baby melon and a homemade wocket in my pocket?

tomorrow is dr.seuss day at school! so on the way home, i had to stop in at walmart to get something to dress up a little bit for tomorrow...so i plan to come to school as the lorax; i was thinking about some orange face paint (which i bought). so i am trying it out on my hand and letting it stand for the night to see if i can wash it off, or if it's going to leave my skin orange. i can imagine people thinking i get a fake tan or something. not what i need. and it took forever to locate the orange socks that weren't kiddie size.

i may have also gotten a small squishy gecko toy to put some hair on to make a "WOCKET IN MY POCKET"  in case the whole lorax idea is an epic fail. if it's just a medium fail, i'll stick with it. isn't it amazing how you can have this great idea in your head, but then when you try it out, it's not all you imagined? kinda' like being a kid and creating your own costume for halloween...great expectations.

i was happy to find a little watermelon as well! xochitl asked me to make some dried melon, so i'll pull down the dehydrator and work the melon magic (umm..perhaps i should call it something else, like dried watermelon)!

sweet love! and as soon as the words rolled into my mind, anita baker also graced every vaccant chamber of my mind! i need to pull that cd out and upload it to my phone!

tomorrow we will be going over a little data from our most recent common assessment. ugh. i already know the results, and i'm already frustrated with the results; it's going to take every ounce of seussical nonsense to keep me positive tomorrow!

today i took my students out to the garden to make videos about natural resources. they wrote their own scripts thinking about the resources they knew were out there, so i am looking forward to viewing their clips and hopefully next week i can show them how to load them into animoto to create their video project! they were super excited to use them-they love using technology to create!

the boys (new subject, now i'm talking about bruno and chaco), keep wanting to lick my orange-painted hand...they probably think i'm wounded. oh, but they would KNOW if i was wounded! wait, maybe not. i usually go down without a lot of noise...(thinking of the 2 acl tears and the sliced pinky tip).

well, time for bed, (except i have to wait for the laundry to dry so i can take it out so that it doesn't wrinkle..boo..should've thought about that sooner!)
julie

is that a chicken in your pocket, or are you just...carrying a limp hen?

i need pie. i know need is a strong word, but right now, i need a warm blueberry pie with a scoop of vanilla ice cream. or second choice...strawberry pie with whip...(cream, whip cream, c'mon...although, when i was in elementary school i once bought a whip as a souveneir-before indiana jones even came out-but only because my parents wouldn't let me get a sword-mackinac island)

in case you're out there wondering about this blog, remember, it's more of a stream of consciousness than anything! don't be fooled, you probably won't walk away with any truly important information...perhaps a giggle here and there, but nothing too profound.

so, if you recall, not too awfully long ago, i was pretty set on the idea of getting spock from that silly game machine. i think they make the cool prizes impossible to extract-a weight ratio thing; i spent 1 dolla trying to get him out and decided if that didn't get him, he didn't deserve to b got! i only wanted him as a fun pass-around toy for school...so i just looked over on my shelf and saw this guy, and thought he would do the trick, but i didn't want to sacrifice him, so i looked for a backup on amazon.

i LOVE him! he's stretchy and squishy...an anxiety chicken if you will.

so, when i went to order him, he didn't cost enough, and he was called an 'add-on-item'...i've never run into this before. so i was supposed to add on, and i did-in fact, i decided to look at watches because i haven't worn one since kamp-a few years ago, so it was time..and that was a sports watch. i settled on this one...i was captured by the light blue face (strange, because if you were reading just that sentence, it would sound like something you would want to run away from in a scary book or movie).

so proud of myself.. growing up..again. finally i can stop looking at my phone all of the time to see the hour.

anyhoo, back to the original story, i also got one other item, and then did the add on thing, but for some reason the chicken didn't add on and show up in my final purchase! that was my sole reason for purchasing the other items!!! i was very disappointed, so customer service had better get back to me and resolve this issue! they'd better get back to me expediently..i hate waiting! i am not a good waiter..i was once a pretty good waitress..but then pretty good is not good enough, (ask avid) that's why i quit. 

nothing more, thanks for playing!
julie

baby shower lockjaw

well, as a matter of fact, i DID have my phone interview today, thanks for asking! i believe it went fairly well! i can't really say anything about the interview, except that it's over! whew~step two-done! if it went well, we'll move on to step three.

