Happy Birthday to Dad. :-) We were able to go out this afternoon to celebrate (right after school) before Dad had to go to SES. We chose to go to a local Irish restaurant/pub (Hoolihans) for a very early dinner (4:15pm) - we haven't been there before, but they will give you a free dinner (main meal) if it's your birthday, so we figured it was a good time to try a new restaurant. We started with Garlic and Mozzarella bread. Then, I had the Donegal's Irish Stew (Tender Braised Lamb with Onions, Carrots, Celery & Potatoes served over Mash with Soda Bread) and Dad had the Dublin Coddle (Thick Beef ‘n’ Sage Sausages served on Mash with Onion Gravy & Vegetables). The mozza bread was really delicious and both dinners tasted fabulous! The prices were pretty good, too, compared with other restaurants we have been to, but the food is way better than what we have tasted at other places (although we haven't been to too many others). We will definitely recommend this place to others.
Dad has gone off to SES now and I have been being very lazy tonight, just watching tv and answering emails and writing this blog. It's been a full-on day today at school and so I have enjoyed totally relaxing and doing nothing this evening. Yesterday, I was so positive with regards to my angry little student, Ryley - today was a challenging day. He was being very obstinate today - twice Chantelle asked me to come and deal with him. Just when I thought things were looking up, he said he was going to run away from school. I finally went to get the principal to talk with him as I was all out of ideas. The principal was able to get him to come back to class and make better choices. I talked with the principal to see what he did and said and he did and said the same things which I had done and said and yet he had a better result - I think it might have had to do witth the principal being male. Ryley had a great second session, but then stuffed up again during the third session. We'll have to see what tomorrow brings, but I am not too crazy about expending so much energy on one student - I do have 20 other students to worry about - he might have to miss more recesses before he figures things out.
I was really pleased to be able to go to the Curriculum Development meeting today. We talked mostly about the NAPLAN test (grade three test), the results, the questions which the students did not do well on, and how to take the results and work with them to help the students become more successful at the test. I think teaching to the test is not good teaching, but I wouldn't say anything in front of the V.P. :-) We also talked about other things we could do in the classroom to help the students be more successful in areas which they are struggling - the grade threes particularly don't do well in spelling and so the school has decided that the spelling program in the school is going to be downgraded - as in, the grade three program will now be done in grade two, the grade two one will now be done in grade one, etc. I can't see the sense of expecting so much from these kids, but that's the way that the education system seems to be going in this country.
October 6, 2010
Wow, I can't believe how fast the time has gone this week! But, school has been pretty good so far, so I have been very happy about that. :-) I was worried about whether the students would have reverted back to their chatting mode after my working so hard with them for the two weeks before holidays. But, they have pleasantly surprised me - although, I still have to occasionally remind them to listen. It's been great having Chantelle, our student teacher, in the classroom. She and I are sharing the teaching of the class which also means sharing the planning and preparation of materials for the lessons. That part has been great cuz it's meant that I have been able to spend less time at school and less time prepping stuff at home. I actually got to read the newspaper Monday and today after school - what a treat! :-)
It's been great working with Chantelle - it reminds me of working with my friend, Priya, who was once my student teacher and then became a colleague (I went to my principal and told her that Priya was amazing and that she just HAD to hire her - fortunately, the principal listened to me). Chantelle and I work really well together - after school, we reflect on the day and talk about behaviour issues and how best to sort through them. We talk about a variety of solutions to things which come up during the day - Chantelle has the planning bit, preparation bit and teaching bit down pretty well - the part she struggles with (and we all do at some point) is the classroom management bit. It's the hardest part about teaching for me. I am still learning and I bet that most teachers do as the students change each year. I had to take Ryley out today as he was not making good choices and I didn't want Chantelle to have to deal with him as well as the other 19 students which were here today. Ryley is OCD, ADHD and has anger issues. He and I have slowly formed a rapport with each other and I am learning to 'pick my battles' with him. He will talk with me now about things which have set him off and I am learning how best to help him to do what he needs to do. Although it's been a bit challenging dealing with him, it's also been rewarding in that I feel that I am reaching him.
Today, I spoke with Leanne, the vice principal, about getting some professional development at the school. The grade two teachers are doing some curriculum development tomorrow afternoon. I was originally set to cover Tracey's class (another grade two teacher) tomorrow, but she has the week off (her father passed away) and there's a supply teacher in the class for the week. So, I asked Leanne if I could come to the curriculum development tomorrow (unless she wanted me in the classroom with Chantelle). She said I was welcome to come to the curriculum develpment meeting and I was so pleased when she said that. I really want to learn as much as I can about how education works here in Queensland. When I told Chantelle and asked her if it was okay with her, she said that it was fine as she wanted to find out if the kids would be the same when I wasn't in the room. So, I think it will be a good experience for both of us.
Dad has spent most of the past three days working on downloading the General Conference broadcast (which happened in Salt Lake City last weekend), converting the files to a DVD format and then burning them onto DVDs. It's taking ages for this to get done - he's working on it to be ready for this Saturday as we are viewing the conference at that time. We will be going on Saturday from 11am to 1pm and then 1:30pm to 3:30pm to watch last Saturday's sessions of conference and then on Sunday we will watch last Sunday's sessions of conference from 9am - 11am and 11:30am to 1:30pm.
I went visiting teaching yesterday with my companion, Robyn. I love visiting teaching - I always have. I love getting to know the sisters better and in an informal setting. I love talking with them, too, which is something we don't really get to do too much of on Sundays. We like to go on Tuesday nights cuz that is when Rob, Rosalea's husband, is out at the chapel for Young Men's/Young Women's and we can sit and have a good chat with Rosalea without Rob around. :-) We always have a long visit with Rosalea - and last night was no exception -we were there from 6:30pm to 8:30pm - Rosalea, Robyn and I are all good at talking :-) but Rosalea also seems to need to talk a lot about her life with us - like she doesn't have anyone she feels comfortable doing that with and she also knows that anything she tells us won't go any further.
