Ms. I Didn't Even Want Your Love and her sidekick, Ms. Sad Eyes

Robert somehow managed to capture both Josie and Margo's unique expressions in one picture.

Josie's face, on the right, is such a dopey, doofus, lover face and then there's Margo's face, with piercing, questioning eyes that look directly into the most hidden corners of your soul.

Josie is saying, "Oh please come play with me. I will be the most perfect puppy and cuddle you to death if you please come play with me."

Margo is saying, "You're not coming out here to play with me, are you?  Well then shoo, mister. Run along now."

you never know when you're going to need a steam roller on your farm

Last week I had my first toddler storytime of the winter/spring season and was delighted to see so many familiar faces at my storytime.

My favorite moment happened at the very beginning while I was introducing myself.  When I pointed to myself and told everyone my name, one of the toddlers, who was a regular last fall, shouted, "we know you," in a sassy tone that totally meant, "move it along, lady, we have books to read and songs to sing."

Because my storytime about vehicles was my favorite from fall, I decided to start this season with that theme.  We read two books, "I Drive a Snow Plow" by Sarah Bridges and my favorite (and arguably the crowd's favorite book from last fall), "Old Macdonald Had a Truck."

We began with our hello song, which is the "Hello Friends, hello friends, hello friends, it's time to say hello" song.  A caregiver requested this song last fall, and also mentioned she would like to see more American Sign Language at storytime.  This song includes four ASL signs, is short and sweet, and a popular choice at other storytimes so kids are fairly familiar with it.  After we sang our hello song, I mentioned we would be learning a couple ASL words each week.  I also let everyone know I was available for feedback after storytime and more importantly, I would have stamps too.

We sang our ABCs the good ol' fashioned way but will be experimenting with different melodies each week so that we can turn "LMNOP" into five letters instead of one.

Next we pretended to be choo choo trains with this fun rhyme:




Our first quieting down fingerplay was "Open, Shut Them."  For the winter/spring season, this will be the quieting down fingerplay for the first book.



We read, "I Drive a Snow Plow," and while it wasn't a favorite, it did engage a few kids.

  
After the first book, I brought out the bean bags and we had fun with the usual exercises we do with shaker eggs and scarves.  I tried an exercise that involved dropping the bean bags into a hula hoop using different parts of our bodies - hands, elbows, knees, head, but that was a flop.  Not everyone was ready for this and one girl plopped herself in the middle of the hula hoop and refused to budge.  It turned into a bean bag free-for-all, but I was able to salvage it by cutting out the hula hoop part of the activity.  My second storytime had a few babies so I didn't even bring out the hula hoop.  One girl, who was my shadow and a regular from fall storytime, helped me pick out where we were going to put the bean bags next.  

For our next quieting down fingerplay I tried a meditation exercise, and plan on trying out different ones until we find one we like.  My inspiration came from a pack of flashcards I found on Amazon  - Mindful Kids.  It wasn't a favorite so we'll try something different next week.  

It really didn't matter whether anyone calmed down prior to reading "Old Macdonald Had a Truck," because everyone absolutely loves this book.  There's always a caregiver who has it memorized and helps lead everyone else into a rousing, silly song about all the heavy machinery used by the same man who has a ton of farm animals (because you never know when you're going to need a steam roller on your farm).

We totally ran out of time in both storytimes and didn't have time to sing "The Wheels on the Bus," which was a damn shame, but I was the only one who knew about it, so no tears were shed.

We did sing the hokey pokey acapella style, and they were thrilled with that.

We finished by singing the matching goodbye song that goes with the "Hello Friend" song we began storytime with.  

After storytime I stamped everyone's hands and one boy's belly.  I was totally prepared for this though.  I had a giant Magic School Bus stamp that was about the size of three toddler hands and therefore, wouldn't work as a hand stamp.  Last fall a few kids wanted their bellies stamped so I brought this stamp in the hopes that someone would want their belly stamped.  The little boy and his mom thought it was hilarious and giggled about it while mom tried to blow on the stamp to dry.  It was a great way to end storytime.

Dear Whoever gets this book,

I love finding notes in books.  This one is particularly lovely.

January Favorite Reads Part Two

The Lost Letter by Jillian Cantor (adult fiction)

There will be a longer review coming soon but for now I will leave you with this quote: "If only Herr Bergmann, or the Fuhrer, were to know that their stamp plate was being made by a Jew, and a woman. Kristoff took pleasure in the thought that they wouldn't know. As if this tiny thing, this small act of rebellion would change anything."

