Showing posts with label yoda. Show all posts
Showing posts with label yoda. Show all posts

Wednesday, May 6, 2015

yoda would own bonsai trees...and ghosts probably don't even need headbands

this morning, on the way to work, for some reason unbeknownst to me, i was thinking about parts of speech. the only year that vividly sticks out in my mind with parts of speech, was the year that miss lava was my teacher (10th grade? 11th?) anyhoo, i remember diagramming sentences and while i didn't understand the 'why', i was pretty good at it. i was sitting in my car at the corner of valley view and marsh, creating sentences and asking myself, if i were diagramming, i know that it is a pronoun, but what is it replacing in the sentence: it wasn't long before i realized the truth. then i kept modifying the sentence, trying to improve it. who am i? i mean..who does that? (p.s. 'it' is replacing a period of time)

let's see...what else has happened lately that you NEED to know? well, it was our turn to fill the trophy case last week, so here's my rendering:
so many of my finest moments...please feel free to click on this to make it whole screen, because there are some doozies in there! (proud of it) missing: pics with bmayes, shea, stevie...i had to pare down my pics because they wouldn't all fit! the story of my life was not meant to fit on one small bulletin board, but at least it's a taste!
it's been a busy couple of weeks working with fifth grade and helping out with the bilingual students and their reading...it feels a bit like a triage unit! hopefully we have stopped some of the hemorrhaging and there will be less clean-up on aisle 5...i jest so i don't cry. but i will say this- i am proud of how far they have come this year with their teacher, and how much more prepared they will be for next year!!

i am still craving a particular caramel/sea salt muffin. i went to central market and whole foods and one of them said, "no, it's seasonal." (?????) how is caramel and sea salt seasonal, please.  i know how caramel is made and i know sea salt is available over approximately 71% of the earth surface, daily...so, help a kid out! i settled for sugar free baklava. is that illegal? i only did it because the label said: 15 calories..until i ate half the box and realized that there was a second column labeled: calories from fat: 85. oops.
completely worth it! 
and then there's our garden...getting into the swing of things again! tomato plants are on the loose! and pepper plants are going strong. also in the works: garlic, onions, lavender, oregano, lemon basil, lettuce, cauliflower, beans, peas, cucumbers and if we can get the dirt from the front of the building into the last bed, we will have honeydew or watermelon! also considering pumpkin.
already, the tomatoes are showing promise! earlier than i expected-SO EXCITED!!
when i got home from work today, bruno brought his ghost to me, shaking the tar out of it (and that's saying a lot because there wasn't any tar in it to begin with!)...so...he just looked up at me and said, "i ain't afraid of no ghost!" going all ghostbuster on me...please note that ghosts have orange bandanna headbands-when they wear them..it seems to be a disputed fact, as when they have been spotted, it's a rather transparent orange, so..different camps have different theories on that...i'm going petsmart on this one. invisible or not, the headband is most likely orange...and why wouldn't it be? (although, some of the younger critics who are still having pronunciation difficulties say it's boo...[if you didn't get it, i won't judge you, no worries] dummy). 
i told him if he was well enough to play with ghosts, he was probably well enough to do chores...#immediatelydropsghost
and as i was walking the building the other day, looking at writing samples, i came across this:
had i known there was a potion...
i also got the opportunity to lend my services to a couple of friends and colleagues at a nearby school. (let's face it, there is nothing quite as satisfying as being able to share something or help someone else out). and it was really heart-warming to receive a completely unexpected gift! well played, martha!
i mean, amidst the clutter that is my desk, this is a haven of peace during a stressful day! it calms me! AND i feel a little like mr miyagi....who is very similar to yoda..i think if they had bonsai trees on his remote planet, he would most certainly have an orchard-full!
and my parents are thinking, "where did we go wrong?"

so..i mentioned about bruno being on a special diet from now until the end of time..well, there are no treats for him. so  i asked the banfield manager-guy, and he said, "well, you can get the canned food and smush it into little balls and use that as a treat."  so, i put on my latex gloves and tried to make a ball out of the slimy little chunky squares of dog nastiness. and of course it didn't work. i'm sure he thought he was being a clever problem-solver. i give him an f+. so i ended up turning on the oven, blending the whole can of dogfood in the ninja, then smearing it onto parchment paper in thin little clumps to create potato-like chips...it worked, and they crisped up. the dogs both love them, so i am getting rid of their treats and moving in this direction, because i am kind of wondering if the treats may have contributed to his condition in the first place? idk...self-diagnosed prognosis.

and while the boys absolutely love it, the fact remains that i live in a tiny apartment, and there isn't much room for the smell of baked dog food to dissipate. #sadfaceemoticon gotta do what's best for the kids!

