Holiday Season

Well, it's November! Next week is Thanksgiving, but it feels like we just got over Halloween. The kids have been crazy for weeks. It's been busy at school, which is nice but stressful. I'm looking forward to some relaxing holiday gatherings this year.

So last week we had Parent/Teacher Conferences at school. Which means early outs AND a four day week for all. I don't have any conferencing to do but I am required to be there. Luckily the Book Fair usually happens at this time as well. We had the fair going on at both my elementary buildings, but thank GOD the PTO runs the book fair here. I was happy to help during conference time and it was fun. The best part is shopping for the library at the end! Of course now we have a full week to make it through...it's been a LONG one. Next week the kids have 2 days and the teachers have professional development on Wednesday. I'm happy enough with that.

Thanksgiving is getting busy this year! The Stohlmeyer clan is having a get-to-gather! I'm so excited that I don't care how much extra driving it adds to my weekend. This Saturday I'll hopefully be playing games and catching up with the family! We'll be at the school as usual and I think we should have a pretty good turn out. It looks like the weather will be good. Then Thursday is the Buch family gathering as usual. I'm not sure what the plans are for Christmas yet, but I'm expecting less running back and forth. I don't really have any plans for my birthday right now because it's on a Wednesday. Why does 12-12-12 have to be in the middle of the week?! I can't catch a break.  ;)

If only they were OLD SCHOOL!

I think I've become far too obsesed with the Vlogbrothers, Hank and John Green. In case you missed it, I became a Nerdfighter this year!

Making believe it's August.

John Green, I love you.

You. Must. Vote. (According to Hank Green)

I thought this video was very good at stating why it's important to vote...no matter which way you decide to go.

Staying Busy

I'm trying to balance being lazy and being productive during my weekends. I usually need to work on a couple lesson plans for school. I always have dishes or some other cleaning project to get done. But I like to watch movies, shop, and sometimes just be lazy as well. So I try to get my lazy out on Saturday so I can be super productive on Sundays. This works...most weekends. But I've got a lot that I should have done this weekend. I should have started raking leaves. I should have cleaned if not both, then at least one of my bathrooms (although to be fair I DID work on the shower heads in both).

So next weekend I'll HAVE to rake at least the front yard, I'll need to clean both bathrooms, and I need to buy and install a window insulation kit to help keep the box elder bugs out of the house! This is all on top of the regular dishes and laundry that happens on the weekend. So the goal is going to have to be to START working on Saturday. It's just not going to get done in one day, no matter how early it starts.  Wish me luck getting half this done, let alone all of it!

October?! Wasn't it just June?

Wow, I can't believe I'm almost one quarter into the new school year. I'm getting settled into the new house here in Lake View. It's so much bigger than my house in Manning. I've moved further North, which is different. I'm now closer to Sioux City than I am Des Moines.

School is crazy. There was a lightning strike incident over the summer creating a bit of havoc for me. All my records were about a year and a half behind. But not very consistently. CRAZY! I finally feel like I'm getting caught up. I've got some great help in each building, which means no shelving for me. I'm so excited and feel crazy guilty all at the same time. I always feel guilty when I'm not shelving, even though I know it's not my most important job. Sigh. Okay, I'm really tired and I'm falling asleep at my computer. Time for a nap or dinner, we'll see which one actually happens.

If You Love to Read (video)

LOVED THIS SONG AND VIDEO! This might just be my theme song.

Home

So I had a great week at home! We got in a trip to Wisconsin on Sunday. Grandma had everybody over for grilling and birthday celebrations. We really have a lot of Summer birthdays on that side of the family. On Tuesday we ate out at Lunardi's Restaurant for a combination birthday/Father's Day meal. Tuesday was mom's actual birthday, but I was headed back to Manning before Sunday so we combined celebrations while everyone was all together. And I was able to see a bit of Claire on her days off! One minor set-back happened as I left Manning. The morning I left my back felt not so great. By the time I got to the QC it was fully "out." I spent a good bit of my time just taking it easy around the house, but it was nice to have the company! Today I get to help set-up the summer book fair during KinderFest. And tomorrow I'll take my turn at helping out during the actual fair. It's a one day only deal so hopefully they will do well.

