I am at the tail end of my online AQ course. I am at the tail end of my energy. I am just at the tail end. Anyway, as the Christmas prep season is rolling out, it is becoming more diffucult to stay motivated and focussed on getting things done and handed in.

I am not the only one struggling; my students are also in Christmas mode. Be lunchtime today it felt like my class had been taken over by the Christmas-pod aliens. They already have sugar plums dancing in their heads, and we have three weeks to go.

Truthfully, I want the holidays to be here as much as they do. I want to sleep in and play in the snow with my kids. I want to stay in my jammies and read on the Kindle. I want to watch movies and make cookies.

However, before we get there, we have a math unit to finish, a Christmas song to learn to play on the bells (with at least one of my students missing every day), and decorations to create for the gym. Plus we have a reading strategy unit to wrap up, a social studies unit that we started today, but should have been started three weeks ago (so we are just a bit behind on that one), and an art project that just keeps dragging on.

Well, with that to-do list I really don't need to worry about planning for the next three weeks; I know exactly what I need to get done.

But first, that course assignment to finish up.

Love Again

I really love books. I mean, I REALLY LOVE BOOKS. When I move, the very first priority is a library card. It is actually a higher priority than getting Internet. Seriously. Books are serious business in our family. Three of the four of us are major bookworms; and there is lots of time for the fourth, as he is not yet reading.

So, when my dad shared the news that he had ordered a Kindle and was very excited about it's imminent arrival, I listened with keenly tuned ears. Dad was very happy. Mom is using it. In fact, this week on the phone she said, "He is reading on the Kindle right now. I am reading a real book. He left his book at work and can't wait three days to find out what happens."

So, you see, I come by my passion honestly.

And now, an early Christmas present arrived in the mail. Of course (model of restraint that I am not) it was opened on arrival. None of this wait until Christmas for me; especially when the giver already told us what was coming.

A Kindle of our own. Although, it is named Emily's Kindle right now. LK noticed that right away and pointed it out with a smirk on his face. He knew before I even opened it that this would be love at first sight.

What is not to love. Access to sooooo many books. That gives me the kind of chills that amazing shoes do. Books and shoes... my Achilles heels (stilettos, of course). And it's all tech. I do love me some tech, especially the kind that lets me carry a good story anywhere.

I was skeptical for a long time. I felt that there really wasn't anything like curling up with a book. The feel of the pages in your hands. The faint smell of ink. The sound of paper against fingers with each turn. The thrill of opening the cover for the first time. Mmmmm.

But, with the library an eighty minutes drive (now that the snow is here), and the closest Chapters more than three hours away. Well, the lure of new titles in my hands in under a minute (last night's download time). What can I say. I love efficiency too.

So, I am officially a Kindle fan. Gift certificates, anyone?

It's Snowing!

It's finally here! Winter, that is. It snowed for a good chunk of the day. Big, fat, drifty flakes that make you want to bundle up and go for a meander in it.

After we got home Jo couldn't resist, and stayed outside to play while the rest of us went in to make hot chocolate. He tromped around making footprints across the thin layer of snow in the yard and on the deck. The canoe (which should probably be put away before it gets iced in...) was carefully brushed off. He came to the door looking for his snow shovel to clear off the deck. What a great helper! That denied, he walked the deck in circles for a few minutes, moping.

With a promise that we would dig out his snow shovel after school tomorrow, he was satisfied to come inside and join the rest of us for some hot chocolate. Yum!

Almost Winter

We are waiting for the real winter weather to hit. We're ready. We've got all the winter gear ready for Sprouts and grownups. The snow tires are on the car. The canoe is pulled up from the lake. All we need is snow.

I was tickled to find a powder blue puffer-jacket in a slim-cut style at the VV boutique a few weeks ago in the city, and have been itching to get it on. It is exactly the style I have been hunting down for the past two years. More thrills at the end of a long chase!

Today was a perfect day for it. Just frosty enough to add a bit more mass to the ice creeping across the lake surface, but not really cold. The kind of weather that makes yard duty enjoyable (if you dressed for it).

Yard duty was also enjoyable because I got to watch a large group of boys in the middle grades working very cooperatively trying to build a fort in the bush. They were discussing various logs and building techniques as if they were architects and structural engineers. As I walked down the hill with two of them after the bell rang, they were commenting to me on how important it was that no little kids went in it, in case they got hurt.

What a treat to hear these boys, who often struggle for ways to relate that we adults find appropriate, having such an earnest dialogue. It is good to see this side of the students. Too often I get bogged down in dealing with behaviours. Much nicer to enjoy watching them play.

A Good Day

What is it that makes the difference between a good day and a not-so-good day?

This morning I was up early (I seem to have turn back anohour with the clock). And so althought I spent the time feeling guilty for not running, I had a really relaxed time of getting ready, for the first time... ever? It was remarkable; there was even time to wash the breakfast dishes before heading out to school and daycare. Is that what set up a good day?

Maybe it was the increased amount of sleep I have been getting for the past three nights, with Jo sleeping through the night again. What bliss to be able to stay in bed all night; no jumping up to tuck Sprouts who have lost their covers back in, or calming upset Sprouts with fevers or headaches. Is that what set up a good day?

Perhaps it was just a happy meeting of my rested mood with that of my students.

