I have taken the last two days off staying home with my little one, who is sick. Yesterday I woke up, to have to clean a HUGE mess in his room. He has a loft bed with a desk under...He threw up in the night...Can you guess how long it took me to clean up? But trials are never unmixed with blessings. I have been sewing like a mad fiend. I am hosting a baby shower for my new grandson on February 21st and am making him a "John Deere" bedding ensemble. It will be cute when I finish. I still have to finish the quilt, make the curtains and the bumper pads. I have already finished 2 sheets, a dust ruffle and the diaper stacker (you know, the thing with the hanger in the top and you stack diapers in it and hang it above the changing table). My daughter has been "reminding" me that I need to finish it since the idea came to me in November. God provides.
I have had to have a substitute at school for the past 2 days. I had no lesson plans made up (I just go step by step through my library skills books) and the last time I had a sub she gave my login and password to a student. People are so shocked by that but I can see how it happened. We live in a rural "bedroom" community and a lot of people work in Colorado Springs or Denver. She is of my mother's generation and doesn't realize the dangers of letting a student have your password. I wouldn't have even known if the student in question hadn't been bragging in the library that he knew my password. I changed it right away but when she couldn't get on the library program she called yesterday and acted a little offended when I didn't give her my new password. I have since learned that there is a special login and PW for library substitutes so I will give her that so that she can check out when she is there. That way my password is safe and she can still check out to students.
I hate leaving the library with "strangers". I have found that I have become very possessive of "my" library and "my" books. There is a book called "The Library Dragon" that really convicted my heart about that possessiveness. In the book the new librarian won't let any of the children touch any of the books or read them because of their sticky fingers. (Believe me, I can relate! Do you know where children's fingers are while you are doing a read aloud?! Up noses, in mouths and who knows where else! We found a HUGE booger in one book one day!) Sorry if I've grossed anyone out but...So I have become a little bit obssessive about these things. Hand sanitizer and bleach wipes have become my friends. After reading this book I realized that it is my job to teach library manners but I also need to foster that joy that comes to children when they read a good book. The joy that they feel coming to the library to check out. I don't want to kill that joy. Most of them lose it quickly enough on their own when they reach middle school and high school. I am learning to walk that fine line between being the "Library Dragon" and being the "Library Goddess".
I have received approval to go to a library workshop in Pueblo. I went for the first time last year and LOVED it. There were 2 workshops that were especially valuable. One was a Library of Congress workshop on using Primary Sources and one was done by a librarian who gave reviews on books that teens are REALLY into. I came back and nagged my administrative team to let me set up a LOC workshop for our school. It was really neat. Everyone was required to attend the first session but they weren't required to do all of them. There were college credits available and several teachers took advantage of that. I hope that they are using what they learned in their classrooms. There is a lot of FREE material available on the LOC website. If you are a librarian it is very valuable. I used the information from the other workshop to do my book orders last fall. It was a great help as well. I think that this year I will stay in Pueblo overnight and not have to drive back and forth. The only thing is that I think that I can find a less expensive hotel than the one chosen for attendees.
I have to admit that I have become slightly addicted to this blogging! I think I will stop here for this time and get busy sewing.
Till next time...
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