Of Cabbages and Kings

Seen while Driving

2012-01-30T12:32:00.002-05:00

Today, I saw three things that gave me pause while driving. Well, not actually pause because the other cars around me were going like 65 and that would have caused things that would have prevented this posting.

The first was a license plate. I am definitely thinking that it was a vanity plate. Otherwise, someone got lucky and somehow got SUP FOO. I think it was supposed to be What's up, fool... it must have been the failed tag line of Bugs Bunny cousin, Insect Rabbit. All I thought was it would be what a cop would say if he caught you doing something illegal in that car. Particularly since it was so very easy for a witness to remember.

The second was a bumper sticker. Now, this one I have never seen before. I am seriously tempted to ask where the owner got again. Again, unfortunately, we were driving 65 so I could not have heard what he said even if I could ask. The sticker read: "This property is protected by Pirates" with a Jolly Roger above the statement. I have heard of Safetouch and ADT but Pirates. I am betting that it is one safe property. I am sure I saw a cannon in the back seat.

The third was a truck that I passed. It was just a plain ordinary white truck but for the fact that it was covered in stencilled on political graffiti. LOL I don't recall the last time I was on the fence politically and then saw a stencilled truck and thought "Wow! That truck likes him so I should vote for that guy". Though it did make it into a blog post... so maybe it sorta worked.

Good day and Eyes open.

Something I was working on tonight

2012-01-27T20:50:00.002-05:00

I held a girl of smoldering fire to my heart today.
My breath makes swirls of her ash and soot.
Inside she is a girl of molten gold,
free to be molded into her dreams.
Yet this girl choses to set herself alight.
To embrace the pain, to destroy all that hides within.
My tears to steam turn before leaving traces on my heart.
My embrace tastes of nothing but agony.
My burning prayers of faith for phoenix and not failure
mingle with flakes of ash in the morning air.
How do I burn yet hold fast?
Pain upon pain upon pain
Sweetens her kiss.
Release and hold true somehow I must.
Seams have not the same bond as I.
They scream in freedom.
Could I not learn to love that scream?

I held a man of vanishing mist today.
Aching with all my being to clasp that which slips away.
Broken and rightly so he believes
his pain to be well deserve for some imagined offense.
I curse the wind ever changing
to blow him back in my direction.
Back into form and forgiveness.
The wind merely snatches my breath like
an unruly child running from parent.
Reflections of my love are all that remain
in this wild swept gale.
I suck in sweet air but not he.
Sunshine has coveted him for long
and thus reclaimed the mist.
Misty eyes now mine
as sorrow courses out of every pore.

3 Miracles

2012-01-16T23:20:00.002-05:00

One definition of miracle is an effect or extraordinary event in the physical world that surpasses all known human or natural powers and is ascribed to a supernatural cause. Or it can also be an effect or event manifesting or considered as a work of God. Another defintion of it is a wonder or marvel.

I experienced 3 miracles today. There are more but I'll let you figure out what other ones happened today.

Miracle 1: Night into day. I don't want to alarm you but you're moving. All of us are. All the time, the earth spins on its axis. Each day it spins and turns day into night and then night into day. I mean it seems commonplace not miracleous. But imagine if it didn't.

Miracle 2: My chest rose and fell. Just now. Look, I did it again. But then so did you. Again, you would think commonplace but imagine if you didn't. It did get me thinking of all the things that I do which everyone does. We all breathe, bleed, fart, die and such. More alike than we choose to admit.

Miracle 3: I was loved today. And so were you. Even if you didn't notice or care or can admit it to yourself. Every second of every day, God loves you and me and everyone. Good, bad, crazy, sane... it doesn't matter. All that matters is he does. Whatever I do or am, I am loved and so are you.

To me, even though I don't stop to think of them as miracles every day, they are. Each of these is a marvel to me. I wish for one second everyone in the world could see these miracles.

Good night and watch.

Ironic

2012-01-15T22:11:00.002-05:00

What do you mean the other kitties want to play with my toy?
Benja and his new cat toy

Crazy cat lady candy tin

All tuckered out after play

We ate out a bit ago at a local sandwichy show that sells European food and such. It was there that B bought me a tin of little cat shaped candies. The candies came in this tin. They were Crazy Cat Lady candy.

In the movie "Til There was You", the main character is told that if she goes over 3 cats and is still single, she moves into Crazy cat lady status. Well, when we met, I had 3 cats. But he loved them and me. We now have four and I have amended that idea. It is now so many per person. So for us, crazy cat people status only comes if we hit seven. 3 for each and one more pushes us over.

Though some might find us crazy now with four. In my own way, I have always and will be always a lady who is crazy about cats. I love and care about my own. They make me laugh and cry and get angry. But no matter what, I love them. I feel that same way about my family, my husband, and my God. All of the above have made me laugh and cry and get angry. But no matter what, I love them.

Good night and meow.

To Share

2012-01-14T21:37:00.002-05:00

Once upon a time, I had a wall. But not much to hang on it. I was barely out of college so I created a wall sized collage. I put pictures, quotes, funny sayings, etc. on this wall.

Well, the other day I stumbled upon some of the things I had posted and I would like to share. For one reason or another, these things spoke something to me.

"If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer. Let him step to the music which he hears, however measured or far away" ~Henry David Thoreau

What if the Hokey Pokey IS what it is all about?

It calls for an individual sense of style that is a bit adventurous.

It speaks to an open, young, creative, inquistive state of mind.

It requires timing, imagination, confidence, daring and vision.

It's for those who welcome the new, the unusual, the unexpected.

God bless you!

"You can complain because the roses have thorns or you can rejoice because thorns have roses" ~Ziggy

"We should keep for ourselves a little back shop, all our own, untouched by others, in which we estabilish our true freedom..." ~ Montaigne

"Choose a job you love, and you will never have to work a day in your life." ~Confucius

Grow closer to your friends. Plant a tree to outlast you. Bloom out of season. Sprout wings and soar, earth angel.

"The Lord himself is my inheritance, my prize. He is my food and drink, my highest joy! He guards all that is mine...I will bless the Lord who counsels me; he gives me wisdom in the night. He tells me what to do. ~ Psalm 16:5,7

What on Earth

"Always do what you want, and say what you feel, because those who mind don't matter and those who matter don't mind" ~ Dr. Seuss

"If you realize that you have enough, you are truly rich" ~Tao Te Ching

I made a promise to bring romance back into my life, to kiss negativity good bye and love the dawning of each new day!

"Curve: The loveliest distance between two points." ~Mae West

" We make ourselves up as we go along." ~Kate Green

"If everyone demanded peace instead of another television set, then there'd be peace" ~John Lennon

My essence glows. My heart dances. My voice sings.

"Reading should be an education of the heart...[It] reminds you that there is more than you, better than you" ~Susan Sontag

breather calm. Peace found here. Embrace it.

"Everything has beauty but not everyone sees it." ~Confucius

"I am not the same, having seen the moon shine on the other side of the world." ~Mary Anne Radmacher-Hershey

"We are here to add what we can to, not to get what we can from life" ~Sir William Osler

He's dead, Jim. You take his tri-corder and I'll get his wallet.

"I have gone ahead despite the pounding in the heart that says: turn back." ~ Erica Jong

I wouldn't be broke if the voices in my head paid rent.

"There came a time when the risk to remain tight in the bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom." ~Anais Nin

"The ordinary acts we practice every day at home are of more importance to the soul than their simplicity might suggest." ~Sir Thomas More

"...the way you live your life, the perspective you select, is a choice you make every single day when you wake up. It's yours to decide..."

We are born works of art.

Eve: From the Hebrew meaning, "life giving". A lady with a loving nature. She is a devoted mate. Romance, love and unity are central to her life. She is without equal or rival.

Good night and speak well.

Pawprints on my heart

2011-12-28T12:37:00.003-05:00

Once upon a time, I had a little cat who wasn' t so little. He was grouchy and demanding but also incredibly loving. If I sat down, he was in my lap. My sister brought him to me from Gainesville. Before that, he was an outdoor kitty who lived around in her apartment complex.

Basil was one of the first kitties of mine that my husband met. It was love at first sight. For us and for him and Basil. He called him my comfort kitty. Whenever I would get upset, the first thing B would do would be to go find Basil.

After over eight years with me (and then us), one day he began acting strange. He just seemed to lay around (even more so than normal) and didn't want to eat or drink. I decided to take him to the vet and this was a good thing. His liver was failing and if I hadn't taken him, he might have died while we were at work. We wouldn't have been able to say good bye. But we did get to say good bye and got to tell him how much we loved him.

He died over 6 months ago. I don't know why I was thinking about him today. I do think about him often. I miss him so much. I cry about him sometimes. Heaven is where he deserves to be even with his grumpy meows. It is sad to miss him but in the end I treasure all my memories of him.

Good day and meow : )

One Last Holiday Tradition

2011-12-26T23:19:00.003-05:00

We had meant to do it for my birthday but instead, we did it tonight. We headed down to St. Augustine for their Night of Lights. It is like the whole center of town is decked out in lights. Houses, parks, museums, churches... all were gleaming in the night.

We were able to hop about a trolley to ride around to see it all. Hop being a loosely used term. Particularly since we had parked at one trolley lot to take a trolley to stand in line for another trolley. But it was truly lovely and worth the wait (mostly : ) The streets were just buzzing with people. I think the thing that was Beloved's favorite was the display at the Potter Wax Museum. Both their front windows were decked in holiday decorations along with Darth Vader, Boba Fett, R2D2 and C3PO. I'm sure the Rebels and Empire troops held the cease fire for Christmas.

Good night and May the Christmas be with you.

Turkey is In

2011-12-25T09:58:00.002-05:00

And the cats have begun to enjoy their presents. Apparently all the unwrapped boxes became new kitty toys : ) It was a quiet Christmas. My favorite gift was my subjective one. I did my list on Amazon this year. But as always, I had one request that wouldn't fit on Amazon. I have so far asked for a bottle of sunshine, a jar of moonlight and this year's was a box of dreams. Beloved got me that one this year. He found a candle that was both labeled dream and was in a box labeled dream. I must start making these requests more difficult : )

I wonder if there are any open restaurants just in case... that turkey scares me a bit. I don't roast whole anythings very much. Baking I can do but roast just seems strange and foreign. We're also going to be having baked potatos, corn on the cob and cranberry sauce. LOL on the last one as Beloved and I don't like the same type of cranberry sauce. We bought two cans. One for each of us. We can comprise on most things except cranberry sauce.

Good day and Merry Christmas, world!

Mrs. Claus

2011-12-20T20:24:00.002-05:00

What do you mean you didn't leave out cookies for Mrs. Claus?

I really wanted to make our holiday party something special. So today I did storytime as someone special, Mrs. Claus. The above pics are my dress rehearsal. I was a bit busy doing storytime so I forgot to get someone to take my picture today. I had added a Christmas apron and painted my eyebrows white. It was wicked hot but such fun. We read A Pirate's Night before Christmas and Who will drive my sleigh tonight for the storytime. Then we had a sing-along (I had to remind them of that) and then lots of fun crafts. We had a stocking giveaway and then everyone got to take 2 books as a present from the library. There were about 20+ people there of all ages.

Good night and to all a good night : )

Another Day of Shooting

2011-12-14T23:30:00.002-05:00

After a long morning of cash handling training, I needed a break. A puppet break, of course : )

We shot another scene for the puppet commerical. I can't wait to post it in total. They are doing the Hootie awards again and this might help my vote for Most Likely to Talk to Puppets. Not quite the Oscars but still it is fun to receive credit for something that make me and others laugh.

I also am going to be Mrs. Claus for work on two different days. I have all my pieces of my outfit. I am looking forward to that too. I literally have the best job in the world for me. I love doing storytime and sharing the joy of books with kids. I still get lost in my books and want kids to feel the same way. Books and language. I love using new or interesting words. Gregarious or erudite are two of my favorites. I hope I am both of those things : )

Good night and in the jungle (You'll see when I post the video)

Librariam

2011-12-13T21:03:00.002-05:00

It was not my first attempt at mispelling today. Earlier I had been creating beautiful tags for some staff awards. One of my first one was supposed to say Most likely to suffer a breakdown if they catch a customer shelving a book. On my tag, it read Most likely to suffer a breakdown if they cath a customer. I certainly hope no one is doing that in the library.

