Planting Tulips in December

Posted on December 3, 2013 by Mama Cormier

….temperatures warmed up enough to get a shovel in the ground

Sunday, December 1st…the first advent of the Christmas season and I’m in the garden planting tulip bulbs. About three weeks ago a parent at school kindly gifted me 40 tulip bulbs and advised me to plant them that weekend. I told her I had problems with squirrels digging up all my bulbs in the past so she also brought me a small bag of hen poop. Apparently they don’t like the smell. We’ll see.

Unfortunately I didn’t get the bulbs in the ground when the weather was warmer and the soil was still soft. Life just got in the way. Last weekend when I had some time I pulled out the trowel and almost broke it when I tried to turn the soil. It was so cold that the ground was frozen solid. Winter had arrived early.

This past weekend we were having the kids over for our annual pre-Christmas goulash and mulled wine party. I wanted to start decorating the house to get in the festive mood so I pulled out the outdoor lights. After testing each string and hauling the ladder out from the garage I started to drape the yew in front of the house. I noticed that the ground was pretty muddy so I decided to take advantage of the conditions and get my bulbs into the ground.

So there I stood in the drizzling rain, bent over and digging holes in the garden. My neighbours must have thought that I was crazy. Once all the bulbs were in the ground I continued to decorate the tree with the outdoor lights. It was still raining as I was literally tossing the strings over the branches. I made several trips into the house and I noticed that I was tracking in a lot of mud.

With only a couple of hours left before the kids arrived I got out the pail and mop and washed the floors, cleaned the mud from my shoes and set the table for our meal. I then drove up to the liquor store to buy the wine for our mulled wine or gluewine as we call it. My husband was in charge of making the goulash.

When the kids arrived we enjoyed some appetizers and cups of mulled wine while the spaetzle cooked. I underestimated the amount of German noodles that I needed to cook but there was more than enough of the goulash to go around. Everything was delicious. After dinner our son-in-law brought out the board game we bought him for his birthday and we all learned how to play Small World: Underworld from Days of Wonder. When the rules were being explained to us I really didn’t think I’d get the hang of it but once we started to play I was on a roll. In the end I tied for second place. My son-in-law, the game board master, was impressed with my standing.

Less than three weeks of school left before we’re off for the holidays. The Hundertwasser projects are coming along nicely and hopefully I’ll be able to post some of the finished projects in the next day or so. I’d better get off to bed. I have to get up early for more basketball practises. We play in the semi-finals next week. Till later.

Cheers!

Haiku Challenge – Day 5

Posted on November 29, 2013 by Mama Cormier

….Black Friday is starting to make its way into Canada

Black Friday

Insanity reigns

as shoppers flock for bargains

Merry Christmas, all!

This is the end of the five day challenge. If you’d like to see more of the Daily Post Challenges check out http://dailypost.wordpress.com/2013/11/25/challenge-haiku/

Haiku Challenge – Day 2

Posted on November 26, 2013 by Mama Cormier

…..winter has come upon us quickly this year

Usually winter approaches us gradually but this year the temperatures dropped below freezing overnight and we were totally unprepared for the icy temperatures. One day the ground was still soft and mushy and the next it was like a block of ice. So much for getting my tulip bulbs planted this year. Maybe we’ll have a bit of a warm spell like they had in Calgary this week.

Ode to Winter

Cold winds bite the skin,

dampness chills you to the core

Warmth awaits indoors

****

Frostbite nibbles cheeks,

and shows little mercy to

ears, fingers and toes

****

Clouds of CO2

emerge in foggy pillows

with each breath taken

****

Old man Winter blows

upon unsuspecting towns

frigid and ruthless

****

For more Haiku check out the Daily Post Challenge at:

http://dailypost.wordpress.com/2013/11/25/challenge-haiku/

I Must Confess

Posted on November 16, 2013 by Mama Cormier

….I haven’t walked or run in weeks

As much as I like to walk and even run I haven’t done much of either in several weeks. Today I left the house early in the morning to have new tires installed on my car. I’ve been shopping around and found that Costco had the best deals but you can’t make an appointment. I arrived right at opening and was shocked to find that I was number 22 in line. Luckily the wait wasn’t too long and I’m glad I didn’t get there any later than I did because they stopped taking cars at number 24. The downside was that I had to leave the car and it wouldn’t be ready for six hours. Obviously I wasn’t going to wait around for that length of time so I decided to start walking home.

I wasn’t sure how far the walk would be but my plan was to walk about one third of the way and then phone my husband and have him pick me up at the Italian bakery. I ordered a cappuccino and a breakfast sandwich and then pulled out my phone. It was dead. Oh well!

