Making the most of a dumb schedule

We had a teacher day today. First, I just want to put a reminder out there that we only have school Mon-Thursday (yes we have every Friday off) but we are a year round school, NOT on a balanced calendar. That being said, we didn't have school on Monday since it was part of our Christmas vacation, we were off Jan. 1 because it was New Year's Day so today is a teacher day.

We have students tomorrow. Do the math. Yes. You are right.

We are going to have kids tomorrow, just 1 single day, and then we all have the three day weekend. Yup.

I have no idea who the brain trust was behind this genius scheduling but yes, it is stupid. Kids in general are hard to get in the mind set of school after a long holiday but OUR kids at Alcatraz are even worse. And then to get them for just a day? Not the best thing I've ever heard in my life.

Tomorrow is going to be a very looooooooooooong day, I just have a gut instinct about it!

Anyway, today was a teacher day. All the certified folks in the building and all the administrators were scheduled to be in a training. So that left me, 2 secretaries, our IT guy, and an administrative assistant to do stuff in the building.

I found stuff to do. Part of my job is to give reading assessments to incoming students and do the new student orientation so I decided to get a jump on tomorrow. I got 6 of our new kids together and did all their testing and their orientation. Yay me for being ahead!

Now I'm ready for anything weird that could- and probably will- happen tomorrow. After all, I work at "Alcatraz".

Librarian in action,
Mags

Will I be kicked out of the bibliophile club for this?

I can't believe it. I didn't read a single book in the entire month of November. I have no idea what happened. Well, I can fathom a guess...

In November I watched a LOT of TV. I mean, a LOT (I blame The Voice). I also watched more movies in November than I did in the entire year- 3 in the theater and about 10 DVDs. I also worked on 2 school extra curricular- our prom, which we do in the fall, and the art club. I worked my regular job. I also took a seasonal, part time job which took around 30 hours in November (there will be a post about this). AND I also took on a graphic design gig which was a bigger mess than the client realized so a quick 6 hour job turned into 22 hours. I was not happy about that.

My women's book club met this month and the selection was The Paris Wife, which I read earlier in the year so I did spend some time reviewing/ re-reading parts of it so I could possibly participate in the discussion.

November was also a high stress month. I bought a new car for myself (post coming soon with a picture of my new car and the BIG reveal about what I named the car). I gave my Malibu (aka The Blue Goose) to Mac and about 10 days later a deer ran into him so I spent 2 weeks straightening that out (post will be forthcoming...). Since Mac delivers pizzas a car is imperative so he was in high freak out mode which really stresses me out. And as always, there are the money worries associated with everything I do. Add the holiday in there and I was just a wreck.

I spent some time driving back and forth to see The Sam in the capital city.

 

I play LOTS of "Words with Friends" on my phone and I read Twitter.

By the time "free time" was available I usually had enough concentration left in me to gaze at the TV until I fell asleep. I could also skip the gazing step and lots of times just fell asleep. When I had enough energy to hold a book and look at the words and have some basic comprehension skills I couldn't settle on anything. Nothing was holding my interest. I started and abandoned the Tony Danza teaching book- though I do want to go back and read it all the way through. I've been reading a book about adopting a racing greyhound off and on this month, too, since I am adopting a retired racing greyhound on Dec 20 (yes a post about this is forthcoming). I downloaded 13 samples of books I thought I might want to read on my Nook. (Since getting the Nook I'm really selective in what I buy since I have to pay full ebook prices rather than waiting for it to be used at my local used bookstores). I know I read all the samples, one every few evenings. I also read some magazines. I just HAD NO FOCUS. Then about a week ago I started reading Mr. Penumbra's 24 Hour Book Store. I plodded through it. It was interesting at first but my attention wained. I was determined to finish solely because the book glowed in the dark. I finished it last night, which is Dec. which makes it official...

I read no complete book the entire month of November.

That must change...

Mags

Busy bee

The road to Hell is paved with good intentions, I realize this. I really do. For the longest time, I felt like I didn't have anything to blog about so I decided to make a conscious effort to write down anything that COULD be made into a blog post and see what happens. Furthermore, I felt my Muse kick in for awhile and I was writing. i also vowed to write every day so I even "back posted" (aka cheated) so I had posts every day.

