"To love what you do and feel that it matters - - how could anything be more fun?" -- Katherine Graham

It's Thursday for sure...

That means I saw over 100 people at my two storytimes this morning. The second group gave me hugs when they left. That was nice. And the one little boy who sat up front and told me that he wanted to watch a movie, and he didn't think my books would be any good was actually riveted. Riveted. When he left I asked him if he liked my books after all and he smiled and said yes.

We painted the bedroom. We have to put up moulding and hang pictures and such. Then pictures will come because we will actually have a room finished.

I went to a professional conference last week and stayed in a fancy hotel on the library's dime. That was nice and I heard some great speakers and got turned on to some new children's authors and learned some good methods for maintaining security in the library and engaging children with poetry.

I like long sentences.

Now it's time for PB&J.

what watching too many home decorating and improvement shows will do to ya...

Matt's in Florida for a boy's weekend so I've been left to my own devices. My parents came for visit yesterday, which was very nice, but not very long. So, I've been doing a lot of thinking, reading, cleaning, knitting, and watching too much HGTV.

This has led me to the conclusion that I must immediately put our house in fabulous order.

Now, I know this is unrealistic. On those TV shows, people put aside several days and have professional decorators, organizers, and contractors come in to help. We've only been here a month and we work full time, I tell myself. But still, the unpacked boxes of stuff that doesn't have anywhere to go mock me. The weeds in the yard whisper of my insufficiency whenever I look out the window. The bad wallpaper tells me I am a bad homeowner.

Have you seen our bedroom? Here's what it (well, one corner of it) looked like before we moved in.

Take special note of that wallpaper border. Yikes! Here's a closeup:

Not our style at all! But you know what? Inspired by those cheerful decorating hosts on TV, I have obliterated that stuff (glue and all) in just one afternoon. Here's what's left:

kira-kira by Cynthia Kadohata

I have really been trying for days to think of something interesting to write about here. For many days, the aftermath of the hurricane made anything I would write seem so trivial.

Nonetheless, everything is pretty typical for us. I'm getting busy at work. My desk is piled with books and magazines and catalogs. We're busy at home too, obviously, making small progress in correcting the senior lady decor and general mess of cardboard boxes.

I'm reading a new book, the 2005 Newbery Medal winner. I have enjoyed it, but it is depressing (being about a Japanese family in 1950s Georgia with a terminally ill child) and I would not recommend it to many children because of the depressing quietness of it. Then, there are children that this would be perfect for.

In other news, we were in a small car accident on Saturday involving a biker gang with police escort. I'm not kidding. Basically, Matt had to swerve into a ditch and the bumper was knocked loose and dented. There were no problems driving it, and it's going into the shop today. We're not hurt.