Best of friends 

Did you see that Sammy? Whoa! 

Bird-cats

In a post from a while ago, I wrote about how Sammy is a cat-pigeon hybrid. Well, I've got another one. Monkey is another hybrid. A cat-parrot hybrid. Believe it or not, everytime I come home from work, the gym, or just to get the mail, Monkey scurries up to the head of my armchair and yowls until I walk toward him at which point he climbs up my shirt and perches, yes perches on my shoulder while I walk around in my routine (setting down my stuff, taking shoes off, feeding the boys, etc.). He's a gorgeous, albeit weird, creature...he fits in nicely. :) Monkey and Sammy are now together 24/7, whether I'm home or not. There's lots of grooming, laying around together and tons and TONS of playing, or should I say rough-housing. This is super cute, until it's time for bedtime at which point I end up throwing something like a sock or a pillow at them just to get them to "take it outside" (or at least out of my bedroom).

On a different note, I participated in my first program at the library. It was called Winter Fest and it was attended by between 35-40 kids ages 6-10. It was a lot of fun, and quite exhausting. We played relay races, made crafts, decorated cookies, drank hot chocolate and had a great time. I have a very, very busy couple of months ahead of me. In fact, I think I'm just going to be busy all the time at my new job...a breath of fresh air compared to where I used to be.

Welcome to the family!

Well, I officially have two cats. My co-worker lovingly calls me "Sally Two-Cat." Monkey has been a wonderful addition to my teeny apartment. He's super loving, super playful, and absolutely gorgeous. I promise to post pictures once I finish a role and put them on CD. Sammy is sometimes a little unsure about what to think of Monkey but he's starting to understand that Monkey is not a threat, as well as the fact that Monkey is not a dog. It's kind of a new concept for him. It'll be interesting to see who becomes the dominant cat in the household. At first I thought it would for sure be Sammy but now I'm questioning that.

Work has been wonderful, if not slightly overwhelming. I'm finding that I have a lot of ideas and thoughts but it's crucial to narrow those down to concrete ideas and thoughts. This is something else my co-workers are very helpful for. They have much more experience than me and are able to reel me down to earth when I fly off into oblivion (which I do moreso than I care to admit).

I also get a bit overwhelmed when I think about how much literature I have yet to even hear about. I spent a lot of time in my youth hating reading (yes, I AM a librarian) so I have a lot of time to make up for. I'm hoping that my knowledge of children's music literature (thanks to MK and her many years as a choir director) will slightly make up for my lack of children's literature in general. I'm sure it'll all even out eventually. We all have to start somewhere, right?

A good story from today: A little girl (probably about 3rd grade) came up to the desk.

Girl: Um...where are your Biscuit books? (Biscuit is a cartoon dog character)
Me: I'll show you! Right over here.
---About 10 minutes pass, girl walks up to desk again.
Girl: Um...I guess I was confused. Where are your Junie B. Jones books? (another popular character)

I don't know if that was as cute and funny to you as it was to me, but I got a real kick out of it.

Me and Lucy

I know everyone's seen this already, but I just had to include it in my blog. It's me and the Gooster. Best ever!!

Long time now blog...again

First thing's first. Pretend it is yesterday (Monday 1/16) for a minute: HAPPY BIRTHDAY LUCY!!! BEST DAY EVER!!! My neicey turns one today!!! Yay!!

Okay, back to the present. For those of you who actually read this mess (well, I'm sorry for that), and I'm sorry for the lack of updates. It's been a crazy couple of weeks. I am deep in the throes of children's and young adult librarianship and I LOVE it!!! Sure, I haven't actually started doing all that is my job but I have nevertheless been super busy getting the lay of the land, observing, training, and getting to know my co-workers (who are awesome, by the way). I don't yet have too much to report in terms of how the job is going or any good stories but I will keep everyone posted.

However, I have some exciting news. (GMK, get ready to roll your eyes)...I'm getting another cat! Life in the apartment has been quieter, but actually kind of lonely with just me and the Sammy cat. Sammy is very lovey-dovey and starving for attention but I can tell he's also a little bored. The director of the library I work at has a cat she wants to find a good home for and after seeing a picture and hearing his description, I decided it was time for me and Sammy to have another addition to our furry family. The new cat's name is Monkey and he is drop dead gorgeous. Monkey will be arriving on Saturday and once I get some pictures, I will post them to the blog because you're definitely going to want to see them. Yay for cats!

