Sunday, April 10, 2011

I was very surprised to get ANOTHER call from Tracer on Friday - and this time it was to a different school again.  This time, it was to Torquay State School where Chantelle, the student teacher from last year, works - it was her teaching partner who called Tracer and asked for me.  I was really pleased to be able to go in there.  So, it was another day in Prep (kindergarten) - Chantelle said they were a lovely class, but they were not as lovely as the Prep class I had earlier in the week.  There was a teacher's aide as there is in every Prep class - Samantha was great - she was able to tell me what was on the cards for the day as again no lesson plan had been left, but the teacher had called Sam at home.  The day went fairly well - the children were a bit restless, but overall, it was a pretty good day.  I am hoping that Sam will give a good report about me to the teacher - this teacher is going on her long service leave soon and I would love to do her contract - there is a possibility that there might be another teacher returning who is on leave right now and she might be taking over that contract, but you never know what might happen.  The principal of this school also told Chantelle that if I were to volunteer in the school, they would send as many supply days my way as they could.  So, I am going to go in on the first Friday after the holidays (which are next week) and get started on the volunteering.  They want me to help with a reading program they want to do with children in grade one who are having trouble reading.

Dad spent the day at the Family History Centre and he was very excited to have two patrons since they usually don't get anyone on Fridays.  Dad helped the patrons to find names on the internet.  Dad did some more indexing - he is way past half way in the records he has done and we're only one third of the way through the month.  Dad also worked on the files for General Conference - there were  issues yesterday, but he needed his computer to fix them.

After school, we did some grocery shopping and ran some other errands and then came home and vegged in front of the tv for the night.  Teaching Prep children can be very exhausting mentally and I was spent for the day.  We are watching less tv these days in general - we were watching way too much and getting nothing else done - we don't want to become couch potatoes, but sometimes we are just too tired.  I don't mind taking one night a week to just veg.

We spent Saturday from 8am to 5pm learning how to ride the scooter.  We met the instructor, John, at the Maryborough Showgrounds - that's where John does the training - he pays a fee to the city to use the showgrounds.  He lives in Maryborough and that city is about half an hour from HB.  Once we got there, we quickly dispensed with the paperwork so that we could get to the riding part.  I got to go first on the bike and I was so excited.  First, John had me get on the scooter and then he pushed me along (without the motor running), then he had me start the scooter and had me ride slowly and then stop it while he ran along beside me, then I did a few laps of the area we were training in, and then it was Dad's turn to do the same.  Next, we went to another area of the showground to do the next two manoeuvres which were driving slowly along a path (lined with pylons) and doing figure eights.  Next, we went to John's home to watch a DVD about riding safely.  While we watched the video, we ate lunch so that we could finish earlier.  Then, it was back to the first area where we did slaloms (riding in and out a line of pylons) and doing an avoidance manoevre (riding in a straight line at 40km and then having to swerve one way or another quickly when John put up his hand one way or the other).  Our last manoeuvre for the day was learning how to stop quickly which we both did quite well.  It was a great day and I can't wait to get back on the scooter again. :-)  Here are some pics of our day..........

John pushing me

John running beside me

Me riding around the track

Me riding around the track

John giving Dad instructions

Dad riding around the track

Dad sitting on the scooter

Me in the learner 'L' vest riding as slow as I can through the pylons

Dad riding the slalom 

Me riding the avoidance manoeuvre

Dad riding around the track

Today was General Conference here in Australia.  Because of the time difference, we don't  watch it when it's aired, but rather we download them and then watch them on the next weekend.  We missed Saturday's sessions because of the scooter lessons, but we were able to go to the two sessions today.  The way they work it is we watch the first session, then have a half hour for lunch and then watch the last two hour session.  There were some wonderful messages today - here is a snapshot of what I took from the speakers:

- hearken to the promptings of the Spirit and be eager to heed them
- affliction is part of our mortal experience and after much tribulation come the blessings
- the church welfare program's emphasis is on personal responsibility and self reliance
- love one another, serve one another, reach out and assist the less fortunate
- revelation can be immediate and intense, but that is rare; usually it is gradual, line upon line, precept upon precept; we need to press forward obediently and with faith in the Saviour

- temples bring joy to the faithful and attending the temple brings blessings, so attend the temple regularly
- being sealed in the temple for eternity bring happiness to families; express love and appreciation for your spouse and speak kindly to one another
- Heavenly Father has high expectations of us so we need to willingly accept correction:  He persuades us to repent which leads to righteousness, refines and sanctifies us, redirects our course to a better way
- the Lord remembers His promises to them who pay their tithing
- to BE like the Saviour, you must DO things to emulate him; the doing is important but it must associated with the 'be'; we must strengthen our children's self-worth and help them to draw unto Him
- live the gospel, follow the prophet, be faithful, come unto the Lord
- the atonement is there for all of us so that if we repent, our sins are forgiven and remembered no more
- stay on the narrow path

Dad and I look forward to getting the Ensign magazine so that we can read the messages given over the two days of General Conference.  It's so wonderful hearing the words of the prophet and other church leaders twice a year.

