lights, christmas party, action!

really? has it been almost a month? oops. my bad.

obviously i cannot possibly give a full account of the entire month...so. i suppose some highlights are in order.

week 1
we did have a team meeting at the istation hq-the first day was just the 3 of us (new crew) with lori and suzanne, during which we did some catching up and checking the temperature...then in the afternoon, we had a fun little webinar with sabrina and julie k on the other end sharing goal-setting with reports (a shortened version of the workshop they presented in orlando not too long ago). it's pretty powerful stuff when you can show teachers how to set realistic goals that can help students make steep gains, and give them the tools to do it!

the new gals at bucca!

the following day all of the local trainers were in for the timeless tales presentation. i got a lot out of that, as well. i'm thinking about my teachers, and if we'd really understood it better last year, i can almost guarantee that we would've used it better for our tier 1 students in 3, 4 and 5-if they were at that point. great stuff! great stuff ahead!

moving into week 2
i got to do coffee and catch up with andrea before going in for a training with some of our dallas instructional coaches at the main bldg. and that was good-we needed to take some time to catch up! love that lady!

i wasn't planning on going to the company Christmas party, in fact i had replied-no....then after talking to a wise friend, i changed my evite to a yes, and sent a desperate plea to nafia. i was thrilled that she accepted (with excitement, i might add), because it'd been weeks since we'd last touched base, and we really had a lot of catching up to do! so i stopped by her place to pick her up and we made our way to the dallas country club (so impressive...so exquisite...so over-the-top)...we took most of our pictures in the bathroom...it was that impressive.

just in case you're coming for a pajama party and forget something, they were equipped!

please ask how many compliments she got on her hat?! i mean, even mr. collins told her how much he loved her hat! i think someone was even wanting to buy it off her head!

because bathrooms need artwork

and the cutest little mouthwash dispenser with cups-felt like communion cups...don't ask.

for real. this lady thought i had negative vibes...please. let's look at how many drinks she's had. thank you.

dear hair...thanks for not cooperating. dear nafia's hat, thank you for partially covering up unruly hair.

getting latte! 

appreciating the lights

said hello to brian, jane, georgia and toni, and a bit later saw suzanne, lori and furie.
the mac and cheese: lick-your-fingers good (but not at the country club, because i don't think that is etiquette-esque). we made our way to a line...i guess it was a 'fortune teller' with a deck of playing cards. i wasn't sure if she was from istation, or brought in for the event. i guess she was NOT from istation. nafia had her cards read (not sure what that means), but i'm pretty sure the lady told her i gave off a negative vibe-couldn't have been my facial expressions as i waited, i'm sure. i can't help it, don't judge.

then we made our way toward the hand-writing analysis, but they were shuttin'-er-down...so as we were standing at a table, i told her a story. a story that someone had shared with me. of course it was SO unbelievable, that i had to call lori over to verify for me, which she did. so once that was said and done, we were on our way out, picking up our coats, and the subject of my aforementioned story came face-to-face with nafia, and i just turned the other way, practically laughing...i did have to use the restroom before we took off...one last hurrah. when i came back out, i saw linda- i hadn't seen linda since we were on the blue team together! i've heard great things, so it was good to touch base with her and give her a shot of kudos for work well done! then we took off for some coffee/hot cocoa at starbucks in the village, and then took a short drive around highland park to check out some of the lights...doing our very best to avoid the carriages.

saturday night
nicolette, nafia and her cousin joce and i drove out to the motor speedway to drive through the lights-it was a pretty cool set-up, beautifully decorated! the hardest part was waiting in the line to get in! it was a beating! fortunately we were able to purchase the ticket online, and go through the 'express line' before it shut down! we waited in line so long that i already had to pee before we even got to the beginning! (i shouldn't drink so much, i know!) anyhoo...

it took before we were ready!

i'm blessed to have these ladies as friends!

water-world

grinch-ish

chaaaaarlie! (there's a kidney joke in there somewhere)

love the tunnels!

and when we got to the end, there was the option of getting a pic with santa. but alas, the line was much too long for these hungry ladies. and trust me you don't want that kind of waiting with this bunch...we've all seen those snickers commercials, and there were no snickers to be found. in fact, after waiting in the food and beverage line, they didn't have pretzels, hot cocoa, or fries-so we opted for buc-ees across the street! i was fully intending to try the sausage sandwich, because nicolette has sung its praises many a time...but when it actually came to it, i caved to my adopted heritage, and went for the fajita meat with avocado...what can i say. ole! (just juan-to eat fajitas).

so...only to week 2, and i will stop after this little note. i was falling asleep when this thought went through my head, so i turned the light on because it was that important to remember. in prayer that lori never hires a juan on our training team. why, you ask. well...if that were to happen, per sabrina's logic, he would become juan 1-as he was born with the name, and i only recently received this endearing nickname i would become juan 2. then if we ever trained together, and i wasn't feeling it, i might bust out in the lyrical genius of queen (please watch the video!!) i juan2 break free! so these are the things that run through my mind before falling to sleep...what's wrong with me?

so with that, goodnight, and WAY TO GO COWBOYS!! AND CHIEFS yesterday!!!
julie

el paso-bringing back memories of rigor, and finally being official!

i really shouldn't wait this long, because i lose some of the details in the mix...so, since austin. well..we had el paso, and that was quite a trip. the last time i was in el paso, we were just passing through around 18 years ago (or more?) on our way to juarez for a mission trip with my k-life group...and that was where jeff yelled, "it's rigor! my pet dog!" i looked out the window and saw a dead dog with all four in the air, going through rigor-mortis, and i chuckled...i don't know that any of the high school students got it. so now whenever i hear the word rigor in the education realm, i think of jeff's 'pet dog' on the side of the road and giggle. i'm such a child.

sorry we didn't get to see angelica or claudia; and i even forgot to tell crystal i was going to be in town!

