tornadoes and lockdowns remind me a bit of kindergarten!

i love it when morning announcements begin with: teachers, make sure your students know the routine for tornadoes and lockdowns.  it's always nice to have the warning before the fact, and we had a pretty good idea of when the excitement would transpire because 3rd and 5th were in the middle of practice tests, so obviously it would have to take place right after. and of course it did.

i remember when i was in kindergarten in raytown, mo and whenever there was a fire drill, it really freaked me out. oh, the kindergarten days! things i remember from kindergarten:
-sitting in a circle playing 'who stole the cookie from the cookie jar'
-mrs. blair teaching us not to run with scissors.
-the girl who had a wig because she had cancer, so we learned about chemo.
-playing cat and mouse outside
-making turkey and pilgrim and indian things for thanksgiving (i was almost too excited because i knew my grandparents were coming for the holiday!)
-learning how to count (my brother taught me that 12 plus 12 was 24, and i was so excited to tell my teacher)
- wanting to be the lead singer for the song 'the sun'll come out tomorrow'
-always hoping that i could play the triangle in music...
-trying to play tic-tac-toe over the phone with haley (i think she cheated or one of us wasn't sure about our right and left...because she seemed to say she won, and it didn't look that way on my tic-tac-toe board...)
-i'd walk down to my friend's house once in awhile (don't recall her name, but she had reddish hair)..but one day she suggested we make peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and she licked the spoon before she made mine. i was grossed out and all of a sudden i was no longer hungry.
-wiz kid owl calculators for david's birthday
-giant coloring book for my birthday
-gyroscope magnetic handheld toy-a favorite and i could sit there all day making that thing go back and forth faster and faster!!
-a billboard on the way to church with an ugly man and in my head, he was the boogey man.

there are more fun memories, but those are some that stick out right now. i don't think that everything i needed to know i learned in kindergarten, but i do think i got a pretty good start!
julie

salmon with fruit..yum...and using traffic jams to your advantage!

i've been waking up early to exercise, so i turn on the morning news and hear all of the traffic news. i was watching the other morning and they were talking about a traffic jam and that if you were already out in it, it could take up to 2 hours to get out because of the blockage.

my thought was...wow, if someone had a job they didn't love, and no one really depended on them, that would be the time to call in and say you were stuck in the jam and go have a nice, leisurely breakfast at ihop!

i decided on salad with salmon tonight, only i added blueberries, strawberries, sweet potato and raspberries...and it was a mix of spinach and kale. the dressing-a balsamic vinegar, oil, vanilla, nutmeg, allspice....it was delicious! i loved the sweet, roughage, and salty smoked salmon! yum!

i had tutoring this afternoon and i was going to stay to help with the chili dinner, but everything was pretty much covered and it would mean a lot of waiting around...which i cannot do tonight. i had to come home and figure out pricing, and make a list of supplies from our school vendors that we can order from for our murals...then i need to read through some of the writing papers. i have a feeling whatever i teach them this week, they will forget over spring break. boo.  then we only have one week until these kiddos take the starr writing test. it will be a relief to get it over with and move on.

well, we get onto the scale on friday for the final weigh in for the school biggest loser, but i will continue working toward my goal even afterward...i am driven. i do not want to have be in a position next year of having to join this contest. i hope to get to my goal and maintain!

my parents are going down to mo. at the end of next week to work on their new house (it needs some cleaning and updating)...it was near the sites of all of the tornadoes, but it didn't get hit..i think they were kinda hoping it would've gotten blown away because they got it super cheap and had it insured, so they would've made some money! smile. but nope...no luck, it's still there! hopefully the rains didn't cause any problems.

may traffic never keep you waiting...may it only create an excellent excuse!
julie

the raspberries made me spend more money...

today was a beautiful day! i went for a walk around the neighborhood for lunch. as i was going, there was a girl riding on the hood of a car down the road--how foolish. when i lived in kc, one of our klife kids was doing something similar and fell off the hood and under the car. she had to get skin grafts and all sorts of rehab. the driver felt guilty and the gal had nightmares about it for years after. boo.

