It is our first rainy day in about seven weeks and I am loving it!!!
I went for a walk with friends and didn’t melt!
I didn’t look funny drinking hot tea!
I got to bake my sourdough bread in the middle of the day!
I went and got ice cream and didn’t have to wait in a line up!
I have been knitting, cross stitching and watching podcasts and don’t have to feel guilty!
Rain makes for a great day in my book!
I am loving it up at my brother’s house- well not really but it’s much bigger and cooler than my little condo. I’m actually here to look after the dog while they are away.
This dog refuses to go for walks, but will chase a ball for hours upon hours. This morning I threw the ball for an hour and then decided to ignore him while I sat in the shade knitting.
This is what I got:
His mommy says he’s bossy and his nanny says he’s smart. 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
I say he’s obsessed!🙄
I had a plan and got one post done and then my summer turned sideways.
I will state right away that nothing horrible has happened, some of it would probably be considered good, but it has all made for stress:(. Not exactly the type of summer I had planned! I am down to my last few weeks of summer and today is really the first day that I have felt stress free in a while.
But let’s forget about all that and talk about the last few days.
This week I had a workout on Monday and had a snack lunch with two friends from school. Her driveway was horrendous and I was a little afraid Sparky (my new car) wouldn’t make it up or down, but we did and had a lovely visit in between!
Monday night I left with two of my running buddies to visit two other running buddies. They are actually the couple that taught me to run and they moved to the coast about five years ago. We visited the first two years and then missed three due to Covid.
It was a lovely visit! We hiked at Hidden Groves the first day which has 21km of beautiful trails to walk ( they’d be fun to run too)! The second day I went for a run with Dennis in the morning. It was a lovely trot along the waterfront until he suddenly took off. I ran after him and turned the corner to see the Starbucks sign. I knew that man was obsessed! The final day we went for a walk at Trout Lake whiz was very green and quiet:). Along with the exercise was amazing food and good visiting ( though I had forgotten how much my friend talks- quite a change from my silent condo)!
We went out for dinner on Wednesday night to El Segundo which was amazing! Lots of gluten free and vegan options and I am still dreaming of the corn chowder and shrimp tacos I had:)
Thursday we made the long trip (only due to traffic) home and I got another workout in.
Friday I started with a short run and a massage and then met up with two friends to visit a street market two towns over. It was okay- though the lineups were horrendous, there were too many people and I paid $5.25 for about 1/3 of a cup of ice cream!! Ugh we’ll chalk it up to quality time so I forget those parts!
Today was lovely! I have done laundry, blocked a sweater and two pairs of socks, knitted a cowl for my niece for Christmas, got caught up on my temperature tree stitching and started a cowl out of my new knitting book. I also had a nap, made bread from my sourdough starter discard (good taste, but not cooked enough) and watched plenty of flosstube and knitting podcasts.
Tomorrow I run and then start house and dog sitting for my brother’s family. I am hoping life will continue calmly for the rest of the month though!
Have fun!
AJ
Maybe with no work I will actually have some time to write.
This week was the first week of vacation and it has seemed busier than I was expecting!
It started right after work last Thursday with a staff gathering for the end of the year and one of the teacher’s retirements. It was fun, but I have to admit that I was too exhausted to really enjoy it.
Friday was the first real day of holiday and it was Canada Day. I ended up checking out a local festival with one of my oldest friends. It was a little weird as I spent most of my childhood at this festival, but I have to say I wasn’t impressed with their new version. They had some activities for the kids and they had plenty of companies and organizations happy to take your money, but there really wasn’t a whole lot for adults to do:(. We ended up continuing on to the ice cream store which was amazing as usual.
Saturday was a quiet day at home and on Sunday I was home other than for my run n the morning. I had to go around a park that is uphill both ways!
Monday I had a massage which was great as I’ve been having some neck pain which is unusual for me. It turns out I need more stretching than usual with the extra weights I’ve been doing.
Tuesday I had a run with Dennis around the river and then a pedicure so that I was no longer embarrassed to wear sandals. That night was neat as I met friends to go axe throwing. I am not a natural, but did get it to stick three times. I think it would be a really good date activity. Unfortunately my night went downhill when we tried a new restaurant and they gave me the wrong bowl and I ended up with a dairy incident:(
Wednesday I checked out a new coffee shop with a friend that I have not seen for a year. We are both teachers and it was July last year when I last saw her. It was great to catch up and we will try for one more before she’s off to Europe to see her boyfriend for the summer. That night was knit night which is always a good time!
