1000

Between 2:40 & 3:28 pm today we hit 1000 views on this blog!

1000 in one month? Not bad.

Thanks so far, everyone!

Student Sayings I - ESV

I've been marking final course work & exams for the past week now, and boy are there some gems in here.  It's the only redeeming thing about marking.

Here's Student Sayings I - the English Standard Version.

In poetry:

"Walking together side by side now / Our love is growing like a dairy cow"

Exam question:
"How many years were Anne Frank and the others in hiding?"
Student Answer: "20".
My friend/also high school teacher's observation: "I think by then we would be reading the journal of Anne and Peter's kids!"

Exam: "Write three different sentences using 'their', 'they're', and 'there' correctly. (3)"
Student Answer for 'there': "There goes a boy eating a flying saucer while racing a kangaroo."

Exam Header: "ENG2D - Final Exam - two hours - June 2011"
Student: HUGE circle around header, ARROW, question mark?
Me: Oops...riiiiight. January 2012...

When reading carefully is a good idea:
Exam question: What is the best way for people to enter and exit Sarajevo [during the siege]?
Frequently seen student answer: Through the tunnel under the airport or by death.

                                                                                       ^ One of those two options is correct. 

Which is it?

Exam question: "What type of poem is this?"
Student answer: "It is an explanatory myth."
Me: Incorrect. It is a poem.

On the exam, a student uses the word "astounding" in his essay. In the margin he writes --> (I know big word :)

Essay choice: Compare and contrast the Greek creation myth to the Biblical account of the creation of our world.
Student's choice: "The Greeks and Babylonians have used myths to explain Biblical creation."

Motivational Spiel

I'm posting this for no one's interest but my own. But if you're interested, read on.

I need to be motivated.

Here's my to-do list. My time frame is: the rest of today, tomorrow & Thursday (possibly Saturday night for report cards.)

1. Mark 1 essay question x 22 exams. (2:40 pm)
2. Total up 22 exams & insert into Markbook (3:28 pm)
3. Mark 22 geography exams. (11:25 pm, Feb 1)
4. Total up 22 exams & insert into Markbook. (11:51 pm, Feb 1)
5. Write comments for 50 report cards (2 classes), completely write 50 more (2 more classes.) (Feb 4, 2 pm)
6. Photocopy first two days' Bible assignments. (4 pm - after unjamming the photocopier.)
7. Finish prepping Food & Nutrition (1/2 day?) (11 am, Feb 2)
8. Grocery shop for Food & Nutrition (10:30 am, Feb 1)
9. Prep for Careers/Civics class... (it got done...)
10. Prep for grade 12 World Geography. (2:35 pm, Feb 2. sort of.)

Today's goal: #s 1,2, 6
Tomorrow's goal: #s 3, 4, 7, 8 (didn't get 7 done, but that was majorly pushing it!)

I can do it!!!

Life of a Little Person

4 years ago, Mandy's birthday party

This year, Mandy's birthday party.

They're blurry, cuz she's not as still as she was as a baby :P

A little person goes through a lot of changes in 4 short years!

Cafe Cravings

I just discovered this website today: The Sisters Cafe.

What you really need to do is go to their "Recipe Index" tab and just have a look-see.

Seriously, every ingredient I've seen is easy to find (or substitute) and everything also looks super simple to make. And for the most part they're not too weird or far out. You can tell these ladies are every-day moms.

(I'm not an every-day mom, but I appreciate it! Many other recipe blogs seem to be written by crunchy, vegan, hippie food gurus who have nothing better to do than make fancy, weird food. All day. For hours on end.) (I hope you're not offended by the hyperbolic description!) (It's just that they make me feel guilty about buying pre-minced garlic instead of fresh. And regular unbleached flour instead of organic. You know.)

I am going to go home tonight & search my cupboards for ingredients to some of my choice recipes & then write up a meal plan & grocery list. Because these look & sound delish!

Some favourites so far (I haven't tried them yet, they just have my mouth watering.)

1. Parmesan Roasted Potatoes
2. Oriental BBQ Pork Salad
3. One Minute Salsa & Healthy Baked Chips  (she gives WeightWatchers stats!)
4. Roasted Garlic Brie Bread

There's also a category for cooking with kids (if you've got any) and a super cute meal planner (in 2 formats!)

Snow & Sunshine

See? Gorgeous.

Hello there. I don't usually say hello there. It only happens when others disguise themselves as me on facebook. So they can send love messages. You know who you are.

This weekend was absolutely wonderful. I don't even know how many times I sat there and gave a little contented sigh and mentioned how happy & content I was.

