Happy Pancake Day!

Did everyone remember that it's PANCAKE TUESDAY today?? I bet some of you didn't even know that existed! Well, it actually does...check it out on the calendar. So, everyone better be having pancakes for supper tonight, if you didn't already have them for lunch.

Remember when.....

Christy, I thought I'd post this one for you! I found it amongst all my California trip pictures. This was taken at your parents place...I think at your engagement party! You two look so cute!

California Dreamin'

I was talking to my little brother yesterday on the phone about his plans for spring break. He and his buddies from Capernwray are taking a road trip down the coast into California. So, it totally got me reminising about the sweet road trip I took with my girls, oh about 5 years ago now, from Calgary to San Fransisco for our friend Krista's wedding. I thought I'd post these pics in memory!! I really can't believe how time passes girls! That was such a great trip...and we actually did it!

These last 2 pictures were taken on Alcatraz.

Olympic Addict

Is it just me, or is anyone else addicted to the Olympics? I absolutely love watching them and will be so sad once they are over tomorrow. I've been able to be home in the afternoons a lot lately, which I intend to use for homework purposes, but I'll sit down to do something and hear the games in the background and eventually find myself infront of the T.V. We've actually had the T.V. tuned in to CBC almost all the time! I have totally enjoyed the speed skating and following Cindy Klassen. I have to admit that I shed a little tear when she won gold and Christina Groves won siler in the 1500m. What an awesome feeling!! Did anyone see the little segment they did on Cindy's life and how she openly talked about being a Christian and taking the time to read her bible and put life in perspective as an athlete. They even talked about her missions trip to Mexico with her church from Winnipeg and Ron Maclean was talking with her highschool, Mennonite Brethren Collegiate, in Winnipeg. Anyways, I just thought it was cool that CBC would air all of that and choose Cindy as a role model and representative of Canada. What an opportunity for her!! So I'm going to enjoy the last couple days of games. It would be sweet if we could reach our goal of 25 medals, which is still possible as of today! Go CANADA!!!

Body Worlds

Last night I was able to experience something I'll probably never see again in my lifetime. I went with my parents, Brad and Jenna to see an exhibit at the Ontario Science Centre called Body Worlds. This was an amazing experience. The exhibit features over 200 real human specimens including entire bodies, individual organs and body slices. It was so cool to see and understand our own anatomy and health and gain a new appreciation and respect for what it means to be human. Our bodies are so amazing!! At first I was a little unsure about how it would be to see real human specimans, but it was so amazing. The creator of this exhibit does an incredible job at creatively and tastefully presenting the bodies so you can see and learn about different muscles, bones, and nerves. One body was a man that had 6 toes one each foot and 6 fingers on one hand!! Some of the cadavers had eyes in them which was little weird to look at. Oh, and another interesting display was a cross section of a 120 lb body next to a 300 lb body of a man who died of heart failure due to obesity. What an eye opening thing to actually see how excessive fat just squishes internal organs and puts such a strain on the body.
I realize this experience may not be for everyone, but if anyone gets a chance to see this exhibit, I highly recommend it. The exhibit is over in Toronto, but it travels around the world, so look for it. I think it's even returning to Toronto in the fall.
I was going to post another cool picture of the 'muscle man' display, but I thought it might be a little gross for some people. You'll have to check it out online if you want to see it.

2 1/2 weeks and counting!

So it just kind of hit me the today that I only have 2 1/2 weeks left of classes at Brock and then its onto my final teaching block. Its so hard to believe the year is almost over. I'm really starting to look forward to teaching in the grade 5/6 class in Vineland. I've stopped in to visit my future students a couple of times already and was glad to find out that I know almost half the class.
I'll have to do some major preparing during March break this year though...a little different than years past for me. Its kind of ironic actually because for the past 4 years, I've skipped school to go down to Florida with my parents. Now that I actually have the week off, I can't go!
I know already that I'll be teaching a unit on Ancient Egypt, grade 5 math, grade 6 science on electricty and a bit of music and drama. My cousin will actually be teaching at Vineland as well in the grade 6 class, so we're going to do some planning together for our electricity unit. I never would have thought that Kristy and I would both be teaching together at Vineland over 10 years after we were both students there. Pretty cool how that worked out. I actually found my Vineland school grads of '94 sweatshirt the other day. I was thinking of wearing it on my first day of teaching!! Maybe not....

