Massive Air Strike coordination (I.E. Getting Together with Siblings)

I have decided that getting together with Family is like coordinating a massive air strike. Lots of communication, a little chaos thrown in and ETA's... My siblings want to get together for New Year's Eve. Happy New Year to all of you guys... I spoke too soon. I will be spending the night over at J and P's taking care of dogs. Nice and low key which is just what the doctor ordered. I'll probably head over after hitting home first to take care of kitties and get a shake to go from the Loop : ) I still have my coupon for a free one for my birthday but I have to get it before the end of December. Which today just happens to be.

Do you all make New Year's Resolutions? I don't. I know for the whole year what I need to work on for me. And I have gotten better about thinking about what I need to do better but not at putting it into practice. And what do I think about?

Getting in better health
Filling my head with good stuff
Interacting more with people
Being a better Christian

Oh but I will hopefully be able to check off belly dancing off my to do list soon. I am hoping to sign up for that class next week. I am really looking forward to it. Perhaps I can get lost on my way there so I can enjoy two pleasant things that day: P I am so on my way to become a Bond girl. Foreign Language or Accent..check, Requisite sexy dancing (got to do something to distract while evilly plotting against Bond) .... soon to be check. I still need small arms training and martial arts. All in good time : )

Good day and Cowart... Eve Cowart : P

I am as constant as a Northern Star

So I come back to you all just a bit older but not wiser by a long short. I did have a lovely birthday. My dad took me out on one of Daddy Dates which are just as good now as always. He complimented me by wanting to do it again and not just on my birthday. My siblings took me out to dinner and gave me presents. We were going to see Narnia but I had hurt my back earlier and took the medicine they gave me for my root canal. Needless to say, any sitting in any area dark would have resulted in me sleeping deep and hard.

Christmas was good too. I walked down to the Christmas Eve service at the Lutheran church around the corner. It was a bit of a dodgy walk because now the park I walk pass and live near is a supposed haven for pedofiles. Obviously they were all dreaming of sugarplums as there was no one out and about on my walk. We did the whole candlelight bit. But instead of walking out singing Silent Night, the pastor did a bit about Christ being the light of the world and how his light stills shines and we finished up with Joy to the World. Sometimes it is so hard to hear that still quiet voice within all the yelling that the world does. I imagine that the world is like the commercials. You know how they seem to turn up the volume for the commercials and it goes back down when your show comes on.

I got to spend a lot of time with family this Christmas. P came up and was here from the 22nd to the 26th. We hung out at J and P's for a few of those days and then spent Christmas Day at Mom and Dad's. I liked all my presents but my favorite was my sunset (actually a sunrise) in a bottle. My parents took a picture of a sunrise, printed off and put it in a bottle. It was on my wish list and I got it. Just another case of the impossible becoming possible in my life.

My favorite present for someone else was B's at work. He got Darth Tater. Oh but a more perfect present possibly doesn't exist for him. S. was so right on. We had him put in on the counter where we check people out. Sort of a new "Pay your fines or else" program : ) I tried to come up with other tater related terms this morning driving to work ( It is a long commute, people) and all I got was "Help me, Obi-graten, Help me"and Luke Spudwalker. Trust me, so far from my best work but it was earlyish for me.

And it is early right now too.... good day and may the force be mass times acceleration : P

Joyeux Noel

This will probably be my last post till after Christmas since I have tomorrow through the 26th off. But I must fill you in on the ninja mice before that. Consider it an early Christmas present.

I went out with my siblings the other day to look at the luminairies. They were just lovely. Well, long story short, I was just exhausted and I did like I always do and cried. Everyone was so concerned but it really was just straight exhaustion. It ended up being a long but lovely weekend and way too much driving and interaction for me. P. drove me home and I had just gotten in when I decided to feed the cats. There is a shelf with some candles on it and of course I knocked it off. Ugh! Short bout of crying again. I promise it is only when really really tired that I do this. One of the candles hit me in the face and left with a slight bruise.

So always making good of bad, I decided I needed a story should anyone ask. I was still tossing around the idea at work today. A co-worker came up with the ninja mice which we decided had just a great visual to it. So if anyone asks, it was a retalation beating from the ninja mouse's spinning kick (the tail did the damage) since I house my former gang kitties.

I am very much looking forward to the days off. I think I will do what they did for the first Christmas... wander, pray, be surrounded by animals, ponder, celebrate, and open presents. A little chaotic, a lot of joy...

Good week and peace be with you... Merry Christmas y'all! : P

Love without Rules

The title is from the Dove Chocolate's I ate while hanging out with G while P put my Christmas presents away. Though I did make the observation that isn't having a rule of no rules actually cancelling itself out. I just left Scott's site so love is on the brain. I've actually outsourced my love life. I have one lady at work and P and J searching for me. I do still think that I'll look myself but I still need to get settled.

I know I don't want to stay in J but my family is there and we are all so close. I can visit whenever I want. They are my friends and take them out the equation and I'm worried that I'll end up in the place I want but no friends or fiends to speak of. Believe it or not, I am a really quiet shy person at first. More pondering is necessary and at a time when I haven't just gotten up.

We are all masterpieces in progress.


So I promised randomness as tagged by Christelli and a-randoming I will be...

1. My ultimate destination for work or just living is England. Been there once so what to go back.

2. My birthday is in 4 days on December 22 and I'm turning 30 (though it is actually - 40... see earlier post for explanation)

3. I've kept some sort of journal (which this sort of is) since I was in 8th grade. They've never been daily but they are fun to go back and read. My senior year one was all boys and God.

4. I was born in the year of the Rabbit according to the Chinese zodiac

5. I cry very easily though not as bad as I did growing up.

6. I have had several nicknames. My first was Smiley given to me by the school crossing guard. The other have been Evey-Q, Evie, Nevie, Evert, Bubbles, Sally ( Charlie Brown's sister), Eviekins, Barrette Girl and I think that's all.

7. Hi, my name is Eve and I am a recovering McDonald's addict. Unfornuately not a lot of places to eat at near work and I am getting better about bringing lunch.

8. I'm the comedic relief most of the time.

9. Back to that whole shy quiet thing, I can remember growing up that my dad would have everyone be quiet so that I could contribute to the family dinner conversation.

10. I have three cats: Basil (L), Henri (M) and Hazel (S)

11. My worst experience to date was having to give up my two cats (Raven and Cecelia) to the humane society when I was leaving for grad school.

12. In one of my apartments, there were (within walking distance) a Taco Bell and Dairy Queen right next door to each other. I used to love getting dinner and dessert and walking home.

13. I have only had my driver's license for a little over a year. No, nothing was wrong or such. I just didn't want to get it. Silly me!

14. Occassionally when I walk out of my apartment at night, I imagine what it would be like to run into Jack the Ripper or a werewolf or ninjas and how I would react.

15. I love asking questions.

16. I hate cleaning my apartment. And doing laundry

17. I like traveling and exploring by myself. Hence the reason I must prepare mentally for the ninja attack : )

18. I am a night owl. My staff decided that I need to get the t-shirt: A.M. stands for Ain't Moving or Good Morning is an oxymoron

19. I can cook but I prefer baking. Making pies is going to be my backup business if library work doesn't work out.

20. My general description of the guy I want goes like this: attractive enough that I can look at him but not so much everyone else is too, smart enough to talk to me, able to be silly and serious at the same time, must be odd (but not scary I'm collecting your earwax to make one of you to be with me always odd), and have a willingness to go off the beaten path.

And one for good luck...

21. I like getting lost. I want to travel down roads that no one else does and see all the coolness that is around me and there is a ton. I want to see what no one sees or skims over.

Okay long enough... my tagees are Patty Pooh and PJs Doghouse. I would have tagged all your Toronto people but you've already been tagged or a tagger. :P

Good day, my fellow masterpieces in progress

Checking In

So I may eventually add computer to my wish list... I can only blog at work currently. Unfornuately being as I am beyond busy all the time, one at home would be a nice thing. But it would have to be wireless or I would have to finally breakdown and get a land line. Right now all I have is my cell. It has been great but occassionally I forget to take it with me. I never know whether to hope that no one calls that day or feel bad that no one has called me : ) And yes, I know that I have been tagged for randomness but it is going to have to hold off one day: P Thus I can come up with the wonders of randomness about me.

Oh just a heads up. My library made news again last Saturday.

Obviously I am so used to being written up in the paper that I forgot to tell ya'll about it. It is so a tie between me and Jennifer Anniston. I just know that my paparazzi are really fab about hiding so that they can get the candidest shots. More money that way : P

Good day and only take pictures from my left you crazy invisible paparazzi!

