What I Read: June 2012

People think that working behind the desk at a library would be a piece of cake- and they often tell me so.  Those 3 minutes I get between crazy pants patrons complaining about things I can't control when suddenly someone comes up and casually mentions that a child has pooped on the carpet?  The patron who curses at children during story time or burps in my face?  The 25 boxes of materials that come in each day that need to be scanned, sorted and called before anyone can take a lunch break or else we'll drown in books? That last minute rush to get an item that "I need to read in the next 30 minutes!  What do you mean you don't have in in stock!?" Or the patron who I repeatedly confess my personal hatred of who keeps coming back, each week, and gets in my face to tell me that I, personally, am pathetic, like this whole damn place?

Those people don't make it easy.  But the books- oh the books- they help.

Here was my list for June 2012

1.  Gypsy Boy:  My life in the secret world of Romany Gypsies by Mikey Walsh.  (288 pages)  Whoa.  This book was intense.  I was fascinated and moved and angry and so so so glad that Walsh wrote this book.  Wonderful read, but I would not consider it a "light, summer read."  

2.  The Undrowned Child by Michelle Lovric.  (425 pages)  A historical ficition meets science fiction novel in the juvenile section!  Sign me up!  Smart, funny, and with an index!!  A strong female character who doesn't sit around waiting for something to happen or someone to save her- a first novel for this author but a strong one.

3.  Harriet the Spy by Louise Fitzhugh (320 pages).  I picked this up for my cousin who stayed with me one night but I ended up reading it myself.  I loved the movie (flashback anyone?) and the book deserves to be a classic.

4.  Strawberry Girl by Lois Lenski (208 pages).  An award winner and a classic.  I picked this up with Harriet the Spy.

5.  The Maze Runner

6.  The Scorch Trials 

7.  The Death Cure- all by James Dashner (1120 pages total).  This trilogy is a tough one to stay on our shelves so I figured I'd see what all the fuss was about.  Was not my thing really- made the Hunger Games look like a chess tournament, but I did finish all three books in three days... so I couldn't have disliked it too much...

8.  The Discovery of Witches by Debrah Harkness (592 pages).  This was my second time reading this book but it still counts.  The sequel comes out on July 10th- I'm taking the day off to read it because I ordered it months ago and it gets delivered on that day... so I needed a refresher on the story.

9.  Bloom by Kelle Hampton (288 pages).  A wonderful memoir about loving your children and learning to enjoy the small things.  Kelle has a wonderful blog that I've read for a while now and her book was equally as charming.

10.  Let's Pretend This Never Happened by Jenny Lawson (336 pages).  I cried I laughed so hard and I cried I felt so strongly for her.  I loved this book so much I went out and bought a signed copy at Square Books.  

11.  The Moneyless Man: A year of freeconomic living by Mark Doyle (199 pages).  Exactly what it sounds like.  Eye opening and well told- this memior was well told and had an index.  This girl loves an index.

12.  Becoming Sisterwives:  The Story of an Unconventional Marriage by the Brown Family (288 pages).  Eh.  There are pologymist families I like better.  I've never seen the show, but I did not love this family on a personal level and so everything they said I had a hard time with.  Just like my opinion man.

And that's it.  Just 12 books this month and 4064 pages.  Looking back now that I've typed out my list, I'm not as impressed with myself as I was when I started this post.  But I will feel much better when all of this stuff gets turned back in on Monday.  

And that's all.  I know, I know 

Snapguide Practice Post

My cousin Baleigh is coming to babysit me in a week so I thought it would be fun to send her a box of stuff to help her prepare. I knew this package would be greatly anticipated so I wanted it to be fun to open.

Then I downloaded a new app called Snapguide and figured that while I was at it, I would practice with that too. So here is a preview for my box and my first attempt at Snapguide. Look at me using my iPhone! Woo-hoo!

Welcome to My House Box

Good morning!

The following makes the burg very nervous. The Pooto does not care and can sleep through anything. Including his sister's non stop barking.

And Just Like That...

I am sorry to say that I spoke too soon.  Our sweet bunny took a turn for the worse last night and although he did drink a little of his formula this morning, he is not doing well.  I feel really guilty and terrible about the whole thing.  Every website I used to mix his complicated formula and to order his fancy baby bunny bacteria described how hard it is to save a bunny this young who has been taken from his mother, but still I thought we had a chance.

We are keeping him snuggly and I made a contribution to MS Animal Rescue League because they were incredibly helpful in directing me to websites as well as offering some personal advice.

We have not lost sight of raising rabbits either.  We have a hutch built after all.  So we are scanning craigslist and going to the farmer's market today to ask the "meat guy" if he knows of any as well.

Loosing animals is hard.

Rabbit People

I spent most of Saturday morning complaining that Marco wouldn't let me have one of the free kittens we saw on the Square.  FREE KITTENS.  In fact, I spent most of the time we were making tire decisions, bike decisions and lunch decisions discussing all of the reasons I should be allowed to have a free kitten.  Marco continued to say no.

And then I got a group message from co worker- L describing how a rabbit family had been recently murdered by dogs and only one tiny survivor remained... did she know anyone who was willing to take care of it and love it forever??  Apparently she did.

He is a very grumpy bunny who does not like drinking from his bottle, but he takes his fancy Bene Bac and that is really what matters the most.  Here's to the best compost in Oxford!

Outdoor Table Remake

It was pretty simple.  We needed an outdoor table that we didn't have to worry too much about.  But what we had was this:

and  

but after a few cuts and some screwing (tehehehe) we had this:

Marco was not here when I was staining/painting it so I added the blue around the edge.  Luckily he likes it!  One less table in the trash and one more table on our deck.