bruno-not a scary dog, but he sure did scare me!

okay. so, on wednesday p.m. i walked into the front room, and saw a ziplock baggie, where i had stored some semi-sweet chocolate chips. the problem was that the bag was ripped open, dumped on the couch, with at least half of them gone...chaco was looking up at me shaking his head, saying, "bruno. he's gonna be in so much trouble!" so i picked it all up as quickly as possible, knowing that chaco had just been waiting for his chance, because that's always the way it goes. bruno quietly instigates, and chaco is usually the one who joins in and gets caught...younger brother syndrome.

i wasn't too concerned, because he'd gotten into chocolate before (small doses...somehow he gets into my backpack when i forget i had it there). anyhoo. they had dinner, and a couple hours later, he began acting very strange-panting, pacing, laying on the floor and whimpering a little, i checked his heart rate-palpitating rapidly and that's when i began to worry. by this point it was almost 10 p.m., so i knew we were going to have to go to emergency care-ugh. as quickly as possible, i piled them into the car-which was a rental for the next day's training (i'd been planning to take my own, but the transmission sensor went out and the mechanic said no-way). so i didn't have their car seats-they just sat in the back on a blanket.

once we arrived, they buzzed me in, and there were two other ladies right behind me with their pup, who had be run over and was in bad shape. once the paperwork was done, we went back to a room, and the vet took bruno's temps and vitals, then took him back and they induced vomiting; when she came back to the room, she was very concerned because there was blood as well, so she took me back to where he was for a minute, and said they were going to run the blood tests, and put him on oxygen to get the breathing back to normal. so we went back to the little holding room and waited-definitely teared up at this point and could have used a glass of water. chaco just lay in my lap (i was glad i'd brought him, but i couldn't leave him at home, because he would've been a mess as he doesn't do well alone). finally after they got the results, she came back still concerned, as they weren't able to come to any conclusions. so she suggested leaving him overnight to monitor him and do another blood test later in the morning because she felt they weren't getting an accurate reading due to the food...so that was the plan; i'd be back to get him at 4:30 a.m. so i could take off for training in kilgore at 5:30.

 the hardest part was that i had to initial a few different boxes, and decide whether to have them do cpr, or dnr. a couple of things went through my head. what stuck was-if they had to do that, who knows what quality of life would be like afterward. that's the worst feeling ever.

when we got home, ready for bed, it was close to midnight, and chaco got up on the bed, kinda' still looking around for bruno. i said goodnight to both of them-like always, and in 4 hours was up again, getting ready to go. when i arrived at the er this time, there was a different vet (2nd shift), and she was a talker. she said the same over and over in about 213 different ways...i kept trying to reassure her that i understood what she was saying and tell her what my plan of action was...finally it was determined that the results were still a little mysterious, and she couldn't quite pinpoint what had caused the bleeding; she was still concerned with a couple of the levels, and suggested going to my vet later in the day to retest for clotting factors. so with that we slowly backed out and took off. i knew he must've been feeling a little better, because the tech said bruno totally put on the breaks when she took him out to potty and walk-he was having none of that. sounds like bruno! he can be pretty stubborn.

once i dropped him off, google maps had me on my way to kilgore. it was about to be a long day! on the way there, i received a couple texts and a phone call from my people, and they know how much the boys mean to me-just checking up. once i got there and found the site, i was quite early, so i made my way to coffee (there was no starbucks in the vicinity, so gas station coffee was going to have to do!) and i called lori at that point, b/c i'd been trying to figure out how i was going to get back in time to get bruno to my vet. had it not been so late the night before, i probably would have dropped the key off with solange and asked her to take him (she's always been a champion for the boys), but that wasn't the case, and i'd not really been thinking about it. lori was very gracious and concerned-and pending numbers and how jane felt about doing the afternoon session, i would come back after the morning session. thankfully, jane was cool with it (not surprisingly, she gets dogs as family, too). 

the first session was quite a crowd-they had moved us to a larger room, and we got everything set up and handouts handed out, and then the fun began! jane did the intros and explained what tx success is, and i jumped into the presentation from the get-go; thanks for the vote of confidence, jane! she was great about adding information as we went, and it was comfortable, so i've gotten my feet wet! after going through much of what istation is, answering questions as we went, we got into some hands-on activities. this was a great opportunity to chat with some of the participants to answer additional questions and help in whatever they were working on. it was a good session, but i think there were a couple of disgruntled folk, who wanted the program to do something it doesn't do...

