It seems like I always have the best of intentions to update and then I fail miserably as I lie in bed at night, so perhaps I should write in the morning before my day really gets going. Let's see...

My job has been going really well. It's been difficult adjusting to a new routine, but things are going as well as can be expected. We're in the midst of our Christmas programs. I found a bunch of crafts on this fantastic website: http://www.kidscraftweekly.com. We're making holiday cards next week because I bought a ton of glittery doodads and then we're making Christmas tree ornaments out of felt the next week. I also planned a Holiday Film Fest because I absolutely love watching anything having to do with Rankin & Bass and the Muppets.

Oh, and yesterday I made a Mountain Meadow Chocolate Fudge Cake because we read Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing, so I thought the kids would enjoy eating something with fudge in honor of Blume's Fudgie. In order to make the cake, I melted two sticks of butter, chocolate, and two cups of confectioner's sugar. I've never tasted something so sugary and sweet. I had a rush after eating just a small piece, so I don't know if any the kids went to sleep last night...of course, they absolutely loved it.

My Lucy is growing up fast. She's fallen into the toilet and off of my computer monitor dozens of times. She also managed to smell like poop last weekend, so I had to give her a bath. I must say, she wasn't too bad in the water even though she hated it. I washed her with Finesse shampoo, which I know is a big no-no, but I had nothing else on hand and she smelled absolutely ghastly. The end result was that she smelled much better after her bath and her tail was extremely poofy. It's was awfully cute.

There have been some big changes in my life lately. I got a new job! I'm the head children's librarian at a small town library. I'm completely psyched. I get a $10,000 pay increase and I'm the boss. I'll be setting up a new blog for the children's room when I start working there in November. I really didn't think I'd actually get the job. The morning of the interview, I woke up with a nasty cold and basically rolled over and said, "FML!" I decided that the best thing to do was to load up on NyQuil and to go to the interview. I realized minutes before the interview that this was a bad idea. I don't exactly remember what I said and I was really feeling disconnected from my body. At one point they asked me about my singing voice and I said, "Normally I don't sound like this. I mean, I sound okay and it gets the job done, but I wouldn't go on American Idol." I certainly thought that I blown the entire interview because I looked like shit. As I was leaving, they were really kind to me. One of the trustees even said to me that if I have any questions that I should contact them because they are trying to sell themselves as much as I'm trying to sell myself. Yeah, I thought I had a major fail, but they thought otherwise and 3 days later, I was hired. They're so excited to have me on board. Just wait until they see me without a runny nose and not high on NyQuil. The staff have already told the kids about me and they e-mailed me a bunch a questions about what kind of books and television shows I like. One of them asked if I can make wallets out of duct tape and if I like Eloise. Interesting. :-)

Besides my new job, I also got a kitten. She's absolutely adorable and so sweet. She sometimes ends up at the bottom of my comforter and I can feel her around my feet. She also likes to crawl into my shirt for a nap. I've named her Lucy. I guess I'm officially becoming a spinster cat lady. I should wear a badge with pride. Anyway, here are some pictures of Lucy.

Peter Venkman: "Alice, I'm going to ask you a couple of standard questions, okay? Have you or any of your family been diagnosed schizophrenic? Mentally incompetent?"
Alice the Librarian: "My uncle thought he was St. Jerome."
Peter Venkman: "I'd call that a big yes."

Today is the Feast day of St. Jerome, patron saint of Libraries. Let's celebrate!! Huzzah!!

Lately, I've been thinking a lot about coming up with a blog that has a very specific topic instead of just blogging here or there about little tidbits in my life (the very interesting parts are few and far between), so I thought I should blog with a purpose. I guess I need help coming up with a topic. I thought of a couple, but I don't know which ones would capture the interest of readers, so I'm going to list a few and then ask friends to vote for one. Here they are:

(1) Life as a singleton (it's kind of boring, really)
(2) Learning how to become a gourmet cook or baker (it's been done in Julie and Julia)
(3) Using the witticisms of the Golden Girls in my daily life. Maybe I'll gleam something interesting out of this particular one.
(4) Analyzing The Babysitters Club in my adult life (I think this might have been done...not so sure).
(5) Writing my own children's book and showing everybody the step by step process with daily excerpts.
(6) Doing at least one good deed a day whether it is recognized or not.
(7) Learning how to become a puppeteer.
(8) Watching one episode of Dark Shadows every day and analyzing it in the voice of Dorothy Zbornak (this might actually be hilarious).