i also got a chance to go out to the school garden and pull out the broccoli plants, which were flowering. flowering broccoli means bees. bees in the courtyard lead to screaming kids. when kids scream in the courtyard, every classroom facing the courtyard is distracted, and this leads to frustrated teachers, who in turn don't appreciate the garden...good call, julie, good call!

i was also able to get the necessary receipts in to the inter-office mail, and then i received an email after school asking me to fax them. so i guess that will be first on the agenda for tomorrow!

and after school, there was the baby shower. i don't think i was really much help..i contributed only in adding water to the mix. the baby shower punch was a half and half mixture of i'm not sure what, but the first try was so tart it almost gave me lockjaw-the kind that makes your fingers curl into a fist and they need to be pried open...then some pineapple pizazz was added which made it a bit too sweet. so the only thing that we had available was water and some ice, so we watered it down to make it somewhat palatable...but then, it's not usually the punch that people are talking about after a shower...it's the doritos, and they were fabulous!

when i got home, i saw this guy just hangin around...he apparently jumped off of the computer stand sometime between 8:00am, and 3:33 pm. we found him just in time, he is recovering nicely. i absolutely love my usb port man!

 yesterday when i was out with the boys, i wanted to get a pic of bruno, but he said no, stuck out his tongue and turned his face-so i snapped one of his shadow, and you can see his tongue sticking out...i'm pretty sure he thinks he's michael jordan.

i love all of the tulips in my neighborhood-they make my heart smile!

i'm going to have to alter some of my lesson plans because we have to administer our telpas writings, and next week we have the naep test..we'll have some intensive small group sessions because over half of the class will be out of the room for that!

and i just talked to dad about our spring break visit. hopefully we will be able to work on the itouch docking station for recharging; that way, instead of paying over $1000, dad and i will come up with something comparable at a fraction of the cost! it's how we roll...money doesn't grow on trees, ya know! i sent him a link with pics from the tcea convention we went to!

i also mentioned that i would be bringing my new toy and was planning on doing some target practice at their place...outside of course. good thing they live outside the city! now i just need to find some target ammunition. anyone? anyone?

ok, that's all i got-looking forward to a good day tomorrow!!
julie

bruno and chaco meet taurus

yesterday we went to the perot museum, as promised, and we were impressed! the students were excited about it...sadly, the escalator was not functioning when we got there, so we took the elevator, and it wasn't so sad. they loved it! 

what an impressive building!

 we started with the dinosaurs, because my students have been asking and asking when are we going to be studying about dinosaurs?? sadly, i don't think dinosaurs are really in the curriculum for us this year.

you don't want to get caught behind this guy after he's had a meal.

 and then there was the giant turtle-thing...i think turtles are kinda' cute (like the little sea guys in finding nemo, but if i came face to face with this giant, it would be game over.

manny from ice age...everyone needs a good mastodon in their life! or at least someone with manny's humor.

so, we super enjoyed it, and we are grateful to IBM, because they actually arranged for our campus to go! many of our students don't get these types of experiences. we got to see a 3d movie, and one of our teachers received compliments on our group of students and how well behaved they were. that's always good to hear! then when we had to eat outside, i think every one of my phalanges fell off and i had to scoop them up to put them back on when my palms warmed up enough...it was cold out because of the wind! i need to go again sometime when i don't have the responsibility of students, so that i can enjoy it without worrying about where my students are.

then after school, i met up with olivia and lindsey to celebrate olivia's birthday, and there must've been something in the tortillas...wait it was queso! umm..and we did have to send the queso back for a reheat..the second time it got cold, we just let it go. 

then, on the way home, i saw lights and heard sirens. by the time i got there and snapped this shot, as you can see, 3 alien space craft had landed and were eating donuts with the policemen...

lighting was really weird...so were the aliens.

today was a beautiful day! i got about 12 hours of sleep last night (that doesn't happen very often). 

i was planning on getting some notebooks graded, but it was too beautiful out, so i guess i'll be doing that tonight. instead, i spent some time perusing my cousin's website, as she has recently begun a new business, selling survival/ camping/ equipment. i'm the perfect target for this type of thing, because my middle name is 'preparedness,' (only not really...it just wouldn't flow well).

so after looking at everything and making mental notes on everything i wanted, i took off to run some errands and make the purchase that's been burning a hole in my pocket since december...aw shoot, enough with the suspense....

