SOLSC '24 Day Eleven: This different year

 

This is my eleventh year as a librarian, my eleventh Spring Break from the circulation desk.  This is the first year as a librarian that I felt like I really, really needed the break.

I can't help but think of a pivotal moment at the end of my first year of librarianship.  The library services director called me out of the blue, and asked,

"Do you still want to be a librarian?"

My first thought was that I had done something wrong, and said so.  With a chuckle in her voice, she said no; in fact, she had heard that I asked smart questions and that I was doing a good job.  She said the reason she asked was that it was the end of the first year of a career change, and wondered if I thought I made the right move.

Without hesitation, I said, "Yes!  This is the first job in education I've had where I wake up every single day and am excited to go to work.  Every. Single. Day.  That didn't happen as a special education teacher or ARD facilitator.  I liked those jobs, but I know I made the right choice becoming a librarian."

I carried that excitement for ten years.  I'm working hard to keep that flame alive, despite changes and challenges, for year eleven.  I feel like I still have some library work left to do; not ready to give up just yet!

SOLSC '24 Day Ten: Loads and loads

 

Delicate lights

Delicate darks

Reds

Undies

Whites

Lights

Darks

Jeans

Towels

Sheets

How is it that two grown adults 

can produce

ten

loads

of laundry

each week?

SOLSC '24 Day Nine: Trying a nonet

With thanks to hmorris' post "I'm sinking", which introduced me to the nonet poetry form.

If you have children, and if you paid attention, you may have been forced to come to terms with your own faults and mannerisms as those little copycats started revealing them to you.  Then they grow older...

They

have grown

from mirrors

of my manners

into truth-tellers

with gentle reminders

of the things I need to do

to be healthy, and to avoid

a legacy of more stuff than love.

I will do my best this spring break to declutter a few more piles for the sake of my children's future, and my own mental and physical health.

SOLSC '24 Day eight: Is it really a Spring Break?

I started the list yesterday at my circ desk.  Eight days of Spring Break to try to get stuff done (I don't count the Sunday before we go back, because it's already designated as the usual prepare-for-the-week day).

Here's my overly-ambitious to-do list:

• Get eight or more hours of sleep each night.
• Clean up and repot the houseplants.
• FINALLY get the Christmas tablecloth off of the table. (Please don't judge.)
• FINALLY mail some belated Christmas gifts.  (Again, no judging...)
• Figure out what plants will survive the brutal afternoon sun in front of our house, since we lost our old, shady oak tree in the February 2023 ice storm.
• Pot those heat-loving plants (and water them often, I'm guessing already).
• Purge a gazillion pieces of clothing.  Okay, maybe a couple dozen.  Four or five?
• Try once again to find the tops of my desk and my vanity...and my bedroom floor by my bed...and that earring I lost two months ago...
• Take a day road trip somewhere, anywhere.  Or spend the night somewhere, if I get antsy.  Does the hotel around the corner count as a day trip?
• Complete some job-related and insurance paperwork.
• Try and get a haircut (LONG overdue, pun intended).
• Keep up with Slicing, of course.

Anyone else in our SOLSC community on Spring Break this coming week?  Do you have a list to complete, or are you taking it easy?

 

SOLSC '24 Day Seven: Seven-a-day habit

The alarm goes off at 425a.  I grumble a bit to myself, then realize that I don't have to think about the day ahead just yet.  I "tumble out of bed and stumble to the kitchen" (Dolly says it best, doesn't she?), start my coffee, empty the dishwasher, drink some water, and grab my phone for my seven-a-day habit.

First, Wordle.

Then Spelling Bee.

Followed by Connections (by now my coffee is ready),

Letter Boxed,

Tiles,

The Mini,

and finally,

The Crossword.

These seven games on the New York Times app are my favorite workday (and to be honest, weekend) productive procrastination tool.  They're also the main reason I've broken my previous years' long standing pattern of early morning Slicing.  I'm too busy finding words in the games now, instead of finding the right words to write down.

I don't always get to Genius level on the Spelling Bee, and it sometimes takes me additional lunch and after-school sessions to finish The Crossword. But I don't mind; the puzzles are keeping the chores at bay for a few more precious minutes. 

 

SOLSC '24 Day Six: Six by six

 

Custodian did a great job cleaning.

Students enjoy exploring on their own.

Tony Hawk's basic moves impress kids.

Assistant has eagle eyes for misbehavior.

My colleagues ask really smart questions.

Butterflies and june bugs are back.

(And just so you don't have to wonder...)

We had a virtual, districtwide reading trivia battle yesterday, and my team left some popcorn bits on the carpet, which needed to be gone before a parent event this morning.

Our library "lesson" for third through fifth graders this week involves fifteen minutes to click on anything in the TrueFlix database.

We are reading Skater Cielo by Rachel Katstaller (English and Spanish versions!) in kindergarten through second grades.  Quite a few had difficulty envisioning the "flying" part of skateboarding in a pool, so I managed to find a quick YouTube video of Tony Hawk doing just that.

Whenever my back is turned, my assistant is quick to notice who's playing around in the back aisles of the library.

There are changes afoot in state mandates for curriculum. My colleagues brought up the topic and asked questions during our leadership meeting today.

I spent a lovely half-hour on my back porch after school watching red admiral butterflies dance in tandem, pausing every few minutes to bask on our old wooden playscape in the waning sunlight.  In the evening, I was startled by my first june bug sighting of the season outside my kitchen window...already?

Red admiral butterfly basking in the sun

SOLSC '24 Day Five: Unpredictable ways to run out of fifties

The card from my husband was predictably leaning against a vase with a fresh bouquet of flowers, and it was predictably sweet and loving.  My father's card was predictable, too, printed out from his computer with greeting card software, like most of his cards for the past several years.  He always includes a picture on the verso from his archives, usually baby pictures or school photos.  But not this year.

He inserted a photo of my birth announcement--"It's a Girl!" in flowery illustration--with my mother's handwritten details.  My eyes welled with tears at the sight of her graceful swoops and loops written fifty-eight years ago.  How can one predict that which triggers decades-old grief?

*****

I arrive at work to find the library door open and festooned with green door fringe and a "Happy Birthday!" banner.  Inside, there are enough pastries and juice for a quarter of our campus, with a giant green bag that I know contains goodies that have been creatively gathered.  When did she do all of this? (Apparently at 630a!)

*****

"Ms B, I'm here to cover your class...you have a meeting?"

"Ms Margocs, we were just talking about you!  Let's sing her a Happy Birthday, class!" (Second graders erupt in song.) "And oh, they didn't tell you?  I am skipping the meeting--Happy Birthday!"

*****

"Fifth graders, it's time to line up.  Grab your computers and books--las computadoras y tus libros.  Thank you!"

Fifth grader in line:  "And a one, and a two--Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you...".  The rest of the group joins in, smiling and laughing with me.

***** 

Parent volunteer/ library substitute sneaks through the green door fringe while I'm wrangling kindergarteners, bearing an 8x8 pan of homemade banana pudding, complete with whipped cream and nilla wafers.  I give her a huge thanks and a hug, then get back to wrangling kindergarteners.

*****

Number fifty-eight has been interesting, uplifting, and unpredictable. Only one more fifty to go; wonder what that one will be like?