A Clock went by the Window

Yawn... time is just flying by. I have 7 more days til the offical start of my Christmas holidays. On the first day of my holiday, I gave myself... a kitty in my lap. On the second day of my holiday, I gave myself...two birthday cakes and a kitty in my lap. On the third day of my holiday, I gave myself... three hours of wrapping, two birthday cakes and a kitty in my lap. On the fourth day of my holiday, I gave myself... four sips of eggnog, three hours of wrapping, two birthday cakes and a kitty in my lap. On the fifth day of my holiday, I gave myself... five anklebiters, four sips of eggnog, three hours of wrapping, two birthday cakes and a kitty in my lap. On the sixth day of my holiday, I gave myself... six unwrapped presents, five anklebitters, four sips of eggnog, three hours of wrapping, two birthday cakes and a kitty in my lap. On the seventh day of my holiday, I gave myself... seven hour recovery, six unwrapped presents, five anklebiters, four sips of eggnog, three hours of wrapping, two birthday cakes and a kitty in my lap.

Yep. That is pretty much what I expect. Fun and chaos and recovery all in those days. The next piece will be for P.

My version of shouting from the rooftops: P. is such a wonderful person. She is generous and fun. She is a fantabulous sister and I love her beyond words. She gives good hugs and we can talk for hours. She deserves the very best and she deserves to be loved unconditionally. She is so smart and has such a great attitude. I know I can always count on her.

She was a bit down the other day and that is always when I can't stand not to be there. I can send hugs over the phone but they just don't work. I even sent kitty hugs. Those travel phone lines much better.

Oh, I am doing a caritas-ish present for my mom. It is a phrase I heard at my Happening. Which takes some explaining to.. okay... happening is a church retreat and one of the things that happened was you get a bag of letters from all the people you know at church and just people you know. Well, caritas is like a small sacrifice that you make for that person.

Enough explaining. If you don't have it yet, ask your neighborhood librarian : P Job security... : ) Well, my present for mom (and should mom be reading this... desist right now, young lady), is a mason jar of my spare change. She just recently got two new hearing aids. I know that they were really expensive and as of right now none of us can help pay for them all of the way. So this is my way of saving for them. I started on December 1st and will continue until December 25th. Each time I put change in it, I either think of her or say a little prayer for her. I am going to label it "Do you hear what I hear". I like this kind of gift-giving since it has so many levels of gifting. My sacrifice, my prayers, my change. It's not much but I think it is priceless. I like those gifts. It allows Christmas to lose a little of the commericalism and gain a bit more shine like a certain star I know of.

Good night and be of good change.

Crafty Concoctions

So it is offical... the kids thought I was nice and crazy. We had our Saturday Surprise and since the children's person is out, I got to lead it. The theme was reindeers and we made reindeer pins. One to take home and one to give to the seniors at the senior centers. So I can check off that on the list: Minds to warp and people to corrupt... hmmmm maybe not. No, that will just have to go on tomorrow's to do list. Can I corrupt them with good things? So it wasn't in Oxford Dictionary of Difficult Words. Obviously you can easily corrupt... It was in Random Houses with all sorts of bad connoctations but it does mean to taint. Taint with goodness? I wonder...

I always forget how tired I am afterwards. I expend so much energy in my storytimes. It can be a hard audience. But it is usually so much fun that I agree to do it everytime. It is like being a comedian and a storyteller rolled into one. I want them to walk away thinking that they had a great time. Nothing else. Though I will admit I like being the one that they like.

I get told all the time that I would be a great mom. A whole other discussion for a later date, readers. It all just seems way too grown up. I feel like I have never been the one to pretend to be a bride and pretend to be a mom. I love working with them. No doubt. But the pregnancy and the birth thing are way beyond my scope of imagination. I can't even imagine being married. No don't fret guys. I want to but how exactly it plays out is a bit beyond me. All I know is he better have a passport. I would hate to have to leave him home while I globetrot.

Good day and bon voyage!

Joyful, Joyful We Adore thee

And another song stuck in my head. It is also known as Beethoven's "Ode to Joy". Or as the Die Hard Theme... LOL I spent the day and before with J and P. Usually this involves me getting into their car at ten in the morning for a quick run of errands which doesn't end until 7 at night with me not getting anything done. But this time was really great. We picked up Dad and headed out right near work to grab lunch and hike a trail that they had stumbled upon a while back. I really enjoy lunch but how do you not love a place called "Everybody's"? It is very small-townish with waitresses that actually talk to you and one of the few places I know of that you can run a tab with.

Sorry guys, work just got busy so this is actually the next days post too. 2 Posts for 1 on sale this Christmas!

Another night at J and P's house. I stopped by to have dinner and decided to hang out for the night. They are all bummed because they have had to cut the cable down to bare minimum. Okay forgive me if this seems so funny: ) I have lived cable free since R and haven't really missed it at all. For a time when I first moved into my last apartment I didn't even have a tv. Even now I am more likely to just borrow movies from the library or watch an awful lot of PBS. Sisters.... LOL D also came over for dinner. I told P this morning that they need to put out more toys for him. He tends to play around afterwards. Yesterday experiment was burning napkins. He was also filling us in on his new movie which sounded great. And he gets the Best Bear Hug Award. H didn't come with but we did miss her. They seem to be a good couple. Yay for D! He deserves somebody great...

They all wanted to know what I wanted for my birthday. I am really not sure. I think my Christmas list should be thought of as my birthday list too. Mom and Dad always did such a good job of splitting up the two events. It was tough as Christmas and my B-day are a mere three days apart. I guess I will just do the combo thing with J since hers is on the 19th.

Everyone is all "ooooh the big 3-0". Exactly why is it the big 3-0 instead of the absolutely meaningless 3-0? Why does that age get to be the milestone? I mean 21 okay, 18 okay, 30 huh? I demand another adjective! Or age to be big. Though it is within the three to five year plan to have things done between ages 30 to 32. I know me and I know leaway is needed. I get so involved in things that it is sometimes hard to get unentrenched. Sometimes I make Charlie Brown look like a decisive person : P Much more pondering is required.

Good day and laugh some every day (sticker on my desk)

From H*ll

The title of today's blog, children, is taken from the book I finished last night. It is a telling of the Jack the Ripper story as a graphic novel. It is taken from the point of the motive behind the killings is the fact the Prince Edward had a child with a candy store clerk/prostitute and the killer killed the women who knew about it. It was an interesting read. What is it about this crime that makes it so unforgettable? I was in London a couple of years ago and we did a Jack the Ripper walking tour on Halloween. It would have been scary but for the fifty other tours doing the exact same thing. Ugh!

Do you ever have moments where your external actions match your now-playing soundtrack? Today was the second time that I happened to drive by the sign " State Prisoners Working" and have the soundtrack for O, Brother, Where Art Thou? playing. It is one of the six CDs I have currently in the car. I tend to like soundtracks for their variety of songs.

What else is going on? I am going to be heading to J and P's for my weekly visit. I usually stay at their house on Tuesdays since they are so close to my work and I am always tired on Wednesday mornings. The switch from a late close to an early open is bleech! It will be especially nice since tomorrow is my day off.
We also kicked off another drive here at work. We are collecting greeting cards and calling cards for service people as well as we have a banner that we'll be sending off soon.

I have told my staff to slap me if I volunteer to do anything else. Not that I could seeing as there is so much I am already a part of. I could have a nice quiet never leave the branch job but no, I have to volunteer for everything under the sun. Right now I am looking into the possiblity of donating books from the booksale to libraries that were hit by Katrina. No more... that is it!

I now refuse to help out in any other ways. I offically give up (at least for today). I just feel blah and have written a blah blog. Don't give up on me though. It will get better I promise... give me a week and I'll be back to my fantastic self.

Good day and being the change you want to see in the world

Nibble, Nibble Little Mouse...

Who's that nibbling on my house? It is strange what phrases stick in your head. That one is from a telling of Hansel and Gretel. But I'll get to the mouse in a second.

I finally finished Wicked by Gregory Maguire. Major fantabulously wonderful! I love it when I get to see things from another view. You know those stereotypical pics of fifties girl with her head upside down and feet in the air across her bed? I am one of those. I usually love looking at the world upside down. I can be as agreeable as the next person but I like to be challenged. I used to have a staff member here who liked to debate things especially the oh-so not important things. I loved talking with him even if I was totally wrong. It does ocassionally happen but it was fun. The best thing I ever debated was in college. I had to be on the pro side of a God is Dead argument. It was so tough arguing against something I believed in but I learned so much (BTW God is so much alive it isn't funny... I mean it... the dude is so wick).

But back to the book, it was so great that there is someone who takes a story you know by heart and takes it from another perspective. It was filled with the nature of evil and souls and whether she was bound by a destiny. It also looked at the Animals vs. animals. The Animals had speech and knowledge but in the end they were pawns and victims. I mean you just took the Lion as just another fantasy creature because he was in a fantasy book.

It also looked at the evilness of the witch and the nature of it. Was she a witch who was green and souless or was she green and soulless because she was a witch? How much was internal causes and how much was external causes.

