what is a 'pair of mental disneys?' bruno makes up phrases...again.

so. it's not that i've been putting off writing, but well, maybe i have.

on thursday i had to take bruno in for his dental cleaning and preventative appointment at the doctor. so i got a call at school from the doctor telling me that one of his teeth fell out while they were doing the cleaning, and that another was loose, and could they go ahead and pull it (for an extra $75). ugh. poor guy.

"mama, what is pair of mental disneys?"  he heard it from the doctor, so i had to explain that he has periodontal disease...bad teeth.

and the last day of school, i found this little freebie left behind by a vendor. if you can't tell, it's a keychain light...
 

who was the genius that thought it was a great selling point to put a light in a sumo wrestler's crotch?

what a relief to have school done and over! i love summer time...i realize that the fact that i signed up to work summer school would seem to negate that statement, but summer school is quite a different story.

so, the last day of school we were a little worried that we would not be able to go to the the park because it had stormed the night before. well, we decided to go anyway as soon as the rain let up and the sun came out!

last day pledge, some mumbling on a way-too-quiet microphone, and a song i don't know that had one too many verses.

so the day ended without tears, and another year has come to an end! then we cleaned up on friday and went out for a pizza luncheon. good company! it's always fun to get together and talk to co-workers i don't usually get to visit with.

i was looking through some stuff that my parents brought down when they visited and found these gems

old film from when i lived in HONDURAS!

 i need to get it processed and then scanned so that i can add them to our class page b/c they're having a reunion this summer, and i know i have at least one of Freda, a classmate who was recently taken by cancer. one of those people that everyone loved because she was so easy to get along with and cared about everyone.

then there was this one...i played sports all throughout high school..the token white girl.

i'll bet you cannot guess which one is me..i blended in so well!

hmm. well, tomorrow i am going in to work on some painting...hopefully we can finish up the cafeteria wall.

hopefully summer is enjoyable for all!
julie

time to change the flapper! (good thing i don't have to say that very often)

two days at school and i got my last grades in, as well as filling out the cumulative folders-what a joy to be done with that! every year i end up not getting around to it until the last day when everyone else is finishing their room or playing cards, i sit laboring on those darned folders! boo.

and friday was field day, so i started the day off with the kids outside, "helping" with the events for about 2 hours, then i pulled out the gimp-card, and went up to my classroom to lay down on my carpeting and relax my back. that helped a ton (although my room was frigid, and i really could've used a blanket!)

this morning i took the boys to petsmart (they haven't gone with me in ages), so they were very excited and they loved the attention! until the old italian lady who didn't speak english saw them and rushed over and tried to go after chaco..he ran behind me to hide and did his little growl thing...so she went for bruno, who kind of backed up and looked at her with pleading eyes, but she picked him up anyway-without even asking. who does that??

i had to get dog food for them because i ran out and was resorting to the old prescription liver-food that i had leftover for when chaco was younger. so i got the big bag. i did look at the weight of the bag...it was a 15 lb bag, so i kinda' slid it into the cart and then from the cart to the car.

then i headed to the only arby's i'm aware of on midway because i've been craving their philly cheesesteak sandwich! well, sadly when i got there, it was boarded up and they have apparently closed down. so i went to the next thing i've been craving...

love their burgers and fries!!

when i got home, i did the responsible thing. i scooped out a bunch of the dog food into a plastic bag and brought that up so that i could feed them, and that way the bag would be about 10 lbs-my max-and i could bring it up later.

dropped some kibbles on the ground...leaving a trail...just a snack for others who are walking their dogs in the parking lot.

when i got upstairs, at some point i had to flush the toilet, but the water kept running. good thing i'm handy...i took off the toilet back and the flapper was practically disintegrated, so i had to run out and purchase a new one. i wish i'd realized this when mom and dad were here, because it would have been one more thing to keep him busy!

anyhoo, i wasn't sure what the part was called that i needed, so i looked it up and found this really cool website that shows how a toilet works...it is interactive and you can push the button to make the toilet flush...

i may or may not have flushed the online toilet several times...

then i headed off to the hardware store to buy me a flapper!

fixed!

i guess i could've called the apt. office and have the maintenance men do it, but i'm sure they have bigger fish to fry, and i'm not patient enough to wait!

hmm...what do you do if your toilet is running? GO CATCH IT!!! good to have a recycled joke once and awhile.
happy memorial day weekend!
julie

flowers, student cards and new shoes!

definitely went to the original pancake house today and LOVED it! best bacon...EVER! (even better than kamp!) poached eggs, bacon and 2 buttermilk pancakes! yummo! mom's banana/pecan crepe looked really good as well. and we finished up and got out probably before most of the kids at school finished their breakfasts!

