So I am Italian right? I don’t drink coffee or wine. So I live in Canada right? I don’t drive to stores to buy coffee or tea, infact, the last time I was at Starbucks was probably 10 years ago when my mom was at her one dentist and Starbucks just opened. I walked in there and saw all these fancy ass coffees and was just too confused to get anything, so I left and never got excited about going back. Last year at my staff party, I got a $40.00 gift certificate to Starbucks-oh great! After having it for almost a year I decided to give it away to one of my Star-holic students who is nuts about coffee and even more nuts about boys. Let HER get her caffeine kick and have to go to school! heehee. Last week, a student of mine gave me a Starbucks gift card for $15.00-oh great. Then I got another gift card at my staff party but for $50.00 this time. (more…)

What a year! I cannot believe that another one has gone by and that I keep saying the same one liner to open this blog! So here is my year in review-and it has been a really emotional one at that! (more…)

This weekend has been super busy with my usual teaching, planning for my student recital and squeezing in a staff party. Last night Russ and I went to my work staff party after a long day of my teaching students. It turned out to be ok since free food is never that hard to say No to. This has now been my ninth staff party (9 years there) so I feel like I am a veteran there. The food was good which was nice. Then they had some comedians come out which was a first. Usually we sit around and chat and then go home but this year they splurged. The first guy was ok but an ass-I talked to a teacher who said that if this was going to be a vulgar night, she would go home-eventually she did. So the first guy was one of those comedians who thought he was funny but too bad nobody else really did. (more…)

Here are more pictures of the SEVEN cats that now reside happily ever after in our greenhouse. They survived the -40 nights in due part to the greenhouse being very warm (we sealed off all openings and put blankets for their bedding), AND….here’s the kicker…the electric heating blanket that my Dad bought to put under some blankets where the kittens sleep. I know what you are thinking, “An ELECTRIC blanket for…CATS??”-we agree, but they love sleeping all together on a warm blanket. It helped to beat out the chill from outside at least.

Now the cats have a fully furnished apartment suite-they even have their own cat tree that we got at the store, toys hanging off different high parts and small toys on the ground. They LOVE playing with all sorts of toys-it is even cute because one kitty jumps up on the high shelf where the toy is attached and waits for the other kitty at the bottom to spring it up high enough for her to catch it. It is really a show that they put on for us as we can peek through the computer room since there is a HUGE window that looks in to the greenhouse. What is even cute is that the cats have their own poop corner where they do their thing. I think all we need to do is get cat litter so that they can be official cats, although I don’t think there are many wild cats that are as spoiled as these ones.

Oh and I did I mention the twice daily food regimen of wet food and dry food along with fresh water changed often? Yup, these cats have it made.What is so surprising is that after all this time they have been around us, they are still not very approachable. You can’t get close to them because they run like crazy and hide. I don’t think they will ever get close to us but that is ok-at leas they don’t run completely away. Who would want to when you live in a great apartment? I wonder what will happen when my Dad wants to claim the greenhouse back again to start planting-especially since the kittens are VERY comfortable with their living quarters.

At least the good news is that we haven’t had any mice in our house-maybe that is what we needed all along! Here are some pictures for you to see (look how big they’ve grown!!): (more…)

This has been quite the recurring question over the past week or two. “What should I get you for Christmas!?” is what I hear often now. Would you believe that I never really have any set desires on what to get for Christmas. My parents usually give me money to buy what I want which works for me, especially since Christmas is the one holiday that leads itself to my poverty early on in December. I think what makes it so difficult for people is buying things that are more personalized. I think that I am very easy to shop for honestly. I love ANYTHING-costume jewelry (Winners or the Bay), stationary, books, journals, picture frames, trinkets, socks, body butter-ANYTHING. But I guess people want me to be specific-so here is a list of my NEW Favorite things: (more…)

About a month ago, my aunt went to have a visit with Christine Hurley for some help with the recent passing of her husband (my uncle). It is no surprise that her life is completely ripped apart-she is not the same person she was and now she is like a walking corpse. Who can blame her since she knew my uncle for 43 years and was married to him for 36! It has been an incredibly hard road for her and each day has gotten worse. When she went to Christine, she heard some things were nice and some that were pretty accurate. (more…)

Today I went back to my practicum school for a visit and to volunteer. Mind you, my last official day there was on Friday-so really, I have only missed 2 full school days with the kids. I told my teacher that I would pop in to see the kids as part of my program (got a few days left to finish whenever), and he was fine with it. I tried to sneak in the classroom quietly so as not to interrupt but it didn’t work. As soon as my teacher said hi to me out loud, the class literally blew up!! Kids jumped from their desks and practically pinned me up against the wall with hugs! I had about 15 kids surround me all hugging eachother to get to me. It was hilarious!! (more…)

Yes, that girl MIGHT be me! On Friday, December 1st, I finished my practicum with the Grade 2 elementary class that I have been working with since September 18th. I admit that I was a bit sad to see the end coming in sight but was ready for the change. Having been sick for almost 30 days straight has really been daunting. I thought I would have to struggle with lesson planning and in school challenges, but my theme this year was struggling with my own health and obviously the death of my uncle, all smack dab in the middle. My teacher had the class make a huge card for me with a big thank you written on it and some nice pictures. I thought it was very sweet and thankfully I wasn’t emotional at all! How could I be when I was still sick and had a stuffed nose? lol (more…)