Regulation 274/12: This Does Not Improve Hiring Practices

I used to be a teacher. It's been so long since I have had a truly great day in the classroom I forget if I used to be a good teacher. I suppose I was, because I remember certain students thanking me for teaching them. Saying to me they enjoyed being in my classroom. Even the other day, when I was dealing with five atrocious 10 year old boys, one of the girls in the class thanked me, and said it was nice to meet me. There are still moments that are fun, but it has been a very long time since I actually enjoyed teaching.

Supply teaching, occasional teaching, substitute teaching, whatever you want to call it, is extremely challenging. It is especially difficult with the younger grades because you still have to teach them, but you are only there for one day. The teacher can leave a detailed lesson plan, but odds are a few students were not there the day before, and are behind on work. Or, they do not have the work at all, and the spare sheets are no where to be found. Or, they left the work at home. Or... Flexibility is key, but if you do not have resources, you are SOL.

You are dealing with various levels of attitude. Many students are down right rude to subs, and we often have very little recourse. The kids are unlikely to see you again, and even if they do, no discipline was administered after you left. You have no power, no authority. If you have never been in the school before, you probably do not know how administration deals with behaviour issues.

Your day starts off being stressful because you likely received the phone call first thing in the morning. If you have children, this throws off the morning routine. If you are single, maybe you wake up, and are ready to go every morning. Even if you are not prepared, it is easy to get yourself ready to work. I remember the days before I had children, and it was a snap to clean myself up, get to school on time, and work the day. After children, it is a whole different story.

Getting two other people ready, and out the door on time puts added stress on your day. Hopefully your children are accommodating, but that is not always the case. I have had to drop my son off in pjs with a change of clothes. I have had to put cereal in a container for him to eat at the babysitter. I have had to strap a struggling, screaming three year old into the van to get to a school on time. On top of a stressful morning, the change of routine makes for a stressful afternoon, often filled with tantrums and fights between siblings. It does not help that my job consists of diffusing tantrumy, defiant students most of the day. I am seriously reconsidering whether or not the occasional work day is worth the added stress.

Now, the government of Ontario has created an amendment to the Education Act with regards to hiring practices. I suppose they were trying to come up with a fair way of hiring teachers that could be applied to all school boards. Some school boards had a seniority list for their occasional teachers, while others did not. Brand new teachers were often hired for contract positions and permanent jobs over teachers who have been working "occasionally" for years.

At first glance, you might think Regulation 274/12 is a great idea. All boards have to have a seniority list for occasional teachers. If the board wants to hire a teacher for a permanent position, or even a long term contract position, they have to pick the top five qualified candidates from a special subset of the occasional teachers list. Here's where government regulations fail to deal with reality. How do you get on this specialized roster? Well, you interview, of course. However, the government came up with some criteria the boards must use to select the teachers who would be interviewed.

Here is how the government has determined who can be interviewed for the specialized roster. These will be the teachers who will be hired for long term occasional contracts with the board.

Long-term occasional teachers list

4. (1) Every board shall establish and maintain a long-term occasional teachers list. O. Reg. 274/12, s. 4 (1).

(2) An occasional teacher may apply to the board to be placed on the list and the board may grant the teacher an interview if,

(a) the teacher has been on the board’s roster of occasional teachers for at least 10 months; and

(b) the teacher has taught as an occasional teacher in one or more schools of the board for at least 20 full days during the 10-month period immediately preceding the day the application is submitted. O. Reg. 274/12, s. 4 (2).

(3) If the person or panel that conducts the interview recommends that the board place the teacher on the list, the board shall do so. O. Reg. 274/12, s. 4 (3).

(4) The board shall post the list on its website and shall ensure that the list is updated regularly. O. Reg. 274/12, s. 4 (4).

When I first read this, I was stressed out because the 10 month period included the summer, and teachers do not usually work during the summer. I feared I did not have enough days worked in the 2011/2012 school year. It was a slow year, plus, I was home with my son, and I had turned down a few days. I had missed out on some secondary work because we went to Ottawa one week. I only ended up working 28 days that school year, but I had no way of knowing this regulation was coming.

The board said they would use teaching months, but the application was in October, so they dated the experience back to the previous October. I had not worked in September, so I thought it had worked out well for me. The 2010/2011 school year, I had two contracts and had been employed for about six months, but that did not matter for the purposes of this new regulation. What if you had been off on maternity leave? That is a human rights violation. Apparently, these women were given an extra year. I applied to be on the specialized roster because I had worked 28 days with the English Public board. I waited to hear from them about an interview time.

We were eventually informed the interviews would take place at the end of February. I started to worry when the date was less than a week away, and I had not heard from anyone. When I called the board to find out why, it turns out they decided to divide the experience between the elementary and secondary panels. I had only worked 9 elementary day the 2011/2012 school year, and therefore I was not eligible for an interview. It turned out I only had 19 days for secondary, so no interview for that panel either. Sorry, too bad, nothing you can do about it.

If I had applied to a Catholic or French board I would have had enough days because they only have one union, but English Public has separate unions for elementary and secondary. I need 40 days of work, properly allocated, to applied to both panels. This not only penalizes teachers who are not called frequently, through no fault of their own, but also teachers who work year long contracts with one of the panels. Who cares what your previous years of experience may be, we are starting from 2011/2012. Oh, you worked all year in high school last year. You are not eligible to interview for the elementary panel, or vice versa.

