Tony DiTerlizzi, Cassandra Clare, Kazu Kibuishi, Kiiro Yumi, and Kaoru Mori

I didn't get the Diocesan House job and I'm still waiting on the word from the State Library and Archives after my interview for the paid internship position there about a month ago. I have another interview for a part time Library Assistant position at Everest College, a for-profit college that is in-between a two and four year school. I would be doing a little bit of everything since it is a very small library (would only be and the Librarian if I got the job), which would be great experience. We already had a phone interview that I think went really well so now I have an in-person interview on Wed afternoon. 

Other than that, things have been pretty good. My son Liam had his 6 month doctor's appointment and he weighed in at 18lbs 9 1/2oz and was measured at 29 1/2 inches long. He's so long, it's almost like he is a baby in a toddler's body. He's very healthy and we've been feeding him solid food for about 2 months now. We started him on veggies and only recently added fruits, which is supposed to help him not develop a sweet tooth. Needless to say, like most babies, he likes sweeter veggies like carrots and squash more than his green veggies. Also we finally have found a place outside of my parent's house to live, though we cannot move in till March 1. The rental house is in pretty rough shape now, but it should be ready by then. 

I've been reading up a storm since the beginning of the year and have finally gotten in the groove of reading again regularly. Today I have read my 22nd book, which is pretty awesome considering it is the 22nd of January! I will try to post again more regularly as I am reading more. I will be dividing these up also as I've read  12 books since the last time I've reviewed on the blog. 

Children

Just Go to Bed by Mercer Mayer

One of my favorite Little Critter books, in which he pretends to be a spaceman, zookeeper, cowboy, general, sea monster, train engineer and more. This is all while his dad is trying to get him bathed and in bed, finally exclaiming "Just go to bed!", which is very funny if you've ever tried to get a kid to bed who didn't want to go. Recommended for ages 6 months+, 4 stars. 

Ted by Tony DiTerlizzi

I have been trying to find a copy of this picture book for years and was so excited when I finally found it at my local library! It was as good as I thought it would be, i.e. a zany and funny picture book done by the fabulously talented author and illustrator Tony DiTerlizzi. Ted is the pinkish-purply imaginary friend of a young boy, and they get up to some pretty crazy adventures, which the boy's dad does not appreciate. That is until the boy realizes that Ted knows his dad (was in fact his imaginary friend named Ned) and the dad rediscovers his sense of fun and spends his time playing with Ted and his son. Recommended for ages 5+, 5 stars. 

Children and Young Adult

Amulet, Book 4: The Last Council by Kazu Kibuishi

I swear the books in this series keep getting better and better, though now it is killing me not to know how the series ends. I love it that the book works so well with and without words to convey the story/action. 

In this volume, Emily and her family have finally made it to Cielis, where the Stonekeeper's amulets were first created from the Mother Stone. She is told that she will be called on by the Guardian Council and given a set of trials to prove her worth, but she feels that something is not quite right. New allies are introduced, who will help Emily in the next volume. Why is everyone in Cielis so quiet and why do they distrust foreigners so much? Why does the Guardian Council keep itself hidden away? How much does Emily know about Max, the other Stonekeeper who accompanied her to Cielis?  Recommended for ages 10+, 5 stars. 

Young Adult

Flash Gold (Flash Gold Chronicles #1) by Lindsay Buroker

I found this on the free list for the Kindle and it looked interesting so I decided to give it a try. It was a very quick read and I really got into it. The story is set in the 1890s in the Yukon Territory in Canada, and is about an 18 yr old inventor named Kat. There is a dog sled race where the grand prize is $1000, which is enough for Kat to get out of the small town she is in and create more inventions. The title comes from a substance that her inventor father, Ezekiel, created to power machines and is apparently in very high demand from gangsters. They have sent gangs of people to capture Kat and get the Flash Gold, all of this during the dog sled race. A stranger named Cedar comes with her to help her out at the last minute, though his intentions are unclear. Will they get her and the gold? Will she win the race? Why is Cedar there in the first place? To find out, read this novella. Recommended for ages 14+, 5 stars. 

