Food, Work, Play.

Me with my lovely new hat.

I had a wonderful holiday in BC. The weather was good and I met many new people on the bus rides there and back. On New Years we played Risk until 4 in the morning and I would have won if the others hadn't decided to quit.


Awesome Mayan pyramid shaped chocolates from my brother and his girlfriend!


Our Risk game.

Today I had a workshop about running records for elementary school reading. It was actually entertaining but I thought I was going to pass out during it. I have been sick with bronchitis most of this week and although I feel a lot better I am pretty weak at the moment. (I am sure my insomnia doesn't help either.)

After the workshop I started looking for curriculum material for grade 5 Science. I am planning a unit about forces and simple machines. I took out 13 books from the school library, printed out curriculum requirements for the unit and general Science outcomes. I wrote down information from 2 more books and information for finding another 2 later. Now for the creation of my Masterpiece! (Mwahahaha.) ... Well after I finish paperwork for my job.


Pancakes.

I made yummy pancakes for dinner. Here is the recipe:

buttermilk pancake mix (plus necessary ingredients to add)
chocolate shavings

banana and chocolate flavoured flax oils

natural peanut butter
cocoa
icing sugar
water

blueberry syrup

whipped cream

Mix up pancake mix and chocolate shavings. Cook pancakes in flavoured flax oil. Mix peanut butter, cocoa, sugar and water to make a chocolate, peanut butter spread. Spread between pancake layers. Top with whipped cream and blueberry syrup.



The healthy way:

* 1 1/4 cups whole wheat flour
* 2 teaspoons baking powder
* 1 egg
* 1 cup milk, plus more if necessary
* 1/2 teaspoon salt
* 1 tablespoon honey
* 1/3 cup pureed banana

* banana flavoured flax oil

* natural peanut butter
* cocoa
* honey
* water

*fresh blueberries

*vanilla yoghurt


Mix up flour, milk, egg, b. powder, salt, honey, and banana puree. Cook pancakes in flavoured flax oil. Mix peanut butter, cocoa, honey and water to make a chocolate, peanut butter spread. Spread between pancake layers. Top with vanilla yoghurt and blueberries.

So it is New Years!

Another year passed! And my resolution is definitely to be going to the gym! Not only did I eat way too many holiday sweets but also I have a year and a half to make sure I am slim and trim for my bridesmaid dress for my friend's wedding! Nothing more embarrassing then being up in front of all those people with my current belly! Luckily the girl I am moving in with in February loves to go to the gym so maybe we can work out together!

Tonight I plan to be tame as far as drinking concerns and beat my friend at Risk. (Last time we played our game lasted almost 24 hours!)

We had our Christmas yesterday and it was awesome. now I just have to figure out how to pack up everything I need to take back! Grr the days are getting away from me and so much work for when I get home. I can hardly wait though because I am sick of the local guys hitting on me. I have absolutely no interest in dating at the moment.

I just finished reading a wonderful book called The Birth House by a Canadian Author, Ami Mckay, about midwifery and the life of women in early Canada. I recommend it!

I also read Ravena & the Resurrected, a pop vampire novel by my friend Tami Jackson. It was terribly witty and the historical information about Seattle was intriguing. I intend to write a review on Amazon once I get home to Brandon.

And I read Inside Out Girl by Tish Cohen, a book about an autistic child and her family. It is truly heartwarming!

Happy New Years everyone!

Activity Update

I have not been very active lately. For professional reasons I cannot talk about a lot of what I have been doing, but also I am waiting until the end of term so that I can post some of my lesson plans currently being graded so that other teachers may borrow them if they wish.

I have a week left of classes and then I will hop on a bus back to my hometown in British Columbia for 3 weeks of holiday fun! I can hardly wait! I am also likely going to be moving in the beginning of February. More to come about that once I know for sure! You can also check out my journal The Compass That Doesn't Point North where I have been updating with poetry more recently. I hope to have more time to work on the children's stories I started in the summer as well but I can't guarantee that any time soon. I am currently writing up a 45 minute workshop for WestCAST, a conference for student teachers in Western Canada. This likely will eat up more of my holiday time than I would like. I also am trying to sort out the paperwork for going to Thailand in the spring to student teach. And I have been named honourary aunt for my friend's first child who is due in March! (As well as Maid of Honour for my friend's wedding the following year!) So there is plenty going on. Right now my main concerns are finishing up the last few projects of the term and starting on some Christmas baking.

A Playlist Ideal for Sleep

This is so beautiful I had to share

70 Million by Hold Your Horses ! from L'Ogre on Vimeo.

Check Out In Legend

A Look At This Week

This week has been a busy one in a lot of ways. With my first student teaching placement almost at a close I can't help but reflect how wild it has been the last 5 weeks. I would say I had about one normal week with the kids, the others were either shortened for some reason or crazy due to some holiday. (ie. Halloween.)That said I am going to miss teaching, and I am dreading being the student again next week.

I have been busy in many other ways too. Mostly cooking and baking! Yesterday I made up some Donelli's stuffed spinach pasta. For a sauce I chopped up red and yellow tomatoes, red peppers, and onions and mixed them together with some Heart Shape flavoured flax oils and random spices from our shelves! The result was a very tasty meal!



Here are some of the flavoured flax oils we have. As you can see there are savoury flavours and dessert flavours too! My roommates and I agree the savoury flavours are the best!





Last week I baked cinnamon buns for the first time. They turned out really well. (No picture available because they were eaten too fast!) Then this week I made up some gluten-free shortbread for my class. I used a combination of rice flour and gluten-free all-purpose flour.



I am loving my Saturday instructing job, although I wish I had a little more free time. I guess I will once I get back to class next week because my days will not be nearly as long. Anyways the kids are great and it is wonderful experience to add to my resume.

I am planning for my winter vacation. I can hardly wait! It is almost 3 weeks long this year!

More soon, but for now sleep!