Not only did we have a lovely day at Conference, but we spent the afternoon outside enjoying the lovely weather.  The sky was blue (well, mostly - there were a few clouds around) and the sun was shining.  I took the opportunity to pull my chaise lounge out onto the grass and sat on it with my book and enjoyed the sun shining down on me. :-)  Dad stayed under cover working on some more indexing.  Aaaah, life is good. :-)

Thursday, April 7, 2011

Yesterday morning, I got a call from Tracer (they are the ones who call you to supply teach). I was sort of expecting a call since Luise told me the day before that I might get a call because the teachers were getting tired. So, imagine my surprise when I was asked to go to a different school. They called me to supply at a school called Sandy Strait to teach in a Prep (kindergarten) class - AND the teacher I was subbing for was male! That REALLY surprised me - I have never known a male to be a kindergarten teacher before. It turns out that he taught grade four last year and they lost so many children at the school, that they lost teachers at different grades - and he was reassigned to kindergarten. I was told that he is not happy about it. Also, he left no plans which actually annoyed me since I was told that he wasn’t feeling well the day before. Fortunately for me, he has a wonderful teacher’s aide (every kindergarten class has a teacher’s aide at least for half a day and sometimes for a while day here). Madonna (the aide) helped me work out what we could do for the day. There were 18 children in the class and I was told to keep an eye on three boys. I had to work my ‘magic’ and I think that I did very well. One of my ‘tricks’ is to use the ‘challenge’ child(ren) as my ‘carpet examples’ where I mention how well they are sitting and that everyone should sit like them. That works really well most of the time and worked with these guys. I also find that praising them for positive behaviour has a good effect, too. I left my supply teaching card for the teacher and the teacher next door asked me for a card as well. Then, I had to cover another kindergarten teacher’s class for the last part of the day and I left my card with her. When I left the school, I stopped by the office and left my card with the woman there. So, hopefully, this will lead to more work.


Dad spent the morning doing errands and then had to stay home for the afternoon as we were having some more furniture delivered. Our single beds for our second guest room and our two rocker/recliners came. Dad was so excited about his chair. :-)  Here is a pic of it. He quite enjoyed sitting in his new chair today. :-)

After school, we came straight home so that we could make lasagna as the missionaries were coming over for dinner. It was such a lovely day, so we decided to eat outside. It was fun having them over. They are two new missionaries from when we left to go to Canada. Both missionaries are from Melbourne, although they didn’t know each other there as they were in different Stakes. They get along really well which is good. They are working on finding out where the less active children are in our ward for me. As the Primary president, I want to know what we can do to help the children who aren’t coming out to church right now, but I need to know who they are and what their situation is before I can do anything.

Today was my day to go in and teach the grade 2s and grade 3s at Kawungan. I was really looking forward to today as I was going to be in Bronwyn’s class for half a day and then a grade three class. Before school, I went in to Bronwyn’s classroom to see what I was going to be doing that morning and she told me a nice bit of info. Her husband supply teaches at a catholic school and they had asked him if he ever supply taught at the primary level (he’s a high school person) - they said that they had some difficulties sometimes getting supply teachers for that level. I told her thanks for letting me know and I will go there tomorrow after school and give them my card. I had a lovely time in Bronwyn’s class today- they are all lovely and work well and listen well - the perfect class to supply teach in. I told her after school that she is welcome to take off as many days as she would like. :-)  She sure deserves this class after the last two years! The grade three class was fairly easy to teach as well as I knew most of the students from volunteering/working in the grade two classes last year. There were a couple of boys who were annoying, but hopefully if I ever get to supply in that class again, they will be better behaved.

Dad started off his day doing some errands before going to do his Meals on Wheels run. He was paired up with a new couple today who used to receive meals from MOW and now wanted to give back. They did the Baycrest run which is the one we have often done in the past. After MOW, Dad went to the chapel to help our friend, Rob figure out why he couldn’t get the General Conference videos to run. Another guy in our ward, Zander, had downloaded them, but for some reason, Rob couldn’t get them to play, so he called Dad to ask him to come to the chapel to help him figure out what was wrong.

After school, Dad and I went to the motorcycle shop where we bought my scooter from. We needed to buy a helmet and some gloves as we are starting our riding course on Saturday. We decided that, since we can’t both ride on the motorcycle at the same time (you have to have your license for a year before you can take someone else on your bike) and the cost of buying these accessories was hefty, we would buy one of each and then share them. There was a really good sale on the helmet, but not on the gloves ($80. for the gloves, can you believe it!). We asked the woman about the jackets even though we knew they were expensive, too, just so that we knew what they were like when we did spend the money on one. They were on a really good sale - too good a sale to pass up - and so we bought a jacket as well. I will have to work a couple of extra supply days before we can get another set of accessories. :-)  We are really looking forward to starting our riding lessons - I can’t wait until I can ride the scooter to school when I get calls to teach or when I am volunteering. They say the cost of petrol (gas) could go up to $2.00 per litre in the next while so not only will it be fun riding my scooter, but it will also save money. Two for the price of one! :-)

At SES tonight, Dad did a review of maps and navigation. They were given a map and told to get from A to B. They had to use a compass to complete the activity (it was all on paper). The idea was that they would have been able to go outside and do the search for real using the calculations they had made on the paper. It was pretty basic stuff, but it’s always good to go over it, Dad says.

Tuesday, April 5, 2011

Today I had a job already lined up at Kawungan and my morning was in Luise’s grade one class. That made it so easy for me as they already knew me and I knew them and I knew the routine which Luise has. I started out by reading them a book - I love to read to children and they love to be read to. I find that some teachers don’t read as much to the kids as others - I used to have all kinds of reading happening in my classroom. After that, we had centres (they call them ‘rotations’). Luise is very fortunate to have parents come in and help out with these. Two parents came in (one dad and one mum) and each one took a literacy centre, two groups were working independently and I took the reading group. I was quite surprised at how well some of these children can read and they’re only in grade one. Even the lowest group didn’t do too badly in my opinion. The only thing now is that this school is expecting the grade one kids to be working at a grade level higher than the grade one kids were last year. So, for instance, the grade ones are now expected to do grade two work. We did some floor work (alphabetical order and counting by 2s, 5s, 10s, etc.) and then it was time for ‘little lunch’.


