Books to Movie Adaptations #ArmchairBEA

Well, I made it to the first and last posts. Better than nothing.

photo credit: TV bookshelf via photopin (license)

Books I would LOVE to see made into movies or TV series. Let me think (and just in the order of thought, not importance) ...

Agent Pendergast (Douglas Preston & Lincoln Child). One of the few "grown up" series I love. Thrilling mystery solving! Could be creepy, though. And maybe too violent. It's easier to take it in my head. I don't "see" it all. But I do love this series.

Finishing School series (Gail Carriger). How much fun would this steampunk be? I would want it to be done WELL. No "cheesy" low budget effects. So it might not be fiscally possible. But it's just got it all. Comedy. Drama. A touch of romance. Cool gadgets that are not so sci-fi. Derring-do.

Gallagher Girls or Heist Society series (Ally Carter). Teenage female spies. Now they'd have to be careful to not make it ... skeezy. The books are not skeezy, but Hollywood has that tendency with teen movies. Both book series are just so much fun. Female spies! Or thieves trying to be good. So many storyline possibilities. And interesting locations.

Lockwood & Co. series (Jonathan Stroud). I LOVED the first two audiobooks. I saw it all in my head. I would prefer they not emphasize the creepy evil ghosts part (like ... I don't know. The really bad trailers I mentally block from my mind!). Stick with the relationships between the characters and their bravery. So like PG13, not R. It's in development already. I hope they do it right.


OK. I am an elementary librarian still so I should do some kid ones.

Elephant and Piggie. Enough said. I am _ _ years old and I would watch that. As long as Mo Willems remained at the basic storyline helm to keep it funny.

Pete the Cat could be a fun animated series. Some of the newer books lack the same charm of the first so they'd need to get good writers. But with the catchy (and I dislike 99% of most kiddie music) songs of the first few books they could do a lot of good with stories to help kids remember "Does Pete cry? Goodness, no. He keeps walking along and singing his song."

Joshua Dread series (Lee Bacon). KID SUPERHEROES. Or villains. You'd think "that's been done before and not well" but he pulls it off! So the author would have to be involved.

Jude Watson's Loot. Sort of similar to Heist Society but tween focused more than teen.

I debated this. But Jedi Academy (Jeffrey Brown) could be quite fun. And different from The Clone Wars or Rebels. Animated or live action I still can't decide. It will never happen because they are "non-canon." But a fangirl can dream.

Do you think they could do a non-fiction series based on Steve Jenkins' books? They all have different topics but I love the collage art form and would love to see that animated.

Finally Friday May 29

I will start off with this awesome picture of my little brother. He's a cop much too far away. I actually TOTALLY MISSED THE REFERENCE. How did that happen? It wasn't on purpose, the bird just landed. But my mom saw it before I did. And I call myself a Mo Willems fan ...

Click through if the embedded stuff doesn't show up!


Funny. Even if I'm not sure about the "You never finished reading them anyway."



Note to self when taking Lego pics for possible slide use ...



One of my most favorite conferences I've ever attended. The year I went they had David Shannon, Brandon Mull, Laurie Halse Anderson, Kadir Nelson, and ... drat. I forgot the name of the non-fic author. Enjoyed her presentation immensely. Used to have a sis that lived in the area which made it easy and less expensive. Still have a brother but he's in college and it would be against the rules for me to stay with him. Would love to see him, though. He'll be HERE in August but maybe I should go see him in July anyway?



Yes. This. :P



So I plastered my Yoda Summer Reading Bulletin Board all over. I'll plaster this one, too. Almost as excited about it. The pic was for a contest to get an early beta MakeyMakeyGo.

#makeymeme #makeymakey Will Alderaan blow up when you touch the play-doh? Back the Kickstarter at http://kck.st/1KAOsIR to get your own. #gorogues

A photo posted by Angie Oliverson (@msoreadsbooks) on May 27, 2015 at 4:35pm PDT

TBT Wonder Cards

Time for an update. Suggestions? And yes. we do run into filter issues on the YouTube videos. Not as many as we used to before the "EDU" filter got turned on for the kids (instead of completely nothing) but still more than I'd like.

