This month starts my “summer schedule” of working only Mondays! 

Checked out: The Moth Diaries by Rachel Klein

and Blasphemy by Richard Preston, which my husband promptly confiscated to read.

To buy: I Took My Frog to the Library by Eric A. Kimmel

Web site of the day: www.intelligenttravel.typepad.com

The Stow-Munroe Falls Public Library’s Children’s Department has been nominated for TWO Parents Picks awards: Best little kids Public Library and best big kids Public Library.  Here’s the info:

What does it all mean? Well, from May 19 – June 30, your business–along with all of the other ParentsConnect.com Parents’ Picks Nominees–will be featured as our “top picks”. All of our members will be encouraged to vote to determine who wins the official Parents Picks Awards! Visit ParentsConnect.com/ParentsPicks and select a city to see a list of the nominees.

Not only do we have a great library, but our online resources are great too.  Visit the SMFPL website and check out the Children’s Department!  Go to ParentsConnect.com and vote – I did and so far the results show SMPFL in the lead!!

This year’s Summer Reading Program is Catch the Reading Bug.  If summer means a long break, a different season, a slow down, kids at home, vacation, different schedule, or nothing at all: buzz on over to your local library and participate in a reading program for fun.

After getting accepted to graduate school a few weeks ago, yesterday a ‘we regret to inform you’ letter showed up.  I was immediately suspicious due to the thinness of the envelope.  The letter said that the scholarship was very competitive.  It was such a disappointment and a blow to my ego.  My grades were good; I work at a library; my age either helped or hurt; I’ve traveled overseas.  Was it my essay?  Was it truly that competitive?  Is there a waiting list in case someone ends up not enrolling?  I may never know…but I do know that I still love my job; I am happy with my life; and I can now enjoy a stress-free, no pressure, relaxing summer while I plan my next move.  It will be embarrassing to show up at work and let everyone whose been rooting for me the news of my failure.  Ugh – being confident can really backfire. 

Happy Mother’s Day to Idol fans and their kids.

This one is for girlfriday.
 

Today I checked out a couple books on aquariums: Fish: Keeping and Breeding in Captivity; Setting up Your First Aquarium by Dr. Herbert R. Axelrod and Tropical Fish; Every important Group of Freshwater Fishes Covered by Neal Pronek.  My granddaughter, Rae, is turning ONEnext week and I want to get her an aquarium.  She’s frightened of animals (a trip to the zoo was a total bust) but loves to watch fish.  During a trip to PetSmart, I found a Sesame Street aquarium!  It’s the ONE!!!

I also checked out Fighting Invisible Tigersby Earl Hipp; a book for teens on managing stress.  This was available at paperbackswap.com, so I ordered it.  Speaking of paperbackswap.com, I received a book ordered a couple weeks ago: The Little House by Virginia Lee Burton.  It was one of my favorites as a kid. 

Very Important Feedback: I made the Banana Split Pizza for a baby shower and it was soooo delicious that we never did cut the cake!  Speaking of Banana Splits, I got an email announcement from the Facebook Banana Splits group about joining Were You Born in the 60’s? 

ON THE FLIP SIDE:

TBR:

Neanderthalby John Darnton

To Buy:

Meet Me in St. Louis by Robert Jackson – I found this in the Children’s nonfiction and since I have a program from the fair, this would make a nice complement to it.

The Boy Who Was Raised by Librarians by Carla Morris - I just love kids books about libraries.

I’ve downloaded Live Writer to see if inserting items and adding Plug-Ins would be easier.  So here’s a test!

Hopefully I can add an additional blog – MoInk

Here’s a picture:

For a video, I believe I need to add Windows Mail so that I can log into Windows Live and upload a video.

Ah Ha!  One of the Plug-ins is Insert Video.  So I’ll add that and anything else that looks interesting.  Well, still asks for my ID (email account) but I’ve found it so, here goes: but it says no videos to upload.  Maybe I should read the instructions!

Ok, think I got that figured out.  That’s the part I hope is easier and more intuitive than WordPress.

Now to check out the Plug-ins.

Well, Plug-ins were not all that interesting, so I think I’ll try to get this into my drafts online.

Perfect!  The post was filed in drafts on both WordPress and Live Writer.  I published from Live Writer and it took the drafts off both lists and now I’m editing in WordPress – very very cool so far!

I love the Banana Split Show, which shows my age.  Today I found a recipe for Banana Split Pizza:

Banana Split Brownie Pizza

1 package (19.5 oz) brownie mix
1 package (8 oz) cream cheese softened
1 can (8 oz) crushed pineapple, drained
2/3 cup powedered sugar
1/2 cup nuts
Strawberries
Banana
Chocolate syrup and whipped cream

Preheat oven to 375° F. Prepare brownie mix according to package directions. Place parchment paper on 15-inch baking stone. Pour brownie mixture on paper and spread into 14-inch circle. Do not bake without parchment paper or batter will run off stone while baking.  Or use a round pizza pan instead.

Bake 15-20 minutes or until set. Cool completely. Mix cream cheese and sugar until smooth. Spread over brownie crust. Drain (reserve juice) and spread pineapple on top.  Slice banana and strawberries.  Dip banana in pineapple juice to prevent browning.  Chop nuts. Arrange fruits and nuts on top of cream cheese mixture. 

Top with whip cream.  Drizzle with chocolate syrup. Chill.

Rare Journeys

Ian Baker, who wrote The Heart of the World: A Journey to the Last Secret Place, a story about looking for Shangra-La in Tibet’s Tsangpo valley, also has a website that “ offers educational adventure travel to some of the Earth’s wildest and most compelling destinations.”  That’s going on my bucket list for sure.

TBR:  

Twisted by Laurie Halse Anderson. 

I read Speak last year when it was assigned in my son’s language arts class.  I also rented the movie.  Highly recommended young adult reading.  Check out the author’s website, it is extremely well done.

After seeing the movie, I checked out the book by Cormac McCarthy.  Wow – it is just like living in the movie.  Mr. McCarthy received a Pulitzer Prize for The Road, another book to add to my TBR list.  My regret is not keeping count of the murdered since I wondered how many there were after seeing the movie.  I’m halfway through the book and can’t remember how many to that point.  There’s a lot of dead people in this story. 

Bonus info!  Brad Pitt reads the audio books.  Now you can have Brad read you a bedtime story.  You know…Brad….bed…story.  heh heh

I picked up this book by Brad Warner a few weeks ago.  He also wrote Hardcore Zen.  He is from Akron (just down the street from me) and is playing at the Kent Stage (down the street the other way) with his band, 0DFx (Zero Defects) on May 4, the anniversary of the Kent State shootings.  I’m taking my son since the band is an old school punk band and Brad is the bass player (my son plays 4-string and 6-string bass). 

Through Brad’s website, I found KentZendo, a local group that has regular meetings for teaching and zazen (seated meditation).  Maybe I will check it out!

Personal notes re: Kent State:

• My dad worked there doing elevator maintenance for Otis Elevators and was at work the day of the shootings.
• I attended Kent for one year in 1980.
• I have applied to graduate school and a full scholarship at Kent in the School of Library Science.  The scholarship is for Youth Librarians with a focus on museums.