I knew that the walk was doable, so after nourishing myself I continued to walk. It is a beautiful day today in Toronto, one that I’m sure we won’t see too many of before next spring. I forgot how much I really do like to walk. As I got closer to home I felt compelled to walk even further and check out the library to see if they had the book I needed for our next book club meeting. Bonus! I lucked out and checked out their only copy of The Light Between Oceans by M.L. Stedman.

When I got home my husband was surprised to see me walk through the door and no car in the driveway. I went to gmap pedometer and mapped out the route and discovered that the walk covered 5 k. Will I walk back to pick up the car? Probably not but then one should never say ‘never’. I will, however, do some gardening today and plant some tulip bulbs that were gifted to me and maybe I’ll join my husband and daughter and walk the dogs to Sam Smith Park.

It’s going to be a good day!

Cheers!

Waiting for News…..Any News

Posted on October 27, 2013 by Mama Cormier

…….took our grand dog to the emergency vet clinic yesterday

I just got off the phone with daughter number one on Saturday when the phone rang, literally seconds later, and I could see that daughter number two was calling me. I cheerfully picked up the phone and greeted G with an exuberant ‘Hello’. My mood turned instantly when I heard her sobs on the other end of the line.

G and her husband, B had made plans to go on a vacation cruise and they were due to leave today. Earlier in the week their dog, Lucy became quite ill and they had made a couple of trips to the vet’s office. X-rays were taken but the vet couldn’t see what the problem was. If she didn’t get better she was suppose to have an ultra sound done but lo and behold she started to eat and every one thought she was on the mend.

All was well till the wee hours of Saturday morning when Lucy took ill again and kept her family awake for hours. With very little sleep under their belts, G and B called a taxi and took Lucy to the emergency vet hospital in their neighbourhood. When G called me she was exhausted and had just been told that Lucy might need surgery.

My husband and I drove to the north end of the city to lend moral and financial support. We sat in the waiting room for awhile and then got some food for everyone. We waited 4 hours before Lucy had an ultra sound done and then another hour to get the news that she required a hospital stay and possibly surgery.

We convinced G and B to go on their trip. They would have lost all the money if they cancelled and B needed that vacation. We signed on as Lucy’s guardians and would be the contacts if Lucy’s condition worsened. Sure enough the worst case scenario happened and Lucy requires the surgery.

Now we’re waiting by the phone. Lucy is in surgery while I’m writing this post and our daughter is thousands of kilometres away waiting to hear from us.

Keep your fingers crossed that all goes well.

Frustrated!

Posted on October 10, 2013 by Mama Cormier

….blogging shouldn’t be this difficult

I’ve always sung the praises of blogging on WordPress. A couple of years ago, I tried setting up an account on another blogging site and didn’t have much success. My sisters and I were the only people who read it, which at the time was fine but not very satisfying. When I started with WordPress I was pleasantly surprised at how easy it was and I started to garner a following pretty quickly.

Several months ago I experienced my first problem with WordPress. For some reason I couldn’t publish my post. I thought I had successfully published it. It showed up on my Facebook page but the next day when I didn’t receive any responses from readers I discovered that the post was still in a draft. I don’t know what I did but eventually it was published. I asked for advice and one of my followers suggested that I close all other windows before I push the publish button.

That seemed to work until this week. It took me over an hour to write my post “Mexican Delights”. When I went to post the article it showed up in its entirety on the screen but when I checked it on Facebook only the first two paragraphs were there. None of the photos or links appeared. Fortunately I was able to find it in one of the many drafts that appear below the text box. I saved the draft again and published it a second time.

I can’t tell you how many times I had to do this. I closed all previous windows but that didn’t seem to work. After a couple of hours the post finally published and stayed that way. As much as I love blogging, I don’t have the luxury of that much time to waste on rewriting and reposting my stories.

That’s the main reason I haven’t posted much this week. I was very frustrated from the last experience. So I’m asking again if anyone else has experienced the same problems and how did you resolve it. Any advice would be appreciated. Thank you in advance.

Cheers!

Just One of Those Days

Posted on September 26, 2013 by Mama Cormier

….no energy and children who don’t listen

We had our Terry Fox Run today. All the children were assembled in the gym and our principal read a short story about Terry Fox (first year she didn’t cry). We went outside and raised the special flag and then 400 children, all their teachers and some of the parents started walking/running around the school.

The walk/run lasted for about 30 minutes. It was a beautiful sunny day and the temperature had risen considerably since the morning. I was overdressed and walked most of the way. The children returned to class just before lunch. and we (the teachers) had our monthly staff meeting.

