mural blues and costa rican memories prompted by a switchblade and towelettes

yesterday morning i was not planning to go to school today tow paint murals, but ms. camacho caught me in the afternoon and said that she and tony were going in today from 9-12 to paint and dr. hughes told her to let me know in case i wanted to come up. as much as i didn't want to, i decided to go ahead and go in because the week is going to be busy with a monday meeting and tues/thurs tutoring.

so today was a blues day...i fixed water around the world(s).

they were a straight, flat, dark blue, so i decided to lighten it up so that when we go in and add the tropic lines and the equator and the ocean names, they will be legible.

 there is still so much left to do! boo.

while i was painting i remembered a story shea told me over spring break about buying a switchblade in mexico and it reminded me of when we lived in costa rica for our first year. i was in 5th grade and my brother was in 7th. he bought a switchblade when we were there. it was an interesting year of transition. i remember loving it when we were downtown and got to stop at kfc...they had the best-smelling moist towelettes to wash your hands with. i think it was the familiarity that i loved more than the chicken. well, once they started serving breakfast in the classroom here at our school(which, if i haven't mentioned it before...even if i have, is a waste), one of the bags had moist towelettes that smelled just like the ones of old...great memories!

and of course that memory took me back to a couple of others, like being in downtown san jose and smelling the helotes-corn on the grill. i also remember being on the bus and seeing the sign that said 'no fume' but i thought there were plenty of bad fumes on the bus. and more than once while we were on the bus, people would touch my hair if they were sitting behind me (that kinda' freaks a kid out..what am i, a lucky charm?)

oh, and the church we went to when we first got there was way across town. i remember one sunday they had a birthday party after the service and they scooped ice cream into cups. no problem-i have no problem with that. what i did have a problem with was when they ran out of spoons and just waited for someone to get finished and wiped off the spoon and re-purposed it into the cup that was handed to me. gross. pretty sure i "accidentally" dropped the spoon and just ate it like a cone. (i didn't eat the styrofoam cup like a cone, i just kinda' drank-ate it).

other costa rican memories...my brother had a texas instruments computer and the coolest game-a space ship that moved up and down and straight forward with a burst of speed...thriller...total eclipse of the heart...box turtle named relampago (lightning), playing charlie's angels in the apt. courtyard-behind and around the banana trees...strange new fruits including the star fruit and mamones...punta arenas and limon beaches....amy and billy my best friends...gaither band....school bus driver with creepy goatee that looked like a child molester and once in awhile he would stop at a push-cart vendor and get us all ice cream-cicles...thanks costa rica, you were fun!

all of that because of shea's switchblade and our towelettes!
julie

if i were a puppet, i'd for sure want to be merlin! blimey!

today we rewarded our students with a field trip! gigi took care of our field trips before she left to go to the sunny state, so today we got to go to the dallas children's theater for young king arthur. we got the kids all hyped for live theater, and every one of the students was there (except a sickie and one who withdrew yesterday).

when we got there, we were a little surprised to find that it was actually a puppet show! but not like sock puppets or anything like that...and not a silly little marionette stage like julie andrews used in the sound of music...they were rod puppets (czech with some japonese elements) it was great. and since the kids were expecting a live performance, we hyped it up by explaining how lucky we were that we got to see puppets because we NEVER get to see puppets!

these are the puppeteers!

thank goodness the haze was non-toxic! that was the first concern i had when the smoke began...

 

so, here are some observations from young king arthur:
 1. young king arthur resembles shawn cassidy.
2. the puppets seemed to side step a lot (which means they'd be good at country line dancing).
3. apparently king arthur and merlin started out in dallas and then made their way to london because merlin told arthur to go up over the grassy knoll.
4. baby dragons sound a lot like real babies gurgling and playing with bruno's squeaky toy.
5. blimey is a word i want to begin working into my vocabulary.


on the way home i decided to stop and get some biscoff to make fudge for shannon and the other office ladies, and while i was at world market, i also found the cutest little shortbread cookies, so i called bruno and chaco and they said i absolutely should get them and say that it was their idea...so i did (because i recall around Christmastime she had said that she loves shortbread cookies). 

