Away and Down for the Count

Posted on January 24, 2014 by Mama Cormier

….I feel like I haven’t posted in awhile so here’s my week in review

Friday, January 17

My bags are packed and I’m on my way to Chatham for my sister’s wedding. My husband is suffering a great deal of pain from his fall earlier this week and isn’t coming with us. I booked an appointment to get my hair cut before I headed out to meet my father and catch the train at Union Station.

I arrived an hour early and looked out for my 87 year old father who had to come into Toronto from Oshawa on the Go Train. Unfortunately Union Station is undergoing a lot of renovation and finding anybody is a bit tricky. I sat down in a waiting area figuring his train wasn’t due to arrive for another half an hour. Little did I know that he caught an earlier train. Luckily for me my Dad isn’t shy and after asking for some directions he ended up waiting in a waiting area on the opposite side of the station.

When I thought his train was about to arrive I stood up to see if I could catch a glimpse of him as he arrived. I happened to look over to the other side of the station and sure enough there he was wandering around looking for me. All ended well. We got on the train together and settled in for a very enjoyable 3 1/2 hour trip.

One of the things that my husband arranged that both my Dad and I very much appreciated was upgrade our seats to business class. My father was very surprised when he pulled out his wallet to buy a drink and was politely told by one of our seat mates to put away his money. All drinks and food on business class are complimentary. The meals were excellent, better than any airline meal I’ve ever had.

When we got to Chatham the car rental company picked us up and drove us to the rental office to pick up our van. The hotel was just down the street. We booked into the Holiday Inn Express and freshened up before going to the wedding rehearsal.

My sister came by and we followed her to the church.

After about an hour of running through the ceremony and making final adjustment we got back into our cars and headed out to Pain Court (French pronunciation – pan cour) for the rehearsal dinner.

When we finished our meal we headed back to Chatham but in the meantime it had started snowing so driving was a little treacherous. My other sister and her family were flying in from Calgary and were landing in Windsor which meant that they had to drive from Windsor to Chatham.

When we got back to the hotel we inquired about my sister’s family but they hadn’t yet arrived. About 15 minutes later my phone rang and my sister announce that they were in the hotel. A few minutes later all five of them came down to my room and we had a bit of a reunion. Dad was already for bed for he didn’t join us.

After catching up and meeting T’s ( my nephew) girlfriend we made arrangements to meet for breakfast and then apparently we were going to the hall to decorate it for the wedding.

Saturday, January 18

Breakfast was in the hotel. We all met downstairs and enjoyed the complimentary coffee and breakfast foods. Dad finally greeted the rest of CS’s family (my baby sister) and we planned out the rest of the day.

We drove to the restaurant where the wedding reception was being held. A friend of my sister who was getting married was already there with instructions on what to do to decorate the space. I organized the name tags on the tables and my baby sister helped the bride’s friend decorate the head table.

My brother-in-law picked up my girls from the train station and we had three more sets of hands to help decorate. My sister’s theme was a rifle range because that’s where she and D met over 30 years ago when they were both at university. The tables had cap guns, rifle lighters and the walls were decorated with targets.

At one point my sister proclaimed that we needed more tape so again my brother-in-law volunteered to go buy some. Little did we know that he was checking out the local dollar store and he bought most of the glow sticks in the place and bought more toy guns and caps. He returned with two huge bags.

The original plan was to meet the bride for lunch after she got her hair done but she ran behind schedule so we were on our own. We couldn’t agree on where to go so we decided to go our separate ways for lunch. I had to take the girls back to the hotel first anyway so that they could check in. Once we did that we found a Tim Horton’s close by and had a quick lunch before we returned to the hotel to get dressed for the wedding.

To Be Continued………

Scratch Art

Posted on January 22, 2014 by Mama Cormier

….brown craft paper, oil pastels, and black acrylic paint

Last week I discovered that I was running out of some basic materials, like glue sticks and my supply order that I made weeks before the holidays still hadn’t arrived. After rummaging through the supply cupboard I found enough brown paper for two classes. I had plenty of oil pastels and 2 jars of black acrylic paint.

Some of the students were still finishing their Hundertwasser style landscapes using chalk pastel, so it was interesting for them to experience a new medium, oil pastels. Everyone was busy, either finishing projects or starting a new one. I set up one table for painting to limit the mess and thank goodness for my new drying rack.

Scratch Art from Scratch

I’ve never attempted to do scratch art projects because I’ve only ever seen them done using pre-made scratch boards. As I was going through one of my many art book for children I discovered a simple way to make our own black scratch papers. I have to say that making our own papers was very satisfying and gave the children some experience using oil pastels. I loved using the brown paper and the students were encouraged to leave some of the brown edges exposed.

