Where did the day go?

I don’t know how she does it?

Exercise:

I went out this morning for my run. I had been planning to do Guildford again, but I have to admit that run is always tough on me because I come back with such slow numbers. I know intellectually it’s because of stoplights and hills, but it’s still tough emotionally on me and I didn’t need that today! Besides, was I going to let one weird guy stop me from a run I like? So I decided to go out along Murray street. No weird guy, the usual runner and senior walking couple and awesome splits! I was happy! I was well under 7 minutes for each kilometre, except the last. I need to figure out a solution as I think I slow down because I know I’m running out of sidewalk.  Hmmm????

I didn’t walk to work today, but did have a workout with Lyndsay after school. We usually work out onMonday  morning but she was having to cut it short as her husband had to leave for work. It didn’t bother me ( I’m usually dying by then anyways), but it seemed to stress her out, so I suggested Friday nights. My motivation is way less to exercise on Friday after work so better to be meeting someone!  It worked great! I also grabbed a few pictures of the new garden across the street from me as I was waiting for her.

We jogged over to her gym as our warm up and then did 25 minutes of intervals on the treadmill. I’ve noticed that my pace has increased. She goes between hard and harder and my pace used to be 5.8/6.2 and now it’s 6.6/7.3. 🎊🎉🎊🤔

We hit the floor for some weights. 13 reps since it was the thirteenth and four sets of chest press, bicep curl, skier squat, jump squats and punch jacks. Yup I worked my tush off!

Teaching:

It was crazy today! We had a department head meeting so my day started early as it was my turn to pick up the coffees ( though I did enjoy the eye candy in the coffee shop this morning. Maybe I need to do this more often lol).  The meeting was fine but I was asked to deal with another discipline issue as my principal’s daughter was involved. This turned out to be a she said/she said situation around lice.  It worked out fine as it seemed to have been a misunderstanding, but it took all day to deal with it! I had to interview all three girls separately and then speak with them all together. I started st 9:30 this morning and was fitting it in all day until finally at 2pm it was resolved:( grrr I so don’t want to be a principal and I’m not paid enough for this!!!!! The one good thing that came of it was that my students have been rockstars dealing with me leaving all the time! They can be so sweet!

We made Where Is Turkey mini books this morning and they got their mini book bags ( ziplock bags) to keep in their desks. You’d think I’d given them gold!

We also did leaf rubbing art this afternoon. We took a quick run outside to collect four or five leaves each and then came in and did rubbings with warm colours ( there was the art concept!). They actually turned out great and I meant to get a picture of some of them. Oh well, Monday when I get them put up!

Eating/ Cooking

Just too many scones!!!

Blogging:

I’ve found so many interesting people to follow, but now it takes me so much longer to get through reading then all😂. A true first world problem!  Abbey, I’ll get to that tag this weekend, unless I’ve left it too long? Shucks I didn’t check to see if there was a time limit😳

Reading:

I haven’t been reading much this week but I think it’s because I have to read my book club book. I’m not really good when someone tells me what I have to do. Now though, I really have to read it as book club is next Sunday!😳. I love book club but some of the books are tougher to get through!

Knitting:

I was thinking of keeping my project a secret but decided to tell my mom what I was doing. I’m taking apart a sweater my grandma made for my aunt in the 80s or 90s. My mom called it a polar bear sweater but I think more of a yeti,🤣. Right away my mom said she thought it would make awesome pillow covers for her new RV. Thank you mom since that’s exactly what I was planning to do! So here I sit, taking apart a sweater.

The sweater, though it really doesn’t show its ginormous size.

I wish I had more interesting plans to tell you about tonight but it’s Friday night and I’m a teacher so the teapot is the furthest I’m going tonight!

Just had to show the pretty sky outside my place tonight:)

Everyone have fun for me!

AJ

Proud!

Not an exciting day, but a few surprises.

Exercise:

I had a good run this morning of my usual morning loop. I again felt like I did this summer and I really hope this feeling continues. It’s so much easier to run when you’re having a good run! I’m worried that this is going to get boring really quickly, but I don’t seem to have a lot of choices for lit areas in my neighbourhood.  Actually, now that I think about it there are other lit areas, but they’re very hilly or short.  When I finished my run and was stretching I looked over and saw people in the gym running on the treadmill and I just know I can’t do that! Every time I try to run on the treadmill I end up bored out of my mind and quitting after twenty minutes. If anyone has ideas on how to make an old runner by toute feel new again, I’d love to hear them!