Okay so the mouse. I had to go to a meeting downtown yesterday. I stopped by my favorite sandwich shop and decided to eat in the park. It is right near the library where I had the meeting. I must have been eating something that smelled great and not making too many motions because as I watched the bushes and looked at the people, I had a visitor. A small brown mouse ( or a rat... I couldn't really see its tail) came sniffing around. I tossed a small pebble of the bread I was eating over and it scarffed it up and dashed off. So I decided to see whatelse I could see. I saw lizards doing their mating thing with the neck puffed out, a whole team of ants carrying things back to the colony and one tall bottle of amber liquid hidden the bushes. I am thinking someone would be coming back for it later as it had carefully been placed upright and very well hidden.

It reminded me of the game "I Spy". I like seeing what others don't. One of the quotes I have around my bedroom door is " Stuff your eyes with wonder." . Try it and see what you will see.

Good day and look hard : )

Like a midget dipped in chocolate..

Short and Sweet.. : P I am only at work to graze over party yummies. We decided to have a post-thanksgiving party. What can I say I work with a bunch of party animals.... I did finally make the pecan pie and it turned out just fantabulous!

I couldn't sleep last night. Have you ever followed a thought path backwards. I originally started thinking about beauty. I have just finished my weekly watching of America's Next Top Model which had gotten me thinking about beauty (Stick with me, okay). I then decided the three people who I think of as beautiful were my Mom, Aunt Hazel and P. But not just in the tradition sense. There is so much inner beauty that shines through them.

Then I focused mainly on Aunt Hazel. She passed away several years ago but I still think of her often. She is more like a great-aunt. I tended to think of her like a grandmother in the way she acted. She used to fuss over Dad and make him take the recliner. She loved cats but couldn't have any where she lived so we bought her every cat thing imaginable. My favorite was this mug that had a cat as the handle and a fish at the bottom of the mug. My newest kitty is named after her and it is very fitting. I remember our last phone conversation where she told me that she was ready for death. But she still teased me about my last ex-boyfriend like always calling him Mr. What's-His-Name. I really loved her so much and I miss her still. She was such a character. She used to tell me that I was her favorite and not to tell the others. Though I suspect she might have told us all that.

And about then is where I fell asleep. I love when I can see where a thought came about.

Alright, I do believe that was pushing the short barrier. Good day and wish often (I forgot to put that on yesterdays).

My Favorite Thing to do in Post-Turkiness

Though the napping after the ritual stuffing (of the person not the bird) is entirely awesome, it still only ranks at number two in my post-turkiness favorites. My all-time favorite is the writing of the wish list. It is a tradition in my family to do after Thanksgiving dinner. Though I suspect that it was Mom and Dad's idea to keep us traditionally occupied while they traditionally watched the traditional football game on the traditional recliners.

Regardless it is still my favorite. We are supposed to write down what we want for Christmas. But to me it is so much more. It is a once-a-year wish list. Wishes for me, for you, for the world, for now, for Christmas, and for a million billion years later. It is the one time a year where I think "If I could have more, what would I want". It is a list with no doubt, no fear, no wondering "I need to pay the light bill and take the cats to the vet and then put some in savings before I pursue my dreams", no limits.

I always put Peace on earth on it. As of yet, Santa has yet to bring that to my tree but I keep hoping. I imagine Santa is a bit little God in that respect. A jolly being who answers requests sometimes with a "Not yet". How would someone who created laughter not be jolly by the way?
I have the mundane mixed with the marvelous on my list. My best this year was the sunset in a bottle as a marvel. The sheets and new cell phone above it on the list barely got a whimper but sunset definitely brought up some questions. I told them it was up to the giver to define it. P. has threatened to get me Sunset Tequila... ah the joy of Christmas. I have kept ones from years past just to see how what I have wanted has changed or been fulfilled. I am pretty sure that travel to Maine or to Europe was on there. I have done both. Much of what I wish for I can also give myself and it is easy to forget that. I love the giving as much as the getting. I am usually the one who wants to hand everything out and then sit back and open my pile.

Maybe it isn't such an odd tradition... a wish list. I bet Mary had one: more swaddling clothes, a new robe, new sandals for the journey home, peace on earth, myyrh (check), long life for my son... A mixture of mundane and marvelous with some answers being "Not yet".

New Mystery Series

My co-worker and I have come up with a new faux mystery series. Thus far the titles were the only thing we worked on but they were so hilarious that I don't know if the books could ever live up to them. Mysteries based on a theme... ours is that they all happen in a gym. Something along the lines of "And you thought exercise was good for your health". Though why is it that no one ever accused the lady on Mystery She Wrote of being the murderer? I mean was there anyone left in Crab Apple Cove? The place had to either been a ghost town or the tourism board must have paid some hush-hush money to somebody. It must have thrown the crime statistics all out of wack for Maine.

Okay, sorry tangent but I just wonder sometimes... Okay so the titles we came up with all related to places or exercises in the gym such as Death by Dumbell, Slaughter on the Stairmaster, Rubbed Out in Racquetball,etc. You get the gist. If any of you think of a y word for murder, let me know. Thus far yoga seems to be the only safe place in the gym.

Back to real world... this week looks to be a bit hairy around here. I am a bit nervous as we have yet to be open before and after a major holiday. The best we've had round these parts is Labor Day. But pressing on as usual. I spent Sunday very lazily. I had fallen asleep on the couch the night before. It was a lightswitch sleep. You know where one minute you're awake and the next you're asleep. I woke up that morning with major red eyes as I have forgotten to take my contacts out. So I popped out the contacts and headed back to the couch. I woke up again when Dad called me about Thanksgiving. We are planned to have it at J. and P's as they have the biggest space. My pumpkin pie has been requested. If the library gig doesn't work out, apparently I might make it as Queen of the Pies. I'll be like Queen of Sheba but with a lot less jewelry : P

Pop Quiz: You know how they had a god from everything in Greek and Roman mythology, what would you be god/goddess of? I would definitely be Goddess of Sleep and Pumpkin Pies and Hugs. I'm really good at those too.

This is the blog you get when I don't get enough sleep. I agree with my cats. If we don't get at least our 21 hours worth, we are just worthlesss in the morning.

Good day and only one month and one day more shopping days til my b-day! I prefer jewels but cash will do in a pinch : P

The Joys of Work

Yes, I did survive my vacation. I even had the perfect vacation moment. It was on Sunday afternoon. It was perfect.... pajamas, doing a puzzle, watching a movie, eating Triple Chocolate Hagen-Daz and knowing I didn't have to go to work the next day.

I do really love my job. It fits me to a "T" but I still enjoy the not coming in. I mainly was doing non-productive stuff. Though I did clean my apartment (a necessary task) and got my hair cut (majorly cute).

The Diabetes walk was just great. Way too early but just great. The one we have here in town is around the Zoo and was wicked fabulous. The animals were all out and active. I can't say that I was too though. After many nights of sleeping in until beyond the noon hour, getting up at eight was a bit of a chore. But it was for a really good cause. I wonder when the Heartwalk is going on....

I did get to visit my favorite animal in the zoo. They have a red kangeroo. So not meaning to sound like Dr. Seuss but it just rhymed. I like it because of the story behind it. They originally had nine. Apparently there was a kangeroo plague that killed off the other eight and maimed the remaining one so they had to cut off one paw. He is living with his cousins the wallabies. It always makes me ponder. How would I do in a major crisis? Most of my slowdowns have been bumps, not hills and definitely not mountains... I'd like to think that I could handle it with peace and dignity and a rubber chicken. Yes, a rubber chicken is a necessity.

Hazel is at home now in recovery. I got her spayed just the other day. She seems to be bouncing back very quickly. I think she was quite happy to leave the vet. She actually purred while in the car. Normally she meows pitifully. Her tummy is all shaved but she is eating normally and acting like she feels just fine. I was a wee bit worried about how she would do since it was actual surgery.

Oh and more news on the snake front... OMGoodness, what will they do next. I leave my staff for a couple of days and they leave me a dead snake. Apparently there was one right outside the front door and one of my patrons decided to take care of it for us.... with a dumbell. A dumbell dropped on a snake... I've since gotten the number of our local fire guys so that they get to be the ones to deal with it next time. We've probably become part of a snake scary story. All the little snakes curl up to hear again the story of the Dumbell of Death... LOL

Good day and at least our readers are health concious...

Gone to the Dogs...

Okay so it is more like reading to the dogs. This is just one shot from our Roll Over and Read program that we hosted last Saturday. We had about 10 kids and 3 dogs. It was so awesome! They did say that they use therapy cats but I know my three would either wander 5 feet away, fall asleep or begin cleaning themselves. None of these things insprire great self esteem if you are trying to build it up.

I probably won't be around for the weekend as I am taking a long weekend from work. Ah the stresses of the library world : P have gotten to me. What do you mean you lost the book! I am so sicking the library police on you!!! But I hope you all have a fabulous weekend. Myself, I am hoping that the weather will stay beautiful so I can head to the beach and so it won't rain on my walk. I have almost made my goal for the walk. I think it is just going to be really great. My staff kidded me this morning and told me that they are going to sponsor on for walking around the library. I told them it was more dangerous than the zoo. At least at the zoo they warn you that wild animals are there. Around our library heavens know what could be lurking out there...

