I Made It

Well I survived the admin day and am free (except I still have to go help my friend next week).

Exercise:

I really didn’t feel like it, but managed to get my 3.5km in this morning and once again, they dynamic stretching seems to have helped:). It was way busier out this morning, but I guess I was a little later too.

This afternoon I had a short workout with L as it got interrupted when she had to go pick up her son. We did a giant hill from 2-15% on the treadmill and back down again. I have to admit that starting at 11% I did a combo of running and walking. We then did chest press, hammer curls and bicycle crunches along with a minute of skipping between sets. It’s okay that it was short because I sure was sweating a ton!

The plan is to do some more exercise just before bed tonight, but it hasn’t happened yet🤣

Eating:

We had a staff breakfast this morning and twelve of us made it out. I had my usual at Coquitlam Grill and it was as yummy as ever!

The even better part was that it kept me full forever! I grabbed a Kind bar at about 1:30 and then didn’t eat again until I went out for sushi with friends this evening.

It was yummy but not very filling as I couldn’t have any rolls. Two times from now I get to go to the gluten free sushi place:)

Teaching:

No teaching today, just cleaning and piling everything in my coat room.

Knitting:

After a lovely nap on my couch, I have been working on my cardigan again and am finished the left side:)

Well, that’s it for me tonight. My run is even earlier than my usual Saturday morning tomorrow so I think I’ll go to bed early!

Have fun!

AJ

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The Last Day with Kids

Well it finally got here- the last day with my students!

Exercise:

I was worried when I heard it called for rain today that I wouldn’t get out, but I actually did and still enjoyed my morning run in the rain. I went the opposite way as I have been, but it went well as I got to run on the new path:) I shouldn’t call it a path though as it’s as wide as a road and feels like a road.

I did do the dynamic stretching that Maureen suggested. I just did leg swings and high knees, but it seems to have helped as my average speed was 13 seconds faster per minute and I’m definitely not as stiff tonight:)

Teaching:

Again, absolutely no teaching today- just handed out report cards, talked about the best friend moment of the year, went to the leaving assembly and then watched a movie in the afternoon.

I got my PR cards done twice today 😖. Don’t ask!😫

Socializing:

I met up with five amazing women I work with who make every day better. Our school isn’t a particularly happy place right now, but these women make me laugh and keep me sane. I really can’t imagine working somewhere without friends. We had an awesome time snacking, sipping and socializing for more than the 25 minutes we get at school. A pretty awesome end to the school year!

Eating:

Was really good all day

Breakfast- cheddar and peanut butter sandwich

Recess- larabar

Lunch- apple sauce, fruit

Party- way too much yummy stuff!

Well, I’m off to bed!

Have fun!

AJ

Workout Wednesday and a Baking Challenge

It was a very busy day and yet not.

Exercise:

I got out once again for a run before school. I figured this may help calm my after school time. My left leg is definitely a little stiff and I hope it eases up. I got another 3.5km so am chipping away at that yearly goal slowly.

After school we had our bootcamp. It was quite the workout, but I think I need more cardio in between as I’m not sweating much:( we did 30 seconds of cross cross jumps and then a burpee between the first four rounds and then forgot the second four so we did two minutes of running at the end.

We did:

High rows/ superwoman

Reverse lunge with tricep extension/ hamstring curls

Lateral lunge to step up

Bench plank flies

Banded hammer curl/ banded static crunch with scissors

Plank with arms in and out/ band front raise

Bench lunges

Bench sit-up to jump squat/ uppercuts

It felt like there were a lot of arm exercises today, but that’s probably a good thing!

This evening I managed to be slightly active again by doing 100 front kicks, 50 squats, 50 plié squats, 100 roundhouse kicks, and 100 standing crunches.

Teaching:

There was absolutely no teaching today!🤣. This morning I gave the students their year end gifts- a Canadian beach ball. I had signed Happy summer on them and then the children got to go around and sign each other’s. I think I like this gift a lot more than the others I’ve done over the years.

We also cleaned out all our extra supplies and our desks.

This afternoon we watched a movie and played outside as I had two classes on my own. My co teacher had to be at the rehearsal for tomorrow’s leaving ceremony. It went really well, but it probably helped that two of the biggest issues were away.

