You have a question? They have THE answer!

Even if you don't have a question, wee ones always have something to say.

Here a few memorable exchanges I have had in the last few months.

KINDERGARTEN:  Boys and girls, today you are going to music and phys.ed class.
                                  Aaden - "Are you sure?"

Upon reiterating my name, which they already knew, one little says, "I almost called you Mrs. Zuchini!"  Not to be outdone, another one pipes up, "I almost called you Mrs. Cucumber!

Do you remember me from the last time I was here?
Sadie - The last time you were here, it was awesome!   (Now if THAT doesn't make your day, NOTHING does!)

Audrey- Do you know what I want you to get me for Christmas?
Me - (Trying to keep the laughter out of my voice) No, tell me.
Audrey - An LOL doll.

GRADE ONE:

I wanted them to count some items in French, in a Grade 2 English class.  One little fella says, "This ISN'T a French Immersion class."

Chloe, reading her story on planets, "There was a solar cliff..."

I was relieving the music teacher, who asked the Grade One class coming in:
"And how are you going to treat Madame today?"
They ALL replied in perfect unison, "BETTER than our mothers!"

When I told one sweetie that he rushed to do his work, he replied, "No, I was being quick!"

Issac: There are NO snacks?  GOOD GRIEF!

I was speaking French to another teacher. Piper asks, "Are we in French class?"

"I live in Piksuite Falls."  I racked my brains for a minute, wondering where that place was, when I realized he meant "Nepisiguit Falls".

GRADE 5 - LAST BUT NOT LEAST

I was helping Grade 5 French Immersion students do some research on Canadian provinces.  I typed in "symboles Saskatchewan", and "symboles sataniques" is what came up on the screen. The child, on seeing all the Satanic symbols, innocently says, "Are these BIRDS?"

LITTLE THINGS mean everything!

We often bemoan the fact that "good service is a thing of the past."  Do you agree?  I don't.  Certainly NOT based on what I took note of recently, in my dealings with service I received in my fair city and its surroundings.

I was looking for NB, Canada and pins from my city, last fall, to take with me on my travels.  Canada and my city were fairly easy to obtain, but NB pins were rare indeed. When I visited my MLA's constituency office, I ended up having my MLA himself  rummaging around his office, trying to find me some.  How THAT came about would be a whole other blog in itself.  Suffice to say, he even went out to his car, and dug around in there. I swear!!!  He found me one, which I, of course, kept!  It is not every day that you have your Provincial Minister of Education working EXCLUSIVELY on your behalf!!  I may even frame that pin. :) NOW THAT IS GREAT SERVICE!

I waltzed into my local PHARMA SAVE, and was given my annual flu shot right then and there.  I didn't even want one! NO, JUST KIDDING!! I didn't need an appointment.  I was in and out of there in five minutes flat, pricked and paid for!   Isn't that great service?

I also sailed into my local bank, WITHOUT an APPOINTMENT, again and I was able to have some papers signed, sealed and delivered, so to speak, in a matter of five minutes.  I could barely believe it, because I would not be the first to say that banks give great service. However, I received
GREAT SERVICE that day.

At a reflexology appointment, I was offered a wonderful cup of tea, and allowed to bring Vimy IN with me, where he was more than warmly welcomed.  MORE great service!

At my local Mazda dealership, they took Jiminy Cricket  r-i-g-h-t back in, and fixed something else that I hadn't mentioned was an issue, until AFTER they told me my car's servicing was done.  I know... "Nounoune!"  Plus, the service person is a hiker, like me, and spent a good 15 minutes showing me how to access a certain part of the Mi'gMaq Trail.  Above and beyond great service!

At my physiotherapist's office, they offer free bottled water, coffee and tea!  All part of MORE GREAT SERVICE!

