from the poet's mouth

The End

2011-09-01T20:41:00.000-07:00

Where does two years go? As I sit here trying to think of how to end this blog, I can't believe that I went nearly two full years without writing on it. I never intended to completely abandon my blog, just to take a bit of a break. But that break turned into nearly two years of cringing every time I thought about my blog, or about writing on it again. This past January, my New Year's resolution was to start up my blog again, but I procrastinated over and over again and lost touch with all the blogs I had been reading up until that point. In fact, I had to do a password recovery just to get on this blog again because it had been so long! But, today is my baby due date, and I've done everything on my to do list except for start a new blog. So, I thought I'd end this one first and then direct you to my new blog.

So, why haven't I written on my blog in two years. Well, it started after I got back from my 6 weeks in Europe. I had my first full time teaching job, and I was teaching French 10-12 (all split classes), Communications 11, Socials 10, plus distance learning PE 8-12. On top of that it was at 2 different schools, where I was also the staff rep, in charge of the Me to We club and the teacher sponsor of the Interact club. As if that wasn't enough, I was applying for my Masters degree, volunteering Friday nights as a youth leader, hosting a church home group Wednesday nights at my house, in a book club Thursdays, scrapbooking group Mondays, and directing plays at my church. In previous years when I had been substitute teaching, I would get so bored and lonely on days off, that I ended up signing up for a dozen different clubs. When I started teaching full-time, I made the mistake of not dropping any of them. Which is exactly why I didn't have time to blog.

On top of that, before I got pregnant 9 months ago, I was going through one of the toughest times of my life. Because I couldn't get pregnant. I started trying before my last blog post, and it took us a year and a half of frustration before I was rewarded with that little blue plus sign on the pregnancy test. As each month passed, I felt more and more depressed that EVERYONE around me was finding it so easy! In the first year I spent trying to get pregnant, I had 14 friends have babies and 8 more get pregnant. It was INSANE. I think I attended at least one baby shower a month the entire time, and each one was more and more difficult. Of course I was happy for the other mothers, but why did it seem like I was the only one having such a hard time?

Of course, I know this isn't true. In fact, a good friend of mine tried longer than we did, and eventually went for expensive fertility treatments. But having a specialist tell you that it might take years for you to get pregnant isn't exactly encouraging. We were close to going for IVF when we miraculously discovered we were expecting. Could it be that the stress of work and all the things I was trying to do were contributing...I'm sure now that it was likely a factor. Which is why last year, when I started the school year, I made sure that things would be different. We'd been trying for a full year, and I was desperate to make life less stressful and busy. So, I reduced my work contract from 1.0 to .857, and I quit several volunteer groups and extracurricular activities. And I started writing poetry again, taking the first course of my masters degree. Having so much free time was wonderful, and it was only 5 months later that we were blessed with the baby that will soon be born!

I've been envisioning a new blog for a while...thinking of what I want to write about and what type of blog it will be, and realized I needed to make a fresh start. So, my new blog is called La Vie en Rose, after the Edith Piaf song. You can find it at: www.sabrinalheureux.blogspot.com

Thank you for reading :)

Alice in Wonderland

2009-10-31T18:56:00.001-07:00

Happy Halloween!

Paris, take two

2009-09-05T17:56:00.000-07:00

Our second day in Paris started out yummy. We took a walk, past the Pantheon

and the Sorbonne to "la rue Mouffetard". Here I found a row of delicious bakeries and all types of food. We bough pain au chocolate, croissants, baguette sandwiches and a tarte au fraises. With our goodies in hand, we wandered back to the Jardin de Luxembourg, where we lounged beneath the trees on chairs (you're not allowed to sit on the grass) and ate our food. We didn't walk through the whole park, as we needed to be on our way, but we did stop to look at the pretty pond in the center and the statues.

Next we went to our first museum, the Musee National du Moyen Age, where we saw room after room of medieval relics, paintings, armour and artifacts. There were some amazing books here too. The higlight for me was seeing the display of the Lady and the Unicorn tapestries. So beautiful.

This day was really a day for museums, as we then walked to the Musee D'Orsay, an art gallery in a beautiful old train station. We didn't have an abundance of time, so we saw my favourite impressionists, took in the view from the roof top, and then headed back to our hotel to check and see if my luggage was in yet.

No luck though; it hadn't arrived. So, we turned around and headed out to see one last museum, the Louvre. It was a friday and was open late, and free for those under 26, so I didn't feel bad that we hadn't enough time to take in all the exhibits. Instead, we chose the ones we really wanted to see. The Mona Lisa, the Venus de Milo, the underground moat remains, and a beautiful collection of roman and greek statues. It was nice to look at something other than paintings. Many people have told me that they prefer the Musee D'Orsay to the Louvre, but I really loved the Louvre. When we emerged beneath the glass pyramid, the sun was just beginning to set, and we took a beautiful, albeit long walk (me in flip flops) to the Arc de Triomphe. The view of the sun setting behind it was definitely worth it, though. And, Mike was nice enough to suggest that we walk down one of the side streets, and took my photo as I posed with all the famous designer stores. It was fun to window shop while they were closed.

We then hailed a taxi to Montmartre, and found a lovely little restaurant, out of the tourist zone, to eat at. We had a three course meal, with the best ravioli I've ever eaten, horse meat (which turned out to be steak, thankfully--the waiter didn't speak English and had confused cow with horse), creamy potatoes, and dessert.

We were very tired at this point, at took our cab back to the hotel to get a good night's sleep before heading to Ireland the next day. Thankfully, my luggage had finally arrived.

Our time in Paris was short, but wonderful. We managed to see a little bit of everything, and take in the major sites.

26

2009-08-31T11:29:00.000-07:00

Today is my 26th birthday! Yesterday Mike asked me if my life was what I imagined it would be at 26. I thought about all the things I wanted to accomplish and I think I am very happy with where I am right now. I have a husband, friends, a dog, a house, a good job.....really I'm very spoiled. I think the only thing left on my list to accomplish for 26 is to publish some poems (in a real journal) and then hopefully to make a baby...hehe. Mike says he doesn't mind helping me to accomplish that one.

So, now I'm closer to 30 than 20! Such a strange feeling.

For my birthday so far I have received: 25 facebook messages, a new hair colour from Mike's sister, a new blowdryer, some clothes from my mom and tomorrow I'm getting another puppy!

Here's to another year!

Side note

2009-08-29T00:43:00.000-07:00

I haven't yet gotten the rest of my Paris pictures, and I'd like to blog about my trip in order, so I'll have to wait a few days as I am currently in Port Alberni. It was a surprise visit for my Mom and Mom-in-law, as Mike just happened to have a few extra days off. The look on my mom's face when I arrived at 11 pm a few nights ago and surprised her was priceless. So, in the meantime in between my trip journals...here is a photo that I love of Ireland. It's my favourite Irish sky.

Ah. I so miss Ireland. It was beautiful. I want to live there.

Two Canadians in Paris

2009-08-21T14:08:00.000-07:00

My 7 week European adventure began on July 2nd when we arrived in Paris. It was a long flight, made longer by the 3 hour delay on the run way in Montreal as we waited for a thunderstorm to clear up. Unfortunately, this delay shortened our already short two days in Paris, and caused my luggage to get lost and not be delivered until the night we were leaving. But, despite having to go shopping for essentials, makeup, clothes and some flip flops upon my jet lagged arrival at our hotel, we managed to see an amazing number of things in Paris on foot and had an incredible time together.

Day one:

July 2nd. We took the RER train from the airport to our hotel, the Dacia Luxembourg. I made a great guess as to where to get off and we walked only a few minutes before spotting it. We were located very close to the Notre Dame, the Pont Neuf, the Sainte Chappelle and the Pantheon, among others. So, we set out on foot at about 4:30 in the afternoon, once I was better equipped with a tank top and new shorts from the Paris Gap! (I had arrived in sweatpants and sneakers to 32 degrees). Luckily for me I had put my summer dresses in Mike's suitcase, so after swapping my sneakers for some new flip flops I was able to dress up in the evenings.

Our first adventure was to see the Notre Dame Cathedral. It was lovely and cool and HUGE! I was really blown away by the beauty of this church. I wasn't expecting the size and we really enjoyed looking around inside. Because we were short on time, we didn't climb the tower, but took some gargoyle photos from below. We then headed a short distance away to another smaller church, the Sainte Chapelle.
This one is known for it's stunning stained glass windows that tell the entire story of the bible.

The Notre Dame and my first glimpse of the Eiffel Tower.

Me inside the Notre Dame.

We enjoyed walking about and seeing the sights until our stomachs started grumbling. We chose a little outdoor cafe to have a seat and some dinner. We then headed back to the hotel, and I thankfully managed to find some decent socks along the way which made me very happy as I was wearing Mike's big sports socks and my feet were still swollen from the long flight. We entered our hotel, took a nice nap to try and shake off some jet lag (we travelled for a full 24 hours before arriving) and headed out again. We had planned on seeing the Musee d'Orsay that night, but were enjoying the sleep too much, so decided to have a late walk to the Eiffel Tower instead.

We left just before sunset and walked hand in hand along the Seine river. We underestimated the distance a bit, as we could see the tower as we walked, and figured it couldn't be too far away. But, over an hour later, we finally arrived. It was 11pm and I was worried that the upper floor would be closed, but there was still quite a line up and we were able to go to the third floor. The elevator was scary--like an amusement ride all on its own. We arrived at midnight to cheers from the park below as the Tower lit up with sparkling lights. It glows yellow all night but only has twinkling lights for the first ten minutes of every hour. It was really magical to step out of the elevator to the twinkling lights.

Once at the top we took our time seeing the sights of Paris. If you're only in Paris for a short time, it's a good way to see what the entire city looks like at night. Everything is lit up. We could see the Arc de Triomphe in the distance.

Me at the top.

When we left, we spent some time lounging on the lawn in front of the tower. In the evening, there are many Parisians who sit on the lawn here and drink wine and watch the lights. We soon found ourselves hungry, though, and decided to see if there were any Parisian cafés still serving food at 2 am. Lucky for us, there were. We split a burger and frites and then took a cab home. I only remember swearing to Mike that if we survived the cab ride I would never call a cab in Paris again.

And that was day one. We went to sleep exhausted with a very long list of what we wanted to see in our one remaining day.

Guilty

2009-06-30T22:32:00.000-07:00

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Lately I've been the worst blogger ever. But, I figured I should probably update my blog given as I'm leaving for Europe tomorrow morning for 6 weeks!

It's not that I haven't had anything to write about. In fact, I've been so busy that I could probably do a post every day for a month to write about all of it. Between directing a two hour musical for 60 students to planning this trip, finishing my report cards and being sick for two weeks, I haven't had much time for anything.

But, I thought I would post a picture update of what I've been doing. I won't write a whole lot, but the pictures include my students' graduation ceremony and red carpet, Mike in his serge at the grad red carpet, a few more pics from my trip to the Dominican and the wedding there, me and my friend M's new baby Angeline, and a few of my puppy who looks so grown up now!

Well, tomorrow morning we fly to Paris for two nights. We are planning on seeing everything we possibly can. Did you know that being 25 in France gets you a youth discount? I'm getting into the Louvre for free! Then, we head to Ireland for two weeks. We are staying in two cottages. On the 18th of July Mike flies home and I fly to Edinburgh to meet up with my friend Amanda. I will be visiting her and some family members around Scotland before heading to the south of france for 12 days. I will be participating in La Sabranenque, which is a volunteer camp where you help restore a medieval village. I'm very excited and I must admit not feeling prepared just yet. I have all my stuff laid out on the table but still need to put it into my suitcase and decide what to leave behind. But, that's very typical of me. I've spend countless hours doing the planning and preparing for this trip and cleaning my house for the house sitters I have coming. I've spent so much time doing all of this that I left no time for myself to relax and be excited!

Hopefully the trip there will go smoothly and I will be able to sleep a bit on the plane. Hope you all have a wonderful summer and I will try to update my blog with some travel news while in Scotland!

Punta Canada

2009-05-05T18:22:00.000-07:00

A week of holiday.....

Well, I'm back from a gorgeous week in tropical paradise. It was my first time going anywhere tropical and I truly loved it. We arrived in Punta Cana to our resort, the Melia Caribe, just as it was getting dark out on the first day. After getting lost trying to find our rooms, (the resort is HUGE) we found the buffet for dinner and the rest of our group. There were about 60 of us or so going to the wedding so it wasn't too hard to locate the group of sunburnt Canadians most days, lounging by the pool drinking coco locos. After a delicious dinner (the buffet is amazing) we headed down to see the beach. It was night but I couldn't wait to feel the sand under my toes.

Friday was our first full day at the resort. We slept in as we had spent the previous night awake in the airport. Unfortunately this caused us to miss the breakfast buffet, but we were able to eat lunch on the beach and then lounge for several hours. We claimed a row of lounge chairs and Mike headed off with some of the guys to get drinks while I chatted with some girlfriends and read my book (the second in the Outlander series). The first moment of stepping onto that beach was by far the highlight of the trip. I couldn't believe the water could actually be that turquoise and that the sand could be so white. It truly is a beautiful paradise. So, I contented myself with gazing at it and feeling the hot sun for the first afternoon.

That evening, we managed to get a dinner reservation for 8 people at the Dominican a la carte restaurant. The food was delicious! For an apppy, I had Queso Frito, which is essentially fried cheese with a yummy sauce. For dinner I chose the chicken risotto which was also delish. Dominican food is very good!

Here are a few highlight pictures. The first three days were essentially spent sunbathing, swimming, eating out with a group of people and then enjoying the evening entertainers and open bar! There are lounge areas with cabanas, chaise longues and couches everywhere you turn, so there was plenty of space for the 60 of us to socialize in the evenings.

On monday we had the wedding to attend, which I will leave for a separate post.

The lovely beach...

Our room...

Middle of the night at YVR

2009-04-23T02:32:00.000-07:00

So, it's the middle of the night at Vancouver International Airport. And, I'm finally finding myself with some time to update my blog. I've got a lap top, free internet, and plenty of time to waste.

We've just checked in for our 6 am flight only to discover that they won't let us through security until 4:30am. I was hoping to go in the duty free shop that is open all night, hit up the 24 hour Timmy's and then fall asleep at the gate until boarding. But, unfortunately, Mike and I are stuck at the food court just outside of security for another two hours. I tried to sleep but it's just too noisy and uncomfortable. Hopefully I'll be able to sleep on the plane as it is a nine hour flight before we arrive in Punta Cana.

So, what has been happening lately in Dawson Creek? Well, I had a good trip home for spring break and did a lot of visiting. Since then, I've been working really hard preparing my musical for June. I felt like we were really ahead until after spring break, and now the month has flown by and there is still so much to do! The advertising alone took forever but I am very proud of how the posters turned out.

Also, spring arrived in Dawson Creek, and then promptly disappeared this morning when I woke up to a blanket of white on the lawn and windy snow all day long. Thankfully we will be somewhere warm before long!

We are heading to Punta Cana for the wedding of my friend Carly but also as a good reason to lie on the beach for a week! I'm looking forward to having no plans other than the wedding and just relaxing with Mike. We might go snorkeling one day, and we definitely want to book a massage at the spa if we can. But who knows what we will end up doing! I just hope the weather is nice and sunny, although even warm tropical rain tops zero degrees and snow.

When we return I've got a short month and a bit to prepare for our show. We've got costumes to finish, sets to build and lots of scenes to practice. Unfortunately, one of our lead male dancers broke his foot yesterday. Because he is such a great actor and dancer we had him cast as a thespian, cheerleader and a jock. He did all sorts of cool dance moves and lifts with the cheerleaders and now he has a 6 week cast on his foot. Apparently last year one of the girls broke her foot just before the CATS performance as well, so it seems to be a running tradition.

It's definitely a season of traveling, as we leave on July 1st for Paris. We spend two nights there and then fly to Ireland for two weeks. Mike is heading home on July 18th and then I will be flying to Scotland to visit Amanda in Edinburgh and possibly to visit a few of my family members who live in Glasgow. Then, I will be heading back to France to Saint Victor la Coste for a 12 day volunteer program where you help restore a medieval village. It's called La Sabranenque and I'm really excited for it. I'm hoping that I will be able to practice my french while I am there.

I am also going to be doing a poetry display in Dawson Creek as part of a community art project. I'm not sure which poems I'll display but I'm thinking of doing a family theme as I have a few based on my grandparents, parents and siblings.

Well, I think it's time for me to get some breakfast!

Victoria Arrival

2009-03-15T10:14:00.000-07:00

After two quick flights yesterday afternoon, I am now in Victoria. I arrived at about 5:30 last night, got picked up by my friend Myana, and then headed to her house in Brentwood Bay. We had a delicious meal at the Prairie inn and today I will head in to town to stay with another friend for the week. I'm so looking forward to visiting all my favourite places, but I might need to buy an umbrella first. It has been raining and slushy snowing since I arrived. Apparently I brought the lovely weather with me.

