new mantra: find a quarter, pick it up...kid who lost it, you're out of luck.

if i have spelling errors tonight, please feel free to overlook them, as my eyelids are heavy. it has been a super long first week. who knew that sitting with the students during lunch every day could take that much out of you! ok, maybe it was actually the long busy week and weekend before the first day, and the long day with meet the teacher, and trying to get things right that actually made it so exhausting.

routines, routines, routines. i am so thankful that this is a long weekend, because i have some things i need to create to really make some of those routines work better.

and when i got back to school, here is the poster that they have up:

really? why didn't they do this last year? what a joke, we did so well as a school last year!! jerks. oh well.

one morning i was walking down the hallway and saw a penny on the floor. now, everyone remembers the chant: find a penny, pick it up; all day long you'll have good luck. (but only if the penny is on heads, ya?) well, i didn't pick it up, penny shmenny...i was waiting for bigger and better...like a 5 spot maybe? because let's be honest, a 40th of that penny goes to the government...which would leave me with what, part of lincolns hairdo? well, since no bills showed up all day long, when i saw this quarter in the parking lot, i DID pick it up! we're in a recession yo! besides, i'll need it to go with a dolla if i find myself in a diet coke panic at any point! (hasn't happened yet, but one never knows).

i remember when i was younger (like 3rd-4th grade young) and my friend nathan and i would go down to the gas station down the hill and check for change from the phones-yep, remember when you could pop in a nickle or a dime to make a call?! well, we would always scrounge hoping that someone hadn't checked for the change after hanging up, or the change slot in the coke machine-the old ones that had the glass bottles that you pay the money, then open the door...well, once i got older, i would leave some change once in awhile to make the day of a kid, but not these days! sorry kids, tough luck!

new mantra: find a quarter, pick it up...kid who lost it, you're out of luck.

i did pretty good this week with my meals, and water drinking-i've gone through almost my first 5-gallon at school. i forgot my drink receptacle today, so i had to pull out my RED SOLO CUP!  and so all day long i was singing to myself, "let's have a party!" i remember being on a huge toby keith kick-thanks, jory!  anyhoo, as i was walking around with my RED SOLO CUP!  i was wondering what is the significance at school of the colored solo cups, because i know they have certain messages on the college scene....well, when we got to the cafeteria and ate with the kids, i was reminded that in elementary school-cabell at least-the RED SOLO CUP! means shut up. be quiet at least and eat your food!

then today, the day we were supposed to be able to leave early, there was a retirement party for frank, our hard-working, always willing to do whatever is needed custodial staff:

i wish i were retiring! i'd take the boys down to utila or roatan and live it up!!!

in fact, this week has been so tiring that i had not gotten over to get dog food, and the boys were looking hungry last night, so i had some of the food i was using for chaco when he was littler with the liver issues, and i put some of it out. they looked at me like...really? but they ate a little of it. then i felt bad, so i gave them some chicken i had just poached, which they really liked. so tonight we went over to petsmart to grab a small bag of food. which led us to the greenies, and on the way toward checkout, we found frankenstein...it was a must.

"aw, hey mama! thanks! i love our new franken-ball-squeaky thing!"

"in fact, i love him SO much that i am going to rip the stitching out of his mouth and kill his squeaker!"

the boys are very happy that it is a long weekend as well. it has been a rough week on chaco. he has not liked me leaving every morning. #anxietyattacks! we're just going to sleep in and enjoy it. (reminds me of the commercial with the lady who needs glasses calling in the 'cat' [raccoon] "please come snuggles with momma!")

hope everyone enjoys this labor day weekend! wear those white shoes one more time this weekend and then put them away!

julie