Baking:

This evening I wanted to tackle Sally’s Baking Addiction monthly challenge which was an angel food cake. I figured this was the perfect time to make it as I’m meeting up with the girls tomorrow so I can take the cake and not eat it all myself. I had to use this recipe instead of Sally’s as I figured there would need to be changes for gluten free. It was super easy and looks like it turned out well.

I hope it tastes good tomorrow with strawberries and coco whip!

Movies:

I watched Summer In The City tonight. I have to admit the leading man wasn’t particularly to my taste, but it was an interesting movie.

Eating:

Breakfast- peanut butter and cheddar sandwich

Recess- larabar

Lunch- assorted sashimi

Snack- tuna snack kit

Dinner- cucumber and cheese, grapes

Well I need sleep as I have to run before work again.

Have fun!

AJ

Learn Something Every Day

I got up this morning and really wished it was already Friday!

Exercise:

I got out for a 3.5km run first thing this morning since I had a massage after school. It was lovely and cool out, though I was still a little slow starting out.

I just realized this morning that I am probably slow in the morning because my muscles and joints aren’t warmed up. All I do is walk downstairs and then start running, whereas when I go after school I’ve had all day to warm up and loosen up. It’s only taken fifteen years to figure this out🤣🤪

Teaching:

We worked on finishing up our printing this morning, had a math drill, handed out some work and then this afternoon we did the “It Looked Like Spilt Milk” activity. We read the story by Charles G Shaw to the kids and then have them look at the clouds to figure out what they look like. It’s a lot of fun to do during this last week.

Blogging:

Today at lunch I learned that the search feature only searches the titles of blogs. I guess I’ll be changing all of my titles so I can actually find something. I don’t like this as sometimes I really like my title.

I have also installed google pics on my phone and will try to figure out how to get photos from there to show up on my blog. It’s times like this that I wish I was more tech savvy!

Which by the way, I was unsuccessful at which explains why there are no new photos in this post:(

Knitting:

Finally got the arm decreases on the left side so will hopefully keep making progress!

Shopping:

After a lovely nap, my evening took a downturn when I went looking for my angel food cake pan. I don’t seem to have it. I tried three different stores for it or the ingredients for some roll ups and came home empty handed:(

Movies:

At least my Hallmark movie of the night was cute- My Perfect Romance was quite cute:)

Eating:

Breakfast- my last chorizo sausage

Recess- granola bar

Lunch- Pb & j sandwich, Rice Krispie square

Snack- granola bar

Dinner- cucumber and cheese, popcorn

I’m off to bed as I need to change around my day tomorrow to allow for going to Walmart for a Pan after school tomorrow.

Have fun!

AJ

The Last Monday

This week is full of last days, and it’s all about survival. The kids are crazy and the to-do list grows by the second so it’s going to be all uphill to Friday.

Teaching:

We spent the morning writing our Summer Bucket Lists. This is an activity I have done each season this year and I really want to keep it up. It’s neat to see how much the students can come up with. I wrote my own too.

Walk on the beach

Read on my patio

Go trail running

Visit my parents

Go on a road trip

Go to Sechelt

Make ice cream

Go to Canada Day celebrations

Stay in bed drinking tea

Bake on rainy days

Can fruit

Pick berries

Go to Seattle

Visit my brother

Watch Gus play football

Workout lots

Have a picnic

Go on a hike

Meet friends for fun stuff

Walk along Main Street

Explore Commercial Drive

Go on a bike ride

Use my herbs

Go for ice cream

Knit 2 sweaters

Visit new yarn and book stores

Go to a farmers market

Try a new restaurant

Help on my parent’s house

Play with Anna’s kids at the park

See as many friends as possible

Work on my cross stitch

Make my Christmas presents

Watch movies

Check out a new library

Go shopping

With 62 days, hopefully this list will make my blog interesting this summer:)

Lunch was taken up with an interminable meeting where absolutely nothing was decided or changed:(

We also got the scrapbooks finished and tried to get all our torn Canadian flags done- not quite, but close.

After school I got all the kids hallway writing put into books for them to take home tomorrow. After each event this year we have written about it and now I have taken all the pages and made them into books for the kids to take home. It’s great to see how far the children have grown in their writing.

