the fourth is coming! the fourth is coming!

well, today was a filming and observation day. it went by fairly quickly and as one of my coworkers said, it's like a thursday since we have the 4th off. smile.

i took extra lunch today so that my friend could try something new-the chili is a little spicy...i mean it clears out the sinuses. and don't tell kay, but i didn't even put all of the chilies in that the recipe called for-i substituted in bell peppers for the canned diced jalapenos that were supposed to be in there...then i made her try a fig,date,cherry,pecan,almond bar. once again, there was a hesitation because of the consistency, but once she got around that, she finished it off. (it has a great taste!) all sorts of firsts this summer.

i left her with the chili, and when i came back, it was completely gone. she said she enjoyed it so much she actually drank the rest of the soup from the bottom of the dish...(kay, if you dumped it down the sink because it was too much, my feelings wouldn't be hurt, so be honest!) actually, i believe her because she had just cleared out her sinuses right before i walked in. tomorrow we try something new.

on the way home today, the person in front of me was using hand signals, so i thought maybe their signal lights were bad. but the brake lights were working...then after a few more turns, he starts to use the blinker. boy was he lucky i had learned my hand signals early as a childhood biker! i think it was back in brodhead, and as i recall we had bike issues. sometimes they'd get stolen. we always registered them down in the basement of the police station with officer tulia (i think that was her name-i vaguely recall, but she used to come to our school and do safety stuff, and when we moved to costa rica, we gave her our cat because she lived on a farm and said they would take her).

and remember how i was talking about the bird i thought might be a mocking bird yesterday? there were also a couple of other birds watching him be a jerk (i hope they find the water, although if they don't, i was walking down the stairs this morning hearing the fountain in the pond out back thinking i could put up a bird sign pointing them around to the back of the building...oh, the competition.) not that i would know, but i think the other two birds might have been turtle doves (there were two of them, just like the song says) i mean, i did get a bird-watcher patch in brownies for going on a bird-watching trip...and i had this cool little green book with pictures of all sorts of birds- i loved the oriole for the brilliant color!

when i got home, i let the boys out and then ran to the store and when i got home, they were waiting for me...

are they pathetic or what?!

 so i told them to go get ready for their 4th of july pic, because i found props!

they do so well when there are treats involved...they've got the sit and stay! so photogenic!

bruno said, "i'm thomas jefferson!" and chaco laughed and said, "fine, i'll be john adams...where's the wig and fake teeth?" they love watching the documentaries with me, i'm so proud that they pay attention!

my boys are patriots,
julie

going out for bananas...as opposed to going bananas...

i swung by bed bath and beyond on the way home to get some comfy towels and a wedding gift (the wedding isn't until may 5th, but hey, better early than late, right?)...i'm so excited about new towels that i kinda' want to take a shower right now!

 i warmed up the spicy green chicken chili for dinner. i made a batch last night and it is quite spicy (even after leaving out 2 of the poblano peppers! whew!) but it's the kind of spicy that makes you want just a little more!

it mostly makes me happy because i made so much and i don't have to make dinner now.

 i didn't have dessert, but i found a recipe on my friend's blog ...it looks so good! and it seems so easy, i cannot wait to try it!

Ingredients:
Frozen Bananas (approx 1 cup)
Coconut Milk (approx 1/2 cup)
Cinnamon & Nutmeg to taste

pop it all in a blender and eat. (doesn't that sound delicious??!)
 (so i'll probably be heading out for some bananas in a moment)...

 --------next day---------
today i woke up, and my back is killing me once again, so i'm going to have to try to get in touch with a doctor that some friends have used and see if i can't get this taken care of! boo. but i went out in search of a dress to wear for the wedding; saw some cute ones, but i wasn't 'in love' with any of them (perhaps because i was wearing tennis shoes, and it just looked funny...) so i will try again on another day.

i was under the impression that we were going to receive an email from the teaching trust on thursday (the one that already passed), and obviously that was a falsity...i just figured i would receive it on friday..the new thursday. but that didn't happen either, and another gal who went through the same process called and they told her they were mailing out the responses...prolonging the waiting even further.

ok, i'm off to buy bananas!
julie

pump-kin= a red neck family who own a gas station in the hills

ok,let's not lie about it. i should've just put the chili in a container and refrigerated it. but i didn't. i have been 'tasting' it all day...to make sure that it still tastes good, of course.

so today i spent most of the day scoring writing assessments that students took this week, and in between when i needed a break and didn't have a kit kat, i decided to be productive. the boys asked if i would make a pumpkin for them. i told them i couldn't make a pumpkin, because they grow on vines. bruno cocked his head and said, "you know what we mean and i know that you bought one yesterday, so unless you want me to play 'hide and go pee' with chaco, you might want to get it out." so i laughed and got it out and painted it like the one they saw on a commercial that they liked so much.

skeleton head! kinda looks like nightmare before Christmas!

so i now have all but one class's papers scored. why is it taking so long, you ask? well, i'm kinda' like that when it comes to writing. students don't get any better unless you give very specific feedback...and document it for yourself for conferences.

at least there are only 88 or 89.

 between the ball game, finishing the final stack of papers and finishing lesson plans, i might be mixing a little more of the holiday coffee with some of the caramel truffle...why not? and tonight i will be drinking from one of the fun cups from  family general. 

i think my mom got these for me the last time they were down here in the tx area....cheap, but oh, so cute! and the color adds to the 'keep-ya-awake' factor.

 i'm so happy that we get to wear jeans and rangers shirts again tomorrow(we're getting a lot of wear out of our team)! and i am equally happy that it is a student half day!!

 off to multi-task!
julie

oh, really? it was only the 2nd pile? grr..

just for the record, i hate the commercial by honda that has the family on a road trip in an suv making noises to 'create music'. it really makes me cringe, i'm not exactly sure why.

i didn't get to sleep until fairly late last night. first, i watched the game until 11:something and then i had to finish scoring 2 last papers. well if you read yesterday, i said i was in the middle of the 3rd class. much to my chagrin, as i triumphantly went to set my neat pile of scored papers on the pile, there was only one pile finished...how could i have made such a huge miscalculation?? well, it's because i had already graded the 2nd pile, i was just going back over it with the individual score rubric/comment sheet (which i didn't have when i first read their stories). boo in a big way.

after i finished scoring the papers, i went to my room and thought this was the only time i really had to read a book (which i may or may not have bought at walmart yesterday as well!) i got through about 3 or 4 chapters (ok, maybe it was six, but who's counting that late?!)

it's a trilogy all wrapped into one...it could take awhile because i'm usually a little short on spare time.

it's not a harlequin romance-it's actually a story of loss, tragedy, love, coping and God's hand in it all.

kingsbury, the author actually weaves a great story together-hard to put down!

then i heard the tornado siren-thank you town of addison. so i turned on the radio and listened to where the storm cells were and packed a mini cooler to put in the closet for just-in-cases..i included peanut butter and peanuts (protein) for me, matches, lighter and emergency candles, water, and dog food for the boys.

well, when it was finally about 2:10 and we were sure the threat had passed, we went to sleep.

the boys do surprisingly well during storms. bruno always wants to go sit on the balcony and watch the lightning, and chaco usually chimes in and says, "yeah! can we? can we go out and fly a kite with a key?" ever since he saw the coloring book about benjamin franklin (amazing american patriot!) he has been obsessed. so i make sure to never come home with kites. (not a difficult task).

at 6:30, i could smell that the crock pot chili was done, so i turned it to warm, and went back to sleep, but bruno was restless by 8, so we got up and after fixing a very ugly concoction for them, i had myself a bowl of chili. it was actually very good-leaving just a hint of heat..yum.

alright, i am posting early-perhaps there will be another later tonight (depending on today).

have a blessed Sabbath! relax, rest and enjoy that which no one really deserves-truly we are blessed.
julie

walmart is not really a relaxing break, but it got me what i needed

i'm having a very difficult time getting motivated to grade these writing papers...i finished another class earlier today and am in the middle of the 3rd class. it's just so time consuming! boo.

so i took a break and went to drop letters in the mail and run to walmart (isn't that what EVERYONE does when taking a break??) i think KANAKUK 2-4s are just ingrained into the fiber of my being...that's where we'd stop because there were relatively few options.

so, while i was there, i had to snap a pic of johnny b/c it made me think of shea-so, this one's for you, shea!

your pirate look is almost as good as his, and HE has professional makeup artists!

i will say that apparently a lot of other people needed to take breaks today as well, because it was pretty busy over at montfort and arapaho. and when i stopped by the post office to drop off my letters, the mail delivery vehicles were all lined up.

i began to wonder what in the world will they do with all those vehicles if the post office goes out of business?

will they auction them off? will they sell them to some european country where people drive on the 'wrong' side of the road? incognito secret service cars? somehow use them in the creating of green energy?

i remember in honduras my parents got a small jeep that seemed somewhat like a mail jeep. i believe it was a hyundai because it was way before they were popular, and i definitely had difficulty trying to pronounce it in my head (i never wanted to say it out loud for fear that i was wrong...and as time would tell, i WAS wrong).

this morning i used the last of my coffee, so i was very excited to see that they had a holiday favorite!!

thank you, millstone, for capitalizing on Christmas long before they even begin playing the carols on the radio.

why do they make the best coffee flavors seasonal?

the last items i had to get were to make some posters for my classroom-we need to get our transitional words up so that the kids are seeing them constantly, and begin to used them! i had a bunch done in spanish, but i need to get them up in english as well! so we're going bright on a black foam board...that seems to be eye-catching.

tonight when i got home, i browned some beef and dumped the beans, tomatoes and paste and seasonings into the crock pot. then i had to cut up some onions...well, i looked everywhere to find a clothespin because i just wanted to see if putting a clothespin on the tongue would really keep the tears from coming...i wonder how many people have actually tried that after seeing THE HELP....i didn't find one, so i got the mini processor out. unfortunately the onion was strong enough that i still got teary eyed, darned onions. so, i got it all ready and now i am waiting to turn on the crock pot until i go to bed because it takes 7-8 hrs, and i don't plan to be waking up at 3 am to turn off the crock pot...i need to get one with a timer!

going to get some coffee-the good stuff...i think it's going to be a long night!
julie