DART...be relaxing and on time, please

today was the first day of a week of training. i was planning on taking the DART public rail. my phone needed to be recharged, so i plugged it into my computer last night (as i cannot find my recharger-besides the one in the car). well, i put the computer in sleep mode, and learned a valuable lesson: the phone will only recharge when the computer is actually on. so it was dead dead dead this morning. boo. i needed my phone b/c a group of us were meeting. so i ended up driving so that i could get the phone recharged on the way to the meetings.

this was during the keynote speech, and the girl in front of us with the green shirt got a tattoo to match her shirt

tomorrow we're taking lunch and i think i'll catch the dart (otherwise i'll go broke because lunch was ridiculous plus parking-ew!). and i will not be wearing a skirt tomorrow-we weren't sure what everyone else was going to be wearing, so we dressed up and everyone else was fairly casual. on the way up the hill the wind grabbed my skirt, and i was afraid it was going to fly me away like mary poppins with her silly umbrella (only people might be seeing things they don't need to be seeing!).

i had to stop and put air in my tire today on the way home because it was gauging low. so when i stopped, i saw a nail in the tire. boo on all construction workers everywhere who leave nails and screws in the roads and parking lots! but i didn't take it out because i was afraid that the nail was the only thing keeping the air in...hopefully when i wake up in the morning, there will be enough air in it to get me to the dart station! (or to the gas station to fill with more air). i'm a little worried! poor little car!

when we got home, i let chaco out on the balcony because he was begging to go hang out. well, as soon as i shut the glass door, bruno grabbed a toy and said, "watch this!" then he trotted up to the door and dropped it right in front of chaco who couldn't really do anything from the other side but look at it. bruno just sat on the side chuckling.

chaco was trying to act like he didn't care, but i knew he did as he just stood in front of the door staring, i let him know that it was pretty obvious how he was feeling- he betrays his feelings-wears them on his sleeve.

well, i probably ought to check on the dart rail times in a minute and go down to see if the tire has lost air.

when i say your nails look great, i'm not talking about the ones you left in the middle of the road! rude.
julie

say cheese..only don't leave it in your pocket

ok, so...FYI: if you are using cheese to train your dog/s be sure not to leave it in your shorts pocket. especially if it's swiss cheese.

good thing it wasn't bleu cheese! ew.

we just started using the clicker on our walks again more for chaco than bruno. bruno is pretty good, and when we're out, he won't really eat treats. chaco, on the other hand is not shy nor distracted when it comes to cheese. he is focused with a capital f even though i didn't put one. (what does that even  mean anyway). i tried using the clicker with chaco much earlier, but it scared him because it was so loud, so we put it off for awhile. but today we pulled it out again, and his ears perked up and now he knows what the click means!

we may not be perfect, but we're getting better.

of course they waited til we got home to go to the bathroom again, but at least i got bruno out on the balcony first.

chaco offered to grade the books my kids wrote about their animals, and so i decided it might be good help. i was worried that he would be a softy, but he actually grades much tougher than i do. umm.. pretty much everyone got a big fat "f" because none of them were about dogs. oh, wait, he gave the wolf book a "c" because they said something about being in the dog family.

what-d'ya mean i can't give them all f's

when i delicately explained that they were about wild animals, not domestic animals, he threw the pen and yelled, "no! how could you do this?! fine then! you grade them yourself!" and found a spot to curl up and sleep. good thing he never holds a grudge!

and tomorrow will be my last administration of the TAKS this year! thank goodness. dying do learn the fourth graders scores! i may not be saying that when they actually come, but the not knowing is worse than knowing.

ok, had to share this because he's not curled up anymore. he's been sleeping on his back, and he's had his hands in the air for the last 3 minutes. (my friend says dogs have arms and legs, so surely they have hands as well).

his hands aren't moving. he's been laying in this position. such opposite personalities!

got a little cheese in my pocket goin stink-a-ling-a-ling...(to the tune of keep your hands to yourself).. ok, obviously i'm not the comedian in the family. nite!
julie

eliminating outside...kinda

today was a normal day. unfortunately i don't think i'll have another normal day with my homeroom class until school's out.

