Archive for the ‘Fun Times’ Category

So Long Summer, I’m Sad to See You Go!

Today is the first day of school here in my little area of the world.  It doesn’t matter what I do I’m always nervous on the first day.  This year may be a bit different than most though, I’ve taught the better part of my class, either last year or three years ago, so I have a pretty good idea as to what I have to look forward to.

Of course with the first day of school comes the crashing end to summer and not just summer vacation.  The weather this past weekend was very much autumn-like with cooler temperatures and the sure sign that summer is coming to an end.  The leaves have started to change colours and are even starting to scatter the ground.  We have had a hotter than average summer, but I am honestly sad to see it go.  The long days of sunshine does a body and mind good.  I love the longer days, I’m more awake, I get more done.  With the end of summer comes the end of productivity.  Sounds pretty pathetic doesn’t it?  It’s true, especially once winter comes around.  I go into hibernation mode.  But we’re not quite there yet, so I have some hope left in me.

One thing I think I will miss most is all the time I have been able to spend bouncing through blogs, seeing what’s up in people’s lives, what people are creating, what people are sharing.  I found some really awesome blogs over the summer and I very much see my Reader being very full during the week.  I guess the good thing will be some relaxing time on the weekend getting caught up with everyone.

I am going to try and keep as caught up on my writing too. I have enjoyed writing as much as I have this summer.  It’s been very enjoyable for me.

It’s not all doom and gloom though.  I’m looking forward to this school year.  The group I have will be a bit of a challenge, half are in a testing year, half are in a different division (my split, crosses the line between junior and intermediate grades).

I’m looking forward to teaching what I have planned, it’s going to be a busy and exciting year.

I’m looking forward to the one field trip I have planned.

I’m looking forward to working with a new teacher at our school…it’s his first year with his own class and the enthusiasm is almost sickening, but also the most invigoratingly, positive attitude and you need that sometimes.

I’m looking forward to red and yellow leaves (although I’m not looking forward to clearing them off the yard).

I’m looking forward to snowy white fields (although not yet and not long).

I’m looking forward to watching my students grow into a new maturity (although the hormones can stay outside the door!).

I’m looking forward to Christmas presents being wrapped.

I’m looking forward to hanging with Hubby during his Christmas break.

I’m looking forward to the reading conference I’ve been doing to for four years, in February (already letting my principal know I’d like to attend a day…even though it’s NOT on a PD Day this year).

I’m looking forward to reading a few books over the coming months (I’m optimistic…hopefully 3 or 4, which is really quite sad).

I guess the end of summer isn’t so sad after all…I mean another one will come around again next year.  Right?

Another great Tuesday linkup or two…

I find it funny that I used to love watching award shows. Used to. Now, I just can’t be bothered for pretty much all of them. I occasionally watch some of the Academy Awards but that’s about it, and even then, my attention is usually pretty short.

I think I watched about 2 minutes of the Emmy’s that’s it. I did however log on to People.com to see the dresses afterwards and I’m watching Entertainment Tonight as I type this. I guess my attention is drawn to snippets at best. I do understand that I should probably hop over to Youtube to see if I can find the opening…I can’t imagine it’s not there.

Anyone watch the Emmy’s…did I miss anything else?

Update: Just watched the opener…oh my goodness, that was bloody AWESOME.  I don’t think I have ever seen such a great opener for an awards show.

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Mother Nature has decided to tell us that she is still very much in charge. Last Friday I froze because I went out in shorts and a t-shirt, determined to wear them a bit longer. Well, that lasted a whole 24 hours before she decided to throw another log on the fire and turn the heat up again. It’s in the low 30Cs and that doesn’t include the humidity…that just makes me melt. I may actually get to bring the dog in for one more swim before school starts next week.

What’s really annoying…by the weekend the temps are supposed to be half of what they are now. I know I live in Canada, but it still amazes me that we can get such temperature swings. And apparently we are going to get warm weather through Halloween. I can’t complain about the temps, but the allergies, that’s another story!

What’s good about the weather…the only day I have to go into the school this week, Thursday, is supposed to be rainy and the start of the temps starting to drop.  That will certainly make it a bit easier to go.

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SIL was in a dragon boat race on Saturday.  To park, we ended up parking on the bike path – I didn’t know it at the time, but we lucked out by not getting a parking ticket.  There just wasn’t enough parking for the number of people who were attending.

