don't mess with my bundt cake and HONDURAS, and i won't have to punch you in the face.

today was another full day. career day, feedback, writing prep, smart potatoes, AWARD, more smart potatoes...and when i got home, i finished smart potatoes...(uy, papa)...

it wasn't a bad day, just a full day. it was productive, and i feel that i was able to get some stuff done, yet there are other things that are undone, that need some doing.  i am proud to say that i got one of the posters up that wendy and i were trying to get up, and one more to go...i would've gotten that one up as well, but there were screws sticking out of the bricks that would've punctured the already frail poster. so  i will speak with the custodian when i get back to school to see if he can help...i may just go get a hacksaw and cut them off-that would be the easiest, and isn't everyone in need of a good hacksaw? yes.

if only i could remember all of the one-liners that were spewing out today when andrea and i were conversing in the morning. they were funny. i laughed. but obviously not funny enough to remember-she even said we should write them down. oops. i needed my go-go-gadget recorder.

smart potatoes...what are smart potatoes anyway? well..we DID grow them at the school. 'nuf said. only not really. the students planted the potatoes back in february or march, and we just harvested them today-over 100 days. the key was staying away from the ants. they did a pretty good job. (i need to go back after the fire ants later). so the students harvested, weighed and sorted the potatoes. they may or may not use the information to create a graph tomorrow. i ended up having to re-weigh all of the potatoes...in grams...on a triple balance beam because accuracy is not a mastered fifth grade standard. anyhoo, andrea helped me out with the first few, and i was going to use the students' numbers until i lifted the bag and realized how heavy it was and that the numbers certainly did not add up.

how did i know? you're talking to the girl that lives on the 3rd floor and has to carry groceries up the stairs..i know the difference between 10 lbs and 25 lbs! so i stayed after our meeting and weighed the remainder of the pots so that i could take them in to the food pantry (which i plan to do tomorrow after jury duty). and the total (if i recall the numbers from school that i jotted on a paper) are about 35 lbs of potatoes from two raised beds. not a bad haul considering last year was pathetic little pea-sized potatoes!

this afternoon we received a prestigious award from real school gardens for the integration of the garden into our lessons and making it part of our cabell culture. that was really neat. it came with a $500 gift, which we will be deciding how to use in the near future! woohoo!!

and during our feedback, my principal told me that if she were the lawyers, she would pick me to be on the jury. fair and impartial...so...i am trying to find a t-shirt and a book that have something super controversial on them...i don't have time for this kind of thing. hopefully they will fill their white-woman quota before they get to me.

and this afternoon, the math facilitator, carol, came in and she is so thoughtful- i feel like she kinda' adopted me as well when my first facilitator flew the coop and went to a different division...but while she was meeting with andrea, she brought us each one of these, and i was in heaven!

MY NEMESIS..MY KRYPTONITE!

you think i jest...no..no..if someone said, "julie, i will give you a NOTHING-BUNDT-CAKE if you let that sumo wrestler fall on your head." i think i might do it...on the other hand, if you said, "julie, i'll give you a NOTHING-BUNDT-CAKE if you fore-go your trip to HONDURAS", i'd probably punch you in the face, take the cake and run to the boarding gate! so, don't do that...i don't like to punch people in the face.

alright, it's bedtime..jury duty comes early.
julie

mustard greens...your name is so deceiving...

well, today i wasn't sure whether my student teacher would show up or not (because i had e-mailed telling her she didn't have to-but i was hoping she would). i got called to the principal's office and thought i might be in trouble, but i wasn't-thank goodness, she just wanted to talk about the weather! (wait, when have kay and i ever sat down to talk about the weather?! but it's true.) so, after picking up my kiddos a little late, we got to the classroom, and brooke wasn't there. then she walked in right as breakfast was coming in the door. yea! it's always more fun with another adult in the room!

i had gotten a fun gift of some classroom type supplies that i thought she might be able to put to use, so i pulled it out and she had gotten me a thank you card and a gift card to the greatest teacher store ever-

i am the luckiest teacher ever!

remember the day i talked about getting a sprinkles cupcake?  well, i'm glad i forgot to go, although, on the way home today, i remembered and decided to head over that way and half-way, i decided that it would be even better to stop by nothing bundt cakes instead-closer and even more delicious! i remember gigi telling me it was off royal, so i gps'd it, and drove up preston, then i wasn't really exactly sure where it was, but i needed to stop in to central market for some swiss chard. well, i was in the parking lot after making the purchase, and my phone kept telling me it was to my right. i looked around and didn't see it. i went to the window of celebrity cakes and looked in (like one of those norman rockwell paintings with the little kids) only to realize it was not the right place. i got back in my car and went across the intersection and looked in that shopping area...not there...went back, looked again...it was in a small strip right facing preston road-strangely located if you are unfamiliar...back me up, gigi. but i finally found it as i pulled out onto preston one last time! red velvet, you made my day!

ahhhh!!!!! angels singing halleluiah!

at some point during the day, we were talking about salsa and mango salsa came up, so tonight, i bought a couple more mangoes to try it out because i just ran out of salsa. it was missing something, so i added some cumin, salt, basil....it's all good.

and i got my chard for morning shakes-in case you are not familiar...

they have red stems-love the taste, it is a favorite.

 i got a lot because it freezes well for the smoothies. i tried mustard greens the other day. big mistake. i thought, 'well, everything else i've tried in the greens lately has been ok, kind of nutty, or green-ish tasting....not so with the mustard greens. surprisingly, they taste a lot like...mustard. ew. mustard and strawberries. not a good combo. i took a bite of a leaf before throwing it in, and spit it out and threw the rest away. nas-tay!

and note to self, i have GOT to take the Christmas music out of my phone because driving around in 105' and a random saxophone rendition of 'i'm dreaming of a white Christmas' comes on...aargh. first of all, to me, Christmas is the most romantic season of the year. Christmas music on a cold winter night with snow flakes drifting down-romantic. umm...romantic Christmas music when i have sweat beads on my brow is in no way romantic- taking it off tonight so that i don't ruin it for this winter.

the boys have rawhide chews and chaco keeps getting it and going up to bruno and saying, "no, you can't have it. stop trying to come after it..." and fake growling with his little tail wagging and turning his back to bruno. bruno doesn't even want it, but he'll pretend to grab at it just to humor chaco. then when chaco looks away, bruno looks up at me and says, "was that good? i didn't really want it, but i want him to leave me alone." such a good brother!

now i need to review my lesson because apparently i am under the microscope tomorrow,
julie