I Got to Run With Someone!

It was a really nice day, despite the rain!

Shopping:

I slept late and spent the morning doing a tour of fifteen different garage sales with Liane, my co-teacher. We do this twice a year for the city wide garage sales and it’s a lot of fun finding treasures. This time wasn’t quite as much fun as usual because it poured rain and was super cold the whole time. I did find a few things, but the best were three knitting the books! The lady was very surprised to learn I knit, but we ended up having a good conversation. The books are:

Rowan Knitting Magazine Volume 31

50 Baby Bootees to Knit

Debbie Bliss Cotton Knits For All Seasons

I’ll be starting a pattern from the last book tomorrow for my friend’s son.

I did finally call a halt as I couldn’t feel my fingers anymore.

Family:

I was just walking up the stairs to my place when I got a text from my mom saying she was coming up the stairs at the other end of the building. What great timing! She had brought me a rotisserie chicken to exchange for the chicken wings🤣 so not necessary!

I did finally get to give her her gift which means I can show you what I did. Keep in mind, none of my gifts ever end up looking great🤣

I had to use a plastic canister so she can easily move it from boat to trailer and back again, but hopefully she’ll enjoy it for the next year:)

While my mom went to get a card for my aunt, I dragged her over to the running store so she could tell me whether the Buff hat I’ve been eyeing looked okay or not. I have a difficult time finding a hat that doesn’t look too big! I did end up buying it and it looks similar to this one but without the dark section. I like that it will go with all my running jackets:)

Exercise:

I dragged myself out for a run this afternoon. It was tough to go out as it was gray and dreary and I was still cold from this morning. Of course, once I was out there it turned warm and sunny (which I wasn’t dressed for)! I commented on this to a woman when I was about halfway through my run, and I ended up completing my run with her! 😀 Turns our she is a local girl like me who did the garage sales this morning and is a teacher at the middle school that my school feeds into. So cool! The run went really fast with someone to talk to. Now I just have to decide if it’s stalkerish to email her at work on Monday to give her my phone number to text if she’s ever wanting company on a run again???

Knitting:

After dropping off some hangers a lady bought from me, I have spent the afternoon knitting and reading. I finally finished my socks and am completely happy with them. They actually haven’t left my feet yet. I used the Rose City Rollers pattern again, but the XL in the littles edition and it fits perfectly. I love this pattern for a quick, easy sock. I keep telling myself I should do a different sock, but these ones are just so perfect…

The yarn was a sock yarn from Michael’s years ago and it doesn’t have the tag attached anymore so I’m not sure what it is.

Reading:

I finished reading The Bride Test by Helen Hoang this evening. I had loved her book The Kiss Quotient and was pleasantly surprised when this book turned out to be the sequel and featured a lot of the same characters. This second book may have been even better! I read it in a day and couldn’t put it down! The characters are great! The autistic male lead is very realistic and portrayed well. The female lead is a strong character who has had a tough road in life, but isn’t afraid of a little hard work to improve her circumstances. The plot does not lag at all and has a really good pace! I highly recommend this book for people who enjoy chick lit!

Eating:

Not as perfect as I had planned:(

Breakfast: chai and a mini scone

Lunch: chicken leg and a cookie

Snack: multigrain corn chips

Dinner: orange pepper and hummus, 10 cucumber slices with fake cheese, banana chips

I really need to do my eating earlier in the day!

Well, I think that’s it for me today!

Have fun!

AJ

I Know Better!

I let it get to me:)

Knitting:

I wanted to spend some time on my sleeve before school, but I then realized I’m 90% sure it’s going to be way too big so I lost my enthusiasm:(

Teaching:

I let the fact that I say everything ten times get to me today! We had our first writer’s workshop lesson this morning. The children did pretty well, but I had already lost track of how many times I had the same instructions over!

Our math time was rushed as we only had twenty minutes and I was trying to start the assessment on place value. So far I’m pretty happy with how the four children I got through did, but didn’t like the flustered feeling!

This afternoon we had to leave gym early as there were just too many accidents and kids hurt. They just didn’t seem to hear the reminder that they needed to remain in their feet!!!