After that, I only had half an hour with them before it was time to go and be with the Prep (kindergarten) class I was assigned to. That was an experience! At first, it was going really well - they had to work on centres for the first hour. I worked with one group, the teaching assistant worked with another group and a volunteer worked with a third group. There were other centres which the children went to independently. At the centre I was working at, I had to teach them how to print the letter ‘r’ - easy enough. However, while I was doing that, some of the kids decided to go outside and I didn’t notice that. Fortunately for me, some other kids came and told me and I rounded them up. I hadn’t even thought of keeping an eye on the door - I just figured that they knew what to do and didn’t even think that they might try and go out of the door. I will know that for next time. After centres, they had a 15 minute nap - they lay down on their towels on the carpet and listened to some jazz music which I put on. Two of the little girls fell fast asleep - I felt bad having to wake them up - but, it was ‘big lunch’ time and they needed to eat. I wonder sometimes why they have all day kindergarten - the teaching assistant reckoned that they were done by 2pm and we didn’t get much out of them after that. Fortunately today, after ‘big lunch’, they had reading buddies and then P.E. (as they call ‘gym’ here).

Dad was at the Family History Centre today. There were three other workers there and two patrons. Dad spent some time indexing today, but most of his time was spent doing other things: fixing cabinets, fixing computers, and showing a patron how to search for information. Dad said today that it took something like four years to get half a billion records indexed, but since the church had put a push on it beginning late last year, another half a billion have been indexed in just the past three months; approximately 14 billion to go. :-)

Here is an email which Dad received about his doing the indexing:

Dear Michael,

Congratulations on completing your 100th batch with FamilySearch Indexing!

You have reached a significant and rare milestone: the completion of your 100th batch with FamilySearch indexing. The completion of your 100th batch places you into an exclusive group of top indexing volunteers. We want to thank you for your ongoing efforts and recognize this significant achievement.

Your efforts, combined with the efforts of other volunteers, have now made more than one billion records available online at FamilySearch.org, where they are accessed by people around the world who are searching for their ancestors. Each week dozens of these people send us messages of appreciation for your efforts.

We join these people in expressing our sincere appreciation for your efforts in reaching 100 completed indexing batches and recognize the significant contribution you are making to FamilySearch indexing.

Keep Up the Good Work!

You are providing valuable and meaningful service to people around the world who are seeking information about their ancestors. The continued success of this project depends on you and others like you who graciously give of their time and efforts. We celebrate your success and encourage you to continue in this important endeavor to make records more accessible online.

Thank You,

FamilySearch Indexing

I thought that was a cool email to receive acknowledging all the work and hours dad has done/put in. :-)

After school, Dad and I changed into our running shoes and drove down to the beach. I am glad that I took my runners with me this morning, as if I had come home first to get them, I might not have gone out for a walk since I felt weary after working with those young ‘uns all day. We walked half an hour along the beach (it was low tide so the water was very far out) and then we walked back for half an hour along the boardwalk. It was a lovely walk - the sun was warm and it’s so nice walking along the beach. There were a number of others walking along the beach, especially those with dogs. We are planning on doing this three times a week - it’s almost like cheating to call this exercise. :-)

When we were done our walk, we stopped to get take-out. Now I can just hear you all saying ‘what, after you have exercised, you had take-out!’. :-)  Well, we happened to park across the road from a fish and chip place which we had heard was the best in Hervey Bay. We had forgotten to take out the meat we needed for dinner and so there was nothing waiting for us at home and Dad really did want to try the fish there, so we got some fish and chips - well, Dad got fish (crumbed barramundi - Barramundi has gained a reputation as one of Australia's finest eating fish, usually with a price to match! There is no denying that Barramundi are excellent table fish and specimens captured from estuarine waters are delicious, with firm, white, fine-grained meat) and I got a chiko roll (the Chiko roll is an Australian savoury snack, consisting of beef, celery, cabbage, barley, carrot, onion, green beans, and spices in a tube of egg, flour and dough which is then deep-fried. The Chiko Roll debuted at the Wagga Wagga Agriculture Show in 1951). We ate our dinner out on our outdoor table and it was lovely to sit outside in the fresh air with the sun shining warmly on us. The food was delicious as well. :-) We stayed out there until 6:30pm - we had to put the lights on at about 6pm, but then the lights attracted too many bugs and so we decided to come inside. We are really going to enjoy using this outdoor set. :-)

Today I was supplying for the grade 5s and grade 4s. I was in a grade 5 classroom which I was in a week or so ago, so I thought it would be easier cuz the kids knew me and I knew them. Michelle has a lovely class, except for a few which makes it not fun - it’s amazing how a few kids can change a lovely time into a challenging and weary time. Two of the boys threw things when my back was turned, but the kids dobbed them in (told me that they did it) and so I reported this to Michelle later on (she told me that they had done the same thing with her in the classroom). She called the D.P. (deputy (vice) principal) and she came, and boy, did she tear a strip off those boys! Two other students (one boy and one girl) were rude and disrespectful to me - they kept talking even when I asked them to stop and did other annoying things on purpose. Michelle decided that they would miss their recess time, which I was very happy about - and I was even happier when I didn’t have to stay in with them - Michelle sent them to the office. The rest of my time with that class went much smoother. I went to a grade four class in the afternoon and they were easier, although not the little lovelies that the teacher said they were, but that’s the way it is when you are a supply teacher - the kids try to take advantage and you don’t have the same effect over them as you do as the classroom teacher. I managed to get through the day, though - and it sure told me that I am right about only wanting to supply Prep (kindergarten) to Year 3. :-)

While I was at school, Dad was VERY busy. He started the day off mowing the lawn, which was fun since there were small showers all day today. He also vacuumed the house and cleaned the bathrooms. After school, the day just flew by: shopping (food and clothes), making dinner, dropping by the chapel for a quick visit with the Bishop (Dad), eating dinner, working on Primary stuff, reading scriptures, doing weight exercises…….we were going to ride our bikes today, but by the time we were finished with our shopping, it was too late to go riding. When we were at the grocery store, I happened to notice a big sale going on at a clothing store called ‘Millers’ which I love - they have clothing that I really like and they were having a 50% off sale today! I was able to find three skirts (all the same, but in different colours), two tops and two capris which I liked. Man, what a lucky week I am having with buying clothes! :-)

