What were YOU asked, or told, this week?

Questions I was asked, and things I was told, this week.... by little ones at school.

Kindergarten - Ryan: Madame, I drew the repellor on my airplane."

                    - Tommy:"Did you babysit us yesterday?" (THIS, I was asked on Monday.)

Grade One- Katie, when told she had to do some independent writing, cried, pouted, stated she didn't know WHAT to write about, then drew a picture, and wrote the following sentence. "I LIKE ME!" She is now ALL smiles.  I guess that is as good a start as any! :)

Grade One - I was explaining the "Four Corners" game, where upon the count of five, each child has to be standing in one of the four corners of the classroom. If they are NOT in a corner, they are eliminated from the game. I was reviewing the rules,and prompting the children to tell me what comes next, when I said, "So, what happens next when I count ONE-TWO-THREE-FOUR-FIVE? One little scamp pipes up right away "TIME OUT!"  HE obviously is very familiar with being put in time-out and less with the game of "Four Corners."

Grade Two - Lunch is over and they are back in class. Susie:"Was that BIG recess?" I guess I am not the ONLY one who forgets whether she has had lunch or not. 

Grade Two - Ashley "At Hallowe'en I am going to be a DEAD Prom Queen."  What happened to witches, ghosts and goblins? 

Grade Two - "My Dad is a diamond MINDER!"

Grade Two - In a team teaching classroom of 37 children, the other teacher was explaining rules and procedures to the kids.  I was seated at the back of the group, listening and observing. With one hand held a little above her head, she tells them "MY expectations for you are up here, THIS high!"  The little fellow in front of me says quietly, "My Mom's boyfriend's are HIGHER than yours!"  Out of the mouths of babes... Comments like that make me smile, a little, but also make me WONDER, A LOT. 

WHY IS IT THAT....?

...I can remember ALL SIXTEEN digits of my ATM bank card, BUT I can't remember to take the dang card out of the machine when I make a withdrawal? I ratttled off the numbers to the receptionist at the bank, after giving her my name, when I went back to get my card. Duh!

... some dog owners get SO, SO upset when your dog wants to meet THEIR dog? Don't they know that dogs are social animals?

...  I was given a HUGE sleep apnea monitor, which weighed a ton on my chest, had a dead battery in the morning, but that when I returned it the next day was told T-H-E-N,  "We should have given you a SMALLER one.  We will have to do this again."  ARRGH!

... when someone asks you where you got "such-and-such a gadget, or small item", you say "Here, take mine.  I can get more!" Maybe it is because you have SO MUCH, and they don't? "For it is in giving that we receive."

... you don't bat an eye when SOMEONE ELSE'S dog tosses his cookies in the back seat of your car. 
Hey, I was just happy he didn't get Vimy!

... when children at school ask me my age, I usually reply, "That question is too personal." Yet, when I want to show off my flexibility in the gym with yoga poses, I suddenly have no problem telling them I am sixty-two years old.  "Pride goeth before a fall."

... BURSTING into tears when I got stopped for speeding, DID NOT work this time?  Maybe it was because Jiminy Cricket and I were doing 90 KMH in a 50 KMH zone!!!   The poor, sweet, darling, handsome and ever so kind police officer HAD to fine me.  He was almost apologetic.  I haven't had a speeding ticket in FORTY years.  MEA CULPA, MEA CULPA, MEA CULPA!  Mais maudit, ça pince le portefeuille!!!!  172 50$

... Canada Post STILL can't get their keys to work for the Super Boxes?  Those of you who followed all my misadventures of a year ago, when I had moved into an apartment for a short time, may remember that I blogged more than once about my "Mail Box Blues."  I ended up being issued FOUR sets of keys in the space of less than three months, for my mailbox. I retained that SAME box when I moved to my own home.  I quote from my blog of January 24th, which ended with "Any dibs on my getting another set of keys before the end of winter?  W..e...l...l..., I received this letter in the mail from Canada Post, along with..... my FIFTH set of keys.  Tis laughable!!!

FORTY minutes in the life of a supply teacher.

7:55 am - I arrive at my assigned school with five minutes to spare before my 8:00 am duty. Turns out I don't HAVE that duty. It doesn't show on the schedule, though it is in the teacher's notes.  Someone says they are sure they heard THAT teacher's voice in the hall. 

