don't play games with me...unless they're word games, then by all means! especially if there's music!

i think winter finally came to dallas...hopefully just for a short visit. it is so hard not to be envious of my friends in florida right now, as i see their pictures from the disney run, enjoying the incredible temps.

i don't think that i will be able to finish this post tonight, as my eyes are getting tired. *update-i finished*

i can't believe we've only been back to school for a week, last week seemed forever-long! perhaps it was because of the two pd/work days, and three days of data-hashing...mixed with map testing/trouble-shooting...whew!

my necessities last wed-fri for data meetings! kanakuk tervis courtesy of trish! 

fortunately we were able to go out friday night to the truck yard...unfortunately, someone had huge black x's on her hands because she didn't have her id with her...so we left and found another fun little restaurant on greenville...which is fine, because it was a great little joint, and now we have a great reason to go back-when the weather is a bit warmer.

before we met, i came home, and i was so excited because i had a package! i didn't open it yet, because i'd planned to go walking, and i had time to take my walk-i have a route that i am becoming particularly fond of, the only part that i don't like is that the 'ramps' that bridge the sidewalk to the street (like handicap accessible or bike-friendly, not sure which) are not as gradual as i would like, they are rather abrupt, and not great on the knees- i find myself opting for the step off the curb instead. anyhoo, other than that, it works well for me.

it was a late night, so i was surprised that i was actually up at a decent time the next morning. i am pretty sure i went for a walk around mid-morning, and then i got a little work done when i got home-particularly i was able to really clean up the kitchen area. i also got a start on the laundry. then i got a text from a friend about the possibility of playing scrabble later-not gonna' lie, i was thrilled because i love word games! but even more, it was just the gesture of 'hey, let's hang out' and i needed that-good timing. what made it even better timing, was that we played at dunn bros coffee house, and they had live music-a guitar/singing studio, so there were several performers, and there we were right up in the mix of it. good-times. interestingly enough, for obvious reasons-live music, we didn't really talk much-didn't really need to; it rather reminded me of hanging out with some of my other long-time friends who can just 'be,' and that is refreshing.

may there be more of this in the future #relaxing

ready to overcome the world!

ok, so i'm sure you may be wondering about that package. if you recall from this post, i shared how i came to learn of the aeropress...well, finally it had arrived!! i didn't get a chance to actually try it out until saturday, and i think i may have had a little more coffee than necessary because i just wanted to keep using it! smooth. so tonight, i decided i was going to go ahead and get an electric kettle to warm up the water more quickly and get the keurig out of the way. i am still not ready to be rid of it completely (hard to cut the cord..we've bonded over the past 6 years), but it is on the other side of the counter. (nobody puts baby in the corner...only, keurig is no dirty dancer, so it doesn't apply here).

 and yes, i ran errands with a friend tonight and made the leap to the electric kettle. while it is not nearly as cute as an ornate 'real' kettle, it sure heats the water up fast! it works for this apt-were i in an actual house, or NICE apt, i might be more inclined to get a cute kettle. (but really, am i sitting here babbling about kettles? who does that? least of all me-i didn't think that was where this post was going, but there were some really cute ones at teavanna in the galeria!) 

the sunset tonight was gorgeous, like a painted canvas

 umm...so yeah. it was a good weekend, i cannot believe we are back to school tomorrow! yikes. and it is much too late, i should be in bed. g'night!

julie

monday tuesday wednesday thursday saturday saturday sunday

alrighty then...i love it when friday feels like a saturday and then i realize that it really is friday and i get another saturday tomorrow! truly exhilerating! so, dallas isd, if you are listening, i would be all in for 4 day work weeks if that would help (not that it's even on the table, but if it were, you'd have my vote!)

today has been a lazy day for us. not that we're complaining! i mean, i got first place in a word game (and that's a big deal!)

ok, it was low-scoring, but in all fairness, there were only 215 possible combinations!

i've also been getting some of my summer reading done. if you are a teacher this book is a must read!!

excellent book-easy read, but it changes the way i look at my teaching

so...next week is our last week of summer school and the designers of the program planned a field trip for to go to a library on the last day. and the teachers are required to go chaperons. the last thing i want to do on our last day is take a bunch of students to a library where they are supposed to be quiet and somewhat respectful, but the worst part is that it's at the end of the day, so we cannot work on things we need to do to finish up. bad idea. boo. but summer school is over!! then meetings start back up on the 9th-ugh. too bad the weather is so hot! it really makes it unfun (new word) to even step outside.

we talked about doing another 4th grade lunch, so i might fix something (that way i know i'll enjoy it). perhaps a crockpot dish so that it stays warm and delicious. pulled pork? meat loaf? chicken?

not much of consequence today-have a great weekend!
julie

fowl mouth and super spy lipstick

today i got home and i could hear chaco from the parking lot he was yelling CHICKEN!! CHIIIC-ken chickenchickenchickenchickenchicken.
as soon as i walked into the house, i said, "really?" he looked up at me and said, "momma, chicken chicken chicken chicken.."     "chaco, stop!"  "momma...i have a fowl mouth! get it? get it?? fowl!" witty. i'm sure he sat around all day thinking of that one!

and as you can see, he's been picking up bad habits from his sister, reagan (you may or may not have seen her on FB on 4-20...)

i should probably have a talk with him.

i had to stop by walmart on the way home...i've had drain problems...thank goodness for liquid plumber! now i'm sitting here with wheel of fortune on in the background...my mom and i used to watch wheel together. yes, i'm a wheel watcher! i've had an affinity for word games since i was young. i can pin-point my need to spell correctly to 4th grade in brodhead, wi! one night after church, i had broken my necklace and left it on the table with a note, hoping mom and dad could fix it. the next morning, my mom kinda chuckled and asked how to spell necklace. obviously i had spelled it wrong, and she taught me the correct spelling of the compound word.

and my grandma smith was an avid reader, which helped instill the desire to read and use vocabulary intelligently. i grew up loving boggle! then i found a yahoo game called text twist...which i kinda dominated-i was so obsessed with unscrambling words and mixing letters around and manipulating them to create new words that i was doing it in the car while i drove by billboards, and when i saw ads on trucks...it took a few weeks, but it passed. i actually haven't played in quite awhile. mad gab is another favorite (especially bible mad gab).

so it is not much of a wonder that i have ended up in a classroom teaching spanish and english reading and writing for 4th graders, i guess. (growing up i used to watch cagney and lacey and thought i wanted to be a detective). today was a great day and a relief-because tomorrow and the next day we get our last two state tests out of the way and the pressure is off. now we can teach for fun, because there's nothing looming over us. or at least that was what i thought until today. i was approached by my principal to help one more batch of students on their 'victory lap,' so i will have a couple more weeks of helping out with that exciting adventure, then on to really having fun with my own class!

side note:
if anyone out there has an extra super-spy detective lipstick out there, mine broke.

it's hard to keep tabs on everyone when my spy lipstick isn't working. i'm fairly mechanically inclined, so i took it all apart and cleaned the corroded battery so the circuit would work, but i think one of the tiny wires might need to be re-soldered..i don't have soldering equipment (did that all sound pretty legit? i mean, i know what i'm talking about, but i wouldn't know how or what to heat up!)

alright, i think that is enough for this evening...stay away from the chicken and turkey-it could cause fowl mouth!
jules

p.s. i just got news that someone got her birthday gift of the baby jewelry and i'm pretty sure she liked it almost as much as the dobbit i crafted for her some time ago, using this beastly image as a guide.