Sunday, April 3, 2011

I took Friday off volunteering at school and Dad drove me to the Primary secretary's place (Denise).  She and I spent the next six hours working on Primary stuff.  My first counsellor (assistant) is away and the second counsellor was at the Family History Centre.  I wanted to go through all the things we have been working on and a lot of it was to do with secretarial business.  We wrote down tons of questions we had so that I could email the people who would know the answers and we wrote down things which we both needed to follow-up.  I ended up writing down a whole page of things just for me to do.  It sure is a lot of work being the president of Primary.   Although it was a very long meeting, it was very fruitful and I am glad that we were both able to spend the time to work through things.

Dad spent the day at the Family History Centre.  No patrons showed up and so Dad and the other workers spent the day doing indexing.  The two workers had some difficulties doing their indexing and Dad was able to help them.  Dad was able to do 70 entries on Friday, so it's a start to his new goal for the month of April.

After Dad was finished at the FHC, he came and picked me up and dropped me off at a local coffee house.  Chantelle, who was a student teacher at Kawungan when I was doing Bronwyn's grade two contract, and Bronwyn and I got together there (Chantelle said she had been there before and they made good drinks).  I ordered an iced chocolate which was actually pretty good: milk with chocolate sauce, ice cream, whipped cream and chocolate shavings.  The three of us chatted for about an hour, mostly about what is happening at Chantelle's school.  She is working at Torquay State School as a Prep (kindergarten) teacher - it was interesting talking with her about how her school works.  It seems so different from Kawungan.  When Bronwyn had to leave at about 5pm, Chantelle drove me home and we ended up talking in the driveway for another hour or so.  It was great to see Chantelle again and to catch up with her.  I gave her some of my supply teacher cards and she is going to hand them out at her school.  She is going to try and talk with her Deputy Principal (Vice Principal) on Monday and see if I can come in and meet with him on Tuesday.  She also suggested that I come and volunteer at her school and get my face/name known.  I think that I might start doing that on Fridays when I don't have work. 

On Saturday, we woke up early and couldn't get back to sleep (how frustrating!).  I put four or five loads of laundry in and worked on Primary stuff while Dad worked on church stuff - he was reading the 'Ensign' maganize  trying to figure out which article he would base his Sunday lesson on for the High Priest group. 

After lunch, we went downtown to do some shopping - had to buy more stuff for Primary.  When we got to the 'mall' (small shopping centre), we met our friends, Rob and Rosalea, who were also shopping.  Rosalea was looking at clothes and so, as we talked, I looked at some, too.  I had looked at some skirts earlier in the week and so I checked them out again.  After trying two of them on, I decided to ask the woman at the cash if the sale that I saw earlier in the week (2 for $50) was still on.  She said 'no' and I said 'okay then - I was going to take two of them, but I will just take the one' (they were on for $29.99 each).  She then said she would give them to me for the sale price (see, it pays to ask :-)  They are both VERY colourful skirts and just the kind I like: elastic waist and long. :-)  Rosalea then wanted to go to another store in the mall, so I went with her.  Can you believe that I found three shirts that I loved in that store which were on sale?  I mean, I NEVER am THAT lucky! :-)  I got a green, blue and white shirt and they all go with the two skirts I bought.  Rosalea bought a ton of stuff at the second store and she usually isn't that lucky either, so we both said that we each must bring each other good luck. :-) 

Today was a nice relaxing day - as Sunday always is. :-)  It was Fast and Testimony Sunday today and the members in Hervey Bay are quick to get up and bear their testimonies and they fill the whole time up.  Both Dad and I were thinking about going up and bearing our testimonies, but there just wasn't a break.  We both plan on doing it next month - we will have to just get up at the beginning of the meeting.  Primary went really well - we still have a lot of working out to do, but we are on the right track.  I gave the Sharing Time lesson today on where we lived before we came to earth and how Jesus said that he would come down and die for us.  The kids were really good at answering the questions and participating by helping me to hold up some visual aids.  Today, the High Priest group (of which Dad is the leader) met for the first time today - there were eight of them present today.  Dad gave the lesson about the atonement of Jesus Christ.  Dad said that the men were really good about participating and so they had a good discussion. 

Dad and I spent the rest of today relaxing.  When we got home, I took my Primary stuff outside and Dad took his lesson book outside and we sat in our new outdoor chairs.  It was lovely out there - nice and warm (about 24C with a lovely breeze) and our chairs are so comfortable.  Dad has taken some pictures of the suite and so there are a few below this entry.  We stayed out there until it was supper time and then ate supper outside on the table.  It was just a glorious time! :-) 

Outdoor set with two chaise loungers

Thursday, March 31, 2011

Okay everybody - it is taking me too long to write my blog on Thursdays, so starting next week, I will be writing an entry on Tuesday, Thursday, and Sunday. 

On Monday, I went in to volunteer in Luise's classroom.  She told me that she was going to be off on Wednesday from 1pm.  She hadn't asked me to supply for her so I was guessing that she was not going to ask me or she would have done so that day, I would think.  I am really getting bummed about this.  I am spending all this time volunteering in her classroom to get to the know the kids and to get to know her routine - and then not to get the supply opportunities in her classroom just is so frustrating - not only to earn the money, but also to let the kids get to know me better so that things go smoothly when I take over.  I would like to just go back to grade two to volunteer there, but I just think that I need to stay here for now.  I told Dad that if I could get another long service leave opportunity at the same time, I would just stop going in to help out in Luise's class.  I really don't like not liking going in to school - when I worked with the grade twos, I loved going into the school every day. 

