Storytime!

We had our monthly departmental meeting on Wednesday and we all shared some of our favorite storytime books. I thought I was copping out a little bit by bringing what I brought: these books are all so good! I'm not going to be introducing anyone to anything! But they are also my favorites, and I wanted to bring my favorites, so I brought these ... and all my coworkers were amazed. Where had I found such great books? This made me realize - I should stick all these books up on my blog. If these books were new to most of my coworkers (who live and breathe storytime books), then I need to share them far and wide.

Another thought is that I have very sweet coworkers. They tend to read and chose quiet, sweet books. I tend to be exuberant and bouncy. I would say that there are 3 others of the 11 in my department who tend to go for the loud crazy books, and the rest go for calmer, sweeter books. All of these books make me want to run and jump while reading them aloud.

Please note that I do not have any of these books in front of me, so all quotes are from memory. In fact, in general, I rarely have the book I'm blogging about in front of me - so ignore any factual issues! I just talk ...

Grumpy Bird by Jeremy Tankard

Grumpy Bird is my absolute go to favorite. I remember once when the K-9 officer suddenly had to go catch some bad guys and was 45 minutes late to the program he was putting on at the library. I grabbed my favorite books and sang songs and the kids didn't even care that the dog wasn't there when I pulled out this book. THAT is how brilliant it is.

When bird wakes up he's grumpy. He's too grumpy to eat, he's too grumpy to play, he's EVEN too grumpy to fly. Looks like he's walking today. As he walks, animals keep flocking to him, telling him how much fun walking seems, and joining in. By the time his entourage has 5 other animals in it, he starts having fun! Hoaky, I know, but combine Tankard's bright, bold pictures with his laugh out loud words and you have a hit on your hands. Check this out, use it at every chance you get, and then be happy.


New Socks by Bob Shea

After discovering the brilliance that is Bob Shea's Dinosaur vs Bedtime, I had to see what else this brilliant man had done. New Socks was the first one I found. I love this little bird. He's got NEW SOCKS! And he's going to go down the slide IN HIS NEW SOCKS! And he's going to do other things IN HIS NEW SOCKS! YAY! Did you SEE his NEW SOCKS? Are they not the MOST AWESOME THING IN THE ENTIRE WORLD?

This little bird reminds me of me. Yes, I just spent my last post trying to convince you that I am a crazy, neurotic lady and I stand by that statement ... but I am a happy, crazy, neurotic lady. I am a contradiction in terms. I get unreasonably excited about little tiny things: new socks, the awesome used kid's clothing store over on Aurora, discovering a great new website, good food. It's easy to make me happy and my happiness tends to bubble over into excited giggles and unnecessary song. My poor coworkers have to listen to me tell them in great detail about the great reference question I just got on chat reference or the new word the Kins is saying. I completely understand the need to write an entire book about NEW SOCKS! Especially when they are awesome Neon Orange socks.


>Big Plans by Bob Shea

I have never used this in a storytime, and I am not sure when I will get the chance. This is one of the most amazingly fun stories to read aloud, but it's a bit long for the ages we get at storytimes at my library. I think I might have to start bringing it to every single all ages storytime I do just in case I have one that skews old and I can read it! As it is, I've read it to my almost 2 year old (for those non storytime people reading this: you can get away with much more when you read one on one to your own child then when you read in large groups to other people's children. The Kins is happy to sit on my lap and try and repeat words that I say. Other people's children? Not so much.) and she went to bed tonight saying "BIIIIII PLAS! BI BI PLAS!"

So the little boy in this book has been sent to sit in the corner and he starts letting everyone know that he has BIG PLANS! BIG PLANS, I SAY! His plans involve
becoming mayor "You! Dig a hole. You! Build a school! You! Paint the town red!" I especially love after he becomes president what he tells the states "State that the Librarian has forgotten! Build a rocket! Idaho! Build me a spacesuit using your latest potato technology! Missouri! Cheer up, you're bumming me out. The rest of you? Mill about. MILL ABOUT, I say!"

(hehe - it's especially funny because my sister used to live in Missouri)

Oh, I love this book. I just want to stand in front of a large group of kidlets and shout at them that I've got BIG PLANS! BIG PLANS, I SAY! And hopefully inspire them to dream MASSIVE!


Sometimes I like to Curl Up in a Ball by Vicki Churchill

This poor book is going last and I need to go to bed so it isn't going to get as exuberant a discussion, but that is almost appropriate. It is the quietest of my selections, for when I need something less bouncy. Little wombat explains what he loves - "sometimes I like to scream ever so loud - not that I'm cross, I just like how it sounds." The art is beautiful, the text loveable, the wombat looks cuddlier than anything.

So ... now it's time for me to curl up in a ball (or not, as the MASSIVE STOMACH allows). Two posts in one day! But what will y'all think of me if I post one post right after the other? Oh, this trying to keep personal posts and library posts seperate is going to be the death of me if I can't keep my neurosis in check. AH! Brilliant idea! You who read through to the bottom will know that I finished this post at 11:58 on 2/12/09, but I'm going to tell blogger to stick it on up there tomorrow morning so I can fool maybe y'all into thinking that I'm not some pathetic person who spent all night after her daughter went to bed lazing about on the couch typing about nothing. BRILLIANT, yes? Ah, but I ruin it by telling you what I'm doing, don't I. OH WELL! Enjoy my neurosis. I'm learning to.

In which the librarian is neurotic

I have been becoming increasingly aware of how neurotic I am. I am completely ridiculous about it too. Now that I have a wonderful new job with wonderful coworkers and am away from a crazy destructive coworker who liked to very randomly insult everything from my clothes and looks to my lifestyle and storytime techniques, I am realizing more and more how little my belief that everyone secretly hates me and everything I do is wrong is rooted in reality. OY WITH THE CONVOLUTED SENTENCES, YO! To sum that sentence up in smaller more manageable bits: I tend to think badly of myself. I tend to think everyone secretly finds me supremely annoying. I used to work with a woman who fed those beliefs on a daily basis. NOW I work with wonderful, amazing, sweet people who are crazy supportive of me and crazy sweet and beyond amazing ... and I am realizing that I am neurotic.

SO instead of going to a therapist which I really don't have time to do, so that the therapist can say "wow, you're neurotic! Get over it!", I have started saying to myself "wow, that was such a neurotic thing to think! Get over it!" But wouldn't it be much more therapeutic for one such as myself who really finds writing and sharing WAY TO MUCH WITH THE WORLD to be cathartic if I told y'all about my crazies and y'all could say "wow, Qsie the librarian pirate is NEUROTIC! She should get over it!" I thought so too.

I had a moment recently that convinced me I was the worst mother in the history of bad mothers. Note that this was not because I was actually doing something that made me a bad mother, but because I AM CRAZY!!!

A few weeks ago, The Kins woke up screaming around midnight. My husband and I were staying up watching Bones way later than we should have - but sometimes it happens, ya know? So anyway, I go running into her room and grab her up and she's had a cold for a few days and now she's burning up. I'd been noticing for a bit how warm it had gotten in the house that night (our thermostat is a hair unreliable) and she was wearing a blanket sleeper, so I took off the hot, sweaty, fleece pajamas and she immediately fell asleep on top of her daddy (Isn't she beautiful? Isn't he handsome? Ignoring the fact that she was really sick when she took this picture, I love it). The next morning she still felt a little warm to me, but nothing like the night before and I have a very low normal so I'm really bad at judging whether or not she's warm. We have a thermometer that will take her temperature orally, rectally (with special plastic sleeves on, of course), or under her arm. She totally isn't up for under her tongue, I totally don't want to try rectally, so armpit it is. She squirms and yells, but it tells me she's a healthy 98.4. I stop worrying and bring her to daycare ...

Two hours later I get the call from her daycare saying "your daughter has a fever of 102.6. Come get her, please." Of course I do and knowing that a fever combined with as much coughing as she has been doing could mean strep or it could be an ear infection so I bring her to the doctor's office where they diagnose her with a double ear infection and a throat infection that isn't strep.

At Meyers picking up her antibiotics, I buy a new thermometer because under the arm is unreliable and I need a thermometer that can do ear or forehead or something better! The only ear thermometer there is Meyers brand, but I don't want to drag the sickie off to another store so I go for it, bring it home, and take her temperature. 93 degrees and a smiley face. First off, if she was really 93, she would NOT be this hot. ALSO, if she was really 93 degrees - that is NOT a good thing and I should be worried! I take my temperature - 91 degrees and a smiley face. My husband and I spend days trying to get this thing to work, lose the receipt, and are now stuck with an ear thermometer that tends to choose a number between 90 and 94 whenever you use it and goes with that. You can take your temperature twice in succession and get 90.3 and then 93.5. It's insane, but it is also the Kins's new favorite toy. She calls it "EARS!" and will try and take my temperature for hours on end, completely happy. Somehow she gets what this is for, but she wears her toy stethoscope as a belt. Whatever - I won't judge what she likes if she won't judge what I like.

