Saturday, December 30, 2006

New Year's Resolutions

RV Having Fun
It's that time of year when everyone makes a long list of resolutions. My resolutions include less work and more golf, organizing the Oasis Players costume room (and keeping it organized) and taking daily walks. Anyone else have a resolution or two they want to share?

Tuesday, December 26, 2006

Xmas with the Baileys'

RV Having Fun
We had a wonderful Bailey Christmas, lots of good food, good company, good laughs and good entertainment. We spend this afternoon at the ATP production of Peter Pan. What a wonderful way to spend Boxing Day (Can you believe the Queen of Boxing Day Shoppers actually said that?) The performance was fantastic! You can never be too old to enjoy a show like this. Kudos to the cast and crew!!!

Wednesday, December 20, 2006

Ring That Phone

RV Having Fun
Here is a question for all of you. If you could pick your own ring tone what would it be? Doug has a new toy. He updated his cell phone and has discovered a way to create his own MP3 ringtones. If you have a preference you best let him know or else he will choose a ringtone "just for you".

Wednesday, December 13, 2006

Up Your Nose With A .......

RV Having Fun
Do you remember the saying "up your nose with a rubber hose"? I distinctly remember Erin saying that to Megan during one of their friendly cousin discussions when they were about 3 or 4. Well, today it was up your nose with a pair of fine point tweezers. No I was not removing nose hairs and it was not my nose. Let me start at the beginning. I was in the midst of teaching my Grade 1 class about the correct way to may the letter Rr when a subsitute teacher in the Grade 2-3 room came knocking at my door in a panic and said, "Cody has something stuck up his nose and we can' t get it out". Now Cody is one of my favorite former students whom I could tell stories about for hours. I calmed down the sub and said I would check it out. My thoughts were I will just get him to blow hard and whatever it is will pop right out (that's what the babysitter did when Megan pushed a bead up her nose at age 3). I took Cody out to the hall and asked him what was up his nose and he said "the top of a pen". Now I am picturing the top from a pen is at least 2-3 inches long and I couldn't imagine how it could have gotten up his nose, but I figured I'd better have a look. I looked way up and sure enough there really was something up his nose. Down to the staff room we went and I found a long pair of tweezers with sharp ends and as carefully as I could I reached up and latched on to the object. Hurray! It came out without a hitch. Now believe it or not it really was a top from a pen but not the cap end but rather the end piece on a BIC pen. How it got up his nose is still a mystery. A phone call to Grandma and she tells me she is going to call me Dr. Bailey from now on.
Well, some elementary teachers are known for pulling teeth but my claim to fame will now be extracting foreign objects from students' noses!

Saturday, December 09, 2006

Old Fashioned Christmas

RV Having Fun
Its a big day in Eatonia, the annual Old Fashioned Christmas. Events will start off with the K-5 Christmas Concert. We are doing a short musical called The Best Christmas Gift Ever. I think its one of the best we've done. We've even got a duet from a couple of Grade 4 girls in the program. After the concert Santa will arrive and hand out treat bags. There's sleigh rides, wandering carolers and a singalong at the hall. There will be crafts and a treasure hunt for kids and of course the Bathtub races. I am in charge of the BBque beef on a bun which is served pretty well all afternoon. This year they are finishing off with a skating party at the rink followed by a Huskie Hockey game. Should be fun for the whole family. I was thinking about the first Old Fashioned Christmas when Megan and her friend Jane from Australia came for the weekend. Jane had never experienced rural Saskatchewan and I doubt she will ever see anything like she did that weekend. Wish jane and Megan could be here for today's festivities.

Tuesday, November 28, 2006

Let It Snow, Let It Snow, Let It Snow

RV Having Fun
We have considered ourselves quite fortunate that we made it through football season, past Halloween and almost to the end of November before any snow actually accumulated and stayed for more than 3-4 days. Well the end has come to our good luck and we are struggling throught the first major snowfall of the year. I, for one, like snow. I would rather look out the window and see huge flakes of snow resembling feathers floating through the air from one of my mother's feather pillows or chuckle as small children struggle to stay upright as they fight their way through drifts of snow on the school yard when they could walk on the freshly shoveled sidewalks. And to watch Abbey run wild through the yard diving and jumping in the snow is quite a sight, so I don't mind the snow at all. ITS JUST THE -40 WINDCHILL AND HOWLING WINDS THAT DRIVE ME CRAZY!!! It looks like tomorrow will be another day of freezing cold weather, high wind chill factors, reduced visibility and inside recesses. I am not going to let all that cold weather put a damper on my day. I am going to sing Christmas songs, start Christmas crafts with my students and remind a few people more than once a day that in less than 2 1/2 months I will be soaking up the sun and enjoying retirement!!!!

