My week...

I just did a big ol' post, and then it disappeared. So here is a much shorter, condensed post.
*We lost the faculty basketball game against our rival school's faculty. Last year, I played, we won. Coincidence. I think not. HA! (This is a picture of a teacher and our assistant principal in Cougars costumes. Kinda creepy.)
*Went to Williamsburg for my wards annual winter trip. My friend's Martha and Georginia in the stocks. And Dan, Shane and Rich with Pocahontas in Jamestown. I think I was the ONLY one who didn't have a clue that she had anything to do with Jamestown.
*Watched The Office on my laptop the whole way home. With 3 people smooshed in the back seat, it helped time pass a little faster. Dan, the driver, had equipment to make my laptop have surround sound. Weird. but nice.
*Went to bed at 9:30 last night. I was so tired, I thought I was going to die. Didn't finally get out of bed until 8:30 this morning. Of course I had to pee about 4 times during those 11 hours.
*It snowed last Sunday. Yippee. But we only got a 2 hour delay out of it. Whatever. More snow best be on it's way.
*I found $20 in the washer while moving my clothes to the dryer. I am SURE that I checked my pockets.
*I think I am getting another cold. Sheesh. Hopefully my 11 hours of sleep will help it go away.
*Tomorrow is the first day of the new semester. It is nice to see the "challenging" students go, but scary to think what new "challenges" will be walking in my door tomorrow. Yikes.
*I think I need to go make some Double Chocolate Banana Muffins. See ya!

Sorry-

for the delay! I feel like my life is such a bore- I don't want to put my 3 readers to sleep with my dull stories! Some highlights of the week-


1) Samoas ice cream is back. This stuff is heavenly. It is a goal killer. I am constantly making goals to stop eating ice cream, or at least buy the 1/2 the fat kind- that tastes just as yummy. Then I see this- on sale- I couldn't say no. And of course it was buy one get one free, so I HAD to buy 2. It was quite the decision but I went for good ol'American Idol ice cream. You can't beat that!


2) I crocheted my first dish cloth. I originally bought the wrong hook so I went back and bought a multi-pack of hooks. I spent a couple hours Friday night (sad, I know) and a gazillion hours Saturday working on it. I had to pick apart my first one because it was a little too large! The yarn was on sale so of course I HAD to buy 4 more. I have a disease. I also found another thing of crochet thread- for a total of 3 to make into leprosy bandages.


3) 3 day weekend thanks to Martin Luther King Jr. Day. I am sooo grateful. I think I might celebrate by sleeping, and crocheting.

4) I bought a laptop. YIKES. I hate making big purchases- especially technology. I am always scared I will find a better deal next week, or it is going to be out of date in 3 days. I got a printer with it for $28. It is being shipped this week. Now I just need to get rid of my current computer. I am hoping to sell it on craigslist - if not, find a place to donate it to.

5) I REALLY want snow. Is that too much to ask for?

Wow!

It has been quite the week. I got 3 hours of sleep Monday night after traveling all day. But I got to go out for dinner with my friend Sarah in Chicago during my 31/2 hour layover. I don't think I got much more sleep than that any other night. It was a good week- but long. Why is it that 4 day work weeks seem more like 6 days? Friday was a good day... until my 7th period. Those kids sure know how to push my buttons. Then I had my home room kids- we end the day with our home room class for 25 minutes. We are supposed to read on Fridays- silently. Well they weren't. I was sooo tired and frustrated. I was going to burst into tears so I walked out of the room into my office (All our rooms are connected so I could still hear them!) I composed myself as they continued to talk. I went back in and tried one more time to get them to read silently. It worked for the last 5 minutes. I finally broke down after my fellow teacher asked if there was something wrong. I think I just really needed a good cry. So there I sat- folding dish cloths and towels in my kitchens... crying... how sad. I decided to email the parents of a good kid in each of my classes to tell them how much I appreciate having them in my classes. That is going to be my new Friday tradition. I headed home- decided to buy a pizza and ice cream. That seemed to do the trick. My friend Martha came over and we watched the cheesiest movie EVER. I don't remember the name of it but it is part 4 of a series about a family during the pioneer times. It was good for a laugh.
Today I finally got my bags unpacked and everything put away. It was 21 degrees Celsius (70 Fahrenheit) so I vacuumed out my car in capris and flip flops. Can you believe it? On January 6th I was wearing capris and flip flops. Wowzers.
Then I went to see The Pursuit of Happyness with friends. What a movie. It makes me want to go help everyone that is in a situation like that. Amazing!!! Life is good. Even my life as a middle school teacher! :)

It's the Holiday Season...

And what a great time it has been thus far. Only 5 more days of it until I have to go back to work... I am still hoping for a snow day on Tuesday- after my plane lands of course! But is has been a great time at home-

1) I got to go to a REAL Christmas concert. My cute little nephews and niece. They even acted out the nativity and sang songs that mentioned Christ. So good. So cute.

2) Church on Christmas eve. It was just me and my parents- but fun to see a ton of people I haven't seen in forever- with their gazillion kids and cute wives/ husbands.