Anyway, half way through the day, I got a call from Karen in the office to ask me if I could take over a grade five classroom for the afternoon.  I hummed and hawed because I am not fussed on supplying in a grade five classroom, but I figured that it was only for half a day and I could handle that.  It turns out that the grade five teacher's son had to go to the doctor's right away and so the grade five teacher was very grateful that I was at the school and could take over the classroom right away.  The grade fives were okay to supply - for the first hour, they challenged me (again with  the boys), but after the first hour, they seemed to settle down.

Dad spent the day at the Family History Centre.  He worked with a member helping him to learn how to do indexing.  Denise, who works there on Mondays as well, said that Dad was very patient with this member - apparently, it was taking this member ages to learn how to do the indexing.  This member will not be able to finish the number he needs to do before the information is sent back, but when the next  person gets the info, they will be able to have what info the member did do, and that will make it faster for them. 

On Tuesday, I went in again to volunteer in the grade one classroom.  I actually got bold and asked Luise if she needed a supply teacher for  Wednesday (turns out she is going to be gone on Thursday as well) and she said that 'they' had gotten another supply teacher to cover for her.  I don't know who 'they' are, but frustration set in again - poor Dad had to listen to me go on and on about this - good thing this is part of his 'job' as a husband. :-)  I did some more assessment for some of the other grade one teachers - hopefully, they will call me if they are going to be away.  Who knows?  I am just trying to get past how different the grade one team is compared to the grade two team. 

Dad was not feeling well on Tuesday.  After he dropped me off at school, he went back home and went to bed.  He didn't sleep very well, but did rest for the rest of the morning.  When he got up, he took it easy for the rest of the day working on more indexing and doing some filing.  He is still not up to snuff, but he is better now than he was on Tuesday.  We did go and do the grocery shopping after he picked me up from school, but spent the rest of the evening just relaxing at home and tried to get to bed at a decent time so Dad could get a good night's sleep.

I actually got a good piece of news - well, I hope it's good news - on Wednesday.  I was helping out with the grade ones with the gym teacher - she was having the kids run races and needed someone at the beginning of the race while she was at the end of the race.  After she was finished with the last class, she and I talked for a bit.  She asked me if I only worked at Kawungan by choice and I told her what had happened with volunteering 'til my credentials were recognized, then doing Bronwyn's contract position, then going back to Canada for four months and then just getting back into things now.  She said that her husband was a V.P. at Pialba State (public) School and would I be interested in supply teaching there.  I told her that I would love to as long as it was Kindergarten to grade three classes.  I went back to the classroom and got one of my supply teaching cards and took it back to her so that she could give it to her husband.  Hopefully, things will work out and I will get some work from that school.

Also, the girl who was a student teacher with me when I was doing Bronwyn's contract position, Chantelle, is now working at Torquay State School.  She told me that I should come in and speak to her principal about supply teaching in her school.  She said that the principal has mentioned a few times that the school system in Ontario is really good.  She said that she will introduce me to the principal and maybe the fact that I taught in Ontario (and I know his wife who works at Kawungan) will get me into that school.  Also, my friend from church, Leanne, said that I should go in and talk with the VP at her school about supplying there and to mention her name as she is in good with the admin there.  So, hopefully, all these contacts will work out and I will get some more work.  If I could get just one day a week from each school, that would be great. 

Dad stayed home Wednesday because some of our furniture was being delivered that day.  We were so excited to finally have a bedroom suite.  It's called the 'Rosie' suite - it has a glass rose in the headboard - very pretty.  Dad set the bed up and it looks great - just check out the photo below.  We slept our first night in our new bed and master bedroom last night and it felt really good.  :-)

Our new bedroom suite

Our new bed

The rose on the headboard of our new bed

This morning, we got to Skype with Krystal and Alexander and Dominic.  Krystal showed us Alexander's arm - it's in a cast!  It happened when he was upstairs - he was running on the tiles with his socks on and he fell and broke his arm.  Ouch!  He has to have that cast on for a while, but does go see the doctor next week for a follow-up appointment and hopefully the doctor can give them a bit of a timeline as to how long Alexander will be in this cast.  He was actually pretty happy when we were talking with him - he said 'Ma' and 'Pa' and then copied me when I said to say 'car' and 'cat' - so cute - and what a big smile. :-)  We then got to see Dominic - he is adorable - and is starting to look a little like Alexander.  He was cooing at us and staring at Krystal - we were all laughing at him. :-)  Krystal wanted to share what happened when she (and Terri-Ann, Benjamin and Dominic) went to Ryerson where there was a career fair going on and she spoke to a representative from CSIS.  The meeting went very well and Krystal came away feeling very positive.  When Krystal told the man that she had applied for positions online and had not received an answer, the man was very surprised - he had seen her resume and found that she had a B.A. in Politicial Science, had worked in the bank (people skills are very important at CSIS, he said) and she was fully bilingual.  He told her it would be good for her to get her bilingual certificate so she is going to look into that.  The man also asked her if she had done any research and report writing - she hasn't done any since she was in university.  She checked out some college courses when she got home and found that there is a course in research and report writing at one of the colleges which seems like it might be geared to what she would have to do at CSIS, so she is thinking of taking that course over the next four months (May to August).  She is also hopeful that the man will give her resume to the right people at CSIS and that she might hear from them soon.  I knew that something good would come from this meeting (there were too many "coincidences" happening around this), but I just didn't know what would happen specifically.  I am pleased for Krystal that the meeting has given her something to look forward to on her road to the career she would love to work at.

After talking with Krystal and the boys, we went to Meals on Wheels and did the same route as last week.  When I see how some of the people live on our route, it reminds me of how blessed we are and I am grateful for the home we have and the abundance of food we have and the nice car we have. 

