the case of pooh. or pooh in the globe in the case...

last weekend was a whirlwind...i blinked and it was over! i left for katy, tx on saturday morning, as they were having a baby shower for one of my dear friends. i was looking forward to an easy flight... i had originally planned to check a bag, but decided last minute that if i could fit everything into a carryon, that would be the new plan. and so it was.

unfortunately, as i was going through tsa and they pulled my bag off the conveyor, i remembered WHY i was going to check my bag!! ugh. so i watched her open it, and unfortunately the gift was wrapped. she was trying so meticulously to get the tape off, and to not tear anything, so i told her, "look, don't worry, just rip it off, at this point i'd rather just re-wrap it, but i need to to get down to the counter to check it and back up through security..." basically i kept looking at my clock and hoping she'd get the hint.

the most frustrating part of it all is that i had just read a story on fb about a couple that had to throw their snowglobe away because it was too big and they didn't have time to get down to check it -it had their pictures for an adopted grandchild, etc and a lady saw the whole thing, fished the snowglobe out and found them a month later to return it to them... all the feels...

(i'm thankful i got my tsa pre!) but seriously, c'mon, now tsa...a freakin' winnie the pooh snowglobe? this seems like overkill to me...

finally when this tsa lady was done, she walked me out and i took monorail to the terminal and the elevator down to the ticket counter to check my bag. as i got off the elevator, i realized that my phone stylus was missing! ugh. i use it a lot!

no time to back track, i got my bag checked and made my way back through security, and remembered that my phone had fallen while i was waiting for the tsa person. i breathed a sigh of relief when i went back to that table and the stylus was there near a power cord! yay, me!

fairly uneventful flight, the dallas layover was short, and when i got to the houston airport, i went to pick up the rental car. as i pulled around to exit, the lady asked for my license. i couldn't find it, so i backed out and went through EVERYTHING! purse (small) pocket by pocket, card by card, backpack-same, no dice. after about 10 minutes of looking and re-looking, i drove back to the parking lot (she had already called the front desk to make sure they hadn't accidentally forgotten to give it back). i was getting frustrated, as i was going to need that to fly home! so i parked the car back in the lot and got out of the car, and i think i must be the luckiest person alive, as it was on the ground behind the car next to me...whew!

so now i'd wasted about 30 minutes, and felt rather silly being frustrated, thinking in the back of my mind that the id was at the front desk and they just couldn't find it... so i was off. i'd been craving whataburger pretty much since i moved to florida, so i had planned to make that stop once i got to katy. and it was worth it!

then i remembered that i had to stop for gift-wrap! once i found some, let the wrapping games begin! i purchased a small exacto knife instead of scissors-cheaper, but not necessarily as brilliant... so i cut the first piece, which was plenty large, but sitting in the car gave me some difficulty-and it was looked pretty rough. i had to rip tape off, because i cut my finger with the exacto knife (a tiny cut, but it bled, nonetheless!) so i taped my finger to avoid messing up more paper, and cut off another large piece...this time, i pulled up a video i had seen of a really cool wrapping job, and tried that-on the trunk of the car. this was difficult, as it was breezy out, and the sun was bright, making it difficult to see what the guy in the video was doing...and then i realized the paper was not quite large enough...not about to do a patch-job! so i cut off one more large piece, and used the tried and true wrapping format. at one point someone pulled up nearby and i thought the kids might be filming the crazy lady wrapping gifts in the parking lot, struggling.

i don't recommend trying to wrap in a car

impromptu-make-do bandage

originally i was supposed to have plenty of time. such was not the case. i was a little late. boo. but i arrived and got to meet some of the family and friends, and stayed for a bit to chit chat afterward. i love seeing friends, and especially on such a joyous occasion! she was certainly showered with love!

but this little girl was there!!

i'd share pictures of the shower, but i forgot to ask for permission, but it was super sweet!

i traveled home the sunday, and it went much better than the previous day!

this was the only downer....i asked for the panini, and they gave me cibatta..ugh. if i'm going to have bread, at least give me the kind i like!!

 fortunately all was on time, and i got home at a decent hour and there was time for shea and me to go out and find a few more caches to add to our geocache tally!! more about that in the next posting, because it was pretty cool!!

great day!
julie

baby shower lockjaw

well, as a matter of fact, i DID have my phone interview today, thanks for asking! i believe it went fairly well! i can't really say anything about the interview, except that it's over! whew~step two-done! if it went well, we'll move on to step three.

i also got a chance to go out to the school garden and pull out the broccoli plants, which were flowering. flowering broccoli means bees. bees in the courtyard lead to screaming kids. when kids scream in the courtyard, every classroom facing the courtyard is distracted, and this leads to frustrated teachers, who in turn don't appreciate the garden...good call, julie, good call!

i was also able to get the necessary receipts in to the inter-office mail, and then i received an email after school asking me to fax them. so i guess that will be first on the agenda for tomorrow!

and after school, there was the baby shower. i don't think i was really much help..i contributed only in adding water to the mix. the baby shower punch was a half and half mixture of i'm not sure what, but the first try was so tart it almost gave me lockjaw-the kind that makes your fingers curl into a fist and they need to be pried open...then some pineapple pizazz was added which made it a bit too sweet. so the only thing that we had available was water and some ice, so we watered it down to make it somewhat palatable...but then, it's not usually the punch that people are talking about after a shower...it's the doritos, and they were fabulous!

when i got home, i saw this guy just hangin around...he apparently jumped off of the computer stand sometime between 8:00am, and 3:33 pm. we found him just in time, he is recovering nicely. i absolutely love my usb port man!

 yesterday when i was out with the boys, i wanted to get a pic of bruno, but he said no, stuck out his tongue and turned his face-so i snapped one of his shadow, and you can see his tongue sticking out...i'm pretty sure he thinks he's michael jordan.

i love all of the tulips in my neighborhood-they make my heart smile!

i'm going to have to alter some of my lesson plans because we have to administer our telpas writings, and next week we have the naep test..we'll have some intensive small group sessions because over half of the class will be out of the room for that!

and i just talked to dad about our spring break visit. hopefully we will be able to work on the itouch docking station for recharging; that way, instead of paying over $1000, dad and i will come up with something comparable at a fraction of the cost! it's how we roll...money doesn't grow on trees, ya know! i sent him a link with pics from the tcea convention we went to!

i also mentioned that i would be bringing my new toy and was planning on doing some target practice at their place...outside of course. good thing they live outside the city! now i just need to find some target ammunition. anyone? anyone?

ok, that's all i got-looking forward to a good day tomorrow!!
julie