Osmosis.

With my phone unable to make blogging easier, I obviously went on a bit of a hiatus. Some ideas came to me during that time for good posts, but some were a bit time dependent, and now the moment is gone.

I did a neat demo a couple weeks ago with my science 10's about how water moves across membranes. In the past, I've used eggs, but it's really messy... you need to dissolve the shell off first (which takes 24 hours in vinegar), and then wait minimum 24 hours to see if the eggs change size in different concentrations if salt water. But the shell-less eggs are very fragile, which leads to the messy part.

This year, I used gummy bears. Already this demo is cooler. There is the possibility of eating something. Basically, if you put a gummy bear in tap water, it will swell up. And fast.

What happens is there is a high concentration of sugar inside the gummy bear, and no concentration outside. This difference in concentration is known s a concentration gradient, and typically what would happen is the sugar would diffuse out of the gummy bear (diffusion is movement of particles from an area of high concentration to low). However, gummy bears are made with gelatin, which does not really dissolve in water very well, and the gelatin traps the sugar inside. Since the sugar can't get out to equalize its concentration, water flows in.

The result? Monster gummies. Within an hour you will notice a difference. The ones in this picture were left for about 8.

Green is original size.

Happy Christmas.

Merry Christmas to all!

My Christmas turned out amazingly relaxing. Christmas Eve was the big party with lots of family friends, and then Christmas Day was pretty low key- presents with the family and an amazing turkey dinner.

Trying to avoid Boxing Day shopping by doing some cleaning. Not that I want to go shopping, but I need to pick up a few things, and do not want to brave the crowds. Ah well. I guess that means I can relax a little more...

Giant flock of waxwings swarms over the house.

Tromping through the snow to raid the woodpile.

Centerpiece.

Adorable little earrings from Dom.

New TV for my kitchen! I now have DVD capabilities!

Bonding.

Decorated gingerbread men today with my father.

I have all the artistic talent of an 8 year old.

Christmas Goodies.

Last weekend, I did some Christmas baking with my friend Michelle, and last night I did a bunch more. (truffles, check. Candied popcorn, check. Candy wreaths, check) Goal of today is to attempt to recreate my grandmother's ginger creme cookie recipe.

My grandmother rarely ever used recipes that were written down. She would change a recipe subtly, but never recorded the changes in her recipe box. The result is that I have all of her old recipes... but most turn out NOTHING like they did when she made them. I've managed to reverse engineer a cookie she called Honey Fruit Snaps, but so far no luck with the ginger cremes.

Holidays.

Thank goodness the week is over. Christmas break starts today, and it couldn't come sooner. This week felt extra long, with pressure to finish up everything, school concerts, holiday shopping, and sadly dealing with the emotional trauma that everyone in the educational community felt in the wake of the tragedy in Connecticut last week.

I am thankful I can look forward to peace and quiet for the next two weeks. Punctuated by some shopping and holiday baking.

Breakfast of champions this morning with Dom... Nutella and bananas on rice cakes!
(I got a replacement phone that actually works, and celebrated with this frivolous picture... Not that I think anyone cares what I had for breakfast...)

Trimmed.

Tree is trimmed. Old fashioned wooden ornaments plus a few random home mades (grandma's knitted santas... Anyone?).

Muppet Family Christmas playing in the background? Check. Christmas platypus? Check. Festive feelings? Check.

Lights.

What does the modern, independent woman use to hang her Christmas lights? Leftover twist ties from the bulk section, of course.

Holiday Decor.

So we went sledding today in Physics (... errr... I mean... did a friction minimization investigation) and with the time left in class, I had my students set up the Christmas tree.

Note the wonderful tree topper. And science-themed ornaments.

Sheep.

I love reading, yet I don't read as often as I would like. Sometimes I think I should do something about it, but then it usually becomes pretty clear why I don't read too often. I don't like delays in books; I have a very hard time spreading out the reading, putting a book down and picking it up again in a few days... I like to read NOW, which usually involves sacrificing other things that need to get done.

