What makes you happy, makes you rich!

MUSINGS ON MIDLIFE'S MISADVENTURES:

Love, laughter, family, friends, hugs, kisses, sleep, health and good memories. All cost nothing AND are free, free, free. You need only make room for them in your life.

Over the years, I have always counted my blessings. I have a*l*w*a*y*s lead a charmed life. I have tried to express gratitude, but it was more out of a sense of "I should", rather than a true sense of REAL APPRECIATION. However, as I age, I have come to learn that appreciation.  What makes me happy now? Small things... that are really BIG things, such as...

Anticipating and relishing a visit from friends I haven't seen in three years.

Receiving an unexpected Sunday night phone call from my "adult" child, for no reason.

Big hugs that last at least seven seconds. A good friend once told me that it wasn't a REAL hug unless it lasted that long, so I try to make mine last those SEVEN seconds.

Glorious weather that allowed me to enjoy our fall days to their utmost, by going for long hikes and walks with Vimy and friends.

Getting my Croc back, that I had lost while hiking on the Mi'Miq Trail.

Skyping with a friend across the ocean, while chatting over a glass of merlot.

Being fined the LESSER of two fines for speeding.  Believe you me, that made me SO, SO grateful.

Comforting a crying child in the schoolyard, by bending over to hug him; he wrapping  his arms   around me and hugging me right back, hard!

Jiminy Cricket starting on a -35 Celsius morning, with no wind chill! -35!!!!!  And no block heater!

Being healthy enough to shovel snow, and not keel over.

Giving blood in seven minutes, ( a record for me as I am a slow bleeder!), even though the ENTIRE process took two hours.  Drink lots of water before giving blood; it works wonders.

Having my eighty-two year old mother in my life; she who cares, is concerned and is STILL mothering her sixty-two year old, single daughter.

Knowing God DID NOT WANT ME JUST YET, on Monday after school.  (THIS IS A BIG THING, PERIOD!!!)  I  SO could have been a goner right there and then, when I failed to make a stop at the end of a street, because I confused my brakes and my clutch.  I drove right across Riverside Drive,  m-i-s-s-i-n-g being T-Boned by a car on my right, by a few seconds. Thankfully NO car was coming from the other direction. I could have been THE filling in a sandwich, come to think of it.  It simply WAS NOT my time to leave this earth. Good thing, because I still have a lot of friggin' LIVING to do!!! (Pardon my language.)

Understanding why my dear father used to say, "I don't want anything for Christmas.  I have all I want and need."

Bearing witness to the heartfelt words of a little six year old Syrian girl, explaining the following to me and her classmates, in basic English.  I had read a story in class "Why We Remember", near Remembrance Day. Many children wanted to share what war meant to them.  Amna, with gestures, said "I be Syria, boom, boom, house gone. We go Turquia, come Canada. I am happy".  Then she smiled shyly.

Need I say more ONE more thing that makes me happy?  Being Canadian! 

Wishing all of you, my readers, family and friends, a Joyful and Peaceful Christmas.  À tous mes lecteurs, ma famille et mes amis, je vous souhaite un très Joyeux Noël, comblé de paix et de bonheur.
I also wish you ALL the things that money CAN'T buy, in 2017.

HAVE YOU E....V.....E....R....

...been to a Santa Claus parade where toilet tissue was handed out, along with candy? THAT was a first for me!

...found something when looking for something else? I had told my friend Listen Linda, where my house key was hidden, indicating in a text that she had to look UP, and to the right.  So what does she do? She looks UP and to the left, and finds a key that the previous owner had hidden, leaving behind when they moved out.  That was kinda neat!

...been told "You smell like lobster! Long pause... And lobster STINKS!"  I totally forgot that gem when I posted my Kindergarten tales recently. I WISH I had been cooking lobster. It was mackerel; the smell still clung to my cardigan.  I have very little sense of smell, so I am oblivious.  That is NOT always a good thing though, is it?