i know, adorable!

i may have found some other things that i really needed!

awesome tea!

delicious chocolates! (only one piece on days it's absolutely needed!)

oh blimey, but it seems to be getting late and i should be ending this and going to bed!
jrob

step updownupdown...1,000!

aaaaaand DONE! for this week. the reading/science will be sneaking up on us shortly!

today i had to think about what in the world to do to remain active while monitoring the test. i was going to slip into walmart and get some of those little bitty dumbell weights to carry around, but i was running a little late. so i looked around the room for awhile until my eyes landed on a mini step stool...about 6 inch i think...so i grabbed a small rug and took it with me to the room i was testing in, and i set it up in the back of the room so that while the kids were testing, i could do steps in between my rounds! (it actually gave me a better view of them as well!) 

i started with sets of 25 per leg, then as time was ticking by, i went to 50

i was getting really worried that i wouldn't make it to 1000, but i got there while the last 5 minutes were ticking down (i kept getting interrupted by students finishing their test, and having to pick them up and check to make sure everything was filled in correctly.

then, i was planning on going over to the rec center-you may not remember, but that was one of the things i won during our biggest loser contest-i went in yesterday after i had my oil changed (i only got it changed because i needed my windshield cleaned-stupid green pollen trees)...so i have the membership until sept of this year.

only i decided not to go to the  center this afternoon because i stopped in to talk to another teacher for awhile after school.

so instead i went home to the apt gym and worked on some weight machines for a little while. the entire time there were two other nurse-types in there discussing their jobs and who was being fired and what masters they were pursuing and what to do after their contracts expired....no music was on, no t.v. no background anything and i forgot to take my headphones, so i was stuck just listening to their conversation. epic BOO. (they weren't even really working out)

there's also this intense self-defense training-krav maga- i want to find out more about. it's legit, but i need to find out what the cost will be and see if i can work it into my budget! it would for sure be a great work out!

i forgot to stop by the store earlier, so i must go now to get some laundry detergent and truvia...off i go.
julie

only a man would come up with cut grass and old campfire smells as cologne...although i may like the smell, i don't find it attractive

ven though i'm pretty certain my students aren't going to fare very well on the test tomorrow and wednesday, i really am just relieved to be at this point and get it over with! we are going to jump into poetry for a few weeks, beginning on friday! can't wait!

saturday i spent a lot of time thinking mean thoughts toward some of the growers who sell their goods at sprouts. my spinach and kale had lots of soil still on them, so there was much washing to be done. then yesterday i spent a good amount of time standing in front of the food processor chopping up the green and red chard and the kale. the only fun thing about this was that after i chopped the kale it smelled like fresh-cut grass.
 (i would insert picture here of the food processor with kale, but unfortunately i left the usb connector at school).
remember when gap used to smell 'manly' colognes back in the early 90's? they came out with cut grass and fireside...and it really did smell just like the two...i guess that's so that if the guy wanted to go do something with his buddies and the wife asked where he was, he could say he was out cutting lawns...for needy old ladies in the neighborhood? or if he was having an affair he could say he was on a camping trip with the boys....?

one of our favorite apt office girls is moving. sad day. moving about 3 hours away (which obviously means that she won't be commuting to work)! shannon will be missed-the boys love her! she usually keeps the extra pupperoni treats in her desk!

i just went downstairs to drop of some crayons and a coloring book and disney reading comprehension book for my neighbors downstairs. i don't even know them, but i've seen the kids playing through their screen window many times when i get home from work. yesterday i got a call from shannon asking if i had been home around 2 on saturday when the ambulance came. well, i was at school, and she let men know that one of the little twins (3 or 4) had fallen out the window because he was going for a bug and leaned against the screen. that made me worry because i didn't know if they were okay or not. so i just met them and their mom a minute ago. they are so cute! they showed me their fake tattoos and as soon as the little girl heard my name she said, "hi, julie!" she is not shy at all, but he is. it was the boy who fell, but God's protection is an amazing thing. he had no broken bones (again, he fell from 2nd floor onto cement drive), no concussion...minor bruising and scrapes on face. God is good!

