in case you were so inclined to know...

Today was a particularly tiring day at work. Some of these young kids have pretty tough lives and they can't help but show it through their emotions at school. I try to do the best I can and help them concentrate on school and at least help them make at least part of their day rewarding and enjoyable. However, although feeling a little drained I still feel good about my day at work. Whenever I thought about work in the education field I never thought that I would enjoy working in an elementary setting, but some of these kids are just too funny and they haven't yet acquired the attitude that accompanies the early teen years.

I suppose it also helps that the winter has been quite mild so far. It's been several weeks since I have had to really bundle up for my walk to and from work. These past two weeks the sun has been shining and I haven't minded in the least going outside to monitor the kids during lunch hour. It's actually very refreshing. I get to stroll around in the sunshine making sure the kids stay out of trouble... and I get to spend the majority of it mulling over things in my head. Rather an ideal job as I don't get lost in my thoughts like some people do... I am able to multitask, thinking and scanning the field for any misbehaving little ones at the same time.

For instance today I thought about a comment that I heard about myself yesterday, that being that I will eat anything.I tried very hard to create a list of what I really dislike eating and I really was hard-pressed to do so. I suppose in some ways I will eat anything, there are however a few exceptions:

I'm not a huge fan of olives (despite their beauty) or plain oatmeal (it must be well cooked and well sweetened and even then I can only consume tiny portions) or sandwiches on white bread with boloney (or bologna as I call it sometimes), onion, mustard, and thick slices of cheddar cheese. In fact untoasted sandwiches on plain bread tend to repulse me. I dislike the feeling that I am eating a moist sponge. And what's with not melting the cheese... why pair a moist sponge with a dense strip of cheddar?

Speaking of bread, I have to admit that I don't eat much of it. I enjoy it immensely, but I prefer little bits of a baguette, a piece of raisin toast, or a hearty bread to eat with soup. I have nothing against carbohydrates (in fact I don't think I could live without my rice) but bread and I are like casual acquaintances who see each other every now and then and have a nice time together, but don't miss each other when we're apart. And speaking of rice I can only eat small amounts of my mother's risotto (which is not pronounced with a long O sound, rather a short and soft o so it's actually riz-otto, Otto as in the German engineer whose name is given to the Otto cycle, the four stroke cycle on which most engines work) which although lovely and delicious for some odd reason I can't seem to eat too much of.

I've never quite understood gelatin molds with assorted peas, nuts and apples. I prefer brocolli over cauliflower (who wouldn't) and I love spinach, be it in a salad or steamed and then tossed with butter and salt. Blame my love of greens (with the exception of mustard greens) on my iron deficiency... a condition which has also kept me an eater of red meat, which if served as a steak (something which I rarely have) should be prepared medium-rare to medium. I used to avoid shrimp (due to very unattractive looking shrimp cocktail on a Lufthansa flight to Frankfurt when I was 11) but in recent years scampi and I have become good chums. It is also safe to say that I have an understanding with other creatures of the sea as well.

All this talk of food has surely made me hungry... which was my intent... because when I arrived home from work I was tired and didn't really feel like eating anything. That is another thing you might be inclined to know. My eating habits are flawed. I don't eat nearly regularly enough because I acquired the bad habit of ignoring my hunger so I can't really tell when I'm hungry or not. People who spend any time around me soon pick up on my habits and I end up using them as a clock for when I should eat. It is these good people who notice when my energy levels drop to next to nothing and force feed me Nature Valley Trail Mix granola bars and make me drink some juice. Pair that with a deliciously ripe avacado, sprinkled with some salt... and I will be fully repaired.

So, now that I've wasted your good time and money reminding the world about things they didn't care to know... I leave you with this parting comment.

Tonight I hope your dinner will be as satisfying as my lunch will be.

(additional not so favourite list item: beans, kidney, refried, multi-layered dip (however artfully arranged, sorry), or multi-coloured salad tossed in a light vinaigrette... I'll tend to avoid them, unless of course they are of the pea variety, by which I mean chick by which really I mean garbanzo)