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No, I'm not pregnant.

(It seems that every single time I say that I have Big News, people immediately jump to that conclusion. So I figured I'd cut you all off at the pass this time.) 

The news is:

Earlier today, I was offered the position of Head Librarian at my town's public library, and I accepted.

I can't even express how happy I am about it: it's a library that the town's residents LITERALLY built themselves, and so the community is really actively invested in it, and I'm so excited and pleased that they are trusting me with it.

SO VAIR VAIR EXCITED AND PLEASED. 

Anyway, starting in early August, that's what I'll be up to in my library-life.

First item on the agenda? Building them a website.

Going forward? We shall see what we shall see, but I'm sure it will be awesomesauce unchained.

(I might sound somewhat blasé about it (for me), but I am SO. EXCITED. And, as Josh, Amber, my sister, Amanda, and a few others can attest, I've been so revved about the application/interview process, etc., that I've been a tad difficult to be around. So thanks to everyone for A) putting up with me and B) being so amazingly supportive. YAY!)

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A weary heart i carried
A battered heart i owned
A stonic look i gave
A broken spirit i carried
All, until your miracle smiled at me
And even when i heard the village women yell ”the storm is over. come out” i still did not believe it, for fear had created a comfortable home in my heart.
But you, you never gave up on me
But you ,you never stopped loving me
And now,even now i stand in awe…speechless,useless unable to think out
For what uttered thank-you(s) can demonstrate how grateful i am .

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My sister, talking about a book one of her students is reading: So I told him that it sounded like the most hipstery book ever to grace the lands of hipsterdonia.

Me: Jesus, what is he reading, House of Leaves?

My sister: OH MY GOD, YES!

Both: LAUGH MANIACALLY and HIGH FIVE.

Josh: SHAKES HEAD and RETREATS FROM ROOM.

________________________________

Josh: Zzzzzzzzzzzz. How much more do you have to write NOW?

Me: Um. Like, 50 words. I'll be done in a minute. 

Josh: I just don't want to be a pest while you're writing.

Me: Yes, all of the fake snoring noises are really selling me on the genuineness of that statement.

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Over at BookRiot today, there's a post about personal reading rules:

When I started thinking about this piece, I thought about it as just a list of my (many!) seemingly arbitrary rules for reading. Once I got started, though, I discovered that those rules actually tell you so much about me that they double as personality traits. In fact, they say so much about me that I’m actually a little uncomfortable sharing them now, but I’m going to anyway because I’m done with the piece; this paragraph is actually, chronologically, the last one I’ve written, and who wants to waste all that effort?

Which (obviously) made me think about my own set of personal reading rules.

1. I'm a note taker. If I don't have pencil and paper at hand—or am too lazy to get up and go find pencil and paper—I will dog ear pages. Yes, that's right, I AM AN UNREPENTANT DOGEAR-ER.

1a. Since I realize that this confession will probably result in you all shunning me forevermore—you're totally going to cross the street to avoid me at BookExpo next week, aren't you?—I'm going to go ahead and ADMIT ALL: Yes, I even dogear library books. (I always un-dogear before I return them, though.)

1b. If it makes you feel any better, I dogear the BOTTOM of the page, not the top.

1c. I don't write in books. Ever. I do use the Note feature on my Kindle a hella lot, though.

2. When Josh gets ready to read a new paperback, he preemptively breaks its spine, and I flinch every single time.

3. Halfway through any given hardback, the book jacket starts driving me bananas and I take it off and throw it behind the couch. I retrieve and replace when I'm done reading.

4. The only genre I seem to be capable of reading without going into Literary Analysis mode? Vaguely smutty historical romances.

5. I've said this before, but it should be included: I'm a really, REALLY visual reader. When I'm wrapped up in a book, it's like I stop seeing the words and have an actual movie playing in my head: therefore, I had to stop listening to audiobooks in the car because I kept running stop signs.

6. I'm a vocal supporter of Putting The Book Down If It Isn't Working For You, but I find that I rarely actively do that myself. More often, I realize months later that I set something down and never returned to it. 

7. I'm a one-book-at-a-time girl. And I always have at least two back-ups in my bag, JUST IN CASE.

So. YOUR TURN.

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Just tinkering.

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The 2007 Harry Potter set!:

Click on through to see 'em all.

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Including The Very Hungry Caterpillar:

The Wild Things:

And Alice in Wonderland:

Click on through to see the others!

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Um, so this is the second snake Lemon has dragged into the house this morning.

(I know this because the first one was way skinnier, and last I checked, it was really, really dead.)

It's now hanging out under the radiator.

I THINK.

