A Look Around The Beach

Now this ought to go down in COutsidetheBox blogging history - although on 'blogging leave', I'm now making a 2nd post within 36 hours. This is not, however, marking the end of my leave, it's just that when I went to visit Paul at his blogsite - "But a Poor Reflection", I saw his brilliant idea of doing a 360 look around a piece of his world.

Needing to clear my head and go for a walk, I went and visited my favourite beach to walk at. It was getting dark so I didn't stay long. I took a couple of photos and a couple of video clips. I couldn't decide which one I liked better so have added 2 out of the 3 or 4 clips I took. Hope you enjoy them!

Oh and like Paul, I recorded it using my Sony Ericsson phone.

Swimming, Shopping and Twirling

Looking through my wardrobe as Winter approaches, pulling out old jumpers (pullovers) that are looking old and tatty, I checked my bank balance and strolled down the streeet to visit a ladies' clothing store - a bit upmarket from Target as clothes sold there are of a higher quality and price. Price???!! When I checked the price I thought that maybe I should drive to Melbourne isntead so quickly walked back home. One pullover I liked was $80, the others I liked were higher in price than that!

I also decided to check how many calories are burned during swimming as compared to walking as someone told me that swimming is better for me if I want to lose weight. When I learned that I burn up to 4x more calories swimming rather than walking, I then had a choice to make... swim or shop in Melbourne? Tough decision!

As I've lost more weight this week, the decision wasn't so tough after all. The best motivation for losing weight is seeing results for hard work. I went swimming and swam. I swim at the local heated pool which is about 2kms from home. (on my way to work) I swim 4 laps of freestyle, 4 laps of backstroke, 1 lap using a kickboard on my front, 2 laps of breaststroke, 1 lap using a kickboard on my back = 12 laps and then start the cyle all over again. Each Saturday, I add 2 more laps to my total. This week I am up to 30 laps. I was swimming 3x a week but am going to try and increase that to 4x a week. Mon. Wed. Thurs. and Saturday.

I do enjoy swimming as I find it does help to de-stress, as opposed to distress after a busy, eventful and/or stressful day. The only thing I didn't enjoy was when I was swimming backstroke this morning, I miscounted my strokes after passing the flags (close to the end of the pool) and slammed my arm against the edge. OUCH!! I'm sure I'm going to have a big bruise there soon. This is a photo of the pool that I found on their website. I'm sure if I took a photo of it, it wouldn't look quite so good.

I stopped in at Target on the way home and bought 4 tops for the same price as what I would have paid for 1 pullover at the ladies' clothing store. At Safeway, I was tempted to buy a yummy donut but then thought that would waste the effort I put into swimming and bought a banana instead.

Speaking of swimming, I read some interesting trivia about octopi today and thought I'd share it with you here. In Detroit, they have had a tradition since 1952 to twirl Octopi on the ice at hockey matches. Recently, a $10 000 fine was introduced for anyone who did it. The NHL Commissioner explained the reason for it:

Actually, there's a very good reason for it. We haven't fined or given a delay of game penalty for the throwing of the octopus because we understand and respect the tradition. Having said that, when you swing the octopus around - and I don't know the exact term for it -- but octopus 'gunk' gets on the ice and occasionally has gotten on the players -- the goaltenders -- as it goes by. Occasionally, when it freezes on the ice, it creates a potentially hazardous situation for the players. It's not about interfering with a tradition; it's about making sure nobody gets it in their eyes, like a goaltender nearby, or that nobody blows out a knee getting caught on some frozen gunk."

According to the Yahoo article I read, they said that "blowing out a knee on octopus goo has escaped us on injury reports for the last 17 years."

Well, I'd rather swim than fall over on ice!

Catch Up

The Walk Safely to School day went well. When the radio announcer called me on the phone, his first words were, "Stop blogging about me!" He has some kind of 'alert' thing that lets him know when someone uses his name or something so that's why I'm not mentioning his name now. LOL Nathan said I sounded like a professional radio person and those who heard it, seemed somewhat impressed. I didn't mind so much having to get up early and was totally ready by the time he called. At first I wondered if he was even going to call but he did - and he called me Coralanne.

I've been swimming regularly for the last month or so. My aim is to swim 3x a week although sometimes I only get to 2x. I'm also trying to walk 3x too and I find it does make me feel healthier and more energetic. Not that my energy was depleted but.... Swimming laps is also good for destressing. Last Monday after a particularly harrowing day, I left early to work at home and on the way home, did some laps to get my head cleared up. It did help. This photo was taken about an hour or so after my swim tonight. I was standing just inside Nathan's room and he wanted me to include the poster of the yellow "Bumblebee" Transformer or whatever, but as you can see, I didn't.

