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.

Our house...in the middle of our street...

I've been promising pictures, but I really have been so busy that even though we found the camera cord there wasn't a chance to take them or post them.

But I'm taking a few minutes away from house stuff now. Okay, here they are, at least to start (more to come, I promise):

Yea! Cute house! The flower beds need weeding and organization.














This is the hideous wallpaper in the kitchen that we are in the process of removing. That's what I was doing right before this.














Matt takes a ride around the yard.

I win the storytime battle!

Today I was at one of the branch libraries where the kids are rather...well...out of it. They're just not as quick or lively as some of the other children. Last week they just didn't get it. But I felt like a lot of them were actually listening this week. I tried to read really expressively and loudly. We got up and sang a song twice. We read 4 books,which is more than I expected them to make it through.

But then, when it was time to go, they noticed I had other books out on the table that we hadn't read. About half the group was clustered around me, not lining up with their teacher, asking about the books and wanting me to read more! Hopefully, it will always be like this!

Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi

I'm reading a new book when I'm not working or cooking or arranging stuff in the house. It's a graphic novel, so it's kinda like a sophisticated comic book. More interesting to me is the subject matter, which is the author's account of her childhood in Iran during the Islamic Revolution.

blogging during my lunch break...

I love that I have a lunch break in which to blog.

So, we bought a house on Friday. We handed over the largest check I've ever seen and signed a bunch of papers and then we moved in. Now we (we includes my mom, who is here to help out with stuff) are living with a bunch of boxes everywhere and I'm really looking forward to getting home so I can get things settled.

We went to IKEA last night and bought this, this, and two of these in dark brown. That's a TV armoire and three bookshelves. There was supposed to be a coffee table purchase as well, but they were out of stock. We'll have to go back for it.

The bad news: the a/c is still out in my car because it would cost $600 to fix it. I'm just not willing to spend that much on my little car. Besides, it'll get cooler in a couple months.

And I promise, house pictures are coming as soon as we find the cord for the camera.

crazy Tuesday...

Today was a very good day at work. I did my second storytime and it went very well.

But things are crazy here at home. Matt's going nuts being stuck in the house with no car (mine's in the shop until tomorrow - we hope!), but he is being very useful dealing with the podunk electric company and the podunk bank and the podunk U-haul rental place. We don't have very much packed. The cat keeps ripping up the couch, and somehow we can't manage to keep enough food around for a decent meal. (That's not really true. We just don't feel like cooking it usually. But then we do, and everything's okay as far as tummies go.)

We're closing on the house on Friday. Pictures to come soon thereafter. I can't believe this is all happening so fast!

First Day of Work!

There I am, going off to work at 6:30 yesterday morning. The long commute is no fun, but that will be cut significantly after the move. I like my job. The atmosphere is very laid back and friendly, and I'm going to really enjoy most of the stuff I get to do.

These first two weeks are pretty much an orientation and getting-the-hang-of-everything period. I'm observing the end of summer reading programming, meeting staff at the branch libraries, and reading through the documentation the previous children's librarian left for me. I'm also cleaning out the files in her - wait - MY office.

Soon I'll start the storytimes and book orders. :-)

Al Capone Does My Shirts by Gennifer Choldenko

I'm reading another children's book. This one is about a boy who lives on Alcatraz in the 30s because his dad is an electrician for the prison.