Happy Boxing Day!

No shopping yet though. Santa found me and my family, and we gorged ourselves on turkey et al last night. Good times. We're hosting what has become an annual boxing day event here at our house this year, where we get together with my dad's sister and her family for dinner and general merriment, usually involving drinking and board games. We have a couple of new games this year, Battle of the Sexes and Scene It, which I got for Christmas. I also got a sweet pair of pink gloves to go with my sweet pink hat that I got last year. Very hard to find, apparently. Anyway, here in Halifax we're supposed to get like 50cm of snow. That's a lot. Moncton is supposed to get 30cm, which is also a lot, but it's no 50! Since we had only planned on leaving Tuesday, we're not too worried. It's supposed to stop tomorrow, just snow a crapload this afternoon and tonight. I'll keep you posted though.

I got loads of stuff, I must say. Some things for the baby, which is great, a jolly jumper thing and a snuggly carrier thing, and my parents got us a stroller / infant car seat that took us a good hour to put together and figure out how to use. The stroller was just a baby present though, not for Christmas.

Anyway, off to get clean and spend some more time with the fam. Hope all is well in your neck of the woods!

the countdown is on

and the holiday visiting is officially beginning. The kitties are going this aft to their holiday hotel, I'm heading up to see my sweetie, and then on Friday we're heading down to see my parents. Wooh! I'll probably be online a bit, because everywhere I'm going for the next few days has internet, but just in case, I wanted to send out my happy holiday wishes to you all now.

Eat lots, drink lots (not necessarily alcoholic, mind you), and be merry. Enjoy your time with your loved ones, and I hope Santa finds you all!

via Mitch

hmmm, good points.

wooh!

it's vacation, and am I EVER having fun so far!

just kidding.

So far, I've gotten up about half an hour later than I usually do on a Monday morning, to go to a dentist appointment I had completely forgotten about. Then, I went to the clinic to have some blood work done, which involved me waiting in line, then drinking something really sweet and gross, and then waiting for another hour, and then having my blood taken. Good times. I stopped in at Superstore to get some kitty litter and enough food to get me through the next 3 days. The boys will be spending their holiday with the almost-in-laws, as they have the past few years. They could, technically, spend it at my parents' place this year, since they're so much closer than previous years, but we'll only actually be there for a few days, and the a-i-ls' place is much close, and we'll be heading there after my parents' place anyway. They're heading there on Wednesday afternoon, after which I'll be heading up to Fredericton to see my sister and my sweetie, and hopefully Tirexl, whom I haven't seen for a while. I'm hoping to see Jenn soon-ish too, now that she's back in town.

I have to get the boys' stuff all ready to go, which shouldn't be too hard, since they have a litter pan and stuff where they're headed. I need to clean the fishtank and figure out exactly when we're coming back, and if I'll need someone to stop in and feed them before we do get back. Quite likely. They can go a couple of days, and have gone longer when the fiancé was left in charge, but I don't know that it's really good for them to do so. Must get this place cleaned up a bit, because coming home to a messy house is never fun when you've been away. I think that's it though. Shopping is done, wrapping is done except for my Grannie's present, which is large and can wait for now to be wrapped.

What last-minute things do you have to take care of in the next...4 days? I say 4, not 5, becuase in 5 it's actually Christmas, and there's not much you can do then, except open presents and eat lots.

so close

almost break time. I'm very excited. Actually, I'm very tired. I'm done my shopping, my gifts are wrapped, I even have a tree up, with lights but no ornaments. Why? Because I don't have any ornaments. I didn't mean to get a tree, I meant to get a wreath. They didn't have any wreaths, so I got sold into buying a tree. It's nice, smells good and whatnot, and the cats haven't peed on it or climbed it or anything, and it looks pretty with the lights on, so I guess it's good overall.