Students are encouraged to lay down a thick layer of pastels. No background paper should show through. Once we were satisfied with the amount of pastel on the paper we painted a thick layer of black acrylic paint. Before you do this make sure that each student has written their name on the back of their paper or you will have quite a time trying to determine who belongs to the blackened sheets when they come back a week later.

As soon as students finished painting over the the pastels they placed their papers on the drying rack. (This is not a one day project). In the remaining time students can start sketching on copy paper a rough copy of what they would like to draw. I have numerous drawing books available for them to look through and be inspired.

In the following class each student was given a paper clip that I bent open and that was their scratching tool. It works fairly well, especially if you hold it like a pencil and gently rub away the black paint. The assignment was to draw some animals but some of them chose to create a landscape or they did a combination of both. I mounted the finished pieces on two pieces of different coloured construction paper so that it looked like it was matted. Again I think that the grade 2/3 class did a great job.

Share Your World – Week 3, 2014

Posted on January 20, 2014 by Mama Cormier

…I think the first question is the hardest

In what do you find the simplest of joys?

I guess one of the ways that I find the simplest of joys is baking or cooking for my family. I don’t do much of that anymore because my husband does most of the cooking. I’m not complaining mind you, I love being pampered by him and he is a wonderful cook. I don’t bake much because I like my own cooking too much and I have a weakness for baked sweets.

Another way I find joy is to simply curl up with a good book and a cup of tea in the middle of the afternoon. I’m still working so I don’t often get time for that but in the summer I make up for it tenfold.

Jello or Pudding? And what is your favorite flavor?

It would definitely be pudding and my favourite flavour would be chocolate followed by coconut and banana.

Is there a language you would like to learn?

I’m terrible at languages. My first language is German and I’m sorry that I didn’t keep it up. I understand most of it and I can get by but I’d love to be more proficient. The other language that I wish I had worked harder at is French. I took French for about five years in school and I’ve taught in French Immersion schools for over twenty years but I discovered that you can’t learn a language by osmosis. Finally I think I would love to learn some Italian and maybe a little Spanish, just enough to get by when I travel to Italy and Spain (hopefully in the next two to three years).

Do you prefer juice or fruit?

This one is easy. Fruit all the way. A piece of fruit is much more satisfying and healthier than a glass of juice.

Join in the fun and go to Cee’s website:

http://ceenphotography.com/2014/01/20/share-your-world-2014-week-3/

Weekly Photo Challenge: Family

Posted on January 19, 2014 by Mama Cormier

….we just celebrated my sister’s wedding to the love of her life and we realized how lucky we are to still have our Dad with us

http://dailypost.wordpress.com/2014/01/17/photo-challenge-family-2/

From Zero to Hero-Day 14

Posted on January 16, 2014 by Mama Cormier

Assignment: Blogger’s Choice

It’s been a crazy couple of days. Yesterday I had book club and didn’t get home till quite late. I tried to add a blogroll but it was taking too much time. Nothing seems to work when you’re in a hurry. Now that I know where to find the help I’ll attempt it again at a later date.

Today I got a phone call at work from my daughter. She called K at home and discovered that he had fallen on the ice and was in a lot of pain. He bought me a new iPhone for Christmas but forgot to put my new number on his contact list. Why he didn’t phone the school was beyond me. Anyway I phoned home and he asked me to come home right away. That’s saying something.

When I got home he was mobile but I could tell he was suffering. I checked his back and there were no bones sticking out or even any inflammation but I thought it was better to be safe than sorry so off to the hospital we went.

The emergency department wasn’t too busy when we got there and we went from triage to the admitting nurse to ambulatory care pretty quickly. We didn’t have to wait too long to see a doctor and he quickly assessed the situation and orders a series of x-rays. Now the wait began and the place quickly filled up.

To make a long story short, after 3 1/2 hours we left with good news that there were on broken bones and a prescription for Tylenol 3. There was also one other bit of new that we weren’t expecting. Apparently K had suffered a broken rib sometime in his life. When, where and how is a mystery to us both.

When we got home I took the dog out and then drove up the street to have the prescription filled and to pick up some dinner. Despite his pain K was hungry and of course nothing had been prepared because of his injury.

Today’s Zero to Hero assignment is the blogger’s choice. I decided to reply to comments made on my last post and to check out the one blog I wasn’t familiar with. Other than that there really hasn’t been enough time for anything else.

Last day of school for me tomorrow. On Friday we take the train to Chatham for my sister’s wedding (hopefully K will be feeling better and will still be able to make the trip).

Cheers!

Share Your World – Week 2, 2014

Posted on January 14, 2014 by Mama Cormier

…. here are the next four questions

If you had to move to a country besides the one you currently live in, where would you move and why?

