JK Rowling explains everything

Do you have some questions about HP7? This article answers some of the points people are most confused about.

Tuesday Story Time

It's Tuesday again!! YAY!!!

Today's theme is Mice, and we are reading these fun stories today!!




Since I am going out of town, there is no Fabulous Movies Real's Never Seen night tonight. I know how upset this makes you, but I promise it'll be back next week with yet another FABULOUS movie!

Librarian gear

I found a fabulous website that sells tons of stuff (shirts, mugs, bibs, etc) with librarian and book related slogans on them. Here are some of my favorites:

"I'm a Librarian. Don't make me SHUSH your ass."

"Being nice to the librarian means the difference between a right answer and a wrong one."

"Actually, there ARE stupid questions, but ask your librarian anyway."

"Librarians give it away for free."

"naughty librarian"

"stacked librarian"

"Would it kill you to read a @&#*$^ book?!"

"LILF" (think American Pie...MILF... get it?)

"I'm not part of the booksale."

and my personal favorite... a quote by Richard Needham.


If you want to browse everything - check out the CafePress website.

What did you say?

I actually got the idea for this post from another library blogger (I'm sorry - I can't remember which one...if it's you, leave me a comment, and I'll give you credit!).

Do you ever stop and think about what you say to people? I've found that sometimes, I say the most random things. And that I repeat the same lines about a hundred times a day. Here are some of the things I have caught myself saying in the past couple days...

"Wiggle the mouse...wiggle it!!!" (And since I am a big freak, this one led to the singing of "wiggle it, just a little bit" which I then had stuck in my head for the rest of the day.)

"You DO realize that you are in a library, right?"

**to a woman trying to use the self check machine**
"Oh, honey, I don't think that's going to work."
"Why?"
"Because that's your Kroger card."

"If you don't leave now, I'm going to lock you in. No, the pizza man doesn't deliver here."

"Highlight, right click, copy. No, right click. RIGHT CLICK." (How this particular woman can take graduate school classes online and not know how to copy and paste is beyond me.)

"I don't have cooties - YOU have cooties!"

"Twenty dollars more a paycheck? That's like $10 a week. That's like a happy meal, but you know what, I ain't happy."

"I'm all about rewarding good behavior."

"You aren't really trying to wrestle in my library, are you?"

"I'm just trying to mess with your head...is it working?"

"No, we don't provide child care. If you want someone to watch your kids, you'll have to take them to a day care center or hire a babysitter. No, I'm sorry, I don't babysit."

I'm off to WeFest!!

Oh...My...GOD!!! I am SO EXCITED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!



I'm off to WeFest!!! To all you country music fans out there, WeFest is a HUGE festival in Minnesota. It is a weekend full of amazing country music, camping, drinking and debauchery.

It's been a really long time since I could go to WeFest, and I have to give a shout out to my friend Brenda for twisting my arm (she didn't have to try to hard), and talking me into going.

So, I'll be away from my blog for a couple days... Don't be sad, though. I promise to come back with lots of pictures, stories and possibly a hangover.

WHOOOOOOOOT WHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOT!!!

The stress of being a librarian

Check out this article. Apparently being a librarian is more stressful than you would think!

A must have

Confession: I need one of these. No, I'm not kidding!!


That's Nancy Pearl, one of the most famous librarians of our time. And totally deserving of her very own action figure. This deluxe library action figure comes complete with a book cart, a computer, and of course, books - which include Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy, More Book Lust, The Darwin Awards and more!!

AND she comes with AMAZING SHUSHING action!!! COOOOOOOOOOL!!!!

According to the biography on her website, Nancy is considered a "rock star among readers, and the taskmaster people turn to when deciding what to read next."

If you are looking for something to read, check out her Book Lust Wiki, or check out one of her books which include Book Lust, More Book Lust, or the new Book Crush, which recommends books for kids and teens.

And for those of you looking to by me a birthday present...

*wink*

Dear Library Patron

Dear Library Patron,

I know that sometimes it seems that I purposefully give you an answer that you don't want to hear. But, I promise I'm not doing it to make you angry or to mess with your head.

The fact that the computers are down and you can't get on MySpace - NOT MY FAULT. As you can see, it's not just your computer, and chances are these problems are happening at all the libraries. We don't cut out the internet just to piss you off. It causes us WAY more problems than it causes you. You don't have to bite my head off. And NO, I don't know when it's going to come back up.

I apologize that the books don't transport themselves from the shelf at another branch magically into your hands. We haven't perfected our teleportation device yet. If you need it today, you might have to drive to the other branch to pick it up. Again, this is not to piss you off, it's just the way it works.