I have a test tomorrow for one of my classes, and I have some none-too-challenging work for my 9s, novel questions and some holiday related stuff. Friday I'm anticipating to be a total write-off. The Christmas semi-formal is tomorrow night, I'm chaperoning the 1st half. It goes until 11, and apparently basically everyone goes out to eat and / or drink afterward. Now, I would have had to go to school the next day, but kids seem to get to do basically whatever they want, for the most part. That, combined with the fact that all Friday afternoon is an assembly, leads me to believe that there will not be much accomplished that day. It's too bad really. We could end school whenever, but as soon as you get down to the last few days before break, the kids just go into holiday mode. They're like, why don't we just cancel school on Friday? Nobody's coming anyway! Well, for one, people are coming, some students have responsible parents, believe it or not. And for two, if we cancelled Friday, then Thursday would be the last day before vacation, and it would be just like Friday. They don't really get it, but whatever. So, tomorrow is Friday, in some ways. But, not in the way that you get to sleep in the next day because it's the weekend. Because it's not really Friday.

I made cookies tonight. It took me a while, because I kept getting distracted. I put lights on the tree, talked to my parents, sent a birthday card to the fiancés brother. Did eventually make cookies, and they're tasty. Now, cookies made, I think I have to go to bed. I even made my lunch for tomorrow. Go me!

holiday greetings, from my cats

Darwin Awards

It's one of those things that isn't really funny, but really is...


Hard to believe, but another year has passed. Once again, it is time for the Darwin Award Nominees. The Darwins are awarded every year to the persons who died in the most stupid manner, thereby removing themselves from the gene pool. This year's nine nominees are:




Nominee No. 1: [San Jose Mercury News]:

An unidentified man, using a shotgun like a club to break a former girlfriend's windshield, accidentally shot himself to death when the gun discharged, blowing a hole in his gut.




Nominee No. 2: [Kalamazoo Gazette]:

James Burns, 34, (a mechanic) of Alamo, MI, was killed in March as he was trying to repair what police describe as a "farm-type truck." Burns got a friend to drive the truck on a highway while Burns hung underneath so that he could ascertain the source of a noise. Burns' clothes caught on something, however, and the other man found Burns "wrapped in the drive shaft."




Nominee No. 3: [Hickory Daily Record]:

Ken Charles Barger, 47, accidentally shot himself to death in December in Newton, NC. Awakening to the sound of a ringing telephone beside his bed, he reached for the phone but grabbed instead a Smith & Wesson 38 Special, which discharged when he drew it to his ear. (For whatever reason, residents of Southern states always seem to figure prominently among the Darwin nominees.)




Nominee No. 4: [UPI, Toronto]:

Police said a lawyer demonstrating the safety of windows in a downtown Toronto skyscraper crashed through a pane with his shoulder and plunged 24 floors to his death. A police spokesman said Garry Hoy, 39, fell into the courtyard of the Toronto Dominion Bank Tower early Friday evening as he was explaining the strength of the building's windows to visiting law students. Hoy previously has conducted demonstrations of window strength according to police reports. Peter Lawson, managing partner of the firm Holden Day, told the Toronto Sun newspaper that Hoy was "one of the best and brightest" members of the 200-man association.




Nominee No. 5: [Bloomberg News Service]:

A terrible diet and a room with no ventilation are being blamed for the death of a man who was killed by his own gas emissions. There was no mark on his body, and an autopsy showed large amounts of methane gas in his system. His diet had consisted primarily of beans and cabbage (and a couple of other things). It was just the right combination of foods. It appears that the man died in his sleep from breathing the poisonous cloud that was hanging over his bed. Had he been outside or had his windows been opened, it wouldn't have been fatal. But the man was shut up in his nearly airtight bedroom. According to the article, "He was a big man with a huge capacity for creating "this deadly gas" Three of the rescuers got sick, and one was hospitalized.




Nominee No. 6: [The News of the Weird]:

Michael Anderson Godwin made News of the Weird posthumously. He had spent several years awaiting South Carolina's electric chair on a murder conviction before having his sentence reduced to life in prison. While sitting on a metal toilet in his cell attempting to fix his small TV set, he bit into a wire and was electrocuted.