Maleficent

Awesome news! They are making a new Sleeping Beauty movie! It's called Maleficent and it's from HER perspective. According to IMDB Angelina Jolie is going to play Maleficent. I am tentatively thrilled! I'm not sure if it's my upcoming trip to Disney or just my love of Sleeping Beauty but I love this whole concept.

Door County, Wisconsin

I really love Wisconsin. And Door County is a perfect example. I love being far enough North that it's consistently cool/cold on Memorial Day Weekend. :-) My parents have been going to Door County a couple times a year for ages now, but last year was the first time I went. This year I decided to go again. We stay in a fantastic place right on the beach. The Beachfront Inn of Bailey's Harbor is on the Lake Michigan side of the peninsula. It's a slower pace, and that's why we love it. They also happen to have a great fire pit on the beach. It's cozy and the s'mores are yummy.

Right down the road is Jacksonport, which has Mai Fest every Memorial Day Weekend. There's a parade, a craft fair, and some awesome food! I usually make sure to get a brat and a funnel cake. Mom is usually good for some Kettle Corn as well. The crafts are fun and so is the entertainment.

Dad enjoys a day or two of golfing as well. Mom and I go at a slower pace. We checked out Sister Bay and drove through Fish Creek on the busy side of the peninsula. There is a great little bookstore right in Baileys Harbor that we like to check out as well. Nothing special but it's nice to browse a smaller collection every now and then. Last year I found an interesting book called Literary Tattoos, inspired by a popular website.

Mom and I had an excellent lunch experience at The Cookie Lady in Sister Bay. It's just across the street from Sister Bay Bowl, which is the bowling ally/supper club that mom and dad enjoy. At the Cookie Lady mom and I each got a turkey sandwich and a MONSTER cookie. They make a great monster cookie.

The 6-7 hour drive from the Quad-Cities can be daunting. Especially when you pair that with another 4.5 hour drive back to Manning for me! But I broke up the driving and it wasn't too bad. I just wish I had gotten my AC fixed in the car BEFORE the trip! The ride up wasn't too bad, but it was well over 80 degrees on the drive home. Ick.

I should also mention my car karma...or lack there of. On the way up as we started to drive into Madison my breaks started to make some grinding noises. After a short bout of panic we found a Midas that was open. It was 4:30 on a Friday evening of a Holiday Weekend...we were definitely panicked. But the Midas was open until 8pm. Turns out one of the pads on my front break fell off...of course they were all worn enough to need replacing. So we stopped and replaced the front breaks with the understanding that the rear breaks will need to be replaced within the next 3-6 months. Perfect. At least it was fixable. It was EXPENSIVE, but the guys were really nice and FAST. We were in and out in just under an hour! It's just my luck!

"Ch-ch-changes"

As most of my friends and family know, I've been let go from IKM-Manning. There were some severe budget cuts this year, and that means no money for two librarians in one district. As soon as I heard that there would be staff cuts, I pretty much knew I was going to be one of them. I was and still am very grateful for the support and concern the staff here has shown for me and my library program. I am going to miss Mrs. LP so much! She's been such a great mentor for me this year...always willing to let me work with her freshmen class. Sigh. I think I'm doing an okay job of not dwelling.

Speaking of not dwelling, I've already got a new job. There was a school district an hour North of Manning looking for a k-12 librarian. I'll be the East Sac County Librarian staring in August. There are four buildings: two elementary, one middle, and one high school. I will have a full time para in 3 of the buildings with a part time para in the last elementary. It will be a challenge, but I think I'll be happy. I'm very excited by the programs already started at the middle school building. They are working on creating a student space, funded by a healthy snack machine right in the library! It's really amazing. The teachers that I've talked to seem very interested and excited in the library program which is amazing.

Of course as soon as I accepted the position at East Sac County the Davenport District posted their job openings. There are three library positions open: two middle schools and Blue Grass/Buffalo. Apparently, I can't catch a break. But when you are let go, you don't exactly want to wait around for every position to open up. I was more focused on making sure I had a job. I don't know what the situation would have been like applying with Davenport this year, but I did know that East Sac County was VERY interested. You just can't pass on that kind of offer. It's going to be a crazy year.


