better blogging coming soon!

merry christmas past, happy boxing day and hello to 2 weeks off! sweet.

christmas has been fantastic. we have done some major family hanging out time which has been very fun however getting in the way of consistant blogging. haha. the macdonald's started a boxing day at the movies tradition since lord of the rings first one then i think last year was lion witch and the wardrobe. this year it was the pursuit of happyness with will and his son. it's a bit of a downer the whole time though very interesting. we used the word "intense" to describe. i still liked it. maybe that's because i bought myself popcorn and diet coke to watch with it. ha.

well i recieved a CAMERA for christmas from tim hence better blogging coming soon! now i can take photos and instantly upload at home, not waiting to go to WR to upload them at my parents. won't that be remarkable? actually...we still haven't figured out our whole technology setup though. we also got an ipod nano for christmas but our computer's USB port doesn't seem to work so not uploading anything here. we're relying on the work laptop until we figure out a plan with getting a new computer. who knows. either way, photos are on their way. also, a plethora of random stories as well.

here's the first one:

tim got a guitar for christmas from me. he says he needs "an indoor hobby". inspiration from james charboneau. what do you think of that james? so we bought a "teach yourself" book that comes with a cd and he's out in the living room as i type learning his first few notes. i did always think i'd end up with a musician. haha.

last day before christmas break

YAY!

what does a teacher do with her class on the day before christmas break?

sing carols
long gym class
christmas activity booklets (like word searches,crosswords, abc order etc)
colouring sheets
reading christmas stories
christmas subtraction (write subtraction questions in a christmas tree and they're happy)
over an hour of art
eat candy canes
listen to a christmas adventures in odessy
sing more carols

hmm...

ahh..the Christmas program arrives

get ready for an "i love teaching/my school!" post.

let me just state that my students are so fantastic. they performed their play earlier today in our dry run to which we invite seniors from the nearby old folks home. it was so great. this morning, our main angel (the one with a line) didn't come to school because she's sick so i called one of the singing angels over to my desk and told her that she'd have to learn the line this morning before our performance at 11am. she immediately quoted the line to me! she already knew it! how great is that? and then during the performace, the angels (who double as wisemen) have to get off stage, lose their wings and throw their wisemen costumes on in a matter of seconds before the next scene. well today getting the costumes on took a little long and then when they came running onto the stage, one wiseman had both arms through one arm hole of her jacket but she knew the show must go on. no one tripped off stage or forgot their lines. no mikes were dropped. it was awesome.

to give you an idea of what a production this is, check out this pic of our gym. there are 200 chairs (last year, there were still people who had to stand!), two sets of spotlights, mini bleachers for the kids, and the the stage. there are only 56 kids in the whole school!?! 35 families. it's pretty cool.


i told my students today that my husband, parents, brother and his girlfriend were all coming to watch them perform tonight and they were so excited. they remembered that their last name was macdonald so that they would call them mr. and mrs. macdonald. one student suggested we could call my brother "brother macdonald" and katie, "girlfriend macdonald". last year we went through this same thing and not one student wanted to talk to them on the actual night. maybe these kids are less shy. we'll see.

this afternoon we spent over an hour making a calendar as a Christmas present. Most students only got the numbers and months written in. teaching young kids, you remember that it's not just common sense to know that the day after the last day in one month is the first day of the next month. this posed some difficulty for many. i used the binding machine and bound each one so they look very professional. haha. okay, they look cute.


after school i went to the dollar store with sally so she could get glitter glue. i bought these dishes. only $3.50.

yes, it was quite a day. ha.

bad hair day?

sometimes if i'm running late in the morning, i take my straightener with me to school and add the finishing touches (haha) before school starts. yes, seriously. so this morning i brought it along but i thought my hair was looking okay with just the blowdrying so i didn't bother straightening it.

then after i got my kids started on silent reading, i went to the 5,6,7 classroom to ask the teacher something and one of my students from last year says, "mrs. shulba! did you just roll out of bed or something?" i said, "why?" and he replied, "your hair."

hmm...

i straightened my hair during my prep.

although...now that i think about it, this was the kid who told me my new haircut last year made me look like michael jackson so i probably shouldn't have been too worried. ha.

you're a teacher?

here's a big mistake to make as a teacher:

scheduled a field trip to the Municipal Office for Dec.18 over a week ago. then i forgot all about it...until this morning on my way to school. no permission slips went home. no notes about wearing clothing appropriate for the weather because we're walking. nothing. so this morning i made some phone calls to parents asking permission then passed the list over to our wonderful secretary who made the rest of the calls and by 10:45am when it was time to leave...we had all permissions.

