Trivia Tuesday

It was a busy day even though it shouldn’t have been.

Teaching:

My students actually seemed better than they have been lately:)

We switched it up and did our math first thing this morning. We were learning how to measure round things with string and then measure the string. The students had a blast measuring body parts. One little guy said, “hey Miss B this sheet is super fun”. Amazing what string can do for a math lesson.

We didn’t quite finish our printing and we only started our Aurora Borealis Art, but we’ll try to finish up tomorrow.

Beauty:

Instead of doing jog a long today I ran down the hill for a Eyebrows and eyelashes appointment. I am incredibly blonde so every six weeks I have my eyelashes and eyebrows dyed. It makes such a difference to my face! It also saves me from having to put mascara on everyday!

Eating:

Uhh I started out good, but there’s always treats around the staff room and today our former secretary visited and brought stuff!

So I had a piece of crustless quiche, a berry,yogurt and granola parfait, fruit and cocoa dusted almonds for lunch, two slices cranberry cheese wrapped in 2 turkey slices, and I shared a half order of nachos with Lyndsay at the pub.

Not great, but at least less granola than yesterday!

Exercise:

Before heading off to trivia I got my 100 squats- 50 banded and 50 plié, 50 dips, 50 pushups, 25 crunches, 25 bicycles, 25 reverse crunches, 25 static crunch with scissor legs, 25 back lunges, 25 curtsy lunges and 25 side lunges done.

Trivia:

Lyndsay and I were the only ones there for the first game and 3/4 and we learned that we know nothing. I think we got about four answers out of 40! However, then we did the Kahoot round and we were 2nd!!🎉🎊 It was amazing and of course, ensured we will be back next week. The other round didn’t go great, but oh well. It was still fun:)

Some of the questions that I actually knew (though don’t ask me how🤣):

Where is Bob Seger from?

Detroit

What kind of animal is Napoleon in the book Animal Farm by George Orwell?

Pig

What is The Barber of Seville?

Opera

What three animals are in the book Green Eggs and Ham?

Mouse, goat, Fox

What are the names of Paul McCartney’s wives?

Linda, Nancy, Heather

What movie is the song I Will Always Love You from?

The Bodyguard

What scale is used to measure an earthquake?

Richter Scale

What continent is the Cape of Good Hope on?

Africa

What does D stand for in Roman Numerals?

500

Every once in a while I know something🤣

Have fun!

AJ

Cookbook Review

My day was pretty normal, so I’ll talk about my Monthly cookbook instead.

Teaching:

We got through a journal, finished a measurement mini-book and learned about the Northwest Territories. That’s it.

Exercise:

Only my walk to and from school and for jog-a-long. I also got 100 squats, 100 crunches, 50 pushups and 50 dips done. I want to run but am thinking maybe it was my long runs that did me in again. I’ll try to refrain until I feel better, but I do dislike that I didn’t make my 100km this month:(

Eating:

I figure you guys are good for keeping me on the straight and narrow so I’ll admit what I ate. A piece of crustless quiche, an apple and granola, a fruit,yogurt and granola parfait, a charcuterie board of one carrot, one celery stalk, 4 mushrooms, hummus, 2 slices of cranberry “cheese” rolled in 2 slices of turkey and a quarter cup of homemade granola.

Wow as I write this, I realize I’ve eaten a lot of granola today! It wasn’t planned, but I’ll try to do better tomorrow! You guys might be good for me😜

Cookbook:

So for the past month and a half I have been cooking out of “The Best of Clean Eating 2”. The book has 207 recipes divided into 9 chapters. The chapters are: Breakfast and Brunch, Sandwiches, Salads and Sides, Soups,Stews and Chilis, Snacks and Starters, Dips and Spreads, Main Courses, Holiday Meals, Clean Desserts, Beverages

To recap the 12 recipes I tried:

Easy Make Ahead Breakfast Quiche

Very easy and customizable, but quite bland:(. Onion and garlic would improve it!

Pear Cheese Quesadillas

Yummy and super easy. Quite sweet so definitely a breakfast food- could use some sort of spice.

Tex Mex Morning Pizzas

Good, must toast the English muffins first!

Mushroom Melts

Uses red onion and soy mozzarella. Mom says delicious. Maybe cut the broccoli slightly smaller and toast bread first so it has a crunch. Glad it has some spices in it though!

