2013.

What a fabulous end to 2013! Beautiful winter weather. Spent the day outside frolicking in the snow... lots and lots of snow. SO MUCH SNOW.  Now off to enjoy a party!

Ken's version of frolicking.

Knitting.

We have a bit of a tradition of spending New Years at the cabin. Warm cozy visits inside, brisk cold weather outside, and a kick butt party to ring in the new year. 

I'm sitting in the back seat of my parents car. The windows are a bit too frosted to see out (not much to see anyways. Hazy grey skies... hazy white fields...) so I'm knitting. 

Pretty.

I'm not huge on New Years resolutions, but #1 on my list is to learn how to knit something other than a head band or a scarf. Since I learned this year how to knit using  circular needles, this seems like a good step in the direction of self improvement ;)

Yup... not much to see.

Newtonmas.

Well, it's Christmas! Or as I sometimes refer to it in certain circles... Newtonmas!

Isaac Newton was born Dec 25, 1642 according to the old Julian calendar. It corresponds to January 4, 1643 of the currently used Gregorian calendar, but as Newton was highly superstitious individual who looked for meaning in all sorts of numbers and learned Hebrew so he could study floor plans of temples in their original form, being born on Christmas would be significant. (Even though, as an unorthodox Christian, he believed celebrating Christ as God was idolatry... Which is neither here nor there. )

I love getting together with family and friends around the holidays. Had a great party last night at the parents with lots of family friends, and am spending tonight with  Dom's family. 

The end of school was so hectic and stressful, it's taken me this long to decompress. But there is still a lot of holiday to come!

 

Ugly Sweaters.

Not quite sure when, but somewhere along the way, ugly sweater parties became a thing. My families been pretty good about purging the genuine ugly sweaters from our lives over the years, which in hindsight is a pain, but at the time seemed like a very good idea.

I just can't seem to bring myself to spend  any reasonable amount of money on what is, underneath it all, just an ugly sweater. So when Dom said she was going to have an ugly sweater theme for her birthday, I decided to make one. 

I saw a picture of a hilarious t-shirt, that would have cost $40+ with shipping, and thought to myself... I can make that. 

The result? About $12 worth of materials and a humorous ugly sweater. 

Samosas.

Last weekend was a potato themed food club. Seemed like a good time to try something I've been wanting to do homemade for a while... vegetable samosas!

I used this recipe for dough from Williams Sonoma... and it was awesome and easy. Fries up really similar to naan. I will probably be trying it with other stuffing in the future.

For the filling, I adapted this recipe. I substituted ground ginger for crushed, because that was what I had. I also didn't have any coriander seeds. Nor do I have any idea what amchur powder is, so I left that out too.

I found it a bit lacking in taste (maybe the kind of chili I used, or my spices aren't the freshest any more) so I doubled up some of the spices (but not the turmeric. I want to have my frying pan be a color other than yellow someday soon.) and added extra peas and some corn.

Fried them up in a bit of oil... and they were really tasty! As I said, I was really impressed with the pastry. I mixed up some tandoori dip to serve them with, but they were especially good with Lindsey's tzatziki.

Wishes.

My mother is turning 60 today. I wanted to do something a little more special, so I contacted as many family and friends as I could, and asked them to send along their favorite memory of my mom. I got a great response, and the result is a very fat envelope full of little thoughts, hand written notes and pictures.

Tree.

Busy at school. Winding down (or up?) before Chistmas break. One of my extracurricular groups is having a bake sale next week. Went to a conference at the University. Annnnd set up the class Christmas tree. 

Happy with my new tree topper. Beats J Biebs by a long shot. And see that kinda blank-ish spot in the middle? That's where my cane deer used to be. Yah used to be. One of my students ATE MY CANE DEER. It has been three days since I discovered his antlers on the floor. And I am still upset. 

Stereotypical.

So, it's cold. Like, REALLY cold. 

This happens every year, and every year we complain about it loudly. Students beg for a "snow day", which we won't ever have, due to our district inclement weather policy, and then just don't show up when it gets cold. 

Like I said, this happens every year. Part of being Albertan is commenting on weather, but it always amazes me how many people don't behave according to the weather, and then complain. If you come to school in -35 in shorts, you deserve to be cold. If you walk around the university campus with your plaid flannel unbuttoned, no hat, no mitts, and the windchill is -42 (something I witnessed yesterday), the rest of us do NOT want to hear you complain. 

Inspiration.

A beacon of hope has gone out. Thank you.

Paperback.

When the weather looks like this...

 

 ...I like it when my evenings look like this.

 Tea and a book... What could be better?

Oh my gosh. I loved this book. I also cried like a baby, and felt like that meme about experiencing emotional trauma at the hands of a paperback explains my life so well right now. Or maybe this one. I bawled. A lot.

I don't want to talk much about the book, because I feel like it is intensely personal. Some people connect with it, some people feel like the dialogue of the protagonists is not age accurate... I personally wasn't bothered by the latter. Augustus' obsession with metaphorical resonance was enough for me - even though they are teenagers, his, Hazel, and Isaac's insight is that of someone far older due to the life experiences they have had that other teenagers have not.

