Trivia Tuesday #40

Amazingly I survived!

Teaching:

It was a pretty good day. We had writer’s workshop and built our love list which is simply a bank of writing ideas each kid does.

We tackled two math drills and finished our writing about Rocks and Rings. It was like pulling teeth to get any writing about this from the kids!

This afternoon we brainstormed places in our community and played outside since it was sunny.

Not bad and I didn’t have to raise my voice:). You could definitely tell the children had had four days off though!

Exercise:

I had a workout with Lyndsay after school and had to do:

Lunges with front raise, lunges with lateral raise, thrusters, plank jacks,

Knitting:

I was desperately trying to get my toque done before trivia, but had to leave with three rows to go. I want to do this pattern again and put a band on it. That will be next.

My latest sweater- Date Night – a free pattern from Knitty. It turned out to be super easy though it took me enough tries to get it done. I ended up with less than a yarn of yarn leftover!

Oh and here’s the toque- Irish Hiking Beanie by Knit2Purl2 – a free pattern on Ravelry. I love the pattern and it was a quick knit. I want to do another and have a different ribbed band.

Trivia:

It was just two of us tonight and we agree that when we know something, we know it, but when we don’t know it, we can’t even make a good guess.

Here’s what we knew tonight:

Who was Tom Cruise’s character on Mission Impossible?

Ethan Hunt

What sport is featured in the movie Raging Bull?

Boxing

Where is the hockey hall of fame?

Toronto

Who wrote Lord of the Flies?

William Golding

How many edges are there on a cube?

12

Which Italian created the baroque style?

Bernini

Where is the largest RCMP detachment?

Surrey,BC

What vaccine did Pasteur create in 1885?

Rabies

Who designed the VW Bug?

Porsche

What is equal to 1024 gigabytes?

Terabyte

Where are the Beatles from?

Liverpool

What is Mick Jagger’s real name?

Michael Jagger

Who were the three nephews in Duck Tails?

Huey, Louis, Dewey

Who has won more Stanley Cups?

Eastern Conference

Which city is in Manitoba?

Flin Flon

What is Meatloaf’s number two song?

Two Out of Three Ain’t Bad

Ok I’m off to bed, have fun!

AJ

Bonus Days

It was so lovely on Saturday, after having two days off, to think of the fact that I had another two days off still to go! I ❤️❤️ this four day weekend!

Exercise:

Yesterday morning I ran Colony Farm with Dennis. I just couldn’t keep up with him. I haven’t had a 7:05km in a long time, but that was my first one. Thankfully I got faster from there, but I was definitely not a speed machine yesterday. We ended up with 5.15km as the path is still blocked, but it was at least something.

Last night I did a Hallmark workout which was a minute of jogging in between: squats, dips, Bridges, upright rows, bent over rows, front raises, lateral raises, crunches, reverse crunches, pushups, pullovers, plank, mountain climbers, bicep curls, reverse lunges, and plié squats.

I need to read up on heart rate zone training as I never know if being in zone 5 is a good thing or not.

This morning I headed out to a local lake for a run with my friend Sarah. I knew it would be a run/walk as part of the lake trail is very rugged so I put my watch on for a walk so I wouldn’t worry about our pace. We did it in less time it takes to walk the lake, so I’ll take it as a success. My watch was definitely acting weird though as it’s tough to get a signal out there. We did the access road on the second side as we figured the path would be super busy by that time as it was such a nice morning. I actually liked the road as we could more easily run.

Cooking / Baking:

Yesterday I made Rockfish Laksa in 38 minutes and today I made Roast beef with winter vegetables and a cherry demi glacé in 35 minutes. Both were very yummy and I got 5 servings out of each which makes me happy as it brings the cost down to about $5 per meal. I do like fresh prep for the fact that I get to cook as I like to cook and it is definitely quicker as you don’t have to chop everything and you don’t have to measure. I think the lack of measuring really speeds things up. Here are my meals:

I also got baking and made the lemon vegan cake (cupcakes) from Nora Cooks. The cupcakes were again easy to make, but I have to admit the batter looked weird to me and the cupcakes are chewier than I expected. I couldn’t resist putting cream cheese frosting on them, even though it is way too soft, just as Nora said. Oh well, it tastes yummy!