The ideas started flowing and I have a huge list of stuff I want to write about. Yay- I was "feeling" the writing bug, which I know is part of it.

But then I got busy. REALLY busy. Last week, I had something going on every single day after school until late into the evening. Most of it was of my own doing, but by the time I got home I was just ready to fall asleep or my brain was so mushy I couldn't focus on writing anything of quality and I didn't want to a) waste a good topic and make it crummy; or 2) just post crap so I can say I posted daily.

Then last weekend I had "time", sort of. Sometimes it's mind over matter, ya know? I had a really good book to read, and the first day I had all week to relax was Saturday afternoon so I did nothing but read. My brain was on vacation and I didn't even touch my laptop all day long. Sunday, when I thought I was going to write, I ended up being gone all day. It was FUN- XRayGirl and I went shopping, out for a late lunch and we got pedicures! Yahoo- us! I love me some GF time. (and last week I hung with Lilith, got a haircut, helped Mac with some work stuff, sort of babysat for a friend's kiddo, went to a baseball game, went rummage saling with Curly, graded papers in preparation for student teaching, and spend an evening with Girl- and see all the potential blog stuff here? And all the stuff you're missing and need updated on?)

Then I was back at in again on Monday with the crazy schedule!

So, here it is: I'm not back posting the days I missed (expect a diet update, which I do more for me, than you!) Here is a post today. And if all goes according to Hoyle, I shall have a post every few days, if not daily, for the next several... years!

Whew!
Mags

Dragging butt

This title is not a description of what's happening to by own ass due to my diet (yet!) but a cliched way of saying I'm a wee bit tired.

I woke up this morning at 4:41am dreaming about bacon and having to pee. Imagine my surprise to find Mac frying a pound of bacon when I hit the bottom of the stairs.

Then I couldn't go back to sleep because I knew I had to wake up at 5:30am. Yes, on a Saturday. I- the Queen of the NOT MORNINGS- had to wake up to shower, dress and do the hair (all 4 minutes that can now take!) because I had to photograph a morning wedding in a town about 90 minutes away.

So I did do all that.

Then I went to work my second shift job as a weekend receptionist until 10 pm tonight.

Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
Mags

Still tired

As of Friday night I worked 72 hours in 6 days.

I spent 8 hours photographing a wedding, so hours worked with all jobs and the overtime is now up to 80 hours. And I'm so happy we had no Bridzilla and no mean mother of the Bride. The bride got snippy with her own mom and the sister of the groom was a complete control freak, but as a professional, we photographers just worked around her.

Is there any other reason I'm so tired? I think not.

I'd like to take a week off and sleep...

And I have to work 7 more hour tomorrow and then things will "settle" down again. Yeah, right!

Maggie

GO Schedule!

This week is crazy busy with working all the extra hours and next week is going to be crazy busy but that's my own doing as well- crazy with FUN stuff!!!

Monday I'm either staying home and relaxing or daddy-o and I are going out for his belated birthday supper.

Tuesday I have art club after school AND a diet shake party.

Wednesday night is the rescheduling of the literary mystery party for my students.

And Thursday night, the best of all, I'm taking a class at Archiver's with Lilth- it's a Doodle Bug class. We're making a scrapbook. I'm so organized I have a stack of pictures I'm bringing along and before I leave the store, not only will I have made a scrapbook, but it will BE FILLED WITH PICTURES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! And then dinner out.

Friday might be lunch with a friend from the Wild West who really lives closer to me now that I've moved back. I might have mentioned Trooper before. He's going to be at a conference in my neck of the woods and we might be able to meet for lunch!

Busy girl,
Mags

It sounded like a good idea last February

As ya'll know I have many different jobs. I answer the phones on every third weekend in a second shift position. The company I do this for is a firm believe in a live human answering the phones 24/7.

The woman who usually does this Sunday- Thursday is on vacation this week. She planned for vacay last February and my boss for this position asked me if I wanted the hours. She asked me the day after I found out my school loan payments went up $200 a month; I said YES when she asked me.

