Cathy the Librarian

I haven’t used a blog in a long time, but I sent a survey out to library parents, asking them what kinds of technology programs they would like and one of the things they said was blogs. They also mentioned creative writing, which I tried, but no one came to, but we won’t discuss that.

So, I thought to myself, I need to bring back my blog and make another attempt. What does one write about in blogs? Usually they focus on one thing or another, and don’t traipse around, willy nilly, but my brain doesn’t focus on one thing or another. It floats around without much focus…. so. Maybe some things you should know about me, should you fall into my blog.

1. I’m a children’s librarian in Rochester NY. I love doing storytimes and celebrating reading to them. I also like doing programs where the kids are totally invested in it. Whether that be crafts, or Minecraft, or whatever.

2. I can’t focus long enough to finish a book very often. I have LOTS of books that I’ve started, but it takes a very good book for me to finish it. Thank goodness for Libby where I have a list of books that I’ve checked out and how far I’ve gotten into them.

3. I like writing poetry and sometimes short stories. I’m not good by any means, but I like writing. It makes me think differently, which is fun.

4. I love running, even though I’m not what one would look at and say “wow, she’s a runner”. Still, I mostly enjoy it and I LOVE the people I run with.

5. I love making crafts. Unfortunately, I get obsessed with a craft, then stop after a few weeks. My most recent obsession was wire wrapping. Before that it was goddess bracelets.

6. I love my family. They’re a bunch of very silly, very unique people and they make my days much easier to handle…. for the most point. Sometimes there are days they drive me bonkers, but that’s all families.

Well… there you go. These are the things I’m likely to write about. At least I’ll try. It’ll probably be like my crafts, where I get obsessed for a while, then give up.

at my house. Eek! I think everyone had a good time, although everyone got lost trying to get to my house. A couple of them said, “You have to drive all this way? Jeepers!” (I added the jeepers part because it sounded cool). Luckily I think everyone crowded into two or three cars so that everyone got lost as a group instead of everyone wandering around Henrietta for days.

Everyone brought yummy appetizers and cookies (to share and bring home). Then we had ($10) secret santas. I was given this, which was obviously NOT $10. Luckily, I got the person that got me, and she wasn’t at the party, so I still have her present. It still won’t be absolutely as wonderful as what she got me, but since there is no way I’m leaving the house today, I’m going to make her something nice. I bought her some earrings (which I probably could have made myself, but oh well) and a little wooden cross from One World Goods (that I was going to add some beads to) and a bunch of plastic bangles from a store in Brockport. I thought they were cute! Here’s what I got:

GOOD GRIEF!

I told Sally that I would bring it to work, but she wouldn’t let me. She didn’t want all her staff coked up on caffeine. 🙂 Of course, she can’t even handle her hot chocolate without getting all crazy.

After using it, I figured its probably better if I don’t bring it to work. It took me about an hour and a half to make one cappuccino and a huge mess. I guess the first time shouldn’t count though. I’ll get better with practice. I should probably practice a lot, so I can get really good and invite everyone over. I could be your barista for the evening. IMHO, a cappuccino party would be a lot yummier than a “drinking” party. I could get rid of the hard liquor on my counter and replace it with peppermint and caramel syrups like in coffee bars. What does that say about me?

So anywho. I think I’ll take what I have and add some beads to the cross to make it a little nicer. Still not as cool as what she got me, but oh well.

On another crafting front, a couple of posts ago, I had mentioned that I was going to make bookbags for all the kids. That was a HUGE disaster. I had no idea what I was doing. I put aside the whole day to go to my mom’s house and use her sewing machine. The directions I used didn’t make any sense to me, but I couldn’t ask my mom for help because everyone had gone out for a walk. Then I broke the sewing machine. For some reason, the thread would come out in a bunch, and before I knew it there was tons of thread everywhere. My mom tried to help me, but it still did it. By 4:30 I was fed up.

Beh.

