Wednesday musings

Just read a friend's blog and freaked out a bit. It seems that snowboard accidents are the trend in Hope these days. Another student was severely injured and is still recovering and now my friend's daughter hit a tree on the weekend. It is very scary. My friend is also going through a divorce and it seems like it may be a little ugly. I feel for her and hope that in the end she comes out stronger but it must be very difficult.

We are a couple of days away from spring break!!!! Yipee!!!! Even though I am not working full time, I am looking forward to the break. I am also looking forward to doing some shopping! Arden and I went through her closet yesterday and must have put 1/2 her shirts into the "too small box". She has grown so much, all of the sleeves were half way to her elbow. We will hit The Children's Place in Nanaimo while we are there.

I am also looking forward to doing a little scrapbook shopping. We are going to Treasure Mart and Clipper Street and of course Michael's. I don't really need anything, I'm just in supply shopping withdrawl! LOL I do want to get a couple of new Cricut cartridges and maybe a new sizzlets font. We'll see.

what we have

what we want

Spring Break?!

Well, if it was a 'normal' year, today would be the first day of spring break. This is only noteworthy because we woke up to more snow this morning. Nothing really significant, but snow none-the-less. Lucky for us, the school district has decided to join spring break with Easter so that we can have 2 weeks off, so our spring break isn't for another two weeks. Hopefully the weather will perk up by then.

Crosgreys were supposed to visit this week but the heavens were working against us. Between sketchy weather and the slides up the Fraser Canyon, we decided it was best they not come. I had a good hour plus phone conversation with Theresa yesterday, which was really nice. We are going to have dinner with them when we are through Hope over Easter.

I had a really blah weekend. I think I have a bit of the blues lately. I'm not really sure why. I think it is partly due to feeling unimortant - at home, and with no 'real' job. In my old life I was important, especially in my job, so it helped me to feel good about myself. That part is missing now. I think I also need some romance. Perhaps I will need to instigate that myself. hmmm...

Feelin' the scrappin' bug

I am starting to feel like scrapbooking again. I really want to get our New York album done before spring break - which gives me just over two weeks. I am almost done the layouts and then I just have to go back and add embellishments and journaling. I used the same layout/formula for each page so it made it pretty quick. I used black cardstock with white, grey and red accents. I think it is turning out great.

I am going to my first all day crop in Houston. It is a Creative Memories crop so it might be interesting. I don't think the hostess has seen much other scrapbooking so I might shock her but I will try to keep it low key. The only CM stuff I really use now are my corner rounder and my small cutter. Sometimes I break out my circle or oval cutters, but it's pretty rare.

A couple of staff members here at the high school want to see my Cricut so I think I will bring it in tomorrow for a bit of a demo. Cricut just came out with a bunch of school related cartridges that would be really awesome for bulletin boards and really great for elementary teachers. I think I will visit Treasure Mart over spring break when we are in Vancouver for the Principals' conference. I am hoping they will have some of these new cartridges because their prices are amazing - almost half of other retailers.

I just wish we could get our bedroom done so I could have an actual scrapbooking room. The cave of a room I am in now is so uninspiring.

Sledding at School

One thing I love about the North is the variety of activities compared to down south. Today I TOD'd a PE class and we went sledding. It is a beautiful day and with the 6 inches of new snow we got on the weekend, the sledding was awesome. Of course, one thing that never changes is the whining of students. It's amazing how grade 9 girl whining can put an end to a fun class of sledding.

We were surprised by the snow all day Saturday. I had just told Aaron on Friday that we should move the barbecue from the carport to the deck and then it snowed all day. Good thing we didn't move it. It is so bright here all the time and with the time change this weekend (a few weeks earlier than normal) it is light for even longer each day. It was almost 8pm before it was truly dark last night. Apparently, in the summer, it stays light until 11pm. I'm looking forward to that. I always seem to get so much more done when it is light out. The winter darkness just makes me want to hibernate.