Hence the title of this post...

Financially this is still a really good idea, no doubt about it. I'll make more in that week taking all her hours: 42 from today through next Sunday.

But now that it's here I keep asking myself "MAGGIE, ARE YOU CRAZY???" And please do NOT respond to that because I think we all know the answer!

So, Monday -Thursday I'll library all day and receptionist all night. During the day on Friday I made a commitment to Girl to take her to honor her dead mother. Then I'm the receptionist Friday night. In the midst of it all, I'm assisting in photographing a wedding ALL DAY Saturday; I had to let someone else work the Saturday hours. Sunday is Mother's Day and Daddy-O's birthday so we have church, birthday festivities and then I work receptionist next Sunday night.

Writing it all down makes me tired...

I'll have lots of time to read and post and I'll make money; there's always an upside!

Mags

Random TGIT!

If I were still in Montana, we would be celebrating Thirsty Thursday tonight and let me tell ya, after the crazy week here at school, I could use it! I'm seeing Lilith tonight and if I didn't have a drive home and could sleep somewhere in Northern Civilization, it would be a 4 martini night.

It's been a good but busy week. Busy isn't always bad, right?

And of course I've had something going on after school everyday this week, which is my own planning fault, of course! But I love my GFs and sometimes our time together is scarce so I take it when I can get it and this week I've been blessed to see XRay Girl last Sunday (we got Pedi's and I got the best named toenail polish color ever: Mrs. Leary's BBQ), Photographer after school this week (Starbucks run!) and to hang with Lilith tonight! Yay girl time!

And for some reason, I have this deep throaty voice thing going that sounds either like Kathleen Turner/ Suzanne Pleshette (when she was alive) or I sound like I have the flu. I feel fine, overall, but the voice sounds rough (I was asked to audition for the musical Annie that our community theater is doing. The show's producer specifically found me at church and asked me but with this voice and this schedule, there was no way I could. And auditions were last night and I sounded not like Kathleen at that point, but like "swallowed a frog". No No audition, but I woulda been a kickbutt Miss Hannigan!). Add that to busy and the combination is one tired girl- me!

Mags

My schedule today

I know there are times when I write a "what I did today" because I have nothing to write and it can be a boring read. But seriously, here's my day. Really. I couldn't make this stuff up. This all happened between the hours of 7:30am- 4:30pm...

• Hosted 5 classes in the library over three periods for National Library Week, and gave a presentation to each class
• Burned about 24 CDs
• Answered about 20 emails
• Made about 10 phone calls
• Started organizing a field trip which involved about a dozen emails, phone calls and meetings
• proctored a GED student 6 periods (our whole day is 6 periods)
• helped said GED student, who is sweet as can be but dumber than owl poop, write a business letter to a college she got into. Her first draft was in 22 point Curlz font, one long paragraph, no date, no signature, used only her first name, said "ya know", and full of slang. She thought it was business format because she didn't indent.
• I subbed for 3 classes and rescheduled 5 others that were supposed to visit the library- they'll be arriving tomorrow
• asked to do an art club activity at the last minute- we could call it an art emergency
• recruited kids to do last minute art club activity
• recruited adults to help with the murder mystery party
• recruited adults to help with an origami artist and lecture luncheon
• scheduled both above 2 events
• cleared campus wide calendar for above 2 events
• supervised emergency art club AND cleaned up the mess
• broke up a boy fight
• supervised 2 classes in 2 separate room, running back and forth between both, so bigger people than me can finish breaking up the boy fight
• supervised 3 kids at lunch who had no supervision
• dropped stuff off to my boss
• visited the business office to get money and a task that usually takes me 5 minutes took 20 since one of the staff was out sick and I had to deal with a new person
• washed a coffee cup
• chatted with my mentee Girl
  
• refereed girlie gossip and put a stop to that BS
• checked out books, checked in books, helped kids find stuff to read, put books away- you know, library stuff

All that was at work...

AFTER work I

• dropped off my taxes with my accountant
  
• picked up my broken computer which is now fixed
• dropped off projects I graded (for cash) to a fellow teacher friend
  
• drank Starbucks
• called and cancelled an eye doc appointment
• called Mac's old college to get tax info
• accepted a call to sub on Friday NEXT week

This doesn't count personal phone calls, dinner, blogging, driving, or answering emails.