Why does all of this make me neurotic, you may ask? What bit of this story has convinced me that I am a terrible mother? The fact that I cannot get a thermometer to properly take my daughter's temperature. In all thruthfulness, before the thermometer I was using at the start of this story, I'd had two OTHER thermometers that were just as bad as Kinsie's beloved EARS! I spent a whole weekend convinced that I am a failure as a mother and that EARS isn't defective, I just obviously shouldn't be allowed to parent because I can't figure out how to use at thermometer.

"Wow. Qsie, you're crazy. Get over it. The thermometer was defective."

Thanks! I really do feel so much better now that I've told you all that incredibly pointless story. Thank you for being my therapist!

As you can probably imagine, I read a ton - and it's mostly children's books. I also have a yen for YA (Young Adult for all y'all non-hip-with-the-lingo people!) and once in a blue moon I allow myself to read something adult. Then I feel all snooty and pretentious and have to wander around talking about the Lacanian imagery in and the Foucaulian bent to whatever book I'm reading. It's really obnoxious - steer clear of me at those times.

ANYWAY - here are some quick and dirty book rambles about a few books I've read recently.

The Magic Thief by Sarah Prineas

The Magic Thief was on Anderson's Bookshop's Mock Newbery list for 2009 and I was working my way through that list ... starting with the fantasy first because I'm obnoxiously predictable like that, and because I was also trying to read all the Rebecca Caudill books as well as all the local school district's Battle of the Books (BOB) books ... so I didn't really get very far in any of them. This year I started the 2010 Rebecca Caudill list the day it came out, and I plan on being just as speedy when they announce the new BOB books in May. So anyway - I was pointed toward this book by the mock Newbery list, and I am eternally grateful to whoever at Anderson's picks their Mock Newberies!

Conn is a pickpocket who knows he is supposed to be a magician. When he picks the pocket of Nevery and steals his locus magicalus, by all rights he should drop dead on the spot but for some reason he doesn't and that piques Nevery's curiosity so the two pair up. Someone is stealing the city of Wellmet's magic and Nevery is out to figure out who.

This book was so utterly brilliant. When Conn is narrating out on the streets by himself he falls into this language that reminds me almost of Cockney rhyming slang (says the yank who knows very little about Cockney rhyming slang) but without the actual Cockney rhyming slang bits. I'm probably explaining this all wonky, but as a few examples from when Conn and Nevery first met: Conn "caught a glimpse of his keen-gleam eyes" (p. 5), the wizard "loom-doomed up before me" (p. 8), and then with a "quick-dart for the door and back out into the steep, rain-dark streets" (p. 10) he's away. See - it's not really at all like Cockney rhyming slang (which involves replacing a word with a word that it doesn't actually rhyme with but that works with a word that rhymes. Yes?), but it reminded me of it and that's what I'm sayin'!

I also loved the discussions of magic. Lots of fantasy books just blip right over this - magic just is. That's how the world works and why would it be any different? Conn, being a smart inquisitive student of magic does the obvious thing and asks Nevery what magic is and where it comes from and how it works. Nevery, being a pretentious, brilliant magician of course tries to explain it and just angers Conn because Conn is convinced that Nevery is wrong.

For more traditional reviews, check out The Well Read Child, Ms. Tingling, or The Purple Cow.

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

This book was recommended to me by absolutely EVERYONE IN THE WHOLE ENTIRE WORLD! And I am NOT EXAGGERATING AT ALL! By which I mean I am completely exaggerating, but lots of people did tell me to read this. It is very popular, had a massive hold list, and was YA, though, so I kept putting it off ... but then it was on the hold shelf waiting for me and I had just finished off whatever I was reading when it came in (probably Dealing with Dragons) so I actually read it. I am SO glad I did!

The Hunger Games is one of the best post-apocalyptic fiction novels I have ever read. It's right up there with Uglies by Scott Westerfeld.

A couple hundred years ago things started to go wrong with the world. Famine, flood, earthquake, etc. The usual. On North America, from the ashes rose the rich and prosperous Capitol surrounded by 13 poor Colonies. Eventually the colonies rebelled against the Capitol and were severely trounced. To prove their superiority, the Capitol destroyed Colony #13, and the rest of the colonies must each year send two tributes of a teenage boy and a teenage girl who will compete against the other 22 tributes in THE HUNGER GAMES! The Hunger Games are a The Most Dangerous Game-esque type of reality show where whichever tribute survives the longest wins. They will live a life of ease until they die and for the next year their colony will be showered with riches like sugar and butter and flour. ANYWAY - Katnis is a hunter from the one of the poorest colonies who provides for her mother and her 12 year old sister Primrose. When Prim's name is called in the lottery, she volunteers to take her place and joins The Hunger Games.

(someday I will learn to write a concise summary. There will be rejoicing in the streets and free cupcakes for all. This will be a beautiful day.)

The characters in this novel were amazing. Katnis is the main character, so of course I was rooting for her, but the other tribute from her colony was the son of the baker and I want nothing but good for him. Then there was the youngest tribute who was this sweet girl who was so scared and so shy and so wonderful! Then there are the tributes who have spent their lives training for the games and who are just so cocky and so cruel and so scary.

Just read it - seriously - and if you don't believe me, read Abby (the) Librarian (LOVE her), Fuse #8, or The Book Nut.

There are more books I need to talk about, but I'm going to take a break and come back with more books later.

Lobster-Plath part 2

Just after posting the entry from this morning I realized I am not making shrimp tonight, I am roasting a chicken. Ah well - the best laid plans, eh? But I did just send out an email to far too many people. I'm really not one of those people who sends out mass emails! I swear! This was just me saying something and I realized that I wanted a lot of people to read it! SO after sending it, I thought ... "but really, don't I want EVERYONE to read this?" so here you go: my mass Happy Lobster-Plath email to the world.

I'm sorry for the mass email, but if you are reading this it is probably because I figured you would love this as much as I am!

Today is Lobster-Plath, the anniversary of the day Sylvia Plath died AND the day the largest lobster ever was caught. I assume you're supposed to celebrate such a day by reading Sylvia Plath and eating lobster. I'm making roast chicken tonight and I today is much too boisterous for most of the Sylvia Plath that I know so I ended up perusing Billy Collins' Poetry 180 page which contains no Sylvia Plath - I guess I fail at this holiday, but I did discover a wonderful poem I had never read before. It is #7 on Mr. Collins' list and it is called "Do You Have Any Advice For Those of Us Just Starting Out?" by Ron Koertge.

I hope you all enjoy! And Happy Lobster-Plath!

(in the email I stuck the poem in here, but for my blog I'm just going to demand that y'all go on over to Poetry 180 and read the poem where the people who have permission to stick it up have stuck it up.

Lobster-Plath

A very happy Lobster-Plath to you all! I plan on celebrating by reading some Sylvia Plath and perhaps making some sort of shrimp related dish tonight. I know, I know - it's LOBSTER Plath not SHRIMP plath, but if you look at the spirit of the holiday, it's really CRUSTACEAN-Plath and that's why I'm going for shrimp. That and because the husband and I are watching our way through the first season of Chuck and I just watched the episode where they spend forever talking about how wonderful the Sizzling Shrimp is. Now I want sizzling shrimp and I don't even know what it is exactly!

In other news, I was reading through some old blog entries and I came across this terrible horrible no good very bad cake that I told y'all I was about to make. Don't. Seriously - don't. The cider glaze, however, was lovely (I futzed with the spices because I don't actually own "pumpkin pie spice" and it seemed silly to buy it just for the cake, but that only made it better) and now that I've been reminded of it I think I'm going to make some gingerbread and put that lovely glaze on it. OM NOM NOM!

The Kins is learning a new word every day. It's crazy and wonderful and sometimes very very confusing. She has a favorite bunny who I named Marinara after she decided it needed to be dipped in Marinara often. She has just started to say "bunny" though, so her name has been stripped from her. Bunny, though, came quite out of the blue when she started looking around the living room while yelling "money! Money! MONEY!" It took me FAR TOO LONG to figure out what she was searching for. She's not quite putting words together into sentences yet, but she is putting exclamations together into lots of exclamations. Monday she had a bit of diarrhea. Each diaper was worse than the last! Tuesday morning when I changed her diaper she looked up and me and said "Oh goodness! Oh yucky! Oh eeeeeewwww." It was exactly what her father and I had said to her for each of her diapers the day before. Poor baby - I hope I'm not giving her a complex!

That said, YUCKY and EEEEWWW are two of her favorite words. I brought Mo Willem's newest Naked Mole Rat Gets Dressed home from work the other day and read it to Kaylee. Wilbur is a Naked Mole Rat who likes wearing clothes. His fellow Mole Rats say to him "EEEWWWWWWW" and "YUCK!" Kaylee LOVED it when I read that part to her, and then she took the book from me, sat in her own corner, turned the pages on her own, and pointed to everything saying "eeeew! Yucky!"

