Does Anyone Know?

It was a day that once again didn’t go according to plan!

Teaching:

The full moon is definitely affecting my students! I have one in particular that I have had enough of today!

We got another class book made on big problems versus small problems. I think I’m going to appreciate this lesson as now when children come to tell me something, I simply ask if it’s a big problem or a small problem? They can all tell me what big and small problems are but want to rattle about everything!

My class also seems to want to keep adding to their wonder board! We asked them this time what they wondered about Christmas and the holidays. This is what they have so far!

I’m afraid to think how far down the hall they will get by Christmas!

We did some counting by 5s and a self assessment on skip counting. It was interesting to see what the kids thought- though not very reliable at age 6🤣

I got another three report cards written after school. It’s super frustrating right now as we have a new report card and a new principal. As I’m writing these reports, I’m wondering if they’re going to be rejected? Tough to write without guidelines:(

Exercise:

Today was L Bootcamp and as usual it was deadly! I think I’m going to hurt in good places tomorrow though:). We did lunges with military press, banded adductors, pushups, froggers , dips, pop jacks, banded arm lifts, plank punches, side plank rotation, side plank hip dips, banded lateral steps, banded plank toe taps, decline mountain climbers, v ups, and skaters.

As I write this I realize there were a lot of thigh exercises which is a good thing. Decline mountain climbers were my least favourite as I felt like I was going to fall on my face!

Friendship:

I had just gotten home, into my jammies and settled in front of the fireplace with my tea (knit night was cancelled earlier today) when my co teacher called to ask me to run back up to school to put away a confidential student file she had accidentally left out. Lol best laid plans.

Reading:

I have started the next book in the Return of the Blackwell Brother’s series.

Though I see I also have an ARC for November 30th so I may have to interrupt my current read.

Movie:

As I’m knitting on my poncho (and ignoring the mistake I’ve made), I’m watching Midnight Masquerade. I’ve watched this movie before, but am still enjoying it:)

Blogging:

Ok my blogging question for today is that I dealt with my spam the other day and there were several tags in there, but now I can’t find them:( Does anyone know where I will locate these?

Have fun!

AJ

A Quick Note

This has to be quick as I need as much sleep as possible to deal with tomorrow!

Teaching:

My students are getting crazier by the hour because of Halloween. Today we did a new poem – Skeleton Parade, in many spooky voices and we wrote about our favourite candy.

We looked at the Scholastic Book Fair and had computers. This afternoon we played Halloween games in gym and did some more of our pumpkin investigation. Tomorrow is the big day for counting seeds and carving faces.

Movies:

On my breaks, I finished up watching Love at First Dance. I really liked this movie. I liked how at the start the female lead stands up for herself and makes the arrogant hero follow the same rules as everyone else! I wish I was better at this. I liked how the characters help each other grow. I also liked how they got to know each other in a non-romantic way for 90% of the movie. The ending was also super cute! I watched it three times!

Baking:

After work I made pumpkin muffins to use up my leftover pumpkin, once I separated all the seeds out of the school pumpkin guts. I must have been on s pumpkin roll! I used this Recipe and the one I tried hot was really good plain, with vegan butter and with vegan cream cheese. The rest have all been frozen!

Knitting:

Tonight was knit night and I managed to get partially casted off for the shawl/scarf. Hopefully I’ll be done tomorrow and able to share it.

Blogging:

I’m looking into blogging plans, but for $60 I only get 6g of storage- doesn’t that mean I’m going to be having the same problem in a year?☹️

Well I’m off to get some sleep so I am patient tomorrow.

Have fun!

AJ

A Few More Things

Well a few more things got marked off the list today. I googled lists last night and so my mom and I are testing out Wunderlist; so far, so good!

Exercise:

I got back to routine today and got out for my Sunday morning run. It wasn’t a particularly great run- slow and my legs definitely didn’t feel strong, but it got done:)

I wish I had gotten out for another run this afternoon as I will yet again not get my mission as I have a massage after school tomorrow:(

Family:

My cousin came and dropped off his truck. It’s a good thing I store this for him as it ensures I see him at least twice a year!

Shopping:

I got a baby present mailed away, wood picked up to hang my alphabet rug, a lightbulb bought, figured out my spare room light, and got woolite and a collapsible cart from my parents. I tell you shopping at the house of mom and dad has the best prices🤪. I’m glad the day started off with some success as I checked out another two furniture stores and didn’t find a new couch and I looked into Ting My Doorbell, but it’s $250! I’m going to have to do more research!

