February 28, 2015

Sweet 88!

I'm in Fort Morgan this weekend to help my mom celebrate her 88th birthday! For the special occasion, I decided to dust off my mixer and bake her Esthers's Marmalade Cake.  There is a book series by Jan Karon that was popular a few years ago - the first book being At Home in Mitford. Mom and I read them all and every book mentions Esther's Marmalade cake so I decided that I should make it. I have mentioned before that baking is not one of my strong points and this cake illustrated this. Instead of a cake it looked more like a volcano science fair project. However, when I piled on the marmalade and the frosting, it was presentable ...from a certain angle. Luckily it tasted good and if you didn't have diabetes before you had a piece, you certainly did afterwards - it was that sweet! To make the evening even sweeter tonight, my nephew Toby, wife Abby, and brother in law, Randy helped celebrate. Happy Birthday (Tuesday) mom!

February 27, 2015

Farewell Mr. Spock 

I was deeply saddened when I heard about the passing of Leonard Nimoy today. Then I started questioning why I felt that way. Part of it is because I enjoyed his famous Mr. Spock role on Star Trek which I was an avid fan of growing up. So much so that when my appendix was bursting in 8th grade I remember hallucinating that I was on the deck of the USS Enterprise with Spock, Captain Kirk, and the rest of the crew! I guess that I am also grieving the loss of a person who continued to do good work throughout his life and remained a role model until his death. Not many celebrities have done that. Thanks for sharing your great talent Mr. Nimoy - may you find peace in your final frontier.

February 26, 2015

Snow Day!

At 5am the phone rang. As a mother, it is disconcerting to get calls at odd hours but today it was the Snow Day call. Yippee! I had a great day just dawdling around the house - getting things done here and there. I did force myself to work a little and should have worked more but the little kid in me wanted to play on a snow day. Don was off today so he spread good will all over the neighborhood by letting his snowblower run rampant down sidewalks and up and down driveways. He has some good karma coming his way!

February 25, 2015

Blind Race for Love

I don't know if you watch the Amazing Race but tonight began a new series. This time they paired up couples who didn't know each other - the  ultimate blind date. The problem is that the race isn't just one night. It is several days with high stress, little sleep, and probably not enough bathing in my opinion. I guess you would really know a person by the time you completed the race. Actually it might be better to race with a stranger. Don and I would be terrible on that show. I would have chronic bad hair and have a perpetual pout because of something Don said or did. Don would be oblivious to my protruding bottom lip but frustrated with my pokiness and bad sense of direction. Yep, I think we will keep doing our own amazing race traveling experiences especially because my race allows time for shopping!

February 24, 2015

A Compliment...Butt...

Like many people, I sometimes carry my phone in my back pocket while at work. Yesterday, I had the third graders in the library sitting at the tables. As I was preparing to conduct the lesson, I turned my back to them and bent over to attend to the laptop cart. Suddenly, I heard a third grade boy exclaim, "Whoa! Check out that iPhone 6 plus!" Okay, once upon a time that compliment would have not been about my phone but at my age I'll take what I can get! Thank you!

February 23, 2015

On the Air

Last Fall, my Teacher Librarian colleague and friend, Lesa, talked me into something. She volunteered us to present a webinar to district Teacher Librarians and today was the day that we put on the headsets and made our webinar debut. Neither of us had ever presented a webinar and I must say that it was a fun experience. We have been working on our presentation for the last two months but when you enjoy who you're working with and are passionate about the subject - Integrating Technology at the Elementary Level- it doesn't seem like extra work. With the expert help of the webinar guru, Donette, it all went off without a hitch and I hope that the Teacher Librarians who attended found it beneficial. I asked if we could have a weekly Donna and Lesa show and they said they would get back to us....we could call it the Delicious Tech Dish....!

  Similar but not equal to...

February 22, 2015

And the Oscar Goes To....

I watched the Academy Awards tonight but have not seen any of the movies up for awards. Every year I make it a goal to see them all and then some so I can really participate...on the couch. Until then I watch for fashion faux pas and bad behavior. I didn't see any of that tonight. Everyone looked nice...and covered. It was actually kind of boring but there was some politicizing. I don't know if I would ever want to actually attend the Oscars. It would take a lot of gym time, surgery, and money to just walk in the front door...not to mention that "Kohls" probably wouldn't be the best response to the "who are you wearing" question. Nah...I'll just keep my couch seat where I can wear my sweats and be as catty as I want with no repercussions!

P.S. Lady Gaga was spectacular!