so i got home and decided it was time to try to get the boys to pee outside (still on their pee pad, but it's a start). so i put them on the balcony. they wouldn't go and wouldn't go even after i put water out for them to drink..they just kept playing with leaves and dead bugs..."bruno, look at this one!" "hey, does this leaf make me look fat?" and so forth, so i took them for a walk hoping maybe they'd go, but that didn't work either. although they have been doing really good off leash when there is no one else around on the back trail. we hung out in the dog park and another gal showed up with her two chihuahuas and they all got along just fine. chaco was super friendly jumping up in everyone's faces. then a little girl came by on her scooter and the chihuahuas wen nuts-o but bruno and chaco were so great they just came back to me and stuck close (no barking). yes! they made me so proud!

but no potty. so i brought them in and put them out on the balcony again. for a long time...no potty. but bruno did jump up on the small camp chair (he gets in the big one easily, but this was the first time he's gotten on the small triangular one.

i was so proud of him for getting on the chair that i let them come in...and watched them and finally they were sniffing around and i got them out on their pad just in time! woo hoo!! but it's going to take a whole lot more! but hey, they are doing some things right!

tomorrow is and wednesday are going to be long days because of this extra round of testing. not looking forward to it at all, but i know these guys are going to do well~
for the rest of the evening i have got to get things ready for the unexpected sub tomorrow!

celebrating little victories!
julie

puppy warriors and scrabble art

Bruno: Spartans, prepare for glory!

Chaco: All of my life I have lived by a code and the code is simple: honor the gods, love your woman - and defend your country. Troy is mother to us all. Fight for her!

this morning, my dogs decided to play ancient battles to wake me up, but i think they may have been a little confused.(that's what happens when you just don't read the book and you just watch the movies). bruno was quoting from 300 and chaco from troy. 

so i got out of bed because i knew if i didn't they'd want me to be the adversary, and i was not in the mood to be toppled and conquered.

i made my way to the kitchen and tried a piece of the honeydew melon that has been dehydrating-umm..new favorite!!
then i turned the tv on and found Animal Planet. don't judge.
"that chicken has a big nose," said the guy on it's me or the dog. the guy victoria is trying to help seems like a bit of an idiot (nice enough, but one of the first white rappers still trying to act like he's 20 even though he's like 40 now).
i think victoria is a genius! forget the 'dog-whisperer,' she's the real deal.  i record all of the shows, and sometimes i'll put it on in the background and watch for tips in training. but today is interesting because she had the most eccentric couple. she had a lady come in with a chicken and a clicker to teach them how to train. that was bizarre, then they sprung a surprise on her, not only did they have 4 dogs, they also had an itty bitty micro potbelly pig and they wanted her to teach them to train the pig! (just seeing the word potbelly makes me want to go get a toasted sandwich!)

every time i watch it, i know i need to get out the treats and the clicker and do some clicker training!

i mentioned in a previous post that i went to the art festival and i saw some things i really liked there; so today i  decided to try to make something similar. someone had these cute little scrabble pieces made into jewelry. well, i decided to take a piece and try it. only i didn't get the hardware to screw into it to make it into a necklace...i may need to get some before i send it to one of my friends. 

i found the coolest scrabble board and pieces at a thrift shop.

s for shea because...

shea likes pirates! i cut a sticker i use for the boys in my class to fit the back side of the scrabble piece.

i've been experimenting with GOLDEN mediums in painting because they create some neat effects

remember this is all an experiment-i put a thick coat of the gloss in hopes that it would dry up and give a glass-like texture

and it did!! ahoy thar matey!! you can kinda' see the glimmery glare (that's what i was trying to capture anyway)

shea, it's not in the mail yet because i need your new address, but you know it will be! i have to find a funny card first.

hmm..i've decided (about 3 months ago and still haven't done it) that i need to get my bikes back into riding condition and start riding so that i can get in shape. i'd say so i can save on gas, but let's be real...the places i drive my car to are for a reason-i don't see myself riding my bike to bed bath and beyond and hauling things across the neighborhood on my bike..or groceries, or...you get the picture. i live so close to everything that i really don't go through much fuel just going to the store.

speaking of getting back in shape...a friend of mine from school shared a website that allows one to download a special mix with cues on when to go faster and slower-very cool. i downloaded it. it's called pod runner, check it out here dj steveboy...i know, but it is supposed to help you go from 0-5k in 9 weeks. the problem is it says to do the first session 3 times in the 1st week. i thought it was session one, one time for the first 3 weeks...ok, seriously, i did the first day, and my shins hurt a little, so i didn't get back to it, but i am going to this afternoon. i do plan to get back on track. 

so, unless anything else amazing happens today, have a great time psyching yourself up for tomorrow!

julie