i'm sad that i am going to have to find homes for the chocolates tomorrow.

well, i never watch award shows...but i did record last nights(only to fwd through and see the parts dedicated to whitney).i don't like award ceremonies. and because i wanted to pay a little tribute to a legend, i also watched bodyguard yesterday morning.

hmm...i have my phone interview set for thursday night; they will send an email about 1/2 hour before the interview with interview content info...not much time to prep! but i am looking forward to it! i probably ought to let mom and dad know so that they don't try to call during that time!

tomorrow i need to get some more zucchini..smile. and i need to get some green tea. i've never really done green tea, but tomorrow i will imbibe.

the maintenance man came by today and changed out the fire alarm batteries, so now i feel much more secure! and relieved that i will not be woken up in the morning again by random beeping. (i'm glad that i didn't have to get on a ladder and do it myself, because my stepping ladder is not quite tall enough and i would have tried to awkwardly balance it on something else and probably fall off and break something...on my body. not ok).

i will let you know what comes of tomorrow..the valentine's day party should be a little more under control than the last one. i will also let you know what the boys get for me... as for the vday candy i will locate teachers who are willing to adopt the lovely little morsels. they need to go to worthy homes. i'm hoping for no creepy stuffed animals that the students think are so cute. otherwise, i will once again have to donate them to a worthy cause.

i am a little bummed that i agreed to do destination imagination volunteering because that is the saturday of a long weekend and i could've gone to oklahoma.. boo. i'm in need of a trip to see friends and go bowling and help shea with some artwork...and to make fudge that i cannot eat...maybe it's better that i wait until i can enjoy the fudge!

good night!

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

congrats to me...i'm celebrating by sharing celery with the boys!

Congratulations! You have been selected to advance to the next round of the Master’s in Educational Leadership with Urban School Specialization program.

not gonna lie, i was pretty excited to get this email! the next round is a phone interview lasting up to an hour...what could they POSSIBLY want to talk to me about for an hour?! i hate phone talking. well, if i manage to get past that portion, there is still the on-site session. 

yesterday for snack i had celery sticks and humus, and i found out that the boys like celery...i think they like the crunch. whatever it is, they sat in attention while i was eating it.  

mama! what is this stuff?! i LIKE it!

today at school i was waiting for my students to get picked up when i noticed this:

i couldn't get an inconspicuous shot off, but his harness looked just like chaco's.

now, i've seen people use leashes for their kids before, but she was yanking it around and shortening the leash around her hand to keep him close...i really wanted to give her lessons on how to walk a dog because they would probably work for the kid too.


tutoring on capitalization usage went quite well today-i think they learned it (in spite of my computer lack of usage).


i am super excited that tomorrow is my non-workout day! i can't wait to wake up a little later tomorrow morning! this morning i woke up and decided i needed to snooze for another hour, but just after i reset my alarm, and began to doze, i heard a beep. then nothing then about 3 minutes later another beep. the dogs heard it too, but strangely didn't bark...it was the fire alarm. boo. it continued to do this, but the intervals got longer and longer until they finally stopped-i'm pretty sure that means i really ought to change out the battery. tomorrow. 


goodnight!
julie

those orchstra people were perCUSSING left and right..all over the stage!

 today was awesome because the percussionists from the symphony came to cabell to perform! woohoo~ it's amazing what all they can do with their instruments!here's a short clip of the last piece they performed. (ok, just kidding because that took way too long to upload! boo)

i love music, so this was dreamy for me. i would've loved the entire orchestra, but i'll take what i can get!

we were most certainly wow-ed! the students behind me were oooo-ing and ahhh-ing. i think i might have been as well. i was definitely all smiles!


i got an email saying that my next water delivery date was feb. 9th...well, they just delivered the first batch on the 1st, so i am not ready for 15 more gallons yet! so i postponed the delivery. i couldn't drink that much in two days if i tried...water poisoning!

and today i used the last bit of coffee i had at school, so i knew that after school i'd have to purchase some more from a reputable establishment. so i stopped at world market on the way home, because i was also hoping to find coconut oil (to cook, not to tan) and coconut flour...to make coconut pancakes! well, i found the coffee that i think i might be even more fond of right now! TEXAS TURTLE! wow, yum! i didn't find the coconut stuff i was looking for, so instead i grabbed some humus to use for chicken and the pesto-bread. smile.

i bought 2 because i knew i would need one at school and one at home.

 alright, i think it's time to be done for the night!
julie

decorating a school is not the same as decorating a house...