There is some news I wanted to share with those of you who are left as my faithful few.... Remember Jack? Jack the kid who ended up leaving our school and then came back? Anyway, he's in my class this year and I am so impressed with him. A few weeks ago, a smaller kid was provoking him but all he did was take the kid's stick off him and went away. Today, another smaller kid was being a problem so Jack kept an eye on him and even tried explaining to the boy why being agressive doesn't help. He told him how he had gone to another school but that turned out to be just as bad and was glad we gave him another 'chance' and let him come back here.

At recess time, Jack came to me when all the other students had left and asked me, "Am I doing allright this year?" I smiled and said, "For sure! I'm so impressed at how well you're going!" He then said, "No, I'm being honest... Am I?" I laughed and said that I was being honest too and then he made sure I wasn't crossing my fingers and added, "But I mean in my school work, too." I think by this time I was sort of shaking my head and just kept saying that he was doing well. Academically, he's not at the standard he's supposed to be at, but he's trying and that certainly counts for something. So there you go, at times like that, I am reminded what a blessing it really is to be a teacher!!!!! (And to have such wonderful students in my class!)

On the Radio

This morning while I was working on admin/principal stuff, the phone rang and when I picked it up, a man calling himself "Andrew" with an accent enquired about talking to the 'owner of the business'. Since that is the usual line tele-marketers give, I told him to call the other campus and he replied quickly, "He's won the lottery!" I hung up. The phone rang again and when I picked it up, 'Andrew' quickly said, "No, don't hang up, I'm from the Gippsland...." I didn't hear the rest of his spiel but did laughingly ask him what he thought about playing a prank on me when he doesn't even know me and I don't know his voice etc. After a few minutes of banter, he asked to speak to the principal and found it even more amusing when he learned that I was the principal.

Tomorrow our school is participating in the Walk Safely to School day. He asked me some questions like how we got involved and why and asked me about our school. He then asked me if I'd like to be interviewed by Brendan King on the radio tomorrow as part of the promotions so of course I said "Yes" and when I asked what time, he replied, "Early". He'll be calling me at about 7:20am tomorrow (Fri. 2nd May) and I'm not sure if you can but apparently you can hear the station online. Click on ABC Gippsland and it should take you there or if your in Australia and want to listen on the radio, its playing on 3GI - 100.7 FM radio. For those of you who aren't in Australia, it will be broadcast at 2:20pm PST or 5:30pm EST on Thurs. 1st May.

It might not work, I don't know - but you can always try. Hopefully it won't take too long because I have to walk to school that day and meet all the students and staff at the swimming pool. It's actually quite fun!

Still On A Break But....

I'm still having a break from blogging but thought I'd update you on some fun I've had lately.

During the last week of the holidays, I went to a "New Principal's Residence Seminar" and the principals who attended, stayed at the Windsor Hotel in Melbourne. It's not far from our State Parliment House and the Treasury Gardens. It was a worthwhile time meeting new principals and finding out what the AISV do for independent schools in our State.

It was so special to be treated so well. There was valet parking so I had to call my friend Kevin to find out how that 'works' as I've never had the privilege of that service before. The food was delicious, doors were opened by uniformed valets and when I went up to my room after dinner and a meeting that night, the curtains had been closed, the bed turned down and the bedside light was on. I had a bath before I retired.

Here's a short video clip of the photos I took at that time.




The other day, I was having a 'day' so I encouraged Karen to come outside and kick the footy (football) with me. Mine is pink and it sits in my 'principal's office' on my desk. All the students had gone into work and I was having planning time and needed a break. It was a lot of fun and I laughed when I broke a nail!









Today, the Parents and Friends of my school campus ran a car boot sale/Fun day. It was a lot of fun and I got to jump on the Jumping Castle. I'm sure some of my students deliberately pushed me while I was on it and when I finally managed to crawl off, I felt a bit dizzy when I stood up. Here's some photos that were taken at that time too.

Taking A Break

I'm going to take a break from blogging for awhile and that probably includes the reading of blogs although I'll keep them in my 'favourites' and every now and again will pop over to visit.
I don't know how long the break will be for - might be days, weeks or longer.

I just feel I have too much to deal with in my life right now and need to focus on those things that are more important at this time.

I am privileged to have made such wonderful friends and I'm still contactable via email. Please feel free to stay in touch.

Take care.

Carolanne

To Get My Hair Done

To get my hair done, I travel to Melbourne and it takes me about an hour and half to get there. Nathan decided he wanted his hair cut too and we left with plenty of time to spare. So much time that we decided to stop in at McCafe for lunch. Nathan eats half my food at the moment - I think it's an effective way to diet. After we left McCafe, all traffic was diverted due to an accident, so we turned right and followed a few other cars. When we came to another T intersection, I decided to go left rather than follow the car that went right. For all I know, that car could have been on its way home.