This was the first race she had ever been in…as a matter of fact, it was the first for most/all of the team.  And…

They came in first in the gold category.  The only category higher was platinum…and they almost made it into that category on their first race.  After the first race they were 11 out of 59 teams.  Not bad for a bunch of newbies!!

And while we were there, we saw the biggest husky I have ever seen.  I’m 5’5″ and the head of this dog was above me hips.  Apparently he wasn’t done growing either.  I found out from SIL afterward that the dog was just a pup…at six months old!  Holy crap, that’s going to be one BIG dog.

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Shopper’s Drug Mart…what are you doing?

I went into my local Shopper’s the Monday and wandering the aisles I came across quite the “display.”  Not only was there Thanksgiving decorations, with a bit of Halloween thrown in…and Christmas.  There was also Easter and Valentine’s Day.  Really, seriously!!  I think this brings a whole new meaning to the one stop shopping idea.

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Anyone got a pressure canner they want to lend me?  I’m not fully serious about this, but I was hoping to can some of the HUGE bag of green and yellow beans my neighbour sent me home with on Sunday night.  Alas, I think I am going to have to survive with freezing the beans instead, as there doesn’t seem to be a safe was of preserving them without a pressure canner and I’m not spending $150+ just to get one.  Either way, homegrown beans in winter will be awesome!

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If you’re a NASCAR fan, you’ll probably know about this t-shirt.  Kevin and DeLana Harvick made the most out of a stupid comment made by Joey Logano and decided to raise money for their charity.  I just helped the cause.

The look on the one girls face made me laugh…not your typical t-shirt for small town Ontario!

And just incase you were wondering, I’m linking this post up…

I was up late the night before because I lost track of time when putting together my classroom newsletter than goes home at the beginning of every year.  Not a big deal, it’s still summer and I didn’t have to get up that early to go into the school.  That said, I also figured it would mean I would be good and tired the following night and be able to get a good night sleep.  HA!

11 pm – Get ready for bed. I was pretty tired at this point so things were looking pretty good. Remember to take allergy pill.

11:20 – Let the dog outside one last time.

11:30 – In bed.  Hubby had left the TV on so I thought I’d watch it for a few minutes.  Apparently I was tired enough though because I couldn’t even tell you what I was watching, but I think it may have been Entertainment Tonight.

11:45ish – Give up on TV, too tired and ready to sleep.

12:10 am – Here a dog barking down the road (I’m in the country, this is not a normal occurrence). My dog starts barking, of course!

Toss and turn, toss and turn

12:54 – My nose decides this is the time to have a sneeze attack.  Wake Hubby up with all the noise.  Oops.

12:55 – Hide in the washroom until the sneezing is done and my nose isn’t running anymore.

1:00 – Back to bed.

Toss and turn, Toss and Turn.

Refuse to look at the clock, because really all I want to do is sleep!  Refuse to get up and do something, because, although I can’t get comfortable, I am more comfortable lying down.

5:00 – Alarm starts going off…not mine, Hubby’s

5:09 – off again, plays a little bit

5:21 – off again

5:30 – off again, here a bit about traffic not being heavy ( I know people commute, but I almost want to say Duh! to the radio because traffic should not be heavy at 5:30 in the morning).

5:40 – off again

5:50 off again (now, I can usually sleep through these, but considering I wasn’t sleeping anyway…)

6:00 – off again, Hubby gets up and turns off the radio!  YEAH!

6:30ish – Hubby comes into to say goodbye.  YEAH!  I should be able to get more sleep.

Toss and turn, toss and turn.  This time with the dog beside me, not Hubby.

7:00 – Oh look, that’s the time.  I’m NOT getting up yet.

Toss and turn, toss and turn.

730ish – Dog’s panting “wakes” me up.  Turn the ceiling fan higher.

7:54 – Really?  It’s only been an hour since I last looked at the clock, how can that be?

8:30 – Damn, only 30 minutes later…and I’m still not getting up. Pull blankets up closer because the ceiling fan is making me too cool now and I refuse to hit a button to lower the speed.

9:00ish – Cat jumps up on the dresser and somehow opens the top drawer, trapping her up there.  Jump out of bed to get her down.  Screw it, I’m going back to bed.

