Summer Bucket List

If I had my druthers (such a fantastic word), I wouldn't work. I am not one of those people who feel like they HAVE to work in order to have meaning in their lives. Not at all. I can find meaning in lots of other places and things that don't involve having a job. Having said that, I am fortunate to have finally found a job that I like: working in a library. All those books...definitely not enough time.

Still, even though, for the first time in my life, I don't feel terrible about having to work, summer is a tough time for me. There are so many things I want to do with Clare while she is out of school and I fear there just isn't enough time. So, in order to maximize our time together, we decided to put together a Summer Bucket List. I saw the idea on The Happy Family Movement blog (go check them out here: http://thehappyfamilymovement.com/2013-summer-bucket-list-challenge/) and thought it was just too fabulous not to do it.

Clare and I are still adding to it, but we have come up with some fun ideas to make our summer time together fun and memorable. Here are some of the things we plan to do:

• Have a lemonade stand (she has been wanting to do this forever so this year we are going for it. She actually wants to donate all the proceeds to our local animal shelter - love this little girl so much!) 
• Tie dye shirts
• Make playdough
• Fly kites
• Go to baseball games
• Go to a drive-in movie (there is actually still a drive-in theatre here in Virginia so we are looking to make it a weekend getaway. Here's where we would be going: http://www.keysvilledrivein.com/)
• Craft day, once a week
• Learn how to ride a bike (Clare, not me, although it would be Remember How to Ride a Bike For Me)
• One new food each week (Clare is a picky little vegetarian, so thought this would be a great way to expand her food horizons)

Of course, throughout the summer, we will be doing lots of readin'. Last summer, I made a bookworm chart for her. I found the idea on Pinterest (of course!). For every 5 books she read, she got to open a little door and get a prize. This was a great incentive for her. Was I bribing her to read? A little, but hey! She was reading! And the prizes were usually fun activities that I got to go do with her, not actual things. I think that this year, we will actually have something like a Book Hour, where we both sit and read. I am not sure if she will sit and read for an hour yet, but if I can get 15 minutes out of her, I will consider it a good day.

We will also do the usual summer stuff - Busch Gardens, Water Country USA, neighborhood pool. Those will get checked off the list quickly. And those are lots of fun. But I wanted to also do things with her that were smaller; just as much fun, just smaller. Stuff for just her and me. The things that will make Summer 2013 a summer full of memories.

What kind of things are you doing this summer? Don't forget, Clare and I are still adding to our Bucket List!

Defending Jacob, William Landay

Hoo boy, this one was a good one. A murder mystery that is also a family drama, it put me in the mind of one of my favorite books ever, Gone Girl. This book had me guessing throughout and then took my breath away in the last few pages and actually left me in tears. Definitely not some light reading for a warm Spring day, but it definitely is a compelling book that will have you questioning how far parents should go to protect their children and how far trust within a family can be tested.

Defending Jacob is told from the point of view of Andy Barber, assistant district attorney in his Massachusets town. He has held this position for 20 years and is very well-respected. All of this comes tumbling down around him when his 14-year old son, Jacob, is accused of first-degree murder. This is even more shocking since the murder victim is a fellow classmate of Jacob's. Andy is put on leave and devotes himself to proving his son's innocence...even though Jacob's own mother, Andy's wife Laurie, has her own horrible doubts about whether or not Jacob is guilty.

The lead up to the trial is just as exciting as the trial itself and while a lot of books like to tell you they have a surprising twist ending, many of them might as well tell you the ending at the beginning of the book. Not this one. This one genuinely surprised - even shocked - me. As we learn more about Jacob - and about Andy - it is easy to flip-flop back and forth between guilty/not guilty verdicts. Adding to this dilemma is the fact that Jacob is not a likable character, so the reader is not immediately prone to the not guilty side of the courtroom. But the victim is not a likable character either, so can't automatically go to the guilty side. This is a complex book that brings forth complex feelings as you read it. It will have you thinking long after you turn the last page.

Setting up a storytime is NOT as easy as A, B, C

I am doing the toddler storytime here in my library for the next few weeks, so today I started pulling books and making my handouts. As I was doing this, I thought that most people probably think, "Hey, it's a library. Just walk around, pick out a few books and you've got yourself a storytime!". Oh, if only. Not so much so. In reality, there is a good deal of thought and prep work that goes into a successful storytime. And the important word there, just in case you weren't sure, is successful. I could actually just go grab a bunch of books, sit down and read them, but if I do that, I can virtually guarantee that the storytime will be a horrible experience for everyone involved. Kids will be crying, parents will be glaring, asteroids will miss the Earth by 17, 240 miles...okay, just kidding. About that last part anyway.

If you want your storytime to be successful, to be effective, you really do need to take time and plan it. You need to take several things into consideration before you even start looking for books.

1. What is your audience's age? As I said, I am going to have toddlers for my storytimes. We consider toddlers to be between the ages of about 18 months to about 3 years old.

2. Are you only reading books or will you also incorporate songs into your storytime (before we go any further, I HIGHLY recommend that you incorporate songs into your storytime)?

