Travel Saga: Halifax

we’re a little out of order here since we started in halifax but PEI was just so fresh in my mind. Halifax. what a great little city. we were staying in a friend’s apartment that was vacant for the summer hence no Halifax b&b stories.

since we were only spending one full day in the city, we were pretty happy that we were staying close enough that we could walk everywhere. I read through the tourist booklet and saw that there was a big national historic site in Halifax that looked pretty interesting and when I consulted my map, it showed that it was in point pleasant park which was about a couple kilometers from our place. so off we headed on foot. we got to the entrance of the park and there were no signs for this apparently huge site. we walked through trails and trails trying to find the water. tim’s saying, “it’s a little strange that there hasn’t been any signs for this – usually a national historic site has major government signage.” “oh I’m sure it’s close…” when we finally hit the water – still no signs. we sat down on a bench and I checked the tourist book/map. it read, “the citadel sits atop a hill overlooking the city.” we looked around. we couldn’t see the city…and we were not on a hill. oops. it’s not in point pleasant park. it’s the opposite direction in the middle of the city. see Travel Saga: Map Reading.

the harbour is obviously a central area to hang out. so after our jaunt in point pleaant, we headed to the harbour. we had fish and chips on the water – and it wasn’t the white rock $12 – 15 for a 2 piece. it was $7.99 and we shared it. so great. and so much fish underneath that batter. we listened to buskers, we took photos of boats, and we watched the fog roll in.
from the harbour, we could see the “hill overlooking the city” which is where we wanted to be. we headed up the hill for the Halifax citadel. the citadel is the fort that was prepared to defend Halifax from a land attack – there were other places protecting the harbour. (point pleasant being one of them) but the fort was never attacked and stands in pretty similar condition as when it was built. we were given a tour from a Scottish soldier in a kilt serving in the mid-1800’s british army…aka. random “blue nose” teenager. (100 points to the person who knows why I called him blue nose) but it was a good tour.

Ode to Halifax:
your harbour is strong and your forts, they are stronger
you have so much history but your grocery hours could be longer
point pleasant is just that – we’d choose it to jog
we’re impressed that your fishermen can navigate the fog.
the work you’ve put into your tourism was splendid
when we go back to BC, we’ll be sure to recommend it.

(this one is for rach and dallas)

our "scottish" guide talking to some british soldiers (they might look like bellboys but that's because these soldier uniforms were sold to a hotel chain and the look caught on)

Travel Saga: Map reading

i’m the navigator. if you know me, you know that this is laughable. to have two people roadtripping with the lack of direction sense that we have? It means there are a lot of u-turns.
we have these touristy maps from the various visitor centres that just have the main roads on them. but the maps have “highway” numbers on them and the actual roads in PEI have road names. (well..off and on) it doesn’t help. we’ve taken the long way many many times on this trip.

since tim sees his job as being the driver, he’s not even looking at the signs. so if I look away from the edge of the road for a second and miss a sign, I say, “what did that sign say to get to wherever?” and he says, “what sign?” i’m trying to start warning tim long ahead of time – “we’re looking for ______, it’ll say hwy 4 west or this town”…we’re getting better. by the time we hit newfoundland, we’ll be pros but there will only be one main road!

tim would like me to add that the times that we have gotten lost, he’s been very patient and calm. I figured you already knew that – it’s why we got married.

travel saga: PEI

confederation bridge

green. trees. farmland. ocean. red cliffs. lighthouses. history. old houses. red sand. bad roads. small communities. lobster traps. red dirt. forests. b&bs. white caps. church steeples.

it's all postcard like. everywhere you look. we keep coming to screeching halts to take pictures but they're beginning to all look the same. there's an obsession with anne in this province which is funny. it doesn't matter how small the corner store you're in - there is something anne of green gables related that you can buy. and as i was poring over the map, i realized that of the four categories of community, village, town, and city - there are only two cities on the island. and charlottetown (one of them) is only about 30,ooo people!

yesterday we started the morning with a classic double decker red bus tour around charlottetown. umm...some highlights? starting off with being told to be as quiet as possible during the tour. the senior housing community - 39 units where the rent is based on residents' income. the entrance to victoria park "on your right is the name of the park written in flowers. beautiful." haha - it was so funny - but we did get some history and see some parts of town we wouldn't have seen on our own. we drove all over the island. everything seems fairly close. but as the day wore on, and we saw more and more fields and forests, they started to look the same. in the second half of the day, tim was getting out and taking pictures on his own. i was so tired. we've been packing in the sightseeing so today we took a nap on the beach.

travel saga: bed and breakfasts...

they're strange. awkward. these people have some extra bedrooms in their house and they open them up to you. do you tell them where you're headed when you go out? when you come in, should you sit around and visit, or can you just go to your room?

well our first b&b was in new perth, PEI. about 25 minutes east of chalottetown. we showed up around 4pm and our hosts were a cute couple in their 70s. they've been running a b&b for 33 years in the area. so we show up, they show us our room (one of four upstairs all sharing one bathroom), and then what? umm...we left. "we're going to the movies" (i felt the need to share our plans) when we returned, all the other guests and the hosts were sitting around in the living room. we stood (implying we were going to leave momentarily) chatting but eventually felt that we should just give in and sit down. so we sat around making small talk for half an hour. okay, okay, it's a great way to meet the locals of the area... and their rooster. we met him each morning at 6am (2am as we adjust from BC time) so just as you're feeling like you're getting to know the folks you're staying with, we have to sit down and be served by them. they kept bringing out the next part of the breakfast and pouring me coffee. it's great...but juxtaposed with the grandparent-like familiarity, you feel badly that you're just sitting there!

