labor day, fish tacos and trail tots (nothing like tater tots)

first countdown: labor day-check! now, only 80 days to the next big one-thanksgiving! (that's 11 weekends!) and only 104 days until Christmas (15 weekends! not that i'm counting...) we've made it to labor day with no major glitches. although, i did receive a message that i need to do my tei calibration test again-in basics, it's just a test to ensure that we (coaches and administrators) are on the same page and really using the rubric to evaluate during distinguished teacher reviews. which means another half day off campus. boo.

on thursday i almost forgot to go to the chiropractor-mostly because i simply forgot it was thursday, and i was super excited because we were able to get a larger pool than i anticipated to participate in CATCH UP & READ (CAR),which is the program we began working with last year. in fact, i'd only had one person answer the call and step up to the plate, so i was afraid we'd not be able to have the program. so i sent out one last ditch effort email and gave a brief 5 minute spiel at our pd session, and after some begging and cajoling, we were able to get enough teachers to match it up in such a way that some will work the program every other week, and some will work it one day every week instead of two, to cut down on the over-commitment. hopefully it will go well, and be beneficial to everyone involved! i am going to do everything possible to make it fun and really show appreciation to the teachers, TAs and students involved!

as i began to say, i was so excited about the turn-out, that i almost forgot about my chiropractor appointment! i'm so glad that i didn't because had i missed it, i would've missed this gem! i was driving, minding my own business, when out of the peripheral, i noticed an suv to my left passing by. only without actually looking at it, it seemed oddly shaped. then i noticed that was because it wasn't an suv! it was a ridiculously tall car. dear sir, over-sized wheels do not make you a monster truck. sorry. i'll bet it makes it easier to tip the car over.

he has no idea how ridiculous he looks.

 and i also found out that the chiropractor is closed on monday for labor day! so i would've missed a whole week of adjustment and probably wasted a trip on monday, not knowing it was closed. 

i made no big plans for labor day, which is allowing me to save money-which is part of the plan! as part of the 'no plans weekend,' this morning the dogs were ecstatic about going out for a walk that was longer than just going around the pond! we did the back trail, and as we were walking, i had to keep them away from the 'nature-y' part of the trail, because there is still a bunch of poison ivy over yonder. then i saw some fruit on the ground, some of which had been bitten into and pulled apart. so i picked one up, as they looked to be some sort of nut, and i wanted to take it home to identify it.

i googled the images of the fruit, and found it to be exactly what i had suspected-PECAN! that was exciting! i decided to peel it and see the nut inside. and just like the walnuts used to do, it stained my fingers-darn it! why is it that the good things in life can be so messy?!? anyhoo, i will be watching that tree closely as we move to late september and into october! i hate paying so much for pecans at the store-robbery!

it looks like i was fingerprinted with pecan fruit

and last night as i was contemplating cleaning out my closet, i got sidetracked when i found my trail tot book...AND the vest! yes. i was in trail tots when we lived in raytown, mo back in the day! that was in the kinder year. 6 yrs old. and i rocked trail tots at our church! the lady in charge was mrs. aubry, the mother of curtis, one of my brother's friends. (may have had a crush on him). and the aubreys were good friends with my parents. as for trail tots itself, we did crafts, learned verses, played games...one of the things i remember doing while we were at the church was finding an animal print out in the yard and making a plaster cast of it (not sure what that has to do with Jesus, but it was pretty darn cool)...and finding a crab apple tree- i don't think our leader encouraged or even knew that we had picked apples from the tree, but i learned very quickly that they were not delicious.

this piece of vintage pleather still fits. yes, i did try it on, and i almost threw my shoulder sockets out trying to get it off! 

using the write from the beginning rubric, i believe the picture should receive a rather high score.

perhaps this was part of the development of my love for letter-writing!

