avocado mousse, birthday surprises and a dream that gave itself away

since my last post, i've tried a few new recipes from this amazing paleo cookbook- i am especially fond of the avocado/chocolate mousse, and the blueberry cobbler stuff! for real though...non-dairy mousse?! what?! amazing, i tell ya! my food processor has gotten more use in the past few weeks than it has in a LONG time!

seriously...too good to be good for me!

a birthday has occurred, so we're taking that in stride. i'm so glad that they work the way they do; the gradual release is a good thing. so glad that we don't just gain a year's-worth of growth over night. can you imagine waking up the morning of your birthday and having all of the aging signs show up at once in one day? that would be a dead give-away. people would look at you and say, "yep, must be her birthday!"

my co-workers treat me well...thanks jeri, andrea, dr. hughes, sean and carmen--bundt you really shouldn't have!

they know me well! my heart belongs to nothing bundt cakes!

always fun to walk into a bday greeting! thanks!

 it's always fun to get all of the messages on fb and whatsapp-feeling the love from afar, and i got the bday card from mom and dad-somehow they always pick out the perfect cards that make me feel super terrific! this year mom sent me an awesome calendar of rain forests-love it! (they also called, so they are in luck, they get props in the blog!) sending out props to gigi for remembering as well, because she is kind of a birthday master mistress..she is queen of all things birthday..in fact, she celebrates hers twice-crazy girl!

HONDURAS! appropriately placed on my bday month!

as i was at school, on my birthday, i got a phone call. my apt. people said they needed to get in because there was a leak in the apt below mine, so they needed to check the utility room. they had to call in because i have the boys, and they needed to know if the boys were locked up so that they could get in...

they got in.

 i was a little flustered that they left it this way, and i was going to take this picture to the office to have a chat, fortunately i stopped back at my place beforehand, or i might've made a fool of myself! they did come back to patch it up. thankfully.

also this month, i was able to go to a great workshop: identifying learning differences 1-6 yrs. it was truly enlightening! i really wish our entire staff could go to this workshop. for those of you with young children, think about teaching your kiddos to write in cursive, and read in print. why, you might ask? well, cursive is more fluid, they don't have to worry about all of the individual steps for printing letters, and spacing isn't an issue. not only that, they won't struggle with the b/d, p/q. so take that tip and do what you will with it!(it's free).

the other free tip for today is that, if you have lower back problems, placing a large pillow under your knees while you sleep will really help ease some of the pain.(two for one!) 

last week i was also able to video chat with my lil sis, sheryl in HONDURAS, and discuss possible plans for a little vacation time in the summer (? maybe?!?) and the biggest surprise was a fun phone call from a dear old friend, with whom i used to play basketball and softball in high school. it was really special and meant a lot-so good to catch up and hear the familiar voice of a friend from the past! catching up is like..the best thing ever! (better even than avocado mousse-just sayin...)

and to close it all out for tonight, i had a dream a few nights ago, and in the dream, i knew it was a dream. two of my colleagues-teacher friends, were in it. penny had decided to invest in a business venture: a library book store. i am not certain how you make any money from this type of a venture, as the two are in direct opposition, everyone would borrow and not purchase, right? but since she is a reading/language arts teacher, my 'dream mind' let it go. then carol decided that she was interested in investing with penny, and they were going to do this together. but at some point carol convinced penny that a roller skating rink would be a better business investment. i'm pretty sure at this point my 'dream mind' confirmed it was a dream because there was no way these two would ever open a skating rink! there's no fooling me! not even in a dream! 

and that reminded me of so many different roller skating memories! couples skate! limbo! conga chain! falling flat on face! woooo! when i lived in brodhead, there was not a rink there, so we would sometimes take a bus, with a group of people to a nearby town that had one (always with my brother and his friend tom walker...and sometimes the mcguinty's) good times! 

i'll save the roller blading memories for another day-they are pretty exciting, too! (the invincible college years)

'evening!

julie

i probably shouldn't love sauteed veggies as much as i do #notashamed

So thankful for long weekends!!