I am going to my first all day scrapbooking 'event' in Houston on March 31st. I am really looking forward to it. It is put on by a Creative Memories person but hopefully she won't mind my non-CM style. I am going to buy the Disney album from her though, because they are really nice. I want to use it for Arden's autograph book.

I booked our Disneyland trip today. I can now officially be excited. I can hardly wait to see it all through Arden's eyes. She is going to love every minute of it. I even booked a Disney Princess Dinner for us. We are staying at a Residence Inn which is like a small appartment so it will be really comfortable. The next trip to book is Hawaii at Christmas. I am hoping Aaron won't change his mind because of the cost (about $7000) for the three of us for 10 days. I think it is so much more enjoyable to spend our money on trips and experiences rather than on 'stuff'. We always seem to have such a good time on trips and I have to admit, I love organizing a holiday for us!

It's Wednesday!

I have been working a tonne lately. I'm starting to feel like a full time staff member at my new HSS home. Being a TOC definitely has its perks and perrils. I like not having any prep work and that my marking is limited to some short assignments or quizes in class. The tough part is the students who like to take advantage and not really having a class to call my own. Most of the students have been great and my 14 years of experience has come in very handy. I now truly appreciate how lucky I was to get a job right out of university and not have to TOC then. I think it would have been a lot tougher. I am on my fifth day straight of working and I have one more day this week and then I am taking Friday off. Aaron is going to have to start doing some stuff around the house as I can't keep up with everything there too.

The sun is shining again today and the snow is almost all gone from the roads. What a dirty mess it leaves behind. You can really see how much sand and gravel they put on the roads in the winter. There are some pretty serious pot holes as well.

weekend review

Had a pretty good weekend. The weather was beautiful and we had good results in the mixed bonspeil despite not curling especially well. We ended up 2nd in the 'B' event even though we only won one game. We had a great time however. Lots of laughing.

Arden lost another tooth last night. The tooth fairy has visited twice in the past 5 days. That kid is going to be rich off this pixie! She looks so cute with one tooth mising from the top and two from the bottom. She loves to stick a straw through the hole to drink her juice.

I'm working a lot this week. Monday - Thursday. At least that means I'll make scale. I'm not going to work Friday so I will have a bit of a break. I told Aaron that he is going to have to start doing some stuff around the house because I can't keep up when I am working 4 days a week. So much for my three day a week plan. He needs to at least do the dishes once in a while. I hinted at that last night and hoped he would do the dishes but it didn't happen. I don't think he got the message of me slamming the cutlery into the drying rack as he was going to be last night. Working so much also makes the mornings quite stressful as Arden is not known for her morning speed and I hate arriving at school at the last minute. If I get a full time job here next year we will have to look into other arrangements for the morning because I will need to be here before 8:15am.

The snow is rapidly melting and the sun is shining pretty much every day. I definitely don't miss the rain in Hope.

I'm back!

Well, life really has really been happening since way back in June when I last updated. I actually forgot about my blog for a while.

We moved to Houston, BC in August and are loving our new home in the North! It has been an exceptionally cold and snowy winter so we are getting a good taste of life up here. Aaron's new job is awesome and Arden is doing great at school. I have been working as a TOC quite a bit which is different for me but I must admit I do like the no marking or prepping part of the job.

I had hoped to scrapbook a lot more once we moved up here but we are still using what will eventually be my scrap room as a bedroom right now. Hopefully by the end of April that problem will be rectified! I have scrapbooked most of our New York trip and I think I will work on my Scottland trip next. I seem to be more productive with projects like this that have a clear end.

Arden lost her second tooth last night while biting into her hambuger at A&W. It's a good thing she didn't swallow it. This tooth was a little less traumatic than the first one so hopefully the rest will follow suit.

We are curling in the mixed bonspeil this weekend. I doubt we will have the same success we had in the ladies' and men's bonspeils. Aaron's team came 1st in the C and my team came 1st in the A. I'm sure we will have just as much fun. I made jello shots in the shape of orange slices so that should get the festivities started.

It feels good to be back and I am going to try to keep this up again, even if it's just as a record of life's happenings.