I walked to and from school so I got my walk in, and my proudest moment for the day was when I came home late from work (7pm so an 11 hour work day) and worked out!!  I did the Super sweaty tabata workout which alternates between a tabata and 3 minutes of weights. I did burpees, walking lunges, push-ups, high knees, skaters, squat jumps, planks, reverse lunges,  squat with overhead press, bent over dumbbell rows, mountain climbers… pretty good for the end of the day and I was super sweaty!

A successful exercise day😀

Teaching:

I didn’t actually teach today. I met my students at the door as I knew some of my anxious ones would be upset if I wasn’t there as I’d forgotten to warn them yesterday, but then I went into a meeting and spent the rest of the day planning and prepping two training sessions on the new report card for our teaching staff. There were some hair pulling moments, but the exercise definitely helped me to better understand this new report card.  I was just so thankful I was working with my co- department head who is super organized, a joy to work with as we’re similar, and a friend. It definitely made the best of what could have been a torturous day!

We even had an hour at the end when I got to plan the next assembly I have to run, which turns out to be next Thursday!!!! That came as a major shock this morning, and not a good one!!!  Thankfully, with help, I now have a plan:)

I wasn’t planning on quite that long a day ( I do t think I even make minimum wage after eleven hours), but it did feel good to make some progress on a few projects. Unfortunately, I yet again have a pile of laminating to cut out:(  The long day was definitely made better by watching a Hallmark movie while I cut, pasted, organized, prepped, planned, explained and generally went crazy. 😜

Knitting:

Thankfully I got two rows done before I went to work this morning as I haven’t had any more time today since we had a meeting at lunch as well:( I’m thinking I should find a small, simple project to leave in the staff room that I could work on just at lunchtime. My school has a Holiday Market that I usually try to contribute some knit goods to, so perhaps it could be for that.  🤔 I’ll have to try to find an appropriate pattern- something simple do I can still visit.

Blogging:

With my crazy day of meetings I have to admit I didn’t get the chance to look at WordPress until just now. Boy did I get a great surprise- a lot more views today! Seems like a positive note to go to end the day on:)

Well after that work day  I’m ready for bed!!

The couch I wish I was falling asleep on right now! Some friends broke my couch at book club this summer so I’m on the hunt for a new one. Unfortunately at $4700 this one is still living at the store!😳

Have fun!

AJ

Happy, Frustrated, Happy…

It has been an emotional roller coaster of a day!

Exercise:

I got out for my usual loop run this morning and it felt really good. This morning was the first time since going back to school that I had as good a run as I had this summer. All of my splits were below 7 min. which is good for me. I actually physically could feel myself pushing and I was running with the right muscles and it didn’t feel like a slog! I felt like I could push myself to run faster and it was a beautiful morning for a run. I knew that I put my tracking at risk, but I had to stop and take this photo because it was just so beautiful!

While I didn’t walk to school today, I did have an awesome tabata boot camp workout after school. It was leg heavy again so I’m probably going to hurt for another three days, but I was totally into it and actually having fun! I felt a pep in my step and still had energy at the end. We did: jumping jacks, curtsy lunges, bird dogs, sit ups with punches, squat with overhead press, side shuffles, skaters, one legged hip raises, running, pop jacks, step ups, one legged squats, plank jacks, and two others that I just can’t remember.

It was a fabulous exercise day for me today as even at Workout Wednesday which we do first thing with the children, I felt like I had springs in my feet:) Can I please keep this feeling?

Teaching:

This was the frustrating part of the day for me. I had to speak to two boys who have been hitting each other. I had gotten an email from a parent, but it’s never one sided and sure enough both boys were guilty so I spoke to them, made them explain and apologize and told them what the consequences would be if it happened again.  Then I had a boy after recess who was pulling his pants down in the lineup (just a bit). When I asked him why he couldn’t tell me, but after a little thought he said, “well David did it”.  We had read the book, No David by David Shannon and the kids all love the page where David runs down the road naked. We then had to have a discussion about how even though this was funny in the book, it was not to happen at school!!! (Head shake, is there any other job that deals with this type of imitation? Lol).  Lunch was frustrating because we are trying to plan a field trip (what the children will really remember about their grade one year), but it just seems impossible to get a program and a bus on the same day:( Grrrr! If they want field trips, why don’t they make it easy to do then???? (And no I don’t know who “they” are.  Everyone!). The frustration continued after lunch when I felt like I spent all of silent reading nagging children to be quiet, not how I like to spend the time!  I finally thought for a moment and figured it was the children who aren’t reading yet so we discussed some strategies they could use during this time if they can’t read books yet.  This seems to have been where my day finally turned as our time outside drawing our adopted tree in Fall went really well:)

Shopping:

I managed to get almost everything I need for the STEM bins I want to make, including the bins this time!  I’m only missing the lego at this time.  It’s nice to see this project coming together quickly so I can get it going in the classroom!  Maybe I’ll stay late at work tomorrow night and get the materials laminated and the boxes assembled.