two days in and what have i done? NOTHING!! besides finishing up the merlin series on netflix...and trying out 3 new paleo recipes! every single one of them was amazing! i loved the pumpkin pancakes and the pumpkin custard. i enjoyed the zucchini/carrot crustless quiche...

so good! i saw this at bmayes' and had to go ahead and make the purchase-totally worth it!

even just looking at it makes my mouth water!

then tonight i did something i probably shouldn't have done. i sauteed vegetables. if eating a plateful of sauteed onions is wrong, then i don't want to be right! yes, a pan full of sauteed veggies is one of my weaknesses. several years ago, while working at kamp, a friend and i went to ruby tuesdays for dinner and i ordered the fajitas because the veggies in the picture looked SO good! then i was sorely disappointed when it came back with a sparse assortment of vegetables with little color. i may have complained to the manager about it due to the fact that my plate paled in comparison to the picture.

the weather has been phenomenal, so i took a walk with the boys yesterday-it's been much too long since we ventured on the back trail leash-less. when we got to the dog park we sat around for awhile because there was no one else there. as we were getting ready to leave, in walks a guy with a very large dog and the famous words: HE'S NOT MEAN. and my common response-NO, BUT CHACO IS.  i just worry that he doesn't realize how big he is and they don't realize how small they are. and just as i said that, the big dog came trouncing up and chaco, my littlest, snarled and snapped (i don't think the big fella even noticed). chaco calmed down as i picked him up and cradled him on his back-then we made our way home.

other than that, i saw some artwork at a friend's house and decided to see if i could do something similar...

it's been fun playing around with that...

tomorrow-last day of this fun little break...i'm sure we can find something fun to do!
julie

oklahoma- best part of my break, thanks to a long overdue reunion

here we go again!

happy new year! i'm certain it will be a great one with new adventures, fun meetings with friends, and growth. i had no plans or intentions to do anything over this break apart from relaxing and catching up with some reading and artwork. well...i got a text the day after we got off for break from shea, one of my amazing kamp friends, saying that she was going to be in oklahoma for the break!

so, we had Christmas here in dallas,

all dapper in their Christmas best!

and then on the 26th, we went up to oklahoma and stayed with bmayes, another amazing kamp friend-in case you don't follow this blog, or missed the episode from our last visit to norman, bmayes is the proud 'mother' of 2 yorkies (chaco's sister, reagan, and half brother, thatcher). it's always great for them to get together and socialize...and even greater for me to get together and socialize!! 

How do you know when you've reached oklahoma? well, it seems pretty obvious. follow the truck with the native american!

 we arrived to fall-like weather; it was gorgeous! so of course they went out to play first thing.

oh how they loved the yard with leaves!

then lo and behold, the next morning we had no idea, but we woke up to huge snowflakes! it was rather unexpected...none of us are into weather-watching and checking forecasts. hmm. 2 inches of snow out there!

so, of course, they had to play in the snow every chance they got! they even pretended that they had to go pee...and they didn't...you could almost hear them laughing each time.

so on the morning of the snow, it made for a lazy day, but everyone was meeting for breakfast..so eventually we were coaxed into joining for breakfast at cracker barrel, where stories and catching up began with a side of grits and biscuits. then we returned to bmayes' house to see puppies and just hang out for a bit. it's always a little worrisome having so many people around so many-especially friends who aren't used to having small dogs around; little critters have a tendency to get in the mix of things and then they are under threat of being crushed. more anxiety for me than the dogs.

 i don't have the actual photo, but here's a link to the charming pic taken by shea's camera!  http://instagram.com/p/xIMRxQF6yA/ what a fun bunch! yet more of the amazing kamp friends (anyone see a theme here? my kamp friends are pretty stinkin' amazing). i always feel so refreshed after i hang out with these guys!

after visiting at bmayes', everyone eventually headed out to shea's home, where her mom had prepared a delicious 'after-Christmas' spread-it was phenomenal!! then we played a little card game during which we found ourselves laughing harder than we had expected! good times, so if you wanna' know how to get a party started...just let me stand up and tell you...only i probably won't.

