sometimes it cost an arm and a leg and sometimes you just want to give eeyore the stink eye...

aldine...aldine. let's see....i rented a car for this trip, because my goal was to finally get some things to one of my coworkers in the area. made for a bit of a drive, but nice to mix it up-no airports to rush to, stop as i please..it was good for me.

the training itself was pleasant and i got to drive through the reports with sabrina at the helm directing the participants. both sessions were very productive. sabrina was great about going where they needed to go, and adjusting to the crowd. they had some good questions; i love it when there's an eeyore in the crowd who complains about everything..it just brings joy to my soul. i mean..adding a class of 70 students..it's going to take forever..(10 minutes later) "how are you doing on that class?" "oh, i got it all done." wa waaaa... hmmm. good! good, good, good. even better-when the same one is cutting up with a partner in crime about something completely off topic next to me, while i'm trying to listen to directions from my capitan...AND the woman right behind me is needing some hand-holding and direction, because she told me before we even started that i was going to hate it that she was sitting right behind me, as she was ADD, and planned to ask me lots of questions. i like a challenge. but when we get to the end and eeyore has already powered down the computer and hence didn't want to do the survey, i may have had a moment.

it was lovely of them to provide lunch for us-a delicious mexican meal...thanks aldine!! and as always i took away great ideas from my yoda-i am a jedi in training. i have even been introduced to jaba-through pictures, which is a rare opportunity. learning my way around the millennial falcon...

the drive home was delayed by about 15 minutes, but once i got on the road, it wasn't too bad. saturday i did nothing. nothing but laundry, a short phone call, a quick trip to target, and that was my down day. from there sunday just came out of nowhere!

oh, but wait, i actually DID do something on saturday. julie k. had sent her change of flight plans to me so that i could book mine, so i did that, and when she called, she'd mentioned that it cost her an arm and a leg, so i told her i had an extra...well. when you offer someone something, you should most certainly follow through...and so i did. i made her a key chain.

whatcha' think, will there be a demand for these beauties?

so...when i purchased the doll to use and got to my car, i was so intent on making this happen, that i wanted to rip the leg and arm off immediately (morbid much?) anyhoo, i have always been fairly modest, so i tried to the best of my ability to keep her covered while dismembering the body...ew. anyhoo-easier said than done, and she had a reeeeeaaaallly strong rotator cuff-that took some slicing and dicing-almost thought i was going to chop my finger off at one point and tried to think of how i'd explain that one at the new mexico training. anyhoo, i was just hoping that no one would walk by my car and see what i was doing, because in all honesty, not knowing the why behind it, might make me look like a depraved serial killer...of barbie doll knock-offs. and when i got home, i got out the power drill and bored a couple of holes into the limbs. my dad would be embarrassed to know that this is how i use my tools!! then i had to find an appropriate chain..i looked in every little drawer where i have knick-knacks and pens, and school supplies, and FINALLY located the perfect key-chain...a whole lot of effort for something so silly, i know. but worth every bit.

always have a knife handy! (unless you're flying on a plane! fortunately i remembered to remove it from my purse before flying out the next day!)

so that was fun! and when i got home from aldine, i had my a-list-preferred card in the mail...been doing a little light traveling since july...(70,000 plus!) now if november 15 will just get here already so i can get my tsa-pre to get through security in a timely manner, i will be in heaven!

yea!

sunday morning rolled around, and i got the boys over to joanne's, and we got to catch up-i love when we get to chat and catch up! then i made my way out to the dfw airport in order to fly out to new mexico. we'll get into that tomorrow! and boy oh boy, is there a lot to get into and a lot to not get into!!

so, for tonight, i bid you farewell, and pray that you will not have visions of mutant barbie dolls in your dreams!
-juan  julie