Cool Weather/Allergy Trouble/School Reopens

HURRICANES AND WEATHER
Cold front is moving across the U.S., ending the milder weather. There is some rain across the southeast and the eastern seaboard in advance of the front. Coldest places today will be the northern plains and Great Lakes states and it will be the same on Sunday. Highs over northern Minnesota and North Dakota will be in the negative single digits. On Sunday, there will be some snow from the Great Lakes to as far south as Kansas City. There will also be showers (lower elevations) and snow (higher elevations) from the Rockies through the Intermountain Region and to the west coast as far north as Oregon.

Houston will be chilly all weekend. Highs on Sunday will be in the upper 50s after morning lows in the upper 30s. Monday will be milder. Although there could be some breaks with sun, most of the weekend will be on the cloudy side.

SPANISH WORD OF THE DAY
Let's do cloudy or nublado, pronounced new-blah-DOUGH. It will be nublado in Houston for most of the weekend.

We are continuing to move forward with our DVD, Let's Learn Spanish with Frank & Paco, top educational product according to awards from Dr. Toy and Homeschool.com. We just ordered another 1000 copies of Volume 1. So, never fear, there is plenty of stock. Tell your friends and family about this fun, innovative teaching video fro youngster. Order it today rom our web site www.frankandpaco.com/. You can also order from http://www.venturaes.com/, http://www.dololanguages.com/, http://www.carlexonline.com,www.thecuriousmindstore.com/, http://www.amazon.com/, http://www.bestbuy.com/, and http://www.barnesandnoble.com/. If you are more interested in a full immersion type product, go to http://www.frankypaco.com/.

AND MORE
I have so much to tell you today.

First of all, have you been sneezing your head off? The culprit might me a tree pollen--Ash Juniper (and I think it is Ash Juniper Mountain Cedar). According to the City of Houston Health Department measurements at their gauge in the medical center area, tree pollen is high and the majority is Ash Juniper. I know I have been sneezing like crazy--Ah ha! You can get the levels anytime you want by calling their hotline for a recorded message -- 713-247-5846. Please note they do not update on weekends or when there is rain.

Christa McAuliffe school reopened this month!!! As you may recall, this school had a lot of damage from Ike and was shut down for the first half of the year...there will be a big celebration later this month. Thank you Leslie Williams for letting me know and here is a link to her article in the Chronicle, http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/nb/fortbend/news/6222499.html.

It's that time of year--getting books in order. I am still on a learning curve with Quickbooks and I have determined that I need to be more vigilant. I resolve to do better in 2009!!! It is taking me a long time to get everything in order. I just want to say sorry in advance (to Chuck, my CPA). You are going to need an extra dose of patience and don't laugh at me too much this time!

I got to speak to about 70 preschoolers at St. Laurence Weekday Children's Program yesterday. This is where Sarah went for 4 years and they were just awesome with her. Anyway, as I have mentioned before I have been teaching 1st grade CCE and how challenging that has been for me given that they are just starting to read. Well, it is even harder to keep the attention of preschoolers (especially 70 of them)! Yikes!!! I took along puppets Frank and Paco and they were a big hit!!! I tried to make my voice as deep as the originals (done by my husband Gordy and good friend Raul Feliciano Sanchez). The kids didn't seem to mind. The photo at right is from Stacey Slaughter--one of Sarah's teachers. Nisha Mathur, also one of Sarah's teachers, had invited me. Nisha is an award winning teacher who is always challenging her bridge class students.

If you know of anyone who would like a weather talk with Frank and Paco, the puppets, assisting, just let me know at 713-823-4401.

By the way, congratulations to Stacey Slaughter for completing the Houston Marathon!!! She used the event to raise money for a very special cause. Stacey has a huge heart and is always looking for ways to help others.

I am getting so excited about the Groundhog Day Gala which will be held at the Houston Zoo the evening of Monday, February 2nd. I will be there along with some famous local individuals--I'll have more in coming blogs. http://wxresearch.org/gala/

Now that is not all going on...there also be free festivities at The Weather Museum earlier that day. Here is the official invite!


Come celebrate Groundhog Day at The Nation’s First Weather Museum!

Houston – Meteorologists from The John C. Freeman Weather Museum at Weather Research Center are asking Pacha the Sloth and BK the Owl from the Downtown Aquarium to help in making a forecast on when winter might end.

WHERE: The Weather Museum
5104 Caroline St. in the Houston Museum District

WHEN: Groundhog Day – Monday February 2nd
10:00am – Pacha the Sloth looks for her shadow
10:15am – BK the Owl looks for her shadow
10:30am – Museum Meteorologists issue their forecasts

WHY: Discover the myths of Groundhog Day. Just how often is the
groundhog right? Get some answers on why the groundhog
looks for his shadow while enjoying fun activities at the Nation’s
first Weather Museum!

COST: Free Family Fun All Day at The Weather Museum

If the animals see their shadow then there will be six more weeks of winter, and if they do not see their shadow, then spring should be just around the corner.

Museum
Info: The nation’s first weather museum opened in the Houston Museum District
in April 2006. The museum is open Monday through Saturday 10am to 4pm.
Learning about weather safety is a key element to the John C. Freeman
Weather Museum. The museum provides a fun and stimulating facility for
people of all ages to learn about the weather, its history and public safety.

Contact: (713) 529-3076 or www.weathermuseum.org


Finally, I want you to know that our goldfish, ICarly and Sam are doing very well. But, I have been having trouble keeping that tank healthy (clear). After doing some more research, I found out that you should only have one goldfish per 3 gallons. Well guess what, our aquarium is only 3 gallons. So, we are double loading it with 2 goldfish. Yikes! Will keep conditioning the water, changing filters and doing water changes.

Happy Weekend everyone!
Cecilia Sinclair
Wonder Weather Woman