on the way home, i knew i needed raspberries, so i stopped in at the tom thumb around the corner...they had a special, so i got two...and blueberries..and brussel sprouts...and spices and flax seed. i hate shopping for that very reason. what should've been 3 bucks turned into 30.

oh, and it occurred to me the other day that i haven't eaten out since i started on this biggest loser-thing except for my turkey sandwich this weekend from ruthie's rolling cafe..so i haven't technically been to a restaurant. that spell will certainly be broken when i head up to oklahoma at the beginning of spring break.

when the boys and i went out, we stopped at the office, and there were no residents, so we stopped in to play and got the story about one of my manager's neighbors. an elderly hispanic lady was coming up tho their house and peeking in the window and the kids told mom about it, but she didn't really believe it. the lady would come into the garage, and one day, she finally saw the lady trying to look into the cab of her husband's truck and when she went over, the lady began speaking to her in spanish. well, my friend just looked at her with a raised eyebrow, not knowing what she was saying or what was going on. she later found out that the lady was in the beginning stages of dementia and alzheimer's, and the truck was similar to her other son in ca. sad, but slightly humorous. hopefully the neighbor will keep closer watch on grandma.

there were too many big dogs at our dog park, so we passed it by. but we did see more signs of spring!

hey, bud!

 oh. i just ordered a grinder for my flax seeds and coffee beans. woo hoo! should be here in a couple of days-show. it to you when it arrives!

don't go staring into other' windows if you don't want them to think that you have dementia.

julie

today was an 'off your butt' type of day....good to be active on a beautiful day!!

this morning i woke up and decided to try the tropical pancakes with coconut flour and coconut milk. it was interesting. they were actually pretty good! and i didn't have syrup, i made a topping out of the coconut milk with cinnamon, pumpkin spice, and stevia. it was pretty good!

i didn't get much done-that will be tonight's goal. i did do a short workout, gave the boys a bath, then took them on a long walk (i think they were tuckered out by the time we got home), then i left them at the apt and went to the gym for some weights.

when i got there, there was a guy and a girl there and they were hard core going through some circuits. so i started out on the elliptical to get warmed up and then when they were done on the machines i wanted to use, i made my way over. i kept my headphones on with dog days are over on repeat...and i was kinda glad when they left. i like to work out alone.

this weekend went by altogether too fast...but then, if we don't get started on this week soon, it'll take forever for spring break to get here!
julie

remember when the giant lost his head?

today i was a part of history! if you live in dallas, you have one more day to do the same! i went down to the mhh bridge over the trinity river with two friends and we partook in the activities. there was a lot going on! here are some pics to share of the day!

we rode the dart to west end and walked from there-on the way, i saw this woman's cane and i decided that if i ever need a cane, i am going to trip it out with the most amazing artwork ever...maybe a comic strip or something...

when we got to the west end stop, i had to use a restroom, and there was one downstairs at chipotle's, and they gave me the code, but i couldn't figure out how to activate it...thought i was going to wet my pants

finally after playing with it for a minute, it lit up like Christmas and i punched in the code (thank goodness i hadn't forgotten it!)

i'm on the bridge!

female mariachi band-raquel knew the last song that they played!

from the center looking straight up (it looked cooler in person!)

one with the skyline

there were random people dressed up in peacock-mod-type suits

so we did a lot of people watching from one end of the bridge to the other! when we reached the opposite end, we looked for a spot to watch the giants parade (huge puppets of historical texas figures made by various neighborhood groups) we watched as several came by.

this was a priest...but from where i was standing, it kinda' resembled obama...but we all know he's NOT texan.

then i saw this one and it looked a lot like greta van sustern of fox news...

as we were watching the parade of giants draw to its end, there was one giant (i am not sure who it was), and due to the wind, his head fell off. they were doing their best to figure out how to fix it. i didn't see it from the front when they passed by us again. i saw it from the back, and i don't know, but he looked a little like he was moping...and watching the ground. it was messy trying to get back over the bridge with the parade moving through, but we weaved and bobbed and made it back over the bridge!