I figured this break from school would be a good time to do some reading- what does it matter if I stay up late reading? I don't have to teach tomorrow. I started reading Leonie Swann's Three Bags Full on the recommendation of my teacher librarian. It's a delightful mystery about a flock of sheep who turn detective when their shepherd is murdered.

It really does keep you guessing until the end, because the sheep are unreliable narrators. Not purposefully, but there are a lot of things about humans they don't get, and if they don't know what something is, how can I? There is an entire chapter where the flock finds "a Thing" and it takes several pages before they describe it well enough to figure out what it is. These moments keep the book light and funny, and I thoroughly enjoyed such a different mystery.

Bill Nye.

Holy cats. Today I got to watch Bill Nye deliver our keynote address at the conference. After, of course, I awkwardly pretended not to watch him from across the restaurant at lunch while he sat in a private dining room. (Yes, when he left we tried to talk to him, but were shunned by the underling handlers.)

Sadly, there were no pictures or autographs to be had, but he was an awesome speaker. Funny, smart, and delivered a very inspiring message. I didn't get to have a true fan-girl moment, but was pleased to bits when he slyly interjected a "Please, consider the following" into the middle of a part on the atmosphere of Venus.

I have some short video clips, which I can add later when I figure out how to get them from phone to blog.

Day 2.

Has been an awesome day so far at the Science Conference. No Bill Nye sightings yet, but I got to attend talks by George Kourounis (the storm chaser/adventurer host of Angry Planet) and Major Jeremy Hansen of the Canadian Space Agency. PLUS I got to meet both of them.

Not a bad start. Also, the weather is fab.

With Maj. Jeremy Hansen

With George Kourounis.

ATASC 2012.

I am in Banff right now for this years Science Council conference! Super stoked- our keynote on Saturday is Bill Nye the Science Guy!!!!! Might be the closest I will come to fan-girling in my life. (Unless I someday get to meet David Tennant.)

So far the weather is beautiful for the mountains in November. Great to catch up with old colleagues. Already got to speak to my old Chem professor and reminisce about the time we did the methanol jug demo for some Jr High kids and broke a ceiling tile. Good times.

Sugar Cookies.

My dept head found out that I only have 2 sets of cookie cutters (gingerbread men and leaves) and apparently that was a big deal. (who knew) To remedy this, she loaned me all the holiday themed cookie cutters she had from when her boys were small. This was a big hint that I should make cookies and bring them in for the dept (and when I say big hint I mean she came right out and told me).

I found a nice looking sugar cookie recipe on Pinterest (so yummy!) and the end result is LOTS of cookies. Mostly hearts and stars (traditional and David), with the occasional flower and Russian mobster for good measure.

Seriously. I think this is the Russian mobster and Ukrainian grandmother of cookie cutters.

SO many cookies!

New Phone.

New phone! Not an iPhone 5, but I didn't like the idea of having accessories that I couldn't plug into. Hopefully this enables blogging, as I now have a decent camera in the phone!

In other news... Fall Break!! Thank goodness. I feel like I could sleep for the whole week.

Halloween.

Life is busy. Gawd. When November Break hits I am just going to crash.

In the meantime, today is Halloween! No trick-or-treaters came to my house, sadly, but it was a pretty good day at school! Saw some really creative costumes! And came in third in a staff costume contest. Natch.

Best costume I have ever made. Bar is set pretty high now!

Popcorn.

I had an awesome, relaxing weekend. Got mostly caught up on school stuff, house is relatively clean, and I have some groceries. What more could a girl ask for?

Next week is my turn to host book club (this month: Gods Behaving Badly), and I want to make some snacks for the evening. I found a recipe for candied popcorn (where else... pinterest) that looked so tasty, I thought I would try it out in advance! (recipe here... )

Warning: this stuff is like crack. So addicting. I made mine with cherry jello powder. I didn't do much to change the recipe, except 300 would have been WAY to hot. I started the cooking at 250 and after 5 minutes the bottom tray was getting dark, so I dropped the temp to 200 and left them in the oven for half an hour.

Thanks.

Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday. I get to spend time with people I love most, in my favorite season, in my favorite place.