Alex, Approximately by Jenn Bennett (teen fiction)

I really like the characters in this book - snarky and funny Mink, who thinks she's aloof but isn't, jerkface Porter, who's really just a sweetie with a marshmallow heart, best friend Grace, who is friends with everyone and takes crap from no one, and Mink's father, who is caring but respectful of Mink's space (I visualized him as Bob Saget). This may have something to do with the fact that I'm in the middle of watching all eight seasons of Full House (because I'm a sucker for punishment). Mink's dad really is a Danny kind of guy for those of you who like that character from Full House. Though the plot was predictable in every way imaginable, I still enjoyed watching it play out, and I wasn't disappointed there weren't any surprises. I think Bennett does a great job with capturing Mink's inner thoughts and writing some steamy stuff without it sounding cliched or making me feel uncomfortable (if there's too much PDA, I can't stop rolling my eyes, and this makes reading difficult). If you're looking for something funny and romantic with interesting characters and fun, spirited bantering (including the inner thought variety), I highly recommend Alex, Approximately.

Butterfly Park by Elly MacKay (picture book)

MacKay's illustrations transport you straight to the world where the Butterfly Park is and the little girl who's trying to fill it with butterflies. I appreciated how the community came together "with boots and gnomes and wagons" and helped plant a garden to attract the butterflies.

10 Years of Gratitude Journaling Part 2

I always thought journaling or writing a diary needed to be a long, narrative piece about your day.  Gratitude journaling helped me realize it was about jotting down the most important, positive moments of the day.  Two or three things is better than nothing.  This particular entry is one of the most wordiest I've written, but there was so much I wanted to remember about this day.

This next entry, 7/2/11, comes from my first journal:

January Reads

January was a good month for reading so this will be a double post.  I read lots of decent books, mostly about Eleanor Roosevelt, so if you're looking for someone to follow you around spouting facts about her, I'm your gal.  The biographies were good, but this is the list of books that were stellar (sorry, Eleanor).  Enjoy.

The Modern House Bus by Kimberley Mok (adult nonfiction)

A majority of The Modern House Bus focuses on a handful of house buses, how they've been converted to meet the needs of the families/individuals who live in them, and reasons for choosing a house bus lifestyle. There's a tiny section at the end that offers helpful advice for converting your own house bus if you are curious about doing so. While I will never convert a school bus into a portable house, I love the idea of one day taking my home on the road to travel the world and so I'm always thrilled to read about different styles of traveling. I enjoyed the pictures immensely and appreciated all of the clever storage solutions and beautiful craftsmanship. My only complaint is that there just wasn't enough day-to-day information, but thankfully a few of the families/individuals have blogs about their journeys.

Here is a picture of my favorite - a school bus cottage:

We Don't Eat Our Classmates by Ryan T. Higgins (picture book)

Totally hilarious spin on the golden rule. The pictures are wonderful. Lots of dinosaur drool and evocative expressions. Totally morbid, but in an educational, classy way.

Taste of Home Healthy Family Favorites (adult nonfiction)

The saucy beef with broccoli is amazing and just as good, if not better, than my family's favorite Chinese takeout.

Ms. Neck Fat and her sidekick, Ms. Death by Cuddles

There's been a proper amount of puppy cuddles going on here due to the cold and snow and ice.  Josie is sweet and rambunctious and a queen manipulator.  Her way of giving affection borders on assault.  Her favorite human is Rachel and she likes to watch Madam Secretary when she's calm.  She also loves to play ball.

Margo is a bit of a jerk with knowing, piercing stares.  She likes to carefully rip all the fuzz from tennis balls and leave the destruction everywhere.  She's faster with the commands than Josie and doesn't have a favorite human at the moment.  Sometimes she looks at us as if she's saying, "I'm not sure I understand you or like you enough to try."  She is, surprisingly, a cuddly thing who calmly leans against our legs and takes all the petting she can get.  She appears to like Jeopardy and enjoys watching it reflected in the window rather than on the screen.

They both love walks, having their teeth brushed, and mutilating toys when they're not lying on their backs making out with them.  Rachel also insists that they like her music, which is punk and screaming metal so I have my doubts but do not wish to risk my hearing to find out.  

This is Josie with Rachel, and yes we were watching Madam Secretary.

