dallas needs yogi's dancing bears!

when i was driving back to school yesterday, i saw the scene below, and so...what went through my mind? wow, i wish someone would pick all of that up! the second thought was a cartoon-i was replaying an old yogi bear cartoon in my mind where the bears were all around the park with their pokey sticks picking up trash while the wind was blowing.. there was a guy on the corner with a sign looking for handouts, and i kinda wished i'd had a little pokey-stick thingy, i would've told him to pick up those papers, and when it was cleaned up, i'd bring him a hot meal or something...

if only we had dancing bears with pokey sticks in the metro!

 oh, remember how i had to go back to panera for my second date? well, when i arrived to pick up that breakfast sandwich, i told the lady at the counter i had been there the day before, and cory turned around and said, "yes, this lady's breakfast sandwich is on the house today!" so i waited for it, and while i was waiting, i saw the sign- interestingly enough, this is what we talk to our students about with social emotional learning!

ha! they did take care of it with the greatest of customer service, though.

 this evening as i was driving home. i was at the intersection of spring valley road and midway, there they were...the birds! all the birds in the neighborhood gather here for a good time. it was fascinating!! as i watched, i kept wondering how they communicate-do they know each other? how do they decide which bird to land by? do they have personalities? is there a bully? do they scooch over if they don't want to stand next to another? is there an outcast? how do they know when to all go flying off? who decided this was going to be the hangout? SO MANY QUESTIONS!

sometimes things happen that change your view and perception of things. sometimes they are good things, sometimes they are easy things. sometimes they are difficult things, sometimes they are painful things. sometimes when things happen, i tend to over-analyze and try figure out the 'why' but i am slowly realizing this is not always necessary, in large part, thanks to one of my friends. she is very matter-of-factual, and it really is good for me, because it makes me back up and see things in black and white. sometimes color isn't necessary, because too much color can cloud the picture. regardless, life happens. it's not always as tidy as we'd like it to be. but then again, sometimes it's like goldilocks and the three bears, and it's just right--especially when you have the right people in your corner.

love this!

embrace life as it happens- tame the crazy! only you can control you!

julie

a ten-year century and nose holes that don't work...

today i was exceptional. i know. who says that. well, when you're switching it up with some fun reading practices learned at a marzano training, you really cannot go wrong! the kids loved it, i was being observed, and they really understand women's suffrage and alice what's-her-name...

it didn't start out that way...when i got to school, i had to get some butcher paper from the roll, and as i tore off the first paper and walked over to put it on top of the copier, i banged my toe into the copier. ouch. you'd think once was enough and that i would be more careful and aware the next time. i was, but i still proceeded to do this TWO more times! what in the world? and the 3rd time, i knew from the feel and the sound that i had broken my nail and made a mess of things. i was excited to get back tot he classroom to clip it with my nail clippers in my purse. when i went digging for it, it wasn't there. i had taken it out again. so i ended up using scissors...figuring it would do until i got home (i mean, i had gotten it bad-there was a big chip out of it and i ddin't want to cut any children accidentally).

music was interesting today...some of our students thought mississippi is in dallas, others said africa, and several said south america. and apparently several believe that brazil is a continent..oh geography, what has happened?

in one of my afternoon classes, one of the girls said, "my nose holes aren't working." i thought i misunderstood her, so i asked her to repeat that, and she said the exact same thing. hmm..i asked what she meant, and that's exactly what she meant. i told her the better way to say it: stuffy nose.

yesterday we had visual arts with mr martinez, and we did faces-he was teaching them symmetrical and asymmetrical (only he spelled it wrong...he also managed to tell them that a century was 10 years...we have some un-learning to do)...

tomorrow i have my doctor-follow-up appointment. i am praying that there is something that i am not doing that i can do to feel better, or that they have a magic cure. i just want to get back to doing the things i love to do! (like sleeping through the night...) pretty sure i'm excited about 'sleeping in' a little. and i am also thinking that i got out of spray painting those trash things. whew! dodged a bullet...don't worry, carol, i'm pretty sure she wouldn't be tacky enough to ask a sub to do it (and if she does, just say no and thank you)      

day off tomorrow! yea!
julie

women's rights...i guess they had the right to look like my piano teacher. that's crazy.

