Night out on the town

Last Saturday night we went out on the town! We went to see Griffin House at the Southgate house and it was awesome! We also met Sally's new super cool boyfriend Jeff. Good times!!

What to do with all this free time...

Well, I have been out of school for a whopping 2 weeks and I am doing a lot of sitting around. It is so strange to not have any homework to do or exams to study for. It is pretty cool. I am digging sitting around and catching up on my TV time. Plus, I have been baking like a mad woman. I currently have white chocolate chip macadamia nut cookies in the oven. Yum!

I made brunch for mom and Niki for mother’s day. It was really good. Same stuff I cooked for the girls a couple weeks ago: French toast, whole wheat pancakes with berry compote, banana bread, chocolate chip scones, fresh pineapple and bacon. Good food and good times. Mom and Nik hung out til around 4 which was really cool because I haven’t spent much time with either of them in a while.

I smell cookies, time to check the oven. Yummm.

I'm going to ALA!!

I am soooooo excited! I am going the annual ALA conference in Washington D.C., this summer! I can not wait. My mom is going with me. She is not going to the whole conference with me, but she is going to see the exhibits and the key note speakers. I think this is going to be so cool!

Also, I just found out today that I have been appointed to the Youth Participation committee for YALSA.
What a good day!!!

I'm sick...

I just want to point out that I am sick. Charles has given me some sort of horrible mutant cold that is crushing my will to live. I only have 4 weeks off from school...I can't spend them sick. :(

Cool New Art

I just wanted to share the poster I put up by my desk at work. I positioned it so that the public can see it to. Hope the manager doesn't mind. :)

Updates

I haven’t posted in a while and a lot has happened. I will separate the updates into the major categories:

School: I am officially on a break from school for the next month. I am so excited to have a whole month off I can hardly contain myself. I just got my grades yesterday, 2-A’s and 1-B! Not too shabby for a girl who works fulltime and has a hubby. I only have two courses and the dreaded COMPS exam left. I am taking Law Libraries (Denise swears it’s good) and Collection Development this summer. The COMPS exam will be on Friday, July 13th this summer. I am hoping this is not a bad omen. So, if all goes well I will be graduating this summer in which case their will be a *huge* party at my house! Can’t wait!

Kitties:
Anna had to get surgery for her mouth….twice! She had a severe infection and two holes in the roof of her mouth related to a clef pallet. The first surgery took care of the infection and closed one of the holes, the second surgery took care of the second hole. She is doing great and we are hoping that the kitty health issues of 2007 are over! Seriously, these cats are sending us into the poor house with all of their surgeries and procedures! On a related note Cow, is doing amazing. He seems to have recovered completely from the Metacam scare.

Chas/House:
Things are moving along smoothly with the house. Charles and Patrick have been working on the wall by the staircase. It originally had some super cheap weird panel stuck to it, but the boys are ripping off the panels and patching the walls. Soon, we will have a super cool new wall by the staircase. On the Chas, side things are super great. I am so lucky to have such an amazing patient husband. He is getting really excited about me being done with school. We have so many cool trips to take before we settle in and have a rug rat. Sometimes I have to pinch myself so that I know this is really my life. So lucky!

Ok, I am going to post a work update in a different post because this is getting l…o…n...g!

Kitty Survior

Cats compete on TV reality show

Ten cats are competing to find their perfect owner on a reality TV programme being shown in the US. The feline competitors, who all come from animal shelters or rescue groups, are being filmed in a New York shop window until 23 June.

As on Big Brother, the cats will have to complete tasks, and will be graded on purring and catching toy mice. One cat will get the boot each day until a winner is chosen, but all 10 will be given a permanent home. The programme's producers say they hope the competition will promote animal adoption.

During filming, the cats are living in a specially constructed house, complete with scaled-down sofas, beds and even a fish tank - with fake fish.
Members of the public can stop by to watch the action, which is taking place in a specially rented storefront in New York's Madison Avenue.

The American Humane Association is monitoring the wellbeing of the cat contestants during the competition.
The show is being broadcast on US cable channel Animal Planet.

Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/1/hi/entertainment/tv_and_radio/5078706.stm
Published: 2006/06/14 09:00:18 GMT

How did I know...

So, my pal Sally found this muppet personality test. She took the test and it determined that she is Kermit, which totally makes sense. The sweet natured guitar playing frog is everyone's favorite muppet. I decided to take the test to see which muppet I am most like. Here are the results.

You Are Miss Piggy

A total princess and diva, you're totally in charge - even if people don't know it. You want to be loved, adored, and worshiped. And you won't settle for anything less. You're going to be a total star, and you won't let any of the "little people" get in your way. Just remember, piggy, never eat more than you can lift!

