I Got My 25 Year Pin Today

Posted on September 26, 2012 by Mama Cormier

…..after 31 years of service

The day started out well. I ran 2.1 k with the kids this morning. My friend P, timed me today. It took me 19:29 minutes to run that distance. I know that it’s not fast but I didn’t stop to walk and I passed 3 students who started with me.

At lunch in the staffroom my principal called on me and one other teacher to stand before the staff where she presented us with our 25 year pins of service for the TDSB. The irony is that I’ve actually worked 31 years for this board. The days of honouring teachers with 25 years of service at a special dinner and a gold watch haven’t existed for a long time. In fact getting the dates right doesn’t seem to matter anymore either. Another teacher on staff who’s been with the board for 27 years hasn’t received her pin either.

In art today my first class finished up their colour wheels. The grade 3s created a their wheels using an outline of their hand and painting the 6 primary and secondary colours around their fingers. Then we had a quick lesson on ‘lines’ and the kids filled in the hand shape with a line design. I think they turned out remarkably well.

After school I had a great yoga session. My yoga partner told me that she thought I was wasting away (in a good way) and she couldn’t believe it when I told her that I’ve only lost one extra pound since starting back to school. Maybe the scale in the morning will show otherwise.

Tomorrow the school is having their Terry Fox run and I’m planning to actually run the course this year. I can’t believe how excited I am about running. I used to hate it.

Life is good. I look forward to each new day.

Art on a Cart

Posted on September 26, 2012 by Mama Cormier

….doing this everyday will help keep my weight down

Loading this up, keeping it stocked and pushing it back and forth from the library to the class I teach is a bit of a challenge, especially when I have to go outside to the portables and lug buckets of water with me. Should be interesting in the winter.

I love teaching art but this year it’s been a bit of a challenge because I don’t have my own space to teach in and I have to transport all my supplies to the students. I’m hoping that I’ll be able to store some of the supplies in teachers’ classrooms so I’ll have less to move around everyday. In the meantime it’s “art on a cart” and because I’m in other people’s classrooms I have no place to sit so I’m on my feet most of the time going back and forth assisting students. I forgot how tiring art can be but it’s a good kind of tired.

The portables are doubly challenging because they have no water so when we’re painting I’m also lugging water buckets to the classroom and using the caretaker’s room to wash out paint buckets and palettes. Luckily I always have a few students who volunteer to help with the clean-up but I work through the entire recess to leave teachers’ classrooms neat and tidy.

The portable classrooms don’t have wall space to hang art work so I have a gallery wall outside the library where I can display work from all five classrooms. Last spring I hung rope from the ceiling for our Forest of Reading display and it’s come in handy for hanging up art work.

Gallery Wall outside the Library

The first project I did with the students this year is one I call “I’m a star because….” or in French, “Je suis une etoile parce que….”. I ask the students to think of one thing that they are especially good at and then pose for a picture doing something that relates to their skill.

Everyone writes why they’re a star in the middle of a star that I’ve provided and then they decorate it with lots of colour. In the second class, after their photos have been printed the students cut out their bodies and glue them and their stars onto a piece of card stock. The final step is to draw a scene behind the photo demonstrating what they’re good at.

The students love this project. Students who don’t have me for art are asking their teachers when they’re going to do the same project. I’ve posted a couple pictures where the student isn’t recognizable or their name is absent.

A Little Yoga, a Little Running

Posted on September 19, 2012 by Mama Cormier

….life is good!

The day started with a run and ended with a 75 minute yoga class. Any stress I experienced this week just vanished during Savasana.

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A number of colleagues at work lost weight over the summer. The difficult part for most of us is keeping it off and continuing to lose more. The problem is stress. I personally knew that the first few weeks back at work would be difficult. It’s not eating that’s the problem and I’ve continued to exercise.

So what’s the difference? For starters I know I’m not drinking enough water. I’m also not moving as much (despite running). A good part of my day is reading to children and sitting in front of a computer. Another factor is that I’m not getting enough sleep. Also the political climate for teachers in Ontario is very contentious.

It’s difficult going to work everyday when the media paints all teachers with the same black brush. Even though we continue to offer extracurricular activities at our school many teachers are angry with the government and some schools have collectively decided to cancel all or some of their extracurricular programs.

At our school council meeting yesterday the parents put me on the spot and asked me during the meeting what my take was on the status of extracurricular programs at our school and elsewhere. I assured them that for the time being at our school programs were running but if other schools opted out there wouldn’t be any teams to play against.