Tonight, Geoff (Robyn's husband) had arranged for he and his home teaching companion, Luke, to come to visit with Dad and me - when 6pm came, in walked Geoff and ..............Robyn. Imagine my surprise when I saw her come through the door - Luke had a family situation he had to attend to and so Geoff had asked Robyn to come with him to visit with us. We were really pleased to have a chance to visit with the two of them - they are becoming good friends of ours. They are leaving on Saturday to go to Ireland until the middle of November - we will be crossing paths on the way to Sydney as they are arriving back in Hervey Bay, so we won't be seeing them until we get back in mid-January.
I bought a book when we were back in Canada called 'Isaiah for Airheads' by John Bytheway. It's based on the chapters of Isaiah Nephi quoted in the Book of Mormon. We are reading Isaiah in the Bible and it's hard to understand it sometimes. This book is FABULOUS in helping us to understand what has been written in the book of Isaiah. John breaks it down so that we are learning about what each verse (or couple of verses) mean. We have read two chapters so far and it's been so much more enlightening having this resource. He makes it so much easier to understand, so we are really glad that we have bought this book. I will talk more about what he tells us in a future blog.
It's been great working with Chantelle - it reminds me of working with my friend, Priya, who was once my student teacher and then became a colleague (I went to my principal and told her that Priya was amazing and that she just HAD to hire her - fortunately, the principal listened to me). Chantelle and I work really well together - after school, we reflect on the day and talk about behaviour issues and how best to sort through them. We talk about a variety of solutions to things which come up during the day - Chantelle has the planning bit, preparation bit and teaching bit down pretty well - the part she struggles with (and we all do at some point) is the classroom management bit. It's the hardest part about teaching for me. I am still learning and I bet that most teachers do as the students change each year. I had to take Ryley out today as he was not making good choices and I didn't want Chantelle to have to deal with him as well as the other 19 students which were here today. Ryley is OCD, ADHD and has anger issues. He and I have slowly formed a rapport with each other and I am learning to 'pick my battles' with him. He will talk with me now about things which have set him off and I am learning how best to help him to do what he needs to do. Although it's been a bit challenging dealing with him, it's also been rewarding in that I feel that I am reaching him.
Today, I spoke with Leanne, the vice principal, about getting some professional development at the school. The grade two teachers are doing some curriculum development tomorrow afternoon. I was originally set to cover Tracey's class (another grade two teacher) tomorrow, but she has the week off (her father passed away) and there's a supply teacher in the class for the week. So, I asked Leanne if I could come to the curriculum development tomorrow (unless she wanted me in the classroom with Chantelle). She said I was welcome to come to the curriculum develpment meeting and I was so pleased when she said that. I really want to learn as much as I can about how education works here in Queensland. When I told Chantelle and asked her if it was okay with her, she said that it was fine as she wanted to find out if the kids would be the same when I wasn't in the room. So, I think it will be a good experience for both of us.
Dad has spent most of the past three days working on downloading the General Conference broadcast (which happened in Salt Lake City last weekend), converting the files to a DVD format and then burning them onto DVDs. It's taking ages for this to get done - he's working on it to be ready for this Saturday as we are viewing the conference at that time. We will be going on Saturday from 11am to 1pm and then 1:30pm to 3:30pm to watch last Saturday's sessions of conference and then on Sunday we will watch last Sunday's sessions of conference from 9am - 11am and 11:30am to 1:30pm.
I went visiting teaching yesterday with my companion, Robyn. I love visiting teaching - I always have. I love getting to know the sisters better and in an informal setting. I love talking with them, too, which is something we don't really get to do too much of on Sundays. We like to go on Tuesday nights cuz that is when Rob, Rosalea's husband, is out at the chapel for Young Men's/Young Women's and we can sit and have a good chat with Rosalea without Rob around. :-) We always have a long visit with Rosalea - and last night was no exception -we were there from 6:30pm to 8:30pm - Rosalea, Robyn and I are all good at talking :-) but Rosalea also seems to need to talk a lot about her life with us - like she doesn't have anyone she feels comfortable doing that with and she also knows that anything she tells us won't go any further.
Tonight, Geoff (Robyn's husband) had arranged for he and his home teaching companion, Luke, to come to visit with Dad and me - when 6pm came, in walked Geoff and ..............Robyn. Imagine my surprise when I saw her come through the door - Luke had a family situation he had to attend to and so Geoff had asked Robyn to come with him to visit with us. We were really pleased to have a chance to visit with the two of them - they are becoming good friends of ours. They are leaving on Saturday to go to Ireland until the middle of November - we will be crossing paths on the way to Sydney as they are arriving back in Hervey Bay, so we won't be seeing them until we get back in mid-January.
I bought a book when we were back in Canada called 'Isaiah for Airheads' by John Bytheway. It's based on the chapters of Isaiah Nephi quoted in the Book of Mormon. We are reading Isaiah in the Bible and it's hard to understand it sometimes. This book is FABULOUS in helping us to understand what has been written in the book of Isaiah. John breaks it down so that we are learning about what each verse (or couple of verses) mean. We have read two chapters so far and it's been so much more enlightening having this resource. He makes it so much easier to understand, so we are really glad that we have bought this book. I will talk more about what he tells us in a future blog.
October 2, 2010
It's been a busy, but lovely day today. Dad and I headed out at 10:30am this morning on a drive up to a place called Woodgate Beach with a stop at Burrum Coast National Park. The park was actually the reason we went up there. I wanted to go for a drive somewhere and this park has a number of walking tracks in it. We got there around noon and the info we had found on the net said that the walk around the Banksia track would take 2 hours - it took us 1 1/2 hours.
It was a really beautiful walk, too - we walked along a dirt track through the trees. The sky was blue (with a few clouds) and the sun was shining down. Just after we started on our walk, we saw a couple of kookaburraas in the trees - we took some pics of one cute bird which is at the end of the blog. There were supposed to be some wildflowers in bloom along the track, but we only came along one (near the end of the track). We also saw some different plants along the way (pics at the end). The one thing we didn't see was a snake, so I was grateful for that. :-) It was great to get out in the fresh air and to get some exercise at the same time. Dad and I really enjoyed being out in nature and chatting as we walked along. It was so peaceful out there - I have always felt that way being in nature. We had such a wonderful time out there, that we want to do some more walks like that - and soon.
