driving and reading. don't do both at the same time.

hmm...they say driving is good for putting babies to sleep. i would not be the expert on that, but i am an expert on driving and listening to music is good for clearing your mind and relaxing-it helps when you get a call mid-drive from someone who can let you talk through things. decisions, decisions, decisions...sometimes they can seem daunting.

i need to stop using the toll road as my go-to..it racks up...and 635 is just as good, going toward the airport and seeing the planes in queue to land, or taking off. but at least now i have a plan. smiley face emoticon.

today was national bagel day, so andrea and i made stops at panera to pick up bagels for our favorites! and i also asked for a breakfast sandwich...i should've checked the bag before leaving, because when i got to school and opened the bag, i found that, lo and behold, there was no sandwich...there was a lightly toasted bagel. um. not. what. i. ordered. so i had to find the receipt, to find the number to call the manager. and explained to him that i was disappointed...and since i was the first one in the store, and he had helped me, he remembered me by name-i do that to people..he probably did it on purpose so that we could have a second date. yes, that would be the epitome of my dating life these days...or years...so anyhoo, tomorrow i'll go back and claim the prize from cory.

earlier this evening, i was able to finish a book that one of my friends got me for my birthday, and it was as good as i expected it to be. it goes along with a lot of things i've been thinking about. it's interesting, because several of the things that are on the 'positive impact test' are things that i've actually done recently..even this very morning : helped someone in the last 24 hours, praised someone in the last 24 hours, developed a knack for making other people feel good (i hope), listened to someone talk through his or her goals and ambitions, always smile at people i meet, feel good about giving praise whenever i see good behavior, like being around positive people...

and the best concept to put into practice: listen to your friends with unconditional, positive regard. support them in their endeavors. encourage them. be a mentor, or at least be the person they know they can always go to for a kind word.

i highly recommend it, and understand why tim loved it so much!

life is good, even when it is uncomfortable and confusing, it's just a matter of putting on the right lenses, although, just looking through rose colored glasses will not turn your water into pink lemonade.

i suggest investing in several shades!
julie

late-night drivers get the bearclaw!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!

i wasn't completely decided on tuesday morning if i would go ahead and make the drive to mom and dad's after school or just wait until wednesday. i woke up in the morning and thought i would delay until wed. morning. then as the day progressed, i decided that i would go ahead and just make the drive after school. so i got packed as quickly as possible and we were on our way by 5. the traffic out of town is always ridiculous, though, so it took an hour longer than i would have liked. 

one thing that has become abundantly clear is that i should probably not do long trips like that when it gets dark so early because by the time i hit joplin, i was starting to fade-which left me with about another hour and 15 minutes..it is amazing how one doesn't even realize it when the fading begins! i found myself imagining things scurrying across the road, and trying to look out to the side to see what it was(to no avail) or not realizing that my speed has hit 95, as the radar detector goes off and i see lights stopping a car in front of me-thankfully i was able to slow in time to not fall victim to the ticket i deserved. at this point i was on the final stretch and i thought, no problem, 10 more minutes, but i'm pretty sure i rolled in, eyes glazed. but we made it in by midnight, safely and got to bed by one. i am officially no longer a late-night person! 

i'm glad we left early so that we were already here this morning!

we woke up to huge snow flakes clumps, but they melted away almost as soon as they fell. sadly we didn't get outside early enough to get any good pics. the boys were largely unimpressed. "it's just soft rain and now i'm wet and cold." that was chaco.

nothing beats mom's homemade bear claws fresh out of the oven! yummers! 

you cannot see the yummy goodness inside, but trust me, the pairing of dates, chopped cherries, and walnuts, topped with a sugar,walnut topping...quite a holiday tradition for us.

it's been a very relaxing day! i got the opportunity to do a little target-practice today in the backyard-fortunately i was able to find my ammo a few weeks ago at a great rate! love not having range fees!!

my mom got a tablet-android. i am so proud of her! as i was looking at it today, i noticed that it was on 4g, and she said last night that it used their wifi. that surprised me because i never knew they had wifi-when i've been here before, i haven't been able to get on with the laptop. so i pulled out my chromebook and there were no available networks, so i went in to look at their equipment, tried a couple of different numbers because i couldn't figure out the id to add a network. they had a router, and a usb connection...so i told them they might want to ask their saleswoman (who knows my mom's password by heart) where to find the id number.

so they went in earlier and it took awhile, but they were due for an upgrade in equipment, and they got what they needed to upgrade their technology. we got in and figured all of that out, created passwords and now i can work from any part of the house-sweet. (by no means am i an expert in technology, but i will take a challenge and run with it and usually figure out what i need to know). 

when i finally came back to the living room and settled in, chaco came up onto the couch and began pawing at the cushions. i couldn't figure out what he was trying to find, because there shouldn't be anything down there. so i thought he was crazy. finally, i pulled out a cushion so that he could see there was nothing. he continued to paw and get down in the crevice, so finally to keep him from damaging the couch, i reached down to show him there was nothing. i felt something i thought might have been a treat and pulled it out. then i realized it was poop. cat poop. (my dog at some point in the evening had gotten into the litter box and dragged out that which is taboo, and guarded it in a safe place so that he could go back later for snack). my reflex was to drop it, and then bruno picked it up (in his mouth, as that is how dogs usually tend to pick things up)...i had to pry it from his little jaws. since when is hardened cat droppings a delicacy? since never, that's when. must pay closer attention to what the boys are doing-especially when they are quiet and out of sight for any period of time.

alright, i leave you to enjoy THANKSGIVING! (at least those of you in the u.s.).

thankful for so many things!
julie