Nominee No. 7: [The Indianapolis Star]:

A cigarette lighter may have triggered a fatal explosion in Dunkirk, IN. A Jay County man, using a cigarette lighter to check the barrel of a muzzleloader, was killed Monday night when the weapon discharged in his face, sheriff's investigators said. Gregory David Pryor, 19, died in his parents' rural Dunkirk home at about 11:30 PM. Investigators said Pryor was cleaning a 54-caliber muzzleloader that had not been firing properly. He was using the lighter to look into the barrel when the gunpowder ignited.




Nominee No. 8: [Reuters, Mississauga, Ontario]:

A man cleaning a bird feeder on the balcony of his condominium apartment in this Toronto suburb slipped and fell 23 stories to his death. Stefan Macko, 55, was standing on a wheeled chair when the accident occurred, said Inspector D'Arcy Honer of the Peel Regional Police. "It appears that the chair moved, and he went over the balcony," Honer said.




Finally, THE WINNER!!!: [Arkansas Democrat Gazette]:

Two local men were injured when their pickup truck left the road and struck a tree near Cotton Patch on State Highway 38 early Monday. Woodruff County deputy Dovey Snyder reported the accident shortly after midnight Monday. Thurston Poole, 33, of Des Arc, and Billy Ray Wallis, 38, of Little Rock, were returning to Des Arc after a frog gigging trip on an overcast Sunday night when Poole's pickup truck headlights malfunctioned.


The two men concluded that the headlight fuse on the older-model truck had burned out. As a replacement fuse was not available, Wallis noticed that the .22 caliber bullet from his pistol fit perfectly into the fuse box next to the steering-wheel column. Upon inserting the bullet the headlights again began to operate properly, and the two men proceeded on eastbound toward the White River Bridge.


After traveling approximately 20 miles, and just before crossing the river, the bullet apparently overheated, discharged, and struck Poole in the testicles.


The vehicle swerved sharply right, exiting the pavement, and striking a tree. Poole suffered only minor cuts and abrasions from the accident, but will require extensive surgery to repair the damage to his testicles, which will never operate as intended. Wallis sustained a broken clavicle and was treated and released. "Thank God we weren't on that bridge when Thurston shot his balls off, or we might both be dead," stated Wallis. "I've been a trooper for 10 years in this part of the world, but this is a first for me. I can't believe that those two would admit how this accident happened," said Snyder. Upon being notified of the wreck, Lavinia (Poole's wife) asked how many frogs the boys had caught and did anyone get them from the truck???


(Though Poole and Wallis did not die as a result of their misadventure as normally required by Darwin Award Official Rules, it can be argued that Poole DID, in fact, effectively remove himself from the gene pool). "People are not stupid... They just have a different knowledge base"

survey time

due to recent events, I'm forced to consider my opinion on the death penalty. I'm just really not sure. There are a lot of faults with the system, for sure. In the article linked above there, you'll see what I mean.

"California's death row has grown to house about 650 condemned men and women since the state brought back capital punishment in 1978. Since then, only 10 executions have been carried out — the last one in 2002. It can take years for even the first phase of the appeals process to begin."

It seems kind of stupid to maintain a system which is intended to kill people but that doesn't, really. I think that life (literally meaning life, not 25 years) without the possibility of parole is a pretty decent punishment. Killing someone as punishment seems a bit eye-for-an-eye, old fashioned, perhaps barbaric. I know this is simplifying to the extreme, but is it not a bit strange to say to a child, 'do not hit your sister, no hitting!' as you smack said child? Sends a bit of a mixed message, no? Back to the killing people though, I think maybe they should just be locked up somewhere with only their basic human survival needs being met, and they should live that way for the rest of their lives. No free education, no weight training, no tv. If you're committed of a crime for which there is no seeming rehabilitation available, then you just get locked up, and the key is destroyed, and that's the end. I briefly thought that perhaps you should die in the way that you killed people, but that would never get past congress. As you can see, my opinion changes, but I think I feel now, and of course my opinion would quite possibly change if I were to ever find myself in a situation like Laci's family, that I might quite possibly want the satisfaction of knowing my daughter's murderer was no longer a breathing member of society...but I think as it stands now, I vote for life in a non-luxury jail cell.

