Saturday, May 29, 2010

dripstiks

saw these at toys r' us and thought they were cool. maybe some of you parents will too. :D



phones and Bieber and bears! OH MY!

one day recently at work i was helping in a kindergarten class. the kids were working on writing "g" words and "h" words. one of the students in the class who requires extra help could not seem to focus while in the class. she was doing everything EXCEPT copying the words off the board. i decided that it would be best for her to work with me in the hall. we got in the hall and she wrote a couple of words before she decided that her "brain" needed a "rest". she rambled on about a few things to me while i just kept saying
"oh yeah, sounds like fun. now we need to get back to work."
"wow, that's awesome. ok it's time to keep working."
"very nice. if you don't finish your work soon then you will miss all of center time."

she didn't care.

all of a sudden she says to me
"oh! my phone is ringing (she takes out imaginary phone). hello? oh HI Justin Bieber! (i am tyring really hard, but not so successfully, to hide my smile) yes, it's so nice to talk with you. OH yes, I would LOVE to come to your concert. Ok, I will see you at 1 o'clock tonight. bye." (she puts away the 'phone')
me: "that was Justin Bieber?"
student: "yup!"
me: "you like him?"
student: "he is my ABSOLUTE favourite singer!!! OH my phone is ringing again. (takes out 'phone' from pocket) hello? oh hi Justin Bieber (i love how she calls him by his full name). oh yes, i will ask my dad. ok see you tonight at 1 o'clock. bye." she turns to me and says " he said i need to ask my dad first. but i just KNOW that my dad will say yes!"
me: "well it sounds like it will be fun. now we really need to get more work done. it's center time and we have only done half of the work we need to do."
student: "i am so excited about the concert. it's going to be GREAT!!"
me: "lets do more of this work and then you can go into class and tell everyone what Justin said to you!!" (i was trying to sound SO excited about that so she would be too. oh the joys of kindergarten.)

student writes one word. phew!

student: "i miss the lady in the brown tights."
me:"who is the lady in the brown tights?"
student:"you know! the one who comes every friday? she has brown TIGHTS. but she's not coming on fridays ever again" (big sad pout!)
me:"no. i don't know who that is"
student: "i need a hug" (puts arms out for a huge hug)
me: "i think you are avoiding your work."
student: "i miss the lady in the brown tights." (still pouting and then she lies her head on my lap and hugs my legs)
me: "we are almost finished your work. only a few more words. lets get this finished!!"
student: (quickly sits up and has big smile on her face and puts her arms in the air) "i know what will help! blow in my nose!"
me: "what? no. i am not going to blow in your nose."
student: "just like this." (she tries to blow in my nose. i back away)
me: "no thank you. i don't want to have my nose blown in."
student: "please! it will help me not miss the lady in the brown tights."
me: (i just want this work to be finished, but i am finding this way too funny!!! so i do a quick blow from far away, no where near her nose)
student: "not like that! but boy your breath smells nice! what did you eat for lunch?"
me: "i had a mint after lunch. i am sure that is what you are smelling."
student: "mmmm. it smells lovely! but what did you eat for lunch?"
me: "some potatoes and a piece of bread with cheese." (very healthy, i know :P )
student: "YUM! (arms in air again) that sounds GREAT! i had forest meat!"
me: "what's forest meat (trying really hard not to laugh but it kind of came out laughy anyways)?"
student: "it's when you kill a bear. take all its fur off. then you cut the meat in STRIPS! my dad put 2 slices in my sandwich and i LOVE it!!"
me: "wow. you're a lucky girl. now we are going to finish your last 3 words because i have to go to a different class now."
student: "oh all right."

finally it's done and i leave with a huge smile on my face. that kid always makes me laugh. usually i don't let her ramble on so much but i was loving her stories so much and i knew her teacher wasn't worried about it getting finished quickly. the practicum student who was working with someone else just down the hall from me kept laughing too. it was awesome!!

kindergarten confusion

i hear a lot of cute stuff from the kids at school. a friend recently told me that i should be writing this stuff down. so here is my attempt. the school year is almost over but i hope to post some cute moments from the kids at school a few times before this year is up.

thursday was a busy day at school for some of our younger students. it was "teddy bear" picnic day. when they got to school their classroom had been destroyed and all of their teddy bears were missing and the bears were the suspects for the disaster. the kids go to every room in the school looking for their "naughty" bears. it's very cute and exciting for the kids.