Where did February go?

2009-03-04T20:14:00.001-08:00

So, when did it become March? You really can't tell up here, where it has been snowing steadily and the temperatures continue to be -10 or colder. February wasn't the greatest month, but at least it went by quickly.

I have been loving my new job but I've been really sick since last weekend and missing school as a teacher is a lot more work than missing school as a student. Not only do you have to catch up the students, you have to plan for another teacher to be there instead of you anyways!

I also have been having lots of misfortunate adventures, such as getting a flat tire as I sped to the gas station yesterday afternoon in an attempt to not run out of gas. I was so busy worrying about the gas being way below empty I didn't even notice the "thud, thud, thud" of the deflated tire. I had to beg the Safeway gas attendant to let me use their phone, but Mike was undercover so no one could get a hold of him for me. Luckily one of my friends was on the watch that was working so she came and rescued me in the police cruiser and took me home. I also ran over the cord for the block heater one day so I can't plug it in anymore. I figured it would be okay because you don't usually need to plug in once it's March, but the car barely started the other morning it was so cold.

So, those are my winter adventures. We've also been trying to train our puppy to go outside, which is difficult as she is about half a foot tall and the snow is 4 or 5 feet tall.

In other news, I will be coming to the island in just over a week for spring break. I fly into Victoria on the 14th and then home again on the 28th.

I've also booked the two cottages I will be staying in when we are in Ireland. I am then planning on going to Scotland to visit Amanda, and then possibly to France for a volunteer camp for two weeks where you work in a medieval village. As well, April brings us to the Dominican Republic for a week. I'm so looking forward to lying on the beach and reading books for 7 days. I better start tanning or I'll burn the instant I get off the plane!

That's all so far...just looking forward to the end of winter! I've had enough of the snow already..

What happened to my blog?

2009-02-11T20:49:00.000-08:00

I'm trying to figure out what happened to my blog. Suddenly the little details and links are all missing. They're still there when I go into my layout but for some reason I can't see them anymore when I load my blog! Can you see them?

Right now I'm sitting in my pj's watching American Idol. I wasn't expecting to have a lazy night but it has worked out for the best. Tonight was supposed to be my Bible study night at my house but only a couple of people showed up so they went home early and I was left with a clean house and all my work done early since I was expecting to be busy all night. It's such a relief to just get to relax though and in a few minutes I'm going to watch Lost with Mike. It's been a long time since we got to relax together and watch our favourite show.

I also started my new job. It's going really well so far and is a lot of fun. There is very little real planning and no marking which is awesome. So far we are just playing improv games and doing warm-ups. We just started learning the first dance and are hoping to start learning the first song this week. I have some truly amazing students and support for the program. It really makes the job a lot easier and very enjoyable. I spend most of my day in the costume/dressing room talking with the theater students and trying out crazy costumes. Our costume guy is a real hoot. We discovered today that the colour scheme he chose is the same as Versace's spring line which made us feel very sophisticated and really reinforced our ideas. Needless to say, I'm excited for how it's going to turn out!

Last week was Mike's birthday and this weekend is Valentine's Day. No special plans yet but Mike isn't working so we can actually have a date night!

Do I have at least 5 readers? hmm

2009-01-24T11:45:00.000-08:00

From Ciboulette:

The first five people who comment here will get something I make. Could be a real life thing. Could be imaginary. Depends on what I think you will like and my inspirations. (Note, it’s going to be something I think you will like. Actual liking not guaranteed!)

The only real rule is that you have to make this offer in your own web log.

Holly

2009-01-20T22:02:00.001-08:00

On Saturday at 11am I went to pick up the new member of our family. We decided to name her Holly, after all, so thanks Amanda for the idea. It seemed to suit her very well. She is a lot of work but very fun and playful. She likes to "dig", although there is no dirt to dig in so she does it in her blanket and so far seems to always pee on her pee pad and not on the floor. She also likes to go inside the cubby holes in our coffee table and try to launch herself onto the couch from there. So far, I haven't managed to get her to sleep all night by herself. She likes to crawl in under my chin or fall asleep on my arm, which makes it comfy for her, but a little hard for me to sleep. But, since Mike is away for two weeks on the island, it makes for something to snuggle.

I had a great video of her attacking a wrapping paper roll, but for some reason it won't load!

Warmth at last!

2009-01-16T19:42:00.000-08:00

Today was such a wonderful day. Yesterday too. The thermometer was above 0! It's so exciting. After a full month of -25 or -30 it is now warm and sunny. The high for tomorrow is expected at around 8 degrees, which is literally unheard of for January. Last winter it was cold but there were always the -10 days where you could warm up a bit before it got back into the 30s. But this winter has been gloomy and cold. There haven't been many blue sky days or snowy cozy days, it's just been extreme cold and grey skies. I actually wore a skirt today, with no nylons! Or long johns for that matter. It's amazing how much I took for granted being able to have some skin exposed to the sun. No wonder we all take vitamin D up north.

It put me in such a good mood that I took my class outside yesterday for a walk. We had a contest to see who could hit the flagpole with a snowball. So much fun.

I'm also excited because I'm getting my puppy tomorrow and it will be warm enough to take her outside. I've already spoiled her with a very cool bed/house and lots of puppy toys. It's amazing what you can get for a dog!

Anyways, the weather is looking up for the north and this makes today a good day.

Happy weekending.

Book list 2008

2009-01-13T15:47:00.000-08:00

I've compiled the list of books that I read in 2008 and discovered I didn't read that many! Or perhaps I'm forgetting some, I don't know. But, here are the books read on my own and with my book club, in order of least favourite to most favourite.
However, I really enjoyed the top 10.

13) Divisadero
12) Flowers for Algernon
11) The Catcher in the Rye
10) An Audience of Chairs
09) The Lust Lizard of Melancholy Cove
08) The tales of Beedle the Bard
07) Magyk: First book in the Septimus Heap series
06) The Book Thief
05) The thirteenth tale
04) The Illuminator
03) Late Nights on Air
02) The God of small things
01) Outlander

I can't think of all the authors off the top of my head, so I didn't write them. But, if you want to read any of them I can find the author for you! They were all good reads, but as you can see Diana Gabaldon still topped them all for me!

Currently, my book club is reading "The magician's assistant" by Ann Patchett and I am also reading "Inkdeath" by Cornelia Funke.

Big changes for 2009

2009-01-10T10:28:00.000-08:00

I'm sitting here in my office, where for the first time I am able to open the blinds and look out at the perfect blue sky and the tops of snow covered fields. For months it has been so cold that I couldn't stand to come in the office. It's the coldest room in the house, with two outside walls. Not to mention the fact that it's been on average around -25 to -35 for the last month. But today the sun has come out and the weather man predicted a high of -4! This is very exciting to me, especially as I am currently red and itchy and cracked all over from the dry, dry, cold air. Having your fireplace and your heat running all day long really does a number to your skin.

This is all to say that I am finally catching up on my blog. It's saturday morning, I'm rested and have nothing I have to be doing. Mike is at work and I've got lovely view out my window. So, what's been happening?

Well, Christmas break was wonderful. I got some much needed sleep and time to hang out with Mike, read books, play wii and have movie nights with my friends. The highlight was spending time with my sisters and my mom. We haven't all been together for almost two years.

So, since I was only home until Christmas eve, we had a pretend Christmas eve on the 22nd and then opened presents on the 23rd, followed by a turkey dinner and open house at Mike's mom's house that evening.

The nightmare was getting home. We made the trip through the blizzard to YVR and then were about to check our bags when our flight status flipped to 'cancelled'. After talking with a very helpful (sarcasm) air canada employee, we were told that the next flight was Christmas morning, but only one of us could get on and the other would have to fly out Christmas night. Since Mike had to work Christmas morning, he was going to take the flight and I would have spent Christmas by myself in the airport. So, we spent 900$ to fly on West jet to the closest available city to DC, which is Prince George. Then, our wonderful friends Glen and Kyla saved us by agreeing to drive the 400km's on Christmas Eve to come and get us. We made it home by 7:13 Christmas morning, slept for a few hours and then Mike went to work. It was a long drive through the Pine Pass surrounded by Moose and coyotes and bears, but we were just glad to be back in our own home for Christmas.

And now we're back to the regular working, etc. But, I do have some exciting news. No, we are not having a baby. But, I was offered a new job for next semester. I only have 1 block of french, so I was only part time again, but beginning in February, I will be the new Music Theater director for the high school. The teacher is currently very pregnant and will only be teaching for another week or so, and unfortunately they couldn't find anyone with theater training to replace her. I actually didn't even apply for the job, but they offered it to me so I accepted. It makes me full time for the rest of the year, which is awesome as it will help me to fund my travels and also to pay off my student loan faster. It's going to be a TON of work though, as I will be in charge of the musical production at the end of the year. We're doing High School Musical, so it should be fun. I also have a student director, a music teacher, a student dance choreographer and a costume designer to work with, so I'm not alone, otherwise there's no way I would have been able to do it.

Also new for 2009 is that we are getting a puppy. She's a miniature daschund and is very adorable. We should be getting her in a couple of weeks. Here is a picture:

But, I could use some help naming her. Any suggestions?

Well, I think that's all my news so far. How have your New Year's begun?

three week whirlwind

2008-12-20T14:01:00.000-08:00

I've been such a bad blogger this month, mostly due to the insane amount of Christmas parties I have attended. I hosted 3 at my house and attended the RCMP banquet last night, as well as a small RCMP dinner with Mike's staff Seargent, a church banquet dinner and a friend's Christmas get-together. In all it's been a lot of fun, but also a lot of cleaning my house, wrapping gifts, baking food or appies for the parties and a ton of socializing. Of course, these are all my favourite things, so I can hardly complain.

In addition, I started my new job as the teacher in charge of distance ed PE. It takes quite a bit of time on the internet and BCesis marking journals, but it's not too bad and it gives me more hours.

Today I've been rushing around trying to get everything together for my trip home. Mike and I are flying out of Fort St John tonight at 6:25 to head home for an early Christmas. It's a very short trip as Mike starts work again Christmas morning at 6am but since he has 5 days off before Christmas and there was a great seat sale a few days ago, we decided to both go home. I have an airmiles flight, but we weren't sure until last week about Mike joining me. I'm excited as I get to see my sister who lives in Ottawa. It's been a year and a half since they moved and I've missed her every time they've been back on the island for a visit.

So, I better finish shoving my presents into the suitcases!

But, I'll leave you with a picture of my lovely REAL Christmas tree. It was a delight to find a beautiful real tree this year after so many years of fake appartment sized trees. The other ones are of Mike's work dinner last night. He was on shift but I got to get dressed up...I also got my hair chopped off the day before so that was fun.

Joyeux Noel tout le monde!

Finished!

2008-11-30T21:42:00.000-08:00

Okay, so maybe I only made 28 posts in 30 days, but I think that was quite a task for me, who only blogs once a week or so normally. It was a lesson on what it takes to set aside time for myself to write, and I learned that I can do it. I missed the second post the other night because I was so tired I just decided to go to bed, and since I technically disqualified myself the first week into posting, I wasn't too worried. But, now it's over and I can say that at least I tried. Hopefully next year I'll be better at it.

And, tomorrow is the first day of December! My Christmas lights were put up over the weekend and my tree and decorations are all out as well. I've still got to finish my shopping and cards but it definitely feels like the season up here. I'm really excited to go home and see my mom and sisters. Still praying that Mike can come with me, but we aren't sure yet.

It's also incredibly warm here for December. It was RAINING today, in November! And the snow in my yard melted already. I can't believe this, but I'm actually hoping for snow and colder weather. It's really easier to drive in light snow than slush and I like it when the town is all covered by the snow. So, here's to snow, and no more Nablopomo! (until next year)

So this is Christmas?

2008-11-29T12:27:00.001-08:00

I just read this article about a man being trampled to death at Wal-Mart when the store opened for Christmas sales. I can't believe that this is what we've turned Christmas into. This is why I never go boxing day shopping.

2008-11-27T21:32:00.000-08:00

Trend?

2008-11-26T22:26:00.000-08:00

I've just noticed that all my posts for Nablo seem to be late at night, as I am on my way to bed. Hmm...I guess that just shows how busy I've been lately. But, I do have some interesting good news. Today my contract was increased from .429 to .571! I'm excited because it's more money but I don't actually have to teach another class; I am just marking a course that students in Electric Ed (home schooled) take by correspondence on-line. This means I can do it at whatever time of day I choose.

In other news, Mike and I have formed a band. We have completed one tour and begun another. So far, we've played Aerosmith, Weezer, Garbage, Nirvana and several others. I play guitar and sometimes bass and he plays the drums. They're a little too complicated for me so far...

Of course, I'm talking about our new wii, which has turned out to be a lot of fun! It's much more interactive than most video games. We have raced with actual stearing wheels, boxed against each other (I knocked him out in round 2!) and formed a band. And now, I am off to bed as I have to get up early tomorrow for a French Foundation meeting all day.

Good night.

One month till Christmas!

2008-11-25T22:30:00.000-08:00

I am just on my way to bed after my One month till Christmas! party. I had a great turn-out and a full living room. Unfortunately I have tons of baking left over and I will probably end up eating it all, so I've already stuck it in the freezer in hopes that I will save it until Christmas. The hit of the evening though was the very last dessert I made, which was delicious--cookie dough truffles. You make a semi-cookie dough recipe but with no eggs and condensed milk and then you dip them in chocolate. They were all gone by the end of the night and I was handing out the recipe. I wasn't surprised though, as who doesn't love to eat cookie dough?

In the end, I earned about 70$ worth of free stuff so I'm excited to buy some more candles. They have such yummy smells, like cobbler on the porch, and Mrs Clause's Kitchen and my favourite Cranberry orange. They make me a little hungry, to tell you the truth. I also got some of their enviromentally friendly cleaners. They smell like eucalyptus and mint and rosemary.

Tis the month of parties in Dawson Creek!

Happy one month till Christmas!

Happy Birthday!

2008-11-24T23:23:00.000-08:00

Today was my sister Megan's 23rd birthday. Happy Birthday sister!!

In other news, Mike came home on Saturday night from Chilliwack with a Nintendo wii. I looked everywhere for one while he was gone with no luck, and he found one easily! So, today we bought Mario Kart for me and Rock band for Mike. It's pretty sweet. Mike plays the drums while I rock out on the guitar. Neither of us does the singing, cause that's just not what we do.

Good night.

Baking

2008-11-23T22:59:00.000-08:00

I spent my Sunday night baking for the Christmas candle party I'm having on tuesday night. So far I've made cranberry shortbread hearts and butterscotch blondies. I'm also planning some fudge, sugar cookies with my new Christmas cutters and lemon squares. I love lemon squares at Christmas time. Sigh. Only one more month!

Christmas Tree light-up

2008-11-22T17:32:00.000-08:00

Last night was Dawson Creek's annual Christmas Tree light-up. After witnessing last year's, I knew that I had to take a camera along this time to proove that Santa Clause does indeed arrive on a crane to light the tree.

I met my friend Jessica after dinner and we walked downtown to get our free Starbuck's steamed eggnog (very yummy) and candy canes. We listened to the 5 poor children who were singing carols out in the cold (it was about -18 I would guess), and waited for Santa to arrive.

My friends and I dressed in our dorky hats. When it's that cold out, you just can't find a really cool hat, you know?

Here's Santa waving goodbye from his crane. Note that the light is red. We were in the middle of an intersection--they actually remove the mile O post and replace it with a tree.

Ah, the lovely, lopsided tree, with no star. Beautiful.

Disappointment

2008-11-21T23:00:00.000-08:00

I'm so angry and disappointed right now that I just had to vent in another post. I was just talking to my mom on the phone and she was telling me about some of my sister's teachers this year. She has the same french teacher I had, our same physics teacher and my same P.E. teacher, all of whom I enjoyed and got A's with. My sister is very smart--she's always been a straight A student and enjoys school. And, as I am now a teacher, I'm always curious to compare my old teachers with what I now know to be proper teaching practices. So, when I found out that my sister has my group of high school friend's favourite, beloved teacher, Mr. Dupperon, I was really excited to hear what she thought about him. His wife was my favourite teacher, and Mike's favourite class was Mr. Duperron's. They taught Chemistry and Physics and we always loved having them as teachers.

This is all to explain how appalled I was to hear that when she went in early for extra help one day and asked him to explain a question to him, his reply to her (not jokingly, although it doesn't make for a good joke anyway) was

"What, are you stupid?"