We went shopping after that - lots of places to visit and lots of things to buy - nothing major, just things for Primary like pencil holders and a binder and paper and page protectors, etc.  We also went back to Elmer's Furniture today - one of the night tables we had delivered was a different colour (darker) than the rest and so we wanted to see if they had one in stock that matched (or was a closer match to) the other night table we had.  Dan the man (as I call him :-)  was able to get us one right away and both are now in one of our guest rooms.  While we were there, Dan told us that the two rocker/recliners and two single beds were now in their warehouse and were ready to be delivered to us when we were ready.  We paid for the four things on the spot (Dad can't wait to get his rocker/recliner :-)  and arranged to have them delivered next Wednesday.  We asked Dan about the cost of scotch guarding the furniture - he had told us last week that he could get us a deal.  He called the bosses at the other store and was told that because we had bought so much furniture from them, they would do the lot for $50.  Dan couldn't believe his ears because the usual cost would be a total of $275.  We were thrilled!

Dad wasn't sure about going to SES tonight - as he is still not up to snuff and we had had a busy day, he wasn't sure that he was up to doing any physical work tonight.  He did want to go to the meeting at 6:30pm which they have twice a month (it was an administrative meeting where the controller talks about any business matters), but told me before he went, that if they were going to be doing anything physical, he was going to beg off and come home.  He ended up staying for the whole meeting as most of the evening was taken up with a lecture by one of the instructors on 'land search formations'.  This was a refresher class on how to line up to do a search - there are various ways to do the lining up based on what the landscape is like (is the area they are searching a mountain area, an open field area, a light/heavy bush area, etc.).  After the lecture was over, the group went outside to a nearby field where nine small items had been placed and it was up to the group to find the items.  The scenario was that there was a child missing and that there might be some evidence in the area that the child had been there.  They were told that there were nine items in the field because those running the exercise didn't want any items left behind in the field.  There were ten people searching with a team leader behind them giving them commands.  Dad said it took about half an hour to find the items - it wasn't hard to find the items as the searchers were not that far apart from each other.  Dad enjoyed the exercise - he has not actually completed the course as of yet as they did that while we were in Canada.  He found that he learned some new things tonight about doing effective land searches.

Sunday, March 27, 2011

Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  I am soooooooooooooooooooo annoyed - I had typed almost the the whole blog of the past three days and then I hit a button which deleted it all and before I could hit 'undo', the computer saved what was left after the delete and so I lost it all.  There's no way I am typing that all again, so I will do a point form review of the past three days............

Friday - I went into volunteer at school - at lunch time I saw Tracey (grade two teacher) with her backpack on - I jokingly said to her 'do you think you're going home or something?' and she said 'yes' and could I work the afternoon for her.  So, what a bonus that was.  Her class has some annoying children in it, but I managed to get through the afternoon. :-)
           - Only one guy showed up at the Family History Centre on Friday so Dad spent most of the day working on indexing and he was able to complete his goal of 1,000 entries.  Now that he has done quite a few entries, he has made a goal of completing 1,000 entries per month.
          - Skyped with Terri-Ann and the boys tonight - what  a treat - nice to see all the boys and especially to see Colin looking and feeling much better.  Colin drew a picture of a treehouse he wants to build in a tree when he moves to the country when he's 8. :-)  He told us all about it and he thought it was a good idea when I suggested he get his Dad to scan the picture so that Pa could figure out how to build it.  Colin said he could help Pa build it by 'passing Pa the supplies' (his words).  What a cutie patootie!  (as are all our grandsons - I told Krystal the other day that Dad and I sure make cute grandsons!

Saturday - I was flushing the toilet when I turned around and saw a small frog in the bowl - I screamed - Dad came and asked me to get a yogurt container so that he could capture the frog - while I was getting it, the frog crawled up the toilet bowl and under the upper rim inside the bowl - Dad flushed again and the frog came down and went down with the flushing water - took ages for my heart to stop beating so fast.
              - lazed around the house until about noon when we finally had brunch :-)
              - Skyped with Jennifer and Derek - Jennifer said to me 'so, you're coming back to Canada again in the winter' - I knew what that meant - Jennifer is pregnant! - good news, but really?  In the winter again?  Do kids ever listen? - Dad and I both told you girls that we NEVER wanted to come back to Canada again in the winter - sheesh. :-)  Seems to me I remember Dad saying that if anyone was having a winter baby again, they would have to recuperate in Australia :-)
               - Skyped with Grandpa and Grandma Martin - Grandpa is doing well and gaining a little weight - he is having his CAT scan on April 6th to see how the chemo pills are working on the cancer - Grandma was making home made macaroni and cheese and her yummy biscuits for dinner
              - Dad met our friends, Rob and Rosalea, at a store where they picked up our new outdoor suite - Dad set up part of it when he got home - here's a pic of him on his chaise lounge

You can't tell, but Dad's eyes are closed and he is listening to 'Celtic Thunder' on the CD player behind  him.  He loves his new comfortable chaise lounge. :-) 
 
             - went to the chapel at 4:30pm for a Ward Social - Steve singing, lots of good food (salads, hamburgers, sausages with onions) and good friends - so nice to chat with everyone as you don't get much of a chance to do that on Sundays - Dad had an interview with a member of the Stake Presidency and was called to be 'High Priest Group Leader' (leader of one of the men's groups at church) and he accepted - went home about 7pm - watched tv/did stuff on the computer/read./ relaxed
 