so the next b&b in murray harbour, PEI was more expensive (aka we'd have our own bathroom) and they had a satellite tv in the room. umm...we had to be prepared for SYTYCD, right? but they took our credit card number, had a great website, served fancy breakfasts - it sounded a lot more business-like. i was looking forward to the trails through their "mixed forest", paddling on the lake, and spending time non-guiltily in our room watching tv. so we showed up here today (they have wifi) and our room is right next to the hosts' office. i had just bought a diet coke on the way over and wanted to sit back in our room, check facebook...so i did. as soon as i came out of the room, the hosts were there (since their office is there) telling me that i don't have to sit in my room the whole time. oh i know...thanks...smile, smile. we're out of here. when we came back after dinner, i ran myself a bath in the jacuzzi tub. i was reading the binder that is in our room about the b&b and it says that guests are "encouraged" to come have tea in the evening and visit with other guests. then when i got out of the bath and was walking to my room, the hostess (who's sitting in the office) says to me, "be sure to come out and have tea later"...what do i say? umm...i've come all the way to PEI and i want to watch my tv show. so we're sitting in our room right now and i'm feeling guilty that i'm not out being social. shoot.

so bed and breakfasts...the verdict isn't in yet. i need to chill out a little, not worry about appearances, and enjoy the only tv on our trip. but despite the tone of this post, we ARE enjoying paying less and eating huge breakfasts (my favourite meal to have someone else make for me) and we'll see how the next few go!

tripping shulbas...

the time has come: we are leaving for the east coast in t-minus 6 hours. we've been talking about this trip since we got married and it just never happened so here we are finally making it happen! woohoo!

flying into halifax for 2 nights, driving to PEI for 3 nights, up to cape breton for 2 and then taking the ridiculously expensive/long ferry to newfoundland only to spend our 4 nights on the westside only because who knew the OTHER ferry to st. johns was 14 hrs and $400...it makes our 7 hour, less expensive ferry ride look short and cheap. oh yes - it's a long story that came to a head today...the day before we leave. i'll tell you about it later. when i talk to you. but did you realize how BIG newfoundland is? bigger than it looks on the map of canada. :)

but anyways - we're pumped. we're packed. we're re-watching SYTYCD at 11:15pm the night before we go.

"i never sleep well before a trip." - tim

maritimes, here we come!

lil c and the poetic language

what a week. comfort back? switching up partners? kherington giving dagger eyes to the judges? will and katee rocking out? gev's solo? phew. it was so much for me that i didn't even post. haha - no, i was just busy. but thanks to the die-hard SYTYCD fans still looking me up.

next week, i'll be in PEI but have made sure to book a B&B that has a satellite tv in our room for wednesday. hey - maybe they'll have wireless too...

days of summer: 5

toe art

days of summer: 4

white rock beach

the white man

no, this white man.

the other day, tim, jon (our friend who lives in our basement suite) and i were walking up to mcdonalds for an ice cream. when we got to the crossing, the light was green in the direction that we wanted to go but no one had pressed the button so i just started walking. the boys called, "what are you doing?" to me as i walked and they cowered on the sidewalk. they started to walk then stopped and went back - it made the people in the cars laugh. when they finally made it across, i argued, "it was green - you can walk." and they argued that you can't walk until the man shows up.

since then, i've been watching people at intersections. they wait and wait, the light turns green but the white man doesn't come so they turn around and press the button again but by now it's way too late. everyone. it's crazy to me.

is it crazy to anyone else? or am i just living on the edge?

on repeat...

right now, the song on repeat on the ipod is "heart of the matter". a don henley song remade by india arie. love it.

days of summer: 3

the view from the clearbrook library

so the library may not seem like the place to spend sunny summer days and i guess this picture could be in "days of winter" or "days of fall" as well but on those really really hot days when you have been recently sunburned and need to stay out of the sun...the library is a great place to be. there's this big sitting area with huge windows at our local library - it's air conditioned and there is every magazine you could hope for to read for free. what more could you ask for on a summer day when in hiding from the sun?

the loving and hating

well. what craziness. what stood out? nothing. is it because they're all so good? or all not that great? hmm...

i could not believe the judges' comments on the twitch and kherington crump. "you lost it at the end but i'm going to ignore that." "you got tired and lost your facial expressions in the ending of the dance but let's not talk about that." WHAAAAT? if this was comfort, they'd ONLY comment on that. sure, i love love loved the dance too and thought they brought it but these are the judges. quit loving on your favs.

and then comfort and thayne. harsh. okay, we've all come to the conclusion that they're not the best on the show. and if they nailed their dances tonight? they'd still be bottom three tomorrow. so why are we hating on them? their hiphop was great - thayne did way better than i expected. quit hating on your least favs.

and mia - telling gev and courtney that "you're not the best dancers here" is a little much. every week they are better and better. and don't you just want gev and courtney to get together in the end? gev LOVES her! and they're so cute and small together. we laugh at the thought of courtney's boyfriend every week. but did anyone else think that courtney was a little overtanned tonight? it was a little weirdly orange.

so i hate to love the favourites. but i do this season. but the favourite category is getting bigger and in my mind extends to chelsea&mark and courtney&gev as WELL as twitch, kherington, joshua, and katee. and what does this mean? someone who is our favourites will be in the bottom three. so will, jessica, comfort, thayne, ________ & ________? hmm...i guess i'll predict: courtney and gev. sigh.

days of summer: 2

cherries on the deck

and as an aside...

another revelation:

i mentioned to my brother that whenever i buy almonds in bulk, they're stale.

he told me that they're raw...not stale. and if i want them to crunch, i should toast them.

how could i not have figured that out?

tonight i ate crunchy almonds.

days of summer: 1

canoing at manning park

i have a blog that i love to read and right now she's started a "days of summer" photo project. 30 photos of "summer" sprinkled throughout her regular posting. i like it. therefore i also will do it. isn't there some saying about copying being flattery? yes, we'll say that saying right here. along with my first photo.

boo tabitha and napoleon

they bring nothing to the judging panel. boo.

though, speaking of judges and booing, did you not love nigel's angry speech to the audience about booing? "if you don't like that we're critiquing, you can go home."