Part of that was that snowboarding didn't hurt nearly so bad as last week. I can do heel side! I can conquer big hills!  I can turn toe side to heel side! I can sweep people off their feet! (Sorry, Ed.) Next time though: learn toe side & turn heel side to toe side. And how to stop before taking people out, and from behind, no less.

Another part was that after snowboarding we traded up massages. Which took care of some of the extra aches & pains.

And then, the Rink & I stayed up far too late chatting. It was a good conversation though - totally worth it. Followed up with a good sleep-in and brekkie out.

Followed up by snowmobiling. I haven't been in ages. Pictures to prove the fun & the sun! (Above is one.) (I promise I didn't mean to rhyme all that.)

My camera took these photos - I did not.

Album art?

Oh, I took this one. Not snowmobiling, but still snow.

And then there was Mandy's birthday party - making faces w/ Serry, watching chick flicks & eating junk food. Love! But those pictures will come in the next post.


Enjoyable, right? I thought so.

I learn

I have learned a lot since I became a teacher.
Like, I've learned I'm not that smart. That was from my students.
And, with almost all male coworkers, I've learned a lot about guys. Like, they're worse than girls when it comes to matchmaking.

Want some other examples? Here:

1. I'm not that smart.
2. Married men can be giddy like schoolgirls when it comes to relationship 'gossip'/matchmaking/drama.
3. How to play football. Sort of.
4. Volleyball
5. Basketball
6. Lacrosse
7. Rugby
8. I like national parks/Canada's gorgeous and more diverse than remembered/learned/imagined.
9. That when guys don't respond to a question/comment right away, I'm not being ignored. They were just busy and will process the answer and respond later. Much later. When I've forgotten what I've said. If it takes longer than that, they will forget and I won't get a response. Ever. Because I've forgotten the question, and they've forgotten to answer.
10. Nothing is more outwardly self-assured cocky than a 16 year old boy.
11. ...except a 17 year old boy.
12. Boys are sensitive. 
13. They also care about their looks faaaaar too much. 
14. It's because they're sensitive.
15. To be more organized.
16. I look 34.
17. I'm glad I'm done being a high school student. Except during exam week.

DIY Green Monster

No, I'm not saying I made a green monster all by myself.

I'm saying this DIY project has the green-eyed monster jumping up & down inside of me, grinding his teeth in frustration because I'm too polite to let him out for exercise.

I've needed good closet/storage solutions for over a year now.

Why can't I have time/money/genius to achieve this?

Indecision is NOT a woman.

You know what I don't get? Why the weather is often compared to a woman.

Seriously, even the most fickle of women would have made up her mind by now!

All this freeze-thaw, snow-rain, cold-warm, minus degree-plus degree has just gone too far.

I've never seen a winter like it! I mean, I've definitely been around for the odd t-shirt-in-January day, but it's never been so back & forth as it is now.

Today, it was icy enough in the parking lot this morning that one person managed to play 4-car dominoes. This afternoon, it was a mushy, muddy river.

And every time so far that I've said "Winter's here!" it's inevitably gone above zero and rained/melted away all the snow in the next couple of days.

I've given up.

Hello Spring.

One step closer to reaching another goal

...and that is not a step closer to flossing regularly.

But here, take a look - and if you can't guess, then chances are you've also never seen snow.

Snow board courtesy of Etta (and her awesome friends who gave it to her as a birthday gift :)
The photo courtesy of Etta & her phone.
Photo editing courtesy me.
Bruises & other various aches & pains courtesy the hill and my lack of skills.
My slightly improved skills courtesy of my wonderful, and very patient, teachers/friends. Thanks!

But, I think I am getting the concept. Now, on to the actual execution of said concept.

Anyone wanna see me go head over teakettles? It could be pretty spectacular...I'm thinking this Friday night again, if anyone's up for it? I'm resolved to not give up on it & that means taking every opportunity to learn.

And, I am also going to be spending lots of time this week with bent knees & tippy-toes/heels trying to build up some of the muscles that failed me this time. You know, when I'm not marking end-of-term papers and such.

Here's to hoping next time goes better!!!

Guests & a New Recipe

Tonight I had a lovely evening. John & Michelle are up from Pennsylvania for a week and so they stopped in for dinner! I've never actually seen them in Canada before - sounds a little funny, doesn't it?

Anyways, because I knew they were coming, I raided my pantry & freezer and found exactly the ingredients to make the chicken parmesan I'd seen on this blog a couple of days ago. Since I also have made it my goal to try at least two new-to-me recipes each month, it sounded great & perfect for a dinner.

