return the pugs so i don't have to worry about my retirement fund!

i stopped at bed bath and beyond again today after school, only this time, it wasn't to purchase anything, it was to return the puppy ugs..pugs...bruno made me. said it would embarrass him if friends came over and thought he was wearing the things. then i stopped off at the post office because i had to get stamps for Christmas notes. i also had to drop off a  package that ended up being heavier than i thought, but it's ok because it's worth it!

before i left school, one of the construction workers was taking something out to the dumpster and asked if i was the art teacher. nope. why? well, he has a tattoo that is a deer skull and he wants to get a wolf head to camouflage it. hmm. so i pointed him toward the art teacher-sorry renee.

then i got in my car and somehow i got my sweater caught on my earring...

it's the earring in the upper cartilage...didn't want to cut the sweater.

so i sat in my car with my arm up over my head and tried to untwist the earring out of the sweater, because if i ripped the sweater, it would unravel. i'm sure if anyone was wandering by, they might have wondered what in the world i was doing. kinda looked like i was hugging my head. maybe i was.

when i finally got home, i tried to get the dogs into santa hats for a picture, but they just wanted to chew on the hats. boo. i will keep trying! no Christmas pics until we come up with something that we all agree on!

my retirement man came today to talk numbers and i told him i wasn't ready to put more money in the pot yet because they took away part of my stipend. boo. and he went over the numbers-it's the same every year. i don't enjoy giving up 30 minutes of precious time so that he can tell me the same thing he tells me every year (the only difference ever is that it's one year less that i'll have to work toward retirement). and when he asked me how old i was, once again i had to stop and do the math...i just went over this with maria the other day. i still have to think about my birthday day as well because i always second guess myself. i say jan.22, then i think, no, maybe it's the 21st..no, it's the 22nd. i know i'm an aquarius,,,ok, i used to be before they changed the signs (not that i take stock in that stuff-i never even read my horoscope).

goodnight,
julie

the boys prefer to go barefoot...barepaw.

today i had to take bruno in for a checkup and when i went to pick him up, he acted a bit ridiculous-like he hadn't seen me all day! then when we got home, chaco was even worse, he sounded like he was hurt-that's how much he missed us! he darted back and forth from me to bruno and back. i think today was harder on him than it was on bruno!

before i went to get bruno, i stopped at the post office, but they didn't have boxes the size i need, so i will wrap this gift box and then send it off tomorrow-i love sending fun stuff! well, the post office is right by bed bath and beyond, so i stopped in and got my soda stream mixes and a carbonation refill. well, i found some little booties for bruno, thinking maybe that's what he needs to get him walking again (ok, i just thought they were cute-i know dogs don't wear shoes), but look at these things!

apparently size 2 in dog is still too big for bruno, because they kept slipping off.

aren't they adorable?

 then when bruno kept kicking them off, i said, "what are you doing? don't you want to look cute?" he cocked his head and i pointed at the picture of the puppy on the box, and he said, "obviously his mom or his girlfriend dresses him, he looks ri-DI-culous!

they must've glued them on this little guy's feet because there is no way he stood still for all this. it's a pretty involved process to get these little boots on!

it is a chilly 53 degrees out right now (i know, whine about it) but i just really want an electric blanket to wrap up in! trying to justify a purchase-in dallas what is the likelihood that i would use it more than 20 days out of the year? hmm.
gigi added the countdown! woo hoo! everybody loves a good countdown! isn't she talented?!

the next 2 and 1/2 weeks are going to be a little hectic! so much to do with the kiddos before Christmas! we'll see how it goes, but hopefully all of the students will be finished with a book with a part one expository text and part 2 personal narrative. i think they can do it, but we need every minute!

i have a gel window decoration on the door window at work, and so i had some static clingers that i gave to some of the other teachers, but i know everyone was envious for the gel guys, so i got some more today when i picked up bruno from the vet. the colors bleed, though.

frosty has a head wound.

i need to make the 'do not touch' sign, because everyone wants to squish him. poor guy.