Emma, Volume 1 by Kaoru Mori

I picked this one up by accident (though apparently it's been on my to-read list for awhile) while browsing the teen section at the library. I enjoyed this quick read about a young servant girl named Emma who works for Kelly, a former governess to William Jones. The first time Emma meets William, he falls in love with her but is too shy to tell her how he feels. She has had letters from multiple suitors but always says no. William's friend Hakim comes to visit him from India and then he falls in love with Emma, only he tells her outright about it. The first volume ends with William's father telling him that he is to marry the young girl he danced at the ball with the previous night. Recommended for ages 12+, 4 stars. 

The Clockwork Prince (The Infernal Devices, #2) by Cassandra Clare

Ok so I've been reading Cassandra Clare books for over a year now and I love them. She is simply the best writer for kisses/make-out scenes, at least in teen books. You really feel right there with the main character experiencing it as it happens. And there were some really great scenes like that in these books, and with two hot guys no less. I usually cannot put these books down once I've started and this book was no exception, although it did take me awhile to get into it because I could not remember for the life of me what in the heck happened in the previous book (until about 50 pages into it). The only thing that really annoyed me about the book (and the reason it got four instead of five stars) was because I found out pretty early on that the author was once again using a formula to explain the story, i.e. girl torn between two guys, one sensitive and shy and the other brash and beautiful. For whatever reason, that just annoyed me. 

This book picks up where the other left off. Tessa is still staying at the London Institute for Shadowhunters, Will is still treating her and everyone else like he doesn't care, and they are trying to find Mortmain and what he is planning to do with his clockwork creations. As the book progresses, Tessa is slowly falling for both Will and Jem and can't really decide who she likes more. Charlotte's tenure as head of the London Institute is questioned by another Shadowhunter named Bernard Lightwood, who wants to take over control of it from her. The Consul has given Charlotte two weeks to find out Mortmain's whereabouts. Meanwhile, Will has been secretly seeing Magnus Bane in an attempt to find a demon that cursed him five years ago. Charlotte, Jem, Tessa and Will find out that Mortmain sought reparations from the Shadowhunter Council after his parents were murdered, and that he lived in York. Will they be able to find Mortmain before the two weeks is up? Will Tessa ever discover who she is? Which boy will Tessa chose? These answers and more are found in this delightful sequel to "The Clockwork Angel". Recommended for ages 15+, 4 stars. 

Library Wars: Love and War, Vol. 1 by Kiiro Yumi

A very funny introductory volume to Library Wars, a futuristic view of Japan where the government has "created a committee to rid society of books it deems unsuitable (back cover)," and the libraries fight back by creating a militant librarian task force which protects against censorship. The concept is just so cool sounding, and kinda makes me wish they had something like this in real life. The main character, Iku Kasahara, is one of the hardest working people in training to join the Task force, and is better than the men who have joined her. She has followed "her hero" to the Task Force after the mysterious male stranger saves her book in high school after the gov't does a raid on a bookstore that she is in. She and another boy named Hikaru Tezuka are invited to join the Task Force but Kasahara is always behind as she fell asleep during her classroom training. During the whole thing, you can see her falling for Dojo, her teacher, especially after she realizes that he is "her hero," even though she doesn't want to. Tezuka may also be falling for her. Can't wait to read the next 3 volumes! Recommended for ages 12+, 5 stars. 

It's getting closer to D-Day...and no I'm not talking about WWII

I'm about six weeks away from my delivery date, assuming Baby H comes on time, and believe me when I say that I really hope that he does. Last week was rough baby wise because I was feeling pretty crappy and very crampy pretty much all day every day. Apparently I am having more Braxton Hicks contractions as my tummy has been as tight as a drum, though the round ligament pains have also stepped up a notch as well. My mom says I'm not drinking enough water so I'm trying to drink a couple more glasses per day to cure that. My next doctor's appointment is this Wed and I'm probably gonna end up taking my ultrasound pics over again since my previous OB-Gyn has decided not to forward all the info from the ultrasound technician, even though we've been asking for them for about a month. I am not looking forward to that, even though it would be nice to see how the baby is developing. I finally preregistered at the hospital so they know about when to expect me. My grandparents have ordered the crib and it's supposed to come sometime on Thursday, so looking forward to finally having that. So the last major baby stuff that I need to get is the stroller and car seat. Oh and still need to pack my overnight bag for the hospital because as my husband keeps pointing out, it could literally be anytime in the next six weeks, and once things start happening I will be pretty incapacitated. We're still trying to decide on a name, have it down to final two but still not nailed anything down yet. 

The exciting news that I have to tell is about my hubby. Since he moved here, he has been trying to figure out what he wants to do career-wise and was thinking about making a change. He's a carpenter/house remodeler currently but wants to do something different. He really likes to cook and since there are at least three cooking schools in the Phoenix area, we decided to check them out. So we went to visit Le Cordon Bleu, the most famous of the three, and were really impressed. It was very up to date and despite having about 1000 students, the student-to-teacher ratio and class size was small. So he decided to enroll there and we've spent the weekend trying to get financial aid sorted. The program is 9 months long and he'll be taught basic French techniques on the basics, culinary arts, intro to baking/patisserie and given the option to pursue an Associates/Bachelors in Restaurant Management if he so wishes. The fees include a knife and utensil set, all textbooks, and the uniform (jacket, cravat, cap, pants and perhaps shoes). He is getting very excited but also nervous about starting. The funny thing is that he said he was more scared about starting the program than he was about the baby coming. He starts August 15. 

We had a nice weekend, which started with us going to the movies on Friday morning to see the new X-Men: First Class. I really enjoyed it because of the excellent cast and the back story that explains how Charles Xavier (Professor X) and Erik (Magneto) formed the X-Men back in the 1960s, and how they picked sides. It also talks about the first X-Men came about and they included some that weren't in the previous movies or cartoon series that I had grown up watching. I'm thinking maybe they are in the original comic book series. My favorite character would probably be Hank because he starts out as this insanely smart young nerdy guy who because he wants to fit in, ends up becoming the Beast that we know now. My Dad's birthday was on Saturday and he decided to invite a couple friends over for gourmet burgers. Since we've moved here and especially since John has decided to go to cooking school, he has been the primary cook of the house. So he made up the burgers to order on Saturday. I had a beef burger with caramelized onions and sauteed mushrooms under provolone cheese with bread and butter pickles and guacamole. Delicioso! Saturday was also apparently a Facebook friend's civil union ceremony and another acquaintance's Episcopal deacon ordination, so congrats to all of them. Sunday we went to a new church, which was an interesting experience, and then all the way out to Mesa (about an hour's drive away from us) where we had this insanely yummy brunch at a little bistro. It was actually the perfect blend of lunch and breakfast items as my hubby usually won't eat breakfast food, so they had beef, lamb and mussels for him but things like made-to-order omelets, Eggs Benedict, bacon and sausage for me. And the most enormous but still incredibly sweet and juicy strawberries with a chocolate fountain. We actually went out to Mesa for the free first Sunday of the month admission at the Arizona Natural History Museum that my hubby had found and suggested. For a free museum it was excellent, but I would've have paid the $10 per adult to go there on a regular basis. It was packed full of kids and parents there who were taking advantage of the same deal. It was very hands-on and kid-friendly with about 5 rooms of dinosaur stuff, the origin of the earth, rocks & minerals, a special exhibit on The Sea of Cortez near Baja, CA, Southwestern history, and even a gold panning area outside. 

Day 8: A song you know all the words to

My original intention was to use Brianna's song,  Salt-N-Pepa's Shoop, which was my very favorite song through middle school. However, I was listening to this in the car the other day and realized that I also liked it and knew all the words. This one is from university though, and reminds me of the last two years, especially as Sugar Ray was going to do a concert at VCU but I missed it because I was in Italy. 

Day 8 - A song I know all the words to: Sugar Ray - Every Morning

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3cqU1pFRqYE&playnext=1&list=PLE9FA830C4398AAE2

Happy New Years!

I have been very much enjoying my vacation to Arizona and am sorry that it is nearly at an end. I got to see Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, which I enjoyed though I'm sure the book is better, and True Grit, the remade Western that was better than I thought it would be thanks to the awesomeness of the Coen brothers directing and some good acting. I got to go to the enormous Asian market and the delicious Vietnamese restaurant, Pholicious, for their excellent Bun (Rice Noodle Salad with Caramelized Pork and Shrimp). Mostly it has been nice to just relax and not think about being home and broke. We're here to the 5th and we'll probably have a low key celebration tonight, especially for me since I can't actually drink any Asti Spumante to celebrate the New Year.

Since it is the last day of the year, I figure I would reflect a bit on this year, which to me has just flown by with the exception of the last semester of school (which dragged on impossibly long). I started my job at the Archives last December and it lasted until mid-August, and though it wasn't the most exciting job ever, I did enjoy working there and getting to meet and hang out with Rebecca. She has since moved back to Missouri to help out her family, but it was nice talking to someone who has similar experiences and educational background, especially as I was doing distance ed with the university and rarely saw other library students. I loved being able to talk school, books and life in general with her. I also completed my Youth Services Library internship, which was an awesome experience and allowed me to get some hands-on experience with dealing with parents, students, and programming. My good friend Kira was pregnant for the first time and gave birth to her daughter Lucy at the end of October. I found out I was pregnant in the middle of November. And I finally graduated with my Masters in Library & Information Science. So all in all a good year.

8 Days till Christmas

I honestly had no idea we are that close to Christmas, but my sister-in-law informed everyone this morning on Facebook. I know that Christmas is next Saturday, but with school and worrying about money, my concept of time is a bit skewed. I am actually looking forward to the holiday, despite not having enough money to spend on anyone. I am also very much looking forward to a 2-week vacation to Arizona, as that is pretty much what got me through the last couple weeks of school and being perpetually behind with everything. 

Today I watched the Twilight: Breaking Dawn trailer and learned that they are trying to break it into two parts. All I could think was "For goodness sake, don't drag this stupid movie series out any longer!" At least with Harry Potter, the final book actually has a lot going on and even though it is very frustrating, I can see the need to divide it into two movies. I have a very love/hate relationship with the Twilight books and movies, as I thought the books were okay, though no great literary achievement. The movies, on the other hand, are mildly entertaining and I must say that I'm Team Jacob even though I know what happens at the end (and am a little creeped out by it). Plus Taylor Lautner is way cuter than Robert Pattinson, (despite being in one of the worst movies ever made The Adventures of Shark Boy and Lava Girl which I watched under duress while babysitting) and despite the fact that Pattinson has a decent singing voice and has the plus side of actually being British.

One thing that I have highly enjoyed about being done with graduate school is having more free time to read what I want. So far I've read the first two books in Jonathan Stroud's Bartimaeus Trilogy and tried to read the third but got bored, and Gail Carriger's brilliant debut novel Soulless as well as Changeless and soon to be reading Blameless. I've also tackled about 5 children's picture books and hope to finish my massive copy of C. S. Lewis's entire Chronicles of Narnia. I had previously read the first 1 1/2 books, The Magician's Nephew and part of The Lion, Witch and the Wardrobe.

Graduation!!

After 2 1/2 long years, I have finished graduate school for the second time. I submitted my final three papers tonight and officially graduation is tomorrow. I'm not attending due to financial issues, but now I just have to wait for my diploma to come in the mail and wait for my grades to post. I have an idea what I might have for one class but no idea for the other, as I only just submitted papers. I'm having a mini celebration right now and will celebrate in a grander style in Arizona once my hubby and I get there to visit my parents for two weeks for Christmas/New Years. I'm so ready for a vacation as this has been a very long and stressful semester. It's great being done with school, but it also feels weird, I guess because I've been doing it for over 2 yrs. 

The other good news is that I finally got a part time job, in my local public library, working as a Children's Room Shelver. My first day is tomorrow and I'm looking forward to it. I applied for Medicaid in November to cover my medical bills and I am now approved. I just have to drop off one letter this week and maybe another in the next few days. I'm hoping to speak to my actual worker so I can ask some questions about WIC and some other things. So at least we don't have to worry about those bills. The baby is coming along fine, and I'm nearly 9 weeks. I am a little anxious about the flights but they should be fine as long as I can keep food down when we take off/land. 

Joey Pigza Quote and Food Blog

I haven't blogged for about a week due to being out of town visiting my grandparents in Alabama for Thanksgiving and being generally distracted as it is the end of school, amongst other things. So I figured I would catch up on blogging by combining Sunday and Monday's post again. The Blog of the week is one that I have been obsessed with for two days called Momofuku for 2.  For those who have no idea what Momofuku is, it is the cookbook for the restaurant of the same name in NYC, created by genius chef David Chang (who Anthony Bourdain also thinks is brilliant, which gives him even better credit in my book). I had read the cookbook myself after waiting for it for over a month at the library, and thought his recipes were really ingenious twist on classics, plus the photos were gorgeous and it really makes me want to go to NYC to try it out. Chang now owns five Momofuku restaurants, which you can see through this link for more info. The author of the food blog Momofuku for 2 not only creates classics from the cookbook, like the Potatoes & Clams in Bacon Dashi  but also many other delicious creations such as French Onion Melt Sandwich, Thai Noodle Salad (which is very similar to a dish I have eaten in a Thai restaurant), and the best sounding title for a recipe Blueberry Boy Bait.

The quote of the week is a random one from Jack Gantos's third Joey Pigza book in the series called What Would Joey Do?, which is about a young boy who has ADHD and is just starting to get his life under control again. In this book, his mom who moved back in with him in the first book is dating again but Joey is not sure about the new boyfriend. I just thought it was funny. 

• “She won't call me anything like strange or abnormal or peculiar. She just says things like 'Oh, don't mind that Joey is trying to get pet termites to live in the woodwork. He's not like other boys. He is out of the ordinary.' And Booth whose head is so rectangular it looks like a shoebox with a nose stuck on one long side, gives me that I-didn't-raise-you-to-be-this-way-but-I'll-put-up-with-you-as-long-as-your-mom-is-my-girlfriend-otherwise-I-would-put-you-in-a-rubber-room look. In return I give him my Don't-fall-asleep-on-the-couch-because-when-you-wake-up-you-might-find-that-I-slowly-cut-all-your-clothes-off-and-when-you-stand-you-will-be-totally-naked-and-Grandma-and-I-will-have-your-camera-ha-ha-ha look.” Joey Pigza in What Would Joey Do

*Muppet Wiki*

I'm a day late with this, but I've been swamped with school work,  so I apologize. Well that and I couldn't come up with a good website to share until now, lol. I finished my portfolio Sunday night and submitted it so just waiting for the feedback on it. I spent about half of the day today working on a paper for my reference class which was due tonight, and now my brain is fried and my lower back is killing me from lugging a heavy bookbag and laptop all over the library. So I'm watching Inuyasha episodes and relaxing. I think I might have some ice cream after I finish this post. 

 

So the website of the week is the Muppet Wiki, which I discovered last week while browsing the web.  As they say on the website, it is a "collaborative encyclopedia for everything related to Jim Henson, The Muppet Show, Sesame Street and The Muppets Studio. The wiki format allows anyone to create or edit any article, so we can all work together to create a comprehensive database for fans of the Muppets." I think it is a great idea! I have loved the Muppets ever since I was little, probably 8 or 9, and I grew up watching Fraggle Rock, The Dark Crystal, The Muppet Show, and Labyrinth. I was a little miffed when the Jim Henson Company (JHC) officially sold the rights to the Muppets to Disney (both companies I love watching movies and TV shows from, but they were owned by Disney before unwillingly and it just looks like they sold out). I know they probably did it because Disney is able to market them in ways the JHC couldn't dream of, because they have so much more money, but it kinda seems like they sold out. But anyways, I ended up browsing the wiki for news of the new Muppet movie that should be coming out next year's Christmas Day. So yay, excited to hear that! So take a look around the wiki and enjoy.

Portfolio Drama

I am finally working on my portfolio that is due on Monday. Part of the holdup was that I didn't know how to add content to the digital part of the portfolio, which is the part that the committee grading it will be seeing. Well that and I'm stumped as to which papers to add to it, which was why I hadn't really worked on it earlier. It has five areas of competencies that I have to include: information and its organization, provision of information services, organizational/leadership/management issues in information agencies/services, application of technology and research to evidence-based practice, and lifelong learning/professional development. So far I have two papers up, and need to find three more, plus write a reflective essay on why I have chosen those particular papers, looking at the classes I took and what worked/did not work, and reflecting on the program as a whole (i guess, only part I'm REALLY not sure about). I am hoping to get a look at a friend's portfolio to see how it should look. 

I was finally told by my adviser that I didn't have to find papers for the other nine Association for Library Services to Children (ALSC) competencies but only write a reflection paper on them based on what I learned during my degree. So I have conquered this part of the portfolio first, and have created a pretty decent first draft of that, minus two competencies I just can not think of what papers/class to use.

It's finally autumn...

It is officially autumn here in South Carolina, as the temperature has dropped into the the 60s and the leaves are changing and falling off the trees. I love it, though it also makes me feel old. I wake up all creaky and feeling like death warmed over, and this morning I definitely need my cup of tea as I'm completely congested. Good old PG Tips, English tea which originally my husband insisted on getting and now doesn't drink because it upsets his tummy. This is fine, leaves more for me to drink. Now that it is cold outside, I can drink tea on a regular basis. I mean yes, I love me some iced sweet tea, and I will drink that on occasion when we go out to eat. It's funny that my husband will drink hot tea but refuses to drink sweet tea, but then again the same thing goes for anything other than hot coffee. He will only drink it hot, but not iced or any other coffee-flavored thing. Autumn makes me want to bake bread and other baked goods. That and sleep a lot, buried deep in our super fluffy winter blanket.

I have so much work to get done before the end of the semester, basically 5 1/2 weeks away. I have a Reference paper due next Tuesday and I need to further summarize articles I gathered for Assignment 5 for that class. The biggest thing is that I have my portfolio due on November 15, which is basically my thesis for the Master's degree, which I need to get started on and start picking papers. I think I will tackle that this weekend. Oh yeah, and there's my research proposal for my Research class, which I finally got my articles for so I can start on that, as well as keeping up with the reading/lessons for the class. So needless to say I need to get started now, so I'm done with this post. 

Quotes & The Merry Librarian

I've been a bit behind in posting this past week due to my last-minute trip to Arizona, but I'm glad I went as I had fun and it was relaxing to get away for a few days and somewhat catch up on work. I got all my reading done for my classes, the only downside is that I spent nearly 9 hours of yesterday writing my paper and I'm still not happy with it. But that's a story for another day. So I'm catching up today by making up Sunday and Monday's post, and might write one for today later on when I have more free time.

The quotes of the week will be some of my favorite Christopher Moore quotes, taken from his books Coyote Blue and Fluke: Or I Know Why the Winged Whale Sings.  The second one is particularly funny as the kid in question, Kona, is a bit of a spacey stoner who Nate regrets hiring until he makes a brilliant suggestion about whales that proceeds this quote.
 

• “He soon found, that his thoughts, like monkeys in church, were bad company.” –Christopher Moore, Coyote Blue
• Nate was stunned. Not because he thought Kona was right, but because the kid had actually had the cognitive powers to come up with the question. Nate wouldn’t have been more surprised if he walked in on a team of squirrels building a toaster oven. Maybe the kid had run out of pot, and the spike in intelligence was just a withdraw symptom.” –Christopher Moore, Fluke: Or, I Know Why the Winged Whale Sings

The blog of the week is The Merry Librarian. It is a blog created by a librarian and  other people/librarians send in stories about the unbelievable but true things that go on in the libraries. She also has a links to many other librarian blogs (which I will definitely be checking out in the future), and to her book review site (book club) and bookstore. I discovered this site after a classmate posted this link to one of her posts from June 14, which like the Merry Librarian, made me laugh out loud, as did this one. The Father's Day story, which is unfortunately the most recent post, made me smile. My only gripe is that I wish she would continue to update the site. But if you go back through the older posts, there are some gems.

“

School and General Life Craziness

October seems to be the beginning of the school and general life craziness for me. My school/personal calendar is jam-packed full of stuff and it's only the 9th of the month. I keep scheduling myself for volunteering and then finding cool things that are going on, or some other reason why I can't participate, and then having to cancel. Like for example next weekend, where I signed myself to volunteer helping with computer classes at the library but then I found out they were doing a state literacy summit for five hours that day (which frankly sounded much better) and so I signed up for that, only realizing afterwards that I had a previous engagement. I keep trying to do too much and then regretting it. Like Wednesday, I volunteered in the morning for Let's Speak English, my weekly gig where I converse with internationals learning to speak English and help them improve their English, then I followed it up with 1 1/2 hours of individual help with one of the internationals from LSE as he is taking the TOEFL at the end of the month and needs speaking help, then I went straight into volunteering for cataloging. Normally, I could probably do it, but with very little breakfast and sleep the night before, plus no lunch, I was dragging by 3:15pm and had to go home early. Once I relaxed and got some food I was fine. So I told the international that we were going to have to reschedule his extra help before LSE, as I was feeling overwhelmed, and planned on making the cataloging volunteering a regular thing. I got news yesterday that I may have a job interview in AZ next week, the problem is getting there, but I'm working on that. So that too is on my mind, along with the fact that I'm forever behind in my classes, something I'm hoping I can remedy over Fall Break, which is Thurs-Wed. Oh and we have a group paper topic due on Tuesday that we've not nailed down (to be done Sunday), I have a Doctor's appointment on Monday, and a different project for the same class due the following Tues. Oh and I'm trying to go to my grandparent's house Oct 21-24. Feeling the pressure yet? I am, lol.

TGIF!

I had to write a paper this morning, which I just finished, on the inner/outer environment of the library I'm interning at, which at first I was dreading, but turned out to be a pretty good paper once I got it all written out. We had to discuss the social/demographic information, tell a little about the branch and the system it is in, strengths and weaknesses/challenges of the library, and projections for the future. So now all I have to write is the final paper for that class and finish my booklist for the homeschool program in November! I also need to catch up on my other two classes homework and readings,  and start my Reference paper due Tuesday I will be set.

Finally got my car back and other distractions

So I have been two weeks without a car and let me just tell you how much that blows. It blows big time especially if you are used to having one to run errands and suddenly you have to rethink everything and keep putting things off, like a library visit to my internship site so I can finish up my booklist and get more info on the library for a paper I have to write due next Thursday, which I haven't started yet. The good thing was that we got to pay less than we thought because they took so long (it was supposed to have been done a week ago). I think I'm doomed not to have A/C because they apparently didn't fix that, even thought they did every flush and change imaginable since they took the entire engine apart.

humanThe other thing that has been uber-distracting is that I've discovered Lord Of The Rings online, which is now free to play up to level 50. So my hubby and I have been battling wolves, giant spiders, goblins, and brigands for the past three days. I have played online games before, my first being EVE (a space adventure game) that I started playing with my hubby before we were married, then I played a couple of free games named Rappelz and Flyff. For LOTR online, I started with a minstrel female human character and even though I love her random lute playing during battle, she has really low health and is more of a support character versus a fighter. So I started another character today, a female guardian (a tank character for those gamers out there) and she fights way better and has much higher health at lower levels. You can also pick a craft or craft area. The first time I was metalsmith/jeweler/cook and I love making the jewelry and mining, and this time I am metalsmith/weaponsmith/tailor since I always find a lot of animal skins out in the woods and again love mining. I'm a little miffed that the only hobby you can have is fishing as that's kind of boring. Once you get to level 15 you can get a house, which is great because you'll have collected a lot of stuff by then and you seriously have no room for it until you finally get to the town of Bree and can get a vault. However a house is a bit more permanent and once you've paid for the initial price, you wouldn't have to pay for upgrades like in a vault. So now I'm off to play again, assuming I can get on the server.