Maria's Mélange

My pals online - the ones I fondly call my "Nerderati" - are at it again. A snowballing movement began this weekend. Several friends started to make goals for themselves and tweeted them out to get others to hold them accountable. Check out an invitation post from Katherine at Read, Write, and Reflect . It's happened before. I tried to hold myself accountable for exercise when the #RunTeacherRun tag got big. It helped for a while. I'm not great at being consistent, though, and my elliptical time fell by the wayside. This latest influx has its own hashtag - #Nerdlution. The idea is simple. Set some goals for yourself and create the best streak you can from December 2nd to January 20th. Habits that may stick around long enough to make us better teachers, happier parents, calmer family members, or just healthier people. I'm going to keep mine simple. Three little "Hs". 1) Home Each day, I pledge to do something to make my home a cleaner, neater, ...

Can you imagine meeting an alien species for the first time? This scenario fueled my fiction writing from the time I was in elementary school. What about a device in your home that will keep you from ever having to cook again? Sign me up! There are so many things in science fiction I'd love to see, that I even wrote a whole post about it . Others have written their own posts and tweets and status updates about the things they hope we can someday accomplish. One that almost invariably pops up on this lists is teleportation. It sounds great, doesn't it? Being able to instantaneously step from one place to another would certainly make life easier. No more TSA lines. No more drawn-out goodbyes to friends you can only see once a year. No more toll roads or gas stations or midnight drives to Disney. Universe Today had an article in January:  "Don’t Tell Bones: Are We One Step Closer to “Beaming Up?” which goes into a lot of the science and math behind it, and...

One more great guest post from my friend Karen at Teen Librarian Toolbox! Because I have now spent 20 years of my life doing Reader's Advisory, when I read a book I have a tendency at the end to then think to myself, "Now who would like this book?"  And I have some go to pop culture references in part because they are the things that I love.  So of course one of them is Doctor Who.  I am a fan, in case you didn't notice.  I mean, it might have escaped your attention. I keep it well hidden.  Previously, I shared with you 10 YA books that I thought fans of Doctor who might like .  So here are 10 more.  Human.4 by Mike A. Lancaster

The Best of Series Seven - according to Maria and Sherry, at least! As part of my Doctor Who Week extravaganza, I invited my friend Sherry to chat with me about our favorite episodes from each year since Doctor Who restarted in 2005. My thoughts will be in regular text and Sherry’s in italics. Enjoy! Visit our Series One post , where we discuss our favorite Eccleston episodes. Series Two post , where we fangirl about Tennant. Series Three post,  where we mourn Rose and chat a bit about Martha Series Four post,  where we show The Doctor Donna some love. Series Five post , where we begin to fall in love with Smith       ( speak for yourself...I’m not in love...it’s just “like” :)  (Hehehe) Series Six post, where we celebrate a Gaiman episode Series Seven - and we’re all caught up. (Well, except for the hundreds of hours of classic Who. I’m slowly working my way through those, too!) It’s time for me to begin discovering classic Who episod...

This post is part of TWO marvelous blogging events!  Sci-Fi Month is brought to you by Rinn Reads. Check out the  full schedule  of Sci-Fi Month posts! There are reviews, discussions, give aways, and more! Doctor Who Week is a joint venture between my blog and Teen Librarian Toolbox . We have a full week of fun posts to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Doctor Who.  Today I bring you a guest post from one of my all time favorite people - my nine year old son! He's just the tiniest bit obsessed with Doctor Who at the moment. He asks to watch episodes during almost all of his free time. He dressed as Tennant for Halloween. Ten is "his Doctor". Favorite 10 DW quotes Publicity image from BBC Note not in favorite order Everyone thinks they can run with the Doctor forever, eventually everyone can't keep up. -River Song You Think You're A Doctor, Well Stitch This Mate! -Jackie Tyler Thats the second time a mother hit me. -The Doctor We...

The Best of Series Six - according to Maria and Sherry, at least! As part of my Doctor Who Week extravaganza, I invited my friend Sherry to chat with me about our favorite episodes from each year since Doctor Who restarted in 2005. My thoughts will be in regular text and Sherry’s in italics. Enjoy! Visit our Series One post , where we discuss our favorite Eccleston episodes. Series Two post , where we fangirl about Tennant. Series Three post,  where we mourn Rose and chat a bit about Martha Series Four post,  where we show The Doctor Donna some love. Series Five post , where we begin to fall in love with Smith       ( speak for yourself...I’m not in love...it’s just “like” :) (Hehehe) We were almost “out of luck” as we tried to get this post ready. Sherry lost power in a big storm, and we were having trouble figuring out how we’d get our thoughts together! Thankfully, the Doctor must have swung by her neighborhood to get the power rolling ...