BTW: did anyone get the awesome Roswell reference in the title of this post?  :-)

Small Town Life

Over the Hunger Games weekend Emily and Claire got a taste of "small town life." Or maybe not. There was a small disturbance in the house at the end of my block on Friday night. We were trying to have an easy day Friday after the crazy that was the party and the midnight premier and I think we did an excellent job of taking it easy most of the day. But at 10:30pm a police officer came to the door and told us we needed to leave. Um...what?! There was a situation down the street and the house was not a safe distance away, so we were being asked to evacuate. Claire and I were already in our PJs so it was a mad dash to find some clothes! We decided to get some gas in Em's car and go hang out at the Wal-Mart in Carroll. My neighbor lady, Janet, said she'd keep me up to date and let us know when it was safe to come back. Well, after walking around Wal-Mart for what felt like eternity we ended up finding a room at the Super 8 so we could get some sleep. Two sleepless nights in a row tend to make us cranky! Janet did text us around 7:30am, but we were too sleepy to really get it. The next morning we slept as long as we could, ate lunch, and decided to see Hunger Games again. The movies are cheap here, and we wanted to make sure we were good before heading back to Manning.

Turns out there was a man having some mental trouble while carrying a shot gun and/or a pistol around the house. The police tried to quietly get things back to normal but the man wasn't cooperating. Around 7:30am Saturday morning the police finally threw some tear gas into the man's house and he came out and gave up. Nobody was hurt, THANK GOD. The man was sent to the hospital for observation/treatment and was eventually charged with something. I can't remember what. But nobody really had any intention of hurting anyone else, it was just a bad situation so they had to evacuate people.

It was funny, driving back into town people were mowing their lawns. Kids were riding their bikes. It looked like every other normal day. On Monday when we went back to school only half the staff/students seemed to know anything had happened over the weekend. It was a weird weekend.

Hunger Games: The Movie!

Wow, first of all I loved it. The movie didn't feel rushed, if anything it pushed the limits on running time. I felt like the important events from the book were all present. I think Gale is too much of a hottie and giving Peeta a real fight for the title of "favorite boy."


I loved the actors. Considering there are a lot of children in this movie they did a great job of finding talented actors. I didn't feel like anyone was picked just for the look of the character, they also had to be able to act. I mean the girl playing Katniss has been nominated for an Academy Award! And let's face it...I LOVE Stanley Tucci!!!! I think Rue and Thresh were awesome as well. I could totally see that boy being upset about Rue.

The Games. Between the game makers and the action, I was pretty happy with how the actual game went. There were a couple changes but nothing I didn't understand. Meaning, I don't think some of the kids expected to watch this movie would have done too well after...if the Mutts at the end were as gruesome as they appear in the book. I am a bit disappointed about the missing scene from Katniss and Peeta as they are brought to the hover craft at the end of the games. But as I mentioned before, the movie was LONG I can see how that would be an easy transition to cut.

Really, my biggest problem was the relationships. The movie really didn't develop any of the complicated relationships between the characters very well. One minute Katniss doesn't want anything to do with Peeta as a teammate, and the next she's upset because he doesn't want anything to do with her as a teammate. You don't get anything from Gale. He's there, he's not there, and he's there again. Nothing. I also had trouble with Cinna and Kaniss. She seemed to trust him very quickly, but you don't see why or how that came about. A short conversation does not a true friend make. I understand this is a complicated movie to make, but considering how long they let the movie go on...I feel like we should have been able to get more out of these connections. I will say that Seneca Crane and President Snow talking about the Games in his garden was amazing. I feel like I got a better understanding of how President Snow ticks than I did of how Gale did. I hope to see some of these relationships develop more fully in the next movie.

Success!

Wow, this is late in getting posted. But I didn't have the energy to write it after the party and then I forgot about it during Spring Break... so here I am almost a month later talking about my very successful Hunger Games Premiere Party!

The party was amazing. We had around 40 kids with 5 official adult workers! Most of the staff dropped by at some point during the event just to check out the action and meet Emily. We decided to go "TWIN" for the party. :-)

Emy brought me a shirt so we could be twins with same, shirt different color, with our hair pulled back and similar pants. Oh boy did the kids AND the staff go crazy when they saw us! So, we had a lot of people around. By the end of the night the library was HOT, but it was totally worth it.