...bragged about something, and then had the reverse happen? I had taken to bragging recently, how at the age of 62, I hadn't had stitches, surgery or broken a bone. Well, turns out I broke my little finger on the Fundy Trail, when I fell on slippery rocks on the beach. An x-ray almost two months later, confirmed it. That will teach me!  No more bragging.

...had the snowplow pass and throw a huge snowball SMACK in the middle of the end of your driveway? It was the size of a snowman's belly!!  Nothing else, just the huge snowball. I had just finished shoveling, so OUT I went.  I had to pick it up with two hands and pitch it in the snowbank.  If I didn't know better, I would think some evil ELF had planted it RIGHT there!

...crept into bed on an evening when it was -35 degrees Celsius, with gale force winds blowing, only to find a hot water bottle wrapped up in a towel, under the covers at the foot of your bed? What a surprise and w-h-a-t a treat!!! My mother is the only one who e-v-e-r put a hot water bottle in my bed. It was a GOOD elf who did that.

...received a Christmas card from Hogwarts? I did!  My English friend Tracy, has parents who live in Biggleswade, England. Now isn't THAT a name straight out of a Harry Potter book?  It is to me, so they signed their Christmas card this year. "Hogwarts." It made me smile and smile.  What makes you smile?

DITCHED!

At 7:30 yesterday morning, I had to take Vimy to the dog kennel on my way to school. It is a beautiful, but snapping, bitterly cold wintery morning. I gaze at the gorgeous waning Super Moon in front of me, and am captivated by the snow laden trees lining my route, their boughs heavily laden with fresh, white snow. We've just had forty centimetres of snow. YES, you read that correctly. FORTY centimetres of the fluffy white stuff was dumped on us Tuesday and Wednesday.

I drop Vimy off at the kennel, and start driving back up the long, snow packed lane, leading to the main highway. A white SUV is coming down the lane. It is someone else dropping off their pooch at dogie day care. Well, the lane is n-a-r-r-o-w.   I start veering to the right a little bit, hoping the oncoming driver will veer to the left, and we will be able to meet without clipping each other's mirrors. WELL, that driver doesn't think or react the same way as I do. CONSEQUENTLY,  I end up with my front end STUCK  in what I think is a shallow ditch, or just the side of the lane. I can't go forward, or backward. I am NOT about to start spinning myself into deeper ruts either. Jiminy Cricket gets stuck easily. He is barely six inches off the ground, after all.

I get out of my car, look at the mess I am in, and immediately call my kennel guy,  who is six hundred yards away. Cell phones can be a Godsend, don't you think? He comes running with a shovel, bless him.  He did that fast, because he was checking in the dog, whose owner had kind of j-u-s-t bullied me off the road!

I was a little miffed to say the LEAST, about being in this predicament.   I am already thinking, "God, I hope I don't have to get towed! I hope I am NOT late for school!" "Thank goodness I DON'T have duty first thing!"

Bob and I are both trying to figure how to get me out of the snowbank (or ditch), when the SUV, making its way out, stops and the passenger window is rolled down.  WHAT do I see but the grinning face of a Grade Five student, from the VERY school where I am going that morning.  He waves merrily and says "Hi Madame D!"   As if it were TOTALLY NORMAL for him to see me in this situation.  KIDS!!!  LOL  I smile back sweetly and ignore the driver. Bob tells the parent I will be okay.

That I am, and lucky as usual.  Thanks to Bob, who shovels furiously,  pushes me out of the hole Jiminy was in, and then adds one bit of advice, "Get an automatic!"  I get to school just in time, thankful and grateful once again, that I have easily gotten myself out of another early morning misadventure!

 

I AM TOTALLY CONSUMED!!!

By what, you may ask? Or by whom?  In MY case, it is a W*H*A*T!  It is my job as a supply teacher.

I am really a full time teacher, as I have had one day off since mid-October. Now, I am NOT counting that o*n*e snow day we had.  However, the difference between me and a "REGULAR" teacher, is that my teaching day is DIFFERENT, in every way, e-v-e-r-y single day. Different language, different school, different district, different level, different everything.