Of course, in light of my recent blogs, this blog would NOT be complete, if it weren't a little shitty. (Sorry!)  I recently had a very old friend be diagnosed with colon cancer.   His cancer was detected with what I call the "poop" test.  His "poop" test came back positive, so he subsequently had a colonoscopy, and from there, with a confirmed diagnosis of cancer, was treated.  He is now well and recovered. Well, I wanted to avoid a colonoscopy at ALL COSTS, so I too opted for the said "poop" test.  Seven months later, my doctor cannot find the test results.  Actually, my doctor is on maternity leave, and HER sub cannot find them.  So, we decide that I will go for a-n-o-t-h-e-r test. While this test is DEFINITELY less invasive and unpleasant than a colonoscopy, it is still a major PITA!  I carry the lab authorization in my purse for a month, as I cannot go during regular office hours.  I finally get to the lab on an off day.  The lab technician there is such a sweetie, always smiling and just so darn PLEASANT.  I decide to mention how I had already taken this test, but the doctor couldn't find the results. W-E-L-L, she found them in the system, after searching for a few minutes.  However, she was NOT authorized to give me the results.  I was willing to go down on bent knee, but she still said "no" so sweetly.  I then suggested she just tell me whether I needed this SECOND test after all.  She still shook her head "no."   WHAT she did next was to give me GREAT SERVICE!  Off she went, into the bowels (Sorry, but I just had to use that word!) of the medical clinic, and emerged ten minutes later with my doctor in tow. She proceeded to show him how to access the results.  HE told me the results were negative.  Since I couldn't jump across the counter to hug her, I grabbed her hands and shook them,by way of thanks, and blew my doctor a kiss. OUT OF THERE!  Was I a happy camper?  No shit!   (Sorry!)   THAT technician could have just ignored me, and given me the paraphernalia for the poop test, but she went ABOVE and beyond, by giving GREAT SERVICE!

Service is everything.  Maybe some cynics would say that these types of businesses are simply pandering to we older folks, but I prefer to think that it is JUST good business practice, period! All customers, patients, clients... should be valued and appreciated.  We may forget what people say to us, but we tend to remember HOW they made us feel.

PS:  There is an important message in this story.  If you are are over fifty years of age, a colonoscopy is recommended.  Go for a "poop" test first.  (Otherwise known as the "FOBT" test - fecal occult blood test.) It may save your life!!  

There is a LOT to be said for cocooning ...

especially in the month of January, on the east coast of Canada.   With -35 Celsius temperatures, blizzards, weather bombs, treacherous roads, 45 degree temperature change in the span of a week, flooding, freezing rain and flash freezes, who wants to venture outside unless they HAVE to.

I DO, even when I don't have to!  I make a point of trying to embrace SOME of winter.  Getting outside in the fresh air can cure what ails you.  It clears the cobwebs, and is so good for both your physical AND mental health.  Of course, having a dog to walk really helps motivate you and get you OFF  the couch. That, and a HUGE dollop of good,old Catholic guilt.  Plus, when you come in, you can treat yourself to a hot chocolate with Baileys.  Maybe even add a dollop of whipped cream.

Vimy was less than thrilled to be going out decked out in his latest winter wardrobe recently, to go snowshoeing.  Dressing him in his fancy ADIDOG coat and bootees, took me l-o-n-g-e-r  to do than dressing my two preschoolers back in the day.  Once out there, he DID NOT come bounding behind me, when I called him, as he ALWAYS does. I had to put his leash on him and drag him down the driveway, poor thing.  Do you think he was maybe mortified by his getup?

I enjoy the month of January.  While I try to remain active and embrace the outdoors, I also take this month to COCOON!!  I see it as my time to reflect, re-energize, redo, reorganize, replete and relax!!   I take this month to indulge in some great series on Netflix, devour lots of good books, bake bread, throw together soups, stews, ragouts and chili, take a woodworking course, tackle a five hundred piece puzzle, clean out closets and drawers, and even do some spring cleaning.  Now is the time to do the latter.  I want to be outside when spring comes, NOT inside! 