 so yes, we arrived in el paso, and we decided to grab lunch at an authentic syrian restaurant. when we walked in, the ladies who owned the place were sitting around having a gossip-session, watching the news, a couple days after the election. that was special! we sat ourselves, and the lady told us that the boy would be right out. well, the boy arrived and took our order. when he came out with the plate of hummus, etc, he failed to bring extra plates until we were almost done. then when he brought the food out, i didn't receive what i had actually ordered. i ordered a gyro, i got chicken. hmm. oh well, i ate it anyway- and as for the refills-i think they were refilled about 3/4 full. when jane asked for napkins, he brought 1. a single napkin...i guess we were supposed to cut it in half? not sure. but it was obvious he had difficulty with his vision (i don't know how that impacts one to bring a single napkin)...and then we saw the owner bring out a burrito for herself and her friends...i guess you can do what you want when you own the place!

we had to run to make a couple purchases at that point, as it was going to get down into the 50's. jane got a sweatshirt and some warm socks. i purchased some warm socks, as well, because they were pretty nifty. unfortunately i left said socks in jane's car, and we were at different hotels. oops. and when i got up in the morning, it was like 30` out! impossible, i tell ya! we did starbucks for breakfast, and made for the regional center. the contact, claudia, was a doll! we had a great session, and the participants were lovely. they left with a lot of information, and were wanting to stay for the 2nd session, but alas, they could not, so hopefully they will be able to join us in january! jane and i have a pretty good chemistry together and i think the participants appreciate the humor.

because what say's 'let's eat!' more than a fountain with water dribbling from the mouth, and a vividly colored aztec warrior maybe getting ready to paddle his conquest?

i chose to take off that evening, so that i could get home-but since the flight didn't leave until like 7-so we were able to do an early dinner before heading to the airport-the restaurant was lovely, and our waiter spoke to us in spanish, so that's always fun, especially since it was a mexican restaurant. pretty sure there was another issue of napkin trouble...i don't know what it was about el paso...anyhoo, my flight was delayed, so i didn't get home until nearly midnight.

the weekend flew by, and monday we had a training in the fort worth area, so i was up early and when i arrived, deAn was already there! she's great! she has a servant heart and a willingness and desire to be helpful-a true leader! so we met with the contact to start getting the room set up; computer, lighting, sound, etc. this was going to be a full crowd. so we started getting hand-outs handed out, and deAn actually took off to purchase more earbuds, as there weren't enough for everyone (again, full-house). jane did most of the morning and afternoon sessions, as deAn hadn't really had much of a chance to observe her and the way she does stations, so it was another good day, and i was able to be home for dinner-local is nice.

tuesday i finally had my quick interview for my global entry pass-tsa precheck. yes!!! and...i only had one flight left this side of the new year to use it...on thursday to amarillo. the drive there took longer than the interview itself. when i arrived, i had to use the restroom, so i walked in, and there was a man standing at the sink washing his hands. i looked at him, he said, "i think you're in the wrong one." went back, looked at the sign on the door-not transgender, not men's, it was the female restroom..looked at him again on his way out, maybe he wasn't a he...oh no, he was a he, and he looked at the signage on the way out and i heard him say, "oops! sorry!" hmm...chuckle.

breathe a little easier-not as worried about walking super fast toward security in order to beat the security line crowd

in the interview itself. the guys started asking me all about illinois, because i was born there...i really don't remember much, except for my babysitter, her family, some of the church families, going to the arch....yep, that's about it. i was happy to answer any questions i could, because i was now official! i'm a traveler.

coming soon-amarillo and thanksgiving-

have a great week! julie

if i'd had the shooter marbles with me, i would've knocked the slow walkers over!

alrighty then, so wednesday, the girls all left, and it was very lonely going back to the hotel. culture shock...

i'm tellin' ya, it was rough.

 so i took a nap...because that's what you do when you're alone at a hotel in a foreign city. and i looked around and realized that julie k had lost her marbles...not really. she had found some shooter marbles the day before...which was strange, because i didn't know kids still played marbles! so i looked it up, to make sure there wasn't a new game out there, and i saw that kids were actually racking up debts playing marbles and stealing to pay their debts! WHAT?! so i am sending the marbles back to ju, with a warning to not play against those street kids!!

you can't really tell here, because there is nothing to compare it to, but they are bigger than they look.

so, back to the hotel...i got a text from jane, who was going to be doing the TX Success training with me the following day, and we met for dinner. she found a place that sounded pretty good, so we met there (it was about a half hour away from me, but the drive was good, so not a big deal). they had these special kosher hot dogs- a special for the big game! so i got the cleveland (not to support them, it just sounded more appetizing), and it was pretty delicious. we had great conversation, and it was decided that since it was such a small group, i would do most of the morning presentation-as far as the power point went.

we ate outside, because it was such a beautiful evening (and it was freezing inside!)

got back to the hotel, and watched the remainder of the game, which kept me up later than usual, as you all know. but i was vested now, in cheering for the cubs for julie's sake! what a nail-biter!! go team!

the next morning, getting up was a beast, but it had to be done! the regional center there is beautiful! the morning went off pretty much without a hitch. jane jumped in to add whatever additional points were necessary-i'm sure it won't be long until i hit them all, and she can just take a nap during that section...they did learn some new things, though, so that was good! and then in the afternoon it was even a smaller group, so it was like a round-table session. good times!

we went to the little heb for lunchy-type things, and i swear, on the way out, i don't know what people were doing, but they were in my way, and it drove me crazy! i mean to tell you, if we'd been walking any more slowly, i feel my blood would've coagulated...people walking slowly, me trying to maneuver around them without being rude, and saying something-pursing my lips together so tightly i think they may have lost all color-jane observing this, almost laughed, as they would start to move, then stop, then zig when i was trying to zag...it was almost as if they were doing it on purpose! oh. my. this is when my patience wears thin. and for real, heb, why you gotta' make your entrance/exit like a funnel? #notcool

once the training was over, and questions were answered, we bid each other farewell, and i drove back to dallas-and it was raining. most of the way, it was raining. traffic in construction + rain= exhausting drive.

but i had time to recuperate, so no worries. i did have to go in to the office to make more copies, but apart from that, i was home. and home is good. i don't think i did anything of consequence over the next few days. i mean there was this election thing, but apart from that...

up next, el paso!
night!
julie

teachers and interventionists and mtss coaches, oh my!

