The Science Library: Chemisty

Getting tired of the never-ending pictures of pretty science books yet?  (Trust me, the human was getting tired of making them by about 50 books in.)  This time, it's all about chemistry and atoms and molecules and the properties of matter and how matter changes.

Also, cooking is just chemistry.  If you can cook, you can conduct chemistry experiments.  (The reverse also applies, because if you can follow a protocol for a chemistry experiment, you can follow a recipe.)

A new apartment

A brand new kitchen in a brand new apartment!

What the dolls did this past weekend:  move into a brand new 'apartment' because they got the new kitchen and fridge set.  The backdrop is made from 4 pieces of foam core covered with scrapbook paper and folds up into a 2'x3' flat piece.  And I have to say, Maryellen's fridge and the new TrulyMe kitchen set are absolutely awesome.  I had the display set out all weekend just to play with all the tiny little bits.  This will probably be the new standard 'kitchen' setup for photoshoots from now on.

The stove and pantry

The best part:  there is so much hidden storage in this kitchen set, and the drawers and hangers and shelves are such that you only need to really set it up once and can just keep it set up.  Which is great since I have limited space and need to put away my toys when I'm done.  I was able to put most of doll-sized plates, bowls, serving trays, and silverware into the kitchen with no problem.  And the drawer in the fridge can hold an awful lot of small pieces that tend to otherwise disappear.

Everyone needs a drink fridge.

Herb jars are better when they're not empty

Storage for plates and bowls (and books)

Pullout drawer for serving trays and silverware

More storage under the oven

Don't look in the drawer...

The breakfast nook

The study/craft room side of the apartment

The other half of the display is the craft room, which was pieced together from random other pieces I had lying around.  I can't tell if the bookshelves or the craft table/desk is my favorite part.

All the books, all the time!

I do not think I went completely overboard with the number of new books here, but maybe just a little bit.  The shelves now have a large number of young adult fantasy books, Newbery award books, and some classics like Little House on the Prairie and the original Pleasant Company books for Samantha, Kirsten, and Molly.

American Girl books, the full sets

Little House on the Prairie

19th century classics

Newbery winners

A well-stocked craft table

Not sure which of the dolls is going to claim this table, but it has a little of everything.  Sewing, art, some hidden books, a first aid kit...

Close-up of the miniature figurine collection

The Science Library: Climate and Environmental Science

Still in the realm of earth science, we're now moving onto the water cycle and the weather.  And talking about climate and how it's changing rapidly.

And that leads us to ways to reduce energy use and dependence on fossil fuels.  Because we've got this giant ball of fire in the sky providing us with lots of energy that we can harness instead.

Late summer in Vermont

This is Shepard.  In late August, the humans took me up to Vermont for a weekend of sightseeing and general relaxation.  We stayed in Montpelier, at the Capitol Plaza hotel across the street from the statehouse.

It was an amazingly nice weekend, though we got there too late to visit the museum.  We did get to wander the streets and do a bit of shopping.  I did not come home with a quidditch set, much as I wanted one.

 We also visited Bragg Farm while on our way to the Caledonia Distillery.  The human was too busy eating her maple creamie to take pictures of it.  I, on the other hand, enjoyed the rural Vermont scenery.

For this trip, I did get the new button down shirt with real buttons with a resized pattern from Jenwrenne (original here).  The shirt has a nice loose fit for layering over tshirts.  There's no instructions but it makes up like a human shirt would.

AG Buttondown Shirt Pattern

The Science Library: Paleontology and Geology

And now, dinosaurs!  You can never have enough dinosaurs.

We should probably have a giveaway involving dinosaurs.

While we're on the topic of 'things you find under the ground', we also have a fine selection of books on plate tectonics, gems, minerals, erosion, and volcanos.  Gotta love volcanos.

The Science Library: Classification, Anatomy, Genetics, and Microbiology

Double post in a week!  This was supposed to be the introduction to the science book collection (because school curriculums start with classification of things before moving onto other subjects.) and then things happened so this was delayed.  Favorite book from this area is definitely the book on the cat family.  With all the different types of kittens.

Then we move onto studying the human body and organ systems, with some slightly more advanced books on all the different sorts of imaging and scans and the immune system.

And the human's favorites:  genetics and cell biology and microbiology.  Because she actually had to study that in school way back when.

The Science Library: Botany and Ecosystems

So.  Kana here.  This is what happens when the human gets busy and forgets that she's scheduled about 8 blog posts in a row without actually writing anything remotely entertaining.  We're going to fix that now.

It's fall.  And that means back to school.  And we were going to have this super detailed post about  our collection of science books, but I think we're just going jump straight into the books until we find some time to show off everything.

Way back in February, the human got a little punchy and bored and decided that we all needed to be better educated.  So she sat down and over the course of 4 months, made 101 science books covering all the subject areas that we really need.  Today's books are on botany and ecosystems (with a dash of marine biology).