iGoogle - July 01, 2008

I'm playing around with iGoogle and it seem to be what the "new Yahoo" is modeled after. There are many, many "gadgets" to add to your pages - a lot to play with

Into The Woods

We have a talented theater group at my parish that has done a summer production for the past several years.  This year was Into The Woods.  I've never heard fairy tales told quite that way before, with consequences of wishing & wishes granted, and the "ever-after" not so happy.  Mom & I really enjoyed this - neither of us had seen it before

Our music director is also a music & drama teacher, and she brings all this together.  We are very fortunate to have something like this.  Some of the other plays they've done were:

Nunsense II
Godspell
Sound of Music
Murder Mystery Dinner Theater
Nuncrackers
Seussical the Musical
Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat

Storytelling

I am taking a class titled "Healing, Growth & Transformation through Story" as part of my required annual addictions counselor training.  I signed up for this course because it sounded like fun.  In addictions, a client's recovery often involves telling their own story.  I may not be able to use it in doing assessments, but I'm sure I can use it in life.  I never thought of myself as a storyteller, but have been an avid reader since childhood.  Stories have been a way for me to get outside my limited existence, and into strange new worlds. 

Swimming Pool

I always wanted a swimming pool.  When I was a kid, my neighbors had a 3 foot pool, then later a 4 foot pool.  We belonged to a community pool for a few years, but never got one for the yard.  I bought small pools for the kids, and got a 3 foot pool one year, but it didn't hold up over the winter.  We tried a few more times with the small quick set pools, but they did not have filters and were hard to keep clean.  A few years ago, I started seeing these pools that looked like a big blue inner tube - quick set pools with filter included.  My daughter got one and set it up in the yard.  It's not on a completely level spot, but it's good enough for the grandkids - at least the older ones - to splash around & cool off.  Now we have to get replacement filters, a pool cover and pool chemicals.  I probably won't get in it much, and I'd still like to have a built in pool like the one my dad had in FL.

A Scouting Family

There has been a long tradition of Scouting in my family.  My sisters & I were Girl Scouts, though I didn't stay with it long as a kid.  My brothers were in Cub Scouts for a few years, and one was in Boy Scouts.  When my neice & nephew were young, my sister was a Girl Scout leader and other sister & brother-in-law were involved with Cub Packs and Boy Scout troops for many years.  My son was in from Tiger Cub to Life Scout - through his Senior year in high school. My daughter was in Girl Scouts from Daisy to Cadette - she lost interest in middle school.  I held many leadership positions with both Scouting groups.  Now 2 of my grandsons will be old enough to join Cub Scouts in the fall. 

Amazon Wish Lists - February 16, 2008

I finally realized the usefulness of creating wish lists. When I was shopping for Christmas gifts and didn't know what to get for my D-I-L, my DD said to "check her amazon wish list". Wow, how much easier can it get. I discovered that my DS, & DD also had amazon wish lists, and so did I, but mine was private (not anymore - and I've been wishing). I've also set up the Gift Organizer for my family members - which I can like to their wish lists - and get a reminder when birthdays are near. You can make wish lists or gift registries on a lot of online retail sites - I have one for Wal-mart & also for Barnes & Noble.

Ender's Game - January 30, 2008

I recently read Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card. It had been on my list for some time - ever since Ender's Shadow was a selection of the month on SFBC. It was excellent - I know it won a Hugo or Nebula award as did the sequel, Speaker for the Dead. There was some interest in making a movie, but nothing said recently - I think it would make a good one. Ender's Game was first appeared as a novella in Analog magazine, which my dad subscribed to for many years. I guess I'm now involved in another series. I will try to get these all from the library.

Ender's Game
Speaker for the Dead
Xenocide
Children of the Mind

Ender's Shadow
Shadow of the Hegemon
Shadow Puppets
Shadow of the Giant