i told bruno and chaco about it and chaco said, "mama, if you can put the puppy gate back up at the window when you open it again...i would like that." well said chaco, well said.

good night! boo on the test, i am not losing sleep over that tonight! (i've done my part, now it's up to the students)
julie

mural, mural on the wall, who's the worst painter of them all...

today i got up early once again on a saturday. boo. i had to get juice for our volunteers and arrive early to finish a couple more pictures for our mural walls. then people began arriving. they were shown around and allowed to choose the pictures they were interested in painting.

some people chose to start on the drawings that did not have colored masters with them as a guide, and they did not quite turn out as planned. many of the volunteers brought children with them, and 5 year-olds just aren't professional painters...unless they're art savants...which none of these were. don't get me wrong, we certainly appreciate all the help we get...even if we have to go back and paint over and change things and spend more time on them. some of them came out great and some of them came out worse than terrible...and there is still work to be done.

the cement tubes on the playground got redid...and the bench out front was painted, as were the grates on the cafeteria windows (they had gotten so rusty)! i will have to take pictures of it all for gigi to see-i would've been great to have her help today (and moral support-laughing). it really does transform the building! i meant to take some pics today, but i just got so busy.

now we have to cover all of them on monday afternoon and our classrooms for the test on tuesday and wednesday! great timing. not looking forward to the testing at all. (even if it is only 4 hours....still too long). i am excited about the field trip on thursday, though. even if it is a short one, sitting in a theater watching a play is just the thing we need to unwind.



have a colorful rest of the weekend,
julie

i'm so glad the city finally realized that there was no school there...

this morning as i was driving, something seemed very different as i was driving down the stretch past the savoy...ever since i have lived at this apt, the entire stretch has been a school zone (even before the george bush school was built). not sure why because that i know of, there are no other schools in the area, just some apts. anyhoo, this morning, there were no flashing lights. and as i drew near to the place where the END SCHOOL ZONE sign is, it wasn't there! i figured maybe i missed it or something...so i made sure to double check on my way home today, and lo and behold, i was not seeing things! i will no longer be encumbered by the silly school zone of nothing!

a couple of days ago, i came home and saw all of this stuff out in the walkway. the neighbor had suits, some bags and some other items sitting out. it seemed almost as if he was having a small garage sale. i have no earthly or otherworldly idea why he had it all out there, but it's been a few days now, and it is still out there. it has been raining out, and even though the landing is covered, the stuff is going to get mildew and what not...not to mention, it looks a little trashy.

my neighbor has aspirations of becoming a thrift store owner...

yesterday we had a field trip to the dallas museum of art. i love the dma, but i do not love dma + 17 students who cannot keep from touching things and leaning on the walls and talking about 50 decibels higher than need be (those of you who work in decibels, don't bother correcting me because i don't know the measurements and quite honestly, i don't care, i just liked the sound of it!) because it = misery. (i know, you almost forgot it was an equation and that an equal sign was coming!) 

one of my favorite things in the museum is these guys made out of bronze.

they are truly fabulous.

and i'm sure that with all of the nagging, my students thought i looked something like this

then after we got back, we had to prepare for our parent/teacher conferences. they went from 4-8 and it was almost as much fun as the field trip! by the time we left, i was beat! i'm sure everyone else was as well!

i stayed for a minute after school and worked a little on the mural pictures for the walls- there were a couple of extras that we were needing. i got the gallon man up on my end of the hallway by the girls restroom...because it always feels like that's how much water is coming out of my body! i need to stay tomorrow and finish the rest of them. thankfully there aren't too many.

 when i got home and told the girls at the office that i had ordered 2 dozen tamales because they said they wanted to buy some the next time she was selling them, which was today. they were pretty excited. so i might have to leave right after school to drop of the tamales and then go back to finish up the drawings because our volunteers come on saturday. another busy weekend.

oh, and tomorrow we're starting round 2 of the biggest loser. i don't know how many people are actually going to get involved this time, but i think i might just for accountability's sake. i need to turn in my rec center voucher and take advantage of it for the next 6 months since our equipment is all down right now...i'd love to start a kick-boxing class...that'd be fun.

alright, time to color some drawings,
julie

start pedaling, said the bike...stop yankin' my chain! i yelled back...(in my mind)

i'm tired. i need to get my sleep tonight-tomorrow is a long day of art museum/field trip and parent conferences at night. ew.

this morning we woke up to crazy thunder and some rain and lightning. very very frightening....(not really). but i decided to wear brown shoes with my khakis instead of my chacos because i didn't want wet cold feet today. well, the shoes i had were cheap and the inside pad that your foot sits on was sinking below where it was supposed to down into a hole in the heel of the sole. it bothered me like the pea under the mattress with the princess and the pea...so when i got to my classroom, i cut an eraser to size and filled in the hole so that it didn't bother me as much! janky fix, but it worked! i'll have to share the pic tomorrow because i left the cord that hooks up to the computer at school. boo.

today i came home to the gym at the apt, and there were lots of men in there using the weight machines, so i looked and the elliptical machine was out of order (glad the sign was on it because last time, it squeaked with every round)...and on of the 3 treadmills was not working either...and 2 people were on the other two. so i got on the electric stationary bike and the pedals felt kind of like when the chain comes off the gears....well, i kept trying to set it and the screen kept flashing to start pedaling. in my head i was shouting at it, "I HAVEN'T STOPPED YOU DUMMY!"  and so i kept pedaling and some guy got on the bike next to me and started on it- he went for a few minutes to warm up, and then he went to the weights and i was still pushing random buttons the whole time thinking that i was doing something wrong. i'm sure he probably wondered what i was doing and when i was going to start riding the bike. and i'm sure everyone else in the gym was thinking i didn't know how to work the bike because it was beeping so much and turning off and back on.... finally i switched bikes and instantly i was riding and feeling the burn-the piece of equipment i was on had been out of order as well with no sign...apparently our equipment needs some maintenance.

then i came home and threw some chicken, quarter of a cooked sweet potato, some kale and a little spice into the food processor and made some chicken salad-it was actually better than i expected!! before i did that i threw some asparagus into the oven to cook. well...i kinda' forgot about it until i smelled it quite awhile later. when i pulled it out, the tips were crispy (which is fine because i actually like the texture, and the stalks were soft and easy to cut through). and i'm not gonnna' lie, just gonna' put it out there: i almost licked the spices off the baking sheet it tasted so stinkin' good!!!!

anyhoo, that's what i got tonight!
julie

i'm a great candidate! pick me!! i can also paint murals and tell jokes!

well, it's been a long couple of days, and i am tired, but i feel like i just have SOOOOOO much to do still and not enough time to do it!

yesterday i went to help procure the appropriate paints, but i really wasn't much help and although we all arrived at 10:00 a.m, we still weren't done until about 2:30! woah. and it ended up costing us a pretty penny...we may have extra paint left over if anyone from school is interested in painting a mural in their classroom! i could draw it, you'd be in charge of painting it, though!

when i got there, i noticed this in the parking lot; i guess someone was really nervous about their home repairs or something....

the colors were plentiful, but we went for basic warms, neutrals, and cools so that we could mix our own! woo hoo!!

and i am pretty sure that the home depot bathroom should win some sort of award for cleanliness of a public restroom!

this morning i got up earlier than i desired so that i could go over to the school and do some outlining for the paintings on some of our walls at school. i went straight upstairs and started my hot tea and got my projector out and went to work on the science stuff upstairs and ms. camacho went down to the kindergarten hall to do some of her stuff down there. i was later joined by dr. hughes for a bit, and later she and sandra kinda' switched out and we finished up the science upstairs and then made our way down to the front wall to work on the social studies portion.

tomorrow i am going to work on the cafeteria mural and then we are going to have to wait on the wall that looks out into the courtyard because they have to re-mud, dry and paint the wall so that we can get it ready for reading stuff...that will have to happen some evening this next week (probably thursday or friday evening..i think tuesday or wednesday we have parent conferneces. boo. you know how much i love those.

