muumuulan hangs out with pirates and cowboys

it's halloween...BOO!! (this time say it like you mean it, it IS supposed to be scary!) i know i looked scary today! blonde, white girls can never be mulan. it just isn't possible.(i actually called it mumuulan, because instead of the graceful, flowy garments of mulan, i had an oriental-colored muumuu). in fact, i hate wigs and i felt like susan sarandon in STEPMOM when she was going through chemo wearing her wig and painting on eyebrows. i hate wigs because 3 hours after i take them off, i still feel like i'm wearing a wig! boo. (not scary).

i'm hoping there are no trick-or-treaters; i forgot the candy at school and all i have are butterscotch candies, starlight mints and tealight candles...i know if i were a kid and someone gave me the first two, i would NOT be very happy with them! and as for the tealight candles...parents would probably frown on that.

bruno and chaco are ready..there has been a medley of "yo ho yo ho a pirate's life for me" and "home home on the range."

bruno said no to the peg leg, but he asked if he could carry a sword-i told him no, i didn't have one, he could blame my parents for not letting me get one when i was visiting mackinac island!

chaco heard my conversation with bruno and said, "oh, but you DID get a whip...can i borrow it?" and again, i had to deny his request because i'm pretty sure it began to unravel and at some point we had to get rid of it.

there was a ponytail in back..i realize that this actually looks slightly akin to a poor alec baldwin impersonation (which is why the muumuu and the sign that proclaimed mulan)

i got a cute little halloween bucket-o-pretzels today, AND one of my co-workers gave me a delicious, cutie-cute cake pop of a ghost (thanks maria!) the cake pop reminded me a bit of mr. reimer, my music teacher and the ghost story i shared awhile back!

how cute is that?! (doesn't the stapler look like a spooky floating stapler?)

well, i think i'm going to try to fry some of my dehydrated potatoes tonight-wish me luck! we'll see how it goes!

it's getting cooler out, i might need to invest in a heated blanket this year-i know, i'm in texas...but there are usually two nights in the winter when one would come in handy!

i was just reminiscing on the phone last night with my brother (it seems like last night--perhaps saturday night...) i was recalling a couple of the outfits we'd had back in the day. dad found some old shoulder pads and a helmet and we pretended we were green bay packers at one time. david was a robot (complete with dryer hoses for the arms)..and remember the cheapy plastic-ish masks that cracked and ripped with the stapled elastic band around the back and little nose holes that you breathe into and feel the humidity of your own breath? usually they came with some kind of plastic outfit the was probably made of the same material as the plastic bag you were collecting candy in? those were fun. no, no they were not.

i wish we had pictures of every year we dressed up! i do have these two pictures from when i worked for a teen crisis center and we worked the 'haunted house.' they are a little disturbing, but it was all in fun.

i am the creepy clown.

this was picture night

there is a church sponsored 'haunted house' called hell night and one of the ladies at the front office was telling us about how she went to hell night back when she was young and it rather mortified her; well not two days later, i was going through facebook and saw that one of my old college friends acts in one for their church! strange coincidences.

i remember in kindergarten back in good ol' raytown, our principal had created a 'haunted maze' in the gym and there were silly things in it like pillow lumps, sheets separating the walled maze, i don't remember a whole lot else except that the principal was dracula and if he got you, you might never be seen again!

all that said, the only thing i loved about halloween was the candy.

when all is said and done, all hallow's eve is merely the precursor to all saints day!
julie

flying dreams and the burning spoon

today has been a reading day- got through book one of my trilogy! (did i mention that i need to finish it before thanksgiving so that i can pass it on to mom? we share similar literary taste).

strangely my dream from last night had nothing to do really with anything t.v. or reading. i had a very cool flying suit, but it was not super powerful-it wasn't a machine, it was the suit itself, and it depended on the currents of the wind. and i only used it because the traffic was so bad on the way out of town. not sure exactly where i was going, but i went off toward an exit. i remember it was a country road that curved around in a  big u and i saw ms. santiago's house and went past about 1/2 a mile and there was blanca's house. only i didn't know it was her house. i only wanted to stop and see it because there was snow in the yard and Christmas trees and snowmen...and it was the middle of fall and still warm out. so when i slowed and touched down, i realized that the snow was fake and that's when blanca and the kids were coming out the back door. we chatted and she explained that her daughter was super creative and thought it would be a great yard decoration. after a bit, i flew off again.

i stopped in yesterday and picked up a little easy reading to start on when i need a break from the trilogy....now i just need to go to the meeting and find a time to set up to take the gre..woo.hoo.

barron's, i'm in your hands, teach me, oh guide.

well, my apartment smells like burnt rubber. as we were sitting here (me typing and casting a glance toward murder she wrote-there is a cozy happiness in my heart because it is a murder she wrote marathon weekend and i have it recording to slowly go through them when i'm not reading or studying or grading....so hopefully i'll get to it by Christmas!), and chaco stuck his head out from under the throw and started sniffing pretty vigorously. so i got up to try to see what he was smelling. i opened the sliding door to see if perhaps someone else was cooking something, but that wasn't it. when i went into the kitchen, i got closer to the dishwasher, which i had just run and that's where it was coming from. i opened it up and the stench of burnt rubber invaded the rest of the apartment and chaco went to hid in my room.

