Halloween

Happy Early Halloween! As usual, they said it would start at 12, so I got up early, decorated my door and now I'm sitting here, trick-or-treater-less :( On the bright side, if they don't come I'll have a lot of candy.

In case you were wondering what Halloween looks like in Webequie, it looks like this:



It's gonna be a long winter!

My friend Leslie said "Oh she's just being Miley..."

Happy Halloween Week all!

That is what Halloween is here. A week long event. These folk love Halloween which is great because I feel like it's really a lost event on many adults. Today at school there were costume competitions and many of the teachers dressed up. Today I saw a cowboy, Snoopy & Woodstock, a cow, Michael Jackson, a rock star, a pallbearer (dressed in all black, clever), a pirate an old lady and the list goes on. I was a 'rock star' (my original costume idea) and people guessed that I was Hannah Montana/Miley Cyrus, Lady Gaga or a prostitute. Good times. For the record, I was dressed appropriately:


But people bring out the big guns for tomorrow, the Halloween dance. Last year I hear the top prize went to a fellow colleague who made an awesome homemade Optimus Prime costume out of a hockey mask and some boxes. I think I might be a wizard...I have a blue Snuggie which is a good start.

Trick or treating is tomorrow from 1pm-4pm..they just decide on the best day to do it for the kids...one of the advantages of living on a small island. This is followed by the dance and my house getting egged innumerable times (I'm sure) but it's not really my house, so meh.

My new coat has been fantastic. It is super warm and frankly just adorable in my opinion, I have had lots of compliments already. It has been so cold and has been snowing for about 2 days straight now so it's good I got it when I did.


I didn't have many students today in my classes, they decided to start their weekends early I suppose. I did have one student come and hang out with me for about an hour and a half this afternoon and we just chatted. It's interesting to get inside the head of a teenage boy for a while, which to me is one of the rewards of teaching high school.

I came home and napped today from about 6 to 10 because I had a horrendous headache, since I'm trying to kick 'the stuff'...the 'juice'...that black fizzy drug I am addicted to: Diet Pepsi. When I was talking to my sister today we decided that it is my own personal brand of heroin (in the words of Edward Cullen) and that tea is my Methadone. So far it's been tough, I'm craving it HARD but I decided that spending $45 a week on pop just wasn't worth it. Instead, I will save my pop money and go to frickin Disney World! Booya.

Well..I am sitting amongst sunflower seed shells and empty candy wrappers so I should probably go and clean up a bit. Till later bloggies...

Fancy corn and Jack-o-lanterns

Today we decorated the classroom for Halloween since I was jealous of all the super awesome decorations in the school like these:

So, we got bus-ay with my dollarstore Halloween decorations and made the classroom much more fun:

There are many more pictures up on facebook which would have taken way too long to upload here so check it out there too!

I also went to the store and was excited to see they had corn on the cob, a rare item in the North. It was only when I got it home that I saw how usually fancy and old-tymey the label was. Maybe it's to make you feel better for paying more than $1 per cob.

I also bought bunch of cupcake mixes and am going to make cupcakes and decorate them as Jack-O-Lanterns for our Halloween party on Friday.

I would like to say also that I keep seeing the preview for HP and the Deathly Hollows Pt 1 and it both saddens and enrages me that I won't get to see it till christmas :(

Random thing of the day: I have to make a rubric (mark sheet) to evaluate scarecrows. How the hell does one do that? Sigh.

The Vault

So this weekend was a bit of a Disney weekend. Given that there is little to do in the old North, the fact that it's getting colder and the fact that I love the ish outta Disney movies I watched 2 this weekend with a friend.

Beauty and the Beast, as many of you know, was unvaulted (that doesn't seem to be a word, devaulted?). I was talking about this with someone today. What is the criteria for Disney vaulting? At what point do they decide to put it in the vault? How do they decide how long to keep it there? Do all the Walmarts, HMVs, Targets have to send them to some secret vault at the earth's core?

I feel like my sister may have mentioned this on her blog, which for those of you who haven't read it, is also awesome but in a less Northernly way: http://msmeshell.blogspot.com/

Anyways, back to Disney movies..

So along with my distrust of the Disney corp. over the vaulting of their movies, I have another bone to pick. Added scenes. So, we are watching Beauty and the Beast and then BAM! there's a whole song about being human again. While I did know it was coming I was a little weirded out because it just didn't seem to fit. Fast forward to a little later the next day when we are watching The Lion King, and there is yet another added scene from the original...and it totally sucked! It's a Zazu song and I traditionally love Zazu, but the voice was different, you could see a marked difference in the animation and it added absolutely nothing to the story. Disneyfail. Alright I guess that's enough bitchin about Disney since I plan to give them a good chunk of my hard earned income in 2011 by visiting their land of childhood wonders.

