This Week Not At School

Another week of self isolation down.

So, what was I up to this week?  

Well, now that the rest of the city has turned to baking those of us who have always been baking can no longer find flour to bake with... so I didn't do any of that (but I have plans to acquire some flour for next week).

I went for my first run of the year.

I've been shuttling my husband back and forth from chiropractor appointments ever since he injured his back last weekend moving patio stones.  

We got a dirt delivery!

And I worked hard to get this much moved into the backyard so far...

We are trying to level out our backyard a bit and not having water running towards the house and we have to fill in our garden with more dirt now that we fixed up the edging around it last year.

I've also been spending a lot of time out on the patio (especially on the couple of nice non rainy days we had this week!).  

This Week Not At School

... or apparently the last 2 weeks since isolation has me SO busy that I forgot to post anything last week.  Whoops!

Whelp, schools are still closed here but I actually have been keeping busy

Our province has a lottery Bingo game aired on tv/Youtube and the last couple of weeks they have been giving away free cards that you can download.  So my husband and I have been playing that and have yet to come out winners (you can win up to $5000!)

One charcuterie board

Two charcuterie boards

We've been having snacky lunches on Fridays

I made paska in my breadmaker for Easter.

My husband and I made Easter dinner for ourselves.

These are supposed to be hotdog buns.. they got a little large.  Next time I'll be turning to Google because maybe there is a better way to make hotdog buns at home.  But we had a BBQ with hotdogs, salad, and homemade mac and cheese in the slow cooker!

The last couple of days it has gotten up to 15 here so I set up our patio furniture (and made that famous Tik Tok whipped coffee (I've decided I'm not really a fan).

I've also been doing lots of basement workouts and going on plenty of walks.  My kilometers goal for April was 30km walked and I'm currently just 2km away from that... so it should be doable.

Otherwise, I've been staying safe and healthy!

This Week Off From School

Another week off from school and another week of self isolation done.

It only took just over 2 weeks off from school and a big snowstorm before it finally happened... I cleared out both our fridges and totally cleaned them.  

I'm pretty happy with my work!

I also went to the grocery store in the first time in "forever".  I must say the one way aisles are confusing but it seems that they are doing a pretty good job at forcing us to stay socially distant from each other while doing necessary things (like getting groceries).  I shouldn't need to go back for at least a couple of weeks.

I made some resurrection buns - a good thing to keep kids occupied for a while and you can review the Easter story while you make them!  And I made some paska.

I put together those plastic Easter eggs with treats inside of them for my husband every year and send him on an egg hunt Sunday morning so I started putting those together.

 This is about half of the eggs I have.

I've been doing my basement workouts (and they are paying off... I'm not gaining weight during this isolation period!) and I've already walked 18km worth.  I predict that within the next couple of weeks it should finally be warm enough for me to want to go for a run.

Otherwise, we're doing fine over here in isolation.  

How is everyone else doing?

This Week Off From School

Well, it was a much different spring break for most people I am sure.  What with having to try to socially distant yourselves and not being able to go on vacation.  But, for this gal  it wasn't too different than what I had originally planned.

Obviously I hadn't planned on covid19 or not being able to see friends or go to the mall or out for drinks... but it was fine... I got through it and I'm expecting next week (and possibly many weeks into the future to be pretty similar... unfortunately).  

So what did I do with my spring break?

I made homemade cinnamon buns (and they were AMAZING)!

I went for a long, sometimes mucky walk.

I tried that coffee that is apparently blowing up Tik Tok (no I don't have it) by mixing a tablespoon of each: instant coffee, sugar, and hot water.  Personally, I think my iced coffee is better.

I did a lot of reading!  About 3-4 weeks ago now I went to the public library to pick up a couple of books I had on hold there... if I would have known that the libraries were all going to be closing for the foreseeable future I should have taken a few more home.  Anyways, I was very uncertain if I would be able to get through the books before I had to return them.  Now that the libraries are closed I have had more than enough time to get through them!  To get me through the rest of my time at home (more on that later) I think I'm going to have to organize some kind of mailbox book swap with some friends.

We had a lovely first half of the week (as you can see from the picture above).  The sun was shining and the grass was showing.  In fact, we had no snow in our front yard and patio AND our backyard was nearly snow free.  Then Thursday happened.  I think we now have more snow than we did all winter... ah well... no one wants to go out in this so I guess that helps encourage us all to just stay home!