I am thankful that I live such a fortunate life, that my family and I are healthy, and that I have a job I love (even though this semesters work load is intense).

A student gave me this little centerpiece she made in horticulture... perfect fall colors :)

Good Morning.

This morning's first glimpse of Winnipeg (albeit of the hotel parking lot and the Pembina Hwy) has given me the inexplicable urge to burst out singing "Good Morning Baltimore"

Beat.

This semester is bringing me down! Too much to do, not enough time to do it in. Understandably, blogging isn't always at the top of the priority list when I am just trying to recoupe after a long day. More likely to drink tea and watch Doctor Who while browsing Pinterest.

This weekend, I am forced to relax, as I am on my way to Winnipeg to celebrate Carol and Neil's wedding!

Currently, I am sitting in EIA, admiring the awesome living wall. I haven't been through YEG since coming back from Australia, so this is the first time I have seen it. Too cool!

Life of a Teacher.

I have been spending too much time here.

Happy First Friday everyone!

Hint.

I love my job. However, while I can sometimes get creative, I can rarely get artistic at it.

I have been feeling the urge to do something artsy and creative... So I have starting making a Halloween costume. From scratch. Gotta get an early start so all the layers of paint can dry.

Nail Art.

 This weekend I attended a British-themed party. My Union Jack t-shirt is too small, so I decided to give myself some flag-inspired nail art instead. I was rather impressed with how it all turned out! The Union Jack's on my toe nails were the best :)

The Union flag is too complicated for the other fingers (let alone my right hand... sheesh) so I opted for the simpler St George's and St Andrew's cross' to complete the look.

Shark Week.

Too busy to post this in a timely fashion, but... happy belated 25th anniversary of Shark Week!

In honor of this auspicious occasion, I attended a Shark Week party hosted by Girl Gone Wild Docs, complete with costumes, ocean-related snacks, and a thematic cake by yours truly.

I think I need a smaller icing tip to do writing...

Shark Week is a week-long celebration by the Discovery Channel dedicated to airing television specials themed around sharks as a way of promoting awareness. Shark populations have decreased rapidly over the last century, due to commercial and recreational fishing, and the popularity of shark fin soup, which leads to the horrific practice of finning.

For the unaware, Gordon Ramsay talks about shark fin soup here and exposes the reality of what happens in the industry several Asian countries. Everyone should watch this documentary.

Shark populations are not managed in the same way as other ocean creatures, so it is through increased awareness that policy change occurs. May Shark Week not need another 25 years.

Kelowna.

Fantastic urban art in downtown Kelowna.

Busy, busy, busy!

Last weekend I was in the beautiful Okanagon valley to celebrate Sarah and Landon's wedding. It was an excellent time, and while we were there the girls and I took some time to play tourist and visit with my family.

An adorable, totally personalized cake topper.

Marina.

Mallard duck on the waterfront.

Of course, grapes. Wineries galore!

Sewing.

Oh, pinterest. You make me feel more crafty tendencies than I ever did when I was an artsy child.

The DIY portion of pinterest is a mine field. Certain things look reasonable for the average person to do, others... not so much. Particularly the clothing do-it-yourself pins. Sheesh, how much time do some of you people have?

I have never been a particularly avid sewer. (And never before have I realized that sewer is a homonym of sewer. Eeew) But when this pin proclaimed to be the "easiest skirt in the world" and actually looked a bit cute from the picture, I thought I would check it out.

And folks, it really is that easy.

I spent a bit more time on the seams than this blogger did (I doubled all of them) and had to spend a bit more money on materials than she did (maybe thick elastic is more expensive in Canada? Probably.) and really should have gone with the old "measure twice, cut once" adage, but I am quite impressed with how well my little skirt turned out.

Not a bad first try!

*Disclaimer. It would have been a fast and easy project, if I had not spent a great deal of time fighting with a sewing machine that is older than I am. The good ol' Kenmore my mother received as a wedding present decided to have tension problems half way through the "easiest skirt in the world", which meant I spent a large chunk of time detangling, rewinding the bobbin, re-threading, seam ripping and restarting, and all that good stuff. It took me about an hour, but you could definitely do it in less.

