not wearing flip flops in irma, just flip flopping

ok, time for one more...last night we packed it all up and stayed at shea's. we got our place as ready as we could... we were up pretty late last night, watching an episode of bloodline (which is so cliche-it's about a family resort in the keys..., but to be fair, we had started watching this way before irma decided to grace us with her presence..), and then we had to catch up on the weather... i slept fine-only woke up a couple times, as i knew it'd be a marathon today.

lots of texts, lots of messages. shea made eggs, bacon and hashbrowns-great breakfast, and then we sat and watched the updates. then at some point in time-i'd say around noon, shea got a text from a concerned friend, who works at IMG, in essence, asking her to come up to the school, because she felt it would be a safer haven than shea's house. so here's the deal, the school is in a voluntary evacuation zone, (which basically means-avoid the ocean surge)...so the kids did not stay, they were evacuated to a shelter, just for liability's sake, even though it is probably the safer place to be, as it is rated for cat 4  hurricane winds. i think at that point there was some uncertainty as to what to do about sheltering, so when they asked her to come, we did the smart thing, and she called her dad to ask for wisdom.

so i switched out of the flip flops and into chacos, and we are now in a classroom at the school, the boys are set up, we have a couple mattresses set up, and they have local cable in the classrooms-so we are able to watch the local updates and emergency center. there are other families in the bldg with animals as well, so the boys are reactive to other noises. hopefully they will chill out.

 the wind has been picking up, it is only 4:18, and the worst is expected to come around 2am-ish (i guess that looks kinda' like amish, and i'd be okay with that if it meant pies and home-baked goods and such)... so it could be a long night. i need to go down with shea to visit the sugar gliders, because one of her friends down the hall has a few, and they are adorable!

the lights and electricity just went out for a minute, but then either they came back up or the generator kicked on...that's a plus of being here. alright, well, i think i'll be signing out so that i can actually get this posted. we may slip next door to help the neighbor dispose of some ice cream momentarily!

shea is documenting, so we are getting a play by play on the evening...that should be interesting and fun-

alright. praying for everyone who is impacted. 

julie

last update before irma...i think.

quick update because i still can. it is was early-ish saturday morning, and we are continuing to get updates on irma. over the past 24 hours, irma continues to move west and as it moved into cuba, it may have weakened for a minute, who knows. that said, it will probably swing up the west coast, if it heads along the current projection, the eye may pass over our area, but by that time the strength will have dwindled a bit. still enough to cause a lot of damage, but much less threatening.

i've been stocking up and preparing for the worst (Kamp-WILD, survival instincts, thanks Hank Harmon!) and i pulled out all of the emergency candles, batteries from every nook and cranny, and the list goes on. i filled ziploc gallon baggies and froze them, filled the tub, for necessary flushing (in the guest bathroom), filled a couple of lined trash cans with water in case that gets shut down (for necessary pot-washing..not 'pot-pot', 'pots-and-pans-pot'.) and after doing all that water-prep, looked out at the pool and thought, 'for the love...i HATE YOU, IRMA!'

that said, i do have a few more last things to do, and then we will settle in over at shea's for the impending doom..(there was talk at one point of going over to the school, but it is actually in a lower zone than we are, so, you do what you do-we'll be more comfortable there anyhoo).where i'm pretty sure there will be some pirate shenanigans (you think i'm joking...if you know us, you realize it's no joke). i purchased the disposable doggie pads, so the boys are taken care of; the only issue will be chaco, and his incessant need to let me know that there is lightning, thunder and random sounds outside. fun.

it's great that miami misses the eye of the storm, but still looking at high winds and surf-this is a relief, because i have several friends/former classmates in that area...they keys still look to receive a beating...one thing that makes me sad is that there are still so many turtle nests, and we will probably lose all of them with this storm. #heartbreaking 

we're hoping to get out to casperson shortly after the storm...maybe the storm will bring up some nice shark teeth...#priorities

i'm a little leery of the towering bamboo trees in my backyard..hopefully they will hold true to the ancient chinese adages and bend in the wind...not snap! yikes. by the time irma hits our area, she's predicted to be around 100-135 mph winds-which equate to between an f-1/f-2 tornado, so we'll be hiding from the wind.

i'd include pics, but i just want to get this posted and finish up some last stuffs.

