Valentine's Day story time!!!

Love is in the air!!! Of course, since Valentine's Day is on Thursday, we have to celebrate at story time today!! Here are the books I chose!!





And, as always, it's FMRNS!!! YAY!! Today is a special edition of FMRNS, because A and I have managed to get free tickets to an advanced screening of The Spiderwick Chronicles, which premiers on February 14. I haven't actually read the books in this series, but they are consistently checked out of my library, and I hear people raving about them all the time. The trailer looks really cool, too!! I can't wait!!

After that, we are still going to have the FMRNS feature of the evening, which is Night Gallery from 1969. It's a horror/thriller with Joan Crawford, Ossie Davis and Roddy McDowell. After tonight, there are only 20 movies left on The List. How sad is that?!

Currently Reading - Audience Participation!

This morning I picked up Twilight by Stephenie Meyer, the first book in The Twilight Saga, and was instantly hooked. By the end of the first page, I knew putting this book down was going to be a problem. I am about 200 pages into it, and I seriously considered calling in sick to work so I could stay home and finish this book.

Here is a review from the School Library Journal, found on Amazon:

Starred Review. Grade 9 Up–Headstrong, sun-loving, 17-year-old Bella declines her mom's invitation to move to Florida, and instead reluctantly opts to move to her dad's cabin in the dreary, rainy town of Forks, WA. She becomes intrigued with Edward Cullen, a distant, stylish, and disarmingly handsome senior, who is also a vampire. When he reveals that his specific clan hunts wildlife instead of humans, Bella deduces that she is safe from his blood-sucking instincts and therefore free to fall hopelessly in love with him. The feeling is mutual, and the resulting volatile romance smolders as they attempt to hide Edward's identity from her family and the rest of the school. Meyer adds an eerie new twist to the mismatched, star-crossed lovers theme: predator falls for prey, human falls for vampire. This tension strips away any pretense readers may have about the everyday teen romance novel, and kissing, touching, and talking take on an entirely new meaning when one small mistake could be life-threatening. Bella and Edward's struggle to make their relationship work becomes a struggle for survival, especially when vampires from an outside clan infiltrate the Cullen territory and head straight for her. As a result, the novel's danger-factor skyrockets as the excitement of secret love and hushed affection morphs into a terrifying race to stay alive. Realistic, subtle, succinct, and easy to follow, Twilight will have readers dying to sink their teeth into it.–Hillias J. Martin, New York Public Library

I have already put the next two books in the series, New Moon and Eclipse, on hold, but I'm number 15 for New Moon and number 44 for Eclipse - and I don't know if I can wait that long!!! *gasp* I might actually have to go buy them!!! Oh, and if you are already a Twilight Saga fan, then you must be excited for the fourth and final book of the series, Breaking Dawn, to come out in August!!

So, what are YOU reading right now? Are you enjoying it? Do you recommend it? Leave me a comment and let me know!!

A Valentine's Day party!!

Today I am hosting a Valentine's Day party for the kids of my branch!! Yay!! It's going to be a fabulous party! I always plan to read one story, play at least one game, have two craft stations ready, and then serve a couple of snacks. I also have some activities for the kids to take home, like a Valentine's Day Word Search or a Crossword Puzzle (from DLTK Kids) Here are the plans:

Read: One Zillion Valentines by Frank Modell

Play: HEART Bingo (from Kaboose)

Make: Puffy Heart (from Kaboose)

Make: Popsicle Stick picture frames (from Kaboose)

Serve: Valentine's Day Cookies, Conversation Hearts, Sprite

Hooray!!! I love throwing parties for the kids!!

In other news, my friend A and I had Bonus Night of FMRNS last night!! We watched Wednesday's American Idol, and then our feature presentation. The Poseidon Adventure from 1972 with Gene Hackman, Ernest Borgnine, Roddy McDowall, and Shelley Winters. As always, it was a fabulous movie!! Like I said, The List NEVER disappoints!!

There are a total of 19 movies left on The List. We're trying to get through the rest of The List before I move, although there are only about 10 weeks before the tentative move date. We have no doubt that we'll make it through - but there will be many Bonus Nights and probably a couple of Double Feature nights, too!!

One of these days I'll get all organized and post The List in its entirety!

Library Lovers' Month and a Meme

February is Library Lovers' Month!!! Who knew?! This site shows some great ways for you to show you love your library, including sending postcards and e-cards, and a page that tells you exactly what you can do for your library! Thanks to Life and Times of a "New" New Yorker for posting about this!!

Also, this meme is floating around the library blogs. I first saw it posted on @ the library, and even though I have not been officially tagged, I decided I wanted to play, too.

Here are the rules:

Rules:

1. Pick up the nearest book (of at least 123 pgs.)
2. Open the book to page 123
3. Find the fifth sentence
4. Post the next three sentences
5. Tag five people

I have been debating starting Helter Skelter: The True Story of the Manson Murders by Vincent Bugliosi, so this is the book we are going to go with (that, and the real book that was nearest - The Memory Keeper's Daughter, has nothing but the year 1970 on page 123).

I could symnathize with LAPD; the media were blasting the department almost daily. On the other hand, it would be nothing compared to the public response if we let Susan Atkins walk off scot-free. I couldn't forget Susan describing how it felt to taste Sharon Tate's blood: "Wow, what a trip!"

Um, that's a little chilling!! Yikes.

I'm not going to tag anyone, but please feel free to steal this for your own blog!! Be sure to leave a comment with me if you choose to do this - I'd love to see your results, too!!!

I lost my Tuesday!

Happy Tuesday!!! Happy SUPER Tuesday!!! My branch of the library is known as a Fail Safe Voting site. Meaning, you can vote here, but ONLY if you have a name change, an adress change, or some other kind of problem. Well, some people don't really appreciate this - they SWEAR this is their regular voting site. We've NEVER been a regular voting site on election day - only early voting. I've been at work since 6:45 - the voting started promptly at 7. I've already had quite a few voters yell at me because of this.

Anyway, back to story time - the most exciting part of the morning!!! I decided to read books about lost things, and today we've lost (and found!!) a bunny, a moo, and a teddy bear!!! Here are the books that I am reading today.

And of course, it's FMRNS!!! We have a couple of options for tonight's feature. Antonia's Line, from 1995, is a foreign Dramedy with Willeke van Ammelrooy and Els Dottermans. Our second option is It's a Wonderful Life, the classic Christmas story from 1946 with James Stewart and Donna Reed. Now, I know what you are thinking. "You never seen It's a Wonderful Life?!?!" No, I haven't. Well, at least not all the way through from start to finish. I've seen a bit here, a piece there, and I know about the movie. But, it's true, I have never seen the whole film.

And back to Super Tuesday. The Book Club Girl Blog posted a great post yesterday for those of you who want to vote, but are still undecided on who to vote for. The book is called The Undecided Voters Guide to the Next President by political analyist Mark Halperin, and it is currently online and free!!! I hear it's the essential reading guide so you can make the most informed decision about who you believe will make the best President. View it online for free until February 11.

Happy Tuesday everyone!!! Remember to get out there and VOTE!!! =)

Weekend adventures

It was such an awesome weekend!!! It all started on Thursday when DH and I went to see the Nashville Predators take on the Columbus Blue Jackets. The Preds won 4-2!! GO PREDS!!

On Friday, I had the day off, so I spent a lot of time reading, relaxing, and doing laundry. After all that, my friend A and I decided to have FMRNS Bonus Night - Double Feature!!! Friday's selections were Somewhere in Time from 1980 with Christopher Reeve and Jane Seymour, and our second feature was Meet Me in St. Louis from 1944 with Judy Garland and Margaret O'Brien. Both were absolutely fabulous movies!! The List never disappoints!!!





Saturday, both DH and I had the day off, and we decided that Saturday would be our Valentine's Day. This is a tradition that started back when we were a long distance couple. We were not able to actually spend out first Valentine's Day together, but DH was visiting me in January, so we decided to celebrate during his visit. Since then, we've always celebrated our Valentine's Day early - which works out perfect for us! We spent most of Saturday lounging around and grocery shopping for Super Bowl Sunday. Then we had a delicious meal at Bonefish Grill.

Sunday, we slept in (which is rare for me!), and began our day at the Nashville Zoo, where they were celebrating Zoo-per Bowl Sunday with half price admission! After that, we came back home, turned on Ryan Seacrest and the Super Bowl Pre-game Show, and started cooking. We made Beer Cheese Soup (it wasn't very good...if anyone has a good tried and true recipe, I'd love it if you shared it with me!), homemade tortilla chips and a Tex-Mex salsa (courtesy of Good Eats 'n Sweet Treats), tons of veggies, and homemade pizza. It was a full day of deliciousness!! We actually watched the whole Super Bowl!! I'm not a fan of either the Giants or the Patriots, but I was rooting for the Giants - WHOOOOOT!!!

I also managed to get some reading done this weekend!! I finished Born Standing Up: a comic's life by Steve Martin and Plum Lucky by Janet Evanovich. Both highly entertaining reads!! Here are the reviews for these books.

From Amazon for Born Standing Up:

At age 10, Steve Martin got a job selling guidebooks at the newly opened Disneyland. In the decade that followed, he worked in Disney's magic shop, print shop, and theater, and developed his own magic/comedy act. By age 20, studying poetry and philosophy on the side, he was performing a dozen times a week, most often at the Disney rival, Knott's Berry Farm. Obsession is a substitute for talent, he has said, and Steve Martin's focus and daring--his sheer tenacity--are truly stunning. He writes about making the very tough decision to sacrifice everything not original in his act, and about lucking into a job writing for The Smothers Brothers Show. He writes about mentors, girlfriends, his complex relationship with his parents and sister, and about some of his great peers in comedy--Dan Ackroyd, Lorne Michaels, Carl Reiner, Johnny Carson. He writes about fear, anxiety and loneliness. And he writes about how he figured out what worked on stage.
This book is a memoir, but it is also an illuminating guidebook to stand-up from one of our two or three greatest comedians. Though Martin is reticent about his personal life, he is also stunningly deft, and manages to give readers a feeling of intimacy and candor. Illustrated throughout with black and white photographs collected by Martin, this book is instantly compelling visually and a spectacularly good read.

From Amazon for Plum Lucky:

Looking to get lucky?Stephanie Plum is back between-the-numbers and she's looking to get lucky in an Atlantic City hotel room, in a Winnebago, and with a brown-eyed stud who has stolen her heart.Stephanie Plum has a way of attracting danger, lunatics, oddballs, bad luck . . . and mystery men. And no one is more mysterious than the unmentionable Diesel. He's back and hot on the trail of a little man in green pants who's lost a giant bag of money. Problem is, the money isn't exactly lost. Stephanie's Grandma Mazur has found it, and like any good Jersey senior citizen, she's hightailed it in a Winnebago to Atlantic City and hit the slots. With Lula and Connie in tow, Stephanie attempts to bring Grandma home, but the luck of the Irish is rubbing off on everyone: Lula's found a job modeling plus-size lingerie. Connie's found a guy. Diesel's found Stephanie. And Stephanie has found herself in over her head with a caper involving thrice-stolen money, a racehorse, a car chase, and a bad case of hives. Plum Lucky is an all-you-can-eat buffet of thrills, chills, shrimp cocktail, plus-size underwear, and scorching hot men. It's a between-the-numbers treat no Evanovich fan will want to miss!

So, all in all - it was a FABULOUS weekend!!!

In other news, I sent out my second job application last week, and will be sending out my third sometime later this week. I have yet to hear anything back from the first application - that position closed on January 21st, so it's been two weeks. I am also getting excited to go to the Public Library Association Conference in Minneapolis in March, where they are offering placement services! I fully intend on looking into that!!!

Hope everyone had a spectacular weekend!!

Another run-in with a satisfied patron

You might remember this post from the very beginning of the year. Well it seems that my fabulous co-worker, C, has had the pleasure of repeated encounters with this very happy patron. C, who writes the blogs Children's Books - Too Cool for School and B.A.B.A.E.L, relayed this encounter with our friend, who I'll name Confused Internet Guy.

First let me remind you that the computers automatically shut down 15 minutes before the library closes, and we always make an announcement at 30 minutes, 15 minutes, and 5 minutes letting people know when the library is closing. NYE (as in the previous post), was a rare occasion due to the circumstances I described in that post.

Confused Internet Guy: So the library closes at 7:45 today?
Coworker C: No, sir, we close at 8:00.
CIG: So I can use the computers until 8:00 then?
CC: No, sir, the computers shut down at 7:45.
CIG: Well, I just don't know. They shut them down one time at 5:45, so I just want to make sure.
CC: Well, sir, they shut down 15 minutes before we close, whatever closing time is that day, and we always announce it!:

C then told me in an email that this isn't the first time she's had almost the exact same conversation with him, either. She said "Apparently, you just rocked his whole foundation on New Years Eve!

Thanks, C, for letting me use your story!!! =)