spelunking in the girls bathroom

ever been caving? gone through the birth canal? (apart from the first moments of breathable life)...one of my favorite things about Kanakuk Kamps is the fact that it is near AR., and there are some great caves down there! one of the activities that we used to do was camping, caving and hiking. my favorite thing in the world was the caving and rock climbing. i think there is something wonderfully mysterious about being in the tiny dark spaces under the earth where quite possibly no other living thing has seen or touched.
                                  (sorry, i had a picture i wanted to insert here, but i cannot locate it! if i do, i will update!)

i know this does not appeal to everyone. i think i could probably live in a cave like jesse james and his bandits...if it had electrical outlets and a shower and a bathroom and cable tv (hate to miss hgtv and food network!) ok, maybe not live in a cave, maybe just a 2 day visit...if it had a bed to sleep in. which, by the way, there is a cave/lodge called beckham creek cave-google it, it's pretty stinkin cool!

so, as beautiful as that is and as much as i love caving, i was always wearing the right clothing and in the right frame of mind. today when i went into our little "retreat of a stall," i flipped the top lock open, but the door did not swing open as usual...so i thought maybe someone was in there. i backed up and kinda looked to see if there were any feet. no feet. so unless one of the other teachers was standing on the toilet seat pretending to be james bond, i knew that one of the precious little students had crawled under and locked it from the inside (because i'm pretty sure i know my team well enough to know that no one was playing a practical joke..i mean..april fool's is tomorrow, right?)

so i did what any respectable teacher would do; i looked around to make sure no one was coming and i got on my belly and pretended i was doing a volleyball slide (oh yeah, i got skilz...not anymore, unless you're in my head, but this is my story, so i'll tell it how i see fit). the entire time (all 2 seconds) i was between thinking mean thoughts about students and hoping there really wasn't another teacher perched on the toilet in the middle of an important text or something. i don't really know which thought overtook the other, they kinda blurred together and then it was over. i gave my self a pat on the back (mentally because i didn't want to throw my shoulder out) because i was unsung hero of the bathroom! i conquered! coworkers, don't worry, you don't have to thank me! i know you would've done the same thing...ok, i know you would've at least gotten the smallest girl in the class to go do it.

that was the excitement (?) of the day! down and dirty!

julie

hair...don't make me make you behave!

let me begin with a huge shout-out to whomever is in singapore and canada, and my dear friend erika in HONDURAS! (yippee!! i'm international!)

so..today i woke up and found the one dark colored hair (the black sheep if you will) on my head. i believe this is the hair that is causing all of the problems. i usually keep my hair in a pony tail because it is naturally curly and probably more zumba than pilates. i mean...it wants to come out and play! in fact, lately even when i have it constrained in the death-trap of a hairband, little cc (curly cue) wants to come out and play..i tried a barrette up front, but it reminded me of the cave woman pictures with the bone in their hair, so i ditched that idea real quick. i guess i'll just leave her alone and let her hang out on my forehead..i mean, she's not hurting anyone. (if cc picks a fight with anyone, THEN i will have to create a plan of action, but until then, i'm not going to put her on the salon equivalent of ritalin...my hair keeps her personality). HAIR-1, JULIE-0

there's cc just hangin out. um..oh! she's waving!

and...little black sheep....causing all of the problems. (con el ceño fruncido)

  obviously if i'm talking about my hair, there must not be a whole lot else going on...ok, there is, but i don't think i'm going to discuss anything too serious here today!

i am happy to report that the dehydrated watermelon is a hit, and my co-worker gigi loved it (i'd like to call this a shout out, but it's not really because i'm not shouting..not whispering...i guess 'mental snaps' because it's not really a golf clap, but mentally i am snapping my fingers because i'm too lazy to clap...and did i really just write all of that because i didn't want to call it a shout out? yes. yes, as a matter of fact i did. deal wid it!)

tonight i am hoping to get my computer taken care of so that i can do this blogging thing from the comfort of my own home.

may your hair be merry and bright and may all of your Christmases be white,
julie
(yes, i know it's not Christmas, but the music was in my head)

it's the miniature things in life!

lunch time!! ok, i've been shaking this miniature salt shaker my mom "borrowed" from their time share-she gave it to me because i thought it was so cute (and she didn't want to get caught red handed: five-finger-discount)..so here i am now, trying it out and i have to shake for 5 minutes to get the salt to find the one little cyclops hole to come out of...i like salt aLOT, therefore one granule per minute is not going to cut it. cute but no practical (thanks mom, but i think i will start stocking packets from mcdonalds).  yep, i thought it was cute, because i think all most things miniature ARE cute, hence the yorkie decision (i mean if they were 5 ft tall, they would not be nearly as cute...in fact, they'd be downright scary).