Pumpkin and Coconut Soup

Made it with water instead of veggie broth. Very good and easy but definitely needs salt, pepper and the yogurt on top!

Beef Stir Fry

Bland

Spaghetti and Meatball Casserole

Lots of steps! The pesto is good, but the meatballs don’t hold together well and the meatballs and sauce are bland.

Baked Manicotti Bundles

Mixture was very runny! Didn’t stay in noodles well. Very bland and only made 9. Had to spread mix over all of the noodle.

Mediterranean Vegetable, White Bean and Feta Penne

Tasty! Would be good for a summer dinner or potluck contribution. Used chili flakes instead of red pepper flakes.

Turkey Pasta Casserole

Very yummy! Needs salt and pepper! I didn’t put the almonds on top and used Daiya cheese.

Strawberry Rhubarb Crisp

Didn’t get crispy:(

Lemon Meringue Cupcakes

Needed two extra minutes to bake. Easy to put together but extremely thin batter. Cupcakes have subtle lemon flavour and though they browned nicely the tops still fell:( think they would benefit from the addition of lemon curd in the centre of the muffin!

I found most of the recipes lacked spice and were quite bland. I also felt like they added unnecessary ingredients just to make recipes “healthier”, aka have more superfoods, etc in them.

I won’t get rid of the book yet, but it is definitely at the bottom of my pile right now!

I already know which cookbook I’m going to start using next week:)

Reading:

I started reading Little Beach Street Bakery by Jenny Colgan. So far I am enjoying it a lot. I have found the Libby app really good for knocking books off my TBR!

I’m off to read more:)

Have fun!

AJ

Early

I don’t have a ton to report today and feel like I might be asleep early so thought I’d write.

Exercise:

I managed a slow 4.76km this morning with Dennis. His allergies are bad so he wasn’t breathing any better than I was. It wasn’t the eight I wanted to do, but it’s something.

Cooking:

After coffee, I stopped in to do the weekly shopping and got what I needed. Why is it when you think you’ve bought less, you’ve actually spent more?

I made the granola from Minimalist Baker. It tastes good, but unfortunately I forgot to spray the pan so had to pry it off the cookie sheet which means it’s not in big chunks how I like it. Oh well, not the end of the world!

I also tried another recipe from The Best of Clean Eating 2. This was for crustless quiche. It was quite easy to make, but called for ingredients I had to buy such as roasted red peppers and artichokes in water. I think next time I would just put in whatever I wanted. It called for and I used Herbs de Provence, but once again, I found this dishvery bland. We’ll see if it ages well this week.

Reading:

I finished reading Until We’re More by Cindi Madsen. It is the story of Chelsea and Liam who have been friends since she was 12. She is a chatterbox and he’s a guy of few words, but they find they can be themselves when they’re together.

It was a cute friends to lovers story, but not as good as Just One of the Groomsmen, Cindi’s newer book. I found the balance of this book was off and the friends section went on forever while the relationship part seemed rushed.

It’s an okay beach read:)

Well I’ve just woken up from a nap and I think I might go back for another one!

Have fun!

AJ

Even Better

I was undecided what to do today, but it turned out great!

Exercise:

I got up for a loop of Burnaby Lake this morning with Sarah. We ended up running the whole 10.26km with one two minute walk at halfway. It was a gorgeous, but very windy morning, which I admit made me slightly nervous because Burnaby Lake is very treed. We got around without incident and were quite proud of ourselves. I have to admit I hurt more this week than I did last week and I am wondering if it’s because I changed my gait to keep pace with Sarah? I’d still rather have company than run solo!

Socializing/ Eating:

I wonder why these two things so often go together for me. I got invited to the Port Moody Food Truck Fest by Lyndsay and Brady today. As we walked onto the field we ran into our friend Cori and her family. We hung out together and ate, and I have to say it was way better than driving around to yarn stores alone:) company makes all the difference!

This was my first time at the festival, even though it is held a couple of blocks from my house. I checked out all the trucks and had about five choices, but settled on chips and salsa as I wasn’t hugely hungry.

The weather was odd- sunny, cloudy, hail- we had it all, but it was still a lot of fun. The kids got their faces painted, coloured sunglasses, we did a photo, and I bought a necklace!

Shopping:

I have been looking for a necklace that sits right at my collar bone but isn’t a choker and I found one today in the middle of the food truck fest🤣 It’s by Stella and Dot and is a little gold star. I’m super happy with it!

