Six for Sunday

1.  It was a great evening for a walk around the neighborhood.  Not too hot, not too humid.  Along the walk, we saw an adorable little cottontail baby bunny.  It was the cutest thing... and it didn't appear to be afraid of us.  It waited until we were just right up on it before it scampered back into the wooded area. 

Isn't nature just the greatest? 

So beautiful, and all... well, natural and stuff? 


So humbling, and a wonder to...









                                              EEEEEEEEEEEEEKKKKKKKK!!!!

And is there any wonder that my walking speed tripled at this point?!!

 Oh, and p.s...  I am married to a crazy man.  He just HAD to get his foot in there for 'perspective', ya know?





2.  "Operation Daily Pinterest Project" (aka 'Operation Summer Beatdown") is progressing quite nicely.  I'm kind of rocking it, but it is still early days, yet.  So, it's been fun, except for the H8TUHS  (I am just lousy with street cred, y'all)... and you KNOW who you are!!  And I am cross-stitching something JUST for you. ;)




3.  So this one time... when I evidently wasn't paying enough attention at the pool... this company that makes swim goggles snapped a picture of my kid to use for their packaging.  And we are NOT getting any royalties, or even any free goggles out of the deal.   So this clearly sucks.

 

 

4.  Today I made some Texas Caviar, and it is super yummy (and pretty).  I'm going to eat it for lunch on salad greens this week, and add some avocado to it.  I will say, though, that the recipe called for TWO jalapenos, and my husband said I should only put in one, otherwise it might be too hot.  Not sure why this Texas girl even listens to an Indiana boy in terms of how much heat to add to a dish... but it was the wrong call here.  Two jalapenos in the future!  Taste buds be damned.

5.  I had a dream last night that it was the first day of school, and I showed up ready to go, only to find out that they had decided to move me to teach kindergarten... KINDERGARTEN! :O

 And that my classroom was being renovated...


...because it was an old run-down barn.  


That's right, a BARN, y'all. 

With rusted farm equipment, and splintered wood everywhere, and horses just running in the fields around the 'school'.    In my dream, I couldn't find my class list, so I just kept rounding up kids that looked like they might be kindergarten age, and I was trying to keep them from playing in the horses' droppings.  I had the brilliant idea to get everyone settled onto bales of hay while I read a story. I think it is a little early in the summertime to be having these types of 'school anxiety' dreams.  I blame the glass of wine right before bed. 

 

 

6.  I thought that I could muster 'Six for Sunday', but... yeah, I got nothin'.   Have a great week :)

The Cycle of Summer

 It is officially summer!  Can I get a ‘hallelujah’?!!

We’re trying to keep busy around here… okay, I’m trying to keep busy around here. 

Because who am I kidding?  Given half a chance, my three little sloths would lie on the couch all day, watching Tom & Jerry reruns, eating cereal straight out of the box.  Which I 100% guarantee will be most of August, but right now? 

Well, right now, these are the bright and breezy (or hot and humid… whichever) days of JUNE, and I am motivated.  I am excited.  I am Julie, the friggin’ cruise ship director for the ‘Love Boat’, and I have big plans.  Big plans and CAMPS…  oh heck yes, we have camps.  Strength & conditioning camp, lacrosse camp, Boy Scout camp, twirling camp, dance camp, Algebra camp (um, admittedly not as popular), and summer band. 

Wake up, kids!   We’re not wasting these mornings… we’ve got stuff to DO.  Trips to the library, lunches out, summer reading lists to tackle, playdates, VBS, preparing for the State twirling competition, and basically catching up on everything that didn’t get done during the school year.

I’m not entirely delusional, though.  I know how it is … soon the bright and breezy days of June will give way to the scorching, 100+ degree heat of July.  And our well laid plans of crafts and cooking projects will be replaced with sleeping late, lazy afternoons by the pool, too much computer time, and snow cones for dinner… and that’s fine, too. 

Then August will roll around, and I’ll start putting my ‘teacher hat’ back on, thinking about bulletin boards, professional development, lesson plans, and setting up my classroom.  As a mom, I’ll be thinking about haircuts, and new school clothes, and new shoes, and school supplies, and wishing that I’d taken care of more of that earlier in the summer, instead of reading yet another Jen Lancaster book at the neighborhood pool.  And the sloths? Well, they’ll be watching Tom & Jerry, or whatever happens to be on Cartoon Network, and eating frozen pizza while they wait for me to get back from my 17^th trip up to my classroom.

Even before I went back to teaching, it was pretty much the way things worked around here.  We (once again, 'we' = 'I') start the summer with great intentions, and eventually taper off until I'm frantically labeling composition books and backpacks the night before school starts. 

It’s my summertime cycle…  I know it, I’ve lived it, and I’m destined to repeat it.

And I’m okay with it. 

Amen, y’all.