Tuesday, September 30, 2008

Finished phase one a major cataloguing project at the SHS library today. Yay! Cleaned the front room for visiting teachers (from church), who didn't come (one of them brought me a whole watermelon and cookies later with apologies!). Spent an hour and a half giving blood (well, more than an hour of that was spent waiting to give blood). Worked on lesson plans for classes tomorrow. Created an entry form for the Friends of the Library elementary school essay contest. Typed up a story for Jack per his teacher's instructions and helped him work on his very first book report (due Oct. 9 - we're way ahead of schedule!). Worked on putting together notes for a round of PTA meetings to talk about the library bond. Will have to get up very early to get everything organized for my day tomorrow.

Monday, September 29, 2008

Pretty much dragged myself through my day. I don't think I'm 100%. Bit of a fever and some aches and pains in the afternoon and evening. I got Jack off to school, finished getting ready for my classes, then met up with friends for brunch at Guru's. First class went well, second class went okay but the room was really hot. Attendance is getting spotty in the second class. I think students believe they can slide by in my class. I do believe I need to email the slackers and let them know that they are wrong about that. I called the local paper this afternoon to see if we can get winning entries for the Friends of the Library essay contest published (yes). I've got to get all of that organized and rolled out to the school librarians. I'll work on that tomorrow. Tonight? Advil and sleep.

Sunday, September 28, 2008

Thankful for a day of rest. Other than going to church, I really didn't do anything noteworthy.

Saturday, September 27, 2008

A beautiful run this morning, story time with illustrator Will Terry at the museum, lunch at the cafe there and a couple of hours of work, then a late afternoon matinee with Roger. We saw Ghost Town. Funny! Then hung out at home for the rest of the day. I'm worn out after a long, busy week.

Friday, September 26, 2008

Today was nice. Roger took the day off work because Jack didn't have school and I did. Before class I went for a run up the canyon and ran into several friends. It's so beautiful every day this time of year. Class was a breeze as a my students wrote in-class essays. While they worked I wrote a bit and planned next week's classes a bit. After class I did a few errands, including a big Costco stock up. After I got home, I decided I just wanted to hang out and relax. I debated whether I wanted to watch the first presidential debate (I've been ignoring the presidential race lately because, per usual, it's become petty and ridiculous). I was glad I watched the debate. It elevated the race back to, well, a presidential level.

Thursday, September 25, 2008

Happy birthday to my sister Maryann! Up at 7:00 a.m. and didn't stop until 9:00 p.m. when I got home and made something to eat and crashed in front of the television. Three loads of laundry, six hours in the high school library, $10 for a wristband at the Brookside carnival (Jack climbed to the top of the rock climbing wall!), and a schmooze fest at the public meeting to get input on the new library that we hope to build here in Springville if we can get the bond passed in November. Too tired to flesh out any details tonight. 

Wednesday, September 24, 2008

Crazy busy from morning to night. Scrambled to get Jack off to school (kept remembering things I forgot to do like write a check for school picture day). Headed up to meet friends Linda and Lisa at Mimi's Cafe for brunch at 10:00. Got there about 9:30 and sat in the sun outside the restaurant grading papers until they arrived. Had great conversation over eggs benedict. Headed over to UVU and graded papers until class started. Read three pieces with the class and discussed their rhetorical elements. Once again, it all went well in my first class and it was like pulling teeth to get my second class to dig deep. Honestly, we read Ann Cannon's latest Deseret News column (a fabulous study in varied sentence structure). My first class laughed out loud long and hard. I'm sure the students in my second class were laughing inside (how could they not?), but it was way too quiet in the classroom. When I got home I couldn't find Jack anywhere. It's early out day on Wednesday and he's supposed to go to his friend Brett's house after school. Let's just say it all turned out okay and Jack is officially tired of getting lectured. I barely made it down to the museum in time to give a tour of the exhibition to a children's book review group comprised primarily of children's librarians throughout the valley. Then I rushed to get to girls' night out with some friends from the neighborhood. We ate lots of Mexican food and went to see The Women. Movie was okay. Laughing all evening with friends was great! Got home in time to hang out with Jack and read before bed.

Tuesday, September 23, 2008

Today was definitely better than yesterday! Spent the day working at the high school library and made lots of progress on projects there. Contacted most of the PTA presidents for schools in town to get on their agendas for October meetings to talk about the library bond election. Worked on a proposal for an elementary school essay contest ("I'm a friend of the library because . . ."). Went to the library bond committee meeting and presented my proposal. It's a go, and they're all excited about it. Worked on finding interesting readings to discuss in my UVU classes tomorrow (I'm taking a picture book called Henry Hikes to Fitchburg, an Ann Cannon column from the Deseret News and a very dry article from an academic journal about snails to contrast with Ann's column). Capped off the evening with book club at Judy's house. She lives by the creek, and we sat around her fire pit and ate smores, and talked about all sorts of things. It was very, very good for my soul. Pretty much made up for a lousy Monday.

Monday, September 22, 2008

Today was a quintessential Monday. Everything seemed to go wrong and one bad thing led to another. I am seriously frustrated about selling my brother's house. We've had two offers (not perfect, but they'd have gotten him out of debt and given him some cash), and two deals fall through. I accidently flipped cereal and milk on my keyboard and monitor (my old computer, thankfully, and after 15 minutes I didn't have time to spend, it's all better). I opened my cell phone bill and discovered that I went over my minutes and it was expensive! I accidently packed a book order in a flat rate priority mail box and it cost me several dollars more to mail it. The PTA newsletter (that really needed to go out by today!) was awol. I ended up having to take time to drive all the way down to Spanish Fork to pick it up. It was pouring rain when I got to campus and the good news is I had an umbrella. The bad news is I was wearing sandals that got extremely slippery when wet. I could hardly walk. My first class went satisfyingly well; my second class was once again a bit deadly. I'm not sure where all of my time went in the evening. Email, dishes, reading to Jack, talking to Roger, a short bike ride. I got through the day.

Sunday, September 21, 2008

A lazy morning--slept until nearly 9:00! Yay! I think I'm finally feeling back to normal. Hope it lasts through another busy week. This afternoon Roger, Jack and I drove up Provo Canyon past Sundance and hiked up the Mt. Timpanogos trail until we got to the second waterfall where we picnicked on rocks by the river. I figure we hiked about three miles round trip. Jack did a great job hiking, and very thoughtfully stopped to get every locust and grasshopper (there were a lot!) off the trail so no one would step on them (we saw quite a few squished ones). After our hike, we drove the rest of the Alpine Loop and came down American Fork Canyon. We stopped for a short visit with our friends in Highland (Gracie's family), then headed home. I'm supposed to be getting prepared for class tomorrow, but I haven't really done anything yet.

Saturday, September 20, 2008

Woke up way too early and read for while before going back to sleep. Then got up and went running up the canyon. I headed down to the museum in time for our first weekly story time (each week we'll have a different illustrator). We had a respectable group, but we need to figure out how to get more people there. I stayed to work on getting our inventory spreadsheet up to date. I set up shop in the museum's atrium. I think I'll make that my office while I'm there. It was very pleasant. Shelley and I took inventory of the children's books we brought into the store in conjunction with the show. We've sold about 100 books so far, which is actually really good for the store (we need to figure out how to get more people there too). In the evening, Roger, Jack and I went to see our friend Johnny, who is 15, perform in a piano quartet at the Covey Arts Center in Provo. He did a great job! The whole concert was wonderful - all sorts of young people playing all sorts of instruments. I think my favorite was the piece played on the harp. After the concert, a Target run. Then home to bed!

Friday, September 19, 2008

After a meeting with a sales rep at the museum to order some inventory that will help me build up a section in the store focused on helping people tap into their own creativity (sketching and watercolor kits, that sort of thing), I headed to school. Pretty much finished grading papers and turned them back to students. The assignment was an unusual one (I'm following the assignment sequence laid out by the UVU writing department), and I think I made it more confusing than it had to be. I'm feeling a bit unsettled about that. I had the students write about Martin Luther King Jr.'s rhetoric in excerpts from his I Have a Dream speech. How did his word choices, what he focused on, the way he organized his ideas and the tone and style of the piece reflect his point of view and purpose? It seemed fairly straightforward to me, but my students didn't understand what I wanted. I'm not feeling like a very good teacher this week. I'm not feeling much good at anything. And don't try to talk me out of feeling this way. I need to wallow a bit. And I really need more sleep.

