Rant and Rave

The tagline of my blog is Rambles, Rants and Reviews. And while I do quite a few Reviews and many of my posts Ramble, I don't Rant a lot here. Well fasten your seat belt, because I'm about to RANT (and I may Ramble a bit as well).

If you live in the Northeast you are well aware that weather-wise we have been having a crappy summer. It basically rained from April until June and since I've been back from vacation (mid-July), it's been hot and humid. So, yeah, the weather sucks.

Now I'm not typically one to complain (or gloat) about the weather. Really, the weather doesn't effect me all that much. But when I heard our local weather person say that today was going to be one of the 10 BEST DAYS OF SUMMER I wanted to reach through the TV and wring her neck. Why, you ask? Because I have to work today. No big deal I know. Lots of people work. Yeah, yeah, I know. But you see, I work part-time. Very part-time. I only work every other Friday and it's only on those Fridays that I work a full day (10-5). And guess what today is. FRIDAY! So not only do I have to work on one of the 10 BEST DAYS OF SUMMER. I have to work ALL DAY. ARGGH!!!

What I want to know now is - How many of those 10 best days have already passed? I can't really recall any. Maybe I'll get lucky and still be able to enjoy the other 9. I sure hope so.

OK, rant over. Thanks for listening. I've got to go now. I need to finish getting ready for work!

Image from Google Images

Thankful Thursday

Thankful Thursdays are all about taking the time to appreciate all the little things that actually went right during the week. I am someone who can get flustered very easily - even when the smallest thing goes wrong. So why not focus on all the little things that went right and be grateful?

1. I'm thankful that I was able to spend time with an old friend on Sunday. We don't see each other much, but it's a joy to be able to spend time together.

2. I'm grateful that on Tuesday night when I had to run an errand with Katie, Geoff and Madeleine folded laundry and ironed some clothes while I was out! Can you believe that!? Unheard of! Amazing! Unbelievable. I thought I was going to have to finish up those chores myself and they did it for me. Wow!

3. I'm thankful that Katie is healing well from having her wisdom teeth removed last Friday. OUCH! Poor thing. She's almost back to normal now. Thank goodness.

4. I'm thankful that I've come to a few conclusions recently about how I want to spend my time - both here on the Internet and in my "real" life. I've figured out what I want to keep and what I can let go of. I'm hoping that this will lead to less chaos and more balance in my life. Here's hoping.

How about you? What are you thankful for?

Image from Google Images

Musing Mondays (better late than never)

MUSING MONDAYS are hosted by Rebecca at Just One More Page. Today’s MUSING MONDAYS post is a library habits meme…courtesy of MizB:

Being an Assistant Librarian there was NO WAY I could pass up this meme.

Library Habits meme:

1) If you don't frequent your local library, why not?
I work in my library so I am already there, but even before I worked in a library I was a confirmed library rat.

2) If you do visit the library, how often do you go?
I'm at the library at least twice a week (again, for work. Though I do all most of my patronage then as well).

3) Do you have a favorite section that you always head to first, or do you just randomly peruse the shelves?
I don't do a lot of perusing any more. Since I'm around the books all the time I pretty much already know what I want to read next. In my pre-library worker days, I would browse the new book shelves and then I would pick a random bookcase in the fiction area and browse it until I had to leave.

4) How many books are you allowed to check out at one time? Do you take advantage of this?
There is no limit at our library. I usually have between 1 and 4 books checked out for myself at any one time. I also put my kids and my mom's books on my card. (As a staff member I don't get fines for overdue books). In all, I usually have between 6 and 10 books total out at a time.

5) How long are you allowed to have the books checked out?
Books check out for 3 weeks, DVDs and magazines for 1 week.

6) How many times are you allowed to renew your check-outs, if at all?
Items can be renewed once, unless another patron has a hold on it. In that case, it can not be renewed.

7) What do you love best about your particular library?
It was built in 1889 and it looks like a castle. The inside is full of stained glass windows, fireplaces, high vaulted ceilings and gorgeous carved wood bookcases. It's a library out of an English period movie. Idyllic!

