part one of family reunion

family reunion part 1. we got here in one piece..i got pulled over by a cop because he was coming the other direction and he must have been driving pretty high speed because i didn't get enough of a chance to slow down enough before he clocked me and turned around....i proceeded to take the radar detector out of the window and when he walked up he said, do you know how fast you were going? i looked up and said no because i wasn't exactly sure. i feigned surprise when he said he clocked me at *87, and it took everything within me to not sigh relief and say, "good, i'm glad that's what you clocked me at because it might have been closer to 94."

we went to my aunt beth's house and another of their sisters and her daughters and grandkids came over and we had some kfc. when we drove by where my grandma's old home was, and it has since been leveled and turned into a park and walking trail. it has changed so much! almost unrecognizable.

then we played a game called wazzit...it's one of those with phrases that are written in a way to make you figure them out like: talk talk would be double talk. anyhoo, it was running long, but of course we couldn't stop in the middle of the game without finishing, because that would go against board-game etiquette...although, in order to get done quicker, we may or may not have all had a hand in cheating to help each other reach the end so we could get a winner (none of us really cared who won...) cheating in order to finish...principles, principles....

we checked into a red carpet inn earlier today (it was a cheap one near the park, that accepted pets)..

well, all i can say is that this hotel should probably be picked up and moved to the little town of halfway down by mom and dad's because the management seems to be just that. they haven't even been at the counter any time that i have walked by. the vending machine has about 3 choices...and i think i might be in a smoking room that they just pried the little smoking sign off the door...not sure. it should have been a hint when i called to make the reservation and had to ask the person to repeat everything twice- it seemed like i had been routed through a customer service center in india, but no, not to my surprise, there was an indian boy that checked us in...and tonight his mom had to re-key my key card because i couldn't get in my door...bruno and chaco were probably playing a prank...

now it's time to get some sleep so that i can talk to people tomorrow and come up with things to say and stories to tell-i have a crazy, silly imperfect family...but it doesn't even matter because at least it's MY family! i wouldn't have it any other way!

julie

finally, i got my college shirt! as long as bruno doesn't treat it like he treated the comforter!

today, on the way out from branson, i decided to stop at college of the ozarks to get my shirt for our college days at school! i was worried they might not be open today, but then i remembered that thanksgiving is one of the options for a 40 hour work week on campus. woohoo!

hard work u..not me! (never gets old)

ready to decorate my door next year!

actually, i really am thankful that i had the amazing opportunity to attend college of the ozarks! i had some of the most incredible friends and we really did have a blast! there were so many aspects that i loved: drama (fiddler on the roof, and the one acts), french and greek classes, religion classes, art and architecture capstone, c.s. lewis and j.r.r. tolkien capstone....wow. i love that i had to work on campus to pay for the education-what a wonderful experience to get to know others and make a difference.

i stopped at the college on the way out of town and back home. but before we left, we went to ihop for breakfast and being black friday and all, it was very busy! the waitress said that her first table was 6 ladies at 4:30 a.m. who weren't very talkative. they had their receipts out and were on their phones looking for their next extravaganza...and they didn't tip her well. boo. i saw the picture of the pumpkin and praline pancake and thought it looked interesting.

i took a picture to see how close the real deal was to the staged picture.

someone needs to work on straight lines...

but the taste was phenomenal! i definitely recommend that everyone go out and try one this weekend!! my mouth is still watering!

then we went back to the hotel, and as we were getting things around, bruno proceeded to pee on one of the comforters. ugh. i know, we all KNOW bedspreads in hotels are not sanitary for obvious reasons, but now you can add that one to it. so i got out the special cleaning spray and cleaned it up and neutralized any odor. then went back to my room and i heard mom try to say, "no, no, oh, oh," but it was kinda' garbled because she was in the midst of brushing her teeth and watching bruno in the mirror. no sooner did i clean up and walk away, he started to poop on the same comforter...WHAT NOW DOG!  so, cleanup on aisle 2...we left a good tip in both rooms.

and once we got everything packed in and arranged and rearranged, i was able to get the stairs that dad built into the backseat for the boys (it's much better than the janky cardboard ones that i made!), we were on our way. it was a great drive, then chaco jumped up behind my neck and that didn't work for me,

this lasted for a full 10 seconds

 so i moved him, and he then chose this position for the next hour. it didn't look comfortable to me, but i don't know much about doggy comfort in cars.

wistfully looking out into the wide open ranges.

then we got down into the southern part of oklahoma, past atoka, and all of the cops were hanging out down there. there were 4 patrol cars within a 15 minute span. then i saw this self storage in a little bitty pass thru town:

it's the one on the right, but is it me, or am i just making it up? does it look more like a crack house or something? would anyone feel comfortable  storing anything here?

and we also stopped at the TEXAS welcome center because the sign said free maps. so i went in and he said he could only give me 5 because they were getting low-end of the year and all. but he gave me 25 texas magazines for my texas social studies class. (i didn't get 5 maps for myself, sillies! it's for my class!)

and now we're home-the boys were so happy to get home. they are home bodies. it is good to be home.
julie

thank you, men who robbed a bank and got caught-you gave me time to file!

alrighty then. this morning when i woke up, i was so excited to wear my hat and not have to worry about my hair. (not that i ever really worry about it, and it doesn't take extra effort to put it up in a ponytail). even with the hat i had to get an early start because today was our thanksgiving staff potluck! why is it called a pot luck? maybe you're lucky if people bring what you like and it tastes like mom's...i don't think i've ever been to a potluck i have not enjoyed.

so i went to get the ingredients i needed for my crockpot corn/cornbread mixture and when i got up to the cash register, i realized that i had left my money in the car. good thing there wasn't much traffic at walmart! i should have taken that as a sign for what kind of day it was going to be.

no sooner did i walk into the building when the fire alarm went off. and then there was an announcement, but i missed it and one of the teachers coming my way said, everyone needs to evacuate b/c they aren't sure what the problem is. so i left my stuff in her classroom by the exit and we went out with a handful of other early-birds. after a few minutes the sound was off, and they let us go back in, but the alarm was still going off and the fire department showed up and did some checking around.

classes were pretty routine until specials. once we got the students off to p.e., i got back to my room and then the announcement came that we were in lock-down. not a drill. i raised my hands closed my eyes and fake-yelled, "YES!!" in my mind and quickly made my way to the door to lock it. then i went back to my desk and began the tedious job of filing writing papers into portfolios. i kept hoping in the back of my mind that it would last an extra 20 minutes...sorry everyone else..i was really into getting things in order.

our doors are ridiculous. we have to go around to the outside to lock it.

so, this week we had fire drill, evacuation drill, lock down...all we need is a tornado drill tomorrow...anyone?

then at the end of the day, as children were being corralled into their cars, a policeman walked up and asked where the office was, so i led him to the office, where he asked for the principal, who was not on campus. the front office proceeded to tell us that the assistant principal was in the auditorium. when we got to the auditorium, they informed us that ms. perez was out by the buses. so i took him in a big round circle (as most circles ARE round...i suppose the route we took was somewhat of a triangle, now that i think about it). if only he'd just started out by asking for ms. perez.

we like our police presence at school

and later as we were chatting after school in ms. arroyo's room, the intercom came on again saying something about "men who were here to smoke the building." which simply conjured up pictures in my head of men passing the school around, taking a puff. hmm...strange..it would certainly take a very big man.

well, here's to hoping that tomorrow is a bit more routine from beginning to end!

julie