Thursday, September 18, 2008

 A long day of cataloguing and helping students at the high school library, then grading papers for UVU all afternoon and evening. I didn't get enough done for either job. I also kept having run-ins with Jack (about getting dressed in the morning, about picking up, about doing homework, about talking to me respectfully). I did hold firm on a couple of things, and I think at the end of the day he respected that. But man, parenting is a tough, tough job and I screw up a lot! On breaks from grading, I took a long walk around the block, I read to Jack, I did the dishes, I did a load of laundry, I listened to funny stories Roger had to tell from work. All in all, a pretty routine day full of too many things I didn't really want to do (okay, mostly the grading part). Tomorrow is a new day. I'm looking forward to a fresh start.

Wednesday, September 17, 2008

I've got to figure out how to get more sleep. I'm getting run down with my new schedule. After dropping Jack at school, I went home to work on getting ready for class. I'm also working on getting illustrators lined up for our Saturday morning story times at the museum through the fall. My first class went really well, my second class is still hobbling along. I've got to think of something, but it needs to be worth their time being there. After school I did a little bit of this and that, chipping away at projects I'm working on. When Roger got home, I went for a run up the canyon. Then I went down to meet with Shelley at the museum (open late on Wed.). Her mom showed up with a group of young women and I gave an impromptu tour of the show. Read to Jack, then blessed sleep.

Tuesday, September 16, 2008

Time is going by too fast! I spent a good part of the day at the high school library, cataloguing magazines and training TAs to put mylar covers on books. We got all of the picture books covered for the museum exhibit (we had donated boxes and boxes of mylar cover to the H.S. when we closed our bookstore, so we forwarded a bit of the donation on to the museum). When Jack went to cub scouts, I ran some errands. Shipped book orders at the post office and dropped the covered books off at the museum. My favorite moment of the day was finding fresh flowers at my door from my friend Angel. After Roger got home I went for a run up the canyon. Took care of laundry, feeding Jack some dinner. Then settled in to watch the season premiere of the Biggest Loser. I only got to watch half of it because I had so many other things to do. Fell asleep as soon as I got Jack to bed.

Monday, September 15, 2008

I tried so hard to work all day. I spent the morning on PTA and museum business and getting ready for classes today. Got my classes taught. Picked Jack up at school and took him to pick up his new glasses. I didn't get those eye drops at my exam last week so I could see well enough to help Jack pick out his glasses. So I had the drops today. With very poor eyesight, Jack and I grabbed a bite to eat while waiting for the drops to take effect. After we got home, I pretty much crashed. I didn't get anything else done, really, for the rest of the day, except sleep. Gotta get back on track!

Sunday, September 14, 2008

Slept in until past 8:00. Still a bit tired today, but doing much better. Jack participated in the Primary Sacrament Meeting program today and did a good job on his speaking part. He also sang most of the songs (or at least mouthed the words--it was hard to tell). I took a bit of a nap when we got home, then worked on creating a blog for the art exhibition. Then I worked on the overdue PTA newsletter, which included a fun interview of our new principal. I had one of the sixth grade classes come up with questions, which included "can you walk on your hands?" (The answer was "No, but I can ride a motorcycle." Jack and I read for about an hour, and now I'm trying to get some things organized for my UVU class tomorrow. I'm making a late night snack of cauliflower. Partly because I discovered it forgotten in the fridge. Partly because I really need to get some vitamins in me to recover from this past week (month?).

Saturday, September 13, 2006

My alarm went off just before 8:00 this morning and it was like no time had passed. I slept very, very soundly, but only for five hours. I hurried to get to the museum and get the last pieces hanging on the wall before they opened (which went relatively smoothly except for some near tragic issues with the frames - Roger saved the day several times). As soon as the exhibit opened (wow! I thought this day would never come), my brain completely shut off. I spent the day chatting with people in a bit of a daze. The opening reception for my exhibit and four others coincided with Celebrate Your Museum day, so we had a fabulous crowd come through. And many of the illustrators came. It was fun to actually meet some of the illustrators I had only communicated with by phone and email. Huge crowds also meant that the museum store had a successful day. Yay! Home about 5:00, I immediately got in pajamas, had soup and watched Project Runway. Asleep at 7:00. Woke up at 11:00. Must go back to sleep now.

Friday, September 12, 2008

I'm so glad I'm on the other side of today. Got up after only four hours of sleep, but sustained energy all day. And now it's after 2:30 a.m. I just finished getting the last pieces ready for the picture book art exhibit - a six frame, eight step description of the process of illustrating a book. So now I have to unwind and I'm writing this. Pretty much all good today, though very busy. I got signage for each artist done, and almost all of them are up. The museum store is in good order thanks to Shelley and her husband. The shelves in the gallery are stocked with picture books for people to read. My UVU classes wrote their in-class essays today, which worked out well. I formatted a list of artists and books represented in the show and proofread signage while they worked hard to argue for and against both presidential candidates. We're working on stretching this semester. Roger and I met up at the museum while Jack hung out with friends this afternoon and we wrapped up this and that. Then we ran a few errands and grabbed some dinner. Then I came home and focused on the illustration project. I think I'm officially unwound. I'm going to go lay down my head.

Thursday, September 11, 2008

Spent this anniversary focused on memories of my Grammie, who was born on 9-11-1911, but who died before the twin towers fell. Got a couple of hours of work in before taking Jack to school and heading to the high school library for a 3 hour shift. The librarian wasn't there, and I couldn't track down the admin login information for the cataloguing system, but I found lots of ways to make myself useful. Home for a few minutes, then to the post office to mail book orders, and to the museum for a few hours before meeting Jack's school bus at home. Shelley and I got lots done, including getting a start on putting books out on display in the store, getting the last few pieces ready to hang, talking with Doug who will adjust the lighting, etc. Spent the balance of the day at home, mostly working on signage. I was up until 3 a.m. I still need to proofread the signage before printing it on the special paper I bought. I just need to make it until Saturday afternoon and then I can crash.

Wednesday, September 10, 2008

Up early (I'm actually really looking forward to not starting out that way for a while) to work on preparations for class, including grading some essays. Dropped Jack off at school and headed to the museum to meet up with a few people, including the sign guy. The exhibit title is up on one of the panels and it looks great! I also met with Hala Wittwer, one of the artists, and got some fun bookmarks and cards to sell in the store. And I had a meeting about the reception (I'm a little stressed about that, wish I didn't have to worry about it, so very, very glad that my friend Linda is spearheading the food!). I headed to campus to teach. By the time I got there I'd sorted out in my head what I wanted to do, and both classes went smoothly. Friday's classes will consist of an in-class assignment that I've already worked out, so I'm feeling more on top of things. I ran some errands after class, then went to a UVU staff meeting for adjunct instructors. Got home about 7:30, changed, gulped down a couple of slices of pizza, and headed down to the museum for an interview with a reporter from BYU's Daily Universe. We've got several illustration professors and lots of BYU graduates represented. When I got home I went for a short walk, then read to Jack. And now we're all staying up too late.

Tuesday, September 9, 2008

I'm not actually done with my day. I still have to figure out exactly what I'm doing in class tomorrow. But I thought writing this might help me focus. I was up early this morning and got bills paid before waking Jack up for school. I took a phone call from someone who is going to help organize a phone campaign to pass the library bond and we ended up scrambling to get to school in time. I dropped Jack off and headed for a three-hour shift at the high school library. Then I ran home, grabbed some lunch and headed down to the museum where I worked--mostly on signage--until I had to run home to meet Jack's school bus. I got him a snack, cleaned up the kitchen and then walked with him to cub scouts. While he was at scouts, I tried to get some work done, but I got really sleepy. Finally, I just closed my eyes for ten minutes. When Jack got home, I felt quite revived! We ran down to get Johnny and Benny from the China Cafe, I worked on library board minutes, then ran down to the city building for a library bond meeting. Two hours! Yikes! Roger had to go back to work to finish a project, so I had to get Jack dinner and help him get his homework done. But I had a huge list of people I needed to call and email about various things like library bond stuff, PTA stuff, etc. Somehow we managed to get it all done. I finally got Jack in bed and I read to him for about half an hour. And here I am, still trying to figure out what I'm doing in class tomorrow!