Also, how would you ever know the person was guilty, for sure. You can go with the evidence, and especially now with all the high-tech DNA stuff and whatnot, it's pretty accurate. There have been quite a few convicted murderers on death row released due to new techniques and re-examining the evidence. Who's to say that in 15 years we won't have something else that totally outdates the stuff we have now, that may even prove what we're doing isn't all that accurate? How do you know? Should we just trust the evidence and the juries and judges and fry the bastards / inject them with deadly things? I just don't know. I think maybe that's one of my main issues with the death penalty. Surely the gross majority of convicted death-rowers are guilty, for real and for sure. But what about that one person who isn't? For whom there was enough evidence and just not enough of an alibi?

What do you think?

snow day, snow day, la la la

I didn't blog about it yesterday for fear of being lynched by all you non-snowday blessed readers. Today, I gloat. It was fantastic. I have to say, Wednesday is the best possible day to have a snow day, because it's a little mini-weekend right in the middle of your week. I worked one day, and it's Friday tomorrow! Sweet. I went out with 2 friends, got a couple of tops at Thyme and some conditioner. Not a horribly productive trip, but enjoyable nonetheless. I'm really really almost done my shopping, I need one more thing for my dad, and then I think I'll call it a day. I have this problem where when I go shopping, I buy too much. And usually a little something for myself. It's problematic lately, because I can actually justify buying clothes, since my current wardrobe is limited. I got myself a blouse, a shirt, and 2 ponchos. I have to say, I am *loving* the ponchos. I wore one today, and it kept me surprisingly warm, and I felt totally rockin in it. I received several compliments from students and co-workers. Also, I matched really well today, which probably helped. I never pictured myself as a poncho person, and I don't know that non-preggo me will be, but preggo me is diggin it.

I gave my 113s back their photo essay projects today. I've had them for a month, so it was time. I just marked them though, haha. Anyway, one guy lost 30% (3 days late, 10% a day) so only got a 66% when he really earned 96%. I had another guy who got a 60% because he really didn't follow the project guidelines at all. They both told me they were never doing another project, since it's just not worth it. I told them that quite the opposite, if you do things on time, and follow directions, you'll generally do quite well. They disagreed, so I said, yes, you're right, I should just let you hand things in whenever you want to and give you 100% regardless of effort or quality of product. That would be better. I'm just a big meanie. That at least got a smile out of one guy. The other guy (kind of an odd duck, really) said he wasn't doing any more work, and when I told him he'd have to leave the class if he refused to do work, he said "it would be a blessing to get out of this dump". That went over well. He had a chat with me and then with the vp. Good times.

Now, I must get myself some supper, quickly, before I succumb to the beckoning call of the golden arches...

holiday tips

via Trinity.


1. Avoid carrot sticks. Anyone who puts carrots on a holiday buffet table knows nothing of the Christmas spirit. In fact, if you see carrots, leave immediately. Go next door, where they're serving rum balls.

2. Drink as much eggnog as you can. And quickly. Like fine single-malt scotch, it's rare. In fact, it's even rarer than single-malt scotch. You can't find it any other time of year but now. So drink up! Who cares that it has 10,000 calories in every sip? It's not as if you're going to turn into an eggnog-aholic or something. It's a treat. Enjoy it. Have one for me. Have two. It's later than you think. It's Christmas!

3. If something comes with gravy, use it. That's the whole point of gravy. Gravy does not stand alone. Pour it on. Make a volcano out of your mashed potatoes. Fill it with gravy. Eat the volcano. Repeat.

4. As for mashed potatoes, always ask if they're made with skim milk or whole milk. If it's skim, pass. Why bother? It's like buying a sports car with an automatic transmission.

5. Do not have a snack before going to a party in an effort to control your eating. The whole point of going to a Christmas party is to eat other people's food for free. Lots of it. Hello?

6. Under no circumstances should you exercise between now and New Year's. You can do that in January when you have nothing else to do. This is the time for long naps, which you'll need after circling the buffet table while carrying a 10-pound plate of food and that vat of eggnog.

