Well, I am done! I go back today for clean-up but I am officially done my first year! WOohoo! I passed my evaluations and am no longer on probation! Yeah! I’m looking forward to lots of sleep - didn’t get much this week.
Or should I say 1.25 as it is only 5 am at the moment and I hope to get a little more sleep before morning! So two days left of school! Yikes. I haven’t been sleeping well this week as there are so many little last minute things to do and my mind keeps racing. I have students going off to other schools so have to ship stuff off, I have reports to send home, a room to clean, etc. I also struggle with what stuff to bring home to work on over the summer. Classrooms also aren’t safe places over the summer so have to evaluate the theft factor of things that I leave behind. I only have one locking cupboard so am strategically placing stuff in there as well! We are also having TWO parties which eliminates the cleaning time I’m used to having. School gets out a little early on Thursday and there is a staff party right after school. Then Friday we are in meetings most of the day so that is the other part of my usual cleaning time… so… I’m glad to have so many extra bodies in my room who enjoy cleaning and organizing…both students and staff!
Just catching up on the week. Poor Doug has to fly to Florida for a few days on business! He was a good boy and brought me home Bath and Body Works! Without knowing it, he brought home some old scents that I just love! WOohoo! They also have new shimmer cream that I am loving. He can tell you all about his rough trip to Florida - eight hours in the pool.
Today my class went to Sobey’s for a tour. We got our own Sobey’s bandanas! We looked so cool. We also got to go in the back of the store and see the shipping dock and go into the giant milk fridge! It was very fun - the kids even got to touch a lobster.. and see… dead fish? Headless fish? It was like going to the science centre too!
I finally got Jenn to eat fish! And it wasn’t breaded! It was marinated in this asian-type sauce and barbequed - so it had the right taste and texture (Jenn’s two requirements). Served with a homemade pineapple/mango chutney, grilled basil garlic potatoes, and a lettuce-less greek salad. Then I had some of our own bottled wine, and when we finished we watched the end of the golf tourney. Wonderful. Earlier we sat out on our swing on our new “patio” … it was a great day.
We did our usual evening of snooping through the new house construction only to find out it was booby trapped! I stepped on the stairs and they fell right off… and I fell down! Boo.
On a plus side, I did my first geocache today with Doug. We only found 1 out of 4. A couple turned out to be on private property so we didn’t keep going. The mosquitos were fierce today! Luckily my man packed bug spray!
Nine days left of school! I wasn’t excited until I got into the single digits. For punishment I signed up for a workshop the week after school ends - it’s 3 days - $25 - and breakfast and lunch are included! What a deal! It is also supposed to help me plan my first month and my long range plans… here’s hoping!
I think this could be said about many things:
“Being a coach in the NHL is sometimes like being a jackass in a hailstorm - you can’t do anything about it but stand there and take it.”
And what a game - total domination. Let’s just hope Edmonton keeps it up for just one more game!
Staff doctors in B.C. hospitals threaten to quit
The doctors want $135 an hour, which they say would make their wages comparable to a GP. They say the Health Ministry has offered them $111 an hour.
And they have to work evenings and weekends! How sad. Let’s all have a pity party for these poor saps.
Doug called the builder last week to find out when we would get grass! They said probably not for another 4-6 weeks. So imagine my surprise being woken up by bulldozers! We don’t have grass yet, but the dirt is on the neighbouring yard. Doug will be very happy to see the John Deere bulldozer sleeping in our backyard tonight!! So by the end of the week we’ll have sprinklers going in full force I’m sure.
Mapped out my deck today. It will be 19′ by 12′, with a little extra in one corner. The great conundrum is what the surface will be - basic pressure treated for $8.91 per board, or composite for (the recently raised price of) $35 for the same size. Hmm… I don’t really relish the idea of spending 4x as much, even if it is environmentally friendly to do so. There should be a subsidy (or rebate program) for this kinda stuff. So it’s either ~ $1000, or $2000 total. Sigh.
I don’t know if I told you about my lucky purchase. The day before my trip to Killarney (did I tell you about that? Oh yeah - cold and wet) a friend told me about this great sale at Radio Shack (err, The Source?) — a color GPS for $140. Usually it’s the black and white cheapies that go for that, but this was a color one - regular $340-ish. I checked the websites and all local Radio Shacks were out of stock, so knowing that Canadian Tire will price match, I called around and one of them had some in stock. I booted over after work, looked around, picked up the GPS, took it up to the front. Rightfully so, the customer service girl (and the manager she called over) were sceptical, but after pondering it, comparing the webpage printout to the specs on the box, and even calling Radio Shack, conceeded and gave it to me for $140 (with $12 in Canadian Tire money as thanks, thanks I guess for ripping them off). When I got home I saw that it wasn’t the advertised ETrex Legend C that I had, but rather the ETrex Legend Cx — and other websites stated that the difference was a 64 Mb removable memory card, normally selling for not $340 but $420-ish. A couple of days later we saw that the sale had been pulled from Radio Shack’s website - they apparently screwed up. Not bad for a 4 hour decision to purchase. 
Anyways, so my new hobby is… GEOCACHING! Basically someone leaves a little box at a location, posts the coordinates on a website, and other people search for and find it, and trade treasures and write a note. Today I went and looked for 8 different caches - my first two I didn’t write down all the information, so no luck. The third I didn’t stop because I was late for an appointment (an appointment to bottle my own wine! How fun - definitely doing this again… $5 per bottle, instead of the LCBO’s obligatory $10-$12). The fourth was my first find! Couldn’t find the 5th, and found the 6th , 7th, and 8th. See my finds here. It’s something I think Jenn will really enjoy (buying trinkets, leaving them as gifts, taking one for yourself (probably to give to someone at another cache)) and I sure do too (surfing the net to find them, navigating with my GPS, finding neat hiking spots and landmarks, and getting my exercise).
Doug and I haven’t had much luck with our solo trips. His trip to Killarney was quite cool and rainy… and here I am in Kingston with a high of 14 - rain today… blah. I had to come here for an appointment so have made a weekend out of it. There are FOUR Starbucks here now! One within walking distance of my old house… *sigh*. Guelph is the same size… can’t one come closer to my place?
I spent today catching up with my old colleagues at my old schools. It was a nice day..
There is a Reader’s Digest sale this Saturday and Sunday on 11 Finely Road in Brampton. It is off of West Drive just north of Steeles on the west side. Everything is $5.00 including taxes. 9-4 on Saturday. 10-2 on Sunday.
They bring books to the school all the time - lots of neat stuff including scrapbooks, cards, and books for all ages (boardbooks, cookbooks…).
…Doug gets to go to Florida for work! He has also been to Boston twice! Gee… and I was excited that I get two half days of planning coming up…