Misadventures of the Monster Librarian

Many people don't realize the obscenely huge amounts of money that libraries spend on things like periodical subscriptions; by periodical I mean things that are considered more academic subscriptions, i.e. The Journal of Medicine and not US Weekly or People (for you non-library peeps). Granted expensive titles like what are given in the examples are found more in academic libraries than in public, it puts things into perspective--especially if you ever used your college library...maybe your brain is worth a little more, eh? Click t his link, then click Enter the Exhibit, to see a fascinating example of how expensive periodical subscriptions cost! One example that they use is, "The Journal of Applied Polymer Science costs $16,157. For this price you could donate the equivalent of 32 heifers to Heifer International and help needy families become self-reliant through sustainable development." So, take advantage of your libraries (except you TSO , since the Dollar General ...

I wrote about our Dr. Seuss Birthday Party , so I thought I would post two pics of Monster Niece S and Monster Nephew A. Monster Nephew A coloring his "Cat in the Hat," with me. Monster Nephew will be 2 in May, and his mother refuses to cut his "cute baby curls" until then. My boy's got a MULLET ! I put his hair in a pig tail the other day...cute...he looked like a mini- Westley ! Here is a picture of Monster Niece S (the blondie in the middle), 3 1/2, also making her "Cat in the Hat." There was also a really cute picture of me reading Horton Hears a Who to the kiddies, but alas, the pic would have betrayed my anonymity...so for those of you know the real me check out my Facebook page. Pics soon to be posted on Myspace too.

I promise this one won't be as "political" as the last one. Busy busy last few days, where to begin. I have been asked to write a Graduation Reflection to share at my church's Graduation Mass, and though I agreed, I am now mulling over what I will say and where I can get enough Xanax to make me feel less nervous. Thursday my boss at the Library let me trade my lunch break so that I could leave early to go downtown to Detroit and pick up my cap n' gown (not to be confused with like Capn' Crunch...?). I made it down to Wayne State in amazing time (yes, I speed), and was in and out with everything purchased and Graduation tickets picked up in 15 minutes--and not even the Meter whores who gave me 9 tickets in my four semesters there, were able to catch me. Walking back to the car cap and gown in hand, in the sunlight of a mid 40s kind of day, made me feel so accomplished. There was nothing but beauty in Detroit that day. The sun lit the old building...

Seriously, I love being a Children's Librarian. I did a reading a couple weeks back at one of the local elementary schools. I read books to 2nd graders for about a half an hour. I carefully chose my books, trying to get crowd pleasers that would show the kids that, "reading is fun," etc., so I wound up taking: Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak (my favorite) Sylvester and the Magic Pebble by William Steg The Stinky Cheese Man and Other Fairly Stupid Tales and The Little House by Virginia Lee Burton (an oldy, but still a favorite story of mine!) (Also any Librarian might notice that I am also trying to innundate the little monsters with award winners: Where the Wild Things Are, Sylvester and the Magic Pebble and The Little House are all Caldecott Medal Winners . Anyway, I was a little intimidated at first--reading to 60+ staring eyes--but once I started reading things went great and the kids seemed interested. Anyway, today I received a stack of Thank-you lett...

Had our Dr. Seuss Birthday party this weekend. We had a really great turn out for our Dr. Seuss' Birthday party, which was held this past weekend. We had 56 people of all ages come out for an hour spent reading Dr. Seuss books, Dr. Seuss themed art projects: create the cat in the hat, decorate red fish and blue fish, and create Horton's egg, and we also sang "Happy Bitrthday Dr. Seuss," complete with a Cat in the Hat cake. My Mom and sister A1 brought Monster Niece S and Nephew A. It was totally adorable--when they walked in Monster Nephew A walked up to me while I was reading our first story, McElligot's Pool , and said, "Monster," (using my real name of course) and just grinned at me. Such a sweet child and talking so much these days. We also read Horton Hears a Who! since I know that people will be taking their kids to that blasted movie!! Is anyone else dissapointed to see that a book which takes all of ten minutes to read is being turned into a mov...

Saturday was a lazy day and I have little more to ulger of its passing than to say that I saw " Harold and Maude " for the first time and was so taken--so unbelievably taken in by that movie! I loved everything about it: Harold's disgust with his family situation and his mother's opaque upper class unawareness, Maude's simple way of seeing everything, the dialog, the scenery, the simple love that grows between them--I am so tired of every movie that I see which usually winds up in a passionate sex-fest, and while I understand that passion can be part of attraction, I also believe in a good friendship in my basis of love. I also love the Cat Stevens soundtrack for Heaven's Sake!! Cat Stevens did for this movie, what Simon & Garfunkel did for "The Graduate," (which by the way I do not like!) In short I think I have found a new movie to add to my list of favorites. Maude: I should like to change into a sunflower most of all. They're so tall an...

Spring cleaning has been on my brain, as you may have noticed , and yet I was unable to confront the boxes that I still have hidden away in the trunk of my car and the huge pile in the basement at my house. I think part of me knows that it may be hard and nostalgic to go through those boxes from Mom and Dad’s basement, and is avoiding that, but I also know that part of me loves to hang out too much and that is the real reason that I did not get to any box sorting this weekend. I did rearrange and “Spring clean” my room, and while everything was being reordered and “feng shui-ed," I was continually astonished at how many tufts of dog fur I found hidden in the dark spots of my room (i.e. under my bed) and in the corners. YUCKO! I am very sure that our dog Toby is in fact balding and has thus far been amazing at hiding that fact from me—but I am on to him now. I feel like my social calendar has been so busy lately that I have not been able to truly meditate this Lenten season and I...

Another weekend is upon us. It seems that the weeks are flying by and Spring is around the corner. Though we received another 7.5 inches of the fluffy white stuff the other day Spring is definitely in the air. The temperature while still clinging in the 20s-30s has been surprisingly gentle with the sun making its first appearances--from behind grey cloud--in what seems like the first time in centuries. Amazing how winter can be so awe inspiring at times; that first snow is delicate and welcomed, but Jesus, by the end I am willing to beat up my old neighbors for even a glimmer of sunshine. This week went by mercifully fast after those long days. This week I had my weekly Babies and Toddler storytimes as well as one of my Afternoon groups were the kiddies come in and we read a few books and do art projects. This weeks theme was the ocean so I read a book called 100 things you should know about the Ocean or something like that, and my kiddos (had 8 this week--my biggest batch for this ...