Misadventures of the Monster Librarian

By the time you're reading this I will be on the open road, heading northeast for a weekend I've been looking forward to for about 6 months! My brother A3, sister-in-law Dayna, and niece and nephew, and friends Beth & Beth and their baby Everett and I have rented a house for the weekend near Hocking Hills State Park . So excited to see my dear friends and meet their new baby! So excited for lots of laughs, shared meals, time with people I love, hiking, and fall colors! What are you doing this weekend?

My 5 nieces in nephews, Thanksgiving 2013 with my Mom and A1. Yes, I'm the cool Aunt who buys mustaches for the kids. Then nephew Alex joined us in February. This weekend was not only about his Baptism, it was also about half our family meeting him for the first time--including all of this cousins. Who LOVE babies. Which meant lots of cute photos: Alex with cousin Gala Alex with cousin Noah I think the boys love having another boy in the family--Aidan pointed out that now the boys are tied with the girls (I am 1 of 4 kids: 2 boys, 2 girls; each of my siblings has 2 kids: 1 girl, 1 boy) Savannah was so excited to have some big kids to play with--her baby brother does laugh at her now, and roll over, but he isn't as fun as these monkeys: Syd and Aidan Gala, Syd, Noah, Savannah The girls: Gala, Syd, and Savannah with her Dad--my brother is such a good Dad. It's been interesting to watch my sibs become parents.  The time with my family was ...

A 3 day weekend--thank you U.S. Independence--and bestie Kim, Joe, and Mika, Chris & Kate and Ellie came down from Michigan for a 4th of July BBQ at A3 & Dayna's house! Had to share this picture of my accommodations; my niece was kind enough to give up her room, my brother smart enough to know I'd love the sheets on my bed for the weekend!

Last week was a stressful mess of working on our yearly state report, paperwork galore, and sorting out some staffing issues, among other things, but none of that mattered yesterday. Yesterday my beautiful little nephew was born to my brother A3 and sis-in-law Dayna. We went to the hospital yesterday, my niece, my Mom (who's watching while her parents and new brother are at the hospital) and I, and as I stood there holding this new little wonder I thought back to nearly 2 years ago when I stood in a room on this very hospital floor holding my now walking-talking-sassy niece --where does the time go!? And then there she was climbing onto the couch to sit between my brother and mom, examining her new baby brother, looking up at us to say, "Baby Alex." Heart. Melted. I can't believe I am the Auntie of 6 kids: 3 boys, 3 girls, ages 9years - newborn. Seems just yesterday I was meeting my first niece. *Sigh* So, until I can get my shit together to write a proper blog...

Best $1 I ever spent--I bought a pack of fake mustaches and left them for the kids when I left A3's house yesterday; I just asked that the kids take a picture together wearing them and someone text me the photo, as I headed out to Chicago. This is by far the best one! That's my Mom with my 5 nieces and nephews, and my sis, A1. Happy almost weekend for those of you working, as for me? I think I'm headed into the city while Chicago Boy's at work!

In the greater Cleveland area meant "Lake effect snow," inches of the white stuff, which the nieces and nephews from SC and VA were excited to play in. Snow angels abounded! Time with family, feeling grateful for the kids: this is my chunky monkey, the youngest of my 5 nieces and nephews. Working together to produce an amazing meal...what was left of mine.

At work we're preparing for our 2nd Annual Silent Auction, where local businesses and individuals donate items to the Library, which we then auction off to the highest bidder, with the funds going toward Sticks Library programs in 2014. Last year we raised over $1,300, so this years goal is $1,500 as I've hit up more businesses than last year! Wish us luck!! We're also working with Sticks College to fundraise clothing items for local families in need, in lieu of fines, we're taking said items. I know a lot of libraries do food for fines at this time of year, but our local food pantry gets so many donations at this time of year, we hit them during their drier spells, spring and fall, hence why we do a clothing drive. Busy time for libraries is definitely during summer reading, and for us at Sticks, things are slowing down with programming--aside from the normal monthly activities like storytimes and school visits, etc., we only really have a visit from Santa and ...

So much stuff to catch up on--life has been happening and I feel like I've been tottering from one thing to the next like a drunk toddler. The long and the short of it: My uncle died from cancer last week, so had to take some personal time to go home. Came back in time for a conference last week, only to head to South Carolina last Friday for some family time we've been planning on for over half a year (first time we've had Mom, all the sibs and spouses, and nieces and nephews together since my Dad died; my sis-in-law Dayna and niece Savannah weren't part of the family back then!) Came back to work Monday to catch up on so many things (computer ordering happened while I was on vacation, now dealing with all the fun things that go with that!) Anyway, I'm back, much I want to write about on a hundred things, but for now, as promised : 1st GRADE RECOMMENDED BOOKS Picture books to read aloud Amos and Boris, by William Steig – also Doctor Desoto and Sylveste...