Knitting:

I have spent a great part of the last two days knitting ( probably when I should have been cleaning).🤣. I have finished the Date Night sweater and it is blocking on my floor right now. This sweater looked tiny when I finished it, but the pattern says it will block much bigger. I sure hope it does as otherwise, some kindergartener is getting a new sweater!

I have since started another toque. I had a random ball of turquoise yarn under my table that kept falling out and driving me crazy so I decided it needed to be used next but was having trouble figuring out what to make. I have decided on a toque and have to say that so far I am loving it! The only thing I may not love is that there is no defined ribbed band. I’ll have to see if that bothers me when I’m done.

Well I need sleep as tomorrow is going to come as a shock!

Have fun!

AJ

SAL Update

I can’t believe it’s already been three weeks!

Stitching:

This is a picture of the project that has set on my shelf for the past eleven years. (And I’m sorry I didn’t realize I had it upside down on the last update). This year I am determined and it at least sits on my coffee table now. This is where I was at three weeks ago.

And this is where I am now:

It still doesn’t seem to look like much. I have filled in the curtain a bit more and started on the work basket contents. Kathy you will laugh as I did keep track of my stitches again and I put in 135 stitches this time which beat my 125 from the last update. I find I can only stitch on really bright days so that can be difficult when we have so many grey, rainy days. Oh well, it’s still better than the eleven previous years!

Be sure to check out everyone else’s progress! There are some amazing projects! If you’re interested in joining, just click on Avis’ link.

Jenny

Avis

Claire

Gun

Carole

Sue

Constanze

Christina

Kathy

Margaret

Cindy

Heidi

Jackie

Sunny

Hayley

Megan

Deborah

Mary Margaret

Renée

Carmela

Jocelyn

Sharon

Daisy

Anne

Jenny

Wow Energy & Cupcakes

About halfway through the day I realized how much I had done and love how much energy I have now:)

Exercise:

After a bad nights sleep I got a text from Dennis canceling our morning run cause he also had a bad sleep. I had not ran on Thursday and Friday though so I felt like I really needed to go out. It was a wet and cold morning so I only got 5km done. I did however wear one of my new pairs of ASICS running shoes that I bought yesterday. I was really surprised that I could get these, but boy did they feel good. The spot on the bottom of my foot didn’t hurt at all!🎊🎉 I got faster as I went so I’ll count the run as a success.

This evening I did a workout as I am really trying to keep my runs and workouts even! I didn’t have time to watch a Hallmark movie first, so I had to come up with a plan on my own. I ended up doing a minute of jogging between each of the following and used 8lb weights.

31 squats, 39 plié squats, 20 banded side shuffles, 30 banded adductors, 30 calf raises, 37 bridges, 35 crunches, 50 bicycle crunches, 41 reverse crunches, 1 minute plank, 13 bicep curls, 35 bent over rows, 26 pullovers, 15 front raises, 15 side raises, 25 shoulder presses, 30 supermen

I’ve been finding it pretty easy to get myself to work out with the thought of it improving my running:). I am however trying to do longer workouts so that the timing of my runs and workouts become more even. We’ll see how that goes though.

Baking:

After coming in from my run, I was cold, even after a shower, so I started baking cupcakes so that I could turn on the oven. Gina, a parent at my school, fellow runner and maybe friend, had dropped off two cupcakes for me on Thursday for Valentines Day. I am not a huge chocolate fan, but when I tried one, even I had to admit, it was amazing! I immediately asked for the recipe and she pointed me to Nora Cooks. I decided to give it a try and found it very easy and quick to put together. I made cupcakes too and they only took 25 minutes to cook. They turned out great and I made the icing later in the day and now have tons in the fridge! The real test was that I took some to my dad (who refuses to eat anything that is gluten free and dairy free) and he raves about them and ate two very quickly! My mom and I agree that these cupcakes would be a great entertaining recipe.

Out:

My mom and I visited my aunt who just had a knee replacement and she is doing awesome. We then went for lunch at the Gilnetter. My mom and I were supposed to be sharing the seafood sandwich and fries but I ended up eating the whole sandwich while mom ate the fries as they may not have been safe for me.

