Cross County Pt 2

Pretty much all of Oklahoma on I-40 was under construction, and it was the state with the second most amount of cows (Texas was first). Staying at the Baymont Inn & Suites in Oklahoma City turned out to be a great move as they had excellent customer service and a yummy breakfast. Texas was super flat and you could see for miles. New Mexico was more rolling hills and mile after mile of nothing but desert-y scrub, so we were very glad to get to the hotel. We made the trip from Ok City to Albuquerque, NM in about 9 hours and got there early afternoon so we tried to relax, but our hotel was kinda crappy so that made things challenging. We were glad to leave the next morning, despite being exhausted from lack of sleep the night before. We made the drive from NM to the Phoenix area in about 7 hours, and got there early as I had forgotten about the time change. So we are now 3 hours behind South Carolina time, which I know will take me awhile to get used to, because I was up at 5:15am today. My hubby slept like a log, for the first time in about 5 days. The biggest thing we had to get used to was the heat, as it was about 100 degrees yesterday. Today was still hot, at about 93, but had a nice breeze blowing so it didn't feel so oppressive. We had a nice Mother's Day, my first, though the main focus has been on my mom which is fine with me. My hubby is preparing his yummy shrimp, mango and okra curry for dinner. 


This week will prove to be a bit busy as we get settled in. I have a doctor's appointment on Tuesday, then I'm planning on getting my hair cut and my driver's license done. I will be so happy to get a haircut as my hair has been getting seriously shaggy and long and in the way. Might be a little longer to get the car registered and license plate changed. The moving company is coming tomorrow, which was a bit of a surprise as we didn't think the guy would be here till later in the week as he had two stops to make before he came out to us. So we'll have to sort out how we want to store everything in the storage facility and what all we want in the house with us. That's all the fun and excitement going on here, will post more in upcoming days as things start to happen. 

Going across the country by car

My hubby, our golden lab/basset hound mix dog and I (plus a very full car) have gone through seven states in three days, which is pretty incredible when you think about it. These are South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Tennessee, Arkansas, and Oklahoma. I had been to all these states except for Arkansas and Oklahoma and my hubby had gone through all but the last three. We drove to nearly Atlanta on Tuesday night, then woke up late Wednesday morning (though didn't sleep much for the second night in a row) and drove to Memphis. We had found out last night that the Mississippi River was about to flood, but thankfully all of the bridges over it near Memphis were still open. However, the White River in Arkansas, between Little Rock and Memphis had flooded its banks and they had closed down part of Interstate 40, which is the main road we are taking from Memphis, Tennessee to Flagstaff, Arizona. So we had to find a detour for today, and even though we left the hotel by 5:45am this morning, it took us an extra three hours to get around the detour (which was super annoying as we had planned to drive all the way to Amarillo, Texas but ended up in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma because we have been driving for 11 hours today). 

As I have said before, I have never been to Arkansas, but what I have seen from the detour and the rest of the state via I-40, I am not missing much. I will say though I am sorry for all the folks that lost their homes and farmland due to the river flooding. We saw the devastation of the it and the tornado that ripped through one of the small towns on the detour, as well as the damage done to one part of Birmingham yesterday while driving. I mean you see the news reports, but nothing prepares you for how crazy everything is in real life. Like all the homes with no roofs or those that were completely flattened. I don't believe I have ever seen the Mississippi River but it was very impressive and as one newcaster said, they were expecting it to get up to 12 ft above the river line when it does flood. It was looking pretty swollen and had covered trees and power lines nearly up to the top. There is almost nothing on I-40 through Oklahoma, except every 25-50 miles each county is owned by a different Native American nation, which had it's own casino. We went through the Cherokee, Creek and Kipopo Nations, just to name a few. It was very green and flat, though less green than Arkansas, which I was frankly surprised at. Also Arkansas had vineyards in the mountainous areas of the Ozarks, which I also wasn't expecting. 

Tomorrow we are hoping to drive from Oklahoma City to Albuquerque, New Mexico. I think my mom wants us to be in Arizona by tomorrow, but I think it we will end up getting there Saturday evening as it is nearly 16 hours there from where we are now. I could do 11 hours, though that is pushing it a bit with me being pregnant and a pooch in the back seat, but 16 hours is just too much

Yay on vacation!

So I am finally on vacation in Arizona! My hubby and I arrived late last night and slept really good, until an idiot friend of his decided to text us at 6am to ask what time it was. I told my hubby that we should call him at 2-3am his time (3 hours behind Arizona time) and ask him that question. We are here for two weeks and the weather is slowly getting better. It's supposed to be 72 and sunny on Christmas Day, so should be lovely. Definitely better than the frigid, though non-snowy weather we've been having in South Carolina. Am excited as I just registered for a workshop put on by the Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art in MA, on using the Whole Book Approach to enchance a child's reading experience. Very much looking forward to that in February. I would love to visit the museum myself, as I am a huge picture book fan, though not a lot of opportunities to go to Massachusettes.

Anyways, I had found this article through one of the library groups I am apart of on Facebook and thought I would share, as it is promoting libraries. The article is entitled "12 Ways Libraries are Good for the Country", and can be found here. Another bonus about libraries is that in times like these, where the country's economy is going down the drain, is that a lot of the programs are are free or at a reduced cost.

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. 

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.

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Interview and other stuff

Well I'm here in Arizona just hanging out after my job interview on Thursday in Flagstaff. I think it went pretty well and there wasn't that sense of dread like after my last interview. The questions weren't too hard and I got to actually go on the bookmobile and check it out. I think it will take a bit of time of get used to driving such a big bus, but I pretty confident that I will get the hang of it. My hubby was all mad that he didn't get to come with me and said it wasn't fair that I was getting "a four day vacation" when he didn't get one. I know he's been working really hard and know he needs a break too. Unfortunately we just couldn't afford it, especially as we had just recently bought tickets to come here for two weeks at Christmas. But it is nice to just be someplace else for a couple days. I really like it here and sincerely hope that I get the job, even if that means we would be moving across country in a very short period of time.