it's the taurus pt 709-slim...good little starter gun!

and i am now a member of the bullet trap-looking forward to going and trying it out soon! so, i've been reading the safety rules to bruno and chaco, and when i got to this one, chaco laughed so hard, he snorted...

c'mon, even chaco knew this was a silly warning, because criminals probably don't read the manual...let's face it, some of them probably don't even know how to read! (education gap)

so anyhoo, they now know all of the safety and dangers. next, i'm going to show them how to take it apart to clean it.

happy evening!
julie

who ate my lesson plans?

why do people start sentences with "let's see, now.."? as if they weren't seeing before... how is a blind person supposed to take that? perhaps super disappointed when no miracle of vision follows those words?

i just cannot stop being thrilled about my new technology!! the fact that we took our tests today and i was able to instantly scan them to know the results was amazing! and at the same time somewhat unsettling-we are going to need to be pushing it into overdrive, people! in pretty much every category!

Today i got home at a reasonable hour, and i took the boys for a walk; it was a pleasant walk because the weather was so incredible! then we got to the mail carousel, and i'm pretty sure the lady who walked up at the same time thought i had a loose screw because i looked down and bruno gave me one of his looks, so i responded, "i know!" completely acceptable in pet-owner-world...completely unappreciated in pet-hater-land. in other news...creeper squirrel was checking us out on our walk today!

he was staring at us until i went to take the pic...go figure!

i have to make a plug for my recent endeavors with the Teaching Trust Ed Policy program i am in...i was given the mission to write a REAL blog post, and it is of course about teaching stuff-evaluative observation and feedback to be exact. don't be afraid to check it out here!



 i'm very excited about going to the perot museum with my students tomorrow! ok....let me rephrase, i'm very excited about going to the perot museum tomorrow! 

i got home a little later than expected yesterday, and someone decided to let me know that they think lesson planning is overrated if it takes time away from them...

i may need to try harder to finish at school...only i feel like i seldom have a planning period to use for these types of planning things..

i also took the next step toward the leadership program-i set up my hour phone interview...oh boy.
 no way to really prepare for it, so i'll just re-read the three essays i submitted and hope for the best!

off to enjoy the rest of my evening, since i don't have to plan for too much tomorrow!
jules

childhood games prepared me for real life!

as predicted, today was in fact a new day...and better than yesterday.

planning period was effective, and everything went smoothly today. we figured out how to use the 'all in learning' scanner bubble sheets! woohoo!! we didn't finish early enough, so tomorrow we are going back to make corrections because there were a lot of misunderstandings about the play and the elements of the play. hmm...but i didn't really care about the misunderstanding, i was too excited about the fact that the bubble sheet worked!! it's the small things.

the only snag i ran into today was my printer. when i print, i've had difficulty with the printer...it would print one paper and jam, and i had to reset, and it would print one more and jam, over and over, but i had to get those bubble forms printed! so finally at lunch i took out the tray, where the jam was happening and a little plastic piece fell on the floor, so i figured out where it went and how to put it back, thinking, "GOT YOU,  little sucker!" and print, and jam again...so i looked on the floor again and saw a tiny spring, practically microscopic. good think i have super-hero eyes! so i spent the rest of my lunch with my needle-nose pliers trying to reconnect the spring in all the right places (there are only two possible places it could go-two ends!)  

for all of you who once played the operation game as children, it was useful for something! that game used to make me anxious because of the buzzing sound...stress a kid out!

that little spring is the size of a small stud earring. it was tricky trickerson!

today i left school as soon as my students were gone, and tonight i'll be working on more clicker-answer stuff for tomorrow...but i HAD to leave to make it to my appointment at the bullet trap! and when i got there, i was informed that my appointment was not scheduled...i was about to be seriously frustrated, but they went ahead and got me in anyway for a personal session.

so, steve, i think his name was, showed me a couple of 9mm, and we went with the beretta and a smith and wesson...i liked the s&w, but i think i might like to check out the glock...after i try it, i'll be ready to make my purchase. not gonna lie, i'm a pretty good shot-consistent. it's from all the bb gun practice. smile.

so, i only had 4 in the 8 zone, and they still count for 5 points. then i had 13 in the 9 zone and the remainder of the box of 50 were in the 10 and X...smile. we started at the short range and he moved it back like they would for the actually test.

so, now all i need to do is sign up for the test whenever they are available.

good release. i need to find someplace closer, though.

chaco looked at the target and was unimpressed. he actually told me that he was a better shot when he lifts his leg to pee...rude. i think that was his way of trying to get me to play at home instead of playing elsewhere. so, tonight we play!

off to play fetch!
julie

whine or cry? whine....wine or cry? wine.

ever had one of those days when nothing really went terribly wrong...in fact, teaching-wise, everything went as planned-home run (third base at least)...but still felt overwhelmed? yep, that was me today, and at one point i just wanted to curl up in fetal position and cry. and it's not even for girl reasons-so not pms.

so, when i came home, i just needed a good glass of wine.

close call, but i probably really needed a good cry (every once in awhile, it just helps..like once a year)

it also helped just to reflect on the beauty of my walk yesterday! i walked for about 45 minutes, and it was fabulous-45 minutes at my pace is a good little walk! i did stop to take a few pics because they certainly caught my attention! why did it catch my attention? well, see for yourselves, TULIPS!! i said it yesterday, i am a sucker for tulips. the man who finds the way to my heart will be sending me tulips or daisies! roses are too seductive and sexy-not my style...whereas daisies and tulips are more friendly and playful!

add in a little fountain, and how can you go wrong??

then i made my way around the park behind the savoye and life was sweet. i went without the boys because they like to stop at any whiff of urine, and i was not interested in stopping, so when i got home, i took them for an extra walk.

the other thing that helped was thinking about the fact that i am going to see wicked again! with friends!

defying gravity!

and i'm planning on doing season tickets next year! woohoo! i'd love to do the symphony...we'll have to see.

this morning, i did take in the coleslaw that i made out of our garden cabbage and carrots, and when i was picking my kiddos up from specials, renee commented on the coleslaw. she first advised me that she was a connoisseur of coleslaw, always trying out different varieties, and she actually went back for seconds! what a great compliment! it was fun to make something with the goods from our garden!

so, yes, this day wasn't terrible, i just, for whatever reason, had one of those moments. this week has to get better.
julie

what did one carrot say to the other? nothing...carrots can't talk!

hmm. well, well, well...(a very deep, dark hole where fresh water can be drawn for human consumption, yet bad things can happen-cyanide poisoning, children falling in), yesterday was potato day. i took my first class out and we had to harvest some produce to make room for the taters. amongst the produce, were two sassy carrots.

it got awkward when she started to talk about her last kiss...

and tell me if this doesn't remind you of this...

someone sent me this in a text awhile back, and it just made me laugh.

the crazy thing is that i erased that text, and i spent too long today trying to locate this-i was looking for pancakes instead of waffles. but i finally found it here!

here are the rest of the veggies from this batch-the students were excited and i think they'll be even more excited to see the potatoes when they're ready!

i may be making some coleslaw with the ingredients and bringing it in on monday!

and since i was cleaning food, i decided i might as well make more salsa (i'm pretty sure i've mentioned that i don't like to purchase salsa anymore-i like mine better).

i would be remiss not to mention yesterday afternoon. we had our local ALL IN LEARNING rep on campus to show us the ins and outs of this new technology that we have, and i am excited to get started with it. and afterward, we went to a little happy hour. good times- lots of laughter, and a little bit of tranquilizer darts, but we made it through without any major incidents...until lindsey dropped her purse contents all out on the floor and had to retrieve and archive them all...

fortunately it was all there.

and everything was fine until we stepped out onto the sidewalk...this game is overrated...i'm sure that the group across the street clapping was thinking that we'd had one too many. maybe one too many darts....i'm thinking that we're going to have to write some new legislation about dart-control...i'm calling for no more than 5 darts in the 'clip' per day-with low dosage of venom...otherwise, it gets a little ridiculous.


i need to go see if i can snag spock now. (one of my friends sent me a txt with a picture of his cousin up in mckinney! so funny!)

but if a carrot could talk, it would probably 'root' for the cabell chargers, being orange and all...
julie

you say potato, i say potato...(not quite the same effect when typed).

it's valentines day! sometimes i just look at all the cheap chocolate the kids bring in and think, "you really should've saved your money." but then i put on my best game face and 'my thankful motherly voice' because they are doing all they know to show appreciation, and they need to know that the thought does in fact count. so on my way out to the car, i was pondering what to do with all the extra chocolate and stuff. when i got to the parking lot, one of my 5th grade co-workers said she gave hers to our counselor...good call, why didn't i think of that? i hate it when people think of all the good ideas before i do!