i am convinced that the QT off forest and josey is a little slice of what hell might be like...on any given weekday morning at 6:50...yard-workers hell. it is impossible to get in and out of due to all of the trailers.

as i was putting student work up in the hallway, one of the male teachers came out and said, "oh, if you have extra work that you want to put up here on the bulletin board, you can!" (the bulletin board that the t.a. put up...) i'll shuffle through my stuff and see if i can come up with anything.

today we are beginning a week study on women's rights-suffrage. it will be an interesting week. we shall see what they learn! i will say that as i was going through the book, i came across some homely looking ladies. i need to make sure my students understand that the main idea is NOT that women used to look like men.

sorry to whomever's great great grandma this may be, but looks like a dude to me.

it actually looks a little like one of my former piano teachers...

the same t.a. that put up the bulletin board came to borrow the hot glue gun of ms. alexander to glue the same teacher's art projects for thursday...so not wanting to be the 'fail-teacher', i stuck around after school to finish hot gluing the ones in my room. ugh. they stank because of the leftover rank milk smell. nasty.

i really dislike glue guns. the little wispy string fly-aways drive me nuts.

the sculptures

the class numbers in one of our classes dropped quite a bit today. not that i am complaining...

tonight i am excited about american ninja warrior...i know, i know...what? well, the husband of one of my former kampers might be on it tonight! he made it into the top 30, now to see if he moves into the top 15! woo hoo! (he worked at kamp, and he was actually on american gladiators a few years ago!)...exciting!

anyhoo..hoping your great, great grandmother was more photogenic than some of the women's suffrage heroes.
julie

i'm cool with art out of trash, but c'mon, in my classroom?

so today our arts integration person was something else...bless her heart (just gave myself the license to complain). we have a combined classroom of almost 30 kids. well, she brings in a boat-load of trash and asks the other teacher if he might be willing to rinse out some milk cartoons she pulled from the trash earlier this morning. (gross). then she started passing out the trash so the kids could create something out of the trash.

cool idea, just not enough time or space. she kept leaving the room to find more trash, the glue gun, etc. then it was time for the kids to clean up and once again she was MIA, so i had to head that up as well. and the kids didn't get to hot glue anything. the gal says, "in your free time, you can supervise the kids and let them glue their things together..." i don't think so. no law-suit for me please. and then the kicker, "...and hopefully i can get your teachers to help me take the sculptures outside next week and help me spray paint them black..." umm..i'm sorry, in what free-time would you like me to do this? and....really? do i look like i am wearing or have an art smock anywhere in this room? and lastly, i'm pretty sure there was nothing in my face that was even vaguely hinting at the fact that i remotely wanted to have any involvement in this? didn't think so.

a little blurry, but you get the idea-today's crazinesss made me realize that i really prefer order with the sporadic organized chaos.

cupcake wars commercial just really made me want a cupcake...if i make it through tomorrow and finish all of my fluency testing (can you believe they are having us do a dra type testing at the beginning and end of this 5-week summer school? how tragic), i might just have to get a sprinkles cupcake...just sayin. i spent all day on those things today-fortunately i still have brooke around helping out with the students--she was great. need to come up with something good to keep the kids busy tomorrow while i finish up the last of the testing!!! boo.

so, in preparation for tonight's game, i am actually listening to garth brooks' the thunder rolls. inspiring. it actually reminds me of my aunt beth. when we were younger and garth was quite a bit younger too...she was not yet married, and she took me with her to the pool hall and of course garth was playing in the background and that was pretty much my first encounter with him. this song and friends in low places. hmm. good times. i think that might have been the night she went on a first date with her now husband of many years.

it's kinda coincidental, but i think the first time i heard billy ray cyrus and achy breaky heart was in sioux city as well-with my cousin, at a small rodeo-fair on a crazy muddy evening. ah, sioux city, how many wonderful memories you have afforded me! i love to revisit the past!

good times. i need to try to get my lesson plans done before the game begins, because last week i was trying to do both at the same time (as well as playing words with friends...) and that just really wasn't healthy, not to mention, i don't know if my plans even made sense!
julie

looking through the trash for a good reason doesn't make you trashy!

ok, second time around! i had this post done, but then my computer decided to restart without saving..boo.

