Tag: back to school (page 4 of 5)

July 20, 2012 / 0 Comments

Dazed and Confused

“Dazed and Confused”, is how I feel some days, how I feel most mornings as I tumble into the shower and also the title of one of my favorite movies!

If you haven’t seen it, please go out and get it! It takes place over the course of one day in 1976, one very important day: THE LAST DAY OF SCHOOL! It follows the lives of high school students, as juniors become seniors and jr. high students become the new freshmen.

The cast includes among other greats the wonderful and delicious to look at, Mr. Matthew McConaughey! The music is perfect. The clothes are fantastic! The cars are cool!

It is the perfect movie to watch on the last day of school, on the beginning of summer, on the eve of freedom and that is exactly what we did!

It was drizzling last night, so we couldn’t go outside for movie night, we just changed our plans and put the screen up in the house instead. Rigged the projector up on the couch, on top of a box my mom had sent me a package in. These are the days I know my grandpa is smiling at me, because it was some kind of crazy ingenious concoction he would have rigged and it worked!

We closed the curtains, turned off the lights, got our rice krispy treats ready and ice cold coke-colas and sat down to enjoy!

It was perfect! We had so much fun, we are going to do it again tonight and as soon as we have nice weather we are planning a little movie night in our parking lot with our neighbors, we are already going back and forth on what the first movie to watch should be, we are leaning toward something old and classic! Stay away rain, because I am ready for a movie night under the stars!

April 18, 2012 / 0 Comments

Hug Me!

The first week back to school after going away is always a tough one, in that you normally, or at least we normally don’t stick to a schedule. We will stay up later than usual chatting over a cup of tea, watching a movie, playing a game.

So going back to such a hectic routine can be tiring and by the middle of the week, I am feeling it, so when I spotted this today over at SwissMiss, I just smiled!

I could use a coke machine that I hugged and a got little can of coke back out of it, because that is just happiness!

September 16, 2011 / 1 Comment

We Made It!

Cha-Cha-Cha-Chaa-Cha!

We made it through the first week of school! I feel like having a party! But, I am too tired, so I shall have a mini one instead in the form of date night. It is mine tonight and I am off to make homemade pizzas for Mr. Michie!

Have a great weekend everyone!

(Image found here)

September 5, 2011 / 0 Comments

Last Day of Summer

Today was the last day of Summer for us, we went back to school this morning, waiting patiently for the bus, while frost formed from our breath and hung in the air, the morning had a true autumnal feel to it!

Bleary eyed I jumped in the shower after Mr. Michie at 5:30 this morning and proceeded to move about the house very quietly after that, eating my breakfast, listening to Classic FM, and inhaling the scent of Mr. Michie’s coffee brewing.

So, today I said goodbye to: sleeping-in in the mornings; to being able to watch “The Gilmore Girls” while I eat my breakfast; to having the day open to any possibility and to having time just for me.

I am now ready for a constant whirring at work like bees dipping and diving around the hive and the search to find a little calm for my boat in the waving ocean.

But in all my goodbyes to Summer, I now get to say hello to: my students (new and old); to frosty mornings, where we run to the coffee shop before work; to leaves crunching underfoot and soon the orangey glow of pumpkins and so I am ready to embrace autumn.

Goodbye Summer…

September 1, 2011 / 0 Comments

Autumn

I felt it today, that slight shift in the seasons. The sun shone a little brighter and higher in the sky, the shadows were a little longer and cooler, the air had a hint of crispness in it.

It is here! Going back to school season, hot apple cider season, pumpkin season, autumn is on its way, I can feel it!

April 8, 2011 / 0 Comments

YIPPEE!

YIPEEEE! School is out for Easter Break and I am very excited!

(Image by Kelly Reemtsen, I’m Not Falling For You, “Yippee” added by Jennifer Michie)

*Kelly Reemtsen is an artist I have only recently discovered and I really enjoy her work. This series in particular where surreal headless 1950’s/60’s clad women, holding everyday household and gardening objects fill the canvas before you. I love the differing shades of yellow used in the above image, it is so simple, yet so complex.

September 22, 2010 / 0 Comments

Round the Buses

We take the bus into school most mornings and pretty much every evening, unless we miss it and then we walk home breathing in all the goodness of fall (tonight I smelt my first fire of the season, the air was crispy and the woody mossy smell of logs crackling, was dancing through the air as we waited at our stop).

As we stand at our stop in the morning, our breath clinging in puffs before us, it is quiet, tranquil. Everyone around us still seems to be asleep just running on auto-pilot. The bus driver turns up, and as we are stepping on board he has our tickets printed already a few cheery “Good Mornings” and we take our seats.

You see the same people, a little nod and smile to some, others don’t care to be bothered. The bus is quiet, there is no talking, everyone appears to be mentally preparing themselves for the day ahead.

This, however, is not the case on the afternoon bus. Our bus driver is not a happy camper by any means, I greet her with a friendly “Hello!” and get either grunts or no acknowledgement in reply. She usually has a terse word with someone over nothing and she drives like a maniac.

It is like being on a rollercoaster ride, today my stomach was doing flips by the time we got home, from all the twisting and turning and short stopping and almost hitting people, animals, cars. I just hold my breath.

We have been back at school for two weeks now and she has not changed, her attitude seems to be stuck to her like glue, but I refuse to bend! I will continue to be as cheery as always and continue to tell her “Hello!” whether she likes it or not!