(Side Note Mini Review: Naked Mole Rat Gets Dressed is fantastic. It is Mo Willems, though, so I have to tell you that it is probably one of my least favorite of his books. That said it is one of my least favorite books by one of my favorite authors. It is really really good ... but if you're going for Mo Willems go for Leonardo or any of the Gerald and Piggie books.)

I don't think I've told the blog yet that I'm pregnant! How has that happened? Hi! I'm pregnant and I'm telling you waaaaaay down here. Yes, it is important to me, I just went through this (seemingly) looooong stage of not telling anybody about it and then told everybody all in a rush and now it seems like everybody knows. Do YOU know, intarwebs? Do ya? Good. Well anyway, I was about to talk about being pregnant and realized I should probably officially tell my blog that I am pregnant. Now it's done and I can get on with the whole moaning and whining and demanding foot rubs and ice cream, yes?

So this pregnancy has been so totally and completely different from pregnancy #1. Everyone said that probably meant I am having a boy this time, but then the ultrasound came in and voila - labia! My poor husband is going to be SO overrun with estrogen! This is going to be fun! YAY FOR TOO MANY EXCLAMATION POINTS! But seriously, ya'll! With the Kins I had morning sickness for 9 months. With this baby I threw up when I got a stomach virus and that other time when Brandon and Kaylee threw up all over the car and I sent them away so I could clean it up without the sickies being around (and it was just a ton of puke. Seriously - you woulda joined in just a hair too). Other symptoms that passed me by with the Kins I've been getting full force this time. Heartburn? check. Constant burping? check. A need to stick my hands on my lower back and WADDLE? CHECK!

It seems like everyone in my house has had the death defying crud for far too long (seriously - I got it at work and coworkers had it for 6-8 WEEKS. I think it's about as bad for all of us), so while I promised my siblings that I would be better about taking pictures this year ... it's hard to take pictures when everyone just wants to crawl in a hole and sleep until our sinuses clear, but I have taken SOME ... I just haven't uploaded them. I just pulled 3 of the most recent out to prove to the world that a) My daughter is still the cutest thing EVER and b) I am using my beautiful new camera for good, not evil.

This was when Kaylee had a horrible fever and she made herself a little nest on the couch then demanded I come cuddle with her. Of course I did, but first I had to take a picture.

Kaylee loves to empty out this one cupboard next to the oven and make herself a fort in it.

She loves it so darn much I don't mind moving all the pots and pans back into the cupboard when she's done - nor do I mind cooking around a kitchen floor full of random junk ... but I AM working on teaching her to put it away when she's done. She'll get there!

How I Live Now

Book Blogging

I have been reading and reading, y'all - as is my normal raison d'etre. A few I wanted to mention:

Dealing with Dragons
Growing up, one of my favorite books was Dealing with Dragons by Patricia Wrede. I'd mostly forgotten about it, though, until the other day wandering through my library when I came upon it, promptly grabbed it up and brought it home (after telling everyone in the Children's department about the fabulousness of this book). I devoured that book and ZOMG it is just as wonderful as I remembered.

Princess Cimorene is completely bored with all the stupid bits of being a princess (embroidery lessons, curtseying lessons, poise lessons) so she always runs off and forces random members of the household staff to teach her interesting things until her parents find out and make her stop (which is why she's only moderately good at fencing - and they git her away from the cook when she'd pretty much only mastered Cherries Jubilee). When her parents engage her to this utterly boring prince, she runs away and becomes a dragon's princess. Contrary to popular opinion, dragons don't eat princesses, they keep them as very useful servants and Cimorene thinks this sounds just lovely so she organizes Kazul's library (I think this may have been where my desire to be a librarian started), makes Cherries Jubilee, and in general has a grand ole time with the dragons. There's more - there's much more, but really I'd suggest reading it. It's awesome.

SO ANYWAY - I was in the living room playing with the Kins when the husband walked in with a confused look on his face and he asked "why are you reading Dealing with Dragons?"

"Because," I replied, "it is the BEST BOOK EVER! It was my favorite when I was knee high to a grasshopper and just remembered about it and had to reread it right away."

"But it was MY Favorite book growing up."

I KNEW I loved this man for a reason!

The Graveyard Book
Y'all probably already know that I am absolutely in love with Neil Gaiman. That man makes my heart go pitter pat! I was slow, however, on reading his newest The Graveyard Book because he had done the audio version himself and he's an amazing storyteller and I was waiting patiently for my turn at the library copy because audiobooks are super expensive I was being cheap ...

I'm buying the audio version now. It's that good. I need to own a copy of that man reading that book for the rest of my life. That's just how it works.

I don't think I can properly tell y'all about this book. Sometimes when a book is very much loved by me, I have problems explaining it to other people because I have trouble sifting out the important from the unimportant. When I stop and think about it logically, I know you don't need me to spend forever telling you how great the first sentence was and how the hand was in the DARKNESS and it held a KNIFE and do you understand how beautiful a way it was to open this story like that and don't let that wondrous first line make you shy away from this book, afraid it might be a dark dark book because yes the story begins with three murders but ZOMG Then you get to the graveyard and in that graveyard Bod finds LIFE and he LIVES and he GROWS and he BECOMES and then I pass out because I haven't taken a breath or ended a sentence in FAR TOO LONG. So I'm not going to tell you about The Graveyard Book but fortunately you don't need me to because this happened! I'm sure you can find another review somewhere else. (:

It was funny - at my library there are two people who I work with and adore who just really don't like Neil Gaiman and had really disliked this book. There were two of us who had loved The Graveyard Book and were quite passionate about it. Most everyone else was still waiting their turn for a copy. (OY the hold list this book had on it!) I was watching ALA Twitter the awards as they came in (because the American Library Association is all about 2.0) and the twitter feed F-ING BROKE RIGHT BEFORE THE CALDECOTT AWARD WAS ANNOUNCED!!! So I was running around trying to figure out where I could see who had won the two awards that most people care about (because while more people SHOULD care about things like the Coretta Scott King awards and the Siebert Awards etc, the Newbery and the Caldecott are what people ask about) when suddenly this came through my twitter feed which was quickly followed by this. Yes, he may be an over-rated foul mouthed yahoo", but I love him.

There were a ton more books I was going to post about tonight, but for now this is all you get. Sleep is required. I'm still getting over a cold.

Also - I'm sorry. I know this post is probably riddled with typos and whatnot. I read it through once to try and figure out where the typos are and discovered that I'm way too sleepy to do that sort of thing. If spell check hasn't found it, it'll just have to wait!

Librarian Pirate

I have spent a lot of time lately trying to figure out what I want from this blog. I've had it for awhile, mostly putzing around, sending updates out to the world, knowing they're basically just going to friends and family - because that was who I started it for and who else would care?

Sometimes when people find out I have a blog they say "oh! Another librarian blog? You must to great book reviews!" Well ... no. That's something I could never do, really. I have this book problem ... I love them almost too much. I have this way of completely ignoring a book's faults and loving it for what it is. This works well when someone asks me for recommendations in a genre I don't normally read, because the books there that I have read I have probably liked and can book talk enthusiastically without reservations. This is a problem when someone asks me to think critically about a book. I don't always notice the poor writing or the bad characterization until later reflection. No matter how badly the characters are written I will find myself caring about them and hoping for the best!

I HAVE, however, decided to try to write more about the books that I am reading and loving. I just need to forewarn you that my book discussions will be more book talks and less book reviews. I'm not one to say, "this is a really good book aside from the atrocious dialogue" - I'm more one to say "oh mah goodness you haven't read this book yet? Well here's why you should read it!" Take my declarations of love with a very large grain of salt, in other words.

I also got a GORGEOUS camera for Christmas and promised the siblings that with it would come tons of new pictures of the Kins. Last night I was changing the sheets on the bed and Kaylee climbed into the laundry basket. "ROW ROW!" she demanded.
"I'm sorry, Kinsie. I'll play row row with you as soon as I am done changing these sheets."
So while Kaylee was waiting patiently for me to be ready to come over and tip the basket back and forth while singing Row Row Row your Boat she arranged in the basket with her two babies, a teddy bear, a dog, and two quilts. That's the sort of thing I should memorialize here because those are the moments I never want to forget.



I've started crocheting again. I'll probably bore everybody with my exciting tales of works in progress and things I've made (and if I ever get around to opening an Etsy shop you will be hearing about that too, I promise). I want to start writing again because I can tell it isn't as easy as it used to be back when I wrote every day. I never keep new years resolutions which is why I saved this post for a few weeks into the year. This isn't a new years resolution. This is a hope for the future of my blog. (: That I will actually fill it up with pictures and thoughts and ideas and books.

Here goes ...