8:00 am - I rush to the classroom. Lo and behold! The teacher IS present. I check my app with the assignment. You guessed it? I am at the WRONG school. The two teachers in question share the same last name, but not the first. I know... I can just hear my neighbour now, M. Ange, saying "Nounoune!"  I think Nounoune should become my middle name.  

8:05 am - I am getting ready to dash off to the RIGHT school, where I am NOW REALLY GOING TO BE LATE FOR MY DUTY, when the ever so sweet VP nabs me in the office.  He informs me that a parent has posted on FB, that a SUPPLY teacher was drinking pop in class on Tuesday. Well, guess who was the O-N-L-Y supply teacher in that school that day?????? Yours truly.  Do I have time for this? Just when you think you have experienced E-V-E-R-Y  FIRST possible occurrence of something in your teaching career, you get GOBSMACKED!  It must have been a very slow day in someone's life. In my defense, I must state the facts and ONLY the facts!  A) I was drinking WATER out of a recycled plastic ginger ale bottle. B) I don't drink pop, unless I am making a mixed drink. OOPS! Did I say that? Ipso facto, I would NEVER be drinking pop at school.  C) On a point of principle, I don't buy bottled water, ever, ever, ever! I don't use nice, expensive water bottles either, because I keep leaving them behind me in different schools and classrooms. I know "Nounoune"! Enough said.... I could write an entire blog just about this last paragraph. WHAT have I learned?  Don't use green plastic bottles, and R-I-P the darn label off ANY plastic, recycled bottles that you do use.

8:13 am - I am half way to my car, when I realize my lunch is in the fridge, so back I run into the school.

8:16 am - I am finally on my way to the RIGHT school, after asking the secretary at the WRONG school to call the secretary at the RIGHT school, and inform her that I will be "REALLY,  REALLY,  LATE FOR DUTY NOW."

8:21 am - I arrive at THE RIGHT SCHOOL.  I dash into the classroom, dump my stuff and run outside to the playground, where I am now over twenty minutes late, only to find out from the teacher there, that I DON'T HAVE ANY DUTY after all! It was a mistake in the notes. 

8:25 - I heave a sign of relief and dash back INTO THE SCHOOL.

8:30 am- I have two minutes to look over the day's preparation and take a few deep breaths, before the bell rings.

8:32 am - In walk twelve of the cutest, sweetest, most darling four and five year olds, and I know right THEN AND THERE, that I am going to have a most AMAZING DAY, and I did!  I am blessed.

MORE OUCH AND AWE MOMENTS!

OUCH! Receiving your quarterly water bill, in the amount of $327.00, which was more than triple what it should be! That was thanks to the darn toilet that kept running one entire day in June, when I was working. The toilet has since been fixed. Seeing that amount was enough to give me a coronary on the spot.

AWE! The beautiful, captivating melody of Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah" coming from the back of the church, as our wonderful, singing Father sang this beautiful song (lyrics changed of course) during the processional to the altar, one Sunday morning recently.  Chills ran up and down my spine, I swear to God.

OUCH!  My phone charger wasn't working in my car. Thinking it just might be the receptacle I was plugging it into, I asked a friend of mine who is a mechanic, to check the fuse. Well, it turns out the fuse WASN'T the problem, because he BLEW the fuse, as he was checking it. Just my luck!  There are no fuses for Jiminy Cricket at Crappy Tire, so I have to go to the dealership. That is what I was trying to avoid doing in the first place!

AWE! Hiking thirty four kilometres of the Fundy Trail and the Fundy Footpath, with my daughter and son-in-law, over three days. The wilderness at its w-i-l-d-e-s-t, VERY challenging, treacherous in places and absolutely exhilarating. I was very privileged to have been able to do what I did.

OUCH!  Slipping on slimy rocks at low tide, on an isolated beach at sunrise. Consequence... badly spraining my little finger, and smashing my left knee with still twelve kilometres of hiking to do, carrying thirty plus pounds in my backpack. Made it!! Thank you Tylenol.

AWE!  Seeing a big, fat, gorgeously quilled porcupine, waddle across a stream, early that same morning as the slip. Said porcupine was followed by three very curious, but SMART dogs, who kept their distance.

OUCH! Paying $6.50 for a single scoop of HOMEMADE ice cream, at McCabe's on our way out of Fundy National Park. Now bare in mind, it was delicious, but..... worth the price?  It will be my one and only sampling.  By the way, raspberry ice cream was $8.50 a scoop, and chocolate $9.50.  I am just sayin'.