julie

i kinda like my creative side sometimes

last night i finished what i started about 2 months ago! first of all, i will say it was a hassle getting this thing in my car, if you will recall. brand new car and it barely fit. when i got it home, i sanded it up and painted it two shades of brown.

just an excuse to purchase a sander!

and last night i finally decided to finish painting it so that i can set it up later as a headboard. the only thing is, i am going to have to figure out how to put it up because it's really heavy! the lighting isn't great, but here is the final product (apart from one board on the back which i have to remove).

it looks much cooler in person

it matches a canvas set i painted awhile back. i'll have to take a better picture in better light. sorry. also yesterday i worked on our bathroom bulletin board again, now we just need gigi to make us a count-down! woo hoo!

yes, it has battery operated lights.

it's always a sense of accomplishment to finish something, but two things in one day?! no wonder i didn't get started on my Christmas cards like i had planned! hmm.

i walked into the apartment tonight, and i threw on some sweats i had worn in branson. well, when i reached into my pocket, i found the key card we were looking for before we left. i knew i had used it, but i had no clue where it was! i'm thinkin' i sat it down and one of the boys slipped it into my pocket when i wasn't looking!

hopefully they don't charge for them. oh, and the dominos that's advertised on the front is right next to my hole-in-the wall sushi restaurant that i took mom and dad to.

may your creativity and productivity astound even you,
julie

snowman in a cup and bonsai Christmas trees. done decorating for now.

well, it was a lazy day around the house-we worked on some minimalistic Christmas decorating. the  boys weren't a lot of help-they just wanted to play.

cutie snowman! i love pulling him out

intrigued

chaco was curious, then he started licking the lights. i may not be putting them up this year. the boys asked why we weren't getting a tree, so i had to explain that trees are for big houses. i tried a tree once (a miniature), but it wasn't much fun on the third floor-hauling it up and then down...so i tried to convince them that a fake mini-mini tree was just as good!

bruno looked at it and said, "rockin around the bonzai tree...no mama, i don't like the sound of that."

i don't think the boys are going to be very happy about me going back to work tomorrow.

apparently either the new girl who moved in next door has a boyfriend, brother or something. he is either living with her or visiting this week-not sure. but they have a dog...and it's a mid-sized barker. so when it barks, bruno and chaco bark and it goes on for longer than i'd like.

ready to get back to routine,
julie

3 inch blade, goggles, ramp!

remember how i said the trip home was normal...i almost forgot the stop at a rest area to walk the dogs. no sooner did we get out and ready to walk and stand still (chaco and bruno respectively), a man walking his dog with his 14..15 year old daughter stopped and asked if i might be interested in buying his gps or his smart phone. they were on their way to colorado and only had enough money for about 2 more tanks of gas. these are the times i wish i carried a little more cash on me, i would have liked to give them some money without taking their gps. hmm.

the girl wanted to pick up the dogs, and she said if chaco was hers, she would name him 'little girl,' so i told her he was a boy and she said, "hmm. i would name him 'little boy.'"

my day started with a little bit of a rumbly in my tummy...but it wasn't because i needed honey. it just wasn't right. but i did bring more items up from the car to clear out some space, then i made a little trip to lowes for some wood and a mastermind saw. i saw a rotozip on a commercial, and decided that it would be a handy little tool for me! so i looked online and the mastermind saw had great reviews, so i looked and lowes didn't have one, so i finally found a hardware store that supplied them. the gal that helped me was a little too excited about the saw and that i was getting it for myself! something about there not being enough women who can do carpentry..

3 inch rotary saw...some girls like new shoes...

i LOVE it! i even made something! i used it to make a little ramp for the dogs-again, i had created one out of cardboard, but it was getting pretty flimsy because the boys use it so often and sometimes wrestle on it, so i made my own!

not willing to spend $179 on a ramp from petsmart. it's not perfect, but it is functional and sturdy~

i got in a hurry and i did not want to take the time to measure carefully; note to self-next time, take the time to measure for accuracy.at least it wasn't something like a roof or anything like that..it's just that i got so excited i wanted to start!