Yesterday we stopped at this place I've seen a couple times from Hwy 17 and though "Oh, they have pie, I should stop some time." Apparently Rock Springs Cafe is famous for its pie and they have a right to be because it was damn good pie. We got blackberry. I would love to try their other flavors but they are a bit pricey. Today my dad and I went to see the movie Red starring Morgan Freeman, John Malkovich, Bruce Willis, Helen Mirren, and Mary Louise Parker. I must admit, I've never really watched the Die Hard movies, although I did like Mr. Willis in The Fifth Element, but he was really hot in this movie (him and Keith Urban, aka Eomer from LOTR). I would've liked to have been a dark alley with those two, lol. Anyways, the movie was about these retired ex-CIA agents that are being hunted but they don't know why, so they spend the whole movie figuring it out. But it had humor and witty dialogue for the ladies and massive explosions/heavy firepower for the guys. Plus it had Helen Mirren shooting a machine gun on a tripod and my favorite part where she knocks out a guy with her clutch handbag in a dress and heels. Highly recommended movie! Then I got to go to Wienerschnitzel for mini corn dogs and a root beer float, so all in all a good day so far.

*David Lebovitz*

Today's blog highlight is for pastry chef David Lebovitz's website. I had not heard of him before finding his newest cookbook Ready for Desserts: My Best Recipes that one of my Goodreads friends had read (fantastic recipes by the way). I then got his biography with recipes The Sweet Life in Paris which was about him moving from the US to Paris to live, and his food adventures in France. I've also read his cookbook Ripe for Dessert and his contribution to The Bakers's Dozen Cookbook, which were both excellent. So I subscribe to his blog as he always has interesting things to say, like when he was talking about "10 Thing to Bring Back from Paris," Economy Candy a candy store for adults in NYC,  or his experience with sushi in his life and in Paris. His website has a "My Paris" section, where he recommends good restaurants and guides to the city. There are sections for his schedule for book signings, frequently asked questions, a store to buy his books, a tour that you can book with the author for a fee (which I would absolutely love to do if I had the money), and the recipe page (which is currently being revised so is offline).

My weekend

This weekend was really long but we had a blast! I got to hang out with my friend Sioux and her fiance Jason, as well as some of their friends, which was nice. I also was involved in helping with the prep work for the wedding, which I had been missing ever since I dropped out of the wedding party due to financial reasons. The ceremony itself was an interesting mix of Christian and Native American traditions, as the bride was Native and the groom was Lutheran. At the beginning of the ceremony, they burned sweetgrass and tobacco to ward off evil spirits and then later burned sage to keep in the good spirits. After the couple said their vows, they did a wedding vase ceremony which involved the couple drinking out of a double necked Native American vase (which was interesting as I had seen them in Arizona and purchased one as I liked the look of it, but didn't know what it was) and then giving the rest to Mother Earth. A little later, the couple also did the wedding blanket ceremony where a traditional Native American blanket, similar to this, was wrapped around the couple to bless their union. The reception was nice as well and we danced to 70s and 80s music. We stayed at the B&B where the wedding was held, which had lovely breakfast. The other nice thing about the trip was our rental car (which we had to get since my car was still in the shop). We got a Toyota Yaris 4-door, which was fun to drive, even though I ended up doing all the driving. John liked it so much he's thinking about getting one, as our new car, once we finish off paying for the Mazda.

It was nice being back in Richmond, as I hadn't been there since Sioux's graduation from undergrad at my alma mater, Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) three or so years prior. It made me remember how much I liked living in the area and so I've started to look for jobs there. The main thing is trying to convince my husband that it is not the land of rednecks (like it was in Danville, where my parents lived briefly), but rather a nice mix of North and South. I like Richmond because you can still get sweet tea, but it's not too Southern, or at least I don't consider to be so. Unless of course you count those Civil War crazies that sometimes hang out there, aka guy walking up and down Franklin Street with a giant Confederate flag on Confederate Memorial Day back when I was in school. Yes, it was the capital of the Confederacy at the end of the Civil War, but thankfully it has progressed a bit since then. It's funny because when I was living there during my undergraduate years, I thought it was great if you were married with children but not fantastic if you are single and in school, especially without a car. But now that I'm getting to the point of not being in school, I can see how nice it is to live there, and possibly raise a family. We'll see how things progress.

My first blog

Let me introduce myself. My name is Rachel (aka Librarygirl) and I'm studying to be a Youth Services Librarian. I love to read both Children and Young Adult literature, in addition to fantasy, historical fiction, biography, mystery, nonfiction etc. Since I'm free this summer (not taking classes) I am spending most of my time catching up on series I haven't had time to read, such as Cassandra Clare's The Mortal Instruments Trilogy or Mary Hoffman's Stravaganza series.

I love to travel though I haven't had money to much lately, apart from going to visit my parents in Arizona. I did get to see some pretty spectacular scenery there: the Painted Desert, Monument Valley, Wupatki National Park, the Grand Canyon, the Meteor Crater, and the San Francisco Mountains. I fell in love with the state the first time I visited. I am hoping to move there once I finish school.

I have been married to my English husband John for nearly 4 1/2 years. He got me interested in English football, or soccer to the the US. We're both fans of Liverpool Football Club, and have been watching the World Cup intensely. I'm sad that both England and the US have been knocked out, but happy to watch Spain and others continue. He's also got me interested in the TV show Top Gear, a British car show and Doctor Who (starting in 2005).