I checked out Costco and saw good planners for $10! Oh well, I will have to remember that for next year, but for anyone who hasn’t bought one- look at Costco!!

Cool Moment:

When I was at the store, the cashier recognized me. I taught her daughter in grade two and she is now starting teacher training. It was so cool to have this moment!!

On Friday, I also got presented with my 15 year pin at work. I’ve been working 16 years, but they don’t count my first year towards it:(

Movies:

I had a lovely long nap this afternoon on my comfy couch:). Then I enjoyed watching several Hallmark movies on my new large tv. I so enjoy “Cooking With Love”, especially the moment where Kelly sends Steven a picture of her spaghetti as that’s something I would do. This movie always makes me want to cook!

Knitting:

I am working along on my 22.5 degree scarf. It really is taking forever and definitely doesn’t reward me with much progress:(

Blogging:

Ugh! I can’t include any pictures today as I have no space left:( I’ve already taken out all my book and movie pictures and so don’t really know what else to do:(. Any suggestions are welcome as I am getting tired of writing about this problem!

Oh and if anyone knows how to get to other people’s posts you’ve saved- can you please tell me🙂

I’m back to my Hallmark movies:)

Have fun!

AJ

Try Again

It was a good day though I really have to resist getting caught up in the drama at work!

Teaching:

We started the day with our Terry Fox run. It was a different route this year, but it still seemed to work pretty well.

My students were super excited and I even had two dads come out and run/ walk with us:). It was perfect timing for me as I wasn’t sure how I was going to finish the Squad Runner mission, but this worked perfectly:)

We also had an assembly before the run where Terry Fox’s niece Kirsten came to speak. It was cool, but the principal started it when two classes weren’t even present yet:(

I got through reading with a couple of more students to determine their reading levels. It’s a long process, but I can’t do much else until I get it done.

It was another good math lesson, though it didn’t quite go where I expected as the worksheet didn’t match up well, so we just went with the children creating movement or people patterns and that went well!

Finally this afternoon we wrote about the Terry Fox run for our hallway writing and the children did a really good job!

It was another amazing day with the children:)

After school though the teachers were quite upset as there were rumors of an assembly tomorrow for orange shirt day. It turned out to be true and supposedly it’s on the electronic calendar (didn’t know we even had one) and we discussed it at the staff meeting (not one teacher recollects this???). Oh well, we’ll go sit in the gym tomorrow morning and see what happens.

Eating:

I have had a berry kale smoothie, a larabar, apple slices, southwest chicken salad and a baked potato. I was really upset at lunch because they messed up my lunch lady lunch again. It was gluten free pasta but not dairy free. Thank goodness I had thrown my salad in by mistake!! 😖

Exercise:

I walked to and from work, got my run in with the children this morning, and then had my first night of Athletic Yoga again this evening. I’m doing it to spend time with my friend Corianne. As long as I think of it as a workout class and not yoga, it’s good. It is quite the workout though and I think I’m going to be sore tomorrow!!!😳

Knitting:

I am still working on my cowl. I knit about 6oz of yarn in 30 minutes so it is going to take me about two hours and forty five minutes to finish this. I had better carve that time out before Saturday morning!!

Blogging:

I have to apologize and ask for everyone’s patience as I’m getting behind in reading blogs. I set aside recess and lunch to read blogs usually, but I’ve been using this time to redo some posts with less pictures so I can continue to have pictures in my new posts. It’s unfortunately putting me behind:(

Well, here’s hoping for another good day tomorrow!

Have fun!

AJ

A Long Day!

My day just seemed to keep going!

Teaching:

So far the mornings seem to be better with my class. Today we tackled some bucket filling activities. I’ve found this is language the young ones get and it’s nice they can reward each other for doing nice things. We have a class bucket. This is the book to start with:)

We also started on sorting today which we have to do a quick study of before we start patterns. I felt like I did better with this topic this year than I have in the past and the children really seemed to get it when we were sorting them:) we then sorted pattern blocks, but that was way less fun.

I let them play with the pattern blocks once we were done the sorting. Of course they were much better during this time!

This afternoon we had computers and gym. We played dodgeball with the other class. Everyone required a lot of reminders:(

Exercise:

I ran down the hill to meet up with Alford a workout before we had to go back to work. Once again I tackled the spin bike for the cardio portion. L was worried she was hogging the treadmill, but I think it’s a good thing for me to bike rather than run since I already run a lot. I definitely sweat a lot on the bike! I had a lake under me by the end as we did hills today!