DRAW SOMETHING THAT GOD MADE: please note snow-capped mountains, the tree with leaves, and the dead tree with no leaves and a hollow...the birds at different distances...AND the helicopter! God didn't make that, but what a lovely addition!

as i think about the things we did, look at the question at the bottom of the page, what we were doing at church was in essence engaging us in our interests and preparing us for school- verbal interaction, memorization skills, community and civics...i really wish more of our students were involved in something like this outside of school or before they came to our campus, because it really is beneficial!

i am doing my best to stay away from brats (the hot dog-kind) this weekend, even though it is truly the food for labor day, because i cannot buy just one, i have to purchase an entire package, and then i have to eat them within a certain time-frame before they go bad, and it really isn't on my list of good meats. so instead, i purchased fresh fish at the store yesterday and today i ventured to make blackened fish tacos at home. they were actually quite good! and i still have 1 1/2 fillets left, so i'll be eating fish tacos this weekend-and i'm not even a tiny bit sad about that!

alright, for all of you that work (for those of you that do not work-and are capable, i don't think you should take part in this holiday, as you are riding on the backs of those who do), remember that this day: honors the American labor movement and the contributions that workers have made to the strength, prosperity, and well-being of their country. God Bless America!

alrighty then, have a fabulous long weekend!!
julie

here we go-countdown!

yep...it's over. summer is officially over. i've been back on campus since august 3rd. so when i say countdown, you may be thinking...countdown to students coming. and while this may be true, i'll bet most teachers have looked at their calendars and already marked out each break...countdown to thanksgiving! countdown to Christmas! countdown to spring break! countdown to summer!!!!! it's natural. it's not on purpose-this is natural, it happens to us all, and teachers, you shouldn't feel guilty about this! as long as you're living in the moment and making things happen in your classroom, it's ok to have your countdown!

i've had meetings, new teacher academy meetings, technology training, MAP assessment training, presented our professional development pd, went to social emotional learning training yesterday and today regurgitated the technology training that we went to. we tried to make it fun, but it was probably about as fun as eating cardboard with no water to wash it down. and tomorrow we continue...yay. 

i wish i had some awe-inspiring words, but i do not. what i will say is that this is going to be a long year-an uphill climb, perhaps....and by up hill, i mean looking straight up a rock face with crags and small handholds and footholds for the climbing. thing is, most climbers will tell you, the excitement is in the challenge. you don't feel the sense of exhilaration unless you've experienced a good challenge.

as you know, our principal was promoted to an executive director position. our AP took a position closer to home. our counselor transitioned to the new personalized learning high school. our nurse...not sure what happened, but we found a new one for this year. our speech teacher-was moved to another school. we have several new teachers (which is totally great-they will fit right in and be an asset to our team; very competent and hand-selected). what we didn't expect was that we are now losing our personalized learning coordinator as well. this is a blow, because he literally pulled everything together and molded so many of the ideas for this program, and now we won't have him helping to ensure that the vision stays its course. we worked so hard last year and put in so many hours trying to piece together a vision that made sense. my only hope is that somehow it maintains some of its integrity as we move forward.

one of the nice things-i'm not sure who repainted the teacher lounge, but it got a face-lift last week. it's fresh, and it reminded me a little of my summer vacation, so i'll have that to help get me through the year!

great beach-y colors, shells, beach pics....

somewhat random native american framed art on the wall...maybe because it speaks of the sea?

***fast forward to friday***
so, the technology training that we  had to got to present, was on wednesday, and fortunately andrea-my co-coach (sounds like i'm stuttering, right? but don't be fooled-i'm not). we weren't certain who all would be in our group, but fortunately all our our new teachers plus a few others were in our group. this was good, because we were able to then say to our teachers-these tools are available to you, but we use some different tools as well.  it was brutal, a total relief when it came to the final slide!

from there, i went to my chiropractor, and signed in, got adjusted and then as she was checking my spine, she found a spot that made me jerk (an area on my lower back had been bothering me); she used her magical little tool and i kid you not, that area wasn't bothering me as i walked up the stairs to my apartment when i got home! #imabeliever ...before i actually left, dr. bree said, "so, i'll see you...tomorrow? monday?" tomorrow? OH NO!! my days are still off-i'm on summer schedule (where i don't have to keep track of what day it is); it was wednesday, and my appointments are mondays and thursdays. dr. bree laughed and said she just figured i was making up my own schedule! fortunately they didn't have any other patients, and she didn't even blink about changing it up. that's part of what i love about this office-they are all about accommodating clients. and she said, "besides, it seems like you needed it!" 

