Archive for December, 2005

And another year begins…

Saturday, December 31st, 2005

This up coming year I resolve to:
1) communicate more with my husband
We actually talked about this, and he agreed that communication is really important. You may say, well DUH, but sometimes when you’re in a relationship, it doesn’t feel that obvious.
2) Dance Dance Revolution every other night (or more) so that I can have CALVES OF STEEL!
I want to get in shape, but I don’t want to spend the money for a club membership, I hate running and my arms are already getting buff from lifting a 24 pound 9 month old. Granted, even though it has dance in the title (twice, no less) you still won’t be able to dance at a club, its fun and you can use it as a party game.
3) spend more time with people I want to be better friends with and less time sleeping
I think I have mentioned this before, but I really don’t have a “best friend”. I don’t even really have people that I just hang out with. Therefore, I want to make a better effort to get closer to those people who are a more than casual acquaintances, but I still don’t spend a lot of time with.
4) keep my house tidy enough that if someone stops by I won’t have a heart attack
Every time Jeff says that someone’s going to stop over, I become a crazy lunatic. Something just comes over me and all I see is a dirty house (probably because most of the time IT IS dirty). I want my house to be tidy enough that people don’t rush out screaming.
5) keep my desk at work clean enough that it doesn’t look like a hurricane hit
At work, I have a desk and a book shelf for all the catalogs and other paraphernalia required for someone that works with kids and teens.
6) try and keep myself up to date with library programming
This past month I felt completely overwhelmed with programs and everything else. Programs and deadlines just seemed to pop up out of nowhere. While I have a tendency to be a little disorganized and sporatic, this seemed to be more than usual.
7) TRY to update my blogs more often
I really like having this little piece of me on the Internet, and I get really excited when I realize that people ACTUALLY read this! (be still my heart!) Unfortunately, between full time work, a baby and reading Adrienne’s and Patty’s blogs, I don’t get that much time to write in my own. I will really work on this, especially since I’d like to post more of my writing, and book reviews… especially after reading this. You will notice that according to RochWiki, my blog is about books. Really its about a kooky public librarian who loves books. For their sake, I will try and post more book reviews.
8) spend more time with (and talking to) my sisters
My sisters and I are close already, but they are my best friends (if you ignore what I wrote above) and they are crazy like me, so I think that I should really spend more time with them.
9) read more books to Jack
I keep getting depressed when I talk to the 12 and 13 year olds at the library and when they tell me that they’re bored and I say “well, why don’t you read a (gasp) book or magazine”, they will tell me that reading is boring. I’d like to wring they’re little… (bad Cathy, bad Cathy). I never want Jack to hate reading, so I am going to instill in him at an early age a respect and love for literature. Really its my duty as librarian and mommy. I love him too much not to MAKE him love reading.
10)get an espresso maker/steamer so that I can make my own fancy drinks and have even more caffeine in my body so that I can drive co-workers and family EVEN MORE crazy
Okay. I really don’t need this, but I keep buying (don’t read this Jeff) fancy coffees. Then I start thinking, wouldn’t it just be easier for me to do this on my own?

Wow. There’s about 3 minutes until the new year, and look what I’m doing. Writing in my blog, eating apple pie and drinking cherry pepsi and whiskey. (oh and listening to Jack scream because he just woke up. sigh. Mommy’s work is never done.)

Anyway. Because of the Rochester Wiki, I will try and add two more new years resolutions…
11) post more book reviews – they might be children’s books or young adult books, but the heading just said books, so phhhpt.
12) post more stuff of local interest. What that will be, I don’t know but there are interesting things happening in Rochester.

12 midnight! Happy New Year everyone!

Kids these days. or What is this thing called Clue?