-ju

i like cats-not cat 5, the less knots the better...i hate irma.

(i don't have time to proof right now, gotta get scallops...i'll update later!)

i hate it that i have to write this post, because i still have so much catching up to do, and that was supposed to be next! bummer.

so, i am writing this post because i just wanted to give a quick little update, and it's difficult to update everyone piecemeal. 

after watching the weather channel so closely and following harvey out of concern for my peeps in houston and one of my friends who JUST moved to galveston (which in the aftermath, it was a blessing that she did)..the devastation is heartbreaking. i'm thankful that for as much damage as there was, the loss of life was minimal (any loss of life is too much, but knowing that it could have been worse...). and while the ugly part of harvey is that it will take years to rebuild and get business back to normal, the genuine interaction of humans caring about humans was beautiful. 

then without batting an eye, the reports were rolling in about the damage that the montana wildfires have wreaked. read more about that here ...

and then irma. good ol' irma...she comes on a little strong-mind of her own...(read into that what you will).  as it was turning into a category 5 hurricane, i was leaving for a training in albuquerque, nm. it was rough. i did not want to leave the boys, not knowing if i'd be able to get back in time. i knew shea would take care of them, but it's still an unnerving time, not being there in person, and knowing i couldn't do a thing about it.  i took pics of the boys tuesday morning as i was leaving...just-in-case. 

julie k. called as i was pulling out, on my way to the airport and i am pretty sure that my voice caught a couple of times or that there was an odd pause, because i was afraid that if i talked, i'd cry. anyhoo, the flights were long, but we did it!

we had to make a quick stop at target, where i called mom and dad to give them the low-down and keep them in the loop, and then we may have driven creatively to get to b.j's for dinner..and by creatively, i'm sure it was legal in some third-world countries...and besides, who cares about the curbs?? i mean, pretty sure the rental car agency reps don't check the axle...but MOSTLY because they don't expect that 4 ladies would be doing back-country driving in the big city..IN A MINI-VAN!!!. (just sayin'-not pointing any fingers-and that's just an artistic observation...perhaps i embellish who knows). but it was great, unfortunately we didn't leave room for pizoukis (sp)...and by the time we got back to the hotel, i think we were all fairly wiped. my stomach had been giving me issues since monday, and i'd taken tums, mylanta, immodium...it just wasn't pretty. 

when monday morning rolled around, i was watching the weather channel, and once again, it is difficult to know how to feel when there are so many unknowns, and the uncertainty in the trajectory. and then there was the knock on the door, the 'starbuks knock' if you will. this hotel didn't have complimentary breakfast, so if we're gonna pay, might as well pay for sous vide egg bites and iced coffee, ya'know?! 

we pulled in at the same time as erik, and then it was time to get down to business! thankfully, we had a great regional facilitator-she had come in and set everything up the night before with a colleague, and it was lovely. having people who go above and beyond-priceless. 

the morning session went off without a hitch and the participants 'got-it'. this was a state-level admin training, and it went really well-there were a couple small technology things, but overall, happy campers! entertaining and informative. i was interacting with one lady in the back of the room and she was so excited about using this and the data that was available to her.  

entertaining and informational

at the very beginning, some point during introductions, when it was mentioned that i was from the tampa area, hurricane, etc, i had a moment...and after the smile and wave, i had to take a second out in the hallway to pull it together- it's the same as when you get hurt, or someone passes away, and you kinda' lose it for a moment if it's focused on, but if you can avert and steer the conversation in a different direction, and all's well. 

i was so grateful when sabrina and ju proposed the idea of leaving early if there was a flight that would get me home. i had this anxiety hanging in the back of my mind that i wouldn't be able to get back on the scheduled flight friday...and if i did that there wouldn't be time to get things prepped. it was completely unexpected, but very much appreciated. i was able to find a flight-nonstop that afternoon. FYI there aren't nonstop flights from ABQ to TPA...this was a special occasion-they had canceled the houston leg and made it a direct, i think in order to get the plane there that evening, because of the demand to get people out. umm...there were 7 passengers. i had a whole section to myself, and they were almost begging me to take snacks. i thought about stashing a bunch to bring back for irma.  

it was a long flight, but i'll take long if it gets me home!