I apologize that you can't read your reservation ticket. It clearly states which computer number you are assigned to, what time your reservation starts, and (if applicable) how long your wait is. It also tells you that you have 5 minutes to log in to your computer before you lose your reservation. But, please, feel free to yell at me because you can't understand it.

Oh, and it would be appreciated if you said 'thank you' after I spent time helping you find exactly what you needed. I might even say 'you're welcome.'

Thank you and have a nice day,

Your friendly neighborhood librarian.

Ode to my mom...

Today is my mom's birthday!!!


Seriously, my mom is pretty much the coolest person I know. She is just an amazing spirit, and I feel so lucky to have her.

She was always there for me when I was growing up. Whenever I needed her, she stood by me. She gave great advice and helped me through anything. I have always felt that I could tell my mom everything...well, almost everything.

My mom is a BLAST to hang out with. She is fun, funky and has the most infectious laugh. She loves to drink and party, and can drink me under the table. I remember when I was in high school, I couldn't wait to turn 21 so I could party with my mom and her friends (who are all just as awesome as she is!). I love hanging out with them when I am home - they are all SO MUCH FUN!!!

She (along with my dad) was very supportive of my choice to move. Though she had never experienced the need to move away from home, she understood that striking out on my own and finding my own way was very important to me. I will be forever grateful for that.


Here are a couple fun pictures of my mom.


She is an awesome grandma!!



Both of my amazing parents...

At my wedding in Cozumel...I have NO idea what we were laughing about, but DAMN, it was funny!!!

photo by Art of Light

Love you mom. Thank you for everything.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!!

Damn, I'm good!!

This is a story that I have told before, but I just had to add it here because...

1. I like this story and
2. It just shows how much I *ROCK* as a librarian!

A college student walks up to my desk.

College Student: I'm looking for a book.
Real Librarian: Okay, what are you looking for?
CS: I don't remember the title...or the author...
RL: Oookay... What can you tell me about it?
CS: Well, it's for my (insert college class here - sorry...I can't remember what class), and it's green.
RL: It's green...
CS: Yeah.

Well, after doing some clever reference interviewing, and because I am awesome, I do manage to find the book.

Oh, and it's not green, it's purple.

JK Rowling spills the beans

Click here if you want to find out what's going on with Harry, Ron, Hermione and the rest of the crew...

Tag! I'm it!!

I was tagged by Sarita.

(Players list 8 facts/habits about themselves. The rules of the game are posted at the beginning before those facts/habits are listed. At the end of the post, players then tags 8 people by posting their names and makes sure they know they’ve been tagged by leaving a comment at the tagee’s blog.)

1. I spend a lot of time with my internet friends. Like a lot. But in my defense, I have met several of them in real life and consider them to be true and amazing friends. Love you girls - you know who you are.

2. I love Egg Rolls. I could probably eat them all day, every day...forever.

3. When I was young, I wanted to be an actress. I was going to move to CA, go to UCLA, and become FAMOUS!! Obviously this never happened.

4. I think Sean Connery is sexy.

5. We had a Day After photo shoot after our wedding in Cozumel. I have to admit, I loved every minute of it. When the shoot was proposed as part of the package, my first thought was "Chill out on the beach, with my new husband, in front of the camera?? OKAY!!!"

6. I want to be independently wealthy. I would love to be able to travel the world with no responsibilities and plenty of money. First order of business would be a tour of all places tropical.

7. I secretly think that one day I will win the lottery, even though I don't buy tickets very often.

8. I am not a huge fan of ice cream. I like it in small doses, and not very often.

Nothing too exciting... =)

Here are the blogs that I tagged:

And life goes on...
Diving for Pearls
Just Another Small Town Girl
Life, Love & Soap
Life, Love and the Pursuit of the Next Great Vacation
Our Sweet Life
Show-Me To the Beach
Somewherebetween20and40

Harry Potter Encyclopedia?!?!

I saw this article on MSNBC.com... Pretty exciting!!!

Warning: If you haven't read or finished Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, beware - this article contains spoilers!!!!!!!

Happy Birthday, Sarah June!!!

My brother, D, and his wife, have the most beautiful little girl - and they are celebrating her very first birthday!!


Here are some cool things about little Sarah June. Her middle name, June, was my brothers wife's grandma's name. Also, she was born on July 25th, which was my grandma's (my mom's mom) birthday!!

She was born 3 days before my mom's birthday, and about 2 weeks before mine. Which means she's a Leo, just like my mom and I. (WOOHOO LEOS!!!) My brother, who had to put up with me growing up, is NOT too happy about this. Personally, I think it's GREAT!!! Payback? Possibly...

When I first found out that my brother was going to be a dad, I have to admit I was a little surprised. I knew he would be a good dad, but I will always remember how he used to TORTURE me growing up!!! Turns out, he is the most awesome dad. He loves that little girl with all his heart and she is one lucky little sweetie.

Anyway, here is a picture dedication to my sweet little niece, Sarah June, who is pretty much ALWAYS smiling!!

Already smiling at 8 weeks:
With the proud parents at 9 weeks:
With Santa at 18 weeks:
A little reader already at 31 weeks ( I think she's going to be a librarian when she grows up):


Love this picture - 38 weeks:
Her first time at the lake - 46 weeks:
Swimming with dad - 49 weeks:
I'll probably post some birthday party pictures when I get them. Her party is going to be on Saturday the 28th (my mom's birthday!). I am sad to say I have to miss it... That's the problem with living so far away from family. I'm sure they will have the best time!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, SARAH JUNE!!!!!!

Happy Tuesday!!!

Ahh, Tuesday!! We've already established that Tuesdays are my favorite day of the week, so of course, I am pumped that it's here!!!

For our Tuesday morning story time this week, the theme is Bears. We'll be reading:



Just a couple of my favorite bear books!

The other exciting thing about Tuesday is, of course, Fabulous Movies Real's Never Seen Night with my awesome friend A!! We have two options for tonight's feature:

Leave a comment and vote for which one we should watch!

Bridge to Terabithia

Confession: I hadn't read Bridge to Terabithia until I was required to for my Literature for Youth class last semester.


Bridge to Terabithia is a classic book written by Katherine Patterson in 1977, and won the Newbery Medal in 1978.

It's a story about two kids, Jess and Leslie, and their amazing friendship. You can read more about it at the Bridge to Terabithia website.

Earlier this year, they released a brand new movie version. I didn't get to see it in the theaters (even though it came our right as I finished the book!), but I did recently check it out from the library. My good friend Lynn, Scott and I made an evening of it. Scott grilled steaks, veggies and garlic toast (MMMMM!), Lynn brought over strawberries, cool whip and angle food cake, I cracked open a bottle of wine, and we settled in to watch this movie.

I LOVED it!! It followed the book really well, the fantasy element was present but not overpowering, and the characters were perfect. I totally cried at the end...



If you get a chance, you should see this movie!! And, if you are so inclined, read the book. The books are always better!!

And it's over...no spoilers...

Of course this is about Harry Potter!!! *wink*

On Friday, my boss let me leave for a little while so I could stand in a line when Borders opened to get my colored wrist band. I spent all day protecting my little orange wrist band (orange meaning I got to be among the first group to head to the cashier)...I tucked it away in a special pocket in my purse so I would have it on me all day. I even took a nap in the afternoon so I would be able to stay awake all night to read.

I arrived at Borders about 9:45. There were hundreds of people dressed up as characters from the book, a spelling bee, a raffle drawing, a costume contest and lots more stuff going on. Some of the characters I saw there included Professor Trelawny, Professor Dumbledore, several Dementors, Hedwig (seriously - this kid had white feathers plastered all over him!), Hermione, Ron, and of course hundreds of Harrys (including one in a Quidditch uniform that looks amazingly like the one in the movies!). Oh, and don't forget the people just in Harry Potter related T-Shirts. One family had a Miggle Mom, Muggle Dad, and 3 Muggle Born.

And, of course, the guy who was walking around in a T-Shirt in which "I'm English, I don't have to dress up" was written in SHARPIE... Seriously, I thought I was going to get high just walking by him.

Anyway, I wandered over to the start of the line around 10:15, just because I had a feeling. I ended up being the 15th person in line. Around 10:20, there were another 30 people behind me - looks like I got in line at the perfect time!

I won't go through the next hours minute by minute. With 4 cash registers going, I was out the door by 12:05, and home by 12:25. With a pot of coffee, chips, and a Mt. Dew for later, I was determined to stay up and read all night.

And, I did. I finished the book around 1:30 on Saturday afternoon. I won't say anything about it, except that it was A.MA.ZING.

I know, I know, it's just a book, blah blah blah. But, it really was pretty emotional. I bawled at certain points. I gasped at things that totally shocked me, I was surprised at some things that happened. I loved the ending.

Thanks to J.K. Rowling for this amazing series.

And now, I'm off to read it again.

Library race track...

The library I work at is basically just a straight long building. And, if I had the energy of some of the kids who come into our library, I would probably find it very tempting to run as fast as I could from one end of the building to the other. (Although once...or twice...when the library was all closed and locked up and all the lights were off, I did a couple cartwheels down the hall...but don't tell).

I don't, however, have the energy to do that. And watching those kids makes me tired...

I can't tell you how many times a day I ask kids to stop running in the library. It's a library, not a playground or a race track. And when these kids are running around the library, where are their parents?!?! Why am *I* telling your kids to stop running in the library??

This does occasionally get me into trouble. I once told a kid to stop running in the library, and his mom actually came up to me looking all huffy and said "I would appreciate it if you didn't tell my child what to do."

Well, I would appreciate it if *you* would tell your child not to run in the library. If you would do that, then I wouldn't have to, and I would venture to guess that we would both be happier.

All things Harry Potter

My life is now complete.

A young man who works part time at my library is a HUGE Harry Potter fan. He has been following Harry for 10 years. This young man is now 18, and just graduated from high school (done with school the same year Harry is done with school!), and is anxiously awaiting the 7th and final book of the series (as so many of us are).

Anyway, he brought me a gift. Well, not really a gift...I did ask him to make it for me, but that's not the point. He made me my very own wand!! He hand crafted it from a piece of wood - whittled it into shape, sanded it, stained it, and sanded it again. It is absolutely gorgeous!!!

And without further adieu - here is my wand...

One of my favorite library stories

Don't worry, this one is short.

A little boy, probably around 5 or 6, was running around the library looking for his mom. He's looking and looking, and he can't seem to find her. So, he stops and yells as loud as he can...

MA!! WHERE YOU IS?!?!

Um...what?

Monthiversary

It's that time of the month again! No...not THAT time of the month.

Today is our Monthiversary!! Scott and I are celebrating 8 months of blissful happy marriage. Well 'celebrate' might be a strong word... In fact, when I told Scott this morning that it was our 8-monthiversary, he said "that's great, and in 4 more months we can celebrate!"

He did, however, buy me 2 dozen amazingly beautiful roses for absolutely no reason the other day. They are called "Attraktion." What a sweetie!! I'm pretty damn lucky to have him!!



And here are a couple pictures from the wedding and our Day After shoot. I have to give credit to our AWESOME photographers, Stephanie and Kristyn from Art of Light Photography.

GoodReads anyone?

Confession: I love to read.

I bet you already figured that out, though, me being a librarian and all.

I also love to hear what other people are reading. Just cuz I'm nosy like that.

I am lucky to have heard about a great website called GoodReads. You know how with MySpace, you collect friends, and you can look at their profiles and pictures and read their blogs and all that fun stuff? Well, GoodReads is kinda like MySpace for book lovers.

Some of the features include:

Already Read Shelf: They have an enormous database of books, and you can search out all the books you have ever read and put them on your book shelf. It also allows you to give a starred rating to the books you have read.

To-Read Shelf: You can search the database, or look through all your friends bookshelves to see what they have read. If you see anything interesting that you might want to read, you can put those titles on your To-Read shelf.

Currently Reading Shelf: You can mark the books that you are reading right now.

Date Read: There is also a place where you can mark the month and year when you read the book. I think that's cool!! Then you have a record of everything you read in a certain month, and how many books you read in a year.

Updates: You can also change the settings so that GoodReads will send you a once daily email with the updates your friends have made to their profiles.

***deep breath***

Sorry, just thinking about all this is making me all warm and fuzzy and giddy inside.

Be careful, though, it can be addictive... And because of all my wonderful friends on GoodReads, I now have 28 books on my To-Read shelf. I should get on that! =)

Negotiations

I am not a mom, and I don't claim to know what I am talking about when it comes to parenting, but there are certain things that seem to be...well, let's just say there are things that I would do differently. Here's an interesting patron story for ya! First let me tell you that we have a nice little playground in the yard of our library. To get to the playground from the library, you have to cross the fairly busy parking lot. It's a recent addition to the grounds, and very popular!

A boy comes racing into the library and up to my desk looking all sweaty and out of breath.

Little Boy: Do you know where my mom is?
Real Librarian: Uh, no, but I can help you find her. Have you been playing outside on the playground?
LB: Yeah.
RL: How old are you?
LB: I'm 6!

This means, that this little six year old was playing outside on a public playground by himself with NO supervision. I'm sorry, this seems wrong to me. Now, in my po-dunky little town where I grew up in North Dakota, parents let this happen...or they used to when I was a kid. That's because the town had 400 people and everyone knew everyone, and trusted their neighbors. But, times have changed, and this is a pretty big city.