i love the homemade stuff! although...the glass rose that glows and changes colors is pretty awesome!

 but my favorite of the day was this nifty little package that my co-science teacher gave me! you smash the bag, and then the package starts to expand..and all of a sudden, the bag busts open, and out pops this little bitty hand-sized balloon!! coolest thing ever!!

it was like a bag giving birth to a balloon and then sacrificing itself as it burst forth so that the baby balloon might live...i'm sure there's a devotional in there somewhere...

on the way home, i had to stop at tom thumb for the ingredients for salad i am taking to our little luncheon tomorrow. it's my favorite salad...a smoked salmon, spinach, fruit....with a zing- homemade vinaigrette type dressing...anyhoo, the point is, when i stopped, i saw but did not fall to the temptation of playing the claw..

i really wanted creepy spock!!

think of all the fun one could have with creepy spock. i mean, he could be a pass around at school...like a teacher flat stanley...only not flat and not stanley. hmm. in fact, i may have to stop in tomorrow with a handful of quarters and try my luck if he's still there! non-buyer's remorse..

tomorrow is the planting of the potatoes. we'll see how that goes. first i have to dig up whatever is in beds 5 and 6. just following orders. hopefully i can get to school early enough to prepare, and then work on it during my science classes, as it fits in with our current topic of soil. hands on will be good for our kiddos. and good for me, because they'll get their hands dirtier than i will. AND we'll get potatoes!

tomorrow is the day that will perhaps change the face of assessment and feedback in the classroom forEVERmore! i cannot wait to have the all in learning master pro come to teach young grasshoppers...(kung fu..anyone? anyone??) best worst-acting show ever! thank you, 70's!

enough is enough...tonight we sleep, for tomorrow.....we plant potatoes.
julie

i'm just glad the awkward sexy cup wasn't for me!

welp...good thing that would you rathers don't come true and are only hypothetical otherwise, this post would likely be antithetical...for i would be forced to rhyme all of the time. the last "would you rather" asked of me, was a bit of tomfoolery. to ask a teacher to rhyme all day, seems a bit like child's play. but i WILL say that although this may seem a bit nonsensical, i appreciate the allure of the more commonsensical.

i'm no dr. seuss.

i had the misfortune of being shot again today-methinks this should not be a daily occurrence..even after fixing the laser pointer...0 appreciation.

tutoring = toooooo loooong. the only saving grace is that my side kick is great.

and when i finally got home (had to stop to get valentines), i had to cut up potatoes...focusing on the eyes. making sure that each piece had 2 eyes-i was tempted to draw smiley faces on them before we plant them. i'm not quite sure how i got suckered into this. i still have other things that i need to be focusing on. i had looked up the info about planting them prior to the whole idea, so i knew what to do. now i need to wait a day for the protective coat to form on them before planting them (in case anyone wanted to know...)

THE BEST THING ABOUT THIS IS THAT THE POTATOES THAT COME FROM THE GARDEN WILL GO TO THE FOOD BANK!

in other news, one of the teachers on my hall got an early valentine from one of her students this morning...

awkward much?

last night i went to my education reform policy class, and it was a really great session! we got to hear from mr. mckenzie, an op-ed blogger for the dallas morning. he was interesting and had some good insights. and then we had three advocates telling a little about their organizations and how they got started. it was enlightening. 

i must make a quick plug for one of my coworkers and policy ed fellow, dallas gutierrez. check out his blog post on the teaching trust site here.

it is tragic that our society here in america holds the profession of teaching in such disregard; that it is not valued in a manner that reflects its importance. the fact that the phrase "those who can, do, those who can't teach," even exists, is evidence of a huge misconception about teachers. let's be honest, (as honesty certainly is the best policy) in fact, let's be brutally honest (intellectual brutality?) the job of a teacher is not merely to know one thing and master it. i find myself constantly learning new things and then i have to figure out the best way to coach different types of students and deal with discipline, and plan ahead, remember a to do list of items that need to get done and have deadlines, try to keep the lessons engaging enough for kids who are on, above and below level....try to integrate the latest and greatest technology into the lesson somehow, create rubrics, grade writing, reading, science and social studies essays...what have i left out? oh yeah, plan for tutoring, talk to parents, plant potatoes...work on common assessments, study data to figure out how to best impact my students, grade district writing papers, put up relevant bulletin boards..and i've left out so much (like sst's, rti, trainings, sub plans, committees, paperwork, paperwork, countless hours at home finishing what i didn't want to stay at school doing), but that said, if you are one of 'those who can' and feel that teaching is a cop-out job, i would like you to remember that the only way that you possibly could do, is because there was once a string of teachers who gave you the tools that you needed.