Mmm...

I wanted to recommend a new beverage I had at Starbucks the other day - the new Marble Mocha Mocchiato!! It's soooo yummy and full of chocolately goodness! Try it if you can.

I copied down this quote from one of my professors today. I thought I'd post it for ya'll to think about!

"Perception is reality when you don't take the time to form an opinion".

to my non-blogger friends....

Thanks to a tip from April, I now changed my settings so that my non-blogger friends can leave me comments without having to set up their own blog. I know..I should have thought of this awhile ago, but I didn't really realize it was possible. Sorry.
Someone write me a comment so I know its working!!

to sleep or not to sleep

As I was driving home from school today, I decided to turn on a little talk radio...it was even AM station!! Yes, I listen to talk radio.....In fact, I recommend it. It's so interesting and you learn a lot....I know I'm a big geek. Actually, I think I'll make that my random life tip #2 - Listen to talk radio once in awhile. Do it, you might like it!!
So anyways, newstalk 1010 mostly talks about things going on in the news and debates them. Its great for learning to think critically about issues going on in the world and to learn how to defend a certain perpsective you might have. When I tuned in today, they were talking about this new area of research in the whole science world about creating this pill that would reduce our need for sleep. Apparently, you would be able to take this pill, sleep for 2 hours and wake up feeling like you slept a solid 8. Now I wasn't sure what I thought about this. On one hand, it would be so great. Just think about all the things you could accomplish in a day. What would you do with all the extra time? But on the other hand, doesn't that kind of go against human nature? I'm not sure what that would feel like.... only ever needing to close my eyes and sleep for 2 hours a day. What about feeling mentally rested? Isn't that just as important? Wouldn't freeing up an extra 6 hours of our day only make us busier? I thought I was already busy enough with 8 hours of sleep. Besides I don't know about the rest of you, but I LOVE sleeping!!
So what do you think?

This whole concept of tolerance

So, its late at night, much past my usual bed time, but I felt I couldn't fall asleep without first writing down some thoughts I experienced at school yesterday. We didn't have our usual classes and instead had a variety of speakers and workshops. We started out with a guest speaker talking to us about the holocaust and how to educate students about it. Then a man named Max Eisen, a holocuast survivor, shared his story. This is when all the thoughts started.
As you can imagine, hearing a personal account of a man's experience in the concentration camps is sure to fire up some emotions. At first I was incredibly intrigued, then very sad, and then mad. I was intrigued by Max's story of survival and his will to carry on and even after losing his entire family, move to Canada as a teenager and make a whole new life for himself. I was sad to hear the horrible treatment he received, the conditions he lived in, the images he saw and physical and emotional pain he experienced. I was sad too at the way humans could treat other humans...and the more I thought about, the more the sadness turned to anger. How could so many soldiers believe the lies of one dictator and murder so many million innocent human beings? I have never really sat and thought about that too much (but not that I really want to either). I thought about this in a spiritual context and realized the extent to which the idea of 'being God of ourselves' was taken. Hitler was a man who became "God of himself" and felt he had the right to determine what was best for his life and his race and that meant determining the fate of an entire people. Hold that thought for a minute.
And then this song came to my mind...."What the world needs now, is love, sweet love....."
So these thoughts continued into the afternoon as we shifted gears a little bit and sat in on a 'show' about RESPECT put on by this cool rapper guy. About a 100 kids from a local school came to Brock to hear this guy speak and sing to them about respecting other people and how to build your character by being kind to those around you (all part of an anti-bullying campaign going around the school boards). So all of us teachers sat in on this session, which was actually kind of fun, and got the kids singing and dancing about respect and 'leaning on each other' - yes, we even sang "Lean on Me"!! The main idea, of this session, however, steered my thoughts into the title of my post - tolerance and acceptance.
This whole concept of tolerance and acceptance has come to my mind a lot lately. Maybe it's because as teachers, we are being trained to teach this to children, or maybe its because of the political talk surrounding the election, but whatever it is, its a word that is becoming more and more predominant in our society. Our Canadian culture has become increasingly tolerant of other beliefs, practices and customs and is drifting further and further away from TRUTH. And there is a huge difference between respect and tolerance. In fact, the more I think about, the more it makes me angry. People everywhere are making up their own ideas of what they believe to be right...they are being God of themselves (remember that thought from before?) What is right for one person may not be right for another, but thats okay, because we have to be tolerant of each other, right? No wonder people are so INTOLERANT towards Christianity...because it is so intolerant. It actually has a standard, a truth. And yet, so many people won't accept that. But then again, didn't God say that would happen?
My last workshop of the day was called "World Religions". The purpose of the workshop was to explain the main ideas of what religion (in general) is all about and how we can deal with it when we are faced with all different religions in the classroom. The leader of this workshop was actually a chaplain. So my first thought was, "oh, this might be kind of cool, i bet this workshop will be from a christian perspective", but I was wrong. The more I listened to him speak, the more I realized how much his beliefs were all over the place. I began to wonder what exactly his job was. I mean, even if he did have spiritual convictions in any area, how could he work as a multi-faith advisor? I don't understand this...I don't think he did either. To me, it was just more evidence of this culture of tolerance.
And then this song came mind.."The love of God is greater far then tongue or man could ever tell..."
So needles to say, it was a very thought provoking day. I'm not sure how much practical teaching knowledge I gained, but thats okay. Recognizing peoples' need for God once again is much more important.

