chaco thinks he needs a talent scout now....

oh blessed friday! it's good to be sitting in my own living room relaxing.

i know i work with 2nd language learners when most of my students seem to think that inanimate objects have feelings of desire or "want." i hear it almost every day. "ms. robinson, my pencil didn't want to sharpen." and i feel like asking how they know what their pencil wants...but today i decided it was time to put it in a visual:

just do it mr. pencil, it will be alright, you want to be a sharp guy, right?

it's also time to make a count-down for our bathroom bulletin board! that was gigi's job. but someone put up a note today, so i will tackle that this weekend.

walking around the school today i saw another self portrait...i think this kiddo fancies herself a superhero...

it's going to be a beautiful weekend..a little cooler than the past couple of days, but 64 isn't bad for feb.

the boys saw that i had a calendar made and chaco looked through the pics and kept saying, "mama! that's me!" "i know it is, chaco." "i'm a MODEL! you can call me sean o'pry." i looked at him, and i cocked my head (which they totally understand-they invented it), "what are you talking about?" and he just smiled and said, "ma, calvin klein...ralph lauren...versace???" so i just nodded and went along with it, "yeah, um, how about i stick with calling you chaco."

and in other interesting news, i was on high alert and worried last week because whenever i went to the bathroom it was bright yellow like a highlighter! and i was afraid that i was sick without knowing it or something, so i googled it. and much relief- multi-vitamins. who knew? fortunately whoever wrote the article did! i just started using a more expensive multi-vitamin and fish oil vitamin, so that's what i get...hopefully that isn't the only effect it has on my body.

have a blessed weekend!
julie

80's in february....feelin' hot,hot,hot (gloria estefan and the miami sound machine, right?)

what a beautiful day today turned out to be! i cannot believe it's february! (why does it have that weird r after the b?)

80! woah!

today i met the two women who are in charge of the program that i have applied for-they were at our school meeting with my principal, because she will be helping them out a little this spring. that was exciting and interesting!

i had a meeting after school and i couldn't wait to get home! i stopped by the office, but my package had not arrived. i did see the mailman putzing around, taking his time at the other mailbox round, so i knew it would take forever for him to reach mine, so i didn't wait around.

i decided to take the boys out to the dog park, and once again, it was packed! bruno does pretty well about meeting others (at least smelling them), but chaco is still a bit snippy. he really doesn't like others in his face. he said it was their breath, but i think he's just a little scared.

how fun was it to pull up to the mailbox round for the 2nd time today and see roses in bloom! even more fun, was to see the mailmen were past my box!

when i opened my mailbox, there it was! it was almost like charlie finding the golden ticket! the key to the package postal box! so i went to the box and there it was...my package i've been waiting for! the office was closed, so i couldn't go show them-tomorrow.

love my calendar!

i am so glad that i got the address labels as well!! i am so tired of writing my address on every envelope i send out!

well, off to finish labeling envelopes to go out first thing in the morning!
julie

hulie beat up the rolling cube handle...and had to get a new one.

i am so glad today is friday! i needed it! only i didn't tell the boys (and they haven't learned how to read the calendar yet)because i will be gone most of the day tomorrow. so our weekend will just start late-and instead of the three day weekend that everyone else is enjoying, we'll make the most out of our sunday and monday!

ups-person has not delivered my calendar yet, so i'm a little bummed. i checked the tracking and it arrived in mesquite at 6.45 p.m...so if they deliver tomorrow, i'll be out all day-and i don't know if i'll get back in time to catch them at the office or not because sat. and sun are their early nights. grr.

this morning i made my frequent early stop at walmart to grab something for a coworker and i got some pens for the kids and a great new sharpie PEN for me (that doesn't bleed). so when i got to school, i used a knife to carve notches into the pen so that i will recognize them and hopefully deter the students from 'permanently borrowing' them.

you can kinda see the notches-you can certainly feel them...ok, maybe YOU can't because it's a computer, but  you get the idea

i've been using the sharpie all day and i love it! i was skeptical, but it really doesn't bleed through!

after school i had to go get bindings to bind some student books that they made (school didn't have any in stock). while i was at office max, i decided to go ahead and get a new "stuff" cart...a rolling cube to put my junk in. they seem to have cheap handles with plastic innards. the first one i had last me a long time before the handle went arthritic on me, so i got a new one. it also had handle problems, which i may have made worse by my foot trying to coax it to extend to its proper height...not so gently. today i used the broken handled one (although i had to tape the tar out of it so that i could pull it; i probably had more in it than i should've). 

