Archive for the ‘Home’ Category

This is being linked several places this week…and as I link, I’ll update this so I can remember everyone I visited. We’ll start with here and here…my regular Wednesday postings. And here…here…

I hope you’ll join in this week.

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…

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.

We got back from our yearly NASCAR roadtrip yesterday to find…

That the raccoon had decided to take out my hummingbird feeders once and for all. The raccoon came for a late night visit several weeks ago and we hadn’t seen it since, but I guess with the dog visiting my in-laws the raccoon knew it was time to try again. The worst part…the stupid thing broke my favourite feeder. GRRRR! Stupid raccoon!

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This has been the year of the bugs inside my house and I am waiting now on the plague of locusts. We had ants back near the end of the winter. Near the end of June, early July it was earwigs – and the jut creeped the heck out of me. Now…it’s spiders! Oh my goodness the spiders. I came to the spider web (actually I think it was more than one) strung out the length of the bottom cupboards. It was just crazy! I had cleaned up all the webs and spiders (or so I thought) before we left so to come back to this many webs was a bit surprising. At least it was my friendly spider who resides outside the one window (I will share that one later…it’s HUGE!).

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I just came in from hanging out the first of many loads of laundry (the disadvantage to trailer camping as opposed to hotel…no one to clean your towels) and there is this crazy bird out there. I can’t see the thing, but I can sure as heck hear it! The bird keeps screeching like mad whenever I am out there.

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The animals seemed to have a great visit with the in-laws. The dog didn’t seem to like being dropped off this time – which also happened to be the first time she’s been there since the in-laws dog died. )Perhaps there is a connection there.) The cat, she apparently got on perfectly fine with my in-laws cat and only snarled once at my FIL. This is a much better track record. Her hind legs though, are still pretty bald! She took to licking them excessively a few weeks ago now – I thought it was a reaction to a new sample food but perhaps now. She looks absolutely ridiculous too! At least she’s not licking them raw now, so it’s not as bad as it was.

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I almost forgot about the mouse. There was one that decided to take up residence in our trailer and I thought I had gotten rid of it – dryer sheets to run it off seemed to be working, except for when you are trying to get said trailer ready and you take them out. Now, we’re not sure if the mouse travelled with us, or if we picked one up on our trip. Both Hubby and I think it came with us. Needless to say I was less than impressed when I opened a drawer I had cleaned to see dropping in said drawer. I ended up buying some new silverware because disinfecting is a little hard when you’re camping. But the topper…going out in the trailer last night when we got home to see droppings in the kitchen sink. I can only imagine what this mouse had been going through riding around in the trailer as we bumped down the road. Perhaps we scared it off, but something tells me that’s not so. So…it goes the dryer sheets again…just as soon as I finish clearing everything out and cleaning up all the newly left gifts.

So what about you…anything random to talk about this week? Well, why don’t you join in on the fun. Or perhaps stop by and see what others are writing about.

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.

For a month or two I’ve been reading

The other day she posted about this cool quiz you could do to see what your decorating style(s) are.  I don’t have one particular style, I like too many different things and ideas.  After taking the quiz, which was a matter of looking at some pictures and deciding your opinion on them, I have my results.

Apparently I like the Rustic Revival look, with a whopping 56% of my response leaning that way.  What is Rustic Revival?

Well…according to the quiz it is:

“You can take kid out of the country but you can’t take the country out of the kid… or is your theme “you can take the kid out of the city, but you can’t take the city out of the kid?” Either way you play it, you are one of the unique individuals who loves a mix of modern and country. The clean lines of the modern softened by rustic /vintage elements is the perfect mix in your mind. And can we blame you? You’ve taken the best aspects of two popular designs and mixed them in a manner that appeals young and old alike. A subtle background of white or light colors provides a nice canvas for all the wonderful flea market, eBay or garage sale finds as well as the classic modern pieces that you love.”

Materials

The material palette for urban country runs the gamut because of the two extremes being mixed. On the countryside you see a lot of wood, woven rope, canvas and linen, rustic metals and wrought iron, cowhide and vintage leather. On the more modern side, you see acrylic, satin and polished nickel and chrome, glass, faux fur, refined leather, fiberglass and sleek woods. It’s the mixing of these elements that makes the style work so well. Seagrass and other natural woven materials are often used for floor coverings. Concrete and natural wood floors are very popular, and work really well together.