Originally posted on 10/7/12.

Armchair BEA Intro ?s and a Little Library Love

I have two friends there now. I'm a little jealous!

A Bit About Me I love Star Wars. But if you've been around here long you knew that. Been blogging for several years now. Had a personal one before this one. At that point a lot of my friends and family blogged. When their posts started dwindling I started reading more book blogs, TL blogs, and ed tech blogs. And then I started THIS blog where I combined those. Along with Star Wars rants. :)

What is one book everyone should read? ONE? There Is a Bird on Your Head, by Mo Willems, because it still makes me laugh. After over 100 readings. Or maybe Rot and Ruin by Jonathan Maberry, because it's such a HUMAN book for being about zombies. The relationships are the key!. Or maybe The One and Only Ivan by Katherine Applegate, just because it's so lovely and I remember visiting Ivan. Picking one is too hard. I didn't even mention Harry Potter or Anne.

 A top book in my TBR pile?

What is my favorite genre?
Again ... one? Historical mysteries, I suppose. Theodosia (RL LaFevers). Enola Holmes (Nancy Springer). Amelia Peabody (Elizabeth Peters). The Agency (YS Lee). Finishing School (Gail Carriger ... though this one is not so historically accurate as steampunk). Anne Perry.


If I was stranded on a desert island, what author would I want to have with me?
The one who wrote the wilderness survival and boat building book. Not very creative, I know. I always get a little starstruck with authors. Most strangers in general, I guess. It's much easier to blog than to think of cool questions and comments on the spot!



Without even knowing it would be a thing tonight I took #abeashelfie of the library at school today. Circ has closed since we're almost out and the shelves are a mess! It's driving me nuts!

Driving me nuts! Only this bad at the very end/beginning of the year. #teacherlibrarianproblems

A photo posted by Angie Oliverson (@msoreadsbooks) on May 27, 2015 at 10:14am PDT

Alohas and Summer To Dos

And not a good pic of me (hair frizzed out from a busy and hot day and ugh that shirt/skirt combo highlight the need for the first goal but ...)


Worst picture taker ever as many friends from years past (staff and parents) came by to say hello to Mary. She's just been that awesome. #criesquietly


Numero uno is more exercise. I recently joined a group training class. We do four week on and one week ... well. I don't want to say off because we're still supposed to exercise. He actually sent out an email on it. Anyway. Point being ... last week when we were not meeting? Notable difference in sleep quality. Like it went way down. So they were closed yesterday and I missed the class today because of the retirement celebration. And I'll miss it tomorrow because of a staff meeting. But Thursday I am THERE. And in the summer? Every weekday and a few Saturdays. No, it's still not fun. But it's important. Especially if some ... things around school don't change. Sanity & perspective. :)

Number two is of course #bookaday. My new library does not have the same resources as my past system so there may be some "trips into town" to check out the B&N. I'd love to say indie bookstore but that one is 80 minutes away. Half Price is like 20, B&N, depending on traffic, 35. For picture books, anyway. Chapter books of both the middle grade, YA, and grown-up varieties I can often get on Overdrive or via Netgalley/Edelweiss. There are so many good books in the world! Is there a "must read" for the summer? Only fun books. Only prof. one I want to read is Making Thinking Visible. Is it terrible I found out today that in August they will have a Teach Like a Pirate training but I will NOT be attending? It's on one of the three days I will have with my entire family in town. We haven't ALL been together in ... five years? Might even be more. No way am I sitting in a training before I'm on contract when I could be hanging out with them.

Number three? Should I tell you or just see how it works out?






Who am I kidding. If you're still reading I'll tell. New fascination with Lego minifigs. Plus on my mental health day off on my birthday I discovered a used Lego store in town and it is awesome. It's a long drive but if I time it to visit my brother/niece/nephews/sis-in-law then it doesn't seem so bad. So HOPEFULLY I can get some fun shots and blog posts next year will be illustrated. Or at least include silly quote pics. Here's the shot from the dashboard of my birthday purchases. I have a long way to go, do I not? Yes, many but not all will be SW related. Next year will be the year of Star Wars in the Library. My way of getting excited about things again.