So what's going on with teaching in the foreseeable future?  Well, in my province they have officially closed schools indefinitely.  Most people are taking that to mean that they will likely be closed until September.  So, it's looking like the remainder of the year will look very different from what it typically does for this girl!

Stay safe and stay healthy!

What's the school situation look like where you live?

This Week OFF From School

Well folks, week 1 of self isolation is behind us.  As an introvert I can honestly say that it isn't so bad.  I've managed to fill my time with some online shopping, baking, FINALLY organizing my classroom materials into a filing cabinet, basement workouts, long walks, and some crafting.

Coconut Chocolate Chip Cookies

Buckeye Brownies

Hopefully we are all doing all right out there.  Avoiding others as much as possible and staying healthy!

Next week is officially spring break and then we've got one more week (at least without school).  If your schools have been closed longer than here I would be curious to know if they are planning to extend the school closures or if plans are still in place for students to start returning to their classes soon.

This Week OFF From School

It's been a busy couple of weeks off from school but I had a very Merry Christmas and a happy New Year (and we also celebrated my husbands birthday in there as well).

We had a total of 5 family Christmas' (both with immediate and close family members).  A LOT of food was consumed within that 2 week period of time!

I went skating (twice) at a local duck pond.

I got together with friends for lunch.

I spent some Christmas money at Ikea

I put together Christmas presents

I baked my husband a birthday cake (and I didn't think to take a picture of it!)

I started my annual Christmas puzzle (which this year just so happens to be Christmas-y!)

this was it after the first 2 days

I opened a lot of gifts!

Gifts in this picture:

- some new coffee syrups

-  the sideboard from Ikea (which I bought with giftcards I had been saving)

-  2 white shelves from JYSK

-  a power bar that is nearly impossible to see hiding behind the coffee maker

a basket for our livingroom to put all our blankets and extra pillows in (can you believe that this Christmas I acquired 4 new throw blankets?!?!  I'd say I'm set for life now!

What I didn't get to on this break...

Taking down the Christmas decorations and tree (but something tells me I might still have time to do this next week before things get too busy with work).

This Week At School

This week at school I made my way back to one of the colony schools I frequent (in fact, this was the only school I went to this week).

It seems that the class sizes have gotten smaller and many of them have discovered a love of reading (which I love to see as last year many of the middle school students couldn't be bothered to read). Needless to say it was a pretty fantastic few days of work!  They even sent me home with a pumpkin cake one day.  Yum!

Otherwise, I'm still doing my best to recuperate from my sinus infection. I feel great (for the most part) the only problem is my right ear (which feels like there is just a lot of pressure around it). Last week my doctor told me there were no new developments in my ear so I'll give the medication another month to hopefully make that better before making a return to the doctor.

We went to the lake (likely for the final time this year).

And I picked a bunch of tomatoes, peppers, and chilies from the garden (everything but the chilies we'll be using to make some spaghetti sauce soon - the chilies I'm going to trade with a friend for part of her aloe plant).

Also, if you are wondering why I'm not announcing a winner for the free subscription to the Calm App it's because I didn't get a single email (don't worry, I'm not too upset). If you are looking for a free subscription it's still very much available all you need to do is email me at confessionsofamodernday@live.com and I'll pick my winner by next week!

This Week At School and a Free Calm App Membership

I know this is a long post folks but make sure you at least scroll down to the bottom to look into how you can get your own free Calm app subscription (it's a $60 value!)

Well folks it didn't take long for this substitute teacher to get her first subbing job!

... and it just so happened to be on the 2nd day of school these kids had this year

... and it just so happened to be home economics and art so all of the classes were new to her on this day.

Needless to say there were definitely parts of the day that were a bit of a gong show.

I had 40 plus students show up to my room for art at the end of the day which seemed not right at all so I called down to the office for some help deciphering what the problem might be... turns out I had 2 classes of art in my room (so double the students).  Naturally I sent half of the class on their way to their actual class.

In art I had my students doing 2 different name drawings (a graffiti name and a name tangle)  here were the teachers examples that she sent me via text.

name graffiti

name tangle

I'll get into what the instructions are in a later post (but it may not be until next year *gasp*)

In home economics I had one class of cooking (we made biscuits) and one class of sewing (I introduced the class to them).

I can't say it was a great day.... but I was still [sort of] suffering from my sinus infection in the form of what seemed like a lot of pressure on my ears.

