there's no crying in teaching! so i went home.

aarrgh. i missed it! double tree provided lunch today and i missed it. boo. this morning was very normal until i got into my car and started driving. i don't know what it was, but i stopped at an atm to get money and then off to school, and my back and leg hurt more than ever-it literally brought me to tears trying to get out of my car. ms. johnson was in the parking lot and she came over to help me with my bag-i hate being dependent, but i am super appreciative.

dr. hughes saw us slowly making our way down the hall, and she strongly urged me to go home (at that point, i knew i needed to), so i went up to my room to write out detailed instructions for brooke to deliver the lesson today and i'm sure she did an excellent job.

it wasn't until i reached the car that it hit me that i was missing the doubletree lunch! boo. and i was on the way home when i remembered why i stopped at the atm in the first place-for tamale money! so i had to txt maria to see if she could grab my tamales and give our tamale mom the message that i would pay her on monday. maria graciously agreed and offered to drop them off for me. i am looking forward to sharing them with bmayes who is coming for a wedding this weekend(which i am not going to, and the way i'm feeling, i am glad!) and staying w/ me (she'll be able to play with the boys)..and then i can't wait for mom and dad to be able to have good tamales again. smiles.

for some reason i thought this week was the last weigh in for the biggest loser II, but alas, i was wrong. we have 2 (count them...one, two) more weeks left! ugh. not like it's a big deal, because there's not much i'll be changing after it's over, although i might indulge in some pizza or something fun like that.

i really wish three were floating mountains and a world like pandora (avatar-although the movie is somewhat cheesy, the scenery is to die for!) if i could visit any movie location, that would be it!! and i would fly on one of those dragon things, too!

alright, have a great weekend!
julie

i'm so glad the city finally realized that there was no school there...

this morning as i was driving, something seemed very different as i was driving down the stretch past the savoy...ever since i have lived at this apt, the entire stretch has been a school zone (even before the george bush school was built). not sure why because that i know of, there are no other schools in the area, just some apts. anyhoo, this morning, there were no flashing lights. and as i drew near to the place where the END SCHOOL ZONE sign is, it wasn't there! i figured maybe i missed it or something...so i made sure to double check on my way home today, and lo and behold, i was not seeing things! i will no longer be encumbered by the silly school zone of nothing!

a couple of days ago, i came home and saw all of this stuff out in the walkway. the neighbor had suits, some bags and some other items sitting out. it seemed almost as if he was having a small garage sale. i have no earthly or otherworldly idea why he had it all out there, but it's been a few days now, and it is still out there. it has been raining out, and even though the landing is covered, the stuff is going to get mildew and what not...not to mention, it looks a little trashy.

my neighbor has aspirations of becoming a thrift store owner...

yesterday we had a field trip to the dallas museum of art. i love the dma, but i do not love dma + 17 students who cannot keep from touching things and leaning on the walls and talking about 50 decibels higher than need be (those of you who work in decibels, don't bother correcting me because i don't know the measurements and quite honestly, i don't care, i just liked the sound of it!) because it = misery. (i know, you almost forgot it was an equation and that an equal sign was coming!) 

one of my favorite things in the museum is these guys made out of bronze.

they are truly fabulous.

and i'm sure that with all of the nagging, my students thought i looked something like this

then after we got back, we had to prepare for our parent/teacher conferences. they went from 4-8 and it was almost as much fun as the field trip! by the time we left, i was beat! i'm sure everyone else was as well!

i stayed for a minute after school and worked a little on the mural pictures for the walls- there were a couple of extras that we were needing. i got the gallon man up on my end of the hallway by the girls restroom...because it always feels like that's how much water is coming out of my body! i need to stay tomorrow and finish the rest of them. thankfully there aren't too many.

 when i got home and told the girls at the office that i had ordered 2 dozen tamales because they said they wanted to buy some the next time she was selling them, which was today. they were pretty excited. so i might have to leave right after school to drop of the tamales and then go back to finish up the drawings because our volunteers come on saturday. another busy weekend.

oh, and tomorrow we're starting round 2 of the biggest loser. i don't know how many people are actually going to get involved this time, but i think i might just for accountability's sake. i need to turn in my rec center voucher and take advantage of it for the next 6 months since our equipment is all down right now...i'd love to start a kick-boxing class...that'd be fun.

alright, time to color some drawings,
julie