happy stuff.

today, i was walking around downtown near the campus and had to smile when i saw three charming snowducks in a row–all painted yellow and very cute! i was later amused (in a completely different way) by the giant snow phallus *ahem* erected on the front lawn of what, one must hope, was the residence [...]

last week i taught my second monthly sewing class at the library. the first month, i had three teens show up, each of whom had at least a little sewing experience. this month, i had two twelve year olds with no experience, a forty year-old with some experience but who needed some advice on a [...]

that, my friends, is the sound of a checkmark being written decisively beside a to-do list item. today was the day one of my librarian friends and i did a presentation about this year’s summer library program for an audience of librarians who work in a different system than mine. in other words–the first presentation [...]

a friend once told me that someone told her once that it was a good idea to give your child a name with five letters because then you can teach them how to spell their name by singing it to the tune of b-i-n-g-o. interesting concept to muse. i noticed that her second child only [...]

some years we celebrate valentine’s day and some years we thumb our noses at commercialism. in the past, i’ve kind of hoped that mr. happy stuff would be able to figure out on his own which kind of a year we were having (read: what kind of a valentine’s day i was hoping for–how selfish [...]

a few years ago, i heard a sermon from which one tiny tidbit has stuck in my head and still pops out occasionally and i’d like to share it with you. the preacher talked about how sometimes when she gets stuck behind a really slow-moving vehicle on the road, her first instinct is angry frustration, [...]

lately, i’ve been really tucking in and cozying up and not really leaving the house unless i need to. i’ve spent a lot of time reading in my hammock swing, a lot of time sitting in the basement watching tv and movies (mr. happy stuff introduced me to the television show “heroes” which i’m rather [...]

in my afternoon storytime, there are only about 10 families that rotate in and out whenever they can, but 3 little girls who come regularly are all named “grace.” the first time i noticed the coincidence, i thought that perhaps i had mistakenly forgotten someone’s name and was calling her grace because the other little [...]

i’ve written before about my love of multiple pancake topping options, but i had to share this photo of this morning’s breakfast. yes, i made mostly normal size pancakes, but there’s something extra tasty about “silver dollar” pancakes and they’re so cute! mr. happy stuff was, of course, finished with his first two pancakes by [...]

yesterday, my co-workers invited me to join them for lunch. they were going to a little cafe called “three sisters” and apparently it was tortilla soup day. i am a big sucker for tortilla soup (i had actually brought leftover homemade tortilla soup for my lunch!), so i jumped at the chance. we’ve never gone [...]