I'm open to other suggestions. Perhaps I haven't thought of one that maybe other people would like to see. Let me know what you think. :-)

I went to NYC over the weekend and had the best time! It had been a few years since I'd been there, so I was fairly excited to visit some of my favorite stores, such as the Strand and Forbidden Planet, but my favorite part of the visit was going to the Met. I had never been to New York's finest museum and I finally found out what all the talk was about because it's truly magnificent. It took the whole day just to go through the Greek, Roman, Egyptian and French exhibits. The next time I go, I'll have to see the other half of the museum. Tyler bought a couple of books from the museum store, but I splurged mostly at the Strand. We also had some great Italian pizza and sangria at a restaurant on Madison Avenue, where we bumped into Betsey Johnson and her granddaughter (http://www.betseyjohnson.com/bio.html). Tyler had no idea who she was, so the whole moment was lost upon him. Ah, men.

So, last night I watched He's Just Not That Into You and The Way We Were with a couple of girlfriends. In The Way We Were, Babs really got on my nerves and I just couldn't understand why she was so hot and bothered over her political leanings rather than Robert Redford. Then again, I've never understood the attraction of communism. The long red finger nails (commie) and fro that Babs sported were also big no-nos in my book, but some of her dresses and her cute NYC apartment got my approval. I've always wanted a small apartment crammed full of books and a small whimsical kitchenette that can serve up steaks and potatoes for Robert Redford. Aw, who am I kidding? Nix the apartment and wardrobe and just hand over Redford. He's Just Not That Into You struck a cord with me (an annoying cord). It reminded me of myself and most of my female friends. We make up a ton of excuses and what for? It's the fear of ending up all by your lonesome self that somehow make the excuses acceptable. This fear makes women act like crazy idiots, which leads to incessant phone calls and analyzing every little twitch and sentence uttered by a prospective significant other. How does one stop from such behavior? He's Just Not That Into You showed a variety of situations, where women were willing to put up with not so great relationships for the sake of getting married and how this leads to men behaving badly, which leads to the conclusion that women need to stop putting up with poop from men. Yup, shocking, but true.

After watching both of these movies, I came to a profound conclusion: I'm sick of this shit. This means that I will now adhere to a few general rules in my life: stop analyzing behavior and accept everything at face value. Men are no more mysterious than the gum at the bottom of your shoe - you wouldn't wonder about how it got there because you know that someone spit out the gum because its flavor disintegrated and then you stepped in it. It's really not a mystery.

Anyway, I've been thinking about simplifying my life. I would like to spend less money on my apartment and parking fees. Maybe I should move a little bit further outside the city in order to save on rent? Granted it may take me a bit longer to get to different activities, but I'm thinking that my limited paycheck should go to something more worthwhile than my Comm. Avenue address. I could spend the money that I save on buying more books and toys for children that are in need at shelters. I've been also thinking about taking a cooking class, so that I'm not spending as much money at restaurants.

In other news, I nearly ate an entire bag of Oreo cookies for breakfast.

I think I'm getting a little too old for parties that end at 4 in the morning, but I have to say that I'm still having fun. It's almost as if my college years got jump started a little late, but I'm employed without any academic responsibilities. I went to my friend Danny's birthday last night, where we played Apples to Apples. If you're friends with me on facebook, you can check out all the pictures. The highlight of the night was eating at Smokin' Joe's. It's probably one of those hidden gems in Boston that nobody ever talks about. It's a BBQ joint with live blues music. I had the pulled pork sandwich with sweet BBQ sauce, french fries, corn bread, and mac n' cheese. I was stuffed to the gills, but I had been looking forward to that meal the entire week. Of course, I got up this morning and did 45 minutes of cardio to burn off all the calories that I consumed, but I think the workout had very little effect.

Tyler and I went to the Museum of Fine Arts last week (it's free on Wednesday nights). They've added quite a bit to the museum, especially in the contemporary arts section. In one particular exhibit, there were television monitors stacked on top of each other, which formed a wall of televisions. It would have been awesome if the talking heads on the monitors were not all singing Madonna's "Holiday." Ah, well. I guess the Impressionists will always be my favorites.

I'm determined to learn how to cook, so I bought a couple of cookbooks: Nigella Bites: From Family Meals to Elegant Dinners and Julia's Kitchen Wisdom: Essential Techniques and Recipes from a Lifetime of Cooking. Does anybody have any other cookbook suggestions?

