HHD (Happy Hump Day)

It's Wednesday and I think I'm gonna have a cup of tea. Oh that reminds me...wait there for one second, ah, much better, I just went and put on my pj bottoms(which are sooo cozy) and I turned the temperature up 2 degree's because my hubby likes to turn it down over night and while we are at work. This is great energy saving technique however, I feel the difference in just 2 degrees. Who knew? Apparently I'm a diva now.

So last weekend was fun. We had dinner with B's parents last Friday evening. Such fun. Then on Saturday I made pizza (from scratch) and chocolate chip cookies and we had some friends and family over. We were going to watch the movie, "The Other Guys" thinking we were so cool for renting this movie on our Apple TV just to find out once everyone got there that we had ALL seen it already. But because our clan is so cool we all still watched it again. Then came Sunday, we went to church and then out for lunch because B's Grandma wanted to take us for lunch (we went to ABC restaurant and I had the Thai Chicken salad and it was amazingly awesome!) and then we had B's cousin come over and we watched the movie AGAIN! Nerd alert! When we like something we REALLY like it. What's up with all these capitals? I guess I'm yelling those words at you, or I'm just going for emphasis, which ever one you choose it to be. I personally like the thought of me yelling the words...but that's just me. Maybe it's because my skills in yelling are so weak. I've tried yelling before and B just shakes his head and says, "That's still not yelling" or "What was that?" FAIL! I guess I put my energy into other things. I remember on my practicum the guy I was shadowing kept putting me in situations where I would have to use my loud voice. I purchased a whistle...this did the trick :) Modification is my middle name. Not really, my middle name is Lee.

Wow ramble alert. Can you tell I'm at home alone right now? I am in need of some social time and guess what my blog is where I went. Lucky for you. But really I don't feel bad because you can stop reading at any time or come back to it later or not read it at all. I won't know the difference. That is until we meet in person and I ask you or better yet, quiz you on your knowledge of my life.

Well, that's about all there is to report for now. Hoping for a great rest of the week to everyone.

Michelle-Lee

Keep on Truckin'

This past weekend was a fun one. B went to a hockey game with his cousin on Friday night and I had a quiet evening at home. It was great! The following day, Saturday we totally slept in. I seriously felt like I had slept in until 9 and was surprised to see an 11 on the clock. Wow! So we got up and puttered around. I can't remember exactly what it was that we did for that day...hmm..I made banana muffins in the evening. Oh right, I used my elliptical machine while watching Lion King. What a good way to wake up and such a great movie to watch while trying to keep moving too. The songs pick up tempo just when you're ready to quit. I really enjoyed it anyways. Then there was some other puttering around the house that we did and I think we went to the store once that day too...seriously a blur. Then on Sunday we went to church. It was good and it opened my eyes to why I haven't wanted to go to church lately. I am working through some issues. It was good though, to have my eyes opened and I can see that there are some struggles I'll be facing but I'm not so dark in my thinking around those things any more. Believe me though, I sometimes still have my feelings of doubt but I am going to be as positive as I can. This doesn't make any sense to you does it? Well..if it makes you feel better I don't think it is suppose to. I think it's just my inner ramblings on dealing with things. So thanks for listening to my inner blurb.

Anyways, after church we went for lunch with B's family. Then we came home and did a few things around the house. Afterwards we went to Cam and Becky's for a short while and then off to a birthday party of a friend of B's. That was a lot of fun. It seemed like we jam packed yesterday with as many visiting opportunities as possible and it was great. I enjoyed it.

Then there was today, so far I have done two loads of laundry, had some lunch, painted two pictures and I have yet to do Monday cleaning, a workout and paint another picture. I will post some pictures of the pictures I painted once they are dry and hanging on the wall. I really hope they turn out ok.

Well, that's about all there is to know about me today

Michelle

Weekend!

Wow, I have a huge bruise, it's actually a cluster of 7 bruises on my shin on my left leg. They were all accumulated today at work. No it wasn't any of the kids I was working with. The actual culprit was myself, well sort of. It was the two metal buttons on the side of my pants. Every time I crossed my legs, or crawled on the floor these two buttons would push into my flesh, bursting the blood vessels and creating hematomas. Hence a bruise cluster. But I have to tell you it was one of the most fun ways to get them. I really am enjoying my new schedule. I am loving the learning of new ways of doing things. What worked for kid A doesn't necessarily work for kid B and therefore learning a new way of teaching is required. I love this! It gets my creative thinking on the go and I love being creative. Don't get me wrong though, it's exhausting! Always having to be "on". Just think, it's like teaching but always having a back up plan, and then a back up plan for your back up plan. You are always thinking and also thinking of how can I make this easier to learn for this child, what way does this child learn best, visual/oral/textural etc. Also knowing, what works for this child, how can I make this lesson more fun to learn, how do I keep it interesting for myself so it doesn't get stale. It's tiring, but I LOVE it!

Anyways, enough about work. B says I talk about work all the time. I can't seem to help it. I mean to only say one little thing and suddenly I notice that I've actually spilled about a novels worth of information to someone who may not have cared about the little thing. Oops. I guess it's a wee bit narcissistic of me. I sometimes think, I care so much about these little people that I forget that not everyone is involved and they don't necessarily have the same passion as I.

I am excited for this weekend. I am going to be painting a few pictures to hang in the dining room. I am going to be using my new elliptical trainer that I bought off of castanet (I am such a castanet junkie) (It's a local online newspaper and has classifieds and I am a junkie to that section..I'll make a list of the things I've bought off of it and you will be impressed!) I am also going to make some banana muffins (I know a huge project but I will conquer it!) I'm also noticing today that I like brackets. Just a tid for tat for you. I believe that's all I'm going to be doing this weekend. I am excited for it and can't believe it's the weekend already. I really believe that snow day broke things up and gave such a breath of fresh air. Now it's time to buckle down and maybe even hang some more photo frames up around the house.

