Storage Wars

I believe the key to a successful Brown Bag Challenge is planning. As they say, if you fail to plan, you plan to fail. (I’m not sure who “they” are but it is a good adage.)

I began planning for the Brown Bag Challenge by organizing all of my plastic containers. Until yesterday my system for organization was throwing the container and hopefully matching lid into the cupboard as fast as possible and slamming the door before the pile of mismatched containers fell back out onto the floor.

Yesterday I finally mustered up the strength to tackle the container cupboard. I took every piece of plastic storage-ware out and placed them all across the kitchen counter. It took several minutes but I matched up all of the containers to the appropriate lids. It was just like matching socks. No matter how hard I tried they never seemed to match up. I ended up throwing into the recycling about 20 plastic lids and 8 plastic containers which could not find its partner lid.

I was left with 12 perfectly matched, variously sized containers which will be exactly what I need to pack up healthy nutritious lunches for the Brown Bag Challenge.

The dilemma now is how to put them back in the cupboard? Should I put the lids on the containers and stack up or should I nest the containers within each other and put the lids in one container. Oh, the decisions one has to make to reach success!I need to make the storage system as system and organized as possible in order to simplify the lunch making process.

Does anyone have any suggestions how to store the containers properly so I don’t end up with a tangled mess again?

Out House Renovation

As part of our annual girls’ week-end at Saskatchewan Lake, it became tradition to present me with hostess gifts. I did appreciate the gesture of a good guest but felt it was unnecessary for any more scented candles and other girly things at the cottage. After much discussion around the camp fire it was decided for the next girls’ week-end, instead of traditional hostess gifts, each guest would bring an item more appropriate for the cottage – specifically the outhouse.

The next summer guests arrived with their contribution. Unbeknownst to me, they had secretly decided upon a decorating theme, sunflowers. Before I knew it my sister-in-law Jenny was cutting through the outhouse wall creating a new window and my mother-in-law was on the roof tearing off shingles older than her. The outhouse redecorating project had become a full-fledged renovation! This was not a week-end of pampered woman indulging themselves; it was liberated women using power tools.

Suddenly the modern women image evaporated when everyone began screaming all at once. With the removal of the final ancient shingle, mice had appeared! Small innocent rodents were able to send six strong women off running in different directions.

Once we regained our composure we were able to finish the project. Our outhouse now has a new leaf-proof roof, a window to provide ventilation and much to Terry's chagrin, lots of sunflower paraphernalia.

While we were proud of our accomplishment, our subsequent girls week-ends have returned to the previous agenda, which does not included power tools.

Vote for me........2189 times

Through Facebook I have reconnected with a classmate from high school. (His mother was my kindergarten teacher) I was very excited for him when I discovered through one of his postings he had been selected as a torch bearer for the Olympic Torch Relay. When I contacted him to discover how/why he was given such an honour he told me it was because he entered a contest. You know, the same contest I saw advertised by Coca-Cola for months but I never entered because I thought no one “real” ever wins those things. I was happy for my old acquaintance to have the opportunity to be part of the Olympic Games but at the same time I was kicking myself I didn’t enter the contest.

Then along came another contest. The Globe and Mail Journalism Dream contest. Enter an article about sports and you can win a trip as part of the Globe editorial team at the Olympics. It was designed just for me! I have always dreamed of being a journalist and I have always dreamed of going to the Olympics!

So I submitted my 500 word maximum article regarding sports and I completed the entry form and ta-da! I am officially entered in the contest. Now I just have to wait and get enough votes to win.

Currently the article in the lead has about 2200 votes………I have 11.

Originally I thought I would coerce my friends and family through facebook to log on and vote for me. A few kind souls did so and I truly appreciate their support. However, the gap between first place and my eleven votes I have to admit is probably insurmountable. I waffle between giving up or being obnoxious. Being obnoxious would mean wielding my authority as principal and having staff and students at my school log onto the computer lab each day and vote for me. Not only would that be obnoxious but I fear it would unethical as well. I am just going to leave it to fate and hope I get a few more votes.

OK………I will try one more time………shameless promotion! Just cut and paste the link below and vote.......one vote every day!

http://journalismdream.theglobeandmail.com/entry_article.asp?id=817

Only 2189 votes to go!!!