Thinking five to dos would be good. One should be techy but I'm not sure what yet. Make some Kahoots or Nearpod presentations? Or some flipped videos? Then don't know what the other one should be. Haven't decided yet. Maybe there will be a part two.


Anyone tried a Piggie & Elephant dance party? Or made "birds on your head"? Just be prepared with lots of pink and light blue plates for P&E. Which add up when it's entire grade levels and 100 kids each. But they will all think you are the coolest TL ever. They will still smile as they line up to go out the door. Even though you've also just given them the what for for so many books that they didn't keep in their backpacks when they weren't reading them!

#IMWAYR May 25

It's Monday! What are you Reading? is a meme hosted by Sheila at Book Journeys. It is a great way to recap what you read and/or reviewed the previous week and to plan out your reading and reviews for the upcoming week. It's also a great chance to see what others are reading right now… who knows, you might discover that next “must read” book!

Our Kid Lit to YA version is hosted by Teach Mentor Texts and Unleashing Readers.

GREAT IDEA! Check out all of the What Are You Reading? participants for title ideas.



Still slower than what used to be the usual by a long shot. #bookaday is now ...12 days away? Including weekends and PD.

Stuart Gibbs has some fun ideas for stories. In this one the main character is a kid living on the first manned base on the moon. Stuff happens. Now I need to catch up on the Spy School series. Seeing as how I'm pretty sure I have an E-ARC for at least one of them. And one was on the Bluebonnet list last year.

If you're not already a SW fan the Jeffrey Brown books will not make you one. You have to know at least something about the movies. But if you are a fan? THEY ARE GENIUS.


Tomorrow is the retirement celebration for my assistant of 10 years. I know. As mentioned I've been SERIOUSLY spoiled. She is great. If I've ever been thought of as being good at what I do ... it's because of her. Knowing she could keep all the day to day stuff going while I dreamed of bigger things for the kids has been a lifesaver. Next year = great big fat unknown. How do you big things and deal with the fact there are still 187 accounts with overdue books? Some, we've discovered, are actually on the shelf. But it takes a long time to verify all of them. Can't do that and teach at the same time. Many, many, many are sitting under beds or in dad's cars. Can't call all of them and teach at the same time. Which is the priority? I would have always said teaching but we've wanted some of these checked out and not returned books already.

The fiction section is jam packed with books sitting horizontally on top of books. That drives me insane. At least it's only at the end of the year.

Also ... hope you had a great (dry and twister free ... as so many places are NOT) Memorial Day. There are so many people to which we owe a huge debt of gratitude.

Friday Part 2 #keptmesane #drovemealittleinsane

Long day. Long day. No time for lunch. iPads out, iPads away (I know. First world problem.) Glue sticks out. Glue sticks away. Internet working. Internet not working.

A good portion of today was spent with a class on what was sort of an "darn it I have no idea" project that is turning out to be kind of fun. "We want to do research. We don't care on what." Well. Not sure how much this counts toward research but we did get some keyword discussion going. And notetaking means HIGHLIGHTS, not every word. And "Cite your pics!"

So far this is the only one who is "done." This was her first draft of the persuasive writing, we didn't do any editing. 

If the other kids finish their writing we'll have an entire book that I will post so they can go back and reference it all summer. I hope they can finish things. Not sure I can continue to spend as much time with them but we shall see. If it works out I will make a better cover and a ToC.

If it looks at all fun to you here's the info. The kids used the new Pic Collage Kids app for the collages. They are working on the writing in Google Docs and sharing it with me. Then I can copy/paste into this Book Creator file.

Finally Friday May 22

Home stretch, friends. Home stretch. 8 more days with students and then another 5 more or so with cleaning up and PD.


As always, click through if the embedded stuff doesn't show in a blog reader. And then click through again for the original sources!


We do love our Magnatiles. Turn out the lights?



Lovely color combo.



Old one that still makes me laugh.