I think I would move to the Netherlands. It’s where my son lives at the moment. If I had to leave Canada and most of my family behind I think it would be somewhat comforting to have one of my children close by. We had an opportunity to visit Amsterdam and Rotterdam several years ago when our son was studying there. We loved it. Even though we don’t speak Dutch most of the people there are very fluent in English. I also like the fact that we are only a hop, skip and jump from Ireland and Germany where both my husband and I have extended family.

Music or silence while working?

It depends what I’m doing. Some days when I’m doing chores I like loud catchy music but other times I prefer the quiet, especially late at night. I’m a bit of a night owl and sometime I do my best work after midnight. My husband and son both like loud music when they’re cooking.

What is your favorite color?

My favourite colour has always been red. I love bright bold colours. Next in line would be a dark rich blue.

Do you have a bucket list? What are your three items? A bucket list are things you want to do before you die.

I’ve never really believed in a bucket list. Maybe the thought of dying puts me off. What if I do everything on the list long before I’m ready to die. I think that I would jinx myself. Instead I prefer to make long range plans for one or two years ahead. What I really like is spontaneity. Just get up and go. The things that I would like to do in the next year or so are:

1. Go to Europe again, either Italy, Germany or Turkey (or maybe all three).

2. Take a trip out west to visit my baby sister (going in March).

3. Do a wine tour in Prince Edward County with my husband this spring or summer.

From Zero to Hero – Day 11 – The House is Completely De-Christmased

Posted on January 12, 2014 by Mama Cormier

Today’s assignment: leave comments on at least three blogs that you’ve never commented on before.

I understand the value of leaving comments on new blogs. I wouldn’t be where I am today if I didn’t do that but it’s always good to be reminded of its benefits. Once people start coming to your site you might feel somewhat disappointed when you have a day or two when very few come over to read what you thought was an awesome post. Sometime though, as in my case, no one came over because when I pushed the Publish button (it appeared that the article was sent off and it even showed up on my Facebook page) it didn’t really publish and the next day I discovered that it was still sitting in a Draft file. I still don’t know why that happens but closing all my tabs before publishing usually helps.

Some of you may be uncomfortable leaving a comment but WordPress has all kinds of great suggestions on how to do this successfully. If an article resonates with me I want the writer to know how it affected me. I usually leave highly political or religious commentary alone. Once I got involved in a conversation that made me very uncomfortable and it wasn’t the author that caused the angst but the people who stopped by to comment. In the end I think that blogger had to moderate all her comments before she would publish any of them.

For the most part people appreciate your comments. Just follow the guidelines that WordPress has drawn up.

Day 11 – The Small Task That Ended up Being a Big Job

Earlier in the week I mentioned that I still had to put away my Christmas ornaments and decorations. I tried to do a little bit every day but the bulk of the clean-up happened today. I think it took me over two hours to pack up the remaining signs of Christmas. I even brought in the wreath that was hanging on the front door. The only thing I haven’t taken done is take down the outdoor lights. I’ll save that for another day, probably closer to the end of the month or even February.

Earlier in the day I read a book for school and I completed a sample for my art class. I loved how the day started and how it’s ending. Dinner is out of the way, dishes are done, the bags for the Goodwill are packed and ready to go in the car, two loads of laundry are done, my Zero to Hero post is written, I watched a pilot from the UK called Derek and loved it and it’s not even 6:30. Maybe I’ll have time to write another post about the art project and the book.

Cheers!

Daily Prompt: Quirk of Habit

Posted on January 12, 2014 by Mama Cormier

Which quirky habit annoys you the most, and what quirky habit do you love — in yourself, or others.

As a teacher I am painfully aware of overused expressions and words that people tack onto the end of their sentences. When I went to teachers college, eons ago, we were asked to do a lesson while being filmed. It was suppose to help us with our teaching style, voice projection and class management. The one thing that I was made aware of was my overuse of the the word ‘okay’. I was appalled at how often I used it. To this day I avoid using the word ‘okay’ at the end of my sentences whenever possible.

When I have student teachers in my classroom and I notice that they overuse a word, I will actually count how many times they’ve used that word in a 10 minute period. I’ve counted as high as 50 for some of my students when they’re in front of the class teaching. Trust me, students pick up on these quirky habits and can use them against you.

Sometimes it’s the quirky habits of our siblings that annoy us the most. A few years ago my middle sister constantly added the word ‘right?’ to the end of every other sentence. One day I just couldn’t take it any more and when she said ‘right?’, I immediately answered back and said, “Wrong!”. She looked at me puzzled, completely unaware of her quirky habit. When I told her what she was doing she tried very hard not to do it but she found it difficult and even cursed me when she’d catch herself falling back into that pattern.

