exam day 2

Today went well in terms of work, which was good.

I woke at 5am and saw the news about the Brazilian soccer team plane crash. There are now in an instant 74 broken families. Very sad.

In another instant, a Queen's student was killed in a car accident a few weeks ago:

http://toronto.ctvnews.ca/teen-girl-killed-in-single-vehicle-crash-in-markham-female-driver-charged-1.3166514

So much brokenness.

exam day 1

I woke up at 5am and left at 7am. Everything ran well but tomorrow is the real test as we run with a full house.
I am also trying to prepare things for next term as people need schedules etc.
The plan is that Tabitha is going to be able to take on most of the load this week.
I left work early today because Wednesday will be a very long day.

I am working on trying to find a new phone as my network expires Jan 31. I have sent out some emails inquiring!

Week 11- the penultimate week

Next week is the last week of term so things are starting to wrap up. Next week is final exams and my graders for the essay course should be done so I'll need to load those back to the students.

I did some online black friday shopping for James- a new pair of boots and a winter jackets. There were some good sales if you knew what you were looking for. Hopefully he likes them when they arrive!

This was a good meal this week:

 Baby kale salad

 With cracked wheat

 Cooked, cooled turkey mixed with celery and dried cranberries, sour cream and curry power. I was unsure of how this would work but it was quite a good combo!

Zo

This morning Rachel brought Zo (1 year old) over at 6am. Zo and I get on well and it allowed Rachel to go out and see the horses with Kim.

After Rachel picked her up, I went out and got a haircut, then headed to Rustle to do some Kijiji posting. It turned out to be good timing as there were some building issues to attend to.

For dinner I made cornmeal chicken.

 Last vestige of fall in the backyard

 The chicken was dipped in cornmeal and fried

 Brussel sprouts actually quite good fried this way.

 I think this was supposed to thicken more than it did, but it still turned out ok.

 Put together.

Tried to do cross multiplication with James today but he was not so enthousiastic.

Snow

It never fails that the first day of snow everyone forgets how to drive. The 401 was a bit of a mess in places.

Today at 9am I hopped to Giant Tiger to pick up some milk, then headed over to Rustle for 10am where I met a very nice man named Don and his family as they picked up some furniture that miraculously fit into his SUV.

Tommy arrived just as they had packed up and he helped me move some other furniture around and get things ready for the morning service.

The service today was Mission Sunday so Tommy and Paul spoke a bit about their trip to Honduras and then Chris talked about his trip to BC to work with the Church over there. It was really good. There were a number of new people there and they seemed to be pretty touched by the service.

Then I went into work to fix some things and set up the final exam timetable for Week 12. I really needed some quiet time to do this which is difficult to do during working hours.

I felt the closing of John's Deli today as it was the sort of day that I would have stopped there but instead went to Metro to pick up some things for dinner. I ran into JD there. He lives a block away so he said that he would walk with me. But JD is not much used to walking. Nor walking in the snow. He was pretty winded halfway through and didn't have mitts so his hands were cold. So it was a bit of an adventure for him. But he did make it.

Then I made dinner and did some computer work. Now I have lots of house cleaning to do.

Parade

Last night James didn't get home from hockey until 1am, so the night was a bit rough.

It was a beautiful day for November and I worked on leaves- moving them to the backyard to compost.

Went to the Butlers for their celebration of renovations. Their "new" house is amazing, really neat design.

Kim was driving a bus in the Santa Claus parade today. As the parade started so did the rain. I'll bet she was glad to be in a bus!

You wake up in the morning. You have no idea what's going to happen and you have to be prepared for disaster, joy, tragedy, you know, whatever comes up.  Judy Collins (http://www.cbc.ca/radio/asithappens/as-it-happens-friday-edition-1.3847360/he-was-totally-unlike-anybody-else-judy-collins-remembers-leonard-cohen-1.3847364)

Dragon noodles

Wednesday was a day with many unplanned meetings as there was a lot of fallout from the Physics midterm. Yesterday I had a number of complex meetings and was working on releasing the project marks. Today I have meetings in the afternoon, I have to finish releasing the project marks (which may take all morning). I also have to set up the final exam times in Week 12 and get them mail merged out and post for a new position that we are hiring for next term (this isn't difficult, just requires some brain power to write) So a busy day, not sure how I will pack it all in. I woke up at 4am so I'll need a nap after this day is done!

Yesterday I made dragon noodles. It is vegetarian. Thumbs up for this one:

 Mango, red pepper and mini cucumber. The mango was pretty hard, not the best but it was ok within the dish, could have been juicier.

 A very interesting sauce made of sweet chilli sauce, samjang, sesame oil, soy sauce and ginger whisked together.

 Miso noodles

 Noodles with veg

 It was difficult to mix the noodles and the veg. but the sauce got over all. I ended up putting the noodles on the plate first and then scooping out the veg. and adding them.

 Flax corn chips to top!

Secret daughter

On Sunday Kim had a party for me. I arrived with Rachel and Barb thought she was my daughter. I could see on Rachel's face that she was about to correct her but as I am always looking for a good chance to prank someone, I played along with Barb and let her think that. Rachel played along when she saw that I was having some fun. But she wasn't very good at playing along as she kept mentioning her mother. Barb didn't notice. But I would clear my throat and she would say "I mean my OTHER mother". It was pretty funny, but Barb really didn't catch on. Eventually, at the end of the evening I told her that Rachel was not my daughter. The funny part is that Barb has known me for 20 years and really, where would I have been hiding Rachel all these years? Anyway, it was a good party.

