Riding the Party Bus

A friend celebrated her 50th birthday last night by planning a surprise party for all of her friends - she is a party planner extraordinaire and has a very generous heart! In spite of the terrible weather (snow, fierce winds) we gathered at her place before the "party bus" arrived. Her bunny helpers (her oldest son and his friend-I found it amazing that they agreed to wear bunny suits!!) provided us all with mini sized bottles of liqueurs (which reminds me they are still in my purse...what's left of them that is...)

Bunny helpers!

All aboard!

The birthday girl dancing on the party bus!

While tunes from the 80's played we danced (at our own risk!) not knowing where the party bus was taking us! Our amazing hostess provided snacks and water bottles while guests brought any alcoholic beverages that they wanted.

*Note to self - when next on a party bus bring white wine instead or RED!!

Our first destination in Dorchester, Ontario

Michael and I at the Mill Pond Tap & Grill

Michael and I decided to NOT drink at each destination but to dance instead - a wise decision in the end as we are headache free today. However, we did end up with a few red wine stains on our clothing as drinking and dancing on a moving bus is a HIGH RISK activity! And oh yes, red wine in the eye DOES sting - who knew??

 Heading to the second destination - lots more dancing and snacking and falling on people's laps!

 And here we are at Tiger Jacks!

 The snow is starting to accumulate.

Dancing at Tiger Jacks.

Once all the dancing was over and bars were visited the party bus took us back to the birthday girl's home where tons more food awaited us! I tried not to overdo it. It was a great party and ALL planned by the birthday girl herself! I've never been on a "party bus" before, in fact I didn't know there was such a thing having lived a rather sheltered (DULL) life. Its such a fun way of getting from place to place without the worry of anyone drinking and driving though we had to be prepared to catch each other when thrown off balance. No problem - that just added to the fun!

Kind of a Drag

This week was a "bit" of a "meeting" week (slight understatement there).  Things are going slightly better with my two 250lb. 6'3" boys however so it's all worth it. I did get my arm twisted again last week and I told my admin team and a few higher ups that I was very close to a "Refusal to Work" as was being advised to me by my Union president because of my unsafe work environment. It's amazing how those three words, or threat of those three words can actually make things happen.  The very next day (Thursday) a young, strong (and may I say very easy on the eyes!) male supply EA who has worked with me in the past and knows both of my big boys very well walked into my classroom at 7:15am. What's even more amazing is that he was on an LTO (long term occasional contract) at another school yet the powers that be were able to pull a few strings and give him to me for the duration of this school year. So on Thursday and Friday I was able to change up the boys' programs a bit as we could move them from area to area more safely. We now have two good non-violent days under our belts with the hopes of many more to come.

We are going to try to get them over to the local YMCA for swimming a couple times of week and to a park with a playground that is just a few blocks away as well as introduce some new, more challenging and hopefully more interesting work tasks that require two adults for supervision instead of one. (learning to use a hammer and a screwdriver culminating in building a birdhouse!)

HAPPY THRIVING BOYS = HAPPY UNINJURED STAFF

While I'm on the topic of school I'm happy to report there are only 54 days left until I take off to PEI!! My older sister is there right now for a few weeks working on her farmhouse which is undergoing extensive renovations. 

She just sent me this picture yesterday as she was walking around her property. It's a little hard to tell in this picture but last year they put on a bright red metal roof - I love it! They've put in some new windows and have a few more to go. They took the rooms all back to the studs and insulated it well - how did people survive all those years in un-insulated homes??? Or did they just get used to being cold all of the time??  Or did they stay in bed for hours and hours?? That would explain the larger families back then I guess :)

On the financial front I went and spent some money - oh no!! I bought one of these:

Cell Glass Fireburner

I bought it through a pop-up store connected to my favourite newspaper - The National Post. It was on sale for half price and I got free shipping plus a $25.00 coupon. We have a lot of wind on our little hilltop in PEI so this will enable us to have a fire safely on even the windiest of evenings. We have friends in Stratford, PEI who had a smaller ceramic version on their patio table while we had dinner outside one evening and I loved it! You can take your fire from place to place. We could be sitting on our front porch while it's raining and still have a fire! It makes me happy so there! Money well spent!

So now I must get busy. We are going to Chatham tonight for a 50th birthday celebration which is being held at a hall with a band and lots of dancing and carousing! And yes, we're staying over. So I need to get my housework and schoolwork done today. Better get crack - a - lacking!

Have a happy weekend everyone!

You can dance, you can jive...

This weekend is a whirlwind of activity compared to what I usually do on the weekends which is read, post, catch on the blogging world, catch up on sleep, exercise, cleaning, cooking....ok, let me rephrase that...this weekend is a whirlwind of DIFFERENT activities from the usual - dancing, going out with friends, visiting Michael's mother, sisters and their families, celebrations (Michael and I are celebrating three years together), wishing my brother "bon voyage" as he boards the train heading out west to Vancouver, B.C. & back to visit some of the places where our Dad hung out after being posted to Comox, B.C. at the end of WWII, renewing friendships with Don & Cheryl who I haven't seen in ages and rejoicing with Kazi as she writes her final university exam today!! So much going on!!

 The dance was called the "BOOMER'S BASH!" I kid you not. We were some of the youngest people there!

 Meeting up with an old friend!

 My "dos amigos" - Jules and Troy - LOVE YOU GUYS!!

 The woman behind Michael was VERY UPSET when she found us sitting at her "reserved" table". Eight seats were reserved for her and we got the other four seats but she didn't like sharing. However by the end of the evening she was Michael's best friend :)

 The more the other party drank the more they liked us!

Michael's friend Chet - guitar player extraordinaire!

 Me and my BFF - Julie - here's to 30 years of friendship!

"and in this wall niche we have a 'boomer' from the 1950's era.....isn't she well-preserved...?"

And finally, here's to a patient and understanding man who doesn't mind when I bring my two best friends to join the party and has to listen to us laugh and snort for hours all the time keeping a dazzling smile on his face!!