AWE! That my post on Facebook about buying French's ketchup, rather than Heinz, garnered over 18,000 shares! That is unbelievable.  I am NOT about to do that again anytime soon.  I did get all kinds of positive comments, and thoughtful discussion. An unexpected pleasure was hearing from a former night school student of mine, back in the Seventies, in Toronto, with whom I hadn't had contact in almost forty years.  Great blast from the past!!

OUCH! Getting an offer on a piece of land I have been trying to sell for ages, provided the purchasers are able to put a mini-home on the lot.  NO GO!  Building codes in the village prohibit structures less than a certain number of metres, which effectively disallows ALL mini-homes. Advice?  Check building codes before you purchase. I didn't do that THIRTY THREE years ago.

AWE! Que ma mère de 82 ans continue à me battre au Scrabble!!  Puis je continue de jouer des parties avec elle. :)

Finally, somewhere in between OUCH AND AWE, there was THIS moment.

"Mom,  we think you might have sleep apnea.  You stopped breathing last night so many times, then you would make a noise, start snoring, then go quiet again.  We didn't sleep a wink.  We need to sleep, so we will sleep in the car."  Now,  WHAT do you think I said? Of course... I slept in the car.  F-A-R better for one person to be put out, then TWO. I don't sleep well anyway, so what the heck?  I can't remember the last time I slept in a car though. It's been QUITE a while....

A DOG DAY AT THE BANK!

Don't go to a bank first thing in the morning, on the third remaining business day of the month. Just don't. Or if you do, be prepared for long lineups because seniors have received their pension cheques.

I didn't know that when I dropped into my bank. I had to go to make a large cash withdrawal. There were a dozen people ahead of me, eight more quickly lined up behind me, and four more waiting for seated service. I overheard one woman telling another how she'd only had time to throw on her clothes and wash her face, before catching her lift in. I could have told her she forgot something... her TEETH! I didn't say a word. :)  She looked kinda cute without them.

I thought " I am here for a while!" It went surprisingly fast though, so I was in a great mood as I skipped down the back steps of the bank, only to be brought up short by furious barking from inside the minivan on my left. It was already a very warm day, and through the tinted windows I could see a little Shitzu type dog throwing himself at the window.  I noticed right away that ALL the windows were closed tight. Not ONE was cracked open even an INCH.  A gentleman sitting in a car on my right, told me the owner hadn't been gone very long. I knew he could be gone a while though, since they were so busy in the bank. I checked the car doors. They weren't locked. I was scared to let the dog out however,  because he was so upset. My pet rescue last summer?  I took the dog out, because he was half dead. I put him on my dog's leash, and waited for the police to show up. Not an option this time though.

I am impulsive, or so I have been told! Not spontaneous, but impulsive. So I marched back into the branch , and announced loudly, in both our official languages, that there was a dog in a car with the windows closed tight. I'd say at least 15 pairs of eyes ALL turned and stared at me, customers AND staff.  No one said a word. No one came forward either. Coward! Then I stated just as loudly, "I am going to call the police." One woman at the wicket turned and said "Police Headquarters is right behind you." Oh yeah.... she was right. I had forgotten that fact.

As luck would have it, when I dashed back down the steps, I saw a young officer headed to his vehicle, from across the parking lot. I yelled and waved my arms. He was only 100 yards away and walked right over. I showed him the vehicle, and explained the situation.  He was talking into his shoulder walkie-talkie when the IRATE, and do I mean IRATE owner comes out of the bank, y-e-l-l-i-n-g at me that he had only been gone a few minutes. That's what they ALL say.

I replied rather testily that had the windows been cracked open, I would not have interfered.   I ask the officer if he concurs, that the windows needed to be left cracked open. He does concur. He is as cute as a button by the way! Oh to be twenty again...SIGH, SIGH.  Anyway, I thank him and hightail it out of there. Jiminy Cricket is parked around the corner, and as I leave, I see the owner being lectured to by the police officer. The owner may forget my face, but if he'd seen Jiminy Cricket, he would remember me for sure! No need to get him all riled up again now, is there, every time he sees a green Mazda?

ANOTHER ADVENTURE IS PEEKING AROUND THE CORNER!

That is a GOOD thing too, because things have become W-A-Y too quiet and routine around here! Mind you, it has been a wonderful, hot, sunny summer with lots of activities, visits and outings, but I haven't experienced any REAL adventures. Well, except when my RPIB (=rabid, politically incorrect brother) took me for a 4 km ride on his Harley, when I thought we were going around the crescent.  I still haven't recovered from that!

I am beginning to wax nostalgic, because last year at this time, I was hiking the 820 km of The Camino Francés, in northern Spain.  Looking back, I realize that THAT TREK, would become one of the TOP FIVE, CRITICAL, ORIGINAL AND PRIMARY EXPERIENCES OF MY LIFE! I have had two children, so of course, they are Number 1, together. 

 

Would I hike The Camino again? In a heartbeat... in a heartbeat. I am a person who doesn't like to do anything twice, but I plan to return.  Although it won't be this year, I have found a hike to bring me back into "Peregrina" mode.

 

Wednesday I leave to hike the 41 km of the very challenging Fundy Footpath, along the jagged cliffs of our fabulous Bay of Fundy. The Footpath is listed on "The Great Canadian Adventure Bucket List".  It has also been listed as being one of the TOP BEST 50 Hikes in the world, by Explore Magazine. It cuts through ravines, and two tidal rivers, so it is not for the faint of heart, nor the inexperienced.

 

Mind you, I HAVE NOT yet hiked the Footpath.  These 41 km may be more taxing than the 820 km I did in Spain, though I don't see how.  I hiked almost 100 km in three days, 38 of them in one day, through the Meseta, in 35 degree Celsius heat. Surely, I

can hack 41 km of rough terrain, up and down 200 metres, in much cooler weather, over a four day period?  Can't I? I will be sleeping in a tent though.. and if it rains.... YEAH, that is going to be TOUGH!!!

 

Stay tuned to see if I make it.  I may be eating humble pie upon my return.  Many have attempted this hike, but not ALL have succeeded.  Some hikers had to be evacuated because of the rising tide.  They couldn't have been Maritimers. :)

 

 

 

 

http://www.canadianbucketlist.com/experiences/fundyfootpath/

 

http://www.fundytrailparkway.com/en/the_fundy_footpath/

 

 

 





 

 

Economical=frugal but does NOT EQUAL cheap!

I have been an a-v-i-d consumer. As a wife and mother, I did MORE than my share of contributing to the Canadian economy by shopping, shopping and shopping. No more so than during the eighties and nineties, when I was raising a family.

When I hit my fifties and my birds flew the nest, I started to consume less... and less...and less. I bought, but my mantra became "Reduce, Reuse and Recycle." I had always been a " frugalista", but I became even more frugal.  It wasn't hard.  It was a skill I already had, but that I started to perfect.

My priorities shifted. I wanted to spend my money on travel and adventure, so I decided I would buy nothing "NEW", if possible, if I could beg, borrow, mooch, or buy secondhand in a thrift shop or garage sale. As you know if you read my blog about the trapezoid table,  I am not above "curbside" pick-ups either. However, I DO draw the line at "dumpster diving".

Over the years I have laid my hands on some SWEET finds. A couple of recent ones, lead me to write this blog.

My one and only "sista" is a super shopper extraordinaire. Plus she has an eye for fashion and decor, as well as gardening. Did I mention she is also a foodie, and super techie?

Anyway, on a recent trip to our provincial capital, Lou had our "upscale" thrift shops all lined up. UPSCALE THEY WERE! What fun! Plus she was the personal shopper for both my mother and me. "NO, you do NOT use "I" in that sentence!" I ended up with 11 items at an average cost of $12 per item. MY REAL STEAL?  I found it on my own, by the way, after my personal shopper told me the ones I had first picked out were NOT a good buy. Velvet flats... oh so chic and exactly what I was looking for. Price? $24.00 The brand name caught my attention and prompted me to check out the name online.  I found them there.. starting at $498.00! Can you believe it? Remember that name ladies...  Stuart Weitzman.

 

 

A garage sale item yesterday, a "Le Sport Sac" to hold my yoga gear for the princely sum of .25 cents, yielded a $90.00 "on sale" price tag online. HAPPY DANCE!!!!

 

 

Of course, there are screw ups. Like the lovely tunic I bought to match my brown leggings and high boots, to wear this fall. At home I discovered I had bought a "maternity top!" Oh well... I never recognized the item as being maternity clothing. (Shrug) I obviously have to bone up on those labels. :)