Nesting... perhaps!!!!

The last two weeks have seen a flurry of activity in my kitchen!  Last week I made white buns, and white bread.  On Saturday I went on a Becki Home Ecki cookie making spree.  I made 12 chocolate chip cookies, 12 white chocolate macadamia nut cookies, I made lots of M & M cookies, a batch of peanut butter cookies, my Great Aunt Florence's Raisin Cookies, and Gingersnaps.

The gingersnaps made me think of my dear sweet old departed neighbor Adeline Produski, and her granddaughter Kerry!  We always used to make gingersnap cookies in the mornings when I went to visit, and the scent of the gingersnaps took me back to their little kitchen and the delicious smells!

Today, I made 4 loaves of whole wheat bread, and a chocolate zucchini cake!  My mom is on holidays and gave me some zucchini, I have to use it up!

Anywho, it is a good thing I have a freezer, we may need to look at getting another one, as ours is pretty full now, and I should probably make some meals up for after the baby comes, and get my Christmas baking done early!!!! 

Now the next question, when should I put up the Christmas tree?  ;) 

It's Coming

Well my body must know it is time to start thinking about heading back to school.  The last two mornings I've been up super early.  Although today was much better than yesterday!  The 4:45AM yesterday was a little ridiculous, the 5:45AM this morning was much better! 

It definitely seems odd to be heading back to school.  I don't have a classroom of my own this year...  which is a definite added bonus for many multiple reasons

• I haven't had to spend two- three weeks planning for September like I usually do.
• I'll be leaving in mid-November so the students won't have to have a transition to a new teacher!
• I won't have the heavy load of prepping or marking to do for my class.
• I won't have to plan for a sub, since I just got to my third trimester, and my doctor's appointments are going to once every two weeks!  This is such a huge blessing!

Honestly I'm not sure what exactly my job will involve, I just know that I'll be working with the middle years teachers in their classrooms, possibly with small groups, etc, and that I'll be spending a lot of time in Grade 5 because my friend Shannon will be mentoring Amanda, the new Grade 6 teacher who is taking my place, and Ashley, who is taking over the helm in Grade 7. 

Raymond and I had my Staples run last week, however it was more stuff for the house, than for school, we bought some chairs, one for my office/craft room and one for his office, and a drafting chair for his workroom.  We got a cork/whiteboard for the kitchen.   I also picked up some stuff for the Harvest of Love! 

I am hoping to talk to my principal about the 2012-2013 school year, I'd really like to know what his thoughts are, concerning what I might be coming back to. It would be nice if I could slowly plan throughout this year, so that I'm ready for next year!

Raymond has been a huge help with this!  He helped me build shelves in my office/craft room, and I have boxes, and so I'm going to organize my stuff into grades and subjects, and then it is going to stay at home, unless we're working on that unit at school!  He has also carried the boxes inside for me, which is quite helpful, because I packed them heavy!!!!!  Not realizing I'd have a baby bump and can't carry stuff like I used to.... oops.

I'm excited to go back and see my colleagues, and see how their summers were, and what they have been up to!  

Block BBQ

Block BBQ

Yesterday we hosted the first, hopefully annual neighborhood block BBQ!  I wanted to do something to get to know our neighbors, and I thought perhaps, going over and inviting myself in for a visit might be a little, out of taste, and so I thought, if Poplar Drive in Brandon can have a block BBQ, why can't Spruce.  With the idea in mind, I made up invitations, that I delivered around to the 19 other houses on our street. 

Then yesterday, I made a great big huge neon pink poster board to put up on the yield sign to remind people of the BBQ! 

I wondered if anyone was going to show up.  Then I talked to the next door neighbor and he said he was coming and bringing the three grandkids!  Yeah 5 people!  Hip Hip Hooray!  I began to mow the lawn in preparation, and as I was doing so, he came out and started mowing his on his nice ride on, (which I have to say I was a little jealous of, as he scooted around his yard!)  However as I kept walking in a square, I got thirsty, and went in for water.  As I was running water, our neighbour, opened our gate, and with his ride on came into our yard, I thought maybe he was going to do along our shared fenceline or something, and I'm like Raymond, Mr. H is in our yard with his ride on lawn mower...  anyway went back outside, and Raymond came out to move branches, I'd cut down so I didn't maim myself on trees!  Mr. H did our entire backyard in about 10-15 minutes!  Hip Hip Hooray for Mr. H!!!  Then he went on and did the neighbor's yard, explaining that the neighbor isn't feeling very well these days!  What a sweetheart!  I'll have to make him some muffins! 

Anywho, about 5:50PM we started to get things ready outside, and then Mr. H, his wife and 3 grandchildren arrived, followed by a few other people, followed by a few more! By the end we had 20 people including us in our yard, it was wonderful!  They were all like, "Oh this is such a wonderful idea!" "Come on over for coffee sometime!"  "We'll have to get together again!"  "We'll have to do this next year, person on the block who has lived here the longest has to host!"  It was wonderful, and by 8PM, they were all gone!   

What a wonderful way to meet the neighbors! 

Sigh...

I need to vent, I'm really tired of people who say they are going to do something, and then don't!  It makes life so challenging and frustrating for everyone else who has to pick up the pieces. 
I hope that I can do what I say I'm going to do, because it ticks me off so much when people don't.

Thanks for listening to my rant!