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Currently on repeat in my car: The Milk Carton Kids' The Ash & Clay.

 

It's one of those records that just keeps getting better and better every time I listen to it. Also, every time I think I'm ready to listen to another album, I only get two songs in before popping this one in again. CLEARLY I NEED TO GO BACK AND GET THEIR PREVIOUS STUFF.

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New Moomins:

 

And Roald Dahl is finally back:

Click on through to see the rest!

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As you may have noticed, I haven't posted much for a few days now.

I've been feeling a bit of blog angst.

And a bit overwhelmed with how much stuff I've got going on.

And also lazy, in that now that spring is finally here, I just feel like reading/napping/reading/having cheeseburger picnics on the back porch with Josh.

BUT I FIGURED OUT WHAT WOULD CURE ME.

A trip to NYC for BEA next month, and then a trip to Chicago for ALA in June.

Financially, I don't know if I'll be able to swing both, but I'm going to try my best.

So, with that in mind, go right ahead and use the coupon ALAORBUST at my Etsy shop for 10% off all purchases through Sunday.

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I haven't posted for the last few days because I've been busy, busy, busy making new pendants.

New to the shop are the rest of the 2013 Jane Austen stamps:

Some Doctor Who villains:

Some Greek gods:

And Margaret Mahy:

I've also relisted some items, like the Matt Smith and Mr. Darcy and the 1999 Dalek and a Moomin and some other stuff. PHEW.

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...Josh and I have mourned the demise of the Late Night Jalapeno Popper Doritos. They were super-chemical-y, true, but they were also strangely addictive, and we've never found another Special Edition Dorito that compares.

AND BELIEVE ME, WE'VE TRIED.

Today, though, we discovered Late July's Mild Green Mojo chips. 

THEY. ARE. AWESOME.

They aren't at all chemical-y, and the flavor is more subtle than the Doritos (I mean, DUH, that's kind of a low bar), and the texture is SO NICE because in addition to being all multigrain-y, there's also some chia seeds and other good stuff crammed in there... anyway, we polished off the entire bag on the way home from the grocery store, and every couple of minutes, one of us would turn to the other and say, "THESE ARE REALLY GOOD."

Seriously, for the entire twenty minute drive home, we pretty much only uttered variations of that sentence.

But just in case you're thinking we've suddenly gotten all classy or something, we also brought home a bag of the Lays Chicken & Waffles chips, too. 

PS. NO, I DID NOT GET PAID TO WRITE THIS. I just really liked the chips A LOT.

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Carrie Jones witnessed the aftermath of yesterday's bombing at the Boston Marathon:

Runners were wandering around still, confused, cold. They had a combination of runner’s fatigue and shock. Shivering and stunned, they were desperately trying to contact family members. Some walked in circles because they didn’t know how not to keep moving, but they also didn’t know where to go. They had spent 25 miles moving forward, towards this one destination called the finish line and now they were stuck, aimless. Their ultimate goal was suddenly gone, devastated by two bombs. Those of us who were there to watch, gave them our cell phones so they could call family members who were waiting for them. They were waiting for them right by the bombs. We gave the runners money so they could get on the T when it worked again. We gave them our coats.

I hope that you and yours are okay and safe.

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...AT MY ETSY SHOP:

(Apologies for the caps, I'm a little excited about finally getting these put together and posted.)

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What warms your heart on a cold day?  What warms your heart when the tides of change come crashing in?  What warms your heart when the” no’s” become overwhelming? What warms your heart when the crowd scatters and you are “Home Alone”?

I have a whole list of favorite things I like to look at periodically.  These are things that Warm My Heart.   I found myself smiling and even laughing. They are things I feel that God has blessed me with.  When I look at them I see stories! I see people, I see events…  and more.  Life is so much more than what we see during our day.  Life is a tapestry of stories that intertwine and make memories for us.  Some are so real we can almost re-live them just recalling them to our memories.

Favorite Things

1. God my Father, Jesus my elder brother, the Holy Spirit my helper.
2. All my Family
3. Friends / art friends
4. People
5. Rosie and Violet
6. Coffee with cream
7. Purses
8. Odd things for the house
9. Floor Pillows
10. Blankies
11. Coffee Shops
12. Art galleries
13. Hankies
14. Sketch books
15. Lists
16. Personal chef
17. Trip to Maine and beyond
18. Jeep
19. Toys
20. Children’s books
21. Goat yogurt and blueberries
22. Zinnias
23. Colors : purply blue, raspberry, Yaya green
24. Good movies with popcorn
25. Breakfast in bed with a good magazine.
26. grandsons!
27. my SONS.
28. a zillion best friends!
29. colors
30. the valley between Kenosha and BaileY
31. the mountains
32. a crackling fire in the stove
33. falling snow
34. deep snow and 4wheel drive
35. My cozy studio
36. a good book
37. a comfy chair
38. writing a story
39. a bike ride . . …… and today…. Matthew!