Colors

When it comes to color, think light, casual and airy. White, pale gray or beige, khaki and sage; all of these colors make nice, subtle backdrops for Urban Country style. Think of the colors of natural linen, concrete, and if you’d like to go dark, use the dark brownish-black of iron or the deep burnt orange of rust. The key is to keep the spaces feeling open (go modern!) and yet warm (yay for rustic!), and by going light on the walls and major pieces and more color on the accents and accessories you can achieve this mix really well.

And looks like this…

and maybe a bit of this…

and some of this…

The rest of my 100% was made up of 36% Mountain Lodge Style (not at all surprising really) and 9% Arts and Craft (this one threw my for a loop).

Out of curiosity I may see if Hubby will sit through the quiz…see just how much the same or how far off we are on our decorating chooses.  My guess…I think he’ll probably reign supreme on the Mountain Lodge Style.

Why not hop on over and see what your decorating style is?

What started as a comment over at Gemini-Girl turned into a post over here.

I am a wife, I am not a housewife.

I grew up in a household where my father not only worked, he helped around the house…and my mom was a SAH mom. The first gathering I went to with my husband (then boyfriend) could be described as…the women did everything, the men chatted and played games. I was shocked and couldn’t get over it. I don’t know how it came up or who said it, but I was told the cooking, setting, cleaning was time for the women to chat. I still don’t get that comment as justification. I am certainly not well domesticated. As a child I didn’t have many chores to do, aside from clean my room (which rarely happened) and empty the dishwasher.

By no means are the household tasks split in half, but I most certainly am not the only one doing them.

As for the most disliked task…I don’t really think I have one, at least not one that has come up yet. Is the general idea of a place for everything and everything in it’s place a task? I guess it’s not so much a task, as it is a philosophy.  Regardless, I just can’t grasp that one. Nor can I say I like doing things immediately, so yes, we may have dishes piled up for a few days, afterall it is Hubby’s job to empty the washer. 

I don’t mind doing most tasks, but I draw the line at the idea of dividing jobs by women’s work and men’s work.  Laundry, no big deal.  Vacuuming, I could do several times a week because of my dog, but I don’t.  Sweeping, I find it to be relaxing actually.  Dusting, needs to be done more often than it is.  I do 99% of the cooking, despite us making a deal that Hubby would make one meal a week.  That deal really hasn’t been upheld.  I really do enjoy cooking, it’s the cleaning up afterward that I’m not a fan of.

I’m not a big fan of gathering the garbage, but I seem to do it most weeks.  Of course, one of these weeks I should just sit back and see if it gets done.  Or what doesn’t get cleared out.  Apparently some of the garbage is classified as “my” garbage so Hubby doesn’t seem to getting to putting it in the garbage.  Still haven’t really figured this one out, despite us actually having a conversation about it…sort of.

To give Hubby his credit, he does a lot around the house, albeit most of it outside.  He is super handy and when work need to be done he can almost always do it.  Is this classified as housework?

What about you, what is your most disliked household task?  And, is the housework in your house split equally?

I made it through my first week of summer vacation without going completely stir crazy.  Of course, being sick for most of it and having Hubby home for four days of it surely helped the transition from running a marathon to doing next to nothing.  I was overwhelmed last weekend with the idea, it’s been such a CRAZY BUSY school year I wasn’t sure how I’d made it through the first week.  (I worked summers just because up until a few years ago).  I must say I am rather proud of myself, I even walked by a teacher book the other day and didn’t feel a twinge of guilt whatsoever that I wasn’t deciding to pick it up to read.  I have a disaster in my computer/craft room to clean up, which is mostly from school stuff that just go dropped over the past few weeks, but I didn’t touch that either.

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

* I started a book, but haven’t even remotely finished it.

* Took the dog swimming, twice.  It’s been so hot here we both needed the cool down!

* Took a trip south of the border and exchanged my Five Fingers, bought a pair of golf shoes, ate at Panera Breads and bought a bit of fabric.