So far this month, I have T-H-O-R-O-U-G-H-L-Y cleaned out my freezer, my fridge, and my stove. It is so marvelous to NOT have the fire alarm go off every time I turn on a burner, or the oven.

When I cocoon, I tend to stay out of trouble, or trouble doesn't come looking for me. BRR!  It's too cold!

Some things are SO easy to forget....

Late one night this week, Vimy climbed up a high, six foot snow bank in a neighbour's driveway, to make his deposit.  He had picked up their dog's scent, wouldn't you know.  Right at the top!!   I therefore had to scramble up that snowbank, mostly on my hands and knees, in order to retrieve it.  The snow was hard as rock, and I scraped my knee coming down, since I wasn't dressed for poop climbing, for crying out loud. There was NO WAY I could have "forgotten" that one!   I would never not SCOOP, even at the risk of injuring myself, and regardless of whether a neighbour 👀 is looking out his or her window, witnessing Vimy's misdemeanour.

Vimy and I were returning home from a long walk Friday, the temperature a balmy 11 degrees outside, when friends driving by in their truck stopped to chat.   My friend's husband rolled down the window, and we had quite a long chat, with me leaning in at times, so I could better see my friend, the passenger. Vimy was getting restless and had pulled on his leash to the extent that it came right off.  It was only when that happened, that I realized I had "forgotten" something, AGAIN! I had been standing there ALL this time, with a bag of doggie doo right there in my left hand, (contents hot off the press too!) right by the open window and basically UNDER the driver's nose.  I have little to no sense of smell, which can be a blessing at times... and a bit embarrassing at times. 

While driving home from snowshoeing, and cruising down a hill, I spotted something green nestled between my hood and my windshield. "Sh%?!  What is that?" was my first thought. Then I realized that THAT WAS exactly what it was.  I had picked up Vimy's deposit shortly after we headed out snowshoeing, returning and throwing it quickly on Jiminy's roof.   I didn't have time to dig around for the keys to my locked car, and figured I would pick up the bag upon my return. OF course, I TOTALLY "forgot about it" and jumped into the car.  Well, the strong winds that day, must have pushed the bag off the roof and onto the windshield. That is where the bag of poop stayed lodged, while I drove home very slowly.  The last thing I needed was a bag of S?&% flying around.

I think I am going to have to train Vimy to attend to his needs in his own yard.  This is too much stress!

IT DIDN'T MATTER THAT....

I started my day at school, before the bell even rang, with my hands FULL of blood.   I hadn't seen that much blood in a long time.  All of which I had to wash off before starting my day of work.

It didn't matter that driving home, my roof antenna was encased in a chunk of ice, bent completely forward and banging AGAINST my front right windshield, ready to SNAP off!

It didn't matter than when I got home from work, the town plow had blocked my driveway NOT with a foot high wall of  lovely white, fluffy SNOW, but with chunks of ice and more HUMONGOUS BOULDERS!

WHAT DID MATTER?

The little fellow in Kindergarten will be fine. He fell on a piece of playground equipment, and hit this forehead smack between the eyes.  He was kneeling in the snow gushing blood, by the time I reached him.  Dabbing at the geyser with a tissue did N*0 good. It was immediately saturated with blood.  While trying to him lead out of high snow banks, into school and to the office, AND yelling for help, blood continued to pour out of his wound.  Out came out a THICK wad of tissues I had fortuitously shoved into my coat pocket that morning.  It was actually the entire BOTTOM of a kleenex box. I held that to his forehead, all the while continuing to now YELL an EA's name.  She finally heard me and another EA arrived as well. The latter immediately took the Kindergartener to the office.  I had to stay outside; I was still on duty. The little one will have stitches, but the wound was not a HUGE V- shaped CHUNK out of his head, as it had appeared to me, but rather a straight little line between his two eyes.  The snow is piled so high, that the upper parts of playground equipment which normally WOULD NOT be at a child's eye level, now are.   Dangerous!