7. If you come across something really good at a buffet table, like frosted Christmas cookies in the shape and size of Santa, position yourself near them and don't budge. Have as many as you can before becoming the center of attention. They're like a beautiful pair of shoes. If you leave them behind, you're never going to see them again.

8. Same for pies. Apple. Pumpkin. Mincemeat. Have a slice of each. Or, if you don't like mincemeat, have two apples and one pumpkin. Always have three. When else do you get to have more than one dessert? Labour Day?

9. Did someone mention fruitcake? Granted, it's loaded with the mandatory celebratory calories, but avoid it at all cost. I mean, have some standards.

10. One final tip: If you don't feel terrible when you leave the party or get up from the table, you haven't been paying attention. Reread all tips; start over, but hurry, January is just around the corner.

time flies, even if you're not really having fun

weird eh? I have 8.5 days of class left, since tomorrow I have the morning off for an appointment. My 11 class was like, you miss more time than we do! (which is funny, because they miss a lot of time, because they hate school, and also completely inaccurate; I only miss .5 days per month, plus one morning when we did the school matinee of our play). Anyway, I don't really give a shit. I'm getting much better at leaving lesson plans, which is good, because it really shouldn't be more work to take a day off than to go in and work yourself. Tomorrow, and for the next week, my 11s are working on a project for the novel Hunter in the Dark. I must say, I was pretty impressed with myself, because I could not find a blessed thing to help me teach that book. I had chapter questions, that's it. I made up a project with 5 choices, and I think there's something that appeals, as much as possible, to everyone. My 9s and I are working our way through The Outsiders, which is taking a pretty long time. I'm going to pick up the pace a bit and see if we can't get mostly done before the break. There are 5 chapters left, we should be able to do 2-3, I just have to speed them up and stop doing the stupid activities along the way. I have some good projects for them to do too, but we have to get through the friggin book first. As for the last day, we have an assembly all afternoon, but 3/4 of my classes are in the morning, so I'm just sort of hoping nobody shows up. We'll do something marginally relevant but holiday themed. It's a problem, because kids don't come because we don't do anything because kids don't come. See how it works?

I've got a good start on my shopping, I'm mostly done I think. I have to get some things for my dad, he's hard to shop for because he gives no hints other than socks, which really, he can only use so many of. I have a couple of ideas though, so I should be alright. Other than that, I'm pretty much done family. Friends are going to get warm wishes and hugs and cards I think, because I have about 40 cents in my bank account. This mastercard statement should be interesting.

On that note, we're not buying a house. It's just too much, and we have enough stress going on in every other area in our lives. Now, however, we have to find a nice, 2+ bedroom apartment that takes cats, and babies, and has laundry. Good luck to us! Oh, and that doesn't cost $1000 a month. If anyone knows of any, please pass that info along. Any time between now and March is good. I emailed our old landlord in Fredericton, but he has nothing for us. He was good enough to forward my letter on to a real estate rental guy, who is clearly an idiot, and sent me a link to a 2 bedroom that does not take pets and has no laundry. Useful. So we won't be getting in touch with him. Most of his other stuff is giant apartment buildings anyway, which suck.

ok, I'm done.

who needs power?

me. I do. You know what's annoying? Waking up to no power. Thus your alarm has not gone off, thus you find yourself with approximately 30 minutes in which to get clean, fed, and to work on time. Good luck. I was mostly clean, and semi-fed, and only a few minutes late, so I figure I did well. Turns out the school lost power early this morning too, and we almost had a holiday. That would have been a fantastic way to start the week! As it was, I had super rush this morning, and then, for the first time *ever*, forgot to put the emergency brake on in my car, and it started to roll away when I got out (and had of course locked the door). Luckily, the slope was not steep, so I was able to stop it with my enormous bulk, and get in to put the brake on. And yeah, p.s., the giant alien baby is adding significantly to my enormous bulk. I'm curious to see what my dr. is going to say the next time I go in. Although, my other preggo friend says she gained like 7 lbs in the last week, so I feel pretty good about myself, because I don't feel like I'm gaining weight, and have no scale to make me feel otherwise. I'm definitely gaining girth though. Good times.

