my balcony is only good for one thing...one day of the year...for 30 minutes.

here's the thing: my balcony is the worst. it faces the complete wrong direction. it does not face the fountain...it faces the garage (the BACK of the garage, at that, so people-watching and developing nancy drew mystery conspiracy theories is out) and the small parking lot. it gets no sunlight, so i cannot grow anything...ever. it doesn't even face the right direction to get satelite t.v. (i tried when i first moved in). so..the only day of the year that it validates itself is july 4th from 9:30-10:00 pm. addison kaboom-town. the 'kabooms' were far enough away that it really didn't bother the boys.

i did make them take their independence day pic...chaco wasn't excited about it. and today on the radio, he heard the dj's asking for people to call in about a time they had family pics, wedding pics, prom pics, etc., after being injured, but had to take the pic anyhoo...he wanted to call in so badly, but i wouldn't and he couldn't (lack of opposable thumbs...) besides, i told him, no one would understand his yapping.

balcony shots:

so, yes, great shots from the balcony...and shortly after it was over, we went to bed. and lo-and-behold, there was a huge thunderstorm, which really brought the kabooms! that  got the boys going. maybe i should invest in a thunder shirt for chaco...although, i could probably just cut the ends off a sock and pull it over his body and it'd do the same thing. i'll bet he'd love to be swaddled. if he were a real-live-boy, he'd be the one wearing skinny pants and the skull t-shirt. bruno, on the other hand, would be wearing the preppy pastel plaid shorts and polo...but i digress-it was quite the storm!

pretty sure i've been sleeping wrong, or something, because yesterday my shoulder and arm hurt (like a sprained rotator cuff-not like i've ever experienced anything of the sort, but i imagine it would've felt something like this)...then in the middle of the night last night, i tried to adjust, brought both hands behind my head, and something clicked. i broke my neck. (no i didn't)...but i certainly did SOMETHING wrong, because my back and shoulders were stiff ...tight ...ridiculously miserable. but i had decided last night that i was going to get up early this morning to go grab breakfast because i'd been too lazy over the long weekend to get the eggs, bacon and fruit.

i'm glad i did choose to get up and go, because there was an awesome rainbow after the storm 

it seemed the safest, closest and i knew i would get back home fairly quickly. (they're predictable like that)

breakfast was great-and i was ready to get started when i got home. i have plenty of reading and i did a lot of cutting and preparing teacher resources.

alright, so i don't know if you're all aware or not, but there was a terrible amount of flooding in sealy, tx back in april. one of the trainers i work with was a victim of this flooding, and i got to hang out with her last week at our conference. neddy never said a word about it, and had such a positive attitude; i didn't realize this had happened until they gathered the pd training group together and said they were creating a go-fund-me-page. she broke down in tears...i cannot even imagine being in a situation where everything you own is damaged and lost.  "Neddy has received very little emergency assistance, and at a "mature" age, is literally starting completely over."  i've been blessed, so i will be contributing. i would love for you to consider this, if it is within your means, as at a certain point in our lives we are all called to be a part of community. while she may not be in your immediate community, you could certainly bless her by displaying compassion in a tangible way! i don't often post things like this, but it struck me and i hope this blog can serve as a tiny means to help out! please check out the page here.

alright, time to call it a night-may the fireworks of life never end (but all that noise can stop about now).
julie

oh, really? it was only the 2nd pile? grr..

just for the record, i hate the commercial by honda that has the family on a road trip in an suv making noises to 'create music'. it really makes me cringe, i'm not exactly sure why.

i didn't get to sleep until fairly late last night. first, i watched the game until 11:something and then i had to finish scoring 2 last papers. well if you read yesterday, i said i was in the middle of the 3rd class. much to my chagrin, as i triumphantly went to set my neat pile of scored papers on the pile, there was only one pile finished...how could i have made such a huge miscalculation?? well, it's because i had already graded the 2nd pile, i was just going back over it with the individual score rubric/comment sheet (which i didn't have when i first read their stories). boo in a big way.

after i finished scoring the papers, i went to my room and thought this was the only time i really had to read a book (which i may or may not have bought at walmart yesterday as well!) i got through about 3 or 4 chapters (ok, maybe it was six, but who's counting that late?!)

it's a trilogy all wrapped into one...it could take awhile because i'm usually a little short on spare time.

it's not a harlequin romance-it's actually a story of loss, tragedy, love, coping and God's hand in it all.

kingsbury, the author actually weaves a great story together-hard to put down!

then i heard the tornado siren-thank you town of addison. so i turned on the radio and listened to where the storm cells were and packed a mini cooler to put in the closet for just-in-cases..i included peanut butter and peanuts (protein) for me, matches, lighter and emergency candles, water, and dog food for the boys.

well, when it was finally about 2:10 and we were sure the threat had passed, we went to sleep.

the boys do surprisingly well during storms. bruno always wants to go sit on the balcony and watch the lightning, and chaco usually chimes in and says, "yeah! can we? can we go out and fly a kite with a key?" ever since he saw the coloring book about benjamin franklin (amazing american patriot!) he has been obsessed. so i make sure to never come home with kites. (not a difficult task).

at 6:30, i could smell that the crock pot chili was done, so i turned it to warm, and went back to sleep, but bruno was restless by 8, so we got up and after fixing a very ugly concoction for them, i had myself a bowl of chili. it was actually very good-leaving just a hint of heat..yum.

alright, i am posting early-perhaps there will be another later tonight (depending on today).

have a blessed Sabbath! relax, rest and enjoy that which no one really deserves-truly we are blessed.
julie