hmm. well, let's see. monday.

monday i drove to austin for two days of training with julie k and sabrina. the drive wasn't too long, and surprisingly not too boring. upon arrival, i made sure to check on rooms and get checked in. my room wasn't quite ready, so i just waited out front, because i knew that one of them was bound to show up shortly. and sure enough it wasn't too long before julie pulled up, so we went on a quick snack run, trying to beat sabrina back to the hotel. nice try, sabrina got there a few minutes prior to our return-and at that point, my room was still not quite ready, so we went up to their room and stored our belongings before trying to find someplace for an early dinner.

well. i wish i would've gotten some pics while we were there, because the joint was really neat- threadgills- good thing i didn't get a picture of our server, though, because i have nothing positive to really say about him. #worstserviceever yep, took a minute to be seated, and then it took about 7-10 minutes for him to come to our table- zero acknowledgement. how did it go down? once he brought the food back, he didn't check back to see how it was...came over once, and i asked for another diet coke-which he brought, but didn't bother the check to see if refills were needed for water, and they were...then he proceeded to get 2 other tables- single-tops, and went back to chat it up, and took water refills, and didn't even bother to come over...then when he did stop at the table, it was to take julie k's plate without even asking if she was finished, and she just kinda' had that bewildered look...he eventually returned with the bill and didn't ask how things were, or if we needed anything else...it was rocky...sabrina and julie were about two tenths of a millisecond from asking to speak to the manager. but instead sabrina left a very matter-of-fact note. it doesn't help that we've all been in the business of serving customers, restaurant service isn't an unknown.

upon returning to the hotel, i was able to get all checked in, and get keys to my room. good times. before we had even left the hotel, sabrina pulled out some lovely gifts-a pink fan from the football game she'd gone to-very thoughtful (from the corner of my eye when she first whipped them out, i thought it was a bicycle cover-must've been the angle...and i wondered how she knew i had a bike). anyhoo...there was a little jaba for the java, a fragile carribean bottle with a parrot (did i mention we'd seen parrots in miami? and that i actually had parrots in HONDURAS?) and a special book just for me to read up on one of our candidates...i don't know that i will be reading it any time soon (so much to do...but the fact that it was signed, now that in and of itself was the bees knees)... yep. and then there was the straw kit for ju2. amazing. #perfectgift 

laughter ensued...ask her what i gave her that she holds near and dear...

it was like an erector set!

'atta girl! 

 so i put my stuff in my room (conveniently next door), and changed into something comfortable and went down to get some ice, as the la croix sparkling water was room temp-warm sparkling water is enough to make anyone spew. and at the ice machine room, julie stepped on wet carpet...hopefully it was just the ice machine malfunctioning, and not someone having an emergency need to eliminate bodily fluids before reaching their room, because that would be irredeemable (who would do something like that anyway? so college), not to mention, a good way to spread ringworm or some type of foot fungus. anyhoo. finally with the weather cooling off, once again it was a pleasant evening on the balcony. anything outdoors is better than being stuck in the room. *please note, we'd checked out the pool, and there was no hot tub, so balcony, it was. 

that evening, as well, julie was recounting what had happened at the gas station earlier. she'd told me she was stopping to get gas, and that's when it happened. it was halloween, and there was a guy dressed as a clown, with a bat at the gas station, trying to be intimidating, and running his bat up and down anything that would make racket...talk about idiot. i wouldn't even take into account that it was halloween, and there might've been a 911 call for his wounds had it been me...(fight or flight, i'm a fight-reflexes...) anyhoo...did you know that once you post something out there on social media, you're either laughing or cringing the next minute...true story. that first night,  i faded fast, but the part of me that doesn't want  to miss a thing came back with a second wind, so when the time came, sleep was a welcome friend!
                                                       
the following morning, we had stopped at the restaurant for a minute, and there were policemen everywhere! convention-wish we were staying at the hotel all morning, i might be able to stop worrying about that e-harmony account! (more about that later)...there were some nice looking men there, and we were looking for rings. once breakfast was over, we headed to the front to wait for lori, one of our colleagues who had gotten in a bit later the night before. when she arrived, we headed to starbucks to get the necessities, and then made off for our site. at the building we were on the third floor to one end of the bldg, and the restrooms were on the bottom floor on the opposite end...for real. one bathroom. brilliant. good thing sabrina and i took advantage of the starbucks bathroom! (if you know what i mean...take advantage is accurate).

looks like our own little coffee bar!

i believe it was our first group that was actually the best group! they were on point! this training was the mtss/rti/goal setting/problem solving... now. i have watched the video multiple times (and plan to watch it one more time this week)...and i've seen sabrina and julie do parts of it independently, so it was great to see them do this one together, no hitches, all three hours dedicated to the processes. i LOVE the research they have found to support their work, and then the usage of the reports to really set measurable goals that are realistic and will impact student growth. it's not subjective, which is what we run into a lot in education. we do a baseline, and then say, okay, what now? what's the goal? and it's like closing your eyes and throwing a dart at a target...this on the other hand, is SO simple, it makes sense, and leaves no room for confusion. i kid you not, the lights went on, like "AHA!" moments. there were silent air high fives and i sensed that this was something that these coaches would be taking back to their campuses immediately to turn around! i mean, if i were still a coach at my campus, i certainly would! i haven't seen it quite like this before, and it really does make perfect sense.

after the first session, we did central market for lunch, because it seemed the best of all worlds-sushi, salads, meats, soups...gluten-free, vegan cupcakes...yes, you read that right. don't. just don't. you WILL spit it out. lori and julie did. i will give her that it was pretty. how could such a pretty pink cupcake taste like a glob of silly putty? easy. it was gluten-free and vegan. but my sushi was good! they never disappoint!

the second session-there's that one! this afternoon, it came in the form of a specialist who really had her own agenda and she pretty much did what she wanted. and her teacher next to her was really trying to focus...this lady was impeding her progress, and i wonder if we should have just pulled her out of the room for a private session...hopefully she found some kind of nugget, because she already had her set groups for the year and knew what she wanted to do...that's fun, said no trainer ever.

