sharpies are nifty, but rowan bracelets are even better!!

this morning i had to swing by walmart early on because i had some small supplies i needed to acquire...and i almost got sucked into this aisle because i am a sucker for sharpies, bic, any markers and cool pens...

i JUST CAN'T HELP IT!

and apparently our little presentation for the all in learning went really well, because we will be doing another later this week or next week-i must verify... i would never promote a product i don't believe in..it's just that all-in-learning has made my life so much easier!! and more fun for the kiddos!

and i may have just made some bracelet purchases-can't wait for them to get here...my friend was in africa, and the ladies there in rowan make these bracelets to sell to put their kids through school and make a living. and i love the look of them!  please check them out  here!

because i haven't heard back yet about the masters program that i applied for (painstakingly), i'm kinda' making an assumption: that i did not get in. i could be wrong, but i doubt it- i really think i would have heard something by now... that said, it's that time of year when decisions need to be made, and i have to begin making plans for my summer if it is not to be tied up with higher education. certainly some disappointment along with some meta-cognitive reflection.


and just for the record, i definitely enjoyed myself a little dove chocolate tonight-i just wanted to read the wrapper, that's all...

great advice

so, doing what feels right must always match up with what i KNOW is right. i'm thankful that my parents raised me with integrity! at kamp, some of my favorite kampers made a name tag for me that said: rule follower. hmm. to be liked or to be respected...i choose the latter.

goodnight!
julie

can you categorize zombies as decomposers? if you're in my science class, you can try.

so...i was grading science notebooks, and under decomposers, one of my students listed zombies... i suppose they feast on dead things... i don't think i mentioned zombies during the lesson.

i forgot to mention that i got a text from gigi on saturday that made my heart smile (well, figuratively speaking, because we all know that hearts do not have mouths) it was a picture of tulip town-fields of tulips!! outside of seattle-GORGEOUS! it will be so great to see her when she comes to town to visit!

it's even better than the poppy fields of oz!!

so, last night i had a great dream- i was flying and i remember thinking how awesome it was! it was super refreshing! when i got to school this morning, i mentioned it to maria, and she said, "that means something...i'm not sure what, but it means something!" so i just looked it up, and it was pretty cool. i suppose that is how i feel.

 hard to believe that we are getting ready to step into may! today i felt like a salesperson...i felt like i was selling clicker all-in-learning systems! we had some principals from our cluster come in, and i was able to demonstrate how i use them in class and how simple they are and how much they have added to my classroom, data collection, and on the spot reteaching! i can't say enough about it!

is anything worse than waiting for results? i submit that there is not. be it results from a test, an interview, you name it, waiting sucks. sometimes there just isn't anything you can do- i was a little bummed that after send an email early in the morning, i still heard nothing throughout the day. i am not a good waiter...i was a good server when i worked at a restaurant, but not a wait-er. if it's a girl waiting for something does she automatically become a wait-ress? (can't help but think of flo and alice at mel's diner...)

and that's really all i got...until i'm done waiting.

julie

they say no news is good news...i say no news is simply...NO NEWS.

this week has been a busy week! our last two staar tests, some interviewees, and even a board meeting!

staar tests-boring.

the board meeting had lots of awards, and then our school was mentioned for vive verde and our garden, but after that, there was only one interesting topic, the rest was a little dull-lots of long-windedness due to it being election time, and people wanting to be heard.

and i thought they were going to let us know about the urban leadership program this week. i re-read the email, and it said they were finalizing the list by the 25th. i thought that meant that they were going to let people know the same day...either i was wrong, or they forgot to tell me one way or the other...i'll wait a few more days..albeit impatiently...i think the idea of it has become more enticing, because i have really enjoyed the ed policy class so much!

last night while watching the local news, they were reporting from the southlake arts festival, so i finished grading my dra assessments last night, and this morning i finished grading one of three class sets of science journals, and decided to reward myself!

with all of the construction (and the fact that i never go to south lake), i thought i'd gone the wrong way, but gps-lady got me there! so once i parked, i wandered around for a bit trying to find the actual art festival.

