I'm a library junkie, I admit it. (That probably explains the chosen career path: Librarian, as well as the Master's Degree in Library Science.)
Even though I work in a library, I can never get enough of the place. OK, not just the library where I work, but any library, anywhere. We travel to Seattle, and on the second day there, I made my family journey to the Central Library. Gatlinburg? One of the most picturesque little public libraries sits by a stream, just off of the main thoroughfare. Savannah? Public Library down by the waterfront AND the Library for SCAD, located in a refurbished building. I have visited academic libraries just about everywhere we go. Having sent off 3 children to college in the last 4 years, every college tour has ended with me, grilling the library staff about library subscriptions, on and off campus access to their databases, their e-book collections, and to which consortium do they belong? (What is the average turn around time on a book ordered from another library in the consortium?) I've frustrated some library assistants beyond words, and had some fantastic conversations with some librarians who have helped me broaden my own understanding of my field, and given me concrete ideas to increase our own access for students.
Bliss of bliss, we had a new public library open not too far from where I work recently. I went there yesterday to explore and check out books. Unfortunately, I couldn't get any pictures without people in them, so we'll have to wait until another time when it is less crowded when I can take pictures.
This building is awesome, LEED certified, with all of the bells and whistles that go with it, but what impressed me the most was the rooftop garden - it is intended to help absorb rain and reduce run off into the Bay. They also have a garden next door to the library that is run by the Master Gardeners. This beautiful little garden has pathways, herbs, flowers, and vegetables. The Master Gardeners teach classes in that garden on a regular basis. What a fabulous way to reach out into the community!
I am a library junkie. I have worked in public libraries in the past, so I do know the full extent of offerings available through the library, but I thought I would list them again. These resources are all available for you, for free. Your taxes go to support your library, and if you are not in your library using these resources, you should be asking yourself "why" you aren't heading over there more often.
Books - for children, and adults. Every kind, every size, small print, large print, board, you name it, they have it.
Books on Tape- and CD and little digital play aways.
E-Books - that you can download directly to your electronic device.
English as a Second Language Classes (some libraries, not all)
Computer Classes (most libraries)
Online Access- wifi, and computers
Quiet Study Rooms
Toys you can check out for children (some libraries, not all)
Science kits, with materials already provided for elementary age children (some libraries, not all)
Magazines
Copy Machines
DVD's
Video Games (some libraries, not all)
FREE CLASSES - story times for children, for adults: crafts, knitting, cooking, gardening, recycling, it's worth looking into!
Farmer's Markets - some libraries, not all, seasonal
Oh, how I love the library. Many people think that libraries are no longer relevant in the information age. Really? Libraries are on the cutting edge of information technology. Not only do they know how to find information, they love to show you the best, easiest, most efficient way to find reliable sources of information. Best of all, you are not paying for their services.
Have you checked out your local library lately?
Wednesday, March 11, 2015
Monday, March 9, 2015
McCormick Recipe Inspirations
Have you ever tried these things? They're pre-measured spice kits from McCormick. Each card contains the spices in little plastic cubes. The back of the box contains a recipe card, with the ingredients you will need to finish making the recipe as well as the cooking directions.This past week as I was cleaning out the kitchen, I found a stash of 20 of these. Varying recipes, involving pork, chicken, and beef.
I had never really tried them - I had just picked them up. Since I had so many of them sitting around, I thought I would give them a try.
Let me tell you, these things are amazing!
The recipe is already thought it. The measuring is done. All you have to do is cut something, give the spices a little swirl, and put everything in the oven. Absolutely the easiest cooking I have done in quite some time!
We cooked the Asian Sesame Salmon, Rosemary Roasted Chicken with Potatoes, and the Spanish Chicken. Dinner was quick and easy, and I much appreciated the fact that the sides were included on the recipe list. For some unknown reason, I've always struggled with adding the right side to round out a meal.
Hey- I don't get anything out of pushing this product. The picture is from my Amazon Associates Account, but I get nothing from McCormick for this. I just really, really liked this product. It made my dinner planning considerably easier!
Even better, these little gems are fairly reasonably priced, coming in at less than $5 per packet, but if you can find coupons in the paper and combine it with a sale, you have a bargain on your hands!
Saturday, March 7, 2015
Cleaning out the Kitchen
I began the #40bagsin40days Lenten challenge a couple of weeks ago. I admit. I had dreams of cleaning out my entire house.
Turns out, I've gotten bogged down in my kitchen. There's a lot more "stuff" in there than I thought there would be.
