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.

Life

Oh blog... I feel I've really neglected you. It's probably because of all the extra time it takes me to dress in the morning - preggie belly and all. Maybe it is because my TV shows are back on now? Or maybe because I've been blogging elsewhere as well as here! It may even be my addiction to "Knighthood" on Facebook. Regardless, I miss you blog. I'll try to do better.

So as far as what is going on with me, last week was a busy one! My favorite thing about last week was that I went to one of my library kids' school play Thursday night. (I fully intended to blog about this sooner.) It was "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" and the kid that invited me was Willy Wonka, the lead role. Honestly, I was so very proud of him! This little fella is a fifth grader in my fourth and fifth grade reading group. And I know I shouldn't play favorites, but if I did have a favorite kid, he would be it! Anyway, I sat with his folks in the front and was just astounded by this kid's talent. He led the play in narration and musical numbers. I knew several other kids in the play too, which was cool, but I really felt touched that this little fella asked me to come see him in the play. His mom told me how excited he was when he told her that I was coming to see it. Seriously! Very sweet.

The Frak Party on Friday night was great too. Our host friends really went all out for it. Brandon, or Captain Computer as I like to call him, created an awesome ambiance of Galactica trivia, quotes, and cast photos. He even had BSG lite-up ice-cubes to put into my yummy ambrosia (or green koolaide). I was extremely impressed. (This photo is of the some of the signage he posted to lead us all in the right direction...)

Other than all that, Tim and I just had a nice weekend at home, pretty much. We did go to an incredible tag sale on Saturday and find some mad crazy deals. Mainly though, Tim and I did some work to our apartment this weekend. We did a bit of rearranging and he fixed up a baby closet for me too! It was awesome to hang up my little wooden Ikea baby hangers. I'm such a sucker for stuff like that.

Here's to another good week!

Frak Party

I bet you're wondering what that is, eh? Well, if you are a BSG fan, you will know... It's where Tim and I will be tonight! Our buddies Emily and Brandon are hosting one of these tonight for the season 4 premiere and I have to say that I am pretty excited about it. I wish I had this shirt to wear to the party... But I'll live. We're bringing toffee bars to the party tonight; maybe I should chop off the corners of them to make it a bit more authentic. Tim's bringing the last of our bottle of absinthe to represent some "ambrosia" while I'll just be drinking green KOOL-AID. (Don't worry, mom.) Well, I'm off to brush up on my BSG trivia so I can talk the talk tonight. (Here's a great quiz if you want to brush up too!)

Okay, seriously...

Why do people feel at liberty to say stupid things to you when you are pregnant? What is that all about? I realize that I am going to have to answer the same questions over and over again (when I'm due... how far along I am... is it a boy or girl...). I get that. That I don't mind. I don't even mind terribly when people share their horror labor stories; it's like guys comparing scars. But I am sensitive about my weight. Every pregnant woman is sensitive about her weight. So, DO NOT SAY STUFF ABOUT A WOMAN"S WEIGHT, ESPECIALLY IF SHE IS PREGNANT. Seriously. And the problem isn't even men doing this. They know better at this point. It's the ladies.

I'll give you a for-instance: today at work, this stupid chick says to me "How are you feeling?" and launches into what it was like when she was pregnant. That's cool. Whatever. I'm tolerating this. Then she asks how far along I am and I tell her I am almost 4 months. She says "Oh! I thought you were like 2 months." I'm thinking, "Cool. Maybe I am lookin' good." Then chick says, "Well, when I was pregnant you could tell when I was 3 months, but that's because I'm skinny." Oh-no-you-didn't. (Did you pick up on that crap?!? Chick is saying that she is skinny in comparison to me.) She said this to me with a big smile upon her face, as she was wearing one of her famous too-tight shirts that gives her nasty "muffin top" love handles. Real cool.

So, unless you want to be one of THOSE people, tell a pregnant woman she looks fabulous. Go ahead, do it now. (My comment box is open and waiting to be filled!)

Wordless Wednesday - Andy's Maternal Instincts