Sick Days

My daughter has always been an amazing sleeper. She was sleeping through the night at something obscene like 6 weeks. She takes one nap a day and it usually lasts three hours. The main problem is that she hates actually GOING to bed and will cry and cry for a good 10 minutes, breaking my heart the whole time. (They all told me I would GET USED TO THIS. They lied) Her tears usually start whenever I say something about bed or sleeping or night which can cause problems when it's the middle of the day and I read her a book that involved people going to bed. She will look at me with fearful yes saying "No! No? NO! NOOOOOO!" No matter how many times I tell her that "no, now is not time for bed. Now is time for Mr. Hippo to be in bed. Little Kinsies get to run around like wild babies for much longer!" she still stares at my suspiciously for awhile before going back to playing.

So last night threw me off. She started her usual not wanting to go to bed as I was getting her in her pajamas and she was getting all the usual kisses from daddy and I. As I carried her to her bedroom she was squirming and sobbing "walk? walk? walk? walk?" So I put her down as we entered her bedroom and turned off the light. She ran to her bed, lifted her arms and said, "up?" As soon as I picked her up she snuggled into my neck and went limp - as though she was already asleep from such a long hard day of being waited on hand and foot. There were no complaints as I lay her in her crib and snuggled her in with her doggie and her "banKET!" Then I went out to my husband and asked who that was and what had he done with my daughter.



It was not to last, though. Two hours later she started coughing violently and screaming at the top of her lungs so I ran into the room only to discover that my perfectly healthy daughter had developed some form of fast-attacking crud that had left her nostrils so plugged with goop that she couldn't breathe. I can imagine that for one so ickle it's hard to suddenly wake up and not be able to breathe! I went into full on overreacting mode - considering that this is just a cold. I turned on the shower as hot as it would go and we snuggled into the bathroom until the steam had made everything stick to us. I rubbed her down with Vicks Babyrub, brought her back to her room, and snuggled her into her bed while I filled her humidifier and got that all turned on. As I put that in I realized that the Kins had never slept with a pillow so she had no way of propping her head up. I have always resisted the thought of giving her one because she's the type who is regularly found flopping her way out of her crib,



but somehow she stayed propped up and all night and was still on the pillows every time I went in to check on her. The same goes for the nap she's taking right now. On the pillow. Who would have guessed that she'd adapt so easily to this?

Quick and dirty - but SO COOL!

We have this great book. Numbers. That's all it is. 1 with a picture of one black hen. 2 with a picture of 2 lady bugs on 2 leaves of grass, each with 2 spots, etc.

Kaylee brought it to me just now. As I turned to the first page she said, "Whaaaaaaan." As I turned to the second page she said, "TOOOOOO." I turned to the third page and "Whaaaaaan!" Page four "TOOOOO!"

I'm giddy right now. We read the book 5 times. I'm gonna go see if she's up for #6.

Thanksgiving!

Mommy, wow! I'm a big kid, now.

This was my first SUCCESSFUL solo Thanksgiving. It is also my first REAL solo Thanksgiving. Every other Thanksgiving since getting married, wonderful family has taken us in. This thanksgiving the wonderful relatives offered, but we declined because of various work related crazies.

ALSO - every other year I've made us Thanksgiving anyway, but I've never gotten it exactly right. I'm kick ass with the Turkey, but oftentimes it doesn't get done when I want it and other things aren't timed right and we end up eating the meal in shift .. and don't even get me started on my gravy. I LOVE gravy, and I can never get it right. EVER!

This year - The turkey? Amazing. The mashed potatoes? UBER lumpy (because I moved a MONTH AND A HALF AGO, y'all! I should have found my potato masher already!) but also yummy. The green beans? Meh - but none of us have that as a favorite part. My husband's favorite (rather disgusting) pistachio pudding that I made from memory because I wanted to surprise him? An absolute hit! (But seriously? Two packages of pistachio pudding mix - mix with a can of crushed pineapples [with the juice]. Stir in halved marachino cherries, nuts, and a thing of cool whip. Voila! Pistachio Pudding. I forgot the mini marshmallows. Next year there will be mini marshmallows.) I feel all grown up and spiffy.

WARNING! MOMMY BLOGGING SAPPINESS (OR LUDICROUSNESS) STARTS HERE

The Kins has been a riot today. At one point I opened up the oven to smell my turkey but because of the COLD FROM HELL I couldn't smell it. So I said what any sensible pwerson would say, "I can't smell my turkey! This sucks!" And the Kins started marching around the kitchen saying, "sucks! sucks! sucks! sucks!" Yes, I know. I am the worst mother EVER. It gets worse. All of my siblings have decended upon NYC for Thanksgiving so I called them and told them this story. The Kins overheard and started gleefully saying "sucks! sucks! sucks!" The siblings also told me that they are celebrating with Turkey on Saturday because one sibling is stuck at work today ... so the Kins and I called her and said "Doctor lady, the Kins and I think it sucks that you are stuck at work on Thanksgiving and we just wanted to tell you that. Isn't that right, Kins?" And then I handed the phone to my sweet, innocent 19 month old so she could giggle and shout, "SUCKS! SUCKS! HIIIII! SUCKS!" to my sister.

Yes, I am exploiting my daughter's ability to say a semi naughty word for my own personal amusement. Am I going to the special hell?

THINGS MY DAUGHTER CAN SAY PROPERLY (And she knows what they mean)

1) Kitty Kat

2) Hereyago (yes, one word - but it's uber cute!)

3) Up! (This one started today! Adorable.)

THINGS MY DAUGHTER CAN SAY PROPERLY (and she gets very wrong)

1) Apple! (I think this means "food" to her)

2) Mama! (I think this means "drink" or "more" ... I'm not sure which. It certainly doesn't mean me!)

3) Hereyago! (yes, this is in both columns. She says it when she is giving something ... she also says it when she wants something.)

Also, don't tell my diva in the kitchen sister, but the pumpkin cake with cider glaze that I am about to go make? It is not exactly an Epicurious recipe ... but I've been assured that it is beyond amazing. And I'm always up for trying something new!

Combine Harvester!

The Kins and I are cleaning the kitchen and watching Maisy. This is our first time watching Maisy. Neither of us were really paying attention, but it seemed perfect for her age group. "What is that, Maisy? A ball! Yes! Lets throw the ball!" or "What color are you painting the roof? Green? What a great color!" And then suddenly we hear "What is that, Maisy? A combine harvester? What fun!"

Yes ... as my 12,000 reference questions on this topic will attest - toddlers LOVE big machines, so I totally get it. I just have to laugh. "Can you say 'ball,' Kins? Ball! Ball! Very good! Ok. Now try COMBINE HARVESTER!" Ah, it is to laugh (as my old teacher would say).

In other news, my mother brought me new clothes yesterday, and one thing she brought me was a velour lounge suit. I have declared today "lounge around in comfort" day! The Kins can't stop petting me. She's wandering around in her footie pajamas, which are BEYOND adorable. Seriously - I want to devour her! She's so cute!

Mostly just wanted to post that I am alive and kickin, and hope to someday post more!

Really really here! I promise!

So much to tell!!!

We are going through some major changes in our lives. I just got my dream job. GO ME! I start next Monday and I am beyond excited about it. I will still be a children's librarian, I will be doing dozens of storytimes all the time ... I will actually get to do things I really care about. My husband just got a new job really near mine that he starts around the first-ish. We realized how hard that would be with just the one car so we are also probably moving to be closer to both of our jobs. So ... yeah. A ton of changes and they're all happening right now. EEEP!

Maybe this is only funny to me ... The Kins and I were emptying the dishwasher today and I was telling her about her grandmother (tomorrow is grandparents day after all!) and I recited to her my mother's favorite nursery rhyme:
Hey diddle diddle the cat and the fiddle, the cow jumped over the moon. The little dog laughed to see such sport and the dish ran away with the spoon.
Kinsie looked up at me, then grabbed all the spoons from the dishwasher and ran away. I think I may have to change her nickname from Kins to Dish.

I made a very Colorado dinner tonight. I went to the farmer's market this morning (I really hope there is one near our new home!) and got peaches, corn, and tomatoes. The corn was served with my famous (well, famous to me) chive garlic butter, the peaches were cut up and sprinkled with raw sugar (because they aren't as sweet as Colorado peaches), and the tomatoes were paired with mozzerella, basil, oregano, and balsamic vinegar. It was one of those insanely healthy dishes that the junk food lover in me didn't want to love but that just really made me happy.

PS - Mom - if dad wants to use the picture from the post below on his website I would encourage it. I'm pretty sure it was taken by your phone and it's one of my favorite pictures.

PPS - don't you LOVE personal messages in blog posts?

In which the blogger appologizes profusely and promises not to do it again but no one believes her.

(side note: I love those long rambly chapter headings or story titles like that. Didn't Billy Collins write a poem about that*? I could look, but poetry is all the way on the OTHER SIDE OF THE LIBRARY and I'm on my break and will look it up later.)

