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. 

Darth.

Well, didn't really feel like posting when I went to bed at 3am. Ah well. 

Yesterday was errand day. Followed by a themed stagette party in the evening. I was so excited for my Darth Vader costume. I really got into this one... Judging by the text conversation I had with a friend who dressed up as a Storm Trooper... 

Excellent costume. Except my mask was definitely meant for a child. Which didn't really stay on my face and made me look like a linebacker.

TGIF.

Long week. Got to school this morning to a beautiful sunrise (crappy pic. Sorry). Excellent music show tonight by some great creative students. Busy weekend ahead.

Assembling a Vader chest plate for a costume. Epic Friday night.  

Relief.

He's going to be okay. Phew. Battered, bruised and sore, but he's going to be okay. Such a relief to hear. 

Being a teacher is such a strange thing. I don't have children myself, but at any given moment I have 100+ kids that I care about, hassle to be a better person, watch over, keep track of... And this is not including former students that I keep track of, hassle to be better ("it's not you he doesn't like... It's your work ethic" is a really common conversation). I find my self busy with supporting them in their extracurricular endeavors as well as in school... I go to plays and music shows and sporting events. I volunteer at awards nights and tournaments and after school clubs. 

Sometimes the stress and demands and pressures get to be so great (helloooo report cards and IPPs and parent meetings) on top of the raging sea of hormones, (and the rest of your friends not entirely understanding what it is you do and why you can't do something on a Tuesday night), you often wonder if its worth it. And then you get the hugs from returning students at awards, the excitement at a job well done in an unrelated subject, the need of a supportive adult to bounce ideas off... And yes. It is all worth it. 

Three Things.

Three things:

1. Happy Mole Day!

2. One of my students was struck in a crosswalk today at lunch outside of the school. They think he's going to be alright, but they took him to the hospital to be sure. Needless to say, it was very shocking, I spent the entire lunch hour outside, and I'm a bit off my game. This afternoons classes were not nearly as productive as the morning, because my block 3's were also pretty stunned.

3. Awards night tonight for last years achievements. Great to see all my kiddos who are now in university and doing other things! It's always nice to be reminded that there are some seriously awesome young people out there.

Costumes.

Well, I've been working hard on the costume. Several, actually. I've got the costume to wear to school for Halloween... the costume to wear to Karen's stagette (it's a theme party)... and I haven't even decided what I will wear to the Halloween party on the weekend yet.

The costume for school is coming along fine and dandy... it involves lots and lots of fabric glue. Which is pretty nasty stuff, actually.

Not only should you not smoke it, it eats through nail polish!

Funny story: my recently acquired Darth Vader mask comes with the warning that the plastic eye pieces "may distort vision". I took off my glasses to put on the mask, and I can actually see better with the mask on than without my glasses. 

Voting.

Exciting news! My BFF on staff had a baby late last night. Well, I suppose his wife had a baby, but regardless, the little girl is pretty cute. 

Otherwise, my day was not that exciting. Municipal Election Day here in AB. Whoo! Democracy! 

(Side note. My friends 4 year old asked her "why you have to vote, mommy?" She told me she told him that we live in a democracy, and "I think he tuned out when I explained what a dictatorship is.)

And more marking. Always. But report card marks are due Thursday, so it should slow down a bit after that (until interviews next week, of course)... All the better for visiting a new baby!

Marking... And More Marking.

Giant pile of marking... Done! Phew.

In between bouts of marking, I went to a wedding shower. Nice afternoon, and super cute buffet. Look! Diamond ring donuts!

Pasta Sauce.

Missed the one a day deadline. Oops.  Spent today marking and running errands, and it didn't occur to me until I went out, and blogging at a party is a bit of a faux pas.

Last night, had some girlfriends over for dinner (made an amazing vodka cream sauce... more on that later) and we ended up watching Pride and Prejudice, drinking tea (and cherry coke!) and I taught Dom how to knit. And it was great. 

I feel like being mid-twenties is very liberating, in that we can have relaxed Friday night in and not be ashamed. 

Followed it up with a housewarming tonight. Also kept it low-key.  Gotta go into this coming week more well rested than last week. Last week was rough. 

And now, without further ado... amazing pasta sauce! It's called "you won't be single for long" sauce. I would make this more often to test the title, but if I made it too often I'd be the size of a house. It's damn good. 

Vodka Cream Sauce (modified from Rachel Ray) 

1 tbsp butter

2 cloves garlic, minced

2 shallots, minced

1 cup vodka

1 1/2 cup chicken stock

2  14 oz can crushed tomatoes

1 tsp sugar

Coarse salt and pepper

1 cup heavy cream

Basil

Heat a large skillet over moderate heat. Add the butter, garlic and shallots. Gently sauté the shallots for 3-5 minutes. Add the vodka and reduce by half, about 2 or 3 minutes. Add the chicken stock and the tomatoes, and sugar. Bring sauce to a bubble and reduce heat to simmer. Season with salt and pepper.

Stir the cream into the sauce. When the sauce returns to a bubble, remove it from the heat. Add small amount of basil. 

Busy.

That's right. I brought my marking home in a box. This is what it looks like when the machine scoring machine breaks on the day you give 90+ unit exams. Le sigh.

But on the plus side, friends over tonight to unwind and celebrate another's good job news! Wahoo!

'

Fireball.

This was me today... well, not literally, but I did this little demo three times today. It is great. The students usually give the nice sullen teenager attitude of "I've seen this soo many times", and then the explosion happens (I do it in the dark) and they get all "Holy sh*t!" because it is always louder than they expect.

And I began to make these today for a friend who is getting married soon, as they are quite nerdy. This is pre-etching, which will happen another time.

This is a Halloween display at one of my parents' neighbors. I am a bit confused about the headless skeleton on the left. I don't know if it is intentional, or if a high school student stole his skull.

Tests.

I gave a lot of tests today. 3 classes. 90+ students. Loooong day. Followed by extracurricular cooking club. I'm pooped.

You and me both kid... You and me both. 

Fall cookies.

Remember those sugar cookies I tried making ages ago??

Yah. Turns out the recipe STILL makes a lot of cookies. I'd forgotten about that. The 5 1/2 C of flour should have tipped me off.

Anyways, I wanted to make some cookies for my MUN meeting this week, and fall leaf shaped sugar cookies seemed like a good way to go. I even bought cute fall colored sprinkles at Bulk Barn.

Well,  I took some to the lake for Thanksgiving, some to school today, and I still have a large bag in my freezer. Yikes. But, they are as tasty as ever, and got good reviews everywhere (although, let's be honest, teenagers will be thankful for just about any treats that are free).

 

But actually. How cute are they?

Challenge.

I have been neglecting blogging lately. Not for any particular reason... I just haven't felt particularly inspired to write anything recently.

I have decided to challenge myself to post something everyday for the next month. Even if just a photo of something that happened to me that day. 

Today is Thanksgiving, but we did our big dinner yesterday, with tons of food, friends, dancing, and gorgeous fall weather.

Also, this happened last week in anticipation of D&K's wedding next year. ... Exciting!!