see the hole in it? i guess that makes it a 'sprainer'...spoon/strainer

 i'm so glad he has such a sensitive nose! it makes me feel a bit more secure-he is especially sensitive with burning smells, hot oil, etc.

i almost forgot, yesterday when i went to target, i noticed that the cashier had a raccoon tail attached to his keys.

i know, not super clear, but trying to be discreet.

it reminded me a little of the raccoons we had around here, but we haven't had any incidents in several months! remember, the ones that look like midgets? perhaps young buck has one of our raccoons in his pocket, although that tail looks too small to be one of our raccoons- looks more like a cat tail.

well, still smells like burnt stuff around here, off to clear the air!
julie

pickles eggs and ham will get you a martha's toy...

guess who went to the vet today?

yep, chaco. and he was none too happy about it. he was frustrated all day long because his name-collar was upside down..when i came back to get him, the new lady set up an appointment to check up on wednesday to get his sutures out. i said, " i'm sorry, why did he need stitches?" she looked at the computer screen, then made her way back to the doctor's work space and came back saying, "nope, you're right, no stitches." whew.

on the way out, chaco said that they gave him a pickle, eggs and ham. i wrinkled my brow and tried to think of what he could possibly mean. he said it again and then i realized he was talking about the fecal exam. remember, his doctor is from india. after i explained it to him, he said, "oh, that's why i was waiting all that time and they never gave me a thing to eat."

so, per usual, i got a toy for him for going to the vet and being awesome. i am thinking he is a trained guard dog and i should put a BEWARE OF DOG sign on the door for liability sake...

he goes for the eyes first. martha, my dog demolishes your toys...make them tougher.

i guess a visitor wouldn't have to worry unless he squeaked and bounced around and then laid very still while chaco gnawed on his extremities.

i also stopped at target because it was right there. i had to get the ingredients for a little harvest mixture my sister-in-law posted on her blog. it makes me happy! and that led me to get one last great halloween card for a friend, knowing it will be late.

i'll just call it an early thanksgiving card...zombie peanuts...umm..be thankful that you can put those zombie peanuts into thanksgiving peanut brittle!

side note: the cardinals won. but only because there was a woman in the crowd (the camera man caught her on film) crossing her fingers. i didn't really think it worked, i stopped doing that long, long ago, believing it was child's play. it's the only thing i can come up with.

if you ever come to visit remember to cover your eyes and twitch every once in awhile so chaco knows not to gnaw!

julie

flip the switch or not? will it alter the escence of our school?

this morning i heard a kid talking about the yogurt label at breakfast and this was what i heard: it has an indian, that means they made it a long, long time ago. so...at least they got the concept of indigenous tribes in tx before the settlers came!

this morning, the announcements seemed like an extension of last night's world series game-train wreck! it was quite a fiasco...start the pledge, stop the pledge, say it wrong, do the next, repeat...then do bdays, and oh yeah! weekend bdays...and they eventually did draw to an end.

when i was in the special bathroom at school, i noticed something i've never noticed before!

desmond, push the button! it's been 108 minutes!! the red light was definitely activated..i have no clue what that switch could possibly be for!

doesn't it remind you of something from lost? the dharma initiative? i'm not really a lost geek, i had to look up pushing the button and believe it or not, there is a lostpedia...is it just me or is that ridiculous? since when do we just stick pedia on the end of a word and then use that as a resource to tell all about that word?


i love the geico robot daycare commercial! i do a half laugh every time the robot squeezes the juice into the little girl's face! she really looks like it's unexpected and she doesn't know what to do!

yesterday i stopped to get my mail and when i was getting my checkbook from my bag in the trunk of the car, i heard a lady across the little courtyard in the other parking lot yell, "hey!" i looked up and she said, "i like your car! that's a good-looking car!" i politely said thanks and she got in her car and drove off.(is there a more appropriate response? i don't really know 'car-admiration-etiquette') i have no idea who the lady was. so i crossed the drive to go to the office to pay my bill and on the way back out, i detoured over by where the lady had been parked to see if my car somehow looked spectacularly different from this point of view. and i'm sure the two girls in the truck which was now sitting there were wondering what in the world i was doing as i took this strange route to my car.

on the way home today i did go to petsmart to return the cat stuffs...and i got bruno his sweater. he loved it...ok, at least he wore it. then we went out for our walk and tote. bruno rode in the sling because he wasn't in the mood (again). so we went to the office and the boys cut up and joked around with mandy and shannon and they brought out the soft dog snacks...mandy proceeded to smell it and said she wondered what it tasted like, so true to form, i said, "if it's ok for the dog, it's safe, try it!" shannon was also prodding her to try it. and she did. and the shannon tried it because mandy said it was good...tasted like beef jerky! easy targets.

and i thought maybe bruno would walk home...he started out ok, but about 20 ft out, he stopped cooperating. grr...but at least they looked good in their new shirts!