oh, and i would love to see you come to my room and 'do'  for a day in my classroom (without my help and management)...game on!  you see, the truth is, i have held a plethora of jobs in which i could have moved up and 'done,' but i wouldn't have had the impact or made a difference like i can as a teacher.

i'm not complaining, nor do i mean to rant, but last night the thought was just screaming through my head. teachers in this great country are not revered in the way they used to be, and our society reflects that. that is a sad commentary on our society.

to all of my teachers, i may not have shown the most appreciation when i was in class, but in retrospect, my hat is off to you. (if i were abraham lincoln, it would be a top hat, but lately, it's just a bandana....but it's still off in complete respect!). to those of you currently in the teaching profession, do not quit (unless you are terrible; in which case, it might be best if you did find a new calling). quality teachers are not easy to come by, but when we do encounter them, we should do whatever it takes to hold onto them!

i know, all of that from last night's meeting...

g'night!
 jrob

why can't they just make cards with my thoughts on them?

well...back to school!

so...i think i may have scared the pee out of someone today. we had made an agreement to put the invisible darts and dart guns away during the school-day, but as soon as 3:15 rolled around, game on! and of course, lindsey beat me to the draw on the way down the stairs, and i went down, but fortunately maria was there to find the invisible dart so i could get out the door to dismiss students. well, there was someone at the foot of the stairs, and when he saw me go down, maria said his face was in shock because he had no idea what was going on.

so, those of you who have no idea what this thing is, the 'game' consists of an invisible dart gun and invisible darts. when shot, you go down...because that's what darts do! and you're down until someone removes the dart. i think i might request a 30 second limit on the down time, because i know that if olivia, maria or dr. hughes is around, they will remove the dart, but i wouldn't put it past lindsey to sneak in when no one else is around on the last day of school before spring break and shoot me...we take this game seriously. perhaps by then it will be in the past. perhaps not.

i looked for any card that had a far-side or something with aborigines and dart guns at target, but i couldn't find any, so i made my own little comic. (erin beckwith loves it when i make comics, so she'll get a kick out of this one!)

a little difficult to see, so i added a close up

 let's not lie, this is definitely a contact sport...contact with the floor, wall, whoever you happen to fall on...it can be intense-as it should be.

carpet burn.

i wish i had the video or a link to the video, because the ambush in the hotel was classic...as was the willingness of the hotel night attendant to play along. he was like commando (not not dressed, but like the movie-diving and rolling and all that jazz)

and last night, i finally got to sit and catch up with heidi, one of my dear friends from HONDURAS. i made a book with my students, to model how to write a descriptive book, and i did it about utila, one of my favorite places in the world. she used to invite me out when she came back to visit, so i sent her a copy. it was so great to catch up, and it made me smile to know that although much has changed, much remains the same! i need to be better at staying in touch!

i am actually getting ready to look at the mimio website-i know i mentioned it in my last post, but if you teach, i would suggest you check it out! i am hoping to look into some grants or something to try to get a mimio teach (although i would prefer to get the projector), and the reading program. my biggest wish is that they would work on some bilingual materials.

so..i'm off to check that out right now and prepare my invisible darts,
julie

what do invisible aboriginal dart guns have to do with the tech conference?

well, it's been a long week-a good week, but i am still tired! we left on tuesday from school to go to a technology conference in austin. i was so relieved that one of my really good friends was able to take care of the boys. bruno and chaco felt very comfortable knowing that nika was caring for them-THANKS NIKA!!

i'm sure she didn't need all 3 pages of hand-written notes...

we piled into the minivan and off we went. it was a fairly light and easy ride down. a nice short stop in waco and then to our final destination with an eta of 5:50, just enough time to make it to the counter for our registration and specialty bags (with nothing super special...except the book-o-events). once we got back to the car (short for minivan...i guess van would be too, but that conjures up visions of the old white panel vans where kidnappers lurk)...anyhoo, we then went to z-tejas for dinner.

