oy! another month gone by

work has been less busy since the only program i've had was spring crafts and hop in your jammies. we made butterfly magnets, coffee filter flowers, and bunny puppets. it was fun! jammies had 7 kids and it was perfect for lots of participation. we did london bridges and ring around the roses and had fun animal masks and it was a blast. plus any part of work where i can wear my pajamas is a good thing! cool things - a patron gave us a check for $10,000 and crap i forgot the other thing, maybe it'll come to me.

done lots of fun things with the fam. went camping with my parents, aunt and her boyfriend. we went on a long and lovely kayak ride, watched blind side and talked by the fire. it was relaxing and i read a lot and it was only and little warm and buggy. i did miss brian a lot. it was the first camping trip without him. i didn't have anyone to climb trees with (and their was a giganitc oak tree!) and only could get mom to play yahtzee with me (she got 3 yahtzees in two games!) and no one to do dishes with. i missed his sarcasm and grouchiness and his sweetness and his expertise at putting the camper up and down.

went to trey's 4th birthday party at chuck e cheese. haven't been to one since i was 11 and it was way fun! i got to hold a beautiful baby and laugh and catch up with my church friends from my teenage years and eat pizza. trey was very cute, especially with the presents. last year he wanted to look at and play with everything as he was opening gifts and it took forever. this year it was how fast can i rip this stuff open and get to the next one. karen and justin and i stopped at babies r us afterwards and i got her present. right now i'm working on the invitations for her baby shower. they are green and pink and jungley.

mom and cat and i hung out saturday. we went to the quilt exhibit at the museum and saw lots o quilts. a few lovely and a few weird. some had so much stuff on them glitter and shells and applique and embroidery. quilting technique kind of hit the back burner. but there were a few that took our breath away with their amazing stitching and colors and perfectness. then lunch at crispers and michael's (more scrapbooking stuff-i can't stop!)

i have so many projects to work on. i am furiously trying to finish cat's graduation present. it's not gonna get done on time, but hopefully it won't be too late. i'm doing karen's invites and then trying to make something for the baby. i also need to work on her pregnancy album and a much overdue baby shower book for ishu. i mean her kid turns 2 in july, so it's a bit late. i also want to make a picture book for olive's bday. i'm going to spend a few days with them around memorial day, so i can take the pics i need for it then. however, my camera is on its last leg. i hopefully can get a new one for christmas.

i went to a jewelry party at emily's last week and am going to host one at my house in 2 weeks. a good excuse to work a half day and get my house clean. i got together with the library ladies at emily's saturday and had fun laughing and talking and catching up. i also saw emily's son aidan play football that morning. so cute. 5 year olds trying to pass a football is hilarious. they even have little cheerleaders!

i am very excited about my trip to see susan at the end of may. we are roadtripping to arkansas and maybe missouri this time. never been to either state, so i'll have more to mark off on my places i've visited map. i also booked a cruise for jodi and i in december. i got way more back from the irs than i planned, so i was able to do it. it is 5 nights, 6 days, key west (i've never been!) and nassau. jodi's never cruised and she'll be finished with her pre reqs for pa school, so its a little celebration for her. it was way cheap (not that i'm paying for jodi, i didn't get that much back!)

anyway may brings me doing 4 preschool storytimes, hop in your jammies, a computer info/internet safety class for some brownies (girl scouts), working the first and last weekend, a lunch out with carrie, a planning the shower meeting with kate, my jewelry party (if the girl will ever email me!), a camping trip to payne's prairie, mother's day, aunt susan's bday, bill's bday, cat's graduation (luckily we don't have to attend, cause she isn't walking!), my susan trip, memorial day at the beach with ishu, and the premier of sex and the city 2!!

april fool me

work has been crazy this week. the manager and assistant manager have mostly been gone. that means i've been in charge. i've also been trying to get the summer programs firmed up. plus i get to answer hundreds of questions from my coworkers. today the facilities guys came by to put things together and hang things and it was non stop questions for hours. i will be glad when i'm not in charge tomorrow. the good part of all those questions? i finally got shelves and cabinents and my poster holder. i got to unpack lots of stuff and get a little bit neater and organized.

i have to work this weekend and am not looking forward to it. my back and leg are killing me and being on my feet all weekend isn't going to help. i have to make potato salad tomorrow night, for what i am looking forward to. saturday night the fam is getting together to celebrate dad and mom's birthdays and easter. dad turned 60 on march 25th! old man.

another fun treat for today was when a coworker came in the back and said a kid had puked in the children's area and vomit was not in her job description. i said no problem it was in mine. i went and got some little caution signs and the soak up stuff you sprinkle on yucky stuff and i followed her out to the tree in the kid's area. she pointed around the side, holding her nose and grimacing. and i looked for puke and there was nothing. she said apirl fool's! she got me good.

having too much fun to spend time working

oh it's been so long. keeping busy as usual. had an amazing weekend in st. augustine with my roommate for her birthday. we walked up the lighthouse, had yummy seafood next to the bridge of lions, did the ghosts and graveyards trolley tour, watched men march and shoot old guns at castillo de san marcos, enjoyed a fabulous view from our hotel room and walked on the beach and all over the city. then home to go hang out with the library ladies. had a great time playing games and laughing hysterically.

i've been having huge numbers at my preschool programs. over 100 people. have my last one tomorrow. i've been working on setting up the summer program and today i got asl classes and a pet therapy dog for kids to read to. i also got my other library specialist so now i have two people to do programs with me. we are starting to get a bit more organized in the back office, i should soon have my shelves installed, which will make it possible for me to unpack about 10 boxes! it's been weird only working 1 night a week, i got so used to working late every night. with daylight savings i have so much sunlight to enjoy. its nice.