So I decided that I would use felt and tote bags I have lying around and applique something on them. I still have some sticky back iron on adhesive (I know there’s a fancy word for it, but I can’t remember) so it shouldn’t be too hard. Famous last words. I know. We shall see. At least I’ll be fully caffeinated.

My mind was just reeling after the NYLA conference. It was almost too much to take in. At first, I wasn’t so sure if I was taking any of it in, although now I think I may have just been in information overload. That, and driving overload (600 miles in four days. Egads!)

Thursday I went to a special day long continuing ed program called “Get with the YA Program“. It was a real eye opener… mostly because if I had a population of a quarter of a million and staff dedicated to helping me specifically and oodles of money, I could do so much more. As it is, I serve a population of 15,000, have a total staff of about 12, and a programming budget that is shameful. Kevin King, from the Kalamazoo Public Library came to talk to us about the four s’s: Support, Staff, Space, and a Stash of cash. The presentation gave me a lot to think about. I realize that I need to work on my time management and organization skills. When this is accomplished, I need to write a couple of grants that give me lots of money so that the teens and I can create zines to distribute throughout town. We’d need lots of cash for a digital camera, scanner, laptop, collating printer/copier and lots and lots of paper…. actually the zine idea came from Zahra Baird, who works at the Chappaqua Public Library. I also realized that I need to take a more active step in working with the schools and in the community. I need to work with social groups and people in power to get what I want. Kevin explained that one of the more important things about being a librarian is to be able to communicate well with others, to work well in a group and to be a good listener. He talked about how teens brains are literally made up differently than the adult brain. They think and act differently, because that’s the way their brain works. Luckily, I think I still have a little of that teen brain left so that I can talk to them pretty easily.
Kevin gave me lots of ideas for programming… now I just have to get going on them! One of the easiest things, I thought, would be to start programs for “tweens”. I’ve found that people all define tween very differently. One program I went to determined that tweens are kids in 3 – 5 grade. I thought, “ah-roo?” Umm, I don’t think so.

According to a Business Week article:

A tween is vaguely defined as a prepubescent between the ages of 8 to 14, 9 to 12, or 8 to 12, depending on whom you believe. (Some industries, such as the wireless sector, categorize the age as an unbelievable 6 to 12 years old, prompting one to ponder, “in between” what?) Regardless of the exact age definition, most agree that the breaking point of a “child” becoming a “tween” is by the American fifth grade (approximately ten years old), when he/she rejects more childlike images and associations and aspires to be more like a teen.

I would like to think of tweens as people in (5th?) 6th grade to 8th grade. I know that 8th graders would like to think that they are teens, but middle schoolers and high schoolers are SO different, maturity wise.

I think the idea that a SIX YEAR OLD is a tween is ridiculous. However, if you take a look at some of those Halloween costume ads, maybe it isn’t (I’m being sarcastic, BTW.)  Some of these costumes try and tart up little kids. Its disgusting. Why can’t we let little kids be little kids? Why can’t they just have fun doing little kids things?

Anyway. I would like to start doing some “tween only” programs, similar in style to what I do for the kids and teens. Once a week, all month long, I’d do a program for tweens only. I thought I could call it “Tweensdays”. Goofy, I know. So sue me… no don’t. I have to save up for my girls-only cruise (WOO HOO!) in January.

Welp. Its after midnight and I’m tired. I have so much more on my mind that I want to tell you!

A couple highlights:

• YSS wanting to recruit me for committee work, and a local librarian trying to push me into their clutches :0
• Even more NYLA fun… such as winning a set of diseases!
• Calling the police on the teens because they are out of control, scare the kids and adults (and even some of the other teens) and having them swear at me so that I have to go all alpha dog on them. And belief me, I can if I need to. I know ghetto neck and I’m not afraid to use it.
• Grants grants grants. I have so many ideas for grants my head may explode.
• Jack mishaps in Wegmans. Blood, screaming and a mommy trying to stay calm and she looks frantically for daddy.
• DDR madness at the Kyle household and CALVES OF STEEL!

I think that’s it for now. I will try and cover all of these topics (and more) in the next couple of days. I can’t believe that so much has been going on! Eek!

Someone called and asked for the book Crispin. I have never read it before, but I immediately said “Oh yeah, that book by Avi.” About 1/2 hour later someone asked for the DaVinci Code and I couldn’t for the life of me remember who wrote it. Egads.

Wow. Talk about amazing and crazy.

I was one of Svetlana’s helper bees. We had to make sure that she was comfortable and had enough water, that she knew where she was going, and that she didn’t get attacked by rabid teens. I knew that it would be a little crazy, since I do know how you guys are when we get a new manga, let alone meeting the artist! She was very easy going and put up with a lot more than I might have been able to. She even wore one of the teens’ hats for a second!

Here’s some images of the group of teens I worked with. They were CRAZY! One of the girl’s had a huge bag full of sugar: cookies, candy (including a gigantic bag of pixie sticks) and a 3 liter bottle of soda. However it was a lot of fun hanging out with them too.

They spent quite a bit of time singing songs… some of which I knew.

I think the mixture of sugar and adrenaline may have had an adverse affect on them.

They were all smiles the whole day, making it a lot of fun to work with them.

Yes that’s them in the corner, a big pile of blue t-shirts… we put out a red carpet for the authors, and when they came to Fairport High School in their HUGE limo…

and we all SCREAMED at the top of our lungs. By the end of the day I did’t have much of a voice left. It was SO much fun.

Here’s a picture of Lauren Myracle and Cecil Castellucci.

Unfortunately the lighting wasn’t always the best, so I didn’t get too many good pictures. Although I did get this great picture at the end with most of the volunteers in my group with Svetlana. Svetlana was quiet, but a lot of fun to talk to. She was very laid back, and knew all the manga and anime the teens were talking about and when they started singing some of the songs from the anime, she could sing along to quite a few of them.

All the authors were super nice. And they were all down to earth. Not at all like the scary stories you hear about actors. I listened to Tamora Pierce and Cecil Castellucci.

Tamora and her husband both spoke. They played off each other nicely. Bantering about in a fun lighthearted way. You could tell very quickly that they bounced a lot of ideas off each other. Tamora was full of stories and spoke in a very conversational way. I was so happy that she wasn’t scary or awful. Sometimes I worry that the authors I really like are actually mean or nasty. You can get your hopes up and then in a couple of sentences your joy at meeting an author/actor can be dashed.

Cecil read from her book, Queen of Cool. I could have listened to her all day. She read with such enthusiasm. Sometimes author readings can be up in the air. They could be great writers, but lousy when they read out loud. It was not at all like that with her. She talked about how being cool all depends upon perspective. You could be really cool in one group or situation and then totally not in another situation.

She also talked about her family life, and how we might think that it would be awesome to be the daughter/son of a rock star, but once in that situation it could be annoying or bothersome. Cecil was the daughter of two researchers. I thought that sounded really great, but she had a different perspective; the crazy hours, the expectations, her parents’ idea of fun.

The whole experience was exciting. I would be lying if I didn’t say I was exhausted by the end of the day, but it was well worth it, and I can’t wait until next year.

I am involved in this program through my library system. We have to read this blog, which seems like homework to me. This is profoundly so for me, because

1) one of the top dogs wants to use some of my work blogs for demonstration purposes (or something of that sort), which means I will have to update a lot more regularly than I am finding possible recently, which ALSO means that I might be updating these blogs at home.

2) we have to read articles, which if you had read before still holds true for this. I will end up reading a lot of this at home.

There really is not enough time in the day! I do not know how people are able to keep everything straight. I have so much on my plate now, which is why I was stressing a couple of days ago, and continue to do so now. I know I will get everything done because I ♥love♥ my job, but until then I will be out of my mind. This comes with being alone in what you do and not having anyone you can really delegate jobs to. Poop.

