what's covered? hopefully all the important stuff!

i know i mentioned that bruno was limping since we had gone on spring break. he continues to not bear weight on his hind leg, so i took him into the vet, they sent him home, he kept limping...i took him back. they took x-rays yesterday afternoon and let me know that they couldn't really see anything in the knee, they would probably refer me to an orhto- do the mri, acl...like mother like dog....

but that wasn't all they saw in the x-ray, so they thought they should probably let me know that they saw bladder stones. looks like surgery. as i sit here reading about it, i am realizing that i need to get this done, like...next week, asap. (if the stones get caught in the wrong place, they can cause blockage and become a life or death situation. ugh). so it's a blessing in disguise that he had to have the x-ray! hopefully the pet-insurance i purchased will take care of the bulk of this and the knee thing...yikes. oh, and the tech said he would be on a special diet for the rest of his life... bruno asked if it could be ice cream and pupperoni...gross. 

because of the knee, the vet said crate-rest. so this morning, i put up the fenced area and placed a pee-pad, bed and small kennel inside, then closed the pen-with him and chaco inside. when i pulled up in the parking lot, i parked my car and with the car door closed, i could hear chaco barking. i thought, 'wow, does he know the sound of my car? why is he barking so loudly?' then i looked up to the 3rd floor window of the apt and saw bruno up there in the window..little son of a gun...he had shimmied and squeezed out of the bottom of the fencing because i didn't have the bungee cord tight enough. that will be fixed tomorrow. and of course, there was chaco inside barking like he was in pain...emotional distress-poor guy! he wasn't even supposed to be in there in the first place, he was just moral support for bruno, and bruno abandoned him. how rude. and i'm pretty sure it's going to be even worse tomorrow when i take bruno in, to the surgical place for his appointment.

i've had pet insurance since he was about 1, but i have yet to make any claims on it-although i should have many times over. that said, i am curious about how much will actually be covered-fingers crossed that it will be the majority.

did i mention that i looked EVERYWHERE for my care credit health card? i searched high and low yesterday and today, until finally i remembered that i had taken out all of my cards before i went to HONDURAS last summer and placed them in a pocket in one of the pieces of luggage that i left at mom and dad's and hadn't needed it since, so there it was still where i had left it. the worst of it, or rather the part that took so long was finding other things that distracted me...squirrel!

in other news, i would like to issue a public apology to everyone who was on I35E southbound between the minutes of 11:35 and 11:40 on friday march 27. i may or may not have cut across...6 lanes of traffic to get onto loop 12...and i may have been very rude, pretending it was everyone else's fault...when CLEARLY it was the fault of the lady in my phone. gps lady was not giving timely instructions. so yes, if you thought i was mouthing mean things at you, i was. pretty sure if the lady in my phone could've talked to me, she would've said that was uncalled for! thank God there is no 'attitude accountability' mode on my gps, because i'm pretty certain that the insurance people would stop replacing phones broken by sheer road rage at some point...

i got new address labels made, and the boys are super excited...and let's not lie, it kinda' feeds the desire to write more letters...it doesn't take much!

dapper young men!

we had our garden day last saturday. we got so much done!! thank you to bank of america, they sent volunteers who cam and worked SO hard! i was pretty excited about the pea plants and that they had survived the winter, but i went ahead and pulled them up so that we can plant more-i need to get some peas to 2nd grade so that they can come out and go through the process. 

peas!

the bulbs i planted last fall came up as well! that was a pleasant surprise! i actually planted 3 varieties of spring plants, but only the tulips and the other pretty flowers blossomed...perhaps next year the 3rd will show up!

i stopped by redenta's to get our reals school garden plants, and i was able to purchase some additional plants as well-they were precious cargo, so i was able to use the boys' car seats to transport them safely-here's hoping the boys don't get jealous.

ok, so back to boa. i was really glad that they showed up, because they really were helpful! had they not shown up, it would've just been dr. hughes, mrs. perez, sean, mrs. derse, one of our faithful parents, jose, and me! ouch. so i gave them the vision, and they headed off to conquer the garden! 