 got home around 9:00-ish, and then drove the 50 min home. i decided to stop at walmart-24-7, and see how picked over it was. found some items that i needed...they were out of water (fortunately i am not afraid to re-use the 2-liter diet coke bottles...and before i left, i had filled about 12 bottles- 24 liters.).so i looked and they did have sparkling water...and guess what happens to sparkling water if you leave the cap off for a few hours...it doesn't sparkle as much and you end up with flavored water...there was plenty of that!

finally got home and to bed around 1-1:30 a.m. and as soon as i woke up this morning, i turned on the weather channel again, because i have been getting lots of questions about what is going on and what am i going to do... and i don't mean to be vague, but...information is coming in real time, provided by irma's intentions:

shea (my kamp friend who lives in the same neighborhood and takes care of the boys) and i are monitoring it pretty closely. we will have a better idea what the track will be as it turns between friday p.m. and saturday. if it heads up the EAST coast, we will just have tropical storm strong winds (up to 45 knots), but not too much rain. We are also keeping informed with the local manatee county emergency center. we are in evac zone D (A-E), and they have only suggested voluntary evac for zone A (the island area and trailer court area by beach and the bay). 

this is where bradenton is-near tampa/st. petes/sarasota...

also with the traffic- crazy as it is with miami evacuating, the emergency center highly recommended NOT evacuating if they have not made the suggestion. fortunately we have a place just around the corner literally less than a minute away, and their bldgs are CAT 4-rated, so if need be, we could go there, and they allow dogs for shelter-type situations, so i feel pretty comfortable with that; and they have a stockpile of water and food as well. 

the only issue may be electricity. i know it's a sketchy issue with florida energy, especially if we get a lot of wind impact. i'm not sure if there are generators or not, so internet may be an issue...time will tell​. as i said, we will have more information by saturday morning, i'm fairly sure. so i will do my best to keep the information flowing...

and so, that's what it is. 

irma...why ya' gotta be such a jerk? so freakin' unpredictable and last minute...0 respect.

everywhere she goes, irma's like, "got my eye on you!" HA! 

prayers for the islands, puerto rico, florida, houston, tx, montana...india..oh..humanity in general. 

julie

remember when i used to be consistent?

alright, so...here goes nothing.

i realize that i have been remiss in my blogging efforts-oops. i've had a few people give me the 'just do it' speech. the worst thing is that so much time has passed, and so many things have happened, so this will be a picture/comment recap for the most part for perhaps the next two rounds in order to get caught up. and i will try to keep it in chronological order as much as possible!

this was the boys' last walk in our apartment complex before they went to hang out with mom and dad in mo, so that i could get things packed and cleaned up without worrying about entertaining and working around them-it was so strange to not have them around!

one of those times i hang out with nicolette and a short trip to get a mani turns into a full day-not complaining because i got to eat my last nami food truck meal at klyde warren park, and it was a perfect day!

...and what better game to end with, than scrabble!

 then i got to hang out with this group of ladies who make me laugh-so many times we had to laugh so we didn't cry! not pictured: joanne-who had to leave early, but i am SO glad she was able to join us, as she has played such a huge role in my growth while i was at Cabell, and a dear friend after! (i'm certain the boys would go crazy if they could come to your house again!)

after the few choice goodbyes, it was time to travel. let's be real, i was a little nervous about towing the car, but dad said i could do it, so i believed him! the entire time i kept mumbling to myself 'pull through only, pull-through only' to remind myself not to get stuck, because you can't reverse that junk!

truth is, i felt pretty cool parking with the 'big-guys'...until i opened my door and smelled urine in the lot-i'm almost certain there must have been some uncivilized men who were too lazy to go inside to use the restroom and just did the back porch relief....ew. 

the boys didn't get to travel with me, as they were still with mom and dad, but i did keep bruno's moose on the dash (i strategically asked my parents to keep bruno and chaco long enough for me to settle in, so that they could drive them down and fall in love with my area!)

and i pulled 'rattle-a-gator' in from the car to be my guard-alligator. it worked. 

finally i arrived! day one!! 

 the first sunset-document everything, right? it was beautiful sitting on the piling right off bradenton beach.

luckily before shea took off, we did a good walk down coquina beach to the jetty-perfect welcome back!

and a quick visit to the pet store to visit puppies! i think we checked out like 3 or 4 to play with-kinda like a library! shea has puppy fever!