Luckily many of the things that the Institute wants to encourage the libraries to do, we already have implemented in Parma, thanks to me(huzzah!): blogs, flickr, playstation programs, myspace… I was thinking of using Yahoo IM, but our library has it blocked. Of course, one needs time to keep up with all these things, and as a keeper of six? (graphic novels, visiting artists, teens, kids, professional, and this one) blogs, life can get a little out of hand.

Sleep is also very important, so good night!

The quote is from the Mickey Mouse song, although what it has to do with my post, I do not know.
Anyway, long time no see.

Lots has been going on.

1) School has started. THANK GAWD! I love those teens, but they were so bored, they were driving me mad. Leaving butts all over the library, throwing food and paint at the building, beating each other up. You get the idea. I really try to stand up for them and listen to them, but sometimes its REALLY hard.

2) I went to Webster for a staff exchange day. It was so great! I love that Adrienne (kids librarian) gets to lie on the floor of her office to look at books and prepare for story time. One of my co-workers said I could do that, but I’d get rolled over or stepped on. The library is gi-normous! You need to call people to talk to them, not just holler or twirl your seat around. There are three people at the Reference desk (we don’t even have a reference desk). Everything is bright and clean. Adrienne has her own story time room, and TONS of crafty stuff. She has a dedicated staff just for children’s services, plus there are two (ish) teen librarians. Sigh. It was a lot of fun and interesting.

On the other hand, I REALLY like where I’m working. Everyone is really close, there is no reference desk (which is good because it gives me more ordering/programming time, but bad because I don’t have much reference desk experience), everyone knows eachother. They like me (they really like me).

This does lead me to some other things I’d like to talk about:

3) Sometimes I feel VERY overwhelmed, like I’m definately taking on too much. There is a class for librarians on managing stress. I may try to take that. Maybe they will teach me how to meditate…  Unfortunately, this is completely my fault, because I added all the new programs. The only one that was in place as a yearly continuing program was story time. I sometimes feel that I have too much on my plate and it makes me frazzled. Double unfortunately, I want to make everyone (except myself, it seems) happy. I’m a people pleaser, or try to be. I have a couple big projects that I’m doing now that have a deadline. Plus there are other little projects that I have taken on, never mind ordering books and programming. Especially the story times. I’ve been wanting to explore new ways to do story time. Which leads me to story time.

4) I love story times. I put out surveys to see when people want story times, I advertise within the library and one of my coworkers puts notices in the newspapers. I HEAVE fliers at them. Everyone calls asking about story time. Begging for story time.

Four kids signed up for the 3 – 5 years and four kids for the 1 – 2 years. I asked one woman with small kids and she said “We don’t do story time.” Well fine. Neither do I. Oh, don’t worry, I’ll give it a couple of weeks.

I also did a drop in, evening story time. EVERYONE was begging me! “Why in God’s name, don’t you do an evening drop in story time? We don’t want to sign up. We work, and we want it at night.” So, I do it and how many people show up? ONE. And the only reason she showed up is because one of my co-workers drove her to the library (she was her granddaughter). Sigh.

Finally.

I have been having more dizzy spells again. I keep trying to forget about them, mostly because I’m really scared. Of course that’s probably the last thing I should be doing.

These spells are strange. Someone will say something that’ll get me thinking and suddenly the dizzy spell will come on. I don’t know if its because I shouldn’t be thinking too hard, or what. I get a dry throat flushed in my face and I get sweaty. Plus of course the dizziness. Jeff says I should be keeping track of them… and not like the time I said that I was going to keep track of everything I bought and post it here. Maybe next year. Anyway, I’m going to call my mom and then the doctor next week. Jeff’s orders.

I guess that’s it.

Oh, wait. I want to get a custom made earring known as a twister from Primitive Impressions. I’ve seen them and they look really interesting. However, they need to be custom made because they’ll be going through all the holes in my left ear and the holes in my left ear are a little different from the holes in someone else’s ear. Curious, and interesting. We shall see. Got to talk to the hubby, although I’ve mostly convinced myself. The only thing that’s holding me back is the PSP. I’m going to get one so I can play Loco Roco, show pictures/video and listen to MP3s. Fun!