lunch time came, and we cleaned up to get ready for session 2, which some were staying, but several had not registered and were returning to their campuses. so jane and i bid each other farewell, and i hadn't gotten to the main road, when i got a call from jane asking if i'd left the handouts for the 2nd session-OH NO!! so i turned around, took my backpack in, and realized that they were actually in the trunk of my car-at the transmission place. i'd brought the wrong ones-for austin. oops. so i quickly went in to trouble-shoot with the substitute secretary and shared the files we needed from my drive, and she was able to make copies for jane and we were good to go. i need to call jane and see how the afternoon session went!

and i was off again. on the way back, i again got a couple texts and a phone call-just checking in, which really did mean a lot to me--my thoughtful friends. when i got home, i packed the boys up, and took them to the vet. when we got there and i explained the situation, they made a spot for me and the vet came in and talked with me after taking bruno's temp. after looking at the records from his august comprehensive, he said he wasn't too concerned, as bruno hadn't been throwing up nor having diarrhea, and at this hour, he wouldn't be able to get the results back until the following day; how about bringing him back tomorrow, so that we can monitor him. he did give me some antibiotics, in case there was some infection that may have caused the bleeding. (which may have been a nasal passage issue, bleeding back into the throat the night before causing it to look like he was vomiting blood)...so the good news is that bruno has been acting his normal self, and seems to be fine. me on the other hand-still tired. like i said before, i truly had thought about laying down on the sidewalk to sleep at one point. and looking at the clock right now, i am off to bed-needs more sleep!

love this nugget! my loyal friend!

but on the bruno front, feeling much better-thanks to all who said a prayer and sent love-
julie

sometimes early breakfast is only funny to the ones making it...

so, here's the deal, i would've worked on a post earlier, because i didn't even finish my last story...but i've been so tired the past couple of days, due to unforeseen events, which i will get into later...suffice it to say i was so tired yesterday that i considered laying down on the sidewalk in the middle of a short walk with the boys...truth, i considered it at about three different points around the fountain. and when i went to return the rental car, it was that nauseatingly exhausted feeling. i now know i need more than 4 hours of sleep per night.

but back to finish what i started!

wednesday morning rolled around, and i was still in SAT at julie and kevin's. remember how i volunteered her to make breakfast (which she was more than willing to do, because she loves her boy); so my alarm clock was set for about 5:30, i believe. when i woke up, she was not out of the room yet, but kevin said she was awake, go on in-so i grabbed the guitar from the stand to perform a little early morning serenade-because that's just what you do when there is a guitar at hand! (right?)

i think we may have been a little much for him in the morning-we were messing with his mojo-his routine! and with that, the coffee, and the bacon in the oven; which i just want to say was ah-maz-ing! melt in your mouth #neverfryingbaconagain and somewhere in the midst of waiting on the bacon and packing his lunch, there was some word that was bothersome and for the life of me, i do not recall what it was, but julie seemed to be stumbling over it, so we reduced it to the lowest phoneme possible... "G" and that was probably where the most annoying part was for kevin, because that's when we started laughing and it got silly (needless to say, it's still funny, and will never cease to be).

juan...julie JUAN-love it.

once the boy took off, we actually did sit to do some work-she had some calls to make, and then showed me how to do some things with the padlets. and we had some data to drill into from the previous day. so it was productive time. it wasn't long before we had to take off for the airport-grabbed a bite to eat first, and starbucks- sat in the parking lot at starbucks for a minute while ju looked through her funniest pins and posts and shared laughs. HA! so, i just want to take this moment to say it again, it was a joy to be able to stay with julie, kevin and bella, and 'do life' for a couple days in a family setting. they truly make my heart smile.

and the flight back was not memorable in the least.

once i got back to dallas, it was a fairly quiet couple of days. i met with nicolette on sunday after church and we went to get some doggy things for her boys-who came home with her last week. i took the boys with me, and they got to meet new friends #socialization. we found a bed for the crate, dog food and i think there was something else, but it fails me now. ah, yes!! it was party city-she had to get hair thingy-ma-bobs so they could be thing one, thing two and thing three! i did find something that i HAD to get, only i cannot post that picture quite yet. i may have found a flannel shirt at target too....just sayin'. anyhoo, when we got back to her place, i helped make some vocab flashcards, because that's what first grade teachers do! and then we headed back home.

nicolette with ALL the boys!

monday i went in to the office to make copies for our training on tuesday- of course i did them wrong.  yay, me! and no one was there really, except for cherryl (just not anyone from our dept), so i went in and chatted with her for a minute. good thing when i got to mt pleasant, jane had enough for the first round, so i was planning on going into the office again on wednesday to make some more for the thursday training. tuesday went well-it was a fairly small crowd-although big for what they've had before.

