JR’s List Item #27 – (June/July report) Read at least one book a month until my 60th birthday.

June reading selection:

For my June selection I read Carol Burnett's new book, This Time Together:  Laughter and Reflection.  I loved it.  The book is written as if Carol Burnett is sitting in the room having a conversation with the reader; answering questions and sharing memories.  She talks about the events and the people who have impacted her career and her life. I loved the nostalgia.

Burnett, Carol,  This Time Together:  Laughter and Reflection.  New York:  Harmony Books, 2010.  ISBN 978-0-307-46118-6 

July reading selection:

My July reading selection is actually a reread, a book I read when it was first published in 1998.  I read this book again because I wanted to use Marilyn Burn's message as the foundation for my store blog post, "It's Time for Math Phobia to Leave the Building."  This book was published twelve years ago, yet the message is as relevant today as it was then.  For me, this is both sad and disturbing; twelve years later and opinions about mathematics has not changed.

Burns, Marilyn, Math: Facing an American Phobia. Sausalito, California: Math Solutions Publications, 1998. ISBN 0-941355-19-5

JR’s List Item #50 – (done) Write at least four new postings for BCLT Blog.

I just completed my fourth blog for my storeblog, Positive (Thoughts + Words + Actions) = Positive Life: 

• Children (Do Indeed) Learn What They Live
• What Messages Are We Sending Our Students?
• It's Time for Math Phobia to Leave the Building
• Excuse Me, But Do You Speak Mathematics?

When I started this blog, I wanted to promote my posters at BRAIN CUES Learning Tools, but I also wanted to share what I thought was useful information especially for educators.  In my mind, I am not a particularly good writer, but I do think the messages have been good ones.  The blog has been a nice way of providing a back story for the messages of the posters and research as to why they are beneficial.  I have also had to continue my professional reading which is certainly an added benefit for me.

CEA's update #20

Item #2. Learn how to send photos via e-mail, maybe as Joan does with Smilebox.
Done!  I've created two albums using http://www.smilebox.com/, and doing so was super easy and super fun!  I used the free program, but I'm considering becoming a paying member so that I can print my creations.

CEA's update #19

Item #53. Observe Sunday as a day of rest. Update my planner.
I do try to observe Sunday as a day of rest, but I've decided to remove it from my 60 by 60 list as it doesn't fit my newly imposed criteria of concrete actions.  I've been avoiding updating my planner because my last purchase of filler pages didn't work well for me.  I bought a financial planning-themed set of filler pages and found myself avoiding using my planner!  Next time I decide to focus on finances, I'll keep that separate from my planner.  My planner is very important to me in my role as steward for my mother.  I use it to keep track of our appointments, of course, as well as a repository for my checklists, housekeeping and gardening plans, shopping lists, things-to-buy-in-the-city, etc.  I ordered a colorful set of filler pages from Franklin Covey, which I will supplement with some of my own fold-out forms.