This Week

This week has been pretty good. I am almost recovered from my headcold. School is going well - it's fascinating how much there is to learn and how interesting it is!

Spent some time with Sarah and Natasha this week, and then we had the first theology pub of the season which was fun - it was nice to have some good food and good conversation with some awesome people.

Rich and I went to a formal party for a paramedic who retired this year (first one to retire from active duty at 65 in Hamilton) which was fun. I got to wear my new dress and shoes and we had lots of fun dancing.

Saturday morning was off to breakfast with Jon and Lindsay, and then off to get Gary from St Catherines. We've had a nice time hanging with him, and we got to see my aunt and uncle last night who were awesome enough to bring us up some furniture they no longer needed. Only thing left that we need is a table!

Tonight was Frwy and the nursery. So exhausting tonight. I was tired to begin with and had a headache when we went in. That was gone by the end, but the kids had a rough night with the new format I think. Still getting used to being separated from older siblings. They were fun though, and as always, a great form of birth control!

2 weeks of school down, bunches to go, but looking forward to it!

Rich

I have the best husband in the whole world. It's so much fun living with your best friend. Love you Rich.

The Weekend Continues....

Normally Rich works on the Mondays right after the weekend he has off, but due to some shift changes, he's off today, and as I have no school, our weekend has continued a bit.

We had a pretty good weekend. Friday I came home from school and went right to bed. I had a nice nap and then got up and tackled my homework. I had a headcold that was brewing but at that point I was hoping it would stop at a sore throat.

Saturday we cleaned up a bit in prep for our fabulous company that night. Unfortunately the head cold had taken over. I cried for half the afternoon and Rich got me all tucked in for an afternoon nap and went off to a small overtime shift. He came home with a beautiful bouquet of flowers for me. I have the best husband in the whole world.

Kevin graced us with his presence for dinner and we had a great time with him. He's such a great guy and it was fun to learn more about him (and he distracted me from my cold!). Anyone who hasn't had him over yet you are missing out!

Sunday I was still feeling pretty lousy and vegged for a bit. Rich went outside and again showed his growing proficiency with tools! He built his BBQ - and in front of an audience no less! Some of the kids from the neighbourhood came to watch. One of them asked Rich where our other car was. He said "my wife's car is over in that lot". One of the kids said "oh...the silver grand am right?" These kids are in SK and Gr 2. So observant! I brought Chewie out to meet them and she licked them all over and drank in all the attention.

Off to Freeway where I gave a pitiful attempt at singing. My ears and nose were plugged so it didn't go as well as planned but it was fun singing with Kevin in spite of how I was feeling. The guys were great to put up with me.

We were about to go home and get me tucked in but at the last minute got an invitation to go watch the Amazing Race at Carolynn and Marshall's along with Natasha. They are so much fun and it was great to spend some time with them.

Today we organized the basement and did a bit more unpacking, got the books on the bookshelves etc. I organzied the cd's and got them away, and my ingenious husband decided to put up a sensor light we had in the laundry room. So often when you go into the laundry room your hands are full, and this way the light comes on. I have to admit I was a bit skeptical. He was getting great with tools, but electrical? I wasn't sure. Less than 10 minutes later he'd drilled holes, got the light up, confirmed it was working, and had it cleaned up! I am so proud of him! Shelving, BBQ, Motion Sensor Lights - all in one week! I am so proud.

So for those who have asked how school is going - it's a ton of work, but fabulous. For those who asked how we are settling into our new place - very well - come check it out! In the few short weeks we've been here, we already feel like this is home more than we ever did in the Dundas house. Thanks again to everyone who helped us move in!

Tools and Schools

So I went to school yesterday for the first real class! Wooohoooo! I was nervous. What if I wasn't right for the program, not prepared enough, dressed wrong....I felt like I was in high school I was so self concious. I had my Music and History classes that I have twice a week all year. They are my Cirriculum and Instruction courses. It was good to talk to some students and find out some of them had the same cheesy interests that I have (like musical theater) and some were as nervous as I was to start.

I have a question to pose to my fellow musicians and all those out there who like music:

What is Music?

