Family

Happy birthday to my sister, Marcia, today. We had a good talk this morning catching up on our lives. Family is important in our lives. Our adult children are in Greenville, SC, Owatonna, MN, Fort Lauderdale, FL, Mankato, MN, Janesville, MN, and Owatonna, MN (in that order :-). Andy will be heading to Watertown, WI this coming week for his senior year at Maranatha Baptist Bible College. We will miss going to his football games, since we're involved at our new school with a totally different schedule. You can be assured we'll be perusing all the football pictures once the season begins.

Oscar and Peyton begin school after Labor Day in Minnesota, and they are buying school supplies in anticipation of new schools. Oscar will go to an all-day kindergarten in Waseca near Tricia's workplace and Peyton will begin 5th grade at McKinley Elementary School near our home in Owatonna. She had attended Washington Elementary School from K5-4, but when they moved to our home, she had to transfer to the neighborhood school and she'll do fine.

I also had a great visit with my sister, Darlene, this morning and caught up on her family. What a glorious day! I'm sure by day's end, I will call my mother to get her updates on my 97-year-old Great Aunt Edith living nearby in a care facility. What a span of generations.

Now off to lunch with friends in anticipation of a new week.

Cousins and Siblings

My cousin, Brenda, just posted a July 4, 1959 photograph showing several of us on the porch swing at the Crane Farm in Orleans, Indiana. The family reunions at the farm were wonderful playing games with our cousins, going to the barn with Grandpa Crane to milk the cows, and feeding the pigs. Grandma Crane always had lots of sweet tea and persimmon pudding plus lots of other food. I remember playing croquet after all food supplies were put away and then my dad, Roy Crane, would walk around the house on his hands to our delight! What great memories. Darlene and Marcia are my sisters, Nathan is my brother, and Brenda and Deborah are my cousins.
(L-R) Nancy Crane McGuire, Nathan Crane, Brenda Chastain Shepple, Marcia Crane Schmuck, Deborah Crane Barrows, and Darlene Crane Sylvia.

Thing 47 Evaluation

I'm delighted that I took time to finish the More Things on a Stick before moving next Tuesday. It has been a delightful experience of learning tools that will benefit me in my new position as Reference Librarian in a much larger school. As I shared with a friend just minutes ago, we are just a plane ride away from our beloved Minnesota and our many friends and family who we are leaving behind. I'm glad we have ways of keeping in contact virtually. Have a fabulous summer and we'll be back during Christmas vacation.

Thing 46 WJMN

I've had my membership for a while. I tried to change my email from the pillsbury.edu email that will disappear mid-August, but at some point, I must have another identity in WJ with my Charter email. The course availability is welcome for growth in librarianship.

Thing 45 Cloud Computing

I've used Cloud Computing when working on the yearbook. All work for the yearbook was created from any computer, but saved on servers elsewhere. It was fantastic. The students were able to work from home or anywhere. The big issue is trusting the company to protect your information. I set up a G.ho.st account and will load items to access anywhere. Since I'm a Macintosh user, I'll watch my files carefully.

Thing 44 The economy

I appreciated Frugal Dad and already do many of his suggestions. I've registered for the Frugal Dad forum and look forward to many more hints. Since our school closed at the end of December and we without 2 salaries, we had personal experience at cutting back and living frugally. Our children are moving into our house to maintain it, so we don't have to sell in this sad economy. We will be back at Christmas to visit grandchildren and children!

Thing 43 Online TV and Video

I created a Hulu account and was amazed at the ease and speed of viewing a movie via the web. The letterbox viewing is fab! I like the fact that one can go in and view an episode that one has missed; what a nice benefit. A drawback would be the addictive nature of continually having a video or TV available! Sometimes I just like to listen to the dialogue, and can do that while doing other things. I set up a queue for viewing House episodes.

Hulu allows connection to other sites, and I shared a hippo video on my FB that shows that hippos like their space!!