I was driving on a busy thoroughfare, when my antenna started banging on my windshield.  I decided to pull into the closest parking lot, and DISLODGE all that ice TOUT DE SUITE!  I had already broken ONE antenna.  I didn't want to spend $75 to replace another one.  How FORTUITOUS again, that I happened to be right in front of the NBLC.  I had been debating earlier whether to stop in and buy some wine on my way home, and had decided, "NAH!", but .... S-I-N-C-E I was right there in their parking lot, WHY NOT?   I thereby killed two birds with one stone right there!

I parked my Jiminy in the street, and by shoveling for twenty minutes, was able to clear a space wide enough for him to squeak through into my driveway.  Vimy romped around while I was able to have some great cardiovascular exercise.  It was wonderfully mild, ( a balmy +5 degrees Celsius, as opposed to last week's -35C).  That's ONLY a forty degree difference.  My neighbour came along and dislodged the ONE, GIGANTIC boulder of ice and snow, that I had not been able to budge!  AWESOME I SAY!!!

All in all... another GREAT DAY! 

WHAT A WEATHER BOMB!!!

If you live in the Maritimes,  you are going to get smacked with snow in the winter.  It is inevitable.  Witness the last thirty six hours.

0:00 hours (2:00 p.m. January 4)  It started to snow around 2:00 in the Chaleur area. We had been warned, so we hardy Maritimers were prepared.  Right?  By evening, it was a raging blizzard, a perfect weather bomb, with high, high winds and blowing, drifting snow.  By the time I went to bed, I knew all snowplows had been removed from the roads.  I managed to squeeze open my door enough, so Vimy could squeak out and have a pee.  He was too traumatized to do anything though.  He was back inside in a flash.

19:00 hours (9:00 a.m. January 5) 1 woke up to 51 cm of snow.   THAT is almost two feet of the white S*&?!  Furthermore, it was STILL SNOWING!   20:00 hours (10:00 a.m.) Out I went, and tried to remove some of the hard, compacted snow off  Jiminy Cricket,  but there was no point.  The WEATHER BOMB was NOT over.   We had had a bit of freezing rain with all that; I heard it hit my windows around dawn.  The path I dug out on one side of Jiminy Cricket, was drifted right back in  in less than half an hour.  However, I HAD POWER... so I was totally grateful.  By the way.  KUDOS to NB Power, for keeping so many of us warm and CONNECTED. :)

I was SMART this time.  I brought my shovels INTO the house. I didn't leave them outside, like I did at the apartment. Fat lot of good they are to you outside, when you can only open your door an inch or two.

During the early morning, the town plow had passed and dumped four feet of HARD, COMPACTED SNOW in the entrance of my driveway, like it did to everyone.  I didn't have a problem with that.  The blizzard had buried Jiminy Cricket.  I didn't have a problem with that. 

While waiting for Santa Claus (that's what I call my snow removal guy, since he looks like him!) to arrive and blow out part of my driveway, I decided to defrost my freezer. I took the same spatula that I used this spring to scrape my windshield in late April.  I tried to use it to remove a half inch of ice off the sides of my freezer, but that was NOT a good idea. My spatula blew up basically!

It is now 23:00 hours (1:00 p.m.) and Santa Claus has shown up. His son, with a half ton pick-up and a plow in front, came ahead of him, to try and move around some of the FOUR FOOT wall of snow that the town plow had left in our driveways.  I was S=0 happy to see him that when he waved, I did a "Namaste" sign and blew him a kiss. He laughed!!

The son's work done, Santa Claus arrived with his small snowplow and succeeded in clearing roughly half of my driveway.  It wasn't HIS fault, that he left me another three feet of  snow IN FRONT of Jiminy Cricket.  Jiminy was REALLY buried now.  All you could see were the wipers!   I didn't have a problem with that.

23:20 hours (1:20 pm)  The town plow passed by barely ten minutes after Santa Claus, and deposited BOULDERS in my driveway.  This scene could be from THE FLINTSTONES, I swear! I am more than a  little ticked, but .... I didn't have a problem with that. 