i should've looked in the box, i'm sure there was some kind of map or something....

 art festivals are much more fun with friends...and when not on a diet. i was so proud of myself though, even with all of the smells. i seriously wanted one of everything...kettle corn, tacos, candied pecans, cotton candy, diet coke, frozen belinis, corn dog...the smells were ridiculously tempting! BUT I ATE NOTHING!!

this is the wind chime art i had seen on the news the night before. it was next to the little jewelry tent where i found a cute little necklace.

and of course there was live music!

this is the one i got-she had some really neat stuff-i really need to set aside money for art festivals!

and then i made my way home after about an hour and a half. i really do love the area-it reminded me of the only other time i was actually down there to visit my dear friend anna brawner, and so obviously i had to pull out these pics! i love it when friends are in town and i can visit with them and catch up! nothing beats catching up!! i absolutely adore my friends! anna is super talented and just all around super-

we would like to thank south lake for having cows.

then when i got home, i felt bad for the boys, so we went to the park.when we got to the bridge, there were a bunch of kids getting prom pics taken.

as i was walking by, i heard some 'mean girl' up in the savoye apt.s yell down, "hey girl in the coral dress, can i come down there and get in your prom picture?!" i felt like yelling back up at her that you already had your chance, now stop embarrassing yourself...but of course, i behaved and we kept on walking.

i think i tired them because bruno was moaning about having to walk up that last hill.

now it's back to grading. gotta get it done!

julie

i'm just a teacher...with a voice...impacting wherever possible.

i did not sign up to teach with the notion that i would be in a classroom spinning my wheels because of our broken system, but that is the reality i walked into. now i need to do whatever it takes to make a difference.

i will preface this with: this is not a normal blog post for me-it is a description of what i have been involved with lately in the realm of education reform policy, because the past couple of weeks i have been breathing this stuff..it's like glue (i think...i don't know, i've never sniffed glue-i kinda like my brain cells). i described a little of what we did last week here.

ok, so..some of you may not really understand what i have been doing with the ed policy fellows, through the Teaching Trust. it has been a wonderful opportunity to learn about policy that is affecting teachers and policy that has the potential to affect our students. we have looked at local, state and national policy. we've had a LOT of reading and some writing assignments to flesh out our views. teachers have more of a voice than i think they realize, it is just a matter of looking into the issues and working together to try to promote changes that will help close the achievement gap in our schools.

the discussion panels have been enlightening-board members, SMU professors, advocates from various groups such as Educate Texas, Dallas Kids First, Stand for Children, the Dallas Regional Chamber, William McKenzie of the dallas morning news, recruitment personnel from disd and uplift education, and a few others.

after making contact with one of the advocates from dallas kids first, our group was invited to go to austin to meet different senators and discuss our program and our views in regards to one of the bills that was crafted around the texas teaching commission report of 2012. a couple of them were asked to testify on a bill that was up on the floor, impromptu, and they loved it!

about a week or two later, erika was contacted to see if we could come down again, so three fellows prepared to go back and had a great showing in the senate again. we were then contacted again to testify on two accompanying bills that dealt with smaller pieces in the house of representatives before the education committee.

the first bill that we testified on was hb 1751. the strengths of this bill are that it allows for development in a school district in various areas such as: building a strong mentoring program for the first 3 years of teaching, stronger teacher eval systems (including observations, teacher self evaluations, multiple points of student data including learning and growth), restructuring school days for collaborative communities, and instituting alternative teacher compensation-retention system, with a requirement of approval by teachers and school board.

while it certainly has its areas for improvement, it is a great jumping off point to begin dialoguing about.

the second bill is hb 2977. this bill could prove to be especially beneficial to students in the long run, by ensuring that we place an effective teacher in front of every student! It is powerful because it includes student achievement AND growth as one of the multiple evaluation measures, evaluations should inform individualized professional development plans, the commissioner must include teachers in the consultation process to review the evaluation framework, and all teachers would be evaluated at least once during the school year.

if i had students in school, i would be happy with both of these bills because they would impact the quality of teacher in the classroom. that is the goal of our program to look at policy, and learn to advocate on behalf of the teachers that are making a difference in order to impact our students.


i received a couple of thank you emails for being a part of advocacy in the capital. it takes a bit to turn a large ship, but if you don't even put your hands on the wheel, the ship will continue to trudge along in the same direction, and currently that direction is not producing thinking, cutting edge students who can thrive in today's college and workforce. we must do better!