9:45 – Heck, this just isn’t working.  Drag my sorry butt out of bed and hope I’m so tired tonight that I will actually be able to sleep!

10:40 – Sitting here typing this because that’s about the only thing I have energy for or care to do.

Sidenote: Coffee will not be helping me stay awake today…coffee in fact puts me to sleep.

So I will probably flog this one for a week or so, but after having several people ask me about it last week, and many more ask me about it in the previous weeks and months I have finally added a Google Friend Connect widget. The only problem, it’s not that easy to find. You’ll have to head right down to the bottom and add yourself because the silly thing is wider than my sidebars. I’d love it if you would add yourself.

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It’s almost time to head back to school. Actually, classes start exactly two weeks from today. Last year was such a very hard school year, despite having a great group of students that it’s taken everything I have to get ready for the coming year. I’m very glad to hear that I am not the only one who has felt like this. Apparently, several of us A-type teachers have done next to nothing this summer. I’m not sure if this is a good thing or a bad thing. On the good side, it means we have tried to relax and rejuvenate. On the bad side, we’re likely to do the same thing to ourselves again this year because we will feel like we are so far behind.

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Friday night Hubby put the movie Airspeed on.  Oh, it is not a good movie in any way, shape or form, but I found myself watching it anyway.  I wish that Canadian productions were better, but they are not,  not even close.  What I did find funny, aside from the horrendous acting was the fact that Elisha Cuthbert (from 24 fame) was in it and I didn’t even recognize her!  Let’s just say she’s come a long way in her acting abilities since then.

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Have you heard of Groupon, or FabFind, or Teambuy or Living Social?  I cannot tell you how much I’m loving these sites.  I don’t buy from the very often, but last week I purchased a coupon from Groupon…$25 for a $50 GC at the Gap!  Love it!  Needless to say I went shopping for a few back to school items on Friday.  Between the coupon and the additional money I had to put in, I ended up with a savings of about 40% off the amount I spent…on top of the sale prices the clothing already was. I hope that makes some sort of sense. (BTW, I’m not being paid for any of this paragraph at all…I just love the sites!)

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I have been as lazy as I could possibly be this past week because I screwed my knee up AGAIN!  I actually did it while we were at the race in Michigan, but I haven’t bothered mentioning it until now.  I know better, but I can’t help but push myself a bit more than I should.  I was planning on making a Dr. appointment to get it checked out over the summer, but it hasn’t bothered me until now.  I’ve had knee problems for over 20 years now and back then there was nothing that could be done for me.  I really should make the appointment though so maybe I can get some physio or something for it.

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Speaking of bad body parts…my FIL got some really bad news last week about his bad.  Long story short, his doctor said the problem would heal, and now, months later he finally got to see a specialist who was hopeful that he would be able to help him with the pain.  Not so, unfortunately in the time that it took to get to the specialist and set up the procedure the spine has gone too far and the surgery would have been too risky and the doctor didn’t want to risk it.  So, now there appears to be nothing they can do and my FIL has to live with the pain.  Sadly, this is not the first time small town doctors in my area have screwed up…years ago it took two months to diagnosis my father’s heart attack.  Sometimes small town living can really suck the big one!

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On that note, I’m off to enjoy what is left of my summer vacation.  I only have one day that I HAVE to go in before school starts and I plan on being a bum for as much of the rest of it as I can.

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Oh and just to plug it again…I finally added a Google Friend Connect at the very bottom if you are interested in adding yourself to my list of followers.  Thanks in advance.

So this past weekend was the 40th Biennial Family Reunion of Hubby’s mother’s family, and…it rain! And rained. And rained some more. I gotta tell you though that it didn’t make that big of a difference in the festivities. The food was plenty and then some. I cheated, sort of, and bought these freakin’ awesome ginger snaps, because I wasn’t turning on the oven this week with the heat (okay fine, I was being lazy…it was actually cool for a few days). I did however decorate them!

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I’ve also spent a bunch of time getting our trailer ready to go for our yearly trip to Michigan. Yep, if you haven’t picked up on it, we are a NASCAR family. Yep, it’s completely against the environment. Yep, the cars go around in circles (well ovals) for hours. Yep, there are a lot of drunk people (we are actually not among that group…I can’t stand the taste and Hubby just can’t be bothered). But you know what, it’s bloody AWESOME. There’s just something different about being at the track. Not to mention it’s a few days for Hubby to sit and relax…no working on the garage, no working on the truck, no working at all. Although what’s really funny…he does a lot of the cooking. He doesn’t cook all that often at home, but when we’re gone, he cooks. So, it’s a nice break from cooking for yours truly.

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With our trip this weekend comes the end of summer for me. When we get back I’ll likely head into the school for a day or so to get things set up for September. It may seem really early to some but I want to get everything set up before everyone else is coming in and wanting to chat. We also have PD Days before the Labour Day weekend, so there won’t be much time to set up the classroom during that week.

I’m one of these people who would really like year round schooling. I’m ready to go back, sort of. I’m still hoping to win the lottery this Friday – $50 million, not that I need anywhere near that much, but let’s be honest, I’d happily take it!

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This has been one of the hottest summers in years. Since Mother Nature and I don’t have a great relationship most of the year – too cold, too wet, too snowy. I’m not easy to please when it comes to weather apparently. Well, let me be honest here, I really haven’t had much to complain about this summer. Mother Nature has treated us well. Thank You. (Now watch, it will probably snow next week just to make me bite my tongue for even putting this down here).

Heading for NASCAR race next weekend!

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Please head over and see how else is participating this fine Saturday. Well, it’s nice here anyway.

There is absolutely no randomness to this post today.

I don’t know what’s going on this summer here in Ontario, but it seems not a week goes by when there isn’t a drowning story on the news.  As a matter of fact with the number of drownings I could almost say that there doesn’t seem to be a day go by with out this being a news story.  So far, since the spring there have been 43 drownings (as for July 29…and we have  a long weekend coming up).  43!  That is just far too many!

It’s been children, it’s been adults.  Drowning does not discriminate.  They have all been accidental, although for the most part preventable.

Parents do not take your eye off your child when they are near the water…any water.  It doesn’t take but a few inches of water to drown a person.  Put them in a lifejacket.  Teach them the basics on how to swim.  Take the steps required so as not to add another person to this list.

If you’re a non-swimmer, take lessons, it’s never to late to learn to swim.  Where your lifejacket when you’re out in a boat!  Don’t be stupid, just wear the damn thing if you can’t swim.  I don’t care how uncool you may think you look.  It’s better to look stupid than to be dead!

It always drove me nuts when I was working at daycamps and sleep-away camps and the staff didn’t wear their lifejackets in the canoes and kayaks.  I was there to set an example and I always wore my lifejacket, it didn’t matter how warm it was outside or how ugly the jacket may have been.

A lifejacket sitting in a boat doesn’t do you any good if you boat goes over and you can’t swim.  Exactly how are you going to get that jacket on while trashing around for dear life.  The jacket sitting in the boat also doesn’t help you if you are hit on the head when being thrown out of the boat.  It’s pretty hard to swim when you are unconscious.

One of the drowning victims was out with his children.  He drown and this children (thankfully) were found floating around in the lake hours after the fact.  They had their lifejackets on.  The father was smart enough to put a jacket on this kids, but not himself?  Doesn’t make any sense to me whatsoever.  I cannot even imagine what it was like for the kids, the oldest being 10.  Those children are going to remember that forever, FOREVER!

I’m going to be blunt when I say I don’t get parents who won’t/don’t put their children in some sort of swim lessons just because they, themselves are not swimmers.  How does that make any sense?  You don’t swim, so your children don’t swim!  HUH?!  How does that make any sense? Find a way, get your kids some lessons, have them learn the basics, do something.

I can swim, although if I’m honest, I’m not the strongest swimmer anymore – I don’t get to swim 3 days a week like I used to.  Either way, I wear my jacket out in the boat, I just don’t want to take the risk, my life is worth more than that.

Another thing you can and should do, especially if you are a nonswimmer.  Go into the water with your lifejacket on.  Go out to shoulder depth and then…lift your feet. Yes, lift them.  You need to realize that your jacket can and will hold you up if you do end up in the water.  When you can’t swim and you end up in water over your head you are still going to panic, especially when you realize your jacket can and does move around a little bit – especially if you are wearing those gawd awful orange ones that are very boxy.  They will ride up.  You need to hold onto the shoulder area and relax (I know kinda hard to do when you can’t swim!).