well, i would've stayed longer today, but i had my 4 hour group interview today. i can't really talk about it because i signed a confidentiality agreement, but it was long. interesting how you can feel like you did a great job, but then still not be sure if the answers were what they were looking for. (it seemed like i was out of my role plays earlier and than everyone else-which i will just attribute to being more articulate. smile) i won't find anything out until sometime in april. 

the cool thing about the building we were interviewing in today was that the bathrooms have blue dye in the toilets for cleaning purposes and well, since it's st. patrick's day, it was perfect because i told you how the multivitamins make me pee fluorescent yellow...well, i didn't take a picture, but today, those toilets were looking irish!

as i was walking away from the bldg after the interview, i thought, well, the positive is that i am already putting money into savings for this program, so if for whatever reason i don't get into it, i'm going to have money for something special!

and that's all i got...trying to impress people all day long is exhausting!
julie

two walks, four shades of tea, and bruno sticks his fake tongue out...

another day almost gone. ugh, my spring break is slipping away! tomorrow morning i am joining dr. hughes and ms. weekley to look for paints. good times. then later i am hoping to go grab coffee, tea or a bite with an old friend whom i haven't seen since i worked at heartlight!

today bruno and chaco got lucky-we went for TWO walks! i think it threw them for a loop!

then between the two walks, i ran out to the grocery store and wow-if i spent that much, i feel for those of you who have families! how prices have gone up! of course, i probably could've done with less than FOUR boxes of green tea...it's just that i couldn't decide because they all sounded so great!

i'm especially fond of the acai, dragonfruit and melon (pretty sure that's the one angela mentioned the other day..LOVE it!)

i also found this and i didn't think it would be at walmart, but lo and behold! this might be part of breakfast tomorrow!

tonight while the boys were chewing on their fake pig-ears...bruno said, "hey! it looks like i have a big tongue!"

and, yes, it did look a little like he was sticking out a big tongue.

alright, off to bed so that i can get up to make the most of tomorrow!
julie

cutting it close at the grocery store and being a good human

first day back-thought i was up at 8:30, and time seemed to go by really fast when i looked at my computer clock...i had forgotten to change the microwave clock when i got back. so i was actually up at 9:30, and time was not, in fact, flying by before my very eyes. good thing.

and when i got on the scale this morning, i thought i had gained more weight than i did over the weekend....shea makes me eat things that are bad for me. (but in all fairness, we ate some things that were good for us as well, and she let me talk her into putting ground flax seed into her smoothie!) so i was pretty thrilled about that. and i wouldn't have it any other way!

we walked for a bit today and then i debated on whether to walk up to tom thumb or drive, so i walked. i took my recyclable bag and bought some of the necessities. i needed my veggies, fruit and salmon. when i got up to the cash register, i had only put $34 in my pocket because i didn't want to take my bag with me. so i was watching very closely as the gal was ringing everything up. so when it got up to 31.54, i only had one thing left to ring up and i asked her to price check it first-$1.50....i did it! i was within a dollar of my allotment! so i got the blackberries!

as i was leaving the store, there was a young guy sitting on the brick wall outside by the grilling mesquite wood and as i walked by, i was taking my jacket off to tie around my waste because it was warm out, and he said, "excuse me, miss, do you have a couple bucks? i'm trying to get enough money to buy some groceries."  i told him i had no money left, finished tying my jacket and then grabbed the 80 cents in change and went back and gave it to him and wished him good luck-i should've offered him some of my veggies or something. hindsight.

i was very happy that i had remembered to grab the remote gate opener from the car before i left so that i wouldn't have to wander down to the pedestrian gate...i guess i could've used the access pad...again, hindsight...next time!

nothing fancy

when i got home chaco found something and was chewing on it and i knew it wasn't food, so i tried to get it from his mouth. afterward our discussion was something like this:
chaco: why are you always sticking your hand in my mouth?
me: why are you always putting stuff into it that doesn't belong?
chaco: because i'm a dog and that's what we do.
me: well, i'm your human, and that's what good humans do.
chaco: good humans put their hands in others' mouths?
cannot wait for tomorrow-another beautiful day of spring break! i have some drawing that i must finish, but perhaps i can do that outside!
julie

puppy photo shoot and preparing to come home

it is tuesday morning, and it is almost time to go-i finished some art-work and prepping some artwork for shea to finish! i cannot wait to see how it turns out! i am expecting to see postings about it! we'll be grabbing lunch around noon and then i'll be taking off for dallas to work on work. boo.

