It's true: Florida does make a person old

When I moved down here to Florida I joked that I rapid aged when I crossed the border. Things about me changed: I wanted to eat dinner earlier and be in bed by 10:00 at the latest (this is partially thanks to a 5:00 a.m. boot camp wake up time). However yesterday I added to the ways I'm aging.

As I was getting ready for church, I stood in front of the mirror making sure there wasn't some blatantly obvious detail I missed in preparing myself for my day. Suddenly, I saw something strange in my hair and, ladies and gentlemen, upon further reflection realized that it was a gray hair. I was a little shocked, I mean I'm not even 29 yet- far to young to have gray hairs.

Yes, I know that it is only one hair, but I can't help but believe that this is the beginning of the end. Just over 6 months here and I'm old. Just watch, in another 6 months I'll have dentures.

yuck, yuck, yuck

I don't know why I even read this stuff, but here is a link to an article I just read. I know that the public terminals at the library are kind of gross, but this makes me even more worried about them. Also, kids eat chips and other snacks at the computers more often than I'd like to say. Even after I explain the issues of cleanliness, they still snack- germs and all. Oh well.

Anyhow, I found a link to it on one of my favorite children's librarian blogs called The Monkey Speaks. The name itself is clearly fantastic; moreover, I always find good content here!

look! you can see a timeline of my blogging (or in somecases lack there of)

...or you can create your own. I'll make more later, but this was automatically created when I put my blog address in.
http://www.dipity.com/user/ksmithie/timeline/Kathy_s
Fun! Thanks Dipity!

mmnnn...breakfast sandwiches

I have fallen in love with breakfast sandwiches over the past few weeks! Some good friends came down to visit me (and balmy FL) a few weeks ago, and I was so blessed by their company! It was so great to spend time with people that I love- people that know me and who I know. It isn't as much work as this whole "always meeting new people" thing. It was wonderful to feel so at home in my new home.
Ok, so about the breakfast sandwich connection: my friends picked up all sorts of house warming gifts for me (seriously, I still can't even believe it). One of the gifts is a toaster. My previous toaster had a 20 percent success rate, but most of the time I had to stand with my hand on the button to ensure that the thing worked. My new toaster is fancy. There is just no other word to describe it. It toasts and cooks eggs and breakfast meat for fresh made breakfast sandwiches. Don't be skeptical wondering if this is your thing. I didn't even know how much I love a good breakfast sandwich until recently. Now I'm a little in love with them. We've only known one another for a short time, but I think that we definitely have a future. I like a good hearty bread, a scrambled egg and some sharp cheddar cheese the best, but I'm getting to know all the facets of this meal. Best of all I can't even taste the fish.
My friends even put up a wall sconce and straightened up around my apartment while I was at work. As if their company wasn't enough (WHICH IT WAS). Anyhow, below are a couple of pictures of the the guys (Kendra isn't pictured, but is most definitely equally loved) and a delectable breakfast sandwich.

A personal Tech team










I heart breakfast sandwiches

I'm Invited to a Party!

This is my newest program at the WPBPL- a kindergarten and 1st grade book club! So far I have 12 kids signed up and there is still a month to go! I'm really looking forward to it!

I couldn't make this stuff up - part 3 (my poor shoe)

The day after the cockroach incident I went into work and shared my saga with my co-workers. After sharing the story I went into the staff bathroom. As I stepped near the toilet my foot slid slightly, not enough to make me fall, but enough to cause me to notice the puddle on the floor.
"Maybe it's toilet sweat, or perhaps a mild leak," I though to myself.
I washed my hands and went out and ask my coworkers if the toilet leaks. When Carlo told me that it does leak sometimes, I was reassured. What I stepped in must have been clean toilet water. Five minutes later Carlo walked by my desk and towards the bathroom. He looked very serious when he came back from the restroom. Then he told me that it was not a leak. The toilet only leaks in the back. "You should probably wash your shoe," he finished.
My poor shoes. It was a rough couple of days for them.
Anyhow, it turns out that I have a coworker who is known for occasionally "missing."
Awesome.