oh weekend, what am i going to do with you??ZZ(that was bruno stepping on the keyboard...i think i kinda like his idea!)

oh, i had a crazy dream last night too. i showed up at a school to confront a boy who was rumored to be sexually harassing some of my Bible-study girls, so i went in and showed his picture to someone who told me i'd have to talk to the coach. so i turned and there were 3 different coaches with name tags on that said 'coach' but none of them knoew who he was..wrong coaches. so i went outside to the baseball field and a guy was throwing practice pitches....only, the practice field was surrounded by huge pine trees and other foliage-it seemed more like we were in a forest. the coach stopped and showed me his plants that were out near the outfield-they were huge bushes with softball sized reddish-maroon flowers (mini-me's of the little shop of horror's plant); and their little mouths opened wide enough to catch the ball.
well, i was going to say 'it's your 12th man!' but i caught myself at "it's your..." because i wasn't sure how many men are on the baseball field at once, and i didn't want to sound stupid, so i just finished with, "your secret weapon!" smart move...and it was about there that i must've woken up because i draw a blank on the rest.

i know, you probably don't care one bit about my bizarre dreams..i think it was the peppermint coffee, world series, piney-woods (social studies), and svu...it might have also been the little girl i saw trying to sneakily cut the apartment roses up front by the water fountain and sneak them into her little basket keeping an eye out to not get caught(the flower bush part).

well, i suppose i'll lay off the coffee tonight before bed!
julie

let's brand some cattle and turkeys!

it's thursday night and tomorrow is jean-ius day for our red-ribbon week...if our kids start spelling genius incorrectly, i am not going to be very happy! (although they probably already spell it incorrectly-i just want someone to blame!)

i got a call from mom last night and i am happy to say that we have made thanksgiving arrangements! we're meeting in branson. (i know, how unique and original?) but seriously, i think they really enjoy it there as much as i do! the condition was made that we needed to find a place that allowed dogs! so mom called last night, and we've got everything planned! woo hoo!

bruno was excited to see mom and dad. chaco thought i said :we're going to brand some. and so he proceeded to ask what we were going to brand. i was a little confused because i didn't really understand what he was asking. he really thought we were going to a dude ranch and branding cattle and turkeys. strange dog.

what are we gonna brand mama? what are we gonna brand?? can we do turkeys?

i finally figured out why he was asking that and i explained that we were going to BRANSON. once i showed it to him on the map, he understood. he has never been there before, so perhaps he will be impressed by shoji tabuchi and the baldknobbers...?

well, hopefully the man who was working on the fire alarm this afternoon got it fixed, because these 'fake' alarms going off are not conducive to learning! i will have no more of this! i put my foot down (and then i put the other one down and keep going in that same pattern until i am out the door,  with my class, in compliance with the fire-drill code...boo).

i was going to make potato soup tonight, but i really didn't want to get out of my car to get potatoes...i'll have to get some soon because it is certainly potato soup season! i don't know why, but that just reminded me of spuds...remember spuds mckenzie?? the bud light commercial dog from the late 80's! has absolutely nothing to do with potato soup...but why would they call a dog spuds? they were probably out drinking and eating potato soup when they came up with that commercial.

oh, and in case ya'all hadn't heard, HONDURAN coffee is being sold at starbucks! check it out!!

turkey and cattle for thanks giving...instead of surf and turf i guess chaco would like it to be leather and feather...?
julie

with my sunglasses on, everything is a little brighter!

today was the last observation for Xochitl! woo hoo!! certification, here she comes!

today was also 'shade out drugs' day..not sure what that means exactly, but i did go ahead and stop by the local gas station, and guess what? they had the blu-blockers! woo hoo!! and they were as wonderful as i remembered them. the grass truly is greener on the other side when you're wearing them!

i know, you cannot really tell, but all the same...it's like they say, just because you wear rose-colored glasses, it doesn't make your water pink lemonade...not that these are rose-colored glasses...or that i was looking at water.

 wednesday-check..done!

i decided to go to pet smart to check on a sweater or something for bruno because i am hoping that i can find something that fits a little snug, that might be like one of those 'thunder blankets.' thinking that maybe he'll feel more secure with something tight to walk in. (i mean i don't like walking in tight things, but he might...skinny jeans for bruno?) so i went and found a couple of things...darn, i always spend more than i should there, because then i got a few more things. when i got home i realized i would have to return a couple of things and look again. one of the shirts fit chaco instead of bruno

we'll keep this one-chaco really likes it; says it makes him a rebel

..and i bought a couple of cute Christmas head-gear things (not like braces to bed head gear)...it was cat headgear....oops.epic designer clothing fail...well, i righted a wrong by getting the 'rawhide cookie ghosts.' they look really good, but i just wanted to see if the 'frosting' was sweet. it is not. it is bland and about as tasteless as a piece of wood.

bruno shot me a thumbs up..only he did it with his looks, not his thumb

i also saw some socks while i was there that ha yorkies on them. most of the stitchings looked like yorkies, but somehow this little guy must've gotten on there by accident..i'm pretty certain it is NOT a yorkie, though.