I got back to the main hwy and ended up back where I started and back at the same detour again. I turned right the next time and found myself in a place I've never been before but having a good sense of direction (really) I was able to navigate back on the freeway and we were only 7 minutes late for my appointment. The accident was a fatal one - a 7 yr old boy and his 14 yr old brother, 2 other siblings in critical danger and mother also in intensive care after a semi-trailer allegedly ran a red light and crashed into them. Very sad.

Mary did my hair and Nathan's hair and shared gossip about her clients. I told her it reminded me of an episode on Get Smart where Control couldn't work out how Kaos was finding out their secrets. Turns out, Kaos had 'planted' spies in a hair dressing salon that Control agents frequented. People tell their hairdresser all sorts of secrets although Mary says she's caught out a couple of lies. She wonders why they bother lying - what do they have to lose anyway?



I stopped to fill up with petrol which costs $1.47 per litre and cost me $50.00 total. Unfortunately you have to be 16 yrs of age and older to fill up so Nathan got to stay nice and warm in the car.

On the way home, it rained hard as you can tell by this short video clip. Nathan told me you've all seen roads like this before but I felt it added to my story. Anyway, time for me to go to a Board Meeting and I'll be home late. (Hopefully I won't be late to the meeting now!

Bee Stings and Holiday Breaks

We are now on Term break for the next 2 weeks, returning to school on April 7th. None too soon if you ask me!

With the recent heat wave of temperatures in the high 30's (reaching 101 F at times), warm, sleepless nights and long days, it seemed that there was more than just the weather-type hot air blowing around in classrooms. Water fights only cool down for so long and then it isn't long before one is dried out and needing a refresher soon after. Karen saw a competition for schools to take a photo of something to do with water and then enter it and win something grand. She got all excited when looking at the photos of the water fight but when she looked more closely at the 'water conservation' condition, she realised that our photos probably didn't quite fit under that theme.

Well the cool change has hit and the dial has been changed from air conditioner to heater. The nights are cooler and the skies are overcast. Today is only expected to get to 18 c and it's almost that now. We did reach the highest temperature for March ever recorded on the 16th when it was 39.3 c in our town. The highest recorded temp for March before that was on March 12th1998 when it reached 38.8c and I share this information for you because people keep talking about Global Warming and I sometimes look at history and wonder if it really has made all that much difference. I'm not a scientist and I know scientists have differing opinons anyway so I'll leave it to them to decide.

As already stated, I'm on holidays now so maybe I'll get a chance to catch up with blogging especially if the weather stays cool, forcing me to be inside. There are a few days I will be doing school work but I do want to take a break as well so that I can go back to work somewhat refreshed. In this photo, I'm waving to a group of girls who went on a short hike with their bedding and backpacks to raise money for "Orphans2Rescue". It is not a secret wave or code, as one friend suggested. LOL

As I began this post, Russell called me to "Come quickly!" and when I got to the living room, Nathan was sitting down with his foot up because he'd been stung by a bee and the bee was still stuck to his foot. He said to me, "I thought bees weren't supposed to stick themselves to you" but since he stood on it, guess it was a different story. It's quite possible it was dead before it got stuck to him. As I pulled the bee away, a mass of gooey stuff came with it too and then it was just the stinger and a blob left to take out. I waited for his foot to swell up but it didn't so I'm assuming he's not allergic to bee stings.

Today is Good Friday - our isp was down for most of last night and we had no power for 2 hrs yesterday - 4:30pm - 6:30pm. I didn't expect the ISP to get up and running since our whole nation closes for Good Friday but obviously the problem did get fixed. Tonight we're going to celebrate Gerda's birthday with her family. March is a month of birthdays for my friends and family!

In closing, I hope you all have a safe and happy Easter as we remember and celebrate God's amazing love for us!!

This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. 1 John 4:9,10

Cooling Down

It was a very hot day today - reached 38 C at least (100 F) and we don't have airconditioning in our classrooms. The students kept asking me if they could have a waterfight but when I went out on yard duty at lunchtime, suddenly the water was splashing around everywhere! Karen watched while Lisa (chaplain) took photos.

Karen described it as "organised chaos" and I did keep a tight rein on who got to control the water. As everyone wanted to get wet, I just told the younger students to stand there and they'd have water thrown at them - they didn't need to use the taps. (Un?)fortunately, the kids saw me as a target too.

Even while Lisa was taking my photo, a taller student came up behind me and tipped a jug of water over me.


There are water restrictions so we were careful not to waste a drop of it - as you can see by the photos of me. One of the kids said that I was awesome - that at their previous school they would have gotten in trouble for something like this.

When it comes to a waterfight on a hot day, you can count me in every single time!

Kids Rock

My niece posted this on my Facebook Wall so I had to post it here - for Art and all other music lovers. LOL

Enjoy!