May's Musings

No, I didn't die

But, I am moving - from this blogsite to http://maydt.blogspot.com/ - check me out there!

Change and Decay

Do you remember the hymn that has a line which goes, "Change and decay in all around I see.  Oh God who changest not, abide with me."  Right now we're in the process of changing Bram's room.  Bram is not partial to change - but all things must change.  Therefore, it's going to happen.  Bram has not been happy.

What have we done?  We've ripped out his carpet (a tremendous odeur de chienne is now gone!) and will be replacing it with laminate flooring today.  We've washed and repainted his walls.  In so doing, we've we removed the stickers on his wall. Some of them have been there since he was about 3.  Bram was pretty upset about that.  We also removed his plasticine designs from one wall.  (Talk about elbow grease to get that off!).

Anyway.  So now we're talking about personalizing Bram's room to reflect his interests in Math and Science.  He's talking about covering the doors on his cupboards with diagrams.  That wall would be his biology wall, so he'd have a diagram of a human cell and one of a plant cell.  Maybe the third cupboard door would be the 46 human chromosomes - but he's not really sure what else he wants to put on that wall.  Maybe the DNA double helix.   Any ideas?

For the wall that his bed is against, he wants to have his chemistry wall.  He's thinking of having the periodic table against the wall right beside his bed.  Because his bed is a bunk bed, the top bunk could have molecular diagrams?  He's not sure of this.  The view beside the top bunk is bisected by a window, so he needs smaller pictures.  He'd like photos of famous scientists mounted on the bottom of the top bunk.

On the ceiling, he'd like a star chart.  For the left-hand wall, he'd like to have a Physics wall.  He could have an explanation of the principles of refraction, using diagrams of lenses.  He's not really sure what he'd like for the rest of this wall.  Maybe Newton's laws of motion.  Something to do with absolute 0.

The final wall he'd like to have reserved for math and geometry.  He's thinking of displaying Fibonacci sequence and the golden rectangle, base 2 to base 12 multiplication tables, something related to Pi, etc.

Anyway, Bram's got lots of ideas now, and he's forgiven me for removing his stickers from the wall, and he's alive to the new possibilities for decorating his room.  I'm suggesting that we do most of the decorations by colour printing on a large plotter and then getting it laminated, so that things can be changed at will.  If anyone has any additional ideas of what he could put on his walls; (biology, chemistry, physics, astronomy and math); please send in your ideas.

Do I have a son that's wired for science, or what?

Locked out

Rose is housesitting for friends of ours this week.  She started Friday afternoon.  Bram's spending all of his free time there too - they have Nintendo, and we don't.  I don't mind - after all, they're on school holidays and we're at work.  Bram makes a great chaperone as well, if Rose has a friend over.

Friday Rose phoned me saying, "I've lost the key they left me."  I replied that she should leave the house unlocked and go do her paper route.  When she got back to the house, she discovered that our friends had returned (they had forgotten something) and left again, locking the house.  Rose was now locked out - and there was a dog inside the house, in his kennel.  So Rose spent Friday night at our house because I wasn't going to try to break in after dark - with one of their dogs, while the other dog was locked inside the kennel inside the locked house. 

In the morning, Lloyd woke Rose up and the two of them went over and broke into the house.  It wasn't that hard - our friends had been working on an addition, which had plywood and Tyvek, but nothing else.  So Lloyd unscrewed the plywood, sliced a hole in the Tyvek and boosted Rose in.  Then he taped up the Tyvek and screwed the plywood back on.  Rose let the dog out, found the key and was set up for housesitting again.  I think she'll take better care of the key now.

Speaking of keys, we sure like our electronic door lock.  We don't have to worry about the kids losing their keys anymore.  They just punch in their number and go on in.  Much better.  It's worth the extra expense.

Tired out

Lorraine and I got together today for a marathon cooking session.  I had bought this cookbook, which has you cook all your meals for a month and then freeze them all.  We tried it out.  Our first impression was that the shopping lists are great, but the recipes are way too heavy on the meat.  We ended up going back to the grocery store for additional bags of frozen vegetables to add to practically every meal.  We ended up making 15 meals each; so I don't have to worry about supper for some time.  We are both very tired though.

Lloyd had his 41st birthday this week.  I bought him a new camera because our last one's zoom isn't working anymore.  Also some chair cushions because he doesn't have enough padding in his butt to make it comfortable for him to sit on our kitchen chairs.  For some funny reason, I don't have that problem.  He just got called out for a Search and Rescue, but was only at the RCMP HQ for about a half an hour before he got stood down.  The guys showed up.

It's Caribou Carnival this weekend.  After weeks and weeks of it being extremely cold, it has finally warmed up.  We had the temperature above freezing today for a little bit!  That's the first time since probably November or maybe even October.  We're not minding a bit.

Marks

Ok. I got my mark.  77.9.  I'm disappointed.  It's not a bad mark, it's just not as good as I'd like.  Apparently the national average is 81.5, so I didn't even make the average.  I'm used to getting much higher marks than this - I'll just have to work harder next time.