once the session was finished, we headed back to the hotel-lori was meeting with an old friend in town, so we parted ways and headed to dinner at papasitos..yum. it was close, and when we got there, it was like..."'bout time!" fortunately, our server this time, whose name i do not recall-was amazing! i mean, it was polar opposite from the day before! he was ON his game! and we were delighted! (and YES, we did leave a note for him as well-it was quite different from the previous day!) i have NEVER had shrimp so big and delicious-thank goodness sabrina and i split that plate! it was more than enough to leave comfortable. plenty-o-food!

tuesday night-another beautiful evening, this time, we were able to enjoy the 6th game of the world series...the make or break game to keep the cubs in it, and they pulled through! julie was ecstatic! and there was a nice rain as well, which is always welcome!

wednesday morning i made coffee for all! yes, i was able to bring my stash, my own creamer and my aero-press. it makes a difference, just saying...#hipstercoffesnob (the advantages of driving!) of course one cup is never enough, especially when you have to make it through the day....so we again had to make the routine stop at starbucks-you don't mess with routine. and there it was!

once we arrived, it seemed to be a fairly easy morning group-a rather small group, if you will. ah, this was the session where there was one gentleman who really took advantage of the first question: are there any burning questions? and he took off like wild-fire with that and began asking campus specific questions and kinda' hoarding the time and making it all about him, until the guy behind him was like, "ummm. could we move on? it seems like there is a lot of information we need to move through, and we're never going to get there if we focus on just one campus..." i was doing a standing ovation screaming, rock-concert, head-banging, resounding YEEEESSSSS in my mind. this was the session where the girls said, okay, juan, we're pushing you out of the nest, so do something! i was able to present part of the presentation, getting the information necessary from the first two reports and then sabrina finished it out. (another thing i plan to do this week-record myself to get more fluid on the presentation...i really wish i had a SWIVL-that was my favorite tool at cabell!). so lunch this time was at chli's because it was sit-down and close. delicious soup and burger! yum. they have a great lunch menu! so that went quickly and the afternoon session was a harder crowd-the mtss coaches (ruffians..), so i observed (protective friends are the best kinds). i spent a bit of time during that session helping a teacher who thought she was going to be over her head-but in actuality, she got it! and the coach next to her, who was working with isip espanol. so that was good. there was one thing i wasn't quite sure about, and so i called sabrina over, and explained it how i thought it should be logically, and she affirmed that it was correct-saves them from having to clean up after me, if i can have them there in the moment and use it as a teaching/learning moment. i feel that most of the time i've had the correct information, save a caveat here or there-but i'd rather be on the safe side!

i LOVE listening to this lady!! and i love being able to call her friend!

we were able get out at a reasonable time, and the girls were all off to their respective domiciles. i think lori was going to see her daughter, the other two were headed home. and me. i got to stay one additional night, for a TEXAS SUCCESS training the next morning with jane! yay me!

texas success-next installment
goodnight!
julie

bruno-not a scary dog, but he sure did scare me!

okay. so, on wednesday p.m. i walked into the front room, and saw a ziplock baggie, where i had stored some semi-sweet chocolate chips. the problem was that the bag was ripped open, dumped on the couch, with at least half of them gone...chaco was looking up at me shaking his head, saying, "bruno. he's gonna be in so much trouble!" so i picked it all up as quickly as possible, knowing that chaco had just been waiting for his chance, because that's always the way it goes. bruno quietly instigates, and chaco is usually the one who joins in and gets caught...younger brother syndrome.

i wasn't too concerned, because he'd gotten into chocolate before (small doses...somehow he gets into my backpack when i forget i had it there). anyhoo. they had dinner, and a couple hours later, he began acting very strange-panting, pacing, laying on the floor and whimpering a little, i checked his heart rate-palpitating rapidly and that's when i began to worry. by this point it was almost 10 p.m., so i knew we were going to have to go to emergency care-ugh. as quickly as possible, i piled them into the car-which was a rental for the next day's training (i'd been planning to take my own, but the transmission sensor went out and the mechanic said no-way). so i didn't have their car seats-they just sat in the back on a blanket.

once we arrived, they buzzed me in, and there were two other ladies right behind me with their pup, who had be run over and was in bad shape. once the paperwork was done, we went back to a room, and the vet took bruno's temps and vitals, then took him back and they induced vomiting; when she came back to the room, she was very concerned because there was blood as well, so she took me back to where he was for a minute, and said they were going to run the blood tests, and put him on oxygen to get the breathing back to normal. so we went back to the little holding room and waited-definitely teared up at this point and could have used a glass of water. chaco just lay in my lap (i was glad i'd brought him, but i couldn't leave him at home, because he would've been a mess as he doesn't do well alone). finally after they got the results, she came back still concerned, as they weren't able to come to any conclusions. so she suggested leaving him overnight to monitor him and do another blood test later in the morning because she felt they weren't getting an accurate reading due to the food...so that was the plan; i'd be back to get him at 4:30 a.m. so i could take off for training in kilgore at 5:30.

 the hardest part was that i had to initial a few different boxes, and decide whether to have them do cpr, or dnr. a couple of things went through my head. what stuck was-if they had to do that, who knows what quality of life would be like afterward. that's the worst feeling ever.

when we got home, ready for bed, it was close to midnight, and chaco got up on the bed, kinda' still looking around for bruno. i said goodnight to both of them-like always, and in 4 hours was up again, getting ready to go. when i arrived at the er this time, there was a different vet (2nd shift), and she was a talker. she said the same over and over in about 213 different ways...i kept trying to reassure her that i understood what she was saying and tell her what my plan of action was...finally it was determined that the results were still a little mysterious, and she couldn't quite pinpoint what had caused the bleeding; she was still concerned with a couple of the levels, and suggested going to my vet later in the day to retest for clotting factors. so with that we slowly backed out and took off. i knew he must've been feeling a little better, because the tech said bruno totally put on the breaks when she took him out to potty and walk-he was having none of that. sounds like bruno! he can be pretty stubborn.

