An Awesome Friday Spent With Heros!

 

Have you ever had the great pleasure of making plans, organizing, rehearsing, and hard work, then seeing it all come to fruition?  Every now and then it happens to me.  This past week

I was the right-hand-man (so to speak) to Diane (the facilitator of our school) as we planned the 

Veteran's Day assembly. 

Let me just tell you that it was one of the best assemblies that our school has ever had.

And by "best" I mean that it was meaningful, well-thought out, 

and memorable.

Not because of anything we did but because the reason we were having it in the first place...

to honor our veterans.

We had invited any families with veterans to come to school to be honored 

on November 11, 2011.

We had 17 in all!!

It was a beautiful sight.

The sweetest thing of all was when the children stood with their "veteran" and introduced him/her.

It had been my job to work with the students and then to prompt

them during the assembly.  What remarkable children they were.  So sweet and so proud

of their guest. I was getting choked up just in the practice.

Their little introductions went something like this:

My name is _____________.

I'd like to introduce you to my grandpa (dad, uncle, neighbor) _____________.

He/She served our country in the _______________.

And was a member of the ________________.

We had valiant men who served in Vietnam, Operation Iraqi Freedom (all years), The Korean War,

The Cuban Missile Crisis, and a woman who spent a year on (in??) a submarine

during the Iraqi conflict.  We had a representative from every branch of the Armed Forces.

But, perhaps the most amazing of all was a 93 year old veteran who served in WWII.

He was among the first to liberate the concentration camp at Dachu, Germany. I got to handle his authentic swastika flag he torn down from a German post office and touch his Purple Heart and Bronze Star. I could've listened to his stories all day -- one of the last of an amazing generation.

I felt a shiver down my spine as I touched that flag and then his purple heart. He told about his buddy dying on his lap--still knew his name--a soldier from New York. Then how the Russians just all of a sudden released him from the POW camp, helping the liberated prisoners at Dachu, amazing!

He spoke for about 10 minutes and showed us several artifacts.  

One of which was his actual helmet he wore. 

Lucky Leah, from my class, was chosen to come up and put it on.

 When he was finished speaking, he received a standing ovation.  There truly was not an adult dry eye in the place.  I also believe that the children also felt "something" in their hearts as they listened and watched all of the clapping going on around them.  It was just a very special and proud moment.

I'm so glad I was able to be a part of the entire program.  

Yes, this lowly Canadian is proud to be living in this great country.

Thanks for letting me stay.

 

 This little sweetie was born when her daddy was serving in Iraq, 2006-2007.

She actually told me that...including the years!

Smarty Pants!

We had two lovely musical numbers.

Even the babies were dressed in camo!  :)

Water Problems

 Water...

How can something so good for me

be so hard to drink every single day?

I can't figure out how to do both...

Is it so wrong that I don't really WANT to figure it out?

(By the way, Diet Coke is on sale RIGHT NOW at Macey's grocery store AND 

Fresh Market for 

4 packs/$11!!!  Go buy three for you and bring one to me!  :))  )

First Halloween For My Little Pumpkin Eloise!

  Who knew that Halloween could be so magical (in it's own way) just

like Christmas??

This year I channelled my High School sewing teacher, Ms. Kopitzki, to make my little grand daughter a Halloween costume.  Ms. Kopitzki taught me how to 

alter patterns, sew darts, put in a lining, stay stitch, slip stitch, put in a zipper,

and many more sewing skills.

I definitely called on those skills

(30 years ago...THIRTY YEARS!  WHAT???)

as I sewed Ellee's Snow White costume.

It turned out looking mighty adorable and fit her like a glove.

If Halloween had been even one day later, it wouldn't have fit her.

Take a look at the most fun I've had since she was born...

 Erika dressed as the wicked witch to match 

sweet little El.

(Notice the piping on the front in the top photo compared to the one below?? 

It got a little wet with Eloise's "teething drool" and came loose!  I KNEW

I should have tacked it down with a needle and thread!)

If you look really closely, you can see that Eloise's daddy was 

dressed as Uncle Sam which had nothing to do with Snow White.

I wish I had thought of making Tyler a dwarf costume but...I didn't.

