Tag Archives: library books

Princess Book Party

Speaking of Halloween costumes, Greta got to test drive her Queen Elsa costume over the weekend at the Friends of the Burbank Library's very cool Princess Book Party. Held at the Burbank Library's central branch on Glenoaks, the event featured Princess trivia, bingo, crafts, cookies, gift bags and even a visit from everyone's favorite Disney Princess/Queen du jour, Queen Elsa from Frozen! Hooray!

As you can see, Greta had an awesome time. And despite the fact that there are already piles of library books scattered all over her bedroom, we came home with another big old batch of new ones as well. Now if I could just remember when they're all due back at the library, all would be right with the world. Either way, enjoy the pics!

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Greta’s Bookshelf: “Press Here” by Hervé Tullet

Anyone who has ever been to our place can tell you that we have an s-load of books. There are books in the kitchen, the dining room, the bathroom, and don’t even get me started on the bedrooms. Greta actually has so many kids books in her room that we have to rotate them out.

It’s kinda crazy, but, all three of us love to read (or, in Greta’s case, pretend to read) and re-read our favorite books, so, honestly, I can’t imagine life without them. To tell you the truth, I kinda distrust people with no books in their house. I don’t care if you keep them in the closet, but, you best have some books somewhere if you wanna hang these Yetis.

Anyway, Mrs. Yeti and I started collecting kids books before we even dreamed of having an actual kid. If we found one (or twenty) that we loved, we bought them. And we rarely, if ever, get rid of them. Hell, one look at the bookshelf in Greta’s room and you’ll see that many of the books there were ours when we were kids. Sure, they moved up a few shelves when Greta started eating them as a baby, but, those vintage kids books hold a place of honor in our home and our hearts.

So, whenever we read a new kids book that moves us as much as those old classics did, well, we just have to tell the world about it. So, without further ado, I give you: “Press Here” by Hervé Tullet.

Mrs. Yeti has been selling this book in her store for a while now, but, Greta and I are new converts to the wonders of “Press Here” and let me tell you, it’s a very fun read. I don’t want to give too much away, but, this very creative book is interactive in the extreme.

It all starts with the first page’s simple command to “Press Here” and quicker than you say “Twister: The Novel” you are turning the book on its side, tilting it to the left, then to the right, shaking it really hard and even blowing on the pages at one point. If you don’t have fun reading this book to your kids, you must just hate fun. Seriously, we were cracking up, it’s a very cool read.

And aside from now having an iPhone App, this book is so cool it even has its own trailer on YouTube. Ha! Top that Frog and Toad! Just kidding, I love the Frog and Toad books. My brother and I used to fight over who got to be Frog and who got to be Toad before we started reading them. Yep, he’s a book nerd too. You should see how many books he and his wife have…crazy!

Anyway, if you have a toddler in your house (or even if you don’t!) you must check out this book today. But make room on your shelf first, because, trust me, you’re gonna wanna own this one.

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Filed under Daddy stuff, Greta's Bookshelf

Library Karma

OK, so, two weeks ago Greta was manhandling one of her favorite library DVD’s, “Hercules”, and she broke it. Actually, more like, cracked it in half. That’s right, DVD’s crack and even break, especially old-ass rental DVD’s from the library. Who knew?

So, what did I do when I took it back? Like all good parents I pulled out the cracked “Hercules” DVD and told the smiling woman at the loan desk that I wasn’t sure if it was broken when we got it or if we did it ourselves, but, in any case, the DVD was unplayable. I know I should have just told her the truth, especially with my daughter half-watching me while I did it, but, hey, I didn’t wanna have to buy a new one for the library, so, I lied.

And guess what happened? Nothing! The librarian told me that this kind of thing happens all the time and that she’d put a sticker on it saying that it was already broken when I got it. Whew…in a perfect world, that would have been the end of the story. And it was…until yesterday when I returned a heaping pile of DVD’s to the library only to learn that they were three days late and that I owed a whopping $12.00 in library fees! TWELVE DOLLARS!

For only two more dollars I could have bought a new copy of “Hercules” on DVD at Amazon. Wow…karma really is a bitch. Lesson learned, Library Gods, I will not lie to you again…

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First day back…

Today was my first solo day back “at work”, and lemme tell ya, it sucked. It wasn’t Greta’s fault, she was actually really good for large chunks of time today, but rather, it was me. I guess after two-plus weeks of having two parents around, I lost my touch or something.

I didn’t leave her in the car or anything like that, but, seriously, every little shitty thing I could do wrong today, I did wrong. For instance, pulled out some meat to defrost and left the freezer cracked open for like, hours. Looks like Superman’s fortress of solitude in there, ice everywhere!

Then self-checked-out — and can I just say how much I hate self-check-out anything? I mean, WTF? Machines like that are not a frazzled parent’s friend! — a bunch of books and DVD’s from the L.A. Public library to help celebrate the fact that they are open on Mondays again. Yay! But in my zeal to participate in this very big day for the libraries, I forgot to self-remove the locking mechanism on the side of the DVD boxes, which means, none of them will open. Of course, didn’t discover this till AFTER the library was closed, so, you can imagine how much fun it was to explain to a sobbing Greta why she couldn’t watch “Barbie Presents: Thumbelina” tonight after dinner: “Sorry, kid, Daddy fucked up. But, here, look at the pretty pictures on the box!”

And then, on top of all that, found out that a large chunk of money that I am owed is not only not coming my way anytime soon, but, may, in fact, never be paid in full. Ah, the glamorous life of a Hollywood screenwriter…

If I could punch this fucking Monday in the face, I totally would. You sucked, dude.

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