I stopped into Costco to pick up pictures I had ordered online through the app this morning (another frustrating experience), but it turned out they won’t be ready until tomorrow. Good thing I got vitamins and some cute new sheets or that would have been a complete waste of a trip!

Eating:

I had my mom with me while I was shopping and I had suggested we try out Orrange, which is a restaurant right by Costco that I have heard good things about from three different people- two teachers and my nephew.

The parking was horrible, the decor was cute and the food was okay. I guess they have different standards or they ate something different from me. They had quite a few options on their gluten free menu.  I had the aloha tuna salad. It was six slices of sashimi tuna, a quarter of an avocado and a few pieces of mango on top of mixed greens. I found it to be very tasteless:(. I love mango and avocado and those parts were good, but the tuna and dressing were meh. Unfortunately, I was so hungry that I didn’t get a picture of my salad:( I wouldn’t recommend this place:(

The other Eating I’ve done lately was to try out a new gluten free, dairy free product from my local grocery store.  I tried the Ciabatta buns from Schar Foods. It was the first time I had seen them in the grocery store by me. They are quite small, but have a good taste. They are not dry and crumbly and do not need to be kept frozen. All bonuses and not typical of the gluten free products I know. I would recommend them, though they are not cheap at more than $2 a bun.  They are quite small so while one is fine for me, most people would probably want two which would be quite expensive for a lunch! I may use them as a treat on occasion, but I think I’ll stick with my breadmaker for everyday.

Knitting:

I got a couple of rows done on my cami at lunch, and I’ll go back to it once I’m done this post.

I’m absolutely loving the colour gradation in the wool! So pretty!  At least I am finally working on thee main body which is a very simple two row pattern repeat. I’m not even keeping track of my rows! Probably the first time in my life I haven’t!

Otherwise I sat down tonight to read up on the vendors who will be at Knit City this weekend. Lol I only found four that I don’t need to visit.  I think we’d better plan on being there all day.  Planning is definitely part of the fun though. At some point I think I’d like to try a knitting retreat. I just need to find one that won’t cost my arm and my leg. I’m sure I’ll find one one day.

Family:

I think the best part of my day was spending time with my mom! We are quite similar and have a good laugh over it regularly. Tonight we ended up buying the same sheet set from Costco as we both thought it was cute. I always find my mom easy to spend time with and uplifting to my mood.  My mood was definitely lifted when I came home tonight to find she had ironed and put back on my couch cover. So inviting that I now need to sit on it and do some knitting!

Have fun!

AJ

Just when you think you’re organized…

I try to be as organized as possible, but sometimes life just laughs in your face!

Exercise:

I did 28 minutes of weights from my old Shape magazine this morning. All of it was groan worthy as I’m suffering from the swing lunges I did yesterday morning. Note to self: do a lot more swing lunges!!

I walked to work, but this ended up being my only other exercise for the day.

Teaching:

Today started off fabulous! The little girl who cries every morning didn’t cry this morning (yes! With a fist pump). The anxious little guy was special helper and he did a fabulous job at calendar. He actually provided the awe moment of the day. The children were asking their five questions to try and figure out what his sharing object was ( a great way to practice questioning). The last question was, ” what shape is it?”  Answer: “the shape of a dog”.  When it came time for the three quesses as to what the object was, “is it a dog?” 🤣🤣🤣🤣

This afternoon was a little tougher as one little guy had to go without any books during silent reading as he wasted all of the choosing time talking! I’m trying really hard this year to use natural consequences with the children, but it’s always a catch 22. I want him to spend time with books, but I also want him to learn not to waste time! Grrrr😖

We went on a nature walk today, but I think all the nature took off when they heard 38 children coming along the path. Quiet does not seem to mean much yet, lol.

Surprise:

I wanted to go to the dollar store after school to get some supplies to start setting up some STEM bins for my classroom and my mom had some shopping to do as well so I got to do both:) What a treat to get to spend time with my mom!  We hit the dollar store and I got a few things, but as usual I wasn’t as organized as I should have been and forgot to look at the package I have to see what quantity I need of each thing:( We also hit the Superstore where I finally got some of the delicious beer hummus that a friend had introduced me to. Yum! In addition, I had time to look at some knitting magazines and this gluten free recipe book. 

