When in Wemindji...: Makin' Bacon

Oh boy. There is no other way to say this - I am baconed-out. Not sure how it is possible either, but it is the truth. Bacon, some call the meat of the gods, was the guest of honor at my house last night for the first Wemindji Bacon Party. I am considering making this an annual thing, it depends if I will regain my taste for bacony goodness (who am I kidding, I'll probably have it with breakfast tomorrow).

So as I mentioned, it was the Bacon Party last night, clearly the social event of the YEAR. The instructions were simple. Bring a dish of the bacon persuasion. People really got creative and the offerings to the bacon gods were delicious! On the menu was:

Bacon Chili Fries
Bacon Dip
Candied Bacon and Ice Cream
Loaded Bacon Potato Skins
Bacon Brownies
Bacon-wrapped Scallops
Bacon-wrapped Hot Dogs
Bacon Cups filled with Scrambled Eggs
Bacon Cinnamon Buns
Bacon Chowder
Bacon Peanut Brittle
Bacon and Prosciutto Salad

Needless to say it was a delicious night and I immediately got the meat sweats hardcore. I think I woke up in the middle of the night in a bacon rage and hallucinated. Anyways, it was great to catch up with people from school and the community as we all spend a nice time unwinding after the first week back at school from Goose Break!

My Goose Break, after car repairs and what not, was relaxing but went by very fast. I squeezed in the requisite shopping and trips to the storage unit (where I grabbed as many of my books as I could to bring up with me, what can I say I am sucker for a paper page!!) I was happy to be able to spend an early Mother's Day with my mom and Eryl as I would be travelling back to Wemindji on the actual day. We went to our favorite Thai place in Burlington and had a nice time. I got to see my sister Hilary a bunch which was really nice as well! I went to a wine-tasting party at my friend's Kelly and Ryan which was a new experience and very fancy!!!! I may have missed the point but in the end I tasted some great wine and got to catch up with some of my oldest and closest friends. I was really happy to pitch in a little and help Katherine and her mother do a little prep for her upcoming summer Bridal Shower. Things are picking up and I am soooo excited to take part in all the upcoming festivities!!! I am particularly excited for the Bachelorette Spa day I have planned for Katherine and a handful of our friends. We are heading to the Scandinave Spa in Blue Mountain area. A day of pampering is just what the doctor orders after a long year of teaching (I have asked for a male masseuse LOL JK..) Since it is a little pricey and not everyone is able to make it, I will be arranging an alternative celebration for those who can't make it. This summer is already gearing up to be busy as ever but I am really looking forward to spending some quality time with my best friends and family. The ride home was uneventful (thank god) and we made it in one piece with fairly decent weather for half of the trip and just rain and some snow for the rest (I know, I don't want to talk about it).

Until the summer however I am back at school in the full swing of things. I am dreading having to teach multiplication and division to my students in the upcoming weeks and am procrastinating like a beast on planning for that. Math is not my strong suit lets say. I will be scouring the Internet for fun and interesting (and Aidan-friendly) ways to teach this to my grade 2s! I will also be embarking on a rather ambitious project involving writing a how-to manual of sorts for planting and growing bean plants. I have mason jars (see-through so we can watch the roots grow), tons of potting soil, bean seeds, gardening gloves, mini trowels and a watering can. I am pretty excited to get started and teach the kids how to take care of a fragile living thing and learn some responsibility! My class is already really good at taking responsibility for classroom jobs and for their own belongings so it will be fun to see how they transfer that into being responsible for a living thing! It will also be very cool to see the growth of our bean plants in the classroom. The soil in Wemindji is very sandy since we are right on a river and not much grows here, that and the cold temperatures for most of the year make growing things outdoors difficult. We are getting a lot of sunlight now though so growing in our classroom windows should be no problem!

We also got our placements for next year finally! I am SO happy to announce that I will be teaching Grade 1 next year with Monika and Marsha!!! There will be 3 grade 1 classes of about 17 each due to an explosion in the population several years ago so we have our work cut out for us! It will be just a little taste of the South and I am up for the challenge after a year of only 13 kids. I have two awesome teaching partners who are imaginative and creative and so much fun and I am super excited to work with them. We will be joined in our cycle by Karen and Meredith who will be teaching Grade 2. Overall our cycle will be pretty rocking. I will be sad to say goodbye to my current partner Stacy as we have had two good years together. I really wanted the chance to move around and get experience in different grades, and I am earning my Primary Specialist qualification this fall so it was just a good opportunity for me to take and I am pleased with my placement.

Monika's look-a-like sister Raquel has joined us in the Great White North to work and play in the wilds of Wemindji. The kids are mesmerized (some traumatized) by how similar they look but nonetheless its great to have her up and be able to show her around this great town and all of its awesome people!

Anyways, I have promised myself a night in (while my tummy heals itself from last night's bacon abuse) and have tomorrow booked for planning in the classroom, a follow-up visit to the physiotherapist to check on my healed butt, a brunch with the ladies and the season premier of THE BACHELORETTE! Hey, everyone gets their one "trashy" show, that's mine.

Beautiful class artwork! Recreations of Van Gogh's Sunflowers

Mosaics of Eric Carle book covers!

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Happy Birthday Sarah!

Brookdale Crew!!

Little Prince and I

Fam Jam

My empty van waiting to be filled. Oh and filled you shall be.

Halfway done!

Tada!

FINALLY got my rolly thingy built! All I had to do was almost have a nervous breakdown trying to build it myself, wait 4 months, drive it back down to IKEA, return it, buy a new one and pay IKEA to built it for me in my house! It took one guy 30 minutes what I couldn't accomplish in 4 months! I AM A WINNER!