once shea took off for her two week trip to amazing places, i got out to the beach to begin my morning walks routine. i'm working on my identification skills and trying to learn the differences between the gulls and terns, the cranes and the herons, the ibis and the other white birds...yikes. and it's going to get worse in the winter, because of all the migratory birds! ayayay!

morning walk looking east over the bay at the sunrise-you have to walk back into the neighborhood (which is literally 1 or 2 blocks)

this has become my favorite place to go park my car between cortez beach and bradenton beach because you can park and still see the ocean! heart! so i bring my coffee and partake at the beach while preparing for the morning walk. walks vary, depending on my mood. 

love this little entrance to the beach with the ever-popular sea-grape vegetation lining the dunes

when i opt to walk the park, the trail runs parallel to the beach, so i get glimpses as i go, but i can go at a decent pace, as it's a paved path, and on sunday early mornings, there is a fun little booth/market place...

i LOVE our bike racks (we live in manatee county, market, market, market!)

at the south side of the park, there is a small entrance to the bay, and across the channel is the hammock beach...

also at the south side of the park-beautifully landscaped with short palms.

i'm trying to get the timing right so that i don't get caught waiting for the drawbridge! but on my walk i usually cross the drawbridge into longboat key, because the have a great sidewalk-system, for walking!

view south from the drawbridge (hammock beach)

view north from the bridge-the south end of the park

i will say that i am so glad i finally made it to florida and that it worked out to make the move and continue working with istation! my dad was telling me about one of their church friends who suggested that i probably wouldn't like it for long, because of all the bugs, the heat and humidity, etc. i laughed a little. it reminds me a bit of HONDURAS, as the vegetation is similar, we have the pichetes (tiny lizards), i'm used to bugs (although i don't love the gnats and mosquitos, they haven't been as bad as expected this year), the heat-nothing compared to sps! and humidity doesn't scare me...and it has been rainy and stormy since i've arrived-much like rainy season in sps...again, not new, in fact comfortable. i wasn't too excited that two separate storms blew down two separate palm trees that i had to cut up into 4 ft or less segments so that yard waste peeps would haul them off! i was here for about 2 weeks before mom and dad were able to come down to visit and bring the boys to their new home! i will have to share how the move-in went, as it is a 'furnished rental.' start asking yourself how it was furnished...i'll let you think on that and get back to you!

coming soon: summer visitors, summer trainings, summer conference, other fun stuff, and then we'll start to get back on track! thanks for coming back, i'm trying to be better!!

say a prayer and send good thoughts to those on the texas gulf, and the areas inland dealing with flooding...we'll see what the aftermath leaves tomorrow- sad face emoji.

it's good to be back! much love!
julie
jrob
jules
juan
hey you

finally january comes to an end, and we can get on with it!

i got the text early tuesday morning, and joined julie to go get our breakfast at starbucks. she needed the extra hands, as sabrina was somewhat incapacitated-so we were looking for some medicine, as well. we got everything we needed, and again saw sketchy activity in the back parking lot near starbucks-pretty sure ju was looking in the rear-view mirror, thoroughly expecting to be followed by a drug dealer in a pick-up truck. no need to worry, we were not gunned down, nor were we followed by any suspicious characters!

we set right to work when we got back to the convention hall, as we were down one. ju took sabrina the meds, and we prayed for a quick come-back! everything got started on time, and without a hitch. sabrina and julie started with the problem-solving process, and set me up to do a quick review of goal setting (settin' a sister up for success)-it went well; although with this big a crowd, the pauses were longer so that folk could get the assistance they required. thanks girls, i really do appreciate the way you set me up for positive successes! you are making me better-

of course, the girls deferred a few questions to lori through the course of the two days, as there were some particular questions best answered by the boss. day two had a smooth flow, as we tweaked it, according to the feedback.

creative cropping- ju said no as i was taking the pic, so i am honoring that request...

we're all just jokers here! (cris, good job setting up the card-collaboration! sabrina had mentioned it, so it was good to see it applied!) 

 lori and i left early, as we both had to get back to dallas (i was to be in waco the next evening). so we got a taxi to the airport, and i don't know if it struck lori as funny or not, but the taxi driver was a hispanic lady in rhinestone blue jeans and an off-the-shoulder shirt...i thought to myself:

 1. she was the wife of the actual taxi driver who was busy in the bathroom and yelled, "hon, can you take the taxi and deliver a couple o' ladies to the airport?" (don't think she lifted a finger to help with the luggage) and the other thought:

2. she reminded me of marissa tomei in my cousin vinny...no matter, we arrived regardless.

we arrived at the airport with plenty of time to spare, so we stopped at the restaurant while waiting. i always enjoy free time to sit and chat, and lori always provides great conversation! at one point the conversation went something like this:
lori: if you could live anywhere, where would you live?
me: well...i'd actually considered moving to florida not too long ago (even last year, before this opportunity with Istation came along). 
lori: oh, really?! (pause, think) perhaps that's something the company might be willing to offer a moving stipend for, as florida is a strategic location to have a trainer on the ground there...if you're still interested, i could have that discussion with the 'powers that be.'
me: interesting...well, yes, check into it and let me know!

FF>> (a week or two) an email arrives to the entire training team. of course i respond, but at this point i still had to talk to some people (to convince myself perhaps), and it took a minute to schedule a conversation with our 401k guy.

 anyhoo, this past monday, i knew it was time to either jump in, or not. so i emailed to let lori know that i was in. and about 30 minutes after that, the 401k guy called to set up a time to talk. funny how things work out. and then we set up a time to talk about the logistics of moving. once that was done, everything now will be going at hyper-speed.

i've begun to do some preliminary packing, and planning. hoping that by the end of the month i will have found a place to live in bradenton...and will be moved there by the end of july. i've been dreaming of this since this trip! (more here and here) ...yes. this is where my heart is, and i am ready for the next chapter!

change is the process by which the future invades our lives. -alvin toffler

so there you have it!

all that said, i've kinda' pulled you up to date, but there are still some fun feb/march stories to tell, so those will be on the way!

julie

beginning of the end of january

alright, so i got a little ahead of myself- my birthday actually happened the day before ginger and i went to kilgore, and i celebrated it with nicolette and nafia with a simple dinner (reminiscent of last year-simple, small, private.not a big deal) we were going to do cheesecake factory, but it was so packed, we opted for blue mesa next door. it's always good to catch up with the girls and laugh a little! they were very thoughtful with their gifts-those who know me, know i am a sucker for stationery! so stationery, a sweet journal and the  i received some sweet cards over week leading up to my birthday, and silly/humorous affirmation cards! time i get to spend with these two has become so limited, but when we do get together, it truly is enjoyable!

i also received several cards leading up to my birthday-a few from colleagues (thanks leadership team, alyshia, and joyce-so thoughtful!) not to mention, the following weekend i received a gorgeous bead necklace, which is totally me, (for which i have the perfect matching earrings) and another stationery set from sabrina, none-too-soon, i might add...as i only have about 4 cards left from the punny set, and maybe for from the inspire set. yes, i may have substituted letter-writing for blog-posting over the past couple months. oops.

that last weekend of january, we were off to abq, new mexico. i found out about a month too late that one of my old kampers, and dear friend, kelly v lives there! if only i'd known sooner! anyhoo. i was pleasantly surprised that my flight was hooking up with sabrina's, so she saved me a spot on plane while i was boarding from dallas. i was excited that we were going to get an opportunity to fly together-a little hangout time long overdue. we did some work on the plane (as much as we could, as the wifi was sketch). we arrived in the afternoon, had some copies to run and things to do to get ready, then we grabbed a late-lunch/early dinner and went to settle into the hotels.

 notice i said hotels plural? well, as it so happens, the two hotels are basically connected by a courtyard, divided by a gate. so i checked into my room, then made my way across the courtyard to hang out with ju and sabrina in the other hotel. it was like playing marco polo trying to figure out where they were, but eventually, i heard my name ring out through the air, "JUAN!" and then my phone rang out and we talked my way through the mine-field...as i tried to use my sense of direction and looking at where the sun was setting, as the constellations hadn't come out yet (and even if they had, i'd left my astrolabe at home)...reunited and it feels so good... 

when i first arrived to my room, i was a little worried, and i ransacked the place, trying to locate the hair-dryer. i was getting worried. i looked under the sink (the usual place) under the OTHER sink, not there either, in the closet, in each of the drawers,