I tell my students that marks are the currency of schooling.  Well, I'd like to be paid in a bit higher currency for my efforts, that's all.

It's about time!

I know, it's been forever since I've posted.  I still don't have my piano exam marks back - so don't ask.  I'm doing my best to be patient.  It's a bit like being pregnant (no, I'm not) during the last month when every time people see you they ask, "What, are you still here?"  I'll let you know when I get my marks back.

It continues to be cold here in YK.  We had one day last week when it briefly rose above minus 20, but for the most part it hovers below -30 at night, rising above to about -23 or so during the day.  That's cold!  I'm wimpy, I haven't started walking back to work.  I quit walking in late November when it first dipped below -25 and I haven't started again.  I will - soon - I just don't know when soon will be.

Saturday Lloyd and I went browsing through the clearance section at Canadian Tire.  Picked up all sorts of small things, then saw it.  A red zippered bag.  Containing.... life jackets.  Four matching (keyhole) lifejackets.  No price tag.  So we took it to the till and they only charged us $40 for it; which is a steal of a deal.  Now we can throw out some of our old mildewy ones that smell like gas.  Yay!  Also picked up an air mattress - for free. 

School's out this week.  The kids have two weeks off for March break.  I actually only took off Wed pm, Thurs pm and all day Friday.  So today I went in to work.  Cleaned out the better part of a filing cabinet and then refilled it.  Cleaned off the top of my desk and then messed it up again.  Made up a big long TO DO list.  Then discovered that I hadn't completed a report that's due before the end of March.  So spent the rest of the day working on that.  Got it done and e-mailed it to my boss.  So even though I haven't touched my TO DO list, I feel like I've really accomplished something. 

I also met a couple wandering through the halls.  Asked if I could help.  Discovered they were journalists from Radio Canada International and ended up giving them an interview on the ESL programs offered by Aurora College.  She told me I could listen to the interview probably next week, but it'd be in Ukrainian.

Yesterday I was doing laundry and only cleaned out the front pockets of my jeans.  I had my prayer list diary in the back pocket.  It came out in pieces.  It's a good thing that I don't have to have it to remember the prayer requests I get.  It's mostly just for a reminder thing.  I guess I'll have to buy another little notepad.

Bram has been selected to go on an exchange trip to Quebec.  The kids from there will come here first.  He's been twinned with a boy - 5'8"; 150 lbs.  Would probably make 2 of Bram.  We have to clean out his room first.  One of my goals of things to do this week.  I want to totally clean out his room, rip out the carpet and lay laminate.  We've got the laminate, it's just a matter of doing it.  Bram and Lloyd are at Lloyd's office right now, taking apart a desk and moving it into Lloyd's office.  Actually, it's 2 desks, because they have to take apart the existing desk in Lloyd's office to take it out.

Rose is Bored!  First day off school.  9 more to go.  Life is hard.  She doesn't like any of my suggestions.  Rose had an interesting idea for St. Patrick's Day.  Invited a number of people to a Green Potluck.  You could bring anything you wanted, provided it was green and it didn't use food colouring.  We had an eclectic assortment of food, and it was all good.  Had a lot of fun.  Then I went next door to the church building for Jammin'.  Brought my Autoharp, which I haven't used for about 6 weeks.  I think I'm developing a bruise on the inside of my forearm from playing it for about 2 hours.  I need to do a little bit regularly to toughen up my arm.  I really enjoyed myself though.

That's enough.  If you want to know more about what's happening in our life - you can write and ask.

Countdown

I fly south to Saskatoon next Tuesday, Lord willing.  My piano exam will be in Edmonton a week from Saturday.  Went through a dry run of the elements of the exam with my piano teacher two days ago.  It was very sad.  Things that I know I'm so prepared on, I fluffed up.  I know I can do better than that - I'd really like to do better than that on the actual exam.  I need to do some more practice I guess.  Right now, this is the procrastination ahead of the practice.

Yellowknife had a visit this past weekend from a group of singers from the Calgary Opera.  4 women (2 sopranos, 2 mezzo-sopranos, 2 tenors, 2 baritones).  There was a free concert Friday night.  Wow!  Can they sing!  There was an all-day workshop Saturday.  Lloyd's a member of the choral society so he went.  I would have liked to have gone as well - I'm sure I could have learned a lot.  However, I was teaching Saturday, so was unable to. 

I'm now teaching two sewing classes on Saturday - one at 10:15 and one at 1:30.  Inbetween the two of them I have my piano lesson from 12 to 1.  It makes for a busy Saturday.  The second sewing class is all high school students - Rose and her friends.  I actually have 5 students (and only space for four at a time, but one could come to the morning class, and I'm anticipating that we'll never need to have all five sewing at one time - someone won't be able to make it, or will be cutting out instead of sewing, or will need to use a serger or an iron instead of the sewing machine).

It's also the last week of work with my coworker, Kathleen.  I'll really miss her.  She's been an awesome teacher, and they haven't found a replacement for her yet.  This means that the program I teach in will be shut down while I'm away next week.  I feel badly over that, but it's really out of my control.