and i almost failed to mention that i was introduced to hurt's donuts...and for the love...they will literally hurt you. these donuts..i dream about them. my mouth is watering right now for the twixted...they gave me a new fondness for cake donuts-only they are gourmet-amazingness. twixted, lucky charms, Jesus donut, bacon-maple, choco-crispies, samoa-girl scout cookie....i will cry if they ever go out of business.

back at the bmayes homestead, the boys were making themselves right at home and marking like pros...grr. i wish there were a way to curb that. thanks for putting up with that b! they may have learned some 'bad' habits from the residents-climbing onto tables. chaco figured it out after a few tries. it's probably cuter because they aren't great danes...

thatcher looks on from the table as bruno thinks about doing something sneaky.

i was really excited when shea texted about going to the rock climbing silo...they had some awesome climbing walls in there! i definitely made a decision that i need to get in shape so that i can enjoy doing the things i love doing such as the rock climbing-i did a little research, and there is a gym not far from my place that has auto belay, so i will be partaking in that this year. it will be a good stress-reliever, as well (and likely much-needed).

shea making that reach of faith.

umm...so it's a little tiring.

before we left, several joined us back at bmayes place to play cards and, once again, it was mostly fun...apart from the judgmental gf stick-in-the-mud who came in tow. methinks she doesn't get us. and that's ok, next time, she has a true heads up and can stay home and knit or something.  we had plenty of food for chips and cheese dip, puppy chow, etc. but none of it was eaten because the hursts had gone out for mexican and we'd just gone out for hideaway-phenomenal pizza!! (zero snackiness-it's a word now, deal wit it)

before i left, i made an appointment to switch my cable to a basic-basic plan and get the internet because the service that i had was spotty-bad connectivity and speed. so i had that taken care of today and i am so happy i did! in fact, i cannot believe that i put up with the previous service for so long! it was rough! and then tonight as i was trying to cancel the former service, the lady kept going on and on trying to figure out how she could keep me as a customer, but i was strong. she even called back after the service was dropped. and i then let her know it was too late. no worries-i was polite. i worked in a call center at one time-in fact, most of my life i've been in some form of customer service, so politeness is usually not an issue.

this was the other problem, i was unable to use roku with the other service, so when i set this up today, i couldn't help but smile!

i am dedicating today to finishing some artwork, reading and perhaps a couple of letters. it's been a great break so far- 2 more days to make the most of!

happy new year!
julie

firetruck conspiracy, stocked on stationery, and census stalkers

alrighty then. it seemed like an ordinary saturday until i got out of the house to go purchase some 'crafty' things. then it was just busy. as i pulled out of the complex and headed west, there was a fire truck blocking half the road; not sure what happened, but there was a car just in front of them, and they were getting back into the truck (did i mention that it was almost directly in front of the fire dept? how convenient! if my car ever catches on fire, may it be in front of a fire station!!)

actually, yesterday when i got home from school, there were 2 fire trucks in the complex at the building next to mine and people outside...that is the one thing that i am paranoid about; living in an apt. complex, worrying about the dogs-if any idiots in the complex do something stupid with a space heater, Christmas lights...candles...so no, i don't mind living next to the fire department at all. i rather welcome the sound of the sirens, knowing that they can be at the apt in a minute.

scariest part about living in an apt...ANY apt!

but i digress. today i was out and about looking for cups, a waffle iron, paint pens, bacon...you know, the fun stuff! so i found some cups that were 'alright' at target, but they didn't have the waffle iron i wanted-the model was out, but there were no boxes on the shelf...i saw that as a sign that i did not need a waffle iron today. then when i got up to the cash register, the man in front of me had the waffle iron that i wanted. the last one...i weighed out all of my possible options, and decided that none of them were legal, so i would just wait another day, or check on amazon.

on the way back, at the intersection near my place there was a major disruption-2 fire trucks and a couple of police cars, so i took the back roads and finally got to the grocery store for-like i said before, bacon. i also grabbed a zucchini and a yellow squash because i purchased a vegetable grinder-thing the other day and want to see if it works as well as it did on 'the chew'. game on-zucchini spaghetti tomorrow!