I'm tired,

Maggie

The library computer system network & my day

Well, I guess I should come out and say it: my library software seems to be working. I'm afraid to admit that because I don't want the technology gods to smite me and the computer down in the morning.

Today I had a lonnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnng day. The only data I lost was one day's worth but it was the day all the classes had 'library day' so all books checked in and out on that Tuesday was lost. So about 200 transactions were lost.

So, today I went class to class and asked each kid for his or her library books. Lots had books with them or in their lockers and I took those. Then I pulled a fast one on the kids who told me they left them in their residential halls. I played dumb and said, "Well, I don't have a list or a computer in front of me. What are the titles of the books you have out?" and I wrote them down.

Then after I did that, I returned all the books I collected, which was about 150 items. Then I ran an "items out list" and went to the shelves. I went through the list and found about 60 tomes and checked all those in.

Then we put all those books away.

Then I ran another "items out list" and checked it against what the kids said they had out. I found 2 errors of books being checked out that no one claimed. I marked those as lost in the computer and checked all the books out to the kids who said they had them.

I then emailed all the residential parents and asked them to check the halls for random books. Then I emailed specific res parents to tell them what each kid had out and asked them to send the books back with the students either after school today or first thing in the morning.

I also planned this week's art club, went to a staff meeting, entered 11 new students in my patron data base, processed 12 new magazines and replaced 4 days of old newspapers with new newspapers, supervised after school t-shirt painting and unpacked 3 shipments of NEW BOOKS, which was the best part of my day.

Whew!!!!!!!!!!! I'm tired.

And this thing better work in the morning or I'm quitting my job and joining the circus or the Peace Corps, whomever takes me first.

Mags

(and from now on, at the end of each day, I'm going to run a list of "materials check out" list! And Once time a month I'm going to run my shelf list!! I never want this to happen again!)

I'm so busy my head is spinning

Months can go by and I have nothing on my calendar other than "movie" or "pick up Mac" or "grocery store". But this month my social calendar is full, as is work.

I have a ticket to see My Fair Lady, a touring Broadway show here in my local theater. I might also be seeing our local theater groups production of The Music Man. I'm going to a Halloween showing of The Rockey Horror Picture Show, which I've never done before so I guess I'm in for a real 'experience.'

Tomorrow is the annual chili cook off festival and a craft fair that's the largest in our tri-state area; I love to go to that with friends and family and won't miss it! I also took a card making class at Archivers- which was FUN even though one of my cards looks like my Wise Men's camels had teats rather than fringe- did I mention I hate using heat embossing? (Pictures will be forth coming)

I'm helping Photographer make 100 ghost cake pops for something she got roped into at school. I'm also co-hosting a book club meeting with her on Tuesday, at MY library. It's a 2-fold thing: book club and maybe get some donors. I have a yoga class. I'm meeting Lilith next week for an evening of girlfriend fun! Mac is home this weekend for his fall break and he, Princess and I are going to the orchard on Sunday, to pick our own pumpkins and then come to the house to grill out and watch a movie.

Not to mention I have to work my part time receptionist job this weekend, I'm co-chairing our Prom which we have next month so I have lots of prom meetings, art club meeting since I'm sponsoring that, gathering items and editing the literary club magazine (yes I am chairing that, too), substitute teaching on Fridays, AND I work in the library, too. Oh yeah, I almost forgot my regular job in there.

And Halloween.

Yes, this is all just in October.

I was supposed to attend a family member's memorial service but that was postponed, and I was supposed to go to a re-enactment festival but Curley and I bailed on that due to traffic, bees, heat, and nothing new that we haven't seen before. And that's only what was crossed off the list!

Somewhere in here I have to do laundry. And I have a BF who likes lots of attention.

I like a busy schedule but to me, this even feels a little ridiculous; I wish it could've been stretched out over a few months but I'm looking into November and it doesn't seem much better, in all honesty.

At least I'll have lots to blog about!

Head above water so far,
Mags