Secrets To A Long Marriage

My husband Mike and I were married in 1973 and are celebrating our 35th wedding annivesary today. We have two children (Chad & Brooke) who have been married 8 & 6 years and two grandchildren Gage is 3 and Kindergartener Regan is 5.
My parents will celebrate their 60th wedding anniversary in December.

While deciding what I would write today I did a little research on why some marriages last and some do not. I came across two very interesting articles. Neither were huge AHH moments and contrary to what we see and hear in the news and on TV, marriages are succeeding!!

The first was entitled Long-lasting Marriages: Why Do They Survive? by J. Hare. http://extension.oregonstate.edu/catalog/html/ec/ec1460/
Generally speaking, people these days marry later; they have fewer children and reach the empty nest earlier. It isn't unusual for couples to spend 30 to 40 years together after their last child leaves home.

Despite today's high divorce rate, one out of five first marriages lasts 50 years. Such long-lasting relationships are a contemporary phenomenon. Consider this: At the end of the 19th century, the average length of marriage when one spouse died was about 28 years. Now it's over 43 years!

The second article was entitled 7 secrets to a long — and happy marriage.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/19031744/. I will bet # 6 will have you going to figure out what CMAT stands for.

1. “Divorce? Never. Murder? Often!”

2. “There’s no such thing as a perfect marriage, only perfect moments.”

3. Unpack the Gunnysack

4. Never Stop Dating

5. “Love is a four-letter word spelled G-I-V-E”

6. Join the CMAT Club

7. The Discipline of Respect

Playing As Adults

"You can discover more about a person in an hour of play than in a year of conversation." Plato

Yet, another reason we adults should play more.
Play is just as necessary to adults as it is to children and it really DOES say a lot about a person.

So go PLAY... have fun this weekend.

Friends of the Library Meeting

The Friends of the library met today at the library. They voted to sponsor the 2009 Hot Reads For Cold Nights at the library. This will be a four month event with speakers, a game night, and book reviews with signup for eight weekly prizes. More information to follow.


They will have have a membership drive, a new quarterly newsletter (need help naming the newsletter). The group also agreed to participate in the annual Care and Share auction in November. If you or anuone you know would like to help the library with any special projects or join the Friends membership are available at the library.


The next book sale will be Thursday, November 20th 10-6, Friday, November 21st 10-5, Saturday, November 22 10-12, and a $1.00 Bag Sale Monday, November 24th 10-7. Friends member may come the night before and buy items.


At the November Friends' meeting nominations for the Friend of the Year will be accepted.

Garbage Truck Storytime Day 2

Day 2 of Garbage Truck Storytime was just as popular as Day 1. The children enjoyed the stories and movie but were excited about creating their very own truck. Lots of concentration went into the details on the trucks.

Girls working hard.

Finished truck!

Additional photos can be viewed at http://www.flickr.com/photos/kassonlibrary/

Our website is http://www.kasson.lib.mn.us/

Library Signup Month

We had a mom, with her newly adopted five month old daughter, come into the library for a very special purpose. She had just offically adopted her daughter and wanted to commerate the moment with her daughter's first library card. What a great idea!!

For me it was a wonderful photographic moment! She will be the representative of the Kasson Public Library during September for library card signup.

Movie Book Night at the Library

Think you got problems at home
and school? I bet Matilda has you beat with her home and school life.

Matilda was chosen to be the September book made into a movie night. Children read the book, watched the movie and ate popcorn.

This is the third month the library has sponsored for "Tweens" movie book month. Any student between 4-6 is invited to read the book of the month and watch the movie and discuss what you like better the movie or the book.

Garbage and Garbage Trucks

The children read stories about
garbage and trucks with Children's Librarian Ingvild.

Then they got the chance to contruct their very own truck out of shapes. They liked pasting and coloring their trucks.

Finished truck.

The boys are very intent on making their truck special.

Additional photos can be viewed at http://www.flickr.com/photos/kassonlibrary/

Our website is http://www.kasson.lib.mn.us/

Fall if Offically Here!

Enjoy the day and especially the weather.

Apple Tasting

The library's outreach program called
Books On Wheels goes to Prairie Meadows every month to share magazines, books, and a informational program with the seniors.