I decided that I should not impulse buy and should think about whether I really wanted and needed it. Maybe I’ll see if I can find some reviews.

Baking/Eating:

Late last night I had made my first loaf of gluten free bread in the breadmaker I was given. It wasn’t a new breadmaker with a gluten free setting so I wasn’t sure that it would turn out, but it did! I had a slice for breakfast with peanut butter and jam on it and it was so good!!! I got the recipe here:

http://www.namastefoods.com/recipes/cgi-bin/recipes.cgi?Function=show&Id=138
It was so great to have homemade bread without all the work. I got to knit and have homemade bread. I was worried it wouldn’t turn out as everything seemed to say you needed either a gluten free setting or to override your machine’s settings ( like I have any idea how to do that!!). I am happy with this result and will definitely try it again.  Of course, now I’m going to eat way too much bread!

I learned something else while making this bread as well. On Saturday my mom had helped me move some furniture around so I could try out having more counter space in my kitchen. I’ve been thinking I want to do an island type counter at one end of my kitchen, but I like to try things out first so I moved my desk into the kitchen to give it a try. Well, during the bread experiment, I really liked having another sturdy surface to work on. Hmmm now I need to start looking at pictures to figure out what kind of island counter I want.

My mom and I decided to hit Roos Public House for dinner tonight as my dad was otherwise occupied. I had a pear Magners cider which was different, not bad, just different. We shared the spicy chicken street tacos which they did in lettuce wraps and the salt and pepper chicken wings (yup really healthy😳). All the food was really good, I just wish I had taken a picture of it! The chicken street tacos were really pretty in the lettuce wrap! The bartender who was our server was also awesome:)

Knitting:

I got a couple of rows down on my razor cami at lunch today, but that’s it so far. I have been taking my knitting to work to help use up the time after I finish eating. I feel very pudgy lately:( but am not hungry, just eating because I’m in the staff room. It’s been working great. I really only have two project bags though 

So I will be looking for some more this weekend at Knit City. The beige one I’ve had since I was a little kid- nothing very interesting. The other was my Grandma’s so it has sentimental value. It is better for larger projects however so I think I’ll look for a more interesting small project bag! I also, of course, need to stock these bags with the basics. Hmmm I think my Visa card is shuddering already, 🤣.

I’m only just finishing the bottom rubbing so I want to go get that finished before bed!

Have fun!

AJ

Well it was supposed to be busy…

When I looked at my phone calendar yesterday for what was happening today, it was so chock-a-block full it made me tired just looking at it, but it sure didn’t turn out that way.

Exercise:

I got over to the gym for a workout with my friend Lyndsay this morning. I love working out with her because she is in better shape than I am, but she always just assumes I can do any exercise she can. I don’t want to tell her I can’t so I end up pushing and challenging myself:) I could feel the swing lines holding a ten pound weight in each hand by lunch today!It’s a fabulous way to start the week!

It was the only exercise for the day however because I had a massage after school. I always try not to workout on the days I have a massage so that I get to enjoy my loose body for at least 24 hours🤣

Teaching:

Well we had tears again this morning, but at least I didn’t have to physically move anyone! My little boy with high anxiety is progressing so well! I think tomorrow he will actually be able to just line up with the class outside, like everyone else:)

I got my FreshGrade up and running today which makes me super happy. I’ve used this app the past two years but have never given parents access before. I just hope I don’t end up regretting that!!😳. I recorded the children at the end of the day saying what the best part of their day was. I hope parents want to see this stuff and don’t just find it annoying. In the past I’ve used it mainly just for assessment, but I want to provide information that parents can use to have a conversation with their children too! Wish me luck, technology is not always my friend😫

Baking:

A colleague gave me her breadmaker today and I couldn’t resist trying it out. It is an older machine so it doesn’t have a gluten free setting, but I found a recipe online that didn’t seem to require that so we’ll see if it works. I will either have a loaf of bread or I’ll have the start of bread pudding and my mom will have a breadmachine for each one of her homes 🤣

It came out ok, can’t wait to try it!

Knitting:

I missed knitting at lunch today. All I managed to do was print off the marketplace map for Knit City that is happening this weekend. I absolutely can’t wait!! The friend I am going with was supposed to come over tonight so we could plan but she has a cold so she’s home resting to ensure she’ll be better by Sunday!! Instead I have managed to wind my Indigo Moon yarn ( yay me as last time it took me and my parents to untangle the mess I made. I decided to try out the Razor Cami pattern that a couple of people have used Indigo Moon to make. I didn’t want socks this colour and I don’t think I need another shawl right now so hopefully this will work! I’m just at the ribbing so I’ll take a photo when it’s more interesting.