Now while I know it is for the best for Levi, I miss him terribly. I love that dog so much and while I have no regrets about my decision and I know he's happy, I still miss him everyday.

Well that's all for now.

So long old friend

Well, I am now officially sans dog. I dropped Levi off at his new place of residence yesterday. It has been so sad it's hard to really swallow. However, I take a lot of solace in these facts:

• He has loving, caring, affectionate owners with a great sense of humor
• He has a huge backyard that will give his nose something to do for hours on end
• He has more than one owner and therefore does not rely on just one person to let him out
• He won't have to deal with an exhausted Sassy at the end of her day

And from my end, I get some comfort when I think about this:

• I won't have to deal with the gut-wrenching guilt when I can't come home for lunch
• I will now be able to go out with friends and not constantly worry about how he's doing
• I will no longer have to make sure I'm giving enough attention to both Sammy and Levi (a very difficult feat)
• I won't have to worry about what I'm going to do with him when I visit family and friends who don't live in Florence.
  

Both of us are going to be better off with this situation but it doesn't really take away the sadness. That'll go away soon, I'm sure of it. And my guess is Levi is already adjusting very well to his new surroundings. After all, he no longer has to deal with a temperamental, spotlight-stealing cat. Such weirdos.

And so begins 2006

First off, I have to tell you about one of the first dreams I had of 2006. I dreamt that I had a giant black bear as a house pet. Rather, an apartment pet. Not only was the bear full of energy and wild, he was obsessed with and fixated on pickles. Why pickles? I don't know. Why not?

Well, I have officially finished two days at my brand spankin' new job. It's going to be a complete whirlwind for the first month. They have virtually every hour of everyday of January filled with training, observing, planning, etc. I also have a few programs scheduled that I will be running! One of them is even centered on Dr. Seuss! Best ever! They were also very excited to hear that I am a musician because they have always wanted to utilize music in programing but have not had the opportunity.

I've (already) been so busy with work that I have not had time to come home to take care of Levi during lunch. It makes the decision to give Levi to my friends in WL all the more obvious as the right choice. Okay, that was the most awkward sentence ever written. But you get my drift. It was a good decision and it's going to benefit all parties. Most importantly, Levi. I'm going to miss him but he is going to be so much happier.

Best and Worst

Top ten worst of 2005

10. Gas prices.
9. Working and living in a budget.
8. Using my Christmas bonus for stupid tires.
7. Transitions. Change is just hard. Plain and simple.
6. Living for the weekend.
5. My apartment (it's just too small)
4. Learning the hard way
3. Trying to find a schedule
2. Working 40 hours a week. Who thought that was a good idea?
1. The decision to give up Levi.

Top ten best of 2005

10. Librarian's Index to the Internet
9. Working and living within a budget.
8. Getting a Christmas Bonus!!
7. Knitting
6. Lost
5. Family Blogs
4. His Dark Materials by Philip Pullman (the whole trilogy)
3. Sammy and Levi
2. Being an aunt!!! Best job ever.
1. Teb's Troops

New year, new changes

As is so common, I am realizing how much has changed just within the past few months, let alone the past year. It's hard for me to believe that just a year ago I was deep in the throes of graduate school not even considering the next step. Had someone told me "you will be the director of a college library in Florence, Kentucky," I would have responded, "yeah right, get over yourself." And yet, here I am. Sometimes I don't know how I got here, but here I am. It has been a phenomenal experience with lots of learning and networking opportunities.

And I am now starting a new year fresh and ready to go. Tomorrow is my last day at the college and Monday I start as a children's librarian (yay!). I've had one relationship end which was a big change, but a good one and the best for all involved. I decided this past weekend to give my wonderful, loving, compassionate and slightly crazy dog to a wonderful family in West Lafayette. That will probably be the biggest and hardest change of all, believe it or not. I am not worried about Levi, he adapts very well and he loves people so I know he'll do very well in the long run. It will inevitably be harder for me than for him. But I've always got my Sammy boy. He's the best cat on earth (not that I'm biased). And who knows? Maybe this'll make way for another perfect (and low-maintenance) kitty in the future. It's hard to say.

The best lesson I've learned this year is to take it one day at a time. You never know what's around the bend and no matter how much you prepare for one scenario, it's often the case that a situation arises that you never even imagined.

I've also learned how important my family is to me. Their support, encouragement and love has helped me more than I can say during this time of confusion and anxiety. I know that while I am farther (further?) from some of them geographically, I feel closer to them than ever and I always look forward to our time together. Cheesy? Yes. Sincere? Absolutely.

