i hope heaven has food trucks!

happy valentine's day, all you lovebirds out there! and elementary school teachers! i mean no one rakes in the cheap chocolates better than teachers, along with stuffed animals and other silly knick-knacks! don't get me wrong, the sentiment is absolutely precious, but how many pink teddy bears does one human being really need??

it's been a busy week with ups and downs. i got to attend a REAL SCHOOL GARDENS coordinator meeting last night-which means i received some great instruction to pass on, and i also received baby onions and potatoes to plant. we will be participating in the SMART POTATO program again. i think we may try something a little different this year. we may be planting some of our potatoes in laundry baskets-and have classes be in charge of taking care of their potatoes, so that we can have an additional garden bed for the hot season plants.

but the best part of the evening was the food truck! when i got to the school, i parked and there was a food truck near the door. i thought to myself, 'hmm... that's pretty cool, parents can get dinner to go on the way home!" it smelled SO GOOD!!! i was wishing that it was for our meeting. weeeellllll.....when i got inside, they gave me a green ticket to go back out to get dinner at the food truck! nammi food truck showed up and i was in heaven! woah! i mean to tell you: it was incredible! in fact, i didn't know which food truck it was, nor what type of food it actually was, so i just looked it up a bit ago and found out it was vietnamese-ish. so then i had to look up recipes because if i were stuck on an island and could only have one meal for the rest of my life, this might be it! AND guess what! they have a permanent spot at valley view mall-which is mere minutes from me-i'm excited to see if it's as good the second time around!

i do need to go get some groceries tomorrow so i can make fruit roll-ups and prepare some meals for the week-including my contributions for tuesday's AFRICAN AMERICAN HERITAGE MEAL-yum.

so, there's this chair that i've had for years that i really like. about 4 weeks ago, i saw some strange pieces of metal scrap on the floor-no idea where it came from. the next day, another piece, before i knew it, i rolled the chair and it lifted a little, and the wheel fell off. so i put it back and just tried to keep it on the ground. finally, after the wheel falling off several times, i decided i had to do something about it. so i got it to a point where the wheel was no longer falling out.

yesterday, i heard a little clink! and when i looked down, i saw the same piece of metal on the ground that started the demise of the first wheel. so i took the wheel and rigged it up the same way. now it's a matter of a. seeing how long the 'fix' lasts, and b. seeing how long it is before another wheel bites the dust! most people would probably have thrown the chair out by now, but nope...not me-

whatever works!

then this happened this week as well: i  was at school and i had lunch. when i went to grab the sweet-potato chips i'd baked the night before, i only saw an empty baggie. i didn't remember having eaten them, so i thought, "wow, i must be boredom eating or something..." and i was still hungry to boot...it was a little strange. well, it must've been a baggie from something else because when i got home, there were my snacks sitting where i had left them in preparation for the day!

nothing is worse than leaving food at home!

looking forward to another relaxing weekend and whatever next week brings!

julie

living dangerously-licking the food processor blade!

why is it that when i start to watch the foods that i put into my body, the dog food all of a sudden looks like my favorite childhood cereal-cocoa puffs? i just kinda' wanted to pour some milk in...

but, that said...the time has come. no avocado will ever go bad under my watch again! i am smitten by the 'chocolate' avocado mousse! ayayayaiiiii! (is there a good way to spell that?) so yes, i portioned it out and then licked the bowl...and brought 'licking the beaters' to a whole new level! with extreme skill and unbelievable deftness, i carefully removed all of the mousse from the food processor blade...like a ninja! (a ninja who licks blades on large kitchen utensils).

i spent a whole lot of time watching webinars on saturday, and the one i really enjoyed the most introduced this great tool called thinglink. check out the presenter's blog-susan oxnevad; solid! i've embedded a simple thinglink from the first picture i could find on my computer. it should be on the right hand side of the screen-
let's see how this works!

the other gadget that has already come in very handy for me is the camscanner app. great for scanning and straightening, flattening..it uploads really quickly to my google drive as well; love it!