My mom came up with a great idea for my New Hampshire yarn- a v-neck, sleeveless, front buttoning vest. Now I just need to find a pattern, anyone know of one?????

Goals:

For me, September is more a time for goal setting than January. My job influences so much of my life that a new school year seems like the time to set some goals. I’ve talked about a few, Such as getting up early to exercise and trying to work just 8am to 4pm this year. Well another goal I had was to try to wear something I’ve made at least once a week. So far, four weeks and I’ve worn four of my handmade items. It makes me happy and piques the interest of the children so that when I start knitting club as the weather gets nasty, they’ll be interested. I figured I should share with you what I’ve worn as well:) Most things are slightly big on me now, but I’m just not willing to rip out yet!

Well, I’m off to try my bread and finish the ribbing on the razor cami.

Have fun!

AJ

Calm and Peaceful, or …

A day spent doing the quiet things I love:)

Exercise:

I have to admit I wanted to avoid the craziness associated with Terry Fox runs (I will do that with my students in a few weeks), so myself and one running buddy headed out to Osprey Village in Pitt Meadows. I always think this area seems so idyllic when I drive into the village and I want to explore, but I have yet to get out there for anything other than a run:(

My running buddy suggested 20 minutes out and then turn which sounded fine to me. I wasn’t racing along, but it was a nice morning for a run ( though it seemed slightly smokey out there). We ran along the shoreline trail and then the dyke which is beside the airport so it was interesting to watch the small planes land and takeoff. I find it tough sometimes with this running buddy as he is super fast so his “slowing down” to run with me is still too fast and when he stays with me, I feel like he’s hardly moving and not getting everything out of his run that he should.  People have told me countless times that I’m not holding back someone who slows down to run with me, but unfortunately my brain refuses to acknowledge this so far:(

I didn’t get a walk in, but I did get a workout completed this evening:) It was called a round robin and it didn’t have any times attached to it, so I decided to do each exercise for one minute. This wasn’t s problem, except for the pop jacks where I did 22 and actually felt sick to my stomach at the end of the minute.  I was super sweaty by the end and it was nice to feel that way! Just feel bad for the guy who lives below me. I keep meaning g to ask him if there’s a time he’s out so I could e we use without worrying about disturbing him.  Maybe the worry burns extra calories 😂

Eating:

I have stuck to my plan today ( I actually inserted the two marshmallows as my afternoon snack so I don’t have to feel terribly guilty though it’s definitely not a healthy 100 calories 🤣

Instead of baking, as I am drawn to do on these rainy days, I tried a new crockpot oats recipe this morning, well actually maybe that’s last night as I put it together before bed and actually woke up around 12:30 to turn them on:)   I ended up using both oats and quinoa as I didn’t have quite enough oats, but that is the only change I made. The recipe I used can be found here:

https://crockpotladies.com/recipe/crock-pot-banana-bread-oatmeal/

I was surprised and a little disappointed that I didn’t smell the oatmeal when I woke up this morning as in the past I have. I noticed when I lifted the lid that the oats had stuck to the crockpot even though I buttered it. The oats tasted good and the spice mixture was yummy. I have to say that I ended up adding brown sugar to it as it wasn’t as sweet as I like. Using bananas that are super ripe may help with this problem too. If you don’t like a sweet oatmeal breakfast, I would recommend this recipe for you, but I think I’ll keep looking.

Knitting:

I have to admit that I have spent almost all day knitting today. I have seen real progress on the exquisite afghan and I think I have less than fifty rows to go!  This is the point at which my brain says, “let’s just get it done!” I’ll have to remind myself not to stay up all night knitting as I have a six am workout tomorrow. Hopefully I’ll be able to share a completed picture tomorrow!

So I have spent the day doing hobbies that I enjoy and while the peace has been lovely and necessary, since last week was busy and this coming week looks to be even busier, part of me keeps thinking I’m living like a little old lady and I need to get out more!  I find it tough as my hobbies do tend to be ones that are enjoyed individually so it makes it hard to use them to be social or meet people:( I am active, but definitely not athletic so playing a sport that requires any type of hand and eye coordination would just lead to me annoying all the people I’d be with!  I’m just not sure how I’m going to solve this problem!  Or perhaps I have spent too much time alone this weekend and I should quit thinking!

But for right now, I’m going back to my knitting.

Have fun!

AJ

A Totally Fabulous Saturday!

It’s been a great day from start to finish!