Ugh most days the fact I repeat stuff all day doesn’t get to me, but today it did!

Reading:

Tonight, I came home to escape reality and I finally finished my current book, The Secret Ingredient by Nancy Naigle.

This is the story of Andrew York and Kelly McIntyre. They were high school sweethearts who loved to cook and bake together, but became separated. The story chronicles their second chance.

I liked the characters in this story and that there was plenty of background interest too. Kelly is a strong woman who grows stronger through the separation. Andrew is a bit of a dud at the start, but definitely sweetens up.

Kelly’s pet pig steals every scene he is in and the story between Andrew and his father adds interest.

I have to admit I felt like I had read an entire book by the time I got halfway through to where the plot really picked up. I felt as though this could have been two books- their second chance and then their new adventure. However, the plot twist definitely sweetened me on this book! It was a wonderful and delicious twist that made me go awwww.

Anyone who enjoys a second chance romance or anyone who enjoys baking or cooking (like me) will enjoy this book! I loved the detail included about the baking! Made me want to go make something in the kitchen.

Thank you to Nancy Naigle, Hallmark and NetGalley for the free ARC in exchange for an honest opinion.

Exercise:

Sarah and I were supposed to go the run clinic tonight, but we were both home early so we went out by ourselves. It was a good thing I was meeting here as I wouldn’t have been going otherwise! It was dark, cold and the rain was literally bouncing off the sidewalk!

We did a warm-up run over to the park and then since it was hills night at clinic we did hills. I put a dice roll app on my phone and used that to determine we had to do 3 reps of the hill and then we ran back home. It was great to do this with someone as it actually got done!

Well I’m going to leave you and go tackle fixing my sleeve!

Have fun!

AJ

A Good Plan

Just a normal day!

Teaching:

I finally had to ask my students today what would make them realize their behavior was inappropriate. We have come to the conclusion that three ticks after your name on the board and you have a detention. I’m hoping we don’t get to that as it’s also a detention for the teacher!!

We wrapped our Father’s Day gifts today. It was neat to teach the children such a simple, but necessary skill as wrapping a present. Most of them did well:)

We also practiced identifying the problem and solution in “The Three Bears”. They liked the puppet and storybook from my childhood better than the activity🤣

We also wrote about meeting our penpals yesterday.

All in all, an okay day:)

Oh and it ended with a lovely present of a box of tea from my student who’s last day is tomorrow. It was a lovely gesture and it has Lady Gray tea in it which I’ve been wanting to try!

Reading:

We had our last school Bookclub for the year after school. It was all boys! I’m thinking I should go around and talk to the grade two, three and four students and if they still remember in September, we can assume they’re interested in more than just the chips.

Exercise:

We can’t work out after school tomorrow so Lyndsay and I went over and did the stairs on the crunch four times. I have never done that before and I just realized that 437 times four means I did 1748 stairs, and then ran back to school up the hill! No wonder my legs were shakey!!! Lol I do a lot more with a buddy:)

Movie:

I have to admit I caved and watched a Hallmark movie before I came home tonight.

It was a nice movie. The girl left the boy to follow her dreams in LA. She comes home and they meet again. It’s the usual story, but I really liked the main actor and the secondary story was cute too. Definitely a happy movie and worth watching if you like Hallmark movies.

Reading:

I’m almost done

But I think I’ll go finish it off in a hot bath.

Have fun!

AJ

One Step and Another

There was a definite lack of energy in my day!

Teaching:

We did our usual printing and phonics this morning. Followed it up with some art this afternoon. We finished our Father’s Day gift by making the buttons. Tomorrow we will decorate an envelope to put them all in. I was happy with how they turned out and only two children had to remake them because they didn’t listen and did them upside down.

After school my mom came up and gave me an honest review of my classroom. It needs work! Lately my house, my car and my classroom all seem to be a wreck:(. At least tonight we got a few things tidied up and better organized! I always love decluttering and organizing- maybe that’s the job I should have gotten:)

Exercise:

I was supposed to run this morning, but yet again I slept instead so I had to go out tonight for my 6km run. It started out slow and painful, but I got faster, though it didn’t feel that way!