so, wednesday came (it usually does, right? anyone surprised? didn't think so), and i went up to the office, to make those copies, and to make copies for julie for austin, and grab some folders for sabrina, since i'd be seeing them. so that took a minute. suzanne was there, and she had a special gift for me...i now get excited about ethernet cables..what's wrong with me? cutting those pieces for the thursday training was a cruel beating. but hey, done. brian and lori were 'in the house' as well, and busy, per the usual, so i just did the peek in and say hey.

then it happened. wednesday night happened, and it wasn't pretty. more on that tomorrow. yikes.
tell your pets you love them tonight! (ok, your family too)
julie

training is kinda like super market sweep

so, as any good blogger would do...wait a minute, who are we kidding? i'm not a good blogger, i am merely a person posting silly stories online so that my friends know what's UUUPPPPP! so don't worry, it's not about to get bloggy-er-y-ish-may it never be!

but back to my story! me.me.me.me.me! (some would call it the me monster, but hey, it's my blog post, i do what i want! because i can, mind you).  

so, yes, we slept in a little on tuesday morning, 7:30-right? did some morning prep-stuffs, and then made our way to the site, but first...drum-roll please, yes, yes, a little starbucks en route. and since this was in effect breakfast and would have to last all afternoon, we got two each. one hot to start the day and one cold to last through training (sort of). while in line waiting...and waiting, the lady in front of us had like 4,201 drinks. bless her, the angel of the medical center. yes, i was exaggerating-if you didn't catch that, you really don't know me well enough, and may want to consider finding a different blog to read-although you would miss all of my witty banter (with myself). but let us continue. she had like...14 drinks, needed a box, and even at that, needed like 1 more arm, and she still would've spilled someone's drink on herself, so i helped her out to her car, and by the time i returned, they were still working on ours.

once we got to the car it got real-a very honest conversation-the kind i like best; thanks for being authentic!

we rolled up and found the office, and sat with the contact. julie laid out kind of what she'd planned, and was informed of a twist. which was sorta like going to the grocery store and thinking you have a $100 budget for a meal, and 3 bags to pack your treasures in, with about 6 hours to then prepare, and getting a text saying: oh, hey. um...you'll be serving two different parties, and you actually have $50, they'll be there in three hours, and still plan on the same meal for both parties, but make sure you can get that in one bag...and by the way, there may be a VIP at the party as well! hmm. and like a pro, julie started changing the menu and getting to the meat of the matter, and said, well, let's do the main course, and we'll just have to save the dessert for another time! a little tweaking, but under control! in volleyball, our phrase was WIT-whatever it takes!

in the midst of making changes, deAn's call came in, so i went out to take it and find her, as she had just arrived. when we found each other, i brought her up to speed with the plan and the changes, then we went back into the office, did introductions and went to find our portable and get set up. while setting up, we shared a lunchable, because one is never too old for a lunchable! #notjustforfieldtrips

people began arriving, and we directed people to the math session or our session, depending on age-group. we worked first with middle school teachers and they were dears. some of them on the newer end of the spectrum. so it was a lot of information, but info they should have been able to take back and use. then, as the changeover was happening, there was somewhat of an additional challenge thrown in (just keeping it real, i guess!). instead of going from 2:30-4:00, you now have until 3:30. clasps hands with arms straight out, turns them palms out, cracks knuckles, cocks head from side to side, cracking the neck, shakes it all off, YES, MA'AM! can do! and did-with grace. it was decided that a portion would be taken out, but in the end, even with the shortened amount of time, julie was able to get to it, because this was the elementary school group, and most had a better grasp on the concept and what was going on. they were on the ball and had good questions and thoughts. it went smoothly and i am confident that when they return, they will be able to really put it all together and use their data like masters!

the great thing about this was that it was a great opportunity for deAn and i to see adjustment on the fly when things aren't going quite as planned, so you have to switch it up. when it was done, we bid farewell to deAn and made our way back to the homestead, passing by the little shop where joy works. who is joy, you ask? just a local kevin had mentioned the day before. moving on. bella was ecstatic to see her mama, and needed some lovin'. so stinkin' cute! and then julie said something to her about daddy being home soon, and of course, from that moment on, she had her eyes on the door, acute awareness that at any moment it could happen! so we (and by we, i mean julie) got the food out for dinner preparations. it was going to be good!

when kevin arrived, he came in and got to work, after explaining boxplots, and some workday talk. then we sat out on the deck while he was getting the grill ready. and soon it was time to put on the asparagus. with that it was also apparently time to go get some propane...after some banter of who was going to get it, and how a good wife might have anticipated this...kevin went and exchanged a tank in record time! and julie did a second batch in the oven while the mediterranean seasoned chicken was grilling. sitting around the table enjoying a home-cooked meal with friends- how pleasant! delicious, i tell ya! the chicken, the asparagus (both), the couscous, the pita with tzaziki sauce-like, i'm licking my fingers mentally!!

so this is the really cute pic of ju and kevin preparing our delicious meal!

after clean-up, we were back on the deck with some light music in the background, so as to not bother the neighbors, nor interfere with conversation, once it began to get dark, kevin turned out the porch light (again respectful of the neighbors), and brought out a small lantern light, and dialogue continued. kevin explained exactly what a psychometrician does, beginning with the history. it was very interesting. and after some time, he had another early morning, and i may have kinda' help volunteer julie to get up early and make hubster breakfast, promising to get up and lend moral support! smile. so he went to bed and we spent a little more time talking about traditions and such. parents, family, etc. and we then had to get some shut-eye as well, as we were getting up early and would be looking at work stuffs the next morning.

and now we'll call it a night, as we did!
julie 1-but only because i'm older.

second leg and OGL...omm, could've been worse

wichita to dfw-smoothe sailing and on time. uneventful, and a decent seat-mate.

cue the second leg from dfw to sat. the safety announcements came on in the headrests in front of us, and the window seat lady (let's just call her wsl) was actually funny-we could be friends; we made fun of the entire video, from the exaggerated leg-room we wished we had to the silver hands buckling the passenger in (which we deemed slightly inappropriate-i suppose i can only think of a few of people i'd be willing to shoot that video with: looking at you, julie2, sabrina, shea and bmayes)...and then there was the part where the flight attendant had two other people buckling her seatbelt...so i looked at wsl and said, "would you go ahead and get that for me?" thank God she laughed...and then the lady and her teenage daughter with the o2 masks...the mom had to get her daughter's, as she just sat there looking like a pathetic teenager, who could obviously do it herself, but wasn't about to make an effort. yep. there may have been a fashion show of life-vests, and a dance party at the end. not sure how i felt about the whole thing-uncomfortable that this was where my safety lay, thankful it was over, wondering how much they had to raise prices to pay for this commercial endeavor...

and once the flight actually took off, i took out my notebook to begin the process of writing ideas for these posts. wsl looked up from her kindle at one point and had a shocked look, stating that she hadn't seen anyone actually 'writing' things down in such a long time. and then the older german lady in the aisle seat, who was somewhat annoying (let's call her ogl)
ogl: oh, are you journaling?" 
(at this point i had my earbuds in, and had to take one out to hear her)
me: not really, it's for my blog
ogl: oh! what do you blog about?
me: stupid stuff, mostly just whatever is going on-to keep friends apprised of life.
ogl: (somewhat disappointed) oh. you should use your tablet.
me: (i kept having to take the earbud back out because i was hoping she would stop chatting, but NOOooo) well i like to write it out first handwritten and then go back later to type it all up. (earbuds back in)
ogl: well, that takes too much time. you need to just do it all at once and edit while you go.
me: (earbuds out again...i'm not going to tell you what i was thinking, because i'm sure she's probably someone's grandmother) well, it's my rough draft and i like to write it out by hand. 
ogl: hmf. well, i dictate mine. 
me: good, good for you. i'm glad that works for you. i like to write mine out. (finally headphones back in, and no more chitter chatter). 

so when we finally arrived and i was able to set my pace for the walk to baggage claim, wouldn't ya' know it, ogl was not too far in front of me, setting her own pace, just slow enough that i would catch up at the escalator. guess who took the stairs-yep, i sure did. and it wasn't long before ju arrived to meet me-they were running a little late due to construction, but so were we, as upon arrival, we were taxiing around the pad ramp like a game of cat and mouse maneuvering around parked planes, to finally get to our gate. and of course that initial meeting in the baggage claim was very similar to a 'hello' with sabrina a few weeks back; surprises are fun; little did our friend randi know she would be the inspiration for such pleasant airport greetings.

when we got back up to the truck, i finally got to meet kevin and bella! it was good drive home, due to more construction...which meant talking and music; i vaguely remember car conversation, except to point out the signage on one of the trucks-good times. and then we arrived and i settled my bags into sabrina's room ;) loved the decor!  and then we had a little time for a quick glass of wine and chit-chat before bed-kevin was out early for work, but knowing that we had a little time to sleep in, we got to sleep a little later than normal.