if you or your husband likes to do things around the house, like remodeling, cutting molding, cutting lots of little things...this would be a great gift! they are on sale at a hardware store on coit road in richardson (between beltline and arapaho)...if you don't live in dallas, amazon has them!


now, i have a lot of other things that i should have been doing instead of playing around, because i certainly didn't get to them while i was hanging with mom and dad.


we have so much to do between now and Christmas break! i really should have done something...well, i suppose i have the rest of tonight and some of tomorrow.

build it so you don't have to buy it!
julie

finally, i got my college shirt! as long as bruno doesn't treat it like he treated the comforter!

today, on the way out from branson, i decided to stop at college of the ozarks to get my shirt for our college days at school! i was worried they might not be open today, but then i remembered that thanksgiving is one of the options for a 40 hour work week on campus. woohoo!

hard work u..not me! (never gets old)

ready to decorate my door next year!

actually, i really am thankful that i had the amazing opportunity to attend college of the ozarks! i had some of the most incredible friends and we really did have a blast! there were so many aspects that i loved: drama (fiddler on the roof, and the one acts), french and greek classes, religion classes, art and architecture capstone, c.s. lewis and j.r.r. tolkien capstone....wow. i love that i had to work on campus to pay for the education-what a wonderful experience to get to know others and make a difference.

i stopped at the college on the way out of town and back home. but before we left, we went to ihop for breakfast and being black friday and all, it was very busy! the waitress said that her first table was 6 ladies at 4:30 a.m. who weren't very talkative. they had their receipts out and were on their phones looking for their next extravaganza...and they didn't tip her well. boo. i saw the picture of the pumpkin and praline pancake and thought it looked interesting.

i took a picture to see how close the real deal was to the staged picture.

someone needs to work on straight lines...

but the taste was phenomenal! i definitely recommend that everyone go out and try one this weekend!! my mouth is still watering!

then we went back to the hotel, and as we were getting things around, bruno proceeded to pee on one of the comforters. ugh. i know, we all KNOW bedspreads in hotels are not sanitary for obvious reasons, but now you can add that one to it. so i got out the special cleaning spray and cleaned it up and neutralized any odor. then went back to my room and i heard mom try to say, "no, no, oh, oh," but it was kinda' garbled because she was in the midst of brushing her teeth and watching bruno in the mirror. no sooner did i clean up and walk away, he started to poop on the same comforter...WHAT NOW DOG!  so, cleanup on aisle 2...we left a good tip in both rooms.

and once we got everything packed in and arranged and rearranged, i was able to get the stairs that dad built into the backseat for the boys (it's much better than the janky cardboard ones that i made!), we were on our way. it was a great drive, then chaco jumped up behind my neck and that didn't work for me,

this lasted for a full 10 seconds

 so i moved him, and he then chose this position for the next hour. it didn't look comfortable to me, but i don't know much about doggy comfort in cars.

wistfully looking out into the wide open ranges.

then we got down into the southern part of oklahoma, past atoka, and all of the cops were hanging out down there. there were 4 patrol cars within a 15 minute span. then i saw this self storage in a little bitty pass thru town:

it's the one on the right, but is it me, or am i just making it up? does it look more like a crack house or something? would anyone feel comfortable  storing anything here?

and we also stopped at the TEXAS welcome center because the sign said free maps. so i went in and he said he could only give me 5 because they were getting low-end of the year and all. but he gave me 25 texas magazines for my texas social studies class. (i didn't get 5 maps for myself, sillies! it's for my class!)

and now we're home-the boys were so happy to get home. they are home bodies. it is good to be home.
julie

hope you had a thankful thanksgiving...rather than a thoughtful thinksgiving

so, i forgot to tell about yesterday-mom and i went shopping and we found the 'as seen on t.v.' store. and i got a couple of things. my favorite purchase today was this:

you can easily understand why i HAD to acquire this little number!

then tonight for dinner, it was my choice, and i thought mom and dad should experience sushi. well..good thing dad wasn't too hungry, because he wasn't a huge fan. he has a hard time with the seaweed wrapping...he mentioned that it was like having a wet rag in his mouth. mom was ok with hers, but it wasn't her favorite. i was in tears trying to hold in laughter as she was struggling with the chopsticks. she was laughing too, so it wasn't like i was being rude and laughing at her, we were sharing a moment. i haven't laughed that hard in a long, long time! thankful for my parents!


