Archive for August, 2005
August 28th, 2005 -- Posted in Holidays, General |
I spent the last 48 hours in Buffalo getting a new wardrobe for the fall! My Mom and I managed to hit all of the sales at the big stores which was great!
I got to eat at the Cracker Barrel three times. I love that place. I also discovered a teacher consignment store - it was a little overwhelming, small, and cramped but would be worth a return trip when I have a better idea of what I need. My classroom seems well supplied at the moment so I only bought a few little things.
Our house is coming along great! It has a roof now. We are just waiting for the stairs so we can peak at the second floor. From what I see, our master closet is huge! We redesigned it a little and I think we’ll be happy with the results. We also made our bathrooms bigger and they are looking good as well. We tried out the six foot tub in the new model and it is more slanted than my last tub so hopefully we get this tub in my new bathroom as well.
Oh! I wanted to say hi to Terry! I haven’t written in SOOOO long! I will be in touch. Hope you and the girls are doing great!
August 24th, 2005 -- Posted in General |
Ah, the woes of moving. I’m still not sure where everything I need is and I think some of that is in storage… oh well.
I have no internet access at the moment. We don’t have it at our house and at work I need a password and won’t get that until September…. I’m dying. I mean I use lots of stuff from the net to plan lessons, etc. Oh yeah, other books I could use are in the library but that is locked… and the Principal is gone until next week… and at that time I’m off on a course… so things are interesting at work at the moment. I have no idea what I am to be teaching. What I thought I was doing and what the job is is completely different… so I’ll have to be doing some creative thinking. I hope to meet last years teacher pretty soon…
I love Doug’s new tablet - you can use your own handwriting… it’s fantastic!
Oh, as for stalking - I do feel like a bit of stalker at times. Brock has mentioned all these things around Acton so I go and check them out ie. the library with the bridge. I guess I will have to go check out Brock next…
August 19th, 2005 -- Posted in General |
Wow! What a week of ups and downs and heres and theres and everywheres! I will get to be in the same bed two nights in a row! Woohoo!
The move went well - the movers showed up and the house got emptied. My furniture was on its way to Montreal but it has two months to travel before it has to make it to our new place! Hopefully our stuff has a great time away. They were a guy short for the move but one guy had his two teenage daughters with him that helped - it was an interesting crew.
I still don’t really feel like I have left Kingston yet - I was a little sad when I left but I didn’t have much time to think about it as the move finished later than we had hoped so we were just trying to get on the road.
Anyway, I have been to our rental place - or should I say mansion! Doug did a great job of finding us temporary housing. 2500 sq ft. of mansion! We have a deck off our bedroom, our own private bathroom, our own living room area, etc. It is in a great neighbourhood with a great view. It will be a nice drive there each day.
I also stopped by my new school and saw my new classroom! I have a fridge, stove, dishwasher, microwave…. I think I will have to bring Doug in to do the cooking part… It looks like the teacher before me left me lots of great stuff - I’ll have to wait and see. She is still in the building and won’t need the stuff so hopefully she will lend it to me. And yes, my kids use the pool at the school too! Fun!
Doug and I are going to move in again this weekend! Three months apart - weird. I would have been back there tonight but due to the storms there are power outages, flooded roads, etc. so I decided to spend the night back at my folks.
We are off to a ‘wedding’ tomorrow. Matt Ramer (from CH in ‘96) got married last month in Nova Scotia to Tanya so they are having a reception type thing for the Ontario people tomorrow! Should be fun….
And then on Sunday, it’s our 7th anniversary! How scary is that?? Time flies when you’re having fun.
Anyway, just wanted to update you on all that is happening with us… Oh, Doug’s big news is that he got a tablet at work. I get to meet his new baby tomorrow.
August 14th, 2005 -- Posted in General |
Our webpage got a hit from the UK! Could it be our friends who are stranded in London? Or my Mom in Scotland?? Hmm…
This is my Mom’s first trip to the UK! I graduated from university and she is travelling Europe for me. She is in Scotland for two weeks - how exciting!
August 12th, 2005 -- Posted in General |
Our friends Jen and Jamie (no link because they don’t have a website!! A year overseas and no website… ) are on their way back from Ethiopia. They were supposed to land in Toronto today but due to some strike in London, they are in limbo. So perhaps there is a chance I will see them next week in the GTA! Woohoo! I think it was saddest to tell them that we were moving because they were out of the country and we couldn’t do formal good-byes, etc. They introduced us to many neat restaurants around Kingston and they also got us into canoeing and camping. We will definitely miss them - but hopefully we will see them next week!
