you've got to be kidding...

today when i announced that it was time for novel study, a cheer went up. they're all doing their own novels so they like that they've chosen it. but i had to get a video of the class during this time because it was so unbelieveable how quiet they were. you could hear a pin drop. and they're all on task. um...not that this doesn't happen often. i just knew i couldn't explain how amazing it was without video proof. ha.

snapshots from winners

instead of going to the gym tonight - i went to winners.

in the dressing room, i looked at the tag of one of the shirts i'd brought in and saw the tag that read "trendyland" and chose not even to try it on because i cannot bring myself to own something from trendyland.

at one point, i was trying on a hoody at the racks of clothes instead of taking it to the dressing room and when i put it on, the hood was covering my face. i have it on backwards. when i removed it, there was a girl smiling at me.

i really want a new hoody but winners only ever has roxy ones which are cute but i'm thinking maybe 25 should bring me a new brand of hoody. i resisted the turquoise ones.

if you've ever shopped with me at winners, you know how i like to hold up hideous things and make jokes about them. it's a good thing you weren't there today because i found something that i would have made a joke about but then looked over and it was in the arms of the person next to me. phew. that was close.

ode to google reader

liz introduced me to google reader awhile back and it really is the best. i used to have all the blogs that i knew on my favourites and one by one i would go through each blog to check up. at the 10th blog, you'd be frustrated that no one was posting, right? (it's not just me that does this right?) so google reader takes away that frustration. you "subscribe" to all the blogs you want to read by typing in their addresses and then whenever you log into google reader, it tells you which ones have new things to read. i recommend it if you have a list of blogs that you read.

photo day

classroom photos were today. i'm wearing old brown pants, a non matching dark gray t-shirt and a navy hooded sweater. i didn't wash my hair this morning and i'm not wearing the slightest bit of makeup. it's monday. my dress up day is wednesday. there should be a sunday night reminder call about photos. i totally forgot. and i'm pretty sure last year i didn't look great either. shoot. (in regards to the above photo though, is the kid in the center with the blue shirt the teacher? i guess they didn't worry about size when holding kids back in those days.)

blanks

sometimes i write entire posts then think, "why would anyone care about this story?" and i delete it. but i feel like i've blogged. i should start inserting blank posts in so you can see that yes, i did think about blogging today...it just didn't happen for me. :)

as for the salmon, i can't get the ammonia levels down. the status is pretty much the same as the last time i posted. though i did see one fish out of it's rock lair the other day and the yolk sac is getting smaller and smaller. i'm trying not to keep it SO cold in there these days in order to help them develop a little faster...hopefully before spring break. oh brother.

the views of science fair

i've been avoiding posting about science fair over the past two weeks despite it being all consuming. it's what i think about most everyday lately. that's bad - i know. maybe you remember science fair as being a project that you did at home with your parents and then brought to school on science fair day. i remember designing my brother's entire display board about hummingbirds myself with not a second thought about whether he should be doing it himself. but in my classroom, most of the project has been done at school. now i won't go into detail here because i could really go crazy just thinking about it. however, today as i kept kids inside at lunch time to finish their display boards, i overheard this conversation between two boys that i have been "pulling teeth" to get them to research and put together their projects.

boy #1: this is great. i wish we could do this all the time.

boy#2: not me.

boy #1: really? why not?

boy #2: it's tiring.

oh - if only he knew how truly tiring it is. only one more day til science fair.

welcome good weather

and saturday, the good weather began so we went for a walk.

dusk begins.

valentines

remember valentine's day when you were a kid? well that's what i get to experience every year - valentines with pink and red construction paper hearts, cupcakes, cookies with icing, games...it really is a good time.

yesterday the kids made over 40 valentines to put in our Kits for Kids that we were assembling today for kids in Tanzania. They put lots of work into them and included notes about themselves and the fact that God loves them and they are special. It was great putting together our 70 kits of school supplies today.