At the end I ran into an old running buddy. It was nice to see her, I had forgotten how much I always enjoyed running with her!

Well I have to go read Lyndsay’s report cards as we switched today, then I can go back to sleeping, which seems to be all I do lately!

Have fun!

AJ

Still Ticking

After a late night, it was tough to get going!

Exercise:

After getting home at midnight last night, getting up for my 8am run was a little tough. I did it though and was glad I had as Dennis was there to run with me today. It’s always a challenge for me as his “slow” is still fast for me, but I survived and wasn’t too far behind him. I had added on at the far end to get as much of the 12.5km I needed done as possible, but he paid me back by adding on at the other end🤣. We managed 6.32km:) It was a great run through the forest along the river, though it looked like it had snowed because there was so much cottonwood seed on the ground. I feel so bad for people who are allergic to this!

After a lovely (and free) tea, and some grocery shopping I went back out for the other 5.98km I needed to do. I wasn’t sure how it would go with running again so soon, but it appears my body can handle it. I ticked off another 6.2km:)

With the mission done, I felt just fine sitting on my couch, but then the new week of missions came out and I decided that instead of missing the Monday mission of 50 minutes in one shot, I would go out and walk it. So I did that this evening once it stopped raining:)

It rained all afternoon and the woods greened up and grew immediately, it seems🤣😛

Exercise is definitely complete for the day!

Crafting:

I wasn’t allowed to do any knitting until I finished my rug square for the week so this is what I worked on for most of the day, around my nap. I did finish at 8:45pm so I am still on track🎊🎉

Movies:

I’ve been watching movies as I’ve been working on my rug. I watched Bridget Jones’ Diary. I love this movie and have the first two, but I really need to get the third that made me laugh harder than I ever have at any movie!

I also watched Burlesque. Maybe it’s just me, but these movies always inspire me to exercise as those women must work so hard to stay in that shape!

Reading:

I spent quite a bit of time reading today too, but didn’t quite finish the book yet so the review will have to wait for tomorrow.

Grateful:

My sister in law was saying that she is doing a 21 Day Challenge with a friend where she has to name three things she is grateful for each day. I like this idea as it has you end the day on a positive thought so I’ll try it out:)

I’m grateful for:

1. My running buddies- they keep me going, challenge me to do more than I think I can, cheer me on and encourage me, and make me laugh. They’re an awesome group!

2. Diet gingerale for when I eat the wrong thing!

3. My healthy body that does more than I think it will be able to:)

Well I’m off to try and finish my book!

Have fun!

AJ

Sunday Funday

I have to admit I ducked out of my commitments today and did what I wanted:)

Exercise:

I had my usual Sunday morning run, complete with tech issues:(. We ran at Burnaby Lake today and it was nice because I only had to do 45 minutes and Dennis was back. He runs way faster than me but he does loop back to check on me regularly. Sarah was supposed to come, but didn’t, so it was nice to have a little bit of company on the run. Of course at 35 minutes it said I had run 3.5km and then at 45 minutes it said I had run 3.55km. I don’t think so:( Thankfully it was by time and not distance today. It seems as though I’m going to have to look into a watch because even I’ve had enough of my complaining about tech problems, so you all must be beyond bored with it!

I was super excited to hear that a girl from last night wanted to be included on the Sunday run email. I really hope this means that she will come out as I think we may be a good fit together and I hear she’s reliable so at least one day a week I’d have someone to run with:). Fingers crossed!!!!

I got out for another 5km run this evening since it had quit raining and it will allow me to sleep in an extra half hour tomorrow morning and still get the mission done. That’s the last run for the month! It showed again that I have better runs at night!

