I DID IT!!!

I finished my first 5K run this weekend. I ran in the Detroit Free Press 5K run. There were 2200 runners in my race and more than 16000 runners that morning in the various runs. It was completely overwhelming!
I completed in my best time ever. Here are my stats:

Distance 5K
Clock Time 40:48
Chip Time 39:08
Overall Place 1026 / 1919
Gender Place 582 / 1239
Division Place 92 / 148
City Dresden
State ON
Oallplace 1026
Divtotal 148
Sextotal 1239
Pace 12:36

Not terrible for my first try! 

Grade 1/2 Quote of the Day

We had an assembly today. I played the guitar as we all sang together. After the song was done, everyone was quiet and one of my grade one boys said, quite loudly, "Mrs. M! You're a Rock Star!" LOL Well, Thank you!

Making it Through with Half my Senses

My head is all filled up with nastiness.
I have a terrible head cold.
With that, my ears are ringing and plugged - so I can't hear.
My nose is stuffed up and my sinuses are burning - so I can't smell.
Not being able to smell affects my sense of taste.
I can see and feel...that's all...
And what I feel is pain in my head and my throat and my joints and...you get the picture.

Today's accomplishment is making it through the day.
I'm off to bed.

Quote of the Day from Grade 1 and 2

A group of Grade 2 boys were working together and I overhead their conversation. They were discussing girl colours vs. boy colours. They decided there was no such things, since boys and girls can like all colours. However, one student logically explained that it is different for babies. "When the bird brings the package, it is either pink or blue. If it's blue it's a boy. If it's pink it's a girl. That's how you know."

New Baby Bed

I made our new baby her new bed. I use two Pillows sewn side by side. Then I make a case out of berber fleece. I put a zipper in one end so that the case can come off to be washed. Our big dog has one already and they are great. Not too hard to make either. It is what finally did in my old sewing machine, though, sewing through 4 layers of berber fleece. Now this material is a bit thinner than the last stuff, but my new machine didn't even flinch! It was fantastic!

Late Night Baking

I decided at 9:30pm that I needed Peanut Butter Cookies. So I whipped up a batch and am waiting for them to come out of the oven now. The recipe I use is fool proof and melts in your mouth.

1 Cup of Peanut Butter (your choice of smooth or crunchy)
1/2 Cup of Sugar (I use splenda to cut down on calories)
1 Egg

Beat it all together
Roll it into balls
Flatten them with a fork
Bake in a 325 degree oven for 15 minutes.
Don't over cook them...they burn easily. They will still be soft when you bring them out of the oven.

If you want an extra treat, half way through the baking time, press a chocolate kiss into the centre of each cookie...mmmmm! There goes my timer, off to enjoy my mouthwatering late night treat!

Monday. Period.

Today's accomplishment is getting through the day.
It was both Raining and Monday. Press play on this song while you read the rest of the post.

Who better to channel on a Monday than Garfield?

 

Monday.

You were not my friend today.

Weekend of Friends

Last night we celebrated the end of the summer with a bonfire and barbeque at a friends place. It was FREEZING! We were all glad for hoodies, jackets and blankets to wrap up in by the heat of the fire. This beautiful Willow tree supplied the fire wood (it blew down over the summer) The ominous sky, dying tree and corn stalks struck me as a beautiful combination.

Tonight I got to celebrate the 15th birthday of my "adopted" family member, Josh. We had a great family dinner and a really nice visit. I spent a lot of time with the Millers in the summer and have missed them since school started. A great weekend to reconnect!

Grade 1/2 Quote of the Day

A little girl in my class coloured a turtle with many bright colours.

I commented on it "My, that's a colourful turtle!"

The little girl said, quite seriously, "Yeah, he's a rockstar"

Of course he is!

crazy trip to town...

so I had a huge list of places to stop when I made it to town today. I had the pet store to get Ally's new halter...isn't it cute?

I had to go to the Christian book store next. They were having a big sale and I needed a new Bible for school. NIV, which I don't have, so I got an adorable "In Bloom Edition" that has a leather cover with a flower on it!

I also found a couple of CD's in the bargain bin...

 a really cute water bottle...

and the most adorable book. It's written by Phil Visher, the creator of Veggie Tales. It comes with a CD of the story (with music) there's a chorus to the story that he sings. So cute! The first page sold me because it's set in the "northwest Territ'ry" and it's about beavers who escape from a trapper.

mmmmmm-muffins!

I got ambitious today and decided to make mega-muffins. I had a lemon loaf mix that I'd been wanting to try, so I broke it out and mixed it up. The whole package make 6 mega-muffins. SO GOOD! MMMMM-Muffins!
I'll be happy for them tomorrow morning at recess...yes, I will!

Ally the Sheltie

I know it's been FOREVER since I posted anything. Life has been quite hectic for many reasons. My husband was home for a while, I started back to school, and, the subject of today's post, I added a new member to our family, a beautiful little girl puppy named Ally (short for Allison, the diesel transmission).

She is adorable. Four months old. She's getting along pretty well with our other dog, Casey. I guess I have to call him a "dog" now, since he is almost three and no longer the puppy in the family! She loves to run in our backyard, since she grew up in a concrete kennel...she's loving the freedom! 