While I've been at it, husband and I decided to go ahead and fix all of the little stuff that has bothered us about that space since we moved into this house. It's been on our "to do" list for 9 years now, but it's never been a priority.
We've emptied out well over half of the cabinets. We've gone through each and every item and decided what we do and don't use. Items that needed to go away have been given away. We cleaned out the cupboard which is just behind the kitchen door, and husband is in the middle of building a custom designed rack so that we can rotate our canned goods in and out without losing stuff in the very back corners of the cupboard. Items that need to be corralled, like the Easter Egg stuff is all in bins, and the bottom shelves of the cupboards contain these bins of items that are not used often, but that we like to keep track of.
I even went so far as to go through the spices. We had five jars of Turmeric - each with a little less than a quarter of spice left. Hey, presto, change-o, I consolidated all of the various jars of Turmeric into one! Sadly, there were many more extraneous jars of spices - not just the Turmeric - that could be consolidated. In all, I ended up recycling over 20 jars and little containers of spices that had been hogging space in our cabinets. I can now actually see what I have on the shelves! That's an unusual feeling!
Yesterday, I emptied out another cabinet that I've been meaning to get to since we moved in here. There were 5 sets of drip pans for an electric stove in there. We have a smooth top electric range. Not sure how long those pans have been sitting in there, but they are gone now! This cabinet is going to end up housing my pans and cookie sheets that are currently crammed into the drawer under the oven. I want to store them vertically, if I can, so I'm looking around for ways to hold the upright without spending a fortune.
I still have the largest project left - getting at the island in the kitchen. It's an awkward set up - the island itself has cabinets that hang down from the ceiling and come to 12" above the counter top. No space to do anything here except pile stuff. When we moved in, our intent was to pull down those cabinets over top of the island and move them down into the laundry room to make a nice island there to fold laundry. I believe we're about to make it happen. With the space we've opened up in the other cabinets, we should be able to move everything out of those upper cabinets and take them down. I don't think it will happen before Easter, but it will happen before graduation. Finally, one of the larger visions we had for this space when we moved in here - opening up the kitchen - will be done!
I have added a Kitchen Remodel board to my Pinterest Boards. I don't honestly think we'll be able to pull off a lot of these ideas, but it's fun to look at these great ideas and dream!
The bag count so far? 9 bags to Goodwill. 1 to the Public Library. 2 bags to a mission trip to Guatemala. 4 bags of trash. 1 bin of recycling.
Turns out, I've gotten bogged down in my kitchen. There's a lot more "stuff" in there than I thought there would be.
While I've been at it, husband and I decided to go ahead and fix all of the little stuff that has bothered us about that space since we moved into this house. It's been on our "to do" list for 9 years now, but it's never been a priority.
We've emptied out well over half of the cabinets. We've gone through each and every item and decided what we do and don't use. Items that needed to go away have been given away. We cleaned out the cupboard which is just behind the kitchen door, and husband is in the middle of building a custom designed rack so that we can rotate our canned goods in and out without losing stuff in the very back corners of the cupboard. Items that need to be corralled, like the Easter Egg stuff is all in bins, and the bottom shelves of the cupboards contain these bins of items that are not used often, but that we like to keep track of.
I even went so far as to go through the spices. We had five jars of Turmeric - each with a little less than a quarter of spice left. Hey, presto, change-o, I consolidated all of the various jars of Turmeric into one! Sadly, there were many more extraneous jars of spices - not just the Turmeric - that could be consolidated. In all, I ended up recycling over 20 jars and little containers of spices that had been hogging space in our cabinets. I can now actually see what I have on the shelves! That's an unusual feeling!
Yesterday, I emptied out another cabinet that I've been meaning to get to since we moved in here. There were 5 sets of drip pans for an electric stove in there. We have a smooth top electric range. Not sure how long those pans have been sitting in there, but they are gone now! This cabinet is going to end up housing my pans and cookie sheets that are currently crammed into the drawer under the oven. I want to store them vertically, if I can, so I'm looking around for ways to hold the upright without spending a fortune.
I still have the largest project left - getting at the island in the kitchen. It's an awkward set up - the island itself has cabinets that hang down from the ceiling and come to 12" above the counter top. No space to do anything here except pile stuff. When we moved in, our intent was to pull down those cabinets over top of the island and move them down into the laundry room to make a nice island there to fold laundry. I believe we're about to make it happen. With the space we've opened up in the other cabinets, we should be able to move everything out of those upper cabinets and take them down. I don't think it will happen before Easter, but it will happen before graduation. Finally, one of the larger visions we had for this space when we moved in here - opening up the kitchen - will be done!