We stopped at Home Depot and got keys cut and then headed home. Wasn’t a super productive day, but I still loved having my mom’s company!

Knitting:

I sat down again tonight to knit on the Date Night sweater and it is actually going well. I so want to stay up knitting, but I have an early run tomorrow, so I need to go to bed!

Have fun!

AJ

Hip Hip Hooray

It was such fun to have my mom home. We never do anything super exciting, but it’s just nice to hang out with her.

Financial:

I went downtown this morning and met my new financial advisor and liked him. He did a pretty good job of making financial items simple so I could understand them. Hopefully I will now not have to think about my money!

Eating:

Well it was an interesting eating day. 1/2 a banana, 1/2 an order of fish and chips and 2 cupcakes. Lol it was definitely a super yummy eating day🤣

Shopping:

My mom said she needed new running shoes and I probably should have run for the hills screaming as I always spend too much money in there. I did find a new water bottle which will hopefully not leak on me. Also two pairs of my favourite running shoes were there in my size, though I swear they had discontinued them! I don’t get it, but I bought them both quickly?!! I also got myself a new smartwool running shirt as I wear my old one continuously!!! I never regret a smartwool purchase as I wear it to work to keep warm too.

I had my car checked out. The problem is the knock sensors which I just had replaced last summer, so I may need to start looking for a new vehicle. Ugh another thing I don’t like doing!

I also got a haircut and ran through Costco. I managed to spend money in Costco but didn’t come home with any food. 🤔. I’m sure I’ll regret that later in the week, but oh well, what can I say, I was still full from lunch.

Blogging:

After talking with my mom I have decided to stick with this blog but start deleting old pictures. I took advantage of her WiFi and I got rid of a ton of old food pictures so that I will have room to show you new things. I think this is going to be my new plan going forward. I can include any photos I want with the idea that they will only be there until I need room. Now it’s just too bad that I don’t have any photos from today to share🤣

Knitting:

Since getting home I have managed to successfully knit the first twenty three rows of the Date Night sweater 🎊🎉. This is a much better start:)

Well I need sleep as I’m running early tomorrow morning.

Have fun!

AJ

Friday Eve

I really love thinking of Friday this way and in fact, today was my Friday!!!🎉🎊

Teaching:

It was a tough day because the kids were so excited, but it wasn’t too bad. That’s probably because we did no work! We had curling class this morning, then we handed out valentines and went to library. After lunch we had silent reading, watched a Charlie Brown Valentine video and filed a bunch of work.

Of course in the middle of this we had an inside lunch and a popcorn sale. Ugh!

We also used the cosmic yoga again and the kids were completely engrossed in the trolls yoga!

Socializing:

I had a staff social at one of the local brew pubs after work. It was a great group of about six of us and nice to just sit around talking:)

Knitting:

I have been all about knitting since I came home and I got a headband done. It was supposed to be for the gift box, but I think I like it enough to keep it. The pattern is a free pattern on Ravelry called Headband Anna

https://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/headband-anna

and it’s super cute and quick. It’s simply a band with a braid halfway through. I used just some leftover yarn but it would be lovely in some expensive yarn too:)

The seed stitch slouchy hat was a success! That’s the end of my obligation knitting so it’s back to the Date Night sweater, I go.

Well that’s it for me.

Have fun!

AJ

A Productive Wednesday

I was happy to finish a project.

Teaching:

We had a pretty productive day! This morning we did calendar and the children went off to music. I was a little ticked that student services came in with the OT and took over my classroom for my entire prep!!😖😖. After recess we tackled our polar bear research and managed to finish the writing of the facts. In the afternoon, about half the class finished their pictures, but the rest will have to finish up tomorrow.

We also finished three math drills and our valentine bags. The afternoon was quite peaceful which was a nice change.

We have been using the Go Noodle website a lot these past couple of weeks, but today I tried a new YouTube video from Cosmic Yoga. I did the Winter Wonderland which was a five minute routine and I loved it because it did yoga moves but was also quite the workout as the moves didn’t last long. I will definitely be trying more of these videos!