what all did we get done? well, i'm so glad you ask! we moved all of the tree cookies into the courtyard to create an additional sitting area under the tree (we being not me...thank you sean and other strong man with a good back). sean also dug a hole to sink the post for our weather vane! a group of 4 built the new raised vegetable bed (remember how it took me awhile, but i put one together awhile back? well, i tried to stay out of this and let them figure it out themselves...walking away is not always easy, but sometimes it's easier than sticking around to listen). the beds are weeded and chopped to size. the strawberries and other transplants had to be planted or else they were sure to die. another group took out the dead bushes that the district 'gifted' us. (i think they were on their last leg when they were given, because they were dead within weeks), and then they put up the bedpost that i found near the dumpster last fall. in front of it, they planted 2 honeysuckle bushes that will vine up and smell sweet as ever! i strategically had them placed near my office window...honeysuckle is one of those smells that accompanies pleasant memories of branson! what else? well, we got the pallets painted white so that we can put them up to pretend they are picket fences (they will receive a face-lift with flowers painted on them). and then there are the river stones that were "painted" white. i may need to go back and redo some of them for the project that i have planned. and last but not least, i got someone to turn the compost!!! woohoo! i almost forgot two very important projects, the pond pump got cleaned out and some brick and pavers got laid. (got laid out? well, regardless, there is now a huge square of bricks and pavers....with a little fence-thing that creates the aura of a headstone...? we're working on that!)

now, there's always a story. so, while we were out there, i was doing a lot of facilitating and pointing people in the right direction.  for some reason, and i truly don't know how it began, but every time i went near this one guy, he would allude to 'unbroken'-the movie...the book...i have not seen it, i have no idea what it is about. have you ever had the pleasure of working with someone who acts like a 16 yr old boy, but they are really 50-60-ish? well...i have. comments from, "i was driving through colorado last winter and i was really worried about the other drivers-they smoke marijuana...it's the mile HIGH state!" laughs at own joke. later, i showed him how to turn compost and layer it. "wow, this looks like poop. you know, dung beetles eat poop. can you imagine that? how gross is that? eating poop!" at this point, i really didn't feel like carrying on the conversation, but i did think about the boys and the fact that when they get bored, they eat poop...but i just didn't want to open up another can of worms."wow, this is really tiring! now i understand the term back-breaking work. i feel like one of the characters from unbroken...like i'm in a prison!" but i can't complain...the compost got turned and tiered! then as things were drawing to an end, he looked over and saw three drills which had been used in the building of the raised bed, and he said, "can someone follow me home and drill two holes in my wall? i just need two holes. i lost my recharging cord, and they were going to charge me $10 at home depot to rent one! i'm not paying $5 per hole!! seriously, will someone follow me to my place to drill two holes? or lend me a drill? i'll bring it back." that's really how it went down. no embellishments. i'll let you try to figure out who in the picture you think i might be talking about. i'll give you a hint...it wasn't the young boy.

and of course, if you work in a garden in texas, there are always the fire ants to deal with. 

pretty sure fire ants are a cross between regular ants and one of satan's cousins. little jerks.

all in all, the garden looks great, it is ready for the summer veggies, and while there are still more things that need to be done, it is manageable!

i did get mail recently, and it was such a blessing! i love being in touch with some of my former kampers still! they mean the world to me! so when i got this, kamp memories come flooding back, but more importantly, it is such a joy to see how they are doing! one of my favorite erins (and there are a few!) sent this one-so creative and such a neat story going on in her life! i love that i have had the opportunity to see these beautiful friends grow up and become amazing influences on others! 

oh, and of course, i must give a shout out to HONDURAS! while i was in springfield, i stopped at mama jeans market, and i saw this before i slipped out. i was thrilled! yea for HONDURAN products!! i love the anecdote!

and last but not least, i like my avocados, but i don't like it when i use a half and then the other half gets all brown and crazy. i've seen a couple of different solutions for this. one is to use oil, another said rub onion on it... i decided to try coconut oil. i mean...it's liquid and then it turns into a solid at lower temps. so when i put it in the fridge, it solidified into a little wax-like coating. it worked overnight, and the next morning, it didn't disgust me enough to deter me from eating it-good news! 

thank you, coconut oil!

 and now it is time to get to sleep so that tomorrow i can live another day!
julie

nothing says spring break like buffalo, mo...nothing! (seriously)

picture men in colorful garb with feathers in their helmets and flags hanging from their trumpets with the CREST OF JULIE on them, dut-dut-dut- DUUUUUUU! yes, as a matter of fact, it is spring break. it came early for us this year. and i decided to come to spring break USA....buffalo, mo. creature of habit.

everyone knows the truth of the matter...i just don't want to pay range fees. more about that at the end of this post.

but in all fairness, i do love seeing mom and dad and the dogs enjoy the change of scenery. they always travel like champions! (not champions like rocky balboa making weird grunting noises and yelling, "adrian!") 

