G, So, Sol

You will never guess!!! The girls really like Kinder Eggs so they tend to get them on a regular basis. I have to admit that some of the toys are pretty clever. Nothing compares to the toy Raya got from a Kinder Egg she received at a birthday party... take a look!




It's a music note... and a cute one at that. I found this pic on the web and he is pretty much the same as Raya's except her's has a G on the front. Indeed, Raya found the dominant (assuming we are in the key of C). I am only a tonic and mediant away from a major chord!!! This is very exciting. Raya graciously gave me Mr.G and I keep him in my pencil case. So, after a bit of research, I figured out that there's an entire line of these Kinder toys. The series is called Music City. Take a look at this note....



He is a bad note! HA! I run into a few of them from time to time. He is vicious looking isn't he? Now, I need you guys to do me a favour. If you ever run into any of these kinder toys, let me know! I will offer you money! They are so CUTE! I want the entire major scale. I'm assuming they don't have any raised 7ths so a harmonic minor scale is out of the question! I wonder if the leading tone is wearing a blue shirt?

I miss you!

Hi... I'm in the midst of an academic storm! I have 7 assignments due next week...5 being on Monday! However, I've included something for your viewing pleasure! If you ask the twins how many languages they speak, the say 3: English, French and Harmony! How I love these little girls!

Fireflies!!!!!

I'm sure you've heard of swarms of bees, wasps and mosquitoes. Well, the twins and I were fortunate enough to be in the midst of a swarm of fireflies! It was absolutely beautiful! It happened at dusk, about 9:00. I put the girls to bed and then brought my camera outside to document this amazing even. They majority of the fireflies were already gone but I managed to find a couple... and about 10 mosquito bites. Excuse me while I go and itch!

Next item on the list!

Well, with my degree well underway, I thought it would be a good time to start accomplishing another item on my list... the baby weight! Now, I know some of you are thinking that my twins are almost 6 and that the extra weight has nothing to do with babies. Well, hear me out! I have a theory that explains the whole situation. Yes, I did have the twins nearly 6 years ago (wow... that's crazy!) Now, keep in mind that I had TWO babies, not one. That allows not only double the weight to gain but also double the time to lose it! So, the scientific equation would be as follows:

2babies= amount of time + weight - sleepless night / gallons of spit-up x diaper changes - current age of twins x actual motivation

So, if you use my equation correctly, you will indeed find that I don't have to lose weight!!! According to my calculations, I am 5 lbs. under weight!!!!
Just kidding! OK, I'll stop justifying.

Here my plan... eat healthy and jog
Plain and simple. Hopefully it works.
Last night I jogged 1km and walked 2. I am hoping to jog all 3km by the end of the summer.
Weight wise, I won't bore you with the details (and ladies do not disclose such information!) I will measure my progress with percentages... since my silly brain works that way. Let just say I'm 7% of the way there...93% to go!

Welcome to reality!

Wow! What a week! I must say that this university gig takes up quite a bit of time! I really enjoy it though. Let me tell you more about the program. The official title is "Formation à l'enseignement mode alternatif". We have about 80ish people in the program...across 3 campuses, Windsor, Toronto and Ottawa. We all have the same lectures via video-conference and can see each other. We also all have microphones so was can also communicate with each other. We have 3 classes. A rough translation of the classes are Technology in the classroom, learning and evaluation, and Franco-Ontarian education. The french is all coming back to me. It`s like riding a bicycle. I had forgotten what it feels like to be in a French community. It's like a homecoming really! I'm so glad I'm here! I have been handling the workload and I still managed to read 3 books this week... although the 2:00am bedtimes will soon catch up to me!

The first harvest of the year!

I'm so excited! I just found these in my garden! I checked only 2 days ago and the zucchini were still teeny-weeny! Now look! They are absolutely perfect, not a blemish in sight and 100% organic. So tonight I feasted on sauteed zucchini and shallots, drizzled with authentic Sicilian olive oil! I have a friend (Hi Danielle!) who has a bunch of family in Sicily. Her father-in-law actually presses the olives and bottles the oil! It is absolutely delicious! Excuse me while I go lick my plate...