Exercise:

I hung around after school to speak with a parent and get some things done, but unfortunately with every minute I stayed at school I felt less like going for a run or working out. Thankfully I got over this and got a quick run to the park in before dark. I figure 2.78km is better than no kilometers:)

I also did my first non-Christmas hallmark movie workout today. I didn’t get a ton of reps so I went with two exercises for each event. This led me to do:

Squats and plié squats

Pullovers and bicep curls

Crunches and reverse crunches

Bridges and plank

Burpees and Around the world lunges

Front, side and diagonal raises

Froggers and high knees

Pushups and dips

Side shuffle and standing adductors

Wood chops and rows

I did a minute of jogging between each.

I realized I always concentrate on getting my heart rate up, but I’m starting to realize that this shouldn’t be my focus when I’m doing weights. I’ll get better about this:)

Knitting:

I finished the slouchy toque for my secretary’s daughter. I did it in a seed stitch pattern and am hopeful this one will work better!

Well I need sleep!

Have fun!

AJ

Trivia Tuesday #39

I actually forgot a couple of times that it was trivia tonight!

Teaching:

The two boys who were away yesterday were back today and boy did I notice!

This morning we had calendar and then went for it first rocks and rings lesson. This is a curling lesson for the kids that take place in our gym. I have to admit that I prefer the lady who came the past two years as the young guy who came today didn’t seem to have any type of sense of humor! It is cool for the children to try out curling as most have never done this before.

After recess we tackled more polar bear research and did a page about appearance. This time we had to do it as a whole group so we concentrated on having the children learn to put the fact into their own words.

Finally this afternoon we did a cloze passage, two math drills and decorated or valentine bags.

Exercise:

After finishing the day with children I met up with Lyndsay and Liane for our bootcamp workout.

We did 20second tabatas with 10 seconds rest and did the following exercises:

Plank with feet on medicine ball/ jump squats to press up

Up downs / hip bridge to hamstring curl in medicine ball

Swing lunges/ v yucks

Plank punch/ kneel to squat jump

Crunch/ mountain climbers

Sumo squat to froggers/ front plank with side to side hip dips

ISO squat with front raise/ ground to press.

I definitely was feeling it in my arms as they were already sore from yesterday.

When I can home I went directly out for a run to keep my runs and workouts even. I just squeaked out 3.32km to the park and back. It wasn’t super fast, but was at a respectable pace. I really do find that this spot on the bottom, side of my left foot is really bugging me and I am wondering if it is causing my Achilles to be sore on that side too.😖😖😖

Knitting:

I have spent some more time this morning and evening getting a second slouchy toque done as the one I did first was deemed too big and wide. I had thought it would be and thankfully both are in seed stitch which I enjoy doing.

Trivia:

Tonight there were four of us again:

In the first round, we knew:

What were the two actors in the first MIB?

Will Smith, Tommy Lee Jones

What is 2/3 of 60- 15% of 60?

31

Which movie was Leo DiCaprio not in?

Edward Scissorhands

What do men talk about that women pretend to be interested in?

Sports

Which car manufacturer is number one in Sweden?

Volvo

Where is Kim Crawford wine from?

New Zealand

On the keyboard what comes between d and j?

F,g,h

In the music round:

Long Cool Woman by The Hollies

Wild World by Cat Stevens

Ordinary Day- Great Big Sea

In the third round:

Who has the most career playoff points in Canucks history?

Jyrki Lumme

Which college team is known as the Crimson Tide?

Alabama

Who did Eric Lindros not play for?

Pittsburgh

What did Alfred Nobel invent?

Dynamite

How much is a large straight worth in Yahtzee?

40

Which planet rotates clockwise?

Venus

What determines a number on the periodic table?

Number of protons in the nucleus

What is the name of a triangle with three different sides?

Scalene

What is the name of Joan Jett’s band?

Black Hearts

For the final round I went home early so I don’t know which ones I got.

Well I’m going to bed!

Have fun!

AJ

Monday Mayhem

Sorry for no post yesterday. It was an interesting day. Met up with some old running buddies for a walk and then was supposed to go for breakfast. We waited for an hour at our favourite restaurant, but ended up walking across to Tim Hortons where I got to watch everyone else eat as there was nothing I could eat:(. I then came home and read like crazy to finish Circe by Madeline Miller for Bookclub. I finished it at 3:40 and Bookclub starts at 4🤣. Bookclub was great as we watched the Oscars, though I have to admit that I was disappointed that Parasite won for best picture. I really didn’t like that movie!

