68 posts tagged “work”
I love NYSERDA... Who are they? New York State Energy Research and Development Authority... In other words, the people who will be giving Clark and me a rebate check once we have gotten the siding and windows installed... Yuppers, this is definitely a cool thing... Not only will we be saving money on our heating costs and have a much prettier house, but we will be getting part of that money back (10%, I think) because we were willing to let NYSERDA come and test how energy efficient (or, rather, inefficient) our house is before the home improvements... Their big thing is that they want to make sure people's homes are safe from CO (carbon monoxide) leaks, and I am happy to report that our readings were all very good... Now, it's just a matter of how much heat is escaping in the winter time... It's scary to feel the drafts when they set up the test, but a healthy wake-up call as to what we need to focus on if we don't want to lose grocery money for heating oil this winter... After the windows and siding get done, they will come and "test us out" to make sure that we improved our home's efficiency... Although there are some really crazy insulation issues with the attic, I am sure that the windows and siding will make a big difference... I'm guessing that we may end up using the rebate money to work on insulating the dormers and the attic, but maybe we will just do something fun with that money... Who knows?!? All I know right now is that the inspector is almost done checking things outside, and I am starving so I cannot wait for him to be done... I am gonna head into work early so I can eat lunch there and then take a little nap before my shift starts... Gotta love the staff kitchen having a comfy couch! Summer reading starts today, and it is all feeling a little too surreal to me... I am sure that being in the midst of the karaoke craziness will be enough of a "pinch" to prove it's all real, though... You know? Later days...
On a rainy day, on the weekend, I can get an amazing amount of work done without being "bothered" by too many patrons... Teeheehee... I have done several things on my "to do" list, and I am about to do a little more... Yay for feeling like I have accomplished something! Later days...
I can't believe that my former intern is already done working at my library... But, more than that, I cannot believe she was so lucky to find a job already -- at which she starts today! Granted, she was awesome and she deserves every bit of praise I gave her, so I am not completely surprised that she found a job already... It's just that things never seem to work out so well for many people when they graduate... I guess interning at my library is just good luck -- because finding a job (technically before graduation) has happened to me, Flower, Tech Girl, AND my former intern (for whom I still need to come up with a clever blog name)... So, congrats FI -- hope your first day is great!!! Later days...
To keep myself busy all day long, to complete more than I add to my "to do" list, and to make the best of the crappy situation that is my Teen Area... Last night, I rearranged the existing Teen Area since I know there is no way in hell I am going to be able to move the Teen Area to another section of the library any time soon... Grrr -- but also, oh well... The teens who have seen it already said that they love what I have done with it, and I am pretty happy with it too... At the very least, I gained access to 3 more shelves and added a table that seats 4 people... I also pulled myself out of the corner and have enough space to easily get in and out of my desk... It's not perfect, by any stretch of the imagination, but it'll do... Later days...
I am so sick of the "holier than thou" attitude some people have toward me... They think that their being older automatically means that they know more than me -- about everything... Well, let me tell you something... When it comes to working with teens and advocating for them, these people don't know shit... I just overheard them say that I don't know what I'M talking about, but they sure as shit know nothing about "real" teens... They assume that the few trouble makers -- who are mostly misunderstood in the first place -- are the only teens for whom we make our library policies... And, somehow, they think that this makes it fair to have age discriminatory policies (that only work against teens)... The other day, a student was hit by a truck as he walked to our library... Why? Because he missed his bus home and would have needed a fucking pass (from a teacher, not a parent) to get the bus here -- but he didn't have one... So, he did like a lot of my teens and walked down a major road (it's less than a 1/2 mile, but still dangerous) to get here... Unfortunately, he didn't even make it all the way here... He was hit by a truck and the boat it was towing, so he has a broken nose, stitches all over his face (to the extent that his eyes are swollen shut), broken shoulder blades, a collapsed lung, a broken pelvis, a disconnected hip, and a broken foot... There were a TON of witnesses -- some his friends and some who were not -- who all said that the kid merely walked across the road (not playing chicken as rumors have stated) and that the driver probably would never have hit him if he didn't freak out and slam on the brakes (causing the truck and boat to skid to the right and hit the kid)... And yet people still feel as if the teen MUST HAVE done SOMETHING wrong to cause this accident -- citing the so-called fact that, "Teens lie to protect each other." WTF?!? Some of these kids were his friends, but some of them didn't even know him -- and I got the same story from all of them... I am so pissed that I don't think I will be able to get much actual work accomplished right now... And that's a bad thing, since I am the only one in the children's room AND I have a class coming in at noon... Gah... Later days...