my mom called last night and i mentioned that i started a blog. "why did you do that?" it's funny, because i never really thought about doing it, but i know people used to enjoy getting letters because i express myself in my own unique voice; so why not make a blog so that people can read the mundane, inconsequential, irrelevant things that happen from day to day (it's usually what i include in my letters!).

last night i looked around and realized i had a bunch of bananas and apples and watermelon that still needed to be gotten rid of, so more dehydrating! (tonight hopefully i can finish the bananas and watermelon).

i had so many apples that i decided it would be a good idea to use one of them to make something that my dad used to do a long time ago when i was a 4th grader!  so i decided to carve an apple!

my apple with no blemishes!

handy dandy little peeler from mom..into the garbage disposal! i am soooo excited b/c i got it fixed over spring break (sounds like it was spayed)

i know, right now he kinda looks like an apple-head-super-hero...

amazing how a little electrical tape can animate a hanger

i know...it doesn't look like much now, but when it finishes drying, i will present to you a grandpa in a black leather outfit! (ok, pleather...). hopefully he'll start getting small enough that i can put him in the dehydrator, right now he doesn't fit on the shelf...big-headed! i am not quite certain what i will do with him when he is finished...maybe it will be one of those student prizes; they think everything is cool at that age.

well, off to finish the 3/4 watermelon and bananas!
julie

man-orexic and fatty

here's the deal. i got chaco from a dear friend's mom and i absolutely adore him! he was born at the beginning of august, which puts him just shy of 8 months (only not really shy at all). he still weighs about 3.5 lbs. i think bruno weighed more by this point...i could be wrong. looking at them side-by-side, i can't help but think of Baby Mama when they're in the counseling session and the guy is worrying about the other being a fatty. well, bruno has put on a little weight since i got chaco, but it's because he just really wants to eat chaco's puppy food and chaco will have nothing to do with it.

i feed them from different bowls, but bruno is sneaky. he'll pretend like he's done and leave the kitchen and try to come around the opposite side where i can't see his approach, then he inhales chaco's food in huge gulps to try to get it all down before i can stop him.

fatty.

usually i catch him before he gets there, but not always. i'm to the point where i'm thinking about just feeding them the same food.of course, chaco will probably still want to eat bruno's because it's in a bigger bowl..but the same design :PIRATES! (a tribute to my dear friend shea; i figure if they can grow up to even minutely as adventurous as her...they will still not be able to go caving with me..but that's another thought). when they start singing "yo ho ho and a bottle of rum..." i will know it's time to change bowls!

i have to write this draft from school because i think my computer is sick again. pretty sure it's a case of stupid-itis, and it is time to not be here, so on that note,

if your dogs are tired (and now i'm talking feet), get off 'em and enjoy the rest of your afternoon! i think i might pull out the ol' mini-pedi-bath my parents gave me last time i was up visiting! thanks mom and dad!! i'll let you know how that goes!

julie

my choice for today: contentment

 So, today has been a very relaxing day, but i have still gotten some stuff done.  i "had" to use the dehydrator again because i didn't want the apples to go bad...so i went to get some watermelon, bananas and pineapples to go with them... :)    


i may or may not be going into the kitchen every once in awhile to hug the dehydrator. it's the only warm thing in the apt. it's 52 degrees cold today and i'm not turning on the heat for 1 day and my space heater is at school! (i may have to throw some clothes in the dryer so i can put on some snuggly, warm love!)

So, after slicing and dicing, i decided to relax and do a little of what i really enjoy! (i'm sooooo thrilled that i got extra lesson plans done over spring break so that i didn't have to mess with them today). so, i pulled out the paints and slopped around a little. and this is what i came up with (after slopping around, i had to make up some insightful message).

today i am content!

and of course, while i was working on this, chaco looked at me and asked me what contentment means (he has the vocabulary of one of my 4th graders...we're working on that-with him AND them...at least he can sound it out). even after i explained it to him by pulling out a mirror for him to look in, he yawned and said that he still didn't get it...it's ok, he's more of the class clown and bruno's more the intellect, i guess.

not quite ready for the weekend to be over, but just a few more of these saturday school weekends and life will be back to normal...whatever that looks like!

enjoy the last few hours!
julie

yep, i think the boys were pretty content today cozy in their blankets! bruno(front) chaco(back)

saturday school in the stall

boo. (notice the period; that indicates that i am not trying to scare you, i am merely making a negative comment to express my feelings) i had to teach saturday school today. i have been teaching saturday school for students in need of additional help since january and i will be doing this through mid-april. i do not love it.

the highlight of the day was snack time; a rushed 5 minutes of teddy grahams and capri sun. oh, AND going to the bathroom. i know what you might be thinking, oh no, no potty humor. and it's not. i have just grown fond of our bathroom stall on the 4th and 5th grade hall.

let me back up just a bit. as a teacher, we cannot be away from our class for long periods of time, so we cannot get down to the teacher bathroom. nor did we want to sit on the toilets where students leave puddles and other. i'm curious what must have gone through our new, young, male principal's mind when he received a petition from our group to designate a stall for teachers. he approved it, he may have been thinking that if this was all we needed to be happy, it was worth it.