Now I’m off to Slumberland.

The quote is from the Mickey Mouse song, although what it has to do with my post, I do not know.
Anyway, long time no see.

Lots has been going on.

1) School has started. THANK GAWD! I love those teens, but they were so bored, they were driving me mad. Leaving butts all over the library, throwing food and paint at the building, beating each other up. You get the idea. I really try to stand up for them and listen to them, but sometimes its REALLY hard.

2) I went to Webster for a staff exchange day. It was so great! I love that Adrienne (kids librarian) gets to lie on the floor of her office to look at books and prepare for story time. One of my co-workers said I could do that, but I’d get rolled over or stepped on. The library is gi-normous! You need to call people to talk to them, not just holler or twirl your seat around. There are three people at the Reference desk (we don’t even have a reference desk). Everything is bright and clean. Adrienne has her own story time room, and TONS of crafty stuff. She has a dedicated staff just for children’s services, plus there are two (ish) teen librarians. Sigh. It was a lot of fun and interesting.

On the other hand, I REALLY like where I’m working. Everyone is really close, there is no reference desk (which is good because it gives me more ordering/programming time, but bad because I don’t have much reference desk experience), everyone knows eachother. They like me (they really like me).

This does lead me to some other things I’d like to talk about:

3) Sometimes I feel VERY overwhelmed, like I’m definately taking on too much. There is a class for librarians on managing stress. I may try to take that. Maybe they will teach me how to meditate…  Unfortunately, this is completely my fault, because I added all the new programs. The only one that was in place as a yearly continuing program was story time. I sometimes feel that I have too much on my plate and it makes me frazzled. Double unfortunately, I want to make everyone (except myself, it seems) happy. I’m a people pleaser, or try to be. I have a couple big projects that I’m doing now that have a deadline. Plus there are other little projects that I have taken on, never mind ordering books and programming. Especially the story times. I’ve been wanting to explore new ways to do story time. Which leads me to story time.

4) I love story times. I put out surveys to see when people want story times, I advertise within the library and one of my coworkers puts notices in the newspapers. I HEAVE fliers at them. Everyone calls asking about story time. Begging for story time.

Four kids signed up for the 3 – 5 years and four kids for the 1 – 2 years. I asked one woman with small kids and she said “We don’t do story time.” Well fine. Neither do I. Oh, don’t worry, I’ll give it a couple of weeks.

I also did a drop in, evening story time. EVERYONE was begging me! “Why in God’s name, don’t you do an evening drop in story time? We don’t want to sign up. We work, and we want it at night.” So, I do it and how many people show up? ONE. And the only reason she showed up is because one of my co-workers drove her to the library (she was her granddaughter). Sigh.

Finally.

I have been having more dizzy spells again. I keep trying to forget about them, mostly because I’m really scared. Of course that’s probably the last thing I should be doing.

These spells are strange. Someone will say something that’ll get me thinking and suddenly the dizzy spell will come on. I don’t know if its because I shouldn’t be thinking too hard, or what. I get a dry throat flushed in my face and I get sweaty. Plus of course the dizziness. Jeff says I should be keeping track of them… and not like the time I said that I was going to keep track of everything I bought and post it here. Maybe next year. Anyway, I’m going to call my mom and then the doctor next week. Jeff’s orders.

I guess that’s it.

Oh, wait. I want to get a custom made earring known as a twister from Primitive Impressions. I’ve seen them and they look really interesting. However, they need to be custom made because they’ll be going through all the holes in my left ear and the holes in my left ear are a little different from the holes in someone else’s ear. Curious, and interesting. We shall see. Got to talk to the hubby, although I’ve mostly convinced myself. The only thing that’s holding me back is the PSP. I’m going to get one so I can play Loco Roco, show pictures/video and listen to MP3s. Fun!

Now I’m off to Slumberland.