this morning i was on the floor stretching, when bruno jumped onto my chest and said, "mama, don't go to school today. stay home with us!" and as good as that idea sounded, i barely heard what he was saying because i kept thinking about how much he looked like the lorax with his mustache!
                                            speaking of chest and stretching, yesterday when i was stretching my leg with an exercise band, the band slipped off my shoe, and smacked me pretty good in the upper ribcage just below my chest (thank goodness!) anyhoo, this morning, i felt like i was bruised it really hurt, and bruno pouncing from the couch didn't really help!

school was nothing more than routine...we put classes together for next year..good luck fifth grade!

and when i got home, i stopped at the p.o. box and there was a bunch of ads, so i trashed them, but amidst all of that was a box of postcards! yes, i got postcards with the boys' pic on it-just for fun! thank you, shea yates for being puppy photographer in march!

i can't wait to write notes and send them out!

oh, so i ran into the office and dropped off one of the postcards, then on the way back to the car i was thinking about the letter i am supposed to be receiving from the teaching trust and i second guessed myself thinking maybe i got into too much of a hurry to throw out the news ads, that possibly i had accidentally overlooked that envelope, so i went back and dug through the trash looking for it. when i was satisfied that i had not missed a thing, i went back to my car and noticed that someone was in their car and had witnessed the entire episode lady...so now i'm the dumpster diver...only in a trash can.

i am very excited because at first when i was looking for a particular doctor for my back, i wasn't finding the doc that had been recommended by friends, so i was getting bummed, thinking that maybe he had dropped our network. but this afternoon, i tried one last time and found that he indeed is with my carrier, so tomorrow morning i make an appointment-tired of feeling like an old person with aches and pains- much too young!


g'nite!
julie

the neighbor might be creepy..but he's nice

today my back started to hurt-every time i stepped, so i took a muscle relaxant and i think i read somewhere that ice cream was supposed to help, and since we didn't have our scheduled 'new teacher/mentor ice cream social' i decided it would be a good idea to get some ice cream. then i looked for my source of information to verify and it actually said 'ice PACK'--oh well too late!

tomorrow's thursday!! that means the creepy neighbor will take the garbage out if i leave it out tomorrow morning! creepy because he just is. but it sure is nice that he offered to take out the garbage for the people on our floor (only 3 other apt's). then strange thoughts went through my head. is he really doing this out of the goodness of his heart and desire to exercise (which is what he said) or is he later going to take us all to judge judy and demand back pay for his services? or is he a spy and does he take our bags to his place and sort through them-identity theft he's in an identity theft ring maybe...cue up eerie music.

did i mention that i rushed around to get bowls, cups and spoons for the ice cream social that we didn't have? gigi, you can have the sporks and spoons back.

wow. that muscle relaxant relaxed every muscle in my body and i just had an unexpected nap! and the boys slept right through with me. it was one of those where i could feel it coming on, and there was NOTHING i could do to stop it! now i'm still going slow motion.

so i mentioned yesterday that there was something i wanted to include that i had left at school. well, here it is!

don't be fooled, gigi pointed out that it was made in china. probably be a 5 year old, and they still got the spelling correct!

the perfect souvenir for a reading teacher! thanks gigi! i remember my grandparents went somewhere one year and brought back a t-shirt-one of those that says: my grandparents went to (insert vacation place here) and all i got was this lousy t-shirt.   souvenirs are fun. it means that at some point while someone was off having fun they stopped long enough to think of you! (even if it was in the spur of the moment in an airport gift shop, or walking by a street vendor, or while waiting in a hotel lobby or sometimes by making a special trip into the dreaded "little gift shop town" (like little china town)... it's special. thanks!

i'm pretty sure chaco is true to form and enjoys tunneling. lately when he comes to a resting spot, he digs around until he has made himself a little tunnel to get under-it's really cute.

a little hard to see for the shadow, but those are his hind legs.

and he likes to snooze. this morning, the alarm went off in the morning and he was the first in my face, then after i went in and wash my face, bruno was the only one sitting there watching me. i went back into the room and found chaco completely burried again under the sheets! bruno's more like me, once he's up, it's go time.

i think that's it for today-hope you're not creeped out by your neighbors!
julie