Luckily, while I was at that school on Monday another teacher asked if I would come back for her the following day and thus began my official busy week!

Next up I was teaching grade 7 ELA which was a pretty easy half day...not much to report here.

Then I managed to book myself a day at another school as a "teacher vacancy"... which ended up being cancelled the day prior by the person who made the job.  Which is disappointing because...

Pro tip: If you want to find a way to meet a lot of teachers (and their classes) all in the same day search for a teacher vacancy!  You'll likely be in at least 4 teachers classrooms and get to spend time with their classes in their classroom (so you'll know if you want to come back!)

Everyone and their mom has been posting "back to school" pictures of their kids well... here's mine

Finally, when I wasn't working (because lets be honest I wasn't working every day this week)

I made some apple muffins here is the recipe and they are delicious!

Although there is a few alterations I would make... cut the butter you need for spreading on top of them to an 1/8 cup and also cut the cinnamon sugar down by a bit too... because you will have leftovers and that's just wasteful.

I also made some peanut butter chocolate ice cream!  Which I regret to inform you was not that good... we'll find a better one and eventually link that recipe!

And I visited the doctor again in the hopes that I would regain proper feelings in my ear

There is one last thing I wanted to throw out there before I closed off this post.  A few weeks ago I mentioned how Calm was offering free memberships to educators (a $60 value) and they offered me another membership for my readers (ideally an educator but I'm not going to know if you aren't one).  So, if you are interested in one please email me at

confessionofamodernday@live.com

I'll pick a winner from those that email me and announce it here and on next weeks TWAS post.

Although, my guess is I don't actually have THAT many readers and even fewer will have made it all the way down here so if you are seeing this late and I haven't posted a winner please email me... you may not be too late [maybe]!

I'd be interested to know how you would use the app in your classroom.  I've been working my way through the 21 Days of Calm (I'm on day 7) and to be honest I'm just not sure how calm of a person I am to focus on it... yet.  I do like that it requires me to close my eyes for about 13 minutes a day and relax though.

Anyways, if you want your own membership please email me!

This Week OFF From School

School has officially started back up where I live but this substitute teacher still had this week off!

We went to the lake for the long weekend (a different lake from all the other times we've gone to one this summer though).

Although I wasn't feeling the greatest all weekend I did manage to still go out for ice cream (black forest - YUM), play games, a long hike, and catch the "live action" Lion King in the theater in the park!

Here are a couple of shots taken from our hike

Last week I mentioned I found a cake recipe that required lots of apples that I had made and I went ahead and made it again this week for the lake.

Apple Cake

You can find the recipe here but I made a few changes (after reading some of the comments)

1) I used a half cup less sugar

2)  Then I used 3/4 cup white sugar and 3/4 cup brown sugar instead of just using white sugar

3)  I used an extra cup of chopped apples (so 4 cups)

4) I added a generous 2 tsp of vanilla

5)  Before I poured the batter into the bundt pan I greased the edges with butter and then made a cinnamon sugar mix to sprinkle on the edges (it will stick to the edges because of the butter)

6) I baked it in a bundt pan at 350 for about 55 minutes

When it comes out of the oven it will smell like doughnuts and you'll understand why I made it twice in 2 weeks!

I FINALLY went to the doctor after getting back from the long weekend because my ears were making it feel like I was stuck on an airplane in the sky for the last week.  After telling me I have a sinus infection she wrote me 3 prescriptions and told me to come back in a few days if I'm not feeling much better.  

Unfortunately, I'm STILL not feeling much better (or at least my ears aren't) so it'll be back to the doctor next week probably.

I made salsa!

Homemade Salsa

This is the result of about 2-3 hours of chopping!.. well half the result our pots weren't big enough until it cooked down a bit so I started it in 2 pots.

At this point everything but some of the tomatoes (we ended up buying 50lbs of roma tomatoes from Superstore because they were on for an amazing price - $16 for 50lbs) and the onions were from our garden.

So, peppers, tomatoes, chilies, and jalapenos all came from our garden.

In the end it only made 3.5 quarts which I'm pretty surprised by... it originally seemed like so much more!  But it should last us for the year.

I went to a friends birthday party.

I'm hoping that by next week I manage to work at least a half day to report on but if that fails I did manage to book what could potentially be my first day back in a couple of weeks from now!

This Week OFF From School

It was [possibly] my last week off from school this week as kids will start heading back to school next week sometime.  What did I do this last week?... not a whole lot.

This last week off from school I was really not feeling well.  I know, I know, I've been saying for a while that I've been sick but this week was the worst.  Although my cough is nearly gone it seemed to have gotten replaced with a stuffed up nose which is putting a lot of pressure on my head causing headaches and it just feels like I've been stuck on a plane for the last week.  Luckily, my headache has at least subsided but if I'm not feeling at least 90% by Tuesday I think I'll finally be taking a trip to the doctors.

These lovely things were purchased this week...

20lbs of peaches (that are already frozen for smoothies for the next year) and 25lbs of tomatoes that are already cut up and canned to also use over the next year.

I made an apple cake (that I forgot to take a picture of) that was delicious!  But since it turned out (and used 4 cups of apples) I'm making it again next week (and I'll try to remember to snap a picture of it then and link the recipe)

I made another large batch of apple sauce.

I spent a rainy weekend at the lake playing lots of games.

And possibly the biggest thing to happen this week that required very little effort on my behalf was that I actually won something on the Starbucks Summer Game!  It may just be 500 stars but that's a few free drinks so I'm not complaining!  If you aren't already playing you should... I'll be the first to admit I thought it wasn't paying out as well as it had previous years until this week of course so it's not too late!

and that's pretty much it.

Looking forward to next week when I'll hopefully be feeling better!

This Week OFF From School

This week off from school was all about fitness.  

As of Friday evening I had walked or ran 24.15km.  Which if you are keeping track means I was just shy of 6km to my 30km in a week goal (I'll update at some point on Saturday to let you know if I ever got those extra few km in).

In addition to all the walking and running I did this week I also finished one level of a workout video I had been doing and moved on to level 3.  I don't actually know how long one is supposed to do each level but I figured I would know once I had mastered it and I felt like I had.

Last weekend happened to be a long weekend so we were at the lake for that.  Which was perfect because I finally got to wear my "birthday suit" (only a month after my birthday) and it was a scorcher so it was so nice to be able to jump in the lake to cool down.

Other than that I made another batch of slow cooker freezer meals.  This time I made some butter chicken (which is delicious).  We use already frozen chicken which is why it sits a little funny in the bag.

Butter Chicken

I also FINALLY painted the trim around our front door from our renovations that we did nearly a year ago!  It had actually cooled down enough that I figured having the door open for an hour during the day wouldn't let in all the bugs and heat so I did it!

I couldn't get a great before or after picture but I think you'll get the idea.

Front door before being painted

Front door after being painted

Also, that piece that I left at the bottom of the door and window is actually metal so I wasn't sure if I should attempt to paint it or not... we've since decided that I should try to paint it... but that's a job for another week!

I'm also feeling like now we need to replace our front door hinges and door knob to be black to complete the look.

And, I really spent a lot of time working on the rest of this months blog posts.  Something you may now know about me is that I typically write posts about a month in advance when possible.  If something comes up I'll shuffle things around a bit but it's a really good feeling to be working a month ahead of yourself... so it's odd that now that I have time off I had only been working a week ahead of myself (and sometimes just a couple of days).  So I'm feeling kind of accomplished.
Of course if you ever want to collaborate on something I would be more than happy to and my blog posts are easily adjusted.

And that folks, was my week!

This Week OFF From School

This week was a bit of a doozy from being off from school.

It started out with a bit of a tickle in my throat and the occasional cough to being accompanied by a headache... and just as the last of the achy head left I started to cough a lot more and by Thursday I woke up without a voice.

It was a rough week.

BUT, I still managed to get a bit accomplished.

I picked the last of our rhubarb (for now) and made a double batch of rhubarb muffins (some for our Bible study group, some for family, and the rest were for my husband to enjoy). 

the last of our rhubarb

rhubarb muffins

I've been pretty insistent that I'm not going to let our garden food go to waste this year and so far I think I've been doing a pretty good job!

I found some discounted steaks (because they were about to reach their best by date) and turned them into some 4 packs of slow cooker steak fajitas that I promptly stuck in the freezer for the next few months.

steak fajitas for the freezer

I walked to Winners and found this gem of a dry erase calendar. 

I was pretty bummed when I realized our new stainless steel fridge would not work with magnets and I was not sure how I was going to cope without my magnetic dry erase calendar (which I write on what we are eating so that I know what to take out of the freezer).  So I used a regular calendar and put it on the wall in our dinning room for a while but now I've got something much MUCH larger and I'm pretty excited for it!