Today’s Warm Fuzzy came from a friend.  She took this wonderful picture of her son sleeping with my Peepsqueak plush.  He is so cute!  Matthew is on my list!

What are your favorite things?  I am sure mine will grow!!

Filed under: Kicking Around Thoughts

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Interesting segment on our local radio talk show this morning – it’s about a kid that walked ten miles, in the snow, to a Dairy Queen to try and get a job.

Kids don’t do that nowadays. Heck. Kids can’t see past their self-imposed bubbles nowadays.

Filed under: Life, VideoPlay

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Well hello, there is still a world out there. A few months ago over the course of about 2 weeks I was contacted by three new clients about doing some projects all due during February. The first was an educational publisher who had seen my work at the SCBWI LA conference in 2011. Their project was a fun little picture book about a girl having a bad day. The typical 16 illustrations plus cover were needed. Then came a call from a school and library publisher with a middle grade adventure novel needing 8 interior illustrations plus cover. How exciting! I'd never worked on a chapter book before and I loved the idea of working in black and white. Now about this time I already had in the mix some projects from the Most Awesome Art Director Ever a.k.a. my friend Keith - about 15 illustrations for various VBS books. Finally just after the first of the year, I got an email from Carus Publishing asking me to do my very first project for Ladybug magazine. That was really special, because it came after years of submission as I mentioned in this post.

Now did anyone do the math on all those projects? Let's see, 16 + 9 + 10 + 1 = one mind boggled illustrator and 2 months of super human time management.

December and January were awash with doing sketches and getting approvals. By January 31st all the sketches were approved and the deadlines lined up like this: Feb 8, 15, 22, 28, and March 1st. This photo represents how many cups of coffee I consumed on a daily basis, the kitchen counter in the background represents the state of my house cleaning. Fortunately there's no photographable evidence of how many frozen pizzas my kids ate for dinner.

To any budding illustrator readers out there sometimes this is what the blessings of diligence look like. Creating an illustration is not the same as filling out a spread sheet so the hardest part was keeping the creative well flowing every time I sat down to work (the excesses of caffeine and lots of 80s music helped.) Often I felt like the sketch above, a carhop twirling and zigging between customers. Instead of carrying a plain old hotdog to each one, I was carrying meticulously crafted wedding cakes.

Even though it was a blur of work, I'm intensely grateful for each project as they all represent a new step in my career. Each one is turned in now and I'll post finals and details as they are all approved. For the moment I'm looking forward to a bit of a night off.

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...I was listening to an interview with one of the authors of Big Data, and it made me realize that I'm turning into my father.

Author: If Big Data correlations identify me as a 44-year-old male who's a journalist and who has grand eyes for things I can't afford, it may think that I'm going to be susceptible to embezzlement, and maybe I will get a knock on the door by the police, who say, 'We have reason to believe that you're about to commit a crime.' This is sort of like pre-crime in Minority Report.

Interviewer: Oh, that Tom Cruise movie from a few years back.

Me, bellowing: IT WAS A BOOK FIRST, YOU DINK!

And now I'm all het up.

When I tell him, Dad will be so proud.

Well, either that or he'll tell me that I shouldn't get so worked up about these things.

To which I'll respond: I LEARNED IT FROM WATCHING YOU, DAD. I LEARNED IT FROM WATCHING YOU.

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A long weekend visiting my youngest sister in Los Angeles was just what the doctor ordered. We managed to pack a colossal amount into just a couple days, but some highlights:

* Andy Warhol (!) inside LACMA and gourmet hot dogs outside LACMA.

* Visiting the Reform School store in Silverlake.

* Riding bikes along the beach in Santa Monica

* A Back to the Future screening at the Silent Movie Theatre, which would have been cool enough in its own right, but combined with Aziz Ansari's commentary, downright epic.

* Sunshine. Eighty degree temps. A renewed belief that Spring isn't just a figment of my imagination.

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So, Lemon was a freak today.

I stayed home sick after doing something to my back that made me realize that I AM NOW OLD.

Over the course of the day, she A) wandered around the house caterwauling for no apparent reason. Then... B) she decided to hang out on the fridge even though there is approximately a half an inch of free space up there. And finally, C) she knocked a plastic laundry basket right ONTO THE TOP OF THE WOODSTOVE. 

BEAST.

