Naturally Optimistic

Well, another week has passed and I've only posted about Storytime. Ah well. So it goes. This week's storytime's theme was THANKSGIVING. Of course. There are not a lot of books (that we own) about Thanksgiving that aren't SUPER wordy. So picking & choosing things didn't go as easily as I had hoped. I also wanted to do more books about autumn, harvest, etc but with early snow & extremely cold temperatures here this year, that didn't feel right. In the end I found a few things that worked, and we had a great time! In November by Cynthia Rylant A great book which is perfect for this chilly, snowy November! Beautiful illustrations, talks about animals, people, the Earth... in November. :) Next we did a Turkey Felt Board (idea courtesy of Kathryn Roach ) I cut out a turkey shape (free hand) along with feathers. LOTS of feathers. Since we have a lot of kids at Storytime, I wanted to make sure everyone had a feather in their hands. I used all the...

Look at that! I updated my 2013 reading list! Whohoooo! According to GoodReads I'm still 9 books behind for my 2013 reading challenge of reading 50 books this year (I've done 24 so far....) but whohooo! That's way more than in the past. I think working in a library works. It either works, or makes it WAY HARDER for me to stick with one book until I'm finished. Occupational hazard - I bring home waaaaaaay more books than I could possibly ever finish. I'm okay with that. :) (Maybe I'll update my movies/tv shows tomorrow. Who knows?! It IS a holiday weekend after all...and we all know how nerdy I am!) 

I have lofty goals for 2013. No, I don't. Not really. Basically since having kids my goal has been to survive. BUT....that being said, I did take the GoodReads 2013 challenge & signed up to read 50 books. Now, in my previous life, (post kids, pre-library) that never would've happened...BUT....since I do work at a library now, I feel I can extend my reading goals.  So we'll see how it goes! My retrospect for 2012 is as follows as I am removing it from the sidebar to make room for 2013 today! Yeah! 1. A Clash of Kings (okay - I'm actually still reading this....) 2. Unbroken 3. The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society 4. How Green Was My Valley 5. The Memory Keeper's Daughter 6. The Hunger Games 7. In the Woods 8. His Favorite Wife 9. After Long Silence 10. People of the Book 11. Catching Fire 12. The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks 13. Mockingjay 14. Fifty Shades of Grey 15. Gone Girl 16. Bloom 17. We Bought a Zoo * 18. Below Stair...

I am alive & updated my reading list ---------------> over there tonight! whohoo! Amazing how working in a library gets you in the mood to READ ALL THE TIME. It's awesome. So - a couple of super short reviews: FIFTY SHADES OF GRAY/FIFTY SHADES DARKER - crap. Total crap. Okay, okay - there's lots of sex and it is indeed "Mom Porn" but the writing is so bad. So yucky bad. I don't want to read the word "petulant" on the page more than once EVER but certainly not multiple times. I don't ever want to read the phrase "...my inner goddess...." again nor do I wish to hear about someone biting their lip. Ugh. I kept waiting for a plot. That was my problem. Needless to say, I resisted reading the third one. What a waste of time. GONE GIRL - awesome. Loved it. The writing is snappy & interesting. There are TWISTS (!!!) that made me go SHUT UP out loud! I really enjoyed reading this book. A lot. so much so that I read Gillian Flynn...

....just buried under books. Ah yes, I started my new job as a Library Technician a couple weeks ago. So far - it's great! It is amazing to work at a place that is philanthropic in nature; that promotes learning & research; that doesn't discriminate who has access to information. It is a whole different world that working in the corporate arena & I am enjoying it immensely. I am working in the Circulation department which in the most basic of terms is the place where you check books out. There is so much BEYOND that but I don't have time to get into it right now. I had no clue how much goes into running a library. No. Clue. But I am learning. I work at the main library downtown, but soon I will be working 2 days a week at the Mt. Royal Branch (my "neighborhood" library) and 3 days downtown. I think I will enjoy the variety a lot. It is also amazing to be surrounded by so many other people who love reading & books as much as I do. During one o...

Well, due to overwhelming demand (one comment) from  my reader, I just wanted to let you know, this space has not been abandoned. It's just on unofficial hiatus, I guess. I write blog posts by the...uh...tens in my head. None of them seem to make it here. I take photos of things I'm going to blog about. And then don't. I'm just so incredibly busy right now. 100% of the time. I am working 2 jobs from home while watching the munckins (full time, daycare/pre-school ended for us this past week - waaaaaah!). My house is a disaster zone, I'm stressed out by all the piles & piles & piles every day...but hey, right now it's where I'm at (read: I'm trying not to get too stressed out about everything so I'll leave it at that). Potential blog posts coming soon: My Book Club - reviews of the first 6 books Pinterest February/March challenge Yarn! Yarn! Yarn! WTF am I doing with my life? (sorry for the abbreviated swearing, Mom) And others. I...

The Girl Who Played with Fire. One week. It was delicious. Now back to my previously scheduled reading.

