labor day, fish tacos and trail tots (nothing like tater tots)

first countdown: labor day-check! now, only 80 days to the next big one-thanksgiving! (that's 11 weekends!) and only 104 days until Christmas (15 weekends! not that i'm counting...) we've made it to labor day with no major glitches. although, i did receive a message that i need to do my tei calibration test again-in basics, it's just a test to ensure that we (coaches and administrators) are on the same page and really using the rubric to evaluate during distinguished teacher reviews. which means another half day off campus. boo.

on thursday i almost forgot to go to the chiropractor-mostly because i simply forgot it was thursday, and i was super excited because we were able to get a larger pool than i anticipated to participate in CATCH UP & READ (CAR),which is the program we began working with last year. in fact, i'd only had one person answer the call and step up to the plate, so i was afraid we'd not be able to have the program. so i sent out one last ditch effort email and gave a brief 5 minute spiel at our pd session, and after some begging and cajoling, we were able to get enough teachers to match it up in such a way that some will work the program every other week, and some will work it one day every week instead of two, to cut down on the over-commitment. hopefully it will go well, and be beneficial to everyone involved! i am going to do everything possible to make it fun and really show appreciation to the teachers, TAs and students involved!

as i began to say, i was so excited about the turn-out, that i almost forgot about my chiropractor appointment! i'm so glad that i didn't because had i missed it, i would've missed this gem! i was driving, minding my own business, when out of the peripheral, i noticed an suv to my left passing by. only without actually looking at it, it seemed oddly shaped. then i noticed that was because it wasn't an suv! it was a ridiculously tall car. dear sir, over-sized wheels do not make you a monster truck. sorry. i'll bet it makes it easier to tip the car over.

he has no idea how ridiculous he looks.

 and i also found out that the chiropractor is closed on monday for labor day! so i would've missed a whole week of adjustment and probably wasted a trip on monday, not knowing it was closed. 

i made no big plans for labor day, which is allowing me to save money-which is part of the plan! as part of the 'no plans weekend,' this morning the dogs were ecstatic about going out for a walk that was longer than just going around the pond! we did the back trail, and as we were walking, i had to keep them away from the 'nature-y' part of the trail, because there is still a bunch of poison ivy over yonder. then i saw some fruit on the ground, some of which had been bitten into and pulled apart. so i picked one up, as they looked to be some sort of nut, and i wanted to take it home to identify it.

i googled the images of the fruit, and found it to be exactly what i had suspected-PECAN! that was exciting! i decided to peel it and see the nut inside. and just like the walnuts used to do, it stained my fingers-darn it! why is it that the good things in life can be so messy?!? anyhoo, i will be watching that tree closely as we move to late september and into october! i hate paying so much for pecans at the store-robbery!

it looks like i was fingerprinted with pecan fruit

and last night as i was contemplating cleaning out my closet, i got sidetracked when i found my trail tot book...AND the vest! yes. i was in trail tots when we lived in raytown, mo back in the day! that was in the kinder year. 6 yrs old. and i rocked trail tots at our church! the lady in charge was mrs. aubry, the mother of curtis, one of my brother's friends. (may have had a crush on him). and the aubreys were good friends with my parents. as for trail tots itself, we did crafts, learned verses, played games...one of the things i remember doing while we were at the church was finding an animal print out in the yard and making a plaster cast of it (not sure what that has to do with Jesus, but it was pretty darn cool)...and finding a crab apple tree- i don't think our leader encouraged or even knew that we had picked apples from the tree, but i learned very quickly that they were not delicious.

this piece of vintage pleather still fits. yes, i did try it on, and i almost threw my shoulder sockets out trying to get it off! 

using the write from the beginning rubric, i believe the picture should receive a rather high score.

perhaps this was part of the development of my love for letter-writing!

DRAW SOMETHING THAT GOD MADE: please note snow-capped mountains, the tree with leaves, and the dead tree with no leaves and a hollow...the birds at different distances...AND the helicopter! God didn't make that, but what a lovely addition!

as i think about the things we did, look at the question at the bottom of the page, what we were doing at church was in essence engaging us in our interests and preparing us for school- verbal interaction, memorization skills, community and civics...i really wish more of our students were involved in something like this outside of school or before they came to our campus, because it really is beneficial!

i am doing my best to stay away from brats (the hot dog-kind) this weekend, even though it is truly the food for labor day, because i cannot buy just one, i have to purchase an entire package, and then i have to eat them within a certain time-frame before they go bad, and it really isn't on my list of good meats. so instead, i purchased fresh fish at the store yesterday and today i ventured to make blackened fish tacos at home. they were actually quite good! and i still have 1 1/2 fillets left, so i'll be eating fish tacos this weekend-and i'm not even a tiny bit sad about that!

alright, for all of you that work (for those of you that do not work-and are capable, i don't think you should take part in this holiday, as you are riding on the backs of those who do), remember that this day: honors the American labor movement and the contributions that workers have made to the strength, prosperity, and well-being of their country. God Bless America!

