Wow! It is Friday already. The Memorial Day weekend is upon us. I have a hard time wrapping my head around this as it is supposed to be in 5 days from now, since today is only the 25th. Yesterday our wireless connection was acting wonky so I couldn't get onto the Internet. Instead of staying home and having withdrawal I decided to run errands. Finally got down to the closest public library on Richmond Road. Not very large YA section, which they call Teen, but a friendly staff. The computers were mostly engaged but there was not a soul in the Children's section. The offerings were older titles, but that's okay for right now as I was looking for titles to look at in relation to the Margaret A. Edwards Award. Can't talk about what I'm reading - bummer!

Also made a trip to Half Priced Books and they had a clearance cart out front. Ending up with an armload of books before I even got inside! I lent my copy of No More Dead Dogs by Gordan Korman to a student and never got it back so was delighted to find a copy for 50 cents. It is difficult to find humorous YA fiction. How can you not love a young teen who refuses to lie - even about a book he is supposed to love and hates. Why do all the dogs die at the end of these books he wants to know. :-) Made me think of an experience I had with Where the Red Fern Grows by Wilson Rawls years ago in Alaska. I was doing a long term sub in a 6th grade classroom that most substitute teachers wouldn't touch because it had all the rowdy boys, including one who always wore a black leather jacket with studs on it. It was this kid that came forward and gently took the copy of this book away from me, handed me a Kleenex, and told me to sit in his desk - he would read the rest of the chapter. I always cry when the dog dies! The connection that this group of tweens and I made was incredible. They'd stop me in the halls of the HS where I later became the librarian and ask me if I remember crying. I even had them stop me in the mall to talk about that incident. None of them will forget that book. I was digging through the clearance paperback rack in the YA area of Half Priced Books and was chatting with a mother and her home-schooled tween as they looked for books. I came across a copy of Summer of the Monkeys, Rawls' title that doesn't get the attention it should. I suggested it to the mom and it went into the pile of books in her arms. :-) It is laugh out loud funny! A group of circus monkey get loose and 14-year-old Jay wants to capture them for the reward. He has it already spent in his mind, but catching those monkeys is more difficult than expected, even with Grandpa's help.

We changed our mind at least twice about bedroom furniture since I wrote that I thought we had made up our mind! But, last night we actually bought a set. The Edwardian style four poster bed is gorgeous as is the man's chest (looks like a chifferobe to me!) Steve seems to think it will all fit in our bedroom - I sure hope so! I was in shock over the final total, so we had to go to Olive Garden for dinner and a glass of wine. I didn't know that Olive Garden has great little pizzas - I have to eat pizzas without cheese, but I don't mind as the sauce and veggies keep their taste rather than being overwhelmed by the taste of cheese. I'd always been a minestrone and salad girl at Olive Garden - think I've changed my mind. I love their pizza!!

Yesterday I also went to Michael's and found the cutest little boy angel squatting to look at a snail on his hand. Steve has a wicked sense of humor and told me he thought he was doing something else in our flower bed! Add that to his comment about the Celtic looking cross I added to the bed a few days ago looking like a tombstone, and it appears clear that we don't think alike about yard ornaments! He is just going to have to chill though - the yard is going to be angelic whether he likes it or not. Just makes me feel good to see them.

Now that I can get online I have some work to do that isn't as much fun as blogging.