w. machine...must there be a smack down?

i thought i would begin with this because a friend at school asked about my chaco's today. (again, yes, i named my dog after my shoes-special credit to becky mayes for being so creative and letting me steal her idea!) i've mentioned my shoes before, so really quick, these are my staples:

ah, what a handsome bunch! from left to right: keens, chacos, vibrams

most of my kamp friends are familiar with all of these, but for those of you who are not,for 365 days out of the past year these are all i have worn. i just find them comfortable and practical for me.

moving from the shoes to my life! the washing machine is still being a sissy-it keeps stopping before the spin cycle (i'm guessing that it just realized that that's when it always starts to get dizzy, and now it's just on strike or something). i look like an idiot trying to figure out how to remedy it because i've been on top of it, around it and behind it. tonight if i cannot figure it out, i'll have to call maintenance and maybe take my laundry to the mat...not like wrestling either. and i don't want to have to do that because with my luck my students and their families would be there. ew. no. please. it's like reverse mean girls-seeing students outside the classroom is like seeing a dog stand on its hind legs.

i lived in brodhead, wisconsin from 1st grade through 4th grade. i loved living there and i have sooooo many great memories, someday i might share some of those if it be relevant. i went to brodhead elementary which was later renamed after the principal who was there the entire time i was there- albrecht elementary. i bring this up because as i teach 4th graders, i try to remember what it was like and it's nostalgic. i remember the cool kids, the artists, the sporty kids, the cheerleader types, the imaginative types...today as i looked around the room i was testing, i was putting kids in their categories. there was ty (the cool kid), chad (the class clown), jamie (the big goofy redhead-only ours isn't), monique (the cute and sweet), adam (the artist), pam (the loyal friend), lottie (the imaginitive), mandy (the adventurous), tricia (the friendly and well liked) chris(the well-rounded and liked by everyone)...crazy how  memories can be so vivid.

one day of taks done and gone. we can never get it back. thank GOD! today i had halls cough drops in my pocket, so i ate one-figured the menthol in the cough drops would wake me up a little. testing is for the birds..the blue footed booby birds... please say that with a british accent like a documentary...  wikipedia says:
"Blue-foots will make raucous or polysyllabic grunts or shouts and thin whistle noise." and that's about how i felt like i was communicating today.

on the way home from school today i was noticing that my bag is threadbare in places, and i just noticed where chaco found the zipper and the zipper lost.i swear that dog is possessed sometimes by the tasmanian devil! little unholy terror...but cute. (cuteness covers a multitude of sins...wait...no, that's love that does that..but i suppose cuteness doesn't hurt!)

the strap isn't the original either(the hooks on the end went bad, so i replaced it awhile back with nothing less than my rollerblade holder strap! the kind you attach a blade to each end then sling it over the shoulder for easier carrying-i was quite the roller-blader back in the day thanks to my college friends stacey and mike! which once again is another story!) so...i guess i should just go ahead and get a new one. ugh. i hate spending money on stuff like this because i want to spend it on fun stuff, not practical necessity. blech.

ok, time to get on the washing machine issue!

jules