i think everyone's improving. but there are just some bottom feeders that can't get up in the world of SYTYCD, you know? like it doesn't matter how great a fox trot comfort and buddy do - they're going to be in the bottom 3. and matt and kourtni - sure, their hiphop was slammed a little by the judges but i thought matt was doing so much better. but i think they'll still be in the bottom. if he's in the bottom 3 tonight i think he'll be going because how many times can you give the same critique to a guy (your upper body is a little stiff)? if he doesn't change, he's gotta go. and that jessica - she's too sensitive so we all feel bad when they critique but that's what they're there to do! we can't be feeling so bad for her (or is it just me feeling badly?).

oh mia michaels. i know they praise and praise and everyone gushes over her so that you're sick of it...BUT SHE'S SO GOOD! wow - both those numbers last night were awesome. i especially loved joshua and katee's. great song choice too. and for a slower moving song to be choreographed so fast. augh! i love it!

but predictions for the bottom 3?...kourtni and matt, comfort and that guy, and...umm...courtney and gev? i called them last week and they weren't. i thought their hiphop was FANTASTIC. sure, it wasn't down and hard hitting but it was fun and they seemed to have fun and courtney rocked it. i hope they're not in the bottom. maybe will and jessica again? hmm...i think matt and kourtni are both out this week.

i'm loving noah and the whale videos

revelations...

i had a favourite book in grade 9 - the main character's name was Miguel. I pronounced it mig-u-elle in my head. in grade 11 french, my teacher was taking role call and called, "Miguel" (mig-elle)...and it dawned on me that that was the name i'd been reading...

growing up, we always had Laurentian pencil crayons for school. in my head, i pronounced it lauren-teen. when i got to TWU and heard they had a Laurentian Center...i was shocked that i could mispronounce a word for so many years and not find out until 10 - 15 years later.

this weekend, i was eating m&ms and spilled a bunch in the back the 4runner. i tried to pick them all up but they were hard to find. matt commented, "they melt in your mouth, not in your hand". later that (hot hot) day when i came across a lone m&m unmelted in the back of the truck, i realized that the m&m slogan actually means that they don't melt. i always thought they meant that they're so good, you eat them fast so they don't have time to melt in your hand. apparently...they don't melt in your hand even if you eat them slow. wow.

have you had random revelations such as these?

SYTYCD

yes, a post is due. a post about So You Think You Can Dance is even more due. (is that possible?)

SO...initial favourites? obviously we all love twitch, right? seems like such a nice guy. great dancer. kherington...okay. but their hiphop routine was FANtastic last night - so in sync (not to be confused with n'sync). but by the time we got to the end of the show, (which was excruciatingly long...2 hours? c'mon.) they might have been forgotten. but i know they'll reel in the votes nonetheless as the favs.

i dislike the tall-sies. you know, kourtni and matt. they hadn't done anything great since the show started (okay, last week wasn't bad but i was still riding on the hate-train). so i'm bashing them before they're even on stage (ninja mask?) and then they bust out that fantastic contemporary routine. wow. i have to admit that it was so good. and not your typical contemporary, which i liked. holla for the mohawk girl. so i think they'll still be in it tonight. unless america is just blindly hating like i was. shoot.

and speaking of tall...kat. 5'9 isn't that tall. why are we all blah blah blah kat's so tall? maybe dancers are just short. sure...she's wearing crazy heels but so could you, nigel.

then adam - the judge. yes, he drew out the critiques but the judges were definitely told to take as much time as possible to try to make the show the whole 2 hours so don't critisize him for that. he is just the best judge ever. somehow he's able to start his critique with something positive yet honest and then give actual advice...that's usable. unlike being on the hot tamale train. "umm...thanks? but what can i do better next time?" (yeah, yeah, i know...as much as we all claim to hate mary murphy, i can see you getting happy for the couples that make it on the train...)

and then the suprise ending with joshua dancing the samba? that was unreal. the hips on that guy were too funny. "i thought he hood!" and what a difference bangs made on the girl! (shoot...what's her name?) wow. great dance.

if you came over and watched SYTYCD with me...you'd be annoyed. i try to make as many comments as possible before the dance is over so that when a judge says something that i'd just said, i can say, "i knew it". very annoying. and most of the time, i don't know it. :) but i'm going to tell you about it here anyways.

in the bottom three tonight? courtney and gev, chris and comfort, and thayne and chelsea. yes, i like courtney and gev too but everyone was so good last night. i guess for the third couple, we'll just really see who's not liked...then chris will go. as for the girl...it definitely won't be comfort. (fingers crossed). those are the predictions. tune in later tonight for the results...or...watch the show. probably a better option.

don't deprive...

as you know...summer is *ahem* "here". and we want starbucks fraps. you may be avoiding them for fear of the horrendous calorie intake but hear this: the tall, light, coffee frap is only 90 calories. indulge.

thank you to my sponsers: rachel and alyssa.

mix tape much?

on saturday mornings (and sometimes tuesday or thursday afternoons) i go to a strength class at my gym. it's an hour of weights, squats, abs, etc to music. so for the length of a song, we do a million reps of something. but the music is just a crazy crazy mix. the funny thing is that they keep the same routine for 6 weeks and that means you listen to the same songs for 6 weeks. today was the beginning of a new routine so i'd never heard the music mix. oh man. songs i remember from it?

pump it up medley (the hockey song)

rockin robin

pretty woman

dr. jones (by aqua)

who's bed have your boots been under

mmmbop (by hanson)

and there were many many more songs...i just can't think of them. but can you believe that mix? you know when you make a mix cd, you try to make a flow? (or maybe that's just me?) well this is the opposite of flow. and now i get to listen to it for 6 more weeks. i have to admit though...i AM able to sing along to almost all the songs...

bed and breakfast?

so it's official - tim and i bought tickets to fly to Halifax this summer. it's really our first big vacation where we're just hanging out sightseeing and not meeting up with people. very different. but with the expense of tickets/renting a car/gas...we're trying to stay places that are cheap. this means 2 star bed and breakfasts. you can find some that are lower than even backpacker's hostels and stuff. but it's been a pretty funny search. some b&bs are really just an extra room down the hall from where the owners sleep...which i'm not a huge fan of. some pretty crazy decor. the best are the things that they advertise that their suites have. my favourite luxury that's i've seen recently? "complimentary use of our acoustic guitar"

oh collage...