This week I replaced a VP in an English school on Monday, a Principal in a French school on Tuesday, a Grade Two teacher in a French school on Wednesday.  Thursday, although I started in a Grade One class in an English school, I was switched to a Grade 5 French Immersion class, because the supply teacher assigned didn't speak French.  Today, I was switched AGAIN.  The poor VP was totally frazzled because she was short TWO teachers, and actually apologized for switching me from replacing the Principal in this English school, to teaching Kindergarten instead. I gave her a big hug, and told her "It's ALL good!"  What's not good about having thirteen very active five year olds, NINE of them boys,  pretty much rule your day? :)

All of which leads me to have SO, SO many DIFFERENT INTERACTIONS, with SO, SO many different people in a given week, that sometimes, my head is spinning and I feel like my brain has been fried by the time Friday rolls around. OR as my oldest childhood friend would have said, "I wouldn't know my ass from my elbow!"

However, it also gives me so many opportunities to laugh, chuckle, and smile, that I just have to share some of those moments with you, ONCE AGAIN. I think I am finding all these moments EXTRA precious, as my teaching career winds down, and I face total retirement by 2018.

Here are a few very special moments in English Kindergarten classes:

Little Annie: Did you teach us last weekend? No, not last weekend! A few weekends ago?

Me: What happened to your arm Jaden?
Jaden: I broked it.

Caleb: Mrs. L hided my scarf!

Alisha: Why isn't Mrs. M. here? Is she working on her homework?

Owen: I made a GYNORMOUS snowball at little recess!

Here is ONE tenacious kindergartener:

Ellie - Where is Mrs. P?
Me - She can't be in class today?
Ellie - Why?
Me- She has a lot of things to do.
Ellie - What things?
By now, I would have just told the child her teacher was sick.  However, her teacher had meetings to attend, and was right there in the classroom giving last minute instructions to her student teacher, so I couldn't very well lie and say that!
Me- I don't know. She is a very busy lady, too busy to be here today.
Ellie- (not giving up!)  Well, is she doing her GROCERIES, or something?

Eli can't find his indoor shoes. We search all over, all morning, with no luck.  At first recess, little Kate offers up the following, as they are getting dressed to go outside.  "Eli's shoes are at the office!" I, of course, ask... "Why are they at the office?"  Her reply?  "It's because he barfed!"  Now those four words explain it all to me. Do they explain the situation to you? :)  Well, he was sent to the office because he was sick and was sent home. Whoever picked him up, (the grandmother I was told) picked up his indoor shoes as well, so ... note home asking that the indoor shoes be returned. Mystery solved!!!

In conclusion, what would Kindergarten tales be, without a Show and Tell?  It was Emma's turn, and she had a lovely little eyeglass case from "Bo Oktical!", in her little hands.  Inside were two pair of prescription eyeglasses, for a little girl. The problem here? They AREN't her glasses. Emma doesn't wear glasses.  I start asking all kinds of questions, (which is always encouraged with Show and Tell) only to find out that Emma found this case either in front of her house in the yard or on the side of the road.  Well, WHAT kind of parent allows her child to bring someone else's PRESCRIPTION EYE GLASSES, to Show and Tell? All I could think was, "Some poor sweet little thing, is walking around ALMOST BLIND, (the lenses were thick!), because another little girl brought her LOST glasses into Show and Tell. Gee willikers!

Every time I am back at that school, I seek out little Emma and ask her if her parents have found the owners of those glasses? She shakes her head no.  Honestly, I am going to have to call "BO OKTICAL"
(known as Vogue Optical!)  myself, to find out if any parents have inquired about lost glasses being returned.  I can't sleep!!!

My first snow woman of the year, created with my neighbour Edith.  Isn't she cute? We called her Palotte, Acadian slang for "clumsy!" 

Another 40 minutes...

in the life of a supply teacher, but what transpired was at THE END of the day!

What is MORE STRESSFUL than supervising school children eating in a cafeteria? Making sure that they get home safely at the end of the day!  When you are dealing with children in Kindergarten to Grade 2, who leave earlier than their older classmates, that dismissal time can be pure BEDLAM!!!