I’m speaking for experience.  I have worked as a lifeguard/swim instructor.  I have also watched Hubby unexpectedly get dumped in his kayak and panic because of the lifejacket moving.  I ended up getting Hubby a better fitting jacket to make him more comfortable in the water.  And the first thing we did with the new jacket (and I wished I had done with the other one)…got him in the pool and told him to lift his legs.  I admit it was priceless to see him bobbing around realizing he was being kept up by the jacket.  And the next thing we/he did…he took off the jacket and asked me how to swim.  And then he practiced a bit.  It was an ugly dog paddle, but he was trying nonetheless.

It’s never too late to learn…and please, please, be safe by the water.

Yep, that’s what it is.  I’m having one of those days.  I have no desire to do much of anything.  It’s not like I had a bad night sleep or anything, although I didn’t turn the fan on and I do wish I had, I’ve been sleeping better with the air moving.  But lack of sleep doesn’t explain the ugh of today.

We were busy yesterday that’s for sure.  It started off with making a pasta salad, that I found out hours later I didn’t actually need to make – or so I was told after I made it.  But…people enjoyed it and I came home with none so that’s good.

After the pasta salad, we had a funeral to go to.  Losing track of time didn’t help us, but we managed to get there with second to spare.  And weren’t the last ones to arrive.

Then it was back home to cut some peppers and make some dip for the BBQ we were going to.

The BBQ was great.  Had fun with my cousin, her kids and husband and my aunt, uncle.  There were many others there, but before others arrived this is who we hung out with.  I ate, and ate and ate – lots of veggies and dip, a maybe a few desserts.

Just before it was too dark to go, we went out for a bit of a kayak.  It was great.  The lake was incredibly smooth.  It wasn’t too hot.  It was just perfect for paddling.  We finally thought better of it and got off the water before it became too dark to see us.  I did have a beacon on the back of my jacket, but still.

We didn’t even get home overly late.  As a matter of fact I was in bed by midnight.

And today…nothing, that’s about what I’ve accomplished.

Okay, maybe not nothing.  I did get a Christmas gift almost made (it will be finished by the end of the day, but the NASCAR race took over), I did get a load of laundry done.  Maybe a bit of vacuuming.  I did get a bit of work done in the trailer (NASCAR weekend i a few).  But really, I haven’t done a whole heck of a lot.

The kitchen…it’s a mess!

My craft/computer room…don’t even ask.  It’s still usable though.

My vehicle…I did get some stuff out of it, but the half case of Gatorade is still in there (the other half went in the trailer).

And dinner…I’m trying to figure out if I have enough desire to go to town and get dinner.  Otherwise, it’s 4:36 pm and I have no idea what to make.

Yep, yesterday was great and busy.

But today, well today is just one of those days.

Fresh burgers, potato salad and dessert.

Hanging out with family and friends.

Just having fun and enjoying myself.

See relatives I don’t see often (enough).

Maybe a bit of swimming around.

Probably some kayaking around the lake.

Taking lots of pictures of everyone.

Yep, sounds like a good day!

I hope you’ll stop by and visit some of the other people participating in 6 Word Saturday.

Okay, so this won’t be entirely wordless, I have to add a few words to this post.
First of all, the concert was AWESOME! It really was quite the show.

Why, yes I do think Brad Paisley has this right.  As we were heading in, a rather drunk guy was being escorted out.

For those of you who don’t now Brad Paisley, he sings this really great song, “Whiskey Lullaby” with Alison Kraus.  Well he performed the song at the concert and when Alison is supposed to start singing in the song she “appeared” on stage.  The effects were so good, up to the very last note of the song Hubby and I were trying to figure out if she was in fact there or not.  The image was so clear and perfect, the spotlight was “on” her and there were shadows.  It was incredibly well done.  And when she got up to leave at the end of the song…there was no one there!

We were only able to make it to Brad Paisley, but when do you get to see 5 opening acts.  If the H2O tour comes to your area I highly recommend going, even if you aren’t as lucky as we were with our ticket price.  $10!  That’s what we got them for back when we went to the Sugarland concert.  It was definitely worth it, and I can now say I would have easily paid the full price and then some.  Paisley himself played for just short of 2 hours.  Worth every penny!!

Also being linked up here and here, among other places that I really need to remember to copy over to here.

It’s your turn…come share your WW with me. I’ve enjoyed having everyone join up, it’s been fun watching more and more of you stop by to join in on the fun.