My Deepest Apologies!

Ah!

Time flies when there is nothing to do but work and socialize! I have not blogged in over 2 weeks and it keeps me awake at night.  Jk.

Lots has happened over the last couple of weeks, I had a really rough few days in the classroom with a particular student, the snow fell, and melted, and fell again, and melted again, oh, and fell once more!  The photocopiers are broken, I still have no printer ink, my supply orders for school have gone missing, and I am behind on my marking.

However!! I supply taught for another teacher on a day my class was away at bush camp, therefore making a little extra cash on the side, I am starting tutoring tomorrow which will also help with my Christmas expenditures, and I am receiving a lot of support from teachers and resource within the school for my issues in the classroom. 

I am really looking forward to the upcoming holiday season.  There are so many fun ideas you can work with in the classroom and the Grade 2s are going to start practising our carols for the holiday concert.  Very exciting! 

I am dog-sitting a lovely black Lab mix named Bo who quickly found his spot on my bed and is great company.  He doesn't even hog!!

Well, I promise not to be so neglectful to my blogging duties, so thanks for reading!!

What the h!!

First significant snowfall. Note my displeasure.

Thanks for all the cheese Vincent! If there is one thing I miss about living in a city with a real life grocery store its the selection of cheese. 

Homemade fancy hot chocolate!

There was a power out at the school and since my room has no windows (hows that for seasonal affective depression inducing?), we got to play outside in frigid temperatures!

I helped Marsha organize her latest Avon delivery. HOLY MAN

A quick Timbit interruption - thank you Shelby and Alex!!

Oh but wait, there's more!

And more...

And more!! Boxes were missing too!

What the heck animal was this with only 2 very close together paws? AHH

Beautiful day for a power out!

Carmen's toilet is the devil and I clogged it. BUT SO HAS EVERYONE ELSE!!

Amazing view to walk to school looking at!

Anti-drug and alcohol march!

Snow-covered gravel

Hello scurvy! Guess my nutrition will be coming solely from multi-vitamins from now on!

Broke my favorite wine glass.  Epic depression.

The new houses are almost done!! I hope to be moving to a new (not new house but new to me) probably January or February!

Okay, NOW I'm a real teacher!

Report cards are in the can!

Thank you.  Thank you. Please hold your applause.

After a bumpy start with what I will politely call a flawed system, my report cards were started and finished today! I am very proud of the work my students have done and how far they have come since August.  I know there is TONS more to do and it's going to be a hard road to travel, but we can do it :)

I know I say it often but my teaching partner Stacy saved my sanity tonight.  Staring at a screen that a) kept resetting and losing my marks; b) confused me with its codes and c) made me feel like I had done nothing right up to this point had me stressing.  That's putting it mildly.  So a big thank you to Stacy for bringing me back down to Earth! As usual!!!

What else has happened this week.. Well I had a challenging week with some particular student behavior and I am going to gather some pillows and maybe a sheet or something to create a make-shift quiet area behind my desk in a corner for some of my students who require a cooling-off area away from the class.  While we have a lovely staff member in the school who really works miracles with my students who have deep emotional issues, I would like to provide my students with a place within the classroom for them to escape and learn to self-regulate their impulses and emotions. 

Our Halloween party was a success and we won the door prize contest which was awesome!! PIZZA PARTY! My class was so excited they were jumping and screaming! Or maybe that was all me... anyways!!!

I got distracted and made about 8 gallons of hummus last night.  I guess I wasn't thinking too much when I dumped the entire 2kg bag of dehydrated chickpeas into 3 large pots and started the soaking/boiling process.  So, I made a bunch, gave some away and froze the rest! Hummus does actually keep quite well in the freezer so that's good! I will have garlicky breath for months - sorry guys!!

Things I miss:
- Little Caesars (the pizza, crazy bread and dipping sauce - triple threat, my heart aches!)
- movie theatres
- grocery stores
- dollar stores
- Starbucks Grande Sugar-Free Vanilla Soy Lattes
- Dollarama (I miss them so much I wrote it twice... oops)
- Staples
- LCBO...
- anonymity
- my mother's Yorkshire Puddings
- Bobo
- Christmas lights
- my classroom printer ink in colours blue and yellow (1 month to get more)
- Apple stores (my "off" button is broken.)
- trees with leaves
- cream cheese that doesn't cost $8
- sunlight
- global warming
- Juicy Fruit gum
- Traffic lights
- my family
- my friends

Things I LOVE:
- living here
- my new friends/family
- the community
- seeing/learning new things everyday
- my job
- the excuse to buy things in mass quantity (I am not a hoarder, this is normal here!!!!!)
- EVERYTHING ELSE!

**note: I do not know why some of my words are hyper-linking to ads, sorry I did not okay that!!

Whoops..

Ommie Nommies!

Breakfast of champions

My morning

My evening.  Note the snow outside through the window.

How to successfully double a recipe!! For dummies!!

Can't even speak.