I LOVE BACON!!!

then i decided to run by school so that i could try to get a few things done so that when i go back it won't be crazy times! i got a couple of things done, and had to stop in to ask maria about a couple of things (which was when ms. johnson and ms. sowe brought down some flowers and a card-what a great team!) they were beautiful-i should have surgeries more often..it's the only time i get flowers! smile.

i had to strap them in! safety first, safety last and safety in between!

i also got some sweet cards from the students. some are very basic, others are rather interesting!

isn't this a great package! so inviting!

i don't know if he thought i was on a vacation to hawaii, or what...(gigi)

are there actually horses at the zoo?

apparently this student understands the basics of back surgery!

i'm glad that i'm not considered hairy.

when i got home, i took a power nap and when i was woken up by the pzizz man, i decided that i needed 2 power naps! and then i went and got some new chacos for the summer because they were on sale! they will certainly get used! this year i hope to come away from summer with a chaco tan! (speaking of the shoes, not my pup)

excited to break them in!

and i just got the call from benefits that i have been cleared to come back to work! just in time for field day. (no exclamation point). what was i thinking...i should've stuck with her suggestion of next tuesday. oh well, less pressure to finish things.

back to the grind...nothing like the end of the school-year!!
julie

i'm not a great co-pilot, but it's ok, i don't have to be any more!

dad drove me to my doctor's appointment this morning, and i was not a very good guide, and i got frustrated as i was giving directions. i need to work on my patience. they've been so great with me, and i was not very appreciative. i must work on this.

well...today was the day- i've been released!!! (don't worry, i still have to follow the guidelines for about 4-6 weeks of no bending, twisting or lifting anything over 10 lbs...so i'll carry a scale around with me-no i won't).

when the doctor's assistant walked in, she said they had to scrape out a whole lot more than they thought, and she was quite impressed that i hadn't needed pain meds. ummm, i believe the phrase was "you are one tough lady" i should've told her that i really felt that the recovery went so well because of prayer.

released but restricted...at least i can drive!

so, i'll be asking my students to help me move things and prepare for the summer close-down! that is if the benefits department clears me. so my doctor's assistant said when do you want to go back? i said thursday would be great, so the assistant wrote it down and faxed in the document. now i am just waiting for them to send the information to my principal. when that happens, i get to go back.

if that doesn't happen this week, i guess i will have an extra long weekend.

after our appointment, we went to panera for lunch, and i tried the strawberry poppy seed salad-which was amazing! new fav! then we stopped at walmart and we picked up items to replenish my fridge and pantry.

when we took the boys for a walk, mom grabbed these fruit things that i see all of the time. she explained that if you put these things under your couch or bed or wherever, they have something in them that keeps spiders away. that was news to me! so we brought some home.

anyone familiar with these or use them in this way? i'll be sure to let you know if they work!

so with me on the mend, mom and dad are taking off tomorrow morning so that they can continue to work on their new house.  like i said, it has been great having them here. although i will be honest, i was ecstatic when i was cleared to drive and dad gave my keys back...(i'm a bad co-pilot). i think we might be going to the original house of pancakes for breakfast tomorrow. i've been craving it for a bit, and i didn't have bacon thawed for them while they were here, they had to suffer through my banana-coconut pancakes with turkey bacon...

i guess i'll have to think of some things to do this week if they won't let me come back to work...i wonder if dr. hughes will let me work on some of the mural painting...well, farmer's market might be more fun, or finding some dog-friendly places to visit.

blessings,
julie

headboard finally up-check! vaccuum-check! bored....check.

so, today i came up with a new project for dad. i got him to set up my headboard. i painted it forever ago and had great intentions, but i never got it set up. so, now it's up!

yesterday mom and i drove to the park near my place and then took the boys for a short walk around the park. they did fine until we reached a shady, grassy patch just on the opposite side of the bridge from where the car was parked. bruno first, then chaco.

 

 

 

 

they weren't about to budge!

today dad caught his big fish down in the pond! mom went down to take a picture; i walked out into the breezeway and took this picture, but you can barely see them by the pool. it was funny because some of the people at the pool were up at the fence watching.

very proud of his catch!

the boys weren't really used to the fish and night crawler smells, so every time he walked in the door they'd bark, get close, sniff, back up and bark again.

mom was great-she's done my laundry, thoroughly cleaned my bathroom and today she vacuumed for me! did i mention that my parents are great?! well, they are!

tomorrow is the follow-up and i am hoping that the dr. clears me to go back to work, but the biggest thing is that they release me to drive short distances b/c i think mom and dad are ready to take off on wednesday...there really isn't much i can't do now that i have my reacher thing...unless it falls on the ground (maybe i should've gotten two- a reacher to pick up the reacher!)

goodnight,
julie

give dad a project and then reach for any stinkin' thing i want!

today i  became convinced that dad needed something to do...

don't ask me how i knew...

so i told him about the little stoop i was wanting to build for bruno and chaco at the window height, and he took on that project. he's also been out fishing. but as i have mentioned before, our little pond is a catch-and-release pond, and so the fish are fairly predictable, and they know the drill because they've been caught and released so many times that i think they pull the hook out themselves and jump back in.