If I could scream via my blog I would. As a teacher, the idea that another teacher would say something like that to their student who is a good kid, and was asking for help, just disgusts me. In fact, it makes me lose faith completely with teachers in general. So many teachers are completely cynical and outdated in their teaching practice and knowledge. Why are they still teaching? To call a student stupid is just plain wrong. I think it also especially bothers me because I had a little visit with this particular teacher in the summertime when I was home, and Mike and I went and visited him and his wife over spring break. We loved them as teachers and he knows that he is teaching my sister, and yet he treated her like crap.

If I was in Port Alberni, I would march over there and talk to him, but alas I am not, and so my blog comes in very handy. Maybe he will read it one day and feel bad. I hope so. Many of you who read my blog are fellow teachers....what do you think?

Book Club

2008-11-21T22:53:00.000-08:00

Last night we had our book club meeting. We rated the 13th Tale a 7.5/10 and enjoyed our chat about it while drinking cocoa. More about it tomorrow!

How many Sabrina's?

2008-11-20T22:48:00.000-08:00

HowManyOfMe.com

There are
2
people with my name in the U.S.A.

How many have your name?

Apparently, there are two people with my exact name in the U.S, but 87, 126 people with the name Sabrina and 6359 people with my last name in the U.S. My name is the 574th most popular name. However, before I got married, there wasn't anyone in the U.S. with my name!

Major geek

2008-11-19T21:05:00.000-08:00

I decided I'd make this the week of meme's cause they're fun and I still don't know how to pronounce the word.

So, I took this quiz "How big of a geek are you?" but I'm not as geeky as I thought because most of it was computer related. I think I used to be geekier, and was reminded of that when I taught Chem 12 today and was sad that I couldn't remember how to do Moles. I scored just below a major geek, at 22% geek.

Here is the site if you want to try it. http://www.innergeek.us/index.html
(Jenn, you should take it with Matthew, I'm curious to know how high he scores! :)

Top 100 movies meme

2008-11-18T19:31:00.000-08:00

Take this list of the top 100 movies from the IMDB and bold the movies you have seen. (I'm not sure where this is originally from). This list is from May 2004.

Apparently, I've only seen 27 of the top 100 movies...I guess I should go and rent some of them!

Godfather, The (1972)

Shawshank Redemption, The (1994)

Godfather: Part II, The (1974)

Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, The (2003)

Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, The (2002)

Schindler's List (1993)

Shichinin no samurai (1954)

Casablanca (1942)

Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, The (2001)

Star Wars (1977)

Citizen Kane (1941)

One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975)

Dr. Strangelove (1964)

Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980)

Rear Window (1954)

Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)

Pulp Fiction (1994)

Usual Suspects, The (1995)

Memento (2000)

North by Northwest (1959)

12 Angry Men (1957)

Buono, il brutto, il cattivo, Il (1966)

Lawrence of Arabia (1962)

Psycho (1960)

Fabuleux destin d'Amélie Poulain, Le (2001) (I just watched this with my french class...)

Silence of the Lambs, The (1991)

It's a Wonderful Life (1946)

Goodfellas (1990)

American Beauty (1999)

Sunset Blvd. (1950)

Vertigo (1958)

Matrix, The (1999)

Cidade de Deus (2002)

To Kill a Mockingbird (1962)

C'era una volta il West (1968)

Apocalypse Now (1979)

Pianist, The (2002)

Third Man, The (1949)

Paths of Glory (1957)

Taxi Driver (1976)

Fight Club (1999)

Sen to Chihiro no kamikakushi (2001)

Some Like It Hot (1959)

Double Indemnity (1944)

Boot, Das (1981)

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004)

Singin' in the Rain (1952)

Chinatown (1974)

L.A. Confidential (1997)

Maltese Falcon, The (1941)

Requiem for a Dream (2000)

All About Eve (1950)

M (1931)

Bridge on the River Kwai, The (1957)

Se7en (1995)

Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975)

Saving Private Ryan (1998)

Rashômon (1950)

Raging Bull (1980)

Wizard of Oz, The (1939)

Alien (1979)

American History X (1998)

Sting, The (1973)

Léon (1994)

Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939)

Manchurian Candidate, The (1962)

Vita è bella, La (1997)

Touch of Evil (1958)

Treasure of the Sierra Madre, The (1948)

Finding Nemo (2003)

2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)

Reservoir Dogs (1992)

Great Escape, The (1963)

Modern Times (1936)

Clockwork Orange, A (1971)

Amadeus (1984)

On the Waterfront (1954)

Ran (1985)

Kill Bill: Vol. 1 (2003)

Annie Hall (1977)

Wo hu cang long (2000)

Jaws (1975)

Apartment, The (1960)

Braveheart (1995)

High Noon (1952)

Aliens (1986)

Fargo (1996)

Strangers on a Train (1951)

Shining, The (1980)

Metropolis (1927)

Blade Runner (1982)

Sixth Sense, The (1999)

City Lights (1931)

Donnie Darko (2001)

Duck Soup (1933)

Great Dictator, The (1940)

General, The (1927)

Sjunde inseglet, Det (1957)

Princess Bride, The (1987)

Dogville (2003)

Meme from Ciboulette

2008-11-17T17:16:00.000-08:00

Choose the 6th picture from the 6th folder in your pictures files. Here's mine:

My friends Kim and Nathan. Kim is an amazing singer. She gave me her Christmas CD last year and it is my absolute favourite. Her husband Nathan makes me think of one of Ponyboy's greaser friends. They also have the most adorable baby girl.

Sabrina wants

2008-11-16T21:37:00.000-08:00

I am quickly running out of time and ideas for my daily blogging, so I was trying to think of something interesting that I could do. I remember doing this a while back, and thought it would be fun to do again. You google "your name, wants" and write the first 5 interesting things that come up. Here's what I got.

Sabrina wants...

1)to restore the city to its rightful place on the planet
2)it this way
3)to break up the wedding in order to finally catch the man of her dreams
4)to change her mind
5)all of her students to perform

I think the last two are the only ones with a bit of truth to them. The others are from the movie or tv show Sabrina. But then I did it for Mike and the first one was scarily accurate.

Mike wants...

1)A Game Job. The chronicle of one young man's quest to get a job in the videogame industry. (ah!..does my husband have a secret?)
2)You (this post was related to Ireland, which is where I want to go this summer...strange)
3)to bite your face with pictures (how does one do this?)
4)to bag another fight
5)to play

Isn't it strange tbe difference in what comes up when you compare a guys name to a girls? Mine was all movies and tv shows, and his was all nintendo and fights and games. What does your name say?

Shop till you drop

2008-11-15T18:05:00.000-08:00

Today I shopped.

And shopped.

And finished off in Costco shopping some more.

It was fun! My friend Sandy and I went to Grand Prairie, where real civilization and store await.

Here's what I bought:

Frames for the art work sitting on my floor

Fake lululemons to replace mine for 17$ at Costco...they're awesome!

A really big box of spanakopita

A snowman Christmas cookie tin/jar...it's hat opens into a cookie tin!

a set of 7 Christmas movies

underwear

One of my next book club selections: The story of Edgar Sawtelle

Christmas stamps

Christmas wrapping paper

Blank cards to make Christmas cards with

The book: Olive the other reindeer

Curtains and pillows

Toys to fill two Christmas shoe boxes for Operation Christmas child

3 baby shower gifts

What I didn't buy:

A nintendo wii (sigh--it wasn't without trying, they're hard to get up here)

stuck to you

2008-11-14T13:40:00.000-08:00

Today I toc'd at the elementary school from my last job. As I was leaving at the start of lunch, one of my grade one girls from last year was following me down the hall and outside. I felt bad for having to rush off and as I said "Au Revoir" she looked up at me and said: "Madame, I don't know why, but I'm just stuck to you like glue today". How sweet is that?

The flood

2008-11-13T21:18:00.001-08:00

Today something exciting actually happened in my house!

I came home from work and heard the sound of water rushing loudly from the sink. I thought: "yeah! Mike's doing the dishes I've been procrastinating on" and stepped into the kitchen. The counters were so shiny and clean and dish free that I took a minute to notice the fact that the sink was running water but no one was there and that my socks were very wet and cold...

That was when I noticed the large pool of water leaking out of the kitchen into the dining room. I rushed through nearly ankle deep water to turn off the tap. I guess the noise I was making got Mike's attention away from his computer game and he came rushing in. It turns out that while defrosting our dinner he was also doing laundry, which caused the tap to run very slowly to fill up the sink. So, he thought he'd come back in a minute and turn it off once it was full, which turned into 20 minutes.

But, the sound of the washing machine running drowned out the sound of our kitchen flooding!

Needless to say, we had a lot of fun mopping it up. We dumped our entire basket of towels onto the floor and began to wring them out one by one...

I used a measuring cup to scoop water off the lino one litre at a time. By the end of it, though, we were laughing. I lost count after about 15 litres. At least we still hadn't replaced the flooring; this gives us an excuse to do it sooner than later. Plus, the floor is really clean now!

It also got me thinking to all the times in our lives where we forget about things or make dumb mistakes. What silly things have you done that have made you feel stupid later? I've got a good one that I will save for tomorrow!

laundry

2008-11-12T17:50:00.000-08:00

The warmth of lint
peeled from the trap;
life's fibers
held in the palm
of the hand.

Le jour du Souvenir

2008-11-11T14:38:00.000-08:00

Today is Remembrance day, which unfortunately for us in BC is sometimes just a day off work. But, Today Mike and I attended the Dawson Creek remembrance service. He wore his Red Serge along with a few other members. It was neat to see him all dressed up again. I'm always surprised to remember that my husband is a mountie. The service was very well done and well attended, and afterwards we went out for lunch with some friends who we met at the service. It was too cold out to go to the cenotaph for long, and we didn't want my pregnant friend standing out in the snow.

So, now I'm procrastinating on cleaning up the house and getting ready for work again tomorrow. I'm also trying to plan out some home renovations. I'm dying to tear out the carpet in my living room and the kitchen lino. It's old and stained and I can't wait to get rid of it. Mike's agreed to give me a few hundred dollars for some paint and other decorations too, so I'm excited. Hopefully it will actually feel like home soon!

The Perfect Afternoon

2008-11-10T22:09:00.000-08:00

This afternoon, after finishing my Pro-D day at work, I headed over to my friend Jessica's house. She lives above the garage in the prettiest house. It looks like you could just pick it up and plunk it down in the middle of a snowy wood and it would fit in perfectly. Dormer windows and a wrap around porch, and old fashioned lamp posts in the drive. We met in the early afternoon as we had planned a walk down town to go look in all the shops. We browsed through Christmas ornaments and decorations, and I bought myself an old-fahioned star for the top of my tree and a wooden Christmas tree painted green with a red star for the top of my fireplace. We then walked over to Hug a Mug. I drank a London fog and we shared a sugar cookie. The only thing that we were hoping for to make it a perfect winter afternoon was that the snow would start again. But, sure enough, as we finished our drinks and began the walk home, tiny snowflakes began to fall. It was so perfect that we continued our walk through a trail, ending near the library.

Jessica and I have been friends for a year now, but we only recently started hanging out more often. We've discovered that we have TONS in common, including our obsessions with Ireland, books, Christmas and writing. She and her sister went to Ireland two summers ago, and she's also going to school to be a teacher in January. She's three years younger than and I but it doesn't seem to matter. I swear sometimes I should be one of the siblings in her family. Her older brother is a writer and teacher too, and her younger sister loves Tolkien and the Lord of the Rings movies. Last year I spent Christmas Eve with their family at her mom's house. I seem to fit right in with them.

This has been a great four day weekend so far, and I've still got one more day of relaxing. Mike will be in his Serge at the Remembrance ceremony tomorrow, so I will be attending that as well. Then, it's back to work on wednesday to finish report cards.

Sunday passage (James 1:17-18)

2008-11-09T11:54:00.000-08:00

"Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows. He chose to give us birth through the word of truth, that we might be a kind of firstfruits of all he created."

This was the passage that struck me this morning at church. Nothing evil comes from God. When people say something terrible was an "act of God" it's not true. God does not tempt us ever. He allows us to go through trials, but it is only when we give in to temptation that we sin. Nothing bad can come from God, as James points out--everything good and perfect comes from Him. If we chose to set our sight on Jesus, we will not give in to our temptations. Unlike us, God does not change. He is always perfect and good, and He wants to give us those good gifts. He began a work in us when we were created, and he will continue to work on us. It is up to us to accept His gifts, and sometimes I wonder why more people don't. Who wouldn't want a Father who only gives good and perfect gifts?

Snow town

2008-11-08T14:29:00.000-08:00

Do you ever notice how the whole world changes when it snows? Even when you are inside the light from the window is grayer, whiter, and it changes your mood completely. Even in my classroom, the light is different, and I feel like Christmas. That's when I start to drink my favourite Candy Cane Lane tea, and listen to carols, and go for walks in the snow. The sky is amazing when it snows here. It gets cold enough that the snow actually falls in lacey flakes. One day last winter, I went out to my car and found perfectly shaped flakes lying on my windshield. You know the ones you used to cut out of paper? They actually look like that when it snows up north. On the island, the snowflakes were always fat wet blobs that melted in your hand. When it snows, the sky feels closer somehow, as though you are trapped in your town. Kind of claustrophobic in a way, but also cosy. I love putting on my white boots, down jacket and my ear-flap tuque. And then, the coloured lights go on and it gets dark and I sit by my fireplace and read a good book.

99 Red Balloons

2008-11-08T01:56:00.000-08:00

Well, I thought I'd last longer than a week on NaBloPoMo, but alas, I was done in by quite a few drunken po's and their wives. Tonight was my friend's surprise birthday party, and also the day I needed to do report cards. So, I worked until just after four, than quickly ran home for her card, picked up the present and headed to the surprise. It was a lot of fun, but unfortunately I was the only sober one, and didn't make it home before midnight to post on November the 7th. In my defence, I did drive 5 intoxicated individuals to their beds, so I think I deserve some credit. Oh well, at least I had fun...

We danced to old music from when we were teens and lots of early 90s and 80s songs we'd all forgotten about. Chantal and I put our hair in sideways ponytails and danced, the only two sober but still having fun, to 99 Red Balloons. And now, it's
3am and I am heading to bed. At least I'll be the only one to wake up happy in the morning!

Mundane excitement

2008-11-06T16:53:00.000-08:00

Today I bought gas for under $1 a litre! How exciting is that? My good ole Tercel was only 37$ to fill. She has gotten us around on many trips over the last 5 years or so since we bought her. She made it through a winter in Dawson Creek, driving back and forth from DC to Port Alberni, and all the way to Saskatoon. We often complain about the cost of gas and vehicles, but I sure can't. This little car was definitely one of our best investments. She was less than 5 grand. We drove to Vancouver this summer, when gas prices were high, for $95. And, we've never had to change anything major since we bought it. I think I will be forever hooked on Toyotas. I'll be sad when I have kids and Tercel can no longer fit the family, but hopefully I'll be able to pass her along again!

Goblin Market

2008-11-05T21:13:00.000-08:00

Have you ever tried turning a poem into a story? I tried to do this a few years ago with Christina Rosseti's poem "Goblin Market". Here is an excerpt from the story:

The moon’s light glanced off the faces of the merchants in the open glen. One had long whiskers, and pointed grey ears that twitched away above a cat’s face. Matted fur covered its back, and below, a white tail swung beneath tattered shorts. Another whisked between carts like a rat, his hands spread thick with brown fur, nails pricking plums like a thorny bush. Still another wobbled, a wombat-man, round and with a pig’s snout. Laura held her breath as one goblin man stopped, sniffed the air. He turned towards her, a red apple like a jewel in his hand.

“Laura, come quick.” Lizzie pulled at her sleeve again, her head bowed away from the market.

“Come buy,” the goblin men called. “Come see our orchard fruits. Apples and quinces, lemons and oranges. Come buy, come buy.”

From the poem "Goblin Market"

"Down the glen tramp little men.
One hauls a basket,
One bears a plate,
One lugs a golden dish
Of many pounds' weight.
How fair the vine must grow
Whose grapes are so luscious;
How warm the wind must blow
Through those fruit bushes."

Laurence Housman, illustration from the 1893 London edition of "Goblin Market" published by Macmillan.

http://www.victorianweb.org/authors/crossetti/gobmarket.html (for a full copy of the poem and illustrations)

Waiting for snow

2008-11-04T22:06:00.000-08:00

Rootless

Rigid at the edge of this field,
the white trees wait,
curved arms open,
a line of wishbones
waiting for the wind to crack,
unfence.

Christmas cards

2008-11-03T17:37:00.000-08:00

Lately I've been addicted to making Christmas cards and stamping paper, envelopes and anything I can get my hands on. I joined a stampin' up scrapbooking group over a year ago, and have since accumulated lots of lovely stamps and paper (and ideas!).

Since Christmas fever comes early up here, what with the extreme cold and early snows, I find myself starting to prepare early as well. Hence, the fact that I've already bought most of my gifts and made about half of my cards.