On top of this arbitrary cut off, the board here does not have an objective way of giving work to occasional teachers. Last year, I only worked 28 days. This school year, I have worked about five, and I only turned down or missed two other days. For secondary schools, the vice principals make the calls, and there are teachers getting work every day, and others who are not being called at all. Last year, I met a teacher who brought doughnuts to all the high schools to get his face known.

I did go around one year, when we first moved back from Chapleau, but I did not go around last August. VPs who called me last year have not called me once this year. I will not have enough work days this school year to get an interview next year. I will not be eligible for any contract positions until I complete a successful interview, but I am not even getting enough work days to get an interview.

If you are succesful, and get onto this new "short" list, the regulation has another idiotic criterium for hiring permanent positions.

Assignments or appointments to permanent positions

7. (1) If a board is a party to a written agreement with a bargaining unit, including a collective agreement, that governs the process of offering teaching positions to supernumerary teachers with the board or teachers whose positions with the board have been declared redundant, the board shall not interview or make an offer to any other person to fill a permanent position before completing that process. O. Reg. 274/12, s. 7 (1).

(2) If a permanent position is not filled under the process referred to in subsection (1), the board shall not interview or make an offer to any other person to fill the position unless an offer has been made to each teacher interviewed in accordance with subsections (3) and (4) and none of them have accepted it. O. Reg. 274/12, s. 7 (2).

(3) For the purposes of subsection (2), the board shall interview the five teachers from the long-term occasional teachers list who,

(a) have completed a long-term assignment in a school of the board that was at least four months long and in respect of which the teacher has not received an unsatisfactory evaluation;

(b) have the required qualifications for the position;

(c) have the highest ranking under section 2; and

(d) have agreed to be interviewed. O. Reg. 274/12, s. 7 (3).

(4) If fewer than five teachers on the list satisfy the criteria set out in clauses (3) (a) (b) and (d), the board is required under subsection (3) to interview only those teachers. O. Reg. 274/12, s. 7 (4).

Most of the LTO contracts I worked in the past few years with the board have only been two or three months long. I have one contract that was a semester long. So, once again, an arbitrary number is going to exclude good teachers from being eligible for work.

I had resigned myself a few years ago to the fact that I would probably be an occasional teacher for the rest of my career. However, I had always had hope I could get a contract once in a while, and have my own class for a few weeks or months, once in a while. Now, it is looking more and more as though I will only be doing occasional teaching on a daily basis. I am not sure if I want to continue with this. Daily subbing is often not a fun job. I am tired of having to jump through hoops every year to get work. I am tired at not being valued as an employee by a board who does not care. I am 9th on the secondary seniority list, which means everyone else either got hired or gave up on teaching.

You wonder why I question my ability to be a good teacher. I have so few opportunities to prove myself. Most days, I am trying to keep the kids from becoming an uncontrolable mob. Next time you want to bash the teaching profession, think about how you would fare, thrown into a classroom of unruly, disrespectful students. You know how parents cannot wait for their kids to be back in school because they are going crazy at home? We teachers are dealing with your children on a daily basis, and many of us have our own kids as well. We are the ones spending time with your kids when you just want them out of your hair. On top of that, we are trying to teach them.

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Pet Peeves and Laziness

The thing that annoys me about my husband the most is that he never completely removes the plastic wrap from sour cream, yoghurt or ice cream containers. I will open the ice cream, and there's this piece of plastic, flapping away. I have questioned him as to why he does not remove the plastic or foil after he has unsealed the food. He says, to give it a better seal.

I am pretty sure, after you have opened the food, this layer of "protection" is meant to be removed. It does not increase the seal, after it is open. In fact, it probably lessens the seal on the lid. He is probably too lazy to completely remove the foil or plastic. Often, these containers are opened downstairs in front of the TV, far from the kitchen garbage.

I know the thing that annoys my husband most about me is that I will not empty the dish rack before I start doing dishes. Because of this, I will put freshly washed dishes on top of the dry dishes. When he is trying to empty the rack, the stuff underneath is wet again because I keep adding dripping, clean dishes to the pile.

This might be viewed as laziness on my part, as well. However, often it is because I start cleaning up, and then realize I should have emptied the rack. It is more an oversight, and an eagerness to not have dirty dishes, than laziness. Once I have started, my hands are already wet, and I am in cleaning mode. I just continue to precariously balance dishes on top of each other in the dish rack.

Occasionally, I empty the dish rack. We do dishes so often it is hard to notice if the rack has been emptied. My husband never completely removes the plastic. If I end up using the food container after he has already opened it, I will be the one to remove the plastic, or foil. When he starts removing the seal and throwing it out, I will start emptying the dish rack regularly. Until then, we will continue to tick each other off with our annoying habits.

 

 

 

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Destination: Disney World, 2014

It seems as though everyone is planning their trip down south for the March break. Not us. We are headed to Oakville to visit my parents. I would love a nice warm vacation, but it is not in the cards for us for this year. Maybe next year. My dad is thinking of renting a place in Florida for a month or so. He wants to have me and my brother bring our families down. It might actually come to pass that we vacation together. That has not happened since my brother was in high school, almost 20 years ago.

My husband is a teacher. I am too, but I do not have a permanent position. I am a little more flexible with my time. However, we will have both kids in school next year, and we try not to take them out of classes often. My brother can take vacation whenever he likes. He has four children. The two older ones, who have a different break from us because they live in Manitoba, do not live with him full time. The younger twins would not be in school next year. He would be able to bring his family to Florida even when it is not Spring Break.

