Snowbound, Blind Date, & Reading Raindow

So we got a bit of snow over the weekend. One report said that 50cms fell on Sunday. Cars were abandoned on the highway, people lost power, at one point the plows were pulled off the roads because the winds were too strong.

Through it all I was safe and snug in my house. I am very thankful the power didn't go out. It did effect my plans, nothing big, silly little things like forgetting to go grocery shopping before hand, so all the meals lacked juice and were not what I had planned. I also forgot my sketch book at the church so no drawing. And I've misplaced my tablet-keyboard so needed I had to wait till I was at the church to blog, which was sad because I had things to share like my Valentine's plans and a cool parcel that arrived. Now they are now smushed into this post when they could have stood alone.

 

I can't complain. It was nice being snowbound. I read books, slept in, lounged in PJ pants, and didn't leave my house till Monday afternoon. When I do go out to shove I discovered my wonderful neighbor had already cleared my stairs for me. At least I think it was her; it is the type of thing she would do. She's great!

Blind Date
February has one of my favourite days of the whole year.

February 15th - "Half Price Chocolate Day" 

Thank you, Valentine's Day! 

In seriousness, I find February 14th a strange day. I've had different feelings about it almost every year. I've been joyful, fake joyful, depressed, cynical (and discovered I do cynical better than I'd like to admit), bitter, and content. I've celebrated different ways from "Singles Awareness Day" or binge watched chick flicks to buying kid Valentines and share them with friends or hiding from everything and ignoring all romantic love.

This year I forgot about the 14th till I was visiting the library and saw this sign. They had seven or so books wrapped with only a word or two to describe the "blind date." I decided to sign out "gently magical" with the intent on reading it on Saturday.

Only on Saturday plans changed. First I overslept, was not feeling super. Then I read but a different book. But the best part of my day was going out that evening. Jamie was in the musical 9 to 5 playing the "sexist, egotistical, lying, hypocritical bigot" boss and asked me to go (and not to slap him after the show). He's one of my best friends - so I went. I even got all dressed up not caring that I wasn't going out on a date. I felt good and content. It was a great night.

My good friend Donna had a gaggle of girls (actually were all women but I like the sound of gaggle of girls) going and let me join them. We thoroughly enjoyed the play. Jamie, who is not a jerk, did an excellent job playing a jerk and had me wanting to slap him but I controlled myself. After the show Donna and I enjoyed a few appetizers nearby. I love deep fried pickles. They are my new favourite food.

So it wasn't till later that I discovered what my blind date book was, The End of the Alphabet. I am just finishing up another book but I should start it later this week.

Reading Rainbow

I loved Reading Rainbow as a child. It was my favourite after school show. I struggled to learn read. My parent were my best allies, I wouldn't be where I am today without them. They instilled me a love for stories and reading. Reading Rainbow that helped them help me want to like books. So, this summer when I learned that Reading Rainbow had a huge Kickstarter campaign I knew I wanted to support it.

Kickstarter is one of many crowd-funding sites. If you have a project and need help you create a page/campaign. It includes what you want to do, your target financial goal, what supporters get for helping, and a deadline. Some projects also include stretch goals so that supporters get extra goodies for each new goal met. If you meet or surpass your funding goal when the campaign ends you earn the money and then deliver the promises to your supporters. If the project fails not nothing happens.

 

I was just one of 105,875 supporters that helped Reading Rainbow's surpass their million dollar goal earning $5,408,916. The project is to expand the Reading Rainbow app allowing children to access their resources, interactive field trips, and extensive library on more platforms (computers, tables, mobile devices, etc) and to provide free access to classrooms.

My supporter gifts arrived just before the storm. I love my new shirt. It makes me smile. And that was my weekend, I was snowed in, had a blind date with a book, and all because I use to watch Reading Rainbow (and my parents didn't give up on my).

Oh, I hear we are getting more snow on Thursday :)