my bed was comfy. sleep came easily-hard to believe i'd been in wichita merely hours ago with joyce and alicia training! time to get ready for another mini-whirlwind!

julie

easy like a hamburger...in a labyrinth...in wichita

sunday morning i had to do things a little differently, as i was flying out of dfw, and arriving back at love field. so i took lyft, and my driver was samuel from kenya. he was a little difficult to understand, but i was doing my best! what i DO know is that he is passionate about his daughter's pre-k teacher! and he visits his now-elderly teacher in kenya whenever he visits-she taught him everything, his first time in school at a fifth grade age, knowing nothing...oh, and he has 9 brothers and sisters...yep.

security was a breeze, and then i stopped to grab a quick bite at mcdonald's and the lady in front of me just very indecisive..finally said, why don't you go, we're not sure...so i did. and about 15 minutes later, as i was walking down the corridor toward my gate (EMPTY corridor, like no foot traffic and plenty of space), the same lady moseys out of a little shop and right into my path, like two of her steps, ahead of me (which was about 7 times slower than i was going...if you know me, or have walked with me, i walk fairly quickly always on a mission). so when she slowed my roll like this, i had to pull out my invisible whip and crack it around her ankles, tugging really hard to bring her down in a face-plant. and then i came out of my split second fantasy world and shifted gears to power past her. i'm so glad i don't ever act on these imaginings...people might start to realize i'm not nearly as nice as i come across...then when you get to know me, you know better. warped humor, i guess.

i arrived in ict early enough to enjoy every bit of this airport. lots of sales going on-wedding dresses, cars, and how did i know i was in kansas? well there was this:

tractor-rider mowers...so midwest!

and if you were not aware, ict is 'the air capitol of the world'...idk, but anyhoo, they had a wall of pictures, and that kept me busy while i was waiting for joyce and alicia to arrive from their delay in o'hare. no worries, i had things to keep me busy.

very spacious baggage claim area! great place for a flash mob, in case anyone wants to know

very interesting little museum

upon arrival, i met them in the baggage claim and we went to get our car-oh praise Jesus for small airport rentals. due to it being a one-way drive, they didn't have the car on location. but he was going to give alicia an executive upgrade...good thing she's already an executive member. hmm.. "oh, we don't do things that way here"...so we went to wait on a bench not to far away, with him letting us know he'd come find us when the car arrived...and then he popped out of the back office about 15 minutes later and waved us over. oh. but the wave....so professional. so alicia came back with the keys and we went out the door-his directions were to go to the right...apparently HIS right. we did find the car, and got on outta' there. the drive to the hotel was...drum-roll please...less than a minute around the parking garage. DUDE! I COULD HAVE WALKED THERE, CHECKED IN AND TAKEN A NAP!!! i so stupid! i totally should've looked it up! they have a shuttle. what was i even thinking. i wasn't. whatevs. no big. so we checked in quickly and were to back in the lobby for lunch in ten minutes. no worries, i thought. until i looked at the room #s just outside the elevator, and asked the handyman which way i needed to go to get to 348. he said, "go to the end of this hall, then you turn right, go to the end of that hall, then turn left, make a little jog to the right, and it should be on that hall....

and so it began....

and continued....

just a little further!

one more corner to your amazing view!

ermergersh! TOTALLY worth the hike for the view!! i'd purposefully request this room again!

i was afraid i wasn't going to be able to get out of the labyrinth in time for lunch, and i might flake away in the wichita winds, if they left me (which they would NEVER) fortunately i left airline peanut crumbs to find my way back (i had no bread...don't worry, i didn't have peanuts either...again the imagination thing).

we arrived at the end of the church crowd,so there wasn't a huge wait, but the place was full. lunch was delish...i haven't had a steak in quite awhile ( not a problem, it was very small, and rather inexpensive-and the sweet potato-the real deal). this is one of the first times i really got a chance to talk to alicia and joyce, without everyone else around, and it was nice to get to know them better. you may remember that we were in colorado together on one of my first trips, but it was all such a blur, and apart from the trainings, there wasn't much time with just them. so it was good. after lunch, we found the site, wichita university-it was a nice little campus, but the doors were closed-sunday/fall break.

once we got back to the hotel, we called it a day. lunch was so heavy that none of us were really planning much for dinner (i had the protein bars in my room, and hotel coffee...as i didn't want to go through the whole frisk-down with tsa this time)...so i took a nap, wrote a letter, finished that last blog, played word games...watched a netflix show...there was no hot tub, so...went to bed.