BIBLE: beauty is fleeting, why you need a hairdryer?
DEX PHONE GUIDE: baby, i got yo' number... (closed that drawer right back up)

behind cupboards...but finally! really? hanging on the back of the door? who'd-a-thunk?

oh! there you are!

it didn't take too long before it was time to go to bed, and wake up again! of course when you wake up with these two, you know it's going to involve a little starbucks, as well-and so we were off, and i tried the sous vide eggs for the first time-gruyere and bacon...ah, delectable! somewhat heavenly bites-if you can handle the consistency. as we slowly drove through the parking lot, past the carl jr's, i'm pretty sure there was a homeless man in the back corner who was making drug deals or something. i mean, there was something going down back there- both mornings a truck drove by and then the next morning a car was back there-and they weren't dropping off blankets and toiletries. just sayin'.

we got back to the convention center and had some setting up to do-it took pretty much 30-40 min. creating the posters, setting up the tables, passing out the papers-but it got done, and people started showing up, many of whom the girls had worked with before (several of them seemed so excited to be back-which has been a welcome progression!). cris appeared out of nowhere and we got her stuff set up as well, and it wasn't long before we saw lori come in as well. it was good to see her out of her boot, although it may have been a little premature, she did pretty well. this was the first chance i got to meet kelly and she introduced us all to heather, her partner in crime.

the session began with a little review from the previous round, because there were lots of positive comments about it, in fact, believe it or not, there were a couple of teachers in monday's group, and tuesday's group that actually brought their lap-folders with them-so excited about all the foldables! so there was a bit of review on portfolio/profile/display ideas, goal-setting, problem-solving, and then a bit on PLCs, followed by a survival -type team-work-collaboration. and that was followed by more end of year reports/work-time.

it was comical when one of the gentelmen that was in the session shared that he disagreed with the order of some of the survival game entries...and he was a survivalist. HA! (keep your opinions to yourself, mista!) it was still fun!

we had a great lunch (when it comes to sushi, i trust julie k, she never does me wrong!) i forget the name of the place, but we did it for lunch both days, and i was a happy girl! yummers!

monday night after the training, we headed out to dinner with kelly and heather, and it was loud. partly because it was like 8 girls in a small room, surrounded by small parties and some business men. add a little wine, and the girls get louder. the food was really good-we had quite the variety-a bit of everything! lovely evening. while my reach wasn't bad, the gentleman from the next table offered to take our picture, and it came out much better! (i'm sure he was probably thinking, 'just let me take this and get it over with so ya'all can get out of here and we can have a peaceful conversation, bringing the decibel count down a notch). ha!

my lovely friends/colleagues. 

i do enjoy working with these ladies! abq day tuesday-ish next up.

julie

some meeting, some training, some..duck?

dooo-tee-doooo...so...then came january.

fresh out 'o the gates, we had a tx success meeting of the minds, to go over what this next round would look like. i warned them in advance that i was there as comic relief, so i hope they weren't expecting too, too much on that day. in all seriousness, jane had pretty much laid out a plan, as the changes were not super significant due to course descriptions. that said, we looked over the power point, mixed-it -up, brought in some additional resources, tweaked it a bit, cocked our heads sideways to look at it, then to the other side (kinda' like bruno does when we're conversing and he's trying to understand)...squinted, gave our two cents worth....i mumbled to megan that i was going to the bathroom (not that she cared, or that it was protocol to let her know where i was headed), but she must have heard me wrong... "what? you're going to get a beer?" (funny girl-i think she was projecting what she wished she wanted to do!). so much going on in one little room, and for the first half of the day, there seemed little method to the madness, which tends to drive a kid nuts, but in the afternoon we were able to tie it all up and felt good about what we had and that was that.