Peeking over Grami's shoulder!
Look at those cheeks!

This girl KNOWS how to wear a hat!!

AND, how to carve a pumpkin!

We definitely had a wonderful Halloween

around my house.

Just don't ask me about the nasty 

looking mummy wrapped wieners! 

How to save a few cents!

I feel the need to add to the blogging frenzy that is everything FRUGAL!  You've seen them:  "Frugal Family Fun" "Frugality Is Free" "Suddenly Frugal" "A Frugal Living Blog by a Frugal Living Guy" "Fabulessly Frugal"  "Onefrugalgirl" and my personal favorite:  "Everything's Coming Up Frugal For You and For Me!" (not really, I just made that one up).  And, let it be noted that I absolutely LOVE them.  Who doesn't like saving money?  (Just don't buy 100 bottles of mouthwash just to save a couple of bucks.  Right Rachel??)  These blogs have taught me how to make  homemade laundry detergent, both liquid AND powder.  (They actually work too)  I have learned to clean just about everything for under a buck or two.  I've learned how to use the little selvage edge of fabric to make a lovely satchel.  (just kidding, I made that one up too, but, I'll bet someone, somewhere has actually made one!)  I've also found a website where I can buy PRICELESS heal cream (www.solesundae.com).  But that is another post for another day, however, you may want to get your Christmas orders in early!  :)


Anyway, I am now going to share one of my favorite money saving tips for the grocery store.  I make a lot of sauces and gravy (I'm famous 'round these parts for my gravy).  I love making soups as well.  Most of these recipes call for beef or chicken broth.  I like the canned kind just fine but, for an extra "punch" I like to dissolve a boulion cube in hot water.  It adds great flavor andis well worth the extra effort of heating the water.  


(An aside:  My mom used to make hot beef boulion broth for me when I wasn't feeling well.  Just water and flavouring.  That's it.   I  adored that stuff, and I adored the way it made me feel when mum would bring it to me and play with my hair while I sipped it.  It was an instant healer!)


Now back to my frugal tip.  I'm sure you already know about the whole "buy your spices from the Mexican Food Aisle" thing.  (If you don't...just check it out next time you are at the store.  The prices are unbelievably better there)  Well, your boulion is also much, much cheaper and, in my humble opinion, tastier than the American made flavors.  See??

 These are only 21.9 cents per serving

 These are .91 cents per serving

Pretty much a no-brainer, right??  Think of me next time you need boulion cubes, won't you??

You're welcome.

(I seriously can't believe that I wrote an entire blog post about boulion cubes.  What's up with me?)

Like Father, Like Daughter

So, I think I channelled my dad this morning.  You see, my dad was a numbers man.  By numbers I mean, number facts.  Like, who travelled the farthest to get to a wedding.  Or, how many steps it would take to walk to my sister's house in Northern BC.  When I was living in Utah raising my little family of two, my parents were home in Canada putting together a family cookbook.  My dad figured out the following:  Each book took 96 sheets of paper for 210 books =20,160 sheets or 40,320 single sheets of paper altogether.  Typing:  384 pages in each book@ 20 minutes typing per page =7680 minutes or 128 hours.  The length of the assembly line for collating the book was 136 feet.  Total feet travelled was 28560 feet OR 5.4 miles OR 9520 steps.  And, my favorite little tidbit he figured out was about the binding of the cookbook.  He figured that it took 17 pulls of the lever to hole punch each book which equalled 3570 "pulls" to produce all of the books.

See what I mean?  He loved trivia like this.  Whenever he would expound this "knowledge" to his captive audience, he would end with a super fact to see if you were really listening.  For example, after telling us his astounding facts about how far people had travelled, or how many steps it took for everyone to arrive at some family gathering, he would say something like "Now, if ALL of those people were laid end to end around the world, they would all be a lot more comfortable!"   Ahhhhhhh...Dad!