while i was picking a cart, a store associate came up to help and noticed my cabell jacket and said his sister goes there. so i asked who his sister was and when he told me, it was one of my students from last year. that started a whole conversation. when i finally got up to the cashier, i was searching for my rewards card, and since i couldn't find it, i had to fill out a new one. i wasn't going to, but the cashier kept saying it'll only take a minute. so to make him shut up, i just filled it out. when i got home, i was supposed to go in and register or something, and of course when i accessed it, he input my name as Hulie. great.

enjoy the long weekend!
julie

zucchini noodles and dumpster diving

this morning i woke up and i had to force myself to do my workout. it's hard on a saturday (especially after the day off)! anyhoo, after the workout, i made breakfast-this morning it was 'french toast eggs"-then i made a little 'syrup' out of a little olive oil, cinnamon, allspice and vanilla mixed together really well...they were really good! oh, i almost forgot, they were topped with blueberries! yum!

then this afternoon i cut up a zucchini and dried it up so that i could use it for dinner tonight. i used the strips as spaghetti-no pasta, but it tasted even better! 

took awhile to cut them up, but i'll do it again! i might also try to use them as fries sometime by baking them.

see? looks a lot like spaghetti...i actually like the consistency better-slight crunch

i highly suggest this dish! the sauce is just a store bought with as little sugar as possible.

 and for lunch i had a 2nd new favorite..taco boats! lean ground beef, sauteed peppers, onions, tomatoes and salsa in an artisan romaine leaf-yum! no shell.

LOVE these!

 i finally packed up my boxes for nina down in roatan and will send them off when the post office is open. it didn't all fit in the first box, so i had to get another for the posters and some other stuff. i was on my way to office max, but i had to take my garbage to the dumpster first and lo and behold, there were like 4 different sized boxes out there and one was the perfect width and height...just a little long. so i snatched it out and headed back upstairs, ecstatic that i didn't have to take a trip out-simply too cold!!

 and as for the box, nothing a knife and some tape couldn't remedy. now all i have to do is wrap this one and address it.

don't worry, when i wrap it, it won't be so janky! smile.

 bruno and chaco caught me today when i was slicing up the zucchini and just sat at my feet so i let them try it. once again, i have found another random vegetable that they thoroughly enjoy.

 i've been looking for a school calendar. the one my mom got for me i keep at the house. last year one of my former students got me a great baby animals calendar, but this year nada. so i had thought about getting a yorkie calendar at petsmart, but it cost like $15. so i decided that i would use my own models and create my own calendar! it was free-only pay shipping and handling (like 6 bucks), but then i upgraded from paper to card stock. i may have also upgraded once more to get the address labels with the boys pic on it...(i always run out of room when i'm writing it on the envelope) ~i think i might get stamps of them as well at some point..no, i am not obsessed.

this is the cover and one of the months, and it is on the labels as well. can't wait!

 good evening and enjoy the remainder of your weekend!
 julie

nothing beats breaking out a fresh calendar and marking it up!

i don't have a lot of nifty little sayings about last year, sorry. although i did text one of my friends :happy new year which swype translated as happy new yeast umm..not the most attractive greeting (unless you're a baker or a beer brewer); good thing i double checked.

but i am looking forward to 2012. we're going into it with a positive attitude. i attribute the positive attitude in part to the calendar that mom got me for Christmas. smile.

you DO remember that i mentioned my mom gets me one every year, right? now i have 13 more quality pages that i can use to create new envelopes!

and the best month so far is....

there's just something about january-perhaps its the fresh beginning-could be that my birthday is in january on the same day as my aunt...oh, and i am hoping that my friend hellen has baby sophia a day early so she will be born on my bday as well!!

i am glad that tomorrow will not be a full day of staff development and we get to work in our classrooms half the day. i am more than willing to exchange half day for the next teacher work day! good call.

i'm sure this year will bring much dining out for many of you, so i would like to share with you something that i read in a magazine just yesterday. i love eating fish when i go out. i am especially fond of gloria's 'pescado acajutla,' which is a delicious tilapia...and i usually have leftover because it is a generous portion. but, for those of you who enjoy fish, please be wary...

don't go paying top dollar for what you're not really getting!

i also noticed that facebook is trying to hook me up. they've been trying to introduce me to: successful men, single men, Christian men, rock climbers, millionaires, single dads...

one thing i have decided might be a good idea (not really a resolution, because like the comic strip said a new year's resolution is a to-do list for the first week of january) is to start saying great great things about people when the walk by or when i think they're just out of ear-shot because you never know if they might be wearing the 'micro plus sonic ear' the thing about the commercial is that they're always saying nice things about the person wearing the thing, but in real life, i don't think i'd want to hear the things that people say-you just never know.

gearing up for tomorrow,
julie

p.s. tomorrow will be very strange not having gigi across the hall. boo. i'm sure it will hit me tomorrow.