last weekend i went to orlando. ishu and i had appointments at aveda. it's a cosmetology school, so it doesn't have all the ooh la la spa comfort, but it's way cheap. i got a 45 minute pedicure for $15. plus the girl i got loves to do designs on nails and it wasn't extra. so i got cara mia crimson with a white daisy on each big toe. so cute! then lunch at crispers and shopping at lane bryant, tjmaxx, and ross. home for a nap and then people came over. justin made yummy wings on the grill and delicious sausage pizza. dan and julia brought spinach dip and made calzones to order! then scattegories and monkey bread. around 11 everyone left and the three of us started 'did you hear about the morgans?' justin was asleep in minutes and ishu soon dragged him to bed. so i ate strawberries and finished the movie myself. i liked it a lot!

this weekend karen, justin, kate, mom and i are heading to babiesrus. kate just found out she's probably having a girl too (its still a little early, but the dr thinks that's what the baby is). karen and justin want to register and since kate doesn't know what she wants to do with the nursery, she's gonna scope out some ideas. then lunch at some place that has bison burgers that justin's all excited about. only problem is i gotta be at karen's at 8am. i'm so gonna be late.

that's the big things i've been doing lately. gotta get better at keeping up with this!

boy or girl?

have a yucky cold with a nasty cough. i've had bad headaches the last two days, but today that was better. just crazy coughing. last night sam came over and we watched grey's anatomy and had dinner which was fun. this morning i got called in to work. we'd asked for overtime but it hadn't gotten approved til this morning, so i went in to work 11-1 and then i had lunch with karen and justin. then we went to get her sonogram. the baby is so cute. we got to see her from all angles. yes her! she's perfect. then i got to meet the midwife, jane. she is hilarious! she's from scotland so she has an awesome accent and is just so regular. lots of texting and phone calls ensued. so little marisa emma marshall it is. then back to work, home for sushi and internet time, talking to emily and sam on the phone and debra on facebook. now to read myself to sleep so i can be back to work at 8:30. oh crap i gotta go pay rent, i forgot it was the 5th.

kids

library is crazy!! the kids desk is good, but the front is crazy. hopefully next week when we have a normal schedule it will settle down. i'm sick of living out of boxes! i want storage! i want shelves! i want drawers! okay the whining is over now.

we had our first kids programs today. the little ones laptime had 18 people, which was great. then we had wii in the afternoon. it went pretty well. one little girl kind of took over and making everybodies wii. but they weren't too noisy. i just felt bad for a couple kids whose parents made them do homework instead. what mean parents! like homework is more important than playing games :) i have my first preschool tomorrow and it took forever to find the books i wanted in the many boxes in my office. wait that was more whining. here's one more thing, my dryer broke last night. it'll probably be over $200 to fix. luckily suzi let me dry my two loads of wet laundry at her place. actually she let me drop it off, dried it and folded it for me. what a good friend!

can't wait til friday. day off and going to see karen and justin's baby on the sonogram. gonna find out if its a boy or girl. then my roommie is going away for the weekend, so i have the apt to myself. even though i have to work, i get the place to myself for a little while. i'm thinking sushi and a romantic comedy.

we did it!

the opening was a great success! we had hundreds of people in those few short hours we were open and the vast majority were super excited with the new features. it was fun to see all our regulars and people that didn't come to the temporary location. staff from other departments were amazing and so helpful and we couldn't have done it without them. the checkout lines were insane! at times they were the width of the library. but people were okay with it. parking was nuts, but no complaints there either. they were just so happy to have their library back! the kids area was packed with people. parents and kids were lounging all over the floor reading books together. kids were crawling around, playing with toys, hunting for books, playing on computers, and going wild on the new playground. the excitement was so contagious. it was one of the best times i've had being a librarian. i had a couple kids come hug me and tell me you came to my school and read to me. i think it is so funny how these little 3 and 4 year olds remember me months after i've been there. the moms say the kids insist they come to the library to see ms beth. how cute is that!

i'm glad it's over though. the weekend will be crazy i'm sure, but it will be nice to just be the regular people i work with and trying to figure out how to do our jobs in the new library. i'm ready for the routine of being a librarian. it will take awhile to settle in and get back to normal, but i'm ready for a little calmness. we'll see how quickly that comes. after it was over half the staff headed to las margaritas to celebrate. it was fun and loud and good to share our stories from the day. after that i came home and read and napped and read some more. have to be back at work in 7.5 hours, so i should probably go to sleep!

i love being a librarian!

just came back from the preview party at the library. we had all the bigwigs and some staff from other libraries there. i worked in the morning trying to get everything cleaned up and my last bulletin board up and then went home and took a nap. feeling refreshed and really nervous, i went back for the party. they were still putting up permenant signage 30 minutes before the party. it was pretty crazy the last couple of days, trying to get everything looking nice, so many little finishing touches. i still don't know where half the stuff is, that organization will come later. but at least it looks good in the public areas.

i got to hang out in the kids area for two hours and talk to mostly strangers about all the cool things in my section. playground, huge life like tree, cute colorful furniture, the whole florida wildlife them, the flat screen tv, kid sized computers. it was good and once i started talking i got over the nervousness and just got excited. i love my job and love that i work for a place that has the ability to do such awesome things. this process has been hard and several times, including today, i've been very frustrated and exhausted, but i look at the finished result and am just so ready to have the kids back and show them all the cool stuff and help them with learning and finding just the right book and doing crafts and playing and being a regular librarian again. i'm so tired of manual labor!

tomorrow we have the grand opening at 2pm, so we'll only be open 3 hours. that should make the first day easier. it will also give me time to find a few more things in boxes that i need. i'm also excited to see what the public thinks. i hope they like it! the most fun though should be going to las margaritas after we close. lots of the staff are going over afterwards and i've been craving mexican all week. yummy!