We have not gone to Disney World yet. My brother went with his twins last year. I think his older children have gone already too. I wanted to wait until our son was a little bit older. Next year might be as good a time as any. My daughter will be six and a half, and my son will be four and a half. My daughter talks a lot about Disney, but I am not sure what she thinks it is. She knows it has to do with the Princesses, and certain movies. Both children know characters of Disney, and we saw a Disney on Ice show at Christmas.

To be honest, I do not know what to expect at Disney World either. The last time I was there was when I was six myself. We have pictures of the submarine ride being constructed. The only ride I enjoyed was It's a Small World. I had more fun at Disney Land in California a couple of years later. I liked roller coasters then. My kids love roller coasters now, but they are small. I do not want to disappoint them, and have them unable to go on rides.

Of course, Disney World is designed for families, so there should be plenty to satisfy everyone. I should start doing some research. I will have to learn to go with the flow too. I will have to realize money will be spent, lots of it, and things might not go as planned. Research may help, asking advice from friends will probably be useful, but in the end, the goal is to have fun. I do not want to fall into the family drama trap that often occurs on vacations when you are supposed to be having fun, and everyone ends up yelling at each other.

This is my new philosophy. I am not sure how well I will be able to implement it. I would like to have fun, and encourage my family to have fun, within reason, and not be so much of a control freak. Good luck with that! Seeking joy and joyful experiences for me and my family.

Disney World, 2014!

 

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Hershey Kisses and Oreos

I guess it is because we just passed Valentine's Day, and Easter is around the corner that I began contemplating the enormous variety of Hershey Kisses out there. Remember back in the day when Kisses were just milk chocolate? Then, they introduced Hugs. It was so exciting!

Now, there are eight varieties available all year round. Plus, the holiday varieties which include candy cane flavour at Christmas and pumpkin spice flavour for Halloween. Also, the wrapping foil has to match the season. Red and green for Christmas, orange for Halloween, pink and red for Valentine's day and pastels for Easter. Holidays are a gold mine for candy companies.

If you visit the Hershey Kisses website you will find recipes and crafts using their products. I must say, the roses made with Kisses are quite pretty. Whichever company owns Hershey also owns Cadbury, Reese's and Jolly Ranchers. So, if you are planning on doing one of the crafts, you have to stock up on all their products.

http://www.hersheys.com/kisses.aspx#/Spring-is-in-the-air.-Sweet!-HERSHEY'S-KISSES-Brand-Milk-Chocolates

Now, Oreos are something special. I remember a trivia question in a board game asking how many different kinds of Oreos there are. They probably need to change the answer as I am sure more products have been added since I first read the game card. Whenever I see variations on a brand my mind always tries to remember how many different kinds of Oreo have been created. Can you name them all?

Actually, it is harder than it seems. Even if you go to the company website, it will not list all the different flavours created throughout the world. In this global economy, companies try flavours known to be popular in certain countries. In South America, Dulce de Leche flavoured Oreos are sold. In Asia, the local flavour is Green Tea. In North America, we get Strawberry, Peanut Butter and Mint varieties on top of the different stuffings, and sizes. The Nabisco website lists 45 Oreo products available in Canada. But, some of those are variations in a theme, such as individually wrapped cookies, and family packs. Still the same cookie.

Which is your favourite Oreo? Or, are you not a fan? Check out the comapny's website, as well as the Wikipedia entry to get more detailed information about Oreo cookies. I personally like the chocolate flavoured ice cream sandwich. I have also eaten a small tub of Oreo ice cream in one or two sittings.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oreo

http://www.nabiscoworld.com/Brands/brandlist.aspx?SiteId=1&CatalogType=1&BrandKey=oreo&BrandLink=/oreo/memories/&BrandId=78&PageNo=1

And, if you have ever thought your favourite food tastes different when you are in a different country it is likely due to the use of different ingredients. In Canada, Oreo cookies are made with coconut oil, thus giving them a different flavour. I do not like red Twizzlers made in the US. I grew accustomed to the flavour we have in Canada. Also, I preferred the Brazilian Sprite to Uruguayan Sprite, which I found to be too perfumey.

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Our Blue Mountain Experience

The last time I skied Blue Mountain was shortly after having skied for many years out West, at Big White, Apex, and Whistler/Blackcomb. I was a little snobbish about the hill back then. It was a big hill, but not as high as the mountains of the coast and the Okanagan. Blue Mountain is wide, I thought, but not very high.

This time, I very much enjoyed skiing there. In reality, the runs were probably just long enough. Even in the big mountains it is rare to ski from top to bottom. You usually stick to a section, and only ski the whole way down at the end of the day. We were at Blue Mountain on their busiest weekend of the year, Family Day weekend, and I was able to do a run, and get back up the hill in about ten minutes. The singles line always moves quickly.

I made the decision to go to Blue Mountain about a month ago. I enrolled the kids in a half day ski camp for 3 to 5 year olds, and I told my parents to come up from Oakville to meet us there. I had been hoping to get in two days of skiing, the second day with my father, but it did not work out that way. My dad fell ill earlier in the week, and was not at his best. Also, the weather was windy and cold on Sunday. We got some good skiing in on Saturday. Monday would have been a great day too, but we had to head back home to Sudbury. It is a four hour drive.

We stayed at the Blue Mountain Inn. The rooms are nice. No bathtubs, but we took the kids to Plunge, at the Westin on Sunday, so they did not need a bath. We also picked our hotel for its indoor pool, but we never took advantage of it. Next time, we might think about chalets or rooms with kitchens so we do not spend $300 on food for the weekend. The restaurant at the Inn serves a great breakfast, but $14 for the buffet each morning is a little steep. We went à la carte, and saved some money. The Pottery restaurant is overpriced for dinner, and not satisfying. We had a better supper from the bar next door called Jozo's.