Thursday I celebrated my summer vacation with the Sunday morning crew by having Chinese food. This is a big deal for me as until now there has been no gluten free Chinese food anywhere around me. It turned out there was no dine in option (though their website said there was), but that wasn’t a big deal- we just went back to Brenda’s. The food was awesome!
Today I have gone for a nice long run on the dyke this morning with Dennis and then had a leisurely coffee. It was great to feel good on my run and to do 7km. Lately every run has been just 5km and the lack of mileage has been getting to me. Maybe by the end of summer I can be back to my regular 10km!
I also got boxes for my parents today and finished both of my current stitching and knitting WIPs.
All in all, nota bad week. Hopefully I’ll be back next week to tell you about week 2.
Have fun!
AJ
I can’t believe I am down to my final hours of holidays! It’s been good so I can’t be sad and I need to go back to getting a paycheck!
I started the day with a run around Mundy Park with Sarah and Dennis. It was a nice run and the hills didn’t feel as tough as they usually do which was a bonus. Kula had the chance to be off leash and was loving it! I think he would vote for this park for every run if he got a say!
He kept racing between Sarah and I and Dennis who was ahead.
After tea I came home and immediately did my workout. It was tough to make myself, but I knew I had to do it!
I then got my house dusted, laundry all put away, another sweater on the blocking a tank top sewed, my stash updated on ravelry and some knitting done. So I will call it a successful day.
I wanted to get a tank top done as I would like to spend more time sewing this year. Plus I want to make more project bags but had to finish up the projects I already have. I thought this was my last tank top, but I think I actually have material for one more. I had made the tank top up yesterday but ran into trouble with the binding being too long so ripped it out but then waited until today to resew. I am happy with it and think it will make a nice outfit with my green pants.
For knitting I am trying something different this month. I am usually a monogamous knitter on one project but over the past two days I have cast on two pairs of socks, a sweater, a toque and have plans to cast in a shawl tomorrow. I will see if I like being able to go between projects. I am loving the sweater so far so may end up being monogamous with that anyways. I also will be able to work on the vanilla socks and toque a lot tomorrow I think as I have to sit through two meetings.
I finally gave in and made my lunch for tomorrow and planned out my day. It’s going to be a busy one!
Well when I planned out everything I needed to do tonight and worked backwards for timing I realized I had to start it all at 6:40 so I guess I had better go.
Have fun!
AJ
Well I’m almost done work, but it’s a struggle in this heat!
Our normal summer is about 25-28 with the odd day at 30 degrees. Well today we have spent the day at 43 degrees. They cancelled school for the kids which was a good call, but we still had to go in. I looked at it’s a way to have extra clean up time in my room, but when it hit 30 + degrees in my classroom (we don’t have AC), I was done. They finally let us go home at 1:30pm. Walking home at that time was torturous!
I ran this morning before school and got three kilometers in. I still think this will probably be my lowest mileage month yet:(. I am running tomorrow afternoon too, but am considering going out in the morning too just to get a little extra in.
When I came home from school today it was even too hot to knit, so I did a jigsaw puzzle so I can return it to a school friend tomorrow.
It was gorgeous and only 500 pieces so three hours was enough to get it done.
I also managed to do a yoga class in front of my fan. I am getting good at doing everything in front of the fan! I have spent the entire weekend in front of the fan during this heat wave!
Well I’m going to go pull my PJs out of the freezer and head off to bed.
Have fun!
AJ
This is just a quick check in.
I am still at school. Unlike the districts around us we go right until Tuesday at 2:50pm. It’s going to be interesting as it is supposed to hit 41 degrees on Monday which is unheard of. We haven’t had that temperature since one of my pseudo brother’s wedding fifteen years ago. I have to admit to being a little worried about keeping kids safe in an unair conditioned building at that temperature😳
Today was PJ and stuffie day so the kids were super excited. They also got their year end movie this afternoon. I spent the time ticking off some year end jobs.