So it's been awhile, hasn't it? I'm sorry! I'm trying to turn over a new leaf and actually update here ... we'll see how I do.

So ... my last post was 2 days before this:

THE KINS! Isn't she beautiful?

Fast forward a couple of months and this happened:

Seriously - don't you just want to snuggle up with them and LOVE LOVE LOVE? My dad and my daughter = adorableness I wish I could bottle.

Fast forward a few more months to two days ago and we get:

Anybody who is on my facebook already knows this, but the Kins loves putting things on her head. And her Aunt and almost Uncle sent her a chef's hat and apron (apron not pictured) and she was SO HAPPY! And then she was banging on pots while I was making dinner wearing them both so we made up a song (Does anyone out there in library land know the song baby shark? 'Cause the song has the same tune.) that goes like this:

Baby Chef (do do do do do)
Baby Chef (do do do do)
Baby Chef (do do do do do do do do do do do do do doooot)

Toddler chef ...
Kidlet chef ...
Teenage chef ...
Mama chef ...

then I had to tell her that mama doesn't necessarilly follow teenage, I just put that in there so I could be a chef too. 'Cause I'm egotistical. (: And I'm slightly neurotic about not forcing her into traditional gender roles.

Who am I kidding? I'm slightly neurotic about most things.

So that's what I've been up to for the past ... 15 months or so. What about you all?

*He did. It was called "Reading an Anthology of Chinese Poems of the Sung Dynasty, I Pause To Admire the Length and Clarity of Their Titles." Now we all have to pause and note that the side note I started my post with has a foot note attached. And some people say I'm not neurotic.

I'm not slow

So my husband got home while I was on the phone with my sister, and he got on his cell phone almost immediately.

While I had been on the phone with my sister, his best friend had called our land line (ah the modern age of one 2 person family having 3 phone numbers ... ), and had left a message. I went up to him to let him know.

Brandon (into the phone): If you were indeed a mighty raisin, no box could contain you.
Me (half whispering): Thomas called.
Brandon (pointed to the phone to indicate that was, in fact, who he was on the phone with)
Me (turned to leave, pause, registered what he was saying just as I came upon him, and absolutely lost it. We're talking almost floor rolling hysterics [if I was more capable of floor rolling, that is])

No, I'm not slow.

Oh my goodness!!!

My husband is one of the biggest Barenaked Ladies fans there is, so when we saw that they were coming to Chicago again we were ecstatic - then we realized ... on June 18 Turnip Head will be a month and a half old. So no BNL for us.

Today my favorite DJ was giving away tickets to the BNL concert, and on a complete lark I sent a text ... and I won! How awesome is that? So now I have tickets to the concert, but I'll have a one and a half month old that I'm not sure I'll want to leave with a babysitter ...

I'm sure we'll work something out, and if we don't it's not like we had to pay for the tickets ... but for the day I'm going to be excited about the concert and I'll worry about logistics tomorrow.

crazy day - Happy Easter!

This afternoon Brandon and I were rearranging bits of the house when he said, "I had the strangest dream last night. I dreamt that when you were getting up this morning you accidentally poured a jug of water in my ear."

I replied, "it wasn't a jug of water, it was a glass."

He gave me a strange look, "you poured a glass of water in my ear this morning?"

"No. I poured a glass of water all over my face last night." By now I was laughing to hard to continue, so we had to wait for him to find out the whole story. See, last night was particularly bad in the whole "Brandon getting home late from work" thing. There was a party at his restaurant until after closing and then cleaning up after a party takes more time then just regular cleaning up ... and long story short he is climbing into bed after 4:30 in the morning. About an hour later, I was thirsty so I reached to the nightstand and grabbed my glass of water. I held it on my chest as I thought for a second about the best way for me to sit my pregnant self up. THEN I accidentally fell back asleep ... with the glass of water still on my chest. You can guess how I woke up.

So I screamed when I woke up, because a glass of water had just fallen on my face. Brandon (safe and dry way over on his side of the bed) woke up as well and asked me what happened. I said, "I just threw water on my face. Go back to bed." I got up to get a towel and he said, "no you didn't!" Then he moved his head and said, "oh." While I was getting a towel, he rearranged himself so that he was all the way over on MY side of the bed sleeping right on top of the newly created wet spot. I tried to move him but he hadn't been completely awake before and was already far too asleep to notice my efforts.

Somehow his dream state turned that from "my crazy wife threw water on herself and then I had to sleep on wetness" to "my crazy wife poured a jug of water in my ear this morning." Either way, I can't stop giggling when I think of his innocent tale of his dream last night and my dastardly revelation of the truth (The bed was dry by then - I could have denied it all and he'd never know! Curse my commitment to truth, justice, and the American way!).

And with that I bid you a happy easter and a fantastic ... all is ours day.

update: I typed that on the laptop with it in the traditional position on top of my lap. I then sat up a bit to rearrange myself on the couch and my massive pregnant belly started clicking things on the page I was on because I have one of those touchpad mice on this thing.

Made me giggle!

warm gooshy thoughts

About a week ago at work, I walked across the street for lunch to the grocery store because I had a hankering for macaroni and cheese and I know they have a really tasty frozen mac and cheese there. I know, I know - I'm so gourmet. Anyway, they also had there huge bars of chocolate - huge bars of "Regal European Chocolate" on sale for only a dollar! How could any self respecting pregnant lady resist?

Anyway, I went back to work, ate my mac and cheese and opened the chocolate. It was perhaps the worst chocolate I have ever tasted. This really is saying something because I am definitely not a chocolate snob. I love me a Hershey bar - I eat Safeway brand peanut butter cups by the bag full ... so while I do love the rich, extra dark, uber gourmet chocolate, I am not especially picky. This chocolate was just ... really bad.

So anyway, Brandon and my best friend Mia was visiting, and I heard the story of what happened from her. I sent Brandon a text telling him that I had just had some of the worst chocolate ever, and that I was going to bring it home so the two of them could back me up on how bad it is (For the record - Mia agreed with me, I don't think Brandon ever tried it). Brandon paused the video game he and Mia were playing and told her that they had to take a break because they needed to get me something.

So I come home to a bag of My very favoritest chocolate ever (see - I told you I wasn't a chocolate snob!)!, all because my husband loves me! The best part about this chocolate is that you can only get it around Easter, so I don't get over exposed to it and it's always special.

Most of the bag ended up in the freezer, and today - after a half day of throwing up (Thursday) and two days of eating bland blandness (because I still felt really queasy up through dinner last night), I decided to treat myself to one of the eggs. And now I have warm gooshy "I love my sweet sweet husband" thoughts running through my head.

And with that I go to sleep (because as much as I love him, I'm not waiting up for him tonight. It's Saturday night - he's a waiter - he'll be home 'round 3ish - if I'm lucky).

(randomly - while trying to find a link to those great butterfinger eggs, I discovered this. Now I want to try that too! Looks fantastic!)

good morning

My dreams rarely have any bearing on reality and since becoming pregnant that tenuous grasp has completely broken. My dreams no longer have any bearing on the reality that they themselves create. I had a dream awhile ago - the craziest so far - that I had determined not to share here - probably out of embarrassment. I told my sister about it when she came up last week and she immediately told me I should blog that. Whether it's because she wanted to get me back into blogging or because the dream is really as hysterical as I think (and not as embarrassing as I think), here you go!

The dream begins with me in high school, doing high schooly things. I have a huge crush on a guy in the marching band so I ask him out on a date. His response is that instead of going out, how about we get engaged? For some reason, this seems like a brilliant idea to me. Suddenly the dream shifts and I am myself currently. I'm not pregnant, but I am decidedly married to Brandon and very much out of high school. The fiancee has morphed from generic guy in a high school marching band into my female second cousin - B.

This is a conundrum. I do not want to marry my cousin for many reasons. Chief among them is the fact that I am already married to a man I am desperately in love with. Let's not forget the fact that I am not into marrying cousins and the fact that I'm straight.

Everybody's reaction to B. and my engagement is very strange. Brandon is not upset at all - he just wants me to fix it. My family has no problem with my impending bigamy, incest, or discomfort, they just want me to be happy. For my part, I'm just trying to find a way to get out of the engagement without hurting B. The main problem lies in the fact that I love B. because she's my cousin, and I don't want this failed relationship to break our family apart.

Unfortunately I woke up before I could solve the problem because now I'm interested to see how it would have turned out.

...