actually, before i walked up the stairs to my apartment, i made a stop at the new walmart superstore on midway, and i was impressed by the floor. yes, the floor. it was a really sharp looking poured cement...loved it. i went to purchase a kettleball for some home exercising(mostly because i saw a great post on my friend, lo's wall)-i was also interested in getting some swimming goggles for onion-cutting(because i saw brandy's onion goggles, and shea said she just used her swimming goggles...novel idea), but unfortunately, their end-of-summer inventory was out. boo. i guess i'll just be looking like gene simmons when i cut my onions until i can find some-or remember to look. anyhoo, when i approached the cashier, she looked at the kettleball and got a confused look on her face, "what's that?" i proceeded to tell her, and as she lifted it, "woah! what are you going to do with that?" "are you going to need help getting that to your car?"  "do you want me to bag that?"(no, you'd have to triple bag it...it already has a handle). "good luck with that thing!" 

yesterday we were back on campus, and i had the opportunity to observe some great presentations by our teachers at cabell. they were prepared, and had useful information to share. we had the pd sessions set up in a 'choose your own session' rotation. then in the afternoon, we had some mission and vision work.

after our sessions, we had an interview for a position at our school, then i got a phone call from ashley, our fearless p.l. leader at the district level. she called to see if i could come down to the admin building the next morning to be a part of a podcast series, and give voice to what is happening with personalized learning on the ground. so i agreed to do it, as it was last minute, and i was pretty sure she probably asked me because kristen and vanessa may have pulled the ol' "ask julie, she'll do it" card.

yep, i'm a glutton for punishment-i agreed to do it, which meant getting up earlier and leaving to battle traffic-which fortunately wasn't nearly as bad as i thought it might be. when i got back to campus, i was immediately snagged at the door to help someone look at their room and figure out how to organize it, and then i had another coach meeting me, as we were planning to collaborate for a thinking maps pd that we have to present for our feeder pattern next week. i was called to the office, before an interview, to have a discussion with our executive director on where we are with our personalized plc and pd plans. it sounds like we are pretty much on the same page in the direction that we're going. (WHEW!) 

after our interview, andrea and i had a meeting with my academic facilitator, with whom we discussed protocols for the coming year. toward the end of our meeting she said the one thing she was a little worried about was the check-in process, because there were a lot of teachers involved. we suggested creating a form for teachers to check in by QR code, like we've been using for our school pd meetings. i hope this is the solution that she was looking for! i love sharing the wealth of knowledge that we've accumulated over the past year! (thanks sean!)

it was great to get home today and be able to walk the boys because the temp was under 100! so we took a long walk and i was so proud of bruno, because this is the longest walk that we've gone on since his surgery, and i let him off his leash to go at his own pace. he did a great job! we stopped by the mailbox, and i had to stop by the office for a package-mail is wonderful, but a package? now THAT's a treat!!

i think i mentioned that hellen gave me a gift package while i was in miami to bring back to the boys-if you aren't up to date, chaco is the toy-loving dog. anything with a squeaker...so i gave him the reindeer first and he almost got whiplash swinging that thing around...he was able to get to the main squeaker in the belly and start ripping out the stuffing, so i went ahead and pulled all of the stuffing so that he could continue playing with it...he went to town-so i put him up for a minute, and he proceeded to find the stuffed bone toy-and got to the squeaker and stuffing...he's ridiculous.

shakin' it out. #happypup

and that my friends is how the new school year begins!

julie

82 folks...that's when the money runs out...82

 well, a lot has happened, so let's begin with the fact that last thursday during parent/teacher conferences, i had all but 4 of my homeroom parents show up; actually more parents showed up b/c we teach content area, and so i saw some that were not from my hr. the conferences went fairly quickly and i had time for some word games and a little alice in wonderland...

working on a high score.

