This year we got our Easter Eggs from Nukie Nuclear Power Plant!

I was welcomed home to North Carolina by the IRS, garden weeds, birthdays and an Easter Egg Hunt to plan. Hello Spring!  I hit the ground hopping.

Fortunately, the Apex Chamber of Commerce was en route to the bakery where I had ordered party foods and birthday cake.  I picked up my copy of the Apex Magazine.  I am so appreciative to my hometown Apex Chamber of Commerce for featuring my story in this year’s edition of the Magazine. 

When I see this photo, what I remember is that I had a bald spot on the top of my head at the time (which, fortunately, is not visible due to the angle of the camera). I had been diagnosed with stress related alopecia.  A lot has happened since that photo… for one thing my hair grew back!

My Dimple Dumpling & his dad.

This March, the Dimple Dumpling, mentioned on the dedication page of my children’s book about nuclear power, turned 20 years old.  He still has the dimples, but my son Jordan is no longer a dumpling.  On Easter, my daughter Tabitha, who along with her brother inspired Tickles Tabitha's Cancer-tankerous Mommy  turned 22 years old. I am now the mother of two adult children.  I don’t feel near as old as their birthdays make me.


Even the neighbor kids have grown up on me.  I was stunned to discover two of my Cancer Dancers will be heading to high school next year!

For those grown up kids, and as a tribute to my book about nuclear power, this year we got our Easter Eggs from Nukie Nuclear Power Plant and put on a glow-in-the-dark Easter Egg Hunt.  It was the brilliant and bright idea of my daughter, who recruited her brother and her boyfriend, and even some unsuspecting adults, to help stuff 600 plus eggs with glow in the dark items.  

Nuclear Easter Eggs.

The results were awesome!  Wish we had more photos, but what took hours to plan took the kids a few minutes to find. 

Taxes, Easter and birthdays are now sweet memories. My media moments are archived on audio and print, and behind the scenes I am getting ready to head to Alabama for my next author school visit.


This time last year, my daughter, Tabitha, and I were loading mousetraps with orange Ping-Pong balls and filming the video explaining what makes a nuclear plant nuclear. 

Tabitha & our neighbor Deven Robtoy.

My neighbor called to ask where we crouched when the tornado that devastated parts of our region of North Carolina swept through.  She and her children had been in the bathroom.  Tabitha and I had been happily preoccupied and clueless about the weather. I think of that day every time I play the video to a school group.

I never imagined then all the schools I would visit and the laughter that video would provide to so many elementary students or the behind the scenes story I would tell them about it.

Pinning the tail on the bunny.

While on the road during my last school visit I was interviewed, along with athlete Brian Jordan and educator Mindy Keller, by Neil Haley, host of the Total Education Network. Neil airs an educational talk show seven days a week that focuses on local and national education news.  Neil has been in education for years, but a children’s book about nuclear power?  That got his attention.  You can check out my interview here:

Listen to internet radio with Total Tutor on Blog Talk Radio


         

Charleston Chew the Easter Pug.