Just think………if I actually did win I could hang out with City Wendy in Vancouver during the Olympics and keep her company while Drew worked!

A Complaint Free World

At the beginning of the school year I gave every student and staff member a purple bracelet. The concept was to wear the bracelet on your right wrist, but if you catch yourself complaining, you must move it to your left wrist. I got the idea from a story I saw one Sunday morning on CBC. It was started by a minister of a small church somewhere in the southern states. They have distributed millions of bracelets world wide..

The premise is:

If you don’t like something, change it
If you can’t change it, change your attitude.
Don’t complain.

Something about our little campaign has really caught on. I put a small article in the school newsletter and someone at the board office picked up on it and sent it out to the community. We have been interviewed on the Hamilton TV station and this morning on the St. Catharines radio station. It is amazing how many people watch/listen to local media. We are becoming stars.

A no complaint school is a very simple concept, making a big impact. The complaining has lessened but sometimes continues. When it does I hold my wrist up like Wonder Women to deflect all complaints. By pointing to my purple bracelet the conversation switches from whining to positive problem solving. We have created a positive school climate which makes a great place to go to school or work.

If you are interested in creating a complaint free world where you live or work check out http://www.acomplaintfreeworld.org/

Any complaints?

Summer is Winding Down

Yesterday I officially went back to work. It was a workshop for administrators on the “Immunity to Change” I actually enjoyed it as we were walked through a process in identifying a goal and then how to create a plan to achieve the goal. It sounds quite simple but it was actually very deep……more on that at a future date I am sure as I “muse” on it for a while.

I have been quite frustrated this past week as I realize the summer is coming to an end and I haven’t had a chance to do what I really wanted to do this summer…..rest! I have been so busy hosting guests at the cottage, arranging the “reno” at the condo and lunching and meeting friends I am exhausted! But it is a good exhaustion.

Last night Terry and I finalized our purchase of new living room furniture which is arriving next week. We still need to paint the place and while I have the painter all lined up I have yet to decide on the colour of paint. I hope once we have the new furniture in place I will be inspired to select a colour. We had problems with the installation of our new counter. They left holes in the wall and there is an issue with the installation of the sink. So instead of enjoying our new kitchen, we are dealing with a fight to have the problems corrected. The counter people are blaming the sink people and vice versus. I don’t care whose fault it is, I just want it fixed, and I want water back in the kitchen….bathroom water doesn’t taste as good as kitchen water.

Today we are having a family picture taken. My mother’s 70th birthday is coming up and she is a very difficult person to buy a gift. She either has everything or if she wants something, she goes out and gets it. We decided to get a picture done to surprise her. She will be more surprised my brother and I organized something together without her than by the actual picture. My brother, sister-in-law, their two kids and my family are meeting the photographer down at the beach in Port Dalhousie to get our photos taken. It is raining outside right now. I wonder what the pictures will look like of a family drenched standing in the rain.

Tomorrow I am attending our first “Director’s Meeting” of the year. This is when all of the principals are gathered together so the superintendents and director can tell us their “vision”. Their vision is actually a list of jobs they want the principals to do. It will definitely be the meeting that signifies the official end of summer. Following the day long meeting I will come back home, pick up Jennifer and her cat and assorted belongings and drive her back to school in Kingston. It is a four hour drive and of course a four hour drive back. Did I mention I still don’t feel rested?

Summer is winding down…….it has been great….but still so much to do…..

Will Yoga Kick My Addictions?

The computer is not my friend. I spend way too much time “surfing.” If I truly were surfing surely I would be much slimmer, much more tanned and much more satisfied with myself at the end of the day.

After staying up way too late last night, and sleeping in way too late this morning I realized I have already wasted too many precious hours of my summer vacation. Like someone with an addiction, I am going to have to get my computer use under control before it starts to control me. I gave myself a kick in the rear today and told myself to get going. I walked up the street and signed up for the yoga studio. I have given a financial commitment so now I must give myself a time commitment as well.

Funnily enough, once I got home from the big signing up, I turned on the TV (another addiction I am working on) and I caught a few minutes of Oprah. Now, I am not one of those people that considers Oprah a religion but today she said something that really made me think. She was saying how we have to take time for ourselves. She was describing me. During the school year I always complain I don’t have enough time to exercise, to eat right, to do whatever I should to take care of me. I have my calendar to ensure I am at every meeting on time etc but according to Oprah, I need to include myself on that calendar. It was a little AHA moment.