Another old one. But after a postponed evaluation ... yeah. #funny



I WANT. Still months away. And hello, already know the story. But I want all three!

Wordless Wednesday

Already posted it on both Twitter and Instagram so apologies if you've been triple hit ... but I <3 it very much.

Even though his hands are kind of ... funny. The rest of him is perfect. And I was pleased with my "a-ha!" to add little Overdrive icons to the bookcovers.

Julie R. you are the winner of #gabbyduran! Send me a message with your mailing address, please. My email is in the sidebar. Thanks to everyone who entered. Takes entries to get people to let me host giveaways. If you didn't win it's a fun one to pick up wherever you might get books.

I had a lovely birthday. I took a mental health day. Slept in, went to visit my niece and nephew (and s-i-l ... can't forget her ;) brother was at work), went to a fun used Lego store. You may hear more about that and see things that I discovered there. Then lunch and a stop for a fun surprise ... pretty owl earrings! Then a nap. How old can I be that that felt great? I also helped my mom with a church activity for 8 year old girls. 

This post was not very #wordless.

#IMWAYR May 18

It's Monday! What are you Reading? is a meme hosted by Sheila at Book Journeys. It is a great way to recap what you read and/or reviewed the previous week and to plan out your reading and reviews for the upcoming week. It's also a great chance to see what others are reading right now… who knows, you might discover that next “must read” book!

Our Kid Lit to YA version is hosted by Teach Mentor Texts and Unleashing Readers.

GREAT IDEA! Check out all of the What Are You Reading? participants for title ideas.

First of all if you didn't enter the giveaway for a fun summer read in #gabbyduran please go back to last Monday's post and do so right now! The rafflecopter will close tonight and the winner will be announced tomorrow. On my birthday. ;)

Then I would also recommend Stuart Gibb's Big Game as I just finished that one. It's not out until October, though. Just noticed that. I am TERRIBLE at blog calendaring and scheduling of when to actually read E-ARCS. So ... if you haven't read Belly Up GO READ THAT ONE first. As it is still my favorite. Then there is also 

Belly Up by Stuart Gibbs
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Ever, ever, ever so funny. Even better that it's set close to home.





Poached by Stuart Gibbs
My rating: 4 of 5 stars








#bookaday is so close I can almost smell it!

Finally Friday May 15

Thank you for visiting! I hope you have a great weekend. If you haven't go back to Monday's post and enter the giveaway for Gabby Duran!


Click through for embedded content. Then click through again for the original sources!




I made these last year and they were a definite WIN! So making them again on Tuesday. ;)



Last night the trainer at my new group fitness class suggested I lay off bread for a couple months to kickstart the metabolism. Eeeek. I ... am not sure I can do that. Which is kind of pathetic.



I want this skirt! In about negative 30 pounds or so, anyway.



Embrace challenges and persist in the face of setbacks. Amen.



This made me laugh. We're done with student checkout. All books will be due on Tuesday. That ought to be interesting. Every. Single. Class. has at least 7 kids with currently overdue books. How many notes home/phone calls can be made? :P We shall see. I've been telling the kids "All I want for my birthday is for people to bring their books back!" Never tried that before so we'll see if it works.



We will still have lessons, even with no more checkout. On Monday a 4th grade class is coming in and we will start a "Summer Reading Research." They're going to search B&N for some books they think look good, look for positive reviews, cross check them against our catalog, make a pic collage of the cover images (giving credit! All to B&N.com, anyway) and write a short persuasive paper about how everyone should read them this summer and/or we should buy them for the school collection. I hope it turns out well! Then on Thursday the public librarian is coming to talk to several classes about summer reading. We couldn't get everyone in, though. And there were some upset people about that. :( #cantwinemall #shouldstoptrying
And I SHOULD have waited until it is really, truly done to share this as now you'll just have to see it twice. But look! I <3 it. Kids were excited, too.

I should wait until it's done but I can't. Words are placeholders for die cut letters. I will add a couple more book covers. Overdrive icon to try and drum up some business. #gorogues #neisdlibs

A photo posted by Angie Oliverson (@msoreadsbooks) on May 15, 2015 at 2:48pm PDT

Boosting Morale

My campus is in a rough patch. Roughest I've seen in 11 years ... it's not just me! I've been trying to figure out what to I could do.

We had so many treats during Appreciation Week. Didn't really work. Can't believe I'm saying it but chocolate or donuts or ice cream ... don't cure all ills. Last year I got some tags like "You are AW-esome" and put them on cans of A&W. Or "Thanks for the EXTRA effort" with gum. That was kind of fun and made me less likely to chomp on whatever the treat might have been. But I'd like to not encourage others to drown stress in sugar calories.





Been thinking I need to actually DO the Positive PostIt Notes thing TechNinjaTodd posted about a couple weeks back. I meant to get some out and have kids do it in the morning and it seemed like there was bad traffic or DEER running into me and I couldn't get to school in time to get it all together. I know it's silly (cause I blather on here all the time!) but I sit down and ... get writer's block. It makes no sense. I feel bad because teachers I appreciate and think are awesome are struggling and I can't think of the right thing to say. That's probably it right there. Just write some thing instead of worrying about what the right thing might be.

Anyone done or received anything that helped them get through the end of year (that started much earlier in the year) stress?

I did manage to impress the person on campus monitoring some of our re-testing. She overheard me reading Piggie and Elephant to some kiddos. If there's one thing in this world I can do well, it's Piggie and Gerald. At least there's that. Put it on my tombstone.

Don't forget to enter the #gabbyduran giveaway on yesterday's post! It's open through next Monday. I'll announce the winner on Tuesday. Or Rafflecopter will tell us who it is, rather. That's my birthday. Giving things away on my birthday. Fun!

Gabby Duran and the Unsittables

I was contacted a couple weeks ago asking if I'd like to host a giveaway about the go-to babysitter for aliens. Not in exactly those words but that was the gist. Hello. Sounds like fun!

I'm glad to say it totally WAS fun. This is "popcorn lit," feels like a fun movie, summer reading if ever there was! We've all had friends like Madison that made our lives miserable. Hopefully we've all have friends like Zee to make us laugh. Many of us have possibly had experiences with ... shall we say wily small fry? Or grumpy, might have been alien teachers? Gabby manages it all with a smile on her face and compassion in her heart. And some great kid-wrangling skills.

Perfect for ... end of year 4th is still a little ways away from babysitting for cash, but most could comfortably read it. And for 5th through 6th it's spot on.

Summary:

The Association Linking Intergalatics and Earthlings (hereby known as A.L.I.E.N.) has a new member. After months of investigation, Gabby Duran, Associate 4118-25125A, has proven herself to be a babysitter extraordinaire. Her celebrity clients fly her around the country to care for their rambunctious little humans. Our spy, Associate 4118-23432B, otherwise known as Edwina, believes Gabby can be trusted with the truth: aliens are living among humans on Earth. And here at A.L.I.E.N we believe that even extraterrestrials need a babysitter now and then. No one was up to the task...until now.

After accepting the top-secret position, Edwina has paired our new associate up with her first charge, a little girl from the planet Flarknartia. The timing for associate 4118-25125A is less than ideal. It's a school day on Planet Earth, Gabby's audition for the solo part in the band is tonight, and this tiny alien is a bit more than meets the eye. 

Can Gabby Duran, Associate 4118-25125A, First Sitter to the Unsittables, keep her otherworldly charge safe in the unpredictable halls of middle-school and keep A.L.I.E.N hidden?

About the Authors:

(Elise Allen on the left, photo credit Steve Goldstein; 

Daryle Conners on the right, photo credit Jenny Jimenez/ photo JJ. I collaged the photos together so that they would center nicely and evenly on the page. Photo placement on blogger can be off.) 

Emmy-nominated writer and New York Times best-selling author Elise Allen made a name for herself with her acclaimed young adult novel Populazzi (Harcourt), and the Jim Henson's Enchanted Sisters chapter books (Bloomsbury).  In television, she has written for talent ranging from Bill Cosby to Kermit the Frog, and is currently writing for the new Disney Junior show The Lion Guard. Her dog may or may not secretly be from another planet.

Daryle Conners is an award-winning writer, filmmaker and video game designer. She writes joke and riddle books and has designed many game titles for the PC and iPhone/iPad including Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, Scene It? Harry Potter, Hot Wheels Slot Car Racers, and Scene It? Twilight Saga. Her non-fiction books include Lunchtime LOLZ, Nintendo DS Hot Tips, ROFLs,Video Game Secrets and Monster High Jokes, all for Scholastic. Daryle lives in Seattle, where she still babysits from time to time.

Learn More:

the Official Site

Follow Disney-Hyperion on Twitter

Follow Elise Allen & Daryle Conners on Twitter

#GabbyDuran

Read an Excerpt:

http://www.bighonchomedia.com/assets/Disney/Gabby/GabbyDuranExcerpt.pdf

Like to Win? Look at this fun book, tumbler, and light up flyer. You know they look fun. ;)
(Giveaway open to US addresses only. Prizing and samples provided by Disney Publishing)

a Rafflecopter giveaway
(I threw the FB page on there just for kicks even though I hardly ever post anything there that isn't on the blog, too. But sometimes I do. Now. Funny babysitting stories or favorite aliens from a book or movie. Go! And make sure I can contact you later if you win!)

And just in case you don't win, get the book on Amazon or your favorite book seller! 

Finally Friday May 8

Whew. Finally is right. Seriously, Internet friends, those of you without assistants ... how do you do it? At risk of sounding ridiculous just the days I've been without mine (she's retiring and taking her extra leave) have apparently caused so much stress there have been two days I've in the past three weeks I've literally gone to bed in a cold dark room before 5 PM and slept til the next morning. And ... 6 days where I was not feeling not good at all. Now accepting any and all organization and scheduling advice. That's going to have to change and I haven't figured that out yet. Still trying to do things like there are two of us.

THAT SAID ...

great author visit today. Seriously,  Jeff Mack was a pleasure to work with. He engaged all grade levels and delivered a great message.

Have you heard of Disneybounding? Here's STAR WARS!



Get 'em moving!



Still a long ways to go but fitness is looking up!



Pretty wreaths.



Need something easy for the end of the year? The hardest part is precutting the pieces but even that can be done in multiples (like depending on the paper thickness and the quality of your scissors ... 4-6?). Get some small baby blue (closest to gray that is easy to find) and pink plates and go to Piggie and Elephant town!



Book giveaway coming next week. Something fun for the strong finishing 3rd grade to 5th grade reader. If they love Disney Channel movies they'll love this book. Fun summery "popcorn" sort of title. ;)

I Stand Corrected & The Things THEY Can Do

Some things you just can't predict. Close to the last 5th grader I ever would have expected picked up Hello, I'm Johnny Cash today.

Other came in today to work on Haiku Decks after research (a small group on a pass). I wish they'd done a little more thinking about how they were going to present their slides. It's more than just copying the notes. Am I wrong? Even at 5th grade they can decide which topics are the most important. And decide what kind of slide layout makes the most sense with their information. Luckily HD does not lend itself to the "oh, let's add some kitty clip art" to the end. And "oh, let's use 5 different fonts on one slide." At least there's that. They did discover some pretty good info.

Here's a little something we did last week in 1st grade. This is just an assortment of the ones I knew had "permissions" to be posted. It's not super polished ... we had read the book once before (the author/illustrator's coming on Friday) and talked about the collage art. We didn't have take the time to collage. Just drew, quick photo, quick record. All while also checking out books (THE BLESSING OF HAVING AN ASSISTANT ... not for much longer :(). But for the second time I'd used the app and all the craziness going on around us? And for how adorable and unique many of them are? I was please with the outcome. It got the teachers quite interested as well.

HAPPY STAR WARS DAY! And #IMWAYR May 4th

It's Monday! What are you Reading? is a meme hosted by Sheila at Book Journeys. It is a great way to recap what you read and/or reviewed the previous week and to plan out your reading and reviews for the upcoming week. It's also a great chance to see what others are reading right now… who knows, you might discover that next “must read” book!

Our Kid Lit to YA version is hosted by Teach Mentor Texts and Unleashing Readers.

GREAT IDEA! Check out all of the What Are You Reading? participants for title ideas.

The DIY book ... only offers two projects. That was kind of disappointing. But there's some good basic info there so that's better than nothing. Build background knowledge.

I read several picture book bios last week. They were quite well done in terms of pictures and text working together. I did enjoy them. I'm just not sure about the "need" for picture book bios on the people in question. That might be a personal hangup but Johnny Cash? Kandinsky's abstract art? Frieda Kahlo? Baseball players from the late 90s/2000s? Kids need all sorts of life examples. Just know these will take a lot more "selling" to kids than they did to adults.

And ... no time to add to the post. I always end up reading different things than I write down, anyway. ;)

May the Fourth be with you!

Currently May

Linking up with Farley.

• You know I'm a SW Geek. Just never got it on the DVR. Always been a classicist with the originals. It's pretty fun so far, though. Season two will make it into the DVR.
• SO CLOSE. A lot to do before then. Lessons to finish. Summer reading to promote. More weeding and shifting as we finish the first year in our redone space (and have had a couple hundred books added in the last month). Prepare for my assistant of my entire school librarian career to retire. (If you hear crying that's me. I know, super lucky to have had her for so long. And to have had her at all. Not sure at all about next year as the new position will only be part time. I don't like doing checkout and reshelving. Let me teach and help kids. How does one do both? :/)
• Seriously. Loads of companies sending me emails about sales of fun stuff. I'm holding out but IT HURTS.
• There's a lot of need in the world. Done a little ... contributed here or there. Try to help kids at my own school problem solve. I love the #servelikeajedi movement. Just haven't been able to come up with a focus fast enough.
• We used to do it after school was out. Now we do it in early May. I liked it better when school was out. During the day I've got classes and kids and teachers needing me. After school I'm trying to get back in shape and exercise again. And catch up on reading now that some new book orders are finally in. So when does it get finished again?
• I joined a group training gym. So far only made it four times in two weeks (paid for six but meetings after school keep running long and it's a drive home. I need to learn to just GET UP AND LEAVE long meetings) but I like it. The hardest part is just starting. Once you're there the endorphins kick in. Hopefully over the summer every day. Siblings are coming at the end of the summer. Due to unfortunate timing like two days before I'm back on contract. :( And when it's super hot. But that is better than nothing. Not sure of a good dream. Start planning a better trip for next year? Really not doing anything this summer. Maybe I could have added #bookaday? That is always fun. A job that required less of a commute? Maybe. Tried for a new job for so many years when the physical space of the library (no walls) drove me insane. Now we have walls ... and I've moved to a nicer house but that means I spend way too much time in my car. Learn to cook? HA! Bake is more like it but then I'd have to work out even more.

Finally Friday May 1

Oh, boy. EOY craziness. Thought it would go away with testing mostly done but no. :P



SO. Click through for embedded content.



I was thinking about looking for some small ones ... like for chocolates? And then have the kids make bookmarks for their mom during #makermornings next week? In a perfect world I would have planned ahead and already have them. Because tomorrow I do not have a car. Mine is still in the shop after the deer incident.







I think these are so pretty. This could sort of count as "green" art, could it not? Though it's not actually reusing much.







I SO WISH I had a window. Well, have always wished that. Also that it wasn't so humid that nothing stays stuck on the walls. But then I'd be making this. YOU KNOW WHAT MONDAY IS.







If I decide to do like a Star Wars library theme next year (is that too personal?) ... totally making this. Maybe I should watch some SW Rebels this summer. The kids would probably like that best. I do happen to be new Rogue 211.







It's playoff time around here. We're ... trying not be stressed. But it's 3-3. Tomorrow is do or die. #raceforseis (And in the interest of full disclosure I have no idea what they are doing down on the court. Just know these are GOOD GUYS. Role models. Team players.







Have a great weekend! I brought home a bunch of new books we just got today to look at.