Misadventures of the Monster Librarian

One of our 7 year olds created this masterpiece! Day 2 of gingerbread houses and we had even more people yesterday then we did on Thursday!  74 people came to our program--we had toddlers up to senior citizens making houses and EVERYONE had a great time. Are we going to do it again next year. Yep!

This week we have two days of making Gingerbread Houses with the families, something I've been both eagerly anticipating/dreading it in that way others who have done this program can appreciate--excited for the kids, while also dreading the clean up  (the icing ground into the carpet, candy strewn everywhere), and also living in fear that we're going to run out of something important like icing or graham crackers. I DID forget the heavy duty plates and plastic knives, but fortunately there is a dollar store nearby, and I realized my error a half an hour before the program started. The program ran smoothly and we had 36 people show up to day 1 (day 2 is today); the only major mess up was when I was going to take a photo of one of the kids with their finished house for our Facebook page and my iPhone slid out of my fresh-wipe-slippery hand and went flying at the gingerbread house--through it, in fact! I DEMOLISHED his house!! There were audible gasps from all of the kids and my...

Fun.: We Are Young ft. Janelle Monáe [OFFICIAL VIDEO] I LOVE LOVE LOVE this song and couldn't start my workday without listening to it first! I had my old roomie Melissa play it at least 5 times for me while she did my makeup for the wedding this past weekend. Songs like this make me feel 20 years old again, and immortal, and that the possibilites are endless...and weekends like this past weekend can do that too. :)

I never liked holidays growing up--there was always something--I will leave it at that. When I lived out East at the farm I stayed there for every single holiday for nearly three years, absorbing some of the farms traditions; and then continued to go back for some of the holidays even after moving back to Michigan. Now with Dad gone I know that I am especially dreading this Christmas. I went to a Christmas party a couple of weeks ago at a friends house and someone overheard me say that I hated Christmas music; this after talking about how marginalized the real idea of Christmas has become, and how our culture has taken Christmas and made it into this horrible "shop-fest." My friend Chris called me Grinch. Maybe he is right. So, I have decided in the spirit of my 14 things that make me happy mode , I will list 14 alternative things to do this holiday season. And maybe even share some of the memories too. 1. Make pinecone bird feeders . This link will take you to directions if ...