I started the evening with food. Students got to eat some Hunger Games Themed treats made by the Food II class, as well as pizza or walking tacos.

Once everyone was settled in eating and chatting we watched the movie trailer and the Taylor Swift video.

Then we watched a parody video that was pretty great. It was a nice way to start the action and it allowed people to trickle in and not miss anything.

Once we started the Training Stations thing really got into high gear.

The Archery Station, of course, was a big hit. Emy watched out to make sure our bow didn't break and that the line moved smoothly. I had Claire taking pictures, because she's great at it, but didn't have my camera batter properly charged. But Claire is awesome and was able to get a lot of great pictures before the "lights went out." I moved between the Camouflage Station and the Knot Tying Station for most of the event.

There were some HIGHLY motivated camouflage kids.

Not a lot of faces were painted, but most people left with water, tree, grass, or even fire inspired arms. A couple of students braved the Plant Life Station but only two forms were turned in. One was not complete, but the other was (it wasn't correct, but it was complete). The game playing stations went pretty well. We only had one student who beat the Scholastic Computer Game the whole night! We took a picture as proof, because EVERYONE tried it but nobody seemed to win. I was sure it was rigged.

I was surprised at how fast time could fly and still seem to take forever. In the end the party broke up around 7:15 pm instead of 8pm, but I everyone seemed happy. We had two rounds of prizes, because I wanted to make sure that a couple of late arrivals got a chance at a prize. I was feeling guilty that the party was breaking up so early. But I think the prizes went well. I gave a poster out to the only person to win the computer game. I gave another poster to the only person to completely fill out the wildlife challenge. Then I drew names from a punch bowl for all everything else. I'd say it was a good mix of high school vs. middle school winners. There were way more high school students at the party so they got most of the prizes. Not everyone could claim a prize but most people were happy enough.

Joyce and Brenda, the workers I recruited from school were amazing help! They took care of all the food and were helping clean up before I could even worry about the mess we were making. We were all cleaned up and out of there by 8pm. In fact I think I beat most of the teachers out of their rooms! Which was good because Emy, Claire, and I needed a little rest before the movie. The movie...I'll have to start a new post for that!

Weather

I can't help but be grateful for the mildness of my first Northwestern Iowa winter. We never had a snow day. I was able to keep up with shoveling without killing myself. And the heating bill was reasonable. The week before last I took the plunge and turned off the heat. I'd had it so low it wasn't even turning on but felt the more definite move to "off" was called for.

Now that it is spring I'm trying to enjoy the temps when they stay cool. It is still too early for the AC at the house. My windows are pretty old and I'm not looking forward to opening them. So it's a bit stuffy. I cleaned off my ceiling fan, but it doesn't help much. At school it is also too early for the AC but I do have some good ceiling fans in the library and they seem to help a lot. My hair, on the other hand, has been impossible. Pulled back or let down it's frizzy and annoying. The delights of changing seasons! Bring on the "April Showers!"

Catching up with the Library

I'm off the bandwagon again! In my defense I have been very busy getting things ready for the Hunger Games event and getting Nooks for the school library. Although I did manage to do a slightly better job keeping the school blog up to date. But such is life.

I've got all 6 of the high school Nooks out and ready to be brought back for the first time on Monday. I've already got all 6 spoken for and ready to go once they are back and charged! It's a crazy time to be a librarian that's for sure. I've gotten some feedback about the book choices that are available on the Nooks, as well as suggestions for the next round of purchases. What I find the most difficult is "selling" what is already on the Nook. I took a lot of time and effort to make the first purchases gender and genre fair! But because the covers are difficult to see and there are no back/inside cover descriptions readily available students don't know what they are looking at. It's funny, sad, and frustrating all at the same time. I've got to find a way to get some sort of summary information to them without too much fuss. I have considered adding the titles to my catalog...but that can be misleading and I'm not sure how to catalog it! I'll have to do more research into what other librarians are doing.