I met up with Dennis after work for a run. We went to a local park that is wooded as it was 28 degrees and it actually went better than I was expecting. I have to admit I’m not getting much mileage in with these hot temps, but I’ll hopefully be able to make it up in July when I am off.
I also got a yoga class done on FitOn tonight. Every time I see my much lower mileage so far this year I remind myself that I’ve quadrupled my yoga time so far so that has to have benefits too. Besides I didn’t have any time working from home this year where I could squeeze in a lot more runs!
Knitting wise I have finished a shawl and I am on the second sleeve of a sweater, but as they are both test knits I am not yet able to share them. I will do so as soon as I can.
I’m off to bed early as last night was a tough night. I got my second covid vaccination on Tuesday night and yesterday afternoon and evening it was just like I had covid again. Not very pleasant. I’m glad to be feeling better today, but want to give my body a little extra rest.
I’ll try to check in and let you know if I’m surviving the heat wave. I know it’s not hot for some places, but it’s very hot for us!
Have fun!
AJ
Well it was the second to last Monday and I survived:)
I started the day by realizing it is Bookclub this Sunday so I had better get going on the book. This is the book I suggested as my friends had loved it- The Death of Mrs. Westaway by Ruth Ware. We shall soon see if it’s too scary for me!
Teaching:
We had promised the kids that we would do one fun thing a day so they brainstormed last week and Liane and I picked one for each day.
Today we started the day with a land acknowledgement as it is national indigenous day. The exciting part for the kids seemed to be that they could see each other on the smartboard. We watched a video about indigenous and read a book, but then I left it alone as one of my kids had nightmares after the last discussion on residential schools. It’s always tough to approach these heavy subjects with the little guys!
They had music while I coloured the four birthday certificates for the kids with summer birthdays. You can bet I bought birthday certificates for next year- no more wasting preps colouring!
After our snack we went into the forest with the other grade one class and had a nature scavenger hunt. The kids had a fabulous time and were super excited!
This afternoon they had buddy reading and then we started creating mini books of our own stories. We shall see how it goes as I don’t think I will get back to it until Wednesday.
We ended the day playing outside. We started by trying out the new sensory path and games put on the front patio. My students never get the front patio so this was super exciting!
Amazing how our new principal was there less than a month and figured out the kids on the patio needed something to do!
Exercise:
It is super hot for us here today- about 30 degrees which is 90 for the US so I really didn’t feel like exercising, but that’s no excuse! I did a total body agility Fit On class and called it done.
I then met up with my teaching buddy and we bought snacks for the class for Thursday when we show the movie.
Knitting:
Finally I have been working on my test knit raglan. I am super concerned that I am going to run out of yarn, plus it seems big. I tried it on and it’s a little loose, but okay. I think I’m going to cheat and not add as many stitches. I will only do five increases throughout the body instead of eleven. I know I should do it exactly because it is a test knit, but it’s going to be ginormous if I do that! I just won’t say anything and hopefully it won’t be noticed. I think I’ll go do the collar before I carry on with the body.
Well that’s it for me today.
Have fun!
AJ
It was a pretty great weekend!
Friday night I stayed home and knit.
Saturday morning I picked my mom up and we tackled my spare room. I wanted to lay down one of my bookcases so I could set up my swift and winder. I thought it would take forever, but it really didn’t. I am so happy with how it turned out! Next trip I think we’ll tackle my closet because it really needs help!
After having very yummy ice cream with my mom I dropped her off for the BBQ she was going to. Dennis picked me up and we went and did a 20km bike ride out on the local dykes. It was a perfect day for it and not too busy which I liked. I still have trouble with my gears so rarely get up a hill successfully, but I feel like it goes better every time I go out. This time it might have been because Dennis put more air in my tires🤣
After the ride we stopped for Starbucks and I actually had a free drink so that was nice.
I spent the rest of the night knitting on my Kith shawl and I actually managed to finish it.
This is a super easy pattern by Justyna Lorkowska. I did it in Knit Picks Stroll Fingering in Cobblestone Heather, Dove Heather and Sprinkle Heather. I love this yarn as it is so soft!!!!