Our first evening, we went into the Village to find a restaurant only to discover the Firehall Pizza co., highly recommeded in Today's Parent, was closed (due to a fire, it seems). The C & A Steak Company was also closed. Maybe they have the same owner. The other restaurants had waits between 30 minutes to over an hour. We decided to try our luck at the Pottery restaurant, but you needed reservations. In the end, we ordered room service from Jozo's, the bar restaurant. We made reservations the following night for the Pottery, but were disappointed with our meals.

My issue, and why I am not a big fan of eating out often, is the lack of wholesome foods on menus. There is a lack of vegetables. Most meals are starchy or heavy on the meat. Almost everything comes with fries, and it costs extra to substitute a salad. The only vegetables at Wild Wing, aside from the carrot and celery sticks were "greens" (iceberg lettuce), tomatoes and red onions. Sad. I like a good restaurant, but I have to order things I do not make at home, often better.

The "waterpark", called Plunge, at the Westin was fun, but I do not recommed it for kids over 10 years old. The inside is a kids playstructure, in the water. There is also a large, shallow swimming pool that is nice and warm. You can go outside, even in the winter, if you choose. There is a short water slide outside, and rope swings, and a hot tub. I did not venture outside. It was too cold for skiing (for me with my Raynauds), there was no way I was going outside in my bathing suit.

The kids loved it, and I think this was the highlight of their weekend. My daughter wanted to go swimming as soon as she saw the pool in the hotel. She probably could have stayed in the water a lot longer at Plunge. My son started getting cold after an hour and a half. We paid for a three hour pass. Maybe people can stick it out for a day in the summer, if the weather is nice, and you read deckside. In the winter, three hours is pushing it.

We almost went skating, but the wind picked up Sunday afternoon, and the snow was blowing about. We brought our skates, but they also rent skates if you do not have any. We were looking into doing some Paint Your Own pottery, but they kiln the pieces overnight, and they would not be ready until the next day at 4pm by the earliest. My daughter was heart broken, but now we know for the next time.

As for the skiing and the kids camp, they were great. I took the $99 ski and rental package which comes with a one hour group lesson. The times are not posted, but it is a group lesson, depending on how many people show up, and it is the final stage after the Newbie Circuit lessons (which go up to stage 5). I was told lesson were at 10:30, 11:30 and 3pm. There was a mix up, and I ended up waiting on top of Big Baby for 15 minutes by myself. I finally gave up, and then the organizer said he woud make it up to me because he meant to meet on top of the bunny hill.

I ended up getting a mini private lesson, two runs down the green hill, with an instructor whose client had not shown up. However, he was reassigned at 1:30pm, and I did not bother trying to get someone else to teach me. It was probably was not worth getting the $99 deal. You have to pay $10 extra for a helmet. If you know how to ski, rent the equipment and get the lift pass separtely. With a helmet, it costs $104 as opposed to $109 for the package I paid for. It is only worth getting if you need the beginner (they called it refresher) lesson. The meet ups were quite disorganized, even when I was there on time there were no instructors, and one guy tried to explain I had to pay extra for the lesson. It clearly says on the sign and in the pamphlet that the lesson is included, just not when or where the lessons are.

My husband did the Newbie Circuit, but only had instructors show up for the first three stages. The first two stages were super easy. In the end, he just went down the green hills by himself, and figured out the physics on his own. It is nice to have someone show you how to stay in control if you have not been on skis for a while. However, even after a seven year absence from skiing, I was able to ski like before very quickly. It was a good thing I started working out last month because I had the strength to not get too tired by the end of the day. A second day might have done me in though.

Do take advantage of the ski valet service included with the rentals. Someone took my husband's skis, and he signed out some new ones. Turns out his skis were returned around the time he got the new ones, but you are responsible for the skis of they are stolen. The valet service is like a coat check for you equipment. It does not cost extra if you are renting.

My kids seemed to enjoy their lessons. Unfortunately, no one spoke French. They said this is not an issue for the very young kids, as it is mostly actions. My son did not grasp that he had to put his hands on his knees, and kept falling backwards. Both he and my daughter had goofy grins the whole time, but said they would not like to do it again. My daughter did not like falling, but she felt that way about skating last year, and she likes it this year. I am hoping this will change. Maybe next year we put them in a full day camp.

My only issue was that my son wandered off at the end of the lesson. He saw me, but when I went to the left where the pick up section was, he continued to the right. No one stopped him, and it was not until they signed out my daughter did we realize that my son was no longer in front of the instructor. I had to chase him down, still in his class pinny, and bring him back to the left to sign him out. At least they asked me for the code word, although, I could have snatched him away when he had escaped. He was not listening to any of the instructors because his English is not strong.

My parents showed up right around noon on the Saturday, and they watched our kids for the afternoon. It worked out perfectly because we were able to finish skiing for the rest of the day, and my parents got to spend time with their grandchildren. They ended up taking them back to the hotel. My husband and I got to get some skiing in. On Sunday, since it was too cold for me to ski, and I did not feel like going alone, I was able to spend the day with my family as well.

I was being a bit of a control freak prior to the trip because it had been so long since I had skied, and it was the first time for the kids. We were going to a place I knew nothing about. However, now that we've been, and gotten into the swing of things, I think this is something we could do for years to come. It is an easy way to get some skiing in without having to travel out of province, or leave for a long vacation. Hopefully next time I will be a little bit more relaxed.