Food:

On my way home from my run this morning (after tea of course) I stopped and did my grocery shopping for the week. I have a plan in mind and intend to keep to it as I’m feeling a little pudgy right now. I did my meal prep for the week. I made a big fruit salad which is one of my favorite warm weather breakfasts. I hard boiled some eggs for recess snacks. I made bread thinking that I’d have soup and a slice of bread for lunch, but the bread didn’t turn out great so I did up a veggie pizza and will have a quarter for each lunch. I have veggies cut up for afternoon snacks and then broccoli, turkey burgers (homemade) and potatoes for dinner:) I love when I have everything ready as my day always goes smoother that way. I actually end up eating less because my food is ready so I don’t snack as I get food ready:)

Knitting:

I have spent the day working on a bag for my sister in law out of some of the ribbon yarn I bought yesterday. I had gotten three repeats done and decided the needle size was too small, so I frogged it and started over with 6.5mm needles. I’ve done three repeats and I’m happy enough with it. I was hoping to have it finished today, but I guess it will be tomorrow. Here’s where I’m at:

I also just found out this evening that I’m a Gryffindor on Harry Potter Knit and Crochet House Cup On Ravelry again this term. I was Gryffindor last term and we won:) I like being part of this because it helps me choose my projects:)

Reading:

Unfortunately I can’t listen to Age of Innocence and do this bag pattern so I am still at chapter ten of my book.

Well I’m off to knit some more!

Have fun!

AJ

Super Saturday

Sorry there was no post last night, I got in a little late for me!

Exercise:

I got up and ran for 46 minutes. It was not a particularly great run, but it got done and it wasn’t raining:)

Thank goodness I did that as it was the only exercise I got:(

Shopping/ Crafting:

Well today was the Woolith Fair Knit Shop Hop. I did this with Brenda last year and we had decided to do it again this year. There are fourteen shops involved, but we never do the whole thing. I think it would turn into a chore:(

We started at Valley Yarns which was a new shop to us both. They had a great sale rack outside that included books!!! It seems like knitting books are rarely on sale. I could have gone crazy with the yarn here, but I kept the number of skeins I already own in my mind! The store had beautiful buttons as well, but I ended up buying this:

The yarn is very different for me, but the shop clerk says it knits up really fun. I think it will make a nice pullover for work and I’m trying to get away from always doing blue, black or gray!

The next stop was 88 Stitches in Langley which was one of our favorite stores last year.

I like how this shop always has a featured designer in store. Last year it was Sylvia McFadden and I ended up buying her book and making up a shawl. This year it was Sandy Bahrich of Firefly Notes which is all knitting accessories. She had the cutest bags (cuts of lamb🤣), stitch markers, etc. I also like how this store always has a good sale yarn bin on this day. I just couldn’t help myself and ended up coming home with this:

I was doing my best to avoid buying yarn, but at least I didn’t buy any single skeins this year!!!!

We then headed to On the Lamb in Abbotsford. This is the second year for this store and I have to admit I haven’t been impressed either year. Last year the woman insulted my weight and this year she ignored me. It looks like a popular store as there is always a group knitting there, but I don’t think I’d even want to do that as it’s just a big table with hard chairs in the middle of the room. It doesn’t look cozy to me. I looked at buying blocking wires here, but managed to resist as I don’t have projects requiring that right now.

We stopped after this for lunch. I was treating Brenda as she was driving so I introduced her to Famoso Neapolitan Pizzeria. I had had it in Vancouver, but just hoped it was as good at this location. Don’t you hate when you rave about a place to friends and then it doesn’t live up to it!!! 🤣we had to laugh as we walked around the entire shopping center and it was actually right behind where we had started. If only we had turned the other way! It wasn’t great service, but the food was good! We both had the lunch special of a side salad and small pizza. I had a Napoli salad which was green salad with chickpeas and then a mushroom, ham, artichoke hearts and kalamata olive pizza. It definitely hit the spot and took care of my pizza craving!

It was back on the road and to Trendy or What Knot in Mission. This was a new shop for me, but Brenda had been out recently to pick up yarn she had ordered at the knitting show we went to last month. It was a nice, bright shop but really didn’t have much on sale and I would go there if I was looking for a non-traditional material. I bought:

To make this bag for my sister in law.

It will be for her birthday on Tuesday and will hold her real present- a bottle of wine:)

We had one more stop on the way home as we were driving right by Once Upon a Sheep in Maple Ridge. This is a very small knitting store that is run by a religious society. It had a small selection, but some very soft Yarns! I was tempted by one, but thankfully I don’t even remember its name! I managed to not buy anything here!

