yes, tent-making is my thing...

training...shmaining. i feel like today would have been just as productive if i'd taken the day off to go shopping..and i don't even love shopping.

i did realize something today though. i am paying a lot more attention to peoples' shoes these days. but only because i find myself in the stall so many more times/day while on this water-drinking crusade. today i saw some interesting shoes. one lady had some pink and black alligator-type shoes. some shoes look very uncomfortable. and as i was looking at shoes today, i was thinking, the day may come when i have to wear dressy shoes...i just refuse to put my toes into any scrunched up positions-that is NOT natural. cute, but not natural.

the first order of the day was making our table-tents.

so, what was supposed to be a 5 minute exercise turned into an all-day event. i don't see the problem.

the lady next to me was from the carrollton area, and her husband was going to get her, but not until like 4 or 430, so when we got out, she asked if i could give her a lift to anyplace up in this area, so i did and it was pleasant conversation.

today for snack, i had a delicious combination-blackberries and cashews! i was really surprised at how well the two went together!! that will DEFinitely be a repeat on my menu! why is it that when i'm sitting here at home eating fish and vegetables that sonic's hot dogs (which have never enticed me) look so incredibly desirable??? grr.

alright, it's that time!
julie

creme brulee will have to do...

tomorrow i have yet another training. cilt. hopeful that it will be validated by good learning. this morning i was a little worried about going to school because when i was getting ready,  thought i heard the dogs growling at each other, but it was my stomach. hmm....dangerous. so i grabbed two more little bitty green pills just in case. then when i got to school it was rumbling again. but we got through the day with little incident.

had a little 'get-it-out-in-the-open' session at school over some recent policies. not even going to get into it-better to keep a tight reign.

when i got home, chaco was in a licky licky mood, and he just kept wanting to lick my face (which i really don't like or tolerate well), and when he was done, he laughed and said, "now you can lick my face!" umm..no thanks, i wrinkled my nose and said, "where's your toy?" in my excited voice and all was forgotten.

and bruno just watched him leave, then gave me this playful look right before pounce on my shoulder and yelling, "GOTCHA!!!"

looking like an ewok again.

i may have referenced my best friends wedding while i pulled out the coffee and told the boys they were both jello. they said they didn't get it-they HATE my movie references...so i explained: best friends!

i'm so glad i remembered to stop at the store today for coffee! i was almost to my last scoop this morning and fretting! it's always a bit of a difficult decision for me, but i was at walmart, and the choices were sparse (it was late and the new central market isn't supposed to be opening until feb...around the corner) anyhoo, i decided on the creme brulee...i also grabbed some grapefruit; my long-lost pleasure!

i know they don't go together well, but they will make a delightful breakfast!

in college at Cof O, my dear friend laura and i would grab grapefruit whenever we made it to the cafeteiria. they were simply delightful! i need to partake more.

well, training tomorrow should be a true joy. all new. nothing of repetition.
julie

i need a weekend re-do

rough weekend. i'm glad i got my lesson plans done on friday! friday night after i went to bed, i had that nasty feeling of getting sick. i was cold, but sweating...got an extra blanket to bundle up and saturday i didn't wake up until 11:30 and i still didn't feel like getting up, but i did. i didn't do much-dozed in and out of you've got mail, and decided to take a nap. (breakfast was a quick blueberry/banana smoothie) then i didn't eat again until about 6 pm-still wasn't hungry, so i had some peanuts and peanut butter. and went to sleep early.

it must've been a 24 hour something or other, because this morning i woke up and didn't feel that bad, so i was able to do my workout and breakfast...then i was in and out of the bathroom until 2pm when i decided i'd better take two small green pills. i hoped they would work because i promised the boys i'd take them to petsmart for food and go to the dog park.

petsmart was great-bruno LOVES petsmart. so we strolled around the store a bit before taking our purchase up front. no problems yet. we went to the dog park and the boys got to meet some of the other dogs-bruno has been much more outgoing. chaco is slightly overwhelmed because of his size, so i don't mind when he growls and snips at dogs who get in his face...(his theme song is SO WHAT by pink)

and tonight i decided to precook some meals for this week, and whiting fish was one of them. i don't know that i am too pleased with this, i may have to disguise it with other side dishes...oh well, learn by trying.

next weekend will be better.
julie

oh yeah, water? well i can drink more of you than i can.

today was totally training. first i went to the staar training...it was pretty much the same one that i went to in november. but i stayed just in case there was anything i had missed the first time around. i took my water with me and drank a whole lot-it's almost become a strange obsession...ok, more like an individual sport...personal competition...