Exercise:

I woke up this morning at 5:48am (why, I don’t know?), but it got me out the door by 6:20 to face the crunch. I felt like I was doing well and I was ahead of my expectations until I got to the final (5th) part and suddenly I got my worst time yet:(

When I compared last week to this week, ( no runkeeper I don’t need to pay for the premium to do this!) I noticed that I started off slower, so I really think I need to concentrate on gaining some time on the first few sections so that I have more than six minutes for the last. I identified some spots (on my run down) where I think I could run up next week and I’m wondering if it would be faster to walk up the hill than to do the stairs? It might kill my timing if it’s not faster, but I think I’ll try next week.

I also got workout #2 in this afternoon which was a warm up, and then ten exercises, such as DB press with a squat jump forward and back, push-up with leg raise, plank with side leg raise, side lunges, forward lunge to deadlift.it wassupposed to be two 30 second sets through, but I decided to challenge myself and do one minute sets. Then there was a minute of jacks, a burnout of mountain climbers, etc and abs. It wasn’t a deadly workout but I felt like I worked everything:)

I even got out for a walk this evening as well, so I am totally happy with my fitness for the day!

Socializing:

I went to antique fair with two work colleagues/friends this morning. There were probably over a hundred vendors and unfortunately most of them were overpriced. My frugal nature likes garage sales much more! I did manage to find a big glass jar to add to my collection for holding my various flours and I got a Harry Potter lego cook for my classroom. Not the most exciting finds, but as I said, stuff was too expensive and some vendors weren’t willing to barter:( It was a successful morning in the sense of quality time with my friends though!

My mom actually made the purchase of the day when she found two table lamps for my classroom in a second hand store on the Island for $15! Yay Mom!!!!

Eating:

I’ve had a much better day in terms of eating than I have had lately. I got to have my cinnamon bun after my run this morning. I should have taken a snack with me, but managed to just have chicken when I came in the door, though I was starving. I added fruit salad with a dollop of yogurt and some veggies and dip, cucumber and cheese for dinner. I was so stuffed after this dinner that I went for a walk.  I am definitely happier when I can snack than when I have to eat a meal! I wanted to bake this morning, but made fruit salad instead to contribute to my healthy week! Oh I forgot, I also had two marshmallows. Not bad, one little slip from the plan.

Reading:

I finished the book Homecoming by Shannon Stacey tonight for the second time😀. I realized pretty early on that I had already read it but decided to reread it anyways.  This is the third instalment in her Boys of Fall series (seems the perfect time to read it) and tells the story of Jen Cooper and Sam Leavitt. They grew up together but didn’t have much interaction until one hot night when Sam had been back in town briefly for a football fundraiser. When Sam comes back to coach during an emergency, they get together more seriously.

Yet again, I enjoyed the friendship group in this book. They are close without being joined at the hip.  I also enjoyed the quietness of the problem, both characters stayed true to their natures and there wasn’t any high drama!

I think that anyone who likes sports romances or small town romances will enjoy this entire trilogy!

Knitting:

I’ve had lots of time for knitting today, but little jobs have gotten in the way so I will probably only get one pattern repeat done, even though I thought I’d get at least two. Oh well, tomorrow is another day and I’ll have even more time then. I was super happy this morning though when I found my yarn at the Port Meadows Michaels store. I quick bought the three extra balls I needed😀. I’m not sure that the new balls are the same dye lit as I can’t even find a dye kit on these labels, so I think I will start intermixing them right away so that if there’s a difference in colour, it will be throughout the second half of the afghan.  I’m off to knit to my heart’s content!

Have fun!

AJ

Friyay!

In a rush to get things done today!

Exercise:

For the first time since I started getting up an hour early to run, I was feeling tired and didn’t really want to get up this morning. I did anyway! A few weeks ago a friend had told me she ran loops of Newport Village, so I decided to try that out this morning. The first problem with this was that I had t go across major roads with traffic lights to get there. Secondly, no matter which direction you run the loop, two sides are always uphill! Thirdly, after two loops, I was bored! I cut back through the village and went across at the light and back down to my usual trail. It was an odd run with no real plan or direction, but at least I got thirty minutes done. I got back to my phone telling me I had done 7km with an average of 4:14 per km. I don’t think so! I had to erase it, all that hard work gone:(. The best I can think is that when Spotify went to commercial, it screwed up the runkeeper as it was good until 3km in and then suddenly I was Superwoman and doing kilometres in 1:29! I wish! Well no actually I don’t, as I like to look at the scenery as I run🤣

Does anyone know of a good run tracking program? I hate to lose all my data, but I really want a reliable program and this is two days in a row that I’ve had troubles:(

I walked to and from work and got a quick 20 minute circuit done when I got home late tonight. I was supposed to do three sets -45 seconds, 30 seconds, 30 seconds, but instead I did two- one minute sets. It was a pretty good circuit of using a bench to do step ups, dips, squats, hip bridges, push-ups, knee tucks, froggers, and plank jacks.  I wasn’t very sweaty though:( I hope this will help with getting me moving in the right direction!