Yesterday I made Angel hair pasta bruchetta. It was very good!

 cooking the chicken and onions

 basil and tomatoes

 bruchetta sauce- tomatoes and seasoning

 with fig jam and balsamic vinegar

 with grana padano cheese

 angel hair pasta

 with bruchetta sauce and chicken

 adding basil and cheese

stew

 Carrot Quinoa and Feta Stew . Cooking the carrots and onion (5 mins)

 Making quinoa

 Mint and lemon

 Quinoa

 With carrot, lentil stew

 with toppings

That was from earlier this week.
This morning I did some shopping but have cleared the rest of the day to work on cleaning the house and a bit on the essay course that I help with as they have an essay due Monday. Tomorrow after Rustle, I am going to Kim's.
James is in Kitchener for the weekend at a hockey tournament. So far they have won 1, lost 1 and tied 1. They need to win the one at 12:30 today otherwise they are coming home.

Remembrance

Last night I worked late so I went in late today. I didn't attend the Remembrance ceremony as I had only just got in.
I am relatively up on my work. The midterm grades were sent out, meetings for next week are scheduled. I still need to deal with all the project issues.
Catherine and I went to Food Basics during lunch time. I had a lovely chicken curry salad leftover from the GM meeting for my lunch- they got them from Pan Chacho rather than the usual Queen's catering, so a cut above!
After work Gillian and I went to Paula's birthday party. One of the teacher's from James' school was there as well. It was a fun time- I had a nice Slovakian goulash. They have an amazing old house- built in 1842- it was beautiful!

Vegetarian week

Today I worked on doing some Kijiji postings for Rustle, it took me some time because I have not been posting much recently and my computer seems to be running slow. I may have to see if my laptop can be set up to download pictures. That may make things faster. My computer "updated" to Windows 10 and it has been a headache ever since.

This week I have vegetarian options from Chef's plate. Uncle Nat should appreciate this week. Today was chickpea shwarma.

 Making the salad with grainy mustard and cider vinegar

 Adding couscous

 Chickpeas, carrot and onion cooked in the oven

 Put all together

It was a nice mix together!

Time change- happy anniversary!

Before the time change I was struggling to wake up  at 6am when my alarm went off. After the time change I wake up at 4am. Go figure!

Today is my parent's anniversary. Happy Anniversary!

I give you this conversation that James and I have mostly every day:
J: What do we have to eat?
Me: You know what we have to eat
J: What do we have to eat?
Me: You just like to have me say it like a restaurant, don't you?
J: Yup

50/50

Today was a heavily scheduled day. Luckily, I got an extra hour of sleep thanks to the time change!
After I got myself ready for the day, I went to Loblaws, picked up some fresh bread and a chicken that was on sale as well as some juice and snacks.

I had enough time at home to eat a bit of the bread, put the chicken in the slow cooker, pack up what I needed for the day and go.

As I walked to Rustle, I ran into Chris and heard some of his experiences from Vancouver. He really has a heart for those who are stuck where he was. So glad to be free.

At Rustle, Sarah and I counted the offering as soon as it was picked up instead of waiting until after the service because I had to leave at noon and it would be easier for her to leave right after service with Paul being away. So that worked out.

At noon, I headed out to the Krock as part of James' hockey team responsibilities was we help run the 50/50 raffle type draw. Half of the money raised goes to James' team and the other half goes to the winning ticket. It meant that we sold tickets before and during the game, then got to see a winner in the 3rd period.

Then I came home and made the chicken dinner, did some work for my course and it is only 6:30pm!

ruth

Today Kim and I had lunch with Ruth who I had not seen in 19 years as she had moved to Milton. Catching up was like no time had passed at all. She is hoping to move back to Kingston soon, which would be nice.

James had a game in Peterborough tonight.

Don't forget to turn back clocks.

parent teacher interviews

Yesterday I went to parent teacher interviews. You had to sign up online for them, an interesting process in itself. I couldn't find the gym teacher but I met with the other 3 teachers. He seems to be doing ok in science and english but is struggling in tech because he is not good at drawing. It was an interesting event anyway. You only got 6 minutes with each teacher so it was like speed dating with teachers!

Take your kid to work

Today was take your kid to work day. I thought with kid and work in the title, you could work your kid. I had lots of tasks for him to do but he wasn't really interested. Instead I introduced him to everyone I worked with, tried to get him to work and pranked him. But it set me back in my work and I had to work very hard after he left to catch up.

The prank was that I had a student come by for a meeting but he was just acting and I left the room and so he tried to get counsel from James. The look on James' face when I got back was just precious. Best part of the day for me!

Meals this week:

 Chicken supremes with purple potatoes. I wasn't sure about the purple potatoes but they tasted quite good.

 with cauliflower (above) Pear and kale salad below:

 Tandoori turkey burgers

 Yogurt with green tomatoe

 Tandoori Turkey burger with sweet potato fries

 Adding the yogurt sauce

 Green tomatoes

 Cilantro sprigs

The sauce acts as a dip for the sweet potato fries. Both meals get a thumbs up this week!