The OTHER, other side

Holidays have officially begun. Today was report card day. My last chance to see my kids as they move on to another school. Lots of hugs today. A few tears. By me, for the first time in a long time. Two of the moms made me cry with their kind thanks. I will attribute the tears to my exhaustion.

I have no huge plans for the summer. Rest for the first week. Catch up at home. go for walks if I can.  Enjoy the moments. Read.

I went online to pay off the last bit of $ on my Mastercard (which I had the money set aside to do). My balance is $0.   I KNOW I still had $120 to pay on it. I went to my accounts to see if I had clickity clicked and not recalled. nope. the previous payment was there but not the final one.  I didn't go in person. quite frankly, I am baffled. It is a holiday weekend here so I will wait until Tuesday afternoon when the dust clears, to see what is what.


A magic fairy would be nice but I doubt she exists LOL

Thank you

Thank you to all those who clicked and voted for Karen. She is still currently in first place and we are holding our breath until July 2 closure. She emailed me a thank you. Sorry I didn't thank each person personally who commented that they have voted. We had a massive storm go through here Monday evening, knocking out power for almost 24 hours. A lot of tree and building damage.

THANKS!!!

The other side

Well I made it through to the other side!! I can't begin to tell you how good it feels.

The kids had an amazing time. They will remember this one forever. I know I couldn't have done it without my sister wife/teaching colleague. She made the activities possible and kind of took the lead in many ways once we were out there. The kids got to camp. Some had never tented before. They played capture the flag in the wild. They got to slip and slide. They had their own personal fireworks show. They also got to play Mantracker, based on the OLN TV show. The ran and played and ran some more.

We have one week to go for school. There are still two days including a school wide activity day full of things to keep them moving and teambuilding. We have an awards day that I am in charge of and a family BBQ and dance. We have a workday full of finalizing report cards and meetings and cleaning, and then report card handout day.

I was pooped when I got home. Incredibly pooped!! I am old, overweight and out of shape. I can fix two of those things. Guess I'd better get on it!

DS2 finished his finals and went off with his scouting buddies to run a camp for three days for 2 classes of Grade 7 students from their old school. He works 18 hours a day when he's out there. He got home last night, exhausted. DS1 wrote more finals and I have no clue how he did. I was gone for 2 of the days. He also got a call from a WHL Scout and we had to make some tough decisions about where his best chances are for hockey. DH ended up in the hospital the first night of my field trip. They thought he was having a gall bladder attack. Turns out it is some vicious flu going around. He's been home off work since Tuesday afternoon.

Thanks for hanging in there and waiting for me to get to the other side. Your support and patience was very appreciated.

Onwards to Saturday!!

My last 'at home' day

It is rather bittersweet that this is my last of the 'at home' sick days I have been granted. On the bright note, it means the school year is almost at an end and I have a bit of time this summer to focus on what I can do to be as healthy as possible. On the other end, it means I have two weeks left of straight work with HUGE activities and work load a coming. I am scared, frankly, of my year end overnight trip with my class, because of my health. Let's face it, one doesn't sleep on an overnight with kids because they have endless energy. I worry I will go zombie with exhaustion as I have been the past 2 months. I worry I will have an 'accident'. I worry I will make it through but then be dead and struggle to complete the final 8 days.

I worry a lot.

I am so grateful for the admin and staff I have who have helped me make this possible. I would not have made it without these days to rest.  I worry for fall, when it's either 1) be healthy enough to work full time or 2) take a leave, which I really do not want to do.

What have I done on these days?

• rest
• sleep
• nap
• catch up on laundry or housework
• budget
• tabulate my loan numbers
• blog a bit
• do some marking
• sleep
• rest
• watch HGTV and SLICE (and a few star trek TNG :-)

What did I NOT do?

• read for pleasure (too tired to focus)
• read for work (see above)
• Plan units for school (which I desperately need to do)
• Figure out how to eat for colitis and eat to lose weight
• find out if there is a colitis society in my area
• go for walks (scared there will be an accident)
• cook much

I am not sure how much I will blog or comment until July 1. It's crazy busy in my world at school and trying to keep in touch with my own children as they head into exams. So if I go AWOL, it's only temporary. I promise :-)

What I got for free (almost)

Today was a great day at Shoppers Drug Mart. It was the day I could cash in my optimum points for $200 worth of free (ish) product. I got the card in the mail a couple weeks ago announcing it and after checking my points, I knew I qualified. oh boy!

I have to admit I was looking forward to today. Sad? perhaps LOL

I haven't cashed in my points for awhile....last summer, I think. I've always been a girl who would rather receive a $200 basket of neat items I would like, over one larger $200 gift I would like. The psychology of quantity perhaps.

The flyer came last night and I went through my wish list I'd been creating, to see if any of those items were on sale. Have to get the most for the points, after all. This morning, in the pouring rain, I headed over with my list of musts, my lists of maybes and began to fill in my cart.

At one point, when picking out toilet paper, a gentleman said, they are on sale cheaper at the grocery next door. I thanked him and said I might check it out, but said 'these ones here in the cart, are free". He's never collected optimum points and was surprised.

I get that shoppers is often more costlier than other places and I shop there for sale items mostly and my meds. Still, the points add up. I had a great time shopping.

Here is what I bought in 2011 and here is what I bought in 2010.

Here is what I got:

Something for hungry stomachs:

• 2 4L of milk
• 2 cereal
• fiber 1 bars
• cat food

Something for cleaning:

• 2 packs of TP
• 1 box of Swiffer Dry cloths
• 1 new Toilet brush
• 4 boxes of tissue

Something for personal care:

• Contact solution
• soap
• shampoo
• body wash
• mother nature items
• facial toner
• 2 hair gel
• razors
• tylenol
• blush
• mascara
• toothpaste
• foundation
• container to keep track of my daily pills

Somethings for treats:

• Magazine (will save this for summer)
• skittles for the boys
• 4 pomegranite votives

I had a teeny overage and I had to pay the taxes on all items. These 40 items cost me $19.70

LOVE IT!!!!!!!!