When I was a kid, we would go to the state fair every year, and I would always be amazed and awed at how aaaa…. awesome (?) it was. Then I went this year.

It was dirty and crowded. They sold tons of crappy things that would break soon after getting them home, or looked good when you bought it, but kept you wondering why you bought it when you got it home such as:

1) a print of Mary (the mother of Jesus, you know) looking down lovingy upon Pope John Paul II. My mom said that she was going to buy one to put above her bed, and I told her that she’d never get laid again (did I actually say that? umm yes I did)

2) those t-shirts that people will spray paint your name, Jesus, or the Tweety bird upon for all to see

3) dolls of giant snakes, giant teddy bears, and giant Stewies (from the Family Guy) I actually saw someone holding their child because they had a Stewie in a stroller. I remember getting one of these dolls somehow, and they are the cheapest things you could imagine. Nevermind, where are you going to put these things… in your infants bedroom? They’ll have nightmares for years.

4) Masks like the one seen in Nacho Libre. I kid you not. What scared me more, was the fact that people were actually looking at them.

The list goes on and on of the crap to spend your money on… cheap jewelry, sunglasses, makeup… Those cloths that suck up all liquids and your cash in a second, those shredders for vegetables… blah blah blah. People were eating it up.

I spent my money on:

1) one piece of beef jerky for Jack

2) donating a dollar and my signature to Planned Parenthood – plus two free buttons: Got Choice? and Don’t like abortion, don’t have one

3) buying a gay pride rubber bracelet – I love the rainbow and I love doing what I can to support homosexuals struggling for equality. I also got a free sticker for Jack, a pin and a temporary tattoo. My sister had her pin on and some guy tried to hand her a pamphlet of “literature”. He took one look at her pin and took it back. Yippee! Less crap to throw away when we get home!

4) I didn’t buy this, but I got some literature on the NYS retirement system. “Its never too late to prepare for your future.” However it is deathly boring. I also got a Hillary Clinton postcard. I don’t know how I feel about her, but I’m going to let her know how I feel about the issues. I went to the pork booth and got pork crayons. Okay so they weren’t made of pork, but I thought it would be funny if they were.

5) Ice Cream. I had to pick the ice cream that was at the very end of the bucket, and so while everyone else got these HUGE scoops of ice cream, I had to share a little dinky thing with Jack. Oh well, its less weight that I have to think about.

6) Korean food – Yakisoba. It was YUMMY, and I think Jack liked it too. Upon looking it up, turns out its Japanese, but I guess since they had sushi there too, maybe it was a Japanese/Korean fast food joint. Still yummy.

7) Leather purse. I don’t care if I have 35 purses already. It was cute.

8) Coffee. I had to drive there and back, so I thought I should keep my strength up. It was funny, I was in line, and the guy in front of me thought I was his wife. Before turning around, he asked me if I wanted a muffin. So I said sure! Then he turned around and said oops, but smiled. I got my coffee, and was putting creamer in it, when he showed up again, and asked me if I got my muffin. I asked him if he had gotten it for me. His wife and my sister both looked pretty confused, and us, amuzed.

Jack had a great time looking at all the people and flirting with the ladies. Since he had a good time, I guess it was worth it, but I wasn’t bowled over by it. The animals were pretty interesting, but having no idea what the difference was between a good cow and a great cow, after seeing a couple of them, I was done (especially with the smell). The bunnies were pretty neat too, but they smell even worse than the chickens (which was awful).

It was fun spending time with the family, but I’d never need to do it on my own… although I guess its not something you do on your own anyway.

Hope you’ve had a good Labor Day. Now I have to prepare for my story times. Ehh gads. This is for another post, but somehow I just can’t come up with any ideas for my 1 – 2 year olds. Of course, I might be cancelling them because only two signed of for the 1 – 2 year olds and two for the 3 – 5 year olds. WHAT CAN I DO ABOUT THIS???!!! Its not like I bite them or yell at them. Urrgh. Oh well, I might have some free time this fall. I’ll post more later.