i will be out at a training tomorrow for thinking maps-which is a uniform graphic organizer across the campus. we've been using them for awhile now, so it will be good for me to get a little refresher. we began using it as a campus, and this year we began diving into their writing program. basically it helps students learn to structure their thinking. and i believe that our focus on writing has gotten better. i'm so proud of the work that our teachers have put into the kids and their writing! it's great to walk down the hallway and see writing samples in different content areas!

today i went to a thinking maps training, and it was really good! i wish we were using them well. we've begun to implement usage, but i just experienced how impactful(yes, made up word, deal with it) they can be! right now we are mostly using them as graphic organizers, but not really getting the real THINKING part out of them!

my table was a pretty good group of ladies-engaged. i came back from the restroom and one of the ladies had her ipad out and was telling them about this app she found and insisted on taking a pic of the girl across the table. it was the aging app for the kids' 100 days. well, i've seen it because we have a teacher who has used it on his kiddos the past couple of years-so fun! it didn't seem as fun to me to do with adults, (i passed). this was some time just after lunch, and she had to ask the girl's name-ha! none of us had introduced ourselves early on, but we were working like pros who'd known each other forever! i don't remember any of their names. (i am convinced that i do not need to remember the names of every person i meet! #notashamed!)

p.s. we're over 100 days into school! that means we're closer to getting out!
julie

avocado mousse, birthday surprises and a dream that gave itself away

since my last post, i've tried a few new recipes from this amazing paleo cookbook- i am especially fond of the avocado/chocolate mousse, and the blueberry cobbler stuff! for real though...non-dairy mousse?! what?! amazing, i tell ya! my food processor has gotten more use in the past few weeks than it has in a LONG time!

seriously...too good to be good for me!

a birthday has occurred, so we're taking that in stride. i'm so glad that they work the way they do; the gradual release is a good thing. so glad that we don't just gain a year's-worth of growth over night. can you imagine waking up the morning of your birthday and having all of the aging signs show up at once in one day? that would be a dead give-away. people would look at you and say, "yep, must be her birthday!"

my co-workers treat me well...thanks jeri, andrea, dr. hughes, sean and carmen--bundt you really shouldn't have!

they know me well! my heart belongs to nothing bundt cakes!

always fun to walk into a bday greeting! thanks!

 it's always fun to get all of the messages on fb and whatsapp-feeling the love from afar, and i got the bday card from mom and dad-somehow they always pick out the perfect cards that make me feel super terrific! this year mom sent me an awesome calendar of rain forests-love it! (they also called, so they are in luck, they get props in the blog!) sending out props to gigi for remembering as well, because she is kind of a birthday master mistress..she is queen of all things birthday..in fact, she celebrates hers twice-crazy girl!

HONDURAS! appropriately placed on my bday month!

as i was at school, on my birthday, i got a phone call. my apt. people said they needed to get in because there was a leak in the apt below mine, so they needed to check the utility room. they had to call in because i have the boys, and they needed to know if the boys were locked up so that they could get in...

they got in.

 i was a little flustered that they left it this way, and i was going to take this picture to the office to have a chat, fortunately i stopped back at my place beforehand, or i might've made a fool of myself! they did come back to patch it up. thankfully.

also this month, i was able to go to a great workshop: identifying learning differences 1-6 yrs. it was truly enlightening! i really wish our entire staff could go to this workshop. for those of you with young children, think about teaching your kiddos to write in cursive, and read in print. why, you might ask? well, cursive is more fluid, they don't have to worry about all of the individual steps for printing letters, and spacing isn't an issue. not only that, they won't struggle with the b/d, p/q. so take that tip and do what you will with it!(it's free).

the other free tip for today is that, if you have lower back problems, placing a large pillow under your knees while you sleep will really help ease some of the pain.(two for one!) 

last week i was also able to video chat with my lil sis, sheryl in HONDURAS, and discuss possible plans for a little vacation time in the summer (? maybe?!?) and the biggest surprise was a fun phone call from a dear old friend, with whom i used to play basketball and softball in high school. it was really special and meant a lot-so good to catch up and hear the familiar voice of a friend from the past! catching up is like..the best thing ever! (better even than avocado mousse-just sayin...)