I’m pretty impressed with myself- $126.80 for the whole day! I am definitely not allowed to buy any yarn before Knit City in September though (unless it’s for a gift that is being made immediately!)

I had been working on a baby cap in purple as the shops were collecting for the Children’s Hospital but I ended up frogging it as it was huge when I got it finished:(

Socializing:

It was a long day of shopping in the rain, but still fun. I finished the night off with a get together with some running buddies who are moving away. These are the people who taught me how to run, and I definitely wouldn’t be where I am today without them. Their absence is definitely going to be felt in the local running community. It was a ton of fun to sit around talking and visiting without having to run first. It was a nice evening, but later than I had planned.

It was definitely a super fun Saturday for me and I hope it was for you as well!

Have fun!

AJ

Good, Better, Grrrr, Best

It was a fine morning, tough afternoon and lovely evening:)

Exercise:

I got up early this morning and did a workout from Pizza & Pullups. It was great- took very little time and yet still felt like a workout! Thank you:).

After work I got out for a run with my friend Brenda. She was my regular running buddy, but her feet are bothering her so I haven’t been out with her in quite a while. She walked and I regularly looped back to her, which of course caused Runkeeper to go wonky:(. I don’t know why this app seems to be so finicky with me:(. Between the finicky app and the fact I’d have been better off with webbed feet in today’s weather, it wasn’t my best run ever, but I went😀.

Teaching:

This morning went fine. I actually had time to rearrange a couple of boxes in my classroom library that were causing the children grief:) and we got our calendar and spelling practice done.

After recess I took the opportunity to read the children the book, My Mouth is a Volcano. It is all about interrupting and how awful it feels and how rude it is. I liked that it gave the children a strategy to stop this behaviour while still recognizing that they want to share their thoughts. The children said they liked it because they found it funny. I haven’t decided if this is going to help them remember the lesson, or if they didn’t really “get” the lesson😫.

We got some addition done and the children had the fun of another math game.

Lyndsay asked if I wanted to hit Starbucks at lunch as she had forgotten her lunch (I only got tea as I had eaten my curry). Of course after a nice quiet week of being principal, the problem occurred while we were both out of the building. I’ll never make that mistake again. Thankfully it was only about two minutes until I was back, but I felt bad for not thinking about both of us being gone. Of course it was with one of my little boys, mooning the other children:(. What is it with my children and nudity this year???!!! I spoke to him, emailed his mom, and he will be spending Monday’s lunch playtime walking with the education assistant, rather than playing. Hopefully between that consequence at school and a consequence at home, he will get the message not to do this!!!

This afternoon was tougher, but we survived and created really cute art!

I love working with pastels with the children because they are so bold and they can cover up their mistakes. I also love directed drawing activities!! They always end up so cute and the children listen and are engaged during them. I think it helps that they get to move back and forth to their desk frequently to do the steps so they don’t ever have to sit for very long.

Tea:

I took a David’s Tea Gogi Green to school today but have to admit I still haven’t gotten around to drinking it. I did make tea for knit night which was David’s Tea Forever Nuts. I have probably mentioned it before because it is my favourite David’s Tea!! It has beet in it so it comes out pink and is quite sweet and nutty. I absolutely love it!!

Socializing:

I didn’t just get a rainy run with Brenda, but also got to go for Pho with her. We used to do this regularly after cold, wet runs, but this was our first time this season. I love hot steaming soup after a winter run, though I should probably branch out and try something other than the seafood with rice noodles. This is the only place where I always order the same thing. They really need a size smaller than small though! I wonder if they would give me the kids size??

