OK, I admit it. I have a problem with stuff. You might say I am a stuff collector. Some people collect penguins, trains, dolls, or even key chains, but not me. I just collect all kinds of stuff . . . like books, clothes, toys, sheets, towels, mugs, and my latest collection includes computer stuff. It must have begun when I was quite young, but my first recollection is when I was in high school. When all my friends simply carried home their notebook and a text book or two, I carried home every book in my locker. It didn't matter if I needed all the books, I just felt compelled to have them all close at hand.

It happened. I knew it was too good to be true. When I wrote my first post (in fact my first five posts) the words almost flew from the keyboard to my computer screen. Then my son read my weblog and even gave me a compliment. His actual words were "They'll let anyone have blogs these days, won't they? :-P Actually, though, you seem to be quite a natural at it. It's kind of scary. You know, though, that you could be doing that on your site using the same software Lissa and I use. Then your blog would be at jimandsharon.com. Let me know if you want me to set it up..." Since he is my computer mentor, of course I took him up on the offer.

Warning! This is written for people who didn't grow up with computers, those like me who may even be a little intimidated by . . . technology. My son is a computer whiz. I bought him his first computer when he was six years old and he hasn't looked back since. He is now twenty-six, has a degree in computer science and works as a software engineer. I, on the other hand, am almost fifty-five years old and computers still scare me at times. Whenever I have a computer question or problem I just call my son and he somehow talks me through it. He does not always do this happily, however. He may even admit he isn't familiar with a particular application and say he can't help me at all.

A few years ago my husband and I bought a new house. It's small and simple and we love every square foot of it. One of the things I like best about our house is to sit at the dining room table and watch the birds visiting the feeder in our back yard. When we first moved in I kept The Book Of North American Birds and a pair of binoculars close at hand so I could document the different birds I spotted. I saw sparrows, red-winged blackbirds and cowbirds but my favorites included cardinals, goldfinches, and blue jays. I even spotted an occasional indigo bunting and a family of ducks visited one year.

My daughter-in-law sent me an e-mail today saying she had the flu. She is a fifth grade teacher and the flu has been going around her school. Her symptoms include a headache and vomiting. Since this is flu season I decided to read up on its' symptoms, treatment and prevention. I visited the Kids Health website and spent some time exploring. I found a section on the "stomach flu" or gastroenteritus and much, much more. I am adding this site to my favorite links section under the category of Resources. Take some time to explore this site. I would highly recommend it as a resource for teachers, parents, and kids.

The first grade children I work with are learning about the v-c-e pattern in words. Teachers describe this pattern in a variety of ways: "final e", "silent e", "bossy e", "lazy e", or they may say "final e gives all the power to the other vowel in the word". Whatever you call it, this vowel pattern can cause confusion for some beginning readers. After weeks of instruction, playing word games, and reading and writing words with the v-c-e pattern some of my first graders continue to show confusion. One of the best websites I have found that allows children to practice and use this skill in an entertaining and engaging way is http://www.starfall.com/.

We had a snow day today. It was an unexpected gift. It provided the perfect opportunity to stay in my pajamas until noon, read a good book, and catch up on some internet exploring. I had been wanting to check into the possibility of creating an educational blog that could be linked to my webpage. The perfect opportunity presented itself when I heard Alan November speak recently. He mentioned a link on his webpage to sign up for a weblog. Also available was a How To Guide. I visited his site and promptly signed up for a weblog, downloaded the guide, and began reading. In no time at all I was hooked.