Excited for my crazy, busy weekend that includes meals shared: dinner with my old high school teacher and his wife; brunch with an old college friend; a party at my bestie L's. A whirlwind weekend. I'm sure my head will be spinning when I get back to Sticks on Sunday, but I am so excited for the weekend away! 5pm can't get here fast enough! Getting ready to get away makes me think of this song; I love this cover, and I love the Beatles original too. The Beatles: Two of Us cover Aimee Mann, Michael Penn

Haven't been the best at keeping up lately, things have been crazy busy. My family: Mom, sister A1, her husband Mike and niece S (age 7.5 yrs) and nephew A (5.5 yrs) came up for a visit at the end of April to meet my new niece Sav. It was lots of family time and lots of pictures and lots of the baby being held, etc. It was a good visit, low stress which is good since my sister can make both my brother A3 and I a little nuts. After all the goodbyes were said and Mom was safely delivered to my Uncle Jim, bound for a month in Michigan with family, I had just enough time to clean my apartment and get ready for my visit with my friends, Magdalena and Yannick. Magdalena and Yannick are German volunteers currently working at the Farm I used to work at; I'd promised to show them some of the Midwest if they visited. Magdalena was only able to come for a long weekend (Yannick for a week), so we crammed in as much as possible. We started with Cleveland: We went to the West Side Mark...

Wednesday morning I caught a midnight train (no, not to Georgia !) to Penn Station, NYC, then boarded my next train from NYC to Charlotte, NC (the closest major train stop to my sister and her family who live just over the line in South Carolina). You can see from my route that I spent a lot of time on trains all day; going from Connecticut, to New York City, and on through Pennsylvania, Washington D.C., Maryland, Virginia and North Carolina. Fortunately I had a 4 hour stop in Washington D.C., which gave me enough time to walk past the Capitol and to the National Mall (although I didn't make it all the way down to the new Martin Luther King Jr. Monument, I did get to walk past the Library of Congress though!) Thursday morning, after not enough sleep, my Mom and I roadtriped 8 hours to OhCity, OH, home of my new library job. After looking at one apartment we headed down the street and found an apartment with soul (this was one of M's requirements for me). My apartm...

Stopping by M&N's house before I left for Jamaica (and my brother A3's wedding), 4 year old Maddie and I got to talking and she seemed confused by the idea of me being on an island for a week. "What's an island?" "Well, it's land that floats in the middle of the ocean." "But won't the ocean wash over it?" "Well, the ocean washes up on the shore, but not all over the island." "But what's an island?" Beginning to feel like my high school chemistry teacher, I took Maddie's shoe and placed it in the middle of their blue couch, "Maddie, this sandal is the island where I will be staying, and the blue couch is the ocean all around it. See how the island's on top of the ocean, sitting there?" And then she did that amazing thing that little kids do--she sat and pondered it. Later that day I again found myself hanging out with Maddie and her family and Mummy Dearest and her family, this time a...

Best friend L, hubby K and girls: L, A and V left today for saltier air; replaced by my brother A3 and girlfriend R.N. D. I feel like I haven't had time yet to catch my breath. After the bestie's family left I cleaned a little, laundered a little and checked on my cucumbers AGAIN. Already 32 more cucumbers for the picking today, enough to warrant pickle making! After running in to town for mason jars I began a batch only to realize that I didn't even have enough vinegar to pickle all the cucumbers; the resulting batch consisted of only two quarts worth. However, the batch of pickles (though small) were a good distraction until my brother A3 and his girlfriend  R.N. D arrived. Catching up and a pizza dinner down at the Farm's brick oven, then hanging out at B1 & B2s for the evening. Early tomorrow A3, R.N. D and I head to Boston for a day spent wandering the Freedom Trail . I should be sleeping, but I still have laundry to fold before I can even find...

Holy cats! 2009 is the year for anniversaries and 40 is the number : Sesame Street Monty Python the Internet Abbey Road, The Beatles Woodstock Walking on the Moon -Apollo 11 on the Moon This year is also the 40th Anniversary of when the Norman Rockwell Museum opened, and that is a good segue into where I found myself yesterday; hanging out with TSO's family. TSO's Mom, Dad and two sisters A & A were here for the weekend, staying with us at the Farm. Thanks to the Museum pass program-- library shout out !--TSO's family of 5 and I were able to get into the Norman Rockwell Museum for free. I was ambiguous as to whether or not I wanted to go the museum, as I have been many times, but wound up going because TSO forgot the free tickets on the coffee table. As always, I was pleased with the quiet solitude I can find for myself in a museum, and also found the new exhibit to be of some interest ("Behind the Camera," an exhibit documenting Rockwell's use of pho...

This morning, spilling into the afternoon, was like a Simon and Garfunkel song; I sat on a train, on this rainy day, and watched as New York City slid away from me. I reentered the outlying cities, looking out over sleepy little cities and towns, traveling over waterways on little bridges made to rock our train back and forth, lulling me to sleep. Everything about leaving the City was unlike how I’d entered it. This morning we woke up early so we could go have a breakfast in the West Village (Manhattan) where my cousin works. It was one of those wonderful successes; trying out a restaurant that my cousin passes every day en route to work, one which she had often wondered about. The restaurant is Grey Dog and a better breakfast place in town I can’t imagine I’d find. Everything about the restaurant was great, from the décor (random pictures and signs, snowboards—many things featuring dogs); to the tables themselves, which had hand painted maps of various areas around the U.S. on them...

I am sitting in my cousin's apartment in Bushwick, Brooklyn, NYC. Yesterday after work I got in the car and drove over an hour to catch a Metro North train into NYC. From Wassaic, NY I took a train in, transfering once, to Grand Central Station. As I was pushed forward with the swelling crowds--trying to act like I knew where I was going to catch my next train--I marveled at the beautiful architechture of the builiding and the famous image of the building came into my head; the image of the interior of the building with the light streaming in through the ceiling windows. The trip into the city isn't complete without seeing Grand Central; all its people rushing through going to jobs, homes, lovers; such a gathering up of people only to push them out again into the cool November streets. Two hours and three trains later (after getting seriously confused) my cousin Jessi and I found each other at the West 4th Street stop, and another couple of trains and we were walking down the ...

My family (my Mom, sister A1 and bro-in-law M, and Monster niece and nephew S and A: ages 4.5 and 3 years) came out for a long weekend, driving from Michigan. I had some time off while they were here, but also had to work a little, so I found some things for us and them to do. If you are ever in Berkshire County, MA, here are some things worth checking out: Umpachene Falls : One of the best kept secrets in the Berkshires; Umpachene is a series of tiered rocks which splash the Umpachene River down. You can either hike (carefully) up the falls on the very slippery rocks (I fell and took Monster niece S with me, though we both got up and laughed it off), or hike the trail through the woods which follows the falls. Be careful, you eventually hike to a point where it becomes private property. We had a great afternoon; Mummy Dearest, Hubby and their two kids (Big and Little Fish) and M&N and their two kids (M&S) joined my family. We ate a picnic hodge podge lunch, the kids played wit...

Seems an age in middle Earth has passed since last I wrote. Somewhere in that space of time that I was away from my blog I made a trip back to Michigan to attend the wedding of my friend Stac (and Jay), which meant I was also home to celebrate my Mom’s birthday and celebrate Monster Nephew A’s 3rd birthday (a little early). I still can't believe my little monster is 3! I remember anxiously driving to the hospital to meet my first nephew; to hold this tiny little person; to make promises over this sleeping angel. And now, he is three and full of mischief just like his old auntie. Time does fly, no? "The only reason for times is so that everything doesn't happen at once." ~ Albert Einstein While home I: Slept and slept and slept on my first day home. Apparently staying up all night before I flew wiped me out. I also hadn't been sleeping well before I left so I think my body needed it Friday I went to Stac and Jay's wedding in Flat Rock, MI. My first time ...

Not much in the way of excitement to say about my trip to Chula Vista, California. I took a week long respite from the Internet, which I have not done in a long time, so that was interesting, and at times challenging. My fingers itched for their normal daily cramps, my eyes screamed for strain! Couldn’t find a ride to the airport Wednesday morning, when I was leaving Michigan, so I had my brother A3 drop me off at Detroit Metro at 1am for my 7am flight. I settled in and tore through my summer reading list, finishing Middlesex and nearly finishing Little Men . The flight out was uneventful. I read, I slept, I wrote poetry on napkins; a romantic thing that I do when I travel (and don’t feel like digging my journal out of my bag). Cruising at 30,000 feet always makes me nostalgic, and in love with mountains and the checkerboard that the land below has become; it’s miniscule ant cars and amoeba people trailing over the board in a seemingly lazy fashion, when in actuality they have begun b...

I thought the ending of classes and my 5 week siesta, until the Fall semester, would mean some down time. Wrong-o! (I was briefly quasi-seeing this guy who would say "right-o," so this is the opposite-wasn't Charlotte on Sex in the City married to a guy that said "Right-o?"). Back from my tangent. The end of classes has meant that my family and all of my friends know that I am at home and therefore should be (for my family): A. Babysitting Monster Niece and Nephew. B. Spending more time with my family (parents, sibs, etc.) (for my friends): A. Hanging out with them somewhere. B. At the bar with them. C. Relaxing at my house with them. I should not complain, I love all the company, but my August reading list is not moving as planned...note to self, "hole up in room one night for hours of pleasure reading." Saturday last, my brother A3 and I took Monster Niece and Nephew to the zoo. It was a lovely day, not quite as hot and muggy as it has been lately. T...