i drove us to our venue, but we were stopping first at chic-fil-a for breakfast, as our site was on 17th street, and the chic was on 21st. well. i'm here to tell you that not everything is as it seems. we didn't go the way google maps was telling us, because we'd made a mistake the previous day, so we went east, toward the school. google maps was like, oh, yeah? well fine, then i'm going to take you around the back way and in the opposite direction about 5 miles to get to chic-fil-a, which, come to find out, THIS 21st street was nowhere near our 17th street. oh well. we then back-tracked and passed several unfamiliar landmarks until we finally arrived at the school, parked and found the lucas room.

still early, we got jacksen to help us out. (he pushed a button to lower the shades, and another to lower the projector and screen); very impressive, and alicia made certain to boost his ego, but letting him know how very powerful she felt he was now that he had taken care of these things. he did help us with cords, and wifi, and all that we needed. the morning session was not to be in the cards, so we were able to talk, they shared tips and just basically wanted to be as helpful as possible, to answer any questions, etc. we found a minute to create a little boss's day collage for lori, then people started arriving for the afternoon session, and there were internet issues. the guest site hadn't been working earlier, which was why they'd given us the secure passcode. well that wasn't working, so i went on a little mission to find an IT guy...i wandered through the desert, around a mountain, waded through a stream, while on a call with julie k (to make sure of plans for that evening), and FINALLY after i was parched and weary, i came to a little closet that said IT, and it was almost as if i had just stepped into a frat-house-movie...you know, the ones where you have that one guy that had way too many, is a little overweight, pants sagging low, even with a belt, grungy,scruffy...out of shampoo, maybe bedbug bites...and smelling like nothing you would encounter at bath and body works...and he begrudgingly followed me, like i was lassie, leading him to our disastrous encounter at the well...kept a straight face and walked in saying, "i've brought reinforcements!" mmmmm....i just wanted have a disclaimer saying: he's not our roadie! anyhoo, he was able to get onto GUEST first try. as soon as he said that, everyone did that, but he had sequestered this lady's laptop, as any quizzical IT person would do, trying to figure out the original dilemma, which no longer needed figuring out. the lady said, "i can just get on guest too.." and he said no. and continued playing! alicia continued with the presentation, and finally he gave her computer back, and sauntered off a little like a cross between winnie the pooh and eyeore.

at some point, i'd mentioned earlier in the trip that i was easy-in regards to food, a similar version of that may have come out in the training, as we were discussing that when their students were showing amazing results, they could get alisha a steak, joyce- i can't remember what amazing meal, and when alicia looked at me and said, and et tu julie? it just came out again: you know me i'm easy (slight pause...) like a hamburger! umm...like a hamburger? it was all i could think of! my brain went to the fact that there is a mcdonalds on the corner near my apt, and it would be super easy to stop there to get a quick burger. (i didn't say a healthy, delicious burger, i said quick and easy....if i wanted delicious, i'd go back to fll with sabrina and get one of those burgers by the ocean and fries for three!)...but there it was. out there. too late.

i had the second part-working through student ICON, showing them all the amazing features and facets of the amazing red-caped-icon. if only i had a better grasp on the sound! they got to play around and appreciate and understand the features, though. and we definitely stopped for a minute to listen to joyce's favorite-the digraphs. then joyce went through the website and finished up, answered questions, promoted the upcoming convention/workshops in florida and wichita. it went well, and i think they got some additional answers they didn't have prior to coming! it was quite a mixed group, so the discussions were very different. a few lower grades, a few k-5 and a few 6-7.

thanks, joyce and alicia for a great time! but then, i'm easy...like a hamburger. (??)

once we finished, we gathered everything up and headed out to the courtyard to take some pics in the courtyard. after a few moments, trying to precariously position my phone on my backpack, balanced on a statue...there was a gentleman spreading grass seed who came over and took our pics for us. so grateful was i that i threw my purse on the ground, as to be out of the picture. so we got our pics in a cute little sitting area, then moved over to the statue. once we had those done we grabbed our packs, and we were off to drop me at the airport before they headed to kc. upon arriving at the airport, i was going to have quite a wait-to get on a flight that would get me in the earliest! BUT...i realized my purse was not with me. yep. we turned around to go back and get it from the university-hoping it was still there; fortunately it was fall break,but still. a little worried now.