and to close it all out for tonight, i had a dream a few nights ago, and in the dream, i knew it was a dream. two of my colleagues-teacher friends, were in it. penny had decided to invest in a business venture: a library book store. i am not certain how you make any money from this type of a venture, as the two are in direct opposition, everyone would borrow and not purchase, right? but since she is a reading/language arts teacher, my 'dream mind' let it go. then carol decided that she was interested in investing with penny, and they were going to do this together. but at some point carol convinced penny that a roller skating rink would be a better business investment. i'm pretty sure at this point my 'dream mind' confirmed it was a dream because there was no way these two would ever open a skating rink! there's no fooling me! not even in a dream! 

and that reminded me of so many different roller skating memories! couples skate! limbo! conga chain! falling flat on face! woooo! when i lived in brodhead, there was not a rink there, so we would sometimes take a bus, with a group of people to a nearby town that had one (always with my brother and his friend tom walker...and sometimes the mcguinty's) good times! 

i'll save the roller blading memories for another day-they are pretty exciting, too! (the invincible college years)

'evening!

julie

i probably shouldn't love sauteed veggies as much as i do #notashamed

So thankful for long weekends!!

two days in and what have i done? NOTHING!! besides finishing up the merlin series on netflix...and trying out 3 new paleo recipes! every single one of them was amazing! i loved the pumpkin pancakes and the pumpkin custard. i enjoyed the zucchini/carrot crustless quiche...

so good! i saw this at bmayes' and had to go ahead and make the purchase-totally worth it!

even just looking at it makes my mouth water!

then tonight i did something i probably shouldn't have done. i sauteed vegetables. if eating a plateful of sauteed onions is wrong, then i don't want to be right! yes, a pan full of sauteed veggies is one of my weaknesses. several years ago, while working at kamp, a friend and i went to ruby tuesdays for dinner and i ordered the fajitas because the veggies in the picture looked SO good! then i was sorely disappointed when it came back with a sparse assortment of vegetables with little color. i may have complained to the manager about it due to the fact that my plate paled in comparison to the picture.

the weather has been phenomenal, so i took a walk with the boys yesterday-it's been much too long since we ventured on the back trail leash-less. when we got to the dog park we sat around for awhile because there was no one else there. as we were getting ready to leave, in walks a guy with a very large dog and the famous words: HE'S NOT MEAN. and my common response-NO, BUT CHACO IS.  i just worry that he doesn't realize how big he is and they don't realize how small they are. and just as i said that, the big dog came trouncing up and chaco, my littlest, snarled and snapped (i don't think the big fella even noticed). chaco calmed down as i picked him up and cradled him on his back-then we made our way home.

other than that, i saw some artwork at a friend's house and decided to see if i could do something similar...

it's been fun playing around with that...

tomorrow-last day of this fun little break...i'm sure we can find something fun to do!
julie

oklahoma- best part of my break, thanks to a long overdue reunion

here we go again!

happy new year! i'm certain it will be a great one with new adventures, fun meetings with friends, and growth. i had no plans or intentions to do anything over this break apart from relaxing and catching up with some reading and artwork. well...i got a text the day after we got off for break from shea, one of my amazing kamp friends, saying that she was going to be in oklahoma for the break!

so, we had Christmas here in dallas,

all dapper in their Christmas best!

and then on the 26th, we went up to oklahoma and stayed with bmayes, another amazing kamp friend-in case you don't follow this blog, or missed the episode from our last visit to norman, bmayes is the proud 'mother' of 2 yorkies (chaco's sister, reagan, and half brother, thatcher). it's always great for them to get together and socialize...and even greater for me to get together and socialize!! 