then i had destination imagination training; that was supposed to be from 6-9, but our group got out early! woo hoo! which is good because i had a lot to do at home tonight. i have to get snacks ready for tomorrow's staff development, and i have to go over some papers and the like.

when i left, i allowed the dogs free reign of the apt. when i got home, i wanted to change into my comfy socks that i had brought up from the car and left on the couch earlier. well, when i came in and set my stuff down, i located one on the floor. so i picked it up and i looked everywhere for the matching sock. i even asked the boys where it was and they gave the "what are you talking about" look. so i put the one sock in the laundry room, and when i came back out into the living room, guess who was playing tug-of-war with the other sock? (hint, bruno and chaco were the only other ones here)....

these were my Christmas socks-now they're my valentine's socks!

well, i'm done, because as i said, much to do still.

julie

tom thumb believes that coke zero spells love...

what a beautiful night to have the window open for a crisp, cool breeze with a warm cup of coffee and a throw with chaco snuggled under beside me. love it!

i had to stop at tom thumb on the way home because i needed salsa...on the way out i couldn't help but notice the valentine display. very cool...and i'm sure it was very time consuming to put together!!

i would NOT have wanted to be one of the people creating this masterpiece...

i felt a little like jimminy cricket walking around the store because i was carrying my umbrella around...ok, besides the fact that i wasn't wearing a top hat and top coat...nor am i a green cricket...the only similarity really i guess was the umbrella..shoot, for all that, i could've felt like mary poppins. only i didn't open my umbrella and float in...nor did i sing to a fake bird on my finger...ok, so really...i did not resemble any famous character with an umbrella.

i have got to get a water cooler at school like gigi had. now that i'm actually drinking water, it would be a joy not to carry so much water in and out, up and down...gigi, was it culligan's? plus, i can use it for my coffee...and to wash my hair...just checking to see if you were really reading carefully!

well, as much as i love this weather, i sure hope the lightning and thunder doesn't kick in again once i'm asleep!
julie

you know the school laptop is old when it leaves sticky tarlike substance on your fingers

today i had my class moved around-i think i'll like it..i'll know for sure by march. the only setback was that i had to move my smartboard from one wall to the other. i almost forgot to take my drill-good thing i remembered or we'd be unable to use the projector!

i'm a handy-gal, what can i say?!

i played around for awhile trying to check out some things on the smartboard, and fortunately the laptop was working-the thing is so old, it left a tar-like sticky substance on my digits...messy mess.

had to use clorox wipes to get rid of it! boo.

one of my favorite things about today was the gift that maria brought in-super thoughtful, and very cool! i didn't get any other presents per se-mom and dad are very generous and sent me a check, but it was nice to get an actual gift-i really don't ever think about that, but it made me smile! thanks, maria!

i know this doesn't do it justice, but it's completely recycled material-and i'm glad you can't completely appreciate the coolness factor, because that means i won't have to worry about any of you comin' around and thievin! seriously though, perfect for storage!

 i'm excited to do my taxes because i usually get a little back-which if i do this year, i am hoping to use to purchase some fun things for my dear friend nina's school in roatan. i know there are certain things they could use that they don't have access to, so i'm excited about that. we think we do a lot with little, but we have no idea.

well, calling it a night time to work on the taxes.

julie

apparently the dog park is the new place to be

so...today was the birthday-day, and it was great to wake up! that was gift enough. but take it a step further and the weather was made especially for me today! it was up in the high 70's! woo hoo!!! so after cooking a couple of my week's meals, and responding to several fb posts (i usually don't try to, but this time i decided that i was going to respond to everyone), we went out to a dog park.

we didn't go to our apt. park, we packed into the car and drove over to the keller springs park and it was PACKED! when we got there, there were cars parked EVERYWHERE! even in tow zones. so we drove in, the boys heard the dogs and got excited, but i couldn't find a spot, so we pulled out and started back home. i looked over and both bruno and chaco looked at me and chaco piped up, "if they can park in the no-parking zone, you can too!" they looked like they were about to cry, so i made a u-ie and went back. i pulled into the park again and someone was just pulling out-whew! so they got to go in and hang out.

it was ridiculous how many people were there!

the boys were following me around, and they would sniff a dog here and there, but pretty much not overly social. they were happy though...until big dogs started running around chasing each other and almost ran over them a couple of times. i was not happy with the people who brought their big dogs into the little dog section of the park. it kinda' pissed me off. needless to say, we headed toward the gate. on the way, a black dog 3 times the size of chaco (still not super big) came up and started messing with chaco and he was growling and about to nip, so we called it a day as the owner of the dog came over and said, "oh, he likes to play with yorkies!" and i held in my comment of "well, obviously these yorkies don't like to play with him." i didn't want to be rude.