It's been a while, but I really haven't been in the mood to blog. I've had several accidents in the past couple of days. My car got rear ended on Saturday and on Monday I fell down at work. I tripped over a computer cable as I was getting up from the desk to help a kid find a book. Ouch! Landed pretty hard on my hands and knees. I've got rug burns on my palms and some dark bruises on my knees. I'm lucky that I didn't break anything, but I was really embarrassed. Talk about looking like a klutz!

On the bright side of things, I went to a fantastic restaurant called Cuchi Cuchi in Cambridge. I fell in love with its old Hollywood style. I simply adore its vintage glamor decor! There are stained glass windows from the 1800s at the bar, autographed pictures of Dita Von Teese and a photo of Carmen Miranda on the walls, and the restaurant even offers Tarot Card Readings! The staff are dressed like flappers and bohemians. The food was mouth watering. Tyler and I had the chicken kiev, gratin dauphinois, deep-friend zucchini, garlic shrimp, and chocolate cake. The vintage cocktails are even better, especially the names! I had the Dirty Little Secret, which has a chocolate kiss at the bottom and vanilla liquor. Tyler had Satan's Whiskers, which has a citrus flavor to it. Yummy stuff! Here are some photos of the place: http://www.cuchicuchi.cc/photos.html

Last week was pretty great. Robin and I went to the StyleFixx Girl's Night. For $10, we got a delightful bag filled with all kinds of goodies, such as hairspray, Lindt's Chocolate, Cabot cheese, liquid eyeliner, a can of coffee, a subscription to Lola magazine, and lots more. We also got 5 free drinks and a 10 minute massage. I got a $25 gift certificate for an one hour massage that usually costs $80, which was a win as well! I'm telling you that that massage took 20lbs. off of my shoulders. The guy that gave the massage started to pull the muscle on my neck and he said that I would feel a slight vibration in my muscle because it was resetting itself. Whoa, Nellie! It was painful for a second and then complete nirvana descended upon my body. I went home after the massage and slept like a baby. This has made me rethink my cheapskate ways. Perhaps I should splurge once a month just for this treat. I also got a coupon for a facial and two skin care treatments at Total Skincare for $59, which usually costs $140. I made my appointment for the week following my cousin's wedding because I figure that my family will completely stress me out, so I'll need to be pampered after having to hear about how single, imperfect, fat and ugly I am. Ah, family.

I went and saw Wolverine last night. I would have regretted spending the money if Hugh Jackman wasn't half naked throughout the movie. Let's just say that I wouldn't have minded if he did the whole movie naked. The dialogue and story weren't that great, but his muscles, sideburns, swagger, and arched eyebrow made me forget about it. My memory was just as foggy as the Wolverine's except I wasn't shot in the head with a memory erasing bullet. I was too stunned by his hotness to think straight. This film must have presented some awkward situations for guys. I can just imagine the guy's line of thought: dare I take a date to a film that is action packed (a dude film, if you will) or will this point out the fact that I haven't been to a gym in years? Thankfully, women have vivid imaginations when they date men.

Since I'm going on a whole money saving kick, I figured I'd troll around for the best deals and share them.

(1) It turns out that KFC is offering free grilled chicken today (only 80 calories).
(2) On April 29th, Baskin Robbins is having a 31 Cent Scoop Night.
(3) Target has the following on sale for the week:
- California Pizza Kitchen Frozen Pizzas($3.50 each after coupon).
- Kraft salad dressing (FREE when you buy 2, after coupons)
- Kraft mayo ($0.49 each when you buy 2, after coupons).
- Oscar Mayer Deli Fresh lunch meat.
- Oreo 100 Calorie Packs.
- Apples (FREE after coupon when you buy 1 lb).
- Wheat Thins (Save $1.50 per box of Nabisco Snacks).

Here are the links to the coupons for the products listed above and much more:
http://sites.target.com/site/en/supertarget/page.jsp?title=coupons_specials&ref=sc_iw_l_1_0
http://print.coupons.com/couponweb/Offers.aspx?pid=13903&nid=10&zid=xh20&cid=14532089

My very favorite actress passed away today. Bea Arthur made me laugh at my most miserable. There's a special place in heaven for her.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090425/ap_en_ce/us_obit_arthur

Here are some hilarious Dorothy Zbornak moments.