In other news, the play is done. It was great, we had fun for the most part, it went well, but I'm awfully glad it's over. I have marking from like a month ago that I haven't gotten to yet, so I don't quite get my life back, but I can at least put off marking. Rehearsals pretty much have to be when they're scheduled for.

Has anyone seen the new cheese commercials? They're like perfume ads, and they're a little creepy. "Gouda, for her". People have too much time on their hands.

funny, and totally not work safe

click me. As I said to Mitch, who was kind enough to show me this site...it may be because I'm so very, very tired...but I laughed my butt off. I've only made it to the vegetable chat, but holy crap.

it's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...

seriously though. We had our first big snow this weekend, and it was great here, because I didn't have to go anywhere. Elsewhere, not so pretty. My parents lost power and had about 2 feet of snow in their driveway and a plow that wouldn't work. Snow though, I love it. It makes me think of cuddling up and being with family and all that other Christmassy stuff. And missing school. Mmmm..snow days. No 'teachers have such an easy job' comments please, I've about had it with those. You all are annoying, and until you have been / lived with a teacher, you just don't understand. Anyway, I got enough marking done to put together term 1 marks, and got all those badboys bubbled in last night, to hand in this morning. I got to come home today at like 4:15, which is early compared to when I have been / will be coming home recently / for the next while. Rehearsals are going like mad, we start our show next Wednesday with a matinee, and we have a lot to do before then. Come on down / up and see it! Or not, totally your call. I've updated the gift blog a bit, and will continue to do so, if you're so inclined to visit it. It's over on yonder sidebar.

some musical entertainment for you. Oh, yeah, obviously, the site has music playing, consider yourself warned. I have the other 2 cds, they're pretty good, so will probably end up getting this one too.

That's all my news. I want to go to a movie or something tonight, because I can. Shall We Dance is still playing, and I'm pretty sure the fiancé won't mind if I see that one without him.

too cute, and helpful too!

click

every time somebody 'pulls on the rope', Avon donates 10 cents to breast cancer research. Go, click, ya lazy bum! And tell your friends to do the same!

*sigh*

so much to do. I have this really strange habit where, when I get really overwhelmed with stuff that needs to be done, I just freeze up and do nothing. I think that maybe if I ignore it, it will all go away? It won't, that's just stupid. But, so what am I doing? Marking? No. Organising shit for the play? No. I'm blogging. I'm looking at houses online. I'm looking at pictures from my uncle's wedding this weekend, which was fantastic, and trying to figure out if maybe I'll do up a website for them instead of emailing the pictures all over the place. This is a short week, and even we teachers get Remembrance Day off, but we have a PD thing on Friday, the big provincial dealie. Might go up to Freddy to look at houses Saturday, and then have rehearsal on Sunday. Also, all of our term marks are due in by Wednesday, which would just be hilarious if it didn't make me want to cry. Then again, most things make me want to cry lately, so I shouldn't be surprised.

I should really go mark.

detes

frig, when you guys want something, you really want eh?


the detes, for those of you into this sort of thing: white gold, 0.41ct Canadian Diamond. mmm, sparkly!


I had gone out to supper with some teacher friends Friday after our PD session, to recover from the marathon of PD and Parent Teacher interviews. We had fun, I had a virgin daquiri, which wasn't very good because at Don Cherry's they use mixes for nearly all their drinks. FYI, Mexi's and Boomerang's make superb non-alcoholic drinks. Anyway, so one of my teacher friends was not drinking the non-alcoholic drinks, so needed to walk around a bit before heading home. Fair enough, I want to go to WalMart, and she suggests we also go ring shopping. She's already engaged, and I don't really think I need to ring shop, but what the hell better do I have to do? So fine, we go to Charm, and they actually have a few nice rings. This is unusual, because ususally jewellery stores only have one or two nice rings and then a bunch of big gaudy ones. So fine, I buy nothing anywhere and come home, the boy gets home about 10 minutes later. We chat for a bit, then he's in the bedroom getting his stuff unpacked and such for the weekend. I mention, in telling about my day, that I went ring shopping, and that Charm had a few really nice rings. He's like, oh, really? Yes, weird eh? He's in the room for another couple of seconds, then comes out and is standing behind me, I'm sitting on the couch, and he says, but were they as nice as this? and is holding a box with The Ring in it. I have to say, my immediate reaction was like, 'what are you doing??' because I just wasn't expecting that. I laughed, we kissed, I put on the ring, blah blah blah. Then later the boy, henceforth to be referred to as the fiancé, says 'did I actually ask you?' I say no, I don't think you did. So he says 'ok then, do you want to get married?' I say hmmm, yeah ok. haha.