when i walked out of the store, there was yet another fire truck in the parking lot!! WHAT IN THE WORLD?! perhaps subliminal messages-they are getting out in the neighborhoods so that people will think, "oh, i should get a shiny, red fire truck for little timmy!" pretty sure that's the deal.

this has been a busy month. we were preparing at the beginning of the month for our PERSONALIZED LEARNING (PL)presentation. we had a decent presentation, and then we waited, and waiting is the devil. then-drum roll, please! we were recommended for 'full launch!' umm...i know, sounds like we are a rocket ship or something. so..it's been a busy 6 months planning and creating a framework for the direction that we'd like to go with this endeavor, now that we are in, the heavy lifting begins, and it is going to get real. spring semester separates the wheat from the chaff...the milk from the cream... ok, seriously, training, planning, preparing, learning. that's what it be.

one of the neat things that has come of this is that one of the ladies from the community was at a PL meeting down town and learned that we were applying, and since she lives in our neighborhood, she came by to tour our school! in the process, she noticed our pathetic playground. she came back a few weeks later with a check for about 96k and it gets better, there was a special because it's off-season, so the company matched it and we are getting almost 200k worth of playground equipment!!!! WHAT?! we are blessed! not only that, but our generous benefactress is also on our advisory board, and has some great input, and she is planning to volunteer to read with our students. it doesn't get any better! we are humbled. our kids are going to be ecstatic!

loving this season of JOY!

it's that time of year, and my people know me-i got stationary from my secret pal and some note-cards from my principal

love the elegance and simplicity-

so fun-they will certainly get used!

-all this after i stopped at world market and i shouldn't have but i stopped at the card rack and found these sweet cards...$60 worth...so-i'm stocked for a little bit. my freakin' achilles heal...for some girls it's shoes. for me, it's cards. you can't write on shoes...but then cards on your feet might be kinda' tacky as well...

world market, thank you!

and there were tamales. that makes my Christmas complete! (cue a deep sigh of satisfaction). i will be making a stop at the pupuseria down the street in the next couple of days as well as the panaderia guatemalteca-in hopes that i will find a tasty little snack to go with my coffee.

thank you, mrs. markham-this made my holiday complete!

 and i have already forgotten what day it is-for not keeping track or having a schedule...pretty sure it's monday..nope, tuesday, that's what i meant! my internet has been spotty, so i couldn't finish this last night-grr. so i decided to go to ihop to use the wifi while enjoying a simple egg and bacon breakfast. i walked in and asked for a booth where i might be able to work. i was guided to a booth and when i tried to access their wifi, lo and behold, there was no network available! what? so i asked my lady if they had wifi and she said no they did not. well, that was a first, almost every ihop and denny’s i’ve been to has wifi! i was very disappointed-i tried not to let it show on my face, but unfortunately my body language and facial expressions are fairly easy to read. i still over-tipped (it's Christmas, and breakfast waitresses don't get large tips because the prices are so low on breakfast).. not her fault they don't have wifi -note to self, no business meetings at ihop on beltline...not that teachers usually conduct 'business meetings.' in that case, maybe no e-book-club at that ihop...and the eggs weren't even cooked well, and the bacon had a funky taste...i guess i'm a little picky about my eggs and bacon.

oh, and a few weeks ago, i received this census form in the mail and thought i could just not do it. then i got bombarded with reminders and "if you missed the first mailing, we will send another. you are bound by law to fill this out. if you don't, we will send another. if you still don't fill it out, we may send one of the gitmo detainees to 'encourage you' to fill it out. we KNOW you haven't filled it out; in fact, we know that you threw the first one away....do the right thing. we just want to pave your roads better." Perhaps that wasn't verbatim, but close enough.

wonder if mary and joseph got one like this in the mail.

so, yes, i did fill it out to be done with it. i'm just glad i didn't have to do it the way mary and joseph did back in the day...riding a donkey up to illinois would not be ideal (even not being great with child).