Knitting:

I did decide to go check out the yarn store closest to me as I was hoping for some inspiration for my next knitting project. I was surprised that the store had nothing special out and was only doing 10% off yarns. That isn’t even the tax! I thought there’d be better sales with it being Woolith Fair!

It was great as two ladies came into the store while I was there who had done 14 of the stores. They told me that Valley Yarn didn’t have their big sale table out this year. I’m kind of glad to hear that as I was unhappy thinking I was missing good sales there! They said Wet Coast Wools had the best deals so far, but I don’t really want to drive all that way! Oh well, I guess I will be behaving myself until Knit City in September.

Reading:

I spent the afternoon reading and finished my newest NetGalley book in one day. I just didn’t want to put it down:) Just One of the Groomsmen by Cindi Madsen was a great, light, sunny day read.

Loved it! It’s a story of best friends to lovers with a twist. It’s fun, but emotional and satisfying.

It’s the story of Addie and Tucker. They have been part of the same friend group since childhood, but when Tucker moves back to town they begin to see each other differently.

I really enjoyed the characters as they weren’t the typical. Addie is truly a tomboy and just one of the guys. The whole town, including herself, believes this and it comes with worries when she’s starting a relationship. Tucker’s life hasn’t gone according to plan and for a change it’s the hero who is concerned about finances and stability. The friend group was also great! The characters are so well described you can see them in your mind (and I’m really hoping Ford gets a story).

Anyone who likes a friends to lovers storyline or just wants a book you’ll laugh out loud during will enjoy this book.

Thank you to the author, publisher and NetGalley for the free ARC in exchange for an honest opinion.

Shopping:

This evening I ran out to Costco to get gas as I was running low. The price of gas is absolutely insane here right now so I’ll be trying to limit the trips I take!

Well I’m off to bed with my sneezing and coughing self. My cold seems to have come back with a vengeance today!

Have fun!

AJ

ProD Day

Well I had no children today, but I was plenty tired at the end of the day anyways.

Exercise:

It was great to get a workout in with L this morning and not have to get up super early to do it! We did a half hour of hills on the treadmill and then hit the weights. We did something new for me where you do 4 reps of an exercise with heavy weights and then do the same exercise for 12 reps with lighter weights. We did squats, shoulder press, and rows. We also did leg drop crunches, reverse crunches, bicycles and planks. I definitely felt like I had a workout by the end.

This evening I went out for a run that was much shorter than I had planned as I was still full from lunch. I guess four hours wasn’t enough time! I managed a park loop for 4.5km and am just glad I didn’t see my lunch a second time!

Teaching:

No kids today, but I did a bunch of research about ADST as I have to teach and assess it this term. I have a plan for three activities and we’ll see how it goes!

I also got some time in on my loose parts program, but still need more Starbuck’s cups. Ugh I’m going to have to ask again:(

Eating:

After putting in a good full day of work, Lyndsay and I headed out to try a new restaurant three towns over. On Spring Break I had gone to The Big Feast and today I went to their sister site- The Big Smoke Alehouse.

I had the Big Bad Guacamole Burger. It was incredibly messy, but yummy. I did miss the cheese on it though. I had mine with Cajun fries, which were good but I think Lyndsay’s garlic fries were even better. I would definitely go back again! Though I may not need to eat until Monday!

Reading:

I finally got approved for another NetGalley book and am enjoying it a lot:)

Knitting:

Today was the start of Woolith Fair which is a local yarn shop crawl. I usually go with Brenda and you can read about last year’s Here. Brenda is away this year though and I just can’t decide if I should go see some stores by myself or not. Will it be fun or just a waste of gas?

Well that’s it for me!

Have fun!

AJ

A Long Friday Eve

It’s been a long day as I was at school for 7:15am to get stuff ready and am still here at 5:30pm:(

Teaching:

Today was a crazy day since we had to get ready for the student led conferences that all students did with their parents this afternoon. Days where we have so much to accomplish often end up feeling chaotic and crazy. I definitely am not as patient with the children as I expect myself to be!  It seems like after every word I say, they start talking!  We did finally get everything ready, but it pretty well took us all day!

I had a parent show up an hour and fifteen minutes late as I was walking out of the school. I felt bad for the child though, so turned around and came back in. I was the last teacher out:(  It will feel like a very short time before I have to come back here!