anyhoo, it has been a good day and i am satisfied.
julie

i wish i could eat kale every day..heh heh...

it's been a great day. i finished my application for the master's program and sent it off..no turning back, now it's just a waiting game. we'll see if i'm the kind of applicant they're looking for...i shouldn't be upset if i'm not because i've heard that they accepted mostly teachers from magnet/charter schools last time around. (i do not fall into that category) anyhoo, it's all out there.

this new way of eating has actually been going better than expected-if you don't mind, i'll share a pic from today's lunch meal.

the salad was delish...spinach, kale, blueberries, strawberries, sweet onion and oil and apple vinegar dressing.

for breakfast i had scrambled with green peppers and onions on a bed of kale with almonds. yes, you may have noticed that i had kale on both occasions...trying kale for the first time (it was first suggested by maria, but it was also on the menu list). unusually chewy. i need to cut it into smaller bite sizes. i never thought about really eating it because at applebees, we used it merely as a garnish (i hear it keeps the flies away).

one of my friends bought the ingredients to make the biscoff fudge, and let her kids try the spread (thinking they wouldn't like it because they don't like peanut butter) and when she went to open the jar to make the fudge, it was almost all gone. smile. it's addictive, so if you haven't tried it, you might not want to-save yourself the rehab bill.

i've got so much to do tomorrow...i wish i had another 3-day weekend! i have a sub this week, so i have to make especially good sub plans. i wish i could say that i am excited about the training, but i can't. well, i could, but it would be a terrible lie.

yesterday i was walking with chaco and an older hispanic lady was shuffling by. well, chaco kinda stopped and looked at her and she turned around and said, "yes, come here little puppy, come on, come home with me." and i just kinda' laughed a polite, "heh heh." (had i been laughing for reals, it would've be A HAHA!, but the heh heh is more of a fake laugh for me).

have a great evening!
julie

gotta be smarter than the mug

this morning i left the pantry door open again and before i knew it, i heard something going on out in the living room.a lot of rustling.

i'm pretty sure it was bruno's gig and chaco had nothing to do with it-notice how he's standing back there.

what? what's wrong?

after i put the treats away, i laid down on the floor to hang out with the boys and bruno came up to my ear and "told me a secret." but really he was just licking my ear to tickle me. then chaco came running up and said, "me too! i want to tell you secrets!" and he proceeded to lick my entire face-nose, mouth, forehead...he doesn't quite get the concept of secret.

remember how maria got me the awesome purple and white coffee mug so that i would stop spilling all over myself? well...i forgot to share this story about a week or two ago, but here you have it. the cup is only as good as the user. it doesn't work very well if you don't screw the top on correctly. boo. so, i spilled coffee all over the front of my white sweater. bad way to start the day... and i was already at school, so before anyone got there, i grabbed some baby wipes (when i worked at eddie bauer, we used then to get make-up off clothing people tried in the dressing rooms). well...good thing ladies trying on clothing don't wear coffee as makeup, because baby wipes did not work. plan b. i turned it around, which worked fine because it had a high neck, so apart from the tag it looks the same. but that tag...i had to go into the bathroom later and cut it out!

i wore a jacket over it most of the day so no one would see the strange discoloration on my back. when i got home, i looked at the sweater a little closer and it was stained, but it was also wearing thin, so i threw it out.
 you can be sure that i double check every time i tighten the mug lid now! i just thought of that because i was sitting here drinking some coffee in my cool mug!

goodnight! good weekend!
julie

me want food.

well, 5:00 comes early every morning~but i'm never tired until i get home in the evening. so this working out in the morning gig has been good so far. i've only been following the 'caveman-ish' diet since monday, and i'm really surprised that i am not really craving sugar-nor diet coke!

i thought about taking a pic of the cover, but who wants to see perfect bodies that have probably been airbrushed? anyhoo, please notice the last line: enjoy your next 31 days! really?

i forgot to mention this earlier!
my parents are planning to move to mo! they are excited about this new adventure, and i am excited that they are moving a little further south, away from the bitter cold winters.i know missori has cold winters, but nothing compared to the harshness in iowa. mostly, i'm glad because it will be a shorter drive to visit and help them out with the 'fixing-up' of their new place....they'll be near springfield, which is fun and familiar for me!