I read the kids this story yesterday while they made they're valentine holders called Somebody Loves You, Mr. Hatch. it's about this lonely man who doesn't have any friends and works in a shoelace factory. He's always alone and he never smiles. Then on Valentines day, he gets a giant heart-shaped box of chocolates and note that says, "somebody love you". knowing that someone loves him, his whole persona changes. he wonders who might have sent it. he smiles at people on the street. he shares his chocolates with his coworkers. he helps others. he bakes brownies and gives them to people in his neighbourhood. and then the postman comes by one day and tells him that he'd made a mistake and delivered that heart and note accidently to the wrong house! Mr. Hatch gives the postman back the box (minus the chocolates) and the note. and then...Mr. Hatch says to himself, "no one loves me after all." and he goes back to the lonely, keeping to himself kind of guy he was before. but now, everyone misses the fun Mr. Hatch so they throw him a party with a big sign that says, "everyone loves Mr. Hatch!" so it ends well but it's a little heart breaking when he finds out that the package hadn't been for him. so don't forget to tell someone that they're loved today (and everyday) because we might not realize how much it means.

rebecca sews: research

some quotes from a new found blog...and only interesting if you are interested in sewing.

"...And another thing: how do you deal with frustration and failure? Because learning to sew, at least at first, will add heaping doses of both into your life, I'm sorry to say. If frustration makes you crazy-angry, with bouts of throwing things and/or screaming, try to sew when your family/roommate/pet parakeets are elsewhere. Take lots of deep breaths. One deep breath for each stitch ripped out is a pretty good ratio. If "failing" at something makes you want to sleep for a week (and either stop eating altogether or mainline Ben & Jerry's): redefine 'failure'. You didn't fail to make a skirt, you succeeded in learning how NOT to make a skirt! Go into every project, at least for the first few projects, with the goal of learning, and not with the goal of making something couture-level. Define success generously. If you got the machine threaded right, didn't sew through your finger, and the two pieces of fabric join up more or less evenly? You won. Do a victory lap." - http://www.dressaday.com/dressaday.html (feb. 5)

this post made me feel better. and very glad that i am not learning from a book. if you live in edmonton and want to learn to sew, i recommend my cousin rachel who is a fabulous artist in more ways than just sewing but as of feb.11, she has started offering sewing lessons for a steal! working one on one is the best way to learn (in my [and rachel's] opinions, of course).

rebecca sews: legs

there they are. the beginning of pants. these are supposedly going to become something i can wear but i'm skeptical. i'm pretty sure the girl i partnered with to measure our inseams was confused at how to read the measuring tape. they could be capris. at least they're a comfy material and very wide legged - i can probably get away with mistakes. "what mistakes?" you may be asking. welll...like i said in the last segment of rebecca sews, i'm not very precise. and when it came to making these pants, i was frustrated by the slowness of the pinning and by how many pins i needed and then the slowness of the cutting of the fabric. i just wanted to sew! but i guess this is good patience practice for me. at one point, i broke my needle on the machine. (not on purpose - not even by lack of patience - it just broke.) but i'm sure the pants will work out...and if they do, and you're my size, maybe i'll make YOU a pair! hmm...i shouldn't sign myself up for too much too soon. maybe only if i get your name at christmas.

here's a close up of my lightning stitch - used for seams that you really don't want to have fall apart. (i would think that would be all seams but apparently not.)

i got the remote

one thing i dislike about the gym i'm at is the tvs. there's no sound and the remote sits around and it gets picked up by unthoughtful people who change the channels mid-show or have the same thing on side by side tvs. i've blogged about the tvs before and have thought about blogging about the tvs many more times.

on friday, i finally got the remote.

i was on the treadmill next to a guy who had the remote. when his run ended, he walked away and i grabbed the remote out of the little bottle holders and i was so pleased with myself. now i could watch whatever i wanted. hoping for great things, i pointed the remote at the tv and found channel 2 and watched the listings go by. hmm...nothing good was on. i just wanted an episode of what not to wear or something. and i even would have settled for friends. but no. so i flipped the channel to oprah. but then i looked over and oprah was on two tvs side by side all of a sudden. i thought to myself, "that's weird that someone behind me just changed to this channel too. i'll change mine to something else so that i have two options to watch." but as i pressed the numbers on the remote, i realized that my remote changed more than one tv. which must be why you can only ever see one remote around. it must change them all! so i aimed the remote a little better and got two different things on tv. but they were an uninteresting oprah and tyra. lame. but oh well, i put the remote in my bottle holder and kept jogging.