CHECK OUT PICTURES OF OUR VISIT AND LIKE THE TEACHING TRUST FACEBOOK PAGE HERE, AND IF ANY OF THIS SOUNDS INTERESTING TO YOU (AND YOU TEACH IN Dallas ISD, DeSoto ISD, Irving ISD, Lancaster ISD, Grand Prairie ISD, Uplift Education, and KIPP DFW), there are links to apply for this program.

julie

i kept my scissors, i am a rebel...their fault!

has it really been over a week? crazy! i meant to post sooner, but i was tired (all week) and then when i finally got un-tired on friday, i realized that i left my usb-phone charger/connector at school and had no way to download pics. so today i went to radio shack for a second cord. which is fine, because i like having an extra to pack in my bag for emergencies!

so i got to radio shack and the guy at the counter showed me the cords that he had, and i opted for the cool enercell retractable one-so smart. and of course, he tried to talk me into getting a new phone (which i need to do, but i need to be prudent with my money more than i need new gadgets). 

well, last sunday p.m. i had a meeting with 5 fellows from our ed-policy class, and erika, our fearless leader. we had a lot of discussion about the bills that we would be testifying on. it was a good meeting, and i was home by around 9 ish...late enough not to worry too much about my observation the following day.

the observation went fine-i was pleasantly surprised when they showed up for science instead of reading...

then the next day i woke up early, went to school to pick up keys to drop the boys off at my principal's home because she was so gracious to spend time with them while i was away! they were a little skeptical, but i think they had a good time! had they stayed longer, they might've even become friends with her silkies. smile. my favorite part was the thoughtful updates that evening.

after i dropped them off, it was off to the airport. per usual, i was early (punctuality is everything..especially when flying!). so i went straight up to the gate. while i was up there i whipped out my scissors to cut some papers up, as i heard the lady on the intercom say no knives, or scissors beyond the security checkpoint area...not my fault they didn't catch it. or the knife in my purse...oops.

the others arrived shortly before boarding..after we boarded the plane and got settled, i was sitting beside a couple who were going beyond austin. so while we were waiting, the lady forced me into small talk, and found out why we were headed to austin. she proceeded to let me know that she knew one of the senators from fort worth, so she gave me her card in case we met the senator. then the pilot let us know that there had been a bird strike on the way in, so they were going to have to maintenance the plane to check its integrity, and we were going to have to switch planes.

so glad we didn't go american-they were grounded for several hours!

so we did just that-hoofed it to the other gate and got in line on the "honor system." fortunately this plane was bigger than the previous, because i was able to actually get a seat by the window this time, even though i was at the back of the line. and the inflight service was worthless, because i pretty much got my coffee, took 3 sips, and they came around to collect our trash because we were already on descent. boo.

at this point, we were running behind schedule, so there really wasn't time to grab lunch. we went straight to the hotel and dropped our stuff off in our rooms.

i've not seen this before, but they had a little model to show people how to draw the curtains and open the door...they must get a lot of idiots in their hotels...

 then we walked up to the capitol building. what a beautiful building!

and once we went in, we found a couple of the people from Educate Texas, who were waiting for us. they helped us get registered to testify and then we went to some of the offices to meet with the representatives or their spokespersons. it was very interesting. each office that we went into, it pretty much turned into a continued conversation as we explained why we were there.