Good day and I'll get you my ugly-challenged person, you and your non-tall non-feline mammal too. (I'm reading Wicked by Gregory Maguire)

What a Conwinkydink?

Is it all random? Or is there some plan to our lives? I remember being told when I was little to stay in one place when you are lost. Is that true nowadays? I'm feeling a wee bit lost today. It's like I am driving with no particular destination. I have also heard it said that if you stay where you are, that everyone in your life will eventually walk past. There are a couple I may been majorly tempted to kick or trip as they walk past though. Would you want everyone in your life to wander back into it? Or are they like "Dumb and Dumber" only to be endured once?

What got me on this particular thought pattern was Dad's Blog I read it this morning just after signing up for the American Diabetes Association walk for here in Jacksonville FL. His blog was all about giving and mine (prior to reading his) was going to be about asking people to sponsor me. Too weird... he talks about giving in secret and here I was about to ask you all to give pretty darn publicly... at the website no less! So insert basic donate money here speal here and consider yourself asked. If you can, do and if you can't, pray. It'll be like donating time : )

I have only once truly given in secret. It is a tough thing to do. It is hard not to go up to them and tell them what a good thing I did for them. But that would be for my glory and not for God's . It's weird and good and bad the things we chose to keep secret. Back again to the power of words.

Okay so enough of my musings... I did my favorite thing on Sunday... absolutely nothing. I had enough energy to go to lunch with J and P and then back to my house for a nap : O It was actually a lovely day of snuggling with kitties and reading and watching television. I had hoped to clean house but decided it would be better kept to today. Hopefully I can tackle some of it when I get home tonight. It isn't so bad but it needs to be done. Oh, and I did finally get my lightbulbs replaced. Somehow in the span of a couple of days three out of 6 rooms went out.

Good day and let there be light and it was fantabulous!!

A Funny Thing Happened on the way to the Library...

Okay so it wasn't actually a funny thing. It was more like a scary slightly disturbing thing but that has a hard time fitting in the title box. I had stopped to get gas so I could actually make the 20+ miles to work. I stopped at my normal on the way to work gas place which is usually decent cheap. Though it never ever fails that I pass someone just a bit cheaper further down. Oh well... There is a vaccum/detailing place right next door to my gas place. I had just started to get ready to pump when this one guy ran up to a guy walking on the other side of my pump and started a yelling match between them. I was just a wee bit concerned.

Okay, I was more than a wee bit. The one guy who was walking finally walked away. But once he got a bit further away, he was still yelling at the guy. I can only guess that he said something to the guy detailing his car that majorly upset him. At least that is what they were yelling about and inserting curse words like crazy.

It reminded me of what I had been thinking about while reading this graphic novel series "Y: The Last Man". It is the story of how all the men are struck down in a plague that kills everything male but one guy and his monkey. It then covers the resulting lives afterwards of the women. Both of these things got me thinking about the nature of violence. I don't understand the whole concept. Is it more gender specific or is it more societially acceptable in one sex or the other?

I also thought about that saying of "The pen is mighter than the sword" and it is not true. The words that the pen wrote are mighter. They try to teach you in kindergarden to not eat paste, share with others and don't say bad things about each other. You know that it hurts so why do it? I love words. For a number of years I have worked with and around kids so the normal things you say when you stub your toes are out. So I have taken to use the word "bugger" for my curse word. It is socially acceptable, the kids think it is so funny and you get to vent properly. LOL

Oh and the reading of graphic novels is not just a fluke. I read tons of them. I have a huge comic book collection too. I am currently making my way through the Sandman while waiting for the library to get in the next Y:The Last Man and Fables. Too many books to read... the library has a limit of 50 items on your card at one time. I keep overshooting that limit : ) I think I was the only patron who was really upset when they put the limit on. Though my protest of "BUGGER!!!!" was not heard by the uppers. It was probably more like a internal protest. : P All I can say is thank goodness for overrides....

Good day and it's a bird, it's a plane, it's Evey-Q!

I thought so hard that I broke my brain...

That's it. I am swearing off thinking. I think too much. Or at least I have a headache so that's my only solution to why. I hosted a meeting here at the branch today. You know the Sesame Street game where they sing "One of these kids is doing their own thing" and you have to find the kid that just doesn't fit. That is me and I like that. I like doing my own thing.

Speaking of doing my own thing, I had a nice long conversation with myself the other day. LOL When they told us to choose a path in life, I chose the pyscho path... j/k. I saw it on a tshirt the other day. But the conversation had to do with my 3 to 5 year plan. Though at present it is more like a goal. Though I do have some to dos mixed in there. I want to be settled in a location working in a library. The preferable location is overseas but there are still factors to consider. The 5 to 10 year plan is based in the idea that I will be settled and what I want after that happens. Though at current it is sounding more like a prison sentence. How long you here? 3 to 5 years though I may get time off for good behavior.

I'd like a sign from God... preferably a neon one. Or at least a Burma shave one....

Good day and Choose This One, Eve O : )

Chicken Decapitated Syndrome

Or for those not awake this morning, running around like a chicken with its head cut off. I've got monthly statistics to turn in this morning thus the whole CDS. I wonder if I can buy insurance for that... we had a visit from our voluntary insurance guy this morning. I don't know if I can handle death and dismemberment this early in the morning.

I mainly just talked with him about IRAs. Mmmmm... money : P It so does not make the world go round but it pays for a nice seat on the merry-go. As of yet, I have never consider myself poor. Even growing up, I knew we didn't have much at all but I never thought of us as poor. To me we laughed too much to be poor. I always imagined the almost teary, very serious Sally Struthers begging, people as poor. I do remember celebrating when checks came in though. Now I tend to think of money as paper. It tends to lose its hold when you think of it that way. Or P. has a great way to think about it. She sees it as hours worked. That really helps when I am trying to decide whether I want to splurge on something or not. Is that skirt really worth a day of my working? Skirts it will buy but not the truly important things.

Gifts/fruits of the world, yes... gifts/fruits of the spirit, no. Love, joy, peace, long suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance...how much would any of us pay if they could truly be bought.

That would be one heck of an ebay auction LOL.

Good day and peace be with you... that'll be $ 19.95 : P

God's Dry Cleaning

Okay, so the sign actually said Good Dry Cleaning but how cool is what I thought I saw. God's Dry Cleaning... no stain too tough and mention that you just love my son and get 100% off. I have never understood the mysteries of DRY cleaning. Sounds like a miracle to me : )

So I made a midnight run the night before tonight and had a Krystals' hangover. The midnight run is a parental unit invention. When we were growing up, we would beg our parents to go get donuts late at night. We all pile into the car in our pajamas and head to whatever donut place was open. It was simply the best. So in their honor, I ran up to Krystals the other night in my pjs and got Krystals. For one brief second I thought of calling a parent or sibling but it was midnight. I figured on the way home I would have to start pre-arranging my MNRs if I wanted to have company.

We are all dressed up at work today. I've got a gypsy, cat, and pirate on staff today. I love Halloween. I love the idea of dressing up and getting to pretend. But I keep forgetting about my wings (no, not angel I am that the other 364 days... I'm a butterfly fairy). I've got another foot to add to my shoulder width. We are having an anime costume party tonight with some lovely "Fear Factorish" treats. We're having kitty litter cake, chocolate covered worms, snot on a stick and blood punch with frozen hands. YUM!! I'll let you know how it goes...

Ghoul day and have a horribly happy Halloween!

Yippy Skippy!

I love getting my own email. Not the junk mail that gets to everyone and their llama. But mail just for me. I found out this morning that my brother J. is coming down in December and has granted my birthday wish to be taught how to waltz. I have already told him to bring his steel toed boots.

I am so thankful that right now as I sit in my office writing this, life is good. My cats are all healthy. ..once Hazel got over whatever she had and I had my slight scare with Henri (he had a day and a half of being sick). They are loving that I drug out the comforter the other night. It has been getting down into the 40s here at night and with no C&A... it's like a meat locker with tv. It is the only time that they will sleep with me. It's not love, it's survival : P

My family is just the best. We rally together so well and every getting together is filled with laughter. And stories... always stories. We are all born storytellers. We must get that from Dad who is a great writer. Plus we're all weird... we get that from Dad too :P

My job is great too. I have a wonderful staff who just fit together so perfectly. We are a really good balance. It makes my running of the place so easy. This place is the perfect idea of community from both the patrons and the staff.

Can you tell I am an optimist yet? Life falls into place with this simple saying: God is Good. Has life ever been bad? Yes plenty of times. There have been times when I thought it was bad and even times when I thought to be nothing would have to be better than this. Yet even in these darkest of times for me, He was and still is there. It reminds me of those stereographic pictures that were really popular a couple of years ago. You stare and stare and stare at them looking for whatever was supposed to be in the picture. You'd swear that they were a crock and then pop... you finally see it. It was there all along right in front of your face. Looking for God is a stereographic picture. LOL Though I never have gotten one of things to work... at least not all the way. I would start to see a piece and then lose it.

I could make this into a country song... Looking for God in all the wrong places...LOL

Good day and look hard.

Be Wery Wery Quiet... We're Hunting Patty

This is an all points bulletin for Patti. I know she is alive because I talked to her Tuesday. She was entertaining a guest and she pinky swore to call me back. But no such luck.

Otherwise all is well here. I hope all is fab with you too.

Good day and Happy Hunting

Insert Something Witty Here________________

This is the first day since starting here as manager that I have felt stressed. My day started with a fendish cat who would not let me sleep in. Pat my face, dig in claws, in my ear purring.... UGH! Alright I'm up already.

Next came the call from a sick staff person. My mind attempts to grasp the whole rearrange scheduling thing but it is still too sleepy. It takes me an hour after getting here to figure it out. You just take several deep breathes, allow your mind to calm down and yell HELP!!!! I will have some for my end of the day which is a bit of a stress reliever.

I also had to take care of the money today. I haven't done it in a while and I think I was cursed with the week that all sorts of mess broke lose. One thing didn't void properly and there was at least one miskey. Which I then have to show and sign off on in triplicate. Save a Tree... Rent a DVD : P

Ever now and again I had being a grown up. This could have been influenced by my watching Peter Pan last night. The work, the driving, the money, the responsibilities... It is a rather good thing tomorrow is my day off. Perhaps I'll do something outrageous like get up early :P

Oh and for all of you wondering how Sunday went. I am still on the fence about A. He has potential but I am still not certain. I am hoping that another date will settle it. But this time I have to be more vocal. We spent the entire time in the bookstore which was great. But I kept being distracted by books and didn't spend nearly enough time talking to him.

Note to self: Must call G tonight. I hate to go through him to get to P. It helps that he is a really nice guy.

Au revoir and always dance in your pjs!

As Promised

I figured everyone is pretty visuals... so here are some pretty visuals from my vacay at Three Rivers State Park and the Florida Caverns! If you are looking for peace and quiet, check this place out...

Where There's Smoke....

The week has been another exciting one here at the branch and personally too. Hazel is on the mend and doing wonderfully. She is back to her oh-so quirky self. LOL But so am I.... : P She still is continuing to make the bathroom her oh-so cool hangout spot.

We had a fire drill this week and a pygmy rattler visit last week. The fire drill was just great. A weird thing to say about a fire drill but very true. We got everyone out to the parking lot and learn just how to shut the darn thing off. Then the fireguys ( in the name of gas saving) made this a combo trip and checked books, CDs, etc. out. Dad says that it is one way to boost our circulation : )

The snake was a whole other kettle of fish ( and we have those too by the way). One of the patron came in and talked to my children's librarian, took her outside and then they came to get me. I however did not go outside. There was a pygmy rattler just outside by the walkway for the bookdrop. We were a bit in a tizzy as what to do. This was not covered in my policies or my procedure manual. Thankfully by time we finished closing up for the night, it had found a better place to sun. Eek... One of my staff wondered why we didn't just shoot it. She had a pistol in her truck for that very purpose. I wonder if I could that by my boss... I'm thinking no... When I did email her for more instructions she suggested asking one of our fireguys who are just over the hill. So we did and he very calmly suggested getting a snake shovel. I'm a city girl and have no idea what a snake shovel is. He told us it is like a snow shovel. You hit the snake with the flat end to knock him out and then the square end is used to slice his head off.

Ummm being the boss is great. I just turned to my token guy (Libraries just don't attract a lot of guys) and delegated him to be the offical snake shovel handler. Ahhh! I love to assign tasks. : P

Speaking of guys, I have a date with one of those creatures on Sunday. We're supposed to meet at a bookstore ( a very dangerous store for me to be in) and have coffee. I have been talking to him via phone for most of this and last week. We get along great on the phone so I have high hopes for a F2F meeting. It will also hopefully make up my mind as to whether he would be a possible boy friend or boyfriend. I am a bit nervous about the whole deal as I haven't dated much since stalker boy and have never done the whole online dating and meeting. I have told everyone I know about the date (including you blog persons) and am meeting in a public place. I have also googled him, asked for more photos and looked him up on the public records and corrections site (Thanks for the advice, big brother ). Ah amore!

Good day and when the moon hits your eye like a big pizza pie...

Ciao!

Gone Wishin'

My deepest apologies everyone. I hadn't been kidnapped by weird shoe fetish aliens with suicidal tendencies. Last week was a manic week of highest highs and lowest lows. Due to expected craziness of the week, I decided to pack up and leave town. I headed off to Sneads, FL. Home of the nothing special. But it did have a very nice state park in Three Rivers State Park. It had one and only one cabin which I took over for a couple of nights.


It was peaceful personified. I chilled there and also went adventuring in the Florida Caverns. It was just lovely... I hope to get the photos posted soon. I took Dad's advice and took 90 all the way across. I must have gone through at least a dozen little towns. It really was a great drive over all. With the exception of the love bug love fest on my bug...: P I had to stop at least twice to clean off my windshield so I could see to drive.

I really didn't see that much in the way of wild life. I could never decide if I should walk quietly to see the animals I did want to see or loudly to keep away the animals I didn't want to see. I did see a flock of quail eating by the side of park road and a humming bird that came right up to the door of the cabin. Very cool beans!

But the rest of the week and a little of the first part of this week was wretched and beyond. My littlest cat Hazel had gotten very sick and was unable to eat or keep anything down. She lost a lot of weight and I was very scared for her. I took her in on Tuesday and got antibotics. But the stuff they gave to keep her from vomiting so did not work. I had to work on Saturday so Donald my brother took her back in for more test ( Major major gratitude for that... that was definitely brother of the year kudos for that). I didn't want to go home most nights for fear that I would find her either sicker or not alive.

But for the first part of the week she didn't get any worse and she did stop throwing up. She still wasn't eating so I headed out and got some baby food. She ate it! And as of yesterday, she went back on her regular food. YAY!!!!!!!!! They never did figure out what was wrong with her. They warned me that she might get sick again after the antibotics if it is something wrong with her. Hopefully not. Fingers crossed and mucho prayers for that not to happen.

As far as the rest of my week, I'm still emailing A. He sent me his cell number and we talked for about 2 hours last night. I had to beg out kind of early as I wasn't feeling good. But he is very cool and funny.

Good day and TTFN

Tired tired tired

Hmmm... not hard to guess how I am feeling right now. It is the end of the work day and all I am hoping for is a nice quiet bed. It makes me even more tired to think that tomorrow is an early day. Ugh! It doesn't help that next week is a majorly busy one. Time to look into another personal day... I need a vacay. Or at least a minibreak. One with time to read and no deadlines on my plate. One more thing to research.

I spent part of today investigating a Batman storyline for a staff worker. And another part of it working on making finances work out due to a cancelled guest pass. Like I said major time for beddy bye.

Good night and sweet dreams..

Pissing Cats

I had a lovely day off yesterday. I washed my car (evil though it is), cleaned out my pantry and enjoyed a lovely morning/afternoon of sleeping in. I needed it... today has been quite crazy for a Saturday. For one, there are people here. Or at least more than the normal amount. That and I am getting mucho complaints about the grass. It is prairie grass and it is supposed to be tall but the community obviously doesn't like tall grass. This is the most vocal community I have been in yet. I am beginning now to understand why they chose not to drop a day around here. Imagine the complaints we would get about that!

I heard back from M. She is doing okay but was a bit down from all the testrostone flying round her way. She is surrounded by guys so it is a bit to be expected. Once things get settled around here, I want to go visit her. It has just been ages since I've seen her. I think the last time was at the wedding and she was a bit preoccupied with everything else:) I also got a call from R. yesterday. He sounds older. I didn't even recognize him on the phone. We are going to try and coordinate schedules so that we can get together for lunch. I've heard of strategic strikes that are easier to plan!

I've got another recruit for the Operation Love Match. J from work is determined to get me set up. Her first suggestion was just a wee off base though. It was the eighteen year old she was checking books out to. I told her to skip the formalities and cut straight to the jail house. He does have an older brother though... a definite possibility.

Nothing back from the cruise ship yet. At this moment I just need info to help me decide whether or not it is even a possibility.

Oh the title! R. was filling me in on the fact that he has a depressed cat. Through my laughter, I had the inspiration to ask how exactly one knows the a cat is depressed or not. Apparently, pissing on everything is a pretty good indication that your cat is unhappy. Obviously mine are pretty content though Hazel does piss on my bed but only when she is in heat. She's getting fixed in about 2 or 3 weeks. Fingers crossed that this behavior doesn't continue about being fixed.

Good day and as promised Annie on Acid

Annie gone bad

I decided this morning that it is what I look like. I am taking over two storytimes for my children's person and decided to dress up for one of them. The main character looks like

and I will have to post my pics after the storytime. Thank goodness the other storytime is on Humor and I can get away with looking like Annie on Acid... It is a good story however. The things I do for my job.