I had to cut the chicken into pieces and sub the mozza cheese with marble, but this was a delicious meal that looked wonderful over some pretty bowtie pasta. The only thing I'd do differently next time is make mine with more sauce. I dug a tub outta the freezer, but it was a little less than we could have had to go with the pasta.

And, after dinner, we played "Take One" (similar to Bananagrams, only with 7 tiles to start) and I did the un-hostess-like thing and won smashingly. But only after I fretted and pulled apart my game and rebuilt it and figured out a way to use the J, Z, X and both Bs, an F, a V, 2 Cs, and a D or so, with very few vowels. I've never called "Take One" so few times in a game and so I thought for sure I'd lose. Especially when I got the 'J' as my second-last tile. But apparently having letters worth so many points worked to my advantage (especially against John, who got stuck with all but two of the I's.) But, I was pretty proud of it - especially with words like brevity, maze, and prose thrown in!

Thanks for coming out, John & Michelle - I enjoyed seeing you again!

And seriously, you guys should try that easy-peasy chicken parm recipe!

To-do 2012 Success & Fail

First the success: I got my kayak!!!!

Well, ok, it's paid for, and it's in my name. But, they're storing it for me until spring (and you know, until I can get the rest of the gear - like a roof rack for my car!)

Here's a peek!


The fail? I didn't floss enough last week. Eeeep. Shoot. Of all the things on the list, that one might prove most challenging to me :S

O Holy Day

Jude 20-21 "But you, dear friends, by building yourselves up in your most holy faith and praying in the Holy Spirit, keep yourselves in God’s love as you wait for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to bring you to eternal life." 

 Today is a wonderful, wonderful day. I've been struggling the past couple of days with some recent occurrences and my inadvertent participation in them that has caused sorrow for others. You understand that I can't share the particulars with you, right?


But I can say my side: I have to watch my actions and words, so that they don't hurt others. I'm glad for the last day or so and the opportunity to talk with friends and gain new insight for myself on how I can do better at this.


The biggest piece of advice: pray.


I love coming to God in prayer. Prayer is powerful. God has answered prayers upon prayers, even in my life so far. How could I doubt it?


And so, I prayed again, and because I was so confused with my own feelings and what to do, I had no idea where to begin. 'Simply' praying brought clarity. God instantly answered my prayer by giving me peace and showing me the best way for the near future.


And in church this morning, the sermon hit home. The minister spoke about relationships, and about how sin causes so many problems in our relationships with others. The biggest problem is when sin gets between us & God. God reaches out and pulls us to him, forgiving our sins by the reconciliation that was made possible in Christ alone!


As I sat there, also through Lord's Supper and all of its meaning, I felt confidence. SO much confidence in God and in his forgiveness and in His hand caring for me. 


It is indeed a Sunday -  a day set apart for me to worship God - a holy day! Yay!

Recipe: Artisan Bread

This is a tried-and-true recipe - it's not my own, however. A friend shared the recipe, and I shared it too - on my old blog. It's originally from here.

Nothing smells better than fresh bread - am I right?

So basically, if you're having a tough time selling your house, just pop a loaf of bread in the oven right before the viewers come to do a walk-though. They'll buy it in an instant. (No guarantees for a house that is exorbitantly overpriced, falling apart, full of mildew, conveniently located right next to the home of a convicted murderer, or still has an outhouse in the back yard as the only bathroom. Etcetera.)

Now, I'd like to take you through making this bread - my way.

Oh, and I'm eating a slice of the loaf I made two days ago while the two new loaves from today are singing on the counter. Just so you know.

What you need to know beforehand:

1. This bread will cost you about 40 cents a loaf.
2. It requires no kneading.
3. It requires a grand total of about 5-10 minutes of  "you" time.
4. You need space in your fridge.
5. Fresh bread in an hour a day! An hour where you are doing other things - like showering, or doing laundry, or reading a book.

Yield: 4 1 lb loaves.

Ingredients:

- 3 cups luke-warm water

- 1.5 tablespoons instant yeast

- 1.5 tablespoons coarse salt

- 6.5 cups unbleached flour.

Tools:

- a tablespoon

- a measuring cup (liquid)

- a wooden spoon

- a LARGE bucket with lid

- a baking sheet

- parchment paper

- baking stone

Ingredients & tools to mix

Step 1: Mixing it up

- Pour 3 cups of lukewarm water into your large bucket

- Add the yeast lightly over the top of the water.

