So, funny thing...

happened to me last week.  Well not funny in the truly ha, ha sense.  Somehow I have managed to mess up the muscles in my pelvis and am needing to lay off the exercise for an undetermined amount of time!  Yes, I know in my last post I was optimistic and feeling great about not getting sick.  I hadn't thought about injuries, as I've been super careful this time.   My exercise regime right now consists of shuffling on the treadmill at a low speed.  NO yoga, weights or running.  I am in constant pain, and barely control it using Advil and Tylenol during the day at work.  I was doing okay yesterday until my Superstar ran into me from behind during gym class.  He knocked me off balance and from then on I had a super headache and pain radiating down my left leg.  (He wasn't paying attention to where he was going AND wasn't running where he should have been)
I prepped for a TOC and called in after a dreadful night's sleep.  Chris wrote to tell me that half the staff is out today AND there is an inservice going on in town.  There are no TOC's for my class, so Chris has half my kids and another teacher has taken the other half.  I felt really horrible about that, wishing I had just dosed myself with relaxants and gone in.  Hmmm, that would have been a very relaxed day in my room I think. 
 I was feeling a little sorry for myself when I got the news on Tuesday, because exercise had become part of my schedule.  I didn't fight it mentally anymore and I was used to it.  No I didn't enjoy it, but I realized that it was a necessary part of my life.  I was hoping that I would start seeing results soon.  Now I have to start again in a couple of weeks.

Quick Updates

Life gets so busy sometimes, that I forget to update stuff...

Work
Work has been going well lately.  I am enjoying myself more and the kids are too.  This past week we looked at non-standard measurement using gummy worms and the states of matter particularly gas using bubbles.  The kids loved it and I got some great pics for my class blog.  We're going to have a pretty busy week this week with Valentines and 100's day falling in the same week.  Chris and I are also planning something for Pancake Tuesday next week.  I am also working with kids on making our classroom a better place to be.  They have been very careless with class materials and SO messy.  Being tidy has become a new theme in our classroom.  They are doing a pretty good job.  I have also received a Smart Board for my room and have been working at using it in lessons and getting the kids used to using it so that it can be used as a center.  So much going on right now!

Home

We are planning on decorating the downstairs.  I am going to leave the colour on the walls for now, but I am looking for a new couch and some big shelves to hold some of our travel collection.  I just need to find the right pieces.  I have moved the coffee table from upstairs to down, and like the look of it.  Now I need to find a table for the living room again.  We'll see. 
Getting together with people this time of year is harder, but we've managed.  There have been birthdays, Chris had a Superbowl party, and we've been out to dinner with people we hardly ever see.  Chris has been playing hockey and so far is staying in one piece.

Health

We have both managed to stay healthy so far (knock wood).  I have been pretty consistent with my activity during the last month.  I have started going to the gym 6 days a week, alternating weights, cardio and yoga.  I can't say that I like it, but it's becoming more routine, and my brain doesn't fight it as much.  The scale has not moved at all, so I need to work on cleaning up my diet.  It does help that I meet my friend Ang at least 3 times in the week, so I also get to visit.  It's less painful that way.  I have discovered this week, that while my brain is adjusting to the activity, my body is not.   Apparently my lower body is revolting and I have spent most of this weekend in pain.  Rest, Advil and light stretching.  Hmmm.

Life in the North
Thankfully, that awful Winter that they were predicting hasn't shown up yet.  We have had very little snow and temperatures have hovered between -20 and +10.  The wind hasn't been too horrible either and the beautiful sun has made a reappearance the last couple of weeks. It's been a glorious winter.  My friends from the South would have enjoyed it for sure.  We have discovered that even though we both work full-time we can't afford many of the fun community events that go on.  Any dances or galas are way out of our price range, charity events are even too expensive for us if we want to eat that week.  Last night we went to the Chocolate Festival, an annual event to help support Art for Kids in the community.  The tickets were $10 each and there was an auction of items that were donated by various people in the community.  Cookies went for over $100!  They had an auctioneer there calling, but the bidding started at $25 and just went up from there.  Too rich for us.  We left after a half an hour.  I know it's for charity, but ouch.

Home improvement

Home improvement is not as easy as it should be.  You want to change things, you should be able to.  The difficulty with that is the time and the money.  It seems when we have the money we don't have the time, and vice versa.  The upstairs is mostly finished.  Well kinda.  Okay there is something needed in each of the rooms upstairs.  The living room is waiting for some lamps.  The kitchen is waiting for a new paint colour, window treatments, new lights and a new fan.  Good news is that I have the lights and the fan,  I just can't decide on a paint colour.  The bedroom is waiting for bedroom furniture, a new fan and a new window treatment.  The bathroom is waiting for a complete gut and rebuild.  Downstairs is going to get a little face lift in the next few months, but I need to find a couch that I like and then I'm going to build the rest of the room around that.  The downstairs really needs to be taken to the studs, but I don't have the $50 grand to make that happen.  Today while talking about the things I want to do down there, we discovered that under the carpet is a hole in the floor.  It has been covered over with plywood, but what is in the hole?  It was not a job for late Sunday afternoon, but very soon we will have to pull up that carpet and find out what it is.  I just hope it's not human remains.

Electronic vs. Paper

There are a few things in my life right now where this question comes up.  One area is reading.  I am an avid reader.  For as long as I can remember, I have been consuming books.  It is not uncommon for me to read one or two books during the weekend.  Depending on the story, I can be lost completely in the book and people have a hard time reaching me.  God help them if they interrupt the climax of the story!  Anyway, my loving husband has noticed that when I go to the library I usually leave with a large stack of books.  They take up space, are heavy etc.  When he got his Kobo last year, I was sceptical.  How can you enjoy a book on that tiny little thing?  The weight of the book, the feel of the paper, the smell... all these things make the experience even better.  He convinced me to try it out, and I have to admit that, while it was different, I liked it.  This Christmas he gave me my own Kobo Touch.  (This was a couple of days after I'd been to the library to take out a huge stack of books.)  The books went untouched while I played with my new toy.  It took some getting used to, but I have managed to include it into my life  quite easily.  I can take it to work for Silent Reading, and not worry about the added weight in my already full bag.  I took it when we went out of town, and again the size of it was perfect.  There is a negative to the Kobo, I quite easily lose myself on the bookstore's website lusting after new titles to add to my personal library.  The books are not that much cheaper than the paper copy, and I can't trade them with my mom.  That's a bit of a downer.

Another area is scrapbooking.  I am continually drawn to digital designs, but still love the tactile aspect to traditional scrapping.  I did also get Photoshop Elements for Christmas, so I could start to learn how to add digital elements into my pages.  I think for now, I'll enjoy the Kobo and look into the digital scrapping over the Summer.