3. Once you know the answer to numbers 1 and 2, you can better answer this question: how long will your storytime last? With toddlers, we have found that about 15-20 minutes works best. If they are having a great day, go the distance and stay for 20 minutes, but, if they are having a rough day (lots of crying, lots of running around, lots of wiggling), call it quits at 15. ***Tip: if you do have to end a little earlier than you had planned, be honest with the parents/caretakers. Let them know that not every storytime runs smoothly and that's okay. The important thing is to not give up. Come back next time and try again!***

Okay. So now you've got the framework for your storytime. Now you can start looking for books. Again, this is not as easy as it sounds. Not all books are built the same. To really be a great storytime book, it needs to be just long enough to tell them the story, but not so long that they lose interest. It needs to have exciting pictures (colorful is best) that will help make the book fun for them. The pictures need to be big enough that the kids hanging back can see it just as well as the kids who rush to sit right in front of you. And, of course, the book has to be about something that the kids will enjoy. A book about the proper preparation of mashed potatoes probably ain't gonna cut it for toddlers. Boring story, boring pictures, bored kids.

When I do storytime, I can get through some books. In that 15-20 minute time frame, I can get up to 6 books read. Sometimes it will be less than that, depending on the kids. Once I have picked out six books, I create a loose outline for the order in which I will read them. I think it is best to start with a short book because everyone is still going to be so excited to be there that they might not yet be ready to listen to a longer one. I save my longer books (and I try to limit this to no more than two), for the next two slots. Then I finish with a few more shorter ones.

Now for the songs. With toddlers, you may find that you have to alternate book-song-book-song-book, etc, so make sure you have plenty of songs ready to go. We use large song sheets that we hang behind us. This way, the parents/caretakers are encouraged to also participate. Songs are also a great way to help burn off excess kid energy. "Row, Row, Row Your Boat" is a classic that pretty much all of them know and so can help to bring them back into focus. "Five Little Monkeys" is a great song to get the kids up and moving so maybe they can get rid of some of those wiggles. Songs are also great because they reinforce listening and memory skills.

This might be the most important tip of all: read your books on your own BEFORE you read them in storytime. There are a couple of important reasons for this. You need to be as familiar with the books as possible because they will flow better and will be more entertaining for the kids. Also, if you have read them beforehand, YOU will be able to enjoy them more. Trust me, if you don't enjoy the book you're reading, neither will the kids. I actually read my choices to my 6-year old daughter. If I lose her, it's a pretty safe bet I'll lose other kids as well.

Hopefully this has helped you to see that storytime isn't as easy as it sounds. It takes some time and effort, but when you get those kids smiling and laughing, or sitting quietly because they just don't want to miss what comes next, it really does make it all worthwhile.

This Movie Burned a Hole in My Soul That Will Never Ever Heal

For Valentine's Day, I decided to write about something I absolutely hate. But, knowing that it is going to be about something that I hate, let me start by saying I love Colin Firth. Love him. And it's not just because he is Mr. Darcy. At least not the Pride and Prejudice Mr. Darcy. Although I do absolutely love him in that. But, the first time I saw him was in "Bridget Jones' Diary" (as Mark Darcy), and then I went and watched him in Pride and Prejudice. He has had so many wonderful roles and I have loved him in each and every one of them. And then came "A Single Man". He was nominated for the Academy Award for his performance as George, a closeted gay professor in the 1960's who is mourning the death of his lover. I try to see all the Oscar-nominated movies, at least the major ones, and this one also had Mr. Firth in it, so I rented it and sat down to enjoy what I expected would be a fantastic film.

And then I got to the end of the movie. And based solely on that ending, I now list this movie as my most-hated movie ever. EVER. To this day, I still randomly get angry about the ending. I can say, out loud, "I hate that movie" and a good number of my friends know exactly what movie I mean.

I am not going to reveal the ending, just in case you want to subject yourself to it, but suffice it to say it destroys all good feelings of love and hope and life that you may have had up until that while watching. I will say, on his behalf, that Mr. Firth was wonderful and I don't blame him for the ending, much the way I don't blame the waiter if something is wrong with my food. But oh dear God I hate the ending and so I hate the movie. Viscerally. It has been close to four years since I saw this movie, but my hatred for it still feels brand new.

Maybe putting these words down will finally exorcise the demon that is "the ending of the movie 'A Single Man'", but I don't hold out a lot of hope for that. Know why? The ending of the movie "A Single Man" sucked all hope out of me. Man. I hate that movie.

99,000 Emails In My Inbox, 99,000 Emails....

...Okay, so it's not 99,000 ... but it is 90,000. Seriously. 90,000 emails in my inbox. Somewhere along the line, I just forgot how to hit delete. I read the ones that are pertinent, and ignore the ones that aren't. Now, I'm not talking spam either. These are various newsletters and updates that I have at some point signed up for. But now, rather than get off their email list and eliminate future emails, I just ignore them which leads to 90,000 emails in my inbox.