delicious and relaxing

 then when we had gorged ourselves....we went back to settle in at la quinta. i had checked my email and sent a text to nika to check on the dogs and finally closed my eyes to go to sleep-listening to ocean waves on my zune to fall asleep when all of a sudden, there were fog horns going off--strange, as i have listened to this every night for years, and there have never been fog warnings...a little confusing, then i finally fuddled my way to grab a jacket and go out for the fire alarm that had gone off...we looked out into the hall and maria and alisha were there looking around as well-none of us really wanted to go down 4 flights of stairs...then we got the call from olivia and lindsey saying that in fact, there was not an emergency; it was merely a laundry room thing. back to bed.

wednesday morning, we had an excellent keynote speaker- peter sheahan. i was impressed-it didn't hurt that he's hot. we got our tickets in for the door prizes, but we didn't come home with any doors.

i went to a few sessions-the one i was most impressed with was the ONE-EYE PATCH CLASSROOM...or maybe it was the one i-pad classroom...i was hoping for the previous...i mean how engaging would it be for the students to have a pirate environment type classroom! aaarrg! but the apps and application were very cool.

i did spend quite a bit of time in the exhibitors hall-the first day, dr. hughes showed me how to navigate the room and make the most of the experience! i walked away with an array of pens, mouse pads, candy, etc. i stopped at several booths to enter for ipads, ipad minis and a plethora of other fun items...so i am certain i will be deleting several emails over the next few months!

 then when a session i wanted to go to was full, i decided to go back down and learn more about several exhibitors and get pics with mobi, because my students are brainpop fans! i also found the booth that provided starbucks, and at another booth, i won a starbucks gift card-which i gave to maria, because she would appreciate it more than me.  i usually do not win things, so that was a surprise for me.

that evening we decided to do dinner out at the oasis (i liked the idea for the mere fact that it reminded me of a favorite song midnight at the oasis). so on the way out to travis lake when there was a lull in conversation, i mentioned the little know theory that approximately every 7 minutes, someone somewhere in the world is thinking about abraham lincoln-this was a theory that my old kamp friend joneel introduced me to several years ago, and it stuck with me.

once we got there, we missed the beautiful sunset, but it is still a beautiful resort! we had dinner, and truthfully, our waiter must've been having a rough evening, and we received the brunt of it. and when we finally received our check (which they could not divide),  and being the non-math person that i am, i went to task trying to divvy it up, but strangely i kept coming up short. then i finally realized that they had rung up olivia's twice, even though they were going to take it off entirely because it had been messed up and it arrived in an untimely fashion. so when we finally got that taken care of, we got home in time to go to sleep again. (long day)

then thursday i learned about mimio and i was in -educator-utopia. i liked. A LOT. in fact, i stayed through 2 different sessions hoping to win something. (i did in fact receive a great whiteboard eraser for wearing their bag around-and i gave it to lindsey-the shameless beggar-she'll use it more than i will anyway) and i had a great conversation with the presenter, who was her district IT tech. then i went to stand in a ridiculously long line for lunch and by the time i had waited halfway through the line, i realized that it was time to leave to get to the next session, or keynote.

i left in a huff, because i had not gotten lunch. people who know me well know that i am fairly easy-going until i get hungry. then i turn into a bitter human being. so i stopped at a little vending stop for a diet coke, and a snickers bar, hoping it would hold me over. then it got worse-the session i wanted was full, and by the time i got back to key note speaker, they weren't taking door prize tickets, so i didn't want to waste valuable time.

i decided it would be in the best interest of mankind if i went back to satisfy my hunger

 then i made my way back to the exhibit hall and sat through a few more interesting exhibitors and got more fun stuff. most of the time i was without cell phone because the convention center had sapped my juice! when i finally met up with the others, they wanted to go one way, and i decided to stick with the amx presentation (which really had nothing to do with me, it's just that i didn't want to get too far from mimio-i was watching their presentation, sitting in amx seats-just didn't want to seem like a mimio-stalker). the amx guy got one of the ladies to do dance dance revolution with him to dancing gangnam style and it was a hoot! i got some giant sunglasses AND i won the drawing for a $50 itunes card! woohoo!!

when we all met up again and took our stuff to the car, we then made our way to the cocktail party that we'd been invited to by knowvation. it was really nice, and it was good conversation-some interesting twists in conversation. then we made our way back to the convention center for the concert with the spazmatics good times-i enjoyed it more than i thought i would..thanks for wanting to go so badly, olivia!

i was informed that i walk too fast...i guess i walk with a mission...i fear that if i walk to slowly my blood might coagulate...

i believe it was at the concert that i may have opened a can of worms by introducing the invisible aborigine dart tranquilizer game...i  would have to say that lindsey probably took to this game the most. more about that in a later post.