Here are a few that I made at my friend's all day Christmas card-making session, as well as the cover of "Through the Looking Glass". Sorry to ruin the surprise if you happen to get one of the ones pictured!

Sometimes I've believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast.

2008-11-02T22:39:00.000-08:00

I almost forgot today about Nablopomo!

It's 11:39 and I was about to fall asleep when I realized I never posted!!

So, here is something cool that I did this weekend.

On Saturday, I discovered "The Olde Creek Store" in Dawson Creek. It has the coolest old stuff, antiques, old books, and handmade items from around the world. You can buy old glass doorknobs and handles for cupboards and wrought iron key rings. My great find was a 1947 early reader copy of Alice's Adventures through the Looking Glass. It's colour illustrated and I stood it up in my guest room on the dresser. I will post a picture of it later.

My favourite Through the Looking Glass quote:
"Sometimes I've believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast"--said by the Queen of Hearts.

Bonsoir!

Happy Halloween from Holly Golightly

2008-11-01T13:27:00.000-07:00

Well, my Halloween costume turned out pretty good, I think. It was more costumey than Audrey's look, but I think the sunglasses, dress and makeup were pretty close. The tiara and fake pearls weren't exactly like hers, obvisouly, but they were needed to make the connection to the movie. I was quite pleased when people recognized who I was, or when I showed them the movie cover and they said I looked just like her. So, the mission was a success. Here are a few snapshots of the evening:

Long time, no blog

2008-10-29T22:44:00.000-07:00

The last two weeks:

1) a terrible cold and cough just in time for thanksgiving
2) providing turkey dinner for 10 RCMP and friends
3) throwing a pre-baby arrival shower for a friend (which involved blowing up 72 orange balloons)
4) an all day Christmas Card making extravaganza (i'll save the pics for another post)
5) 2 bombs going off in Dawson Creek= no see husband
6) hosting my book club meeting
7) planning a halloween party
8) getting my costume together
9) the first early morning snow (the grass is still green though)

In more detail:

Needless to say, the past two weeks have been busy. It started out with a nasty cold that hit a hight point during thanksgiving dinner. I couldn't stop coughing for about a week, but still managed to enjoy the dinner with friends. I was complemented on my decor, which was very Martha Stuart, I must say. Here are a few photos. I made cranberry/pear pie, chocolate fudge and pumpkin cheesecake squares, and Mike took care of the turkey etc. It was good food all around.

My friends little girl, Arianna.

Table decor.

Then, Mike's schedule finally got around to having days off over the weekends, and someone decided to set some bombs off on the oil pipeline and put Dawson Creek on the news! (We had a whole 5 minutes on Global National one night). But, bombs equals extra overtime for husband, so we didn't see much of each other for a few days or nights, as he slept all day and worked all night. On the bright side, the 36 hours of double time and 18 hours of time and a half means we can afford to come home before Christmas. There's always a bright side to everything.

Then, it's babies galore as 2 more of my friends delivered their babies, and two more are soon to be due, so I've been buying tons of baby gifts lately. Who knew there were so many gadgets for moms and babies? But, I'm learning lots of the mom/baby lingo so I figure I'll be prepared when we finally have kids!

Lately I've found myself playing hostess quite frequently. I'm not sure if I'm good at it, or if it's just that my living room is 27 by 19 feet (that's huge if you can't picture it--I can easily fit a piano, fireplace, two couches, two loveseats, entertainment center, chair, and tons of people). I love entertaining though so it's okay. This month alone, I've hosted a dinner, thanksgiving, a baby shower, a bible study and my book club meeting.

For this month, we read "The book thief" which was a young adult novel about a German girl during WWII. It's an amazing read and I highly recommend it. My book club gave it 8.5/10. Now, we're reading "The thirteenth Tale" by Diane Setterfield, which is supposed to be really good. I'm only one chapter in but it's very well written so far, and I think I'm going to enjoy it. It has a ghost in it, so it's appropriate for Halloween. But, Inkdeath, the third book in the Cornelia Funke series just came out, and I'm dying to read it, but thinking about saving it for a really good time, like Christmas holidays.

So, here I am now, two days to Halloween, and I just finished putting together my costume. I will post pictures of the different parts of it tomorrow, but I'll tell you a bit about it now. For years I've been wanting to go as Holly Golightly, (Audrey Hepburn, in Breakfast at Tiffany's) but haven't got the pieces together in time. About a week ago, I found the perfect dress at Sears, fake pearls at Wal-mart, a tiara which I craftily transformed by removing the purple sequins and glueing on the pearls from my scrapbooking kit, as well as black gloves, fake eyelashes, and black flats. My classes are having a party and costume contest, so I told them I'd dress up. I'm very excited. Now I just need to buy a good bottle of hairspray and tons of bobby pins to get my hair that high on friday!

I'm also excited to hand out candy in my house for the first time. Afterwards, myself and a few friends are going to the haunted house at the Pioneer Village.

Here is the dress

Happy Halloween!

Who to vote for?

2008-10-06T18:43:00.000-07:00

Voting will take place in just over a week, and I find I've seen more about the American election that the Canadian. Being new to Dawson Creek, I was having a hard time deciding what party to vote for. I voted for the NDP last time, but I don't really think I want to vote for them again. Basically, I'm hoping that the Conservatives don't win, but unfortunately, I just discovered what a Conservative stronghold I live in. According to the Vote for the Environment website, the Conservatives won with over 21 000 votes last election, with the CLOSEST being the NDP, with only 7000 votes, and surprisingly, the Green Party came third with just over 6000. Apparently the Conservative member in the Peace River has won the last three elections in the Northern riding, and he just switches parties to whoever happens to be winning.

So, I'm pretty torn now. I know I won't vote conservative, but there is virtually no way any other party will win in the Peace, so does it even matter? I put my postal code into the Vote for Environment site and it even said "You choose", do whatever you can for the environment because no party can beat the conservatives up here. Arg. Well, that wasn't very helpful, was it?

So, now I'm wondering, what do you think? Any insights into politics?

If you haven't seen the site, (I found it on Ciboulette's blog--thanks!) here it is:

Just when I'd put away the summer sandals...

2008-10-02T17:23:00.000-07:00

How nice is it to have summer weather with fall leaves? Very nice. Especially when at this time last year, it had already snowed once and I was sporting my fall coat + gloves + scarf ensemble.

This week has been beautiful up north. We had 26 degree weather today, which is warm even for July or August. And it's October! I layed out in my backyard with shortsleaves and read a book and ate chips. And gazed at the lovely yellow of my backyard tree. Dawson Creek is so yellow in October and it happens so quickly too. A few days and my tree goes from green to bright sunny yellow.

I've been going for walks and drives to see the lovely leaves. There is nothing prettier than blue sky against yellow leaves. And I also know that soon it will be white against white so I am getting my fill while I can.

It is strange though, as the last week of September was cold. I know there must have been at least one frost. Not because I was up early enough to see it, but because my flowers in the backyard turned black one day. And my sweet peas--which took until September to bloom--started to shrivel up too.

But, we had one last mow of the lawn, and now it is time to wait. Wait for snow and minus 40 degrees. Fall is definitely the time of waiting up north. Of getting your furnace working, your boots out, the extension cord ready to plug in the car, and your spring bulbs pulled out of the ground.

A tour of fall from my backyard:

Books

2008-09-20T18:10:00.000-07:00

I'm super busy with school, but I've still got time to read. I'm working on the second book of the Outlander series, but I thought I'd blog about my latest book club books as we are looking for new suggestions.

Over the summer, we read "An audience of chairs" by Joan Clark. It was a strange book, but good. I couldn't decide if I liked the main character or not, as she was very odd and eccentric but it was still a good read.

We then read "Divisadero" by Michael Ondaatje, which I didn't enjoy all that much. It was the first novel I'd ever read by him and I gave it a 7/10. It certainly kept to the theme of its title; the book was really like two books, but neither came together in the end and I like endings that wrap themselves up a little more than that.

Now we are reading a really good book. I completely adore YA novels, and this one is called "The book thief". It takes place just before and during WWII in Germany and is about a little girl who steals books from the Nazis and other places. It's amazing so far.

However, we've decided we need to branch out in the type of book we read, so I've been trying to come up with some new suggestions before our next meeting, which will be at my house. All of our books lately seem to have the same theme of separated families due to a traumatic experiece; a father gives a daughter up for adoption without telling the mother in one, a father takes a mother's children away because of her mental disability in another, and then a daughter runs away from her father in our last one.

Here are the future possibilities on our list:

Late nights on air, Elizabeth Hay
The Thirteenth Tale, Diane Setterfield
The Glass Castle, Jeannette Walls
and
The Red Tent, Anita Diamant

Have you read any of them? What would you recommend?

Northern Lights

2008-09-16T18:00:00.000-07:00

I saw the northern lights for the first time since moving up north the night before last. Mike was working night shift and he came home early, at around 4am because they were having a slow night. He woke me up to say that you could sort of see the northern lights in our backyard, so I threw a housecoat over my pj's and went out into the night. It was surprisingly warm and lovely. I looked east and could see a vibrant green streak of light that started like a flare at the horizon and spread out across the sky of my backyard. While watching it slowly fade away I caught a glimpse of a shooting star. It was a small glimpse, but beautiful nonetheless. I felt like a true northerner.

Apparently the best time of the year to view them is around the 22nd of September, so I will be looking at the sky again next week and hoping for a clear night.

THE trip Part two

2008-09-10T10:20:00.000-07:00

Wow, this last week and a half has been super busy. School and planning is taking up all of my time...so I'm just finally getting around to posting about the rest of my trip. For the last day of Disneyland, on monday, and then all the way until Saturday, we had the pleasure of visiting with Jenn, Matthew and Bronson. We stayed at Disney's Paradise Pier hotel and had a lot of fun watching the parade, going with Bronson on the Winnie the Pooh ride, and the big Pirate ship in the river. We also finally went on the California Screamin' roller coaster and Soarin' California, which was like a giant Imax where you were in a seat that felt like a plane ride. We finished off our last night at Disneyland by watching the fireworks one last time. They are really cool fireworks, especially the part where Tink flies over the castle. Here are some photos from our last day, including Bronson with Pluto, me with Prince Charming, the boys on the pirate ship and the four of them waiting for the parade to start. On tuesday morning we spent a few hours wandering around downtown Disney buying some souvenirs. I got a tinker bell t-shirt and Jenn snuck in and bought be a Disneyland picture frame for my birthday. We also went into the only Anne Geddes store in the world, where I bought a couple of baby shower gifts. We then headed in to Pasadena. Over the next few days we played board games, read a lot of stories to Bronson, toured Caltech, swam in the pool, went to the LA zoo with Matthew and Bronson and finally to the beach on the last day before heading to the airport. Beach photos: It was nice to have a few days of relaxing after the business of Disneyland. When we arrived in Vancouver, we had a visit with Mike's parents, and then had a looong drive home...it took us about 14 hours. Then it was back to work! Oh, and one more thing. Here is a short clip of the very end of the fireworks display. If you look carefully you can just see Tink flying from the right side of the castle to the left. It's so magical....

THE trip...Vancouver, Disneyland, Pasadena

2008-09-01T22:37:00.000-07:00

Mike and I recently had the most fun of our lives...we went to the happiest place on earth...Disneyland, of course! It was an amazing holiday, with many highlights, including a couple of busy days in Vancouver with my Dad and a few friends I had the chance to meet up with, 4 days in Disneyland, and 5 days in Pasadena, visiting Jenn, Matthew and Bronson.

Our first day, we left bright and early at 5:45am and drove the 1200km's to the west end of Vancouver, where we stayed with my Dad for three nights. On wednesday we went to the beach, and I met up with a few friends who were able to drive over and visit with us. Then, on thursday we went over to Nanaimo on the ferry to meet family for lunch at Moxie's. It was fun, but I was suffering from a very sore neck, so managed to get an emergency chiropractic visit and was fine from then on (thankfully so, otherwise I don't think I could have managed all the rides at Disneyland!).

Me, Pamela, and Ravinder.

The three of us HAD to stop at the cupcake store.

Me and my mommy.

Granny.

The real fun began on friday morning. We caught the earliest flight available to LAX, to maximize the amount of time we would have at Disneyland. Unfortunately, the shuttle system was confusing and slow, so by the time we got to our notel it was already nearly 1pm. I was slightly grumpy and tired, but the hotel cheared me up completely. It was truly amazing. We got great service and warm cookies upon arrival. Mike and I rushed to our room, jumped onto the bed (there were two, so we each collapsed onto our own) and ate our cookies while watching the olympics. Once we had relaxed and eaten lunch, we took the shuttle to Disneyland! Fortunately for us, 2:45pm is a great time to arrive at Disneyland, as most people are heading back to their rooms for a nap and a swim, so we basically had no waits at all on the rides! It was Mike's first time, so I let hime be the little kid and choose everywhere we went. We started out with the fabulous Pirates of The Caribbean, which I'd never been on before, followed by a train ride, and finished at 11pm having enjoyed 10 different rides, a yummy mexican dinner and the fireworks. Pretty good for the first day, and we were grateful to collapse into the comfy beds and sleep in the next morning.

The famous giant turkey leg...you gotta try all the crazy food at Disneyland (Churro, frozen chocolate covered bananas, frozen lemonade...etc)

On Saturday, needing the rest, we slept until 9am, ordered breakfast in, and took our time getting ready. Mike went to the gym and I enjoyed the pool and "Outlander" for an hour. We arrived at Disneyland at around noon and stayed until closing, going over to California adventure park for a few rides too. We were fortunate to be there at the same time as my sister, Felicia and her two kids, so we met up with them at 6 for dinner and some rides, before heading over to watch Fantasmic. The best part of the evening was when we rode Splash mountain continuously from about 11pm until midnight when the park closed. We took up all 6 seats in the boat and alternated spots each run. I don't think I've ever laughed so much...our faces in the photos they take are priceless.

Me, Mike an Jess...very wet after splash mountain.

How could you resist chili in a Mickey shaped bread bowl? And yes, we did eat all this food, while watching Billy and the Hills.

Sunday was hard to get up, but we really wanted to take advantage of our early morning admission day...you can get in up to one hour before the park opens. We made it there by 7:30 and by 8am when the gates opened we had already been on all the Fantasy land rides...usually they have huge waits. After breakfast, we made our way to Frontier land to ride all the boats that go around the Pirate's Lair island. We rode the Mark Twain steamboat and took the raft to the island, where we met Captain Jack Sparrow, who, taking a liking to me, asked Mike to move over so that we could get a picture together. We also saw the Indiana Jones show and ate at two amazing restaurants. For lunch, we ate at the Blue Bayoo, which is this New Orleans style restaurant situated on the Pirate's of the Carribean ride. From the ride, you can see these ghostly waiters serving people at dimly lit tables. You feel sort of like you are eating outside at night time with a dark sky and glowing lanterns all around.

They had a fairy tale arts booth, where I was dying to get my face painted the whole weekend. It was so much fun! It's the one place where adults can be fairy princesses too :)

And, of course, Captain Jack.

I tried to take a pic that would show how cool the Blue Bayoo was; this was as close as I could get, but doesn't really give you the same feel.

Once we had officially seen pretty much all the rides at Disneyland,(some several times) we headed over to California's Adventure park. This park is cool, but there are about 8 really popular attractions that EVERYONE wants to see, so we managed by doing about 2 or 3 rides each day. On Sunday, though, Mike took me on the Twilight Zone Tower of Terror and I just about died. If you know me well, you know that I'm claustrophobic and afraid of elevators, so you can imagine how well I enjoyed being in an elevator with 21 people while being dropped 13 floors up and down! Well, I survived anyways.

That evening, we took a nap in our hotel before heading over to the dinner reservations I had made at Downtown Disney's Catal restaurant. It is the only fine dining restaurant in Disneyland, and we had a beautiful seat on the balcony reserved for us. Just as our dinner was served the fireworks began...how romantic.

Our final day of Disneyland was spent with Jenn, Matthew and Bronson. I will save it for another post as this one is getting long and tomorrow is the first day of school...

I'm 25!

2008-08-31T17:04:00.000-07:00

So, I know I've been home for almost a week now, and still haven't posted about my trip, but it's been pretty busy. We returned monday night at around 8:30 pm and I slept all day tuesday, then spent the rest of the week at school getting ready to teach! But, today is my birthday, so I'm taking a break to have a little games night and blizzard cake...yum. Also, went out for lunch with some friends which was nice, and it's beautiful out right now. It was crappy all day, but as soon as I saw the sun, I headed outside for a few minutes of peace in the garden. There won't be many days to enjoy the sun now! I think I will spend tomorrow outside and cleaning up my office so that I'm totally ready for school come tuesday. I also have to finish a book club book by thursday, yikes!