The bottom line is that extracurricular activities have always been voluntary. Ontario teachers do not get paid to run these programs and there’s nothing in the Education Act that says teachers have to offer extracurricular programs. Since our right to negotiate our contract has been taken away from us, teachers feel betrayed by their government. We normally settle contracts with our school board.

I didn’t plan on making this into a political rant. I felt you needed some background as to why school is so stressful for me right now. I literally gained 3 1/2 pounds over the weekend. I know that I didn’t eat 12 000 more calories than I should have in 2 days. When I’m under a lot of stress my body hangs on to water and my metabolism slows down.

So why did I say “life is good”? Because I feel like I’m back on the right path with my weight loss journey. At yoga tonight I could feel the stress leave my body. During Savasana I was seconds away from falling asleep. That’s how relaxed I was.

So I’m making a conscious effort to drink more water. I’m planning and packing my lunches before I go to bed. I continue to avoid all sweets (except the odd piece of dark chocolate). I’ve asked my husband not to prepare any pasta dishes for at least a couple of weeks. I’m continuing to run with my students 3 times a week and plan to ride my bike at least once on the weekends.

One of the most important changes I need to make is getting to bed no later than 11:00. So on that note I need to sign off so that I can get a big glass of water and get into my PJs. Positive thoughts!

Cheers!

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“You’re an artist, Mrs. Cormier!”

Posted on September 14, 2012 by Mama Cormier

…why do I have such a difficult time seeing myself as an artist?

I love art, I teach art, I appreciate many styles of art and I occasionally create art. I’ve even sold my art; however I find it difficult to describe myself as an artist.

Today during one of my art classes with grade 3s and 4s I showed them some examples of work I had done to demonstrate an art technique that they might want to use in their first art project. The children oohed and awed over my examples and insisted that I was this amazing artist.

I showed them how easy the technique was and with practise they could produce their own amazing pieces. I feel all children have artistic ability. Some of them just need more encouragement than others.

I believe that children should be given a certain amount of artistic freedom but I also believe that it’s okay to show them how they could improve on what they’ve done. I give them suggestions and demonstrate techniques that they can choose to use or not. Often they come up with even better ideas.

Today I wanted to make the lesson about them and what they could do and were capable of. I didn’t want it to be about me. I think that I provided some inspiration for many of them today and much of the work that they produced was exceptional for 8 and 9 year olds.

The children used photographs of themselves in their art work today so I am unable to post them on the internet. The theme was “I’m a star because…..” and the children posed in positions that demonstrated what they were good at. They wrote, in a pre-made star, why they were a star and then filled it in with colour. The star and the photograph (trimmed around the student’s body) were glued onto a 8 1/2 x 11 piece of white card stock. The last step was to create a scene around the pictures. Some of the scenes included performing a dance on stage, meditating while sitting on the floor, slaying a dragon. doing the splits at a gymnastic competition and playing golf on a putting green.

Am I an artist? My students think so. My colleagues and friends think I am. Aren’t we all artists at some level? Here are a few of my pieces. I will try to capture some work done by my students without revealing their identity for another post.

16 x 16 acrylic, “Fern”

8 x 10 acrylic monoprint, “Autumn Grass”

5 x 7 acrylic on yupo paper, “Abstract Landscape”

8 x 10 mono print, acrylic, “untitled”

Two Days of Running and the Pounds Gained are Again Lost

Posted on September 7, 2012 by Mama Cormier

…. plus a yoga class and a more balanced diet

Well I’m back to where I was on my Birthday. One pound from my 30 pound goal.

It feels good to be running. Every time I go out it seems to get easier. Yesterday I ran 3 loops of the cross country course (814 m per loop) without stopping. I started well ahead of the kids but in the end I was pretty much the last one to finish. But that’s okay because I’m more concerned about my endurance than my speed for now.

The one downside of running before school is that there are no showers and on these hot days it takes me awhile to cool down and stop sweating. Thank goodness for baby wipes and a change of clothes.

I decided to have a rest day today. I’m hoping that I can run 4 to 6 times a week, three to four days at school and the rest on the weekend.

The one bad habit that I’ve returned to is staying up late and not getting enough sleep during the week. In the summer I was getting anywhere from 8 to 10 hours of sleep every night. Studies have shown that too little sleep can also slow down your weight loss. So my new goal is to get to bed by 11:00 or earlier every night. I usually get up at 6:30 so that would give me a minimum of 7 1/2 hours of sleep a night. A lot better than the 5 hours I got last night.

What ever I’m doing seems to be working for my overall health. I certainly feel better and people tell me I have more energy and a healthy glow radiating from my core.

I don’t want to jinx myself but I think that I might, in fact I’m certain that I will reach my 30 pound goal sometime this weekend. Positive thoughts, please.

Cheers!