Then tonight, as I was renewing my passport. This title is what I put for Occupation. I changed it as it would look super bad to have that forever stuck on my passport.

God night and yes, I know but it was intentional : )

Woops!

2011-12-12T20:54:00.002-05:00

: ) It was a good thing I got pics of the beautiful job I did on decorating our house with lights. Apparently the hooks I used were NOT super duper solid as my lights were on the ground this morning.

Though on the plus side for today, I did get to film most of my puppet commerical for the staff party in January. Any day where I get to have fun with puppet is a good one.

Good night and puppets rock!

Holidays at the Harms

2011-12-11T10:47:00.001-05:00

Our first ornament was also our wedding topper. Now we collect them whenever we go somewhere new.

Kitty Nativity. I am super sure that this is an actual reenactment of the birth of Christ.

Our Tree

Mechanical Christmas Singers

Holidays at the Harms : )

Santa Kitty is Coming to Town

(S)He knows if you've been bad or good... or in this case evil for putting a poor cat in a Santa Hat.

The wreath on our door

A first. We've never put up Christmas lights. Thanks to Mommy Harm for the lights.

Decks the Halls

It's beginning to look a bit like Christmas. We put up our tree and lights yesterday. It was fun as we put the ornaments on the tree, we remembered where we had gotten them. The first ornament we got was the cat bride and groom. It was also our wedding topper. Since then, we have gotten them from everywhere we've been together. I really like our Pirate Santa that we got in Amelia Island. LOL He even has a peg leg : ) We also have ornaments from his and my childhood. I put up the crochet catcus for him and he hung the golden carriage for me.

Good day and joy to the world!

The night lingers...

2011-10-05T14:22:00.002-04:00

I have never been a quiet sleeper or so I've been told.

Last night was the worse it has been in a while. B said at first he didn't realize I was asleep. I had my eyes open and I was talking. But then I started having conversations with people who weren't there... he said something about hikers. Then I started talking gibberish. The weird part is there are parts I was at least aware of slightly. I remember trying to talk but I couldn't get my mouth to work. He said I kept pushing him in the shoulder... not hard but still.

The other thing was the kitten was hopping all over me. He had bought one of his toys in. Ben has done this in the past. It is a pole with a string tied to it. It got tangled in my legs. I was laughing and trying to get free. B thought that the kitten might be scratching me. He asked me if he could put the kitten out. I started to cry... not just politely into my pillow... but full on wailing. I actually woke myself with it. And continue for a minute or two afterwards until fully awake. I really don't know what set the crying off. I don't remember.

I was a bit stressed over work schedules changing before bed but that was about it. It definitely has me feeling off kilter today. Very similiar feeling afterwards to a horrible nightmare I had years ago at a youth group mission trip. I want to just stay away from everyone.

Good day and sweet dreams.

My Beloved

2011-09-14T19:44:00.002-04:00

I was so nervous about meeting him that I almost didn't get out of the car. I mean, we had talked on the phone and via email but our first date was our first face to face. I had picked the perfect outfit and had checked him out on Google. There was a surprisely abundant amount of info. It has helped that he had run for office a while back. But all of that didn't make me any less scared. I was afraid of falling in love, I was afraid of a horrible date, I was afraid one day I might like him more than he liked me.... to put it mildly, I was afraid.

But I did make it out of the car into the July noon heat. A couple of minutes more of me being afraid and I would have missed him. See, he had left his phone by mistake and with me being late, had been worried that I had called and cancelled. He had been thinking of going home for his phone when I walked up. We ate japanese food and talked, rode to the movies and talked, went out for ice cream and talked. By the end of the six hour long date (the longest I have ever had), we had date two planned.

As we talked, I found him to have a kind heart, an incredibly brillant mind and a quirky sense of humor. That is the same thing I find when I talked to him this morning.

The first time I heard "Feels like Home", I knew that was our wedding song because it is exactly how I feel in his arms. I feel like I am home. I've told him that I love him beyond words. I've tried to put it into words like this posting. But it doesn't do justice to the breathe and depth and scope of how I feel.

I love you, Beloved.

Good night and Happy Birthday, Beloved.

Mama Kitty

2011-08-14T12:26:00.002-04:00

Beloved and I have added a new addition to our kitty family. This is Ben or Benja the Ninja as B calls him.

I was not sure that I wanted another kitty before. Losing Basil was extremely tough. It was the first time that B had to help me into the house because I crumbled when I got out of the car. It still is tough.

But Ben has helped and I love him for that and for being himself. He has an extremely sweet nature but loves to play too. He is a lap kitty like Basil and a water kitty like Henri and a player like the girls.

Good day and happy kitties : )

I swear I was a shy child

2011-06-11T19:22:00.002-04:00

Alas, no one believes me anymore. I try to tell people that I was so quiet that my family used to routinely make everyone else be quiet and then ask me to talk. I still am quiet at times or in larger groups.

But no one believes me. I am a one-liner. When B and I write the puppet plays, I am a good quipper. I tend to that a lot I have noticed. I do the one liners to make people laugh. My favorite iin the library play was when I sang "I'm a dictator, I'm a dictator, I'm a dictator, woo hoo hoo." It wasn't scripted... it was just what I felt the Miss Ewe character might do.

Funnily enough, no one believes me now when I say I'm not a puppet person. I have now done three filmed ones. We just finished Glog a bit ago. But I still say I am not a puppet person. I might be learning to be one but I am not one yet. We are still working on the editing. : )

Good night and Wakka wakka wakka : )

I may be less quiet but I still find I need my quiet times.

Sleepy Day

2011-06-05T23:10:00.003-04:00

I found myself awake for no reason at 6:30 a.m. this morning. It was the second day in a row that this had happened. I dreamed that I had gone to a party and seen an old friend. When I hugged him hello in the dream, it felt very much like a good bye hug. How you can tell the difference I don't know. Afterwards in the dream, I demolished a toilet. I mean smithereens... what exactly this means I don't know. Beloved said he dreamed of a anamatronic puppet play in Amelia Island. We had just gotten back from there last week. He dreamed that he lost the tickets and had been waiting in a long line. He had finally found the tickets when he had woken up.

This was my part of my dream list I wrote in 1996.

I am quite amazed on how many of these I have done. What is even funnier is I have the 1994 version of this and how much changed in just two short years. I have always been a big dreamer either awake or asleep.

Good night and sweet dreams... : )

How to Disappear

2011-06-01T23:46:00.002-04:00

I've been reading this book recently called How to Disappear by Frank Ahearn. Now, let me preface this by saying I am not planning to disappear. Though I imagine if I were, I wouldn't be telling anyone either.

It really has been an interesting read. You basically not only have to learn how to leave your old life behind but then you have to create a false trail for those that come looking for you to waste time and money and hopefully convince them to give up the search. He spread intriguing stories throughout the book along with helpful advice. Like the one guy that was so hard to find until the writer found out that he had a serious love for lobsters and tracked him through one of the few companies that ship lobster around the states. Or the people who went the trouble of hiding only to be busted by their friends posting pics telling everyone what a great time Bob was having in SouthAmerica.

Though he does include a section which fit me more. It was about the controlling how much information is out there about you or making it harder for those that bug you to find you. Though I had to laugh when he said to write the misinformation (wrong address or slightly wrong name) down in a notebook. I am constantly leaving stuff down and then walking away particularly at work as I get started on a new project.

Good night and I will be back : ) ...maybe : )

1st Ever Jacksonville Public Library Hooties

2011-05-02T17:57:00.002-04:00

For a staff event recently, they came up with some unusual awards such as JPL's Unsung Hero or Most Likely to Shush you. Well, I won one of these prestigious awards....

I was awarded the Most Likely to Talk to Puppets.

In order to accept my award, I found it only fitting to make sure that I took a puppet to the award ceremony. It came up on stage with me. As I turned to the audience with my puppet on my hand, I wondered aloud why they felt that I was a person who talked to puppets...

And they laughed. Then my puppet said Thank you and we both went and sat down. All in all a good night. And a very fitting award : )

Sometimes the Emotions get in the way...

2011-04-20T23:10:00.002-04:00

I have been working diligently tonight on transcribing a notebook of poetry. I am about five pages away from being done.

It isn't mine. It is a dear family friend's. She passed away today. It wasn't sudden as she had been put into hospice not that long ago. But it does make me sad on one hand. I know that she has gone Home but I am selfish and wanted her here. God does seem to get all the best people.

Though I ended up with a lot of really good memories and some good stuff. I thought about it the other day and she is literally all over my house. Paintings in the bedroom and guest room. A end table in living room and bookcase in the library.

And this notebook.

I found one that I particularly liked ( I hope you don't mind, Dad. I'll take it off if you do....):

My evening and morning canticles
Are sung by a small brown bird
Perched on the tip of a naked tree
Rejoicing in all his eye can see.

His Word delights and sustains us
My heart leaps up at the sound of the bird
My throat fills with praise for my God.
I lift my arms, like the tree I am bare.

He clothes me with blessings and love.

Thank you, Lord of the day and the night.
For the bird and the tree and their song
For the gift of praise which we lift to thee.

By Barbara White

Thank you, God, for letting this incredibly special person into our lives. I know you took great care of her here and know that you will continue in heaven.

Good night and God bless.

Reading

2011-04-12T19:30:00.002-04:00

I have been reading a number of books all at once. It just depends on where I am. I have The Devil in the White City in the bathroom. It is the telling of the first World's Fair in America and the serial killer that used it to his advantage. I think the best thing I learned was that Elias Disney was a carpenter and told his son Walt about his part in creating the World's Fair. I have Little Women Vampires in my bookbag. It is the latest in a series combining classics literature and a current trend. It is not wonderful but it is very cheesily good. My favorite part so far is when Beth thanks Mr. Laurence for the piano by turning him into a vampire. I have also been reading Full Moon No Stars which is a new Stephen King. It is rather like looking at a baby and seeing the parents in various expressions. I see different parts that remind me of other of his stories. Though I am only through halfway into the second story, I have decided that he must have a thing about librarians. My favorite part of it all was his dedication. It said To Tabby... still. He is one of the few people who I have read where I like his introductions sometimes as much or more than his stories. This week is National Library Week and for it, my branch (well, it was me actually) put up a display of Readers Rave. These were books that staff, teens and volunteers picked out. I even created a whole line of personalized bookmarks. That way, you know who liked a book. Mine say Eve Enjoys : ) And I do enjoy my books. I still check out as many as my account will hold and have to stop myself from checking out more. I just checked out one called Hello Kitty Must Die. I'll let you know what happens. Good night and read well.

Dad's Puppet Progress

2011-04-03T17:55:00.004-04:00

Today, B and I worked on the costumes for Dad's puppet commerical. It was something B and I came up with to promote Dad's books. Plus it gives us a chance to have a little fun together with puppets and filming. We still have to order the club wielding puppet and blue fish.

Daniel the Priest Praise the Lord!

Daniel sans costume

Daniel's Costume

Soon to be Clubs

Cross

Good day and have you hug a puppet today?

Stewball and 500 Miles

2011-04-02T00:33:00.002-04:00

I used to wonder what my soundtrack for my life would be and what songs would be included. Music premeates my whole life. I listen to it or sing as I wake up, work, shower and a multitude of places in between. I laugh and cry to music. Today I actually teared up singing along and listening to "Feels like Home". It was what B and I danced to as our first dance as man and wife. I had recorded a version of it as a present for him but it didn't work. But in a way it worked out better since I got to sing it to him as we danced. I remember growing up listening to some of my Mom's records. I loved Peter, Paul and Mary. And Frankie Avalon and Godspell. I even remember singing the theme from American Tale on long trips with P. Or creating a song book with all the songs from Camp Weed. ... no, it wasn't That kind of camp. It was a church summer camp. I have always taken the Make a Joyful noise to heart. Good night and sing loud!

National Security

2011-03-23T12:06:00.002-04:00

I'm waiting for the SWAT, National Guard and Special Forces to descend on my doorstep.

I just got off the phone with my older sister J. In a spur of just for the heck of itness, I had sent her flowers. And had placed the order with FTD. I had never used them before. So I was surprised to find out that they use FedEx instead of a local florist.

I guess when a surprise box landed on her doorstep, she was a bit suspicious. I had forgot to sign the card as my message took up all the space. I had assumed that the florist would put who it was from on the outside of the envelope. Plus FTD has some privacy policy. They won't tell her who sent it.

So she had T open it outside. It had come from Georgia. Goodness knows nothing good comes from there : P Apparently I didn't know I was a mad bomber. I just thought I was a nice sister.

When she told me, I almost fell on the floor from laughing so hard. I just have this mental picture of them sending Britney out to sniff and investigate and her running away. Or them sending the bomb squad to blow it up and a shower of petals afterwards. Too funny....Evil Eva the Mad Bomber strikes again... insert evil laugh here.

This will cure me of for the heckedness.

Good day and laugh well.

Change for me

2011-01-22T14:42:00.003-05:00

Same face, same hair, same me... Beloved is changing though. He is moving his Wednesday game to Monday. This means a night I work is a night he games. Thus Wednesday will be free for other things like dancing. : )Yay: )

I didn't ask him to but he did it for me. I've changed one thing too. When I start to fuss about cleaning or whatever, I stop take a breath and tell him thank you. Or I love you. What I am fussing over is not important. Those words are.

In fact, they are right over my head right now. I have a note posted to my desk. It says Love you! Mark.

Good day and I love you too, honey.

Perspective

2011-01-13T13:08:00.002-05:00

I have worked in all sizes of libraries : small, medium and large... and every single one says that they don't have enough room. Granted we do get books in all the time, but books (yes, I said books) go out the door too. Maybe we should all invest in Nooks : ) though I've heard crannies are better : P

The library has been busy lately. Everyone coming back in from their holidays. I've been helping out at another library and doing their storytime. I have missed doing storytimes. For my first one, I wore cat ears. The reason I am doing the storytimes is to train the staff there to do them. They have been told that they must provide storytimes and have not one staff member with a children's background. The closest they have is one who used to do teen work. Sometimes the teens can be a bit like toddlers but not quite. Basically I am slowly having them take over parts of the storytime. I hope it will work.

I myself am doing teen programs at my home branch. Today's program is the Wii. It is just a chance for the kids and myself to socialize and have some fun. I have a unique opportunity to be a positive adult in their daily life.

Good day and have fun!

Begin Again

2010-12-29T13:16:00.002-05:00

The year is almost over. I asked Beloved what his favorite thing was about the soon-to-be last year and he said our new house. It is a wonderful place.

We have now hosted Christmas. I wanted it to be relaxed and low key. And it was. I did the devotion (See December 2009 for the written script) and filmed it with my new camcorder. I was nervous and it took like 17 takes but it turned out really well.

We had family in from Maryland as well. I think my favorite part of their visit was them getting to see my library and F's reaction to his gift. He described the USS Enterprise pizza cutter as beyond spiffy. I am glad that they both came down this year and I know that it pleased Dad to no end to have all 6 of his children in the same room.

For the before Christmas and the day after, Beloved and I hid away and did our own thing. Getting together with everyone is wonderful but tiring. I told him that next year, we are going to the Bahamas....

Good day and Happy almost Old Year : )

In the wee small hours of the evening...

2010-12-07T18:28:00.002-05:00

when the whole world is still awake. I listened to the Sleepless in Seattle soundtrack the other night and that song is still stuck in my head. We have put up the tree and the musical animals. We have bought presents and looked at possible christmas cards. We have put up the kitty nativity. But other than that, no other Christmas preparations have been made.

We are having Christmas at our house. It will be in the afternoon. Unfortunately I don't believe it will be dark enough to go down the street to the dueling houses. There is a corner at the end of the street where about 75 percent of the houses are done up in all many of Christmas decorations. It is like a visual top that contest.

We are not topping that though. I have some decorations in the window and the wreath on the door. I am not strive to outbrighten my street. I will just stay in my car and watch as others play that game.

Good night and enough that : )

I did not...

2010-11-29T16:27:00.002-05:00

I did not go shopping in the wee hours of the morning post Thanksgiving. I believe my sleep is worth more than any sale.

I did not completely stuff myself with turkey. This year, our first year in the new house, it was just the two of us. I got a small turkey breast (which we are still working on : )

I did not see my family. That might seem a bit odd. I did get a voice mail and had talked to my dad earlier in the week.

I did not feed the cats turkey. Well, at least not until Sunday night : P

I did not get cranberry jelly. I got the whole cranberries sauce instead.

I did not eat stuffing. With no turkey to put it in and no Mom's best stuffing to eat, I just made some for Mark. I ate mashed potatoes instead.

Good night and do not....

My short list

2010-11-27T16:31:00.002-05:00

Growing up, I was known for my enormous Christmas lists. I considered it a wish list and therefore anything was game. I used to always have Peace on Earth on it too.

Right now my list is about 20 or so items. It is probably the shortest list I have ever written. Don't get me wrong... I still want presents. But I am content right now. I have a job I like. I have a husband who loves me as much as I love him (which happens to be quite a bit). I have friends and family that I love and who still love me and like spending time with me. I have a joy about life that I treasure. I am fairly healthy.

My wish list is now a would be nice list. LOL But I am continuing a tradition of one abstract wish on the list. A couple of years ago, I asked for sunset in a bottle. I got it from my parents. They took a picture (I think it was a sunrise but I'm not quibbling) and put it into a glass bottle with a cork stopper. It is one of the best things on my desk at work. Last year, it was a jar of moonlight. I got that from Mark. He had found a candle in a jar. The candle's name was Moonlight : ) It is in the office at home. Two things I've learned.... ask because you just might get it and intangible doesn't mean impossible.

Good night and make a wish.

Without a List

2010-11-23T15:32:00.002-05:00

A package came in for me yesterday. Well, for me, in the sense that I knew what was in it. It was a present for Beloved and my parents.

So I ended up hiding half in my closet and half in the guest room closet. I bought both before I knew what anyone wanted. Though B's is something he has mentioned wanting. It wasn't from his list. Since no lists have been made. We always make our christmas lists after thanksgiving.

I am a list girl. I make lists for shopping, goals, my to dos. I even have an eighth grade one of the man I love/marry lists. That one was a long one. I don't recall what was on that one but I believe cute buns was : ) Though it didn't make the starred list. The starred list was the one we had to create of the things that were important from the first list.

I also had a daily verb adverb list. It was things like love fully or laugh deeply or sing loudly.

Good night and live joyfully.

Bitten by Shrimp

2010-11-20T20:55:00.002-05:00

I normally love shrimp. I am not to the level of Bubba, Forrest Gump's friend, but I do like it.

Yesterday it did not love me back. As best I can figure, it was either the shrimp or the ranch dressing. Regardless it was a less than stellar night. I don't think I actually truly got to sleep until about 5 a.m. Too much running to the bathroom. I hated pulling B. away from his Friday night game. I just wanted him to be there with me. There wasn't much he could do. But I wanted him there.

I am feeling better today. Not quite 100 percent. Maybe more like 75ish.

Good night and be well (me too)

Day Off

2010-11-19T10:45:00.002-05:00

My new place of work is giving me something I have never had before.... regularly scheduled three day weekends. It is weird. And somewhat wonderful. I am just not sure exactly what to do with it. There are so many possibilities. I mean some of my day is already eaten up by the haftatos. I have to take the car in for an oil change. I have to send a letter. I have to feed the kitties and take my meds. But there is a luxury of time. Or at least it feels that there is. Even my haftatos are based on my free will. I could not take the car in. The kitty feeding is a bit more a willdo though.

I just finished a very excellent zombie book. It included zombie cats so hence why the feeding of kits is a willdo and not a haftato. It actually made me cry. The book not the zombie cats. It was set in the time after. Zombie were now a way of life and survival was possible. Normal had become a different type of normal. Plus how do you not love a book in which the bloggers have become the source of info...particularly as a blogger?

Good day and watch out for zombie cats...

43 days left

2010-11-18T17:14:00.002-05:00

I like seeing things that not everyone does. It is like a secret between me and God. I just happened to glance behind me while driving. There are these little bumps in the road. I am sure that there is a proper name for them but it eludes me right now. They are what tell you if you skirt out of your lane. They are also what when my used to be brother in law would call driving by braille.

Did you know that if the sun shines on them just right and you happen to look in your rearview mirror that they look red? A long red dotted line.

I have looked back plenty of times but the sun wasn't shining the right way I guess.

Now it is a secret between you, me and God.

Today's thing was the number 43 on the calendar. There are only 43 days left in the calendar year. Well, granted that does assume that you are reading this today and before today becomes tomorrow for you. This is a day I am happy with. I rode to work with Beloved, have a good lunch, talked to friends, did a teen program, laughed and there is still another 7 hours or so left in it.

Good day and good day : P

By the wayside

2010-11-09T19:21:00.002-05:00

I lose track of things. I will have something in my hand or be on my way doing something and poof! I get sidetracked by something else. I will realize later that I had something else I was doing or holding before this new thing or idea.

I realize that there are people, places and things that I never get back to. I remember a peach courderoy sundress that I loved some time ago. I don't think I outgrew it but danged if I can remember where it went to... There are high school friends that I wanted to keep in touch with but this new experiences made me wander off this way for a while. I realized that I had not kept in touch like so many of my yearbooks signatures had asked.

In the library, we get rid of things fairly often. We see that a book hasn't been checked out or the info has changed or the spine is falling apart. The book gets discarded. But this weeding is necessary. Information or the need for information changes. It ebbs and flows. Today's popular book is tomorrow's remember when. I was looking up ideas for teen programs and came across this blog. It asked an interesting question, " In 100 years, will any one remember or read Harry Potter? "

Good night and remember me.

For those who haven't seen it yet

2010-09-28T21:12:00.002-04:00

The tales of a snarky sheep as mentioned in the previous post...

Don't worry this is certainly not the last of Miss Ewe's adventures in libraryland. If I can have an evil twin named Evil Eva, I most certainly can have an alter ego in Miss Ewe. I mean how far can I go. I just change a letter and poof it's me.

B and I have also been working on a video storytime including your favorite snarky sheep. In addition to writing, we have been working on waltz. Last night's lesson including timing. Both important in dance and life : P

Plus I am still working on letting him lead. It is hard to let someone else have control of where I can and when I go. Rather reminds me of my relationship with God. And the funny thing is both are for my own good. He can see the dangers coming up behind me and I can't.

Good night and 1,2,3

Kermit, eat your heart out...

2010-09-21T22:51:00.003-04:00

Tomorrow we are going to try our hand at filming a puppet play for the library. It is supposed to be a funny promotional tutorial. I wrote the script. It involves a snarky sacrastic sheep named Miss Ewe. LOL She is like an evil Lambchop. I could imagine them battling it out and Miss Ewe wins by cheating. She even has an evil sheep laugh.

Needless to say, B has been quite thrilled and very helpful in collaborating with me in the writing of the puppet plays. It is weird to think of writing with someone else. Somedays I feel like someone should give me a Does not Play well with others t-shirt.

Good night and bah bah ha ha ha! (evil sheep laugh)

Between

2010-07-08T12:43:00.002-04:00

Sometimes between is my favorite. The moment between day and night, the moment between closing my eyes and sleep, the moment between kissing and lips apart....

Right now I am between permenantly. I am between packed and unpacked, between one library and another. I am not yet sure how I feel about it all. I am even between in how I feel about it.

We have made the leap, made the move. We now owe a ton more. That's at least up to third born child. First goes to student loans, next to credit cards and now third to mortage. We'd better get started if we hope to pay them off soon or ever.

It is a lovely house. I've got pics somewhere. Should I ever unpack them I could post them here. It is huge. I thought we needed to get rid of more stuff. No, we just needed to live in a bigger place. And we have a whole garage in which to store all the things we might need. Right now it is functioning as a kitty playground and storage facilities. Even my garage is in between.

Good day and go on through.

No more and no less

2010-06-16T13:17:00.002-04:00

As of Friday, I will be a two-fer librarian. Half my day will be spent at one branch and half at another. It won't be my current home branch either for each half day.

Major bummer. I've put in so much work at this place. Sigh. Now to put in so much work at another.

But am I? I don't know. It is against my nature to just sit around but it feels like things won't be kept up at the current place. I mean the staff will be lessened by one and only be here half time. There is enough time to maintain status quo but not really.

It is particularly sad since we just celebrated our 50th anniversary and here it is six months later. The library version of assisted living. No programs, no growth... that is my fear.