Well, off to get ready for my party! Pictures of Disneyland will be posted by tomorrow, I swear.

I'm off!

2008-08-11T22:54:00.000-07:00

Just a quick post as it is 11 pm and I have to get up in 5 hours to head to Vancouver, and then off to Disneyland and Pasadena to visit friends on Friday. I'm so excited and promise to post lots once I return!

If you're in Vancouver feel free to come and visit me at my Dad's! Just send me a message.

I promise to say hi to Mickey, although I don't know if he will remember me...I haven't seen him since 1989 :)

I don't have time to post about the Dawson Creek fall fair and Rodeo, which was awesome, but here's a pic of my hubby in the fall fair parade!

A little bit of poetry

2008-08-05T00:30:00.000-07:00

Ode to Tea drinkers

Sometimes I wonder if you can tell
a person by the tea they drink;

the pomegranate green tea would say,
with its big flavour,
this town is too small
close your eyes
and see the city.

Orange pekoe is for those
who drink tea from bulk boxes,
almost an afterthought,
while Earl Grey says traditional
the striped bowtie of tea,
the old standby, with a hint of desire
to dress up. It wishes
secretly to become a London Fog,
sipped in cafés, earn a spot of its own
on the menu.

Deep Rooibos sucks in the drinker,
fooled by a name inflated and round,
it won’t release you until every syllable
of its flavour is drawn in like pipe smoke,
resonating on the tongue like the beat
of a drum held warm in the hand.

Meanwhile, even-tempered Chamomile whispers
to its drinker, the romance novel reader
on the couch, or the man on the front porch watching
the dandelions march over the yard.

Sometimes I wonder if you can tell a person
by their tea, unseam the bags that hold
their weight, cup life
in a metal spoon.

Time with hubby

2008-08-01T13:02:00.000-07:00

Today is the last of Mike's four days off, and fittingly, it is rainy and Novemberish. Actually, it's more septemberish for up here, but November-like in say Victoria. Here's what we did on our four days together.

On tuesday we had a relaxing day and Mike cooked me this lovely meal before settling down to watch a couple of movies.

On wednesday, Mike invited A watch and C watch over for a bbq. (It's not that we don't like B and D watch, but they were the ones working). Plus, we wanted to have a small gathering of our closer friends from the detachment, which ended up being 12 of us in the end, but it was the perfect amount of wives and husbands so that I got to sit at my patio set outside and chat with the ladies while we ate yummy food. Afterwards, we played pictionary in our living room, and the boys unfortunately won, although only because they couldn't hear me shout out the answer :)

Then, yesterday we decided to enjoy the last forecasted day of sunshine for the week and headed to Tumbler Ridge. It was the first time I'd driven all the way there, (it's about 115km away) so I was excited to see the town, as I'd heard it looked more like what I was used to. And, it was true. Full of mountains and hills and trees, it was very small but beautiful, and felt more like home. While there, we went on a short hike to Quality Falls, took lots of pictures and ate lunch at the base of the waterfall. I was a little worried about Grizzly bears, but thankfully we didn't surprise any!

Now, it's his last day off and we are just puttering around the house while it drizzles rain outside. And, tomorrow it's back to working for him and being bored for me!

Garden Party

2008-07-29T10:35:00.000-07:00

I've been planning a garden party my whole life. I just never before had a garden. But, last week, to celebrate my five year wedding anniversary and one year of living in Dawson Creek, Mike and I had about 40 people in our backyard for a party. It was a lot of work, but a huge success. We had perfect Dawson Creek weather, as it was sunny without a single cloud and no wind, which meant that my shady backyard stayed warm until about 9:30 when it started to get dark out. We had little lanterns, tables with white tablecloths and candles, and little spots to eat set up throughout the garden. I got many compliments on the flowers and shrubs that I worked so hard on and it really paid off!

I spent most of the time running around being hostess, as usual, and then being surprised when people started to leave and I had barely sat down yet, but hey, that's what exhorters do at parties. Especially ones they organize themselves!

I had so many people tell me what a great time they had though, and it was nice to celebrate our anniversary with our new friends. We got some lovely cards and the coolest thing was that every time I was going to introduce two people to each other, I would see them already talking! The joys of a small town--everyone is connected somehow.

But, now it's two weeks of relaxation and no set plans until our trip to California. I've been writing a lot, and am planning on sending out two packets of poems today. I'm also trying to convince Mike to take me on a hike to Tumbler Ridge. There are apparently about 35 different hiking trails, most of them ending in a waterfall. I really want to do this one to Kinuseo Falls, which is actually taller than Niagara, just not as wide.

Well, it's time to stop procrastinating and type up those poems. Fingers crossed for me!

Here are some garden party pics:

Delicious food brought by my friends...

The backyard...

Friends, and their children!

The lights come on at the end of the night.

Five Years

2008-07-19T19:46:00.000-07:00

Five years ago, on this Saturday of 2003, Mike and I got married. It was a semi-cloudy day, but still warm, with a little bit of rain. I was 19 and he was 20 and we had about 170 friends and family members packed into a very warm but lovely little church with a center aisle.

I remember getting ready with the girls and my mom and sisters in the morning, having them lace up my dress and telling me I looked beautiful.

I remember walking down the aisle after my bridesmaids, to the instrumental Celtic song I'd picked out when I was about 15, and which I'd had planned out and timed for years. I looked straight at Mike, but knew he would make me cry just looking at him, so I turned my gaze to all the family at the front pews, who were also making me cry.

I remember standing in the lovely green park having photos taken in front of the water and on the bridge, watching our wedding party laughing and taking silly shots.

I remember how wonderful it felt to stand in the middle of the reception hall, seeing my reflection in the sliding balcony door, the white twinkling lights, candle glow and that remarkable feeling when you walk across the room with your lovely white dress trailing behind.

I remember my first dance with Mike, and how half way through he pulled a disposable camera out of his pocket and took our traditional Mike and Sabring shot, of which we have dozens already, some perfectly angled, some accidentally looking up our noses...

And I remember all the past anniversaries, including fireworks at the Butchart Gardens, a concert, a night at a B&B, dinners in downtown Victoria, picnics at Beacon Hill Park, and even our quick lunch today at Mr. Mike's before Mike went to work.

It's been the best five years and I can't wait for the next five!

Pictures from home

2008-07-16T18:54:00.000-07:00

In the past 10 months, I have been a complete airmiles freak, which recently paid off in a free flight to Vancouver. From there I walked on the ferry and had my mom pick me up for a week at home.

It was lovely--the weather was hot and sunny and I managed to visit all my family and squeeze in two trips to the best lake in the world, Sproat Lake, which was warm enough to swim in the crystal clear water and suntan on the beach! I was also able to visit with my good friend Melissa and Jenn at Rath Trevor beach, and on my last day made it to the Coombs market for a delicious lunch and then to nanaimo for some (okay, a LOT) of shopping. Let's just say that I made up for living in Dawson Creek for a year.

My nieces

I wish I had had my camera in Coombs, so that I could have shown a picture of the most delicious dessert ever. My mom and I each had a hazelnut ganache covered chocolate brownie. It was heaven. The consistency of cheesecake and it wasn't too rich and only about three bites big. Just perfect.

I also got my Nonna's recipe for spaghetti sauce which is very exciting. I will post it soon.

But, as trips tend to do, Saturday came quickly and I flew home after visiting my Dad in Van for a few hours. We went out to lunch and hit up the bookwarehouse before he and his girlfriend drove me to the airport. Isn't it crazy that I can fly home in only an hour and 25 minutes? If only it weren't so expensive I'd go all the time!

Well, here are some of the highlights, although I forgot to take a pic of me and my Mom...:(

Me and my little sis at Sproat Lake

Melissa and Jenn's little guys

First camping trip

2008-07-13T13:48:00.000-07:00

I have a few posts that have been milling around in my head for some time now, but I haven't had the chance to post them. Well, I guess I better just start with one. On the Canada Day weekend Mike and I went on our first Northern camping trip, with our friends Chris and Chantal. Chris is another RCMP member, and Chantal teaches french like me. So, we had plenty in common and a carload of board games just in case.

We trecked out on the friday afternoon, literally about one hour after the last official school day ended for me. It was a rush to pack everything and be ready but so nice to go and relax on a lake for my first weekend of summer freedom. I'd said goodbye to all the kids, and toted all of my end of the year gifts home (the perks of being a grade one teacher :) and we set off toward Tumbler Ridge, which is about an hour and a half south of Dawson and is in a more mountain-like setting. We stopped just short of the town and pulled into Stony lake, thankfully claiming the last campsite.

The weather was perfect--sunny the entire time, and although we were very mosquito infested, we had a great time playing bocci ball, the Farming Game, and laying by the lake reading while our husbands explored the woods on a quad.

Chris and Chantal

Saying goodbye to the campsite on our last day

Last Day

2008-06-21T10:48:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was my last day as a grade one teacher. It's been a lot of fun this year, but boy am I glad it's over! I'm already in summer mode and I can't wait to have nothing to do! Okay, maybe I won't have nothing to do because I always seem to make myself very busy, but I'm really looking forward to starting my summer reading and writing. I just discovered a nice little cafe that would be really great to write in,so I think I will start going there every morning to work on writing. I seem to get more done out of the house. I've hardly done any this year, which is ridiculous, as I was tocing so I should have had tons of time. Somehow, though, I haven't had a single day with nothing planned in months.

I've now gotten to know so many people in Dawson Creek (which isn't hard when you live in a tiny town and are a teacher) so that when I go out I always run into people I know. I remember being jealous last summer of all the people who knew each other and who I didn't know. I would walk past someone my age in the grocery aisle and think "will you be my friend?". It sounds dumb now, because everyone told me I would meet tons of new people, and I have, but I didn't know how to go about it when I wasn't in school. University makes friend-making quite easy. You sit together for at least a couple of hours a day, so you're always in touch.

I just recently am becoming friends with my neighbours now too. There's a lady across the street who goes to my church and she's invited me to come over sometime, and also to join her thursday night ladies group who meet at Mr. Mike's every week. I was excited to be invited because I'd heard about them in our church, and they are apparently all exhorters, like me.

We did this study in our small group called the 7 Redemptive gifts, and it talks about 7 types of personality. It's actually very interesting, and as I was sitting there trying to figure out what gifting I had, my whole group was like, uh, Sabrina, you're obviously an exhorter. Exhorters are the ones who are really into making friends, community, always being busy with activities, meeting new people, and who absolutely hate to be alone for too long. Yep, sounds like me. It's funny that I never realized it until now, but the study sure helped Mike and I to understand each other, as he is a Mercy. Mercies and Exhorters are opposites in some ways, as exhorters hate to be alone and mercies love and need their alone time. We both had a moment where we were like, "ooooh, I get it!". No wonder Mike loves to sit and play his games by himself and I'm always like "Please, entertain me, I'm bored!".

Anyways, if you're interested, go take the quiz and see if you can figure out what you are, and you're husband too, it's very helpful to marriages and friendships. If you think you know which you are, let me know, as I've been guessing my friend's giftings ever since.

Go to this site and read the DNA questions. It's very enlightening.

So, more on my last day. We had a pirate scavengar hunt, which was so much fun. I hid little treasure boxes around the class with prizes in them, and everyone had one with their name on it. Of coures, they made me hide them over and over again until the end of the day. We also made pirate ships and picture frames for our class photo. Three kids in the class brought me presents, one little girl made me a crown to wear all day, and another girl brought me red roses. They are such sweethearts. I felt so bad at the end of the day though, as one little girl left the school crying because I wouldn't be their teacher anymore. Later on, at soccer, I ran into the Dad of another little girl, and he told me "M was so lifeless when she got home today". He asked her what was wrong and she said it was the last day with "Mme L'Heureux". Broke my heart. I'll miss that next year when I'm teaching grade twelve. They're not so into giving you hugs and presents.

Well, I'm off to wake my hubby so we can go do something fun today!!

Gardening

2008-06-02T20:00:00.000-07:00

I never got called in to work today, so I decided to spend it outside gardening while my husband slept away the day. (He's on nights) I realize that I've never posted pics of my yard and outside of my house as it was always covered in snow.

But, I had a successful day gardening, and Mike and I spent a ton of money on the weekend on the necessary yard equipment. We bought a weed wacker and lawnmower (our grass looks like a jungle) and pots and flowers and seeds to plant. I also found a set of amazing adirondack chairs, which I've been wanting forever, to put on our front deck, which faces south and has a view of the whole city and Bear mountain. Funny that I'm actually starting to think of it as a mountain. The chairs were made by a retired man who makes them as a hobby over the winter. He sells them at the farmer's market, which is my favourite place to shop on saturdays. They have beautiful things and I can't wait for later this summer and fall to buy their vegetables. I also bought some hand made spearmint and mulberry hemp soap that smell delicious.

Here is a peek at my yard so far. It still needs lots of work, especially the dandelions and the grass--but I've left that for Mike on his day off tomorrow!

Here is my faery garden:

My deck and front yard, with the pots I planted today:

My back yard and side of my house:

Oh, and one last thing. Not only did I get the job at the high school for next year, but they've decided to give me a continuing contract! This means that I'm guaranteed a job for every year I'm here--usually it takes two years before they will give you one, so it's great news for next year as I don't have to worry about having a job!

Good things

2008-05-25T17:02:00.000-07:00

1) It's hot and sunny out

2) There's only one month left of school

3) The Relay for Life is over and my team raised 6600$...Dawson Creek raised 100 036 dollars total! (more on this later)

4) Mike and I are going to California in 3 months

5) And, best of all, I got a job next year at the high school teaching French 10,11 and 12!

waiting...

2008-05-15T15:27:00.000-07:00

If there's one thing I hate, it's waiting. I've been waiting all week to find out what jobs are left in our school district after round one. I can't apply until round two and I'm hoping there's something left for me. It turns out that our district is shrinking and teachers are getting laid off, which means there's a huge shuffle of positions, and possibly nothing left for a toc with a temporary contract like myself.

Sigh. And, the worst part is, I need to know soon what I'm doing next year, as I've been invited to a wedding in the middle of the year that I want to go to, but don't want to pay until I know if I can go or not. What to do?

I'm so looking forward to the summer holidays--Mike has booked his time off, and he has two whole weeks from the 12-25th of August off!

I just wish I lived in a city where french teachers were needed. I think D.C. must be the only place in BC that isn't experiencing a shortage of french teachers. Unfortunately, myself and two other members wives, all posted here in the SAME month (!) are ALL french teachers, which means that I'm always competing with them for jobs.

I miss being a university student. Maybe I'll just do my masters while there are no jobs and start working again later.

Book Club Feast

2008-05-01T21:27:00.000-07:00

Just finished my first book club meeting to be held at my house. It's exciting to have one's own house to host things like book club meetings.

Although there were only three of us, we had excellent conversation about "The God of Small Things" (my suggestion) and enjoyed an enormous Indian feast. Although none of us were Indian food experts, we took our inspiration straight from the book. I made a delicious Coconut Curry sauce with rice and chicken (probably a little more Thai than Indian, but oh well) and Naan bread. We also had an Indian sauce with chickpeas; pompadoms; and flour savories with banana jam (the recipe taken from a character in the book) for dessert. It was delicious. Dee Li Shos.

The book was also amazing. Our one-liner, which we create for each book and keep in a binder for future reference, was "Roy's poetic style weaves together bits and pieces of a families' fate following tragedy." We rated it 8.5/10 (I gave it a 9).

Here are a few of my favourite lines, underlined in the book (sorry Amanda, I couldn't help it!):

"Strange insects appeared like ideas in the evening..."

"The Loss of Sophie Mol stepped softly around the Ayemenem House like a quiet thing in socks."

My personal favourite: "Men's bums never grow up. Like school satchels, they evoke in an instant memories of childhood."

"On warm days, the smell of shit lifted off the river and hovered over Ayemenem like a hat."

"...he clasped his armpits possessively, as though someone had asked to borrow them and he had just refused."

"He left behind a hole in the Universe through which darkness poured like liquid tar."

I could go on, but instead, you should just read the book.
Next, we are reading "The lust lizard of melancholy cove" by Christopher Moore, which promises to be hilarious.

My weekend

2008-04-21T11:50:00.001-07:00

Had an exciting and nervwracking past few days. On Friday Mike came into my grade one class and did a presentation on the RCMP. It was really cute to hear all the questions they asked him. He even wore his Red Serge for them. My favourite questions were:

Have you ever found any evidence? (This after they had discussed shows like Scooby Doo and Blue's Clues.)

and, "Where's your horse?"

On Friday night the staff went out for dinner at the new D.C. restaurant, Tony Roma's, where we surprised our LA teacher and our vice-principal on their birthdays. I splurged and had steak and dessert, because I'm only going to be able to drink food for the next two weeks (more on that later). Afterwards, we went over to Karine's house, and since all the teachers there were francophone we had a fun time speaking in french and playing "Dance Revolution" on her nintendo wii. The game is very addicting, if you've never tried it before, but such a good workout. I got better at the end, and stopped getting booed by the screen.

