i kept my scissors, i am a rebel...their fault!

has it really been over a week? crazy! i meant to post sooner, but i was tired (all week) and then when i finally got un-tired on friday, i realized that i left my usb-phone charger/connector at school and had no way to download pics. so today i went to radio shack for a second cord. which is fine, because i like having an extra to pack in my bag for emergencies!

so i got to radio shack and the guy at the counter showed me the cords that he had, and i opted for the cool enercell retractable one-so smart. and of course, he tried to talk me into getting a new phone (which i need to do, but i need to be prudent with my money more than i need new gadgets). 

well, last sunday p.m. i had a meeting with 5 fellows from our ed-policy class, and erika, our fearless leader. we had a lot of discussion about the bills that we would be testifying on. it was a good meeting, and i was home by around 9 ish...late enough not to worry too much about my observation the following day.

the observation went fine-i was pleasantly surprised when they showed up for science instead of reading...

then the next day i woke up early, went to school to pick up keys to drop the boys off at my principal's home because she was so gracious to spend time with them while i was away! they were a little skeptical, but i think they had a good time! had they stayed longer, they might've even become friends with her silkies. smile. my favorite part was the thoughtful updates that evening.

after i dropped them off, it was off to the airport. per usual, i was early (punctuality is everything..especially when flying!). so i went straight up to the gate. while i was up there i whipped out my scissors to cut some papers up, as i heard the lady on the intercom say no knives, or scissors beyond the security checkpoint area...not my fault they didn't catch it. or the knife in my purse...oops.

the others arrived shortly before boarding..after we boarded the plane and got settled, i was sitting beside a couple who were going beyond austin. so while we were waiting, the lady forced me into small talk, and found out why we were headed to austin. she proceeded to let me know that she knew one of the senators from fort worth, so she gave me her card in case we met the senator. then the pilot let us know that there had been a bird strike on the way in, so they were going to have to maintenance the plane to check its integrity, and we were going to have to switch planes.

so glad we didn't go american-they were grounded for several hours!

so we did just that-hoofed it to the other gate and got in line on the "honor system." fortunately this plane was bigger than the previous, because i was able to actually get a seat by the window this time, even though i was at the back of the line. and the inflight service was worthless, because i pretty much got my coffee, took 3 sips, and they came around to collect our trash because we were already on descent. boo.

at this point, we were running behind schedule, so there really wasn't time to grab lunch. we went straight to the hotel and dropped our stuff off in our rooms.

i've not seen this before, but they had a little model to show people how to draw the curtains and open the door...they must get a lot of idiots in their hotels...

 then we walked up to the capitol building. what a beautiful building!

and once we went in, we found a couple of the people from Educate Texas, who were waiting for us. they helped us get registered to testify and then we went to some of the offices to meet with the representatives or their spokespersons. it was very interesting. each office that we went into, it pretty much turned into a continued conversation as we explained why we were there.

erika was communicating with some of the advocates who were actually monitoring the session to let us know when we would be up...as 20 minutes turned into umm...3 hours..but it's ok, because that gave us a chance to stop and get a bite at the cafeteria. a salad and a coffee to tie me over until dinner, surely. well, we went to the session and listened in on some testimony for a couple of different bills, and finally our first bill was up. we gave our testimony to the education committee (there are 9 or 10 of them), but some were present, some stepped out (rude). it went well, and then we knew that we wouldn't be up until the last bill, so we left and went to get dinner at a little mexican restaurant across from our hotel, and two of our advocate friends came to join us and the conversation was good.

we still had plenty of time left, so we went back tot he hotel, and at about 11:45 we met back in the lobby to go back to the capitol building to testify for our last bill.

two of the gals had gotten there before us, and they had actually kind of cornered the chair of the committee, who had stepped out to meet them because another rep slipped him a note. so we walked up just as they started speaking with him-perfect timing! apparently, on previous visits, erika had tried to set up appointments to meet with him, but to no avail, so this was a plus.

then we went in to sit and wait a little more for our chance to talk about hb 2977. it was quite empowering to stand in front of the reps and state our position and give testimony as to why we support our position! good times. well, hopefully we had coherent arguments..the fact of the matter is that we were not finished until about 2-2:30, i am pretty sure i laid my head down on my pillow at about 3 a.m. and my roomie had to be up at 4:30 because she was leaving on an earlier flight. so i was able to go back to sleep for an hour before i had to get up and at 'em. we arrived at the airport, and guess what, my scissors and knife made it through again! (i was pretty sure that the rules had changed-maybe they just hadn't changed the announcements yet).  

at that point, we were on the lookout for breakfast food. all we found was a little mexican fast food, and a burger/sandwich joint. so we got a couple of egg and bacon tacos. the flight was on time, and we were off without a hitch...until we landed and the gate we were supposed to pull into was full, so they had to wait for permission to park it elsewhere. (this is where it comes in handy to have worked for the airlines before, things like this don't phase me too much).

then i went to get the boys, and bring them home. they were talking nonstop about how much fun they had at the sleepover.when we got home, they crashed with me for a 40 minute power nap, and then i was up to shower and get to school before noon.

the rest of the week went by fairly quickly and i enjoyed tutoring science...i think sandra learned some stuff too! 

and yesterday it hit me that we are two weeks away (and counting) to wicked!!!

i'm so excited!! my principal went and thoroughly enjoyed it-she let me look at her playbill, and i am even more excited than ever!!

well, i think that pretty much catches us up!

evening!
julie