The habit that I hate about myself is the one where I pick up on other people’s expressions even when I don’t like them. I find if I hear something too often I catch myself doing or saying the same thing. When I worked in Germany as a young adult the only English I heard all summer was from an American couple from New York. When I returned home I discovered that I had a bit of a New York accent. Bizarre!

Thinking of a quirky habit that I love is a little more difficult. I guess the little things that babies and very young children do when they first learn to speak and walk are very endearing to me. Unfortunately and I guess fortunately for them they do outgrow them.

Special thanks to http://www.someecards.com and http://www.jantoo.com

From Zero to Hero – Days 9 and 10

Posted on January 12, 2014 by Mama Cormier

Friday’s Assignment: Follow five more blogs and/or topics.

Saturday’s Assignment: Add and customize two widgets. For this task, you’ll add two widgets: one that adds a text-based feature, and one that adds something image-based.

On Friday I did search out some more blogs and I searched the topic From Zero to Hero. I came across some interesting new blogs and left a few comments along the way. As a result I’ve had some new visitors to my blog. When I first started blogging I routinely went to the Reader section and checked out at least ten new blogs a day. At one point it was suggested to me by a random blogger that to increase your readership all you have to do is click on the like button without even reading the post. I soon discovered that when people don’t actually go into your site and just click the like button it doesn’t register as a ‘view’. I couldn’t understand how I could have 10 likes and only 3 views on the same post. I have since made it a personal policy to only click like button after I have opened the post and actually read it.

Today I added a gallery widget to my already full sidebar. I love taking macro shots with my camera so I made a photo gallery of some of my favourite subjects, insects and flowers. I also updated my Milestones widget. I decided to make the topic this challenge, From Zero to Hero and my two goals for the month of January.

Day 10 – Task for the day

Other than cleaning the kitchen yesterday which is and should be a normal daily task, I decided to devote my time to spending an evening with my husband. No computers or extra cleaning tasks. After a nice meal we enjoyed a movie together, something I haven’t done with him in awhile. We decided to watch Rainmaker. It’s an older movie but we hadn’t seen it before which is surprising because my husband is a huge John Grisham fan. We both thoroughly enjoyed it. It was a very entertaining legal drama, infused with just the right amount of humour from Danny DeVito’s character, plenty of well thought-out characters, brought to life by talented actors and interesting subplots. The reviews that I read were mostly positive. They weren’t outstanding but overall satisfactory.

Today we took turns chopping up the ice on the porch, stairs, walkway and sidewalk. It was considerably warmer today, well above freezing but the rain and warmer temperatures actually made the ice slicker and more dangerous. Once again we didn’t go for a walk in the neighbourhood. We did, however, drive over to the Junction and did a little bit of shopping for dinner. When we got home it was my turn to chop and clear some ice. K’s hands are pretty sore from the constant pounding of the spade onto the ice. He didn’t notice it at first until he went out a second time to do some more clearing. I will probably feel it in the morning.

Tonight I chose to clean one of the counters in my kitchen which had become quite cluttered and to organize the lower corner unit where I store a lot of food containers and vases.

: Before

: Before

: After…neat and tidy

I’ve boxed a number of bottles and old Tupperware containers that I don’t use any more. I’ll be making another trip to the thrift store tomorrow to drop them off.

I’m already into day 11 but the assignment won’t show up for awhile. Time to go to bed. See you in the morning.

Cheers!

From Zero to Hero – Day 8

Posted on January 9, 2014 by Mama Cormier

DAY 8: MAKE YOUR “ABOUT” PAGE IRRESISTIBLE

I have to admit that it’s been awhile since I’ve updated my About page. When I saw today’s assignment I thought “why not?’.

The first week back at school has been a tough one. Everyone is exhausted. It’s been extraordinarily long and I thought Friday would never come. Today I went out for recess duty when it wasn’t my turn. I simply forgot that I had a made a change with one of my colleagues weeks ago. I went back inside because I did have a scheduled duty later in the afternoon.

I started my day with a 7:45 basketball tryout session with 32 grade 4 and 5 boys and I ended the day staying late, trying to figure out how to open up the report card system so that teachers could start recording their marks and comments. Normally it’s a pretty straight forward procedure but we had a few changes in staff recently and we had to call the help desk for some assistance. Of course the help desk was very busy as well so there was some waiting on the phone before we could talk to someone. Our problem wasn’t as easy to resolve as one might think but after a half hour on the phone, some running back and forth and paging a few staff members most of the glitches were fixed and one last problem, we were assured, would be resolved by the morning.

I have to admit that I am extraordinarily tired today. After cleaning up after dinner I have no energy for any extra jobs today, although I did pack up one more box of Christmas stuff. I got a little bit of exercise on yard duty today. I don’t like just standing around so I walk for the full 15 minutes when I’m outside, especially when it’s cold.

Check out my ‘new and improved’ About page.

Cheers!