homemade barbells and poison ivy awareness

yesterday was kind of a freebie-i am so glad that we had no snow days because i really needed yesterday off! (even if i did spend a good chunk of it painting murals...a-gain). i don't know if we'll finish before summer. oh well, i got texas, the u.s. and the continents started-need a few more details. i also finished the watermelon shell in the cafeteria because i was working with greens.

 today i woke up at 7 and had to get up because otherwise i would have been laying awake trying to sleep for a few more minutes...so i did it. i got up and chaco said, "'bout time!" and we had a delicious apple, raisin, cinnamon and granola breakfast. well, i did...the boys had the usual.

for lunch i had a recipe i wanted to try out, and not gonna' lie, it was delicious! it was a chicken stir fried rice-wow! and then i decided i needed to work out, but i had no desire to go to the gym (i didn't even know if it would be open). so i made my own barbell because today's workout was deadlifts and squat jumps.

yes, as a matter of fact, those are cement blocks...so?

it was good-got my heart rate up!

yesterday the boys and i took a walk on the back trail, and i had to keep the boys on the sidewalk because they kept wanting to get close to the bushes. normally that wouldn't bother me, in fact i took them over by one to enjoy the smell of the honeysuckle, which is out now.

i've mentioned it before, i've loved the smell ever since my friend, laura, introduced me to the flower!

 but the enjoyment of our visit to the bushes and flowers was short-lived because this was at the foot of the honeysuckle bush.

poison ivy is of the devil.

i am so glad that i hung out with hank at kamp-he taught us how to identify poison ivy. that is truly a need-to-know for everyone! yes, dogs can get rash too (if they are allergic, they can have anaphylactic reactions as well) so, we'll be keeping our eyes open when we go walking from now on!

poison ivy scares me because i have had a couple of friends at kamp who have suffered from terrible rashes all over their bodies in the wretched summer heat of the ozarks! to the extent of needing to take steroids to get better. they were legitimately miserable. and i learned a couple of things about it. you can get it without touching it if you are too close to it because the oils can brush off on your clothes and can transfer to your skin if you touch it. also, just because you don't get a rash on the first contact, doesn't mean you are forever immune...you can still develop allergic reactions.

i was going to watch passion of the Christ tonight, but it isn't on until 10 p.m., so i will be recording it and watching it tomorrow. i don't watch it every year, but i did go to the opening back when i lived in des moines. i went with a dear friend i worked with, but we got there a little late and there weren't two seats together..boo. that's the worst! it is necessary to be reminded of the sacrifice that Christ made on the cross; i think in the society we live in, i take it for granted.

exceedingly thankful for the imputation of righteousness that Christ has bestowed upon undeserving me
 blessings,
 julie