once i dropped him off, google maps had me on my way to kilgore. it was about to be a long day! on the way there, i received a couple texts and a phone call from my people, and they know how much the boys mean to me-just checking up. once i got there and found the site, i was quite early, so i made my way to coffee (there was no starbucks in the vicinity, so gas station coffee was going to have to do!) and i called lori at that point, b/c i'd been trying to figure out how i was going to get back in time to get bruno to my vet. had it not been so late the night before, i probably would have dropped the key off with solange and asked her to take him (she's always been a champion for the boys), but that wasn't the case, and i'd not really been thinking about it. lori was very gracious and concerned-and pending numbers and how jane felt about doing the afternoon session, i would come back after the morning session. thankfully, jane was cool with it (not surprisingly, she gets dogs as family, too). 

the first session was quite a crowd-they had moved us to a larger room, and we got everything set up and handouts handed out, and then the fun began! jane did the intros and explained what tx success is, and i jumped into the presentation from the get-go; thanks for the vote of confidence, jane! she was great about adding information as we went, and it was comfortable, so i've gotten my feet wet! after going through much of what istation is, answering questions as we went, we got into some hands-on activities. this was a great opportunity to chat with some of the participants to answer additional questions and help in whatever they were working on. it was a good session, but i think there were a couple of disgruntled folk, who wanted the program to do something it doesn't do...

lunch time came, and we cleaned up to get ready for session 2, which some were staying, but several had not registered and were returning to their campuses. so jane and i bid each other farewell, and i hadn't gotten to the main road, when i got a call from jane asking if i'd left the handouts for the 2nd session-OH NO!! so i turned around, took my backpack in, and realized that they were actually in the trunk of my car-at the transmission place. i'd brought the wrong ones-for austin. oops. so i quickly went in to trouble-shoot with the substitute secretary and shared the files we needed from my drive, and she was able to make copies for jane and we were good to go. i need to call jane and see how the afternoon session went!

and i was off again. on the way back, i again got a couple texts and a phone call-just checking in, which really did mean a lot to me--my thoughtful friends. when i got home, i packed the boys up, and took them to the vet. when we got there and i explained the situation, they made a spot for me and the vet came in and talked with me after taking bruno's temp. after looking at the records from his august comprehensive, he said he wasn't too concerned, as bruno hadn't been throwing up nor having diarrhea, and at this hour, he wouldn't be able to get the results back until the following day; how about bringing him back tomorrow, so that we can monitor him. he did give me some antibiotics, in case there was some infection that may have caused the bleeding. (which may have been a nasal passage issue, bleeding back into the throat the night before causing it to look like he was vomiting blood)...so the good news is that bruno has been acting his normal self, and seems to be fine. me on the other hand-still tired. like i said before, i truly had thought about laying down on the sidewalk to sleep at one point. and looking at the clock right now, i am off to bed-needs more sleep!

love this nugget! my loyal friend!

but on the bruno front, feeling much better-thanks to all who said a prayer and sent love-
julie

sometimes early breakfast is only funny to the ones making it...

so, here's the deal, i would've worked on a post earlier, because i didn't even finish my last story...but i've been so tired the past couple of days, due to unforeseen events, which i will get into later...suffice it to say i was so tired yesterday that i considered laying down on the sidewalk in the middle of a short walk with the boys...truth, i considered it at about three different points around the fountain. and when i went to return the rental car, it was that nauseatingly exhausted feeling. i now know i need more than 4 hours of sleep per night.

but back to finish what i started!

wednesday morning rolled around, and i was still in SAT at julie and kevin's. remember how i volunteered her to make breakfast (which she was more than willing to do, because she loves her boy); so my alarm clock was set for about 5:30, i believe. when i woke up, she was not out of the room yet, but kevin said she was awake, go on in-so i grabbed the guitar from the stand to perform a little early morning serenade-because that's just what you do when there is a guitar at hand! (right?)

i think we may have been a little much for him in the morning-we were messing with his mojo-his routine! and with that, the coffee, and the bacon in the oven; which i just want to say was ah-maz-ing! melt in your mouth #neverfryingbaconagain and somewhere in the midst of waiting on the bacon and packing his lunch, there was some word that was bothersome and for the life of me, i do not recall what it was, but julie seemed to be stumbling over it, so we reduced it to the lowest phoneme possible... "G" and that was probably where the most annoying part was for kevin, because that's when we started laughing and it got silly (needless to say, it's still funny, and will never cease to be).

juan...julie JUAN-love it.

once the boy took off, we actually did sit to do some work-she had some calls to make, and then showed me how to do some things with the padlets. and we had some data to drill into from the previous day. so it was productive time. it wasn't long before we had to take off for the airport-grabbed a bite to eat first, and starbucks- sat in the parking lot at starbucks for a minute while ju looked through her funniest pins and posts and shared laughs. HA! so, i just want to take this moment to say it again, it was a joy to be able to stay with julie, kevin and bella, and 'do life' for a couple days in a family setting. they truly make my heart smile.

and the flight back was not memorable in the least.

once i got back to dallas, it was a fairly quiet couple of days. i met with nicolette on sunday after church and we went to get some doggy things for her boys-who came home with her last week. i took the boys with me, and they got to meet new friends #socialization. we found a bed for the crate, dog food and i think there was something else, but it fails me now. ah, yes!! it was party city-she had to get hair thingy-ma-bobs so they could be thing one, thing two and thing three! i did find something that i HAD to get, only i cannot post that picture quite yet. i may have found a flannel shirt at target too....just sayin'. anyhoo, when we got back to her place, i helped make some vocab flashcards, because that's what first grade teachers do! and then we headed back home.

nicolette with ALL the boys!

monday i went in to the office to make copies for our training on tuesday- of course i did them wrong.  yay, me! and no one was there really, except for cherryl (just not anyone from our dept), so i went in and chatted with her for a minute. good thing when i got to mt pleasant, jane had enough for the first round, so i was planning on going into the office again on wednesday to make some more for the thursday training. tuesday went well-it was a fairly small crowd-although big for what they've had before.