Winter Walk

Well, the sun was out, the air was crisp and there was actually some snow on the ground so I went for a walk around my neighborhood and decided to take some pictures. See if you can guess what some of them are. I was thinking of creating this into some sort of language arts lesson!!

My Hometown Girls!

Just wanted to post these pics. These are my girls! This was taken at Julie's birthday party in November.

Random Life Tips by Christine

The thought occured to me today that it would be kinda fun to start a new feature on my blog giving random little tips of information we could all use....some tips from personal experience of course and some that I just come across. So here goes.

Today's tip #1:

I know we all hate the jean buying process and want to get in and out of there ASAP. But don't give into the temptation of buying a new pair of jeans that you totally love in a size that is just a bit smaller than usual cause you just started working out (again) and obviously within a week or two, they would fit perfectly. It doesn't work and then you just feel sick for spending money on an awesome pair of jeans that nicely decorate your closet.

Flashback

The post is dedicated to my rockin' 80's friend Janette! Oh ya.



You know you grew up in the 80's if:

You've ever ended a sentence with the word "SIKE"

You watched the Pound Puppies.

You can sing the rap to the "Fresh Prince of Belair" and can
do the"Carlton".

You yearned to be a member of the B aby-sitters club and
tried to start a club of your own.

You know that "WOAH " comes from Joey on Blossom.

If you ever watched "Fraggle Rock"

You had plastic streamers on your handle bars...
and "spokey-dokes" or playing cards on your spokes for
that incredible sound effect.

You can sing the entire theme song to "DuckTales " (Woo ooh!)

You wore a ponytail on the side of your head.

You made your mom buy one of those clip s that would hold
your shirt in a knot on the side.

You wore stonewashed Jordache jean jackets and
were proud of it.

L.A. Gear....need I say more?

You know the profound meaning of "WAX ON, WAX OFF"

You wanted to be a Goonie.

You ever wore fluorescent clothing. (some of us...head-to-toe)

You have ever pondered why Smurfette was the only female smurf.

You took lunch boxes to school... and traded Garbage Pail
Kids in the schoolyard.

You still get the urge to say "NOT " after every sentence

You remember Hypercolor t-shirts.

You thought She-ra (Princess of Power!) and He-Man should
hook up.