How do you know when you've reached oklahoma? well, it seems pretty obvious. follow the truck with the native american!

 we arrived to fall-like weather; it was gorgeous! so of course they went out to play first thing.

oh how they loved the yard with leaves!

then lo and behold, the next morning we had no idea, but we woke up to huge snowflakes! it was rather unexpected...none of us are into weather-watching and checking forecasts. hmm. 2 inches of snow out there!

so, of course, they had to play in the snow every chance they got! they even pretended that they had to go pee...and they didn't...you could almost hear them laughing each time.

so on the morning of the snow, it made for a lazy day, but everyone was meeting for breakfast..so eventually we were coaxed into joining for breakfast at cracker barrel, where stories and catching up began with a side of grits and biscuits. then we returned to bmayes' house to see puppies and just hang out for a bit. it's always a little worrisome having so many people around so many-especially friends who aren't used to having small dogs around; little critters have a tendency to get in the mix of things and then they are under threat of being crushed. more anxiety for me than the dogs.

 i don't have the actual photo, but here's a link to the charming pic taken by shea's camera!  http://instagram.com/p/xIMRxQF6yA/ what a fun bunch! yet more of the amazing kamp friends (anyone see a theme here? my kamp friends are pretty stinkin' amazing). i always feel so refreshed after i hang out with these guys!

after visiting at bmayes', everyone eventually headed out to shea's home, where her mom had prepared a delicious 'after-Christmas' spread-it was phenomenal!! then we played a little card game during which we found ourselves laughing harder than we had expected! good times, so if you wanna' know how to get a party started...just let me stand up and tell you...only i probably won't.

and i almost failed to mention that i was introduced to hurt's donuts...and for the love...they will literally hurt you. these donuts..i dream about them. my mouth is watering right now for the twixted...they gave me a new fondness for cake donuts-only they are gourmet-amazingness. twixted, lucky charms, Jesus donut, bacon-maple, choco-crispies, samoa-girl scout cookie....i will cry if they ever go out of business.

back at the bmayes homestead, the boys were making themselves right at home and marking like pros...grr. i wish there were a way to curb that. thanks for putting up with that b! they may have learned some 'bad' habits from the residents-climbing onto tables. chaco figured it out after a few tries. it's probably cuter because they aren't great danes...

thatcher looks on from the table as bruno thinks about doing something sneaky.

i was really excited when shea texted about going to the rock climbing silo...they had some awesome climbing walls in there! i definitely made a decision that i need to get in shape so that i can enjoy doing the things i love doing such as the rock climbing-i did a little research, and there is a gym not far from my place that has auto belay, so i will be partaking in that this year. it will be a good stress-reliever, as well (and likely much-needed).

shea making that reach of faith.

umm...so it's a little tiring.

before we left, several joined us back at bmayes place to play cards and, once again, it was mostly fun...apart from the judgmental gf stick-in-the-mud who came in tow. methinks she doesn't get us. and that's ok, next time, she has a true heads up and can stay home and knit or something.  we had plenty of food for chips and cheese dip, puppy chow, etc. but none of it was eaten because the hursts had gone out for mexican and we'd just gone out for hideaway-phenomenal pizza!! (zero snackiness-it's a word now, deal wit it)

before i left, i made an appointment to switch my cable to a basic-basic plan and get the internet because the service that i had was spotty-bad connectivity and speed. so i had that taken care of today and i am so happy i did! in fact, i cannot believe that i put up with the previous service for so long! it was rough! and then tonight as i was trying to cancel the former service, the lady kept going on and on trying to figure out how she could keep me as a customer, but i was strong. she even called back after the service was dropped. and i then let her know it was too late. no worries-i was polite. i worked in a call center at one time-in fact, most of my life i've been in some form of customer service, so politeness is usually not an issue.

this was the other problem, i was unable to use roku with the other service, so when i set this up today, i couldn't help but smile!

i am dedicating today to finishing some artwork, reading and perhaps a couple of letters. it's been a great break so far- 2 more days to make the most of!

happy new year!
julie

firetruck conspiracy, stocked on stationery, and census stalkers

alrighty then. it seemed like an ordinary saturday until i got out of the house to go purchase some 'crafty' things. then it was just busy. as i pulled out of the complex and headed west, there was a fire truck blocking half the road; not sure what happened, but there was a car just in front of them, and they were getting back into the truck (did i mention that it was almost directly in front of the fire dept? how convenient! if my car ever catches on fire, may it be in front of a fire station!!)

