Back to Work Eve

The dishwasher is running, the greenhouse and outdoor plants are watered, my home and library plants are repotted and watered, the bed is made and the upstairs is vacuumed. It's time to treat myself to a mani/pedi at home, apply a creamy face mask, and sit under a blankie downstairs where it's nice and cool for the rest of the day before heading back to work for convocation tomorrow morning.

I wish I could have a do-over for the first fifteen days of break since having to quarantine wasn't fun or productive, but seeing all three of my babies over the summer was wonderful. Investing so much time in my library last summer made it possible for me to only need a work day or two to get it up and semi-ready for staff this summer, freeing up two days to help a new colleague make some big changes in her library- we got a LOT done on Monday and Tuesday- so much so that ibuprofen has been my friend since Monday afternoon.

I have time to plan and share, and I hope to be able to get new books in-processed so students can get their hands on them during the first week of school. Like last year, my goal is to have every student take a library book home after their very first visit.  I'm excited to get back into the groove, collaborate, share, encourage, and read lots of good books.  Even more books should be arriving from publishers for my perusal and consideration by the Kansas Reading Circle, too.  

My husband and I celebrated our nineteenth wedding anniversary and were happy to be able to eat once again at our favorite restaurant, P.F. Chang's.  Lettuce wraps, fried pork dumplings and Mongolian beef are our go-to's, and this year we were given another set of white cranes and gold chopsticks.  It cracks us up that the cranes say "Stolen from P.F. Chang's" on them:

As for work, hopefully we'll have guidance on if/how our safety protocols will evolve during this continued pandemic and with monkeypox possibly on the horizon. Something tells me it's going to be a free-for-all with prior masking and temp checks disappearing. After all, if we ignore it (or get tired of it), it'll go away, yes?  "We'll climb that hill when we get there" is another answer that doesn't exactly jive with being "proactive," ironic considering that we adopted The Leader in Me program several years back.  I'll be back to masking after having this summer free (for the most part) from the ol' facial sauna and makeup melter. I'm wondering if this year I'll have more time to do what's necessary in order to do my job efficiently and effectively rather than having my schedule solely determined by someone who assumes they know exactly what it takes to be a teacher librarian and library program administrator without an aide and that removing me from the library and shutting its doors for three or four periods daily is what's best for all students and staff.  In my mind, illogical decisions aren't the same as compromises, even when they're spun that way. 

On *that* note, it's time to start my spa-at-home ritual and avoid work emails and phone calls for the day.  The Teenager will be home late tonight so at least I won't be leaving Charlie the Chiweenie alone tomorrow, but we'll have to see if he and the cats will be enough company for one another once we're all back to our school and work schedules full time.  Cross your fingers for us.