This is from last year, but they look exactly the same this year. I guess I am obsessed with yellow🤣

Exercise:

After a nap I managed to get my butt out the door for a run. I wanted to go longer, but one of my students got me with dairy today so I didn’t last very long. I got 3.9km done towards my goal and at the end I managed to hit a 6:15/km. Not sure how, but I’ll take it!

Knitting:

This evening I have finally sat down to work on the cardigan some more and now have the left front up to the arm decreases. I don’t think I’ll have this done by July 1st, but hopefully by the first week of the holiday.

Movies:

As I’ve been knitting away, I watched Lucky In Love. It was a cute movie, but it seemed like the whole thing was a dream. I kept expecting the female lead to wake up and find out it was all a dream! Actually the female lead so reminds me of my server at the pub on Tuesday nights.

Well I’m off to bed so I can deal with tomorrow.

Have fun!

AJ

Friday Eve Thankfully!

I am tired!

Teaching:

The kids were great today. We wrote about our field trip yesterday and the kids wrote so much!!! It’s great to see how far they have come!

Most of the rest of the day was taken up with trying to finish our Canada Flag torn paper art and gluing everything into our scrapbook. I only have about five kids who have managed all of that so I know what we will be doing tomorrow afternoon.

My mom came up after work to deliver all my shoeboxes and we started on the big job of replacing them. We’ll finish tomorrow, though I feel like there’s some I need to go back to.

Exercise:

After a quick cup of tea with mom I was off to the trail running clinic. We were running in Bert Flynn Park which is my usual Saturday morning run. I thought I had a picture but I don’t have one of the single track technical trails we were doing tonight. It was awesome to start and end on new trails and to have some familiarity in the middle. I got 5.66km done so that helps out my yearly goal too!

I did notice my left knee doesn’t like the stabilizing it has to do during trail running:(

Shopping:

I have to admit I prioritized my trail running over baking something homemade for the staff party tomorrow night. I always love having the excuse to bake, but not when I’m getting home late. I’m sure they’ll like the four flavour cake I bought.

Well I need sleep as I have an early workout with L in the morning.

Have fun!

AJ

Not On The Plan

I don’t over plan my time (as I do so much planning for school), but I like to have a general idea and today didn’t follow that!

Exercise:

I got up this morning and got a few kilometers in. I plodded along going out and then pushed myself on the way back. It felt pretty good and I had an okay pace.

I was supposed to have a bootcamp after school today, but Lyndsay Byrnes herself making bannock with her class so that plan went by the wayside.

Then I was supposed to have a run with Sarah but she cancelled.

I ended up going for a short run this evening to finish off my Squad Runner mission. It was a nice, quick haunt around the block.

At least I got a little bit of activity done!

Teaching:

Today was probably the best field trip I have ever taken. We took a bus to a park that is just twenty minutes away. The children went out with the parents and I hung around the shelter to guard the bags and in case of emergency.

If it hadn’t been crazy windy it would have been a perfect day.

Family:

My parents car into town today so I went over after work to see them. My mom was very kind and read over my reports for me:) I’ll finish them up in the morning, hand them in and then tick another thing off my list.

Have fun!

AJ

Trivia Tuesday Tournament End

Well it was the end of the current trivia tournament.

Exercise:

I went out this morning for a run. It was slow and painful. The only good point was that I went back to the path I had fallen on and managed to not fall:). It was a busy path as I came across eight other women!

Teaching:

We finished up our Canada unit by blitzing the Maritime provinces. The kids had a blast using their planner, books and an iPad to find out facts. I’m glad we got to the end of the country.

We had three subtraction drills to make up so that was our only math today.

This afternoon we had the kindergarteners visit us. I did my job as one little boy said “Miss B is scary.” 😉

Socializing:

We had a baby shower for one of it teachers after school today. The rhubarb dream bars went over really well:) I also had some rice crackers, tortilla chips and fruit.

Knitting:

I finished the back of my cardigan today and started on the left front. I wish this sweater was made in one piece!

Trivia:

I wasn’t much help tonight except for the country music section.

I knew:

Shania Twain- Man I Feel Like a Woman

Johnny Cash- Ring of Fire

Brad Paisley- American Saturday Night

Garth Brooks- The Dance

Toby Keith- I Love This Bar

Who led the Argonauts?