3) Christmas Eve at my sisters. We played a little Catch phrase and Loaded Questions. There is nothing quite like a question about bodily functions to get the party started. Good ol' Brian. I love when my Mom laughs sooo hard. Love it!

4) Sleeping in until 8:30 on Christmas day. And then waking up to cute little Addy and Janie. It was fun to open presents with them.

5) Resisting the stores on Boxing Day. I didn't even leave the house- sad but true. I am trying to be better about buying things i don't need... TRYING is the main word.

6) Dinner at my Auntie Shirley's tonight. My cousin mark is 44! 44! I remember when they would come and tickle us when we would sleepover in their living room. 44! Man I am getting old.

7) My semi-annual haircut. Happening tomorrow. Right now I am thinking I will try to grow my hair a little longer- at least until my next haircut. Tomorrow I might be thinking something else. I think I need to move closer to Andrea so I can get my hair cut more often than at Christmas and the summer... we shall see.

8)Organizing my room. I am so grateful that I still have a "room" at my parents. It is more like a storage room that they let me sleep in when I come home. One day I will take all my stuff out- when I live closer to my stylist!! I have so much stuff becuase I can't pass up a deal. If it is on sale- I HAVE to buy it. hence #5. But I am going to have the best stocked kitchen when I live close enough to move all my stuff with me.

9) Seeing Kim. Holy schmolies it has been forever- like 2 1/2 years. She is too cute. And her little Ryker. It was so fun holding him. Thanks for the fun visit Kim. You are great!

10)My family. They are great and I love them. They sure are what is tempting me to move back to Canada. Cute kids, fun sisters, interesting brother-in-laws.

I went to Church today...

without a coat or even a sweater! According to my trusty car "Norm"- it was 16 degrees celcius today! 16 degrees! That is amazing for the 17th of December! I can't believe it. I am SOOOOO ready for snow though. (I am sure everyone is asking why!!) Good thing I will be in the great white north in 2 more sleeps! Yeah!

I FINALLY did it...

I have driven past this store every day- 2 times a day for 2 years now and today was the day that I FINALLY went inside. Pathetic I know!
But I KNEW I would love it- so I stayed away for as long as I could.
It was dangerous.
I wanted to buy EVERYTHING!
But I just had to keep telling myself that I would have to get rid ofit when I move back to Canada as I can only take what will fit in my car- and I am WAY past that limit already!









I couldn't leave without buying SOMETHING... So I bought-

A cool paper towel holder- that is magnetic! So you can stick it to the side of you fridge! love it.








And a space bag... you know the ones that you put a ton of stuff in- suck the air out and you can store 10 times the stuff in the same amount of space...
Well I got a travel one. You just roll it to get the air out. I don't know if I am in love with it but I need all the packing help I can get!



Now I just need to "contain" myself from going back and buying everything else I want!

I am going....

Bananas...
It is quite the adventure being a Home Ec (a.k.a. Family & Consumer Sciences) teacher! One part of the adventure would have to be buying the groceries! Have you ever bought a cart full of groceries... except it is only 5 items... just 25 of each of the 5 items. I had this experience on Wednesday! We made banana bread in my classes on Friday! People look at you like you have something wrong with you...
maybe I just REALLY like bananas.
I had one woman comment about my amount of bananas when I was filling my cart. Once you say "I teach Home Ec" they instantly understand! When I was standing in line with my cart of 40 lbs of bananas and 6 cartons of eggs and older man came up to me and asked what I was going to do "with ALL of those bananas." I told him I was in need of a lot of potassium! Ha ha! He was excited when I told him I taught Home Ec. He even returned a bit later (I was in line for a VERY long time) and told me a story about when he was in Home Ec.
Gotta love the Home Ec stories!
Try it sometime- fill your cart with only a few different items and enjoy the stares and comments! It is great.

p.s. the banana bread was a success- only one group had a weird outcome and I don't know why! They always ask if they get a bad grade for messing up- Nope! The only punishment is they have to eat it!

Yippee!

My camera is fixed! I can't believe it happened so fast! One sad thing... the pictures I took when I was checking to see if my camera was broken... WORKED! So I totally could have taken more pictures in NYC! oh well!

Here are the pics I took BEFORE it broke! There are my yummy fries!! They have 2 tables (it is super cramped but super chic!!) that have holes for your cone-o-fries! And the delicious dill lemon mayo sauce.
Then there is me and Midge (a.k.a. Rachel- my roomie from 10 years ago! Yowza!) She is looking all cute and I am all nasty! I woke up at 5am- rode the bus for 4 hours! That is my bag that I hauled around ALL day! I am pretty impressed that I lived out of that bag for 2 days. I wish those fries beside Rachel were real. how COOL would that be?

You can't really tell my hair is darker...can you? I tried to get a picture of it today because one of my classes talked about how my hair looked so cute today (but I couldn't get one where the rest of me looked decent)! it was rather amusing. I actually get a lot of compliments on it... but it is by the trouble maker boys that are wanting to suck up for various reasons.