* My legs are so frickin' sore I can barely walk down the stairs or sit down on a chair. Ay yi yi. Apparently I NEVER ever use those muscles. Awesome. *We bought a SWEET new hi-def camcorder last night. It's been on our "list" since Dahlia was born and since we leave for vacation tomorrow & got a nice tax refund...it was time. It is TINY. I love it. I can't wait to take some video. *I'm on the last chapter of the last TWILIGHT book. I think I'm reading it really slowly because I don't want it to end. Argh! *We leave for Florida tomorrow! We're staying at my in-laws condo (where we honeymooned) with them. They are driving down and picking us up at the airport. It's a cheap vacay for us - we used frequent flyer miles for the flight, we aren't renting a car, we aren't paying for a place to stay...sweet! We plan on sitting at the beach, kayaking, sitting at the beach and more sitting at the beach. I hope Dahlia is a good flyer!!!!! I...

It has begun...

I just heard about this new program - which is offered in Duluth - and thought I would share it with you. It's pretty cool. Dolly Parton started the "Imagination Library" in 1996. She wanted to foster the love of books & reading in preschoolers in her Tennessee community. She decided to provide one new book a month to all preschoolers in that county! the program grew from there and she by 2000 she was doing this for Branson, MO and Myrtle Beach, SC - and then onwards! Now communities can join (and have to fund the books) but "Imagination Library" handles the admin of it. Here's what's in it for you! Kids from birth to age 5 can sign up (if your community participates. Check the website to see if yours does by typing in a zip code). Enroll your child and that's it! I'm really excited because I'm a nerd for reading and now Dahlia will get a free book a month until she's five!!! Anyway - I thought it was pretty cool and wanted to pass o...

Pretty mellow today....the usual morning routine - up, shower, dress, get baby up, bathe her, dress - breakfast for both of us - then on to whatever we've got going on. We were on the phone with Apple for a long time today trying to figure out the wireless connection nonsense. (solution - get another Mac and dump the dell + linksys router! Amen!), we sent 3 packages - which entailed wrapping, packing & walking to the post office to send. I watched the rest of "21" which I enjoyed, I finished my book (After Dark) and started another (Gods in Alabama). I did some work including tweaking our WAB listing (for festival submissions) and final listens on soundtrack tracks. I tried a new recipe (eggplant parmesan - review...pretty darn good) and now I'm knitting & watching men's beach volleyball. Someday Dahlia will have her blanket. Tomorrow's Friday! Tomorrow we send off the soundtrack for duplication. Saturday my parents come to town. Sunday we have anothe...

Because it's a snow day and I love to read and I'm quite done with any "work" tasks and why not? Via Leah In the list of books below, bold the ones you’ve read, italicize the ones you want to read, cross out the ones you won’t touch with a ten-foot pole, put a cross (+) in front of the ones on your book shelf, and asterisk (*) the ones you’ve never heard of. In the comments, let me know if you're up for it; I'd love to see if y'all have been puttin your book-learnin' to good use. 1. The Da Vinci Code (Dan Brown) 2. +Pride and Prejudice (Jane Austen) 3. To Kill A Mockingbird (Harper Lee) 4. Gone With The Wind (Margaret Mitchell) 5. +The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King (Tolkien) 6. +The Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring (Tolkien) 7. +The Lord of the Rings: Two Towers (Tolkien) 8. +Anne of Green Gables (L. M. Montgomery) 9. Outlander (Diana Gabaldon) 10. *A Fine Balance (Rohinton Mistry) 11. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (Rowling) 12. ...

Steve & I went to Barnes & Noble last night where I purchased this: I am so excited to make some projects! Although it'll have to wait til the New Year because right now I'm stacked with Christmas projects & upcoming honeymoon (have I mentioned that we're going on vacation in a mere 4 days?? huh? Have I? hee hee) I love browsing a good book store...I see books everywhere that I want to read, own, linger on, study every page, get lost in - ah! I love it! But I want to BUY BUY BUY which is unnecessary - (unless they're good reference books) - and I'm currently trying to download my library by selling books on Amazon and giving them away so....as much as I drool.....I know I should not purchase. We spent a wedding gift card at B&N tonight so I don't even feel guilty about buying a little something for me this holiday season! Hopefully it's a gift that'll keep on giving.

A while back I wrote my nerdy book reviews from the books that I've read from January through June. Well, I'm back with more inept reviews of the books I've read June through, let's say October (although I may finish one more, we'll see...) Chesapeake by James Michener This book intrigued me because my boss (an avid reader) told me of the epic-quality of the story and how much research Michener did when writing. I am a geek for history, learning things, and books that have a lot of research. I like to (sometimes) feel like I'm learning something while reading fiction. This fit the niche perfectly. I enjoyed reading this (although it took me 2 months!!! egads!)book however, I missed knowing characters in a more intimate fashion. Sure, I learned what happened on this particular bay on the North American Continent from early native american tribes to present (well, the 70's) day but I missed the details of relationships, the moments of clarity as an object or...