Of course this week is short and busy because of the Parent/Teacher Conferences...which will include my Hunger Games Event! I've got about 40 students signed up, which is way closer to my 60 cut off than I thought I would get. This way they can all move around and we won't be so close to "full" capacity on space. I'm to the point where I think I'm as ready as I'll ever be; but that's probably not ready enough! I really plan to enjoy the weekend once this is over though.

Unfortunately I don't see myself getting less busy any time soon. April is going to be a crazy month! Spring Break starts the first week. I've got the IASL (Iowa Librarian) Conference around the middle of the month. The week after that I will be at the NETA (Nebraska Tech) Conference with several other teachers from the building. Finally, the last week of April I've got the Greenhills AEA librarian meeting! I'm looking forward to all of these activities, but boy is it going to make things lively in the month of April!

Premier Party

Last Friday the movie One for the Money came out. It's a book based on the popular series by Janet Evanovich. It was a funny moive, not as funny as the book, but still good. I feel for people associated with the movie because I keep seeing poor reviews, but I have to say it wasn't as bad as all that. Anyway, back to the issue.

The Carroll Public Library hosted the most awesome premier party on Friday. It cost $20 to attend but included was the ticket to the movie and a Friends of the Library dues for the year. They did a great job with games, trivia, food, and prizes all themed around the book/movie. I had a great time and got a lot of ideas for my own premier party.

I've talked with a couple teachers in the building and given a heads-up to the principal. So far I've gotten great feedback so I'm going to move ahead with planning. Hunger Games Movie Premier Party here we go! We are going to have it the Thursday before the movie opens in the high school library. I can't wait! This is actually going to happen!

So that's going to take up a bit of time outside of school this coming month. I'm still working on getting my eReader proposal up and running. I've got a lot of really good input and I'm ready to start ordering and purchasing. Which scares me because I'm still not 100% sure where the money is coming from...crazy! But I'm excited about moving to the next stage. February is going to be a really busy and short month!

A really long story

Some people may have noticed I showed up over the holidays with a "boot" on my left foot. Surprising I know, but it was such a long story and I did a horrible job of explaining...so I'll try and get it all out now.

It started around the last week of September. I had ordered a piece of shelving from Amazon for the house. Well, it doesn't come put together so I just set it aside. Now I have this weird heater that's in the floor. It's kind of in the path coming from my only hallway right over to the kitchen. I don't like walking over it so I put an old shelf there while the heat was still off. And right next to this shelf is where I set the BIG box with the new shelving inside. It was NOT in the walk way, but it was right next to it.

So one day I'm going from the hallway to the kitchen and cut the corner I have made just a little too short. BAM! My foot, little toes first, slams straight into the side of my box of shelving. I step back, and it hurts. I limp to the couch and it hurts. I look at my foot, nothing looks off, but it still HURTS. So I decide to sit with the foot up for a while. After about 30 minutes it's not hurting any longer. It's still tender to walk on though.

Now, flash back even further! I had hurt my foot in January while I was finishing up at UNI. I went to the health center when it became too painful to walk any sort of distance. The doc there looked it over and said my foot was probably broken, but they didn't do much for broken bones in the foot. He didn't say that OTHER doctors outside the university might do more, no. He said to buy better shoes and to take it easy. Which brings us back to my new problem. After the last debacle. I decide it's better to just take it easy and wear my best shoes because there is no point in going to the doctor if there is nothing to be done.

Yes, my foot hurt for a while after the incident. Yes, it started to feel better after a while. Then I made the big mistakes. I started changing up my footwear at work, one day good shoes and the next crap from Payless. Then the first weekend of December we got 6 inches of snow. I got to try out my new snow boots, which worked fine but put different kind of pressure on my foot. While I was shoveling everything was fine, but the next day my foot felt just as bad as it had the week I'd hurt it back in September! So I decided it was time to get to the doctor.

Happy Birthday to me, I've got insurance! I went to the doctor in Manning after work on my birthday. She actually took an X-ray and looked at what was going on. She prescribed a "boot." So I got a boot for my birthday. It was to keep pressure off the break. I was so good at hiding it that most people didn't notice it the first week I had it! So I'm told to wear it for a couple weeks and then come back for a check up. I finally scheduled the check up last week.