Summer Reading.

I love to read. During the school year, I try not to read too much because I tend to get sucked into books and, unable to put them down, stay up significantly past my bed time.

But, summer! Oh summer. How I love you. In summer, I indulge myself and read all the books I haven't had time to the rest of the year. Since the end of June, I have read books to my hearts content. Some with lots of substance, some entirely frivolous. Some good, some not so good. (I had been particularly looking forward to reading Shadow of the Night, sequel to A Discovery of Witches that I got sucked into in January.)



 

From here.

I shouldn't have to tell you that the Hunger Games trilogy is worth reading, but if I do, you can check out Kate's blog post about it. She sums up my feelings about it pretty clearly (including the part about Katniss being a bit obnoxious at times... maybe it's that I deal with teenage angst too often at work, it annoys me when it slips into my summers?) and I also read Mockingjay in one sitting. A single sitting that ended at 3:30 am when I thought "screw it, I'm not sleeping until I find out what happens."


  

From here.

I also read a fantastic gothic novel called The Shadow of the Wind. It is a thrilling whirlwind of a book, blending past and more past Barcelona with a riveting mystery. It is a spellbinding novel that I would highly recommend!

From here.

When I am in the mood for something light and frivolous, nothing can beat Janet Evanovich. Anything by her pretty much fits the bill of easy, breezy, fun summer reading. Latest on my list was Love in a Nutshell, which is classic Evanovich, in that there is a big lovable dog, quirky supporting characters, a little bit of romance, lots of laughs, and more mayhem than you can shake a stick at.

From here.

Last (on this list) but certainly not least, I highly enjoyed Bill Bryson's A Walk in the Woods. I love Bryson's writing style, and his hilarious account of hiking the Appalachian Trail blends quick, evocative narratives with histories of the region.









Summer's not over yet, but my reading will probably slow down a bit, since August promises to be busier than July. But, I can't think about going back to school yet... my reading list isn't complete yet!

Pickles.

I don't want to brag or anything, but having summers off is the BEST. When else am I going to ever find time to do all the little crafty, creative things I get the urge to do during the rest of the year, but couldn't possibly fit into my schedule?

Lately, pinterest has been an increasing distraction source of inspiration for me. I have decided to actually try out some of these things, instead of just coveting other peoples pins and pictures. (Not to say I intend to try out EVERYTHING I find... just the things I think would be worth my time. And not super expensive.)

Last week I went to the farmer's market to pick up some dill and pickling cukes because I wanted to try out this recipe for homemade pickles. Since they claim to be the "best dill pickles EVER" and require no canning, I thought it would be worth a try. (Two summers ago I made mustard pickles that needed to be canned, and while they turned out awesome, canning was a huge pain in the behind.)

They actually turned out really, really well! Not sure if they quite deserve the title or the capitals, but they were really very tasty. And retained a nice crunch since the brine is added after cooling.

This one's a keeper!

Long weekends.

Perfection.

Somehow, in the marvel of Alberta weather, the August long weekend is always fabulous. And I don't just mean nice weather. It is breath taking.

View from my hammock.

This past weekend was stellar. Hot, calm weather all three days? I mean, come on! Perfect weather to spend out at the lake, waterskiing and floating on the water, or sitting in a hammock. Or, when you positively cannot stand any more sun (as happens a lot for me... the joys of being a pale red head) watching the Olympics and eating blueberries.

Beauty of a sunset.

Beautiful weather, great friends, good food? Heaven on earth.

Cherries.

I was in the grocery store the other day, and felt incredibly inspired while walking past a display of BC cherries. I've never made a cherry pie before, but I recently got some small tart pans with removable bottoms, and visions of mini cherry pies danced in my head (like sugar plums... Only less vague)

The whole process would have been much easier if I had a cherry pitter, but since I don't, and wanted to chop them up anyways, I got in there with a knife and my fingernail and made a giant mess. But also some lovely pie filling.

The making of the pies was so much fun. I decided to also try a lattice top, which is far easier than it looks.

The end result? The most adorable bake goods I have ever made.