actually, yesterday when i got home from school, there were 2 fire trucks in the complex at the building next to mine and people outside...that is the one thing that i am paranoid about; living in an apt. complex, worrying about the dogs-if any idiots in the complex do something stupid with a space heater, Christmas lights...candles...so no, i don't mind living next to the fire department at all. i rather welcome the sound of the sirens, knowing that they can be at the apt in a minute.

scariest part about living in an apt...ANY apt!

but i digress. today i was out and about looking for cups, a waffle iron, paint pens, bacon...you know, the fun stuff! so i found some cups that were 'alright' at target, but they didn't have the waffle iron i wanted-the model was out, but there were no boxes on the shelf...i saw that as a sign that i did not need a waffle iron today. then when i got up to the cash register, the man in front of me had the waffle iron that i wanted. the last one...i weighed out all of my possible options, and decided that none of them were legal, so i would just wait another day, or check on amazon.

on the way back, at the intersection near my place there was a major disruption-2 fire trucks and a couple of police cars, so i took the back roads and finally got to the grocery store for-like i said before, bacon. i also grabbed a zucchini and a yellow squash because i purchased a vegetable grinder-thing the other day and want to see if it works as well as it did on 'the chew'. game on-zucchini spaghetti tomorrow!

when i walked out of the store, there was yet another fire truck in the parking lot!! WHAT IN THE WORLD?! perhaps subliminal messages-they are getting out in the neighborhoods so that people will think, "oh, i should get a shiny, red fire truck for little timmy!" pretty sure that's the deal.

this has been a busy month. we were preparing at the beginning of the month for our PERSONALIZED LEARNING (PL)presentation. we had a decent presentation, and then we waited, and waiting is the devil. then-drum roll, please! we were recommended for 'full launch!' umm...i know, sounds like we are a rocket ship or something. so..it's been a busy 6 months planning and creating a framework for the direction that we'd like to go with this endeavor, now that we are in, the heavy lifting begins, and it is going to get real. spring semester separates the wheat from the chaff...the milk from the cream... ok, seriously, training, planning, preparing, learning. that's what it be.

one of the neat things that has come of this is that one of the ladies from the community was at a PL meeting down town and learned that we were applying, and since she lives in our neighborhood, she came by to tour our school! in the process, she noticed our pathetic playground. she came back a few weeks later with a check for about 96k and it gets better, there was a special because it's off-season, so the company matched it and we are getting almost 200k worth of playground equipment!!!! WHAT?! we are blessed! not only that, but our generous benefactress is also on our advisory board, and has some great input, and she is planning to volunteer to read with our students. it doesn't get any better! we are humbled. our kids are going to be ecstatic!

loving this season of JOY!

it's that time of year, and my people know me-i got stationary from my secret pal and some note-cards from my principal

love the elegance and simplicity-

so fun-they will certainly get used!

-all this after i stopped at world market and i shouldn't have but i stopped at the card rack and found these sweet cards...$60 worth...so-i'm stocked for a little bit. my freakin' achilles heal...for some girls it's shoes. for me, it's cards. you can't write on shoes...but then cards on your feet might be kinda' tacky as well...

world market, thank you!

and there were tamales. that makes my Christmas complete! (cue a deep sigh of satisfaction). i will be making a stop at the pupuseria down the street in the next couple of days as well as the panaderia guatemalteca-in hopes that i will find a tasty little snack to go with my coffee.

thank you, mrs. markham-this made my holiday complete!

 and i have already forgotten what day it is-for not keeping track or having a schedule...pretty sure it's monday..nope, tuesday, that's what i meant! my internet has been spotty, so i couldn't finish this last night-grr. so i decided to go to ihop to use the wifi while enjoying a simple egg and bacon breakfast. i walked in and asked for a booth where i might be able to work. i was guided to a booth and when i tried to access their wifi, lo and behold, there was no network available! what? so i asked my lady if they had wifi and she said no they did not. well, that was a first, almost every ihop and denny’s i’ve been to has wifi! i was very disappointed-i tried not to let it show on my face, but unfortunately my body language and facial expressions are fairly easy to read. i still over-tipped (it's Christmas, and breakfast waitresses don't get large tips because the prices are so low on breakfast).. not her fault they don't have wifi -note to self, no business meetings at ihop on beltline...not that teachers usually conduct 'business meetings.' in that case, maybe no e-book-club at that ihop...and the eggs weren't even cooked well, and the bacon had a funky taste...i guess i'm a little picky about my eggs and bacon.