The Flight of the Conchords concert was absolutely amazing. Brett and Jermaine came out wearing spacemen costumes and they immediately started singing "Too Many Dicks On The Dance Floor." They sounded great and yes, Brett is incredibly cute in person. The rest of the set list included the "Jenny" song, "Business Time," and "If Your Into It." There was a good mix of songs from the first and second season.

The tickets were very expensive and it made me realize that I'm spending too much money. Most of the money is usually spent on other people. I spend money on supplies for the library, but I'm not reimbursed because they're not essential items, such as stuffed animals, colored pencils, sticky note paper, and handiwipes. I understand that these items are not necessary, but I think they help my job go a little more smoothly and more comfortably. Money has been tight at work, especially when it comes to paper and even electricity. I think I need to figure out a way of becoming a bit more frugal. Does anybody have any tips?

I can't wait to see The Flight of the Conchords tonight! Floor tickets! Huzzah!

"Wouldn't this be a great world if insecurity and desperation made us more attractive? If "needy" were a turn-on?" --Aaron Altman

The ice was quite slippery this morning and I had to make sure I didn't fall on my ass. I've already done it twice this year, but this time my balance was in serious jeopardy because I was carrying two book bags and a chocolate cake. I brought the cake to school for the book club since we were reading Harriet the Spy and as you know, Harriet loves her chocolate cake.

Getting back to the ice, as I was leaving my apartment and was trying to concentrate on keeping my balance, I heard a cry. I looked around, but didn't see anyone lying on the ground until I rounded the corner and saw a guy lying on his side. I immediately went to him and asked if he was okay. He asked for his glasses since they went flying off when he fell down. I retrieved his glasses and helped him get up even though he was three times bigger than me. I couldn't believe that the gas station attendant, who saw the whole thing didn't even come out to help, which is weird because the man fell on the gas station's property. What is this world coming to? It was pretty obvious that the guy had hit the back of his head and his injury could have been a lot more serious.

What is this world coming to when we can't even help out a neighbor?

This month has kind of been a train wreck. I need to get back on the wagon and start eating right again and go back to yoga, but for the past couple of weeks, my heart hasn't been in it.

Chocolate is definitely my weakness. I was visiting my parents and saw a couple of boxes of chocolates on the coffee table. Now, I should have read all of the warning signs: old photographs were littered all over the table, which means that my mother was cleaning out a cabinet. My guess is that the chocolates were hidden behind the photographs. I didn't pay attention to these warning signals because I was so determined to consume those chocolates (toffee and chocolate, to be precise).

I ripped off the plastic wrapping and examined the chocolates. Sure, they looked like pieces of melted turds, but the thought of crunchy toffee distracted me from thinking straight. As soon as I put a piece in my mouth, I immediately regretted it. I can only tell you that the chocolates tasted like cat toes and poop. I ran to the kitchen and tried to wash out the foul taste by drinking large quantities of orange juice and washing my mouth out with water and milk. I consumed everything in sight, hoping that the horrid flavor would disappear, but it stayed with me for the rest of the day. It was disgusting.

When my mother finally came home, I told her about the chocolates and she immediately went and took them out of the garbage. She argued that the chocolates were fine even though some of them had turned white. In fact, she ate a couple of them and then said that they were fine. She must have a stomach made of iron.

The boxes were dated 1988. Yes, they were over 20 years old.

Last week was one of those weeks that couldn't quite decided whether it was going to be a bad one or a good one for me. I managed to have some sort of miserable dizzy spell on Wednesday and when I went back to work the following day, I found out that our digital camera had been stolen at the library. Most likely it was stolen by one of the staff members, which makes it all the more disappointing since I contribute a lot of supplies out of my own pocket for crafts and other projects. I find it absolutely horrible that someone could steal from little children (in this case, the camera was meant for projects that I would do with the kindergarten and the preschool). It is a shitty situation because I don't have any money in the budget for a new camera. I was planning on doing a unit on dressing up for the winter and I was going to have the kids dress up as little snowmen with a top hat, scarf, mittens, and candy cane, but I guess that won't be happening now.