The doctor was pleased that I was able to stick with the boot so long. Apparently people don't care for it. But my foot NEVER hurt the whole time I wore it. What was to complain about? The break is by no means completely healed. So she suggested I try wearing it for half days my first week back. She says to stick to my tennis shoes for the next six weeks as well. Which is fine with me, they're comfortable! So I don't have to wear the boot around the house and I'll probably skip it for driving now as well. I figure I ditched it just in time. Pretty soon here we are gonna get the real smack down from Old Man Winter. I'd rather have two solid feet under me when the crap starts to pile up!

Random Thoughts

I am beyond obsessed with the whole series of Hunger Games books. I suggest them to everyone I see, even the students I know don't read Science Fiction or Fantasy. I've got the board game and I'm counting the days until the movie comes out, 66 days. So I've decided I want to have a movie premier party in March. I think the best time will be the week before the movie comes out, but I'm not sure. Right now I'm just thinking about what I like about the idea. Discuss the books, discuss the movie(s), play the game...and then I'm stuck. I'd like there to be food and maybe a couple other game options. But for now it's just an idea. I was really bummed when UNI Rod Library decided not to have a Hunger Games this year. I was going to have THE best team! So this is my consolation prize...PARTY!

On to a new topic! There seems to be a craze for hot pink hair running through the school. It started with a new girl who came at the beginning of December. She had hot pink hair with black as the undertone. Just last week I saw another girl with hot pink as the top color and her more natural "dirty blonde" under it. The trend starter's sister showed up this week with the same hot pink on top but a platinum blonde under that. It's an epidemic. I feel like I keep running into Jem in the hallway!

Next topic: my library suffers from afternoon heat waves! In the warmer months my library was the BEST. Other people would wear layers to keep warm in the cooler that was my library. Now that the winter temps have finally arrived so has the heat. When I get here in the mornings things are good, but as soon as I get back from lunch I'm dying! Which is funny, because after lunch is when people would get the coldest at the beginning of the year. So I guess it takes half the day for whatever hot OR cold air to pump it's way to the library. ARG, I much preferred my cooler temps.

In other news I found this neat video online the other day! Enjoy!

Upon reflection this is one of the strangest posts ever...random thoughts about The Hunger Games, the Jem epidemic, and the current cold front/heat wave...I guess I've got a title for the post now.

Christmas Break

I had a wonderful break. After two years of University schedules I was afraid that this break would seem too short, but it actually felt perfect. I left for Blue Grass right after work on the Thursday before Christmas. The teachers got done an hour early so I was able to get on the road by 3pm. What a difference an hour makes! Since it was a Thursday traffic wasn't horrible and I got to drive longer in the daylight. I wasn't even tired when I got to the house!

Christmas with at home was nice and low key. I got exactly what I wanted, which was great! It was a banner year for me. I got a Nook Simple Touch, a hand-held mixer, an awesome Green Day coffee table type book, and more Polish Pottery than I know what to do with! We went to Midnight Mass at 11pm at Our Lady of Victory. It's my favorite Mass of the year because we get to sing all the best music, including THE BEST CHRISTMAS SONG EVER: Joy to the World. I love it!

The day after Christmas was the family gathering at Grandma Bush's house. Emy couldn't be there because she had to be at the store, but what can you do. We can't always get everyone there every year. But my cousin Becky was there with her 7 day old son Issac (spelling?)! He was such a cutie. He's a sleeper, and his big brother doesn't quite know what to make of him yet. It's fun to have little ones to watch for entertainment!

The rest of the week was perfect. I got some errands run and was able to spend time with my friends. For New Year's Eve Claire came over and we played games had fun. I was able to start back to Manning on Monday morning which gave me most of the day to unpack and re-organize once I got home.

Tuesday was the first day back for teachers in my building. It was a "work" day so we were able to spend the day doing whatever needed to be done for ourselves. It was the best way to come back to work. I got to wear comfy clothes, one step up from PJs. I got all the biographies integrated into the Non-fiction section and had a productive meeting the the librarian from the other buildings. It was awesome!

Now it's the first Monday back to work. If the nice weather can hold out a little longer I'll be happy enough. There aren't enough "breaks" in the Spring semester, but that's no reason to start wishing for snow days! Happy Monday!