After the walk, we drove into Woodgate Beach to look around - it was one of the places that I had checked out housing in when we were looking to settle in this area of the country. It's a lovely little town - very small - mostly seems to be holiday housing - the closest city is about half an hour away. As we were driving into the town, we saw three kangaroos right on the side of the road eating grass. It was so cool - I still can't get over it when I see them right in front of me. :-) I asked Dad to pull to the side of the road so that I could watch them and get some photos (at the end of the blog) - we sat there for a few minutes just enjoying watching them. We had to drive on as we needed to be leaving Woodgate just after 2:30pm. After stopping to get some lunch which we ate by the beach (pics at the end), we started driving back along the road beside the beach and saw the same kangaroos in the front yard of a house eating grass. There were kids playing a ball game just around the corner and the kangaroos were just eating away like it was nothing for them to be in someone's yard. What a treat for us! :-)
When we got home from our trip, we started cooking lasagna right away as we were having guests for dinner. We weren't sure if Rob and Rosalea were coming, but we knew that Robyn and Geoff were coming for sure and we figured that having lasagna would mean there would be enough for six if Rob and Rosalea came. W have had lasagna the way they make it in Australia and we don't like it (they put in a white sauce with the cheese) and so we made it the 'Canadian' way - and it was a hit. We really enjoyed our evening with our four friends (yes, Rob and Rosalea showed up) - after eating (at our lovely new table) we sat around and just chatted for about an hour and a half. Rob and Rosalea had to leave early as Rosalea hasn't been feeling well lately, but Robyn and Geoff stayed on for a bit. I asked them if they played games (euchre, cribbage, etc.) and they said that they did - I told them about doing that with Nikki and Ron for years and told them that it would be great if they could come over again for dinner and play games with us. It's great to have made friends here that we can feel so comfortable with.
We are watching another movie right now - 'Dreamgirls' - 7.5 on our scale (8.0 for me and 7.0 for Dad). Yesterday we watched two more movies - 'Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure' was a 6.75 (a 6.5 from me and a 7.0 from Dad), but the best movie we have seen thus far is one called 'Changeling' - what an amazing story (and it's a true story, too). I would highly recommend it to everyone (although it IS about a mother whose son goes missing so Terri-Ann and Krystal, you might not want to watch it as it might be too emotional - but it's also about other things that were happening at that time in America (the late 1920s). It's a very powerful movie!
It was a really beautiful walk, too - we walked along a dirt track through the trees. The sky was blue (with a few clouds) and the sun was shining down. Just after we started on our walk, we saw a couple of kookaburraas in the trees - we took some pics of one cute bird which is at the end of the blog. There were supposed to be some wildflowers in bloom along the track, but we only came along one (near the end of the track). We also saw some different plants along the way (pics at the end). The one thing we didn't see was a snake, so I was grateful for that. :-) It was great to get out in the fresh air and to get some exercise at the same time. Dad and I really enjoyed being out in nature and chatting as we walked along. It was so peaceful out there - I have always felt that way being in nature. We had such a wonderful time out there, that we want to do some more walks like that - and soon.
After the walk, we drove into Woodgate Beach to look around - it was one of the places that I had checked out housing in when we were looking to settle in this area of the country. It's a lovely little town - very small - mostly seems to be holiday housing - the closest city is about half an hour away. As we were driving into the town, we saw three kangaroos right on the side of the road eating grass. It was so cool - I still can't get over it when I see them right in front of me. :-) I asked Dad to pull to the side of the road so that I could watch them and get some photos (at the end of the blog) - we sat there for a few minutes just enjoying watching them. We had to drive on as we needed to be leaving Woodgate just after 2:30pm. After stopping to get some lunch which we ate by the beach (pics at the end), we started driving back along the road beside the beach and saw the same kangaroos in the front yard of a house eating grass. There were kids playing a ball game just around the corner and the kangaroos were just eating away like it was nothing for them to be in someone's yard. What a treat for us! :-)
When we got home from our trip, we started cooking lasagna right away as we were having guests for dinner. We weren't sure if Rob and Rosalea were coming, but we knew that Robyn and Geoff were coming for sure and we figured that having lasagna would mean there would be enough for six if Rob and Rosalea came. W have had lasagna the way they make it in Australia and we don't like it (they put in a white sauce with the cheese) and so we made it the 'Canadian' way - and it was a hit. We really enjoyed our evening with our four friends (yes, Rob and Rosalea showed up) - after eating (at our lovely new table) we sat around and just chatted for about an hour and a half. Rob and Rosalea had to leave early as Rosalea hasn't been feeling well lately, but Robyn and Geoff stayed on for a bit. I asked them if they played games (euchre, cribbage, etc.) and they said that they did - I told them about doing that with Nikki and Ron for years and told them that it would be great if they could come over again for dinner and play games with us. It's great to have made friends here that we can feel so comfortable with.
We are watching another movie right now - 'Dreamgirls' - 7.5 on our scale (8.0 for me and 7.0 for Dad). Yesterday we watched two more movies - 'Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure' was a 6.75 (a 6.5 from me and a 7.0 from Dad), but the best movie we have seen thus far is one called 'Changeling' - what an amazing story (and it's a true story, too). I would highly recommend it to everyone (although it IS about a mother whose son goes missing so Terri-Ann and Krystal, you might not want to watch it as it might be too emotional - but it's also about other things that were happening at that time in America (the late 1920s). It's a very powerful movie!
Kangaroo in the field outside our kitchen window
On the way to Burrum Coast National Park
Mom in front of sign for the walking track
Kookaburra in a tree on the walking track
Dad beside a plant on the walking track
Boardwalk which joins the car park to the walking track
Kangaroo on the side of the road
Kangaroo eating grass near the ocean
Kangaroos eating grass in someone's front yard
Close-up of kangaroo eating grass in someone's front yard
Ocean view from our picnic bench where we ate lunch
September 30, 2010
It's hard to believe that it's been a year since we headed out on our cruise across the ocean. Dad and I were just talking about that yesterday - what a trip in a lifetime it was! :-) We will take other cruises, but I doubt that any of them will match our 30 day cruise to Australia.