Saturday was my first fundraising event for the Relay for Life. I started a team about a month ago and we have already raised close to 3000$ dollars. We had a bake sale at the co-op mall all day long and raised 515$ for the Canadian Cancer Society. I couldn't believe how much baking our team managed to make. There were a ton of super kind generous people, and some super cheap ones too. All the goodies were in bags and on plates and we sold them by donation, because I figured if I put a price tag saying 2$ for a bag, anyone who had a five would ask for change. But, this way, when people handed me their 5 dollar bill and said how much, I said by donation, and usually they would feel too cheap to ask for change. However, we did have one elderly couple who we were not so impressd by. The husband had a wad of cash in his wallet, and then proceeded to dump his pennies and nickels into our jar, while his wife grabbed an entire loaf of banana bread and a plate of at least a dozen cookies. I was trying really hard to smile and say thank you whithout being judgemental, but who does that? Oh well, the generosity of others balanced out the people who were trying to get a "good deal" on baked goods.

Then, Sunday was the day I've been dreading for about 5 years now. I've had four wisdom teeth that have needed to be removed for a while, but I've been too chicken to get it done. But, now that Mike is in the RCMP, they will cover half of the cost, so I figured I'd better get it done and over with. So, yesterday morning at 10 am we made made our way (in the snow which had dumped overnight on my green lawn! ) to the dentist office. An oral surgeon flies in once a month on sundays and people cram in all day to get their wisdom teeth extracted. I got there just in time to see the drugged up previous patient emerging from the back and totally freaked out, but managed to make it to the dentist chair on my own. The reason I was scared was that I've never been put to sleep before, so I had no idea what it would feel like. The surgeon said I would feel a little drunk, then drift to sleep. I remember saying, okay I feel the drunkenness now, and then asking "so when do I fall asleep?". The next thing I remember I was awake in another room, with the faint memory of two nurses half carrying me there once I had woken up. I must say it was actually not an unpleasant experience, and the surgeon was amazing. I only wish they had let me sleep longer in the comfy chair with the blanket. The dentist told Mike that there was only one difficult tooth, which I had expected (it was grown in sideways under the skin) and the rest of the teeth aren't even sore. Unfortunately, the anaesthetic made me sick when I got home, but now I just feel like I got punched in the jaw. Only 2 more hours until I can take my next T-3.

But, I can't explain the relief now that it's over, and I've got Mike taking care of me, cleaning the house, and making me delicious smoothies and soup three times a day (he makes excellent smoothies). I've also got a cup with four teeth in it that I have no idea what to do with. Why do they give you your teeth anyways? I would have said no thank-you if it weren't for my drunkenness. Maybe if I put them under the pillow the tooth fairy will bring me back the $700 it cost to have them removed?

Just for fun...

2008-04-19T00:28:00.001-07:00

You Are a Grilled Cheese Sandwich

You are a traditional person with very simple tastes.

In your opinion, the best things in life are free, easy, and fun.

You totally go with the flow. And you enjoy every minute of it!

Your best friend: The Peanut Butter and Jelly Sandwich

Your mortal enemy: The Ham Sandwich

What Kind of Sandwich Are You?

Goblin Fruit

2008-04-09T22:53:00.000-07:00

Haven't had much time to blog lately, however, I wanted to post this website, which is a poetry zine published quarterly called Goblin Fruit. The spring 2008 issue was released today, and features one of my poems, titled "The Magician's Wife" along with a recording of myself reading it. I will admit the recording I made is not that great, but then who likes hearing their own voice, right?

Hope you enjoy it!

p.s. My yard is 98% snow free!

Spring break...and now back to winter

2008-03-29T17:02:00.000-07:00

Just finished my first week back at work since spring break. Everything feels strange when you've been away for a couple of weeks. The first night back, I woke up in the middle of the night and remember standing in the hall trying to remember where I was. Strange how that happens when you haven't slept in your own bed for a while. Especially when you've only lived in your house for a month.

But, now everything is back to normal. Mike is working over-time (he just got called in for the second time today) and I'm back to life in grade one.

The trip was really great though--we spent our time very efficiently, as Mike put it, going for breakfast with one friend, meeting another in the afternoon, and then organizing dinners with as many people as possible. We managed to walk in my favourite places; the dyke by my mom's house, the Cherry Creek road to the farm, around downtown and the harbour, and through the Finnerty gardens at Uvic.

Down by the creek, where I used to go "kerplunk" with my Granny. Mike and I raced boats made from blades of grass like I did as a child. (Mine won).

Our nieces missed their Uncle Mike--we went to Jenna's fifth birthday party with her--at the wave pool in Nanaimo.

Then, there was the best restaurants; Moxie's with my sister and mom, Paggliaci's with Mike for soup and bread (3 baskets full), the Tapa bar for the baked tortellini and glazed carrot tapa, Rebar, and of course, Eggs Benedict at the Blue Fox. I meant to take pictures of all my meals, but I guess they were too yummy, because I forgot every time!

I also finally ate one of the enormous candy apples at the Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory.

Mike and I saw an Imax one day, shopped the downtown stores and my favourite book haunts, although I missed out of the malls due to lack of funds and a desire to not tempt myself. We also mini-golfed, played board games, and Mike even went to work in Port Alberni for two ride-alongs, with his troup mate from Depot who is currently posted there. Apparently he loves his job so much he can't stay away. One of the highlights was getting to see our favourite high school teachers, the Duperrons, who grew up in Dawson Creek and are still at the high school in Port Alberni. We surprised them and had a nice chat after school one friday. I got to hang out with my Victoria girlfriends and have a nice dinner with just the gals as well.

All in all, it was a great trip. We saw our favourite things, and favourite people (although we missed a few who were on their own spring break trips) and soaked up as much spring weather as we could before heading back to D.C. where it can't decided whether winter is over or not. I arrived home to about 10 degrees and sun, and by the following day, my yard (which was growing tulips and not yet green, but brown) looked like this:

In any case, it is good to be home again, but I am already thinking about my next visit, which will hopefully include a flight down to Disneyland!

Going home...finally!

2008-03-10T18:21:00.000-07:00

Tonight is my last night of winter in Dawson Creek.

We leave tomorrow afternoon to head over to the island for spring break. And, when we get back it will be the 2nd day of spring. Outside my office window, I can already see about half of the grass in my yard as we have had a warm spell and the snow is melting very quickly. Here's to hoping it won't snow again.

I've just been packing and have no idea what to bring home. I'm assuming I won't need to bring my snow boots, tuque, or winter coat. Haha. It's so strange to pull out the shoes I haven't worn in 6 months, but it's kind of like getting a whole new wardrobe all over again. It also makes me realize that I have a lot of shoes. Especially when 80% of them can't be worn until the snow melts!

Today I did some baby visiting with my friend Kim and her baby Gwen, who gets and amazing mohawk when she wakes up from her nap. I also visited my friend Lindsey and baby Keturah, who has discovered the joy of banging blocks together. Every time Mike hangs out with the babies in our group of friends, he gets this longing sort of look on his face, and you can't draw his attention away from them. He so wants to have a baby. I told him if he takes me to Ireland and Disneyland this summer then we could talk. So, we're doing Disneyland this summer and Ireland next summer!

Well, I better go finish packing. Anyone who wants to visit, now is your chance! I'll be home for 12 days, so just send me a message or give me a call.

Happy Spring break!

Winter, winter, go away

2008-03-02T12:21:00.000-08:00

On Friday afternoon, I had the joy of standing outside my house in the pouring rain. It was the first time I'd been in the rain since about August! It was very exciting, and I thought, finally, spring is coming.

I guess I spoke to soon, because later that evening, the temperature went from +3 to -18 and we got stuck on the highway in a complete white out, while on our way back from the Grand Prairie airport, where we were picking up our friend Lindsey. It was the scariest drive I've ever taken. The snow was swirling in all directions around the car so that you couldn't see any part of the road. Luckily, we were able to follow a semi most of the way home and only partially drove into a ditch before Mike got us out of it. And, now it's March and it's still winter. But, next week is spring break and I'll be on the island and by the time I get back, winter better be over!

Pretty soon, it will be time to start applying for jobs for next school year. I'm desperately hoping to get the job of the retiring French and English teacher at the high school. She's leaving and I'm hoping they hire someone to replace her. I would actually not even mind if it was part time, because then I could spend the rest of the time writing. I finally started my idea for a novel. There's only about a paragraph written so far, because I can't start writing until I've done a lot of research usually. I'm hoping that my mental block in poetry means that I should be spending my time writing fiction. I sent a story away the other day that I'm pretty optimistic about, but I have to wait 3 months to find out if they will accept it or not.

Well, I think I will go try to finish reading "The Catcher in the Rye". Can you believe this writer/english teacher has never read it? My book club is doing it this thursday, so I am finally getting around to it. Happy March!

Here is a pic of me and my girlfriends here sporting our wedding dresses at our bridezilla party:

Wanted: brilliant poem ideas.

2008-02-25T17:16:00.000-08:00

I've been avoiding my blog lately. Procrastinating from writing and instead just thinking about writing. Which isn't all that useful after a while. I might get some good ideas but that's as far as I get. And, I have several deadlines for submissions and contests coming up. The thing is, I just feel so restless. I want to go out in the sunshine (it's finally warming up) or get on a plane and go somewhere. Luckily my trip to the island isn't that far away. But I want to do more than that. I want to travel EVERYWHERE and I'm just sick of waiting. Sigh.

There is a contest deadline this week for a poetry site I've been submitting too, and I desperately am trying to come up with a half-decent poem to send off. The thing is, my ideas are completely dried out at the moment. I keep reading old poems, and re-reading my favourites, trying to remember how I came to writing them, and how I got the good idea in the first place. But honestly, most of my poems just come to me. I barely revise them at all, they just arrive in a rush of words, usually scrawled in a notebook, and I revise as I write, working until I get to the great ending that started the poem in the first place. Or, I'll see a great image, or someone will tell me something that just seems to fit perfectly with a poem.

So, anyone got any great ideas?

On the bright side, I finally got my office organized to do some writing without feeling so cramped. And, I sent off the story I've been meaning to send off for like a year now! Trying to stay positive here, can you tell?

I'm also excited that I get to teach English 12 all day tomorrow at the high school. Finally! I actually get to teach my favourite subject and grade. Methinks I should prepare some extra work to bring in just in case the teacher left us no lesson plan... (let's just say my last subbing experience in the computer lab was basically spent fooling around on facebook with the rest of the class as the assignment took up about 15 minutes of the 80 minute class!).

What else? Oh, did I mention that it's been above 0 for a week now! And that I can see my grass? I know, you can really only appreciate my excitement if you live any farther north than I do. But, I actually went out onto my deck in my t-shirt and just SAT there, enjoying the warmth on my arms for once. I even skipped taking my vitamin D that day. But, in a couple of weeks I'll be enjoying the island rain once more. And for once I realize that I LOVE the rain. Life just isn't the same when there's no rain 8 months of the year. Can you even imagine that? It's just bizarre.

Leaving you with a pic of my Dawson Creek friends:

Mike's birthday

2008-02-09T21:35:00.000-08:00

In the midst of moving, it was also Mike's 25th birthday. He worked the day of his birthday, so on Sunday the 3rd, we went out for lunch and then had an afternoon of bowling with our friends from church. Amazingly, everyone and their kids were able to come--we usually have small turn outs due to all the shift workers in our group. It was a lot of fun to be all together. Here are some of the highlights (even the baby girls made it!):

The newest addition: Baby Gwen, born January 4th.

Can you guess which ones brought babies?

At the bowling alley--I came in second!

At long last

2008-02-05T15:10:00.000-08:00

I've finally got my internet connected, and some time to post pictures of the house, which I realize are long overdue. We are still unpacking, but every day I get something new accomplished, such as new phones, and smoke/co2 detectors. How exciting. Now that we have a house, there are so many boring things you have to buy before you can get to the fun stuff!

This past week has been super busy, with the move, and a bridezilla party with some girlfriends on the weekend (we wore our wedding dresses) and also Mike's birthday yesterday. But, first, to the pictures...

The huge tv room at the back of the house, and the windows that look into the backyard.

The kitchen, the brick wall in the kitchen, and the dining room.

Here are the bathroom, laundry room, and the living rooms with some of their furniture in them.

Well, hope you enjoyed the pics--let us know when you wanna come visit. Although it was in the minus 40s last week, so I would recommend waiting for spring!

Moving Day

2008-01-26T08:40:00.000-08:00

Well, we have our new house, keys and all! We started moving in yesterday while I was at work, as Mike has his Dad and sister here to help. They actually did most of the work, but today we are planning on finishing the moving, so I'm very excited! Just wanted to update you all on that. I will try to post some pictures later today of the house before all the boxes were in!

Craving

2008-01-19T19:05:00.000-08:00

Today I had the biggest craving to be somewhere warm and tropical. The snow is still beautiful, especially today as it was fresh and the sky eggshell blue. But, that got me thinking about spring, and how it is already warming up. Which got me thinking about summer and lying on a beach and being warm and swimming. I'm such a summer person, I think that except for the snowy Christmas time of the year, I could go forever just being in summer. No socks. No laces to tie up. No scraping the car inside and out. So now I realize that in order to last through the winters up here I'm going to have to plan a holiday to Hawaii or maybe the Domonican Republic, or somewhere like that.

Speaking of traveling, Mike and I have booked our ticket to the island in March, so I'm planning on eating at all my favourite restaurants in Victoria in one week as well as replacing my lululemon's, which have lasted me three good years of being worn at least 3 times a week. I think that was worth the price they cost me.

And, I finally made it to the gym today after a week of being too ill to go. Still sick, but hoping to be better by monday so that I can work this week. Still packing up the apartment, but moving day is only a week away now! Will post pictures of the house once we're moved in!

Sicko

2008-01-14T10:03:00.000-08:00

That's me. Only three half days and one friday of teaching the first week back and I'm already sick. I lost my voice on friday, and then didn't feel well friday night because my throat was so raw. I thought it was just from losing my voice, but then my ears started throbbing too. I guess that's what you get when you work with elementary kids.

Although, why is is that being sick always comes on the weekend? There are many things I wanted to do this weekend, including packing and going to the gym, but instead I spent most of it trying to sleep with my head propped up.

Oh well, hopefully I can get lots of packing done this week and next weekend. The big day is coming very soon and Mike's Dad is coming to help us move on the 25th. I'm so excited to have some family come up here. Anyone wanna come with him? We could go sledding, it would be fun....

Last night I watched one of my all-time favourite movies, Roman Holiday, with Audrey Hepburn. I had no idea she won the best actress Oscar for it, which is incredible as it was her first film. My favourite moment is when she is in Gregory Peck's character's apartment and is about to say goodbye and get changed and as she tries to walk past him to the bathroom he grabs her and they hug each other so tightly and her facial expression is just perfect. It's so romantic.

It got me thinking, how many movies are there that I enjoy watching again every year? Here is the list I came up with:

1.Roman Holiday
2.Love Actually
3.50 First Dates
4.Practical Magic
5.The Fellowship of the Ring

Notice that the first four are all semi-romantic. I guess that's just me.
But now I'm curious, which movies do you watch again and again?

Winter fun

2008-01-07T16:16:00.000-08:00

This last weekend before Mike and I both went back to work was a lot of fun. We hadn't had the chance to really do any winter outdoor activities, but after it started snowing again, we decided to plan a day of sledding.

Our friends Matt and Lindsey took us to this place they used to go sledding at, about 80 km out of town, in the direction of the Peace River (north east of us I believe). As you get to the river valley, the road starts to slope downwards and around, so on the left of the highway, there is a "forest" (although it did actually have some nice big thick trees scattered in amongst the spindly ones). The cool thing, is that at the bottom of the hill, there is a landing where you can park in the snow, a fire pit, and an opening in the trees that leads all the way up the hill through the forest to the road. It's actually for skidooing, but we took our sleds and climbed the huge hill, (it took about 20 minutes just to walk up it) and eventually found where it came out at the top of the highway. We marked our spot, and then the four of us sledded down the insane hill, with L and I sharing a double sled. It was soo scary, but the best sledding I've ever done. In fact, after this, I don't think anything else really counts as sledding. When we finally got to the bottom, I think my face was pure white as I was at the front and got all the powder spray. I kept thinking we were going to crash into the forest because there were some really steep parts in between the flatter areas, with big jumps and holes in the snow. Thankfully it's so powdery up here it doesn't hurt too bad, although I was really sore the next day.