The Muppet Personality Test

Finals and what not

I am so excited that this semester is almost over. I can finally see the light at the end of the tunnel. I am fairly certain that I will pass all of my courses this semester. I am taking three courses next semester: Young Adult Literature, Management in Libraries, and Information Storage and Retrieval. I think that it will be another bear of a semester, but at least I should really enjoy my YA Lit class. So, two more courses in the summer, I’ll take comps in July and hopefully be done. I can not even imagine what I will do with all that extra time. I have been in college for 8 years now, so I think I might go a bit crazy with all of that unstructured time! I definitely want to take a big trip after graduation. Maybe to the Grand Cannon or something. I don't think we will be able to afford a trip to Italy....but that would be awesome!

On a side note, Cowboy tore his ACL last week. He has had surgery and is doing well. I will post a picture of his sad little shaved leg soon! :)Dawn

Pumpkin-palooza

Here are the pumkins that Chas and I carved this year.

Here is Chas pumpkin. He was going for a Charlie Brown great pumpkin.

Here is my scary pumpkin!

Howling good Halloween!

Here is a picture of me and Sally at the teen halloween party. Sally is Cleopatra and I am Athena! We had about 25 teens at the party, it was awesome!



Here is a picture of me as a go-go/punk rock girl. I had to improvise my costume on Halloween day at work because my Athena dress was a bit stinky!

Victory!

I have completed my first project for my computers class. I have to say for a minute there it was really touch and go, but now I am feeling much more confident. Not only did I complete the project, but I received a perfect score on it. Awesome!

My academic libraries class is however frustrating me. The lazy professor does not grade us herself, rather she puts us in groups and has everyone act as a group leader twice during the semester. The group leaders for the week have complete control over what grade you get for that lesson. I totally disagree with a grade given to me during week one. I contacted the professor and not only is there nothing I can do about it, but I am also not allowed to see the comments that the group leader made about me. What a freaking crock. I can not believe that I paid $1000 for this course only to have my stupid classmates grade me. What in the heck do we even need the professor for?

I am pretty psyched about going to see the author Mo Willems at a local bookstore tomorrow. I LOVE his books so much. I had the store place three on reserve for me. I know that is kind of a lot but I figure I can splurge every once in a while. I am off work this weekend which is exciting. Can't wait to spend some time with Charles and maybe see the babes. They are three and a half now so I guess they aren't really babes anymore. How depressing. They will probably graduate from college before I do! Ha!

Snakes on a Plane!

This week has not been too bad. So far I have kept up with homework and online discussion groups for school, which is a feat in and of itself. Work has been steadily chugging alone. We have just hired a very cool chick to replace my old partner. I am really looking forward to working with her!

Call me crazy, but I really want to see the movie Snakes on a Plane! Yes, I am extremely scared of flying, but come on! I don't think this movie is going to scare me anymore then Kill Bill did. I think that the entire premise of this movie is so ridiculous that there is no need for concern. I just want to see Sam Jackson say "What are all these MF'ing snakes doing on this MF'ing plane!" No one can deliver a line like Sam Jackson! That’s all for now.

September already?!

Talk Like A Pirate Day is almost here! Be sure to check out this awesome pirate book about Girl Pirates on the High Seas!

I can not believe it is already September!! How is that possible. I swear, this summer just flew right on by. I am settled back into school...which is of course wonderful. I am taking three courses this semester all online. I am taking: Information Sources in the Humanities, Academiv Libraries, and Foundations of Information Technology. I have to say that both Academic Libraries and Information Tech have been incredibly intense. Looks like I will need to spend around 15 hours atleast per week on homework just to keep my head above water. Luckily, I am able to use my lunch break and 15 min breaks at work to get some stuff done. I guess the short end of this is that right now pretty much sucks.

I am really lucky that Charles is out of school and so supportive of me. He is very understanding and is really trying to help me out as much as possible. I am not as pessimistic this year as I was last year. I can see the light at the end of the tunnel. 3 courses this fall, 3 in the spring, 2 in the summer , then I take my big COMPS exam and I am done!

Things with Squirrel are pretty good. She is now on the first floor with the other kitties. Anna and Squirrel still do not like each other one bit and sometimes they get into it. The bright side is that it is mostly just cursing and name calling. I have yet to see any physical contact between the two nut jobs so I feel like we are making slow progress.

Work is crazy. Lots o stuff to be working on. Sally and I may need to just take a vacation from all things teen by Decemeber!! Its good overall. I'd rather be busy than bored. Not to mention Sally is a great pal and super fun to work with!