I believe this is Margo with Robert, but I'm not sure.  How they look at us is one way to tell them apart.  Their faces and stares are entirely different.  Margo has enough neck fat to cover at least two heads (she inherited the famous waddle from my side of the family), crooked lower teeth, and a white splotch on her tail.

In this next picture, Rachel was with Josie and Ella was my cuddle buddy (she's usually my cuddle buddy of choice).  Ella is looking at me as if to say, "look at what I have to put up with."

This next picture is how Rachel and Josie like to cuddle.  They both like to maul and suffocate whoever they're cuddling.  I'm sure this is one of the reasons they are each other's favorite.

you never know what you're going to find on the library shelves

Between puppies and storytime preparation, I have had little time for anything else.  Ok, and some mandatory burrowing into blankets and reading.

Today, while manning the desk, I was having a grand time typing up a book review while listening to a few toddlers happily chatter and sing in our play area.

Suddenly an entire row of DVDs on a bottom shelf crashed onto the floor.  I looked around.  No one was in sight.  I stood up to investigate, and as I walked over to the DVDs, I heard some muffled giggling.  That's when I spotted the toddler tucked into the shelf behind the DVDs.

I complimented her on finding the perfect space that was exactly her size and asked why she was hiding.  She responded by staring at me while quietly giggling.

As I put the DVDs away, she grew bold and whispered, "I'm hiding from mommy."  I wasn't too concerned because there were a few adults, including her mom, chatting in the next row and I felt pretty confident her mom knew where she was.  But no matter. I decided to play along.  I asked her how she thought her mom was going to find her since she was so perfectly hidden, and she looked me dead in the eye, and with a volume I haven't heard in awhile, screamed, "Hey mommy, I'm hiding from you!"

next week's versus wall - compact disc or floppy disk?

Currently we have two "Versus Walls" at my branch, which are on carpeted walls, one in the play area for younger kids and another in the teen area for older kids.  Kids can write down their versus ideas on a slip of paper and put it in a pretty jar on our desk (for example, ketchup vs. mustard).  Once a week a teen volunteer picks out their favorite idea from the jar, changes out the question from last week and adds images of their choosing for the new question.  Kids can vote for their question by using emojis that have velcro attached to the back. Whichever wins (mustard for example), gets to stay on the wall with a sign that reads, "last week's winner."  This is a very popular thing at my branch and was created years ago by a super smart person who is no longer here (I actually have her job now).

Today two little boys were writing down their ideas for the versus wall while their grandma helped them spell the words.  When one of the boys finished writing his question, he began to draw a picture that correlated to his question (hot dogs with cheese inside vs. hot dogs with marshmallows inside).  The grandma stopped him and told him that they'll add the pictures later.  The little boy asked where they found the images, and grandma responded by telling him we get them from a disc.  The little boy looked very confused so grandma went on to say that we insert a disc into the computer and pick out the clipart from the disc.  

The two little boys and I exchanged a look, and though they were young, I think they totally understood that we couldn't rain on grandma's parade because they just nodded and moved on to the next question.

Interestingly enough, we don't even have a disc drive anymore.  If patrons want to open something on a disc, we have an external drive they can borrow.  We do, however, receive donations of discs with programs and clip art on them, so if we really wanted to, we could borrow that external drive and find some antiquated clipart. 

10 Years of Gratitude Journaling Part 1

In 2009 I found a special journal at one of my favorite bookstores, Antigone, which is in Tucson, AZ.  

At the time, I had no idea the impact the small, orange gratitude journal would have on my life.  Since May 19, 2009, I have not only journaled nearly every day's positive moments, I also started reading the previous year's highlights once I had a year completed.  Both writing the day's positive moments and reliving highlights from previous years has been an extraordinary, uplifting experience.  Gratitude journaling also awakened my love of journaling.  Since 2012 I started journals about bicycling, work, daily haikus, zen doodling, and a handful of others.  Each of these journals has a zero negativity policy unless it's hilarious.  I also find snippets of poetry here and there in these journals and have even published a few things that began as journaling!   

To celebrate my tenth year of gratitude journaling, I will post a favorite journal entry each month.

It was incredibly tough to choose just 12 moments.  These past ten years have been amazing. 

Here is the journal that started it all:

The first entry I'm going to share with you happened less than a month after I began journaling, 6/27/09, and is drawn by my oldest niece, Izzy, who is now in high school!  I gave her my journal to color in, and this is the artwork she created: