M is for...

Meh.

Truth be told, I am bored with this alphabet thing. I'm kind of sick of it and I kind of want to be done with it. There I said it. I can't quite tell if I'm bored with my blog in general or only with the alphabet-ness. I'm hoping I'm not bored with my blog. Maybe I am. Huh. Let's see. Well, my main complaint with the letter entries was that I couldn't do any off the cuff blogging. Everything needed to be planned or entries that seemed funny at the time had to be saved (but then of course never seemed funny later... when they were actually the right letter.) And then I repeat stories, like the kid saying that maybe the sheep were nocturnal! Jeez. I'm sick of planning. So, let's go back to off the cuff blogging. We'll try that for a while and then see how it goes.

First off the cuff topic, bad parenting behavior. I've seen a lot of lately. And I'm not a parent nor was I a kid who had lots of brothers and sisters to watch. I'm an only child children's librarian with no understanding of how to raise children. However, I'm also not an idiot and the following things really pushed my buttons: If your toddler aged son is pulling books off the shelves and yelling and screaming unhappily and throwing our stuffed animals and basically destroying our happy little children's section, you should not LAUGH at him. You should stop him. And when you're telling other parents, "oh he's split his top and bottom lip twice in the last week!" with a chuckle that's not a good sign.

Also, you and your 10 year old son should not be sparing ala karate kid in the library--you shouldn't have started it in the first place and you shouldn't laugh when he trips, falls and hits his head on the new book display. You're his dad, not his frienemy.

Next: Slippery slope behaviors.
Yesterday, while I was at work, all of my coworkers were saying that they would all be wearing their orange and black for Halloween. I do not own any orange shirts (nor do I want to own any) so I took a trip to Target and today I am wearing an orange long sleeved shirt with a little black cat on it. I'm wearing it with a black zip up sweater and khakis. In theory it's not horrible. It's actually quite cute. However, a thought hit me when I arrived at work today: I wore a holiday themed outfit to work. Yes, it's just a cute long sleeved t-shirt but next it'll be a themed necklace that I bought at a craft fair. And then all of a sudden I'm wearing holiday vests with matching turtlenecks or even worse!!!! A holiday themed jumper. It is a slippery slope people. Constant vigilance!

L is for...

Library School, Things They Didn't Teach You In

1) What google-friendly phrases to use when trying to find a basic picture of a set of a stairs for a stortyime feltboard activity.

2) How to skillfully and tactfully answer the question: "Miss Katie Do You Believe In Jesus!?!?!" when it's asked by a 6 year old (and you're not sure what you believe anymore.)

3) That 5 year olds are a heck of a lot smarter and more grown up than anyone gives them credit for. Case in point: While reading a book about sheep not being able to fall asleep at a storytime and saying "I wonder why all these sheep can't fall asleep?", a little boy, Auggie, kept shouting out "Maybe they're nocturnal!"

Another example:
8 year old reading a Dear America book: I have a diary. I wrote my secret in it.
Me: I'd ask you to tell me what you wrote about but that would be kind of silly since it's your secret.
8 year old: Boyfriend problems.

4) How not to bust out laughing at either of these children.

5) How to find potty training books for parents but not get sucked into listening to them rant about their child's inability to potty train.

6) How to say potty training and keep a straight face.

7) How to effectively clean up vomit or some other bodily function (quick! to the janitorial closet!)...

8) ...without wanting to throw up

9) What the main plotlines are for Captain Underpants books.

10) That someday a young girl will walk into your library wearing pink and black pleather snake skin pants, a crushed velvet shirt with black and hot pink fun fur accents.

K is for...

Katie (natch :))

Basically I'm an egotistical maniac and can't help but name the K entry after myself... sorry. Last summer I took a storytelling class and we started the class by introducing ourselves and telling the story of our name. We could tell the history behind it, what it means, why our parents gave us said name and any other stories that might be entertaining or insightful. It was such a great way to start a class--we all have a name (duh) and having lived with said name, we have a lifetime of stories to tell about it. And after you've heard a person's name story, it's pretty difficult to forget their name.

So here my name story. My name is Katie--not Katherine or Kathleen. It is just plain Katie. Most government officials and college admissions counselors refuse to believe this--"No sweetheart, you have to put your FULL name on your application. I know everyone calls you Katie but you have to put the name on your birth certificate." My mom's name is Veryl Helen and my dad's name is Melvin Gerhardt... it's no wonder I got to be Katie Lynn. My parents debated between Kimberly and Katherine but Kimberly was rejected (thank goodness--no offense to you Kimberlys out there). Katherine seemed unnecessary since they planned to call me Katie from day one anyway. I love being an original Katie. It's more common now but as a younger child, I was unique (and unable to find Katie keychains and bike license plates). Since my actual name is already a nickname for many, I don't really have a tried and true nickname. Close friends call me Kate. My dad calls me Kate but also Katie Bell. My mom calls me Katie Girl (who knows why...).

When I was in elementary school, I was the only Katie in my class and it never occurred to me that my name might be common. Then I went to middle school and became friends with two other girls named Katie. Then I went to high school and met another Katy. And then in grad school, I lived with Katy from high school and met another Katie. I now have 5 Katie/ys in my phone.

Another nice thing about being a Katie is the songs. Katie's have the fantastic classic hit from WWI, "K-K-Katy" (Totally the wrong spelling) by Billy Murray, the Grateful Dead's "Katie Mae", "Katie's Been Gone" by the Band (mmm Rick Danko) and the slightly more modern indie "Katie Come True" by Son Ambulance. However, my favorite Katie song is the one my dad made up for me when I was little: "Katie Bell, your father thinks you are swell!"

Also, I completely missed my two year blogiversary on September 26... whoops. So, a belated happy blogiversary to my blog and to you, the lovely reader, thanks for sticking around :)