I have also learned the value of compromise. The more time goes by, the more situations I am in which challenge me academically, professionally and personally. I believe each person has a core set of values and beliefs that they cannot (and should not) compromise, but beyond that, it is important to be flexible and considerate of other people's core set. Every situation is a learning opportunity and every person offers a new perspective and worldview.

I am slowly learning about limitations. Everyone has them and we might as well respect our own. It makes life much easier to deal with when you're not going outside of your limitations.

One lesson I have yet to learn: cooking. Well really, anything dealing with kitchens. Stupid kitchens. I hate kitchens. I second MK's wish for a Star Trek Replicator. *sigh* If only...

And finally, there are few things in life that are more important than people. All we have is each other so we might as well be good to one another. It may sound goofy or obvious, but all too often we take it for granted.

Well that's my thought for today. I better go eat some raisins.

Some of these may look familiar

Officially official

Well, the word's out. I am officially leaving Beckfield College and venturing onto new professional highways. It was an incredibly hard decision, for I have made some wonderful connections both personally and professionally while working at this college. But, I was offered a position as the Youth Services Librarian at a branch of the Boone County Public Library in Walton, KY. I specialized in children's and young adult services in grad school and I felt a strong pull to accept the position. I have always said I want to be a children's librarian, now's my chance to actually see if that's true! :)

My first day will be January 2, 2006. I'm incredibly excited to start my new job but it's even harder to leave than I had expected. This position was everything I didn't know I needed when I left grad school. It gave me opportunities that helped me understand what it means to be a librarian, and helped me realize how proud I am to say, "I am a librarian." It's such a wonderful profession and I can't imagine myself anywhere else at this point in my life. ...except maybe the Caribbean...or perhaps South America...no, probably the moon. I could see myself on the moon. No, that wouldn't work either, I'd miss MK's and Granny's home cookin' too much.

I'm guessing that I'll now have some excellent stories to post on my blog. Working with children and young adults has a tendency to foster humorous stories of the absurd. Perhaps I'll rename my blog to just that. "Humorous Stories of the Absurd." No, doesn't quite fit as well as "Sassy Daze".

Online shopping

Many of you know that iGive.com is an online shopping organization where certain percentages of your purchases go to LSA (or other charity of your choise). Well, I just read the Kentucky Library Association's newsletter and discovered a similar site, but for public libraries. Here's the excerpt from In-Fo-Cus:

"As you think about buying holiday gifts online, you can raise money for your local public library at the same time. Shop for the Library is a fundraising program available at no charge for use by any U.S. public library, Friends group, or library foundation. Every purchase initiated from the site (www.shopforthelibrary.net) generates a commission for the library of the user's choice. More than 700 merchants are participating, including big retailers like Macy's, Gap, and Circuit City. Benefits include: no cost to the libraries, other than local promotion; no additional cost to library users--they simply support the library through everyday online purchasing; and easy-to-use optional one-time software download ensures the library gets a commission. Promotional materials for participating libraries are available on the web site under the 'about' link. The project is a joint venture of i2i Communications and TopMoxie."

bored

tr.v.

bored, bor-ing, bores. To make weary by being dull, repetitive, or tecious: The movie bored us.

n.

One that is wearingly dull, repetitive, or tedious.

[Origin unknown.]

Bored

adj 1: tired of the world; "bored with life"; "strolled through the museum with a bored air" [syn: world-weary] 2: uninterested because of frequent exposure or indulgence; "his vlase indifference"; "a petulent blase air"; "the bored gaze of the successful film star" [syn: blase}

[from Dictionary.com]

Now...guess what kind of day I'M having.

An article from KnitNet, an online magazine for knitters

Three hours from Nice on a northern Italian mountaintop, the art collective "gelitin" has installed a giant knitted bunny that will grace the landscape for the next 20 years. The launch of the work took place on a Sunday morning in September when a procession left the town square in Artesina, Piedmont, for the mountain.

Artanova reports that the 200–foot-long toy rabbit lies on the side of the 5,000 foot high Colletto Fava. Gelatin, it reports, designed the giant soft toy and say it was "knitted by dozens of grannies out of pink wool". Group member Wolfgang Gantner said, "It's supposed to make you feel small, like Gulliver. You walk around it and you can't help but smile."

Gelitin expects hikers to climb the bunny's 20-foot sides and relax on its belly.

