Misadventures of the Monster Librarian

This week at work I had my weekly story-times with my babies group and my toddler group. It was fun. I feel like each week is about trying to see what works and that's good. This week I learned that the kids are enthralled when I use props during my nursery rhymes. I loved making the lamb sing "Mary had a little lamb," to the kids. I can hypnotise them with the furry little puppet...and take over the world...wha? I blacked out, what did I say. I also discovered this week that one of the kids in one of my story-times has the same name as a character from Harry Potter. Not a major player, but present enough in the series. Hint: think #4. Also, did my first batch of DVD ordering, since I am in charge of the Children's Department Audiovisual collection. I have this huge budget so I thought I should spend some of it, especially as there are some good kids DVDs coming out soon. I swear to God, I spent $500 on DVD's! "Holy Cats!" you say, well, some of those ...

I hate modern art, but thought this wooden light socket at the Detroit Institute of Arts was cool. Van Gogh's Self Portrait. Not sure if he has one ear or two in this one...I looked, but apparently the museum curators did not find that little bit of info important enough to include! Diego River murals--my favorite thing about the Detroit Institute of Arts! TSO checking out the Rivera murals. My favorite picture of the entire weekend with my friends. B1 demonstrating how mummies should look. I loved the reaction we got from this woman who caught us...and tsk tsk'd while we ran out of that gallery! I am bummed that it came out fuzzy, but we were in a bit of a rush!

Like many children and educators across the state I had Monday off for Presidents’ Day. Can we just say that when we were kids we never got those phoo-phoo holidays off and we turned out okay and far more patriotic than kids nowadays. In fact, I am wearing a red, white and blue muffin-top tank top as I write this. In honor of our presidents I spent the early morning trying a restaurant new to me and now a new favorite: Toast , located in Ferndale off of Woodward and 9 Mile Road. It is the most Berkshire-esque food I have found in Michigan, and I was so glad that we were able to go eat there, I have been trying to get someone to go with me forever. My food was delicious—the Farmer’s Omelet—but more interesting was B1’s omelet (I forget what it was called) which had roasted beets, carmelized onions, chevre (and maybe spinach?) which was an impressive mix of flavors that complimented one another perfectly. I also ogled TSO’s Eggs Benedict (that sounds riske) and made a mental note to try ...

Our clan stayed up talking late at L&K’s until after 3am, and the majority of our party (Sister A1 & Bro-in-law M, Bro A3, Chris and Sweet Guy T) had left. I love those nights. But I don’t love those following mornings when you are running on empty and have to get up early. TSOldtimer and I went to Mass at my church and left B1&B2 to sleep in. We regrouped and headed in the direction of food. Everything was busy due to the family-church crowd so after hearing about B1’s hatred of IHOP--strawberry crepes and an ill planned trip to Maine--we decided that IHOP was not a breakfast option and were all glad when we finally managed to dig up a Mom and Pop owned diner. Once we were all fed and more tolerant we headed down to Detroit to check out the Detroit Institute of Arts (D.I.A.), which has recently been renovated, and to my astonishment is wonderful. I am not sure what I was expecting but I was impressed. The museum seems to have grown in its collection and also in its size a...

No rest for the weary. B1&B2, TSOldtimer, and I were all up early getting ready and trying to load the car with the yummies made for the party. We got to the church early and set-up the room that the Belated Grad family Brunch was to be held in, and it was in those moments of preparation when I was spazzing out a little due to family stress that I realized how great my friends really are—when your friends can watch you turn into uber monster bitch because the delivery man from Nino Salvagio’s is dropping off a huge veggie platter and you are still wearing a tie-dyed shirt and are trying desperately to ignore your sister’s constant stream of questions, and they can just smile and nod because they understand…they really understand. That is friendship. The Brunch went well, with a little over three dozen family and close friends present, and provided a good opportunity for everyone to catch up. In light of the recent Hunger Banquet that I attended it felt a little terrible to be enjoy...

Day 1: Back to work today after three very hectic days off. Hectic, but good. Thursday night was a scramble of house cleaning and last minute touches; I was expecting B1 & B2 and TSOldtimer, fellow farmers, to arrive Friday and of course I had waited until the last possible minute to finish cleaning and prepping some of the foods that would be served at my grad brunch on Saturday. I had been eagerly anticipating B1&B2, and TSO’s visit for about a month—as eagerly as a child waits on Christmas—and now as I sit alone in a now still, sleeping household; my Roomie M and our dog Tobey now asleep; I think about how I can’t believe that just three days ago I was welcoming my friends. Friday flew by in a haze of story-times. Our round the corner pre-k-ers came in their usual Friday groups of four and we read through books on Valentines Day—what joy is mine—and this routine gave the day wings and it was no time before I was doing yet more cleaning up around the house and last minute men...

