Let me tell you guys up front that I really think the lack of picking this past weekend has put me into a funk…a junk funk.  Yesterday’s post displayed that and I still haven’t recovered.  So consider yourself warned.  This one is a rambler…

I had planned to feature our Christmas cards today.  That got me thinking about cards in general.  We’ve received a few handmade ones this year.  Either I’ve got some pretty creative friends or the handmade movement has really infiltrated individual households.  Either way I like it and so does Ryan Gosling.  (Seriously click there.  It is funny.)  It reminds me of exchanging Valentine’s Day cards in grade school.  They were handmade or maybe just your favorite cartoon character.  Perhaps you gave them to just the girls.  Or maybe you gave one to everyone.  Did you sign “your friend” or “love”?  Scandalous if you signed “love” in 4th grade.

Anyway, we were talking about Christmas cards weren’t we?  Here are some of the lovelies that arrived in our mailbox so far from my creative friends.  And yes, they signed “love”.  Don’t be jealous.

Keeping with our overall Christmas decor this year, our cards were red and made of vintage sheet music.  Very simple since I made like a zillion of them.  If you want to see some of my more complex work, check out the invitations.

The inside sentiment followed the musical theme of the card with a Christmas song lyric.

Talking about grade school also reminds me of the library.  Today I got my first library card since about 6th grade.  I went to the library during college but I can’t remember ever actually checking out a book. 

The experience was much different today.  No card catalogs of course since we all know this is an antique concept these days.  In fact I was thrilled to pick up a beautiful oak one not too long ago. 

But still, I was a little sad to see that they’re really not there anymore.  Instead there was a friendly computer where I typed my book title into the search box and, just like google does, it brought back results in seconds.  Nice but not the same as the Dewey Decimal System cataloged in rows and rows of tangible cards filed away right in front of you. 

The librarian scanned the bar code on my book like I was in the grocery store check out.  The laser and beep were both exhilarating and ultra depressing.  It was so easy and it even printed out a tidy receipt with the due date.  I was really, really hoping there would be a little card tucked in a pocket in the front of the book with the due date.  She could just stamp the card with the rotating date stamp that never lined up quite right and left ink smudges.  No such luck today.  That old card also told you a little history about the book like how 12 other people took it home before you.  Eww.  Or how no one checked the book out in like a decade because it wasn’t popular.  I always liked to check out the unpopular books.  Poor things.

On the upside, a few things haven’t changed a bit.  First, the musty book smell that I pretty much love still remains.  You know what I am talking about.  The librarians are exactly how I remember them too.  Elderly women with orthopaedic shoes and chains to hold their eyeglasses around their neck who converse at a high decibel although it is the library where you are supposed to whisper.  But the most stunning revelation that I made was the fact that overdue book fees have not been inflated.  I was sure that in nearly 20 years the fee would have definitely increased.  Nope.  Just 20 cents per book per day.  I can certainly swing that.  Not that I plan on being late returning books.  Why haven’t I been going to the library all these years?  I’m smitten with it! 

So tell me…do you have a library card?  Do you hand make your holiday cards?  Did you sign love on your elementary school Valentine cards?  Geez, I’m nosey today.

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