partying, working, family and accidents

can't believe i haven't written in three weeks. busy at work getting ready for the opening. we packed up the temporary library in 3 hours. i felt like death. over the weekend i went to the olustee festival with my mom and got food poisoning. i was so sick, i couldn't keep anything down, but at least i had my mom to take care of me. having to pack and unpack did not make me feel any better. that night i kept some food down and got lots of sleep, so tuesday i felt much better. i spent the morning getting ready for a work party for birthday people and as a thank you to all the people who helped work on the library. i decorated with valentine stuff from my house and it was a great party. lots of food and fun. the next few days involved fun and not so fun meetings downtown, unpacking, putting in order, shelving and shifting tons and tons of books. i did get to have a yummy lunch out with emily and debra. i had the most delicious salmon salad. i want another one right now! anyway the kids section looks fantastic. they installed this huge life like tree today and we only have one more section of books to shift. sandy, now a volunteer, came in to work on bulletin boards. she got one done, but i can't find the stuff for my two bulletin boards/book displays. that is one of the things i want to get done tomorrow.

on saturday i threw a birthday party for my three sisters and it was a lot of fun. the weather was so beautiful, that we partied oustide on the patio. it was a greek theme. my friends ishu and justin had some people over in january when i was visiting them in orlando and they had hummus and baba ganoush and pita bread and kabobs. it was soooo yummy, so i decided that i wanted to serve it for the girls' birthday party and centered the theme around it and the olympics. the girls got crowns of green leaves. we ate first and my brother in laws said it was so delicious and i should make it for all our get togethers, which is high praise from them. then we played some games. we lit the torches (tiki torches). the birthday girls were team captains and each team had to make a toga on their teammate out of toilet paper. dad helped me judge and keep time with the games. justin spun around so many times he fell over. he and karen came in third on that event. then they had to match the god or goddess with their power. mom and sam won. then we had cheesecake with strawberries or chocolate. and the last event was bobbing for grapes and olives in bowl of water. it was really funny to watch. we had the closing ceremonies where i gave the girls their medals. i made cute medals out of wood cutouts, that i painted and wrote happy birthday on. cat got the bronze and wasn't too happy about it. karen got the silver and sam got the gold. then we went in to open cards. karen brought her heart monitor and we got to listen to the baby's hearbeat. i got to take some tummy pictures too. she started wearing maternity shirts and looks so cute. she lost 17 lbs. during the first trimester and in the last week has gotten over most of the nauseousness. she gained 2 lbs. this week. she looks thinner everywhere, except her baby bump. next friday 3/5, i get to go with karen and justin to her ultrasound to find out the sex of the baby. then all the girls and justin made plans to go to babiesrus to register for baby stuff.

on thursday night i just barely hit someone in a parking lot. basically i left two lines of red of paint on her. she called the police to do a driver information exchange. the girl was nice and the officer was too. she tried to buff it out herself but it didn't work. she got an estimate today and it was $60 to buff it out, but only 50% chance of working. to repaint the door would be $600. we hadn't gotten the insurance company involved, cause i thought i had a $500 deductible. but i called the insurance company today and that only applies to fix my car, i don't have to pay anything for the other girl's car. my car just has two lines of no red paint, so no need to fix it, it's barely noticeable. i am so happy that i don't have to pay up.

with the party i got some cleaning done, but there is always more to do. i planted some pansies on the patio, since the dead looking plants weren't really party like. hopefully they live until spring arrives and i can plant some summer stuff and see what comes back from the horrible freezing weather we've had this year.

brian is doing good on his mission. i got a short email today, but mom got a really long one. i put together an album of the family for him and will send it off this week. i meant to have it done before he left, but the craziness of christmas wasn't conducive to getting it done. it was a little strange not to have him at the party but we know he's were he's supposed to be.

that's a short catch up of what's been going on.

livin' la vida loca

last saturday i slept in very late and then did laundry. debra came over and had pizza and then we made bday cards for the library. i'm in charge of bday parties and was out of cards people have given me, so we decided to make some and they turned out way cute! the i went to the hospital to stay with karen. i crocheted and read a little but mostly i did things for her. helping with the bedpan, vomiting, getting the nurse, holding the sprite can, putting ice on her tongue, turning lights on and off, keeping track of the times for her drugs, covering her with the blanket, moving the pillow, whatever she needed. i made a little bed for myself on the floor. hospital blanket, great grandma's afghan, hospital pillow, my pillow and then i covered up with the gator snuggie my roommate got me for christmas. the afghan kept the cold from the tiles from getting me. i was pretty comfy and even dozed of between 5-7am. karen had one really horrible bought of pain at 2am, but otherwise the night was uneventful. sunday she had no pain, so they sent her home monday morning. she went back to work wednesday for half a day and has just been her usual exhausted, nauseous pregnant self. i came home sunday morning and slept from 9:30-6:30.

monday back to work. so busy this week with hiring people and getting ready for the opening. we had several new people start and one i get to supervise. she's worked for the library longer than me and she's great! the little office is now being shared by 9 people. 4 desks and 9 people doesn't quite work. bryan and i did interviews all day tuesday and its looks like we'll have 3 more good people to work with. wednesday was my turn to go to the old library to unpack books, but they finished on tuesday so i didn't have to go. my back was very happy. i'm trying to organize my people and the 14-16 programs we will be doing each month this spring. i'm also planning bulletin boards that need to be made for the opening. i also got to order some things for the new library. it's like $1000 worth of stuff. i've never ordered that much before so hopefully it goes through ok. i have interviews this tues and wed for the other person i'll supervise. hopefully that goes smoothly and we all agree on who to hire.

