Cranky

Day 8 of the Two Writing Teachers Slice of Life Challenge

Another damp and gray Sunday. Pleasant enough on occasion, but a bit depressing when found in a long string of damp and gray days. Lovely with a fire in the fireplace, a hearty stew simmering on the stovetop and the smell of freshly baked bread in the air.  Even more wonderful if you add cozy favorite chair, a great book, and some hot tea. 

None of the cozy elements were to be found today. Instead, my home was filled with the entire family still feeling a bit questionable with tremulous stomachs from our encounter with rich fried foods Friday night for a birthday celebration and all of us rather cranky due to this and the springing forward of time.  I'm always thrown off with time changes, but the springing forward is the worst. Add to that a meeting which required me to shower and leave the house. In the rain.

And two fussy daughters. 

The husband?  Only semi-cranky.  ;)

Days like this I just want to hibernate.  I want to sleep my cranky away.  

I won't make my Fitbit quota for the first time since I began wearing it--

My stomach is still quite questionable--

Even watching Harry Potter didn't fix it--

Nor did a hot bath--

I'm thinking it is time to go to bed and hope for a sunny disposition tomorrow despite the weather forecast. 

My real job

Day 7 of the #SOL15 Challenge

If you've read my blog at all you know I absolutely love my job. From the smell of the place (coffee & books) to the excitement of receiving new boxes of books (Squeee!) to helping students with their research & other scholarly needs, I love it all.  One aspect of my job that I didn't really fully understand before my time with secondary students is making the library a safe haven.  I mean, I knew I wanted it to be a cozy welcoming place, but I didn't really get how necessary this aspect of the librarian gig actually is.  

Every day--EVERY.SINGLE.DAY--the library is filled with kids who need a place; kids who are hurting as they try to figure out this thing called life.  I am honored to be able to provide a place for them. I really believe that as much, as I love bringing books & people together, that is my true calling--to help provide that space for those who need it. Sometimes these kids find their way into my office, or behind the circ desk at the front with my lovely assistant.  Sometimes they find their way through high school by finding "their people" who are also in the library.  Life is less difficult with friends to help you navigate the sometimes rough seas.  

Truthfully, there are days when it is hard for me to smile one more time at one more person; days when my to-do list is left half-done because those things I needed to do cannot be a higher priority than the students I am there to serve.  People are important, and they need to know they matter to someone. 

Day 6: It's Friday!

It is Day 6 of the Slice of Life Challenge!

Time to do the Friday afternoon happy dance!  whoop! whoop! After a L-O-N-G day filled with strange tech issues and a million interruptions of my genrefication plans, I still managed to log in over 7000 steps on my fitbit at work, drink water rather than the coke I was craving (man, I was tired today---didn't sleep well last night), get the aforementioned tech issues fixed, talk books & writing to some awesome kiddos and walk out the door this afternoon with the sounds of our Anime Club having a fun-filled meeting in the library.  

Hoping everyone has a wonderful restful weekend!

Sonja

As seen this morning in the library...

My goal is to write a post each & every day this month for the Slice of Life challenge from the always fabulous Two Writing Teachers blog.


As a new-to-the-high-school librarian, I have been pleasantly surprised over and over again with my students.  Teens are just FUN to work with, man.  Yesterday afternoon we did a bit of spring decorating including a book display with books in a giant Easter basket along with some giant plastic Easter eggs.  Before we even had the table finished I had kids coming up to tell me how pretty it looked and how cool the giant eggs & basket were.  We even had a few ask if they could take selfies with the eggs!  This morning, two football players (and all-around nice guys) decided the two sides of the large blue egg would make eggcellent hats.  They cracked me up & were totally onboard with me posting the pics on our library Instagram page.  Who knew these would be such a hit?

Yes, there are occasions when I see students making  poor choices, but, for the most part, my day consists of seeing:

• friends supporting one another through hard times
• kids offering comfort when a friend is stressed
• students working hard to complete assignments 
• students chilling out with one another & being silly
• kids recommending books they love to one another
•  rousing games of chess & checkers

I've said it before, and I'll say it again:  I LOVE my job.  I'm so glad I made the move out of my middle school comfort zone and into this new world that is the high school.  I have found my place to make a difference. 