Sunday - Ward Conference - great speakers - our Bishop spoke about 'Following the Spirit of the Lord' - building up ourselves spiritually by building our faith in Jesus Christ, reading the scriptures and reading the teachings of Joseph Smith; Kym Stiller (Young Women's President) spoke about helping the youth to seek the Spirit by feeling the Spirit ourselves and following the promptings we receive, bearing our testimonies often and not just on Sundays, sharing personal experiences (both challenges and growths), letting them hear you pray for them, having regular scripture study and regularly attending the Temple - Nicole, our newest ward member, (we went to her baptism last Saturday) bore her testimony (so pure and sweet): she knows the gospel is true, that Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ live and love her, she's never felt happier (I understand that feeling of happiness and joy), feels warmth in her heart and is thankful for answers to prayer.  Listening to her heartfelt, simple testimony took me back to when I first joined the church and the testimony I had then - my testimony has grown over the years and the Spirit is still strong - President Thomas (Stake President) spoke last - his message was to "Stay on Course" through focusing on the Saviour - if we do that, Christ will help us feel the love that He has for us and that with Him we can do anything - we need to be spiritually prepared by being in tune with the Spirit which will help us in our daily challenges - the place to be on Sunday is at church where we can be uplifted and strengthened and feel the love of Jesuss Christ - we can feel the joy of living the gospel - I love being part of this ward and love being part of this gospel. :-)
           - Dad is sustained as the 'High Priest Group Leader' in Priesthood meeting today - he feels good about the calling - says he would feel more pressured if the group were bigger, but there's only about ten, so he's okay - he will do a really good job - he's a very dedicated person as you know - he has a lot of responsibilities he is learning all about - he will still be very involved in Family History as part of his calling (he was released as Family History Director in the HB ward) - he will also be a part of the ward council which meet to talk about how to strengthen the members of the ward - he will call two assistants to help him with his calling - he and his assistants will encourage the men to go to the Temple and do family history work - they also oversee home teaching (visiting the families in the ward) - they also plan activities for the group and their families - he will be a very busy man
             - after our church meetings, Dad and I had our temple recommend interviews and we now have current temple recommends which we are thrilled about - there was a potluck lunch - Dad ate with Rob and Rosalea and I ate with my Primary Leaders in a meeting with the Stake Primary President - she talked with us about how things were going in Primary - she gave us some suggestions to help us in our callings - it was a really good meeting - we have a lot of work to do to get the Primary running the way we want it to, but we are all ready to work hard to accomplish this goal
             - we spent the evening working on church things: indexing and reading for Dad and Primary research for me - what a lovely way to spend the Sabbath Day :-)
 

Thursday, March 24, 2011

When I write down my notes about what I have to write about, it seems like there's so much happening right now.  Hopefully things will slow down soon - but, knowing me, that's not likely. :-)  So, let's get started for the past four days..........Dad had a good day at the Family History Centre on Monday.  He was able to get some more indexing done.  Sometimes, it's easy to read the names on the list he is given and sometimes it takes him ages to figure it out.  When he is unsure about the name, he goes back and forth between the name he is trying to figure out and the other names which are written on the page.  They sure did write with flowery letters "back in the day".  But, he is very good at "keeping at it" and he is on track to reach the goal he set for himself this month (1,000 names).  I wasn't feeling well on Monday, so I went back to sleep after the alarm went off and didn't wake up until 9:30am - and then only because I had to go to the washroom (or as they say in Australia "I had to go to the toilet" :-)  I laid on the couch all day and then went to bed 13 hours after I woke up.  Dad had an interview today - to be a Census Area Supervisor.  The woman doing the interviewing said that 200 people applied for the job; she chose 100 of them to interview; and she is going to choose 25 of those interviewees to be the supervisors.  Dad said he thought the interview went well - she will call the successful applicants tomorrow. 

Tuesday, I was feeling much better and so off to school I went.  I spent the day in Luise's grade one classroom again.  I did some assessment with the kids and then spent some time being in the classroom helping out the kids who needed it.  Luise has the four boys who are the lowest academically  in the class in the front row and so it's easy for me to sit in front of them and help them as needed.  The day was soooooooooo hot and humid - I love the hot - I HATE the humid!!!  In Australia, when it's  this hot, they don't just say it's hot or very hot, they say "It's STINKIN' hot!" :-)  I couldn't wait to get home and sit under the fan. :-)  Dad spent the morning mowing the front lawn and then it was so hot for him, he decided to come inside and spent the day doing more indexing.  When he picked me up after school, we went to Fantastic Furniture to check out some of our furniture options we were mulling over (and being in the "air con" (Aussie for air conditioning :-)  was a bonus, too).  We must have been in there for over half an hour checking out our options again and trying to decide what we were going to buy.  When we had decided what we were going to buy, I asked the guy there if they worked on commission because the guy who gave us the quote wasn't working that day.  He told me that they did work on commission so I didn't feel comfortable ordering the items then.  We came straight home after that and spent the rest of the evening with the windows/doors open wide and the fan at 'high'.

Yesterday, I didn't get a call to supply teach and so I went into volunteer with the grade ones again.  I was a bit down when I didn't get a call.  I had set myself a (hopeful) goal of working three days a week and here it was the third day of the week and still no job call.  I went to talk to Bronwyn about it - she is always such a good listener and this day was no different.  I also told her that the grade one team was not very warm.  When I went in to volunteer with Bronwyn last year, the grade twos were so welcoming to me and made me feel like part of the group.  The grade ones don't do this.  I was talking with Natalie (grade one teacher) a while ago about this and she said that she feels it and she is part of the team.  She said that when she was working part-time last year, the other grade one teachers rarely called her to supply teach for them.  The four of them who are in the one pod are all older teachers (in their 40s/50s) and they seem like a tight knit group.  Bec, who is also grade one, seems to have broken into their shell (she's new this year to the school), but that might be due to her outgoing personality and all the sharing of resources that she does.  I can't say that I am enjoying volunteering this year - I am doing it to get to know the kids and Luise's routine so that I know what's going on when I do the contract for her later in the year.  If it wasn't for that, I would go back to volunteering in grade two.   Anyway, Bronwyn told me she knows how disappointing it is not to get the number of days I want to supply as she went through that for the first two years she supply taught - she also told me not to give up - who knows what the future holds.  I had a better day after I talked with Bronwyn and went back at the end of the day to tell her so - she was pleased that she could help. :-)

While I was at  school, Dad was very busy doing stuff around the house and outside the house.  He mowed, trimmed, weeded and sprayed the lawn, cleaned the back patio area, cleaned the rainwater collection screens, washed the car, sprayed around the house with insect repellent, got rid of a couple of wasp nests, and vacuumed the house and folded the laundry.  Needless to say, by the time he was finished all that, he was completely exhausted!!!