then we walk to the offices and i forgot the camera. thankfully a parent came with us and she had a camera.

i'm not exactly making a great name for myself as being a well-organized teacher. at least i brought that clipboard with me as an attempt to look organized.

oh the connections

matt, the guy who lives in our basement, has started playing ice hockey and sometimes he goes with his friend to the public skate to practice skating. tim has decided that he too wants to do this so he's started going along. the first time was a couple weeks ago and i went along. i met his buddy and the four of us skated around and around in circles (i'm not a big fan of skating). i haven't gone since but tim has. anyways...

so last night tim and i were going to see the holiday and we invited matt and his wife to come with us. so that was random but fun and when we were sitting in the theatre, in comes this woman that i know from TWU/church. we say hi at church and such. very nice. well it turns out that the guy she was with was her little brother aka. skating buddy. so skating buddy comes up to where we are and is saying to matt, yada yada about not inviting him to the movies and we're chatting to his sister saying, yada yada haven't seen you at church lately and it was all just so weird. what a random connection that i've met both these people separately and here they are together but we wouldn't have met the skating guy if we didn't know our tenants etc etc.

random.

anyways...in other news from last night - i took the tags off the jacket and am wearing it sans fur. i like it a lot.

well i've spent the morning doing nothing (umm...slash early afternoon since it's already 4pm) and now i'm thinking i should attempt to hit the mall and do a little more shopping. i've been doing a little here and there but really next week is the last week and i work all day everyday so i'd better get goin here.

peace.

a trend follower

i'm definitely not a trendy dresser. i have always been quite behind in clothing trends because i inittially dislike them. (lulu lemon, pants tucked into the boots, fur-lined hooded jackets, etc.) then as they're around for awhile, you get used to them and eventually start to like them. by then, i'm usually too late.

augh. clothes.

well lately i've been shopping for jackets. i have a fleece and a rain jacket but not a regular warm but not for snowboarding jacket. everywhere you look, the jackets are puffy and have faux fur-lined hoodies. initially i disliked this look. the more you try on jackets and the more you see, the desensitized you get. now i've bought one myself. am i too late? am i too old for this trend? what is you your opinion on these jackets? i had my "ask liz" moment when i was buying it because she always gives a clear opinion when asked. what do you think of the photos liz? (and anyone else with clear opinions)

the jacket i bought is not puffy. i didn't want a puffy jacket. it's army green with two big pockets on either side of the jacket (equaling four). the hood zips down the middle so the fur is just on either side of it. you couldn't actually wear the hood on your head unless necessary. the fur is detachable. i detached it and was trying to decide if i like it as much without. the fur is also ugly and cheap. is that like all of these jackets? here are the photos to make an educated opinion. the question to answer? do i take it back? it was $49.99.

the jacket in it's original state.




the no fur version in poorer light.



FYI: the candle holders were returned. i decided i wanted the $10 towards this jacket...

tv-ed out

yes, you read it right. tv-ed out. i've watched a lot of tv over the past couple weeks. it's cold outside. i want to be warm inside. but all i'm doing is watching tv. augh. the upside is that tim and i often play games while we watch so that my mind isn't getting mushy but still...i think i'm almost tv-ed out. i discovered mtv canada on channel 94. it always has a totally brainless show on at anytime so that you can tune in and then when the show you're waiting for comes on, you can easily tune out. my favourite mtv show is rob and big. a pro skater and his body guard. other than that show though, they're all pretty pathetic.

haha. right now i'm reading london is the best city in america. i went to the library this past weekend and got some books so that i have another option but haven't found anything as interesting as my fav chick-lit. it takes more thought to read than you know...the shopaholic series let's say, however, probably good to counteract my tv watching with a book like that.

in sadder news, i have another ingrown toenail. ahh...the anguish. i've been getting regular pedicures ever since my last ingrown toenail for fear of cutting my own toenails. was it a crazy fear? apparently not. i cut my toenails myself a couple weeks ago for probably the first time in 6 months and now one is ingrown. all my life i've been cutting my own toenails never an ingrown nail in sight. what's gone wrong? this morning i woke tim up to tell him the bad news and mumbled something about me probably needing to have surgery on it which threw me into a panic. i'm hoping it won't come to that. ha. (maybe i shouldn't laugh...)

please vote.

are these ugly? they're red and white glass. they hold candles. imagine candlelight shining through them. tim cannot believe i bought them. maybe i was swayed by the price. let me know what you think. i won't be offended. would you buy them? what do you think shannon? joy? lavonne? mom? :) heehee.

camera phone

our technology is increasing. tim has recently gotten a work cell phone...it has a camera. i'm very very excited. having been without a camera for so long however, i did go a little camera crazy last night with kara and james.