Friday, December 30th, 2005

Am I depriving my child because I don’t want to give him toys with batteries?
For Christmas, I gave him:
– a big blanket for the floor
– a stuffed Eeyore from Disneyland
– a turtle puppet
– jammies
– blocks (not wooden, they’re plastic with little things in them)
– stained glass coloring book that we can color for him and stick in the windows
I didn’t want to go crazy, since he’s just an infink, but he does like opening presents, and I am his mother.
My mother-in-law is big into giving Jack toys that take batteries, but I’d just rather give him something simple: a doll with a rattle, a squeeky thing, a book. In fact, last night he got the biggest kick out of a styrofoam take out box.
My mother-in-law does give him books too, and most of the toys she gives him are “educational” so I guess its not that bad.
I also think that giving a child a book as a toy will give them a life long love of reading. And I’m all about the reading.
I found it really sad that today I told some teens that they could play Clue and they said… What’s Clue? Teens don’t play board games anymore do they? Everything has to be played on the computer. (Gawd I sound like an old woman!)
It really really scares me when we watch tv and Jack stares at it, fascinated. Entranced, like there’s nothing better in the world. Then it occurs to me that sometimes I’m like that too.

Christmas loot

Monday, December 26th, 2005

For those of you who read (or ARE) WATAT, and you know who you are, this is the same thing as posted in WATAT, but I thought it was interesting enough to repeat. Plus I’m lazy and I didn’t want anyone who ocassionally reads this to think I’m dead.

Jeff (the hubby) got me Season One of the Muppet Show, Doris Day and Rock Hudson “the Romance Collection”, Sirius Satellite Radio (so I can listen to Howard Stern) and a palm pilot (the little mini z22 cause its so tiny and cute). Saying this out loud, I realize that I am a very weird woman… even weirder than Gonzo the Great. I wanted all of these things and I know that for each of these things certain people will laugh at me.
1) The Muppet Show – because adults probably shouldn’t enjoy “animated” objects this much.
2) The Doris Day/ Rock Hudson “romance collection” – because for one we all know that Rock Hudson was gay and that there was no way he and Doris were ever gonna schtup. Plus I’m 26 and I probably shouldn’t know who Doris Day or Rock Hudson were.
3) Sirius Satellite – because I’m a woman and I should think that Howard Stern is a pig.
4) Palm Pilot – because I already have one, because I have a paper calender and because I’m still utterly unorganized.

Cha cha changes (yes that’s David Bowie)

Friday, December 16th, 2005

I had to change the black. I was getting too depressed looking at it. I also added a Flickr account, so now everyone can see my terrible digital pictures and cute baby pictures. I figured that I could wait for Jeff to add them all, but that would take too long (Jeff’s a very busy guy… I say that because I don’t want him to yell at me). Plus now I have complete control! Mwah hah hah!
I want to apologize to Adrienne now because she has a lovely pink site, and I feel like I’m sort of copying her. Unfortunately blogger doesn’t give you too much to choose from. I didn’t want to go through the THOUSANDS of themes that you can get from other sites, so I chose bright pink, because its nice and obnoxious. Peruse and enjoy!

Hot Topic…a den of suckiness

Tuesday, December 13th, 2005

Over the past couple of weeks I have been back and forth from Hot Topic trying to get earrings. The reason is lame. I have no excuse for myself. I wanted stainless steel earrings, because they are cleaner and don’t irritate my ears. Plus I wanted earrings that match because I might be interviewing for another librarian position and I wanted to look “professional” (BWAH HAH HAH). Jeff said that I was insane, and I know I am but that didn’t stop me from doing it.
The first time I went, I got these 16 gauge captive ball hoops. Plus I had to get some special pliers to release the balls. I think I spent about $50. The first time I got these, I had a piercer at the store do it. It took them five minutes tops, so I thought, Hey! I can do this! Nope. Six hours later Jeff and I are screaming at eachother, and I give up in frustration.
I had already opened one package, so I was out about $12. I think I got about $35 back. So then I tried again and bought two packages of these hoops and spent about $16. The ones in the link aren’t the exact kind I had. Mine were just colored plastic. Unfortunately, I was uninformed that I needed to be careful with the plastic balls, because they are fragile and crack really easily.
So I went back ONE last time. I bought these 14 gauge hoops and spent about $40. I tightened them as much as I could, but I’ve already lost three or four balls, and on one of the hoops, the balls were so tight that I couldn’t get them undone at all.
GAWD! So I was pissed for being an idiot and spending so much money and Jeff was pissed because I’m a silly girl. Plus I was pissed off because I had to go to all this work for some dumb earrings that Jeff thought were stupid anyway. Nevermind the fact that I feel like a nerdy children’s librarian going into this dark den of teenage sin. Even at 26, which isn’t really old at any stretch of the imagination (unless you’re 3 years old) I felt like an old lady. What a waste of time and money and embarrassment.

