curing garlic, tree art and a missing fan

it's thursday! woo! dang it...it's only wednesday, and just saying it's thursday doesn't make it so. boo.

the other day when i was taking the boys for a walk, bruno stopped for a minute and said, "hey! what's that person doing trying to climb into that tree??" 

hmm. it does kinda' look like someone getting sucked up into the trunk of the tree.. (if you can't see it, squint your eyes a little)

 and my passport came in the mail in record time (which was a relief, since i booked my ticket to HONDURAS in faith that there would be no hang-ups!) the guy who originally helped me actually did his job-even if he did look like an snl character-good job, passport office guy!

the new passports are sharp compared to the oldie i have from the late 80's! wow!

 and here's what's going on in the garden...i am hoping that pre-k, kinder and first can get some herbs going so that they will at least begin to sprout before the kids go on vacation! i got seeds in the mail for stevia and cumin. i'm hoping the stevia plant leaves are sweet-as that is where the sweetener comes from, and i am hoping that perhaps we can experiment to make our own little sweetener. and the cumin, well, hands down, one of my favorite spices! i use it in salsa and pretty much anything spicy to add a hint of the old taco scratch and sniff sticker smell. the carrots-yum...and swiss chard-which is one of my main staples for green drinks-

seed savers exchange if you garden, check out their seeds and varieties!

 we've also had some of our flowers come out-roses in fuchsia, yellow and off-white, the irises have come out as well for a short spell. i have loved seeing different groups in the garden for different reasons-the kids absolutely love it!

yesterday i harvested a bunch of the cilantro, parsley and mint, washed it, bagged it and put it out in the teachers lounge-it went fairly quickly. today i wanted to go back out and dig up the garlic-it was time. so i carefully dug them up, and while i was at it, i found a colony of fire ants...THAT CAME STRAIGHT FROM THE FIERY DEPTHS OF HADES. we must rid the earth of these ridiculous nuisances before we plant anything else in that bed. so, after i dug them up, i strung them up to let them cure-this could take a few weeks. in fact, garden betty says that it can take up to a month or two, depending on the humidity.

i hung them on the back side of the gardening shed because it is the most shade, least sunlight, and well ventilated...the only problem is that if/when it rains, they're going to get wet, delaying the curing process...i am tempted to 'make the shed more ventilated'...i will discuss this with the powers that be...plunge cut a small hole near the top overhang and install screen..no problem...

anyhoo, soon enough, there will be garlic! i'm a little obsessed.

for those of you who are wondering how the wen is going...I LOVE IT!

and i finally did go back to walmart to get that blower fan that i had previously asked about. i had to convince chaco that it was not a monster-by offering him treats in front of it, and showing him how he could sit there and let the wind blow through his hair and pretend he's a super model...or pretend he's in a convertible (neither of which he really aspires to, so that didn't last long). but in the meantime, i have been patiently waiting for ups to deliver a bedfan...i know, a what? look it up! anyhoo, as i tracked it, i was expecting it today, and it has not arrived, yet it says delivered. and signed for by E WADE. so...i may have jumped the gun and sent a 'firm' message about it, because no one in the office is named e wade, and it wasn't down there when i checked, so in my head, they delivered it to the wrong person...now i'm wondering if this E WADE person is someone who received it for ups at the docking station or something...not sure, but i may have told the lady down at the office that i was going to the other side of the complex to the other apt with the same number to have a heart to heart, because it seems kinda like kidnapping...ever seen TAKEN? enough said. i want my fan, or i might have to pull out a "particular set of skills i have acquired over a very long career..."

let's call it a night-
julie

freeze warning, but warm heart!

today was an instructional coach training day, and it was actually a decent training. that said, nothing really stands out from them to really talk about. (so why did i mention it? glad you asked) fortunately when i woke up this morning, i heard the weather guy say, "cover up those plants tonight!" so i found an extra sheet in the closet, and all i could think about all day was that i needed to get back to school to cover up all of those beautiful plants!

i did stop to get gas this morning and realized i forgot my water, so i grabbed a gallon and a donut...because nothing goes with water like...donuts, am i right? anyhoo, when i got up to the counter, the lady in front of me had paid cash for her gas, and she told the guy to use the change to pay for some of my items-i LOVE those types of moments! i need to make a conscious effort to do stuff like that! so i had a great start to the day.

so, after the training, when i got to school, i grabbed my sheet and some sheets that we brought the last time it froze and went out to the garden. it was so fun to see how much everything had grown even just over the weekend! some of the flowers had come out and everything is looking great! i didn't have enough sheets to cover everything, so i went back in and snagged some rags from the custodian. then for the remainder, i grabbed some planters and put them upside down over some of the last plants- hopefully they endure the night..."hold on little plants, hold on!" cue Wilson Phillips-HOLD ON FOR ONE MORE DAY- part of my musical..i know, poison and wilson phillips in the same musical....what?

look! the peas are coming out! so i may have eaten two pods-so sweet and delicious!! i need these guys to live!

 it kinda looks like i tucked them in to go to sleep! i'll have to go in early and uncover them all tomorrow morning so that they don't bake in the sun.

 when i finally got home, i was excited because when i stopped by the mailbox, i had a letter! you must understand that although i write lots of letters, i don't receive much mail-i really don't expect to, so when i do get mail, it is priceless. there is something about handwriting that is almost akin to hearing their voice.

one of my dear friends from HONDURAS took a trip to asia not too long ago, and while she was there, she picked up this card!

Brandy, the fact that you picked this up intentionally to send to me MADE MY DAY! feeling special

i also have a package in the office, but i'm pretty sure it's just a purchase that i made-maybe the fan...or the seeds...but i couldn't get them today because the office was closed before i could get there...but that didn't even phase me...i got a letter!

chillin' (i mean for real...cold front...freeze warning),
jules

i pushed the button-it's for REAL! now i'll probably have strange dreams about that as well!

well. i did it. boys and girls, it's done!

not gonna' lie, it was a little nerve-racking (i looked it up, and it is interchangeable with nerve-wracking...but the first spelling was without the /w/, so i thought it would be most correct to use the /r/...not that anyone really cares)... but i pushed enter, and there's no going back! NOT THAT I'D WANT TO! but the truth is when it comes to booking flights or making decisions that far out, once you push the button, it's final!

i'm going home this summer!

it won't feel real until the plane lands.

 so, it's been over 20 years since i've been back, and i'm excited to see all of the changes.but even more than that, i'm excited to see some dear friends in person. talk about priceless...it's one thing to send letters, and to see peoples' status updates on facebook, but it's something completely different to laugh with friends or sit and chat over coffee. i feel as though i've been somewhat neglectful of the one place that i spent the most years of my life-those formative years; i am hoping to change that. i'm pretty sure i'm going to smile from now until june 30, then i'll just be ecstatica!

so that's exciting!

i may or may not have mentioned that i bought a mini digital recorder so that i wouldn't forget things-well, i keep it by my bed so i can record important information (and not-so-important information)...i've been able to capture a few dreams.

 so i thought i'd share a couple of them with you because they were comical in my mind-hopefully it will translate that way when i type it out.

the first one had to do with my brother driving the maroon car (my car-which wasn't even the same color of my real car) too quickly around the exit loop and we went into the ditch-a ditch that was steep and shaped like a 'v' just big enough for the car to fit in wedged with the nose down, trunk up...fortunately i willed it to go in slow motion so that there were no scratches and dents (i guess i didn't want to have to deal with the insurance agents in my dream)...so my dad and i got out and pushed it out-i mean we actually lifted it out; and it was really quite light-fiberglass i'm sure. "lift with your knees!" anyhoo, we got it out, then realized that it took so long that we were not going to be able to stop in branson for lunch. devastating. and i woke up about then and the first thing i said into the recorder was that i didn't need crossfit because i could lift a freakin' car out of a ditch! (so i guess that confirms it, i will not be getting a crossfit membership in my dreams).

then there was the dream where a bunch of colleagues were sitting around in a room-some kind of meeting. the lady leading this meeting was a dynamic leader (she reminded me a little of my 3rd grade teacher Mrs. VanHorn), and i secretly wanted to be her best friend because there was some kind of 'coolness factor' about her. even after i got called out for not knowing when we were supposed to pick up our giant hair bows for the dance. (what dance, you ask..i'm not really sure...all i know is that i DIDN'T know when to pick up the hair bows-and they weren't a joke, the hair bows were a big deal-apparently). so upon not being able to answer, this lady jumped up and said, "let me help you out with that!" and she burst into a song and dance set to the original wonder woman theme song (i'm not even making this up) the only thing is that she had changed the wording, and from the song, i got that we were supposed to pick them up at horizon....which in my book wasn't a time, so i pieced it all together (we call that inferring) anyhoo, i used my knowledge from fiddler on the roof- sunrise/sunset- to determine that surely she meant we were to pick up the bows at sunset.

and last but not least, last night i was out at an estate in the country hills. when i walked in, i was confronted by the director of the special event. he gave me a paper with 3 words on it and the treble and bass clefs, but no notes. he said-you'll be harmonizing with the duet. (i think this disheveled man may have been drunk...harmonizing with a duet would make it a trio...) anyhoo, i looked at the paper and i had no idea what he wanted me to do because there were no notes on the paper, so for the remainder of the dream, i had this anxiety about this event. before the singing was to take place, a bunch of people went outside, including myself. when i got out there, i don't know exactly what everyone was doing, there was a tense feeling, and right about the time i decided to hang out, someone yelled, "CANNONBALLS!" and there was no swimming pool, so i looked up and there were actually softball sized iron cannonballs flying through the air toward us! everyone started running and scattering, so i grabbed my brother's arm (he was in this dream as well), so we dodged cannonballs, heading toward the house, when i saw some sort of aircraft dive bomb/ kamikaze into the estate, so i pulled him in the opposite direction and we jumped down a rock embankment because another aircraft was coming toward us. i was sure that we were safe between these boulders, but no. the aircraft found us and crashed within feet of us. then out of no where, a man with a mustache showed up and gave a demonstration of how these "amazing aircraft" work...they were made of plastic tubes similar to oversized tennis tubes...and thank goodness, that's about when i woke up and i never had to sing in the duo-trio that i didn't even know the notes to.

weird, huh? the dreams actually started when i started sleeping well again-when i got the noise machine. as strange as they are, i LOVE having interesting dreams-it's almost like reading a book in my sleep. (only not really).

ok. enough strangeness for one day-i'm going home this summer!!
julie

tulips & daisies= happy place, but roses? well, every rose has its thorn...

hmm. so last week i was able to go down to the county place to get my passport. i'm hoping to start an annual tradition that should have happened long ago. my desire is to make more of an effort to get back to HONDURAS more often. i still consider it home, so we need to get reacquainted-and i'm SO excited!  

then i treated the boys to the dog park...only i don't know if they really thought it was much of a treat. it sure was beautiful though, and the weather was to die for!(thankfully we didn't have to die for it).

while we were at this little dog park, the boys were on their best behavior, but they aren't big on venturing off by themselves. they followed me pretty much wherever i went. when they finally did go a little further from home base, a group of dogs approached and it was ok for a minute and then they came back for security's sake. once i decided to walk around, they followed me and a medium sized dog came over and was a little more aggressive than chaco liked, so he growled and snarled and did the "IF-YOU-DON'T-PICK-ME-UP-NOW, THIS-WON'T-END-PRETTY" routine; so i picked him up. and then the dog got in bruno's face and he looked at her and said, "i don't know who you think you are, but if you don't move on, i'm gonna lay the smack down!" (which is very uncharacteristic of bruno). thankfully, bad-mannered-dog's owner came and got it. woof.

we didn't stay too long because they really weren't interested in playing...i think they may be 'breed isolationists'...if that were a thing, it would mean that they are discriminatory against dogs that aren't their breed, because they get along great with other yorkies...?  so we went for a walk around the park, and like i said, it's really pretty.

they were so good that we stopped by petsmart, because i knew they would get excited about that! and we found the tulips in front of the store-hence, their Easter picture-

this one will be in next year's calendar.

in other news, i know i mentioned that i am enjoying the garden more this year than ever before in my life. i think it's because i invested in some gardening gloves that are for professionals. that's something about me that is almost ironic. as much as i love nature-caving, hiking, canoeing, playing anywhere in nature, really...i HATE the feeling of dirt. when the mud or dirt dries onto your hands...that scratchy, dusty, powdery feel makes me CRAZY! like fingernails on a chalkboard! so the gloves have helped, but what really tipped the scale is seeing the harvest. it's so amazing to know that i could walk out and get the spices i need to make rosemary chicken or salsa.

one type of mint-we also have chocolate mint-with just a hint of a sweetness after the initial mint

oregano and rosemary (there is fennel in this bed too-but not in this frame).

the flowers are starting to bloom as well

as i walked around the gazebo, i noticed that the rose bushes were budding as well, and they should be flowering soon-i went ahead and pruned some of them back, and i was painfully reminded that beauty can sometimes be treacherous! that is when the musical began, starring poison with every rose has a thorn; because there's nothing like a ballad on a friday afternoon!

this year we will have bees and butterflies (i'm sure there will be birds too, but i didn't want to put it in that order). the passion fruit vine is starting up as well, so hopefully this fall we will be able to show students what passion fruit is, and perhaps use it in some of our garden lessons.

peas. there were a bunch of sunflower weeds growing here that i weeded out so we can plant more veggies.

the spaghetti squash is going to be a hit--this is one of the vines that started in the compost bin-my bad, but look at it grow!

and then i got to the project that i was really wanting to start. i love finding ways to use the pallets, so this seemed appropriate. i brought my electric saw, sander and drill and we did what we could. i had seen a picture of an herb planter on pinterest, and then jeri printed off a picture as we were discussing a garden project. so i figured, well, if someone else can do it, i can too! so i got a canvas shoe holder and cut it in half so that our lower grade students would be able to access and use it to plant some basil, chives, cilantro, parsley, etc. i can't wait to watch things grow!!!