After school, we went to Elmer's Furniture.  We had seen the the living room suite that we wanted online at a lower price than was quoted to us at the Maryborough store on the weekend.  We finally connected with Dan who was the salesman who sold us the dining room suite and we really like him, so it was good to see him there again and to work with him on the furniture we wanted.  While we were there, we looked at a bedroom suite that we had liked when we had seen it on the weekend in the sister store.  The thing we really liked about it was that there is a rose made out of glass (or maybe plastic, but it looks like stained glass) in the headboard and the colour is a nice light wood.  What I didn't like about it was that there isn't much of a footboard, but it seems today, it's either little footboard or a huge footboard.  The price was $100. more than the one at Fantastic Furniture that we liked.  But, we liked this one enough to pay the extra money.  We asked Dan to find out if we could get the living room suite that we liked at the sale price, but brand new.  He said he would call the bosses the next day (today) and get back to us. 

We were relaxing in the evening when Dad went to put out the garbage and recycling - he came back inside and told me that I had to come outside.  There on the lawn and driveway next door were tons of cane toads.  I can't remember if I wrote about it last week or not, but one evening last week it was the same thing.  There were nine last week when I was out there and there had to be the same or more last night.  If there were some Aussie males around, I am sure they would have found something to kill the toads with (that seems to be the "thing to do" when you see cane toads cuz they are overrunning the country), but I don't like the thought of that, so we just left them - but they are not very nice looking thing and apparently they are poisonous, but only if you ingest them.  Pets are the most likely to be poisoned by them, especially dogs.

Our day started off loverly as we got to Skype with Terri-Ann and the boys (James was in the picture and yelled out every now and then as well. :-)  It was good to get back to Skyping - we had missed it since we have arrived back home.  Benjamin kept reaching out to us (trying to get us through the screen) when he saw us on the computer.  He was babbling to us - boy, what a chatterer. :-)  Caleb sang us a song from his nursery school and Colin and Caleb sang a song to us which they had sang in Sacrament meeting on Sunday with another three boys from a family who Terri-Ann and James are close to - the song  was "I Hope They Call Me On A Mission".  They were so cute. :-)  I asked them if they were going to be Elder Gawthroupes and Caleb said 'yes, but not right now'.   So adorable.  Terri-Ann and I were having a good chat when it was time to put the boys to bed, so she had to get off and take care of Benjamin while James put Colin and Caleb down.   Colin wasn't feeling well (fever) and so we have arranged to talk with them again in a couple of days so that we can talk with Colin as well (he spent the time laying on the couch while we were Skyping).

I didn't get a call to go into supply teach this morning, so Dad and I went to do Meals on Wheels.  The people there were so happy to see us and we got a nice welcome back. :-)  Avis, the lady in charge, asked us to do the 'Around the World' route - it's a long one which goes around the city to homes which are not on any of the other routes.  It took us about 2 hours to do the route and get back to the MOW building.  We really enjoyed being back to delivering meals to seniors and they are so appreciative of us that how can we not like doing this. :-)

After MOW, we ran some errands...........to Target to buy some pyjamas which were on sale - they are actually pj bottoms (like capris) and I bought a few that I could wear around the house - some of them don't look like pjs and are so comfortable on hot days like today.  We also went back to Elmer's Furniture cuz Dan had called us and told us his boss said we could get a new couch (not the one on the store floor) for the sale price - we also bought a bedroom suite, two single beds, three mattresses, four night tables, two rockers recliners and the living room suite.  We are so happy :-)  - we now have a full house of furniture (well, we will when we get it all - we are going to have the bedroom suite delivered next week, but the living room suite and the two rocker/recliners won't be delivered for a couple of months).  Also, today, we got a call to say our outdoor furniture which we had ordered is now ready for pick-up.  It feels so good to be able to have (or almost have) all the furniture we need to furnish our house - it took us so long to do the research for all of this.  I am very grateful that the guy who worked at Fantastic Furniture was not there yesterday - if he was, we would have ordered stuff from him which would have been okay, but now we have furniture that we like much better.  Co-incidence?  I think not. :-)

I spent this evening relaxing, watching tv, typing this blog, doing dishes.........and Dad went to SES.  Tonight, they did a review of what good teamwork looks like.  One of the instructors gave a one hour presentation about what constitutes good and bad teams.  After a break, the members broke into two groups and did two exercises: the first exercise had the instructor randomly putting out cards numbered 1 to 30 in a field.  The job was for each member to take turns running from one card to the next in numerical order.  Dad went first and as he found a card (it took him a long time since no one knew where the numbers were) he yelled out what number he was on.  As each successive member took their turn they did the same thing so that the team members became faster and faster at completing the task because they could see where the previous team members had found the numbers.  Also, those members who had completed the task could also yell to the members currently running the route which way to go to get to the next number.  The second exercise had the instructor giving each team 12 famous quotes about what makes good teamwork (cut in half) and the team had to try and match up the quotes.  Once they were done that, they had to see if they were right (Dad says his team had two which were not correct), fix the ones which were incorrect and then choose six which they thought were most relevant to working in SES.  Dad says it wasn't as interesting as last week's session, but he knows it's important stuff that they need to review every now and then because it's important for the members to work as a team when they get called out on a job.