It has finally warmed up a little.  It was only -23 this morning; practically balmy!  The sun has also started to return.  It's now light in the morning when we drive to work at 8 am; in fact, the sun is in my eyes.  After work the sun has set but it's still light out.  It's amazing how much we miss the light.  It's such a joy when it returns.  Apparently the oldest known hymn, Phos Hilaron (Hail Gladdening Light) was sung at vespers - at the lighting of the lamps in the evening.  The oldest references to it, St. Basil in AD 365, state that it was a hymn used centuries before him. (To read further, check this out).  It makes such sense to me - to equate God with light is such a strong New Testament reference, and to sing thanks to him for the light, just makes incredible sense.  Living in the north, we really get to have a stronger appreciation for the return of the light. 

Sight Reading

Lloyd is having me practice my sight reading by playing through his tenor part for the pieces he's learning for the YK Choral Society.  I only actually have to practice one hand that way, so it's not all that difficult for me, but I do get lots of practice on getting the rhythmn right.

Canada's Food Guide came out with a new edition today.  Now, I'm teaching about nutrition in two of the three classes I'm teaching right now, so we went on-line in one of the classes, to find out more about it.  There's an interactive thing where it will help you create a personalized food guide.  That was interesting.  This evening I spent about an hour cutting apart cereal boxes for the nutritional information on the side so that we can do an in-class activity comparing the nutritional info and deciding which cereal has the most (fibre, sugar, salt, etc.)  I also bought one of those variety packs, where all the cereal is in little individual packages.  That way I'll have enough different types of cereal for everyone to have one to look at.

Sunday evening

I'ts been a busy Sunday - as usual, actually.  However, I woke up at 4 this morning and wasn't really able to get back to sleep, so it feels like it's been a really long day.  The good news is that 4 am is a great time to get some really concentrated prayer in.  In fact, I'm sure sometimes my Father wakes me up in the wee small hours, just so that He and I can visit.

I sang with the worship team this morning.  Now I always sing with the worship team - I just generally don't do it from up front; I think the last time I was part of a worship team was over two years ago.  It's a whole lot more uncomfortable up there.  Downright scary.  I was also playing keyboard, which is a first for me.  That led me to realize the real reason why we have two services - so that the worship team can get the notes right the second time through (or at least a whole lot better than the first time through).  It was a very small group this morning, Danny W leading and on the drums, Scott L on electric guitar, and Wes H. on bass.  Now, I'm really not fond of electric guitar, especially when it's not making real guitar-type sounds, but making weird wonky noises - but I managed.  (I think it's the noise part of "making a joyful noise unto the Lord.")  I primarily just followed Wes.  This has been a real change for someone who grew up in the C of C, singing acapella.  I have to admit, I prefer acapella, but I can adjust and adapt.

I made homemade communion bread this morning.  I always fill the communion cups and set out the bread before service, and I just felt like baking this morning.  I really like the homemade stuff, but seldom make it.  I don't know if anyone else appreciates it, but it reminds me of my childhood. 

We had our regular house church afternoon service at Lorraine's this afternoon.  It's been at our house most of the time, and it was really nice not to have to rush home and make sure the living room was cleaned up, etc.

Bram had his birthday party Friday night.  He'd invited one friend and two families.  However neither Lloyd nor I proofread his invitations, which he had made up himself and I think he put the times down wrong on it.  However, one family came, and his friend came, albeit really late.  It was a Chess party.  The food was make your own pizzas, and veggies and dip - because they come with pieces, which is appropriate for chess.  Bram won at chess (as usual).  Lloyd and Bram had made chess pieces from cheese, so it was an edible chess board - as you took your opponent's piece, you ate it. 

Goal Setting

We have started a new semester at school.  I'm teaching a new class for the Nursing Access program - on wellness.  Among other things, the students have to select a personal wellness goal and throughout the semester, report on how they're doing on it.  Well, I've only had two days of class, but the first day I explained what they're to do, and put a major emphasis on it - "this is worth 40% of your final mark in all", etc. 

Today they met with the third year nursing class, who're serving as mentors - helping them fine-tune their goals so that they're specific, measurable, realistic, etc.  About half-way through the period, one of my students looked at me in shock and said, "You mean we actually have to do this?  We don't just have to choose a goal?"

Yes, there's not much point in selecting a goal if you don't follow through on it and attempt to do it.  Part of the reason I'm doing this is that if they do make it into the nursing profession, a large part of their job will be dealing with people who could be healthier if they made better lifestyle choices.  However, making changes in one's lifestyle is really difficult.  If I force them to go through the change process, they hopefully will be more sympathetic and empathetic - as well as knowing what's involved in making a change, and how to support someone in doing it as well.  Anyway, that's my reasoning.

I tell my class that if I'm forcing them to examine the wellness issues in their life, and make a change - I will too.  However, I'm doing the same thing I did last year - I'm choosing to try to become more fit.  My specific, measurable, attainable, realistic, trackable (SMART) goal is that I will walk 16 km a week (that's to work and back twice) on a regular basis by the middle of March.  (I always cop out when it gets really cold, and by the middle of March the weather's nice again.  I don't like doing it when it's -25 out with a strong wind, like tonight).