a pallet is a gift! we throw so many of these out, and it kills me!

so with a little paint i had at home, it now has a feeling of 'elementary school.' all it needs is dirt and seeds!

i am no perfectionist; this was more of a 'just get it done' job. i figured it would suffice, especially if we get the real deal from the grant that jeri wrote!

loving spring,
julie

symmetrical egg arrangements...wait, is that thunder? in your living room?

so..tuesday was day 1 of our state test and i was monitoring for 4th grade. i'm glad the air was on-i was worried that it would get super hot for the people upstairs. unfortunately, there may have been over-compensation. i was so cold...(EVERYBODY): how cold WERE you? 
-if it had been any colder, my blood would've coagulated
-if i accidentally knocked my hand against a table, a digit probably would've fallen off
i was actually imagining all of the things in the room i could use to build a small fire in the middle of the room: base-boards, tables, shelving, books, paper..and then my mind wandered and i began to calculate how long i could survive if i depended on the fire provided by the consumable products in the room..brrr.

yes, testing will do strange things to you.

i decided to be prepared today when i walked in. i had my space heater, jacket, coffee...and to make my morning complete, someone brought in special edition dunkin donuts-spring edition!! crowned with a peep! straight up, i should've just eaten bowl of sugar cubes...but this was much prettier!

cute...but not on my diet...i shouldn't have, but i did! and i don't feel that bad about it.

 peeps..Easter..eggs...

i do like my eggs. please tell me that there are those of you who do the same thing i do; i'm not ocd, but i do like to leave my eggs balanced...symmetrical if possible. sometimes if there is an uneven number (because i usually eat one egg), i either scramble an egg to mix into the boys' food-which they love, or i pull out a quantity and boil them so i have an even number...anyone? no? hmm..me neither...

yes, i play around until i get the right combo

 i couldn't refrain, i had to get basil plantlings because i didn't want to wait for the seeds to sprout! and i decided to plant them today-i'm so excited!

fresh pesto!!

 today i made a little detour to the store to get some colorful planters for the garden. and while i was there, i was planning to get a fan to cut down on the air-conditioning, and i found the perfect one-it's more of a blower than a fan-i loved it! but there wasn't another in stock-only the display. the lady with purple hair said they ordered 3 more and she expected them in 3 days (apparently 3 was the magic number). while i was at walmart, i saw one of the downstairs neighbors (the one whose twin fell out of the window awhile back...)..she had also come up to borrow my phone one time when hers was not charged and she had to reach her boss because her husband was late (you're welcome for all the background info)..so i saw her with the twins, and i smiled and gave a small wave and she looked at me like i was a complete stranger (maybe it's the hair cut)...and of course, it never fails, i saw them around every turn there-after. ugh. i think sometimes she doesn't recognize me even here at the apt complex when i see them in the parking lot.very odd.

i must have some type of invisible sign or something, because she came up to borrow my phone, the neighbor next door(who has since moved) asked to borrow baking soda once to make carrot cake, the guy neighbor across the hall-strange one-asked to borrow one tomato, and the new girls across the hall, one sister knocked to borrow a charger for her iphone because her sisters had locked her out (when i met her sister a couple weeks later, she said that was strange 'because we usually leave an extra key under the mat.' i found it alarming that she told me that...they probably tell everyone that, and then have a nanny cam set up somewhere in the breezeway to see who looks under their mat for a key) is it just me? it kinda' makes me laugh, but at the same time, it makes me wonder if i'm just overly cautious and independent, because i don't think i would knock on any of their doors for any of those reasons.

i cannot get to sleep without some background noise. i have a great cd with ocean waves that i fall asleep to every night, and lately it has been skipping a little, so i knew i needed to get a noise machine-which i had written down on my hand (so that i wouldn't forget or lose the note). i had seen one before--so while i was there, i asked the kid in the electronics dept and he said no, maybe in the camping dept...he asked a lady and said i was looking for a machine that makes animal noises; i don't think i explained very clearly exactly what i was looking for....well, needless to say it was not in the camping dept, so i set out toward the potpourri and music scapes easy listening- i didn't see it, but the young man caught up with me at the end of the aisle and said, "there you are! good!! here's the machine!" exactly what i was looking for!

i'm so excited...i kinda want to take it with me everywhere!

 it may or may not be raining in my living room right now...with a little thunderstorm....then it stops and all of a sudden i'm on the beach. then as i'm walking along the beach i find a small tributary which as i follow it becomes a bubbling brook. finally the boys and i lay on our backs and stare at the glow-in-the-dark stars on the ceiling and listened to the crickets- it's been an adventurous, evening in my living room!

 g'night!
julie