fancy, schmancy, mocha, choca, latte

Yes, that is what my husband ordered for me yesterday at Starbucks. We went to mass (got lectured on the new HHS ruling) and then headed to the grocery store and the nearest coffee stop, which was Starbucks. We were in Krogers for less than 10 minutes as all I needed was cole slaw and some tomatoes. In Starbucks, we got our hot beverages of choice, I really wanted a white chocolate mocha, and then drove back to church so we could sit in the parking lot and wait for the three kids to finish with PRE.

Once we got home, it was time to start preparing dinner. We had my boss over again as he was in town thru the weekend. He is always fun and an easy dinner guest. Then we had a variety of TV shows to choose from, but wound up watching an hour of the Grammys followed by The Walking Dead and then I caught the last hour of Downton Abbey.

We might get snow today! It would be quite the birthday treat for my youngest to have snow on his birthday.

I did read two very different YA books in the last several days. More on those tomorrow.

Happy Monday!

library board

I had my library board orientation yesterday. The director and I sat down and for 90 minutes we went over what the library has done in the last 6 years and what they hope to achieve in the next several years. Of course our local school issue plays into some of those goals for the future. A lot of unanswered questions there, but some exciting possibilities as well. While the director and I haven't always seen eye to eye on some issues, she has never been afraid to try new things and to think outside of the box when it comes to what the library's mission might be. She truly wants our library to be a 'hub' in our community and works very hard at providing all our citizens with a variety of programs and resources.

I was quite excited to learn that our investment in Overdrive will be increased next fiscal year. She is taking a small percentage from each department's acquisitions budget and allocating it to e-books. Yippee! She also shared stats with me from Overdrive regarding circulation. Interesting stuff.

We will have our first board meeting this spring in order to accept donations from not only the Friends but also some other local civic groups. We will also be changing some policies at that time on books claimed to be lost. Fun stuff!

So, it was a good meeting. Today is my Friday, yet again. Wow. The week went really fast and with the kids having tomorrow off due to a teacher 'in service' day, I need to make a plan to not only get my normal chores done, but to also have some fun with them along the way.

Enjoy your weekend when it does arrive.

the family picture

We missed getting our picture taken for the church pictorial directory last time they put one together. I believe procrastination and soccer played a role in that happening. This time, we have an appointment and are planning on trooping over there to smile for the camera on Saturday afternoon. Right after the boy takes the ACT for the very first time. He should be good and zombie like for the event!

We've had two other professional family portraits done. The first one was when the oldest kid was a baby and I was pregnant with kid number two.  The second one was after all three kids were here, but the boy was quite young and I had to strong arm him into sitting still on my lap. I don't so much as have a grin as a grimace on my face. Both photos were for our parish in Indiana.

I thought this opportunity was coming at a good time as it just before the oldest heads off to college.

Coordinating the clothing will be my next task and may prove more difficult than trying to coordinate five people's schedules to allow us to make the appointment!

I'm up to the task. I really want this photo taken.

the sound and the fury

The oldest is sitting here at the kitchen table reading "The Sound and the Fury."  She should have read this yesterday afternoon, but she fell asleep on the couch. Although we didn't curtail our usual noisiness, she slept until dinner time.

I remember reading this book back during my senior year in high school and stumbling through the first chapter. In fact, she just finished Wuthering Heights, which I also read my senior year. I had to write a 10 page term paper on WH; oh what good times I had!

She doesn't like the Bronte sisters. She hated Jane Eyre and only disliked WH. I will be interested to hear her opinion of Faulkner. Her class has already talked about traveling south, just a short jaunt, to see his home in Mississippi. Field Trip!

Happy Tuesday.....enjoy the day!

the ads, the halftime show and the food

Four years ago we had a group over to watch the Super Bowl. The Pats and the Giants were playing. Fast forward to last night and we had a group of friends over to watch the Super Bowl. The Pats and the Giants were playing, again. Smaller group last night, but still a good time and we had enough food to feed four times the number of folks.

We laughed at the ads. Who can resist a sling shot baby grabbing a bag of Doritos, or even Matthew Broderick revisiting his Ferris Bueller character for Honda. Then there was the Clint Eastwood commercial which was delivered with the style, grace and power that only a man like Clint can provide. Madonna moves and looks like she is no where near her 50's and she can still entertain with the best of them. She's stood the test of time and finished up with "Like a Prayer" the song that became an anthem after it was such a 'controversy.' Wonder if Lady Gaga will be still on her game at that age.

Of course, I was happy the game was a game. It wasn't over until the clock expired and the final buzzer sounded.  Nothing worse than a Super Bowl that is a blow out.

And so, with that behind us, our week begins. Lots and lots of stuff going on this week. Happy Monday!

a writing journey

When I first started this blog years ago, I was actively writing fiction. I had a couple of novels underway and several short stories started. I even finished some of them! They are still stored on this laptop and a jump-drive, because, some day I might get back into writing fiction again.

The Library and the Friends slowly began to consume more of my life and my free time about 6 years ago. I was writing, a lot, but it was either about the bookstore or about book sales or our group in general. That writing satisfied my need to create. I was doing good work and I was seeing my name in the newspaper on a regular basis. It was fun!

Now, I get paid to put words down on paper, well, actually a screen. The writing I'm doing for the Friends has been cut back to a monthly emailed newsletter via Constant Contact. I created the template and craft the content for this piece. Each month this newsletter goes out to over 100 members of the Friends. I don't mind doing it, but I have to say that after working at my paying job, sometimes the last thing I want to do is work on that newsletter.  I had meant to write a press release for our new officers and announce not only their election, but several other 'newsy' things going on with the group. It is now February and I haven't done it yet.  Maybe this weekend. Maybe.

As my work week seems to fly by and the weekends are filled with family activities, it is difficult to push away from everything and write. Frankly, I'd rather grab my Nook and spend that free time reading.

I've rambled on a bit, but what prompted this was the subtitle on my blog. It mentions my writing journey. My journey hasn't been what I'd expected or even hoped it would be at one point. It has, however, made me happy and brought me to the good place I am today.

Whatever your writing journey holds in store for you, sometimes what seems like a detour is really the new direction you should take. My detour into writing for the Friends led me to the job I now hold, a job that has been such a blessing for my family.

Enjoy the journey, each step along the way, bumpy road and all.

friends of the library annual report

As I've done for the past four years, I compiled some basic stats on what the Friends accomplished in 2011 and used MS Publisher to create a spiffy looking document for the group. Hubby printed copies at his office and the current president now has them to hand out for tomorrow.

I don't mind doing this task, it is rather interesting to see what we've done over the past year and the cumulative results since we started tracking this information.

While the Library does a nice job of recognizing the Friends, seeing those numbers in one document, brings smiles and usually lots of applause at the February meeting.

I won't be there tomorrow, so I will have to hear second hand how the report is received by the group. I gave the president extra copies to provide the Contemporary Club. That was the group who first started a library in our town over 50 years ago.

Not sure if I want to continue with this task or not, as I continue to scale back my involvement, but it has been a rewarding one. Always fun when you can show folks just what their countless hours of time and energy created.