I sold my first item on etsy!

I haven't made a big announcement about my etsy shop yet because I wanted to get it stocked with a bunch of goodies first. But get this-- someone already bought a book from my shop! I got the email this morning and I could not believe it. Especially because the book the person bought was the one with by far the worst photos of all of the books in my shop. But it is such a great book. See for yourself...

Ten on Ten: May 2011

Sweet score from the library book sale :: Getting ready for storytime :: Storytime cleanup :: The city's can-struction team, building a chair out of canned goods for a contest later in the week (this was our trial run and it went really well! Look out, other teams!) :: A treat for my awesome volunteer whose last day was today... somehow this managed to sit uneaten on my desk all day! :: 'Tween knitters in my hat workshop show off their handiwork :: I got home to find my wonderful husband working in the yard (he doesn't always have that cheesy smile on his face... only when I say, "Smile really big!") :: His big accomplishment this week, clearing out tons and tons of bluebells from our backyard (They're weeds! Don't let anyone tell you otherwise!) :: The seeds in our garden boxes are sprouting! Hello, spinach, lettuce, and herbs! :: An evening swim

More Ten on Ten here... link up and play next month on the 10th!

Alleycats

What did you do on Saturday afternoon? I went on an 18-mile bike scavenger hunt around Madison with a team of 7 hot chicks from my go-go dance group. We had to bike around to different points in the city , performing some type of task at each station. The weather was perfect. We may have busted out some of our dance moves once or twice... maybe.

Jessie Spano wrote a book!

Remember Jessie, the nerdy beauty on Saved by the Bell? She's an author now. And the book looks great... check it out here.

Mother's Day

My mom came over yesterday! Here's what was waiting for her:

Karl and I made Swedish pancakes and a spinach, mushroom, and asparagus frittata. We gave my mom some fun little surprises, including a few items we brought home from Italy (my favorite was the lavender honey... she loves lavender).

Naturally, I took zero photos of my mom, so you'll have to use your imagination. Just picture me with darker hair and a little bit older (just a little bit!). Sometimes I see pictures of my mom when she was in college or in her 30's and I think, "I don't remember wearing that outfit" because I think it's me! True story.

'Tweens Have More Fun... don't they?

I have a display unit at work that houses the new 'tween fiction and nonfiction. It's fabulous-- the perfect spot to display all of our new goodies. Most upper elementary kids go straight to this shelf to find the latest and greatest titles for checkout. When I ordered the display unit, I was very specific: I wanted a slatwall panel for displaying a few books face-out (awesome; they fly off the shelves... can we re-do the entire library in slatwall?) and a bulletin board on one end for promotional posters, newsy items, and just plain fun. Turns out I'm not so great at creating promotional posters, newsy items, or just plain fun. I'm good at making one thing and leaving it up for a long time. Then when I take it down, I'm really good at letting the bulletin board sit empty for a while. That was the case earlier in the week, until yesterday when I decided it was time to put something up. This (don't laugh) is what I came up with:


Yes, those letters are cut out of discarded dictionary pages. And yes, that posterboard is full of thumbtack holes from being re-used. But no, the bulletin board isn't empty anymore... that's the good news.

'Tweens really do have more fun... but you'd never know it by this excruciatingly boring poster.

Yesterday was the best day ever.

We could have cleaned the garage and gone grocery shopping. But instead, we rode our bikes over to Karl's grandma's house, then went to the park and flew kites. It was perfect.