We stayed back from the lake this weekend to get some stuff done around here.  Which meant we FINALLY cleaned out the garage and took a load to the dump (and by we I mean my husband).  It's been pretty full of drywall and doors since we did our renovations nearly a year ago so it was nice to get that cleared out!

Once again my illness set me back a bit in the walking area... this week I managed to get in 20.59km which is pretty good but still nearly 10km off from my goal of 30km in a week.

This Week OFF From School

It was a pretty chill week off from school this week....

I picked 2 more baskets of strawberries and promptly made a strawberry rhubarb pie out of some of the berries (it was delicious)

All natural ingredients for the pie (the rhubarb came from our garden)

The filling prior to adding sugar to it (I think it looks nicer without it in)

One of 2 pies... it was delicious!

With some of the other strawberries I made us some more mason jar salads for our lunches for the week.  You can find the recipe I used here.

The swimsuit I ordered for my birthday came in and we even went to the lake!

The back has a tie and a zipper!

But alas, the weather was not quite warm enough to take a dip in my "birthday suit".

But I love it and you can find it here

I will say that it is a pricier swimsuit (for myself at least) especially when you factor in the exchange rate into Canadian dollars, shipping, and there were also duty charges.  If you aren't one to care about costs I would highly recommend it but if you aren't trying to spend a lot of a swimsuit there are plenty of others out there!  But definitely find yourself  a discount code before processing your order... there are lots on Instagram!

The hat is a few years old from Aldo (and flowers are from the garden)

Other than that I attempted to walk 30km this week... I got to 21.9 which I feel is a ways off from my goal.  I'll work on improving for next week!

I went to the library to return some books and pick up a new one.

By the end of the week I wasn't feeling so great... my head was pounding and my throat was ticklish so I took it easy.  Hopefully I'll make a full recovery quickly!

Oh, and also, I decided to try using the square photo option on my phone for taking photos part way though the week!... what do we think?

This Week OFF From School

Week 3 was a busy week (dare I say it will be the busiest of all my summer weeks) mostly because I was helping my cousin out by watching his 2 boys for a few days.

So, I did a lot with those 2 boys we went bowling (mostly because on that particular day it was pushing 40 degrees outside with the humidex which is far too hot to enjoy yourself outside)!  We went to the park and did some geocaching (the big finds from those were a piece of wood that apparently looked like a dinosaur and 5 cents).  Did lots of browsing in stores... Cabellas, Canadian Tire (where we picked up a slip and slide), and Walmart (where we picked up some groceries to make a treat).  We watched a movie and read A LOT of Harry Potter together.  Played some games (including football which I was not, under any circumstances, ever allowed to sit on the side lines and just watch) and had some fun with the slip and slide.  We visited McDonalds (where I definitely did not think they would need socks to play in the play place - but fun fact - McDonald's sells socks for all of us hat forget... at over $2 a pair I told them they would survive without playing in the play place) and we visited the library!  It was a busy few days!

On my days off I definitely wanted to go berry picking again but alas, the days I was not with the boys were their off days at the berry patch so hopefully I'll pick my final 2 baskets next week.

I went out for birthday dinner to a local greek bistro.

I went for some walks.

I made some Nutella ice cream.

We went to the lake.

And I made a bunch of chocolate chip cookies.

A mountain of cookies!

Whenever I make cookies I always make a double batch... that way we have cookies for a while (they always seem to go so fast) and we keep them in a the freezer so they don't go bad.  The recipe for these ones is the one on the back of the Chipits package (and Chipits if you ever want to throw a girl a sponsorship we go through A LOT of your Chipits in this house!

This Week OFF From School

This week was all about relaxation... and I must admit that I did not get a lot of things on my "to do" list checked off (like organizing all my teaching stuff that is sitting in bins and binders into my filing cabinet... I've been putting that off for a year now!)

Anyways, what I did manage to do this week was...

I went to the lake!  My in laws have a cottage at a lake not too far away from the city so we FINALLY made the trip out there for a weekend.  Unfortunately, we were experiencing some haze from wildfires in neighbouring provinces so although the sun was shining we didn't actually see it a lot of the time.  Regardless we still went for a boat ride and some people jumped in the lake (I did not).

I went strawberry picking!  I'm super lucky that one of the closer berry picking spots to where I live is also the cheapest AND it's organic (not that I necessarily go out of my way to buy anything organic but it's nice to know that no pesticides are used for when I'm snacking in the patch).  