Sonja

what a day

Every day this month I'll be posting as part of the Slice of Life challenge.

My assistant called me from the circ desk.  "Have you read your email?"

I hadn't.  I was smack in the middle of processing the first two rows of shelves in my genrefying project.*  I clicked over to my open-but-minimized email window and read the news. Late start tomorrow due to expected bad winter weather conditions.  The district admin called it fairly early today. 

Now, I love a good snow day as much as anyone else because here in East Texas they are rare gifts indeed, but I have to admit I'm just not as thrilled about tomorrow as most of my friends. I knew immediately I would have two upset girls.  My oldest, since she has been looking forward to tomorrow's field trip to a couple of museums in Houston (now postponed) and my youngest because the program she was scheduled to perform in had been rescheduled for tomorrow night from the last week of icy weather conditions (now cancelled).  

Now here we are at almost 9:30.  I'm exhausted having dealt with daily life at school, then daily life at home, with the additional drama of the afore-mentioned two girls.  My fitbit battery is almost dead (did I mention I misplaced the charger within minutes of opening the box?) and a toilet overflowed (such an understatement---picture the Mighty Mississippi flowing) while daughter-the-eldest and dear husband were at Lowe's buying something archery related.  We've fixed the issue, but am still working on washing and drying every towel in the house used to sop up the mess.  Daughter-the-youngest is crying because  she "doesn't want the cat to die" (the cat is fine.  daughter is tired and gets melancholy at this level of exhaustion. she is five. we had a neighbor pass away a few months ago and now we are very aware and concerned about death of loved ones.  tears over the possibility of death at least a weekly occurrence at this juncture.)

Maybe that extra two hours will do us all some good!

*genrefying going well for the first day.  got 2 rows of books labeled and new spine labels typed into the computer.  moving right along!

  

The Box Arrived

The box arrived today.
A student office aide delivered it right to me.
I've been waiting and waiting for it to arrive.
Now it is HERE.
I'm excited, anxious, giddy, and a bit overwhelmed if you want to know the truth.

My box of new genre labels finally made it to the library, so it is time to embark on my BIG springtime switcharoo.

I may have learned just enough from the first time I did this to make me KNOW what a GIANT undertaking this is---but hopefully I have a more solid plan this time around.

I began slowly this afternoon with my small box of beautiful new books from Junior Library Guild. Questions I've asked and answered and asked again a million times in my head and with co-workers.

Should I just sticker them and leave them?
How on earth am I going to re-shelve all these books?
Reshelve?  What about making new SPINE labels and changing them all in the computer?
Will my space allow for this to be done easily?
Sticker first, right? Sticker them all first?
What about THAT book?  What the heck kind of genre do I put THAT one in?

Despite my questions, I'm jumping in.  I figure it is a bit like childbirth or adulthood in general--you really never CAN know what you are truly getting into until you are there and there is no one right way to do it despite what some folks may tell you.

So here goes!  Let the adventure begin!

A little slice of life

I'm starting the 2015 Slice of Life challenge today---a day later than I intended, but here I am.  If you'd like more information on this fun challenge, please check out the Two Writing Teachers blog post & join in!

My posts this month will have to do with this challenge---although most of them will probably still have to do with the library---that seems to be what is on my mind and filling my days the majority of the time.  ;)

It is still early morning--so early that I have not yet peeked into my oldest daughter's room to make sure she is awake and getting ready for school.  Still so early that the gentle hum of the laptop is the only noise I hear.  I have a sliver of time to think and ponder and just BE before my world wakes up around me.  It is delicious, this quiet time, and always leaves me wanting a bit more.

I'm wearing my new fitbit for the first time today to work.  I was so excited to get it late Friday night---so I've had my first weekend wearing it and I am hooked!  Seeing it all lit up after I've hit my 10,000 steps goal is thrilling.  It should be interesting to see what my work days look like as far as how many steps I take.

And now the troops awaken....my oldest, and my husband....so time to get moving and wake the little one.  Time to move forward into the day.  At least I have my fitbit to count the steps!