oh, and a few weeks ago, i received this census form in the mail and thought i could just not do it. then i got bombarded with reminders and "if you missed the first mailing, we will send another. you are bound by law to fill this out. if you don't, we will send another. if you still don't fill it out, we may send one of the gitmo detainees to 'encourage you' to fill it out. we KNOW you haven't filled it out; in fact, we know that you threw the first one away....do the right thing. we just want to pave your roads better." Perhaps that wasn't verbatim, but close enough.

wonder if mary and joseph got one like this in the mail.

so, yes, i did fill it out to be done with it. i'm just glad i didn't have to do it the way mary and joseph did back in the day...riding a donkey up to illinois would not be ideal (even not being great with child).

and of course, i would be remiss to not mention the staff party-we had a great time. papadeaux is always delicious! i sat with jeri, abby and her husband and there is a crazy connection. when i mentioned that i wasn't going to mo. for the break, he asked what part of mo. when i said north of springfield, he asked where, and when i said buffalo, he knew EXACTLY where i was speaking of-he proceeded to tell me that his grandparents live in halfway. if you recall, i've spoken of halfway before..tiny town of 2...perhaps i exaggerate, but still, the coincidence of anyone in dallas being familiar with halfway is somewhat comforting. smile.

we were especially happy this evening because of the news of PL!

oh, and i wasn't planning on going anywhere this year, but some friends are gathering in oklahoma, and it's been awhile since i've seen them, so we may be having a last-minute, impromptu reunion, and the boys are excited because they will get to see their friends/family! they were just saying they wanted to work on their social skills, so basically what is going to happen is that reagan is going to put chaco in his place, and bruno is going to wander off and do his own thing, trying to avoid the others and thatcher is probably going to chill and try to hide from chaco.

so this is where i halt for the day and wish you all the merriest!  be back after Christmas!
julie

thanksgiving was great, but Christmas will be even better

today was a good day. i got to see a really cool product that makes me think about a myriad of possibilities! i saw a similar product awhile back, but we were not able to procure it; i've been thinking about it ever since! so today, when we met with a representative face-to-face, it was really exciting to take that off the back-burner again. it's a video/professional development tool that i'm super-excited about!

so, thanksgiving was great times with mom and dad. i was hoping to visit with a few friends in the area, but i wasn't feeling that great- i had sinus, head cold...something that required a box and a half of kleenex...and a methodical mix of sudafed, sinus-cold meds, cough syrup, allergy meds and diet coke... still a little congested. (This is why Christmas will be better-not sick)

the boys were really brave with the cat this trip-as they barked from behind the fence. but once tiger came out, they were yipping and barking like little girls. and tiger just pretty much ignored them. 

on the way home, there was a little accident that held us up for about half an hour right as we were getting back into town. that's the worst! so while we were waiting, this big guy was in front of me, so i couldn't really see a thing. although, there was a miniature door on the rig. there is just something almost magical about miniature doors-what i would give to see a little elf or a fairy jump out of there!

and then behind me, i was mentally high-fiving the driver of the pick-up back there for blocking off the jerks that try to get ahead of everyone and cut in just because they are idiots. 

see him back there? well played, pick-up, well played!

and then when i picked up the mail, i realized that apparently the postman doesn't know alida. oops. i guess last name might have been helpful..address perhaps?? hopefully the second time around it hits its mark!

and i was thrilled that these were in the mail- i LOVE MAIL!! Christmas cards are fun because i love seeing family pics! letters are the BEST-because keeping up is just that link that keeps it real! thank you amber, karla, heidi, jory!

and i am going to post this because i should've done that last month, then i will post again because some really neat stuff is going on right now-but it'll take a minute to get it all thought out!

goodnight! Christmas break has begun!!
julie