- Add the salt.

- Stir.

- Add flour.

- Stir until just mixed (all flour should be incorporated. It will be a wet dough.)

first tbsp of yeast

mixing water, yeast, salt

adding flour

mixed

Step 2:  Rising

- Let is rise on the counter for 2 hours

- Store in fridge. Allow to rise there a minimum of 3 hours so the dough will be less sticky.

2 hr rise

Step 3: Baking

- Pull/cut off a 1 lb (grapefruit size) chunk of dough with well-floured hands.

- Pull top of dough around the underneath to create a "gluten cloak" on top.

- Place on parchment paper on the back of a baking sheet.

- Let rise 30 minutes.

- Meanwhile, let baking stone heat in 400 degree F oven.

- After dough has risen 30 min, slash the top with a sharp knife ( to allow for air release.)

- Slide off of the baking sheet onto the baking stone in the oven.

- Bake at 400 F for 30 min, until golden brown.

- Remove from oven & let cool.

before rising

after rising & slashing - in oven

baked!

Step 4: Eating

- Let cool before cutting, for best texture.

- Slice & serve!

- My favourite toppings: honey, miracle whip & cheddar cheese, salt & peppered tomato, home-made jam, butter

If you run into any troubles (I did the first couple of times) - check back to the original link (at the top of this post) where they give hints & tips that might help!

Enjoy!

Domestic Life

I'm not one of those women who feels that doing domestic things like baking and ironing and taking care of the needs of others is beneath them.

In fact, I'm very well aware of the fact that I am often beneath the domestic things.

• The loads of laundry that never, ever, end.
• The dishes that pile up.
• The perma-dirty floors.
• The DUST.
• The scads of store-bought food full of preservatives and food colouring and mass amounts of corn-something, when I could have made my own.

Mhmm. I'm just one person too, so I can't imagine how a mom with a houseful feels (ok, I kinda can, because I grew up in a house of 6, but yet not really.)

But basically, the point is this: When I manage to make my house feel clean & homey, have most of the laundry done & put away, have baked bread, and ironed clothes, and feel like I'm actually half-presentable as well, that's when I feel a sense of strength & triumph.

If doing the housework makes a women feel like she's fitting a weak and dependent stereotype, then trust me: she hasn't done much of it.

That, or she's trying to come up with an excuse for being lazy.

A very Serry day

I know this wonderful, vivacious, gorgeous, spunky little girl named Serena. She's four. I call her Serry. She is pretty much one of the loves of my life.

This morning we had a conversation about that. It went something like this.

S: "Aunty Emily, I love you."
Me: "I love you too, Serry."
S: "Do you love me the most?"
Me: "No, I love God the most."
S: goes on a huge, cute tangent about how God lives in heaven and when people die then if they live they go to heaven.
Me: "But God lives in your heart too, right?"
S: "Yes, he lives right. in. side. But, you love me next most, right?"
Me: "Right, along with a bunch of other people."

And then she continued putting plastic clips in my hair as I lay there not wanting to wake up yet. (She was over for a sleepover.)

And then, Aunty Mandy came and we hung out in our pjs all day (ok, that was just Serry), doing our nails, watching Despicable Me and eating "squares" (Cinnamon Toast Crunch - a special treat only to be found at Aunty Emily's.)

I love that kid. She's my fave. (Ok, one of a few faves :) But definitely my fave 4-year-old, blonde daughter-of-a-friend.

But seriously, she is so much fun, and very well behaved (ok, mostly) and a great hairdresser :)

love

she did her own hair, and she's got pasta, squares & oj for supper = happy girl :)

Salon Chez Bunny-Serena

What Gets Me?

This: That you never know until you know. 

Gah! Why can't I know NOW??

3 days in

Three days in, and I already have so many 2012 mini-highlights.

Like, finding out that I had another pocket in my coat. The story? I lost my cell phone. I searched for it. Finally, someone Damien (thanks!) had the brilliant idea to call my phone. And, sha-zam, the year-old coat that I was wearing began to ring. I had checked both my pockets, but I re-checked them now, for holes, in case it had somehow gotten into the lining of my coat and travelled...up? Someone kindly pointed out my third, well-hidden (clearly), pocket to me. Even though I had managed to find it earlier when I put my phone in it....

Then, I started up my new blog. Here. HI!!! And guess what? 3 days = over 200 views. Thanks!

Then, I had this wonderful idea for cream of vegetable soup. The result? Diarrhea. Or that's what it looked like. I felt like puking into the toilet. Except, my toilet was already busy flushing the contents of my slow-cooker. Moral of the story? Green & orange veggies DO NOT make a good combination! Wait a minute. Who said this was a high-light??