I managed to pick 2 baskets (and when I weighed them they came to just over 11 pounds of strawberries!).  Apparently we eat a lot of strawberries around here though as I've been told that we need 2 more baskets still.

Fresh strawberries

What do we do with all our strawberries?

Strawberries spaced out ready to go in the freezer

We freeze most of them to use in smoothies and I'm planning to make a strawberry rhubarb pie for some friends (hopefully with the next 2 baskets that I pick).  I also gave some to my masseuse and for the next couple of weeks we'll be enjoying some strawberry mason jar salads (which I usually make a bunch of on Sunday for John and I to eat as lunches during the week).

Strawberry, Blueberry, Feta, and Lettuce salad

We collected the first large item from our garden!

Garden zucchini (soup can there for size reference)

Our first zucchini!  This one we will cook tomorrow for dinner with some parmesan cheese and herbs sprinkled on top.  Yum!

I went for a massage and pedicure this week.

I got together with a friend that I hadn't seen in 2 years for lunch!

It was cool enough on Friday morning to go for a run (which I hadn't done since June so it was definitely time to start that up again).

I made some vanilla ice cream to go with that pie I do have every intention of making still!

I also made some zucchini chocolate cake (but not from the zucchini from our garden this year... we're still trying to use up some stuff we shredded and froze from last year).

I cleaned our laundry room!  When we first moved in we took down old curtains and changed out the shower curtains and kind of just dumped it all in a corner of our laundry room... well I decided if it had been sitting there for over a year we likely weren't going to miss it if I tossed it... so tossed it I did.

I splurged and bought a new bathing suit.  It's definitely one of the more expensive articles of clothing I've ever bought (which is surprising for me to say since it's just a bathing suit)... so here's hoping I like it!  It's in the mail (so I haven't even tried it on) and should be here in a week or 2.

Oh, and I read about half a book (I'm currently reading 3 so maybe that's ok... except what I'm not telling you is that I actually read very little of it during the week)... hoping to finish it this week!

All in all (except for maybe the lack of filing cabinet organizing) I would say it was a fairly successful week!

This Week OFF From School

It's finally summer vacation over here!

So what did I do on my first week of vacation?

I finally made time for a couple of appointments (my teeth are now squeaky clean)

I finished and picked up a new book from the library (and unbeknownst to me, couldn't renew one of the library books I had out so had a 1 day late fine for one of the books which is now 40 cents and not 10 cents... whoops).

Celebrated my birthday with some fruit pizza with a brownie crust.

Went to a family gathering

Went on a long walk with a friend.

FINALLY vacuumed the basement (because it had been WAY too long... but we also don't spend any time down there so maybe it's slightly okay?)

Relaxed in the sun.

Hung out with friends and watched the fireworks on Canada Day

Made some yummy rhubarb muffins

Helped my husband haul a bunch of large bricks to our backyard to use around the edge of our garden (where previously there had been rotting wood).

What do we have planted in the garden?

Lots of tomatoes, peppers, and lettuce, zucchini, cucumber, squash, strawberries, rhubarb, chives, and an apple tree 

It seems it was a bit of a busier first week off from school.

This Week At School

It's official everyone... we're on summer vacation over here!!

And... on my last week of school I worked on 4 different days!... so pretty much every day I could (because no one is going to book me to come in and substitute teach when the kids aren't even there!).

How'd it go?

I had one teacher tell me that if she were a sub she wouldn't book herself for these last 2 weeks because the kids have checked out already (and lets be honest, a lot of the teachers have as well).  Luckily, the kids I taught in elementary school this week (which was one day) were not checked out yet and still eager (for the most part) to work... and it may have helped that they were having a class party in the afternoon that the teacher told me to bribe them with.  

Other than that this week at school I...

Watched a lot of movies (Despicable Me and The Incredibles, and one other that I can't remember what it was).

Gave students A LOT of time on the iPads (which I'm kind of on the fence about... I mean, they may as well stay at home if they are getting free time on the iPads since that's [likely] what they would be doing at home).  

Did TUSC... and students got to decide what role they wanted to have this last time so there were a lot of "angry chefs" which meant a lot of sugary treats being passed around.

Took my classes outside.

Had a "gym riot" that was neither in the gym or rioty in the slightest (it was outside and very well organized).

All in all it was a pretty swell last week of work... and now I get to switch gears to "this week off from school" and enjoy some much deserved time off!