Well... I guess that is all for now.

Summer Reading is Over!!

Summer Reading is officially over! Whooo-who! It the strangest thing, at the beginning of the summer I am so excited and looking forward to all of the additional programs & presenters. By about mid July, I am ready to curl up in a ball and cry! This summer has been exceptionally rough. We were short staffed at my branch and I ended up working six days a week two weeks in a row. That is just no good! This week we are finishing up the RFID tagging so we are still busy---but not nearly as busy as it has been.

Things at home are good except the whole Squirrel situation. We had this brilliant idea to have Squirrel seperated out downstairs in the dining room. The hope was that Squirrel would get used to being downstairs again and that being able to sniff noses through the babygates would allow all kitties to re-connect. At first this seemed to work, so we took down the gates and had everyone mingle. After one full day of togetherness, Anna again started stalking Squirrel who again turned into a big scaredy-cat. I swear, this was such a huge let down. So now, I am trying to find Squirrel a new home. This is really stressful and it is breaking my heart to loose Squirrel. I sure hope I can find a nice home for her.

School does not begin until August 23rd, so I am really looking forward to having three more weeks of down time! Thats all for now. Hopefully I will post soon with great news about Squirrel!

Skanky Hanky

Ok--so we are living in the twenty first century here right? What is the deal with the hankerchiff? A tiny piece of fabric that you blow your nose in and then place in your pocket, only to be used later to blow your nose in. This has got to be one of the most disgusting things that people do. Yuck!

My Pirate Personaity Profile

You are The Cap'n!

Some men are born great, some achieve greatness and some slit the throats of any man that stands between them and the mantle of power. You never met a man you couldn't eviscerate. Not that mindless violence is the only avenue open to you - but why take an avenue when you have complete freeway access? You are the definitive Man of Action. You are James Bond in a blousy shirt and drawstring-fly pants. Your swash was buckled long ago and you have never been so sure of anything in your life as in your ability to bend everyone to your will. You will call anyone out and cut off their head if they show any sign of taking you on or backing down. You cannot be saddled with tedious underlings, but if one of your lieutenants shows an overly developed sense of ambition he may find more suitable accommodations in Davy Jones' locker. That is, of course, IF you notice him. You tend to be self absorbed - a weakness that may keep you from seeing enemies where they are and imagining them where they are not.

Find out your Pirate Personality at:
http://www.talklikeapirate.com/ppi.html

Rock Concert @ The Library

Check out this link!
http://news.communitypress.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2006606220428

Trouble in Paradise

So, the anti-anxiety pills for Squirrel are horrible. I have given her two pills now (she takes 1 every 36 hours) and I hate the way they affect her. For probably 24 h0urs after I give her the pill she is like a Zombie. She sleeps most of the time and seems confused when she is awake. I hate this so much. I think that I have to find Squirrel a new home. She is such a sweet cat... incredibly loving. I hate the thought of finding her a new home, but I think I will be ok with it if I know she is going to someone who will take good care of her. She deserves to not have to take anti-anxiety medicine that turns her into a zombie and to feel safe in her own house. She seems ok upstairs, but Anna has taken to sitting at the gate at the bottom and staring at Squirrel. That just seems really strange to me. Poor Squirrel. Well, hopefully we will find a safe, happy, animal loving home for her. I think she would really enjoy being an only cat. Here are some recent pictures of Squirrel. She looks a bit vacant, but that is just the medicine.

Oh the Anxiety!

I can't believe how long it has been since I posted. I really need to get better about posting more regularly. A bunch of stuff has been going on. Work is crazy busy, but tons of fun. I love summer reading. You see so many kids in the library checking out book and going to programs. Good Stuff.

Things in the kitty kingdom have gone sour. Squirrel & Anna got into a fight a month or so ago, and now they can not be in the same room with each other. We have kept Squirrel upstairs and Anna downstairs. The attempts to slowly re-introduce them to each other has not worked at all. Our last hope is to get Squirrel some anti-anxiety medicine so that she doesn't growl and hiss every time she sees Anna. I sure hope this works, because if not either Anna is going to live with my mom or Squirrel is going to have to find a new home. The whole situation is very tense. I can not imagine getting rid of any of my kitties. I am just going to think good thoughts and hope this medicine works.

It has been fantastic being out of school. I have so much less stress. Even with the craziness of work, things are much more easy going. I am dreading the thought of going back in August. Although, it is encouraging to think that I could be almost done by this time next year!!

Movie Update: Have seen MI-3 (Totally rocked!) & X-3 (Pretty dang good). Can't wait to see Superman & Nacho Libre. Man, I love summer movies!