Once we got to the bottom, we drove back up to the top and sledded down again, this time by ourselves, so that one person could take turns driving the car down to pick us up at the bottom. Yes, the hill is that long. I think it took me nearly 10 minutes just to go down the hill once. I realized how strange it must have sounded when I told them it was the first time I'd been in a forest that was covered in snow. You don't really realize that there aren't many chances to take a stroll through the woods on Vancouver Island when the trees are all powdery and white. It was a really beautiful trail.

When we got home, I had to quickly get changed because our friend Kim and Nathan had finally had their baby, and we were headed off to the hospital to visit. I got home, took one look at myself in the mirror, and couldn't stop laughing. It turns out that the first run had completely melted mascara all around my eyes and had been that way all day! And no one told me. Sheesh. You would have told me, wouldn't you? Oh well, at least we all looked pretty silly, being red in the face, with matted, powdery hair.

At the hospital, I got to meet baby Gwen, who was born on January 4th. I got to hold her and couldn't believe how tiny newborn babies are. I always forget, because I'm so used to all the older baby girls here. I can't believe how many there are. 2007 was the year of the baby girl. If I count all my friends up here and in Victoria, in the past year, there have been 7 baby girls born, plus, just in my new church here in the last year, there were 7 baby girls born, and only 1 baby boy. It's kind of cool though, for a group of mothers who are friends to all have baby girls in the same year, because they can grow up playing with each other. Kind of like the sisterhood of the traveling pants or something.

Okay, enough about babies. I still haven't listed my new year's resolutions, or goals as I like to call them, but they include:

1) reading the bible every day
2) losing weight/exercising/eating healthy
3) making a better effort at keeping in touch with friends
4) sending off all my poems and stories for publishing
5) saving for my trip to Ireland, which I really want to accomplish soon, before Mike and I start having kids.

I think that's all of them. Last year I started reading more again, and getting back into the YA fantasy mind set so that I can start writing them, and I did accomplish that goal, since I read about 20 of them last year. It feels good to get to the end of the year, and realized that you've actually been consistent with one of your goals.

Well, to end off with, here are some of our sledding action shots. It's hard to capture the best moments, but they do give you an idea.

Matt and Lindsey going for a ride.

Me sledding at the bottom of the hill ( I was always the slowest one).

The boys attempting to survive without crashing on the steepest part of the hill.

Mike, arriving at the bottom.

Happy Winter!

Books this year

2008-01-01T17:54:00.000-08:00

Taking the idea from Ciboulette, I have decided to also post the list of books I read this year. I haven't made a book list since I was a kid and very dorky when it came to my book list--the purpose was usually to show how many books I could read in a year--usually around 150 novels, mainly Nancy Drew. I can't believe how much time I used to have to read!

So, this year's list is quite funny, because while Mike was in Regina and I was on my practicum, I read way more than I had during my entire degree. And, since I could finally read for pleasure, and wasn't forced to read adult fiction novels, I began catching up on all the YA fantasy series' that had been written in the last few years. Thus, my list has only about 3 adult novels on it, although I did attempt to read One Hundred Years of Solitude to make up for it (and only made it half way through. I'm also currently reading Ireland, by Frank Delaney.

So, here they are, approximately from least favourite to most favourite.

23. Beyond the Deepwoods, by Paul Stewart and Chris Ridell
22. The Magician's Nephew, C.S. Lewis
21. Lost, Gregory Maguire
20. Trickster's Queen, Tamora Pierce
19. The Memory Keeper's Daughter, Kim Edwards
18. Princess Academy, Shannon Hale
17. Enna Burning, Shannon Hale
16. Avalon High, Meg Cabot
15. The Lion, the witch and the wardrobe, C.S. Lewis
14. Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, J.K Rowling
13. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
12. The Penderwicks, Jeanne Birdsall
11. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
10. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
9. Mimus, Lilli Thal
8. Trickster's Choice, Tamora Pierce
7. The Golem's Eye, Johnathan Stroud
6. The Amulet of Samarkand, Johnathan Stroud
5. Inkheart, Cornelia Funke
4. A Dirty Job, Christopher Moore (most hilarious book ever)
3. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
2. Inkspell, Cornelia Funke (could be tied for first)
1. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

If you have never read any YA fantasy series, or if you've only read Harry Potter, definitely read the Funke books, they are very good. Also, not on my list as I've already read them all are O.R Melling's books for young adults, which she has recently re-written and re-published, but they are amazing too. Happy reading for a new year!

Another year? What the heck!?

2007-12-30T16:01:00.001-08:00

On a snowy walk.

snowy sunset in the Dawson Creek park.

Snowy view from our building.

It's hard to believe that tomorrow is that last day of the year. They say time seems to go by faster the older you get, which I think is true so far. It's hard to believe it's been a year since Mike went away to Depot, or that it's been a year since I started my practicum, or that I've already lived in D.C for 6 months!

Despite having no family here, our Christmas was really awesome. On Christmas Eve, I went to church, and Mike stopped by in uniform near the end. Then, I was invited to Matt's parents house where they were playing games and eating food. On Christmas morning, I made waffles just as Mike was getting home from work, and then we ate at 5:30 am and opened our gifts before going back to sleep. We were delighted to receive a CD from Mike's mom and Dave with video of them going around to mine and Mike's family members. We cried watching all our relatives say Merry Christmas and sing us songs. The best was when our nieces sang us "I want a hippopotomus for Christmas...". So cute. So that was a great surprise, and then we also got spoiled by everyone. Some of our gifts included, new comfy pj's from Mike, a new board game, a really cool digital camera (so I can finally post pics once I figure it out), a cookbook, a book on home reno's (which we are going to need!), some french books from my sister in Quebec...all in all I was very spoiled. Thanks everyone!

Christmas dinner brought us to Matt and Lindsey's house, where my carrot dish (thanks Granny), cheesecake and good pudding were a hit. We ate early so that Mike could be there, even though he was sooo tired and heading off to work for another night. Then, we played Cranium, where the girls kicked the boys butts, and some card games (I now know how to play poker). Mike surprised us by returning in his uniform to hang out and then drove me home later on in the cruiser, which is always fun. Either the people in the building think I get picked up by the police a lot, or they now know where the police live...oops.

Boxing day is always fun as no one I know was hospitalized like last year, and neither of us had to work! So, instead we had another turkey dinner with two other members, and played games until 2 am.

Mike and I at our boxing day dinner.

We're getting so excited to move into the house now, only 25 days. I better start packing. My wallet is definitely shrinking from all the things that have to be paid for though. We did get a 50% couch, loveseat and chair set thanks to the Brick's boxing day sale, so that was exciting. We can now almost furnish both living rooms in the house.

Mike is back to work for 4 days now, but I can't wait until he's off again, because it just snowed a lot, so we are going to go sledding on friday or saturday!

Happy New Year everyone!

Spoiled teacher, gingerbread, and Christmas music

2007-12-23T15:06:00.000-08:00

Friday was my last day of school, so I'd planned a Christmas party for the kids. It went really well, although a little crazy as all the sugar and icing (we decorated cookies) made them extra hyper. But, what can you do? It's Christmas and I was happy to be able to make them so excited for it. I was also incredibly spoiled by my class--there were 19 of them in class on the last day, and 16 of them brought me gifts. I'll take a picture of them once I open the camera I know I'm getting for Christmas...teehee. But they included about 10 Christmas ornaments, candles, chocolates, and many decorated Christmas cards. Including the one that was labelled "M.Happy" for Madame Happy, from a little boy who calls me that as he has difficulty saying my last name! Haha..so cute. Although I would not have said the same thing if a high school boy was calling me that. Grade one is fine though.

But, I now have this enormous gingerbread woman that I decorated but I'm so sick of sweets that I can barely eat it. I know, I know, me sick of dessert. But yes, I just feel like eating tons of veggies and fruits, how strange is that?

The best part of today was receiving a CD from my friend here, Kim, who recorded a Christmas CD with a friend of hers. I'd listened to it at her house and told her I loved it, so she wrapped up a copy and gave it to me at Church this morning. It is so amazing, I wish I could play it for you, but I will be listening to it until Christmas that's for sure.

Although we have no family coming, and Mike is working over Christmas, I was invited to a gathering on Christmas eve, after the church service, so I'm excited for that. And then Mike and I are having an afternoon dinner on Christmas day with Matt and Lindsey and their family, and then on boxing day, we've planned a dinner with another RCMP member and his wife, who are also new and have no family coming. So, it should be a lot of fun.

I am disappointed, however, as Mike was supposed to have New Year's Eve off and most of the next day, so I was actually planning on going out for once this year, as usually we both opened the stores we worked at on the 1st. But, it turns out he now has to work night shift on New year's eve, which means that we can't do anything. I was really mad at first, because he's alreaday working Christmas, and it seemed to me that they should ask someone who has Christmas off to work New Years. He's not even the new guy on the watch anymore, he actually has seniority over about 4 other new members. But, I think I've gotten over it now, as really it's flattering to him that when they needed an extra member on one of the busiest night shifts of the year, he was the one they asked. Or maybe I'm just forcing myself to look at it that way. It's Christmas, right, so I shouldn't complain. Plus, most exciting of all is that we got our house! Everything went well with our other inspections, and we take possession on the 25th of January. I'm already decorating in my head all day!

Well, there is 1 day and about 8 hours until Christmas. I hope everyone has a safe and happy Christmas and that you remember the reason we all celebrate on this day. No matter how materialzed it has become, and no matter how many people call Christmas the "holidays", it will always be Christmas to me.

God Bless.

9 days till Christmas!

2007-12-16T18:21:00.000-08:00

I can't believe how quickly the Christmas season is coming and how quickly it will soon be over. It still makes me sad on boxing day morning every year. This week was one of the busiest since we moved up to D.C. Not only did I have my school Christmas concert, my bible study Christmas party, Mike's work party and my work party, but we also decided to buy a house!

It's not finalized yet, but we put in an offer on Monday that was accepted. We had the bank approve our financing, and then we had the house inspection done on Thursday. Unfortunately, it turns out that there are a few things that might need repairing soon, so we have extended our deadline until Thursday to try and sort out the cost of the repairs, and then we may change our offer depending on that.

I really hope it works out though, as I still love the house, but so far we haven't gotten a hold of any electricians who can give us an estimate on what it will cost to repair the electrical mast on the house. I was told a few thousand dollars, but then a woman at work said she had hers replaced for 500$. It's hard to know, but let's just pray that it is all sorted out in time on Thursday and that we still get the house. My biggest worry is whether we will be able to resell it when we leave Dawson Creek. I'm not worried about making money on it, I just don't want to lose any.

Buying a house is so risky, especially one that needs work when you live in a city with limited resources.

Now that all the Christmas parties are over, I'm not sure what I will do this week. I finished my presents, mailed off all the gifts and cards, wrapped the ones for Mike and now it's just a matter of waiting! I'm enjoying the constant play of Christmas shows on CBC--right now it's Rudolph, but later they're playing the Polar Express, which I loved.

Oh, and I forgot to mention it was also my 8 year anniversary (not of marriage, just of being together) on tuesday. So, we had our traditional Christmas date which wasn't the same without the Butchart gardens, but we went to the old fashioned Christmas at the pioneer village for free food, including chestnuts roasted over a real live open fire...haha. I've never tasted them before, but they actually are quite good. The best part, however, was taking a sleigh ride through the snowy dark fields pulled by horses with bells! Seriously, it was a lot of fun. There were so many kids from the school I teach at. On our way over to the sleigh, the horse-drawn wagon passed us and I heard a chorus of girls yell out "Bonjour, Mme L'Heureux"! It was so cute, I couldn't help but laugh, as it was dark and they had recognized me by the gray knit tuque with the pompom I always wear.

So, a lot of Christmas fun has been had this month, and I am looking forward to reading some books, playing board games with Mike, and a Christmas dinner at our friend Lindsay and Matt's house in the afternoon before Mike heads off to work. We are hoping to spend two weeks on the island for March break, but it all depends on whether he can get his schedule changed--he had booked it off already, but then they decided to shuffle the watches around, which means that he's on a completely different schedule as of January. Hopefully it doesn't ruin our plans. Fingers crossed, because I am already dreaming of breakfast at Rebar, Pagliacci's, and the Blue Fox.

Merry 9 days till Christmas everyone!

Buying a house

2007-12-09T17:32:00.000-08:00

After looking for months, and checking out about 7 possibilities in person, Mike and I have decided to put an offer in on a house in our neighbourhood. It's listed on mls.ca if you want to have a look at it and tell me what you think! Or try this link.

If that didn't work it's number 6779. It's a sort of 50s retro style house, built in 1957 by a mayor of Dawson Creek. It's had some renovations, and we love the huge family/entertainment room they've added on through the french doors at the back of the house. It has a fireplace and is super cozy. We'll definitely be needing some new furniture for it though!

I'm nervous as to whether we'll get it or not, as we are meeting to put an offer in tomorrow. It's so hard to decide what to offer though, as I don't want to start too high or too low. Also, we will need to buy a washer and dryer and eventually a new stove and fridge. I also want to do new flooring as it is pretty mis-matched at the moment. The kitchen definitely needs new floors.

I'm so happy to think that this summer I could be barbequeing and lying out in the sun instead of stuck in an apartment. The one downfall though is the flat roof, which Mike may have to shovel every once in a while if there is too much snow. It's been super warm though today--only -1 compared to about -32 at the start of the week.

Well, I'd love to hear what other people think of the house. I need to go finish wrapping the last of my presents to mail off tomorrow. Feel free to offer thoughts on decorating ideas, colours etc...!

More poetry

2007-12-01T12:39:00.000-08:00

I found out this morning that I won first prize in a Canadian poetry contest. The contest required a poem written within the theme of Canadian Landscape. Mine was chosen as first place winner, tied with another writer from Abbotsford. Please check out the website, where I am also currently a "featured writer".

Winter is definitely here although the calendar says it's not so for another 20 days. Every day is a new cold record for me. Yesterday it was about -20. I also attended my first Christmas party of the season with my church last night. Afterwards the girls and I watched "Love Actually" and broke my no junk diet by eating lots of chips and brownies. Well worth it though.

Today is a lazy day as I slept in until noon, but I think I should go do some Christmas shopping and finish making my Christmas cards. There's not much time before I have to mail them off!

Happy December!

This week in point form

2007-11-25T20:38:00.000-08:00

A few good things to write about but must get to bed...pro-d day tomorrow morning:

The dinner party was awesome--16 people in our apartment! Plus, the girls kicked butt at Cranium.

Went to the Christmas tree light up the other night with Starbucks hot chocolate and 3 lovely ladies. Not super impressed by the lights but it was still fun and festive...K's comment was "I think we should decorate the tree ourselves next year". Let's just say it could have used a little tinsel. Mike was busy doing traffic control and will now spend the rest of the holiday season prying drunk people down when they try to climb it. (They replace the mile O post below in the center of the intersection with a big christmas tree)

The best part was when Santa rode in sitting in the bucket/crane thingy of a big truck. Wish I'd had a camera. I live in such a redneck town but I love it.

Just saw Enchanted at the theatre with Mike and another couple--we dragged our husbands along but I think they secretly liked it.

It's very cold out right now. Plugged the car in for the first time and I think I could feel the snot freezing in my nose. I'm a true Northerner now.

101 posts

2007-11-16T14:25:00.000-08:00

Hey, I just realized that I finally got 100 posts on my blog!

Even better than that, though, is the fact that today I had my first good friday with my grade ones. I was so happy by the end of the day that we'd made it through and that I was able to drive home without wanting to cry or drive my car into the ditch...just kidding. But it was a really great day. The library was the best part. Usually, they are sooo bad in the library that some of them have been threatened with being banned from coming back. But, today, I read them a story and they all say quietly on the carpet and listened! It was amazing, especially considering that it was a Friday afternoon.

So, now I get to be stressed out and busy this evening, preparing for my first dinner party tomorrow, with the gang from our bible study. I'm making a pretty elaborate menu of different appetizers I've been wanting to try. I tried to make them all semi-Italian so that they go well together. Let's just say I bought a lot of cheese.

First, there is cranberry and raspberry punch. Then, there is dill and three onion dip with veggies, bread and a brie/havarti tray, cambozola and grape canapes, spinach and artichoke dip with pita chips, sicilian meatballs, mandarin apricot chicken wings, mushroom caps, mushroom and cheese pastry bundles, spicy yam fries, italian chick pea salad, and apple, celery, grape salad. Hopefully it will be good. For dessert I made cherry mini-cakes, truffle brownies with ganache icing, and lemon squares.

Okay, really, it's not all made yet. Which is why I should stop typing and start cooking!