Blue Mountain is a great family resort. I recommend checking it out. I hear it is also fun in the summertime.

http://www.bluemountain.ca/

By the way, Blue Mountain Inn is at the North end, and there are no rentals there. Great if you have your own equipment. Rentals are at Central and South Base Lodge.

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Valentine's Day

It is a weird holiday. I realize it has become a Hallmark marketing machine. It is another holiday for the candy manufacturers. There are a lot of expectations around this day. It is a loaded holiday for some. Nothing for others. The best time of the year for those newly in love, or maybe not. What is it about this day that makes us go crazy?

Some teachers yesterday were bugging a male teacher who did not have anything planned for his pregnant wife. The women were convinced he would be in the doghouse if he did not do something special for his wife this Valentine's Day. He seemed to disagree with them, saying he knows what she likes, and what her expectations are.

I did not say anything because I do not know these people (I was subbing), but I kept thinking how I would not really care if my husband did not acknowledge the day. It is on a Thursday. Our children still have swimming lessons at 5pm, and I still have dance class at 7pm. We do not have time to go out. The coming weekend is Family Day weekend, and we are going away to Blue Mountain for three days. Not much time for a romantic date, even if my parents watch the kids Saturday night.

My main concern is making sure my daughter has all of her cards labelled and signed and her treat bags ready for her classmates. It just happens the one day this week my son is at daycare is Valentine's Day, so we need to get his cards ready for the other kids at the daycare. Normally, I would not be bothering, and he would probably still end up will a pile of cards and treats from the other kids. We got treats today from other kids at playgroup. I had not even thought about giving stuff today!

The meaning of Valentine's Day, and how much joy you get from it depends on your stage of life. In elementary school, you give cards to everyone in your class. You even give cards to the kids you don't like that much. You just pick out your least favourite card, and give it to this person. As you get older, if you have a crush on someone, they get your favourite card. When you leave elementary school, however, it is rare to receive Valentine's cards from anyone, unless you have a special someone.

This is the time when Valentine's Day begins to suck. Single people, no matter how old, hate Valentine's Day. It is a reminder that you are single and have not found someone. If you are lucky enough to have friends who love Valentine's Day, you might still receive cards and treats, but it is less likely the older you are. I loved Valentine's Day in Mexico because it was a friendship day. Everyone was passing the love around, and it was not just couples rubbing it in the noses of singles. It felt like Valentine's Day used to be, before you liked someone.

I have never been the type of person who expects the romantic gesture. I suppose there are people out there, in budding relationships, trying to figure the perfect gift for their new love. Nothing too overwhelming, but something thoughtful. Here's a hint, do not buy mundane household goods, no matter how useful they seem. Probably not small appliances either, unless you know it will be appreciated.

When you are married with kids, Valentine's Day becomes important in that you have to make sure you do not forget to help your child so he or she can give out cards and treats to everyone in the class. This is my main concern this year. I do not care if we cannot get reservations for dinner tomorrow night. I have to make sure I send my kids to school with all of their Valentines.

Actually, the romantic gesture...my husband took the kids to Dad's night, and gave me an evening to myself to do anything, or nothing. Perfect Valentine's Day gift.

By the way, the Jell-O marshmallows did not work. Not enough gelatin, I guess. They kind of ooze. The marshmallows made with red juice taste awesome, and have great texture, but were not pink. I would have to use beet juice next time. I sprinkled them with candy hearts to make them festive.

 

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Making Pink Marshmallows and Preventing Cross Contamination

I am planning on making pink marshmallows for Valentine's Day treats. I made chocolate covered marshmallows for Christmas and they were a hit. I figure I should be able to substitute a red coloured Jell-O for the unflavoured gelatin in the recipe and use a little less sugar. The thing is, I am not crazy about artificial colours and flavours. Don't get me wrong. I am not obsessive about them, but I like to avoid them if possible. So, I am going to try a recipe using red juice instead of water for the syrup. Then, we shall compare the two.

My other concern about homemade treats is that we are not a nut free household. We have nuts and peanuts in the kitchen. We also eat fish and seafood. There are plenty of allergy inducing foods in our home. When I do baking or treats for the school, I am careful to not have allergens in the food, but if you have been cooking with allergens, there is always the possibility of cross contamination.

My best friend has a severe peanut allergy. I always remember her telling her sister in-law she was pretty sure her sugar cookies had trace amounts of peanuts in them. My friend had experienced a slight tingle in her throat from the sugar cookies. Now, her sister in-law had been baking peanut butter cookies at the same time as she made her "peanut free" cookies. I do not do that. I make sure everything is clean before I start school treat making.

I wanted to know how clean things need to be, however. I do not want to inadvertently cross contaminate something. Studies have shown cleaning with common household cleaners removes enough of the protein allergen to be safe for almost all allergy sufferers. There will always be exceptions. Make sure you wash your dishes and countertops throughly after they have been exposed to the allergen. Hot water will rinse it away for the dishes and utensils, then use dish soap to clean up the dishes. If you are still concerned, you can clean with bleach as well. Common cleaners work well in the counters. Keep in mind, hand sanitizers do not remove peanut proteins. Wash your hands with soap and water.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12847496

Parents of children with allergies should have instructions on whether or not their child is allowed treats at school. Hopefully, the child understands the severity of not following the rules. I sent cookies to school, and said they were sugar cookies, but the teacher called to verify that there was no trace of nuts. I did not bake them with nuts, and had not handled nuts before I started baking, but I could not guarantee there were no traces. If there is a child with allergies in the class, the family should have a plan on how to deal with the treat situation.