i had seen a food truck that i recognized! my friend robin skinner has advertised it on her fb page before, so i wanted to make sure i tried it out!

i got the trinity turkey on sourdough. it was quite tasty! if you ever see them around, you should stop in and give them a try!

i like the idea of eating from food trucks (it's mostly because i love watching the food truck wars on the food network!) so, after that, we made our way back. it was a full afternoon and just good to hang out with friends! when i got back to the apt, i went to the gym to lift some weights.

in america we celebrate the opening of bridges. and we keep making cool bridges that cost way too much, even though we don't have the money for it.
julie

shmiggledee shmaggledee humdumdee do...dear dr. seuss, thank you.

happy birthday dr, seuss! i was thinking about wearing my grinch socks, but i couldn't find one of them. just saw chaco chewing on it. nice.

i began most of my classes today by telling the students that it was dr. seuss' birthday, he was born in 1904 and now he's dead. i guess that doesn't sound very sensitive...perhaps i could've used 'passed away' or 'no longer with us,' but nope...dead. that's what came out of my mouth! none of my parents volunteered to read-probably because of the whole reading in public thing...they probably didn't realize that we had the book in spanish as well....so i just figured it was going to be me and the kids today, but....WE HAD A GUEST READER SHOW UP!!!

mr. hise, our former principal showed up and read the inspirational classic 'oh, the places you will go!' the kids loved it! thanks again, mr. hise!

after he left, it was back to me reading the lorax to the kids. they were excited because it comes out in movie today. cute book, great theme. a little more substance than green eggs and ham.

they came up with the idea to create mustaches for us to wear while we read the book. they were on a Popsicle stick- cute idea, but too difficult to hold and read at the same time!

then we were supposed to have a meeting for the murals that we are going to be painting throughout our school, but i was the only one who showed up. i almost like it better that way because i was able to make all of the plans myself! not only that, but i didn't interrupt myself or cut me off! i love 1-on-none meetings! anyhoo, we'll be preparing and doing some work at the end of spring break and then we have our volunteers coming on the 24th. good times.

i've already finished almost all of my pomegranate green tea-it was soooooo good!! i am going to the celebration of the bridge that isn't opened. tell you about it tomorrow!

julie

i get weak in the knees! no, it's not love...it's the stinkin' leg press!

oh march! how do i love thee?! we are in our 5th 6 weeks...that means the end is in sight! no snow days, which means we get the scheduled days off! yippee! (not in march, but i don't even care because we do have spring break!).

this afternoon as soon as i got home from school, i went straight to the complex gym to do weights. while i was there i kept thinking about how sore i was going to be this evening and tomorrow. ugh. and i did the leg press-always makes my legs spaghetti. and i was right, i do feel it in my arms as well. i guess that's supposed to be good news.

and tonight i sauteed some onions and peppers, then i threw in some kale and chicken...the better it looks, the better it tastes.
oh march! how do i love thee?! we are in our 5th 6 weeks...that means the end is in sight! no snow days, which means we get the scheduled days off! yippee! (not in march, but i don't even care because we do have spring break!).

this afternoon as soon as i got home from school, i went straight to the complex gym to do weights. while i was there i kept thinking about how sore i was going to be this evening and tomorrow. ugh. and i did the leg press-always makes my legs spaghetti. and i was right, i do feel it in my arms as well. i guess that's supposed to be good news.

and tonight i sauteed some onions and peppers, then i threw in some kale and chicken...the better it looks, the better it tastes.

yum!

and tomorrow is dr. seuss' birthday! i should wear my seuss socks tomorrow...my friend, maria showed me the lorax app with the moving mouth and stache-very cool! i'm sure the kids will be impressed.

and today was my random eval by my principal. great day to be distributing new books to the students for writing... oh well, it is what it is! we followed it up by actually using the book, though, perhaps that counts for something! smile. oh, and in the middle of the period, a student walks in with some jeans that another teacher had sent up to me. nice. as i am in front using the document camera and teaching...holding blue jeans. again. roll with the punches.

well. time for bed again,
julieand tomorrow is dr. seuss' birthday! i should wear my seuss socks tomorrow...