Ok, as promised, my shopping adventures from Castanet and kijiji have helped me to score:

A sleigh bed frame for $100

4 new appliances (fridge/stove/microwave/dishwasher) (one year old) $1100

Elliptical trainer $50 (only used once)

A convectional oven $400

Deep Freezer $Free

(This is a picture of part of the bed frame..the headboard got cut out...but it's basically the same as the foot board, but higher) I think that's the complete list. I may have to update again to correct any mistakes I may have made. Well until next time

Michelle

SNOW DAY

Today I am home from work due to all the snow outside. Part of yesterday was cancelled too because the roads are just not safe and they would rather have everyone safe than risk coming in. I have never worked at a job where "snow days" exist. With being a server it's like, it doesn't matter if there's a tornado outside, you're still working(yes this has actually happened to me before as a server, freakiest shift I ever worked!)

So what do you do with an unexpected day off and can't really go anywhere because the roads are like a skating rink? You update your blog of course! The last few days have been a huge learning curve. I got my new schedule and I have pretty much all new kids (new to me). So that bag of tricks I have for those other kids may or may not work with my new group. I am so excited and eager to get to know these little guys and build some relationships with them. I love my job.

B and I are in the works of setting up house once again. I took off the Christmas season to entertain and visit with family. Now that the dust has settled again we are back at it.

Well, that's about all there is to report for now. I hope you're all having a great day so far.

Michelle

Sunday Afternoon Tea

Blah blah blah. There, that's my update. haha. Just kidding. I had a great day today, tiring, but fun. B woke me up to get ready for church, but because I had gone to bed late last night my body was tired and did not feel very refreshed. Plus my nose was plugged and all day long my eyes have been burning and trying to close themselves.

The last couple of nights I've had some really odd dreams. Such as the one where I walked into a room with caskets lining the entire room. In each casket laid a baby that had so much makeup on it that they all looked like porcelain dolls. It was such a morbid dream, yet so vivid and real like. I was disturbed for the rest of the day, I kept looking up "dream interpretations and what I came up with was that both "death" and "baby" in dreams represent new beginnings and innocence. If you have another interpretation of what you think it might mean be my guest and leave me your explanation in the comment section.

Than last night I had another weird dream. I don't remember any more what it was but I remember waking up and thinking, what was that about?! haha. Anyways, so we went to church this morning and then I went for lunch with one of my long time friends. We had just lost touch in the last year and a half and I love that we have the kind of friendship where we can be open and honest and jump right into the nitty gritties of each other's lives and it's like no time has passed. I love my friend! She's amazing. We both laughed and cried and just reconnected. It was a great afternoon! Than B and I came home and my cold took over. I look around and see all the house work that needs to be done, but my eyes are burning and I have no energy. I know, I know, woe is me. I just better not be getting sick!

I'm excited for this new week to start. I have a new January schedule and I'm excited to see what it's going to be like. I'm also wondering if my body is ever going to go back to "normal". I find myself sometimes, most times lately, getting sucked into negative thoughts and I found that this last week I found myself choosing to look on the positive side more often. I hope this continues. I also hope it increases.

Well, here's hoping for a cheerful 2011!

Michelle

Looking for a brighter Year

The joys of the holiday season are coming to a close. Can you believe it? There is so much anticipation leading up to it and in a blink it's over. I am kind of glad though. I am in need of my routine to return. I enjoy seeing people that I don't get to see often, but I also long for my routine schedule. I get peopled out easily. I guess I'm mostly introverted, although I like to think of myself as extroverted. I use to look at introvert as a negative thing, but now I'm seeing it as just the way I function. Nothing wrong with that. I just hope it doesn't come across as snobby or rude. Sometimes, I just like to be alone, with my thoughts. I find that after visiting a lot I run out of energy. Weird.

Anyways, I guess I'm just more reflecting on it because the season is still on high until Monday. We have our last round of guests arriving today and I am mentally preparing myself. I am hoping that they feel welcomed and that it is fun. At this point today I am feeling weary. I don't seem to have much more to give.

Wishing everyone a Happy New Year.

Until next year,

Michelle

No Sugar say what?

Here I sit on a Wednesday night. I am eagerly awaiting a phone call that should happen in about an hour saying that some very important guests have arrived in town. We are having Christmas tomorrow and I am excited. I think I may just have a hot chocolate tonight to celebrate. You see normally this would be just a regular occurrence but starting last week I have limited my hot chocolate intake to a maximum of two cups a week. The reason, the sugar content. I am cutting out a lot of things out of my normal diet in order to prevent diabetes from happening. I am making a huge life style change and I need your support in order not to cave. I am allowing myself one more day after today (since tomorrow is our Christmas and that would just be cruel). However, I did work out today. Sadly to say the first time in a very long time. What happened? I use to be the boot camp queen. I use to drag my friends and family to the class with me (Literally, at 5:30 in the morning I would show up at their house and wait for them to get in the car). I am going to do an over haul and get myself healthy in both mind and body. Starting with the body cause lets admit it, there is just way too much to fix in the mind. (This is a joke, stop nodding your head).

Well, that's it. No new years revolutions yet. I will keep thinking of one. The new life style is just that, a lifestyle not a fad. The revolutions are just fun to see how long you can stick with it. Maybe it will be to try something new this year that I've always wanted to do but just haven't yet. That would be a fun one. What's your new years resolution going to be?