the boys have had a blast! this morning i downloaded the pics that shea took yesterday and because they came out so amazingly, i am posting another picture or 3 of them playing. smile.

bruno chillin in the clover

chaco posing-just enjoying a rest in the cool bed of green

the boys

the boys in a basket...chaco likes this about as much as the Christmas photos.

l to r: bruno, reagan, thatcher, chaco

brotherly love

reagan in the back is chaco's sister, thatcher, up front, has the same dad. they had so much fun together!

 anyhoo, i don't think they're going to like the trip home-they're just getting settled in! in fact, it usually takes chaco a few days to settle and start eating, and today he was eating more of his food, so i know he's feeling pretty comfortable!

(later this evening)
went to grab gyros at a little hole in the wall restaurant with ally (we missed her all weekend because she was in the dallas/ft worth area for an interview) and they were phenom! then shea and i walked through campus and on back to her apt. it was a nice little walk.

boomer!

when we got home, we took the boys down to the basketball court to roam around because it's fenced in. well, they didn't exactly roam unless i walked around with them. and then one of shea's friends brought her mini dachshund down, but chaco was mean. he did so well with thatcher yesterday that i thought he would do well with another small dog...sophie was kinda in his face and kept going toward the face, which is when he gets defensive and snippy...i don't like people too close to my face either. anyhoo, they just kinda hung out in the shade while we sat in the sun...smart dogs.

smart doggies!

then i packed up and got ready for the trip home. shea packed up some fudge for the trip home:

the irony is that i made the fudge.

anyhoo, it helped keep me awake on the way home. in the process of packing up i took a trip down with stuff and the boys apparently sat whimpering at the door. when i got back up the second time and took my 2nd load down without them, chaco was yelping really loud, and i was hoping the door to the balcony was closed, because i could imagine him jumping to try to come with me. when i got back up shea said they went crazy running around the house. they knew we were leaving, and i think they were afraid i was going to leave without them.

when i got up in the morning, shea had found this website that she said kept her mesmerized for quite awhile; i watched it tonight and it is great-live feed of penguins at the san diego sea world!! if you have kids, they will love it! you yourself might love it as well! (i watched a big one standing there lift his tail and something...liquid poop...squirted right out from under there and he didn't even blush!) click here to see it, it's pretty amazing!

tonight i will go to bed earlier than i did this weekend!
julie

painting, ted's not a mexican, and taking the dog to the yard where the tramp was

today we woke up to a beautiful day! it is in the 80's here in oklahoma. i'm sure you didn't realize that ok was a spring break hot spot. so i had my egg with flax seed and brushetta, and turkey bacon for breakfast, and i worked on a drawing for shea's next art piece. last night we finished our painting, and they turned out really cool.

there are more, so it looks kinda like mosaic tiles. i love the way they turned out! the only problem now is that i really don't have anywhere for them in my apartment right now with my colors.

oh, and we made the fudge yesterday and it's almost all gone, so we need to make some more for tonight's dinner (don't worry, we didn't eat it all, we shared a lot of it with friends that we went to dinner with last night).

shea really liked it..she licked the spoon and the cup...

 we had a lovely dinner at ted's a mexican restaurant....i know, ted..not a mexican name. i don't exactly know how that came about-perhaps he married a mexican lady who made great tortillas...

i didn't get a pic of the lady making tortillas, but i got a pic of a girl trying to take a pic of the lady making tortillas.

we got to have dinner with katie and bmayes and brooke! i haven't gotten to see brooke in a long time, and she lives in norman now for at least another year, so i need to make sure that next time i'm up i make a point to see her as well! she's so much fun to be around!