tuesday night sam took me to dinner and a movie to thank me for all the times i've paid for things. now that she has a full-time job, she can pay for her own stuff. so we had a delicious meal at outback and then we killed time until the movie. i finally got a cute pair of black flats. the ones i have now are literally falling to pieces, but i haven't been able to find something i like. ta da! they had a pair that met all my criteria and they are great! plus it was bogo on everything so i got a great green purse. ever since i saw one at the goodwill in pennsylvania and didn't buy it, i've been wanting a green purse. then we went to dollar tree and i got a few things for valentine's day. i wish there was a dollar tree close to my house. there is so much there! then we went to cat's to get some pics of brian to put in his album i making him for valentine's day. he left the mtc this week and is in his first area. we don't know where that is yet, but hopefully we'll get a letter this week so we know exactly were he is. finally we went to see sherlock holmes. it was long, confusing and good. friday night emily and i went to the gym. it's the only time i went last week. i did 3 times the week before, so i'll just have to do better.

saturday i went grocery shopping, made mexican dip and went over to linda's for a girl's night with some library ladies. we were there for 4 hours. it was a great time and nice to catch up, since we work at different locations. i went to bed at 2am and then slept until 6pm. guess i was tired. i was supposed to make karen a sheppard's pie and take it over this afternoon. oops. i ended up making it at 11pm and will take it over before work tomorrow. she hasn't had one since she lived at home and is craving it. hopefully she can keep it down. february 1st. hard to believe. it's gonna be a crazy, busy, and hopefully fun month!!

the er floor

my sis karen texted last night at 9:30 that she was going to the er in a great deal of pain. this totally freaked me out because she's 3 months pregnant. she passed out in the er waiting room from pain, so they gave her a gurney to lie on in the waiting room until they could see her. after midnight she got into an exam room and they got some drugs in her to dull the pain. it appeared she had a kidney stone. the baby's heartbeat was fine, but they couldn't do the regular scan to see if it was a stone because of the baby. so they started her on iv fluids to help flush the stone out and gave her something for nausea, because with the pregnancy she has that problem all the time. i was so worried i didn't fall asleep until 4am and then justin called at 5:30 and asked me to met him at their house to get some things for karen and take them back to her, so he could get a few hours sleep and check on the dogs.

i found karen crying just before 7am. the nurse had yelled at her because she couldn't get up to use the bathroom on her own and then when karen asked for a bed pan she was rude about it. she also let her iv go empty for an hour, when she needs as much fluid as she can get so that stupid stone can pass. nursing is one of the very last things i would ever want to do as a career, but yelling at a pregnant, puking, girl in the worst pain of her life is just wrong. fortunately for the nurse, i had arrived at the shift change and she was gone. her new nurse was much nicer and even though the fratboy at the er desk was giving me bs, the nurse gave her pain meds and a new iv when she needed it.

for the next two hours, i got karen in pjs, kept her covered with her quilt, held her hair while she puked, emptied her bedpan, and let her know how much more time until she could get another dose of pain meds. i threw a blanket on the floor and stretched out in between. tile floors are cold. er's are noisy, mostly cause the nurses sit at the desk and yak it up. listening to the drunk girl in the next room was entertaining though. the only thing that got me to smile while there. after her 9am dose of drugs, i hooked up her cpap (breathing machine) in hopes she could sleep until justin came back at 11. then i went home, gave the fam an update and crashed until 1pm.

off to work at 1:30. holy crap the library has been busy! job security is great and all, but why the heck are so many people coming to see us. having to replace the return book bin 2-3 times an hour is just crazy. it was interesting trying to make coherent sentences and sound friendly, when all i wanted to do was curl up under my desk and sleep. at least i got done most of what i needed to and the rest will just have to wait until monday.

came home and got more updates. karen was admitted around lunchtime and has to stay until it passes, but they were able to locate it and it should be able to pass. her midwife came by too and said childbirth would be a walk in the park compared to this and that the baby looked fine. cat and kate's family visited her this afternoon and evening, sam brought justin dinner and then mom came at 9pm to spend the night with her so justin could get some sleep. hopefully they keep her on the meds at the right times and the pain doesn't get any worse. luckily my mom does bitch well, especially when one of her babies is hurt, so karen shouldn't have anymore nurse problems. i'll go see her tomorrow and know more. i complain a lot about my aches and pains, but at least, with the exception of the week before my back surgery, i've never had to deal with that kind of pain. and it only hurt if i tried to sit, it wasn't constant. my surgery was outpatient, so i've never had to spend the night in the hospital as a patient. for all these things, and that the baby is okay, i feel truly blessed.

tiredness

i felt like death most of the day. i haven't been good taking my pills regularly and have had some 2 and 3am nights, so i'm sure that has contributed. i also have been working out again and my whole body just hurts. even thought all i wanted to do was crawl into bed and enter a comatose state, i went to the gym. i did 30 minutes on the elliptical. no water, i've got to remember to bring my water bottle!! hten to cvs to get those pills i've been missing and to publix to get stuff for tomorrow's birthday party at work and chocolate chips so i can make more cookies for those poor souls unpacking the millions of books at the library. bogo's are hard to resist, so of course i spent more than i wanted to, but my cupboards and freezer are stocked full of good foods, that should last at least a month.

despite the fact that i had been so tired, i got my second wind once i reached home. i get all productive as soon as i get to the one place i can crash. weird. i decorated the cake i bought and made spinach dip. then i took it to the library since i have an early meeting downtown and don't have time to run home when its over, because tomorrow is the keith and beth show at the reference des. i also needed my name tag so i can park and get into the building down there. then back home to put away groceries, take out the trash, empty the drainer, wash dishes, water the mostly dead flowers, balance my checkbook, open and organize my many envelopes of bills, and catch up on the facebook and blog. so now here i sit at 11pm, getting very sleepy, just now eating my dinner, which consists of a very yummy pb&j with cold milk. gotta go organize my pills. then - to bed i said.