today we had our practice writing test (part 1), and i'm a little worried. when we were getting toward the end, the electricity went out and the fire alarms went off, so we had to file out. good timing. fortunately it didn't last long.

and....tomorrow i get tamales!! no worries, i am taking some to the apt. office on the way home tomorrow night~ i feel like recently they have become my 'go-to' conversational source. ah, a good mix: humans who love my dogs, try my food and laugh at my jokes. (and remember my name...my students don't even remember my name half the time!) one of them did confess today that she knows most of the residents' dogs' names, but the actual people...mmm not as much.

well, my eyes are about to shut themselves, so i'm calling it a night (shortly),
julie

captain kirk stars in the blair witch project?

well, it was a wonderful weekend! i loved celebrating my friend nika's birthday with some friends-always good times hanging out with special people! and the cake...umm..it was like a mile high! again-beginning of a new diet!

pretty sure benny just grabbed whatever she could find in the candle drawer....

 then yesterday i made the boys go on a walk again. while we were out, we met a couple in the dog park-kirk and blair. i will remember their names forever because i made a quick connection of star trek's capt. kirk and the blair witch project...don't ask how that scene played out in my mind, but it did. i have 0 recollection of their dog's name...roger maybe?

but both of the dogs were willing to walk the back trail off the leash.

 and i got an email from the card contest i entered....they said everyone won, so i opened the packs because i had no desire to send it all back. i really like a few of the cards, and i already know who they will go to!

the best part was the filing system! love it!

today i was asked to go to a training at another school and i was thinking it was going to be a waste of time. fortunately i got a lot more out of the training than i thought i would! and i am starting a new eating and exercise routine, which kinda' stinks because today when i stopped by the office, shannon said she was getting ready to make the fudge!!

i had a chance to read through some of the spelling tests and the world's most recent invention the THIGHLIGHT.. it should have been twilight, but maybe some people have dark thighs...and need a light?

when i came in today, bruno looked at me and said, "so...now that you're on this diet thing, are you going to be a jerk? no diet coke does weird things to you." and chaco just cocked his head and looked at me with a waiting-for-an-answer look...well, i didn't validate that question by answering it; instead i grabbed an excedrin.

good night!
julie

yesterday was a beautiful saturday in dallas

it's been quite a weekend. i went to a beautiful 'baby-breakfast' get-together. one of my friends hosted a fun little breakfast for one of our former teachers and we got to meet her precious new addition. the girls look just like her!

i hate it when i have to slip out early, but i had friends who came into town a little last minute. don't get me wrong, i like spontaneous! so we met at my place and then headed downtown just to walk around and 'see the sights.'

skyscrapers are fascinating! hard to believe how tall they are and how they don't crumble or blow over!

we went saw the cattle down by the convention center-i'd been there before with our students on a field trip, but never noticed the map and the information! i think i had heard before that the interstates in tx were drawn from the cattle drive trails, but it was a fun reminder that i can use in my social studies class when we get to that part.

it's amazing how just turning a corner changes the demographics.

we also stopped by sprinkles to get cupcakes...did i mention i joined the biggest loser contest at school?

what better way to start eating healthier?

shea's idea was to get them as a surprise for her old college roomate (who we surprised by stopping by their house). i love seeing newly remodeled houses-it's like being in a live show straight off hgtv!

when we got back to the apt, we took the boys for a walk and although shea has been here many times, this was the first time she'd seen the back side of the property where most of the amenities are. at the dog park, the boys were just hanging out. bruno pooped outside (which i know most of you care nothing about, but again, small accomplishments). then as we left, i didn't put the leashes on, and i just let them walk. bruno stayed sitting there and we walked until we were about 100 ft away and i was out of sight. shea kept an eye on him and he finally came running. then he stopped again, and we kept walking-he eventually came running again, and then he ran ahead of us for the rest of the walk until i had to put the leash on him again. then he wouldn't budge. but again, it's something, and i was very excited about that.

when we got back to the apt, we got a text from katie (another friend i don't see often) and we got to meet her and her sister at funzzy's around the corner. it was my first visit to fuzzy's and i'm glad we went! i love it that it's within walking distance!

i am so glad that tomorrow is another day off!
julie

i'm glad ms m is keeping track of Jesus' schedule.

today i found out why things seem to go to hell in a hand-basket at school right around 10 a.m. at school...

but i do take comfort in knowing that ms. m is keeping tabs on him.

our books finally came in and the kids will get to read them and leave comments starting on wed. when they return to school. only my last class saw that they were in, but i kept them busy so that they couldn't pester me about it. smile. hopefully we can set up a 'meet the author night' on a PTA night so the  kids can show off their books to their parents! they should be proud of themselves!

