Harry Potter Update

I'm not done. So, for those that are please don't tell me anything because I did blow some of it for myself by accident.

My Entertainment Weekly magazine dedicated the entire issue to "Harry Potter Mania", and I was skimming through it and saw a picture of one an actress who is playing one of the characters in the book. So, I read the caption to find out who the actress is, and realized they were listing all the characters who have died! Very sad to see some of the listed. After that I closed the magazine up and passed it along to my co-worker!

Finally pictures (pt. 2- Living Room)

Here is our living room:

You can really see the color of our walls on this first picture:


This is the one of the windows where we redid the trim work. I painted the outside trim, and when we get new blinds I'll go back and paint inside. It turned out really good. Sorry the picture isn't that great.



(oops! should have straightened up a bit!)

Finally some pictures (Pt. 1- The Deck)

I have finally gotten around to taking a few pictures of the house. Brenton painted/treated the deck before he left for Maine, so I took a couple of pictures of that. Looking at the before picture, you can see how much better it looks now!

I ripped out all the bushes around it, because they were dying and I think I'd like to have a flower garden instead. We also took out the lattice but I'm thinking I'd like something there. Athena has gotten out a couple of times and will hide under the deck because she knows she is in trouble. Same goes for Emma. She'll be outside in the morning, and won't come back in the house when it is time for me to leave for work. Plus, Emma dug a hole under it. I swear it is hard being a single parent!

Here is a before picture:



After pictures:

Harry Potter Mania!!

In a little over 24 hours I will have my hands on the final Harry Potter book! Granted, if I was young I'd have my hands on the book in 14 hours but I am not waiting up til midnight to battle the crowds when I can just wait. Plus, I still need to finish my other book I'm reading!

But this final Harry Potter book is going to be good! I think Harry will die. It would make sense. And Dumbledore is not dead, and Snape is not evil. But, we'll see!

March of the Librarians

One more thing about the conference, if you ever wonder what us librarians do there, you must watch "March of the Librarians". This was taken at the mid-winter conference for ALA this past year. The conference was held in Seattle (my favorite city!). Yes, we have two conferences a year: one in January (mid-winter) and another in June (annual). Mid-winter isn't as big as annual. I have to say that I do enjoy going to these because it has given me a chance to see some great cities!

What am I reading?

If you read the previous entry, I mentioned that I got a lot of books at the ALA conference. I am currently reading Joy Fielding's, "Mad Moon Road" (which I got at my library). It is about a women who ran away from her abusive husband while he was in jail. Now that he is out, he changed his name, killed her friend to get her address, and hooked up with a lost women he claims to love even though he beats her too. I'm not quite finished but I should be in time for Harry Potter this Saturday.

I also managed to read two books while at the conference. I read Mary Higgins Clark's "Two Little Girls in Blue" (bought this one). It was good. Easy, fast read. I read the new book by Anita Shreve "Body Surfing" (got this one at ALA mid-winter). At first I had a hard time getting into it. I didn't like how it was written. A lot of short paragraphs, and I had a hard time with it. But, once I did get into it, I really enjoyed it!

One of the books I got at the conference last month is "Frenemies". Not sure if it is out yet, but I think it might be. It is chick lit, and was fun to read. About a women approaching the big 3-0, and wanting to have the perfect career, a boyfriend, and something else I can't remember. Anyways, it was good.

I also brought back for Brenton the book "Dishwasher: One Man's quest to wash dishes in all 50 states". He LOVED it! I'll have to have him write a post about it.

Oh! Before I forget: I have to recommend the book, "The Spellman Files". It was so much fun to read! I loved it! It is about a women who works for her families private eye business, and wants a normal life except they don't believe her so they follow her everywhere. It is hilarious! Check it out at your local library!

And any books you no longer want, consider donating them to your local Friends of the Library.

ALA pt.2

Well, I actually never did a ALA part 1 but hey it's our blog and I can do what I want to!

So, ALA (American Library Association) was exhausting (and I sadly got a little sick also)! I arrived on Friday, June 22nd late for my 4pm meeting. I am always nervous when traveling to new cities. I think I come across very cool, like I know what I'm doing, but not really. I rode the Metro to my hotel which was down the block from the Capital. The weather in DC was great! I walked some but mainly rode the bus.

Saturday, more meetings.

Sunday, more meetings.

Monday, I finally was able to go to a program. This program discussed ways to use Flickr, YouTube, and other social networking tools to attract patrons to your library. It was interesting, and from talking to people I got some great ideas. The best part of going to conferences is meeting people and exchanging ideas. I probably learned more from talking to fellow librarians than attending anything else at the conference.

I also managed to grab some bags. I kept a few and gave the rest to people I work with. And I grabbed A LOT of books! I got so many free books. I can never say I have nothing to read!

If Hannibal Lector had a dog...

Brenton and I think this is what it would look like: