pralines and cream used to be my favorite thing in a cone...now bruno is

it is saturday morning afternoon (i'm still pretending it's morning), and it is a beautiful day! bruno went in on thursday for his bladder-stones surgery. there is always that slight sense of anxiety even when you know the doc has done this a ridiculous number of times without incident...so it was good to get the call, "bruno is doing well, we got all of the stones, we took an x-ray and it looks like we won't have to do the more invasive acl surgery!" thank you dr.!

so i was able to pick him up yesterday and on the way down the hall as we walked away, he stopped and peed. a BIG ol' puddle! i was so happy! the fact that he is peeing is a relief, as he has been peeing tiny spurts here and there...

i should've taken a before and after pic of his cones. they gave him a generic piece, and it was janky, so i decided to go in and get a new one at petsmart. he was so thankful! and truth be told, he looks much more comfortable! chaco was starting to get really annoyed with the other cone because it was so big and clumsy that bruno was hitting him over and over when he'd turn around or get too close.

bruno in a cone.

so i stopped at the grocery store and picked up some necessary items for me...i am on a tzaziki kick...i bought some because i really like a cucumber dip (but i ran out and couldn't find any) and i know it is cucumber based. i have really enjoyed cutting up peppers, onion, carrot and throwing a tablespoon or two on, as it is low-calorie. i also got the necessary ingredients to make my salsa! it definitely has some heat this time! but the spices are just right...in fact, it tastes so good, i may or may not have eaten a ramekin without chips! oops #canthelpmyself.

i really like what we did out in the garden, there is still a bit left to do, but i didn't post pics last time of what we had done, so here you go...

tree cookies...a fun place to bring the kids out for class!

the new garden bed that will be producing cucumbers this summer!

one man's trash...found by our dumpster, we have re-purposed this headboard into a trellis for some honeysuckle.

getting excited about this summer's harvest! hopefully some of our staff will stop in to enjoy a bit of the produce!

i had the opportunity to go to a workshop yesterday and while she was not an overly exciting presenter, she did have some good exercises and explanations to help with the resilience and bouncing back of the brain.
one of the exercises involved thanking my feet(that was a first). during another one, i had 2 'safe places' (kamp and little cay) and put a fake friendship rock and shell in my pocket...

i doodle at workshops.

a few minutes ago, i looked over at bruno sitting by the door and said, "i love you!" and a split second later, the man on netflix is saying, "i love you too." what are the odds.

so, why the following picture? well you have to look closely and know your plants. the plant on top with the flowers is honeysuckle-one of my faves, and below it there, if you look closely, poison ivy. every year it's the same thing. i love walking our back trail, but i have to keep the boys on a short leash, because otherwise they will get too close and the oils will rub off onto their fur...but you have to get a little close to appreciate the delicate scent of the honeysuckle. so, i guess the moral is dare to get close enough to enjoy the beauty but be very aware and know where the danger is.

i have this crazy idea that spawned from an idea that we discussed at the workshop i went to, but i'm not sure if any of my old classmates will participate or not. if they do, i think it would there would be a really neat product that would be cherished for years and be very meaningful to all involved. project in progress..wait and see.

it's already the middle of april, meaning only a month and a half until summer!! there is SO much to do to prepare for summer training and for next year!! yikes.

julie

obi wan chaco ate a bit of the super continent

well, we're finally at the end of the school year. it has been a long road getting here, but here we are.

 tonight i made salsa, and i should've taken note when i felt the skin peel off my upper lip, upon merely moving my hand 10 inches in front of my face...every fine invisible hair singed off. at that point i washed my hands (with the scrubby brush thing and soap, even). that was over an hour ago, yet when i went to itch my eyeball, i'm pretty sure my fingers were radioactive...i'll be permanently blinded.

and since i am on the topic of food, i will just say that yesterday i made pancakes...they started out a little runny, but i was able to turn that into a lesson for the boys. i explained plate tectonics and the speculation of pangaea and continental drift. they were not amused, but when i offered them a piece of pancake, they promised to hear me out.

i had a very strange dream the other night. in it i was much more assertive than i see myself. it happened twice in one dream. once i was in the middle of a group, and someone kept trying to cut me off until i finally looked at her and said, "STOP it." looong pause....and i finished what i had to say. then just a bit later, there were some kids being mean-almost to the point of bullying, and i intervened and did some serious stare downs...i'm pretty tough in my dreams.

last week was also acp week....this is how i felt.

and unfortunately the gallant warrior who was supposed to save me from this ridiculosity was...'held up' by a prepubescent giant, and therefore unable to rescue me. it's ok, i was only tied up for a couple hours every day.

in other news today, our school had an awesome career day, thanks to amazing organization by sandra, our amazing counselor, and olivia! the guests were engaging and the outdoor events were awesome!

love love love that it was air conditioned!

we were up in my room when over the intercom, i hear: MS ROBINSON, THE DART BUS IS HERE.  i looked at the students and asked what she said and they said the dart bus was here. (D.A.R.T. not to be confused with invisible aboriginal darts...although that would be an interesting and somewhat adventurous bus to ride...) i wasn't expecting the bus to arrive. in fact, we were under the impression that the bus would NOT be able to come out...so i was pleasantly surprised, and since our 2nd presenter did not arrive, we went down for the tour! as the students climbed onto the bus, several said, "i've never been on a dart bus before!"  as we were on the dart bus out front, the helicopter flew overhead, preparing to land in the soccer field behind the school.

these guys kinda stole the show

 i informed my students that they would be seeing the SWAT team and the motorcycle police unit; we didn't have time to see everything, so that was our schedule. well, when we got outside, there was an opening at the helicopter, so we got to ask several questions, then we were off to the motorcycles and we got the low down on that...i wish i were a motorcycle police or in the k9 unit! i may or may not have been eyeing someone's sidearm while he was talking (please do not be confused, i was not observing the side of his arm, i was checking out his gun) and i asked him what they customarily used. he said he still used his revolver, but he was warming up to the 9 mm.

on our way back upstairs, one of my students who had said he wanted to be a veterinarian told me that he had changed his mind. no, instead he now wants to be on the SWAT team. hmm. i mean...veterinarian, SWAT team the two are SO similar, i can understand the fickle-ness.

 another student said she wants to be a comedian...which almost made me laugh/snort...but i disguised it with a cough/sneeze. chaco's funnier than her when he starts doing his star wars impressions...even if you've never seen star wars!

obi wan chaco

may the force be with you,
julie

smells like mexican santa in here....

today i decided i wanted to try hollie's santas. now, i will admit, hers look MUCH better than mine... but that doesn't stop people from eating them!

i obviously didn't have enough red food coloring because the suits are a deep pinkish red...also, i only found spice drops instead of gum drops, and there were no black, so i used black cookie frosting for the belt...and then i took them up to my new taste-testers (they don't know it yet), the managers office, and when i mentioned that they were oreo cakesters, faces lit up-which is a good sign.

i had to swing by the tom thumb down the street so i could get the necessities for salsa, and when i got to the self check-out, i accidentally pushed on the red banana button, but i didn't want red bananas, so the guy had to come and take it off...he said, "red bananas?" and i explained that the screen changed just before i was able to click on the cilantro. so he just went ahead and finished off the rest of my produce-assuming that i couldn't handle it. which is fine because he had all of the codes memorized...which again is fine because if we had been at the airport, i would've schooled him on airline codes-so there!

then i came back and let's just say that my little apartment was a confusing, myriad of smells (using the term myriad as a gross exaggeration), although there were several things going on. santa cakesters, some wonderful scented wax, cilantro and onions creating (once again) a delicious salsa to make my taste buds dance (a salsa dance, i'm sure....), and then there was whatever smell was wafting up from the downstairs apartment...oh, and i might mention that i am now drying cilantro for later use because they sell it by the bush!

Christmas smells in my potpourri pot! yum.

 when i first walked out of my apartment early this morning to take down the trash, i had this note on my door:

very sad that there was a naked cat on the loose out there...i hope they found him.

losing an animal is the worst. i remember when i was young in brodhead and our dog got off his chain and ran off-there had been a fresh snow, so we went looking for him early in the morning before there were too many tracks to follow. he must've been adhd because the tracks were crazy-everywhere...we finally gave up on frisky, in sadness, and i think someone ended up finding him way out by the bait lady. (that was the day i realized i was no nancy drew...i couldn't even find a dog and there were tracks everywhere...but in actuality, there was no mystery, so i shouldn't have given up on the nancy drew dreams; i should have just been reconciled that i would never amount to much of a sacajawea and left it at that).

good night,
julie

what did one truffle say to the other truffle? we're rich! we're rich!!

ok, so...summer is dangerous. after i posted last night, i may or may not have had an urge to make caramel-coffee truffles...i know...bad.

i coated them in nuts, powdered sugar, chocolate sprinkles and toasted coconut (only when i was toasting the coconut in the microwave, i forgot to keep an eye on it because i was distracted, and some of the coconut burned and i thought i might have another fire alarm incident)

they are rich, rich, rich. if only they were worth their weight in sugar!

remember how i once mentioned that i am kind of a 'fix-it' person? well, this morning i was so disappointed when i looked at my weak salsa that looked like someone got sick, that i pulled out the tomatoes, onions, cilantro, sea salt and crushed red pepper. surely if i cut them up instead of blending them and add them to what i already have, it will make it better...right?

it worked, i feel like i have redeemed myself in the salsa category

i thought i was going to have to go pick something up from the school today, but i misunderstood-i don't have to go until next monday-good! that gave me a chance to go get something i needed; unfortunately i stopped at target. that led me to many more purchases than were absolutely necessary, but i really like what i got! i am especially enjoying the wireless keyboard-which was on sale. i also finally got a new bag (which is why i got the keyboard-they were in the same aisle and it caught my eye. i figured i might be able to use it at school with my computer there, which is how i validated the purchase.

i hauled it all upstairs and realized that i didn't have my keys-locked them in the car...nice. so i called the main office and asked if any of the maintenance guys were available that might be able to bring a key. what was i thinking? this isn't like a full service hotel. they were all out on maintenance. so i pushed everything up against the wall in hopes that no one would see it. i didn't have the cloaking device to cover it. so i took off on the hike to the main office in 104'. fortunately i had a cold diet dr. pepper in hand-no worries. when i got back, everything was in place-thank goodness! and the spare was where i thought i had left it-double thank goodness!! "mama! is that you?" chaco from behind the gate. silence-maybe if i don't answer he'll think it's the wind or something. and i took off again to see where my keys were.

fingers crossed. i got into the car, and i didn't see the keys in the seat or on the floor or in the ignition..not in the stash compartment-i was starting to sweat a little-oh, but that was just because of the heat-they were hiding in a crack just behind my seat. you must understand, my car is still full of all of my teaching supplies because 3 stories up feels more like the empire state building these days when my hands are full! i returned the spare key and checked for mail (none...maybe it melted).

when i came in, i called to the boys and chaco said, "mama, you missed it! it sounded like the wind or something rummaging through the kitchen drawer!" (i knew it would work..he blames the wind on a lot of things). anyhoo, i went to the refrigerator to get some cold water and this is what i found-kind of funny. let me preface this picture with the fact that my refrigerator has had an issue since i moved here, and i don't want to mess with maintenance or whatever, but it's a cheapy and the water melts from the freezer sometimes, so i have to put a container in there to keep the thing from filling up the vegetable drawers and the bottom of the fridge.

bob, the tomato decided to dive in while it was a pool of water, and then when it turned to ice, he was stuck

the key to success is to not lock the key somewhere unless you have a backup plan....
julie

securing the bottle while the tea brews-there's no getting away now

i just saw an ad on t.v for these special sunglasses...is it just me, or are these new 'hd aviator sungalsses' the same as the old blu-blockers? i remember my brother got a pair when they came out back in the day (80's) and they were really comfortable on the eyes-i need to get a pair-they made the grass look greener on the other side. i remember that they did make everything seem much brighter, but..don't we already see in high definition?

today i decided that i would make some sun-tea (without sun..north side), so actually it's just heat tea...we'll see how it goes. i didn't have a large olive jar like mom used to use. i am in fact using a 2 liter bottle and i had to roll up the tea bags like...a tampon (sorry). i may have to pour the tea into another container to get it out without breaking the bags.

 as you can see, i had to strap it in because it was a leaner.

and after a few hours, here i am, the tea is safe. i repeat, the tea is safe. it's a nice amber, but i think next time i will add 1 more bag of tea as well as add in the sweetener ahead of time.

my lemon juice-from a fake lemon because i forgot to purchase some at the store!

and whenever i think about sweet tea, it reminds me of my friend laura pegg (who is now married and i don't feel like looking up her last name right now). whenever we went to a restaurant, she would ask if they had sweetened tea (even if she knew they didn't) and then they'd say no, but they had sweetener she could add, and she would shake her head adamantly and let the server know it just wasn't the same. when they walked away-she explained that maybe if she asked enough times, they'd get the clue that sweet tea was the 'in thing' and they needed to get it. smile.

i went to the store because i also had a craving for salsa-homemade as well...i need to keep working on that concoction-the taste is ok, but like the pancakes earlier, not a masterpiece. in fact it does not look appetizing at all. bruno shook his head no when i offered him some, and he never does that. and when i turned to chaco, he pretended that he couldn't hear me. rude.

 may your tea be sweet and your salsa spicy...just like all ladies-a little sweet and a little spice!
julie