8) What is one thing you wish your library did differently?
This is a tough one for me to answer. Since I work there I have a whole different "behind the scenes" perspective. From a patron point of view, I wish the library was larger so there were more areas for patron usage - reading areas, meeting areas, etc.

9) Do you request your books via an online catalogue, or through the librarian at your branch?
Both. I request books from my computer at home (just like any other patron) and also from work. It just depends where I am when I learn about a book I want to read. Of course at work, I AM the librarian, so I just do it myself.

10) Have you ever chosen a book on impulse (from the online catalogue OR the shelves) and had it turn out to be totally amazing? If so, what book was it, and why did you love it?
This is the thing I miss most now that I work in a library. Before I became a "librarian" I would browse for hours and rarely knew what I wanted to read ahead of time. I LOVED spending time lost in the stacks, browsing books. Pure heaven. Now that I work with books, I have a tbr list a mile long and I rarely browse. I know that I found loads of books that I loved through random browsing, but it's been so long ago I can't really recall any of them. I do remember loving a book called Three Women at Water's Edge sometime in the late 80's or early 90's. All I remember now is the title. I wonder what I would think of it today?


How about you? What are your library habits? PLEASE LEAVE A COMMENT with your opinion or link to your own Monday Musing post.

Going Award Free

Once again I'm about to open a blogging can of worms. Remember back in June when I wrote about Guilt Free Blogging? I really worried about offending my readers and followers. And to be honest, I did lose a couple of followers after that post was published. Well, here I go again. Just call me a Rebel without a Cause.

I don't want to offend anyone, and I'm beyond flattered and honored when one of you considers me worthy of a blogging award. But the whole award thing has become a little overwhelming. Especially deciding who to pass the award on to. I feel guilty accepting awards if I don't "follow the rules" and pass them on. And I would feel guilty if I didn't post an award that someone so thoughtfully gave to me. So, I've decided to go Award Free. Apparently, I'm not alone in this sentiment as Award Free buttons are available at Penniwig's blog. As of today, I've added an Award Free button to my sidebar. Thanks to Mary at My New 30 for this link and passing on the idea of Award Free Blogging.

Once again, thank you for all the awards that you have so graciously given me. I truly am honored. But your comments are all the "awards" I need. I always look forward to reading them. And thank you for understanding.

How do you feel about awards? Do you love them? Do you accept them, but don't pass them on? Do you ignore them? Are you too busy to follow the rules that are attached to many of them? Would you/Have you considered going Award Free? I'd love to hear your thoughts on this topic.

My First Friend

Thirty-eight years ago I made my very first "real" friend. Sandy and I have been friends since I was 7 and she was 5. We met when my family moved into her neighborhood. All throughout our childhood and teen years we were pretty much inseparable. After we both graduated HS and went off to college, we still kept in touch and saw each other on school breaks and during the summer. Even as our lives changed and we made new friends in college and had less and less contact with each other, we still had a special bond. When I got married in 1987, I didn't hesitate to ask her to be my maid of honor. And in 1994, I was honored to serve as hers.

We really haven't seen all that much of each other in the last 25 years. For several years we were both living in AZ (quite by coincidence), though an hour apart. For those years we managed to see each other a few times a year. Now that I'm living back in our hometown in RI, Sandy and I see each other every summer when she comes "home" to visit her mother and sisters. Yesterday was that day. She and her 5 year old daughter came over for lunch. I invited my mom, dad and Sandy to join us since they watched Sandy grow up and she is like a daughter to them. We had a great time sitting outside chatting and talking about old times. Even though we see each other so infrequently we never have any trouble picking up where we left off. Which is pretty amazing - considering she is the first friend I ever made.

Sentimental Sunday

Wanna see my vacation pictures? Most people run in the other direction when their friends pull out their vacation photos. That's the main reason I haven't posted too many from our recent trip to Spain. However, a couple of you (Anita and Gail) have asked to see more. Really? Are you sure? I took 302 pictures. Still want to see them? Since I usually post sentimental memories along with photos on Sundays (a slow blog day), I thought I would share my Spain pictures in the next few Sentimental Sunday posts. Today I'll share a few from Madrid - our homebase for the first 10 days of our trip.