today we went to denny's for breakfast-love it that it's open on thanksgiving.we had quite an enthusiastic server and she seemed happy to be there on thanksgiving day.


we found out that bruno doesn't like walking in branson any more than he likes walking in dallas. must figure this out. and dad took chaco for a walk, but chaco would start going in one direction and then change directions making certain to stay within eyesight of the door to the rooms. not used to doing anything without mama.


for our thanksgiving meal we had...(drum roll) carne con queso dip, with pecan pie for dessert! smile. and since we've been watching football we had to have afternoon popcorn. mom isn't as big of a football fan, she's been playing solitaire and some word puzzles.(like mother like daughter with the word games). she happens to be really good at text twist as well (the yahoo word scramble game).

good thing it's thanksgiving instead of thinks-giving...i mean how different would it have been if the indians had given the settlers/pilgrims a piece of their mind instead of the food.'let me tell you what i'm thinking! i'll give ya my thoughts.' .



because it is thanksgiving, i feel like i should mention things i am thankful for. well, that would be a long list, and the truth of the matter is that i believe a thankful heart should be a never-ending condition. i could say one thing i am thankful for every day for the rest of my life and never run out of things i am thankful for. today i could just start with family, health, a job, friends, the boys, and an incredible GOD who never stops providing and showing his unfailing love!

flee from evil or flea market? or flea market evils??

i woke up in the middle of the night last night to go to the restroom and chaco got out from under the cover and there was so much static that he sparked twice...good thing he didn't start a fire! remember the song: ELECTRIC BOOGIE...IT'S ELECTRIC! well, chaco knows that song well now and he mentioned that he doesn't like hotel sheets..doesn't trust 'em. he wouldn't get back into bed for awhile, so i finally convinced him it was okay.

then we got up nice and early because the boys could hear mom and dad in the other room. so we decided to go to the flea markets downtown (one of dad's favorite pass times). i did find a couple of cool books and some sheets. (not used sheets-ew,sick- the lady who owned that boot apparently bought loads of sheets egyptian cotton 1800 count) and i needed some new sheets-the price was decent. again, THEY ARE NEW). 

dad got a really cool toy. i called it. i told mom that if dad saw it, he would probably get it. well, he showed up at the register with this bad boy.

it's a pistol crossbow, and secretly, i want one. ok, the secret is out of the bag.

i will refrain this go round, and give myself the "do-i-really-need-it-and-still-crave-it-test," but next time i'm in branson, i may very well be re-visiting the flea market! i'll tell you more about it in a moment, but for now, here are some more of the great finds (but not buys).

why, yes that IS a gas mask and not an elephant-man-mask.

i used to collect these types of dolls. ok, my grandmother bought me about 3...i guess it's not a collection, but i liked them a lot.

who still has eight track machines?

remember when kids were actually creative and imaginative? when our country actually produced inventors instead of people looking for a handout and a free ride? those were the days.

if these little cuties were only in my size..and hadn't been on someone else's feet...so i might buy some squiggly eyes and glue them on some shoes....dress shoes! wouldn't that be cool?!

ok, so we got home and dad and i took out the crossbow and set up the target with the little dart-arrows. i told him they probably had like a 20 foot range, and when he shot, it was so powerful that it overshot the target and flew out of the parking lot over the embankment and into the bushes, so we went to look for it and he went climbing through some brambles to get the bright yellow dart-arrow. it was amazing! i mean...there's some self defense for ya! it is NOT a toy-good thing the box says so. also good thing there were no cars in the parking lot, because that thing could certainly put a gash in a tire!

hopefully you can find some hidden treasures amongst the junk!
julie

are those schnauzers? >do you want to keep those fingers?

