Thursday, October 30, 2008

Took a sick day. Spaced going to Jack's parent teacher conference (the official day was last Thursday, but they scheduled specific times, couldn't fit them all in that day and I was supposed to go at 3:45 today). Didn't finish grading papers like I planned. The hole I'm falling into is getting deeper and deeper.

Wednesday, October 29, 2008

I was productive for part of the day. Got myself organized and to campus for classes. I'm thinking I didn't really do much beyond that, did I? It is ridiculous that I'm not feeling better. I should go to the doctor, but I feel foolish because it's not like I'm that sick. I usually only go to the doctor when I feel really, really crappy and maybe an antibiotic will help. I just have the feeling the doctor will just tell me to ride it out this time. So why bother going?

Tuesday, October 28, 2008

Pushed the snooze alarm multiple times this morning, but got Jack to school on time and made it to my job at the high school. I finished cataloging the magazines today. Woohoo! Thursday I get to reflow the stacks so we can fit back issues of the magazines on the proper shelves. Came home totally worn out from work and read for a bit. I dropped Jack off to meet Roger on campus (they saw a movie, got some dinner and visited Grandma and Grandpa), then I grabbed take out from Panda Express, headed home, cleaned up the house a bit and had book club meeting in the living room. It was good for my soul.

Monday, October 27, 2008

Worked hard all day. Totally wore myself out. I really think I need to go to the doctor, but still haven't made an appointment. Got winning essays off to the newspaper, prepared for class, taught classes (we went outside and had class on the grass for my second class--our classroom gets SO hot), came home and worked on finalizing the inventory spreadsheet for the museum store for the end of the fiscal year. It felt so good to take a good dose of Advil, get in my pajamas, climb in bed and read to Jack.

Sunday, October 26, 2008

After church I changed into pajamas and finished my book for book club (The Thirteenth Tale). Pretty much sums up my day.

Saturday, October 25, 2008

The three things I want to remember today: (1) A very funny story time at the museum with Howard Fullmer. While we were waiting to get started, he entertained the kids with a standup routine. Jack brought his friend Cooper and they had a great time. (2) A delicious dinner out at a Thai restaurant in Salt Lake (one we'd never been to before on South Temple). And (3) a beautiful performance by the Utah Baroque Ensemble at the Cathedral of the Madeleine. We invited Chris and Fred to come with us. I'm very glad we took Jack to a performance there--the acoustics are amazing. Plus I could pretend we were in Europe.

Friday, October 24, 2008

I got through another day without proper energy. I'm not sure I'll ever have the energy to really do anything again. My classes did in-class exercises today while I graded essays. I still haven't gotten their papers back to them and it's weighing on me. After class I met Roger and Jack at Mi Ranchito for a late lunch, then did some stock up shopping at Costco. Came home and did some laundry, a bit of picking up, but mostly nothing much. Got into my pajamas very early.

Thursday, October 23, 2008

Jack made it to school on time, but I was late to my job at the high school because I had to run around to all of the elementary schools in town picking up essay contest entries for the Friends of the Library contest. Nearly 100 entries! Something was in the air at the high school, and I spent too much time telling students to follow various rules and to generally keep it down (we don't keep a silent library, but we still have to keep things reasonable so students can get work done!). I do not like that part of my job. After school we picked up Jack's friend Josh. When Roger got home, I headed down to Jack's school to work a shift at the book fair. I brought the essay contest entries and was able to read through them all because there were three of us working. I think I've got my first and second place winners and a handful of essays to reread to decide on a third place winner. There is one entry, though, that I still have to pick up so I don't want to make a final decision. I stayed to help with some cleanup at the school, then came home, read to Jack and eventually got some sleep.

Wednesday, October 22, 2008

Jack and I slept in. I dropped him off at school on my way to UVU, where my classes met in a library computer lab. Librarians taught the classes, so I had it easy. I ran into my niece Saralyn during my break between classes and we had a nice visit. I'm always impressed with how hard she works. After class, I got home, ate a late lunch, then got a phone call from the museum, "where are you?" I had totally forgotten that I was to give a guided tour of the exhibition to our 8-11 year old activity day girls (a church program). So I ran down to the museum and we had a lot of fun together. Then home to pick up Jack for haircuts. Then a Halloween cub scout pack meeting complete with costumes and trick or treating.

Tuesday, October 21, 2008

A good day at the high school library. Lots of classes in, lots of books to process to get out to the floor. It's good to keep busy! Jack got to take his pocket knife to cub scouts and carve pumpkins (actually, they specifically didn't use the pocket knives to carve the pumpkins--to scary for moms!). While he was at scouts, I ran some errands. When Roger came home we went out to satisfy my craving for cherry pie (for DAYS I've been craving it!). I'm still struggling with my health. I so want to feel 100%!

Monday, October 20, 2008

A foray back into the world again. Went to UVU to teach my classes. Jack called me right before the first class started to tell me that I forgot to put his lunch in his backpack. I got home about five minutes before his bus arrived and whipped him up a plate full of all sorts of treats--peanut butter sandwich, chips and salsa, baby carrots, cheese, a glass of milk and a fun size milky way. He sat down and pretty much ate the whole thing! I spent part of my afternoon looking for good articles for my class to work on a summarizing and response activity for our in-class exercise on Friday. I think after all that, I'm going to take a different tack. We got all of the Lego in the family room cleaned up for the weekly vacuum. Mostly I took it pretty easy today. I am feeling better, but I think I might make a doctor's appointment.

Sunday, October 19, 2008

A day of rest to wrap up a four-day weekend of rest. I think I might live, but I've got to pace myself! We watched the latest Indiana Jones movie on DVD as a family. We dropped in to visit some neighbors. I did some emailing and blogging. I read some of my book for book group. I surfed the web. I made fried eggs and toast. I was going to go up the canyon but decided against it. That's pretty much about it.

Saturday, October 18, 2008

Feeling a bit better today, but I'm going to take it easy this weekend. Went to story time at the museum (Guy Francis, a personal favorite who signed a book for Jack) and took care of this and that for the store there. Had a picnic lunch in the new sculpture garden, which actually isn't open to the public yet, but made a huge leap forward with the new sod that was laid this morning. Took care of this and that at home in the afternoon, including sending off a letter to the editor in support of the new library. After he got home from story time, Jack played with friends for the rest of the day. When we wrapped that up, we went to our favorite greasy spoon in Spanish Fork for dinner. I started reading The Thirteenth Tale for book club. I really like it so far.

Friday, October 17, 2008

Another sick day. Luckily both Nebo School District and UVU have fall break right now. Roger took the day off and took Jack up to Lagoon with some friends of ours. I tried to rest. I still feel pretty much the same, but tomorrow will be a new day!

Thursday, October 16, 2008

Sick day.

Wednesday, October 15, 2008

It's been so up and down with my health these last couple of weeks. I'm very frustrated! (Could there be a correlation with the Dow Jones Industrial?) The good news about today is that I met with a very nice reporter from the Deseret News at the museum to talk about the exhibit. And my classes at UVU went well despite a rocky start to my day. In the evening I watched the last presidential debate (I will be so relieved when this election is over!). I read comments online afterwards at various websites, including The New York Times and Fox News. It is so amazing to me how completely differently people see and hear and interpret things about the candidates and their policies. We all look and listen through our own filters (including me). My prayer is that after the election we will get past all the crap that's being flung around and unite in an effort to lift ourselves up out of this hole we're in.

Tuesday, October 14, 2008

I learned how to use the laminator at the high school today. I took off a bit early to go to one last PTA meeting to talk about the library bond election, and in the evening I went to the last library bond committee meeting (yay!). I still have the essay contest to oversee, but that's more fun. While I was at the library meeting, the children's librarian said she saw Jack earlier--he went on a field trip to the library with his cub scout den after school. I couldn't figure out how she knew he was my son. Then she told me the story of how she'd asked the cub scouts if they had any idea where the library had gotten so many books and Jack raised his hand and said, "Ingram" (which actually happens to be the distributor the library orders most of its new books from). She asked him how he knew that and he told her that his mom and dad used to own a bookstore. Jack just cracks me up!

Monday, October 13, 2008

I am sick again! For the last two weeks, I keep randomly running a fever and it keeps stopping me in my tracks. One of my students today complained of the same thing happening to her. Weird and frustrating! Anyway, I took care of the bare minimum today--getting Jack to school, getting stuff ready to run errands and teach class, going to class to collect the papers that were due and going over the next writing assignment, coming home and resting for the rest of the day. One highlight of the day was using the English department copier to make PDF files and had the copier email them to me. Crazy technology!

Sunday, October 12, 2008

Highlights of the day included substitute teaching Jack's primary class at church and meeting my brother and sister-in-law (in town for their daughter's wedding) at the museum to see the exhibit.

Saturday, October 11, 2008

We woke up to snow! Roger and Jack were the first to leave the house when they headed off to walk in the BYU Homecoming Parade (for the BYU library) and toss candy to the crowd. Then mom and I headed down to story time at the museum with Fumi Kosaka. I was a bit late because I couldn't find my wallet, but it all worked out. We had a good crowd there! Then Carol joined us and we headed up to the Mt. Timpanogos temple for our niece Sarah's wedding. Jack hung out with cousin Ben while we were in the temple. Then we all shivered during a family photo session on the steps and Jack started losing it because he was starving. Roger took his mom and headed up to another family wedding in Layton (his cousin's daughter), and I got some food for Jack, dropped him off at a good friend's house near the temple, then headed to Salt Lake with mom to drop her off at her hotel (she's here to attend a conference). Instead of going on I-15, we went up over the mountain from Alpine to Draper and saw the new Draper temple, which hasn't opened yet. After I dropped her off, I headed to the Alpine Art Center to help set up for Sarah's reception. Most of the work was done, so when Roger showed back up again, we went to get a bite to eat and then to pick up Jack. The reception was lovely, and we had a fine time visiting with family. Changing into pajamas felt so good when we got home!

Friday, October 10, 2008

The day was not so full of pressure because on Wednesday I announced to my classes that we would not meet on Friday and I'd have them do their in-class exercise on their own. I actually took Jack to school in my pajamas! After running in the Canyon (and running into my friend Linda), I put together the PTA newsletter. Mom and I ran a bunch of errands (got the last of the essay contest entry forms to two elementary schools, posted the PTA newsletter at Jack's school and took it to the district office for photocopying). Then we went out to lunch at the Model A Cafe in Mapleton. They serve breakfast all day, yum! I took Mom to see the windmills at the mouth of Spanish Fork Canyon. It's amazing to see them up close. After Jack got home, I took him to the museum while Shelley and I took a quick inventory of the picture books and then we picked up Johnny and Benny. Pizza for dinner, the Roger and I headed to a neighbor's wedding reception at a barn in Mapleton. It was a great place for a party!

Thursday, October 9, 2008

Mom came to work with me at the high school library today! She has serious data entry stamina. Except for a 20-minutes lunch break with me in the school courtyard, she worked on one of the library computers for my entire six hour shift! The librarian was out today (her daughter is getting married tomorrow) so I got to wrangle all of the students on my own. Actually, other than some extra loud talking, the are really well behaved. After school we picked up Jack, then after we hooked him up with friends, Mom and I went grocery shopping. We picked Jack up on the way home and discovered that he had been helping his friend get several chickens and roosters rounded up and into a cage! Dinner (a bit cruelly, roast chicken) and a nice relaxing evening.

Wednesday, October 8, 2008

Oh, man. I did not feel well this morning still. I barely got Jack to school and got the guest room ready for a visit from Mom before heading up to my UVU classes. I had all sorts of plans that just went by the wayside. Including getting the PTA newsletter done (but actually, that's worked out because there is something important I need to get into it and I won't have that until tomorrow). Luckily my students worked on peer reviewing their papers that are due Monday so I didn't have to be especially coherent. By the time my two classes were done, I was starting to feel much better. I headed to Target to buy a wedding gift for Roger's cousin's daughter who is getting married on Saturday, then to get something to eat and then to a 5:00 UVU staff meeting. I had just enough time after the meeting to get home and changed before heading down to the museum to give an exhibition tour to the Nebo Reading Council (mostly teachers, librarians and literacy specialists). I think that went fairly well! And while I was giving the tour, Roger, Jack and my mom showed up on the way home from the airport. We'll have a nice visit with her until Saturday.

Tuesday, October 7, 2008

My day went really well up until 5:30 when I got home, got into my pajamas and climbed in bed with a fever, sore throat and headache. And that's where I stayed the rest of the evening! In the morning I visited five different schools! I dropped Jack off at Brookside, went to PTA meetings at Westside and Art City, tried to drop essay contest info off at Cherry Creek but the librarian wasn't there and then went to my library job at the high school. I worked hard at my job until 3:00, got home in time to be there when Jack got off the school bus and then headed off to cub scouts with him (I was substituting for one of the leaders). In the morning Jack said he thought it would be really nice if Dad could come to scouts too because the activity was going up in the canyon and learning about photography. I left Roger a voice mail and he took off work an hour early so he could be there. He ended up taking over the lesson and was fabulous with the boys. One of the boys (who usually doesn't say much at all!) went home and told his mom all about it. That is a success in my book.

Monday, October 6, 2008

We got a bit of late start this morning, Jack and I. I was up at 8:00 but let Jack sleep in. He's got quite a head cold and I though the extra sleep would do him good. I graded essays all morning and made a few phone calls. I dropped Jack off at school on my way to teach my classes. I got home just as Jack arrived at the bus stop (I think traffic might be worse lately because gas has now dropped below $3.50 a gallon and more people are on the road). I did some emailing and phone calling this afternoon and sent off a short article to the newspaper about the friends of the library essay contest. The minute Roger got home I was off for a run in the canyon. The days are getting shorter and I want to get up there as much as I can. I helped Jack get some of his first book report done (he's got the title page done, a description of the main character done, illustrations for both done, and a good start on the book summary). I'm all worn out now. Time for blissful sleep. I regret letting Jack sleep in this morning. He doesn't seem worn out at all!

Sunday, October 5, 2008

Pretty much pajama church all day. Watched both sessions of the LDS Sunday conference and one and half sessions of Saturday conference that I recorded yesterday. Hung out with the family. Then stayed up too late reading a book. Hmm. Did I actually do anything else?

Saturday, October 4, 2008

Woke up to rain and it rained all day! Instead of getting up and going running, I read for a bit and then went back to sleep for a bit. Scrambled to make a salad for my niece's bridal shower and get down to the museum to check on some inventory and do story time. We didn't schedule any illustrators because we weren't sure we'd have anyone show up (LDS General Conference weekend). But we did have people show up! I read books illustrated by Kevin Hawkes and Brett Helquist who now live on the east coast and probably won't get to Utah before the show is over. I took down some questions for them from story time attendees, and I'll post their answers on our exhibition blog. A very nice shower at my mother-in-law's for my niece, then home for a bit, then off to a bridal shower for one of our neighbors (who also happens to be the daughter of the high school librarian I work for). Roger, Jack and I did a major cleanup of the family room after a long hard week of playing with friends and Lego. Now I'm in my pajamas, sad that our dvr failed to record the opening skit of Saturday Night Live. I heart Tina Fey.

Friday, October 3, 2008

I made it through the day! Crammed in a bunch of office work and errands between dropping Jack off at school and getting to my noon class at UVU. This included setting up the rest of the story time schedule at the museum (just two more dates to confirm!). In-class exercises in both classes, so I spent the time grading papers. Hiked to the payroll office between classes to make sure I was really getting paid for both courses I teach (six weeks in to the semester and I finally got a paycheck and it was half what I expected - yikes!). Turns out we do get paid biweekly, but the first pay period starts after the drop deadline. So I'll get paid the last two weeks in Dec. even though I won't be teaching. Confusing! Anyway, after Jack had a party with his friends that he organized a couple of days ago (including complicated handwritten invitations!), Roger, Jack and I headed to Target to get some wedding and shower presents. After I got home I spent an hour wrapping gifts! Five wedding gifts and two bridal shower gifts. Phew! Then I spent an hour folding laundry and ironing. So ready for bed . . .

Thursday, October 2, 2008

I'm feeling much better today. After dropping Jack off for school (wearing his Sunday clothes for a field trip to the high school to listen to the Utah Symphony--we had a bit of a battle over the clothes), I headed to the school district office to get our friends of the library essay contest approved. I should hear by Tuesday. Attended our Brookside PTA meeting, stopped by the library to pick up some fliers, stopped by Hogi Yogi to pick up a sandwich for lunch and got to work at the high school about 11:00. At 11:30, I attended the high school PTA meeting to talk about the library bond, then worked until 3:00. My favorite part of the day was seeing Jack after the symphony concert on his way to the school bus. Except for a couple of errands, I pretty much stayed home and worked my way through this and that. I even gave up going to book club tonight to get piles of buildup off my desk. I'm feeling a bit more on top of things tonight. Jack and I read for more than an hour tonight and finished our book! Trying to decide if I'm going to watch the Palin/Biden debate on the dvr or just read up on all of the commentary about it. Nah, I'm going to have to judge it for myself. So little time!

Wednesday, October 1, 2008

A bit caught off guard that it's October already. Scrambled to get organized to do the rounds of PTA meeting visits at all of the schools in town, spreading the word about the library bond election. Visited my first PTA meeting and then dropped entry forms for the friends of the library essay contest off at four of the seven elementary schools I hope will participate. Worked on some museum stuff, including lining a few more illustrators up for story time (I've got to finalize that schedule!). Both of my classes ended up going fairly well at UVU today with some interesting class discussion about some of the topics they are writing about in their second papers. I want to have them do a practice peer review on Friday and needed to come up with a paper that reflects the specific assignment they are working on.  I ended up writing a paper myself, and am proud because it's something they can really rip apart. If someone turned what I wrote in, the highest grade I'd give it is a C-. It doesn't have any spelling errors in it. I couldn't bear to put in any spelling errors. But it does have some organization and development issues. Enjoyed Jack's homework assignment--he had to read to me for 20 minutes tonight.