This first picture is of the Prado Museum - a fabulous art museum chock full of amazing paintings by all the important Spanish artists. The museum was right across the street from our hotel! Have I ever mentioned that I LOVE art museums? Mr. and Mrs. S took us on a quick tour of the most important galleries. We saw fabulous paintings by Velasquez, Goya and El Greco. My favorite was a pair of portraits by Goya of his mistress - both in the exact same pose. One clothed and one nude. The story is that Goya kept them in his bedroom - the nude one underneath the clothed one. He was able to somehow switch them at will. For some reason I find this fascinating.

This next picture was taken in the Puerta del Sol - the public square considered to be the city center of Madrid. This statue of the Bear and The Strawberry Tree is the symbol of the city of Madrid. And a photo op for tourists. Some even climb it! LOL! I figure any girl who can wear horizontal stripes across her behind deserves to be in my family vacation photos!

The Rastro flea market has been held every Sunday in Madrid - since the 16th century! Isn't that amazing? Needless to say, Katie and Madeleine were in all their glory during our morning spent shopping in this gigantic outdoor market. (I wasn't too disappointed either). I bought a lovely tablecloth for my Dining Room table, Katie got a lovely sundress and Madeleine bought a great bohemian tote bag/pocketbook.

Believe it or not, this is the Post Office in Madrid! Not to shabby, huh?

No trip would be complete without a picture of me in front of the local library (I'm such a dork). This is the National Library in Madrid and it was a short walk from our hotel. It's a research library and we were not allowed to go inside, but we did peak inside the foyer. Pretty impressive!

The next series of pictures highlight one of our food adventures in Madrid. Geoff and I are both pretty open to new food experiences and one evening while we were at a bar enjoying one of Mr. S's favorite Spanish dishes (patatas bravas - spicy potatoes), there was a steaming octopus sitting on the counter right next to me.

Mr. S assured us that "pulpo" is actually quite good. The more he talked about it, the braver we got. Eventually, we broke down and ordered the pulpo. Guess what? It wasn't bad. It tasted like lobster! Imagine that!

No one was brave enough to eat the tentacle that still looked like a tentacle, but we did get a picture of me pretending to eat it! (Now here's an example of me being unphotogenic. But it's just so funny I had to post it).

OK, are you bored out of your mind yet with my vacation pictures? Luckily, I'm done with the pictures of Madrid. Next Sunday I'll have some from our day trips to Segovia, El Escorial and Toledo. I know you can hardly wait! LOL!

Let's Be Friends

Earlier this week I was honored to have been awarded the Let's Be Friends Award by Sue at Book by Book. Sue's blog is chock full of book reviews and fun and interesting book memes. If you're a book worm and you haven't visited Book by Book, you don't know what your missing.

About the award:

Blogs that receive the Let’s Be Friends Award are exceedingly charming. These kind bloggers aim to find and be friends. They are not interested in self-aggrandizement. Our hope is that when the ribbons of these prizes are cut, even more friendships are propagated. Please give more attention to these writers.

I REALLY hate deciding who to pass these awards on to. Do the rest of you struggle with this? I'd love to hear from you. I always feel like my regulars will feel bad if I don't pass them on to them, but I also don't want to annoy them by ALWAYS passing them on (especially if they struggle with this like I do). Sometimes I'd like to highlight a blogger who I think doesn't get enough attention, but if I do that will everyone else wonder why they weren't chosen? I'm probably over thinking this. Anyway, there is one blogger who I've really been enjoying lately, both on our blogs and behind the scenes in email. I'm going to award this to her. And everyone else, I love and admire you all. You are all great blogging friends with charming blogs.

I'm going to pass this one on to:

FranticMommy the Queen of the Kingdom of Tired

If you don't know Frantic Mommy, you should check her out. She's got her hands full with two little ones and she doesn't mince words when it comes to the "joys" of parenting. I can so relate. Congrats, Frantic Mommy!