I have a friend whose son has a severe soy allergy. If you thought a peanut allergy was bad, soy is found in everything. She cannot guarantee the other parents will remember to use soy free products in their treats. All it takes is using margarine instead of butter, or having chocolate chips in the cookies. She gave her son's teacher a stash of treats that are soy free. This way, he does not miss out on receiving a treat.

I gave her family plain marshmallows as treats for Christmas because I did not have soy free chocolate at home. I knew about his allergy, but I do not know about the allergies of the children in my daughter's class. There might be kids with gluten issues, allergic to peanuts, nut, soy, milk, sesame seeds, strawberries, the list goes on. I know schools often have rules about sending homemade treats to school, but our school does not, so far.

I will make sure my kitchen is clean before I start baking, and specify the treats are nut free, but not from a nut free home. I do not know what the policy is for eating treats at school. I assume the kids all ate the cookies I sent at school. At Halloween and Christmas my daughter came home with a bag of treats, but that does not mean she did not eat any at school. She has no allergies though, and we eat wholesome foods at home, I do not mind if she eats the occasional treat at school. I hardly ever give her a true "dessert" in her lunch. I have not instructed her or her teacher that she is not to have treats.

Today, we experiment on making pink "nut-free" marshmallow.

 

 

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Done with Reading Fluff

I have decided to get back to reading some more challenging and more critically acclaimed books. No more Anita Blake. The first few in the series were engaging and the mysteries were compelling, but Hamilton has decided to focus on the smut aspect of her writing. I am all for a little sex and romance in my books, but if I end up skipping through all the erotic stuff to get to plot points, the books are no longer worth reading.

I am wondering how she keeps on getting published. I guess I should not be surprised since Fifty Shades of Grey was such a big seller. There is a market for it. I am just not excited by reading solely about sex. I need to be wooed and romanced. Having a story to go along with it will keep me interested and reading. Just describing various sexual acts is kind of boring. I used to love the Diana Gabaldon Outlander series.

So, I have gone back to the classics. I started reading The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes. It's like CSI before there were fancy machines. I love the way Conan Doyle has written this character and the stories are fun to read. If you get a chance, check out the BBC series Sherlock, which is a modern take on the classic tales. There is also a modern Sherlock Holmes story written by Anthony Horowitz called The House of Silk.

I have downloaded quite a few free books from the Apple bookstore. I went online, and checked out the lists of the top 100 books. Also, BBC's the Big Read compiled the 200 most favourite books of their readers, and I went to the Harvard bookstore for their top 100 list. Through the various lists, I choose some books to download, like those written by Jane Austen, George Elliot, and Charles Dickens. The newer books, I will try to find at my local library.

I have already read quite a few of the top 100 books compiled by BBC. As many people before have commented, quite a few of the books are probably not the "greatest" books and many others we do not have the patience to read. I cannot for the life of me understand what is happening in One Hundred Years of Solitude. I might have to restart it, but I am not sure it will help. Where is The Good Earth by Pearl S. Buck? Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follet? I am sure I could find a different top 100 with a whole new set of books. The Harvard list has a lot more contempory books, High Fidelity by Nick Hornby, for example.

Here's the BBC list. I put an asterix next to the books I have read entirely. I have read 48 of them, and parts of a few others.