Monday, November 27, 2006

57 strat



This is just a place to upload this picture until I figure this thing out.

Wednesday, November 22, 2006

The Trouble with Zippers

RV Having Fun
Did you know that zippers were invented almost 100 years ago and became popular as a fastener for children's clothing in the 20's and 30's. I would have to believe that those who made the first zippers and decided that they should be the fastener of choice for children's clothes were not Kindergarten teachers (especially those in cold weather climates).
Each day I stand guard at my classroom door making sure none of my young students venture outside without their jackets zipped up. This means helping some of them get the zipper started, unsticking the cloth that has gotten caught in the zipper and doing the zipper up those last few inches so those slender young necks are covered. And it never fails that as I pull up the zipper they put their chins down and Oww, the chin gets zipped! Finally everyone is out the door and I get a few minutes break until they come back in and we start the task of unzipping the jackets. This shouldn't be as hard, right??? Well, not unless you have a jacket with a broken zipper. Let me describe an incident that happened today. One of my students came in and his jacket was attached at the neck but the rest of the zipper was split wide open. He pulled and twisted and finally decided he was not going to budge the zipper. That's when he called for help from the "Zipper Expert". I tried to pull it down, then up, but neither worked. I tried to zip it up from the bottom but that failed too. By now he is getting quite flushed and the sweat is running down his face and so I decided I better get the jacket off the poor little guy. The arms came out easily and then it was a quick pull over the head. Oops!! The jacket is not going over the head. Ears are bend back and he is stuck tighter than Winnie the Pooh when he went to visit Rabbit and ate too much honey. After he cried " My eyes hurt!" I gave up with going over the head and began the task of pulling it back down again. That was easier said than done. I think his nose is a little bit flatter now. Then it was back to pulling and pushing and stretching and I was just about to find the scissors when I felt the zipper begin to move. Slowly I was able to get the zipper down far enough to get him out and then with a good tug the Zipper Expert had done it again.
Of course it's not just little people's zippers that I fix. I've unstuck zippers on adults and children alike. But I think life would be so much simpler if all jackets had buttons. At least them I wouldn't have to worry about rearranging someone's ears, bruising chins and flattening noses. And I'd get at least 5 more minutes of recess each day!!!!

Sunday, November 19, 2006

Spartans #1

RV Having Fun
The Eaton School Spartan Girls volleyball team won gold at provincials this weekend. First medal in volleyball in the school's history. Way to go Spartans!!!

Saturday, November 18, 2006

Tis The Weekend

RV Having Fun
Less than 6 weeks until Christmas and so many things to do to prepare for the upcoming holiday season. I got up early this morning with plans to start making some to-do lists. I thought I might try to get my Christmas letter written before December 25 and or get a start on some baking.

BUT, I sat down and thought I would just check my email before I starting priorizing all the things I wanted to accomplish. That led me to surfing the net and downloading some awesome music for drama. Oops, before I knew it it was almost time for an early brunch. Then I noticed a book I had started earlier in the week. Well, I thought I would just read a few chapters..... now I am almost finished but the lists have not been started. How am I going to check them twice (or three or four times), see who has been behaving themselves (Allan I am talking about you) and decide which task to start today?

With the better part of the day over maybe I will just watch the U of S Huskie football game. The Spartan Volleyball team is heading into playoffs at provincials and it looks like they might just bring home a medal. I will have to regularily check the website to see what the scores of the games are, can't possibly concentrate on list making when I am so busy.

And that brings us to this evening. Wine Tasting at the KI (I am going to taste the wine and Senor Ping is going to provide the entertainment). Jack and Judi will be there so I am sure we will be provided with a few laughs.

Well, maybe tomorrow I can start that list. Or I could just put it off until next weekend.

Tuesday, November 07, 2006

What Kind of Cookies Should I Bake?

RV Having Fun
Its another day off and I can't decide what to do. I guess I could finish my report cards or tidy the house, do the laundry or just read a book but I have decided to bake some cookies. The question is what kind of cookies. I know Doug like peanut butter cookies and my favorite is hermits and the staff at school will eat anything but then I have to consider Meg and Al. What would their favorite cookies be? If I am going to start I may as well mix up a few batches but it sure would help if someone could tell me what to make.

Sunday, November 05, 2006

Riders Gopher-hole the Stamps!!!