On to today…

Exercise:

I was crazy enough to get up early for a workout with L. It’s always tough to get up, but I feel so great afterwards. There was already someone on the treadmill so we did our floor work first and it was all about the bosu. It’s amazing how much intensity it adds to not be stable. We did raises, hip dip planks, sit ups, Superman’s and lunges on it and boy was it tough!

We then did a run on the treadmill that had me going up to 9% incline. I really don’t like hills! It felt good to get it done though!

Teaching:

It was a crazy day. It started with a bobcat sighting on the grounds so they brought all the children and parents into the gym early. All ya teachers wondered why as what bobcat is going to be crazy enough to come near 223 screaming children????

We tried to get all our morning jobs done, but the announcements were early as was the fire drill they threw in for fun. There went my plan:(. Oh of course in the middle of this we were short two EAs so my EA wasn’t always with my low functioning autistic boy which meant I had him and twenty one other children all on my own☹️

Oh and we were also celebrating 100 day so this morning we took a few moments to arrange our collections of 100 objects a few different ways and then after recess we made a class book and then traded classes with the kindergarten teachers and made the books with those classes too. It was a great idea as we got to see what’s coming up next year.

This afternoon we continued the pandemonium by starting a polar bear research project with the children. At the end of the day, we celebrated surviving with 9 minutes of playtime outside.

Oh my…. I hope the week calms down!!!

Knitting:

I have been sitting here knitting on a seed stitch toque and I think I may just head off to bed!

Have fun!

AJ

Solid Saturday

It was a pretty good day. I got to do things I enjoy, but I had to do certain things which does take some of the fun away.

Exercise:

Dennis and I ran a new route this morning- the Central Valley Greenway. We intercepted it at Sperling and ran the 5.28km to Boundary and back. This is an urban trail that only has one section of packed gravel and the rest is paved. I don’t think I would run it alone as it runs behind buildings and through industrial parks. Dennis thinks it probably gets pretty busy on summer nights and we probably passed twenty people during the 10km we did, but still seems secluded to me.

My legs were tight the whole time and my left Achilles was bugging me. At four km I was ready to say, let’s go find a skytrain station and go home, but good running buddy that he is, Dennis kept me going. I had done a workout last night instead of a run, but maybe my legs would be better if I reversed those two?

We did the whole 10.04km and I had a personal best with doing it in 1:05:21, that is down from 1:07.

This evening I did a hallmark workout as I am trying to keep my workouts and my runs equal.

I decided to jog between moves and did: squats, crunches, reverse crunches, front, side and back raises, froggers, burpees, bicep curls, around the world lunges, plié squats, pushups, and dips.

I hope one day that these workouts pay off!

Knitting:

After coffee, I came home and started the toque I am making for the secretary’s daughter. It’s an easy knit as it’s done in seed stitch which is one of my favourite stitches. Right now, I’m just worried that the yarn is going to be too dense to slouch, but I suppose we shall see.

Reading:

I have spent a lot of today reading my Bookclub book. I am almost halfway which is probably the best I can hope for as the book is 579 pages long. I am making this post short so I can get back to it.

Cooking:

I made my second Fresh Prep meal today which was Hoisin meatballs with broccoli and coconut rice. This recipe took me 32 minutes from turning the stove on to taking my first bite. It would have been less if I had remembered to take the ground pork out to de thaw and hadn’t had to take the 2.5 minutes to microwave defrost it in the middle. The recipe was easy to follow and simple to do. With both of these recipes I have felt that I could probably memorize the recipe if I made it a couple of more times. I also got four servings out of this recipe too so I should have plenty to get me through until the next two meals show up on Wednesday. I would like to get to the point where I can get six servings out of each meal as then I could freeze a couple and build my stash back up as my freezer is very empty right now.

Eating:

I have eaten really well today! I had a bag of honey stinger chews on my run as I was trying to give myself energy. I had a serving of my shrimp pad Thai for breakfast, and then taco salad for launch and then the meatballs and rice and broccoli for dinner. I wasn’t planning on the last meal, but realized later in the day that I needed to get that meal cooked up.

Well that is my whole day and I need to go read my book.

Have fun!

AJ