Happy Birthday Jim

All the best for a happy New Year!

A New Year's Celebration

I rang the New Year in with friends, food, song and great cross country skiing - a wonderful way to start 2008!

Many thanks!

Poster created at http://www.bighugelabs.com - they look great printed too!

News from Mom

Isn't amazing how much Carter looks like Marc. I took the picture from a picture Ramona has in her dining room. The picture of Mickey Mouse is on a digital frame, I received from Zane and Pam. The TV and stand are a gift from Doug. My new bed is from Ramona and Cam. Donna gave me tickets to Stewart McLean, he does a show from the Vinyl Cafe. I got so many things that I feel utterly spoiled. Just think about all the things you have to look forward to when you reach my age. I love all of you so very much and wish you the greatest of blessing in the New Year. I am truly blessed by God to have such a wonderful family.

Raising Smart Kids

I recently came across two items that I found very interesting. The first is an article from Scientific American Mind entitled, The Secret of Raising Smart Children.

Hint: Don't tell your kids that they are. More than three decades of research shows that a focus on effort—not on intelligence or ability—is key to success in school and in life

The article is well worth reading and is supplemented by this engrossing 10 minute video from the famous TED talks, 5 dangerous things you should let your kids do.

Hint: Allowing kids the freedom to explore will make them stronger and smarter and actually safer.

Christmas at the Allan's

Words cannot describe the wonderful Christmas I had with my sister's family. The slideshow below will give some idea of the time we shared.

My Harry Potter Personality

Hmmmm..

This is my Harry Potter personality... I am not happy!


Harry Potter Personality Quiz by Pirate Monkeys Inc.

What Harry Potter personality are you? Give it a try. Copy the code and when back at a new blogger post click 'edit html' and paste the code.

A Family Celebration

My family Christmas celebrations started with Mom and I enjoying the first play of our subscription season - Mom's birthday present from last March! The play was Beauty and the Beast performed in the new Persophone Theatre... awesome building!

After the theatre we had our annual gift exchange. Zane, Pam and Carter decided not to join us so it was a small but still delightful celebration. Doug was thrilled with his iPod, Mom pleased with her Sears gift certificate -- to buy bedding for her new bed -- and I love the bird house planter that was a joint gift from Uncle Stan, Mom and Doug.

It's an ipod!



A heart warming gift from Carter.









I love hand made gifts. This will look great on my deck







And, yes... we enjoyed a great meal!

Appetizers... shrimp, wings, dips, etc.Another delightful event in the 2007 Christmas season!

Christmas with Friends

Every year my circle of friends gets together for an appetizer potluck and a gift exchange. Each year we pull names and search out the perfect gift. We have done this for many years now - I remember when the kids were babies and now this year they have joined us in the gift exchange. We eat, drink, laugh and thoroughly enjoy each other's company!

Getting a good laugh from YouTube videos...
I host this event and love to cook up a storm. This time I made sweet potato fries with a curry mayo, shrimp & avocado in a Thai marinade, sushi, feta pastries, and a cranberry cheese cake for dessert - what fun!

A great start to the Christmas season!

Boiler Eruption

I began the first days of my educational leave dealing with an boiler eruption that left inches of a brown silt-like substance all over my boiler room floor. It also oozed out into the living area of my basement totally staining and destroying the carpet.

At first it looked like it would cost me a few thousand dollars to replace my boiler but when the company found out that my heating bills are really quite low they decided that for about $1,500 they could make it last 100 years -- 20 more years, that is. By then I should have my mortgage paid off.

Oh...What a Weekend!

Aren’t there times when you have one of those days? Well – I have just had one of those weekends!

It started Friday night at our staff party when a colleague came in to tell me that my car was still running. I thought I had turned it off with my car starter when I locked my car but I had unknowingly left my keys in the ignition. My car starter would not open the car and inside were my house keys.

Luckily I was able to track down a friend who keeps an extra house key; my colleague was kind enough to drive me to get the key, and then to my house to get my car key and back to the staff party where I was able to open my car and turn it off.

That takes us to Saturday. I had dithered and dathered about going to the College of Education Awards Celebration to be recognized a the recipient of the Douglas/Brown Award in Instructional Technologies but finally decided to go. A friend agreed to go with me and we drove the hour and half to the Saskatoon Inn for the ceremony only to find out that no one was there! The hotel knew nothing about it! I even showed them the official letter – I did have the correct date, time and place according to the letter and I had confirmed by fax and e-mail that I would be attending. I still don’t know what happened but I suspect it has something to do with the CUPE strike which affected both universities in Saskatchewan.

