Up past my bedtime

Somewhere along the lines of the last few weeks, I have forgotten how to sleep. It is now 1 hour after bedtime, and my eyes are exhausted. My brain, unfortunately, stays awake.

One of my favorite parts of working in a library is reading out loud. I used to be active in theater, but now I save the theatrics for read alouds at school. I actually scared several children today when I yelled a line of Vernon Dursley's from the first Harry Potter book. The fourth graders groan when I have to stop telling Harry's adventures when we run out of time. The first graders die laughing when I read Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus. It makes me so happy to share their joy as they listen to a really good story. I allow myself to be silly and read Fudge's lines in total and complete baby talk, which always makes the third graders smile, and I feel safe making silly animal noises with the kindergartens. Reading to kids makes me a kid again, too.

Yesterday I went to the Molly Brown house & the Capitol building on a third grade field trip. I learned all about Margaret Brown (which is what she was actually called) and how her family struck gold (literally), leading her to be aboard the Titanic (and survive the event). She was a generous humanitarian, and also an excellent decorator if you're into the whole Victorian look. The Capitol was fun as well...trekking up to the top of the inner dome with 30 nine and ten year olds is an experience I think everyone should have. I was glad to learn a bit more about Denver history along with the kids.

Tonight I made a vegan lentil walnut loaf. James keeps calling it meatloaf because that's the most efficient way to describe it, but I find it humorous, as there's not a single animal product in it. It was quite tasty with lots of ketchup and a side of roasted potato wedges and broccoli stems. I will no longer purchase the Kroger Value bags of frozen broccoli cuts. The trunks vastly outweigh the leafy tops...and I don't like to eat the broccoli tree trunks!

I had something else to write about it, but can't remember now. Such is the life of my addled, sleep-deprived brain. I think I will read a few blogs and try to get to sleep.