mustard greens...your name is so deceiving...

well, today i wasn't sure whether my student teacher would show up or not (because i had e-mailed telling her she didn't have to-but i was hoping she would). i got called to the principal's office and thought i might be in trouble, but i wasn't-thank goodness, she just wanted to talk about the weather! (wait, when have kay and i ever sat down to talk about the weather?! but it's true.) so, after picking up my kiddos a little late, we got to the classroom, and brooke wasn't there. then she walked in right as breakfast was coming in the door. yea! it's always more fun with another adult in the room!

i had gotten a fun gift of some classroom type supplies that i thought she might be able to put to use, so i pulled it out and she had gotten me a thank you card and a gift card to the greatest teacher store ever-

i am the luckiest teacher ever!

remember the day i talked about getting a sprinkles cupcake?  well, i'm glad i forgot to go, although, on the way home today, i remembered and decided to head over that way and half-way, i decided that it would be even better to stop by nothing bundt cakes instead-closer and even more delicious! i remember gigi telling me it was off royal, so i gps'd it, and drove up preston, then i wasn't really exactly sure where it was, but i needed to stop in to central market for some swiss chard. well, i was in the parking lot after making the purchase, and my phone kept telling me it was to my right. i looked around and didn't see it. i went to the window of celebrity cakes and looked in (like one of those norman rockwell paintings with the little kids) only to realize it was not the right place. i got back in my car and went across the intersection and looked in that shopping area...not there...went back, looked again...it was in a small strip right facing preston road-strangely located if you are unfamiliar...back me up, gigi. but i finally found it as i pulled out onto preston one last time! red velvet, you made my day!

ahhhh!!!!! angels singing halleluiah!

at some point during the day, we were talking about salsa and mango salsa came up, so tonight, i bought a couple more mangoes to try it out because i just ran out of salsa. it was missing something, so i added some cumin, salt, basil....it's all good.

and i got my chard for morning shakes-in case you are not familiar...

they have red stems-love the taste, it is a favorite.

 i got a lot because it freezes well for the smoothies. i tried mustard greens the other day. big mistake. i thought, 'well, everything else i've tried in the greens lately has been ok, kind of nutty, or green-ish tasting....not so with the mustard greens. surprisingly, they taste a lot like...mustard. ew. mustard and strawberries. not a good combo. i took a bite of a leaf before throwing it in, and spit it out and threw the rest away. nas-tay!

and note to self, i have GOT to take the Christmas music out of my phone because driving around in 105' and a random saxophone rendition of 'i'm dreaming of a white Christmas' comes on...aargh. first of all, to me, Christmas is the most romantic season of the year. Christmas music on a cold winter night with snow flakes drifting down-romantic. umm...romantic Christmas music when i have sweat beads on my brow is in no way romantic- taking it off tonight so that i don't ruin it for this winter.

the boys have rawhide chews and chaco keeps getting it and going up to bruno and saying, "no, you can't have it. stop trying to come after it..." and fake growling with his little tail wagging and turning his back to bruno. bruno doesn't even want it, but he'll pretend to grab at it just to humor chaco. then when chaco looks away, bruno looks up at me and says, "was that good? i didn't really want it, but i want him to leave me alone." such a good brother!

now i need to review my lesson because apparently i am under the microscope tomorrow,
julie

which would make a better playmate...wasp or cockroach? neither.

another great morning walk...except that one of the neighbors on the trail had his dogs out romping with no leash, and they came rushing at us, chaco was a little anxious because both were bigger than him-one was a german shepherd...the guy came running up and apologizing. as we were walking off, he said, "they're really cute." talking about bruno and chaco..i think he was fumbling, just trying to smooth things over since his dogs weren't on leashes and he didn't want to get reported or something...

chaco just looked up at him in disgust and shook his head, "pfsh. jerk." i looked at the guy and said, "it's ok...he was talking to your dog, not you." (i didn't really say that to the guy, because i'm pretty sure he didn't hear chaco mumble under his breath.)

when we got back home, we saw a huge wasp hanging out on the sliding door-outside...in fact i just looked up and he is still there right now.

ew. i don't understand why he doesn't just go and find his little honeycomb nest to hang out in.

and just a bit later, the boys were standing at the glass door looking at something and getting excited. "mama! come look! can we go out and play with it?"

it was a cockroach! he was a giant!!

double ew! i hate cockroaches. filthy ugly dirty!

"no, bruno. no, chaco! i will NOT let you be playmates with that filth! you're not even in the same phylum!" "but ma..." "NO! he can play with the wasp...at least they're in the same class!"

they watched him for awhile, but then they became disinterested. not long after that, bruno found the spot where i had spilled my green shake yesterday (i had cleaned it up, i just hadn't run the carpet cleaner yet) and he started rolling around in it. i decided i needed to immediately take care of that. it didn't clean up as well as i had hoped that it would. boo.

then i decided i needed to grab some groceries...48 items for $120. grr...but while i was there one of my students from last year showed up, "ms robinson!" it was eric. i'll have to tell my student teacher on tuesday! her last day was technically last friday, but she offered to come in on tuesday to help out since we are supposed to have visitors then. it's always good to have moral support-she has been great. anyhoo, she thought eric was so funny-unique. she'll get a kick out of that.

tomorrow...week 3! let's get it done!
julie