Witness an absolutely adorable Grade Three class in a French school, that I taught this week. The students all left at the 1:45, some on buses, some being picked up and some going to various daycare establishments.  Five minutes later you-know-what HIT THE FAN!

Case in point #1- Nicholas. He had gone home on the bus, but his aunt was waiting to pick him up. Students can only be picked up once the buses have left. Is that such a good idea?  What if the child isn't SUPPOSED to be on that bus? Too late!!! Such was the case with Nick. There had been no note in his agenda. I had checked. The aunt (who was a little put out!) said the mother had called in the change. I checked with the secretary. NO, she never got a call. Turns out the mother LEFT a voice mail message.  Now, for all parents out there who think THAT is a good idea, think again. School secretaries are the BUSIEST people, a-l-l  d-a-y  LONG!  They are constantly being interrupted by administrators, staff, students, parents, phones ringing, deliveries... YOU NAME IT. They don't have t-i-m-e to check messages. We are talking your MOST precious beings here, your children. Don't trust their safe delivery home to a MACHINE!

The bus driver saw there was no one home, so he dropped the child off at his second option, daycare. This we all found out (the VP, myself, the secretary) more than half an hour later, as we all made numerous phone calls trying to contact the aunt again, the bus driver, and the mother at work. Total chaos!  I tracked the mother down a second time, to tell her where Nick ended up. I was trying to nicely explain to her to NEVER leave a message, when another teacher popped her head in. Where was another student of mine?  She was supposed to be in her dismissal group.  Quick goodbyes to mother number one.

That brings me to Case #2 - Mylène. Well, Mylène was supposed to be tutored after school, but her tutor canceled. I made Mylène aware of that, but never thought anything further.  Mea culpa! Mylène doesn't TAKE THE BUS; she is picked up. Well, her parents won't pick her up until later when she is being tutored. So, I brought her back to class, and called the mother, who was very sweet about the fact that I had goofed.  She quickly came to get her daughter. However, had Mylène been tutored, then she would have been in the dismissal group of the teacher who had JUST come to my door looking for her an hour later.  GOOD to have these checks and balances in place, I know, but by this time, I am getting frazzled.

Case #3 - Annabelle.  Backtrack forty minutes and add an intercom call from the secretary, asking on behalf of the school daycare staff, who want to know where Annabelle is. I try to place the child in my mind, quickly, so I can give the right answer.  It was, after all, only my FIRST day with these children. Turns out she had gone home sick at 1:00, which I told them. They wanted the details, which I didn't know, because the VP had handled it. I was too busy trying to teach the other 16 in the class. Gee whiz! :)

At one point, when I was running around tracking down these children,  I tried to take a child back to class, thinking it was Mylène. The supervising dismissal teacher says, "No, that one is mine."  They all look the same to me, those sweet faces, when they have tuques on!! Turns out it was hers, all right - HER CHILD. I had to laugh when I found that out later.

So more than an hour after dismissal, I finally know that ALL 17 of those precious children are safe and sound, where they are supposed to be!  By now, I am a nervous wreck!  WHY I don't have high blood pressure baffles me...

Perles de la petite école cette semaine ...

1ère année

Comment est-ce qu'il s'appelle ton "chum"?   Moi - Je n'ai pas de chum.

Une petite rentre dans la classe , et en me voyant, est toute démontée. "Mais ou est Madame Marie-Eve?" Moi - "Elle est absente." "Mais elle nous l'a pas dit!", elle replique, vivement indignée.  Moi- C'est peut-être parce qu'elle ne le savait pas. Elle est possiblement malade. La petite, avec un peu de chagrin, répond "OUPS!"

Dans le couloir - "Non, je n'ai pas la picotte. Ma mère m'a amené chez le docteur et j'ai juste un "RASH!"

Au gymnase, ou on joue un jeu, une grande fille de 4e année m'arrive, toute mécontente. Elle m' annonce, après avoir vu une autre élève me parler- " Elle est en train de me FRIGGIN' mettre dans le trouble!"