August 11th, 2005 -- Posted in Venting |
I love I love I love Freecycle but I am getting annoyed by some of the postings. Some people basically ask for an essay as for why you deserve to get this free item. Sure there are some things that should go to someone who really needs it but generally it should just to anyone. And I don’t like it when people send me sob stories about why they should have my stuff! I generally go for the first person to e-mail me a response, or sometimes who can pick it up the quickest, or someone who has given me stuff. Oh yeah, some people will only give it to you if you have given them something! C’mon! And then this week, three people have stood me up! Pick up your item already… and then when you REALLY want to get rid of something, no one wants it! Okay, I truly LOVE freecycle and I have gotten rid of so much stuff with this move through it. I also got a new tape dispenser! Woohoo! The Freecycle in our new town doesn’t look as good, but we can work at that.
August 11th, 2005 -- Posted in Holidays |
I just looked at the school year calendar - nice! We get the Friday of Thanksgiving weekend off as well as the Friday before March Break off! Woohoo! That means I might be able to sneak to Kingsto Thanksgiving weekend! I could come up Thursday night to Saturday - visit some friends and some of my students and then head home for turkey dinner! Woohoo!
August 10th, 2005 -- Posted in Gossip, General |
It’s crazy! There are 31 houses on our little court and everyone is selling - came home today to find another house up for sale. Since April there have been 7 houses up for sale including ours. That’s almost a quarter of the homes on the street! There has been some turnover on the street over the years as there are lots of people from the military and some of the homes are rentals but nothing ever this extreme. Anyway, just glad we got in early so we could sell before there was too much competition! The one that went up today has a fireplace in the basement and four bathrooms! And most of us are the original owners…. so everyone selling has been here 5-7 years…
August 10th, 2005 -- Posted in General |
6 more sleeps in my humble abode… on my humble mattress on the floor… with my humble IKEA plastic cutlery and Christmas Corele dishes… and every cupboard emptied onto the floor so I don’t forget to pack anything… Anyone want to come and visit? It’s pretty swell here! Living like this definitely makes it easier to move - you can’t wait to get out of the mess and chaos!! Sure, I’ll be living out of boxes for the next while but at least everything will hopefully have some sort of place. The house we are moving into is for sale so we will have to keep it neat! yeah! Order - structure… can’t wait!
So this is my week of lasts - my last massage with Susan, my last haircut with Laura, my last coffee with Katherine and Emily… and hopefully a few more lasts with other people that can squeeze into my schedule. Robin is coming to help me do some packing on Friday! Yeah! It’s not so much that I need help as I need company. It is so boring spending ALL day packing and sorting by yourself. Oh, I have make one more stop to see the Chocolate Lady as well - yummmy!
August 9th, 2005 -- Posted in News |
Here’s a picture after our house was born. He’s got alot of growing to do yet.
August 8th, 2005 -- Posted in Holidays |
* It is cold in the mountains at night
* New Hampshire is beautiful
* You don’t have to wear a helmet when riding a motorcycle in New Hampshire or Maine
* Driving up a mountain is pretty scary - it is very cold on top of a mountain as well
* The rivers on mountains are quite cold
* Make sure you read the lows as well as highs when packing for a vacation (READ: not enough sweaters packed)
* Make sure you have the current map so you don’t end up on the wrong highway
* Cookie time at a hotel is always welcome
* Lobster comes in many forms - sandwiches, soup, salad, quesedillas - who knew?
* The ocean is quite salty
* Fuddrucker’s has GREAT hamburgers
* I still love Cracker Barrel
* It’s amazing to visit places that started in the 1600’s! Such neat history!
* New Hampshire and Maine is moose country! Signs everywhere - but we didn’t see one. Also, the plural of moose is moose - at least according to the guy at the gift shop….
* Mount Washington is beautiful but scary at the same time! People have been racing cars up it for years! There is even a bike race! Psychos!
August 7th, 2005 -- Posted in Holidays |
Here are the places we stayed on our adventure:
The Northern Star Inn is where we spent our first night. It was a neat bed and breakfast - and just a town away from the WORLD’s longest candy counter - yummmyy. I resisted and only bought a piece of fudge.
Merrill Farm Resort was where we stayed in New Hampshire. We spent two nights there. They had free canoeing as well as cookie time in the afternoon! Yumm…
Maine Idyll is where we spent three nights in Freeport. We stayed in a cute little cottage and even had a fire in our fireplace one night.
August 7th, 2005 -- Posted in Holidays |
We are home after a week away in New England. It wasn’t a very photogenic trip so we probably won’t be posting pics but it was fun! Highlights include LLBean, Mount Washington, a boat fire, and the clear out of OshKosh adult clothes. I will post more later!! We’re off for a paddle.