alrighty then, have a fabulous long weekend!!
julie

postal workers, new stamps and letter-eating-dogs (fortunately this time it wasn't mine!)

it never fails. yesterday afternoon, when i got out of our meeting, i remembered that i had to turn in that debit card! i left school, thinking the bank closed at 5 pm. i raced out of there and realized at the major intersection that i didn't remember where the nearest wells fargo was...so i turned south on marsh, remembering that there were 2 banks up on forest and marsh. when i got to the corner, i saw a chase sign, so i thought, 'well, perhaps it's the one right around the corner..' when i turned the corner, it was another chase. weird. i guess they just wanted to make it easier for people to access from either side of marsh. time was winding down...it was 4:52...8 minutes; so rushed up forest and turned on midway thinking there was one by the interstate-i was right! did i mention i was in a hurry and because of this, i was a mean driver? well, it's true. it's a little shameful-i was so glad i had no passengers #nowitnesses so i parked and seeing the hours were open until 8 (strange), i burst through the door and i'm fairly certain i had a rather confused look on my face as i stopped mid-step, because the guy looked at me and said, "the bank? it's around back." i'd walked into the phone store without even looking at the sign and realizing it wasn't wells fargo! apparently it happens often. so off around the corner to the bank-duty done!

 i hope the lady didn't close out the card and have to get a new one! but even if so, hopefully she'll be relieved that she won't have to go through all of the paperwork of someone stealing it and running it up!

i have four letters in my bag to send off...but i've been out of stamps for about 5 days-it's been rough! i hate sitting on letters and having to wait to send them, so today i made the dreaded stop at the post office. as i pulled in, i was very thankful to see that the parking lot wasn't full! short line! the lady next to me asked if the nearest clerk was wearing rubber bands around her head. i felt like turning to look at her to say, "WOMAN! what is WRONG with you?!? postal workers, hello? edmond, ok...'86???" instead, i just informed her that it looked to be gold chains fashioned into a headband. and of course, that had to be the next available clerk, and i was up. i asked for a roll of stamps and she informed me that they were out, so i overly dramatically sighed and did the whole body sag, as she asked if i'd like 5 sheets...um. no. it's really difficult to roll sheets up in a small space, sorry. i may have made kind of a big deal about it as i explained to her the huge inconvenience of not having a roll-but i did it nicely...if not humorously. i've had this clerk before, and i think she appreciated a little personality, because when i finally said, "(sigh) fine. i'll take one sheet of the batman and one of the regulars. and this card," (which i'd seen on the card rack), she used a discount coupon, so i got the card for half price, and she put another coupon in the bag for next time. it won't take long to go through two sheets. in fact, once i put the stamps on the letters in my bag, i was already feeling the OH-NO-I'M-LOW-ON-STAMPS feeling. does anyone else go through that anxiety, or do most people just run out of stamps and think. oh well, i'm out of stamps...maybe i can peel one off an old letter and get away with it...

holy toledo, batman!!

i've already got my eyes set on a card i saw today! 

and now i have another one to rewrite. i sent a letter to one of my cousins up in iowa, and i just got a message from her this after noon on facebook. i'll let you read it for yourselves:

it made me smile

i was not shocked, as this sounds like something that bruno and chaco would do! how many times have i caught bruno trying to explain why it was so important for him to shred my documents! so teachers, take note, sometimes the dog does eat the homework-don't penalize the student for the dog's behavior!

the rest of the week is pretty crazy at school. i have some things i really would like to get done tomorrow, as i will be off campus part of the day thursday for PL and all day friday for a mandatory teacher excellence initiative training.

i am excited to report that i finally filled out a report on the online apt site. it has been really exciting that they finally got it set up to pay online! so while i paid my last bill, i made a request for them to change out the lightbulbs in the breezeway, as 2 of the three have been out since before summer...i cannot believe that none of my neighbors reported it! boo. it was so dark out there, it was a little creepy-if only i could've held out until halloween! i was surprised when i arrived today and saw the maintenance man at the golf cart with a bunch of bulbs. he asked me if i knew which lights were out, so i informed him, and he turned the lights on (they are normally on a timer), and he began getting to work. apparently the third floor was not the only floor in need of bulbs. well, i just opened the door to look, and i see that the lights are all in working order-no more shady business around here!

oh, and here is the teacher poster that each staff member made to put in front of their door. it took awhile for them to put mine up- i made sure to add a little flair-i should've put something kanakuk on the poster, because it has been such a huge part of my life, but i wasn't sure what all they were wanting on the poster. sad face. hindsight.

so..i wasn't sure if they would appreciate the humor with the baby pic...

and yesterday, i was told that i had a package in the office that said: julie macgeyver robinson. i laughed, because i immediately knew who it was from. HA! so, i did not self-nickname, that was done when wendy miller was our prized fellow! and it stuck.

coke points. (coca cola, thank you very much)

and today on the way home i decided it would be wise to go ahead and get those stamps. so i stopped by the post office

so, i'm just sitting here staring at my new enlarged beach picture on the wall, and imagining the coconut bread...it's like a window to the beach! it was so worth it! peaceful and relaxing.

julie