expository writing...

today was the beginning of 'the biggest loser contest' at our school. which i was not going to do, because i was going to just do my own thing, but i decided to go ahead and do this for accountability's sake. but as i was looking through the information i found this:

from overweight, you just become obsessed.

so to celebrate, i went ahead and had fish...at glorias...with chips. and i got some grading done. not all of it, but some of it. i observed as some guy (must've been the owner) was chatting with some designers or contractors about changing something there at the bldg on beltline. something about making salsa night spicier...they were looking over blueprints and measuring stuff, and then the hostess sat a lady in the table in front of me and she was facing me, waiting for someone else. she ordered hot tea (which seems a little strange for a friday at gloria's). but it was awkward because the other person hadn't arrived, so you know how it is when you look up and you can't avoid the other peoples' eyes...i left.

only, when i got to my car, SOMEONE next to me parked a little too close.

i DID leave a note.it was NOT nice.

look at that-the spaces are small, but you at least have to stay out of the white zone!

so, yeah. i had to get in on the passenger side. jerk.

anyhoo, i'm excited that i will get to hang out with one of my ok friends (oklahoma, not like i level my friends, in that case it would be one of my amazing friends) tomorrow. smiles. probably go downtown and find some fun things to do...or something.

julie

the gift that was only in my imagination...it's going back

today i got this little note from a student. at first i though maybe she was trying to make one of those little squint your eyes and stare for a long time to see if you could find the hidden picture. and after i read it, i didn't feel incredibly special...in our grade level, there is only one writing teacher. doesn't take much to be the best.

apparently supplies were limited and blue was the color of choice.

anyhoo, i feel like i got a lot done today during my planning period, but i have a lot to do still-lots of paper purging. and on the way out, i took our elevator at school and let me just say, it is always risky business getting on the elevator (but my rolling box is too heavy to comfortably carry down the stairs). so, when i reached the elevator, the door was half open...that should have been a red flag. i stepped in anyway and it shifted a smidge...no worries, the buzzer went off, and the door slid closed e-v-e-r s-o s-l-o-w-l-y....i had time to jump out, but i didn't. thankfully the buzzing stopped as soon as the door was closed and it DID actually take me to the first floor. the best part is that the door did open when i arrived. (i say that because someone did get trapped in the elevator a couple of years ago).

looks normal..like it should work.

then i got home and after i dropped off the recipe cards for the biscoff fudge at the comlex office (which i might add, they were very excited about and made copies of for their boss, who i met and she may have fallen to her knees and thanked me for the awesomeness of the fudge...ok, that last part did not really happen, but she did say it was amazing). as soon as i got to my apt, i saw that fedex had visited, so i had a package at the office. ugh. i went ahead and let the boys out and put their jackets on and we went back to pick up our package.

in my head, i was thinking, "awesome! i got an early b-day present from mom and dad!" well, i got to the car and tore the tape off to see what amazing thing was in it...and there was a couple sets of greeting cards and a file box to organize them. cool! then i saw the little post card that accompanied it. (i had entered in a drawing to receive a gift) so i thought, well, maybe i won the drawing!....nothing is what it seems. i did not win, in fact. instead, they sent me the stuff and offered it as a free gift if i signed up for the card club; good thing it included a return label.

just refrain from signing up for anything free (unless it's on a blog-site....soon)

julie

i'm so glad they didn't throw away the fudge

when chaco and i stopped by the office the other day, we dropped the fudge off with shannon, and told her it was the biscoff fudge, and she said she have a piece a little later and give the rest to mandy- "mandy's going to love it!" so, when we left, i began to think to myself, "what if she's just trying to appease me and they don't eat anything from residents because they don't trust what they might get...what if neither of them actually try it, and they throw it away?" 

so chaco and i stopped by on our walk tonight before the wind picked up and there was another dog-owner with a big dog, so chaco looked at me and said, "you'd better pick me up before i hurt this guy and it's an all out assault!" so i did, he only snapped at big dog a couple of times and growled. (it was a little shocking, yet somewhat endearing). but when we walked in, the first thing shannon said was, "oh my goodness, that fudge that you left was soooo good, we ate it all and didn't share it with anyone else. i need the recipe!"  so, apparently they are not afraid to try stuff. and so i told them i might use them as taste-testers once in awhile since gigi moved.(boo). mandy then informed that she really loved the santa cakesters- i liked them, but they were rich!

so tonight i am making recipe cards.

 i found this receipt on my desk...