so, once shea got up this morning, we went for a walk with the boys and then stopped at bmayes' house to play for a bit with reagan and thatcher! chaco loves playing with thatcher because he is about the same size! they were really cute! and reagan just kinda went off to do her own thing and bruno remained somewhat anti-social and did his own thing. he likes to pretend that he's too mature to do the childish things they like to do. but i could tell he enjoyed the yard!

reagan, chaco and thatch sniffin' around

and of course, there's the tramp in the back yard...don't be confused, it's short for trampoline silly people! they really liked hanging out underneath and playing in the shade and laying in the clover! and shea liked playing on the top and jumping!

i love the pic of the guy landing on his neck!

she's a jumper!

but she deserved to play for a bit because she spent a ton of time just taking portraits of the puppies! i will post more pics of them when i get them downloaded.

must go prepare part of dinner!

teepees, thunder and napping!

wouldn't it be nice if whenever you drove into oklahoma, there was a group of people standing at the border dressed up in bright dressy clothes that would burst into song and sing oooooooo-klahoma where the wind comes sweepin' down the plains.... well, it would put a smile on my face anyhow.

i do love that the rest stop picnic tables are set up like teepees! that's pretty cool!

so i got to norman with no major mishaps, but when we pulled in and i went to get chaco out of his dog seat, he had had a little accident, and he wet himself (this usually doesn't happen in the car, and we even stopped to walk at the rest area).i don't really know if it happened en route, or if it happened once we stopped at the apt. complex and shea was at the car door-chaco was so excited to see her!so i came in and fortunately shea is a dog lover, so i gave him a quick bath and he was much more comfortable and presentable!

then we went to grab lunch with merce and bmayes at cool greens (a wonderful little salad/pizza place) and on the way home we made a stop at hobby lobby to grab some essentials for our crafting day with jrob. smile. then we came home to just play with the boys for a bit before leaving for the thunder game! it's nice to be vip...we got to go down to the pub and have dinner and then we grabbed some popcorn to take down to the game. best popcorn i've had in awhile! (saltiness)...it was a blow out-the thunder are having a great year!

this morning we got up in time (remembered the time change)! and went to church with bmayes and sarah.

then shea began clearing off her table (i thought maybe for lunch), then she started getting out the canvases and the paints and was ready for some crafting. and now they're all black. don't ask, just trust!

i am trying to convince shea that she needs to teach down in roatan at childrens palace, where my dear friend, nina, is an administrator. i think it would be such a neat experience for her! (not to mention, there is a group of pals who would be more than happy to go down to visit and rent out an island!)... i wonder if they have a class she could teach about rest and relaxation?

chaco loves cuddling even with shea!

we're off to the grocery store to get items for dinner tomorrow night and fudge today-not to eat, to share of course...

well, more adventures later,
julie

it's not every day that you want to be called a loser. but today was the day.

i am sooo tired! i got to school early and finished some more of my telpas papers (checking out my students' english proficiency)...i didn't finish all of them, so i will be working on some of that this week. i did run across one funny thing in speaking about math, one student wrote: someone invented numbers his name was herold, but he's not with us right now. not sure where that came from, or what our math teachers are teaching our students....smile.

 i ended up walking the school during planning period to help dr. hughes  map out where all of the murals will be so that she can let the primer people know! i've got lots of drawing to do this week as well.

today was the last weigh in for our biggest loser contest, and our school out-lost junkins by about 40-some pounds! i ended up losing 29 lbs since jan 17, but i still have about 25-30 to go...ugh. more eating well and exercising and moving around! we are going to start a new contest starting when we get back from break. my biggest goal is to not gain any weight before we go back and to keep on losing-but we all know how difficult that is when traveling and playing. our nurse is pretty amazing at getting special prizes for these things. this year it was dickey's barbecue sandwiches, special wellness book, as the winner i got a 6 month pass to the farmers branch rec center and a gift certificate at nuevo leon-mexican in case you weren't certain, plus the money in the pot (which will be good for the trip to ok)

fun stuff

a little sacrifice makes the pants a little baggy.

anyhoo, i had to run home to the office to get my package before the office closed because i won't be able to get it in the morning.

i followed the tracking, so i knew that it had been delivered!

my coffee and flax grinder arrived! yippee!