when we arrived, joyce got out to go look with me, and it was not on the ground where i had dropped it initially. i looked around and saw another guy watering plants down the other side of the sidewalk, so i ran toward him (slow mo, i'm certain i looked like whitney houston in body guard: i'm gonna run to you)...anyhoo, the man had no idea, whipped out his flip-phone and called his boss. thank GOD it was the one who had taken the picture, and he had taken the purse into the info desk, just inside the student bldg we'd been in! relief. the training gods were with us! (um, God himself kinda trumps them, so...). so when we got to the airport, it was for real this time! goodbyes, and i got checked in and ready to go, thankful for their graciousness! i enjoyed our time.

the flights were uneventful, and on-time, so i was going to see julie and meet kevin and bella shortly.
we'll get there later!
julie

tsa-the bane of my existence...balanced out by the rest of the week

ok, so i have a little time to spare, here in ICT, waiting for my colleagues, alicia and joyce, who are hanging out in ORD, waiting for their delayed flight...curses, chicago, how dare you! anyhoo, perfect time to finish what i started!

so, at the airport in albuquerque, we went to security and the jokers went through tsa pre, while i stood in line with the rest of the world of non-travelers. my bag was flagged in security, so i was pulled to the side, they swabbed my bag and the coffee alerted them (note to self, just going to have to deal with the wretched hotel coffee...or rely thoroughly on 'the bucks'). anyhoo, this made them have to go through each of my other bags, and a pat down; "do you want a private room?" the girl asked, and i just looked at her, "ain't no one got time for that! i'm a little less modest than i used to be, and it should probably be more embarrassing for you than me, fondling a grown-a-woman in public, but go ahead, don't care.." and that was that. did i really say it? ok, some of it...so that happened, then i sat there waiting for them to finish, and something else set off the alarm...so they had to re-run my phone and the ipad...and this whole time, i'm sitting there, without my boots on, mind you, thinking, "i'm missing out on precious 'goodbye' breakfast-time" (insert grumpy-cat face) i was ok at the very beginning of this process, but as they started sucking time away from my life, that i'll never get back, i started to get more and more irritated, and i couldn't even use my phone to text the girls, because it was being run through security...ugh. by the time they brought everything back and determined that i didn't have an organic coffee explosive, i had text from sabrina, and julie was just calling at that moment, so i told her i was in security still, and was going to have to go to the bathroom before meeting them. grr...

upon release, i went to the bathroom, washed my face, grabbed a sip of water and made my way to the restaurant...when i got there, i thought i was good, until they asked what happened, and a couple tears of frustration rolled down my face and mama-bear (sabrina stood up, as did ju, and just gave me the hug i needed at that moment to let it go) then julie k made a suggestion that i took her up on, which i'm sure she regretted a moment after. but kudos to her for being so brave, so early in the morning! alas, our time was up, and sabrina made her way to her flight and we parted ways toward ours, later to find that sabrina's was once again delayed (it had also been delayed on the flight in, due to a lightbulb, of all things-i've seen pettier delay pretenses before)...

i know i didn't mention it before, but there was a lady at the restaurant, sitting behind me, and she had called a server over and asked him to speak to a manager, something about waiting, and ice tea...idk, julie k heard better than i did, but the thing about it, is that she sounded like a man one of the goats from the three-billy-goats-gruff. anyhoo, guess who was at our gate area? you betcha! fortunately for us, we'd chosen a little spot by the window with just two chairs. unfortunately, that little spot smelled like wet, sweaty socks. we tried our best to ignore it, but that smell! you can only hold that gagging for so long, so we moved toward the line for boarding, and we laughed at some of the people who were edging closer and closer-even one lady who literally just went around the who group like one of my fourth graders to get to the front, and i could imagine her raising her hand, waving it and yelling, "FIRST!!!!!!" and we giggled.

upon arrival, we had a goodbye ritual, and then i took off. on the way home, i was driving by cabell, and decided it was time to stop in. i've been meaning to for quite some time, so this was the perfect opportunity to see the remodel, and catch up with friends at the end of the day! ciane and jeri took me around to see everything, and at a couple of instances, i may have actually seen tears in eyes-they miss me so much (feel free to insert a little light-hearted sarcasm here)...but seriously, it was great to see cabell friends...it's always so out-of-sight-out-of-mind. i later got a text from veronica, asking if i was free to do dinner with her and maite, so we made that happen at twisted root that evening, shortly after i ran over to joanne's to pick up the boys. it was good to sit with both of them and catch up!

then on friday afternoon, after i had finished with everything, namely working on my expense report and watching some more webinars, i had gotten a text from nicolette, asking if i was in dallas...and if so, hang out? so i took her up on that, as i had to run to target, so we did that and washed her car (she'd made the mistake of parking on the empty street, where others fear to tread, and she payed the ultimate price...revenge of the birds! and not even the rain could wash that shtuff away!) then we had a lovely dinner salad with a great wine, and walked the neighbor's dog, as she was out of town. good practice in responsibility!! then i left, with the understanding that we were going to go to get our oil changed the next morning.