Jason

Order the bridges longest to shortest?

Lions Gate, Granville, Burrard

What gives a target rash?

Ticks

What colour does lithium burn?

Red

What band was Roger Taylor and Andy Taylor part of?

Duran Duran

The Well bought all of us a free round:)

Well I need sleep!

Have fun!

AJ

Monday with a Side of Drama

It was an interesting day to say the least! Thankfully I was just the audience for most of it!

Teaching:

We had a fire drill first thing this morning, but after that I had arranged for the students to use a giant marshmallow and 6 pretzel sticks to create a character that they then wrote about in their journal. The students were super engaged and were surprisingly good about getting down to the writing portion. Getting to eat their creation for recess may have helped:)

After recess we wrote about Sports Day and boy did they have a lot to say. I wish I had had more time to give them!

This afternoon we moved across Canada to Quebec. The students are getting really good at using their planner information pages to find out facts:)

At the end of the day we had our usual half hour of outside playtime:)

The drama came at lunch. We had arranged a breakfast for the last day of school, but we have to be there on time so the breakfast is at 7:45 for anyone who is interested. Teacher A was complaining about how early it was and Teacher B (who was in on the planning) said that it wasn’t mandatory so people didn’t have to come who didn’t want to. Well ten minutes later Teacher A is going on about how hurt she was. I thought at first she was joking around, but I guess not!

Then Teacher C asked what we did last year so Teacher B explained it to her. She didn’t bother to listen and asked again. Well Teacher B said I just answered your question and you didn’t bother to listen. Teacher C got up and stormed out. Teacher C then pouted and glared and my co-teacher and I on the playground later (neither of us were involved in any way!). I think we all need a break from each other!!!!

Exercise:

After a few classroom chores I got home in time for a run. I had a really good run and once again felt really strong. It’s a nice change for me! I still went out the shorter side of the trail as it’s shadier and it was really hot at 4:30 this afternoon!

It was weird though because my shoes felt big today! It’s strange as it’s been at least a month of my feet feeling way too big in my shoes and now they felt so big. I wonder what’s up?

I also did a workout I saw on Facebook this evening. It was:

30 sumo squats

30 walking lunges

80 high knees

40 glute kickbacks

40 side jacks

40 curtsy lunges

30 bridges

It was quick but I only did one round as I wanted to take it easy on myself tonight.

Baking:

We have a baby shower for one of the teachers at work tomorrow so I made Rhubarb Dream Bars. They were super easy to make as they are just a shortbread crust and then a vanilla custard with rhubarb added topping. They looked good when they came out of the oven.

I just hope they taste good! The teacher has a peanut allergy so I was examining my ingredients when I realized the flour blend I currently have has milk in it. I guess I now know why I’ve had so many instances lately of being sick.

Knitting:

I finally sat down and worked on my cardigan today. I am a little worried that I’ve made it too long, but thinking I’ll just keep going- better too long than too short!

Movies:

Once again I’ve been enjoying a Hallmark movie as I knit boring stockinette. Tonight it is The Sweetest Heart. Once again there are three very handsome gentlemen in this movie and it’s about a baker so I of course love all the cupcakes and baking scenes. I have to admit I find myself slightly distracted by the mark Julie Gonzalo (lead lady) has between her eyes. Oh well, it’s still cute!

Well that’s it for me!

Have fun!

AJ

Sports Day 2019

Well I survived sports day yesterday:)

Teaching:

There was no teaching. We had ten stations in the morning that went well. The students liked all but one of them. It was neat as they were a little old fashioned- we had the sack race, egg and spoon, water relay, three legged race, dress up, but then we also had a bench race, cone race, bean bag toss, mat race, and a freezer station. The children had fun and that’s all that matters.

In the afternoon we had sprinting races and the tug of war. We were short two teachers so our admin and student services both had to take a class, which they weren’t expecting to.

I was wanting to do a run and workout after school, but ended up sick. My tummy didn’t like the olive tapenade, though it was super yummy when I was eating it.

Reading:

I did end up finishing my book,The Duchess War by Courtney Milan. The book was okay, but a little slow to start and just too much in the head for me.

Well I’m off for a much more exciting day today, hopefully!

Have fun!

AJ