alright, i think i am out of gas-
julie

Thursday, December 22, 2011

that schnauzer has a hamster toupee...weird.

december 22 this year is the winter solstice..shortest day of the year-which means tomorrow will be a little longer!

i got a lot done today! but i also spent more than i had planned. when i went to drop off the books that my students are publishing, i saw this sign
no schnauzers...tarantulas, snakes, elvis memorabilia, urns with ashes....please notice the hamster on top of the schnauzer's head.
today i finally got the thing in the mail that i needed to send my last package! woo hoo! so when i opened the package from denver pete, you can imagine my surprise when i saw that the playing cards i had ordered were in some foreign asian language.

and being that i not learned in these languages, i don't even know which country it's even from...but i'm guessing not north korea, because they are not kim jung il cards...sorry, i cannot yet reveal what they are because it will take a few days for someone to receive this, and i don't want to ruin it (just in case that person reads this post). and even once i do share it, not many people will care very much, but you might understand why i was surprised to see the asian writing.

while i was at the post office, i had to wait in the line for the real person because the machine was totally out-figures. and as i was standing in line, a lady with her crazy code gun that looks like a sci-fi weapon kept popping out and saying, "is anyone in line just picking up a package or needing a round date?" i guess she wasn't really popping out-not like a jack in the box or something crazy like that, although it would've been entertaining if she were wearing a silly outfit and popping through the door from different angles like a snl skit...but i digress. i knew what she meant by picking up a package (obvious), but i wasn't quite certain about the 'needing a round date.' my thought was if i need a date, i am not coming to the post office to find him...besides, i don't know that i want him to be round either.

i continued through the line until i was next and i saw this change of address ad,

i guess they are now having yoda help with changes of address-bad economy.
when i got up to the lady, i got what i needed, plus an extra book of stamps, and then i lowered my voice and asked the lady what a 'round date' was. she explained that it was for businesses that just needed something stamped. no mystery there.

now i am home and the boys wanted to show off their matching 'jackets.'

i got them cheap at walmart because i was having a difficult time with chaco's sweater. this one is cool because it velcros in the front and on the bottom. it may take a bit to get chaco used to the velcro- he is not a fan of new sounds.

and right now i am waiting for some coats and blankets to finish in the washing and drying cycles! yippee!!

well, no round date for me tonight...looking forward to the extra minute of light tomorrow!
julie

Wednesday, May 4, 2011

see through stairs and obesity strategies

what a beautiful afternoon!! so i took the boys for a walk and we stopped to enjoy the pond behind my apt. for a minute (the one the car drove into...)
so beautiful today!!
they were so excited because the weather has been so yucky lately. they really are great walkers-they stick with me most of the time and stop when i stop, they wait, and they don't bark at other dogs. the only problem we have is when we get back to our stairs going up. the stairs are not solid, so chaco has a fit and won't climb them. i got down to check it out from his view today, and i guess i can imagine why. he could easily fall through them.
i guess looking at it from this point of view, i'm a little scared too!
things are going alright with the tutoring, but my biggest problem is that i had a dream last night. when i woke up, i remember in my dream, i had just been trained in how to teach strategies for the obese students. i'm pretty sure it was weird in my dream too.i mean they seriously had a different method for them to use on their tests! umm..too much studying data, preparing and watching the news about the first lady's childhood obesity programs.

oh, and may i just say, HAPPY STAR WARS DAY!! if you click on that, there's a really cool link to 'wookie-pedia' about it (spoiler alert: margaret thatcher) speaking of star wars, i was practicing my yoda voice with the boys the other day and they just looked at me and said, "keep your day job. you're too tall anyway." brats. (rhymes with rats, but when i write it i think of brats rhymes with rots...comes from bratwurst...and i want to fire up the grill!!yum!)

had i not been an m.k. (missionary kid), i probably never would've been exposed to starwars really. my brother used to play with the action figures and he had a friend in brodhead (also named dave) who was obsessed!but i never got into it...then, when we went to visit some friends in guatemala, their eldest son was so excited to have a starwars marathon, so we learned all sorts of trivia. (this was the first 3 series, not the later ones). their family was also very musically inclined and i'm pretty sure they put on a little concert of sorts with their instruments...i'm pretty sure all of that really happened..i suppose it could have been a dream, but that would be something they would do...

i do not share yoda quotes freely with my students, b/c it would screw up the little progress they have made in english grammar as it is, but i leave you with these wise words:

"How you get so big, eating food of this kind?"
―Yoda to Luke[src]
 
and the widely overused refrain...may the fourth be with you! (i'm stuck in the fourth for another 3 weeks!)
julie