It has been so long since I have actually sat down and blogged about all the things I have been planning on blogging... Today's post will be rather long, and it will probably jump from one topic to the next... Feel free to skip this one if you don't want to get all dizzy!
Where to start?!? Well, the other day I was planning on blogging something that was rather shocking to me, but I somehow never got online that day, or the next, or the next, etc.... I wonder what you all will think, though, so I feel compelled to post about it even though it happened on Monday... I was driving down the highway, at about 65mph, when I noticed a dog running around (loose) in the back of an open-bed pickup truck ahead of us... I called 911 and the operator, basically, told me that he thought I was wasting his time... He asked if I really thought it was an emergency... I responded, "For that dog and the drivers who are surrounding that truck, yes, I would say this constitutes an emergency!" He sounded exasperated, and told me that he didn't think it was an emergency, nor did he believe it was illegal... I was pissed, but I still don't know to whom I should register a complaint... Any ideas?
I crashed storytime the other day, with Boogie, and then went out to lunch with Bagel... She is such a bum! We agreed to split the bill and she paid for it behind my back! But, that is not the funniest part... The funniest part is that Boogie looked like he was taking tequila shots at lunch... Why was that?!? Because he was sprinkling "stinky cheese" (parmesan) onto his drink lid, licking it off, and washing it down with a quick sip of his lemonade... Hilarious! That is, after he actually ended up with lemonade... I was pretty upset when it happened, though I realized it was not the end of the world, but they actually gave him freakin' soda instead of lemonade at first... He said something about his drink "burning" his mouth, and I thought he was just being silly, so I told him to stop being silly and drink his drink... Man, I feel like that mom at Chili's whose kid had the margarita... After a while, he wanted the lid off, so he could get a piece of ice, and I noticed the carbonation... I was not thrilled, but I didn't pitch a fit (even though I wanted to)... Bagel says we should have figured it out when Boogie kept taking sips and then asking how old he had to be to have soda -- "I have to be 2?!?" I was like, "No! You have to be much older." Now we know why he was so confused! Geesh, people! I know that some people let their toddlers drink soda, but we asked for LEMONADE!!!
Boogie is being really cute all the time, but he is also getting on my nerves a lot lately... He says the same things over, and over, and over again in hopes that I will suddenly jump up and cater to his every whim... "I wanna watch tv... I wanna watch TV... I wanna watch TV!" ... How about, NO! I know that is what toddlers are all about, but, man, it drives me nuts! It's like that episode of Family Guy where Stewie is going, "Mom... Mom... Momma... Momma... Mommy... Mommy... Lois... Lois..."
I feel like I have not seen many of my friends in entirely too long... I see the friends that I work with, and that is good at least, but I really have felt like I have had "no life" these last few weeks... I guess that stems from the whole "working two weekends in a row and using days off for nothing but running errands" kind of operation I've been running... The good news is that I will not be working another weekend until next month, and working two weekends in a row made it possible for me to get the time off for heading to Vegas! I am so psyched about my vacation... Let's just hope that the jet lag doesn't turn Boogie into a monster!
A while back, my father said that we should go out "for coffee" (even though I have always hated coffee and he should recognize that fact by now!) so he could explain the whole mom and NMD situation... Well, I was all worried that maybe my dad was gay and trying to hide it by staying married to my mom -- though I was not so much worried that he was gay but the thought that he may have felt that he had to hide said gayness from me... Well, it turns out that I was WAY off... Sure, my mom's boyfriend (NMD) seems pretty gay, and he started off as my dad's friend first -- let alone the fact that my mom always acts like she is the resident expert on gay men who pretend to be straight by getting married and having kids... That, apparently, has nothing to do with why my dad allows NMD to be with my mom... Evidently, my dad really does just feel terrible about the fact that he cheated on my mom -- like 20 years ago! -- and is willing to put up with anything "short of her ripping [his] heart out and stepping on it" because she never divorced him and/or tried to take us away from him... The look of relief and the tears in his eyes lead me to believe that he was telling the God's honest truth... He was so happy that my mom "forgave" him (although she constantly brought it up and rubbed it in his face) and never took his kids away that he is willing to pay penance for it for the rest of his life... He said that he could not imagine only having visitation time with us and that anything he goes through now is nothing compared to the loss he would have felt if my mom took us away from him... Wow! Talk about feeling more loved than ever...
And, speaking of feeling loved, I just have to say one more time how amazing Clark is... He is such an awesome daddy, a supportive hubby, and an awesome friend... Even if he does drive me crazy with his fetish for high-end electronics! Teeheehee... The new TV is great, and I really am happy that Clark was able to get something he wanted so badly -- even if the price tag made me balk... He knows that he is not getting anything else like this for quite some time, and he is ok with that, so I guess "normalcy" will resume once again... (Or, at least the normalcy you can have when your home TV feels like a movie theater screen!)... Teeheehee...
What else? Umm... I have been doing way better with the OCD thing, as evidenced in my lack of compulsion to post to this blog every ten seconds... My kitchen is not dirty, but it is not tidy either, and I am ok with that... The only thing that I wish I could do a little better without going completely OCD is my laundry... We get down really low and then I have to hurry up and do a bunch before Boogie runs out of underwear or some such thing... I am so thrilled that he is wearing bog boy undies, though I do wish he would stop telling us that he will "poop in the potty when [he gets] bigger"... Umm... Why not now, dude?!? Sure, we are saving lots of money on diapers/pull-ups because we only need them for bedtime/naptime, but it is frustrating as hell to have to keep cleaning up poop... More often than not, he just goes in his pull-up or his diaper, but there are occasional accidents in his undies, and it's not pretty (to say the least)...
Enough talk about crap, though... Nice stuff?!? I was in the newspaper recently, so people have been jokingly calling me a "celebrity," which is pretty fun to play up... The teens at my library love me and are excited about the upcoming summer reading program (SRP)... I am even pretty well underway with my SRP planning, so that makes me feel happy/less stressed at work... If only I could start ordering books again, life would be just peachy keen! I know it will all get back to "normal," and then summer will take over and make everything crazy again... But, for some reason, I am so much more confident about this summer... Maybe it is the fact that I have actually done this before... Maybe it's because I am so confident that our proposed changes will really make a big difference in how easily we can handle things... Either way, I am more excited than scared, and that is an awesome feeling!
Since I have been in here posting for so long, my boys are wondering if I will ever finish... Better wrap this up... Later days...
So, I have been feeling rather meh lately, and I can't even put my finger on exactly what's wrong... My best guess is that I am working two weekends in a row and even my days off don't seem like days off... That's enough to make anybody a little meh, right?!? But, today seems to be a little better than yesterday... Maybe it is the fact that tomorrow is the last time I have to work on a weekend day until April... Maybe it's the fact that we had people over to watch movies last night and, although I am tired from staying up late, I had an awesome time hanging out with people... Whatever it is, I am certainly ok with it! Better get going on one of the fifty projects I hope to get done this weekend... Later days!
My mood today, that is... I felt both rushed and bored at the same time for much of the day... What is that all about?!? I guess it was strange to be at work with Flower again, now that she is no longer bed-ridden with the flu, and yet to not have Nice there (she is on vacation)... Tomorrow probably won't be any less weird, but maybe I will get some more stuff accomplished... Here's to hoping! Later days...
Sometimes, people who are in the Children's Room get quite an earful... Take this for example:
Me: You know, you help my OCD!
Flower: So, does that mean your therapist won't allow you to work with me anymore?
Me: It's not a bad thing... It's good...
::frustrated/contemplative huffing::
Me: It's kinda weird and hard to explain, but my OCD isn't always helpful... Sometimes its more of an ADHD kind of jumping from one thing to the next... You kinda help to streamline my OCD to where it's actually beneficial instead of a hindrance!
Flower: I think that's a good thing, right?
Me: Definitely...
Flower: I heart you [Bee]... That's the funniest thing I've heard all day!
I love my coworkers!!! (How apropo for today!) Later days...
Bringing a toddler to work is *SO* not a desirable thing... OMG... I love Boogie, but I thought I was going to lose it today... But, what else could I do? Daycare was closed... Clark had to go to work (he was moving his office and had an important meeting)... My MIL was working... My BIL wasn't reachable... My babysitter (whom Boogie calls "Lettuce") was not reachable... So, when my library opened (2 hours late), Boogie went in too... Gah! Thank goodness for Flower, Nice, and my intern (I need a pseudonym for her, I think, but I am too lazy to check and see if I have written about her before!)... The three of them helped me to entertain Boogie and made me keep everything in perspective A LOT more than I was likely to do on my own... Right now, though, I am just gonna stop my bitching and get one step closer to relaxing... A couple of stories, some brushed teeth, and a pair of pajamas from now, Boogie will be in bed... Then, I can climb into my own bed and finish my book... Yay! Later days...
