strategically moving through addison and the acting portion of the gre

today-the first day of Christmas break! woo hoo! we wanted to wake up late, but had to settle for 8:30..try again tomorrow! i was very happy to be able to finish my Christmas shopping...all i need now is to pick up some manila envelopes and wait for something in the mail. oh, and i have one more picture to develop. remember when i painted the pallet? well, i took the pallet when our interim principal was at our school, and she had asked what i was planning to do with it, so i am sending her a pic of the inspiration and the actual pallet.

these are the canvases i did awhile back on the opposite wall.

i was going to get the pics developed while i was at cvs, but i forgot to bring the usb cord to pull the pics off the phone. boo.

so after i swung by cvs, i planned my moves strategically. first i would stop at the post office, then lakeshore, after that i'd cross the street and hit bed bath and beyond and last stop-over to barnes and noble!

so when i stopped at the post office, there was a line ( even at the machine! imagine that). but surprisingly everyone was acting strange-the holiday spirit had apparently descended upon everyone. isn't it strange how at Christmas time, people are more chatty and willing to talk to randoms in line?

a sweet elderly lady (who knows if she really was sweet, i just like to imagine that most elderly people are) didn't want to wait in the main lobby line, so she asked if the machine dispensed Christmas stamps, and someone in front said they were getting some and would let her know. (i had bought some the other day, but i didn't speak up...because what if the machine was out or they changed them up).

love the stamps!

 so indeed it did still have them and the lady looked at me and asked if the machine took debit cards and when i told her yes, she went on to explain how when debit cards first came out, she thought they were the devil, but now she can't live without it! then she conversed with the lady at the end of the line offering to hold her baby son...heavy baby son, judah...

at lakeshore, i realized how ridiculously over-priced educational resources are. boo. i got a couple of books to assist my students in their grammar and spelling- i wanted to get one that was white board compatible, but it was pricier than i really wanted to go at this time.

thought these might give me the most bang for my buck...(fireworks for my money...not bangs on a male deer-that would just be wrong)

when i got home, the boys asked me to please please please take a nap with them, so i did...reluctantly (right).

when we woke up refreshed, i pulled out the 'where is santa' book. i bought about 4 of them real cheap after Christmas at the family general store a couple of years ago meaning to give them to students as gifts. well, this year, i brought one home so that i could search-i love searches!

find the patriotic yorkie...

and now we are preparing to get our studying going! bruno said he's going to try to help me with the math rules and chaco said he was going to help me work on the acting portion. i explained that the test i was taking had no acting portion and he let me know that i was no fun. so i sent him off to practice the shepherd scene from the Christmas story and he could perform for us later.

hope your Christmas spirit gives you the opportunity to talk to people in long lines,
julie