SPRING CAN'T GET HERE FAST ENOUGH.

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To celebrate this great milestone, Maria and I went to Jaxson’s Ice Cream Parlour and ordered the biggest sundaes we could find

Monday marked my One Year Anniversary of Running Stairs. I have been doing aerobic workouts for more than 17 years, but a year ago I started running up and down the courthouse steps with my neighbor, Maria. She and I had been walking our dogs together for a while and decided to try running the stairs after my husband told me he tried it while on a midnight run.

There are 28 steps. We call it an “inning” when we run up and down once (56 steps). The first time I ran, I strained to do 13 innings. Stepping of this sort is one of the most strenuous exercises. Over the course of this past year, I ran more than 1,000,000 steps, up and down, that’s more than 17,850 innings! The most innings I ran at one time during that year were 100, or 5,600 steps. It took about an hour. On a regular basis (5 X per week), I ran 60 and sometimes 80 innings, 40 at the least. We ran in the rain, extreme heat and some cold (for FL) weather.

Some tips if you want to try this: Bring a towel for sweat and plenty of water. Buy a cheap stopwatch to time yourself so you can mark your improvements. Stretch your calves on the steps before you run. Have a cell phone in case of emergency. Take 60-90 second walking breaks between innings. We break after 20 or 25 innings. Don’t stop moving when you take a break or when you have just finished! We walk 1/2 mile to and from the courthouse, so it is a great warm up and cool down. Make sure you stretch when you’re done or your calves and quads will get very tight. I run barefoot due to plantaar fascitis. When I wear any type of shoes it causes heal pain and even knee pain. No shoes = no pain for me.

Let’s see how many steps I can run in the next 12 months and hopefully I can accomplish some other milestones unrelated to working out.

 

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In honor of St. Patrick's Day ... a re-posting of one of my favorite stories. Enjoy! :-)

I was standing in line at the post office when I heard, “And how long are you going to be?” I looked behind me to see an older man, possibly in his sixties, with an unwavering face and twinkling eyes that just screamed of dry humor and wit. I smiled and laughed, noting that I just had the one box and would make it fast.

I didn’t expect the conversation to continue. Thankfully, it did.

“My wife has me mailing these birthday cards to Ireland,” he continued gruffly. “We’re always sending things over there.”

Being a travel fanatic, I was intrigued. “Ireland, huh,” I responded, “I’ve never been there, but it’s on my list of places I want to visit.”

“Oh, we’ve been there many times … at least a couple dozen,” he said. “Both of our families are from there, and many are still living there.”

“Really?” I asked, “Is that where you met?”

“Oh no …”, he chuckled. “I was an auctioneer. Traveled all over the place. One day, I received a call from a rancher in central Oregon. I was to come pick up some items that would then be auctioned. That’s when I met her.”

“At the ranch?” I asked, amazed at such a chance meeting.

“Yep … she was the rancher’s daughter. That was thirty-some odd years ago … and things have been going downhill ever since,” he added with a sly grin.

“Well … it couldn’t be too bad if you’ve been together for thirty-some years!” I countered with a smile.

“Well, she was quite the successful businesswoman. I couldn’t give that up,” he said with the dry wit that had become the trademark of our short conversation. He then went on to explain that she had owned several thriving businesses – including a clothing shop and a salon – in the very complex we were standing in. “Back in the day, there would be a line of people waiting to get into her salon,” he added with a hint of pride.

I glanced at the service counter where, fortunately, the customers in front of me were having some sort of difficulty with their mailing progress.

“I can’t believe both of you are from Ireland, and you ended up meeting on a ranch out in the middle of central Oregon,” I added.

It was then that he told me that on one of their first trips back to Ireland as a couple, they decided to check into each of their family histories. Through their research, they discovered that their grandparents had been from the exact same small town in Ireland. His had owned a hardware store; hers had owned a grocery store. They traveled to that little town and discovered that – even to that day - his family’s original hardware store and her family’s original grocery store sat on the very same street, right next door to each other.

“Wow,” I said with all the eloquence of a rock. “That is absolutely amazing … a marriage meant to be.”

The customers at the counter retreated and it was my turn.

I mailed my package and turned, intending to smile and convey wishes for a good day with this man who had shared his wonderful story with me.

He was nowhere to be seen.

I couldn't help but smile. ‘A marriage made in heaven’ came to mind. Yes, definitely that … sprinkled with a little ‘Luck of the Irish’, had clearly brought these two individuals together.

My potentially-tedious trip to the post office was made special, with a beautiful and unexpected story of providence usually saved just for the kids and grandkids. It made this German-Irish girl feel a little lucky too!

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