Turns out this is a pretty good indicator of the rest of my life as well. Too much stuff in my car? Let's add some more to it. Laundry is done and folded? Let's leave it in the laundry basket and just get clothes from there. I already have 14 books checked out from the library? Let's put 14 more on hold.

I have somehow trapped myself in a vicious cycle wherein I am overwhelmed with stuff but unable to get out from under the stuff because I am so overwhelmed. I am not oblivious to what is around me; I just ignore it because that is so much easier than actually diving in and doing something about it. Yes, I know I would feel so much better, so much lighter if I just got rid of stuff. It sounds so easy when I say it, but in reality, it's really not so easy. If you're standing next to a mountain, it's pretty daunting to climb said mountain, but at least you can see where your feet need to go. If you're standing inside the mountain (just go with me on this), it's nowhere near as easy to climb up. That's how I feel: trapped and overwhelmed and exhausted before I even start.

Today, as I was joking about how many emails I have, I realized it actually isn't very funny. Important emails get lost, get overlooked. Deadlines go by and opportunities are missed. And so I decided to whittle down my email inbox. To the vast majority of people, this may seem like a frivolous venture, a silly way to start, but to me, it's kind of a big deal. I am hoping that I will feel so much better about my inbox that I will want to whittle down other aspects of my life: the clutter in my car, the clutter in my house, the clutter in my body.

The tricky part to this will be how long it could take. It will not be an overnight process, and I desperately want it to be an overnight process. So I will have to push through the times when all I want to do is ignore the emails and forget about the delete button. I have to believe vicious cycles can be broken, so time to break mine.

Sharon Needles Rules the World

I went and saw "Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters" this past weekend, and every time I saw Famke Janssen in full-on witch mode, all I could think of was that she clearly had been watching a whole bunch of RuPaul's Drag Race because she looked JUST LIKE Sharon Needles! This is yet more proof that Sharon Needles is winning in her quest to rule the world.

Evidence: Her debut CD PG - 13 was on the itunes pop albums chart and made it to #4, between Justin Bieber and Josh Groban. She is the reigning Drag Superstar and her boyfriend is a competitor on the current season of RuPaul's Drag Race. I just saw an editorial that she wrote on huffingtonpost.com. She is everywhere. All hail Sharon Needles!

Got the Bad News...So I Guess This Is Good News?

I love performing. I love singing, I love acting...not so fond of dancing. But I love to do the first two whenever I can. I had done lots of community theatre before my daughter was born in 2006, but once she showed up, the stage and I parted ways. Fortunately, it was a trial separation. Last year, I was in a production of "The Best Christmas Pageant Ever" and the coolest part of it was that my daughter was in it too! We had a great time and she was definitely bitten by the acting bug.

I didn't think I would do another show right away, but when I saw the next show at Peninsula Community Theatre was "Always...Patsy Cline", I just couldn't resist. So I auditioned, and lo and behold, I was fortunate enough to get cast in the role of Louise. Now, here's the thing about this show. IT'S TOUGH. It's only two people in the cast: Louise and Patsy Cline. So it is a really taxing show. For this reason, the director made a brilliant decision: he double-cast the show. Two Patsy Clines, two Louises. We split the shows evenly. Not as hard on all of us. I mean, I am talking 20+ songs that Patsy has to sing, and pretty close to 2 hours of monologues that Louise has to say.

Rehearsals had already been difficult because all of us, at one point or another, were sick. Flu season was not kind to any of us. But we were all really starting to gel and it was all coming together nicely. And then we got some horrible news. The other Louise, the fantastic Lucy May, had to go to the ER and was diagnosed with pneumonia. This was less than a week ago. And we open in two weeks. She was admitted to the hospital and then they hit her with the news that it wasn't pneumonia. They were 98% certain she had lung cancer. This news hit us all like a ton of bricks. That an elephant was carrying in a dumpster. Even though there were two casts for this show, there was no jealousy, no sniping, no back-stabbing; we are all friends. So what should we do? Again, we are two weeks away from opening night. Lucy made the decision for all of us basically. She bowed out of the show (which I know was incredibly difficult for her and is a huge disappointment to all of her friends and fans) and so now there are two Patsy Clines...but only one Louise. Remember that elephant with the dumpster full of bricks? Yeah, he showed up again.

So many things are running through my mind now (and with as many lines as I have had to memorize, I didn't think there would be any room at all for all those thoughts, but somehow, they found their own places to plant roots). Can I do this? Can I do this 12 times vs. 6 shows? How many times am I going to lose my voice, forget my lines, make a fool out of myself? Will I live up to the expectations? The people who know Lucy and were so excited to see her in this role - will they demand their money back? It is more than a little crushing. But I can't let all those negative thoughts and concerns hold me down. Lucy knows I will do a great job. Lucy WANTS me to do a great job. She looked me in the eye and told me she was sending me all the good karma she has, and since she is where she is right now and is fighting what she's fighting, that means more to me than she could ever know.

So I guess I better get out of my own head and just do this thing. Do it the best that I can, the best that Lucy can, because now I'm doing it for both of us. And I am not going to let Lucy down. That much you can count on.