We got into a debate. If someone is making noise that can be perceived as music, is it music if there is no intent to create music? What about children making noise/singing? Does it have to be structured? It was so nice to talk to people about these things. I actually left feeling more intelligent. I have felt very stunted intellectually since I graduated and I think this is really what I needed to motivate me to study on my own.

When I got home from all our running around Rich went downstairs to build me shelves for our dvd collection. For those of you who know Rich this is not a small feat. He is tool challenged for the most part. Since we've been here though he has been doing so well. He went to Home Depot (his new favorite store), picked up all the things he'd need. He came home and built me 3 6' LEVEL shelves for my dvd's right where I wanted them. I was so proud of him. You will have to come over and gush at what a spectacular job he did!

He bought me a new dress. I love it. Sooooooooo pretty. It's red. I've never had a red dress. I'm a bit afraid to wear it.

One last question for the girls.....well.....or the guys. Can any of you do hair? Like up dos or pretty blow dry type things? I am looking for some assistance on Friday the 22....or whatever that Friday is.

Hope everyone is having a great week!

Weight Watchers

So most of you know Rich and I have been doing Weight Watchers. I haven't been too diligent in the last couple weeks with my point tracking which is bad. I have lost about 10 lbs to date and have been holding at that. Rich has lost close to 30 which makes me jealous. I know others out there who are reading are also doing the program. I have a sweet tooth. Well....a whole mouthful of them. That makes dieting hard. So Rich suggested for those out there who are trying to shed a few, that I post some of my yummy desserts I've used lately to satisfy my sweet cravings. Basically one point = about 50 calories or so. Hope anyone who tries them doesn't hate them - I'm not a fabulous cook yet but I'm learning!

Self Layering Jell0 (not the recipe that's on the boxes now)
1 package Jello - any flavour
1/4 cup boiling water
1/3 cups cold water plus as many ice cubes as it takes to make 1 1/4 cups ice plus water
1/2 cup cool whip
Blend with blender the boiling water and jello for about 30 seconds on low. Add the cold water and ice cubes, stir until they are mostly dissolved. Add 1/2 cup cool whip and blend again for about 30 seconds. Pour immediately into small glasses - makes 4 servings, put tsp of cool whip on top before you serve. These are refreshing and yummy and are 1 point each.

Mini Banana Creme Pies
8 small dessert cups or tin tart shell molds
1 and 1/4 graham cracker crumbs
2 tbsp powdered sugar
2 tbsp + melted margarine (some days I need more, some days I don't)
1 package instant banana pudding mix prepared last (use skim milk to make a bit healthier)
1 large banana
lemon juice (optional)
Cool whip (optional)

Mix graham crumbs and powdered sugar, add melted butted and mix. Press into bottom and up sides of tart shells or dessert dishes to make crust. Use as much or as little melted butter as you want, less is healthier. Slice banana so there is a few slices for each cup. Dip in lemon juice to keep from browning. Prepare pudding according to directions on package and before letting it set immediately pour into dessert cups. Plop Cool Whip or whipping cream on the top before serving. These are about 3 points per serving. None of the measurements are super exact - play with them to suit your taste!

We also found making your own popsicles out of favorite fruit juices is only about 1 point compared to a glass of juice for 3 or 4.

Other things we do are just pudding with some sliced fruit, or jello with cool whip.

Another thing we do my friend introduced us to. Chapman's makes some great frozen yogurt - I don't like yogurt generally, frozen or otherwise but theirs tastes like ice cream. 1/2 cup of their frozen yogurt on a sugar cone with a mini Hersheys kiss in the bottom (stops leaks and makes it taste like a drumstick at the end) is 3 points.

The same friend took a package of Thinsation cookies and made mini ice cream sandwhiches for 3 points. Yummy.

Finally, my favorite already prepared treat when I need chocolate is Hershey's Chocolate Sticks. They come in milk chocolate, mint, dark and caramel (my fav) and it's only 1 point a stick.

I'll post more as I come up with them and would love to hear any that are out there! Good luck dieters!

Orientation

So I officially feel like a student! I had my orientation yesterday at U of T. I forgot what it was like to do that commute. The morning I actually don't mind too much. And Nick I think I'll be taking a later train than you normally. My classes don't start till 8:30am and my orientation yesterday was at 8:30 sort of. I ended up getting there at 8am and wandering around to see if I knew where everything was. I picked up my package and was part of the first assembly. I ended up in a room with a few hundred other students where they gave us their initial "you all rock for getting in, thank you for giving us your thousands of dollars, yaaayy teaching rah rah rah" speech. It was actually not too bad. From there I had lots of running around to do to get my library card, student card, gotrain form etc. Then we had a meeting with our cohort.