I finally bought a new laptop for myself. I haven't had a new computer in over 5 years, so I figured this was a well overdue present. It's a white Sony Viao. I got a decent deal on it at Best Buy and I suppose that it will last me another 5 years (hopefully). I also bought a new bookcase to handle all of the books that I'm acquiring. Despite being a librarian, my profession hasn't managed to satiate my need to collect all kinds of books. I'd even go so far as to say that I have access to too many books and therefore, I tend to see what I want on a daily basis and it feeds into the addiction.

I saved this part for last because it's something that has deeply sadden me and there's nothing that can be done to change it. My cousin was killed in a car accident. She had been having some sort of car trouble and stopped to check it out. Another guy stopped to help her out, but a jerk decided to run them over. She didn't have a chance. There was a messy pile up of cars after that and there's really nothing left of my cousin. She was literally crushed to pieces. It is beyond unfair and there are no words to take away the pain. There is nothing to make things right. She was only 31.

I did considerably well this Christmas in terms of gifts. My parents gave me a generous check, which I promptly spent on a new pair of boots and a camera. I received an ugly red sweater from my brother and sister-in-law. On the upside, my godson gave me a beautiful book bag and a gift certificate to Target (win!). Addy gave me a book shaped jewelry box, which she made and Danny gave me a Cullen Crest key chain and some Madlibs (double win!).

I also went to see Benjamin Button on Christmas day. I have some advice: don't waste your money. I haven't read the F.Scott Fitzgerald short story that the movie was based on, but something tells me that Hurricane Katerina was not a part of the original plot. I know I was supposed to feel sorry for Benjamin's plight, but I didn't. I didn't care that he was getting younger and that his friends were dying...I kind of shrugged my shoulders and said, "So?" There was one line of dialogue though that I did enjoy in the movie. Here's the setup: Daisy surprises Benjamin with a visit. They've been in love for years. He places her luggage on the floor, she locks the bedroom door and turns to him and says, "Sleep with me." Benjamin just takes her into his arms and says, "Absolutely." Brad Pitt kind of looked like an alien in this movie and at least we now know that he'll look awful as an old guy. For the record, I know that this movie will probably make some sort of epic sweep at the Oscars, especially for the makeup, but Pitt couldn't make me feel anything for his character. My sympathy went to my wallet, which was missing $10 after the entire affair.

I made baklava, kourabedies, finikia, gingerbread and sugar cookies for the holidays, so I've been very busy baking. All of this baking made me wonder why I haven't gone into business for myself. Is it possible to sell my sweets on etsy? I don't see a lot of people making baklava, so maybe I should. I obviously don't have time to make it into a full time gig, but baking relaxes me and it's something that I'm very good at and if I can make some extra cash on the side even better. :-)

I got up at 8am this morning. Last night, I fell asleep reading, so that might be why I had so much damn energy today. So this was my day:

(1) I went to a 2 hour yoga class.
(2) Vaccummed and dusted the apartment.
(3) Did a load of laundry.
(4) Read several chapters of Choke.
(5) Took a nap.
(6) Ate a gingerbread cookie.

and now I'm blogging...

I'm being pretty productive.

I didn't have to go to work on Friday, so I'm hoping for a delay tomorrow morning because I really, really don't want to go out into the cold tonight and shovel my car out. I know the kids will be disappointed because we won't have a literary magazine club meeting, but shoveling is not my idea of a good time.

I have to say that there's one particular boy in the club, who amuses me to no end. Little Benjamin is chubby, nerdy and extremely quotable. He has a bit of lisp and is too smart for his own good. Another little boy, Nicholas always makes fun of him, and poor Ben always says, "Ms.S can I make fun of him in the magazine?" Unfortunately, the answer is always "no," but at least he tries to convince me otherwise. On Thursday, Ben wore a red star communist pin, which featured a hammer and sickle on it. He wrote trivia questions for the activities page of the magazine and this is one of the questions that he came up : "Was Adolph Hitler a thief before he became a fascist leader?"

Ben absolutely loves Elvis and wrote an article about him. He kind of flipped out when I showed him the official Elvis Presley website. He decided to print out the lyrics to "All Shook Up," but somehow he printed out a bunch of lyrics that he did not want, and the printer kind of went haywire, so it kept on spitting out page after page. I don't know how the boy ended up on the floor, but he was rolling around trying to catch the pages. The kid is a miniature version of Clark Kent when it comes to coordination, and he kept on sputtering, "Ms.S, I can't stop the printer! I don't know what's happening!" I tried to keep a straight face and help him to his feet, but he scrambled after each piece of paper. The kid is a hoot. :-)