And after a long run, she flops anywhere she stops...usually in a corner somewhere, but she does like her crate, so she sleeps there sometimes. Night, night little Ally!

Retuning Home

I've been away on vacation in Nova Scotia for the last week or so. I will post my goings on soon.
Jenn

Spare Blankie

New Blankie Back (lots of dots)

A Close Up of the Edge stitching and ribbons

New Blankie Front (frogs and jeeps)

The Original Blankie

My nephew James is just over a year. In the last few months he has claimed the blankie I made for him as an infant. He loves it.
But...Mom has to wash it nearly once a day, so she requested a back up blankie for when it needs to be cleaned. So I made one from scraps of flannel and the same ribbons as the original.

A Visit with Friends

A few of my good friends have adopted me into their family while my husband is away. I am invited to their house nearly every weekend for their family dinners. Now that Scott is home, I was so excited to have a chance for him to get to know them and vice versa. So We were invited there for supper tonight and things went really well. I even made Pavlova with fresh fruit on top. A great night had by all. Little Pim, their 5 year old, made us all name tags and drew pics on sticky notes to post on Scott, or as she called him "Jenn's Boy". lol

Old Auto Show

This afternoon we went to the Old Autos Car Show. It wasn't as good as expected. It was a lot of fun to visit with a few friends, though, and I am including a few pics of Scott's favourites.

Bought my Running Shoes

These are the first running shoes I have ever owned. They are the Nike Vomero+ 5. I also bought the Nike Plus Sensor for my shoe. It connects remotely with my IPod and clocks my runs (time, distance, pace, etc) and then I can connect it to the computer and track my runs. I am so excited to start with it tomorrow!

Picking Up Hubby

Well, the house clean out took until about 2am. I slept for two hours and was up at 4am. I got all primped up, wearing my hot new sundress, and headed out on the road. It took an hour to get to the airport and he was coming off the plane as I walked in. He walked over to me and put his arms around me. I tried really hard not to cry, but I was teary. We gathered his things, drove the hour home and both CRASHED from 8 am until 2pm. IT was great! We managed to make it into town after that. Took my new car for a test drive! Scott bought some new speakers for our Entertainment system. And I still managed to work in my run. Great day!

Scholar's Choice Sale

Once or twice a year, Scholar's choice has a 20% off sale for Teachers. Amazing deals. I have been making my list for a while. So I went in, armed with specific products that I  wanted. I figured that anything I couldn't find, I would order online and still get the discount. Somehow, I managed to find everything on my list, and a few great extras, and still make it out of the store for less than $100, taxes in! I love sales! I am super excited to get everything punched out and laminated! I'll post pics when they all get on my classroom walls in late August.

House-wide Scrub down

Scott arrives home tomorrow. Today is the day for a house-wide scrub down. That is not the regular, everyday cleaning. This involved taking down kitchen curtains, organizing the computer desk shelves, sweeping under the bed, finishing all the undone laundry, washing Casey's dog bed, de-cob-webbing the corners and washing the windows. I am almost done now, but will be by morning so I thought I would post. No pics, though. Maybe tomorrow...

Temporary Tattoos

I love temporary tattoos. There are a number of reasons I don't get a real one. Firstly, I'm a wimp. Not liking the pain. Secondly, I change my mind too much. I don't think I could commit to something so permanent. But I love temporary tattoos. They are like a fashion accessory! I can change them and put them practically anywhere. I got a neat package of celtic tattoos today. I put a knotted heart on my shoulder blade, A knotted butterfly on my lower back and a black trinity knot on my wrist. I love it there! I posted it on facebook to see people's reactions. I didn't tell them it isn't real yet. I'm waiting for a few incredulous responses first.

Painted Blackboard

My classroom has multiple blackboards on two different sides of the room. I decided to orient my class in such a way that most of the boards will be used as bulletin boards. The main board I will use as my "blackboard" was in rough shape so I started the process of painting it. It took a while to get the glue and gunk off of it. Then I taped up the frame and got one coat on. It will need a few more, but it's a start.

Finishing Touches on my Bedroom

Scott worked on our Master Bedroom on and off for about a year and a half. We finally got moved in a few months ago and have been adding things to make it feel finished. Today I finally got a few more embellishments done. We watch tv in our room a lot but we don't have a headboard, so we are always stealing pillows from other rooms to prop us up. So I made covers for two pillows and a body pillow, so that they are decorative along with being functional. Scott also made me a tall night table (for our tall bed) a while ago. So today I finally got around to making a cover for it (it's just a framed in table). I even made a second cover for Scott's side table when he builds it. It's really coming together!

Pet Hair Solution!

I just discovered the most amazing product. It's called the Pledge Fabric Sweeper for Pet Hair. It is fantastic. I have two long haired cats and a long haired dog (not to mention my long hair!) so I had resigned myself to furry furniture. But this thing works! I used it on my couch, rocking chair and Bed skirt so far. I'm so excited I want to use it on everything! I am totally using it on the carpet in the car. I am picturing using it on my wool winter coat. It works wonders! The packages says to throw it out when it gets full (which was one couch for me) but I popped one of the rollers out and emptied it. It popped right back in and works fine. No more pet hair on my guests' pants (unless the dog decides to rub up against them).