I couldn't make this stuff up - part 2 (they're creepy and they're kooky)

You all know that I love my apartment; It's charming and within walking distance of so much wonderful stuff (the beach, great shops and restaurants). However, it's old.

Last Thursday, I was prepared to go about my normal Thursday routine: go to work, head to the grocery store, make dinner, clean my apartment, read and head to bed by 10:00 in order to wake up at 5 a.m. the next morning. I truly enjoy my Thursday nights and feel like I can reclaim my life on this lovely night of the week!

As you might imagine from the title of this post, a couple of weeks ago all did not go according to plan. After returning from the grocery store I ate my dinner and cleaned up in the kitchen. However, when I turned the light in my dining room back on I saw something scurry across the floor.

Right.
Something Big.
Almost 2 inches long.
Did I mention it was fat too?
Ok, you get the idea.

"Oh, my gosh," I think to myself, "a cockroach."
So, I did the only logical thing. I grabbed my shoe (and briefly pondered whether it was sturdy enough to kill the mammoth bug). I then smacked the shoe onto said bug until I saw goo ooze out. Yes it was nasty, but at least I knew that thing wasn't going to live to walk another day. Sidebar: cockroaches are incredibly oozy.

I threw the cockroach remains in the trash washed my shoe and then sat back down at my dining room table. "What if I just think that it was a cockroach, but really it was some other bug?" I thought, "Maybe it is even something less nasty, like a cute Florida bug that looks like what I think a cockroach looks like. I mean, I've never seen a cockroach, so who's to say that giant thing that is now dead in my trash really is actually one in the first place."

So, I pulled out my laptop and performed a quick Google image search for "cockroach." What do you suppose I see on my screen? Yep, a bug that appears to be the identical twin to my Thursday night visitor. Yuck.

Well, I should have left it at that, but no. I was freaked out. I had to know more about how to rid myself of what very well might be a infestation. You never know. The following is a list of what I learned about cockroaches along with what ran through my mind at the time:

1. They leave paths in their feces. Paths that allow their families and friends to find their way into my apartment (YUCK! YUCK! YUCK! Mental note: scrub every surface).
2. Females leave egg sacks that contain 40 eggs (Will I recognize an egg sack when I see one. Oh my gosh, I know there are babies just waiting to hatch in my apartment).
3. Egg sacks look like small brown tic tacks (Gross).
4. Some cockroaches FLY (WHAT THE...). I learned this from a co-worker who has been hit in the head by this lovely bug more than once in his life. Um, I think that it goes without saying, but I would have FREAKED out if a cockroach had flown into my head. I didn't want my feet to touch the ground after the incident. Seriously is anyplace safe from these pests?
5. Cockroaches LOVE tropical climates. Most people I told this story to just said "welcome to FL." (Are you kidding me? I didn't know that when I moved. Seriously, I feel betrayed.)

Well, needless to say I haven't seen one since, although I called my landlord who gave me the number of an exterminator. I don't know if the bug poison made a real difference, but I sure feel better. It's probably like airborne though: the difference is all in my head.

I couldn't make this stuff up - part 1 (left behnd)

For this story to make sense I need to disclose something about myself: sometimes I let a month pass by between trips to the laundry room. I'm thrifty, and since I have to pay 1.25 to wash and 1.00 to dry clothes I try to make the most of each load. I also try to hang as many wet clothes as possible to combine loads for drying. It's good for the economy and my pocketbook right?

Recently, I went to wash my laundry in my building's shared laundry room. It had been a month and I found myself running low on a few essentials. As I put my clothes in the washer I heard the dryer (across the room) running. However, I thought, "no problem, I'm sure my neighbor's clothes will be dry and out of there by the time I need to change my things over."

As it turns out, this assumption was false.

While the laundry was dry and warm it wasn't back in it's rightful home- my neighbor's apartment. "Oh well," I thought, "I'll just place the laundry on the top of the drier so that I can put my stuff in." The top of the drier was already home to a few stragglers: 2 towels, a washcloth, and a sock. So, I moved those over and begin to place my neighbor's clothes onto the open space on the drier.

