Catching up is Hard to Doooooo....

Since I left my camera cord at school today I cannot upload my photos from yesterday's Valentine's Day feast so today I will catch up on a couple of things, like the VERSATILE blogger award, thanks Debby! (you really must visit this amazing woman's blog called Nanny's Place!!) !!

So, about the Versatile Blogger award which I so humbly accept! The RULES are nice and simple! I must pass on the Versatile Blogger award to five other very deserving VERSATILE bloggers! So can I get a drumroll please?

http://thatbritishwoman.blogspot.com/
http://halfdozendaily.typepad.com/my-half-dozen-daily/
http://eboolifejourney.blogspot.com/
http://saving4later.blogspot.com/
http://slaythemonster.blogspot.com/

I just realized these bloggers all live in CANADA!! Woot woot - Let's hear it for CANADA!!

The second and LAST rule (isn't this easy?) is to tell you 7 random things you don't know about me, so here goes...

1. Prior to being a teacher I held a variety of positions (teller, head teller, secretary, data entry clerk) at several branches of The Royal Bank of Canada (Tillsonburg, Calgary Alberta, Simcoe and finally in London, Ontario. This is exciting stuff, no?
2. I was 28 when I decided to go FULL-TIME to university and work PART-TIME at the Royal Bank which I did for the next five years (yes, I switched my major so needed an extra year to complete my four year degree in VISUAL ARTS!! It took me til Kazi was 10 years old to pay off my student loan of $16,000. (That equalled $250 per month for a total of over $26,000 - isn't that crazy!?!?
3. I almost lost my daughter when I was five months pregnant. I was hospitalized and had to wait three days for an ultra-sound which showed she was still alive and well!! Those were the longest three days of my LIFE!!
4. One of my favorite time wasters is playing Sudoku on my iPad. I'm hoping I'll stave off senility for a few extra years by keeping my mind active!
5. This is hard - I don't exactly keep any secrets from you guys...I'm the youngest of five children and four out of five of us have been teachers and two were married to teachers!! Two of us were art teachers (me and my brother Kim) and three of us were special ed teachers (me, my second oldest sister Dale and my oldest brother Gord - who just happens to write for the Londoner, a weekly London-based newspaper!) 
6. Such thrilling stuff eh?  I always wanted to be a ballerina when I was growing up but could only take either piano lessons or skating lessons in the village where I grew up. I chose piano lessons. The closest I got to ballet was when my my friend (also named Jane) and our two mothers brought us to London to eat at the Latin Quarter (long gone) for dinner and then to the Grand Theatre (still there) to see The Nutcracker (no snide comments folks lol!) performed by the National Ballet! I was about eight years old and can remember every single moment of it. To this day I don't know how my mom paid for that excursion! We weren't exactly well-off.  She did sell some of her children's stories to magazines so I'm guessing the money came from that!
7. My best friend growing up was our dog Boots, a real Heinz 57. She was with us from the time I was 4 til I was 18.  Bootsie died when she crossed the highway on her way to visit my gramma - a daily jaunt. She went to about 4 different places each day (she was only tied up when a neighbour would call us to say he'd seen the dogcatcher's truck in town!) and at each place she would receive some kind of treat. She'd scratch at the door and then get let in. She always thought she was a human being, not a dog. After she died I spent several nights outside in our backyard sleeping by her grave. At 18 it was the saddest event in my life. I still have a locket with her picture in it. Yes, I am a sentimental old fool and miss her madly to this day. We went everywhere together except to school and as soon as she heard the school bell ring for lunch or the end of the school day she'd run from her doghouse in the barn to sit by the sidewalk waiting for me to appear. I have SO many stories I could tell you about my dog, stories that would just break your heart and move you to tears so someday I'll have to honour her with her own post. 

All righty! I am outa here!! I need to make a pot of soup, eat some leftover jerk chicken for supper and go ride my bike. My weigh-in on Monday left a little to be desired so I need to renew my efforts to stick to my diet and exercise! So stop inviting me to dinner people, and stop buying me treats and icecream etc!! I'm doing my best but stop with the temptations!!  I am only human!