1 Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen *
2 The Lord of the Rings - JRR Tolkien *
3 Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte (saw the movie)
4 Harry Potter series - JK Rowling *
5 To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee *
6 The Bible (I have read parts of it. Quite a lot for an atheist.)
7 Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte
8 Nineteen Eighty Four - George Orwell *
9 His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman (planning on reading this series)
10 Great Expectations - Charles Dickens (saw the movie)
11 Little Women - Louisa M Alcott
12 Tess of the D’Urbervilles - Thomas Hardy (we were supposed to read it in high school, but a girl in our class got pregnant. Seriously, that is why we did not read it.)
13 Catch 22 - Joseph Heller ( started it)
14 Complete Works of Shakespeare (I have read a few plays, seen more, read some poems)
15 Rebecca - Daphne Du Maurier
16 The Hobbit - JRR Tolkien *
17 Birdsong - Sebastian Faulk
18 Catcher in the Rye - JD Salinger *
19 The Time Traveler’s Wife - Audrey Niffenegger *
20 Middlemarch - George Eliot ( downloaded)
21 Gone With The Wind - Margaret Mitchell (saw the movie)
22 The Great Gatsby - F Scott Fitzgerald (downloaded)
24 War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy
25 The Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams *
27 Crime and Punishment - Fyodor Dostoyevsky
28 Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck *
29 Alice in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll *
30 The Wind in the Willows - Kenneth Grahame *
31 Anna Karenina - Leo Tolstoy *
32 David Copperfield - Charles Dickens
33 Chronicles of Narnia - CS Lewis *
34 Emma -Jane Austen
35 Persuasion - Jane Austen *
36 The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe - CS Lewis *
37 The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini *
38 Captain Corelli’s Mandolin - Louis De Bernieres *
39 Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden *
40 Winnie the Pooh - A.A. Milne *
41 Animal Farm - George Orwell *
42 The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown *
43 One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez (tried, really, I did)
44 A Prayer for Owen Meaney - John Irving *
45 The Woman in White - Wilkie Collins
46 Anne of Green Gables - LM Montgomery *
47 Far From The Madding Crowd - Thomas Hardy (downloaded)
48 The Handmaid’s Tale - Margaret Atwood *
49 Lord of the Flies - William Golding *
50 Atonement - Ian McEwan *
51 Life of Pi - Yann Martel *
52 Dune - Frank Herbert *
53 Cold Comfort Farm - Stella Gibbons
54 Sense and Sensibility - Jane Austen
55 A Suitable Boy - Vikram Seth
56 The Shadow of the Wind - Carlos Ruiz Zafon *
57 A Tale Of Two Cities - Charles Dickens
58 Brave New World - Aldous Huxley *
59 The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time - Mark Haddon *
60 Love In The Time Of Cholera - Gabriel Garcia Marquez *
61 Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck *
62 Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov
63 The Secret History - Donna Tartt
64 The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold *
65 Count of Monte Cristo - Alexandre Dumas (downloaded)
66 On The Road - Jack Kerouac (parts)
67 Jude the Obscure - Thomas Hardy
68 Bridget Jones’s Diary - Helen Fielding *
69 Midnight’s Children - Salman Rushdie (planning on reading)
70 Moby Dick - Herman Melville
71 Oliver Twist - Charles Dickens
72 Dracula - Bram Stoker *
73 The Secret Garden - Frances Hodgson Burnett (downloaded)
74 Notes From A Small Island - Bill Bryson
75 Ulysses - James Joyce (downloaded, not sure if I will stick it out)
76 The Inferno - Dante *
77 Swallows and Amazons - Arthur Ransome
78 Germinal - Emile Zola
79 Vanity Fair - William Makepeace Thackeray
80 Possession - AS Byatt *
81 A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens
82 Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell (planning to read)
83 The Color Purple - Alice Walker
84 The Remains of the Day - Kazuo Ishiguro
85 Madame Bovary - Gustave Flaubert
86 A Fine Balance - Rohinton Mistry *
87 Charlotte’s Web - E.B. White *
88 The Five People You Meet In Heaven - Mitch Albom
89 Adventures of Sherlock Holmes - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle *
90 The Faraway Tree Collection - Enid Blyton
91 Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad *
92 The Little Prince - Antoine De Saint-Exupery *
93 The Wasp Factory - Iain Banks
94 Watership Down - Richard Adams
95 A Confederacy of Dunces - John Kennedy Toole
96 A Town Like Alice - Nevil Shute
97 The Three Musketeers - Alexandre Dumas *
98 Hamlet - William Shakespeare *
99 Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - Roald Dahl *
100 Les Miserables - Victor Hugo *

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Internet is So Addictive

Yeah, well, this is nothing new. How many times have you wasted hours on end searching for something online? Having all this information at your fingertips is not a good thing. What is the reason I do not have a smart phone? I need to be able to walk away from the internet from time to time. It is bad enough I have an iPad. It is a good thing I can leave it at home and function normally.

Even before the internet, I was hungry for knowledge, but I would have to check out books, magazines, or encyclopedias. My biggest problem is that I like to know details about things, such as who starred in the movie and where it was filmed. Does the town in the book I am reading really exist? For movies, this would mean watching all the credits. For books, I read all the author's notes. I am even curious about the writers and film makers, so I would seek out information about them. Biographies, anthologies. I am the person who listens to audio commentaries on DVDs.

The internet has made all this information available in one place. The ability to find the information quickly is a bonus, but we can continue to click on links of anything associated with what is being researched. Three hours later, you can have the biographies of all the superheroes in the Avengers, for example. On top of text, there are videos. I have spent so much time devouring information on any given subject. Take your pick. It is usually what I am currently obsessing about.

I have been doing this for years. Before Wikipedia, I would seek out fan sites for a book, movie or TV series I was interested in. Obviously there are many people out there like me because they are creating the websites I visit. A lot of us are obsessive about things. We want to know. I am not sure why, but I have to find reviews and analyses of tv and movies I like. Validation of my taste?

Right now, I am all about Community. Next week, who knows, maybe I will like Parks and Recreation. Phineas and Ferb is pretty funny. Trust me, I will find something else to pique my interest, and cause me to spend (waste) copious amounts of time online. The Internet is crack.

 

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I Love Community

Okay, so it's my new little obsession. The first time I heard of this show was after googling Donald Glover. I heard one of his standup bits about being the first black Spiderman. Funny stuff. His Wikipedia entry said he was in a show called Community, which is praised by critics and has a loyal fan base. I thought Community was like Parks and Recreation, so I did not bother seeking out episodes. I know Parks and Recreation is supposed to be quite funny too, but it uses the faux documentary style of The Office which is not really my thing.

How did I come to start watching Community? I was watching some shows on the City TV app, and the commercial for Community kept playing. From the clips in the ad, I started to wonder about the show. Netflix has the first three seasons available online. After the pilot episode, I knew I would like it. Pop culture, self referential, quirky, homages to various genres and movies. It's a dream come true for a child of the 80s. I have known for a while that most of the writers in Hollywood are people born in the early to mid 70s. This show is custom made for us Gen Xers.

I still find it odd how Generation X got expanded to include people born as late as 1980. When the book first came out, we babies of the 70s were just outside of the Gen X bracket. I suppose there was nowhere else to put us since they had decided to call the babies of the 80s Generation Y. I always thought we should be called the Muppet Generation.

Anyway, if you watch Family Guy, How I Met Your Mother or most Judd and Joss Whedon related stuff, you will see all those references to our generation. Even the so called teen shows keep doing 80s themed stuff. Community taps into all that nostalgia, but then they make it "meta" which is the new buzz word in entertainment. Kevin Williamson did it with Scream in the 90s, now it's something being done in TV shows quite regularly. Supernatural uses the meta gag often. Community has it as its backbone. Meta means tearing down the fourth wall and being self referential. Also, if you are a pop culture nut, this show is right up your alley.