long drive! bruno did great, but i definitely had to chain chaco to his chair. i know, it sounds like a csi case. but no, he won't stay in his car seat otherwise. i admit, the seat was a bit small, so i decided to get him a new one on the way to visit mom and dad! so, we had to find a petco. when we finally found one, they had just what we needed. granted it added more time to our trip because we had to go all the way into fort smith and my nav ap on my phone decided to play funny with me and took me all over the place and fort smith seems to have some dead zones because we had to redirect several times. boo.

but while we were at the petco, an older couple stopped at the car and she was looking in the window and tapping at chaco, so i rolled the window down and she called her husband over and then she asked, "are those schnauzers?" and i know chaco wanted to bite her face off, but he forced a smile and i told her they were yorkies.

then i had to completely turn around to get this pic.

remember i am in arkansas. apparently rod did not do nearly as well as sam walton

then while we were traveling north on 540, we encountered the tunnel. i love the tunnel, but it was new for chaco.

every time i go through here, i think of the fugitive, and various other movies that include tunnels.

as we entered, chaco said, "hey! we're going through a time warp!!" and i said,"no, we're just going through arkansas."

i kept stopping for the boys to go potty, but they wouldn't.

the boys are now getting used to the lodge. and in just a few minutes, we're going up to the lobby for some freshly baked chocolate chip and sugar cookies. yummy!

good thing this place has internet access!
julie

dear animal cops, i like you more than traffic cops-your job is validated

it's been a busy day. i should not start my days off watching animal cops-it makes me very sentimental with my boys...and i make sure they know how lucky they are. today that may or may not have included a trip to petco-i'm a sucker. i spent way too much to get them ready for our little trip.

bruno went for a sophisticated plaid collar

so chaco chose his...

rebel.

we helped a lady find a harness and figure out how to use it, played with a few toys, i made them put back a few toys.

then i made my own trip to walmart for some needed items (hopefully this set of hair products will work as well as ouidad, otherwise, i'll just have to shell out the money and get the real deal next time). i got a massager, but my back needs deep tissue and this thing just vibrates a little. no good.

after that, i swung over to 1/2 price books and got another gre study guide because i can't find the first one. it's not like it should be difficult to find, it's bigger than keys; i think i left it at school. i bought #2 because i forgot that school was open today even though we're not there. oh well. i can sell them back. then i went across to u.s. toy to get some nick knacks to try to bribe my kids to get their AVID agendas signed by their parents. i will stoop to get signatures. 

then i took hillcrest all the way home, stopping only at quick trip because the gas was 3.02! i was excited because i was hitting every green light, and i was averaging 42.7 mpg in the city.

thank you, utila! now let's see how you do on the hwy!

and i was so wrapped up in this that i thought it strange that a cop had almost come to a stop and as i drove by, i heard a truck horn, so i looked in my mirror, but i didn't see any truck...weird. well, by the time i got to the next light, which was turning red, the cop was behind me and he turned on his lights. when he came up to my window, he asked, "do you know what a school zone is?" and i'm sure i looked very confused. i looked at him and said, "yes i do." "did you realize that you whizzed right past me when i had slowed down? you didn't hear my air horn when you passed by?" again, confusion. "no, i know i've come through two school zones that i slowed down in, but they both had resume to 35...and when you blew your horn, i couldn't figure out why you were stopping and then i thought you were stopping for a truck because i heard a truck horn! i had no idea it was a school zone. i didn't see any lights nor signs." so he told me to pay more attention and went back to his car and turned off his lights. whew. today i am thankful for forgiving cops. (not me forgiving them, them forgiving me)...it was probably because he saw the word FAITH on my shirt and he didn't want to get struck down by GOD! well, the other thing is, i had my radar detector on, and i know he didn't have his radar on, so he really couldn't give an exact speed. hmmm.

when i finally got home, i emptied out the cooler (with the toys i still need to give to my mom for their care packages), i put as much inside as i could, then picked it up with some stuff on the top, balancing my 44 oz diet coke from QT with my mouth and slowly, precariously made my way one victory step at a time to the third floor. 

thank you, thank you very much, thank you.

well, that will have to suffice for now.
julie

peppermint bark is not a dog sound...nor the protective cover of a tree

today i finished the book that i got a month or two ago. granted, it took awhile, but it was the trilogy of 1100 plus pages. it was pretty good, now i can lend it to my mom.