erika was communicating with some of the advocates who were actually monitoring the session to let us know when we would be up...as 20 minutes turned into umm...3 hours..but it's ok, because that gave us a chance to stop and get a bite at the cafeteria. a salad and a coffee to tie me over until dinner, surely. well, we went to the session and listened in on some testimony for a couple of different bills, and finally our first bill was up. we gave our testimony to the education committee (there are 9 or 10 of them), but some were present, some stepped out (rude). it went well, and then we knew that we wouldn't be up until the last bill, so we left and went to get dinner at a little mexican restaurant across from our hotel, and two of our advocate friends came to join us and the conversation was good.

we still had plenty of time left, so we went back tot he hotel, and at about 11:45 we met back in the lobby to go back to the capitol building to testify for our last bill.

two of the gals had gotten there before us, and they had actually kind of cornered the chair of the committee, who had stepped out to meet them because another rep slipped him a note. so we walked up just as they started speaking with him-perfect timing! apparently, on previous visits, erika had tried to set up appointments to meet with him, but to no avail, so this was a plus.

then we went in to sit and wait a little more for our chance to talk about hb 2977. it was quite empowering to stand in front of the reps and state our position and give testimony as to why we support our position! good times. well, hopefully we had coherent arguments..the fact of the matter is that we were not finished until about 2-2:30, i am pretty sure i laid my head down on my pillow at about 3 a.m. and my roomie had to be up at 4:30 because she was leaving on an earlier flight. so i was able to go back to sleep for an hour before i had to get up and at 'em. we arrived at the airport, and guess what, my scissors and knife made it through again! (i was pretty sure that the rules had changed-maybe they just hadn't changed the announcements yet).  

at that point, we were on the lookout for breakfast food. all we found was a little mexican fast food, and a burger/sandwich joint. so we got a couple of egg and bacon tacos. the flight was on time, and we were off without a hitch...until we landed and the gate we were supposed to pull into was full, so they had to wait for permission to park it elsewhere. (this is where it comes in handy to have worked for the airlines before, things like this don't phase me too much).

then i went to get the boys, and bring them home. they were talking nonstop about how much fun they had at the sleepover.when we got home, they crashed with me for a 40 minute power nap, and then i was up to shower and get to school before noon.

the rest of the week went by fairly quickly and i enjoyed tutoring science...i think sandra learned some stuff too! 

and yesterday it hit me that we are two weeks away (and counting) to wicked!!!

i'm so excited!! my principal went and thoroughly enjoyed it-she let me look at her playbill, and i am even more excited than ever!!

well, i think that pretty much catches us up!

evening!
julie

my coworker now has a white elephant gift for next Christmas...and i have a warm fuzzy!

 WAIT! I MISSED IT! apparently today was national grilled cheese day....and i MISSED it!! boo. sigh. tear.

and moving right along..remember those squirrel underpants i got? no, seriously. well, today i gave them to a co-worker with a similar sense of humor to start friday out right! and in return i got a warm fuzzy! i remember hearing the story about warm fuzzies when i was younger, and i loved it, so when i saw them in her room a couple of months ago, it made me happy!

ahhhhh. warm fuzzy.

i seriously do love the idea of having the warm fuzzies as a special reward in class...

yesterday, as i was getting ready to go into a data meeting that we had already kinda discussed, i got an email about a spot observation on monday. i might not have been as focussed as i could have been. hmm. good times. so i had to clean up my room a bit. it's like mom's coming over, so you make your bed and pick up your socks. only no bed and no socks...and it's not my mom...

so that was the key pressure point of preparation and then i got an email this morning. i was very excited to get it! it was a request for ed-policy fellows to give testimony on the two bills that we called austin about on wednesday! they called the teaching trust and asked our group to go down again! how cool is that? this time we will be giving testimony for hb 2977 introduced by Villalba and Patrick's hb 1751. very exciting! this means that i will be using this weekend to read up and work on my testimony. a group of us will then meet up to talk over our work and our plans.

monday observation...tuesday testimony...wednesday morning fly back and pick up the latter half of the day and tutoring.  wednesday night 5 pm advisory committee for policy ed...busy week.

 so i need to think of some way to make it up to the boys..we're going to need to go to petsmart or something tomorrow, i think.

oh, and fyi, the diet is going great! no sugar except an occasional dark chocolate piece...no diet coke-no craving, no breads or chips...feeling like a cave man....can't wait till my 31 days are up. i want a slice of pizza. and the cake that i saw my assistant principal carrying yesterday!

