she turned on the mic for all TWO of us.

i made crockpot roast beef yesterday. as great as it taste, i was not thrilled to arrive home today to an apt that smelled like..well, roast beef. so i opened the windows and then took the boys for a walk. when i got home, it was still roast beefy. so i threw everything into the dishwasher. there's something strange about my dishwasher...at first i thought it was the classical music on t.v., but when i came into the living room, i realized it was not.

i think there is a tiny man inside my dishwasher conducting a symphony...perhaps he wears a scuba outfit...idk, but it sounds like a musical arrangement of various instruments.

so, saturday i ventured out to find some things; i found myself not happy with the options at walmart-although i still found some things that i needed. so i turned around and went to the container store. i found some great stuff! i was especially looking for an appropriate clothespin-holder-deal for room 109 (i don't even know what to call the room that i 'board' in). 

while i was there, i was looking at the push pins and magnetic strips when a lady approached me with a card and a pen to fill out the card. then she asked me to come see the shelving presentation in 5 minutes. i asked her how long it would take, and when she said 7-10 minutes, and you could win a $20 gift card, i stuck around for a bit. not that i was bothered because it was raining out pretty hard, and this would be a great moment to avoid that.

so i walked over to the shelving area and filled out my card. there was one other lady there besides the lady giving the presentation. yes, if you are counting, that would make two of us plus store lady. and then she did the unthinkable. she turned on the microphone and she began broadcasting. did i mention that there were only two of us? so she began reading her cards and we muddled through. i tried to look like i was really interested and planning on eventually getting something. they really do have some great stuff.

and when it was over, she mixed the cards....all two of them for the drawing and the other lady drew a card. it was mine! woohoo! so i got a $20 gift card which i immediately put to use. and i felt even luckier when i saw that they had the umbra card holders! i have been looking for another ever since the little bungee-elastic on mine broke and i had to re-tie it!!

i had a 50/50 chance..i usually don't win.

i really like this hanging deal with solid shelves-i could think of many uses in a classroom.

my new umbra case with the thumb tacks that were so colorful.

i went from there to the 1/2 price bookstore. i purchased several new mentor texts for writing and reading. i love books! i sat myself down and went through my list of authors and filled up my cart.

most girls treat themselves to new shoes. new clothes. a manicure. a pedicure. i went to the gun range. it's been awhile. i need to go more often. i'm still a pretty good shot; next time i am going to try a couple of different rental calibers. if they don't have too much of a kick i might actually look into getting a .40 or .45 because ammunition is a little easier to come by.

yesterday i was working on some reports and questions with our system. so i was e-mailing our amazing rep from all in learning, and i meant to send some screen shots of the issues that i was having so that he would have an inkling of what i was talking about. i thought i had chosen the 5 screen shots that i had just taken, but i was having 'outlook-difficulties,' and my computer wasn't showing me the attachments that i added. then i got his response:

hmmm...

 apparently i sent this in one of the attachments...

let's not like, he is kinda' cute. (and if you don't think so, you can go ahead and lie anyway)

i think we got most of our issues resolved.

remember how i went to the discovery gardens and purchased some fun plants for school? well, after having the milkweed in the car for a couple of days, i was ready to be rid of the creeper.

totally peeking around the headrest...backseat driver-tickled my ear and scared the crap out of me! and made me think of audrey II in little shop of horrors.

and then when i went to the store the other day, i found myself haggling over 9/10s of a cent. what in the world? no wonder it sometimes takes so long to get what i need and get out.

must-live-more-simply....please tell me it's not just me.

i think the lady next door moved saturday. i'm glad. she was kind of an odd bird. bruno and chaco were talking about her dog. he always growled at them and chaco would start the whole 'hold-me-back' routine, knowing full well that his leash kept him safe. anyhoo, i noticed that their welcome mat is gone, so i'm pretty sure they went with it.

well, it's time for bed-
julie