Top Ten List

Top Ten Reasons why its Good to be a Stampeder (fan)

1. Everyone will agree with you when on any given day you say.... "Burrr i(t)s cold"
2. You don't need a gopher to dig holes in your field, your team will do it.
3. You get a two week head-start on the other CFL teams to plan for Grey Cup 2007
4. Half your fans go home happy when you lose.
5. Joffrey Reynolds only fumbled once in this year's game.
6. Last year's Defensive MVP John Grace didn't miss a single tackle.
7. You can meet the Eskimos on the Golf Course this week.
8. You don't have to watch Geroy Simon make monkeys out of Lewis and Copeland.
9. Burris' completion percentage (if you include his interceptions) was over 50%.
10. The Muppets don't have a song called "its not easy being Red"

Tuesday, October 31, 2006

Spooktacular halloween

RV Having Fun
We are having another great Halloween. The costume parade today was excellent as always. There were numerous Spidermen, fairies, witches, devils, etc but the best were three little preschoolers wearing grey sweatsuits and carrying white sticks. Took me a while but I finally figured out it was 3 blind mice. The Johnson /Nunweiler family came as the Adams family (all 6 of them). There were 2 sumo wrestlers in inflatable costumes and a scotsman in a kilt.
The doorbell has been ringing since 4:00 Pm and we have had most of the kids in town at our door. Not much excitement around town as yet but I am sure it will take place later on tonight.
I was glad it was my last Halloween party. We carved pumpkins this morning, played games, sang songs, made crafts and ate the usual lunch (cheese and crackers, salami, veggies and cupcakes and cookies) and drank withces brew complete with eye balls. Oh for the good old days when we had egg salad sandwiches and decorated sugar cookies!!!

Thursday, October 19, 2006

A Day Off

RV Having Fun
Here I sit on the sofa at home at 2:45PM on a Thursday, relaxing and contemplating life. Not worrying about whether or not I will get the last book corrected before the bell rings,or if I am on bus supervision on this cold and rainy day, or if I will remember to remind those 5 and 6 year old who need reminding where to go at the end of the day. No folks, I have had a day off. What did I do today? Well I was up bright and early (8:30 AM) and surfed the net and read my book while downing gallons of decaf coffee. After a short walk with Abbey it was home and into the tub for her (she sure does like to run through wet grass and mud puddles). Then it was lunch time and I was off to the Tea and Tassle for lunch (minus the cheesecake, I went for a cinnamon bun instead). Back home I am contemplating what to do next. I could watch Oprah or Dr. Phil. Maybe I need a hobby, something to occupy my days off. Any suggestions????

Monday, October 16, 2006

Eskimos fall from Grace!


RV Having Fun

Oh, yes.... Many of us in Sask are lamenting the tragic fall from grace that has befallen our beloved Eskimo neighbours in the north-west. But we are not snickering too loud. The esks were always a classy team in victory as well as defeat. And they certainly will be back in the playoffs soon.

Perhaps, though, this missing the playoffs is just a pretext (prelude as well) to a salary dump which will affect all CFL teams next year as a salary cap will be imposed. Expect Sask to be hard hit as well – many of their players are very well paid, and are soon to be free agents. Expect big changes there as well.

But finally, perhaps there is some justice in that the Esks and the TiCats both miss the playoffs this year... In light of their extremely shady trade last year, (Mass, Comisky, Davis et al), maybe both teams are getting their proper reward in missing the playoffs this year. There should have been an investigation. A player to be named later???? NO. Some form of collusion in that trade that should have been tossed out along with The Don, the Commissioner, Shivers, Barrett, Paopao, Kent Austin, those two loud-mouthed Stamps, Macioca, Edmonton’s nepotism, The entire CBC Broadcast team led by Chris Walby, Saturday afternoon game times, the Ottawa Renegades, CFL drug policy, Ricky Williams, Video-replay..... Toss ‘em all.

Reduce the CFL to 8-10 imports.

Tuesday, October 10, 2006

Golf Season is Over

Although we thought we would get a chance to play at least one more round of golf the weather does not seem to want to cooperate so its time to put the golf cart in storage and put away the clubs until February. We had 5 months of excellent golf weather this year. We played at Leader, Jack Fish and Sylvan Lake. Tomorrow we will head out to the 5th wheel and go through cupboards and storage cubbies and remove anything we will not need when we head south. It's also time to take inventory and start making lists of things we will need to pack in the middle of winter. Looks like we might get a frost overnight and it will be time to clean out the planters and put them away until next spring.

Saturday, October 07, 2006

Snowflake and Senor Ping Swim With The Stingrays


Stingray City, Grand Cayman Islands. 2004, Cruisin'. Since the Steve Irwin incident, we might not do this again.

Friday, October 06, 2006

4 Months 'til Retirement

Senor Ping and I have approximately 4 months of teaching left and then we will begin our great adventure. The next few months will fly by. There will be football playoffs, community drama and Christmas and before we know it we will be on our way. We are checking out campgrounds, reading Rv forums and talking to other snowbirds to gather as much information as possible before we head south. Rigth now we are entertaining Megan, Allan and friends from Calgary for Thanksgiving. There should be an abundance of good food and good times!