i tried a ghiradelli chocolate last Christmas, and i loved it. so i had a craving yesterday and i decided that for the price of bar of ghiradelli, i could make a batch of my own! it was actually cheaper for me because i had all of the ingredients handy.

one should always have white chocolate and peppermints handy!

i covered the peppermints with plastic wrap and crushed them with a glass so they wouldn't go flying everywhere

it's a fine powder-just enough to provide some crunch!

spread on some aluminum foil and refrigerate until it's solid, and....

voila! merry Christmas peppermint bark! yum.

so i need to spend tonight doing laundry and tomorrow cleaning out the trunk of my car and getting everything around for our little Thanksgiving vacation! i don't think the boys are gonna be thrilled about all the driving, but they are excited to see mom and dad! i'm sure they'll probably want to sing in the car and make lots of potty breaks.

i think i need to give the boys a bath before we go. they need to look their best and be on their best behavior!

i have three apples hangin' out in my kitchen that i think i need to dehydrate tomorrow and take on my trip to snack on. i don't think i'll eat them otherwise. what i am looking forward to is what my mom is bringing-i love homemade mom's food!!

if you've not tried peppermint bark, you really should!
julie

dissecting puppy waste to ease my mind...ew.

oh praise the real Jesus (not the jesus who married juanita and works at the tire repair shop)! it is friday and dallas isd is giving me a week off for thanksgiving! i guess they think we have a whole lot more to be thankful for! (which we do). so to celebrate, i called in a togo order from chilis. traffic was terrible, and then people were doing one of the things on my top 10 'i hate that driver because' list.

blocking the intersection. jerks.

yesterday afternoon when i got home, i had an empty diet coke bottle on the couch, and bruno grabbed it and started playing with it (i don't need to buy expensive toys, they have great imaginations). well, after a bit, chaco took over and before i new what had happened, he had abandoned the bottle (sounds like he was stopping an alcoholic problem) and he was sitting by me chewing on something and when i looked down at him, he had already eaten the other half of this:

no, not shark teeth! it's the band that goes around the rim of the bottle lid.

i began to get worried. i was imagining it getting caught in his little intestinal tract or something, or that if he tried to vomit it back up it might cut his esophagus. i was worried when we went to bed, and he had not passed it by this morning when i went to school. so it was in the back of my mind all day at school. then when i got home, i saw that he had pooped (and not eaten it), so i picked it up and i may or may not have dissected it with a toothpick to see if the plastic thing was there...i never ever would have guessed that dissecting poop would be a form of extreme relief. but i was SO relieved to see white bits of plastic!! whew! dodged another one! he must have insides made of steel...maybe he's a robot yorkie...uh oh. mavis better not have sold me a robot! i wish he were more discriminant about what he eats, though..


only put things in your body that you know you can pass!
julie

thank you, men who robbed a bank and got caught-you gave me time to file!

alrighty then. this morning when i woke up, i was so excited to wear my hat and not have to worry about my hair. (not that i ever really worry about it, and it doesn't take extra effort to put it up in a ponytail). even with the hat i had to get an early start because today was our thanksgiving staff potluck! why is it called a pot luck? maybe you're lucky if people bring what you like and it tastes like mom's...i don't think i've ever been to a potluck i have not enjoyed.

so i went to get the ingredients i needed for my crockpot corn/cornbread mixture and when i got up to the cash register, i realized that i had left my money in the car. good thing there wasn't much traffic at walmart! i should have taken that as a sign for what kind of day it was going to be.

no sooner did i walk into the building when the fire alarm went off. and then there was an announcement, but i missed it and one of the teachers coming my way said, everyone needs to evacuate b/c they aren't sure what the problem is. so i left my stuff in her classroom by the exit and we went out with a handful of other early-birds. after a few minutes the sound was off, and they let us go back in, but the alarm was still going off and the fire department showed up and did some checking around.