I am supposed to be on holidays and yet we still find ourselves busy some days. Tuesday was cleaning day (I cleaned while Dad went to an employment appointment) and then it was grocery shopping for food for dinner (the missionaries and Ashley were coming over) - we did manage to get a walk in which was nice. Wednesday was Meals on Wheels, laundry, stops at the library, Blockbuster's, Target (to buy a table runner and placemats) and IGA for more food. Phew. Thank goodness we got to relax last night (more movies) and all day today, it's been movies and relaxing.
On Tuesday, I did tell Dad that I needed to get out because we had been inside for so long since the weather had been so crummy. It wasn't that nice a looking day on Tuesday, but we decided to go for a walk anyway - after all, if it did rain, we would just get wet - and we weren't that far from home. We decided to walk around the neighbourhood and check out all the houses. One of the things I love about this area is that the houses are all different. Rather than one company buying all the land in this area, it appears that people purchased the land and then various builders built the houses. It was really nice to get outside and enjoy the fresh air and get some exercise.
I have put a couple of photos at the end of this blog - they are of our new dining room table. One is showing off the table and the other one shows our new table runner and place mats. We went into the store planning on buying one set of placemats we had seen before (they were having a 25% off sale at Target), but we ended up finding ones we liked better. The runner is made from bamboo and the placemats are sort of native looking. We have a tablecloth on the table right now, but it doesn't show off the table - with the runner and the placemats, we can see the beautiful table and it will also be protected.
Our friends, Robyn and Geoff, came over yesterday to visit us - Geoff is one of our home teachers and his companion could not come with him, so Robyn joined him to visit with us. Although the sky was grey, it wasn't raining, so Dad and I were eating lunch outside when they came. We visited with them outside - it was so nice to be outside in the fresh air - although it was cloudy, it was quite warm - about 27C yesterday. It was nice to visit with them - they stayed for about an hour and a half - we are becoming good friends with them. We also invited them to come over for dinner on Saturday night (Geoff even asked me if 'dinner' meant the evening meal - a lot of people call lunch 'dinner' and dinner 'tea' over here :-)
We have been having a really lazy day today - I didn't even get up until 9am this morning. I laid in bed and finished my book (Char recommended this book called 'Trust No One' and wouldn't you know it, I figured out the killer - I hate when I do that. :-) Dad and I then watched two more movies: 'Cold Mountain' (we gave it a 7.75 - I gave it an 8.5, but Dad said it was a 7.0 cuz he thought it was a bit long and a bit slow) and we also watched 'Bandslam' - 6.75 (I gave it a 6.5, but Dad said it was a 7.0 - a cute movie, but more for teenagers). We have five more movies to watch, but we will have to wait until tomorrow to watch anymore as Dad is off to SES shortly.
Only three more days off and then I'm back to work (for three weeks, anyway) so there is more relaxing to be done in the next few days. :-) Tomorrow, we will be at the FHC until 3pm and then on Saturday, we will head over to the church garage sale in the morning (for the youth to raise money for Youth Conference) and then we are going for a drive - not sure where to yet - I just mentioned to Dad that it would be a nice way to finish up the holidays and he agreed, so we shall have to do a little research into what is close to here that we haven't seen yet - we might head south since we've been north to Bundaberg. We'll keep you posted.
I am supposed to be on holidays and yet we still find ourselves busy some days. Tuesday was cleaning day (I cleaned while Dad went to an employment appointment) and then it was grocery shopping for food for dinner (the missionaries and Ashley were coming over) - we did manage to get a walk in which was nice. Wednesday was Meals on Wheels, laundry, stops at the library, Blockbuster's, Target (to buy a table runner and placemats) and IGA for more food. Phew. Thank goodness we got to relax last night (more movies) and all day today, it's been movies and relaxing.
On Tuesday, I did tell Dad that I needed to get out because we had been inside for so long since the weather had been so crummy. It wasn't that nice a looking day on Tuesday, but we decided to go for a walk anyway - after all, if it did rain, we would just get wet - and we weren't that far from home. We decided to walk around the neighbourhood and check out all the houses. One of the things I love about this area is that the houses are all different. Rather than one company buying all the land in this area, it appears that people purchased the land and then various builders built the houses. It was really nice to get outside and enjoy the fresh air and get some exercise.
I have put a couple of photos at the end of this blog - they are of our new dining room table. One is showing off the table and the other one shows our new table runner and place mats. We went into the store planning on buying one set of placemats we had seen before (they were having a 25% off sale at Target), but we ended up finding ones we liked better. The runner is made from bamboo and the placemats are sort of native looking. We have a tablecloth on the table right now, but it doesn't show off the table - with the runner and the placemats, we can see the beautiful table and it will also be protected.
Our friends, Robyn and Geoff, came over yesterday to visit us - Geoff is one of our home teachers and his companion could not come with him, so Robyn joined him to visit with us. Although the sky was grey, it wasn't raining, so Dad and I were eating lunch outside when they came. We visited with them outside - it was so nice to be outside in the fresh air - although it was cloudy, it was quite warm - about 27C yesterday. It was nice to visit with them - they stayed for about an hour and a half - we are becoming good friends with them. We also invited them to come over for dinner on Saturday night (Geoff even asked me if 'dinner' meant the evening meal - a lot of people call lunch 'dinner' and dinner 'tea' over here :-)
We have been having a really lazy day today - I didn't even get up until 9am this morning. I laid in bed and finished my book (Char recommended this book called 'Trust No One' and wouldn't you know it, I figured out the killer - I hate when I do that. :-) Dad and I then watched two more movies: 'Cold Mountain' (we gave it a 7.75 - I gave it an 8.5, but Dad said it was a 7.0 cuz he thought it was a bit long and a bit slow) and we also watched 'Bandslam' - 6.75 (I gave it a 6.5, but Dad said it was a 7.0 - a cute movie, but more for teenagers). We have five more movies to watch, but we will have to wait until tomorrow to watch anymore as Dad is off to SES shortly.
Only three more days off and then I'm back to work (for three weeks, anyway) so there is more relaxing to be done in the next few days. :-) Tomorrow, we will be at the FHC until 3pm and then on Saturday, we will head over to the church garage sale in the morning (for the youth to raise money for Youth Conference) and then we are going for a drive - not sure where to yet - I just mentioned to Dad that it would be a nice way to finish up the holidays and he agreed, so we shall have to do a little research into what is close to here that we haven't seen yet - we might head south since we've been north to Bundaberg. We'll keep you posted.