After all that typing about and thinking about Lacan earlier, I find it harder and harder to return to my paper on disaster preparedness for libraries. Back in college my friends and I used to frequent this adorable tea room in Burlington, VT and we'd act all beatnik and discuss things like Foucault and Lacan and Derrida and pretend we were all sophisticated (or sometimes we'd play zombies [Dead Zombie!] or Chez Geek [justifiable homicide!] and know that we aren't sophisticated at all). I had a friend write a 50 page paper on the Lacanian imagery in the Lord of the Rings movies. That was fun. It's hard to go from thinking about super heady stuff to writing a paper on exactly why a library should have a plan in place for when disaster strikes. How weird is that? The work that has tons of practical applications vs the theoretical work that has little to no bearing on my world right now and which am I interested in? The one that is least helpful to my world right now.

...

We forgot to reset our TV clock for Daylight Savings time, so I haven't seen Lost yet. It will be up at ABC.com tonight, but I'm impatient! I want to know why Lock is in a wheelchair now! But don't tell me if you know ... I'll watch it after class ...

Strange and Wonderful

Do you ever read something so strange and wonderful that you have to share it with the world? I have huge papers to write so of course I am going through back posts of some of my favorite bloggers. I just read Mimi Smartypants revelation:

As I got off the train later some guy was handing out menus for some new Mexican restaurant. I took one because I love reading menus. Then it was like angels were singing and the heavens opened up and the Hand of God came down and started rubbing me in all my happiest private parts, because I realized that the entire Mexican restaurant menu, in order, could be sung to the tune of "Don't Stop Believing" by Journey! NO, SERIOUSLY. IT IS QUITE EERIE. It is like that Emily Dickinson/Gilligan's Island/Yellow Rose of Texas thing. For instance, take that "streetlight people, living just to find emotion" line and substitute "chicken flautas, beef and cheese chimichanga" and you will have just a tiny taste of the magic that I found.

I had to go find Don't Stop Believing on YouTube so I could get a proper idea of what she was saying, and it was brilliant! I now have Mexican food songs stuck in my head ... which reminds me: my husband made Mole (or is it molé?) a few days ago and I could be eating it right now (That boy makes the best mole ... ), so I am going to go take a break while I get myself some.

...

I have recently realized that laconic means (basically) terse. I had always assumed that people were referring to something as being reminiscent of Jacques Lacan's philosophies. I remember spending ages in multiple classes (both Critical Theory and Compromising Positions) in college discussing Lacanian Imagery, and I assumed that laconic was just people misspelling his name and misinterpreting his theory (because it isn't often that you can refer to something as both terse and as having a complex relationship between gender-related imagery and vocalization(1)). I realized my mistake just now when I was researching disaster preparedness plans for libraries and somehow got to reading a page where the raven from Poe's "The Raven" was described as laconic. Obviously the raven has not been silenced, and as I recall it is heavily implied that the raven is male (although I remember nothing specific and I definitely remember no phallic objects connecting themselves to "him"), but the word seeemed even more out of context than usual ... and it was being used by an author I tend to respect, so I looked it up and Voila! Instant vocabulary lesson. How had I missed this one?

1) Yes, I know that is the worst ever explanation of Lacanian Imagery ever. You try explaining it in half a sentence! The basics: phallic imagery, vaginal imagery, woman being silenced (and vaginal imagery implying that someone cannot speak for themselves), etc.

...

I have a doctor's appointment to go to. Have a fantastic day! And look: somewhat regular updates and LABELS! I'm workin' it!

Super Bowl Sunday!

With me being in Chicago, the Super Bowl is HUGE this year. I was just checking out TVGuide.com to see what time the official game starts, and I discovered something interesting on Animal Planet. To quote The TV Guide listings for Puppy Bowl III, "Puppies cavort in a play area that looks like a football stadium in the third annual event that offers an alternative to the Super Bowl. Included: a halftime show featuring kittens."

Part of me is terrified, and part of me wishes I had a blank tape so I could record this for future use. What exactly that future use is, I am unsure ... but it would be decidedly fantastic.

So a ton has happened since I last updated. Our computer is officially running Windows Vista now! We had been using the Beta version for awhile, but now we've upgraded to the full thing. I'm having fun exploring, but the husband really knows his stuff and could tell you about all the wonderful fantastic things Vista can do!

Speaking of which - I had texted him about the fantasticness of Puppy Bowl, and he told me where to find the CD that will reinstall the software that lets us record TV straight onto the computer! YAY! Puppy Bowl III - you will be mine! I'm going to go do that, and then later write a whole new entry all about the rest of my life. There's big news! Hint: I'm a librarian!!!!!

Advice Requested

I am in the middle of a bit of a job flux. I graduate in May with my MLS, which is super exciting (YAY!), and I am already keeping an eye out for library related jobs. I am applying for a storytelling internship at the library down the street (literally six blocks away. How wonderful would that be? And I'd be STORYTELLING!) which would be only 10 hours a week but otherwise perfect: working with youth, getting to know people at the library I would ideally want to work with when I graduate, and best of all - it ends just before my due date so I can easily take time off to have a baby!

I just got an email from one of my professors. A library way out in the suburbs is hiring a youth librarian, and they are willing to look at people who are almost done with their MLS (that's ME!). I'm definately going to apply because what is the harm in applying? There are a couple of cons for this job, the main one being that map quest says it's 45 minutes away - but I used to have a class way out their and with the construction on the Dan Ryan it's more like an hour and a half ... PLUS I'm having a baby in May. How great is it to say, "wow, this job is wonderful! Thank you! I'm gonna need a couple of weeks off in about four months. Is that ok?" Pros for the job? It's in youth services, it's part time (I was planning on taking a few months off after giving birth, but a part time job that works with my schedule would be fantastic as well), and it's in a pretty nice suburb.

Ok, so I guess I don't really need advice - I'm going to apply for it either way. I'm doubting I'll get it because it's the type of job that everyone at my school will probably apply for ... but a girl can hope, yes?

I hate writing cover letters. As soon as I am done here I am going to the library and getting a few books on writing cover letters. They always seem so awkward and formal and contrived to me, no matter what I write. Anyone out there really fantastic at cover letters who wants to give me some pointers? I'd be appreciative.

P.S. I've been reading like crazy and plan on telling y'all about them very shortly. Stay tuned for reading fun!

Barefoot and pregnant in the kitchen ...

I am feeling all domestic and kitchy and 1940s. Back during the summer, Jell-O was on sale and I thought, "who doesn't love Jell-O?" So I bought eight packages. How much Jell-O have I made since I bought them? Exactly none ... and I have had the craziest craving for Jell-O lately. I think it is brought on by the commercials they have nowadays for the people who eat the wiggly desert and start wiggling themselves. They're strangely addicting commercials. ANYWAY - I looked in my pantry and realized that three of the flavors I have - Strawberry, Apricot, and Pineapple - look very pleasing together, so I just made up three batches and am letting them cool for a bit before I pour them one on top of each other. I've never done this before, and the web is not being helpful when it comes to telling me how long to chill before mixing ... four hours total for chilling - that I know - so I've set the timer for an hour (by then they should be reasonably firm, I think), but I'm checking it in half an hour.

The ultimate goal? Red, orange, and yellow kitchy goodness!

I just realized something

I am very envious of my sister. My favorite animal in the whole wide world is the mhorr or Dama Gazelle. I love it - but it is extinct outside of captivity, so I have never actually seen one. My sister used to live in St. Louis and one of her favorite places to go there was the zoo ...

and this means that she has seen mhorrs quite a bit!

So now I have to get ahold of her and ask if they are as gorgeous in person as they are in pictures.

(edited because I am a silly Librarian Pirate)

Hmm - Blogger does not seem to be letting me update right now. I’m not sure if this has anything to do with the scheduled outage tomorrow morning or if this is just because I’m special, but either way I can’t do it! The blogger page is glitching all over the place. I’m writing this on Monday, January 8 at 3:38 pm, but perhaps it won’t be updated until Blogger feels like letting me tomorrow ...

I made eggnog cheesecake a few days ago for my husband’s birthday. I just asked him if he was ok with dinner tonight being cheesecake and milkshakes, and he said yes. WOO! Go me! I don’t know why, but it’s always more fun to have crazy dinners when I can pretend that “it’s ok. I have permission.” The permission could have come from my 12 year old cousin and that would be just fine with me, as long as I have it. This seems to me to be the opposite of what most people would want. For many, the pleasure of the deviant dinner comes specifically from the fact that dinner should not be cheesecake and milkshakes. For me, the pleasure comes from the dinner being something I shouldn’t be supposed to do - but it’s ok, because I’m special. It’s an ego boost.

Now that was a completely boring rambly paragraph that could easily be summed up as, “cheesecake and milkshakes for dinner! Woo! You do it too, I give you permission.”

Ice Cream is buy one get one free at the store right now (because really, who buys ice cream on January 8th? Me! That’s who!), so I get to spend the whole day deciding on milk shake flavors. Brandon said he doesn’t care, so it’s all up to me. I’m thinking chocolate and mint chocolate chip ... although I know Brandon has a thing for banana milk shakes (don’t ask me. Eeeew), so perhaps mint chocolate chip and banana ... or perhaps I’ll just decide when I get there.