So I'd never really heard anyone use the word cohort until Freeway, and then U of T uses it all the time. So basically we have 2 classes that are our teachable subjects (Music and History for me), then 1 elective, and 3 core course (Teaching Education Seminar, Sociology, and Psychology). Everyone takes the core couses. They split all of us up though into these small groups of 30 people or so and teach the core courses from a perspective that interests you - we had to apply to get into these. So I'm in the arts one which is cool. It's the one I wanted. The prof is actually pretty cool, most of the teachers I've met so far seem great.

Basically it was very yaaaaayyy teaching and lots of encouragement. I left with a backpack full of pamphlets, Ministry books, a coursebook that is a kazillion pages long, and many other papers.

We are pretty much unpacked which is great. Ivan is peeing everywhere because he's mad at us and I am so ready to kill him. We'd love to have company so stop in sometime and check out the place!

Off to do a bit more unpacking. Yaaaayyy school!

Moving and other things

So this was a loooooooooooong weekend for us in so many ways. Thursday was Rich's last shift before the weekend and I took him to work for 5:30. As a result we were pretty tired when I picked him up and we headed out to Jon and Lindsays wedding rehersal. Then off to get his tux fitted and then to the rehersal dinner. We stopped by the new place with a carload of stuff and then went almost immediately to bed exhausted. I think I had maybe 3 hours of sleep. I kept thinking of all the things we had to accomplish.

At 4am Chewie and Ivan decided to have a fight. On top of us. So we got up. We started to clear out the bedroom and get ready for the move. At 7:30 Rich left to get the Uhaul truck and I left to take Chewie to the boarding place. I went in and paid and then got her from the car. She kept looking back and whining at me as I walked out. It was heartbreaking. I knew she'd be fine but I was a wreck! Then I got a call from Rich with a hiccup. Uhaul screwed up our reservation. They had us down for September 30th. So after arguing with Uhaul Rich used his persuasive powers (and "irateness") to get us a truck. I started to clean the basement with the help of Emily and Niles, while the muscle was upstairs loading.

Pernell was there with his hurt back and was such a huge help with the vaccuuming, moving, tools etc. He brought with him Nathan, who came back from Sarnia early to help us out cause he rocks, Paul who helped with the vaccuuming and moving as well, and Kevin, our resident Mexican, who was huge muscle and has offered to help me with my Mac stuff (wooohhoooo!). Rich's sister Kerrie who is freakishly strong was also there, and has been there for all our moves. John was there as well before he went to work nights which was awesome. Laura Church was a huuuuuge help to me as well. She let me use her minions and helped me with all the cleaning after she helped the guys with the truck.

On the other end we had Natasha to assist Laura in the unpacking which was such a huge help. She also did some running around for us too. My friend Dave stopped by to help Rich with the manly things - dishwasher, washer, dryer, my pantry which I love, stuff like that. Then later that night Nick and Mark stopped by to help us and check out the place. Finally, Jon and Lindsay came to see the new place and chat. To everyone who helped, thank you so much! I appreciate it more than you can possibly know and I know Rich does too.

We were up quite late and we knew our weekend wasn't close to being over. Saturday morning we were up bright and early. We had so much to do in prep for the wedding, and then we were out till about 2am that night. Sunday we were up nice and early to start unpacking and go shopping. After a very expensive trip we had Karyn and Brendan helping out with building stuff. Later, John and Kelly came for a visit, and my parents stopped by to check out the place on the way back from dropping Gary off at Niagara College. He starts tomorrow wooohooo Gary.

So it was a super long weekend and we're exhausted. Rich is off to work nights and I am here to unpack. It's a slow process as I try and find places to put everything.

So for any of you who made it to the bottom of this long blog check out the link at the top for the boarding place I took Chewie to. They have pet "villa's" that are ridiculously priced and come with tv's and beds for your pet. Chewie did NOT get that, but I can't believe some people do pay that. It's nuts.

Back to unpacking.