and of course, i would be remiss to not mention the staff party-we had a great time. papadeaux is always delicious! i sat with jeri, abby and her husband and there is a crazy connection. when i mentioned that i wasn't going to mo. for the break, he asked what part of mo. when i said north of springfield, he asked where, and when i said buffalo, he knew EXACTLY where i was speaking of-he proceeded to tell me that his grandparents live in halfway. if you recall, i've spoken of halfway before..tiny town of 2...perhaps i exaggerate, but still, the coincidence of anyone in dallas being familiar with halfway is somewhat comforting. smile.

we were especially happy this evening because of the news of PL!

oh, and i wasn't planning on going anywhere this year, but some friends are gathering in oklahoma, and it's been awhile since i've seen them, so we may be having a last-minute, impromptu reunion, and the boys are excited because they will get to see their friends/family! they were just saying they wanted to work on their social skills, so basically what is going to happen is that reagan is going to put chaco in his place, and bruno is going to wander off and do his own thing, trying to avoid the others and thatcher is probably going to chill and try to hide from chaco.

so this is where i halt for the day and wish you all the merriest!  be back after Christmas!
julie

thanksgiving was great, but Christmas will be even better

today was a good day. i got to see a really cool product that makes me think about a myriad of possibilities! i saw a similar product awhile back, but we were not able to procure it; i've been thinking about it ever since! so today, when we met with a representative face-to-face, it was really exciting to take that off the back-burner again. it's a video/professional development tool that i'm super-excited about!

so, thanksgiving was great times with mom and dad. i was hoping to visit with a few friends in the area, but i wasn't feeling that great- i had sinus, head cold...something that required a box and a half of kleenex...and a methodical mix of sudafed, sinus-cold meds, cough syrup, allergy meds and diet coke... still a little congested. (This is why Christmas will be better-not sick)

the boys were really brave with the cat this trip-as they barked from behind the fence. but once tiger came out, they were yipping and barking like little girls. and tiger just pretty much ignored them. 

on the way home, there was a little accident that held us up for about half an hour right as we were getting back into town. that's the worst! so while we were waiting, this big guy was in front of me, so i couldn't really see a thing. although, there was a miniature door on the rig. there is just something almost magical about miniature doors-what i would give to see a little elf or a fairy jump out of there!

and then behind me, i was mentally high-fiving the driver of the pick-up back there for blocking off the jerks that try to get ahead of everyone and cut in just because they are idiots. 

see him back there? well played, pick-up, well played!

and then when i picked up the mail, i realized that apparently the postman doesn't know alida. oops. i guess last name might have been helpful..address perhaps?? hopefully the second time around it hits its mark!

and i was thrilled that these were in the mail- i LOVE MAIL!! Christmas cards are fun because i love seeing family pics! letters are the BEST-because keeping up is just that link that keeps it real! thank you amber, karla, heidi, jory!

and i am going to post this because i should've done that last month, then i will post again because some really neat stuff is going on right now-but it'll take a minute to get it all thought out!

goodnight! Christmas break has begun!!
julie

late-night drivers get the bearclaw!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!

i wasn't completely decided on tuesday morning if i would go ahead and make the drive to mom and dad's after school or just wait until wednesday. i woke up in the morning and thought i would delay until wed. morning. then as the day progressed, i decided that i would go ahead and just make the drive after school. so i got packed as quickly as possible and we were on our way by 5. the traffic out of town is always ridiculous, though, so it took an hour longer than i would have liked. 

one thing that has become abundantly clear is that i should probably not do long trips like that when it gets dark so early because by the time i hit joplin, i was starting to fade-which left me with about another hour and 15 minutes..it is amazing how one doesn't even realize it when the fading begins! i found myself imagining things scurrying across the road, and trying to look out to the side to see what it was(to no avail) or not realizing that my speed has hit 95, as the radar detector goes off and i see lights stopping a car in front of me-thankfully i was able to slow in time to not fall victim to the ticket i deserved. at this point i was on the final stretch and i thought, no problem, 10 more minutes, but i'm pretty sure i rolled in, eyes glazed. but we made it in by midnight, safely and got to bed by one. i am officially no longer a late-night person! 

i'm glad we left early so that we were already here this morning!

we woke up to huge snow flakes clumps, but they melted away almost as soon as they fell. sadly we didn't get outside early enough to get any good pics. the boys were largely unimpressed. "it's just soft rain and now i'm wet and cold." that was chaco.