almost looks like chewbacca

kinda resembles this guy a little bit, no?

if he had dark eyes and smaller ears...one of my friends sent this pic...said maybe she wants one...don't do it mary!!!

alright looks like the canceled the game tonight because they're afraid of the 'rain'-gers!

 g'night!
julie

we're all hippies!! no, we're all multicultural!

school today was pretty routine...we came to agreement on field trips and then we made dr. jones rub her temples, and close her eyes a few times...i'm not sure if it was that she was taking a nap, trying to find her quiet place or genuinely trying to focus on the issue at hand. we are certainly an animated bunch-so much to say and so little space in which to say it. it's hard to get a word in edgewise when you're with us. trust me, there will never be a want for words.

i don't know that we came to any real solution, but it was good to have our red ribbon people in to talk to the kids about not doing drugs. according to the kids margaritas are a drug. afterward, the kids received multi-colored bracelets. one of the boys said, isn't that like the hippies wear? (thinking of tie-dye) and i smiled and said, "hmm, yep..go ask the visitor." and she yes, then he said, "hey! we're hippies!" isn't that the antithesis of red-ribbon week?? the kids had no idea about that, though.

i told the kids it wasn't really tie dye, it was multi-colored to symbolize multiculturalism. they fell for it.

lunch today was so relaxing! i just had a salad in my room and let yo yo ma serenade me with a few cello pieces. it was wonderful!

on the way home, my thoughts went the the old show: that's incredible! i remember we used to sit around and watch that as family time back in the early 80's before we moved to honduras in 83. it was great to see the incredible feats, medical mysteries, etc. it ran from 1980-1984. strangely it was taken off air a year after we moved. perhaps we were their viewing base...so they had to cancel when we moved. i'd love to go back and see what things we thought were incredible back then! i wonder how many things might have been precursors to breakthroughs that have happened since then.

tomorrow is sunglasses day...wonder if i have any that are light enough to wear inside...oh, this is when i wish i had blu-blockers! perhaps i will stop by a gas station tomorrow and see if they have any...hmm...


hope at the end of the day you have done something that people could yell at you, "that's incredible!"
julie

short ramblings of incoherent nothingness, really

ok, this is going to have to be short and sweet for several reasons. 1. the game 2. another set of expository papers to grade 3. hungry.

thank goodness today was a short day!

can i just tell you that i read a paper that started out great! coherent, logical introduction, etc. then it all began to fall apart and shift and ramble kinda like denise on the SNL lawrence welk skit (if you haven't seen it, it is a must!! click here! this one makes me laugh heartily.

last night i taped once upon a time and the good wife. i watched the good wife last night, but i waited until this afternoon to watch once upon a time. i'm pretty sure i mentioned it in another post. it had a very intriguing kick-off. remember it is written by the creators of LOST. i think i'm going to thoroughly enjoy sunday evenings!

snow white and prince charming before it all goes down!

and remember how i created pumpkin skull? well, what do you think? is there a resemblance? i thought so-i couldn't believe this was on yesterday afternoon!

well, i'm curious to know how the principal-hiring is going these days...watch us get someone like jeffrey jones (ferris beullers day off), or paul gleason (breakfast club)...principals of the 80's were tough guys!

alright, like i said short and sweet. ok, maybe just short.
julie

pump-kin= a red neck family who own a gas station in the hills

ok,let's not lie about it. i should've just put the chili in a container and refrigerated it. but i didn't. i have been 'tasting' it all day...to make sure that it still tastes good, of course.

so today i spent most of the day scoring writing assessments that students took this week, and in between when i needed a break and didn't have a kit kat, i decided to be productive. the boys asked if i would make a pumpkin for them. i told them i couldn't make a pumpkin, because they grow on vines. bruno cocked his head and said, "you know what we mean and i know that you bought one yesterday, so unless you want me to play 'hide and go pee' with chaco, you might want to get it out." so i laughed and got it out and painted it like the one they saw on a commercial that they liked so much.

skeleton head! kinda looks like nightmare before Christmas!

so i now have all but one class's papers scored. why is it taking so long, you ask? well, i'm kinda' like that when it comes to writing. students don't get any better unless you give very specific feedback...and document it for yourself for conferences.

at least there are only 88 or 89.

 between the ball game, finishing the final stack of papers and finishing lesson plans, i might be mixing a little more of the holiday coffee with some of the caramel truffle...why not? and tonight i will be drinking from one of the fun cups from  family general. 

i think my mom got these for me the last time they were down here in the tx area....cheap, but oh, so cute! and the color adds to the 'keep-ya-awake' factor.

 i'm so happy that we get to wear jeans and rangers shirts again tomorrow(we're getting a lot of wear out of our team)! and i am equally happy that it is a student half day!!

 off to multi-task!
julie

oh, really? it was only the 2nd pile? grr..

just for the record, i hate the commercial by honda that has the family on a road trip in an suv making noises to 'create music'. it really makes me cringe, i'm not exactly sure why.

