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 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

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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

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

Field Trip!

I survived and lost no child, so it was good!

Teaching:

Well today was the long awaited day for the grade one and two students! We had tried to do two other field trips but they had fallen through so this turned out to be our only field trip this year and the children were super excited!!

We went to a local regional park that is right on the ocean. The bus ride this morning may have been enough to warrant the excitement! We got there after a short drive and went directly into a GVRD Ranger program called Tiny Transformers. I was super impressed with this program! My students saw and touched two different types of crabs and learned the difference between male and female, how to pick them up safely, how to measure them and the basics of their life cycle. We had a bonus and saw a Harbour seal as we were coming off the pier. We then hit the beach and learned about barnacles – I learned a lot!!! We also got to look under rocks for crabs, etc.

We then entered the forest and got to go looking for land invertebrates, such as banana slugs, millipedes, centipedes, beetles, wood bugs, etc.

It was super cool, informative, well organized and nicely presented for my young students. I would definitely recommend the program and I know some parents were hoping they did birthday parties. Now that would be a cool birthday party!

After lunch, the rest of the day was spent between exploring another trail, playing on the playground, games on the field, and more exploring of the beach. We also had some students who took a break to colour ocean pictures.

The day ended with a fruit snack for each student. I highly recommend these as they contain no common allergens and are the one treat that the most children seem to like.

When asked later on, children in all four classes said they liked the crabs, seal and playground the best.

Exercise:

After school we had to quickly set up the stage and then we worked out. It was a simple tabata workout today, but it absolutely killed my legs!!

We did: plank with single arm reverse flies, single leg bench squats, swimmers/ bear crawls, sit-ups with punches/banded plank toe taps, single leg scooter board hamstring curls, banded jump squats/ plank Spider-Man’s, single leg bench lunge with dumbbell, dumbbell double crunch/hand release pushups.

I got through everything, but really feel like I’ve lost upper body strength lately. I suppose that will need to be a goal for summer!

I didn’t really want to, but I had a double boost so knew I needed to get out for my Squad Runner mission of 5km. I just kept thinking about Maureen who ran further yesterday and I’m hotter weather! I took her advice and took water even though it was a short run and I drank it all!!! My legs were killing me, especially my quads, but I ended up pushing myself as I came to within 22 seconds of beating my current 5km time. Ugh so close!!! Here I thought I’d die because of the heat and it actually turned out to be a really good run!

Shopping:

I made the mistake of stopping into the Natural Foods store while I was hungry as I was next door to buy a gift card for my classroom volunteer. Wow did I end up with a lot of foods I didn’t need! $59 to be exact!!!! I bought the vanilla almond milk by mistake and when I took a sip tonight, it now reminds me of a milkshake because it is so sweet! Note to self: AVOID!!!!!

Crafting:

After stretching and rolling I managed to finish last week’s rug square. Hopefully I can finish this week’s too and get caught up!

Knitting:

I’ve been dying to start a new project but wouldn’t let myself until I finished the rug square. Well tonight I casted on Composite I’m a bright yellow DK yarn from my stash. ( I am so glad Tracey taught me how to determine yarn weight)!!! It is a free pattern on Ravelry and I’m hoping to make quick progress!

Well I had no nap today, so I’m off to sleep!

Have fun!

AJ

Hot

It has been so hot here (for us), that I just don’t feel like doing anything.

Reading:

Last night I finished another book. I guess that’s what I do in hot weather- read!

I have been wanting to read this book for so long, but perhaps that expectation for the better of me. I enjoyed the book and thought it was well written and concluded the series nicely, however, I found it too negative. Both of the main characters have major emotional issues and it’s a lot to take in and be book. I also found he didn’t explain his much before she fell for him, which seemed slightly unrealistic to me. Once again, I loved the family dynamic and the storyline surrounding that was great!

Teaching:

We never seem to have enough time! We wrote about Sports Day today for their memory books. We finished our printing books and the children got to take them home. Then this afternoon was the big excitement- we made ice cream! It was the conclusion to our matter unit where we turned a liquid into a solid, or at least we were supposed to. I don’t think we had enough salt on the ice so it didn’t work as well as it did on the weekend, but the children didn’t seem to care. They had fun:)

My co teacher shaking the extra bag we had.

Shopping:

After work we hit the teacher store to stock up on the items we need for September. We have found it’s nice to already have these items so we can get started right away.

I couldn’t believe they’ve discontinued my bee labels though:( What am I supposed to do now? It’s not like I’m going to change from being called Miss B any time soon!!! I am not great at making decisions, so it’s always made it easier at the store to just buy the bee option. It seems like owls have replaced them though:(

Exercise:

After a long nap, I went out for my forty minute mission tonight. I have to admit I ended up walking most of it- just too hot still to run!

Crafting:

Just sitting down to work on my rug square. It drives me nuts that I wasted that 1.5 hours sleeping when I could have been finishing last week’s square! I’ll just work on it now for a bit.

Have fun!

AJ

This or That?

Wow was it hot today!!!!

Teaching:

I actually managed to get a TOC today for a remedy day. I was kind of surprised since they often pull them to cover illness. My TOC was great though which left me with the question, was I going to do this or that?

I ended up getting my classroom library completely tidied, the field trip materials organized for Wednesday, and my PR cards done. It sure doesn’t sound like a lot when I write it down, but I really didn’t stop much today😏

After school I got to have a long talk with a little boy in my class who has been taking things that aren’t his! Ugh he even went into my desk and took stuff. I told him that since he had hurt our classroom community he now needed to help it. He’ll be staying in to do class jobs for the next three recesses and tomorrow I’m making him return all he took and apologize. It is going to be uncomfortable for him, but hopefully just enough to make him think before he takes what is not his!

The curriculum is such a tiny part of what I do everyday!

Shopping:

I went this evening to buy my students year end gifts. It was so difficult to decide between these two options!

I ended up going with the first option as it is similar to what my co teacher is giving her class. I have some items at school I can add to it.

Reading:

I’m only about 2/3 of the way through my book today, so no review yet on Lost in You by Jules Bennett. It’s the last book in a series I’m reading and so far, it’s not what I expected. I’ll let you know if that’s good or not once I finish!

I had a few moments at lunch to check NetGalley and I requested a few more books. It will be nice when I’m not so overwhelmed with books to read and can try out some new authors on there!

Well I’d better get reading!

Have fun!

AJ