Of course, they are getting actors to play below their ages, as per usual. Actors in their early 30s playing 20 year-olds. Actors in their 40s playing mid 30s. The two younger women are the same age, but one plays her age, and the other plays someone ten years younger. That has to suck. But this is nothing new. The original 90210 used 30 year olds to play teenagers. I think Friends was one of the few shows that had age appropriate actors.

Fans of Community want it to keep going indefinitely. They like to quote what Abed hopes for Cougar Town. "Six seasons and a movie." I think it might be a good thing if it ends after the fourth season. The show is about people doing a four year degree. At the end of the four years, they should graduate and move on.

I find most show revolving around schooling tend to drag after the characters move into "the real world". Is Glee as popular as it was, now that the main characters are off doing post secondary stuff? If the show involves a stage of life that is relatively stable, longevity is more attainable. When you focus on the students, their stay at the college is temporary. They leave, get jobs, have different lives. Think about how many high school/college/university friends you still hang out with.

I am looking forward to season 4. From what I have seen of the first couple of seasons, they have a lot to live up to. This show makes me smile with most of their episodes, even when the characters are doing despicable things. It reminds me a little of the Seinfeld dysfunctional family. So far, my favourite episode is Advanced Dungeons and Dragons. I like Remedial Chaos Theory as well. Check it out.

Season 4 starts February 7, 2013. It's on City TV in Canada. NBC in the US.

 

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Passing Out is Not Romantic

Nor is it glamourous or exciting. When you faint it is never like it is in the movies. Rarely is there someone there to catch you. Often, you fall down in a pile, and hopefully you do not hit anything on the way down. It is not a swoon, but something you have no control over. By the time your mind registers something is wrong, and you should probably sit down, you have already taken too many steps. It always seems counter intuitive to just sit down the moment you feel light headed. We often just keep going, and end up falling while we are still moving. Not graceful at all.

I must have gotten out of bed too quickly yesterday morning. Although, that does not entirely explain why I passed out on the way to the bathroom. It was the third time I have gotten out of bed that morning. Ah, the joys of having young children. Maybe it was because of the way I was lying in bed, with my knees up. Who knows? All I know is by the time I made it to the bathroom door, my body was giving way. I ended up falling on my children's bench in front of the sink. Hit my right upper arm, and head. I have a nice bruise on my arm, but no obvious goose egg on my head.

Of course, the words out of my mouth, as I was falling, were, "Oh, shit!" My husband came running, possibly when he heard me land. My son came too. There's mommy, in a crumpled mess, on the bathroom floor. If my kids start using the "s word" now, I really had no choice. I was on auto pilot for those few seconds. No time to censor what I was saying. I felt like a fool. Should have stayed in bed.

I am prone to lightheadedness if I get up too quickly. Usually, it passes without issue. Rarely, it causes a loss of consciousness. The last time I completely passed out was about five years ago, when my daughter was one. I was playing on the floor with her, and I got up to answer the phone. I managed to say hello, and I thought I clearly uttered, "I am going to faint.", but my husband said he did not understand what I said. When I regained consciousness, I was on the floor having narrowly missed hitting my daughter and a wall. It took me a few moments for me to realize what had happened. My husband could not figure out why I was not speaking for a few seconds. I guess I was not out long enough for him to be seriously worried. Time tends to slow when you are fainting.

My father used to experience this quite often in his forties. He fell off a ladder one summer and broke his hip, hit his head pretty badly. We think he passed out while he was on the ladder, but we are not sure. He would have incidents somewhat out of the blue. My cases of lightheadedness usually result from being down low, and getting up too quickly. I should know better. I probably could have prevented my fall yesterday, if I had taken my time.

And to think, girls used to intentionally try to pass out for the "fun" of it in junior high. Yeah, not really seeing the appeal, but I did take a dive onto a wooden bench.

 

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The Deception of Winter.

It is sunny today. If I stand at the sink in my kitchen, it is nice and warm. There is a reason I spend so much time in the kitchen. Baking in the winter has two benefits because I get the warmth of the oven, and the wonderful sun as I am cleaning up my dishes. But, I know the sun is not helping the temperature outside. I grew up in Manitoba. I know sunny days in January and February can mean frightfully frigid weather. Today is no exception.

The wind is blowing and the sun is shining. I would love to go outside for a walk with the kids, but it is cold out there. It is -20C, and the wind s making it feel colder. I know, people tell me if I dress properly it won't feel as cold, but my body does not agree. I have to be doing vigorous exercise for my body not to shut down blood flow to my extremities. Even then, it may take up to an hour of discomfort before I am warm. I am not willing to sacrifice an hour of pain to go for a walk. I am pretty sure my kids are happy to stay in pjs for the day.

So, I will gaze out my window at the glittering winter wonderland and think of the spring to come. My kids have been playing quite well today. We officially have a day home from school as it is a PD day. Not another day of cancelled buses. We'll all huddle under a warm comforter and watch the Backyardigans DVD. They've been bugging me all day to watch it.

Tomorrow's Groundhog Day. I hope the critter says Spring is just around the corner. Oh, but after our ski trip in a couple of weeks. I am wondering if this might become a Family Day tradition. We are going to Blue Mountain for the Family Day long weekend. For skiing, I will brave the cold.

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