i didn't get to sleep until fairly late last night. first, i watched the game until 11:something and then i had to finish scoring 2 last papers. well if you read yesterday, i said i was in the middle of the 3rd class. much to my chagrin, as i triumphantly went to set my neat pile of scored papers on the pile, there was only one pile finished...how could i have made such a huge miscalculation?? well, it's because i had already graded the 2nd pile, i was just going back over it with the individual score rubric/comment sheet (which i didn't have when i first read their stories). boo in a big way.

after i finished scoring the papers, i went to my room and thought this was the only time i really had to read a book (which i may or may not have bought at walmart yesterday as well!) i got through about 3 or 4 chapters (ok, maybe it was six, but who's counting that late?!)

it's a trilogy all wrapped into one...it could take awhile because i'm usually a little short on spare time.

it's not a harlequin romance-it's actually a story of loss, tragedy, love, coping and God's hand in it all.

kingsbury, the author actually weaves a great story together-hard to put down!

then i heard the tornado siren-thank you town of addison. so i turned on the radio and listened to where the storm cells were and packed a mini cooler to put in the closet for just-in-cases..i included peanut butter and peanuts (protein) for me, matches, lighter and emergency candles, water, and dog food for the boys.

well, when it was finally about 2:10 and we were sure the threat had passed, we went to sleep.

the boys do surprisingly well during storms. bruno always wants to go sit on the balcony and watch the lightning, and chaco usually chimes in and says, "yeah! can we? can we go out and fly a kite with a key?" ever since he saw the coloring book about benjamin franklin (amazing american patriot!) he has been obsessed. so i make sure to never come home with kites. (not a difficult task).

at 6:30, i could smell that the crock pot chili was done, so i turned it to warm, and went back to sleep, but bruno was restless by 8, so we got up and after fixing a very ugly concoction for them, i had myself a bowl of chili. it was actually very good-leaving just a hint of heat..yum.

alright, i am posting early-perhaps there will be another later tonight (depending on today).

have a blessed Sabbath! relax, rest and enjoy that which no one really deserves-truly we are blessed.
julie

walmart is not really a relaxing break, but it got me what i needed

i'm having a very difficult time getting motivated to grade these writing papers...i finished another class earlier today and am in the middle of the 3rd class. it's just so time consuming! boo.

so i took a break and went to drop letters in the mail and run to walmart (isn't that what EVERYONE does when taking a break??) i think KANAKUK 2-4s are just ingrained into the fiber of my being...that's where we'd stop because there were relatively few options.

so, while i was there, i had to snap a pic of johnny b/c it made me think of shea-so, this one's for you, shea!

your pirate look is almost as good as his, and HE has professional makeup artists!

i will say that apparently a lot of other people needed to take breaks today as well, because it was pretty busy over at montfort and arapaho. and when i stopped by the post office to drop off my letters, the mail delivery vehicles were all lined up.

i began to wonder what in the world will they do with all those vehicles if the post office goes out of business?

will they auction them off? will they sell them to some european country where people drive on the 'wrong' side of the road? incognito secret service cars? somehow use them in the creating of green energy?

i remember in honduras my parents got a small jeep that seemed somewhat like a mail jeep. i believe it was a hyundai because it was way before they were popular, and i definitely had difficulty trying to pronounce it in my head (i never wanted to say it out loud for fear that i was wrong...and as time would tell, i WAS wrong).

this morning i used the last of my coffee, so i was very excited to see that they had a holiday favorite!!

thank you, millstone, for capitalizing on Christmas long before they even begin playing the carols on the radio.

why do they make the best coffee flavors seasonal?

the last items i had to get were to make some posters for my classroom-we need to get our transitional words up so that the kids are seeing them constantly, and begin to used them! i had a bunch done in spanish, but i need to get them up in english as well! so we're going bright on a black foam board...that seems to be eye-catching.

tonight when i got home, i browned some beef and dumped the beans, tomatoes and paste and seasonings into the crock pot. then i had to cut up some onions...well, i looked everywhere to find a clothespin because i just wanted to see if putting a clothespin on the tongue would really keep the tears from coming...i wonder how many people have actually tried that after seeing THE HELP....i didn't find one, so i got the mini processor out. unfortunately the onion was strong enough that i still got teary eyed, darned onions. so, i got it all ready and now i am waiting to turn on the crock pot until i go to bed because it takes 7-8 hrs, and i don't plan to be waking up at 3 am to turn off the crock pot...i need to get one with a timer!

going to get some coffee-the good stuff...i think it's going to be a long night!
julie

we'll take the principal with the almond-nougat filling, please.

it's hard to believe that it is already thursday~ wow how this week flew by! maybe it's because i feel like i really got a lot done this week..is that the way it works? i know that i haven't gotten home early one single night this week because of staff meetings, pta, working on AVID stuff yesterday and working on grading the writing papers, and tonight it was the vPLC which closes on sunday..i'm glad i kinda feel caught up.

i wasn't planning on being in charge of the book publishing this year, but the lady wouldn't stop calling and e-mailing and finally faxing a paper today with our publish date, so i went around and took orders like a book waitress (?) to see how many teachers wanted to do the Christmas publishing. oh goodness. i suppose the only positive from it is that the kids love their books, and they have already written a few papers, so they should be able to take their finished drafts and transfer them over easily. and i may make another this year as well because they seem to enjoy the one i made last year.

today as i was in the bathroom stall, i used the soap and noticed the directions. does this strike anyone else as obviously vague? i'll bet someone sarcastic wrote these directions on his last day because he won the lottery or something.

why even bother putting directions if they're going to be like this?

seriously though, what if the directions for your new smart phone said: USE LIKE YOU WOULD USE ANY OTHER PHONE.

i have really enjoyed teaching social studies to a class again! they seem to enjoy it...we had a vocabulary game today and they did pretty well-we'll see how they do in the test tomorrow! and we'll see if they get the main concept we talked about. they've sure enjoyed working on part one of their project!

well, they have been doing some interviewing for a new principal, but as far as i can tell (since i have not been involved in the process), it seems like it's been similar to those crappy cheap valentine candies that are filled with the nasty colored filling and no matter which one you choose, you're not going to be happy and you just kinda want to spit it out. not that they're cannibalistic and eating up the interviewees or anything...i mean, that would just be wrong.

so, i've been interviewing people on my own for the position, and i think i've found the perfect candidate! ok, just kidding, but it would be kinda funny.

go forth and be productive..not reproductive..just productive!
julie

lice lice baby (to the tune by vanilla ice, please)

i'm so glad we're more than 1/2 way through the week!! and i definitely owe the rangers for getting to the world series! because of them, i get to wear jeans and an old rangers shirt i found about 7 years ago at a thrift shop! actually, they make more...they owe ME! for supporting them and being a 'playoffs fan.'

well, looks like i need to iron this guy before tomorrow!

i got up early again today and went to walmart for some necessities. (chocolate?) and there is this one tree that scares me. every time i go there, there are like 2,958,9384 birds up there chitter chattering about random gossip. today as i walked by, i heard a splat on the ground about 10 ft away....sometimes i walk under that tree. no more. dangerousness.

scary tree.

anyhoo, the day went much better with said necessities! kids had their writing tests and it will be fun grading them. only i'm just saying that to try to mask the pain.

after school, there was a random shoe on the ground just hangin' out..

really? who walks away without realizing that they're  missing a shoe??

and speaking of lice...oh, we weren't? ok, well, now we are! just writing the word down makes my head itch! it reminds me of one year at kamp when we had a headlice event..can you call something like that an event? well, i just promoted it to the status of 'event.'

i was one of the unit coordinators at the time. we were informed of the presence of lice in 2 cabins, so we were charged with the mission of taking all of their items (bedding and clothing) to the laundromat at 8:00 p.m-ish. we had a van-load of black trash bags and about 4 or 5 of us to work it out. right before we left, one of the gals ran up to the van and gave heather(driver) her underclothes and said, "can you wash my delicates separately?"  um no, and she just threw them in the back.

you must take into account that the nearest laundromat was about an hour away through hills and windy backroads. when we finally got there the lady was gracious with us and we pretty much dominated the place. washing. drying.folding. it was a long, long night. at one point the 'exhausted' must've kicked in because someone threw a red dress in with some whites...oops. (more to that story in a moment).

we finally finished it all up around 2 p,m. and had one more stop to make: RID...by the time we got back to the cabin, we were a little delirious..the jokes were lame, but we wrote them down and thought we were pretty funny! (one of the comments while we were washing our hair in the sink was that it was burning our scalp, therefore we were positive that if there were any, it was killing the little suckers)...i know not nearly as funny when i'm wide awake.  an on-location-joke for sure.

so we got the laundry back to the appropriate cabins and instead of 'thanks!' we got a crier. apparently her white velour jogging suit (mind you it was in the 90's and 100's) had met red dress. oops...sorry pink jogging suit. crier then told us it had been a gift from her grandma. big deal. until we found out grandma had passed away. double oops. (she may have been making it all up, that's what we decided to RID ourselves of the guilt...she must be a habitual liar).  FINE THEN, NEXT TIME DON'T GET LICE!!!!!

just itchin' to get back to the paper-grading and rangers game!
julie

maybe nancy drew is part elvish...

a little late. i stayed for the pta at school because no one else was able to. it was cute for the first 2 minutes...then it got progressively less cute as the time went on. i would've posted pics, but i didn't have time to get waivers and permission slips. oh, and i didn't take any pictures.

i won't be doing that again anytime soon.

the boys were not happy that i got home after dark and did not leave the lights on for them...so i told them i'm not the motel 6! (but it was wasted sarcasm)

so..tonight i pulled out a long sleeved t because it's so cool out and it was inside out. it made me wonder whose idea was it to EVER decide that seams and stitching had to be on the inside instead of the outside? it's more comfortable to wear the seamless on the inside!

that's the sleeve cuff (i typed it, then deleted it b/c i thought that wasn't a thing, so i looked it up and it IS!)

it strikes me as i sit here looking at my movies, thinking about nancy drew (no lie, i purchased the t.v. series off amazon about 2 years ago)...it strikes me as nearly impossible for a teenage girl to have been able to be involved in as many mysteries as she was and still go to school! unless she's like the girl on law and order, who pretended to be a teenager to stay in the foster care system, until she was caught at 28...anyone else ever wonder how she managed? or maybe she's like the elves on LOTR; they age slower than time as well!

after just reading that, it made me wonder if nancy and the hardy boys had ever met, so i looked it up, and there are a few books out there with adventures for the two of them-i need to get those!!