i still love collaging. in highschool, i collaged my notebooks and binders. one of my bedroom walls was completely collaged with magazine cutouts. thankfully i don't teach art anymore because my students had really collaged one too many times.

but i still find ways to collage in my classroom. today i made this bulletin board out of our scrap paper box and the kids researched pollution and wrote facts on shapes to add to the board. (all from scraps) it was a great science class.

left, we have the forest with facts about fires written on fire and facts about car pollution written on the cars. the boys LOVED making cars.

below, this is supposed to be a magnified view inside this building where the

black TV has a fact about radiation...? hmm...

my favourite is the island across the ocean with a volcano on it. man, i love collage in any form.

ode to dinner...end

don't worry - i've still been eating. i've just fallen a little behind here with the pics. and...i've had fries a few more times. haha. but the ode is definitely done.

bbq chicken and baked potato with cheese

i had fun with the ode to begin with when i had recipes and such to share...but really? i don't make enough decent meals to hold down a whole blog about it. and now we know.

ode to dinner...pause

tonight my dinner was an all-canadian meal at mcdonald's at 5:15 pre-double header softball games then a bagel with cream cheese at 8:45 post-double header. not photo worthy whatsoever.

and now i'm drinking neo-citron. what? a cold? at the beginning of june? the life of a teacher.

so in lieu of a dinner post - it's a book post. ode to gary paulsen.

gary paulsen wrote Hatchet - one of my all-time favourite kids novel of all time. if you haven't read it, you should pick it up at your library immediately. he's written tons of other books for kids as well a some for adults. i recently finished an "autobiographical odyssey" by paulsen called Eastern Sun, Winter Moon about his experience at the end of WW2 when he went as a child to the Philippines where his father was stationed at an army base. a wrenching story. but now i'm reading the above book: Winterdance, the Fine Madness of Running the Iditarod. if you've ever had a vague interest in the dog-sledding race, the Iditarod, that takes place in Alaska - you'll be thrilled by this book. if you've never heard of the Iditarod, you'll still like this book because his descriptions are just so clear and the story is so unbelievable. if they made this guy's life into a movie? we'd criticize it because it's not believable. he should have died a hundred times yet he's still alive to write about it and make you want to read more. so anyways - if you're looking or something...i recommend.

ode to dinner...five

spinach salad with chicken

yeah, it's one of those meals that you think you might need to eat again later but it's suprisingly filling. plus when you had a scone on the drive to work, you have to find a way to counteract. if you buy kraft rancher's choice fat free dressing - it's 0 points. ranch for 0 points? i'll take it.

ode to dinner...four

salmon and french fries

this is a wednesday dinner. it can be made in 20 minutes which is what i want after an exercise class that ends at 7:00pm. the salmon comes frozen in packages of about 4 or 5. just plain, really good. sometimes we add lemon dill sauce. the french fries are mccain superfries. which are only about 3 or 4 WW points. the salmon is 2 points. this entire meal with grapes included? 6pts. hey, if i can work fries into a "diet"? i'm pretty pumped.

ode to dinner...three

bbq-ed chicken thighs & sweet potato fries

so it's not my prettiest meal ever. the thighs look a little sketch and the sweet potato fries are burned...but good nonetheless. so if you go to the store to buy sweet potatoes for sweet potato fries - buy yams. that's what we call them in canada. sure, right next to them are the real sweet potatoes but they're not the ones the recipes are talking about.

grind the following (i used the magic bullet):
2 Tbsp coriander
2 Tbsp fennel
1 Tbsp cayenne pepper (i used chili powder)
1 Tbsp coarse sea salt (i used regular)

cut up the yams into sticks (this is much much harder than it sounds because they are HARD) and put them in a bag then pour an appropriate amount of olive oil (i used canola) in the bag and shake it (like a polaroid picture). add in your spices and shake it some more. pour the fries out onto a pan and try not to let them touch each other so that they can get "crispy".

cook at 450 for 10 min then turn them each. it's tedious but they WILL burn. badly. cook for only about 10 - 15 more minutes.

there are many a sweet potato fry recipe on the internet. alyssa gave me a good sounding one but i haven't tried it yet due to not having egg whites in the house. but apparently the egg whites make the fries crispier. definitely worth a try.

1/3 cup egg whites
1/3 cup light olive oil (or grapeseed oil)
1 Tbsp cajun spice

coat fries with whites/oil mix then add spice. then cook as written above.

a matthew favourite.

ode to dinner...two

chili and chips

this chili is famous at the macdonald household - according to tim, it's in the hall of fame. though if you are a fan of spicy, you will be wanting a refund at the hall. a very mild, simple chili...but very good. and even i can make it.

1.5 lbs hamburger
1 onion
2 28oz. cans of stewed tomatoes
(if you can find the ones with italian spices, those are good)
2 14oz. cans of kidney beans
1 small can of tomato paste 7.5oz
1 Tbsp sugar
1 Tbsp chili powder
heaping tsp of salt

brown the hamburger and onions together first. (i never use the onion though) combine everything except the kidney beans in a big pot. simmer for 1 hour, stirring every 15 minutes or so. add beans and simmer for another 30 min - an hour (or until the consistency is right).

this chili is the best the next day. throw it in the fridge and warm it up later.

i always used to eat this chili by scooping it up with tostitos...which means you eat a lot of tostitos. now, i count out the "serving size" and then crumble the chips over the chili and eat it with utensils. way less chips but still a good crunch.

i usually count the chili as 6 WW points - but that's really my guesstimate.

ode to dinner...one

there's a blog that is just pictures of a girl's breakfast everyday. and i thought it was interesting. so this week long series will be titled - ode to dinner. and you will be forced to look at pictures of my dinners for a week. i figure at least this might help me eat more vegetables. ha.

and so it begins:

quiche & strawberry spinach salad

this "quiche" isn't really quiche because it doesn't have a crust but it's one of tim's favs, easy to make, and warms up well the next day for breakfast since it's comprised mainly of breakfast foods.