Monday, September 8, 2008

Even though I did many of the the things I planned to do today, it was very different than I expected because I had some company. I took my sweet, spoiled son with me rather than making him go to school today (long story). We went to Jack's school to pick up his homework and ask his principal about something for the PTA newsletter, we went to the museum to take care of a few things, we stopped at the sign guy to touch base on our exhibition sign, we grabbed some lunch at a drive thru, we got to UVU a bit early. I graded papers while Jack worked on his homework. We taught two classes (I had the students do brainstorming activities, so it was actually okay for Jack to be there). We grabbed a snack at a drive thru (I know, I know), then I ran into Robert's to select some sample paper for signage for the exhibit, then Jack and I went to the eye doctor. We ordered contacts for me and glasses for Jack. He's a bit devastated. I am sad for him, but it will be okay. I got glasses in the 4th grade, too. When we got home we found the couch had been delivered! Roger and I hauled it down to the museum and set it up. Then we hauled a bookshelf down. Oh, and I had at least three moments today when I wanted to run away screaming from helping my brother sell his house. By the end of the day I was pooped!

Sunday, September 7, 2008

I started out the day paying attention to the fact that it was a day of rest. I slept in, went for a run, ate a good breakfast, hung out with my family. Then little by little I got sucked in to the things I need to do for the art exhibition. I started working on signage, then realized that I really needed to check some things at the museum, so I headed down there. It took five minutes for me to figure out what I needed to do, and then I spent more than two hours reworking some of the groupings so that the signage would be low enough to meet ADA requirements. And of course I had to adjust some of the adjacent groupings to make them work with the changes. Since I got home I've been working on and off on the signage and emailing artists for missing pieces of information. Stopped to help Jack find some elusive Lego pieces. Stopped to talk to my mom on the phone for a while. Stopped to watch a bit of the US Open women's final. Stopped to read some Mr. Popper's Penguins to Jack. Got sidetracked for a while and sorted out how I want to display the pop-up book art schematics in a frame. Stopped multiple times to get soda refills. I'm not done, but I'm done for. Got to go to bed!

Saturday, September 6, 2008

I stayed up way too late last night, even though I was in bed early. Oh well. I slept until almost nine. A bit of a slow start but I shifted into high gear by ten. I converted some data files of voter records to Excel files (for our library bond campaign) and ran them down to the library on a jump drive because they were to big to email. Then I headed over to the museum for an interview about the exhibition with a reporter from the Daily Herald. I worked at the museum until 5:00, and Roger, Shelley and Jack all helped. We got everything hung on the walls except for three pieces by Brett Helquist, including a piece from a Series of Unfortunate Events book (we're waiting on frames for them). We got the rug in and assembled the glass case for David A. Carter's working models for a popup book. We got the four 8' tall 4' wide panels the museum has into the gallery and set up to create two "walls" for the reading area in the middle of the room. The couch we ordered from Ikea has still not shown up. The delivery company assures us (after two failed deliveries) that it will be here Monday. Overall, the exhibition is coming together really well. I am thrilled (and a bit stunned) that we've ended up with exactly the right number of pieces for the space. It's truly serendipitous. The director stopped by about 5:00 and gave us a nod of approval (though we do have to lower some of the signage for ADA compliance). After we left, we headed out for a family dinner, a visit with Grandma and Grandpa and a trip to Target. I bought new pillows and some healthy cereal. It appears all I want is a good night sleep and a good breakfast. 

Friday, September 5, 2008

I'm writing this early. It's barely after 8:00 and I'm in my pajamas and snuggled in bed catching up on my recordings of the Republican convention. After I got Jack off to school today, I scrambled to get some things done at home and then at the museum, including several conversations with artists and some merchandise ordering. I also had to figure out exactly what I wanted to accomplish in my UVU classes this afternoon. It all worked out okay. It's so funny how I cover basically the same things in both classes and yet the experience is completely different. I beat Jack's school bus by about one minute, hung out with Jack for a bit and when he hooked up with friends, I headed down to the museum for about an hour to take care of a few things, including checking the book order that came in. Roger and I went out to dinner, then I came home and got into my pajamas. Night night!