classes were pretty routine until specials. once we got the students off to p.e., i got back to my room and then the announcement came that we were in lock-down. not a drill. i raised my hands closed my eyes and fake-yelled, "YES!!" in my mind and quickly made my way to the door to lock it. then i went back to my desk and began the tedious job of filing writing papers into portfolios. i kept hoping in the back of my mind that it would last an extra 20 minutes...sorry everyone else..i was really into getting things in order.

our doors are ridiculous. we have to go around to the outside to lock it.

so, this week we had fire drill, evacuation drill, lock down...all we need is a tornado drill tomorrow...anyone?

then at the end of the day, as children were being corralled into their cars, a policeman walked up and asked where the office was, so i led him to the office, where he asked for the principal, who was not on campus. the front office proceeded to tell us that the assistant principal was in the auditorium. when we got to the auditorium, they informed us that ms. perez was out by the buses. so i took him in a big round circle (as most circles ARE round...i suppose the route we took was somewhat of a triangle, now that i think about it). if only he'd just started out by asking for ms. perez.

we like our police presence at school

and later as we were chatting after school in ms. arroyo's room, the intercom came on again saying something about "men who were here to smoke the building." which simply conjured up pictures in my head of men passing the school around, taking a puff. hmm...strange..it would certainly take a very big man.

well, here's to hoping that tomorrow is a bit more routine from beginning to end!

julie

mean girls assembly at our school

something happened the other day that was SO straight out of mean girls! we had a bullying assembly..or rather a non-bullying rally. and the counselor asked , "who in here has been bullied or seen someone be bullied before?" and i was waiting for regina george to stand up and say she shouldn't have to be there.

and when i was in class i heard another teacher break the silence of my classroom by saying in a loud-ish voice, "why am i hearing voices?" i chuckled and thought to myself, 'sometimes we teachers say things that make us sound a little crazy.'  it's even a bit funnier that i remember saying those exact words before and not even thinking twice.

today we had our fire drill and evacuation drills. so fun. i wish we could do them more often. (periods). anyhoo, while we were at the ever-so-generous church behind the school, i took this picture-they have a great cross ensemble.

much brighter and more beautiful in person.

i'm sure that the cars that had to wait for us to cross the street were none too happy (but you have to admit, it's probably more fun to see quirky children crossing the street rather than a boring old train), but it's cruel and unusual punishment to try to keep children quiet for an hour and 15 minutes! boo.

tomorrow is hat day, so i'll wear my jamaica hat and be sure not to refer to it as a bob marley hat.

buffalo soldier

so...i may or may not have tried it on tonight and still be wearing it. bruno wants one. chaco said he doesn't want his hair to get messed up-he's somewhat conceited and vain that way.

the wind is picking up outside a little and the cool is moving in for the night and chaco has decided that he wanted to cuddle; i love it!

why do the bowflex exercise machines look like such great inventions and easy-to-do? i wish i could imagine myself into good shape! anyone ever own one of these machines and actually use it? would love to hear about your experience! until then i'll just keep pretend-exercising!

the winds of change are blowin' in
julie

happy to stay..twos day...obtuse day...toots tea

say toots tea with a foreign accent and you'll sound like my vet!

today i was able to get most of my students to fill out their 'i'm thankful for..' cards to put on the wonderful turkey that our art teacher made! most of the kids were thankful for legit things...and then we had the one or two that were thankful for the inventor of playstation.

on the way home from school, i saw these birds on the wire-they were so equally spread out and not huddled up, that i thought it was picture worthy. i sometimes imagine the birds are playing red-rover-red-rover, when they are on wires opposite each other and they start flitting back and forth.

so..i was reading facebook earlier and a friend said that the dallas cowboys served her lunch-then i just saw on the news that the cowboys were serving at the salvation army. which made me wonder if my friend had become homeless. but she's not! she works for salvation army now. whew-what a relief!

when i got home i was craving something sweet. so then i thought, "i'm a genius!" and i pulled out the magic.

marshmallow fluff and rice crispies...

sorry to say i am not a genius. it was not nearly as good as real rice crispy treats-but that did not stop me from eating it. boo.

tomorrow is avatar day at our school-blue jeans and blue shirt. i think it's like..avatars against bullying or something like that?

 julie