'sweet' dreams (for everyone else),
julie

it's sibling day! bummer for all of you single children (guess you'll just have to find something else to celebrate)

i did my civic duty. i called the house chair about the bill we want to pass. (if you didn't know i was in an education policy class, you might think i called out to the chair in my house..like a kitchen chair about getting rid of a counterfeit bill....or that one of us-probably not the chair had eaten a bill and needed to pass it out of our system..or you might even think i was calling my chair about walking past a certain hottie named "bill"...but NO), as those of you who have followed this blog know, i have been in this class since december, and most recently, we are trying to get the tx house of reps to see and support a bill about recruiting and retaining the most effective teachers possible in classrooms.

we had a great class last night, speaking/listening to what our local dallas board trustee had to say about local policy and explaining how our board does things. it was very enlightening. i wish more of our trustees were as diligent as he is in looking at things and putting actual thought into what is happening and needs to happen to help improve our school district.

-also yesterday-
my class went to the book fair. woohoo! there are actually several books that i want!

how CUTE is this baby sloth??! too cute, i tell ya!

this morning on the way to work, on the radio, the commentator totally referred to a spelling bee as a sport! WHAT?? it's true.

today is national sibling day- HAPPINESS TO ALL SIBLINGS! so, here is my tribute to my brother, david:

first airplane trip to visit the grandparents

look at what my parents did to us at Easter!!

yes, my dad was the pastor and we were the main attraction, at least in our minds (i think david is picking a wedgie in this one-or he just thought he would make special pose-putting me in a headlock). please notice my open mouth-i'm pretty sure that is not how my parents taught us to smile...

...but then again, my brother has the open-mouth smile as well-this was in college, when he worked for the sound department

so, he really wanted to stencil the chiquita banana symbol on the side of his baby (the car, not his real baby below)-totally cool 80's

and david with their first child-who is now growing up faster than she should!

david and i had a lot of fun growing up. we shared some of the same friends and i always wanted to play with his friends. in wisconsin it was riding bikes, playing funny dress-up games with the mcguinty's, sand box, tree house, football, baseball and when we were in iowa, we did everything together with our youth group, from Bible quizzing to snowball fights and snowmen, to going pretty much anywhere in the little yellow beetle...

 then in HONDURAS we did a lot together when we were older. we played basketball with friends, played water-gun war all over the neighborhood at night, climbed water towers and ate hawaiian pizza while watching fireworks, hiked back to the river to slide down the natural rock slide, drove around the strip drinking tao's iced tea...there wasn't much that we DIDN'T do together with friends when we were in high school.

my sibling is pretty cool. he is much more intelligent than i am-he would come home with calculus and physics tests with a + and i would find them in the trash can and think, "dude! if that were mine, i would frame it!" he is much more level-headed than i am, and he is very patient. i wish we didn't live 11 hours apart, but whatcha gonna' do?! i'm not a great sibling because i don't call very often-i am not good at talking on the phone. but i do try to get a letter off once in awhile! so, david, here's to you!

happy sibling day, ya'll!
julie

it's a good thing i never grew up on 'veggie tales' or i might feel a little guilty

well, so far so good-i have not hurt anyone.

since i decided on the no more diet coke, i also decided to get back on my diet...it's game time ya'all! went to sprouts on saturday and it was good to get back into the groove! yesterday i made my meals for the week-i'll be partaking of a taco-ish salad, lettuce wraps, tahini-tomato stuffed chicken breast, bun-less burgers...i got it covered!

lots of veggies and fruits

i had to throw out a bunch of stuff that i know i cannot have, so that i won't be tempted by it! tomorrow i will have test #1: they provide the best catered meals for our tues. night ed-policy class! i will take my meal with me and pretend that it is whatever they are having!