You thought your childhood friends would never
leave because you exchanged handmade friendship bracelets.

You ever owned a pair of Jelly-Shoes. (and like
#24, probably in neon colors, too)

After you saw Pee-Wee's Big Adventure you kept saying "I
know you are, but what am I?"

You remember "I've fallen and I can't get up"

You ever got seriously injured on a Slip and Slide.

You have ever played with aSkip-It.

You remember "Popples".

"Don't worry, be happy"

You wore like, EIGHT pairs of socks over tights with high
top Reeboks.

You wore socks scrunched down (and sometimes
still do...getting yelled at by "younger hip" members of the
family)

You know what it meant to say "Care Bear Stare!!"

You remember watching "Rainbow Bright" and "My Little
Pony Tales"

You remember Alf, the lil furry brown alien from Melmac.

You remember New Kids on the Block when they were cool...
and don't even flinch when people refer to them as "NKOTB".

You knew all the characters names and their life stories
on "Saved ByThe Bell"

You know all the words to Bon Jovi - SHOT THROUGH THE HEART.

You just sang those words to yourself.

Homemade Levi shorts.. (the shorter the better)

You remember when mullets were cool!

You had a mullet!

You tight rolled your jeans.

You owned a bannana clip

You used to (and probably still do) say "What you talkin'
about Willis?"

You had big hair and you knew how to use it.

You're still singing shot through the heart in
your head, aren't you!!!

Okay, so I know that was a little long, but enjoyable none the less. I thought I would enlighten you with a few 80's pictures of my own. I can't say I meet all the criteria listed above, but I definetly grew up in the 80's.


I'm not quite sure why the pastel overalls were allowed 2 years in a row!








This is almost one of my favourite memories of the 80's. When I was 8 years old, I found a $100 bill in a mud puddle on my street. After asking around the neighborhood for a couple days, my parents let me keep it. And that was the beginning of my bank account. I thought I was a millionaire!!

My new favourite apple

Can I just say that I love Mactintosh's.....Mactintosh computers that is. It has taken me a little while to actually admit that, but I can honestly say now that I much prefer MACs to PC's. For anyone out there considering a new computer, I highly recommend getting into MAC's. I'm telling you, they are the way of the future. Now, I understand the hesitation. The one click mouse and weird keyboard features can be a little intimidating, but once you get past that, the pros far outweight the cons. I'm just starting to learn about the wonders of these babies, but my latest favourite feature is the 'hot corners'. If you've experienced these, you know what I'm talking about. Once you've experienced the possiblities, you won't go back. Do it.

To all my 'blog stalking' friends....

That's right. You know who you are. I'm talking to you. Those of you out there that take the time to view all the hard work your friends put into blogging but never seem to find a second to comment or write an email. Well, its time to straighten up and start changing things around here. Comments everyone. That's right. Time to respond to the thought and care that goes into creating these blogs, or else.


But only if you want to!

These are a few of my favourite things....

I hope you all sung my title like from the Sound of Music! If not, you better watch the movie! I have that song in my head these days because Vineland School is putting on the production in a couple weeks and my mom is playing the piano for it.
So I have to admit that the idea for this post is not original. I got the idea from some fellow bloggers. So I hope they don't mind cause I kinda liked it. I hope some of you can relate to my list of favourite things (which is not a complete list by the way!)

- fleece pants
- dill pickle popcorn
- laying in bed in the morning knowing there is nothing you HAVE to do
- my grandma's buns (and by that I mean the doughy kind!)
- pepsi, no coke....no i think I really do like pepsi better (sorry J&J!)
- gigantic sunflowers and bright coloured gerbra daisies
- the feeling you have just after a really intense workout
- putting up the Christmas tree with my family
- looking at old family pictures
- singing in a large group of people singing in 4 part harmony
- my blankie (did I say that outloud?!)
- having my entire extended family together for a meal
- sunday afternoon naps (especially when its cold and rainy out - even better!)
- a great pair of old jeans that fit just right
- SWISS CHALET
- running into an old friend unexpectedly

Isn't it great to have favourite things?