Shopping:

I also took the opportunity to pop into Chapters to return the reading socks I was lucky enough to receive as a gift, but that were unfortunately too big for me:( I now have $36 to spend at Chapters! Oh what to buy?? Half the fun is thinking about what I could buy.., cookbook, knitting book,🤔. Oh the possibilities!😀

Knitting:

Well the bad news is that the Entrelac scarf had to be ripped out because it turned out I had twisted it:(. I’m okay with it though because for the amount of work I was putting into it, I’d like to use yarn that will show the pattern well. I will try Entrelac again, but not right away. I got a dishcloth made with a textured pattern during knit night tonight. I have never made this type of design, but so loved it!! I followed the pattern “Purple Heart knit motif” off of Ravelry. I have also entered the project into the second quidditch match on HPKCHC as it was something I had never done before. I hope it satisfies the requirements as I have made a dishcloth before, just not this design. Brenda gave me the good idea of giving them for valentines gifts so I will try to make one more before then so I can give one to Brenda and one to Kathryn. They both craft and so will appreciate it.

I have chosen my next project and was all ready to start it, but the needles I need are being used for my temperature scarf so now I have to wait until tomorrow when I can buy another set of needles in 3.75mm:(. Brenda has convinced me to spend the rest of tonight actually checking my gauge- something I have never done before!!🤣

Reading:

I got through another few chapters of my current novel. However, I received an ARC today from an author I really enjoy, so I know that I’m going to drop the novel to read the ARC. At least I’ll enjoy it and it will hopefully put me back on track for my reading goal.

Well I’m off to knit a gauge swatch, lol how exciting for a Friday night😂

Have fun!AJ

Impressive

I was impressed by my students, my tea and my ability to run after eating the wrong thing 🤣

Exercise:

I purposely didn’t work out this morning as it’s the first day of clinic and I didn’t want tired, sore legs to start running with.

Clinic was intervals tonight. 5 x 30 seconds, 5×1 min, 5×30 seconds. I pushed myself to go out with the ten minute group, though I regretted it and ended up at the back of the group because of my Buddha satay bowl. Remind me to just stick with a banana, orange or oatmeal on Tuesday nights!! I’m glad I went out with that group though as I ran into Nicole who came out Sunday mornings a few times last year. She said she may be up for a run on Saturday mornings. I hope so!!! It’s always nicer to have company:)

Teaching:

Today was another good day! I am happy it’s over though as I had to run the assembly today. It was short and I didn’t feel very prepared, but at least it’s done. What is even better is that this afternoon my students proved that they actually paid attention and learned during the assembly! Even now it makes me smile:). Our school theme this month is goal setting, so our assembly was about that with an emphasis on making SMART goals. Specific, measurable, attainable, relevant and timely. This afternoon we put this learning to the test and tried to write our own resolutions on snowflakes for the school tree. My students did great! They had goals such as learning to tie their shoe laces, learning to swim without floaties, learning to juggle and tell time. I was so impressed! I’ll have to remember to take some photos of them tomorrow as some did a really good job.

One of the little boys in my class was sick at the end of school last year and was sick for the entire holiday. He finally came back today and brought me a very thoughtful gift. I gave the turtles to the secretary as that would really hurt me, but I’ll enjoy this:
Making a list for myself each day and it’s really helping me to stay focused and accomplish more during the day. I keep it short, but today I managed to get all three things done and another two besides!

Tea:

I have to rave about my tea today. Normally I find tea gets way too strong and bitter for me, but my tea today didn’t and it was hours before I got to drink it! It’s a David’s Tea called apple strudel. It is so good!! I highly recommend it:)

Beauty:

I went to get my nails done after setting up the gymnastics equipment after school because I have managed to keep nails! My nails are super weak so they break at any touch- I’ve lost two in two days of school. I went and got them done in French shellac so they’ll look nice for a while longer, but this will be the last time for a while!

Eating:

As I came out of the nail salon, I was right across from Freshii and went in and got a Buddha Satay bowl. It was so good, but I’ve had such a bad eating day:(. I need to get this under control!! Thankfully most of my bad food choices are gone now:)

Reading:

I am done a quarter of my book, so hopefully I’ll be able to tell you about it soon! I can’t believe how long it’s taking me to read books right now! This better not continue or I’ll never make it to 100 books for the year!

Knitting:

I added to my temperature scarf again today. So far, so good, but we’ll see. I know that if my friend isn’t continuing with it, I will find it tough to continue.