September 28, 2010
Well, after a good night's sleep, I think that my heart has finally stopped beating so fast! Last night, I was putting things away in the kitchen just before heading off to bed, when I saw something out of my peripheral vision. Usually, that means a spider, but as I looked in the direction of the movement, I saw a very small brown gecko. I yelled out to Dad to come quickly as my heart starting beating furiously. They are not scary creatures, but they move very quickly and I didn't want to take my eyes off it. Dad got a yogurt container and piece of cardboard and walked towards the gecko. Of course, it moved as soon as Dad got close to it - then, it jumped right off the kitchen counter onto the floor! Dad just stood there - he couldn't believe it would jump and then that it was still okay. It ran under the futon and by this time we were both laughing trying to figure out how two big adults were going to catch this very tiny gecko. :-) We finally cornered him under the futon with me coming one way and Dad coming the other way. Once Dad had trapped the gecko under the yogurt container and slid the cardboard under the container, we walked outside and let the little guy go. What an experience! The missionaries told us that they have geckos in their apartment all the time and they just let them be - they told us that the geckos eat little bugs. We have a little machine in our house which kills bugs, so we don't need any little geckos in here scurrying around - they can just stay outside, thank you very much. :-)
The rest of the past couple of days have been quite boring compared to last night's exercise. :-) We have just been relaxing and watching movies and spending time doing family history. Dad was at the church FHC (Family History Centre) yesterday and it was busy - Dad still had some time, though, to work on the Noble line in his family history. He found that some information he had, had not been inputted in the church system and so he spent some time doing that along with doing some more research. Dad is planning on going into the FHC in Toronto when we are there to do some more work on that line. I spent the day at the library trying to find some more information on my family history - I had spent some time on Sunday afternoon writing down some missing parts in my history. I wasn't able to find out much more about my family, but I was able to find out where some ancestors were buried - I would like to go and get photos of their headstones. Dad found out yesterday that if you are going to a cemetery to get information off headstones that you should talk with the person who is in charge of the cemetery and see if they will let you look at the purchase order for the gravesite as that may have more information (and perhaps more accurage info) on it than the headstone does. I also wrote down two email addresses I found - one of a woman who has information about headstones in a place called Narrandera where my great great grandfather is buried and I am hoping that his date of birth is on his headstone since I can't seem to find out any info on that. The other email is for a gentleman who is working on one of my lines which goes back to England - the gentleman is actually here in Australia - so I am going to email him and see what information he has. It's still so exciting when I find out anything about my ancestors!
We have watched more movies since I last wrote to you - some good and some not so good or rather, not as good as we were hoping after all the researching I had done. I can't remember which ones I have told you about, so here's a synopsis of what we have watched and the mark out of ten which we have given them. "Akeelah and the Bee" - 8.0, "Finding Neverland" - 6.5 (and only that high cuz Dad gave it a 7.0 while I only gave it a 6.0), "The Invention of Lying" - 6.0, "Notes on a Scandal - 7.0 (but a very odd movie), and "Whale Rider" - 7.0. We rented ten movies yesterday to watch this week (special price on Monday is .99c a movie for weekly rentals) and hope that they will be good ones. We won't be watching movies again after this week as I will be back at school and we don't have time to watch movies when I am working.
The rest of the past couple of days have been quite boring compared to last night's exercise. :-) We have just been relaxing and watching movies and spending time doing family history. Dad was at the church FHC (Family History Centre) yesterday and it was busy - Dad still had some time, though, to work on the Noble line in his family history. He found that some information he had, had not been inputted in the church system and so he spent some time doing that along with doing some more research. Dad is planning on going into the FHC in Toronto when we are there to do some more work on that line. I spent the day at the library trying to find some more information on my family history - I had spent some time on Sunday afternoon writing down some missing parts in my history. I wasn't able to find out much more about my family, but I was able to find out where some ancestors were buried - I would like to go and get photos of their headstones. Dad found out yesterday that if you are going to a cemetery to get information off headstones that you should talk with the person who is in charge of the cemetery and see if they will let you look at the purchase order for the gravesite as that may have more information (and perhaps more accurage info) on it than the headstone does. I also wrote down two email addresses I found - one of a woman who has information about headstones in a place called Narrandera where my great great grandfather is buried and I am hoping that his date of birth is on his headstone since I can't seem to find out any info on that. The other email is for a gentleman who is working on one of my lines which goes back to England - the gentleman is actually here in Australia - so I am going to email him and see what information he has. It's still so exciting when I find out anything about my ancestors!
We have watched more movies since I last wrote to you - some good and some not so good or rather, not as good as we were hoping after all the researching I had done. I can't remember which ones I have told you about, so here's a synopsis of what we have watched and the mark out of ten which we have given them. "Akeelah and the Bee" - 8.0, "Finding Neverland" - 6.5 (and only that high cuz Dad gave it a 7.0 while I only gave it a 6.0), "The Invention of Lying" - 6.0, "Notes on a Scandal - 7.0 (but a very odd movie), and "Whale Rider" - 7.0. We rented ten movies yesterday to watch this week (special price on Monday is .99c a movie for weekly rentals) and hope that they will be good ones. We won't be watching movies again after this week as I will be back at school and we don't have time to watch movies when I am working.
September 25, 2010
It's been a lovely two days of more relaxing. Dad spent yesterday at the Family History Centre (a quiet day) and I spent the day at the genealogy room at the library. I was able to get a lot of information about Poppy's side of the family (on both his sides) which was exciting. There were a few older women there who obviously come often to the room to do their genealogy and they were kidding with each other during their time there - it was so funny - I had some good chuckles. :-) I now have to go through all my notes and find out where/what I am missing so that I can take my questions to the woman there on Monday and see if she can help me clear some things up.
Dad and I went to Blockbuster's afterwards - we took back last week's movies and rented 7 more for this week. We took our list with us this time - the one we started based on good reviews. We have watched three of them so far: "Gone Baby Gone" (not worth the watch), "School of Rock" and "Shattered Glass" (each about a 7). We'll see how the rest of them go this week: the others we've rented are "Notes on a Scandal", "Finding Neverland", "Akeelah and the Bee", and "Whale Rider". :-) I spent time on the computer today checking out the list of movies which Blockbuster's Australia has online and wrote down all the ones I thought sounded good. Then Dad and I checked out the reviews and we kept all the ones with a 6.0 or more on the list. The next thing to do is to check what each movie is about to see if we think we would like to watch it.