At first, I began to fold things like washcloths. However, I then realized that I did not want to fold this man's underwear. I decided the best course of action was to heap the unfolded clothes on one another and leave them. Before I could go, I had to move the pile so that it wasn't on top of the towels, washcloth, and solitary sock. As I was in the process of doing this I saw something that caused me to freeze in my tracks.

It was a pair of my underpants.
Yes, I am SURE.
Mine.

There aren't any other females my size in the building and these are fairly distinctive unders.
I am left to wonder did these WARM undergarments come out of the drier now-with my single neighbor's things OR have they been hanging out on top of the drier for a MONTH? Needless to say, at this point, I began to wish that I did my laundry more frequently.

I grabbed my underpants and threw them into my empty laundry basket. Then, I placed my wet clothes in the now empty drier, put my 4 quarters in the machine, hit on and hurried back to my apartment. After a while, I talked myself down but decided to toss the underpants in question, just in case.

The moral of this story: wash laundry more frequently and perform an extra sweep to ensure no underpant is left behind.

ooohhh...pretty

I think this is a fun bookshelf. I have something similar, but it isn't magic looking.
check it out here

young at heart but old of body

Thanks to the fun of yesterday's boot camp I now walk up and down flights of stairs as though I inhabit an 85 year old's body: I stoop slightly and take it slow. Luckily for me I live in Florida a.k.a. "heaven's waiting room" and this pace is not too out of the ordinary.

I am about to leave the library (down 3 flights of stairs), walk to my car which is parked on the roof of the city parking garage (4 flights up).

Oh stairs, I can't wait until we are no longer adversaries, because right now I hate you.

the superbowl

The church that I go to down here in FL. put on a party for the homeless yesterday. We called it "Superbowl Party for the City." It was a great to talk to people in the community and speak love and hope into people's lives. I watched the game with a guy from the community named Richard and had a great time. In fact, I think that it may have been the best superbowl party that I ever attended. We watched the game outside--can you believe it?



The Palm Beach Post picked up the story; you can read about it here.

Getting my butt kicked

I haven't been very good about getting regular excercise down here in FL. Let's be honest, I wasn't doing such a hot job for the past couple of years in Michigan either. So, the other day when a representitive from a gym came into the library to offer the employees a deal I thought this is downright serendipitous. I joined that day figuring that since I have to walk by the gym on my way to work I will have NO excuse not to go. A couple of my colleagues joined the gym as well, and Friday morning we decided to take the Boot Camp class that meets at 6 in the morning. That's right, I got up at 5 a.m. to work out. Victoria, the teacher is insistant to getting my lazy butt into shape which is good because one of us needs to be. I'm working to have her enthusiasm.

I'm really glad to be going to the gym with co-workers, because I don't think that I would have gone this morning without them. My abs are still sore from friday. This weekend I winced everytime I sneezed, laughed, or had to sit up after laying down. Seriously, I was SORE! This morning, when we worked our abs again my body seemed to be screaming, "what are you doing?" and "is this really a good idea?" and best of all, "you've worked hard enough already; no need to go overboard." I mean, I'm hard core about somethings, but boot camp is not one of those things yet.

But I will be hard core.
You just wait.

gaming in the library

Part of my job consists of the task of keeping up with what's new in the kiddie lit world. I do this in many ways including reading children's lit blogs. I found the following link to a game on one such blog..check it out.

http://www.bookchase.info/buy_bookchase.php

Reading and books are FUN!

Love that Dog

Yesterday I worked at an outdoor event at the library. The program was lots of fun and well attended by many families and their dogs. This only worked to reinforce my desire for a pet. Seriously, I want a dog and SOON.

I told myself I need to wait until I've been in FL for 6 months before I can consider the responsibility of a pet. That's 3 months from now.

In the meantime, I think a lot about what my new best friend will be like. Also I have dog themed story-times (this happened last week).

That's how much I want a dog.