But it is not without hope. There is such potential here. I just wish and hope that someone grabs onto it and runs with it. Create something new and better.

Sigh. I hope.

Good day and dream big. I think that I am leaving it better than I found it. I suppose that is how I am supposed to leave everything.

Bail anyone?

2010-05-19T20:33:00.002-04:00

I went to jail today. I rode in a police car. I had to raise my bail. I broke out.

All in all, a different day for me.

I imagine my friends and family were surprised and my neighbors would claim that I was a quiet person who kept to herself as the news blared about my arrest and subsequent break out.

But no sirens wailed. No cameras were posted outside my house. I even wore my Please No autographs pin to deter the fame mongers.

Guess getting jailed for MDA doesn't get me any street cred.

Dang.

Good night and remember a good friend will pay your bail. A great friend will be sitting next to you and saying how much fun that was..... : P

How much?

2010-05-02T23:13:00.002-04:00

Well, it's official. As of Friday, Beloved and I signed a contract on a house. It is a lovely 3 bedroom/ 2 bath house on a very quiet street. How quiet you might ask? Well, B and I drove by on Saturday around 9 pm and it was quiet. But it is a great house as far as we can tell and a really nice yard. Big enough for a play area when the time comes. We'll be close to D and H and other family. Not to mention we have already mapped the times getting to our works. His is 11 minutes and mine is 9 minutes. That is so much better than the 30 it takes now.

We looked at a lot of houses. So very weird ones too. I still think the one with the totally open garage which flowed into the totally open room and then the long front porch was the oddest. But this house really fits both of us.

It is really exciting and just a wee bit nerve wrecking.

Good night and happy finding.

Mom and Dad's garden

2010-04-14T14:48:00.002-04:00

Hanging around with Mr. Mark and Monkey

My favorite statue from Mom and Dad's garden

Dive Bomber Monkeys

Mark and a friend

What every blog needs, me in bug eyed glasses : )

Dad has this great post about his garden. We went over to see it in person the other day. Did I take pictures of the beautiful flowers? The giant century plant? The gardeners of this wonderful garden?

No, I got pics of Beloved with the monkeys that are in a small part of the garden. But it makes him laugh which in turn makes me laugh and Mom and Dad rejoice in how happy we are. So not a bad choice of pics after all.

Good day and ee-ee-oo-oo (which may be monkeyish for good day : )

A Hunting we will go

2010-04-13T23:10:00.002-04:00

Today B and I went into the bank to apply for a mortage.

Yep, we are going house hunting. Our lease is up in June. Every job opening right now and his job and my job currently are both here. My family is here. Our friends (well a bunch of them : ) are here.

It is an exciting time in our lives. And a bewildering and well, a scary one too. I like the idea of somewhere that is just ours. Well, ours and the cats : P

I'll keep you up to date with the search and feel free to send me tips...

Good night and bring on the boxes.

Refreshing and Renewing (hopefully)

2010-04-07T22:59:00.002-04:00

Hello all. I have been a bad blogger recently.

I have been cheating. I've got it bad. I now do a lot of stuff on facebook.

Sigh... can you forgive me?

I am right now in P's spare room. Yep, I made it down to O for the second time in like four months. I am at the FLA conference (better known as the Florida Library Association for you non-librarians out there). It was the first day of the conference and I have really enjoyed myself. Both in conference and out. I got the chance to do breakout sessions about Twitter, Second Life and Teen spaces. I also got to hang out with a favorite couple, P and C : )

Thus far this is my second ever conference and apparently I try to go to the ones in which I can get some family time in too. The last one was in San Jose CA and I got to hang out with Uncle R and Aunt D : )

The conference is a really good tool for refocusing (the one re word I forgot to add to my title). I need to break away from my mundy library life and see what I am doing for the bigger ideals that I have about my library in Evieland. You know.... the place where there are no words like, well, NO : D

I really loved my drive up here too. I took the backways as I so love to do. It did add like 30 minutes to my drive but I knew that driving the regular way I would miss things. Like a bear warning sign for the next 3 miles or the huge grey elephant with a counter for eating at or the Church of the Holy Comforter (which made me laugh for like 10 minutes as I picture the Sacred Duvet and still has me giggling)

Good day and drive well. I'll be back in town on Friday night.

Meow Plague

2010-03-22T19:28:00.002-04:00

We are still a bit under the weather kittywise. I had to take Henri to the vet this morning. It is like having kids. If one of them gets it, you can be sure the others will too.

I was so frustrated last night I told B I wanted to get rid of all of them. It was my anger and fear talking though. There was kitty barf everywhere...

I am struggling with my job too. I love that they think I am capable enough to handle being a branch manager. But I am so much happier being a simple children's librarian. I am not sure what to do.

It has just been stress upon stress. B and I are looking at taking up dancing again. We haven't for the last couple of months. We both need a stress outlet. He is so wonderfully supportive.

I love him.

Good night and stop, breathe and reboot (what I tell the customers when their computer freezes)

Prayer for a Kitty

2010-03-12T22:41:00.002-05:00

: ) Somehow both Dad and I are talking about prayer today.

I had to just drop off one of my kitties with the emergency vet tonight. She was getting sick and began to drool. I have never seen a cat drool before. They have given her anti vomiting medicine and a pain killer along with fluids. I am not sure what is wrong with her but am hoping it is just something she ate that upset her stomach. I am taking her to my regular vet tomorrow to get some tests run.

B and I had just been talking about her last night too. It is Hazel. She is named after my great aunt and a character in one of my favorite books Watership Down. Aunt Hazel was a really wonderful person who loved cats. She couldn't have any where she lived so she had a collection of porcelin ones. I remember giving her a mug that had a cat as a handle with its head sitting on the rim peeking over it to look at the fish painted in the bottom.

I had intended to save Hazel for when I have a girl child but I got the cat first. I made B promise not to tell our kids about the cat being named it first. I have been trying to come up with another name for the cat just in case.

I am a kitty mom though. I found myself yelling at other drivers to move faster so I could get her to the emergency vet. Dear God, please watch over her tonight and keep her safe. Please heal whatever is wrong with her and bring her safe home tomorrow.

Good night and Amen.

Back for now..

2010-03-01T16:54:00.002-05:00

The pool is fixed. We are back open for business.

But now they are thinking of making me a floating library. It would mean I would be working at the branch a couple days a week and at another library a couple of days a week.

I like and don't like the idea. I love the idea of having a couple of days off from running the branch though. I feel like that I will be playing catchup with branch duties for the times that I am gone though.

In other news, I am feeling better. My voice is mostly back. Though right now I am channeling Barry White...My darling, I can't get enough of your love, baby... My voice is very low right now but at least it is back. I was missing it over the weekend.

Poor B... he was really good about taking care of me. He got my grocery list of OJ, drinks and lots of soup. The streaming Netflix came in handy too. I am watching the Six Wives of Henry the Eighth again : )

I am never quite sure which one I feel sorriest for.

Good day and I remain your faithful servant.

Just in time for the summer...the Library Pool

2010-02-17T22:56:00.002-05:00

Yes, that's it. Darn the computers! My library is getting a pool.

Well, not intentionally that is. We had a pipe burst under the slab near the copier and computers. They are talking about repiping the library. So they closed us down for the week.

Thus I will be working at another library for a couple of days. The plus side to this caper is no being in charge. I am a lowly peon once again. And loving it.

Good night and joyfully I go to work once again. At least for two days : P

I love...

2010-02-14T00:02:00.003-05:00

In no particular order and for no particular reason

I love....

the smell of my dad's pipe tobacco
the feel of B's hand on my waist
curling up with a good book
the way my family laughs together
the quiet before the storm at work
my kitties
other people's kitties
a windy day
the feel of the ocean and sand as I stand still and let the waves crash around me
the second before I open a present
really talking to someone
words like dusk and gregarious

I could go on for days.

Good night and I love you.

The Struggle

2010-02-07T11:20:00.002-05:00

Last week. Last week was... Last week was bad.

Now let me preface this by saying I love being a children's librarian. I think it is the best job in the whole wide world for me.

But I haven't been able to do my job for the last month. Whenever I do something I really want to do a good job. Not because of the job but because of myself. I like being good at things.

If you give me one job and let me excel, I will do my very best. But give me two (one which had someone else doing it also full time) and you will get a half effort. I try to do both. But I don't have two hundred percent to just hand away all the time.

We had the police called three times to the library this week. The first time was the worse. We had a gang of teens outside with a baseball bat. It was scary. Then we had a young adult come by the library. He comes in all the time to use the Sorenson because he is deaf. Apparently there was something happening at his house because the police came by again to handcuff him and take him away. Lastly, the gang of teens came back. But got away before the police came. We found out before they came that they might have been involved in a knife fight at another library.

Can librarians get hazard pay?

And all this pulls away from the job I love. The job I can not do properly because of the other.

It is cause for some major praying/wondering/thinking.

Good day and this week will be better I hope.

The Next Time my credit card people call...

2010-01-26T23:37:00.002-05:00

A weird title for a joyful posting. But I never claimed to be unquirky.

I often ponder and pray and sing in my car. I like to think of it as my cathedral of one. I was thinking of blessings tonight. Bing Crosby suggest you should count your blessing instead of sheep. Now me, I like to be awake while blessing counting. I have a lot of people tell me to have a blessed day. I am quirky and I believe a bit naive. I see the world as good and I like to thank God often for all my blessings. And that got me thinking about all the blessings I take for granted.

Like being able to read. I don't even really think about it much. There are letters and numbers in front of my face all the time. But I know what they mean. And I am assuming you do too. But there is a lady who comes in twice a week to see a reading tutor at my branch. Just by listening to them as they sit quietly talking and reading aloud in the time that they have been coming to the library, the one learning has grown by leaps and bounds. She really seems to enjoy it now.

And health. We have someone who comes in regularly whose husband has cancer. Liver cancer, I think. It has been a hard battle for her and him. She is one I pray for a lot in my car. I tell her that every now and then if she asks me to pray for him. She feels like all the prayers is why he has been able to hold on for so long. I am blessed to be healthy and he is blessed to have so many praying for him.

That is just a few of my infinite blessing. They are riches beyond measure. Yes, Capital One probably won't take them in lieu of payment but I don't think I would even consider offering them up. They are priceless.

On a side note, someone told me today that I was an answer to a prayer. She was trying to find a seminary to attend but doesn't use the computer so well. I was able to find her one that she felt right for her along with phone number, address and directions on how to get to it. Little did I know that I would be a blessing for someone else : )

Good night and god bless : P

A weekend by the Numbers

2010-01-18T18:54:00.003-05:00

124/78 last BP measurement

6:55 pm the time we got in from our drive. Just a short drive into the sunshine...

3:30ish the time we left for our short drive.

4 cats that rule the roost and for whom we brought another put together tower yesterday.

0 cats who are currently on the tower I put together

almost 30 days of having our tree up. I think we were going to take it down this weekend but in the midst of our quiet weekend, it just never got done. The family (cats and us) really like having it up.

5 times I have bemoaned the idea of being the PIC from my branch from now on. I love being a children's person. I stand being in charge and am very good at it but it takes some much away from being just children's which is my love.

2 credit reports for me and B. I try to remember to check them annually.

16.15 how much we spent at Angel's Diner in Palatka, FL It is reported to be the oldest diner in Florida. The food was quite good and the staff very friendly. We will definitely try them again some time : )

2 movies we saw this weekend. They were both about vampires. Twilight: New Moon and Daybreakers were both very good in their own way. I think that Daybreakers has the better visual effects with some slow motion work and interesting camera work.

Good day and tomorrow is another day.

Patti and Clint's Wedding In Reverse

2010-01-11T19:23:00.006-05:00

Is for what is you hearing?

2009-12-28T19:41:00.002-05:00

For a well read, well written person, I sometimes suck at communication. I know what I am trying to say but saying it sometimes comes out all wrong. I think that this is why I like email, facebook and such. When I write it down, I have a delete key. When I say it, no such luck...

I struggle with what I think a person is going to say in response to what I say. I am so sure that I am going to hear a negative that I won't say something at all. I won't say I really want to do something or I think this way or that. I am 100% certain that the replier will tell what a totally stupid thing to say or want to do. Or I feel like an oyster. Closed up tighter than tight and you are supposed to realize that something is wrong and pry it out of me.

Sometimes it sounds so clear to me but not to the person I am talking to. I struggle with that at work every now and then. I assume I know what I am saying so everyone else must to.