So, there's your story, it very much fits us, I think.

And now, today I go for my ultrasound to see if I'm having 4 babies. Wish me luck!

boo!

Happy Halloween!

That's basically all I have to say. Nothing new going on, still busy as heck. Oh, yeah, and I got engaged. wooh!

seriously though, that's it.

things I hate

waking up 5 minutes before the alarm.
parent teacher interviews when I'm not teaching art, and people are actually going to want to talk to me.
that my fish tank gets dirty so quickly. it's a trade-off, the algae eater keeps the sides clean, but produces an inordinate amount of poo.
realising only after I am all cosied up in my pjs that it is garbage night, and having to get all that shit together and take it outside before I can go to bed.

edit: also, when I put a banana in my lunch, and it makes everything not in good tupperware containers smell and taste like bananas. Why is that? What makes the banana so powerful?

phewf

so busy!

I have just been running around like the proverbial headless chicken, getting things going for the play, trying to get done the roughly 1 358 239 things I have to get done by Wednesday for parent teacher interviews. So much to mark, so little time! It's true, it's mainly my own fault. I hate marking, and thus tend to put it off as long as possible. It's now been as long as possible, so, here we go. The only good news in all this is that it's a short class week, only 3 days, with Thursday going half to P-T interviews and half to PD, and Friday entirely for 'curriculum support' PD. Works for me.

I've been up to not much otherwise, trying to find some new and not too expensive clothes to fit into and wondering why none of my students has said anything about my completely popped out belly. It's intriguing. I'm not sure that I would have said anything to a teacher either, but I thought that maybe one of my somewhat, shall we say 'lacking in social graces' 11s might comment, or one of my theatre / musical kids might notice. I think it's more fun for me just not to say anything. Most of them probably won't even notice for a while, even though it's really quite noticeable.

Went up to Freddy for the weekend to see the boy and my sister, had a lovely dinner with the boy on Friday night at Luna, consisting of enough food and garlic to feed and ward off an entire family of vampires, and then a homemade supper of some kind of tasty but unknown meat at my sister's place on Saturday night. It's fun to live dangerously. We also went to see 2, count 'em, 2 movies. We're wild, it's true. We saw Friday Night Lights on Friday, suitably enough, and it was pretty good. Better than say, Varsity Blues, but with no whipped cream bikini, so I guess 'better' depends on what you look for in a football movie. Billy Bob did a great job of playing a normal guy, which I have a feeling is a stretch for him. We also saw Team America: World Police . Really funny, yes. Horribly offensive, yes. Offensive to Canadians, no! Sweet. I'm wondering how the Americans are feeling about it though, and the actors portrayed as puppets non-too-favourably. Drop me a line if you fall in to either of those categories.

That's basically been all the excitement in my life since I last posted. More detail about the preggo stuff on the preggo blog, again, leave me a note if you want to read it, I'm not going to post the link for all on the main page here. I've also had a cold for about a month and a half. It keeps going away, sort of, and then coming back with a vengeance as something new and less fun. It's right now camped out in my throat / chest / nose. I can only take stuff for the coughing, so it's getting mighty old mighty fast to have symptoms that I would normally just blitz with some Advil Cold and Sinus or an extra strength NeoCitrin. mmm...lemony.

I'm off to make supper and mark. wooh!