On Sunday I broke a window. I am trying to get ready for the coldest winter in a decade and was defrosting my laundry window with my blow dryer to prepare it for the plastic film to help keep out the cold. The contrast between the heat of the blow dryer and the outside of the window was too much and it cracked.

And now for the final piece… I agreed to a take a friend shopping – the same friend who came with me to Saskatoon yesterday. She has just had hip replacement surgery and is just now slowly getting around with a walker. We were at Canadian Tire and I started my car from inside the store. When we arrived at the car I could not find my keys?! Yes – they, including my house key, were inside the car, the car was running and I could not open the car with my car starter. And…no, I had not returned the key that I had gotten from my friend on Friday night – it was inside my house with my other car key.

Luckily my border was at home and we were able to take a taxi to pick up the car key.

Yes… what a weekend! However, I can be thankful that I have great colleagues who didn’t hesitate to help. Amy and I spent a wonderful afternoon Christmas shopping in Saskatoon and enjoyed a fine meal at Earl’s before returning to North Battleford. Our taxi driver was exceptionally personable, helpful and had a great sense of humour. As helped load Amy’s walker into my car he mentioned that as I was making a habit of this he expected to see me within the next couple of days! Let us hope NOT!!

Update from Stephanie and Family

Well I was finally able to sign in here. I don't know what the problem was. Jessica is getting bigger and bigger. She is 8 months now. She can say "mamamama" which is so great for me. (and don't tell me she's just babbleing) :) She wont crawl but, rolls everywhere. Derrik is doing good and got a better job, working on drilling rigs. Things are getting crazy with Christmas coming. I did her pictures with Santa, she didn't cry or anything. They are super cute. I'm doing good aswell. Well anyways heres some pictures.

Comfort Food

My contribution for the potluck supper last night was Macaroni and Cheese. This is a dish that should only be eaten in the most dire of circumstances when indulging in true comfort food is the only form of solace available.


Macaroni and Cheese made with Gouda and Aged Cheddar

It is not a dish to be indulged in if you suffer from high blood pressure, high cholesterol, heart disease, diabetes or are in the least bit overweight! The recipe described each serving as having 40.9 grams of fat, 1087 mg of sodium and 629 calories per serving.
Needless to say everyone loved it!

I found the recipe in the March 2007 Chatelaine Magazine but if you do have a craving for comfort food the recipe can be found here.

And now that I have eaten the leftovers for lunch I am going to go dig in my garden and plant 30 tulip bulbs!

Friendship, Celebration and Song

Last night my circle of friends gathered to celebrate our friend Birgit's 50th birthday. It was a happy and joyful time as we ate a wonderful potluck supper and indulged in a decadent birthday cake

Afterwards we celebrated with song and laughter.

It is these times with my friends that I feel safe, comfortable, loved and that I truly belong. None of these words really express how I feel but at those times I am very happy.

WorldBeat

Last weekend I once again travelled to Regina to participate in a working meeting at the office of the Saskatchewan Council for International Cooperation (SCIC) to review online global resources for the EarthBeat e-zine. I really enjoy this tiny aspect of social action that I engage in. It indulges my love for finding the perfect online resource to meet a curricular need (I'll always be a teacher-librarian at heart!), my need to make a contribution, if only a small one, and by doing so to make a difference by creating an awareness of global inequity.

And, of course it is just fun to mix a mingle with like-minded teachers from around the province. This day was a full day meeting broken by lunch at La Bodega - a fine meal with a good red wine.

Our task was a little more difficult this time around because we were looking at child mortality and it was difficult to find websites that dealt specifically with this issue. However we did manage to review some sites and make recommendations for uses within the curriculum.

Our last issue was about Combating HIV/AIDS, Malaria and Other Diseases. These are wonderful, engaging, informative sites that hopefully will create an awareness of global issues amongst our Saskatchewan students.

Mom Again

Here is the boyfiend

News from Mom

Thought I would send a couple of pictures As you can see Marbles is doing great. and that I have a boyfriend

Happy Thanksgiving!

I joined mom and Doug for a delicious Thanksgiving Dinner -- tons of great food, conversation and laughter. It was a lovely way to spend an evening. I made my first pumpkin pie and I think it was OK! It was just the recipe on the can but I use creammilk and molassas.... mmmm - even to someone who doesn't much like pie.












Thanks Mom for a great meal!

Recipe for a great hot dog!

The last sunny afternoons of the fall call for supper in the park - roasting hot dogs and visiting with friends.

















... and the great hot dog recipe:

• roast one hot dog until lightly toasted
• layer in bun with ketchup, mustard and shredded cheese
• crinkle plain chips over the top
• squeeze gently to meld flavours
• enjoy!