Today Library Director Bonnie Adams talked about apples through statistics, a story, and a few jokes. The fourteen residents tasted 4 types of apples :Gala, Red Delicious from the state of Washington and Granny Smith, and Fuji

from Chile. The consensus of the group was that Gala and Granny Smith were the best. They all look forward to looking at the magazines and receiving books they ordered.

Additional photos can be viewed at http://www.flickr.com/photos/kassonlibrary/

Our website is http://www.kasson.lib.mn.us/

YEAH!!! I Finished 23 Things On A Stick

http://23thingsonastick.blogspot.com/

I finally finished the self-guided program called 23 Things on a Stick (in reference to the state fair food on a stick) sponsored by SELS on the 2nd round. I received a certificate and a 1g memory stick. 23 Things On a Stick was developed by the seven multitype multicounty library systems as part of the staff development the multitypes offer in their regions. This statewide program has helped local library staff , library boards, and library patrons find out what is out on the web and how can they best use them.

What I liked best about this program is that you do not have to search for the sites on your own they are easily accessed. This site will stay up indefinitely to help anyone who wants to know what Flikr, Nings, widgets, RSS feed, etc. and how you could benefit with this extra knowledge.

At our library we are already using some of the things we have learned in our blogs, flikrs accounts and our website. I am trying to set aside time each day to further explore these sites and continue to hand out postcards to patrons and tell others about this great site.

My Birthday Book Storytime Day 2

The children enjoyed the stories and the movie but were really excited about coloring their very own My Birthday Book . Ingvild, Children's Librarian hands out the sheets and helps them finish their book to take home and share with their families.

Additional photos can be viewed at http://www.flickr.com/photos/kassonlibrary/

Our website is http://www.kasson.lib.mn.us/

My Birthday Coloring Book

Today after the stories and the movie the children were able to make a book all of their own. It was called My Birthday Book and was as unique as each of the children.

Additional photos can be viewed at http://www.flickr.com/photos/kassonlibrary/
Our website is http://www.kasson.lib.mn.us/

Two Author's Birthdays

Robert McCloskey (September 15, 1914 – June 30, 2003) wrote and illustrated eight books, the most famous of which was Make Way for Ducklings, the 1942 Caldecott Medal winner.

Make Way for Ducklings, published in 1941, tells of a mallard family that comes to live in a pond in the Public Garden in the center of Boston, Massachusetts and how a friendly policeman stops traffic when the mother takes her eight ducklings across the street. This story has become an institution in Boston, and in 2003, it was named the official children's book of Massachusetts. In 1987, sculptor Nancy Schon created a bronze version of Mrs. Mallard and the ducklings in the Public Garden, which are climbed on by thousands of children every year. The park is also the site of an annual Make Way for Ducklings Mother's Day parade, featuring hundreds of children dressed in the costumes of their favorite characters.

Tomie A. dePaola (Thomas Anthony dePaola) (born September 15, 1934), US author and illustrator of many books for children and adults, including Strega Nona, 26 Fairmount Avenue and Christmas Remembered. dePaola has illustrated over 200 books, and of these books, he has written over 100 stories.

Strega Nona who is seeking help from someone in both outdoor and indoor chores. The first to respond to her advertisement is tall, clumsy Big Anthony.
Strega Nona assigns Big Anthony to various chores around her house, but she also warns him not to touch her magic pasta pot, an enchanted pot that produces pasta at the command of a spell. In the middle of one of his chores, Anthony spies on Strega Nona conjuring pasta from the pasta pot. He also watches as she commands the pot to stop producing pasta. Anthony does not observe Strega Nona blow three kisses after commanding the pasta pot to stop producing pasta.

Three Traits You’d Want People to Remember You By

While searching for something to say about how I was feeling about yesterday and Patriots' Day. I checked On Simplicity (http://www.onsimplicity.net/) and came across the Three Traits You Want To Be Remembered By.
WOW! Something to really think about!

Taking the time to realize what we want to leave behind is key. Once that’s done, it’s easier to cut out all of the behaviors and habits that simply don’t jive with our hoped-for legacy. We start becoming the people we always hoped we might be.

After much thought I think mine would be:
Faithful
Passionate For What I Believe In
Kind To Animals


So what do you want your legacy to be?

Color Crayons Storytime Day 2

Children heard the stories Harold and the Purple Crayon and The Color Crayons That Talked and watched a video The Pig's Wedding. In this video pigs painted their clothes on for the wedding and what happpened when it rained.

