squeaky cabbages that really wanted to be cabbage patch kids, but didn't make the cut

this week has been a crazy-fast week. yesterday i went to a training workshop and i found it very interesting! i wish my students were at this point. anyhoo, while at the workshop, i had to use the restroom during a break. in order to avoid the traffic and all of the tables in the room, i found a door in the back partition-wall and it opened into the grand ballroom (which was dark). fortunately the door to the right was open and light was shining through (now i know what those bugs feel like out in the dark night, flying toward the zapper).

when i got to that door, about 50 ft. away, there was a long line out the women's restroom door... thought 1. go to the men's restroom, b/c there are hardly any men at the conference (not a good plan-pass) 2. go straight back across the ballroom to the door on the opposite side, because surely there is a bathroom there, mirroring the set-up (shouldn't things be symmetrical? i submit that they should) there was a service hallway with no restroom.

so...back into the dark ballroom. i looked across to the far side of the ballroom and saw more doors, and slowly made my way toward them, fortunately i saw the dark shadow of the stage and was quick enough to realize that there were stairs before i tripped over them. with my eyes on the doors, i was able to make it without tripping over anything..note to self: bring night vision goggles to the next training or workshop...

i almost fell on my knees and praised God when i opened the door to find a vacant "family bathroom." YES! (had i not drank my half gallon of h20, it wouldn't have been a big deal, but hindsight is 20/20)

later that night when i had gotten home, i was getting in bed and i felt crumbs on my sheets...that was strange, as i never eat in the bedroom. hmm. that leaves the boys. bruno doesn't get up on the bed as much, but i KNOW chaco burrows into the sheets. so i said to him, "i've told you not to eat cookies in bed." to which he replied (in an english accent, mind you) "but motha, they weren't cookies...they were fig newtons!" ummm...NO. i'm here to tell you that there are no fig newtons in my home--to be clear, i am pretty certain he took his milkbone into the room to try to get it out of the kong toy. jerk. 

this is the one...seriously? fig newtons?

that's pretty much the worst. being ready to go to bed and having to change the sheets...boo.
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oops...a few days later
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so the cabbages have been on my mind, i was worried that the weather had foiled our plans. i kept noticing them when i'd walk by the window going toward the art room. so today, after an after-school meeting, i went out and harvested the cabbage and the broccoli. as i was coming upstairs to the apt, the cabbages were squeaking. who knew that cabbages were squeaky?? so, they weren't huge, but they were enough to make some cabbage salad-so i looked up a random, un-tried recipe....and i'll be honest, once i tried it, i was pleasantly surprised; i'll take it to school tomorrow, and i'm sure there will be takers...it's teachers we're talking about here.

the cabbages were really cute. i totally understand why they called those baby-dolls of long ago cabbage-patch dolls. i kinda wanted to put a diaper on one, make some yarn hair and draw a face in sharpie. no worries, i didn't..but i wanted to. but i DIDN'T- i PROMISE!
 

not bad...for a bunch of greens-heroes. they made it through the frosts and freezes..i love hearty veggies!

 and in closing, i found some sweet-tarts and thought i was eating pac-man ghosts! wocka-wocka-wocka...

 then i took a closer look and realized that it was actually the big guy from monsters inc!

but as it were, being famous wasn't enough to save them, i ate every single one...ok...calm down, there were only 4.

one more monday down...18 more to go!
 jrob

super market sweep...trippin over your booty

oh my goodness! it felt SO great to sleep in today! and it felt even better to no do anything related to school (kinda...i had my papers out and was thinking about doing schoolwork, but decided it would wait).

when i woke up this morning, i awoke from a dream of being reprimanded for googling 'YORKIES' things are tightening up in disd...and then i was thinking about friends who have recently had babies or are about to have babies, and for whatever reason, the thought that came to mind was a statistic that i remembered about the average u.s. household having about 2.3 children. from there, i decided that i didn't want to see that .3 of a child, and visions of the eyeball monster from monsters inc flooded into my head. two normal children and one eyeball with arms and legs. hmm.

 so..i watched the debates the other night. i make no apologies, i am in favor of mitt romney, because at this moment in time, i believe that our country is in an economic crisis and i believe that he is much more capable in matters of fiscal responsibility. people who know me well, know that i am also quite socially conservative. and people who know me really well know that i'm not voting for the white guy, i am voting for the guy i believe is most capable. trust me if herman cain were running against president obama, i would be voting for the black guy over the half-white guy, because i again, believe that cain is much more fiscally capable than president obama as well.

on a news show just now, the lady said people tend to vote for the person they'd most want in their living room for the next four years...well, after reading the amateur, and seeing how mitt and his family interact and play olympics games at their family reunions, i think i'd prefer to have him in my living room.

ok, off that topic.

saturday, october 6

this morning i woke up and my alarm went off on my phone and i realized that today was the day for my 'shopping spree' at world vision...i was thinking it might be like supermarket sweep and all of the teachers would be lined up and ready to go running after their supplies!

we were very fortunate that our principal bought a membership for our school for the year-we get another shopping spree in the spring! woo hoo!

as i was driving to the place, i was thinking it seemed to be in a rather remote location. well, something even more interesting is that i am pretty sure i have driven by there before (on accident, following some directions off of mapquest-anyone remember mapquest? from before gps?) anyhoo, i finally got there and i was early, so i went in and filled out the paperwork (next to nothing), and then the tattooed man brought the shopping carts and gave us instructions. it was painless. the only thing they didn't have that i was really hoping for was a nice pencil sharpener; mine is on it's last legs...

some of my spoils! i did feel somewhat like a pirate who stumbled upon my booty (butt then, if you're stumbling on your own booty, perhaps it's time for a diet and some stair stepper exercises...just sayin)

here's a partial list: 2-hole punch, a couple of binders, several spiral notebooks, pens, pencils, 2 reams of copy paper, some books, 2 kid-usb ports, zipper pouches, thermal bags, drawstring bags, markers, crayons, and the list goes on...thank you dr. hughes!

yesterday i was in need of spinach and artichoke dip and salsa, so i took a quick trip for the ingredients and whipped up a batch, and it was phenomenal! hit the spot!

i wish i'd gotten a larger bag of chips!

 i'm so good to myself!

and in other news, my apartment complex has painted the mailbox 'carousel-pavilion-looking' things a poopy-diaper green. gross...bruno looked at it and told chaco it looked like when he pooped after eating his greenie treats. fortunately no one else was around to hear them discussing it. 

the boys have loved having me home. last night they were laying around-kinda like they are right now...and every once in awhile, they would get on a barking frenzy-neighbors-and i'd have to pull out the treats in a failing effort to distract them.

bruno guarding his treat.

i've been kinda bad about their treats lately. chaco likes to save his and keep playing with it and goading bruno after his are gone. so, i've been pulling the progressive redistributive act and taking part of chaco's treat and giving it to bruno. it's highly unfair, i know...and chaco would probably have lots of treats stored up for a rainy day if it weren't for me saying he has plenty and he should share his wealth...bruno kinda liked it because he didn't have to work for it, he just acted like: woe is me, i don't have what he has.

ok, time to get some work done!
julie