the boys are pretty excited about the new meal plan because they really like carrots and apples. silly boys.

and another fun little treat was the groupon that i took advantage of today-a little facial and massage action! woo hoo! (i really don't treat myself often enough) i feel relaxed just thinking about it! it was hard to pass up because it was so cheap!

i would like to take just a moment to recognize the passing of one of america's great mousekateer icons, annette funicello.

as well, may margaret thatcher rest in peace! the iron lady-with a will of steel; such a determined ally in step with president reagan. when i was mentioning thatcher and reagan to the boys, they got all excited, because they were thinking of the politicians' namesakes, b-mayes' boys, up in wyoming. they miss getting together to play! then i started to explain the powerful duo and first chaco walked away, then bruno after feigning interest for about 30 seconds, yawned and went to the screen door to enjoy the breeze (as opposed to the hot air). they have no idea!

julie

celebrate life, celebrate lives, celebrate trees...but poodles? nope...we won't be celebrating those.

i cannot believe that the time has slipped away from me today! boo.

i woke up this morning, and i was able to be a part of celebrating a life. we had an older gentleman who has tutored and mentored students at our school over the past several years. he chose to be involved with our students and his consistency and commitment to them will leave a print on their lives forever!

THANK YOU MR. PAUL!!!

 a couple of days ago i also got another little invitation-and it will be a celebration of a different sort...still a celebration of life...in fact, a celebration of two lives becoming one! i'm so excited for miss xochitl and eric! i am so glad that i got to be a part of welcoming her to our school and helping her transition into teaching, and even more excited that i get to be there as she begins another new phase of life!

love it!

 as i mentioned before, we had STAAR testing this week...boo. then we had an early release on friday. along with early release, unimas came and shot some footage for vive verde..in fact, my good friend miguel (not really, i merely know his name) did the weather LIVE with a couple of my students, ap ms. perez, and coworker- dallas. it was really fun having to be there at 6 am...no, it really wasn't at all. AND to add to it, we filmed out in the garden, and i wasn't thinking. i walked around the backside of the tree, and it was very muddy, so i spent a good 5 minutes trying to scrape mud in strategic locations.

the students loved it and they were super excited!

 then after we had breakfast, we were able to go out and plant a tree that was donated by vive verde. it was pretty cool; all of the kids got to use shovels to put their dirt on the pile. it's a beautiful oak tree, and it will be beautiful when the colors change! it was funny to turn around and see so many classes at their windows watching-the camera man got some of them on film as well.

 after we had a special weather presentation, our kids had a reading common assessment, and then early release. so for the early release, we went to the cafeteria, and i had my last diet coke for awhile. time to pull out the excedrin again. then we went up to work on lesson plans and since we left before everyone else, we played a little game of "what can you make out of the napkin?" and we went around and came up with a chinese airplane, head band, cape, cup, etc..and we ended on this note: mr. napkin face:

lindsey as a cartoon character

maria got a funny little video of it-if i could upload it, i would...good laughs!

and back to today. after the memorial service, i went to the shooting range again with high hopes. last time i was there, the guy at the counter sold me a huge box of 350 rounds. well, at that time, the gun worked really well with certain ammunition, but then when i filled it with the new stuff that i bought from him, it didn't have enough powder to cycle the next round....i was so frustrated...i had one last "good" round, so i exchanged it with the one in the barrel and it did cycle through completely.

so today i went in and they had the good stuff, so i decided to try the same thing as before and put one good round in, and fill the magazine with the other. it worked every time! i was thrilled. the guy at the counter said they could sell me the remington ammo in bulk (like a bucket-full)...perhaps next time. i was a little less than thrilled today though because this is the second time i've been in and they have not had 9mm rounds, so i haven't been able to shoot my bigger gun.boo.