That is what is so lovely about life though. I may struggle but there is always tomorrow. I know it sounds very Gone with the Wind but it makes it no less true. Tomorrow is a day of endless possibilities.

(And chicken and dumplings dinner with J, J and T : P ) I know that each day is a day for the better. I am very much a follower of This is the day that the Lord has made...we will rejoice and be glad in it.

Good day and better tomorrow.

Devotional Repost

2009-12-24T17:26:00.002-05:00

I wrote this last year. I was really happy with how it turned out. Thus I thought I might repost it. It was supposed to be a family devotional last year...

So here's what I had. I was going to have each person read a part. And then put the paper flipped over in the middle of the table. On the back, it would read Ch, ri, s, t, is, h, e, r, e

Mary: I was there, thoughtful and faithful. I went through things none had ever been through then or since. But I believed.

Joseph: I was there, supporting my wife. I believed her and God. We traveled far to come to the land of my birth. I would be there for his birth but his death would give all new life.

Shepherd: I was there, in awe and joyous. Everything that the angel told us came true. How could we stop from praising God for all the wondrous things we saw? And still see to this day.

Angel: I was there, praising and a messenger. Spreading the good news that this day would be born a savior. Even into this mortal flesh with all its pain and sorrow, how could one not but sing to his glory?

Star: I was there, shining a way to the Lord. Much like his Word still shines a way to him too.

Wise Men: I seek what all men seek. Salvation. Love. For all my gifts, his was greater still.

Ass: I was there. What was my burden of his mother to the burden for which he would carry even unto his death?

Innkeeper: I was there. How hectic a time was that? People stuck in every which how and place, only to find more on my doorstep looking for room. Imagine your house full to the gills. A man has to turn someone away. Yet how many more turn from him now?

Christ: I am here.

Christmas. Christ mass.

All those there for this one defining event. All those there to play a part. All crowded and around this singular person. Christ. Everything revolves around him. As it should now.

Then as now, there are so many things pulling away from Christ. Mothers, husbands, things to be gotten and given, messages to receive and get, seekers, burdens and hectic times.

But in the end, all that falls away and he is left. He is the pure grain when all the chaff is worn away. The Messiah. The Savior. That which all men seek and all may find. Amen.

Then as now, good night and find him...

Happy to be Born: P

2009-12-23T11:54:00.003-05:00

A gift from Mom who remembers my love for Winnie the Pooh
An Autumn Windchime for my balcony

Lunch and talking with Dad : D

A scarecrow couple and their candle houses (okay so maybe it is their phobia house seeing as it contains fire : P )

My Jar of Moonlight from Beloved

All in all, it was a lovely day to be born. I got birthday wishes on my facebook page, lunch out with Dad where I got to share my cool news about B and I working on getting pregnant : D Not there yet but it is exciting to know we are trying. I got sung to by T and J and Beloved took me out to Orsay where we had the best meal ever. The cats even snagged his credit card and got me Hello Kitty gifts galore.

Lovely, lovely.

Good day and Happy Birthday (yesterday) to me !

The Day After

2009-12-17T15:51:00.002-05:00

It is the day after the party. Things are quiet compared to yesterday. There were so many people here. Crowds everywhere. Old staff, current staff, old customers, adminstration, Friends of the Library people, kids, the daughter of the person who headed the community campaign to build this library. I mean crowds. We had a good time listening to stories, making Mr. Potato Heads and enjoying the branch. Everyone put a lot of hard work into the day and it was great.

But my, were we wiped by the end of the day. There was one very sad part to the day. My boss found out her last day which will be in mid January. They are moving her to another branch. I don't think that they will be replacing her. I am guessing I will be acting boss until ? Staffing here is like the tide. They flow in and they flow right back out again.

Does that make me the rock that it all flows around?

Good day and yay and bummer.

A new tradition

2009-12-14T00:32:00.002-05:00

I come from a family with an abundance of Christmas traditions. He comes from one with none. So we added another to our family traditions. We made homemade gingerbread cookies. They were yummy, it was mess and it was a lot of fun to do with B. I made the pirate one : P He wanted cat cookie cutters but I have yet to find any. LOL You would think this might be the activity in which there is lights on the tree and some carols playing in the background. But not us... there were lights on the tree but it was a horror movie playing in the background.

That just us. Traditional with a quirk.

Good night and Chestnuts roasting on an open fire while manical chainsaw yielding person runs around : )

50 years

2009-12-04T12:57:00.002-05:00

I am not 50. Thus far I have only made it to 33 and 4 days. In 18 more days, it will be 34 years on the earth. But my branch is turning 50 this year a couple of days before me.

We decided to throw a 1950s party. We are all dressing up in 1950s style clothes, playing with hula hoops, Frisbees, Barbie and Mr. Potato Head (with real potatos) and having staff who have worked here in the last 50 years come out to speak. We will be listening to Elvis and trying out our own American Bandstand style dancing.

Speaking of staff, we have a photo taken just the day before the opening here. It can be found at
http://jpl.coj.net/dlc/florida/photo/L18-001.html

We also decided to have a little trivia with the 1950s slang such as cat, bread, threads and tight.. better known as a cool person, money, clothes and best friends : )

Good day and you are just so keen : P

Wish List

2009-11-26T21:27:00.002-05:00

Eve's Wish List

Big Skillet
Oven Thermometer/Kitchen Thermometer
Dance by Mucha (Poster)
Hello Kitty Luggage Tags
Shower Radio
1000+ piece puzzles
Money to Charity
Marble Rolling Pin
18 inch silver or white gold necklace
Now that's What I call Music 32
Professor Layton and the Diabolical Box
An original artwork (one that you paint, draw,etc)
A surprise visit
A letter telling me why I am loved or a special memory of me
A picture of you
A jar of moonlight (whatever that means to you)
A coupon for dinner at your house for a later date
Homemade cookies (chocolate chips are my favorite but whatever is good )
Fables #7 and 9
Y: The Last Man #3-10
Silicon Cooking sheets

I was going to send this out to my family but couldn't get it attached. Whomever gets me as their person this year should probably check with B.

It is a family tradition to write this after dinner on Thanksgiving. B. and I rebelled with ham though : ) This is a lot shorter than I normally do and it was super hard this year. We already have so much. I am thankful for that and for my family. They are just so cool and unbelievable kind and caring. I feel like they are not just family. They are my friends too.

I am thankful for B too. I am so incredibly lucky to have him in my life. I love him beyond words. He is my best friend and my love. How cool is that : )

Good night and thank you!

Things I learn at work

2009-11-23T23:45:00.003-05:00

They are very big on training at my job. But sometimes the things I learn don't exactly fall under training per se. I learn about how some have come long distances and sacrificed much to come to this country. One of my coworkers is from Kenya. Her parents moved her and her siblings here to give them more opportunity. They gave up a lot to be here. I really like hearing her talk. To me, her accent sounds so cool. She is willing to talk about everything under the sun.

Another one of my coworkers has three kids. They are all around my age. She goes through trials, joys and the in-between with them. But through it all she wants the best for them. It is a good lesson to show someone who has not had the courage to have kids yet. With her, everyone who comes through the doors is a possible family member or friend. She fusses at and for them.

I am in awe of my library kids sometimes. They are so curious and so want to help. They are so smart too. They crowd around my station sometimes. Just wanting someone to listen. It is interesting to see the world like they see it.

I had the chance to talk to my coworker about being a parent, buying a house and Christmas. She told me about how her father would write handwritten notes to her and her siblings as from Santa and he would put Santa bootprints around the fireplace. She is somewhat in the same boat as me. Both newlyweds, both renting, both no kids. It is good to talk to someone so alike me and so different. She has been saving up for a house and the where to go from here. She is really helpful and a good example in customer service.

Good day and hi, ho, hi, ho, it's off to work I go.

Feeling Better

2009-11-20T23:23:00.004-05:00

The last couple of days, I was feeling a bit off. Mainly just tired and a bit off. Today was better.

The worst part of it all was we had dance class on a day when I didn't feel good. I was determined to go though. But now, I can hardly remember the steps we learned. It is such a shame. We had begun on turns and spins. Not a day for a headache and being dizzy already.

But we head back again on Tuesday. We have talked it over and are thinking of continuing. We finally got to dance on the beat that day. It just felt so cool to dance with B.

Today I also got to make turkeys in storytime. They were oreo turkeys and they were super yummy! I made a couple for the staff too. I think we are going to use them in a craft program on Tuesday too.

I am taking Wednesday off to get supplies and get cooking. We aren't doing a big family thing but B and I will be having a Thanksgiving dinner together. There is so much to be thankful this year.

Good night and I sure hope I can remember the steps this time.

The food of the soul

2009-11-04T23:22:00.003-05:00

I live for music, rhythm and dance. I sing and dance while I drive. I hear songs in my head and will usually sing at the drop of a hat.

I got a real thrill tonight though. B and I went to our first ballroom dance lesson. It was such fun. He was really nervous though. I can usually tell. He barely let my hand go as the owner told us about the lessons and setup. But he did great. The teacher was really patient with us.
We started on the basic steps and then moved onto a box step and then a basic foxtrot. We didn't do it for any particular reason. It was just something fun and active to do together. It reminds me of our marriage. We are having fun, not knowing all the steps but learning them together. Sometimes toes get stepped on or someone goes the wrong way but it is all about the dance.

Afterwards we went out to dinner at the other Country Cabin. They have beef stroganoff on Wednesdays only. It could easily become my favorite day of the week. Dance AND beef stroganoff...

Good night and may I have this dance?

October in A Nutshell

2009-11-01T20:33:00.003-05:00

Earlier this month, B and I headed out to Kingsley Plantation on a very windy day.

I love driving with him. And we spend a lot of time talking and laughing on the drive.

Dad always likes to say that history is in every step you take. And I loved stepping here and imagining what it might have been like to live during that time.

Could have the mistress of this house stood on her lawn contemplating the water and sky just like me? Could she have loved the feel of the wind pushing her hair to and fro like I did?

In the middle/end of the month, B and I went to a Star Wars in Concert. We got to listen to a live symphony orchestra play the Star Wars score and watch a montage of the movies all together.

During intermission, I got a picture of Star Wars' bad guy and my good guy. I had tried to get the tickets as a surprise. But ended up telling him about it before the end of the night... it is so hard for me to hold onto surprises.

This is the fall book display towards the end of the month of October. I really love the season and holiday so I put a lot into it.

Including adding some of my own decorations from home (i.e. the black cat among others).

I am always surprised at what things I find in the back room. These were a tie dye type of banner of fall leaves we wrapped around the circulation desk. Everyone kept checking to see if we had finally put candy in the pumpkins. : P

I am a Florida pioneer woman (or cracker) for Halloween. I was able to use my grandmother's basket (she makes beautiful ones). It made me laugh as people tried to guess who I was. I got everything from Holly Hobby to Mother Goose.

Apparently because being a pioneer woman wasn't cool enough I decided to add shades to my ensemble. Well, not really. I had been to the eye doctor earlier and gotten the slip ons for my glasses due to my eyes being dialated.

This look got me called Granny for the rest of the afternoon.

All in all, a very good month was October. I wonder what November will bring...

Good night and good night.

What was waiting for me when I came home tonight...

2009-10-27T23:59:00.002-04:00

I have been fighting a bad cold this last week. Last Friday I had no voice. And this weekend was no weekend. I spent it all in bed asleep. But tonight when I got home, I had the most lovely surprise waiting for me.

The card is a get well card entitled "Meee-Ouch!"

The note pad has this written above it:

When I Look at You...

I see a remarkable woman with a kind and caring heart who is beautiful in every sense of the word. You are everything wonderful and if I had just one wish it would be that you could see what I see when I look at you.

Thankfully I had tissues galore...

Good night and lucky me!

De-stressed

2009-10-07T23:15:00.002-04:00

Mark took me away this last weekend. We headed down to St. Augustine Beach. We had a lovely room with a view of the beach and jacuzzi tub in the room.

Why? Well, after months of pins and needles, we are still open the same hours at the same branch. Somehow the people spoke up and wanted us open. It was humbling how many people came into the library to tell us how we were important. Some signed or created petitions, some contacted the local politicans, some wrote the paper. It was so cool.