SHEET protectors for the students. (the other option really wouldn't make much sense)

the students LOVED putting 'special papers' in the sheet protectors.

is tomorrow really thursday? i cannot believe how quickly the days went by this week!

julie

what in the world is a flaming "o" anyway?

 so, today i received a small package with 'thank you' vouchers for scholastic books from the publishing company that we used. the books should arrive shortly. the last couple of years we have received walmart cards as a thank you in order to purchase items for the classroom, this year  they changed to scholastic, and they gave us less...but it is certainly a wonderful gesture and they don't have to do it, so...much appreciated.

i'm sure i'll find something to use it on!

i love my coffee...i love having coffee at school. that's why i got the melitta single serve pot...the only problem is that one pays more for pods than just purchasing regular brew coffee and i have to go online to get good flavors (which cost a bit more...plus the shipping costs more than the product...unless you buy $99 worth or more-what am i going to do with that much coffee?) therefore i decided to make my own pods...yes, it's true. now, does it take a bit to prepare them? sure, but just knowing that i CAN is gratifying.

 this morning i took a quick trip to walmart (love it that they are 24 hour). i had to get some sheet protectors for my students because they have difficulty keeping papers in their binders from getting ruined..maybe they play rugby with their binders...i don't know, but hopefully this will help. anyhoo, while i was there i decided to check on thank you cards. a small selection, and i really liked these!

i do have some people to thank. smile.

 yesterday i was pleased to find that our school had a soothing water feature installed. i'm not sure if that was included in the bond work or not, but it's always nice to have some peaceful brick waterfall in the background! umm...until the tile falls from being too water-logged.

and sure enough, at the bottom there is a wonderful reflection pool...

i have picked up on the fact that i should probably do a quick mini lesson on the importance of spacing with words, or deleting spaces that shouldn't be there because after my students turned in a grammar exercise, one of the answers was supposed to be about a pink bird that is famous for standing on one leg...unfortunately one of my students left a space at the end and what should have been flamingo became an overtly gay letter of the alphabet...a flaming "o"...don't ask.....(don't tell?) or maybe it was an "o" that the firemen missed...regardless, we need to work on that.

julie

don't eat the hair! no danglers!!

i usually opt for my keens in the winter-ish time because i can wear socks with them. on friday, i received a compliment from one of my students on my socks. smile. i told her that they were my Christmas socks, but now, they are my new year's socks.

gray, white and red can be considered new year's, right?

i mentioned in a post awhile back that i had my 3 favorite pair of shoes that i like to wear. well, the other day i had to go to a meeting with my new principal, and so i decided to play it safe. i wore casual, dress shoes. strangely i had a dream the other night that she had seen me in my comfortable shoes and basically said, "please never wear those again." now, remember, this was only in a dream, but still, better safe than sorry!

after school, i went to the 1/2 price bookstore and sold back some books (including the gre study books) and while i was waiting, i went to the little-kid book section.

i really do have an affinity for 1/2 price books...

i went around the entire store while i was waiting for them to price out my books. up front they had flying monkeys. the ones that make noises. i love those monkeys! in fact, i had one, but it got lost at kamp somehow...imagine that! i also perused the stationery section-love, love, love!

when i finally got my overhead page, i went back and they offered me less than i expected, but i took it anyway. i'm sure they are going to make a dime off my books. jerks. oh well, at least i get a bunch of books i don't need and videos i will never watch again out of the house and it's not as cluttered!

so, everyone knows that chaco is a little dog. i'm pretty sure he's still all of 4.5 lbs. well, he finds my hair on the floor and eats it. the problem with this is that when it goes through his digestive system, it doesn't all just pass through in one shot.(if you recall, i have had to train them to use a potty pad and they almost never go outside when we go for walks-which is frustrating). well, sometimes when he does his number, he has a dangler. and he does NOT like that. in these situations, he just stays real quiet and stands there. half of the time i don't notice until quite a while later, when i'm wondering where in the world he is. then i go to find him and he's looking up at me with his big puppy-dog eyes and he usually says something to the effect of "c'mon, mama! what took you so long?" (fitting) and i have to do the mom-thing and grab the dangler with kleenex and dispose of it. chaco doesn't like to be dirty, which i am thankful for, because this keeps him from going and sitting on it, trying to wipe it on the carpet, etc. i only mentioned that because it just happened.

later,
julie

bisc-off! (sounds like a rude european colloquialism, but it makes a great fudge!)