then the boys and i took a walk and bruno told a black poodle how ugly he thought she was; don't worry, we had a talk, as chaco was muttering under his breath how much he really didn't like poodles. i thought about reading to him from john steinbeck's 'travels with charley' so he could see poodles aren't all bad. i decided not to though, because i knew he wouldn't sit still for it. besides, i was reminded of my aunt beth's poodle timothy, who chewed up my grandma's dining room chairs, and decided that i really don't need to be a poodle-advocate.

and that's really all i've got to say about that!

julie

testing brought back memories of HONDURAS

well, here we are again...testing wears me out! first it was taks...now it's staar season. i'm not a fan of testing, because it makes for a treacherously long day! and i get so stinkin' bored! at least i was with my students from last year. as i was looking around the room, i was reminded of how much i miss them! they were a good class! i don't remember if i thought that last year, but right now, i am REALLY missing them!

so as i was 'actively monitoring', i had to strategically move around the room. and amazingly enough, it seemed like every time someone important would walk by or pop their head in, i was in the same spot, hence making it look like i wasn't really moving around the room (but if you ask those kids, i think they were getting dizzy...and i did it with such stealth, that they would quietly look around to locate my position).

yesterday was better than today because the windows were open (it was so hot in the room, they had to open them), and it was great to feel the breeze, and hear the fountain and the birds! relaxing. at one point, it made me think about high school in HONDURAS  at e.i.s. we kinda had an open-air ventilation system. i transported myself back to the good-ol-days when i had to do social work-collating dirt, filling 100s of bags full of dirt for our greenhouse, planting plants all around the drive...as much as i didn't enjoy social work because i'd rather have been playing volleyball, i look back on it fondly...if those were the "unenjoyable" moments, you can imagine how incredible the other moments were! i truly enjoyed every minute of it! some moments:

typical computer class..notice how few computers there are..hmmm..

this picture is special to me because freda was one of those friends who was so humble and fun and everyone adored her and her quiet spirit-she recently passed away due to cancer, but her spirit and way of being remain fresh in my memories!

just taking a moment to play a little air-guitar...

eis breakfast club (special spanish class...and we were pretty special....in our minds)

yanira my volleyball pal-and i believe that is chin behind us (he was one of the guys who helped us improve our game)

and here we are at a game-i don't stick out like a sore thumb do i?

i wouldn't give up my high school years in HONDURAS for all the money in the world! sorry-total tangent...wait, no, i'm not sorry! every once in awhile i have to talk about the amazingness of my past because it has shaped who i am today! (someday i will have to share some of the stories about individual friends-erika, helen, sheryl(little sis), bernadette, and so many more!)

so back to testing...last night i decided to make some food for today-somehow it just makes the day a tiny bit better...so i was looking forward to that while we were testing, which made every minute take 7 minutes to pass (and as everyone knows, every seven minutes, someone is thinking about abraham lincoln); by then most of the kids were done with their test. so after lunch, i was a little tired..in fact i may or may not have tried to hypnotize myself into staying awake with my classroom keys....and the natives were getting restless- lots of fidgeting. so when that final student raised his hand to let me know he was done, i rejoiced!

and then when i took students outside to be picked up, i was blind-sided by the cold weather BOOM! there it was! so i was very excited to come home and put on my long-sleeve t that i mentioned yesterday (pretty sure i have worn it every day since i got it). in fact, i have TWO shirts on! i also have the soft, green one (also from bmayes, also from wyoming!) i have just come to realize that i am passionate about awesome comfortable t-shirts! thank you bmayes for helping me to learn that about myself! so, there you have it...to all potential gentleman callers out there (but let's be honest, who even says 'gentleman callers' besides jane austen and marilla from anne of green gables..) but i digress, it's like i was saying, apparently tulips and daisies are only one way to my heart, comfy t's are the other! so , the one who comes bearing said gifts will most certainly be up there on my list (but then he has to pass the intelligent conversation test, and meet the high expectations and make me laugh) well, in the meantime...i'll just buy my own flowers or grow them and wear the t-shirts my friends get for me!

julie

i'm not as lucky as my friends, but i CAN get my dogs to lay down and be quiet!

