Pre-Birthday, Birthday Dinner

Tonight I had my family birthday dinner, which was really nice. Jon will be taking me out for a surprise outing on my actual birthday, so tonight was family birthday night.
My mom will always make whatever the 'birthday person' requests, so this year I chose lasagna with french bread, and there was also broccoli salad. AND, of course, my favourite dessert since childhood; this graham cracker bottom raspberry thing with whip cream--I love it.

So, here are a couple pictures of me trying on my new winter jacket, which my mom bought in Kingston. It's really nice! Just in time for the increasingly chilly weather, too. The jacket I've had for the last 5 (?) years can retire at last.

Happy pre-birthday to me!

Two Weeks Left

Two more weeks of class until my 4 week practicum! As much as this is exciting, there is SO much school work to do before then. Gotta love year 5 education assignments.

My sister recently talked about the importance of doing something you love each day, or at least each week, and I fully agree with this. Last night I did one of those things. After a long day (couple days, actually) of working on a paper/other assignments, Jon and I rented some more Scrubs episodes and snacked. While we were doing this, I had the wonderful idea of printing off a couple of colouring pages from the internet! I ended up with some baby muppets pages, proceeded to dig up my Crayolas, and coloured while watching tv. I enjoyed all of the above, and the colouring was awesome.

And now, I return to my school work.

Happy Birthday Kara!

My dear friend Kara is always doing this for her friends...so I figure she deserves a birthday page, too! Kara is so fun to be around, is very thoughtful, and it is clear she loves her friends. We also come up with really awesome ideas together as seen in this beach/lawn chair picture! Annnd we both own a Backstreet Boys t-shirt. Have a great birthday Kara! You're great and I love you!

I LOVE Thursdays & Fridays

For those of you who don't know, I was asked by a prof I had last year to be a marker for one of her classes this term. That's never happened before so it's kind of exciting. Yesterday I worked all morning on marking 23 papers, and was all happy to be finished, but then I got a message in the evening that there was one more that was handed in late. I thought I was done! Ohh well. One more won't take that long. But this is not why I love Thursdays and Fridays.

Since I have stopped working on Thursdays, I have had both Thursdays and Fridays off! Jon has one class first thing in the morning on Thursdays, and all day off on Fridays, so we get to spend a lot of time together which I really value. I LOVE these two days...not only are they attached to the weekend making it nice and long, but they are days to both rejuvenate, spend time with my hubby, and get things done.

My Thursdays mainly consist of relaxing and cleaning. It's my day to unwind from the hectic days preceding; days that are very full and tiring. I LOVE that I have a day to spend cleaning, as it is then easier to focus on schoolwork etc. I also spend time reading for pleasure, sleeping in, and other things I enjoy. Also, sometimes Jon (the breakfast maker in the house) will make me delicious breakfasts such as the saskatoon berry sauce covered pancakes. Mmmmmm.

There is less pressure in the evenings to do schoolwork with Thurs. and Fri. off. So last night, we went out and bought some cherry ice cream, chips (and a doughnut for me) and rented a couple discs of Scrubs, and a movie (Movie Village has a great deal for Thursdays!). We had so much fun laughing our heads off at Scrubs, eating, and cuddling.

Although we have these wonderful days off, they are not always as I've described. Sometimes, Jon and/or I will spend most of it doing schoolwork. But that can get boring.

Another thing that is going on is that Jon has been busy applying for funding and preparing for applications for his Master's degree to McMaster University (in Hamilton) and York University (in Toronto). We will be living in one of those cities next year! Queen's (Kingston) was originally another option, but apparently there are so many teachers there that they won't even add substitutes to the list right now! In order for me to work...no Kingston. I'll keep updating as things progress!


Also...it looks as though my going to bed at 8 helped a lot! I have a bit of a stuffy nose, but otherwise, I'm pretty good! So I would recommend 8 o'clock bedtimes when needed.

zzzzzzzzzzz

I went to bed shortly after 8 last night. That is the same time as Liam (he's in grade 3). I'm pretty sure I've got a cold coming on.

Bees give us honey

I just got home from my respite job (with the cutest kids) and Kyle (who is 3 and a half) informed me of where honey comes from. We were looking in the pantry for a snack, and he showed me their honey supply. He said, "Bees make honey, you know. They make it and then they put it in a box and then they give it to us!" He made it sound like bees are busy making honey to give it to people as a present in a box. I could just picture a bunch of bees wrapping a box with a bow and a tag reading, "To The Human(s), love from The Bees." I love how kids think and explain things. It makes me smile.


Here's a shot from a part of our Thanksgiving weekend. Jon and Mom were playing Hey Jude--it sounded good, too! It was fun seeing them play together.

OK. Now for the serious stuff.
As I was innocently walking to my first class this morning, I smelled something not-so-pleasant. Bad smells come and go every now and then, it's a part of life. So I decided to forget about it. But then, I heard one of the 2 guys in front of me (starting to go up an escalator) say, "Oh that's what that was. I thought I smelled cabbage."And then they both laughed.
So how gross is that! I'm pretty sure my face looked a little horrified for the next while as I shuddered and kept on walking. My nose was so violated. Let me tell you: there was no cabbage around.

And I'll leave you with that.

Productivity and Thankfulness

Today and Yesterday have been productive, satisfying days. I did some schoolwork, and then handed over the computer to Jon who had a couple papers to do for today. Being students together can be interesting sometimes! Anyways, I ended up doing a TON of cleaning, reading, and a bit of baking. I love a clean house, where I can rest, and where I can eat good baking! I also got some things I've been meaning to do out of the way.

One of those things was to register for the SAG conference (an annual teacher conference thing where there are a lot of options to chose from as far as sessions go.) I am really pumped for my sessions! One is titled, "Fair Trade, Tasty and Teachable," and the other is "Look Deeper at Global Issues in your Classroom." It was also a very good price for students, which was a bonus! It excites me to be able to bring some passions of mine into the classroom.

I started this book called The Relentless Tenderness of Jesus by Brennan Manning awhile ago, and finally picked it up to read again last night. It is a wonderful wonderful book, but I just hadn't made time for it lately. So. I started last night and I am determined to finish it this weekend because it is SO good!

As I was reading this morning, I was compelled to write some 'notes' down on things that really stuck out to me. I'll share one of them, or else this post will get a tad long (it's hard, though because there is so much greatness is this man's words!!)..

"I like your Christ but I don't like your Christians. They are so unlike your Christ."
- Mahatma Gandhi
Not much more to say on that one--I wonder how many others feel the same way? It really is something to think about.

Jon and I are off to Altona tonight until Sunday. It'll be great to spend time with his side of the family! It didn't work out for us to go to both sides of the families' gatherings, so we're spending the weekend in Altona, and coming back to my parents' for "the Dinner" on Sunday.

This is not only because Thanksgiving is coming up, but I am just SO thankful for everything! And I am thankful to Jesus for it all. (And I hope this doesn't sound preachy! BUT it's true for me.)

I think that's long enough for now...Happy Thanksgiving!