Un jour de souvenir

2007-11-11T16:18:00.000-08:00

Today, as I sat in Church during the Remembrance day ceremony, with Mike up front in full Red Serge, carrying the Canadian flag, I thought about my Nonno, and what he must remember and think about on Remembrance day. As an Italian ex-soldier, who was living in Ethiopia at the time WWII began, he is not celebrated as a war veteran in Canada, although I am sure he is glad for those in Canada who fought for this country, as it is their sacrifices that allowed him to be able to move and live freely in Canada. But, at the same time, he must remember his friends and comrades who died for Italy, and who are not remembered in the same way for having been on the "wrong side" of the war. Yet, they were young and far removed from Hitler, and did not have a choice of whether they were in the war. Luckily, my nonno was taken prisoner by the British early on, and spent the duration working on a farm until the war's end. The real difficulties came for my nonna, who was raising the daughter my nonno didn't know existed (she was born right after he left) and the only communication they had was through letters that were blacked-out and censored.

I can imagine her fleeing Ethiopia, trying to make her way back to Italy to be safe with my Auntie Connie. Living, as she claims, for five years, on nothing but oranges, which I imagine grew abundantly in Sicily. And that was the last time she saw Africa. It must be so strange to grow up in a country, spend a quarter of your life their, and then never go back. What would it be like if I left Canada today and never returned. I have no idea what it is like to live in Tunisia, or Ethiopia, or to have no one to speak your first language to most of your life.

And yet, if they had not perservered through this time, and come to Vancouver island, my mother would not have been born in Port Alberni, where she met my Dad, where I was born, and eventually met Mike.

So today I am grateful that they made it through a separation much longer than the one I endured while Mike was training. And grateful for Mike, who and all the RCMP officers who are willing to serve and commit to the cause.

I guess I spoke too soon

2007-11-07T12:08:00.000-08:00

About the snow, I mean. On Monday I had a very entertaining day at work, which involved about 5 puddles of vomit on the kindergarten room floor. I love the little kids, and they're usually very cute, but when they all get sick at the same time and everyone is crying that they want to go home, it's not so much fun.

Then, as I was just getting to the end of the day, it started to snow quite heavily. Then, I remembered the after school meeting I had, and by the time I got to drive the 3 blocks home, the roads were snowy and slippery. I nearly crashed right into a detour sign as I attempted to turn the corner on my way home. Why do I always choose to live on a hill?

Thankfully the snow melted yesterday, then resnowed this morning, then remelted. So, we're back to no snow. I can't help but give the huge trucks dirty looks as I pass them in the snow. The way they take up two parking spaces, and splash muck all over poor little Tercel. I defy you trucks and your snow tires! Ha ha!

Seriously, though, Tercel does just fine in the snow. But, I don't think I'm going to take any jobs that require me to drive out to Chetwynd every day. Not that Mike would let me. He nearly got into an accident driving out there himself, and he's much better in the snow than I am.

So, I'm thinking of starting a book club, because I've been reading a lot lately and it would be fun to discuss books with like-minded individuals. Must find enough people though. I also don't really know how to organize one. How often do you meet?

I'm hoping the weather is okay for tomorrow, as I am subbing at a new school across town that I've never been to before. Hopefully the kids are good. I sure wish I would get some calls to the high school though, I miss the teenagers.

Here's a quote I enjoyed from the book I started reading last night.

"...storytelling--from wherever it comes--forms a layer in the foundation of the world; and glinting in it we see the trace elements of every tribe on earth." (Frank Delaney--IRELAND)

This is a book all about storytelling, and it is really good so far. The perfect book for sitting on the couch with a cup of my favourite tea. (Candy cane lane--It smells like Christmas, and I just found it again the other day, after having used all of mine up.)

The one nice thing about early snow is that I can start listening to Christmas music earlier.

Sense of Purpose

2007-11-02T23:35:00.000-07:00

Well, we made it to November without snow--yeah! Apparently this is looking good, according to what happened last winter. I plan on purchasing my winter coat tomorrow, although I still can't decide which of two I like better. But, it's finally starting to feel really cold, and it's supposed to get to -9 on the weekend, so I better get ready for November.

Just got home from Mr. Mike's and drinks with my volleyball team. We're on a winning streak at the moment, so we went out afterwards. I ordered Spinach and Artichoke dip--an old Victoria favourite, but it was more like hot spinach dip with melted cheese and tomatoes(?) on top. Nachos? Not too sure, but it was still good. I had a yummy drink as well, which was as close to a Bellini as I think I'm going to find.

Lately I have been having recurring dreams about having a baby, and I wonder if it's me worrying about having kids, or thinking that I want to. Truthfully, I really don't want to have a baby right now, and there are so many other things I am looking forward to doing, but up here EVERYONE has kids, so it's hard to fit in and also hard to watch all the pregnant ladies and new cute babies without wanting one yourself. At the same time though, having come from Victoria where hardly anyone has kids, I still feel that pull to work on my career and TRAVEL and do so many other things I've been waiting to do. I guess I just feel so isolated up here, like there aren't that many options. Sigh. Who knows where we'll end up next, or what that place will be like.

I am already planting roots here though, and at the same time hesitating, when I think that in a few years I'll just have to say goodbye to a whole new group of friends and start over again. It's hard to be committed to a place, knowing that you won't be around to see the fruit of the seeds you planted.

I'm trying to remind myself that there is a purpose and a reason that we were sent here, I just don't know what it is yet. Patience...sigh.

All Hallow's Eve

2007-10-31T19:27:00.000-07:00

Well, today is Halloween, and it's the first year in a few that I've gotten dressed up. I worked today, so I dressed up as the paper bag princess (you know from the Robert Munsch story) complete with safeway paper bag dress, black soot smudges and a a crown that was slightly burnt from that mean old dragon. It was a lot of fun, and the kids really liked it. The school was swarming with dressed up kids and teachers, candy, all sorts of halloween goodies, and tons of activities and games.

Mike and I also carved a pumpkin, which is currently on our balcony with two lanterns and orange candles. It's the first year we've had a balcony people could actually see, so I had to decorate. I can hear the trick or treaters running up and down the street and I'm sure they're happy that it's not snowing this year, as it was last year. Nope, unlike the island where it's always raining, we have a sunny day and now a starry night for halloween.

Mike and I are going to the movie theatre tonight as there are no parties that we know of going on. That's okay, though. Next year, when we own our own house, I'm definitely throwing a costume party.

A little bit of Halloween history: Originally, when the Celtic festival Samhain (where Hallowe'en originated from) was Christianized--(All Saint's day on November 1st) people would go door to door the night before this day, offering to pray for the souls of the dead, and in return the people would offer them cakes made with fruit and bread, which were called soul cakes. If the people in the house refused, they would play a prank, or "trick" on them. Hence the trick or treat. This was what they did in the middle ages, before wrapped candy bars at Wal-mart.

I find it so interesting how festivals and feast days were Christianized but sort of kept in the same spirit, and how evolved they are today. So many Christians are opposed to Hallowe'en and the way people celebrate it today--if only we could remember how it started, with people praying door to door.

Personally, I love any reason to display lights and put on a costume!

Of student loans, block heaters and tasers...

2007-10-25T16:54:00.000-07:00

Yippee....I just signed my "consolidated loan agreement and repayment form" from the National Student loan service. How exciting. I'm officially working enough that I have to start paying back my 6 years worth of student loans. How fun. Except for the fact that the interest is already at 2000 dollars and I haven't even begun! I don't get why the interest rate has to be so high for student loans.

Sigh. Oh well, I'm still saving for that trip to Ireland.

Mike isn't working today, but he's gone to Fort St. John to take the RCMP taser course. It's two full days, which means that we don't really get to enjoy any time off together. Also, he experienced the magic of the taser himself yesterday, with the burn marks to prove it. He actually volunteered to be tasered for a full five seconds. Apparently there's a t-shirt.

Our car is now fully equipped with a block heater. For those of you islanders, that means that I now have to plug in my car when it gets too cold outside. So bizarre. I can just see myself completely forgetting and dragging the extension cord along behind me on my way to work after not unplugging the car in the morning.

I still need my winter coat and boots, but apparently the fact that there isn't snow yet is a good sign. Last year it started on October 28th and stayed until April. Everyone here seems so surprised when I tell them that I like it here so far. They usually say "come on, you can tell the truth" as if I lied so as not to hurt their feelings. The truth is that I'd rather be on the island, but I do like it here. The sky is always blue and we're making lots of new friends. What I don't get is why the people who hate it here don't move away. It seems as though the northern BC raised can't seem to get out of the north, even though they don't like it. It's not true for all of them, but most of the people I've met who were raised here have never been to the island. It's hard for me to believe, because to me the island is the best place in BC to live. But, I guess if you've never been to Victoria, then you don't really know what you're missing.

My hands are so cold they can't type anymore, so I better go turn the heat up....

Good pudding

2007-10-17T17:19:00.001-07:00

Just went for my first run this week. I'd had a great schedule worked out, and then got lazy over the weekend. But, now I'm trying to get back into it, but the cold weather makes it less and less desirable. I find I can't run for more than 5 minutes, without my lungs and chest starting to hurt from the cold air. I've now upgraded my running outfit to three shirts, pants and gloves.

Cashed my poetry prize yesterday to discover that Canada post totally rips you off on postal money orders. The 300$ American turned into only 279$ Canadian. I know our dollar is now worth 2 cents more, but the post office is only giving a .93 cent exchange rate. How cheap is that. Oh well, I'm still excited. And, Goblin Fruit has asked me to send them a reading of my poem to put in the spring issue with my poem, which I'm nervous but excited to do.

Ran past my favourite house today and saw that although it has now sold, there is another one two doors down for sale. I really love that street, so hopefully there will still be one for sale by the time we can by.

I've been working at least 4 days a week lately, which is awesome as it means I can finally pay off my line of credit. My favourite is when I get called in for just a morning or an afternoon, because I get to work for just a few hours, and then go home and enjoy the rest of the afternoon, or take a nap. So lovely.

Well, it's Bible study tonight so I am off to make them some good pudding. Yum. Way to reward myself for going for a run...

If you've never had my good pudding, here is the recipe:

Make two packages of instant vanilla pudding
Add one tub of cool whip
Add one box of crushed fudgeo cookies
Stir in one can of mandarin oranges
Garnish with grated chocolate if you wish

It's delicious!

Here's the link

2007-10-08T10:28:00.000-07:00

I just realized that the link to the page didn't work, so here it is again:

http://www.utmostchristianwriters.com/poetry-contest/recent-winners.php

second place...not bad!

2007-10-06T14:34:00.000-07:00

The winners were posted on line this morning at Utmost Christian Writers, and I opened the page to discover that I'd received second place, and a prize of 300$!

This means that I now have 300$ towards my summer travel fund, so I'm very excited. Also, because I was one of the top 5 winners, my poem and bio is published on their webpage. Go to to read mine as well as the other winners.

It's a neat foundation, because it pays out quite a large number of cash prizes to new poets, which is always nice!

Well, it's a beautiful Saturday here, and I'm waiting for my ipod to charge so that I can go for a run. I wanted to go this morning, but I was lazy and can't stand running anymore without music. Then, it got cloudy, but now it's back to blue sky so I'm glad I waited. It's so nice to have a 3 day weekend with no plans and Mike is asleep as he worked last night. So, I'm just relaxing in my house, which has already been cleaned by Mike yesterday,with plans for reading and maybe thinking about some more writing and/or scrapbooking later on!

Yeah for thanksgiving long weekends...oh yeah, and I get a turkey dinner on Monday at the other new RCMP's house. Happy thanksgiving everyone!

Below are the pictures I tried uploading a few posts ago, of Dawson Creek, and my apartment. Note the bookshelf, which I was so happy to be able to get, and the best room of all, the laundry room...also, the outdoor pics are from summer, when the hills around were nice and green.

Success!

2007-10-03T18:07:00.000-07:00

This week has been an exciting one so far, and has literally flown by what with the crazy 48 hour trip to Saskatoon that Mike and I made. We really enjoyed Kim and Todd's wedding though. Plus, we got to catch up with some old friends, who now live a lot closer since we're in DC, which means there will be more visiting in the near future. I still haven't quite caught up on my sleep, as I only got about 2 hours on friday night....but, I did sleep a lot yesterday.

Spent way too much time on the phone trying to sort out new billing accounts with our various internet/phone/cable companies since we've moved, which is extremely unexciting. However, to counter that, I am really excited to say that on monday, I found out that I won a poetry contest I'd entered. It's a novice poetry contest for unpublished writers and apparently I won one of the cash prizes. I won't know if it's 1st/2nd/3rd place until Saturday, but either way I was so happy to know that I'd succeeded with all the research and editing I've been doing to get my work sent out. Then, to make things even better, I got an email yesterday from an online poetry 'zine that I sent a couple of poems to, and found out that they want to publish a poem I wrote in their Spring 2008 issue. They also want a recording of myself reading it, which is cool since Mike, being an RCMP officer, has a digital recorder that we can use.

It's really exciting to have been successful so quickly, as I've only submitted to three places so far, and two of them have accepted my work. They're both smaller journals, but it's nice to get started. Check out the on-line journal at http://www.goblinfruit.net/summer07/ if you get a chance. It's a really neat site, and they publish fantastical poetry, which is great for me. I love the art work and design of the site.

Well, I'm off to my wednesday night Bible study!

10 reasons I like Dawson Creek

2007-09-27T19:23:00.000-07:00

Today was my first day of tocing, finally. It turns out that I actually wasn't on the list for some reason, or they screwed up somehow. Luckily, though I overheard some teachers saying how they couldn't get anyone to sub for them, and I was like "Excuse me--I will!". Unfortunately, though, I didn't find out until after 8am this morning, so it was a bit of a rush, but I was glad to get to work.

I've also started my new teaching assignment. I'm now employed .544 time, which is a little over 50%. So, I'm teaching mondays in french immersion kindergarten, wednesdays tech classes and fridays in grade one still.

This has been a busy week, and it's going to be especially busy this weekend as Mike and I have decided to try and make it to our friend's wedding in Saskatoon which is on Saturday at 4pm, but Mike is technically supposed to work night shift on friday, so we're hoping he gets off early enough that we can drive there in time. This means basically not sleeping, but we figure it will be an adventure. He's driving to Edmonton, (if he gets off early enough), and I'm driving to Saskatoon. According to mapquest, it will take us 12 hours and 3 minutes, plus the one hour time difference, so we need to leave by 3 am our time to make it. I'm praying it's the slowest night ever.

Life in Dawson Creek has gotten much busier now, so it feels like I actually live here. For some reason, it has felt very temporary this whole time. Here are some pics and some reasons why I like our new home.

1) The sky is HUGE--you can forcast your own day just by looking off in the distance.

2) Every driveway has about 3-4 large trucks and a fifth wheel, so our tercel is actually unique.

3)You can wear a scarf (and not just as a fashion statement) from September to May.

4)When I tell people we want four kids, they think "Is that it?" I've met several families of 11 or 12 kids, plus other "averaged" sized families of 5-6 kids.

5)We don't have to change our clocks ever. (no fall back or spring forward)

6)There's only one of everything so you don't have to choose(bookstore, health food store, kitchen store, movie store--oh , wait, there's two of that one :)

7)There are moose in your backyard.

8)No seagulls to poop on your car while you're at work.

9)The movie theatre is identical to the one in Port Alberni where I grew up.

10)I get to see the Northern Lights.

Well, blogger doesn't seem to want to let me post any pictures right now...darn. I finally got some of where I live! Well, I know a lot of you have been wanting to see some pics, so I will try again later and hopefully you can finally see what it's like up here!

Snow in summer?

2007-09-19T18:13:00.000-07:00

Yesterday morning was a shock for me as I left the house at 5:30 am to drive Mike to work. Why? Because I had to clear the snow off the roof of my car!

Yes, that's right. I've moved to a city where it snows in summer. I know it doesn't feel like summer anymore, but technically, the first day of fall isn't until Saturday, and we've already skipped to winter!

I will admit though that it was a complete fluke snow which only happened because of one day of arctic air and by noon it had all melted off the "mountains". It was still crazy though. I think it's the first time I've seen snow before November. It also worried me as I still don't have that block heater, or the snow tires. Must get those soon. I've also decided it's time to retire the summer clothes and put on socks. I wore a tank top and shorts the day before it snowed, and now I'm wearing two long sleeved shirts and a vest to go for a walk.

In other news, two of my favourite authors recently passed away. Madeleine L'Engle wrote some of my favourite YA fantasy and she passed away on September 6th at 88 years old. Even more surprising is that on monday Robert Jordan, the author of the Wheel of Time fantasy series died. I've been reading his series since grade 9 and apparently he was writing the last of the series--book 12. Hopefully it will still be published. Can you imagine if Tolkien or C.S. Lewis had died before finishing their series'? It's strange when an author dies because you don't really know them, but you feel as if you did because you read their work.

If you haven't read Madeleine L'Engle or Robert Jordan, I highly recommed "A wrinkle in time" and "The Eye of the World", which are their two first books in the series.