last night as i was laying in bed trying to fall to sleep, the neighbor whose apt backs up to mine was playing a loud techno music with a blaring bass, and i was not at all happy about that. it was around 10:50 p.m. so i dealt with it for as long as i possibly could. at 11:20 i was seriously contemplating going over there and pounding on the door.. but i was so tired i did the next best thing, when there was a lull in the "music," i banged on the wall hoping that a.) the person in said apt didn't have a shotgun to blow through the wall and b.) they didn't come around to my door drunk demanding a fight....maybe when i'm fully recovered i could take them, but not last night. 

thankfully neither of the above happened, instead the music desisted. praise YAHWEH! and when i woke up this morning there was no note on my door and i had no need to go leave a nasty note on theirs, although i was tempted to go introduce myself and let them know that if it happened again i would report them to the main office and then to the police... but again, i did not (i figured that they probably just didn't know what time it was because they don't have a clock nor understand how to read the night sky constellations to keep track of time).


this morning i had to get out for a bit, so mom took me to michael's so i could gather a few things (including bold oil-based sharpie markers to continue the outlining of the murals-the other ones were too small). then we stopped at walmart to get a couple of things (i needed a small pillow to put between my knees to keep my back in line so it doesn't spasm). on the way out i noticed this gem of a car...please notice that it has 5 antennae...

trying to get in touch with the mother ship?

 and tonight we decided to try to go out to eat at applebees. when we got there, i couldn't do a booth, so we got a table, then i had a delicious garlic sirloin with a portabella mushroom cap filled with steamed spinach and a little cheese-so delicious!! mom said i definitely didn't get my taste buds from her or dad! i had a hard time sitting for that long, so i stood and talked for awhile...i'm sure our server was wondering what in the world i was doing.

on the way back, we stopped at walgreens so i could try to find a "medline reacher" i read reviews that it could pick up anything from a penny off the floor to a can of vegetables...that's pretty good! i told dad to drop a penny on the floor, and sure enough, i was impressed! it will be worth it because i will be able to do some of the things mom has been helping me out with.

accurate enough to pick up a paper clip...

strong enough to get my water off the bottom shelf of the fridge without having to bend...

 yes, i think i will use this long after i am done "needing" it! 

the sterile bandage came off today (ok, it didn't exactly come off, but today was the day i got to remove it). hopefully that will help the incision site to heal quickly.

other than that, just trying to think of things to keep dad busy...
julie

surgery, smurgery, this was actaully much easier than both acl surgeries.

yesterday i went in for my operation and i was so hungry while we waited to be called back to the back. i really wanted to have a cappuccino swirl, or a hot chocolate (dove) from the machine...and the water fountain was also calling my name...grr. so when we went back, and they had me put on the silly gown and then the nurse put these sock-thingys on...they went all the way up to my knee (they're anti-embolism socks to prevent clots and such...$50 dollar socks!) i get to keep them at least! and if insurance doesn't pay for them, i'm off the hook.

attractive, right?

the last thing i remember the anesthesiologist(spelled it right the first time around without spell check!) saying was, "so, how did you rupture your disc?" and i replied, "maybe when i fell in the cave...or lifting weights." and that was the last thing i remembered.

i am very thankful for a great doctor and a capable anesthesiologist!

i woke up and i was a bit wobbly as the nurse walked me to the bathroom. i kept wondering why she was walking me to the bathroom because i really didn't have to go. but being under the influence of something i tried because i figured it was the only way i was going to get to leave...then i couldn't find my bra, the nurse found it in a baggie under the gurney. and then they wheeled me off in the wheel chair.

when we got home, i slept for a bit and then came out and text some people to let them know how it went. ate dinner...laid on the floor and watched some t.v. and chit chatted with mom and dad.

then i read the instructions and noticed that i am supposed to be working my way up to walking for a half hour. so this morning we woke up and had some breakfast, then mom and i went for a walk with the boys. they're not used to walking with two people and they get more tangled up that way, but it was good. so i showed mom around the complex. i probably could've walked longer, i am not tired or hurting, but everyone keeps saying don't over do it. well, i don't think i am...we walked for about 20-25 minutes-not fast, but it felt pretty good.

the boys did well, and we will probably take another short walk this afternoon-stir crazy

the hardest part is that i am only supposed to sit from 20-30 minutes at a time and only 3-4 times a day, so i will have to finish this later (or from a laying position).

a few days ago i was getting ready to throw something down the garbage disposal, when i looked down and found this little guy that kinda' creeped me out:

i saw the little green shute poking it's little head up through the opening...

 in my head were visions from little shop of horrors!
 
 i was shocked that the little guy could survive in the garbage disposal, then a little grossed out at the thought that it did...then i thought, hmm. if there were a nuclear holocaust and i needed to grow my own vegetables....actually, i think it was one of the chia seeds.

ok, back to resting for a bit,
julie