Thursday, September 4, 2008

I let Jack sleep in a tiny bit this morning since I had to be at a PTA meeting at 9:30. So he was a little late for school. After the meeting, I worked on a couple of things for the PTA newsletter, then headed over to the museum to hang pictures all day. Roger, Shelley and even Jack were helpful as we arranged pieces, pounded nails and used the level. We've got all but one section of the walls done (we're still waiting for a few pieces that should arrive tomorrow). We only had a few stressful incidents. Overall things are coming together really well. My friend Wendy's daughter got married and her reception was at the museum. So at 7:00, we stopped pounding nails, went home, I showered, then headed back down to the museum for the party. It was fun to visit with people, and I gave the editor of the local paper a tour of the partially hung exhibit as well as a few friends. I'm staying up way too late - putting together a final list of the books represented in the show. Off to bed!

Wednesday, September 3, 2008

I am so tired I can barely keep my eyes open. But I was so busy today, I need to do something to transition. So I'm going to write this. Up before 7:00, placed a huge book order for the museum store, emailed a few artists to find out if I'd get their pieces today (too early to call), got Jack up and off to school, prepped for my UVU classes, did three loads of laundry, washed up the dishes, stopped at a copy center on the way out of town, got to my first class in time for the tech guy to show me few things about the computer lab I teach in, taught my 12:00 class, scrambled to grade essays and make some phone calls in between classes, taught my 2:00 class (not as well--started losing focus because I was overtired and needed to eat lunch--I rambled too much), met up with artist Mark Buehner's wife at the McDonald's near campus to get his pieces, dropped them off at the museum, picked Jack up at a friend's house, did some emailing regarding the latest potential deal to sell my brother's house (it's looking bleak and will likely fall through), placed an order for some cool journals for the museum store and set up an appointment with Mary, my favorite sales rep, took care of some other office stuff, fixed dinner for Jack, then headed down to the museum when Roger got home from work. I spent the evening at the museum working with the fabulous Shelley (who used to work with us at the bookstore and just started a job at the museum yesterday) to take a first stab at figuring out what pieces will hang where. It was hard to figure out where to begin, but I think we made very good progress. Home to a bit of dinner, a serious foot wash after going barefoot all evening, and a few chapters of Mr. Popper's Penguins with Jack. Now? Sleep! 

Tuesday, September 2, 2008

A long day, with lots of things I needed to do. But things didn't really fall into place very well. I had to work hard to convince Jack to go to school this morning without getting really aggravated. I had to redo some cataloguing work at the high school. I left the high school early to get some other work done and get to the museum. I wasn't really focused, but I was happy to see how much of the artwork has shown up at the museum. I'm still waiting for work from a half dozen artists, including several of the most important pieces. I just have to trust that they will show up. Jack walked from school to the museum, but forgot which direction he needed to go and had to backtrack. I had to work hard to convince him to go to cub scouts this afternoon. I haven't finished grading the essays I want to turn back to my students tomorrow. I'm only partially prepared for class. I finally got a distributer account set up to order books in for the museum store, and spent the last hour putting together an initial order. Then the website went down. We're all a bit out of sorts around here. But I did get up the canyon for a good run. When I got back to the Jeep, the sun had set, the sky was a spectacular deep orange and deep blue, and the sliver of the moon made me smile.

Monday, September 1, 2008

I can't believe it's September! A storm front came through (we woke up to a soaking rain and were treated to a mid-morning thunderstorm). The afternoon and evening were beautiful and clear, but temp was in the low sixties! A cozy morning sleeping until past eight, then reading in bed. Jack woke up early and worked hard on a presentation requested a new Lego set. He typed up ten arguments on the computer! We negotiated and agreed that if he cleaned up every bit of Lego on the floor, we'd stop by Target on the way home from Ikea (where we needed to go to find a few things for the museum exhibition). Jack went to his friend Josh's house while we ran errands. I worked on UVU class plans, went for a run up the canyon and went grocery shopping. Jack built his Lego kit (V-19 Torrent). It's pretty cool. He was sad, though, when the pilot got lost. We're hoping it turns up. We're trying to think positive thoughts.