yesterday when i got home, i took some of the biscoff spread and the cookies over to the managers' office and the look on mandie's face was absolutely priceless when she saw what i had! she was introduced to the biscoff spread by her mother-in-law over thanksgiving, who brought more over Christmas. needless to say, she was somewhat ecstatic to learn that she could now purchase it at the local central market. so i decided to go ahead and try making the fudge! thanks bakerella for ruining several peoples' diets today!

this fudge is also known as 'little piece of heaven'

so today i took some to school to share with friends and i think this is a recipe i am going to write down and keep...yep, it's a keeper! 

i got a call last night inviting me to join my principal and one of my colleagues to go to a meeting to learn about creating quality interim assessments. it was very enlightening and i know how begin to move in the right direction-which i'm actually pretty excited about! the one thing i am going to be working the hardest on is to memorize my se's!

well, when i got up this morning, it was cold out. and there was frost on the window i was so glad that i had a can of deficer in my car. i've used it for years now, it's great on frost and thin ice...and it really comes in handy when i'm in a hurry!

walmart! if you park outside, it is a wonderful investment!

hopefully it will warm up again and i won't have to use too much of it.

good night,
julie

oh yeah, here is that recipe i promised! BISCOFF FUDGE

11/2 c sugar
6 Tbsp margarine
1/3 c evaporated milk
1/2 tsp vanilla
1/2 c biscoff spread
3.5 (1/2 jar marshmallow creme)

combine sugar margarine and evaporated milk in a medium pot, bring to full, rolling boil.
reduce heat to medium and continue boiling for 4 minutes, stirring constantly to avoid scalding.
remove from heat and add biscoff. Stir until melted and smooth.
add marshmallow creme and use a mixer to beat until well blended.
pour into greased 8x8

Jesus, help me with the eenie meenie miny mo!

done. $18 parking. boo.highway robbery. they didn't even wash my car or wipe my windows...no service whatsoever. boo.

woke up in time! (made sure my phone was plugged in and the alarm was set correctly). my chicken that i put in the crockpot was ready when i woke up, so i put it away. then i took off early to make sure that i would get there on time with all of the correct items necessary (license)...i arrived to the plaza of the americas and after a dizzying ascent up to the 11th floor, i had my choice of any parking slot i wanted! the entire time, i was hoping that i was in the appropriate building. when i went in i saw 'prometric' on the 12th floor button in the elevator and went on up.

once we went through all of the formalities and i was seated at my computer, the fun began. i was given ear mufflers (it kinda felt like i was working at the airlines again because we used the same type of noise-deterrents around the engines). yet, even with the mufflers, i could hear this girl behind me coughing. not once, not twice...incessantly.

i don't even remember what the writing portion was about, i just remember being relieved that it was something i was comfortable with and that i didn't have to invent a bunch of malarkey because if i needed to, i could, but i wouldn't feel that great about it. and quite honestly, as i was going through the verbal and quantitative portions, i remember kinda' chuckling in my head at some of them as i watched the time tick away and instead of wasting precious time on problems which i had NO idea whatsoever, i prayed that Jesus would help me pick the correct eenie meenie minie mo! i was careful not to drink too much before coming in, and i plowed through with no breaks...(diet coke-drinking diet coke-i was not drinking before the test). when i finally finished, the computer gave me the tentative score for the verbal and quantitative, and i was a extremely disappointed because i didn't realize that they had changed the scaled scoring from 800 being the top score to 170 being the top score on the current test, so when i came out with 100-some points on each section, i thought, "wow. (long pause) i know i'm not a genious, but 300 y pico...i didn't think i was an idiot..." 

so as i left the center, there was a reflection from the glass prism overhead and it was beautiful, so i got this picture on my phone before snapping one of the plaza below.

ah, the rainbow-thank God for his covenant to never again destroy the earth by flood!

view from the 11th floor, it was so quiet from 11 floors up!

i tried to pull up the information on my phone from the site about scoring and it mentioned the conversion chart-but my phone couldn't download the info...waiting game. in the meantime, i decided to stop at central market and treat myself (whether i passed or not, i sacrificed my entire Christmas break to the studying gods, and i deserved it).

well, i read on bakerella about something that had gotten me all giddy..biscoff! and now- biscoff spread!! you don't even understand (unless you worked with me at comair! [jory, shannon, cindy]). when it comes to biscoff, the delicate european cookie, i am weak. delta serves these little delicacies and when i worked for them, sometimes we'd get a gracious, empathetic flight attendant who was on their last leg to cvg, and they would give us a sleeve of cookies. these actions of kindness went a long way in getting us to turn a flight even faster! well, bakerella has a recipe for biscoff fudge,using the spread (which is new to me)...can't wait to try it!