SO……….I am going to actually schedule the 5 k training I have been procrastinating. I am going to schedule my yoga classes. In spite of it being summer time I am going to schedule my time so I don’t waste my time……….as I said in an earlier post, summer time is too precious to waste……my time is too precious to waste.

Hopefully this will be the first day of the rest of my life……………so sorry to be so corny!!!!! (A few minutes of Oprah really does go a long way)

Does anyone out there have any words of wisdom before I embark on this new journey called yoga? Will it truly be a mind/body/spirit experience?

Celebration of the Laying of the Floor!

I forgot to let everyone know, Terry did come through with my requested birthday gift…. new flooring in the cottage. It is beautiful. No more ugly orange spongy carpet. I can’t believe we waited so long to get rid of it. The floor looks great, feels great and most importantly can be Swiffered in minutes! (I just wish Terry's back felt as great......thanks honey!)

I should do a Swiffer commercial. To celebrate the laying of our new floor I headed into Huntsville and purchased a Swiffer vacuum. I had to wait 16 hours in order to fully charge the battery so I had to wait overnight. I couldn’t wait to wake up and try out my new Swiffer on my new floor! Yes! Truly, in minutes I picked up all the gritty stuff that mysteriously gets dragged into the cottage and I was done! No more dragging out an ancient Hoover that no matter how hard I tried, was never able to vacuum up the colour orange.

Terry and I are back in the city now. It’s Sunday night and we are back to reality. Terry has to work tomorrow. As soon as we got home we started the laundry and checked the telephone messages. After Terry being at the cottage for ten days there were lots of people waiting for him to return their calls and fix their computers. His days and nights this week are booked.

As for me……..it is Sunday night and no work tomorrow…….yippee! There is nothing better than a Sunday night in the summer time. Too bad I am not up at the cottage but we will return soon enough. I am meeting with lots of groups of friends this week and taking my calendar with me to book everyone’s time at the cottage. Even when I am not at the cottage, this cottage living is taking up a lot of my time!! YEAH!

Happy New Year!

Happy New Years!

To most people today, July 1st, is Canada Day, a celebration of our country’s birth. To me, it is more like New Year’s.

July 1st is the day after my birthday and marks my official beginning of summer. June is a crazy time with all of the tasks and celebrations involved as the school year winds down. I usually have no down time and am stressed to the max in order to meet all of the deadlines and to go to all of the retirement and year-parties. I don’t mean there are not fun parts of June, but much like the Christmas holidays, I am so busy by the time July first comes around I am physically exhausted.

Also, the month of June represented the return of terrible eating habits and too much drinking. Last night, to celebrate my birthday I went to a Blue Rodeo concert with some girl friends. It was great fun. There is something about doing something slightly illegal to make you feel young again. We snuck our mickies of rye into the stadium hidden in our purses. We enjoyed cheap drinks, a free concert and millions of laughs. We stayed over night in a near by hotel and gabbed into the wee hours of the morning. My friend Diane dropped me at home about noon today just in time for my daughter Kaitlin to pick me up and take me out for a birthday lunch.

√ School year over
√ Retirement Celebrations over
√ Birthday celebrations over

It is time to get back to reality, back into control.
No more over eating, over drinking and under exercising (actually NO exercising is more like it)

To really make me feel guilty, I just received an email from one of my blog subscribers asking me how my 5 K training was going. OK, Jennifer A. Jilks……….it is NOT going!! But, like I said earlier, to me July 1st is like New Years. I have the summer to start fresh again and give up the bad habits and work on new healthy lifestyle.

So, tomorrow my son Greg is picking me and driving me to the cottage where I will be reunited with my husband and my dog Journey. No more excuses. I am back on track. I am motivated. I can do it! Tomorrow I am a new woman!

Thanks Jennifer A. Jilks for keeping me honest.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Fulfilling a Dream

Yesterday was “Battle of the Bands” at my school. The grade seven and eight kids form groups and have to rewrite a song with their own words and perform for the rest of the school. One group in particular displayed some great talent. One grade eight student picked up his guitar and played with such emotion and feeling it was amazing. Now this kid is one of those kids that drive you crazy because he is always questioning and rebelling etc etc but you just can’t help but really like him.

