Cathe Holden (who I blog stalk regularly) has a seemingly never-ending source of creative ideas that I LOVE. Her latest is to take ordinary objects, scan 'em, blow them up (as in make them bigger in size) then print them out and use them for all kinds of things. Check out her post.
Thursday, September 23, 2010
Friday, September 10, 2010
Spider!
I went out to vacuum my car this afternoon and happened to glance down and see this:
These are some great (albeit a tad gruesome for the grasshopper) photos, and it was an interesting scene to stumble upon. In my delight, I proudly showed my newfound spider to The Rock when he arrived home a few hours later (the spider was still latched onto the grasshopper).
With mild amusement he said, "Oh, yeah...and that's a black widow."
"No it's not. There isn't any red on it. I looked."
He leans closer. "Sure there is, it's maybe a little faded."
Scooting my face to within inches of the spider I said, "No. There's no red. Just black." I kept looking, watching the spider move, and then I saw it. There WAS red on it's abdomen.
There was a mad scramble to smash the spider.
The moral of the story is: If you are ever inclined to stick your hands into our flower pots...well, let's just say the Big Bad Black Widow escaped execution tonight. (shiver).
P.S. In honor of the grasshopper (har har).
These are some great (albeit a tad gruesome for the grasshopper) photos, and it was an interesting scene to stumble upon. In my delight, I proudly showed my newfound spider to The Rock when he arrived home a few hours later (the spider was still latched onto the grasshopper).
With mild amusement he said, "Oh, yeah...and that's a black widow."
"No it's not. There isn't any red on it. I looked."
He leans closer. "Sure there is, it's maybe a little faded."
Scooting my face to within inches of the spider I said, "No. There's no red. Just black." I kept looking, watching the spider move, and then I saw it. There WAS red on it's abdomen.
There was a mad scramble to smash the spider.
The moral of the story is: If you are ever inclined to stick your hands into our flower pots...well, let's just say the Big Bad Black Widow escaped execution tonight. (shiver).
P.S. In honor of the grasshopper (har har).
Saturday, September 4, 2010
Thoughts on Being a Librarian and New Releases in Young Adult Fiction
So I started my job as a librarian a few weeks ago. And it's fantastic. My only complaint is that I was already addicted to reading! How often does what you do in your free time coincide with what you do at work?!
I placed my first book order--which means I've been researching new releases, while trying to cram in a bunch of books I wanted to have read so I know who to recommend them to. See what I mean! Work is creeping into my free time territory. (I know: poor me, right?)
Ok, so now you're a wee bit curious as to what's up and coming, right? Well, I'll give you a few YA titles to maybe look forward to yourself. (these are what I would order for my personal library, only some of them will be coming to the library I work for).
Did you know Orson Scott Card is writing a trilogy for YA? Yeah. The first book, by the name of Pathfinder, is scheduled to come out on November 23. I'm curious to see if I'll like it.
And the book The Agency: A Spy in the House is already out, but I haven't read it or heard anything about it until now. (So if you have first hand info on it, give me the scoop!).
Also, (this is a long book post), have you read anything by Brandon Sanderson? I've only read one, Mistborn, and I loved it. The others are on hold all the time, and they are fairly long, so I haven't gotten to them yet. BUT! He has a stand alone book (sigh of relief because this isn't a common thing anymore it seems) called Warbreaker. AND! it's free on the internet right now. I haven't read it yet, but I'm itching to get started on it. Let me know if you do.
One interesting thing is that now it seems people feel obligated to mention books they've heard about or read. Even before I worked at the library I was plenty happy to talk books, but now it seems I can't escape it. I wonder if that happens to high school teachers: people divulge their own high school experiences because that's what they know about high school? I'm undecided as to whether these book confessions are a good thing. Well, either way, you can give me book recommendations, but maybe not too many all at once, seeing as how I'm already bringing home piles of books to read. It's dangerous to methodically go through an entire library's shelves. You might be surprised what you've overlooked.
I placed my first book order--which means I've been researching new releases, while trying to cram in a bunch of books I wanted to have read so I know who to recommend them to. See what I mean! Work is creeping into my free time territory. (I know: poor me, right?)
Ok, so now you're a wee bit curious as to what's up and coming, right? Well, I'll give you a few YA titles to maybe look forward to yourself. (these are what I would order for my personal library, only some of them will be coming to the library I work for).
 | |
| Robing McKinley. Enough said. (Big Mouth here: isn't the cover beautiful too!) |
 |
| Bartimaeus is hilarious (thank you Mr. Stroud for writing another one!) |
 |
| By the author of The Mortal Instruments Series, which I liked well enough. (ok, so this one came out on Aug. 31.) |
 |
| Seems like there might be some time travelish thing between a girl in Revolutionary France and the present day. |
 |
| Girl spy/revolution/disguises... |
Did you know Orson Scott Card is writing a trilogy for YA? Yeah. The first book, by the name of Pathfinder, is scheduled to come out on November 23. I'm curious to see if I'll like it.
And the book The Agency: A Spy in the House is already out, but I haven't read it or heard anything about it until now. (So if you have first hand info on it, give me the scoop!).
Also, (this is a long book post), have you read anything by Brandon Sanderson? I've only read one, Mistborn, and I loved it. The others are on hold all the time, and they are fairly long, so I haven't gotten to them yet. BUT! He has a stand alone book (sigh of relief because this isn't a common thing anymore it seems) called Warbreaker. AND! it's free on the internet right now. I haven't read it yet, but I'm itching to get started on it. Let me know if you do.
One interesting thing is that now it seems people feel obligated to mention books they've heard about or read. Even before I worked at the library I was plenty happy to talk books, but now it seems I can't escape it. I wonder if that happens to high school teachers: people divulge their own high school experiences because that's what they know about high school? I'm undecided as to whether these book confessions are a good thing. Well, either way, you can give me book recommendations, but maybe not too many all at once, seeing as how I'm already bringing home piles of books to read. It's dangerous to methodically go through an entire library's shelves. You might be surprised what you've overlooked.
Thursday, August 12, 2010
Moo's Birthday!
Today is Moo's Birthday!
In honor of her Special Day I'm putting up some linky/videoy things she likes.
In honor of her Special Day I'm putting up some linky/videoy things she likes.
Thursday, August 5, 2010
An Observation
The Geologist and I have made an observation about people who shop/pretend to shop at REI. (We're in the pretend to shop category because we like to go and and admire and touch all the shiny bikes and tent poles, but then we go home and look online for where whatever it is we want is really on sale. REI's idea of 'a sale' is not our idea of 'a sale.')
This last time, we counted roughly 8 altogether, 5 with roof racks. They always park facing Yosemite. Just kidding. But this last time there was quite the bumper crop, and I had to take a picture.
These were at another outdoors store, but as you may guess, not in REI. (The one on the far left is the "Buck and Doe" arrangement. The doe has little antlers, but they're hard to see.) They also sell fake coonskin caps, and if my head were smaller, I'd ask for one for my birthday.
Anyway----we've concluded that on any given day at any given time that we stop in to REI, there will ALWAYS be 1.) a Subaru Outback (usually green) with 2.) a roof rack. Stickers about the environment or similar are optional.
This last time, we counted roughly 8 altogether, 5 with roof racks. They always park facing Yosemite. Just kidding. But this last time there was quite the bumper crop, and I had to take a picture.
Sunday, July 11, 2010
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