War of the Worlds with (blegh) Tom Cruise

Monday, December 12th, 2005

I don’t usually do movie reviews, but this deserved one. Gawd! What drivel! I would hope that in this day in age, people could at least try and make movies worth seeing.

If you haven’t seen the movie, and plan on doing so at any time, please do not read anymore…

Some glaring things that I found wrong with this movie.

The power is out, electricity does not work, batteries don’t work (Tom Cruise’s watch doesn’t work at one point) yet SOMEHOW
* You can get a car working by changing the solenoid – I actually did some research (okay I googled it) but a solenoid works by sending current through a tube. To do this would’nt you need to use a battery? Didn’t the movie just show us that batteries were NO LONGER working, by showing us that even Tom Cruise’s watch did not work?
* You can still use your movie camera to tape people getting fried. So the effect of seeing people getting fried through the lens of the camera was cute, but who are we kidding? Does the writer and/or director think we are complete idiots?

Tom Cruise. I will never ever ever be able to watch a movie with him again. All I keep thinking of is him and Katie Holmes and their poor unborn baby, and all those unneeded ultrasounds. Which any doctor will tell you that you shouldn’t get any more than neccesary. The whole movie I just kept thinking, this guy is such a (excuse the term) douche bag. He over acts, yet he can’t act his way out of a paper bag. Please explain to me why oh why do creeps like Tom Cruise get acting jobs, when people like my husband’s cousin can only get commercials. Why is this?

Now for the thing that really gets my panties in a twist. These so called “alien automobiles” are deep in the earth, so deep that no scientist has ever seen one of these things. PUH-LEASE! Why can’t they just come from Mars, like any good alien is supposed to? I’d take the Mars Attacks aliens any day over this dumb thing.

Oh, well. I wasted an hour and a half or however long it was, and I won’t waste any more of my time by reviewing it.

I still have to bitch about Hot Topic, plus I promised WATAT readers that I would post my best shoe buy and pictures of my desk (which I did attempt to clean). I have not forgotten you! Oh, and I need to post another review! This one is Supersize Me, and should be subtitled, You will never eat at McDonald’s (or any other fastfood restaurant) ever again.

The Christmas Excitement begins…

Sunday, December 4th, 2005

I really haven’t gotten this excited about Christmas in a while. I think its so neat to be sharing this holiday with a little one, especially when its your son! I have had one really big concern though. I don’t want to do Santa Claus. A lot of people have been telling me that I NEED to do Santa, but I hate the idea that I’m lying to him. But then again, I do want to tell him about baby Jesus.
Things get a little tricky here because while Jeff goes to church (Presbyterian) with me, he has extreme doubts about God, souls, the afterlife and all that. If there were any doubts to his doubts, we have a subscription to Skeptical Inquirer. He basically believes that when you die, there is no where further to move on from that. You’re just dead. So for Jeff, I guess it would be lying to talk about Christmas and the Christmas story.
I, on the otherhand, want to believe that there’s something. I guess vision of the after life is a little foggy, but I think that there’s something. Anyway, I just think that if you are going to celebrate Christmas, you should celebrate Christmas, not Santa Claus. I guess that I’m going to try and explain to Jack that while we don’t think that Santa Claus is real, that doesn’t mean that other kids don’t and we need to respect that. I think this whole thing is tricky, but I want Christmas to be special, not that whole commercialized Christmas thing. Everyone gets presents, but they are special and meaningful, not just the very best and newest toys.
It’s hard trying to be a really great parent. I want Jack to appreciate what he has and what he gets for Christmas, but I also want it to be a special and magical time. I guess I need to learn how to balance everything.