Psst.. I've got my next month worth of posts planned (for the most part) so you can expect regular posting to happen throughout the summer.  Enjoy!

This Week OFF From School

Spring break is coming to an end (sadly) so here is what I managed to get done on my week off from school.

1) Library.  I visited the library to pick up a book that I had requested a while ago.  I had actually been reading it at one of the schools I frequent so I finally just took it out of the library to finish (although as it stands currently I still have not finished it).

2)  Cleaning.  We had people over Wednesday evening for a Bible study and a friend spent the night in our spare bedroom too... so I just tidied things up and did some laundry for all our visitors.

3)  Painting.  My lovely husband installed some doors on the main floor a while ago and I finally painted over all the nail holes (and spots where the paint chipped a bit during installation).

4)  Appointments.  What better time to schedule all your appointments than on your time off?  I actually only had one which was nice as I talked to someone else that had scheduled about 3.

5)  Baking.  I didn't need to do much as we still have baking coming out of our ears from when we helped to put on a dessert fundraiser a couple of weeks ago.  But I did restock my banana muffin supply because sometimes if I'm rushed, or switching schools on my lunch, or just not sure of the staff room dynamics at a certain school I'll grab a couple of muffins (I freeze them) for my lunch.

6)  Writing.  My goal was to get 10 new blog posts written over the week (I usually am writing a month in advance... this is #9 so I've got one  more to write either today or tomorrow to reach my goal).

7)  Gym.  This was my last week of having a gym membership.  After this week I switched to going for long walks or runs as the weather slowly improves so I had to take advantage of my last week with my membership.

8)  Movie.  I watched My Sisters Keeper (and other tv shows) but watching this movie reminded me that I should re read the novel because I couldn't remember how the novel ended.

9)  Banking.  I had to go to the bank to take our some American funds because...

10)  USA.  A friend and I went on a quick one night stay to the nearest US city to us (which is about 3 hours away).  Just to get away for a night and do some shopping.  Unfortunately the Canadian dollar is terrible at the moment so we didn't actually do all that much shopping.  What did I buy?  A large bag of tootsie rolls (stayed tuned for Monday's post as to what those are all about), some peanut butter oatmeal, a couple of items of clothing, and a bunch of pillows.  The most impressive store?  Hobby Lobby... despite not buying anything there (only because they didn't have 3 of a particular shelf that I wanted) I didn't realize how big it was or how much they sold there... it is definitely WAY bigger than our Michaels stores here in Canada!

And there you have it... my week off. 

On Monday it's back to work for this substitute teacher.  I get to be in the same classroom for the first 3 days back!

Day's Off

I don't actually have all that many days off (especially during the winter months when illness' are prevalent).  But when I do have a day off I definitely take full advantage of it!

Walk.  If the weather is decent I'll go for a walk.  Sometimes that walk will bring me somewhere to shop (or browse) and sometimes it's just a walk in the community.

Bake.  I don't bake cookies all that often because when I do I tend to make a double batch that will last awhile.  A day off is the perfect time to get some baking done though (some of our favourite cookies are coconut chocolate chip, and chocolate peanut butter)

Work Out.  For 6 months of the year (the cooler months) I get a gym pass.  If I have a day off I'll take the opportunity to go to the gym during the day instead of the evening.

Work.  Sometimes on my day off I work... on my blog.  I like to be at least a couple of weeks ahead in my posts to help me stay on track of posting regularly.  This doesn't always happen... sometimes nothing exciting happens to me for a whole month at work and I'm really lacking for content and other times I'm flooded with post ideas and can be a month ahead of myself.  On a day off I'll typically write at least a couple of posts.

Read.  I was on some extensive book request lists from the library for a while but lately I've been reading a lot more.  A day off is the perfect time to make myself a coffee and pick up that book during the day.

Chores.  I suppose if there was any a day to get ahead (or ahem, catch up) on any chores a day off would be the day.

Friends.  It doesn't happen often when a friend has the same day off as myself (especially with it being during the week) but every so often our work schedules will line up just right and we can enjoy some time together!

Watch TV.  I mean this list would be a lie if I didn't include this one because it definitely happens and I think it's definitely allowed on a day off.

Relax.  Above all, I don't have to go to work... so I'll sleep in a bit and make sure my day isn't stressful or fast paced... I can take things slow today!

This week is spring break where I am so of course I'm busy working my way through this list.