Here’s the Artists' statement:“Rabbit [:] The things one finds wandering in a landscape: familiar things and utterly unknown, like a flower one has never seen before, or, as Columbus discovered, an inexplicable continent; and then, behind a hill, as if knitted by giant grandmothers, lies this vast rabbit, to make you feel as small as a daisy.

The toilet-paper-pink creature lies on its back: a rabbit-mountain like Gulliver in Lilliput. Happy you feel as you climb up along its ears, almost falling into its cavernous mouth, to the belly-summit and look out over the pink woolen landscape of the rabbit’s body, a country dropped from the sky; ears and limbs sneaking into the distance; from its side flowing heart, liver and intestines.

Happily in love you step down the decaying corpse, through the wound, now small like a maggot, over woolen kidney and bowel. Happy you leave like the larva that gets its wings from an innocent carcass at the roadside. Such is the happiness which made this rabbit.
i love the rabbit the rabbit loves me.”

http://www.knitnet.com/sampler/current/page2.htm

Well, it gets kinda weird at the end of the article, but I just loved the idea of a giant knitted bunny on a mountain so much, I had to share. Maybe that's what northern Kentucky needs. A giant knitted furry creature to brighten up the town.

Good idea, bad idea

Good idea: Taking your dog on a long winter hike.

Bad idea: Wearing jeans with holes in them on aforementioned winter hike.

A new level of geekdom

Well I have done it again (or I am about to). I have once again proven my geekiness when it comes to my animals. But hey, what can I say? While it may be kind of creepy, they're kind of like kids! :) I splurged on some special items at PetSmart the other day for Sammy and Levi. I'm not going to divulge the secret just yet, but needless to say, many of you will be getting some (hopefully) very funny Christmas pictures this year.

A different thought: Northern Kentucky has no idea what to do with snow. I was joking with my aunts the other night about this happening every single winter. Everyone acts terrified and worried about any upcoming snow. For days and days, the news people fret and frown about the impending doom that is winter. Then, it happens. It snows. The entire area virtually shuts down and everyone goes into hibernation. And for what? ...for 3 inches!! What gives? I was wondering what my family in Minnesota and Wisconsin would think of our reactions down here to such a small amount of snow. I imagine there would be much pointing and laughing involved. My co-workers sarcastically call it "the white death" and that seems to be how many people treat it. I was watching some snow plows this morning on the way to work. They were just basically driving around. Not much plowing was involved. Weird.

Cousins cousins cousins!!

I know the family will all see this twice now, but I just had to brag about how adorable this family is!! I can't believe I actually share DNA with some of these cuties! :)

Cat Hybrid...?

When Sammy first came into my life and he was checked by the vet, the vet informed me that Sammy is part Siamese. This apparantely accounts for his serious vocals. I swear, he has at least 150 different meows for different moods/occasions/desires/needs, etc. For the longest time I have tried to describe one particular sound he makes that I think is so adorable, it makes me want to just curl up and take a cat-nap with him on my lap. The other day, I figured out what it is! Sammy coos! It sounds almost identical to your everyday run-of-the-mill pigeon sound. It's not a purr, not a meow, it's an actual coo! I love it and it is one of the many reasons I can't imagine not having Sammy around me on a daily basis.

A new day for Levi

Levi, as you can tell, is a bonafide hound dog. He is the sweetest dog on earth, but he can also be the loudest if he feels it necessary. When I first adopted Levi, he immediately began showing his tendency towards the anxious, nervous side of living. I lived in an apartment complex and would often come home to hearing loud "rooooooooooos" of a beying hound dog. This was not an option. I tried several attempts at training and ended up relying on a citronella spray collar. It did the trick immediately. A citronella spray collar does just as it says--it sprays citronella whenever it detects a loud noise (a bark) from the dog's neck. The citronella is completely harmless to the dog but it tastes and smells nasty. (I imagine even worse for dogs who smell everything we do times ten, and many things we don't smell). I believe it not only kept him quiet, it also may have calmed him down a bit. The more he would bark, it seems, the more anxious he would get.

Well, it is now been about a year and a half since Levi came into my life. He has calmed down significantly and he does not seem to suffer from separation anxiety anymore. And, he knows the collar so well that if he glimpses a flash of it, he immediately runs into the bedroom and "goes to bed" in preparation of me leaving for work. It was a monumental occasion last week when I (nervously) put away the collar and hoped for the best. He's such a good dog!! Not a peep came from my apartment. What a wonderful dog!