a couple minutes later, a familiar face comes walking by and goes on a nearby treadmill. it was the guy who called me a cheater. he's on the treadmill in front of the tyra tv. all of a sudden, i didn't want to have the remote anymore. then another guy came and got on the treadmill next to me. i debated whether i should give him the remote so that he could change the channel to something he wanted to watch. then he and buddy start chatting and i start worrying that maybe they're going to make a joke about having two talk shows on. do i give the remote away? are they thinking, "why does this girl have such crappy channels on?"

finally the pressure was too much. i pressed STOP on the treadmill and ended my workout 10 minutes early. i couldn't take it. the responsibility was too great.

and now i will never hope to have the remote again.

sleeep...

some mornings as i sit at my desk while the kids do their silent reading (and seriously, it is dead silent in here) i find myself feeling so tired, i think i might have to lay my head down on my desk. i think thoughts like, "i don't think i can make it through the day" and "i'm going to have a nap when i get home". but then silent reading is over and i stand up and begin the day of "do your math. sit down. where's your pencil. let me help you. stop inturrupting me. good job. why don't you have science fair resources here? yay yay this is exciting. well done. tie your shoes. etc etc." and the tiredness never dawns on me again for the rest of the day.

so what would i do if i always sat at my desk and wasn't a teacher who walks and talks all day without of a moment of silent thought? i'd be tired i guess. and calling in sick a lot.

but really...i'm really tired today. i might not make it through the day. i'm going to have a nap when i get home. thank goodness it's friday.

for the lurkers

the guru took a couple days to get back to me which made me nervous but then he said that unless the salmon are eating (which they're not yet), the ammonia levels probably aren't that high. keep cleaning the tank. don't disturb the rocks where they're hiding. all seems to be clear on the salmon front.

a appreciate the delurking. i encourage more of you to do the same. :)

so i got a webcam set up if you want to look at our tank: http://ca.youtube.com/watch?v=1ulU6xXZ3gI

on the salmon front...

all is not well.

i tested the ammonia levels today. they're rising. i knew it was time. tank cleaning.

so apparently i'm supposed to siphon water out of the tank with this hose thing but the only way i can think of to get the water out is to suck on the end of the hose. there's no way this is how this thing must work. i go and get my principal to help me. he inhaled on the hose until water came out of the tank and he got the end of it into the bucket before it hit his lips. hmm - i guess that IS the only way to do it. shoot. i guess next time, it'll have to be me.

so as the water is pouring out into the bucket, i'm supposed to be pushing the other end of it around in the gravel, making sure i'm getting all the excrement out of the rocks. (like that word?) but as i do this, i'm realizing that really, all the alevin are inside this little rock fort that we've made and i'm sure all the excrement is in there too. what do i do? start pulling rocks away? freak them all out? as if they're not already totally scared as they look out their little fort windows and see this giant hose poking around in the gravel. so i don't bother them. i fill up my bucket of water, empty it, get new water, clean it, pour it back in. retest the ammonia.

NOTHING CHANGED! the ammonia levels are still too high! and you know what will happen if the ammonia levels are too high...(say it with me now) all the salmon will die!

i sent off a quick email of questions to my salmon guru and have yet to hear back. oh man...what have i gotten myself into?

sick

so after a crazy wednesday night (see the last post), needless to say i wasn't feeling so hot on thursday morning. on thursday around recess, i started feeling sweaty but cold. i had a headache. but that must be from my crazy workout, right? at 11:30am, one of my students said he wasn't feeling well and he lay down on the sick cot and slept until 2:40pm. i knew how he felt. terrible.

but do you ever get sick and think, "maybe i'm not really sick. i'm just making these symptoms out to be something bigger than they are."? i got home from work on thursday afternoon and looked through my cupboard for some medicine. there on the benylin bottle it listed all 6 of my symptoms: headache, stuffy nose, sore throat, dry cough, chills. so there - it must be true. i'm sick. but it's okay because here i have a bottle of something to cure me. i check the expiration date: oct 07. shoot. i took it anyways. and actually, i started feeling better. better enough to think that maybe i wasn't sick. what a strange thought process.

then i spent a sweaty, freezing, sleepless night in my bed and felt justified in the morning for calling in sick. i went back to bed and slept til 12:30pm. my symptoms have changed, but these new ones are still listed on the bottle: sore throat, chest congestion. and i continue to take my expired benylin every 6 hours as instructed.

maybe i should take a drive to the drugstore and buy something more up to date. :)