I have added a Kitchen Remodel board to my Pinterest Boards. I don't honestly think we'll be able to pull off a lot of these ideas, but it's fun to look at these great ideas and dream!
The bag count so far? 9 bags to Goodwill. 1 to the Public Library. 2 bags to a mission trip to Guatemala. 4 bags of trash. 1 bin of recycling.
Friday, March 6, 2015
Glitter Dipped Mugs
With the winter weather we've had this week, I've been out of work for the majority of the week. I've worked 2 days this week. In the meantime, I've been hitting up my Pinterest Boards, and working on craft projects. This is the latest find! The glitter dipped mugs look beautiful, and I had to try!
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| The necessary supplies- glitter and mod podge |
I found the original project here: http://www.whitehouseblackshutters.com/glitter-dipped-mug/
Since the directions for the mug itself are written on the white house black shutters blog, I am not going to repeat them here. You can follow the link to see the step by step directions.
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| Setting up the craft area: lots and lots of newspaper. |
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| The blue stripe is painter's tape. Pretty purple glitter on my mug! |
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| The mugs have been glittered - waiting for their layer of Mod Podge. |
I do have a couple of very important notes on this. The blue and green glitter is extra chunky glitter. The purple glitter is superfine. While the blue and green looks really cool, the purple is a little more understated, and it doesn't "glitter" the way you think it should. It's pretty, but it's not glittery.
In her blog, Ann Marie recommends waiting overnight before applying anything over the glitter. The directions on the bottle of Mod Podge say you can apply a second layer after 2 hours. Don't do that! Wait overnight between layers! I waited an hour, and I applied three layers over the glitter on one mug. On the other mug, I ended up waiting overnight between layers and I only added two layers of Mod Podge. I also left the tape on my mug and didn't pull it off. All big mistakes, let me tell you. The entire purple glitter layer ended up peeling off of my 3 layer mug yesterday. I'm going back and redoing the entire thing today. I'm going to wait overnight in between layers, and I'm going to only put two layers of glitter on my mug.
So, was this a pinterest success or fail? One mug was a roaring success! Okay, so it was the one that I followed the directions to the letter.... The other one, I rushed and took a few shortcuts.
I'll claim this as a Pinterest Success Story!
Thursday, March 5, 2015
Winter's Last Gasp
In like a lion, out like a lamb. At least, that's what they say!
I found this weather forecast yesterday on the Facebook Page of the Baltimore County Public Library.
I hope you're enjoying this last gasp of winter!
I found this weather forecast yesterday on the Facebook Page of the Baltimore County Public Library.
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| source: https://www.facebook.com/bcplonline?fref=photo |
Sunday, March 1, 2015
My Resolutions
Every year, we all make resolutions that we vow we are going to keep. 6 weeks later, we don't even remember what our resolutions were! Last year, I decided to go public and put my resolutions on my blog so that I can hold myself accountable. Nothing like looking back once a month to see if you've kept your promises to yourself!
Since it's the first of the month, it's time to take a look at the 2015 resolutions:
1) Exercise More. My goal was to get out to exercise for 30 minutes a day, 5 days a week. With the cold and snow we've had I've done nothing. Epic fail. I can't wait for spring!!!
2) Lose 10 pounds.
2 pounds lost last month. Nothing this month. I suspect this has something to do with #1.
3) Remodel the Hall Bathroom.
This is a repeat from last year.
4) Finish oldest child's quilt.
The quilt is pinned! It's 1/3 finished. I'm hand quilting this, and it's slow going, but...It's looking as if it might be finished before graduation!
5) Clean and organize the Family Room in the basement.
I'm working on organizing the bookshelves. It's the librarian in me. I really like to have those shelves organized by subject. I'm also weeding some of the titles out. The 50 year old science books really don't have any value.
6) Cut back on the time I spend on Social Media.
I'm only looking at social media now first thing in the morning, when I'm waiting for my husband to get through the bathroom, and at lunch time. As a result, I'm finding I have more time in my day!
7) Read 75 books this year.
I'm making some serious progress on this. I've been blogging about each of the books I've read in this challenge as I go. I have a page dedicated to the books I'm reading this year. You can find it on the right hand side of this page, listed as "2015 Book Challenge". I didn't read as much this month- but I have the new Rick Riordan Heroes of Olympus Book sitting on the table, next to the computer!
8) Get out of debt.
Working on it. I believe this should also say "don't add extra debt while sending kids through college." 4 years down with no debt - 4 more to go.