An actual highlight? Sending the Kentucky team the deets for our first meeting this coming Sunday - woot! CanNOT wait to go!!! I love that place. And I'm sure I'm going to love these people. And if any of you gets a chance to support them as they fundraise - do it! It's a good cause. My February cause, maybe?

Finally, Serry & I are having a sleepover. Today, we got our hair cut, ate ice cream (even though it's -16 degrees Celsius outside for the first time this holiday season. Why not eat ice cream to celebrate, right?) And then we watched a movie all snuggled up in our pjs - Horton Hears A Who - excellent movie for watching with children :)

And speaking of -16 degrees Celsius: YES PLEASE! About time! I never thought I'd be glad for the day when the snow sounds crunchy & squeaky, the car takes eons to warm up, and my nose hairs freeze together the second I step outside. But today was that day. I was almost afraid winter wasn't gonna show up this season, but apparently, it was just waiting for 2012 to arrive. I shoulda taken a picture of the car's temperature reading. But I didn't. Sorry!

And now.

Ok bye!

Cause # 1: Anchor

Anchor is an organization closely linked to me. It's the  Canadian Reformed Association for the Handicapped and provides homes, as well as summer camp, for those within our church denomination who have special needs. They draw the name "Anchor" from Hebrews 6:19 'We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure...'
My oldest brother, James, has the benefit of living in one of the homes they provide. Currently, there are four homes. Unfortunately, they don't have enough monetary support.

Times are tight. Not everyone has enough to go around - especially when we're paying school fees, giving to the church, and supporting innumerable other charities.

But who can't afford $30/month for a grand total of $360 a year? I can guarantee that more than the 16% or less of church members who actually are members of Anchor can afford this. Most people pay more for coffee every month.

And, if it were your brother/sister/aunt/uncle/etc living there - wouldn't you like to see them have a second helping at dinner if they still feel hungry? Or a glass of orange juice made with 3 cans of water instead of five? The people working at Anchor are stretching their resources as far as they can go. But there's only so far you can stretch a dollar. Especially when you're at -$200,000 at the end of a year.

If you can't afford $30/month - give what you can! I remember being a student. It wasn't easy to make ends meet myself, but I definitely had opportunity to give.

Some ideas:

1. Become a member!
2. Give up one morning coffee's worth of change a week & donate that.
3. Host a dinner and invite the residents of your local home (great idea for youth groups!)
4. Host a fundraising tournament/dinner. When I was in youth group, we had a Dutch dinner and/or Pancake breakfast every year & the proceeds often went to Anchor (and the total was often close to a year's membership!)
5. Bring a meal over.
6. If you work for a company (grocery store, food packaging plant) that has leftovers or 'seconds" ask them to donate some! (Find out what the homes need first.)

Those are all physical/practical means, but of course they also need prayer and every single one of our brothers & sisters living in one of these homes loves company. You can visit as a family, a group, or by yourself. You can also sign up to be a cook/counselor for summer camp.

Please support as you can!

Fresh Start 2012

2012 -  a whole new year ahead of me. And you.

That means a new list of 2012 things I want to do. Some of these are resolutions, others are bucket list items.
Serving God is just expected. I want to do that in every one of the things on this list:

1. Pray more.
2. Re-design this blog to be awesome.
3. Average 15 blog posts every month, again. That's 180 posts this year. It'll probably be closer to 200 by the time January 2013 rolls around.
4. Post 366 days of Scripture readings. There'll be a tab for that!
5. Buy a sea kayak.
6. Read/finish reading 3 devotional books.
7. Finish paying off my student loan.
8. Learn to snowboard well.
9. Lead the 2012 Kentucky SALTeam well.
10. Visit at least 3 national parks.
11. Move to Hamilton.
12. Paint my huge canvas.
13. Share one awesome recipe each month. There'll be a tab for that too!
14. Try 26 new recipes this year.
15. Buy Settlers of Catan from change I've saved.
16. Finish two DIY projects.
17. Donate to an 'extra' charitable cause.
18. Let you a little more into my life.

I'm sure there will be more things. I'll transfer this list into a separate tab as well, so I can add to it & check it off through 2012.

Why the fresh start? Well, I really would like to develop the blog readership some more. And I don't want to sacrifice the privacy of friends & family that I've posted about before. So after a little while, I'll make my previous blog private & this one will be public from the beginning.

Thanks for reading! God bless in 2012!