Yellow Rose of Texas

Here's a little video I made of the Texas trip. (I worked really hard on this, so you better watch it!)


(As a side note, if you are unable to view this here, you can go here also...)

From the Mixed-Up Files...

I've just finished doing my Read 'N' Rant book club questions and one particular quote from this month's book really stands out for me. It is the Newbery Award winner "From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler" by E.L. Konigsburg. Anyway, here's the quote...

Claudia said, "But, Mrs. Frankweiler, you should want to learn one new
thing every day. We did even at the museum."

"No," I answered, "I don't agree with that. I think you should learn, of course, and some days you must learn a great deal. But you should also have days when you allow what is already in you to swell up inside of you until it touches everything. And you can feel it inside you. If you never take time out to let that happen, then you just accumulate facts, and they begin to rattle around inside you. You can make noise with them, but you never really feel anything with them. It's hollow."

Boy, I think that is really good. I wonder what my 4th and 5th graders will have to say about that quote. Will they get it or will this go right over their heads? Hmmm... We'll see pretty soon!

Texas

Well, as you may or may not have known (sorry again for my lack of blog-motivation as of late), we visited Texas last week for about 5 days. I can't even begin to tell you how badly I needed to get away and how being pampered by family was just what I needed. It was a great visit. I loved seeing my beautiful silly nieces (and one of my handsome nephews, as well). And I loved spending time with Tim's parents, his sister and her hubby, and Tim's big brother and sister in-law, too. And as an extra bonus, we spent an afternoon with Tim's grandparents, aunt and uncle, and also a great aunt that I've wanted to meet for a while. We both had a really nice time.


This trip was full of hanging out with the fam, watching the girls' soccer games, baby-shopping with my sister-in-law and momma-in-law, and a couple of really fun touristy things too. (Tim and I always have a blast doing touristy things, but it is most entertaining to do those things with family.) Tim's sister Angie and hubby Cody took me to my very first rodeo! C-R-A-Z-Y. I drove my niece Cheyanne completely nuts with rodeo questions. She wants to be a barrel racer someday. I can totally see her doing that. We also spent a day in downtown Fort Worth, going to the Arts Festival and to the Botanical Gardens. I'll post pictures pretty soon.


As a side note, one thing I've been thinking about lately is how much I miss family. I'm not sure if it's being pregnant or just that I feel somewhat lonesome up here or what, but I get so jealous of big families that come into the library. Every time I see a kid reveling in the adoration of his / her grandparent, I get kinda envious. I know that both mine and my hubby's parents are (already) incredible grandparents, but I wish that my future kid would get to hang out with our family more often than just holidays and vacations. (Sigh) Someday...

Me & Tanya

Hey! Last night I met up with an old high school buddy! Crazy. We met at Alice's Tea Cup and just got to reminisce about the good ole days and whatnot. We chatted about everything; from our families, our crazy high school French teacher, yummy "Mr. Grayson" and why I almost failed math, people we "hated" in high school (or at least, people I hated...), "Odyssey of the Mind," why we don't believe in high school reunions, our careers, travel, and even politics. How much fun! But how weird is it when you haven't seen someone for 11 years and then see that person from across the street?!? In NYC of all places?!? What an odd feeling. I mean, this was a planned meet-up, but it is still a crazy sensation to recognize how much has changed but how some things will always stay the same. It was so great to see Tanya. She's such a cool chick.

Refrigeration

Look at my fella... all covered in plaster dust. What on earth is going on, you ask? The Bomgardner household has been busy lately. If it isn't one thing, it's another. Well, the latest adventure in our life is a broken fridge. You wouldn't believe how inconvenient one of these could be. First of all, I have mad pregnancy cravings for vanilla ice cream. Well, right now our ice cream is just basically cream and no ice. Gross. So where am I to get my fix?!? Also, yesterday our landlord bought us a new fridge, but he bought (I think) the very biggest one he could find! So, right now, I have two fridges in my teeny tiny kitchen. And with my new pregnant belly, one of us is gonna have to go. It really sucks when you can no longer squeeze into spaces you know you used to be able to squeeze.

So Tim is working on busting out a wall in my kitchen to fit the new fridge in. Seriously, this new refrigerator is TWICE the size of our old one. I think the freezer is the size of our old fridge. Just think of how many tubs of ice cream I can fit into this freezer!!! Oh man. I'm getting so excited just thinking of that. I better go grocery shopping...

"Think Positive"

One of my cool Read 'N' Rant kids that was in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory the other day just came into the library, and I was complementing him on his awesome job, especially on this one song he sang (as Charlie's dad) called "Think Positive." Anyway, this fella totally cracked me up with a funny head-bob he was doing while singing this song. It was one of my favorite parts of the play because this kid is so funny.

Well, he just left and now that song is completely stuck in my head. But you know, that song really says something about this past week for me. I had such a bad day yesterday, you wouldn't even believe. Basically, yesterday a bunch of stuff really came to a head and, like a zit, it needing squeezing.

I've been dealing with territory issues and feeling extremely unappreciated lately at my workplace. This has been an insane frustration for me. I've worked really hard building up a particular collection, fighting my way through for two whole years and making progress inch by inch, but never receiving any type of recognition or respect for what I've done. My library just hired a new person to take over this collection, which is fantastic for the community, but I feel really mixed feelings about the situation and really hurt by the way in which it was handled. I'm trying so hard to be professional about it (and tight-lipped!) and just let this go, but it is really hard. Well, on the positive side of the situation, we got an unannounced visit from someone important in the area who specializes in that collection and I think he was SUPER impressed with me (and not so much with the rest of the culprits)! Boo-ya! Honestly, I don't think there could have been anything else better about that visit and his impression of me, short of a dove appearing from the sky, landing on my head, and a booming voice that said something like "This is my daughter in whom I am well pleased." So regardless of the crazy pettiness here, and regardless of whether I will ever be praised or appreciated by the rest of the staff, I know that elsewhere I am noticed and also that the kids really notice me. (Isn't that what REALLY matters?!?) The best part of the visit was when one of my best (boy) readers came in and was asking me for book suggestions. Perfect timing, for real. And he also bragged on how cool of a librarian I am and about how he loves the reading club I host. Seriously, it couldn't have been better if it was rigged!

Yes, of course there is more to this story (and a couple more stories beside...), but all this to say that today I am seeing how things can come around full circle - if you give it time. And because I handled certain situations positively, I am gonna be the one coming out smelling like a rose. (Or at least fruit flavored.) We'll see.