pickled daikons, saving animals and eating the foodchain!

rain, rain, keep on falling! and temperatures, please drop and freeze everything up so that we can enjoy an ice day tomorrow! (pretty obvious that i live in the south and we haven't had snow days this year).

as i was walking through the hallway after school the other day, i saw a box with a string attached and i thought of those candid camera shows, wondering what might be inside or under the box. then as i got closer, it turned out to merely be cable for enhancing our internet connection. while the first would've made for a great story, the latter will really be great for our students and teachers!

you can see how it might look like a trap, right?

 and before i left for work the other day, i had thrown a load into the dryer, but when i opened the door, there was a dank smell. when i looked behind the dryer, i noticed that the hose had become detached from the pipe, so i had to just shut 'er down until returning in the afternoon when i had more time. so when i got home, i moved the dryer out and gathered the necessary tools. i was able to get the hose connected; i now have one more 'first' marked off my list.

although, the plate surrounding the hose is not flush to the wall, so there is still some 'exhaust' escaping...hmmm..duct tape?

 and then there was the day that we had to go over to another school for a coaches meeting, and there i saw abraham lincoln with a mouth that somewhat exemplified a small bunny rabbit. (squint your eyes)

this is abe "rudolf bunny lips" lincoln

if you recall, i was SO looking forward to eating at the nammi foodtruck place at the valley view mall, but they weren't open on saturday, so i had to improvise and found a philly cheesesteak joint-yum! and then i may have visited it again for the gyro! (no worries, health-team, i only ate the meat! and veggies). 

 while i did enjoy the cheesesteak and gyros, i was still craving the vietnamese fusion cuisine, so i looked up the important stuff. yesterday i purchased some daikon radishes and carrots to make some do chua:

purple cabbage slaw and do chua. the dish normally comes with rice as well, but that isn't on my current menu, so i'll be cooking up some chicken and having a long-awaited (week) meal tomorrow...

we had a professional development day on friday, and once again, the church was so gracious to provide such a fun snack spread! it was hard to not go straight to the cheese nips and all of the miniature candy bars, but i did it! pretty sure my team did a good job too!

 the pd was actually great! we had MOMENTOUS institute come out to give us a great training on social/emotional learning health. it was phenomenal! they spoke on the brain and breathing and working with students to lessen the stress so that they can actually function. in the afternoon, we had the writing training, which was good, but not exactly what i was expecting. it will be a good catalyst and jumping off point to be able to go into classrooms to model.

then on saturday i got a text around 4 asking if i was interested in going to a benefit for operation kindness, a no-kill shelter. olivia bought a ticket, but was sick and didn't want it to go to waste. i was debating to go, not to go...i decided it would be for a good cause. once i got there, i was happy to have gone. i was very impressed by the artwork donated by one of the art classes at booker t washington. i was most persuaded by the word: symphony! love me some mozart and vivaldi! good for the soul-the slide sets were awesome as well! unfortunately, by the time i got back out to the gallery, the painting i was going to purchase had been sold, so i settled for notecards (surprise!).

and today i decided that it was probably wise to go ahead and use my baby portabellas in the recipe i've been meaning to create. it looked delicious and it taste just as good as it looked. (and healthy to boot!) i've never been huge on eating fungus, decomposers...but turn 'em upside-down, throw a little pepper/onion mix(producers), and some pork(consumers) and the only thing i'm missing from the food-chain is sunshine...but we're happy about that, because remember what i said first: hoping for an ice-day!

i'll do these again. if for nothing else, they're so cute-they look like little ninja turtle road-kill kinda...but looks can be deceiving-yum!

alright, everyone just stop what you're doing for a moment and say a prayer for one day of ice for dallas!

julie

umm..cutest cabbage in the world? i think: YES.

i don't usually admire or fawn over fruits and vegetables. but c'mon, is this not just the cutest little cabbage you've ever laid eyes on? i showed it to the boys and bruno rolled his eyes and said (unimpressed), "sure. almost as cute as those rats with the mini teddy bears." chaco merely lifted an eyebrow and said, "no comment....but it's really not all that." i used that as a teachable moment to explain to him that once he said no comment, he forfeited his right to continue commenting.

i had to hide it in my office so no one would thieve it...you know what they say about teachers: beg, borrow and steal.

so, is it wrong that i kinda want to cryogenically freeze it? i mean, this little guy is so small, he could almost be adopted by a couple of brussel sprouts and fit right in...i wonder if i could draw up adoption papers on legal zoom just for kicks...(why do we say just for kicks? kicking isn't funny...i suppose it could be funny depending on the person doing the kicking, and the type of kick...karate, rockette-style, field goal...i can think of some people that might look funny doing any one of those).

yeah, so when i was making that salad last night, i couldn't cut this one open! the salad was a hit, so if you're interested, here's the link.

and i don't know why i just looked this up, but i was curious to see if there were any songs out there about cabbage...well, as a matter of fact, there is. but you may choose not to watch it unless it's really late and you are delirious...or you've had a glass of wine...you may not be as amused as i was-i may or may not have watched the entire minute and a half (a minute and a half of my life i will never get back)..

tomorrow a vast majority of our students and teachers will be going to the symphony. i LOVE the symphony (but let's just be honest, i love it more without being responsible for students!) so in honor of the symphony, i will be playing classical music whenever possible tomorrow!! (and when it's not playing, i will be thinking it).

keep practicing those kicks-
jules

whine or cry? whine....wine or cry? wine.

ever had one of those days when nothing really went terribly wrong...in fact, teaching-wise, everything went as planned-home run (third base at least)...but still felt overwhelmed? yep, that was me today, and at one point i just wanted to curl up in fetal position and cry. and it's not even for girl reasons-so not pms.

so, when i came home, i just needed a good glass of wine.

close call, but i probably really needed a good cry (every once in awhile, it just helps..like once a year)

it also helped just to reflect on the beauty of my walk yesterday! i walked for about 45 minutes, and it was fabulous-45 minutes at my pace is a good little walk! i did stop to take a few pics because they certainly caught my attention! why did it catch my attention? well, see for yourselves, TULIPS!! i said it yesterday, i am a sucker for tulips. the man who finds the way to my heart will be sending me tulips or daisies! roses are too seductive and sexy-not my style...whereas daisies and tulips are more friendly and playful!

add in a little fountain, and how can you go wrong??

then i made my way around the park behind the savoye and life was sweet. i went without the boys because they like to stop at any whiff of urine, and i was not interested in stopping, so when i got home, i took them for an extra walk.

the other thing that helped was thinking about the fact that i am going to see wicked again! with friends!

defying gravity!

and i'm planning on doing season tickets next year! woohoo! i'd love to do the symphony...we'll have to see.

this morning, i did take in the coleslaw that i made out of our garden cabbage and carrots, and when i was picking my kiddos up from specials, renee commented on the coleslaw. she first advised me that she was a connoisseur of coleslaw, always trying out different varieties, and she actually went back for seconds! what a great compliment! it was fun to make something with the goods from our garden!

so, yes, this day wasn't terrible, i just, for whatever reason, had one of those moments. this week has to get better.
julie