Christmas

I'm siiiiiiiiiiiiiiiick. I hate it. I've felt drained all week but Friday when I was driving home it hurt to swallow, my throat was burning, and I was feeling even more drained. I got home and napped, and then Rich and Gary and I went off to the movies. I felt lousy but I hoped it may perk me up. We saw Enchanted. Rich said if they had plucked a movie right out of my brain this would have been it. It was great. I highly recommend it to little kids and big kids. There is a dragon that is a big scary for little ones, but it was great other than that.

The opening and closing of the movie was narrated by Julie Andrews, who has to be my all time favorite actress. I knew as soon as she started speaking that I would love this movie. There was singing and dancing to the ultimate level of cheese, and it was great. I was pleasantly surprised with Amy Adam's voice too, and the fact she did her own singing. I was also thrilled when the door opened and the woman playing Patrick Demspey's girlfriend was none other than Idina Menzel (who interestingly did not sing). For those who don't know, she played Maureen in Rent, and Elphaba in Wicked. It was one of the most fun movies I've seen in a long time - definitely a buyer when it comes out.

Being sick Rich rented me some movies to make me feel better. We watched The Santa Clause 3: The Escape Clause last night, which was ok - better than the second one but still no where near the first. We also watched Shrek the Third, and right now I'm watching Ratatouille - I didn't make it through it last night with Gary and Rich. Next on the list while I plan out my day tomorrow (so not going in to school) is Hairspray, and then when Rich and Gary get home from church Amazing Grace.

On another note, we didn't have a tree this year. Ours finally died last year (after 28 years) and my parents had offered us ours starting next Christmas. I didn't see a lot of a point in buying one for one year only, so we were just going to go without. Also, we are off to Kingston for Christmas day this year, so we figured we'd do without. Rich knows how much I love Christmas and Christmas decorations so he decided to surprise me. Tuesday afternoon I came home from school to see Christmas lights everywhere, a little ceramic light up village complete with a giant music store, stocking holders, garland, stockings, Christmas candles, and best of all, a tree. It's one of those white ones that are only a spiral of lights. We can use it downstairs or outside next year, but for this year it's in the living room with garland and candy canes on it. He's fantastic.

So in the lovely light of my Christmas lights, with my stuffy nose, aches, pains and fevers, I settle in to rest. Hope everyone's start to their Christmas season has been as nice as ours.

Anniversary Weekend'O'Fun

This past weekend Rich and I went away. Other than our honeymoon, pretty much every vacation we've taken has been to my parent's place in Kingston, so this was a nice change of pace. As soon I got home from school on Friday we got packed up and ready to go. We left and drove to Port Perry, to the Bed and Breakfast we stayed at called The Sanctuary. It was a lovely little B&B and we got settled in and then went for dinner. After a leisurely, late dinner we went back and jumped into the hot tub to finish off the first day of our relaxing weekend.

Saturday we got up and had a great breakfast (well, I did, Rich had his smoothie as he's still on a very restricted diet). We then got on the road to head off to Rich's anniversary surprise I had planned. A few kms down the road Rich whips the car over to the side, jumps out and runs over to the other side of the road so he can take a picture of a cow that is reasonably close. We are such city people! We continue on our way and about 20 minutes later we are at the Salem Alpaca farm which is owned and operated by family members of mine. Rich has always thought Llamas and Alpacas were funny, so we thought we'd check them out. They are actually quite cute! Some of them were pretty friendly and we enjoyed our time with them. There was a store there that sold alpaca paraphernalia and it turns out their hair is hypoallergenic and is 8 times warmer than sheep's wool. We got a blanket and mitts and slippers and they are all so warm!

The rest of Saturday we toured around a few of the little towns and picked up some little things. Saturday evening we napped, read, watched a movie, did the hot tub, and then off to bed. Sunday was a leisurely breakfast and then we hit the road to head home. Once home, Rich went for a nap and I did some work. We went for dinner and rented a movie that evening. It was a wonderfully relaxing, and MUCH needed weekend - more for me and us than for Rich really, but he enjoyed it as well. We're hoping to make the B&B thing an annual event. I still can't decide if I like that or a hotel better.

Check out the Alpaca's!

This is Rich getting up close and personal with a male alpaca and a female alpaca just hanging out.

Weekend'O'Fun

So I have had a very busy weekend. Thursday I signed out of school early, drove home, changed, loaded the car, and headed off to Huntsville for my OMEA conference. I've never been up there and wasn't sure how lost I could get myself but the drive up there was uneventful. I checked into the hotel, and then went over to my room, which was in one of the condo like units. I couldn't get the door open because like a dork I was trying to open the wrong one so I went back to the front desk. As I'm driving up I see someone I think I know, that I used to work with at Bell, but I think, what are the odds? So I go in, find out I'm a dork, and go check into my room. I then head over to the conference and register, and then head off to bed.

Friday morning I went to the dining room for what turned out to be a ridiculously expensive breakfast, but when I walked in the girl asked if I was there for the Bell breakfast. Doesn't it turn out to be a bunch of managers I used to work with. So I spoke to a few and caught up, though by the time I left most hadn't arrived yet. So the guy I thought I saw, I did see. Too funny.

The conference started with the keynote address which was great. During that ceremony I received my award, and then it was off to workshops. I saw a few friends from last year and it was fantastic to catch up with them. The 3 workshops I went to were amazing. I loved all of them. I learned so much in such a short amount of time. They had a great vendor display too with all sorts of music and music education paraphernalia and I ran into a cousin of mine who works for Cosmo music which was cool - great to catch up. Friday evening a bunch of us went to Kelsey's for dinner, and then back to the hotel to sleep.

Due to the outrageously expensive breakfast the day before, Saturday morning I opted for a granola bar Rich had packed me in my little goodie bag he made me. I went right to my first workshop which surprisingly sucked. The guy had some good points but really logical. It should have been geared to non-music teachers teaching music. It wasn't even the content that disappointed me it was the delivery. The guy had a 4 page handout which he distributed, then he had the exact same points on powerpoint, which he then read. It only took 30 minutes instead of the full time which was about an hour and 45 minutes. The other three workshops were fabulous again like the 3 the day before. We wrapped up the day with 3 of us from OISE and a friend of one of the other girls who's in teacher's college now going out for dinner. Then it was back home.

I had a pretty bad headache most of the day but as I was driving staring at headlights it was getting worse. I finally pulled off the highway in Barrie and slept for a bit to try to alleviate the pain. I continued on my way and made it home sometime around 10 I think? I'm not quite sure what time it was. Today it was back to Toronto for my friend Karyn's engagement party. It was a nice morning, and then since I was in Toronto already and my parents were in Scarborough I zipped over to see them.

Now I am overwhelmed with the amount of work I have to do, yet here I sit blogging.

Tomorrow is our 2nd wedding anniversary. This year it was my turn to plan it, and we are doing something uber cheesy. Rich really likes llamas, and I have a great aunt who owns an el packa farm so we are going to visit them and feed and pet them and stuff. Should be a giggle. For now, I have a ton of work to do as I'm away at a board meeting on Wednesday, so I have to plan for another supply teacher. Tomorrow is mini-report card day, so I'll be there bright and early. I have a feeling our big anniversary activity tomorrow will be napping. Luckily, I have the best hubby in the world, and he won't mind napping at all.