4 eggs
2cups of milk
1 cup Bisquick
1 cup swiss cheese
12 pieces of bacon (or deli ham)
a desired amount of onion

grease a pie plate or round cake pan. put the shredded swiss in it along with the bacon (or if you want a healthier version, i ripped up ham from the deli and it tasted just as good) and chopped up onions. (i don't put any onions at all)

in a separate bowl, mix eggs, milk, and bisquick and blend with a hand mixer until smooth-ish. pour mixture into the pan over the cheese and meat. bake at 350 for about 30 minutes. or until it's brown around the edges. let sit for a few minutes before eating.

(if you make it with deli meat and skim milk and cut it into 8 - one piece is only 3.75 WW pts)

speaking of birthdays...

and for our joint birthday present to ourselves, tim and i got tickets to see REM at deer lake park last night. good times. there's really nothing like an outdoor concert.

yeah - most of the concert we were happy being halfway back and then at the encore, we went up closer.

but it was dark and my camera is silly. but you get the idea.

happy birthday tim!

yes...it was almost a week ago now but post-worthy nonetheless. all tim has talked about since we moved into our house is planting trees. yep, all the talk gets old. however, tim's wish came true when his parents got him a tree for his birthday.



now he won't stop talking about the next three trees he's going to plant. maybe next year tim. :)

oh the summer fashions...

wow - warm weather brings out the worst clothing or lack of. i'm sure you saw them too. they were everywhere yesterday and today. maybe you're one of them. haha.

comments of strangers?

as i have mentioned before, since my friends don't blog as often as i'd like to read, i resort to reading the blogs of friends of friends. i don't think it's weird. and i'm sure there are those of you reading this right now who are friends of friends of mine and we have never met. hi. i'm happy you're reading. so anyways, today i was thinking about how i like comments and how i must not be the only blogger who likes comments, right? even though my husband tried to tell me that there is no comment option on a true blog - that's it's just for yourself. and i get it - i'm coming to terms with it. i am hoping to be a little part of your procrastination or entertainment or lack of something better to do. comment or no comment.

but then i thought to myself, should i comment on other peoples' blogs? those people who are friends of friends? sure, it's not weird to read them. and i'm not weirded by those who comment on mine...but me commenting on someone else's? surely, that must be weird. i distinctly remember giving my dad a hard time for commenting on a stranger's blog before. haha. sorry dad, i take it back. i think you had the right idea.

today (because i'm procrastinating from work) i am planning to comment on some never before commented on blogs. maybe they will come and read my blog. maybe THIS is how your blog gets "famous"...

ah francais...

j'ai travaille tres fort sur ma francais. oui, je ne sais pas les "verb tenses". (tu peux regarde dans le premier phrase) MAIS...je suis fatigue avec ma francais. je suis fatigue avec les classe de francais. et j'ai les classe de francais sur lundi, mercredi, jeudi, et vendredi tout le semaine. qu'est-ce que tu pense? Est-ce qu'est ma francais tres mal? haha. je sais. je sais l'histoire de les trois petit couchons tres, tres bien mais c'est seulement une histoire, oui? ack. au jourd'hui (sp?) je me rappelle deux ou trois mots je sais (past tense) quand je suis (past tense) dans ecole! l'oiseaux? birds? tres humeureuse. (sp?) alors, apres tu lis ma francais, est-ce que tu es triste pour ma etudients? haha. je sais. mais je suis nouvelle!

still inspired by sewing...

well it's been 4 months since i took my sewing class. it wasn't love at first stitch - i learned more about myself, patience, and my lack of precision. i was determined to make it stick though and even bought myself a pattern. sadly, however, it sits alone in it's package in our office.

but i read these blogs: here, here and here. and i still think to myself - why am i not sewing? at least now i have a little more realistic perspective on it all...like really, maybe all i want is someone else to take my ideas and favourite fabrics and sew them into pieces i like. that's probably what i'd really like. ha.

so i think the next project is going to be a quilt. all i'll have to cut are squares. can't you just sew squares of fabric together and then sew on a back? hmm...obviously a naive question...but i might try it anyways. and don't worry - i'll keep you posted.

scorin' the deals judy style...

umm...i thought everyone knew this but just in case you're not getting scorin' the deals -

if you sign up for the rogers video newsletter, they email you a newsletter (it seems like every couple weeks) that has a coupon for movie rentals. very great if you're a movie renter. and rogers is very great if you return movies late. no fees.

if you sign up for the blizzard fan club , they send you two for one coupons once in awhile and always one on your birthday. and it's no "kid's size" blizzard - it's a medium.

blockbuster also has a coupon thing like rogers but they charge you a "restocking fee" (ahem - late fee) if you don't return your movies on time.

if you're a girl, you can sign up at ricki's for $10 on your birthday every year. i know i doesn't seem like much but i still have last year's $10 in my wallet and just got this year's coupon too. hmm...maybe it's the clothes there...

anyways - this is all i can think of right now. and really the most useful one is rogers. but i'll keep you posted. and if YOU are scorin' deals - let me know.

judy hits agassiz...

a couple weeks ago, i had the idea to have a mother's day chapel and then have the moms stay for pancakes after the chapel. last week when they were making their invitations, a students suggested that i invite MY mom. cheers went up in the class. i explained that my mom lived in white rock and would have to get up at 5:30am to get to agassiz by 8:15am so she probably wouldn't come. another student shook her head and said, "no, mrs. shulba. she'd just sleepover at your house the night before and come with you in the morning!". hmm...so i put the invite out there and she made it happen!