Exercise:

 I missed my group run so met up with Sarah just for a walk with the dogs (from a while ago, but they’re still cute!)

and then went out for my usual jaunt to the park. It’s not much but at least something!

I also got my 100 squats, 100 crunches, 50 pushups and 50 dips done today. I did them late, but didn’t want to admit to another day of not doing them. You all are pretty good at keeping me on track! Maybe I should make myself admit my food intake on here too!

I’ve been looking over my log of runs on Runkeeper. I really wish I had put notes in about who I ran with and how I was feeling. I think it would make the stats a lot more valuable as now I look at some stats and wonder what went wrong that day or how I did so well! I’m definitely deleting the runs from previous years where my GPS obviously went wonky as I’ve never done a km in less than 5 something minutes!!!

Well that’s all I’ve accomplished today!

Have fun!

AJ

A Survey

I saw this list on a The Dancing Runner and liked it, so I thought I’d give it a try, since I’m stuck at work. I was halfway down the hall when a parent finally showed up an hour and fifteen minutes late:(

1. First thing you wash in the shower? My hair

2. What color is your favorite hoodie?  black

3. Would you kiss the last person you kissed again? No

4. Do you plan outfits?Sometimes as I lay in bed in the morning

5. How are you feeling RIGHT now? Annoyed

6. What’s the closest thing to you that’s red? A reuseable bag

7. Tell me about the last dream you remember having? That I was all powerful and could make people follow rules

8. Did you meet anybody new today? A lot of parents who I don’t remember meeting before

9. What are you craving right now? To get my feet out of these shoes!

10. Do you floss? Yes

11. What comes to mind when I say cabbage? fried with vinegar and salt

12. Are you emotional? I feel, but I don’t cry

13. Have you ever counted to 1,000? Oh yeah, I’m a teacher

14. Do you bite into your ice cream or just lick it? I bite everything that goes in my mouth LOL

15. Do you like your hair? It’s easy, but I don’t like how fine it is so I can’t do anything fancy with it.

16. Do you like yourself? Yup

17. Would you go out to eat with George W. Bush? Sure I’ll take food anytime

18. What are you listening to right now? One of my students doing his student-led conference

19. Were your parents strict? They had high expectations and we had a lot of responsibilities, but we also had a lot of freedom.

20. Would you go sky diving? I’d say no, but my friends can talk me into things I never thought I’d do!

21. Do you like cottage cheese? Yes, but I haven’t had it in a lot of years because I can’t find a non-dairy version.

22. Have you ever met a celebrity? I once was on a plane with the entire Vancouver Canucks team.

23. Do you rent movies often? Nope, though I watch movies often

24. Is there anything sparkly in the room you’re in? Nope not a thing in my classroom – just don’t tell my mom!

25. How many countries have you visited? 3

26. Have you made a prank phone call? No

27. Ever been on a train? Yes, I traveled from Boston to Maine on a train and loved it. I also got a train ride for my high school graduation present.

28. Brown or white eggs? Whatever is on sale

29. Do you have a cell phone? Yes

30. Do you use chap stick? I use EOS exclusively now as I know it’s gluten free.

31. Do you own a gun? No

32. Can you use chop sticks? Oh yeah:)

33. Who are you going to be with tonight? I’m hoping I get out of work quick enough to meet up with my running buddy Sarah.

34. Are you too forgiving? I lose my temper, but forget about it quickly.

35. Ever been in love? Who knows

36. What is your best friend(s) doing tomorrow? Working

37. Ever have cream puffs?Yes I made some for my dad for his birthday one year and so made some gluten free, dairy free ones too.

38. Last time you cried? Reading a book

39. What was the last question you asked? Oh gosh, I’m a teacher – I ask a million questions a day!

40. Favorite time of the year? Fall – perfect temperature and such pretty colours

41. Do you have any tattoos?Nope

42. Are you sarcastic? Continuously

43. Ever walked into a wall? I ran into a wall in junior high

44. Favorite color? Teal

45. Have you ever slapped someone? Pretend to, but have never actually made contact

46. Is your hair curly? Nope, stick straight

47. What was the last CD you bought? Can’t remember!

One Step at a Time

It was a fine day- just the usual but with sunshine!

Teaching:

We had to do two writing activities today as we needed to get caught up on our hallway writing by writing about dyeing the Easter eggs and the Urban Safari presentation. I was amazed by how much my students remembered from the Urban Safari talk. I had one little boy who could recite word for word what the woman said!!! It was great to see this:)

We also got a little bit of preparation done for our student led conferences tomorrow afternoon, but still lots to do tomorrow!