So, today, we literally relaxed at home all day. The weather was cloudy and rainy and so going out was not on the cards - it looks like it's going to be more of the same next week (sigh). But, spending time reading (I'm on a new book now - "Trust No One" - recommended by Char - and Dad gave up on the book he was reading and is now reading "All I Need To Know I Learned In Kindergarten"), cooking (I made Pasta E Fagioli soup) and watching movies. It was just what we needed - that's what we're trying to do during these two weeks off - relax. Dad checked out the mountains which we were thinking of going to for a couple of days next week - turns out the resort there is expensive over the holidays and it's quite booked up. So we have decided not to go at this time.
So, not really too much to tell for the past two days and hopefully it will be more of the same for the next week as well. :-) I want to be well rested when school starts again. :-)
Dad and I went to Blockbuster's afterwards - we took back last week's movies and rented 7 more for this week. We took our list with us this time - the one we started based on good reviews. We have watched three of them so far: "Gone Baby Gone" (not worth the watch), "School of Rock" and "Shattered Glass" (each about a 7). We'll see how the rest of them go this week: the others we've rented are "Notes on a Scandal", "Finding Neverland", "Akeelah and the Bee", and "Whale Rider". :-) I spent time on the computer today checking out the list of movies which Blockbuster's Australia has online and wrote down all the ones I thought sounded good. Then Dad and I checked out the reviews and we kept all the ones with a 6.0 or more on the list. The next thing to do is to check what each movie is about to see if we think we would like to watch it.
So, today, we literally relaxed at home all day. The weather was cloudy and rainy and so going out was not on the cards - it looks like it's going to be more of the same next week (sigh). But, spending time reading (I'm on a new book now - "Trust No One" - recommended by Char - and Dad gave up on the book he was reading and is now reading "All I Need To Know I Learned In Kindergarten"), cooking (I made Pasta E Fagioli soup) and watching movies. It was just what we needed - that's what we're trying to do during these two weeks off - relax. Dad checked out the mountains which we were thinking of going to for a couple of days next week - turns out the resort there is expensive over the holidays and it's quite booked up. So we have decided not to go at this time.
So, not really too much to tell for the past two days and hopefully it will be more of the same for the next week as well. :-) I want to be well rested when school starts again. :-)
September 23, 2010
Time to get this blog up and running again, I think. You can check it as often as your time allows. I might write every day - or not - but, I will write when I have something to share with you. In this blog, I will title each area which I will talk about, so you can come back if the entry is too long and you need to remember where you are.
School
I am two fifths through my five week teaching contract in grade 2 at Kawungan State School and it's been a bit of a challenge. I have loved being back planning and preparing to teach - I have really missed having 'my own class' and all that entails. I am finding it very different from teaching at R. J. Lee as far as the students go. At R.J., the children (in general) were very respectful - there was no need to yell (not my style, anyway) and I still haven't resorted to that (although plenty of teachers here have). But, I sure have felt like it. Bronwyn, the teacher of this grade two class, is very relaxed in her teaching style. I, on the other hand, have big issues with the students talking when I am talking or when their peers are talking during discussions. So, the students are learning to be quiet and to listen. It did get better over the two weeks I was teaching them (before the holidays we are now in) and I hope that they don't forget everything during their two weeks off. The teachers at the school are great and the grade two team especially have been very welcoming to me and make me feel like part of the group. Once I have finished teaching the next three week block for Bronwyn, I will hopefully either get another contract job or get some supply teaching days.
Dad
Dad is starting to look for a casual job. He definitely does not want to work full-time as he wants to be able to come back to Canada for visits. He went out to the airport to talk with a man out there who does the maintenance for any small airplanes which use the Hervey Bay airport. They had an hour and a half chat and the man told Dad that he would call him if he had any extra work which required extra hands. Dad is also keeping a close eye on job opportunities listed online here. He continues to go into the Family History Centre at church on Mondays and Fridays - there is a lot of work to be done to 'tidy up' the centre as far as paperwork goes. It's pretty quiet most days, so it also gives Dad the opportunity to work on his own family history. He is currently trying to find out information about the Noble side - Grandma Gall did a lot of work on her and grandpa's side of the family and work has been done on the Martin side. Dad is finally able to do some volunteer work with the SES. Last weekend, he went to do parking control for a charity fundraising event. Today, he will be helping out with a sausage sizzle (selling sausages in slices of bread along with pop) for the local council.
My Family History
It has been exciting to have the time to work so much on my own family history - it takes ages to get information sometimes, which is why I haven't had much time before this to get very far on finding my ancestors - but, I like putting the time in and have found some more links to those who came before me. I did find out that my great great grandmother (on Poppy's side) had a child out of wedlock - that was really interesting, almost a scandal, I thought - however, a woman at the genealogy library here in town said that happened more than people think back in those days. When I told Auntie Norma about it, she told me that Great Great Grandma was disowned by her family when she got pregnant out of wedlock. I also found out that when someone died, at least here in Australia, that sometimes the people giving information when a person died was not accurate. For instance, on my great grandmother's death certificate, it lists her parents' names incorrectly. I worked with the people at the genealogy library to make sure that the death certificate I had found was actually the death certificate of my great grandmother and we found out that it was. It took ages to verify the information, but it was exciting to finally find out more about a member of my family. I have recently found out information about Nana's family: we thought her grandfather was named Richard and I found out that his name was actually Henry Richard Frederick, but he went by the name of Richard as his father's name was Henry.