Friday we went into a pinterest session, but it was a beginner session, so we walked out and went to the exhibitors booths again, this time we were on a mission to get to all in one learning. the most exciting part about this was that dr. hughes knows the gentleman that runs this booth, and he hooked us up with some clickers, a doc cam and an amazing system that i think will change the way we grade much of our stuff. i am very excited about this. it is a trial, but is is inexpensive enough that we might be able to actually get some! trial time starts now!! so each of us walked away with a box..everyone who saw us was asking if we won them, or where we got them, and what they were-we were free advertising!

AND lindsey and olivia got smart clickers! woah! needless to say, we were certainly packed into this minivan..it was cozy. and on the way home, we decided to wait until we were out of town to grab lunch. well, we passed the exit for macaroni grill-didn't get our mobile devices out and around in time...so we found a place called gepetto's pizza. we got there, and it was in a travel center..gas station. gas station pizza was not what we signed up for-got back in the car and went into salado and found a great little pizza place called...the pizza place. delicious! and it wasn't busy when we got there! we were all pleased!

when we got back in the car, we had a rough game of would you rather...i would rather be shot in the face with a tranquilizer dart. 

julie

breakfast and the pocket hose

i still have much 'work-stuff' to do, but i think i will take a break to write in my FUN blog! see, i just finished writing and editing the last of my 3 essays for the master program i am applying for (i only have one piece of information i need to get my paws on, and it will be NO TURNING BACK TIME).  i also just finished completing my blog post for the ed-policy, which i will add a link for when it gets published (not so much because it's amazing-which it isn't, as because it took so long to finish).

today started out a little flusteratingly because i had put the bacon into the pan and started crisping it up when i realized that i had no eggs. boo. so i thought about just eating yogurt and granola...with bacon. when i pulled out the yogurt, i am surprised that lightning did not come from heaven with God's booming voice letting me know that yogurt would be a sinful way of ruining his most blessed creation...but i realized it without all the drama because my stomach did a little flip flop. so i returned the yogurt to the fridge and thought, "hmm...hot tea and bacon for breakfast." then i decided just to break any semblance of a diet early and eat pancakes.

i grabbed the pancake mix and guess what...it wasn't bisquick, and it called for 1 egg...AND milk. well. i decided to go for it anyway and make my pancakes without the egg and without the milk. oh, and i added brown sugar instead of regular sugar too, so there! it turned out just fine, all of you egg and milk lobbyists out there who probably insisted that they put that on their label! i then realized that i had gotten rid of my aunt jemima syrup long ago. but...there was some karo syrup (which i keep for the pups should they ever have low blood sugar). with a little maple and vanilla extract, it was immediately converted into a sort of maple syrup...not bad.

as i type, i am, as a matter of fact, watching hgtv, and the POCKET hose commercial came on, "store it with your garden tools, OR JUST KEEP IT IN YOUR POCKET!" i've long thought these hoses were nifty, but really? keep it in your pocket?? being a soccer mom person (even though i'm not a mom) is one thing...preparedness (even though i'm not a boyscout) is another, but i cannot recall a situation when i've been asked if i had a spare hose in my pocket...pretty much EVER. besides, especially for the men, it just opens up that can of worms to the never-dying joke...'is that a hose in your pocket...or..." (you know you were thinking it).


after taking the boys for a walk, bruno was begging for a trim, so i chopped his furry hair off. said he wanted to look good for nika while she was watching them.

now it's time to get back and see if i can get in to put grades in for my kids-i kept getting kicked out earlier; i hate it when i can't get that kind of stuff done at home because i just never have time to do it when i'm at school. not to worry though, if i cannot get in, i have plenty of other things i need to mark off of my to-do list!

'working-weekends' are for the birds...i just don't know which birds, but i'm pretty sure not the bluebird of happiness.

julie