Well so far no reading has occurred on this reading week but that's not really unusual. I don't think I've ever read on reading week. It's so nice to be in Edmonton and so far I've had a lot of nice visits with friends and family. It's great to catch up with people but it's been quite a few late nights and busy days. This trend will just continue for the rest of the week...I'll need another week to just recover from this :D but that's the sign of a great vacation.
I'm so grateful to have so many wonderful people in my life. Friends and family are truly treasure beyond worth.
Tuesday, February 22
Thursday, February 10
Craftiness Again
Well I've done a lot of talking about me and my life but I have managed to do some crafting...not much but I'm hopeful to change this. I've got a few girls interested in crafting and we're trying to get together on Friday's to craft. This helps get my creative juices flowing and I find during the week I'm spending more time working on my art journal.
This is a simple puppet set I made for a swap I'm in. It's the 3 little pigs and the big bad wolf (ok he's not so bad). This is one of my favorite fun little puppet ideas and cheap I just go to the dollar store and get utensils.
I found this cool origami paper so I started folding and playing and made this cute little bouquet. It did need a little glue to make it solid enough that if Tyb pushes it over it stays together.
This is just an altered board book I've been playing with. I think it still needs something but I was thinking it would be a great housewarming or wedding gift so it might not get finished until I go to a wedding or something.
There we go a little eye candy to make your early February better!
Tuesday, February 8
Suddenly it's midterms and cellphones!
After weeks of quiet and just readings to do. Suddenly it's midterm season. Papers are due and tests are next week. That's okay I'll survive but suddenly the pressure is on and higher this semester. I made the dean's list last semester, something I'm quite proud of myself for doing. However, now I want to do it again which means maintaining an 85% average. I raised my bar and now I'm not sure I can keep clearing it. We'll just have to see how it goes.
On the weight loss front I'm doing really well, as of today I've lost 15lbs and it's been relatively painless. I've been helped by my goal to eat more local organic food. The only downside is that local organic food is expensive. So I've been balancing this with just eating more veggies and less meat. Come summer it'll be easier when the farmer's markets are full of produce but in winter in Canada local and organic is hard to find. Eating healthier is a lot easier when you live by yourself, you only have to please yourself and there's no one sabotaging you by eating yummy junk.
The shopping is not going quite as well. I have made improvements but I still have been buying things and I have a hard time packing my lunch for Tuesday and Thursday's. That's okay there is still time to keep working on it. I have been doing better about resisting impulse buys and online shopping. I only shopped once this month and I took my Michael's gift certificate with me. Of course I went over a little and then we went to Michael's where I did buy a new pair of dress pants and a sweater. I could've lived without them and probably didn't need them so it wasn't the smartest decision but they will get used with me doing a lot of fieldwork this semester.
On that note fieldwork is awesome. It eats up a lot of my time but I love being with the kids. I spend Wednesday mornings in a grade 3/4 classroom of 29 kids of which 18 are EAL so while I'm supposed to be observing I'm actually getting a lot of hands on time. In the afternoon I go to a french school and assist the English teacher with EAL (english as an acquired language) students, they are generally in grade 6/7 and I do one on one tutoring with them. I also spent an afternoon at a local prekindergarten which was really great and my favorite experience so far. Then starting soon I will be volunteering at the RCMP Heritage Centre here, I think I'll be doing class tours but there will probably be other things to do as well. Due to being in the field so much my coursework seems to be lighter with most of the courses having one midterm, a final or final paper and a reflection piece based on the fieldwork.
I'm looking forward to reading week and I'm planning on heading to Edmonton so that should be good and since I have some extra time this visit I hope I can see some people. I called my Grandma today just to chat and it turns out my Dad was there visiting with her. So I got to talk to both of them, which was good. I will also have to spend some time with Grandma when I'm home since I won't be able to be back for her birthday the next weekend. In order to make this trip better than my last which involved my car getting stuck like 3 times, a trip into the ditch because of black ice and a tow once again from CAA I've got the car going in for a check up and new tires.
I'm also going to get a cellphone .... yep I'm giving into the technology. I'll probably only carry it when traveling to Edmonton for two reasons: if I get stuck and so I can get in touch with my friends even while I'm out and about town. The big debate is what cellphone to get so I'm asking for input. Should I spend the cash for the iphone or do I get something else. If I got an iphone I probably would carry it with me and use it but mostly as a ipod which I already have so it would be redundant. If I go with another option then what do people like.
Leave me your feedback and I'd be grateful.
On the weight loss front I'm doing really well, as of today I've lost 15lbs and it's been relatively painless. I've been helped by my goal to eat more local organic food. The only downside is that local organic food is expensive. So I've been balancing this with just eating more veggies and less meat. Come summer it'll be easier when the farmer's markets are full of produce but in winter in Canada local and organic is hard to find. Eating healthier is a lot easier when you live by yourself, you only have to please yourself and there's no one sabotaging you by eating yummy junk.
The shopping is not going quite as well. I have made improvements but I still have been buying things and I have a hard time packing my lunch for Tuesday and Thursday's. That's okay there is still time to keep working on it. I have been doing better about resisting impulse buys and online shopping. I only shopped once this month and I took my Michael's gift certificate with me. Of course I went over a little and then we went to Michael's where I did buy a new pair of dress pants and a sweater. I could've lived without them and probably didn't need them so it wasn't the smartest decision but they will get used with me doing a lot of fieldwork this semester.
On that note fieldwork is awesome. It eats up a lot of my time but I love being with the kids. I spend Wednesday mornings in a grade 3/4 classroom of 29 kids of which 18 are EAL so while I'm supposed to be observing I'm actually getting a lot of hands on time. In the afternoon I go to a french school and assist the English teacher with EAL (english as an acquired language) students, they are generally in grade 6/7 and I do one on one tutoring with them. I also spent an afternoon at a local prekindergarten which was really great and my favorite experience so far. Then starting soon I will be volunteering at the RCMP Heritage Centre here, I think I'll be doing class tours but there will probably be other things to do as well. Due to being in the field so much my coursework seems to be lighter with most of the courses having one midterm, a final or final paper and a reflection piece based on the fieldwork.
I'm looking forward to reading week and I'm planning on heading to Edmonton so that should be good and since I have some extra time this visit I hope I can see some people. I called my Grandma today just to chat and it turns out my Dad was there visiting with her. So I got to talk to both of them, which was good. I will also have to spend some time with Grandma when I'm home since I won't be able to be back for her birthday the next weekend. In order to make this trip better than my last which involved my car getting stuck like 3 times, a trip into the ditch because of black ice and a tow once again from CAA I've got the car going in for a check up and new tires.
I'm also going to get a cellphone .... yep I'm giving into the technology. I'll probably only carry it when traveling to Edmonton for two reasons: if I get stuck and so I can get in touch with my friends even while I'm out and about town. The big debate is what cellphone to get so I'm asking for input. Should I spend the cash for the iphone or do I get something else. If I got an iphone I probably would carry it with me and use it but mostly as a ipod which I already have so it would be redundant. If I go with another option then what do people like.
Leave me your feedback and I'd be grateful.
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