But my favorite quote from the book comes from Van Houten, and sums up how I've been feeling lately:

Snow.

This was a coworkers car after school today (she's getting over the flu so I brushed it off for her while I was leaving). So much snow!

We've had strange weather from a balmy week last week, this huge drifting snow day,  to the crazy fog that lead to a 40+ car pile up on the highway (makes this fog look tame). 

why pictures? why must you be so blurry?

But enough of the weather.

Busy weekend, lots of birthdays to celebrate, and Christmas decor to put up. Trying out some new recipes. Nothing I'd write home about yet. Working on my tacky Christmas sweater (more on that in the future). You know. The usual. 

One Of These Days.

One of these days I hope to catch up on my marking. And maybe have some semblance of a life on top of school?

At the very least, I hope to catch up enough on Doctor Who to watch the 50th anniversary special I got my parents to pvr for me. 

Until then, this little guy is going to watch me do my marking.

"Educate! Evaluate!"

Adulthood.

Being an adult is weird.

It sneaks up on you, and pounces when you least expect it.

I have been feeling like an adult a lot lately... buying a condo didn't do it. Paying taxes doesn't do it.

My weird brushes with adulthood correspond to doing things I never saw myself doing when I was younger... like cleaning the humidifier... replacing the batteries in the smoke detector... troubleshooting the short in my Christmas lights... removing hard water deposits from the sink...

Weird.

Celebration.

Today we are having a party to celebrate my mom's 60th birthday! The actual day isn't until December, but it's hard to do birthday  things when Christmas festivities loom over the whole month.

Put up Christmas lights in my classroom yesterday. Took down Christmas lights on my patio (need to buy new ones that work... grumble grumble...). The huge dump of snow I shoveled off the porch is making me feel festive!

Winter.

Lovely weather we've been having lately. This is Monday's view as I left school.

Happy to be back from the break, but it makes it so hard to get into a routine! Not much time between now and Christmas break to get everything done that needs to be done! Urk. 

Volleyball.

Good end to a week off. More visits with friends, house cleaning, making cupcakes for my favorite little man's 4th birthday party, and working volleyball finals. Would have been better if my boys had won... Ah well. They played like champs, and get to go to provincials anyways, but a banner would have been awesome for them.  

I have a house guest coming to stay next weekend, since my mom is going to be celebrating a big birthday, so I actually put a decent weight comforter on my spare bed (since it got cold this week). The only extra quilt I have is this Snow White one from when I was little. 

I have to conclude this break in the pattern was intentional...

Dresses.

Wedding dress shopping for Dom today was a total success! We went to Novelle, which is a boutique some of my other friends had recommended, and had a fabulous experience. Much better than our last experience. Plus, Dom is gonna look like a superstar!!! Such a pretty dress. We also got our bridesmaid dresses all sorted out, which made for a long, but awesome, bridal party shopping trip.

Today marks the end of my self-imposed challenge to blog every day for a month. Didn't always get it done (curse things like weddings getting in the way), but overall I enjoyed it. I forced myself to look at what I did everyday, and even though I couldn't always blog about it, it got me thinking more about how I spend my time. And was a much more easy way of journaling than I used to do. 

I think for the next month I will try to keep to a Tuesday/Thursday/Sunday schedule, or something similar. 

Wings.

Easy day today. Ran some errands. Did some (read: not enough) marking. Watched some volleyball. Went out for wings.

Saw this pretty, pre-rain sunrise.

Tomorrow is the last day of my self imposed challenge to blog every day for a month. I have to say I don't think I've done too badly. Clearly, some days in my life are more interesting than others. 

And just in case you didn't know... Hallmark has you covered. 

Add caption

Lights.

Having time off is great. I have gotten so much done over the past few days. Since the weather was so lovely, I put my Christmas lights up on my deck!

Done a bunch of cooking, cleaning, shopping (birthdays and Christmas coming up!) and visiting over the past few days. 

Bought a math teacher friend some magnetic poetry as a Christmas gift... Found this typo excellently placed inside... Algorhythm? Really?

Heroes.

Lunenberg, NS.

The Highway of Heroes is a piece of Highway 401 in Ontario that stretches from CFB Trenton to Toronto. It is the final route taken by fallen servicemen and women.

Never, never forget. 

Cabot Trail, NS.

Book Page Flowers.

(This post was supposed to go up earlier, but I didn't take the pictures off my camera until late, as I had to deal with a gross humidifier incident... ahhhhh. Homeownership.)

Spent yesterday at the most adorable wedding ever. K & R had a nice little ceremony at the Petroleum Club, and a great reception at a cute little brewery downtown. I love when a wedding just fits the couple so well. This wedding was full of geeky touches and decor that just worked so well. My favorite was the abundance of book page flowers made out of comic books! So adorable.

I have made book page flowers before, but never this many. And I love the colors you get!