and after i had secured my package, i went over to agave azul to meet with some teacher friends that i don't get to seevery often because we're all in different parts of the bldg, and one doesn't work at cabell anymore. it is always good to get together with these ladies to catch up!

now i need to get to bed because i have an early morning ahead so that i can get up to oklahoma to visit the crew!

will try to keep updating over the spring break!
julie

wapp is not hitting someone over the head really hard, and yes, chaco, it's ok to be a fanny pack dog...

k, i have to make this one quick because i have a ton to do tonight before tomorrow ('before tomorrow' wasn't necessary, because it's pretty obvious that that's what comes after tonight)...

today was a crazy day; i ended up canceling tutoring because i didn't want the hassle with parent-pick-up if the weather turned south. i just got a new app-it's called wapp...weather app by news 4-very exciting (good to have since the weather is going to be crazy this spring...maybe).

free ap-weather app, fox 4...i don't exactly remember how i got it.(app store or android market, search kdfw weather)

i just figured it would be handy if the electricity went out...since i still haven't figured out what mile markers i am between....

it got terribly dark today around lunch, and the last thing i wanted to deal with was bad weather and parents not being able to make it in time to pick up their kiddos. the other thing is i wanted to get home to work on mural-stuffs and some of the telpas papers.i figure our verifier will be placated a bit if i can at least get some of the classes done before spring break! and i don't plan on staying after school tomorrow for too long-i've got a date at agave azul! then i need to come home and get my car cleaned out and bring some necessities down so that i can leave early in the morning on saturday! woo hoo!!

ok, so i just saw that mary kay is doing a month long volunteer service...(i don't know how dr. hughes got us on that list, but they are the ones helping with the murals)...i hope they don't bring the cameras with them, because when i'm painting, i wear my grungy paint clothes...and i won't look like i came out of a facial party.

 last night, chaco grabbed the fanny pack that sometimes comes with us on walks, to house the treats) and he started walking around with it. he said he was a fanny man. and it's true...he does go around sniffing other dogs' fannies. anyhoo, he must have smelled the residuals of treats because he acted like there was a basement and he was going to go down into the thing.

well, the tracking for my flax grinder says that it is supposed to arrive tomorrow!!  yippee!!

gotta' go get stuff done!
julie

tornadoes and lockdowns remind me a bit of kindergarten!

i love it when morning announcements begin with: teachers, make sure your students know the routine for tornadoes and lockdowns.  it's always nice to have the warning before the fact, and we had a pretty good idea of when the excitement would transpire because 3rd and 5th were in the middle of practice tests, so obviously it would have to take place right after. and of course it did.

i remember when i was in kindergarten in raytown, mo and whenever there was a fire drill, it really freaked me out. oh, the kindergarten days! things i remember from kindergarten:
-sitting in a circle playing 'who stole the cookie from the cookie jar'
-mrs. blair teaching us not to run with scissors.
-the girl who had a wig because she had cancer, so we learned about chemo.
-playing cat and mouse outside
-making turkey and pilgrim and indian things for thanksgiving (i was almost too excited because i knew my grandparents were coming for the holiday!)
-learning how to count (my brother taught me that 12 plus 12 was 24, and i was so excited to tell my teacher)
- wanting to be the lead singer for the song 'the sun'll come out tomorrow'
-always hoping that i could play the triangle in music...
-trying to play tic-tac-toe over the phone with haley (i think she cheated or one of us wasn't sure about our right and left...because she seemed to say she won, and it didn't look that way on my tic-tac-toe board...)
-i'd walk down to my friend's house once in awhile (don't recall her name, but she had reddish hair)..but one day she suggested we make peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and she licked the spoon before she made mine. i was grossed out and all of a sudden i was no longer hungry.
-wiz kid owl calculators for david's birthday
-giant coloring book for my birthday
-gyroscope magnetic handheld toy-a favorite and i could sit there all day making that thing go back and forth faster and faster!!
-a billboard on the way to church with an ugly man and in my head, he was the boogey man.

there are more fun memories, but those are some that stick out right now. i don't think that everything i needed to know i learned in kindergarten, but i do think i got a pretty good start!
julie