It took me an hour to dig out Jiminy Cricket!  I figured  I would move him ahead, so that when Santa Claus came back, I could zip out and he could properly clear ALL of my driveway.

By now, I was sick of the snow, the weather bomb and of taking pictures.  Furthermore, I couldn't get Jiminy Cricket to move. He was all cleared out, but spinning his wheels. I broke down and called Handy Bro, for advice, but of course, he jumped in his truck and came right over, bless him.  A lesson in physics later, (which I BARELY passed in high school, by the way!) and Jiminy Cricket has moved down the driveway, closer to the road.  Quicker and easier GETAWAY, I figured.  I didn't have a problem with that.

26:00 hours (4:00 p.m.)  The skies had cleared and the sun tried to make a brief appearance.  I decided to tackle the bottom of the driveway. 

The snow was so heavy, with most of it clumped together in good sized rocks, along with ONE ABSOLUTELY HUMONGOUS BOULDER.  Now, I had a problem with that!   I gave up and went back inside, now worried that I would NEVER, EVER get out of my driveway, and not knowing when Santa Claus was coming back.

28:00 hours (6:00 p.m.)  Out I went again, and tackled that MOUND of rocks and boulders of snow at the bottom of my driveway.  Damned if I was giving up.  It took me a good hour, and I had to PHYSICALLY push that boulder of snow out into the road, and ditch it on the side.  I was then able to advance JC in and out of the driveway a few times, through a very narrow opening, but I still did it.  Short of the town plow making another appearance soon, I should be okay for scooting out tomorrow morning, when HOPEFULLY, Santa Claus returns to do ALL of my driveway. 

Blessed are they who can laugh at themselves for they shall never cease to be amused.  What a day! Tomorrow's forecast? EXTREME COLD WARNING = Minus 30 C.

AH les petits... les petits...les petits!

You have to LOVE THEM!  The last week before Christmas break, I forgot my Grade 2 class at dismissal and sent them outside on their own.  OMG! A Kindergarten teacher advised me that my students were outside unsupervised.

J'ai enfilé mon manteau net, fret, sec comme qu'on dit, et j'ai couru dehors. Un, qui m'attendait car je devais les emmener à la halte, m'a dit, "Madame, OU est-ce que tu étais? Tu m'as fait peur!"  J'ai eu la frousse moi aussi, franchement!  J'avais tout à fait oublié cette grande responsabilité.  Pourquoi? Parce qu'on m'avait demandé de remplacer une autre enseignante qui devait partir tôt, après le départ de mes petits.  Alors je ne pensais qu'à cette prochaine responsabilité, ajoutée à ma journée, et non-habituelle. I HAVE to learn to be IN THE MOMENT!

Dans ma journée avec ces élèves de 2ième année:

Une petite chouette après qu'elle avait lu sa phrase et en apercevant mon air incrédule, m'annonce, " Ça n'a pas besoin d'être réelle!"

En écriture, de ses camarades de classe, "Les autres même beaucoup." 

J'annonce que je remplace leur enseignante. Une, un peu inquiète - "Tu sais quoi faire?"

Moi: Vous travaillez fort, les eléves!  
Lucas:  C'est ce qu'on fait en 2e année; on travaille fort. 

Samuel, en prenant une autre élève par le cou, déclare "On est amoureux!"

MATERNELLE: 

Je dis à Alex - Viens ranger ton casier.
Alex (tout démonté): Ah non ... pas tout seul!

Sophie - Ça NOT moi. (Translation? Ce n'est pas à moi.)

DERNIÈRE ET NON LA MOINDRE

Dans les couloirs, j'entends un petit en 4ième année dire,  "Il va frencher sa blonde!"

PS: Please be advised that MUCH may be lost in translation, IF you translate this blog into English. I just read the translation! OMG - truly bad!