the tradition will just have to wait!

this week was pretty busy for everyone- Christmas cards came in, and i've gotten a bunch off in the mail- another batch ready to drop, and hopefully finishing off tomorrow as i travel! i got several made as cards, and some made as postcards...i wish i'd spent the extra for more cards, because making the postcards personal was rather time-consuming! and the other time consuming part is that i don't just sign them, i actually write on them, which i suppose isn't customary, but i can't refrain; it's who i am.

i did make it to the beach a couple of mornings, and perhaps over-dressed...it's good that i parked in the middle and was able to shed some layers mid-way through! love seeing the decor and lights around the area- this is near bridge street, right off bradenton beach. 

and what i'm super excited about is that i had my 'final' appt for the bridge on thursday- and they didn't have to do any numbing needle-work! after that part was done, we had a comprehensive "what's next" meeting- those x-rays and film-torture equipment...there has to be a better way! anyhoo, the dentist proceeded to explain the next steps-not exciting. but good to know the bridge to nowhere is now complete!

i've been super excited about the BOAT PARADES, and was very much looking forward to going tonight-a first! i even mentioned it in most of my Christmas letters...well, i'm devastated (on a small scale) that they were all cancelled due to impending 'inclement weather!' yikes and sigh... let's see if it actually happens, or the weather peeps were overly cautious. perhaps instead we'll have hot chocolate and make gingerbread houses. UPDATE: we did indeed make gingerbread houses, and we also had our own little 'bird-boat parade' which we thought was pretty impressive! and p.s. not inclement wx, perhaps inclement boating conditions, but the weather was not frightful.

because when else am i going to wear a hat?

and the cancellations just kept rolling in!

shea is the HOA nightmare neighbor

tomorrow begins a new week, and i'm off to washington state, where i'll meet up with a colleague to train on monday. we both return home on tuesday because it is a later training on monday, and we won't be able to get home until the next day. i am not excited about the weather awaiting us in wa. ugh. but hopefully we'll be able to find something fun to do to entertain the morning before the training!

there was a troll on the bridge...no wait, it was just a homeless man throwing rocks

half day! LOVED IT!

we were just at the point of getting ready to pack it up and leave when our 'head of security' (the nurse) came over the intercom and advised of a lock down. i thought, "this is silly..." then i figured that it was not a drill, so i began looking for local breaking news to see if there was anything going on in the neighborhood. nothing showed up, so we sat. then they came on the intercom and said students who rode the bus could make their way down to the bus...so i had one and basically i pushed her out the door and locked it behind her...God speed little grasshopper...may you get to your bus. whatever you do, don't come back knocking on the door, b/c i will NOT let you in!

when it was finally over, we were informed that there was a man on the bridge throwing rocks at people and not letting them pass. first thought that came to mind: THREE BILLY GOATS GRUFF. that homeless dude was the troll.

then we had a bday celebration and training. we went over our data, and we have a long way to go to bridge the learning gap with this group. i've never shied away from a challenge, but i fear there are not enough building materials for this bridge to span this broad chasm.

this ed-policy program through the teaching trust is very interesting you can check out their blog post about it here if you're curious to know what it is about. while we were there, they made an invitation to something called pub-ed this monday evening at the west end pub. my understanding is that it is an invitation to educators which will involve discussion about issues, solutions, dialogue...it will be interesting to hear different opinions. urgency is key.

i left right on time today, and it felt good! i went to the office and picked up my package-i LOVE vistaprint!
my 'stuff' came in!

classroom calendar!

mouse pad

Christmas cards!

i was very excited about this package! in fact, i've already finished 3 cards! and so the weekend begins.

julie