Which brings me to my "channeling of my pops" this morning.  The sink in my bathroom has been leaking for some time now.  Every time I see it I think "I've really got to fix that thing because I'm really wasting a lot of water."  So, today I figured out just how much.
I placed a quart jar under the drip and set a timer.  Here's what I found out:

It took 8 minutes 35 seconds to fill my quart jar.
Which would mean that it would take 33.4 minutes to fill a gallon.
From there, I found out the average size of a bathtub (42 gallons by the way).  Which means that it takes 1670 minutes to fill that tub meaning that I am filling up my bathtub approximately once every single day (every 23 and a half hours!)  What a waste of water and money.  I was shocked.

There was a certain satisfaction that came from figuring out this bit of information.

I get it Dad.  I really get it.  Yet one more reason why I loved/love him so much.

Happy Canadian Thanksgiving To All and To All a Good Night!

One of my favorite celebrations of the year.

I hope you don't mind but, I'm going to list everyone who came.

Mostly because I'm thankful for...them.

•  Terry (husband)

•  Tami (me)

•  Melissa (daughter)

•  Danny (son-in-law)

•  Erika (daughter)

•  TYLER (son-in-law)

•  Eloise  (grand daughter)

•  Adrianne (niece, Brian's daughter)

•  Dan (Adrianne's hub)

• Kelsey (Adrianne's daughter)

•  Rachel (Adrianne's daughter)

•  Riley (Adrianne's daughter)

•  Samantha (Adrianne's daughter)

•  Brant (nephew, Brian's son)

•  Ariel (Brant's wifey)

•  Aiden (Brant's son)

•  Ezra (Brant's son and Aiden's twin)

•  Gabriel (Brant's son)

•  Asher (Brant's son)

...weird...just realized that Adrianne has four girls and Brant four boys...

anyway,

•  Jodi (niece)

•  Dylan (Jodi's son)

•  Alycia (Jodi's daughter)

•  Tansy (nephew David's wife, and Donna's daughter-in-law)

•  Holly (Tansy's daughter)

•  Daniel (Tansy's son)

• Russell (Nephew, Donna's son) 

•  Heather (Russell's wife)

•  Rylie (Russells's daughter)

• Hailey (Russell's daughter)

•  Duke Heaton (friend)

•  Angela ( Duke's wife and our good friend)

•  Leschia (Duke and Ang's daughter)

•  Uh-oh...can't remember Leschia's baby daughter's name

• Kevin Walton (friend)

•  Rachel Walton (friend and co-worker)

•  Adelaide (Kevin and Rachel's  11 month old daughter)

  •  Melissa Bayless (my friend and next door teacher-mate)

We had a great time  There was lots of turkey, family, friends, and everywhere I looked,

there was a baby!  I loved it.  Every drop of effort I put into hosting this 

Canadian Thanksgiving

was worth it.  

Oh, and for good measure and just so that everyone knows...

My recipe for White Chocolate Cheesecake (a tradition) was the 

BEST

that I have ever made.

You really should have had a piece!

Oh well, there's always next year!  Right?

 

 (Perhaps it was a tad boring for Danny!)

That last picture there was NOT intentional.

Terry just had me hold that knife up there because it would be "cool"!

I actually sliced open on a mandolin vegetable slicer.

I should have probably got a couple of stitches,

but...

who has time for THAT when there are people to feed!

Worth it? Yes!

I don't know if you know this or not but I teach in the after-school program at Amelia Earhart...the same school at which I teach.  I teach the Reading Remediation class for first and second graders.  This simply means that I stay an extra hour after school and read to, with, and listen to children reading and enriching their learning on the computer.  No, you're right.  It is not my favorite thing to put in one more hour of work but, it's good money and five minutes into the class, I remember why I "really" do it.  I love those kids.

Anyway, I have children who I know and love from this year as well as children who I know and love from last year (now second graders).  Remember Cybil?  You know,  the little girl who called me a "drama queen" last year?  The one I fell in love with and who basically changed my life and thinking as a teacher? Ya, her.  Well, she's in my class.  I'm thrilled.

She walked strutted into the class and announced:

"It seems like only yesterday that I was walking into this classroom everyday!"

then to the other students:

"Just so everyone knows, Mrs. Anderson was my teacher last year.  She likes it when you 

play with her shoes and she loves Diet Coke.  

Remember that and you've got it made in the shade!"

Oh how I love her.  (did I just say that?)  She changed me.  I'm ready.