Penguin Nativity

I started collecting penguins long before I started collecting Nativity sets, so this is a natural addition to the collection! This is a Debbie Mumm set, and I've had it for several years.

Nativity Collection

I've been collecting Nativity sets for several years now, and it's getting harder to find new and unique sets. My friend Kathy got this one for me a few years ago. I think the thing I like most about this one is the absolutely tender way Mary is looking at baby Jesus. I like the natural wood look of Joseph's staff, too. More to come!

Happy Holidays

Thanksgiving has come and gone, but I have an entire turkey's worth of meat in my freezer! Why? Because Alexander invited a bunch of friends over, which was fine, and we expected to eat around 2 or 3. With the amount of teenage boys we had over, we went ahead and got 2 turkeys to deep fry. As the afternoon wore on, no one came over, at which point Alexander asked if we could eat later. So we fried both turkeys, and ate at 6. Well, the REST of the story was that his friends were having Thanksgiving with their folks, so by the time they got here, they weren't hungry. Hence the incredible amount of turkey I have leftover! I did get some awesome stock out of 2 turkey carcasses!

I began decorating for Christmas, have a long way to go. See, I collect Nativity sets, I have over 50 sets, and they must all be unpacked and set up. I can do it in a day if I spend the entire day on it. I didn't spend the entire day on it this time!

We're having our annual open house on Friday the 21st, so it will have to be done by then! I have 3 weeks of school left, yay! Again, the people in my class didn't take the quiz in time, so of course there was another extension. Did you ever think that you would get coddled in grad school? I didn't, and frankly, I'm disappointed.

So I think I'm done with all the big assignments, and it's all downhill from here! Just posting to the discussion board, and evaluating a research paper for research methods.

Well, maybe with Joanna's help, I'll figure out how to put up pictures of my Nativity sets! If I can figure out where I stashed the photos! I think they are on the backup hard drive in the safe, so I'll have to drag that out!

Have a great holiday season with the people you care about!

Excited!

So I've been working really hard on a project so I can have it finished before Thanksgiving, even though it's not due until December 5th. Some of my co-workers give me a hard time when I get bent out of shape for losing a point here or there in my coursework. Well, kids, hard work pays off!

Today I was notified that I was selected to join Beta Phi Mu, the International Library and Information Studies Honor Society. Woo Hoo! Only 25% of the graduating class each semester can be selected, and of course you have to have good grades. So I'm excited, and it's nice to see hard work pay off!

Good night, and have a great week!

General nothingness

Ever have one of those days? I have three classes right now, and I bust my butt to get all my work done in a timely manner, and I don't procrastinate, even in my research methods class. So far this semester, EVERY class has posted an announcement celebrating procrastination. One was for a TEST of all things, that ended at 12 pm on a certain day, and a bunch of people missed the deadline, because they thought 12 pm was midnight, not noon. Now, I don't know what the instructor intended, but it opened on a Monday morning, and was listed to close at noon on Thursday. So everyone who missed it on Thursday after noon, posted that they missed, blah, blah, blah, and the instructor opened it for two more days because of the inconvenience. Excuse me? Is this grad school or kindergarten? If I had know that, I wouldn't have stayed up till midnight on the only night I had to do it, I could have waited and done it on my day off.
Another class has quizzes we take for each module. These are worth points, people. So then, an announcement comes out that the instructor notices that not everyone is taking the quizzes, which open and close at specific times, usually a week and a half to get them done, and the instructor announces that he's made them all available again so people can go back and take them. Are ya kiddin me?
Then yesterday, the last class had an announcement that because of a technological issue, he's extended a test by a few days. For Pete's sake, everything is listed in the syllabus, and you should go read it, and plan accordingly. Grrrrr.

Okay, enough ranting. We've just started the inferential statistics part of our research methods class, and it's not as scary as I thought. Once you learn the terminology and the formulas, and what they are used for, it's easy. I'm VERY relieved! Project management has one more big paper due, then a couple of cases studies to do, and collection development has two more big papers due, but I'm done with one of them. We had to write a paper about the ramifications of the USA PATRIOT Act on confidential library records. Did you know the USA PATRIOT Act won some award for acronyms? It really stands for "Uniting and Strengthening America: Provide Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism Act"
Just thought you'd want to know that. I'm not going to get into the politics of it, or personal beliefs, because I'm not up for the fight.

Well, another week closer to the end of the semester! Yay!

Cup o' tea

Nothing much is happening. Had a chat for class, so I grabbed a cup of tea to weather the whiners. How many different ways can you ask the same question, without actually reading the assignment? Apparently, lots.

6 weeks till graduation, that's good. Good day today, got to see pictures of my brother and sister-in-law's house in Phoenix, it's beautiful! And I got Halloween pictures of my cousins in Colorado, that's always nice! AND, I talked to my cousins in Nebraska, or actually, Alvin and the girls moved to Kansas! It was so fun to catch up! Gilly didn't remember who I was, so wouldn't talk on the phone, and Laney doesn't remember me either, but didn't care, talked to me anyway! Silly girls! Ashlynn is only 2, so not talking on the phone really!

My godson had surgery, it went great, yay, and he's resting comfortably! I always worry, but everything went fine!
Work is great, I love what I do, but having to trim 660,000 of our budget was hard, and really, where are you going to save that kind of money? Personnel, salaries and benefits. So we went from a hiring "delay" to a freeze.

Then, the county decided that if you were hanging on for the last couple of years so you could get your health benefits paid for when you retire, they would pay your health benefits if you retire early. Honestly, that's why a lot of people work for the county or state, for the benefits, so this way if they leave those positions vacant for a little while, there is a lot more than a 600/month insurance premium to be saved.

So, the director announced retirement, the development officer, a branch manager, the young people's librarian, so far. I think it will get worse. There is only so much we can absorb, and still stay open to the public.
Our County manager was voted an increase with her annual evaluation, you know what she did? She's the best! She gave 15,000 to the employee scholarship fund, and declined the rest, in light of the county economy. I think she deserves the raise, because for heaven's sake, we can't afford to lose a leader that's effective.

Oh well, have some papers to write, and really, only a couple of people read this, so have fun!