For Christmas, Brandon got me a DVD set of movies by the Monty Python boys. Last night and this morning we watched The Adventures of Baron Munchausen which contained my new motto. Someone tells Baron Munchausen that he has no grasp of reality and he responds, "Your reality, sir, is lies and balderdash and I am delighted to say I have no grasp of it whatsoever." Overall it was a fantastic movie - one of Uma Thurman's first (one of the few times where I think she is really as gorgeous as everyone says she is is this movie), and Sarah Polley (who I loved in Road to Avonlea when I was little).

Anyway, I'm back from work and Blogger is letting me post so I better not miss this opportunity!

A hint of Philosophy at work

As most people who have worked retail for far too long, I have some standard phrases I use in certain situations. When I see a customer who looks as though they are in need of some help I walk up and ask "How can I help you today?" If I see a customer who looks as though they are finding and enjoying and probably not (but perhaps) in need if anything I ask, "Are you finding everything alright today?" Today I walked up to a customer and asked her "Are you finding yourself alright today?"

Existentialism when shopping for picture frames. Can't beat that!

In other news, I burned my hand pretty badly last night. I tried to take a picture of the gruesome blaring grossness that is my hand, but I couldn't quite get the flash to stop washing out the burn and making it look pale and wimpy (compared to the red grossness that it is), but at least you can kinda see the size of the burn. It hurts like crazy, but my loving husband bought me pirate bandages!!! Seriously - how cool is that? It would be even better if they were librarian bandages ...

Anyway! I'm off to eat carrots. I've got a crazy craving ...

Love in the library quiet and cool!

So - one of my New Year's resolutions? Update at least once a week. We'll see how it goes. We all know I'm a slacker monkey, so this might be a problem ...

Penny Arcade pointed me in the direction of the video for Everytime We Touch by Cascada (Joan?). Parts of it I like - turning the library into a dance party? Awesome. The funky dancing janitor? Groovy! The library they filmed the song in is awesomely old fashioned which makes me grin and giggle like a schoolgirl. The song itself is too Pop-y for my usual tastes, but it's somehow infectious ...

My main problem with the video? It isn't the stereotypical shushing librarians ... it's the desperate need for Miss Cascada to rearrange the library's card catalog
and then throw random cards around. How is anyone going to find their books NOW, eh? Yes, the library should have that all on computer by now (it is 2007), but they've probably invested their money elsewhere - like in keeping the library groovy and old style looking!

Ok, so I'm a huge geek ... isn't that why you love me?

In other news - first ultrasound! My baby officially has fingers and toes! YAY!

"You think that's an update?"

Ok, ok - I'll spend the rest of the evening working on a better update. There's a lot goin' on in my life right now!

My new favorite blog (besides all of yours, of course) is Mimi Smartypants. She's fantastic - and she's here in Chicago, so I'm reading her archives right now noting all the local flavor. It makes me happy. I just read the January 3, 2001 entry and feel the need to share something with my husband, but it's far to long to text to him and he's at work, so I guess I'll just have to share it with the Internet. Mimi Smartypants says:

One of my holiday gifts was this page-a-day calendar called "Forgotten English," which has a queer medieval word for each day. Today's was especially good: curtain-lecture. Meaning "A lecture or homily delivered by a wife to her husband when in bed, upon the shortcomings and errors of his daily life." From T. Ellwood Zell's (what a name!) Popular Encyclopedia, 1871. This really cracks me up. Can you imagine lying in bed while your spouse lists your faults? Sweet dreams!

One of my other new favorite things is audio books. For Christmas my fantastic parents got me a Zune, and yesterday I went to the library and got Barbara Kingsolver's Pigs in Heaven on CD to listen to while I did the dishes and laundry and went grocery shopping and crocheted and in general went about my daily life. Kiddos, I'm already 3/4 done with the book! One of my Reader's Advisory teachers was a big audio book advocate because you could double (or more) the books you read just in your daily life, and I am so much a fan now! I tried it a few times during that class, but we only have a stereo in the living room, so when I was in the bedroom I had to have it waaaaay turned up. That was a fun week - I had to read a romance for class, and I was listening to it, and didn't realize it had some ... very explicit sex scenes. I live in an apartment, and our walls are so paper thin that I can hear every wood on my neighbor's TV ... so I went tearing through the house to turn it down before the neighbors think I'm the sort of person who listens to steamy sex scenes REALLY LOUD!

In completely different news, I just read Issue 2 of Onslaught Reborn (if you don't know what I'm talking about, you probably don't read Marvel comics, so don't worry about it), and I got the I'm bringing Onslaught back song stuck in my head. I was going to be all cool and stick it in my blog only to discover that it was taken off of YouTube because Marvel didn't like the use of their pictures in it. I was all excited too - but I guess you'll just have to read the lyrics instead.

And with that, I am going to go listen to more of my book and crochet.

(Captain America) - yeah he’s in it
(Incredible Hulk) - yeah he’s in it
(Iron Man) - drinks too much Guinness

So I had this whole plan. First I was going to post a celebrity-stalking- style-post about how “I” had figured out what was going on with Librarian Pirate. I was going to post a picture from about a year ago, and then one from now and show that suddenly this mysterious Librarian Pirate HAS BOOBS! The obvious answer is that “she” has had some work done - namely a boob job. I would include an obligatory quote from someone close to Librarian Pirate renouncing this fact, and another from someone else saying that there is a large amount of more boobage - what else could be the culprit?

THEN a few days later I was going to post another celebrity-stalking-style-post denouncing the rumours swirling about a Librarian Pirate boob job and claiming that “we” know the truth. We have discovered photographic evidence that the boobs are not the only thing about “her” that are getting bigger. I would then include a picture of my waist that showed the possibility of a baby bump.

I’m sure you can figure out quite a few reasons why this never happened.

• It's dumb
• It's needlessly complicated
• It is not as funny as I think it is
• I don't have any good pictures of me with boobs
• I don't have any good pictures that acurately show off my baby bump
• I'm not so sure that people would "get it" because of the aforementioned "dumb"ness and needless complication of the scheme

So basically I'm just going to come out and say it. I'm having a baby! I am incredibly excited excited. According to current projections, I get to become a mother and a librarian in the same week! I’m due two days before graduation. Here’s hoping that Turnip Head (working name) isn’t early, because that could really mess up me finishing school the way I want to. We’re rooting for right on time ...

Other questions answered:

No, this probably isn’t going to become a mommy blog. I don’t know that I have spent enough time with my blog for a proper theme to emerge, but I can imagine that me having a baby is just going to add one more topic for me to discuss. An important topic that I will probably spend quite a bit of time talking about, but that will SO very much not be the only thing discussed.

Yes, I’m healthy. Other than throwing up (ALL THE TIME) and general aches and pains (and shortness of breath and random dizziness), I’m just dandy!

Yes, My husband is super happy. Brandon is almost more excited than I am (possibly more, because he isn’t throwing up all the time. I’m super jealous). He does all sorts of adorable things - reading books to my belly, taking good care of his irritable, pregnant wife, etc.

Yes, I am hormonal. I’ve started crying to ranch commercials. FREAKING RANCH COMMERCIALS! It’s a SALAD DRESSING! It isn’t a tear jerker! But have you seen the new Hidden Valley Ranch commercials where the boy or the girl right around my age is in a new apartment/dorm room/whatever that’s drab and full of boxes, and they sit down and eat a salad covered in Hidden Valley Ranch dressing and it transports them to a picnic with their family (presumably in their mind, but if it does have that kind of power, then rock on, Ranch Dressing!) because they miss their family so much? Yeah, makes me cry. The funny thing is, it makes me cry not so much because I miss my family, but because the character in the commercial thinks that salads are the best way to deal with missing their family. Me? I miss my family? I call them. Works SO much better than eating a salad. But then again - that might just be me and my crazy ideas on what to do when you miss your family.

So - any other questions that I missed?

I have to tell you how cute my sister is. Do you remember twelve days ago when she posted about the most adorable bibs ever that she made? And she said that "one of her friends" just announced that she's having a baby? Well ... that friend was me. At first, I thought "friend? FRIEND?" Then I thought, "how sweet! She's not announcing it to the internet before I can!" See - my sister's smarter than I am. I heart her. And those bibs! SO CUTE! I'm not sure if I'm going to let the baby spit up on them ... AND she made us scarves for the crazy cold Chicago winter we've got coming (although it is GORGEOUS today!). Which reminds me - she asked me to take pictures of the scarves so she could preserve them for posterity. Let me go do that ...


Done! Go check out my flickr page if you want to see them (and if you happen to be my sister and would rather I emailed you copies, just say the word, and they're yours!).

Well, it's time for me to go move around the laundry, then clean the kitchen, then eat some chips and salsa while reading a good book. I hope you all enjoy your day!