The children colored a sheet of crayons using their favoirte color.

Color Crayons Storytime

Today at storytime we read about colors.

Harold and the Purple Crayon and The Color Crayons That Talked) and watched a video The Pig's Wedding and how they painted their clothes on after they got clean and what happened when it rained.

We then glued our favorite color name on a coloring sheet and wrote our names and then colored the sheet to take home.


Additional photos can be viewed at http://www.flickr.com/photos/kassonlibrary/

Our website is https://mail.selco.info/exchweb/bin/redir.asp?URL=https://mail.selco.info/exchweb/bin/redir.asp?URL=http://www.kasson.lib.mn.us/

September is Library Card Sign-up Month

A reminder to parents and kids that a library card is the most important school supply of all.

Grandparents Day

National Grandparents Day is celebrated on the first Sunday after Labor Day. The official song of National Grandparents Day is "A Song For Grandma And Grandpa" by Johnny Prill. The official flower is the forget-me-not.

Take time out this weekend and spend with your grandparents or other seniors.

September Intergenerational Storytime

Young moms and their children come to Prairie Meadows on the first Thursday of each month to share a storytime with the seniors.

September Intergenerational Stortytime talked about grandparents in honor of Grandparents Day on the weekend. The children made special grandparents cards for the seniors. Everyone was really excited about making and receiving the cards.

Mom reading to everyone about what is your Granny Like?

Seniors listening to the story and love to watch the children.

Moms and children working on the cards.

Senior with the finished card.

Additional photos can be viewed at http://www.flickr.com/photos/7884604@N02
Our website is http://www.kasson.lib.mn.us/

September New Books

A Spoonful of Poison by M.C. Beaton
When elderly Mrs. Andrews blithely jumps to her death off the tower of Saint Odo the Severe during a church charity event in the Cotswolds village of Comfrey Magna, LSD-laced jam proves to be the cause. The investigation, which focuses on the six women who contributed jam to the church fete.

Death Swatch by Laura Childs
Carmela Bertrand, the owner of the New Orleans scrapbook shop Memory Mine, and her best friend, Ava Gruiex, are eager to begin the festivities with a party hosted by their float designer pal, Jekyl Hardy. But the discovery of the garroted Archie Baudier, Jekyl's assistant, puts a damper on the fun.

Heat Lightning by John Sanford
It’s a hot, humid summer night in Minnesota, and Flowers is in bed with one of his ex-wives (the second one, if you’re keeping count), when the phone rings. It’s Lucas Davenport. There’s a body in Stillwater—two shots to the head, found near a veteran’s memorial. And the victim has a lemon in his mouth.Exactly like the body they found last week.

Hot Mahogany by Stuart Woods
One night at Elaine’s, Stone Barrington—back in Manhattan after chasing down the bad guys in the Caribbean—meets Barton Cabot, older brother of his sometime ally, CIA boss Lance Cabot. Barton’s career in army intelligence is even more top secret than his brother’s, but he’s suffering from amnesia following a random act of violence. Amnesia is a dangerous thing in a man whose memory is chockfull of state secrets, so Lance hires Stone to watch Barton’s back.

The Laughter of Dead Kings by Elizabeth Peters

Who stole one of Egypt's most priceless treasures? That is the question that haunts the authorities after a distinguished British gentleman with an upper-crust accent cons his way past a security guard and escapes into the desert carrying a world-famous, one-of-a-kind historic relic.

The Keepsake by Tess Gerritsen
When medical examiner Isles studies an X-ray scan of Madame X, which everyone assumes is a newly discovered Egyptian mummy, at Boston's Crispin Museum, she realizes the mummy isn't a priceless artifact but a recent murder victim, gruesomely preserved.

Sunset by Karen Kingbury
As John Baxter makes plans to marry Elaine, one of the Baxters enters into the most trying season of all. During a time of renewed love and hope for the future, the Baxters try to come together to establish the sacred ground of marriage and to chart a course for the future. Memories of times gone by meet with the changes of today .

The Comforts of a Muddy Saturday by Alexander McCall Smith
Dalhousie, who's recently assumed ownership of the obscure journal she's edited for many years, the Review of Applied Ethics, applies her deductive gifts to the case of a disgraced doctor. When a patient dies after taking a new antibiotic that Marcus Moncrieff deemed safe in clinical trials, the doctor's original report turns out to contain falsified data.