Leslie Street Spit

M and I had been planning on going biking at the Leslie Street Spit for ohhhh, quite some time. We took advantage of the beautiful weather a couple of weekends ago and finally made the trek out there. Nice paved trails and awesome views of the Toronto waterfront.

I miss you, summer. Come back soon.

Sunday Night Freedom

M's hockey league has started back, which means I have Sunday nights free again! Rejoice! I love having this time to myself to relax and get ready for the work week. Usually I have a bit of school work to finish but I've also added something new to my routine.

First, I flip on Extreme Makeover: Home Edition which I really don't enjoy because Ty Pennington is sooo annoying, but it creates good background noise. Next, I search my closet and pick out five outfits for the week. I steam everything and hang it all up in our guest bedroom closet.



Voila, now everything is ready for the week and getting ready in the mornings is painless! A friend of mine does this (perhaps not anymore since being on mat leave?) and thought it was a tad crazy, until I tried it! So many mornings I'd search for something to wear, try on a million different things, and waste a lot of time. Not anymore.

It takes about half an hour and increases the temperature in the condo by 2 degrees because the steamer is on for a long time, but, it's worth it.

What to do?

I'm trying to sell a pair of flip flops on kijiji and here's a response I just got:


Hi there
Love the flipflops! Would you be ok selling to a guy with a shoe fetish? Also. if you have any more well-worn shoes etc I would pay well. COuld pick up today. Let me know Thanks x


M says run far, far away. Should I reply?

Just Another Manic Monday...

... and a manic Tuesday, and Wednesday, and every day since the school year has started!

I am swamped at work! My desk is a mess. My house is even more of a mess than usual. I haven't done laundry in three weeks. I've already caught a cold from the germy kids. I haven't read more than 10 pages of a book since September. Thank goodness I have no children of my own because I can't even imagine what you parents must go through! But guess what, I CAN SLEEP!!!

I have no energy for creativity, so I will leave you with another something I heard at school...

A bit of background info - my classroom is next door to a behaviour class (with 4 kids). The walls are thin and there is a set of doors that connect the two rooms. Every single day we hear crying and screaming and then bang, bang, which is the kids ramming themselves into the walls. You can imagine that it's quite disruptive. Anyway.. we're used to it now but my students are still curious as to why they hear kids yelling all day so I try to explain that some kids are different, blah blah blah, etc.

Okay, onto the funny-ish part. Two boys were playing with lego and I noticed that they had set up a wall with groups of people on each side. At first I thought they were playing war so I wanted to stop that. But when I asked, they said they were playing "Dark Side". Huh? They explained that the people on the "dark side" were kids from the behaviour class and our class was the good side. They even showed me the "dark side" kids running into the wall and everything! Isn't that sad, yet sorta amusing in a sick way??

And to end things on a different note, here's a pic of M and I from a wedding we attended on the weekend!

360 Degrees of Pure Bono

Deep thoughts regarding tonight's U2 concert:

1) If U2 had a greatest hits concert it would pretty much be the best thing in the entire world.
2) Bono is a great singer but needs to work on his dance moves asap.
3) I need to work for a company that gives employees perks.
4) That was the coolest stage setup ever. Lots of movable stuff.
5) ALWAYS make sure your camera batteries are charged.
6) Jackets with red lazers on them are just as neat as they sound.
7) Bono makes girls faint. For real.
8) Glittery guitars are funtastic.

Can you believe M took these pictures with his iPhone? I can't believe our luck. First we score free tickets from big D, then we walk in at 7pm and find ridiculously close spots to the stage - probably 20 feet from the main stage, and maybe 5 feet from the movable bridges. Other people waited in line overnight for similar spots. Oh me, oh my!

If you read my post from back in July you might remember that u2 was number 1 on my dream concerts to go to. Alleluia, my life is complete.

(The End of) Summer Lovin'

Here are a few things I've loved lately. Summer 2009 Edition.

1. Scentportables from Bath & Body Works
Over the past few months my car grew a smell of "boy". Yes, that's right. You know the smell. A mixture of hockey equipment and fraternity brothers. I picked a scentportable up last week in the vanilla coconut scent and it's magnificent. My car smells edible.

2. Salads with blue cheese
What on earth? I used to hate blue cheese, now I'm addicted. I have been making this salad a lot lately: Spinach, blueberries or pear, and a little blue cheese sprinkled on top. Sometimes I'll add veggies but it seems to take away from the taste! For the dressing I mix together balsamic vinegar, a bit of oil, a drop of honey, and some dijon mustard to hold it all together. Really good!

3. Jason Segel
I'm obsessed. He is adorable in every which way. If you haven't already watched "I Love You Man", what are you waiting for?? I'm currently on the third season of "How I Met Your Mother" and lovin it.

Want to see some other things I like? I can never remember things I want/like when gift giving times come around, so I made a wishlist. Maybe now I won't end up asking for socks like I usually do! Not that there's anything wrong with socks. New socks are great.