so today my mom travelled with me to agassiz and helped me put on the pancake breakfast for my students and their moms! she was a whiz on the electric frying pans. i don't know what i was thinking when i originally thought i'd do this myself. i don't think i made one pancake yet was running around like crazy getting coffee, juice, forks, etc so it would have been a gong show without her (as most things are). she and i didn't even get to eat a pancake! so it was unfourtunately not a great mother's day event for HER as i worked her hard but the kids loved having her there and she even got hugs when she left. judy is really the greatest! thanks mom! it was a great morning thanks to you! happy mother's day!

go photobooth!

kudos to photobooth vancouver for making it into a fantastic article by cbc about the photobooth trend beginning in Canada. way to have the only booth around, ang!

read it! http://www.cbc.ca/news/background/tech/hightech/photobooth.html

fort langley

weird that i'd never been there before but on thursday, i had my first ever experience at Fort Langley.

all i knew about Fort Langley previously was that my brother had to make a model of it in grade 4 or 5 and my dad spent many an hour cutting the tips off of wooden matchsticks to make the logs. it was intense and i'm pretty sure it's still in the crawlspace...how could you throw away something that took so long to build?

anyways...the fieldtrip was so good. what an interesting place. the oldest building in BC is in there. i recommend you go see it yourselves. while you're there, pan for gold. panning for gold was intense as some kids were yelling out "i found one!" and others weren't. overall, we all got a piece to keep. :)

slowing down

after assessing the finances, i've decided it's time to slow down. driving. apparently, you can save a lot on gas if you don't drive over 110km/h. today i drove under 110km/h. it was like i was an old lady as people stared at me as they passed. i saw semi-trucks ahead of me but never caught up to them. it was very very difficult. but we'll see how this tank of gas lasts.

after assessing the finances, tim and i also decided that we cannot eat out for the month of may. that means tim hortons AND starbucks. painful.

so i'll be driving slow and i'll be angry because i'm not drinking my coffee on the way to work. look out world.

am i missing something?

saw an ad today on a bus stop. it had a picture of a skinny model and said, "the best way to loose weight!" and it's some diet patch.

loose weight? is it a pun? nothing looked loose. did they seriously make a major spelling mistake or am i missing something?

the answers are out

so i've been avoiding the blog all week after posting my quotes. thought maybe some more comments would come in...but since they didn't - i posted the answers to the quotes on that post in bold italics.

The War (1994) with Kevin Costner and Elijah Wood. (quote #2) if you never saw this movie OR you saw it in '94 when you were in grade 6, you should really see it again. it's powerful. poignant. well acted. touching. thought-provoking. it's so good.

i can't believe no one got quote #14 - the grandpa says it to the little girl when she's nervous about going to the pageant.

and Into the Wild - if you haven't seen it yet, you should.

and that's all for movies for now. your regularly scheduled blogging will recommence tomorrow.

so there may be a couple obscure ones but there are quotes still there that you should know - these are also your favourite movies.

i'm betting #2 no one will get except maybe my brother but doesn't it sound like a quote from a movie you'd like to see? i can't wait to tell you what it is so that you can go rent it because it's a fantastic movie.

quote it up...

as a favour to Sharelle...haha. i mean, Sharelle did this and now i am too. i'm really not a quote person - i often feel as though i watch a movie with someone and we leave the theatre together with them repeating lines from the movie that i don't even remember. or maybe that's just alyssa. but anyways, i did my best to pick my favs but i'm starting to wonder if other people have even SEEN some of these movies...we'll see...

Pick 15 of your favorite movies.

Go to IMDb and find a quote from each movie (or quote them from memory).

Post them on your blog for everyone to guess.

Fill in the film title once it’s been guessed.These are the players’ rules:
No Googling or using IMDb search functions (don’t cheat!).
Leave your answer(s) in the comments.I pick the quotes; you guess without internet aid. I'll post the results as they come in.

1. The only true currency in this bankrupt world if what we share with someone else when we're uncool. Almost Famous

2. Well I don't want our kids growing up thinking there powerless because of me. Everything they do in this world has a consequence. Our children still believe in miracles. They still believe anything is possible. As long as they believe like that, they're gonna be something. They're gonna make a difference in the world...and that means I made a difference. The War

3. You know what that is? Death. You know what I just did? I defied it. Wild Hearts Can't be Broken

4. Do you know how popular I am? I am so popular. Everybody loves me so much at this school. Breakfast Club

5. "I love the sky. It's so limitless." "It is big. It's very big." "Big doesn't even sum it up, right? That word big...is so small." What's Eating Gilbert Grape

6. I'm impossible to forget, but I'm hard to remember. Elizabethtown

7. The question isn't "what are we going to do," the question is "what aren't we going to do?" Ferris Bueller's Day Off

8. Rather than love, than money, than faith, than fame, than fairness... give me truth. Into the Wild

9. This is one of those key moments in life, when it's possible you can be really, genuinely cool - and I'm failing 100%. Nottinghill

10. I can't seem to stop singing wherever I am. And what's worse, I can't seem to stop saying things - anything and everything I think and feel. Sound of Music

11. I was a little kid, and I was crying for one reason or another. And [my mother] was cradling me, rocking me back and forth...and there was like snot running down my nose. And she offered me her sleeve and told me to blow my nose into it. And I can remember, even as a little kid, thinking to myself, this is love... this is love. Garden State

12. "You don't always have to be who they want you to be, you know?" "I happen to like being adored, thank you!" 10 Things I Hate about You

13. Walk on road, hm? Walk left side, safe. Walk right side, safe. Walk middle, sooner or later...get squish just like grape. Karate Kid

14. A real loser is someone who's so afraid of not winning he doesn't even try. Little Miss Sunshine

15. The first rule of eye makeup is that you can never wear enough blue eye shadow. My Girl

i don't get it

i read blogs of people i don't know. some of the blogs i found through magazines that recommended them. some of the bloggers have written books and want strangers to read their blogs. other blogs belong to friends of friends. you know how it goes.