'seams' like it's time to go b/c eternal youth is not what was written into my script,
julie

i could never win the blind dog-biscuit taste test

 not blind dog, more like blind taste test for dog biscuits.
today i got to school and did some small stuff trying to prepare for class and our afternoon training. i was surprised that our 'share-time' went as well as it did today in class...we actually got around to posting our work! woo hoo!!

a couple minutes into class and ms. arroyo came in and gave me an offering for the boys! peanut butter cookies! (i was going to try one-just to see if it was peanut buttery or not). well, i didn't in class, but i figure surely it's edible, so i tried it when i got home and guess what). it's not as peanut buttery as my fudge, but i told the boys it was so that they wouldn't be jealous.

peanut butter biscuit love

dog biscuits don't scare me...i was dared to try one by a friend a few years back, and it really is just a bland shortbread cookie that looks like a bone and is over baked and under-sugared.

it's like biscotti...only not really.

shout out to my friend xochitl-SHE PASSED HER LAST BIG TEST FOR CERTIFICATION!! YIPPEE!!


and our afternoon training went off without a hitch! (which is always a good thing). it was by no means exciting, but hopefully it wasn't terribly dreadful for all others involved.

hopefully we can put student work on lockers again, because i DEF-initely  posted some work today! (on almost every 4th grader's locker...hmm.)

just because it looks and smells like a peanut doesn't mean it's pleasing to the human palette.
julie

see a kibble, pick it up..all day long you'll have good...reason to sanitize your hands

when i was little the word 'fart' was off the table. we used the word 'stinker.' the conversation would be something like this: did you let a stinker? no. so my question now is, what does that even mean? did you let a stinker do what? you're probably asking, great, where is she going with this? no where, it's just that one of the boys passed gas the other day, and i was trying to determine what phrasing we should go with..fart, stinker, pass gas, flagellate...flagellate is the most correct, but i have never liked that word because it always reminded me of flapping in the lower hind region and that is not attractive. fart is the easiest, but it seems a bit crude..we may just have to go with pass gas.

it was great to have bmayes and reagan down to visit! yesterday we had late lunch at glorias and then i got to use my movie passes from the end of last year! we went to see the help and it was so great! i really did enjoy it. the theater was empty when we got there, so we got excellent seating! and then a handful of people joined us-maybe 20 total. 

i always worry about free passes b/c i wonder what the fine print will say, but we had no problems...and i have one pass left!

 earlier in the morning, b had gone to grab breakfast with a friend, and i was in the kitchen cleaning when i looked down and saw one of reagan's kibbles (she eats a different type of food than the boys).

they're a little smaller and rounder

well, i figured chaco or reagan had grabbed a piece and moved it, because they do that when they eat-grab a piece, go to the other room and eat it...well, i picked it up to put it back in the bowl, and it wasn't hard like a kibble...so i threw it into the toilet and sanitized my hands. the thing is, it was tiny, and so it didn't look like what it was. anyhoo...all clean now.


how 'bout them rangers?!
how 'bout them sooners?!
we were flipping back and forth between the two last night. you must understand that i am not big into college football, so i just picked the team where i have a group of dear friends, and they have become my team...plus i've been there and played around on campus, and thus i have become a sooners fan (not die hard, but if i notice they're playing, they get my hurraay)!

if you see a kibble on the ground...just throw it away.
julie

reagan and chaco meet the management

yesterday was such a long day! parent conferences are brutal. i was caught with one foot in one class and the other in the another (sounds like a song or something).

as the construction draws closer and closer to an end, the old doors are getting ready to come off and the new ones will be installed...how do i know? i'm always at school late and i saw the guys working on the holes for the new hardware. so i put up a note to let the boys know i wanted to keep my door and to please put it inside my room.

STRAIGHT-FORWARD

i hope my request will be fulfilled because they said they would do it for me. now i will have a door to use however i need it. i could use it for art OR a table...or shelves...i love lumber! i'm kinda' thinking it will be art.


saturday a.m.

 ok, i didn't get very far last night because i was cleaning up a little and i was exhausted, and once bmayes got into town, it would've been rude to be on the computer! (mediocre excuses)

i love it when brittany and reagan visit-very chill and relaxed. we do what we want! i'm a little bummed because i'm not 100%- i feel like i'm in the midst of drainage-maybe a cold...i don't even know anymore. my eyes were getting bothersome yesterday and my voice was going at school toward the end.

chaco on the right looks a little bigger than reagan because he is sitting on top of the pillow, but in reality, reagan is a little bigger.