At the end of the day we got a few minutes outside to enjoy the sunshine. I was presented with this😀

Exercise:

I walked during workout Wednesday this morning and during jog a long this afternoon, as well as walking to and from school.

When I realized I was an hour early for my Zumba class, I went for a run and got just over 3km done. It’s at least a bit more toward getting caught up.

I got a little warmer in my Zumba class this week and I think it will continue to get better as I get to know the moves. I’d probably do better if I also counted along🤣

My friend Cori who I go to Zumba with was showing me this craft she’s doing with her class. I’d like to hear from the moms if they’d be happy with this for a Mother’s Day gift along with a card?

Thanks for your opinion!

On the way home from Zumba I stopped in at Starbucks. I don’t like asking people for stuff, but finally got up the nerve to ask if I could have 20 grande cups with kids and the woman very kindly gave them to me. This is going to be great for the loose parts!!!!

Well that’s it for me tonight:)

Have fun!

AJ

Back To It

Well that long weekend had to end sometime.

Teaching:

It was funny to listen to my student complain about how hard it was to come back to school after four days off. They don’t even have to run anything!

We finished our stories this morning and it was great to see some kids really pushing themselves to write more. There are some very strange stories though! One has “a human, an alien and a vampire. The vampire bit the human and then they got married.” I don’t want to know where that idea came from!

We did a little learning about the Northwest Territories, but the big event of the day was our visit from Urban Safari. They are an exotic animal rescue centre.

They brought a ton of different creatures including a stickbug, cockroaches, a tarantula, two different tortoises, a bearded lizard, a leopard lizard, two snakes, a bearded bunny, a ferret and a sugar glider.

It was neat that with each animal the woman pointed out why it was not a good pet as that’s the most common reason they end up with these creatures:(

Exercise:

I walked to and from school twice as I forgot stuff at home today. I also did a 2km run with the kids after school before my massage, but it was a rest day today.

Socializing:

I went to trivia tonight and it was just us five girls. The first game we were fourth, but then we went downhill. Maybe I got more interested in my wings and sangria🤣. I heard him say that every week there will be a question about an actor with three names so maybe I’ll start studying that. Otherwise, we really need to get better at music trivia! I have no idea how you study music though.

Some of the questions tonight were:

The events in a biathlon- shooting and cross country skiing.

Who was prime minister at Y2K? Jean Chretien

What year did outlaw Jesse James die? 1882

Which is fastest on land- a Golden Eagle, cheetah or gazelle? Golden Eagle

What was Pink’s best selling song? Just Give Me a Reason

Oh and the closest they got to a Hallmark movie question… which two movies have Matthew McConaughey and Kate Hudson been in? How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days and Fool’s Gold

Well I’m off to curl up with my heating pad as my feet got wet this morning at track practice and so I’ve been freezing all day!

Have fun!

AJ

Unsettled

It was a quiet day, but I found out I don’t do well with no knitting project. I probably should have read or done something productive!

Exercise:

I got out this morning for a run to and around the park. It was nice and quiet on the trail now that it’s raining. Does anyone else picture themselves tripping and falling flat on their face? There are certain spots I slow down as I can see this happening! I still got 4.23km done so I was happy.

This evening I got out again in the hopes of making up some of my monthly mileage. I find it easy to get out when I tell myself I just have to run to the park and back:) I remember when I first started running and that was a long, tough run. I’m glad the just over 3km feels like nothing now:)

I also got my 100 squats, 100 crunches and 50 pushups, 50 dips done. I’ve been feeling quite lumpish today and so wanted to make sure I could remind myself I am regularly doing something about this!

I think I need to find some extrinsic motivation though!

Baking:

I did make the carrot cake no bake balls from Minimalist Baker today.

They are okay, but not really worth the calories so I will take them to work.

Knitting:

I decided that I was 60 grams short for the tank top I started yesterday and that I wouldn’t bother playing yarn chicken, so frogged it. I then tried a smaller version of the socks I was making yesterday, but really need to print and highlight the instructions as there are so many sizes. I have been out of sorts all afternoon with not having a knitting project:( Please someone suggest something! Please! Please! Please!

Well I’m going to go curl up in bed and read.

Have fun!

AJ