The house
We were very excited to finally find a dining room suite that we love. It's made from New Zealand pine and it's absolutely gorgeous. It's sort of a light cherrywood colour and the natural wood has knots in it and makes it look quite unique. There are six chairs in the suite - the chairs have a brown cushion. I don't like the brown colour (I would rather have had beige cushions), but the set only came with the chocolate colour. We both loved the suite, so I decided not to worry about the cushion colour - most of the time the chairs are tucked in under the table anyway and you don't see the colour of the cushions. We also bought a stainless steel fridge with the freezer in the bottom - we absolutely love it. It's great not having to bend over to get something out of the bottom of the fridge all the time. (doesn't take much to make me happy, eh? :-)
We are still looking at other furniture for the rest of the house: a bedroom suite for the master bedroom, a living room suite and furniture for the family room. We were out just yesterday looking at living room suites and found a few possibilities. It's a bit difficult when the living room has this medium grey carpet on the floor - less colours to go with that. We also checked out lazy-boy chairs which we want for the family room. Dad finally bought a lawnmower - we had checked out a variety of places (garage sales, personal sales, newspaper ads) and couldn't find one at a price we thought was good. So, Dad went over to Bunnings (like Home Depot) and ended up buying a rechargeable electric one which means that it has a battery and electric motor - the battery gets recharged after every use. Dad figured out the cost of maintenance on a regular mower would be the same as purchasing a new battery (after five years). So, with no maintenance having to be done, less noise and ease of use of the electric one, Dad thought it was the one to buy. We have also purchased a washing machine and Dad has installed the dryer above it in the laundry room. We still rarely use the dryer, but it's nice having it there just in case it's one of those rare rainy days. Dad was thrilled to be able to also purchase a barbecue - he has been wanting to get one for a while and we finally found a great deal on one. He has used it a few times and is slowly getting used to how to cook on it - it's different, it seems, than the one which we had in Canada.
Church
Things are going well with my new calling of Primary first counsellor. I have been in charge of doing the Sharing Time for this month. I am in charge of giving a short lesson/activity based on the theme for the year which is "I Know My Saviour Lives". This year, we (the Primary presidency) have the opportunity to help the children feel and understand the great love that Jesus has for them. I have given two lessons so far - based on the ten commandments and the gospel standards. I feel very blessed to have been given the talent for teaching and also to be receiving revelation about how to best present the information to the children. They seem to have enjoyed the two presentations I have given to them - one teacher even told me how happy she was that I had included the little children as I taught - she told me that often the lessons focus on the older children. Dad and I have a meeting every Sunday at 8:15am as part of our callings as Branch missionaries. As this group is newly called, we are currently coming up with ideas on how to spread the gospel in Hervey Bay and how to raise the profile of the church in the area. We are going to be having a fireside in October about the Restoration of the church and hope to have non-members attend.
Our holidays (my spring break)
It's been lovely being on school holidays this week. We have had something to do each day so far and so we are taking today off. On Monday, Dad and I both went into the Family History Centre. While Dad worked on FHC stuff, I organized my school stuff - when I left school on Friday, I just threw all my papers into my bag and so I needed to go through all that and file it in the appropriate folders. I also was able to spend some time working on my family history and also on my Sharing Time lesson for this Sunday. After our time at the FHC, we did our weekly grocery shop. On Tuesday morning, we spent some time at the library - I spent time in the genealogy room there: they have access to an internet site called ancestry.com and I wanted to see if I could find out any information about my family history on that site which is not available at the FHC (there is a fee to use that site) and Dad spent the time reading some newspapers, looking at computer books and checked out aviation news magazines. We had the missionaries to dinner that night (along with Ashley, a young man in our branch who is a year away from serving his mission and who spends a lot of time with the missionaries each week). Yesterday, we did our usual 'Meals on Wheels' run - it was nice to do it again for me as I have not been able to do it for the past two weeks due to working. There were a couple of new people on the route - one lady even gave me some towels and homemade knitted washcloths. I wasn't sure if we were able to accept gifts, so when we got back to the MOW building, I spoke with Avis, the woman in charge, about it. She said that others have received this gift and she has just used the towels in the kitchen - I thought that was a good idea. I suggested that she put the washcloths in the garage sale which MOW are having next month. We rented 7 movies last Friday from Blockbuster's (7 for $9.95 for the week is such a good deal) and we have slowly been watching them this week. So far, we have watched five and only two of them have made it to the 7/10 score: "28 Days" starring Sandra Bullock and "Hitch" starring Will Smith. It's so hard to find good movies these days: I have made a list of movies from the past 10 years which received good reviews on rottentomatoes.com - I am going to take that list to the video store when we take these ones back tomorrow - hopefully, we will have better luck with those movies. We are planning on take a two day trip next week - a friend recommended we take a drive to the mountains so we are looking into that. The weather has been dismal this week (not good for those who came up here on holidays this week) and so we haven't been able to get down to the beach, even for a walk. Hopefully, things will clear up next week.
Well, that's about it for the moment. Keep tuned in for further developments. :-)
School
I am two fifths through my five week teaching contract in grade 2 at Kawungan State School and it's been a bit of a challenge. I have loved being back planning and preparing to teach - I have really missed having 'my own class' and all that entails. I am finding it very different from teaching at R. J. Lee as far as the students go. At R.J., the children (in general) were very respectful - there was no need to yell (not my style, anyway) and I still haven't resorted to that (although plenty of teachers here have). But, I sure have felt like it. Bronwyn, the teacher of this grade two class, is very relaxed in her teaching style. I, on the other hand, have big issues with the students talking when I am talking or when their peers are talking during discussions. So, the students are learning to be quiet and to listen. It did get better over the two weeks I was teaching them (before the holidays we are now in) and I hope that they don't forget everything during their two weeks off. The teachers at the school are great and the grade two team especially have been very welcoming to me and make me feel like part of the group. Once I have finished teaching the next three week block for Bronwyn, I will hopefully either get another contract job or get some supply teaching days.
Dad
Dad is starting to look for a casual job. He definitely does not want to work full-time as he wants to be able to come back to Canada for visits. He went out to the airport to talk with a man out there who does the maintenance for any small airplanes which use the Hervey Bay airport. They had an hour and a half chat and the man told Dad that he would call him if he had any extra work which required extra hands. Dad is also keeping a close eye on job opportunities listed online here. He continues to go into the Family History Centre at church on Mondays and Fridays - there is a lot of work to be done to 'tidy up' the centre as far as paperwork goes. It's pretty quiet most days, so it also gives Dad the opportunity to work on his own family history. He is currently trying to find out information about the Noble side - Grandma Gall did a lot of work on her and grandpa's side of the family and work has been done on the Martin side. Dad is finally able to do some volunteer work with the SES. Last weekend, he went to do parking control for a charity fundraising event. Today, he will be helping out with a sausage sizzle (selling sausages in slices of bread along with pop) for the local council.