A New Week, A New Start

Posted on September 4, 2012 by Mama Cormier

…. I must confess that after my birthday I let things slide

I was so close. Probably only 1/2 pound off of my 30 pound goal. Now I’m 3 1/2 pounds away.

It’s amazing how quickly I put weight back on. A glass of wine here, a serving of pasta, a couple of slices of bread and a few pieces of dark chocolate and the spiral begins. This wasn’t all in one day but over the course of the week I wasn’t as diligent about what and how much I put into my body. I haven’t been getting as much exercise either.

All this changes now. Calorie wise my day wasn’t bad but some of my food choices involved foods that I have avoided for most of the summer. Food combinations is critical for me. Years ago I remember thinking that this theory was ridiculous until I tried it. It worked.

Tomorrow morning, cross country running starts at school. I’ve already made a commitment to run everyday with the kids. I’m actually looking forward to it.

Now that I’m back to work I need to plan out our meals for the week. Coming home tonight without a plan could have been disastrous but I pulled together a meal of oven baked salmon, braised onions, celery and portabello mushrooms with a small side of whole wheat pasta in a pesto sauce. I probably could have done without the pesto but I did limit myself to a small portion.

One of my ‘red light’ foods has always been pasta. I love it but I can never seem to get enough of it once I start. Tonight I packed the leftovers away immediately after finishing the food on my plate. It will be a long time before I allow myself pasta again. It is definitely one of those foods that I can only allow myself once in blue moon.

The last time I reached this weight I became complacent about continuing on my weight loss journey. I felt good, people complimented me on my appearance and my clothes fit well. I can’t let this happen again. I want to fit into smaller clothes, continue to feel well and stay as active as possible as I get older. This won’t happen if the weight goes back on.

The best part of being back at school today was interacting with all the kids. None of them said anything about how I looked but I could tell that they all noticed that something was different about about Mrs. C..

Until next time, cheers!

Three Days of Summer Left

Posted on August 31, 2012 by Mama Cormier

…. and I’m already starting to feel the stress of returning to work

I’ve been at school for 4 out of 5 days this week, anywhere from a couple of hours to 6 hours, trying to remove or organize my belongings in one room and find a place for these belongings in my new room (the library office to be exact). Today I found out that the superintendent is coming to the school to observe our opening day. Even though the library won’t be used the first day I felt the pressure to tidy it up in case she decided to visit my space.

I haven’t been getting enough sleep this week. I’m slipping back into my old pattern of staying up late and getting up early. I know this plays havoc with my weight and with the added stress I’m looking at double jeopardy.

When K and I woke up this morning neither of us had the energy to drive to the cottage. We decided to leave tomorrow morning. I wish I was there now. I would already be in bed getting at least 8 to 10 hours of sleep.

The beach is calling me.

The heat was oppressive today. I put off my bike ride because it was just too hot. Our house is not air conditioned and sleeping in this weather is difficult. Thank goodness that I got out for one of our long walks this morning.

I feel like I’m coming off a ‘high’ after celebrating my birthday and visiting with old friends two days later. What a difference a couple of days can make. I seem to be in a daze and can’t make the simplest of decisions. This post makes me sound like I’m depressed. I probably am.

I started to write about other things that are weighing heavily on my mind right now but I’ve deleted most of it. It’s just too much of a downer. I know that all these feelings will pass in a day or so or after a good night’s sleep. No point in making my readers feel bad. I’m not looking for sympathy.

Things that were positive today:

I bought a brand new pair of sandals that were on sale and I had an additional $15.00 off coupon to use.

I bought 2 new flowering plants to brighten up my garden

I discovered that the cabbage that I thought had bolted is actually a brussels sprout plant and is still producing little brussels sprouts.

The main part of my library is tidy and ready for visitors.

I had a good food day today and am back on track with my eating.

I’m getting to bed before midnight so that I can enjoy my trip to the cottage tomorrow.

On that note I’m bidding you all a good night. Sleep well!

Reflections on Turning 60

Posted on August 28, 2012 by Mama Cormier

….time to slow down? I don’t think so….

Turning Sixty

Today I’m 60

A new milestone in my life

What does it mean?

Retirement?, maybe, eventually

I still love what I do

Teaching doesn’t allow me to slow down

There’s too much to do

Too much I want to do

I’ve only just started running

Blogging and writing

and experimenting with photography

Time to slow down?

I don’t have time to shift into low gear

I want to take more art classes

and improve my painting craft

I love teaching art to children and

sharing books and reading to them in the library

I’m becoming more techno literate and

want to take more computer classes and

experiment with apps and new programs

Time to give my brain a rest?