so we took our time getting it together, and made it to buffalo around 7pm-and i was tuckered out. all i could think about all the way up here was hurts donuts in springfield. yes, i know...pathetic. i didn't stop, but i certainly thought about it! one of my friends lives in sgf, and i was hoping to meet her there for a donut and a cold one (milk), i rarely drink milk-if i need to induce vomit due to poisoning, or if i am having gourmet donuts...so this is truly a special occasion...or will be. if sabrina gets back in time, hopefully we can catch up-if not, i do not fear going stag-welcome to my world! but by jove, there will be a hurts donut to blame for any additional pound-age i may gain.

so, yesterday was sunday-church. i do enjoy my parents' church. it's a comfortable size. i especially enjoyed the message yesterday, because that is sometimes the way i feel lately. spoiler alert: pastor spoke on Jesus. the heart of Jesus. who Jesus was drawn to  and where he would likely be...hint: not in this church, or probably any other church in the city. he was drawn to those who were outcasts, the untouchables of the city. he could be found among the down-and-out. in my world, who would that be? if the essence of being a christian is to have the heart of Christ, are we missing the mark? do i find myself in the places he would be encouraging and caring for the unloving, those we wouldn't consider befriending? heart-check.

we'd gotten there early, so i had a chance to snap a picture of the cross. there used to be a giant glittery cross, but they decided to switch it out. dad worked up some designs, and this is what he loves to do. there are two smaller ones on either side. #proud

 and we were the last ones out of the building (i don't know if it's because of the saying and they just don't want to be least...), so we went out for mexican with the pastor and his wife. it was good conversation, although maybe we were there on an off-day. my fajita wasn't all i had hoped for. it didn't rank up there with my top 10, and it was about 2,000 miles behind el patio in tegucigalpa (is it even still there? oh to have un anafre!)

i was able to get some letter-writing done, which was on my to-do list...i brought all of my writing supplies...you laugh. i seriously chose a selection of cards, and stationery. markers, pens, 3-d glasses, my addresses, writing log, stamps.... all true. this is part of why it takes me so long to pack-trying to ensure that i have everything i need!

and when i looked out, at one point there were like 12 cardinals outside around the bird feeder! whenever i got close enough to get a pic, they'd fly off! jerks. but the birds are everywhere! one more thing to love about this area!

here you can see four red ones and one brown female. 

this morning after breakfast we went into town for some items, stopped at the post office and i mailed a package i've been meaning to send off for about the past 8 months...finally! and i purchased a new roll of stamps because i was getting low. and as it goes, i get a little anxiety going on when my stamps start to get low. i was even calculating in my head how much it would cost to get 10 rolls, 1,000 stamps...500 bucks! (but a thousand stamps...it would last me about 3-4 years. no worries, i only got one roll. BUT, if i win the lottery, i WILL purchase those stamps!!) but for now.

then we went to a little amish community to check out their wares. we stopped into dad's favorite shop-a furniture store. he loves the wood-working! and they did have some rustic furniture. although most of it looked very much like the next piece. sorry, but the lewis and clark collection was rather reminiscent of the alaskan collection...personally, i was taken in by the flooring. they sell this plank wood flooring that is gorgeous! there was nobody in the shop-not a cashier, no one. not that we were purchasing anything, but still that was a little strange.

we went from there, next door to the food shop and i made some purchases.  dad was going around on his own, as he was not interested in spices and flour. he found the deals: 5 butterfingers bars for $1! and 10 kool-aid packets for $1.00! he's the deal-master. when i got to the register, lady was not overly friendly-reminded me a little of the amish in the murder she wrote series-(so suspicious of outsiders). anyhoo, as she scanned the aleve, she said they were 'buy one get one free'! that's a pretty good deal!

they had all sorts of spices! and dried mango..maple syrup and so much more!

when we got home i took advantage of the beautiful day and yes, went out back to shoot. dad is always updating things, so he fixed up the target board and the slugs were dropping near the target, so i picked a few up; the .22s look so small compared to the 9mm. i've been thinking i'd like a 45...but then, i'm also thinking i'd like a motorcycle...

going to town for more ammo tomorrow.

my dad usually goes out to watch when i shoot, and this time when i finished, he was missing one of his hearing aids (those suckers aren't cheap at $2,000 a piece), so needless to say, we were on our hands and knees crawling around trying to find this little thing that was camouflaged in the leaves somewhere! after about ten minutes, i finally spied it-fortunately it hadn't been stepped on! (dodged a bullet!)

i'll be dropping mom and dad off at the airport on wednesday for their flight to fl, where they will enjoy epcot or disney world and then go on a cruise to the bahamas. i really hope they enjoy it! they deserve a fun vacation!

alright, i'm off to enjoy spring break; will likely write again after hurts!
julie

pickled daikons, saving animals and eating the foodchain!

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

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

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

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

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

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

this is abe "rudolf bunny lips" lincoln

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

julie

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