Teaching:

Well my class and I made it through our first week of officially being a class. Only one little boy ended up in the hall for rolling around on the carpet and I only had to give one lecture on following directions quickly; not bad for a Friday! I have learned a lot about my students this week as each day they have brought a different object in and we have talked and written about it. Tuesday was something from summer, Wednesday about their family, Thursday a hobby and today their favourite book. It was pretty cool and it was neat to see what they brought. I love the boys who were looking at a Pacific Yachting magazine. My parents would love them!  I’ve identified my little guy who doesn’t want to do any writing unless he knows how to spell it:(. We’ve also spent the week graphing our names, family size, hair colour and eye colour. The children are getting really good at creating graphs. Each day we have written about what we noticed about the graph as a class, and it was neat to see them move from, “it looks like stairs” to ” blue eyes only needs one more to be tied with brown eyes”. I love teaching grade one for the amount of growth you see in the children, though I think writing about it is helping me to see the growth more too:). This afternoon we did our co-operative art piece that will stay up all year. I demonstrated how to decorate the star and my students started clapping for me. Lol, they really are good for the ego:)

Life and Eating:

I’m going out tomorrow and I’m the one driving so I knew I needed gas so I headed to Costco after work. I managed to get gas, a rotisserie chicken, some cucumbers and grape tomatoes. I’m not happy with the scale right now and so want to use the next three days to really crack down and get back on track before I get any further off track! You all might be seeing lots of pictures of my food for the next three days as I figure that will keep me accountable. I had to stop by Walmart as well so grabbed some yogurt, fruits and more veggies so I should be good to go!

Knitting:

I caved and printed many of the Purl Soho free patterns today. I don’t know if it’s the lighting or if their projects are all just amazing, but I find them very attractive and want to do them!  I’m going to organize them into plastic sheet protectors this weekend, so they’ll be ready to go when I’m done the afghan. I also printed the pattern that I think I will use for the New Hampshire slippers.   I just need to get this “Exquisite” afghan done! I had decided that I needed to buy three more balls of the yarn (which was the reason for the trip to Walmart where my mom bought it), but they didn’t have any:(. I guess I will check the two other local Walmart, but after that, I don’t know what I’m going to do:(

Well on that note, I’m going to finish my last eight rows of this pattern repeat and hit me bed with a book as it’s been a long day!

Have fun!

AJ

Fabulous and Fit😀

Today was 99.9% fabulous:)

Exercise:

I started the day by heading out for a run, which almost always guarantees a better day ( as long as I stay away from English muffins, haha)! I decided to be lazy and not cross any streets so I headed out along Ioco Road. This decision was the last of my laziness as this Street is all up and down:( I seem to be choosing hilly runs lately, my butt better look amazing😜!  I got as far as Barber Street so I was happy. It wasn’t bad going into Ioco as there wasn’t much traffic and what there was, was on the opposite side of the street, but coming back was another story, so I cut down to the trail at Old Orchard Park and enjoyed the fabulous trail and morning the rest of the way.

A cute painting on the old fireball that I passed on my run.

I got my walk in by walking to and from school, and then after school was the first boot camp of the year. I work with an amazing woman who used to be an Olympic wrestler. She very kindly agreed to lead a boot camp class, Wednesday after schools for any staff who are interested. It was a tabata style workout and it was great! I was very sweaty by the end of it and felt fabulous for having completed all of my exercise for the day by 5pm:)

Teaching:

My to-do list at work seems to grow by five things each day and I only cross off one if I’m lucky. I decided that I needed to make some progress because this phenomenon was starting to get to me mentally:( I worked at all quiet times today and managed to get all of the children’s duo-tangs labelled. My colleague and I who both teach grade one are doing something g different this year- monthly duo-tangs. The vision teacher told me about them last year when she walked into a catastrophic mess in my classroom ( all revolving around the math duo tangs).  The concept seems simple- every month students start a new duo-tang and they place all work completed that month into that one duo-tang, regardless of which subject the work is.  We liked the idea because sometimes our duo tangs get too full, they often fall apart before the end of the year and we have to store all these subject duo tangs in bins the children can access. With monthly duo tangs, the ones for future months are just stored in the cupboard. Here’s hoping this process works well! It did feel fabulous to get all the books ready and to cross them off my list!