so, wednesday came (it usually does, right? anyone surprised? didn't think so), and i went up to the office, to make those copies, and to make copies for julie for austin, and grab some folders for sabrina, since i'd be seeing them. so that took a minute. suzanne was there, and she had a special gift for me...i now get excited about ethernet cables..what's wrong with me? cutting those pieces for the thursday training was a cruel beating. but hey, done. brian and lori were 'in the house' as well, and busy, per the usual, so i just did the peek in and say hey.

then it happened. wednesday night happened, and it wasn't pretty. more on that tomorrow. yikes.
tell your pets you love them tonight! (ok, your family too)
julie

training is kinda like super market sweep

so, as any good blogger would do...wait a minute, who are we kidding? i'm not a good blogger, i am merely a person posting silly stories online so that my friends know what's UUUPPPPP! so don't worry, it's not about to get bloggy-er-y-ish-may it never be!

but back to my story! me.me.me.me.me! (some would call it the me monster, but hey, it's my blog post, i do what i want! because i can, mind you).  

so, yes, we slept in a little on tuesday morning, 7:30-right? did some morning prep-stuffs, and then made our way to the site, but first...drum-roll please, yes, yes, a little starbucks en route. and since this was in effect breakfast and would have to last all afternoon, we got two each. one hot to start the day and one cold to last through training (sort of). while in line waiting...and waiting, the lady in front of us had like 4,201 drinks. bless her, the angel of the medical center. yes, i was exaggerating-if you didn't catch that, you really don't know me well enough, and may want to consider finding a different blog to read-although you would miss all of my witty banter (with myself). but let us continue. she had like...14 drinks, needed a box, and even at that, needed like 1 more arm, and she still would've spilled someone's drink on herself, so i helped her out to her car, and by the time i returned, they were still working on ours.

once we got to the car it got real-a very honest conversation-the kind i like best; thanks for being authentic!

we rolled up and found the office, and sat with the contact. julie laid out kind of what she'd planned, and was informed of a twist. which was sorta like going to the grocery store and thinking you have a $100 budget for a meal, and 3 bags to pack your treasures in, with about 6 hours to then prepare, and getting a text saying: oh, hey. um...you'll be serving two different parties, and you actually have $50, they'll be there in three hours, and still plan on the same meal for both parties, but make sure you can get that in one bag...and by the way, there may be a VIP at the party as well! hmm. and like a pro, julie started changing the menu and getting to the meat of the matter, and said, well, let's do the main course, and we'll just have to save the dessert for another time! a little tweaking, but under control! in volleyball, our phrase was WIT-whatever it takes!

in the midst of making changes, deAn's call came in, so i went out to take it and find her, as she had just arrived. when we found each other, i brought her up to speed with the plan and the changes, then we went back into the office, did introductions and went to find our portable and get set up. while setting up, we shared a lunchable, because one is never too old for a lunchable! #notjustforfieldtrips

people began arriving, and we directed people to the math session or our session, depending on age-group. we worked first with middle school teachers and they were dears. some of them on the newer end of the spectrum. so it was a lot of information, but info they should have been able to take back and use. then, as the changeover was happening, there was somewhat of an additional challenge thrown in (just keeping it real, i guess!). instead of going from 2:30-4:00, you now have until 3:30. clasps hands with arms straight out, turns them palms out, cracks knuckles, cocks head from side to side, cracking the neck, shakes it all off, YES, MA'AM! can do! and did-with grace. it was decided that a portion would be taken out, but in the end, even with the shortened amount of time, julie was able to get to it, because this was the elementary school group, and most had a better grasp on the concept and what was going on. they were on the ball and had good questions and thoughts. it went smoothly and i am confident that when they return, they will be able to really put it all together and use their data like masters!

the great thing about this was that it was a great opportunity for deAn and i to see adjustment on the fly when things aren't going quite as planned, so you have to switch it up. when it was done, we bid farewell to deAn and made our way back to the homestead, passing by the little shop where joy works. who is joy, you ask? just a local kevin had mentioned the day before. moving on. bella was ecstatic to see her mama, and needed some lovin'. so stinkin' cute! and then julie said something to her about daddy being home soon, and of course, from that moment on, she had her eyes on the door, acute awareness that at any moment it could happen! so we (and by we, i mean julie) got the food out for dinner preparations. it was going to be good!

when kevin arrived, he came in and got to work, after explaining boxplots, and some workday talk. then we sat out on the deck while he was getting the grill ready. and soon it was time to put on the asparagus. with that it was also apparently time to go get some propane...after some banter of who was going to get it, and how a good wife might have anticipated this...kevin went and exchanged a tank in record time! and julie did a second batch in the oven while the mediterranean seasoned chicken was grilling. sitting around the table enjoying a home-cooked meal with friends- how pleasant! delicious, i tell ya! the chicken, the asparagus (both), the couscous, the pita with tzaziki sauce-like, i'm licking my fingers mentally!!

so this is the really cute pic of ju and kevin preparing our delicious meal!

after clean-up, we were back on the deck with some light music in the background, so as to not bother the neighbors, nor interfere with conversation, once it began to get dark, kevin turned out the porch light (again respectful of the neighbors), and brought out a small lantern light, and dialogue continued. kevin explained exactly what a psychometrician does, beginning with the history. it was very interesting. and after some time, he had another early morning, and i may have kinda' help volunteer julie to get up early and make hubster breakfast, promising to get up and lend moral support! smile. so he went to bed and we spent a little more time talking about traditions and such. parents, family, etc. and we then had to get some shut-eye as well, as we were getting up early and would be looking at work stuffs the next morning.

and now we'll call it a night, as we did!
julie 1-but only because i'm older.

second leg and OGL...omm, could've been worse

wichita to dfw-smoothe sailing and on time. uneventful, and a decent seat-mate.

cue the second leg from dfw to sat. the safety announcements came on in the headrests in front of us, and the window seat lady (let's just call her wsl) was actually funny-we could be friends; we made fun of the entire video, from the exaggerated leg-room we wished we had to the silver hands buckling the passenger in (which we deemed slightly inappropriate-i suppose i can only think of a few of people i'd be willing to shoot that video with: looking at you, julie2, sabrina, shea and bmayes)...and then there was the part where the flight attendant had two other people buckling her seatbelt...so i looked at wsl and said, "would you go ahead and get that for me?" thank God she laughed...and then the lady and her teenage daughter with the o2 masks...the mom had to get her daughter's, as she just sat there looking like a pathetic teenager, who could obviously do it herself, but wasn't about to make an effort. yep. there may have been a fashion show of life-vests, and a dance party at the end. not sure how i felt about the whole thing-uncomfortable that this was where my safety lay, thankful it was over, wondering how much they had to raise prices to pay for this commercial endeavor...