Kids Say the Darndest Things

I really like my class this year. I don't wake up dreading going to work! I love the people I work with. It's a big change from what I was doing last year and I now realize just how severely I hated that job. Here's hoping the fun lasts.

Kids are hilarious. Here are two interesting things I heard this week:

1) Two boys were playing Connect Four during their free time. I overheard the one kid telling his friend, "Jesus lives in your heart. He's all up in your body, but mostly in your heart."
Deep thoughts for a grade twoer.

2) We have a new principal (who is the awesome, yay). I asked the kids what questions they want to ask her when she comes in to visit. The first child said, "Let's ask her how many dates she's been on and how many relationships she's had."
Hmmm. I think not.

Well, that is it for now. M and I are having a "How I Met Your Mother" marathon. NPH rocks.
"It's gonna be legend-... wait for it... and I hope you're not lactose intolerant because the second half of that word is DAIRY!"

Bacon Vodka? Say Whaaat?

I have the weirdest husband who has the weirdest friends.
Recently he had a couple of guys over to make bacon vodka and skittle rum. Yeahhhhh... I'm not really sure why. Bacon vodka is supposedly used to make the best tasting Bloody Mary's and to marinate steak. I don't know if skittle rum actually has a purpose, but it does make for some vibrant decorations in our kitchen!

I'll let you know the verdict in six weeks when the "resting period" is complete!

Labour(less) Weekend

Yep, this picture pretty much sums up how I feel after this long weekend!

M's parents came down to Toronto for the weekend to celebrate their birthdays and anniversary and to see their favourite son and daughter-in-law!

We started off at the Hispanic Fiesta which is basically the best festival ever. Food, drinks, music, beautiful weather.. the works. The plate of nachos below was $7, feeds two people (or more), and is soooo delicious! Oh ooohhh, the empanadas.. they were warm and crispy and delightful, and oh, I can't forget about the churros.. soft and chewy.. and oh my goodness, you get the picture.

The sangria was tasty too!

On Sunday we hit up The Ex (oh baby) and I was once again reminded why I hate people. Here's M's mom playing the shoot the target game. No luck!

In the evening we made our way to the Molson Amphitheatre to see The Killers. Holy moly, it was one of the best concerts I've ever seen. We had seats on the lawn, but they actually weren't too bad at all. And they cost $10 each. In total. No fees. Amazing.

I wanted to start a fight with the couple behind me because they talked (yelled) to each other through the ENTIRE concert. Who pays to see a concert then carries on a conversation the whole time?? And then there were the people in front of us who were dancing crazily, making out, and taking pics with the police officers.. until they seemed to get kicked out for underage drinking. Bahahhaha.

The end of the concert was an extravaganza with all my favourite songs in a row plus blasts of confetti. Yay!

Now it's back to reality. Only.... approximately 289 days until my next summer vacation starts!

Really?

Is this really part of my job description? Really?

It took me half an hour to scrape the stickers off of two desks (while the caretakers watched tv). At this rate, I only have 6 more hours left before I finish. Grrr.

We have to move all of our own boxes to new classrooms, wash the boards, dust the computers and shelves, clean the desks and sinks, rearrange the room, etc., etc., etc. Pretty soon I'm going to have to vacuum my own carpet, since that hasn't been done since the last day of school either.

The *only* thing the caretaker has done over the summer is wax the floors. It's ridiculous. I'm angry.

Presto Pesto

You're all familiar with Basil, yes? My beloved. She survived the fall and grew into a fragrant, luscious little thing. I knew I had to take action because some of her leaves were growing out of control.

The only thing I know is that basil is used to make pesto, so of course that's what I did. I found this recipe for an almost oil free pesto. I did use a different type of cheese rather that parmesan because apparently I can't read labels properly.

I then used the pesto to make pizza! I learned to use naan as pizza crust from my bro and it is delectable. We had a guest coming for dinner and I wasn't sure if he'd like pesto or not, so I used half pizza sauce, half pesto. Next time I'll use all pesto, it was gooood.

Now Basil is nekkid and I have a bunch of pesto leftover. Know anything good to make using pesto?

Edwards Gardens

I've been trying to make the most of my last vacation days, exploring a different part of the city everyday. Some places have been better than others, some have smelt like sewage, but this one - Edwards Gardens was a keeper!

There were tons of wildflowers along with a huge garden area, and lots of trails through the wooded areas. This is also the home of the Toronto Botanical Gardens.

They must have a kids' camp because I stumbled upon this vegetable garden and the sign said, "Kids plant it, we donate it, please leave it." It was cute, they had funny scarecrows everywhere and all of the plants were labeled by the kids.

This place was amazing to spend the afternoon in, only one complaint. Too many annoying, screaming kids running around plus people who don't know how to share walkways. Bah! I hate people! There's a fine balance between too many people (ruins the peace) and too few people (don't want to be abducted).

If you live in Toronto and have never been here, it's great, go!