I don’t think so

I want to read good literature

and focus on my writing

I love playing with words and

have started playing Scrabble again

both on the traditional board and on-line

Is it time to become less physical?

I don’t think so

I need to keep up my strength

to work the soil in the garden, mow the lawn

and prune the hedges

My dog needs her exercise

and gets me out for long walks

I want to run and I mean really run more 5 k races

Is it time to care less about my appearance?

I’m too vain for that

I need to cover the grey in my hair

and apply day cream and night cream

to slow down the wrinkles

I like the new thinner me and want

to take it further

I feel better, younger and more alive

than when I was 50

Retirement?

It is near and I look forward to

more travel

I want to see the world and

spend more time with my sisters

in Calgary and Merlin

I need to spend more time with my Dad

who will soon be 86

His new goal is to live to be 100

but I need to enjoy his company now

I want to give back to the community

and volunteer my time

I just don’t know how

I need to continue learning

Taking another university course is a possibility

or maybe

a photography class or two

and a cooking class with my husband

and maybe, just maybe enjoy the company

of some grandchildren

Is it time to retire to the couch?

I couldn’t even if I wanted to

There’s too much to do

Too much I want to do

Carol Cormier / August 28, 2012

Down 1/2 More but I’ve a Long Way to Go

Posted on August 21, 2012 by Mama Cormier

…. stepped on the scale with my eyes shut this morning.

After 3 days at the cottage, with stops at Tim Horton’s for breakfast both ways, a birthday celebration, a spaghetti meal (my first in 4 months) and pancakes for breakfast not once but twice, I was terrified to see the number on the scale this morning. I literally had my hands over my eyes as I stepped onto the scale and then I carefully spread my fingers apart to face the music.

I was so surprised by the number that I got off the scale, reset it, and got on it again. It showed the same number. I am down another 1/2 pound. I was certain that I was going to see an increase.

I have a long way to go with my weight loss journey. That became abundantly clear when I saw pictures of myself in a bathing suit this weekend. Not a pretty sight! I was becoming complacent about how I looked because I felt good in my clothes. My old clothes were fitting much looser and new clothes that I purchased were smaller sizes. I can say that I am almost out of plus sizes (depending on the cut and the manufacturer).

I am more determined than ever to continue losing weight. I want to be able to say that I’m down 30 pounds before returning to school. My good friend L, asked me how I was going to continue losing weight once I started work again. One thing I want to do is help out with the cross country team again but this time I want to run with the kids and not just be in charge of the paperwork.

I know it will be a challenge. The stress of starting a new job, the labour unrest in the province with teachers and the constant temptation of snacks in the staffroom will haunt me. I’m not really worried about the food. Saying no to the snacks is the least of my worries.

When we went to Niagara Falls last week we packed a lunch, with lots of fruit and vegetables to snack on and water to drink. I just have to pack a picnic everyday when I go to school.

I would never have sat on this chair 27 1/2 pounds ago.

A New Haircut and a New Lease on Life

Posted on July 13, 2012 by Mama Cormier

….. at least that’s how I feel tonight

I came back from the cottage yesterday so that I could get my hair cut. I went into school this morning and managed to clear away all my ‘stuff’ so that the caretakers can clean my room. Well I guess it’s not ‘my’ room anymore.

I’ll probably go back next week to sort through some more papers and move some of my things to the library. I could leave it for the week before school starts but I think it’ll be too big a job and then I’ll start the school year tired and not refreshed. I have to come back to the city next week anyway to drive K to his doctor’s appointment.

I stayed at school until 3:00 and then I went home, showered and drove downtown for my hair appointment. After listening to the radio I thought I would be spending time in traffic but I actually got to the appointment early. They took me right away and in the next 45 minutes Dee did her magic and gave me a new hair style.

I called K and told him we needed a date night. We ended up going to a restaurant we hadn’t been to in almost 2 years. The owner recognized me right away and I brought him up to date on K’s health while I waited for him to join me. The restaurant has undergone a few changes, one of them being that Tony no longer does the cooking. He has hired a new chef who is passionate about good old fashion Italian cooking.

We had a great meal. I had the baked bass and a Mediterranean salad. I have to admit that I did have one glass of white wine. While there a young family came in and sat at the table next to us. The woman recognized me from when I taught at Hilltop. I was her Family Studies teacher and taught her how to sew and cook. Her partner and K had a long discussion about soccer.

It was a perfect evening and I felt like a princess. I’ve decided to use the picture that was taken at the hair salon as my first official ‘after’ picture. As I write this I’m not sure what I’m going to use as my ‘before’ picture but anything that was taken in the last 3 years will do the job.

Before After