and once the flight actually took off, i took out my notebook to begin the process of writing ideas for these posts. wsl looked up from her kindle at one point and had a shocked look, stating that she hadn't seen anyone actually 'writing' things down in such a long time. and then the older german lady in the aisle seat, who was somewhat annoying (let's call her ogl)
ogl: oh, are you journaling?" 
(at this point i had my earbuds in, and had to take one out to hear her)
me: not really, it's for my blog
ogl: oh! what do you blog about?
me: stupid stuff, mostly just whatever is going on-to keep friends apprised of life.
ogl: (somewhat disappointed) oh. you should use your tablet.
me: (i kept having to take the earbud back out because i was hoping she would stop chatting, but NOOooo) well i like to write it out first handwritten and then go back later to type it all up. (earbuds back in)
ogl: well, that takes too much time. you need to just do it all at once and edit while you go.
me: (earbuds out again...i'm not going to tell you what i was thinking, because i'm sure she's probably someone's grandmother) well, it's my rough draft and i like to write it out by hand. 
ogl: hmf. well, i dictate mine. 
me: good, good for you. i'm glad that works for you. i like to write mine out. (finally headphones back in, and no more chitter chatter). 

so when we finally arrived and i was able to set my pace for the walk to baggage claim, wouldn't ya' know it, ogl was not too far in front of me, setting her own pace, just slow enough that i would catch up at the escalator. guess who took the stairs-yep, i sure did. and it wasn't long before ju arrived to meet me-they were running a little late due to construction, but so were we, as upon arrival, we were taxiing around the pad ramp like a game of cat and mouse maneuvering around parked planes, to finally get to our gate. and of course that initial meeting in the baggage claim was very similar to a 'hello' with sabrina a few weeks back; surprises are fun; little did our friend randi know she would be the inspiration for such pleasant airport greetings.

when we got back up to the truck, i finally got to meet kevin and bella! it was good drive home, due to more construction...which meant talking and music; i vaguely remember car conversation, except to point out the signage on one of the trucks-good times. and then we arrived and i settled my bags into sabrina's room ;) loved the decor!  and then we had a little time for a quick glass of wine and chit-chat before bed-kevin was out early for work, but knowing that we had a little time to sleep in, we got to sleep a little later than normal.

my bed was comfy. sleep came easily-hard to believe i'd been in wichita merely hours ago with joyce and alicia training! time to get ready for another mini-whirlwind!

julie

easy like a hamburger...in a labyrinth...in wichita

sunday morning i had to do things a little differently, as i was flying out of dfw, and arriving back at love field. so i took lyft, and my driver was samuel from kenya. he was a little difficult to understand, but i was doing my best! what i DO know is that he is passionate about his daughter's pre-k teacher! and he visits his now-elderly teacher in kenya whenever he visits-she taught him everything, his first time in school at a fifth grade age, knowing nothing...oh, and he has 9 brothers and sisters...yep.

security was a breeze, and then i stopped to grab a quick bite at mcdonald's and the lady in front of me just very indecisive..finally said, why don't you go, we're not sure...so i did. and about 15 minutes later, as i was walking down the corridor toward my gate (EMPTY corridor, like no foot traffic and plenty of space), the same lady moseys out of a little shop and right into my path, like two of her steps, ahead of me (which was about 7 times slower than i was going...if you know me, or have walked with me, i walk fairly quickly always on a mission). so when she slowed my roll like this, i had to pull out my invisible whip and crack it around her ankles, tugging really hard to bring her down in a face-plant. and then i came out of my split second fantasy world and shifted gears to power past her. i'm so glad i don't ever act on these imaginings...people might start to realize i'm not nearly as nice as i come across...then when you get to know me, you know better. warped humor, i guess.

i arrived in ict early enough to enjoy every bit of this airport. lots of sales going on-wedding dresses, cars, and how did i know i was in kansas? well there was this:

tractor-rider mowers...so midwest!

and if you were not aware, ict is 'the air capitol of the world'...idk, but anyhoo, they had a wall of pictures, and that kept me busy while i was waiting for joyce and alicia to arrive from their delay in o'hare. no worries, i had things to keep me busy.

very spacious baggage claim area! great place for a flash mob, in case anyone wants to know

very interesting little museum

upon arrival, i met them in the baggage claim and we went to get our car-oh praise Jesus for small airport rentals. due to it being a one-way drive, they didn't have the car on location. but he was going to give alicia an executive upgrade...good thing she's already an executive member. hmm.. "oh, we don't do things that way here"...so we went to wait on a bench not to far away, with him letting us know he'd come find us when the car arrived...and then he popped out of the back office about 15 minutes later and waved us over. oh. but the wave....so professional. so alicia came back with the keys and we went out the door-his directions were to go to the right...apparently HIS right. we did find the car, and got on outta' there. the drive to the hotel was...drum-roll please...less than a minute around the parking garage. DUDE! I COULD HAVE WALKED THERE, CHECKED IN AND TAKEN A NAP!!! i so stupid! i totally should've looked it up! they have a shuttle. what was i even thinking. i wasn't. whatevs. no big. so we checked in quickly and were to back in the lobby for lunch in ten minutes. no worries, i thought. until i looked at the room #s just outside the elevator, and asked the handyman which way i needed to go to get to 348. he said, "go to the end of this hall, then you turn right, go to the end of that hall, then turn left, make a little jog to the right, and it should be on that hall....

and so it began....

and continued....

just a little further!

one more corner to your amazing view!

ermergersh! TOTALLY worth the hike for the view!! i'd purposefully request this room again!