I wrote M and R a day or so ago but have only heard back from R. You would think that it would be easier in this day and with this technology to keep up with people. I have done a pretty bad job of that. But M I apologized to and R I just ragged about not keeping up with me. But it is my job ( one of many) to pick on R. My life's work : P He seems to be doing okay. He's got awoman and cats :) I wish I knew of a better job for him. I really wish he could have kept up with school. I want him to be happy in all aspects of his life not just some. Weird though it is when talking of an ex. We drove each other crazy in good way and bad. But he is also the only one I kept up with. He is the only one that I thought of (outside of everything) as a truly good guy. Does this mean the rest of the guys I dated have to wear black in my spaghetti western? No the others had shades of good and bad. They'll be wearing grey. Dark grey some of them....

Good day and yippee -ka- yaw- yay!

Coo, coo, coo...

Pigeons have been trained by the U.S. Coast Guard to spot people at sea. This was my Snapple fact of the day. I love it. What line of the budget is that one in? Well, we'll provide $ 15 million to the Coast Guard for boats, crew, training and pigeons? Coo, coo, coo-coo... little Timmy's lost off the Coast of Palm Coast. We'll get right on it, Pigeon Toad. Another fine rescue!

I have spent the afternoon grave hunting. No, it is not something all the cool librarians are doing. I am hunting for the grave of a particular person that is the great uncle of another particular person. I have narrow it down to two possible cemeteries. Can we say field trip? I wonder if the library will fund my mileage for that one : ) Actually I came across a cool article on a class of elementary students who did go on a field trip to the cemetery and other cool points in the city. They were studying city history ( I should write the teacher and make Dad's book required reading for the class: )

Just a normal day here in LibraryLand. I did send it my resume and letter to the cruise people. What an awesome job title for hopefully a very awesome job. I wonder if they have a club. The Cruise Ship Librarians. Talk about exclusive...

Good day and happy digging!

Tapping at my chamber door...

P. and I watched "The Crow" Thursday night and thus the quote to begin us off. He misquoted it though seeing as it was from "The Raven" and he was the crow but same family. Speaking of family, I got back from P's this morning to work. I do miss my cats when I am gone but I will see them after work today. She is going to be just fine. I hunted up a great opportunity to work in the Reading Room/Library of the College of Vet Med. It sounded right up her alley and it was for the university so there is the possibility of tution coverage for a couple of classes.

I revamped my resume this morning and will be sending it off on Monday for the cruise offer. Car, apartment, cats, job and family... My ties to here :)I have some friends but not any near and dears here. Each day brings new possibilites. Today could be the day I (fill in the blank). I know, I know. I sound like an afterschool special. LOL.

Good day and vivent le reve!

And I ran, I ran so far away....

Eighty song lyrics get stuck in my head occasionally. Whenever they make the movie of my life ( and you know they won't be able to resist:), the soundtrack will definitely be memorable. I am currently housing myself in Gatorville for my day off. I've come down for two reasons. I didn't want to get blown away by Ophelia (out damn hurricane out) and I needed to come visit P. She's got some major stuff going on. She resigned from her job due to worries that she might be fired. She also isn't able to continue classes this semester due to finances.

I figured it was best to make sure everything would be okay with her most of all. She is my favorite little sister by the way. It helps that I have no others to get jealous of that fact. She is doing fine though. She is working parttime at a soon to be opened coffee bar and helping with the manual side of setting up i.e. painting, moving supplies, etc. I am not sure what she wants to do next. J. is wanting her to move back home but I know that she loves here so very much. God, I just want her to be happy regardless.

On my front, I just got an email from a friend about positions open on Celebrity Cruises for a librarian. I have thought long and hard about it and I am going to send them my resume. They only sign contracts for 6 months with the option to resign at the end of it. It should like a great opportunity. With only one life, I have got to enjoy it. Maybe there should be prayers for all of us... with Ophelia, D and H dating, J and P selling the house and M and D hanging in there...

Good day and smooth sailing to you!

Blub, Blub, Blub

Why did I ever think that managing would be less of a job than children's? It must have been the day my brain accidentally got hit by the shrinking ray and became dino-brain sized. I have been utterly too busy to blog. GASP! I know I know... major faux paw...

It seems I missed my Labor Day for all the sleeping I did. But I have been staying up with Stephen King and he is just so darn hard to put down. Of course, all the scary reading means that I have to read something happy before I go to sleep to hopefully ward off the nightmares. So it is Tommyknockers and Duh! Stupid Things of Human History... LOL

One cool point of interest: I was written up in the newspaper. So, okay it was my library that was the main focal point but I got my picture in it and a couple of quotes to boot. Very cool stuff. This is only the second time in my library career that this has happened. The last time I was in the Advocate. Though I had to be so careful in telling people this. Why? Because they are the same people who had a Wall of Shame and publish pics of johns and prostitutes. Before you get any ideas about my "library", I was in the Advocate when they hosted a program promoting literacy for kids. :P

I went to A's wedding this weekend. Very cool. I looked Fabulous but nary a cute guy in sight. A and her fiance had a deal where neither would invite anyone they had dated to the wedding. It made for a small wedding reception:) If this keeps up, J is going to go through with her threat of calling Oprah and getting me on the show. This week on Oprah, "Marry my Sister or Else!" LOL Okay, God, we all know that the not-good-enoughs have had their day... let's bring on the absolutely-made-fors.

Good day and what if the hokey pokey IS what it's all about?

Sleepbathing

I did get much sleeping done this weekend. Mainly due to my body being all out of sorts... But unfornuately the sleeping was not all restful. For example, I had had an early day Saturday helping with the grand opening of yet another library. Woohoo! I went home later that day and decided to take a bath. Nice warm bath, ZZZZZZZ... What woke me up was the interesting part. See picture below....

Henri, my water loving kitty, had decided to join me in the bath. I woke up to him falling on me and crawling out of the bath back end completely soaked. LOL! That was the same weekend I napped fitfully and dreamed about being really pissed that aliens had invaded. Not scared but really really annoyed that they had chosen to invaded. The only reasoning behind that dream that I could figure was watching the Cat in the Hat. I was definitely not pleased by the end of it and the cat did invade the home.

I am currently debating on whether to go to this concert of 3-11 this week. I love the music, I rarely go out at night, it is a workday the next day, I don't know of anyone to go with. These are some of my musings on the subject.

Back to the no one to go with, I did finally get in touch with Jason. I had tried several times last week and it always came up busy. So I talked to him Wednesday but we had barely started to talk when he had to go. He asked me to call him back that night. I tried the house number and was told ( I think) that he was out. I left a number on the mobile for him to call me. But I haven't heard anything since then. He is cute and nice but I just don't know how interested I am in him. In dating yes, In dating him not so much. I know picky, picky. I prefer to be called selective. God help me with this and all those other things...

Good day and you've got to kiss a lot of frogs to find a prince :*

Ah, to be a Teenager again...

Not that I am to be but I do get to go to Open House on Monday. It should be nice to mingle with the commoners: ) Library cards, get your fresh Library cards here! We are going to have a table with info on the library and sign people up for library cards. One guy I signed up today told me all about how he was such a book lover and then only checked out DVDs... me thinks he doth protest too much.

I also need to take the car in this weekend if possible. It's a 2001 but it is freaking out. That's it ... my car is having a nervous breakdown. The check engine and EPC light comes on and then goes off. Or I can not get out of park because the car does not realize I have my foot on the break. Or I can't turn on my cruise control.

Though personally I like to batten down the hatches and sleep all weekend. .. I will let you know Monday which I did.

Good day and thar she blows!

Going once, going twice...

My apologies bloggiest of the bloggers. I have been swamped at work and seeing as work is the only computer I have daily access to... it affects my blogging. Tomorrow will be no exception. Tomorrow is Staff Development Day. So to be better library workers, we close all the libraries. Why does this sound like an oxymoron or an anymoron...?

We had dogs today at the library. Though I am avowed cat person, I must say they were quite nice. We are talking about starting a program where kids get to read to the dogs. It is mainly for kids to need to work on their readaloud fluency. They do take cats but I know of not one cat that will sit in one place for 15 minutes ... awake. Major confidence killer when the animal you are reading to wanders 5 feet away and starts cleaning itself.

I am thinking of taking next Wednesday off as just a Me Day. I am still debating on traveling in December/January to visit relatives out West. I love to travel and am thinking of dragging P. with me. She'll probably need more of a break than me from work and school.

I had the chance to go to a Graphic Novel workshop last week and it was just great. Mmmmm.. graphic novels... mainly just comics in book format. But I have already or will have gone through all of the X-Men here within the next week. I can totally understand why teens like them so much... hmmm everyone against me, picking on those whose are different, staying up for what's right, major style points, totally different person once you hit puberty... ring a bell, anyone?