and now as i go to publish this post, i realize i've written this in the library blog and not my own. i almost shot out all the personal info to the 4 people who follow the library blog. i guess i'm more tired than i thought.

fun and productivity

orlando was good. friday night justin had to do a work dinner, so olive, ishu and i went to izziban sushi. there were only three waitresses for the whole place and the bartender was also the busboy and host, so even though there were empty tables they weren't sitting people. my diet pepsi tasted funny, so i tried sierra mist, nada, water it was. it only took 20 mintues to get that figured out. the appetizer wasn't good and one of my sushi rolls was really salty. olive was not happy to be there. she bit her styrofoam glass of water and it exploded all over the table. it took forever to get the waitress to clean it up, while olive smacked the table to make water splash. she didn't want to sit in her high chair or eat. she had her 18 month check up that day and we figure the shot they gave her was making her grumpy. she's usually so good in restaurants. after that memorable meal we met justin at home and then went to twisty treat. is was a long drive, but was very yummy.

the next day i slept in late, watched roman holiday for the first time (so good!!) and then ishu made chilli for lunch. justin cleaned the garage and prepped our greek feast while ishu and i ran errands. she had things to return and we hunted down some glassware she wanted for her birthday. we found half of them in tjmaxx and half in ross. the lines were horrible!! we got a snack at chic fil a, which i've eaten at only once, like ten years ago. the salad was good. scrapbooking stuff was 40% off at joann's so i stocked up on birthday stuff. debra and i are making birthday cards for the library this weekend.

when we got home justin had made kebabs and two couples came over. one were people from church who use to live in gainesville that i haven't seen in forever and the other a high school friend of justin's. his fiance is from amsterdam and she had this lovely accent. we had spinach dip and pita bread with hummus as appetizers and then chicken, steak and veggie kebabs with wheat pitas and baba ganuoush. i never had it before and didn't know it was eggplant. it was such a yummy meal. then we played catch phrase, scene it and scattegories. monkey bread for dessert and then i got olive all wound up before putting her to bed. once the couples left, ishu gave me a pedicure.

i slept in again! we had leftover greek food for breakfast and then they got ready for church and i packed up. ishu gave me my christmas present. she designed and made me a bag for my crocheting. it has pockets inside for the hooks and is brown with flowers. she is sooo creative. once i was home it was reading and naptime. then the golden globes in between desperate housewives and brothers and sisters.

today i met carrie at the gym and we did a stretch class and then some cardio. the class is taught by a library patron and she gave me a shout out in the class and said how much she loved acld. then we went to bageland for lunch and exchanged christmas gifts. home to read and nap and then emily came over to borrow some stamps. she had the boys with her and they were a little wound up from their playdate. they had fun writting on me with a sharpie and themselves with a highlighter. i started it my wrighting on myself. i'm such a bad example. then the squealed bloody murder in front of my apartment and were gone. they are crazy but fun!

then i got productive. dishes washed, healthy dinner made and eaten, room cleaned, apartment vacuumed, bed made and craft table organized. watched castle with the roommate. love love love that show! now catching up on email, facebook and the blogs. tomorrow we start unpacking the storage of what will one day be my library again. oh the work in store. 2am and time for bed!

a month of no blogging

been waaaayyy too long. tons of stuff has been going on. pennsylvania was great. i love spending time with my grandma. it's weird and wonderful to have an adult relationship with older people. we talk like we're friends and i found out lots of things about her life that i didn't know. the older she gets the more i want to spend time with her. i know that her good years are growing short and want to get all the memories i can with her. i got to see snow and lots of great aunts and an uncle. we also had a fun shopping day at thrift stores where i got lots of stuff for sooo cheap! i had to borrow a suitcase from grandma just to bring the stuff home.

karen's graduation was good. she was soo nauseous, but she made it through without yakking. we got some great pictures of the family and the reception afterward had yummy food. then back to work for three days and trying to get everything done for christmas. christmas eve i went to lake city and had lunch at cracker barrell with susan and her son michael. susan is my high school friend who i visit every year in alabama. we planned our next visit for late april and are roadtripping to ..... arkansas! i know you're like what, arkansas? but neither of us have been and its only 4 hours from her place. so now i have to study up on the state for some off the wall places to visit.

after lunch i went to cat and bill's. grandma was staying with them and brian and i spent the night too. aunt susan and her boyfriend gary showed up in their rv and we had a nice christmas eve. we played games and ate a yummy dinner. my aunt susan made a bean soup that was delicious! i made corn casserole and steamed asparagus to go with it. christmas morning everybody else showed up. we opened presents for 2 hours, we like to watch each gift be opened. poor karen just kind of lay back on the couch and watched. i really hope this sick pregnant woman thing gets better soon. after i put my lovely quilt cat made me (with six matching pillows!) in my car, i went back to sleep. at 4 i got yanked out of bed by bill's best friend and we ate turkey and other yumminess that cat and bill made. then i lay on the couch and watched movies with my grandma. i spent another night there since my roommate was in my bed and her mom in hers.

up early the next day to work. luckily it was slow. brian's goodbye party was sunday night. kate made awesome cupcakes with brian's name on them and i got a bunch of foods brian could eat. about 30 people were there and it was a nice send off. mom, dad and brian left monday to go to salt lake. karen and justin left monday to go on a 4 day anniversary trip in the ga mountains. wednesday finally showed up and grandma and i drove down to marco island.

we stayed with her sister helen. first day we watched the sunset on the resident's only beach. it was really gorgeous. the next day janet and larry took me around the island. we went to some indian mounds, the library (which i really, really liked!) and then on a very very long walk on tigertail beach looking for shells. after lunch we went to big cypress national preserve in the everglades and saw tons of cool birds and one brave alligator. it was so cold they where all in hiding. that night we had pork and sauerkraut and peas. tradition apparently. it was really good. i got them all to stay up until midnight to watch the ball drop. they hadn't done it in years.

the next day i stayed in bed most of the day and then went over to larry and janet's for beef stew and pork leftovers while we watched the gator game. larry and i are the only ones who lasted til the end. it was great to see the gators win big. oh how i'll miss my tebow. the next day we went to open houses, as helen is looking to move to marco full time and wants more space and a place with a water view and an elevator. we saw some small condos with amazing views and a $1 million house that was pretty spectacular. the next day we drove up the coast to sanibel and captiva. cold and beautiful, i really want to come back to captiva to spend a long weekend. we ate yummy seafood and watched the steelers at the sanibel grill. then some dairy queen outside, sooo cold! and then the vacay was over. back to gainesville. 3 hours of sleep and then i picked up sam at 4:45am and drove her and grandma to the orlando airport. then i went home and slept the day away.

back to work on the 5th. lots to do with scheduling all the programs for the march-may guide. early morning staff meeting where i had to talk. planning sandy's retirement party and doing her scrapbook. late nights. and soreness. emily and i did a bosu class tuesday night and ohh was i in pain. but at least i was at the gym. read several books. worked the weekend, which was way too busy. did a chinese new year program on sunday. kids are so cute! i had 20 people, which means it was the holidays that got numbers low, not that i suck. trips to the permenant location to look at the progress of the building coming along quite nicely. trying to figure out how some of it is gonna work. getting to know the new librarian and figuring out my new library specialist's schedule. hiring pages and an ls to replace sandy (is that possible?) gotta do an evaluation and start going through my desk and tossing stuff.

stayed in bed all day yesterday (bum!) but today went to the gym, grocery shopping, did laundry (including putting it away), and cleaning my room. this weekend i'm going to see ishu and her fam. her bday was new years, so i gotta go celebrate. 4 day weekend with working last weekend and mlk day. gotta take down christmas soon. gotta write brian and send thank you's to all the aunts i saw in penn and marco. i think that catches me up. 3am time for bed!

fun and flying

got everything done that absolutely had to get done and then shot down to o town. had a yummy italian dinner out and then went to church today and had yummy home cooked meat and rice for lunch and then chicken and fettucine for dinner. playing with an adorable little olive and giving lots of hugs and kisses!! nap and wii resort and night at the museum 2. being with the martinezes is always fun! tomorrow i fly to my grandma's!! so excited to see her and talk and be in the cold and hopefully see snow!! no internet, maybe a trip to the library to mooch some off them. i have to be at the airport in 5 hours. probably time to sleep!!

take it easy

its been an easy week. i had monday off, most of thursday and half of friday. i stayed in bed all day monday reading and sleeping. tues and wed were slow work days, mostly making decorations and games for the work christmas party. tuesday night i got all the christmas decorations out and most of it up. wednesday i got the tree up and hopefully will get the garland and lights in the window up tomorrow. i need to do dishes, wrap presents, pack and do laundry friday night and saturday morning before i go down to orlando. i'm staying with ishu and justin before i fly out monday morning. i'm watching emily's kids tomorrow afternoon so they can go get a new suv, since her husband totalled there's thanksgiving weekend. sam is supposed to get her car soon, but dad's being having trouble finding the title to her old car. after emily's kids, i'm going to watch sandy's grandson luke, while his mom goes to a christmas party. i've never watched him before, but he comes in the library a lot and is so cute!

today i did a program at a preschool and then went to work for a little bit. then i came home and washed my car. i haven't done that in forever. i took the day off to be with kate and jd, as trey was having surgery today. he didn't go in until the afternoon, so i got to take a nap and read. i went over around dinner time and hung out with them in the playroom and watched him eat lots of popsicles and ice cream. then i went to joanns and spent an obsene amount of money on yarn and scrapbooking supplies. then to publix to get ingredients for lasagna and german chocolate cake for the work christmas party and for christmas cookies. next was cvs to get my 3oz toiletries for my trip to pennsylvania. weather.com says the highs next week are in the 30s and the lows in the teens. and its gonna snow!! i'm so excited, but way glad my cousin is gonna pick me up from the airport so i don't have to drive in it.

after a yucky weekend of no tim and no gator win, this week has been good. hopefully the rest of my busy month is good too!

boys are dumb

i only worked half a day today! sam chauffered me to work and then went to my uncle bob's to clean out her car. the insurance company finally looked at it and claimed it totalled and is sending her a check for $1600! that should help with the buying of a new car. she picked me up after work and then we ran errands. bank, pay rent, return and exchange clothes at the mall, lunch, pick up part of my outfit for the church dance tonight, and take sam to rent a car. now why after a whole week of sharing my car with sam, do my parents decide to go ahead and pay for a rental? dad and brian were in town for brian's last appt with his dietician (he has a genetic disease that is managed by a low protein diet), so dad came over to sign the papers and sam got this cute burnt orange kia. my entire car was filled with all the crap sam carries around in her car, so we transferred that in the rain and a home i went.

now did i take off early to run errands. no of course not. i did it to come clean my house and get ready for the dance tonight. the cleaning for the house guest i was supposed to have this weekend. the dance i was supposed to have a date for. tim and i have been having weekly phone conversations on wednesday nights for a little over a month. we talk for hours! i talked to him the night before thanksgiving. we talked about his visit. i asked him if he was really coming and he said of course. so i call this wednesday no answer. normal, usually i call and he calls back a few minutes later. an hour later i call and leave a message. nothing. thursday night i just ask him to call so i can make plans for my weekend, doesn't matter whether he's coming or not, i'd just like him to call and tell me either way. still nothing. had a slight hope that he would just show up today. no.

so either he's dead (i hope not), he lost his phone (he doesn't have my number written down, but he could have gotten the library's number off the internet) or he changed his mind about coming and didn't want to hurt my feelings. there is of course the fact the maybe he's just a dick and has been jerking me around, but the tim of my past wasn't like that so i'm hoping that's not true. the weird thing is that he is the one who initiated this whole coming to see me thing. he even wanted to come next weekend too. so now i'm wondering if i'll here from him again. and if i do what his excuse will be. oh well, everything works as it should. we broke up for good reasons and this weekend could have been fun, but it would just have made my life more complicated.

i thought about going to the dance, but when i came home i got into my long comfy nightgown and some christmas socks and read myself to sleep. i woke up 30 minutes before the dance and just didn't feel like getting all gussied up and then driving across town in the cold and rain. samantha went and had a pretty good time and won a door prize. a basket full of gift certificates (walmart), coupons (for twilight stuff from torrid and hot topics) and lotion. plus her favorite resturant olive garden catered. my roommate and i ended up watching 4 episodes of castle. she bought the 1st season yesterday. which stinks because that was what i was gonna get her for christmas. funny thing is she thought about giving it to me for christmas! that would have been hilarious if we both opened the same thing come christmas eve! so now i gotta come up with something else.

tomorrow, i was going to take tim to the sugar cane thing at dudley farm and then to watch the gator game with friends. now i get to sleep in, maybe scrapbook, run to publix for spinach dip ingredients and then go watch the gator game with my friends. it's gonna be an intense game! i so hope we win it!! gotta work sunday, have a program on winter. we are making cute penguins out of different sized heart shapes. and i'm working with the new guy, keith. i haven't got to talk to him much yet. he's been in his office a lot. he doesn't know how to do circ, so he hasn't really been scheduled to the desk. i need to teach him some circ stuff, but it is kinda weird to teach the guy who got the job i was up for, how to do basic stuff. then i have monday off (and now that i don't have tim plans, bitter much?) i guess i'll work for dad and decorate for christmas.

here's hoping that i have a fun, productive weekend and the gators kick butt!

the search for the missing phone

oh what a day! yesterday i realized i couldn't find me phone. i was at work so sandy called it, no ringing. i figure i've left it at home. that night my roommate called me phone, no ringing. not just for me to here, but no ringing at all. my phone was going straight to voice mail. so either it's dead, or i dropped somewhere, and whoever has it has turned it off. either way, not good. well like the crazy person i am i watched the dancing with the stars finale (yeah donny!) and reruns and scrapbooked (i finished another park! 2 to go) and stayed up way too late. 3am to be exact. so when my alarm went off wed morning, i of course hit snooze. at 10:10 i realized how late it was and jumped out of bed. i was supposed to be at the chiropracter at 10:15. i threw on clothes and brushed my teeth (i mean no one deserves to face my morning breath). i was only 5 minutes late (no i didn't speed, his office is down the street from me).

so that painfulness over i went to joanne's and found scrapbooks 40% off and several cute pregnancy stickers. i also got what i went in for, scrapbook extenders and a box of mounting squares (tape for scrapbooking). i also ran into people i knew and had a nice chat. then on to publix. only 4 carts left. did i mention it was cold and rainy? luckily i got the last of the dry carts. the place was packed but everyone was so friendly and nice. i had two guys make jokes about all the chex cereal i was buying (chex mix is a thanksgiving must at our house). lots of good bogo sales too. i got into a short line, amazing! as i was returning my cart to the covered sidewalk (my sister use to work for publix, and i know the pain of hunting down carts, especially in the rain) , when some guy in a big white van that i've just walked past, yells to me that i need to watch where i'm going. i wasn't positive he was talking to me, but then he said it again louder. so i ignored him and then he said hey don't ignore me. by the time i got in my car, i realized it was someone i knew, not just some crazy looney. i saw the van across the parking lot and it was a library van! one of our systems guys was driving it. now of course i felt bad, but what i was really hoping was that if he was in the area, maybe he was going to the library to fix our patron printer (it's been broken since sunday and makes for not happy customers).

so then i went to the library to hunt for my phone there and to use a phone to call people and tell them i lost my phone. no luck (except there was a systems guy there working on the printer!) i chatted a few minutes and then ran into a woman i used to work with at uf. i told her about losing my phone and said she had one in the car she was about to go donate. so i went downstairs with her and got a free verizon phone. she told me how to switch my number to it without even having to call verizon. very cool. then i dashed home to put cold stuff in the fridge and went to cat's. she'd just finished the first batch of pumpkin bread and so i started the chex mix.

then we get a call from karen saying sam has been in a car accident. no one was hurt, but it was her fault and she was very upset. karen and justin were on the way to rescue her. she had to have her car towed, cause she crumpled the front, but the other women's car was fine. it was her first accident and i felt really bad, because she of course tried to call me on my lost phone. but the lady was nice, the cop was nice, and it all took less than an hour, so it wasn't too horrible. and since i'm going camping this weekend and she has to stay in town to work, she can have my car.

back to the chex mix! i haven't made it in awhile, so i had fun bugging cat every few minutes with questions. she started working on a quilt for my grandma. we spent the afternoon quilting (she pieced and sewed and i ironed and ripped out mistakes), cooking (3 batches of chex mix and another one of pumpkin bread) and of course chatting. i also searched my car for the missing phone. i ended up with a bag full of garbage and 2 tubes of concealer (i keep losing it and buying more and then losing the new one), but no phone. bill came home and then we had a nice salad for dinner and i was off again.