yet another day in paradise! some decorating has been going on around our school, and they seem to be trying to make it feel like a house. it doesn't need to feel like a house to be 'welcoming' but it's nice that someone is taking the initiative to do something, nonetheless.

yes, strangely we now have a fake dog who sits under a bench...

but what really caught my eye was when i walked downstairs after lunch and saw a lady in a dress and stockings holding a paintbrush in one hand and a jacket in the other. she was painting a bench by the kindergarten hall, but she was certainly no professional. (again, beggars can't be choosers). but then again....

yellow paint on the floor...maybe we should be a little choosier.

tonight i tried something new for dinner, and i will suggest that everyone try this-it is delicious! it's called no grain bread.

i ABSOLUTELY loved this! super healthy too.

now i need to get busy and try to make some tutoring material for my bilingual students!


julie

educational gifts and food processors

well, i went out today to make some purchases for a small christian school on the island of roatan.(children's palace- cpbs) my dear friend from 6th and 7th grade is the administrator there and there is not a lot of extra money to get lots of extra 'stuff'. it is a very small school, but they have a mission to educate children and love on them. so i went to lakeshore and u.s. toy and purchased some awesome stuff that i would use in my classroom!

i'm sooooo excited to send this package!! i think for the next package, i want to send something special for their staff. they only have 27 people working at their school, and i know they don't get paid much at all-room and board...maybe. they sacrifice but they gain so much!

while i was at lakeshore, i looked across the street and i was drawn like a firefly to a bug zapper to bed bath and beyond (did you like that simile?). so, i went in with one mission in mind: get a food processor. and when i got in and started looking at them, a saleslady approached and asked if she could help. i didn't say yes, i merely said, "i'm just looking for a food processor." so she asked for how many do i cook, etc. after i told her 1, she picked up the smallest processor and said it might be good. then i asked how many functions and blades it had and she looked and looked for the information on the back. finally i said, "well, i'll just take a couple of minutes and look at them and decide. thanks for your help." and i was grateful that she walked away. i don't like help at stores unless i request it-and usually when i do want help, no one is to be found. so i went with the 9 cup instead of the 7 cup.

i think i picked the correct one!

now all i really want to do is go to the store and buy choppable foods and shove them (gently) into the food processor! it's like a new toy on Christmas morning!

earlier, before all of the shopping, i took the boys out and shock of all shocks, bruno came without a scene! and he did fairly well most of the way. most of the time, he took off ahead of us and led the entourage. the girls at the office were very excited for him. and shannon pulled out the pupperoni that i had dropped off earlier to win puppy points. they were very excited, and displayed their gentlemanly behavior...sit and down.i was all smiles by the time we got home because bruno did so well...maybe it's the cooler weather? who knows, but i'm hoping he had so much fun today that he'll be excited about going again!

good boys! i'm so proud of you!!

can't wait to slice and dice!
julie

is that a watermelon on that lid or are you just happy to see me? both.

ok, WOW! that salmon with the avocado/sweet potato mash-deLIcious!! in fact, it was so good for lunch that i had it again for dinner!! smiles all around! today i also had some of the watermelon i dehydrated the other day! and when i say some...it was half a baby watermelon.which dehydrated only produces about a ziploc baggie...

gigi, thought of you and decided to share with ms. lama (now mrs. sowe)

i took some over to the office as well and i think i've convinced mandie that it is a necessity and she'll probably try to talk her husband into getting her one. smile.

oh, today at school i intercepted the game. this particular game was who you would end up with.

they may or may not have put teachers' names on there as well. and my only thought was the only way any of them would 'end up' with one of us would be if we adopted them. silly kids. oh to be in 4th grade again-i remember making these games. smile.

my shoulders are so sore! i was trying to figure out why, when i remembered it was from cutting things-veggies, fruit...so i have decided that i need to get that nice food processor. and right now i am sitting with the heating pad on my shoulders wishing i had a masseuse! remember how last year they were going to give massages for teacher appreciation week and it got canceled? that was nice.

when i stopped at walmart the other day, i bought early valentines cards fort he students. at first, all i saw were boxes of 25 and 24-too many. i put them in my basket, did the math, took them out, kept going saw some more with 22 count, so i bought 4 boxes-which is almost perfect for all of my classes! woohoo! i'm going to try to put personal notes on each of them-i need to start this weekend if i really expect to get it done. i don't know, though...with that game going around, i might have to make all of them say: no, you will never end up with me. happy vday (v for darth vader).

i think i am going to try to pull out the paints this weekend-i haven't painted in awhile. i also need to do some arranging in my craft corner...craft pile...i also need to grade some writing papers. ugh.blch.

have a great weekend and try to stay off any student lists,
julie