nothing beats mom's homemade bear claws fresh out of the oven! yummers! 

you cannot see the yummy goodness inside, but trust me, the pairing of dates, chopped cherries, and walnuts, topped with a sugar,walnut topping...quite a holiday tradition for us.

it's been a very relaxing day! i got the opportunity to do a little target-practice today in the backyard-fortunately i was able to find my ammo a few weeks ago at a great rate! love not having range fees!!

my mom got a tablet-android. i am so proud of her! as i was looking at it today, i noticed that it was on 4g, and she said last night that it used their wifi. that surprised me because i never knew they had wifi-when i've been here before, i haven't been able to get on with the laptop. so i pulled out my chromebook and there were no available networks, so i went in to look at their equipment, tried a couple of different numbers because i couldn't figure out the id to add a network. they had a router, and a usb connection...so i told them they might want to ask their saleswoman (who knows my mom's password by heart) where to find the id number.

so they went in earlier and it took awhile, but they were due for an upgrade in equipment, and they got what they needed to upgrade their technology. we got in and figured all of that out, created passwords and now i can work from any part of the house-sweet. (by no means am i an expert in technology, but i will take a challenge and run with it and usually figure out what i need to know). 

when i finally came back to the living room and settled in, chaco came up onto the couch and began pawing at the cushions. i couldn't figure out what he was trying to find, because there shouldn't be anything down there. so i thought he was crazy. finally, i pulled out a cushion so that he could see there was nothing. he continued to paw and get down in the crevice, so finally to keep him from damaging the couch, i reached down to show him there was nothing. i felt something i thought might have been a treat and pulled it out. then i realized it was poop. cat poop. (my dog at some point in the evening had gotten into the litter box and dragged out that which is taboo, and guarded it in a safe place so that he could go back later for snack). my reflex was to drop it, and then bruno picked it up (in his mouth, as that is how dogs usually tend to pick things up)...i had to pry it from his little jaws. since when is hardened cat droppings a delicacy? since never, that's when. must pay closer attention to what the boys are doing-especially when they are quiet and out of sight for any period of time.

alright, i leave you to enjoy THANKSGIVING! (at least those of you in the u.s.).

thankful for so many things!
julie

letters, random stuff and some apt modifications

it's been a month. what has happened in a month? well...i finished my MURDER SHE WROTE marathon-it'll be another 10 years before i can watch one of those! c'mon, though...angela lansbury! classy!

one of my childhood friends returned correspondence-that was a big deal! it was so good to hear back from lottie- it was so good to get caught up; i see posts sometimes that say things like the past is in the past, don't look back, etc. i submit that sometimes looking back to the past and beckoning special memories to come into the present is not only a means of recognizing and valuing those who played a role in forming our character, but also a way of letting them know that they remain special and thought of. not only that, but the past is sometimes a slice of comfort. not everyone knew me when i was in 1st through 3rd grade!

so it was a coincidence that i found my grade cards from k-4th yesterday and went through them. it looks like i was always pretty good at reading, in kindergarten, i wasn't great at finishing my work in a timely fashion (attention to detail, i'm sure)...in 2nd grade, the teacher crossed out the #scale and wrote in TOP for reading. in fourth grade the comment was: Julie really likes to talk during class. and i'm pretty sure she meant talk to other people when i'm not supposed to...i'm just glad that there wasn't more room for comments, because my math teacher might have put something crazy like: Julie hides nancy drew library books behind the math book and reads in class or Julie plays with her arcade game-watch on silent during math class. did i mention that i didn't do as well in math in fourth grade? i must've not followed the advice from the 3rd grade math teacher saying to drill facts....

oh, the power of a card and stamp!

 i also received a sweet note from jessica, my cousin's daughter-loved it! she is quite the creative one! i am so excited for her as she just finished her cna classes, and is preparing for her certification! and then there's the matter of her upcoming wedding-tba. can't wait!

the boys wanted to put in their 2 cents-worth also, so we made signs to celebrate a few weeks ago!