After lunch I taught my first art class of the the day. It was a grade 3. I explained the lesson in detail and sent the boys and girls off to create. When they returned to show me their rough copies I wanted to bang my head on the table. Many of them completely ignored the guidelines. My day ended with 29 kindergarten children. They were tired and I was tired.

I was glad when the day was over. My friend L suggested that we go to the nail spa and have our toes done. Just what the doctor ordered. A pedicure is such a treat. Is there anything better than purple toes?

Breaking into D’s Car

Posted on September 16, 2013 by Mama Cormier

….it’s amazing what we pick up from TV

As we were packing to go home yesterday, D came to my cottage in a panic because she couldn’t find her car keys. She thought she might have locked them inadvertently in the trunk of her car. She rummaged through the garbage first but to no avail. The only explanation was that she accidentally placed them in the trunk while packing and then closed the lid.

Breaking the window was the last resort so we searched the deep corners of our brains where we store useless information looking for a solution. How many times have we seen TV shows where cars are broken into in mere seconds with the use of a crowbar and a hanger? We found a crowbar and managed to pry open the window just enough to stick a saw blade into the interior of the car. Unfortunately the blades we tried were all too short or they bent when we applied pressure to the lock.

Finally D’s daughter found a long metal rod that did the trick. The click of the lock was like music to our ears. If you know what you’re doing and have the right tools you can break into a car in a matter of seconds. Not that we’re contemplating a career change but it is a bit scary when you see how easy it is to break into one’s car. Now all we have to do is learn how to hot wire a car and we’d be in business; another skill that could have come in handy if the keys weren’t in the trunk, which they were.

Up in the Treetops

Posted on September 16, 2013 by Mama Cormier

…..as for me maybe next year

When I first saw the treetop trekking course I was in awe. I couldn’t believe how high the course was. I found out later that the wires were anywhere from 25 to 40 feet off the ground. This is the first year that Mono Cliffs has offered this amazing program to students. Our school was only the second school group to attempt this course.

Before the students were allowed on the high course they participated in a team building activity where they were encouraged to walk across a low ropes course. The wires and swings were close to the ground so that if one lost their balance all they had to do was step off. It was pretty challenging walking across those wires but I did it. It wasn’t a pretty site as my body wobbled and shook, making my way across.

It was raining and cold the morning my group headed towards the treetop course. The three groups that had already experienced the ropes had perfect weather. Everyone raved about the experience and my colleagues encouraged me to take on the challenge. All of us were fitted with safety harnesses and helmets and then sent to a different low ropes area where we learned how to use the harnesses and transfer our clips from one part of the course to the next. Safety first.

After going across the low ropes I felt much more confident and even allowed myself to hang from the ropes in the harness. I waited my turn to go up the cargo net to the first platform. I cheered on the students ahead of me and praised the two who attempted the climb but couldn’t bring themselves to go any further than the platform. When it was my turn my hands were already numb from the cold but I started the climb up the ropes anyway. It was much harder than I expected. The first platform was 30 feet from the ground and I was about 6 feet away when my arms just gave out. I tried to rest but my experience with anything physical has taught me that when you’re physically spent, pushing yourself can only lead to trouble.

The one thing that I’ve always wanted to experience is being repelled from a significant height. So rather than climb back down I asked if I could be repelled. It was a lot of fun and it inspired the two students who didn’t continue on the course to climb back up and then then experience the same thing. I think they felt a lot better having done that.

As for me, I definitely need to build up my upper body strength before I attempt this again. Losing more weight would also help. I’m actually looking forward to trying this again.

Bull’s Eye!

Posted on September 12, 2013 by Mama Cormier

….I hit the mark at Mono Cliffs

On Monday I was asked to join the grade 5s on their trip to the outdoor education centre at Mono Cliffs. I’ve always loved this trip and it’s one of the things that I miss now that I don’t have a homeroom. That morning I put that very thought out into the universe when I was talking to some of the parents during our cross country practice.

We were one teacher short for supervision for this year’s trip so after some rearranging of timetables it became possible for me to go on this trip. On Wednesday morning we packed 54 students and all their luggage into two school buses, waved good bye to some anxious parents and made our way up north to Mono Cliffs for 3 days of outdoor activities.

One of the first activities that I took part in was archery. I used to hate archery in high school but since coming to Mono Cliffs for over ten years it has become one of my favourite things to do. Today for the first time in my life I hit the bull’s eye. I was shocked and thrilled at the same time and it left quite the impression with the kids.