Good night and Biff, Bop, Zap! (Batman sounds) : )

Any Time is Book Time

I could crawl into bed right now. Yesterday was my day off and it has totally thrown me for a loop. I ended up sleeping until 2 pm and then heading off to the mall to see "The Island". It was a very good movie all about clones. It matched well what I have been reading which is the Dune series. In the series, they can use dead cells to create a living person back again. Someone murmured as we were flooding (all 6 of us, no one goes to the movies midday) that it didn't matter if the clones died as they didn't have souls. Oh talk about philosphical debate time, kids. Were my brain totally coherent...

It also got me thinking about values. How much is life worth? Mine compared to another? Mine to a couple? Mine to a million? Ugh! That is it... I am switching back to mindless bather of romance novels. Something will a typical plot: girl meets boy, girl despises boy, girl finds out she actually like boy, typical misunderstand including someone in boy/girl's life, equal declaration of love. Not one use of critical thinking in the whole bunch. Yay!

The day (work) is almost over. I need to go check out blather...

Good day and remember a waist is a terrible thing to mind : )

Nessie Sighted!

As per my week, it has been strange enough to warrant a Nessie sighting...

There has been a calling of police, torrential downpours, blessing on the guy who flipped me off, calls from the cute rodeo guy and snuggles from my new kitty.

I can tell from the awed silent that I need to explain. The calling of police was last Saturday when I came home at midnight with P. and my neighbor's door was open. He wasn't home so we called the non emergency number just to make sure everything was okay.

It seems like that around 4 - 6 (around closing time) we have been getting major rain. I mean I keep expecting someone to come in looking for two animals kind of rain.

I am a fairly new driver so I can't get a handle on people who get mad at me for speeding (5 + over) in the left lane on the highway. I am part of the fast traffic but I am guessing I am not the fastest. I just don't get it. But in the manner of loving enemies and all, I remember someone preaching that you should bless them instead of cursing them. UGH! Major hard... so I try to pray something like "Keep them safe, God" instead the curses that would make a sailor blush : )

Rodeo Guy... oh I am the worst blusher in the world. I am pretty sure that my face is as pink as my shirt. Before I left my last library, there was a guy there that gave me his number. I took it home and that night I lost it. All I could remember was Jason and 355... My friends at the old library promised to give him my number when he next came in. Well, he came in today and she called me and put him on the phone. I apologized perfusely and he gave me the number again. Fingers crossed, everyone? I haven't dated in like 4 years. He seems pretty sweet and I'll keep you updated.

Snuggles from new kitty has been this last week as I lay in bed reading. Hazel (pictured above) comes in and snuggles close to my side. It is really nice since my two guys are more at the feet and out of the room snugglers.

Thus ends the news of the weird week... but then again my week's not over yet...

Good day and may all your daughters bring 14 camels :)

Yawn....

There is something about Wednesdays. I even got out of work earlier and went home to kitties and movies. Yet still I am just as tired today as if I had stayed until 9. It has got to be something mental. All in favor for either national instituted naptime from 1 to 3 or going home and started the day over, say Aye!

Good day and grab your mats....

Tout de l'eau

I took six years of French in high school and college. I even got to use my little knowledge of French in Paris. I would say something and they usually would answer in French... occassionally in English. But I got more of that in Italy. The title translated to all of water... my term for being soaking wet while blogging.

I decide to volunteer my services to Dad today. I had the day off from work, he had a big project in the pool/yard to do and it gave me a chance to hang out with him and get stuff outside done. I work all day most of the week in the library plus I live in an apartment. Mom and Dad have offered me plants.. I even come from a long line of planty people... no not pod people: P My maternal grandparents have an acre garden. My parents have a huge yard and spend most weekends working in it. My sisters raid the dumpsters of garden stores... me, I look at a plant and it dies... So we made a new platform for the pool pump, smoothed out wrinkles in the liner, mowed the neighbor's yard and vaccumed the neighbor's pool. Hence the whole wetness thing...

I like hanging out with Dad. He is a very cool person. He is the King of Tacky and the most Christian person I know. Though he is loathed to think that of himself. He doesn't realize that it is the imperfections and the struggle to stay the path that makes a true Christian. He is caring and compassionate. He tries so hard with both those things. But he always is there for us even now. I was the middle kid and it was hard to be noticed sometimes. But I loved that he used to make "dates" with me. It always made me feel special. He falls asleep at the drop of a hat. Apparently his dad used to do the same thing so it always makes me think of Grandfather when he does that. I like having that connection between them since I don't really remember my paternal grandfather.

P. is coming up this weekend. She left town about 2 hours ago. I am hoping she makes it up here with no trouble. Though it is looking doubtful that we get to go to JMOMA. She is thinking of moving back home. I wish I could help her with that decision. I am still trying to answer that question even now. Should I stay or should I go now... If I go there may be trouble If I stay there may be double... Guitar solo! This is definitely the year to decide. I could poll you guys... why do I get the feeling a ton of you will pencil in suggestions...: )

Good day and have a pleasant tomorrow.

2:00 AM Attacks

I can never claim to be a morning person unless we are talking wee hours of the morning. But today was definitely not my morning. I have recently received a kitten from my brother and she has settled in very well with my other two big boys.














The above are my two boys. I haven't had her long enough to upload pics. She has been sleeping in the other room and occasionally snuggling down with me. However, it has been so hot in my apartment (no AC!) that I have been sleeping on top of my covers. Well, last night I decided to sleep underneath the sheet at least. I am definitely a tosser and turner thus Hazel my kitten kept seeing things moving under the sheet and attacking. LOL but oh so not funny at 2 and 5 this morning. I'd wake up just enough to somewhat kick to chase her away until the next round of hop on mama... never to be my favorite game including claws.

Thus morning came and I slept right through 2 alarms. I was late and the training that was supposed to go on this morning didn't happen. Not because of my being late but because our contractor ( who has done a fabulously wonderful job on the building) wandered off yesterday with our only keys to the multi-purpose room where the training was to take place.

If you want more of a laugh at libraries and customer service in general, my favorite strip is at www.unshelved.com Check it out (no pun intended:)

Good day and laugh long...

P.S. For laughing long, the shirt I want most is one that says "They only call it P.M.S. because Mad Cow Disease was already taken!"

Live Wisely...

I may live wisely but I definitely do some foolish spending. My big sis has my laundry and is doing it for me in exchange for me doing some things for her. I am so thankful that she is up to the task. I hate, despise, loathe majorly doing laundry. Whereas doing the dishes is no major thing. I love to pray and sing and dance around the kitchen while doing them: )

Which is part of the reason I am so tired today. I spent a smidgen of last night (I was supposed to be asleep) dancing in the dark in my living room. That is one perk of being alone. No one to mock your dancing. The cats can watch but they can't add commentary on my being of very little brain. I love to dance... I had actually been looking into taking belly dancing lessons. Not sure if I will but I adore the thought of it. I took ballet, modern and jazz for about a year in college. Unfortunately bucket seats are not conducive to dancing in your car.

And speaking of cars, the stereo guy unplugged the motor for the cassette player. But there is still half a tape case in it. He recommends replacing it. Ugh! Major Ugh! I still have the radio and CDs and thank goodness the car still runs! I suppose with my next paycheck I will have to have the VW guys take a look at it. The best thing was that the guy didn't charge me. Yay!

I have really been enjoying the CD of the Reduced Shakespeare Company's take on the Bible. My favorite thus far has been the discussion on how there was a computer in the Garden of Eden.... yeah Eve had an Apple... LOL I actually got to see these guys live in London. They also do a 90 version of American History that is just hysterical.

Good night and bring back 8 tracks!

Insert Favorite Curse Word Here...

I have spent part of last night and part of my morning off attempting to retrieve a tape from my New Bettle. At the moment my success can be measured in half a tape case and six million yards of tape. Little did I know that Heartbreak Hotel would be the last thing I would here on my tape player for a bit. Yes, I know that the radio and the CD player are still active but blah! My CD player is in my trunk which makes it quite a bit of a bother to switch CDs and the radio talks way too much. Half a tape case... I am sure that there is a moral in there somewhere... she is half a tape case away from a dj's nightmare... or something to that effect.

On a slighty more up note, my children's book is now in the hands of the artist and I am really looking forward to seeing how it turns out. I told it to J&P last night at dinner and they both really liked it.

Oh well hopefully the player will be fixed eventually and I will appreciate more then. If all else fails I just sing to myself while I drive.... heck, I already do that. Perhaps my player was adding commentary to my singing by performing hari-kari sans Japanese steak knives.