(that's james' thumb)

heehee. you can look forward to more blurry photos to come.

the intensity of life as a 7 year old

in hopes of hanging onto the last bit of snow, kids worked very hard on this snow fort yesterday. there were tears from some of my students because it was falling apart.


today in the math centre, playing a game where you roll two dice (one colour is tens and the other is ones) and you add the numbers up together. this means carrying. with many difficult games of this under their belts, today the adding was mastered. it was much more fun.


in a typing centre, one student who has been on lesson 1, part 1 since september finally got 15 WPM and was extremely excited to move onto lesson 1, part 2. (that student not shown here however i am worried to see that this student only has one hand on the typing pad. not a good sign.)


today both of these girls mastered their current reading level and moved up, getting to add new books to their boxes (as seen below the chair). they were happy to be reading new books.


ahh yes. school as a seven or eight year old. the arguments over who plays with who at recess. the injustice when you have to get moved away from your friend because you're talking too much. the disappointment when you don't win adding bingo. the candy when you win find the magic piece of garbage. the cruel words to ridicule someone who is not understanding something. the tears when you are chastised by the teacher for ridiculuing. the fun hour of art on fridays.

it amazes me how up and down a day goes. and i still get hugs at the end of the day from students whom i thought would be upset with me for getting them in trouble. you got to love teaching seven and eight year olds.

behind in the technology

you know...watching all these commercials that are on for "christmas gifts" (in quotations because i can't believe how much everything cost yet they're being suggested as STOCKING stuffers...) but i'm feeling very behind in technology. some examples?

> i have a USB memory stick but my computer is too old for it to work
> my cell phone has a black and white screen with no features and doesn't even change it's own clock with daylight savings.
> i don't have an ipod
> if i had an ipod, i wouldn't be able to use my computer to download/upload music to it
> we have an answering machine
> my car doesn't have a cd player or satellite radio
> i upload my digital photos at my parents house
> my DAD sent me a youtube clip and i can't watch it because i don't have sound on my computer

and i've recently been given the task to research and buy a laptop and projector for the school because i "know the most about technology".

needless to say, i asked my mom.

in other news, i wrote a christmas play for my class. yes, i wrote it. i was a little skeptical of my play-writing abilities however i heard an inspiring childrens story this sunday at PPAC and thought...if that person's story can get read in a church...i can totally write something. ha. i read it to my class this morning without telling them that they were going to be performing it and i even got some laughs out of them. they were pretty pumped when they found out that they get to be in a play. i, on the other hand, have 2 weeks minus weekends to get them ready to perform it. good luck me.

what?

this morning i got the call from my principal. he told me that school's closed but all the teachers are going to meet at Ena's house (that's our TA) for kind of pro-d thing. He said he had a great "survivor" game we were going to play. i was so angry that the kids didn't have to go anywhere but us teachers did! i yelled about it to karen vanderveen and she told me not to tell the inspector. the inspector? you mean we weren't even allowed to be meeting on a day that school was cancelled? this is ridiculous! so i called my principal back and asked him since it was just us teachers, if i could at least wear sweatpants. he laughed and gave me a speech about dressing professionally. i hung up and was so mad but i thought i'd call sally to carpool and when i looked at the clock it was already 12 noon. when was i supposed to be there? then the phone rang. i woke up and looked at the clock. it was 6:12am. tim answered the phone and it was john calling to say school was cancelled. how insane was that dream i was having? a little too real although i bet you were wondering why i was talking to karen vanderveen. ha.

christmas idea

there was an ad on tv tonight for www.freethechildren.com which suggests that you donate money to them and buy a goat for a family in Africa. i'd recently heard about this idea and was thinking it sounded good. in researching this a little more on the internet tonight, i found Canadian Food for the Hungry's gift guide. it's like a catalogue that you can choose an item to buy ranging from $20 - $800 for families in Africa and Asia. this is a great site through a trusted organization where you actually choose where your money is going. they'll send you a gift acknowledgement card if you'd like to donate money on behalf of a friend or family member...maybe for christmas? in an area of the world where we have so much already, maybe this could be a better thing to buy for christmas. just an idea for you. check out this site. pass the site onto others too.

