how is it that i can cut my own hair, but make chaco look like frankenstein's monster?

on friday the contractor came by to fix the mess that the water damage left on my ceiling. i was showing him what needed to be done, and pointed out the sprinkler and need for the patch job, and i wasn't sure he was getting the entire message, because he responded in broken english...so i continued in spanish-which surprised him. it usually does, so i explained that i was from HONDURAS. he smiled and said his wife was from HONDURAS, so i asked what area. when he told me tegucigalpa, immediately visions from my jr. high era flooded my memories and i told him that i had lived there 2 years. (a great two years, and i still keep up with some of my friends from there!)

he said he needed to go to home depot to pick up some supplies, so i figured i had enough time to give chaco a trim and i began. well, apparently he didn't need to go all the way to home depot, because just a few minutes later, he returned with another guy; they taped off the area they were working in, and i continued to work on chaco, but he got fidgety and i accidentally nicked him in a very sensitive area on his hind leg. poor guy. and it may have been a bit of a hatchet job because i got in a hurry...so he had a couple of little patches that made him look like he had skin problems...oops. how do i know? well, a lady in the parking lot at petsmart said she had problems with her maltese, and they had her on a special diet, "and it cleared her skin right up!"...ugh.

bruno is fine with the ride...chaco-not loving life.

i took the boys into the banfield vet and dropped them off to check on their vomiting issues. i got a call from the vet saying they wanted to do some blood-work to make sure, and also they were giving an anti-nausea injection that would last 24 hours, as well as some antibiotics to help keep them from licking their paws and clearing up any skin issues. it took several repetitions for me to understand what in the world he was saying. i am just not as good at deciphering accents from india...banfield must have some sort of exchange program, because the last 3 vets i've had there have been from india. anyhoo, i told him it was my fault, i'd done a hatchet job (i had to explain that term-because nobody wants doggy cps coming after them!) i had gotten in a hurry when i was shearing chaco. sigh.

i left them and ran several errands. office depot for some office-type thingys...i was in dire need of a calendar; umm...i don't quite know how i got this far through the year without one! when i picked them up, they were fine-they didn't throw up last night, which is a plus (because it saved me from having to clean up).

it was good to see that all of the work was done, and the drywall had been replaced in the bedroom by the sprinkler! go me! after i brought the boys home and got them settled in, i went to sip-n-doodle to meet up with 4 other teacher friends. when i arrived, denise and kim were already there, so we got to do some catching up--they follow my blog, so they had a basic idea of what was going on, which made it easier to fill in the blanks with the details. we had fun painting our designs and chatting, and catching up. i'd seen nafia and nicolette at summer school, so there wasn't as much to catch up on, but kim and denise had news to share, and it was good to see what all was going on with them as well.

we searched through all the painting models for one that we were interested in, and found our places, prepared our drinks and got our popcorn! i was really wanting to do a different picture, but i couldn't locate it on my phone-boo. the owner quickly gave instructions and let us get to work! when we finished, we had our masterpieces (which will not be hanging anywhere in my apt). for real, it was all about just hanging out and being together to catch up and keep in touch. we'll need to schedule another get-together before summer ends!

the owner loved jumping in to help!

kim making one of many stops at the blow-drier station

nafia with her work of art

nicolette working her artistic skillz

fun night-something new and different

 i noticed there was a problem friday night when i got home, because chaco kept licking. well, i think he made the spot that i nicked worse, and it was pretty raw, so i had to break out the CONE OF SHAME. he was not happy about that. but i am going to have to keep the cone on because it is very red and tender right now. hopefully it will clear up a little by tomorrow and at least be a little less red...i do NOT want to have to take him into the 24hr vet care. note to self, next time: scissors around the legs (i should have paid more attention...that's a tender area for all of us!). bad mom...it's the equivalent of giving your boy-child a bowl haircut. (no offense to those of you who think that's cute...but in my book, not real cute).

today i was going to go to kaboom-town addison, with some friends, but that ended in a bust. (not like i'm going to go down and hang out there by myself-it's one thing to go to a restaurant or coffee shop alone, or a museum, but a fun event or celebration. no. not as much). fortunately i can see the fireworks from my balcony, so that's how i'll be watching tonight's fireworks. i wasn't planning on much for tomorrow, but i am slightly intrigued by the plano fourth of july event--mostly because they will have foodtrucks. i know, what's the difference between addison celebration and plano celebration? foodtrucks. but then there's also fairpark. their event was actually editor's pick. let's just wait to see if it's an out-and-about day.

alright, remember, FREEDOM isn't free-thank a vet (and i'm not talking about animal vets, like my doc from india)!
julie

every year i ask myself, "why am i teaching summer school again?"

where to begin? so much has been going on this week!

on monday i went up to cabell with plans to help robin (one of my coworkers) go through some cabinets as we went through our science curriculum for next year...and got paid for it! (or will on some check off into the future..i didn't think we would). then i stuck around and worked on some painting, but didn't finish, so i had to go back on tuesday.

my t-shirt...painting is messy for me...i like people to know what i've been up to.

i was very thankful that ms. tesfai showed up to help out because she is good company-especially for that kind of a project! got most of the cafeteria done, but there are still some finishing touches around the bldg. i felt so bad because just after i finished, i was pushing the cart with the paints back toward the art room. i saw the little lip on the floor by the gym  doorway, and decided if i got the cart going fast enough, perhaps i could push it right over! (feeling a bit evil kenevil) well. in my mind it was masterful. in reality there was an abrupt stopping of the vehicle, with a loud thud as several gallon cans of paint flew from the cart-thankfully only one bust open and spilled with streaks flying across the room and hitting the chairs and table piled up in the hallway.

tony, our awesome custodian came around the corner because he heard the great attempt and rescued some of the spilled paint and made me feel much relief by saying, "no worries, we're stripping the floor later anyway."

wednesday we had our first of a 2-day training for summer school. it was a pretty good training. except for the 2 men that somehow always ended up near my table and insisted on talking and being a distraction. by the last session the second day i was really fed up, and when it was my turn to present something, i stood up and waited and the presenter looked at me and i had almost everyone's attention, so finally i said what i say with my students, "i'll wait. until you're ready." i think it finally sunk in that i was waiting for them and i wasn't about to be talking over an adult. (teachers are the worst about this).

on friday we worked at our summer school-meetings all morning, setting up in the afternoon-between grade-level meetings. third grade is the grade that is going to be closely monitored this summer, and we have lots of kids in our 3rd grade....we divided kids into classes, maxing at 23 students per class and we have sections 3A through 3M....i believe we may have to make smaller classes-which might move us into sections 3N and 3O...nothing like a little chaos!

oh, and i was going to be in a gen ed class, but now i will be teaching bilingual.

so, we finally got everything pretty much figured out. smile. then when i got a minute, i ran to the bathroom and after washing my hands, i stood in front of the hand dryer waiting for it to come on automatically...then i realized it was one of those with the button...manual hand blowers...we're so spoiled.

so used to the automatic ones!

when i got home from school, we took a walk and chaco decided to hide behind the bushes. he really thought we couldn't hear or see him...i mean, besides the fact that he was on the leash.

shhhh...

then i saw on facebook that one of the recipe books i was interested was available for free download! woohoo! (i didn't realize i could download it without a kindle, but my friend carol was a hero and posted to let me know)

i'm excited to try some more of the goodies in this book!

and so last night, i definitely bought the necessary ingredients to make some amazing breakfast bars! and they are delicious even as a snack!!

i know it doesn't look like much, but it is figs, dates, dried cherries, etc...yum-o!

yep, we have a frog theme.

now i need to finish some lesson plans because i finally finished the last part of my door for summer school!

julie