On our way up to the cottage last night I was reading the paper and came across an article about a group called “Alexisonfire.” Talk about an AHA moment! One of the guys in this group, Dallas Green, was in my class some time ago. I was his grade seven teacher as well as his vice-principal for two years. He was just like this kid with the guitar yesterday. Always questioning, rebelling but no matter how irritating he was, you couldn’t help but really like Dallas. He was always bringing his guitar to school and always talked either about his guitar or his skateboard. He was a brilliant student with good marks in spite of the fact he didn’t put in that much effort academically. I had a very serious conversation with him about how the guitar was a great hobby but he should concentrate on school because he could really go places.

Thank goodness Dallas didn’t listen to me.

Dallas has really gone places alright………with his guitar. He has travelled the world on tour with Alexisonfire as well as with his solo act City and Colour. He has won several Junos (Those are Canadian Grammy’s for you American readers.) He has really “made it” as a musician. He is even a heartthrob idol if you check out the internet.

So the moral of the story is……….follow your heart. I am going back to school on Monday and share my story and try to encourage this guitar player to stick with it and follow his dream.

Now if I can only take my own advice and follow my dream………

One small dream did get fulfilled today. I finally talked my husband into putting down new flooring in the cottage. I made a trip to the Minden Home Hardware and brought home some flooring samples. Not a big dream like winning a Juno, but a dream fulfilled nonetheless.

I will keep everyone posted as to our cottage renovations.....

I Need Motivation

Here I am……….OK, not quite. This is the picture of me I have in my head. Fit, big smile, great hair………………I actually have been told I have a great smile and some days I have been known to have great hair(depends upon humidity and so many other factors)

What I need to work on is my fitness.

I am on a committee where we are working with new principals. Our workshop today talked a lot about having life balance between home and school etc. I am considered one of the “mentors”….you know, someone who is supposed to know what they are talking about. I do know all of the right words to say but putting it into action is another thing.

I leave for work each day at about 7:30 and get home around 6:00 p.m. After that I start supper, read the paper and log onto the computer to check out facebook, blogs, emails and anything else that can distract me until I go to bed. When the topic of fitness comes up I tell everyone, and try to convince myself, I have no time for exercise.

I have made a commitment to run a five kilometre race in October and yet I have yet to put on my running shoes. I need to get motivated and get running.

Is there anyone out there to say the right words to me to get me out the door and away from the computer??

IT’S NOT ABOUT FINDING YOURSELF, IT’S ABOUT CREATING YOURSELF

I just got home from a retirement celebration. It was a small group of female principals celebrating the retirement of a woman who has spent 30+ years in education. I was always in awe of this woman. Elaine went from being a teacher, to someone representing “affirmative action” at the board level to a programme officer at the Ministry of Education. She ended her last 8 or so years with our board as a principal. And yet, in spite of all of her successes she is still a "down to earth" woman who actually enjoys my company!

As woman do, we chatted over top of each other….yes, for you men out there, woman do really sound like “The View.” As we were trading stories about our last year at work, our plans for summer vacation, bragging and complaining about our children, I mentioned my daughter, who is entering her third year at Queen’s University, is “finding herself” as she is finding it difficult to pinpoint her major. That is when someone said something to me that I found quite startling………”It’s not about finding yourself but rather creating yourself.”

That put a totally new spin on my life. It is totally up to me as to what direction my life will take. I cannot just wait for fate to take me where I am going, but if I want something it is totally up to me to make it happen.

Now I just need to decide what I want to happen!


OH!
I am so disillusioned! In my quest to find a pretty picture to put with these blah words of my blog, I discovered there are about 71,200,000 google entries of “It’s not about finding yourself, it’s about creating yourself.”

I thought I had discovered a new philosophy, something new to ponder. I am so disappointed! I am even sorrier to disappoint anyone out there still reading this………….. it was not a new saying or philosophy at all, just another quote to put on a coffee mug.

Are there any new ideas out there?

5 Kilometers to My Spectacular Goal

Well here it goes………….my SPECTACULAR goal. I have decided to start with something very tangible…………..

a 5 kilometre race!

I know it won’t be the Stanley Cup or Henley gold for that matter, but for me to finish a race like that will be something that I can actually accomplish, but I will have to push myself to do it.