Whatever it was, it was lovely. And we laughed together today. And it felt so deliciously good to laugh with my students, and enjoy the lighter side of life.

It was such a good day that even having two yard duties didn't dull the shine. They may have polished it up a bit!

Deal or No Deal

I was doing really well in the fall with watching my food consumption and getting moving. I was loving running in the mornings, seeing the daily progression from summer to winter in plants and animal species. It was a treat to be our while the lakes steamed off their morning mists. And I felt so good; strong, healthy, glowing.

Then we moved into the twilight zone. Daylight disappeared from mornings, not to be seen until 7:00. And the treat season started. Between darkness and far too many available sweets I just stalled.

Now that Daylight Savings has come around we are back to daylight in the mornings. Unfortunately I have broken my pattern and I know that getting back into it will be hard work. Thankfully I know that I am not the only one fighting this battle. JC is slogging through the same mire of holidays (Thanksgiving, Halloween, and soon CHRISTMAS) is pursuit of the same goal.

So, with that mental company and the constant support of my DH, here we go again. To sweeten the deal without sugar, my DH has offered that I set myself a reward for the next goal; a shopping trip all by myself!

Deal!

Thrifting

thrifting (verb) to purchase previously used/loved items at a substantial discount; demonstrating astute financial prowess; recycling in a centuries-old tradition. (from the Dictionary of Emily)

There is a shopping high, and then there is a thrifting high. I am not am expert on highs, but I cannot imagine there is a more wonderful feeling than when you score an exceptinally great find. Yesterday at Value Village I hit the motherload!

Look carefully at the picture below. Note the price. A deal for a pair of jeans, even if they are well loved and worn in (how I like my weekend jeans). But look closer. Can you see the brand name?

When I noticed it I did a triple-take. Holy cow; 7 for All Mankind jeans!!! Seven bucks!!!!!

They are still a bit snug, but that is just the motivation I need to keep losing those pounds. Perfect timing, as I was slacking off recently.

Woohoo, motivation and that happy bargain finders high. What a rush!

Something Still

In case you were wondering, we are still struggling with Something. This time it's report card troubles. I just finished writing mine from scratch for the second time. You don't want to know. And I don't want to share - too painful still.

However, they are (pleasepleasepleaseplease) done and ready to hand in tomrrow. I hope (hopehopehopehope) that there aren't too many typos because I can barely see straight anymore.

Past time for bed. Good night!

A New Attitude

I used to mope when I had to stay home from school because I was sick or there was someone who needed me at home to take care of them. I felt guilty about not being at school - like I was so essential to my students and school that they couldn't get along for a day without me. (I know, a bit egocentric.)

There were times when that guilt was not entirely self-induced, I have a distinct memory of an administrator in my past telling the staff that the school could not afford substitute teachers that year and that we were not to call in sick. I am not sure what she expected us to do... but there were a lot of walking wounded that year.

I also remember calling in sick while pregnant with the smallest Sprout on the last day before the Christmas vacation. I had spent the night with my head in the John and was unable to keep anything down (not morning sickness, I think it was someting I ate). My administrator responded with, "Oh, Emily. It's the last day before the holiday." I didn't know whether to cry or punch something. I cried.

But over the past year, with daycare closures and both parents working and all the craziness that is life with two jobs and two kids (and no grandparents nearby to rescue us), my attitude has changed. I don't feel guilty anymore.

Being home with a sick Sprout is a chance to breathe myself. It is a chance to snuggle up with a Sprout who needs some TLC that often gets squeezed into a few minutes before bedtime. It is a chance to wash dishes and dust. It is a chance to get a little bit ahead on the Mount Everest of paperwork that is part of teaching. Those last two are done while said Sprout is conked out in bed of course.

Today I got to have a day with both Sprouts. Only Fi was sick. But since I had to be home anyway, we thought it would be nice for Jo to have a day home too. And it was.

And I bet my student had a nice break from me as well.

Wilty Sprout

Yesterday Fi's teacher was out sick. Twenty minutes into the day her substitute teacher brought her into my classroom with tears streaming down her cheeks (Fi, not the teacher) and snot stream out of her nose. She had a headache. Part of her problem is that she is never thirsty. We have to insist that she drinks, and it still isn't enough to keep her well hydrated. So, now she has headaches. And, she is battling a cold. Poor thing!

Yesterday she spent the day in my classroom curled up in a chair until she couldn't resist the lure of learning anymore and she quietly participated in some of the activities with my students. What a treat to see her pulled by her curiosity into the circle of students sitting at the carpet and slipping her hand up in the air as if she were always a part of the class.

In the past I have been pretty insistent that I didn't want to teach my own Sprouts. I just couldn't see how I could treat my own Sprout like their were only a student. And, how could I possibly be fair to the rest of the class when my own flesh-and-blood-Sprout was part of them? After working in the same school as my Sprout attends for the past four years, I think it will be okay.

Yesterday sealed the deal for me. Yes, I will have a different relationship with her than with the other students in the class. Yes, one student will call me "Mama" instead of "Mrs. K.". But what a unique treat to be able to spend a year with my own Sprout and get to know her learning journey as intimately as I get to know that of all my other student-Sprouts.

So, I am looking forward to next year (Lord willing) when I get to teach my Love-of-Learning Sprout. What an adventure we will have together!