come saturday morning, i got the text suggesting breakfast first-which i am always up for! so we did a little four corners, as they have great coffee and some solid meals.

and as soon as breakfast was over, we went to get the oil changed, and from there a quick stop at the pet store, to check on doggie-travel-meds...for her dogs. and that was a morning for me, i had to get home to do laundry and get the boys ready to go to joanne's for the next few days. 

it was a week full of blessings, but i am still dying to get my tsa-pre-check! soon, patience, soon.

julie

adjoining rooms are the best, so long as you know the people on the other side (and like them!)

oh, my. let's see...so the drive back to albuquerque seemed faster than the drive to farmington (not sure why...) although, most times once you've arrived somewhere, and are vaguely familiar, it goes more quickly...but let's face it, it was mostly because julie k was intent on breaking the speed barrier (surely i jest). it wasn't a bad drive, not even when she was trying to drive by braille-even though she wasn't 'snoozing' (as one of my other colleagues so hilariously put it) conversation and music-

once we arrived to the abq area, we found a little restaurant-mimi's cafe, and the food was delectable. they had some specials, but the brie...and sabrina's brie and turkey sandwich-i'm pretty sure my mouth was watering! and then sharing the creme brulee cheesecake 3-ways was about right. yum. cute little place to share the comedy with! yes, ma'am! add to it julie k's whistle at certain intervals ( not sure if the audio worked or not, but if it did, you will gather that she was on the spot, and i couldn't figure out how to edit that part out! oops) but every time she does her whistle, it makes me laugh- it kind of reminds me of old kamp days with erin, and when that particular group used whistles to keep track of each other in the dark; path-lighting can be dangerous, even if it is your spiritual gifting...(what?) 

but back to the matter at hand, we finished dinner, and went to check in at the hotel. upon check-in, we asked for an adjoining room, and the gal was like, "oh, we don't have any, they're all assigned." but we'll try to get you close, and they proceeded to talk in some crazy lingo, like 'front-desk-robot-talk' and it was so fast and ping-ponging back and forth, look up, look down, "6th floor?" "no, fifth floor" "oh, wait, i DO have an adjoining room! put them in 511 and 513!" pretty sure we almost wet ourselves (at least me, i shouldn't speak for these two dignified ladies, who would never do anything like potty humor in public). remind me, that brought up something i almost forgot-look for it in a minute. anyhoo, the gal had to take us up to the rooms to unlock the middle doors, but when we got upstairs, the key to the other room wasn't working, so she unlocked one middle door, and had to go back downstairs to retrieve new key cards. it took a minute, but she was excited to do it. (and by excited, i mean at least she did it with a smile!)

so back to the wet myself thing...when we were in the training the previous day, i had gotten to coughing so hard at one point (from something that was said, perhaps), and i'd been drinking lots of water, so you can infer the situation, i made my way toward the restroom with none other than a mini-bottle of water in my hand and i started to guzzle it on the way down the hall, when something hard hit my tooth! WHAT IN THE WORLD, i was thinking about the worm in the bottom of tequila bottles, and thought, 'what nasty thing did the bottlers allow in this bottle! and more to the point, why hadn't i noticed it?!' then i tasted it, halls. yes, i accidentally took the bottle that sabrina had just dropped a halls into. good thing, because i was about to do a spit-take...

ok, and back to our regularly scheduled post, sorry about that, i was just reminded of it...so the door was finally opened, and we got our stuff settled, and then went out to their balcony. no hot tub this night, as it would take too long for bathing suits to dry, and i think sabrina might have gotten a little case of altitude sickness as we were leaving the restaurant. thankfully the meds began to kick in, and by this time she was feeling a bit better. traveling can do a number on you when you're all over the place! anyhoo, we were pulling up stupid videos and laughing and one of my favorite comedians, brian regan-HAHA! so funny! some of the things he comes up with just leave you thinking, "i know who he was talking about!" because we all have those someones in our lives! charlie, a redneck video, muffins, we ranged the gamut!

sleep was good, and we were off to the airport, with a quick detour to starbucks. it got long again...tomorrow i finish with the airport story (which i can finally talk about), and move into the week! sorry 'bout the lack of pics, but deal with it, we're all adults here, and this is not a story-book...

for now, enjoy what's left of the evening, as i prepare for another 'adventure in training'!
julie