband on Ravelry. The other is just a simple rib with a twist. These will be donated to the Christmas market and it got rid of another skein:)

Well I’m off to sleep in the hopes of having another great day at work tomorrow:)

Have fun!

AJ

It Feels Longer

My weekend days where I mostly get to stay home are an advantage as they make my weekend feel so much longer:)

Exercise:

My usual Sunday morning run turned into a walk at the river because I didn’t want to leave one of my buddies on her own. It was okay as I had ran the majority of the two day squad runner mission the day before. It of course, rained the whole time I was out there!

This afternoon, after a lovely nap on the couch, I had to drag myself out to do the Monday mission of a half hour run. It was fine, nothing spectacular, other than the fact that it didn’t rain on me!🎉🎊

I was checking my stats today and I have done more miles so far this year than I did all of last year, my average pace is about fifteen seconds faster per kilometer and I have officially spent the same amount of time as last year and it’s only September! I guess all those “meh” runs I do, do add up to something great:)

Shopping:

I stopped on my way home after tea for some groceries and was yet again pretty good:)

I was supposed to do a whole bunch of other shopping today, but didn’t. I decided to leave buying the boat Afghan yarn until my mom is home so we can get double the amount with a discount and I didn’t go in about running shoes as I hadn’t shaved my legs🤪. I know, I know, not s good excuse for just being plain lazy!

Eating:

Another great day of eating though I’ve been very full all day. I ate a hard boiled egg, a berry and kale smoothie, steak and a southwest chicken salad (that I made up).

Movies:

I watched a new Hallmark Christmas movie today. I should say new to me. Christmas at Cartwright’s was quite cute. I liked the premise and the conclusion. The acting is the usual Hallmark style and standard.

Knitting:

I have spent most of the day knitting. I am determined to get my stash count down as much as I can before I go to a knitting show next weekend. Today I got five skeins used up. I counted every ball of yarn as one skein in my stash, regardless of how big it is. My knitting friend Brenda says I should do some small projects this week to use up lots of little balls of yarn.

I finished the top from yesterday. It will make a nice summer top and a great extra layer vest in the winter. It is Knit from a cotton/alpaca and silk blend and has a great weight to it that helps it to hang nicely when worn. I decided that I wouldn’t line it since I wasn’t able to put sleeves in it. I have to say that my local knitting shop, Black Sheep Yarns has an awesome sale bin. I picked up seven skeins of this Marasol yarn in 2013 for $24 and have gotten two tops out of it. I figure I’m allowed to be a yarn snob at that price:)

Amazingly I also got another two skein remainders used up with this headband. I love how it turned out! I used the sock yarn left over from my brother’s birthday socks and I like how the pattern came out. I think this one will be for me:). Just please don’t notice that I have one less row of edging on one side than the other 😜

Well I just had a flying bug land on me and scare me to death. I don’t mind bugs outside, but not inside and not flying ones! I had a horse fly take out a chunk of my shoulder as a child and I’m obviously still scarred! On this note, I’m going to go hide under my covers!

Have fun!

AJ

Prankster

The weather has been a prankster here lately, but nothing like back East!

Exercise:

Thankfully I heard from my mom first thing this morning as she is in Ottawa where two tornados touched down last night. This is not something we deal with out here so I was worried. I don’t think they’ll ever forget this trip!

I looked out the window and people weren’t using umbrellas or windshield wipers so I decided to try my run in first thing. I got dressed, went downstairs, and open d the door to torrential rain. T poured the entire forty minutes I was out there. This afternoon, of course, there is beautiful sunshine🙄

It was interesting on my run this morning because I hit the stop button by accident at the furthest point on my run so it got broken into two separate runs. I was 15 seconds faster per kilometer coming home than I was going out. I wonder if I run faster than I think and just can’t overcome my slow start?

Knitting:

I am working away on my top that I started last night. I am onto the third skein of yarn and the torso. So far it’s going well, but I’m wondering if I’ll want to line it.

Eating:

I decided that since I was staying in today, it was a good day to get my food intake back on track. I don’t eat unhealthily, just too much. I’ve had a half a banana and peanut butter, an omelette, pesto pasta with chicken and corn and a mini blueberry bar.

Cooking:

I really wanted to make blueberry granola bars, but I didn’t want yummy baked goods in the house today, so I stuck with getting my chicken carcass boiled down into chicken broth. Not much, but at least something.

Reading:

I finished my NetGalley book, The Christmas Sisters by Sarah Morgan today.

This book is about the McBride sisters. The oldest Hannah is a very smart and serious business woman. Beth, the middle daughter, a former PR woman and the perfect mother. The youngest sister is Posy who has stayed at home in the Scottish Highlands, helping to run the family cafe. The story tells of how three very different women support and love each other.

This is not the typical Sarah Morgan romance novel and I have to admit it took 20% of the book for me to get into it, but then I was hooked and read it in a day! At first I found the characters annoying, but then I realized they were realistic! These women, all in different ways, make assumptions that lead them down the wrong path and let poor communication rule their lives at time and I realize that 99% of the population does this too.

I loved how the characters are flawed and annoying and interesting. I like how it takes time for them to get things and deal with them.

The book’s plot is lovely as there is some mystery to it and a couple of plot twists and turns that I didn’t see coming.

This book gives hope in humanity and family and our ability as people to learn from our mistakes and grow, and that makes it an awesome Christmas holiday read. The satisfying HEA doesn’t hurt either!

Thank you to NetGalley, Sarah Morgan and the publisher for the free book in exchange for an honest review.

This day has not been extremely exciting, but it is what I needed. I definitely feel more relaxed now than I did this morning.

Have fun!

AJ

ProD Day

Today was a professional development day which makes for a change from the regular routines.

Exercise:

I got to sleep in a little bit today and still got a run in before school. It poured down rain the entire time I was out there and of course stopped as I got home.

While it was a super slow run for me, it also turned into an obstacle course as there was a tree down from the wind we’ve had lately.

It was weird to only see three other people as usually the path is busy at any time of day, regardless of weather. I guess everyone was taking it easier this morning. I got t done and that had to be good enough for today!

Teaching:

After walking up the hill in another torrential downpour, I spent the morning listening in the library. We had a man come and talk about inquiry based learning. It was super interesting and I really want to do some with my class, but first I have to gather a ton of “loose parts” (collections of small items hat children can create and build with). It can be anything from bread tags to wooden dowels to rocks to fabric. I’m super excited, but worried I’ll forget everything about how to do this before I’ve gathered enough stuff:(

One of the activities was to represent how learning takes patience and time. This was my group’s project🤣

Eating:

I have spent a good part of today eating it seems like. We went for an Indian buffet at lunch. I had seen Lazeez’ Grill before, but hadn’t been there. I would definitely go back as the restaurant was clean and bright. Nothing to look at from the outside, but the food was very good and there was stuff I could eat:)

I then ended up going with Brenda for Pho for dinner as well. I wasn’t even that hungry to start with so I was super full by the end and I didn’t even finish my pho. I usually get the hot and sour seafood pho with rice noodles, but today I tried the beef stew dish. I really didn’t like it as much as the broth was greasier and it didn’t have enough veggies:(. Hopefully I can spend the next two days not eating!

Knitting:

Tonight was knit night which gave me something to look forward to all week:). I have started a simple shell with the red cotton/alpaca/silk yarn and I think it will be a nice Fall top:) I also have a plan for a headband for myself out of some sock yarn. I am hoping to get both of these projects done this week, but we shall see.

Well, I’m off to veg as my brain is done!

Have fun!

AJ