 and the third letter-from my dear friend carmen, from middle school, when i lived in tegucigalpa and sps- being an mk was such a unique experience, and i love keeping in touch with my friends who lived it as well-there is a certain amount of comfort there, as well...and the fact that my parents live so close to her and the entire rees clan, that is also pretty special!

earlier last month, there was a huge storm with high winds that ripped down several trees and wires, and to the boys' chagrin, their favorite peepee spot was destroyed. no worries, as we walked away, bruno's parting words were, "i can pee on a stump as well as a tall tree; the foul winds will not prevail." (?)

 and on that same walk, we came across these gems . i'd taken a pic of them a couple of months ago and shared it on fb, but now they are maturing and falling from the trees. they are so artsy looking. God is so creative!

the one in the middle front looks slightly like a klingon warrior.

 mid-october i had the pleasure of organizing a field trip to the fair...for 160 3rd and 4th grade students. fun. only not really. well, i think it was fun for the kids, but it's never fun when you're the one in charge! the best part was the cow-milking station! the aggie was a great presenter and she had some great cow jokes!

 i am so proud of my friend, yanira, from HONDURAS! she was in the miami triathlon! i am so proud of her! (i just repeated myself...it's ok though, because i only do that when i'm proud!).

i was tracking the entire time-she did great!

october was also the month that i finally had to give in and cut down the tomato plants. wa waaa. sad day at cabell. i have never loved tomatoes, but these tomatoes have won me over!  so we went ahead and planted some cold-weather crops: lettuce, cabbage, peas, broccoli, cilantro, garlic...i need to plant some onion as well! yippee!!!

maybe i teared up a little bit, maybe not...i'll never tell!

 so yes, 'stuff' has gone on, but i haven't had time to do much writing about it.

i had to renew my contract on the apt, so i decided to finally get rid of the rental w/d and make the purchase...well worth it, because the rental was like having a minor earthquake-somewhat embarrassing, and i always thought that the neighbors were going to call the cops on me. every time i ran the washer, when it would get to the spin cycle, it was like a war was happening in the laundry room, and the boys would run to the door and bark...the soggy saga...

in this contract, i also asked them to put in the plank floor and new carpet. this is somewhat of a task not for the faint-of-heart, as i am still living here while they are making the changes. so. i had to move everything from the kitchen, bathroom, laundry room, dining room and walk-in closet onto the carpeted area, so that they could put that part down. my living room was a mess of everything. oh, but wait..did i mention that the 'plank'flooring that they put in (that i am paying an upgrade for) is merely plank-looking laminate? #dotheyreallythinkidontknow

and while the men were in my apt doing this, i had to put the boys in doggie daycare. they were not thrilled.

 now i have a week to move everything from the carpeted areas (bedroom and living room) onto the plank areas. so that was what i worked on today. i had one little sofa..ok, actually a large loveseat, that i have been thinking about getting rid of for awhile now because i just don't have room for it. so i finally got everything moved out of the way so that i could get it out the door. and as i was maneuvering it out the front door, the neighbors were walking by-probably wondering what i was doing (well perhaps not, because sofa half-way out the door = pretty obvious). and then there was the little situation of being on the third floor and having to get it to the dumpster.

so i strategically waited for it to get dark out and went to lowe's for a little wheel-frame-mover-thingy (technical terms). then i came back to the apt and pushed the sofa allowed gravity to take over and pull the sofa down the stairs as i stood on the back side guiding it, and maneuvering it around the turns on end, all the while praying that no one would come out of their door, or want to walk up the stairs. fortunately it was a slow evening in the complex stairwell. and once i got the sofa on the little wheelie-majiggy, it just sounded like someone on a skateboard skating across the parking lot.

i'm glad to be rid of it, but the boys made me keep the cushions...a little pillow paradise of their own, if you will. getting closer, i will work on a little more tomorrow, but will probably finish on tuesday evening, so that the crew can work on the carpet on wednesday, then we will be done-ski. that'll be nice. nice to come home to a comfortable, updated apartment!

so now, i hope you're feeling a little caught up, i will try to do better in the future so that i can give better detail! goodnight!

julie