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Sunday Salon: Life at 80 miles an hour


Life and Family:
This past week was crazy weather-wise here in SoCal. On Monday it was 108 degrees (definitely a record for us) and by Thursday it was down to 75 and sprinkling! Very strange. Now, the weather is always a topic of conversation here in Santa Barbara, which is funny because most of the year it's rather unchanging. But for our family the weather mattered since Friday was my daughter's 10th Birthday and we had a pool party yesterday. Luckily the weather cooperated. As an aside, this week I learned about the latest fad: Silly Bandz. Are they popular with kids where you live? They buy them, collect them, trade them, and talk about them. They are rubber bands that come in all colors and are molded into shapes (palm trees, guitars, etc). Interestingly, both boys and girls are into this craze. I went to 8 stores to find packs to give as party favors and it was worth it to see how excited the girls were to get their "Beach Shape Packs"

10 years old.... Do you remember how great that felt to reach double digits?! We managed to spread the celebration out over a few days, which I think she really liked. I even surprised her at her dance company rehearsal Friday night with a cake for everyone to share. She claimed to be embarrassed (just a little), but I could tell she loved having all the attention from the teenage girls.

I had my first real Wednesday off from work this week, which felt really nice. I could definitely get used to working 80% time (except for that frighteningly small paycheck!)

Today we're going to World of Magic to find Halloween costumes!

Work:
The blogosphere has been a-buzz with Banned Book Week and my library was no exception. We had a couple great displays up and it created wonderful conversations with students about how many of their favorite books and authors have been banned.

At lunch each day a teacher or staff member joined me outside the library at lunch. I move our couch, coffee table and chairs outside so that the staff member can read aloud from the Banned Book of their choice. Very few students join us to listen, but I love sitting there listening to good readers read aloud.

Books and Reading:
Today is the last day of our local Planned Parenthood book sale and I am hoping to go and see if I can find some cheap books to add to my school library collection. Since it's the last day the prices are dramatically reduced, but it will probably be pretty picked over as well.

I am really looking forward to the Dewey Read-a-Thon next weekend. My daughter will be at her dad's so I will actually have time to read! In the past few weeks I have days and days where I am so busy I don't even pick up a book! I need a good solid chunk of reading time to get back in the groove!

9 comments

Stephanie said...

My stepdaughter and cousin are both ten and they LOVE sillybandz. They both have collections that number in the hundreds.

Amanda said...

My oldest son moved to double digits in 15 days. Yikes!

Danielle said...

What a fun blog today. A lot has been going on. You just learned about Silly Bands *this* week? ;-)

I found out *last* week that as you said boys and girls are wild about them, collect them by the yard, and wear them all or keep them sorted, separated by kind ("glow in the dark" for example).

Not to get "political" on your blog--but--I would rather personally buy whatever books you need than have you patronize Planned Parenthood. There, I said it.

And finally...brace yourself before going to World of Magic! Not much for children there but tons of costumes and creepy stuff.

Helen's Book Blog said...

Stephanie--Silly Bandz...you know they'll be gone within the year. I still remember Garbage Pail Kids from when I was in elementary school.

Amanda--where did the time go?!

Danielle--The hit at the Birthday party was that some of the silly bandz we gave the girls changed colors in the sun (pure chance, I didn't know that when I bought them). I don't mind you getting political on my blog. That's one of the things I love about the blogosphere: we're all so different, but have this common love of books! We made it out of World of Magic without too much damage: one M&M costume. Not at all what I thought she wanted :-)

Alyce said...

Happy birthday to your daughter! I love the photo!

I hadn't heard of the silly bandz until my son went to a birthday party this summer and the pinata contained a lot of them. The kids were pretty excited about them.

Anonymous said...

I'm glad to weather cooperated for your daughter's birthday! And that she'll be at her dad's this coming weekend. That sounds bad, but I'm happy it'll let you participate in the readathon!!

Helen's Book Blog said...

Alyce--We even found silly bandz (or their equivalent) at Staples! They are sold at the strangest combination of stores

Jill--I totally understand the comment. I am really looking forward to 24 hours for me (and reading)

Athira said...

Silly Bandz? Never heard of it - I don't even want to mention to today's teens and pre-teens whatever used to be fads during my younger years. I'm so glad your daughter got to celebrate her birthday over several days at different venues! 10 is a magical number and it's also the age of innocence - tell her to have a wonderful year and please wish her happy belated birthday from me!

Helen's Book Blog said...

Aths--I'll pass on your Birthday wishes, thank you! Actually, the silly bandz have triggered all sorts of memories for me