At work they are pushing “SMART” goals:

Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic and Timely

So here goes my first personal SMART Goal:

Specific: To run again!
Measurable: 5 kilometres
Attainable: Surely I can run 5 km????
Realistic: Well, it’s not the Olympics
Timely: October – that when the Niagara Falls Marathon is and there is a 5 km portion for people like me…….

people who are not really athletic but know it's now or never.


I didn’t pick this goal out of thin air. It has been rolling around in the back of head for some time now. When Terry and I moved into our condo last October I told myself I would start to use the exercise room downstairs. Many of my friends pay lots of money each month to belong to some club and I have one free an elevator ride (or even better, stair flights) down from me. I need to start using it.

I have also been encouraged to join two co-workers who have been talking about the Niagara Falls marathon. A beautiful run along the Niagara Parkway ending at the picturesque Falls. What better place?

Also, maybe I will actually attain that goal of losing 15 pounds if I start running again?
Now I actually have to figure out how am I going to be able to run 5 kilometers?

Any wannabe trainers out there with some good suggestions?

SPECTACULAR GOAL!

Well, Sid the Kid did it!

The dream every young Canadian boy has probably had at some time……..to hoist that Stanley Cup above his head! It was a great game last night and I was surprised how emotional I got to see that cup being presented. They call it the prettiest cup in all professional sports. To me it signifies attaining a life long goal………and at the age of 21 Sidney Crosby reached his goal.

Crosby is the same age as my middle child Kaitlin. In fact, Kaitlin managed to finish her soccer game and watch the final minutes of the games with me. After the game she chatted with me about how busy she is going to be this summer. As well as playing soccer, she is taking her last class to graduate with a business degree from Brock University. She is starting a new job in the finance department at the board office. She will still be slinging beer at TGIF’s. The thing she is most excited about is she is back on the water this summer rowing.

Her goal is to win a Henley gold on the rowing course. http://www.henleyregatta.ca/henley-2009.php

Sid attained his goal at 21.
Kaitlin is well on course (pardon the pun for those who know rowing) to attain her goal of winning Henley gold…at the age of 21.

I am 47……….I don’t even have a goal let alone on my way to attain it!

My goal for the week-end is to get the laundry finished.
My goal for the summer is to lose 15 pounds.

I need a SPECTACULAR goal.
A picture taking worthy goal.
A goal that involves hoisting something above my head.

Anyone out there in cyberspace have any suggestions on goal-setting?

Is this just a sudden mid-life crisis?

Can I suddenly start training to run a marathon?
Could I have anything interesting to say to write a book?

Who knew that watching some kid with a trophy over his head would cause me to think I have yet to achieve something big. The question is………….what is that something??????

Game 7 ~ Stanley Cup Finals

In spite of what some of my blog readers may believe, I am really not THAT big of a hockey fan. I hardly even acknowledge the NHL season while they are playing their 80 regular season games. Being in close proximity to Toronto, I try to ignore the constant bombardment about the Toronto Maple Leafs . Usually about how bad they are. (They didn’t even make the playoffs this year) But, being a Canadian, there is no ignoring the game tonight………….Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final.

I always seem to cheer on the underdog team which means definitely I will be cheering for Pittsburgh Penguins. Team captain Sydney Crosby is sooooo close in attaining every boy’s childhood dream, and yet he is still just a kid himself……hence the moniker “Sid the Kid.”

It just seems odd to me after the regular season, 3 series wins so far in the play-offs, and 6 games already played in the final series, the cup will be awarded to the winner of one game. It makes for an exciting game for sure. I don’t know if I could even stand it if the game goes into over time. Not only would this mean the cup came down to one game, it would come down to the next goal……………just like those road hockey games that had to end because the street lights came on. But I am digressing to childhood memories…yet another post for another day.

So tonight, I will be an absorbed hockey fan, yelling at the TV set and listening intently to what Don Cherry has to say. (Don is definitely worth his own post, but for those of you non-Canadian types you really have to check out this amazing Canadian icon………seeing is believing) http://www.cbc.ca/sports/hockey/hockeynightincanada/coachscorner/

Tomorrow I will have moved on to something else putting hockey aside until next play-off season.

Any suggestions out there for my NEXT temporary passion?