i got home to an awful smell. i took out the trash and it still wasn't better, so i sprayed disinfectant and went to my room. time to search my bedroom for the infamous phone. i pulled the bed from my wall, i pulled out everything from under it. nothing. then to my night stand. several months ago the bottom of the top drawer broke and everything in the top drawer landed in or behind the bottom drawer. which basically means it was a big mess that i've been ignoring. i dug everything out, fixed the night stand, threw away a bunch of crap, and organized it. still no phone. onto the my desk. nada. then to the living room. rip all the cushions off the love seat. start throwing out things i find and announcing them to my roommate who is cooking yummy seafood dip for thanksgiving (she's coming to karen's with me). hair clips, plastic fork, bubble wrap, jolly rancher, but no phone. i start to pull cushions off the couch, when my roommate asks me if i prayed about it. silly me, i hadn't thought of that. she makes me sit down and she says a prayer that i'll find my phone. then i start in on the couch. 30 seconds later i find the phone way back in the couch. talk about prayers answered! i started jumping around i was so happy! then i had a thank you prayer and put the living room back in order.

i was in a pretty darn good mood the rest of the night. i washed my dishes (i think my meat loaf pan was causing the stench). then i started packing for the camping trip. i called tim. i've been talking to him wed nights, because there's no shows i like that night and it gives me something to do. in my night stand search i came across my headphone/mic for my phone so i was able to keep packing while we talked. i organized all my jewelry and the top of my dresser too. i was on a cleaning high or something. we had a really nice talk, last time we got too deep into religion and he got a bit upset. this time we kept it light and fun. i finally finished packing at 1:30am and said goodnight. now it's 2:30 and here i am blogging. mostly because i wanted to get the crazy day down, because i most likely won't be able to blog until sunday night when i get back from our camping trip. i'm way looking forward to it, because the high is 60 and the low 37! i love cold snuggly weather. we'll have a fire, and do smores and drink hot chocolate and play games and just have a great last camping trip with brian before he leaves. okay, time to get some sleep so i can have the energy to consume all that turkey and veggies and pie!

slow saturday

how do you like the new look? thought a change was in order. i know fall is almost over, but i figure that'll give me an excuse to change it again for winter/christmas. i needed something to do at work that looked like work, without having to leave my desk. i'm working again this weekend. just today, filling in for sandy, but i worked the whole first weekend of november then last sunday and now today. i'm tired of not having a weekend. this next weekend will be lots of fun camping, but still no me time. i have wednesday off for working today. but i have a dr app and then baking with cat. gotta make chex mix for thanksgiving and camping. she's in charge of pumpkin pies and i'm gonna try to get her to make her delicious pumpkin bread and cookies, so i can snag some for the trip.

tonight i have no plans except laundry. i started editing pics from the last few months last night, but fell asleep a little after 6pm. hopefully i'll finish that and then get them posted to facebook. it would also be great if could download audacity to my computer and try recording a song. but i don't know if i'll be that energetic. i have to teach sunday school tomorrow, so i should probably prepare. i've got the fun part done, just need to get some kind of treat for the winners, but i need to read over the rest.

today has been a slow saturday. the game started at 12:30 so that keeps people away. but we are playing a joke of a team and it's on ppv, so i figured not as many people would watch it. but when you are an undefeated, awesome team like us, i guess you gotta watch. i'm keeping track with gamecast on espn.go.com. we are only in the 2nd but its 28-0, so i think we've got it in the bag.

progress!

progress as been made! last night i cleared off my craft table!! stamps are put away, markers in their container, brads in boxes, paper stacked neatly and stickers in the bag. the paper isn't separated by color or size and the stickers aren't separated by category, but i can see the table and there is room to work there now. i threw away a lot of crap, so that felt good. now i need to get the pictures all together to make the two scrapbooks i haven't started. this sunday i'm going to see singin' in the rain with suzi and then to scrapbook. i hope i can finish the camping scrapbook i've been working on for over a year, but we'll see.

tonight i did the dishes. i love having clean counters, i don't know why i don't do dishes more often. then i talked to tim for a couple hours. religion and politics are our big talking points, mostly because we totally disagree with each other about those subjects. i got a book this weekend about a catholic couple who converted to mormonism. it compares and contrasts the doctrine of the two religions. i've gotten through about 50 pages and its pretty interesting.

tomorrow i have a meeting at the main library at 9am, so i guess it's time for bed. tomorrow i'll tackle the laundry.

a weekend with great news!!

i had a great time in orlando this weekend. kate and jd went to the temple. it was wonderful. i got to catch up with lots of friends that i never get to see and though i got hardly any sleep, it was nice to have a relaxing day. i got to watch the second have off the gator game and was pleased with another win. then i got a lot of needed sleep.

sunday was a slow day at work. i missed a call from my sister at noon and called her back after we opened. she had some news for me. she was pregnant!! she had just taken the test that morning. i'm and so excited to be an aunt. i hope everything goes well with the pregnancy. afterwork i went to the store to get my roommate some drugs, since she was feeling yucky. then home to a nap and tv. then i couldn't fall asleep and made up my christmas lists of things to buy and what i want bought for me. i fell asleep a little after 3am.

i had today off and went to the doctor cause my ear infection s is back or never really left. then sam and i went to a chinese buffet for lunch. i was supposed to go out to my dad's and work, but what was supposed to be a little nap, turned into me sleeping the afternoon away. back to work tomorrow. very much looking forward to thanksgiving next week and our camping trip to georgia!