It is amazing to me just what an importance libraries have everywhere. I remember being at a meeting recently and hearing about Philadelphia's library system. Basically if they didn't get the budget passed, they were going to close the entire library system. Every branch. Even though I don't live anywhere near there, I responded by contacting the local goverment. I just checked their page. The bill keeping them in business passed 32 to 17.

And yea gods, have we been busy! I secretly laugh when I get the gate count now. The reasoning they gave for us being the ones under the knife was that we weren't being used. I have only been with the system for 7 years this upcoming February. I think that I have been at this branch for maybe going on 3 years. We got a gate counter within that time and when I checked it tonight it was over 266,000 people who have gone and out. Even halfing it, it would be 133,000 people coming in.

And we aren't busy? Yep, that's us... just a bunch of library slackers twittling our thumbs.

Good night and Yay for Libraries!

Limbo

2009-09-21T00:09:00.002-04:00

I feel a bit stuck. Although good news appeared on the library front, I am still holding off on an celebrations until knowing for sure. There are still changes on the horizon. I am just not sure how it will affect me.

I want to make plans. But being stuck I can't. It makes me feel a bit frustrated and sad. I rather like moving forward. I feel like a hamster on a wheel. A bit like Bill Murray's character in Groundhog's Day. Nothing changes.

Luckily life with B is always changing. We had a good talk the other night. I like that we are still figuring each other out. I could only go one way down a road before having to pull on a side road to turn around. I was sure that it was a way full of mutant zombies. They were going to pop out of the ground at any moment. Not only could he understand my fear but we started figuring out battle plans and laughing. It is lovely to have someone to laugh with like that. Not only that but the talk we had was about some of my not so laughable fears and he just held me tight and told me it would be all right. That we would figure it out together.

Good night. Guten tag : )

Birthday Weekend

2009-09-13T23:55:00.002-04:00

Today was B's birthday. I don't think we really celebrate the number as much as the fact that he was born. We had a low key day at his request. I got to surprise him at Outback with singing and dessert. It was so funny. Thus far he has yet to remember that I do it each year. LOL I had to laugh though as he went to the bathroom before hand. The guys all came out to see and the line stopped as they realized that he was gone. They scrambled back into the kitchen until he came back.

I also surprised him with a singing cat card. The cats meowed the Happy Birthday song. He opened it and the cats came right over. They all wanted to figure out where we were hiding the new cats.

I had a good day Saturday with J and T. We talked for a while and then researched dreams. I had had one interesting one the other day. I dreamed that Dad, Mom, P and I were at Grandmother's. But the house was a one level ranch and located in the Middle East. Then all of sudden the house was attacked by terrorists. They weren't going to hurt me because I was married. I had to show them my ring. Then they gave me some accupunture needles because I had to put the number 26 on my eyeballs so they could film me. At the end as they left, one said "Good bye" and I woke up. B had gone off to do a game with the guys. He said that it had been held in one of the guy's new gaming room. Apparently there was some discussion of turning into the Bat Cave.

Good night and dream on.

Followers

2009-09-02T12:28:00.002-04:00

It has been ages since I last posted. My web life recently has been diverted into Facebook. It is a bit like blogging and Myspace. You post a couple of lines of update and then there is other social stuff and games you can do on it.

There is a Mobster game that I play on it now called ... well, Mobsters : ) My handle in that game is Pissed Off Librarian. Right now it is more like Librarian in Limbo. No one knows what is going on with our branch, our patrons, our jobs... hence the limbo. Personally I wish it were the other kind. The kind that involves Jamaica, beaches, a staff and tons of rum.

B and I have been busy getting the apartment ready to show off to the fam over Labor Day. It has been really lovely setting up house with him. LOL Even if he does want everything Star Wars themed. At least my Hello Kitty is contained mostly by my bathroom.

Apparently there is a new gadget for Blogs so that people can follow your blog. I checked. I am a poor prophet. I only have one follower. It is hard for me to be a follower. Especially when I want to do it my way. I am so stubborn. I have had many a discussion with God about that character trait : D It is so hard to let him lead. One of the message I kept from a Happening a long time ago was to Let Go and Let God. I have to stop and focus on that when I get too sure that I can do it all.

Good day and Let Go... : D

Irony

2009-07-29T22:43:00.002-04:00

Sometime in the last couple of weeks, I found out that my library's hours were being halfed. The staff would be moved to other branches and the collection reduced. One person who came in and had talked to the local council person said that the council person had been told that no one goes to our library.

Now about 2 or 3 years ago, we had a gate counter installed. Today at around noon, the counter read at a little over 235,000 counts. Which means about 115,000 people walked in and then out again in the last several years. And we aren't being used.

Not to mention I was just notified that I won an award. And so did my branch manager for our work in the community. How weird is that? I mean, I'm thrilled. It is nice to see that someone recognizes that I am awesome but the timing is just plain off.

Weirdness and wonderful in the same day.

Good night and good night.

Why is 6 afraid of 7?

2009-07-08T13:08:00.002-04:00

Because 7 8 9.

We've been celebrating the fact that today is 07/08/09. No other reason than a good joke.

We're down to the last couple of boxes. I would have already unpacked them but I need another bookcase. This has caused a bit of a dilema though. B and I have never been very good at putting things together. We are not a "handy" couple by any stretch of the imagination. LOL In fact, the last time we put a bookcase together, it broke into pieces when we tried to carry it out to door. I mean, one minute bookcase and then next I am holding two boards. And the predone ones are majorly expensive. What to do? I figure we'll rotate. It will be like finding new books : P

I know we are both looking forward to exploring the Capital this weekend. I emailed Aunt C and Uncle J and we're hoping to meet up with them, Aunt K and Grandmother too on Sunday. That should be super coolness. I'm still not sure where to meet up with them since we'll be in DC sans transportation.

Good day and good day!

My fort of Boxes

2009-06-19T20:47:00.002-04:00

I prayed for the moving guys today. This weekend is supposed to be over 100 here and I am sure that they are working.

We are all moved in. Things were packed and the movers complimented us on how everything was done when they got there. : ) Then it was done. If they have come the day before, it was major chaos. I let B. pack up the office. I was , as normal, trying to do it all by myself. And getting frustrated. That is so hard for me.

I always want to do it all myself. I had to force myself not even to enter the room. Otherwise I would start taking over.

I had to laugh though. We had different priorities on what room should be unpacked first. For him, it was the computer and office setup and for me, it was the kitchen and bathroom : P But we packed together and we unpack together.

Another funny thing has been the dreams. For the first several days, I had weird dreams. One was about eating a chili cheese hotdog. The other was working at a library that was only open from 12:30 to 2:30 and at 2:30 exactly all power was cut off in the building. I had to feel my way out.

And the most peculiar was the one where I was driving with Mom and the power went out. Not just the streets but the cars. We got out to walk and I remember walking past a car with a family inside. When I looked in the car windows, it looked like they lived in it. The look that the little girl inside was just so unbelievable sad. All the cars were stopped all ascew and just ahead of those cars, there were bodies lying all around.

But the last one was the night before's. I dreamed I made the kitties ketchup sandwiches. I am never where my brain comes up with this stuff.

Good night and dream not of ketchup : P

A Sword, Strippers and Children

2009-06-12T21:21:00.002-04:00

A couple of nights ago, I came home after dinner with T and asked B. what he thought about the name of Patricia Hazel for a girl's name. Every now and then, we discuss what we would like to name our kids. Patricia Hazel is my current favorite for girl and John Andrew is his current favorite for a boy.

No worries, people. This is not my way of announcing anything. We just have decided to give it a year to work on saving for a house and getting my health all taken care of and then working on kids.

Although after this story, I may change my mind. I have a friend. She is a lovely, sweet woman who thinks of many before her own needs. She came in to work this morning stating that she hadn't gotten any sleep. I was curious so I asked if she wanted to talk about it. She shook her head no. I then asked which daughter was it about. She just grimaced. She has three kids. One daughter lives at home with her and the other in a house that she owns. They are both about my age. Or as someone put it today, old enough to know better but not enough to care....

Well, she got a phone call from the out of the house daughter, N. at 3 or 4 this morning. N. was quite upset. She had just had her car window stabbed with a sword. Yeah. A sword. Apparently she was dropping a friend off and her two other friends were in the backseat. Well, they got to the address. The friend got out as another guy came out of the house. A whole lot of yelling and cussing insued. Then a whole bunch of strippers came out of the house. Yeah, strippers. And the yelling and cussing went up a couple knouches.

Apparently one of the strippers was more than just a little upset or something because she started attacking N's car. She was throwing all sorts of things at it causing all sorts of dents and scratches.

And then she got a sword and tried to put it through the car window. It was actually thrust hard enough to break the glass and put a hole in the window. N called the police and her mom. Well, then N decided the police, who had decided it was a she said she said situation, weren't doing enough. So she decided to yell at them and accuse them of siding with the strippers.

Woa. And all this time she is on the phone with my friend, JC. With all the commotion, JC's husband wakes up. In his Phillipino accent, he begans saying son of beech, son of beech, that's it. These girls are crazy. We are moving to the mountains. JC is half fussed at N and half trying to calm her husband down. The situation finally calmed down and N didn't get arrested thankfully.

Now, I really feel bad for my friend. She really has a great heart. I know she has been really frustrated dealing with her daughters. But I could NOT stop laughing while she is telling me this. At one point, I told her I just can't shake this vision of a Red Sonja stripper stabbing the car.

And they say library workers have a quiet and dull time... just tell me this when did you go to work and get a sword and stripper story?

Good night and watch out for sword carrying strippers.

Stonehenge is now a flower bed path...

2009-06-09T10:26:00.003-04:00

I notice things. Some of them because they are out of place in my normal days doings. Some because they are something I see every day and they change.

Saturday, I noticed a man walking down the street. Just an ordinary man. Normal clothes, normal shoes, normal everything but one thing. He has carrying a cross. Not just in his hands or arms. It was over his shoulder. It was taller than he was. My first thought was Pick up your cross and follow me. And then I thought that it was better than Jesus' own. It had wheels on it.

The second thing I noticed was something I drive by regularly. There is a corner on a street near my house. It is a plain ordinary corner. Someone used to plant wild flowers there. They also used to have a bunch of rocks put there. They were just plain rocks, about the size of a good sized book or bigger. I decided it was our own version of Stonehenge. I didn't know how it had been put together. I just enjoyed seeing it. It has been through different formations and for a while recently it had been missing. It eventually got put back up though. But right now it has become a border. A flower bed border... I am sad to see it used so practically.

I really liked that it changed and I never knew if it would still be there or how it would look. The joy was in the not knowing. Perhaps it will change again. Or maybe the joy is in the not knowing but hoping it will be back. I'll just have faith in the unseen and the unknown.

I have faith in the unseen and unknown God. Part of my joy is him is in the learning and the seeing.

Good day and keep your eyes peeled. You'd be amazed at all you see.

L'eau, Aqua and Water

2009-05-28T14:13:00.003-04:00

That is what I drink primarily now. I have just finished off my fourth bottle today. Neither my primary or my cardiologist want me drinking much of any thing else.

Today I talked up the summer library programs. It was so much fun. The kids really enjoyed "I ain't gonna Paint No More" book and the My aunt came back song. I never realize how thirsty I am and how much my feet hurt until after the program. I love just doing the stories though. That is my favorite part of the job. The having fun with the kids and talking about and reading books.

I wonder sometimes what has happened to some of the kids that I used to work with. My first internship kids would be graduating either this year or next. How cool is that? This year I've got three people graduating. T. , S. and M. I am very proud of them all : )

Good day and dream big.

Feeling better... finally

2009-05-24T23:09:00.002-04:00

I have had a bad congestion for about two weeks. I am finally starting to feel not so fuzzy. I had a lovely day yesterday with J. We headed off to do some shopping at Cato and WallyWorld. It is so funny to me that we have such different tastes but we are pretty much the same size right now. I got some really cute things for work and B liked the pjs I picked out : P

B and I headed out today to see the new Star Trek movie. It was really good and even better was spending time with him. He finally got the info for his business trip in July. I am planning to spend the first weekend with him but he is going to be there for a week. I can't even imagine being here without him. I just love him beyond words.

Tomorrow we plan just to hang here and pack. The three major rooms I hope to get done are the office, kitchen and bedroom. Then that should be most of it. Even though we don't move for a while yet : ) I just like being ready. Plus it gives me time to clear out stuff. I think we will both be ready by time is comes around.