i was afraid i wasn't going to be able to get out of the labyrinth in time for lunch, and i might flake away in the wichita winds, if they left me (which they would NEVER) fortunately i left airline peanut crumbs to find my way back (i had no bread...don't worry, i didn't have peanuts either...again the imagination thing).

we arrived at the end of the church crowd,so there wasn't a huge wait, but the place was full. lunch was delish...i haven't had a steak in quite awhile ( not a problem, it was very small, and rather inexpensive-and the sweet potato-the real deal). this is one of the first times i really got a chance to talk to alicia and joyce, without everyone else around, and it was nice to get to know them better. you may remember that we were in colorado together on one of my first trips, but it was all such a blur, and apart from the trainings, there wasn't much time with just them. so it was good. after lunch, we found the site, wichita university-it was a nice little campus, but the doors were closed-sunday/fall break.

once we got back to the hotel, we called it a day. lunch was so heavy that none of us were really planning much for dinner (i had the protein bars in my room, and hotel coffee...as i didn't want to go through the whole frisk-down with tsa this time)...so i took a nap, wrote a letter, finished that last blog, played word games...watched a netflix show...there was no hot tub, so...went to bed.

i drove us to our venue, but we were stopping first at chic-fil-a for breakfast, as our site was on 17th street, and the chic was on 21st. well. i'm here to tell you that not everything is as it seems. we didn't go the way google maps was telling us, because we'd made a mistake the previous day, so we went east, toward the school. google maps was like, oh, yeah? well fine, then i'm going to take you around the back way and in the opposite direction about 5 miles to get to chic-fil-a, which, come to find out, THIS 21st street was nowhere near our 17th street. oh well. we then back-tracked and passed several unfamiliar landmarks until we finally arrived at the school, parked and found the lucas room.

still early, we got jacksen to help us out. (he pushed a button to lower the shades, and another to lower the projector and screen); very impressive, and alicia made certain to boost his ego, but letting him know how very powerful she felt he was now that he had taken care of these things. he did help us with cords, and wifi, and all that we needed. the morning session was not to be in the cards, so we were able to talk, they shared tips and just basically wanted to be as helpful as possible, to answer any questions, etc. we found a minute to create a little boss's day collage for lori, then people started arriving for the afternoon session, and there were internet issues. the guest site hadn't been working earlier, which was why they'd given us the secure passcode. well that wasn't working, so i went on a little mission to find an IT guy...i wandered through the desert, around a mountain, waded through a stream, while on a call with julie k (to make sure of plans for that evening), and FINALLY after i was parched and weary, i came to a little closet that said IT, and it was almost as if i had just stepped into a frat-house-movie...you know, the ones where you have that one guy that had way too many, is a little overweight, pants sagging low, even with a belt, grungy,scruffy...out of shampoo, maybe bedbug bites...and smelling like nothing you would encounter at bath and body works...and he begrudgingly followed me, like i was lassie, leading him to our disastrous encounter at the well...kept a straight face and walked in saying, "i've brought reinforcements!" mmmmm....i just wanted have a disclaimer saying: he's not our roadie! anyhoo, he was able to get onto GUEST first try. as soon as he said that, everyone did that, but he had sequestered this lady's laptop, as any quizzical IT person would do, trying to figure out the original dilemma, which no longer needed figuring out. the lady said, "i can just get on guest too.." and he said no. and continued playing! alicia continued with the presentation, and finally he gave her computer back, and sauntered off a little like a cross between winnie the pooh and eyeore.

at some point, i'd mentioned earlier in the trip that i was easy-in regards to food, a similar version of that may have come out in the training, as we were discussing that when their students were showing amazing results, they could get alisha a steak, joyce- i can't remember what amazing meal, and when alicia looked at me and said, and et tu julie? it just came out again: you know me i'm easy (slight pause...) like a hamburger! umm...like a hamburger? it was all i could think of! my brain went to the fact that there is a mcdonalds on the corner near my apt, and it would be super easy to stop there to get a quick burger. (i didn't say a healthy, delicious burger, i said quick and easy....if i wanted delicious, i'd go back to fll with sabrina and get one of those burgers by the ocean and fries for three!)...but there it was. out there. too late.

i had the second part-working through student ICON, showing them all the amazing features and facets of the amazing red-caped-icon. if only i had a better grasp on the sound! they got to play around and appreciate and understand the features, though. and we definitely stopped for a minute to listen to joyce's favorite-the digraphs. then joyce went through the website and finished up, answered questions, promoted the upcoming convention/workshops in florida and wichita. it went well, and i think they got some additional answers they didn't have prior to coming! it was quite a mixed group, so the discussions were very different. a few lower grades, a few k-5 and a few 6-7.

thanks, joyce and alicia for a great time! but then, i'm easy...like a hamburger. (??)

once we finished, we gathered everything up and headed out to the courtyard to take some pics in the courtyard. after a few moments, trying to precariously position my phone on my backpack, balanced on a statue...there was a gentleman spreading grass seed who came over and took our pics for us. so grateful was i that i threw my purse on the ground, as to be out of the picture. so we got our pics in a cute little sitting area, then moved over to the statue. once we had those done we grabbed our packs, and we were off to drop me at the airport before they headed to kc. upon arriving at the airport, i was going to have quite a wait-to get on a flight that would get me in the earliest! BUT...i realized my purse was not with me. yep. we turned around to go back and get it from the university-hoping it was still there; fortunately it was fall break,but still. a little worried now.

when we arrived, joyce got out to go look with me, and it was not on the ground where i had dropped it initially. i looked around and saw another guy watering plants down the other side of the sidewalk, so i ran toward him (slow mo, i'm certain i looked like whitney houston in body guard: i'm gonna run to you)...anyhoo, the man had no idea, whipped out his flip-phone and called his boss. thank GOD it was the one who had taken the picture, and he had taken the purse into the info desk, just inside the student bldg we'd been in! relief. the training gods were with us! (um, God himself kinda trumps them, so...). so when we got to the airport, it was for real this time! goodbyes, and i got checked in and ready to go, thankful for their graciousness! i enjoyed our time.

the flights were uneventful, and on-time, so i was going to see julie and meet kevin and bella shortly.
we'll get there later!
julie