who knows what we'll do today-i would love to take the pups for a walk so that reagan can meet the office staff and  chaco can stop in to say hi-he hasn't been over there in awhile.
//later that same day:..so we went for our walk, and true to form, bruno was in anti-walking mode, so we took chaco and reagan by the office and one of the gals was there and she jumped down from her chair and got on her knees to play with the pups. i've said it before, i have great managers! then we went back to the trail area and after playing for a minute, i let chaco come all the way back home off-leash because there were no other dogs around, and i am happy to say that he did a fabulous job!

alright, because i don't want to be rude, this is where i will close for tonight! back to the rangers!
julie

what do you get when you drink coffe and diet dr. pepper? nothing...just a bathroom break.

i knew today was going to be this kind of a day because i didn't get to bed until after midnight last night trying to finish revising ninety fourth grade expository papers so that my students can understand what revision looks like.

literally picked up the coffee in one hand, took a sip, then picked up the diet dr. pepper in the other hand

for whatever reason, the hot and cold go together, and then the bitter and sweet kinda' go together. anyone with me on this? if so, just nod your head, i'm sure i'll feel it.  i suppose it worked because i am still awake, and i made it through the day. coherently, even!

while i was listening in on a conversation, i heard a couple of ladies trying to figure out what half of 37 was. and after spending a couple of minutes, one of them said to the other, "that's why i don't help my daughter with her math homework...she won't let me." hmm...

and in the mail today i got a letter from fema...they wanted to sell me some flood insurance. apparently they didn't look at the address or realize that when an apt number ends in the 30's, it means 3rd floor! and there's a drought...and the average rainfall is 76 mm/month.

tonight needs to be an early night because tomorrow we have conferences.boo. long stinkin day!

ok, be hot or cold, or i will spit you out of my mouth (that's biblical, but that's what i often tell my drinks as well),
julie

Breakfast in bed would be better than breakfast in the classroom.

alright, this post is going to have to be short! i will start with this- if you have little ones and you like to create fun treats, hollie has added a few fun items to the repertoire. check them out here!

this morning we had our first breakfast in the classroom. tomorrow there will be a new and improved set-up. tweak it until you get it right, that's what i always say...only i say it a little differently-revise, revise revise! anyhoo-today i saw waste. one of my kiddos was made to get in line, but he already ate breakfast, so he had this bag of stuff he didn't even want. boo. i think some of the kids don't understand that milk and yogurt spoil when not refrigerated, because i definitely saw some breakfast bags in lockers that will turn into science experiments if we aren't careful.

lowfat plain yogurt...i'd say yum, but you might believe i meant it.

so today was a rocky first day, but once it changes, it should go much more smoothly.

i did swing by the credit union branch to make my payment today as well, and the lady was super sweet, but a slow talker and way too polite asking all sorts of questions and filling out a form that i could've taken care of in half the time! oh, even though i took a wrong turn yesterday, today i realized that this place is just plain hard to get to-i still had to make a crazy loop around to get onto the correct stretch to get into the bldg. but i made it back just as the students were lined up and walking in...whew!

sad day-ms. arroyo is almost all moved out.

when i got home i went to the mailbox gazebo-looking thing and i was thrilled that my check came from the car pymt i had made on the g6 the day before it got paid off-that will come in handy. as i was walking back to my car, the apt manager was driving away and waving like a crazy lady! it was kinda funny, so now i'm thinking perhaps i need to get over to the office again sometime soon to visit with the gals (it's always good to feel wanted, right?).

ok, it's time for me to revise some papers!
julie

the waves came crashing into my classroom! i'm glad i painted my toenails for the occasion!

this morning i woke up, planning  on going to walmart. contrary to popular belief, i didn't go JUST for the orange toenail polish...my main purpose was cold medication. the toenail polish was an afterthought!

it doesn't look nearly as bright as it is-apt. lighting is ridiculous!

my car payment says it's due today, so i was all in a rush to get to the credit union to pay (new acct, new set-up, not being  withdrawn yet, etc), so i rushed over there during my lunch, battled traffic on 635 like a dragon warrior- UTILA is good at weaving 101...in and out, in and out...then, not knowing where it was, i made a wrong turn (even with the gps) and had to make a huge loop around. then when i finally got there, i was thrilled that i got a great parking spot! only to realize when i got inside that the lobby was closed because it's stinkin' columbus day! boo. (not a halloween boo, either!)

so i made my way back and b/c i was running a couple minutes late, i couldn't stop for lunch. well, i forgot that i hadn't eaten until tonight when i got home and ordered chinese/japanese...dirty knees...i realized that guess what. i was indeed hungry!

while at work, i did get the opportunity to find a home for one of my witch stickers-she'll be around for decades to come (maybe, right?).

no one mourns the wicked...

i know everyone has been wondering how the ocean c.d. has been working out at school-well, today is the day i finally remembered to pull it out of my bag (mostly because i really needed a relaxing something or other). well, it worked out fairly well for me-i'm pretty sure that the students had no idea what it was.

works for me.

it's one of those evenings when i feel like there is something important that i am forgetting. i hate that feeling, because i know it'll come to me (probably 5 minutes too late).

hope you celebrated christopher columbus day by exploring and invading new lands,
julie