 then, saturday night, i got to hang out and catch up with some precious friends from kamp who live in the area! loved it!! can't wait to do it again real soon!! our conversation was all over the place, but it was good-it is ALWAYS great to fellowship with close friends.

the burgers here are fabulous!! and the brie...ah, the brie!

 so i decided that it was time to get up a little count-down! it's coming! granted, whoever came up with the current calendar should be fired...i mean, they took away the one benefit of working for disd...the week-long thanksgiving break! boo.

there will be a surprise! (gigi, i will post the surprise when we get to it!)

 yep, for whatever reason, the countdowns make me think of gigi....perhaps it was because she was usually in countdown mode...right? anyhoo, this also made me miss having her here in dallas. i got my musical line-up in the mail...wicked is coming back! actually it looks like a phenomenal line-up!

i don't know that i need to go to all of them (the lion king least on my list), but i am definitely thinking about wicked again, mary poppins and sister act....

 and i know everyone is wondering how science is going. well, i am glad that you asked! tonight i sat here stripping some wire and attaching it to alligator clips to do some circuits tomorrow in class! some of the kids today were working with the little d-cells and wire and kept saying, "oh! i just got shocked!" and i was curious what they were talking about, and it was actually just that they were poking themselves with the prickly little wire...sillies.

 so, yes, it has been a lot of fun-it keeps me on my toes, but i am enjoying really getting them interested in learning and asking questions about it. they seem to be thoroughly enjoying themselves. next year i will be better at it (if i am still able to do it...because i won't be starting from ground zero).

and i was working a little calculator to figure out finances after retirement, and i am just going to have to pass away by age 82, as that is when i will have a shortfall of money...that or become completely self-sufficient in my little cabin in the woods with my animal traps, berry bushes, garden, compost bin, rainfall water collector, burn pile, horse, or solar powered car, river to bathe and fish in...solar powered generator to play word games on...ok, you get the picture.

 

and tonight i would like to just leave you with this one last thought...is it just me or did andrew jackson have a disproportionately large forehead and head in general...brainiac, or alien?  

and at that, we will call it a night-have a good one!

julie

the boys prefer to go barefoot...barepaw.

today i had to take bruno in for a checkup and when i went to pick him up, he acted a bit ridiculous-like he hadn't seen me all day! then when we got home, chaco was even worse, he sounded like he was hurt-that's how much he missed us! he darted back and forth from me to bruno and back. i think today was harder on him than it was on bruno!

before i went to get bruno, i stopped at the post office, but they didn't have boxes the size i need, so i will wrap this gift box and then send it off tomorrow-i love sending fun stuff! well, the post office is right by bed bath and beyond, so i stopped in and got my soda stream mixes and a carbonation refill. well, i found some little booties for bruno, thinking maybe that's what he needs to get him walking again (ok, i just thought they were cute-i know dogs don't wear shoes), but look at these things!

apparently size 2 in dog is still too big for bruno, because they kept slipping off.

aren't they adorable?

 then when bruno kept kicking them off, i said, "what are you doing? don't you want to look cute?" he cocked his head and i pointed at the picture of the puppy on the box, and he said, "obviously his mom or his girlfriend dresses him, he looks ri-DI-culous!

they must've glued them on this little guy's feet because there is no way he stood still for all this. it's a pretty involved process to get these little boots on!

it is a chilly 53 degrees out right now (i know, whine about it) but i just really want an electric blanket to wrap up in! trying to justify a purchase-in dallas what is the likelihood that i would use it more than 20 days out of the year? hmm.
gigi added the countdown! woo hoo! everybody loves a good countdown! isn't she talented?!

the next 2 and 1/2 weeks are going to be a little hectic! so much to do with the kiddos before Christmas! we'll see how it goes, but hopefully all of the students will be finished with a book with a part one expository text and part 2 personal narrative. i think they can do it, but we need every minute!

i have a gel window decoration on the door window at work, and so i had some static clingers that i gave to some of the other teachers, but i know everyone was envious for the gel guys, so i got some more today when i picked up bruno from the vet. the colors bleed, though.

frosty has a head wound.

i need to make the 'do not touch' sign, because everyone wants to squish him. poor guy.

julie