when you dip these biscuits in coffee, they melt in your mouth! omygosh

oh, and the other indulgence was the pecan maple nut coffee! thank you central market!

um, yes, so i stopped first at the central market on royal, and wasn't paying any attention because i was looking for the gre information, so when i walked up to the door, it was slightly ajar, so i was about to go in, when i realized that there was nothing on the empty shelves and there was no one inside. yep. not open yet, as i turned around, hoping that no one had seen what had just happened, i saw the workers getting out of their truck, kinda looking at me strange. DON'T CARE! i felt like saying, "get to work! get this thing done, i want my biscoff!" but instead, i avoided eye contact and took off for the coit store in plano. i don't give up easily.

so, when i got home, i was relieved to finally look at the conversion charts and realize that Jesus had indeed helped me choose the correct eenie meenie miny mos! now to wait for the writing-which i felt okay about. all in all, i'm glad that i wasn't feeling super confident going into it, because it's a better feeling now that i've passed than to have been confident and screwed up! yea me.

so glad to be done!
julie

i've become ocd aobut checking dates-wish i had been back in may

the alarm went off this morning while it was still dark out and chaco said,"make it stop! ewwww, make it go away!"(as he burrowed further down under the cover)... i forgot to warn them last night before we went to bed.

so i got to school and got started with the most important project of the day.

seemed january-ish bulletin board

hopeful for snow days...in april or may...after good friday!

oh, and did you realize that this year we get 29 days in february? leap year!!

staff development today was pretty good-the lady who presented our developmental asset presentation liked to use the fill-in-the-blank (CLOZE) method, and thank goodness she didn't wait to long for us to answer before she just went ahead and supplied the answer. i wonder if she even realized that she was doing it, or if it was a habit from her teaching days.

i took chicken out of the freezer last night and now i have to go ahead and make some dijon chicken in the crockpot-so i can use it all and not mess around; it's a super easy recipe, so hopefully it will taste pretty good too. yum.

so i don't know if any of you remember the moment i regret most from 2011...when i missed theresa's wedding...well, since then, i have been extra careful in checking and rechecking my dates. so, every day since i printed it off, i look again...just to be sure!

makin' me ocd!

so, it really is tomorrow, and unfortunately i won't get to welcome my kids back on their first day, but the upside (whether i bomb it or not), i get to wear jeans and be comfortable...and i get to come home for lunch and spend the rest of the day not worrying about taking a test!

well, that said, i am off to do one last round!
julie

nothing beats breaking out a fresh calendar and marking it up!

i don't have a lot of nifty little sayings about last year, sorry. although i did text one of my friends :happy new year which swype translated as happy new yeast umm..not the most attractive greeting (unless you're a baker or a beer brewer); good thing i double checked.

but i am looking forward to 2012. we're going into it with a positive attitude. i attribute the positive attitude in part to the calendar that mom got me for Christmas. smile.

you DO remember that i mentioned my mom gets me one every year, right? now i have 13 more quality pages that i can use to create new envelopes!

and the best month so far is....

there's just something about january-perhaps its the fresh beginning-could be that my birthday is in january on the same day as my aunt...oh, and i am hoping that my friend hellen has baby sophia a day early so she will be born on my bday as well!!

i am glad that tomorrow will not be a full day of staff development and we get to work in our classrooms half the day. i am more than willing to exchange half day for the next teacher work day! good call.

i'm sure this year will bring much dining out for many of you, so i would like to share with you something that i read in a magazine just yesterday. i love eating fish when i go out. i am especially fond of gloria's 'pescado acajutla,' which is a delicious tilapia...and i usually have leftover because it is a generous portion. but, for those of you who enjoy fish, please be wary...

don't go paying top dollar for what you're not really getting!

i also noticed that facebook is trying to hook me up. they've been trying to introduce me to: successful men, single men, Christian men, rock climbers, millionaires, single dads...

one thing i have decided might be a good idea (not really a resolution, because like the comic strip said a new year's resolution is a to-do list for the first week of january) is to start saying great great things about people when the walk by or when i think they're just out of ear-shot because you never know if they might be wearing the 'micro plus sonic ear' the thing about the commercial is that they're always saying nice things about the person wearing the thing, but in real life, i don't think i'd want to hear the things that people say-you just never know.

gearing up for tomorrow,
julie

p.s. tomorrow will be very strange not having gigi across the hall. boo. i'm sure it will hit me tomorrow.