Miles and Miles...

It seems like miles and miles - of stockinette stitch that is. I've been working on the kitty tunnel off and on for the past month. Mostly off, because it seems like as soon as I start knitting, her royal highness jumps on top of the tunnel and goes to sleep, thus preventing me from doing anything other than my best interpretation of a cat bed. This is what I've got so far - it's a few inches shy of 3 feet, so I'm almost 3/4 of the way there. If only her royal highness would understand that the sooner I finish, the sooner she has a new toy.



"My people's house is cold so I must lay in front of the only heat source available in the kitchen because I must be warm."

It snowed this morning...

Serious stuff
I had been ignoring Library 2.0 for awhile now. Other than checking Unshelved through my Bloglines account, I haven't been doing much with the different applications I learned. However, while out here at the "different library branch," with not much library related work to do (I was supposed to be off today and called in at the last minute and all my work is at "home branch"), I decided to go through some of my other bloglines accounts. As I was checking the RSS feed for the Librarians' Internet Index, I started stumbling on some websites that I would like to save, but how could I do that, not being on my own computer at home. It suddenly dawned on me that I could use my del.icio.us account (incidentally, I still think the name is stupid and not at all indicative of what it actually does). Easily and conveniently from this here blog, I jumped to my account and started adding more websites. Not such a waste of time after all. Now I'll never lose the website for the State Fair recipes. Yee-haw!

Contintuation of the saga
I'm sure you are all dying to know the status of my garage situation (because I know you all are endlessly fascinated with my personal life). The deadline for Mr. and Mrs. Previous Owner to remove their belongings has come and gone. Unfortunately, they did not get notice of this deadline until 2 days after the deadline had passed. All hail the glory of the postal service. So, once again, we are contacting an attorney to find out what we can legally do. In the meantime, I found a taker for the 2,000 mason jars. Anyone have a need for a globe? This I discovered in the garage just a few days ago.

The good and the bad
Not doing so well on the New Year's Resolutions - there are currently dirty dishes in my kitchen sink (failing the resolution to be a better housekeeper). I only cooked twice last week (in my defense the chicken paprikash lasted for three days). On the plus side, the kitty tunnel measures almost three feet - hitting the home stretch!

Until next time
Stay warm, everybody! I'm still trying to thaw out my feet four hours after I cleaned the snow of my car (grumble, grumble... crap in my garage...no room for my car...a plague on the new house of Mr and Mrs. Previous Owner)

And the winners are...

No, I'm not talking about the Golden Globes (although, congrats to Johnny Depp and Sweeney Todd for their wins!). I'm talking about the ALA Youth Media Awards. Particularly, the Newbery and Caldecott Medals (considered the Oscars of the children's publishing world). Without further ado, the winners are...

Newbery Medal
Good Masters! Sweet Ladies! Voices from a Medieval Village by Laura Amy Schlitz (Candlewick)

Newbery Honors
Elijah of Buxton by Christopher Paul Curtis (Scholastic/Scholastic Press)
The Wednesday Wars by Gary D. Schmidt (Clarion)
Feathers by Jacqueline Woodson (Putnam/GP Putnam's Sons)

Caldecott Medal
The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick (Scholastic)

Caldecott Honors
Henry's Freedom Box: A True Story from the Underground Railroad, illustrated by Kadir Nelson, written by Ellen Levine (Scholastic/Scholastic Press)
First the Egg by Laura Vaccaro Seeger (Roaring Brook/Neal Porter)
The Wall: Growing Up Behind the Iron Curtain by Peter Sís (Farrar/Frances Foster)
Knuffle Bunny Too: A Case of Mistaken Identity by Mo Willems (Hyperion)

2009 May Hill Arbuthnot Honor Lecturer
Walter Dean Myers

Mildred L. Batchelder Award
VIZ Media, publisher of Brave Story, by Miyuki Miyabe, translated from the Japanese by Alexander O. Smith

Batchelder Honor Books
Milkweed Editions, publisher of The Cat: Or, How I Lost Eternity, by Jutta Richter, illustrated by Rotraut Susanne Berner, and translated from the German by Anna Brailovsky
Phaidon Press, publisher of Nicholas and the Gang, written by René Goscinny, illustrated by Jacques Sempé, and translated from the French by Anthea Bell

Pura Belpré Author Award
The Poet Slave of Cuba: A Biography of Juan Francisco Manzano by Margarita Engle, illustrated by Sean Qualls (Holt)

Belpré Author Honor Books
Frida: ¡Viva la vida! Long Live Life! by Carmen T. Bernier-Grand (Marshall Cavendish)
Martina the Beautiful Cockroach: A Cuban Folktale, retold by Carmen Agra Deedy, illustrated by Michael Austin (Peachtree)
Los Gatos Black on Halloween, written by Marisa Montes, illustrated by Yuyi Morales (Holt)

Pura Belpré Illustrator Award
Los Gatos Black on Halloween, illustrated by Yuyi Morales, written by Marisa Montes (Holt)

Belpré Illustrator Honor Books
My Name Is Gabito: The Life of Gabriel García Márquez/Me llamo Gabito: la vida de Gabriel García Márquez, illustrated by Raúl Colón, written by Monica Brown (Luna Rising)
My Colors, My World/Mis colores, mi mundo, written and illustrated by Maya Christina Gonzalez (Children's Book Press)

Andrew Carnegie Medal
Kevin Lafferty, producer, John Davis, executive producer, and Amy Palmer Robertson and Danielle Sterling, co-producers, of Jump In: Freestyle Edition

Theodor Seuss Geisel Award
There Is a Bird on Your Head! by Mo Willems (Hyperion)

Geisel Honor Books
First the Egg by Laura Vaccaro Seeger (Roaring Brook/Neal Porter)
Hello, Bumblebee Bat, written by Darrin Lunde, illustrated by Patricia J. Wynne (Charlesbridge)
Jazz Baby, written by Lisa Wheeler, illustrated by R. Gregory Christie (Harcourt)
Vulture View, written by April Pulley Sayre, illustrated by Steve Jenkins (Holt)

Odyssey Award
Jazz, Live Oak Media

Odyssey Honor Audiobooks
Bloody Jack: Being an Account of the Curious Adventures of Mary "Jacky" Faber, Ship's Boy, Listen & Live AudioDooby
Dooby Moo, Weston Woods/Scholastic
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Listening Library
Skulduggery Pleasant, HarperCollins AudioTreasure Island, Listening Library

Sibert Medal
The Wall: Growing Up Behind the Iron Curtain by Peter Sís (Farrar/Frances Foster)

Sibert Honor Books
Lightship by Brian Floca (Simon & Schuster/Richard Jackson)
Nic Bishop Spiders by Nic Bishop (Scholastic/Scholastic Nonfiction)

So what are your thoughts about these winners? I do know someone who will be very happy with the Caldecott winner (I'm looking at you Wizards Wireless!). I have to admit, I haven't even heard of the book that won the Newbery - I don't remember seeing any reviews of it, or seeing it on any Mock lists. This is fairly typical of the Newbery, though. They often recognize books that don't get a lot of attention. Let me know what you think of the winners.

spoiled, spoiled, spoiled

No, this post isn't about me (although if you ask some members of my family, they would say it is). No, I'm talking about the fur ball monster who has come to live with me, and who is currently forcing me to type this post with one hand because she's sleeping on my lap and I can't reach the keyboard. I sat down at the computer an hour ago to quickly check my e-mail, then I was going to move on to other household chores (see resolution #1), but up jumped the monster and she curled up and fell asleep. This is where the spoiled part comes in - I feel guilty kicking her off my lap. Even though there are a myriad of other places in my big house for her to sleep - I don't want to disturb her highness. I think it's the guilt from uprooting her from the home she's had for the last 3 1/2 years and bringing her here to to this new scary place, with strange noises like dryers buzzing and telephones ringing. Oh, if only people were this concerned about my mental well-being. I think in my next life, I am definitely coming back as a cat. But I would want to be owned and spoiled by me ... so how would that work?

Hooray for Internet Access!

After much trial and tribulation we now have internet access at home - yeah! Now I can actually do posts to my blog when not on breaks at work.

Baby Comes Home...

After 3 1/2 long years, my beautiful 9 pound furball has come home to live with me. I'd post a picture of her but she is currently hiding in a corner behind a bag of golf clubs. She's not so much wanting to come out and play. The kitty with the worst abandonment issues you could possibly imagine, is for the 3rd time having to figure out a new home. But, I'm quite happy to have her back with me. Hopefully, I'll soon be able to pick her up and hug her and love her. I hope she comes out long enough to eat her dinner tonight!

9 days and counting...

Lest you all think I'm joking, I have picture for you all of the current state of my garage. Mr. & Mrs. Previous Owner have yet to contact us about the removal of the rest of their items. I wait with bated breath for the 15th of January when I will finally, legally be able to throw out all their crap. Incidentally, if anyone out there cans their own food, I might be able to give you a good deal on about 4,000 mason jars in various sizes. You think I'm kidding...










This shot was taken from the doorway going into the kitchen. There's a wide enough walkway to get from the kitchen door, out of the garage, but that's about it. What you don't see is all the stuff that's on the shelves lining the garage walls, and the stuff that's leaning against the wall alongside where I'm standing.

And those of you who want to see a picture of the outside of the house:










This is a photo of the ornament, my very talented aunt made for Hubby and me for Christmas. This is exactly what our house looks like. She did such an awesome job!

Resolution updates...

The weight loss is going well ... of course, that could be because I have the stomach flu and haven't been able to eat anything for 2 days. An effective, but not very desirable method of weight loss. This of course negates resolution number 8, cook more - don't much feel like cooking if I'm not going to eat.

Finally, resolution number 7 is cruising right along. However, I've switched from knitting the kitty pi, to knitting a kitty tunnel. Infinitely easier project for someone just learning to knit in the round. I'll post pictures of my progress soon.

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder...

Before we officially take it down, I wanted to share with you all the lovely light fixture that is currently hanging in my dining room:










The horseshoe is my favorite part...