The title of the my post is the name of one of my favorite children's books and is written by Sharon Creech. Pick it up sometime if you want a quick read or if you need a recommendation for an elementary aged kiddie.

locks of love or lovely locks

Yesterday was the day that I cut off my incredibly long hair.... Ok, it wasn't THAT long, but it was pretty lengthy. I was able to donate almost 11 inches to locks of love. A sidebar, the locks of Love office is in Lake Worth, my town. It's about a 5 minute drive, so instead of mailing my hair in I'm going to personally take it in. my plan is to do this on Friday as I won't have to work. i'm hoping to get a little tour of the place.

This blog could have also been titled "the most expensive haircut of my life." It was absurd. Needless to say I'm still looking for a stylist as I cannot picture spending such an exorbitant amount of money on my hair. I mean it will grow back. Also, the stylist tried to give me another cut because she didn't like the one in the picture that I brought her. Needless to say, my hair is somewhere between what she wanted and what I wanted. More on that another time.

Here are the pictures :

Before

After

new years resolution

I will blog more frequently.

Moreover, I will stay after work to use the library's wireless access so that you, my dear friends, do not have to wonder what on earth is going on with me. I mean my life can't possibly be as dull as my blog leads you to believe right? Right. I'll write again soon. Actually, I have more that I want to write tonight, but I don't want to be too much of a shock to your systems. I have to be more than an all or nothing kid of girl.

That said, you'll hear from me again soon. I promise.

laughing heart

When I was a kid I talked in my sleep. This will come as no surprise to those who know me, as I can be quite the chatty Kathy when I want to be (and sometimes even when I don't want to be).

After high school my sleep talking came to an end. Apparently, I began to use all my words before going to bed and no longer had to mumble during my sleeping hours.

Within the past year I've felt things in my sleep. By this I mean that I wake up because I have felt something so strongly that I can't sleep through it. The first time this happened to me I work up feeling so hurt and sad that I didn't know what to do with myself. I was shocked that I had felt something so strongly in my sleep none the less. As the months progressed there were other times that I woke up because feeling overwhelmingly anxious.

A few weeks ago I had a completely new experience. While it was still early morning, well before reasonable waking hours, I woke up to the sound of laughter, my own laughter. I felt downright giddy and had apparently laughed my self awake.

There are 2 ways to view this occurrence. I had a friend explain to me (in jest) that it looks like I finally cracked. However, I choose to believe that am experiencing bouts of joy in my heart that cannot be contained to my conscious hours.

I like this thought.

pink flamingos = warm heart

A couple of weeks ago, I woke up on what appeared to be a normal Saturday morning. I was in a bit of a rush to meet up with some friends in Orlando later that afternoon, but as I walked out of my apartment I couldn't help but notice the flock of plastic flamingos that had made my lawn their home. I laughed out loud and thought to myself, "it must be my neighbor Connie's birthday. How funny, someone sent her flamingos to help her celebrate." I then made a mental note to wish Connie a happy birthday when I arrived home that night. To commemorate such a sight I grabbed my camera from my purse and snapped a couple of photos of these glorious birds. "Even though they aren't for me they sure are funny and probably will be worth blogging about," I decided.
Fast forward to my trip up to Orlando (how weird...going to Orlando is "up"). I decided to catch up on my weekly phone calls: I spoke with my parents and my brother and left a voicemail or two. Then I get a phone call from "home." I just talked to my Mom and Dad so it is a little strange that to hear from them less than an hour later.
"Hello"
"Hi, it's dad"
"Hi, what's up?"
" You said that you left your apartment early this morning. Did you see anything unusual before you left."
"Actually, yes I did. There were pink flamingos on my lawn; did you have something to do with that?"
laughter from Mom and Dad. Then my mom chimes in,
"Well we were co-conspirators"
"OK, who did this, Ed?" (Ed is a friend of our family and this kind of thing is right up his alley)
"No, I'll give you a hint: his name begins with an A and he was just overseas"

Yes, that's right: Andy, while in Korea mind you, found a company that rents flamingos and got a group or "flock" of friends to chip in on a house warming gift.

I feel loved.