Good night and I love B.

Blast from the Past

2009-05-01T13:42:00.002-04:00

I tend to think of myself as quiet and nice. And fun sometimes too. I don't think of myself as memorable.

Yesterday I had a training class and someone recognized me. He was someone I worked with like ten years ago. I have had that happen before. Someone from high school has come into the library. There was another high schooler who came into my children's program with her kids about six years ago.

The longest were the girl who about 5 or 6 years ago remembered me from 3rd grade and the my first grade teacher who was still working as a teacher who I subbed for. Talk about head flip.

It just seems so strange. It makes me wonder what I did that stuck out in someone's head. Especially the teacher. I mean she has had to have seen hundreds if not thousands of kids. What was so special about me? It does make me glad though. I mean, if I had been horrible or mean, maybe they wouldn't have said anything...

Good day and remember when....

Curse it all, I napped!

2009-04-29T01:22:00.002-04:00

I can't get to sleep. I had a bad headache when I came home today. So I laid down.

Big mistake. I napped and now when it is time to get to sleep, nothing doing. I mainly can't get my head to shut up. I started thinking about work tomorrow, storytime, Mother's Day, calling sibs.... on and on.

We are waiting to hear the fate of our moving. Supposedly we have a seller for this place and our landlady wanted us to move out as of the 27th of May. But I haven't heard a definite yet. Pins and needles.

We sent our last (?) rent check in with the letter of intent to move on Monday. And we have already done our deposit for the new place. I would like to just know how much packing time I have.

Good night/morning and oh, happy day!

Fostering Reading

2009-04-27T22:27:00.002-04:00

I have to teach a class tomorrow on the importance of fostering reading. It is to a bunch of teen moms or moms-to-be. I hope something I say will touch at least one of them or make them think.

I can barely imagine being pregant now much less when I was a teen. I am still on a wait and see as result are being figured out. I meet with my doctor at the end of the month and I need to schedule my follow up with my cardiologist. Once I get a better handle on my health stuff, then we can start figuring out the kids thing.

He would like two. I would like at least one. Everyone just wants us to get started. But it is important to me to have a little time to work on being a wife. The best thing I can give a child is a loving family to come into. Plus a love of books. Both of us read everything we can get our hands on. So hopefully no worries there.

That actually has been the hard part about packing the books up. I have to keep myself from making a pile for myself.

Good night and happy reading.

I wish I could figure out my phone...

2009-04-10T22:44:00.002-04:00

I have a newish cell phone. It allegedly can upload pics to the computer and download music. I say allegedly because I have yet to be able to do either. I've taken a number of photos with my phone but that is as far as I have gotten. I have the cable to transfer them and a micro SD card.

But the card won't stay in the phone. That most definitely makes for a hard time in transfer.

Ugh! Two steps forward and three back.

I've been having to wear a heart monitor for the last week and I have to wear it for another two. The monitor part looks like a Blackberry : ) I haven't really felt the same fast heartbeat that I had before since having to wear the monitor.'

: ) I am bad at getting my symptoms to be caught. It is like I feel better when I set up the doctor's appointment : P

Good day and good day.

For a quiet girl I can make the silence loud

2009-03-29T23:06:00.002-04:00

I drove quietly home today. I had yelled at B and gotten so mad that I couldn't talk to him. When we got home, I took in the tea and he took in the chicken dinner we had gotten. I put the tea down and went upstairs to the bedroom and shut the door.

I was mad. We had just been visiting J. I had been a bit confusing to him and I was trying to explain why I did what I did. He said that J. hadn't wanted visitors. I said I thought she would rather have someone visit to take her mind off the pain.

I felt like he was reading my sister better than I was. I felt stupid and thought he was accusing me of causing her pain.

He was trying to explain and I told him to shut up.

We don't fight often. And so much of it is me reading into what he is saying. For a reading whiz, I so read him wrong. Partly it is a release. I am stressed about things and I redirect that stress at him to let go of it.

Partly it is I am used to being held at arm's length with things being hidden in my relationships. I am not used to an honest guy. I mean I've had two relationships end by the guy moving away and never talking again to me. That'll do something to a girl.

We talked again after I got up. We kissed and made up. I will always love him even if we fight. I'd rather fight with him then live without him.

Good night and return to your corners....

A little Lupine

2009-03-18T17:10:00.002-04:00

So from a feline post to a lupine today. My doc visit went just fine. They don't have a clear picture on the thyroid. So they took more blood to do some more tests.

The reason I am lupine is I have Wolffe-Parkinson-White syndrome. It is something I was born with and it basically means occassionally my electrical system in my heart causes it to beat fast for no reason. The doc is scheduling me to see a special cardiologist which deals with the electrical system of the heart. It isn't fatal and can be treated with with a beta blocker or a nonevasive surgery. I'll know more after my cardiologist visit.

Oh and I medalled today. We had our staff day and I was in two events. The Database Scavenger Hunt and the Brain Bowl. I got gold for both : )

Good day and the beat goes on....

I love kids but....

2009-03-14T18:38:00.003-04:00

We went to the Irish Festival today. We had wandered here and there enjoying Irish food, dance and music. To top off the day, I decided to get my face painted. Just some harmless fun... But....we were waiting in the long line of mostly kids and a sparse population of others (teens and adults). It was almost my turn and I had been impressed with the artist. She was doing a great job. All of us were quite excited when it was our turn.

When it was my turn, I got skipped. I got skipped by this kindergardener named Caleb. He had been getting more and more excited, turning around several times to tell his mom that he was getting the Dark Knight face painting. He had been standing right beside me and so when the kid left out the chair in front of me, he hopped right up no hestitation.

And I had to be the mean adult. I had to tell Caleb it wasn't his turn. Then I had to close my eyes to get my face done and listen to Caleb's mom behind me tell him it wasn't wrong and that he would have a turn in a second. But I loved my face painting and I had waited my turn.

I so often give in to kids. In my work as a children's librarian, I get nervous and tired and cranky. But for kids, I put it aside to give them a great storytime. I put a lot of work into crafts that may see 2 or 3 kids show up for. I spend time being a tutor or game player or an adult that just listens.

It was just this time I didn't. I stood up for what I wanted.

Good day and quid pro quo kids!

How am I?

2009-03-13T11:52:00.002-04:00

The doctor wanted my blood tested again for the thyroid. We have much to talk about me doc and I. I see her again on Tuesday and I have one more question for her. I am so tired all the time now. I usually nap at least once during the day. And I used to wake up feeling refreshed. Now I just wake up tired.

On another note, we got a Wii. B and I have really been enjoying playing together. The one I think we both like best is the tennis. And it is very much a workout. LOL I almost took out the fan cord though. And I have begun packing and cleaning out. Our lease isn't up until June but I wanted enough time to clean out stuff.

I am really looking forward to moving. The new place seems great. And I have so missed natural light. That was one major drawback to a townhouse.

Good day and let the light shine in.

The wonders of Technology

2009-03-03T13:44:00.002-05:00

So yesterday, with much nervousness, I headed off to get my portable heart monitor. I had to go to the local hospital for this Holder monitor. It basically is these electrodes that are placed around my chest and they are attached to a recorder.

LOL The recorder is basically a walkman. Or at least it looks a lot like one. And not even a CD walkman. No, it is a cassette tape. I wondered where they all went. Well, it looks like they went to the hospital. I wonder if I could borrow one to make an eighties mix tape : P

So after getting the darn thing on and after trying to be so careful with it, I went in this morning to get the tape and battery replaced. Wouldn't you know it.... the tape had gotten caught up on one of the knobs and it had only recorded maybe as much as me leaving the office and out to my car. Barely 10 minutes. Not exactly the 24 hours that they had wanted.

So now I have a new machine and I have to keep this machine on until Thursday. Ugh! The worst is it itches just slightly. Not enough that I scratch but enough that it makes me want to...

But I did still feel like a fast heartbeat on Saturday and Sunday and my blood pressure did go up so I will keep the evil itchy machine on.

Good day and the beat goes on....

Now for the so-so

2009-02-27T22:59:00.002-05:00

I got sick last weekend. It wasn't pretty. And for Sunday and Monday, I couldn't really sleep. Not because of being sick but it felt like my heart was pounding. No matter whether I was walking around the apartment or trying to rest, it felt like it was racing. I'd take my pulse and it would be fine but it still felt like a pounding in my chest.

The week before I had felt really run down and felt a little short of breath but felt better with the vacay so I just chalked it up to nerves or stress.

I finally told B about it Tuesday after I made a doctor's appointment. We went and pulse and blood pressure was fine. When I told her about being sick, she thought it might have been dehydration. So lots of fluid that day and since. It feels more normal. But she did schedule for me to have a portable heart monitor for Monday and Tuesday just to check and make sure.

When she told me that, I smiled a bit. See, when I went to see Grandfather the last time, they did something similiar to him and he was all excited about it. He even wanted me to take a picture of him in it. I wouldn't make B do that but I'm sure I will think of him Monday.

What was even funnier was the fact that I took Basil (one of our cats) into the vet and pretty much we had the same tests done (sans the heart monitor). But we got tested for thryoid and found out we both have very slight heart mummurs.

The hardest thing is trying not to read up on heart related diseases. This would be the one time reading would stress me and not relieve my stress.

Good night and stay cool, boy...

I've had the good...

2009-02-27T22:51:00.004-05:00

Beloved and I on a surrey (horse and carriage)

Me at the port

Shots from the Glass Bottom Boat

More scenes... they told us we were right above a wreck.... not exactly reassuring with sharks below...

Nuf' said

Beloved on the Fascination

Look, honey... a manatee!

I ordered a special Happy Anniversary decorations package for the room : D

When I can't think of anything else...

2009-02-10T12:59:00.002-05:00

1.YOUR REAL NAME: Eve Harm
2.WITNESS PROTECTION NAME:(mother and fathers middle name) Mae Wilson
3.NASCAR NAME:(first name of your mother's dad, father's dad) Jack Zade
4.STAR WARS NAME:(the first 3 letters of your last name, first 2 letters of your firstname) Harsm
5.DETECTIVE NAME:(favorite color, favorite animal) Rainbow Cat
6.SOAP OPERA NAME:(middle name, town where you were born) Mercy Jacksonville
7.SUPERHERO NAME: (2nd fav color, fav drink, add "THE" to the beginning) The Blue Thai Iced Tea
8.FLY NAME:(first 2 letters of 1st name, last 2 letters of your last name) Have
9.ROCK STAR NAME:(current pets name, current street name) Basil Oak
10. PORN NAME: (1st pet, street you lived when born) Noddon 59th
11.YOUR GANGSTA NAME:(first 3 letters of real name plus izzle) Eveizzle
12.YOUR IRAQI.. NAME:(2nd letter of your first name, 3rd letter of your last name, firsttwo letters of your middle name, last two letters of your first name then last threeletters of your last name) Vrmevehar
13.YOUR GOTH NAME:(black, and the name of one of your pets) Black Hazel
14. STRIPPER NAME: (name of your fav perfume, fav candy) Sunflowers Chocolate

They let me have 30 minutes more

2009-02-07T09:29:00.003-05:00

I love my kitties but they are driving me bonkers. Henri decided to put his entire fuzzy blanket into the water bowl this morning. And Basil spent 30 minutes sitting on me trying to get me up. I got a magnet the other day that said "There is no snooze button for a cat who wants breakfast". Tell me about it.... Though it has kept me on track with the getting up a little early to work out. I actually did an entire week. Which trust me, for me, that is awesome.

In other news, the lady that owns the townhouse we are renting is selling the place. We are still okay til June but wow... I think we half expected it. I think the realtor was also kind of feeling me out for the possibility that we might want it. But we don't want to buy anything right now. I know that there are great deals now but not if he gets a permenant job in say Cleveland. Then we become the people trying to sell in this market. No thanks!

Only 6 days til the cruise. I am so looking forward to it. Just time alone with B and I . No cats, no work, just relaxing. We have an inside cabin again. As nice it is to have natural light, I love sleeping in complete darkness. It justs makes for a hard sleep.

Good day and a man walks into a bar....ouch! LOL

Do the Motions or the Solution?

2009-02-04T21:29:00.002-05:00

Today, they came again. I know. Sounds like the start of a great sci-fi novel. But no, it was just the glass people. This time, the person they sent was C and he decided not to leave until my leak was fixed. Finally someone who saw beyond the work.