For the floor workout we did back lunge to bicep curl and squats, side lunges, rows, 1/2 get ups with shoulder press, squats, and up downs. I didn’t hurt from yesterday’s workout so it was good I had another workout today. I think I should go up in weights though!

Open House:

I was required to go back to work tonight so that the children could come and show their parents around the classroom. I always feel awkward at these events as I’m not great at small talk. Put me in a room with children and I’m great, but in a room with adults, I’m a wreck! I did manage to survive, but I’m glad it’s over!!

Shopping:

I stopped at the grocery store on my way home. It was really empty! Of food I mean:(. I picked up a lot of junk as I wandered around, but managed to leave it there and come home with just the basics- bananas, cucumber, mini tomatoes, rice cakes, and milk. I was pretty impressed with myself! I just tried remembering that healthy eating starts at the grocery store😀

Reading:

I have been reading blogs for the past 1.5 hours, but now I’m going to my new ARC that arrived today. I know I should be reading my Sarah Morgan ARC but maybe this new o d will be the reward read for getting through chapters of the other:)

I’m off to read:)

Have fun!

AJ

Awesome

Today was a lot of work, but also awesome!

I managed to wake up a little earlier than I have been and not take a nap, so that’s a good step in the right direction!

Teaching:

My mom is home for the week and said today was the day we would tackle putting my classroom back together. You might remember that in June I had to put everything in the coat room, so now I got the fun of taking it all back out:(. I had come up with some new ideas for my classroom, but they didn’t work out so it’s back to how it’s always been. I did make a few changes though which I am liking! I’ll try to take some photos tomorrow. No we didn’t manage to finish everything before my help went on strike because she was hungry.

Eating:

My dad and uncle had come up to look at the wheels on my desk chair as they weren’t working ( I think they really just wanted to take the car for a ride with the top down), but decided they would just replace the wheels. They were heading for lunch and do my mom and I made plans to join them at the local pub. Unfortunately my favourite place has no kitchen today so we ended up at the Frog and Nightgown. This is actually the pub my mom took me to the day I turned 19 ( said she was never eating McDonalds again!). My mom and I shared the Frog burger and a salad. It was okay, but nothing to write home about. Sorry there is no picture- if you knew my dad and uncle, you would know why🤣

Shopping:

My mom and I were on our way back to my classroom, but I needed gas so we headed to Costco instead. My mom is a really bad influence on me🤣😜. I ended up with new sheets, a new mum plants, and a ton of food! Oh well, I’ll just freeze the stuff I made earlier in the week for lunches next week.

Surprise:

I got home to a note saying that I had a package. I wandered over to the Post Office very confused as I hadn’t ordered anything. I came back with quite a large package. I opened it up and started tearing up as this is what was inside it!

This is a quilt that Tracy at Its A T Sweets Day has made. I had commented on it and she has sent it to me for my classroom.😍😍😍😍. I sat stunned and shocked for quite a while. I can’t believe there are people as amazing as Tracy in this world! Now I’m on the hunt for the perfect way to say thank you!

Blogging:

I have to say that when I started this blog it was simply a way for me to keep track of my exercise, recipes, knitting, etc. I also thought it might help me to recognize the little things that happen in life more. I have consistently been blown away by the people I have met through blogging! I enjoy reading blogs every day as I learn so much and come to feel as though I know people, but I also enjoy interacting with so many people every day ( that is quite a shock for someone as shy as me). Thank you to all of you who give so much of yourselves through your blogs and interactions each day!

Exercise:

I finally got off my couch this evening and went and met Dennis for a run! I told him he had to decide how far we were going and I got lucky as he only made me do 4km!! It was another not great run:(. I really need to remember not to drink four glasses of water right before I head out the door for a run!!!🙄

Well I’m off to do some research and some knitting!

Have fun!

AJ

Not As Bad As I Thought

Today was full of things that were better than I thought they’d be.

I had to start the day by finally getting on the scale and finding out how much my month of holidaying cost me. I was quite happy it was only five pounds and hopefully they’ll be gone soon! You may see more pictures of what I’m eating so that I stay on track and feel free to “yell at me” if I’m not exercising consistently.

Exercise:

I dropped off my library books and started my run from the opposite side as I usually do. I hadn’t gone far when I knew it wasn’t going to be a great run. I actually turned around at one point and then thought, no I’d better get it done first thing. It ended up being a combination of walking and running. I suppose I had it coming as I have been eating unhealthy food and and can tell you I haven’t been drinking enough water. I guess it all caught up to me.

On my run, I was thinking about upcoming workouts. Last year I started the school year running before school at 6am, but it really only worked until it got too dark so I am thinking that I am going to stick with after school runs. I think it might serve as a good way to clear my head as well as get some exercise.

This evening, I wanted to do something to continue to get back to being healthy but I’m still slightly sore from last night’s workout so I decided to do an ab workout as it is the first day my stomach isn’t sore. I did: 10 weighted sit ups, 20 crunches, 30 twisted mountain climbers, 40 static crunch with scissor legs, 50 reverse curls, 60 toe reaches, 70 weighted Russian twists, 80 bicycles, 90 leg drops, 100 dead bugs.

At this point I am thinking that I will alternate an ab workout with a regular workout. We’ll see how that goes.

I guess it was my day to make active decisions🤣

Shopping:

I had made plans to meet up with my friend Brenda to go to Gourmet Warehouse. Neither of us are allowed in this store without supervision so we go together a couple of times a year. It was fun to poke through for a couple of hours and there were lots of things I wanted, but I just came home with this:

Eating:

Another part of the fun of Gourmet Warehouse is that there is a fabulous restaurant nearby. It is called Scandilicious. It is horrible to find parking around there, but is definitely worth the search! The other two times I’ve been to Scandilicious I’ve had the Veganessa which is a gluten free and dairy free waffle with peanut butter, jam and berries. This time, the girl at the counter said that three other dishes could be made gf/df. I was a little nervous after my recent dairy problem, but went for it and had the Westcoast with lemon dill sauce rather than hollandaise.

It was amazing!!!!!!! Waffle with smoked salmon, capers, lemon dill sauce and two eggs! Oh I could eat that for every meal!! Their chai latte with almond milk was really good too!

Brenda had the ABBA which she was raving about as well. It is Brie, bacon, apple and avocado on a waffle with balsamic drizzled on top.

On the way home I saw the Chomp Eatery I have been wanting to try but don’t know if I can give up going to Scandilicious to try Chomp🤣

Knitting:

I haven’t knitted yet today, though it is on the agenda for after I get this post done, but I wanted to finally show you the scarf I made last week.

It is more purple than it shows in the picture, but I like how it is reversible as the pattern is the same on both sides. It knit up fast and will now go in my basket to be gifted or donated as it is not long enough for my friend Kari. It is the speed bumps pattern on ravelry and just made with red heart yarn I had in my stash.

Reading:

Instead of the knitting I was supposed to be doing, I sat on my deck reading all afternoon. I finished my last library book, and I’m not allowed anymore until I get caught up on ARCs and the loaned books.

I really enjoyed Moonlight Over Manhattan as it’s the newest in the series. I liked how it brought two different Sarah Morgan series together so I got a little update on the characters from the O’Neil series. The characters were interesting and I especially liked the main woman as there were lots of things I could relate to. I also liked that the book was about self-growth a lot and yet it was laugh out loud funny in parts. A great summer read!

Blogging:

So I caught up on my blog reading today and realized you all are who I should ask. The other night, WordPress told me photos couldn’t be uploaded as I had used all of my 3G. I deleted a few pictures that were duplicated which has solved the problem for the moment, but I am wondering how other people have dealt with this problem?

Well I’m off to knit!

Have fun!

AJ

Do We All Become Our Parents?

What can I say, every vacation day is a good day:)

Exercise:

I started the day with a 5.7km walk with Anne and Moiya. It was already really hot out when we walked around a local lake, but I enjoyed it anyways as I knew it would be my last walk with these two.

Coming back I managed to grab pictures of the Easter Island garden art someone had. They have four or five in total and they are all different. Some people are so creative!

This evening, I managed a 5.1km run to complete the Squad Runner mission for today. My mom didn’t want me running on my own (nice to know that no matter how old you get- you’re still your mom’s little girl, but I really don’t think anyone was planning on stealing me🤪🤣), so I ended up running loops around the John Henry Pub and Marina. I managed to add on a little bit more so I only had to do 9 laps to complete this mission on this hot, muggy night. I even managed to be a tiny bit faster than I have been this summer- not back to spring running times, but improving.

Knitting:

I was working away happily on my parent’s boat afghan, until I realized that I was missing a stitch:(. I have ripped back two rows, but still haven’t found the stitch:( I might cry if I have to rip out 25 rows of knitting as this would be my 6th restart of this project, and here I thought it was going so well!

Blogging:

I went through my posts today to review my titles so I will hopefully not repeat too often. I had to laugh at myself as lately I’ve been worried when I only get 30 something likes on a post and as I looked back and saw the posts at the start of my blogging that had only one or two likes, I decided not to worry, I am slowly plodding forward:)

Grateful:

A few months ago I did this after my sister in law introduced me to the idea and I keep forgetting to add it to the bottom of my posts, though I think it’s an awesome thing to do at the end of a day. So here goes:

I am thankful for:

1) having the opportunity to spend time on a boat in a beautiful place with wonderful people

2) having the sunshine that will give me vitamin D and make me thankful for fall weather temperatures

3) for getting holidays from my job as I know how lucky I am to have such an extended period of time

It has been a very quiet day of mostly reading. As I looked around I saw that my parents were doing the same thing. Am I becoming my parents???😳🤪

Have fun!

AJ

One Year

Well you all have experienced one year of my life now! It’s not always exciting, but it’s been neat keeping track of everything:). Today definitely hasn’t been as exciting as an anniversary should be, but we can blame that on my sore body!

Exercise:

The Squad Runner mission was worth 200 points today so I hobbled around the inlet trail this morning, just so I could get it. I don’t think I’ll be doing much exercise for a couple of days, but I feel like walking may help me from stiffening up!

A friend I met on my walk and the pretty view:)

I swear that was the only exercise I did today!

Crafting:

After a very long mid-morning nap, I worked on my rug square and finished it up:) Three squares to go! I still don’t think I’ll have them done by August 3rd, but hopefully for sure by September 4th!

Beauty:

The friend I see for my mania, pedis, etc wanted to practice a new service she is offering and asked if I would be a guinea pig. So this afternoon I got an eyelash lift. It’s like having your eyelashes permed. It didn’t hurt or irritate, though I’m not sure it is something I would actually pay for.

Knit Night:

I met up with Brenda for some knitting time this afternoon. It wasn’t the most productive knitting time as my left arm is super sore, but I got to row 65 on my headband. I’m doing pretty good at this chart work. The only thing I really dislike is having to flip back and forth to see what the symbols mean as they are all way too similar!

Movies:

While I was working on my rug, I watched the movie Very Very Valentine.

I really liked Danica McKellar in this movie. I have to admit it took me a bit to get past Cameron Mathison not being the cop in the Hannah Swenson Murder Mysteries, but he was so sweet in this movie the he won me over! I can’t imagine a man stepping aside just to give his best friend what will make her happy! A very cute, happy movie.

Quiet

It was the first day of my holiday that didn’t have commitments, but it didn’t really feel like holidays yet as I’d have this day off even if I was working.

Exercise:

I got up this morning and decided to run around a local lake. My knee is still a little sore and this lake has a mulch path so I thought the soft surface would be good:) The lake is 1.2km around so I pushed myself for the first two reps and then slowed down to a steady run for the remainder of the forty five minutes I needed to do for the mission. I thought this was a good idea today as I’ve been worried that I’m losing my thirty minute base because when I do longer runs I take walk breaks. I was really happy I could do more than thirty and maintained a decent pace:)

Mid day I decided to tackle a short workout. I had to do goblet squats, burpees and up/downs and then skip for 1 minute, do them again and skip for 45 seconds and a third time and skip for 30 seconds. The second set of exercises of jump lunges, froggers and upright rows followed the same pattern. To finish I had to do all six exercises with no skipping. I used ten pound weights so I was feeling some by the end, though I admit I should get myself some 12 pound weights.

This evening it was so pretty I went for a nice steady 7km walk:)

Another day of all three fitness activities done, so I’m happy😀

Crafting:

I got my one hour on the new rug square done first thing and actually managed to do just over 11 rows in that amount of time:) I may just get caught up on this rug! Here’s a picture for those of you asking for one. I live in fear that I’ll mess up which way the stripes go and have to redo a square!

Knitting:

I got a cute little preemie hat done in lilac for one of the HPKCHC classes on Ravelry. It is super easy and I could do this in my sleep! Cast on 54 stitches, join in the round, knit for six inches, decrease. It also used up another small skein out of my stash so it’s a win-win!

Sorry I just realized I don’t have a picture of it. I’ll rectify that tomorrow.

Blogging:

I also spent a good deal of today getting caught up on blog reading. Now the tough part will be staying caught up!

Movies:

The only other thing I’ve managed to do today is watch two very cute Hallmark movies. Eat, Play, Love and Love at First Bark. They were both super cute and I enjoyed the animals in them:)

Well I’m off to bed and maybe tomorrow will be more exciting:)

Have fun!

AJ