Since its the start of my week off, and kinda snowy and cold, I did a bit of winter decorating today. Not Christmas decorations, mind, just winter. Snowmen and things like that. And since my front door is a piece of art in and of itself... where else can I stick my snowmen?

Works for me. 

Dive.

Went out last night to a music show of some former students who are in a Lumineers style band. Bit of a dive bar, but they were excited to get out of coffee shops and play in a bar. Poor acoustics in the room, but they were champs.

Towards the end of their set, Jacob Hoggard and the band Hedley came in for a drink, which excited all their friends. Pretty cool for the boys to have a big time act buy them a shot after their first bar show!

Remembrance Day ceremony today- I was proud I didn't need to beat my students to get them to behave... They can be a rowdy bunch but deep down they had the maturity not to complain while standing out in the snow for half an hour to honor the even greater sacrifices of others. 

And yes. I am aware that I spelt "Remembrance" wrong.

Today was also the last day before our Fall Break- goodness knows the kids need it just as much as I do. They've been chomping at the bit all week. Driving me bonkers. That sort of thing. I'm looking forward to relaxing on my break... Starting with a wedding tomorrow. 

Meetings.

No post yesterday. It was early dismissal, so we had a staff meeting, then we had a department meeting, and after that I decided to stick around to watch our senior boys volleyball team play in the quarterfinals. Unfortunately there was also a union meeting at our school, and, since I was watching volleyball with two of my AP's, I ended up going to the union meeting as well.

Long story short... Didn't get home until about 7. Tired. And then helped the brother with some math. Nothing like texting logarithm problems. 

One more day until Fall Break! And K&R's wedding this weekend. 

Gassing Up.

The thing I like the least about cold weather is playing the "what's the forecast/how long can I wait to fill the gas tank" game. I hate filling up my car in the winter.

Had a MUN meeting today. Which meant I could make cupcakes because I had people to feed them to. Used up some Halloween monster themed sprinkles.

Gift.

Long day at school. Really long.

But Michelle made me dinner and this gift  for the baby came in the mail, so it kinda balances out the day.

Weekend.

Weekends are strange. Either I am SUPER busy or doing basically nothing. This weekend featured both in turn. Two parties last night (hence no post. Sorry) visiting two week old Nora today, catching up with friends, and grocery shopping after last weeks looooong week of eating out.

Also... Snow!

PD.

Professional development and staff social today. Nice way to end the longest week ever.

Part of PD consisted of learning some archery from our teacher coaches. I took a picture of me almost hitting the pop can, because I was pretty sure it was the best shot I was going to make all day. Until I knocked the apple off a mannequin's head. Yea!

Halloween.

Epic costume win today. Ms Frizzle from the Magic School Bus? Heck yes. 

This costume took a long time to perfect. Started back in August finding the right dress and jump suit to make the outfit. And making the crinoline. That was an ordeal and a half.

Blocked out roughly where I wanted the shapes to go before doing any sewing. 

Had a friends mom help sew the sleeves on. Test run with a crinoline, and we are ready to start adding collar and shapes!

Found an excellent, inexpensive Liz in the form of Pascal!

Shoe decorations and earrings? Check. 

Glued all the shapes down with intense fabric glue, and then stitched the corners down to be sure. Found a bus, and then received an upgrade to a better bus at school. 

Winning.

Interviews Pt 2.

Final round of interviews tonight. Overall good. Had a couple of parents upset over our schools assessment policy... Not a fun conversation to have. Most really good conferences though. 

Didn't get much work done because of the near constant line, but I did get to mark some quizzes. I inherited stickers from my mother when she retired, and I like to use them every now and then on quizzes. Have this page of frog stickers, which are kinda cute, but some are a bit questionable. Not sure if the one on the left is halfway from tadpole to frog, or what. 

But look! Hear no evil, see no evil, speak no evil! Cute all together... Strange on their own. 

Also checked out some of my current and former students competing in a computing science simulation competition today. Vying for a chance to represent Canada at an International championship in London, England. Three of my students from two years ago won, super exciting! 

Interviews Pt 1.

Parent teacher interviews... gaaaahhhhh

Went well tonight. Had a decent number of parents stop by. Which is nice, because the time goes fast, but less nice because I don't get work done even though I'm at school for an extra handful of hours. 

Second round tomorrow. Then sleep? Catching up on work? 

Also... This typo made me giggle. Maganeese... hee hee. Sign of being tired? I think so.

Notes.

Last weekend (not this past one, but the one before that) I left Dom and Jess alone in my house for approximately 15 minutes. Since then, I have been finding little sticky notes all over my house (mostly kitchen).

This isn't really new... Dom and I used to leave messages all over for each other. 

What's new is that these notes are covered in science jokes and puns. (Forgive the really faded one... I just found it in the lid of my butter dish. It's a bit greasy)

Now, she's not owning up to it being her... But I recognize the writing. The question is... where did she get all year science jokes?

I adore science puns and nerdy jokes.  My students think I'm bonkers, but they're my favorite.