Retrolicious Tea Kettle

Take a look a this retrolicious tea kettle! It's made by a company called Tivoli. Isn't it beautiful? One of my students(Hi Nora!)bought it for me as a farewell present. She had her lesson at 3:45, the part of the afternoon when I tend to get drowsy. To limit the drowsiness, 3:45 became tea time and when she would come for her lesson, I was usually preparing a cup of tea so she thought this present would come in handy... what a girl!
Let me innumerate the features of this amazing kettle. Look at the sleek and ergonomic handle. Not only is it stylish, it's easy to pour and my wrists will not be damaged! It also features a "harmonious whistle" when the water reaches the boiling point, not one of those annoying screeches, very appropriate for a music teacher! Perhaps the best feature is the retro avocado colour. This takes me back to the '70s. My family wasn't fortunate enough to have the avocado colour appliances. We had the golden harvest colour which wasn't quite as hip but still groovy. So, I'm thinking of collecting some cool '70s kitchenware since I love this kettle so much. I think I should start with this...

First day of school!

Ok... so I thought I should get started on this crazy list of mine. Where better to start than working towards another university degree. This process started all the way in December when I was looking at a couple of programs at various universities. I have a few friends who received their education degrees through the University of Ottawa and were quite successful in finding jobs with the French board so I thought I'd give this a try. Let me tell you, a twin pregnancy is much simpler than applying for this program! I filled out the lengthy application, submitted my work experience, got all my transcripts and sent them away a month before the deadline. Well, it was a day before the deadline and I hadn't heard anything yet. To make a long story short, the application had a couple detours along the way. I finally got the go ahead to start the next part of the process. I then had to take an incredibly thorough written French exam followed by an oral exam. I felt quite confidant about the oral exam. The written exam however... WOW... let's just say Russian would have been about the same difficulty for me. I haven't written in French for about 10 years. I had to make adjectives agree with nouns which then had to agree with subjects that were hidden behind the preposition! Seriously! After the written exam, I had to run 10K in under 5 minutes and play a Chopin piano Etude! Needless to say, these French teachers are intelligent, athletic and musical!
A few weeks later I received notification that I was accepted into the program! If I ever have to go through this process again, I will request giving birth to twins instead!
So, today was the first day of school. The University of Ottawa has a mini-campus here in Windsor and the classes are mostly video-conference with the campuses in Ottawa and Toronto... hi-tech stuff. The workload seems intense. I should edit the "dust has settled/head cleared the surface" out of the previous post.
So dear reader, here's to insanity... cheers!
By the way, do you like my matching backpack and lunch bag?

Lists

I know... it's about time! But I have a good excuse! Let me explain.... Shortly after Chris and I were married, we experienced a strange phenomenon call "twinsplosion". This is a rare event in which a newly married couple copes with the arrival of twins somewhere around their first anniversary. With that being said, the last few years have been busy to say the least! Twins really do take up a lot of time... in fact all the time. However, the tide is shifting! After this so called "twinsplosion", life in general became quite chaotic. It has taken a bit over 5 years for the dust to settle. Not only have Chris and I adjusted to married life, we have finally adjusted to parenthood. Prior to this, we were living in survival mode. Needless to say, many things were put on the side burner (this blog being one) and life in general being another.

Now that the dust has settle and my head has finally cleared the surface, it's on to new things... here comes the LIST! These are simple (but vital) things I've been meaning to accomplish for quite some time. Let me caution you though... I am known to fabricate lists such as: 100 must read books, 100 books I must read to the twins before the age of 2 (oops, missed out on that one), 100 steps to a healthier me, 100 things to do with an old shower curtain... you get the idea. Unfortunately, the lists are never accomplished (except for the 100 must read books, I'll explain my reading addiction some other time). This list thing isn't my fault though. It's ingrained within my personality... that online personality test even said so.

This reminds me of one of my dear piano students (Hi Abby!). I've been teaching piano lessons for about 10 years or so and this student has been with me since the very beginning, I pretty much raised her. Somewhere along the way, I realised that we were very alike in many ways. We've always had this understanding that we think as one, we understand each other in every way. One week, she came to her lesson and told me that she didn't practise one bit (GASP!) but handed me a paper and on that paper was "100 Steps to passing my grade 8 piano exam", or something close to that. Was I ever proud of her! So, we decided to both take an extensive personality test to see if we were really alike. The test consisted of these four letter combinations like KJIT and FJIE (or some other variations) and the amazing thing is, we were 100% alike! Our combination is W.E.I.R.D!!! (oops.. too many letter!)

Anyway my list!!!!
1. Organize my house from top to bottom (or bottom to top, haven't decided yet)
2. Lose the last bit of baby weight (hey! I had twins... I get twice as long to do this)
3. Earn my B.Ed degree (and to spice this up, I will do it all in FRENCH!)
4. Cut back on the reading addiction
5. Learn 11 foreign languages

Ok... lets not go overboard here! I would never be able to cut back on reading! What was I thinking!

I know this sounds like alot to accomplish but don't worry dear reader, I have a list to tackle it all!