Halloween is coming up, and as it looms closer I'm starting to think my costume is a sorry fail. I have a pink wig, some colourful clothes I'd usually wear to the bar, some fake eyelashes, temp tattoos and a plastic microphone which will make me a "rock star" or so I keep telling myself.

I have to say my most awesome/favourite costume was the year I was a popple because...well...popples are awesome. My most convincing costume was probably the year that I was Hermione from Harry Potter. It's not that I was a very convincing Hermione, it's just that I happened to be dating "Harry Potter" at the time, so it fit together nicely.

Does anyone have any awesome ideas? What was your best halloween costume ever?? Add your ideas in the comments...and if you are giving me ideas, remember that I have no access to a walmart, or pretty much anything else that is not already in my house. I'm thinking if I had a choice I might be one of these:



Who doesn't love bacon? Well.......ok, so there's a FEW people...but I am not Jewish nor am I a vegetarian and this Karen Loves bacon. And you know what? I can safely say that is pretty much no one up here who wouldn't love both my bacon costume and a big old plate of bacon too. And while I certainly did not love the f&#!ing pipe monsters when I used to play Nintendo a lot, it's a pretty kick ass costume.

I will leave you with those thoughts bloggies have a happy Monday.

Ps. Who is excited as shit for Rocky Horror Glee on Tuesday?!

Thrilling Thursday!

Well let's see, it feels like it's been a long week. Here are some updates of my week:

-Gave the grade 10's a unit test that was WAY too long. Turns out I expected a little to much so I had to do some back tracking and apoligizing

-Had two of my older students over to my house and my student's little child...watched some Family Guy and ate popcorn. They asked if they could come visit so that must mean I'm a cool teacher.

-I got my warm flannel sheets from my Momma today in the mail :)

-We had Glee club and decided on Taio Cruz's Dynamite to sing. I have been practicing in the shower and i'm delighted to say I sound GREAT

-Pop was on sale at the store today!

-Played volleyball in a teachers vs. students game today and we won 2 games out of 3.

-It's freezing cold outside but my house is toastttyy warm.

-My friend up here just received Beauty and the Beast in the mail and we are Totally gonna watch it tomorrow

-I keep seeing the preview for Paranormal Activity 2 on tv and even it scares me, so I am very glad I am far far away from any movie theatre so it can't get me

-Today there was a sign up sheet at school for a chartered flight for Christmas. This is good for one because it means I won't have to book the flight and also because it means Christmas is getting closer! Woo! I will be home from the 17th or 18th to Jan 2 :)

-New Grey's anatomy tonight!

I think that's all my updates for now :)

I don't care when it expires

I ordered my coat today and got 20% off and free shipping after trolling the internet for coupons for a few minutes :)

Also, there were some things on sale at the Northern store today which was very exciting. I got 24 rolls of toilet paper for only $12...that is a STEAL! I have come to observe that after being up here for a while..expiry dates mean nothing. Like today, I bought perfectly good cheese strings for $3 that used to be $10.. just because they expired Oct 10. I'm pretty sure that they are so pumped full of chemicals not to mention the fact that they are vacuum sealed..that they will be fine for at least another month.

I distributed Twilight today in class..for some reason the 18 year old boys didn't seem that excited..I can't begin to imagine why!

It also occurred to me today that I won't be able to carve a pumpkin this year and that is a sad thing. I'll find something to carve!! I do plan to decorate my classroom tomorrow though. I have one of those big ceiling spiders to hang.

Lastly, I got a TB test today, I go back in 2 days to see if I have TB and see if I passed my drug test. Ain't nothin' like peeing in a cup and getting poked with a needle to make your monday great.

Snow?!

So apparently it already snowed twice here and I missed it! I should really go outside more often on the weekend...

Today is -4 right now...and it's supposed to snow for reals tonight. As such, I am buying this coat so I don't freeze to death: (it's the pink colour)

http://www.landsend.com/pp/ChevronDownJacket~212713_57.html?bcc=y&action=order_more&sku_0=::BLP&CM_MERCH=IDX_00002__0000000141

This evening I get to go to the Nurse's station to do my TB test and drug test to prove I'm healthy (...now that I have already been working with the kids for a month and a half)

Now I must be off to work...will update more later :)

Gone Pro

So why do I love the North?

1. Today I wore yoga pants to work. It was not a problem.
2. We watched Back to the Future in class today.

In other news, I am now a PRO Bingo player. See evidence below:


I will now almost certainly win the $1500 jackpot and go on a vacation OR maybe it means I am 75 years old. I will make sure to get a lavender wash hair treatment so I look nice for my vacay.

