May 7, 2014

Thunderstorms! I love thunderstorms! Let me clarify- I love thunderstorms if I am warm and safe inside - not on the golf course, in the swimming pool, or on a mountaintop! The very best scenario during a thunderstorm is on the couch with a blankie and good book. I was never terrified of nature's rumblings as a child probably because I was told that it was just the angels bowling. A particularly bad storm was just a terrific tournament! When I was a lifeguard at an outdoor pool, I developed a respectful fear of lightning and I'm sure we cleared the pool more times than we really needed to. Me and my fellow guards liked to error on the side of caution...and besides - we got to play cards while the pool was closed! I guess you could say that I love thunderstorms because of good books, soft blankies, bowling, and cards!

May 6, 2014

Donna' Day of Driving..Today I took the day off of work to help out with a fund raiser for one of my schools. This is the second time that I have participated in this fund raiser because it is a fun one! A local chain of car dealerships has a big used car sale twice a year at a big venue. This time it is at Sports Authority Field. Twelve of us reported to Sports Authority Field at 7:30am. There were many other groups there as well to raise money for their prospective organizations such as cheer, baseball, etc. Each group is given a passenger van to use for the day. Our mission..to go to an assigned dealership in the van and then eleven of us each drive a car back to Sports Authority Field for the sale...repeat....all day..The dealerships are all over the metro area and we each drove a total of eight cars today. Our school gets paid for each car we deliver (in one piece!). A little competition came into play as we barreled out of the van at each dealership to score the best car. They would show us the cars that needed to go and then we could pick what we wanted. My two best today were the Toyota Rav4 and the Hyundai Veloster. The worst was a Corolla whose previous owner must have been a two pack a day smoker. It was a fun day at the wheel!

May 5, 2014

I'm feeling like a bad peanut butter sandwich. Yes, I'm nutty and a little chunky but what I mean is I'm feeling spread too thin. I have many activities overlapping at work and in my personal life right now. But to be positive, there is not one thing that I'm juggling that I want to drop. I like everything that is pulling on my time and I am motivated to get everything done. So... I need to just put some jelly on it and quit whining! (Although everything is better with wine!)

May 4, 2014

What a beautiful spring-summer day! We have the deck and patio ready for the season! (I say "we" like I helped...I did put out some cushions..) We officially kicked off the outdoor season by cranking up the pizza oven tonight. Three years ago we visited my sister and family in Italy and my husband was intrigued with their pizza oven. When we got home, Don researched the possibilities and found that  we could indeed install one on our deck! Last Spring was our opening season as pizza oven proprietors and towards the end of the summer we had less black crust and more brown. I also found that I could buy pizza dough from local pizzerias which relieves a bowl full of stress for me! Tonight we made calzones and a stramboli. Delizioso!

Now I have to distract him from thinking more about the vineyard idea........

May 3, 2014

Where did the day go? Well, I did get off to a late start because sleeping in on Saturdays is kind of a hobby of mine. It was one of those days of puttering around the house, catching up on this and that and not having to be anywhere and not having to be in a hurry. Unfortunately, these slow paced days don't happen during the work week. However, I have hatched a plan to maybe slow things down a bit and buy myself some time. Every once in awhile I get an email at work from the Tech department notifying me that the district internet is having problems. This week I'm going borrow their wordage and send out the following email to the staff at both of my schools, "Donna is experiencing intermittent slowness and productivity issues. She is currently working on a solution." 

I'll let you know how it worked for me!

P.S. Someone who was working hard today at the Kentucky Derby was Johnny Weir! Love the hat!

May 2, 2014

Sticky. Tonight I helped at the PTA carnival at one of my schools. Because the PTA is very supportive  of me and my library programs, I like to help them when  I can so I signed up to help with the carnival. I was assigned to the cotton candy machine. I have eaten a lot of this sugary poof on a stick in my younger years but have never been on the creative side until tonight. Whoever invented cotton candy was a genius and probably living with diabetes on their own tropical island somewhere. All you do is pour a dry sugar mix into the machine and in a matter of seconds, the machine creates spun sugar. I felt like a sugar spinning princess waiting for Rumpelstiltskin to show up! Actually I had a long line of people wishing that I could spin it a little faster! From now on when I go to the circus, I will appreciate the well groomed cotton candy confections that I see because mine looked like a beehive hairdo in bad wind! Oh well, the kids seemed to enjoy it and I'm sure their dentists will enjoy the end results. 

May 1. 2014

It is late and I am still at the Board of Education meeting. The business portion of the meeting hasn't even started- we're still in public comment! The positive thing about all of this is the hundreds of teachers and parents who have shown up to support teachers and protect the reputation of our district. I arrived at 5:30 and joined over a hundred people having to wait in the lobby because the auditorium was packed. As I sit with my colleagues and listen to the parents , teachers, community members and students stand up and talk, I am blown away by the passion and dedication they have for education and the profession of being an educator. Several students kindergarten through high school; gifted and talented to students with ADHD; white students to students of color, have gotten up to speak tonight. They were awesome and a reminder of why we get up every day!