Brandon uses up the internet

Silly SBC! My husband and I moved last Saturday. SBC/AT&T said we would have internet/phone service by Thursday. When it wasn't on by Friday we called and they said, "we'll send someone right over to check the lines and your box and whatnot, it should be up in 24 hours at the latest, but probably by 7 pm." It soooo wasn't on by 7pm, and it definately wasn't on 24 hours later. Yesterday, Brandon called again and said, "still not working!" They said, "we'll send someone right over to check the lines and your box and whatnot, it should be up in 24 hours at the latest, but probably by 7 pm." Brandon said, "but you said that yesterday and nothing got fixed!" They said, "Thank you for calling AT&T, have a nice day!" And they hung up. TRAGEDY! So Brandon called them back, spent another 10 minutes navigating their automated phone system before getting another real person who said, "we can't get someone out to fix your problem until Wednesday." WEDNESDAY!

So this morning we pulled out the laptop. "Perhaps we can find someone nearby using an unprotected wireless connection!" we thought deviously. We found someone! They're probably far away because we're only getting it at 30% of their speed, and it's really slow. Brandon got on first to change our addresses with important places (like the bank), and then he showed me the trailer for VIVA PINATA (I'd link it, but oy with the slow internet!). He obviously had internet. He gives the computer to me and the thing can't even connect to gmail. "YOU USED UP THE INTERNET!!!" I shouted furiously at him. (Well, not so furiously, but I'm building dramatic tension here!) "Wait a minute and it'll come back. It's just really slow.

I decided to spend that minute writing an update for the blog, but since this laptop's only word-esque function is Notepad. I am writing it there and am amused by the silly font that Notepad automatically uses.

Still no internet - i'll update this when it becomes available! And now blogger isn't letting me spell check, and I typed this while emotionally distraught, so hopefully you guys cana read it. I'll go through and spell check it later. Forgive me?

didja miss me?

You know you did. It's ok to admit it. I have a story to tell you.

You all know there is a war coming between pirates and ninjas, right? Well, if you didn't, now you know. From the title of my blog, I am sure you can figure out what side I'm on.

Yesterday, the other side made the first move*. The good news - my nose is not broken (just twice it's normal size and somewhat ... purpleish black), and the concussion was only very very minor. The bad news? I feel like an absolute idiot. I mean - who lets ninjas get the drop on them?

The even better news? This brush with the enemy has caused me to want to return to my blogging days. You excited? Good! Thank you for at least pretending.

*By "they made the first move," I obviously mean that it must have been ninjas, because really - who is clutzy enough to walk into a metrocart? Those stealthy ninjas must have moved it in an attempt to do evil.

UPDATE: And can I tell you all how amazingly freakingly excited I am about this movie? Yay!

It is not so much an apology as it is an explanation

It is not so much an apology as it is an explanation

I was sending an email to my mother about all the books I have to read for the one class I am taking right now (Library Materials for Young Adults), and I figured that you all might be interested in exactly what is keeping me from you.

Keep in mind that all this is going on while work is crazy. One of my fellow managers quit, so I am working 45 hours a week to make up for the lack of another manager. I know – YAY money, but still! Free time? In the immortal words of Mike La Fontaine, “I don’t think so!”

So – for class next Monday (a week from today) I have to read Feed by M.T. Anderson, Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card, and then I get to pick two of the following:

Adams, Douglas. Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. Harmony, 1979.
Bechard, Margaret. Spacer and Rat. Roaring Brook, 2005.
Dickinson, Peter. Eva. Delacorte, 1988.
Philbrick, Rodman. The Last Book in the Universe. Blue Sky, 2000.

And that's just for the first half of the class - Science Fiction. For the second half (Fantasy) I have to read Tithe: A Modern Faerie Tale by Holly Black and Anansi Boys by Neil Gaiman (FINALLY! I have been wanting to read that for ages!), and I then get to pick two of the following:

Billingsley, Franny. The Folk Keeper. Atheneum, 1999.
Gruber, Michael. The Witch's Boy. HarperTempest, 2005.
Kibuishi, Kazu. Daisy Kutter: The Last Train. Viper, 2005.
Morris, Gerald. The Squire’s Tale. Houghton, 1998.
Patterson, James. Maximum Ride: The Angel Experiment. Little, Brown, 2005
Peet, Mal. Keeper. Candlewick, 2005.
Pratchett, Terry. Wee Free Men. Harper, 2003.
Westall, Robert. Yaxley's Cat. Scholastic, 1992.
Wooding, Chris. Poison. Scholastic/Orchard, 2005.
Westerfeld, Scott. Uglies. Simon & Schuster/Simon Pulse, 2005.

The fun doesn't end there! For Tuesday (Humour) I have to read Christopher Paul Curtis' Bucking the Sarge and Louise Rennison's. Angus, Thongs, and Full-Frontal Snogging.

AND (select three)
Benton, Jim. It’s Happy Bunny: Life. Get One. Scholastic, 2005
Hiaasen, Carl. Hoot. Random House,
Limb, Sue. Girl 15, Charming But Insane. Delacorte, 2004.
Paulsen, Gary. How Angel Peterson Got His Name and Other Outrageous Tales of Extreme Sports. Lamb, 2003.
Pinkwater, Daniel. The Education of Robert Nifkin. FSG, 1998.
Strasser, Todd. How I Spent My Last Night on Earth. S&S, 1998.
Williams,Carol Lynch. My Angelica. Delacorte, 1999.

LETS MOVE ON TO WEDNESDAY, shall we? Wednesday is Biographies, Nonfiction, and Semi-realistic Fiction. We start with Jack Gantos. Hold in my Life and move on to Anita Lobel's No Pretty Pictures: A Child of War

AND (select one):
50 Cent. From Pieces to Weight: Once Upon a Time in Southside, Queens. Pocket Books, 2005.
Freedman, Russell. The Voice that Challenged a Nation. Clarion, 2004.
Greenberg, Jan & Sandra Jordan. Vincent Van Gogh: Portrait of an Artist. Delacorte, 2001.
Myers, Walter Dean. Bad Boy: a Memoir. HarperCollins, 2001.
Partridge, Elizabeth. John Lennon: All I Want Is the Truth. Viking, 2005.

Then I also have to read
Winick, Judd. Pedro and Me: Friendship, Loss, and What I Learned. Holt, 2000.
AND (select one):
Armstrong, Jennifer. Photo By Brady: A Picture of the Civil War. Atheneum, 2005.
Bartoletti, Susan. Hitler Youth: Growing Up in Hitler's Shadow. Scholastic, 2005.
Farrell, Jeanette. Invisible Allies: Microbes that Shape Our Lives. Farrar, 2005.
Frank, Mitch. Understanding the Holy Land: Answering Questions about the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict. Viking, 2005
Hamanaka, Sheila. In Search of the Spirit. Morrow, 1999.
Nelson, Marilyn. A Wreath for Emmett Till. Houghton, 2005.
Perel, David. Bat Boy Lives! Sterling, 2005.
Philbrick, Nathaniel. Revenge of the Whale: The True Story of the Whaleship Essex. Putnam, 2002.

By then I will be flat out dead. Completely and utterly. This class is over at the end of June, so in July I might be back. We'll see. At the very least, I get to read some fantastic Young Adult books, which nobody should ever complain about!

Friday Cat Blogging

.

I don't understand this kitten. She has a moment to be all calm and serene (the picture woke her up - she was asleep two moments before I took this), so she goes and sits in the dustbin?

Crazy cat.

In other news, Miss Doxie posts more than I do ... this must be rectified! Because I don't post enough! Interesting things are happening. I must to the library now, but when I return - the saga of the cereal (and not the Johnny Depp stuff Marcia keeps telling me to get - although I do need to get that cereal too ... )

hey hey HEY!!!

WHY oh WHY did NOT ONE SINGLE PERSON tell me that there is, in fact, a whole slew of buttons and t-shirts and magnets all devoted to librarians being pirates?

And apparently one well known librarian once said, "It wasn't so long ago that librarians were seen as pirates. How dare you let people take books for free? And make copies!?!? You are all a bunch of thieves! ... We all run by different rules but we all have the same goals in mind. My only request is that you don your eye-patch, practice your arrrr's and help protect the distribution of information in all its forms."

So ... yeah. I'm going to start (from now on) pretending that librarian pirate is named such not because I am going to be a librarian and I have a silly fascination with pirates ... but because I truly am all about freedom of information. I am - I really am ... I just thought the association between librarian/pirate was subtle ... not ARR! BOOKS! (even though that's my new motto - as my sweeet new banner declares.)

So yeah ...

I so meant that. Because I'm brilliant.

I'm not really here

I'm working on my final essay. I really am! I just had to pop in and tell you what a lovable dork my husband is. I went to the kitchen to get brain food chocolate, and when I come back, after what I've written on my essay it says, "IÂ'm a bumbely bag of coconuts." This was fifteen minutes ago and he's still giggling about it.