Also exciting: there is a small variety store in a shack behind the school I just found out about and guess what they sell...



We had a staff meeting today where I found out all the things I have NOT been doing which I need to be doing so that was a bit stressful..but I have decided to elect not to think about it today.

Complaints, Glee and Disney

Another day done. I just finished my dishes (at 11:30pm) which I consider a great accomplishment since I'm very tired and I HATE doing dishes. But, we are over the hump of the week though and the weekend is in sight!

Tonight I was writing an end of unit test (which consequently I don't really know how to do, so it took me a while..) and I realized that even I hated writing it, so I can't even begin to imagine how much the students will enjoy taking it. Of course, we have been building up to it, we will review and basically do practice tests of each part in class first..but it still seems to suck.

It got me wondering at what age is it okay to say "F*ck it! I'm not gonna do anything I don't want to do anymore!!" It certainly doesn't happen in your 20s, the decade of schooling and breaking into the workforce. Also not in your 30s, the years of establishing yourself in your career, perhaps permanently getting your talons into a significant other and starting a family. Then, if you go that route in your 30s, you have the next 20 years of doing a whole bunch of shizz you probably don't want to do as a wife/husband/mother/father. So 50 through 60? Nope...you aren't retired yet and you still have aging parents to take care of. So, I've got it now. 70! 70 is the international year of F*ck it! Your aging parents are either no longer aging or in a home, your kids are all grown up and battling their own barrage of crapolla they don't want to do and you just plain don't care what your spouse says because they have been in your face for 40 years. These are the Golden years. Come to think of it, the Golden Girls really exemplified that. They are the Quintessential F*ck It Quartet!

I can't wait! I only have.............45 years to go. Damn.

It's not all bad though, I should tell you some positive things now... There has been talk of starting a Webequie Glee Club at school and just the mere thought of that brings joy into my heart. I'll have to update you once that gets into the works. Also, the water is now safe to drink! So if I forget to brita my water or use tap water to brush my teeth, now I won't die from silt poisoning, if such a thing exists. It hasn't snowed yet, also a plus in my books and occasionally the sun comes out too! Today we watched Family Guy in class to analyze narrative structure, so that was fun. Lastly, I have begun planning my fantastic trip to the happiest place on earth...Disney World! And no, this isn't come kind of pun or joke..I legitimately hope to go there this March. It may or may not have something to do with the fact that every other commercial I see is children being SUPER excited because their parents are taking them to Disney. Since my mommy and daddy are far away...and maybe since I'm 25...I'll take care of it myself :)

And the winner is...

Totally won Radio Bingo tonight!! Prize........$15. Off I go on vacation lol. I figure eventually I will hit the grand prize :)

Now i'm going to bed.Since Bingo lasts till 12:30am in Webequie!

Also..i just observed by looking around that my house is a total disaster. It's like Friday style messy and it's only Tuesday..might be a long week!!

Teacher's Terrific Turkey Feast

Just got finished enjoying my Webequie thanksgiving. We had it at fellow teacher Shannon's house..and I have to say, it's pretty awesome doing thanksgiving as a potluck, because there ends up being sooooo much food!


Front table: Jennifer, Caitlin, Karen, Julie, Ryan
Back table: Mary, Donna, Jeremy, Shannon, Mathew, Paula, Trisha, Erik, Ling
Not pictured: Romeo, in the name of photography

Appetizers:

-Crackers with cream cheese/red pepper dip
-Peppers, carrots, celery with homemade hummus
-Homemade veggie spring rolls

Dinner consisted of:

-Turkey, of course
-Ham
-Two different kinds of stuffing
-Scalloped and mashed potatoes
-Corn (that was me!)
-Homemade bread
-Glazed carrots
-Squash
-Cranberry sauce
-Rice with cauliflower and broccoli

Dessert:

-Homemade pumpkin pie
-Mincedmeat pie
-No bake cheesecake
-Apple and berry crumble
-Brownies
-Cookies
-Pumpkin cupcakes
-Chocolate squares

So, I am STUFFED! Much like the turkey we just devoured. Tomorrow we are going to go play baseball in the afternoon so I can work off some of those calories then. For now I am just watching movies and being lazy. It's the turkey tired gene, not my fault!

Happy Thanksgiving All!

My thanks!