I am looking still for some singing outlet (outside of my car and house). I really did enjoy being a part of a choir. I really would hate to lose all the training that Mrs. Truett put into my voice. Even if every other song was a Disney... it will eventually come to me to go work as a costume character for them. Then I can overthrow them from the inside and take over the world. I'll be the first costume character dictator : )

Good day and Goofies of the world unite : P

Of whether pigs have wings

Silly Carol... buffalos have wings : ) Though if a buffalo offered up its wings, I would definitely have to decline. We had a going away/welcome party for two of my staff today. Right now I am so full of sandwiches that I would like to curl up into a warm little ball under my desk. I need to put in order for a Do Not Disturb...Sleeping sign for my door. Though I am pretty sure the uppers would definitely like the idea of paying me for sleeping. I am positive I could also not get away with putting out in the public area my sign which says "Unattended Children will be sold as slaves". Well, they keep saying that we are in a budget crunch. It is just one more inventive and lucrative suggestion I could put forth.

They have also released a memo saying that we are now connecting our bonus and evaluation status. I now have to have proof that I am explemary to get more money... Hmmm maybe I should start a blog drive. To help Eve get here bonus and thus more money for her poor starving kitties, send your compliments to.... or For just minutes out of your day, you could compliment Eve and save a poor kitty ( 1 of 3)...

Must think on this further. Or I could just do it on my own strengths and determination... But what would be the fun in that?

Good day and save a tree... don't do homework

You've got fight... for your right... for AC!

Just make sure you all get the right amount of pause in when reading the title of the blog. We are having to figure out who gets to turn down our AC at work. We are having a time of it deciding if it is us at the building or an agency offsite. Right now the panels are reading 76 and 80 respectively and any minute I expect to have a flash flood in the DVDs of melted materials... No interesting dreams to report as of right now. The kitties are doing well and are still only having minor flareups. I go to sleep each night with the pitter patter of little feet. A total of 12 feet in all (3 cats = 12 feet or 3 yards : ) I love that my apartment is so long that you get the doplar effect with the pitter patter.

I also enjoy my drive done while sleeping on my way to work. It is about a 20 to 30 drive to work each morning. As of yet, I haven't figured out how to wake up totally and my drive allows some of the cobwebs to get blown out. On the way here I listened to Peter, Paul and Mary, a variety of Disney songs and Bruce Springsteen. It was a major weird mix day the day I put that one together. I do remember thinking that "500 Miles" by P,P and M reminds me in part of the Prodigal Son. Especially the part where they sing "Not a shirt on my back, not a penny to my name, Lord I can't go a-home this a-way..." I like listening to music that isn't particular Christian and filtering through my head to be Christian. It works well with ones that speak in generalities of love and you.


Oh by the way I have these great siblings. They ( the three of them) are just wow incredible. Each of them is way cool in their own way. D. is just the best guy I know. He is so smart and incredible kind. He has one of the best senses of humor around. He is more patient that I could ever hope to be and he is going to be such a wonderful dad and father someday. J. is so easygoing and determined to set up me up with someone. She is very protective of us and has a great laugh. I love her strength. P. is awesomely tough. She has had to go through a lot and come out with this amazing attitude of life and all things. She is the best communicator of us all. She is so generous. Me... I love them all so very much.

Good day and go hug someone.

Insert Favorite Animal Sound Byte Here

Most people talk about it being a Zoo at work which is taken with a grain of salt. Well, pull out your shakers... it was a Zoo literally or at least a Zoo visit today. It wasn't as crazy as it could have been. But that didn't stop all sorts of speculation on the day that it could have been. K. our favorite Zoo guy came today with 14 different types of animals and everyone had a great time.

I have always wanted to find out if he was working at the zoo when I was younger. I can remember going to the Zoo with my family. P. and I were running and I tripped. These two lovely Spanish speaking people helped me up and took me to the Zoo office. Once inside, I was bandaged and taken care by the staff. But one major memory stands out in that someone (a guy I think) teased myself and P. that if our parents didn't pick us up that there would be fresh meat for the lions tonight. Major EEK factor to a 10 year old( or so) but thankfully the parentals came and I never found out if I would have been Kid a la King for some lion cub.

There were also animals in my dreams last night. I dreamed that all manner of cats were sneaking into my house and I kept chucking them out the door. "I have three" I must have said a million times plus in my dream. I actually woke myself up because I dreamt that I chucked a cat standing up but I threw it so hard that I bent my torso. I woke up by sitting up i.e. bending my torso. Where is my Joseph for this set of dreams? I love my cats but I very rarely dream of them or any cat for that matter.... It wasn't my book. I had finished rereading Dune by Frank Herbert... not a single cat in there as best I can remember.

P. and I had a great time hanging out with M&D before she packed up her car and heading back home to go to work that night. I had barely gotten in PJs (yes it was like 3 in the afternoon but it was a Sunday:P ) when she knocked back on the door. She had spotted a 30 to 40 gallon tank in the trash and wanted to take it home with her. She guess that someone had had a snake or lizard and it had die and so they just tossed the tank. After almost putting it in the car, she realized that the previous tenant had in fact died.... and was still in the tank covered in water and lots of dead leaves.... major grossness and thus she decided she didn't need the tank after all. LOL She is major thrifty but not that major thrifty : ) Good day and remember to keep your ducks in a row, be nicer to your snakes and keep your kitties happy.

Breaking and Leaving

Yesterday at work, I was challenged to find out how locks work. I found a great article on exactly the inner workings of the locks which lead to an article on safebreaking. Little did I suspect that I might actually need to know how to use a lock the very next day.

P. (my little sis) had come into town from down south yesterday and she always wants to share time with all of her family peoples. So we usually stay at J&P2's house which is awesome because it is like a comfy exclusive bed and breakfast. My apartment is lovely but in comparision has no ac, no cable, no internet, etc... all of which can be found at J&Ps. Not to mention they are always great company. We spent the evening talking, laughing and attempting to thwart each other's attempts at SkipBo ( which I reigned supreme despite J's evil attempts of coup and gloating like crazy). Ah, sisters!

J&P got up in the morning to go to church and us church-hoppers decided to take a hike literally. I have been trying to find a church to match what I want and it is about as hard to find a guy I will date. Another story...But the girls left and P. and I got ready to go... or so we thought. J. (whose memory is sieve-like at best) left and automatically locked her dead bolt. Unfornuately for us, it needed a key in order to get out. They have fifty million keys but none apparently for their front door. We did finally find one for the padlock for their back fence.

I don't think I am cut out for a life of crime. Heavens know it took me at least a dozen times for getting into the safe at work. Not to mention I will never be mistaken for a poker-face. My emotions are usually out for the world to see and I would be the easiest collar a cop ever made. Good day and don't blow your money when getting into the safe.

A Very Hungry Caterpillar Day

I feel for my staff on Saturdays. Every since I got my license and my car, it seems harder to get to work on time as opposed to when I rode the bus. I only had my car for less than a year and my license for a little longer than that. I am not sure why it took so long for me to get the license. Just pure hardheadness I guess. I can be that very much but it is about the strangest things. P., my little sister, knows this very well. She had to deal with it on our cruise when we got into a fight about whether I should take my headphones on a shore excursion. Told you... strangest things to be stubborn about.

I had to hunt down A Very Hungry Caterpillar by Carle today. Not for checkout but to use as an example of what I want my kid's book to look like. One of my staff's spouse was interested in possiblely doing the artwork for it. I wrote it years ago (my story not the AVHC) but have not done much with it. It is a kiplingish Just So Creation story. I've got another brewing in my head but it is meant to be longer and more of a chapter book. A little more Dahl and P.L. Travers... I don't know though. It seems every librarian is an aspiring writer. But then we all are aspiring to something. I don't wish for fame though. Money though is another matter. But I can see myself being the M.C. Hammer of the writing world : ) I have this theory that it is just paper but my student loan people tend to disagree with me. Even though it was through the education that they financed that brought me to this idea. One of the catalogs I get sums it up well with "Think no one knows you exist...try missing a couple of payments" or words to that effect. Good day and aspiring enormous!

Of why the sea is boiling hot

No, this is not my summer house on the pennisula of Florida. If it were, the entire thing would be boarded up with the hallways filled with Ensure and bottled water for the duration of the hurricane season. It is a pic of me in front of the palace at Brighton. I got the chance to intern abroad in London for FSU a couple of years ago. It was ab fab and I am still hankering to continue my travels around the world. Two continents down, five to go...

Second Test

Take Two....thanks to my tutor/Dad. We had an enjoyable lunch where we talked a bit about my trying to decide about house, life and etc. I just have to decide whether to stay on this continent or move to another. This thought was brought to you by the letter C and the number 3. As in 3 cats... that was what brought on the thought. I have three cats which is triple the number my landlord thinks I have. This then brought on the idea that in my own house I could have 3 X 3 the number of cats. However as a single person, I can't have more than 3. Lucky number four cat turns me from normal sane person to crazy cat person. For more details, you have to watch "'Til there was You". As crazy cat person, it totally negates the mere possibility of dating a non-certifiable pyschopath. Hmmm.... I wonder what you need to become certified? Good day and may the laundry elves be merciful....

First Post

Testing, 1,2,3... if this had actually been a real post, I am sure something witty would have come to mind instead of inane babble.

This is a pic of me in Mex last year on my cool cruise 'round the Carribean, man :) :