* Ironed fabric, boy did I iron fabric. It took me the better part of four episodes of Mad Mad to get through the pile I had to iron.

* Caught up on my blog reading…I was so far behind I didn’t think there was any way of getting through them all.

* Burned and cleared the pictures from this school year. (oops, I guess I didn’t get entirely away from school).

* I didn’t however get the rest of the plants gardened.  Now that it has cooled down a bit (albeit, the humidity hasn’t left and after I just check the temp hasn’t really dropped…well, there were a few nice hours today.) I may be able to get it done over the next day or so.

All in all, the vacation this far has been so far, so good!  Thanks for asking.

Care to join in on the fun.

My summer vacation has officially started, not that it started all that great.  What started as a head cold swiftly made it’s way to my lungs and completely knocked me off my feet.  I don’t remember having a cold this bad in a long, long time.  I spent many hours Saturday sleeping because that was about all I could do – something to do with lack of oxygen from full lungs I’m sure.  If I weren’t on holidays it would definitely have been a sick day, and I don’t do sick days very well, I don’t like the extra planning for a supply teacher.  Apparently I’d rather infect my students.

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So now that vacation has begun, I feel overwhelmed.  It was a crazy busy school year and I’m overwhelmed about not having as much to do?!  There’s something wrong with that.  I’m sure the feeling is only temporary…I hope!

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I’ve started the first book on my summer reading this…so far…it’s okay.  More later, when I’m done. (No L, not your book…that’s next.)

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It’s bloody hot here now!  Last Tuesday it was a whopping 14C out…by the Sunday…30C+.  It’s official Mother Nature doesn’t know what she’s doing. This is the weather forecast for the week…

See that “feels like” temp on Wednesday…shoot me now.  That’s just plain crazy!

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I think we’ve decided to try golf.  By we, I mean Hubby and myself.  We spent whatever time I was awake on the weekend at different golf shops.  You know what I have to show for it…golf balls.  It’s a start.  As always I seem to pick the wrong time of year to start looking into a sport…finding shoes is almost impossible right now.  I’ve almost chosen a set of clubs.  This is exciting news because it will give us something else to do when we go trailering.

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My goal this week…to get the rest of my plants in the ground.  I have a bunch of lavender plants to plant, but need to get the new garden dug and honestly I haven’t been in any shape to do it.  Based on the heat…about 11 pm sounds like a good time to do it.  I will get it done though.

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I’m making my second trip south of the border in less than 2 weeks.  I have a pair of shoes I need to exchange…they fit, mostly, but I forgot to adjust the straps on the ankle to their a little too big. Funny thing…my mom also has a pair of shoes to exchange too.  She looked at the size, but didn’t try them on.  They’re men’s shoes.  Oops!  Oh well, that means more yogurt and K-cups!  I’m weird like that…drive 3 hours to bring back groceries.

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One of my favourite things about summer and the heat…cooking on the BBQ.  I make everything out there.  Last year I made cookies and lasagne on it.  Not sure what crazy things I will try this year, but I have a few months to figure it out.

Care to join in on the fun, or perhaps see the randomness of some other awesome people.  Hop on over then.

I have been collecting material for a few months now knowing that I would eventually have time to do something with it.  Well, that time has finally arrived.  I laundered it (well, half of it!, okay, probably less than half of it!!) this morning and now it’s out drying.

About half of that is for projects I’m making for myself and the other half is for Christmas presents.  I’m looking forward to this.

Yesterday I had the line full of John Deere material for a gift I’m making for FIL.  (He doesn’t read this so I’m not giving away much).

I already made one of the gifts for a sister-in-law (no, not the SIL that occasionally stops by here ).

I’ve been collecting and planning for months now.  I blame the internet, stop by a few cool blogs and look what happens.

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In other news, can someone explain this to me?  My brother is in Vegas right now and I thought I’d check the temps to compare them to here.  It’s a little warm here today!!

I get the temp being less in the winter when there’s a wind chill, but in the summer…in Vegas?!  Maybe it’s the dry desert heat, it plays with the “feels like’ temps.  Unlike here where the “feels like” is already 10C hotter than the actual.   Ick!!