I read on a blog today Nothingbutknit2 about a stash challenge for the year. This knitter is determined to use at least nine skeins from her stash this year. It would be neat to keep track! I’ll have to think about adding this to my project write ups!

well I think that’s all I’ve managed to do today. Now I’m going to collapse on the couch with a movie:). And try to figure out what to make with 250 yards of DK weight yarn,😂

Have fun!

AJ

Ho Hum

Sorry the blog post is named that just to bug my mom:) 🤣🤣🤣🤣

Exercise:

I once again got out for a quick run. I need to fix my audible stats as I thought I was turning at twenty minutes but it turned out to be less so I was a little short on my run. Oh well, I’m on holidays so at least I ran!

One of my running buddies this week:). He goes my speed🤣

I also got a quick twenty minute workout in this afternoon. I went back to my own creation and did one minute of running in between each of the following moves- jumping jacks, skipping, lunges, squats, fast feet, in/outs, moguls, high knees, kicks, and toe taps. It was quick, but I was sweating:)

Tomorrow I want to try out a workout that I read about on Living Out Loud! I love not having to figure out a workout!

Knitting:

I was supposed to get to start my vest today, but instead I redid the hat for Cindy as she wanted it to be about an inch longer. It really just took an hour and a half, but it was interrupted so it seems longer. I’m just glad she is happy with the toque! She wanted to pay me😂. I like it when people are truly happy and will actually wear the item and will happily fix something so this will happen, rather than have them say they like it and then never wear it. I put effort into it, I want to know it will be used:)

I’ll start the vest tomorrow:)

Shopping:

I went into Ajo today to go shopping. For just being an IGA, the store has a pretty good selection of gluten free, dairy free items. I’ve managed to get photos to update my favourites page down here. I am doing this in the hopes my mom will buy some of these products and bring them home with her (only the things she’s allowed to bring across the border of course!).

Today I found my Dang Coconut chips again. These are an item I found in Maine this summer and loved and haven’t found since. These were just the original flavour, rather than the salted caramel I had this summer, but they were still very yummy! I ate the whole bag in one sitting!!!! They are very sweet, but also light. I don’t think I would ever get a stomach ache from eating these. They are super sweet though, so if you don’t like sweet, don’t buy these!

I also picked up more tortillas as Mission makes awesome soft ones!

Tea:

Talking of salted caramel I have been drinking a new type of tea while I’ve been in Arizona. It is Bigelow Salted Caramel tea. It has been super flavourful both on the first use of the tea bag and after several more dunkings. The tea can also handle the addition of milk without losing its flavour. It is a black tea, so if you’re looking for a cold weather tea, I would recommend this one! It didn’t even go bitter after sitting for hours:)

Reading:

Still working on Glazed Murder. I finally got past the first chapter and realized there are recipes included in the book. So far it was a donut recipe and I already have a favourite one, but we’ll see if future ones tempt me!

Puzzle:

First thing this morning my parents used the puzzle to solve the Hitchcock murder mystery. This requires you to read the short story pamphlet and look at the puzzle for clues. It was kind of cool and redeemed the puzzle slightly, though the missing pieces still bugged me!!!

Baking:

My brothers and I have not lived at home for about fifteen years and et my dad still cooks as though he is feeding large, growing boys! On occasion this works in my favour as there was leftover rice in the fridge. This evening during happy hour, I made up some rice pudding. I love puddings! I found a super simple Recipe on Pinterest. My mom and I agreed that it turned out with a nice consistency, but I would lessen the amount of cinnamon in it next time. I also questioned whether there is different rice in the states like there is different flour? I’ll have to try the recipe again at home to find out. Unfortunately it was all gone before I could get pictures of it.

Movies:

I managed to finish the Murder She Baked movies today. I enjoyed this series though it is quite different from the books. Again, if you like cosy mysteries I would recommend the Joanne Fluke Hannah Swenson series and this series of movies.

Well I think that’s it for my day. Now I need to go entertain my mom so she doesn’t go to sleep too early and get up too early!! The jobs of a daughter are never done🤣

Have fun!

AJ