woah! snow!

so it has not stopped snowing since yesterday. insanity! here i am doing report cards but secretly wishing for a snow day tomorrow. okay...i'm sure it's not a secret. last year we got maybe a cm of snow and i called my principal that morning to ask if there was going to be a day off school. umm...there wasn't. HOWEVER...i still have not recieved a phone call to let me know about tomorrow. if there isn't a snow day, i will be seriously seriously disappointed.

in regards to sickness...i may have spoke too soon. i'm hurting again today. my neck is very very tense and i honestly think it's affecting my overall well being. could a very sore neck affect how nauseous you feel? i've been sleeping poorly due to the neck and last night i got up and slept on the couch. weird. if it's not a snow day tomorrow, it may very well be a sick day.

tonight we rented A Prairie Companion. i'll let you know how it is.

lavonne will be happy to know...

i'm doing fine. i went into work on tuesday though not feeling that well but by wednesday, all was well. no doctor needed. then thursday i lost my voice compeletely. weird. i went to school anyways because last year i taught two days with no voice. i figure my class is that much more manageable this year...i'll be fine with no voice. and it was okay. though annoying. by friday it was coming back little by little. it's still a little rough today but all good...uhh...besides this cough that started this morning. shoot.

so it's SNOWING. this morning tim and i took a little drive up sumas mountain to see the snow and by evening, the snow had come to us. our little house here has never been in snow since we've lived here. to bad the only pics we can take are on film and not digital. they may never make it to the blog. we went and saw 007 tonight in mission and when we came out, it hadn't stopped snowing for hours! could there possibly be a snow day on monday? saturday snow is always such a disappointment because it usually gone by monday. oh well. maybe it's super snowing in agassiz. who knows? either way, it was fun to see tim jump up and down then run around when we saw that it was snowing out this afternoon. good times.

well it's report card week in teacher world and last year at this time there was some major crying and panic. this year, i've been actually doing report cards little by little. what a concept! in my mind, they're almost done but i'm avoiding having a look at them tonight because they probably aren't. tomorrow's big job. email me if you like so i'll have something to procrastinate with. you can be sure to expect a survey in tomorrow's post. ha.

diagnosis please

well yesterday was a sick day from school. i have a mysterious illness. let me describe the symptoms and you can self-diagnose.

> nauseau without throwing up.
> naseau all day and it doesn't get better or worse depending on what i eat (aka. i ate didn't eat anything all day yesterday and felt terrible but then i ate a full dinner and felt equally terrible).
> no, it's not pregnancy.

what could it be? if you have any ideas, do share. it has now been going on for three days.

in other news, SHAPE magazine responded to my angry email with an extension on my subscription for 3 months. how great! i'm very pleased. they also informed me that by subscribing, i "have the advantage of having the issue delivered to
your door and of being guaranteed an issue without the disappointment of
a newsstand sell-out." well thanks.

emails and workouts

well two days ago, i was quite annoyed that my november issue of Shape magazine had not yet come in the mail and it was already nov. 15. this would not even be that annoying if i had not been looking at the front cover of Shape since nov.1 at grocery stores every couple days. why is it that it can come to grocery stores that early and not my house? well by nov.15, i decided that i'd email Shape and let them know how annoyed i was. "Dear Shape, I don't know why it is that your magazine is in stores by the first of the month and by nov.15, it has still not come to me. are your subscribers that unimportant to you that they are the last to recieve it? i am very disappointed as this happens on a consistant basis and i will not be renewing my subscription when it ends." okay...so i went a little overboard. i will totally still be subscribing again when my subscription ends. but i thought, since i was going to the effort of emailing, i'd better try and make a splash. haha. umm...and then i got the magazine in the mail the next day.

so i went to wendy's last night as tim was not coming home from work until 10:00pm and then i went to the gym to work off only half of what i'd just eaten. friday nights at the gym between 6 - 8pm are a great place to be if you don't have tlc at home. what not to wear is on and makes you want to work out for a whole hour so that you can see the show from start to finish. which is what i did. there was a girl on the treadmill next to me also watching it and i just wanted to talk to her about the show during the commercials but you'll be glad to know i refrained.

my week in photos

Friday


Saturday





Sunday



...insert pic of chili with the MacD's...



Monday






Tuesday

Wednesday




Thursday



Friday

i can't fit this in my sidebar.