Sunday started off with my usual run. Sarah came out and did the first 3.5km with me and then I carried on to 5km by myself. It was so hot!!! We started at 7:30 am but it was still super hot in the sun. Dennis and I managed 10.15km,but it was tough. My heart rate was high, but I’m assuming it was because of the heat.
I picked my mom up again and she helped me block my test shawl. I finally gave in and went and bought blocking wires. I didn’t love having to put the wires in, but if it gives me straight sides, I’ll forget how bad it was!
While my mom went out for dinner with my aunt and uncle I got busy on my Fernwood Raglan which is a test knit for Alicia Plummer. I am starting to worry already that I won’t have enough yarn:(
I also got my FitOn class done each day. Saturday was yoga and today was a Pilates class.
Well that’s it for me. It has been awesome having my mom here! I even just like having her at the other end of the couch for company- we don’t have to do anything exciting! I already miss her as she and my dad are off to the island early tomorrow morning:(
Have fun!
AJ
Last year I tried a few of Sally’s Baking Challenge items and quite enjoyed the challenge of trying new things. Most of the people in my life asked why I was doing this, thankfully there are people like Abbey! I was talking with Abbey of Three Cats and a Girl and we decided to both try these challenges and then link up to talk about our results, so please check out her attempts too. I was really interested in doing this because I knew she would be doing the recipes as called for while I would need to convert them to gluten free and dairy free. I should say that I change as little as possible and just sub in gf and df ingredients to see if the recipe will still work.
It is so cool that when Kathy read about Abbey’s and my challenge she decided to join us so make sure you go read about her baking adventures! They always look professional and yummy!
The June baking challenge was for ice cream sandwiches. Now I love creamy deserts so this sounded really good even if it had chocolate in it.
I knew this weekend would be busy so last weekend I whipped up the brownies. Just like Abbey, I had to cook mine longer and they still were a little gooey in a few places. I was just hoping the freezing would help. The only difference in my brownies was that I used Bob’s Redmill 1-1 Flour and Earth Balance vegan Buttery Spread. The brownies were easy to make and I had no trouble spreading them like Sally did.
The most difficult part of this recipe was finding enough dairy free ice cream without going broke. Now o don’t keep ice cream in the house and usually just go to the local ice cream parlour when I have a craving, so when I looked in the frozen foods section it was a shock! The cheapest option was fourteen dollars and it only went up from there! There was no way I was spending fourteen dollars on ice cream for a recipe when I had already had to buy sugar, cocoa and pans! I checked out three different grocery stores and finally found some Breyers Dairy free that was an acceptable cost, though it was vanilla with peanut butter ripples. I thought it would be okay as peanut butter and chocolate go together.
I smooshed the ice cream onto the bottom brownie, though I really should have let it sit out longer first, and then topped it with the top brownie and popped it into the freezer overnight.
This is what came out of the freezer. I took these to work for my crew of friends there and they inhaled them. One friend did say they were very rich, but everyone raves about them and they were easy to make. I would count this baking challenge as a success.
Now for my Saturday:
Exercise:
I wanted to start out my holiday on a good note. I stepped on the scale to face reality and then headed out for a run with Sarah. We were running Hyde Creek again (where we ran into the bear last week), but decided to do the other side of the river. We were going along great until 2.44 when Kula, the dog, went crazy. We couldn’t see the bear, but decided to just turn around and tack on at the end. It turned out to be a slow but nice run:)
House:
I have spent most of the day doing the last of the laundry and packing. I have packed way too much and still think I’m missing some key things- like shorts! Oh well, my dad always said to pack half the stuff and double the money and thankfully I’m going somewhere with stores and laundry this year.
I did take a little time out and walked over for an ice cream. I’m really going to miss my ice cream treats while I’m away. I got ice cream two days in a row because I couldn’t figure out how to take some with me.
It was a lovely treat to sit on this rock and enjoy the ice cream in the sunshine. Callie was so sweet to give me a little taster of some of the other vegan kinds on top of my raspberry pistachio.
Reading:
I have started a new book today called Beach Read by Emily Henry. This book was recommended to me by Mildly Granola. I’ve only hit chapter four, but so far I am really enjoying it!
Well I’d better go get my garbage and recycling out since I’m being picked up very early tomorrow.
Have fun!
AJ
A Petite Slice of Life 