let's see...i need to back up a couple of days. last week we had a couple of days off because of our unused inclement weather days; love me a mild winter! so a group of gals from school made some plans to go up to winstar in oklahoma. after coming home to take the boys out and play for a bit, i met up with the girls at the hair and make-up party-so fun to be pretty for a night (smile).

who are those hotties??

we may or may not have taken the long way around, even after the security guy (with sarcasm as thick as molasses) told us to take three lefts...someone (who can remain nameless), piped up-NO WAY! there's no way that we'll get there if we take three lefts! that doesn't even make sense! i can see it right there!! so instead of the 3 lefts (which pretty much takes one around the block), we went right a few times and avoided the closed road and after a few jaunts and turns we did  wind around to end up in front of the hotel!

when the reservations were made, we were under the impression that there would be a roll-away bed...when we got there, we asked the bell-boy-man and famous last words, "sure, i'll go check on that and bring it right up..." so we took off, and had dinner, then went down to 'see the world' starting in london, i believe. we ended up in rome or china and played blackjack. then at the slots, i watched as lindsey put in $1 and turned it into 64! woah! and natalie was so funny at the slot machines-she was so excited about them until she realized that she was getting swindled! so she turned around and used her last 20 at the blackjack table and won back everything that she lost!

the sad thing was that as we looked around, there were several people there who really looked like they should have been using that money to pay for milk and bread...

guess what! when we got back to the room, the bed was NOT there! huge bedroom, and they had the audacity to tell us that it was a fire hazard...jerks. so the beds (being queen) were not really big enough to comfortably accommodate all of us, so we called down and they brought up some comforters and we created a pallet on the floor. it was actually fairly comfortable-i should have slept with my head to the other end, though, because the drapes wouldn't close, and there was light streaming in-i don't sleep well with light, and of course, i didn't bring my sleep mask that i don't have...and around 5:30 ish, someone's (cougholivia) alarm went off...perhaps to get ready for school...and it was fitful sleep from there (which was fine, because i would come home to sleep anyway). and thank goodness xochitl did not have car-sickness there or back!

it's always fun just to get out of school and see people outside of the confines of the school building-that's when things get real.

i got to catch up on a couple of movies on thursday, and then on friday i worked with the boys on some laying down and not barking...we're getting better-need more treats!

focus..stay down.

when i came home, i saw that the lawn people had come and they were leaving leaves in bags all over the place...something must be wrong with me, because i didn't think 'awesome, fresh lawn.' no, i thought, 'i need to snag one of those bags for the compost pile at school!' and so i went to get my mail, and as i pulled toward the gate, there were a couple of bags, so i decided to let the two cars behind me pass by so i could nonchalantly heft a bag into the trunk of my car quickly before anyone noticed what i was doing...not like they'd stop me or anything...and trying to be all smooth and what not, i got it over the lip of the trunk, and then it got stuck, so there i was trying to shove-stuff it in there.

yesterday, i saw an ant crawling around in my car...'that's weird...' i thought. it didn't even dawn on me that he'd been hiding in that bag, waiting to make his move...in fact, i would've forgotten all about the bag of leaves had i not opened the trunk yesterday morning when i was hoping to see my cart there, but it was not there-i was slightly disappointed because i couldn't use the bag of leaves to cart my books and such in, now i had to carry them. unless i could get that freakin' ant and his buddies to help me out...

just grab one, everyone's doing it!

but the best part about getting home was that my new long sleeve-t was waiting for me!! bmayes! it is AMAZING!! it's so soft-new favorite! (even though i cannot wear it this summer in tx...unless of course i blast my a/c for that specific purpose...)

not everyone can say they have a moose t-shirt! i absolutely love it!

 on saturday, i was planning on going to a birthday celebration, but i don't know if it was something i ate, or stress, or what, but i was wishing that i hadn't left my immodium ad at school. i was picturing exactly where i left it...

thank goodness, EASTER morning brought good news! celebrating a risen SAVIOR-nothing beats that! and then an EASTER meal...of homemade chips and salsa...

blessed,
julie