Things I'm thankful for:

-My Mom and Dad. Without them, I quite literally wouldn't be here. They have always supported me, devoted their lives to making mine better and have been right there behind me every time I have succeeded or failed. They are also pretty cool people beyond being just parents, as I have learned in the last few years :)

-My sister who can always make me laugh, always knows what to say when I need her, always lets me complain to her no matter how annoying it is and can finish my sentences. We are like two peas in a pod, except I don't like peas, so we are like 2 peanut butter cups in a pack of 3, and the third one is the one that you have to share when someone else is there..and then you eat the other two real fast before they can ask for more. Yeah, like those ones.

-For my bunny Chester who is always cute and willing to cuddle and play.

-My friends from high school, University, past jobs and Webequie. They have all done their part over the years to help me relax, have some fun and crazy times, be there during tough times and help me adjust. I would be a different person today without all of ya'll!

-Diet Pepsi. You know I love it.

-Having the opportunity to do a job I love every day.

-Cheese.

-The fact that I am healthy and those around me are generally well at the moment.

-Naps! I sure do love naps.

-Turkey! Mmm!

Dumb as Bricks

Ever realize all of a sudden that despite how much education you have, how street smart you think you are...in some ways you are really stupid? Today was my day. Let me illustrate.

Here is a picture of my dryer:

So, where is the lint trap? Do you see a lint trap? I'm not sure that my dryer has a lint trap. Oh well...it must somehow filter right out the window right? There must be an invisible tube that goes out the invisible hole in my wall right?

Ok, so before your head explodes, Yes, here is my lint trap:

I have lived here for 36 days.
I have done laundry at least 5 times.
Until today, I did not know my dryer had a lint trap.
My ignorance will undoubtedly be my downfall.

This can go in the book of Things I Didn't Realize Till Today Because I Have My Head Up My Ass, Apparently.

I also bring you some fun entries from Things I Didn't Realize archive:

-The stage name Eminem suggests M&M, Marshall Mathers
-I boiled water in a pot on my stove for the first 3 weeks I lived here because I had no kettle, until I realized that electric kettle shaped thing I had seen in my laundry room when I moved in was, in fact, a kettle

Stay tuned for more of my stupidity :)

Long weekend :D

Happy Long Weekend! I think that either this job makes me really tired, or I have mono..because again I went to bed last night around 6:30pm for a nap and woke up at 7am this morning. I suppose it's not all bad, because my "nap" has given me the quick energy I need to do laundry and clean my house today. Also, I got to see the sunrise and take some pictures..here is my favourite:


Smmmmokkkeee on the WATTER! Nah nah nah, nah nah nah nah! Nah nah nah, nah nah!

I went partridge hunting with the kids on Thursday...and/or I walked while they hunted. They ended up getting one partridge and while I didn't hold it, I did pluck a few of it's feathers to bring home so i did TOUCH it...I'm getting closer. It was especially brave because they had already removed it's head :P


Later today the other teachers are coming over and we are gonna watch movies and play games (which I am going to steal from my portable..so they might be learning games..) but I can assure you the movies will not involve any learning whatsoever. Then tomorrow we are having turkey dinner...yum..I'm bringing the corn! Can you believe that even corn is expensive here? Corn! Also I am bring some of those brownies with the icing I showed you earlier because I believe everyone should have those at some point in their life.

Also I ordered the Twilight books for my gr 12 class and they arrived yesterday, so I am excited to start those with them. Many of them have already read them, but probably haven't picked them apart and written about them. That's what EVERYONE loves to do to an entertaining book. BUT, on the upside, we will get to watch the movie in class "AS IF YOU COULD OUTRUN ME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" That should be game for some good laughs. I think maybe we should also watch New Moon and maybe Eclipse in class...I certainly would have high attendance that day! You know who loves attractive young ripped Native actors more than anyone in the whole world? Native girls. And Native boys actually... I think they all plan to grow up to be him.

Well, I better go, I need to change my laundry and also a tv show for 7 years that teaches a hip hop dance just started, and I might wanna get in on that.

Have a good turkey weekend. Eat (like me) Drink (like I wish I could) and be Merry :)

The story of 13.5 hours

Once upon a time (last night) I was laying on my couch in my snuggie, sooo tired, watching the new adventures of old christine. It ended at 6pm and I thought...gee, I am so tired and I don't need to plan for tomorrow..I'm gonna have a nap!

So off I went. I was so tired I didn't even take off my socks to sleep which NEVER happens. So I wake up at 7:30 (presumably an hour and a half later) and think, huh, that was a nice nap. I get up...wander into the living room, see that the sun is setting out my window and eat a brownie.

Then I turn on my tv...

Why are they wishing me good morning?...

Then I turn on facebook...

Why do everyone's statuses say (13 hours ago?)

Then...I clue in.