When I was a kid, we would go to the state fair every year, and I would always be amazed and awed at how aaaa…. awesome (?) it was. Then I went this year.

It was dirty and crowded. They sold tons of crappy things that would break soon after getting them home, or looked good when you bought it, but kept you wondering why you bought it when you got it home such as:

1) a print of Mary (the mother of Jesus, you know) looking down lovingy upon Pope John Paul II. My mom said that she was going to buy one to put above her bed, and I told her that she’d never get laid again (did I actually say that? umm yes I did)

2) those t-shirts that people will spray paint your name, Jesus, or the Tweety bird upon for all to see

3) dolls of giant snakes, giant teddy bears, and giant Stewies (from the Family Guy) I actually saw someone holding their child because they had a Stewie in a stroller. I remember getting one of these dolls somehow, and they are the cheapest things you could imagine. Nevermind, where are you going to put these things… in your infants bedroom? They’ll have nightmares for years.

4) Masks like the one seen in Nacho Libre. I kid you not. What scared me more, was the fact that people were actually looking at them.

The list goes on and on of the crap to spend your money on… cheap jewelry, sunglasses, makeup… Those cloths that suck up all liquids and your cash in a second, those shredders for vegetables… blah blah blah. People were eating it up.

I spent my money on:

1) one piece of beef jerky for Jack

2) donating a dollar and my signature to Planned Parenthood – plus two free buttons: Got Choice? and Don’t like abortion, don’t have one

3) buying a gay pride rubber bracelet – I love the rainbow and I love doing what I can to support homosexuals struggling for equality. I also got a free sticker for Jack, a pin and a temporary tattoo. My sister had her pin on and some guy tried to hand her a pamphlet of “literature”. He took one look at her pin and took it back. Yippee! Less crap to throw away when we get home!

4) I didn’t buy this, but I got some literature on the NYS retirement system. “Its never too late to prepare for your future.” However it is deathly boring. I also got a Hillary Clinton postcard. I don’t know how I feel about her, but I’m going to let her know how I feel about the issues. I went to the pork booth and got pork crayons. Okay so they weren’t made of pork, but I thought it would be funny if they were.

5) Ice Cream. I had to pick the ice cream that was at the very end of the bucket, and so while everyone else got these HUGE scoops of ice cream, I had to share a little dinky thing with Jack. Oh well, its less weight that I have to think about.

6) Korean food – Yakisoba. It was YUMMY, and I think Jack liked it too. Upon looking it up, turns out its Japanese, but I guess since they had sushi there too, maybe it was a Japanese/Korean fast food joint. Still yummy.

7) Leather purse. I don’t care if I have 35 purses already. It was cute.

8) Coffee. I had to drive there and back, so I thought I should keep my strength up. 🙂 It was funny, I was in line, and the guy in front of me thought I was his wife. Before turning around, he asked me if I wanted a muffin. So I said sure! Then he turned around and said oops, but smiled. I got my coffee, and was putting creamer in it, when he showed up again, and asked me if I got my muffin. I asked him if he had gotten it for me. His wife and my sister both looked pretty confused, and us, amuzed.

Jack had a great time looking at all the people and flirting with the ladies. Since he had a good time, I guess it was worth it, but I wasn’t bowled over by it. The animals were pretty interesting, but having no idea what the difference was between a good cow and a great cow, after seeing a couple of them, I was done (especially with the smell). The bunnies were pretty neat too, but they smell even worse than the chickens (which was awful).

It was fun spending time with the family, but I’d never need to do it on my own… although I guess its not something you do on your own anyway.

Hope you’ve had a good Labor Day. Now I have to prepare for my story times. Ehh gads. This is for another post, but somehow I just can’t come up with any ideas for my 1 – 2 year olds. Of course, I might be cancelling them because only two signed of for the 1 – 2 year olds and two for the 3 – 5 year olds. WHAT CAN I DO ABOUT THIS???!!! Its not like I bite them or yell at them. Urrgh. Oh well, I might have some free time this fall. I’ll post more later.