my question today however, is how does one's blog acquire "famous" status. sure, if you're an author, it makes sense. BUT the "diet blogs" that i read that were in some health mag are not well written. they're kind of mundane. and they get over 50 comments per post. we (my friends and friends of friends) are better bloggers than this! we're funny and interesting. why aren't we famous? how does a blog GET famous? do you advertise? do you comment on other peoples' blogs and suggest they read your blog? if anyone could let me know how i could go about doing this - i'd be up for fame and 50 comments a post.

potter...harry potter.

so i'm in. it's not that i haven't wanted to read the harry potter series. there was just so much hype about it over the last few years that i hadn't been super interested right away but knew that one day fo sho i would read them. i'm a teacher - how can i not?

so i started on spring break. i have to wait for the books to come into the library so it has taken some time between books but i'm about to finish off the third one and it's pretty good. keeps you wanting to read. i think maybe putting more space between the books would keep you wanting even more. i'm impressed by the intelligent writing and great vocabulary rowling has used in kids books (though some might put the word kids in quotation marks). sometimes kids' books can be dumbed down. the main girl character's name was killing me though because i couldn't figure out how to pronounce it having never heard the name before. hermione. sure, you're laughing at me if you've been reading the books/watching the movies from the beginning but seriously...hermione? it's not spelled how it's pronounced. i finally rented the first movie to hear it and i'm still not convinced that that's really how you say it. (those of you who have never seen the name before and are thinking, "how DO you pronounce it?" - it's her-mine-ee) it's hard to change it in your head after you've read three books thinking it incorrectly - her-me-in. haha.

anyways, all these facebook statuses have been related to ending school pretty soon so i thought i'd give a suggestion of some fast reading that will relieve you from your textbooks.

loving oat bars

if you also love the oat bar from starbucks and have perhanps been thinking it's healthy because it has the word oats in it...i'm bursting your bubble: it has 370 calories and 19g of fat!!! wha??? (that's a whopping NINE ww points!) have a piece of cheesecake! so on a quest for a healthier oatbar, i've tried a few recipes and bought a few different types of snack bars and after a long quest, i have found your substitute.

quaker oatmeal to go - oats and honey. sure, it's not THE oatbar but for 200 calories and 6g fat (only 4 pts) - it's worth trying. for those stats - it's as good as an oatbar for me. try it!

ahh...softball season...

i was a backcatcher. i had a great arm. i could catch anything. ...i was in grade six.

today i had high hopes for what my grade 6 skills could do for me as i walked onto the field with my new PPAC softball team. i was going to make those teammates happy i had joined.

my grade 6 skills let me down. apparently 14 years does that to skills. sure, i caught some hits, threw as hard as i could and tried to look like i knew what i was doing - but there were no joyful shouts from the regulars when they saw my skills.

maybe my hopes were too high. but hey - now i know where to stand if i'm the second baseman and now i know i'll have to stop running forwards for the flyballs that are actually way behind me and now i know i need to wear sunscreen on sunny days. i'm a quick learner.

matt says i'll get better. there's hope for the comeback of the grade 6 skills...maybe even more.

now they're on their own...

the salmon were released today!

i scooped the fry out of the tank (which took 15 minutes!) into a big bucket and we headed to a nearby slough that leads into the Fraser River. all the kids had their own little containers so that they could each release a few of the their own.

hopefully we didn't freak the salmon out so much that they swam into the river and died but because i forgot my little net at school, i had to scoop all the fish out with one of the containers that the kids had brought. there was some wicked turbulence in that bucket before they were released. oh dear.

so when the kids all released their fry, there were mostly shouts of "good bye!" and "there they go!" with one or two "mine's just lying here in the mud...". umm..."he's just scared."

and hopefully now the salmon dreams will stop - i've spent many an subconscious hour with these salmon and i'm looking forward to that being over!

thanks for all the comments and interest here on the blog! here are some pics - more here.

getting water from the river to add to our salmon bucket to help acclimatize them.

scooping...

(that's me with the giant bucket - i couldn't get the last dozen out so i released them myself!)

"there they go!"

the class newspaper

keep up to date on my class's reports online every friday. sure to be a good time.

cold turkey

so i WAS going to post a daniel larusso video here but i lamely can't figure out how to post youtube videos on my blog. so instead, a hundred points to the first person who can tell me who daniel larusso is (without googling, sharelle).

anyways, cold turkey. that is how i am going about cutting out snacks and sweets. i've been pretty lame (which apparently seems to be a personal theme lately) on counting my points and sticking to the plan. that's the nice way of saying that i've been eating very badly. we had some friends over the other night and they were talking about how for the last year, they've cut out sugar except for one treat a week. (and then i served them apple crisp and ice cream...oops) i got to thinking about this.

at first my thoughts were: i could totally cut out sugar (meaning refined sugar - not apples and such) but that's because sugar is not my downfall. my downfall is greasy, salty snacks. buttered popcorn, creamy dill chips, french fries! so i thought why bother with cutting out sugar?
then my thoughts evolved: i should cut out greasy, salty snacks.
nah.
then i ate a lot of crap on a little trip to seattle then came home the next day and ate more crap.
my thoughts developed into: i should cut out greasy, salty snacks AND sugar.
i'm so extreme.
anyways - done. it's begun. as of march 31, all the crap is gone for a month. (except for one treat a week) so far - it's been fantastic. it's so much easier for me to say no altogether instead of trying to limit a little bit. instead of saving 6 points for popcorn and butter, i can eat an apple, cheese, crackers, and an entire can of tomato soup made with milk. i'm much fuller.

so if you have me over for dinner this month (no, that's not a hint) and you serve me lemon merangue pie - please don't be offended when i decline. ;)

(as a side note to those of you counting points or trying to find healthy snacks - i've discovered All Bran bites. ONE point. one. and five grams of fibre. how can you go wrong? well...i guess you could go wrong if you buy them thinking they're going to be yummy. they're not bad but they're no blueberry muffin. definitely worth one point with the cup of coffee.)

oh dr. phil...