So, I take the little boy by the hand and we start to walk through the library to find his mom. We find her nestled into a catalog computer looking up books.

LB: MOM!!!
Mom: (in a casual tone) Oh, there you are.
RL: Excuse me, ma'am, but children seven and under have to stay with their parents at all times. It's library policy.
LB: But I do things by myself all the time!
M: It's just that he's a good negotiator.
RL: Excuse me?
M: He said that if anyone came up to him while he was playing he would run into the library.

I about fell over. These are the kinds of negotiations you are making with your 6 year old?!?! I know libraries have this air of safety and all that to them, but seriously, we are a PUBLIC place...not a SAFE place. Meaning ANYONE can use our facilities. Use your imagination here. Your 6 year old should not be hanging out on a public playground ALONE.

I mean, I can see saying "if you eat your veggies, I'll let you watch 30 minutes of TV," but allowing this to happen just seems...wrong.

I just told her again that children 7 and under needed to stay with their parents at all times. (And I told her AGAIN 10 minutes later when the kid came back to my desk saying his mom said he could get on the computer while she looked up books. Seriously - what does AT ALL TIMES mean to you??)

I guess I just have to let stuff like that go, because in the end, it really isn't any of my business.

Tuesday = Best Day of the Week

I LOVE Tuesdays. People go on and on about Fridays and Saturdays, and I really enjoy those days, too. But Tuesdays...

Tuesday is the day when I have my Preschool story time. I get to read fun stories to sweet little kids who just LOVE Miss Real!! We always read 3 stories, do a finger play or a song and watch a short video based on a book. Then we either do a craft, or just a coloring page. Sometimes, the kids give me their coloring pages as a gift, and LOVE that I proudly display them behind the Children's reference desk.

I always do a theme. Last week it was cows. This week we are having "New Books," brand new books that were just ordered and delivered to the library.



The other reason I love Tuesdays is because of Fabulous Movies Real's Never Seen Night. My friend "A" and I have been getting together every Tuesday for the past 3 years. Before that, our movie watching was more sporadic. "A" became my first friend when I moved to Nashville. The whole fabulous movie thing started one night while "A" was asking me if I had seen this movie, or that movie... And I hadn't. "A" decided that he was going to take it upon himself to educate me, and I am so glad he did!!! Some of the movies on the list that I hadn't seen before FMRNS was developed include:


The Color Purple
Jaws
Gone With the Wind
The Graduate
Charlotte's Web
Indiana Jones (all of them)
Several Audry Hepburn movies
and pretty much all the Hitchcock movies.
We watch movies from every genre and decade. We have now watched over 150 movies.

The movies aren't the only thing, though. We always have a fabulous dinner, some great snacks, and our reality talent competition of the moment (American Idol, America's Next Top Model, or the current obsession, So You Think You Can Dance) And we laugh...a lot. In fact, we have been known to laugh so hard that our tummies hurt and we have tears rolling down our cheeks. We call that "A's Pilates." We always have so much fun!!!

Tonight's feature:

Cocoon

I can barely contain myself!!!

Confession: I am a die hard Harry Potter fan.



If you don't know, the Seventh and final book of the Harry Potter series is due to come out on Saturday, July 21st. That's THIS Saturday!!!! OMG, I can't believe it's almost here!!!

When the 6th book, Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince, came out, I was at the book store around 8:00 pm, standing around, enjoying the festivities, enjoying some butter beer and cauldron cakes. I was home with my copy in hand by 12:15. Unfortunately, I had to be at work the next morning, so I forced myself to stop reading at 4:00 am. After work, though, I was back to reading!

In honor of the release of this book, I threw a Harry Potter party at my library. We made some crafts, played Pin the Scar on Harry Potter's Face and ate cockroach clusters, pretzel wands, Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans and, of course, butter beer. The kids had a blast!!!



This year, I went to the book store and put my copy on hold the day they announced the release date. I plan on going to the store the minute it opens to get my colored wrist band, so I can be among the first to walk out of the store with my book. I don't have to work on Saturday this year (WOOHOO!!!), so I will probably be up reading all night. I CAN'T WAIT!!!

I am also a huge fan of the movies. A fabulous friend of mine, A, and I went to the IMAX showing of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix on the day it opened. In fact, we took off work at 11:30 in order to make an early show. It was all part of an incredible day which we dubbed BEST.DAY.EVER.2007, which also included an amazing dinner at Red Lobster and the American Idol Concert Tour. It was SO MUCH FUN!!!




Anyway - 5 more days, baby!!! WHOOOT WHOOOOOT!!!