FF mid jan-off to abilene, tx with jane s, for my first training of the new year. i drove, as it took about as much time as messing with flights would've taken, and it was a nice drive-glad i did it, as i don't believe i have taken that route before. some nice scenery. we arrived at pretty much the same time, and found a great little chinese/japanese place where she had been before with, i believe she said, nettie. it was delicious.

very good-i would venture to this establishment again

? idk, it's kinda' like a mixture between an asian wait-staff who wants to remain anonymous, and the mysterious marfa lights...?

and it seems no sooner did i return from that training, than i was off to kilgore with ginger. we talked on the phone at length and then met up at HQ to ride together. it was a good trip-always enlightening. she told me about her up-coming vacation trip with her girls (which, i might add, she is currently on-that's how long this has taken me!! and it looks and sounds like she is having a blast and making wonderful memories! so happy for her!) kilgore was a treat-it's all about the restaurants, if you notice. the evening we arrived, we were in search of something, and there really wasn't anything right there in our neck of the woods, so we ended up in longview at a 'cafe' which served hotdogs and hamburgers. don't knock it, the hamburgers were great! and you go up to get your own fixin's...while you wait, you can grab a bowl 'o' beans. and so we did. but the best part was on the way out, choosing a dessert that would seal the deal. i always gravitate toward the caramel/pecan/truffle type. and while i do not recall exactly what ginger ended up with, i do remember coveting it...

we got together in my room and went through the power point to determine how we were going to present the next day and came up with a plan. fail-proof right? right...the day went smoothly and our little group seemed highly engaged...but (say it with me, now) 'there's always that ONE'...at least she was a sweet one. she really had questions about the math, which we weren't addressing, as it is not part of TX Success, but ginger did converse with her separately toward the end.

we came home and the next day i drove out to ft. worth to work with jane s and de An again. it was good times. de an brought starbucks, which is the perfect way to start any day! the one thing i had noticed the night before was that for some reason, the beginner 101 was set for the p.m. and the beyond the basics was set for the a.m. it's hard to go beyond the basics before getting to know the basics...so we did the prelim-who is just here for the beyond, who is here all day? and split them up, as there were only about 4-5 who felt they were not in need of basics, and just wanted to jump into the beyond. jane found a spot to work with them, as de an and i worked with the 101 group. several had been to the fall training, but when it came down to nuts and bolts, the learned new things, as always because there's just a lot of information that usually one time around the block doesn't allow you to take everything in and absorb it! so it was a good crowd, albeit rough, as we were dealing with people unable to install on their chrome-books (the whole update-thing and admin rights to push it from their bldg), so we made do with our ipads! pretty sure i was sweating that day (did you see it, de an? did ya feel the heat?!) 

i'm thinking we did wendy's for lunch because it was close, and subconsciously because they have frosty's...and we may have turned prematurely and puttered around in a parking lot looking for where the maze would connect with our lot. it did not...so back to the main drag to try it again. uf.

and we thought we were good to go in the afternoon, with only one new individual...but after about 15 minutes, it was visible that she was NOT having a good time. de an came over and mentioned it, so i took the lady out in the same area jane had been to go over the 101 (which she had come for-completely unfamiliar with Istation, except that some of her teachers loved it. she was district level, and wanted more information). so we had a little 1-on-1 session, and she left with a whole lot of information, and was able to see what all the hype was about and why her teacher was championing it.

and then we went our separate ways.

but there is another story of january. it's the story of my duck. i'd taken the dogs out walking, and in our pond out back, there was a handsome group of ducks, and then there was one. the one seemed to be a long time with its head under water...i guessed it was catching fish, or just looking at them...whatever.  when we came back around about 15 minutes later, it was with its head underwater once again.

first time

again-hard to see...

FF 1 week. i see the same duck (smaller than the rest), leaning on its side. i think, 'hmm. it must be dead or very sick) but i really couldn't tell because of the shadows.

FF 2 weeks. i see the same duck still leaning on its side, and i'm pretty certain it's dead. at this point, it really was disturbing, and i was wondering why no one else had mentioned it, or done anything about it. so i mention it to the gal up front at our office. i asked her, "are there fake ducks in the pond? because either there is a dead duck, or one of the fake-ys is malfunctioning."  "I don't think so," she replied, "but i'll ask maintenance and have them check on it." FF my walk back i notice that one of the bigger, prettier ducks has come to the wall. and none of them are paddling as a normal duck would, they are merely bobbing...so, yeah. my fake malfunctioning duck.

for the kid walking by, no worries, he's just sleepin.

FF MARCH malfunctioning sideways duck still struggles.

next up, i did have a birthday, and then i went to abq-tell ya' more about that real soon! it's about to get interesting! have a great weekend, and for those of you who are starting spring break, enjoy and be safe!! come back relaxed!

julie