Mary Christmas?

So as the kids are filing out of the classroom this afternoon wishing me a Happy Spring Break, sweet little Tasha comes to me.

"Happy Spring Break, Mrs. Rintisch!"

"Happy Spring Break, sweetie!"

"The say Merry Christmas so people won't forget about Jesus' mom!"

-I had to stop and blink for a second-

"Oh, is that why?"

"Yup!  So people remember Jesus' mom, Mary!"

And away she skipped.

I freakin' love kids!!!

The Point

So I was subbing a gr 2/3 class the other day and out of the corner of my eye I notice a kid throw and pencil at another kid. I didn't say anything, wanting to see if they could handle it themselves.
The kid who got the pencil thrown at him goes, "Dude! You nearly hit me!"
The kid doing the throwing replies, "That's the point!"

Hee hee.

Your Tax Dollars at Work!

So, just when you think those tools in Ottawa can't get stupider! (yes, I said stupider!)

The bigwigs are in town right now touring the forensic labs trying to decide how to make some budget cuts.  Right now their plan is as follows:

-remove fiber analysis from trace evidence to save money

This plan means:

-if a crime (say a murder) occurs and the only convicting evidence is a fiber trail (eg. fibers from the bad guy's trunk on the body and fibers from the body in the bad guy's trunk) are the only evidence that can be found, IT WON'T BE PROCESSED OR EVEN LOOKED FOR!!!  This means, Mr. Murderer GETS OFF SCOTT FREE BECAUSE THE EVIDENCE WAS NEVER EVEN COLLECTED!!!

Yes, that's right my friends.  In a time when THOUSANDS of people apply for every forensic job (I'm not exaggerating here, everyone wants to be CSI) the government posts, they're going to close AN ENTIRE BRANCH OF FORENSICS!!  Why you ask?  To avoid paying those pesky little salaries of course!

As we all know, after all, money comes before public safety, justice and plain freakin' common sense!  Silly!

I strongly suggest you contact your MLA and MP to let them know what you think of this plan.

Rediscovering

So just this weekend I was inspired by someone to rediscover doing something I really love, drawing. I have always been creatively inclined (scrapbooking, making crafts, cardmaking) and I've expressed it in different ways throughout my life. I never exactly received any encouragement (my mom used to throw out the crafts I made her two seconds after I presented them to her) so I always figured I had no talent. But the desire to be creative has never gone away.
My mom is an awesome artist and painter and my sis can is also very talented so I used to try to draw, with very little success. It wasn't until I took a class in university on how to teach art that I actually learnt how to draw, etc. I LOVED it! Ask my hubby, I had my sketchbook out multiple times a day trying out all different kinds of things. I loved it so much I felt like I was visibly glowing when I worked (Nathan said I really was).
After my class ended I kept it up for a while, but got discouraged and busy. Now I've decided, who cares if I'm not very good? I'm not doing it for anyone but myself and my own joy. It's something that makes me happy, it's something I've always wanted to do, so I'm going to do it dammit!! Maybe I'll even take another class!

Creativity

So I spent an amazing day with two amazing women and their unbearably cute kids.  We chatted, made cards and had so much fun.

Thank you so much ladies!!  I enjoyed sponging off your supplies and way-better-than-mine ideas!

No Job Again

So I didn't get the gr 2 job I interviewed for.  I am grateful I got an interview, I really need more practice at those, and they did say I did a great interview.  But apparently I'm still not good enough.  They "went with someone with more experience".  Not sure if that's just one of those lines like "it's not you, it's me" or if I really only didn't get it because I don't have much experience.

I'm just so frustrated.  Seriously, how many times do I have to get turned down and torn down professionally?

Further Adventures in Stony Plain...

As previously mentioned, my mom is a waitress in Stony Plain.  The people here are generally, well, to quote Erie, "klassy with a capital k".

This morning a woman ordered breakfast with a side of sausages to take home to her dog.  Ok, fine.  Then she says, "What happens to all the sausage people order but don't eat?"

My mom:  "Well...it goes in the garbage."

Honest to goodness the woman answered: "Could you go through the garbage for me and pick it all out so I can take it home to my dog?"

As you can understand, my mom had no response.  Neither do I.

Why Now?

That's what I've been asking myself today, why today?  Why this week?   Why now?  Why at all, really.  Why at the end of a week that has left me exhausted, drained and weak in every way possible did God allow this to happen too?  Why did he take away the one good thing I had, and then let me be torn apart to my core?

I have an interview for a job I desperately want and had thought I would be great for in 14 hours. But after today I honestly can't think of a single reason why they should hire me.  I can't even say I believe I'm a great teacher, or even a very good one.  If they were to ask me the typical interview questions "Why should we hire you?", I wouldn't have an answer.  All I can think of or hear in my mind is that I'm a failure, I'm a mediocre teacher at best, etc. etc.  

Why?  That's all I want to know.  God, why?  The person who tore my heart out today, why?  Why?

Definitely Top 5!

My husband couldn't be any better, sweeter or thoughtful.  Despite being exhausted, having to get up early for work, and coming down with a cold himself, he still stayed up half the night with me.  To take care of me.  I was gut-wrenchingly sick (literally!).  He could barely keep his own eyes open yet he made sure I had a barfie (thanks Christy!), water, soothing music and everything else I needed.  He even stayed up just to talk to me and distract me from how lousy I felt.

When I weakly told him he was the best husband in the world, he responded, "Well, top 5 maybe!"

Definitely babe, definitely top 5! ;)

Oh, Stony Plain!

Just in case you don't believe that Stony Plain is the poster child for rednecks, here's the final proof!

My mom works in a small restaurant/cafe in Stony frequented by what we not-so-lovingly refer to as the "Stony old people".

She has REGULAR customers (who come in a few times a week) and order either half a cup or coffee or a 1/3 cup of coffee.  They then expect to only pay HALF or 1/3 the price of a regular cup of coffee which is already LESS than a dollar!  A few of them even ask her to "top up" their half cup of coffee with hot water!

Isn't Stony Plain classy?

How the Princess got its Prince

(*here's another one, I couldn't resist!*)

Once upon a time there was a princess in her castle. Her name was Samantha. She was very lonely and worried that she may never get a prince. One day she told her dad that she can't wait anymore. But she was in luck, the prince was coming today! So the prince arrived then the prince and princess talked about getting maybe getting married. The next day their dads planned the wedding so they started to do the decorations. When they were done the made the invitations to the wedding. When everyone arrived the wedding started. And that's how the princess got its prince.

How the Star got its Points!

Once upon a time there was a star who was square shaped. A crocodile bit him all over because he thought the star looked delicious. The star tried to swim away from the mean, bad crocodile. That is how the star got its points.

*This was written by one of my gr 2 kids. Couldn't you just die?*