9) Spend more time with my family
Always a priority, and it gets harder and harder as the kids go off to college and get lives of their own. We've had some snow days this month, and I've enjoyed spending extra time with my daughter!
10) 365 Grateful
I will continue to find a way to be thankful for the things I have. There are a lot of awful things that happen, but I will focus on the positive. You can lose yourself in negativity. I've been posting pictures on Flickr, and some on here. Any way I can find to keep myself positive!
You can find me on Flickr: https://www.flickr.com/photos/librarynut/
11) Replace the car that was totaled.
It needs to be done, even in the midst of paying off loans, a bathroom that needs to be remodeled, and college expenses. Our Civic has 225,000 miles on it. It's a great car, and we keep up to date on the maintenance, but by God, do we need to make certain we have a back up plan! The van doesn't have nearly as many miles on it, but putting gas in that behemoth is expensive.
12) I will maintain my friendships.
It's an ongoing project, and I am enjoying it immensely! I caught up with a friend that I haven't seen in 15 years this month! It was an awesome lunch!
13) Have a few more adventures this year.
I took a day trip over to the beach yesterday with a friend. We had lunch, went shopping, and stopped at the most amazing fish store ever and picked up some seafood that was fresh off the boat! Fresh fish for dinner tonight!
14) Craft More
Still working on the quilt. I took a break to knit up a hat and scarf as a birthday present and sent that off. I also made glitter mugs. I'll be posting pictures of that amazing beauty later in the week! They are so sparkly! Love them!!
So, how are you doing on your New Year's Resolutions?
Since it's the first of the month, it's time to take a look at the 2015 resolutions:
1) Exercise More. My goal was to get out to exercise for 30 minutes a day, 5 days a week. With the cold and snow we've had I've done nothing. Epic fail. I can't wait for spring!!!
2) Lose 10 pounds.
2 pounds lost last month. Nothing this month. I suspect this has something to do with #1.
3) Remodel the Hall Bathroom.
This is a repeat from last year.
4) Finish oldest child's quilt.
The quilt is pinned! It's 1/3 finished. I'm hand quilting this, and it's slow going, but...It's looking as if it might be finished before graduation!
5) Clean and organize the Family Room in the basement.
I'm working on organizing the bookshelves. It's the librarian in me. I really like to have those shelves organized by subject. I'm also weeding some of the titles out. The 50 year old science books really don't have any value.
6) Cut back on the time I spend on Social Media.
I'm only looking at social media now first thing in the morning, when I'm waiting for my husband to get through the bathroom, and at lunch time. As a result, I'm finding I have more time in my day!
7) Read 75 books this year.
I'm making some serious progress on this. I've been blogging about each of the books I've read in this challenge as I go. I have a page dedicated to the books I'm reading this year. You can find it on the right hand side of this page, listed as "2015 Book Challenge". I didn't read as much this month- but I have the new Rick Riordan Heroes of Olympus Book sitting on the table, next to the computer!
8) Get out of debt.
Working on it. I believe this should also say "don't add extra debt while sending kids through college." 4 years down with no debt - 4 more to go.
9) Spend more time with my family
Always a priority, and it gets harder and harder as the kids go off to college and get lives of their own. We've had some snow days this month, and I've enjoyed spending extra time with my daughter!
10) 365 Grateful
I will continue to find a way to be thankful for the things I have. There are a lot of awful things that happen, but I will focus on the positive. You can lose yourself in negativity. I've been posting pictures on Flickr, and some on here. Any way I can find to keep myself positive!
You can find me on Flickr: https://www.flickr.com/photos/librarynut/
11) Replace the car that was totaled.
It needs to be done, even in the midst of paying off loans, a bathroom that needs to be remodeled, and college expenses. Our Civic has 225,000 miles on it. It's a great car, and we keep up to date on the maintenance, but by God, do we need to make certain we have a back up plan! The van doesn't have nearly as many miles on it, but putting gas in that behemoth is expensive.
12) I will maintain my friendships.
It's an ongoing project, and I am enjoying it immensely! I caught up with a friend that I haven't seen in 15 years this month! It was an awesome lunch!
13) Have a few more adventures this year.
I took a day trip over to the beach yesterday with a friend. We had lunch, went shopping, and stopped at the most amazing fish store ever and picked up some seafood that was fresh off the boat! Fresh fish for dinner tonight!
14) Craft More
Still working on the quilt. I took a break to knit up a hat and scarf as a birthday present and sent that off. I also made glitter mugs. I'll be posting pictures of that amazing beauty later in the week! They are so sparkly! Love them!!
So, how are you doing on your New Year's Resolutions?
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