Another lovely guest post from Karen of Teen Librarian Toolbox to celebrate Doctor Who Week! WARNING: There are serious spoilers in this post regarding the story of Amelia Pond and Rory Williams. DO NOT READ THIS POST IF YOU HAVE NOT YET WATCHED THEIR FULL STORY ARC.   I like to pretend that I am not at all romantic, but the truth is - I am in love with the idea of true love.  Soul mates.  Which is why I am in love with the story of Amelia Pond and Rory Williams. Their story does not have the most romantic beginning - but it has the most tragically beautiful end.  An end that speaks volumes about sacrifice and yearning.  It is, after all, called marriage. Source: Fanpop

This post is part of TWO marvelous blogging events!  Sci-Fi Month is brought to you by Rinn Reads. Check out the  full schedule  of Sci-Fi Month posts! There are reviews, discussions, give aways, and more! Doctor Who Week is a joint venture between my blog and  Teen Librarian Toolbox . We have a full week of fun posts to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Doctor Who.  Today I bring you another guest post from one of my all time favorite people - my nine year old son! We were discussing an article I had seen recently on Buzzfeed, where someone ranked all of the Doctor's Companions . Of course, this lead to our our conversation about HIS favorites. I was greatly amused by his list and his reasons for each ranking. Companions List: 1) Rose - I have seen her the most so far. 2) Donna - She yells at the world constantly and it is funny. 3) Clara - She is mysterious (at this point he’s only seen her in two episodes) 4) Amy & Rory - I like them, ...

This post is part of TWO marvelous blogging events!  Sci-Fi Month is brought to you by Rinn Reads. Check out the  full schedule  of Sci-Fi Month posts! There are reviews, discussions, give aways, and more! Doctor Who Week is a joint venture between my blog and  Teen Librarian Toolbox . We have a full week of fun posts to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Doctor Who. Over the summer, I ask my sons to do some writing. They aren't huge fans of the task, so I allow them to use technology and high interest materials to keep them motivated. This summer, they decided they would create a Prezi about Doctor Who. We're still working a bit on how to cite sources...

This post is part of TWO marvelous blogging events!  Sci-Fi Month is brought to you by Rinn Reads. Check out the  full schedule  of Sci-Fi Month posts! There are reviews, discussions, giveaways, and more! Doctor Who Week is a joint venture between my blog and  Teen Librarian Toolbox . We have a full week of fun posts to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Doctor Who. This is a guest post from Karen's Tween! In my house, Doctor Who is a family affair.  We don't go a night without my Tween asking, "Can we watch Doctor Who tonight?" I can never think of a reason to say no, so we do.  So I thought we would get a Tween perspective.  Here is my Tween, nicknamed Kicky, writing about her favorite Doctor Who things in her own words. My favorite Doctor Who moments are: Favorite Doctor -10 because of his white converse and his favorite phrase "Allons-y" Favorite Companion –Rose Tyler and Mickey because they are so cari...

This guest post comes to the Melange from one of the Teen Librarian Toolbox team - Christie! I'm so excited to host other perspectives here. If you are curious about MY favorite companions (and my 9 year old son's firm opinions) stop back tomorrow! When people ask me who my favorite companion is for Doctor Who, I always have to qualify my answer because I liked them all differently. I liked Rose because she helped 9 learn to love again, and 10 find his heart. I liked Martha because she was brilliant, and ended up leading squadrons of UNIT and walked the Earth to save it. I liked Donna because she stood up to the Doctor and never backed down. I liked Amy and Rory because even though they fought and bickered, and it seemed like she was in love with the Doctor, she was always in love with Rory, and they were each other's everything. I like Clara because she seems to have infinite possibilities, and I'm looking forwa...

The Best of Series Five - according to Maria and Sherry, at least!  As part of my Doctor Who Week extravaganza, I invited my friend Sherry to chat with me about our favorite episodes from each year since Doctor Who restarted in 2005. My thoughts will be in regular text and Sherry’s in italics. Enjoy! Visit our Series One post , where we discuss our favorite Eccleston episodes. Series Two post , where we fangirl about Tennant. Series Three post, where we mourn Rose and chat a bit about Martha Series Four post, where we show The Doctor Donna some love. Each season brings new twists, new turns, new companions, and odd sartorial choices. I found it took me longer to get used to Matt Smith’s Doctor, but I came to enjoy his goofy energy. I even dressed up as the Eleventh Doctor this Halloween. Sherry - I think I tend to like Matt Smith in that crazy little brother type of way. Yes, he’s goofy and unpredictable, but he’s also adorable and funny. You just want to ruffle...

This favorite quotes list comes to us from Christie of Teen Librarian Toolbox. What a fun idea! This post is part of TWO marvelous blogging events!  Sci-Fi Month is brought to you by Rinn Reads. Check out the  full schedule  of Sci-Fi Month posts! There are reviews, discussions, give aways, and more! Doctor Who Week is a joint venture between my blog and  Teen Librarian Toolbox . We have a full week of fun posts to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Doctor Who. And now, for my Top Ten favorite Doctor Who quotes, tumblr style. 10.     9.    8.   7.    6.   5. 4.    3.    2.      1.

Welcome back for more of our amazing Doctor Who Week!  This is a guest post from my partner in crime... Karen of Teen Librarian Toolbox.  Here's the deal.  I only pretend I am crafty for library programming.  But a month before Halloween we were standing there in the thrift store - always a great place to get cheap crafting supplies - and there was the perfect Tardis blue t-shirt.  So I figured there had to be a way I could make it into a Halloween costume for my Doctor Who obsessed Tween.   The problem is: I don't sew. And then someone told me that there was this stuff you could use to iron things on.  I initially bought this fuseable material, but then a miracle happened and I learned there was spray stuff.  You literally cut your material out, spray this fusable adhesive on it, and then iron it.  It's magic in a can.  Even I can do this.  So I did. Supplies: Blue Tshirt/Dress White and Black Cotton...