sometimes early breakfast is only funny to the ones making it...

so, here's the deal, i would've worked on a post earlier, because i didn't even finish my last story...but i've been so tired the past couple of days, due to unforeseen events, which i will get into later...suffice it to say i was so tired yesterday that i considered laying down on the sidewalk in the middle of a short walk with the boys...truth, i considered it at about three different points around the fountain. and when i went to return the rental car, it was that nauseatingly exhausted feeling. i now know i need more than 4 hours of sleep per night.

but back to finish what i started!

wednesday morning rolled around, and i was still in SAT at julie and kevin's. remember how i volunteered her to make breakfast (which she was more than willing to do, because she loves her boy); so my alarm clock was set for about 5:30, i believe. when i woke up, she was not out of the room yet, but kevin said she was awake, go on in-so i grabbed the guitar from the stand to perform a little early morning serenade-because that's just what you do when there is a guitar at hand! (right?)

i think we may have been a little much for him in the morning-we were messing with his mojo-his routine! and with that, the coffee, and the bacon in the oven; which i just want to say was ah-maz-ing! melt in your mouth #neverfryingbaconagain and somewhere in the midst of waiting on the bacon and packing his lunch, there was some word that was bothersome and for the life of me, i do not recall what it was, but julie seemed to be stumbling over it, so we reduced it to the lowest phoneme possible... "G" and that was probably where the most annoying part was for kevin, because that's when we started laughing and it got silly (needless to say, it's still funny, and will never cease to be).

juan...julie JUAN-love it.

once the boy took off, we actually did sit to do some work-she had some calls to make, and then showed me how to do some things with the padlets. and we had some data to drill into from the previous day. so it was productive time. it wasn't long before we had to take off for the airport-grabbed a bite to eat first, and starbucks- sat in the parking lot at starbucks for a minute while ju looked through her funniest pins and posts and shared laughs. HA! so, i just want to take this moment to say it again, it was a joy to be able to stay with julie, kevin and bella, and 'do life' for a couple days in a family setting. they truly make my heart smile.

and the flight back was not memorable in the least.

once i got back to dallas, it was a fairly quiet couple of days. i met with nicolette on sunday after church and we went to get some doggy things for her boys-who came home with her last week. i took the boys with me, and they got to meet new friends #socialization. we found a bed for the crate, dog food and i think there was something else, but it fails me now. ah, yes!! it was party city-she had to get hair thingy-ma-bobs so they could be thing one, thing two and thing three! i did find something that i HAD to get, only i cannot post that picture quite yet. i may have found a flannel shirt at target too....just sayin'. anyhoo, when we got back to her place, i helped make some vocab flashcards, because that's what first grade teachers do! and then we headed back home.

nicolette with ALL the boys!

monday i went in to the office to make copies for our training on tuesday- of course i did them wrong.  yay, me! and no one was there really, except for cherryl (just not anyone from our dept), so i went in and chatted with her for a minute. good thing when i got to mt pleasant, jane had enough for the first round, so i was planning on going into the office again on wednesday to make some more for the thursday training. tuesday went well-it was a fairly small crowd-although big for what they've had before.

so, wednesday came (it usually does, right? anyone surprised? didn't think so), and i went up to the office, to make those copies, and to make copies for julie for austin, and grab some folders for sabrina, since i'd be seeing them. so that took a minute. suzanne was there, and she had a special gift for me...i now get excited about ethernet cables..what's wrong with me? cutting those pieces for the thursday training was a cruel beating. but hey, done. brian and lori were 'in the house' as well, and busy, per the usual, so i just did the peek in and say hey.

then it happened. wednesday night happened, and it wasn't pretty. more on that tomorrow. yikes.
tell your pets you love them tonight! (ok, your family too)
julie

houston, whatcha' got? besides traffic?

last week was a little bit of a breather, so i was able to rest a little before taking off for houston. it was a pleasant surprise to get a text from friends on the road, and there may have been a comical exchange of video and texting...just saying, it was necessary for the moment, as we'd discussed how funny it would be if we made one...and so i did. because if i think something is funny, i'm gonna do it, whether it's stupid or not! #itsthestupidthings

i also spent some time watching recorded webinars and i've gotten really good at booking hotels and flights!

thursday rolled around, and i went into the office to make some copies for megan, one of the trainers i would be going with on sunday-back to houston again...i knew she was travelling and lives a ways from the office, so i offered to make the copies (gotta' earn my keep). once i had those made, i headed to the airport and found a spot at my gate and began reading. when i stopped in at the office, i stopped by lori's office, as she'd mentioned a book during our training a few weeks back, and i was really interested in reading it. i hadn't seen my colleague at that point, and i wasn't sure if she was a last-minute-er, or not.

when the announcement came, i packed up the book, leaving off at what the author self-proclaimed the best chapter. and once i got in line,there was a gentleman right in front of me, and i don't know exactly what his excuse was...either a) it was still dark in his house when he grabbed his daugher's backpack, b) a cute girl selling backpacks told him it looked really manly on him... c) he got a really good price on it...? not sure, but there he was:

 my co-worker and i saw each other. "hellos" across the way. she was ahead of me, and when i got to the plane, she was preparing her seat in the bulkhead. disclaimer: i don't like sitting in the bulkhead-i like my bag to be accessible, and i like a good table-tray. so i sat behind and got a text asking if she'd missed me, so i explained myself.

upon arriving in houston, we got to the car rental, and she goes so often that she knows the rental lady (lucy?), who gave me a hug and said to look for her whenever i came in to rent a car. good to have friends! when traveling with people, you learn a lot about them...family, friends, where they have lived, what type of music they listen to (this time, it was some slow-r&b, i guess?) but it was just background music...like the music you'd use in the background of a video/movie. nothing like sharing music! and then after the young man at the gate dropped the amex under the car, and we had to back out to get it, we started toward the hotel, or so i thought.

actually she was kind enough to show me the town and different areas of houston, since i'd never really been to the downtown area and seen the sites. so i was given the royal tour! it's nice to have someone who is familiar enough with an area to be able to point out different areas. then we grabbed dinner at niko nikos- apparently featured with guy on diners, drive-ins and dives. it was a great little greek restaurant! but truly nothing compares with the first gyro i ever had in an authentic little dive in san diego with stacey cruse and family! #mouthwatering.

once we finished with dinner and drove a little more, we found our hotel-this was one that she had frequented often, as they had recently remodeled. it was a pleasant evening-i went to bed early. then the next morning we got to the campus, and the room set-up sometimes just isn't what you had anticipated, so you roll with it. the first morning session was light and it was difficult to get everything in, then when it was time for the second group to enter, it was chaos. i mean to tell ya, it filled up and seemed like maybe they'd gotten the wrong memo-that maybe this was the carnival, or something because they came in droves, and at that point, my partner looked at me and asked me to go find the person in charge. so i found the lady that had helped us get set up in the morning and she came in with a big stick-metaphorically speaking (her attitude) and basically said, "if you did not register for this training, you need to stand up now and leave, there is not enough room. if i have to, i will start reading down the list, so you may just want to get up now." and that was that! still a full room with people sitting on the floor in the front of the room. so third world. anyhoo, the show must go on...and it did.

several of the participants were new to istation, so hopefully they were able to digest everything-you never know when time is so short! but there were a couple of ladies in the second session who stayed a little after to ask some questions, so i know they had a bit of a grasp and they were going to be serious about using. i always pick up some sort of tid-bit even this far into the training. this particular trainer used some good anecdotal supports, and a bit of humor-which can go a long way, if done right!

we finished around noon-thirty, and made our way to the airport. she had put the airport name in the google maps or siri, and it took us toward the airport, at one point telling us to turn on a back road, so i pointed out the road and she turned in...and it took us to a back side of the airport-the cargo side (still close) and told us to park and walk the rest of the way. (not my fault). so we backtracked and got to national to turn in the car without further ado.

hungry doesn't even begin, so we got food on the fly, as we were trying to standby for the early flight. the flight was a little late-which was fine by me-i got to eat before getting on the plane! for whatever reason, this short hop left me feeling a little queasy-weak and shaky...thought i was getting sick, but thankfully such was not the case-no time to be sick!

friday night, saturday, all a blur...talked to some friends, did laundry, headed out again sunday afternoon for...houston! this time i was meeting up with megan and deAn. it had been a bit since i'd seen deAn, and so i was excited to see her, and i was also looking forward to working with megan for the first time-i've only heard good things, so i was looking forward to getting to know her better on this trip.

more on that tomorrow-for now, it's time to call it a day!
julie

sleazy, sneezy, doozy and sneaky

Ding Dong! The Witch is dead. Which old Witch? The Wicked Witch! Ding Dong! The Wicked Witch is dead. 

i'm sure this is how most of my friends felt about the whole hugo chavez death. i just pictured the legs sticking out from under the house. it is so unfathomable to hear people lauding him-and now i hear they're going to put his body on display...(like a stuffed animal-narcissism even after he's dead). silly sleazy mortal.

ever know one of those people who, every time they sneeze, they snot all over everything? i mean EVERY time. well, i've experienced that to a point that every time i hear the sneeze, i have to look the other way so that i don't lose my breakfast. and then the same person pumped so much hand sanitizer on his hands, i thought he was going to take a bath or something! really? yes.

i got my call from the teaching trust, and i have my group interview the saturday on the tail-end of spring break. that's going to be a 4-hour ordeal. i can't believe i am subjecting myself to this again. i'm excited because my principal knows someone else who will be in the same interview; she applied last year as well. so i hope that we both make the program, so that we can help each other through the craziness. if i make this program, next year is going to be a doozy. i'm up for a challenge....she tried to convince herself...

it's the little things that excite me, like the fact that today i put my test in to be copied, and it was done by this afternoon, so i can actually give the 6 week test tomorrow!! woohoo!

i'm trying to think of a sneaky way to pack stuff up so the dogs don't figure out that we're taking a trip, but they're pretty intuitive, so i'm afraid that they are going to figure it out...

that's all i got, except that i am super excited for tomorrow (and the 9 days that follow it!)
julie