Of course, you can imagine we were delighted, and so we began by installing a latch lock at the top, and then people started bringing in posters and furniture (small shelf and toilet paper holder-thingy). then our science teacher brought in a post-your-note board. well, i just updated the board and it makes me happy!

  

               (took long enough to figure out how to download that from my phone and align it...boo.again.)

you can't really tell, but the bees are 3D and so is some of the grass. i got tired of the 2nd design which was a countdown to spring break, and since spring break was over...i put this together in about 20 minutes after school. i know...so much attention to the bathroom, what about the kids! well, suffice it to say, i am creative in the classroom as well, and they get the best of my creativity, i don't just use it on nonsensical things like our stall.

anyhoo, going to saturday school, bathroom breaks, the reminders that summer's comin'...i don't love it, but if ya' gots ta do it, might as well enjoy it!

hope your saturday is bee-a-utiful!!

julie

today i smell like fat

all day long i could smell myself. (this is not a good thing because i did not have a beautiful perfume on). as you get to know me, you will learn that i am kind of a jill-of-all-trades. my co-workers know that i enjoy baking and cooking, so last night i decided that i would fry up some blueberry-melon pies in my little fry daddy when i got up in the morning so that they would be warm when everyone got to school. (why fried pies? you might ask, well b/c i was reading a friend's fb post about delicious fried pies, so i decided to look up recipes earlier this week and thought 'shoot! i can do that!' and i made a batch of pie crust and filling and i wanted to go ahead and use it all up).

anyhoo, i got to school and smelled like fry daddy all day long (hopefully no one got close enough to actually smell me). i've come to the conclusion that living in a one-bedroom apartment is not ideal for a baker/cook person like myself. once i bake or cook something, it's so small that there is nowhere for the smell to go except directly to my hair.

my apartment is a love/hate relationship. i love the management (partly because they love my dogs) and they're not just pretending to love them, they literally see me walking up sometimes and come outside the office to greet us! i hate that i live on the 3rd floor, especially because i'm that person who hates making more than one trip up even if it means 5 or six bags on each arm and a back pack and gripping the rim of my diet coke cup in my teeth while lugging an extra 50 lbs up the stairs (which get steeper every time i have a load).

i do love that my dogs sit at the window waiting for me to get home (it's a low window, and i put a little seat there for them to help them be the 'loving dogs everyone wishes they had', and i didn't even have to train them to do it). i've been thinking for awhile now that i would really like to get a nanny cam to see exactly what they do every day because when i leave they watch from the window and bruno barks. then when i come home they're always sitting there watching, and as soon as i get out and start walking toward the stairs they bolt for the child gate, trying to figure out which one i will come to so they can greet me. i have to keep everything out of reach (especially the scissors, bruno tried to cut chaco's hair the other day, and it got messy).**sorry, i like to anthropomorphize my dogs, don't be confused, bruno really isn't a barber. although that would be nice, he could earn his keep!

time to go take a shower and wash off the fat!
jrob

all dried up!

well, here it is, i have caved. i will begin by just saying that i am not into capital letters. i know...very hypocritical for a 4th grade language arts teacher. i am daily telling students to use capital letters; i justify it because i KNOW, and i am teaching them the rules and trying to get them into a habit.

as i sit here the boys (bruno-2yrs and chaco-7 months) are sniffing around on the couch beside me. they pretty much dominate my life right now. we're waiting for the beef jerky to finish. (ok, i'm waiting). what does this have to do with anything? we celebrated spring break last week and i got a dehydrator and a food vac/sealer, and perhaps i am a little obsessed with both. (i mean, i'm pretty sure my electric bill is going to sky rocket and i'm going to have to start making some decisions..lights or dried fruit?)

and as for the food vac/sealer..wow! i got it because i was wondering how i could store some food without having to buy too many more canisters. the day i got it i sealed everything i could find that was seal-able! chips, frozen chicken, veggies, beef jerky i had made the day before...oh, there's a bag of flour, let's try that! hmm..so far, so good. i read somewhere that i could seal soup in individual portions and then just pop them into simmering water to prepare-awesome! and since i didn't have cheese, i had to go buy some cheese to make broccoli cheddar soup. and now i have 5 servings of soup just waiting for a soup-day.

when we went back to school my students wanted to know what i did for spring break, so i turned it into two lessons. one was a lesson on sequence and the other one was vocabulary-my bilingual kids had no clue what dehydrator meant, so that took up more time than i had planned for. oh well, at least they will never forget what dehydrated means (i may or may not have shown them some fruit and who knows..they may actually believe that if they don't get enough water, their skin will shrivel up like the fruit...but again, who knows? students tend to believe everything they hear).

good night!
julie