As Anne of Green Gables said, “I refuse to be poisoned by your bitterness!” and I think that can also go for being jaded. I refuse to be jaded by someone because they have a sour disposition about the world. I have my own thoughts, beliefs, dreams and I refuse to let them be destroyed by someone who has no imagination. Because to have no imagination must be the most unhappiest of existences I could dream of!

Whew! Ok, hold on…I am stepping down now and putting my soapbox away…

September 12, 2010 / 0 Comments

Mid Act

Well, this past week has left me feeling like I have been caught mid-act! I can see the bar I need to grab and I am reaching out for it and going to hold on tight as I swing into week 2. I have been busy every day tidying, organizing, assisting the department and finding new things to catalogue that I plan to photograph.

One of my faves this week was a something I spied behind the door of a colleagues room. It was a commissioned piece she created out of an old book for a library. It was beautifully done and the way it was imagined and executed left me feeling like Alice about to tumble down into the “rabbit hole” of this book. This is a work of art that will feature on In the Art Cupboard and she has kindly agreed to let me discuss her work in a blog piece here on Jenny Wren’s, which I plan to do in the near future.

The gentle jazz crooning of Nat King Cole’s “Your Nobody till Somebody Loves You” is beckoning me into the kitchen to dance with Mr. Michie, while we make dinner and enjoy the last lingering drops of sunshine as evening falls…

P.S. I bought my first Fall item this weekend. A little pumpkin trick-or-treat bucket to put on my desk and fill with candy for my cupboard visitors, I can’t wait for October!

(“Breathless” by G. Elvgren)

September 9, 2010 / 0 Comments

What’s for Lunch?

In keeping with my Back-to-School theme and the oilcloth lunch bags I wrote about the other day, I thought I would do a post on the ever important lunch box! This was one of the most crucial decisions made at the beginning of the school year! Which one did you choose?

My sister lives near a wonderful hole-in-the-wall restaurant with sandwiches to die for and it is completely filled with treasures. One of the many is a collection of lunch boxes, one of my favorite being a vintage Mary Poppins tin lunch box, and I know I would have chosen that one if I had it as an option, the pinks and blues in it are so happy.

I used to have a She-Ra lunch box one year, she was just so cool, and I had a plaid tin one with a little matching thermos. Some of my husband’s favorites were his Transformers, Star Wars and the most important of all a He-Man Master of the Universe lunch box, even then we were meant to be together, me with She-Ra & him with He-Man.

I love the old tin boxes they are so much nicer than the plastic ones today, and so much more durable! I think your lunch just tasted better out of the box, especially if it included a smiley face note from your Mom, and an oatmeal cream pie like mine would!

I could have used one of my Mom’s notes today, it has been a long week, but I got something better; a wonderful Back-to-School package from her that was a treasure trove of delights! Did you have a favorite lunch box?

*The image of the 3 women is a Flickr picture found on dlundbech’s Flickr page, the woman in the middle is Ana Grimshaw and this photo was taken around 1900 in Vermont. I have no idea who Ana Grimshaw is, but she was beautiful, vivacious, and has breathtaking Anne of Green Gables Gibson Girl hair. She looks like a hell of a gal to have a picnic with!

(All images found on Flickr)

September 7, 2010 / 2 Comments

Oilcloth Lunch Bags

I love oilcloth. I love the feel of it. Especially the really nice oilcloth, that is like waxed fabric, I used to work in an interior design store and we had the most scrumptious Swedish oilcloth that had that lovely “waxed fabric” feel.

I adore the vintage oilcloth that is available now, reflecting the quaintness of 1940’s/50’s kitchens. I can just see June Cleaver now with her adorable cherry and polka dot oilcloth or her summer fruits oilcloth with its vibrant blue background laid out on her kitchen table, can’t you?

In honour of going “back-to-school” and to pay homage to oilcloth I am doing a feature today on “Oilcloth Lunch Bags” I found on the Martha Stewart site. So, gather your materials from my class “handout” and get ready to just have fun:

You will need:

Oilcloth (pattern of your choice)
Scissors
Sewing Machine
Thread
Velcro or a clothespin

Lunch Bag How-To
The same oilcloth that covers your kitchen table can transport your children’s lunches — or your own — in leak-free style. These reusable bags will cut back on waste since they can simply be washed with a damp sponge (oilcloth is not washing-machine safe). Use a single print for the whole bag, or cut out complementary patterns or solid colors for side panels. You can attach small Velcro tabs to hold the bags closed, or clip the tops with colorful wooden clothespins.

Cut main piece 29 1/2 by 8 inches and two side panels, each 12 1/4 by 5 inches.
1. Fold long panel, inside out, into U shape with 5-inch bottom.

2. Make 1/4-inch cut at bottom corners of side and middle pieces so bag folds smoothly. Sew-in side panels, leaving 1/4-inch seam allowance.

3. Turn right side out and top-stitch all around, 1/8 inch from edge.

The most important thing to remember while doing this is to use your imagination and just have fun!

I have my eye on some Cath Kidston oilcloth in my beloved “Provence Rose” pattern and as soon as I can get my hands on it, I plan to make my own lunch bag, perhaps with a vintage button to close it with!

(All images and directions are copyright Martha Stewart, for the original article please click here)

The gorgeous Oilcloth.com store are one of my favourite supplies and they have a whole variety of patterns to choose from!