Eating:

I’m having an interesting eating week as I’m trying to go as long as possible without going grocery shopping. Tonight I decided to reach into the back of my cupboard and pull out my 9 Bean Soup Mix and throw it in the crockpot. It can soak tonight and I’ll turn it on in the morning so hopefully it will be ready by the time I get home. It probably won’t be as good as my colleague’s smelled at lunch today, but it’s worth a shot:)

The 0.1% unfabulous is that all I seemed to do when I got home was eat:( Maybe it’s not good that I don’t have my exercising to do when I get home? Just hope I didn’t undo all the fabulous exercise!!!

Knitting:

I found today that as long as I had a bsndaid over my cut, I could knit normally so I got an entire pattern repeat done tonight. So far my afghan is 34 inches long with a border and four pattern repeats. By my calculations, I need six more pattern repeats and then the border. I have five and a half balls of wool left and am thinking I should go pick up some more balls of the wool. I just really don’t want to buy too much as I dislike having wool leftover after a project, especially a big project like an afghan. I’m usually pretty tired of the wool by the time I get to the end. So do I buy more wool or hold off?? 🤔The afghan is fabulously warm and cozy so far and I’m loving the pattern!

Well, I’m going to end my fabulous day with a little bit of reading.

Have fun!

AJ

Rush, Rush, Rush, Crash!

My day has been slightly crazy!

Exercise:

I started the day off well by meeting up with my friend who I worked out with last year. We’ve restarted our Monday at 6am workouts and it felt awesome! I’m always dropping sweat when I workout with her.😀 She needed to leave a little early today, but that actually worked better for me because it got me home earlier so I didn’t feel so rushed during my morning routine.

Unfortunately, other than walking to and from school this is the only exercise I got today:( If this keeps up I’m going to have to tweak my regime because I don’t like feeling like I’m failing every day at getting my exercise sessions in:(

Adulting:

Last week I forgot to contact my building manager so today I had to hang around home until 8am to find out if I could leave my key with her for the fire alarm testing. It was fine but it meant I had to come home at lunch to get my key back as she leaves at four and I don’t get home on staff meeting days until at least 5:30 (though today it ended up being 6:30😞).

Teaching:

I just had to show part of my walk to school as it’s sometimes the most peaceful part of my day. I changed schools seven years ago so I could walk to work and it has made such a huge and positive difference in my life! No more starting the day with road rage:)

I have already identified the boys in my class who are going to be a handful:( I had to send them to their desks on the first day!!! It may be a long year!

We did a talking circle today about what we love best about ourselves. It was very telling that one little girl said it was her brain (she seems quite bright), for another it was her heart, we had a couple of “my hair” and a few ” that I can run fast”.  They didn’t do too badly and this makes our second class book for the month already! Yay!!

We started an introduction to graphing. They’re a tough group to read so I don’t know if they really got it?

At the end of the day we played telephone. The message started as “we had s great day” and ended as “a car”. I always try to relate it to not spreading rumours because you don’t know if they’re true. Hopefully by the end of the year they’ll get that message.

I was super excited when we were given our new classroom IPads at the staff meeting as I’m wanting to start on Fresh Grade, but there’s no apps or FreshGrade on the iPads so they’re practically useless:( I will see how long it will take to get them fixed up. It drives me nuts that the district expects us to use technology and be cutting edge, but then they manage to make it impossible. Grrrr!

Reading:

I finished the book, Crazy For You by Rachel Lacey. It’s the second book in the Risking it All series. I enjoyed this book once again because the strong friend group added a great element to the book. In addition, the book, including its problem and solution, were realistic.  If you like outdoorsy books and self-made people you’ll enjoy the book. It has a great message for everyone as well, but isn’t preachy about it. I’ll definitely be reading the next in the series.

Knitting:

I managed to get three rows done tonight. It was kind of funny because I had to hold my left pointer finger far away from the needle so I wouldn’t hurt myself, but as I k toted it made all its usual movements in the air. So funny to see- like invisible knitting🤣. It was great to get back to my afghan and I’m hoping I’ll be able to do some every day now as I’m desperate to finish this project and get into the next. No, I’m not allowed to start another until I’m done, just another rule I have for myself, lol. I probably have too many rules for myself!

Movie:

I watched the movie, Inside Out for work tonight. It was a good movie. It was brought to my attention as part of a SEL lesson, and it would be great for this, but it was also just an entertaining movie. It’s all about the emotions inside an eleven year old girl and as you can guess, it gets tumultuous!

Well, I’m exhausted from my day, so I’m going to crash:)

Have fun!

AJ