This classic old building “The Flat Iron Building” in downtown Toronto was the focus of this shot but one can’t help but see the modern skyscrapers that hover behind it.
This is a quirky coffee shop in Queen St. West. Part of the decor includes a wall of art with old classroom desks used as tables and a hobby horse for added measure.
http://dailypost.wordpress.com/2014/01/24/photo-challenge-juxtaposition/
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!
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
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.
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!
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!
Today’s assignment: create and upload a simple header, or test out a few different backgrounds.
Todays post is going to be short. I’m constantly changing my header and I just recently put the present header in place so I’m not changing my header today. I’m just not feeling it. A while back I discovered that I could change my background and I went from a solid colour to a bin of yellow peppers to what I have now which is a piece of my artwork. Not everything you’ll try will work. Simple and bold seems to work best. Anything with a lot of detail just gets lost behind your text box.
Today’s Job
Today I spent a lot of time in the kitchen cleaning and putting away the things that tend to get left out on the counter. I also swept up all the pine needles from the Christmas tree that the garbage truck finally picked up today. One box of ornaments has been packed up and the Christmas stockings have all been removed from the living room. It’s a slow process but I’ll do a little bit everyday until it’s done. Hopefully the last of the decorations will be safely packed away by the end of the weekend.
Update on the heating problem at school:
The library was nice and warm today but the custodian did say that it was pretty cold in the morning when he arrived. His solution was to turn off all the fans and that did the trick. The fans seemed to be pulling in the cold air from the outside. The kindergarten rooms now have heat but two of the portables were still without heat early this morning. One of the classes spent half the day in the library again but by the afternoon the problem was fixed.
I was outside for a short spell this morning and I walked through the halls during first recess but my goal to move has been seriously hampered by the weather. The temperatures, however, have been getting warmer everyday so hopefully tomorrow I can resume my walking routine without any fear of getting frostbite.
Till tomorrow, cheers!
…..today’s theme is publish a post that has a new-to-you element
I’ve used many forms of media in my posts, including Youtube videos, Vimeo videos, photographs and URL links but I’ve never had any success with Sound Cloud. So here goes another attempt to insert music that isn’t attached to a video.
It’s been bitterly cold for the last two days. Today the windchill factor brought the temperatures down to – 40 degrees celsius. We had indoor recess all day. If that wasn’t bad enough, school buses were cancelled and the heating system in the kindergarten classes and two of the portables didn’t work. All day the library became a temporary home for several classes and tomorrow looks like there may be more of the same.
I didn’t mind sharing the space today but at the end of the day, right after 3:00 the heat in the library and several classes at my end of the hall ceased to exist. I thought at first it was just my imagination but other teachers who walked into the library immediately noticed the drop in temperature. My colleagues across the hall also complained about the chill in their rooms. The thermostat in V’s room registered a 15 degree drop and her hands were literally turning blue by 3:30.
Is it possible when they fixed the heating problem at the other end of the school they messed with the controls at my end? I guess we’ll find out tomorrow morning. In the meantime we left a note for our day time caretaker who arrives super early in the morning.
Day 6 – New Task
Today I debated whether to pack up the Christmas ornaments or clean out the kitchen junk drawer, you know the one. I decided on the junk drawer because I could barely open it and I couldn’t find what I needed when I did get it open. The Christmas ornaments, which are off the tree and the tree is by the curb side, will have to wait for another day.
It turns out that I have too many utensils and knives and I really can’t afford to have a junk drawer. I ended up throwing away things I haven’t used in years and will probably never use. I also found a number of things that I thought I had lost for ever.
I took all the hardware and tools to the work bench in the basement and I put all the warrantees and appliance manuals in a special accordion file that I keep in my office.
Another job done. I’m really liking this ‘task a day’ challenge that I’ve created for myself. I’m hoping that the temperatures warm up a bit so that I can start walking again.
I think Sound Cloud worked. Yahoo!
http://dailypost.wordpress.com/zero-to-hero/
Cheers!
Write about anything you’d like, but make sure that all seven colors of the rainbow — red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, violet — make an appearance in the post, either through word or image.
What better than colour wheels produced by grade 5 students to show all the colours, an art project done by a grade 3 student of multi-coloured concentric circles and a trip to the local fruit market where flowers and vegetables vibrate with colours of the rainbow.
http://dailypost.wordpress.com/2014/01/07/daily-prompt-colors/
….. it’s a non-writing day for the Zero to Hero challenge
I’m being asked to check out other themes for this blog. In other words choose a new layout format. I’m a bit hesitant to do this as I know how much time it requires and I’m pretty happy with the theme that I’ve chosen. Because time is scarce tonight I think I will experiment with this challenge on the weekend when I have a bit more time. It’s not that I don’t think that the layout is unimportant, quite the contrary. There are many posts that I find difficult to read because of the colour in the background. Often the font is too small and the contrast between the font the background don’t work well together. White text on black is the worst. It works well for photos but not for lengthy articles.
Day 5 – Today’s task
On Saturday I purchased a new table to support my newly repaired table lamp. For years it sat on a make-shift table that was well hidden by the couch and sometimes I covered it with a cloth to hide the ugly design. The job today is to assemble the new table. It’s an Ikea product so hopefully it won’t take too long to put together.
Assembling all the pieces and necessary tools
Well the job took close to 2 hours. It didn’t help that I put one piece in backwards and it took at least 15 minutes to remove the piece and turn it around. In the end the stand came together quite nicely and luckily it fit into the space. Here is the finished piece. I’m pretty proud of it.
….a challenging day overall…lots of company and one last meal with B and Az
One way to increase readership is to follow other people’s blogs and make comments. Invariably they will come back to your blog to check you out. Today we are encouraged to branch out and investigate topics that we haven’t considered before. I’ve chosen the following five topics (some suggested by WordPress):
Stereotypes: Livicatherine and You’ve Got to be Kidding and Rural to Roaming
Flaneur: The English Department and Around a Red Table
Coffee Culture: Cody Delistraty and Just Add Attitude and Filter(ed)
Owls: My Eco-centric Life and Owl Moon (it’s amazing how many sites pop up when you type the word owl)
Humour: Singing Pigs and Life With the Top Down
Day 4 – The Daily Task
Today was a busy day with saying good-bye to our son and his fiancé. My friend, L came over to say hello and good-bye all at the same time and A and J came for an hour to say a final farewell. I knew that today would be a difficult day to tackle something new so I did what I said I would and that was finish reading the book The Rosie Project by Graeme Simsion. I loved this book and would recommend it to anyone. Reviewers used words like, charming, delightful, hilarious, compelling, unforgettable, unique and clever. I guarantee that you won’t want to put it down.
It’s been snowing off and on today, but mostly on and right now it’s very wet and heavy. Unfortunately I didn’t get out for my daily walk. I’ll have to do double duty tomorrow. Here’s hoping for a safe and uneventful flight back to the Netherlands for both B and Az. I miss you already. Love, hugs and kisses. Mom
Mama Cormier 