It's 7:30 am on Oct 7, not 7:30 pm on Oct 6, the sun is setting, not rising (I was never so good at geography..rises in the east sets in the west) and i've just had a 13.5 hour "nap". And I just ate a brownie at 7:30 in the morning.

I guess I will be VERY well rested for my partridge hunting today!

***

In other news, last night before bed, I go to the bathroom (for the first time since I got home) and I stand there starring because my toilet seat is up. This means one of three things:

1.) Someone who has a key to my house came in to fix something/do something and used my bathroom
2.) I have a male ghost who is really trying to get the point across
3.) Someone broke into my house to clean my toilet

I will keep you updated on the mystery.

***

I have to say there is something to this waking up much earlier thing. I have had time to be confused about the time of day, write this blog, eat some brownies, and I still have over an hour before I need to leave for work. Usually I get up with between 30-40 minutes left before I have to leave and in that time I need to shower, eat, check emails and facebook (yes I NEED to do this) get dressed, get all my crap then try not to get there late.

Have a good day bloggies!

The day of nothing

My final suitcase came today with my clothes...warm sweaters are needed because it's sooooo windy up here. I think the kids in all my classes had a secret meeting last night and decided they would not come..and that those who did come would do absolutely nothing. Good times.

Luckily, tomorrow is thursday and we are partridge hunting in the morning so that will be a nice break..followed by friday and lonnng weekend :) There has been talk of a pizza/movie night/sleepover and dinner on saturday with the girls, so that will be nice.

That's all my exciting news for now..

Brownies, Boots, Ninjas and Pie

So today was a 'catch up' day...aka I went back to class to find out the kids had done pretty much nothing while I was away. That's okay though, just means less planning this week while they finish!

We are also going partridge hunting this Thursday (like the partridge in a pear tree..) apparently they spend the rest of the year up here when they're not working in the 12 days of christmas song...

I went to the store today after school and the baked goods were on sale. I'm sure you have all had two bite brownies, but you know what's better? Two bite brownies with icing!!

SOooOOoo delicious. So i had those (too many of those) and pizza for dinner. Good thing I take vitamins!

Some fun random things from today...

-There is one kid in my grade 12 class who insists upon calling me Sensei, which I'm a pretty big fan of, frankly

-The kids are writing scripts and performing them in class. In one of the plays so far, the characters are a ninja/Apache warrior who dresses up like a bear, a ninja Native who poses as a white guy and a polar bear, a viking who poses as a wolf and can change into a rock on demand and a wise/possessed/evil tree that guides their spirit quest. The overall theme of the play is that the characters have eaten a drugged pie and are trippin out. Bless high school students and their creativity.

-They changed all the locks to all the teacher's houses for seemingly no reason today...so i guess that means that I won't come home to the teacher from last year napping in my bed..so that's good

-I wore my new boots today and I walked through every possible puddle just because I could

Trains, planes and automobiles

I am finally back up North! It was a SUPER long day, but not overly stressful or terrible, just a lot of waiting. The Porter airport lounge is super sweet...free snacks, drinks and wifi. Too bad I only had like 10 minutes to hang out there!

Another win of the day was that I was supposed to have to pay extra fees for my luggage that was over the weight restriction for coming up here (like $55) but the debit machine screwed up so it didn't charge me :) Seems like it was meant to be!

That's all I can think of right now...I'm sooo tired! But i'll update you all on what my students didn't do while I was away, tomorrow.

Home for a rest (sort of)

I have been home since Friday (got home at around 11 at night after meeting my sister and eating the Swiss Chalet Harvest Special woo!) and it has been a whirlwind weekend. The flights were uneventful, except for the lady who was screaming "OH MY GOD!! WE'RE GOING TO DIE!! DON'T LAND YET, WE'RE IN THE WATER!!!" as we were landing at Toronto Island Airport with Porter. While I agree it does appear as though you are going to plunge into Lake Ontario, I tend to trust that the pilots can handle it. I snapped a few interesting pics on my plane ride home to share:

We begin with my hot pilot. You can't really tell how hot he is because I took this creeper shot from the airport lounge really far away from where he was.

We also stopped at Fort Hope, where I almost took a job.



This is the Webequie airport...the WHOLE thing. The Hamilton bus station is bigger than it lol.

While home I went to my friend Christine and her (now hubby) Ben's wedding. It was a beautiful ceremony and reception...here is a picture of me with the princess of the day herself:


She's gorgeous, as you can see!!

Today I shopped a bit to get some things I need for the North and I am starting my journey back there tomorrow at 5am. It will be a long day considering I won't land in Webequie till after 5pm :(