Disney… again

Sunday, December 4th, 2005

I forgot to say that in January (7 – 15) we are going to be in Florida’s Disneyland! My parents and sisters and Jack and Jeff and I are all going. Its the first time we’ve all gone on a big family vacation together. Unfortunately we can’t take the cats, so hopefully Jeff’s parents will take care of them. I can’t even begin to imagine bringing a baby and two cats on a plane ride with me. Thank god the cats have to stay in a little kennel!
It should be extremely interesting to see how Jack puts up with everything. He’s very calm and curious, but I don’t know how he’ll handle being caged up in a stroller all day.
We are going right from the plane to Disney and we won’t be leaving Disney until we have to get back on the plane.

Oh and I bought some earrings at Hot Topic about a week ago and they are already breaking…. There’s actually a story benhind all this so I will elaborate on… I’M PISSED OFF later!

Nighty Night.

I’m slipping again…

Friday, December 2nd, 2005

I was trying so hard to keep up with my blog, and I thought that I was doing pretty well, until I received an email from another fellow librarian and blogster, Adrienne. She asked me why the heck I wasn’t posting. So just now, I finally looked and realized that I haven’t posted in almost a month. Jeeze. I do have a few posts that I started and never got to finish. I don’t know what’s taking up all my time. Hmmm. Maybe its my 8 month old baby boy. It would still be nice to have a little bit more me time. I really need some now.
In one of the posts that I started, I mention another thing that has been taking up a great deal of time. Teenagers. Although I think that they’re really not even in high school yet, so they might be those dreaded tweens. Anyway, thanks to these tweens, I have had to call the police twice, I have banned three tweens from the library for six months, I have cried a couple of times, I have been called a fat bitch. I have gotten so mad that I get pale and quiet, which was always a bad since when my mom got that mad you really knew that you were in trouble. I had to put an out of order sign in the women’s bathroom, because one of them smeared pooh in the sink. I have wanted to hide in the staff bathroom on more than one occasion and (1) not tell anyone where I was and (2) lock the door and not come out. The worst thing is that I like all these teens, and I want them to stay, if only they could be respectful. It broke my heart having to ban one of the kids from the library. I think he’s only in sixth grade. He’s really sweet, but very active and difficult to keep entertained. He looked at me when I told him that he couldn’t come back for six months like I was kidding. When I stood there waiting for him to leave, he seemed shocked. Unfortunately, I just don’t know what to do anymore.
For Adrienne, I thought I’d mention this incident, because I know that she’s going to get as mad as I was. However if anyone out there can give me ideas for how to handle this, I’d really appreciate it.
We have a mother who comes to the library all the time with her three year old and six year old. While she goes on the internet to check email or whatever, the kids go crazy through the library, running through the stacks, getting really loud, jumping in the bean bags. I have tried a couple of times to give them dinosaur books to look at, which has calmed them for a little while, but not nearly enough. Sometimes, they want to play games on the internet, and because the six year old can’t read at all, he needs help to play the games. We try to help, but we really have other things that we should be doing. We have all tried to help as much as we can but it only helps so much. Anyway, a couple of days ago, one of my co-workers saw the three year old leave the library. The mother said “Stay in here!”, but she didn’t check on them. So he left the library. To which she said, “Don’t worry, he’ll be back in a couple of seconds. More than one of my co-workers and I wanted to throttle her when she said that, but we aren’t allowed to do that.
Then today, no one saw the boy leave, so he managed to get to the parking lot, and no one knew until another patron came to the desk and said “You know that there is a child wandering in the street. ” The mother finally came to and went to check on her kids. Fortunately, it was not before one of my co-workers went out there to check on the kid. She saw him looking through the car window and duck down. So, she stuck her head in the car door, but then right at that minute, the mother came out and said something like ” what are you doing to my child” or something, but then she saw that it was my coworker, and she said “Never mind”
God. This makes me so mad, I can’t even countinue. Maybe, I’ll be okay to finish tomorrow. Plus, I’m really sleepy.