My Family History
It has been exciting to have the time to work so much on my own family history - it takes ages to get information sometimes, which is why I haven't had much time before this to get very far on finding my ancestors - but, I like putting the time in and have found some more links to those who came before me. I did find out that my great great grandmother (on Poppy's side) had a child out of wedlock - that was really interesting, almost a scandal, I thought - however, a woman at the genealogy library here in town said that happened more than people think back in those days. When I told Auntie Norma about it, she told me that Great Great Grandma was disowned by her family when she got pregnant out of wedlock. I also found out that when someone died, at least here in Australia, that sometimes the people giving information when a person died was not accurate. For instance, on my great grandmother's death certificate, it lists her parents' names incorrectly. I worked with the people at the genealogy library to make sure that the death certificate I had found was actually the death certificate of my great grandmother and we found out that it was. It took ages to verify the information, but it was exciting to finally find out more about a member of my family. I have recently found out information about Nana's family: we thought her grandfather was named Richard and I found out that his name was actually Henry Richard Frederick, but he went by the name of Richard as his father's name was Henry.
The house
We were very excited to finally find a dining room suite that we love. It's made from New Zealand pine and it's absolutely gorgeous. It's sort of a light cherrywood colour and the natural wood has knots in it and makes it look quite unique. There are six chairs in the suite - the chairs have a brown cushion. I don't like the brown colour (I would rather have had beige cushions), but the set only came with the chocolate colour. We both loved the suite, so I decided not to worry about the cushion colour - most of the time the chairs are tucked in under the table anyway and you don't see the colour of the cushions. We also bought a stainless steel fridge with the freezer in the bottom - we absolutely love it. It's great not having to bend over to get something out of the bottom of the fridge all the time. (doesn't take much to make me happy, eh? :-)
We are still looking at other furniture for the rest of the house: a bedroom suite for the master bedroom, a living room suite and furniture for the family room. We were out just yesterday looking at living room suites and found a few possibilities. It's a bit difficult when the living room has this medium grey carpet on the floor - less colours to go with that. We also checked out lazy-boy chairs which we want for the family room. Dad finally bought a lawnmower - we had checked out a variety of places (garage sales, personal sales, newspaper ads) and couldn't find one at a price we thought was good. So, Dad went over to Bunnings (like Home Depot) and ended up buying a rechargeable electric one which means that it has a battery and electric motor - the battery gets recharged after every use. Dad figured out the cost of maintenance on a regular mower would be the same as purchasing a new battery (after five years). So, with no maintenance having to be done, less noise and ease of use of the electric one, Dad thought it was the one to buy. We have also purchased a washing machine and Dad has installed the dryer above it in the laundry room. We still rarely use the dryer, but it's nice having it there just in case it's one of those rare rainy days. Dad was thrilled to be able to also purchase a barbecue - he has been wanting to get one for a while and we finally found a great deal on one. He has used it a few times and is slowly getting used to how to cook on it - it's different, it seems, than the one which we had in Canada.
Church
Things are going well with my new calling of Primary first counsellor. I have been in charge of doing the Sharing Time for this month. I am in charge of giving a short lesson/activity based on the theme for the year which is "I Know My Saviour Lives". This year, we (the Primary presidency) have the opportunity to help the children feel and understand the great love that Jesus has for them. I have given two lessons so far - based on the ten commandments and the gospel standards. I feel very blessed to have been given the talent for teaching and also to be receiving revelation about how to best present the information to the children. They seem to have enjoyed the two presentations I have given to them - one teacher even told me how happy she was that I had included the little children as I taught - she told me that often the lessons focus on the older children. Dad and I have a meeting every Sunday at 8:15am as part of our callings as Branch missionaries. As this group is newly called, we are currently coming up with ideas on how to spread the gospel in Hervey Bay and how to raise the profile of the church in the area. We are going to be having a fireside in October about the Restoration of the church and hope to have non-members attend.
Our holidays (my spring break)
It's been lovely being on school holidays this week. We have had something to do each day so far and so we are taking today off. On Monday, Dad and I both went into the Family History Centre. While Dad worked on FHC stuff, I organized my school stuff - when I left school on Friday, I just threw all my papers into my bag and so I needed to go through all that and file it in the appropriate folders. I also was able to spend some time working on my family history and also on my Sharing Time lesson for this Sunday. After our time at the FHC, we did our weekly grocery shop. On Tuesday morning, we spent some time at the library - I spent time in the genealogy room there: they have access to an internet site called ancestry.com and I wanted to see if I could find out any information about my family history on that site which is not available at the FHC (there is a fee to use that site) and Dad spent the time reading some newspapers, looking at computer books and checked out aviation news magazines. We had the missionaries to dinner that night (along with Ashley, a young man in our branch who is a year away from serving his mission and who spends a lot of time with the missionaries each week). Yesterday, we did our usual 'Meals on Wheels' run - it was nice to do it again for me as I have not been able to do it for the past two weeks due to working. There were a couple of new people on the route - one lady even gave me some towels and homemade knitted washcloths. I wasn't sure if we were able to accept gifts, so when we got back to the MOW building, I spoke with Avis, the woman in charge, about it. She said that others have received this gift and she has just used the towels in the kitchen - I thought that was a good idea. I suggested that she put the washcloths in the garage sale which MOW are having next month. We rented 7 movies last Friday from Blockbuster's (7 for $9.95 for the week is such a good deal) and we have slowly been watching them this week. So far, we have watched five and only two of them have made it to the 7/10 score: "28 Days" starring Sandra Bullock and "Hitch" starring Will Smith. It's so hard to find good movies these days: I have made a list of movies from the past 10 years which received good reviews on rottentomatoes.com - I am going to take that list to the video store when we take these ones back tomorrow - hopefully, we will have better luck with those movies. We are planning on take a two day trip next week - a friend recommended we take a drive to the mountains so we are looking into that. The weather has been dismal this week (not good for those who came up here on holidays this week) and so we haven't been able to get down to the beach, even for a walk. Hopefully, things will clear up next week.
Well, that's about it for the moment. Keep tuned in for further developments. :-)
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