Some truths about Valentines Day (aka National Singles Awareness Day) that married or "coupled" persons don't want you to know: They bring lots of chocolates and candies into the office to give everyone. Aww..aren't they sweet (like their putrescent candy!!) NO! This is really an attempt to make the single people fat. Avoid this trap . These said marrieds or coupleds who receive flowers at work sent them to themselves. Their boyfriend/girlfriend, husband/wife thinks sitting together at home with their feet up watching Maury and sipping beer from a straw is romantic. Writing "VD PARTY" on the work calendar makes people think that syphillis cream will be handed out in goodie bags when staff exit said party. No...I am not bitter . I am snarky. How can I be bitter when I found this article today, which clearly states that we Librarians have one of the top jobs (Mummy Dearest, nurses and firefighters made the list too) in America. Didn't have to tell me...I...

This will be short since I am one break for only 20 minutes more. The library gig--I AM LOVING IT! I love, love, love what I do. I was really panicking at the end of Grad School, thinking that I couldn't believe that I had chosen a career that would put me around people all day, working customer service. But I love it! I smile at children, I am polite to old people, I help people get things, I even smile when people are crochety...who have I turned into!?? This is not the normal Monster. Finishing Grad School and putting behind me the loads of reading and papers and working too many hours with not even sleep has transformed me; this caterpillar has fallen from the cocoon. I am so glad I picked this career field, I love what I do, and I am even thinking that being a Children's Librarian is fun--a thought that I could not stomach when I was still in school. This might just be the honeymoon phase my friend warned, and that may be true, but I am savoring it! Worked the Reference De...

I can't believe how fast this week has flown by, how fast this winter seems to be casting itself aside. I have already been working my new library gig as a Children's Librarian (pt) for a few weeks and I feel like I am getting the hang of things and feeling like maybe I actually like being a kids librarian. I wanted to do Adult Reference when I finished Wayne State (after working daycare for 5 years I felt I was done with kids), but everything that I have done since I have started is WONDERFUL! First, let me say, "HOLY CRAP! There is so much prep work for even the shortest storytime!" Out of my 20 hours/week I probably only spend about maybe 4-5 hours with kids through our various storytimes and activities, 6 hours on Reference, and the rest is used for planning. This is cool because I love having that time to myself to put things together and look for things to do and consult a bajillion resources--can you say thousands of things have been put together for Elementa...

...It was Mr. Gold who counted time and eventually spoke first. “Jacob, where do you find the strength to carry on in life?” “Life is often heavy only because we attempt to carry it,” said Jacob. “But, I do find a strength in the ashes.” “In the ashes?” asked Mr. Gold. “Yes,” said Jacob, with a confirmation that seemed to have traveled a great distance. “You see, Mr. Gold, each of us is alone. Each of us is in the great darkness of our ignorance. And each of us is on a journey. In the process of our journey, we must bend to build a fire for light, and warmth, and food. But when our fingers tear at the ground, hoping to find the coals of another's fire, what we often find are the ashes. And, in these ashes, which will not give us light or warmth, there may be sadness, but there is also testimony. Because these ashes tell us that somebody else has been in the night, somebody else has bent to build a fire, and somebody else has carried on. And that can be enough, sometimes.” Thanks ...

Is it just me or does being an adult sometimes mean that a good day-off is a day spent getting errands done; and not even good errands like packing for a trip or applying for a visa or picking a friend up from the airport. I wish I had spent the yesterday morning instead sipping coffee in my old house’s kitchen, looking out into a forest harboring paths and overlooks and glancing down upon a cow pasture with cows whose morning millings were akin to my own. I wish that as I read the poems from the New Yorker—in that very kitchen—and looked out upon this field or this forest that I could hear again the sufferings of a house in the morning: the creak of old boards whose noise come without even the touch of bare feet; the rising sounds of roommates who slowly come to reckoning with the mornings rays of sunshine and bird songs; the coffee maker whose voice-clearing morning routine is as recognizable to my ears as the dark, rich smell is to my nose. Instead I woke to the love of my life ...

A few days ago I received one, no, scratch that and reverse it, I received a few emails about the reunion of a band of my youth—New Kids on the Block, a.k.a. N.K.O.T.B., a.k.a. Dannie, Donnie, John, Jordan, and little Joey Mc…Jordan was my favorite, in case you were wondering—and a nostalgia swept over me. While driving home that night, listening to The Two Towers on CD (yes, yes, I know…what is that line my roommate M always uses…ah yes, “do you know why you are single?), when I began to think of how the reunion of a band, albeit a boy band, can unleash upon us a little of the past while we may be scrambling for a sense of where the future, like that bus in “Speed,” is going. Rewind the tape of my life nearly a decade. It is the school year of ‘89-‘90, I was in 4th grade, standing without knowing it, at the precipice of the abyss, moving steadily nearer to teen angst and puberty, but still in that ignorant bliss that assured me that my parents knew best, would always know best, and we...