midway through the day i was in the Learning Assistance room on the second floor of our school. the room was empty but my boss, janet, was in her office (which is attached to this room) with her door open. i was working away on the computer when 2 little kindergarten students came in the room.

alivia: "excuse me, but have you seen a photocopier because i am looking for a tea towel?"
me: (confused look on face) "sorry, what? you need a photocopier because you need a tea towel?"
alivia: "yes."
me: (still looking confused) "what do you need the tea towel for?"
alivia: "we need it for our teddy bear picnic."
cassandra: "no! we need it for our hands!"
alivia: "we need it for our hands."
me: (trying not to laugh) "ooookkkk. why do you need to find the photocopier in order to get a tea towel."
alivia and cassandra: (no answer. the confused look is now on their faces)
janet: (walks into room) "what do you girls need?"
alivia: "we need to find the photocopier and get a tea towel"
janet: (bursts out laughing.) "WHAT?"
me: "i think maybe they are looking for the room with the photocopier because they think that that's where the tea towel will be"
janet: "let me call their teacher and see what she is wanting"
janet calls....not answer.
me: "where did your teacher tell you to go to get the tea towel"
cassandra: "to the staff room"
me: "ok. well this isn't the staff room. it's downstairs by the library. do you know what room i am talking about?"
cassandra: (hits head to symbolize "duh! i forgot") "yes! i remember now. we were there this morning looking for our bears!"
me: "alright. well go there and someone will give you a tea towel."

later i told their teacher about this and we had a good laugh over it. she had asked them if they knew the room where teachers have coffee and they said they did. she told them to go there and ask for a tea towel. they must have thought that that was the photocopy room and that's why they were looking for the photocopier. teachers are in there a lot so that makes sense. but somehow they ended up on the wrong floor no where near either of those 2 rooms. i guess going all over the school today looking for those bears got them all mixed up.

very cute!! man i love kindergarten students!

Wednesday, May 26, 2010

steve's baking attempt

baking is not one of steve's strong points. he can cook, much better than i think the average guy can (not like the stereotypical guy who can only bbq, make KD and toast bread) but baking is not something he dared to try. until recently. one night he all of a sudden got up off the couch, came into the kitchen where i was making muffins and told me that he wanted to make cinnamon buns. i looked at the 9:45 time on the clock, looked back at him and said "now is when you want to attempt to bake for the first time?". he said that he was craving cinnamon buns and just had to have them. i told him that he should go and buy them because baking them this late at night means that they will not be ready for hours. he insisted that HE was going to make them. "well, ok then. good luck. i am not helping because i am already baking and i want to go to bed before midnight" was my reply. so he called his mom, asked some questions and then started mixing together ingredients. his first question to me was "what's yeast?". "are you kidding me? i said i wasn't helping. and how do you not know what yeast is?" i got it out for him and went back to my own baking. my muffins were done within 20 minutes and then i cleared out of the kitchen quickly and left him to his work. he continued to ask me questions, i answered with a slightly frustrated tone (trying to, not so, subtly remind him that i DID NOT want to help! his late night project was not going to be OUR late night project). finally he asked me how he was supposed to "roll the dough on a floured counter". i "patiently" went into the kitchen, showed him how to flour the counter, got out the roiling pin and then watched him pour his 'dough' onto the counter. that's' right. i said "POUR". i was in complete shock.
"that's not dough steve"
"yeah it is"
"no. it's not"
"it smells like dough"
"it doesn't look like dough"
"sure it does"
"nope. it doesn't. it should be a big ball. you should lift it out of the bowl, not pour it out"
"oh."
"how do you expect to roll that? you can't knead it"
(meanwhile he is using his hands to keep the dough on the counter and stop it from dripping down between the counter and stove. it was spreading EVERYWHERE!!!)
"well what did i do wrong?"
"i don't know. i wasn't here. i didn't want to be involved. but this isn't dough. did you put all of the ingredients in?"
"yeah. i think so"
we checked and he had put everything in. he added another cup of flour and it was still super runny (the recipe called for 5-6 cups of flour). he added more flour. still runny. more flour. still runny. he doubled the amount of flour and it was getting better but nowhere close to the consistency of dough. i went to bed. the next morning the "dough" was all sitting in a bowl on the kitchen counter. i guess he couldn't bring himself to throw it all away. (oh and it turns out that the recipe made 5 dozen cinnamon buns. i don't know what he was thinking he was going to do with that many!)

Saturday, May 22, 2010

my car history

growing up my dad seemed to have a different car every year. currently my parents own an old pick up truck, a murano, a nissan crossfire, a red cavalier and a malibu. there is a purpose for each of them...2 of them are driven by my brothers. but my point is that there has always been a quick turn over of cars in my family.
when i was 18 i got my first car. i LOVED it!! (plus i got it on the day steve and i started dating.)it was a mazda MX-3 precidia! i bought it from some college student who lived in north van and could no longer afford a car and rode a bike from his parent's house to school everyday. he was sad to part with his car and i promised him i would take great care of it. a month later it was totalled in an accident. :( i was so sad to no longer have my car.


my dad didn't like how banged up i got in the accident. he said that the car was too small and wouldn't protect me if i was in a future accident. so i ended up being convinced to get an absolutely hideous BOAT of a car. an oldsmobile cutlass. i agreed to try this car out for 3 months and if i still hated it my dad would let me get a precidia again instead.


a year and a half later i finally got rid of the car and got my second precidia. i loved having a sports car again. but the practicality of a 2-door didn't last long. steve and i got engaged and we knew we would only be able to have one car when we got married and steve could barely fit in my car. his head would touch the ceiling and his legs were too long. so that car went bye bye.


next up was the chevrolet cavalier. i liked it a lot. it had automatic locks and an alarm (all new features to me). i was happy with it. steve wasn't super keen on it cause he likes driving a standard. i have no idea how to drive a standard. i tried a couple times and i was ok at it but so nervous! so he sold his dodge colt (yuck!) and we kept the cavalier as OUR car. :D



a year ago we bought a second car. YAY!! it changed a lot for us. more money going out, of course, but it meant that we could have more freedom. the first 2 years of our marriage i would drive steve to and from work. i had to make sure i was always available to pick him up in the evenings which usually meant i couldn't go out with a friend. also, if one of us was out with the car the other was trapped at home unless a friend could pick us up. we were so thrilled when we could get another car. and we bought a NEW car! neither of us had ever owned a new car so it was very very exciting. we LOVE our MAZDA 3! we both now hate the cavalier, but it's still very reliable so we will keep it. the mazda 3 is phenomenal!! looking for a new car? check out the mazda 3. i know so many people who have them and they are super great!

Tuesday, May 18, 2010

header frustrations

ahhhh i can not get my stupid image to fit properly in the header of my blog. what am i doing wrong? fellow blogger friends, HELP! i had a pic up but it didn't fit in the box properly. i was too lazy to fix it at the time so i tried tonight. i couldn't get that image to work. so i chose a different one and it was HUGE!!! i don't know what to do. i have seen other blogs where their picture fits perfectly in their header box. i am so technologically challenged. :S advice?

Saturday, May 15, 2010

townhouse complex-wide garage sale

the white chair was not for sale. it was my perch.

the wall hangings i didn't really want to sell. i don't have them up
in my house anymore so i thought i should sell them, but i am glad they
didn't sell cause i would have been sad.




9:05am
~ garage sale has been open for 35 minutes. first lady came by at 8:40. she said that this garage ~ sale is going really slowly. "why aren't there more people?" how should i know?!?! but of course i answered politely "i know. it's been slow so far." she left.
~ next a man and 2 ladies in their 50s came in. stood in the middle staring at the stuff for 15 seconds and walked out. alright have a nice day.
~ then a lady came in with her dog and she loved all the clothes. she said that i have a ton of nice stuff. phew!! but she only bought 1 shirt. she had 2 dollars in change and then a $50 bill. I had change for a 50 but it would have been in small change such as toonies and loonies. so she bought the one shirt with her $2 and left. YAY!! my first sale!
~ a lady and daughter, looked for 4 minutes and then left.
~ 2 middle aged ladies who i believe were speaking korean came but obviously i could not understand a word. i was so curious if they were complaining about my stuff or loved it. but they bought one of my decorative plates
~ another lady with a young daughter (8ish) came by and bought 2 end tables, a wooden box and a belt!!

...maybe this isn't so bad. it is now 9:20

more people walking in an out. briefly looking. i don't have a ton of stuff for the average joe. not much furniture or knick knacks. ugh

9:54am
~ gave away a sweater to Amanda because she brought me a Passiontea Lemonade from Starbucks
~ a Mexican family came in with the CUTEST 3 kids ever!! they bought a VHS rewinder, a belt and 2 picture frames/coat hanger things.

10:16am
~ it's dead. i think all of the avid garage sale people have come and gone. :P

10:56am
~ TOTALLY DEAD!! i think i will close up shop. no one is coming and i am kind of cold sitting her in my garage. but i only made $34. i have been out here for 2.5 hours. that means imy hourly pay was $13.50. whatever i think i am just going to stop. i am bored and no one is coming.

overall this has been an ok first for me. :D

Tuesday, May 11, 2010

stay out of it lael

i have been witnessing a major injustice lately. most days when i drive to school i pass 2 kids on my way up my street. there is a girl around age 6 and a boy around age 9. i believe they are brother and sister. my street has a rather steep hill with a school at the top. each time i see them the little girl has her pink backpack on her back and a black backpack around her front. the boy has no backpack. of course the first few times i was SO angry!! this brother should be helping his little sister, not making her carry his stuff! one day i was so proud of her because i saw her drop his bag and walk on up the hill. he was yelling at her and she just kept going. i was silently cheering for her as i approached them on the hill. just as i was passing she ran back and picked up his bag again. NOOOO!!!! why?? be strong little one. grrrr!! i wish i could find out where they live and tell their mother that her son is bullying her precious little daughter. but of course that would be weird so i will keep out of it.

another weird thing i see most days on my way to work is a 15ish year old boy who apparently doesn't know how to button up his shirt. he has long brown hair and blows in the wind as he walks. he is always listening to his ipod and has low riding jeans on. and then he has a button up shirt, that is UNBUTTONED all the time....and he wears nothing underneath it! it's not that warm out, he is a child and he looks ridiculous! what is he thinking? does he really think that people are driving past him and not laughing or barfing when they see him? i feel like gaging everytime. i just don't get it. this morning i was very close to pulling over and telling him that (like I would tell the students in my social skills group) his actions make me think weird things about him. again, i won't actually get involved. when he grows up he will think back on this and realize how crazy he was.

bootcamp bandwagon

i have completely fallen off the bootcamp bandwagon. :S i got sick on may 2nd and i haven't done my workout since then. the first few days of being sick were brutal but then when i thought i could start up bootcamp again my asthma got really bad. i started having to take my inhaler a few times a day when i wasn't even exercising. going up the stairs made me wheez. so i steered clear of the workout for a while longer. now i am almost better and i really need to get going again. i am going to have to start back at bootcamp 1 and hopefully within a few days i can add part 2 in again. tomorrow will be my first day back at it. 20 days on, 10 days off....shoot!! this sucks! i am having a hard time motivating myself to start again. if i don't do it tomorrow you all have permission to yell at me. wish me luck. :D

Wednesday, May 5, 2010

cinco de mayo






been married for 3 years as of today (yes Cinco de Mayo....had no idea that holiday even existed until after we had decided on the date and sent out invitations)!!!!!! still super happy being married to my best friend. :D
many embarrassing things happened on the wedding day. i don't want to go into all of them cause some will make me look like a complete fool (such as my speech to my maid of honour...complete FAIL) and other stories will make other people look like fools. so here is one that makes me look stupid but it's by far NOT the most embarrassing thing that was said/done that day.
one thing that i was worried about a lot was being uncomfortable on my wedding day. i already had to wear this heavy gown and heels and have my hair filled with bobby pins and hair spray. so i wanted to try and be somewhat comfy...if at all possible. i decided that one thing that would help would be nylons. that way my legs wouldn't be all sticky if i was hot in that dress. but then i thought nylons would look stupid with my heels (lets face it, it's not the 50s and open toed shoes and nylons look ridiculous!). so i bought spanx. i wore them until it came time for the garter toss.i didn't want anyone seeing that i was wearing them so i decided to ditch them before that time came. i quickly rushed to the bathroom to take them off just before i knew my brother (the MC) would announce that it was time for the garter toss. i walked back into the main room just as my brother was saying that it was that time. as i took my place on the chair everyone got quiet. then my sister decided to yell out "DID YOU TAKE YOUR SPANX OFF???"" oh my gosh!!! did she seriously just say that? lots of little snickers and people looking at each other trying not to laugh. thanks trish. thanks a lot!!