Have you seen that Dr. Phil Personality Test on facebook? i took it and couldn't decide if i mostly sat with my legs stretchd out or crossed. Here's the difference it made:

:egs stretched out:
Others see you as sensible, cautious, careful and practical. They see you as clever, gifted, or talented, but modest. Not a person who makes friends too quickly or easily, but someone who's extremely loyal to friends you do make and who expect the same loyalty in return. Those who really get to know you realize it takes a lot to shake your trust in your friends, but equally that it takes you a long time to get over it if that trust is ever broken.

Legs crossed:
Others see you as fresh, lively, charming, amusing, practical and always interesting; someone who's constantly in the center of attention, but sufficiently well-balanced not to let it go to their head. They also see you as kind, considerate, and understanding; someone who will always cheer them up and help them out.

really? crossing my legs makes me that much more center of attention and interesting? note to self.

perms

the other day i was getting my haircut and my hairdresser and i had run out of things to chat about so she was cutting in silence. during this moment of silence, we listened to the conversation going on next to us.

one hairdresser was putting rollers in a woman's hair for a perm and was running out of perm papers. she asked another hairdresser if she could get up on the ladder and see if there were some more perm papers up on the shelf so she did. she found them and as she handed them to the perming hairdresser, she said, "man, 10 years ago i spent all this money on training on how to do perms and now perms are so out. what a waste of money."

hmm...i wonder how the woman having her hair permed was feeling...

still surviving despite the three that took their lives when they jumped out of the tank during the night. we're keeping the lid on now.

and then there were 70

i got a call from a parent this weekend saying that there were no longer 11 salmon in the tank but instead 30 - 40 salmon!!! where did they come from? i guess the guru was right - they were under the plastic screen/grate thing at the bottom of the tank. so i went into the school today to clean and rescued the remaining few still under the screen. it was really hard to pull up because all the gravel was sitting on it but i got it out. there was definitely some evidence of a couple dead fish but for the most part, there may be at least 70 of them in there. unbelieveable. let's hope we can get them to april and we will be releasing them asap.

just the beginnings...

we're finally shelling out some money to try to make our house's random rooms look a little better.

our kitchen is so weird with it's open space. we have plans to put this loveseat and a chair in here...but what do you think of this rug? it can still go back. tim thinks it's too big. man, rugs are expensive.

this looks 110 times better in real life...not so shiny. BUT i finally bought a duvet cover for our spare room. (and yes, its not ON the duvet yet because i need to wash it) this means, if you want to come and stay with us - you don't have to bring a sleeping bag! yay! but aren't those blue pillows the perfect colour to go with the walls? i love winners. i bought that little side table peeking out over there from value village and have big plans to paint it before spring break is over so stay tuned for an updated version of this room coming soon. :)

and come sleep over!

it's a sad day of spring break when...

the neighbour begins hammering and sawing at 7:55am.

tim hortons

so since beginning to count points and discovering that my usual french vanillas were 5 points, i've pretty much stopped going to tim hortons altogether. in the mornings if my carpool buddy and i stop for coffee, we go to starbucks where i can get a latte. however, those add up.

well on friday, we stopped to get gas in chilliwack and the gas station is on the same side of the road as tim hortons...not starbucks. what to do... so i had my very first real coffee from tim hortons ever. a double milk, double sugar. and? it wasn't too bad.

i guess this is good for the bank, bad for a caffeine addiction...

umm...WHAT?!?!?

salmon update.

i've been worried. everyday i look in the tank and see my 10 or 11 salmon fry swimming around. are they eating the food i'm giving them? are they on the verge of death? where are the rest of them? i can't see any fish swimming in amongst the rocks. have they been crushed? why are the ammonia levels so high? my guru has been of no help whatsoever. very vague. maybe that's how gurus are.

so today i removed the rocks. i decided i didn't care if only 11 out 79 were out swimming...i was going to find out what was going on and stop this apathetic on-looking.

one by one i removed the rocks. i was careful not to let any slide and maybe crush the tiny salmon that were hiding. i'd take out a rock and not see anything. i'd lift out the next rock...and not see anything. there was slowly becoming less and less rocks and fewer and fewer places for a small fish to hide.

and then there were no more rocks.

and only 11 fish.

...

WHAAAAAAAAATTTT?!?!?!?!?!

nothing. no dead fish. no egg remnants. i dug around in the gravel. i cleaned the tank. 11 fish swam around my hands as i searched.

WHERE DID THEY GO? if i hadn't seen the 80 eggs with my own eyes, i would be calling me a liar for saying they had been there. but there were! i saw them!

i was in a state of shock. just writing about this, i am in a state of shock. did they die and disintegrate? were they all runts and the 11 ate them? all the theories that i can muster are ridiculous.

my guru kept writing me unhelpful comments and closing the emails with "let me know if there are any emergencies." umm...i think i'll be sending him an email tomorrow:

Re: Emergency

we love you galen...

so if you watch tv or listen to radio - you know who galen weston is. or at least you've seen/heard him...though supserstore never does clarify WHO galen is.

but from the first galen weston ad i saw, i was sold on the product (i can't even remember what it was now..maybe the cloth bags). he's the man. whatever he endorses, i seem to want to buy. does anyone else feel this way?

well the moment i saw galen's endorsement of apple crisp (the apples come from the orchard of two brothers who then make the crisp with their grandmother's recipe...so they say), i knew i had to try it. i could get my money back if i didn't like it! so thursday night, liz and i were stopping at superstore for milk and i said, "we need to get the apple crisp." and she too had seen the ads and had been sold. so we got the low fat version hoping our love would still be guaranteed. but there was no need...

it was fantastic. sure, you could make it yourself for way less than $5.99 but if you've been to my house lately for crisp (i've tried it twice in the three weeks), you'd be willing to pay the $5.99. for real. so it was a great little dessert - i was glad galen didn't let me down.

what will he come out with next?

they're alive?

so two tiny salmon are swimming around in the tank this morning. they've emerged from the redd. i managed to clean out the tank without sucking them up this morning...now let's hope there are 77 more that plan to show themselves SOON! stay tuned...

promises from the driveway