It took a bit of fiddling but he tested it three or four times and my car didn't leak. Holy Hannah! I don't know if it will hold but it did make me feel slightly (begrudingly) better about the company.

I have to remember C and his lesson of do the solution. I hear the same thing day in and day out. And they are just like me. I just wanted a solution. It takes a bit to get there but it can be done.

I also got to do a storytime today. My second in the last two weeks. Trust me, after months of nada, this is like butter.... : P I really enjoyed it and the kids seemed to as well. We talked a bit about Black History Month. And peace. Todd Par has a book called the Peace Book. He talks about what peace is... you know peace is hugging a friend or keeping the streets clean or pizza enough for everyone in the world. Who knew pizza was another world for peace? Hmmm... Pizza Hut ambassadors? It is interesting to be talking about how alike we are but how special at the same time.

I get so busy sometimes that I forget to remind myself about my specialness. I have a special way of reading. I change my voice and movements to match the story. I have a special talent for talking to all sorts of people. I have a special way of looking at the world. I have a special voice and brain that can remember all sorts of weird and interesting facts. Did you know you can not sneeze with your eyes open? Or that nothing rhymes with orange?

Good night and enjoy the coolness of me and of you.

Despise, Hate or Frustated

2009-01-29T11:31:00.004-05:00

I can't decide which word fits how I feel about SAG. My back window was broken totally on December 31st. I went with the company that the insurance guys went with. Well, tomorrow will be the third time this month that they are coming to fix my car. The seal isn't right. When it gets wet, it drips all into the trunk.

We had a heavy rain last night and I came out to a trunk half covered in half an inch of water. I took off part of this morning to go get a cover that I could put on the car. See, everyone I called said that they couldn't fix it today because of the rain. But had it not rained, I wouldn't have known that there was still a problem. I feel Noah-ish today. It is all about the flood. I just have to keep telling myself that no rain means no rainbows. Even though today I feel a bit drowned in trouble and sorrow.

Good day and remember rainbows.

Retirement Ready

2009-01-25T00:26:00.003-05:00

I did something today that smacks me sideways with its adultness.

I set up an IRA. I have been pondering on it for a bit. I haven't had any plan for retirement until now. I haven't really thought about it.

It is the future. I think of it as the Future. As it is this island out in the Pacific somewhere that I will eventually maybe end up on. Right now I am thinking of the omlette I had for dinner just about 30 minutes ago. Not my life in 30 years. I look at it the same way I do public speaking. That it will never happen. : ) They couldn't possible want me to speak. Oh no, it's happening and I know I planned but it could never be enough.

The only future I see right now and have seen ever is B. I see us two white haired fools. Him still hugging me just as he does now and me teasing him just as I do now.

He may have to go away in mid summer. For a week. His boss volunteered him for the mission of going to another district office and checking over their work. I asked him to put in for Washington DC. He wants me to come with. And I want to come with. I haven't been away from him since we started living together.

Oh and speaking of away, it is planned. We are cruising again in February. YAY! Major major YAY! We are both looking forward to it as an anniversary thing. I had hoped that we would be able and we are going to the Bahamas again. I am hoping this can become our February thing. Just because we both enjoy it so much.

Good night and look forward.

Dream a little Dream

2009-01-14T12:39:00.004-05:00

So last night as I was almost falling asleep, I was still talking. I do that a lot. Once when I was sleep talking, I told B. that I wanted to live in a monkey house. Not a house full of monkeys but one shaped like a huge monkey. I don't have any idea of where that came from.

Last night, B reminded me of it again and said that it didn't have to be made of monkeys. For some odd reason, that comment set me just a-gigglin' like crazy. I laughed harder when I heard myself and even harder still when I could feel him laughing beside me. LMAO doesn't justify this giggle fest.

I did finally get to sleep afterwards. I dreamed that I was in Tokoyo. I was wandering around the city center which apparently I was very familiar with. I realized that I was graduating (with what I still don't know). But the graduation gown I had on was white with gold lettering and only covered my shoulders like a small cape. I was walking through a beautiful garden filled with pink and white flowers and then I was walking through this cloud to a subway station. I didn't know where I was. I got on one of the subway cars and we made our way down to the ground. We would circle lower and lower like an airplane descent and just when I would let go of the breath I was holding it would plummet like on a roller coaster. The older Japanese couple sitting across from me watching me intently and would smile slightly when I would squeak and hold tight during the roller coaster part.

Very Eveish.

Good night and no more sushi before bed : P

Feeling Better

2009-01-09T10:08:00.003-05:00

It has been one thing after another. Between being sick, getting glass broke, getting sick again, having to fight through crazy people with a detour, and being fussed at by neighbors, it has not started off as a good year.

But happy notes are still around. B is still wonderful. T and I are working on taking a class on Thursdays. Floral arranging. It looked pretty cool and anything I can do to be creative is a good thing. Work has been good too. Now that the holidays are over and I finally am feeling good, I feel like actually doing work. I am looking into asking an Asian Alliance group to do a presentation about Asia and the Lunar New Year. Plus I am more than halfway done with my weeding of the children's non-fiction. It has taken a while but I am plugging away at it little by little.

I took H out to lunch the other day to celebrate her finishing her certification for nails and skin care. Her official title is a long word I can't remember. It was really nice sitting down with her. I am glad she is my sister. We ate at a new restaurant (well, for me) Five Guys Burgers and Fries. It was good.

I have already begun to look at apartments online. I am definitely ready to move. I know that there are two things I need to do before that. I am ready for more windows for one. I miss windows. We are in a condo with windows on the front and back but are sandwiched between two other units. Oh well. May needs to come soon.

Good day and be well.

A difference in 18 hours

2009-01-02T10:20:00.002-05:00

I thought it was ice. I thought it had gotten cold enough to ice over my car's back windshield.

Then I got closer. It wasn't ice. My back windshield was shattered. I drove it home at 6 pm and at 12 noon the next day as we were going out to leave to go to lunch, I saw the damage. Something or someone has damaged my car. It was so bad that we closed the doors, the window started to almost buckle.

I was a bit shocked to say the least. But B, T and myself went out to lunch. And then home again to call the insurance. I have never called before. Insurance is one of those things you have and hope never to use.

There is no clue as to how it happened. Firecrackers, bullet, hammer... it could be any or none at all. It was definitely something with force behind it. It left a hole in the window and broke a hole in the plastic piece of the backseat. I hope when the guys come out to fix it to have a better idea. I personally think it was someone with a huge Hello Kitty hate : )

And on the positive side, I'd rather my car be smashed than me or mine. Plus I get to ride with Mark for the next day or so. More time with hubby is always a positive.

Good day and watch out.

A New Year's A-coming

2008-12-31T13:30:00.002-05:00

Well, here it is. The last day of the year 2008. It was my best year to date. I got B this year : D

As far as I know, the plans for this eve are fairly low key. We had talked about going to a movie. Or staying in. We both got toys that we have been enjoying recently.

I got a DS and a new game in the mail the other day. And B got Fallout 3 ( a computer game) from his brother. I am wearing my birthday necklace from J today. It is an amethyst butterfly. It combines our two loves.. amethyst for me and butterflies for her.

I am glad to be feeling better finally. I still have a slight cough but it is very slight. I am hoping to get to make cookies this weekend. With the cold, I thought it would be poor form to send cold germs via cookies to Michigan. Not to mention sharing the cold germs via cookies at our works.

I do think in the next place that I need a nice big kitchen. Though I really like having the passthrough. We have begun to talk about moving. Each place gets better than the next. So by time we buy, we will know exactly what we want and what we do not. Stairs are on the do not list. We both just too clumsy for them : P Plus I can't imagine that they would be good for kids. Not that we are there yet, people but it is a consideration in the next couple of years.

I've got to keep up with working on the weight before that happens. I'll take another look at the community ed paper for that. I need something fun and kind of dancy. Plus T wants to take a look at classes too. I think it would be fun to do something with her. She is beyond awesome. She is definitely in the fantabulous range : )

Good day and best of all years for us all.

Ode to Me

2008-12-23T07:54:00.003-05:00

December 22nd. I came into the world and the world has never recovered : P

It was a good day then as now. I was finally feeling a bit better from my horrible cold. I got sung to at least three times including by a lion. My dad told me I was precious. B made me cry.

No, not in a bad way people. Since my birthday was on a Monday and he had me open my gifts last Friday, I asked him to get me flowers.

This is what I got. It was lovely. But the thing that made me cry was the piece of paper. I share most thing with you people but this was my own little treasure.

Overall, a lovely day.

I am 33 if you were wondering. I don't really care about the number. It is just that. I don't feel any oder or wiser. Except now I have to start my next plans after peace on earth (Thanks, T : )

Hmmm.... world domination has a nice ring to it. Maybe I'll start on that.

Good day and bow to my dominion foolish humans.... ummm maybe not....doesn't feel too Evieish.

My meant to be Devotions

2008-12-21T01:16:00.002-05:00

We had our Christmas get-together yesterday. I love getting together with my family. Even though part of me wished to crawl under covers and sleep til Monday. I have been blessed with a gnarly cold. I am a stubborn person especially when it comes to being sick. I can not stand when I can not do what I want to do.

I had worked slightly on a devotion for our party. It was something that kind of struck me. I had wanted to do it for Dad. He always get stuck doing the devotions. I think sometimes it is a love to do/hate to do kind of thing. And I know that sometimes he stresses out about them. Even though he always does such a phenomenal job. So I wanted to take a stress off him. But being so sick and somewhat overwrought, I couldn't.

So here's what I had. I was going to have each person read a part. And then put the paper flipped over in the middle of the table. On the back, it would read Ch, ri, s, t, is, h, e, r, e

Mary: I was there, thoughtful and faithful. I went through things none had ever been through then or since. But I believed.

Joseph: I was there, supporting my wife. I believed her and God. We traveled far to come to the land of my birth. I would be there for his birth but his death would give all new life.

Shepherd: I was there, in awe and joyous. Everything that the angel told us came true. How could we stop from praising God for all the wondrous things we saw? And still see to this day.

Angel: I was there, praising and a messenger. Spreading the good news that this day would be born a savior. Even into this mortal flesh with all its pain and sorrow, how could one not but sing to his glory?

Star: I was there, shining a way to the Lord. Much like his Word still shines a way to him too.

Wise Men: I seek what all men seek. Salvation. Love. For all my gifts, his was greater still.

Ass: I was there. What was my burden of his mother to the burden for which he would carry even unto his death?

Innkeeper: I was there. How hectic a time was that? People stuck in every which how and place, only to find more on my doorstep looking for room. Imagine your house full to the gills. A man has to turn someone away. Yet how many more turn from him now?

Christ: I am here.

Christmas. Christ mass.

All those there for this one defining event. All those there to play a part. All crowded and around this singular person. Christ. Everything revolves around him. As it should now.

Then as now, there are so many things pulling away from Christ. Mothers, husbands, things to be gotten and given, messages to receive and get, seekers, burdens and hectic times.

But in the end, all that falls away and he is left. He is the pure grain when all the chaff is worn away. The Messiah. The Savior. That which all men seek and all may find. Amen.

Good night and find him.

Whisper Quiet

2008-12-16T09:53:00.002-05:00

That is me right now. I lost my voice yesterday and am feeling a bit better now. I am up for no voice to whisper.

But plus side, I did get a flu shot back about a month ago. Where is my cold shot though?

B. stayed home with me yesterday. He took me to the doctor too. He is really sweet about me being sick. Every time I tried to talk, he would stop me and hand me a pad of paper and a pen.

My kids and I got to go to the Jags game the other day. They had a blast. I am so glad for them. Overall they are really good kids and they deserve good things.

We decorated the tree on Saturday. We had gotten a faux one because I was concerned about the cats. I was sure that Henri would have drunk all the water out of the bottom. But outside of some sniffing, they haven't paid it too much mind. Which is a bit of a relief. They were much more interested in the step ladder I pulled out to put the star on the top. One would sit under it and bat at the person on the top of it. LOL

We also put up all of the stockings. Okay, so we just happen to have kitty stockings. And two people ones. There is a plain red stocking and a Hello Kitty one. I bet you can't guess which one is mine : )

Good day and here's to a hopefully speech filled tomorrow.