Elections matter in elementary school too, so let's get right to the point here!!!

IT IS ALL ABOUT TIMING!

Life is ALL ABOUT TIMING!  There is GOOD timing and BAD timing.  I have had my share of mostly the LATTER, this past week. Reflecting upon the subject though, made me realize how crucial timing can be.  In some cases, it is a matter of life and death. Thankfully, in my experience, t-i-m-i-n-g, good or bad, is either a convenience, or an inconvenience, (also known as a total PITA= pain in the ass!), but not a serious matter.

I needed to go shop in the Miramichi, an hour's drive away. I had received a $50 gift certificate for Winners, six months ago, so I made plans to go last Wednesday.  I always plan everything to the "nth" degree.  I figured since one School District had a PD day, my chances of getting a call for supply with the other district, were slim. Well, I was called of course, by the robot, which in itself does NOT guarantee I would have been assigned the posting, but I will never know. I just ignored the call. I am getting ready to hit the road by 9:00 am, when Baby Bro sends me a text, advising me of the closure of the road I had to take, until noon. Well, I went anyway, hoping the road would be reopened upon my return, around 4:00 pm. Well, of course it WAS NOT. So my sis-in-law and I ended up taking a two hour scenic route detour, to get to the Miramichi, and then driving two and half hours back on the same detour. On a normal day, this would have been a 50 minutes drive EACH WAY.  We only spent a total of FOUR hours shopping.  Does that make sense? Did I mention that it was pouring rain, on our return, very dark, and I missed an exit? B-A-D timing, overall. 

I always bring my lunch to school. On Thursday I brought leftovers of fish, rice and veggies.  I thought "Don't eat this in the staff room. Some people won't like the smell. Bring it back to the classroom."  That is what I did. Then I decided to go to the cafeteria to check the garbage bins for Lunchmate points. I knows that sounds bad, but it is just a matter of gathering points for free stuff, and anyone who knows me, knows I LOVE free stuff. Free stuff, which I give to kids. S-O I was leaning over the garbage bin, looking for paper wrappers, when the cafeteria supervisor walks up, and says, "OMG, that bin stinks of fish!" She grimaces and makes a dismissing gesture with her hand. Of course, I burst out laughing, and said, "It is NOT the garbage can. It's ME!"  You see, I have very little sense of smell.  My world is pretty odourless, so I hadn't noticed that I smelled fishy, literally!!   She turned red as a beet.  I didn't, because I am shameless. So, THAT was a matter of pretty bad timing... ON HER PART. LOL   I was concerned though, that the smell in the classroom would be equally as strong, so I got one of my little fellows (this was a Grade Two class) to step into the classroom and tell me what he smelled.  He immediately replied "LOBSTER!"  I wish!!!! The smell had dissipated by the time the children returned to class after lunch recess. 

Speaking of smell, when Vimy and I returned from a long walk Tuesday night, it was dark. I let Vimy off his leash in the driveway, and he IMMEDIATELY took off running and barking, into the backyard.  What was the attraction? A SKUNK!!!!  Said skunk did what all skunks do, when threatened. He/SHE SPRAYED!  That is BAD TIMING! Really bad timing!!!  However, the skunk missed Vimy, thanks be to all the Gods above. I washed his face, neck and chest with baking soda and water.  I had a friend coming to stay overnight, who arrived shortly after this encounter.  She assured me that the smell in the house was minimal, but very strong outside.  I dodged a bullet there!!!  So, some GOOD TIMING!

Friday night, I was going out to eat, which is a small luxury for me. There is a sushi restaurant that I just love. I hadn't seen an old friend in over four months, so we made arrangements to meet for dinner at this place , since it is halfway for both of us, and she has never been there.   Of course, when we got there, IT WAS CLOSED.  Just for that ONE day mind you. Just that ONE day that I wanted to go there. Bad timing once again... and a fitting ending to my week, no?  However, in the grand scheme of things, although my timing was OFF all week, it was all minor!  For that, I am truly grateful.